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diff --git a/23240-0.txt b/23240-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..545fd01 --- /dev/null +++ b/23240-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10418 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. +CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV., 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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 29, 2007 [EBook #23240] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan O'Connor, Jonathan Ingram, Sam W. and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Library of Early +Journals.) + + + + + + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + + * * * * * + + No. CCCXXXVI. OCTOBER, 1843. VOL. LIV. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + MILL'S LOGIC. + MY COUNTRY NEIGHBOURS. + TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. + THE THIRTEENTH; A TALE OF DOOM. + REMINISCENCES OF SYRIA. + THE FATE OF POLYCRATES. + MODERN PAINTERS. + A ROYAL SALUTE. + PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN ENGLAND. + CHRONICLES OF PARIS. THE RUE ST DENIS. + THE LAST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. + + + + +MILL'S LOGIC.[1] + + [1] A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive; + being a connected view of the Principles of Evidence, + and the Methods of Scientific Investigation. By John + Stuart Mill. In two volumes. London: Parker. + + +These are _not_ degenerate days. We have still strong thinkers amongst +us; men of untiring perseverance, who flinch before no difficulties, +who never hide the knot which their readers are only too willing that +they should let alone; men who dare write what the ninety-nine out of +every hundred will pronounce a _dry_ book; who pledge themselves, not +to the public, but to their subject, and will not desert it till their +task is completed. One of this order is Mr John Stuart Mill. The work +he has now presented to the public, we deem to be, after its kind, of +the very highest character, every where displaying powers of clear, +patient, indefatigable thinking. Abstract enough it must be allowed to +be, calling for an unremitted attention, and yielding but little, even +in the shape of illustration, of lighter and more amusing matter; he +has taken no pains to bestow upon it any other interest than what +searching thought and lucid views, aptly expressed, ought of +themselves to create. His subject, indeed--the laws by which human +belief and the inquisition of truth are to be governed and +directed--is both of that extensive and fundamental character, that it +would be treated with success only by one who knew how to resist the +temptations to digress, as well as how to apply himself with vigour to +the solution of the various questions that must rise before him. + + "This book," the author says in his preface, "makes no + pretence of giving to the world a new theory of our + intellectual operations. Its claim to attention, if it + possess any, is grounded on the fact, that it is an + attempt not to supersede, but to embody and systematize, + the best ideas which have been either promulgated on its + subject by speculative writers, or conformed to by + accurate thinkers in their scientific enquiries. + + "To cement together the detached fragments of a subject, + never yet treated as a whole; to harmonize the true + portions of discordant theories, by supplying the links + of thought necessary to connect them, and by + disentangling them from the errors with which they are + always more or less interwoven--must necessarily require + a considerable amount of original speculation. To other + originality than this, the present work lays no claim. + In the existing state of the cultivation of the + sciences, there would be a very strong presumption + against any one who should imagine that he had effected + a revolution in the theory of the investigation of + truth, or added any fundamentally new process to the + practice of it. The improvement which remains to be + effected in the methods of philosophizing, [and the + author believes that they have much need of + improvement,] can only consist in performing, more + systematically and accurately, operations with which, at + least in their elementary form, the human intellect, in + some one or other of its employments, is already + familiar." + +Such is the manly and modest estimate which the author makes of his +own labours, and the work fully bears out the character here given of +it. No one capable of receiving pleasure from the disentanglement of +intricacies, or the clear exposition of an abstruse subject; no one +seeking assistance in the acquisition of distinct and accurate views +on the various and difficult topics which these volumes embrace--can +fail to read them with satisfaction and with benefit. + +To give a full account--to give any account--of a work which traverses +so wide a field of subject, would be here a futile attempt; we should, +after all our efforts, merely produce a laboured and imperfect +synopsis, which would in vain solicit the perusal of our readers. What +we purpose doing, is to take up, in the order in which they occur, +some of the topics on which Mr Mill has thrown a new light, or which +he has at least invested with a novel interest by the view he has +given of them. And as, in this selection of topics, we are not bound +to choose those which are most austere and repulsive, we hope that +such of our readers as are not deterred by the very name of logic, +will follow us with some interest through the several points of view, +and the various extracts we shall present to them. + +_The Syllogism._--The logic of _Induction_, as that to which attention +has been least devoted, which has been least reduced to systematic +form, and which lies at the basis of all other modes of reasoning, +constitutes the prominent subject of these volumes. Nevertheless, the +old topic of logic proper, or deductive reasoning, is not omitted, and +the first passage to which we feel bound, on many accounts, to give +our attention, is the disquisition on the syllogism. + +Fortunately for us it is not necessary, in order to convey the point +of our author's observations upon this head, to afflict our readers +with any dissertation upon _mode_ or _figure_, or other logical +technicalities. The first form or _figure_ of the syllogism (to which +those who have not utterly forgotten their scholastic discipline will +remember that all others may be reduced) is familiar to every one, and +to this alone we shall have occasion to refer. + + "All men are mortal. + A king is a man; + Therefore a king is mortal." + +Who has not met--what young lady even, though but in her teens, has +not encountered some such charming triplet as this, which looks so +like verse at a distance, but, like some other compositions, +approximates nothing the more on this account to poetry? Who has not +learnt from such examples what is a _major_, what a _middle term_, and +what the _minor_ or conclusion? + +As no one, in the present day, advises the adoption, in our +controversies, of the syllogistic forms of reasoning, it is evident +that the value of the syllogism must consist, not in its practical +use, but in the accurate type which it affords of the process of +reasoning, and in the analysis of that process which a full +understanding of it renders necessary. Such an analysis supplies, it +is said, an excellent discipline to the mind, whilst an occasional +reference to the form of the syllogism, as a type or model of +reasoning, insures a steadiness and pertinency of argument. But is the +syllogism, it has been asked, this veritable type of our reasoning? +Has the analysis which would explain it to be such, been accurately +conducted? + +Several of our northern metaphysicians, it is well known--as, for +example, Dr Campbell and Dugald Stewart--have laid rude hands upon the +syllogism. They have pronounced it to be a vain invention. They have +argued that no addition of knowledge, no advancement in the +acquisition of truth, no new conviction, can possibly be obtained +through its means, inasmuch as no syllogism can contain any thing in +the conclusion which was not admitted, at the outset, in the first or +major proposition. The syllogism always, say they, involves a _petitio +principii_. Admit the major, and the business is palpably at an end; +the rest is a mere circle, in which one cannot advance, but may get +giddy by the revolution. According to the exposition of logicians +themselves, we simply obtain by our syllogism, the privilege of saying +that, in the _minor_, of some individual of a class, which we had +said, in the _major_, already of the whole class. + +Archbishop Whately, our most distinguished expositor and defender of +the Aristotelian logic, meets these antagonists with the resolute +assertion, that their objection to the syllogism is equally valid +against _all reasoning whatever_. He does not deny, but, on the +contrary, in common with every logician, distinctly states, that +whatever is concluded in the minor, must have been previously admitted +in the major, for in this lies the very force and compulsion of the +argument; but he maintains that the syllogism is the true type of all +our reasoning, and that therefore to all our reasoning, the very same +vice, the very same _petitio principii_, may be imputed. The +syllogism, he contends, (and apparently with complete success,) is but +a statement in full of what takes place mentally even in the most +rapid acts of reasoning. We often suppress the major for the sake of +brevity, but it is understood though not expressed; just as in the +same manner as we sometimes content ourselves with merely implying the +conclusion itself, because it is sufficiently evident without further +words. If any one should so far depart from common sense as to +question the mortality of some great king, we should think it +sufficient to say for all argument--the king is a man!--virtually +implying the whole triplet above mentioned:-- + + "All men are mortal. + The king is a man; + Therefore the king is mortal." + +"In pursuing the supposed investigation, (into the operation of +reasoning,)" says Archbishop Whately, "it will be found that every +conclusion is deduced, in reality, from two other propositions, +(thence called _Premisses_;) for though one of these may be and +commonly is suppressed, it must nevertheless be understood as +admitted, as may easily be made evident by supposing the _denial_ of +the suppressed premiss, which will at once invalidate the argument; +_e.g._ if any one, from perceiving that 'the world exhibits marks of +design,' infers that 'it must have had an intelligent author,' though +he may not be aware in his own mind of the existence of any other +premiss, he will readily understand, if it be _denied_ that 'whatever +exhibits marks of design must have had an intelligent author,' that +the affirmative of that proposition is necessary to the solidity of +the argument. An argument thus stated regularly and at full length, is +called a syllogism; which, therefore, is evidently not a peculiar +_kind of argument_, but only a peculiar _form_ of expression, in which +every argument may be stated."--_Whately's Logic_, p. 27. + +"It will be found," he continues, "that all valid arguments whatever +may be easily reduced to such a form as that of the foregoing +syllogisms; and that consequently the principle on which they are +constructed is the UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE of reasoning. So elliptical, +indeed, is the ordinary mode of expression, even of those who are +considered as prolix writers,--_i.e._ so much is implied and left to +be understood in the course of argument, in comparison of what is +actually stated, (most men being impatient, even to excess, of any +appearance of unnecessary and tedious formality of statement,) that a +single sentence will often be found, though perhaps considered as a +single argument, to contain, compressed into a short compass, a chain +of several distinct arguments. But if each of these be fully +developed, and the whole of what the author intended to imply be +stated expressly, it will be found that all the steps, even of the +longest and most complex train of reasoning, may be reduced into the +above form."--P. 32. + +That it is not the office of the syllogism to discover _new_ truths, +our logician fully admits, and takes some pains to establish. This is +the office of "other operations of mind," not unaccompanied, however, +with acts of reasoning. Reasoning, argument, inference, (words which +he uses as synonymous,) have not for their object our advancement in +knowledge, or the acquisition of new truths. + +"Much has been said," says Archbishop Whately, in another portion of +his work, "by some writers, of the superiority of the inductive to the +syllogistic methods of seeking truth, as if the two stood opposed to +each other; and of the advantage of substituting the _Organon_ of +Bacon for that of Aristotle, &c. &c., which indicates a total +misconception of the nature of both. There is, however, the more +excuse for the confusion of thought which prevails on this subject, +because eminent logical writers have treated, or at least have +appeared to treat, of induction as a kind of argument distinct from +the syllogism; which, if it were, it certainly might be contrasted +with the syllogism: or rather the whole syllogistic theory would fall +to the ground, since one of the very first principles it establishes, +is that _all_ reasoning, on whatever subject, is one and the same +process, which may be clearly exhibited in the form of syllogisms. + +"This inaccuracy seems chiefly to have arisen from a vagueness in the +use of the word induction; which is sometimes employed to designate +the process of _investigation_ and of collecting facts, sometimes the +deducing an inference _from_ those facts. The former of these +processes (_viz._ that of observation and experiment) is undoubtedly +_distinct_ from that which takes place in the syllogism; but then it +is not a process of _argumentation_: the latter again _is_ an +argumentative process; but then it is, like all other arguments, +capable of being syllogistically expressed."--P. 263. + +"To prove, then, this point demonstratively, (namely, that it is not +by a process of reasoning that new truths are brought to light,) +becomes on these data perfectly easy; for since all reasoning (in the +sense above defined) may be resolved into syllogisms; and since even +the objectors to logic make it a subject of complaint, that in a +syllogism the premises do virtually assert the conclusion, it follows +at once that no new truth (as above defined) can be elicited by any +process of reasoning. + +"It is on this ground, indeed, that the justly celebrated author of +the _Philosophy of Rhetoric_ objects to the syllogism altogether, as +necessarily involving a _petitio principii_; an objection which, of +course, he would not have been disposed to bring forward, had he +perceived that, whether well or ill founded, _it lies against all +arguments whatever_. Had he been aware that the syllogism is no +distinct kind of argument otherwise than in form, but is, in fact, +_any_ argument whatever stated regularly and at full length, he would +have obtained a more correct view of the object of all reasoning; +_which is merely to expand and unfold the assertions wrapt up, as it +were, and implied in those with which we set out_, and to bring a +person to perceive and acknowledge the full force of that which he has +admitted; to contemplate it in various points of view; _to admit in +one shape what he has already admitted in another_, and to give up and +disallow whatever is inconsistent with it."--P. 273. + +Now, what the Archbishop here advances appears convincing; his +position looks impregnable. The syllogism is not a peculiar mode of +reasoning, (how could it be?)--if any thing at all, it must be a +general formula for expressing the ordinary act of reasoning--and he +shows that the objections made by those who would impugn it, may be +levelled with equal justice against all ratiocination whatever. But +then this method of defending the syllogism, (to those of us who have +stood beside, in the character of modest enquirers, watching the +encounter of keen wits,) does but aggravate the difficulty. Is it +true, then, that in every act of reasoning, we do but conclude in one +form, what, the moment before, we had stated in another? Are we to +understand that such is the final result of the debate? If so, this +act of reasoning appears very little deserving of that estimation in +which it has been generally held. The great prerogative of intelligent +beings (as it has been deemed,) grants them this only--to "admit in +one shape what they had already admitted in another." + +From the dilemma in which we are here placed, the Archbishop by no +means releases, or attempts to release us: he seems (something too +much after the manner and disposition generally attributed to masters +in logic-fence,) to have rested satisfied with foiling his opponents +in their attack upon the exact position he had bound himself to +defend. He saves the syllogism; what becomes, in the controversy, of +poor human reason itself, is not his especial concern--it is as much +their business as his. You do not, more than I, he virtually says to +his opponents, intend to resign all reasoning whatever as a mere +inanity; I prove, for my part, that all reasoning is capable of being +put into a syllogistic form, and that your objection, if valid against +the syllogism, is equally valid against all ratiocination. You must +therefore either withdraw your objection altogether, or advance it at +your peril; the difficulty is of your making, you must solve it as you +can. Gentlemen, you must muzzle your own dog. + +In this posture of affairs the author of the present work comes to the +rescue. He shall speak in his own words. But we must premise, that +although we do not intend to stint him in our quotation--though we +wish to give him all the sea-room possible; yet, for a _full_ +development of his views, we must refer the reader to his volumes +themselves. There are some disquisitions which precede the part we are +about to quote from, which, in order to do complete justice to the +subject, ought to find a place here, as well as in the author's +work--but it is impossible. + + "It is universally allowed, that a syllogism is vicious, + if there be any thing more in the conclusion than was + assumed in the premisses. But this is, in fact, to say, + that nothing ever was, or can be, proved by syllogism, + which was not known, or assumed to be known, before. Is + ratiocination, then, not a process of inference? And is + the syllogism, to which the word reasoning has so often + been represented to be exclusively appropriate, not + really entitled to be called reasoning at all? This + seems an inevitable consequence of the doctrine, + admitted by all writers on the subject, that a syllogism + can prove no more than is involved in the premisses. Yet + the acknowledgment so explicitly made, has not prevented + one set of writers from continuing to represent the + syllogism as the correct analysis of what the mind + actually performs in discovering and proving the larger + half of the truths, whether of science or of daily life, + which we believe; while those who have avoided this + inconsistency, and followed out the general theorem + respecting the logical value of the syllogism to its + legitimate corollary, have been led to impute + uselessness and frivolity to the syllogistic theory + itself, on the ground of the _petitio principii_ which + they allege to be inherent in every syllogism. As I + believe both these opinions to be fundamentally + erroneous, I must request the attention of the reader to + certain considerations, without which any just + appreciation of the true character of the syllogism, and + the functions it performs in philosophy, appears to me + impossible; but which seem to me to have been overlooked + or insufficiently adverted to, both by the defenders of + the syllogistic theory, and by its assailants. + + "It must be granted, that in every syllogism, considered + as an argument to prove the conclusion, there is a + _petitio principii_. When we say-- + + 'All men are mortal. + Socrates is a man; + THEREFORE + Socrates is mortal'-- + + it is unanswerably urged by the adversaries of the + syllogistic theory, that the proposition, Socrates is + mortal, is presupposed in the more general assumption, + All men are mortal; that we cannot be assured of the + mortality of all men, unless we were previously certain + of the mortality of every individual man; that if it be + still doubtful whether Socrates, or any other individual + you choose to name, be mortal or not, the same degree of + uncertainty must hang over the assertion, All men are + mortal; that the general principle, instead of being + given as evidence of the particular case, cannot itself + be taken for true without exception, until every shadow + of doubt which could affect any case comprised with it, + is dispelled by evidence _aliundè_, and then what + remains for the syllogism to prove? that, in short, no + reasoning from generals to particulars can, as such, + prove any thing; since from a general principle you + cannot infer any particulars, but those which the + principle itself assumes as foreknown. + + "This doctrine is irrefragable; and if logicians, though + unable to dispute it, have usually exhibited a strong + disposition to explain it away, this was not because + they could discover any flaw in the argument itself, but + because the contrary opinion seemed to rest upon + arguments equally indisputable. In the syllogism last + referred to, for example, or in any of those which we + previously constructed, is it not evident that the + conclusion may, to the person to whom the syllogism is + presented, be actually and _bona fide_ a new truth? Is + it not matter of daily experience that truth previously + undreamt of, facts which have not been, and cannot be, + directly observed, are arrived at by way of general + reasoning? We believe that the Duke of Wellington is + mortal. We do not know this by direct observation, since + he is not yet dead. If we were asked how, this being the + case, we know the Duke to be mortal, we should probably + answer, because all men are so. Here, therefore, we + arrive at the knowledge of a truth not (as yet) + susceptible of observation, by a reasoning which admits + of being exhibited in the following syllogism-- + + 'All men are mortal. + The Duke of Wellington is a man; + THEREFORE + The Duke of Wellington is mortal.' + + "And since a large portion of our knowledge is thus + acquired, logicians have persisted in representing the + syllogism as a process of inference or proof; although + none of them has cleared up the difficulty which arises + from the inconsistency between that assertion and the + principle, that if there be any thing in the conclusion + which was not already asserted in the premisses, the + argument is vicious. For it is impossible to attach any + serious scientific value to such a mere salvo, as the + distinction drawn between being involved _by + implication_ in the premisses, and being directly + asserted in them. When Archbishop Whately, for example, + says that the object of reasoning is 'merely to expand + and unfold the assertions wrapt up, as it were, and + implied in those with which we set out, and to bring a + person to perceive and acknowledge the full force of + that which he has admitted,' he does not, I think, meet + the real difficulty requiring to be explained; namely, + how it happens that a science like geometry _can_ be all + 'wrapt up' in a few definitions and axioms. Nor does + this defence of the syllogism differ much from what its + assailants urge against it as an accusation, when they + charge it with being of no use except to those who seek + to press the consequence of an admission into which a + man has been entrapped, without having considered and + understood its full force. When you admitted the major + premiss, you asserted the conclusion, 'but,' says + Archbishop Whately, 'you asserted it by implication + merely; this, however, can here only mean that you + asserted it unconsciously--that you did not know you + were asserting it; but if so, the difficulty revives in + this shape. Ought you not to have known? Were you + warranted in asserting the general proposition without + having satisfied yourself of the truth of every thing + which it fairly includes? And if not, what, then, is the + syllogistic art but a contrivance for catching you in a + trap, and holding you fast in it?' + + "From this difficulty there appears to be but one issue. + The proposition, that the Duke of Wellington is mortal, + is evidently an inference, it is got at as a conclusion + from something else; but do we, in reality, conclude it + from the proposition--All men are mortal? I answer, No. + + "The error committed is, I conceive, that of overlooking + the distinction between the two parts of the process of + philosophizing--the inferring part and the registering + part; and ascribing to the latter the functions of the + former. The mistake is that of referring a man to his + own notes for the _origin_ of his knowledge. If a man is + asked a question, and is at the moment unable to answer + it, he may refresh his memory by turning to a memorandum + which he carries about with him. But if he were asked + how the fact came to his knowledge, he would scarcely + answer, because it was set down in his note-book. + + "Assuming that the proposition, The Duke of Wellington + is mortal, is immediately an inference from the + proposition, All men are mortal, whence do we derive our + knowledge of that general truth? No supernatural aid + being supposed, the answer must be, from observation. + Now, all which men can observe are individual cases. + From these all general truths must be drawn, and into + these they may be again resolved; for a general truth is + but an aggregate of particular truths--a comprehensive + expression, by which an indefinite number of individual + facts are affirmed or denied at once. But a general + proposition is not merely a compendious form for + recording and preserving in the memory a number of + particular facts, all of which have been observed. + Generalization is not a process of mere naming, it is + also a process of inference. From instances which we + have observed, we feel warranted in concluding, that + what we found true in those instances holds in all + similar ones--past, present, and future, however + numerous they may be. We, then, by that valuable + contrivance of language, which enables us to speak of + many as if they were one, record all that we have + observed, together with all that we infer from our + observations, in one concise expression; and have thus + only one proposition, instead of an endless number, to + remember or to communicate. The results of many + observations and inferences, and instructions for making + innumerable inferences in unforeseen cases, are + compressed into one short sentence. + + "When, therefore, we conclude, from the death of John + and Thomas, and every other person we ever heard of in + whose case the experiment had been fairly tried, that + the Duke of Wellington is mortal like the rest, we may, + indeed, pass through the generalization, All men are + mortal, as an intermediate stage; but it is not in the + latter half of the process--the descent from all men to + the Duke of Wellington--that the _inference_ resides. + The inference is finished when we have asserted that all + men are mortal. What remains to be performed afterwards + is merely deciphering our own notes. + + "Archbishop Whately has contended, that syllogizing, or + reasoning from generals to particulars, is not, + agreeably to the vulgar idea, a peculiar mode of + reasoning, but the philosophical analysis of the mode in + which all men reason, and must do so if they reason at + all. With the deference due to so high an authority, I + cannot help thinking that the vulgar notion is, in this + case, the more correct. If, from our experience of John, + Thomas, &c. who once were living, but are now dead, we + are entitled to conclude that all human beings are + mortal, we might surely, without any logical + inconsequence, have concluded at once, from those + instances, that the Duke Wellington is mortal. The + mortality of John, Thomas, and Company, is, after all, + the whole evidence we have for the mortality of the Duke + of Wellington. Not one iota is added to the proof by + interpolating a general proposition. Since the + individual cases are all the evidence we can possess; + evidence which no logical form into which we choose to + throw it can make greater than it is; and since that + evidence is either sufficient in itself, or, if + insufficient for one purpose, cannot be sufficient for + the other; I am unable to see why we should be forbidden + to take the shortest cut from these sufficient premisses + to the conclusion, and constrained to travel the 'high + _priori_ road' by the arbitrary fiat of logicians. I + cannot perceive why it should be impossible to journey + from one place to another, unless 'we march up a hill + and then march down again.' It may be the safest road, + and there may be a resting-place at the top of the hill, + affording a commanding view of the surrounding country; + but for the mere purpose of arriving at our journey's + end, our taking that road is perfectly optional: it is a + question of time, trouble, and danger. + + "Not only _may_ we reason from particulars to + particulars, without passing through generals, but we + perpetually do so reason. All our earliest inferences + are of this nature. From the first dawn of intelligence + we draw inferences; but years elapse before we learn the + use of general language. The child who, having burnt his + fingers, avoids to thrust them again into the fire, has + reasoned or inferred, though he has never thought of the + general maxim--fire burns. He knows from memory that he + has been burnt, and on this evidence believes, when he + sees a candle, that if he puts his finger into the flame + of it, he will be burnt again. He believes this in every + case which happens to arise; but without looking, in + each instance, beyond the present case. He is not + generalizing; he is inferring a particular from + particulars.--Vol. I. p. 244. + + "From the considerations now adduced, the following + conclusions seem to be established:--All inference is + from particulars to particulars: General propositions + are merely registers of such inferences already made, + and short formulæ for making more: The major premiss of + a syllogism, consequently, is a formula of this + description; and the conclusion is not an inference + drawn _from_ the formula, but an inference drawn + _according to_ the formula: the real logical antecedent, + or premisses being _the particular facts from which the + general proposition was collected by induction_. * * * + + "In the above observations, it has, I think, been + clearly shown, that although there is always a process + of reasoning or inference where a syllogism is used, the + syllogism is not a correct analysis of that process of + reasoning or inference; which is, on the contrary, (when + not a mere inference from testimony,) an inference from + particulars to particulars; authorized by a previous + inference from particulars to generals, and + substantially the same with it: of the nature, + therefore, of Induction. But while these conclusions + appear to me undeniable, I must yet enter a protest, as + strong as that of Archbishop Whately himself, against + the doctrine that the syllogistic art is useless for the + purposes of reasoning. The reasoning lies in the act of + generalisation, not in interpreting the record of that + act; but the syllogistic form is all indispensable + collateral security for the correctness of the + generalisation itself."--P. 259. + +By this explanation we are released from the dilemma into which the +syllogistic and non-syllogistic party had together thrown us. We can +acknowledge that the process of reason can be always exhibited in the +form of a syllogism, and yet not be driven to the strange and +perplexing conclusion that our reasoning can never conduct us to a new +truth, never lead us further than to admit in one shape what we had +already admitted in another. We have, or may have, it is true, a +_major_ in all our ratiocination, implied, if not expressed, and are +so far syllogistic; but then the real premiss from which we reason is +the amount of experience on which that major was founded, to which +amount of experience we, in fact, made an addition in our _minor_, or +conclusion. + +But while we accept this explanation, and are grateful for the +deliverance it works for us, we must also admit, (and we are not aware +that Mr Mill would controvert this admission,) that there is a large +class of cases in which our reasoning betrays no reference to this +anterior experience, and where the usual explanation given by teachers +of logic is perfectly applicable; cases where our object is, not the +discovery of truth for ourselves, but to convince another of his +error, by showing him that the proposition, which in his blindness or +prejudice he has chosen to contradict, is part and parcel of some +other proposition to which he has given, and is at all times ready to +give, his acquiescence. In such cases, we frequently content ourselves +with throwing before him this alternative--refuse your _major_, to +which you have again and again assented, or accept, as involved in it, +our _minor_ proposition, which you have persisted in controverting. + +It will have been gathered from the foregoing train of observation, +that, in direct contradistinction to Archbishop Whately, who had +represented induction (so far as it consisted of an act of +ratiocination) as resolvable into deductive and syllogistic reasoning, +our author has resolved the syllogism, and indeed all deductive +reasoning whatever, ultimately into examples of induction. In doing +this, he is encountered by a metaphysical notion very prevalent in the +present day, which lies across his path, and which he has to remove. +We allude to the distinction between contingent and necessary truths; +it being held by many philosophical writers that all necessary and +universal truths owe their origin, not to experience (except as +_occasion_ of their development,) and not, consequently, to the +ordinary process of induction, but flow from higher sources--flow +immediately from some supreme faculty to which the name of reason has +by some been exclusively appropriated, in order to distinguish it from +the understanding, the faculty judging according to sense. We will +pause a while upon this topic. + + +_Contingent and Necessary Truths._--Those who have read Mr Whewell's +treatise on the _Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences_, will remember +that there is no topic which that author labours more sedulously to +inculcate than this same distinction between contingent and necessary +truths; and it is against his statement of the doctrine in question, +that Mr Mill directs his observations. Perhaps the controverted tenets +would have sustained a more equal combat under the auspices of a more +practised and more complete metaphysician than Mr Whewell; but a +difficulty was probably experienced in finding a statement in any +other well-known English author full and explicit. Referring ourselves +to Mr Whewell's volumes for an extract, in order to give the +distinction here contended against the advantage of an exposition in +the words of one who upholds it, we are embarrassed by the number +which offer themselves. From many we select the following statement:-- + +"Experience," says Mr Whewell, "must always consist of a limited +number of observations. And, however numerous these may be, they can +show nothing with regard to the infinite number of cases in which the +experiment has not been made. Experience, being thus unable to prove a +fact to be universal, is, as will readily be seen, still more +incapable of proving a fact to be necessary. Experience cannot, +indeed, offer the smallest ground for the necessity of a proposition. +She can observe and record what has happened; but she cannot find, in +any case, or in any accumulation of cases, any reason for what _must_ +happen. She may see objects side by side, but she cannot see a reason +why they must be ever side by side. She finds certain events to occur +in succession; but the succession supplies, in its occurrence, no +reason for its recurrence. She contemplates external objects; but she +cannot detect any internal bond which indissolubly connects the future +with the past, the possible with the real. To learn a proposition by +experience, and to see it to be necessarily true, are two altogether +different processes of thought. + +"But it may be said, that we do learn, by means of observation and +experience, many universal truths; indeed, all the general truths of +which science consists. Is not the doctrine of universal gravitation +learned by experience? Are not the laws of motion, the properties of +light, the general properties of chemistry, so learned? How, with +these examples before us, can we say that experience teaches no +universal truths? + +"To this we reply, that these truths can only be known to be +_general_, not universal, if they depend upon experience alone. +Experience cannot bestow that universality which she herself cannot +have, and that necessity of which she has no comprehension. If these +doctrines are universally true, this universality flows from the +_ideas_ which we apply to our experience, and which are, as we have +seen, the real sources of necessary truth. How far these ideas can +communicate their universality and necessity to the results of +experience, it will hereafter be our business to consider. It will +then appear, that when the mind collects from observation truths of a +wide and comprehensive kind, which approach to the simplicity and +universality of the truths of pure science; she gives them this +character by throwing upon them the light of her own fundamental +ideas."--_Whewell_, Vol. I. p. 60. + +Accordingly, Mr Whewell no sooner arrives at any truth which admits of +an unconditional positive statement--a statement defying all rational +contradiction--than he abstracts it from amongst the acquisitions of +experience, and throwing over it, we suppose, the light of these +fundamental ideas, pronounces it enrolled in the higher class of +universal and necessary truths. The first laws of motion, though +established through great difficulties against the most obstinate +preconceptions, and by the aid of repeated experiments, are, when +surveyed in their present perfect form, proclaimed to be, not +acquisitions of experience, but truths emanating from a higher and +more mysterious origin.[2] + + [2] Necessary truths multiply on us very fast. "We + maintain," says Mr Whewell, "that this equality of + _mechanical action and reaction_ is one of the + principles which do not flow from, but regulate, our + experience. A mechanical pressure, not accompanied by an + equal and opposite pressure, can no more be given by + experience than two unequal right angles. With the + supposition of such inequalities, space ceases to be + space, form ceases to be form, matter ceases to be + matter." And again he says, "_That the parallelogram of + forces is a necessary truth_;" a law of motion of which + we surely can _conceive_ its opposite to be true. In + some of these instances Mr Whewell appears, by a + confusion of thought, to have given to the _physical + fact_ the character of necessity which resides in the + mathematical formula employed for its expression. + Whether a moving body would communicate motion to + another body--whether it would lose its own motion by so + doing--or what would be the result if a body were struck + by two other bodies moving in different directions--are + questions which, if they could be asked us prior to + experience, we could give no answer whatever to--which + we can easily conceive to admit of a quite different + answer to that which experience has taught us to give. + +This distinction, which assigns a different mental origin to truths, +simply because (from the nature of the subject-matter, as it seems to +us) there is a difference with regard to the sort of certainty we feel +of them, has always appeared to us most unphilosophical. It is +admitted that we arrive at a general proposition through experience; +there is no room, therefore, for quibbling as to the meaning of the +term experience--it is understood that when we speak of a truth being +derived from experience, we imply the usual exercise of our mental +faculties; it is the step from a general to a universal proposition +which alone occasions this perplexing distinction. The dogma is +this--that experience can only teach us by a limited number of +examples, and therefore can never establish a universal proposition. +But if _all_ experience is in favour of a proposition--if no +experience has occurred even to enable the imagination to conceive its +opposite, what more can be required to convert the general into a +universal proposition? + +Strange to say, the attribution of these characteristics of +universality and necessity, becomes, amongst those who loudly insist +upon the palpable nature of the distinction we are now examining, a +matter of controversy; and there are a class of scientific truths, of +which it is debated whether they are contingent or necessary. The +only test that they belong to the latter order is, the impossibility +of conceiving their opposites to be the truth; and it seems that men +find a great difference in their powers of conception, and that what +is impossible with one is possible with another. But (wisely, too) +passing this over, and admitting that there is a distinction (though +a very ill-defined one) between the several truths we entertain of +this nature; namely, that some we find it impossible, even in +imagination, to contradict, whilst of others we can suppose it +possible that they should cease to be truths--does it follow that +different faculties of the mind are engaged in the acquisition of +them? Does nothing depend on the nature of the subject itself? "That +two sides of a triangle," says Mr Whewell, "are greater than the +third, is a universal and necessary geometrical truth; it is true of +all triangles; it is true in such a way that the contrary cannot be +conceived. _Experience could not prove such a proposition._" +Experience is allowed to prove it of this or that triangle, but not +as an inseparable property of a triangle. We are at a loss to +perceive why the same faculties of the mind that can judge, say of +the properties of animal life, of organized beings, cannot judge of +the properties of a figure--properties which must immediately be +conceived to exist the moment the figure is presented to the +imagination. We say, for instance, of any animal, not because it is +this or that animal, a sheep or an ox, but simply _as_ animal, that +it must sustain itself by food, by the process of assimilation. This, +however, is merely a contingent truth, because it is in our power to +conceive of organized beings whose substance shall not wear away, and +consequently shall not need perpetual restoration. But what faculty +of the mind is unemployed here that is engaged in perceiving the +property of a triangle, that _as_ triangle, it must have two sides +greater than the third? The truths elicited in the two cases have a +difference, inasmuch as a triangle differs from an animal in this, +that it is impossible to conceive other triangles than those to which +your truth is applicable, and therefore the proposition relating to +the triangle is called a necessary truth. But surely this difference +lies in the subject-matter, not in the nature of our mental +faculties. + +But we had not intended to interpose our own lucubrations in the place +of those of Mr Mill. + + "Although Mr Whewell," says our author, "has naturally + and properly employed a variety of phrases to bring his + meaning more forcibly home, he will, I presume, allow + that they are all equivalent; and that what he means by + a necessary truth, would be sufficiently defined, a + proposition the negation of which is not only false, but + inconceivable. I am unable to find in any of Mr + Whewell's expressions, turn them what way you will, a + meaning beyond this, and I do not believe he would + contend that they mean any thing more. + + "This, therefore, is the principle asserted: that + propositions, the negation of which is inconceivable, or + in other words, which we cannot figure to ourselves as + being false, must rest upon evidence of higher and more + cogent description than any which experience can afford. + And we have next to consider whether there is any ground + for this assertion. + + "Now, I cannot but wonder that so much stress should be + laid upon the circumstance of inconceivableness, when + there is such ample experience to show that our capacity + or incapacity for conceiving a thing has very little to + do with the possibility of the thing in itself; but is + in truth very much an affair of accident, and depends + upon the past habits and history of our own minds. There + is no more generally acknowledged fact in human nature, + than the extreme difficulty at first felt in conceiving + any thing as possible, which is in contradiction to + long-established and familiar experience, or even to old + and familiar habits of thought. And this difficulty is a + necessary result of the fundamental laws of the human + mind. When we have often seen and thought of two things + together, and have never, in any one instance, either + seen or thought of them separately, there is by the + primary law of association an increasing difficulty, + which in the end becomes insuperable, of conceiving the + two things apart. This is most of all conspicuous in + uneducated persons, who are, in general, utterly unable + to separate any two ideas which have once become firmly + associated in their minds, and, if persons of cultivated + intellect have any advantage on the point, it is only + because, having seen and heard and read more, and being + more accustomed to exercise their imagination, they + have experienced their sensations and thoughts in more + varied combinations, and have been prevented from + forming many of these inseparable associations. But this + advantage has necessarily its limits. The man of the + most practised intellect is not exempt from the + universal laws of our conceptive faculty. If daily habit + presents to him for a long period two facts in + combination, and if he is not led, during that period, + either by accident or intention, to think of them apart, + he will in time become incapable of doing so, even by + the strongest effort; and the supposition, that the two + facts can be separated in nature, will at last present + itself to his mind with all the characters of an + inconceivable phenomenon. There are remarkable instances + of this in the history of science; instances in which + the wisest men rejected as impossible, because + inconceivable, things which their posterity, by earlier + practice, and longer perseverance in the attempt, found + it quite easy to conceive, and which every body now + knows to be true. There was a time when men of the most + cultivated intellects, and the most emancipated from the + dominion of early prejudice, could not credit the + existence of antipodes; were unable to conceive, in + opposition to old association, the force of gravity + acting upwards instead of downwards. The Cartesians long + rejected the Newtonian doctrine of the gravitation of + all bodies towards one another, on the faith of a + general proposition, the reverse of which seemed to them + to be inconceivable--the proposition, that a body cannot + act where it is not. All the cumbrous machinery of + imaginary vortices, assumed without the smallest + particle of evidence, appeared to these philosophers a + more rational mode of explaining the heavenly motions, + than one which involved what appeared to them so great + an absurdity. And they, no doubt, found it as impossible + to conceive that a body should act upon the earth at the + distance of the sun or moon, as we find it to conceive + an end to space or time, or two straight lines inclosing + a space. Newton himself had not been able to realize the + conception, or we should not have had his hypothesis of + a subtle ether, the occult cause of gravitation; and his + writings prove, that although he deemed the particular + nature of the intermediate agency a matter of + conjecture, the necessity of _some_ such agency appeared + to him indubitable. It would seem that, even now, the + majority of scientific men have not completely got over + this very difficulty; for though they have at last + learned to conceive the sun _attracting_ the earth + without any intervening fluid, they cannot yet conceive + the sun _illuminating_ the earth without some such + medium. + + "If, then, it be so natural to the human mind, even in + its highest state of culture, to be incapable of + conceiving, and on that ground to believe impossible, + what is afterwards not only found to be conceivable, but + proved to be true; what wonder if, in cases where the + association is still older, more confirmed, and more + familiar, and in which nothing even occurs to shake our + conviction, or even to suggest to us any conception at + variance with the association, the acquired incapacity + should continue, and be mistaken for a natural + incapacity? It is true our experience of the varieties + in nature enables us, within certain limits, to conceive + other varieties analogous to them. We can conceive the + sun or moon falling, for although we never saw them + fall, nor ever perhaps imagined them falling, we have + seen so many other things fall, that we have innumerable + familiar analogies to assist the conception; which, + after all, we should probably have some difficulty in + framing, were we not well accustomed to see the sun and + moon move, (or appear to move,) so that we are only + called upon to conceive a slight change in the direction + of motion, a circumstance familiar to our experience. + But when experience affords no model on which to shape + the new conception, how is it possible for us to form + it? How, for example, can we imagine an end to space and + time? We never saw any object without something beyond + it, nor experienced any feeling without something + following it. When, therefore, we attempt to conceive + the last point of space, we have the idea irresistibly + raised of other points beyond it. When we try to imagine + the last instant of time, we cannot help conceiving + another instant after it. Nor is there any necessity to + assume, as is done by the school to which Mr Whewell + belongs, a peculiar fundamental law of the mind to + account for the feeling of infinity inherent in our + conception of space and time; that apparent infinity is + sufficiently accounted for by simple and universally + acknowledged laws."--Vol. I. p. 313. + +Mr Mill does not deny that there exists a distinction, as regards +ourselves, between certain truths (namely, that of some, we cannot +conceive them to be other than truths,) but he sets no value on this +distinction, inasmuch as there is no proof that it has its counterpart +in things themselves; the impossibility of a thing being by no means +measured by our inability to conceive it. And we may observe, that Mr +Whewell, in consistency with the metaphysical doctrine upon space and +time which he has borrowed from Kant, ought, under another shape, to +entertain a similar doubt as to whether this distinction represent any +real distinction in the nature of things. He considers, with Kant, +that space is only that _form_ with which the human mind invests +things--that it has no other than this merely mental existence--is +purely subjective. Presuming, therefore, that the mind is, from its +constitution, utterly and for ever unable to conceive the opposite of +certain truths, (those, for instance, of geometry;) yet as the +existence of space itself is but a subjective truth, it must follow +that all other truths relating to it are subjective also. The mind is +not conversant with things in themselves, in the truths even of +geometry; nor is there any positive objective truth in one department +of science more than another. Mr Whewell, therefore, though he +advocates this distinction between necessary and contingent truth with +a zeal which would seem to imply that something momentous, or of +peculiar interest, was connected with it, can advocate it only as a +matter of abstract metaphysical science. He cannot participate in that +feeling of exaltation and mystery which has led many to expatiate upon +a necessary and absolute truth which the Divine Power itself cannot +alter, which is equally irresistible, equally binding and compulsory, +with God as with man. Of this spirit of philosophical enthusiasm Mr +Whewell cannot partake. Space and Time, with all their properties and +phenomena, are but recognized as the modes of thought of a human +intelligence. + +We have marked a number of passages for annotation and extract--a far +greater number than we can possibly find place for alluding to. One +subject, however, which lies at the very basis of all our science, and +which has received a proportionate attention from Mr Mill, must not be +amongst those which are passed over. We mean the law of _Causation_. +What should be described as the complete and adequate notion of a +cause, we need not say is one of the moot points of philosophy. +According to one school of metaphysicians, there is in our notion of +cause an element not derived from experience, which, it is confessed +on all hands, can teach us only the _succession_ of events. Cause, +with them, is that invisible power, that mysterious bond, which this +succession does but signify: with other philosophers this succession +constitutes the whole of any intelligible notion we have of cause. The +latter opinion is that of Mr Mill; at the same time the question is +one which lies beyond or beside the scope of his volumes. He is +concerned only with phenomena, not with the knowledge (if such there +be) of "things in themselves;" that part, therefore, of our idea of +cause which, according to all systems of philosophy, is won from +experience, and concerns phenomena alone, is sufficient for his +purpose. That every event has a cause, that is, a previous and +uniformly previous event, and that whatever has happened will, in the +like circumstances, happen again--these are the assumptions necessary +to science, and these no one will dispute. + +Mr Mill has made a happy addition to the usual definition of cause +given by that class of metaphysicians to which he himself belongs, and +which obviates a plausible objection urged against it by Dr Reid and +others. These have argued, that if cause be nothing more than +invariable antecedence, then night may be said to be the cause of day, +for the one invariably precedes the other. Day does succeed to night, +but only on certain conditions--namely, that the sun rise. "The +succession," observes Mr Mill, "which is equivalent and synonymous to +cause, must be not only invariable but unconditional. We may define, +therefore," says our author, "the cause of a phenomenon to be the +antecedent, or the concurrence of antecedents, upon which it is +invariably and _unconditionally_ consequent."--Vol. I. p. 411. + +A dilemma may be raised of this kind. The universality of the law of +causation--in other words, the uniform course of nature--is the +fundamental principle on which all induction proceeds, the great +premise on which all our science is founded. But if this law itself be +the result only of experience, itself only a great instance of +induction, so long as nature presents cases requiring investigation, +where the causes are unknown to us, so long the law itself is +imperfectly established. How, then, can this law be a guide and a +premiss in the investigations of science, when those investigations +are necessary to complete the proof of the law itself? How can this +principle accompany and authorise every step we take in science, which +itself needs confirmation so long as a process of induction remains to +be performed? Or how can this law be established by a series of +inductions, in making which it has been taken for granted? + +Objections which wear the air of a quibble have often this +advantage--they put our knowledge to the test. The obligation to find +a complete answer clears up our own conceptions. The observations +which Mr Mill makes on this point, we shall quote at length. They are +taken from his chapter on the _Evidence of the Law of Universal +Causation_; the views in which are as much distinguished for boldness +as for precision. + +After having said, that in all the several methods of induction the +universality of the law of causation is assumed, he continues:-- + + "But is this assumption warranted? Doubtless (it may be + said) _most_ phenomena are connected as effects with + some antecedent or cause--that is, are never produced + unless some assignable fact has preceded them; but the + very circumstance, that complicated processes of + induction are sometimes necessary, shows that cases + exist in which this regular order of succession is not + apparent to our first and simplest apprehension. If, + then, the processes which bring these cases within the + same category with the rest, require that we should + assume the universality of the very law which they do + not at first sight appear to exemplify, is not this a + real _petitio principii_? Can we prove a proposition by + an argument which takes it for granted? And, if not so + proved, on what evidence does it rest? + + "For this difficulty, which I have purposely stated in + the strongest terms it would admit of, the school of + metaphysicians, who have long predominated in this + country, find a ready salvo. They affirm that the + universality of causation is a truth which we cannot + help believing; that the belief in it is an instinct, + one of the laws of our believing faculty. As the proof + of this they say, and they have nothing else to say, + that every body _does_ believe it; and they number it + among the propositions, rather numerous in their + catalogue, which may be logically argued against, and + perhaps cannot be logically proved, but which are of + higher authority than logic, and which even he who + denies in speculation, shows by his habitual practice + that his arguments make no impression on himself. + + "I have no intention of entering into the merits of this + question, as a problem of transcendental metaphysics. + But I must renew my protest against adducing, as + evidence of the truth of a fact in external nature, any + necessity which the human mind may be conceived to be + under of believing it. It is the business of human + intellect to adapt itself to the realities of things, + and not to measure those realities by its own capacities + of comprehension. The same quality which fits mankind + for the offices and purposes of their own little life, + the tendency of their belief to follow their experience, + incapacitates them for judging of what lies beyond. Not + only what man can know, but what he can conceive, + depends upon what he has experienced. Whatever forms a + part of all his experience, forms a part also of all his + conceptions, and appears to him universal and necessary, + though really, for aught he knows, having no existence + beyond certain narrow limits. The habit, however, of + philosophical analysis, of which it is the surest effect + to enable the mind to command, instead of being + commanded by, the laws of the merely passive part of its + own nature, and which, by showing to us that things are + not necessarily connected in fact because their ideas + are connected in our minds, is able to loosen + innumerable associations which reign despotically over + the undisciplined mind; this habit is not without power + even over those associations which the philosophical + school, of which I have been speaking, regard as connate + and instinctive. I am convinced that any one accustomed + to abstraction and analysis, who will fairly exert his + faculties for the purpose, will, when his imagination + has once learned to entertain the notion, find no + difficulty in conceiving that in some one, for instance, + of the many firmaments into which sidereal astronomy now + divides the universe, events may succeed one another at + random, without any fixed law; nor can any thing in our + experience, or in our mental nature, constitute a + sufficient, or indeed any, reason for believing that + this is nowhere the case. The grounds, therefore, which + warrant us in rejecting such a supposition with respect + to any of the phenomena of which we have experience, + must be sought elsewhere than in any supposed necessity + of our intellectual faculties. + + "As was observed in a former place, the belief we + entertain in the universality, throughout nature, of the + law of cause and effect, is itself an instance of + induction; and by no means one of the earliest which any + of us, or which mankind in general, can have made. We + arrive at this universal law by generalisation from many + laws of inferior generality. The generalising propensity + which, instinctive or not, is one of the most powerful + principles of our nature, does not indeed wait for the + period when such a generalisation becomes strictly + legitimate. The mere unreasoning propensity to expect + what has been often experienced, doubtless led men to + believe that every thing had a cause, before they could + have conclusive evidence of that truth. But even this + cannot be supposed to have happened until many cases of + causation, or, in other words, many partial uniformities + of sequence, had become familiar. The more obvious of + the particular uniformities suggest and prove the + general uniformity; and that general uniformity, once + established, enables us to prove the remainder of the + particular uniformities of which it is made up. * * * + + "With respect to the general law of causation, it does + appear that there must have been a time when the + universal prevalence of that law throughout nature could + not have been affirmed in the same confident and + unqualified manner as at present. There was a time when + many of the phenomena of nature must have appeared + altogether capricious and irregular, not governed by any + laws, nor steadily consequent upon any causes. Such + phenomena, indeed, were commonly, in that early stage of + human knowledge, ascribed to the direct intervention of + the will of some supernatural being, and therefore still + to a cause. This shows the strong tendency of the human + mind to ascribe every phenomenon to some cause or other; + but it shows also that experience had not, at that time, + pointed out any regular order in the occurrence of those + particular phenomena, nor proved them to be, as we now + know that they are, dependent upon prior phenomena as + their proximate causes. There have been sects of + philosophers who have admitted what they termed Chance + as one of the agents in the order of nature by which + certain classes of events were entirely regulated; which + could only mean that those events did not occur in any + fixed order, or depend upon uniform laws of causation. + * * * + + "The progress of experience, therefore, has dissipated + the doubt which must have rested upon the universality + of the law of causation, while there were phenomena + which seemed to be _sui generis_; not subject to the + same laws with any other class of phenomena, and not as + yet ascertained to have peculiar laws of their own. This + great generalisation, however, might reasonably have + been, as it in fact was by all great thinkers, acted + upon as a probability of the highest order, before there + were sufficient grounds for receiving it as a certainty. + For, whatever has been found true in innumerable + instances, and never found to be false after due + examination in any, we are safe in acting upon as + universal provisionally, until an undoubted exception + appears; provided the nature of the case be such that a + real exception could scarcely have escaped our notice. + When every phenomenon that we ever knew sufficiently + well to be able to answer the question, had a cause on + which it was invariably consequent, it was more rational + to suppose that our inability to assign the causes of + other phenomena arose from our ignorance, than that + there were phenomena which were uncaused, and which + happened accidentally to be exactly those which we had + hitherto had no sufficient opportunity of + studying."--Vol. II. p. 108. + + +_Hypotheses._--Mr Mill's observations on the use of hypotheses in +scientific investigation, except that they are characterized by his +peculiar distinctness and accuracy of thought, do not differ from the +views generally entertained by writers on the subject. We are induced +to refer to the topic, to point out what seems to us a harsh measure +dealt out to the undulatory theory of light--harsh when compared with +the reception given to a theory of Laplace, having for its object to +account for the origin of the planetary system. + +We had occasion to quote a passage from Mr Mill, in which he remarks +that the majority of scientific men seem not yet to have completely +got over the difficulty of conceiving matter to act (contrary to the +old maxim) where it is not; "for though," he says, "they have at last +learned to conceive the sun _attracting_ the earth without any +intervening fluid, they cannot yet conceive the sun _illuminating_ the +earth without some such medium." But it is not only this difficulty +(which doubtless, however, is felt) of conceiving the sun illuminating +the earth without any medium by which to communicate its influence, +which leads to the construction of the hypothesis, either of an +undulating ether, or of emitted particles. The analogy of the other +senses conducts us almost irresistibly to the imagination of some such +medium. The nerves of sense are, apparently, in all cases that we can +satisfactorily investigate, affected by contact, by impulse. The nerve +of sight itself, we know, when touched or pressed upon, gives out the +sensation of light. These reasons, in the first place, conduct us to +the supposition of some medium, having immediate communication with +the eye; which medium, though we are far from saying that its +existence is established, is rendered probable by the explanation it +affords of optical phenomena. At the same time it is evident that the +hypothesis of an undulating ether, assumes a fluid or some medium, the +existence of which cannot be directly ascertained. Thus stands the +hypothesis of a luminiferous ether--in what must be allowed to be a +very unsatisfactory condition. But a condition, we think, very +superior to the astronomical speculation of Laplace, which Mr Mill, +after scrutinizing the preceding hypothesis with the utmost +strictness, is disposed to treat with singular indulgence. + + "The speculation is," we may as well quote throughout Mr + Mill's words, "that the atmosphere of the sun originally + extended to the present limits of the solar system: from + which, by the process of cooling, it has contracted to + its present dimensions; and since, by the general + principles of mechanics, the rotation of the sun and its + accompanying atmosphere must increase as rapidly as its + volume diminishes, the increased centrifugal force + generated by the more rapid rotation, overbalancing the + action of gravitation, would cause the sun to abandon + successive rings of vaporous matter, which are supposed + to have condensed by cooling, and to have become our + planets. + + "There is in this theory," Mr Mill proceeds, "no unknown + substance introduced upon supposition, nor any unknown + property or law ascribed to a known substance. The known + laws of matter authorize us to suppose, that a body + which is constantly giving out so large an amount of + heat as the sun is, must be progressively cooling, and + that by the process of cooling it must contract; if, + therefore, we endeavour, from the present state of that + luminary, to infer its state in a time long past, we + must necessarily suppose that its atmosphere extended + much further than at present, and we are entitled to + suppose that it extended as far as we can trace those + effects which it would naturally leave behind it on + retiring; and such the planets are. These suppositions + being made, it follows from known laws that successive + zones of the solar atmosphere would be abandoned; that + these would continue to revolve round the sun with the + same velocity as when they formed part of his substance, + and that they would cool down, long before the sun + himself, to any given temperature, and consequently to + that at which the greater part of the vaporous matter of + which they consisted would become liquid or solid. The + known law of gravitation would then cause them to + agglomerate in masses, which would assume the shape our + planets actually exhibit; would acquire, each round its + own axis, a rotatory movement; and would in that state + revolve, as the planets actually do, about the sun, in + the same direction with the sun's rotation, but with + less velocity, and each of them in the same periodic + time which the sun's rotation occupied when his + atmosphere extended to that point; and this also M. + Comte has, by the necessary calculations, ascertained to + be true, within certain small limits of error. There is + thus in Laplace's theory nothing hypothetical; it is an + example of legitimate reasoning from a present effect to + its past cause, according to the known laws of that + case; it assumes nothing more than that objects which + really exist, obey the laws which are known to be obeyed + by all terrestrial objects resembling them."--Vol. II. + p. 27. + +Now, it seems to us that there is quite as much of hypothesis in this +speculation of Laplace as in the undulatory theory of light. This +atmosphere of the sun extending to the utmost limits of our planetary +system! What proof have we that it ever existed? what possible +grounds have we for believing, what motive even for imagining such a +thing, but the very same description of proof given and rejected for +the existence of a luminiferous ether--namely, that it enables us to +explain certain events supposed to result from it? Nor is the thing +here imagined any the less a novelty, because it bears the old name of +an atmosphere. An atmosphere containing in itself all the various +materials which compose our earth, and whatever else may enter into +the composition of the other planets, is as violent a supposition as +an ether, not perceptible to the senses except by its influence on the +nerves of sight. And this cooling down of the sun! What fact in our +experience enables us to advance such a supposition? We might as well +say that the sun was getting hotter every year, or harder or softer, +or larger or smaller. Surely Mr Mill could not have been serious when +he says, that "the known laws of matter authorize us to suppose, that +a body which is constantly _giving out so large an amount of heat_ as +the sun is, must be progressively cooling"--knowing, as we do, as +little how the sun occasions heat as how it produces light. Neither +can it be contended that because no absolutely new substance, or new +property of matter, is introduced, but a fantastic conception is +framed out of known substances and known properties, that therefore +there is less of rash conjecture in the supposition. In fine, it must +be felt by every one who reads the account of this speculation of +Laplace, that the only evidence which produces the least effect upon +his mind, is the corroboration which it receives from the calculations +of the mathematician--a species of proof which Mr Mill himself would +not estimate very highly. + +Many are the topics which are made to reflect a new light as Mr Mill +passes along his lengthened course; we might quote as instances, his +chapters on _Analogy_ and the _Calculation of Chances_: and many are +the grave and severe discussions that would await us were we to +proceed to the close of his volumes, especially to that portion of his +work where he applies the canons of science to investigations which +relate to human nature and the characters of men. But enough for the +present. We repeat, in concluding, the same sentiment that we +expressed at the commencement, that such a work as this goes far to +redeem the literature of our age from the charge of frivolity and +superficiality. Those who have been trained in a different school of +thinking, those who have adopted the metaphysics of the transcendental +philosophy, will find much in these volumes to dissent from; but no +man, be his pretensions or his tenets what they may, who has been +accustomed to the study of philosophy, can fail to recognize and +admire in this author that acute, patient, enlarged, and persevering +thought, which gives to him who possesses it the claim and right to +the title of philosopher. There are few men who--applying it to his +own species of excellence--might more safely repeat the _Io sono +anche!_ of the celebrated Florentine. + + + + +MY COUNTRY NEIGHBOURS. + + +People are fond of talking of the hereditary feuds of Italy--the +factions of the Capulets and Montagues, the Orsini and Colonne--and, +more especially, of the memorable _Vendette_ of Corsica--as if hatred +and revenge were solely endemic in the regions of + + "The Pyrenean and the river Po!" + +Mere prejudice! There is as good hating going on in England as +elsewhere. Independent of the personal antipathies generated by +politics, the envy, hatred, and malice arising out of every election +contest, not a country neighbourhood but has its raging factions; and +Browns and Smiths often cherish and maintain an antagonism every whit +as bitter as that of the sanguinary progenitors of Romeo and Juliet. + +I, for instance, who am but a country gentleman in a small way--an +obscure bachelor, abiding from year's end to year's end on my +insignificant farm--have witnessed things in my time, which, had they +been said and done nearer the tropics, would have been cited far and +near in evidence of the turbulence of human passions, and that "the +heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Seeing +that they chanced in a homely parish in Cheshire, no one has been at +the trouble to note their strangeness; though, to own the truth, none +but the actors in the drama (besides myself, a solitary spectator) are +cognizant of its incidents and catastrophe. I might boast, indeed, +that I alone am thoroughly in the secret; for it is the spectator only +who competently judges the effects of a scene; and merely changing the +names, for reasons easily conceivable, I ask leave to relate in the +simplest manner a few facts in evidence of my assertion, that England +has its Capuletti e Montecchi as well as Verona. + +In the first place, let me premise that I am neither of a condition of +life, nor condition of mind, to mingle as a friend with those of whose +affairs I am about to treat so familiarly, being far too crotchety a +fellow not to prefer a saunter with my fishing-tackle on my back, or +an evening tête-à-tête with my library of quaint old books, to all the +good men's feasts ever eaten at the cost of a formal country visit. +Nevertheless, I am not so cold of heart as to be utterly devoid of +interest in the destinies of those whose turrets I see peering over +the woods that encircle my corn-fields; and as the good old +housekeeper, who for these thirty years past has presided over my +household, happens to have grandchildren high in service in what are +called the two great families in the neighbourhood, scarcely an event +or incident passes within their walls that does not find an echo in +mine. So much in attestation of my authority. But for such an +introduction behind the scenes, much of the stage business of this +curious drama would have escaped my notice, or remained +incomprehensible. + +I am wrong to say the two great "families;" I should have said the two +great "houses." At the close of the last century, indeed, our parish +of Lexley contained but one; one which had stood there since the days +of the first James, nay, even earlier--a fine old manorial hall of +grand dimensions and stately architecture, of the species of mixed +Gothic so false in taste, but so ornamental in effect, which is +considered as betraying the first symptoms of Italian innovation. + +The gardens extending in the rear of the house were still more +decidedly in the Italian taste, having clipped evergreens and avenues +of pyramidal yews, which, combined with the intervening statues, +imparted to them something of the air of a cemetery. There were +fountains, too, which, in the memory of man, had been never known to +play, the marble basins being, if possible, still greener than the +grim visages of the fauns and dryads standing forlorn on their +dilapidated pedestals amid the neglected alleys. + +The first thing I can remember of Lexley Hall, was peeping as a child +through the stately iron gratings of the garden, that skirted a +by-road leading from my grandfather's farm. The desolateness of the +place overawed my young heart. In summer time the parterres were +overgrown into a wilderness. The plants threw up their straggling arms +so high, that the sunshine could hardly find its way to the quaint old +dial that stood there telling its tale of time, though no man +regarded; and the cordial fragrance of the strawberry-beds, mingling +with entangled masses of honeysuckle in their exuberance of midsummer +blossom, seemed to mock me, as I loitered in the dusk near the old +gateway, with the tantalizing illusions of a fairy-tale--the +Barmecide's feast, or Prince Desire surveying his princess through the +impermeable walls of her crystal palace. + +But if the enjoyment of the melancholy old gardens of Lexley Hall were +withheld from _me_, no one else seemed to find pleasure or profit +therein. Sir Laurence Altham, the lord of the manor and manor-house, +was seldom resident in the country. Though a man of mature years, (I +speak of the close of the last century,) he was still a man of +pleasure--the ruined hulk of the gallant vessel which, early in the +reign of George III., had launched itself with unequalled brilliancy +on the sparkling current of London life. + +At that time, I have heard my grandfather say there was not a mortgage +on the Lexley estate! The timber was notoriously the finest in the +county. A whole navy was comprised in one of its coppices; and the +arching avenues were imposing as the aisles of our Gothic minsters. +Alas! it needed the lapse of only half a dozen years to lay bare to +the eye of every casual traveller the ancient mansion, so long + + "Bosom'd high in tufted trees," + +and only guessed at till you approached the confines of the +court-yard. + +It was hazard that effected this. The dice-box swept those noble +avenues from the face of the estate. Soon after Sir Laurence's coming +of age, almost before the church-bells had ceased to announce the +joyous event of the attainment of his majority, he was off to the +Continent--Paris--Italy--I know not where, and was thenceforward only +occasionally heard of in Cheshire as the ornament of the Sardinian or +Austrian courts. But these tidings were usually accompanied by a +shaking of the head from the old family steward. The timber was to be +thinned anew--the tenants to be again amerced. Sir Laurence evidently +looked upon the Lexley property as a mere hotbed for his vices. At +last the old steward turned surly to our enquiries, and would answer +no further questions concerning his master. My grandfather's small +farm was the only plot of ground in the parish that did not belong to +the estate; and from him the faithful old servant was as careful to +conceal the family disgraces, as to maintain the honour of Sir +Laurence's name in the ears of his grumbling tenants. + +The truth, however, could not long be withheld. Chaisefuls of +suspicious-looking men in black arrived at the hall; loungers, +surveyors, auctioneers--I know not what. There was talk in the parish +about foreclosing a mortgage, no one exactly understood why, or by +whom. But it was soon clear that Wightman, the old steward, was no +longer the great man at Lexley. These strangers bade him come here and +go there exactly as they chose, and, unhappily, they saw fit to make +his comings and goings so frequent and so humiliating, that before the +close of the summer the old servitor betook himself to his rest in a +spot where all men cease from troubling. The leaves that dreary autumn +fell upon his grave. + +According to my grandfather's account, however, few even of his +village contemporaries grieved for old Wightman. They felt that +Providence knew best; that the old man was happily spared the +mortification of all that was likely to ensue. For before another year +was out the ring fence, which had hitherto encircled the Lexley +property, was divided within itself; a paltry distribution of about a +hundred acres alone remaining attached to the old hall. The rest was +gone! The rest was the property of the foreclosee of that hateful +mortgage. + +Within view of the battlements of the old manor-house, nearly a +hundred workmen were soon employed in digging the foundations of a +modern mansion of the noblest proportions. The new owner of the +estate, though only a manufacturer from Congleton, chose to dwell in a +palace; and by the time his splendid Doric temple was complete, under +the name of Lexley Park, the vain-glorious proprietor, Mr Sparks, had +taken his seat in Parliament for a neighbouring borough. + +Little was known of him in the neighbourhood beyond his name and +calling; yet already his new tenants were prepared to oppose and +dislike him. Though they knew quite as little personally of the young +baronet by whom they had been sold into bondage to the unpopular +clothier--him, with the caprice of ignorance, they chose to prefer. +They were proud of the old family--proud of the hereditary lords of +the soil--proud of a name connecting itself with the glories of the +reign of Elizabeth, and the loyalty shining, like a sepulchral lamp, +through the gloomy records of the House of Stuart. The banners and +escutcheons of the Althams were appended in their parish church. The +family vault sounded hollow under their head whenever they approached +its altar. Where was the burial-place of the manufacturer? In what +obscure churchyard existed the mouldering heap that covered the +remains of the sires of Mr Jonas Sparks? Certainly not at Lexley! +Lexley knew not, and cared not to know, either him or his. It was no +fault of the parish that its young baronet had proved a spendthrift +and alienated the inheritance of his fathers; and, but that he had +preserved the manor-house from desecration, they would perhaps have +ostracized him altogether, as having lent his aid to disgrace their +manor with so noble a structure as the porticoed façade of Lexley +Park! + +Meanwhile the shrewd Jonas was fully aware of his unpopularity and its +origin; and, during a period of three years, he allowed his +ill-advised subjects to chew, unmolested, the cud of their discontent. +Having a comfortable residence at the further extremity of the county, +he visited Lexley only to overlook the works, or notice the placing of +the costly new furniture; and the grumblers began to fancy they were +to profit as little by their new masters as by their old. The steward +who replaced the trusty Wightman, and had been instructed to legislate +among the cottages with a lighter hand, and distribute Christmas +benefaction in a double proportion, was careful to circulate in the +parish an impression that Mr Sparks and his family did not care to +inhabit the new house till the gardens were in perfect order, the +succession houses in full bearing, and the mansion thoroughly +seasoned. But the Lexleyans guessed the truth, that he had no mind to +confront the first outbreak of their ill-will. + +Nearly four years elapsed before he took possession of the place; four +years, during which Sir Laurence Altham had never set foot in the +hall, and was heard of only through his follies and excesses; and when +Mr Sparks at length made his appearance, with his handsome train of +equipages, and surrounded by his still handsomer family, so far from +meeting him with sullen silence, the tenantry began to regret that +they had not erected a triumphal arch of evergreens for his entrance +into the park, as had been proposed by the less eager of the +Althamites. + +After all, their former prejudice in favour of the young baronet was +based on very shallow foundations. What had he ever done for them +except raise their rents, and prosecute their trespasses? It was +nothing that his forefathers had endowed almshouses for their support, +or served up banquets for their delectation--Sir Laurence was an +absentee--Sir Laurence was as the son of the stranger. The fine old +kennel stood cold and empty, reminding them that to preserve their +foxes was no longer an article of Lexley religion; and if any of the +old October, brewed at the birth of the present baronet, still filled +the oaken hogsheads in the cellars of the hall, what mattered it to +them? No chance of their being broached, unless to grace the funeral +feast of the lord of the manor. + +To Jonas Sparks, Esq. M.P., accordingly, they dedicated their +allegiance. A few additional chaldrons of coals and pairs of blankets, +the first frosty winter, bound them his slaves for ever. Food, physic, +and wine, were liberally distributed to the sick and aged whenever +they repaired for relief to the Doric portico; and, with the usual +convenient memory of the vulgar, the Lexleyans soon began to remember +of the Altham family only their recent backslidings and ancient feudal +oppressions: while of the Sparkses they chose to know only what was +evident to all eyes--viz., that their hands were open and faces +comely. + +Into their hearts--more especially into that of Jonas, the head of the +house--they examined not at all; and were ill-qualified to surmise the +intensity of bitterness with which, while contemplating the beauty and +richness of his new domain, he beheld the turrets of the old hall +rising like a statue of scorn above the intervening woods. There stood +the everlasting monument of the ancient family--there the emblem of +their pride, throwing its shadow, as it were, over his dawning +prosperity! But for that force of contrast thus afforded, he would +scarcely have perceived the newness of all the objects around him--the +glare of the fresh freestone--the nakedness of the whited walls. A few +stately old oaks and elms, apparently coeval with the ancient +structure, which a sort of religious feeling had preserved from the +axe, that they might afford congenial shade to the successor of its +founder, seemed to impart meanness and vulgarity to the tapering +verdure of _his_ plantations, his modern trees--his pert poplars and +mean larches--his sycamores and planes. Even the incongruity between +his solid new paling and the decayed and sun-bleached wood of the +venerable fence to which it adjoined, with its hoary beard of silvery +lichen, was an eyesore to him. Every passer-by might note the limit +and circumscription dividing the new place from the ancient seat of +the lords of the manor. + +Yet was the landscape of Lexley Park one of almost unequalled beauty. +The Dee formed noble ornament to its sweeping valleys; while the noble +acclivities were clothed with promising woods, opening by rich vistas +to a wide extent of champaign country. A fine bridge of granite, +erected by the late Sir Windsor Altham, formed a noble object from the +windows of the new mansion; and but for the evidence of the venerable +pile, that stood like an abdicated monarch surveying its lost +dominions, there existed no external demonstration that Lexley Park +had not from the beginning of time formed the estated seat of the +Sparkses. + +The neighbouring families, if "neighbouring" could be called certain +of the nobility and gentry who resided at ten miles' distance, were +courteously careful to inspire the new settler with a belief that they +at least had forgotten any antecedent state of things at Lexley; for +they had even reason to congratulate themselves on the change. Jonas +had long been strenuously active in the House of Commons in promoting +county improvements. Jonas was useful as a magistrate, and invaluable +as a liberal contributor to the local charities. During the first five +years of his occupancy, he did more for Lexley and its inhabitants +than the half-dozen previous baronets of the House of Altham. + +Of the man he had superseded, meanwhile, it was observed that Mr +Sparks was judiciously careful to forbear all mention. It might have +been supposed that he had purchased the estate of the Crown or the +Court of Chancery, so utterly ignorant did he appear of the age, +habits, and whereabout of his predecessor; and when informed by Sir +John Wargrane, one of his wealthy neighbours, that young Altham was +disgracing himself again--that at the public gaming-tables at Toplitz +he had been a loser of thirty thousand pounds--the cunning _parvenu_ +listened with an air of as vague indifference as if he were not +waiting with breathless anxiety the gradual dissipation of the funds, +secured to the young spendthrift by the transfer of his estate, to +grasp at the small remaining portion of his property. Unconsciously, +when the tale of Sir Laurence's profligacy met his ear, he clenched +his griping hand, as though it already recognized its hold upon the +destined spoil, but not a word did he utter. + +Meanwhile, the family of the new squire of Lexley were winning golden +opinions on all sides. "The boys were brave--the girls were fair," the +mother virtuous, pious, and unpretending. It would have been +scandalous, indeed, to sneer to shame the modest cheerfulness of such +people, because their ancestors had not fought at the Crusades. By +degrees, they assumed an honourable and even eminent position in the +county; and the first time Sir Laurence Altham condescended to visit +the county-palatine, he heard nothing but commendations and admiration +of the charming family at Lexley Park. + +"Charming family!--a Jonas Sparks, and charming!" was his +supercilious reply. "I rejoice to find that the _fumier_ I have been +forced to fling on my worn-out ancestral estate is fertilizing its +barrenness. The village is probably the better for the change. But, as +regards the society, I must be permitted to mistrust the attractions +of the brood of a Congleton manufacturer." + +The young baronet, who now, though still entitled to be called young, +was disfigured by the premature defeatures of a vicious life, +mistrusted it all the more, when, on visiting the old hall, he was +forced to recognize the improvements effected in the neighbouring +property (that he should be forced to call it "_neighbouring_!") by +the judicious administration of the new owner. It was impossible to +deny that Mr Sparks had doubled its value, while enhancing its +beauties. The low grounds were drained, the high lands planted, the +river widened, the forestry systematically organized. The estate +appeared to have attained new strength and vigour when dissevered from +the old manor-house; whose shadow might be supposed to have exercised +a baleful influence on the lands wherever it presided. + +But it was not his recognition of this that was likely to animate the +esteem of Sir Laurence Altham for Mr Jonas Sparks. On the contrary, he +felt every accession of value to the Lexley property as so much +subtracted from his belongings; and his detestation of the upstarts, +whose fine mansion was perceptible from his lordly towers--like a blot +upon the fairness of the landscape--increased with the increase of +their prosperity. + +Without having expected to take delight in a sojourn at Lexley Hall--a +spot where he had only resided for a few weeks now and then, from the +period of his early boyhood--he was not prepared for the excess of +irritation that arose in his heart on witnessing the total +estrangement of the retainers of his family. For the mortification of +seeing a fine new house, with gorgeous furniture, and a pompous +establishment, he came armed to the teeth. But no presentiments had +forewarned him, that at Lexley the living Althams were already as much +forgotten as those who were sleeping in the family vault. The sudden +glow that pervaded his whole frame when he chanced to encounter on the +highroad the rich equipage of the Sparkses; or the imprecation that +burst from his lips, when, on going to the window of a morning to +examine the state of the weather for the day, the first objects that +struck him was the fair mansion in the plain below, laughing as it +were in the sunshine, the deer grouped under its fine old trees, and +the river rippling past its lawns as if delighting in their +verdure----Yes! there was decided animosity betwixt the hill and the +valley. + +Every successive season served to quicken the pulses of this growing +hatred. Whether on the spot or at a distance, a thousand aggravations +sprang up betwixt the parties: disputes between gamekeepers, quarrels +between labourers, encroachments by tenants. Every thing and nothing +was made the groundwork of ill-will. To Sir Laurence Altham's +embittered feelings, the very rooks of Lexley Park seemed evermore to +infringe upon the privileges of the rookery at Lexley Hall; and when, +in the parish church, the new squire (or rather his workmen, for he +was absent at the time attending his duties in Parliament) +inadvertently broke off the foot of a marble cherub, weeping its +alabaster tears, at the angle of a monument to the memory of a certain +Sir Wilfred Altham, of the time of James II., in raising the woodwork +of a pew occupied by Mr Sparks's family, the rage of Sir Laurence was +so excessive as to be almost deserving of a strait-waistcoat. + +The enmity of the baronet was all the more painful to himself that he +felt it to be harmless against its object. In every way, Lexley Park +had the best of it. Jonas Sparks was not only rich in a noble income, +but in a charming wife and promising family. Every thing prospered +with him; and, as to mere inferiority of precedence, it was well known +that he had refused a baronetcy; and many people even surmised that, +so soon as he was able to purchase another borough, and give a seat in +Parliament to his second son, as well as resign his own to the eldest, +he would be promoted to the Upper House. + +The only means of vengeance, therefore, possessed by the vindictive +man whose follies and vices had been the means of creating this +perpetual scourge to his pride, was withholding from him the purchase +of the remaining lands indispensable to the completion of his estate, +more especially as regarded the water-courses, which, at Lexley Park, +were commanded by the sluices of the higher grounds of the Hall; and +mighty was the oath sworn by Sir Laurence, that come what might, +however great his exigencies or threatening his poverty, nothing +should induce him to dispose of another acre to Jonas Sparks. He was +even at the trouble of executing a will, in order to introduce a +clause imposing the same reservation upon the man to whom he devised +his small remaining property--the heir-at-law, to whom, had he died +intestate, it would have descended without conditions. + +"The Congleton shopkeepers," muttered he, (whenever, in his solitary +evening rides, he caught sight of the rich plate-glass windows of the +new mansion, burnished by the setting sun,) "shall never, never lord +it under the roof of my forefathers! Wherever else he may set his +plebeian foot, Lexley Hall shall be sacred. Rather see the old place +burned to the ground--rather set fire to it with my own hands--than +conceive that, when I am in my grave, it could possibly be subjected +to the rule of such a barbarian!" + +For it had reached the ears of Sir Laurence--of course, with all the +exaggeration derived from passing through the medium of village +gossip--that a thousand local legends concerning the venerable +mansion, sanctified by their antiquity in the ears of the family, +afforded a fertile source of jesting to Jonas Sparks. The Hall +abounded in concealed staircases and iron hiding-places, connected +with a variety of marvellous traditions of the civil wars; besides a +walled-up suite of chambers, haunted, as becomes a walled-up suite of +chambers; and justice-rooms and tapestried-rooms, to which the long +abandonment of the house, and the heated imaginations of the few +menials left in charge of its desolate vastness, attributed romances +likely enough to have provoked the laughter of a matter-of-fact man +like the owner of Lexley Park. But neither Sir Laurence nor his old +servants were likely to forgive this insult offered to the family +legends of a house which had little else left to boast of. Even the +neighbouring families were displeased to hear them derided; and my +grandfather never liked to hear a joke on the subject of the +coach-and-four which was said to have driven into the court-yard of +the Hall on the eve of the execution of the rebel lords in 1745, +having four headless inmates, who were duly welcomed as guests by old +Sir Robert Altham. Nay, as a child, I had so often thrilled on my +nurse's knees during the relation of this spectral visitation, that I +own I felt indignant if any one presumed to laugh at a tale which had +made me quake for fear. + +Among those who were known to resent the familiar tone in which Mr +Sparks had been heard to criticise the pomps and vanities exhibited at +Lexley Hall by the Althams of the olden time, was a certain General +Stanley, who, inhabiting a fine seat of his own at about ten miles' +distance, was fond of bringing over his visitors to visit the old +Hall, as an interesting specimen of county antiquity. _He_ knew the +peculiarities of the place, and could repeat the traditions connected +with the hiding-places better than the housekeeper herself; and I have +heard her say it was a pleasure to hear him relating these historical +anecdotes with all the fire of an old soldier, and see his venerable +grey hair blown about as he stood with his party on the battlements, +pointing out to the ladies the fine range of territory formerly +belonging to the Althams. The old lady protested that the general was +nearly as much grieved as herself to behold the old mansion so shorn +of its beams; and certain it is, that once when, on visiting the hall +after Sir Laurence had been some years an absentee, he found the grass +growing among the disjointed stones of the cloisters and justice-hall, +he made a handsome present to one of the housekeeper's nephews, on +condition of his keeping the purlieus of the venerable mansion free +from such disgraceful evidences of neglect. + +All this eventually reached the ears of the baronet; but instead of +making him angry, as might have been expected, from one so tetchy and +susceptible, he never encountered General Stanley, either in town or +country, without demonstrations of respect. Though too reserved and +morose for conversation, Sir Laurence was observed to take off his hat +to him with a respect he was never seen to show towards the king or +queen. + +About this time I began to take personal interest in the affairs of +the neighbourhood, though my own were now of a nature to engross my +attention. By my grandfather's death, I had recently come into the +enjoyment of the small inheritance which has sufficed to the happiness +of my life; and, renouncing the profession for which I was educated, +settled myself permanently at Lexley. + +Well do I remember the melancholy face with which the good old rector, +the very first evening we spent together, related to me in confidence +that he had three years' dues in arrear to him from Lexley Hall; but +that so wretched was said to be the state of Sir Laurence's +embarrassments, that, for more than a year, his dread of arrest had +kept him a close prisoner in his house in London. + +"We have not seen him here these six years!" observed Dr Whittingham; +"and I doubt whether he will ever again set foot in the county. Since +an execution was put into the Hall, he has never crossed the +threshold, and I suspect never will. Far better were he to dispose of +the property at once! Dismembered as it is, what pleasure can it +afford him? And, since he is unlikely to marry and have heirs, there +is less call upon him to retain this remaining relic of family pride; +yet I am assured--nay, have good reason to know, that he has refused a +very liberal offer on the part of Mr Sparks. Malicious people do say, +by the way, that it was by the advice of Sparks's favourite attorneys +the execution was enforced, and that no means have been left +unattempted to disgust him with the place. Yet he is firm, you see, +and persists in disappointing his creditors, and depriving himself of +the comforts of life, merely in order that he may die, as his fathers +did before him--the lord of Lexley Hall!" + +"I don't wonder!" said I, with the dawning sentiments of a landed +proprietor--"'Tis a splendid old house, even in its present state of +degradation; and, by Jove! I honour his pertinacity." + +Thus put upon the scent, I sometimes fancied I could detect wistful +looks on the part of my prosperous neighbour of the Park, when, in the +course of Dr Whittingham's somewhat lengthy sermons, he directed his +eyes towards the carved old Gothic tribune, containing the family-pew +of the Althams, in the parish church; and, whenever I happened to +encounter him in the neighbourhood of the Hall, his face was so +pointedly averted from the house, as if the mere object were an +offence. I could not but wonder at his vexation; being satisfied in my +own mind, that sooner or later the remaining heritage of the +spendthrift must fall to his share. + +Judge, therefore, of my surprise, when one fine morning, as I +sauntered into the village, I found the whole population gathered in +groups on the little market-place, and discovered from the incoherent +exclamations of the crowd, that "the new proprietor of the Hall had +just driven through in a chaise-and-four!" + +Yes--"the new proprietor!" The place was sold! The good doctor's +prediction was verified. Sir Laurence was never more to return to +Lexley Hall! + +The satisfaction of the villagers almost equalled their surprise on +finding that General Stanley was their new landlord. It suited them +much better that there should be two families settled on the property +than one; and as it was pretty generally reported, that, in the event +of Sparks becoming the purchaser, he intended to demolish the old +house, and reconsolidate the estate around his own more commodious +mansion, they were right glad to find it rescued from such a +sentence--General Stanley, who was the father of a family, would +probably settle the hall on one of his daughters, after placing it in +the state of repair so much needed. + +When the chaise-and-four returned, therefore, a few hours afterwards, +through the village, the General was loudly cheered by his subjects. +His partiality for the place was so well known at Lexley, that already +these people seemed to behold in him the guardian of a monument so +long the object of their pride. + +For my own part, nothing surprised me so much in the business as that +Sparks should have allowed the purchase to slip through his fingers. +It was worth thrice as much to _him_ as to any body else. It was the +keystone of his property. It was the one thing needful to render +Lexley Park the most perfect seat in the county. But I was not slow in +learning (for every thing transpires in a small country neighbourhood) +that whatever _my_ surprise on finding that the old Hall had changed +its master, that of Sparks was far more overwhelming; that he was +literally frantic on finding himself frustrated in expectations which +formed the leading interest of his declining years. For the progress +of time which had made _me_ a man and a landed proprietor, had +converted the stout active squire into an infirm old man; and it was +his absorbing wish to die sole owner of the whole property to which +the baronets of the Altham family were born. + +He even indulged in expressions of irritation, which nearly proved the +means of commencing this new neighbourship by a duel; accusing General +Stanley of having possessed himself by unfair means of Sir Laurence's +confidence, and employed agents, underhand, to effect the purchase. In +consequence of these groundless representations, it transpired in the +country that the decayed baronet had actually volunteered the offer of +the estate to the veteran proprietor of Stanley Manor; that he had +_solicited_ him to become the proprietor, and even accommodated him +with peculiar facilities of payment, on condition of his inserting in +the title-deeds an express undertaking, never to dispose of the old +Hall, or any portion of the property, to Jonas Sparks of Lexley Park, +or his heirs for ever. The solicitor by whom, under Sir Laurence's +direction, the deeds had been prepared, saw fit to divulge this +singular specification, rather than that a hostile encounter should +run the risk of embruing in blood the hands of two grey haired men. + +Excepting as regarded the disappointment of our wealthy neighbour, all +was now established on the happiest footing at Lexley. The reparation +instantly commenced by the General, gave employment throughout the +winter to our workmen; and the evils arising from an absentee landlord +began gradually to disappear. It was a great joy to me to perceive +that the new proprietor of the Hall had the good taste to preserve the +antique character of the place in the minutest portion of his +alterations; and though the old gardens were no longer a wilderness, +not a shrub was displaced--not a mutilated statue removed. The +furniture had been sold off at the time of the execution; and that +which came down in cart-loads from town to replace it, was rigidly in +accordance with the semi-Gothic architecture of the lofty chambers. +Poor Sparks must have been doubly mortified; for not only did he find +his old eyesore converted into an irremediable evil by the restoration +of the Hall, but the supremacy hitherto maintained in the +neighbourhood by the modern elegance of his house and establishment, +was thrown into the shade by the rich and tasteful arrangements of the +Hall. + +From the contracted look of his forehead, and sudden alteration of his +appearance, I have reason to think he was beginning to undergo all the +moral martyrdom sustained for thirty years past by the unfortunate Sir +Laurence Altham; and were I not by nature the most contented of men, +it would have sufficiently reconciled me to the mediocrity of my +fortunes, to see that these two great people of my neighbourhood--the +nobly-descended baronet and rich _parvenu_--were miserable men; that, +so long as I could remember, one or other of them had been given over +to surliness and discontent. + +Before the close of the year the grand old Hall had become one of the +noblest seats in the county. There was talk about it in all the +country round, and even the newspapers took notice of its renovation, +and of General Stanley's removal thither from Stanley Manor. Many +people, of the species who love to detect spots in the sun, were +careful to point out the insufficiency of the estate, as at present +constituted, to maintain so fine a house. But, after all, what +mattered this to General Stanley, who had a fine rent-roll elsewhere? + +The first thing he did, on taking possession, was to give a grand ball +to the neighbourhood; nor was it till the whole house was lighted up +for this festive occasion, that people were fully aware of the +grandeur of its proportions. He was good enough to send me an +invitation on so especial an occasion. But already I had imbibed the +distaste which has pursued me through life for what is called society; +and I accordingly contented myself with surveying from a distance the +fine effect produced by the light streaming from the multitude of +windows, and exhibiting to the whole country round the gorgeous nature +of the decorations within. To own the truth, I could scarcely forbear +regretting, as I surveyed them, the gloomy dilapidation of the +venerable mansion. This modernized antiquity was a very different +thing from the massy grandeur of its neglected years; and I am afraid +I loved the old house better with the weeds springing from its +crevices, than with all this carving and gilding, this ebony, and +iron, and light. + +The people of Lexley imagined that nothing would induce the Sparks's +family to be seen under General Stanley's roof. But we were mistaken. +So much the contrary, that the squire of Lexley Park made a particular +point of being the first and latest of the guests--not only because +his reconciliation with his new neighbour was so recent, but from not +choosing to authenticate, by his absence, the rumours of his grievous +disappointment. + +For all the good he was likely to derive from his visit, the poor man +had better have stayed away; for that unlucky night laid foundations +of evil for him and his, far greater than any he had incurred from the +animosity of Sir Laurence. Nay, when in the sequel these results +became matter of public commentation, superstitious people were not +wanting to hint that the evil spirit, traditionally said to haunt one +of the wings of the old manor, and to have manifested itself on more +than one occasion to members of the Altham family, (and more +especially to the late worthless proprietor of the Hall,) had acquired +a fatal power over the two supplanters of the ruined family the moment +they crossed the threshold. + +General Stanley, after marrying late in life, had been some years a +widower--a widower with two daughters, his co-heiresses. The elder of +these young ladies was a hopeless invalid, slightly deformed, and so +little attractive in person, or desirous to attract, that there was +every prospect of the noble fortunes of the General centring in her +sister. Yet this sister, this girl, had little need of such an +accession to her charms; for she was one of those fortunate beings +endowed not only with beauty and excellence, but with a power of +pleasing not always united with even a combination of merit and +loveliness. + +Every body agreed that Mary Stanley was charming. Old and young, rich +and poor, all loved her, all delighted in her. It is true, the good +rector's maiden sisters privately hinted to me their horror of the +recklessness with which--sometimes with her sister, oftener without, +but wholly unattended--she drove her little pony-chaise through the +village, laughing like a madcap at pranks of a huge Newfoundland dog +named Sergeant, the favourite of General Stanley, which, while +escorting the young ladies, used to gambol into the cottages, overset +furniture and children, and scamper out again amid a general uproar. +For though Miss Mary was but sixteen, the starched spinsters decided +that she was much too old for such folly; and that, if the General +intended to present her at court, it was high time for her to lay +aside the hoyden manners of childhood. + +But, as every one argued against them, why should this joyous, bright, +and beautiful creature lay aside what became her so strangely? Mary +Stanley was not made for the formalities of what is called +high-breeding. Her light, easy, sinuous figure, did not lend itself to +the rigid deportment of a prude; and her gay laughing eyes, and +dimpled mouth, were ill calculated to grace a dignified position. The +long ringlets of her profuse auburn hair were always out of +order--either streaming in the wind, or straying over her white +shoulders--her long lashes and beautifully defined eyebrows of the +same rich tint, alone preserving any thing like uniformity--a +uniformity which, combined with her almost Grecian regularity of +features, gave her, on the rare occasions when her countenance and +figure were at rest, the air of some nymph or dryad of ancient +sculpture. But to compare Mary Stanley to any thing of marble is +strangely out of place; for her real beauty consisted in the +ever-varying play of her features, and a certain impetuosity of +movement, that would have been a little characteristic of the romp, +but that it was restrained by the spell of feminine sensibility. Heart +was evidently the impulse of every look and every gesture. + +For a man of my years, methinks I am writing like a lover. And so I +was! From the first moment I saw that girl, at an humble and +unaspiring distance, I could dream of nothing else. Every thing and +every body seemed fascinated by Mary Stanley. When she walked out into +the fields with the General, her two hands clasping, like those of a +child, her father's arm, his favourite colts used to come neighing +playfully towards them; and not the fiercest dog of his extensive +kennel but, even when unmanageable by the keeper, would creep fawning +to her feet. + +It was strange enough, but still more fortunate, that all the +adoration lavished upon this lovely creature by gentle and simple, +Christian and brute, provoked no apparent jealousy on the part of her +elder sister. Selina Stanley was afflicted with a cold, reserved, +unhappy countenance, only too completely in unison with her +disastrous position. But her heart was perhaps as genuine as her face +was forbidding; for she loved the merry, laughing, handsome Mary, +more as a mother her child, than as a sister nearly of her own +years--that is, exultingly, but anxiously. Every one else foresaw +nothing but prosperity, and joy, and love, in store for Mary. Selina +prayed that it might prove so;--but she prayed with tears in her +eyes, and trembling in her soul! For where are the destinies of +persons thus exquisitely organized--thus full of love and +loveliness--thus readily swayed to joy or sorrow, by the trivial +incidents of life--characterised by what the world calls +happiness--such happiness, I mean, as is enjoyed by the serene and +the prudent, the unexcitable, the unaspiring! Miss Stanley foresaw +only too truly, that the best days likely to be enjoyed by her +sister, were those she was spending under her father's roof--a +general idol--an object of deference and delight to all around. + +At the General's housewarming, though not previously introduced into +society, Mary was the queen of the ball; and all present agreed, that +one of the most pleasing circumstances of the evening was to watch the +animated cordiality with which she flew from one to the other of those +old neighbours of Stanley Manor, (whom she alone had managed to +persuade that a dozen miles was no distance to prevent their accepting +her father's invitation;) and not the most brilliant of her young +friends received a more eager welcome, or more sustained attention +throughout the evening, than the few homely elderly people, (such as +my friends the Whittinghams,) who happened to share the hospitality of +General Stanley. I daresay that even _I_, had I found courage to +accept his invitation, should have received from the young beauty some +gentle word, in addition to the kindly smiles with which she was sure +to return my respectful obeisance whenever we met accidentally in the +village. + +Mary was dressed in white, with a few natural flowers in her hair, +which, owing to the impetuosity of her movements, soon fell out, +leaving only a stray leaf or two, that would have looked ridiculous +any where but among her rich, but dishevelled locks; and the pleasant +anxieties of the evening imparted such a glow to her usually somewhat +pale complexion, that her beauty is said to have been, that night, +almost supernatural. She was more like the creature of a dream than +one of those wooden puppets, who move mechanically through the world +under the name of well brought-up young ladies. + +It will easily be conceived how much this ball, so rare an event in +our quiet neighbourhood, was discussed, not only the following day, +but for days and weeks to come. Even at the rectory I heard of nothing +else; while by my good old housekeeper, who had a son in service at +General Stanley's, and a daughter waiting-maid to Miss Sparks, I was +let in to secrets concerning it of which even the rectory knew +nothing. + +In the first place, though Mr Sparks had peremptorily signified from +the first to his family, his desire that all should accompany him to +Lexley Hall on this trying occasion, (and it was only natural he +should wish to solace his wounded pride, by appearing before his noble +neighbour surrounded by his handsome progeny,) two of his children +had risen up in rebellion against the decree--and for the first +time--for Sparks was happy in a dutiful and well-ordered family. But +the youngest daughter, Kezia, a girl of high spirits and intelligence, +who fancied she had been pointedly slighted by the Misses Stanley, +when, in one of Mary's harum-scarum expeditions on her Shetland pony, +she had passed without recognition the better-mounted young lady of +Lexley Park; and the eldest son, who so positively refused to +accompany his father to the house of a man by whom Mr Sparks had +inconsiderately represented himself as aggrieved, that, for once, the +kind parent was forced to play the tyrant, and insist on his +obedience. + +It was, accordingly, with a very ill grace that these two, the +prettiest of the daughters, and by far the handsomest of his three +handsome sons, made their appearance at the _fête_. But no sooner were +they welcomed by General Stanley and his daughters, than the brother +and sister, who had mutually encouraged each other's disputes, +hastened to recant their opinions. + +"How could you, dearest father, describe this courteous, high-bred old +gentleman, as insolent and overbearing?"--whispered Kezia. + +"How could you possibly suppose that yonder lovely, gracious creature, +intended to treat you with impertinence?"--was the rejoinder of her +brother; and already the Stanleys had two enemies the less among their +neighbours at Lexley Park. + +On the other hand, the General had been forced to have recourse to +severe schooling to bring his daughters to a sense of what was due to +_his guests_, as regarded the family of a man who was known to have +spoken disparagingly of them all. Moreover, if the truth must be +owned, Mary was not altogether free from the prejudices of her caste; +and, proud of her father's noble extraction, was apt to pout her +pretty lip on mention of "the people at Lexley Park;" for the General, +who had no secrets from his girls, had foolishly permitted them to see +certain letters addressed to him by the eccentric Sir Laurence Altham, +justifying himself concerning the peculiar clause introduced into his +deeds of conveyance of his Hall estate, on the grounds of the degraded +origin of "the upstart" he was so malignantly intent on discomposing. + +"They will spoil our ball, dear papa--I _know_ these vulgar people +will completely spoil our ball!" said she. "I think I hear them +announced:--'Mr Jonas Sparks, Miss Basiliza and Miss Kezia +Sparks!'--What names?" + +"The parents of Mr Sparks were dissenters," observed the General, +trying to look severe. "Dissenters are apt to hold to scriptural +names. But _name_ is not _nature_, Mary; and, to judge by appearances, +this man's--this gentleman's--this Mr Sparks's daughters, have every +qualification to be an ornament to society." + +"With all my heart, papa, but I wish it were not ours!" cried the +wayward girl. "On the present occasion, especially, I could spare such +an accession to our circle; for I know that Mr Sparks has presumed to +speak of----" + +She was interrupted by a sterner reproof on the part of the General +than he had ever before administered to his favourite daughter; and +the consequence of this unusual severity was the distinguished +reception bestowed, both by Selina and her sister, on the family from +Lexley Park. + +Next day, however, General Stanley found a totally different cause for +rebuke in the conduct of his dear Mary. + +"You talked to nobody last night, but those Sparks's!" said he. "Lord +Dudley informed me he had asked you to dance three times in vain; and +Lord Robert Stanley assured me _he_ could scarcely get a civil answer +from you!--Yet you found time, Mary, to dance twice in the course of +the evening with that son of Sparks's!" + +"That son of Sparks's, as you so despisingly call him, dearest papa, +is a most charming partner; while Lord Dudley, and my cousin Robert, +are little better than boors. Everard Sparks can talk and dance, as +well as they ride across a country. Not but what he, too, passes for a +tolerable sportsman; and do you know, papa, Mr Sparks is thinking +seriously of setting up a pack of harriers at Lexley?" + +"At Lexley Park!" insisted her father, who chose to enforce the +distinction instituted by Sir Laurence Altham. "I fancy he will have +to ask my permission first. My land lies somewhat inconveniently, in +case I choose to oppose his intentions." + +"But you won't oppose them!--No, no, dear papa, you sha'n't oppose +them!"--cried Mary Stanley, throwing her arms coaxingly round her +father's neck, and imprinting a kiss on his venerable forehead. "_Why_ +should we go on opposing and opposing, when it would be so much +happier for all of us to live together as friends and neighbours?" + +The General surveyed her in silence for some moments as she looked up +lovingly into his face; then gravely, and in silence, unclasped her +arms from his neck. For the first time, he had gazed upon his +favourite child without discerning beauty in her countenance, or +finding favour for her supplications. + +"_My_ opinion of Mr Sparks and his family is not altered since +yesterday," said he coldly, perceiving that she was about to renew her +overtures for a pacification. "Your father's prejudices, Mary, are +seldom so slightly grounded, that the adulation of a few gross +compliments, such as were paid you last night by Mr Everard Sparks, +may suffice for their obliteration. For the future, remember the less +I hear of Lexley Park the better. In a few weeks we shall be in +London, where our sphere is sufficiently removed, I am happy to say, +from that of Mr Jonas Sparks, to secure me against the annoyance of +familiarity with him or his." + +The partiality of his darling Mary for the handsomest and most +agreeable young man who had ever sought to make himself agreeable to +her, had sufficed to turn the arguments of General Stanley as +decidedly _against_ his _parvenu_ neighbours, as, two days before, his +eloquence had been exercised in their defence. + +And now commenced between the young people and their parents, one of +those covert warfares certain to arise from similar interdictions. Mr +Sparks--satisfied that he should have further insults to endure on the +part of General Stanley, in the event of his son pretending to the +hand of the proud old man's daughter--sought a serious explanation +with Everard, on finding that he neglected no opportunity of meeting +Mary Stanley in her drives, and walks, and errands of village +benevolence; and by the remonstrances of one father, and +peremptoriness of the other, the young couple were soon tempted to +seek comforts in mutual confidences. Residing almost within view of +each other, there was no great difficulty in finding occasion for an +interview. They met, moreover, naturally, and without effort, in all +the country houses in the neighbourhood; and so frequently, that I +often wondered they should consider it worth while to hazard the +General's displeasure by partaking a few moments' conversation, every +now and then, among the old thorns by the water-side, just where the +bend of the river secured them from observation; or in the green lane +leading from Lexley Park to my farm, while Miss Stanley took charge of +the pony-chaise during the hasty explanations of the imprudent couple. +Having little to occupy my leisure during the intervals of my +agricultural pursuits, I was constantly running against them, with my +gun on my shoulder or my fishing-rod in my hand. I almost feared young +Sparks might imagine that I was employed by the General as a spy upon +their movements, so fierce a glance did he direct towards me one day +when I was unlucky enough to vault over a hedge within a few yards of +the spot where they were standing together--Miss Mary sobbing like a +child. But, God knows! he was mistaken if he thought I was taking +unfair heed of their proceedings, or likely to gossip indiscreetly +concerning what fell accidentally under my notice. + +Not that a single soul in the neighbourhood approved General Stanley's +opposition to the attachment. On the contrary, from the moment of the +liking between the young people becoming apparent, the whole country +decided that there could not be a more propitious mode of reuniting +the dismembered Lexley estates; for though the General was expressly +debarred from selling Lexley Hall to Sparks or his heirs, he could not +be prevented bequeathing it to his daughters--the heirs of Jonas +Sparks being the children of her body. And thus all objections would +have been remedied. + +But such was not the proud old man's view of the case. He had set his +heart on perpetuating his own name in his family. He had set his +heart on the union of his dear Mary with her cousin Lord Robert +Stanley; and Everard Sparks might have been twice the handsome, manly +young fellow he was--twice the gentleman, and twice the scholar--it +would have pleaded little in his favour against the predetermined +projects of the positive General. There was certainly some excuse for +his ambition on Miss Mary's account. Beauty, merit, fortune, +connexion, every advantage was hers calculated to do honour to a noble +alliance; and as her father often exclaimed, with a bitter sneer, in +answer to the mild pleadings of Selina--"Such a girl as that--a girl +born to be a duchess--to sacrifice herself to the son of a Congleton +manufacturer!" + +Two years did the struggle continue--during the greater part of which +I was a constant eyewitness of the sorrows which so sobered the +impetuous deportment of the light-hearted Mary Stanley. Her father +took her to London, with the project of separation he had haughtily +announced; but only to find, to his amazement, that Eton and Oxford +had placed the son of Mr Sparks of Lexley Park, a member of +Parliament, on as good a footing as himself in nearly all the circles +he frequented. Even when, in the desperation of his fears, he removed +his family to the Continent, the young lover (as became the lover of +so endearing and attractive a creature) followed her, at a distance, +from place to place. At length, one angry day, the General provoked +him to a duel. But Everard would not lift his hand against the father +of his beloved Mary. An insult from General Stanley was not as an +offence from any other man. The only revenge taken by the +high-spirited young man, was to urge the ungenerous conduct of the +father as an argument with the daughter to put an end, by an +elopement, to a state of things too painful to be borne. After much +hesitation, it seems, she most unhappily complied. They were +married--at Naples I think, or Turin, or some other city of Italy, +where we have a diplomatic resident; and after their marriage--poor, +foolish young people!--they went touring it about gaily in the +Archipelago and Levant, waiting a favourable moment to propose a +reconciliation with their respective fathers--as if the wrath and +malediction of parents was so mere a trifle to deal with. + +The first step taken by General Stanley, on learning the ungrateful +rebellion of his favourite child, was to return to England. He seemed +to want to be at home again, the better to enjoy and cultivate his +abhorrence of every thing bearing the despised name of Sparks; for now +began the genuine hatred between the families. Nothing would satisfy +the obstinate old soldier, but that the elder Sparks had, from the +first, secretly encouraged the views of his son upon the heiress of +Lexley Hall; while Mr Sparks naturally resented with enraged spirit +the overbearing tone assumed by his aristocratic neighbour towards +those so nearly his equals. Every day produced some new grounds for +offence; and never had Sir Laurence Altham, in the extremity of his +poverty, regarded the thriving mansion in the valley with half the +loathing which the view of Lexley Park produced in the mind of General +Stanley. He was even at the trouble of trenching a plantation on the +brow of the hill, with the intention of shutting out the detested +object. But trees do not grow so hastily as antipathies; and the +General had to endure the certainty, that, for the remainder of _his_ +life at least, that beautiful domain must be unrolled, map-like, at +his feet. Nor is it to be supposed that the battlements of the old +hall found greater favour in the sight of the _parvenu_ squire, than +when in Sir Laurence's time the very sight of them was wormwood to his +soul. + +Unhappily, while the Congleton manufacturer contented himself with +angry words, the gentleman of thirty descents betook himself to +action. General Stanley swore to be mightily revenged--and he was so. + +On the very day following his return to England, before he even +visited his desolate country-house, he sent for Lord Robert Stanley, +and made him the confidant of his indignation--avowed his former good +intentions in his favour--betrayed all Mary's--all _Mr Everard +Sparks's_ disparaging opposition; and ended by enquiring whether, +since whichever of his daughters became Lady Robert Stanley would +become sole heiress to his property, his lordship could make up his +mind to accept Selina as a wife? Proud as he was, the General almost +condescended to plead the cause of his deformed daughter: enlarging +upon her excellences of character, and, still more, upon her aversion +to society, which would secure the self-love of her husband against +any public remarks on her want of personal attractions. + +Alas! all these arguments were thoroughly thrown away. Lord Robert +was, as his cousin Mary had truly described him, little better than a +boor. But he was also a spendthrift and a libertine; and had Miss +Stanley been as deformed in mind as she was in person, he would have +joyfully taken to wife the heiress of ten thousand a-year, and two of +the finest seats in the county of Chester. + +To herself, meanwhile, no hint of these family negotiations was +vouchsafed; and Selina Stanley had every reason to suppose--when her +cousin became on a sudden an assiduous visitor at the house, and very +shortly a declared lover--that their intimacy from childhood had +accustomed his eye to her want of personal charms--she had become +endeared to him by her mild and submissive temper. So little was she +aware of her father's testamentary dispositions in her favour, that +the interested nature of Lord Robert's views did not occur to her +mind; and, little accustomed to protestations of attachment, Selina's +heart was not _very_ difficult to soften towards the only man who had +ever pretended to love her, and whose apparent attachment promised +some consolation for the loss of her sister's society, as well as the +chance of reunion with one whom her father had sworn should never, +under any possible circumstances, again cross his threshold. + +Six months after General Stanley's pride had been wounded to the quick +by the newspaper account of a marriage between his favourite child and +"a man of the name of Sparks," balm was poured into the wound by +another and more pompous paragraph, announcing the union, by special +license, of the Right Hon. Lord Robert Stanley and the eldest daughter +and heiress of Lieut.-Gen. Stanley, of Stanley Manor, only son of the +late Lord Henry Stanley, followed by the usual list of noble relatives +gracing the ceremony with their presence, and a flourishing account of +the departure of the happy couple, in a travelling carriage and four, +for their seat in Cheshire. + +This announcement, by the way, probably served to convey the +intelligence to Mr and Mrs Everard Sparks; for the General having +carefully intercepted every letter addressed by Mary to her sister, +Lady Robert had not the slightest idea in what direction to +communicate with one who possessed an undiminished share in her +affections. + +On General Stanley's arrival in Cheshire, at the close of the +honeymoon, the most casual observer might have noticed the alteration +which had taken place in his appearance. Instead of the sadness I had +expected to find in his countenance after so severe a stroke as the +disobedience of his darling girl, I never saw him so exulting. Yet his +smiles were not smiles of good-humour. There was bitterness at the +bottom of every word he uttered; and a terrible sound of menace rung +in his unnatural laughter. Consciousness never seemed a moment absent +from his mind, that he had defeated the calculations of the designing +family; that he had distanced them; that he was triumphing over them. +Alas! none at present entertained the smallest suspicion to what +extent! + +Preparatory to the settlements made by the General on Lord and Lady +Robert Stanley, it had been found necessary to place in the hands of +his lordship's solicitors the deeds of the Lexley Hall estate; when, +lo! to the consternation of all parties, it appeared that the +General's title was an unsound one; that by the general terms of this +ancient property, rights of heirship could only be evaded by the +payment of a certain fine, after intimation of sale in a certain form +to the nearest-of-kin of the heir in possession, which form had been +overlooked or wantonly neglected by Sir Laurence Altham! + +The discovery was indeed embarrassing. Fortunately, however, the sum +of ten thousand pounds only had been paid by the General to satisfy +the immediate funds of the unthrifty baronet; the remainder of the +purchase-money having been left in the form of mortgage on the +property. There was consequently the less difficulty, though +considerable expense, in cancelling the existing deeds, going through +the necessary forms, and, after paying the forfeiture to the heir, (to +whom the very existence of his claims was unknown,) renewing the +contract with Sir Laurence; to whom, so considerable a sum being still +owing, it was as essential as to General Stanley that the covenant +should be completed without delay. But all this occurred at so +critical a moment, that the General had ample cause to be thankful for +the promptitude with which he decided Selina's marriage; for only four +days after the signature of the new deeds, Sir Laurence concluded his +ill-spent life--his death being, it was thought, accelerated by the +excitement consequent on this strange discovery, and the +investigations on the part of the heir to which it was giving rise. + +For the clause in the original grant of the Lexley estate (which dated +from the Reformation) affected the property purchased by Jonas Sparks +as fully as that which had been assigned to the General; and the +baronet being now deceased, there was no possibility of co-operation +in rectifying the fatal error. It was more than probable, therefore, +that Lexley Park, with all its improvements, was now the property of +John Julius Altham, Esq.!--the only dilemma still to be decided by the +law, being the extent to which, his kinsman having died insolvent and +intestate, he was liable to the suit of Jonas Sparks for the return of +the purchase money, amounting to L.145,000. + +Already the fatal intelligence had been communicated by the attorneys +of John Julius Altham to those of the astonished man, who, though +still convinced of the goodness of his cause, (which, on the strength +of certain various statutes affecting such a case, he was advised to +contest to the utmost,) foresaw a long, vexatious, and expensive +lawsuit, that would certainly last his life, and prevent the +possibility of one moment's enjoyment of the estate, from which he had +received the usual notice of ejection. Fortunately for him, the +present Mr Altham was not only a gentleman, and disposed to exercise +his rights in the most decorous manner; but, of course, unbiassed by +the personal prejudices so strongly felt by Sir Laurence, and so +unfairly communicated by him to the General. Still, the question was +proceeding at the snail's pace rate of Chancery suits at the +commencement of the present century, and the unfortunate Congleton +manufacturer had every reason to curse the day when he had become +enamoured of the grassy glades and rich woodlands of Lexley; seeing +that, at the close of an honourable and well-spent life, he was +uncertain whether the sons and daughters to whom he had laboured to +bequeath a handsome independence, might not be reduced to utter +destitution. + +Such was the intelligence that saluted the ill-starred Mary and her +husband on their return to England! Instead of the brilliant prospects +in which she had been nurtured--disinheritance met her on the one +side, and ruin on the other! + +Her vindictive father had even made it a condition of his bounties to +Lord and Lady Robert, that all intercourse should cease between them +and their sister; a condition which the former, in revenge for the +early slights of his fairer cousin, took care should be punctually +obeyed by his wife. + +Till the event of the trial, Mr Sparks retained, of course, possession +of the Park; but so bitter was the mortification of the family, on +discovering in the village precisely the same ungrateful feeling which +had so embittered the soul of Sir Laurence, that they preferred +remaining in London--where no one has leisure to dwell upon the +mischances of his neighbours, and where sympathy is as little expected +as conceded. But when Mary arrived--_poor_ Mary! who had now the +prospect of becoming a mother--and who, though affectionately beloved +by her husband's family, saw they regarded her as the innocent origin +of their present reverses--she soon persuaded her husband to accompany +her to her old haunts. + +"Do not imagine, dearest," said she, "that I have any project of +debasing you and myself, by intruding into my father's presence. Had +we been still prosperous, Everard, I would have gone to him--knelt to +him--prayed to him--wept to him--_so_ earnestly, that his forgiveness +could not have been long withheld from the child he loved so dearly. I +would have described to him all you are to me--all your +indulgences--all your devotion--and _you_, too, my own husband, would +have been forgiven. But as it is, believe me, I have too proud a sense +of what is due to ourselves, to combat the unnatural hostility in +which my sister and her husband appear to take their share. O Everard! +to think of Selina becoming the wife of that coarse and heartless man, +of whom, in former times, she thought even more contemptuously than I; +and who, with his dissolute habits, can only have made my poor +afflicted sister his wife from the most mercenary motives! I dread to +think of what may be her fate hereafter, when, having obtained at my +father's death all the advantages to which he looks forward, he will +show himself in his true colours." + +Thus, even with such terrible prospects awaiting herself, the good, +generous Mary trembled only to contemplate those of her regardless +sister; and it was chiefly for the delight of revisiting the spots +where they had played together in childhood--the fondly-remembered +environs of Stanley Manor--that she persuaded her husband to take up +his abode in the deserted mansion at the Park, where, from prudential +motives, Mr Sparks had broken up his establishment, and sold off his +horses. + +Attended by a single servant, in addition to the old porter and his +wife who were in charge of the house, Mary trusted that their arrival +at Lexley would be unnoticed in the neighbourhood. Confining herself +strictly within the boundaries of the Park, which neither her father +nor the bride and bridegroom were likely to enter, she conceived that +she might enjoy, on her husband's arm, those solitary rambles of which +every day circumscribed the extent; without affording reason to the +General to suppose, when, discerning every morning from his lofty +terraces the mansion of his falling enemy, that, in place of the man +he loathed, it contained his discarded child. + +The dispirited young woman, on the other hand, delighted in +contemplating from the windows of her dressing-room the towers +beneath, whose shelter she had abided in such perfect happiness with +her doating father and apparently attached sister. They loved her no +longer, it is true. Perhaps it was her fault--(she would not allow +herself to conceive it could be a fault of _theirs_)--but at all +events she loved _them_ dearly as ever; and it was comforting to her +poor heart to catch a glimpse of their habitation, and know herself +within reach, should sickness or evil betide. + +"If I should not survive my approaching time," thought Mary, often +surveying for hours, through her tears, the heights of Lexley Hall, +and fancying she could discern human figures moving from window to +window, or from terrace to terrace; "if I should be fated never to +behold this child, already loved--this child which is to be so dear a +blessing to us both--in my last hours my father would not surely +refuse to give me his blessing; nor would Selina persist in her +present cruel alienation. It is, indeed, a comfort to be here." + +Her husband thought otherwise. To him nothing was more trying than +this compulsory sojourn at Lexley; not that he required other society +than that of his engaging and attached wife. At any other moment it +would have been delightful to him to enjoy the country pleasures +around them, with no officious intrusive world to interpose between +their affection. But in his present uncertainty as to his future +prospects, to be mocked by this empty show of proprietorship, and have +constantly before his eyes the residence of the man who had heaped +such contumely on his head, and inflicted such pain on the gentlest +and sweetest of human hearts, was a state of moral torment. + +In the course of my fishing excursions--(for, thanks to Mr Sparks's +neighbourly liberality, I had a card of general access to his +parks)--I frequently met the young couple; and having no clue to their +secret sentiments, noticed, with deep regret, the sadness of Mary's +countenance and sinister looks of her husband. I feared--I greatly +feared--that they were not happy together. The General's daughter +repined, perhaps, after her former fortunes. The young husband sighed, +doubtless, over the liberty he had renounced. + +It was spring time, and Lord Robert having satisfied his cravings +after the pleasures of London, by occasional bachelor visits on +pretence of business, the family were to remain at the Hall till after +the Easter holidays, so that Mary had every expectation of the +accomplishment of her hopes previous to their departure. Perhaps, in +the bottom of her heart, she flattered herself that, on hearing of her +safety, her obdurate relations might be moved, by a sudden burst of +pity and kindliness, to make overtures of reconciliation--at all +events to dispatch words of courteous enquiry; for she was ever +dwelling on her good fortune that her father should, on this +particular year, have so retarded the usual period of his departure. +Yet when the report of these exulting exclamations on her part reached +my ear, I was ungenerous enough to attribute them to a very different +origin, fancying that the poor submissive creature was thankful for +being within reach of protection from conjugal misusage. + +Meanwhile, she was so far justified in one portion of her premises, +that no tidings of her residence at Lexley Park had as yet reached the +ear of her father. The fact was, that not a soul had courage to do so +much as mention, in his presence, the name of his once idolized child; +and Lord Robert, having been apprized of the circumstance, instantly +exacted a promise from his wife, that nothing should induce her to +hazard her father's displeasure by communication with her sister, or +by acquainting the General of the arrival of the offending pair. The +consequence was, that in the dread of encountering her sister, (whom +she felt ashamed to meet as the wife of the man they had so often +decried together,) Lady Robert rarely quitted the house; and these two +sisters, so long the affectionate inmates of the same chamber--the +sisters who had wept together over their mother's deathbed--abided +within sight of each other's windows, yet estranged as with the +estrangement of strangers. + +And then, we pretend to talk with horror of the family feuds of +southern nations; and, priding ourselves on our calm and passionless +nature, feel convinced that all the domestic virtues extant on earth, +have taken refuge in the British empire! + +Every day, meanwhile, I noticed that the handsome countenance of +Everard Sparks grew gloomier and gloomier; and how was I to know that +every day he received letters from his father, announcing the +unfavourable aspect of their suit; and that (owing, as was supposed, +to the suggestions of General Stanley's solicitors) even the conduct +of the adverse party was becoming offensive. The elder Sparks wrote +like a man overwhelmed with mortification, and stung by a sense of +undeserved injury; and his appeals to the sympathy and support of his +son, were such as to place the spirited young man in a most painful +predicament as regarded the family of his wife. + +Unwilling to utter in her presence an injurious word concerning those +who, persecute her as they might, were still her nearest and dearest +by the indissoluble ties of nature, all he could do, in relief to his +overcharged feelings, was to rush forth into the Park, and curse the +day that he was born to behold all he loved in the world overwhelmed +in one common ruin. + +On such occasions, while pretending to fix my attention on my float +upon the river, I often watched him from afar, till I was terrified by +the frantic vehemence of his gestures. There was almost reason to +fancy that the evil influences of the old Hall were extending their +power over the valley; and that this distracted young man was falling +into the eccentricities of Sir Laurence Altham. + +After viewing with anxiety the wild deportment of poor Mary's husband, +I happened one day to pass along the lane I have described as skirting +the garden of the manor-house, on my way homewards to my farm; and on +plunging my eyes, as usual, into the verdant depths of the clipped +yew-walks, visible through the iron-palisades, was struck by the +contrast afforded to the scene I had just witnessed, not only by its +aristocratic tranquillity, but by the grave and subdued deportment of +Lady Robert Stanley, who was sauntering in one of the alleys, +accompanied by a favourite dog I had often seen following her sister +in former days, and looking the very picture of contented egotism. + +I almost longed to call aloud to her, and confide all I knew and all +that I supposed. But what right had I to create alarms in her sister's +behalf? What right had I to incite her to disobedience against the +father on whom she and her husband were dependent? Better leave things +as they were--the common philosophy of selfish, timid people, afraid +of exposing their own heads to a portion of the storm their +interference may chance to bring down, while assisting the cause of +the weak against the strong. + +I used often to go home and think of poor Mary till my heart ached. +That young and beautiful creature--that creature till lately so +beloved--to be thus cruelly abandoned, thus helpless, thus unhappy! +Perhaps not a soul sympathizing with her but myself--an obscure, +low-born, uninfluential man, of no more value as a protector than a +willow-wand shivered from the Lexley plantations! Not so much as the +merest trifle in which I could demonstrate my good-will. I thought and +thought it over, and there was nothing I could do--nothing I could +offer. When I _did_ hit upon some pretext of kindness, I only did +amiss. The fruit season was not begun--nay, the orchards were only in +blossom--and times were over for forcing-houses at Lexley Park! +Thinking, therefore, that the invalid might be pleased with a basket +of Jersey pears, of which a very fine kind grew in my orchard, I +ventured to send some to her address. But the very next time I +encountered Everard in the village, he cast a look at me as if he +would have killed me for my officiousness, or, perhaps, for taking the +liberty to suppose that Lexley Park was less luxuriously provisioned +than in former years. Nor was it till long afterwards I discovered +that my old housekeeper (who had taken upon herself to carry my humble +offering to the park) had not only seen the poor young lady, but been +foolish enough to talk of Lady Robert in a tone which appears to have +exercised a cruel influence over her gentle heart; so that, when her +husband returned home from rabbit-shooting, an hour afterwards, he +found her recovering from a fainting fit, he visited upon _me_ the +folly of my servant; and such was the cause of his angry looks. + +A few days afterwards, however, he had far more to reproach his +conscience withal than poor Barbara. Having no concealments from his +wife, to whom he was in the habit of avowing every emotion of his +heart, he was rash enough to mention of having met the travelling +carriage of Lord and Lady Robert on the London road. They had quitted +the Hall ten days previous to the epoch originally fixed for their +departure. + +"Gone--exactly gone!--already at two hundred miles' distance from me!" +cried poor Mary, nothing doubting that her father had, as usual, +accompanied them, and feeling herself now, for the first time, alone +in the dreary seclusion to which she had condemned herself, only that +she might breathe the same atmosphere with those she loved. "Yet they +had certainly decided to remain at the Hall till after Easter! Perhaps +they discovered my being here, and the discovery hastened their +journey. Unhappy creature that I am, to have become thus hateful to +those in whose veins my blood is flowing! Everard, Everard! O, what +have I done that God should thus abandon me?" + +The soothing and affectionate remonstrances now addressed to her by +her husband, had so far a good effect, that they softened her despair +to tears. Long and unrestrainedly did she weep upon his shoulder; +tried to comfort him by the assurance that _she_ was comforted, or at +least that she would endeavour to _seek_ comfort from the protection +and goodness whence it had been so often derived. + +A few minutes afterwards, having been persuaded by Everard to rest +herself on the sofa, to recover the effects of the agitation his +indiscreet communication had excited, she suddenly complained of cold, +and begged him to close the windows. It was a balmy April day, with a +genial sun shining fresh into the room. The air was as the air of +midsummer--one of those days on which you almost see the small green +leaves of spring bursting from their shelly covering, and the resinous +buds of the chestnut-trees expanding into maturity. Poor Everard saw +at once that the chilliness of which his wife complained must be the +effect of illness. More cautious, however, on this occasion than +before, he enquired, as her shivering increased, what preparations she +had made for the events which still left her some weeks for execution. +"None. His sisters had kindly undertaken to supply her with all she +might require; and the services of the nurse accustomed to attend his +married sister, were engaged on her behalf. At the end of the month +this woman was to arrive at Lexley, bringing with her the wardrobe of +the little treasure who was to accord renewed peace and happiness to +its mother." + +Though careful to conceal his anxiety from his wife, Everard Sparks, +disappointed and distressed, quitted the room in haste to send for the +medical man who had long been the attendant of his family. But before +he arrived, the shivering fit of the poor sufferer had increased to an +alarming degree. A calming potion was administered, and orders issued +that she was to be kept quiet; but in the consternation created in the +little household by the communication Dr R. thought it necessary to +make of the possibility of a premature confinement, poor Mrs Sparks's +maid, a young inexperienced woman, dispatched a messenger to my house +for her old kinswoman, and it was through Barbara I became acquainted +with the melancholy incidents I am about to relate. + +The sedatives administered failed in their effect. A fatal shock had +been already given; and while struggling through that direful night +with the increasing pangs that verified the doctor's prognostications, +the sympathizing women around the sufferer could scarcely restrain +their tears at the courage with which she supported her anguish, +rejoicing in it, as it were, in the prospect of embracing her +child--when all present were aware that the compensation was about to +be denied her, that the child was already dead. Just as the day +dawned, her anxious husband was congratulated on her safety, and then +the truth could no longer be concealed from Mary. She asked to see her +babe. Her husband was employed to persuade her to defer seeing it for +an hour or two, "till it was dressed--till she was more composed." But +the truth rushed into her mind, and she uttered not another word, in +the apprehension of increasing his disappointment and mortification. + +So long did her silence continue, that, trusting she had fallen +asleep, old Barbara's granddaughter entreated poor Everard to withdraw +and leave her to her rest. But the moment he quitted the room, she +spoke, spoke resolutely, and in a firmer voice than her previous +sufferings had given them reason to suppose possible. + +"Now, then, let me see my boy," said she. "I know that he is dead. But +do not be afraid of shocking or distressing me. I have courage to look +upon the poor little creature for whom I have suffered so much, and +who, I trusted, would reward me for all." + +The women remonstrated, as it was their duty to remonstrate. But when +they saw that opposition on this point only excited her, dreading an +accession of fever, they brought the poor babe and laid it on the +pillow beside its mother. That first embrace, to which she had looked +forward with such intensity of delight, folded to her burning bosom +only a clay-cold child! + +Even thus it was fair to look on--every promise in its little form, +that its beauty would have equalled that of its handsome parents; and +Mary, as she pressed her lips to its icy forehead, fancied she could +trace on those tiny features a resemblance to its father. Old Barbara, +perceiving how bitterly the tears of the sufferer were falling on the +cheeks of her lost treasure, now interfered. But the mother had still +a last request to make. A few downy curls were perceptible on the +temples--in colour and fineness resembling her own. She wished to +rescue from the grave this slight remembrance of her poor nameless +offspring; and her wish having been complied with, she suffered the +babe to be taken from her relaxed and moveless grasp. + +"Leave me the hair," said she, in a faint voice. "Thanks--thanks! I am +happy now--I will try to sleep--I am happy--happy now!" + +She slept--and never woke again. At the close of an hour or two, her +anxious husband, finding she had not stirred, gently and silently +approached the bedside, and took into his own the fair hand lying on +the coverlid, to ascertain whether fever had ensued. _Fever?_ It was +already cold with the damps of death! + +Imagine, if you can, the agony and self-reproach of that bereaved man! +Again and again did he revile himself as her murderer; accusing +_himself_--her father--her _sister_--the whole world. At one moment, +he fancied that her condition had not been properly treated by her +attendants; at another, that the medical man ought not to have left +the house. Nay, hours and hours after she was gone for ever--after +the undertakers had commenced their hideous preparations--even while +she lay stretched before him, white and cold as marble, he persisted +that life might be still recalled; and, but for the better +discrimination of those around him, would have insisted on attempts at +resuscitation, calculated only to disturb, almost sacrilegiously, the +sound peace of the dead! + +I was one of the first to learn the heart-rending news of this beloved +being's untimely end; for my old woman having asked permission to +remain with her through the night, (explaining the exigency of the +case,) I could not forbear hurrying to the house as soon as it was +day, in the hope of hearing she was a happy mother. Somehow or other, +I had never contemplated an unfavourable result. The idea of death +never presented itself to me in common with any thing so young and +fair; and as I walked through the park, and crossed the bridge, with +the white cheerful mansion before me, and the morning sun shining full +upon its windows, I thought how gladsome it looked, but could not +forbear feeling that, even with the prospect of losing it--even with +the certainty of beggary, Everard, as a husband and father, was the +fellow most to be envied upon earth! + +I reached the house, and the old man who answered my ring at the +office entrance, was speechless from tears. Though usually hard as +iron, he sobbed as if his heart would break. I asked to speak with +Barbara--with my housekeeper. He told me I could not--that she was +"busy laying out the body." I was answered. That dreadful word told me +all--I had no more questions to ask. I cared not _who_ survived, or +what became of the survivors. And as I turned sickening away, to bend +my steps homewards, I remember wondering how that fair spring morning +could shine so bright and auspiciously, when _she_ was gone from us. +It seemed to triumph in our loss! Alas! it shone to welcome a new +angel to the kingdom of our Father who is in heaven! + +Suddenly it struck me, that I, too, had a duty to perform. In that +scanty household there was no one to take thought of the common forms +of life; so I hastened to the rectory, to suggest to our good pastor a +visit of consolation to the house of mourning, and acquaint his +sisters with its forlorn condition. Like myself, they began +exclaiming, "Alas! alas! It was but the other day that"----reverting +to all the acts of charity and girlish graces of that dear departed +Mary Stanley, who had been among us as the shadow of a dream. + +Before I left the rectory, Dr Whittingham had issued his orders; and +lo! as I proceeded homewards, with a heavy step and a heavier heart, +the sound of the passing bell from Lexley church pursued me with its +measured toll, till I could scarcely refrain from sitting me down by +the wayside, and weeping my very soul away. + +On reaching the lane I have so often described as skirting the gardens +of the old Hall, I noticed, through the palisades, a person, probably +one of the gardeners, sauntering along Lady Robert's favourite +yew-walk. No! on a nearer approach, I saw, and almost shuddered to +see, that it was General Stanley himself (who, I fancied, had +accompanied his son-in-law to town) taking an early walk, to enjoy the +sweetness of that delicious morning. + +As I drew nearer, I averted my head. At that moment I had not courage +to look him in the face. I could scarcely suppose him ignorant of what +had occurred; and, if aware of the sad event, his obduracy was unmanly +to a degree that filled me with disgust. But just as I came opposite +the iron gates, he hailed me by name--more familiarly and courteously +than he was wont--to ask whether I came from the village, and for +_whose_ death they were tolling? + +If worlds had depended on my answer, I could not have uttered a word! +But I conclude that, catching sight of my troubled face and swollen +eyelids, the General supposed I had lost some near and dear friend; +for, instead of renewing his question, he merely touched his hat, and +passed on, leaving me to proceed in my turn. But the spectacle of my +profound affliction probably excited his curiosity; for I found +afterwards, that, instead of pursuing his walk, he returned straight +to the house, and addressed the enquiry which had so distressed _me_, +to others having more courage to reveal the fatal truth. I believe it +was the old family butler, who abruptly answered--"For my poor young +lady, General--for the sweetest angel that ever trod the earth!" + +For my part, I wonder the announcement did not strike him to the +earth! But he heard it without apparent emotion; like a man who, +having already sustained the worst affliction this world can afford, +has no sensibility for further trials. Still the intelligence was not +ineffective. Without pausing an instant for reflection, or the +indulgence of his feelings, he set forth on foot to Lexley Park. With +his hat pulled over his eyes, and a determined air, rather as if about +to execute an act of vengeance than offer a tardy tribute of +tenderness to his victim, he hurried to the house--commanded the +startled old servant to show him the way to _her_ room--entered +it--and knelt down beside the bed on which she lay, with her dead +infant on her arm, asking her forgiveness, and the forgiveness of God, +as humbly as though he were not the General Stanley proverbial for +implacability and pride. + +Old Barbara, who had not quitted the room, assured me it was a +heart-breaking sight to behold that white head bowed down in agony +upon the cold feet of his child. For he felt himself unworthy to press +her helpless hand to his lips, or remove the cambric from her face, +but called, in broken accents, upon the name of Mary! his child! his +darling! addressing her rather with the fondling terms bestowed upon +girlhood than as a woman--a wife--a mother! + +"But a more affecting story still," said the old woman, "was to see +that Mr Everard took no more heed of the General's sudden entrance +than though it were a thing to be looked for. He seemed neither to +hear his exclamations nor perceive his distress." Poor gentleman! His +haggard eyes were fixed, his mind bewildered, his hopes blasted for +ever, his life a blank. He neither answered when spoken to, nor even +spoke, when the good rector, according to his promise, came to +announce that he had dispatched the fatal intelligence by express to +his family, beseeching his instructions concerning the steps to be +taken for the burial of the dead. + +But why afflict you and myself by recurring to these melancholy +details! Suffice it, that this dreadful blow effected what nothing +else on earth could have effected in the mind of General Stanley. +Humbled to the dust, even the arrival of the once despised owner of +Lexley Park did not drive him from the house. He asked his pity--he +asked his pardon. Beside the coffin of his daughter he expressed all +the compunction a generous-hearted and broken-hearted man could +express; and all he asked in return, was leave to lay her poor head in +the grave of her ancestors. + +No one opposed his desire. The young widower had not as much +consciousness left as would have enabled him to utter the negative +General Stanley seemed prepared to expect; and as to his father, about +to abandon Lexley for ever, to what purpose erect a family vault in a +church which neither he nor his were ever likely to see again? + +To the chapel at Stanley Manor, accordingly, were the mother and child +removed. The General wrote expressly to forbid his son-in-law and +Selina returning to the Hall, on pretence of sustaining him in his +affliction. He _chose_ to give way to it; he _chose_ to be alone with +his despair. + +Never shall I forget the day that mournful funeral procession passed +through the village! Young and old came forth weeping to their doors +to bid her a last farewell; even as they used to come and exchange +smiles with her, in those happy days when life lay before her, +bright--hopeful--without a care--without a responsibility. I had +intended to pay him the same respect. I meant, indeed, to have +followed the hearse, at an humble distance, to its final destination. +But when I rose that morning a sudden weakness came upon me, and I was +unable to quit my room. I, so strong, so hardy, who have passed +through life without sickness or doctor, was as powerless that day as +an infant. + +It was from the good rector, therefore, I heard how the General (on +whom, in consequence of the precarious condition of the afflicted +husband, devolved the task of chief mourner) sustained his carriage to +perform with dignity and propriety his duty to the dead. As he +followed the coffin through the churchyard, crowded by his old +pensioners--many of them praying on their knees as it passed--his +step was as firm and his brow as erect as though at the head of his +regiment. It was not till all was over--the mournful ceremony done, +the crowd dispersed, the funeral array departed--that having descended +into the vault, ere the stone was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, +in order to point out the exact spot where he wished her remains to be +deposited, so that hereafter his own might rest by her side, he +renounced all self-restraint, and throwing himself upon the ground, +gave himself up to his anguish, and refused to be comforted! + +That summer was as dreary a season at Lexley as the dreariest winter! +Both the Park and the Hall were shut up; nor did General Stanley ever +again resume his tenancy of the old manor. When the result of the +Chancery suit left Mr Altham in possession of the former estate, the +General literally preferred forfeiting the moiety of the +purchase-money he had paid, and giving up the place to be re-united +with the property, which the rigour of the law thus singularly +restored to the last heirs of the Althams; and such was the cause of +my neighbour, the present Sir Julius Altham, regaining possession of +the Hall. + +It was not for many years, however, that the cause was ultimately +decided. There was an appeal against the Chancellor's decree; and even +after the decree was confirmed, came an endless number of legal forms, +which so procrastinated the settlement, that not only the original +unfortunate purchaser, but poor Everard himself, was in his grave when +the mansion, in which they had so prided themselves, was pulled down, +and all trace of their occupancy effaced. + +I sometimes ask myself, indeed, whether the whole of this "strange +eventful history," with which the earliest feelings of my heart were +painfully interwoven, really occurred? whether the manor ever passed +for a time out of the possession of the ancient house of Altham? +whether the domain, now one and indivisible, were literally +partitioned off--a park paling interposing only between the patrician +and plebeian. Often, after spending hour after hour by the river side, +when the fly is on the water and the old thorns in bloom, I recur to +the first day I came back into Lexley Park after the funeral had +passed through, and recollect the soreness of heart with which I +lifted my eyes towards the house, of which every trace has since +disappeared. At that moment there seemed to rise before me, sporting +among the gnarled branches of the old thorn-trees, the graceful form +of Mary Stanley, followed by old Sergeant, bounding and barking +through the fern; and the General looking on from a distance, +pretending to be angry, and desiring her to come out of the covert and +not disturb the game. Exactly thus, and there, I beheld them for the +first time. What would I not give to realize once more, if only for a +day, that happy, happy vision! + +Stanley Manor is let to strangers during the minority of Lord Robert's +sickly son; the father being an absentee, the mother in an early +grave. She lived long enough, however, to be a repining wife; and my +neighbour, Sir Julius Altham, has more than once hinted to me, that, +of the whole family, the portion of Selina most deserved compassion. + +To me, however, her callous conduct towards that gentle sister, always +rendered her the least interesting of my COUNTRY NEIGHBOURS. + + + + +TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN.[3] + + [3] Travels of Kerim Khan; being a narrative of his + Journey from Delhi to Calcutta, and thence by Sea to + England: containing his remarks upon the manners, + customs, laws, constitutions, literature, arts, + manufactures, &c., of the people of the British Isles. + Translated from the original Oordu--(MS.) + + +Among the various signs of the times which mark the changes of manners +in these latter days of the world, not the least remarkable is the +increasing frequency of the visits paid by the natives of the East to +the regions of Europe. Time was, within the memory of most of the +present generation, when the sight of a genuine Oriental in a London +drawing-room, except in the angel visits, "few and far between," of a +Persian or Moorish ambassador, was a rarity beyond the reach of even +the most determined lion-hunters; and if by any fortunate chance a +stray Persian khan, or a "very magnificent three-tailed bashaw," was +brought within the circle of the quidnuncs of the day, the sayings and +doings of the illustrious stranger were chronicled with as much +minuteness as if he had been the denizen of another planet. Every hair +of his beard, every jewel in the hilt of his khanjar, was enumerated +and criticised; while all oriental etiquette was violated by the +constant enquiries addressed to him relative to the number of his +wives, and the economy of his domestic arrangements. "_Mais à present +on a changé tout cela._" The reforms of Sultan Mahmood, the invention +of steam, and the re-opening of the overland route to India, have +combined to effect a mighty revolution in all these points. Osmanlis, +with shaven chins and tight trousers,[4] have long been as plenty as +blackberries in the saloons of the West, eating the flesh of the +unclean beast, quaffing champagne, and even (if we have been rightly +informed) figuring in quadrilles with the moon-faced daughters of the +Franks; and though the natives of the more distant regions of the East +have not yet appeared among us in such number, yet the lamb-skin cap +of the Persian, the _pugree_, or small Indian turban, and even the +queer head-dress of the Parsee, is far from being a stranger in our +assemblies. We doubt whether the name of Akhbar Khan himself, +proclaimed at the foot of a staircase, would excite the same +_sensation_ in the present day, as the announcement of the most +undistinguished wearer of the turban some ten or twenty years ago; but +of the "Tours" and "Narratives" which are usually the inevitable +result of such an influx of pilgrims, our Oriental visitors have as +yet produced hardly their due proportion. For many years, the travels +of Mirza Abu-Talib Khan, a Hindustani[5] Moslem of rank and education, +who visited Europe in the concluding years of the last century, stood +alone as an example of the effect produced on an Asiatic by his +observation of the manners and customs of the West; and even of late +our stock has not been much increased. The journal of the Persian +princes (a translation of which, by their Syrian mehmandar, Assaad +Yakoob Khayat, has been printed in England for private circulation) is +curious, as giving a picture of European ways and manners when viewed +through a purely Asiatic medium; while the remarkably sensible and +well-written narrative of the two Parsees who lately visited this +country for the purpose of instruction in naval architecture,[6] +differs little from the description of the same objects which would be +given by an intelligent and well-educated European, if they could be +presented to him in the aspect of utter novelty. The latest of these +Oriental wanderers in the ungenial climes of Franguestan, is the one +whose name appears at the head of this article, and who, with a rare +and commendable modesty, has preferred introducing himself to the +public under the protecting guidance of Maga, to venturing, alone and +without a pilot, among the perilous rocks and shoals of the critics of +_the Row_; him therefore we shall now introduce, without further +comment, to the favourable notice of our readers. + + [4] _Shalwarlek_--"tight trousers"--was a phrase used, + under the old Turkish régime, as equivalent to a + blackguard. + + [5] The Moslems, and other natives of India descended + from foreign races, are properly called _Hindustanis_, + while the aborigines are the _Hindus_--a distinction not + well understood in Europe. The former take their name + from the country, as _natives of Hindustan_, which has + derived its own name from the latter, as being the + _country of the Hindus_. + + [6] Journal of a Residence of Two Years and a Half in + Great Britain, by Jehangeer Nowrojee and Hirjeebhoy + Merwanjee of Bombay, Naval Architects. London: 1841. + +Of Kerim Khan himself, the writer of his narrative, and of his motives +for daring the perils of the _kala-pani_, (or black water, the Hindi +name for the ocean,) on a visit to Franguestan, we have little +information beyond what can be gathered from the MS. itself. There can +be no doubt, however, that he was a Mussulman gentleman of rank and +consideration, and of information far superior to that of his +countrymen in general; nor does it appear that he was driven, like +Mirza Abu-Talib, by political misfortune, to seek in strange climes +the security which his native land denied him. His narrative commences +abruptly:--"On the 21st of Ramazan, in the year of the Hejra 1255," +(Dec. 1, A.D. 1839,) "between four and five in the afternoon, I took +leave of the imperial city of Delhi, and proceeded to our boat, which +was at anchor near the Derya Ganj." The voyage down the Jumna, to its +junction with the Ganges at Allahabad, a distance of not more than 550 +miles by land, but which the endless windings of the stream increase +to 2010 by water, presents few incidents worthy of notice: but our +traveller observes _par parenthèse_, that "though it is said that the +sources of this river have not been discovered, I have heard from +those who have crossed the Himalaya from China, that it rises in that +country on the other side of the mountains, and, forcing its way +through them, arrives at Bighamber. They say that gold is found there +in large quantities, and the reason they assign is this--the +philosopher's stone is found in that country, and whatever touches it +becomes gold, but the stone itself can never be found!" Near Muttra he +encountered the splendid cortège of Lord Auckland, then returning to +Calcutta after his famous interview with Runjeet Singh at Lahore, with +such a _suwarree_ as must have recalled the pomp and _sultanut_ for +which the memory of Warren Hastings is even yet celebrated among the +natives of India: "his staff and escort, with the civil and military +officers of government in attendance on him, amounted to about 4000 +persons, besides 300 elephants and 800 camels." The noble buildings of +Akbarabad or Agra, the capital and residence of Akbar and Shalijehan, +the mightiest and most magnificent of the Mogul emperors, detained the +traveller for a day; and he notices with deserved eulogium the +splendid mausoleum of Shalijehan and his queen, known as the +Taj-Mahal. There is nothing that can be compared with it, and those +who have visited the farthest parts of the globe, have seen nothing +like it.[7] At Allahabad he launched on the broad stream of the +Ganges; and after passing through part of the territory of _Awadh_ or +Oude, the insecurity of life and property in which is strongly +contrasted with the rigid police in the Company's dominions, arrived +in due time at the holy city of Benares, the centre of Hindoo and +Brahminical sanctity. + + [7] Many of our readers must have seen the beautiful + ivory model of this far-famed edifice, lately exhibited + in Regent Street, and now, we believe, in the Cambridge + University museum. It is fortunate that so faithful a + miniature transcript of the beauties of the Taj is in + existence, since the original is doomed, as we are + informed, to inevitable ruin at no distant period, from + the ravages of the white ants on the woodwork. + +The shrines of Benares, with their swarms of sacred monkeys and +Brahminy bulls, were objects of little interest to our Moslem +wayfarer, who on the contrary recounts with visible satisfaction the +destruction of several of these _But Khanas_, or idol-temples, by the +intolerable bigotry of Aurungzib, and the erection of mosques on their +sites. Among the objects of attraction in the environs of the city, he +particularly notices a famous footprint[8] upon stone, called the +_Kadmsherif_, or holy mark, deposited in a mosque near the serai of +Aurungabad, and said to have been brought from Mekka by Sheik Mohammed +Ali Hazin, whom the translator of his interesting autobiography +(published in 1830 by the Oriental Society) has made known to the +British public, up to the period when the tyranny of Nadir Shah drove +him from Persia. "Here, during his lifetime, he used to go sometimes +on a Thursday, and give alms to the poor in the name of God. He was a +very learned and accomplished man; and his writings, both in prose and +verse, were equal to those of Zahiri and Naziri. When he first came to +India, he resided for some years at Delhi; but having had some dispute +with the poet-laureate of the Emperor Mohammed Shah, he found himself +under the necessity of retiring to Benares, where he lived in great +privacy. As he was a stranger in the country, was engaged in no +calling or profession, and received no allowance from the Emperor, it +was never known whence, or how, he was supplied with the means of +keeping up the establishment he did, which consisted of some hundred +servants, palanquins, horses, &c. It is said that when the Nawab +Shujah-ed-dowlah projected his attack on the English in Bengal, he +consulted the Sheik on the subject, who strongly dissuaded him from +the undertaking. He died shortly after the battle of Buxar in 1180," +(A.D. 1766.) The battle of Buxar was fought Oct. 23, 1764; but that +Sheik Ali Hazin died somewhere about this time, seems more probable +than that his life was extended (as stated by Sir Gore Ouseley) till +1779; since he describes himself at the conclusion of his memoirs in +1742, when only in his 53d year, as "leading the dullest course of +existence in the dullest of all dull countries, and disabled by his +increasing infirmities from any active exertion of either body or +mind"--a state of things scarcely promising a prolongation of life to +the age of ninety. + + [8] These sacred footmarks are more numerous among the + Buddhists than the Moslems--the most celebrated is that + on the summit of Adam's Peak, in Ceylon. + +Resuming his voyage from Benares, the Khan notices with wonder the +apparition of the steamers plying between Calcutta and Allahabad, +several of which he met on his course, and regarded with the +astonishment natural in one who had never before seen a ship impelled, +apparently by smoke, against wind and tide:--"I need hardly say how +intensely I watched every movement of this extraordinary, and to me +incomprehensible machine, which in its passage created such a vast +commotion in the waters, that my poor little _budjrow_ (pinnace) felt +its effects for the space of full two _hos_," (nearly four miles.) The +picturesque situation of the city of Azimabad or Patna,[9] extending +for several miles along the right bank of the Ganges, with the villas +and beautiful gardens of the resident English interspersed among the +houses, is described in terms of high admiration; and the mosques, +some of which were as old as the time of the Patan emperors, are not +forgotten by our Moslem traveller in his enumeration of the marvels of +the city. A few days' more boating brought him to Rajmahal; "on one +side of which," says he, "the country is called Bengal, and on the +other _Poorb_, or the East"--a name from which the independent dynasty +of Moslem kings, who once ruled in Bengal, assumed the appellation of +_Poorby-Shaby_. He was now among the rice-fields, the extent and +luxuriance of which surprised him: "There are a great variety of +sorts, and if a man were to take a grain of each sort he might soon +fill a _lota_ (water-pot) with them--so innumerable are the different +kinds. The cultivators who have measured the largest species, have +declared them to exceed the length of fifty cubits; but I have never +seen any of this length, though others may have." He now entered the +Bhagirutti, or branch of the Ganges leading to Calcutta, and which +bears in the lower part of its course the better known name of the +Hoogly--while the main stream to the left is again subdivided into +innumerable ramifications, the greater part of which lose themselves +among the vast marshes of the Sunderbunds; but he complains, that +"though by this branch large vessels and steamers pass up and down to +and from the Presidency, the route is very bad, from the extensive +jungles on both banks, which are haunted by Thugs and _Decoits_, +(river pirates:)--indeed I have heard and read, that the shores of the +Ganges have been infested by freebooters, pirates, and thieves of all +sorts, from time immemorial." He escaped unharmed, however, through +these manifold perils; and passing Murshidabad, the ancient capital of +Bengal, and other places of less note, his remarks upon which we shall +not stay to quote, reached the ghauts of Calcutta in safety. + + [9] Most of the principal cities of India, in addition + to the ancient name by which they are popularly known, + have another imposed by the Moslems:--thus Agra is + Akbarabad, _the residence of Akbar_--Delhi, + Shahjehanabad; and Patna, Azimabad. In some instances, + as Dowlutabad in the Dekkan, the Hindu name of which is + Deogiri, the Mohammedan appellation has superseded the + ancient name; but, generally speaking, the latter is + that in common use. + +A place so often described as the "City of Palaces," presents little +that is novel in the narrative of the khan; but he does full justice +to the splendour of the architecture, which he says "exceeds that of +_China or Ispahan_--a superiority which arises from the immense sums +which every governor-general has laid out upon public works, and in +improving and adorning the city: the Marquis Wellesley, in particular, +expended lakhs of rupees in this way." The account which he gives, +however, from a Mahommedan writer, of the disputes with the Mogul +government which led to the transference of the British factory and +commerce from its original seat at Hoogly to _Kali-kata_,[10] or +Calcutta, differs considerably from that given by the British +historians, if we are to suppose the events here alluded to (the date +of which the khan does not mention) to be those which occurred in 1686 +and 1687, when Charnock defended the factory at Hoogly against the +Imperial deputy, Shaista Khan. Our traveller's version of these +occurrences is, that the factories of the English, which were then +established on the Ghol Ghaut at Hoogly, having been overthrown by an +earthquake, "Mr Charnock, the head officer of the factory, purchasing +a garden called Banarasi, had the trees cut down, and commenced a new +building. But while it was in progress, the principal Mogul merchants +and inhabitants laid a complaint before Meer Nasir, the _foujdar_, +(chief of police,) that their houses and harems would be overlooked, +and great scandal occasioned, if the strangers should be allowed to +erect such lofty buildings in the midst of the city.[11] The complaint +was referred by the foujdar to the nawab, who forthwith issued orders +for the discontinuance of the works, which were accordingly abandoned. +The Company's agent, though highly offended at this arbitrary +proceeding, was unable to resist it, having only one ship and a few +sepoys; and, in spite of the efforts of the foujdar to dissuade him, +he embarked with all his goods, and set sail for the peninsula," (qu. +Indjeli?) "having first set fire to such houses as were near the +river. At this time, however, the Emperor Aurungzib was in the +Carnatic, beleaguered by the Mahrattas, who had cut off all supplies +from his camp; and the Company's agent in that country, hearing of +this, sent a large quantity of grain, which had been recently imported +for their own use, for the relief of the army. Having thus gained the +favour and protection of the Asylum of the World, the English were not +only permitted to build factories in various parts of the country, but +were exempted from the duties formerly laid on their goods. Charnock +returned to Bengal with the emperor's firman; and the nawab, seeing +how matters stood, withdrew his opposition to the erection of the +factory at Hoogly. The English, however, preferred another situation, +and chose Calcutta, where a building was soon erected, the same which +is now called the old fort." This account, which is in fact more +favourable to the English than that given by their own writers, is the +only notice of these transactions we have ever found from a Mahommedan +author; for so small was the importance attached by the Moguls to +these obscure squabbles with a few Frank merchants, that even the +historian Khafi-Khan, who acted as the emperor's representative for +settling the differences which broke out about the same time in +Bombay, makes no allusion to the simultaneous rupture in Bengal. + + [10] "So called from _Kali_, the Hindu goddess, and + _kata_, laughter; because human victims were formerly + here sacrificed to her." + + [11] From the sanctity attached by Oriental ideas to the + privacy of the harem, it is a high crime and + misdemeanour, punishable by law in all Moslem countries, + to erect buildings overlooking the residence of a + neighbour. At Constantinople, there is an officer called + the Minar Aga, or superintendent of edifices, whose + especial duty it is to prevent this. + +Our author, like Bishop Heber,[12] and other travellers on the same +route, is struck by the contrast between the robust and well-fed +peasantry of Hindustan Proper, and the puny rice-eaters of Bengal; +"who eat fish, boiled rice, bitter oil; and an infinite variety of +vegetables; but of wheaten or barley bread, and of pulse, they know +not the taste, nor of mutton, fowl, or _ghee_, (clarified butter.) The +author of the _Riaz-es-Selatin_, is indeed of opinion that such food +does not suit their constitutions, and would make them ill if they +were to eat it"--an invaluable doctrine to establish in dieting a +pauper population! "As to their dress, they have barely enough to +cover them--only a piece of cloth, called a _dhoti_, wrapped round +their loins, while their head-dress consists of a dirty rag rolled two +or three times round the temples, and leaving the crown bare. But the +natives of Hindustan, and even their descendants to the second and +third generation, always wear the _jamah_, or long muslin robe, out of +doors, though in the house they adopt the Bengali custom. The author +of the _Kholasat-al Towārikh_, (an historical work,) says that both +men and women formerly went naked; and no doubt he is right, for they +can hardly be said to do otherwise now." Such are the peasants of +Bengal--a race differing from the natives of Hindustan in language, +manners, food, dress, and personal appearance; but who, from their +vicinity to the seat of the English Supreme Government, have served as +models for the descriptions given by many superficial travellers, as +applying to all the natives of British India, without distinction! The +horrible Hindu custom of immersing the sick, when considered past +recovery, in the Ganges, and holding their lower limbs under water +till they expire,[13] excites, as may be expected, the disgust of the +khan; but the reason which he assigns for it, "the belief of these +people, that if a man die in his own house, he would cause the death +of every member of the family by assuming the form of a _bhut_ or evil +spirit," is new to us, and appears to be analogous to the +superstitious dread entertained by the Greeks and Sclavonians, of a +corpse reanimated into a _Vroucolochas_, or vampire. "But if a man +escapes from their hands, and recovers after this treatment, he is +shunned by every one; and there are many villages in Bengal, called +_villages of the dead_, inhabited by men who have thus escaped death; +they are considered dead to society, and no other persons will dwell +in the same villages." + + [12] "Almost immediately on leaving Allahabad," (on his + way from Calcutta to the Upper Provinces,) "I was struck + with the appearance of the men, as tall and muscular as + the largest stature of Europeans; and with the fields of + _wheat_, almost the only cultivation."--Heber's Journal, + vol. iii. "Some of our boatmen passing through a field + of Indian corn, plucked two or three ears, certainly not + enough to constitute a theft, or even a trespass. Two of + the men, however, who were watching, ran after them, not + as the Bengalis would have done, to complain with joined + hands, but with stout bamboos, prepared to do themselves + justice _par voye de faict_. The men saved themselves by + swimming off to the boat; but my servants called out to + them--'Ah! dandee folk, beware, you are now in + Hindustan; the people here know well how to fight, and + are not afraid.'" + + [13] "I told his (Pertab Chund's) father, that it was + wrong to keep him where he then was, and he told me to + take him down to the river. He was lifted up on his + bedding; his speech was not very distinct at that time, + but sufficiently so to call on the name of his T'hakoor, + (spiritual guide,) which he did as desired; he then + began to shiver, and complained of being very cold. I + was one of those who went with the rajah to the river + side. Jago Mohun Dobee pressed his legs under the water, + and kept them so; and about 10 p.m. his soul quitted the + body. When he died, his knees were under water, but the + rest of his body above." Evidence of Radha Sircar and + Sham Chum Baboo, before the Mofussil Court of Hoogly, + September 1838, in the enquiry on the impostor + Kistololl, who personated the deceased Pertab. + +The stay of the khan in Calcutta was prolonged for more than a month, +during which time he rented a house from a native proprietor in the +quarter of Kolitolla. While removing his effects from his boat to +this residence, he became involved in a dispute with the police, in +consequence of the violation by his servants, through ignorance, of +the regulation which forbids persons from the Upper Provinces to enter +the city armed; but this unintentional infringement of orders was +easily explained and arranged by the intervention of an European +friend, and the arms, of which the police had taken possession, were +restored. While engaged in preparing for his voyage, the khan made the +best use of his time in visiting the public buildings, and other +objects of interest, among which he particularly notices the _minar_ +or column erected in the _maidan_, (square,) near the viceregal palace +of the Nawab Governor-General Bahadur, by a subscription among the +officers of the army, native as well as English, to the memory of the +late Sir David Ochterlony; but rates it, with truth, as greatly +inferior, both in dimensions and beauty, to the famous pillar of the +Kootb-Minar near Delhi. The colossal fortifications of Fort-William +are also duly commemorated; "they resemble an embankment externally, +but when viewed from within are exceedingly high--no foe could +penetrate within them, much less reach the treasures and magazines in +the interior." Our traveller also visited the English courts of +justice, in the proceedings of which he seems to have taken great +interest, and was apparently treated with much hospitality by many of +the European functionaries and other residents, by whom he was +furnished with numerous letters of introduction, as well as receiving +much information respecting the manners and customs of _Ingilistan_, +or England. The choice of a ship, and the selection of sea-stock, were +of course matters of grave consideration, and the more so from the +peculiar unfitness of the habits and religious scruples of an Indian +Moslem for the privations unavoidable at sea; but a passage was at +last taken for the khan and his two servants on board the Edinburgh of +1400 tons, and it being agreed that he should find his own provisions, +to obviate all mistakes on the score of forbidden food, and the +captain promising moreover that his comforts should be carefully +attended to, this weighty negotiation was at length concluded. It is +due to the khan to say, that whether from being better equipped, or +from being endued with more philosophy and forbearance than his +compatriot, Mirza Abu-Talib Khan, (to whom we have above referred,) he +seems to have reconciled himself to the hardships of the _kala-pani_, +or ocean, with an exceedingly good grace; and we find none of the +complaints which fill the pages of the Mirza against the impurity of +his food, the impossibility of performing his ablutions in appointed +time and manner, and sundry other abominations by which he was so +grievously afflicted, that at a time of danger to the vessel, "though +many of the passengers were much alarmed, I, for my own part, was so +weary of life that I was perfectly indifferent to my fate." Abu-Talib, +however, sailed in an ill-regulated Danish ship; and in summing up the +horrors of the sea, he strongly recommends his countrymen, if +compelled to brave its miseries, to embark in none but an English +vessel. + +During the last days of the khan's sojourn in Calcutta, he witnessed +the splendid celebration of the rites of the Mohurrum, when the +slaughter of the brother Imams, Hassan and Hussein, the martyred +grandsons of the Prophet, is lamented by all sects of the faithful, +but more especially by the _Rafedhis_ or Sheahs, the followers of Ali, +"of whom there are many in Calcutta, though they are less numerous +than the orthodox sect or Sunnis, from whom they are distinguished, at +this season, by wearing black as mourning. At the _Baitak-Khana_ (a +quarter of Calcutta) we witnessed the splendid procession of the +_Tazîya_,[14] with the banners and flags flying, and the wailers +beating their breasts."... "It is the custom here, at this season, for +all the natch-girls (dancers) to sit in the streets of the +Chandnibazar, under canopies decorated with wreaths and flowers in +the most fantastic manner, and sell sweetmeats, cardamums, betelnuts, +&c., upon stalls, displaying their charms to the passers-by. I took a +turn here one evening with five others, and found crowds of people +collected, both strangers and residents: nor do they ordinarily +disperse till long after midnight." On the second day after his visit +to this scene of gaiety, he received notice that the ship was ready +for sea; and on the 8th of Mohurrum 1256, (March 13, 1840,) he +accordingly embarked with his baggage and servants on board the +Edinburgh, which was towed in seven days, by a steamer, down the river +to Saugor; and the pilot quitting her the next day at the floating +light. "I now found myself," (says the khan,) "for the first time in +my life, in the great ocean, where nothing was to be seen around but +sky and water." + + [14] _Tazîya_, literally _grief_, is an ornamental + shrine erected in Moslem houses during the Mohurrum, and + intended to represent the mausoleum of Hassan and + Hussein, at Kerbelah in Persia. On the 10th and last day + of the mourning, the tazîyas are carried in procession + to the outside of the city, and finally deposited with + funeral rites in the burying-grounds.--See _Mrs Meer + Hassan Ali's_ Observations on the Mussulmans of India. + Letter I. + +The account of a voyage at sea, as given by an Oriental, is usually +the most deplorable of narratives--filled with exaggerated fears, the +horrors of sea-sickness, and endless lamentations of the evil fate of +the writer, in being exposed to such a complication of miseries. Of +the wailing of Mirza Abu-Talib we have already given a specimen: and +the Persian princes, even in the luxurious comfort of an English +Mediterranean steamer, seem to have fared but little better, in their +own estimation at least, than the Mirza in his dirty and disorderly +Danish merchantman. "Our bones cried, 'Alas! for this evil there is no +remedy.' We were vomiting all the time, and thus afflicted with +incurable evils, in the midst of a sea which appears without end, the +state of my health bad, the sufferings of my brothers very great, and +no hope of being saved, we became most miserable." Such is the naïve +exposition of his woes, by H. R. H. Najaf Kooli Mirza; but Kerim Khan +appears, both physically and morally, to have been made of different +metal. Ere he had been two days on board we find him remarking--"I had +by this time made some acquaintance among the passengers, and began to +find my situation less irksome and lonely;" shortly afterwards +adding--"The annoyances inseparable from this situation were relieved, +in some measure, by the music and dancing going on every day except +Sundays, owing to the numerous party of passengers, both gentlemen and +ladies, whom we had on board--seeing which, a man forgets his griefs +and troubles in the general mirth around him." So popular, indeed, +does the khan appear already to have become, that the captain, finding +that he had hitherto abstained from the use of his pipe, that great +ingredient in Oriental comfort, from an idea that smoking was +prohibited on board, "instantly sent for my hookah, had it properly +prepared for me, and insisted on my not relinquishing this luxury, the +privation of which he knew would occasion me considerable +inconvenience." In other respects, also, he seems to have been not +less happily constituted; for though he says that "the rolling and +rocking of the ship, when it entered the _dark waters_ or open sea, +completely upset my two companions, who became extremely sick"--his +remarks on the incidents of the voyage, and the novel phenomena which +presented themselves to his view, are never interrupted by any of +those pathetic lamentations on the instability of the human stomach, +which form so important and doleful an episode in the relations of +most landsmen, of whatever creed or nation. + +The commencement of the voyage was prosperous; and the ship ran to the +south before a fair wind, interrupted only by a few days of partial +calm, till it reached the latitude of Ceylon, where the appearance of +the flying fish excited the special wonder of the khan, who was by +this time beginning, under the tuition of his fellow passengers, to +make some progress in the English language, and had even attempted to +fathom some of the mysteries of the science of navigation; "but though +I took the sextant which the captain handed me, and held it precisely +as he had done, I could make nothing of it." The regular performance +of the Church service on Sundays, and the cessation on that day from +the ordinary amusements, is specially noticed on several occasions, +and probably made a deeper impression on the mind of our Moslem +friend, from the popular belief current in India that the _Feringhis_ +are men _of no caste_, without religious faith or ceremonies--a belief +which the conduct and demeanour of the Anglo-Indians in past times +tended, in too many instances, to confirm. Off the southern extremity +of Ceylon, the ship was again becalmed for several days; but the +tedium of this interval was relieved, not only by the ordinary sea +incidents of the capture of a shark and the appearance of a whale, +(the zoological distinctions between which and the true fishes are +stated by the khan with great correctness,) but by the occurrence of a +mutiny on board an English vessel in company, which was fortunately +quelled by the exertions of the captain of the Edinburgh. + +"The spicy gales of Ceylon," blowing off the coast to the distance, as +stated, of fifty miles, (an extremely moderate range when compared +with the accounts of some other travellers,) at last brought on their +wings the grateful announcement of the termination of the calm; but +before quitting the vicinity of this famous island, (more celebrated +in eastern story under the name of Serendib,) the khan gives some +notices of the legends connected with its history, which show a more +extended acquaintance with Hindu literature than the Moslems in India +in general take the trouble of acquiring. Among the rest he alludes to +the epic of the Ramayuna, and the bridge built by Rama (or as he calls +him, Rajah Ram Chunder) for the passage of the monkey army and their +redoubled general, Huniman, from the Indian continent into the island, +in order to deliver from captivity Seeta, the wife of the hero. The +wind still continuing favourable, the ship quickly passed the equator, +and the pole-star was no longer visible--"a proof of the earth's +sphericity which I was glad to have had an opportunity of seeing;" and +they left, at a short distance to the right, the islands of Mauritius +and Bourbon, "which are not far from the great island of Madagascar, +where the faithful turn their faces to the north when they pray, as +they turn them to the west in India," the _kiblah_, or point of +direction, being in both cases the kaaba, or temple of Mekka. They +were now approaching the latitude of the Cape; and our voyager was +astonished by the countless multitudes of sea-birds which surrounded +the ship, and particularly by the giant bulk of the albatrosses, +"which I was told remained day and night on the ocean, repairing to +the coast of Africa only at the period of incubation." The Cape of +Storms, however, as it was originally named by Vasco de Gama, did not +fail on this occasion to keep up its established character for bad +weather. A severe gale set in from the east, which speedily increased +to a storm. A sailor fell from "the third stage of the mainmast," (the +main topgallant yard,) and was killed on the deck; and as the +inhospitable shores of Africa were close under their lee, the ship +appears for some time to have been in considerable danger. But in this +(to him) novel scene of peril, the khan manifests a degree of +self-possession, strongly contrasting with the timidity of the royal +grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, the expression of whose fears during a +gale is absolutely ludicrous. "We were so miserable that we gave up +all hope; we gave up our souls, and began to beseech God for +forgiveness; while the wind continued increasing, and all the waves of +the western sea rose up in mountains, with never-ceasing noise, till +they reached the planets." Even after the violence of the hurricane +had in some measure abated, the sea continued to run so high that the +ports were kept closed for several days. "At last, however, they were +opened for the purpose of ventilating the interior; and the band, +which had been silent for some days, began to play again." The +appearance of a water-spout on the same afternoon is thus +described:--"An object became visible in the distance, in the form of +a minaret, and every one on board crowded on deck to look at it. On +asking what it was, I was told that what appeared to be a minaret was +only water, which was drawn up towards the heavens by the force of the +wind, and when this ceased would fall again into the sea, and was what +we should call a whirlwind. This is sometimes extremely dangerous to +vessels, since, if it reaches them, it is so powerful as to draw them +out of the sea in the same manner as it draws up the water; in +consequence of which many ships have been lost when they have been +overtaken by this wonderful phenomenon." + +The storm was succeeded by a calm, which detained the ship for two +days within sight of the lofty mountains near the Cape. "It was +bitterly cold, for the seasons are here reversed, and instead of +summer, as we should have expected, it was now the depth of winter. +At length, however, (on the 69th day after our leaving Calcutta,) a +strong breeze sprung up, which enabled us to set all sail, and carried +us away from this table-land." The run from the Cape to St Helena +seems to have been barren of incident, except an accidental encounter +with a vessel in distress, which proved to be a slaver which had been +captured by an English cruiser, and had sustained serious damage in +the late storm while proceeding to the Cape with a prize crew. On +approaching St Helena, the captain "gave orders for the ship to be +painted, both inside and out, that the people of the island might not +say we came in a dirty ship; and as we neared the land, a white flag +was hoisted to apprise those on shore that there was no one ill on +board. In cases of sickness a yellow flag is displayed, and then no +one is permitted to land from the ship for fear of contagion. The +island is about twenty-six miles in circuit, and is constantly +enveloped in fog and mist. It is said to have been formerly a volcano, +but has now ceased to smoke. The vegetation is luxuriant, but few of +the flowers are fragrant. I recognised some, however, both flowers and +fruits, which seemed similar to those of India. I took the opportunity +of landing with the captain to see the town, which is small, but +extremely well fortified, the cannon being so numerous that one might +suppose the whole island one immense iron-foundery. It is populous, +the inhabitants being chiefly Jews and English; but as it was Sunday, +and all the shops were shut, it had a dull appearance. After surveying +the town, I ascended a hill in the country, leading to the tomb of +Napoleon Bonaparte, which is on an elevated spot, four miles from the +town. + +"This celebrated personage was a native of Corsica; and enjoying a +fortunate horoscope, he entered the French army, and speedily rose to +the rank of general; and afterwards, with the consent of the people +and the soldiery, made himself emperor. After this he conquered +several kingdoms, and the fame of his prowess and his victories filled +all the European world. When he invaded Russia, he defeated the +Muscovites in several great battles, and took their capital; but, in +consequence of the intensity of the cold, several thousands of his +army both men and horses, perished miserably. This catastrophe obliged +him to return to France, where he undertook the conquest of another +country. At this time George III. reigned in England; and having +collected all the disposable forces of his kingdom, appointed Lord +Wellington (the same general who was employed in the war against +Tippoo Sultan in Mysore) to command them, and sent him to combat the +French Emperor. He entered Spain, and forced the Emperor's brother, +Yusuf, (Joseph,) who was king of that country, to fly--till after a +variety of battles and incidents, too numerous to particularize, the +two hostile armies met at a place called by the English Waterloo, +where a bloody battle was fought, as famous as that of Pāshān, +between Sohrab and the hero Rustan: and Napoleon was overthrown and +made prisoner. He was then sent, though in a manner suitable to his +rank, to this island of St Helena, where, after a few years, he +finished his earthly career. His tomb is much visited by all who touch +at the island, and has become a _durgah_ (shrine) for innumerable +visitors from Europe. There are persons appointed to take care of it, +who give to strangers, in consideration of a small present, the leaves +and flowers of the trees which grow round the tomb. No other Emperor +of the Europeans was ever so honoured as to have had his tomb made a +shrine and place of pilgrimage: nor was ever one so great a conqueror, +or so renowned for his valour and victories." + +The remainder of the voyage from St Helena to England was apparently +marked by no incident worthy of mention, as the khan notices only the +reappearance of the pole-star on their crossing the line, and +re-entering the northern hemisphere, and their reaching once more the +latitude of Delhi, "which we now passed many thousand miles to our +right; after which nothing of importance occurred till we reached the +British Channel, when we saw the Scilly Isles in the distance, and +about noon caught a glimpse of the Lizard Point, and the south coast +of England, together with the lighthouse: the country of the French +lay on our right at the distance of about eighty miles. I was given +to understand that the whole distance from St Helena to London, by the +ship's reckoning, was 6328 miles, and 16,528 from Calcutta." In the +Downs the pilot came on board, from whom they received the news of the +attempt recently made by Oxford on the life of the Queen; and here the +captain, anxious to lose no time in reaching London, quitted the +vessel as it entered the Thames, "the sources of which famous river, I +was informed, were near a place called Cirencester, eighty-eight miles +from London, in the _zillah_ (county) of Gloucester." The ship was now +taken in tow by a couple of steam-tugs, and passing Woolwich, "where +are the war-ships and _top-khana_ (arsenal) of the English Padishah, +at length reached Blackwall, where we anchored." + +"I now (continues the khan) returned thanks to God for having +brought me safe through the wide ocean to this extraordinary +country--bethinking myself of the answer once made by a man who had +undertaken a voyage, on being asked by his friends what he had seen +most wonderful--'The greatest wonder I have seen is seeing myself +alive on land!'" The troubles of the khan, however, were far from +being ended by his arrival on _terra firma_: for apparently from +some mistake or inadvertence, (the cause of which does not very +clearly appear,) on the part of the friends whom he had expected to +meet him, he found himself, on landing at Blackwall and proceeding +by the railway to London, left alone by the person who had thus far +been his guide, in apartments near Cornhill, almost wholly +unacquainted with the English language, separated from his baggage +and servants, who were still on board the Edinburgh, and with no one +in his company but another Hindustani, as little versed as himself +in the ways and speech of Franguestan. In this "considerable +unhandsome fix," as it would be called on the other side of the +Atlantic, the perplexities of the khan are related with such +inimitable naïveté and good-humour, that we cannot do better than +give the account of them in his own words. "As I could neither ask +for any thing, nor answer any question put to me, I passed the whole +night without a morsel of food or a drop of water: till in the +morning, feeling hungry, I requested my companion to go to some +bazar and buy some fruit. He replied that it would be impossible for +him either to find his way to a bazar through the crowds of people, +or to find his way back again--as all the houses were so much alike. +I then told him to go straight on in the street we were in, turning +neither to the right nor the left till he met with some shop where +we might get what we wanted: and, in order to direct him to the +place on his return, I agreed to lean half out of the window, so +that he could not fail to see me. No sooner, however, did he sally +forth, than the people, men, women, and children, began to stare at +him on all sides, as if he had dropped from the moon; some stopped +and gazed, and numbers followed him as if he had been a criminal +about being led to execution. Nor was I in a more enviable position: +the people soon caught sight of me with my head and shoulders out of +the window; and in a few minutes a mob had collected opposite the +door. What was I to do? If I withdrew myself, my friend on returning +would have no mark to find the house, while, if I remained where I +was, the curiosity of the crowd would certainly increase. I kept my +post, however, while every one that passed stopped and gazed like +the rest, till there was actually no room for vehicles to pass; and +in this unpleasant situation I remained fully an hour, when seeing +my friend returning, I went down and opened the door for him. He +told me he had gone straight on, till he came to a fruit-shop, at +the corner of another street, when he went in, and laying two +shillings on the counter, said in Oordu, (the polished dialect of +Hindustani,) 'Give me some fruit.' The shopman, not understanding +him, spoke to him in English; to which he replied again in Oordu, 'I +want some fruit!' pointing at the same time to the money, to signify +that he wanted two shillings' worth of fruit. The man, however, +continued confounded; and my friend at last, not knowing of what +sort the fruits were, whether sour or sweet, bitter or otherwise, +ventured, after much hesitation and fruitless attempts to +communicate with the shopman by signs and gestures, to take up four +apples, and then made his retreat in the best manner he could, +followed, as here, by the rabble. I at last caught a glimpse of him, +as I have mentioned, and let him in; and we sat down together, and +breakfasted on these four apples, my friend taking two of them, and +I the others." + +It must be admitted that our khan's first meal in England, and the +concomitant circumstances, were not calculated to impress him with a +very high idea, either of the comforts of the country or the +politeness of the inhabitants; but the unruffled philosophy with which +he submitted to these untoward privations was, ere-long, rewarded by +the arrival of the East India agent to whose care he had been +recommended, and who, after putting him in the way of getting his +servants and luggage on shore from the vessel, took him out in a +carriage to show him the metropolis. "It was, indeed, wonderful in +every point of view, whether I regarded the immense population, the +dresses and faces of the men and women, the multitudes of houses, +churches, &c., and the innumerable carriages running in streets paved +with stone and wood, (the width and openness of which seem to expand +the heart,) and confining themselves to the middle of the road, +without overturning any of the foot-passengers." The cathedral of St +Paul's is described with great minuteness of detail, and the expense +of its erection stated at seventy-three lakhs of rupees, (about +L.750,000;) "but I have heard that if a similar edifice were erected +in the present day, it would cost four times as much, as the cost of +every thing has increased in at least that proportion." + +The difficulties of the khan, from his ignorance of the language, and +Moslem scruples at partaking of food not dressed by his own people, +were not yet, however, at an end. For though, on returning to his +lodging in the evening, he found that his friend had succeeded in +procuring from the ship a dish of _kichiri_, (an Indian mess, composed +of rice and _ghee_, or clarified butter,) his inability to communicate +with his landlady still occasioned him considerable perplexity. +"Having ventured to take some pickles, which I saw on the sideboard, +and finding them palatable, I sent for the landlady, and tried to +explain to her by signs, pointing to the bottles, that I wanted +something like what they contained. Alas, for my ignorance! She +thought I wished them taken out of the room, and so walked off with +them, leaving me in the utmost astonishment. How was I to get it back +again? it was the only thing I had to relish my _kichiri_. I had, +therefore, recourse to this expedient--I got an apple and pared it, +putting the parings in a bottle with water; and showing this to the +landlady, intimated, by signs, that I wanted something like it to eat +with my rice. She asked many questions in English, and talked a great +deal, from which I inferred that she had at last discovered my +meaning, but five minutes had hardly elapsed when she re-appeared, +bearing in her hand a bottle of water, filled with apple-parings cut +in the nicest manner imaginable! This she placed on the table in the +most respectful manner, and then retired!" + +The good lady, however, conceiving that her guest was in danger of +perishing with hunger, was benevolently importunate with him to +partake of some nourishment, or at least of some tea and toast, "since +it is the custom in this country for every one to eat five times +a-day, and some among the wealthy are not satisfied even with this!" +The arrival of an English acquaintance, who explained to the landlady +the religious prejudices of her lodger, in some measure relieved him +from his embarrassment; but he was again totally disconcerted, by +finding it impossible, after a long search, to procure any _ghee_--an +ingredient indispensable in the composition of every national dish of +India, whether Moslem or Hindu. "How shall I express my astonishment +at this extraordinary ignorance? What! do they not know what _ghee_ +is? Wonderful! This was a piece of news I never expected--that what +abounds in every little wretched village in India, could not be +purchased in this great city!" How this unforeseen deficiency was +supplied does not appear; but probably the khan's never-failing +philosophy enabled him to bear even this unparalleled privation with +equanimity, as we hear no further complaints on the subject. He did +not remain, however, many days in those quarters, finding that the +incessant noise of the vehicles passing day and night deprived him of +sleep; and, by the advice of his friends, he took a small house in St +John's Wood, where he was at once at a distance from the intolerable +clamour of the streets, and at liberty to live after the fashion of +his own country. + +The first place of public resort to which he directed his steps, +appears to have been the Pantheon bazar in Oxford Street, whither the +familiar name perhaps attracted him--"for the term _bazar_ is in use +also among the people of this country;" but he does not appear to have +been particularly struck by any thing he saw there, except the +richness and variety of the wares. On the contrary, he complains of +the want of fragrance in the flowers in the conservatory, particularly +the roses, as compared with those of his native land--"there was _one_ +plantain-tree which seemed to be regarded as a sort of wonder, though +thousands grow in our gardens without any sort of culture." The +presence of the female attendants at the stalls, a sight completely at +variance with Asiatic ideas, is also noticed with marked +disapprobation--"Most of them were young and handsome, and seemed +perfect adepts in the art of selling their various wares; but I could +not help reflecting, on seeing so many fine young women engaged in +this degrading occupation, on the ease and comfort enjoyed by our +females, compared to the drudgery and servile employment to which the +sex are subjected in this country. Notwithstanding all the English say +of the superior condition of their women, it is quite evident, from +all I have seen since my arrival, that their social state is far below +that of our females." This sentiment is often repeated in the course +of the narrative, and any one who has read, in the curious work of Mrs +Meer Hassan Ali, quoted above, an account of the strict domestic +seclusion in which Moslem females having any pretensions to rank, or +even respectability, are constantly retained in India, will not be +surprised at the frequent expression of repugnance, whenever the +writer sees women engaged in any public or out-of-doors occupation--a +custom so abhorrent to Oriental, and, above all, to Indian ideas. + +We next find the khan in the Zoological Gardens, his matter-of-fact +description of which affords an amusing contrast with that of those +veracious scions of Persian royalty, who luxuriate in "elephant birds +just like an elephant, but without the proboscis, and with wings +fifteen yards long"--"an elephant twenty-four feet high, with a trunk +forty feet long;" and who assure us that "the monkeys act like human +beings, and play at chess with those who visit the gardens. On this +day a Jew happened to be at this place, and went to play a game with +the monkey. The monkey beat, and began to laugh loudly, all the people +standing round him; and the Jew, exceedingly abashed, was obliged to +leave the place." The khan, in common with ourselves, and the +generality of visitors to the Regent's Park, was not fortunate enough +to witness any of the wondrous feats which gladdened the royal eyes of +the Shahzadehs--though he saw some of the apes, meaning the +orang-outan, "drink tea and coffee, sit on chairs, and eat their food +like human beings." * * * + +"There is no island or kingdom," (he continues,) "which has not +contributed its specimens of the animal kingdom to these gardens: from +the elephant and rhinoceros, to the fly and the mosquito, all are to +be seen here"--but not even the giraffes, strange as their appearance +must have been to him, attract any particular notice; though the sight +of the exotics in the garden draws from him a repetition of his old +complaint, relative to the want of fragrance in the flowers as +compared with those produced under the genial sun of India. The +ceremony of the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen in person was +now at hand, and the khan determined to be present at this imposing +scene. But as he takes this opportunity to introduce his observations +and opinions on the laws and customs of this country, we shall +postpone to our next Number the discussion of these weighty subjects. + + + + +THE THIRTEENTH. + +A TALE OF DOOM. + + +It was on a sultry July evening that a joyous party of young men were +assembled in the principal room of a wine house, outside the Potsdam +gate of Berlin. One of their number, a Saxon painter, by name Carl +Solling, was about to take his departure for Italy. His place was +taken in the Halle mail, his luggage sent to the office, and the coach +was to call for him at midnight at the tavern, whither a number of his +most intimate friends had accompanied him, to drink a parting glass of +Rhenish wine to his prosperous journey. + +Supper was over, and some magnificent melons, and peaches, and plates +of caviare, and other incentives to drinking, placed upon the table; a +row of empty bottles already graced the sideboard, while full ones of +that venerable cobweb-mantle appearance, so dear to the toper, were +forthcoming as rapidly as the thirstiest throats could desire. The +conviviality was at its height, and numerous toasts had been given, +among which the health of the traveller, the prosperity of the art +which he cultivated, and of the land of poetry and song to which he +was proceeding, had not been forgotten. Indeed, it was becoming +difficult to find any thing to toast, but the thirst of the party was +still unquenched, and apparently unquenchable. + +Suddenly a young man started up, in dress and appearance the very +model of a German student--in short frock coat and loose sacklike +trousers, long curling hair hanging over his shoulders, pointed beard +and mustache, and the scars of one or two sabre cuts on his handsome +animated countenance. + +"You want a toast, my friends!" cried he. "An excuse to drink, as +though drinking needed an excuse when the wine is good. I will give +you one, and a right worthy one too. Our noble selves here assembled; +all, so many as we are!" And he glanced round the table, counting the +number of the guests. "One, two, three, four--thirteen. We are +Thirteen. _Es lebe die Dreizehn!_" + +He raised his glass, in which the golden liquor flashed and sparkled, +and set it down, drained to the last drop. + +"_Thirteen!_" exclaimed a pale-faced, dark-eyed youth named Raphael, +starting from his seat, and in his turn counting the company. "'Tis +true. My friends, ill luck will attend us. We are Thirteen, seated at +a round table." + +There was evidently an unpleasant impression made upon the guests by +this announcement. The toast-giver threw a scornful glance around +him-- + +"What!" cried he, "are we believers in such nursery tales and old +wives' superstitions? Pshaw! The charm shall soon be broken. Halls! +Franz! Winebutt! Thieving innkeeper! Rascally corkdrawer! where are +you hidden? Come forth! Appear!" + +Thus invoked, there toddled into the room the master of the tavern--a +round-bellied, short-legged individual, whose rosy gills and +Bacchus-like appearance proved his devotion to the jolly god whose +high-priest he was. + +"Sit down here!" cried the mad student, forcing him into a chair; "and +now, Raphael and gentlemen all, be pleased to shorten your faces +again, and drink your wine as if one with a three after it were an +unknown combination of numerals." + +The conversation now took a direction naturally given to it by what +had just occurred, and the origin and causes of the popular prejudice +against the number Thirteen were discussed. + +"It cannot be denied that there is something mysterious in the +connection and combination of numbers," observed a student in +philosophy; "and Pythagoras was right enough when he sought the +foundation of all human knowledge in the even and uneven. All over the +world the idea of something complete and perfect is associated with +even numbers, and of something imperfect and defective with uneven +ones. The ancients, too, considered even numbers of good omen, and +uneven ones as unpropitious." + +"It is really a pity," cried the mad student, "that you philosophers +should not be allowed to invert and re-arrange history in the manner +you deem fitting. You would soon torture the crooked stream of time +into a straight line. I should like to know from what authors you +derive your very original ideas in favour of even numbers. As far as +my reading goes, I find that number three was considered a sacred and +a fortunate number by nearly all the sects of antiquity, not excepting +the Pythagoreans. And the early Romans had such a respect for the +uneven numbers, that they never allowed a flock of sheep to be of any +number divisible by two." + +The philosopher did not seem immediately prepared with a reply to this +attack. + +"You are all of you looking too far back for the origin of the curse +that attends the number Thirteen," interposed Raphael. "Think only of +the Lord's Supper, which is rather nearer to our time than Pythagoras +and the Roman shepherds. It is since then that Thirteen has been a +stigmatized and fatal number. Judas Iscariot was the Thirteenth at +that sacred table and believe me it is no childish superstition that +makes men shun so unblest a number." + +"Here is Solling, who has not given his opinion yet," cried another of +the party, "and yet I am sure he has something to say on the subject. +How now, Carl, what ails thee, man? Why so sad and silent?" + +The painter who, at the commencement of the evening, had entered +frankly and willingly into the joyous humour of his friends, had +become totally changed since the commencement of this discussion on +the number _Thirteen_. He sat silent and thoughtful in his chair, and +left his glass untasted before him, while his thoughts were evidently +occupied by some unpleasant subject. His companions pressed him for +the cause of this change, and after for some time evading their +questions, he at last confessed that the turn the conversation had +taken had brought painful recollections to his mind. + +"It is a matter I love not to speak about," said he; "but it is no +secret, and least of all could I have any wish to conceal it from you, +my good and kind friends. We have yet an hour before the arrival of +the mail, and if you are disposed to listen, I will relate to you the +strange incidents, the recollection of which has saddened me." + +The painter's offer was eagerly accepted; the young men drew their +chairs round the table, and Solling commenced as follows:-- + +"I am a native of the small town of Geyer, in Saxony, of the tin mines +of which place my father was inspector. I was the twelfth child of my +parents and half an hour after I saw the light my mother give birth to +a Thirteenth, also a boy. Death, however, was busy in this numerous +family. Several had died while yet infants, and there now survive only +three besides myself, and perhaps my twin brother. + +"The latter, who was christened Bernard, gave indications at a very +early age of an eccentric and violent disposition. Precocious in +growth and strength, wild as a young foal, headstrong and passionate, +full of spiteful tricks and breakneck pranks, he was the terror of the +family and the neighbours. In spite of his unamiable qualities, he was +the pet of his father, who pardoned or laughed at all his mischief, +and the consequence was, that he became an object of fear and hatred +to his brothers and sisters. Our hatred, however, was unjust; for +Bernard's heart was good, and he would have gone through fire and +water for any of us. But he was rough and violent in whatever he did, +and we dreaded the fits of affection he sometimes took for us, almost +as much as his less amiable humours. + +"As far back as I can remember, Bernard received not only from his +brothers, but also from all our playfellows, the nickname of the +Thirteenth, in allusion, of course, to his being my mother's +thirteenth child. At first this offended him grievously, and many were +the sound thrashings he inflicted in his endeavours to get rid of the +obnoxious title. Finally he succeeded, but scarcely had he done so +when, from some strange perversity of character, he adopted as an +honourable distinction the very name he had taken such pains to +suppress. + +"We were playing one Sunday afternoon in the large court of our house; +several of the neighbours' children were there, and it chanced that we +were exactly twelve in number. We had wooden swords, and were having +a sort of tournament, from which, however, we had managed to exclude +Bernard, who, in such games, was accustomed to hit rather too hard. +Suddenly he bounded over a wall, and fell amongst us like a +thunderbolt. He had painted his face in red and black stripes, and +made himself a pair of wings out of an old leathern apron; and thus +equipped and armed with the largest broomstick he had been able to +find, he showered his blows around him, driving us right and left, and +shouting out, 'Room, room for the mad Thirteenth!' + +"Soon after this incident my father died. Bernard, who had been his +favourite, was as violent in his grief as he had already shown himself +to be in every thing else. He wept and screamed like a mad creature, +tore his hair, bit his hands till they bled, and struck his head +against the wall; raved and flew at every body who came near him, and +was obliged to be shut up when his father's coffin was carried out of +the house, or he would inevitably have done himself or somebody else a +mischief. + +"My mother had an unmarried brother in the town of Marienberg, a +wealthy man, and who was Bernard's godfather. On learning my father's +death he came to Geyer, and invited his sister and her children to go +and take up their abode with him. But the worthy man little knew the +plague he was receiving into his house in the person of his godson. +Himself of a mild, quiet disposition, he was greatly scandalized by +the wild pranks of his nephew, and made vain attempts to restrain him +within some bounds; but by so doing he became the aversion of my +brother, who showed his dislike in every possible way. He gave him +nicknames, broke his china cups and saucers, by which the old +gentleman set great store, splashed his white silk stockings with mud +as he went to church, put the house clock an hour forward or back, and +tormented his kind godfather in every way he could devise. + +"Bernard had not forgotten his title of the Thirteenth; but it was +probable he would soon have got tired of it, for it was not his custom +to adhere long to any thing, had not my uncle, who was a little +superstitious, strictly forbidden him to adopt it. This opposition was +all that was wanting to make my brother bring forward the unlucky +number upon every possible occasion. When any body mentioned the +number twelve before him, or called any thing the twelfth, Bernard +would immediately cry out, 'And I am the Thirteenth!' + +"No matter when it was, or before whom; time, place, and persons were +to him alike indifferent. For instance, one Sunday in church, when the +clergyman in the course of the service said, 'Let us sing a portion of +such a psalm, beginning at the twelfth verse,' Bernard immediately +screamed out, 'And I am the Thirteenth!' + +"This was a grievous scandal to my uncle, and Bernard was called that +evening before a tribunal, composed of his godfather, my mother, and +the old clergyman whom he had so gracelessly interrupted, and who was +also teacher of Latin and theology at the school to which Bernard and +I went. But all their reproaches and remonstrances were lost upon my +brother, who had evidently much difficulty to keep himself from +laughing in their faces. My mother wept, my uncle paced the room in +great perplexity, and the worthy old dominie clasped his hands +together, and exclaimed, 'My child! I fear me, God's chastisement will +be needed to amend you.' The event proved that he was right. + +"It was on the Friday before Christmas-day, and we were assembled in +school. The near approach of the holidays had made the boys somewhat +turbulent, and the poor old dominie had had much to suffer during the +whole day from their tricks and unruliness. My brother, of course, had +contributed largely to the disorder, much to the delight of his bosom +friend and companion, the only son of the master. This boy, whose name +was Albert, was a blue-eyed, fair haired lad, gentle as a girl. +Bernard had conceived a violent friendship for him, and had taken him +under his protection. Albert's father, as may be supposed, was little +pleased at this intimacy, but yet, out of consideration for my uncle, +he did not entirely forbid it; and the more so as he perceived that +his son in no respect imitated his wild playmate, but contented +himself with admiring him beyond all created beings, and repaying with +the warmest affection Bernard's watchful and jealous guardianship. + +"On the afternoon in question, my brother surpassed himself in wayward +conceits and mischievous tricks, to the infinite delight of Albert, +who rocked with laughter at each new prank. The good dominie, who was +indulgence itself, was instructing us in Bible history, and had to +interrupt himself every moment to repress the unruliness of his +pupils, and especially of Bernard. + +"It seemed pre-ordained that the lesson should be an unlucky one. +Every thing concurred to make it so. Our instructor had occasion to +speak of the twelve tribes of Israel, of the twelve patriarchs, of the +twelve gates of the holy city. Each of these served as a cue to my +brother, who immediately shouted out, 'And I am the Thirteenth!' and +each time Albert threw himself back shrieking with laughter, thus +encouraging Bernard to give full scope to his mad humour. The poor +dominie remonstrated, menaced, supplicated, but all in vain. I saw the +blood rising into his pale face, and at last his bald head, in spite +of the powder which sprinkled it, became red all over. He contained +himself, however, and proceeded to the account of the Lord's Supper. +He began, 'And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve +apostles with him.' + +"'And I am the Thirteenth!' yelled Bernard. + +"Scarcely were the words uttered, when a Bible flew across the school, +the noise of a blow, and a cry of anguish followed, and the old man +fell senseless to the ground. The heavy Bible, the corners of which +were bound with silver, and that he had hurled in a moment of +uncontrollable passion at my brother, had missed its mark, and struck +his own son on the head. Albert lay bleeding on the floor, while +Bernard hung over him like one beside himself, weeping, and kissing +his wounds. + +"The boys ran, one and all, out of the school-room, shrieking for +assistance. Our cries soon brought the servants to the spot, who, on +learning what had happened, hastened with us back to the school, and +lifted up the old master, who was still lying on the ground near his +desk. He had been struck with apoplexy, and survived but a few hours. +Albert was wounded in two places, one of the sharp corners of the +Bible having cut open his forehead, while another had injured his left +eye. After much suffering he recovered, but the sight of the eye was +gone. + +"Bernard, however, had disappeared. When we re-entered the +school-room, a window which looked into the playground was open, and +there were marks of footsteps on the snow without. A short distance +further were traces of blood, where the fugitive had apparently washed +his face and hands in the snow. We have never seen him since that +day." + +The painter paused, and his friends remained some moments silent, +musing on the tragical history they had heard. + +"And do you know nothing whatever of your brother's fate?" enquired +Raphael at last. + +"Next to nothing. My uncle caused enquiries to be made in every +direction, but without success. Once only a neighbour at Marienberg, +who had been travelling on the Bohemian frontier, told us that he had +met at a village inn a wandering clarinet-player, who bore so strong a +resemblance to my brother that he accosted him by his name. The +musician seemed confused, and muttering some unintelligible reply, +left the house in haste. What renders it probable that this was +Bernard is, that he had a great natural talent for music, and at the +time he left home, had already attained considerable proficiency on +the clarinet." + +"How old was your brother when he so strangely disappeared?" asked one +of the party. + +"Fifteen, but he looked at least two years older, for he was stout and +manly in person beyond his age." + +At this moment the rattling of wheels, and sound of a postilion's +horn, was heard. The Halle mail drove up to the door, the guard +bawling out for his passenger. The young painter took a hasty leave of +his friends, and sprang into the vehicle, which the next instant +disappeared in the darkness. + +There was an overplus of travellers by the mail that night, and the +carriage in which Solling had got, was not the mail itself, but a +calèche, holding four persons, which was used as a sort of +supplement, and followed close to the other carriage. Two of the +places were occupied by a Jew horse-dealer and a sergeant of hussars, +who were engaged in an animated, and to them most interesting +conversation, on the subject of horse-flesh, to which the painter paid +little attention; but leaning back in his corner, remained absorbed in +the painful reflections which the incidents he had been narrating had +called up in his mind. In spite of his brother's eccentricities, he +was truly attached to him; and although eight years had elapsed since +his disappearance, he had not yet given up hopes of finding him, if +still alive. The enquiries that he and his uncle had unceasingly made +after their lost relative, had put them, about three years previous to +this time, upon the trace of a clarinet-player who had been seen at +Venice and Trieste, and went by the name of Voltojo. This might have +been a name adopted by Bernard, as being nearly the Italian equivalent +of Geyer, or hawk, the name of his native town; and Solling was not +without a faint hope, that in the course of his journey to Rome he +might obtain some tidings of his brother. + +He was roused from his reverie by the postilion shouting out to the +guard of the mail, which was just before them on the road, to know +when they were to take up the passenger who was to occupy the +remaining seat in the calèche. + +"Where will the Thirteenth meet us?" asked the man. + +"At the inn at Schoneber," replied the guard. + +_The Thirteenth!_ The word made the painter's blood run cold. The +horse-dealer and the sergeant, who had begun to doze in their +respective corners, were also disturbed by the ill-omened sound. + +"The Thirteenth! The Thirteenth!" muttered the Jew in his beard, still +half asleep. "God forbid! Let's have no thirteenth!" + +A company of travelling comedians, who occupied the mail, took up the +word. "The Thirteenth is coming," said one. + +"Somebody will die," cried another. + +"Or we shall be upset and break our necks," exclaimed a third. + +"No Thirteenth!" cried they all in chorus. "Drive on! drive on! he +sha'n't get in!" + +This was addressed to the postilion, who just then pulled up at the +door of a village inn, and giving a blast with his horn, shouted +loudly for his remaining passenger to appear. + +The door of the public-house opened, and a tall figure, with a small +knap-sack on his shoulder and a knotty stick in his hand, stepped out +and approached the mail. But when he heard the cries of the comedians, +who were still protesting against the admission of a Thirteenth +traveller, he started suddenly back, swinging his cudgel in the air. + +"To the devil with you all, vagabonds that ye are!" vociferated he. +"Drive on, postilion, with your cage of monkeys. I shall walk." + +At the sound of the stranger's voice, Solling sprang up in the +carriage and seized the handle of the door. But as he did so, a strong +arm grasped him by the collar, and pulled him back into his seat. At +the same moment the carriage drove on. + +"The man is drunk," said the sergeant, who had misinterpreted his +fellow-passenger's intentions. "It is not worth while dirtying your +hands, and perhaps getting an ugly blow, in a scuffle with such a +fellow." + +"Stop, postilion, stop!" shouted Solling. But the postilion either did +not or would not hear, and some time elapsed before the painter could +persuade his well-meaning companion of his peaceable intentions. At +length he did so, and the carriage, which had meanwhile been going at +full speed, was stopped. + +"You will leave my luggage at the first post-house," said Solling, +jumping out and beginning to retrace his steps to the village, which +they had now left some distance behind them. + +The night was pitch-dark, so dark that the painter was compelled to +feel his way, and guide himself by the line of trees that bordered the +road. He reached the village without meeting a living creature, and +strode down the narrow street amid the baying of the dogs, disturbed +by his footfall at that silent hour of the night. The inn door was +shut, but there was a light glimmering in one of the casements. He +knocked several times without any body answering. At length a woman's +head was put out of an upper window. + +"Go your ways," cried a shrill voice, "and don't come disturbing +honest folk at this time o' night. Do you think we have nought to do +but to open the door for such raff as you? Be off with you, you +vagabond, and blow your clarinet elsewhere." + +"You are mistaken, madam," said Solling; "I am no vagabond, but a +passenger by the Halle mail, and"-- + +"What brings you here, then?" interrupted the virago; "the Halle mail +is far enough off by this." + +"My good madam," replied the painter in his softest tone, "for God's +sake tell me who and where is the person who was waiting for the mail +at your hotel." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the hostess, considerably mollified by the _madam_ +and the _hotel_. "The mad Italian musician, the clarinet fellow? Why, +I took you for him at first, and wondered what brought him back, for +he started as soon as the mail left the door. He'd have done better to +have got into it, with a dark night and a long road before him. Ha! +ha! He's mad, to be sure." + +"His name! His name!" cried Solling, impatiently. + +"His name? How can I recollect his outlandish name? Fol--Vol----" + +"Voltojo!" cried the painter. + +"Voltojo! yes, that's it. Ha! ha! What a name!" + +"It is he!" cried Solling, and without another word dashed off full +speed along the road he had just come. He kept in the middle of the +causeway, straining his eyes to see into the darkness on either side +of him, and wondering how it was he had not met the object of his +search as he came to the village. He ran on, occasionally taking trees +and fingerposts for men, and cursing his ill luck when he saw his +mistake. The sweat poured down his face in streams, and his knees +began to knock together with fatigue. Suddenly he struck his foot +against a stone lying in the road, and fell, cutting his forehead +severely upon some pebbles. The sharp pain drew a cry from him, and a +man who had been lying on the grass at the roadside, sprang up and +hastened to his assistance. At that moment a flash of summer lightning +lit up the road. + +"Bernard! Bernard!" cried the painter, throwing his arms round the +stranger's neck. It was his brother. + +Bernard started back with a cry of horror. + +"Albert!" he exclaimed in a hollow voice, "Cannot your spirit rest? Do +you rise from the grave to persecute me?" + +"In God's name, my dear brother, what mean you? I am Carl--Carl, your +twin brother." + +"Carl? No! Albert! I see that horrid wound on your brow. It still +bleeds!" + +The painter grasped his brother's hand. + +"I am flesh and blood," said he, "and no spirit. Albert still lives." + +"He lives!" exclaimed Bernard, and clasped his brother in his arms. + +Explanations followed, and the brothers took the road to Berlin. When +the painter had replied to Bernard's questions concerning their +family, he in his turn begged his brother to relate his adventures +since they parted, and above all to give his reasons for remaining so +long severed from his friends and home. + +"Although I fully believed Albert killed by the blow he received," +replied Bernard, "it was no fear of punishment for my indirect share +in his death, that induced me to fly. But when I saw the father +senseless on the ground, and the son expiring before my eyes, I felt +as if I was accursed, as if the brand of Cain were on my brow, and +that it was my fate to roam through the world an isolated and +wretched being. When you all ran out of the school to fetch +assistance, it seemed to me as though each chair and bench and table +in the room received the power of speech, and yelled and bellowed in +my ears the fatal number which has been the cause of all my +misfortunes--'Thirteen! Thirteen! Thou art the Thirteenth, the +Accursed One!' + +"I fled, and since that day no rest or peace has been mine. Like my +shadow has this unholy number clung to me. Wherever I went, in all the +many lands I have wandered through, I carried with me the curse of my +birth. At every turn it met me, aggravating my numerous hardships, +embittering my rare moments of joy. If I entered a room where a +cheerful party was assembled, all rose and shrunk from me as from one +plague-tainted. They were twelve--I was the Thirteenth. If I sat down +at a dinner-table, my neighbour left his chair, and the others would +say, 'He fears to sit by you. You are the Thirteenth.' If I slept at +an inn--there were sure to be twelve persons sleeping there; my bed +was the Thirteenth, or my room would be number Thirteen, and I was +told that the former landlord had shot or hung himself in it. + +"At length I left Germany, in the vain hope that the spell would not +extend beyond the land of my birth. I took ship at Trieste for Venice. +Scarcely were we out of port when a violent storm arose, and we were +driven rapidly towards a rocky and dangerous coast. The steersman +counted the seamen and passengers, and crossed himself. We were +_thirteen_. + +"Lots were drawn who should be sacrificed for the salvation of the +others. I drew number thirteen, and they put me ashore on a barren +rock, where I passed a day and night half dead with cold and drenched +with sea water. At length an Illyrian fisherman espied me, and took me +off in his boat. + +"It is unnecessary to relate to you in detail my wanderings during the +last eight years, or if I do, it shall be at some future time. My +clarinet enables me to live in the humble manner I have always done. +You remember, probably, that I had some skill in it, which I have +since much improved. When travelling, my music was generally taken as +payment for my bed and supper at the petty hostelries at which I put +up; and when I came to a large town, I remained a few days, and +usually gained more than my expenses. + +"About a year since, I made some stay at Copenhagen, and at last, +getting wearied of that city, I put myself on board a ship, without +enquiring whither it was bound. It took me to Stralsund. + +"The day of my arrival, there was a shooting-match in the suburb +beyond the Knieper, and I hastened thither with my clarinet. It was a +sort of fair, and I wandered from one booth to the other, playing the +joyous mountain melodies which I had not once played since my +departure from Marienberg. God knows what brought them into my head +again; but it did my heart good to play them, and a feeling came over +me, that I should like once more to have a home, and to leave the +weary rambling life I had so long led. + +"I had great success that day, and the people thronged to hear the +wandering Italian musician. Many were the jugs of beer and glasses of +wine offered to me, and my plate was soon full of shillings. As I left +off playing, an old greyheaded man pressed through the crowd, and +gazed earnestly at me. His eyes filled with tears, and he was +evidently much moved. + +"'What a likeness!' he exclaimed. 'He is the very picture of my +Amadeus. I could fancy he had risen out of the sea. The same features, +the sane voice and manner.' + +"He came up to me and took my hand. 'If you do not fear a high +staircase,' said he with a kindly smile, 'come and visit me. I live on +the tower of St Nicholas's Church. Your clarinet will sound well in +the free fresh air, and you will find those there who will gladly +listen.' So saying, he left me. + +"The old man's name was Elias Kranhelm, better known in Stralsund as +the old Swede; he was the town musician, and had the care of the bells +of St Nicholas. The next day was Sunday, and I hastened to visit him. +His kind manner had touched me, unaccustomed as I was to kindness or +sympathy from the strangers amongst whom I always lived. When I was +halfway up the stairs leading to the tower, the organ began to play +below me, and I recognised a psalm tune which we used often to sing +for our old schoolmaster at Marienberg. I stopped a moment to listen, +and thoughts of rest and home again came over me. + +"I was met at the tower door by old Kranhelm, in his Sunday suit of +black; large silver buckles at his knees and shoes, and a round black +velvet cap over his long white hair. His clear grey eyes smiled so +kindly upon me, his voice was so mild, and his greeting so cordial, +that I thought I had never seen a more pleasing old man. He welcomed +me as though I had been an old friend, and without further preface, +asked me if I should like to become his substitute, and perform the +duties for which his great age had begun to unfit him. His only son, +on whom he had reckoned to take his place, had left him some time +previously, to become a sailor on board a Norwegian ship, and had been +drowned in his very first voyage. It was my extraordinary likeness to +this son that had made him notice me; and the good, simple-hearted old +man seemed to think that resemblance a sufficient guarantee against +any risk in admitting a perfect stranger into his house and intimacy. + +"'My post is a profitable one,' said he; 'and, in consideration of my +long services, the worshipful burgomaster has given me leave to seek +an assistant, now that I am getting too old for my office. Consider +then, my son, if the offer suits you. You please me, and I mean you +well. But here comes my Elizabeth, who will soon learn to like you if +you are a good lad.' + +"As he spoke, a young girl entered the room, with a psalm-book in her +hand, and attired in an old-fashioned dress, which was not able, +however, to conceal the elegance of her figure, and the charms of her +blooming countenance. + +"'How think you, Elizabeth?' said her father. 'Is he not as like our +poor Amadeus as one egg is to another?' + +"'I do not see the likeness, my dear father,' replied Elizabeth, +looking timidly at me, and then casting down her eyes, and blushing. + +"I accepted the old man's offer with joy, and took up my dwelling in +the other turret of the church tower. My occupation was to keep the +clock wound up, to play the evening hymn on the balcony of the tower, +and to strike the hours upon the great bell with a heavy hammer. + +"I soon felt the good effect of repose, and of the happy, tranquil +life I now led; my spirits improved, and I began to forget the curse +which hung over me--to forget, in short, that I was the unlucky +Thirteenth. Old Kranhelm's liking for me increased rapidly, and, in +less than three months, I was Elizabeth's accepted lover. Time flew +on; the wedding-day was fixed, and the bridal-chamber prepared. + +"It was on Friday evening, exactly eight days ago, that I went out +with Elizabeth, and walked down to the port to look at a large Swedish +ship that had just arrived. The passengers were landing, and one +amongst them immediately attracted our attention. + +"This was a tall, lean, raw-boned woman, apparently about forty years +of age, who held in her hand a long, smooth staff, which she waved +about her, nodding her head, and muttering, as she went, in some +strange, unintelligible dialect. Her dress consisted of a huge black +fur cloak, and a cape of the same colour fringed with red. Her whole +manner and appearance were so strange, that a crowd assembled round +her as soon as she set foot on shore. + +"'Hallo! comrade,' cried one of the sailors of the vessel that had +brought her, to a boatman who was passing. 'Hallo! comrade, do you +want a job? Here's a witch to take to Hiddensee.' + +"We asked the sailor what he meant; and he told us that this strange +woman was a Lapland witch, who every year, in the dog-days, made a +journey to the island of Hiddensee, to gather an herb which only grew +there, and was essential in her incantations. + +"Meantime, the witch was calling for a boat, but no one understood her +language, or else they did not choose to come. My unfortunate +propensity to all that is supernatural or fantastic impelled me, with +irresistible force, towards her. In vain Elizabeth held me back. I +pushed my way through the crowd, until we found ourselves close to the +Lapland woman, who measured us from head to foot with her bright and +glittering eyes. Slipping a florin into her hand, I gave her to +understand, as well as I could, that we wished to have our fortunes +told. She took my hand, and, after examining it, made a sign that she +either could or would tell me nothing. She then took the hand of +Elizabeth, who hung upon my arm, trembling like an aspen leaf, and +gazing intently upon it, muttered a few words in broken Swedish. I did +not understand them, but Elizabeth did, and, starting back, drew me +hastily out of the crowd. + +"'What did she say?' enquired I, as soon as we were clear of the +throng. + +"Elizabeth seemed much agitated, and had evidently to make a strong +effort before she could reply. + +"'Nothing,' answered she, at last; 'nothing, at least, worth +repeating. And yet 'tis strange; it tallies exactly with a prediction +made to my mother when I was an infant, that I should one day be in +peril from the number Thirteen. This strange woman cautioned me +against the same number, and bade me beware of you, for that you were +the Thirteenth!' + +"Had the earth opened under my feet, or the lightning from heaven +fallen on my head, I could not have felt a greater shock than was +communicated to me by these words. I know not what I said in reply, or +how I got home. Elizabeth, doubtless, observed my agitation, but she +made no remark on it. I felt her arm tremble upon mine as we walked +along, and by a furtive glance at her face saw that she was pale as +death. Not a word passed between us during our walk back to the tower, +on reaching which she shut herself up in her room. I pleaded a severe +headach and wish to lie down; and, begging the old man to strike the +hours for me, retired to my chamber. + +"It would be impossible to give an idea of the agony of mind I +suffered during that evening. I thought at times I was going mad, and +there were moments when I felt disposed to put an end to my existence +by a leap from the tower window. Again, then, this curse that hung +over me was in full force. Again had that fatal number raised itself +before me like an iron wall, interposed between me and all earthly +happiness. Wearied out at length by the storm within me, I fell +asleep. + +"As may be supposed, I was followed in my troubled slumbers by the +recollection of my misery. Each hour that struck awoke me out of the +most hideous dreams to a scarce less hideous reality. When midnight +came, and the hammer clanged upon the great bell, a strange fancy took +possession of my mind that it would this night strike Thirteen, and +that at the thirteenth stroke the clock, the tower, the city, and the +whole world, would crumble into atoms. Again I fell asleep and dreamt. +I thought that my head was changed into a mighty bronze bell, and that +I hung in the tower and heard the clock beside me strike Thirteen. +Then came the old schoolmaster, who yet, at the same time, had the +features of Elizabeth's father; and, as he drew near me, I saw that +the hammer he held in his hand was no hammer, but a large silver-bound +Bible. In my despair I made frightful efforts to cry out and to tell +him that I was no bell, but a man, and that he should not strike me; +but my voice refused its service and my tongue clove to my palate. The +greyhaired old man came up to me, and struck thirteen times on my +forehead, till my brains gushed out at my eyes. + +"By daybreak the next morning I was two leagues from Stralsund, having +left a few hurried ill-written lines in my room, pleading I know not +what urgent family affairs, and a dislike to leave-taking, as excuses +for my sudden departure. Over field and meadow, through rivers and +forests, on I went, as though hell were at my heels, flying from my +destiny. But the further I got from Stralsund the more did I regret +all I left there--my beautiful and affectionate mistress, her +kind-hearted father, the peaceful happy life I led on the top of the +old tower. The vow I had made to fly from the haunts of men, and seek +in some desert the repose which my evil fate denied me among my +fellows, that vow became daily more difficult to keep. And yet I went +on, dreading to depart from my determination, lest I should encounter +some of those bitter deceptions and cruel disappointments that had +hitherto been my lot in life. Shame, too, at the manner in which I had +left the tower, withheld me, or else I think I should already be on my +road back to Stralsund. But now I have met you, brother, and that my +mind is relieved by the knowledge that I have not, even indirectly, +Albert's death to reproach myself with, I must hasten to my Elizabeth +to relieve her anxiety, and dry the tears which I am well assured each +moment of my absence causes her to shed. Come with me, dearest Carl, +and you shall see her, my beautiful Elizabeth, and her good old +father, and the tower and the bell. Ho! the bell, the jolly old bell!" + +The painter looked kindly but anxiously in his brother's face. There +was a mildness in his manner that startled him, accustomed as he had +been to his eccentricities when a boy. + +"You are tired, brother," said he. "You need repose after the emotions +and fatigues of the last week. I, too, shall not be sorry to sleep. +Let us to bed for a few hours, and then we will have post-horses and +be off to Stralsund." + +"I have no need of rest," replied Bernard, "and each moment seems to +me an eternity till I can again clasp my Elizabeth to my heart. Let us +delay, then, as little as may be." + +As he spoke they entered the gates of Berlin. The sun was risen, and +the hotels and taverns were beginning to open their doors. Seeing +Bernard's anxiety to depart, the painter abandoned his intention of +taking some repose, and after hasty breakfast, a post-chaise was +brought to the door, and the brothers stepping in, were whirled off on +their road northwards. + +The sun was about to set when the travellers came in sight of the +spires of Stralsund, among which the church of St Nicholas reared its +double-headed tower. Bernard had enlivened the journey by his wild +sallies, and merry but extravagant humour. Now, however, that the goal +was almost reached, he became silent and anxious. The hours appeared +to go too slowly for him, and his restlessness was extreme. + +"Faster! postilion," cried Carl, observing his brother's impatience. +"Faster! You shall be paid double." + +The man flogged his horses till they flew rather than galloped over +the broad level road. Suddenly, however, a strap broke, and the +postilion got off his seat to tie it up. Through the stillness of the +evening, no longer broken by the rattle of the wheels and clatter of +the horses' feet, a clock was heard striking the hour. Another +repeated it, and a third, of deeper tone than the two preceding ones, +took up the chime. Bernard started to his feet, and leaned so far out +of the carriage that his brother seized hold of him, expecting him to +lose his balance and fall out. + +"It is she!" exclaimed Bernard. "'Tis the bell of St Nicholas. Listen, +Carl--my Elizabeth calls me. She strikes the bell. I come, dearest, I +come!" + +And with these words he sprang out of the carriage, and set off at +full speed towards the town, leaving his brother thunderstruck at his +mad impatience and vehemence. + +Running at the top of his speed, Bernard soon reached the city gate, +and proceeded rapidly through the streets in the direction of St +Nicholas's church. It seemed to him as though he had been absent for +years instead of a few days, and he felt quite surprised at finding no +change in the city since his departure. All was as he had left it; all +conspired to lull him into security. An old fruitwoman, of whom he had +bought cherries the very day of his last walk with Elizabeth, was in +her usual place, and, as he passed, extolled the beauty of her fruit, +and asked him to buy. A large rose-tree, at the door of a +silversmith's shop, which Elizabeth had often admired, was still in +full bloom; through the window of a house in the market-place, he saw +a young girl, Elizabeth's dearest friend, dressing her hair at a +looking-glass, and as he passed the churchyard, the old dumb sexton, +who appeared to be hunting about for a place for a grave, nodded his +head in mute recognition. + +Bernard opened the tower door, and darted up the staircase. He was not +far from the top when he heard the voices of two men above him. They +were resting on one of the landing-places of the ladderlike stairs. + +"It is a singular case, doctor," said one; "a strange and +incomprehensible case. It is evidently a disease more of the mind than +the body." + +"Yes," replied the other, by his voice apparently an old man. "If we +could only get a clue to the cause, any thing to go upon, something +might be done, but at present it is a perfect riddle." + +Bernard heard no more, for the men continued their ascent. + +"The old father must be ill," said he to himself; but as he said it a +feeling of dread and anxiety, a presentiment of evil, came over him, +and he stood for a few moments unable to proceed. The door at the top +of the stairs was now opened, and shut with evident care to avoid +noise. "The old man must be very ill," said Bernard, as if trying to +persuade himself of it. He reached the door, and his hand shook as he +laid it upon the latch. At length he lifted it, and entered the room. +It was empty; but, just then, the door of Elizabeth's chamber opened, +and old Kranhelm stepped out. On beholding Bernard, he started back as +though he had seen a ghost. He said a word or two in a low voice to +somebody in the inner room, and then shutting the door, bolted it, +and placed his back against it, as if to prevent Bernard from going +in. + +"Begone!" cried he in a tremulous voice; "in the name of God, begone! +thou evil spirit of my house;" and he stretched out his arms towards +Bernard as though to prohibit his approach. No longer master of +himself, the young man sprang towards him, and, grasping his arm, +thundered in his ear the question-- + +"Where is my Elizabeth?" + +The words rang through the old tower, and the confused murmuring of +voices in the inner room was heard. Bernard listened, and thought he +distinguished the voice of Elizabeth repeating, in tones of agony, the +fatal number. + +One of the physicians knocked, and begged to be let out. The old +tower-keeper opened the door cautiously, and, when the doctor had +passed through, carefully shut and barred it. But during the moment +that it had remained open, Bernard heard too plainly what his ears had +at first been unwilling to believe. + +"Is that the man?" demanded the physician hastily. "In God's name, be +silent. You will kill the patient. She recognized your voice, and fell +immediately into the most fearful paroxysm. She has got back again to +the infernal number with which her delirium began, and she shrieks it +out perpetually. It is a frightful relapse. Begone! young man; yet +stay--I will go with you. You can, doubtless, give us a key to this +mystery." + +The old physician took Bernard's arm to lead him away; but at that +very moment there was a shrill scream from the next room, and +Elizabeth's voice was heard calling upon Bernard by name. The +unfortunate young man could not restrain himself. Shaking off the +grasp of the physician, he pushed old Kranhelm aside, tore back the +bolts, and flung open the door. There lay Elizabeth on her deathbed, +her arms stretched out towards him, her mild countenance ashy pale and +frightfully distorted, her soft blue eyes straining from their orbits. +She made a violent effort to speak, but death was too near at hand; +the sound died away upon her lips, and her uplifted arms dropped +powerless upon the bed; her head fell back--a convulsive shudder came +over her: she was dead. Her unhappy lover fell senseless to the +ground. + +When Bernard awoke out of a long and deathlike swoon, it was night, +and all around him was still and dark. He was lying on the stone floor +outside Kranhelm's dwelling. The physicians had removed him thither; +and, being occupied with the old tower-keeper and his daughter, they +had thought no more about him. On first recovering sensation, he had +but an indistinct idea of where he was, or what had happened. By +degrees his senses returned to a certain extent--he knew that +something horrible had occurred, but without remembering exactly what +it was. + +He felt about him, and touched a railing. It was the balustrade round +the open turret where hung the great bell. He was lying under the bell +itself, and, as he gazed up into its brazen throat, the recollection +of the frightful dream which had persecuted him the night before his +flight from Stralsund came vividly to his mind; he appeared to himself +to be still dreaming, and yet his visions were mixed up with the +realities of his everyday occupations. + +He had just stepped out, he thought, to strike the hour on the bell, +and rising with some difficulty from the hard couch which had +stiffened his limbs, he sought about for the hammer. He made no effort +to shake off the sort of dreaming semi-consciousness which seemed to +prevent him from feeling the horror and anguish of reality. + +"Thirteen strokes," thought he; "thirteen strokes, and at the +Thirteenth the tower will fall, the city crumble to dust, the world be +at an end." Such had been his dream, and the moment of its +accomplishment was come. + +He found the hammer, and struck with all his force upon the bell. He +repeated the blow; twelve times he struck, and each stroke rang with +deafening violence through his brain; but at the Thirteenth, as he +raised his arms high above his head, and leaning back against the +railing, threw his whole strength and energy into the blow, the frail +balustrade gave way under his weight, and he fell headlong from the +tower. The last stroke tolled out, sad and hollow as a funereal knell, +and the sound mingled with the death-cry of the luckless Thirteenth! + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF SYRIA.[15] + + [15] Reminiscences of Syria. By Colonel E. Napier. + + +Galloping, gossiping, flirting and fighting, feasting and starving, +but always in high spirits and the best possible humour, Colonel +Napier might answer an advertisement for "A Pleasant Companion in a +Post-chaise," without the slightest chance of rejection. But it is +difficult to imagine so dashing a traveller, boxed up in a civilized +conveyance, rolling quietly along a macadamized road, with a diversity +of milestones and an occasional turnpike gate, the only incidents by +the way--no wild Maronite glimpsing at him over the hedge; no +black-eyed houri peeping over the balustrades of the caravanserai, +(called by vulgar men the Bricklayers' Arms)--no Saïces to help John +Hostler to change horses; but dulness, uniformity, and most tiresome +and unromantic safety. England, we are sorry to confess it, is not the +land of stirring adventures or hair-breadth 'scapes--a railway coach +occasionally blows up; a blind leader occasionally bolts into a ditch; +a wheel comes occasionally into dangerous collision with one of +Pickford's vans; but these are the utmost that can be hoped for in the +way of peril, and other excitement there is positively none. We have +treated life as the mathematician did Paradise Lost--we have struck +out all its similes--obliterated its flights--expunged its glorious +visions--we have made it prose. But fortunately for us--for Colonel +Napier--for the reading public--there is a land where mathematicians +are unknown, and where poetry continues to flourish in the full vigour +of cimeters and turbans--the region of the sun-- + + "The first of Eastern lands he shines upon." + +It was in this very beautiful, but rather overdone portion of earth's +surface, that the adventures occurred of which we are now to give some +account; and as probably most of our readers have heard the name of +Syria pretty often of late, we need not display much geographical +erudition in pointing out where it lies. It would be pleasant to us if +we could atone for brevity in this respect, by illuminating the reader +on the causes that have brought Syria so prominently forward; but on +this point we confess, with shame and confusion of face, that we know +no more than Lord Ponsonby or M. Thiers. The truth seems to be, that +some time, about two or three years ago, five or six people in +influential stations went mad, and our Secretary for Foreign Affairs +took the infection. He showed his teeth and raised his "birse," and +barked in a most audacious manner, till the French kennel answered the +challenge; an old dog in Egypt cocked his tail at the same time, and +the world began to be afraid that hydrophobia would be universal. All +parties were delighted to let the rival yelpers fight it out on so +distant a field as Syria; and in that country of heat and dryness, of +poverty, anarchy, cruelty, and superstition, there was a skrimmage +that kept all Christendom on the tenter-hooks for half-a-year; and +this we believe to be the policy of the Syrian campaign. Better for +all parties concerned, that a few thousand turbaned and malignant +Turks or Egyptians should bite the dust, than that there should be +another Austerlitz or Waterloo. So the signal was accordingly given, +and the work began. + +Wherever there is any fighting it is not to be doubted that the +English hurra will be heard--and an apparition had been seen in the +smoke of battle, which had sorely puzzled the wisest of the +soothsayers of Egypt to explain. It was of a being apparently human, +but dressed as if to represent Mars and Neptune at the same time, +charging along the tops of houses, with the jolly cocked-hat of a +captain of a British man-of-war on the point of his sword, and a +variety of exclamations in his mouth, more complimentary to the +enemy's speed than his courage. The muftis, we have said, were sorely +puzzled, and at last set it down as an infallible truth that he must +be none other than Old Harry, whereas there was not a sailor in the +fleet that did not know that it was none other than Old Charley. And +this identical Old Charley, in a style of communication almost as +rapid as his military evolutions, had indited the following epistle to +the author of the volumes before us:-- + + "Headquarters of the Army of Lebanon.--Djouni, + Sept. 1840. + + "My dear Edward--I have hoisted my broad pendant on + Mount Lebanon, and mean to advance against the Egyptians + with a considerable force under my command; you may be + of use here; therefore go to Sir John M'Donald, and ask + him to get leave for you to join me without delay. + + "Your affectionate father, + CHARLES NAPIER." + +And the dutiful son, who seems to have no inconsiderable portion of +the paternal penchant for broken heads and other similar +divertisements, in three weeks from the receipt of the letter found +himself on board the Hydra, and rapidly approaching the classic shores +of Sidon, Tyre, Ptolemais; the scenes of scriptural records and deeds +of chivalry--Palestine--the Holy Land. But the broad pendant in the +mean time had been pulled down on Mount Lebanon, and once more +fluttered to the sea breezes on board the Powerful. Sir Charles Smith +had assumed the command of the land forces, and whether from +ill-humour at finding half the work done during his absence by the +amphibious commodore, or from some other cause, his reception of the +author was, at first, far from cordial. Instead of being useful, as he +had hoped, he found the sturdy old general blind to the value of his +accession; and when the Powerful sailed he found himself without +quarters appointed him, or even an invitation to join the officers' +mess. But with the usual good-luck of people who bear disappointments +well, all turned out for the best, as will be seen by the following +extract: + + "I had, on board the Powerful, a few days before, formed + the acquaintance of a young Syrian of the name of + Assaade el Khyat, who, brought up at one of our + universities, was at heart a true Englishman, spoke + fluently our own and several other European and Eastern + languages, and whom I found, on the whole, a sensible, + well-informed young man, and a most agreeable companion. + As I was sitting alone, after a solitary dinner, (in the + miserable hotel at Beyrout,) musing in a brown study + over a bottle of red Cyprus wine, my new acquaintance + was ushered into the apartment; I made no secret to him + of my extremely uncomfortable position, when he, with + great kindness and liberality, overcoming the usual + prejudices of his country, offered me an asylum in his + own family, which offer I most gladly accepted, and was + accordingly the next morning comfortably installed in my + new quarters, whereof I will endeavour to give the + reader a slight description. + + "The house of which I had just so unexpectedly become an + inmate, was situated in one of the most retired and out + of the way parts of the town, (and it was not before + considerable time had elapsed, and then with difficulty, + that I became acquainted with the labyrinth of narrow + lanes, alleys, and dark passages which it was requisite + to thread in order to arrive at this desired haven,) the + property of a young man of the name of Giorgio Habbit + Jummal--brother-in-law of my friend Assaade, to whom one + of his sisters was married, and whom, as he spoke + Italian with fluency and ease, I at once engaged as my + dragoman or interpreter. + + "By a strange coincidence, I, under the roof of Giorgio, + for the first time became acquainted with Mr Hunter, the + author of the _Expedition to Syria_, who, placed in + similar circumstances with myself, was likewise an + inmate of the same house, and of whom, as we were + subsequently much known together during our residence in + this country, I shall after have occasion to mention: at + present I will take the liberty of borrowing from his + amusing narrative the following account of the inmates + of our new domicile. 'We lived in the house of a + respectable Syrian family, that of Habbit Jummal, or + interpreted, the esteemed camel-driver. Our landlord, + Giorgius, the head of this family, was a young man + hardly out of his teens; and having some competency, and + being moreover _un beau garçon_, did not follow either + his ancestral, or any other avocation. The harem, or + woman's portion of the house, was composed of his + mother, a fair widow of forty, and her two daughters, + both Eastern beauties of their kind, Sarah and Nasarah + (meaning Victory or Victoria;) the first, a laughing + black eyed houri, with mischief in every dimple in her + pretty face; the other, a more portly damsel, of a + melancholy but not less pleasing expression. There were + besides these, three younger children with equally + poetic names, (Nassif, Iskunder, and Furkha,) and + included in the _coterie_ was a good-humoured negress, + the general handmaid, whose original cognomen of Saade, + was lost in the apposite soubriquet of + Snowball.'--Although the greater part of the + inhabitants of Beyrout are Christians, generally + speaking, of the Greek Church, to which persuasion + likewise belonged the family of our host Giorgio; still + in this land of bigotry and oppression--to such an + extent is carried suspicion and jealousy, and so far + have Mahommedan prejudices in this respect been adopted, + that all the women (those of the peasantry alone + excepted) lead nearly as secluded a life as the Osmanli + ladies of Constantinople or Smyrna. On venturing abroad, + which they seldom do, unless when the knessi or humaum + (church or bath) are the limits of their excursions, + they are so closely shrouded in the izar, or long white + garment, which, coming over the head and hiding the + face, falls in numerous folds to the ground, as to be + scarcely recognizable by their nearest friends or + relations. To allow, therefore, two unknown and + friendless strangers to become familiar inmates of an + Eastern family, exposing wives, daughters, and sisters, + to their unhallowed gaze, was a favour and mark of + confidence on the part of Assaade which we duly + appreciated, nor ever abused; it was, however, a + privilege to which no other stranger in the place was + admitted, and affording, as it did, such opportunities + of acquiring the Arabic language, I eagerly embraced it + without any feeling of regret at the inhospitality to + which I was originally indebted for my admission behind + the scenes of Oriental life. + + "The bare, gloomy, and massive stone walls of the + exterior of our habitation had not prepared us for the + comforts we found inside; and as for the first time we + followed Giorgio and his brother-in-law up the rude and + narrow stone staircase, which appeared to be scarped out + of the very thickness of the wall--an open sesame from + the former causing a strong iron studded door to fly + back on its hinges, disclosed a handsome patis or court + paved with black and white marble, along the sides of + which were luxuriantly growing, and imparting a cooling + freshness to the scene, the perfumed orange-tree, + bearing at the same time both fruit and blossoms, and + flanked by green myrtles and flowering geraniums; whilst + an apartment opening on this garden terrace, and which + appeared from the carpets and cushions scattered around + the still smoking narghilis, (or water-pipe, in which is + smoked the tumbic or Persian tobacco,) and other sundry + traces of female industry, to be appropriated as the + common sitting-room of the family, was on our entrance + precipitately deserted by all its occupants, save one + fine-looking matronly lady, whom Giorgio introduced as + his mother; and while she was welcoming us with many + 'Fāddālls,' and politely repeating, _Anna mugsond + shoufuk_, (be seated, I am delighted to see you,) with + innumerable other euphonious phrases, as we afterwards + found high-flown Eastern compliments, but which at the + time were sadly wasted on our Frankish ignorance, he, + following the fair fugitives, soon brought back in each + hand the blushing deserters, who have already been + introduced to the reader as Mesdemoiselles Sarah and + Nasarah. Pipes, narghilis, sherbet, and coffee followed + in quick succession; the young negress, Saade, acting as + Hebe on the occasion; and the ladies, at first timid as + gazelles of the desert, soon, like those pretty + creatures when reclaimed from the wilderness, became + quite domesticated, acquired confidence, and freely + joined in the conversation, which was with volubility + carried on through the medium of Giorgio and Assaade; + and ere an hour had elapsed, we were all on the friendly + and easy footing of old acquaintances; when, taking + leave for the time, we hastened to make the necessary + arrangements for the conveyance of our goods and + chattels to the capital billets we had had the good + fortune to stumble on." + +The colonel made good use of his opportunity, and, by a diligent +perusal of Miss Sarah's eyes, and an attentive study of Miss Nasarah's +dimple, managed to acquire a smattering of Arabic in a far shorter +time than would have been required in the most assiduous turning over +of dictionaries and grammars. But our school-boy days can't last for +ever--and, ere a fortnight elapsed, an order arrived from England for +the hopeful scholar to be placed on the returns of the Syrian army, +and to draw his field allowance, rations, and forage, as assistant +adjutant-general of the British force. Dictionaries and eyes, grammars +and dimples, were now exchanged for less pleasing pursuits. Fifteen +thousand troops were by this time assembled at Beyrout, and rumour +kept perpetually blowing the charge against Ibrahim Pasha, who was +still encamped at Zachli, with an army much superior to that of the +allies. Booted and spurred--with a long sword, saddle, bridle, and all +the other paraphernalia so captivating to an ancient fair, as recorded +in one of the lays of Old England by some forgotten Macaulay of former +times--the colonel is intent on some doughty deed, and already in +imagination sees captive Egyptians following his triumphal car. When +all of a sudden, the sad news gets spread abroad that the old +commodore has concluded a convention with Mehemet Ali, and that all +the pomp and circumstance of glorious war is at an end. One only +chance remained, and that was, that as all the big-wigs protested with +all their might against the convention; and the fleet, in the midst of +protestation and repudiations of all sorts and kinds, was forced by a +severe gale to up anchor and run for Marmorice Bay, Ibrahim Pasha +might perhaps be tempted to protest also in a still more unpleasant +manner, and pay a visit to Beyrout in the absence of the navy. The +very thoughts of it, however the English auxiliaries may have felt on +the subject, gave an attack of fever to the unfortunate inhabitants, +who devoutly prayed for a speedy fall of _tubbish_, (or snow,) by +which his dreaded approach might be impeded. "Had such a movement on +his part taken place at this critical moment, it is not improbable +that it might have proved successful; as amid the variety of religious +and conflicting interests, by which the people of Beyrout were +influenced, Ibrahim had no doubt many friends in the town; and it is +certain that he was moreover regularly made acquainted with every +occurrence which took place, through the medium, as was supposed, of +French agency and espionage." + +Ibrahim, however, had had enough of red coats and blue jackets, and +left the people of Beyrout to themselves--an example which was +followed by the author, who, being foiled in his expectations of +riding down the Egyptians on the noble Arab left to him by the +commodore, determined to put that fiery animal (the Arab) to its paces +in scouring the country in all directions. It is not often that an +assistant adjutant-general sets out on a tour in search of the +picturesque; but in this instance the search was completely +successful. Rock, ravine, precipice, and dell--running waters and +waving woods, come as naturally to his pen as returns of effective +force and other professional details; and, whatever the writing of +them may be, we are prepared to contend that the reading of them is +infinitely pleasanter. But as travellers and poets have of late left +few mountains or molehills unsung in Palestine, we prefer extracting a +picturesque account of a venerable abbess, who threw the light of +Christian goodness over that benighted land about a century ago, and +must have impressed the heathens in the neighbourhood with an exalted +notion of the virtues of a nunnery:-- + + "Héndia was a Maronite girl, possessing extraordinary + personal charms, who, in 1755, first brought herself + into notice by her pretended piety and attention to her + religious duties, till at last she was by this simple + and credulous people considered almost in the light of a + saint or prophetess. When she had thus established a + reputation for sanctity, she next thought of becoming + the head and chief of an extensive establishment of + monks and nuns, to receive whom, with the aid of large + contributions raised among her credulous admirers and + followers, she erected two spacious stone buildings, + which soon became filled with proselytes of both sexes. + The patriarch of Lebanon was named the director of this + establishment, and for twenty years Héndia reigned with + unbounded sway over the little community--performing + miracles, uttering prophecies, and giving other tokens + of being in the performance of a divine mission; and + though it was remarked that many deaths yearly occurred + among the nuns, the circumstance was generally + attributed to disease incident to the insalubrity of the + situation. At last, chance brought to light the cause of + this very great mortality, and disclosed all the secret + horrors which had so long remained covered by the veil + of mystery in this abode of monastic abominations. A + traveller, on his way from Damascus to the coast, + happened to arrive one fine summer night at a late hour + before the convent gates, which he found closed, and not + wishing to disturb its inmates, who had apparently + retired to rest, he spread his travelling rug under some + neighbouring trees, and laid himself down to sleep. His + slumbers were, however, shortly disturbed by a number of + persons, who, issuing from the convent, appeared to be + clandestinely bearing away what seemed to be a heavy + bundle. Prompted by curiosity, he cautiously followed + the party, who, after going a short distance, deposited + their burden, and commenced digging a deep hole, into + which having placed and covered with earth what was + evidently a dead body, they immediately took their + departure. Astonished, and rather dismayed, at an + occurrence of so mysterious a nature, the traveller lost + no time in mounting his mule, and on arriving at Beyrout + made known the extraordinary occurrence to which he had + been witness the night before. This account reached the + ears of a merchant who happened to have two daughters + undergoing their noviciate at El Kourket, and reports + had lately reached him of the illness of one of his + children; this, together with the numerous deaths which + had lately taken place at the convent, coupled with the + traveller's narrative, excited in his mind the most + serious apprehensions. He gave information on the + subject, and laid a complaint before the Grand Prince at + Dahr-el-Kamar, and, accompanied by his informant and a + troop of horsemen furnished by the Emir, hastened to the + spot of the alleged mysterious burial, when to his + horror, on opening the newly made grave, he discovered + it to contain the corpse of his youngest daughter! + Frantic at this sight, he desired instant admission, in + order to ascertain the safety of her sister. On this + being refused, the gates were forced open, and the + unfortunate girl was found closely confined in a + dungeon, on the point of death, but retaining still + strength enough to disclose horrors which led to an + investigation, implicating the patriarch, the abbess, + and several priests. This transaction, which happened in + 1776, was submitted for the decision of the Papal See; + when it appeared that the pretended prophetess had, by + means of many ingenious mechanical devices, thus long + imposed on public credulity, whilst in the retirement of + the cloister the most licentious and profligate + occurrences nightly took place; and that when any + unfortunate nun gave offence, either by refusing to be + sacrificed at the shrine of infamy, or that it became + desirable to get rid of her, in order to appropriate for + the convent the amount of her property, she was immured + in a dungeon, left to perish by a lingering and + miserable death, and then privately buried in the night. + In consequence of these shocking discoveries, the + patriarch was deposed--the priests, his accomplices, + were severely punished, and the high priestess of this + temple of cruelty and debauchery was immured in + confinement, and survived for many years to repent of + all the atrocities she had previously committed." + +We should like to know the colonel's authority for this circumstantial +account. It bears at present a startling resemblance to the confession +of Maria Monk, and the villanies recorded of the nunnery at Montreal; +and we will hope in the mean time, that the devil, even in the shape +of a lady abbess, is not quite so black as he is painted. The present +abbess of El Kourket is already as black as need be, for we are told +she is an Ethiopian negress. + +The war carried on in Syria after the decisive battle of Boharsef, +seems to have been on the model of those recorded by Major Sturgeon, +and to have consisted of marching and counter-marching, without any +definite object, except, perhaps, the somewhat Universal-Peace-Society +one of getting out of the enemy's way. General Jochmus, we guess from +his name, was a Scotch schoolmaster, with a Latin termination--there +being no mistaking the Jock--and in his religious tenets we feel sure +he was a Quaker. The English officers attached to the staff had +immense difficulty in bringing the troops (if they deserve to be +called so) to the scratch; and we trust that, in all future +commentaries on the Art of War, the method adopted by Commodore +Napier, of throwing stones at his gallant army to force them forward, +will not be forgotten. The author before us had no sinecure, and after +the news of Ibrahim's retreat, galloped hither and thither, like the +wild huntsman of a German story, to discover by what route the +vanquished lion was growling his way to his den. With a hundred +irregular horse, furnished him by Osman Aga, he set out on a foray +beyond Jordan; and we do not wonder his two friends, Captain Lane, a +Prussian edition of Don Quixote, and Mr Hunter, who has written an +excellent account of his expedition to Syria, besides his old Beyrout +friend Giorgio, volunteered to accompany him. + + "My motley troop, apparently composed of every tribe + from the Caspian to the Red Sea, displayed no less + variety in arms and accoutrements than in their personal + appearance, varying from the sturdy-looking Kourd, + mounted on his strong powerful steed, to the swarthy, + spare, and sinewy Arab, with his long reed-like spear, + his head encircled with the Kéfiah, or thick rope of + twisted camels' hair; whilst the flowing 'abbage' waved + gracefully down the shining flanks of the high-mettled + steed of the desert. In short, such an assemblage of + cut-throat looking ruffians was probably never before + seen; and whilst the Prussian military eye of old Lane + glanced down our wide-spread and irregular line, I could + see a curl of contempt on his grey mustaches, though his + weather-beaten countenance maintained all the gravity of + Frederick the Great. The troop appeared to be divided + into two distinct parties--one Arab, the other Turkish; + and, on directing the two chiefs to call the 'roll' of + their respective forces, I found that many were absent + without leave, and the party which should have amounted + to a hundred cavaliers only mustered between seventy and + eighty. However, on the assurance that the rest would + speedily follow--as there was no time to spare, after + making them a short harangue, in which I promised + abundance of _nehub_ (plunder) whenever we came across + the enemy, to which they responded by a wild yell of + approbation--I gave the signal to move off, which was + instantly obeyed, amidst joyous shouts, the brandishing + of spears, and promiscuous discharge of fire-arms. + Having thus got them under weigh, the next difficulty I + experienced was to keep them together. I tried to form a + rearguard to bring up the stragglers, but the guard + would not remain behind, nor the stragglers keep up with + the main body; and I soon, finding that something more + persuasive than mere words was requisite to maintain + them in order, took the first opportunity of getting a + stout cudgel, with which I soundly belaboured all those + whom I found guilty of thus disobeying my commands. The + Eastern does not understand the _suaviter in + modo_;--behave to him like a human being, he fancies you + fear him, and he sets you at defiance--kick him and cuff + him, treat him like a dog, and he crouches at your feet, + the humble slave of your slightest wishes." + +Discipline of so perfect a nature must have inspired the gallant +colonel with the strongest hopes of success in case of an onslaught on +the forces of Ibrahim Pasha, and in all probability his efforts, with +those of Captain Lane, Hunter, and Giorgio, might have produced +something like a skrimmage when they came near the tents of the +Egyptians; but it would seem that the cudgels wielded by the Musree +commanders were either not so strong or not so well applied, for on +the first appearance of the hostile squadron, the heroes of Nezib +evaporated as if by magic, but not before a similar feat of +legerdemain had been performed by the rabble rout of Turks and Arabs; +and on looking round, to inspire his followers with a speech after the +manner of Thucydides, the colonel discovered the last of his escort +disappearing at full speed on the other side of the plain, and the +Europeans were left alone in their glory. As they had nobody to +attack, (the enemy continuing still in a state of evaporation,) every +thing ended well; and, if the trumpeter had not been among the +fugitives, there might have been a triumphal blow performed although +no blow had been struck. We do not believe in the courage of the +Arabs. No amount of kicking and cuffing could cow a nation's spirit +that had once been brave; and we therefore consider it the greatest +marvel in history how the Arabians managed at one time to conquer half +the world. They must have been very different fellows from the +chicken-hearted children of the desert recorded in these volumes. One +thing only is certain, that they have left their anti-fighting +propensities to their mongrel descendants in Spain; for a series of +_actions_--that is, jinking and skulking, and running up and down, +hiding themselves as if they were the personages of a writ--more +distinctly Arabian than the late campaign which ended in the overthrow +of Espartero, could not have been performed under the shadows of Mount +Ebal. All the nobility that we are so fond of picturing to ourselves +in the deeds and thoughts of Saladin, has gone over to the horse. The +wild steed retains its fire, though the miserable horseman would do +for a Madrileno _aide-de-camp_. And yet this is the way they are +treated:-- + + "It was a matter of surprise to us, how our horses stood + without injury all the exposure, severe work, and often + short commons, to which they were constantly subjected. + When we came to a place where barley was to be procured, + the grooms carried away as much as they could; when none + was to be had, we gave our nags peas and _tibbin_, + (chopped straw, the only forage used in the East,) or + any thing we could lay hands on; they had little or no + grooming, and frequently the saddles were not even + removed from their backs. But I believe that nothing + save the high mettle of the desert blood would carry an + animal through all this toil and privation; and as to + the much-extolled kindness of the Arab towards his + horse, although it may be the case in the far deserts of + the Hedged and Hedjar, I can avow that I never saw these + noble animals treated with more inhuman neglect than I + witnessed in the whole of my wanderings through Syria." + +The dreariness of a ride through the desolate plains and rugged rocks +of Palestine, was diversified with startling adventures; and the fact +of several of the powers of Europe and many of the tribes of Asia +having chosen that sterile region for their battle-place, gave rise to +some very odd coincidences. People from all the ends of the earth, who +were lounging away their existence some three or four months before, +without any anticipation of treading in the footsteps of the +crusaders--some smoking strong tobacco in the coffeehouses of Berlin, +or leaning gracefully (like the Chinese Admiral Kwang) against the +pillars of the Junior United Service Club in London--or driving a +heavy curricle in the Prado at Vienna--or reading powerfully for +honours at the Great Go at Oxford--or climbing Albanian hills--or +reclining in the silken recesses of a harem at Constantinople--all +were thrown together in such unexpected groups, and found themselves +so curiously banded together, that the tame realities of an ordinary +campaign were thrown completely into the shade. The following +introduces us to another member of the foray, whose character seems to +have been such a combination of the gallant soldier and light-hearted +troubadour, that we read of his after fate, in dying of the plague at +Damascus, with great regret:-- + + "My troop had not yet cleared a difficult pass close to + the khan, running between an abrupt face of the hill and + the river, when the advanced guard came back at full + speed with the announcement that a body of the enemy's + infantry was near at hand. Closely jammed in a narrow + defile, between inaccessible cliffs and the precipitous + banks of the Jordan, with nothing but cavalry at my + disposal, I was placed in rather a disagreeable + position. There remained, however, no alternative but to + put spurs to our horses, push forward through the pass, + deploy on the level ground beyond it, and then trust to + the chances of war. Having explained these intentions to + the Sheikh and Aga, we lost no time in carrying them + into effect; and on taking extended order after clearing + the pass, saw immediately in front of us what we took to + be an advanced guard of the enemy, consisting of some + twenty or thirty soldiers, whom their white + foustanellis" (the foustanellis is that part of the + Albanian costume corresponding with the highland kilt) + "and tall active forms immediately marked as Arnouts, or + Albanians. Seeing, probably, that we had now the + advantage of the ground, they hastily retired, + recrossing a ravine which intersected the path, and + extending in capital light infantry style, were soon + sheltered behind the stones and rocks on the opposite + bank, over the brow of which nought was to be seen but + the protruding muzzles and long shining barrels of their + firelocks. All this was the work of a few seconds, and + passed in a much briefer space of time than it has taken + to relate. I had now the greatest difficulty in keeping + Mahommed Aga and his men from charging up to enemies + who, from their present position, could have picked them + easily off with perfect safety to themselves; and riding + rapidly forward with Captain Lane, to see if we could by + some means turn their flank, a few horsemen at this + moment suddenly appeared over the swell on the opposite + side of the ravine, the foremost of whom, whilst making + many friendly signals, galloped across the intervening + space, hailing us a friend, and at the same time waving + his hand, to prevent his own people from opening their + fire. Lane and myself were not backward in returning + this greeting; and on approaching we beheld a handsome + young man, dressed in the showy Austrian uniform, with a + black Tartar sheepskin cap on his head, who, coming up, + accosted us in French, and with all the frankness of a + soldier, introduced himself as Count Szechinge, a + captain of Austrian dragoons, then on his way from + Tiberias with a party composed of one or two Turkish + lancers, about twenty-five Albanian deserters, his + German servant, dragoman, and suite, to raise troops in + the Adjelloun hills--a mission very similar to the one I + was myself employed on at Naplouse." + +An acquaintance begun under such circumstances grows into friendship +with amazing rapidity; and many are the joyous hours the foragers +spend together, in spite of intolerable weather and storms of sleet +and snow, which bear a far greater resemblance to the climate of +Lochaber than to that of Syria, "land of roses." Reinforced with the +count and his companions, Colonel Napier pushes on--gets into the +vicinity of Ibrahim--his rabble rout turn tail, in case of being +swallowed alive by the ferocious pasha, whose reputation for cruelty +and all manner of iniquities seems well deserved, and having +ascertained the movements of that formidable ruffian, he returned to +Naplouse to take the command of 1500 half-tamed, undisciplined +savages, with whom to oppose his retreat. Luckily, the ratification of +the convention come in the nick of time; for it is very evident that +the best cudgels that were ever cut in "the classic woods of +Hawthornden," could not have awakened a spark of military ardour in +the wretched riff-raff assemblage appointed for this service--and of +all the abortive efforts at generalship we have ever read of, the +attempt of the Turkish commanders was infinitely the worse--no +foresight in providing for difficulties--no valour in fighting their +way out of them; but, to compensate for these trifling deficiencies, a +plentiful supply of pride and cruelty, with a due admixture of +dishonesty. We heartily join, with Colonel Napier, in wondering where +the deuce the "integrity of the Ottoman empire" is to be found, as, +beyond all doubt, not a particle of it exists in any of its subjects. +The pashas of Egypt, bad as they undoubtedly are, have redeeming +points about them, which the Hassans, and Izzets, and Reschids of the +Turks have no conception of; and, lively and sparkling as the gallant +colonel's narrative is, we confess it leaves a sadder impression on +our minds of the hopelessness and the degeneracy of the Moslems, than +any book we have met with. Turk and Egyptian should equally be whipped +back into the desert, and the fairest portions of the world be won +over to civilization, wealth, and happiness. The present volumes close +at the end of January 1841, and perhaps they are among the best +results of the campaign. We shall be glad to see the proceedings at +Alexandria sketched off in the same pleasant style. + + + + +THE FATE OF POLYCRATES.--_Herod._ iii. 124-126. + + + "Oh! go not forth, my father dear--oh! I go not forth to-day, + And trust not thou that Satrap dark, for he fawns but to betray; + His courteous smiles are treacherous wiles, his foul designs to hide; + Then go not forth, my father dear--in thy own fair towers abide." + + "Now, say not so, dear daughter mine--I pray thee, say not so! + Where glory calls, a monarch's feet should never fear to go; + And safe to-day will be my way through proud Magnesia's halls, + As if I stood 'mid my bowmen good beneath my Samian walls. + + "The Satrap is my friend, sweet child--my trusty friend is he-- + The ruddy gold his coffers hold he shares it all with me; + No more amid these clustering isles alone shall be my sway, + But Hellas wide, from side to side, thy empire shall obey! + + "And of all the maids of Hellas, though they be rich and fair, + With the daughter of Polycrates, oh! who shall then compare? + Then dry thy tears--no idle fears should damp our joy to-day-- + And let me see thee smile once more before I haste away!" + + "Oh! false would be the smile, my sire, that I should wear this morn, + For of all my country's daughters I shall soon be most forlorn; + I know, I know,--ah, thought of woe!--I ne'er shall see again + My father's ship come sailing home across the Icarian main. + + "Each gifted seer, with words of fear, forbids thee to depart, + And their warning strains an echo find in every faithful heart; + A maiden weak, e'en I must speak--ye gods, assist me now! + The characters of doom and death are graven on thy brow! + + "Last night, my sire, a vision dire thy daughter's eyes did see, + Suspended in mid air there hung a form resembling thee; + Nay, frown not thus, my father dear; my tale will soon be done-- + Methought that form was bathed by Jove, and anointed by the sun!" + + "My child, my child, thy fancies wild I may not stay to hear. + A friend goes forth to meet a friend--then wherefore should'st + thou fear? + Though moonstruck seers with idle fears beguile a maiden weak, + They cannot stay thy father's hand, or blanch thy father's cheek. + + "Let cowards keep within their holds, and on peril fear to run! + Such shame," quoth he, "is not for me, fair Fortune's favourite son!" + Yet still the maiden did repeat her melancholy strain-- + "I ne'er shall see my father's fleet come sailing home again!" + + The monarch call'd his seamen good, they muster'd on the shore, + Waved in the gale the snow-white sail, and dash'd the sparkling oar; + But by the flood that maiden stood--loud rose her piteous cry-- + "Oh! go not forth, my dear, dear sire--oh, go not forth to die!" + + A frown was on that monarch's brow, and he said as he turn'd away, + "Full soon shall Samos' lord return to Samos' lovely bay; + But thou shalt aye a maiden lone within my courts abide-- + No chief of fame shall ever claim my daughter for his bride! + + "A long, long maidenhood to thee thy prophet tongue hath given--" + "Oh would, my sire," that maid replied, "such were the will of Heaven! + Though I a loveless maiden lone must evermore remain, + Still let me hear that voice so dear in my native isle again!" + + 'Twas all in vain that warning strain--the king has crost the tide-- + But never more off Samos shore his bark was seen to ride! + The Satrap false his life has ta'en, that monarch bold and free, + And his limbs are black'ning in the blast, nail'd to the gallows-tree! + + That night the rain came down apace, and wash'd each gory stain, + But the sun's bright ray, the next noonday, glared fiercely on the + slain; + And the oozing gore began once more from his wounded sides to run; + Good-sooth, that form was bathed by Jove, and anointed by the Sun! + + + + +MODERN PAINTERS.[16] + + [16] Modern Painters--their Superiority in the Art of + Landscape Painting to all the Ancient Masters, &c. &c. + By a Graduate of Oxford. + + +We read this title with some pain, not doubting but that our modern +landscape painters were severely handled in an ironical satire; and we +determined to defend them. "Their superiority to _all_ the ancient +masters"--that was too hard a hit to come from any but an enemy! We +must measure our man--a graduate of Oxford! The "scholar armed," +without doubt. He comes, too, vauntingly up to us, with his contempt +for us and all critics that ever were, or will be; we are all little +Davids in the eye of this Goliath. Nevertheless, we will put a pebble +in our sling. We saw this contempt of us, in dipping at hap-hazard +into the volume. But what was our astonishment to find, upon looking +further, that we had altogether mistaken the intent of the author, and +that we should probably have not one Goliath, but many, to encounter; +while our own particular friends, to whom we might look for help, +were, alas! all dead men. We found that there were not "giants" in +those days, but in these days--that the author, in his most +superlative praise, is not ironical at all, but a most serious +panegyrist, who never laughs, but does sometimes make his readers +laugh, when they see his very unbecoming, mocking grimaces against the +"old masters"--not that it can be fairly asserted that it is a +laughable book. It has much conceit, and but little merriment; there +is nothing really funny after you have got over, (vide page 6,) that +he "looks with contempt on Claude, Salvator, and Gaspar Poussin." This +contempt, however, being too limited for the "graduate of Oxford," in +the next page he enlarges the scope of his enmity; "speaking generally +of the old masters, I refer only to Claude, Gaspar Poussin, Salvator +Rosa, Cuyp, Berghem, Both, Ruysdael, Hobbima, Teniers (in his +landscapes,) P. Potter, Canaletti, and the various Van Somethings and +Back Somethings, more especially and malignantly those who have +libelled the sea." Self-convicted of malice, he has not the slightest +suspicion of his ignorance; whereas he _knows_ nothing of these +masters whom he maligns. Still is he ready to be their general +accuser--has not the slightest respect for the accumulated opinions of +the best judges for these two or three hundred years--he puts them by +with the wave of his hand, very like the unfortunate gentleman in an +establishment of "unsound opinions," who gravely said--"The world and +I differed in opinion--I was right, the world wrong; but they were too +many for me, and put me here." We daresay that, in such establishments +may be found many similar opinions to those our author promulgates, +though, as yet, none of our respectable publishers have been convicted +of a congenial folly. We said, that he suspects not his ignorance of +the masters he maligns. Let it not hence be inferred that it is the +work of an ignorant man. He is only ignorant with a prejudice. We will +not say that it is not the work of a man who thinks, who has been +habituated to a sort of scholastic reasoning, which he brings to bear, +with no little parade and display, upon technicalities and +distinctions. He can tutor _secundum artem_, lacking only, in the +first point, that he has not tutored himself. With all his +arrangements and distinctions laid down, as the very grammar of art, +he confuses himself with his "truths," forgetting that, in matters of +art, truths of fact must be referable to truths of mind. It is not +what things in all respects really are, but what they appear, and how +they are convertible by the mind into what they are not in many ways, +respects, and degrees, that we have to consider, before we can venture +to draw rules from any truths whatever. For art is something besides +nature; and taste and feeling are first--precede practical art; and +though greatly enhanced by that practical cultivation, might exist +without it--nay, often do; and true taste always walks a step in +advance of what has been done, and ever desires to do, and from +itself, more than it sees. We discover, therefore, a fallacy in the +very proposal of his undertaking, when he says that he is prepared "to +advance nothing which does not, at least in his own conviction, _rest +on surer ground than mere feeling or taste_." Notwithstanding, +however, that our graduate of Oxford puts his "demonstrations" upon an +equality with "the demonstrations of Euclid," and "thinks it proper +for the public to know, that the writer is no mere theorist, but has +been devoted from his youth to the laborious study of practical art," +and that he is "a graduate of Oxford;" we do not look upon him as a +bit the better judge for all that, seeing that many have practised it +too fondly and too ignorantly all their lives, and that Claude, and +Salvator, and Gaspar Poussin must, according to him, have been in this +predicament, and more especially do we decline from bowing down at his +dictation, when we find him advocating _any_ "_surer ground than +feeling or taste_." Now, considering that thus, _in initio_, he sets +aside feeling and taste, the reader will not be astonished to find a +very substantial reason given for his contempt of the afore-mentioned +old masters; it is, he says, "because I look with the most devoted +veneration upon Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, that I do not +distrust the principles which induce me to look with contempt," &c. We +do not exactly see how these great men, who were not landscape +painters, can very well be compared with those who were, but from some +general principles of art, in which the world have not as yet found +any very extraordinary difference. But we do humbly suggest, that +Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, are in their practice, and +principles, if you please, quite as unlike Messrs David Cox, Copley +Fielding, J. D. Harding, Clarkson Stanfield, and Turner--the very men +whom our author brings forward as the excellent of the earth, in +opposition _to all_ old masters whatever, excepting only Michael +Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, to whom nevertheless, by a perverse +pertinacity of their respective geniuses, they bear no resemblance +whatever--as they are to Claude, Salvator, and Gaspar Poussin. We do +not by any means intend to speak disrespectfully of these our English +artists, but we must either mistrust those principles which cause them +to stand in opposition to the great Italians, or to conceive that our +author has really discovered no such differing principles, and which +possibly may not exist at all. Nor will we think so meanly of the +taste, the good feeling, and the good sense of these men, as to +believe that they think themselves at all flattered by any admiration +founded on such an irrational contempt. They well know that Michael +Angelo, Raffaelle, and Da Vinci, have been admired, together with +Claude, Salvator, and Gaspar Poussin, and they do not themselves +desire to be put upon a separate list. The author concludes his +introduction with a very bad reason for his partiality to modern +masters, and it is put in most ambitious language, very readily +learned in the "Fudge School,"--a style of language with which our +author is very apt to indulge himself; but the argument it so +ostentatiously clothes, and which we hesitate not to call a bad one, +is nothing more than this, (if we understand it,)--that the dead are +dead, and cannot hear our praise; that the living are living, and +therefore our love is not lost; in short, as a _non-sequitur_, "that +if honour be for the dead, gratitude can only be for the living." This +might have been simply said; but we are taken to the grave--with "He +who has once stood beside the grave," &c. &c.; we have "wild +love--keen sorrow--pleasure to pulseless hearts--debt to the heart--to +be discharged to the dust--the garland--the tombstone--the crowned +brow--the ashes and the spirit--heaven-toned voices and heaven-lighted +lamps--the learning--sweetness by silence--and light by decay;" all +which, we conceive, might have been very excusable in a young curate's +sermon during his first year of probation, and might have won for him +more nosegays and favours than golden opinions, but which we here feel +inclined to put our pen across, as so we remember many similarly +ambitious passages to have been served, before we were graduate of +Oxford, with the insignificant signification from the pen of our +informator of _nihil ad rem_. As the author threatens the public with +another, or more volumes, we venture to throw out a recommendation, +that at least one volume may serve the purpose and do the real work of +two, if he will check this propensity to unnecessary redundancy. His +numerous passages of this kind are for the most part extremely +unintelligible; and when we have unraveled the several coatings, we +too often find the ribs of the mummy are not human. We think it right +to object, in this place, to an affectation in phraseology offensive +to those who think seriously of breaking the third commandment--he +scarcely speaks of mountains without taking the sacred name in vain; +there is likewise a constant repetition of expressions of very +doubtful meaning in the first use, for the most part quite devoid of +meaning in their application. One of these is "palpitating." Light is +"palpitating," darkness is "palpitating"--every conceivable thing is +"palpitating." We must, however, in justice say, that by far the best +part of the book, the laying down rules and the elucidating +principles, is clearly and expressively written. In this part of the +work there is greater expansion than the student will generally find +in books on art. Not that we are aware of the advancement of any thing +new; but the admitted maxims of art are, as it were, grammatically +analysed, and in a manner to assist the beginner in thinking upon art. +To those who have already _thought_, this very studied analysis and +arrangement will be tedious enough. + +In the "Definition of Greatness in Art," we find--"If I say that the +greatest picture is that which conveys to the mind of the spectator +the greatest number of the greatest ideas, I have a definition which +will include as subjects of comparison every pleasure which art is +capable of conveying." Now, there are great ideas which are so +conflicting as to annul the force of each other. This is not enough; +there must be a congruity of great ideas--nay, in some instances, we +can conceive one idea to be so great, as in a work of art not to admit +of the juxtaposition of others. This is the principle upon which the +sonnet is built, and the sonnet illustrates the picture not unaptly. +"Ideas of Power" are great ideas--not always are ideas of beauty +great; yet is there a tempering the one with the other, which it is +the special province of art to attain, and that for its highest and +most moral purposes. In his "Ideas of Power," he distinguishes the +term "excellent" from the terms "beautiful," "useful," "good," &c.; +thus--"And we shall always, in future, use the word excellent, as +signifying that the thing to which it is applied required a great +power for its production." Is not this doubtful? Does it not limit the +perception of excellence to artists who can alone from their practice, +and, as it were, measurement of powers with their difficulties, learn +and feel its existence in the sense to which it is limited. The +inference would be, that none but artists can be critics, as none but +artists can perceive excellence, and we think in more than one place +some such assertion is made. This is startling--"Power is never +wasted; whatever power has been employed, produces excellence in +proportion to its own dignity and exertion; and the faculty of +perceiving this exertion, and approaching this dignity, is the faculty +of perceiving excellence." "It is this faculty in which men, even of +the most cultivated taste, must always be wanting, unless they have +added practice to reflection; because none can estimate the power +manifested in victory, unless they have personally measured the +strength to be overcome." For the word strength use difficulty, and we +should say that, to the unpractised, the difficulties must always +appear greatest. He gives, as illustration, "Titian's flesh tint;" it +may be possible that, by some felicitous invention, some new +technicality of his art, Titian might have produced this excellence, +and to him there would have been no such great measurement of the +difficulty or strength to be overcome; while the admirer of the work, +ignorant of the happy means, fancies the exertion of powers which were +not exerted. In his chapter on "Ideas of Imitation," he imagines that +Fuseli and Coleridge falsely apply the term imitation, making "a +distinction between imitation and copying, representing the first as +the legitimate function of art--the latter as its corruption." Yet we +think he comes pretty much to the same conclusion. In like manner, he +seems to disagree with Burke in a passage which he quotes, but in +reality he agrees with him; for surely the "power of the imitation" is +but a power of the "jugglery," to be sensible of which, if we +understand him, is necessary to our sense of imitation. "When the +object," says Burke, "represented in poetry or painting is such as we +could have no desire of seeing in the reality, then we may be sure +that its power in poetry or painting is owing to the power of +_imitation_." "We may," says our author, "be sure of the contrary; for +if the object be undesirable in itself, the closer the imitation the +less will be the pleasure." Certainly not; for Burke of course +implied, and included in his sense of imitation, that it should be +consistent with a knowledge in the spectator, that a certain trick of +art was put upon him. And our author says the same--"Whenever the work +is seen to resemble something which we know it is not, we receive what +I call an idea of imitation." Again--"Now, two things are requisite to +our complete and most pleasurable perception of this: first, that the +resemblance be so perfect as to amount to deception; secondly, that +there be some means of proving at the same moment that it _is_ a +deception." He justly considers "the pleasures resulting from +imitation the most contemptible that can be received from art." He +thus happily illustrates his meaning--"We may consider tears as a +result of agony or of art, whichever we please, but not of both at the +same moment. If we are surprised by them as an attainment of the one, +it is impossible we can be moved by them as a sign of the other." This +will explain why we are pleased with the exact imitation of the +dewdrop on the peach, and why we are disgusted with the Magdalen's +tears by Vanderwerf; and we further draw this inevitable conclusion, +of very important consequence to artists, who have very erroneous +notions upon the subject, that this sort of imitation, which, by the +deception of its name, should be most like, is actually less like +nature, because it takes from nature its impression by substituting a +sense of the jugglery. This chapter on ideas of imitation is good and +useful. We think, in the after part of his work, wherein is much +criticism on pictures by the old masters and by moderns, our author +must have lost the remembrance of what he has so well said on his +ideas of imitation; and in the following chapter on "Ideas of Truth." +"The word truth, as applied to art, signifies the faithful statement, +either to the mind or senses, of any fact of nature." The reader will +readily see how "ideas of truth" differ from "ideas of imitation." The +latter relating only to material objects, the former taking in the +conceptions of the mind--may be conveyed by signs or symbols, +"themselves no image nor likeness of any thing." "An idea of truth +exists in the statement of _one_ attribute of any thing; but an idea +of imitation only in the resemblance of as many attributes as we are +usually cognizant of in its real presence." Hence it follows that +ideas of truth are inconsistent with ideas of imitation; for, as we +before said, ideas of imitation remove the impression by an +ever-present sense of the deception or falsehood. This is put very +conclusively--"so that the moment ideas of truth are grouped together, +so as to give rise to an idea of imitation, they change their very +nature--lose their essence as ideas of truth--and are corrupted and +degraded, so as to share in the treachery of what they have produced. +Hence, finally, ideas of truth are the foundation, and ideas of +imitation the distinction, of all art. We shall be better able to +appreciate their relative dignity after the investigation which we +propose of functions of the former; but we may as well now express the +conclusion to which we shall then be led--that no picture can be good +which deceives by its imitation; for the very reason that nothing can +be beautiful which is not true." This is perhaps rather too +indiscriminate. It has been shown that ideas of imitation do give +pleasure; by them, too, objects of beauty may be represented. We +should not say that a picture by Gerard Dow or Van Eyck; even with the +down on the peach and the dew on the leaf, were not good pictures. +They are good if they please. It is true, they ought to do more, and +even that in a higher degree; they cannot be works of greatness--and +greatness was probably meant in the word good. In his chapter on +"Ideas of Beauty," he considers that we derive, naturally and +instinctively, pleasure from the contemplation of certain material +objects; for which no other reason can be given than that it is our +instinct--the will of our Maker--we enjoy them "instinctively and +necessarily, as we derive sensual pleasure from the scent of a rose." +But we have instinctively aversion as well as desire; though he admits +this, he seems to lose sight of it in the following--"And it would +appear that we are intended by the Deity to be constantly under their +influence, (ideas of beauty;) because there is not one single object +in nature which is not capable of conveying them," &c. We are not +satisfied; if the instinctive desire be the index to what is +beautiful, so must the instinctive aversion be the index to its +opposite. We have an instinctive dislike to many reptiles, to many +beasts--as apes. These _may_ have in them some beauty; we only object +to the author's want of clearness. If there be no ugliness there is no +beauty, for every thing has its opposite; so that we think he has not +yet discovered and clearly put before us what beauty consists in. He +shows how it happens that we do admire it instinctively; but that does +not tell us what it is, and possibly, after all that has been said +about it, it yet remains to be told. Nor are we satisfied with his +definition of taste--"Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the +greatest possible pleasure from those material sources which are +attractive to our moral nature in its purity and perfection." This +will not do; for taste will take material sources, unattractive in +themselves, and by combination, or for their contrast, receive +pleasure from them. All literature and all art show this. That taste, +like life itself, is instinctive in its origin and first motion, we +doubt not; but what it is by and in its cultivation, and in its +application to art, is a thing not to be altogether so cursorily +discussed and dismissed. The distinction is laid down between taste +and judgment--judgment being the action of the intellect; taste "the +instinctive and instant preferring of one material object to another +without any obvious reason," except that it is proper to human nature +in its perfection so to do. But leaving this discussion of this +original taste, taste in art is surely, as it is a thing cultivated, +that for which a reason can be given, and in some measure, therefore, +the result of judgment. For by the cultivation of taste we are +actually led to love, admire, and desire many things of which we have +no instinctive love at all; so that the taste for them arises from the +intellect and the moral sense--our judgment. He proceeds to "Ideas of +Relation," by which he means "to express all those sources of +pleasure, which involve and require at the instant of their +perception, active exertion of the intellectual powers." As this is to +be more easily comprehended by an illustration, we have one in an +incident of one of Turner's pictures, and, considering the object, it +is surprising the author did not find one more important; but he +herein shows that, in his eyes, every stroke of the brush by Mr Turner +is important--indeed, is a considerable addition to our national +wealth. In the picture of the "Building of Carthage," the foreground +is occupied by a group of children sailing toy-boats, which he thinks +to be an "exquisite choice of incident expressive of the ruling +passion." He, with a whimsical extravagance in praise of Turner, +which, commencing here, runs throughout all the rest of the volume, +says--"Such a thought as this is something far above all art; it is +epic poetry of the highest order." Epic poetry of the highest order! +Ungrateful will be our future epic poets if they do not learn from +this--if such is done by boys sailing toy-boats, surely boys flying a +kite will illustrate far better the great astronomical knowledge of +our days. But he is rather unfortunate in this bit of criticism; for +he compares this incident with one of Claude's, which we, however, +think a far better and more poetical incident. "Claude, in subjects of +_the same kind_," (not, by the by, a very fair statement,) "commonly +introduces people carrying red trunks with iron locks about, and +dwells, with infantine delight, on the lustre of the leather and the +ornaments of the iron. The intellect can have no occupation here, we +must look to the imitation or to nothing." As to the "_infantine +delight_," we presume it is rather with the boys and their toy-boats; +but let us look a little into these trunks--no, we may not--there is +something more in them than our graduate imagines--the very iron +locks and precious leather mean to tell you there is something still +more precious within, worth all the cost of freightage; and you see, a +little off, the great argosie that has brought the riches; and we +humbly think that the ruling passion of a people whose "princes were +merchants, and whose merchants princes," as happily expressed by the +said "red trunks" as the rise of Carthage by the boys and boats; and +in the fervour of this bit of "exquisite" epic choice, probably Claude +did look with delight on the locks and the leather; and, whenever we +look upon that picture again, we shall be ready to join in the +delight, and say, in spite of our graduate's "contempt," there is +nothing like leather. If the boys and boats express the beginning, the +red trunks express the thing done--merchandise "brought home to every +man's door;" so that the one serves for an "idea of relation," quite +as well as the other. And here ends section the first. + +The study of ideas of imitation are thrown out of the consideration of +ideas of power, as unworthy the pursuit of an artist, whose purpose is +not to deceive, and because they are only the result of a particular +association of ideas of truth. "There are two modes in which we receive +the conception of power; one, the most just, when by a perfect +knowledge of the difficulty to be overcome, and the means employed, we +form a right estimate of the faculties exerted; the other, when without +possessing such intimate and accurate knowledge, we are impressed by a +sensation of power in visible action. If these two modes of receiving +the impression agree in the result, and if the sensation be equal to +the estimate, we receive the utmost possible idea of power. But this is +the case perhaps with the works of only one man out of the whole circle +of the fathers of art, of him to whom we have just referred--Michael +Angelo. In others the estimate and the sensation are constantly +unequal, and often contradictory." There is a distinction between the +sensation of power and the intellectual perception of it. A slight +sketch will give the sensation; the greater power is in the completion, +not so manifest, but of which there is a more intellectual cognizance. +He instances the drawings of Frederick Tayler for sensations of power, +considering the apparent means; and those of John Lewis for more +complete ideas of power, in reference to the greater difficulties +overcome, and the more complicated means employed. We think him +unfortunate in his selection, as the subjects of these artists are not +such as, of themselves, justly to receive ideas of power, therefore not +the best to illustrate them. He proceeds to "ideas of power, as they +are dependent on execution." There are six legitimate sources of +pleasure in execution--truth, simplicity, mystery, inadequacy, +decision, velocity. "Decision" we should think involved in "truth;" as +so involved, not necessarily different from velocity. Mystery and +inadequacy require explanation. "Nature is always mysterious and secret +in her use of means; and art is always likest her when it is most +inexplicable." Execution, therefore, should be "incomprehensible." +"Inadequacy" can hardly, we think, be said to be a quality of +execution, as it has only reference to means employed. Insufficient +means, according to him, give ideas of power. We otherwise +conclude--namely, that if the inadequacy of the means is shown, we +receive ideas of weakness. "Ars est celare artem"--so is it to conceal +the means. Strangeness in execution, not a legitimate source of +pleasure, is illustrated by the execution of a bull's head by Rubens, +and of the same by Berghem. Of the six qualities of execution, the +three first are the greatest, the three last the most attractive. He +considers Berghem and Salvator to have carried their fondness for these +lowest qualities to a vice. We can scarcely agree with him, as their +execution seems most appropriate to the character of their subjects--to +arise, in fact, out of their "ideas of truth." There is appended a good +note on the execution of the "drawing-master," that, under the title of +boldness, will admit of no touch less than the tenth of an inch broad, +and on the tricks of engravers' handling. + +Our graduate dismisses the "sublime" in about two pages; in fact, he +considers sublimity not to be a specific term, nor "descriptive of the +effect of a particular class of ideas;" but as he immediately asserts +that it is "greatness of any kind," and "the effect of greatness upon +the feelings," we should have expected to have heard a little more +about what constitutes this "greatness," this "sublime," which +"elevates the mind," something more than that "Burke's theory of the +nature of the sublime is incorrect." The sublime not being "distinct +from what is beautiful," he confines his subject to "ideas of truth, +beauty, and relation," and by these he proposes to test all artists. +Truth of facts and truth of thoughts are here considered; the first +necessary, but the latter the highest: we should say that it is the +latter which alone constitutes art, and that here art begins where +nature ends. Facts are the foundation necessary to the superstructure; +the foundation of which must be there, though unseen, unnoticed in +contemplation of the noble edifice. Very great stress is laid upon +"the exceeding importance of truth;" which none will question, +reminding us of the commencement of Bacon's essay, "What is truth? +said laughing Pilate, and would not wait for an answer." "Nothing," +says our author, "can atone for the want of truth, not the most +brilliant imagination, the most playful fancy, the most pure feeling +(supposing that feeling _could_ be pure and false at the same time,) +not the most exalted conception, nor the most comprehensive grasp of +intellect, can make amends for the want of truth." Now, there is much +parade in all this, surely truth, as such in reference to art, is _in_ +the brilliancy of imagination, _in_ the playfulness, without which is +no fancy, _in_ the feeling, and _in_ the very exaltation of a +conception; and intellect has no _grasp_ that does not grasp a truth. +When he speaks of nature as "immeasurably superior to all that the +human mind can conceive," and professes to "pay no regard whatsoever +to what may be thought beautiful, or sublime, or imaginative," and to +"look only for truth, bare, clear downright statement of facts," he +seems to forget what nature is, as adopted by, as taken into art; it +is not only external nature, but external nature in conjunction with +the human mind. Nor does he, in fact, adhere in the subsequent part of +his work to this his declaration; for he loses it in his "fervour of +imagination," when he actually examines the works of "the great living +painter, who is, I believe, imagined by the majority of the public to +paint more falsehood and less fact than any other known master." Here +our author jumps at once into his monomania--his adoration of the +works of Turner, which he examines largely and microscopically, as it +suits his whim, and imagines all the while he is describing and +examining nature; and not unfrequently he tells you, that nature and +Turner are the same, and that he "invites the same ceaseless study as +the works of nature herself." This is "coming it pretty strong." We +confess we are with the majority--not that we wish to depreciate +Turner. He is, or has been, unquestionably, a man of genius, and that +is a great admission. He has, perhaps, done in art what never has been +done before. He has illuminated "Views," if not with local, with a +splendid truth. His views of towns are the finest; he led the way to +this walk of art, and is far superior to all in it. We speak of his +works collectively. Some of his earlier, more imaginative, were +unquestionably poetical, though not, perhaps, of a very high +character. We believe he has been better acquainted with many of the +truths of nature, particularly those which came within the compass of +his line of views, than any other artist, ancient or modern; but we +believe he has neglected others, and some important ones too, and to +which the old masters paid the greatest attention, and devoted the +utmost study. We have spoken frequently, unhesitatingly, of the late +extraordinary productions of his pencil, as altogether unworthy his +real genius; it is in these we see, with the majority of the public, +"more falsehood and less fact" than in any other known master--a +defiance of the "known truths" in drawing, colour, and composition, +for which we can only account upon the supposition, that his eye +misrepresents to him the work of his hands. We see, in the almost +adoration of his few admirers, that if it be difficult, and not always +dependent, on merit to attain to eminence in the world's estimation, +it is nearly as difficult altogether to fall from it; and that nothing +the artist can do, though they be the veriest "ægri somnia," will +separate from him habitual followers, who, with a zeal in proportion +to the extravagances he may perpetrate, will lose their relish for, +and depreciate the great masters, whose very principles he seems +capriciously in his age to set aside, and they will from followers +become his worshippers, and in pertinacity exact entire compliance, +and assent to every, the silliest, dictation of their monomania. We +subjoin a specimen of this kind of worship, which will be found fully +to justify our observations, and which, considering it speaks of +mortal man, is somewhat blaspheming Divine attributes; we know not +really whether we should pity the condition of the author, or +reprehend the passage. After speaking of other modern painters, who +are so superior to the old, he says: "and Turner--glorious in +conception--unfathomable in knowledge--solitary in power--with the +elements waiting upon his will, and the night and the morning obedient +to his call, sent as a prophet of God to reveal to men the mysteries +of his universe, standing, like the great angel of the Apocalypse, +clothed with a cloud, and with a rainbow upon his head, and with the +sun and stars given into his hand." Little as we are disposed to laugh +at any such aberrations, we must, to remove from our minds the +greater, the more serious offence, indulge in a small degree of +justifiable ridicule; and ask what will sculptor or painter make of +this description, should the reluctant public be convinced by the +"graduate," and in their penitential reverence order statue or +painting of Mr Turner for the Temple of Fame, which it is presumed +Parliament, in their artistic zeal, mean to erect? How will they +venture to represent Mr Turner looking like an angel--in that dress +which would make any man look like a fool--his cloud nightcap tied +with rainbow riband round his head, calling to night and morning, and +little caring which comes, making "ducks and drakes" of the sun and +the stars, put into his hand for that purpose? We will only suggest +one addition, as it completes the grand idea, and is in some degree +characteristic of Mr Turner's peculiar execution, that, with the sun +and stars, there should be delivered into his hand a comet, whose tail +should serve him for a brush, and supply itself with colour. We do not +see, however, why the moon should have been omitted; sun, moon, and +stars, generally go together. Is the author as jealous as the +"majority of the public" may be suspicious of her influence? And let +not the reader believe that Mr Turner is thus called a prophet in mere +joke, or a fashion of words--his prophetic power is advanced in +another passage, wherein it is asserted that Mr Turner not only tells +us in his works what nature has done in hers, but what she will do. +"In fact," says our author, "the great quality about Mr Turner's +drawings, which more especially proves their transcendant truth, is +the capability they afford us of reasoning on past and future +phenomena." The book teems with extravagant bombastic praise like +this. Mr Turner is more than the Magnus Apollo. Yet other English +artists are brought forward, immediately preceding the above +panegyric; we know not if we do them justice, by noticing what is said +of them. There is a curious description of David Cos lying on the +ground "to possess his spirit in humility and peace," of Copley +Fielding, as an aeronaut, "casting his whole soul into space." We +really cannot follow him, "exulting like the wild deer in the motion +of the swift mists," and "flying with the wild wind and sifted spray +along the white driving desolate sea, with the passion for nature's +freedom burning in his heart;" for such a chase and such a heart-burn +must have a frightful termination, unless it be mere nightmare. We see +"J. D. Harding, brilliant and vigorous," &c., "following with his +quick, keen dash the sunlight into the crannies of the rocks, and the +wind into the tangling of the grass, and the bright colour into the +fall of the sea-foam--various, universal in his aim;" after which very +fatiguing pursuit, we are happy to find him "under the shade of some +spreading elm;" yet his heart is oak--and he is "English, all English +at his heart." But Mr Clarkson Stanfield is a man of men--"firm, and +fearless, and unerring in his knowledge--stern and decisive in his +truth--perfect and certain in composition--shunning nothing, +concealing nothing, and falsifying nothing--never affected, never +morbid, never failing--conscious of his strength, but never +ostentatious of it--acquainted with every line and hue of the deep +sea--chiseling his waves with unhesitating knowledge of every curve of +their anatomy, and every moment of their motion--building his +mountains rock by rock, with wind in every fissure, and weight in +every stone--and modeling the masses of his sky with the strength of +tempest in their every fold." It is curious--yet a searcher after +nature's truths ought to know, as he is here told, that waves may be +anatomized, and must be _chiseled_, and that mountains are and ought +to be _built_ up rock by rock, as a wall brick by brick; no easy task +considering that there is a disagreeable "wind in every fissure, and +weight in every stone"--and that the aerial sky, incapable to touch, +must be "modeled in masses." All this is given after an equally +extravagant abuse of Claude, of Salvator Rosa, and Poussin. He finds +fault with Claude, because his sea does not "upset the flower-pots on +the wall," forgetting that they are put there because the sea could +not--with Salvator, for his "contemptible fragment of splintery crag, +which an Alpine snow-wreath" (which would have no business there) +"would smother in its first swell, with a stunted bush or two growing +out of it, and a Dudley or Halifax-like volume of smoke for a +sky"--with Poussin, for that he treats foliage (whereof "every bough +is a revelation!") as "a black round mass of impenetrable paint, +diverging into feathers instead of leaves, and supported on a stick +instead of a trunk." A page or two from this, our author sadly abuses +poor Canaletti, as far as we can see, for not painting a tumbled-down +wall, which perhaps, in his day, was not in a ruinous state at all; it +is a curious passage--and shows how much may be made out of a wall. +Pyramus's chink was nothing to this--behold a specimen of "fine +writing!" "Well: take the next house. We remember that too; it was +mouldering inch by inch into the canal, and the bricks had fallen away +from its shattered marble shafts, and left them white and +skeleton-like, yet with their fretwork of cold flowers wreathed about +them still, untouched by time; and through the rents of the wall +behind them there used to come long sunbeams gleamed by the weeds +through which they pierced, which flitted, and fell one by one round +those grey and quiet shafts, catching here a leaf and there a leaf, +and gliding over the illumined edges and delicate fissures until they +sank into the deep dark hollow between the marble blocks of the sunk +foundation, lighting every other moment one isolated emerald lamp on +the crest of the intermittent waves, when the wild sea-weeds and +crimson lichens drifted and crawled with their thousand colours and +fine branches over its decay, and the black, clogging, accumulated +limpets hung in ropy clusters from the dripping and tinkling stone. +What has Canaletti given us for this?" Alas, neither a _crawling_ +lichen, nor _clogging_ limpets, nor a _tinkling_ stone, but "one +square, red mass, composed of--let me count--five-and-fifty--no, +six-and-fifty--no, I was right at first, five-and-fifty bricks," &c. +The picture, if it be painted by the graduate, must be a curiosity--we +can make neither head nor tail of his words. But let us find another +strange specimen--where he compares his own observations of nature +with Poussin and Turner. Every one must remember a very pretty little +picture of no great consequence by Gaspar Poussin--a view of some +buildings of a town said to be Aricia, the modern La Riccia--just take +it for what it is intended to be, a quiet, modest, agreeable +scene--very true and sweetly painted. How unfit to be compared with an +ambitious description of a combination of views from Rome to the Alban +Mount, for that is the range of the description, though, perhaps, the +description is taken from a poetical view of one of Turner's +incomprehensibles, which may account for the conclusion, "Tell me who +is likest this, Poussin or Turner?" Now, though Poussin never intended +to be like this, let us see the graduate's description of it. We know +the little town; it received us as well as our author, having left +Rome to visit it. + + "Egressum magnâ me accepit Aricia Roma." + +Our author, however, doubts if it be the place, though he +unhesitatingly abuses Poussin, as if he had fully intended to have +painted nothing else than what was seen by the travelling graduate. +"At any rate, it is a town on a hill, wooded with two-and-thirty +bushes, of very uniform size, and possessing about the same number of +leaves each. These bushes are all painted in with one dull opaque +brown, becoming very slightly greenish towards the lights, and +discover in one place a bit of rock, which of course would in nature +have been cool and grey beside the lustrous hues of foliage, and +which, therefore, being moreover completely in shade, is consistently +and scientifically painted of a very clear, pretty, and positive brick +red, the only thing like colour in the picture. The foreground is a +piece of road, which, in order to make allowance for its greater +nearness, for its being completely in light, and, it may be presumed, +for the quantity of vegetation usually present on carriage roads, is +given in a very cool green-grey, and the truthful colouring of the +picture is completed by a number of dots in the sky on the right, with +a stalk to them, of a sober and similar brown." We need not say how +unlike is this description of the picture. We pass on to--"Not long +ago, I was slowly _descending_ this very bit of carriage road, the +first turn after you leave Albano;--it had been wild weather when I +left Rome, and all across the Campagna the clouds were sweeping in +sulphurous blue, with a clap of thunder or two, and breaking gleams of +sun along the Claudian aqueduct, lighting up the infinity of its +arches like the bridge of Chaos. But as I _climbed_ the long slope of +the Alban mount, the storm swept finally to the north, and the noble +outline of the domes of Albano, and graceful darkness of its ilex +grove rose against pure streaks of alternate blue and amber, the upper +sky gradually flushing through the last fragments of rain-cloud in +deep, palpitating azure, half æther half dew. The noonday sun came +slanting down the rocky slopes of La Riccia, and its masses of +entangled and tall foliage, whose autumnal tints were mixed with the +wet verdure of a thousand evergreens, were penetrated with it as with +rain. I cannot call it colour, it was conflagration. Purple, and +crimson, and scarlet, like the curtains of God's tabernacle, the +rejoicing trees sank into the valley in showers of light, every +separate leaf quivering with buoyant and burning life; each, as it +turned to reflect or to transmit the sunbeam, first a torch and then +an emerald. Far up into the recesses of the valley, the green vistas +arched like the hollows of mighty waves of some crystalline sea, with +the arbutus flowers dashed along their flanks for foam, and _silver_ +flakes of _orange_ spray tossed into the air around them, breaking +over the grey walls of rock into a thousand separate stars, fading and +kindling alternately as the weak wind lifted and let them fall. Every +glade of grass burned like the golden floor of heaven, opening in +sudden gleams as the foliage broke and closed above it, as sheet +lightning opens in a cloud at sunset; the motionless masses of dark +rock--dark though flushed with scarlet lichen--casting their quiet +shadows across its restless radiance, the fountain underneath them +filling its marble hollow with blue mist and fitful sound, and over +all--the multitudinous bars of amber and rose, the _sacred_ clouds +that have no _darkness_, and only exist to illumine, were seen in +fathomless intervals between the solemn and _orbed_ repose of the +stone pines, passing to lose themselves in the last, white, blinding +lustre of the measureless line where the Campagna melted into the +blaze of the sea." In verity, this is no "Campana Supellex." It is a +riddle! Is he going up or down hill--or both at once? No human being +can tell. He did not like the "sulphur and treacle" of "our Scotch +connoisseurs;" but what colours has he not added here to his +sulphur--colours, too, that we fear for the "idea of truth" cannot +coexist! And how, in the name of optics, could it be possible for any +painter to take in all this, with the "_fathomless intervals_," into +an angle of vision of forty-five degrees? It is quite superfluous to +ask "who is likest this, Turner or Poussin?" There immediately follows +a remark upon another picture in the National Gallery, the "Mercury +and Woodman," by Salvator Rosa, than which nothing can be more untrue +to the original. He asserts that Salvator painted the distant +mountains, "throughout, without one instant of variation. But what is +its colour? _Pure_ sky-blue, without one grain of grey, or any +modifying hue whatsoever;--the same brush which had just given the +bluest parts of the sky, has been more loaded at the same part of the +pallette, and the whole mountain throw in with unmitigated +ultramarine." Now the fact is, that the picture has, in this part, +been so injured, that it is hard to say what colour is under the dirty +brown-asphaltum hue and texture that covers it. It is certainly not +blue now, not "pure blue"--unless pictures change like the cameleon. +We know the picture well, and have seen another of the same subject, +where the mountains have variety, and yet are blue. We believe a great +sum was given for this picture--far more than its condition justifies. +We must return--we left the graduate discussing ideas of truth. There +is a chapter to show that the truth of nature is not to be discerned +by the uneducated senses. As we do not perceive all sounds that enter +the ear, so do we not perceive all that is cognizable by the eye--we +have, that is, a power of nullifying an impression; that this habit is +so common, that from the abstraction of their minds to other subjects, +there are probably persons who never saw any thing beautiful. +Sensibility to the power of beauty is required--and to see rightly, +there should be a perfect state of moral feeling. Even when we think +we see with our eyes, our perception is often the result of memory, of +previous knowledge; and it is in this way he accounts for the mistake +painters and others make with respect to Italian skies. What will Mr +Uwin and his followers in blue say to this, alas--Italian skies are +not blue? "How many people are misled by what has been said and sung +of the serenity of Italian skies, to suppose they must be more blue +than the skies of the north, and think that they see them so; whereas +the sky of Italy is far more dull and grey in colour than the skies of +the north, and is distinguished only by its intense repose of light." +Benevenuto Cellini speaks of the mist of Italy. "Repose of light" is +rather a novelty--he is fond of it. But then Turner paints with pure +white--for ourselves we are with the generality of mankind who prefer +the "repose" of shade. "Ask a connoisseur, who has scampered over all +Europe, the shape of the leaf of an elm, and the chances are ninety to +one that he cannot tell you; and yet he will be voluble of criticism +on every painted landscape from Dresden to Madrid"--and why not? The +chances are ninety to one that the merits of not a single picture +shall depend upon this knowledge, and yet the pictures shall be good +and the connoisseur right. One man sees what another does not see in +portraits. Undoubtedly; but how any one is to find in a portrait the +following, we are at a loss to conceive. "The third has caught the +trace of all that was most hidden and most mighty, when all hypocrisy +and all habit, and all petty and passing emotion--the _ice, and the +bank, and the foam of the immortal river--were shivered and broken, +and swallowed up in the awakening of its inward strength_," _&c._ How +can a man with a pen in his hand let such stuff as this drop from his +fingers' ends? + +In the chapter "on the relative importance of truths," there is a +little needless display of logic--needless, for we find, after all, he +does not dispute "the kind of truths proper to be represented by the +painter or sculptor," though he combats the maxim that general truths +are preferable to particular. His examples are quite out of art, +whether one be spoken of as a man or as Sir Isaac Newton. Even +logically speaking, Sir Isaac Newton may be the _whole_ of the +subject, and as such a whole might require a generality. There may be +many particulars that are best sunk. So, in a picture made up of many +parts, it should have a generality totally independent of the +particularities of the parts, which must be so represented as not to +interfere with that general idea, and which may be altogether in the +mind of the artist. This little discussion seems to arise from a sort +of quibble on the word important. Sir Joshua and others, who abet the +generality maxim, mean no more than that it is of importance to a +picture that it contain, fully expressed, one general idea, with which +no parts are to interfere, but that the parts will interfere if each +part be represented with its most particular truth--and that, +therefore, drapery should be drapery merely, not silk or satin, where +high truths of the subject are to be impressed. + +"Colour is a secondary truth, therefore less important than form." +"He, therefore, who has neglected a truth of form for a truth of +colour, has neglected a greater truth for a less one." It is true +with regard to any individual object--but we doubt if it be always so +in picture. The character of the picture may not at all depend upon +form--nay, it is possible that the painter may wish to draw away the +mind altogether from the beauty, and even correctness of form, his +subject being effect and colour, that shall be predominant, and to +which form shall be quite subservient, and little more of it than +such as chiaro-scuro shall give; and in such a case colour is the +more important truth, because in it lies the sentiment of the +picture. The mystery of Rembrandt would vanish were beauty of form +introduced in many of his pictures. We remember a picture, the most +impressive picture perhaps ever painted, and that by a modern too, +Danby's "Opening of the Sixth Seal." Now, though there are fine parts +in this picture, the real power of the picture is in its colour--it +is awful. We are no enemy to modern painters; we think this a work of +the highest genius--and as such, should be most proud to see it +deposited in our National Gallery. We further say, that in some +respects it carries the art beyond the old practice. But, then, we +may say it is a new subject. "It is not certain whether any two +people see the same colours in things." Though that does not affect +the question of the importance of colour, for it must imply a defect +in the individuals, for undoubtedly there is such a thing as nature's +harmony of colour; yet it may be admitted, that things are not always +known by their colour; nay, that the actual local colour of objects +is mainly altered by effects of light, and we are accustomed to see +the same things, _quoad_ colour, variously presented to us--and the +inference that we think artists may draw from this fact is, that +there will be allowed them a great licence in all cases of colour, +and that naturalness may be preserved without exactness--and here +will lie the value of a true theory of the harmony of colours, and +the application of colouring to pictures, most suitable to the +intended impression, not the most appropriate to the objects. We have +often laid some stress upon this in the pages of _Maga_--and we think +it has been too much omitted in the consideration of artists. Every +one knows what is called a Claude glass. We see nature through a +coloured medium--yet we do not doubt that we are looking at +nature--at trees, at water, at skies--nay, we admire the colour--see +its harmony and many beauties--yet we know them to be, if we may use +the term, misrepresented. While speaking of the Claude glass, it will +not be amiss to notice a peculiarity. It shows a picture--when the +unaided eye will not; it heightens illumination--brings out the most +delicate lights, scarcely perceptible to the naked eye, and gives +greater power to the shades, yet preserves their delicacy. It seems +to annihilate all those rays of light, which, as it were, intercept +the picture--that come between the eye and the object. But to return +to colour--we say that it must, in the midst of its license, preserve +its naturalness--which it will do if it have a meaning in itself. But +when we are called upon to question what is the meaning of this or +that colour, how does its effect agree with the subject? why is it +outrageously yellow or white, or blue or red, or a jumble of all +these?--which are questions, we confess, that we and the public have +often asked, with regard to Turner's late pictures--we do not +acknowledge a naturalness--the license has been abused--not "sumpta +pudenter." It is not because the vividness of "a blade of grass or a +scarlet flower" shall be beyond the power of pigment, that a general +glare and obtrusion of such colours throughout a picture can be +justified. We are astonished that any man with eyes should see the +unnaturalness in colour of Salvator and Titian, and not see it in +Turner's recent pictures, where it is offensive because more glaring. +Those masters sacrificed, if it be a sacrifice, something to +repose--repose is _the_ thing to be sacrificed according to the +notions of too many of our modern schools. It is likewise singular, +after all the falsehoods which he asserts the old masters to have +painted, that he should speak of "imitation"--as their whole aim, +their sole intention to deceive; and yet he describes their pictures +as unlike nature in the detail and in the general as can be, +strangely missing their object--deception. We fear the truths, +particulars of which occupy the remainder of the volume--of earth, +water, skies, &c.--are very minute truths, which, whether true or +false, are of very little importance to art, unless it be to those +branches of art which may treat the whole of each particular truth +as the whole of a subject, a line of art that may produce a multitude +of works, like certain scenes of dramatic effect, surprising to see +once, but are soon powerless--can we hope to say of such, "decies +repetita placebunt?" They will be the fascinations of the view +schools, nay, may even delight the geologist and the herbalist, but +utterly disgust the imaginative. This kind of "knowledge" is not +"power" in art. We want not to see water anatomized; the Alps may be +tomahawked and scalped by geologists, yet may they be sorry painters. +And we can point to the general admiration of the world, learned and +unlearned, that a "contemptible fragment of a splintery crag" has +been found to answer all the purposes of an impression of the +greatness of nature, her free, great, and awful forms, and that +depth, shades, power of chiaro-scuro, are found in nature to be +strongest in objects of no very great magnitude; for our vision +requires nearness, and we want not the knowledge that a mountain is +20,000 feet high, to be convinced that it is quite large enough to +crush man and all his works; and that they, who, in their terror of a +greater pressure, would call upon the mountains to cover them, and +the holes of rocks to hide them, would think very little of the +measurement of the mountains, or how the caverns of the earth are +made. Greatness and sublimity are quite other things. + +We shall not very systematically carry our views, therefore, into the +detail of these truths, but shall just pick here and there a passage +or so, that may strike us either for its utility or its absurdity. + +With regard to truth of tone, he observes--that "the finely-toned +pictures of the old masters are some of the notes of nature played two +or three octaves below her key, the dark objects in the middle +distance having precisely the same relation to the light of the sky +which they have in nature, but the light being necessarily infinitely +lowered, and the mass of the shadow deepened in the same degree. I +have often been struck, when looking at a camera-obscura on a dark +day, with the exact resemblance the image bore to one of the finest +pictures of the old masters." We only ask if, when looking at the +picture in the camera, he did not still recognize nature--and then, if +it was beautiful, we might ask him if it was not _true_; and then when +he asserts our highest light being white paper, and that not white +enough for the light of nature--we would ask if, in the camera, he did +not see the picture on white paper--and if the whiteness of paper be +not the exact whiteness of nature, or white as ordinary nature? But +there is a quality in the light of nature that mere whiteness will not +give, and which, in fact, is scarcely ever seen in nature merely in +what is quite white; we mean brilliancy--that glaze, as it were, +between the object and the eye which makes it not so much light as +bright. Now this quality of light was thought by the old masters to be +the most important one of light, extending to the half tones and even +in the shadows, where there is still light; and this by art and +lowering the tone they were able to give, so that we see not the value +of the praise when he says-- + +"Turner starts from the beginning with a totally different principle. +He boldly takes pure white--and justly, for it is the sign of the most +intense sunbeams--for his highest light, and lamp-black for his +deepest shade," &c. Now, if white be the sign of the most intense +sunbeams, it is as we never wish to see them; what under a tropical +sun may be white is not quite white with us; and we always find it +disagreeable in proportion as it approaches to pure white. We never +saw yet in nature a sky or a cloud pure white; so that here certainly +is one of the "fallacies," we will not call them falsehoods. But as +far as we can judge of nature's ideas of light and colour, it is her +object to tone them down, and to give us very little, if any, of this +raw white, and we would not say that the old masters did not follow +her method of doing it. But we will say, that the object of art, at +any rate, is to make all things look agreeable; and that human eyes +cannot bear without pain those raw whites and too searching lights; +and that nature has given to them an ever present power of glazing +down and reducing them, when she added to the eye the sieve, our +eyelashes, through which we look, which we employ for this purpose, +and desire not to be dragged at any time--"Sub curru nimium propinqui +solis." + +After this praise of white, one does not expect--"I think nature +mixes yellow with almost every one of her hues;" but this is said +merely in aversion to purple. "I think the first approach to +viciousness of colour in any master, is commonly indicated chiefly by +a prevalence of purple and an absence of yellow." "I am equally +certain that Turner is distinguished from all the vicious colourists +of the present day, by the foundation of all his tones being black, +yellow, and intermediate greys, while the tendency of our common +glare-seekers is invariably to pure, cold, impossible purples." + + "Silent nymph, with curious eye, + Who the _purple_ evening lie," + +saith Dyer, in his landscape of "Grongar Hill." The "glare-seekers" is +curious enough, when we remember the graduate's description of +landscapes, (of course Turner's,) and his excursions; but we think we +have seen many purples in Turner, and that opposed to his flaming red +in sunsets. He prefers warmth where most people feel cold--this is not +surprising; but as to picture "is it true?" "My own feelings would +guide me rather to the warm greys of such pictures as the +'Snow-Storm,' or the glowing scarlet and gold of the 'Napoleon' and +the 'Slave Ship.'" The two latter must be well remembered by all +Exhibition visitors; they were the strangest things imaginable in +colour as in every particle that should be art or nature. There is a +whimsical quotation from Wordsworth, the "keenest-eyed," page 145. His +object is to show the strength of shadow--how "the shadows on the +trunk of the tree become darker and more conspicuous than any part of +the boughs or limbs;" so, for this strength and blackness, we have-- + + "At the root + Of that tall pine, the shadow of whose bare + And slender stem, while here I sit at eve, + Oft stretches tow'rds me, like a long straight path, + Traced _faintly_ in the greensward." + +"Of the truth of space," he says that "in a real landscape, we can see +the whole of what would be called the middle distance and distance +together, with facility and clearness; but while we do so, we can see +nothing in the foreground beyond a vague and indistinct arrangement of +lines and colours; and that if, on the contrary, we look at any +foreground object, so as to receive a distinct impression of it, the +distance and middle distance become all disorder and mystery. And +therefore, if in a painting our foreground is any thing, our distance +must be nothing, and _vice versa_." "Now, to this fact and principle, +no landscape painter of the old school, as far as I remember, ever +paid the slightest attention. Finishing their foregrounds clearly and +sharply, and with vigorous impression on the eye, giving even the +leaves of their bushes and grass with perfect edge and shape, they +proceeded into the distance with equal attention to what they could +see of its details," &c. But he had blamed Claude for not having given +the exactness and distinct shape and colour of leaves in foreground. +The fact is, the picture should be as a piece of nature framed in. +Within that frame, we should not see distinctly the foreground and +distance at the same instant: but, as we have stated, the eye and mind +are rapid, the one to see, the other to combine; and as a horse let +loose into a field, runs to the extremity of it and around it, the +first thing he does--so do we range over every part of the picture, +but with wondrous rapidity, before our impression of the whole is +perfect. We must not, therefore, slur over any thing; the difficulty +in art is to give the necessary, and so made necessary, detail of +foreground unostentatiously--to paint nothing, that which is to tell +as nothing, but so as it shall satisfy upon examination; and we think +so the old masters did paint the foregrounds, particularly Gaspar +Poussin--so Titian, so Domenichino, and all of any merit. But this is +merely an introduction, not to a palliation of, but the approbation +and praise of a glaring defect in Turner. "Turner introduced a new era +in landscape art, by showing that the foreground might be sunk for the +distance, and that it was possible to express immediate proximity to +the spectator, without giving any thing like completeness to the forms +of the near objects." We are now, therefore, prepared for an absurd +"justification of the want of drawing in Turner's figures," thus +contemptuously, with regard to all but himself, accounted for. "And +now we see the reason for the singular, and, to the ignorant in art, +the offensive execution of Turner's figures. I do not mean to assert +that there is any reason whatsoever for _bad_ drawing, (though in +landscape it matters exceedingly little;) but there is both reason and +necessity for that want of drawing which gives even the nearest +figures round balls with four pink spots in them instead of faces, and +four dashes of the brush instead of hands and feet; for it is totally +impossible that if the eye be adapted to receive the rays proceeding +from the utmost distance, and some partial impression from all the +distances, it should be capable of perceiving more of the forms and +features of near figures than Turner gives." Yet what wonderful detail +has he required from Canaletti and others?--But is there any reason +why we should have "_pink_ spots?"--is there any reason why Turner's +foreground figures should resemble penny German dolls?--and for the +reason we have above given, there ought to be reason why the figures +should be made out, at least as they are in a camera-obscura. We here +speak of nature, of "truth," and with him ask, it may be all very +well--but "is it true?" But we have another fault to find with +Turner's figures; they are often bad in intention. What can be more +absurd and incongruous, for instance, than in a picture of "elemental +war"--a sea-coast--than to put a child and its nurse in foreground, +the child crying because it has lost its hoop, or some such thing? It +is according to his truth of space, that distances should have every +"hair's-breadth" filled up, all its "infinity," with infinities of +objects, but that whatever is near, if figures, may be "pink spots," +and "four dashes of the brush." While with Poussin--"masses which +result from the eclipse of details are contemptible and painful;" and +he thinks Poussin has but "meaningless tricks of clever +execution"--forgetting that all art is but a trick--yet one of those +tricks worth knowing, and yet which how few have acquired! Surely our +author is not well acquainted with Hobbima's works; that painter had +not a niggling execution. "A single dusty roll of Turner's brush is +more truly expressive of the infinity of foliage, than the niggling of +Hobbima could have rendered his canvass, if he had worked on it till +doomsday." Our author seems to have studied skies, such as they are in +Turner or in nature. He talks of them with no inconsiderable swagger +of observation, while the old masters had no observation at +all;--"their blunt and feelingless eyes never perceived it in nature; +and their untaught imaginations were not likely to originate it in +study." What is the _it_, will be asked--we believe it to be a +"cirrus," and that a cirrus is the subject of a chapter to itself. +This beard of the sky, however, instead of growing below, is quite +above, "never formed below an elevation of at least 15,000 feet, are +motionless, multitudinous lines of delicate vapour, with which the +blue of the open sky is commonly streaked or speckled after several +days of fine weather. They are more commonly known as 'mare's tails.'" +Having found this "mare's nest," he delights in it. It is the glory of +modern masters. He becomes inflated, and lifts himself 15,000 feet +above the level of the understanding of all old masters, and, as we +think, of most modern readers, as thus:--"One alone has taken notice +of the neglected upper sky; it is his peculiar and favourite field; he +has watched its every modification, and given its every phase and +feature; at all hours, in all seasons, he has followed its passions +and its changes, and has brought down and laid open to the world +another apocalypse of heaven." Very well, considering that the cirrus +never touches even the highest mountains of Europe, to follow its +phase (query faces) and feature 15,000 feet high, and given pink dots, +four pink dots for the faces and features of human beings within +fifteen feet of his brush. We will not say whether the old masters +painted this cirrus or not. We believe they painted what they and we +see, at least so much as suited their pictures--but as they were not, +generally speaking, exclusively sky-painters, but painters of subjects +to which the skies were subordinate, they may be fairly held excused +for this their lack of ballooning after the "cirrus;" and we thank +them that they were not "glare-seekers," "threading" their way, with +it before them, "among the then transparent clouds, while all around +the sun is unshadowed fire." We lose him altogether in the "central +cloud region," where he helps nature pretty considerably as she "melts +even the unoccupied azure into palpitating shades," and hopelessly +turns the corner of common observation, and escapes among the "fifty +aisles penetrating through angelic chapels to the shechinah of the +blue." We must expect him to descend a little vain of his exploit, and +so he does--and wonders not that the form and colour of Turner should +be misunderstood, for "they require for the full perception of their +meaning and truth, such knowledge and such time as not one in a +thousand possesses, or can bestow." The inference is, that the +graduate has graduated a successful phæton, driving Mr Turner's +chariot through all the signs of the zodiac. So he sends all artists, +ancient and modern, to Mr Turner's country, as "a magnificent +statement, all truth"--that is, "impetuous clouds, twisted rain, +flickering sunshine, fleeting shadow, gushing water, and oppressed +cattle"--yes, more, it wants repose, and there it is--"High and far +above the dark volumes of the swift rain-cloud, are seen on the left, +through their opening, the quiet, horizontal, silent flakes of the +highest cirrus, resting in the repose of the deep sky;" and there they +are, "delicate, soft, passing vapours," and there is "the exquisite +depth and _palpitating_ tenderness of the blue with which they are +islanded." Thus _islanded in tenderness_, what wonder is it if Ixion +embraced a cloud? Let not the modern lover of nature entertain such a +thought; "Bright Phœbus" is no minor canon to smile complacently on +the matter; he has a jealousy in him, and won't let any be in a +melting mood with the clouds but himself; he tears aside your +curtains, and steam-like rags of capricious vapour--"the mouldering +sun, seeming not far away, but burning like a red-hot ball beside you, +and as if you could reach it, plunges through the rushing wind and +rolling cloud with headlong fall, as if it meant to rise no more, +dyeing all the air about it with blood." This is no fanciful +description, but among the comparative views of nature's and of +Turner's skies, as seen, and verified upon his affidavit, by a +graduate of Oxford; who may have an indisposition to boast of his +exclusive privilege. + + "Ἀεροβατῶ και περιφρονῶ τὸν ἥλιον." + +Accordingly, in "the effects of light rendered by modern art," our +author is very particular indeed. His extraordinary knowledge of the +sun's position, to a hair's-breadth in Mr Turner's pictures, and +minute of the day, is quite surprising. He gives a table of two pages +and a-half, of position and moment, "morning, noon, and afternoon," +"evening and night." In more than one instance, he is so close, as +"five minutes before sunset." + +Having settled the matter of the sky, our author takes the earth in +hand, and tosses it about like a Titan. "The spirit of the hills is +action, that of the lowlands, repose; and between these there is to be +found every variety of motion and of rest, from the inactive plain, +sleeping like the firmament, with cities for stars, to the fiery peaks +which, with heaving bosoms and exulting limbs, with clouds drifting +like hair from their bright foreheads, lift up their Titan hands to +heaven saying, 'I live for ever.'" We learn, too, a wonderful power in +the excited earth, far beyond that which other "naturalists" describe +of the lobster, who only, _ad libitum_, casts off a claw or so. "But +there is this difference between the action of the earth and that of a +living creature, that while the exerted limb marks its bones and +tendons through the flesh, the excited earth casts off the flesh +altogether, and its bones come out from beneath. Mountains are the +bones of the earth, their highest peaks are invariably those parts of +its anatomy, which in the plains lie buried under five-and-twenty +thousand feet of solid thickness of superincumbent soil, and which +spring up in the mountain ranges in vast pyramids or wedges, flinging +their garment of earth away from them on each side." If the gentle +sketcher should happily escape a cuff from these cast-off clothes +flung by excited earth from her extremities, he may be satisfied with +repose in the lap of mother earth, who must be considerably fat and +cushioned, though some may entertain a fear of being overlaid. What is +the artist to do with an earth like this, body and bones? When he sits +down to sketch some placid landscape, is he to think of poor nature +with her bones sticking out from twenty-five thousand feet of her +solid flesh! Mother of Gargantia--thou wert but a dwarf! Salvator Rosa +could not paint rock; Gaspar Poussin could not paint rock. A rock, in +short, is such a thing as nobody ought to paint, or can paint but +Turner; and all that, after his description of rock, we believe; but +were not prepared to learn that "the foreground of the 'Napoleon' in +last year's Academy," is "one of the most exquisite pieces of rock +truth ever put on canvass." In fact, we really, in ignorance to be +ashamed of, did not know there was any rock there at all. We only +remember Napoleon and his cocked-hat--now, this is extraordinary; for +as _we_ only or chiefly remember the cocked-hat, so he sees the said +cocked-hat in Salvator's rocks, where we never saw such a thing, +though "he has succeeded in covering his foregrounds with forms which +approximate to those of drapery, of ribands, of _crushed cocked-hats_, +of locks of hair, of waves, of leaves, or any thing, in short, +flexible or tough, but which, of course, are not only unlike, but +directly contrary to the forms which nature has impressed on rocks." +And the nature of rocks he must know, having the "Napoleon" before +him. "In the 'Napoleon' I can illustrate by no better example, for I +can reason as well from this as I could with my foot on the native +rock." What rocks of Salvator's, besides the No. 220 of the Dulwich +gallery, he has seen, we cannot pretend to say; we have, within these +few days, seen one, and could not discover the "commas," the "Chinese +for rocks," nor Sanscrit for rocks, but did read the language of +nature, without the necessity of any writing under--"This is a rock." +Poor Claude, he knew nothing of perspective, and his efforts +"invariably ended in reducing his pond to the form of a round O, and +making it look perpendicular;" but in one instance Claude luckily hits +upon "a little bit of accidental truth;" he is circumstantial in its +locality--"the little piece of ground above the cattle, between the +head of the brown cow and the tail of the white one, is well +articulated, just where it turns into shade." + +After the entire failure of all artists that ever lived before Turner +in land and skies, we are prepared to find that they had not the least +idea of water. When they thought they painted water, in fact, they +were like "those happier children, sliding on dry ground," and had not +the chance of wetting a foot. Water, too, is a thing to be anatomized, +a sort of rib-fluidity. The moving, transparent water, in shallow and +in depth, of Vandervelde and Backhuysen, is not the least like water; +they are men who "libelled the sea." Many of our moderns--Stanfield in +particular--seem naturally web-footed; but the real Triton of the sea, +as he was Titan of the earth, is Turner. To our own eyes, in this +respect, he stands indebted to the engraver; for we do not remember a +single sea-piece by Turner, in water-colour or oil, in which the water +is _liquid_. What it is like, in the picture of the Slave-ship, which +is considered one of his very finest productions, we defy any one to +tell. We are led to guess it is meant for water, by the strange fish +that take their pastime. A year or two ago were exhibited two +sea-pieces, of nearly equal size, at the British Institution, by +Vandervelde and Turner. It was certainly one of Turner's best; but how +inferior was the water and the sky to the water and sky in +Vandervelde! In Turner they were both rocky. We say not this to the +disparagement of Turner's genius. He had not studied these elements as +did Vandervelde. The two painters ought not to be compared together; +and we humbly think that any man who should pronounce of Vandervelde +and Backhuysen, that they "libelled the sea," convicts himself of a +wondrous lack of taste and feeling. Of their works he thus speaks--"As +it is, I believe there is scarcely such another instance to be found +in the history of man, of the epidemic aberration of mind into which +multitudes fall by infection, as is furnished by the value set upon +the works of these men." Of water, he says--"Nothing can hinder water +from being a reflecting medium but dry dust or filth of some kind on +its surface. Dirty water, if the foul matter be dissolved or suspended +in the liquid, reflects just as clearly and sharply as pure water, +only the image is coloured by the hue of the mixed matter, and becomes +comparatively brown or dark." We entirely deny this, from constant +observation. Within this week we have been studying a stream, which +has alternated in its clearness and muddiness. We found the +reflection not only less clear in the latter case, but instead of +brown and dark, to have lost its brownness, and to have become +lighter. To understand the "curves" of water being beyond the reach of +most who are not graduates of Oxford; and painters and admirers of old +masters being people without sense, at least in comparison with the +graduate, he thus disposes of his learned difficulty:--"This is a +point, however, on which it is impossible to argue without going into +high mathematics, and even then the nature of particular curves, as +given by the brush, would be scarcely demonstrable; and I am the less +disposed to take much trouble about it, because I think that the +persons who are really fond of these works are almost beyond the reach +of argument." The celebrated Mrs Partington once endeavoured, at +Sidmouth, to dispose of these "curves," and failed; and we suspect a +stronger reason than the incapacity of his readers for our author's +thus disposing of the subject. We believe the world would not give a +pin's head for all the seas that ever might be painted upon these +mathematical curves; and that, in painting, even a graduate's "high +mathematics" are but a very low affair. But let us enliven the reader +with something really high--and here is, in very high-flown prose, +part of a description of a waterfall; and it will tell him a secret, +that in the midst of these fine falls, nature keeps a furnace and +steam-engine continually at work, and having the fire at hand, sends +up rockets--if you doubt--read:--"And how all the hollows of that foam +burn with green fire, like so much _shattering chrysoprase_; and how, +ever and anon, startling you with its white flash, a jet of spray +leaps hissing out of the fall, like a rocket, bursting in the wind, +and driven away in dust, filling the air with light; and how, through +the curdling wreaths of the restless, crashing abyss below, the blue +of the water, paled by the foam in its body, shows purer than the sky +through white rain-cloud, while the shuddering iris stoops in +tremulous stillness over all, fading and flashing alternately through +the choking spray and shattered sunshine, hiding itself at last among +the thick golden leaves, which toss to and fro in sympathy with the +wild water, their dripping masses lifted at intervals, like sheaves of +loaded corn, by some stronger gush from the cataract, and bowed again +upon the mossy rocks as its roar dies away." "Satque superque +satis"--we cannot go on. There is nothing like calling things by their +contraries--it is truly startling. Whenever you speak of water, treat +it as fire--of fire, _vice versa_, as water; and be sure to send them +all shattering out of reach and discrimination of all sense; and look +into a dictionary for some such word as "chrysoprase," which we find +to come from χρυσος gold, and πρασον a leek, and means a precious +stone; it is capable of being shattered, together with "sunshine"--the +reader will think the whole passage a "flash" of moonshine. But there +is a discovery--"I believe, when you have stood by this for half an +hour, you will have discovered that there is something more in nature +than has been given by Ruysdaël." You will indeed--if this be nature! +But, alas, what have we not to undergo--to discover what water is, and +to become capable of judging of Turner! It is a comfort, however, that +he is likely to have but few judges. Graduate has courage to undergo +any thing. Ariel was nothing in his ubiquity to him, though he put a +span about the world in forty minutes; "but there was some apology for +the public's not understanding this, for few people have had the +opportunity of seeing the sea at such a time, and when they have, +cannot face it. To hold by a mast or rock, and watch it, is a +prolonged endurance of drowning, which few people have courage to go +through. To those who have, it is one of the noblest lessons in +nature." Very few people, indeed, and those few "involuntary +experimentalists." + +We are glad to get on dry land again, "brown furze or any thing"--and +here we must question one of his truths of vegetation: he asserts, +that the stems of all trees, the "ordinary trees of Europe, do not +taper, but grow up or out, in undiminished thickness, till they throw +out branch and bud, and then go off again to the next of equal +thickness." We have carefully examined many trees this last week, and +find it is not the case; in almost all, the bulging at the bottom, +nearest the root, is manifest. There is an early association in our +minds, that the birch for instance is remarkably tapering in its +twigs. We would rather refer our "sworn measurer" to the factor than +the painter, and we very much question whether his "top and top" will +meet the market. We are satisfied the fact is not as he states it, and +surely nature works not by such measure rule. We suspect, for nature +we should here read Turner, for his trees, certainly, are strange +things; it is true, he generally shirks them. We do not remember one +picture that has a good, true, _bona fide_, conspicuous tree in it. +The reader will not be surprised to learn that the worst painter of +trees was Gaspar Poussin! and that the perfection of trees is to be +found in Turner's "Marley," where most people will think the trees +look more like brooms than trees. The chapter on "the Truth of Turner" +concludes with a quotation--we presume the extract from a letter from +Mr Turner to the author. If so, Mr Turner has somewhat caught the +author's style, and tells very simple truths in a very fine manner, +thus:--"I cannot gather the sunbeams out of the east, or I would make +_them_ tell you what I have seen; but read this, and interpret this, +and let us remember together. I cannot gather the gloom out of the +night-sky, or I would make that teach you what I have seen; but read +this, and interpret this, and let us feel together." We must pause. +Really we do not see the slightest necessity of an interpretation +here. It is a simple fact. He cannot extract "sunbeams" from +cucumbers--from the east, we should say. The only riddle seems to be, +that they should, in one instance, remember together, and in the +other, feel together; only we guess that, being night-gloom, people +naturally feel about them in the dark. But he proceeds--"And if you +have not that within you which I can summon to my aid, if you have not +the sun in your spirit, and the passion in your heart, which my words +may awaken, though they be indistinct and swift, leave me." We must +pause again; here _is_ a riddle: what can be the meaning of having the +sun in one's spirit?--is it any thing like having the moon in one's +head? We give it up. The passion in the heart we suppose to be dead +asleep, and the words and voice harsh and grating, and so it is +awakened. But what that if, or if not, has to do with "leave me," we +cannot conjecture; but this we do venture to conjecture, that to +expect our graduate ever to _leave_ Mr Turner is one of the most +hopeless of all Mr Turner's "Fallacies of Hope." But the writer +proceeds with a _for_--that appears, nevertheless, a pretty +considerable _non-sequitur_. "For I will give you no patient mockery, +no laborious insult of that glorious nature, whose I am and whom I +serve." Here the graduate is treated as a servant, and the writer of +the letter assumes the Pythian, the truly oracular vein. "Let other +servants imitate the voice and the gesture of their master while they +forget his message. Hear that message from me, but remember that the +teaching of Divine Truth must still be a mystery." "Like master like +man." Both are in the "Cambyses' vein." + +We do not think that landscape painters will either gain or lose much +by the publication of this volume, unless it be some mortification to +be so sillily lauded as some of our very respectable painters are. We +do not think that the pictorial world, either in taste or practice, +will be Turnerized by this palpably fulsome, nonsensical praise. In +this our graduate is _semper idem_, and to keep up his idolatry to the +sticking-point, terminates the volume with a prayer, and begs all the +people of England to join in it--a prayer to Mr Turner! + + + + +A ROYAL SALUTE. + + +"Should you like to be a queen, Christina?" + +This question was addressed by an old man, whose head was bent +carefully over a chess-board, to a young lady who was apparently +rather tired of the lesson she had taken in that interesting game. + +"Queen of hearts, do you mean?" answered the girl, patting with the +greatest appearance of fondness a dreadfully ugly little dog that lay +in her lap. + +"Queen of hearts," replied the minister, with a smile; "you are that +already, my dear. But have you no other ambition?" he added, tapping +sagaciously the lid of a magnificently ornamented snuff-box, on which +was depicted one of the ugliest monarchs that ever puzzled a +court-painter to make him human. + +"Why should my ambition go further?" said Christina. "I have more +subjects already than I know how to govern." + +"No doubt--no doubt--I knew very well that you could not avoid having +subjects; but I hope and trust you have had too much sense to receive +their allegiance." + +The old man was proud of carrying on the metaphor so well, and of +asking the question so delicately. It was quite evident he had been in +the diplomatic line. + +"How can I help it?" enquired the young beauty, passing her hand over +the back of the disgusting little pet, which showed its teeth in a +very uncouth fashion whenever the paternal voice was raised a little +too high. "But, I assure you, I pay no attention to allegiance, which +I consider my right. There is but one person's homage I care for"---- + +The brow of the Prime Minister of Sweden grew very black, and his face +had something of the benign expression of the growling pug on his +daughter's knee. + +"Who is that person, Christina?" + +But Christina looked at her father with an alarmed glance, which she +shortly after converted into a smile, and went on in her pleasing +occupation of smoothing the raven down of her favourite, but did not +say a word. + +The father, who seemed to be no great judge of pantomime, repeated his +question. + +"Who is that person, Christina?" + +Christina disdained hypocrisy, and, moreover, was immensely spoiled. + +"Who _should_ it be, but your gallant nephew, Adolphus Hesse, dear +father?" + +"You haven't had the impudence, I hope, to engage yourself to that +boy?" + +"Boy--why he is twenty-one! He is my oldest friend--we learned all our +lessons together. I can't recollect the time we were not engaged, it +is so long since we loved each other!" + +"Nonsense! You were brought up together by his mother; it is nothing +but sisterly affection." + +"Not at all--not at all!" cried Christina; "it would make me quite +miserable if Adolphus were my brother." + +"It is all you must think him, nevertheless. He has no fortune; he has +nothing but his commission; and my generosity is"---- + +"Immense, my dear father; inexhaustible! And then Adolphus is so +brave--so magnanimous; and, upon my word, when I saw how much he liked +me, and heard him speak so much more delightfully than any body else, +I never thought of asking if he was rich; and you know you love him +yourself, dear father." + +Christina neglected the pug in her lap for a moment, and laid her hand +coaxingly on the old man's shoulder. + +"But not enough to make him my heir," said the Count, gruffly. +Christina renewed her attentions to the dog. + +"He would be your heir notwithstanding," she said, "if I were to die." + +There was something in the tone of her voice, or the idea suggested of +her death, that softened the old man. He looked for a long time at the +young and beautiful face of his child; and the shade of uneasiness her +words had raised, disappeared from his brow. + +"There is nothing but life there," he said, gently tapping her on the +forehead; "and therefore I must marry you, my girl!" + +"And you will make us the happiest couple in the world. Adolphus will +be so grateful," said Christina, her bright eyes sparkling through +tears. + +"Who the devil said a word about Adolphus?" said the father, looking +angrily at Christina; but he added immediately in a softer tone, when +he saw the real emotion of his daughter--"Poor girl, you have been +sadly spoiled! You have had too much of your own way, and now you ask +me to do what is impossible. Be a reasonable girl, there's a darling! +and your aunt will present you at court. You will see such grand +things--you will know our gallant young King--only be reasonable!" + +"The rude monster!" cried Christina, starting up as if tired of the +conversation. "I have no wish to know him. They say he hates women." + +"A calumny, my dear girl; he is very fond of _one_ at all events." + +"Is she pretty?" + +"And mischievous as yourself." + +"As I?" enquired Christina, and fell into a long reverie, while the +Count smiled as if he had made an excellent hit. + +"But I have never seen him, papa," she said, awakening all of a +sudden. + +"He may have seen you though; and he says"---- + +"Oh, what does he say? Do tell me what the King says?" + +"Poh! What do you want to know about what a rude monster says--that +hates women?" answered the father with another smile of satisfaction. + +"But he is a king, papa! What does he say? I am quite anxious to +know." + +But the minister of state had gained his object; he had excited +curiosity, and determined not to gratify it. At last he said, as he +rose to quit the apartment--"Let us turn the conversation, Christina; +we have nothing to do with kings, and must content ourselves with +humbler subjects. An officer will sup with us to-night, whom I wish +you very much to please. He has influence with the King; and if you +have any regard for my interest you will receive him well. I intend +him for your husband." + +"I won't have him!" cried Christina, running after her father as he +left the room. "I won't have him! If I don't marry Adolphus, I won't +marry at all!" + +"Heaven grant it, sweet cousin!" said Adolphus Hesse in _propria +persona_, emerging from behind the window-curtains, where, by some +miraculous concatenation of events, he had found himself ensconced for +the last hour. "'Tis delightful to act the spy, and hear an advocate +so persuasive as you have been, Christina--but the cause is +desperate." + +"Who told you, sir, the cause was desperate?" said Christina, +pretending to look offended. "The battle is half gained--my father's +anger disappears in a moment. Now, dear Adolphus, don't sigh--don't +cross your arms--don't look up to the sky with that heroic frown--I +can't bear to groan and be dismal--I want to be gay--to have a +ball--to----We shall have _such_ a ball the day of our wedding, +Adolphus!" + +"Your hopes deceive you, dearest Christina. I know your father better +than you do. Ah!" he added, gazing sadly on the beautiful features of +the young girl who looked on him so brightly, "you will never be able +to resist the brilliant offer that will be made you in exchange for +one faithful, loving heart." + +"Indeed!" replied Christina, feeling her eyes filling with tears, but +endeavouring at the same time to conceal her emotion under an +affectation of anger, "your opinion of me is not very flattering; and +it is not in very good taste, methinks, to play the despairing lover, +especially after the conversation you so honourably overheard." + +"Dry that tear, dear girl!" said Adolphus, "I will believe any thing +you like." + +"Why do you make me cry then? Is it only to have the pleasure of +telling me to dry my tears? Or did you think you had some rival; some +splendid cavalier that it was impossible to resist--Count Ericson, for +instance?" + +"Oh! as to Ericson I am not at all uneasy. I know you hate him; and +besides he is not much richer than myself; but, dear Christina"---- + +"Well--go on," said the girl, mocking the lugubrious tone of her +cousin--"what are you sighing again for?" + +"Your father is going to bring you a new lover this evening, and poor +Adolphus will be forgotten." + +"You deserve it for all your ridiculous suspicions: but you are my +cousin, and I forgive you this once." She looked at him with so sunny +a smile, and so clear and open-hearted a countenance, that it was +impossible to entertain a doubt. + +"You love me really, then?" he said--"truly--faithfully?" + +"I have told you so a hundred times," replied his cousin. "I am +astonished you are not tired of hearing the same thing over and over +again." + +"'Tis so sweet, so new a thing for me," said Adolphus, "and I could +listen to it for ever." + +"Well, then, we love each other--that's very clear," said Christina, +with the solemnity of the foreman of a jury delivering a verdict on +the clearest evidence; "but since my father won't let us marry, we +must wait--that is almost as clear as the other." + +"And if he never consents?" enquired Adolphus. + +"Never!" exclaimed Christina, to whom such an idea seemed never to +have occurred, "can it be possible he will _never_ consent?" + +"I fear it is too possible," replied Adolphus, and the shadow fell on +his face again. + +"Well," said Christina, after a minute's pause, as if she had come to +a resolution, "we must always stay as we are. Happiness is never +increased by an act of disobedience." + +"I think as you do," said the young soldier, admiring her all the more +for the death-blow to his hopes; "and are you happy, quite happy, +Christina?" + +"What a question! Don't I see you every day? Isn't every body kind to +me? Is there any thing I want?" + +A different answer would have pleased the lover more. He looked at her +for some time in silence--at last, in an altered tone, he said-- + +"I congratulate you on your prudence, Christina." + +"I cannot break my father's heart." + +"No, but mine, Christina!" + +"Adolphus," said the young beauty solemnly, "if I cannot be your wife +with the consent of my father, I never will marry another. This is all +you can ask; all I can promise." + +Filial affection was not quite so strong in Adolphus as in his cousin, +and his face was by no means brightened on hearing this declaration. +It was so uncommonly proper that it seemed nearly bordering on the +cold and heartless. He tried to hate her; he walked up and down the +room at a tremendous pace, stopping every now and then to take another +glance at the tyrant who had pronounced his doom, and looked as +beautiful as ever. He found it impossible to hate _her_, though we +shall not enquire what were his sentiments towards her worthy +progenitor, Count Ericson, the unknown lover, and even the young +heroic King; for the sagacious reader must now be informed that this +wonderful lovers' quarrel took place in the reign of Charles XII. Our +fear is that he disliked all four. Christina found it very difficult +to preserve the gravity essential to a heroine's appearance when she +saw the long strides and bent brows of her lover. A smile was ready, +on the slightest provocation, to make a dimple in her beautiful cheek, +and all the biting she bestowed on her lips only made them redder and +rosier. Adolphus had no inclination to smile, and could not believe +that any body could see the least temptation to indulge in such a +ridiculous occupation on such a momentous occasion. He was a regular +lover, as Mr Weller would say, and no mistake. He saw in his fair +cousin only a treasure of inestimable price, guarded by two monsters +that made his approaches hopeless--avarice and ambition. How +differently those two young people viewed the same event! Christina, +knowing her power over her father, and unluckily not knowing that +fathers (even though they are prime ministers, and are as +courtier-like as Polonius) have flinty hearts when their interests are +concerned, saw nothing in the present state of affairs to despair +about; and in fact, as we have said already, was nearly committing the +unpardonable crime of laughing at the grimaces of her cousin. He, poor +fellow, knew the world a little better, and perceived in a moment that +the new lover whom the ambitious father was going to present to his +daughter, was some favourite of the king; and he was well aware, that +any one backed by that impetuous monarch, was in a fair way to +success. The king had seen Christina too--and though despising love +himself, was in the habit of rewarding his favourite officers with the +hand of the beauties or heiresses of his court; and when, as in this +instance, the lady chosen was both--how could he doubt that the king +had already resolved that she should be the bride of some lucky rival, +against whose claims it would be impossible to contend? And Christina +standing all the while before him, scarcely able to restrain a laugh! +He was only twenty-one--and not half so steady as his grandfather +would probably have shown himself in the same circumstances, and being +unable to vent his rage on any body else, he poured it all forth upon +himself. + +"What a fool I have been!--an ass--a dolt--to have been so blinded! +But I see now--I deserve all I have got! To have been so deceived by +an absurd fit of love--that has lasted all my life, too! But no!--I +shall not repay my uncle's kindness to me by robbing him of his only +child. I shall go at once to my regiment--I may be lucky enough to get +into the way of a cannon--you will think kindly of me when I am gone, +though you are so unk"---- + +The word died away upon his lips. Large tears filled Christina's eyes, +and all her inclination to smile had disappeared. There was something +either in his looks or the tone of his voice, or the thought of his +being killed, that banished all her gaiety; and in a few minutes the +quarrel was made up--the tears dried in the usual manner--vows +made--hands joined--and resolutions passed and carried with the utmost +unanimity, that no power on earth should keep them from being married. +And a very good resolution it was. The only pity was, that it was not +very likely to be carried into effect. A father, an unknown lover, and +a king, all joined against a poor boy and girl. The odds are very much +against Adolphus and Christina. + +Now let us examine the real state of affairs as dispassionately as we +can. The Count Gyllenborg was ambitious, as became a courtier with an +only daughter who was acknowledged on all sides to be the most +beautiful girl in Sweden; and as he was aware of the full value of red +lips and sparkling eyes in the commerce of life, he was determined to +make the most of these perishable commodities while they were at their +best, and the particular make and colour of them were in fashion. The +Count was rich--and with amply sufficient brains, according to the +dictum of one of his predecessors, to govern a kingdom; but he was not +warlike; and Charles, who had lately taken the power into his own +hands, knew nothing of mankind further than that they were made to be +drawn up in opposite lines, and make holes in each other as +scientifically as they could. Count Gyllenborg had a decided objection +to being made a receptacle for lead bullets or steel swords; and was +by no means anxious to murder a single Russian or German, for the sake +of the honour of the thing, or for the good of his country. His power +resting only on his adroitness in civil affairs, was therefore not on +the surest foundation; and a prop to it was accordingly wanted. Such a +prop had never been seen before, with such sunny looks, and such a +happy musical laugh. The looks and the laugh between them, converted +the atmosphere of Stockholm into the climate of Italy; and the +politician, almost without knowing it, began to be thawed into a +father. But the fear of a rival in the King's favour--some gallant +soldier--and dozens of them were reported every week--made him resolve +once more to bring his daughter's beauties into play. The king had +seen her, and, in his boorish way, had expressed his admiration; and +Gyllenborg felt assured, that if he should marry his daughter +according to the King's wishes, his influence would be greater than +ever; and, in fact, that the premiership would be his for life. + +Great preparations accordingly were made for the reception of the +powerful stranger, the announcement of whose appearance at supper had +spread such dismay in the hearts of the two lovers. Christina knew +almost instinctively her father's plan, and determined to counteract +it. She felt sure that the officer for whom she was destined, and whom +she had been ordered to receive so particularly, was one of the new +favourites of the warlike king; some leader of a forlorn-hope, created +colonel on the field of battle; some young general fresh from some +heroic achievement, that had endeared him to his chief; but whoever it +was, she was resolved to show him that the crown of Sweden was a very +limited monarchy in regard to its female subjects, and that she would +have nobody for her husband--neither count, nor colonel, nor +general--but only her cousin Adolphus, lieutenant in the Dalecarlian +hussars. Notwithstanding this resolution, it is astonishing what a +time she stayed before the glass--how often she tried different +coloured roses in her hair--how carefully she fitted on her new +Parisian robes, and, in short, did every thing in her power to look +her very best. What did all this arise from? She wished to show this +young favourite, whoever he might be, that she was really as beautiful +as people had told him; she wished to convince him that her smile was +as sweet, her teeth as white, her eyes as captivating, her figure as +superb, as he had heard them described--and then she wished to show +him that all these--smiles--eyes--teeth--figure, were given, along +with the heart that made them truly valuable, to another! and that +other no favourite of a king--nor even of a minister, but only of a +young girl of eighteen. + +Radiant with beauty, and conscious of the sensation she was certain to +create, she entered the magnificent apartment where supper was +prepared--a supper splendid and costly enough to have satisfied a +whole army of epicures, though only intended for her father, the +stranger, and herself; and if you, oh reader! had been there, you +would have thought Christina lovely enough to have excited the +admiration of a whole court instead of an old man--and that, too, her +father--and a young one, and that none other, to Christina's infinite +disgust, than the very Count Ericson whose acquaintance she had +already made, and whom she infinitely and unappeasably disliked. He +was the most awkward, stupid-looking young man she ever saw, and had +furnished her with a butt for her malicious pleasantries ever since +she had known him. He rose to lead her to her seat. "How different +from Adolphus! If he is no better performer in the battle-field than +at the supper-table, the King must be very ill off for soldiers. What +can papa mean by asking such a horrid being to his house? I am certain +I shall laugh outright if I look again at his silly grey eyes and long +yellow hair, as ragged as a pony's mane." + +Such were Christina's thoughts, while she bit her lips to hide if +possible her inclination to be angry, and to laugh at the same time. And +in truth her dislike of the Count did not exaggerate the ridiculousness +of the appearance of the tall ungainly figure--large-boned and +stiff-backed--that now stood before her--with a nose so absurdly +aquiline that it would have done for a caricature--coarse-skinned +cheeks, and a stare of military impudence that shocked and nearly +frightened the high-bred, elegant-looking beauty on whom it was fixed. +And yet this individual, such as we have described, had been fixed on by +the higher powers for her husband--was this night to be treated as her +accepted lover, and, in short, had been closeted for hours every day +with her father--settling all the preliminaries of course--for the last +six weeks. Christina looked once more at the insolent stare of the +triumphant soldier, and made a vow to die rather than speak to him--that +is, in the affirmative. + +But thoughts of affirmatives and negatives did not seem to enter +Count Ericson's head--his grammatical education having probably been +neglected. He stood gaping at his prey as a tiger may be supposed to +cast insinuating looks upon a lamb, and made every now and then an +attempt to conceal either his awkwardness, or satisfaction, or both, +in immense fits of laughter, which formed the accompaniment of all +the remarks--and they were nearly as heavy as himself--with which he +favoured the company. Christina, on her part, if she had given way +to the dictates of her indignation, would have also favoured the +company with a few remarks, that in all probability would have put a +stop to the laughter of the lover, and choked her old father by +making a fish-bone stick in his throat. She was angry for twenty +reasons, one of them was having wasted a moment over her toilette to +receive such a visitor as Count Ericson; another was her father +having dared to offer her hand to such an uncouth wooer and +intolerable bore; and the principal one of all, was his having +rejected his own nephew--undoubtedly the handsomest of Dalecarlian +hussars--in favour of such a vulgar, ugly individual. The subject of +these flattering considerations seemed to feel at last that he ought +to say something to the young beauty, on whose pouting lip had +gathered something which was very different indeed from a smile, and +yet nearly as captivating. He accordingly turned his large light +eyes from his plate for a moment, and with a mouth still filled with +a leg and wing of a capercailzie, enquired-- + +"What do you think of Alexander the Great, madam?" + +This was too much. Even her rage disappeared, and she burst into a +loud laugh at the serious face of the querist. + +"I never think of Alexander the Great at all," she said. "I only +recollect, that when I was reading his history, I could hardly make +out whether he was most of a fool or a madman." + +Ericson swallowed the leg and the wing of the capercailzie without any +further mastication, and launched out in a torrent of admiration of +the most prodigious courage the world had ever seen. + +"If he had been as prodigiously wise," replied Christina, "as he was +prodigiously courageous, he would have learned to govern himself +before he attempted to govern the world." + +Ericson blushed from chin to forehead with vexation, and answered in +an offended tone-- + +"How can a woman enter into the fever of noble thoughts that impels a +brave man to rush into the midst of dangers, and leads him to despise +life and all its petty enjoyments to gain undying fame?" + +"No, indeed," she replied, "I have no fever, and have no sympathy with +destroyers. Oh, if I wished for fame, I should try to gain it by +gathering round me the blessings of all who saw me! Yes, father," she +went on, paying no regard to the signs and winks of the agonized Count +Gyllenborg, "I would rather that countless thousands should live to +bless me, than that they should die in heaping curses on my name! +Men-killers--though you dignify them with the name of heroes--are +atrocious. Let us speak of them, my lord, no more, unless to pray +heaven to rid the earth of such monsters." + +A feather of the smallest of birds would have knocked down the Prime +Minister of Sweden; and Count Ericson appeared, from his stupefied +look, to have gone through the process already--the difficulty was to +lift him up again. + +"Come, Count," cried the Minister, filling up Ericson's glass with +champagne, "to Alexander's glory!" + +"With all my heart," cried Ericson, moistening his rage with the +delicious sparkler. "Come, fair savage," he added, addressing +Christina, and touching her glass with such force that it fell in a +thousand pieces on the table--"to Alexander's glory!" + +"I have no wish to drink to such a toast," replied Christina, more +offended than ever; "I can't endure those scourges of human kind who +hide the skin of the tiger beneath the royal robe." + +"The girl is mad!" exclaimed the astonished father, who seemed to +begin to be slightly alarmed at the flashes of indignation that burst +from Count Ericson's wild-looking eyes. "Don't mind what such a silly +thing says; she does it only to show her cleverness. What does she +know of war or warriors? She cares for nothing yet but her puppy-dog. +She pats it all day, and lets it bite her pretty little hand. Such a +hand it is to refuse a pledge to Alexander!" + +The politician was on the right track; for such a pretty hand was not +in Sweden--nor probably in Denmark either--and the cunning old +minister took it between his finger and thumb, and placed it almost on +the lip of the irate young worshipper of glory; if it did not actually +touch the lip it went very near it, and distinctly moved one or two of +the most prominent tufts of the stout yellow mustache. "The little +goose," pursued the respectable sire, "to pretend to have an opinion +on any subject except the colour of a riband. Upon my honour, I +believe she presumes to be a critic of warriors, because she plays a +good game of chess. It is one of her accomplishments, Count; and if +you will take a little of the conceit out of her, you will confer an +infinite obligation on both of us." + +Saying this, he lifted with his own ministerial fingers a small table +from a corner of the room, and placed it in front of the youthful +couple, with the men all ready laid out. Ericson's eyes sparkled at +the sight of his favourite game; and he determined to display his +utmost skill, and teach his antagonist a few secrets of the art of +(mimic) war. But determinations, as has been remarked by several +sages, past and present, are sometimes vain. Nothing, one would think, +could be so likely to restore a man's self-possession as a quiet game +of chess--an occupation as efficacious in soothing the savage breast +as music itself. But Ericson seemed still agitated from the +contradictions he had encountered from the free-spoken Christina, and +threw a little more politeness into his manner than he had hitherto +vouchsafed to show, when he invited her to be his adversary in a game. + +"But, if I beat you?" she said ominously, holding up one of the fair +fingers to which his attention had been so particularly called, and +implying by the question, if you get angry when I only refuse your +toast, won't you eat me if I am the winner at chess? "But, if I beat +you?" she said. + +"That will not be the only occasion on which you will have triumphed +over me, you--you"----He seemed greatly at a loss for a word, and +concluded his speech with--"beauty!" This expression, which was, no +doubt, intended for the most complimentary he could find, was +accompanied with a look of admiration so long, so broad, and so +impudent, that she blushed, and a squeeze of her hand so hard, so +rough, and so continued, that she screamed. She threw a glance of +inexpressible disdain on the insolent wooer, and looked for protection +to her father; but that venerable individual was at that moment so +sound asleep on one of the sofas at the other end of the room, that no +noise whatever could have awakened him. Ericson seemed totally unmoved +by all the contempt she could express in her looks, and probably +thought he was in a thriving condition, from the fact (somewhat +unusual) of his being looked at at all. She lost her temper +altogether. She covered her cheek, which was flushed with anger, with +the little hand that was reddened with pain, and resolved to play her +worst to spite her ill-mannered antagonist. But all her attempts at +bad play were useless. The board shook beneath the immense hands of +Ericson, who was in a tremendous state of agitation, and hardly knew +the pieces. He pushed then hither and thither--made his knights slide +along with the episcopal propriety of bishops, and made his bishops +caracole across the squares with the unseemly elasticity of knights. +His game got into such confusion, that Christina could not avoid +winning, and at last--enjoying the victory she had determined not to +win--she cried out, with a voice of triumph, "Check to the king by the +queen." + +"Cruel girl!" exclaimed the Count, dashing his hand among the pieces +with an energy that scattered them all upon the floor. "Haven't you +been anxious to make the king your prisoner?" + +"But there is nothing to hinder him from saving himself," answered +Christina, looking round once more to her father, who, however, +pursued his slumber with the utmost assiduity and had apparently a +very agreeable dream, for a smile was evident at the corners of his +mouth. "It is impossible to place the board as it was," she continued, +trying to gather up the pieces, and place castles, knights, and pawns +in their proper position again. + +"Don't try it--don't try it," cried Ericson, losing all command of +himself, and pushing the board away from him, till it spun over with +all its men on the carpet. "The game is over--you have given me check, +and mated me!" And in a moment, as if ashamed of the influence +exercised over him by so very unwarlike an individual as a little girl +of eighteen, he hurried from the room, stumbling over his enormous +sword, which got, somehow or other, between his legs, and cursing his +awkwardness and the absurd excess of admiration which caused it. + +"That man will surely never come here again," said Christina to her +father, as he entered the room an hour after the incidents of the +chess-board; for the obsequious minister had followed Ericson in his +rapid retreat, and now returned radiant with joy, as if his guest had +been the most fascinating of men. + +"Not come here again!" chuckled the father. "That's all you know about +it. He is dying with impatience to return, and is angry with himself +for having wasted the two precious hours of your society in the way he +did. He never had two such happy hours in his life." + +"Happy! is that what he calls happiness?" answered Christina, opening +her eyes in amazement. "I don't know what his notions may be--but +mine----oh, father!" she cried, emboldened by the smile she saw on the +old man's countenance, "you are only trying me; say you are only +proving my constancy, by persuading me that such a being as that has +any wish to please me. He is more in love with Alexander the Great +than with me; and he is quite right, for he has a far better chance of +a return." + +"An enthusiasm excusable, my dear, in a young warrior of twenty years +of age, whose savage ambition it will be your delightful task to tame. +He is in a terrible state of agitation--a most flattering thing, let +me tell you, to a young gipsy like you--and you must humour him a +little, and not break out quite so fiercely, you minx; and yet you +managed very well, too. A fine fellow, Ericson, though a little wild; +rich, powerful, nobly born--what can you wish for better?" + +"My cousin," answered Christina, with a bluntness that astonished the +advocate of Ericson's claims; "my cousin Adolphus, and no other. He is +braver than this savage; and as to nobility, he is as nobly born as my +own right honourable papa, and that is high enough for me." + +"Go, go," said the courtier, a little puzzled by the openness of his +daughter's confession, and kissing her forehead at the same time; "go +to bed, my girl, and pray for your father's advancement." + +Christina, like a dutiful child, prayed as she was told for her +father's success and happiness, and then added a petition of her own, +shorter, perhaps, but quite as sincere, for her cousin Adolphus. If +she added one for herself, it was a work of supererogation, for she +felt that in praying for the happiness of her lover, she was not +unmindful of her own. + +For some days after the supper recorded above, she was too happy +tormenting the very object of all these aspirations, to trouble her +head about the awkward and ill-mannered protégé of her father, whom +she hated with as much cordiality as the most jealous of rivals could +desire. But of course she was extremely careful to let no glimpse of +this unchristian feeling towards Count Ericson be perceptible to the +person who would have rejoiced in it so much. In fact, she carried her +philanthropy to such a pitch, that she never mentioned any of the bad +qualities of her new admirer, and Adolphus very naturally concluded +that she felt as she spoke on the interesting subject. So, all of a +sudden, Adolphus, who was prouder than Christina, perhaps because he +was poorer, would not condescend to be made a fool of, as he +magnanimously thought it, any longer. He had the immense satisfaction +of staying away from the house for nearly half a week, and then, when +he did pay a visit, he was almost as cold as the formal piece of +diplomacy in the bag-wig and ruffles whom he called his uncle; and a +great deal stiffer than the beautiful piece of pique, in silk gown and +white satin corset, whom he called his cousin. Christina was dismayed +at the sudden change--Adolphus never spoke to her, seldom looked at +her, and evidently left the coast clear--so she thought--for the rich +and powerful rival her father had so strongly supported. After much +thinking, some sulkiness, and a good many fits of crying, Christina +resolved, as the best way of recovering her own peace of mind, and the +love of her cousin Adolphus, to put an end in a very decided manner to +the pretensions of the Count. One day, accordingly, she watched her +opportunity, and followed with anxious eyes her father's retreat from +the room, under pretence of some important despatches to be sent off. +She found herself alone with the object of her dislike--and only +waited for a beginning to the conversation, that she might astonish +his weak mind with the severity of her invectives. In fact, she had +determined, according to the vulgar phrase, to tell him a bit of her +mind--and a very small bit of it, she was well aware, would be +sufficient to satisfy Count Ericson of the condition of all the rest. +But the lover was in a contemplative mood, and stood as silent as a +milestone, and looking almost as animated and profound. She sighed, +she coughed, she drops her handkerchief. All wouldn't do--the +milestone took no notice--Christina at last grew angry, and could +contain herself no longer. + +"I dreamt of you last night," she said by way of a beginning. "I hope +in future you will leave my sleep undisturbed by your presumptuous +presence. It is bad enough to be forced to see you when one is awake." + +"And I, also, had a dream," replied Ericson, starting from his +reverie, confused and only having heard the first part of the somewhat +fierce attack. "I dreamt that you looked at me with a smile, a long, +long look, so sweet, so winning. It was a happy dream!" + +"It was a false one," she said, with tremendous bitterness. "I know +better where to direct my smiles, whether I am awake or asleep." + +"And how did I appear to you?" asked the Count, presenting a splendid +specimen in his astonished look of the state of mind called "the +dumfoundered" by some learned philosophers, and by others "the +flabbergasted." + +"You appeared to me like the nightmare! frightful and unsupportable as +you do to me now," was the answer, accompanied with the look and +manner that showed she was a judge of nightmares, and thought him a +very unfavourable specimen of the animal. + +"Ill-natured little tyrant!" cried Ericson, rushing to her, "teach me +how you would have me love you, and I will do everything you ask!" In +a moment he had seized her in his arms, and imprinted a kiss of +prodigious violence on her cheek, which was redder than fire with rage +and surprise! + +But the assault did not go unpunished. The might of Samson woke in +that insulted bosom, and lent such incredible weight to the blow that +fell on the aggressor's ear, that it took him a long time to believe +that the thump proceeded from the beautiful little hand he had so +often admired; or, in short, from any thing but a twenty-four pounder. +He rubbed the wounded organ with astonishing assiduity for some time. +At last he said, in a very calm and measured voice, + +"Your father has deceived me, young lady. He led me to believe you did +not receive my visits with indifference." + +"My father knows nothing about things of that kind," replied +Christina, still flaming with indignation, "or he never would have let +such an ill-mannered monster into his house. But he was right in +saying I did not receive your visits with indifference; your visits, +Count Ericson, can never be indifferent to me, and"---- + +What more she would have said, it is impossible to discover, for she +was interrupted by the sudden entrance of her cousin, who only heard +her last words, and started back at what he considered so open a +declaration of her attachment. + +"Who are you, sir?" asked Ericson in an angry tone, and with such an +assumption of superiority, that Christina's hand tingled to give him a +mark of regard on his other ear. + +"A soldier," answered Adolphus, drawing his sword from its sheath and +instead of directing it against his rival, laying it haughtily on the +table. "A soldier who has bled for his country, and would be happy," +he added, "to die for it." + +"Say you so?" said Ericson, "then we are friends." He held out his +hand. + +"We are rivals," replied Adolphus, drawing back. + +"Christina loves you, then?" enquired the Count. + +"She has told me so; and I was foolish enough to believe her. It is +now your turn to trust to the truth of a heartless woman.--She has +told you you are not an object of indifference to her, and I resign my +pretensions in your favour." + +"In whose favour?" cried Christina, trembling; while tears sprang to +her eyes. + +"The King's!" replied Adolphus, retiring sorrowfully. + +Christina sank on a seat, and covered her face with her hands. + +"Stay," cried Charles the Twelfth in a voice of thunder; "stay, I +command you." + +The young man obeyed; biting his lip to conceal his emotion, till the +blood came. + +"I have seen you," said the King, "but not in this house." + +"It was shut against me by my uncle when you were expected," said +Adolphus. + +"And yet I have seen you somewhere. What is your name?" + +"Adolphus Hesse; the son of a brave officer who died fighting for you, +and leaving me his misfortunes and the tears of his widow." + +"Who told you I was not Count Ericson?" + +"My eyes. I know you well." + +"And I recollect you also," said Charles, advancing to the young man +with a manner very different from that which characterized him in his +intercourse with the softer sex. "Where did you get that scar on the +left temple?" + +"At Nerva, sire, where we tamed the pride of the Russians." + +"True, true!" cried Charles, his nostrils dilated as if he snuffed up +the carnage of the battle. "You need but this as your passport," he +continued, placing his finger on the wound, "to ask me any favour, ay, +even to measure swords with you, as I daresay you would be delighted +to do in so noble a quarrel as the present; for on the day of that +glorious fight, I learned, like you, the duty of a soldier, and the +true dignity of a brave man. By the balls that rattled about our heads +so playfully, give me your hand, brother, for we were baptized +together in fire!" + +Charles appeared to Christina, at this time, quite a different man +addressing his fellow soldier, from what he had done upsetting the +chess-board. Curiosity had dried her eyes, and she lost not a word of +the conversation. The King turned to her with a smile. + +"By my sword, Christina! I am but a poor wooer; one movement of your +hand," and he touched his ear playfully as he spoke, "has banished all +the silly thoughts that in a most traitorous manner had taken my heart +prisoner. Speak, then, as forcibly as you act. Do you love this brave +soldier?" + +"Yes, sire." + +"Who hinders the marriage?" + +"The courtship of Count Ericson, with which my father perpetually +threatens me." + +"O ho!" thought Charles, "I see how it is. The King must console +himself with the kiss, and pass the blow on the ear to the minister. +Christina," he added aloud, "your father refuses to give you to the +man you love; but he'll do it now, for _it is my will_. You'll +confess, I am sure that if I was your nightmare as a lover, I am not +your enemy as king." + +"I confess it on my knees;" replied the humble beauty, taking her +place beside her cousin, who knelt to his sovereign. While Charles +joined the hands of the youthful pair, he imprinted a kiss on the fair +brow of Christina; the last he ever bestowed on woman. + +"Your Majesty pardons me then?" enquired the trembling girl. "If I had +known it was the King, I would not have hit so hard." + +That same evening Count Gyllenborg signed a contract of marriage, to +which the name of Count Ericson was not appended, though it was +witnessed by Charles the Twelfth; and in a few days afterwards, the +old politician presided at the wedding dinner, and, by royal command, +did the honours so nobly, and appeared so well pleased on the +occasion, that nobody suspected that he had ever had higher dreams of +ambition than to see his daughter happy; and if such had been his +object, all Sweden knew that in bestowing her on her cousin he was +eminently successful. + + + + +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN ENGLAND. + + +If Alexander and Archimedes, evoked from their long sleep, were to +contemplate, with minds calmed by removal from contemporaneous +interests, the state of mankind in the present year, with what +different feelings would they regard the influence of their respective +lives upon the existing human world of 1843! The Macedonian would find +the empire which it was the labour of his life to aggrandize, +frittered into parcels, modeled, remodeled, subjected to various +dynasties; Turks, Greeks, Russians, still contending for portions of +the territory which he had conjoined only to be dismembered; he would +find in these little or no trace of his ever having existed; he would +find that the unity of his vast political power had been severed +before his body was yet entombed, and his prediction, that his funeral +obsequies would be performed with bloody hands, verily fulfilled. In +parts of the world which his living grasp had not seized, he would +also see little to remind him of his past existence. Would not +mortification darken the brow of the resuscitated conqueror on +discovering, that when his name was mentioned in historic annals, it +was less as a polar star to guide, than as a beacon to be avoided? + +What would the Syracusan see in this present epoch to remind him of +himself? Would he see the man of 212 B.C., at all connected with the +men of 1843 A.D.? Yes. In Prussia, Austria, France, England, America, +in every city of every civilized nation, he would find the lever, the +pulley, the mirror, the specific gravimeter, the geometric +demonstration; he would trace the influence of his mind in the +power-loom, the steam-engine, in the building of the Royal Exchange, +in the Great Britain steam-ship; he would find an application of his +well-known invention, the subject of a patent, an important auxiliary +to navigation. Alexander _was_ a hero; Archimedes _is_ one. + +Are we guilty of exaggeration in this contrast of the hero of War with +him of Science? We think not. It may undoubtedly be argued that +Alexander's life was productive of ultimate good, that he did much to +open Asia to European civilization; but would that consideration serve +to soothe the gloomy Shade? To what does it amount but to the +assertion that out of evil cometh good? It was through no aim of his +mind that this resulted, nor are mankind indebted to him personally +for a collateral effect of his existence. + +As an instance of men of a more modern era, let us take Napoleon +Buonaparte, Emperor of France, and James Watt of Greenock, civil +engineer. + +The former applied the energies of a sagacious and comprehensive +intellect to his own political aggrandizement; the latter devoted his +more modest talents to the improvement of a mechanical engine. The +former was and is, _par excellence_, a hero of history--we should +scarcely find in the works of the most voluminous annalists the name +of the latter. What has Napoleon done to entitle his name to occupy so +prominent a position? He has been the cause, mediate or immediate, of +sacrificing the lives of two millions of men.[17] + + [17] From a rough calculation taken from the returns of + those left dead on the fields of battle in which + Napoleon commanded, from Montenotte to Waterloo, we make + the amount 1,811,500; and if we add those who died + subsequently of their wounds in the petty skirmishes, + the losses in which are not reported, and in the naval + fights, of which, though Napoleon was not present, he + was the cause, the number given in the text will be far + under the mark. A picture of the fathers, mothers, + wives, children, and relatives of these victims, + receiving the news of their death, would give a lively + idea of the benefits conferred upon the world by + Napoleon. + +Has the obscure Watt done nothing to merit a page in the records of +mankind? Walk ten miles in any manufacturing district, enter any +coal-mine, examine the bank of England, travel by the Great Western +railway, or navigate the Danube, the Mediterranean, the Indian or the +Atlantic Ocean--in each and all of these, that giant slave, the +steam-engine, will be seen, an ever-living testimony to the services +rendered to mankind by its subjugator. + +Attachment to a favourite pursuit is undoubtedly calculated to bias +the judgment; but, however liable may be the obscure votary of science +to override his hobby, Francis Bacon, Lord High Chancellor of England, +in ascribing to scientific discoverers a higher merit than to +legislators, emperors, or patriots, cannot be open to the charge of +egoistic partiality. What, then, says this illustrious witness?--"The +introduction of noble inventions seems to hold by far the most +excellent place among all human actions. And this was the judgment of +antiquity, which attributed divine honours to inventors, but conferred +only heroical honours upon those who deserve well in civil affairs, +such as the founders of empires, legislators, and deliverers of their +country. And whoever rightly considers it, will find this a judicious +custom in former ages, since the benefits of inventors may extend to +all mankind, but civil benefits only to particular countries or seats +of men; and these civil benefits seldom descend to more than a few +ages, whereas inventions are perpetuated through the course of time. +Besides, a state is seldom amended in its civil affairs without force +and perturbation; whilst inventions spread their advantage without +doing injury or causing disturbance."[18] + + [18] Nov. Org. Aph. 29. + +The opinion of a man who had reached the highest point to which a +civilian could aspire, cannot, when he estimates the honours of the +Chancellor as inferior to those of the natural philosopher, be +ascribed to misjudging enthusiasm or personal disappointment. Without, +however, seeking, for the sake of antithetic contrast, to underrate +the importance of political services, civil or military, or to +exaggerate those of the man of science, few, we think, will be +disposed to deny that, although the one may be temporarily more urgent +and necessary to the well-being of an existing race, yet that the +benefits of the other are more lasting and universal. If, then, the +influence on mankind of the secluded inventor be more extensive and +durable than that of the active politician--if there be any truth in +the opinion of Bacon, that the greatest political changes are wrought +by the peaceful under-current of science; why is it that those who +occupy the highest place as permanent benefactors of mankind, are, +during their lifetime, neglected and comparatively unknown;--that they +obtain neither the tangible advantages of pecuniary emolument, nor the +more suitable, but less lucrative, honours of grateful homage? It is +the common cry to exclaim against the neglect of science in the +present day. Alas! history does not show us that our predecessors were +more just to their scientific contemporaries. The evil is to a great +extent remediless, the complaint to some extent irrational, and +unworthy the dignity of the cause. The labourer in the field of +science works not for the present, but for succeeding generations; he +plants oaks for posterity, and must not look for the gratitude of +contemporaries. Men will remunerate less, and be less grateful for, +prospective than for present good--for benefits secured to their +posterity than to themselves; the realization of the advantages is so +distant, that the amount of discount is coextensive with the debt: it +is only as the applications of science become more immediate, that the +cultivators of science can reasonably expect an adequate reward or +appreciation. + +Even when practically applied, we too frequently see that the original +discoveries of the physical philosopher are but little valued by those +who make a daily, a most extensive, and a most lucrative use of their +results. Men _talk_ of "a million;" how few have ever _counted_ one! +Men walk along the Strand, Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill; how few think +of the multiplied passions and powers which flit by them on their +way--of the separate world which surrounds each passer-by--of the +separate history, external and internal, of each--each possessing +feelings, motives of action, characters, differing from the others, as +the stamp of nature on his brow differs from his fellows! Thus, also, +men's ears ring with the advancement of science, men's beards wag +with repetition of the novel powers which have been educed from +material nature; and if, in our daily traffic, we traverse without +attention countless sands of thought, how much more, in our hackneyed +talk of science, do we neglect the debt we owe to thought--thought, +not the mere normal impulse of humanity, but the carefully elaborated +lucubration of minds, of which the term _thinking_ is emphatically +predicable! Names which are met with but once in the annals of +science, and there, dimly seen as a star of the least magnitude, have +perhaps earned that remote and obscure corner by painful self-denial, +by unwearied toil! And yet not only these, but others who have added +to diligence high mental acumen or profundity, whose wells of thought +are, compared with those of the general mass, unfathomable, earn but a +careless, occasional notice--are known but to few of those who daily +reap the harvest which they have sown, and who even boast of seeing +further than they did, as the dwarf on the shoulders of a giant can +see further than the giant. The first step of the unthinking is to +deny the possibility of a given discovery, the next is to assert that +any one could have foreseen such discovery. + +There are, however, points of higher import than gain or glory to +which the philosopher must ever look, and the absence of which must be +a source of bitter disappointment and ground of just complaint. The +most important of these is, that, by national neglect, the _cause_ of +science is injured, her progress retarded. Not only is she not +honoured, she is dishonoured; and in no civilized nation is this +contempt of physical science carried to a greater extent than in +England, the country of commerce and of manufactures. + +In this country, should a father observe in his gifted son a tendency +to physical philosophy, he anxiously endeavours to dissuade him from +this career, knowing that not only will it tend to no worldly +aggrandizement, but that it will have the inevitable effect of +lowering his position in what is called, and justly called, good +society--the society of the most highly educated classes. At one of +our universities, physical science is utterly neglected; at the other, +only certain branches of it are cultivated. There are, it is true, +university professors of each branch of physics, some of whom are able +to collect a moderate number of pupils; others are obliged to carry +with them an assistant, to whom alone they lecture, as Dean Swift +preached to his clerk. But what part of the regular academic education +does the study of Natural Philosophy occupy? It forms no necessary +part of the examinations for degrees; no credit is attached to those +who excel in its pursuit; no prizes, no fellowships, no university +distinction, conferred upon its most successful votaries. On the +contrary, physical, or at all events experimental, science is tabooed; +it is written down "snobbish," and its being so considered has much +influence in making it so: the necessity of manipulation is a sad +drawback to the gentlemanliness of a pursuit. Bacon rebuked this +fastidiousness, but in vain. "We will, moreover, show those who, in +love with contemplation, regard our frequent mention of experiments as +something harsh, unworthy, and mechanical, how they oppose the +attainment of their own wishes, since abstract contemplation, and the +construction and invention of experiments, rest upon the same +principles, and are brought to perfection in a similar manner."[19] + + [19] Impetus Philosophici, p. 681. + +Unfortunately, the fact of experimental science being rejected by the +educated classes and thrown in a great measure upon the artizans of a +country, has conducted, among other evils, to one of a most +detrimental character; viz. the want of accuracy in scientific +language, and consequently the want of accuracy in ideas. Perfection +in language, as in every thing else, is not to be attained, and +doubtless there are few of the most highly educated who would not, in +many cases, assign different meanings to the same word; but if some +confusion on this subject is unavoidable, how much is that confusion +increased, as regards scientific subjects, by the mass of memoirs +written by parties, who, however acute their mental perceptions may +be, yet, from want of early education, do not assign to words that +accuracy of signification, and do not possess that perspicuity of +style, which is absolutely necessary for the communication of ideas! +Those, therefore, who, with different notions of language, read the +writings of such as we are alluding to, either fail to attach to them +any definite meaning, or attach one different from that which the +authors intended to convey; whence arises a want of reciprocal +intelligence, a want of unity of thought and purpose. Another defect +arising from the circumstance that persons of a high order of +education have not been generally the cultivators of experimental +science in this country, is, that the path is thereby rendered more +accessible to empiricism. Science, beautiful in herself, has thence a +class of deformed disciples, who succeed in entangling their false +pretensions with the claims of true merit. So much dust is puffed into +the eyes of the public, that it can hardly distinguish between works +of durable importance and the ephemeral productions of empirics; and +those who would otherwise disdain the notoriety acquired by +advertisement, end in adopting the system as the only means to avoid +the mortification of seeing their own ideas appropriated and uttered +in another form and in another's name.[20] + + [20] In any thing we have above said, we trust it is + unnecessary to disclaim the slightest intention of + discouraging those whose want of conventional advantages + only renders their merit more conspicuous; we find fault + not with the uneducated for cultivating science, but + with the educated for neglecting it. + +While the evils to which science is exposed by the necessarily +unfashionable character of experimental manipulation are neither few +nor trivial, there are still evils which arise from the directly +opposite cause--from excess of intellectual cultivation; as is shown +in the exclusive love of mathematics by a great number of +philosophers. Minds which, left to themselves, might have eliminated +the most valuable results, have, dazzled by the lustre cast by fashion +upon abstract mathematical speculations, lost themselves in a mazy +labyrinth of transcendentals. The fashion of mathematics has ruined +many who might be most useful experimentalists; but who, wishing to +take a higher flight, seek to attain distinction in mathematical +analysis, and having acquired a certain celebrity for experimental +research, dissipate, in simple equations, the fame they had acquired +in a field equally productive, but not so select. Like Claude, who in +his later years said, "Buy my figures, and I will give you my +landscapes for nothing;" they fall in love with their own weakness, +and estimate their merit by the labour they have undergone, not by the +results they have deduced. M. Comte expresses himself well on this +subject. "Mathematicians, too frequently taking the means for the end, +have embarrassed Natural Philosophy with a crowd of analytical +labours, founded upon hypotheses extremely hazardous, or even upon +conceptions purely visionary; and consequently sober-minded people can +see in them really nothing more than simple mathematical exercises, of +which the abstract value is sometimes very striking, without their +influence, in the slightest degree, accelerating the natural progress +of Physics."[21] + + [21] Cours de Philosophie Positive, vol. ii. p. 409. + +The cultivators of science, despite the want of encouragement, have, +like every other branch of the population, increased rapidly in +number, and, being thrown upon their own resources, have organized +SOCIETIES, the number of which is daily increasing, which do much +good, which do much harm. They do good, in so far as they carry out +their professed objects of facilitating intercourse between votaries +of similar branches of study--they do good by the more attainable +communication of the researches of those who cannot afford, or will +not dare, the ordinary channels of publication; but who, sanctioned by +the judgment of a select tribunal, are glad to work and to impart to +the public the fruits of their labour--they give an _esprit de corps_, +which forms a bond of union to each section, and induces a moral +discipline in its ranks. The investment of their funds in the +collection of libraries or of apparatus, the use of which becomes thus +accessible to individuals, to whom otherwise such acquisitions would +have been hopeless, is another meritorious object of their +institution; an object in many cases successfully carried out. On the +other hand, they do harm, by becoming the channels of selfish +speculation, their honorary offices being used as stepping-stones to +lucrative ones, thereby causing their influential members to please +the givers of "situations," and to publish the trash of the +impertinently ambitious, the _Titmice of the Credulous Societies_! The +ultra-ridiculous parade with which they have decked fair science, +giving her a vest of unmeaning hieroglyphics, and thereby exposing her +to the finger of scorn, is another prominent and unsightly feature of +such societies; they do harm by the cliquerie which they generate, +collecting little knots of little men, no individual of whom can stand +his own ground, but a group of whom, by leaning hard together, can, +and do, exercise a most pernicious influence; seeking petty gain and +class celebrity, they exert their joint-stock brains to convert +science into pounds, shillings, and pence; and, when they have managed +to poke one foot upon the ladder of notoriety, use the other to kick +furiously at the poor aspirants who attempt to follow them. + +It has been frequently and strenuously urged, that these societies, or +some of them, should be supported by government, and not dependent +upon the subscriptions of their members. The arguments in favour of +such a measure are, that by thus being accessible only to merit, and +not depending upon money, their position would be more honourable and +advantageous to the progress of science. With regard to such societies +generally, this proposition is incapable of realization; every year +sees a new society of this description; to annex many of these to +government, would involve difficulties which, in the present state of +politics, would be insurmountable. Who, for instance, would pay taxes +for them? Another, and more reasonable, proposition is, that the +government should establish and support one academy as a head and +front of the others, accessible only to men of high distinction, who +would be thus constituted the oligarchs of science. Of the advantage +of this we have some doubts. Politics are already too much mixed up +with all government appointments in England: their influence is at +present scarcely felt in science, and we would not willingly risk an +introduction so fraught with danger. The want of such an academy +certainly lessens the English in the eyes of the continental _savans_; +but could not such a one be organized, and perhaps endowed, by +government, without any permanent connexion with it? + +If we compare the proceedings, undoubtedly dignified and decorous, of +our Royal Society with those of the French Academy, we fear the +balance will be found to be in favour of the latter. At Somerset +House, after the list of donations and abstract of former proceedings, +a paper, or a portion of a paper, is read upon some abstruse +scientific subject, and the meeting is adjourned in solemn silence, no +observation can be made upon it, no question asked, or explanation +given. The public is excluded,[22] and the greater part of the members +generally exclude themselves, very few having resolution enough to +leave a comfortable dinner-table to bear the solemn formalities of +such an evening. The paper is next committed, it is not known to whom, +reported on in private, and either published, or deposited in the +_archives of the Society_, according to the judgment of the unknown +irresponsible parties to whom it is committed. Let us now look at the +proceedings of the French Academy; it is open to the public, and the +public take so great an interest in it, that to secure a seat an early +attendance is always requisite. Every scientific point of daily and +passing interest is brought before it--comments, such as occur at the +time, are made upon various points by the secretary, or any other +member who likes to make an observation--the more elaborate memoirs +are read by the authors themselves, and if any _quære_ or suggestion +occurs to a member present, he has an opportunity of being answered. +The memoir is then committed to parties whose names are publicly +mentioned, who bring out their report in public, which report is read +in public, and may be answered by the author if he object to it. +Lastly, the whole proceedings are printed and published verbatim, and +circulated at the next weekly meeting, while, in the mean time, the +public press notices them freely. That, with all these advantages, the +French Academy is not free from faults, we are far from asserting; +that there is as much unseen manœuvring and petty tyranny in this +as in most other institutions, is far from improbable;[23] but the +effect upon the public, and the zest and vitality which its +proceedings give to science, are undeniable, and it is also undeniable +that we have no scientific institution approaching to it in interest +or value. + + [22] Each Fellow can, indeed, by express permission of + the Society, take with him two friends. + + [23] An anonymous author, who has attracted some + attention in France, in commenting on the rejection of + Victor Hugo, and the election of a physician, says--that + nothing could be more natural or proper, as the senility + and feebleness of the Académie made it more in want of a + physician than a poet. + +The present perpetual secretary of the Academy, Arago, with much of +prejudice, much of egotism, has talents most plastic, an energy of +character, an indomitable will, a force and perspicuity of expression, +which alone give to the sittings of the French Academy a peculiar and +surpassing interest, but which, in the English Society, would be +entirely lost. + +In quitting, for the present, the subject of scientific societies, we +must advert to a consequence of the increased number of candidates for +scientific distinction of late years; of which increase the number of +these societies may be regarded as an exponent. This increase, +although on the whole both a cause and a consequence of the +advancement of science, yet has in some respects lowered the high +character of her cultivators by the competition it has necessarily +engendered. Books tell us that the cultivation of science must elevate +and expand the mind, by keeping it apart from the jangling of worldly +interests. This dogma has its false as well as its true side, more +especially when in this, as in every other field of human activity, +the number of competitors is rapidly increasing; great watchfulness is +requisite to resist temptations which beset the aspirant to success on +this arena, more perhaps than in any other. The difficulty which the +most honest find to avoid treading in the footsteps of others--the +different aspect in which the same phenomena present themselves to +different minds--the unwillingness which the mind experiences in +renouncing published but erroneous opinions--are points of human +weakness which, not to mislead, must be watched with assiduous care. +Again, the ease with which plagiarism is committed from the number of +roads by which the same point may be reached, is a great temptation to +the waverer, and a great trial of temper to the victim. The disputants +on the arenæ of law, politics, or other pursuits, the ostensible aim +of which is worldly aggrandizement, however animated in debate, +unsparing in satire, reckless in their invective and recrimination, +seldom fail in their private intercourse to throw off the armour of +professional antagonism, and to extend to each other the ungloved hand +of social cordiality. On the other hand, it is too frequent a +spectacle in scientific circles to behold a careful wording of public +controversy, a gentle, apologetic phraseology, a correspondence never +going beyond the "retort courteous," or "quip modest," while there +exists an under-current of the bitterest personal jealousy, the +outward philosopher being strangely at variance with the inward man. + +Among the various circumstances which influence the progress of +physical science in this country, one of the most prominent is the +_Patent_ law--a law in its intention beneficent; but whether the +practical working of it be useful, either to science or its +cultivators, is a matter of grave doubt. Of the greater number of +patents enrolled in that depot of practical science, Chancery Lane, by +far the majority are beneficial only to the revenue; and on the +question of public economy, whether or not the price paid by +miscalculating ingenuity is a fair and politic source of revenue, we +shall not enter; but on the reasons which lead so many to be dupes of +their own self-esteem, a few words may not be misspent. The chief +reason why a vast number of patents are unsuccessful, is, that it +takes a long time (longer generally than fourteen years, the +statutable limit of patent grants) to make the workmen of a country +familiar with a new manufacture. A party, therefore, who proposes +patenting an invention, and who sits down and calculates the value of +the material, the time necessary for its manufacture, and other +essential data; comparing these with the price at which it can be sold +to obtain a remunerative profit, seldom takes into consideration the +time necessary, first, to accustom the journeymen workers to its +construction, and secondly, to make known to the public its real +value. In the present universal competition, puffing is carried on to +such an extent, that, to give a fair chance of success, not only must +the first expense of a patent be incurred--no inconsiderable one +either, even supposing the patentee fortunate enough to escape +litigation--but a large sum of money must be invested in +advertisements, with little immediate return; hence it is that the +most valuable patents, viewed in relation to their scientific +importance, their ultimate public benefit, and the merits of their +inventors, are seldom the most lucrative, while a patent inkstand, a +boot-heel, a shaving case, or a button, become rapidly a source of no +inconsiderable profit. Is this beneficial to inventors? Is it an +encouragement of science, or a proper object of legislative provision, +that the improver of the most trivial mechanical application should be +carefully protected, while those who open the hidden sources of +myriads of patents, are unrewarded, and incapable of remunerating +themselves? We seriously incline to think that, as the matter at +present stands, an entire erasure from the statute-books of patent +provision would be of service to science, and perhaps to the +community; each tradesman would depend for success upon his own +activity, and the perfection he could give his manufacture, and the +scientific searcher after experimental truths would not find his path +barred by prohibitions from speculative empirics. + +According to the present patent laws, it is more than questionable +whether the discoverer of a great scientific principle could pursue +his own discovery, or whether he would not be arrested on the +threshold by a subsequent patentee; if Jacobi lived in constitutional +England instead of despotic Russia, it is doubtful if he could work +out his discovery of the electrotype--we say _doubtful_; for, as far +as we can learn, it seems hitherto judicially undecided whether the +mere use of a patent, not for sale or a lucrative object, is such a +use within the statute of James as would be an infringement of a +patentee's rights. It appears to be settled, that a previous +experimental and unpublished use by one party, does not prevent +another subsequent inventor of the same process from patenting it; +and, by parity of reasoning, we should say, that if a party have the +advantage of patenting an invention which can be found to have been +previously used, but not for sale, he should not have the additional +privilege of prohibiting the same party, or others, from proceeding +with their experiments. There are, however, not wanting arguments for +the other view. The practice of a patented invention, for one's own +benefit or pleasure, deprives the patentee of a possible source of +profit; for it cannot be said that the party experimenting, if +prohibited, might not apply for a license to the patentee. Take, for +instance, the notorious and justly censured patent of Daguerre. +Supposing, for argument's sake, this patent to be valid, can a private +individual, under the existing patent laws, take photographic views or +portraits for his own amusement, or in pursuance of scientific +investigations? If he cannot, then is an exquisitely beautiful path of +physics to be shut up for fourteen years; or if he can, then is the +licensee, a purchaser for value, to be excluded from very many sources +of pecuniary emolument? To us, the injury to the public, in this and +similar cases, appears of incomparably greater consequence than that +to the individual; but what the authorities at Westminster Hall may +say is another question. Even could the patent laws be so modified, +that the benefits derived from them could fall upon those scientific +discoverers most justly entitled, we are still doubtful as to their +utility, or whether they would contribute to the advancement of +science, which is the point of view in which we here principally +regard them. It would scarcely add to the dignity of philosophy, or +to the reverence due to its votaries, to see them running with their +various inventions to the patent office, and afterwards spending their +time in the courts of law, defending their several claims. They would +thus entirely lose the respect due to them from their contemporaries +and posterity, and waste, in pecuniary speculation, time which might +be more advantageously, and without doubt more agreeably, employed. If +parties look to money as their reward, they have no right to look for +fame; to those who sell the produce of their brains, the public owes +no debt. + +We have observed recently a strong tendency in men of no mean +scientific pretensions to patent the results of their labours. We +blame them not: it is a matter of free election on their part, but we +cannot praise them. A writer in a recent number of the _Edinburgh +Review_, has the following remarks on the subject of Mr Talbot's +patented invention of the Calotype. "Nor does the fate of the Calotype +redeem the treatment of her sister art, (the Daguerreotype.) The Royal +Society, the philosophical organ of the nation, has refused to publish +its processes in her transactions. * * * No representatives of the +people unanimously recommended a national reward. * * * It gives us +great pleasure to learn, that though none of his (Mr Talbot's) +photographical discoveries adorn the transactions of the Royal +Society, yet the president and the council have adjudged him the +Rumford medals for the last biennial period."[24] + + [24] _Edin. Rev._ No. 159. + +The notion of a "national reward" for the Calotype scarcely requires a +remark. If, after a discovery is once made and published, every +subsequent new process in the same art is to be nationally rewarded, +the income-tax must be at least quadrupled. The complaint, however, +against the Royal Society, is not altogether groundless. True it is +that the first paper of Mr Talbot did not contain an account of the +processes employed by him, and therefore should not have been even +read to the Society; but the paper on the Calotype did contain such +description, and we see no reason why a society for the advancement of +knowledge should not give publicity to a valuable process, though made +the subject of a patent--but it certainly should not bestow an +honorary reward upon an inventor who has withheld from the Royal +Society and the public the practice of the invention whose processes +he communicates. Mr Talbot had a perfect right to patent his +invention, but has on that account no claim in respect of the same +invention to an honorary reward. The Royal Society did not publish his +paper, but awarded him a medal. In our opinion, they should have +published his paper and not awarded him a medal. + +Regarded as to her national encouragement of science, there are some +features in which England differs not from other countries; there are +others in which she may be strikingly contrasted with them; and, with +all our love for her, we fear she will suffer by the contrast. A +learned writer of the present day, has the following passage in +reference to the state of science in England as contrasted with other +countries:--"When the proud science of England pines in obscurity, +blighted by the absence of the royal favour and the nation's sympathy; +when her chivalry fall unwept and unhonoured, how can it sustain the +conflict against the honoured and marshalled genius of foreign +lands?"[25] + + [25] Brewster's Life of Newton, p. 35. + +This, to be sure, is somewhat "_tumultuous_." We do not, however, cite +it as a specimen of composition, but as an expression of a very +prevalent feeling; the opinion involved in the concluding _quære_ is +open to doubt--England does sustain the conflict, if any conflict +there be to sustain; but we are bound to admit, that in no country are +the soldiers of _science militant_ less honoured or rewarded. It is no +uncommon remark, that despotic governments are the most favourable to +the cultivation of the arts and sciences. There is, perhaps, a general +truth in this, and the causes are not difficult of recognition. In a +republican or constitutional government, politics are the +all-engrossing topics of a people's thought, the never-ending theme +of conversation;--in purely despotic states, such discussions are +prohibited, and the contemplation of such subjects confined to a few +restless or patriotic spirits. It must also be ever the policy of +absolute monarchs to open channels for the public mind, which may +divert it from political considerations. Take America and Austria as +existing instances of this contrast: in the former, the universality +of political conversation is an object of remark to all travellers; in +the latter, even books which touch at all on political matters are +rigidly excluded. These are among the causes which strike us as most +prominent, but whose effects obtain only when despotism is not so +gross as to be an incubus upon the whole moral and intellectual +energies of a people. + +We should lose sight of the objects proposed in these pages, and also +transgress our assigned limits, were we to enter into detail upon the +present state of science in Europe, or trace the causes which have +influenced her progress in each state. This would form a sufficient +thesis for a separate essay; but we will not pass over this branch of +our subject, without venturing to express an opinion on the delicate +and embarrassing question as to what rank each nation holds as a +promoter of physical science. + +In experimental and theoretical Physics, we should be inclined to +place the German nations in the first rank; in pure and applied +mathematics, France. The former nations far excel all others in the +independence and impartiality with which they view scientific results; +researches of any value, from whatever part of the world they emanate, +instantly find a place in their periodicals; and they generally +estimate more justly the relative value of different discoveries than +any other European nation; the æsthetical power which enables them to +seize and appreciate what is beautiful in art, gives them perception +and discrimination in science; but they are not great as originators. +The French, notwithstanding the high pitch at which they have +undoubtedly arrived in mathematical investigation, not withstanding +the general accuracy of their experimental researches, have more of +the pedantry of science; their papers are too professional--too much +_selon les règles_; there are too many minutiæ; the reader is tempted +to exclaim with Jacques--"I think of as many matters as he; but I give +Heaven thanks, and make no boast of them." Their accuracy frequently +degenerates into affectation and parade. We have now before us a paper +in the _Annales de Chimie_, containing some chemical researches, in +which, though the difference of each experiment in a small number, put +together for average, amounts to several units, the weights are given +to the fifth place of decimals. England, which we should place next, +is by no means exempt from these trappings of science. Many English +scientific papers seem written as if with the resolute purpose of +filling a certain number of pages, and many of their writers seem to +think a _paper per annum_, good or bad, necessary to indicate their +philosophical existence. They write, not because they have made a +discovery, but because their period of hybernation has expired. Still, +in England, there is a strong vein of original thought. Competition, +if it lead to puffing and quackery, yet stimulates the perceptions; +and, in England, competition has done its worst and its best; in +original chemical discovery, England has latterly been unrivalled. + +Next to England we should place Sweden and Denmark--for their +population they have done much, and done it well; then Italy--in Italy +science is well organized, and the rulers of her petty states seem to +feel a proper emulation in promoting scientific merit--in which +laudable rivalry the Archduke of Tuscany deserves honourable mention; +America and Russia come next--the former state is zealous, ready at +practical application, and promises much for the future, but as yet +has not done enough in original research to entitle her to be placed +in the van. Russia at present possesses few, if any, native +philosophers--her discoverers and discoveries are all imported; but +the emperor's zeal and _patronage_ (a word which we scarcely like to +apply to science) is doing much to organize her forces, and the +mercenary troops may impart vigour, and induce discipline into the +national body. In this short enumeration, we have considered each +country, not according to the number of its very eminent men; for +though far from denying the right which each undoubtedly possesses to +shine by the reflected lustre of her stars, yet in looking, as it +were, from an external point, it is more just to regard the general +character of each people than to classify them according as they may +happen to be the birthplace of those + + "To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe." + +A misunderstanding of the proper use of theory is among the prevalent +scientific errors of the present day. Among one set of men of +considerable intelligence, but who are not habitually conversant with +physical science, there is a general tendency to despise theory. This +contempt appears to rest on somewhat plausible grounds; as an instance +of it, we may take the following passage from the fitful writings of +Mr Carlyle:--"Hardened round us, encasing wholly every notion we form, +is a wrappage of traditions, hearsays, mere words: we call that fire +of the black thunder-cloud electricity, and lecture learnedly about +it, and grind the like of it out of glass and silk, but what is it? +Whence comes it? Where goes it?"[26] + + [26] Carlyle on Hero Worship. + +However the experienced philosopher may be convinced that _in +themselves_ theories are nothing--that they are but collations of +phenomena under a generic formula, which is useful only inasmuch as it +groups these phenomena; yet it is difficult to see how, without these +imperfect generalizations, any mind can retain the endless variety of +facts and relations which every branch of science presents; still +less, how these can be taught, learned, reasoned upon, or used. How +could the facts of geology be recollected, or how, indeed, could they +constitute a science without reference to some real or supposed bond +of union, some aqueous or igneous theory? How could two chemists +converse on chemistry without the use of the term affinity, and the +theoretical conception it involves? How could a name be applied, or a +nomenclature adopted, without that imperfect, or more or less perfect +grouping of facts, which involves theory? As far as we can recollect, +all the alterations of nomenclature which have been introduced, or +attempted, proceed upon some alteration of theory. + +If not theory but hypothesis be objected to--not the imperfect +generalization of phenomena, but a gratuitous assumption for the sake +of collating them, this, although ground which should be trodden more +cautiously, appears in certain cases unavoidable; in fact, is scarcely +separable from theory. Had men not "lectured learnedly" about the two +_fluids_ of electricity, we should not now possess many of the +discoveries with which this science is enriched, although we do not, +and probably never shall, know what electricity is. + +On the other hand, among professed physical philosophers, the great +abuse of theories and hypotheses is, that their promulgators soon +regard them, not as aids to science, to be changed if occasion should +require, but as absolute natural truths; they look to that as an end, +which is in fact but a means; their theories become part of their +mental constitution, idiosyncrasies; and they themselves become +partizans of a faction, and cease to be inductive philosophers. + +Another injury to science, in a great measure peculiar to the present +day, arises from the number of speculations which are ushered into the +world to account for the same phenomena; every one, like Sir Andrew +Aguecheek, when he wished to cudgel a Puritan, has for his opinion "no +exquisite reasons, but reasons good enough." In the periods of science +immediately subsequent to the time of Bacon, men commenced their +career by successful experiment; and having convinced the world of +their aptitude for perceiving the relations of natural phenomena, +enounced theories which they believed the most efficient to give a +comprehensive generality to the whole. Men now, however, commence with +theories, though, alas! the converse does not hold good--they do not +always end with experiment. + +As, in the promulgation of theories, every aspirant is anxious to +propound different news, so, in nomenclature, there is a strong +tendency to promiscuous coining. The great commentator on the laws of +England, Sir William Blackstone, observes, "As to the impression, the +stamping of coin is the unquestionable prerogative of the crown, * * * +the king may also, by his proclamation, legitimate foreign coin, and +make it current here."[27] + + [27] Commentaries, vol. i. p. 277. + +As coinage of money is the undoubted prerogative of the crown; so +generally coinage of words has been the undoubted prerogative of the +kings of science--those to whom mankind have bent as to unquestionable +authority. But even these royal dignitaries have generally been +sparing in the exercise of this prerogative, and used it only on rare +occasions and when absolutely necessary, either from the discovery of +new things requiring new names, or upon entire revolutions of theory. + + "Si forte necesse est + Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, + Fingere cinctutis non exaudita cethegis + Continget, labiturque licentia sumpta pudenter." + +But now there is no "pudor" in the matter. Every man has his own mint; +and although their several coins do not pass current very generally, +yet they are taken here and there by a few disciples, and throw some +standard money out of the market. The want of consideration evinced in +these novel vocabularies is remarkable. Whewell, whose scientific +position and dialectic turn of mind may fairly qualify him to be a +word-maker, seems peculiarly deficient in ear. Take, as an instance, +"_idiopts_," an uncomfortable word, barely necessary, as the persons +to whom it applies are comparatively rare, and will scarcely thank the +Master of Trinity College for approximating them in name to a more +numerous and more unfortunate class--the word _physicists_, where four +sibilant consonants fizz like a squib. In these, and we might add many +from other sources, euphony is wantonly disregarded; by other authors +of smaller calibre, classical associations are curiously violated. We +may take, as an instance, _platinode_, Spanish-American joined to +ancient Greek. In chemistry there is a profusion of new coin. Sulphate +of ammonia--oxi-sulphion of ammonium--sulphat-oxide of ammonium--three +names for one substance. This mania is by no means common to England. +In Liebig's Chemistry, Vol. ii. p. 313, we have the following +passage:--"It should be remarked that some chemists designate +artificial camphor by the name of hydrochlorate of camphor. Deville +calls it bihydrochlorate of térèbène, and Souberaine and Capelaine +call it hydrochlorate of pencylène." + +So generally does this prevail, that in chemical treatises the names +of substances are frequently given with a tail of synonymes. Numerous +words might be cited which are names for non-existences--mere +hypothetic groupings; and yet so rapidly are these increasing, that it +seems not impossible, in process of time, there will be more names for +things that are not than for things that are. If this work go on, the +scientific public must elect a censor whose fiat shall be final; +otherwise, as every small philosopher is encouraged or tolerated in +framing _ad libitum_ a nomenclature of his own, the inevitable effect +will be, that no man will be able to understand his brother, and a +confusion of tongues will ensue, to be likened only to that which +occasioned the memorable dispersion at Babel. + +Many of the defects to which we have alluded in the course of this +paper, time alone can remedy. In spite of all drawbacks, the progress +of science has been vast and rapidly increasing; the very rapidity of +its progress brings with it difficulties. So many points, once +considered impossible, have been proved possible, that to some minds +the suggestion of impossibility seems an argument in favour of +possibility. Because steam-travelling was once laughed at as visionary, +aerial navigation is to be regarded as practicable--perhaps, indeed, it +_will_ be so, give but the time _proportionably_ requisite to master +its difficulties, as there was given to steam. What proportion this +should be we will not venture to predict. There can be little doubt +that the most effectual way to induce a more accurate public +discrimination of scientific efforts is to turn somewhat more in that +direction the current of national education. Prizes at the universities +for efficiency in the physics of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, +or chemistry, could, we conceive, do no harm. Why should not similar +honours be conferred on those students who advance the progress of an +infant science, as on those who work out with facility the formulæ of +an exact one; and why should not acquirements in either, rank equally +high with the critical knowledge of the _digamma_ or the _à priori_ +philosophy of Aristotle? Is not Bacon's Novum Organon as much entitled +to be made a standard book for the schools as Aldrich's logic? +Venerating English universities, we approve not the inconsiderate +outcries against systematic and time-honoured educational discipline; +but it would increase our love for these seminaries of sound learning, +could we more frequently see such men as Davy emanate from Oxford, +instead of from the pneumatic institution of Bristol. + +Provided science be kept separate from political excitement, we should +like to see an English Academy, constituted of men having fair claims +to scientific distinction, and not "deserving of that honour because +they are attached to science." + +It is unnecessary here to touch upon the details of such an Academy. +The proposition is by no means new. On the contrary, we believe a wish +for some such change pretty generally exists. Iteration is sometimes +more useful than originality. The more frequently the point is brought +before the public, the more probable is it that steps will be taken by +those who are qualified to move in such a matter. The more the present +defective state of our scientific organization is commented on, the +more likely is it to be remedied; for the patency of error is ever a +sure prelude to its extirpation. + + + + +CHRONICLES OF PARIS. + +THE RUE ST DENIS. + + +One of the longest, the narrowest, the highest, the darkest, and the +dirtiest streets of Paris, was, and is, and probably will long be, the +Rue St Denis. Beginning at the bank of the Seine, and running due north, +it spins out its length like a tape-worm, with every now and then a +gentle wriggle, right across the capital, till it reaches the furthest +barrier, and thence has a kind of suburban tail prolonged into the wide, +straight road, a league in length, that stretches to the town of +Sainct-Denys-en-France. This was, from time immemorial, the state-road +for the monarchs of France to make their formal entries into, and exits +from, their capital--whether they came from their coronation at Rheims, +or went to their last resting-place beneath the tall spire of St Denis. +This has always been the line by which travellers from the northern +provinces have entered the good city of Paris; and for many a long year +its echoes have never had rest from the cracking of the postilion's +whip, the roll of the heavy diligence, and the perpetual jumbling of +carts and waggons. It is, as it has ever been, one of the main arteries +of the capital; and nowhere does the restless tide of Parisian life run +more rapidly or more constantly than over its well-worn stones. In the +pages of the venerable historians of the French capital, and in ancient +maps, it is always called "_La Grande Rue de Sainct Denys_," being, no +doubt, at one time the _ne plus ultra_ of all that was considered wide +and commodious. Now its appellation is curtailed into the _Rue St +D'nis_, and it is avoided by the polite inhabitants of Paris as +containing nothing but the _bourgeoisie_ and the _canaille_. Once it was +the Regent Street of Paris--a sort of Rue de la Paix--lounged along by +the gallants of the days of Henri IV., and not unvisited by the +red-heeled marquises of the Regent d'Orleans's time; now it sees nothing +more _recherché_ than the cap of the grisette or the poissarde, as the +case may be, nor any thing more august than the casquette of the +_commis-voyageur_, or the indescribable shako and equipments of the +National Guard. As its frequenters have been changed in character, so +have its houses and public buildings; they have lost much of the +picturesque appearance they possessed a hundred years ago--they are +forced every year more and more into line, like a regiment of stone and +mortar. Instead of showing their projecting, high-peaked gables to the +street, they have now turned their fronts, as more polite; the roofs are +accommodated with the luxury of pipes, and the midnight sound of "_Gare +l'eau!_" which used to make the late-returning passenger start with all +agility from beneath the opened window to avoid the odoriferous shower, +is now but seldom heard. A Liliputian footway, some two feet wide, is +laid down in flags at either side; the oscillating lamp, that used to +hang on a rotten cord thrown across the roadway from house to house, and +made darkness visible, has given place to the genius of gas--_enfin, la +Révolution a passé par là_; and the Rue de St Denis is now a ghost only +of what it was. Still it retains sufficient peculiarities of dimensions +and outline to show that it is a child of the middle ages; and, like so +many other children of the same kind, it contributes to make its mother +Paris, as compared with the modern-built capitals of Europe, a town of +former days. Long may it retain these oddities of appearance--long may +it remain narrow, dark, and dirty; we rejoice that such streets still +exist--they do one's eye good, if not one's nose. There is more of +colour, of light and shade, of picturesque, fantastic outline, in a +hundred yards of the Rue St Denis, than in all the line from Piccadilly +to Whitechapel; a painter can pick up more food for his easel in this +queer, old street--an antiquarian can find there more tales and crusts +for his noddle, than in all Regent Street and Portland Place. We love a +ramshackle place like this; it does one good to get out of the +associations of the present century, and to retrograde a bit; it is +pleasant to see how people used to pig together in ancient days, without +any of the mathematical formalities of the present day; it keeps one's +eye in tone to look back at works of the middle ages; and we may learn +the more justly to criticize what we see arising about us, by refreshing +our recollections of the mouldering past. Paris is a glorious place for +things of this kind. Thank the stars, it never got burned out of its old +clothes, as London did. Newfangled streets and quarters of every age +have been added to it, but there still remains a mediæval nucleus--there +is still an "old Paris"--a gloomy, filthy, old town, irregular and +inconvenient as any town ever was yet; and a walk of twenty minutes will +take you from the elegant uniformity of the Rue de Rivoli into the +original chaos of buildings--into the Quartier des Halles and into the +Rue St Denis. How often have we hurried down them on a cold winter's +day--say the 31st of December--to buy bons-bons in the Rue des Lombards, +once the abode of bankers, now the paradise of _confiseurs_, against the +coming morrow--the grand day of visits and cadeaux--braving the snow +some three feet deep in the midst of the street--or, if there happened +to be no snow, the mud a foot and a half, splashing through it with our +last new pair of boots from Legrand's, and the last _pantalon_ from +Blondel's--for cabriolet or omnibus, none might pass that way; and +there, amid onion-smelling crowds, in a long, low shop, with lamps +lighted at two o'clock, have consummated our purchase, and floundered +back triumphant! Away, ye gay, seducing vanities of the Palais Royal or +the Boulevards; your light is too garish for our sober eyes--the sugar +of your comfitures is too chalky for our discriminating tooth! Our +appropriate latitude is that of the Quartier St Denis! One thing, +however, we must confess, we never did in the Rue St Denis--we never +dined there! _Oh non! il ne faut pas faire ça!_ 'Tis the headquarters of +all the sausage-dealers, the _charcutiers_, and the _rotisseurs_ of +Paris. Genuine meat and drink there is none; cats hold the murderous +neighbourhood in traditional abhorrence, and the ruddiest wine of +Burgundy would turn pale were the aqueous reputation of the street +whispered near its cellar-door. Thank Heaven, we have a gastronomic +instinct that saved us from acts of suicidal rashness! When in Paris, +gentle reader, we always dine at the Trois Frères Provençaux; the little +room in blue, remember--time, six P.M.; potage à la Julienne--bifteck au +vin de Champagne--poulet à la Marengo--Chambertin, and St Péray rosé. +The next time you visit the Palais-Royal, turn in there, and dine with +us--we shall be delighted to see you! + +There are few gaping Englishmen who have been on the other side of the +Channel but have found their way along the Boulevards to the Porte St +Denis, and have stared first of all at that dingy monument of +Ludovican pride, and then have stared down the Rue St Denis, and then +have stared up the Rue du Faubourg St Denis; but very few are ever +tempted to turn either to the right hand or to the left, and so they +generally poke on to the Porte St Martin, or stroll back to the +Madeleine, and rarely make acquaintance with the Dionysian mysteries +of Paris. For the benefit, therefore, of such travellers as go to the +French capital with their eyes in their pockets, and of such as stay +at home and travel by their fireside, but still can relish the +recollections and associations of olden times, we are going to rake +together some of the many odd notes that pertain to the history of +this street and its immediate vicinity. + +The readiest way into the Rue St Denis from the Isle de la Cité, the +centre of Paris, has always been over the Pont-au-Change. This bridge, +now the widest over the Seine, was once a narrow, ill-contrived +structure of wood, covered with a row of houses on either side, that +formed a dark and dirty street, so that you might pass through it a +hundred times without once suspecting that you were crossing a river. +These houses, built of stone and wood, overhung the edges of the +bridge, and afforded their inhabitants an unsafe abode between the sky +and the water. At times the river would rise in one of its periodical +furies, and sweep away a pier or two with the superincumbent houses; +at others the wooden supporters of the structure would catch fire by +some untoward event, and the inhabitants had the choice of being fried +or drowned, along with their penates and their supellectile property. +Such a catastrophe happened in the reign of Louis XIII., when this and +another wooden bridge, situated, oddly enough, close by its side, were +set on fire by a squib, which some _gamins de Paris_ were letting off +on his Majesty's highway; and in less than three hours 140 houses had +disappeared. It was Louis VII., in the twelfth century, who gave it +the name it has since borne; for he ordered all the money-changers of +Paris to come and live on this bridge--no very secure place for +keeping the precious metals; and about two hundred years ago the +money-changers, fifty-four in number, occupied the houses on one side, +while fifty goldsmiths lived in those on the other. In the open +roadway between, was held a kind of market or fair for bird-sellers, +who were allowed to keep their standings on the curious tenure of +letting off two hundred dozens of small birds whenever a new king +should pass over this bridge, on his solemn entry into the capital. +The birds fluttered and whistled on these occasions, the _gamins_ +clapped their hands and shouted, the good citizens cried "Noel!" and +"Vive le Roy!" and the courtiers were delighted at the joyous +spectacle. Whether the birds flew away ready roasted to the royal +table, history is silent; but it would have been a sensible +improvement of this part of the triumphal ceremony, and we recommend +it to the serious notice of all occupiers of the French throne. + +On arriving at the northern end of the bridge, the passenger had on +his right a covered gallery of shops, stretching up the river side to +the Pont Notre Dame, and called the Quai de Gesvres; here was a +fashionable promenade for the beaux of Paris, for it was filled with +the stalls of pretty milliners, like one of our bazars, and boasted of +an occasional bookseller's shop or two, where the tender ballads of +Ronsard, or the broad jokes of Rabelais, might be purchased and read +for a few livres. To the left was a narrow street, known by the +curious appellation of _Trop-va-qui-dure_, the etymology of which has +puzzled the brains of all Parisian antiquaries; while just beyond it, +and still by the river side, was the _Vieille Vallée de Misère_--words +indicative of the opinion entertained of so _ineligible_ a residence. +In front frowned, in all the grim stiffness of a feudal fortress, the +_Grand Chastelet_, once the northern defence of Paris against the +Normans and the English, but at last changed into the headquarters of +the police--the Bow Street of the French capital. Two large towers, +with conical tops over a portcullised gateway, admitted the prisoners +into a small square court, round which were ranged the offices of the +lieutenant of police, and the chambers of the law-officers of the +crown. Part of the building served as a prison for the vulgar crew of +offenders--a kind of Newgate, or Tolbooth; another was used as, and +was called, the Morgue, where the dead bodies found in the Seine were +often carried; there was a room in it called Cæsar's chamber, where +the good citizens of Paris firmly believed that the great Julius once +sat as provost of Paris, in a red robe and flowing wig; and there was +many an out-of-the-way nook and corner full of dust and parchments, +and rats and spiders. The lawyers of the Chastelet thought no small +beer of themselves, it seems; for they claimed the right of walking in +processions before the members of the Parliament, and immediately +after the corporation of the capital. The unlucky wight who might +chance to be put in durance vile within these walls, was commonly well +trounced and fined ere he was allowed to depart; and next to the +dreaded Bastile, the Grand Chastelet used to be looked on with +peculiar horror. At the Revolution it was one of the first feudal +buildings demolished--not a stone of the old pile remains; the +Pont-au-Change had long before had its wooden piers changed for noble +stone ones, and on the site where this fortress stood is now the Place +de Chatelet, with a Napoleonic monument in the midst--a column +inscribed with names of bloody battle-fields, on its summit a golden +wing-expanding Victory, and at its base four little impudent dolphins, +snorting out water into the buckets of the Porteurs d'Eau. + +Behind the Chastelet stood the _Grande Boucherie_--the Leadenhall +market of Paris an hundred years ago; and near it, up a dirty street +or two, was one of the finest churches of the capital, dedicated to St +Jacques. The lofty tower of this latter edifice (its body perished +when the Boucherie and the Chastelet disappeared) still rises in +gloomy majesty above all the surrounding buildings. It is as high as +those of Notre Dame; and from its upper corners, enormous +_gargouilles_--those fantastic water-spouts of the middle ages--gape +with wide-stretched jaws, but no longer send down the washings of the +roof on the innocent passengers. Hereabouts lived Nicholas Flamel, the +old usurer, who made money so fast that it was said he used to sup +nightly with his Satanic majesty, and who thereupon built part of the +church to save his bacon. He was of opinion that it was well to have +the "_mens sana in corpore sano_"--that it was no joke to be burnt; +and so he stuck close to the church, taking care that himself and his +wife, Pernelle, should have a comfortable resting-place for their +bones within the walls of St Jacques. When this was a fashionable +quarter of Paris, the court doctor and accoucheur did not disdain to +reside in it; for Jean Fernel, the medical attendant of Catharine de +Medicis, lived and died within the shade of this old tower. He was a +fortunate fellow, a sort of Astley Cooper or Clarke in his way, and +Catharine used to give him 10,000 crowns, or something like L.6000, +every time she favoured France with an addition to the royal family. +He and numerous other worthies mouldered into dust within the +precincts of St Jacques; but their remains have long since been +scattered to the winds; and where the church once stood is now an +ignoble market for old clothes; the abode of Jews and thieves. + +After passing round the Grand Chastelet, and crossing the +market-place, you might enter the Rue St Denis, the great street of +Paris in the time of the good King Henry, and you might walk along +under shelter of its houses, projecting story above story, till they +nearly met at top, for more than a mile. Before it was paved, the +roadway was an intolerable quagmire, winter and summer; and, after +stones had been put down, there murmured along the middle a black +gurgling stream, charged with all the outpourings and filth of +unnumbered houses. Over, or through this, according as the fluid was +low or high, you had to make your way, if you wanted to cross the +street and greet a friend; if you lived in the street and wished to +converse with your opposite neighbour, you had only to mount to the +garret story, open the lattice window, and literally shake hands with +him, so near did the gables approach. The fronts of the houses were +ornamented with every device which the skilful carpenters of former +times could invent: the beam-ends were sculptured into queer little +crouching figures of monkeys or angels, and all sorts of _diableries_ +decorated the cornices that ran beneath the windows; there were no +panes of glass, such as we boast of in these degenerate times, but +narrow latticed lights to let in the day, and the wind, and the cold; +while the roofs were covered commonly with shingles, or, in the houses +of the wealthy, with sheets of lead. Between each gable came forth a +long water-spout, and poured down a deluge into the gutter beneath; +each gable-top was peaked into a fantastic spiry point or flower, and +the chimneys congregated into goodly companies amidst the roofs, +removed from the vulgar gaze or fastidious jests of the people below. +So large were the fireplaces in those rooms that could own them, and +so ample were the chimney flues, that smoky houses were unheard of: +the staircases, it is true, enjoyed only a dubious ray, that served to +prevent you from breaking your neck in a rapid descent; but the +apartments were generally of commodious dimensions, and the tenements +possessed many substantial comforts. + +Once out of doors, you might proceed in all weather fearless of rain; +the projecting upper stories sheltered completely the sides of the +street, and a stout cloth cloak was all that was needed to save either +sex from the inclemency of the seasons. At frequent intervals there +opened into the main street, side streets, and _ruelles_ or alleys, +which showed in comparison like Gulliver in Brobdignag: up some of +these ways a single horseman might be able to go; but along +others--and some of them remain to the present day--two stout citizens +could never have walked arm-in-arm. They looked like enormous cracks +between a couple of buildings, rather than as ways made for the +convenience of locomotion: they were pervious, perhaps, to donkeys, +but not to the loaded packhorse--the great street was intended for +that animal--coaches did not exist, and the long narrow carts of the +French peasantry, whenever they came into the city, did not occupy +much more space than the bags or packs of the universal carrier. To +many of these streets the most eccentric appellations were given; +there was the _Rue des Mauvaises Paroles_--people of ears polite had +no business to go near it; the _Rue Tire Chappe_--a spot where those +who objected to be plucked by the vests, or to have their clothes +pulled off their backs by importunate accosters, need not present +themselves; another in this quarter was called the _Rue Tire-boudin_. +Marie Stuart, when Queen of France, was riding, it is said, through it +one day, and struck, perhaps, by the looks of its inhabitants, asked +what the street was called. The original appellation was so indecent +that an officer of her guards, with courtly presence of mind, veiled +it under its present title. One was known as the _Rue Brise-miche_, +and the cleanliness of its inhabitants might instantly be judged of: a +fifth was the _Rue Trousse-vache_, and one of the shops in it was +adorned with an enormous sign of a red cow, with her tail sticking up +in the air and her head reared in rampant sauciness. A notorious +gambler, Thibault-au-dé, well known for his skill in loading dice, +gave his name to one of these narrow veins of the town: Aubry, a +wealthy butcher, is still immortalized in another: and the _Rue du +Petit Hurleur_ probably commemorated some wicked youngster, whose +shouts were a greater nuisance to the neighbours than those of any of +his companions. + +A wider kind of street was the _Rue de la Ferronerie_, opening into +the Rue St Denis, below the Church of the Innocents: it was the abode +of all the tinkers and smiths of Paris, and had not Henri IV. been in +a particular hurry that day, when he was posting off to old Sully in +the Rue St Antoine, he had never gone this way, and Ravaillac, +probably, had never been able to lean into the carriage and stab the +king. Just over the spot where the murder was committed, the placid +bust of the king still gazes on the busy scene beneath. The _Rue de la +Grande Truanderie_, which was above the Innocents, must have been the +rendez-vous of all the thieves and beggars of Paris, if there be any +thing in a name: the old chronicles of the city relate, indeed, that +it took a long time to respectabilize its neighbourhood; and they add +that the herds of rogues and impostors who once lived in it took +refuge, after their ejection, in the famous _Cour des Miracles_, a +little higher up the Rue St Denis. We must not venture into this, the +choicest preserve of Victor Hugo, whose graphic description of its +wonders in his _Notre Dame_ needs hardly to be alluded to; but we may +add, that there were several abodes of the same kind, all +communicating with the Rue St Denis, and all equally infamous in their +day, though now tenanted only by quiet button-makers and +furniture-dealers. The real _Puits d'Amour_ stood at the corner of the +Rue de la Grande Truanderie, and took its name in sad truth from a +crossing of true love. In the days of Philip Augustus, more than six +hundred years ago, a beautiful young lady of the court, Agnes +Hellebik, whose father held an important post under the king, was +inveigled into the toils of love. The object of her affections, +whether of noble birth or not, made her but a sorry return for her +confidence: he loved her a while, and her dreams of happiness were +realized; but by degrees his passion cooled, and at length he +abandoned her. Stung with indignation, and broken-hearted at this +thwarting of her soul's desire, the unfortunate young creature fled +from her father's house, and betaking herself on a dark and stormy +night to the brink of the well, commended her spirit to her Maker, and +ended her troubles beneath its waters. The name of the _Puits d'Amour_ +was then given to the well; and no young maiden ever dared to draw +water from it after sunset, for fear of the spirit that dwelt +unquietly within. The tradition was always current in people's mouths; +and three centuries after, a young man of the neighbourhood, who had +been jilted and mocked by an inconstant mistress, determined to bear +his ills no longer, so he rushed to the _Puits_, and took the fatal +leap. The result was not what he anticipated: he did not, it is true, +jump into a courtly assembly of knights and gallants, but he could not +find water enough in it to drown him; while his mistress, on hearing +of the mishap, hastened to the well with a cord, and promising to +compensate him for his former woes, drew him with her fair hands +safely into the upper regions. An inscription, in Gothic letters, was +then placed over the well:-- + + "L'amour m'a refaict + En 1525 tout-à-faict." + +The fate of Agnes Hellebik was far preferable to that of another young +girl who lived in this quarter, indeed in the Rue Thibault-au-dé. +Agnes du Rochier was the only daughter of one of the wealthiest +merchants of Paris, and was admired by all the neighbourhood for her +beauty and virtue. In 1403 her father died, leaving her the sole +possessor of his wealth, and rumour immediately disposed of her hand +to all the young gallants of the quarter; but whether it was that +grief for the loss of her parent had turned her head, or that the +gloomy fanaticism of that time had worked with too fatal effect on her +pure and inexperienced imagination, she took not only marriage and the +male sex into utter abomination, but resolved to quit the world for +ever, and to make herself a perpetual prisoner for religion's sake. +She determined, in short, to become what was then called a recluse, +and as such to pass the remainder of her days in a narrow cell built +within the wall of a church. On the 5th of October, accordingly, when +the cell, only a few feet square, was finished in the wall of the +church of St Opportune, Agnes entered her final abode, and the +ceremony of her reclusion began. The walls and pillars of the sacred +edifice had been hung with tapestry and costly cloths, tapers burned +on every altar, the clergy of the capital and the several religious +communities thronged the church. The Bishop of Paris, attended by his +chaplains and the canons of Notre Dame, entered the choir, and +celebrated a pontifical mass: he then approached the opening of the +cell, sprinkled it with holy water, and after the poor young thing had +bidden adieu to her friends and relations, ordered the masons to fill +up the aperture. This was done as strongly as stone and mortar could +make it; nor was any opening left, save only a small loophole through +which Agnes might hear the offices of the church, and receive the +aliments given her by the charitable. She was eighteen years old when +she entered this living tomb, and she continued within it _eighty_ +years, till death terminated her sufferings! Alas, for mistaken piety! +Her wealth, which she gave to the church, and her own personal +exertions during so long a life, might have made her a blessing to all +that quarter of the city, instead of remaining an useless object of +compassion to the few, and of idle wonder to the many. + +Another entombment, almost as bad, occurred in the Rue St Denis, only +five or six years ago. The cess-pools of modern Parisian houses are +generally deep chambers, and sometimes wells, cut in the limestone +rock on which the city stands: and in the absence of a good method of +drainage, are cleaned out only once in every two or three years, +according to their size. Meanwhile, they continue to receive all the +filth of the building. One night, a large cess-pool had been emptied, +and the aperture, which was in the common passage of the house on the +ground floor, had been left open till the inspector appointed by the +police should come round and see that the work had been properly +executed. He came early in the morning, enquired carelessly of the +porter if all was right, and ordered the stone covering to be fastened +down. This was done amid the usual noise and talking of the workmen; +and they went their way. That same afternoon, one of the lodgers in +the house, a young man, was missed: days after days elapsed, and +nothing was heard of him: his friends conjectured that he had drowned +himself, but the tables of the Morgue never bore his body: and their +despair was only equalled by their astonishment at the absence of +every clue to his fate. On a particular evening, however, about three +weeks after his disappearance, the porter was sitting at the door of +his lodge, and the house as well as the street was unusually quiet, +when he heard a faint groan somewhere beneath his feet. After a short +interval he heard another; and being superstitious, got up, put his +chair within the lodge, shut the door, and set about his work. At +night he mentioned the circumstance to his wife, and going out with +her into the passage, they had not stood there long before again a +groan was heard. The good woman crossed herself and fell on her knees; +but her husband, suspecting now that all was not right, and thinking +that an attempt at infanticide had been made, by throwing a child's +body down one of the passages leading to the cess-pool, (no uncommon +occurrence in Paris,) resolved to call in the police. He did so +without loss of time, the heavy stone covering was removed, and one of +the attendants stooping down and lowering a lantern, as long as the +stench would permit him, saw at the bottom, and at a considerable +depth, something like a human form leaning against the side of the +receptacle. Ropes and ladders were now immediately procured; two men +went down, and in a few minutes brought up a body--it was that of the +unfortunate young man who had been so long missing! Life was not quite +extinct, for some motion of the limbs was perceptible, there was even +one last low groan, but then all animation ceased for ever. The +appearance of the body was most dreadful; the face was a livid green +colour, the trunk looked like that of a man drowned, and kept long +beneath the water, all brown and green--one of the feet had completely +disappeared--the other was nearly half decomposed and gone; the hands +were dreadfully lacerated, and told of a desperate struggle to escape: +worms were crawling about; all was putrid and loathsome. How did this +unfortunate young man come into so dreadful a position? was the +question that immediately occurred; and the only answer that could be +given was, that on the night of the cess-pool being emptied, the +porter remembered this young man coming home very late, or rather +early in the morning. He himself had forgotten to warn him of the +aperture being uncovered, indeed he supposed that it would have been +sufficiently seen by the lights left burning at its edge;--these had +probably been blown out by the wind, and the young man had thus fallen +in. That life should have been supported so long under such +circumstances, seems almost incredible: but it is no less curious than +true; for the porter was tried before the Correctional Tribunal for +inadvertent homicide, the facts were adduced in evidence, and +carelessness having been proved, he was sentenced to imprisonment for +several weeks, and to a heavy fine. + +Of churches and religious establishments, there were plenty in and +about the Rue St Denis. Besides the great church of St Jacques, +mentioned before, there were in the street itself the churches of the +Holy Sepulchre, of St Leu, and St Gilles; of the Innocents; of the +Saviour; and of St Jacques de l'Hôpital: while of conventual +institutions, there were the Hospitals of St Catharine; of the Holy +Trinity; of the Filles de St Magloire; of the Filles Dieu; of the +Community of St Chaumont; of the Sœurs de Charité; and of the great +monastery of St Lazare. The fronts, or other considerable portions of +those buildings, were all visible in the street, and added greatly to +its antiquated appearance. The long irregular lines of gable roofs on +either side, converging from points high above the spectator's head, +until they met or crossed in a dim perspective, near the horizon, were +broken here and there by the pointed front, or the tapering spire of a +church or convent. A solemn gateway protruded itself at intervals into +the street, and, with its flanking turrets and buttresses, gave broad +masses of shade in perpendicular lines, strongly contrasted with the +horizontal or diagonal patches of dark colour caused by the houses. At +early morn and eve, a shrill tinkling of bells warned the neighbours +of the sacred duties of many a secluded penitent, or admonished them +that it was time to send up their own orisons to God. Before mid-day +had arrived, and soon after it had passed, the deeper tones of a +_bourdon_, from some of the parochial churches, invited the citizens +to the sacrifice of the mass or the canticles of vespers. Not seldom +the throngs of busy wordlings were forced to separate and give room to +some holy procession, which, with glittering cross at the head, with +often tossed and sweetly smelling censers at the side, with +white-robed chanting acolyths, and reverend priests, in long line +behind, came forth to take its way to some holy edifice. The zealous +citizens would suspend their avocations for a while, would repeat a +reverential prayer as the holy men went by, and then return to the +absorbing calls of business, not unbenefited by the recollections just +awakened in their minds. On the eves and on the mornings of holy +festivals, business was totally suspended; the bells, great and small, +rang forth their silvery sounds; the churches were crowded, the +chapels glittered with blazing lights; the prayers of the priests and +people rose with the incense before the high altar; the solemn organ +swelled its full tones responsive to the loud-voiced choir; the +curates thundered from the pulpits, to the edification of charitable +congregations; and after all had been prostrated in solemn adoration +of the Divine presence, the citizens would pour out into the street, +and repair, some to their homes, some to the Palace of the Tournelles, +with its towers and gardens guarded by the Bastille; others to the +Louvre or to the Pré-aux-clercs, and the fields by the river side; +others would stroll up the hill of Montmartre; and some in boats would +brave the dangers of the Seine! On other and sadder occasions, the +inhabitants of the Rue St Denis would quit their houses in earnestly +talking groups, and would adjourn to the open space in front of the +Halles. Here, on the top of an octagonal tower, some twenty feet high, +and covered with a conical spire, between the openings of pointed +arches, might be seen criminals with their heads and hands protruding +through the wooden collar of the pillory. The guard of the provost, or +the lieutenant of police, would keep off the noisy throng below, and +the goodwives would discuss among themselves the enormities of the +coin-clipper, the cut-purse, the incendiary, or the unjust dealer, who +were exposed on those occasions for their delinquencies; while the +offenders themselves, would--a few of them--hang down their heads, and +close their eyes in the unsufferable agony of shame; but by far the +greater number would shout forth words of bold defiance or indecent +ribaldry, would protrude the mocking tongue, or spit forth curses with +dire volubility. Then would rise the shouts of _gamins_, then would +come the thick volley of eggs, fish-heads, butcher's-offal, and all +the garbage of the market, aimed unerringly by many a strenuous arm at +the heads of the culprits; and then the soldiers with their +pertuisanes would make quick work among the legs of the retreating +crowd, and the jailers would apply the ready lash to the backs of the +hardened criminals aloft; and thus, the hour's exhibition ended, and +the "king's justice" satisfied, away would the criminals be led, some +on a hurdle to Montfauçon, and there hung on its ample gibbet, amid +the rattling bones of other wretches; some would be hurried back to +the Chastelet, or other prisons; and others would be sent off to work, +chained to the oars of the royal galleys. + +This was a common amusement of the idlers of this quarter: but the +passions of the mob, if they needed stronger excitement, had to find a +scene of horrid gratification on the Place de Grève, opposite the +Hotel de Ville, where at rare intervals a heretic would be burnt, a +murderer hung, or a traitor quartered; but this spot of bloody memory +lies far from the Rue St Denis, and we are not now called upon to +reveal its terrible recollections: let us turn back to our good old +street. + +One of the most curious objects in it was the Church of the Innocents, +with its adjoining cemetery, once the main place of interment for all +the capital. The church lay at the north-eastern end of what is now +the Marché des Innocents, and against it was erected the fountain +which now adorns the middle of the market, and which was the work of +the celebrated sculptor, Jean Goujon, and his colleague, the +architect, Pierre Lescot. The former is said to have been seated at +it, giving some last touches to one of the tall and graceful nymphs +that adorn its high arched sides, on the day of the Massacre of St +Bartholomew, when he was killed by a random shot from a Catholic +zealot. The simple inscription which it still bears, FONTIUM NYMPHIS, +is in better taste than that of any other among the numerous fountains +of the French capital. The church itself (of which not the slightest +vestige now remains) was not a good specimen of mediæval architecture, +although it was large and richly endowed. It was founded by Philip +Augustus, when he ordered the Jews to be expelled from his dominions, +and seized on their estates--one of the most nefarious actions +committed by a monarch of France. The absurd accusation, that the Jews +used periodically to crucify and torture Christian children, was one +of the most plausible pretexts employed by the rapacious king on this +occasion; and, as a kind of testimonial that such had been his excuse, +he founded this church; dedicated it to the Holy Innocents; and +transferred hither the remains of a boy, named Richard, said to have +been sacrificed at Pontoise by some unfortunate Jews, who expiated the +pretended crime by the most horrible torments. St Richard's remains, +(for he was canonized,) worked numerous miracles in the Church of the +Innocents, or rather in the churchyard, where a tomb was erected over +them; and so great was their reputation, that tradition says, the +English, on evacuating Paris in the 15th century, carried off with +them all but the little saint's head. Certain it is, that nothing but +the head remained amongst the relics of this parish; and equally +certain is it, that no Christian innocents have been sacrificed by +those "circumcised dogs" either before or since, whether in France or +England, or any other part of the world. It remained for the dishonest +credulity of the present century, to witness the disgraceful spectacle +of a French consul at Damascus, assisting at the torturing of some +Jewish merchants under a similar accusation, and assuring his +government of his belief in the confessions extorted by these inhuman +means; and of many a party journal in Paris accrediting and re-echoing +the tale. Had not British humanity intervened in aid of British +policy, France had made this visionary accusation the ground of an +armed intervention in Syria. The false accusers of the Jews of +Damascus have indeed been punished; but the French consul, the Count +de Ratti-Menton, has since been rewarded by his government with a high +promotion in the diplomatic department! + +Once more, "a truce to digression," let us see what the ancient +cemetery of the Innocents was like. Round an irregular four-sided +space, about five hundred feet by two, ran a low cloister-like +building, called Les Charniers, or the Charnel Houses. It had +originally been a cloister surrounding the churchyard; but, so +convenient had this place of sepulture been found, from its situation +in the heart of Paris, that the remains of mortality increased in most +rapid proportion within its precincts, and it was continually found +necessary to transfer the bones of long-interred, and long-forgotten +bodies, to the shelter of the cloisters. Here, then, they were piled +up in close order--the bones below and the skulls above; they reached +in later times to the very rafters of these spacious cloisters all +round, and heaps of skulls and bones lay in unseemly groups on the +grass in the midst of the graveyard. At one corner of the church was a +small grated window, where a recluse, like her of St Opportune, had +worn away forty-six years of her life, after one year's confinement as +a preparatory experiment; and within the church was a splendid brass +tomb, commemorating this refinement of the monastic virtues. At +various spots about the cemetery, were erected obelisks and crosses of +different dates, while against the walls of the church and cloister +were affixed, in motley and untidy confusion, unnumbered tablets and +other memorials of the dead. The suppression of this cemetery, just at +the commencement of the Revolution, was a real benefit to the capital; +and when the contents of the yard and its charnel-houses were removed +to the catacombs south of the city, it was calculated that the remains +of two millions of human beings rattled down the deep shafts of the +stone pits to their second interment. In place of the cemetery, we now +find the wooden stalls of the Covent Garden of Paris; low, dirty, +unpainted, ill-built, badly-drained, stinking, and noisy; and their +tenants are not better than themselves. Like their neighbours, the +famous Poissardes, the Dames de la Halle as they are styled, are the +quintessence of all that is disgusting in Paris. Covent Garden is +worth a thousand of such markets, and Père la Chaise is an admirable +substitute for the Cemetery of the Innocents. + +High up in the Rue de Faubourg St Denis, which is only a continuation +of the main street, just as Knightsbridge is of Piccadilly, stand the +remains of the great convent and _maladrerie_ of St Lazarus. In this +religious house, all persons attacked with leprosy were received in +former days, and either kept for life, if incurable, or else +maintained until they were freed from that loathsome disease. From +what cause we know not, (except that the House of St Lazarus was the +nearest of any religious establishment to the walls of the capital,) +the kings of France always made a stay of three days within its walls +on their solemn inauguratory entrance into Paris, and their bodies +always lay in state here before they were conveyed to the Abbey Church +of St Denis. There was no lack of stiff ceremonial on these occasions; +and, doubtless, the good fathers of the convent did not receive all +the court within their walls without rubbing a little gold off the +rich habits of the nobles. The king, on arriving at the Convent of St +Lazare, proceeded to a part of the house allotted for this purpose, +and called _Le Logis du Roy_, where, in a chamber of state, he took +his seat beneath a canopy, surrounded by the princes of the +blood-royal. The chancellor of France stood behind his majesty, to +furnish him with replies to the different deputations that used to +come with congratulatory addresses, and the receptions then commenced. +They used to last from seven in the morning, without intermission, +till four or five in the afternoon; there were the lawyers of the +Chastelet, the Court of Aids, the Court of Accounts, and the +Parliament, to say nothing of the city authorities and other +constituted bodies. The addresses were no short unmeaning things, like +those uttered in our poor cold times, but good long-winded harangues, +some in French, some in Latin, and they went on, one after the other, +for three days consecutively. On the third day, when the royal +patience must have been wellnigh exhausted, and the chancellor's +talents at reply worn tolerably threadbare, the king would rise, and +mounting on horseback, would proceed to the cathedral church of Notre +Dame, down the Rue St Denis. One of the best recorded of these royal +entries is that of Louis XI. On this occasion, the king, setting out +from a suburban residence in the Faubourg St Honoré, got along the +northern side of Paris to the Convent of St Lazare; and thence, after +the delay and the harangues of the three days--the real original +glorious three days of the French monarchy--proceeded to the Porte St +Denis. Here a herald met the monarch, and after the keys of the city +had been presented by the provost, with long speeches and replies, the +former officer introduced to his majesty five young ladies, all richly +clad, and mounted on horses richly caparisoned, their housings bearing +the arms of the city of Paris. Each young damsel represented an +allegorical personage, and the initials of the names of their +characters made up the word _Paris_. They each harangued the king, and +their speeches, says an old chronicle, seemed "very agreeable" to the +royal ears. Around the king, as he rode through the gateway, were the +princes and highest nobles of the land--the Dukes of Orleans, +Burgundy, Bourbon, and Cleves: the Count of Charolois, eldest son of +the Duke of Burgundy; the Counts of Angoulesme, St Paul, Dunois, and +others; with, as a chronicle of the time relates, "autres comtes, +barons, chevaliers, capitaines, et force noblesse, en très bel ordre +et posture." All of these were mounted on horses of price, richly +caparisoned, and covered with the finest housings; some were of cloth +of gold furred with sable, others were of velvet or damask furred with +ermine; all were enriched with precious stones, and to many were +attached bells of silver gilt, with other "enjolivements." Over the +gateway was a large ship, the armorial bearing of the city, and within +it were a number of allegorical personages, with one who represented +Louis XI. himself; in the street immediately within the gate was a +party of savages and satyrs, who executed a mock-fight in honour of +the approach of royalty. A little lower down came forth a troop of +young women representing syrens; an old chronicle calls them, +"Plusieurs belles filles accoustrées en syrenes, nues, lesquelles, en +faisant voir leur beau sein, chantoient de petits motets de bergères +fort doux et charmans." Near where these damsels stood was a fountain +which had pipes running with milk, wine, and hypocras; at the side of +the Church of the Holy Trinity was a _tableau-vivant_ of the Passion +of our Saviour, including a crucified Christ and two thieves, +represented, as the chronicle states, "par personnages sans parler." A +little further on was a hunting party, with dogs and a hind, making a +tremendous noise with hautboys and _cors-de-chasse_. The butchers on +the open place near the Chastelet, had raised some lofty scaffolds, +and on them had erected a representation of the Bastille or Chateau of +Dieppe. Just as the king passed by, a desperate combat was going on +between the French besieging this chateau and the English holding +garrison within; "the latter," adds the chronicle, "having been taken +prisoners, had all their throats cut." Before the gate of the +Chastelet, there were the personifications of several illustrious +heroes; and on the Pont-au-Change, which was carpeted below, hung with +arms at the sides, and canopied above for the occasion, stood the +fowlers with their two hundred dozens of birds, ready to fly them as +soon as the royal charger should stamp on the first stone. Such was a +royal entry in those days of iron rule. + +Before Louis XI.'s father, Charles VII., had any reasonable prospect +of reigning in Paris as king, the English troops had to be driven out +of the capital; and when the French forces had scaled the walls, and +entered the city, A.D. 1436, the 1500 Englishmen who defended the +place, had but little mercy shown them. Seeing that the game was lost, +Sir H. Willoughby, captain of Paris, shut himself up with a part of +the troops in the Bastille, accompanied by the Bishop of Therouenne, +and Morhier, the provost of the city. The people rose to the cry of +"Sainct Denys, Vive le noble Roy de France!" The constable of France, +the Duke de Richemont, and the Bastard of Orleans, led them on; those +troops that had been shut out of the Bastille, tried to make their way +up the Rue St Denis, to the northern gateway, and so to escape on the +road to Beauvais and England but the inhabitants stretched chains +across the street, and men, women, and children, showered down upon +them from the windows, chairs, tables, logs of wood, stones, and even +boiling water; while others rushed in from behind and from the side +streets, with arms in their hands, and the massacre of all the English +fugitives ensued. A short time after, Sir H. Willoughby, and the +garrison of the Bastille, not receiving succours from the commanders +of the English forces, surrendered the fortress, and were allowed to +retire to Rouen. As they marched out of Paris, the Bishop of +Therouenne accompanied them, and the populace followed the troops, +shouting out at the Bishop--"The fox! the fox!"--and at the English, +"The tail! the tail!" + +Another departure of a foreign garrison from Paris, took place in +1594, and this time in peaceable array, by the Rue St Denis. When +Henry IV. had obtained possession of his capital, there remained in it +a considerable body of Spanish troops, who had been sent into France +to aid the chiefs of the League, and they were under the command of +the Duke de Feria. The reaction in the minds of the Parisians, after +the misery of their siege, had been too sudden and too complete, to +give the Spaniards any hope of holding out against the king; a +capitulation was therefore agreed upon, the foreign forces were +allowed to march out with the honours of war, and they were escorted +with their baggage as far as the frontier. The king and his principal +officers took post within the rooms over the Porte St Denis--then a +square turreted building, with a pointed and portcullised gate and +drawbridge beneath--to see the troops march out, and he stationed +himself at the window looking down the street. First came some +companies of Neapolitan infantry, with drums beating, standards +flying, arms on their shoulders, but without having their matches +lighted. Then came the Spanish Guards, in the midst of whom were the +Duke de Feria, Don Diego d'Ibara, and Don Juan Baptista Taxis, all +mounted on spirited Spanish chargers; while behind them marched the +battalions of the Lansquenets, and the Walloons. As each company came +up to the gateway, the soldiers, marching by fours, raised their eyes +to the king, took off their headpieces, and bowed; the officers did +the same, and Henry returned the salutation with the greatest +courtesy. He was particular in showing this politeness, in the most +marked manner, to the Duke de Feria and his noble companions, and when +they were within hearing, cried out aloud, "Recommend me to your +master, but never show your faces here again!" Some of the more +obnoxious members of the League were allowed to retire with the +Spaniards; and in the evening, bonfires were lighted in all the +streets, and the _Te Deum_ was sung on all the public places. The +mediæval glory of the Porte St Denis vanished in the time of Louis +XIV., where he unfortified the city, which one of his successors has +taken such pains again to imprison within stone walls, and the present +triumphal arch was erected upon its site. This modern edifice, it is +well known, served for the entrance of Charles X. from Rheims, and, +shortly after, for a post whence the trumpery patriots of 1830 +contrived to annoy some of the cavalry who were fighting in the cause +of the legitimacy and the true liberties of France. Many a barricade +and many a skirmish has the Rue St Denis since witnessed! + +All the churches have disappeared from the Rue St Denis except that of +St Leu and St Gilles, a small building of the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries: all the convents have been rased to the ground +except that of St Lazare. To this a far different destination has been +given from what it formerly enjoyed: it is now the great female prison +of the capital; and within its walls all the bread required for the +prisons of Paris is baked, all the linen is made and mended. The +prison consists of three distinct portions: one allotted for carrying +on the bread and linen departments: a second for the detention of +female criminals before conviction, or for short terms of +imprisonment; and in this various light manufactures, such as the +making of baskets, straw-plait, and the red phosphorus-match boxes, +are carried on: the third is an hospital and house of detention for +the prostitutes of the capital. We were once taken all through this +immense establishment by the governor, who had the kindness to +accompany us, and to explain every thing in person--a favour not often +granted to foreigners--and a strong impression did the scenes we then +saw leave. In the first two departments every thing was gloomy, +orderly, and quiet: the prisoners were much fewer than we had +expected--not above two hundred--many of them, however, were mere +children; but the matrons were good kind of women and the work of +reformation was going on rapidly to counteract the effects of early +crime. In the third, though equal strictness of conduct on the part of +the superiors prevailed, the behaviour of the inmates subjected to +control was far different. The great majority had been confined there +as hospital patients, not as offenders against the law, and they were +divided into wards, according to their sanatory condition. Here they +were very numerous; and a melancholy thing it was to see hundreds of +wretched creatures wandering about their spacious rooms, or sitting up +in their beds, with haggard looks, dishevelled hair, hardly any +clothing, and a sort of reckless gaiety in their manner that spoke +volumes as to their real condition. The _régime_ of this +prison-hospital is found, however, to be on the whole most salutary: +the seeds of good are sown with a few; the public health, as well as +the public morals, has been notably improved; and from the time when a +young painter employed in the prison was decoyed into this portion of +it and killed within a few hours, the occurrence of deeds of violence +within its walls has been very rare. + +From the top of the Faubourg St Denis, all through the suburb of La +Chapelle, the long line of modern habitations extends, without +offering any points of historical interest. It is, indeed, a very +commonplace, everyday kind of road, which hardly any Englishman that +has jumbled along in the Messageries Royales can fail of recollecting. +Nothing poetical, nothing romantic, was ever known to take place +between the Barrière de St Denis and the town where the abbey stands. +We know, however, of an odd occurrence upon this ground, towards the +end of the thirteenth century, (we were not alive then, gentle +reader,) strikingly illustrative of the superstition of the times. In +1274, the church of St Gervais, in Paris, was broken into one night by +some sacrilegious dog, who ran off with the golden pix, containing the +consecrated wafer or host. Not thinking himself safe within the city, +away he went for St Denis--got without the city walls in safety, and +made off as fast as he could for the abbatial town. Before arriving +there, he thought he would have a look at the contents of the precious +vessel, when, on his opening the lid, out jumped the holy wafer, up it +flew into the air over his head, and there it kept dodging about, and +bobbing up and down, behind the affrightened thief, and following him +wherever he went. He rushed into the town of St Denis, but there was +the wafer coming after him, and just above his head; whichever way he +turned, there was the flying wafer. It was now broad daylight, and +some of the inhabitants perceived the miracle. This was immediately +reported by them to the abbot of the monastery. The holy father and +his monks sallied forth; all saw the wafer as plain as they saw each +others' shaven crowns. The man was immediately arrested; the pix was +found on him, and the abbot, as a feudal seigneur, having the right of +life and death within his own fief, had him hung up to the nearest +tree within five minutes. The abbot then sent word to the Bishop of +Paris of what had occurred; and the prelate, attended by the curates +and clergy of the capital, went to St Denis to witness the miracle. +But wonders were not to cease; there they found the abbot and monks +looking up into the air; there was the wafer sticking up somewhere +under the sun, and none of them could devise how they were to get it +down again. The monks began singing canticles and litanies; the +Parisian clergy did the same; still the wafer would not move a hair's +breadth. At last they resolved to adjourn to the Abbey Church; and so +they formed themselves into procession, and stepped forwards. The +monks had reached the abbey door, the bishop and his clergy were +following behind, and the clergy of St Gervais were just under the +spot where the wafer was suspended, when, _presto_, down it popped +into the hands of the little red-nosed curate. "Its mine!" cried the +curate: "I'll have it!" shouted the bishop: "I wish you may get it," +roared the abbot--and a regular scramble took place. But the little +curate held his prize fast; his vicars stuck to him like good men and +true; and they carried off their prize triumphant. The bishop and the +abbot drew up a solemn memorial and covenant on the spot, whereby the +wafer was legally consigned to its original consecrator and owner, the +curate of St Gervais; and it was agreed that every 1st of September, +the day of the miracle, a solemn office and procession of the Holy +Sacrament should be celebrated within his church. The reverend father +Du Breul, the grave historian of Paris, adds: "L'histoire du dit +miracle est naifvement depeinte en une vitre de la chapelle Sainct +Pierre d'icelle église, où sont aussi quelques vers François, +contenans partie d'icelle histoire." + + + + +THE LAST SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. + + +In days of old it was the remark of more than one philosopher, that, +if it were possible to exhibit virtue in a personal form, and clothed +with attributes of sense, all men would unite in homage to her +supremacy. The same thing is true of other abstractions, and +especially of the powers which work by social change. Could these +powers be revealed to us in any symbolic incarnation--were it possible +that, but for one hour, the steadfast march of their tendencies, their +promises, and their shadowy menaces, could be made apprehensible to +the bodily eye--we should be startled, and oftentimes appalled, at the +grandeur of the apparition. In particular, we may say that the advance +of civilization, as it is carried forward for ever on the movement +continually accelerated of England and France, were it less stealthy +and inaudible than it is, would fix, in every stage, the attention of +the inattentive and the anxieties of the careless. Like the fabulous +music of the spheres, once allowed to break sonorously upon the human +ear, it would render us deaf to all other sounds. Heard or not heard, +however, marked or not marked, the rate of our advance is more and +more portentous. Old things are passing away. Every year carries us +round some obstructing angle, laying open suddenly before us vast +reaches of fresh prospect, and bringing within our horizon new +agencies by which civilization is henceforth to work, and new +difficulties against which it is to work; other forces for +co-operation, other resistances for trial. Meantime the velocity of +these silent changes is incredibly aided by the revolutions, both +moral and scientific, in the machinery of nations; revolutions by +which knowledge is interchanged, power propagated, and the methods of +communication multiplied. And the vast aerial arches by which these +revolutions mount continually to the common zenith of Christendom, so +as to force themselves equally upon the greatest of nations and the +humblest, express the aspiring destiny by which, already and +irresistibly, they are coming round upon all other tribes and families +of men, however distant in position, or alien by system and +organization. The nations of the planet, like ships of war +manœuvring prelusively to some great engagement, are silently +taking up their positions, as it were, for future action and reaction, +reciprocally for doing and suffering. And, in this ceaseless work of +preparation or of noiseless combination, France and England are seen +for ever in the van. Whether for evil or for good, they _must_ be in +advance. And if it were possible to see the relative positions of all +Christendom, its several divisions, expressed as if on the monuments +of Persepolis by endless evolutions of cities in procession or of +armies advancing, we should be awakened to the full solemnity of our +duties by seeing two symbols flying aloft for ever in the head of +nations--two recognizances for hope or for fear--the roses of England +and the lilies of France. + +Reflections such as these furnish matter for triumphal gratulation, +but also for great depression: and in the enormity of our joint +responsibilities, we French and English have reason to forget the +grandeur of our separate stations. It is fit that we should keep alive +these feelings, and continually refresh them, by watching the +everlasting motions of society, by sweeping the moral heavens for ever +with our glasses in vigilant detection of new phenomena, and by +calling to a solemn audit, from time to time, the national acts which +are undertaken, or the counsels which in high places are avowed. + +Amongst these acts and these counsels none justify a more anxious +attention than such as come forward in the senate. It is true that +great revolutions may brood over us for a long period without +awakening any murmur or echo in Parliament; of which we have an +instance in Puseyism, which is a power of more ominous capacities than +the gentleness of its motions would lead men to suspect, and is well +fitted (as hereafter we may show) to effect a volcanic explosion--such +as may rend the Church of England by schisms more extensive and +shattering than those which have recently afflicted the Church of +Scotland. Generally, however, Parliament becomes, sooner or later, a +mirror to the leading phenomena of the times. These phenomena, to be +valued thoroughly, must be viewed, indeed, from different stations and +angles. But one of these aspects is that which they assume under the +legislative revision of the people. It is more than ever requisite +that each session of Parliament should be searched and reviewed in the +capital features of its legislation. Hereafter we may attempt this +duty more elaborately. For the present we shall confine ourselves to a +hasty survey of some few principal measures in the late session which +seem important to our social progress. + +We shall commence our review by the fewest possible words on the +paramount nuisance of the day--viz. the corn-law agitation. This is +that question which all men have ceased to think sufferable. This is +that "mammoth" nuisance of our times by which "the gaiety of nations +is eclipsed." We are thankful that its "damnable iterations" have now +placed it beyond the limits of public toleration. No man hearkens to +such debates any longer--no man reads the reports of such debates: it +is become criminal to quote them; and recent examples of torpor beyond +all torpor, on occasion of Cobden meetings amongst the inflammable +sections of our population, have shown--that not the poorest of the +poor are any longer to be duped, or to be roused out of apathy, by +this intolerable fraud. Full of "gifts and lies" is the false fleeting +Association of these Lancashire Cottoneers. But its gifts are too +windy, and its lies are too ponderous. To the Association is "given a +mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;" and out of this mouth +issues "fire," it is true, against all that is excellent in the land, +but also "smoke"--as the consummation of its overtures. During many +reigns of the Cæsars, a race of swindlers infested the Roman court, +technically known as "sellers of smoke," and often punished under that +name. They sold, for weighty considerations of gold, castles in the +air, imaginary benefices, ideal reversions; and, in short, contracted +wholesale or retail for the punctual delivery of unadulterated +moonshine. Such a dealer, such a contractor, is the Anti-Corn-Law +Association; and for such it has always been known amongst intelligent +men. But its character has now diffused itself among the illiterate: +and we believe it to be the simple truth at this moment, that every +working man, whose attention has at any time been drawn to the +question, is now ready to take his stand upon the following +answer:--"We, that is our order, Mr Cobden, are not very strong in +faith. Our faith in the Association is limited. So much, however, by +all that reaches us, we are disposed to believe--viz. that ultimately +you might succeed in reducing the price of a loaf, by three parts in +forty-eight, which is one sixteenth; with what loss to our own landed +order, and with what risk to the national security in times of war or +famine, is no separate concern of ours. On the other hand, Mr Cobden, +in _your_ order there are said to be knaves in ambush; and we take it, +that the upshot of the change will be this: We shall save three +farthings in a shilling's worth of flour; and the _honest_ men of your +order--whom candour forbid that we should reckon at only twenty-five +per cent on the whole--will diminish our wages simply by that same +three farthings in a shilling; but the knaves (we are given to +understand) will take an excuse out of that trivial change to deduct +four, five, or six farthings; they will improve the occasion in +evangelical proportions--some sixty-fold, some seventy, and some a +hundred." + +This is the settled _practical_ faith of those hard-working men, who +care not to waste their little leisure upon the theory of the +corn-laws. It is this practical result only which concerns _us_; for +as to the speculative logic of the case, as a question for economists, +we, who have so often discussed it in this journal, (which journal, we +take it upon us to say, has, from time to time, put forward or +reviewed every conceivable argument on the corn question,) must really +decline to re-enter the arena, and _actum agere_, upon any occasion +ministered by Mr Cobden. Very frankly, we disdain to do so; and now, +upon quitting the subject, we will briefly state why. + +Mr Cobden, as we hear and believe, is a decent man--that is to say, +upon any ground not connected with politics; equal to six out of any +ten manufacturers you will meet in the Queen's high road--whilst of +the other four not more than three will be found conspicuously his +superiors. He is certainly, in the senate, not what Lancashire rustics +mean by a _hammil sconce_;[28] or, according to a saying often in the +mouth of our French emigrant friends in former times, he "could not +have invented the gun-powder, though perhaps he might have invented +the hair-powder." Still, upon the whole, we repeat, that Mr Cobden is +a decent man, wherever he is not very indecent. Is he therefore a +decent man on this question of the corn-laws? So far from it, that we +now challenge attention to one remarkable fact. All the world knows +how much he has talked upon this particular topic; how he has +itinerated on its behalf; how he has perspired under its business. Is +there a fortunate county in England which has yet escaped his +harangues? Does that happy province exist which has not reverberated +his yells? Doubtless, not--and yet mark this: Not yet, not up to the +present hour, (September 20, 1843,) has Mr Cobden delivered one +argument properly and specially applicable to the corn question. He +has uttered many things offensively upon the aristocracy; he has +libelled the lawgivers; he has insulted the farmers; he has exhausted +the artillery of _political_ abuse: but where is the _economic_ +artillery which he promised us, and which, (strange to say!) from the +very dulness of his theme making it a natural impossibility to read +him, most people are willing to suppose that he has, after one fashion +or other, actually discharged. The Corn-League benefits by its own +stupidity. Not being read, every leaguer has credit for having uttered +the objections which, as yet, he never did utter. Hence comes the +popular impression, that from Mr Cobden have emanated arguments, of +some quality or other, against the existing system. True, there are +arguments in plenty on the other side, and pretty notorious arguments; +but, _pendente lite_, and until these opposite pleas are brought +forward, it is supposed that the Cobden pleas have a brief provisional +existence--they are good for the moment. Not at all. We repeat that, +as to economic pleas, none of any kind, good or bad, have been placed +on the record by any orator of that faction; whilst all other pleas, +keen and personal as they may appear, are wholly irrelevant to any +real point at issue. In illustration of what we say, one (and very +much the most searching) of Mr Cobden's questions to the farmers, was +this--"Was not the object," he demanded, "was not the very purpose of +all corn-laws alike--simply to keep up the price of grain? Well; had +the English corn-laws accomplished that object? Had they succeeded in +that purpose? Notoriously they had not; confessedly they had failed; +and every farmer in the corn districts would avouch that often he had +been brought to the brink of ruin by prices ruinously low." Now, we +pause not to ask, why, if the law already makes the prices of corn +ruinously low, any association can be needed to make it lower? What we +wish to fix attention upon, is this assumption of Mr Cobden's, many +times repeated, that the known object and office of our corn-law, +under all its modifications, has been to elevate the price of our +corn; to sustain it at a price to which naturally it could not have +ascended. Many sound speculators on this question we know to have been +seriously perplexed by this assertion of Mr Cobden's; and others, we +have heard, not generally disposed to view that gentleman's doctrines +with favour, who insist upon it, that, in mere candour, we must grant +this particular postulate. "Really," say they, "_that_ cannot be +refused him; the law _was_ for the purpose he assigns; its final cause +_was_, as he tells us, to keep up artificially the price of our +domestic corn-markets. So far he is right. But his error commences in +treating this design as an unfair one, and, secondly, in denying that +it has been successful. It _has_ succeeded; and it ought to have +succeeded. The protection sought for our agriculture was no more than +it merited; and that protection has been faithfully realized." + + [28] A _hammil sconce_, or light of the hamlet, is the + picturesque expression in secluded parts of Lancashire + for the local wise man, or village counsellor. + +We, however, vehemently deny Mr Cobden's postulate _in toto_. He is +wrong, not merely as others are wrong in the principle of refusing +this protection, not merely on the question of fact as to the reality +of this protection, (to enter upon which points would be to adopt that +hateful discussion which we have abjured;) but, above all, he is wrong +in assigning to corn-laws, as their end and purpose, an absolute +design of sustaining prices. To raise prices is an occasional means of +the corn-laws, and no end at all. In one word, what _is_ the end of +the corn-laws? It is, and ever has been, to equalize the prospects of +the farmer from year to year, with the view, and generally with the +effect, of drawing into the agricultural service of the nation, as +nearly as possible, the same amount of land at one time as at another. +This is the end; and this end is paramount. But the means to that end +must lie, according to the accidents of the case, alternately through +moderate increase of price, or moderate diminution of price. The +besetting oversight, in this instance, is the neglect of the one great +peculiarity affecting the manufacture of corn--viz. its inevitable +oscillation as to quantity, consequently as to price, under the +variations of the seasons. People talk, and encourage mobs to think, +that Parliaments cause, and that Parliaments could heal if they +pleased, the evil of fluctuation in grain. Alas! the evil is as +ancient as the weather, and, like the disease of poverty, will cleave +to society for ever. And the way in which a corn-law--that is, a +restraint upon the free importation of corn--affects the case, is +this:--Relieving the domestic farmer from that part of his anxiety +which points to the competition of foreigners, it confines it to the +one natural and indefeasible uncertainty lying in the contingencies of +the weather. Releasing him from all jealousy of man, it throws him, in +singleness of purpose, upon an effort which cannot be disappointed, +except by a power to which, habitually, he bows and resigns himself. +Secure, therefore, from all superfluous anxieties, the farmer enjoys, +from year to year, a pretty equal encouragement in distributing the +employments of his land. If, through the dispensations of Providence, +the quantity of his return falls short, he knows that some rude +indemnification will arise in the higher price. If, in the opposite +direction, he fears a low price, it comforts him to know that this +cannot arise for any length of time but through some commensurate +excess in quantity. This, like other severities of a natural or +general system, will not, and cannot, go beyond a bearable limit. The +high price compensates grossly the defect of quantity; the overflowing +quantity in turn compensates grossly the low price. And thus it +happens that, upon any cycle of ten years, taken when you will, the +manufacture of grain will turn out to have been moderately profitable. +Now, on the other hand, under a system of free importation, whenever a +redundant crop in England coincides (as often it does) with a similar +redundancy in Poland, the discouragement cannot but become immoderate. +An excess of one-seventh will cause a fall of price by three-sevenths. +But the simultaneous excess on the Continent may raise the one-seventh +to two-sevenths, and in a much greater proportion will these depress +the price. The evil will then be enormous; the discouragement will be +ruinous; much capital, much land, will be withdrawn from the culture +of grain; and, supposing a two years' succession of such excessive +crops, (which effect is more common than a single year's excess,) the +result, for the third year, will be seen in a preternatural +deficiency; for, by the supposition, the number of acres applied to +corn is now very much less than usual, under the unusual +discouragement; and according to the common oscillations of the season +according to those irregularities that, in effect, are often found to +be regular--this third year succeeding to redundant years may be +expected to turn out a year of scarcity. Here, then, in the absence of +a corn-law, comes a double deficiency--a deficiency of acres applied, +from jealousy of foreign competition, and upon each separate acre a +deficiency of crop, from the nature of the weather. What will be the +consequence? A price ruinously high; higher beyond comparison than +could ever have arisen under a temperate restriction of competition; +that is, in other words, under a British corn-law. + +Many other cases might be presented to the reader, and especially +under the action of a doctrine repeatedly pressed in this journal, +but steadily neglected elsewhere--viz. the "_devolution_" of foreign +agriculture upon lower qualities of land, (and consequently its +_permanent_ exaltation in price,) in case of any certain demand on +account of England. But this one illustration is sufficient. Here we +see that, under a free trade in corn, and _in consequence_ of a free +trade, ruinous enhancements of price would arise--such in magnitude as +never could have arisen under a wise limitation of foreign +competition. And further, we see that under our present system no +enhancement is, or could be, _absolutely_ injurious; it might be so +_relatively_--it might be so in relation to the poor consumer; but in +the mean time, that guinea which might be lost to the consumer would +be gained to the farmer. Now, in the case supposed, under a free corn +trade the rise is commensurate to the previous injury sustained by the +farmer; and much of the extra bonus reaped goes to a foreign interest. +What we insist upon, however, is this one fact, that alternately the +British corn-laws have raised the price of grain and have sunk it; +they have raised the price in the case where else there would have +been a ruinous depreciation--ruinous to the prospects of succeeding +years; they have sunk it under the natural and usual oscillations of +weather to be looked for in these succeeding years. And each way their +action has been most moderate. For let not the reader forget, that on +the system of a sliding-scale, this action cannot be otherwise than +moderate. Does the price rise? Does it threaten to rise higher? +Instantly the very evil redresses itself. As the evil, _i.e._ the +price, increases, in that exact proportion does it open the gate to +relief; for exactly so does the duty fall. Does the price fall +ruinously?--(in which case it is true that the _instant_ sufferer is +the farmer; but through him, as all but the short-sighted must see, +the consumer will become the reversionary sufferer)--immediately the +duty rises, and forbids an accessary evil from abroad to aggravate the +evil at home. So gentle and so equable is the play of those weights +which regulate our whole machinery, whilst the late correction applied +even here by Sir Robert Peel, has made this gentle action still +gentler; so that neither of the two parties--consumers who to live +must buy, growers who to live must sell--can, by possibility, feel an +incipient pressure before it is already tending to relieve itself. It +is the very perfection of art to make a malady produce its own +medicine--an evil its own relief. But that which here we insist on, +is, that it never _was_ the object of our own corn-laws to increase +the price of corn; secondly, that the real object was a condition of +equipoise which abstractedly is quite unconnected with either rise of +price or fall of price; and thirdly, that, as a matter of fact, our +corn-laws have as often reacted to lower the price, as directly they +have operated to raise it; whilst eventually, and traced through +succeeding years, equally the raising and the lowering have +co-operated to that steady temperature (or nearest approximation to it +allowed by nature) which is best suited to a _comprehensive_ system of +interests. Accursed is that man who, in speaking upon so great a +question, will seek, or will consent, to detach the economic +considerations of that question from the higher political +considerations at issue. Accursed is that man who will forget the +noble yeomanry we have formed through an agriculture chiefly domestic, +were it even true that so mighty a benefit had been purchased by some +pecuniary loss. But this it is which we are now denying. We affirm +peremptorily, and as a fact kept out of sight only by the neglect of +pursuing the case through a succession of years under the _natural_ +fluctuation of seasons, that, upon the series of the last seventy +years, viewed as a whole, we have paid less for our corn by means of +the corn-laws, than we should have done in the absence of such laws. +It was, says Mr Cobden, the purpose of such laws to make corn dear; it +is, says he, the effect, to make it cheap. Yes, in the last clause his +very malice drove him into the truth. Speaking to farmers, he found it +requisite to assert that they had been injured; and as he knew of no +injury to them other than a low price, _that_ he postulated at the +cost of his own logic, and quite forgetting that if the farmer had +lost, the consumer must have gained in that very ratio. Rather than +not assert a failure _quoad_ the intention of the corn-laws, he +actually asserts a national benefit _quoad_ the result. And, in a +rapture of malice to the lawgivers, he throws away for ever, at one +victorious sling, the total principles of an opposition to the +law.[29] + + [29] Those who fancy a possible evasion of the case + supposed above, by saying, that if a failure, extensive + as to England, should coincide with a failure extensive + as to Poland, remedies might be found in importing from + many other countries combined, forget one objection, + which is decisive--these supplementary countries must be + many, and they must be distant. For no country could + singly supply a defect of great extent, unless it were a + defect annually and regularly anticipated. A surplus + never designed as a fixed surplus for England, but + called for only now and then, could never be more than + small. Therefore the surplus, which could not be yielded + by one country, must be yielded by many. In that + proportion increase the probabilities that a number will + have no surplus. And, secondly, from the widening + distances, in that proportion increases the extent of + shipping required. But now, even from Mr Porter, a most + prejudiced writer on this question, and not capable of + impartiality in speaking upon any measure which he + supposes hostile to the principle of free trade, the + reader may learn how certainly any great _hiatus_ in our + domestic growth of corn is placed beyond all hope of + relief. For how is this grain, this relief, to be + brought? In ships, you reply. Ay, but in what ships? Do + you imagine that an extra navy can lie rotting in docks, + and an extra fifty thousand of sailors can be held in + reserve, and borne upon the books of some colossal + establishment, waiting for the casual seventh, ninth, or + twelfth year in which they may be wanted--kept and paid + against an "_in case_," like the extra supper, so called + by Louis XIV., which waited all night on the chance that + it might be wanted? _That_, you say, is impossible. It + is so; and yet without such a reserve, all the navies of + Europe would not suffice to make up such a failure of + our home crops as is likely enough to follow redundant + years under the system of unlimited competition.--See + PORTER. + +But enough, and more than enough, of THE nuisance. It will be +expected, however, that we should notice two collateral points, both +wearing an air of the marvellous, which have grown out of the nuisance +during the recent session. One is the relaxation of our laws with +respect to Canadian corn; a matter of no great importance in itself, +but furnishing some reasons for astonishment in regard to the +disproportioned opposition which it has excited. Undoubtedly the +astonishment is well justified, if we view the measure for what it was +really designed by the minister--viz. as a momentary measure, suited +merely to the _current_ circumstances of our relation to Canada. Long +before any evil can arise from it, through changes in these +circumstances, the law will have been modified. Else, and having, +regard to the remote contingencies of the case (possible or probable) +rather than to its instant certainties, we are disposed to think, that +the irritation which this little anomalous law has roused amongst some +of the landholders, is not quite so unaccountable, or so +disproportionate, as the public have been taught to imagine. True it +is, that for the present, _lis est de paupere regno_. Any surplus of +grain which, at this moment, Canada could furnish, must be quite as +powerless upon our home markets, as the cattle, living or salted which +have been imported under the tariff in 1842 and 1843. But the fears of +Canada potentially, were not therefore unreasonable, because the +actual Canada is not in a condition for instantly using her new +privileges. Corn, that hitherto had not been grown, both may be grown, +and certainly will be grown, as soon as the new motive for growing it, +the new encouragement, becomes operatively known. Corn, again, that +from local difficulties did not find its way to eastern markets, will +do so by continual accessions, swelling gradually into a powerful +stream, as the many improvements of the land and water communication, +now contemplated, or already undertaken, come into play. Another fear +connects itself with possible evasions of the law by the United +States. Cross an imaginary frontier line, and _that_ will become +Canadian which was not Canadian by its origin. We are told, indeed, +that merely by its bulk, grain will always present an obstacle to any +extensive system of smuggling. But obstacles are not impossibilities. +And these obstacles, it must be remembered, are not founded in the +vigilance of revenue officers, but simply in the cost; an element of +difficulty which is continually liable to change. So that upon the +whole, and as applying to the reversions of the case, rather than to +its present phenomena, undoubtedly there _are_ dangers a-head to our +own landed interest from that quarter of the horizon. For the present, +it should be enough to say, that these dangers are yet remote. And +perhaps it _would_ have been enough under other circumstances. But it +is the tendency of the bill which suggests alarm. All changes in our +day tend to the consummation of free trade: and this measure, +travelling in that direction, reasonably becomes suspicious by its +principle, though innocent enough by its immediate operation. + +The other point connected with the corn question is personal. Among +the many motions and notices growing out of the dispute, which we hold +it a matter of duty to neglect, was one brought forward by Lord John +Russell. Upon what principle, or with what object? Strange to say, he +refused to explain. That it must be some modification applied to a +fixed duty, every body knew; but of what nature Lord John declined to +tell us, until he should reach a committee which he had no chance of +obtaining. This affair, which surprised every body, is of little +importance as regards the particular subject of the motion. But in a +more general relation, it is worthy of attention. No man interested in +the character and efficiency of Parliament, can fail to wish that +there may always exist a strong opposition, vigilant, bold, +unflinching, full of partizanship, if you will, but uniformly +suspending the partizanship at the summons of paramount national +interests, and acting harmoniously upon some systematic plan. How +little the present unorganized opposition answers to this description, +it is unnecessary to say. The nation is ashamed of a body so +determinately below its functions. But Lord John Russell is +individually superior to his party. He is a man of sense, of +information, and of known official experience. Now, if he, so +notoriously the wise man of "her Majesty's Opposition," is capable of +descending to harlequin caprices of this extreme order, the nation +sees with pain, that a constitutional function of control is extinct +in our present senate, and that her Majesty's Ministers must now be +looked to as their own controllers. With the levity of a child, Lord +John makes a motion, which, if adopted, would have landed him in +defeat; but through utter want of judgment and concert with his party, +he does not get far enough to be defeated: he does not succeed in +obtaining the prostration for which he manœuvres; but is saved from +a final exposure of his little statesmanship by universal mockery of +his miserable partizanship. Alas for the times in which Burke and Fox +wielded the forces of Parliamentary opposition, and redoubled the +energies of Government by the energies of their enlightened +resistance! + +In quitting the subject of the corn agitation, (obstinately pursued +through the session,) we may remark--and we do so with pain--that all +laws whatsoever, strong or lax, upon this question are to be regarded +as provisional. The temper of society being what it is, some small +gang of cotton-dealers, moved by the rankest self-interest, finding +themselves suffered to agitate almost without opposition, and the +ancient landed interest of the country, if not silenced, being silent, +it is felt by all parties that no law, in whatever direction, upon +this great problem, can have a chance of permanence. The natural +revenge which we may promise ourselves is--that the lunacies of the +free-trader, when acted upon, as too surely they will be, may prove +equally fugitive. Meantime, it is not by provisional acts, or acts of +sudden emergency, that we estimate the service of a senate. It is the +solemn and deliberate laws, those which are calculated for the wear +and tear of centuries, which hold up a mirror to the legislative +spirit of the times. + +Of laws bearing this character, if we except the inaugural essays at +improving the law of libel, and at founding a system of national +education, of which the latter has failed for the present in a way +fitted to cause some despondency, the last session offers us no +conspicuous example, beyond the one act of Lord Aberdeen for healing +and tranquillizing the wounds of the Scottish church. Self-inflicted +these wounds undeniably were; but they were not the less severe on +that account, nor was the contagion of spontaneous martyrdom on that +account the less likely to spread. In reality, the late astonishing +schism in the Scottish church (astonishing because abrupt) is, in one +respect, without precedent. Every body has heard of persecutions that +were courted; but in such a case, at least, the spirit of persecution +must have had a local existence, and to some extent must have uttered +menaces--or how should those menaces have been defied? Now, the +"persecutions," before which a large section of the Scottish church +has fallen by an act of spontaneous martyrdom, were not merely +needlessly defied, but were originally self-created; they were evoked, +like phantoms and shadows, by the martyrs themselves, out of blank +negations. Without provocation _ab extra_, without warning on their +own part, suddenly they place themselves in an attitude of desperate +defiance to the known law of the land. The law firmly and tranquilly +vindicates itself; the whole series of appeals is threaded; the +original judgment, as a matter of course, is finally re-affirmed--and +this is the persecution insinuated; whilst the necessity of complying +with that decision, which does not express any novelty even to the +extent of a new law, but simply the ordinary enforcement of an old +one, is the kind of martyrdom resulting. The least evil of this +fantastic martyrdom, is the exit from the pastoral office of so many +persons trained, by education and habit, to the effectual performance +of the pastoral duties. That loss--though not without signal +difficulty, from the abruptness of the summons--will be supplied. But +there is a greater evil which cannot be healed--the breach of unity in +the church. The scandal, the offence, the occasion of unhappy +constructions upon the doctrinal soundness of the church, which have +been thus ministered to the fickle amongst her own children--to the +malicious amongst her enemies, are such as centuries do not easily +furnish, and centuries do not remove. In all Christian churches alike, +the conscientiousness which is the earliest product of heartfelt +religion, has suggested this principle, that schism, for any cause, is +a perilous approach to sin; and that, unless in behalf of the +weightiest interests or of capital truths, it is inevitably criminal. +And in connexion with this consideration, there arise two scruples to +all intelligent men upon this crisis in the Scottish church, and they +are scruples which at this moment, we are satisfied, must harass the +minds of the best men amongst the seceders--viz. First, whether the +new points contended for, waiving all controversy upon their abstract +doctrinal truth, are really such, in _practical_ virtue, that it could +be worth purchasing them at the cost of schism? Secondly, supposing a +good man to have decided this question in the affirmative for a young +society of Christians, for a church in its infancy, which, as yet, +might not have much to lose in credit or authentic influence--whether +the same free license of rupture and final secession _could_ belong to +an ancient church, which had received eminent proofs of Divine favour +through a long course of spiritual prosperity almost unexampled? +Indeed, this last question might suggest another paramount to the +other two--viz. not whether the points at issue were weighty enough to +justify schism and hostile separation, but whether those points could +even be safe as mere speculative _credenda_, which, through so long a +period of trial, and by so memorable a harvest of national services, +had been shown to be unnecessary? + +Very sure we are, that no eminent servant of the Scottish church could +abandon, without anguish of mind, the multitude of means and channels, +that great machinery for dispensing living truths, which the power and +piety of the Scottish nation have matured through three centuries of +pure Christianity militant. Solemn must have been the appeal, and +searching, which would force its way to the conscience on occasion of +taking the last step in so sad an _exodus_ from the Jerusalem of his +fathers. Anger and irritation can do much to harden the obduracy of +any party conviction, especially whilst in the centre of fiery +partisans. But sorrow, in such a case, is a sentiment of deeper +vitality than anger; and this sorrow for the result will co-operate +with the original scruples on the casuistry of the questions, to +reproduce the demur and the struggle many times over, in consciences +of tender sensibility. + +Exactly for men in this state of painful collision with their own +higher nature, is Lord Aberdeen's bill likely to furnish the bias +which can give rest to their agitations, and firmness to their +resolutions. The bill, according to some, is too early, and, according +to others, too late. Why too early? Because, say they, it makes +concessions to the church, which as yet are not proved to be called +for. These concessions travel on the very line pursued by the +seceders, and must give encouragement to that spirit of religious +movement which it has been found absolutely requisite to rebuke by +acts of the legislature. Why, on the other hand, is Lord Aberdeen's +bill too late? Because, three years ago, it would, or it might, have +prevented the secession. But is this true? Could this bill have +prevented the secession? We believe not. Lord Aberdeen, undoubtedly, +himself supposes that it might. But, granting that this were true, +whose fault is it that a three years' delay has intercepted so happy a +result? Lord Aberdeen assures us that the earlier success of the bill +was defeated entirely by the resistance of the Government at that +period, and chiefly by the personal resistance of Lord Melbourne. Let +that minister be held responsible, if any ground has been lost that +could have been peacefully pre-occupied against the schism. This, +however, seems to us a chimera. For what is it that the bill concedes? +Undoubtedly it restrains and modifies the right of patronage. It +grants a larger discretion to the ecclesiastical courts than had +formerly been exercised by the usage. Some contend, that in doing so +the bill absolutely alters the law as it stood heretofore, and ought, +therefore, to be viewed as enactory; whilst others maintain that is +simply a declaratory bill, not altering the law at all, but merely +expressing, in fuller or in clearer terms, what had always been law, +though silently departed from by the usage, which, from the time of +Queen Anne, had allowed a determinate preponderance to the rights of +property in the person of the patron. Those, indeed, who take the +former view, contending that it enacts a new principle of law, very +much circumscribing the old right of patronage, insist upon it that +the bill virtually revokes the decision of the Lords in the +Auchterarder case. Technically and formally speaking, this is not +true; for the presbytery, or other church court, is now tied up to a +course of proceeding which at Auchterarder was violently evaded. The +court cannot now peremptorily challenge the nominee in the arbitrary +mode adopted in that instance. An examination must be instituted +within certain prescribed limits. But undoubtedly the contingent power +of the church court, in the case of the nominee not meeting the +examination satisfactorily, is much larger now, under the new bill, +than it was under the old practice; so that either this practice must +formerly have swerved from the letter of the law, or else the new law, +differing from the old, is really more than declaratory. Yet, however +this may be, it is clear that the jurisdiction of the church in the +matter of patronage, however ample it may seem as finally ascertained +or created by the new bill, falls far within the extravagant outline +marked out by the seceders. We argue, therefore, that it could not +have prevented their secession even as regards that part of their +pretensions; whilst, as regards the monstrous claim to decide in the +last resort what shall be civil and what spiritual--that is, in a +question of clashing jurisdiction, to settle on their own behalf where +shall fall the boundary line--it may be supposed that Lord Aberdeen +would no more countenance their claim in any point of practice, than +all rational legislators would countenance it as a theory. How, +therefore, could this bill have prevented the rent in the church, so +far as it has yet extended? On the other hand, though apparently +powerless for that effect, it is well calculated to prevent a second +secession. Those who are at all disposed to follow the first seceders, +stand in this situation. By the very act of adhering to the +Establishment when the _ultra_ party went out, they made it abundantly +manifest that they do not go to the same extreme in their +requisitions. But, upon any principle which falls short of that +extreme being at all applicable to this church question, it is certain +that Lord Aberdeen's measure will be found to satisfy their wishes; +for that measure, if it errs at all, errs by conceding too much rather +than too little. It sustains all objections to a candidate on their +own merit, without reference to the quarter from which they arise, so +long as they are relevant to the proper qualifications of a parish +clergyman. It gives effect to every argument that can reasonably be +urged against a nominee--either generally, on the ground of his moral +conduct, his orthodoxy, and his intellectual attainments; or +specially, in relation to his fitness for any local varieties of the +situation. A Presbyterian church has always been regarded as, in some +degree, leaning to a republican character, but a republic may be +either aristocratic or democratic: now, Lord Aberdeen has favoured the +democratic tendency of the age by making the probationary examination +of the candidate as much of a popular examination, and as open to the +impression of objections arising with the body of the people, as could +be done with any decent regard either to the rights yet recognised in +the patron, or, still more, to the professional dignity of the +clerical order. + +Upon the whole, therefore, we look upon Lord Aberdeen as a national +benefactor, who has not only turned aside a current running headlong +into a revolution, but in doing this exemplary service, has contrived +to adjust the temperament very equitably between, 1st, the individual +nominee, having often his livelihood at stake; 2dly, the patron, +exercising a right of property interwoven with our social system, and +not liable to any usurpation which would not speedily extend itself to +other modes of property; 3dly, the church, considered as the trustee +or responsible guardian of orthodoxy and sound learning; 4thly, the +same church considered as a professional body, and, therefore, as +interested in upholding the dignity of each individual clergyman, and +his immunity from frivolous cavils, however much against him they are +interested in detecting his insufficiency; and, 5thly, the body of the +congregation, as undoubtedly entitled to have the qualifications of +their future pastor rigorously investigated. All these separate +claims, embodied in five distinct parties, Lord Aberdeen has +delicately balanced and fixed in a temperate equipoise by the +machinery of his bill. Whilst, if we enquire for the probable effects +of this bill upon the interests of pure and spiritual religion, the +promise seems every way satisfactory. The Jacobinical and precipitous +assaults of the Non-intrusionists upon the rights of property are +summarily put down. A great danger is surmounted. For if the rights of +patrons were to be arbitrarily trampled under foot on a pretence of +consulting for the service of religion; on the next day, with the same +unprincipled levity, another party might have trampled on the +patrimonial rights of hereditary descent, on primogeniture, or any +institution whatever, opposed to the democratic fanaticism of our age. +No patron can now thrust an incompetent or a vicious person upon the +religious ministrations of the land. It must be through their own +defect of energy, if any parish is henceforth burdened with an +incumbent reasonably obnoxious. It must be the fault of the presbytery +or other church court, if the orthodox standards of the church are not +maintained in their purity. It must be through his own fault, or his +own grievous defects, if any qualified candidate for the church +ministry is henceforth vexatiously rejected. It must be through some +scandalous oversight in the selection of presentees, if any patron is +defeated of his right to present. + +Contrast with these great services the menaces and the tendencies of +the Non-Intrusionists, on the assumption that they had kept their +footing in the church. It may be that, during this generation, from +the soundness of the individual partisans, the orthodox standards of +the church would have been maintained as to doctrine. But all the +other parties interested in the church, except the church herself, as +a depositary of truth, would have been crushed at one blow. This is +apparent, except only with regard to the congregation of each parish. +That body, it may be thought, could not but have benefited by the +change; for the very motive and the pretence of the movement arose on +their behalf. But mark how names disguise facts, and to what extent a +virtual hostility may lurk under an apparent protection. Lord +Aberdeen, because he limits the right of the congregation, is supposed +to destroy it; but in the mean time he secures to every parish in +Scotland a true and effectual influence, so far as that body ought to +have it, (that is, _negatively_,) upon the choice of its pastor. On +the other hand, the whole storm of the Non-intrusionists was pointed +at those who refused to make the choice of a pastor altogether +popular. It was the people, considered as a congregation, who ought +to appoint the teacher by whom they were to be edified. So far, the +party of seceders come forward as martyrs to their democratic +principles. And they drew a colourable sanction to their democracy +from the great names of Calvin, Zuinglius, and John Knox. Unhappily +for them, Sir William Hamilton has shown, by quotations the most +express and absolute from these great authorities, that no such +democratic appeal as the Non-intrusionists have presumed, was ever +contemplated for an instant by any one amongst the founders of the +Reformed churches. That Calvin, whose jealousy was so inexorable +towards princes and the sons of princes--that John Knox, who never +"feared the face of man that was born of woman"--were these great +Christian champions likely to have flinched from installing a popular +tribunal, had they believed it eligible for modern times, or warranted +by ancient times? In the learning of the question, therefore, +Non-intrusionists showed themselves grossly wrong. Meantime it is +fancied that at least they were generously democratic, and that they +manifested their disinterested love of justice by creating a popular +control that must have operated chiefly against their own clerical +order. What! is that indeed so? Now, finally, take another instance +how names belie facts. The people _were_ to choose their ministers; +the council for election of the pastor _was_ to be a popular council +abstracted from the congregation: but how? but under what conditions? +but by whom abstracted? Behold the subtle design:--This pretended +congregation was a small faction; this counterfeit "people" was the +petty gathering of COMMUNICANTS; and the communicants were in effect +within the appointment of the clergyman. They formed indirectly a +secret committee of the clergy. So that briefly, Lord Aberdeen, whilst +restraining the popular courts, gives to them a true popular +authority; and the Non-intrusionists, whilst seeming to set up a +democratic idol, do in fact, by dexterous ventriloquism, throw their +own all-potential voice into its passive organs. + +We may seem to owe some apology to our readers for the space which we +have allowed to this great moral _émeute_ in Scotland. But we hardly +think so ourselves. For in our own island, and in our own times, +nothing has been witnessed so nearly bordering on a revolution. +Indeed, it is painful to hear Dr Chalmers, since the secession, +speaking of the Scottish aristocracy in a tone of scornful hatred, not +surpassed by the most Jacobinical language of the French Revolution in +the year 1792. And, if this movement had not been checked by +Parliament, and subsequently by the executive Government, in its +comprehensive provision for the future, by the measure we have been +reviewing, we cannot doubt that the contagion of the shock would have +spread immediately to England, which part of the island has been long +prepared and manured, as we might say, for corresponding struggles, by +the continued conspiracy against church-rates. In both cases, an +attack on church property, once allowed to prosper or to gain any +stationary footing, would have led to a final breach in the life and +serviceable integrity of the church. + +Of the Factory bill, we are sorry that we are hardly entitled to +speak. In the loss of the educational clauses, that bill lost all +which could entitle it to a separate notice; and, where the Government +itself desponds as to any future hope of succeeding, private parties +may have leave to despair. One gleam of comfort, however, has shone +out since the adjournment of Parliament. The only party to the bitter +resistance under which this measure failed, whom we can sincerely +compliment with full honesty of purpose--viz. the Wesleyan +Methodists--have since expressed (about the middle of September) +sentiments very like compunction and deep sorrow for the course they +felt it right to pursue. They are fully aware of the malignity towards +the Church of England, which governed all other parties to the +opposition excepting themselves; and in the sorrowful result of that +opposition, which has terminated in denying all extension of education +to the labouring youth of the nation, they have learned (like the +conscientious men that they are) to suspect the wisdom and the +ultimate principle of the opposition itself. Fortunately, they are a +most powerful body; to express regret for what they have done, and +hesitation at the casuistry of those motives which reconciled them to +their act at the moment is possibly but the next step to some change +in their counsels; in which case this single body, in alliance with +the Church of England, would be able to carry the great measure which +has been crushed for the present by so unexampled a resistance. Much +remains to be said, both upon the introductory statements of Lord +Ashley, with which (in spite of our respect for that nobleman) we do +not coincide, and still more upon the extensive changes, and the +_principles_ of change, which must be brought to bear upon a national +system of education, before it can operate with that large effect of +benefit which so many anticipate from its adoption. But this is ample +matter for a separate discussion. + +Lastly, let us notice the Irish Arms' bill; which, amongst the +measures framed to meet the momentary exigence of the times, stands +foremost in importance. This is one of those fugitive and casual +precautions, which, by intense seasonableness, takes its rank amongst +the permanent means of pacification. Bridling the instant spirit of +uproar, carrying the Irish nation over that transitional state of +temptation, which, being once gone by, cannot, we believe, be renewed +for generations, this, with other acts in the same temper, will face +whatever peril still lingers in the sullen rear of Mr O'Connell's +dying efforts. For that gentleman, personally, we believe him to be +nearly extinct. Two months ago we expressed our conviction, so much +the stronger in itself for having been adopted after some hesitation, +that Sir Robert Peel had taken the true course for eventually and +finally disarming him. We are thankful that we have now nothing to +recant. Progress has been made in that interval towards that +consummation, quite equal to any thing we could have expected in so +short a lapse of weeks. Mr O'Connell is now showing the strongest +symptoms of distress, and of conscious approach to the condition of +"check to the king." Of these symptoms we will indicate one or two. In +January 1843, he declared solemnly that an Irish Parliament should +instal itself at Dublin before the year closed. Early in May, he +promised that on the anniversary of that day the great change should +be solemnized. On a later day in May, he proclaimed that the event +would come off (according to a known nautical mode of advertising the +time of sailing) not upon a settled day of that month but "in all May" +of 1844. Here the matter rested until August 12, when again he shifted +his day to the corresponding day of 1844. But September arrived, and +then "before those shoes were old" in which he had made his promise, +he declares by letter, to some correspondent, that he must have +_forty-three months_ for working out his plan. Anther symptom, yet +more significant, is this: and strange to say it has been overlooked +by the daily press. Originally he had advertised some pretended +Parliament of 300 Irishmen, to which admission was to be had for each +member by a fee of L.100. And several journals are now telling him +that, under the Convention Act, he and his Parliament will be arrested +on the day of assembling. Not at all. They do not attend to his +harlequin motions. Already he has declared that this assembly, which +was to have been a Parliament, is only to be a conciliatory committee, +an old association under some new name, for deliberating on means +_tending to_ a Parliament in some future year, as yet not even +suggested. + +May we not say, after such facts, that the game is up? The agitation +may continue, and it may propagate itself. But for any interest of Mr +O'Connell's, it is now passing out of his hands. + +In the joy with which we survey that winding up of the affair, we can +afford to forget the infamous display of faction during the discussion +of the Arms' bill. Any thing like it, in pettiness of malignity, has +not been witnessed during this century: any thing like it, in +impotence of effect, probably will not be witnessed again during our +times. Thirteen divisions in one night--all without hope, and without +even a verbal gain! This conduct the nation will not forget at the +next election. But in the mean time the peaceful friends of this yet +peaceful empire rejoice to know, that without war, without rigour, +without an effort that could disturb or agitate--by mere silent +precautions, and the sublime magnanimity of simply fixing upon the +guilty conspirator one steadfast eye of vigilant preparation, the +conspiracy itself is melting into air, and the relics of it which +remain will soon become fearful only to him who has evoked it. + +The game, therefore, is up, if we speak of the purposes originally +contemplated. This appears equally from the circumstances of the case +without needing the commentary of Mr O'Connell, and from the acts no +less than the words of that conspirator. True it is--and this is the +one thing to be feared--that the agitation, though extinct for the +ends of its author, may propagate itself through the maddening +passions of the people, now perhaps uncontrollably excited. Tumults +may arise, at the moment when further excitement is impossible, simply +through that which is already in operation. But that stage of +rebellion is open at every turn to the coercion of the law: and it is +not such a phasis of conspiracy that Mr O'Connell wishes to face, or +_can_ face. Speaking, therefore, of the _real_ objects pursued in this +memorable agitation, we cannot but think that as the roll of possible +meetings is drawing nearer to exhaustion, as all other arts fail, and +mere _written_ addresses are renewed, (wanting the inflammatory +contagion of personal meetings, and not accessible to a scattered +peasantry;) but above all, as the day of instant action is once again +adjourned to a period both remote and indefinite, the agitation must +be drooping, and virtually we may repeat that the game is up. But the +last moves have been unusually interesting. Not unlike the fascination +exercised over birds by the eye of the rattlesnake, has been the +impression upon Mr O'Connell from the fixed attention turned upon him +by Government. What they _did_ was silent and unostentatious; more, +however, than perhaps the public is aware of in the way of preparation +for an outbreak. But the capital resource of their policy was, to make +Mr O'Connell deeply sensible that they were watching him. The eye that +watched over Waterloo was upon him: for six months that eagle glance +has searched him and nailed him: and the result, as it is now +revealing itself, may at length be expressed in the two lines of +Wordsworth otherwise applied-- + + "The vacillating bondsman of the Pope + Shrinks from the verdict of that steadfast eye." + + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + +Transcriber's Note + +Minor typographic errors have been corrected. Please note there is +some archaic spelling, which has been retained as printed. There are a +few snippets of Greek, a few instances of the letter a with macron +(straight line) over it, and some oe ligatures; you may need to adjust +your settings for these to display correctly. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. +CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. 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