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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54,
+No. 338, December 1843, 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 - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2008 [EBook #25193]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan OConnor, Patricia Bennett, Jonathan
+Ingram 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.)
+
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+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+No. CCCXXXVIII. DECEMBER, 1843. VOL. LIV.
+
+Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved
+to the end of each article.
+
+
+
+                          CONTENTS.
+
+
+        LECTURES AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.                         691
+        SOMETHING ABOUT MUSIC.                                 709
+        THE PURPLE CLOAK; OR, THE RETURN OF SYLOSON TO SAMOS.  714
+        LOVE AND DEATH.                                        717
+        THE BRIDGE OVER THE THUR.                              717
+        THE BANKING-HOUSE. A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS. PART II.  719
+        COLLEGE THEATRICALS.                                   737
+        LINES WRITTEN IN THE ISLE OF BUTE.                     749
+        TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. CONCLUSION.                     753
+        NOTES ON A TOUR OF THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS IN WALES.   766
+        ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. NO. II.                           777
+        DEATH FROM THE STING OF A SERPENT.                     798
+        GIFTS OF TEREK.                                        799
+        MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. PART VI.      801
+
+        INDEX TO VOL. LIV.                                     815
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LECTURES AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
+
+HENRY FUSELI.
+
+
+At a time when the eye of the public is more remarkably, and we trust
+more kindly, directed to the Fine Arts, we may do some service to the
+good cause, by reverting to those lectures delivered in the Royal
+Academy, composed in a spirit of enthusiasm honourable to the
+professors, but which kindled little sympathy in an age strangely dead
+to the impulses of taste. The works, therefore, which set forth the
+principles of art, were not read extensively at the time, and had little
+influence beyond the walls within which they were delivered. Favourable
+circumstances, in conjunction with their real merit, have permanently
+added the discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds to the standard literature
+of our country. They have been transferred from the artist to the
+scholar; and so it has happened, that while few of any pretension to
+scholarship have not read the "The Discourses," they have not, as they
+should have, been continually in the hands of artists themselves. To
+awaken a feeling for this kind of professional reading--yet not so
+professional as not to be beneficial--reflectingly upon classical
+learning; indeed, we might say, education in general, and therefore more
+comprehensive in its scope--we commenced our remarks on the discourses
+of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which have appeared in the pages of Maga. There
+are now more than symptoms of the departure of that general apathy which
+prevailed, when most of the Academy lectures were delivered. It will be,
+therefore, a grateful, and may we hope a useful, task, by occasional
+notices to make them more generally known.
+
+The successors of Reynolds labour under a twofold disadvantage; they
+find that he has occupied the very ground they would have taken, and
+written so ably and fully upon all that is likely to obtain a general
+interest, as to leave a prejudice against further attempts. Of
+necessity, there must be, in every work treating of the same subject,
+much repetition; and it must require no little ingenuity to give a
+novelty and variety, that shall yet be safe, and within the bounds of
+the admitted principles of art. On this account, we have no reason to
+complain of the lectures of Fuseli, which we now purpose to notice. Bold
+and original as the writer is, we find him every where impressed with a
+respect for Reynolds, and with a conviction of the truth of the
+principles which he had collected and established. If there be any
+difference, it is occasionally on the more debatable ground--particular
+passages of criticism.
+
+In the "Introduction," the student is supplied with a list of the
+authorities he should consult for the "History and Progress of his Art."
+He avoids expatiating on the books purely elementary--"the van of which
+is led by Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Durer, and the rear by Gherard
+Lavresse--as the principles which they detail must be supposed to be
+already in the student's possession, or are occasionally interwoven with
+the topics of the lectures;" and proceeds "to the historically critical
+writers, who consist of all the ancients yet remaining, Pausanias
+excepted." Fortunately, there remain a sufficient number of the
+monuments of ancient art "to furnish us with their standard of style;"
+for the accounts are so contradictory, that we should have little to
+rely upon. The works of the ancient artists are all lost: we must be
+content with the "hasty compilations of a warrior," Pliny, or the
+"incidental remarks of an orator," (rhetorician,) Quintilian. The former
+chiefly valuable when he quotes--for then, as Reynolds observed, "he
+speaks the language of an artist:" as in his account of the glazing
+method of Apelles; the manner in which Protogenes embodied his colours;
+and the term of art _circumlitio_, by which Nicias gave "the line of
+correctness to the models of Praxiteles;" the foreshortening the bull by
+Pausias, and throwing his shade on the crowd--showing a forcible
+chiaroscuro. "Of Quintilian, whose information is all relative to style,
+the tenth chapter of the XII.th book, a passage on expression in the
+XI.th, and scattered fragments of observations analogous to the process
+of his own art, is all that we possess; but what he says, though
+comparatively small in bulk, with what we have of Pliny, leaves us to
+wish for more. His review of the revolutions of style in painting, from
+Polygnotus to Apelles, and in sculpture, from Phidias to Lysippus, is
+succinct and rapid; but though so rapid and succinct, every word is
+poised by characteristic precision, and can only be the result of long
+and judicious enquiry, and perhaps even minute examination." Still less
+have we scattered in the writings of Cicero, who, "though he seems to
+have had little native taste for painting and sculpture, and even less
+than he had taste for poetry, had a conception of nature; and with his
+usual acumen, comparing the principles of one art with those of another,
+frequently scattered useful hints, or made pertinent observations. For
+many of these he might probably be indebted to Hortensius, with whom,
+though his rival in eloquence, he lived on terms of familiarity, and who
+was a man of declared taste, and one of the first collectors of the
+time." He speaks somewhat too slightingly of Pausanias,[1] as "the
+indiscriminate chronicler of legitimate tradition and legendary trash,"
+considering that he praises "the scrupulous diligence with which he
+examined what fell under his own eye." He recommends to the epic or
+dramatic artist the study of the heroics of the elder, and the Eicones
+or Picture Galleries of the elder and younger Philostratus.
+
+"The innumerable hints, maxims, anecdotes, descriptions, scattered over
+Lucian, Oelian, Athenaeus, Achilles Tatius, Tatian Pollux, and many
+more, may be consulted to advantage by the man of taste and letters, and
+probably may be neglected without much loss by the student." "Of modern
+writers on art Vasari leads the van; theorist, artist, critic, and
+biographer, in one. The history of modern art owes, no doubt, much to
+Vasari; he leads us from its cradle to its maturity with the anxious
+diligence of a nurse; but he likewise has her derelictions: for more
+loquacious than ample, and less discriminating styles than eager to
+accumulate descriptions, he is at an early period exhausted by the
+superlatives lavished on inferior claims, and forced into frigid
+rhapsodies and astrologic nonsense to do justice to the greater. He
+swears by the divinity of M. Agnolo. He tells us that he copied every
+figure of the Capella Sistina and the stanze of Raffaelle, yet his
+memory was either so treacherous, or his rapidity in writing so
+inconsiderate, that his account of both is a mere heap of errors and
+unpardonable confusion, and one might almost fancy he had never entered
+the Vatican." He is less pleased with the "rubbish of his
+contemporaries, or followers, from Condior to Ridolfi, and on to
+Malvasia." All is little worth "till the appearance of Lanzi, who, in
+his 'Storia Pittorica della Italia,' has availed himself of all the
+information existing in his time, has corrected most of those who wrote
+before him, and, though perhaps not possessed of great discriminative
+powers, has accumulated more instructive anecdotes, rescued more
+deserving names from oblivion, and opened a wider prospect of art, than
+all his predecessors." But for the valuable notes of Reynolds, the idle
+pursuit of Du Fresnoy to clothe the precepts of art in Latin verse,
+would be useless. "The notes of Reynolds, treasures of practical
+observation, place him among those whom we may read with profit." De
+Piles and Felibien are spoken of next, as the teachers of "what may be
+learned from precept, founded on prescriptive authority more than on the
+verdicts of nature." Of the effects of the system pursued by the French
+Academy from such precepts, our author is, perhaps, not undeservedly
+severe.
+
+"About the middle of the last century the German critics, established at
+Rome, began to claim the exclusive privilege of teaching the art, and to
+form a complete system of antique style. The verdicts of Mengs and
+Winkelmann, become the oracles of antiquaries, dilettanti, and artists,
+from the Pyrenees to the utmost north of Europe, have been detailed, and
+are not without their influence here. Winkelmann was the parasite of the
+fragments that fell from the conversation or the tablets of Mengs--a
+deep scholar, and better fitted to comment on a classic than to give
+lessons on art and style, he reasoned himself into frigid reveries and
+Platonic dreams on beauty. As far as the taste or the instruction of his
+tutor directed, he is right when they are; and between his own learning
+and the tuition of the other, his history of art delivers a specious
+system, and a prodigious number of useful observations." "To him Germany
+owes the shackles of her artists, and the narrow limits of their aim."
+Had Fuseli lived to have witnessed the "revival" at Munich, he would
+have appreciated the efforts made, and still making, there. He speaks of
+the works of Mengs with respect. "The works of Mengs himself are, no
+doubt, full of the most useful information, deep observation, and often
+consummate criticism. He has traced and distinguished the principles of
+the moderns from those of the ancients; and in his comparative view of
+the design, colour, composition, and expression of Raffaelle, Correggio,
+and Tiziano, with luminous perspicuity and deep precision, pointed out
+the prerogative or inferiority of each. As an artist, he is an instance
+of what perseverance, study, experience, and encouragement can achieve
+to supply the place of genius." He then, passing by all English critics
+preceding Reynolds, with the petty remark, that "the last is undoubtedly
+the first," says--"To compare Reynolds with his predecessors, would
+equally disgrace our judgment, and impeach our gratitude. His volumes
+can never be consulted without profit, and should never be quitted by
+the student's hand but to embody, by exercise, the precepts he gives and
+the means he points out." It is useful thus to see together the
+authorities which a student should consult, and we have purposely
+characterized them as concisely as we could, in our extracts, which
+strongly show the peculiar style of Mr Fuseli. If this introduction was,
+however, intended for artists, it implies in them a more advanced
+education in Greek and Latin literature than they generally possess. Mr
+Fuseli was himself an accomplished scholar. How desirable is it that the
+arts and general scholarship should go together! The classics, fully to
+be enjoyed, require no small cultivation in art; and as the greater
+portion of ancient art is drawn from that source, Greek mythology, and
+classical history and literature, such an education would seem to be the
+very first step in the acquirements of an artist. We believe that in
+general they content themselves with Lempriere's Dictionary; and that
+rather for information on subjects they may see already painted, than
+for their own use; and thus, for lack of a feeling which only education
+can give, a large field of resources is cut off from them. If it be said
+that English literature--English classics, will supply the place, we
+deny it; for there is not an English classic of value to an artist, who
+was not, to his very heart's core, embued with a knowledge and love of
+the ancient literature. We might instance but two, Spenser and
+Milton--the statute-books of the better English art--authors whom, we do
+not hesitate to say, no one can thoroughly understand or enjoy, who has
+not far advanced in classical education. We shall never cease to throw
+out remarks of this kind, with the hope that our universities will yet
+find room to foster the art within them; satisfied as we are that the
+advantages would be immense, both to the art and to the universities.
+How many would then pursue pleasures and studies most congenial with
+their usual academical education, and, thus occupied, be rescued from
+pursuits that too often lead to profligacy and ruin; and sacrifice to
+pleasures that cannot last, those which, where once fostered, have ever
+been permanent!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The FIRST LECTURE is a summary of ancient art--one rather of research
+than interest--more calculated to excite the curiosity of the student
+than to offer him any profitable instruction. The general matter is well
+known to most, who have at all studied the subject. Nor have we
+sufficient confidence in any theory as to the rise and growth of art in
+Greece, to lay much stress upon those laid down in this lecture. We
+doubt if the religion of Greece ever had that hold upon the feelings of
+the people, artists, or their patrons, which is implied in the
+supposition, that it was an efficient cause. A people that could listen
+to the broad farce of Aristophanes, and witness every sort of contempt
+thrown upon the deities they professed to worship, were not likely to
+seek in religion the advancement of art; and their licentious
+liberty--if liberty it deserved to be called--was of too watchful a
+jealousy over greatness of every kind, to suffer genius to be free and
+without suspicion. We will not follow the lecturer through his
+conjectures on the mechanic processes. It is more curious than useful to
+trace back the more perfect art through its stages--the "Polychrom," the
+"Monochrom," the "Monogram," and "Skiagram"--nor from the pencil to the
+"cestrum." Polygnotus is said to be the first who introduced the
+"essential style;" which consisted in ascertaining the abstract, the
+general form, as it is technically termed the central form. Art under
+Polygnotus was, however, in a state of formal "parallelism;" certainly
+it could boast no variety of composition. Apollodorus "applied the
+essential principles of Polygnotus to the delineation of the species, by
+investigating the leading forms that discriminate the various classes of
+human qualities and passions." He saw that all men were connected
+together by one general form, yet were separated by some predominant
+power into classes; "thence he drew his line of imitation, and
+personified the central form of the class to which his object belonged,
+and to which the rest of its qualities administered, without being
+absorbed." Zeuxis, from the essential of Polygnotus and specific
+discrimination of Apollodorus, comparing one with the other, formed his
+ideal style. Thus are there the three styles--the essential, the
+characteristic, the ideal.
+
+Art was advanced and established under Parrhasius and Timanthes, and
+refined under Eupompus, Apelles, Aristides, and Euphranor. "The
+correctness of Parrhasius succeeded to the genius of Zeuxis. He
+circumscribed the ample style, and by subtle examination of outline,
+established that standard of divine and heroic form which raised him to
+the authority of a legislator, from whose decisions there was no appeal.
+He gave to the divine and heroic character in painting, what Polycletus
+had given to the human in sculpture by his Doryphorus, a canon of
+proportion. Phidias had discovered in the nod of the Homeric Jupiter the
+characteristic of majesty, _inclination of the head_. This hinted to him
+a higher elevation of the neck behind, a bolder protrusion of the front,
+and the increased perpendicular of the profile. To this conception
+Parrhasius fixed a maximum; that point from which descends the ultimate
+line of celestial beauty, the angle within which moves what is inferior,
+beyond which what is portentous. From the head conclude to the
+proportions of the neck, the limbs, the extremities; from the Father to
+the race of gods; all, the sons of one, Zeus; derived from one source of
+tradition, Homer; formed by one artist, Phidias; on him measured and
+decided by Parrhasius. In the simplicity of this principle, adhered to
+by the succeeding periods, lies the uninterrupted progress and the
+unattainable superiority of Grecian art."
+
+In speaking of Timanthes as the competitor with Parrhasius, as one who
+brought into the art more play of the mind and passions, the lecturer
+takes occasion to discuss the often discussed and disputed propriety of
+Timanthes, in covering the head of Agamemnon in his picture of the
+sacrifice of Iphigenia. He thinks it the more incumbent on him so to do,
+as the "late president" had passed a censure upon Timanthes. Sir Joshua
+expressed his _doubt_ only, not his censure absolutely, upon the
+delivery of the prize at the Academy for the best picture painted from
+this subject. He certainly dissents from bestowing the praise, upon the
+supposition of the intention being the avoiding a difficulty. And as to
+this point, the well-known authorities of Cicero, Quintilian, Valerius
+Maximus, and Pliny, seem to agree. And _if_, as the lecturer observes in
+a note, the painter is made to waste expression on inferior actors at
+the expense of a principal one, he is an improvident spendthrift, not a
+wise economist. The pertness of Falconet is unworthy grave criticism and
+the subject, though it is quoted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. He assumes that
+Agamemnon is the principal figure. Undoubtedly Mr Fuseli is
+right--Iphigenia is the principal figure; and it may be fairly admitted,
+that the overpowering expression of the grief of the father would have
+divided the subject. It might be more properly a separate picture. Art
+is limited; nothing should detract from the principal figure, the
+principal action--passion. Our sympathy is not called for on behalf of
+the father here: the grief of the others in the picture is the grief in
+perfect sympathy with Iphigenia; the father would have been absorbed in
+his own grief, and his grief would have been an unsympathetic grief
+towards Iphigenia. It was his own case that he felt; and it does appear
+to us an aggravation of the suffering of Iphigenia, that, at the moment
+of her sacrifice, she saw indeed her father's person, but was never
+more--and knew she was never more--to behold his face again. This
+circumstance alone would justify Timanthes, but other concurrent reasons
+may be given. It was no want of power to express the father's grief, for
+it is in the province of art to express every such delineation; but
+there _is_ a point of grief that is ill expressed by the countenance at
+all; and there is a natural action in such cases for the sufferer
+himself to hide his face, as if conscious that it was not in agreement
+with his feelings. Such grief is astounding: we look for the expression
+of it, and find it not: it is better than receive this shock to hide the
+face. We do it naturally; so that here the art of the painter, that
+required that his picture should be a whole, and centre in Iphigenia,
+was mainly assisted by the proper adoption of this natural action of
+Agamemnon. Mr Fuseli, whose criticism is always acute, and generally
+just and true, has well discussed the subject, and properly commented
+upon the flippancy of Falconet. After showing the many ways in which the
+painter might have expressed the parent's grief, and that none of them
+would be _decere, pro dignitate, digne_, he adds--'But Timanthes had too
+true a sense of nature to expose a father's feelings, or to tear a
+passion to rags; nor had the Greeks yet learned of Rome to steel the
+face. If he made Agamemnon bear his calamity as a man, he made him also
+feel it as a man. It became the leader of Greece to sanction the
+ceremony with his presence: it did not become the father to see his
+daughter beneath the dagger's point: the same nature that threw a real
+mantle over the face of Timoleon, when he assisted at the punishment of
+his brother, taught Timanthes to throw an imaginary one over the face of
+Agamemnon; neither height nor depth, _propriety_ of expression was his
+aim.' It is a question whether Timanthes took the idea from the text of
+Euripides, or whether it is his invention, and was borrowed by the
+dramatist. The picture must have presented a contrast to that of his
+rival Parrhasius, which exhibited the fury of Ajax.
+
+Whether the invention was or was not the merit of Euripides, certainly
+this is not the only instance wherein he has turned it to dramatic
+advantage. No dramatist was so distinct a painter as Euripides; his mind
+was ever upon picture. He makes Hecuba, in the dialogue with Agamemnon,
+say, "Pity me, and, standing apart as would a painter, look at me, and
+see what evils I have,"
+
+     [Greek: Oichteiron hemas, os grapheus t apostatheis,
+     Ida me chanathreson, oi echo chacha.]
+
+And this Hecuba, when Talthybius comes to require her presence for the
+burial of Polyxena, is found lying on the ground, _her face covered_
+with her robe:--
+
+     [Greek: Aute pelas sou, not echous epi chthoni,
+     Talthubie, keitai, sugchechleismene peplois.]
+
+And in the same play, Polyxena bids Ulysses to cover her head with a
+robe, as he leads her away, that she might not see her mother's grief.
+
+     [Greek: Komiz, Odysseu, m'amphitheis peplois chara.]
+
+But in the instance in question, in the Iphigenia, there is one
+circumstance that seems to have been overlooked by the critics, which
+makes the action of Agamemnon the more expressive, and gives it a
+peculiar force: the dramatist takes care to exhibit the more than common
+parental and filial love; when asked by Clytemnestra what would be her
+last, her dying request, it is instantly, on her father's account, to
+avert every feeling of wrath against him:--
+
+     [Greek: Patera ge ton emon me stugei, posin te son.]
+
+And even when the father covers his face, she is close beside him,
+_tells him that she is beside him_, and her last words are to comfort
+him. Now, whether Timanthes took the scene from Euripides or Euripides
+from Timanthes, it could not be more powerfully, more naturally
+conceived; for this dramatic incident, the tender movement to his side,
+and speech of Iphigenia, could not have been imagined, or at least with
+little effect, had not the father first covered his face. Mr Fuseli has
+collected several instances of attempts something similar in pictures,
+particularly by Massaccio, and Raffaelle from him; and he well
+remarks--"We must conclude that Nature herself dictated to him this
+method, as superior to all he could express by features; and that he
+recognized the same dictate in Massaccio, who can no more be supposed to
+have been acquainted with the precedent of Timanthes than Shakspeare
+with that of Euripides, when he made Macduff draw his hat over his
+face." From Timanthes Mr Fuseli proceeds to eulogize Aristides; whom
+history records as, in a peculiar excellence, the painter of the
+passions of nature. "Such, history informs us, was the suppliant whose
+voice you seemed to hear, such his sick man's half-extinguished eye and
+labouring breast, such Byblis expiring in the pangs of love, and, above
+all, the half-slain mother shuddering lest the eager babe should suck
+the blood from her palsied nipple."--"Timanthes had marked the limits
+that discriminate terror from the excess of horror; Aristides drew the
+line that separates it from disgust." Then follows a very just criticism
+upon instances in which he considered that Raffaelle himself and Nicolo
+Poussin had overstepped the bounds of propriety, and averted the
+feelings from their object, by ideas of disgust. In the group of
+Raffaelle, a man is removing the child from the breast of the mother
+with one hand, while the other is applied to his nostrils. Poussin, in
+his plague of the Philistines, has copied the loathsome action--so,
+likewise, in another picture, said to be the plague of Athens, but
+without much reason so named, in the collection of J. P. Mills, Esq. Dr
+Waagen, in his admiration for the executive part of art, speaks of it as
+"a very rich masterpiece of Poussin, in which we are reconciled by his
+skill to the horrors of the subject."
+
+In the commencement of the lecture, there are offered some definitions
+of the terms of art, "nature, grace, taste, copy, imitation, genius,
+talent." In that of nature, he seems entirely to agree with Reynolds;
+that of beauty leaves us pretty much in the dark in our search for it,
+"as that harmonious whole of the human frame, that unison of parts to
+one end, which enchants us. The result of the standard set by the great
+masters of our art, the ancients, and confirmed by the submissive
+verdict of modern imitation." This is unphilosophical, unsatisfactory;
+nor is that of grace less so--"that artless balance of motion and
+repose, sprung from character, founded on propriety, which neither falls
+short of the demands, nor overleaps the modesty of nature. Applied to
+execution it means that dexterous power which hides the means by which
+it was attained, the difficulties it has conquered." We humbly suggest,
+that both parts of this definition may be found where there is little
+grace. It is evident that the lecturer did not subscribe to any theory
+of lines, as _per se_ beautiful or graceful, and altogether disregarded
+Hogarth's line of beauty. Had Mr Hay's very admirable short works--his
+"Theory of Form and Proportion"--appeared in Mr Fuseli's day, he would
+have taken a new view of beauty and grace. By taste, he means not only a
+knowledge of what is right in art, but a power to estimate degrees of
+excellence, "and by comparison proceeds from justness to refinement."
+This, too, we think inadequate to express what we mean by taste, which
+appears to us to have something of a sense, independent of knowledge.
+Using words in a technical sense, we may define them to mean what we
+please, but certainly the words themselves, "copy" and "imitation," do
+not mean very different things. He thinks "precision of eye, and
+obedience of hand, are the requisites for copy, without the least
+pretence to choice, what to select, what to reject; whilst choice,
+directed by judgment or taste, constitutes the essence of imitation, and
+alone can raise the most dexterous copyist to the noble rank of an
+artist." We do not exactly see how this judgment arises out of his
+definition of "taste." But it may be fair to follow him still closer on
+this point. "The imitation of the ancients was, _essential_,
+_characteristic_, _ideal_. The first cleared nature of accident, defect,
+excrescence, (which was in fact his definition of nature, as so
+cleared;) the second found the _stamen_ which connects character with
+the central form; the third raised the whole and the parts to the
+highest degree of unison." This is rather loose writing, and not very
+close reasoning. After all, it may be safer to take words in their
+common acceptation; for it is very difficult in a treatise of any
+length, to preserve in the mind or memory the precise ideas of given
+definitions. "Of genius, I shall speak with reserve; for no word has
+been more indiscriminately confounded. By genius, I mean that power
+which enlarges the circle of human knowledge, which discovers new
+materials of nature, or combines the known with novelty; whilst talent
+arranges, cultivates, polishes the discoveries of genius." Definitions,
+divisions, and subdivisions, though intended to make clear, too often
+entangle the ground unnecessarily, and keep the mind upon the stretch to
+remember, when it should only feel. We think this a fault with Mr
+Fuseli; it often renders him obscure, and involves his style of
+aphorisms in the mystery of a riddle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SECOND LECTURE.--This lecture comprises a compendious history of modern
+art; commencing with Massaccio. If religion gave the impulse to both
+ancient and modern, so has it stamped each with the different characters
+itself assumed. The conceptions the ancients had of divinity, were the
+perfection of the human form; thus form and beauty became godlike. The
+Christian religion wore a more spiritual character. In ancient art,
+human form and beauty were triumphant; in modern art, the greater
+triumph was in humility, in suffering; the religious inspiration was to
+be shown in its influence in actions less calculated to display the
+powers, the energies of form, than those of mind. Mere external beauty
+had its accompanying vices; and it was compelled to lower its
+pretensions considerably, submit to correction, and take a more
+subordinate part. Thus, if art lost in form it gained in expression, and
+thus was really more divine. Art in its revival, passing through the
+barbarity of Gothic adventurers, not unencumbered with senseless
+superstitions, yet with wondrous rapidity, raised itself to the noblest
+conceptions of both purity and magnificence. Sculpture had, indeed,
+preceded painting in the works of Ghiberti Donato and Philippo
+Brunelleschi, when Massaccio appeared. "He first perceived that parts
+are to constitute a whole; that composition ought to have a centre;
+expression, truth; and execution, unity. His line deserves attention,
+though his subjects led him not to investigation of form, and the
+shortness of his life forbade his extending those elements, which
+Raffaelle, nearly a century afterwards, carried to perfection." That
+great master of expression did not disdain to borrow from him--as is
+seen in the figure of "St Paul preaching at Athens," and that of "Adam
+expelled from Paradise." Andrea Mantegna attempted to improve upon
+Massaccio, by adding form from study of the antique. Mr Fuseli considers
+his "taste too crude, his fancy too grotesque, and his comprehension too
+weak, to advert from the parts that remained to the whole that inspired
+them; hence, in his figures of dignity or beauty, we see not only the
+meagre forms of common models, but even their defects tacked to ideal
+torsos." We think, however, he is deserving of more praise than the
+lecturer was disposed to bestow upon him, and that his "triumphs," the
+processions, (at Hampton Court,) are not quite justly called "a copious
+inventory of classic lumber, swept together with more industry than
+taste, but full of valuable materials." Yet when it is said, that he was
+"not ignorant of expression," and that "his Burial of Christ furnished
+Raffaelle with composition, and even "some figures and attitudes," the
+severity of the opinion seems somewhat mitigated. Luca Signorelli, more
+indebted to nature than the study of the antique, "seems to have been
+the first who contemplated with a discriminating eye his object; saw
+what was accidental, and what essential; balanced light and shade, and
+decided the motion of his figures. He foreshortened with equal boldness
+and intelligence." It was thought by Vasari, that in his "Judgment,"
+Michael Angelo had imitated him. At this period of the "dawn of modern
+art, Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour which distanced
+former excellence; made up of all the elements that constitute the
+essence of genius; favoured by education and circumstances--all ear, all
+eye, all grasp; painter, poet, sculptor, anatomist, architect, engineer,
+chemist, machinist, musician, man of science, and sometimes empiric, he
+laid hold of every beauty in the enchanted circle, but without exclusive
+attachment to one, dismissed in her turn each." "We owe him chiaroscuro,
+with all its magic--we owe him caricature, with all its incongruities."
+His genius was shown in the design of the cartoon intended for the
+council-chamber at Florence, which he capriciously abandoned, wherein
+the group of horsemen might fairly rival the greatness of Michael Angelo
+himself; and in the well-known "Last Supper," in the refectory of the
+Dominicans at Milan, best known, however, from the copies which remain
+of it, and the studies which remain. Fra Bartolomeo, "the last master of
+this period, first gave gradation to colour, form and masses to drapery,
+and a grave dignity, till then unknown, to execution." His was the merit
+of having weaned Raffaelle "from the meanness of Pietro Perugino, and
+prepared for the mighty style of Michael Angelo Buonarotti." Mr Fuseli
+is inspired by his admiration of that wonderful man, as painter,
+sculptor, and architect.
+
+"Sublimity of conception, grandeur of form, and breadth of manner, are
+the elements of Michael Angelo's style. By these principles, he selected
+or rejected the objects of imitation. As painter, as sculptor, as
+architect, he attempted--and above any other man, succeeded--to unite
+magnificence of plan, and endless variety of subordinate parts, with the
+utmost simplicity and breadth. His line is uniformly grand. Character
+and beauty were admitted only as far as they could be made subservient
+to grandeur. The child, the female, meanness, deformity, were by him
+indiscriminately stamped with grandeur. A beggar rose from his hand the
+patriarch of poverty; the hump of his dwarf is impressed with dignity;
+his women are moulds of generation, his infants teem with man; his men
+are a race of giants. This is the 'terribile via' hinted at by Agostino
+Caracci; though, perhaps, as little understood by the Bolognese as by
+the blindest of his Tuscan adorers, with Vasari at their head. To give
+the appearance of perfect ease to the most perplexing difficulty, was
+the exclusive power of Michael Angelo. He is the inventor of epic in
+painting, in that sublime circle of the Sistine chapel which exhibits
+the origin, the progress, and the final dispensations of theocracy. He
+has personated motion in the groups of the cartoon of Pisa; embodied
+sentiment on the monuments of St Lorenzo; unraveled the features of
+meditation in the prophets and sibyls of the Sistine chapel; and in the
+'Last Judgment,' with every attitude that varies the human body, traced
+the master trait of every passion that sways the human heart. Though, as
+sculptor, he expressed the character of flesh more perfectly than all
+who went before or came after him, yet he never submitted to copy an
+individual--Julio the Second only excepted; and in him he represented
+the reigning passion rather than the man. In painting, he contented
+himself with a negative colour, and as the painter of mankind, rejected
+all meretricious ornament. The fabric of St Peter's scattered into
+infinity of jarring parts by Bramante and his successors, he
+concentrated; suspended the cupola, and to the most complex, gave the
+air of the most simple of edifices. Such, take him for all in all, was
+Michael Angelo, the salt of art; sometimes, no doubt, he had his moments
+of dereliction, deviated into manner, or perplexed the grandeur of his
+forms with futile and ostentatious anatomy; both met with armies of
+copyists, and it has been his fate to have been censured for their
+folly." This studied panegyric is nevertheless vigorous--emulous as that
+of Longinus, of showing the author to be--
+
+     "Himself, the great sublime he draws."
+
+It hurries away the mind of the reader till it kindles a congenial
+enthusiasm, we have the more readily given the quotation, as it is not
+an unfair specimen of Mr Fuseli's power, both of thought and language.
+Our author is scarcely less eloquent in his eulogy of Raffaelle which
+follows. He has seized on the points of character of that great painter
+very happily. "His composition always hastens to the most necessary
+point as its centre, and from that disseminates, to that leads back, as
+rays, all secondary ones. Group, form, and contrast are subordinate to
+the event, and common-place ever excluded. His expression, in strict
+unison with, and inspired by character; whether calm, agitated,
+convulsed, or absorbed by the inspiring passion, unmixed and pure, never
+contradicts its cause, equally remote from tameness and grimace: the
+moment of his choice never suffers the action to stagnate or expire; it
+is the moment of transition, the crisis, big with the past, and pregnant
+with the future."
+
+It is certainly true--the moment generally chosen by Raffaelle, is not
+of the action completed, the end--but that in which it is doing. You
+instantly acknowledge the power, while your curiosity is not quenched.
+For instance, in the cartoon of the "Beautiful Gate," you see the action
+at the word is just breaking into the miracle--the cripple is yet in his
+distorted infirmity--but you see near him grace and activity of limb
+beautifully displayed, in that mother and running child; and you look to
+the perfection which, you feel sure, the miracle will complete. This is
+by no means the best instance--it is the case in all his compositions
+where a story is to be told. It is this action which, united with most
+perfect character and expression, makes the life of Raffaelle's
+pictures. We think, however, that even in so summary a history of art as
+this, the object of which seems to be to mark the steps to its
+perfection, the influence of Pietro Perugino should not have been
+omitted. He is often very pure in sentiment, often more than bordering
+on grace, and in colour perhaps superior to Raffaelle. Notwithstanding
+Mr Fuseli's eulogy of Raffaelle, we doubt if he fully entered into his
+highest sentiment. This we may show when we comment on another lecture.
+While Rome and Tuscany were thus fostering the higher principles of art,
+the fascination of colour was spreading a new charm to every eye at
+Venice, from the pencils of Giorgione, and of Titian. Had not Titian
+been a colourist, his genius was not unequal to the great style; perhaps
+he has admitted of that style as much as would suit the predominant
+character of his colouring. He worked less with chiaroscuro than colour,
+which he endowed with all the sentiment of his subject. Mr Fuseli
+considers landscape to have originated with Titian.
+
+"Landscape, whether it be considered as the transcript of a spot, or the
+rich combination of congenial objects, or as the scene of a phenomenon,
+dates its origin from him:" so of portrait, he says--"He is the father
+of portrait painting, of resemblance with form, character with dignity,
+and costume with subordination." The yet wanting charm of art--perfect
+harmony, was reserved for Correggio. "The harmony and grace of Correggio
+are proverbial; the medium which, by breadth of gradation, unites two
+opposite principles, the coalition of light and darkness, by
+imperceptible transition, are the element of his style." "This unison of
+a whole predominates in all that remains of him, from the vastness of
+his cupolas to the smallest of his oil pictures. The harmony of
+Correggio, though assisted by exquisite hues, was entirely independent
+of colour; his great organ was chiaroscuro in its most extensive
+sense--compared with the expanse in which he floats, the effects of
+Leonardi da Vinci are little more than the dying ray of evening, and the
+concentrated flash of Giorgione discordant abruptness. The bland,
+central light of a globe, imperceptibly gliding through lucid demi-tints
+into rich reflected shades, composes the spell of Correggio, and affects
+us with the soft emotions of a delicious dream." Here terminates the
+great, the primal era. Such were the patriarchs of modern art. Here, it
+may be said, terminated the great discoverers. Mr Fuseli pauses here to
+observe, that we should consider the characteristic of each of these
+painters, not their occasional deviations; for not unfrequently did
+Titian rise to the loftiness of conception of Michael Angelo, and
+Correggio occasionally "exceeded all competition in expression in the
+divine features of his _Ecce Homo_." If Mr Fuseli alludes to the _Ecce
+Homo_ now in our National Gallery, we cannot go along with him in this
+praise--but in that picture, the expression of the true "Mater dolorosa"
+was never equaled. Art now proceeds to its period of "Refinement." The
+great schools--the Tuscan, the Roman, the Venetian, and the
+Lombard--from whatever cause, separated. Michael Angelo lived to see his
+great style polluted by Tuscan and Venetian, "as the ostentatious
+vehicle of puny conceits and emblematic quibbles, or the palliative of
+empty pomp and degraded luxuriance of colour." He considers Andrea del
+Sarto to have been his copyer, not his imitator. Tibaldi seems to have
+caught somewhat of his mind. As did Sir Joshua, so does Mr Fuseli
+mention his Polypheme groping at the mouth of his cave for Ulysses. He
+expresses his surprise that Michael Angelo was unacquainted with the
+great talent of Tibaldi, but lavished his assistance on inferior men,
+Sebastian del Piombo and Daniel of Volterra. We think he does not do
+fair justice to the merits of these undoubtedly great men. We shall have
+occasion hereafter to notice his criticism on the great work of
+Sebastian, in our National Gallery. We are surprised that he should
+consider Sebastian del Piombo deficient in ideal colour, and that the
+lines of Daniel of Volterra are meagre and sterile of idea--his
+celebrated Descent from the Cross being in its lines, as tending to
+perfect the composition, and to make full his great idea, quite
+extraordinary. Poor Vasari, who can never find favour with our author,
+is considered the great depravator of the style of Michael Angelo.
+
+At the too early death of Raffaelle, his style fell into gradual decay.
+Still Julio Romano, and Polidoro da Carravaggio, "deserted indeed the
+standard of their master, but with a dignity and magnitude of compass
+which command respect."
+
+The taste of Julio Romano was not pure enough to detach him from
+"deformity and grimace" and "ungenial colour." Primaticcio and Nicolo
+dell Abate propagated the style of Julio Romano on the Gallic side of
+the Alps, in mythologic and allegoric works. These frescoes from the
+Odyssea at Fontainbleau are lost, but are worthy admiration, though in
+the feeble etchings of Theodore van Fulden. The "ideal light and shade,
+and tremendous breadth of manner" of Michael Angelo Amerigi, surnamed
+Il Caravaggi, are next commended. "The aim and style of the Roman school
+deserve little further notice here, till the appearance of Nicolo
+Poussin." His partiality for the antique mainly affected his style. "He
+has left specimens to show that he was sometimes sublime, and often in
+the highest degree pathetic." Mr Fuseli takes occasion, by contrasting
+"the classic regularity" of Poussin with the "wildness of Salvator
+Rosa"--we think unnecessarily, because there seems to be no true point
+of comparison, and unjustly to censure that great, we may say, that
+original painter. We have noticed occasionally a capricious dislike in
+our author to some artists, for which we are at a loss to account. That
+Salvator should "hide by boldness of hand his inability of exhibiting
+her (Nature) impassioned," is a sentence that will scarcely meet with an
+assenting critic. The wealth and luxury of Venice soon demanded of art,
+to sacrifice the modesty of nature to ostentation. The principle of
+Titian was, however, followed by Tintoretto, Bassan, Paul Veronese, and
+then passed to Velasquez the Spaniard, in Italy. From him "Rubens and
+Vandyck attempted to transplant it to Flanders, France, and England,
+with unequal success." The style of Correggio scarcely survived him, for
+he had more imitators of parts than followers of the whole. His grace
+became elegance under the hand of Parmegiano. "That disengaged play of
+delicate forms, the 'saltezza' of the Italians, is the prerogative of
+Parmegiano, though nearly always obtained at the expense of proportion."
+We cannot agree with the lecturer, that the Moses of Parmegiano--if he
+speaks of _the_ Moses referred to in the Discourses of Sir Joshua, of
+which Mr Burnet, in his second edition, has given a plate--loses "the
+dignity of the lawgiver in the savage." Such was the state of art to the
+foundation of the Eclectic School by the Caracci--an attempt to unite
+the excellences of all schools. The principles are perpetuated in a
+sonnet by Agostino Caracci. The Caracci were, however, in their practice
+above their precepts. Theirs, too, was the school of the "Naturalists."
+Ludovico is particularly praised for his solemnity of hue, most suited
+to his religious subjects--"that sober twilight, the air of cloistered
+meditation, which you have so often heard recommended as the proper tone
+of historic colour." If the recommendation has at our Academy been often
+heard, it has entirely lost its influence; our English school is--with
+an ignorance of the real object of colour, or with a very bad taste as
+to its harmony--running into an opposite extravagance, destructive of
+real power, glaring and distracting where it ought to concentrate
+through vision the ideas of the mind. Annibal Caracci had more power of
+execution, but not the taste of Agostino. In their immediate scholars,
+the lecturer seems little disposed to see fairly their several
+excellences. They are out of the view of his bias. They are not Michael
+Angelesque. His judgment of Domenichino--a painter who greatly restored
+the simplicity and severity of the elder schools, and greatly surpassed
+his masters--is an instance of blindness to a power in art which we
+would almost call new, that is very strange to see. "Domenichino, more
+obedient than the rest to his masters, aimed at the beauty of the
+antique, the expression of Raphael, the vigour of Annibal, the colour of
+Ludovico; and mixing something of each, fell short of all." Nor do we
+think him just with regard to Guercino, or even at all describing his
+characteristic style, when he speaks of his "fierceness of chiaroscuro,
+and intrepidity of hand." We readily give up to him "the great but
+abused talents of Pietro da Cortona," a painter without sentiment, and
+the "fascinating but debauched and empty facility of Luca Giordano."
+
+The German schools here come under consideration, which, simultaneously
+with those of Italy, and without visible communication, spread the
+principles of art. "Towards the decline of the fifteenth century, the
+uncouth essays of Martin Schoen, Michael Wolgemuth, and Albrecht
+Altorfer, were succeeded by the finer polish and the more dexterous
+method of Albert Durer." His well-known figure of "Melancholy" would
+alone entitle him to rank. The breadth and power of his wood engravings
+are worthy of admiration. Mr Fuseli thinks "his colour went beyond his
+age, and as far excelled, in truth and breadth of handling, the
+oil-colour of Raphael, as Raphael excels him in every other quality.
+His influence was not unfelt in Italy. It is visible in the style of
+even the imitators of Michael Angelo--Andrea del Sarto, particularly in
+the angular manner of his draperies. Though Albert Durer had no
+scholars, he was imitated by the Dutch Lucas of Leyden. Now it was that
+the style of Michael Angelo, spread by the graver of Giorgio Mantuano,
+brought to Italy "those caravans of German, Dutch, and Flemish students,
+who, on their return from Italy, at the courts of Prague and Munich, in
+Flanders and the Netherlands, introduced the preposterous manner, the
+bloated excrescence of diseased brains, which, in the form of man, left
+nothing human; distorted action and gesture with insanity of
+affectation, and dressed the gewgaws of children in colossal shapes."
+But though such as Golzius, Spranger, Heyntz, and Abach, "fed on the
+husks of Tuscan design, they imbibed the colour of Venice, and spread
+the elements of that excellence which distinguished the succeeding
+schools of Flanders and of Holland." So it was till the appearance of
+Rubens and Rembrandt--"both of whom, disdaining to acknowledge the usual
+laws of admission to the temple of Fame, boldly forged their own keys,
+entered, and took possession, each of a most conspicuous place, by his
+own power." Rubens, with many advantages, acquired in his education at
+Antwerp, and already influenced by the gorgeous pomp of Austrian and
+Spanish superstition, arrived in Italy rather as the rival than pupil of
+the masters whom he travelled to study. Whatever he borrowed from the
+Venetian school--the object of his admiration--he converted into a new
+manner of florid magnificence. It is just the excellence of Rubens--the
+completeness, the congruity of his style--that has raised him to the
+eminence in the temple of fame which he will ever occupy. A little short
+of Rubens is intolerable: the clumsy forms and improprieties of his
+imitators are not to be endured. Mr Fuseli excepts Vandyck and Abraham
+Drepenbeck from the censure passed upon the followers of Rubens. As
+Drepenbeck is not so well known, we quote the passage respecting
+him:--"The fancy of Drepenbeck, though not so exuberant, if I be not
+mistaken, excelled in sublimity the imagination of Rubens. His
+Bellerophon, Dioscuri, Hippolytus, Ixion, Sisyphus, fear no competitor
+among the productions of his master." Rembrandt he considers a genius of
+the first class in all but form. Chiaroscuro and colour were the
+elements, in fact, in which Rembrandt reveled. In these he was the
+poet--the maker. He made colour and chiaroscuro throw out ideas of
+sublimity: that he might throw himself the more into these great
+elements of his art, and depend solely on their power, he seems
+purposely not to have neglected form, but to have selected such as,
+without beauty to attract, should be merely the objects of life, the
+sensitive beings in his world of mystery. That such was his intention we
+cannot doubt; because we cannot imagine the beautiful but too attractive
+figures of the Apollo or the Venus adopted into one of his pictures.
+Excepting in a few instances, we would not wish Rembrandt's forms other
+than they are. They appear necessary to his style. Mr Fuseli speaks very
+favourably of art in Switzerland; but says there are only two painters
+of name--Holbein, and Francis Mola. The designs of the Passion and Dance
+of Death of the former, are instanced as works of excellence. Mola, we
+are surprised to find ranked as Swiss; for he is altogether, in art,
+Italian. The influence of the school and precepts of the Caracci,
+produced in France an abundant harvest of mediocrity. In France was the
+merit of Michael Angelo first questioned. There are, however, names that
+rescue France from the entire disgrace of the abandonment of the true
+principles of art: Nicolo Poussin, Le Sueur, Le Brun, Sebastian Bourdon,
+and Pierre Mignard. The Seven Works of Charity, by Seb. Bourdon, teem
+with surprising, pathetic, and always novel images; and in the Plague of
+David, by Pierre Mignard, our sympathy is roused by energies of terror
+and combinations of woe, which escaped Poussin and Raphael himself." Of
+Spanish art he says but little, but that "the degree of perfection
+attained by Diego Velasquez, Joseph Ribera, and Murillo, in pursuing the
+same object by means as different as successful, impresses us with deep
+respect for the variety of their powers." Art, as every thing else, has
+its fashion. The Spanish school have, of later years, been more eagerly
+sought for; and a strange whim of the day has attached a very
+extraordinary value to the works of Murillo--a painter in colour
+generally monotonous, and in form and expression almost always vulgar.
+
+Art in England is the next subject of the lecture. He takes a view of it
+from the age of Henry VIII. to our own. No great encouragement was here
+given to art till the time of Charles I.: Holbein, indeed, and Zucchero,
+under Elizabeth, were patronized, but "were condemned to Gothic work and
+portrait painting." The troubles and death of Charles I. were a sad
+obstacle to art. "His son, in possession of the Cartoons of Raphael, and
+with the magnificence of Whitehall before his eyes, suffered Verio to
+contaminate the walls of his palaces, or degraded Lely to paint the
+Cymons and Iphigenias of his court; whilst the manner of Kneller swept
+completely what might yet be left of taste under his successors. Such
+was the equally contemptible and deplorable state of English art, till
+the genius of Reynolds first rescued from the mannered depravation of
+foreigners his own branch; and, soon extending his view to the higher
+departments of art, joined that select body of artists who addressed the
+ever open ear, ever attentive mind, of our royal founder with the first
+idea of this establishment." After this little parade of our artists as
+a body, but four are mentioned by name--"Reynolds, Hogarth,
+Gainsborough, and Wilson."
+
+We are surprised that, in this summary history of art, no notice has
+been taken of Van Eyck, and the influence of his discovery on art. Nor
+are we less surprised that so important a branch as landscape painting
+should have been omitted; Claude and Gaspar Poussin not mentioned; yet,
+in the English school, Wilson is spoken of, whose sole merit rested upon
+his landscape. He should more distinctly have stated his purpose to
+treat only of high and historical art.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THIRD LECTURE.--In the commencement, there is an unnecessary, and rather
+affectedly written disquisition of the old question, or rather
+comparison between poetry and painting, from which nothing is to be
+learned; nor does it suggest any thing. Nor do we now-a-days want to
+read pages to tell us what invention is, and how it differs from
+creation--nor is it at all important in matters of art, that we should
+draw any such distinction at all. It is far better to go at once "in
+medias res," and take it for granted that the reader both knows and
+feels, without metaphysical discussion, what that invention is which is
+required to make a great painter. Nor are we disposed to look upon
+otherwise than impertinent, while we are waiting for didactic rules, the
+being told that "he who discovers a gold mine, is surely superior to him
+who afterwards adapts the metal for use;" especially when it is paraded
+with comparisons between "Colombo" and "Amerigo Vespucci," and a
+misplaced panegyric on Newton. And much of this is encumbered with
+language that fatigues and makes a plain matter obscure. There is a
+little affectation sometimes in Mr Fuseli's writing of Ciceronic
+_ambages_, that is really injurious to the good sense and just thoughts,
+which would without this display, come free, open, and with power. Some
+pages, too, are taken up with a preliminary argument--"_whether it be
+within the artist's province or not, to find or to combine a subject
+from himself, without having recourse to tradition, or the stores of
+history and poetry_." We have a display of learning to little purpose,
+quotations from Latin and Greek, really "nihil ad rem;" the "[Greek:
+phantasias]" of the Greek, and "visiones" of the Romans. Who that ever
+saw even one work of Hogarth, the "Marriage a la Mode," would for a
+moment think the question worth a thought. "The misnamed gladiator of
+Agasias," seems forced into this treatise, for the sole purpose of
+showing Mr Fuseli's reading, and after all, he leaves the figure as
+uncertain as he finds it. He _once_ thought it might have been an
+Alcibiades rushing from the flames, when his house was fired; but is
+more satisfied that "it might form an admirable Ulysses bestriding the
+deck of his ship to defend his companions from the descending fangs of
+Scylla, or rather, with indignation and anguish, seeing them already
+snatched up, and writhing in the mysterious gripe." In such fanciful
+humours, it might be made to mean any thing or any body. And we are,
+after all, quite at a loss to know whether the _conjecture_ is offered
+as a specimen of "_invention_." He considers the cartoon of Pisa "the
+most striking instance, of the eminent place due to this _intuitive
+faculty among the principal organs of invention_"--we mark these words
+in italics, not quite certain of their meaning. The work is engraved for
+Foster, by Schiavonetti; and a wonderful work it is--the work of Michael
+Angelo begun in competition with Leonardo da Vinci. The original is said
+to have been destroyed by Baccio Bandinelli; still there are the ancient
+prints and drawings which show the design, and there is a small copy at
+Holkham. Benvenuto Cellini--and could there be a better
+authority?--denies that the powers afterwards exerted in the Capella
+Sistina, arrive at half its excellence. Mr Fuseli's description is so
+good, that we give it entire. "It represents an imaginary moment
+relative to the war carried on by the Florentines against Pisa; and
+exhibits a numerous group of warriors, roused from their bathing in the
+Arno, by the sudden signal of a trumpet, and rushing to arms. This
+composition may, without exaggeration, be said to personify with
+unexampled variety, that motion which Agasias and Theon embodied in
+single figures. In imagining this transient moment from state of
+relaxation to a state of energy, the ideas of motion, to use the bold
+figure of Dante, seem to have showered into the artist's mind. From the
+chief, nearly placed in the centre, who precedes, and whose voice
+accompanies the trumpet, every age of human agility, every attitude,
+every feature of alarm, haste, hurry, exertion, eagerness, burst into so
+many rays, like sparks flying from the hammer. Many have reached, some
+boldly step, some have leaped on the rocky shore; here two arms emerging
+from the water, grapple with the rock, there two hands cry for help, and
+their companions bend over or rush on to assist them: often imitated,
+but inimitable, is the ardent feature of the grim veteran, whose every
+sinew labours to force over the dripping limbs his clothes, whilst
+gnashing, he pushes the foot through the rending garment. He is
+contrasted by the slender elegance of a half-averted youth, who, though
+eagerly buckling the armour to his thigh, methodizes haste; another
+swings the high-raised hauberk on his shoulder; whilst one, who seems a
+leader, mindless of his dress, ready for combat, and with brandished
+spear, overturns a third, who crouched to grasp a weapon; one, naked
+himself, buckles on the mail of his companion, and he, turned toward
+the enemy, seems to stamp impatiently the ground. Experience and rage;
+old vigour, young velocity; expanded or contracted, vie in exertions of
+energy. Yet in this scene of tumult, one motive animates the
+whole--eagerness to engage, with subordination to command. This
+preserves the dignity of the action, and from a strangling rabble,
+changes the figures to men, whose legitimate contest interests our
+wishes." Another example is given--Raffaelle's "Incendio del Borgo"--a
+good description follows: "the enraged elements of _wind_ and fire," we
+do not see in the original, not even in the drapery of the woman with
+her back to us in the foreground. Speaking of this power of "invention,"
+he says--after having, as we conceive, mistaken the aim of Raffaelle in
+his Madonnas, and Holy families, which was somewhat beyond even the
+"charities of father, son, and mother"--"Nor shall I follow it in its
+more contaminated descent, to those representations of local manners and
+national modifications of society, whose characteristic discrimination
+and humorous exuberance, for instance, we admire in Hogarth, but which,
+like the fleeting passions of the day, every hour contributes something
+to obliterate, which soon become unintelligible by time, or degenerate
+into caricature, the chronicle of scandal, the history-book of the
+vulgar." It seems, strangely enough, to have been the fashion among the,
+in comparison with Hogarth, puny academicians of that day, to underrate
+that great painter, that moral painter. We really should pity the
+infatuated prejudice of the man, who could see in the deep tragedy, the
+moral tragedy, "Marriage a la Mode," any _humorous_ exuberance; or not
+understand that the passions set forth, and for a moral end, are not
+"the fleeting passions of the day," but as permanent as human
+nature--who could see, in such series of pictures, any "caricature," or
+that their object is to "chronicle scandal." That it is the "history of
+the vulgar," we dispute not. For it is drama of the vulgar as of the
+unvulgar--a deep tragedy of human nature; alas! time has not made
+"_unintelligible_" these _not_ "fleeting passions of the day." As long
+as man is man, will Hogarth be true to nature; and nothing in art is
+more strange, than that such opinions should emanate from an Academy,
+and be either ventured upon or received _ex cathedra_.
+
+Invention, according to Mr Fuseli, receives its subjects from poetry or
+tradition--"they are _epic_ or sublime, _dramatic_ or impassioned,
+_historic_ or circumscribed by truth. The first _astonishes_, the second
+_moves_, the third _informs_." We confess ourselves weary of this sort
+of classification. They only tend to hamper the writer, painter, and
+critic. It is possible for a work to admit all three, and yet preserve
+its unity. And such we believe to be the case with Homer. He is epic and
+dramatic in one, and certainly historic. It is more ingenious than
+unquestionable, that Homer's purpose was to "impress one forcible idea
+of war--its origin, its progress, and its end." Nor will the "Iliad" be
+read with greater delight, by the reader's reception of such an idea.
+The drawing forth the purpose of Michael Angelo's design--his invention,
+in the series of frescoes in the Sistine Chapel--is more happy. That
+theocracy is the subject--the dispensations of Providence to man--the
+Creation--life and adoration in Adam and Eve, their sin, their
+punishment, their separation from God--justice and grace in the Deluge
+and covenant with Noah--prophets, sibyls, herald the Redeemer--and the
+patriarchs--the Son of Man--the brazen serpent--and the Fall of
+Haman--the giant subdued by the stripling in Goliah and David--and the
+conqueror destroyed by female weakness in Judith, are types of his
+mysterious progress, till Jonah pronounces him immortal. The Last
+Judgment, and the Saviour the Judge of man, complete the whole--and the
+Founder and the race are reunited. Such is the spirit of the general
+invention. "The specific invention of the pictures separate, as each
+constitutes an independent whole, deserves our consideration next: each
+has its centre, from which it disseminates, to which it leads back all
+secondary points, arranged, hid, or displayed, as they are more or less
+organs of the inspiring plan; each rigorously is circumscribed by its
+generic character." The more particular criticism on this great work of
+Michael Angelo, is very good, and we earnestly refer the reader to it.
+He thinks the genius of Michael Angelo more generic in its aim--that of
+Raffaelle more specific. That as M. Angelo's aim was the "destiny of
+man, simply considered as the subject of religion, faithful or
+rebellious," admitting only a "general feature of the passions;" so, in
+the hands of Raffaelle, the subject would have teemed with a choice of
+imagery to excite our sympathies; "he would have combined all possible
+emotions with the utmost variety of probable or real character; all
+domestic, politic, religious relations--whatever is not local in virtue
+and in vice; and the sublimity of the greatest events would have been
+merely the minister of sympathies and passions." The latter mode of
+representing the subject, that of Raffaelle, he considers dramatic. The
+distinction is, however, doubtful: we do not see why the mode of M.
+Angelo may not be held to be equally dramatic. The criticism on the
+comparison between Raffaelle's and Michael Angelo's Adam and Eve, if not
+quite just, is striking. "The elevation of Michael Angelo's soul,
+inspired by the operation of creation itself, furnished him at once with
+the feature that stamped on human nature its most glorious prerogative;
+whilst the characteristic subtility, rather than sensibility, of
+Raffaelle's mind, in this instance, offered nothing but a frigid
+succedaneum--a symptom incident to all, when, after the subsided
+astonishment on a great and sudden event, the mind, recollecting itself,
+ponders on it with inquisitive surmise. In Michael Angelo, all
+self-consideration is absorbed in the sublimity of the sentiment which
+issues from the august presence that attracts Eve; 'her earthly,' in
+Milton's expression, 'by his heavenly overpowered,' pours itself in
+adoration; whilst, in the inimitable cast of Adam's figure, we trace the
+hint of that half-conscious moment, when sleep began to give way to the
+vivacity of the dream inspired. In Raffaelle, creation is complete--Eve
+is presented to Adam, now awake; but neither the new-born charms, the
+submissive grace, and virgin purity, of the beauteous image; nor the
+awful presence of her Introductor, draw him from his mental trance, into
+effusions of love or gratitude; at ease reclined, with fingers pointing
+at himself and his new mate, he seems to methodize the surprising event
+that took place during his sleep, and to whisper the words--'flesh of my
+flesh.'" Not subscribing to any criticism which concludes insensibility
+of mind to Raffaelle, and which is rather inconsistent with the judgment
+made by Mr Fuseli, that he was the painter of expression, from the
+utmost conflict of passions, to the enchanting round of gentler emotion,
+and the nearly silent hints of mind and character--we look to the object
+of the painter in this his series of works called his Bible. The first
+five pictures represent only the act of creation--the Deity, the
+Creator--all nature, is as yet passive--even adoration, the point chosen
+by Michael Angelo, might be said scarcely to have begun--the plan is
+developed, not put in action. As yet, the Deity is all in all--Eve, his
+gift to Adam, is the last of this division of the series. As in Genesis,
+there is the bare, short statement, grand from its simplicity, and our
+knowledge of its after consequences; but in the words unimpassioned--so
+Raffaelle, that he might make his pictorial language agree with the
+written book, with utmost forbearance, lest he should tell more, and
+beyond his authority, in this portion of the series manifestly avoids
+expression, or the introduction of any feeling that would make the
+creatures more than the most passive recipients of the goodness of their
+Maker. Nor is there authority to show, that as _yet_ they were fully,
+perfectly conscious of the nature of the gifts of life and
+companionship; and we certainly do not agree with Mr Fuseli, that it was
+a moment for Adam to show his sensibility to the personal charms of
+Eve--the pure Adam--nor was he--the as yet untransgressing Adam--to feel
+fear, in "the awful presence of the Introductor." Raffaelle's aim seems
+to have been, to follow the text in its utmost simplicity, that the
+unlettered might read--and this justifies in him the personality of the
+Creator, and the apparently manual act of his creation, corresponding
+with the words--"God _made_." The "allegoric drama" of the Church
+empire, that fills the stanzas of the Vatican, is praised by Mr Fuseli,
+with a full understanding of the purpose of the painter, and feeling for
+its separate parts. He does not cavil, as some have done, at the
+anachronisms. "When," says an able, reflecting, and very amusing
+author,[2] "Aristotle, Plato, Leo X., and Cardinal Bembo, are brought
+together in the school of Athens, every person must admit, that such
+offences as these, against truths so obvious, if they do not arise from
+a defect of understanding, are instances of inexcusable carelessness."
+Here we think this writer has missed the key of explanation. The very
+picture is the history of the progress of mind, through science and
+philosophy, to the acknowledgment of an immortal being. The very subject
+amalgamates, in one moral idea, times, epochs, localities. It treats of
+that which passes over time, and embodies only its results. Mr Fuseli
+notices not these anachronisms, but says aptly of the picture--"What was
+the surmise of the eye and wish of hearts, is gradually made the result
+of reason, in the characters of the school of Athens, by the researches
+of philosophy, which, from bodies to mind, from corporeal harmony to
+moral fitness, and from the duties of society, ascends to the doctrine
+of God and hopes of immortality." The very entertaining author whom we
+have quoted above, we must here, somewhat out of place, observe, has,
+with Mr Fuseli, mistaken the character of Hogarth's works. He
+says--"Hogarth has painted comedy!" and what is very strange, he seems
+to rank him as a comedian with "Pope, Young and Crabbe"--the last, the
+most tragic in his pathos of any writer. The invention in the Cartoons
+comes next under Mr Fuseli's observation. "In whatever light we consider
+their invention, as parts of _one whole_, relative to each other, or
+independent _each of the rest_, and as single subjects, there can be
+scarcely named a beauty or a mystery, of which the Cartoons furnish not
+an instance or a clue; _they are poised between perspicuity and
+pregnancy of moment_." We believe we understand the latter sentence; it
+is, however, somewhat affected, and does not rightly balance the
+_perspicuity_. We must go back, however, to a passage preceding the
+remarks on the Cartoons; because we wish, above all things, to vindicate
+the purest of painters from charges of licentiousness. He sees in Cupid
+and Psyche a voluptuous history: this may or may not be so--we think it
+is far from being such; but when he adds, "the voluptuous history of his
+(Raffaelle's) own _favourite passion_," he is following a prejudice, an
+unfounded story--one which we think, too, has in no slight degree
+influenced his general criticism and estimation of Raffaelle. We would
+refer the reader to "Passavant's Life of Raffaelle," where he will see
+this subject investigated, and the tale refuted. It is surprising, but
+good men affect to speak of amorous passion as if it were a crime; by
+itself it may disgust, but surely coldness is not the better nature.
+Insensibilities of all kinds must be avoided, even where "Amor," as Mr
+Fuseli calls him, and Psyche are the subjects. It is the happiest genius
+that shall signify without offence the necessary existence of passion,
+and leave purity in its singleness and innocence. How exquisitely is
+this done by Shakspeare in his "Romeo and Juliet!" He keeps the lovers
+free from every grosser particle of love, while he throws it all upon
+the subordinate characters, particularly the nurse, whose part in the
+drama, in no small degree, tends to naturalise to our sympathy the
+youth, the personal beauty, and whole loveliness, of the unhappy Romeo
+and Juliet.
+
+The differences of manner in which the same subject, "the Murder of the
+Innocents," has been represented by several painters, according to the
+genius of each, are well noticed. "History, strictly so called, follows
+the drama; fiction now ceases, and invention consists only in selecting
+and fixing with dignity, precision, and sentiment, the moments of
+_reality_." He instances, by a given subject, that were the artist to
+choose the "Death of Germanicus," he is never to forget that he is to
+represent "a Roman dying amidst Romans," and not to suffer individual
+grief to un-Romanize his subject. "Germanicus, Agrippina, Caius,
+Vitellius, the Legates, the Centurions at Antioch, the hero, the
+husband, the father, the friend, the leader--the struggles of nature and
+sparks of hope, must be subjected to the physiognomic character and
+features of Germanicus, the son of Drusus, the Caesar of Tiberius.
+Maternal, female, connubial passion, must be tinged by Agrippina, the
+woman absorbed in the Roman, less lover than companion of her husband's
+grandeur. Even the bursts of friendship, attachment, allegiance, and
+revenge, must be stamped by the military ceremonial, and distinctive
+costume of Rome." For an instance of this propriety of invention in
+history, reference is made, we presume as much, to Mr West's "Death of
+Wolfe." Undoubtedly, this is Mr West's best picture. The praise from Mr
+Fuseli was, in all probability, purely academic; he frequently showed
+that he did not too highly estimate the genius of the painter. Having
+given these outlines of general and specific invention in the epic,
+dramatic, and historic branches of art, he admits that there is not
+always a nice discrimination of their limits: "and as the mind and fancy
+of man, upon the whole, consist of mixed qualities, we seldom meet with
+a human performance exclusively made up of epic, dramatic, or pure
+historic materials." This confession, as it appears to us, renders the
+classification useless to a student, and shows a yet incomplete view of
+arrangement, and specification of the power, subjects, and means of art.
+
+Indeed Mr Fuseli proceeds to instances wherein his epic assumes the
+dramatic, the dramatic the epic, and the historic both. There does seem
+something wanting in an arrangement which puts the _Iliad_ and
+_Odyssey_, two works essentially different, in the same category. We do,
+therefore, venture the opinion, that such distinctions are, more
+particularly in painting, not available. With Sir Joshua, he considers
+borrowing justifiable, and that it does not impair the originality of
+invention. The instances given of happy adoption are the "Torso of
+Apollonius," by Michael Angelo; of the figure of "Adam dismissed from
+Paradise," by Raffaelle, borrowed from Massaccio, as likewise the figure
+of "Paul at Athens;" and for figures of Michael Angelo's, Raffaelle,
+Parmegiano, Poussin, are all indebted to the cartoon of Pisa. The
+lecture concludes with some just remarks upon the "Transfiguration," and
+a censure upon the coldness of Richardson, and the burlesque of the
+French critic Falconet, who could not discover the point of contact
+which united the two parts of this celebrated picture. "Raphael's design
+was to represent Jesus as the Son of God, and, at the same time, the
+reliever of human misery, by an unequivocal fact. The transfiguration on
+Tabor, and the miraculous cure which followed the descent of Jesus,
+united, furnished the fact. The difficulty was, how to combine two
+successive actions in one moment. He overcame it, by sacrificing the
+moment of cure to that of the apparition, by implying the lesser miracle
+in the greater. In subordinating the cure to the vision, he obtained
+sublimity; in placing the crowd and patient on the foreground, he gained
+room for the full exertion of his dramatic powers. It was not necessary
+that the demoniac should be represented in the moment of recovery, if
+its certainty could be expressed by other means. It is implied, it is
+placed beyond all doubt, by the glorious apparition above; it is made
+nearly intuitive by the uplifted hand and finger of the apostle in the
+centre, who, without hesitation, undismayed by the obstinacy of the
+demon, unmoved by the clamour of the crowd, and the pusillanimous
+scepticism of some of his companions, refers the father of the maniac,
+in an authoritative manner, for certain and speedy help to his Master on
+the mountain above, whom, though unseen, his attitude at once connects
+with all that passes below. Here is the point of contact; here is that
+union of the two parts of the fact in one moment, which Richardson and
+Falconet could not discover."
+
+It is with diffidence that we would suggest any thing upon a work that
+has so nearly exhausted criticism; but we will venture an observation,
+and if we are correct, the glory of the subject is heightened by its
+adoption. It has ever appeared to us to have purposed showing at one
+view, humanity in its highest, its divinely perfected state, the manhood
+taken into Godhead; and humanity in its lowest, its most forlorn, most
+degraded state, in the person of a demoniac: and this contrast seems
+acknowledged--abhorrently felt, by the reluctant spirit within the
+sufferer, whose attitude, starting from the effulgence and the power
+which is yet to heal him, being the strong action of the lower part of
+the picture, and one of suffering, throws the eye and mind of the
+spectator at once and permanently from earth to the heavenly vision, to
+ascending prophets, and that bright and central majesty, "whose
+countenance," Mr. Fuseli observes, "is the only one we know expressive
+of his superhuman nature." This idea of transformation to a higher
+nature is likewise kept up in the figures of the ascending prophets, and
+the apostles below.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Fourth Lecture is in continuation of the subject--Invention; but we
+have left little space for further remarks. In another number of Maga we
+shall resume our review of the lectures.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Perhaps the author of the lectures received this ill
+opinion of Pausanias from Julius Caesar Scaliger, who treats him as an
+impostor; but he is amply vindicated by Vossius. He lived in the second
+century, and died very old at Rome. In his account of the numerous
+representations of the [Greek: Charites], he seems to throw some light
+upon a passage in Xenophon's Memorabilia, which, as far as we know, has
+escaped the notice of the commentators. It is in the dialogue between
+Socrates and the courtesan Theodote. She wishes that he would come to
+her, to teach her the art of charming men. He replies, that he has no
+leisure, being hindered by many matters of private and public
+importance; and he adds, "I have certain mistresses which will not allow
+me to be absent from them day nor night, on account of the spells and
+charms, which learning, they receive from me"--[Greek: eisi de kai
+philai moi, ai oute hemeras oute nuktos aph auton easousi me apienai,
+philtra te manthanousai par emon kai epodas.] Who were these [Greek:
+philai]? Had he meant the virtues or moral qualities, he would have
+spoken plainer, as was his wont; but here, where the subject is the
+personal beauty, the charms of Theodote, it is more in the Socratic vein
+that he refers to other _personal_ charms, which engage his thoughts
+night and day, and keep him at home. Now, it appears too, that Socrates
+was taken to see her, on account of the fame of her beauty, and goes to
+her when she is sitting, or rather standing, to a painter; and it is
+evident from the dialogue, that she did not refuse the exhibition of her
+personal charms. It seems, then, not improbable, that Socrates was
+induced to go to her as the painter went, for the advantage of his art
+as a sculptor, and that the art was that one at home, the [Greek: tis
+philotera sou endon]. Be that as it may, it is extremely probable that
+the [Greek: philai] were some personifications of feminine beauty, upon
+which he was then at work. Are there, then, any such recorded as from
+his hand? Pausanias says there were. "Thus Socrates, the son of
+Sophroniscus, made for the Athenians statues of the Graces, before the
+vestibule of the citadel," And adds the curious fact, that after that
+time the Graces were represented naked, and that these were clothed.
+[Greek: Sokrates te o Sophrotonischon pro tes es ten akropolin esodon
+Chariton eirgasato agalmata Athenaiois. Kai tauta men estin homoios
+apanta en estheti. Oi de usteron, ouk oida eph hoto, metabeblekasi to
+schema autais. Charitas goun, oi kat eme eplasson te kai egraphon
+gumnas]. Did not Socrates allude to these his statues of the
+Graces?--_Pausanias_, cap. xxxv. lib. 9.
+
+[2] _The Literary Conglomerate, or Combination of Various
+Thoughts and Facts._ Oxford: 1839. Printed by Thomas Combe.
+
+
+
+
+SOMETHING ABOUT MUSIC.
+
+
+Gentle Christians, pity us! We are just returned from a musical
+entertainment, and, with aching head and stunned ears, sit down and try
+to recover our equanimity, sorely disturbed by the infliction which, we
+regret to say, we have survived. Had we known how to faint, we had done
+so on the spot, that ours might have been the bliss of being carried out
+over the heads and shoulders of the audience ere the performance had
+well begun--a movement that would have insured us the unfeigned thanks
+of all whom we had rescued from their distressing situation under
+pretence of bearing us off, splashing us with cold water, causing doors
+to bang impressively during our exit, and the various other _petit
+soins_ requisite to the conducting a "faint" with dignity.
+
+But it could not be accomplished. We made several awkward attempts, so
+little like, that their only result was our being threatened with a
+policeman it we made any more disturbance; so, after a hasty glance
+round had assured us of the impracticability of making our escape in any
+more everyday style, we sat down with a stern resolution of
+endurance--lips firmly compressed, eyes fixed in a stony gaze on the
+orchestra, whence issued by turns groans, shrieks, and screams, from
+sundry foully-abused instruments of music; accompanied by equally
+appalling sounds from flat, shrill signorinas, quavering to distraction,
+backed by gigantic "basses," (double ones surely,) who, with voices like
+the "seven devils" of the old Grecian, bellowed out divers
+sentimentalisms about dying for love, when assuredly their most
+proximate danger was of apoplexy.
+
+Well, the affair came to an end, as, it is to be hoped, will every other
+evil in this wicked world; in a spasm of thankfulness we extricated
+ourselves from the crush, and reached our home, where, under the genial
+influence of quiet and a cup of coffee, we can afford to laugh at the
+past, (our own vehement indignation included,) and ruminate calmly on
+the "how" and the "why" of the nuisance, which appears to us as well
+worthy of being put down by act of parliament, as the ringing of muffin
+bells and crying "sweep!"
+
+It is a perfect puzzle to us by what process the standard of music has
+become so lowered, as to make what is ordinarily served up under that
+name be received as the legitimate descendant of the harmony divine
+which erst broke on the ear of the listening world, when "the morning
+stars sang together;" and, in the first freshness of its
+creation--teeming with melody--angels deigned to visit this terrestrial
+paradise, nor turned an exile's gaze to that heaven whose strains were
+chanted in glad accordance with the murmuring stream, and music of the
+waving forest--which, in its greenness and beauty, seemed but "a little
+lower" than its celestial archetype, for
+
+     "Earth hath _this_ variety from heaven."
+
+(Blessings on the poet for that line! We have a most firm belief in
+Milton, and receive his representations of heaven as we would those of a
+Daguerreotype.)
+
+But it is even so. There is but one step from the sublime to the
+ridiculous, and this entrancing art, it seems, has taken it; sorely
+dislocating its graceful limbs, and injuring its goodly proportions in
+the unseemly escapade. There--we have played over a simple air, one that
+thrills through our heart of hearts; and as the notes die on our ears,
+soothing though the strain be, we feel our indignation increase, and
+glow still more fiercely against this--music, as it is by courtesy
+called, for Heaven knows it has no legitimate claim to the name!--till
+it reaches the crusading point, and we rush headlong to a war of
+extermination against bars, rests, crotchets, quavers--undaunted even by
+"staves," and formidable inflated semibreves.
+
+We hate your crashing, clumsy chords, and utterly spit at and defy
+chromatic passages from one end of the instrument to the other, and back
+again; flats, sharps, and most appropriate "naturals," splattered all
+over the page. The essential spirit of discord seems let loose on our
+modern music, tainted, as it were, with the moral infection that has
+seized the land; it is music for a democracy, not the stately, solemn
+measure of imperial majesty. Music to soothe! the idea is obsolete,
+buried with the ruffs and farthingales of our great-grandmothers; or, to
+speak more soberly, with the powdered wigs and hoops of their daughters.
+There is music to excite, much to irritate one, and much more to drive a
+really musical soul stark mad; but none to soothe, save that which is
+drawn from the hiding-places of the past.
+
+We should like to catch one of the old masters--Handel, for
+instance--and place him within the range of one of our modern
+executioners, to whose taste(!) _carte-blanche_ had been given. We think
+we see him under the infliction. Neither the hurling of wig, nor yet of
+kettle-drum, at the head of the performer, would relieve his outraged
+spirit: he would strangle the offender on the spot, and hang himself
+afterwards; and the jury would, in the first case, return a verdict of
+justifiable homicide, and, in the second, of justifiable suicide, with a
+deodand of no ordinary magnitude on the musical instrument that had led
+to the catastrophe.
+
+There is no repose, no refreshment to the mind, in our popular
+compositions; they are like Turner's skies--they harass and fatigue,
+leaving you certainly wondering at their difficulty, but, as certainly,
+wishing they had been "impossible." There is to us more of touching
+pathos, heart-thrilling expression, in some of the old psalm-tunes,
+feelingly played, than in a whole batch of modernisms. The strains go
+_home_, and the "fountains of the great deep are broken up"--the great
+deep of unfathomable feeling, that lies far, far below the surface of
+the world-hardened heart; and as the unwonted, yet unchecked, tear
+starts to the eye, the softened spirit yields to their influence, and
+shakes off the moil of earthly care; rising, purified and spiritualized,
+into a clearer atmosphere. Strange, inexplicable associations brood over
+the mind,
+
+     "Like the far-off dreams of paradise,"
+
+mingling their chaste melancholy with musings of a still subdued, though
+more cheerful character. How many glad hearts in the olden time have
+rejoiced in these songs of praise--how many sorrowful ones sighed out
+their complaints in those plaintive notes, that steal sadly, yet
+sweetly, on the ear--hearts that, now cold in death, are laid to rest
+around that sacred fane, within whose walls they had so often swelled
+with emotion! Tell us not of neatly trimmed "cemeteries," redolent of
+staring sunflowers, priggish shrubs, and all the modern coxcombry of the
+tomb; with nicely swept gravel walks, lest the mourner should get "wet
+on's feet," and vaults numbered like warehouses, where "parties may
+bring their own minister," and be buried with any form, or no form, if
+they like it better. No, give us the village churchyard with its sombre
+yew-trees, among which
+
+     "The dial, hid by weeds and flowers,
+     Hath told, by none beheld, the solitary hours;"
+
+its grassy hillocks, and mouldering grave-stones, where haply all record
+is obliterated, and nought but a solitary "resurgam" meets the enquiring
+eye; its white-robed priest reverently committing "earth to earth," in
+sure and certain hope "of a joyful resurrection" to the slumbering clay,
+that was wont to worship within the grey and time-stained walls, whence
+the mournful train have now borne him to his last rest; while on the
+ivy-clad tower fall the slanting golden beams of an autumnal sun, that,
+in its declining glory, seems to whisper of hope and consolation to the
+sorrowful ones, reminding them that the night of the tomb shall not
+endure for ever, but that, so surely as the great orb of day shall
+return on the wings of the morning to chase away the tears of the
+lamenting earth, so surely shall the dust, strewed around that temple,
+scattered though it may be to the winds of heaven, "rise again" in the
+morning of the Resurrection, when death "shall be swallowed up in
+victory."
+
+     "'Tis fit his trophies should be rife
+     Around the place where he's subdued;
+     The gate of death leads forth to life."
+
+But we are wandering sadly from our subject; it is perhaps quite as well
+that we have done so, for we should have become dangerous had we dwelt
+much longer on it. We were on the point of wishing (Nero-like) that our
+popular professors of the tuneful art had but one neck, that we might
+exterminate them at a blow, or hang them with one gigantic
+fiddle-string; but now, thanks to our episode, our exacerbated feelings
+are so far mollified, that we will be content with wishing them
+sentenced to grind knives on oil-less stones with creaking axles, till
+the sufferings of their own shall have taught them consideration for the
+ears of other people.
+
+But music, real music--not in the harsh, exaggerated style now in the
+ascendant, but simple, pure, melodious, such as might have entranced the
+soul of a Handel, when, in some vision of night, sounds swept from
+angelic harps have floated around him, the gifted one, in whose liquid
+strains and stately harmonies fall on our ravished ears the echoes of
+that immortal joy--such we confess to be one of our idols, before whose
+shrine we pay a willing, gladsome homage; though now, alas! it must be
+in dens and caves of the earth, since _modern_ heresy has banished it
+from the temple of Apollo.
+
+See how Toryism peeps out even in the fine arts! _Even_ did we say? They
+are its legitimate province; "The old is better," is inscribed in
+glowing character on the portals of the past. Old Painting! See the
+throbbing form start from the pregnant canvass--the "Mother of God"
+folding her Divine Son to her all but celestial arms--the Son of God
+fainting beneath a load of woe, not his own. Old Poetry! Glorious old
+Homer, with his magic song; and sturdy, oak-like in his strength, as in
+his verdure, old Chaucer. Old Music! Hail, ye inspired sons of the lyre!
+A noble host are ye, enshrined in the hearts of all loyal worshippers of
+the tuneful god. And yet (we grieve to confess it) we, even we, spite of
+all our enthusiasm, have been seen laughing at "old music," the aspiring
+psalmody of a country church singing-pew.
+
+Oh, to see the row of performers, the consequential choir, transcending
+in importance (in their own eyes) the clerk, the curate, the rector, and
+even the squire from the great hall, majestic and stern though he be,
+with his awful wig and gold-headed cane! There are the fubsy
+boys--copied apparently from cherubim--who, with glowing, distended
+cheeks, are simpering on the ceiling, _doing_ the tenor, with wide open
+mouths that would shame e'er a barn-door in the village; their red,
+stumpy fingers sprawling over the music which they are (not) reading.
+The pale, lantern-jawed youths, in yellow waistcoats and tall
+shirt-collars, who look as if they were about to whistle a match, are
+holloing out what is professionally, and in this instance with most
+distressing truth, termed counter. "Counter" it is with a vengeance; and
+not only so, but it is a neck-and-neck race between them and the urchins
+aforesaid, which shall have done first. The shock-headed man, with chin
+dropped into his neckerchief, and mouth twisted into every
+_un_imaginable contortion, as though grinning through a horse-collar,
+has the bass confided to his faithful keeping; and emits a variety of
+growls and groans truly appalling, though evidently to his own great
+comfort and satisfaction. The bassoon, the clarinet, the flute--but
+how shall we describe them! Suffice it to say, that they appeared
+to be suffering inexpressible torments at the hands of their
+apoplectic-looking performers; who were all at the last gasp, and all
+determined to die bravely at their posts. And then the entranced
+audience, with half-shut eyes and quivering palms! Oh, it was too much;
+we lost our character typo irretrievably that day; half suppressed
+titters from the squire's pew were not to be borne. In that unhappy
+moment we sinned away some quarter of a century's unrivalled reputation
+for good manners and musical taste. Old Fiddlestrings never forgave us,
+never did he vouchsafe us another anthem, spite of our entreaties and
+protestations, and the thousand and one apologies for our ill-timed
+merriment, which our fruitful brain invented on the spot. To his dying
+day he preserved the utmost contempt for our judgment, not only in this
+department of the fine arts, but also on every other subject. Not to
+admire his music, was condemnation in every thing--an unpardonable
+offence. We, who had been his great friend, patron, (or rather he was
+ours,) to whom he had so often condescended on the Saturday evening to
+hum, whistle, and too-too over the tune--of his own composing--that was
+to be the admiration of the whole parish on the succeeding day--we were
+henceforth to be as the uninitiated, and left to find out, and follow,
+as we best might, the very eccentric windings of his Sunday's asthmatic
+performance; which always went at the rate of three crotchets and a
+cough, to the end of the psalm, which he took care should be an especial
+long one.
+
+Poor old man! we see him now, with his unruly troop of Sunday scholars
+(in training for some important festival, to the due celebration of
+which their labours were essential) singing, bawling we should say, out
+of time and tune, to the utter discomfiture of his irritable temper,
+(there is nothing like a false note for throwing your musical man into a
+perfect tantrum,) and the bringing down on their unlucky heads a smart
+tap with the bow of his violin, which led the harmony. There they stood
+with their brown cheeks and white heads, fine specimens of the
+agricultural interest; each one of them looking as if he could bolt a
+poor, half-starved factory child at a mouthful--but certainly no
+singers. It was beyond the power even of the accomplished old clerk
+himself to make then such--an oyster, with its mouth full of sand, would
+have sung quite as well; but still he laboured on with might and
+main--with closed eyes, and open mouth--delightedly beating time with
+his head, as long as matters went on not intolerably; for David's
+musical soul supplied the deficiency in the sounds that entered his
+unwearied ears. And then he sang so loud himself, that he certainly
+could hear no one else, his voice being as monopolizing as the drone of
+a bagpipe--or as a violent advocate for free trade! Happy urchins when
+this was the case! for they were sure to be dismissed with the most
+flattering encomiums on their vocal powers, when, if truth must be told,
+the good old man had not heard a note.
+
+But he is gathered to his fathers, and now sleeps beneath the sod in the
+quiet churchyard of----. We well remember his funeral. 'Twas a lovely
+day in spring when the long, lifeless trees and fields were bursting
+into all the glory of May--for May was spring then, and not, as now,
+cousin-german to winter; while the gay sunbeams played lovingly, like
+youth caressing age, on the low church-tower, gilding the ivy that waved
+in wild luxuriance around it. Slowly moved on the lowly train that bore
+to the "house appointed for all living" the mortal remains of one whom
+they well loved, and whose removal from among them--essential as he had
+always seemed to the very identity of the village--was an event they had
+never contemplated and which they now, in its unexpectedness, sorely
+lamented. The village choir preceded it, singing those strains which
+poor David's voice had so often led; and surely, for once, the spirit of
+the old man rested on his refractory pupils; for rarely have I heard
+sweeter notes than those that swelled on the balmy air, as the dusky
+procession wound its way across the heath, waving with harebells, and
+along the narrow lane, whose hedges were beginning to show the first
+faint rose, till it reached the church porch, where the good rector
+himself was waiting to pay the last token of respect to his humble
+friend; while groups of villagers were loitering around to witness the
+simple rites. Entering within the church, again was the voice of melody
+heard, and again was as sweetly chanted that mournful psalm, which is
+appointed, with such affecting appropriateness, for the burial of the
+dead. "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not in my
+tongue; I will keep my mouth, as it were, with a bridle, while the
+ungodly is in my sight." Then came the dull, hollow sound of "earth to
+earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes;" and so, amid many tears, (and we
+confess our eyes were not dry,) closed the grave over one who, despite
+some innocent, though mirth-provoking failings, was honoured by all who
+knew him for the stern, unbending integrity of his character, and the
+strictness with which he fulfilled all the duties of life. David was an
+_honest_ man, one whose "word was as good as his bond," who "promised to
+his hurt, and changed not." Would that as much might be said of many who
+move in a higher sphere, and make far larger professions of sanctity
+than he did! But he shall be remembered, when their names are blotted
+out for ever.
+
+        "Only the actions of the just
+     Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust."
+
+The music which we hear in our social intercourse, is too generally--we
+say it in grief, but in truth--detestable. "Like figures on a
+dial-plate," sit the four-and-twenty Englishmen and Englishwomen, who
+have been drawn together to receive their friend's hospitality; till the
+awful silence convinces the host that some desperate effort must be made
+to break the spell, and that the best thing is some music to set them
+a-talking. Some _mimini-pimini_ Miss is in consequence selected as the
+victim, (or rather, the victimizer,) and requested to "pain" the
+company. She fidgets, bridles, and duly declines, at the same time
+vigorously pulling off one of her gloves in evident preparation for the
+attack. After much pressing, she reluctantly yields to what she had from
+the first made up her mind to do; takes her seat at a grand pianoforte,
+behind a couple of candles and an enormous music-book, and--crash go the
+keys in a thundering prelude, (the pedal, and every other means of
+increasing the noise being unscrupulously resorted to,) which, after
+superhuman exertions, lands her in what, to our affrighted and stunned
+ears, is evidently the key of Z flat! Who would have thought those
+delicate hands could thus descend with the vigour of a pavior's hammer
+on the unhappy ivories, that groan and shriek beneath the infliction, as
+though fully sensible of the surpassing cruelty with which they are
+treated.
+
+But hark! she sings--"Rome, Rome, thou art _n'more_," (_sic_)--a furious
+scramble on the keys, with a concluding bang--"On thy seven hills thou
+satt'st of yore,"--another still more desperate and discordant flourish,
+which continues alternating with her "most sweet voice," till she has
+piped through the whole of her song: when the group around, apprehensive
+of a repetition of the torture to which they have been subjected,
+overwhelm her with thanks and expressions of admiration, under cover of
+which they hurry her to her seat. Such is the stuff palmed off on us,
+varied as it is by glees, screamed out by four voices all in different
+keys; solos, squeaked out by stout gentlemen, and roared by pale lanky
+lads of eighteen; duets by young ladies, who accidentally set out on
+discordant notes, and don't find out the mistake till they come to the
+finale; with occasionally a psalm crooned by worthy sexagenarians,
+guiltless alike of ear and voice, but who, seeming to think it a duty to
+add their mite to the inexpressible dissonance, perform the same to the
+unmixed dismay of all their hearers.
+
+We would far rather hear an unpretending street organ than such
+abominations; and, indeed, some of the itinerant music is, to our
+unsophisticated ears, sweet beyond expression, especially when
+accompanied, as it is sometimes, by a rich Italian or reedy German
+voice; for whose sake we can forgive the tuneless squalls that too often
+greet our ears from ambulatory minstrels, be they of the Madonna, or
+fishy, Dutch-swamp style of beauty. A sweet-toned street organ, heard in
+the distance, when all around is still, is not a thing to be despised,
+by those who have music enough in their souls to respond to the
+slightest touches of Apollo's lyre. If the heart be but attuned to
+harmony, it will vibrate to the simplest notes, faint though they be, as
+by the wafting of the evening breeze among the chords of a neglected
+harp, sadly hung upon the willows; it will cherish the feeblest idea,
+and nurture it into perfect melody. As love begets love, so does harmony
+beget its kind in the heart of him who can strike the keynote of nature,
+and listen to the wild and solemn sounds that swell from her mysterious
+treasure-house, and echo among her "eternal hills," while the celestial
+arch concludes and re-affirms the wondrous cadence. But these are
+secrets revealed to none but her loving worshipper; he who, with a
+reverential homage, seeks the hidden recesses of her temple, to bend in
+awe before her purest shrine. From him who lingers heedlessly in her
+antechamber with faint loyalty, they are deeply veiled, and the glowing
+revelations of her favoured ones seem but as the recital of a dream to
+his cold heart: for "to _love_ is to know."
+
+But surely of all instruments, the violin, first-rately played, is the
+most--yes, we will say it--heavenly. Hark! to the clear, vocal melody,
+now rapturously rising in one soul-exalting strain, anon melting away in
+the saddest, tenderest lament, as though the soft summer breeze sighed
+forth a requiem over the dying graces of its favourite flower; then
+bursting forth in haughty, triumphant notes, swept in gusts from the
+impassioned strings, as though instinct with life, and glowing with
+disdain. Any one may see that painters are no musicians, else had they
+furnished their angels not with harps--beautiful and sparkling as the
+sea-foam, as are their most graceful chords--but with this, of all
+instruments the most musical, whose tones admit of more variety than
+any, (the Proteus organ alone excepted,) and whose delicious long-drawn
+notes must entrance every one not absolutely soulless. Oh, they are
+excruciatingly delightful! And yet you shall hear this identical violin,
+in the hands of an everyday performer, emit such squeals and screams as
+shall set your teeth on edge for a twelvemonth, curdle your whole frame,
+and make you vehemently anathematize all benevolent institutions for the
+relief of deafness.
+
+Verily your violin is an exclusive instrument, and approachable by none
+but the eldest born of Apollo, who, in all the majesty of hereditary
+prerogative, calmly sway the dominions of their sire; while usurpers (as
+is the meed of all who grasp unrighteous rule) are plunged in utter
+confusion and ruin.
+
+Warming with our theme, and impatient to manifest our royal descent, in
+a paroxysm of enthusiasm we clutch our Cremona, clasp him lovingly to
+our shoulder, and high waving in air our magical bow, which is to us a
+sceptre, bring it down with a crash, exulting in the immortal harmony
+about to gush, like a mountain torrent, from the teeming strings; when
+lo! to our unmitigated disgust, it glides noiselessly along its hitherto
+resounding path, for--ye gods and little fishes!--some murderous wretch,
+at the instigation of we know not what evil sprite, has _greased_ the
+horsehair, for which we solemnly devote him to the "bowstring," the
+first time he is caught napping.
+
+Well, it is over now, and we find ourselves once more on earth, after
+knocking our head gainst the stars; and, ---- ---- bless us! we have sat
+the fire out, having precisely one inch of candle left to go to bed by.
+
+Good night, dearest reader. Can you find your way in the dark?
+
+M. J.
+
+
+
+
+THE PURPLE CLOAK; OR, THE RETURN OF SYLOSON TO SAMOS.
+
+HEROD. III. 139.
+
+
+  I.
+
+  The king sat on his lofty throne in Susa's palace fair,
+  And many a stately Persian lord, and satrap proud, was there:
+  Among his councillors he sat, and justice did to all--
+  No supplicant e'er went unredrest from Susa's palace-hall.
+
+  II.
+
+  There came a slave and louted low before Darius' throne,
+  "A wayworn suppliant waits without--he is poor and all alone,
+  And he craves a boon of thee, oh king! for he saith that he has done
+  Good service, in the olden time, to Hystaspes' royal son."
+
+  III.
+
+  "Now lead him hither," quoth the king; "no suppliant e'er shall wait,
+  While I am lord in Susa's halls, unheeded at the gate;
+  And speak thy name, thou wanderer poor, pray thee let me know
+  To whom the king of Persia's land this ancient debt doth owe."
+
+  IV.
+
+  The stranger bow'd before the king--and thus began to speak--
+  Full well, I ween, his garb was worn, and with sorrow pale his cheek,
+  But his air was free and noble, and proudly flash'd his eye,
+  As he stood unknown in that high hall, and thus he made reply--
+
+  V.
+
+  "From Samos came I, mighty king, and Syloson my name;
+  My brother was Polycrates, a chief well known to fame;
+  That brother drove me from my home--a wanderer forth I went--
+  And since that hour my weary soul has never known content!
+
+  VI.
+
+  "Methinks I need not tell to thee my brother's mournful fate;
+  He lies within his bloody grave--a churl usurps his state--
+  Moeandrius lords it o'er the land, my brother's base born slave;
+  Restore me to that throne, oh king! this, this, the boon I crave.
+
+  VII.
+
+  "Nay, start not; let me tell my tale! I pray thee look on me,
+  And, prince, thou soon shalt know the cause that I ask this gift of thee;
+  Round Persia's king a bristling ring of spearmen standeth now,
+  But when Cambyses wore the crown--a wanderer poor wast _thou_!
+
+  VIII.
+
+  "Remember'st not, oh king! the day when, in old Memphis town,
+  Upon the night ye won the fight, thou wast pacing up and down?
+  The costly cloak that then I wore, its colours charm'd thy eye--
+  In sooth it was a gorgeous robe, of purple Tyrian dye--
+
+  IX.
+
+  "Let base-born peasants buy and sell, I gave that cloak to thee!
+  And for that gift on thee bestow'd, grant thou this boon to me--
+  I ask not silver, ask not gold--I ask of thee to stand
+  A prince once more on Samos' shore--my own ancestral land!"
+
+  X.
+
+  "Oh! best and noblest," quoth the king, "thou ne'er shalt rue the day,
+  When to Cambyses' spearman poor thou gav'st thy cloak away;
+  The faithless eye each well-known form and feature may forget,
+  But the deeds of generous kindness done--the heart remembers yet.
+
+  XI.
+
+  "To-day thou art a wanderer sad, but thou shalt sit, erelong,
+  Within thy fair ancestral hall, and hear the minstrel's song;
+  To-day thou art a homeless man--to-morrow thou shalt stand--
+  A conqueror and a sceptred king--upon thy native land.
+
+  XII.
+
+  "A cloud is on thy brow to-day--thy lot is poor and low,
+  To all who gaze on thee thou seem'st a man of want and wo;
+  But thou shalt drain the bowl erelong within thy own bright isle,
+  A wreath of roses round thy head, and on thy brow a smile."
+
+  XIII.
+
+  And he called the proud Otanes, one of the seven was he
+  Who laid the Magian traitor low, and set their country free;
+  And he bade him man a gallant fleet, and sail without delay,
+  To the pleasant isle of Samos, in the fair Icarian bay.
+
+  XIV.
+
+  "To place yon chief on Samos' throne, Otanes, be thy care,
+  But bloodless let thy victory be, his Samian people spare!"
+  For thus the generous chieftain said, when he made his high demand,
+  "I had rather still an exile roam, than waste my native land."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PART II.
+
+  I.
+
+  Oh, "monarchs' arms are wondrous long!"[3] their power is wondrous great,
+  But not to them 'tis given to stem the rushing tide of fate.
+  A king may man a gallant fleet, an island fair may give,
+  But can he blunt the sword's sharp edge, or bid the dead to live?
+
+
+  II.
+
+  They leave the strand, that gallant band, their ships are in the bay,
+  It was a glorious sight, I ween, to view that proud array;
+  And there, amid the Persian chiefs, himself he holds the helm,
+  Sits lovely Samos' future lord--he comes to claim his realm!
+
+  III.
+
+  Moeandrius saw the Persian fleet come sailing proudly down,
+  And his troops he knew were all too few to guard a leaguer'd town;
+  So he laid his crown and sceptre down, his recreant life to save--
+  Who thus resigns a kingdom fair deserves to be a slave.
+
+  IV.
+
+  He calls his band--he seeks the strand--they grant him passage free--
+  "And shall they then," his brother cried, "have a bloodless victory?
+  No--grant me but those spears of thine, and I soon to them shall show,
+  There yet are men in Samos left to face the Persian foe."
+
+  V.
+
+  The traitor heard his brother's word, and he gave the youth his way;
+  "An empty land, proud Syloson, shall lie beneath thy sway."
+  That youth has arm'd those spearmen stout--three hundred men in all--
+  And on the Persian chiefs they fell, before the city's wall.
+
+  VI.
+
+  The Persian lords before the wall were sitting all in state,
+  They deem'd the island was at peace--they reck'd not of their fate;
+  When on them came the fiery youth[4]--with desperate charge he came--
+  And soon lay weltering in his gore full many a chief of fame.
+
+  VII.
+
+  The outrage rude Otanes view'd, and fury fired his breast--
+  And to the winds the chieftain cast his monarch's high behest.
+  He gave the word, that angry lord--"War, war unto the death!"
+  Then many a scimitar flash'd forth impatient from its sheath.
+
+  VIII.
+
+  Through Samos wide, from side to side, the carnage is begun,
+  And ne'er a mother there is seen, but mourns a slaughter'd son;
+  From side to side, through Samos wide, Otanes hurls his prey,
+  Few, few, are left in that fair isle, their monarch to obey!
+
+  IX.
+
+  The new-made monarch sits in state in his loved ancestral bow'rs,
+  And he bids his minstrel strike the lyre, and he crowns his head
+    with flow'rs;
+  But still a cloud is on his brow--where is the promised smile?
+  And yet he sits a sceptred king--in his own dear native isle.
+
+  X.
+
+  Oh! Samos dear, my native land! I tread thy courts again--
+  But where are they, thy gallant sons? I gaze upon the slain--
+  "A dreary kingdom mine, I ween," the mournful monarch said,
+  "Where are my subjects good and true? I reign but o'er the dead!
+
+  XI.
+
+  "Ah! woe is me--I would that I had ne'er to Susa gone,
+  To ask that fatal boon of thee, Hystaspes' generous son.
+  Oh, deadly fight! oh, woeful sight! to greet a monarch's eyes!
+  All desolate--my native land, reft of her children, lies!"
+
+  XII.
+
+  Thus mourn'd the chief--and no relief his regal state could bring.
+  O'er such a drear unpeopled waste, oh! who would be a king?
+  And still, when desolate a land, and her sons all swept away,
+  "The waste domain of Syloson," 'tis call'd unto this day!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] Greek proverb.
+
+[4] "The fiery youth, with desperate charge,
+ Made for a space an opening large."--MARMION.
+
+
+
+
+LOVE AND DEATH.
+
+
+  O strong as the Eagle,
+    O mild as the Dove!
+  How like, and how unlike,
+    O Death and O Love!
+
+  Knitting Earth to the Heaven,
+    The Near to the Far--
+  With the step on the dust,
+    And the eyes on the star!
+
+  Interweaving, commingling,
+    _Both_ rays from God's light!
+  Now in sun, now in shadow,
+    Ye shift to the sight!
+
+  Ever changing the sceptres
+    Ye bear--as in play;
+  Now Love as Death rules us,
+    Now Death has Love's sway!
+
+  Why wails so the New-born?
+    Love gave it the breath.
+  The soul sees Love's brother--
+    Life enters on Death!
+
+  Why that smile the wan lips
+    Of the dead man above?
+  The soul sees Death changing
+    Its shape into Love.
+
+  So confused and so blending
+    Each twin with its brother,
+  The frown of one melts
+    In the smile of the other.
+
+  Love warms where Death withers,
+    Death blights where Love blooms;
+  Death sits by our cradles,
+    Love stands by our tombs!
+
+Edward Lytton Bulwer.
+
+Nov. 9, 1843.
+
+
+
+
+THE BRIDGE OVER THE THUR.
+
+FROM THE GERMAN.--GUSTAV SCHWAB.
+
+
+ Spurning the loud THUR'S headlong march,
+ Who hath stretcht the stony arch?
+ That the wayfarer blesses his path!
+ That the storming river wastes his wrath!
+
+ Was it a puissant prince, in quelling
+ This watery vassal, oft rebelling?--
+ Or earthly Mars, the bar o'erleaping,
+ That wrong'd his war of its onward sweeping?
+
+ Did yon high-nesting Castellan
+ Lead the brave Street, for horse and man?
+ And, the whiles his House creeps under the grass,
+ The Road, that he built, lies fair to pass?
+
+ Nay! not for the Bridge, which ye look upon,
+ Manly hest knit stone with stone.
+ The loved word of a woman's mouth
+ Bound the thundering chasm with a rocky growth.
+
+ She, in turret, who sitteth lone,
+ Listing the broad stream's heavier groan,
+ Kenning the flow, from his loosen'd fountains,
+ From the clouds, that have wash'd a score of mountains.
+
+ A skiff she notes, by the shelvy marge,
+ Wont deftly across to speed its charge;
+ Now jumping and twisting, like leaf on a lynn,
+ Wo! if a foot list cradle therein!
+
+ Sooner, than hath she THOUGHT her FEELING,
+ With travellers twain is the light plank reeling.
+ Who are they?... Marble watcher! Who?
+ Thy beautiful, youthful, only two!
+
+ Coming, glad, from the greenwood slaughter,
+ They reach the suddenly-swollen water;
+ But the nimble, strong, and young,
+ Boldly into the bark have sprung.
+
+ The game in the forest fall, stricken and bleeding;
+ Those river-waves are of other breeding!
+ And the shriek of the mother helpeth not,
+ At seeing turn upwards the keel of the boat.
+
+ Whilst her living pulses languish,
+ As she taketh in her anguish,
+ By the roar, her soul which stuns,
+ On the corses of her sons.
+
+ Needs must she upon the mothers think,
+ Who yet may stand beholding sink,
+ Under the hastily-roused billow,
+ Sons, upthriven to be their pillow.
+
+ Till, in her deeply-emptied bosom,
+ There buds a melancholy blossom,
+ Tear-nourisht:--the will the wo to spare
+ To others, which hath left her bare.
+
+ Ere doth her sorrow a throe abate,
+ Is chiseling and quarrying, early, late.
+ The hoarse flood chafes, with straiten'd tides:
+ Aloft, the proud Arch climbs and strides.
+
+ How her eyes, she fastens on frolicsome boys,
+ O'er the stone way racing, with careless noise.
+ Hark!--hark!--the wild Thur, how he batters his rocks!
+ But YE gaze, laugh, and greet the gruff chider, with mocks.
+
+ Or, she vieweth with soft footfall,
+ Mothers, following their children all.
+ A gleam of pleasure, a spring of yearning,
+ Sweetens her tears, dawns into her mourning.
+
+ And her pious work endureth!
+ And her pain a slumber cureth!
+ Heareth not yonder torrent's jars!
+ Hath her young sons above the stars!
+
+Fontainbleau, 1843.
+
+
+
+
+THE BANKING-HOUSE.
+
+A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS. PART II.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A NEGOTIATION.
+
+
+It is vastly amusing to contemplate the activity and perseverance which
+are exhibited in the regard shown by every man for his individual
+interests. Be our faults what they may--and our neighbours are not slow
+to discover them--it is very seldom indeed that we are charged with
+remissness in this respect. So far from this being the case, a moralist
+of the present day, in a work of no mean ability, has undertaken to
+prove that selfishness is the great and crying evil of the age. Without
+venturing to affirm so wholesale a proposition, which necessarily
+includes in its censure professors and professions _par excellence_
+unsecular and liberal, we may be permitted in charity to express our
+regret, that the rewards apportioned to good men in heaven are not
+bestowed upon those in whom the selfish principle is most rampant,
+instead of being strictly reserved for others in whom it is least
+influential; since it is more pleasing to consider celestial joys in
+connexion with humanity at large, than with an infinitesimal minority of
+mortals.
+
+Whilst Michael Allcraft coolly and designedly looked around him, in the
+hope of fixing on the prey he had resolved to find--whilst, cautious as
+the midnight housebreaker, who dreads lest every step may wake his
+sleeping victim, he almost feared to do what most he had at heart, and
+strove by ceaseless effort to bring into his face the show of
+indifference and repose;--whilst he was thus engaged, there were many,
+on the other hand, eager and impatient to crave from him, as for a boon,
+all that he himself was but too willing to bestow. Little did Michael
+guess, on his eventful wedding-day, as his noble equipage rattled along
+the public roads, what thoughts were passing in the minds of some who
+marked him as he went, and followed him with longing eyes. His absorbing
+passion, his exhilaration and delight, did not suffer him to see one
+thin and anxious-looking gentleman, who, spyglass in hand, sat at his
+cottage window, and brought as near as art allowed--not near enough to
+satisfy him--the entranced and happy pair. That old man, with nine times
+ten thousand pounds safe and snug in the stocks, was miserable to look
+at, and as miserable in effect. He was a widower, and had a son at
+Oxford, a wild, scapegrace youth, who had never been a joy to him, but a
+trial and a sorrow even from his cradle. Such punishments there are
+reserved for men--such visitations for the sins our fathers wrought, too
+thoughtless of their progeny. How the old man envied the prosperous
+bridegroom, and how vainly he wished that his boy might have done as
+well; and how through his small grey eye, the labouring tear-drops
+oozed, as he called fresh to mind again all that he had promised himself
+at the birth of his unhappy prodigal! What would he not give to recover
+and reform the wayward boy? The thought occurred to him, and he dallied
+with it for his pleasure. "If I could but settle him with this young
+Allcraft! Why should it not be done? I will give him all I have at once,
+if necessary, and live in a garret, if it will save my poor Augustus. I
+will speak to him on his return. What a companion and example for my
+boy! Open and straightforward--steady as a rock--as rich as Croesus.
+Most certainly I'll see him. I knew his father. I'll not grudge a few
+thousands to establish him. Stick him to business, and he shall do yet."
+The equipage rolled on as unconscious of the old man's dreams as were
+its animated inmates; and in due time it passed a massive lodge, which
+led through green and winding paths to the finest park and mansion in
+the parish. Close to the lodge's porch there stood a tall and
+gloomy-looking man, neatly dressed--alone. His arms were folded, and he
+eyed the carriage thoughtfully and seriously, as though he had an
+interest there, known to himself, and to no one else. He was a very
+proud man that--the owner of this vast estate, master of unnumbered
+acres, and feared rather than loved by the surrounding people. Wealth is
+the most royal of despots--the autocrat of all the world. Men whose
+sense of liberty forbids them to place their worst passions under wise
+control, will crawl in fetters to lick the basest hand well smeared with
+gold. There was not an individual who could say a good word for the
+squire behind his back. You would hardly believe it, if you saw
+individual and squire face to face. And there he stood, with as
+ill-omened a visage as ever brought blight upon a party of pleasure. He
+watched the panting horses out of sight--opened his gate, and walked the
+other way. He, like the old man, had his plans, and an itching for a
+share in Michael Allcraft's fortune. How he, so wealthy and respected,
+could need a part of it, remains a mystery at present. The squire knew
+his business. He went straightway to the banking-house, and made enquiry
+respecting Allcraft's destination. He gained intelligence, and followed
+him at once. They met abroad--they returned home in company. They became
+great friends, and within three months--PARTNERS. And the old man had
+been, as he threatened to be, very busy likewise. He had fought his
+son's battle very hardly and very successfully, as he believed, and with
+twenty thousand pounds had purchased for him a junior partner's interest
+in the estate. The hopeful boy was admitted into the concern during his
+residence in Oxford. He had never been seen, but his father was a man of
+substance, well known and esteemed. The character which he gave with his
+son was undeniable. Its truth could not be questioned, backed as it was
+by so liberal an advance.
+
+Let it not be supposed that Michael, in his anxiety to involve other men
+in his own fearful responsibility, was injudicious enough to act without
+all forethought and consideration. Not he. He had inherited from his
+sire the valuable faculty of detecting the wishes and views of men in
+their external evidences. On the countenances of men he read their
+hearts. It did not take long to discover that the venerable Mr Brammel
+and the haughty Mr Bellamy were bent upon the partnership, and would
+secure it at any cost. Satisfied of this, like a lazy and plethoric fish
+he kept within sight of his bait, close upon it, without deigning for a
+time as much as a nibble. It was his when he chose to bite. But there
+were deep enquiries to make, and many things to do, before he could
+implicate himself so far. In every available quarter he sought
+information respecting the one partner, and the father of the other, and
+of both; the intelligence that he received well repaid his trouble.
+Nothing could be more promising and satisfactory. Nor did he content
+himself with such arms against the selfishness of gentlemen, who, he was
+shrewd enough to know, were seeking only their own advantage in their
+earnest desire of a union with him. He had an eye to the balance of
+power. Two men, united and active, in the firm, pulling together on all
+occasions, might, not by one blow perhaps, but in the course of time,
+and by accumulating force and skill, oust him from his present elevated
+and natural position. Once admit them to authority, and the limits of
+their dominion must be prescribed by their own sense of honour, or by
+the opportunities afforded them of supremacy and independent action.
+Michael the impulsive saw and felt this most acutely, and took occasion,
+from their eagerness, to insure a proper equilibrium of the forces
+before permitting them to coalesce. There lived in the same city with
+Michael, and within a quarter of a mile of the banking-house, an
+individual to whom he turned his thoughts in his emergency. Mr Planner
+was his name, and his character is worth more than a mere passing
+observation. He was a study for an artist--a lesson for mankind. He was
+a man of surprising abilities, ill directed, and badly educated; at any
+period of his life capable of any thing--to the last moment of his
+existence accomplishing nothing. From a child he had displayed a love of
+admiration and applause, a craving after superiority and distinction, a
+burning ambition for fame. He had the body of a giant, and a giant's
+mental apparatus. But with all his gifts, physical and spiritual, all
+his energies and aims, he arrived at middle life a melancholy spectacle
+of failure and incompetency. There was no one object which he could
+pursue with steadiness and patience--no single mark to which he could
+perseveringly apply the combined powers of his gifted intellect. He
+frittered his faculties upon a hundred trifles, never concentrated them
+upon a worthy purpose once. Pride, emulation, and the internal
+consciousness of strength, led him, year after year, and day after day,
+into difficulties and trials, and carried him through them only to drag
+him into deeper. There was no one man whom he would allow to perform any
+one thing so skilfully as himself. There was no branch of knowledge into
+which he did not grope his way, and from which he would not manage to
+extract sufficient learning to render his conceit intolerable, and his
+opposition dangerous to a more erudite antagonist. He could build a
+church--dam a river--form a company--warm a house--cool a room--one and
+all he would undertake at a minute's notice, and engage to execute
+better than any person living. He asserted it with confidence, and you
+believed him when he spoke with all the earnestness of self-conviction
+and of truth. He despised all works--all theories but his own; and these
+were unapproachable, inimitable. He wrote with his own invented pen,
+used his own ink, sat on his own chair, made with his own incomparable
+tools. Men were ignorant, behind their age--burdened with superstitions,
+clogged by false principles. This was a text from which he never ceased
+to preach. As a youth he was engaged in profitable business. Before he
+reached his thirtieth year he had realized a handsome competency. He
+retired from his occupation, and went abroad to found a city across the
+ocean, with views that were unknown to man, and which, well carried out,
+must prove infallible. He chose a spot removed from civilized
+society--lived for three years amongst a tribe of savages, and came home
+at last without a farthing in his scrip--beggared but not depressed. He
+had dwelt for many months in a district of swamps, and he had discovered
+a method of draining lands cheaper and more effectual than any hitherto
+attempted. He contracted to empty some thousand acres--began his work,
+succeeded for a time, and failed at last, from having falsely calculated
+his expenses, and for lack of means to carry out his plans. There were
+few public matters in which Mr Planner did not meddle. He wrote
+pamphlets, and "hints," and "original views" by dozens. His articles on
+the currency and corn-laws were full of racy hits and striking
+points--his criticisms on the existing state of art worthy of the
+artist's best attention. The temper of Mr Planner was such as might be
+expected from such a mass of arrogance and conceit. A man who, in the
+easiness of his heart, would listen humbly, patiently, approvingly to Mr
+Planner, must pronounce the ardent character an angel. The remarkable
+docility which Mr Planner evinced under such treatment, was only to be
+equalled by the volubility and pleasure with which he communicated his
+numerous and ingenious ideas. Sceptics--nay, men who had ventured only
+to contend for the soundness of their preconceived ideas, and who had
+been met with a torrent of vituperation and reproach in consequence--did
+not hesitate to call Mr Planner--the devil incarnate. Such as he was, he
+had become an agent and a tool in the hands of Allcraft's father.
+Michael had been his friend for years, and Planner liked the boy who had
+ever regarded him with awe and veneration. The youth had been taught by
+his parent to note the faults and inconsistencies of his character; but
+these had not rendered him insensible to the talents which had commanded
+even that discerning parent's respect and admiration. It was this
+personage, for some years the hanger-on at the bank, and the traveller
+and negotiator of many things for Allcraft senior, whose name suggested
+to Michael the means of providing against the encroachments of his
+future brethren. Planner could be relied upon. The smallest possible
+interest in the business would excite in him a corresponding interest in
+its prosperity, and secure his steadiness and good behaviour. Why not
+offer it then, and make his entrance into the firm a _sine qua non_ in
+the bargain with Bellamy and Brammel? He revolved the matter, and saw no
+real objection to it. Planner was reputed a first-rate accountant; his
+services would be important, no remuneration could be too great,
+provided he would settle down, and fix his energies upon the one great
+object of advancing the welfare of the establishment. His friendship was
+secured, and a word or two would suffice to gain his faithful support
+and co-operation. So far from his becoming burdensome and useless in the
+bank, his talents would be in every way desirable. A coadjutor, such as
+he might be, firm and trusty, was invaluable. And why should he not be?
+A day had been fixed for accepting or rejecting the propositions of the
+gentlemen. The time was drawing on, when Michael visited his friend to
+sound him on his purpose.
+
+Planner lived in a very humble part of a very humble house, in a very
+humble street. The two-pair back was his domain, and his territory was
+less adorned than crowded with the evidences of his taste and handiwork.
+In the remote corner of his unclean apartment was a lathe for turning
+ivory--near it the material, a monstrous elephant's tusk. Shelves,
+carried round the room, supported bottles of various sizes, externally
+very dirty, and internally what you please; for eyes could not penetrate
+so far, and determine the contents. A large label, crowning all,
+announced them to be "samples." Books were strewed every
+where--manuscripts met you at every turn. The walls were filled with
+charts and drawings, one of the former representing the field of
+Waterloo, dissected and intersected, with a view to prove Lord
+Wellington guilty of winning a battle, which, in conformity with every
+law of strategy, he should have lost. One drawing was a rough sketch of
+his unhappy swamp; another, the elaborate delineation of a hydraulic
+pump. In the niche corresponding to that in which the lathe was fixed,
+there was a small iron bedstead; and in this, although it was nearly
+noon when Michael paid his friendly visit, Mr Allcraft caught sight of
+Mr Planner when he opened the door, in obedience to the very sharp and
+loud voice which invited him to "walk in." The ingenious gentleman had
+breakfasted. The tea things were on a stool at his side. He wore his
+nightcap, and he was busy in examining a crimson liquid, which he held
+in a glass close to his eyes. "That man was murdered, Allcraft!"
+exclaimed Mr Planner after the briefest possible salutation. "Murdered,
+as I am a living Christian!"
+
+"What man?" asked Allcraft.
+
+"Him they hanged last week for poisoning his father. What was the
+evidence? Why, when they opened the body, they found a grain or two of
+arsenic. Hang a man upon that! A pretty state of things--look here,
+sir--look here!"--and he pointed triumphantly to his crimson liquid.
+
+"What is that, Mr Planner?" inquired the visitor.
+
+"What? My blood, sir. I opened a vein the very day they hanged him. I
+suspected it all along, and there it is. There is more arsenic there,
+sir, than they found in the entire carcass of that man. Arsenic! Why,
+it's a prime ingredient in the blood. This it is to live in the clouds.
+Talk of dark ages--when shall we get light?"
+
+"I was not aware, Mr Planner,"----
+
+"Of course you were not. How should you be? It is the interest of the
+ruling powers to darken the intellect of society. Why am I kept down?
+Why don't I prosper? Why don't my works sell? Ah, Allcraft--put that
+small pamphlet in your pocket--there it is--under the model--take care
+what you are about--don't break it--there, that's right! What is it
+called?"
+
+"Popular delusions."
+
+"Ah, true enough!--put it into your pocket and read it. If Pitt could be
+alive to read it!---- Well, never mind! I say, Allcraft, how does that
+back room flue get on--any smoke now?"
+
+"None."
+
+"No. I should think not. Michael, I must say it, though the old
+gentleman is dead, he was one of the hardest fellows to move I ever met.
+He would have been smoke-dried--suffocated, years ago, if it hadn't been
+for me. I was the first man that ever sent smoke up that chimney. Nobody
+could do it, sir. A fellow came from London, tried, and failed."
+
+"It is a pity, Mr Planner, that, with abilities like yours, you have not
+been more successful in life. Pardon me if I say that success would have
+made you a quieter and a happier man."
+
+"Ah, Michael, so your father used to say! Well, I don't know--people are
+such fools. They will not think for themselves, and they are ready to
+crush any one who offers to think for them. It has ever been so. Men in
+advance of their generation have always fared badly. Ages ago they were
+put to death cruelly and violently. Now they are left to starve, and
+die. The creatures are ignorant, but they are worse than that; they are
+selfish and jealous, and will rather sit in gloom, than owe light, and
+confess they owe it, to a fellow mortal and a superior spirit."
+
+"I am afraid, Mr Planner, after such an observation, that you will
+hardly give me credit for the feeling which has induced me to visit you
+this morning."
+
+"You are a good fellow, Michael. You were always a generous-hearted
+lad--an exception to the general rule. When you were five years old, you
+used to share your biscuits with me. It was a fine trait in your
+character. Proceed."
+
+"You are aware, Mr Planner, that through my father's death increased
+responsibilities have come upon me."
+
+"You may say that. He never would take my advice about the bank-notes.
+Stop--remind me before you go, of the few hints to bankers, which I drew
+up. You will do well to look at them. You'll see the advantages of my
+system of paper issues. Your father, sir, was stone-blind to his own
+interests---- but I am interrupting you."
+
+"I have for some time past determined to associate with me in the bank,
+two gentlemen of noble fortunes and the first respectability. I would
+not willingly carry on the concern alone, and the accession of two such
+gentlemen as I describe, cannot but be in every way desirable."
+
+"Humph--go on."
+
+"Now Mr Planner, you are a very, very old friend of my father's, and I
+know he valued your advice as it deserved to be."
+
+"The old gentleman was good in the main, Michael."
+
+"Had he been aware of my position, he would have recommended the step
+which I am about to adopt. Mr Planner, I am young, and therefore
+inexperienced. These gentlemen are very worthy persons no doubt; indeed,
+I am assured they are; still, they are comparatively strangers to me,
+and I am certain you would advise me to be most cautious."
+
+"Proceed."
+
+"What I feel to want is the constant presence of a friend--one who, from
+personal attachment, may have my welfare and interest at heart, and form
+as it were a second self at all times--let me be present or absent--and
+absent I must be very often--you perceive?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"A sort of counterpoise to the opposite weight, in fact, if I may be
+allowed to call it so. Now, I can sincerely affirm that I know no
+person, Mr Planner, in whom I could rely so entirely and unreservedly as
+yourself; and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to serve a man
+so highly gifted, so long connected with our family by the closest
+friendship. If you think the occupation of a banker suitable to your
+present tastes, I believe that I can offer you an appointment worthy
+your serious consideration."
+
+Mr Planner rose in his bed, and grasped firmly the hand of Mr Michael
+Allcraft. The latter sat at the bedside until past three o'clock, and
+then retired, leaving his friend in a state of great mental excitement.
+When Michael, upon taking his departure, reached the street door, he
+stopped short, and retraced his steps. Entering the apartment for a
+second time, he discovered Mr Planner in his night clothes, standing
+before a looking glass, and repeating one of his own compositions in a
+voice of thunder, and with the most vehement gesticulation.
+
+"I beg your pardon. You told me to remind you, Planner, of your hints to
+bankers. Have you the book handy?"
+
+"It is here, Michael. Read it attentively, my boy--trust to me. I'll
+make the house's name ring throughout the country. Don't forget what I
+have said. We must have a new facade to the old building after a while.
+I have such a plan for it!"
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A LULL.
+
+_Allcraft, Bellamy, Brammel, and Planner_. It was a goodly ship that
+bore the name, and fair she looked at the launching; her sails well set,
+her streamers flying, and the music of men's voices cheering her on her
+career. Happy and prosperous be her course! We think not of winter's
+cold in the fervent summer time, and wreck and ruin seem impossible on
+the smooth surface of the laughing sea; yet cold and winter come, and
+the smiling, sweet-tempered ripple can awaken from slumber, and battle
+and storm with the heavens. Never had bark left haven with finer
+promises of success. We will follow her from the port, and keep
+watchfully in the good ship's wake.
+
+Michael formed a just conclusion when he reckoned upon increase of
+business. His own marriage, and the immense wealth of his lady, had
+inspired the world with unbounded confidence. The names of two of his
+partners were household words in the county, and stood high amongst the
+best. A convulsion of nature may destroy the world in half an hour, as
+love, it is said, _may_ transform a man into an oyster; but either of
+these contingencies was as remote as the possibility of Allcraft's
+failure. Silently and successfully the house went on. For a quarter of a
+year the sun shone brightly, and profit, and advantage, and honour,
+looked Michael in the face. Thriving abroad, happy at home, what did he
+need more? His spirit became buoyant--his heart carefree and light. He
+congratulated himself upon the prudence and success of his measures, and
+looked for his reward in the brilliant future which he had created for
+himself and earned. His soul was calmed; and so are the elements,
+fearfully and oppressively, sometimes an hour before the tempest and the
+storm.
+
+At the end of three months, Michael deemed it necessary to go abroad.
+The heaviest of his father's debts had been contracted with a house in
+Lyons, and notices as to payment had been conveyed to him--notices as
+full of politeness as they were of meaning. The difficulties in which he
+had found himself at the death of his parent--the seriousness of his
+engagements--and the wariness which he had been compelled to
+exercise--had gone far to sober down the impetuous youth, and to endue
+him with the airs and habits of a man of business. He had attended to
+his duties at the banking-house faithfully and punctually. He had
+entered into its affairs with the energy and resolution of a practical
+and working mind. He had given his heart to the work, and had put his
+shoulder to the wheel, honestly and earnestly. Whatsoever may have been
+his faults previously to his connexion with his partners, it is due to
+him to say that he was no sluggard afterwards, and that he grudged
+neither time nor labour that could be in any way productive to the
+house--could add a shilling to its profits, or a breath of reputation to
+its name. To pay his father's debts from the earnings of the bank--to
+keep those debts a secret--and to leave the fortune of his wife
+untouched, were the objects for which he lived, and soon began to slave.
+Believing that a favourable arrangement could be effected with his
+father's creditors, he determined to visit them in person. He had not
+been absent from the bank even for a day; and now, before he could quit
+it with comfort, he deemed it necessary to have a few parting words with
+his right hand and factotum, Planner.
+
+Planner was the only member of the firm who lived in the establishment.
+His specimens, his bottles, his maps, and drawings, had been removed to
+a spacious apartment over the place of business, and he rejoiced in the
+possession of an entire first floor. His bed-room had now a distinct
+existence. He had not enjoyed it for a week, before the water with which
+he performed his daily ablutions was insinuated by a cunning contrivance
+through the ceiling, and dismissed afterwards, as cleverly, through the
+floor. Hot water came through the wall at any hour of the day, and a
+constant artificial ventilation was maintained around his bed by night
+and day. There was no end to the artifices which the chamber exhibited.
+Michael, although he lived at a considerable distance from the bank, was
+always the first at his post, after Planner himself. He arrived
+unusually early on the day fixed for his visit to the Continent. Planner
+and he sat for an hour together, and in the course of their
+conversation, words to the following effect escaped them:--
+
+"You will be careful and attentive, Planner. Let me hear from you by
+every post. Do not spare ink and paper."
+
+"Trust me. I shall not forget it. But don't you miss the opportunity,
+Allcraft, of doing something with those mines. Your father wouldn't
+touch them--but he repented it. I tell you, Michael, if we bought them,
+and worked them ourselves, we might coin money! I'd go abroad and see
+the shafts sunk. I could save a fortune in merely setting them to
+rights."
+
+"It is rather strange, Planner, that Brammel is so long absent. He
+should come home, and settle down to work. It isn't well to be away. It
+hasn't a fair appearance to the world. You saw his father yesterday.
+What said he?"
+
+"Oh, that young Brammel had a good many things to arrange in Oxford and
+in the neighbourhood, and would soon be back now. But never mind him,
+Allcraft. Between ourselves, he is better where he is; he is a horrible
+ass."
+
+"Hush. So he is, Planner, but he must not run wild. We must keep him at
+home. He has been a rackety one, and I fear he is not much better now. I
+question whether I should have received him here, if I had known as much
+of him at first as I have heard lately. But his father deceived me."
+
+"Queer old man that, Michael! How he takes the boy's part always, and
+how frightened he seems lest you should think too badly of him. Young
+Brammel will have every farthing of the old man's money at his death. A
+pretty sum, too. A hundred thousand pounds, isn't it?"
+
+"Well, Planner, let me know when he returns. That was a curious report
+about his marriage. Can it be true?"
+
+"His father denies it, but you mustn't trust the old sinner when he
+talks about his son. He'll lie through thick and thin for him. They do
+say he lived with the girl at the time he was at college, and married
+her at last because her brother threatened to kick him."
+
+"Nonsense, Planner."
+
+"Why nonsense? More than half the marriages you hear of are scarcely a
+whit better. What are the rules for a correct match? Who obeys them?
+Where do you ever hear, now-a-days, of a proper marriage? People are
+inconsistent in this respect as in other things. A beauty marries a
+beast. A philosopher weds a fool. They can't tell you why, but they do
+it. It's the perversity of human nature."
+
+"I shall look sharp after Brammel."
+
+"Take my advice, Michael, and look after the mines. Brammel can take
+care of himself, or his wife and brother-in-law can do it. The timber on
+the property will realize the purchase money."
+
+"Well, we shall see; but here is Mr Bellamy. Mind you write to me, and
+be explicit and particular."
+
+"I shall do it, Michael."
+
+"And mark, Planner; prudence--prudence."
+
+And so saying, Michael advanced to Bellamy with a smiling countenance.
+An hour afterwards, both he and his lovely bride were comfortably seated
+in a post-chaise and four, admiring the garden-land of Kent, and
+speeding to Dover fast as their horses could carry them.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A SWEET COUPLE.
+
+The very emphatic and somewhat vulgar expression of Mr Planner, was by
+no means ill-chosen to express the character of Augustus Theodore
+Brammel. He had been lovingly spoiled from his cradle--humoured and
+ruined with the most praiseworthy care and perseverance. His
+affectionate parents had studiously neglected the few goodly shoots
+which the youth had brought into the world with him, and had embarked
+all their energies in the cultivation of the weeds that grew noxious and
+numerous around the unhappy boy's heart. His mother lived to see her
+darling expelled from Eton--the father to see much worse, and yet not
+the worst that the hopeful one was doomed to undergo. Gross vices, if
+not redeemed, are rendered less hideous by intellectual power and
+brilliancy. Associated with impotency and ignorance, they are disgusting
+beyond expression. Augustus Brammel was the most sensual and
+self-engrossed of men--the most idle and dissipated; and, as if these were
+not enough to render him an object of the deepest aversion, he was as
+self-willed, thick-headed, overbearing a dunce as ever moved a man to
+that contempt "which wisdom holds unlawful ever;" and Brammel was not
+only a fool, but a conceited, upstart, irritating fool. He considered
+himself the shrewdest of mortals, and presumed to dictate, to be
+impertinent, to carry matters with a high hand and a flourish. As for
+modesty, the word was not in his dictionary. He had never known its
+meaning; and therefore, perhaps, in justice is not to be blamed for the
+want of it. Augustus, being a great blusterer, was of course a low
+coward. He bullied, oppressed, and crushed the helpless and the weak,
+who were avenged as often as he cowered and sneaked beneath the look of
+the strong and the brave. The companions and friends of such creatures
+as Brammel, are generally selected from the lower grades of life. The
+tone of feeling found amongst the worst members of these classes,
+harmonizes with their own. They think the like thoughts, talk the same
+language. They are led to them by the true Satanic impulse, for it is
+their triumph to reign in hell--their misery to serve in heaven.
+Flattered by the dregs and refuse of society, they endeavour to forget
+that they are avoided, spurned, trodden on, by any thing higher. Just
+when it was too late to profit by the discovery, old Brammel found out
+his mistake; and then he sagaciously vowed, that if his time were to
+come over again, he would educate his boy in a very different manner.
+His first attempt had certainly been a failure. Augustus had been
+rusticated at the university; he had run away from his home; he had
+committed all kinds of enormity. He had passed weeks in the sinks of
+London, and had been discovered at last by his heartbroken parent
+amongst the stews of Shadwell, in a fearful state of disease and
+destitution. Years were passed in proceedings of this nature, and every
+attempt at recovery proved abortive and useless. His debts had been
+discharged a dozen times, and on every occasion under a solemn
+engagement that it should be the last. When Brammel senior signed the
+deed of partnership on behalf of his son, the latter, as I have already
+said, was in Oxford, having returned to the university only a month
+before, at the termination of his period of banishment. Whilst the
+father was engaged in publishing the imaginary virtues of his son to
+most admiring listeners, the promising youth himself was passing his
+days in the very agreeable society of Miss Mary Anne Waters, the eldest
+daughter of the cook of his college--a young lady with some pretension
+to beauty, but none whatever to morality, being neither more nor less
+than Mr Augustus Brammel's very particular and _chere amie_. The letter
+which arrived with the unwelcome intelligence of the arrangement, found
+the charming pair together. A specimen of their discourse at the time,
+will show the temper with which the communication was received.
+
+"I sha'n't go," ejaculated the youth. "I can't be nailed down to a desk.
+What business had the old man to do any thing without me? Why can't he
+mind his own affairs? He's old and ugly enough. It's cursed impudence in
+him, and that's a fact."
+
+"Oh ducky!" interposed Miss Mary Anne, with a rueful face, "I know how
+it will be. You'll have to go home for good, and you won't think of me
+no more."
+
+"Don't you bother yourself. I sha'n't do any thing of the kind. If I go
+home, Molly, you go with me."
+
+"Do you mean it, dear bless-ed?"
+
+"Don't I? that's all. I say it is blasted impertinent in the old man,
+and I shall tell him so. I shall have blunt enough when his toes are up.
+What is the good of working for more?"
+
+"Oh dear me, bless-ed!"
+
+"What is the matter, old girl?"
+
+"If you should ever forget me!"
+
+"Don't you fear."
+
+"I should hang myself up to the bedpost with my garters. I know I
+should. Don't leave me, there's a dear ducky."
+
+"Well, haven't I said I won't?"
+
+"Ah, you think you won't, dear bless-ed!"
+
+"I tell you I won't."
+
+"Yes, but when they get you up, they'll just be trying to marry you to
+some fine rich woman; and I am sure she won't know how to take care of
+you as I do. They ain't brought up to air and mend linen, to darn
+stockings, and to tack on shirt-buttons. They'll never suit you, ducky."
+
+"Catch me marrying a fine woman, Moll!"
+
+"Ha, won't you though, bless-ed? Oh, dear me!" Mary Anne burst into
+tears.
+
+"What's the matter, Moll, now?"
+
+"Oh, dear ducky! I wish I was an honest woman. I might go every where
+with you, and not be ashamed of it either; and I do love you so. I shall
+die if you leave me--I know I shall!"
+
+"But I won't leave you."
+
+"Oh, there's a ducks! But you know what you promised me, Tiddy dear?"
+
+"Yes, I know, Molly, and I'll keep my word with you. If father makes a
+partner of me, he shall make partners of both of us."
+
+"No, do you mean it though?"
+
+"Haven't I said it, you stupid?"
+
+"Yes, you dear ducks of diamonds! You do look so handsome this morning!
+And when shall it be? If you are to go to this business, the sooner the
+better, you know, darling. Oh, I shall be so happy!"
+
+Happy or not, the lady was at least successful. In the course of a week
+Mary Anne Waters became extinct, and from her ashes rose the
+surprizingly fine, and surpassingly vulgar, Mrs Augustus Brammel.
+Augustus, notwithstanding his vapoury insubjection, visited his father
+and the partners in the bank, leaving his bride in snug lodgings at a
+respectable distance from all. He remained a few days at the
+banking-house, and then absented himself on the plea of finally
+arranging his incompleted affairs in Oxford and elsewhere. He had
+engaged to return to business at the end of a month. Nearly three had
+passed away, and no tidings whatever had been heard of him. Allcraft, as
+it has been seen, grew anxious--less perhaps for his partner's safety,
+than for the good name and credit of the firm. He had heard of his
+precious doings, and reports of his inauspicious marriage were already
+abroad. No wonder that the cautious and apprehensive Michael trembled
+somewhat in his state of uncertainty. As for Mr Augustus Brammel
+himself, the object of his fears, he, in conformity with general custom,
+and especially in compliance with the wishes of his wife, had quitted
+England on a wedding tour. With five hundred pounds in his purse--a sum
+advanced by his father to liquidate his present outstanding
+liabilities--he steamed from Dover on the very day that he was supposed
+to have reached Oxford for his final arrangements. From Boulogne, he,
+his wife, and suite, proceeded to Paris; and there they were, up to
+their eyes in the dissipation of that fascinating city, when Allcraft
+started on their track, followed them, unwittingly enough, from town to
+town, and came upon them at length in the great city itself, and in the
+very hotel in which they lodged. It was at night that Michael first
+caught sight of the runaway. And where? In a gaming-house, the most
+fashionable of the many legalized haunts of devils in which, not many
+years since, Paris abounded. Allcraft had entered upon the scene of
+iniquity as into a theatre, to behold a sight--the sight of human nature
+in its lowest, most pitiable, and melancholy garb; in its hour of
+degradation, craziness, and desperation. He had his recreation in such a
+spectacle, as men can find their pleasure in the death-struggle of a
+malefacter on the gibbet. He came, not to join the miserable throng that
+crowded round the tables, exhibiting every variety of low, unhealthy
+feeling; nor did he come, in truth, prepared to meet with one in whose
+affairs and conduct he had so deep an interest. It was with
+inexpressible astonishment and horror that he beheld his colleague, busy
+and active amongst the busiest of the crew, venturing rouleau after
+rouleau, losing stake upon stake, and growing more reckless and madder
+with every new defeat. For a time Michael would not, could not, believe
+his own eyes. It was one of the curious resemblances which we meet every
+now and then in life: it was any thing but what he dreaded it to be--the
+actual presence of Augustus Brammel. Michael retreated to a distant part
+of the room, and watched his man. The latter spoke. He used a disgusting
+English oath, and flung his last rouleau across the table like a drunken
+fiend. The heart of Allcraft grew sick, but still he kept his eye upon
+the gamester. Losing his stake, Brammel quitted the apartment, and
+retired to a spacious saloon, splendidly furnished. He called for
+champagne--drank greedily--finished the bottle--returned to the
+gaming-room flushed and feverish--looked at the players savagely, but
+sottishly, for a few moments, and then left the house altogether.
+Michael was on his heels. The worthy Brammel stopped at many small
+public-houses on his road, in each drank off a glass of brandy, and so
+went on. Michael had patience, and kept to his partner like a leech. It
+was midnight when he found himself once more before his hotel.
+
+Brammel had rung at the porter's bell, and gained admittance. A quarter
+of an hour afterwards Allcraft followed his example. Before he retired
+to rest he learnt that Brammel and himself were inmates of the same
+house. About eleven o'clock on the following morning, Augustus quitted
+his dressing-room. Michael had been waiting some hours for this
+operation. A few minutes afterwards Mr Brammel's servant announced a
+visitor. Great was the consternation of Augustus Brammel when Mr Michael
+Allcraft looked him in the face. First the delinquent turned very white,
+like a guilty man--then his colour returned to him, and he tried to
+laugh like an innocent and careless one; but he was not so happy in the
+second instance. As a third experiment, he smoothed his hair with his
+fingers--pointed to a chair--and held out his hand. Mrs Brammel was at
+the breakfast table, reading an English newspaper.
+
+"Ah! Mr Allcraft--glad to see you--glad to see you. Out on the same
+business, eh? Nothing like it--first weeks of marriage are
+delightful--there's nothing like a honey-moon on the Continent to my
+thinking. Mrs Brammel, my wife--Mr Allcraft, my partner, my dear."
+
+Mrs Brammel looked up from her newspaper and giggled.
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr Brammel," said Allcraft in a serious tone, "how
+surprised I am to find you here. Are you aware, sir, that neither your
+father, nor any one of your partners, have the least knowledge of your
+movements. You were supposed to be in England. You gave your word to
+return to business within a month of your departure. You have not
+written or given the slightest account of yourself."
+
+"Come, that's very good, Mister. Given an account of myself, indeed!
+Pray, whom am I accountable to?"
+
+"To those, sir," replied Allcraft, quickly and angrily, "with whom you
+are associated in business, and who have an interest in your good
+conduct--who suffer by your acts, and will be blamed for your folly and
+indiscretion."
+
+"Come, I say, that's all very fine in you, Mr Allcraft; but what brings
+you here, I should like to know? Haven't I as much right to bring my
+wife to Paris as you have? Give and take, if you please"----
+
+"No, bless-ed," sagely and sarcastically interposed Mrs Brammel, "I
+ain't so rich as Mrs Allcraft; I can't dress so fine; we ain't sich
+gentle-folks"----
+
+"Mr Brammel, pray let us have no more recrimination. I have met you here
+by the merest chance. It is my duty to speak to you at once, and very
+seriously, on your position. You are mistaken if you suppose that my own
+pleasure has brought me here; business--important, weighty business--is
+the sole cause, I can assure you."
+
+"_Ally--ally_," answered Brammel with a knowing leer, attempting a
+little _facetiae_ in French.
+
+"I tell you the truth, sir," continued Michael, reddening with anger,
+"and I warn you in good time to look to yourself, and to your course of
+conduct. You may bring infamy upon yourself, as you have brought sorrow
+and anguish upon the head of your aged father; but you shall not with
+impunity involve and disgrace others who are strangers to you, although
+unfortunately connected with you by their occupation. Depend upon it,
+you shall not."
+
+"My aged father, as you call him, didn't stump up all that money, I'm
+thinking, Mr Allcraft, to bind me apprentice. Perhaps you'd like to kick
+me next. I am as much a partner in that concern as you are; and if I
+think proper to take my lady abroad, I am at liberty to do it as well as
+you. You ain't the first man because you married a rich widow, and
+because your name begins with A. Certainly not, monsweer."
+
+"In course not, bless-ed. Besides, ducky, your name begins with B--and
+that's A's next door neighbour."
+
+"You shall take your own course, sir," proceeded Michael; "but it shall
+be at your own peril, and with your eyes opened. It is my part to give
+you good counsel. I shall do so. You may act as you then think fit."
+
+"I haven't done any thing to disgrace you, as you call it. It is cursed
+impudent in you to say so."
+
+"You have. You disgraced yourself and me, and every one associated with
+you, only last night, when you were pleased to exhibit to the world as a
+public gamester. (Augustus Theodore changed colour.) You see that your
+actions are observed; they will become more so. The house shall not lose
+its good name through your misconduct, sir. Assure yourself of that.
+There are means to rid ourselves of a nuisance, and to punish severely,
+if we choose to use them."
+
+"What do you mean by punish?" asked Augustus, unfeignedly alarmed by his
+partner's threat, and yet not liking to be bullied. "Don't you insult
+me, sir, in my own room; better not, I can tell you."
+
+"Pshaw, you are an idiot;" exclaimed Michael most contemptuously.
+
+"I'll just thank you to go, sir, and not call my husband names," said
+Mrs Brammel, rising from her chair. "You are a nasty ill-bred fellow,
+I'm sure. Talk of high people! I never see sich airs in all my life. If
+your wife ain't no better behaved, there's a nice pair of you, I don't
+think. Never mind him, ducky dear--don't you fret. We are as good as
+them any day. Let's go up stairs, there's a bless-ed. Call the
+_garsoon_."
+
+Poor Michael knew not what step to take, what language to employ, in
+order to effect his purpose. He could not think of quitting Paris,
+leaving his partner behind him, open to the seductions of the city, and
+eager to avail himself of every license and indulgence. He had hoped to
+frighten him into better behaviour, and perhaps he would have succeeded
+but for the presence of the lady, whose appearance and demeanour, more
+than any thing else, confounded and annoyed him. He remained silent for
+a few seconds, and then, in a quieter tone, he asked Brammel when he
+really thought of getting back to business.
+
+"Why, very soon," replied the youth, himself reduced to civility by
+Michael's more peaceful aspect; "and I should have been back before now,
+if I hadn't been bothered about a lot of things. If you hadn't come in
+blustering, I should have told you so. I shall be all right enough,
+don't you fear, when I get home. I promised father I should settle, and
+so I mean--but a wedding trip is a wedding trip, and ladies mustn't be
+baulked."
+
+"Certainly not," answered Allcraft, grateful for as much as this--"then,
+when do you think of reaching home?"
+
+"Oh, before you, I'll wager! We haven't got much more to see. We went to
+the Jordan de Plants yesterday. We are going to the Pantheon to-morrow.
+We shall soon get done. Make your mind easy."
+
+"As soon as you have visited these places, I am to understand, then,
+that you return to business?"
+
+"Exactly so."
+
+"And may I venture to intreat you to abstain from visiting the
+gambling-house again?"
+
+"Oh, don't you worry yourself! If you had only spoken at first like a
+gentleman, I should have promised you without being asked."
+
+"Both you and Mrs Brammel must see, I am sure, the very great propriety
+of avoiding all such scenes."
+
+"Yes," answered Mary Anne; and then repeating her husband's words, "but
+if you had only spoken at first like a gentleman!"
+
+"Perhaps I was too hasty, madam. It is a fault that I have. We shall
+understand one another much better for the future. You will be at home
+in about--ten days we'll say, from the present time, at latest."
+
+"Oh, don't fix days, I never could bear it! We shall be all right. Will
+you stay breakfast?"
+
+Michael excused himself, and, having done all that was permitted him,
+departed. With a sad spirit he encountered his lady, and with gloomy
+forebodings his mind was filled that day. Augustus Brammel was destined
+to be his thorn, his trial, and his punishment. He could see it already.
+His house, otherwise so stable, so promising, and so prosperous, would
+receive a mortal blow from this one threatening point. It must be warded
+off. The hurtful limb must by degrees be got away. He must, from this
+time forward, engage himself in its removal. It was, after all, a
+consolation to have met the pair, and to have succeeded so far in
+frightening them home again, as he fully believed he had. For a time at
+least, he conceived that Brammel was still safe. This conviction gave
+him courage, and carried him on his road to Lyons, with a heart not
+altogether ill at ease, and without good hope. In the meanwhile Mrs
+Brammel had inveighed, in the most unmeasured terms, against the
+insolent behaviour of Mr Allcraft, the pride and arrogance of his wife,
+whom she had never seen--the marked, unpardonable insult she had offered
+her in not accompanying Allcraft on his visit; and had succeeded, in
+short, in effectually driving from her husband's mind the little good
+effect which had been produced by the partner's just remonstrance.
+Ignorant and vulgar as she was, the woman had unbounded influence and
+power. How much, may be guessed from the fact, that before Michael
+Allcraft was ten miles on his journey to Lyons, she had prevailed upon
+her husband to draw his first cheque upon his house to the tune of
+L.500, and to prolong their holiday by visiting in succession the south
+of France, Switzerland, and Italy. The fool, after an inane resistance,
+consented; his cheque was converted to money--the horses were
+ordered--and on they dashed.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A SPECULATION.
+
+"When the cat is away, the mice begin to play." It is an old and a true
+saying, and Michael, had he been an experienced mouser, would have
+remembered it to his advantage, when he thought of leaving the
+banking-house to the tender mercies of his colleagues. His confidence in
+Planner was very great, and I will not say undeserved; still some
+account should have been taken of his previous habits, and the positive
+abiding infirmity of human nature. It was surely dangerous to surround a
+man so fickle, and so easily led by the delusions of his sanguine
+spirit, with every temptation to walk astray, and to remove every check
+that had hitherto kept down the capricious movements of his most
+unsteady will. The daily, almost hourly presence of Allcraft, his
+vigorous and immediate superintendence of affairs, had subdued the
+speculative soul of Planner, and rendered him a useful man of business.
+He was, in truth, a good accountant, ardent in his pursuits, a faithful
+friend, an honest man. With the needful restraints upon him, he proved,
+as Allcraft had believed he would, a warm and active partisan. Had those
+restraints been continued for any time--had he been trained, and so
+reconciled and accustomed to his yoke, all might have prospered and been
+well with him. His own happiness might have been secured, and the hopes
+of his friend and patron would not have been blasted. It was the
+misfortune of Allcraft, with all his long-sightedness, not to see far
+enough. He was to blame, deeply to blame, for the desertion of a man
+whom he knew to be at the mercy of his own wayward spirit, and utterly
+incapable of self-defence. Yet, called abroad, what could he do? It is
+the fate of cunning, as it is of suspicion and other mortal weaknesses,
+to fall into toils of its own weaving. Michael too soon was called to
+pay the penalty. Allcraft had been in France a fortnight, when Planner
+received a fatal visit at the bank from a very old friend and stanch
+ally--a creature as excitable and sanguine as himself, as full of
+projects, and as unsuccessful. They had known each other in the early
+and distant days of their prosperity--they had grown poor together--they
+were united by the uniformity of their fortunes as by the similarity of
+their natures. They had both for years regarded themselves as the
+persecuted and injured of society--and both were satisfied of their
+ability to achieve miracles, time and the occasion serving. It is not
+for speculative spirits to be disheartened by failure, but rather to be
+encouraged by ill success to fresh extravagance, else had the poor
+result of all their schemes long since extinguished the fire at work
+within them. Not one of their innumerable plans had shown a gleam, a
+spark, of reality and life. One morning, about five years before the
+present visit, Mr William Wedge rose from bed with the pleasing notion
+that he would ruin all the public gaming-houses in the world. He had
+suddenly discovered the secret of their success--the cause of their
+enormous gains--and had arranged, with minutest care and skill, a
+systematic course of play to bring against them. It was with difficulty
+that he contained himself until he mentioned his good fortune to his
+friend. They met time after time in secret, grew fearfully
+mysterious--closed their windows in the open day--played cards from
+morning till night, and sometimes through the night--with no other eye
+upon them than the very feeble, faint-glimmering one of their farthing
+rushlight;--they carried directions in their pocket--learnt them
+off--repeated them until they grew familiar as their oaths, and more
+familiar than their prayers. To realize between them a standing capital
+of five pounds, a sum essential to their operations, they pawned all the
+available clothing they possessed; and on the very night that they
+obtained the cash, they sallied forth to carry devastation and affright
+throughout the camps of innocent and unsuspecting blacklegs. As might be
+expected, it took about as many minutes as they had pounds to effect the
+ruin of the adventurers. Did they despond? Not they; a flaw existed in
+their calculations. They looked for it with care, and were torn from
+their employment only by the exigencies of the time, and the pressing
+demands of nature for immediate bread. Mr Wedge had from this period
+struggled on, living as he knew how, and nobody could tell, until
+Planner's unexpected good fortune and ascent provided him with an
+allowance and a quiet mind to follow out his views. Since Planner's
+introduction into the bank, he had behaved faithfully and well to his
+ancient crony; in addition to a pension, paid weekly and in advance, he
+gave him a right of entree to his rooms after the hours of business, a
+certain supper three times a-week, and an uncertain quantity of brandy
+and water on the same occasions. One stipulation only he deemed
+necessary for his protection. He had given his word to Allcraft to avoid
+all trading unconnected with the bank--to abstain from speculation. Weak
+at the best of times, he knew himself to be literally helpless with the
+_ignis fatuus_ of a hopeful project before his eyes; and he made a
+condition of Wedge's visits--his silence upon matters of business,
+private or public. It was a wise resolution, nobly formed, and for a
+season well carried out. Wedge promised to be cautious, and did not
+break his word. Peace of mind, a regular diet, and a full stomach, were
+such extraordinary circumstances in the daily doings of the latter, that
+the restraint upon his tongue was, in the first month or two of the new
+excitement, scarcely felt as an inconvenience. Planner himself, with the
+eye of Allcraft upon him, kept his natural inclination safely in the
+rear of _his_ promise, and so the days and nights passed pleasantly. On
+the evening above alluded to--that is to say, just a fortnight after
+Michael's departure--Wedge came as usual for his supper, grog, and
+conversation. The clock had just struck eleven--the friends were sitting
+together, their feet upon the fender, their hands upon their tumblers.
+As was usual with them, they discussed the doings of the nation, and
+called in question the proceedings of the existing government. One
+subject after another was dismissed--politics, law, love, and
+religion--they abused every thing, and agreed marvellously. It was
+getting very near midnight, the hour at which, it is said, devils are
+let loose upon earth for mischief--when a rascally little imp crawled up
+to Planner's ear, and put it into his head to talk about the amusements
+of the poor, and their effects upon the rising generation.
+
+"They will be sorry for it, Wedge--mark my words. All this stabbing and
+killing comes from too much work and no play. Jack's at his tools for
+ever--gets a dull boy--and then stabs and cuts about him for the sake of
+getting lively. Government should have playgrounds in every parish. They
+would save the expense in the rapid diminution of the standing army. I
+wrote a letter once to the prime minister"----
+
+Wedge sighed.
+
+"What do you mean by that, Wedge? Ah, quite right--I see! You are a good
+fellow, Wedge. You have kept the compact. I won't be the first to break
+it. Let us change the subject. I burnt all my letters and papers the day
+I got here. What was the good of keeping them? This is an ungrateful
+country, Wedge!"
+
+Wedge sipped his grog, and sighed again.
+
+"What is the matter, boy?" enquired his patron. "Speak your
+mind--relieve your heart."
+
+"No, I won't, Planner--I won't be the first. You sha'n't say it is me. I
+don't mean to be blamed, that's a fact--but if I dared, oh, that's all!"
+
+"Is it any thing very good?"
+
+"Good! Good, did you say? Well, an agreement's an agreement, Planner. It
+isn't for me to introduce the subject; but I could tell you something,
+if we were differently situated, that would be a fortune to you. Ah,
+Planner, I sha'n't be a burden upon you long! I have hit upon a thing at
+last--I am a made man!"
+
+"Now I tell you what, Wedge," said Planner, pulling out his watch, and
+looking very serious, "we'll have just five minutes' private
+conversation on this matter, and then have done with it. Only five
+minutes, mind you, by the watch. If we mutually agree to lay aside our
+compact for a minute or so, there's no great harm done, provided it
+isn't made a precedent. I should like to see you set a-going, Wedge. You
+may open your mind to me, and be sure of good advice. It's now seven
+minutes to twelve. Till twelve, Wedge, you are at liberty to talk on
+business."
+
+"What were you saying just now about amusements, Planner? Do you
+recollect."
+
+"I do."
+
+"I have thought about it for the last six months. We have formed a
+company."
+
+"A company!"
+
+Wedge was as full of mystery as an Oxford tractman. He rose on tiptoe
+from his chair, proceeded to the passage, listened on the stairs,
+returned as carefully, closed the door, resumed his seat.
+
+"A company!" repeated Planner.
+
+"Such an undertaking!" proceeded the ungagged and self-deluded Wedge.
+"It's the finest thing that has been thought of for these hundred years.
+I _am_ surprised it never once occurred to you. Your mind, Planner,
+should have grasped it."
+
+"What can it be?"
+
+"We mean to call it the _Pantamorphica_, because it takes all shapes. We
+are in treaty now for a hundred acres of land within three miles of
+London. We are to have a race-course--public gardens with fountains and
+promenades--a gymnasium for callisthenic and other exercises--boating--a
+menagerie--a library--lecture-rooms--conservatories"----
+
+"By Jove, I see!" ejaculated Planner. "Capital!--a universal playground;
+trust me, I have thought of it before. Go on."
+
+"These are for the daylight. At night we have a concert-room--a
+theatre--saloons for dancing--halls for refreshment--museums for
+_converzatione_. In the centre of the public walks we have a synagogue,
+a church, and chapel for Sabbath visitors. Then we shall have
+aviaries--apiaries--caves--alpine scenery"----
+
+"Upon my soul, Wedge, it's a grand conception!" There was a large clock
+at the bottom of the stairs which struck twelve, loud enough to awake
+the sleeping household; but, strange to say, neither Planner nor his
+friend heard a single chime. "Who are your men?" continued Planner.
+
+"Oh, first-rate men! Three of the first London bankers, two of the chief
+architects, the richest capitalist in England"----
+
+"What, have you got them all?"
+
+"No, but we mean to ask them to take shares, and to take part in the
+direction. They'll jump, sir, at the offer."
+
+"Ah, that they will! What's your capital?"
+
+"Half a million--five thousand shares of a hundred each. It's nothing at
+all!"
+
+"No, nothing really. What is your appointment?"
+
+"I am secretary; and I am to have a bonus of five thousand pounds when
+the thing is fairly started."
+
+"You well deserve it, Wedge. Ah, sir, I have dreamt of this before!"
+
+"No--have you?"
+
+"It must do, Wedge. It can't help itself. People will be amused--people
+will pay for it. Amuse them from morning till night--change the scene
+every hour of the day--vary the pleasures. Wedge, you are a national
+benefactor."
+
+"It is past twelve," said Wedge hesitatingly, looking at the watch.
+
+"No--is it?" asked Planner, looking at it likewise. "There must be some
+mistake. Have you heard the clock strike?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nor I; my watch is out of order--too fast a great deal. Let us go by
+the big clock. Now, when that strikes twelve, Wedge, you shall go home,
+and I'll to bed--an understanding is an understanding, Wedge."
+
+"And so you like it, Planner--eh?"
+
+"Like it, sir"----
+
+It was exactly a quarter to four o'clock when Planner put out his
+bedroom candle, and Wedge tucked himself up as well as he could on the
+hard horsehair sofa in Planner's sitting-room. Having enlarged upon the
+_Pantamorphica_ speculation until the above unreasonable hour, it was
+not deemed respectable for Mr Wedge to quit the banking-house on the
+dark side of sunrise. The latter gentleman had worked himself up to such
+a pitch of excitement in blowing out his bubble, that it was very nearly
+six o'clock before he could be pronounced in a condition to say his
+prayers like a rational being, and go to sleep. As for Planner, he had
+heard too much to be quiet. He tossed his head on his pillow--turned
+from side to side--sat up and lay down again at intervals, until the
+break of day. He had resolved to take an active interest in this
+glorious undertaking. Nothing should hinder him. Its returns must
+necessarily be immense. He had promised Allcraft to enter into no
+business foreign to the banking-house. But what of that? He should be
+without an excuse for his blindness if he closed his eyes to the
+advantages which stared him in the face. He would not be selfish.
+Allcraft should share in the reward. He, who had acted so friendly a
+part to him, should be repaid for his noble conduct. "Share and share
+alike," should be his motto. And he would not hesitate or postpone his
+intentions. He would look thoroughly into the affair at once, and go
+boldly forward. It should be his pleasure and his pride to greet and
+surprise his partner with the unexpected news the instant he returned.
+Sweet are the visions of life, sleeping or waking. It is the substance
+and the truth that pass like iron to the soul, and kill it. Poor
+Planner!
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A LANDED PROPRIETOR.
+
+After Michael had spent a month in France, he discovered that he must
+still travel on, and still sacrifice time and exertion, if he hoped to
+bring his unfortunate parent's affairs to a satisfactory issue. Many
+things had happened since his arrival to give him great pain and
+annoyance. In the first place, he had learned, with a sickening heart,
+that the private debts of his father considerably exceeded in amount
+those which had appeared in the testamentary memorandum. He had seen
+with his own eyes his father's acknowledgment of liabilities, the
+existence of which was thus revealed to him for the first time. In his
+immediate and violent disgust, he burned to expose his parent's cupidity
+and dishonesty, and to rid himself of the burden which he had
+voluntarily taken as his own; but pride, shame, and other low
+incentives, came between him and the fulfilment of a rash resolution,
+and he had nothing to do but to look his difficulty fully and bravely in
+the face. In addition to this trial, he found it necessary to proceed
+without delay as far eastward as Vienna; for thither his chief creditor
+had taken himself on urgent business, which threatened to detain him on
+the spot until the following year. Nor was this all; a Lyonese merchant,
+who held old Allcraft's note of hand for a considerable sum, advanced
+under assurances of early payment, had grown obstinate and restive with
+disappointment and anxiety. He insisted upon the instant discharge of
+his claim, and refused to give another hour's grace. To rid himself of
+this plague, Michael had not hesitated to draw upon his house for a sum
+somewhat greater than five thousand pounds. The act had not been
+committed without some distress of mind--some murmurings of conscience;
+but the necessity was great--the compulsion not to be avoided. To put an
+end to all further and importunate demands, he posted into Austria fast
+as he could be conveyed. The chief creditor was destined to be Michael's
+chief misery. He was an obdurate, unyielding man, and, after days of
+negotiation, would finally listen to nothing but the chink of the gold
+that was due to him. And how much that was, Michael dared not trust
+himself to think. Now, what was to be done? To draw again upon the
+bank--to become himself, to his partners, an example of recklessness and
+extravagance, was out of the question. He had but one course before him,
+and it was one which he had solemnly vowed never to adopt. To beg a loan
+from his wife so early in the morning of their union, seemed a thing
+impossible--at least it seemed so in the outset, when the thought first
+blushed upon him, and there remained a chance, a hope, of escaping from
+the miserable alternative. But as the creditor got clamorous, and every
+prospect of satisfying his demand--every means save one--grew dim, and
+shadowy, and blank, the wrongfulness, the impropriety of making an
+appeal to her, whose heart was willing as her hand was able to release
+him from despair, became less evident, and by degrees not evident at
+all. It would have been well for Allcraft, and for Margaret too, had the
+latter resisted his demand, or opposed it with one kind word of
+remonstrance. Michael was prepared for this, and the gentlest opposition
+would have saved them both. But what did Margaret possess, which she
+wished not to share with him who was her idol--dearer to her than her
+life--the joy and light of life! He hinted his request; she hardly
+suffered him to hint it. She placed her substance at his command, and
+bade him use it. Like a guilty man--one guilty of his first but heavy
+fault--blushing and faltering, Allcraft thanked his Margaret for the
+loan, promised speedy payment, and vowed that he would beg no more. Fond
+Margaret! she kissed the vow away, and bade him clear his brow, smile,
+and be happy. It was a woman's part, who loves not wisely, but too well.
+The day that gave him the means of satisfying the claims of one great
+creditor, bound Allcraft more seriously to another; but he rejoiced at
+his success, which brought him temporary ease, and he congratulated
+himself upon his deliverance from failure and exposure. There was little
+to do. The lady's broker was written to; the legal adviser of the
+gentleman, at Michael's own request, prepared an instrument to secure
+repayment of the loan; the money came--the debts of Allcraft senior to
+the last farthing were discharged, and scarcely discharged before
+Michael, eager and anxious to be at home, quitted Vienna, ready to
+travel by night and day, and longing to feel his footing safely in the
+banking-house again.
+
+It is now proper to state, that on the very day that Michael's draft of
+five thousand pounds applied for honourable reception at the counter of
+his most respectable establishment, by a curious coincidence another
+demand for double that amount appeared there likewise; not in the shape
+of cheque or written order, but in that of a request, personal and oral,
+proceeding from the proud and high-born lips of Walter Bellamy, Esquire,
+lord of the manor--gentleman and banker. Mr Bellamy was not the first
+man, by a great number, who has attempted to clothe and conceal real
+poverty in the stately apparel of arrogance and offensive
+self-sufficiency. He, man of the world, knew well enough, that, thus
+disguised, _necessity_ need never fear discovery--might look and laugh
+in secret at mankind--might feed and thrive upon its faults and
+weaknesses. How comparatively easy it is to avoid the shoals and rocks
+of life--to sail smoothly and pleasantly on its waters, when we take for
+our rudder and our guide the world's great axiom, "RICHES ARE
+VIRTUE--POVERTY IS VICE." "Assume the _virtue_, if you have it not;"
+assume its shows and appearances, its tricks, its offences, and its
+crimes, rather than confess your nakedness. Be liberal and prodigal, if
+it must be, with the crown you need to pay your necessary lodging; adorn
+with velvet and with silk the body that grows sick for lack of wholesome
+food; bribe, beyond their expectation, the pampered things in livery
+that stand between you and the glory you aspire to--bribe them, though
+to part with money is to lose your meal. Upon this broad principle it
+was, that Walter Bellamy existed--in virtue of it he held lands, and by
+its means he had become a partner in the bank, an active one, as very
+soon he proved himself to be. His property was estimated by shrewd
+calculators at a hundred thousand pounds--that, at the very least. And
+Bellamy chuckled at his fireside--no one being by--at the universal
+gullibility of man. A hundred thousand pounds! Why, he could not--at any
+one period during the last twenty years, command as many farthings. What
+right had strangers to calculate for him? What right had Allcraft to
+depend upon such calculations? We may well ask the question, since Mr
+Bellamy did so, when he endeavoured, as the worst of us will do, to
+justify bad conduct to an unfaithful conscience. Why, what was he? a
+simple _locum tenens_ of a dozen mortgagees, who had advanced upon the
+estate a great deal more money than it would ever realize, if forced to
+sale--a haughty, overbearing man, (though very benevolent to postboys
+and other serving men,) a magistrate, and a great disciplinarian. This
+was the amount of his pretensions, and yet men worshipped him. It was
+surely not the fault of Mr Bellamy, but rather his good fortune; and if
+he chose to make the most of it, he was a wise and prudent personage.
+When it is borne in mind that the possessions of Mr Bellamy were
+involved beyond their actual worth--that for some time he had lived in a
+perpetual dread of exposure and utter ruin--that for years he had looked
+abroad for some kind friend, who, if not altogether willing, might still
+be prevailed upon to release him from his difficulties--it will be easy
+to understand his very great desire to confer on Michael Allcraft all
+the advantages of his own position and high character.
+
+The part which Bellamy had taken in the business of the house, was very
+inconsiderable until Michael's departure. Up to that time, he came to
+the bank in his carriage with much ceremony--spoke to the dependents
+there with becoming _hauteur_, and took his leave, on all occasions, as
+a rich man should, with abundant fuss, scarcely troubling himself with
+the proceedings of the day. "He had," he was always repeating the words,
+"he had the greatest confidence in Allcraft. It was unbounded. He felt
+that he could trust to him entirely and unreservedly." Gratefully did
+such expressions fall upon the flattered ear of Michael, applauding
+himself ever upon his victory--upon the acquisition of such a man. Of
+what service he would be to him in his well-laid plans! Of what use was
+his name already--and how much more serviceable than all would be the
+noble sum of money which he had _promised_ to bring into the bank at the
+close of the year! Michael, in his moments of chivalry, standing in the
+presence of Bellamy, looked upon him almost with an eye of pity and
+self-reproach. Whilst he himself could only plead guilty to a most
+refined and cunning policy, his innocent partner was but too full of
+trust; too simple and too unsuspecting. Somebody remarks, that God
+reserves unto himself that horrid sight--a naked, human heart. Had
+Allcraft and Bellamy, during one of their early interviews, suddenly
+stripped, and favoured each other with reciprocal glances--one or both
+would have been slightly startled by the unexpected exhibition. Planner
+had always looked upon Mr Bellamy as a very great man indeed--had
+contemplated him with that exact admixture of awe and admiration, that
+was pleasing and acceptable to the subject of it. Mr Bellamy, in his
+turn, conducted himself towards the schemer with much cordiality and
+kindness. Proud men never unbend until their supremacy is acknowledged
+through your servility. Your submission turns their gall to
+honey--converts their vinegar to milk--to the very cream of human
+complaisance. Mr Bellamy acted his part in this respect, as in every
+other--well; a tiger to such as would not cringe, he could become a
+playful lamb to all who were content to fawn. Planner and he were on the
+best possible terms. Looking into what is called the nature of things,
+we shall think it very natural on the part of Mr Bellamy, when he found
+himself so agreeably situated in regard to the circulating medium, if he
+took an early opportunity to help himself of the abundance by which he
+was surrounded. The truth is, that some time before the visit of
+Allcraft to the Continent, he had entertained a very serious intention
+of drawing out of the concern the anticipatory profits of a few years,
+in order to relieve himself and fine estate from certain engagements
+which pressed inconveniently on both--but his object had not, for many
+reasons, been carried into effect. In the first place, a moderate degree
+of actual shame withheld him--and again, he had begged for time from his
+creditor, and obtained it. Allcraft absent, the sense of shame
+diminished; before he could return to England, the grateful respite was
+at an end. It was a fine bright morning when Mr Bellamy's grand carriage
+drew up in state before the banking-house, and the highly respectable
+proprietor descended from it with his accustomed style and dignity. Mr
+Planner was, at the moment, at his desk, very busy with the prospectus
+of the _Pantamorphica_ Association, in which he had just completed some
+very striking additions--but perceiving his respected colleague, he
+jumped from his seat, and hastened to give him greeting.
+
+"Don't let me disturb you, my dear friend," said the gracious Mr
+Bellamy. "I beg you'll prosecute your labours."
+
+"Don't mention it, I pray--so like you, Mr Bellamy--always considerate
+and kind."
+
+"Busy, Mr Planner--eh?--a deal to do now in the absence of our good
+friend?"
+
+"Enough, enough sir, I assure you--but business, sir, is pleasure to the
+active mind."
+
+"Very true--we feel your worth, sir--the house acknowledges your
+ability, Mr Planner."
+
+"Dear Mr Bellamy--you are very flattering."
+
+"No--not at all. Have you any engagement, Mr Planner, for this evening?
+Can you find time to dine with us at the Hall? I am positively angry
+with you for your repeated excuses."
+
+"I shall be too proud, sir--business hitherto"----
+
+"Ay--ay--but, my good sir, we must not sacrifice ourselves to business.
+A little recreation is absolutely necessary."
+
+"So it is, sir--so it is--and you, sir, with your splendid fortune and
+superior taste"----
+
+"Ah, ah--_apropos_! have you heard from Mr Allcraft lately?"
+
+"This morning, sir."
+
+"When does he return, pray?"
+
+"In about a week from this. He writes he leaves Vienna this very day."
+
+"Dear me, how very inconvenient, how very vexing!"
+
+"What is it, may I ask, sir?"
+
+"Oh, a trifle, Mr Planner. Dear me--dear me--it is annoying too!"
+
+"Is it nothing that we can do, sir? Any thing the bank can offer?"
+
+"Why--my dear sir--it is rather awkward, certainly. I have engaged to
+complete a purchase, and it must be done to-morrow. What cash have we in
+the house? There can be no impropriety in withdrawing a few thousand
+pounds for a short time. What do you think--Mr Allcraft being away?"
+
+Now, Planner himself, during the last few days, had been very busy with
+the cash-box, in order to meet the expenses of certain preliminaries
+essential to the success of the infant _Pantamorphica_--into which
+speculation, by the way, he had entered heart and soul--and it was quite
+a relief and a joy to him to find his partner turning his attention to
+the same quarter; so true it is, that no pleasure is so sweet to a
+sinner, as the wickedness and companionship of a brother criminal.
+
+"Impropriety, sir!" exclaimed the schemer. "Certainly not. Draw your
+cheque, sir. If we have not the money here, we have a heavy purse in
+London--and I beg you will command it."
+
+"You think, then, that until our friend's return"----
+
+"I am perfectly satisfied, Mr Bellamy," said Planner, with an emphasis
+on every word, as men will sometimes use, feeling and believing all that
+they assert. "I am thoroughly convinced that nothing would give Mr
+Allcraft greater pain than to know you had needed a temporary loan, and
+had not availed yourself of every opportunity that the bank affords you.
+I entreat you not to hesitate one instant. How much may you require?"
+
+"Well, my dear sir--you will dine with us this evening. We will talk the
+matter over. Don't be late. Upon consideration, it may be quite as well,
+perhaps, to draw upon the bank."
+
+"Much better, sir, I am sure, in every way. Will you walk into the
+private room? You'll find pen, ink, and paper there. We can accommodate
+you, sir--no doubt."
+
+"Thank you, Mr Planner, thank you."
+
+How very few of the numerous clients of Messrs Allcraft, Bellamy,
+Brammel, and Planner, in their worst dreams that night, dreamt of the
+havoc which was making with their beloved and hard-earned cash!
+
+
+
+
+COLLEGE THEATRICALS.
+
+
+It wanted but two or three weeks to the Christmas vacation, and we--the
+worshipful society of under-graduates of ---- College, Oxford--were
+beginning to get tired of the eternal round of supper parties which
+usually marked the close of our winter's campaign, and ready to hail
+with delight any proposition that had the charm of novelty. A three
+weeks' frost had effectually stopped the hunting; all the best tandem
+leaders were completely screwed; the freshmen had been "larked" till
+they were grown as cunning as magpies; and the Dean had set up a
+divinity lecture at two o'clock, and published a stringent proclamation
+against rows in the Quad. It was, in short, in a particularly
+uninteresting state of things, with the snow falling lazily upon the
+grey roofs and silent quadrangle, that some half dozen of us had
+congregated in Bob Thornhill's rooms, to get over the time between lunch
+and dinner with as little trouble to our mental and corporal faculties
+as possible. Those among us who had been for the last three months
+promising to themselves to begin to read "next week," had now put off
+that too easy creditor, conscience, till "next term." One alone had
+settled his engagements of that nature, or, in the language of his
+"_Testamur_"--the prettiest bit of Latin, he declared, that he ever
+saw--"_satisfecit examinatoribus_." Unquestionably, in his case, the
+examiners must have had the rare virtue of being very easily satisfied.
+In fact, Mr Savile's discharge of his educational engagements was rather
+a sort of "whitewashing" than a payment in full. His passing was what is
+technically called a "shave," a metaphor alluding to that intellectual
+density which finds it difficult to squeeze through the narrow portal
+which admits to the privileges of a Bachelor of Arts. As Mr S. himself,
+being a sporting man, described it, it was "a very close run indeed;"
+not that he considered that circumstance to derogate, in any way, from
+his victory; he was rather inclined to consider, that, having shown the
+field of examiners capital sport, and fairly got away from them in the
+end without the loss of his brush, his examination had been one of the
+very best runs of the season. In virtue whereof he was now mounted on
+the arm of an easy-chair, with a long _chibouque_, which became the
+gravity of an incipient bachelor better than a cigar, and took upon
+himself to give Thornhill (who was really a clever fellow, and
+professing to be reading for a first) some advice as to his conducting
+himself when his examination should arrive.
+
+"I'll tell you what, Thornhill, old boy, I'll give you a wrinkle; it
+doesn't always answer to let out all you know at an examination. That
+sly old varmint, West of Magdalen, asked me who Hannibal was.
+'Aha!'--said I to myself--'that's your line of country, is it? You want
+to walk me straight into those botheration Punic Wars, it's no go,
+though; I sha'n't break cover in that direction.' So I was mute. 'Can't
+you tell me something about Hannibal?' says old West again. 'I can,'
+thinks I, 'but I won't.' He was regularly flabbergasted; I spoilt his
+beat entirely, don't you see? so he looked as black as thunder, and
+tried it on in a fresh place. If I had been fool enough to let him dodge
+me in those Punic Wars, I could have been run into in no time. Depend
+upon it, there's nothing like a judicious ignorance occasionally."
+
+"Why," said Thornhill, "'when ignorance is bliss,' (_i. e._ when it gets
+through the schools,) 'tis folly to be wise.'"
+
+"Ah! that's Shakspeare says that, isn't it? I wish one could take up
+Shakspeare for a class! I'm devilish fond of Shakspeare. We used to act
+Shakspeare at a private school I was at."
+
+"By Jove!" said somebody from behind a cloud of smoke--whose the
+brilliant idea was, was afterwards matter of dispute--"why couldn't we
+get up a play?"
+
+"Ah! why not? why not? Capital!"
+
+"It's such a horrid bore learning one's part," lisped the elegant Horace
+Leicester, half awake on the sofa.
+
+"Oh, stuff!" said Savile, "it's the very thing to keep us alive! We
+could make a capital theatre out of the hall; don't you think the little
+vice principal would give us leave?"
+
+"You had better ask for the chapel at once. Why, don't you know, my dear
+fellow, the college hall, in the opinion of the dean and the vice, is
+held rather more sacred of the two? Newcome, poor devil, attempted to
+cut a joke at the high table one of the times he dined there after he
+was elected, and he told me that they all stared at him as if he had
+insulted them; and the vice (in confidence) explained to him that such
+'levity' was treason against the '_reverentia loci_!'"
+
+"Ay, I remember when that old villain Solomon, the porter, fined me ten
+shillings for walking in there with spurs one day when I was late for
+dinner; he said the dean always took off his cap when he went in there
+by himself, and threatened to turn off old Higgs, when he had been scout
+forty years, because he heard him whistling one day while he was
+sweeping it out! Well," continued Savile, "you shall have my rooms; I
+sha'n't trouble them much now. I am going to pack all my books down to
+old Wise's next week, to turn them into ready _tin_; so you may turn the
+study into a carpenter's shop, if you like. Oh, it can be managed
+famously!"
+
+So, after a few _pros_ and _cons_, it was finally settled that Mr
+Savile's rooms should become the Theatre Royal, ---- College; and I was
+honoured with the responsible office of stage-manager. What the play was
+to be was a more difficult point to settle. Savile proposed _Romeo and
+Juliet_, and volunteered for the hero; but it passed the united strength
+of the company to get up a decent _Juliet_. _Richard the Third_ was
+suggested; we had "six _Richards_ in the field" at once. We soon gave up
+the heroics, and decided on comedy; for, since our audience would be
+sure to laugh, we should at least have a chance of getting the laugh in
+the right place. So, after long discussion, we fixed on _She Stoops to
+Conquer_. There were a good many reasons for this selection. First, it
+was a piece possessing that grand desideratum in all amateur
+performances, that there were several parts in it of equal calibre, and
+none which implied decided superiority of talent in its representative.
+Secondly, there was not much _love_ in it; a material point where, as an
+Irishman might say, all the ladies were gentlemen. Thirdly, the scenery,
+dresses, properties, and decorations, were of the very simplest
+description: it was easily "put upon the stage." We found little
+difficulty in casting the male characters; old Mrs Hardcastle, not
+requiring any great share of personal attractions, and being considered
+a part that would tell, soon found a representative; but when we came to
+the "donnas"--_prima_ and _secunda_--then it was that the manager's
+troubles began. It was really necessary, to ensure the most moderate
+degree of success to the comedy, that Miss Hardcastle should have at
+least a lady-like deportment. The public voice, first in whispers, then
+audibly, at last vociferously, called upon Leicester. Slightly formed,
+handsome, clever and accomplished, with naturally graceful manners, and
+a fair share of vanity and affectation, there was no doubt of his making
+a respectable heroine if he would consent to be made love to. In vain
+did he protest against the petticoats, and urge with affecting
+earnestness the claims of the whiskers which for the last six months he
+had so diligently been cultivating; the chorus of entreaty and
+expostulation had its effect, aided by a well-timed compliment to the
+aristocratically small hand and foot, of which Horace was pardonably
+vain. Shaving was pronounced indispensable to the due growth of the
+whiskers; and the importance of the character, and the point of the
+situations, so strongly dwelt upon, that he became gradually reconciled
+to his fate, and began seriously to discuss the question whether Miss
+Hardcastle should wear her hair in curls or bands. A freshman of
+seventeen, who had no pretensions in the way of whiskers, and who was
+too happy to be admitted on any terms to a share in such a "fast idea"
+as the getting up a play, was to be the Miss Neville; and before the
+hall bell rang for dinner, an order had been despatched for a dozen
+acting copies of "She Stoops to Conquer."
+
+Times have materially changed since Queen Elizabeth's visit to
+Christ-Church; the University, one of the earliest nurses of the infant
+drama, has long since turned it out of doors for a naughty child; and
+forbid it, under pain of worse than whipping, to come any nearer than
+Abingdon or Bicester. Taking into consideration the style of some of the
+performances, in which under-graduates of some three hundred years ago
+were the actors, the "Oxford Theatre" of those days, if it had more wit
+in it than the present, had somewhat less decency: the ancient
+"moralities" were not over moral, and the "mysteries" rather Babylonish.
+So far we have had no great loss. Whether the judicious getting
+up of a tragedy of Sophocles or Aeschylus, or even a comedy of
+Terence--classically managed--as it could be done in Oxford--and well
+acted, would be more unbecoming the gravity of our collected wisdom, or
+more derogatory to the dignity of our noble "theatre," than the
+squalling of Italian singers, masculine, feminine, and neuter--is a
+question which, when I take my M.A., I shall certainly propose in
+convocation. Thus much I am sure of, if a classical play-bill were duly
+announced for the next grand commemoration, it would "draw" almost as
+well as the Duke; the dresses might be quite as showy, the action hardly
+less graceful, than those of the odd-looking gentlemen who are dubbed
+doctors of civil law on such occasions; and the speeches of Prometheus,
+Oedipus, or Antigone, would be more intelligible to the learned, and
+more amusing to the ladies, than those Latin essays or the Creweian
+oration.
+
+However, until I am vice-chancellor, the legitimate drama, Greek, Roman,
+or English, seems little likely to revive in Oxford. _Our_ branch of
+that great family, I confess, bore the bar-sinister. The offspring of
+our theatrical affections was unrecognized by college authority. The
+fellows of ---- would have done any thing but "smile upon its birth."
+The dean especially would have burked it at once had he suspected its
+existence. Nor was it fostered, like the former Oxford theatricals to
+which we have alluded, by royal patronage; we could not, consistently
+with decorum, request her Majesty to encourage an illegitimate.
+Nevertheless--spite of its being thus born under the rose--it grew and
+prospered. Our plan of rehearsal was original. We used to adjourn from
+dinner to the rooms of one or other of the company; and there, over our
+wine and dessert, instead of quizzing freshmen and abusing tutors, open
+each our copy, and, with all due emphasis and intonation, go regularly
+through the scenes of "She Stoops to Conquer." This was all the study we
+ever gave to our parts: and even thus it was difficult to get a muster
+of all the performers, and we had generally to play dummy for some one
+or more of the characters, or "double" them, as the professionals call
+it. The excuses for absenteeism were various. Mrs Hardcastle and Tony
+were gone to Woodstock with a team, and were not to be waited for;
+Diggory had a command to dine with the principal; and once an
+interesting dialogue was cut short by the untoward event of Miss
+Neville's being "confined"--in consequence of some indiscretion or
+other--"to chapel." It was necessary in our management, as much as in Mr
+Bunn's or Mr Macready's, to humour the caprices of the stars of the
+company: but the lesser lights, if they became eccentric at all in their
+orbits, were extinguished without mercy. Their place was easily
+supplied; for the moment it became known that a play was in
+contemplation, there were plenty of candidates for dramatic fame,
+especially among the freshmen: and though we mortally offended one or
+two aspiring geniuses by proffering them the vacant situations of Ralph,
+Roger, and Co., in Mr Hardcastle's household, on condition of having
+their respective blue dress coats turned up with yellow to represent the
+family livery, there were others to whom the being admitted behind the
+scenes, even in these humble characters, was a subject of laudable
+ambition. Nay, unimportant as were some parts in themselves, they were
+quite enough for the histrionic talent of some of our friends. Till I
+became a manager myself, I always used to lose patience at the wretched
+manner in which some of the underlings on the stage went through the
+little they had to say and do: there seemed no reason why the "sticks"
+should be so provokingly sticky; and it surprised me that a man who
+could accost one fluently enough at the stage door, should make such a
+bungle as some of them did in a message of some half dozen words "in
+character." But when I first became initiated into the mysteries of
+amateur performances, and saw how entirely destitute some men were of
+any notion of natural acting, and how they made a point of repeating two
+lines of familiar dialogue with the tone and manner, but without the
+correctness of a schoolboy going through a task--then it ceased to be
+any matter of wonder that those to whom acting was no joke, but an
+unhappily earnest mode of getting bread, should so often make their
+performance appear the uneasy effort which it is. There was one man in
+particular, a good-humoured, gentlemanly fellow, a favourite with us
+all; not remarkable for talent, but a pleasant companion enough, with
+plenty of common sense. Well, "he would be an actor"--it was his own
+fancy to have a part, and, as he was "one of us," we could not well
+refuse him. We gave him an easy one, for he was not vain of his own
+powers, or ambitious of theatrical distinction; so he was to be "second
+fellow"--one of Tony's pot-companions. He had but two lines to speak;
+but, from the very first time I heard him read them, I set him down as a
+hopeless case. He read them as if he had just learned to spell the
+words; when he repeated them without the book, it was like a clergyman
+giving out a text. And so it was with a good many of the rank and file
+of the company; we had more labour to drill them into something like a
+natural intonation than to learn our own longest speeches twice over. So
+we made their attendance at rehearsals a _sine qua non_. We dismissed a
+promising "Mat Muggins" because he went to the "Union" two nights
+successively, when he ought to have been at "The Three Pigeons." We
+superseded a very respectable "landlord" (though he had actually been
+measured for a corporation and a pair of calves) for inattention to
+business. The only one of the supernumeraries whom it was at all
+necessary to conciliate, was the gentleman who was to sing the comic
+song instead of Tony, (Savile, the representative of the said Tony, not
+having music in his soul beyond a view-holloa.) He was allowed to go and
+come at our readings _ad libitum_, upon condition of being very careful
+not to take cold.
+
+When we had become tolerably perfect in the words of our parts, it was
+deemed expedient to have a "dress rehearsal"--especially for the ladies.
+It is not very easy to move safely--let alone gracefully--in petticoats,
+for those who are accustomed to move their legs somewhat more
+independently. And it would not have been civil in Messrs Marlow and
+Hastings to laugh outright at their lady-loves before company, as they
+were sure to do upon their first appearance. A dress rehearsal,
+therefore, was a very necessary precaution. But if it was difficult to
+get the company together at six o'clock under the friendly disguise of a
+wine-party, doubly difficult was it to expect them to muster at eleven
+in the morning. The first day that we fixed for it, there came a not
+very lady-like note, evidently written in bed, from Miss Hardcastle,
+stating, that having been at a supper-party the night before, and there
+partaken of brandy-punch to an extent to which she was wholly
+unaccustomed, it was quite impossible, in the present state of her
+nervous system, for her to make her appearance in character at any
+price. There was no alternative but to put off the rehearsal; and that
+very week occurred a circumstance which was very near being the cause of
+its adjournment _sine die_.
+
+"Mr Hawthorne," said the dean to me one morning, when I was leaving his
+rooms, rejoicing in the termination of lecture, "I wish to speak with
+you, if you please." The dean's communications were seldom of a very
+pleasing kind, and on this particular morning his countenance gave token
+that he had hit upon something more than usually _piquant_. The rest of
+the men filed out of the door as slowly as they conveniently could, in
+the hope, I suppose, of hearing the dean's fire open upon me, but he
+waited patiently till my particular friend, Bob Thornhill, had picked up
+carefully, one by one, his miscellaneous collection of note-book,
+pencil, penknife, and other small wares, and had been obliged at length
+to make an unwilling exit; when, seeing the door finally closed, he
+commenced with his usual--"Have the goodness to sit down, sir."
+
+Experience had taught me, that it was as well to make one's-self as
+comfortable as might be upon these occasions; so I took the easy-chair,
+and tried to look as if I thought the dean merely wanted to have a
+pleasant half-hour's chat. He marched into a little back-room that he
+called his study, and I began to speculate upon the probable subject of
+our conference. Strange! that week had been a more than usually quiet
+one. No late knocking in; no cutting lectures at chapel; positively I
+began to think that, for once, the dean had gone on a wrong scent, and
+that I should repel his accusations with all the dignity of injured
+innocence; or had he sent for me to offer his congratulations on my
+having commenced in the "steady" line, and to ask me to breakfast? I was
+not long to indulge such delusive hopes. Re-enter the dean, O. P., as
+our stage directions would have had it, with--a pair of stays!
+
+By what confounded ill-luck they had got into his possession I could not
+imagine; but there they were. The dean touched them as if he felt their
+very touch an abomination, threw them on the table, and briefly
+said--"These, sir, were found in your rooms this morning. Can you
+explain how they came there?"
+
+True enough, Leicester had been trying on the abominable articles in my
+bedroom, and I had stuffed them into a drawer till wanted. What to say
+was indeed a puzzle. To tell the whole truth would, no doubt, have ended
+the matter at once, and a hearty laugh should I have had at the dean's
+expense; but it would have put the stopper on "She Stoops to Conquer."
+It was too ridiculous to look grave about; and blacker grew the
+countenance before me, as, with a vain attempt to conceal a smile, I
+echoed his words, and stammered out--"In my rooms, sir?"
+
+"Yes, sir, in your bed-room." He rang the bell. "Your servant, Simmons,
+most properly brought them to me."
+
+The little rascal! I had been afraid to let him know any thing about the
+theatricals; for I knew perfectly well the dean would hear of it in half
+an hour, for he served him in the double capacity of scout and spy.
+Before the bell had stopped, Dick Simmons made his appearance, having
+evidently been kept at hand. He did look rather ashamed of himself, when
+I asked him, what business he had to search my wardrobe?
+
+"Oh dear, sir! I never did no sich a thing; I was a-making of your bed,
+sir, when I sees the tag of a stay-lace hanging out of your topmost
+drawer, sir--("I am a married man, sir," to the dean apologetically,
+"and I know the tag of a stay-lace, sir")--and so I took it out, sir;
+and knowing my duty to the college, sir, though I should be very sorry
+to bring you into trouble, Mr Hawthorne, sir"----
+
+"Yes, yes, Simmons, you did quite right," said the dean. "You are bound
+to give notice to the college authorities of all irregularities, and
+your situation requires that you should be conscientious."
+
+"I hope I am, sir," said the little rascal; "but indeed I am very sorry,
+Mr Hawthorne, sir"----
+
+"Oh! never mind," said I; "you did right, no doubt. I can only say those
+things are not mine, sir; they belong to a friend of mine."
+
+"I don't ask who they belong to, sir," said the dean indignantly; "I
+ask, sir, how came they in your rooms?"
+
+"I believe, sir, my friend (he was in my rooms yesterday) left them
+there. Some men wear stays, sir," continued I, boldly; "it's very much
+the fashion, I'm told."
+
+"Eh! hum!" said the dean, eyeing the brown jean doubtingly. "I have
+heard of such things. Horrid puppies men are now. Never dreamt of such
+things in my younger days; but then, sir, _we_ were not allowed to wear
+white trousers, and waistcoats of I don't know what colours; we were
+made to attend to the statutes, sir. '_Nigri aut suspici_,' sir, Ah!
+times are changed--times are changed, indeed! And do you mean to say,
+sir, you have a friend, a member of this university, who wears such
+things as these?"
+
+I might have got clear off, if it had not been for that rascal Simmons.
+I saw him give the dean a look, and an almost imperceptible shake of the
+head.
+
+"But I don't think, sir," resumed he, "these can be a man's stays--eh,
+Simmons?" Simmons looked diligently at his toes. "No," said the dean,
+investigating the unhappy garment more closely--"no, I fear, Simmons,
+these are female stays!"
+
+The conscientious Simmons made no sign.
+
+"I don't know, sir," said I, as he looked from Simmons to me. "I don't
+wear stays, and I know nothing about them. If Simmons were to fetch a
+pair of Mrs Simmons's, sir," resumed I, "you could compare them."
+
+Mrs Simmons's figure resembled a sack of flour, with a string round it;
+and, if she did wear the articles in question, they must have been of a
+pattern almost unique--made to order.
+
+"Sir," said the dean, "your flippancy is unbecoming. I shall not pursue
+this investigation any further; but I am bound to tell you, sir, this
+circumstance is suspicious--very suspicious." I could not resist a smile
+for the life of me. "And doubly suspicious, sir, in your case. The eyes
+of the college are upon you, sir." He was evidently losing his temper,
+so I bowed profoundly, and he grew more irate. "Ever since, sir, that
+atrocious business of the frogs, though the college authorities failed
+in discovering the guilty parties, there are some individuals, sir,
+whose conduct is watched attentively. Good-morning, sir."
+
+The "business of the frogs," to which the dean so rancorously alluded,
+had, indeed, caused some consternation to the fellows of----. There had
+been a marvellous story going the round of the papers, of a shower of
+the inelegant reptiles in question having fallen in some part of the
+kingdom. Old women were muttering prophecies, and wise men acknowledged
+themselves puzzled. The Ashmolean Society had sat in conclave upon it,
+and accounted so satisfactorily for the occurrence, that the only wonder
+seemed to be that we had not a shower of frogs, or some equally
+agreeable visitors, every rainy morning. Now, every one who has strolled
+round Christ-Church meadows on a warm evening, especially after rain,
+must have been greeted at intervals by a whole gamut of croaks; and, if
+he had the curiosity to peer into the green ditches as he passed along,
+he might catch a glimpse of the heads of the performers. Well, the joint
+reflections of myself and an ingenious friend, who were studying this
+branch of zoology while waiting for the coming up of the boats one
+night, tended to the conclusion, that a very successful imitation of the
+late "Extraordinary Phenomenon" might be got up for the edification of
+the scientific in our own college. Animals of all kinds find dealers and
+purchasers in Oxford. Curs of lowest degree have their prices. Rats,
+being necessary in the education of terriers, come rather expensive. A
+pole-cat--even with three legs only--will command a fancy price.
+Sparrows, larks, and other small birds, are retailed by the dozen on
+Cowley Marsh to gentlemen under-graduates who are aspiring to the
+pigeon-trap. But as yet there had been no demand for frogs, and there
+was quite a glut of them in the market. They were cheap accordingly; for
+a shilling a hundred we found that we might inflict the second plague of
+Egypt upon the whole university. The next evening, two hampers,
+containing, as our purveyor assured us, "very prime 'uns," arrived at my
+rooms "from Mr S----, the wine merchant;" and, by daylight on the
+following morning, were judiciously distributed throughout all the
+come-at-able premises within the college walls. When I awoke the next
+morning, I heard voices in earnest conversation under my window, and
+looked out with no little curiosity. The frogs had evidently produced a
+sensation. The bursar, disturbed apparently from his early breakfast,
+stood robed in an ancient dressing-gown, with the _Times_ in his hand,
+on which he was balancing a frog as yellow as himself. The dean, in cap
+and surplice, on his way from chapel, was eagerly listening to the
+account which one of the scouts was giving him of the first discovery of
+the intruders.
+
+"Me and my missis, sir," quoth John, "was a-coming into college when it
+was hardly to say daylight, when she, as I reckon, sets foot upon one of
+'em, and was like to have been back'ards with a set of breakfast chiney
+as she was a-bringing in for one of the fresh gentlemen. She scritches
+out in course, and I looks down, and then I sees two or three a' 'oppin
+about; but I didn't take much notice till I gets to the thoroughfare,
+when there was a whole row on 'em a-trying to climb up the bottom step;
+and then I calls Solomon the porter, and"----
+
+Here I left my window, and, making a hasty toilet, joined a group of
+under-graduates, who were now collecting round the dean and bursar. I
+cast my eyes round the quadrangle, and was delighted with the success of
+our labours. There had been a heavy shower in the night, and the frogs
+were as lively as they could be on so ungenial a location as a gravelled
+court. In every corner was a goodly cluster, who were making ladders of
+each other's backs, as if determined to scale the college walls. Some,
+of more retiring disposition, were endeavouring to force themselves into
+crevices, and hiding their heads behind projections to escape the gaze
+of academic eyes; while a few active spirits seemed to be hopping a
+sweepstakes right for the common-room door. Just as I made my
+appearance, the principal came out of the door of his lodgings, with
+another of the fellows, having evidently been summoned to assist at the
+consultation. Good old soul! his study of zoology had been chiefly
+confined to the class edibles, and a shower of frogs, authenticated upon
+the oaths of the whole Convocation, would not have been half so
+interesting to him as an importation of turtle. However, to do him
+justice, he put on his spectacles, and looked as scientific as any body.
+After due examination of the specimen of the genus _Zana_ which the
+bursar still held in captivity, and pronouncing an unanimous opinion,
+that, come from where he would, he was a _bona fide_ frog, with nothing
+supernatural about him, the conclave proceeded round the quadrangle,
+calculating the numbers, and conjecturing the probable origin of these
+strange visitors. Equally curious, if not equally scientific, were the
+under-graduates who followed them; for, having strictly kept our own
+secret, my friend and myself were the only parties who could solve the
+mystery; and though many suspected that the frogs were unwilling
+emigrants, none knew to whom they were indebted for their introduction
+to college. The collected wisdom of the dons soon decided that a shower
+of full-grown frogs was a novelty even in the extraordinary occurrences
+of newspapers; and as not even a single individual croaker was to be
+discovered outside the walls of ----, it became evident that the whole
+affair was, as the dean described it, "another of those outrages upon
+academic discipline, which were as senseless as they were disgraceful."
+
+I daresay the dean's anathema was "as sensible as it was sincere;" but
+it did not prevent our thoroughly enjoying the success of the
+"_outrage_" at the time; nor does it, unfortunately, suffice at this
+present moment to check something like an inward chuckle, when I think
+of the trouble which it cost the various retainers of the college to
+clear it effectually of its strange visitors. Hopkins, the old butler,
+who was of rather an imaginative temperament, and had a marvellous tale
+to tell any one who would listen, of a departed bursar, who, having
+caught his death of cold by superintending the laying down of three
+pipes of port, might ever afterwards be heard, upon such interesting
+occasions, walking about the damp cellars after nightfall in pattens.
+Hopkins, the oracle of the college "tap," maintained that the frogs were
+something "off the common;" and strengthened his opinion by reference to
+a specimen which he had selected--a lank, black, skinny individual,
+which really looked ugly enough to have come from any where. Scouts,
+wives, and children, (they always make a point of having large families,
+in order to eat up the spare commons,) all were busy, through that
+eventful day, in a novel occupation, and by dinnertime not a frog was to
+be seen; but long, long afterwards, on a moist evening, fugitives from
+the general prescription might be seen making their silent way across
+the quadrangle, and croakings were heard at night-time, which might (as
+Homer relates of _his_ frogs) have disturbed Minerva, only that the
+goddess of wisdom, in chambers collegiate, sleeps usually pretty sound.
+
+The "business of the stays," however, bid fair to supersede the business
+of the frogs, in the dean's record of my supposed crimes; and as I fully
+intended to clear myself, even to his satisfaction, of any suspicion
+which might attach to me from the possession of such questionable
+articles so soon as our theatre closed for the season, I resolved that
+my successful defence from this last imputation would be an admirable
+ground on which to assume the dignity of a martyr, to appeal against all
+uncharitable conclusions from insufficient premises, and come out as the
+personification of injured innocence throughout my whole college career.
+
+When my interview with the dean was over, I ordered some luncheon up to
+Leicester's rooms, where, as I expected, I found most of my own "set"
+collected, in order to hear the result. A private conference with the
+official aforesaid seldom boded good to the party so favoured; the dean
+seldom made his communications so agreeable as he might have done. In
+college, as in most other societies, La Rochefoucauld's maxim holds
+good--that "there is always something pleasant in the misfortunes of
+one's friends;" and, whenever an unlucky wight did get into a row, he
+might pretty confidently reckon upon being laughed at. In fact,
+under-graduates considered themselves as engaged in a war of stratagem
+against an unholy alliance of deans, tutors, and proctors; and in every
+encounter the defeated party was looked upon as the deluded victim of
+superior ingenuity--as having been "done," in short. So, if a lark
+succeeded, the authorities aforesaid were decidedly done, and laughed at
+accordingly; if it failed, why the other party were done, and there was
+still somebody to laugh at. No doubt, the jest was richer in the first
+case supposed; but, in the second, there was the additional gusto, so
+dear to human philanthropy, of having the victim present, and enjoying
+his discomfiture, which, in the case of the dons being the sufferers,
+was denied us. It may seem to argue something of a want of sympathy to
+find amusement in misfortunes which might any day be our own; but any
+one who ever witnessed the air of ludicrous alarm with which an
+under-graduate prepares to obey the summons, (capable of but one
+interpretation,)--"The dean wishes to see you, sir, at ten
+o'clock"--which so often, in my time at least, was sent as a whet to
+some of the assembled guests at a breakfast party; whoever has been
+applied to on such occasions for the loan of a tolerable cap, (that of
+the delinquent having its corners in such dilapidated condition as to
+proclaim its owner a "rowing man" at once,) or has responded to the
+pathetic appeal--"Do I look _very_ seedy?"--any one to whom such absurd
+recollections of early days occur--and if you, good reader, are a
+university man, as, being a gentleman, I am bound in charity to conclude
+you are, and yet have no such reminiscences--allow me to suggest that
+you must have been a very slow coach indeed;--any one, I say once more,
+who knows the ridiculous figure which a man cuts when "hauled up" before
+the college Minos, or Radamanthus, will easily forgive his friends for
+being inclined to laugh at him.
+
+However, in the present case, any anticipations of fun at my expense,
+which the party in Leicester's rooms might charitably entertain, were
+somewhat qualified by the fear, that the consequences of any little
+private difference between the dean and myself might affect the
+prosperity of our unlicensed theatre. And when they heard how very
+nearly the discovery of the stays had been fatal to our project,
+execrations against Simmons's espionage were mingled with admiration of
+my escape from so critical a position.
+
+The following is, I apprehend, an unique specimen of an Oxford bill--and
+the only one, out of a tolerably large bundle which I keep for the sake
+of the receipts attached, (a precaution by no means uncalled for,) which
+I find any amusement in referring to.
+
+     ---- Hawthorne, Esq.,
+
+                       To M. Moore.
+
+     2 pr. brown jean corsets,        8  0
+     Padding for do., made to order,  2  6
+                                     -----
+                                     10  6
+             Rec'd. same day, M. M.
+
+(Savile, when I showed it to him, said the receipt was the only one of
+the kind he had seen in the course of a long experience.) Very much
+surprised was the old lady, of whom I made the purchase in my capacity
+of stage-manager, at so uncommon a customer in her line of business; and
+when, after enjoying her mystification for some time, I let her into the
+secret, so delighted was she at the notion, that she gave me sundry
+hints as to the management of the female toilet, and offered to get made
+up for me any dresses that might be required. So I introduced Leicester
+and his fellow-heroines to my friend Mrs Moore, and by the joint
+exertions of their own tastes and her experience, they became possessed
+of some very tolerable costumes. There was a good deal of fun going on,
+I fancy, in fitting and measuring, in her back parlour; for there was a
+daughter, or a niece, or something of the sort, who cut out the dresses
+with the prettiest hands in the world, as Leicester declared; but I was
+too busy with carpenters, painters, and other assistants, to pay more
+than a flying visit to the ladies' department.
+
+At last the rehearsal did come on. As Hastings, I had not much in the
+way of dress to alter; and, having some engagement in the early part of
+the morning, I did not arrive at the theatre until the rest of the
+characters were already dressed and ready to begin. Though I had been
+consulted upon all manner of points, from the arranging of a curl for
+Miss Neville to the colour of Diggory's stockings, and knew the costume
+of every individual as well as my own, yet so ludicrous was the effect
+of the whole when I entered the room, that I threw myself into the
+nearest chair, and laughed myself nearly into convulsions. The figure
+which first met my eyes was a little ruddy freshman, who had the part of
+the landlord, and who, in his zeal to do honour to our preference, had
+dressed the character most elaborately. A pillow, which he could
+scarcely see over, puffed out his red waistcoat; and his hair was cut
+short, and powdered with such good-will, that for weeks afterwards, in
+spite of diligent brushing, he looked as grey as the principal. There he
+stood--his legs clothed in grey worsted, retreating far beyond his
+little white apron, as if ashamed of their unusual appearance,
+
+     "The mother that him bare,
+     She had not known her son."
+
+Every one, however, had not been so classical in their costume. There
+was Sir Charles Marlow in what had been a judge's wig, and Mr Hardcastle
+in a barrister's; both sufficiently unlike themselves, at any rate, if
+not very correct copies of their originals. Then the women! As for Mrs
+Hardcastle, she was perfection. There never was, I believe, a better
+representation of the character. It was well dressed, and turned out a
+first-rate bit of acting--very far superior to any amateur performance I
+ever saw, and, with practice, would have equalled that of any actress on
+the stage. Her very curtsy was comedy itself. When I recovered my breath
+a little, I was able to attend to the dialogue which was going on, which
+was hardly less ridiculous than the strange disguises round me. "Now,
+Miss Hardcastle," (Marlow _loquitur_,) "I have no objection to your
+smoking cigars during rehearsal, of course--because you won't do that on
+Monday night, I suppose; but I must beg you to get out of the practice
+of standing or sitting crosslegged, because it's not lady-like, or even
+barmaid-like--and don't laugh when I make love to you; for if you do, I
+shall break down to a certainty." "Thornhill, do you think my waist will
+do?" said the anxious representative of the fair Constance. "I have worn
+these cursed stays for an hour every evening for the last week, and
+drawn them an inch tighter every time; but I don't think I'm a very good
+figure after all--just try if they'll come any closer, will you?" "Oh!
+Hawthorne, I'm glad you are come," said Savile, whom I hardly knew, in a
+red wig; "now, isn't there to be a bowl of real punch in the scene at
+the Three Pigeons--one can't _pretend_ to drink, you know, with any
+degree of spirit?" "Oh! of course," said I; "that's one of the
+landlord's properties: Miller, you must provide that, you know--send
+down for some cold tankards now; they will do very well for rehearsal."
+At last we got to work, and proceeded, with the prompter's assistance,
+pretty smoothly, and mutually applauding each other's performance, going
+twice over some of the more difficult scenes, and cutting out a good
+deal of love and sentiment. The play was fixed for the next Monday
+night, playbills ordered to be printed, and cards of invitation issued
+to all the performers' intimate friends. Every scout in the college, I
+believe, except my rascal Simmons, was in the secret, and probably some
+of the fellows had a shrewd guess at what was going on; but no one
+interfered with us. We carried on all our operations as quietly as
+possible; and the only circumstances likely to arouse suspicion in the
+minds of the authorities, was the unusual absence of all disturbances of
+a minor nature within the walls, in consequence of the one engrossing
+freak in which most of the more turbulent spirits were engaged.
+
+At length the grand night arrived. By nine o'clock the theatre in
+Savile's rooms was as full as it could be crammed with any degree of
+comfort to actors and audience; and in the study and bedroom, which,
+being on opposite sides, served admirably for dressing-rooms behind the
+scenes, the usual bustle of preparation was going on. As is common in
+such cases, some essential properties had been forgotten until the last
+moment. No bonnet had been provided for Mrs Hardcastle to take her walks
+abroad in; and when the little hairdresser, who had been retained to
+give a finishing touch to some of the coiffeurs, returned with one
+belonging to his "missis," which he had volunteered to lend, the roar of
+uncontrollable merriment which this new embellishment of our disguised
+friend called forth, made the audience clamorous for the rising of the
+curtain--thinking, very excusably, that it was quite unjustifiable to
+keep all the fun to ourselves.
+
+After some little trial of our "public's" patience, the play began in
+good earnest, and was most favourably received. Indeed, as the only
+price of admission exacted was a promise of civil behaviour, and there
+were two servants busily employed in handing about punch and "bishop,"
+it would have been rather hard if we did not succeed in propitiating
+their good-humour. With the exception of two gentlemen who had been
+dining out, and were rather noisy in consequence, and evinced a strong
+inclination occasionally to take a part in the dialogue, all behaved
+wonderfully well, greeting each performer, as he made his first
+entrance, with a due amount of cheering; rapturously applauding all the
+best scenes; laughing, (whether at the raciness of the acting or the
+grotesque metamorphoses of the actors, made no great difference,) and
+filling up any gap which occurred in the proceedings on the stage, in
+spite of the prompter, with vociferous encouragement to the "sticket"
+actor. With an audience so disposed, each successive scene went off
+better and better. One deserves to be particularized. It was the second
+in the first act of the comedy; the stage directions for it are as
+follow:--"Scene--An ale-house room.--Several shabby fellows with punch
+and tobacco; Tony at the head of the table, &c., discovered." Never
+perhaps, in any previous representation, was the _mise en scene_ so
+perfect. It drew three rounds of applause. A very equivocal compliment
+to ourselves it may be; but such jolly-looking "shabby fellows" as sat
+round the table at which our Tony presided, were never furnished by the
+supernumeraries of Drury or Covent-garden. They were as classical, in
+their way, as Macready's Roman mob. Then there was no make-believe
+puffing of empty pipes, and fictitious drinking of small-beer for punch;
+every nose among the audience could appreciate the genuineness of both
+liquor and tobacco; and the hearty encore which the song, with its
+stentorian chorus, was honoured with, gave all the parties engaged time
+to enjoy their punch and their pipes to their satisfaction. It was quite
+a pity, as was unanimously agreed, when the entrance of Marlow and
+Hastings, as in duty bound, interrupted so jovial a society. But "all
+that's bright must fade"--and so the Three Pigeons' scene, and the play,
+too, came to an end in due course. The curtain fell amidst universal
+applause, modified only by the urgent request, which, as manager, I had
+more than once to repeat, that gentlemen would be kind enough to
+restrain their feelings for fear of disturbing the dons. The house
+resolved itself into its component elements--all went their ways--the
+reading men probably to a Greek play, by way of afterpiece--sleepy ones
+to bed, and idle ones to their various inventions--and the actors, after
+the fatigues of the night, to a supper, which was to be the "finish." It
+was to take place in one of the men's rooms which happened to be on the
+same staircase, and had been committed to the charge of certain parties,
+who understood our notions of an unexceptionable spread. And a right
+merry party we were--all sitting down in character, Mrs Hardcastle at
+the top of the table, her worthy partner at bottom, with the "young
+ladies" on each side. It was the best _tableau_ of the evening; pity
+there was neither artist to sketch, nor spectators to admire it! But,
+like many other merry meetings, there are faithful portraits of
+it--proof impressions--in the memories of many who were present; not yet
+obliterated, hardly even dimmed, by time; laid by, like other valuables,
+which, in the turmoil of life, we find no time to look at, but not
+thrown aside or forgotten, and brought out sometimes, in holidays and
+quiet hours, for us to look at once more, and enjoy their beauty, and
+feel, after all, how much what we have changed is "_calum non animum_."
+I am now--no matter what. Of my companions at that well-remembered
+supper, one is a staid and orthodox divine; one a rising barrister; a
+third a respectable country gentleman, justice of the peace, "and
+quorum;" a fourth, they tell me, a semi Papist, but set us all down
+together in that same room, draw the champagne corks, and let some Lethe
+(the said champagne, if you please) wash out all that has passed over us
+in the last five years, and my word on it, three out of four of us are
+but boys still; and though much shaving, pearl powder, and carmine,
+might fail to make of any of the party a heroine of any more delicate
+class than Meg Merrilies, I have no doubt we could all of us once more
+smoke a pipe in character at "The Three Pigeons."
+
+Merrily the evening passed off, and merrily the little hours came on,
+and song and laugh rather grew gayer than slackened. The strings of the
+stays had long ago been cut, and the tresses, which were in the way of
+the cigars, were thrown back in dishevelled elegance. The landlord found
+his stuffing somewhat warm, and had laid aside half his fleshy
+incumbrance. Every one was at his ease, and a most uproarious chorus had
+just been sung by the whole strength of the company, when we heard the
+ominous sound of a quiet double rap at the outer door.
+
+"Who's there?" said one of the most self-possessed of the company.
+
+"I wish to speak to Mr Challoner," was the quiet reply.
+
+The owner of the rooms was luckily in no more _outre_ costume than that
+of Sir Charles Marlow; and having thrown off his wig, and buttoned his
+coat over a deep-flapped waistcoat, looked tolerably like himself as he
+proceeded to answer the summons. I confess I rather hoped than
+otherwise, that the gentleman, whoever he was, would walk in, when, if
+he intended to astonish us, he was very likely to find the tables
+turned. However, even college dons recognize the principle, that every
+man's house is his castle, and never violate the sanctity of even an
+under-graduate's rooms. The object of this present visit, however, was
+rather friendly than otherwise; one of the fellows, deservedly popular,
+had been with the dean, and had left him in a state of some excitement
+from the increasing merriment which came somewhat too audibly across the
+quadrangle from our party. He had called, therefore, to advise
+Challoner, either to keep his friends quiet, or to get rid of them, if
+he wished to keep out of the dean's jurisdiction. As it was towards
+three in the morning, we thought it prudent to take this advice as it
+was meant, and in a few minutes began to wend our respective ways
+homewards. Leicester and myself, whose rooms lay in the same direction,
+were steering along, very soberly, under a bright moonlight, when
+something put it into the heads of some other stragglers of the party to
+break out, at the top of their voices, into a stanza of that immortal
+ditty--"We won't go home till morning." Instantly we could hear a
+window, which we well knew to be the dean's, open above us, and as the
+unmelodious chorus went on, his wrath found vent in the usual
+strain--"Who is making that disturbance?"
+
+No one volunteering an explanation, he went on.
+
+"Who are those in the quadrangle?" Leicester and I walked somewhat
+faster. I am not sure that our dignity did not condescend to run, as we
+heard steps coming down from No. 5, at a pace that evidently portended a
+chase, and remembered for the first time the remarkable costume, which,
+to common observers, would indicate that there was a visitor of an
+unusual character enjoying the moonlight in the quadrangle. When we
+reached the "thoroughfare," the passage from the inner to the outer
+quadrangle, we fairly bolted; and as the steps came pretty fast after
+us, and Leicester's rooms were the nearest, we both made good our
+retreat thither, and sported oak.
+
+The porter's lodge was in the next number; and hearing a knocking in
+that quarter, Leicester gently opened the window, and we could catch the
+following dialogue:--
+
+"Solomon! open this door directly--it is I--the dean."
+
+"Good, dear sir!" said Solomon, apparently asleep, and fumbling for the
+keys of the college gates--"let you out? Oh yes! sir, directly."
+
+"Listen to me, Solomon: I am not going out. Did you let any one out just
+now--just before I called you?"
+
+"No, sir, nobody whatsomdever."
+
+"Solomon! I ask you, did you not, just now, let a _woman_ out?"
+
+"Lawk! no, sir, Lord forbid!" said Solomon, now thoroughly wakened.
+
+"Now, Solomon, bring your light, and come with me, this must be enquired
+into. I saw a woman run this way, and, if she is not gone through the
+gate, she is gone into this next number. Whose rooms are in No. 13?"
+
+"There's Mr Dyson's, sir, on the ground floor."
+
+Mr Dyson was the very fellow who had called at Challoner's rooms.
+
+"Hah! well, I'll call Mr Dyson up. Whose besides?"
+
+"There's Mr Leicester, sir, above his'n."
+
+"Very well, Solomon; call up Mr Dyson, and say I wish to speak with him
+particularly."
+
+And so saying, the dean proceeded up stairs.
+
+The moment Leicester heard his name mentioned, he began to anticipate a
+domiciliary visit. The thing was so ridiculous that we hardly knew what
+to do.
+
+"Shall I get into bed, Hawthorne? I don't want to be caught in this
+figure?"
+
+"Why, I don't know that you will be safe there, in the present state of
+the dean's suspicions. No; tuck up those confounded petticoats, clap on
+your pea-jacket, twist those love-locks up under your cap, light this
+cigar, and sit in your easy-chair. The dean must be 'cuter than usual,
+if he finds you out as the lady he is in search of."
+
+Leicester had hardly time to take this advice, the best I could hit upon
+at the moment, when the dean knocked at the door.
+
+"Who are you? Come in," said we both in a breath.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr Leicester," said the dean in his most official
+tone; "nothing but actually imperative duty occasions my intrusion at
+this unseasonable hour, but a most extraordinary circumstance must be my
+excuse. I say, gentlemen--I saw with my own eyes," he continued, looking
+blacker as he caught sight of me, and remembering, no doubt, the little
+episode of the stays--"I saw a female figure pass in this direction but
+a few minutes ago. No such person has passed the gate, for I have made
+enquiry; certainly I have no reason to suppose any such person is
+concealed here, but I am bound to ask you, sir, on your honour as a
+gentleman--for I have no wish to make a search--is there any such person
+concealed in your apartments?"
+
+"On my honour, sir, no one is, or has been lately here, but myself and
+Mr Hawthorne."
+
+Here Dyson came into the room, looking considerably mystified.
+
+"What's the matter, Mr Dean?" said he, nodding good-humouredly to us.
+
+"A most unpleasant occurrence, my dear sir; I have seen a woman in this
+direction not five minutes back. Unfortunately, I cannot be mistaken.
+She either passed into the porter's lodge or into this staircase."
+
+"She is not in my rooms, I assure you," said he, laughing; "I should
+think you made a mistake: it must have been some man in a white
+mackintosh."
+
+I smiled, and Leicester laughed outright.
+
+"I am not mistaken, sir," said the dean warmly. "I shall take your word,
+Mr Leicester; but allow me to tell you, that your conduct in lolling in
+that chair as if in perfect contempt, and neither rising, nor removing
+your cap, when Mr Dyson and myself are in your rooms, is neither
+consistent with the respect due from an under-graduate, or the behaviour
+I should expect from a gentleman."
+
+Poor Leicester coloured, and unwittingly removed his cap. The chestnut
+curls, some natural and some artificial, which had been so studiously
+arranged for Miss Hardcastle's head-dress, fell in dishevelled
+luxuriance round his face, and as he half rose from his previous
+position in the chair, a pink silk dress began to descend from under the
+pea-jacket. Concealment was at an end; the dean looked bewildered at
+first, and then savage; but a hearty laugh from Dyson settled the
+business.
+
+"What, Leicester! you're the lady the dean has been hunting about
+college! Upon my word, this is the most absurd piece of
+masquerading!--what on earth is it all about?"
+
+I pitied Leicester, he looked such an extraordinary figure in his
+ambiguous dress, and seemed so thoroughly ashamed of himself; so
+displaying the tops and cords in which I had enacted Hastings, I
+acknowledged my share in the business, and gave a brief history of the
+drama during my management. The dean endeavoured to look grave: Dyson
+gave way to undisguised amusement, and repeatedly exclaimed, "Oh! why
+did you not send me a ticket? When do you perform again?"
+
+Alas! never. Brief, as bright, was our theatrical career. But the memory
+of it lives in the college still: of the comedy, and the supper, and the
+curious mistake which followed it: and the dean has not to this hour
+lost the credit which he then gained, of having a remarkably keen eye
+for a petticoat.
+
+
+
+
+LINES WRITTEN IN THE ISLE OF BUTE.
+
+BY DELTA.
+
+
+ I.
+
+ Ere yet dim twilight brighten'd into day,
+ Or waned the silver morning-star away,
+ Shedding its last, lone, melancholy smile,
+ Above the mountain-tops of far Argyle;
+ Ere yet the solan's wing had brush'd the sea,
+ Or issued from its cell the mountain bee;
+ As dawn beyond the orient Cumbraes shone,
+ Thy northern slope, Byrone,
+ From Ascog's rocks, o'erflung with woodland bowers,
+ With scarlet fuschias, and faint myrtle flowers,
+ My steps essay'd; brushing the diamond dew
+ From the soft moss, lithe grass, and harebell blue.
+ Up from the heath aslant the linnet flew
+ Startled, and rose the lark on twinkling wing,
+ And soar'd away, to sing
+ A farewell to the severing shades of night,
+ A welcome to the morning's aureate light.
+ Thy summit gain'd, how tranquilly serene,
+ Beneath, outspread that panoramic scene
+ Of continent and isle, and lake and sea,
+ And tower and town, hill, vale, and spreading tree,
+ And rock and ruin tinged with amethyst,
+ Half-seen, half-hidden by the lazy mist,
+ Volume on volume, which had vaguely wound
+ The far off hills around,
+ And now roll'd downwards; till on high were seen,
+ Begirt with sombre larch, their foreheads green.
+
+
+ II.
+
+ There, save when all, except the lark, was mute,
+ Oh, beauty-breathing Bute
+ On thee entranced I gazed; each moment brought
+ A new creation to the eye of thought:
+ The orient clouds all Iris' hues assumed,
+ From the pale lily to the rose that bloom'd,
+ And hung above the pathway of the sun,
+ As if to harbinger his course begun;
+ When, lo! his disk burst forth--his beams of gold
+ Seem'd earth as with a garment to enfold,
+ And from his piercing eye the loose mists flew,
+ And heaven with arch of deep autumnal blue
+ Glow'd overhead; while ocean, like a lake,
+ Seeming delight to take
+ In its own halcyon-calm, resplendent lay,
+ From Western Kames to far Kilchattan bay.
+ Old Largs look'd out amid the orient light,
+ With its grey dwellings, and, in greenery bright,
+ Lay Coila's classic shores reveal'd to sight;
+ And like a Vallombrosa, veil'd in blue,
+ Arose Mount Stuart's woodlands on the view;
+ Kerry and Cowall their bold hill-tops show'd,
+ And Arran, and Kintire; like rubies glow'd
+ The jagged clefts of Goatfell; and below,
+ As on a chart, delightful Rothesay lay,
+ Whence sprang of human life the awakening sound,
+ With all its happy dwellings, stretching round
+ The semicircle of its sunbright bay.
+
+
+ III.
+
+ Byrone, a type of peace thou seemest now,
+ Yielding thy ridges to the rustic plough,
+ With corn-fields at thy feet, and many a grove
+ Whose songs are but of love;
+ But different was the aspect of that hour,
+ Which brought, of eld, the Norsemen o'er the deep,
+ To wrest yon castle's walls from Scotland's power,
+ And leave her brave to bleed, her fair to weep;
+ When Husbac fierce, and Olave, Mona's king,[5]
+ Confederate chiefs, with shout and triumphing,
+ Bade o'er its towers the Scaldic raven fly,
+ And mock each storm-tost sea-king toiling by!--
+ Far different were the days,
+ When flew the fiery cross, with summoning blaze,
+ O'er Blane's hill, and o'er Catan, and o'er Kames,
+ And round thy peak the phalanx'd Butesmen stood,[6]
+ As Bruce's followers shed the Baliol's blood,
+ Yea! gave each Saxon homestead to the flames!
+
+
+IV.
+
+ Proud palace-home of kings! what art thou now?
+ Worn are the traceries of thy lofty brow!
+ Yet once in beauteous strength like thee were none,
+ When Rothesay's Duke was heir to Scotland's throne;[7]
+ Ere Falkland rose, or Holyrood, in thee
+ The barons to their sovereign bow'd the knee:
+ Now, as to mock thy pride
+ The very waters of thy moat are dried;
+ Through fractured arch and doorway freely pass
+ The sunbeams, into halls o'ergrown with grass;
+ Thy floors, unroof'd, are open to the sky,
+ And the snows lodge there when the storm sweeps by;
+ O'er thy grim battlements, where bent the bow
+ Thine archers keen, now hops the chattering crow;
+ And where the beauteous and the brave were guests,
+ Now breed the bats--the swallows build their nests!
+ Lost even the legend of the bloody stair,
+ Whose steps wend downward to the house of prayer;
+ Gone is the priest, and they who worshipp'd seem
+ Phantoms to us--a dream within a dream;
+ Earth hath o'ermantled each memorial stone,
+ And from their tombs the very dust is gone;
+ All perish'd, all forgotten, like the ray
+ Which gilt yon orient hill-tops yesterday;
+ All nameless, save mayhap one stalwart knight,
+ Who fell with Graeme in Falkirk's bloody fight--
+ Bonkill's stout Stewart,[8] whose heroic tale
+ Oft circles yet the peasant's evening fire,
+ And how he scorn'd to fly, and how he bled--
+ He, whose effigies in St Mary's choir,
+ With planted heel upon the lion's head,
+ Now rests in marble mail.
+ Yet still remains the small dark narrow room,
+ Where the third Robert, yielding to the gloom
+ Of his despair, heart-broken, laid him down,
+ Refusing food, to die; and to the wall
+ Turn'd his determined face, unheeding all,
+ And to his captive boy-prince left his crown.[9]
+ Alas! thy solitary hawthorn-tree,
+ Four-centuried, and o'erthrown, is but of thee
+ A type, majestic ruin: there it lies,
+ And annually puts on its May-flower bloom,
+ To fill thy lonely courts with bland perfume,
+ Yet lifts no more its green head to the skies;[10]
+ The last lone living thing around that knew
+ Thy glory, when the dizziness and din
+ Of thronging life o'erflow'd thy halls within,
+ And o'er thy top St Andrew's banner flew.
+
+
+ V.
+
+ Farewell! Elysian island of the west,
+ Still be thy gardens brighten'd by the rose
+ Of a perennial spring, and winter's snows
+ Ne'er chill the warmth of thy maternal breast!
+ May calms for ever sleep around thy coast,
+ And desolating storms roll far away,
+ While art with nature vies to form thy bay,
+ Fairer than that which Naples makes her boast!
+ Green link between the High-lands and the Low--
+ Thou gem, half claim'd by earth, and half by sea--
+ May blessings, like a flood, thy homes o'erflow,
+ And health--though elsewhere lost--be found in thee!
+ May thy bland zephyrs to the pallid cheek
+ Of sickness ever roseate hues restore,
+ And they who shun the rabble and the roar
+ Of the wild world, on thy delightful shore
+ Obtain that soft seclusion which they seek!
+ Be this a stranger's farewell, green Byrone,
+ Who ne'er hath trod thy heathery heights before,
+ And ne'er may see thee more
+ After yon autumn sun hath westering gone;
+ Though oft, in pensive mood, when far away,
+ 'Mid city multitudes, his thoughts will stray
+ To Ascog's lake, blue-sleeping in the morn,
+ And to the happy homesteads that adorn
+ Thy Rothesay's lovely bay.
+
+ASCOG LODGE, EAST BAY, ROTHESAY,
+September 1843.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] Rothesay Castle is first mentioned in history in connexion
+with its siege by Husbac the Norwegian, and Olave king of Man, in 1228.
+Among other means of defence, it is said that the Scots poured down
+boiling pitch and lead on the heads of their enemies; but it was,
+however, at length taken, after the Norwegians had lost three hundred
+men. In 1263, it was retaken by the Scots after the decisive battle of
+Largs.
+
+[6] This bid was the scene of a conflict between the men of
+Bute and the troops of Lisle, the English governor, in which that
+general was slain, and his severed head, presented to the Lord High
+Steward, was suspended from the battlements of the castle.
+
+[7] In 1398, Robert the Third constituted his eldest son Duke
+of Rothesay, a title still held by every male heir-apparent to the
+British crown. It was the first introduction of the ducal
+dignity--originally a Norman one--into Scotland.
+
+[8] The walls forming the choir of the very ancient church
+dedicated to the Holy Virgin are still nearly entire, and stand close to
+the present parish church of Rothesay. Within a traceried niche, on one
+side, is the recumbent figure of a knight in complete armour, apparently
+of the kind in use about the time of Robert the Second or Third. His
+feet are upon a lion couchant, and his head upon a faithful watch-dog,
+with a collar, in beautiful preservation, encircling its neck. The
+coat-of-arms denotes the person represented to have been of royal
+lineage. Popular tradition individualizes him as the "Stout Stewart of
+Bonkill" of Blind Harry the minstrel, who fell with Sir John the Grahame
+at the battle of Falkirk--although that hero was buried near the field
+of action, as his tombstone there in the old churchyard still records.
+
+Sir John Stewart of Bonkill was uncle and tutor to the then Lord High
+Steward, at that time a minor.
+
+A female figure and child recumbent, also elaborately sculptured in
+black marble, adorn the opposite niche, and under them, in alto-relievo,
+are several figures in religious habits. Another effigies of a knight,
+but much defaced, lies on the ground-floor of the choir--the whole of
+which was cleaned out and put in order by the present Marquis of Bute in
+1827.
+
+[9] On the 4th of April 1406, this unfortunate prince,
+overwhelmed with grief for the death of his eldest son, David, Duke of
+Rothesay and Earl of Carrick, who miserably perished of hunger in
+Falkland Castle; and the capture, during a time of truce, of his younger
+son, Prince James, by the English--died in the Castle of Rothesay of a
+broken heart. The closet, fourteen feet by eight, in which he breathed
+his last, is still pointed out, in the south-east corner of the castle.
+
+[10] In the court of the castle is a remarkable thorn-tree,
+which for centuries had waved above the chapel now in ruins; and which,
+at the distance of a yard from the ground, measures six feet three
+inches in circumference. In 1839, it fell from its own weight, and now
+lies prostrate, with half its roots uncovered, but still vigorous in
+growth.
+
+
+
+
+TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+While tracing the progress of our friend the Khan through the various
+scenes of amusement and festivity at which he assisted rather as a
+spectator than an actor, we had omitted to notice in its proper place an
+incident of some interest--his presence at the opening of the
+Parliamentary session of 1841, on the 26th of January, by the Queen in
+person. By the kindness of one of his friends, who was a member of the
+royal household, he had succeeded in obtaining a ticket of admission to
+the House of Lords, and was placed in a position which afforded him an
+excellent view of the brilliant multitude assembled to receive their
+sovereign. "When I had sufficiently recovered from the first impression
+of all the magnificence around me, I could compare it only to the Garden
+of Trem[11]--nay, it appeared even more wonderful than that marvellous
+place. At twelve o'clock, twenty-one peals of artillery announced the
+approach of the Queen, who shortly after entered with Prince Albert,
+followed by her train-bearers, &c. All rose as she advanced; and when
+the Lords were again seated, the _cadhi-ab-codhat_ (Lord Chancellor) put
+a piece of paper in her hands, and placed himself on the right of the
+throne, while the grand-vizir stood on the left. Shortly after, the
+gentlemen of the House of Commons entered, when the Queen read with a
+loud voice from the paper to the following effect." We need not,
+however, follow the Khan through the details of the royal speech, or the
+debate on the address which succeeded, though, in the latter, he appears
+to have been thunderstruck by the freedom of language indulged in by a
+certain eccentric ex-chancellor, remarking, "that under the emperors of
+Delhi such latitude of speech, in reference to the sovereign, would
+inevitably have cost the offender his head, or at least have ensured his
+spending the remainder of his life in disgrace and exile at Mekka." On
+the dignified bearing and self-possession of our youthful sovereign, the
+Khan enlarges in the strain of eulogy which might be expected from one
+to whom the sight of the ensigns of sovereignty borne by a female hand
+was in itself an almost inconceivable novelty, declaring, that "the
+justice and virtues of her Majesty have obliterated the name of
+Nushirvan from the face of the earth!" But the remarks of the
+simple-minded Parsees on the same subject will be found, from their
+honest sincerity, we suspect, more germane to the matter--"We saw in an
+instant that she was fitted by nature for, and intended to be, a queen;
+we saw a native nobility about her, which induced us to believe that she
+could, though meek and amiable, be firm and decisive; ... that no man or
+set of men would be permitted by her to dictate a line of conduct; and
+that, knowing and feeling that she lived in the hearts and affections of
+her people, she would endeavour to temper justice with mercy; and we
+thought that if no unforeseen event (which God forbid) arose to dim the
+lustre of her reign, that the period of her sway in Britain would be
+quoted as the golden age."
+
+After this introduction, the Khan appears to have become an occasional
+attendant in the gallery of the House of Commons, and was present at a
+debate on the admission of foreign corn, in which Lord Stanley, Sir
+Robert Peel, and Lord John Russell took part--"These three being the
+most eloquent of the speakers, and the chiefs of their respective
+parties, though several other members spoke at great length either for
+or against the motion, according as each was attached to one or other
+of the great factions which divide the House of Commons, and hold the
+destinies of the people in their hands." Of the speeches of these three
+leaders, and the arguments adduced by them, he accordingly attempts to
+give an abstract; though as his information must have been derived, we
+imagine, principally through the medium of an interpreter, this first
+essay at Parliamentary reporting is not particularly successful; and if
+we are to conclude, from his constant use of the phrase _zemindars_ to
+denote the landed interest, that he considered the estates of the
+English proprietors to be held by _zemindarry_ tenures similar to those
+in Bengal, his notions on the subject of the debate must have been
+considerably perplexed. "At length, however, as the debate had already
+been protracted to a late hour, and there was no probability of a speedy
+termination to this war of words, I left the House with no unfavourable
+impression of what I had heard. This eternal wrangling between the two
+factions is inherent, it appears, in the nature of the constitution.
+With us, two wise men never dispute; yet every individual member of the
+legislature is supposed to possess a certain share of wisdom--so that
+here are a thousand wise men constantly disputing. One would think no
+good could result from such endless differences of opinion; but the fact
+is the reverse--for from these debates result those measures which mark
+the character of the English for energy and love of liberty."
+
+But though thus constantly alluding to the two great political parties
+which divide the state, the Khan nowhere attempts to give his readers a
+definition of the essential differences which separate them; and, for a
+statement of the respective tenets of Whigs and Tories, as represented
+to an oriental, we must once more have recourse to the journal of Najaf
+Kooli, who has apparently taken great pains to make himself acquainted
+with this abstruse subject. "The Tories," says the Persian prince,
+"argue as follows:--'Three hundred years ago we were wild people, and
+our kingdom ranked lower than any other. But, through our wisdom and
+learning, we have brought it to its present height of honour, and, as
+the empire was enlarged under our management, why should we now _reform_
+and give up our policy which has done all this good?' To which the Whigs
+reply--'It is more prudent to go according to the changes of time and
+circumstances. Moreover, by the old policy, only a few were benefited;
+and, as government is for the general good, we must observe that which
+is best for the whole nation, so that all should be profited.'" The
+Shahzadeh's description of the ceremony of opening Parliament, and his
+summary of the usual topics touched upon in the royal speech, are marked
+by the same amusing _naivete_--"When all are met, the king, arrayed in
+all his majestic splendour and state, with the crown on his head, stands
+up with his face to the assembly, and makes a speech with perfect
+eloquence as follows:--'Thank God that my kingdom is in perfect
+happiness, and all the affairs, both at home and abroad, are in good
+order. All the foreign badishahs (kings and emperors) have sent to me
+ambassadors, assuring me of their friendship. The commerce of this
+empire is enjoying the highest prosperity; and all these benefits are
+through your wise ordination of affairs last session. This year also I
+have to request you again to meet in your houses, and to take all
+affairs into the consideration of your high skill and learning, and
+settle them as you find best. Should there be any misunderstanding in
+any part which may require either war or peace to be declared, you will
+thereupon also take the proper measures for settling it according to the
+welfare and interests of the kingdom.' Then they receive their
+instructions, the king leaves them, and they meet every day, Sunday
+excepted, from one o'clock in the afternoon till four hours after
+sunset. They take all things into consideration, and decide all
+questions; and when there is a difference of opinion there will arise
+loud voices and vehement disputes."
+
+But we must now return to the movements of the Khan, after the Lord
+Mayor's dinner, described in our last Number, in the world of amusement
+which surrounded him in London. His next visit, when he recovered from
+the fit of meditation into which he was thrown by the sight of the
+marvellous banquet aforesaid, was to the Colosseum; but his account of
+the wonders of this celebrated place of resort, perhaps from his
+faculties still being in some measure abstracted, is less full than
+might have been expected. The ascending-room (which the Persian prince
+describes as "rising like an eagle with large wings into the atmosphere,
+till, after an hour's time, it stopped in the sky, and opened its beak,
+so that we came out") he merely alludes to as "the talismanic process by
+which I was carried to the upper regions;" and though the panoramic view
+of London is pronounced to be, "of all the wonders of the metropolis the
+most wonderful," it is dismissed with the remark that "it is useless to
+attempt to describe it in detail. After this," continues the Khan, "I
+passed under ground among some artificial caves, which I at first took
+for the dens of wild beasts; and that people should pay for seeing such
+places as these, does seem a strange taste. By going a short distance
+out of Delhi, a man may enter as many such places as he pleases, bearing
+in mind, at the same time, that he runs the greatest chance in the world
+of encountering a grinning hyaena, or some such beast; and it was with
+some such feeling that I entered these grottoes, not being exactly
+acquainted with their nature."
+
+The Khan had now nearly exhausted the circle of places of public
+entertainment; but one yet remained to be visited, and that, perhaps,
+the most congenial of all to oriental tastes in the style of its
+decorations, brilliant lights, and multifarious displays--Vauxhall. "A
+large garden! a paradise!"--such is the rapturous description of the
+Persian princes--"filled with roses of various hues, with cool waters
+running in every direction on the beautiful green, and pictures painted
+on every wall. There were burning about two millions of lamps, each of a
+different colour; and we saw here such fire-works, as made us forget all
+others we had already seen. Here and there were young moon-faces selling
+refreshments; and in every walk there were thousands of Frank _moons_
+(ladies) led by the hand, while the roses grew pale with admiring their
+beautiful cheeks." The Khan, though less ardent and enthusiastic than
+the grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, does ample justice to the splendour of
+the illumination; "thousands of lights distributed over the gardens,
+suspended on the trees, and arranged in numberless fanciful devices, so
+as to form flowers, names, &c.; and when it became dark, one blaze of
+bright light was presented, extending over a vast space." He was
+fortunate, moreover, in making his visit to the gardens on the evening
+of a balloon ascent, "and thus I witnessed the most wonderful sight I
+ever saw--a sight which a hundred millions of people in India consider
+to be a _Feringhi_ fiction, an incredible fable; for though a Frenchman
+made an ascent at Lucknow some years ago, nobody believes it who did not
+see it, and many even who were present, believed that their senses had
+been beguiled by magic.... A car in the shape of a _howdah_ was swung by
+ropes beneath the balloon, in which six individuals seated themselves,
+besides the aeronaut; and when it was filled with the gas and ready to
+start, the latter tried to prevail on me to take a seat, telling me he
+had performed nearly three hundred aerial voyages, and that, if any
+accident should happen, he himself would be the first to suffer. I
+certainly had a wish to satisfy my curiosity, by ascending to the skies,
+but was dissuaded by the friends who accompanied me, who said it was
+safer to remain on _terra firma_, and look on at the voyagers; and
+accordingly I did so."
+
+Though it would appear that the Khan had already paid more than one
+visit to the treasures of art and nature collected within the walls of
+the British Museum, his description of that institution, "one like which
+I had never before heard of," is reserved almost to the last in the
+catalogue of the wonders of London; and his remarks on the numberless
+novel objects which presented themselves at every turn to his gaze, form
+one of the most curious and interesting passages in his journal. The
+brilliant plumage of the birds in the gallery of natural history, and
+particularly of the humming birds "from the far isles of the Western
+Sea," the splendour of which outshone even the gorgeous feathered tribes
+of his native East, excited his admiration to the highest
+degree--"animals likewise from every country of the earth were placed
+around, and might have been mistaken for living beings, from the gloss
+of their skins and the brightness of their eyes." The library,
+"containing, as I was told, 300,000 volumes, among which were 20,000
+Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts," is briefly noticed; and the
+sight of the mummies in the Egyptian collection sets the Khan
+moralizing, not in the most novel strain, on these relics of bygone
+mortality. The sculptures were less to his taste--the Egyptian colossi
+are alluded to as "the work in former days, I suppose, of some of the
+mummies up stairs;" and the Grecian statues "would appear, to an
+unbiassed stranger, a quantity of useless, mutilated _idols_,
+representing both men and monsters; but in the eyes of the English, it
+is a most valuable collection, said to have cost seven _lakhs_ of
+rupees, (L.70,000,) and venerated as containing some of the finest
+sculptures in the world. I cannot understand how such importance can be
+attached in Europe to this art, since the use of all images is as
+distinctly forbidden by the _Tevrat_, (Bible,) as it is by our own
+law ... But the strangest sight was in one of the upper rooms, which
+contains specimens of extinct monsters, recently discovered in the
+bowels of the earth in a fossil state, and supposed to be thousands of
+years old. Many men of science pass their whole lives in inventing names
+for these creatures, and studying the shape of a broken tooth supposed
+to have belonged to them; the science to which this appertains, being a
+branch of that relating to minerals, of which there is in the next room
+a vast collection ranged in well-polished cases, with the names written
+on them.... Among these, the most extraordinary were some stones said to
+have fallen from the sky, one of which was near 300 lbs. in weight, and
+with regard to the origin of which their philosophers differ. The most
+generally received opinion is, that they were thrown from volcanoes in
+the moon, thus assuming, first, the existence of volcanoes there;
+secondly, their possessing sufficient force to throw such masses to a
+distance, according to their own theory, of between 200,000 and 300,000
+miles; and this through regions, the nature of which is wholly unknown.
+This hypothesis cannot be maintained according to the Ptolemaic system;
+indeed, it is in direct contravention to it."
+
+The perverse abandonment by the Feringhis of the time-honoured system of
+Ptolemy, in favour of the new-fangled theories of Copernicus, by which
+the earth is degraded from its recognised and respectable station in the
+centre of the universe, to a subordinate grade in the solar system,
+seems to have been a source of great scandal and perplexity to the Khan;
+"since," as he remarks, "the former doctrine is supported by their own
+Bible, not less than by our Koran." These sentiments are repeated
+whenever the subject is referred to; and particularly on the occasion of
+a visit to the Observatory at Greenwich, where he was shown all the
+telescopes and astronomical apparatus, "though, owing to the state of
+the weather, I had not the opportunity of viewing the heavens to satisfy
+myself of the correctness of the statements made to me. I was told,
+however, that on looking through these instruments at the moon,
+mountains, seas, and other signs of a world, are distinctly visible."
+After satisfying his curiosity on these points, the Khan proceeded to
+inspect the hospital, where he saw the pensioners at dinner in the great
+hall; "most of these had lost their limbs, and those who were not maimed
+were very old, and nearly all of them had been severely wounded; indeed,
+it was a very interesting spectacle, and reflected great credit on the
+English nation, which thus provides for the old age of those who have
+shed their blood in her defence." To the charitable institutions of the
+country, indeed, we find the Khan at all times fully disposed to do
+justice; "there is no better feature than this in the national
+character, for there is scarcely a disease or deformity in nature for
+which there is not some edifice, in which the afflicted are lodged, fed,
+and kindly treated. Would that we had such institutions in Hindustan!"
+In pursuance of this feeling, we now find him visiting the Blind Asylum
+and the Deaf and Dumb School; and the circumstantial details into which
+he enters of the comforts provided for the inmates of these
+establishments, and the proficiency which many of them had attained in
+trades and accomplishments apparently inconsistent with their
+privations, sufficiently evidences the interest with which he regarded
+these benevolent institutions. Another spectacle of the same character,
+which he had an opportunity of witnessing about this period, was the
+annual procession of the charity children to St Paul's:--"I obtained a
+seat near the officiating _imam_ or high priest, and saw near ten
+thousand children of both sexes, belonging to the different eleemosynary
+establishments, which are deservedly the pride of this country, all
+clothed in an uniform dress, while every corner was filled with
+spectators. After the _khotbah_ (prayer) was read, they began to sing,
+not in the ordinary manner, but, as I was given to understand, so as to
+involve a form of prayer and thanksgiving. I was told that they belonged
+to many schools,[12] and are brought here once a year, that those who
+contribute to their support may witness the progress they have made, as
+well as their health and appearance."
+
+The military college at Addiscombe, for the education of the cadets of
+the East India Company's army, would naturally be to the Khan an object
+of peculiar interest; and thither he accordingly repaired, in company
+with several of his friends, apparently members of the Indian direction,
+on the occasion of the examination of the students by Colonel
+Pasley.[13] "After partaking of a sumptuous luncheon, we went to the
+students' room, where they were examined in various branches of the
+military science, as mathematics, fortification, drawing, &c., besides
+various languages, one of which was the Oordoo."[14] After the close of
+the examination, and the distribution of prizes to the successful
+candidates,[15] the company repaired to the grounds, where the Khan was
+astonished by the quickness and precision with which the cadets took to
+pieces and reconstructed the pontoons, and went through other operations
+of military engineering; and still more by a subaqueous explosion of
+powder by the means of the voltaic battery--"a method by which Colonel
+Pasley was engaged near Portsmouth in raising a vessel which had sunk
+there." It would be hardly fair to surmise the probable tendency of the
+Khan's secret thoughts on thus witnessing the care bestowed on the
+training of those destined hereafter to maintain the Feringhi yoke on
+his native country; but he expressed himself highly gratified by all
+that he saw; and we find him, shortly after, in attendance at a
+spectacle more calculated than any thing he had yet witnessed, to
+impress him with an adequate idea of British power--the launch of a
+first-rate man-of-war at Woolwich.[16] "The sight was extremely
+exhilarating, from the fineness of the day, and the immense crowds of
+people, of all ages and both sexes, generally well dressed, who were
+congregated on the land and the water, expecting the arrival of the
+Queen. Her majesty appeared at one o'clock, and proceeded to the front
+of the great ship, where a place, covered with red cloth, was prepared
+for her; I had a seat quite close, and saw it all very well.... The
+ceremony of _christening_ a ship is taken from that of christening a
+child, which, as practised in the Nazarene churches, consists in
+throwing water in its face, and saying a prayer; but here a bottle of
+wine hung before her majesty, and opposite to it a piece of iron,
+against which she pushed the bottle and broke it, and the wine was
+sprinkled over the ship, which then received its name.... In a short
+time the slips were drawn, and she glided nobly into the stream of the
+Thames amidst the shouts of the spectators, and anchored at a short
+distance. I went on board this immense floating castle, but observed
+that she was not ready for sea, and I was told that she would require
+some time to be rigged, provisioned, &c. Our party then returned to
+Greenwich; and after my friends had dined, with whom I partook of a
+delicate little fish now in season, (whitebait,) drove back to town."
+
+The Khan had no leisure, on this occasion, to inspect the wonders of the
+_top-khana_, or arsenal; but he paid a second visit for the purpose a
+few days later, duly armed with an order from the Master-General of the
+Ordnance, which is indispensable for the admission of a foreigner. His
+sensations, on entering this vast repository of arms, were not unlike
+those attributed to a personage whose fictitious adventures, though the
+production of a _Feringhi_ pen, present one of the most faithful
+pictures extant of the genuine feelings of an oriental on Frank
+matters:--"When we came to the guns," says the eximious Hajji Baba, "by
+my beard, existence fled from our heads! We saw cannons of all sizes and
+denominations, enough to have paved the way, if placed side by side,
+from Tehran to Tabriz--if placed lengthways, Allah only knows where they
+would have reached--into the very grave of the father of all the
+Russians, perhaps!" "The cannon distributed over the whole place," says
+the graver narrative of the Khan, "are said to amount to 40,000! all
+ready for use in the army, navy, or fortresses; and, as if these were
+not sufficient for the destruction of the human race, other pieces are
+constantly casting by a process the reverse of that in India, where the
+guns are cast in moulds--whereas here a solid cylinder is cast, and
+afterwards bored, shaped, and finished by steam power.... There are,
+moreover, a considerable number taken from enemies in battle, two of
+which, taken from Tippoo Sultan at Seringapatam, have their muzzles in
+the form of a lion's mouth, and are very well cast and elaborately
+ornamented; having their date, with the weight of powder and ball they
+carry, expressed in Persian characters about the mouth. There are also
+three from Bhurtpore, and three others from Aden, the inscriptions on
+which denote that they were cast by order of the Turkish emperor,
+_Mahmood_[17] Ibn Soliman." After leaving the arsenal, the Khan
+proceeded to the dockyard, of which he merely enumerates the various
+departments; but the proving of the anchors and chain-cables by means of
+the hydraulic press, impressed him, as it must do every one who has
+witnessed that astonishing process, with the idea of almost illimitable
+power. "On the ground lay a huge anchor which had been broken a few days
+before in the presence of Prince Albert, and when I was there four men
+were trying the strength of a chain by turning a wheel, the force
+produced by which was more than sufficient to break it; for just as I
+arrived it began to give way, when they desisted. The force here
+produced by means of this single wheel must have been equal to that of
+some 200,000 elephants, which might perhaps have pulled till doomsday
+without effecting it. Such is the wonderful effect of this agent
+(steam,) the results of which I meet with in so many different places,
+and under so many different circumstances!" After visiting the
+convict-hulk, and seeing the anchor-founderies in operation, the Khan
+crossed to Blackwall, and returned to town by the railway, his first
+conveyance when he landed in England. His increased experience in
+steam-travelling had now, however, enabled him to detect the difference
+between the mode of propulsion by engines on the other railroads, and
+the "immense cables made of iron wires" by which the vehicles are drawn
+on this line; the construction of which, as well as the
+electro-telegraph, ("a process for which we have no phrase in
+Oordoo,") by which communication is effected between the two ends of
+the line, he soon after paid another visit to inspect. "This railway is
+carried partly over houses and partly under ground; and as the price of
+the ground was unusually high, I was told that it cost, though only
+three miles and a half in length, the enormous sum of a crore of rupees,
+(L.1,000,000!")
+
+With this notice of the Blackwall railway, the personal narrative of the
+Khan's residence in England is brought to an abrupt conclusion; leaving
+us in the dark as to the time and circumstances of his return to his
+native land, which we believe took place soon after this period. The
+remainder of his work is in the nature of an appendix, consisting
+chiefly of dissertations on the manners, institutions, &c., of Great
+Britain, as compared with those of Hindustan. He likewise gives an
+elaborate retrospect of English history, from the Britons downwards;
+excepting, however, the four centuries from the death of William the
+Conqueror to the accession of Henry VIII.--an interval which he perhaps
+considers to have been sufficiently filled up by his disquisitions on
+the struggles for power between the crown and the barons, and the
+consequent origin and final constitution of parliament, related in a
+previous part of his work. His object in undertaking this compilation
+was, as he informs us, "for the benefit of those in Hindustan, who are
+to this day entirely ignorant of English history, and indifferent as to
+acquiring any knowledge whatever of a people whose sway has been
+extended over so many millions of human beings, and whose influence is
+felt in the remotest corners of the globe." The manner in which the Khan
+has performed his self-imposed task, is highly creditable to his
+industry and discrimination, and strongly contrasts, in the accuracy of
+the facts and plain sense of the narration, with the wild extravagances
+in which Asiatic historiographers are apt to indulge; the Anglo-Saxon
+part of the history, on which especial pains appears to have been
+bestowed, is particularly complete and well written--unless (as, indeed,
+we are almost inclined to suspect) it be a translation _in toto_ from
+some popular historical treatise. The Khan's acquired knowledge of
+English history, indeed, is sometimes more accurate than his
+acquaintance with the annals of his own country; as when, in comparing
+Queen Elizabeth with the famous Queen of Delhi, Raziah Begum, he speaks
+of the latter princess as "daughter of Behlol Khan, the Pathan Emperor
+of Delhi;" whereas a reference to Ferishta, or any other native
+historian, will inform us that Raziah died A.D. 1239, more than 200
+years before the accession of Behlol Lodi. No such errors as this,
+either in fact or chronology, disfigure the Khan's sketch of English
+history; but as it would scarcely present so much novelty to English
+readers as it may possibly do to the Hindustani friends of the author
+for whom it is intended, we shall give but a few brief notices of it.
+His favourite hero, in the account of the Saxon period, is of course
+Alfred, and he devotes to the events of his reign more than half the
+space occupied by the history of the dynasty;[18] thus summing up his
+character:--"To describe all the excellent qualities, intellectual and
+moral, attributed to this prince by English historians, would be to
+condense in a single individual the highest perfections of which the
+human species is capable. Qualities contradictory in their natures, and
+which are possessed only by men of different characters, and scarcely
+ever by one man, seem to have been united in this monarch; he was
+humane, prudent, and peaceful, yet brave, just, and impartial; affable,
+and capable of giving and receiving counsel. In short, he was a man
+especially endowed by the Deity with virtue and intelligence to benefit
+the human race!"
+
+The story of Edwy and Elgiva, and the barbarities which the beautiful
+queen suffered at the hands of Dunstan, are related with fitting
+abhorrence by the Khan, who seems to entertain, on all occasions, a
+special aversion to the ascendancy of the Romish priesthood. The loves
+of Edgar and Elfrida, and the punishment of the faithless courtier who
+deceived his sovereign by a false report of the attractions of the lady,
+are also duly commemorated; as well as the fall of the Saxon kingdom
+before the conquering swords of the Danes, during the reign of Ethelred
+the Unready, the son of the false and cruel Elfrida. But the intrusive
+monarch Canute "was looked upon, in those times of ignorance, as a very
+extraordinary man, and supposed to be the greatest king of the world,
+the sovereign of the seas and the land." The well-known story of his
+pretending to command the waves, as related by the Khan, differs
+considerably from the usually received version, and perhaps may be
+better adapted to the notions prevalent in the East, where success by
+stratagem is always considered preferable to a manly avowal of
+incompetency. "One day he was seated on the sea-shore, when the waves
+reached his chair. Canute commanded them to retire; and as the tide
+happened to be actually ebbing at the time, the waters retreated to the
+ocean. Then turning to his courtiers, he exclaimed, that the king whose
+mandates were obeyed by the billows of the sea, as well as by the
+children of men, was truly the monarch of the earth. Ever after this he
+was regarded by the ignorant multitude with a sort of religious awe, and
+was called Canute _the Great_, as we should say _Sahib-i-kiran_,"
+(the Lord of the Conjunction, implying a man born under a peculiar
+conjunction of planetary influences which predestines him to
+distinguished fortunes.)
+
+But of all the English monarchs whose reigns are noticed by the Khan,
+the one who appears to stand highest, as a pious and patriotic king, in
+his estimation--a distinction which he not improbably owes to his zeal
+as an iconoclast, the use of images in worship being abhorred by the
+Moslems--is no other than Henry VIII. No hint of the "gospel light that
+beamed from Boleyn's eyes," or of the doom which overtook more than one
+of his consorts, is allowed to interfere with the lustre of his
+achievements; such allusions, indeed, would probably be regarded by the
+Khan as unwarrantable violations of the privacy of the zenana. But in
+order to set in a stronger light the difficulties which he had to
+encounter, we have a circumstantial account of the rise of the Papal
+power, and the exorbitant prerogatives assumed for some centuries
+previously, by the Pope. "This personage was the monarch of Christendom,
+something analogous to our holy khalifs, who were the heads of Islam and
+the Mohammedan world; and from him the princes of Christendom received
+investiture, as did our Mohammedan sovereigns from the khalifs of
+Bagdad. The ecclesiastics every where gave out that the pontiff was the
+vicegerent of God, and that every one who died without his blessing and
+forgiveness would suffer endless torments hereafter. Moreover, if the
+king of any country did aught contravening the Pope's pleasure, his
+people were excommunicated, and anathemas published against them to the
+whole of Europe. Thus were the nations led by the nose like a string of
+camels." He then proceeds to state how Henry, by holding forth to his
+nobles the prospect of participation in the rich possessions of the
+church, induced them to join him in the enterprize of destroying the
+papal ascendency. "He then commanded the name of the Pope to be expunged
+from the _khotbah_, and his own to be substituted as head of the church;
+while the _idols_ and pictures were removed from the churches, and not
+allowed to be again used in worship; and the confiscated property was
+divided into three parts, one of which he reserved for himself, the
+second he gave to the nobles who had assisted him, and distributed the
+third among the clergy of the new or reformed religion.
+
+"The Pope's wrath was kindled at these proceedings, and he
+excommunicated the king, who trampled the edict under his feet. The Pope
+then wrote to the princes of Christendom, exhorting them all to
+undertake a _holy war_ against Henry, who was not only a heretic, but an
+infidel; adding, that if they did not, fire would be rained on them from
+heaven as a punishment for their neglect. Some of the Christian
+monarchs, as the King of Spain, declared war accordingly against Henry,
+and sent ships to the coast of England; but all their attempts failed;
+and the King of Denmark and other potentates, perceiving that the
+Pope's threats were not accomplished, and that no fire fell from heaven,
+followed Henry's example in expelling the Pope's clergy from their
+dominions, and adopted measures of reform similar to his. From this time
+the Pope's power began to decline in all the countries of Europe, so
+that at the present day his name is read in the _khotbah_ only in the
+city of Rome and the small territory which is yet left him in its
+neighbourhood; and the old practice of excommunication seems to have
+entirely ceased; while the reformed religion introduced by Henry, and
+which is so different from the ancient faith, has existed in England
+ever since, a period of above three hundred years."
+
+We need not pursue further our extracts from the Khan's speculations on
+English history, of which the passages already given afford a sufficient
+specimen; but we may notice that he mentions James I. as the first
+English monarch who sent an ambassador (Sir Thomas Roe) to the court of
+Delhi, and refers to the history of Ferishta for an account of his
+reception by the Emperor Jehanghir. He next proceeds to describe the
+climate, productions, and statistics of the country, its division into
+_zillahs_ or counties, the law of primogeniture as regards succession to
+landed property, &c.; and enters into minute details on the laws
+regulating the succession to the throne, the responsibility of
+ministers, the election of the members of the House of Commons, and the
+mutual dependence of the three branches of the legislature; but his
+remarks on these subjects, though creditable from their general
+accuracy, possess little originality; and may be left without comment
+for the edification of his friends in Hindustan, for whose benefit it is
+to be presumed they were intended. The doctrine of the responsibility of
+ministers, (which the Khan in a former part of his narrative, as we had
+occasion to remark, seemed either to have been unacquainted with, or to
+have lost sight of,) is here stated with a full appreciation of its
+practical bearings; and is pronounced to be "the best law which the
+English ever made for the government of the people, by imposing a check
+on the absolute will of the sovereign; resembling the similar restraint
+on the power of our monarchs which prevails in Islam, though with us the
+check is still more powerful and effectual, as the judge is empowered by
+the Koran to demand satisfaction from the sovereign himself!" The
+details of the British finances are briefly touched upon, with a special
+denunciation of "that most extraordinary tax laid on the light of the
+sun when it comes through a window:"--but the Khan contents himself with
+stating the amount of the national debt, and the interest annually paid
+to the public creditors, without offering any scheme for its extinction,
+like that of his countryman Mirza Abu-Taleb, who with perfect gravity
+and good faith proposes that the fundholders should be summoned before
+Parliament, and informed by the minister, that since the pressure of the
+taxes necessary to meet the interest must inevitably, erelong, produce a
+revolution, in which the whole debt would be cancelled, it would be far
+better for them at once to relinquish with a good grace great part of
+their claim, and accept payment of the balance by instalments. Of the
+feasibility, as well as equity of this plan, the Mirza does not appear
+to entertain the smallest doubt:--"and thus," he triumphantly concludes,
+"in twenty or thirty years, the whole of the debt would be liquidated;
+some of the most oppressive taxes might be immediately abolished, and
+others gradually relinquished; provisions would become cheaper, and the
+people be rendered happy, and grateful to the government."
+
+"When in Hindustan," says the Khan, "I had heard, like millions of
+others, of something in connexion with the Feringhi rulers, called
+_Company_; but no one knew whether this was a man, or a medicine, or a
+weapon, or a horse, or a ship, or any thing else. The most prevalent
+notion was, that it was an old woman; but as the oldest among us, and
+their fathers before them, had always heard it spoken of in exactly the
+same terms, they were further puzzled to account for her preternatural
+longevity." A well-directed course of enquiry in England, speedily
+enabled the Khan to unravel the mystery; and he has enlightened his
+countrymen with full details on the composition of the venerable Begum,
+with the Court of Directors, the Board of Control, &c.; but in the
+prosecution of these researches, he was surprised by finding that
+_Company_ was so far from being one and indivisible, that _Companies_
+"exist by thousands for multifarious objects--many even for speculation
+in human life. The most recent is the Victoria, composed of twelve
+directors, and other officers. A man puts a value on his life, and on
+this sum they put a per centage, varying according to his age and state
+of health, which he pays, and when he dies his heirs receive the money.
+People of the middle classes generally resort to this method of
+providing, by small annual contributions, for the support of their
+families after their decease--and consequently the man's own relations
+often rejoice when he dies, while strangers (the Insurance Company)
+grieve."
+
+On the important subject of the domestic usages and manners of the
+English, the Khan enters less at length than might have been expected.
+Of country life, indeed, from which alone correct ideas on such subjects
+can be derived, he saw absolutely nothing, his knowledge of the country
+being apparently limited to the prospect from the windows of a railway
+carriage; and his acquaintance with London manners was drawn more from
+ballrooms and crowded soirees, than from the private circles of family
+reunions. With these limited opportunities of observation, his remarks
+on the mass of the people are necessarily confined, in a great measure,
+to their outdoor habits; in which nothing appears to have surprised him
+more than the small number of horsemen (as he considers) to be seen in
+the streets of London; "the generality of these, too, are extremely bad
+riders, though this, perhaps, may be owing to the uncouth and awkward
+saddles they use:" a libel on our national character for horsemanship,
+into which we must charitably hope that the Cockney cavaliers who crowd
+the Regent's Park on Sundays, are responsible for having misled him. The
+important point of the comparative deference paid to women, and the
+amount of liberty and privileges enjoyed by them, in the social systems
+of Mohammedan and Christian countries respectively, is taken up by the
+Khan in behalf of the former, with as much warmth as in past years by
+his compatriot Mirza Abu-Taleb,[19] and in much the same line of
+argument--to the effect that the dowery which the eastern husband is
+bound by law to pay over in money to his wife in the event of a
+separation, is a far more effectual protection to the wife from the
+fickleness and caprice of her partner, ("whose _interest_ it thus
+becomes, setting affection wholly out of the question, to remain on good
+terms with her,") than any remedy afforded by the laws of England; where
+a wife, though bound by ties less easily dissolved than under the
+Mohammedan system of divorces, may still be driven, without misconduct
+on her part, from her husband's house, and left to seek redress by the
+slow process of litigation. The Khan assures us that several ladies with
+whom he conversed on these interesting topics, and who had passed many
+years of their lives in India, were utterly unacquainted with these
+protective rights of Hindustani wives; and were obliged to confess, that
+if they were correctly stated, "the ladies in India are far better off
+than ourselves. For (said they) the dowery we receive from our fathers
+on our marriage goes to our husbands, who may squander it in one day if
+they like; and even the dresses we wear are not our own property, but
+are given us by our husbands." But if we allow the Khan all due credit
+for the adroitness and success with which he maintained on this occasion
+the cause of his fair countrywomen, we can scarcely acquit him of
+something like disingenuousness in a discussion with "another lady,"
+apparently one who had _not_ been in India, and who lamented the hard
+fate (as she believed) of the Indian widows, who could not marry again
+after the death of their first husband, and were at the mercy of the
+priests, who filled their heads with terrors of a future state to
+prevent their doing so. "With regard to this last idea, it is so
+utterly groundless, that there is no word in our language corresponding
+with 'priest;' and of all religions in the world, Islam is the least
+influenced by spiritual meddlers of any sort. It is, besides, expressly
+enjoined in the Koran, that widows should marry; they may do so as often
+as they like, if they survive their husbands; and if they do not, it is
+their own choice." Now, though this vehement denial of the Khan's is
+perfectly true as regards _Moslem_ law and _Moslem_ widows, he must have
+been well aware that the lady's error arose from her considering as
+common to all the natives of India, Hindustanis as well as Hindus, those
+customs and restrictions which are peculiar to the Hindus alone. Among
+the latter, as is well known, both the priestcraft of the Brahmins, and
+the impediments to the marriage of a widow,[20] exist in full force at
+this day; and it would have been more candid on the part of the Khan,
+even at the expense of a little of his Moslem pride, to have set his
+fair opponent right on these points, than to have triumphed over her
+ignorance, without showing her wherein lay her error.
+
+But however deeply the Khan may have commiserated the unprotected
+condition of English wives, as compared with the security of rights
+enjoyed by the more fortunate dames of Hindustan, we find him at all
+times disposed to do ample justice to the social qualifications and
+accomplishments of our countrywomen, and the beneficial influence
+exercised by them in smoothing the asperities of society. The masculine
+portion of the community, indeed, find little favour in the eyes of the
+Khan, who accuses them of being prone to indulge in inveterate enmity
+and ill-feeling on slight grounds, while instances of real friendship,
+on the contrary, are extremely rare: and he is wearied and disgusted by
+the endless disputes which occur at all times and all places, from the
+collision of individuals of adverse political sentiments. "They dispute
+in parliament, they dispute in their social circles, they dispute in
+steam-boats, on railroads, in eating and drinking; and I verily believe
+that, but for some slight feeling of religion, they would dispute even
+in their churches. But in the same proportion as the men were hostile to
+each other, did the women seem united: the more there were of these fair
+creatures, the pleasanter did they make the party by their smiles and
+good-humour: with the men, the more there were collected together, the
+more wrangling always ensued. In qualities of the mind and heart, as
+well as in the social virtues, the women far surpass the men--they are
+more susceptible of friendship, more hospitable to strangers, less
+reserved, and, I must say, generally better informed. Wherever I have
+been conversing with gentlemen in society, if a difficulty occurred on
+any topic, the men would invariably turn to their wives or sisters, and
+ask for an explanation, thus tacitly admitting the superior attainments
+of the ladies: and I have always found that I obtained from the latter a
+more satisfactory answer to any of my enquiries on national customs and
+institutions. Nor must it be supposed that this superiority was only
+apparent, and arose from the desire the men might have to display the
+accomplishments of their ladies by referring so constantly to them: it
+is the real state of the case, as far as I can judge from the manners of
+the people."
+
+We cannot better close our extracts from the Khan's remarks on English
+manners and society, than with this spontaneous tribute to the merits
+and attractions of our countrywomen, the value of which is enhanced by
+its coming, as it does, from an acute observer of a social system in
+which every thing was wholly at variance with his preconceived habits
+and ideas, and from one, moreover, totally unacquainted with that
+routine of compliment, which serves gentlemen in the regions of
+Franguestan, to use the words of Die Vernon, "like the toys and beads
+which navigators carry with them to propitiate the inhabitants of
+newly-discovered lands." But the impression produced on the Khan by the
+contemplation of the institutions and resources of England has yet to be
+viewed in another light--in its relations to the government of India
+under Feringhi rule, and the comparative benefits conferred on the
+people at large, by the sway respectively of the English, and of their
+old Mohammedan rulers. The Khan's opinions on these subjects will
+doubtless be read with surprise by that numerous and respectable class
+of the community, who hold as an article of faith, (to use the words of
+our author,) that in Mohammedan countries "every prince is a tyrant;
+every court of justice full of corruption; and all the people sunk in
+depravity, ignorance, and misery:" and who cling to the comfortable
+delusion that we have succeeded, by the equity of our civil government,
+in attaching to our rule the population of India. As a view of this
+important subject _from the other side of the question_, taken by one,
+however, by no means indisposed to do justice to what he considers as
+the meritorious features of the English administration, the Khan's
+comparative summary, though not wholly devoid of prejudice, possesses
+considerable interest: and it must be admitted, that with respect to the
+internal improvement of the country, his strictures have hitherto had
+but too much foundation, though the schemes of the present
+governor-general, if carried into effect, will go far to remove the
+stigma from the Anglo-Indian rulers. After contrasting, in a
+conversation with an English friend, the expedition of legal proceedings
+under the Moslem rule, with the slow process of the English courts in
+India, to be finally remedied only by the endless and generally
+ineffectual course of appeal to the privy-council at home, (in which,
+according to the Khan's statement, not a single individual of the number
+who have undertaken the long voyage from India has ever succeeded,) he
+proceeds--
+
+"Historical facts seem to be wholly lost sight of by those who talk of
+the conduct of Mohammedan rulers in India, who, as I could prove by many
+instances, were constantly solicitous of the happiness of their
+subjects. Shah-Jehan constructed a road from Delhi to Lahore, a distance
+of 500 miles, with guard-houses at intervals of every three miles, and
+at every ten or twelve miles a caravanserai, where all travellers were
+fed and lodged at the Emperor's expense. Besides this, canals were dug,
+and public edifices built, at the expense of millions, without taxing
+the people to pay for them as here; and these edifices still stand, and
+will endure for many years, as monuments of the munificence of the
+monarchs who erected them. During the seventy years of the English
+dominion in India, what has been done which would remind the people
+fifty years hence, if they should retire from the country, that such a
+nation had ever held sway there? The only memorials they would leave,
+would be the numerous empty bottles scattered over the whole empire, to
+indicate what has been done _in_, if not _for_ India! In some cases
+also, they have squandered millions without benefit either to the people
+or themselves. The money spent in three years on the insane war in
+Cabul, if expended on the construction of railroads or canals, or the
+extension of steam navigation on our great rivers, would have employed
+thousands of men for twenty years, returned an immense profit to
+government, and have gained them a good name among the people. But it is
+the misfortune of India, that notwithstanding the high qualities of
+energy and enterprise, united with superior education and intelligence,
+unquestionably possessed by its masters, they display so lamentable and
+apathetic an indifference to the amelioration of the country. Since I
+have had such opportunities of observing the proofs of English art and
+skill which I see every where and in every department, I cannot but the
+more deeply regret that these wonderful discoveries, and strange and
+unheard-of inventions, in every branch of science and art, are likely to
+remain unknown to the people of India. If I were to relate on my return
+all the wonders I have seen, no one would believe me: and to what could
+I appeal in evidence of the truth of what I say? Are there any
+establishments where these things can be shown to the people on any
+thing like an adequate scale? If such institutions had been established,
+the people would have some tangible proof of the real intellectual
+superiority of their English rulers: but in the lapse of seventy years,
+nothing has been done. Again, if seminaries had been founded on the
+principle of those built and endowed by the emperors, they might have
+produced men eminent in various faculties: but though it is true that
+schools were built by the Company some fifteen years since, in various
+parts of the empire, in which some thousands of children, both Hindoo
+and Moslem, have received education, they have never turned out a single
+man of superior attainments in any department of literature there
+taught:--and it is remarkable that not an instance exists, as far as I
+am aware, of a man thus educated in the Company's own schools having
+been selected for the high judicial offices of _Sadr-ameen_, and
+principal _Sadr-ameen_ (judges in the local courts;) but that these
+functionaries have invariably been chosen from those educated in the
+native method. Is not this strange, that Government should have
+established schools professing to give superior instruction to the
+people; and that not one so trained should have been found eligible to
+fill any of the judicial or fiscal offices of their own government? and
+how can it be accounted for, except by these institutions having been
+conducted on an erroneous principle? When I return to India, I must be
+like the free-masons, silent and reserved, unless when I meet one who
+has been, like myself, in England, and with whom I can converse on the
+wonders we have both witnessed in that marvellous country, and which, if
+I venture to narrate them in public, or even among my own immediate
+friends and relatives, would draw on me such disbelief, that I would
+certainly die from grief of heart."--Here leave we Kerim Khan; not
+without a hope, that in spite of the apprehensions expressed in the
+passage just quoted, of incurring the reproach to which "travellers'
+tales" are supposed to be sometimes obnoxious, he has not eventually
+persisted in withholding from his countrymen a narrative which, both
+from the opportunities of observation enjoyed by the writer, and the
+ability and good judgement with which he has availed himself of these
+advantages, is better calculated to dispel the incredulity which he
+anticipates, than the Travels of Mirza Abu-Taleb, (the text of which has
+been printed at Calcutta,) or indeed than any work with which we are
+acquainted. Trusting, then, that the Khan's patriotic aspirations for
+the welfare of his country may be realized by the speedy introduction of
+all those Feringhi appendages to high civilization, the want of which he
+so feelingly deplores, and that he may live a thousand years in the full
+fruition of all the advantages therefrom resulting, we now take leave
+of him.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] The palace constructed, in the early ages of the world, by
+the giant-king Sheddad, as a rival to the heavenly paradise, and
+supposed still to exist, though invisible to mortal eyes, in the
+recesses of the Desert--See LANE'S _Thousand and One Nights_, vol, ii.
+p. 342.
+
+[12] The Persian princes imagine these children to be collected
+from all parts of the United Kingdom, for the purpose of this
+procession!
+
+[13] The Khan never gives dates; but on investigation we find
+that this must have been on the 11th of June 1841; as among the list of
+visitors on that day occur the names of _Kurreen_ Khan, Mohabet Khan,
+and, singularly enough, the Parsee poet, Manackjee Cursetjee, who will
+be well remembered as a lion of the London drawing-rooms during that
+season.
+
+[14] The _polite_ dialect of Hindustani, which differs
+considerably from that in use among the lower orders. The phrase is
+derived from _Oorda_, the court, or camp, of the sovereign--whence our
+word _horde_.
+
+[15] "One hundred and fifty-three of the students," he adds,
+"were fixed upon for commissions, who were to be sent out to India;" but
+the Khan must have been strangely misinformed here, as the number
+actually selected was only thirty-one.
+
+[16] This must have been the Trafalgar of 120 guns, which was
+launched June 21, 1841; but the Khan is mistaken in supposing that the
+Queen personally performed the ceremony of _christening_ the ship, since
+that duty devolved on Lady Bridport, the niece of Nelson, who used on
+the occasion a bottle of wine which had been on board the Victory when
+Nelson fell.
+
+[17] This must be a slip of the pen for _Selim_, or perhaps for
+Soliman Ibn Selim, (Soliman the Magnificent.)
+
+[18] "At this epoch," adds the Khan in a note, "reigned the
+great Harun-al-Rashid, the khalif and supreme head of Islam; and
+Charles the Great was Emperor of the Franks."
+
+[19] The Mirza even went so far as to write during his stay in
+England a treatise, entitled "Vindication of the Liberties of the
+Asiatic Women," which was translated by Captain Richardson, and
+published first in the _Asiatic Annual Register_ for 1801, and again as
+an Appendix to the Mirza's Travels. It is a very curious pamphlet, and
+well worth perusal.
+
+[20] Great efforts have of late been made, among the more
+enlightened Hindus, to get rid of this prejudice. Baboo Motee Loll Seal,
+a wealthy native of Calcutta, offered 20,000 rupees, a year or two
+since, to the first Hindu who would marry a widow, and we believe the
+prize has been since claimed:--and in the _Asiatic Journal_ (vol.
+xxxviii. p. 370,) we find the announcement of the establishment, in
+1842, of a "Hindu widow re-marrying club" at Calcutta!
+
+
+
+
+NOTES ON A TOUR OF THE DISTURBED DISTRICTS IN WALES.
+
+BY JOSEPH DOWNES.
+
+Author of "The Mountain Decameron."
+
+
+Llangaddock, Carmarthenshire,
+September 9.
+
+"And this is the '_disturbed district!_'--this is the seat of war!--the
+'_Agrarian civil war!_'--the headquarters of the '_Rebecca rebels!_" I
+soliloquized, about the hour of one A.M. on the night of September 9,
+1843--a night of more than summer beauty, sultry and light as day--while
+thrusting my head from the window of "mine inn" the Castle, in this
+pretty picturesque little village-town, to coin a term. The shadows of
+the rustic houses, and interspersed corn-stacks, trees, and orchards,
+stretched across the irregular street, without a causeway, in unbroken
+quiet; not a sound was heard but the voice of an owl from a "fold" in
+the very heart of "the town," and the low murmur of the river chafing
+against the buttresses of an antique bridge at the end of the said
+"street;" while an humble bow window of a shop, where at nightfall I had
+observed some dozens of watches (_silver_, too!) displayed, without a
+token of "Rebecca" terrorism appearing, was seen jutting into the road,
+only hidden, not defended, by such a weak apology for a shutter, as
+would not have resisted a burglar of ten years' old.
+
+It was now Sunday morning, and the clean-swept neatness of the sleeping
+village, whose inhabitants we had seen busily engaged in this pleasing
+preparation for the day of rest, as we strolled there at twilight,
+confirmed the assurance of profound and fearless peace; for only in that
+happy condition of society could the mind be supposed disengaged enough
+to regard those minute decencies of rural English life. With a smile of
+well-pleased wonder at the exaggerations of the press, which were
+persuading the Londoners that the "dogs of war" were really "let slip"
+among these our green mountains and pastoral valleys, after enjoying
+this prospect of a village by moonlight at the foot of the majestic
+_Mynydd Du_, (black mountain,) whose range is seen by day, towering at a
+few miles' distance, and hugging myself in the security of life and
+purse, which warriors (if they would cross-question their own great
+hearts) do really prize as much as I do, I returned to bed, (the heat of
+which had first driven me forth to this air-bath of half an hour.) "And
+_this_ is the seat of insurrection!" I reiterated sarcastically against
+all English and all Welsh purveyors of "news" for terror-loving readers.
+
+I have a huge deal of patriotism in my composition--also, a great love
+of rural quiet, joined to some _trifling_ degree of cowardice, as my
+family pretend; but that I impute to my over-familiarity with them. "No
+man is great to his valet," has been remarked. The domestics of
+Alexander wondered what the world found to wonder at, in the little man
+their master. However this may be, I confess it was very pleasant to me
+to find peace unbroken in these my old haunts. Here I had many a summer
+night enacted, as recorded in my "Mountain Decameron," the
+amateur-gipsy, "a long while ago," _bivouacking_ in their wildest
+solitudes, between some wood and water, on moonlight greensward, or
+reading at our tents' mouth by a lamp, while two boys, my sons, slept
+soundly within; and in the blindness of human nature, thus sneering
+against the "gentlemen of the press," sneered myself to sleep, "shut up
+in measureless content."
+
+"Most lame and impotent conclusion!" The peace of nature in that sweet
+night was weak assurance of any kindred feeling in the bosom of man. It
+so happened (as I afterwards learned) that felony--_bloody_ felony--was
+at that very time busy, at no great distance; that murder, that arson in
+its direst character, were stamping their first damnable characters on a
+province noted, through ages, for innocence and simple piety; that the
+first victim to rebellion was, at that moment, bleeding to death under
+the hands of those wearing the shapes of men; that victim innocent,
+helpless, and--a woman!!
+
+But of this in the course of my narrative. Sunday, September 10.
+
+As I proceeded from Llangaddock this afternoon, in company with my son,
+we found no slackness in the attendance on the chapels, which keep
+rising in all directions in the principality. The groups issuing from
+them, survey us with surly eyes, as _Sabbath-breakers_, for travelling
+on the "Lord's day." It is curious to reflect that these very persons
+who have just been listening to the preachers of a gospel of peace, with
+white upturning eyes and inward groans, who present countenances deeply
+marked, as it seems to us, with the spirit of severe sanctity, betrayed
+by their sour looks at us, and not rarely vested in two or three
+expressions _at_ us among themselves--I say, how curious a fact in the
+_pathology_ of minds does it present, that these very men will (some of
+them) reappear in a few hours, or days, in the characters of _felons_,
+midnight rebels to law and order, redressing minor wrongs committed by a
+few against themselves, by a tenfold fouler wrong against all men,
+against society itself. For a _system_ which consists in defying the
+laws, is a systematic waging of war against the very element that binds
+men in society--it is a casting off of civilization, a return to
+miserable dependence on animal strength alone, on brutish cunning, or
+midnight hiding in the dark, for all we enjoy. It seems well known that
+the farmers themselves are the Rebeccaites, aided by their servants, and
+that _the_ Rebecca is no other than some forward booby, or worse
+character, who ambitiously claims to _act_ the leader, under the unmanly
+disguise of a female, yielding his post in turn to other such petticoat
+heros. The "Rebecca" seems no more than a living figure to give _effect_
+to the drama, as boys dress up an effigy and parade it as _the_ Guy
+Fawkes.
+
+It is curious to witness the chop-fallen aspect of the poor
+toll-collectors. The "looking for" of a dark hour is depicted on the
+_female_ faces, at least, and a certain constrained civility mixed with
+sullenness, marks the manners of the male portion near large towns; for
+elsewhere, humble civility has _always_ met the traveller in this class
+of Welsh cottagers. The frequent appearance of dragoons, the clatter of
+their dangling accoutrements of war, and grotesque ferocity of hairy
+headgear, and mock-heroic air of superiority to the more quietly
+grotesque groups of grey-coated men, and muffled up Welsh women gives a
+new feature to our tour in this hitherto tranquil region, where a
+soldier used to be a monster that men, women, children, all alike, would
+run to the cottage door to look at. A very different sort of look than
+that of childish curiosity now greets these gallant warriors, at least
+from the farmers. "'Becca" is the beloved of their secret hearts--'Becca
+has already given them roads without paying for them! 'Becca is longed
+for by every _honest_ farmer of them all, whenever he pays a toll-gate.
+And these fellows are come sword in hand, to hunt down poor innocent
+'Becca! Well may the Welshman's eyes lower on them, whatever may be the
+looks of the Welsh women.
+
+We have now rode through several toll-gates, the ruins of the
+toll-houses only remaining, and rode scatheless! No toll asked--no
+darting forth of a grim figure from his little castle, at the shake of
+the road by tramp of horses--like the spider showing himself at his
+hole, on the trembling of his web to the struggle of a luckless fly.
+Nothing appeared but a shell of a house, with blackened remains of
+rafters, or a great heap of stones, not even a wall left--and huge
+stumps of gate-posts, and not a hand extended, or voice raised to demand
+payment for our use of a road!--that payment which the laws of the land
+had formally pronounced due! Had new laws been passed? Had a new mode
+arisen of discharging the debt we had incurred by the purchase of the
+use of so much road for two horses? Nothing of the kind! A mob at
+midnight had thrown down the barrier law had built; and law dared not,
+or neglected to--erect it again! "Rebecca," like Jack Cade, had
+pronounced _her_ law--"sic volo, sic jubeo"--and we rode through, by
+virtue of her most graceless Majesty's absolute edict--cost free. It was
+really a very singular feeling we experienced on the first of these
+occasions. I assure thee, my reader; believe me, my pensive public! I
+never was transported--never held up hand at the Old Bailey, or
+elsewhere; am not conscious of any sinister sort of projections about
+my skull that phrenologists might draw ugly conclusions on; yet I
+confess, that after an eloquent burst of Conservative wrath against this
+strange triumph of anarchy--after looking down on these works of mob
+law, unreversed, tamely endured--after fancying I saw the prostrate
+genius of social order there lying helpless--the dethroned majesty of
+British law there grovelling among the black ruins, insulted,
+unrestored--left to be trampled over with insolent laughter, by
+refractory boors, ignorant as savages of that law's inestimable
+blessing--I say, after all these hurried thoughts and feelings--let me
+whisper thee, my reader, that a certain scandalous pleasure _did_ creep
+up from these finger-ends, instinctively groping the pocket for the
+pre-doomed "thrippence," yea, quite up to this lofty, reasoning, and
+right loyal sensorium, on leaving the said sum in good and lawful money,
+snug and safe in my own pocket, instead of handing it over to a toll
+collector. Let us not expect too much from poor human nature! I defy any
+man--Aristides Redivivus himself, to ride _toll free_ through, or rather
+over, a turnpike defunct in this manner, and not feel a pernicious
+pleasure at his heart, a sort of slyly triumphing satisfaction, spite of
+himself, as of a dog that gets his adversary undermost; in
+short--without becoming for the moment, under the Circean chink of the
+saved "coppers," a rank Rebeccaite! The Lord and the law forgive me, for
+I surely loved 'Becca at _heart_ at that moment!
+
+My son being a young man about returning to college, it was highly
+important to conceal this backsliding within; so I launched out the more
+upon the monster character of this victory of brawny ignorance and
+stupid rebellion over the spirit of laws--but it wouldn't do. "But you
+don't _look_ altogether so angry about it as you speak, father," said
+he, though what he could see to betray any inward chuckling, I am not
+aware. If the casual saving of a toll could thus operate upon ME, who
+should, perhaps, never pass there again, can it be wondered at that
+farmers, to whom this triumph must prove a great annual gain, are
+Rebeccaites _to the backbone_, and to a man? I fear they must be more
+than man, not to cry secretly to this levelling lady "God speed!" And
+this leads me to more serious reflection on the incomprehensible and
+fatal conduct of the local authorities _in the first instance_, in not
+_instantly_ re-erecting the toll-gates, or fixing chains _pro tempore_,
+protecting at whatever expense some persons to demand compliance with
+the laws, that not for a week, a day, an hour, the disgraceful and
+dangerous spectacle should be exhibited, of authority completely
+down-trodden, law successfully defied. Surely the first step in
+vindication of the dignity of legal supremacy could not be difficult. By
+day, at least, surely a constabulary force might have compelled
+obedience. A few military at _first_, stationed near the gates, would
+have awed rustic rebels. It is the _impunity_ which this unheard-of
+palsy of the governing strong hand so long ensured to them, which has
+fostered riot into rebellion, and rebellion into incendiarism and
+murder. Is it possible for a thinking man to see these poor and (truth
+to tell) most money-loving people, saving two or three shillings every
+time they drive their team to market or lime, by the prostration of a
+gate, and be at a loss to discover the secret of this midnight work
+spreading like wildfire? Why, every transit which a farmer makes cost
+free, is a spur to his avarice, a tribute of submission to his lawless
+will, a temptation to his ignorant impatience of _all_ payments to try
+his hand against all. The quiet acquiescence in refusal to pay--the
+vanishing of toll-house and toll-takers without one magisterial
+edict--the mere submission to the mob, seems to cry "_peccavi_" too
+manifestly, and affords fresh colour to indiscriminate condemnation of
+all. A _bonus_ in the shape of a toll for horse or team remitted, is
+thus actually presented, many times a-day, to the rioter, the rebel, the
+midnight incendiary of toll-houses, for this good work, by the supine,
+besotted, or fear-palsied local authorities. Shall a man look on while a
+burglar enters his house, ransacks his till, let him depart, and then,
+in despair, leave the door he broke open, open still all night for his
+entrance, and then wonder that burglary is vastly on the increase? The
+wonder, I think, is that one gate remains; and that wonder will not
+exist long, if government do not do something more than send down _a_
+gentleman to ask the Welsh what they please to want? The temptation
+forced upon the eyes and minds of a poverty-stricken and greedy people,
+by this shocking spectacle of the mastery of anarchy over order, in the
+annihilation of an impost by armed mountain peasants, is in itself a
+great cruelty; for in all Agrarian risings the state has triumphed at
+last, inasmuch as wealth and its resources are an over-match for
+poverty, however furious or savage; hence blood will flow under the
+sword of justice ultimately, which early vigilance on her part might
+have wholly spared. "Knock down that toll-house--fire its
+contents--murder its tenant," seems the voice of such sleepy justice to
+pronounce, "and neither I, nor my myrmidons will even _ask_ you again
+for toll! Do this, and you shall not pay!!"
+
+Such was the tacit invitation kindly presented by the _first_ torn down
+toll-gate that remained in ruins, to every Welsh farmer. The farmer has
+accepted it, and "justice"--justice keeps her promise religiously, for
+no toll is demanded. If the law had been violated by trustees, we have a
+body called parliament strong enough to reform, ay, and punish them, as
+they, some of them perhaps, richly deserve; but was that a reason for
+the laws to be annulled, and lawlessness made the order of the day, in
+so important a matter as public roads, by the very men who are to profit
+by it, self-erected into judges in their own cause?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Llandilo Vaur. Evening, Sept. 10.
+Sunday.
+
+A scene to turn even a "commercial traveller" (_vulgo_ a bagman) into a
+"sentimental" one, if any thing could! Clouds that had overcast our ride
+of the last few miles, kindly "flew diverse" as we reached the bridge
+over the Towey, that flows at the foot of the declivity on which this
+romantic town stands. The sun broke forth, and all at once showed, and
+burnished while it showed, one of the noblest landscapes in South
+Wales--not the less attractive for being that which kindled the muse of
+Dyer--on which the saintly eye of a far greater poet had often
+reposed--the immortal _prose-poet_ bishop, Jeremy Taylor, a refugee here
+during the storm of the Civil Wars. Golden Grove, his beautiful retreat,
+with its venerable trees, was in our sight, the green mountain meadows
+between literally verifying its name by the brilliance of their sunshiny
+rich grass, where "God had showered the landscape;" to a fantastic
+fancy, giving the idea of the quivering of the richest leaf gold on a
+ground of emerald. The humbler Welsh Parnassus of the painter poet,
+Grongar Hill, towered also in distance. We traced the pastoral yet noble
+river, winding away in long meanders, up-flashing silver, through a
+broad mountain valley, dotted with white farms, rich in various foliage,
+marked as a map by lines, with well-marked hedge-rows; harvest fields
+full of sheaves, yellowing all the lofty slopes that presented these
+beautiful farms and folds full to the descending sun; those slopes,
+surmounted by grand masses of darkness, solemnly contrasted with the gay
+luxuriance all below; that darkness only the shade of woods, nodding
+like the black plume over the golden armour of some giant hero of fable,
+"magna componere parvis."
+
+Nearer, rose directly from the river a noble park, with all the charm of
+the wild picturesque, from its antique look, its romantic undulations
+and steepness, its woody mount and ivied ruin of a castle, "bosomed high
+in tufted trees," half-hidden, yet visible and reflected in the
+now-placid mirror of a reach of the river.
+
+Being Sunday, a moral charm was added to those of this exquisite natural
+panorama, from which the curtain of storm-cloud seemed just then drawn
+up, as if to strike us the more with its flashing glory of sunshine,
+water, and a whole sky become cerulean in a few minutes. No Sabbath
+bells chimed, indeed; but the hushed town, and vacant groups come abroad
+to enjoy the return of that Italian weather we had long luxuriated in,
+impressed, equally with any music, the idea of Sabbath on the mind. It
+was hard to believe, revolting to be forced to believe, that this fine
+scene of perfect beauty and deep repose, as presented to the eye,
+directed to nature only--to the mind's eye rolling up to nature's
+God--was also the (newly transfigured) theatre of man's worst and
+darkest passions; that the _army_--that odious, hideous, necessary curse
+of civilization, the severe and hateful guardian of liberty and peace,
+(though uncongenial to both)--was at that moment evoked by all the
+lovers of both for their salvation; was even then violating the ideal
+harmony of the hour, by its foul yet saving presence; was parading those
+green suburbs, and the sweet fields under those mountain walls, with
+those clangours so discordant to the holy influences of the hour and
+scene--emerging in their gay, shocking costume, (the colour of blood,
+and devised for its concealment,) from angles of rocks, and mouths of
+bowered avenues, where the mild fugitive from civil war, and faithful
+devotee of his throneless king, had often wandered, meditating on "Holy
+Dying"--of "Holy Living" himself a beautiful example--where even still,
+nothing gave outward and visible sign of incendiarism and murder lurking
+among those hermitages of rustic life; yet were both in active, secret
+operation!
+
+In that very park of _Dynevor_, whose beauty we were admiring from the
+bridge, a little walk would have led us to--a _grave!_--no consecrated
+one, but one dug ready to receive a corpse; _dug, in savage threatening
+of slaughter, for the reception of one yet living_--the son of the noble
+owner of that ancient domain--dug in sight of his father's house, in his
+own park, by wretches who have warned him to prepare to fill that grave
+in October! The gentleman so threatened, being void of all offence save
+that of being a magistrate--a sworn preserver of the public peace!
+
+Equally abhorrent to rational piety, if less shocking, is that air of
+sourest sanctity which the groups now passing us bring with them out
+from the meeting-houses.
+
+Ask a question, and a nasal noise between groan and snort seems to
+signify that they ask to be asked again, a sort of _ha--a--h?_ "long
+drawn out." The human face and the face of nature, at that hour, were as
+an east of thunder fronting a west of golden blue summer serenity. The
+Mawworms of Calvinistic Methodism have made a sort of monkery of all
+Wales, as regards externals at least. To think a twilight or noonday
+walk for pleasure a sin, involves the absurdest principle of ascetic
+folly, as truly as self-flagellation, or wearing horsehair shirts. Not
+that these ministers set their flocks any example of self-mortification.
+The greater number of preachers show excellent "condition," the poorest
+farmers' wives vying with each other in purveying "creature comforts"
+for these spiritual comforters. Preparing hot dinners, it seems, is not
+working on the Lord's Day when it is for the preacher; though to save a
+field of corn, which is in danger of being spoiled if left out, as in
+some seasons, would be a shocking desecration of that day. Yet, to
+observe the abstracted unearthly carriage of these men, who seem
+"conversing with the skies" while walking the streets, one wonders at
+the contrast of such burly bodies and refined spirits.
+
+To return to the flock from these burly shepherds of souls--this
+outbreak of a devilish spirit--this crusade against law and order, tolls
+and tithes, life and property, is a damning evidence against these
+spiritual pastors and masters, for such they are to the great body of
+the Welsh common people, in the fullest sense. The _Times_ newspaper has
+ruffled the whole "Volscian" camp of Dissent, it appears, by thundering
+forth against them a charge of inciting their congregations to midnight
+crime. "John Joneses, and David Reeses, and Ap Shenkinses, have sprung
+up like the men from the dragon's teeth, to repel this charge. It is
+probable that it was not well founded, for the simple reason, that such
+daring subornation of crime would have brought _themselves_ into
+trouble. But what sort of defence is this, even if substantiated? You
+did not _excite_ your followers to rebellion and arson! _You_, with your
+unlimited command of their minds, and almost bodies, why did you not
+allay, resist, put down the excitement, by whomever raised? That is the
+gravamen of the charge against you! You who make then weep, make then
+tremble, puff them with spiritual conceit, or depress them with terrors
+of damnation just as you please, how comes it that you are powerless all
+at once in deterring them from wild and bad actions--you, who are
+all-powerful in inciting them to any thing, since to refrain from
+violence is easier than to commit it?
+
+The increase of these outrages proves, that not the power, but will, is
+wanting on your part, to put down this spirit of revenge and revolt. You
+perceive the current of their ignorant minds setting strongly in toward
+rapine and rebellion, (the _feeler_ put forth being the toll grievance,)
+and you basely, wickedly, pander to their passions, by a discreet
+silence in your rostra, an unchristian apathy; while deeds are being
+done under your very eyes--in your daily path--which no good man can
+view without horror; no bold good man in the position which you hold, of
+public instructors in human duties, could see, without denouncing! And
+as your boldness, at least, is pretty apparent, whatever your goodness
+may be, other motives than fear must be sought for this unaccountable
+suspension of your influence--and I find it in _self-interest_--love of
+"filthy lucre." You are "supported by voluntary contribution," and to
+thwart the passions of your followers, and stem the tide of lawless
+violence, though your most sacred spiritual duty, is not the way to
+conciliate--is not compatible with that "voluntary principle" on which
+your bread depends, and which too often places your duty and your
+interest in direct opposition."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Llanon, Carmarthenshire.
+
+The good woman of our inn in this village has just been apologizing for
+the almost empty state of her house, the furniture being chiefly sent
+away to Pembree, whither she and her family hoped to follow in a few
+days. The cause of her removal was _fear of the house being set fire
+to_, it being the property of Mr Chambers, a magistrate of Llanelly, and
+the "Rebecca's company" had warned all his tenants to be prepared for
+their fiery vengeance. His heinous offence was heading the police in
+discharge of his duty, in a conflict that has just occurred at
+Pontardulais gate, near this place, in which some of the 'Beccaites were
+wounded. [Since this, farm-houses and other property of this gentleman
+have been consumed, his life has been threatened, and his family have
+prevailed on him to abandon his home and native place.] The wounded men,
+now prisoners, were of this village, the _focus_ of this rebellion that
+dares not face the day. It is here that the murderous midnight attack
+was made on the house of a Mr Edwards, when the wretches fired volleys
+at the windows, where his wife and daughter appeared _at their command_.
+They escaped, miraculously it might be said, notwithstanding. The poor
+old hostess complained, as well she might, of the hardship of being thus
+put in peril, purely in hostility to her landlord. We slept, however,
+soundly, and found ourselves alive in the morning; whether through
+evangelical Rebecca's scruples about burning us out (or _in_) on a
+"Lord's Day" night, or her being engaged elsewhere, we knew not.
+
+And here also we rode through a crowd, murmuring hymns, pouring from the
+chapel, where, no doubt, they had heard some edifying discourse about
+the "sweet Jesus," and "sweet experiences," and "new birth," the
+omnipotence of faith to salvation, and all and every topic but a _man's_
+just indignation, and a religious man's most solemn denunciation against
+the bloody and felonious outrages just committed by those very
+villagers--against the night-masked assassins, who had just before
+wantonly pointed deadly weapons against unoffending women--against the
+chamber of a sick man, a husband, and a father!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Llanelly, Sept. 11, Monday.
+
+The headquarters of vindictive rebellion, arson, and spiritual oratory!
+An ugly populous town near the sea, now in a ferment of mixed fear and
+fury, from recent savage acts of the Rebeccaites against a most
+respectable magistrate, resident in the town, Mr W. Chambers, jun., the
+denounced landlord of our old Welsh hostess at Llanon. Two of his
+farm-houses have been burned to the ground, and his life has been
+threatened. His grievous offence I stated before. Soldiers are seen
+every where; and verily, the mixture of brute-ignorance and
+brute-ferocity, depicted in the faces of the great mass of "operatives"
+that we meet, seem to hint that their presence is not prematurely
+invoked. Their begrimed features and figures, caused by their various
+employments, give greater effect to the wild character of the coatless
+groups, who, in their blue check shirt-sleeves, congregate at every
+corner to _cabal_, rather than to _dispute_, it seems; for, fond as they
+are of dissent, (though not one in fifty could tell you _from_ what
+they dissent, or _to_ what they cleave in doctrine,) there seems no
+leaning to dissent from the glorious new Rebecca law of might (or
+midnight surprisals) against right.
+
+In this neighbourhood, our Welsh annals will have to record--_the first
+dwelling-house_, not being a toll-house, _was laid in ashes; the first
+blood was shed_ by "Rebecca's company," as they call the rioters here.
+And _here_ resides, rants, prays, and preaches, and scribbles sedition,
+an illiterate fanatic, who is recognised as an organ of one sect of
+Methodists, Whitfieldites publishing a monthly inflammatory Magazine,
+called Y Diwygiwr, (the "_Reformer!_")--God bless the mark!
+
+This little pope, within his little circle of the "great unwashed," is
+very oracular, and his infallibility a dogma with his followers and
+readers. How much he himself and his vulgar trash of prose run mad,
+stand in need of that wholesome reform which some of his English
+brother-firebrands have been taught in Coldbathfields and Newgate, let
+my reader judge from the following extract. The _Times_ newspaper did
+good service in _gibbeting_ this precious morceau, supplied by its
+indefatigable reporter, in its broad sheet. How great was the neglect of
+_Welsh_ society, and every thing Welsh, when this sort of war-cry of
+treason could be raised, this trump of rebellion sounded, and, as it
+were, from the pulpit "Evangelical," with perfect impunity to the
+demagogue, thus prostituting religion itself to the cause of anarchical
+crime!--
+
+"We cannot regard these tumults, with their like in other parts, but as
+the effects of Tory oppression. Our wish is to see _Rebecca and her
+children arrayed by thousands, for the suppression of Toryism_. These
+are the only means to remove the burden from the back of the country....
+Resolve to see the sword of reason plunged in oppression's heart." He
+goes on to say, "_there must be a hard-blowing storm_ before the high
+places in State and Church can be levelled," &c. &c. There is the usual
+twaddle about "_moral_ force," forsooth, under which saving periphrasis,
+now-a-days, every rebel ranter in field, or tub, or conventicle,
+insinuates lawless violence without naming it. Jack Cade would have made
+it the rallying cry of his raggamuffins, so would Wat Tyler, had it been
+hit upon in his day. The _array_ of _thousands_ is intelligible "to the
+meanest capacity." The dullest Welsh "copper-man," or collier, or wild
+farm cultivator, could not miss the meaning. But as to this magical
+weapon, "moral force," which they are to handle when so arrayed--the
+brightest capacity must be at a loss to know what it means. How absurd
+(if he pretends such a thing) to expect that enlightened statesmen will
+stand reformed, restrained, stricken through, with a new light in
+politics by the exhibition of these smutty patriots' _minds_ alone!--by
+the force of conviction, wrought by ascertaining _their_ convictions,
+(the _illuminati_ of Llanelly coal-works, of Swansea copper-works, of
+Carmarthen farm-yards,) will instantly _tack_--put the vessel of State
+right about, and bring her triumphant into the placid haven of
+Radicalism! And why _physical_ "array" to wield such shadowy arms as
+"_moral_" force? This favourite stalking-horse of incendiary politics is
+but the secret hiding-place of retreat from the "force of government."
+The peace, the forbearance it breathes, is like the brief silence
+maintained--the holding of the breath--by those snugly ensconced within
+that other horse of famous memory, the _Trojan_, which served admirably
+to lay vigilance asleep, and evade the defensive _force_ of the
+garrison, till the hour came to leap from its protection, and fire the
+citadel. This "moral force" covert of revolt, is every whit as hollow,
+as treacherous, as fatal, if trusted to. Inflame, enrage, and then
+gather together "thousands" of the most ignorant of mankind, pointing to
+a body, or a class, or a government, as the sole cause of whatever they
+suffer or dislike, and then--_tell_ them to be moral! peaceable! not to
+use those tens of thousands of brawny arms, inured to the sledge-hammer;
+oh, no! tell them that _force_ means to stand still--or disperse--or
+gabble--any thing but to--_fight!_ And such vile "juggling with us in a
+double sense" as this, is evangelical morality!
+
+In justice to the Liberal party, I shall add that it does not sanction
+the ravings of this hypocrite, but laughs at his illiterate pretensions
+to the character of a public writer. As evidence of this, the editor of
+the _Welshman_, a Liberal journal, published at Carmarthen, has ably
+castigated this sedition-monger, who has exposed his own ignorance in
+venting his wrath at the infliction.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pontardulais. Monday Evening.
+
+It was pleasant to emerge from that dingy seat of fanaticism and fury,
+pseudo religion and moral violation of religion's broad principles. Its
+aspect almost recalled the description of one of Rome's imperial
+monsters, equally in physionomy and nature--"a mixture of dirt and
+blood." The day was superb, and the adjacent country, though rather tame
+_for Wales_, improved in rural beauty as we approached a crossway very
+near to this village, Pontardulais. Two cottages appeared in a green,
+quiet, dingle we were descending to, watered by a small river, and
+surrounded by sloping meadows, now yellowed by the evening sun, and well
+inhabited by their proper population, sheep and cows, now beginning
+their homeward course at the call of the milkmaid; the only other motion
+in this simply beautiful landscape, being a scattered gleaner or two,
+with her load, and the rather thick volume of blue smoke curling up from
+one of those cots, which, standing so close, without any other near,
+prompted the idea of some rustic old couple in conjugal quietude,
+smiling out life's evening, by themselves, apart from all the world.
+Such was the perfect calm of scene, and the day in which summer heat was
+joined to the golden serenity of autumn.
+
+We were beginning to dismiss ugly Rebeccaism from our thoughts,
+meditating where we should find one of those Isaac Waltonian hostelries,
+with a sign swinging from an old tree, which we delight to make our
+evening quarters; for Pontardulais, we knew, was too lately a little
+battle-field to afford hope of this tranquil bliss, for here had
+occurred the first conflict, in which men had been wounded and prisoners
+made. The advance of evening, with its halcyon attributes of all kinds,
+had the effect of a lullaby on the mind, disturbed at every stage by
+some hurrying dragoon, some eager gossiping group, or fresh "news" of
+some farm "burned last night," or rumours of "martial law" being
+actually impending over us poor rebels of South Wales.
+
+Reaching the little houses in their lonely crossway, we were startled by
+the appearance of a gutted house; the walls alone having remained to
+present to us, on the higher ground, the semblance of a white cottage.
+The old thatch, fallen in, and timber, were still smouldering visibly,
+though the house was fired about one A.M. yesterday morning.
+
+Before the near adjoining cottage a quiet crowd of some twenty persons
+appeared, and a few rustic articles of furniture on the roadside. Where
+was their owner? Dismounting, we entered this cottage, that had looked
+all peaceful security so lately to our eyes. It had not been injured,
+but was all dismantled and in confusion; and stretched on some low sort
+of bench or seat, lay the murdered owner of that smoking ruin--the Hendy
+toll-house. Her coffin had been already made, (the coffin-plate giving
+her age, 75,) and stood leaning against the wall, but the body was
+preserved just as it fell, for the inspection of the jury. (The jury! a
+British jury! Is there a British _man_, incapable of perjury, of
+parricide, of bloody and blackest felony, _himself_, who will ever
+forget, who will ever cease to spurn, spit upon in thought,
+execrate in words, that degraded, wretched, most wicked knot of
+murder-screeners--_the Hendy Gate jury?_)
+
+There was nothing in this dismal spectacle for a poet to find there food
+for fancy. All was naked, ugly horror. An old rug just veiled the
+corpse, which, being turned down, revealed the orifice, just by the
+nipple, of a shot or slug wound, and her linen was stiff and saturated
+with the blood which had flowed. Another wound on the temple had caused
+a torrent of blood, which remained glued over the whole cheek. The
+retracted lips of this poor suffering creature, gave a dreadful grin to
+the aged countenance, expressing the strong agony she must have endured,
+no doubt from the filling up of the breast with those three pints of
+blood found there by the surgeons. The details of this savage murder
+have been too fully given in all the papers to need repetition here.
+Suffice it to say, that to any one _viewing_ the body as we thus
+happened to do, the atrocity of this heartless treason against society
+and the injured dead becomes yet more striking; it seeming wonderful
+that the piteousness of the sight--the mute pleading of that mouth full
+of cloated blood--the arousing ocular evidence of the unprovoked
+assassin's cruelty--the helplessness of the aged woman--her
+innocence--all should not have kindled humanity in their hearts, (if all
+principle was dead in their dark minds,) just enough to dare to call a
+foul murder "murder"--to turn those twelve Rebecca-ridden, crouching
+slaves into _men_! Some of them, probably, had old helpless mothers at
+home; did no flying vision of her white hairs all blooded, and the
+breast, where they had lain and fed, full of blood also, cross the
+conscience of one of them, when, by their conspiracy, protection for
+life was to be denied to her, to all, by their unheard-of abuse of the
+only known British protective power--trial by jury? It is almost an
+apology for them to imagine, that one or more of them were actually part
+of the gang. Self-preservation, under _instant_ danger, (involved in a
+just verdict,) is less revolting than the less urgent degree of the same
+natural impulse, implied in the hypothesis of pure selfish and most
+dastardly dread of some remoter evil to self from the ill-will of those
+impugned by a righteous verdict.
+
+The verdict, it will be remembered, was, that Sarah Williams died from
+effusion of blood, _but from what cause is to this jury unknown!!!_ The
+designed _trick_--the sly juggle concocted by these men, sworn before
+Almighty God to tell truth respecting the cry of blood then rising to
+his throne, evidently was to leave a loop-hole for a doubt whereby
+justice might be defeated--a possibility, so they flattered themselves,
+that, just in the nick of time, a bloodvessel burst, or fright destroyed
+her, or any thing but the bloody hand of "Rebecca." Though, as the slugs
+were actually found _in_ the lungs, the hope they "dressed themselves
+in" was as "drunk," as swinishly stupid, as their design was unmanly,
+inhuman, and devilish--to wink at this horror! to huddle up this murder,
+and hurry into the earth a murdered woman, as if she had lived out her
+term!
+
+Whatever was the prompting feeling of this monster-jury, let us hope
+that the arm of the law will reach them yet, for this double crime
+against bleeding innocence and against their country. It would be a
+fitting punishment to them, to pronounce every individual an outlaw--to
+deny him all benefit of those laws he has done his best to defeat, and
+leave the craven traitor to his kind--to adopt his beloved "'Becca's"
+disguise for ever, skulk about the land that disowns him in petticoats,
+and blush out his life (if shame be left him;) and let his name be fixed
+up, as a scarecrow to deter such evil doers, on the wall of every court
+of justice:--"To the infamous memory of A. B., one of the perjured
+protectors of murder--The Hendy Gate Jury!"
+
+Most revolting was the _betrayed_ bias of almost all we spoke with,
+toward palliation of this dark act. "_Didn't she die in a fit; or of
+fright; or something?_" was a frequent question, even from those near
+the scene of this tragedy. "_What did ail the old creture to go near
+'em? Name of goodness! didn't they order her not?_" Even from her own
+sex, a disgusting lack of warm-hearted pity and indignation was most
+palpable. Truly, morality and the meeting-house have a deep gulf between
+them, if these are the morals of the people. The regular church is
+really so little prized here, that we can only turn to the _dissenting_
+ministers of religious instruction, for the lower orders. And seeing
+these doings and sentiments in the flocks, one turns with astonishment
+to those professing _teachers_ of the Welsh, and is ready to
+exclaim--"What is it that you _do_ teach?" Only the _mechanical_ part of
+religion, only the necessary outer _mummery_, I shall venture to say,
+which, perhaps, all revealed religions require, to maintain a hold on
+the reverence of the common people. It seems impossible that the voice
+of _true_ religion can have reached hearts that a slight pecuniary
+interest, the abatement of a turnpike toll, or the like, can sear
+against the death-shriek of murdered woman; the cry of blood out of the
+earth; the fear of God's judgement against perjury, and connivance at
+murder!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Sept. 12.
+
+Riding from Llanelly to this place, by a road skirting the coast, we,
+for the first time, heard the horn of Rebecca sounded, and replied to
+from among the darkling hills, the night being one of dusky moonlight.
+We at first believed it the signal of some persons in the collieries,
+but learned that "'Becca's company" had been out round Kidwelly that
+night, and an incendiary fire was the "good work" accomplished. It being
+near ten o'clock at night, and our road wild and solitary, we felt
+rather pleased to gain the covert of this usually most quiet little
+town, with its air of antiquity and dead repose, as agreeable to a
+sentimental traveller, as unwelcome to its few traders and dwellers.
+
+The innkeepers and shopkeepers, _being much injured in their trades by_
+the terrifying effect of Rebeccaism on strangers, who have kept aloof
+all the summer, lift up the voice (but cautiously) against this terrible
+lady. Hardly an expression of regret for the poor victim at Hendy Gate
+reaches our ears; but rather, they seem to visit on her the anticipated
+severity of future dealing with the rioters, which they foresee.
+
+We see already posted placards, offering L.500 for the discovery of the
+actual perpetrator of the murder of the poor toll-collector. It is
+headed "Murder," in the teeth of the audacious, solemn declaration by
+the jury, of their ignorance of the cause of death. _Query_, Was a
+coroner warranted in receiving such a verdict? Was he not
+empowered--required--to send the jury back to learn common sense?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Inn between Carmarthen and Llandilo.
+
+Just as we were sauntering in the rural road, admiring the placidity of
+the night, about ten o'clock, and the twilight landscape of the banks of
+the Towey, a sudden light opened up to us the whole night prospect,
+where the farther side of this broad vale rises finely covered with
+woods, round Middleton Hall, and soon learned the nature of this sudden
+illumination and pyramidal fire, being the conflagration of extensive
+property belonging to its owner, Mr Adams, close to the mansion.
+
+The terror of the female inhabitants may be imagined, there being, I
+believe, not any male inmates but servants at home, and the incendiaries
+doing their work at that early hour in the most daring manner, firing
+guns, blowing horns, &c. Mr Adams drove in just as the fire was at its
+height, (having, indeed, believed the house to be in flames while he
+approached,) and found the goods and moveables all brought out in fear
+of its catching fire; but it escaped--so did the Rebeccaites, of course.
+
+Not to extend too far these hasty Notes, I shall throw together the
+heads of a few made on the spot. Our "sentimental journey" occupied
+about three weeks, and brought us to almost every part infested by the
+disturbers. Having put up at an inn in the outskirts of a town in
+Cardiganshire for the night, leaving the horses, we walked to the town.
+As we returned, the night being rather dark, I was not conscious of any
+one being on the same road behind, and was talking to my son, rather
+earnestly, of the iniquitous verdict of the Hendy Gate assassin jury,
+when a voice behind asked in English, saucily, if _I_ was going to
+attend the future trial of the "Hugheses, and them of the Llanon
+village, then in Swansea jail?" The tone clearly indicated how alien to
+the Welshman's feelings were those I was expressing, though but those of
+common humanity. Giving the voice in the dark such short answer,
+refusing to satisfy him, as the question deserved, and with responsive
+bluffness, we left the man behind, who, it proved, was bound to our inn.
+We found our parlour filled with farmers, who instantly became _mum_ as
+we entered, but their eyes suspiciously surveyed us. It was near eleven
+o'clock, so we retired to our double-bedded chamber, which happened to
+be situated over the parlour. The inn (whose owners were _ultra_
+"Welshly," speaking English very badly,) was well situated for holding a
+midnight council of (Rebecca) war, being lonely, at the confluence of
+two roads, and this proved to be the nature of this late assemblage. We
+were just in bed, (having _secured the door as well as we could_,) when
+we heard through the imperfect flooring a very animated _melee_ of Welsh
+tongues all astir at once, and I fancied I recognized the voice of the
+pious Christian in the dark, who had been moved by the spirit (of
+religion of course) to hint or betray his dissent from the Saxon
+"stranger's" rebuke of perjury and murder-screening. A few minutes
+after, several hurried out, and three or four discharges of guns
+followed in front of the house, but nothing more. I was pleased to
+think that the said house and windows were "mine host's," and not mine,
+otherwise a little hail of shot might have followed the "short thunder;"
+but as it was, nothing more than this warning bravado (as I imagine it
+to have been) occurred.
+
+A great deal of _solo_ spouting, by orators in orderly succession, went
+on till near two in the morning--_Sunday_. At least, falling asleep, I
+left this little patriot parliament sitting, and found it in full tongue
+on awaking at that hour. I suppose this sitting in judgment on
+toll-houses (and possibly _other_ houses) of these anti-landlord
+committees, are _not_ breaches of the observance of the Sabbath.
+
+On the whole, we may remark, that neither Poor-Law, nor Tory, nor Whig,
+nor right rule, nor misrule, nor politics, nor party, had the slightest
+influence in this astounding moral revolution among an agricultural
+people. Utterly false is almost all that the London Press broached and
+broaches, implicating ministers in the provocation of this outbreak.
+Twenty years of residence, and leisure for observation among them,
+allows me to positively deny that any feeling of discontent, any sense
+of oppression, any knowledge of "Grievances," now so pompously heading
+columns of twaddle--ever existed before the _one_ daily, weekly spur in
+their side, goaded this simple people to a foolish mode of resistance to
+it.
+
+Why, not one in ten of the farmers has yet heard of Sir Robert Peel's
+accession to office! and I doubt if one in twenty knows whether they
+live under a Whig or Tory administration. Nor does one in a hundred
+_care_ which, or form one guess about their comparative merits.
+
+The only idea they have of Chartists, is a vague identification of them
+with "_rebels_," as they _used_ to call _all_ sorts of rioters, not
+dreaming of their forming any party with definite views, unless that of
+seizing the good things of the earth, and postponing, _sine die_, the
+day of payment.
+
+Judge what chance the brawling apostles of Chartism would have here
+among them, especially under the difficulty of haranguing them through
+interpreters!
+
+The Poor-Law they certainly hate, but from no pity for paupers. The
+dislike arises from a wide spread belief, that the host of "officers"
+attached to it swallows up great part of what they pay for the poor.
+They grudged the poor-rate before, even when their own overseer paid it
+away to poor old lame Davy or blind Gwinny; but now that it reaches them
+by a more circuitous route, and in the altered form of loaves or
+workhouse support, they seem to lose sight of it, and fancy that it
+stops _by the way_, in the pockets of these "strange" new middlemen, as
+we may call them, thrust in between the farmers and their poor and
+worn-out labourers.
+
+The prevalence of the Welsh language perpetuates the ignorance which is
+at the root of the mischief. Of their _native_ writers, I have given a
+specimen from the monthly magazine published at Llanelly, and the evil
+of these is uncorrected by English information.
+
+The work of mounting heavenward was, we are told, defeated by a
+confusion of tongues--the advance of civilization (which we may
+designate a progress toward a divine goal, that of soul-exalting and
+soul-saving wisdom) is as utterly prevented by this non-intercourse
+system between the civilized and the _half_ civilized; which, with all
+deference to the ancient Britons, I must venture to consider them.
+Camden, the antiquary, has preserved a tradition, that "certain
+Brittaines" (Britons) going over into Armorica, and taking wives from
+among the people of Normandy, "_did cut out their tongues_," through
+fear that, when they should become mothers, they might corrupt the Welsh
+tongue of the children, by teaching them that foreign language! The love
+of their own tongue thus appears to be of very old standing, if we are
+to believe this agreeable proof of it. I believe the extirpation of
+Welsh, as a spoken language, would pioneer the way to knowledge,
+civilization, and _religion_ here, of which last blessing there is a
+grievous lack, judging from the morals of the people.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.
+
+NO. II.
+
+A TRIAL BY JURY.
+
+
+When I recovered from my state of insensibility, and once more opened my
+eyes, I was lying on the bank of a small but deep river. My horse was
+grazing quietly a few yards off, and beside me stood a man with folded
+arms, holding a wicker-covered flask in his hand. This was all I was
+able to observe; for my state of weakness prevented me from getting up
+and looking around me.
+
+"Where am I?" I gasped.
+
+"Where are you, stranger? By the Jacinto; and that you are _by_ it, and
+not _in_ it, is no fault of your'n, I reckon."
+
+There was something harsh and repulsive in the tone and manner in which
+these words were spoken, and in the grating scornful laugh that
+accompanied them, that jarred upon my nerves, and inspired me with a
+feeling of aversion towards the speaker. I knew that he was my
+deliverer; that he had saved my life, when my mustang, raging with
+thirst, had sprung head-foremost into the water; that, without him, I
+must inevitably have been drowned, even had the river been less deep
+than it was; and that it was by his care, and the whisky he had made me
+swallow, and of which I still felt the flavour on my tongue, that I had
+been recovered from the death-like swoon into which I had fallen. But
+had he done ten times as much for me, I could not have repressed the
+feeling of repugnance, the inexplicable dislike, with which the mere
+tones of his voice filled me. I turned my head away in order not to see
+him. There was a silence of some moments' duration.
+
+"Don't seem as if my company was over and above agreeable," said the man
+at last.
+
+"Your company not agreeable? This is the fourth day since I saw the face
+of a human being. During that time not a bit nor a drop has passed my
+tongue."
+
+"Hallo! That's a lie," shouted the man with another strange wild laugh.
+"You've taken a mouthful out of my flask; not _taken_ it, certainly, but
+it went over your tongue all the same. Where do you come from? The beast
+ain't your'n."
+
+"Mr Neal's," answered I.
+
+"See it is by the brand. But what brings you here from Mr Neal's? It's a
+good seventy mile to his plantation, right across the prairie. Ain't
+stole the horse, have you?"
+
+"Lost my way--four days--eaten nothing."
+
+These words were all I could articulate. I was too weak to talk.
+
+"Four days without eatin'," cried the man, with a laugh like the
+sharpening of a saw, "and that in a Texas prairie, and with islands on
+all sides of you! Ha! I see how it is. You're a gentleman--that's plain
+enough. I was a sort of one myself once. You thought our Texas prairies
+was like the prairies in the States. Ha, ha! And so you didn't know how
+to help yourself. Did you see no bees in the air, no strawberries on the
+earth?"
+
+"Bees? Strawberries?" repeated I.
+
+"Yes, bees, which live in the hollow trees. Out of twenty trees there's
+sure to be one full of honey. So you saw no bees, eh? Perhaps you don't
+know the creturs when you see 'em. Ain't altogether so big as wild-geese
+or turkeys. But you must know what strawberries are, and that _they_
+don't grow upon the trees."
+
+All this was spoken in the same sneering savage manner as before, with
+the speaker's head half turned over his shoulder, while his features
+were distorted into a contemptuous grin.
+
+"And if I had seen the bees, how was I to get at the honey without an
+axe?"
+
+"How did you lose yourself?"
+
+"My mustang--ran away"--
+
+"I see. And you after him. You'd have done better to let him run. But
+what d'ye mean to do now?"
+
+"I am weak--sick to death. I wish to get to the nearest house--an
+inn--anywhere where men are."
+
+"Where men are," repeated the stranger, with his scornful smile. "Where
+men are," he muttered again, taking a few steps on one side.
+
+I was hardly able to turn my head, but there was something strange in
+the man's movement that alarmed me; and, making a violent effort, I
+changed my position sufficiently to get him in sight again. He had drawn
+a long knife from his girdle, which he clutched in one hand, while he
+ran the fore finger of the other along its edge. I now for the first
+time got a full view of his face, and the impression it made upon me was
+any thing but favourable. His countenance was the wildest I had ever
+seen; his bloodshot eyes rolled like balls of fire in their sockets;
+while his movements and manner were indicative of a violent inward
+struggle. He did not stand still for three seconds together, but paced
+backwards and forwards with hurried irregular steps, casting wild
+glances over his shoulder, his fingers playing all the while with the
+knife, with the rapid and objectless movements of a maniac.
+
+I felt convinced that I was the cause of the struggle visibly going on
+within him, that my life or death was what he was deciding upon. But in
+the state I then was, death had no terror for me. The image of my
+mother, sisters, and father, passed before my eyes. I gave one thought
+to my peaceful happy home, and then looked upwards and prayed.
+
+The man had walked off to some distance. I turned myself a little more
+round, and, as I did so, I caught sight of the sane magnificent
+phenomenon which I had met with on the second day of my wanderings. The
+colossal live oak rose in all its silvery splendour, at the distance of
+a couple of miles. Whilst I was gazing at it, and reflecting on the
+strange ill luck that had made me pass within so short a distance of the
+river without finding it, I saw my new acquaintance approach a
+neighbouring cluster of trees, amongst which he disappeared.
+
+After a short time I again perceived him coming towards me with a slow
+and staggering step. As he drew near, I had an opportunity of examining
+his whole appearance. He was very tall and lean, but large-boned, and
+apparently of great strength. His face, which had not been shaved for
+several weeks, was so tanned by sun and weather, that he might have been
+taken for an Indian, had not the beard proved his claim to white blood.
+But his eyes were what most struck me. There was something so
+frightfully wild in their expression, a look of terror and desperation,
+like that of a man whom all the furies of hell were hunting and
+persecuting. His hair hung in long ragged locks over his forehead,
+cheeks, and neck, and round his head was bound a handkerchief, on which
+were several stains of a brownish black colour. Spots of the same kind
+were visible upon his leathern jacket, breeches, and mocassins; they
+were evidently blood stains. His hunting knife, which was nearly two
+feet long, with a rude wooden handle, was now replaced in his girdle,
+but in its stead he held a Kentucky rifle in his hand.
+
+Although I did my utmost to assume an indifferent countenance, my
+features doubtless expressed something of the repugnance and horror with
+which the man inspired me. He looked loweringly at me for a moment from
+under his shaggy eyebrows.
+
+"You don't seem to like the company you've got into," said he. "Do I
+look so very desperate, then? Is it written so plainly on my face?"
+
+"What should there be written upon your face?"
+
+"What? What? Fools and children ask them questions."
+
+"I will ask you none; but as a Christian, as my countryman, I beseech
+you"----
+
+"Christian!" interrupted he, with a hollow laugh. "Countryman!" He
+struck the but of his rifle hard upon the ground. "That is my
+countryman--my only friend!" he continued, as he examined the flint and
+lock of his weapon. "That releases from all troubles; that's a true
+friend. Pooh! perhaps it'll release you too--put you to rest."
+
+These last words were uttered aside, and musingly.
+
+"Put him to rest, as well as---- Pooh! One more or less--Perhaps it
+would drive away that cursed spectre."
+
+All this seemed to be spoken to his rifle.
+
+"Will you swear not to betray me?" cried he to me. "Else, one touch"----
+
+As he spoke, he brought the gun to his shoulder, the muzzle pointed
+full at my breast.
+
+I felt no fear. I am sure my pulse did not give a
+throb the more for this menace. So deadly weak and helpless as I lay, it
+was unnecessary to shoot me. The slightest blow from the but of the
+rifle would have driven the last faint spark of life out of my exhausted
+body. I looked calmly, indifferently even, into the muzzle of the piece.
+
+"If you can answer it to your God, to your and my judge and creator, do
+your will."
+
+My words, which from faintness I could scarcely render audible, had,
+nevertheless, a sudden and startling effect upon the man. He trembled
+from head to foot, let the but of his gun fall heavily to the ground,
+and gazed at me with open mouth and staring eyes.
+
+"This one, too, comes with his God!" muttered he. "God! and your and my
+creator--and--judge."
+
+He seemed hardly able to articulate these words, which were uttered by
+gasps and efforts, as though something had been choking him.
+
+"His and my--judge"--groaned he again. "Can there be a God, a creator
+and judge?"
+
+As he stood thus muttering to himself, his eyes suddenly became fixed,
+and his features horribly distorted.
+
+"Do it not!" cried he, in a shrill tone of horror, that rang through my
+head. "It will bring no blessin' with it. I am a dead man! God be
+merciful to me! My poor wife, my poor children!"
+
+The rifle fell from his hands, and he smote his breast and forehead in a
+paroxysm of the wildest fury. It was frightful to behold the
+conscience-stricken wretch, stamping madly about, and casting glances of
+terror behind him, as though demons had been hunting him down. The foam
+flew from his mouth, and I expected each moment to see him fall to the
+ground in a fit of epilepsy. Gradually, however, he became more
+tranquil.
+
+"D'ye see nothin' in my face?" said he in a hoarse whisper, suddenly
+pausing close to where I lay.
+
+"What should I see?"
+
+He came yet nearer.
+
+"Look well at me--_through_ me, if you can. D'ye see nothin' now?"
+
+"I see nothing," replied I.
+
+"Ah! I understand, you can see nothin'. Ain't in a spyin' humour, I
+calkilate. No, no, that you ain't. After four days and nights fastin',
+one loses the fancy for many things. I've tried it for two days myself.
+So, you are weak and faint, eh? But I needn't ask that, I reckon. You
+look bad enough. Take another drop of whisky; it'll strengthen you. But
+wait till I mix it."
+
+As he spoke, he stepped down to the edge of the river, and scooping up
+the water in the hollow of his hand, filled his flask with it. Then
+returning to me, he poured a little into my mouth.
+
+Even the bloodthirsty Indian appears less of a savage when engaged in a
+compassionate act, and the wild desperado I had fallen in with, seemed
+softened and humanized by the service he was rendering me. His voice
+sounded less harsh; his manner was calmer and milder.
+
+"You wish to go to an inn?"
+
+"For Heaven's sake, yes. These four days I have tasted nothing but a bit
+of tobacco."
+
+"Can you spare a bit of that?"
+
+"All I have."
+
+I handed him my cigar case, and the roll of _dulcissimus_. He snatched
+the latter from me, and bit into it with the furious eagerness of a
+wolf.
+
+"Ah, the right sort this!" muttered he to himself. "Ah, young man, or
+old man--you're an old man, ain't you? How old are you?"
+
+"Two-and-twenty."
+
+He shook his head doubtingly.
+
+"Can hardly believe that. But four days in the prairie, and nothin' to
+eat. Well, it may be so. But, stranger, if I had had this bit of tobacco
+only ten days ago--A bit of tobacco is worth a deal sometimes. It might
+have saved a man's life!"
+
+Again he groaned, and his accents became wild and unnatural.
+
+"I say, stranger!" cried he in a threatening tone. "I say! D'ye see
+yonder live oak? D'ye see it? It's the Patriarch, and a finer and
+mightier one you won't find in the prairies, I reckon. D'ye see it?"
+
+"I do see it."
+
+"Ah! you see it," cried he fiercely. "And what is it to you? What have
+you to do with the Patriarch, or with what lies under it? I reckon you
+had best not be too curious that way. If you dare take a step under that
+tree."--He swore an oath too horrible to be repeated.
+
+"There's a spectre there," cried he; "a spectre that would fright you to
+death. Better keep away."
+
+"I will keep away," replied I. "I never thought of going near it. All I
+want is to get to the nearest plantation or inn."
+
+"Ah! true, man--the next inn. I'll show you the way to it. I will."
+
+"You will save my life by so doing," said I, "and I shall be ever
+grateful to you as my deliverer."
+
+"Deliverer!" repeated he, with a wild laugh. "Pooh! If you knew what
+sort of a deliverer--Pooh! What's the use of savin' a life, when--yet I
+will--I will save yours, perhaps the cursed spectre will leave me then.
+Will you not? Will you not?" cried he, suddenly changing his scornful
+mocking tones to those of entreaty and supplication, and turning his
+face in the direction of the live oak. Again his wildness of manner
+returned, and his eyes became fixed, as he gazed for some moments at the
+gigantic tree. Then darting away, he disappeared among the trees, whence
+he had fetched his rifle, and presently emerged again, leading a ready
+saddled horse with him. He called to me to mount mine, but seeing that I
+was unable even to rise from the ground, he stepped up to me, and with
+the greatest ease lifted me into the saddle with one hand, so light had
+I become during my long fast. Then taking the end of my lasso, he got
+upon his own horse and set off, leading my mustang after him.
+
+We rode on for some time without exchanging a word. My guide kept up a
+sort of muttered soliloquy; but as I was full ten paces in his rear, I
+could distinguish nothing of what he said. At times he would raise his
+rifle to his shoulder then lower it again, and speak to it, sometimes
+caressingly, sometimes in anger. More than once he turned his head, and
+cast keen searching glances at me, as though to see whether I were
+watching him or not.
+
+We had ridden more than an hour, and the strength which the whisky had
+given me was fast failing, so that I expected each moment to fall from
+my horse, when suddenly I caught sight of a kind of rude hedge, and
+almost immediately afterwards the wall of a small blockhouse became
+visible. A faint cry of joy escaped me, and I endeavoured, but in vain,
+to give my horse the spur. My guide turned round, fixed his wild eyes
+upon me, and spoke in a threatening tone.
+
+"You are impatient, man! impatient, I see. You think now, perhaps"----
+
+"I am dying," was all I could utter. In fact, my senses were leaving me
+from exhaustion, and I really thought my last hour was come.
+
+"Pooh! dyin'! One don't die so easy. And yet--d----n!--it might be
+true."
+
+He sprang off his horse, and was just in time to catch me in his arms as
+I fell from the saddle. A few drops of whisky, however, restored me to
+consciousness. My guide replaced me upon my mustang, and after passing
+through a potato ground, a field of Indian corn, and a small grove of
+peach-trees, we found ourselves at the door of the blockhouse.
+
+I was so utterly helpless, that my strange companion was obliged to lift
+me off my horse, and carry me into the dwelling. He sat me down upon a
+bench, passive and powerless as an infant. Strange to say, however, I
+was never better able to observe all that passed around me, than during
+the few hours of bodily debility that succeeded my immersion in the
+Jacinto. A blow with a reed would have knocked me off my seat, but my
+mental faculties, instead of participating in this weakness, seemed
+sharpened to an unusual degree of acuteness.
+
+The blockhouse in which we now were, was of the poorest possible
+description; a mere log hut, consisting of one room, that served as
+kitchen, sitting-room, and bedchamber. The door of rough planks swung
+heavily upon two hooks that fitted into iron rings, and formed a clumsy
+substitute for hinges; a wooden latch and heavy bar served to secure it;
+windows, properly speaking, there were none, but in their stead a few
+holes covered with dirty oiled paper; the floor was of clay, stamped
+hard and dry in the middle of the hut, but out of which, at the sides of
+the room, a crop of rank grass was growing, a foot or more high. In one
+corner stood a clumsy bedstead, in another a sort of table or counter,
+on which were half a dozen drinking glasses of various sizes and
+patterns. The table consisted of four thick posts, firmly planted in the
+ground, and on which were nailed three boards that had apparently
+belonged to some chest or case, for they were partly painted, and there
+was a date, and the three first letters of a word upon one of them. A
+shelf fixed against the side of the hut supported an earthen pot or two,
+and three or four bottles, uncorked, and apparently empty; and from some
+wooden pegs wedged in between the logs, hung suspended a few articles of
+wearing apparel of no very cleanly aspect.
+
+Pacing up and down the hut with a kind of stealthy cat-like pace, was an
+individual, whose unprepossessing exterior was in good keeping with the
+wretched appearance of this Texian shebeen house. He was an undersized,
+stooping figure, red-haired, large mouthed, and possessed of small,
+reddish, pig's eyes, which he seemed totally unable to raise from the
+ground, and the lowering, hang-dog expression of which, corresponded
+fully with the treacherous, panther-like stealthiness of his step and
+movements. Without greeting us either by word or look, this personage
+dived into a dark corner of his tenement, brought out a full bottle, and
+placing it on the table beside the glasses, resumed the monotonous sort
+of exercise in which he had been indulging on our entrance.
+
+My guide and deliverer said nothing while the tavern-keeper was getting
+out the bottle, although he seemed to watch all his movements with a
+keen and suspicious eye. He now filled a large glass of spirits, and
+tossed it off at a single draught. When he had done this, he spoke for
+the first time.
+
+"Johnny!"
+
+Johnny made no answer.
+
+"This gentleman has eaten nothing for four days."
+
+"Indeed," replied Johnny, without looking up, or intermitting his
+sneaking, restless walk from one corner of the room to the other.
+
+"I said four days, d'ye hear? Four days. Bring him tea immediately,
+strong tea, and then make some good beef soup. The tea must be ready
+directly, the soup in an hour at farthest, d'ye understand? And then I
+want some whisky for myself, and a beefsteak and potatoes. Now, tell all
+that to your Sambo."
+
+Johnny did not seem to hear, but continued his walk, creeping along with
+noiseless step, and each time that he turned, giving a sort of spring
+like a cat or a panther.
+
+"I've money, Johnny," said my guide. "Money, man, d'ye hear?" And so
+saying, he produced a tolerably full purse.
+
+For the first time Johnny raised his head, gave an indefinable sort of
+glance at the purse, and then springing forward, fixed his small,
+cunning eyes upon those of my guide, while a smile of strange meaning
+spread over his repulsive features.
+
+The two men stood for the space of a minute, staring at each other,
+without uttering a word. An infernal grin distended Johnny's coarse
+mouth from ear to ear. My guide seemed to gasp for breath.
+
+"I've money," cried he at last, striking the but of his rifle violently
+on the ground. "D'ye understand, Johnny? Money; and a rifle too, if
+needs be."
+
+He stepped to the table and filled another glass of raw spirits, which
+disappeared like the preceding one. While he drank, Johnny stole out of
+the room so softly that my companion was only made aware of his
+departure by the noise of the wooden latch. He then came up to me, took
+me in his arms without saying a word, and, carrying me to the bed, laid
+me gently down upon it.
+
+"You make yourself at home," snarled Johnny, who just then came in
+again.
+
+"Always do that, I reckon, when I'm in a tavern," answered my guide,
+quietly pouring out and swallowing another glassful. "The gentleman
+shall have your bed to-day. You and Sambo may sleep in the pigsty. You
+have none though, I believe?"
+
+"Bob!" screamed Johnny furiously.
+
+"That's my name--Bob Rock."
+
+"For the present," hissed Johnny, with a sneer.
+
+"The same as yours is Johnny Down," replied Bob in the same tone. "Pooh!
+Johnny, guess we know one another?"
+
+"Rayther calkilate we do," replied Johnny through his teeth.
+
+"And have done many a day," laughed Bob. "You're the famous Bob from
+Sodoma in Georgia?"
+
+"Sodoma in Alabama, Johnny. Sodoma lies in Alabama," said Bob, filling
+another glass. "Don't you know that yet, you who were above a year in
+Columbus, doin' all sorts of dirty work?"
+
+"Better hold your tongue, Bob," said Johnny, with a dangerous look at
+me.
+
+"Pooh! Don't mind him, he won't talk, I'll answer for it. He's lost the
+taste for chatterin' in the Jacinto prairie. But Sodoma," continued Bob,
+"is in Alabama, man! Columbus in Georgia! They are parted by the
+Chatahoochie. Ah! that was a jolly life we led on the Chatahoochie. But
+nothin' lasts in this world, as my old schoolmaster used to say. Pooh!
+They've druv the Injuns a step further over the Mississippi now. But it
+was a glorious life--warn't it?"
+
+Again he filled his glass and drank.
+
+The information I gathered from this conversation as to the previous
+life and habits of these two men, had nothing in it very satisfactory or
+reassuring for me. In the whole of the south-western states there was no
+place that could boast of being the resort of so many outlaws and bad
+characters as the town of Sodoma. It is situated, or was situated, at
+least, a few years previously to the time I speak of, in Alabama, on
+Indian ground, and was the harbour of refuge for all the murderers and
+outcasts from the western and south-western parts of the Union. Here,
+under Indian government, they found shelter and security; and frightful
+were the crimes and cruelties perpetrated at this place. Scarcely a day
+passed without an assassination, not secretly committed but in broad
+sunlight. Bands of these wretches, armed with knives and rifles, used to
+cross the Chatahoochie, and make inroads into Columbus; break into
+houses, rob, murder, ill-treat women, and then return in triumph to
+their dens, laden with booty, and laughing at the laws. It was useless
+to think of pursuing them, or of obtaining justice, for they were on
+Indian territory; and many of the chiefs were in league with them. At
+length General Jackson and the government took it up. The Indians were
+driven over the Mississippi, the outlaws and murderers fled, Sodoma
+itself disappeared; and, released from its troublesome neighbours,
+Columbus is now as flourishing a state as any in the west.
+
+The recollections of their former life and exploits seemed highly
+interesting to the two comrades; and their communications became more
+and more confidential. Johnny filled himself a glass, and the
+conversation soon increased in animation. I could understand little of
+what they said, for they spoke a sort of thieves' jargon. After a time,
+their voices sounded as a confused hum in my ears, the objects in the
+room became gradually less distinct, and I fell asleep.
+
+I was roused, not very gently, by a mulatto woman, who poured a spoonful
+of tea into my mouth before I had well opened my eyes. She at first did
+not appear to be attending to me with any great degree of good-will; but
+by the time she had given me half a dozen spoonsful her womanly
+sympathies began to be awakened, and her manner became kinder. The tea
+did me an infinite deal of good, and seemed to infuse new life into my
+veins. I finished the cup, and the mulatto laid me down again on my
+pillow with far more gentleness than she had lifted me up.
+
+"Gor! Gor!" cried she, "what poor young man! Berry weak. Him soon
+better. One hour, massa, good soup."
+
+"Soup! What do you want with soup?" grumbled Johnny.
+
+"Him take soup. I cook it," screamed the woman.
+
+"Worse for you if she don't, Johnny," said Bob.
+
+Johnny muttered something in reply, but I did not distinguish what it
+was, for my eyes closed, and I again fell asleep.
+
+It seemed to me as if I had not been five minutes slumbering when the
+mulatto returned with the soup. The tea had revived me, but this gave me
+strength; and when I had taken it I was able to sit up in my bed.
+
+While the woman was feeding me, Bob was eating his beefsteak. It was a
+piece of meat that might have sufficed for six persons, but the man
+seemed as hungry as if he had eaten nothing for three days. He cut off
+wedges half as big as his fist, swallowed them with ravenous eagerness,
+and, instead of bread, bit into some unpeeled potatoes. All this was
+washed down with glass after glass of raw spirits, which had the effect
+of wakening him up, and infusing a certain degree of cheerfulness into
+his strange humour. He still spoke more to himself than to Johnny, but
+his recollections seemed agreeable; he nodded self-approvingly, and
+sometimes laughed aloud. At last he began to abuse Johnny for being, as
+he said, such a sneaking, cowardly fellow--such a treacherous,
+false-hearted gallows-bird.
+
+"It's true," said he, "I am gallows-bird enough myself, but then I'm
+open, and no man can say I'm a-fear'd; but Johnny, Johnny, who"----
+
+I do not know what he was about to say, for Johnny sprang towards him,
+and placed both hands over his mouth, receiving in return a blow that
+knocked him as far as the door, through which he retreated, cursing and
+grumbling.
+
+I soon fell asleep again, and whilst in that state I had a confused sort
+of consciousness of various noises in the room, loud words, blows, and
+shouting. Wearied as I was, however, I believe no noise would have fully
+roused me, although hunger at last did.
+
+When I opened my eyes I saw the mulatto woman sitting by my bed, and
+keeping off the mosquitoes. She brought me the remainder of the soup,
+and promised, if I would sleep a couple of hours more, to bring me a
+beefsteak. Before the two hours had elapsed I awoke, hungrier than ever.
+After I had eaten all the beefsteak the woman would allow me, which was
+a very moderate quantity, she brought me a beer-glass full of the most
+delicious punch I ever tasted. I asked her where she had got the rum and
+lemons, and she told me that it was she who had bought them, as well as
+a stock of coffee and tea; that Johnny was her partner, but that he had
+done nothing but build the house, and badly built it was. She then began
+to abuse Johnny, and said he was a gambler; and, worse still, that he
+had had plenty of money once, but had lost it all; that she had first
+known him in Lower Natchez, but he had been obliged to run away from
+there in the night to save his neck. Bob was no better, she said; on the
+contrary--and here she made the gesture of cutting a man's throat--he
+was a very bad fellow, she added. He had got drunk after his dinner,
+knocked Johnny down, and broken every thing. He was now lying asleep
+outside the door; and Johnny had hidden himself somewhere.
+
+How long she continued speaking I know not, for I again fell into a deep
+sleep, which this time lasted six or seven hours.
+
+I was awakened by a strong grasp laid upon my arm, which made me cry
+out, more, however, from surprise than pain. Bob stood by my bedside;
+the traces of the preceding night's debauch plainly written on his
+haggard countenance. His bloodshot eyes were inflamed and swollen, and
+rolled with even more than their usual wildness; his mouth was open, and
+the jaws stiff and fixed; he looked as if he had just come from
+committing some frightful deed. I could fancy the first murderer to have
+worn such an aspect when gazing on the body of his slaughtered brother.
+I shrank back, horror-struck at his appearance.
+
+"In God's name, man, what do you want?"
+
+He made no answer.
+
+"You are in a fever. You've the ague!"
+
+"Ay, a fever," groaned he, shivering as he spoke; "a fever, but not the
+one you mean; a fever, young man, such as God keep you from ever
+having."
+
+His whole frame shuddered while he uttered these words. There was a
+short pause.
+
+"Curious that," continued he; "I've served more than one in the same
+way, but never thought of it afterwards--was forgotten in less than no
+time. Got to pay the whole score at once, I suppose. Can't rest a
+minute. In the open prairie it's the worst; there stands the old man, so
+plain, with his silver beard, and the spectre just behind him."
+
+His eyes rolled, he clenched his fists, and, striking his forehead
+furiously, rushed out of the hut.
+
+In a few minutes he returned, apparently more composed, and walked
+straight up to my bed.
+
+"Stranger, you must do me a service," said he abruptly.
+
+"Ten rather than one," replied I; "any thing that is in my power. Do I
+not owe you my life?"
+
+"You're a gentleman, I see, and a Christian. You must come with me to
+the squire--the Alcalde."
+
+"To the Alcalde, man! What must I go there for?"
+
+"You'll see and hear when you get there; I've something to tell
+him--something for his own ear."
+
+He drew a deep breath, and remained silent for a short time, gazing
+anxiously on all sides of him.
+
+"Something," whispered he, "that nobody else must hear."
+
+"But there's Johnny there. Why not take him?"
+
+"Johnny!" cried he, with a scornful laugh; "Johnny! who's ten times
+worse than I am, bad as I be; and bad I am to be sure, but yet open and
+above board, always, till this time; but Johnny! he'd sell his own
+mother. He's a cowardly, sneakin', treacherous hound, is Johnny."
+
+It was unnecessary to tell me this, for Johnny's character was written
+plainly enough upon his countenance.
+
+"But why do you want me to go to the Alcalde?"
+
+"Why does one want people before the judge? He's a judge, man; a Mexican
+one certainly, but chosen by us Americans; and an American himself, as
+you and I are."
+
+"And how soon must I go?"
+
+"Directly. I can't bear it any longer. It leaves me no peace. Not an
+hour's rest have I had for the last eight days. When I go out into the
+prairie, the spectre stands before me and beckons me on, and if I try to
+go another way, he comes behind me and drives me before him under the
+Patriarch. I see him just as plainly as when he was alive, only paler
+and sadder. It seems as if I could touch him with my hand. Even the
+bottle is no use now; neither rum, nor whisky, nor brandy, rid me of
+him; it don't, by the 'tarnel.--Curious that! I got drunk
+yesterday--thought to get rid of him; but he came in the night and drove
+me out. I was obliged to go. Wouldn't let me sleep; was forced to go
+under the Patriarch."
+
+"Under the Patriarch? the live oak?" cried I, in astonishment.--"Were
+you there in the night?"
+
+"Ay, that was I," replied he, in the same horribly confidential tone;
+"and the spirit threatened me, and said I will leave you no peace, Bob,
+till you go to the Alcalde and tell him"----
+
+"Then I will go with you to the Alcalde, and that immediately," said I,
+raising myself up in bed. I could not help pitying the poor fellow from
+my very soul.
+
+"Where are you going?" croaked Johnny, who at this moment glided into
+the room. "Not a step shall you stir till you've paid."
+
+"Johnny," said Bob, seizing his less powerful companion by the
+shoulders, lifting him up like a child, and then setting him down again
+with such force, that his knees cracked and bent under him;--"Johnny,
+this gentlemen is my guest, d'ye understand? And here is the reckonin',
+and mind yourself, Johnny--mind yourself, that's all."
+
+Johnny crept into a corner like a flogged hound; the mulatto woman,
+however, did not seem disposed to be so easily intimidated. Sticking her
+arms in her sides, she waddled boldly forward.
+
+"You not take him 'way, Massa Bob?", screamed she. "Him stop here. Him
+berry weak--not able for ride--not able for stand on him foot."
+
+This was true enough. Strong as I had felt in bed, I could hardly stand
+upright when I got out of it.
+
+For a moment Bob seemed undecided, but only for one moment; then,
+stepping up to the mulatto, he lifted her, fat and heavy as she was, in
+the same manner as he had done her partner, at least a foot from the
+ground, and carried her screaming and struggling to the door, which he
+kicked open. Then setting her down outside, "Silence!" roared he, "and
+some good strong tea instead of your cursed chatter, and a fresh
+beefsteak instead of your stinking carcass. That will strengthen the
+gentleman; so be quick about it, you old brown-skinned beast, you!"
+
+I had slept in my clothes, and my toilet was consequently soon made, by
+the help of a bowl of water and towel, which Bob made Johnny bring, and
+then ordered him to go and get our horses ready.
+
+A hearty breakfast of tea, butter, Indian corn bread, and steaks,
+increased my strength so much, that I was able to mount my mustang. I
+had still pains in all my limbs, but we rode slowly; the morning was
+bright, the air fresh and elastic, and I felt myself getting gradually
+better. Our path led through the prairie; the river fringed with wood,
+on the one hand; the vast ocean of grass, sprinkled with innumerable
+islands of trees, on the other. We saw abundance of game, which sprang
+up under the very feet of our horses; but although Bob had his rifle, he
+made no use of it. He muttered continually to himself, and seemed to be
+arranging what he should say to the judge; for I heard him talking of
+things which I would just as soon not have listened to, if I could have
+helped it. I was heartily glad when we at length reached the plantation
+of the Alcalde.
+
+It seemed a very considerable one, and the size and appearance of the
+framework house bespoke comfort and every luxury. The building was
+surrounded by a group of China trees, which I should have thought about
+ten years of age, but which I afterwards learned had not been planted
+half that time, although they were already large enough to afford a very
+agreeable shade. Right in front of the house rose a live oak, inferior
+in size to the one in the prairie, but still of immense age and great
+beauty. To the left was some two hundred acres of cotton fields,
+extending to the bank of the Jacinto, which at this spot made a sharp
+turn, and winding round the plantation, enclosed it on three sides.
+Before the house lay the prairie, with its archipelago of islands, and
+herds of grazing cattle and mustangs; to the right, more cotton fields;
+and in rear of the dwelling, the negro cottages and out-buildings. There
+was a Sabbath-like stillness pervading the whole scene, which seemed to
+strike even Bob. He paused as though in deep thought, and allowed his
+hand to rest for a moment on the handle of the lattice door. Then with a
+sudden and resolute jerk, bespeaking an equally sudden resolution, he
+pushed open the gate, and we entered a garden planted with orange,
+banana, and citron trees, the path through which was enclosed between
+palisades, and led to a sort of front court, with another lattice-work
+door, beside which hung a bell. Upon ringing this, a negro appeared.
+
+The black seemed to know Bob very well, for he nodded to him as to an
+old acquaintance, and said the squire wanted him, and had asked after
+him several times. He then led the way to a large parlour, very
+handsomely furnished for Texas, and in which we found the squire, or
+more properly speaking, the Alcalde, sitting smoking his cigar. He had
+just breakfasted, and the plates and dishes were still upon the table.
+He did not appear to be much given to compliments or ceremony, or to
+partake at all of the Yankee failing of curiosity, for he answered our
+salutation with a laconic "good-morning," and scarcely even looked at
+us. At the very first glance, it was easy to see that he came from
+Tennessee or Virginia, the only provinces in which one finds men of his
+gigantic mould. Even sitting, his head rose above those of the negro
+servants in waiting. Nor was his height alone remarkable; he had the
+true West-Virginian build; the enormous chest and shoulders, and
+herculean limbs, the massive features and sharp grey eyes; altogether an
+exterior well calculated to impose on the rough backwoodsmen with whom
+he had to deal.
+
+I was tired with my ride, and took a chair. The squire apparently did
+not deem me worthy of notice, or else he reserved me for a later
+scrutiny; but he fixed a long, searching look upon Bob, who remained
+standing, with his head sunk on his breast.
+
+The judge at last broke silence.
+
+"So here you are again, Bob. It's long since we've seen you, and I
+thought you had clean forgotten us. Well, Bob, we shouldn't have broke
+our hearts, I reckon; for I hate gamblers--ay, that I do--worse than
+skunks. It's a vile thing is play, and has ruined many a man in this
+world, and the next. It's ruined you too, Bob."
+
+Bob said nothing.
+
+"You'd have been mighty useful here last week; there was plenty for you
+to do. My step-daughter arrived; but as you weren't to be found, we had
+to send to Joel to shoot us a buck and a couple of dozen snipes. Ah,
+Bob! one might still make a good citizen of you, if you'd only leave off
+that cursed play!"
+
+Bob still remained silent.
+
+"Now go into the kitchen and get some breakfast."
+
+Bob neither answered nor moved.
+
+"D'ye hear? Go into the kitchen and get something to eat. And,
+Ptoly"--added he to the negro--"tell Veny to give him a pint of rum."
+
+"Don't want yer rum--ain't thirsty"--growled Bob.
+
+"Very like, very like," said the judge sharply. "Reckon you've taken too
+much already. Look as if you could swallow a wild cat, claws and all.
+And you," added he, turning to me--"What the devil are you at, Ptoly?
+Don't you see the man wants his breakfast? Where's the coffee? Or would
+you rather have tea?"
+
+"Thank you, Alcalde, I have breakfasted already."
+
+"Don't look as if. Ain't sick, are you? Where do you come from? What's
+happened to you? What are you doing with Bob?"
+
+He looked keenly and searchingly at me, and then again at Bob. My
+appearance was certainly not very prepossessing, unshaven as I was, and
+with my clothes and linen soiled and torn. He was evidently considering
+what could be the motive of our visit, and what had brought me into
+Bob's society. The result of his physiognomical observations did not
+appear very favourable either to me or my companion. I hastened to
+explain.
+
+"You shall hear how it was, judge. I am indebted to Bob for my life."
+
+"Your life! Indebted to Bob for your life!" repeated the judge, shaking
+his head incredulously.
+
+I related how I had lost my way in the prairie; been carried into the
+Jacinto by my horse; and how I should inevitably have been drowned but
+for Bob's aid.
+
+"Indeed!" said the judge, when I had done speaking. "So, Bob saved your
+life! Well, I am glad of it, Bob, very glad of it. Ah! if you could only
+keep away from that Johnny. I tell you, Bob, Johnny will be the ruin of
+you. Better keep out of his way."
+
+"It's too late," answered Bob.
+
+"Don't know why it should be. Never too late to leave a debauched,
+sinful life; never, man!"
+
+"Calkilate it is, though," replied Bob sullenly.
+
+"You calculate it is?" said the judge, fixing his eyes on him. "And why
+do you calculate that? Take a glass--Ptoly, a glass--and tell me, man,
+why should it be too late?"
+
+"I ain't thirsty, squire," said Bob.
+
+"Don't talk to me of your thirst; rum's not for thirst, but to
+strengthen the heart and nerves, to drive away the blue devils. And a
+good thing it is, taken in moderation."
+
+As he spoke he filled himself a glass, and drank half of it off. Bob
+shook his head.
+
+"No rum for me, squire. I take no pleasure in it. I've something on my
+mind too heavy for rum to wash away."
+
+"And what is that, Bob? Come, let's hear what you've got to say. Or
+perhaps, you'd rather speak to me alone. It's Sunday to-day, and no
+business ought to be done; but for once, and for you, we'll make an
+exception."
+
+"I brought the gentleman with me on purpose to witness what I had to
+say," answered Bob, taking a cigar out of a box that stood on the table,
+and lighting it. He smoked a whiff or two, looked thoughtfully at the
+judge, and then threw the cigar through the open window.
+
+"It don't relish, squire; nothin' does now."
+
+"Ah, Bob! if you'd leave off play and drink! They're your ruin; worse
+than ague or fever."
+
+"It's no use," continued Bob, as if he did not hear the judge's remark;
+"it must out. I fo't agin it, and thought to drive it away, but it can't
+be done. I've put a bit of lead into several before now, but this
+one"----
+
+"What's that?" cried the judge, chucking his cigar away, and looking
+sternly at Bob. "What's up now? What are you saying about a bit of lead?
+None of your Sodoma and Lower Natchez tricks, I hope? They won't do
+here. Don't understand such jokes."
+
+"Pooh! they don't understand them a bit more in Natchez. If they did, I
+shouldn't be in Texas."
+
+"The less said of that the better, Bob. You promised to lead a new life
+here; so we won't rake up old stories."
+
+"I did, I did!" groaned Bob; "but it's all no use. I shall never be
+better till I'm hung."
+
+I stared at the man in astonishment. The judge, however, took another
+cigar, lighted it, and, after puffing out a cloud of smoke, said, very
+unconcernedly"--
+
+"Not better till you're hung! What do you want to be hung
+for? To be sure, you should have been long ago, if the Georgia and
+Alabama papers don't lie. But we are not in the States here, but in
+Texas, under Mexican laws. It's nothing to us what you've done yonder.
+Where there is no accuser there can be no judge."
+
+"Send away the nigger, squire," said Bob. "What a free white man has to
+say, shouldn't be heard by black ears."
+
+"Go away, Ptoly," said the judge. "Now, then," added he, turning to Bob,
+"say what you have to say; but mind, nobody forces you to do it, and
+it's only out of good will that I listen to you, for to-day's Sunday."
+
+"I know that," muttered Bob; "I know that, squire; but it leaves me no
+peace, and it must out. I've been to San Felipe de Austin, to Anahuac,
+every where, but it's all no use. Wherever I go, the spectre follows me,
+and drives me back under the cursed Patriarch."
+
+"Under the Patriarch!" exclaimed the judge.
+
+"Ay, under the Patriarch!" groaned Bob. "Don't you know the Patriarch;
+the old live oak near the ford, on the Jacinto?"
+
+"I know, I know!" answered the Judge. "And what drives you under the
+Patriarch?"
+
+"What drives me? What drives a man who--who"----
+
+"A man who"---- repeated the judge, gently.
+
+"A man," continued Bob, in the same low tone, "who has sent a rifle
+bullet into another's heart. He lies there, under the Patriarch, whom
+I"----
+
+"Whom you?" asked the judge.
+
+"_Whom I killed!_" said Bob, in a hollow whisper.
+
+"Killed!" exclaimed the judge. "You killed him? Whom?"
+
+"Ah! whom? Why don't you let me speak? You always interrupt me with your
+palaver," growled Bob.
+
+"You are getting saucy, Bob," said the judge impatiently. "Go on,
+however. I reckon it's only one of your usual tantrums."
+
+Bob shook his head. The judge looked keenly at him for a moment, and
+then resumed in a sort of confidential, encouraging tone.
+
+"Under the Patriarch; and how did he come under the Patriarch?"
+
+"I dragged him there, and buried him there," replied Bob.
+
+"Dragged him there! Why did you drag him there?"
+
+"Because he couldn't go himself, with more than half an ounce of lead in
+his body."
+
+"And _you_ put the half ounce of lead into him, Bob? Well, if it was
+Johnny, you've done the country a service, and saved it a rope."
+
+Bob shook his head negatively.
+
+"It wasn't Johnny, although---- But you shall hear all about it. It's
+just ten days since you paid me twenty dollars fifty."
+
+"I did so, Bob; twenty dollars fifty cents, and I advised you at the
+same time to let the money lie till you had a couple of hundred dollars,
+or enough to buy a quarter or an eighth of Sitio land; but advice is
+thrown away upon you."
+
+"When I got the money, I thought I'd go down to San Felipe, to the
+Mexicans, and try my luck; and, at the same time, see the doctor about
+my fever. As I was goin' there, I passed near Johnny's house, and
+fancied a glass, but determined not to get off my horse. I rode up to
+the window, and looked in. There was a man sittin' at the table, havin'
+a hearty good dinner of steaks and potatoes, and washin' it down with a
+stiff glass of grog. I began to feel hungry myself, and while I was
+considerin' whether I should 'light or not, Johnny came sneakin' out,
+and whispered to me to come in, that there was a man inside with whom
+somethin' might be done if we went the right way to work; a man who had
+a leather belt round his waist cram-full of hard Jackson; and that, if
+we got out the cards and pretended to play a little together, he would
+soon take the bait and join us.
+
+"I wasn't much inclined to do it," continued Bob; "but Johnny bothered
+me so to go in, that I got off my horse. As I did so the dollars chinked
+in my pocket, and the sound gave me a wish to play.
+
+"I went in; and Johnny fetched the whisky bottle. One glass followed
+another. There were beefsteaks and potatoes too, but I only eat a
+couple of mouthfuls. When I had drank two, three, ay, four glasses,
+Johnny brought the cards and dice. 'Hallo, Johnny!' says I; 'cards and
+dice, Johnny! I've twenty dollars fifty in my pocket. Let's have a game!
+But no more drink for me; for I know you, Johnny, I know you'----
+
+"Johnny larfed slyly, and rattled the dice, and we sat down to play. I
+hadn't meant to drink any more, but play makes one thirsty; and with
+every glass I got more eager, and my dollars got fewer. I reckoned,
+however, that the stranger would join us, and that I should be able to
+win back from him; but not a bit of it: he sat quite quiet, and eat and
+drank as if he didn't see we were there. I went on playin' madder than
+ever, and before half an hour was over, I was cleaned out; my twenty
+dollars fifty gone to the devil, or what's the same thing, into Johnny's
+pocket.
+
+"When I found myself without a cent, I _was_ mad, I reckon. It warn't
+the first time, nor the hundredth, that I had lost money. Many bigger
+sums than that--ay, hundreds and thousands of dollars had I played
+away--but they had none of them cost me the hundredth or thousandth part
+of the trouble to get that these twenty dollars fifty had; two full
+months had I been slavin' away in the woods and prairies to airn them,
+and I caught the fever there. The fever I had still, but no money to
+cure it with. Johnny only larfed in my face, and rattled my dollars. I
+made a hit at him, which, if he hadn't jumped on one side, would have
+cured him of larfin' for a week or two.
+
+"Presently, however, he came sneakin' up to me, and winkin' and
+whisperin'; and, 'Bob!' says he, 'is it come to that with you? are you
+grown so chicken-hearted that you don't see the beltful of money round
+his body?' said he, lookin' at it. 'No end of hard coin, I guess; and
+all to be had for little more than half an ounce of lead.'"
+
+"Did he say that?" asked the judge.
+
+"Ay, that did he, but I wouldn't listen to him. I was mad with him for
+winning my twenty dollars; and I told him that, if he wanted the
+stranger's purse, he might take it himself, and be d----d; that I
+wasn't goin' to pull the hot chestnuts out of the fire for him. And I
+got on my horse, and rode away like mad.
+
+"My head spun round like a mill. I couldn't get over my loss. I took the
+twenty dollars fifty more to heart than any money I had ever gambled. I
+didn't know where to go. I didn't dare go back to you, for I knew you'd
+scold me."
+
+"I shouldn't have scolded you, Bob; or, if I had, it would only have
+been for your good. I should have summoned Johnny before me, called
+together a jury of twelve of the neighbours, got you back your twenty
+dollars fifty, and sent Johnny out of the country; or, better still, out
+of the world."
+
+These words were spoken with much phlegm, but yet with a degree of
+feeling and sympathy, which greatly improved my opinion of the worthy
+judge. Bob also seemed touched. He drew a deep sigh, and gazed at the
+Alcalde with a melancholy look.
+
+"It's too late," muttered he; "too late, squire."
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the judge, "but let's hear the rest."
+
+"Well," continued Bob, "I kept riding on at random, and when evenin'
+came I found myself near the palmetta field on the bank of the Jacinto.
+As I was ridin' past it, I heard all at once the tramp of a horse. At
+that moment the queerest feelin' I ever had came over me; a sort of cold
+shiverin' feel. I forgot where I was; sight and hearin' left me; I could
+only see two things, my twenty dollars fifty, and the well-filled belt
+of the stranger I had left at Johnny's. Just then a voice called to me.
+
+"'Whence come, countryman, and whither going?' it said.
+
+"'Whence and whether,' answered I, as surly as could be; 'to the devil
+at a gallop, and you'd better ride on and tell him I'm comin'.'
+
+"'You can do the errand yourself,' answered the stranger larfin'; 'my
+road don't lie that way.'
+
+"As he spoke, I looked round, and saw, what I was pretty sure of before,
+that it was the man with the belt full of money.
+
+"'Ain't you the stranger I see'd in the inn yonder?' asked he.
+
+"'And if I am,' says I; 'what's that to you?'
+
+"'Nothin',' said he; 'nothin', certainly.'
+
+"'Better ride on,' says I; 'and leave me quiet.'
+
+"'Will so, stranger; but you needn't take it so mighty onkind. A word
+ain't a tomahawk, I reckon,' said he. 'But I rayther expect your losin's
+at play ain't put you in a very church-goin' humour; and, if I was you,
+I'd keep my dollars in my pocket, and not set them on cards and dice.'
+
+"This put me in a rile to hear him cast my losin's in my teeth that way.
+
+"'You're a nice feller,' said I, 'to throw a man's losses in his face. A
+pitiful chap _you_ are,' says I.
+
+"I thought to provoke him, and that he'd tackle me. But he seemed to
+have no fancy for a fight, for he said quite humble like--
+
+"'I throw nothin' in your face; God forbid that I should reproach you
+with your losses! I'm sorry for you, on the contrary. Don't look like a
+man who can afford to lose his dollars. Seem to me one who airns his
+money by hard work.'
+
+"We were just then halted at the further end of the cane brake, close to
+the trees that border the Jacinto. I had turned my horse, and was
+frontin' the stranger. And all the time the devil was busy whisperin' to
+me, and pointin' to the belt round the man's waist. I could see where it
+was, plain enough, though he had buttoned his coat over it.
+
+"'Hard work, indeed,' says I; 'and now I've lost every thing; not a cent
+left for a quid of baccy.'
+
+"'If that's all,' says he; 'there's help for that. I don't chew myself,
+and I ain't a rich man; I've wife and children, and want every cent I've
+got, but it's one's duty to help a countryman. You shall have money for
+tobacco and a dram.'
+
+"And so sayin', he took a purse out of his pocket, in which he carried
+his change. It was plenty full; there may have been some twenty dollars
+in it; and as he drew the string, it was as if the devil laughed and
+nodded to me out of the openin' of the purse.
+
+"'Halves!' cried I.
+
+"'No, not that,' says he; 'I've wife and child, and what I have belongs
+to them; but half a dollar'----
+
+"'Halves!' cried I again; 'or else'----
+
+"'Or else?' repeated he: and, as he spoke, he put the purse back into
+his pocket, and laid hold of the rifle which was slung on his shoulder.
+
+"'Don't force one to do you a mischief,' said he. 'Don't' says he; 'we
+might both be sorry for it. What you're thinkin' of brings no blessin'.'
+
+"I was past seein' or hearin'. A thousand devils from hell were
+possessin' me.
+
+"'Halves!' I yelled out; and, as I said the word, he sprang out of the
+saddle, and fell back over his horse's crupper to the ground.
+
+"'I'm a dead man!' cried he; as well as the rattle in his throat would
+let him. 'God be merciful to me! My poor wife, my poor children!'"
+
+Bob paused; he gasped for breath, and the sweat stood in large drops
+upon his forehead. He gazed wildly round the room. The judge himself
+looked very pale. I tried to rise, but sank back in my chair. Without
+the table I believe I should have fallen to the ground.
+
+There was a gloomy pause of some moments' duration. At last the judge
+broke silence.
+
+"A hard, hard case!" said he. "Father, mother, children, all at one
+blow. Bob, you are a bad fellow; a very bad fellow; a great villain!"
+
+"A great villain," groaned Bob. "The ball was gone right through his
+breast."
+
+"Perhaps your gun went off by accident," said the judge anxiously.
+"Perhaps it was his own ball."
+
+Bob shook his head.
+
+"I see him now, judge, as plain as can be, when he said, 'Don't force me
+to do you a mischief. We might both be sorry for it.' But I pulled the
+trigger. His bullet is still in his rifle.
+
+"When I saw him lie dead before me, I can't tell you what I felt. It
+warn't the first I had sent to his account; but yet I would have given
+all the purses and money in the world to have had him alive agin. I must
+have dragged him under the Patriarch, and dug a grave with my huntin'
+knife; for I found him there afterwards."
+
+"You found him there?" repeated the judge.
+
+"Yes. I don't know how he came there. I must have brought him, but I
+recollect nothin' about it."
+
+The judge had risen from his chair, and was walking up and down the
+room, apparently in deep thought. Suddenly he stopped short.
+
+"What have you done with his money?"
+
+"I took his purse, but buried his belt with him, as well as a flask of
+rum, and some bread and beef he had brought away from Johnny's. I set
+out for San Felipe, and rode the whole day. In the evenin', when I
+looked about me, expectin' to see the town, where do you think I was?"
+
+The judge and I stared at him.
+
+"Under the Patriarch. The ghost of the murdered man had driven me there.
+I had no peace till I'd dug him up and buried him again. Next day I set
+off in another direction. I was out of tobacco, and I started across the
+prairie to Anahuac. Lord, what a day I passed! Wherever I went, _he_
+stood before me. If I turned, _he_ turned too. Sometimes he came behind
+me, and looked over my shoulder. I spurred my mustang till the blood
+came, hopin' to get away from him, but it was all no use. I thought when
+I got to Anahuac I should be quit of him, and I galloped on as if for
+life or death. But in the evenin', instead of bein' close to the
+salt-works as I expected, there I was agin, under the Patriarch. I dug
+him up a second time, and sat and stared at him, and then buried him
+agin."
+
+"Queer that," observed the judge.
+
+"Ay, very queer!" said Bob mournfully. "But it's all no use. Nothin'
+does me any good. I sha'n't be better--I shall never have peace till I'm
+hung."
+
+Bob evidently felt relieved now, he had in a manner passed sentence on
+himself. Strange as it may appear, I had a similar feeling, and could
+not help nodding my head approvingly. The judge alone preserved an
+unmoved countenance.
+
+"Indeed!" said he, "indeed! You think you'll be no better till you're
+hung."
+
+"Yes," answered Bob, with eager haste. "Hung on the same tree under
+which _he_ lies buried."
+
+"Well, if you will have it so, we'll see what can be done for you. We'll
+call a jury of the neighbours together to-morrow."
+
+"Thank ye, squire," murmured Bob, visibly comforted by this promise.
+
+"We'll summon a jury," repeated the Alcalde, "and see what can be done
+for you. You'll perhaps have changed your mind by that time."
+
+I stared at him like one fallen from the clouds, but he did not seem to
+notice my surprise.
+
+"There is, perhaps, another way to get rid of your life, if you are
+tired of it," he continued. "We might, perhaps, hit upon one that would
+satisfy your conscience."
+
+Bob shook his head. I involuntarily made the same movement.
+
+"At any rate, we'll hear what the neighbours say," added the judge.
+
+Bob stepped up to the judge, and held out his hand to bid him farewell.
+The other did not take it, and turning to me, said--"_You_ had better
+stop here, I think."
+
+Bob turned round impetuously.
+
+"The gentleman must come with me."
+
+"Why must he?" said the judge.
+
+"Ask himself."
+
+I again explained the obligations I was under to Bob; how we had fallen
+in with one another, and what care and attention he had shown me at
+Johnny's.
+
+The judge nodded approvingly. "Nevertheless," said he, "you will remain
+here, and Bob will go alone. You are in a state of mind, Bob, in which a
+man is better alone, d'ye see; and so leave the young man here. Another
+misfortune might happen; and, at any rate, he's better here than at
+Johnny's. Come back to-morrow, and we'll see what can be done for you."
+
+These words were spoken in a decided manner, which seemed to have its
+effect upon Bob. He nodded assentingly, and left the room. I remained
+staring at the judge, and lost in wonder at these strange proceedings.
+
+When Bob was gone, the Alcalde gave a blast on a shell, which supplied
+the place of a bell. Then seizing the cigar box, he tried one cigar
+after another, broke them peevishly up, and threw the pieces out of the
+window. The negro whom the shell had summoned, stood for some time
+waiting, while his master broke up the cigars, and threw them away. At
+last the judge's patience seemed quite to leave him.
+
+"Hark ye, Ptoly!" growled he to the frightened black, "the next time you
+bring me cigars that neither draw nor smoke, I'll make your back smoke
+for it. Mind that, now;--there's not a single one of them worth a rotten
+maize stalk. Tell that old coffee-coloured hag of Johnny's, that I'll
+have no more of her cigars. Ride over to Mr Ducie's and fetch a box.
+And, d'ye hear? Tell him I want to speak a word with him and the
+neighbours. Ask him to bring the neighbours with him to-morrow morning.
+And mind you're home again by two o'clock. Take the mustang we caught
+last week. I want to see how he goes."
+
+The negro listened to these various commands with open mouth and staring
+eyes, then giving a perplexed look at his master, shot out of the room.
+
+"Where away, Ptoly?" shouted the Alcalde after him.
+
+"To Massa Ducie."
+
+"Without a pass, Ptoly? And what are you going to say to Mr Ducie?"
+
+"Him nebber send bad cigar again, him coffee-cullud hag. Massa speak to
+Johnny and neighbours. Johnny bring neighbours here."
+
+"I thought as much," said the judge with perfect equanimity. "Wait a
+minute, I'll write the pass, and a couple of lines for Mr Ducie."
+
+This was soon done, and the negro dispatched on his errand. The judge
+waited till he heard the sound of his horse's feet galloping away, and
+then, laying hold of the box of despised cigars, lit the first which
+came to hand. It smoked capitally, as did also one that I took. They
+were Principes, and as good as I ever tasted.
+
+I passed the whole of that day _tete a tete_ with the judge, who, I soon
+found, knew various friends of mine in the States. I told him the
+circumstances under which I had come to Texas, and the intention I had
+of settling there, should I find the country to my liking. During our
+long conversation, I was able to form a very different, and much more
+favourable estimate of his character, than I had done from his interview
+with Bob. He was the very man to be useful to a new country; of great
+energy, sound judgment, enlarged and liberal views. He gave me some
+curious information as to the state of things in Texas; and did not
+think it necessary to conceal from me, as an American, and one who
+intended settling in the country, that there was a plan in agitation for
+throwing off the Mexican yoke, and declaring Texas an independent
+republic. The high-spirited, and, for the most part, intelligent
+emigrants from the United States, who formed a very large majority of
+the population of Texas, saw themselves, with no very patient feeling,
+under the rule of a people both morally and physically inferior to
+themselves. They looked with contempt, and justly so, on the bigoted,
+idle, and ignorant Mexicans, while the difference of religion, and
+interference of the priests, served to increase the dislike between the
+Spanish and Anglo-American races.
+
+Although the project was as yet not quite ripe for execution, it was
+discussed freely and openly by the American settlers. "It is the
+interest of every man to keep it secret," said the judge; "and there can
+be nothing to induce even the worst amongst us to betray a cause, by the
+success of which he is sure to profit. We have many bad characters in
+Texas, the offscourings of the United States, men like Bob, or far worse
+than him; but debauched, gambling, drunken villains though they be, they
+are the men we want when it comes to a struggle; and when that time
+arrives, they will all be found ready to put their shoulders to the
+wheel, use knife and rifle, and shed the last drop of their blood in
+defence of their fellow citizens, and of the new and independent
+republic of Texas. At this moment, we must wink at many things which
+would be severely punished in an older and more settled country; each
+man's arm is of immense value to the State; for, on the day of battle,
+we shall have, not two to one, but twenty to one opposed to us."
+
+I was awakened the following morning by the sound of a horse's feet;
+and, looking out of the window, saw Bob dismounting from his mustang.
+The last twenty-four hours had told fearfully upon him. His limbs
+seemed powerless, and he reeled and staggered in such a manner, that I
+at first thought him intoxicated. But such was not the case. His was the
+deadly weariness caused by mental anguish. He looked like one just taken
+off the rack.
+
+Hastily pulling on my clothes, I hurried down stairs, and opened the
+house door. Bob stood with his head resting on his horse's neck, and his
+hands crossed, shivering, and groaning. When I spoke to him, he looked
+up, but did not seem to know me. I tied his horse to a post, and taking
+his hand, led him into the house. He followed like a child, apparently
+without the will or the power to resist; and when I placed him in a
+chair, he fell into it with a weight that made it crack under him, and
+shook the house. I could not get him to speak, and was about to return
+to my room to complete my toilet, when I again heard the tramp of
+mustangs. This was a party of half a dozen horsemen, all dressed in
+hunting shirts over buckskin breeches and jackets, and armed with rifles
+and bowie-knives; stout, daring looking fellows, evidently from the
+south-western states, with the true Kentucky half horse half alligator
+profile, and the usual allowance of thunder, lightning, and earthquake.
+It struck me when I saw them, that two or three thousand such men would
+have small difficulty in dealing with a whole army of Mexicans, if the
+latter were all of the pigmy, spindle-shanked breed I had seen on first
+landing. These giants could easily have walked away with a Mexican in
+each hand.
+
+They jumped off their horses, and threw the bridles to the negroes in
+the usual Kentuckian devil-may-care style, and then walked into the
+house with the air of people who make themselves at home every where,
+and who knew themselves to be more masters in Texas than the Mexicans
+themselves. On entering the parlour, they nodded a "good-morning" to me,
+rather coldly to be sure, for they had seen me talking with Bob, which
+probably did not much recommend me. Presently, four more horsemen rode
+up, and then a third party, so that there were now fourteen of them
+assembled, all decided-looking men, in the prime of life and strength.
+The judge, who slept in an adjoining room, had been awakened by the
+noise. I heard him jump out of bed, and not three minutes elapsed before
+he entered the parlour.
+
+After he had shaken hands with all his visitors, he presented me to
+them, and I found that I was in the presence of no less important
+persons than the Ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin; and that two of
+my worthy countrymen were corregidors, one a procurador, and the others
+_buenos hombres_, or freeholders. They did not seem, however, to prize
+their titles much, for they addressed one another by their surnames
+only.
+
+The negro brought a light, opened the cigar box, and arranged the
+chairs; the judge pointed to the sideboard, and to the cigars, and then
+sat down. Some took a dram, others lit a cigar.
+
+Several minutes elapsed, during which the men sat in perfect silence, as
+if they were collecting their thoughts, or, as though it were
+undignified to show any haste or impatience to speak. This grave sort of
+deliberation which is met with among certain classes, and in certain
+provinces of the Union, has often struck me as a curious feature of our
+national character. It partakes of the stoical dignity of the Indian at
+his council fire, and of the stern, religious gravity of the early
+puritan settlers in America.
+
+During this pause Bob was writhing on his chair like a worm, his face
+concealed by his hands, his elbows on his knees. At last, when all had
+drank and smoked, the judge laid down his cigar.
+
+"Men!" said he.
+
+"Squire!" answered they.
+
+"We've a business before us, which I calculate will be best explained by
+him whom it concerns."
+
+The men looked at the squire, then at Bob, then at me.
+
+"Bob Rock! or whatever your name may be, if you have aught to say, say
+it!" continued the judge.
+
+"Said it all yesterday," muttered Bob, his face still covered by his
+hands.
+
+"Yes, but you must say it again to-day. Yesterday was Sunday, and Sunday
+is a day of rest, and not of business. I will neither judge you, nor
+allow you to be judged, by what you said yesterday. Besides, it was all
+between ourselves, for I don't reckon Mr Rivers as any thing; I count
+him still as a stranger."
+
+"What's the use of so much palaver, when the thing's plain enough?" said
+Bob peevishly, raising his head as he spoke.
+
+The men stared at him in grave astonishment. He was really frightful to
+behold, his face of a sort of blue tint; his cheeks hollow, his beard
+wild and ragged; his blood-shot eyes rolling, and deep sunk in their
+sockets. His appearance was scarcely human.
+
+"I tell you, again," said the judge, "I will condemn no man upon his own
+word alone; much less you, who have been in my service, and eaten of my
+bread. You accused yourself yesterday, but you were delirious at the
+time--you had the fever upon you."
+
+"It's no use, squire," said Bob, apparently touched by the kindness of
+the judge, "You mean well, I see; butt though you might deliver me out
+of men's hands, you couldn't rescue me from myself. It's no use--I must
+be hung--hung on the same tree under which the man I killed lies
+buried."
+
+The men, or the jurors, as I may call them, looked at one another, but
+said nothing.
+
+"It's no use," again cried Bob, in a shrill, agonized tone. "If he had
+attacked me, or only threatened me; but no, he didn't do it. I hear
+his words still, when he said, 'Do it not, man! I've wife and child.
+What you intend, brings no blessin' on the doer.' But I heard
+nothin' then except the voice of the devil; I brought the rifle
+down--levelled--fired."
+
+The man's agony was so intense, that even the iron featured jury seemed
+moved by it. They cast sharp, but stolen glances at Bob. There was a
+short silence.
+
+"So you have killed a man?" said a deep bass voice at last.
+
+"Ay, that have I!" gasped Bob.
+
+"And how came that?" continued his questioner.
+
+"How it came? You must ask the devil, or Johnny. No, not Johnny, he can
+tell you nothing; he was not there. No one can tell you but me; and I
+hardly know how it was. The man was at Johnny's, and Johnny showed me
+his belt full of money."
+
+"Johnny!" exclaimed several of the jury.
+
+"Ay, Johnny! He reckoned on winning it from him, but the man was too
+cautious for that; and when Johnny had plucked all my feathers, won my
+twenty dollars fifty"----
+
+"Twenty dollars fifty cents," interposed the judge, "which I paid him for
+catching mustangs and shooting game."
+
+The men nodded.
+
+"And then because he wouldn't play, you shot him?" asked the same
+deep-toned voice as before.
+
+"No--some hours after--by the Jacinto, near the Patriarch--met him down
+there and killed him."
+
+"Thought there was something out o' the common thereaway," said one of
+the jury; "for as we rode by the tree a whole nation of kites and turkey
+buzzards flew out. Didn't they, Mr Heart?"
+
+Mr Heart nodded.
+
+"Met him by the river, and cried, halves of his money," continued Bob
+mechanically. "He said he'd give me something to buy a quid, and more
+than enough for that, but not halves 'I've wife and child,' said he"----
+
+"And you?" asked the juror with the deep voice, which this time,
+however, had a hollow sound in it.
+
+"Shot him down," said Bob, with a wild hoarse laugh.
+
+For some time no word was spoken.
+
+"And who was the man?" said a juror at last.
+
+"Didn't ask him; and it warn't written on his face. He was from the
+States; but whether a hosier, or a buckeye, or a mudhead, is more than I
+can say."
+
+"The thing must be investigated, Alcalde," said another of the jury
+after a second pause.
+
+"It must so," answered the Alcalde.
+
+"What's the good of so much investigation?" grumbled Bob.
+
+"What good?" repeated the Alcalde. "Because we owe it to ourselves, to
+the dead man, and to you, not to sentence you without having held an
+inquest on the body. There's another thing which I must call your
+attention to," continued he, turning to the jury; "the man is half out
+of his mind--not _compos mentis_, as they say. He's got the fever, and
+had it when he did the deed; he was urged on by Johnny, and maddened by
+his losses at play. In spite of his wild excitement, however, he saved
+that gentleman's life yonder, Mr Edward Nathanael Rivers."
+
+"Did he so?" said one of the jury. "That did he," replied I, "not only
+by saving me from drowning when my horse dragged me, half dead and
+helpless, into the river, but also by the care and attention he forced
+Johnny and his mulatto to bestow upon me. Without him I should not be
+alive at this moment."
+
+Bob gave me a look which went to my heart. The tears were standing in
+his eyes. The jury heard me in deep silence.
+
+"It seems that Johnny led you on and excited you to this?" said one of
+the jurors.
+
+"I didn't say that. I only said that he pointed to the man's money bag,
+and said---- But what is it to you what Johnny said? I'm the man who did
+it. I speak for myself, and I'll be hanged for myself."
+
+"All very good, Bob," interposed the Alcalde; "but we can't hang you
+without being sure you deserve it. What do you say to it, Mr Whyte?
+You're the procurador--and you, Mr Heart and Mr Stone? Help yourselves
+to rum or brandy; and, Mr Bright and Irwin, take another cigar. They're
+considerable tolerable the cigars--ain't they? That's brandy, Mr Whyte,
+in the diamond bottle."
+
+Mr Whyte had got up to give his opinion, as I thought, but I was
+mistaken. He stepped to the sideboard, took up a bottle in one hand and
+a glass in the other, every movement being performed with the greatest
+deliberation.
+
+"Well, squire," said he, "or rather _Alcalde_"----
+
+After the word _Alcalde_, he filled the glass half full of rum.
+
+"If it's as we've heard," added he, pouring about a spoonful of water on
+the rum, "and Bob has killed the man"--he continued, throwing in some
+lumps of sugar--"murdered him"--he went on, crushing the sugar with a
+wooden stamp--"I rather calkilate"--here he raised the glass--"Bob ought
+to be hung," he concluded, putting the tumbler to his mouth and emptying
+it.
+
+The jurors nodded in silence. Bob drew a deep breath, as if a load were
+taken off his breast.
+
+"Well," said the judge, who did not look over well pleased; "if you all
+think so, and Bob is agreed, I calculate we must do as he wishes. I tell
+you, though, I don't do it willingly. At any rate we must find the dead
+man first, and examine Johnny. We owe that to ourselves and to Bob."
+
+"Certainly," said the jury with one voice.
+
+"You are a dreadful murderer, Bob a very considerable one," continued
+the judge; "but I tell you to your face, and not to flatter you, there
+is more good in your little finger than in Johnny's whole hide. And I'm
+sorry for you, because, at the bottom, you are not a bad man, though
+you've been led away by bad company and example. I calculate you might
+still be reformed, and made very useful--more so, perhaps, than you
+think. Your rifle's a capital good one."
+
+At these last words the men all looked up, and threw a keen enquiring
+glance at Bob.
+
+"You might be of great service," continued the judge encouragingly, "to
+the country and to your fellow-citizens. You're worth a dozen Mexicans
+any day."
+
+While the judge was speaking, Bob let his head fall on his breast, and
+seemed reflecting. He now looked up.
+
+"I understand, squire; I see what you're drivin' at. But I can't do
+it--I can't wait so long. My life's a burthen and a sufferin' to me.
+Wherever I go, by day or by night, he's always there, standin' before
+me, and drivin' me under the Patriarch."
+
+There was a pause of some duration. The Judge resumed.
+
+"So be it, then," said he with a sort of suppressed sigh. "We'll see the
+body to-day, Bob, and you may come to-morrow at ten o'clock."
+
+"Couldn't it be sooner?" asked Bob impatiently.
+
+"Why sooner? Are you in such a hurry?" asked Mr Heart.
+
+"What's the use of palaverin'?" said Bob sulkily. "I told you already
+I'm sick of my life. If you don't come till ten o'clock, by the time
+you've had your talk out and ridden to the Patriarch, the fever'll be
+upon me."
+
+"But we can't be flying about like a parcel of wild geese, because of
+your fever," said the procurador.
+
+"Certainly not," said Bob humbly.
+
+"It's an ugly customer the fever, though, Mr Whyte," observed Mr Trace;
+"and I calculate we ought to do him that pleasure. What do you think,
+squire?"
+
+"I reckon he's rather indiscreet in his askin's," said the judge, in a
+tone of vexation. "However, as he wishes it, and if it is agreeable to
+you," added he, turning to the Ayuntamiento; "and as it's you, Bob, I
+calculate we must do what you ask."
+
+"Thankee," said Bob.
+
+"Nothing to thank for," growled the judge. "And now go into the kitchen
+and get a good meal of roast beef, d'ye hear?" He knocked upon the
+table. "Some good roast beef for Bob," said he to a negress who entered;
+"and see that he eats it. And get your self dressed more decently,
+Bob--like a white man and a Christian, not like a wild redskin."
+
+The negress and Bob left the room. The conversation now turned upon
+Johnny, who appeared, from all accounts, to be a very bad and dangerous
+fellow; and after a short discussion, they agreed to lynch him, in
+backwoodsman's phrase, just as cooly as if they had been talking of
+catching a mustang. When the men had come to this satisfactory
+conclusion, they got up, drank the judge's health and mine, shook us by
+the hand, and left the house.
+
+The day passed more heavily than the preceding one. I was too much
+engrossed with the strange scene I had witnessed to talk much. The
+judge, too, was in a very bad humour. He was vexed that a man should be
+hung who might render the country much and good service if he remained
+alive. That Johnny, the miserable, cowardly, treacherous Johnny, should
+be sent out of the world as quickly as possible, was perfectly correct,
+but with Bob it was very different. In vain did I remind him of the
+crime of which Bob had been guilty--of the outraged laws of God and
+man--and of the atonement due. It was of no use. If Bob had sinned
+against society, he could repair his fault much better by remaining
+alive than by being hung; and, for anything else, God would avenge it in
+his own good time. We parted for the night, neither of us convinced by
+the other's arguments.
+
+We were sitting at breakfast the next morning, when a man, dressed in
+black, rode up to the door. It was Bob, but so metamorphosed that I
+scarcely knew him. Instead of the torn and bloodstained handkerchief
+round his head, he wore a hat; instead of the leathern jacket, a decent
+cloth coat. He had shaved off his beard too, and looked quite another
+man. His manner had altered with his dress; he seemed tranquil and
+resigned. With a mild and submissive look, he held out his hand to the
+judge, who took it and shook it heartily.
+
+"Ah, Bob!" said he, "if you had only listened to what I so often told
+you! I had those clothes brought on purpose from New Orleans, in order
+that, on Sundays at least, you might look like a decent and respectable
+man. How often have I asked you to put them on, and come with us to
+meeting, to hear Mr Bliss preach? There is same truth in the saying, the
+coat makes the man. With his Sunday coat, a man often puts on other and
+better thoughts. If that had been your case only fifty-two times in the
+year, you'd have learned to avoid Johnny before now."
+
+Bob said nothing.
+
+"Well, well! I've done all I could to make a better men of you. All that
+was in my power."
+
+"That you have," answered Bob, much moved. "God reward you for it!"
+
+I could not help holding out my hand to the worthy judge; and as I did
+so I thought I saw a moistness in his eye, which he suppressed, however,
+and, turning to his breakfast table, bade us sit down. Bob thanked him
+humbly, but declined, saying that he wished to appear fasting before his
+offended Creator. The judge insisted, and reasoned with him, and at last
+he took a chair.
+
+Before we had done breakfast our friends of the preceding day began to
+drop in, and some of them joined at the meal. When they had all taken
+what they chose, the judge ordered the negroes to clear away, and leave
+the room. This done, he seated himself at the upper end of the table,
+with the Ayuntamiento on either side, and Bob facing him.
+
+"Mr Whyte," said the Alcade, "have you, as procurador, any thing to
+state?"
+
+"Yes, Alcalde," replied the procurador. "In virtue of my office, I made
+a search in the place mentioned by Bob Rock, and there found the body of
+a man who had met his death by a gunshot wound. I also found a belt
+full of money, and several letters of recommendation to different
+planters, from which it appears that the man was on his way from
+Illinois to San Felipe, in order to buy land of Colonel Austin, and to
+settle in Texas."
+
+The procurador then produced a pair of saddle-bags, out of which he took
+a leathern belt stuffed with money, which he laid on the table, together
+with the letters. The judge opened the belt, and counted the money. It
+amounted to upwards of five hundred dollars, in gold and silver. The
+procurador then read the letters.
+
+One of the corregidors now announced that Johnny and his mulatto had
+left their house and fled. He, the corregidor, had sent people in
+pursuit of them; but as yet there were no tidings of their capture. This
+piece of intelligence seemed to vex the judge greatly, but he made no
+remark on it at the time.
+
+"Bob Rock!" cried he.
+
+Bob stepped forward.
+
+"Bob Rock, or by whatever other name you may be known, are you guilty or
+not guilty of this man's death?"
+
+"Guilty!" replied Bob, in a low tone.
+
+"Gentlemen of the jury, will you be pleased to give your verdict?"
+
+The jury left the room. In ten minutes they returned.
+
+"Guilty!" said the foreman.
+
+"Bob Rock," said the judge solemnly, "your fellow-citizens have found
+you guilty; and I pronounce the sentence--that you be hung by the neck
+until you are dead. The Lord be merciful to your soul!"
+
+"Amen!" said all present.
+
+"Thank ye," murmured Bob.
+
+"We will seal up the property of the deceased," said the judge, "and
+then proceed to our painful duty."
+
+He called for a light, and he and the procurador and corregidors sealed
+up the papers and money.
+
+"Has any one aught to allege why the sentence should not be put in
+execution?" said the Alcalde, with a glance at me.
+
+"He saved my life, judge and fellow-citizens," cried I, deeply moved.
+
+Bob shook his head mournfully.
+
+"Let us go, then, in God's name," said the judge.
+
+Without another word being spoken, we left the house and mounted our
+horses. The judge had brought a Bible with him; and he rode on, a little
+in front, with Bob, doing his best to prepare him for the eternity to
+which he was hastening. Bob listened attentively for some time; but at
+last he seemed to get impatient and pushed his mustang into so fast a
+trot, that for a moment we suspected him of wishing to escape the doom
+he had so eagerly sought. But it was only that he feared the fever might
+return before the expiration of the short time he yet had to live.
+
+After an hour's ride, we came to the enormous live oak distinguished as
+_the Patriarch_. Two or three of the men dismounted, and held aside the
+heavy moss-covered branches which swept the ground, and formed a
+complete curtain round the tree. The party rode through the opening thus
+made, and drew up in a circle beneath the huge leafy dome. In the centre
+of this ring stood Bob, trembling like an aspen-leaf, and with his eyes
+fixed on a small mound of fresh earth, partly concealed by the branches,
+and which had escaped my notice on my former visit to the tree. It was
+the grave of the murdered man.
+
+A magnificent burial-place was that: no poet could have dreamt or
+desired a better. Above, the huge vault, with its natural frettings and
+arches; below, the greenest, freshest grass; around, an eternal half
+light, streaked and varied, and radiant as a rainbow. It was imposingly
+beautiful.
+
+Bob, the judge, and the corregidors, remained sitting on their horses,
+but several of the other men dismounted. One of the latter cut the lasso
+from Bob's saddle, and threw an end of it over one of the lowermost
+branches; then uniting the two ends, formed them into a strong noose,
+which he left dangling from the bough. This simple preparation
+completed, the Alcalde took off his hat and folded his hands. The others
+followed his example.
+
+"Bob!" said the judge to the unfortunate criminal, whose head was bowed
+on his horse's mane; "Bob! we will pray for your poor soul, which is
+about to part from your sinful body."
+
+Bob raised his head. "I had something to say," exclaimed he, in a
+wondering and husky tone. "Something I wanted to say."
+
+"What have you to say?"
+
+Bob stared around him; his lips moved, but no word escaped him. His
+spirit was evidently no longer with things of this earth.
+
+"Bob!" said the judge again, "we will pray for your soul."
+
+"Pray! pray!" groaned he. "I shall need it."
+
+In slow and solemn accents, and with great feeling, the judge uttered
+the Lord's Prayer. Bob repeated every word after him. When it was
+ended--
+
+"God be merciful to your soul!" exclaimed the judge.
+
+"Amen!" said all present.
+
+One of the corregidors now passed the noose of the lasso round Bob's
+neck, another bound his eyes, a third person drew his feet out of the
+stirrups, while a fourth stepped behind his horse with a heavy
+riding-whip. All was done in the deepest silence; not a word was
+breathed; not a footfall heard on the soft yielding turf. There was
+something awful and oppressive in the profound stillness that reigned in
+the vast enclosure.
+
+The whip fell. The horse gave a spring forwards. At the same moment Bob
+made a desperate clutch at the bridle, and a loud "Hold!" burst in
+thrilling tones from the lips of the judge.
+
+It was too late, Bob was already hanging. The judge pushed forward,
+nearly riding down the man who held the whip, and seizing Bob in his
+arms, raised him on his own horse, supporting him with one hand, while
+with the other he strove to unfasten the noose. His whole gigantic frame
+trembled with eagerness and exertion. The procurador, corregidors, all,
+in short, stood in open-mouthed wonder at this strange proceeding.
+
+"Whisky! whisky! has nobody any whisky?" shouted the judge.
+
+One of the men sprang forward with a whisky-flask, another supported the
+body, and a third the feet, of the half-hanged man, while the judge
+poured a few drops of spirits into his mouth. The cravat, which had not
+been taken off, had hindered the breaking of the neck. Bob at last
+opened his eyes, and gazed vacantly around him.
+
+"Bob," said the judge, "you had something to say, hadn't you, about
+Johnny?"
+
+"Johnny," gasped Bob; "Johnny."
+
+"What's become of him?"
+
+"He's gone to San Antonio, Johnny."
+
+"To San Antonio!" repeated the judge, with an expression of great alarm
+overspreading his features.
+
+"To San Antonio--to Padre Jose," continued Bob; "a Catholic. Beware!"
+
+"A traitor, then!" muttered several.
+
+"Catholic!" exclaimed the judge. The words he had heard seemed to
+deprive him of all strength. His arms fell slowly and gradually by his
+side, and Bob was again hanging from the lasso.
+
+"A Catholic! a traitor!" repeated several of the men; "a citizen and a
+traitor!"
+
+"So it is, men!" exclaimed the judge. "We've no time to lose," continued
+he, in a harsh, hurried voice; "no time to lose; we must catch him."
+
+"That must we," said several voices, "or our plans are betrayed to the
+Mexicans."
+
+"After him immediately to San Antonio!" cried the judge with the same
+desperately hurried manner.
+
+"To San Antonio!" repeated the men, pushing their way through the
+curtain of moss and branches. As soon as they were outside, those who
+were dismounted sprang into the saddle, and, without another word, the
+whole party galloped away in the direction of San Antonio.
+
+The judge alone remained, seemingly lost in thought; his countenance
+pale and anxious, and his eyes following the riders. His reverie,
+however, had lasted but a very few seconds, when he seized my arm.
+
+"Hasten to my house," cried he; "lose no time, don't spare horse-flesh.
+Take Ptoly and a fresh beast; hurry over to San Felipe, and tell Stephen
+Austin what has happened, and what you have seen and heard."
+
+"But, judge"----
+
+"Off with you at once, if you would do Texas a service. Bring my wife
+and daughter back."
+
+And so saying, he literally drove me from under the tree, pushing me out
+with hands and feet. I was so startled at the expression of violent
+impatience and anxiety which his features assumed, that, without
+venturing to make further objection, I struck the spurs into my mustang
+and galloped off. Before I had got fifty yards from the tree, I looked
+round. The judge had disappeared.
+
+I rode full speed to the judge's house, and thence on a fresh horse to
+San Felipe, where I found Colonel Austin, who seemed much alarmed by the
+news I brought him, had horses saddled, and sent round to all the
+neighbours. Before the wife and step-daughter of the judge had made
+their preparations to accompany me home, he started with fifty armed men
+in the direction of San Antonio.
+
+I escorted the ladies to their house, but scarcely had we arrived there,
+when I was seized with a fever, the result of my recent fatigues and
+sufferings. For some days my life was in danger, but at last a good
+constitution, and the kindest and most watchful nursing, triumphed over
+the disease. As soon as I was able to mount a horse, I set out for Mr
+Neal's plantation, in company with his huntsman Anthony, who, after
+spending many days, and riding over hundreds of miles of ground in quest
+of me, had at last found me out.
+
+Our way led up past the Patriarch, and, as we approached it, we saw
+innumerable birds of prey, and carrion crows circling round it, croaking
+and screaming. I turned my eyes in another direction; but, nevertheless,
+I felt a strange sort of longing to revisit the tree. Anthony had ridden
+on, and was already hidden from view behind its branches. Presently I
+heard him give a loud shout of exultation. I jumped off my horse, and
+led it through a small opening in the leafage.
+
+Some forty paces from me the body of a man was hanging by a lasso from
+the very same branch on which Bob had been hung. It was not Bob,
+however, for the corpse was much too short and small for him.
+
+I drew nearer. "Johnny!" I exclaimed "That's Johnny!"
+
+"It _was_," answered Anthony. "Thank Heaven, there's an end of him!"
+
+I shuddered. "But where is Bob?"
+
+"Bob?" cried Anthony. "Bob!"
+
+He glanced towards the grave. The mound of earth seemed to me larger and
+higher than when I had last seen it. Doubtless the murderer lay beside
+his victim.
+
+"Shall we not render the last service to this wretch, Anthony?" asked I.
+
+"The scoundrel!" answered the huntsman. "I won't dirty my hands with
+him. Let him poison the kites and the crows!"
+
+We rode on.
+
+
+
+
+
+DEATH FROM THE STING OF A SERPENT.
+
+ As when a monstrous snake, with flaming crest,
+ Some wretch within its glittering folds has press'd--
+ He vainly struggles to escape its fangs,
+ The reptile triumphs, and the victim hangs
+ His head in agony, and bending low,
+ Feels the cursed venom through his life-blood flow.
+ On through his veins the burning poison speeds,
+ Drinks up his spirit--on his vitals feeds,
+ Till, tortured life extinct, the senseless clay
+ In hideous dissolution melts away.
+
+M. J.
+
+
+
+
+GIFTS OF TEREK.
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF LERMONTOFF. BY T. B. SHAW.
+
+ Terek[21] bellows, wildly sweeping
+ Past the cliffs, so swift and strong;
+ Like a tempest is his weeping,
+ Flies his spray like tears along.
+ O'er the steppe now slowly veering--
+ Calm but faithless looketh he--
+ With a voice of love endearing
+ Murmurs to the Caspian sea:
+
+ "Give me way, old sea! I greet thee;
+ Give me refuge in thy breast;
+ Far and fast I've rush'd to meet thee--
+ It is tine for me to rest.
+ Cradled in Kazbek, and cherish'd
+ From the bosom of the cloud,
+ Strong am I, and all have perish'd
+ Who would stop my current proud.
+ For thy sons' delight, O Ocean!
+ I've crush'd the crags of Darial,
+ Onward my resistless motion,
+ Like a flock, hath swept them all."
+
+ Still on his smooth shore reclining,
+ Lay the Caspian as in sleep;
+ While the Terek, softly shining,
+ To the old sea murmur'd deep:--
+
+ "Lo! a gift upon my water--
+ Lo! no common offering--
+ Floating from the field of slaughter,
+ A Kabardinetz[22] I bring.
+ All in shining mail he's shrouded--
+ Plates of steel his arms enfold;
+ Blood the Koran verse hath clouded,
+ That thereon is writ in gold:
+ His pale brow is sternly bended--
+ Gory stains his wreathed lip dye--
+ Valiant blood, and far-descended--
+ 'Tis the hue of victory!
+ Wild his eyes, yet nought he noteth;
+ With an ancient hate they glare:
+ Backward on the billow floateth,
+ All disorderly, his hair."
+
+ Still the Caspian, calm reclining,
+ Seems to slumber on his shore;
+ And impetuous Terek, shining,
+ Murmurs in his ear once more:--
+
+ "Father, hark! a priceless treasure--
+ Other gifts are poor to this--
+ I have hid, to do thee pleasure--
+ I have hid in my abyss!
+ Lo! a corse my wave doth pillow--
+ A Kazaichka[23] young and fair.
+ Darkly pale upon the billow
+ Gleams her breast and golden hair;
+ Very sad her pale brow gleameth,
+ And her eyes are closed in sleep;
+ From her bosom ever seemeth
+ A thin purple stream to creep.
+ By my water, calm and lonely,
+ For the maid that comes not back,
+ Of the whole Stanilza,[24] only
+ Mourns a Grebenskoi Kazak.
+
+ "Swift on his black steed he hieth;
+ To the mountains he is sped.
+ 'Neath Tchetchen's kinjal[25] now lieth,
+ Low in dust, that youthful head."
+
+ Silent then was that wild river;
+ And afar, as white as snow,
+ A fair head was seen to quiver
+ In the ripple, to and fro.
+
+ In his might the ancient ocean,
+ Like a tempest, 'gan arise;
+ And the light of soft emotion
+ Glimmer'd in his dark-blue eyes;
+
+ And he play'd, with rapture flushing,
+ And in his embraces bright,
+ Clasp'd the stream, to meet him rushing
+ With a murmur of delight.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] A river which, rising on the eastern side of the ridge of
+the Caucasus, falls, after a rapid and impetuous course, into the
+Caspian, near Anapa.
+
+[22] A mountaineer of the tribe of Kabarda.
+
+[23] A Kazak girl.
+
+[24] Village of Kazaks.
+
+[25] Kinjal, a large dagger, the favourite weapon of the
+mountain tribes of the Caucasus, among which the Tchetchenetzes are
+distinguished for bravery.
+
+
+
+
+MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN.
+
+PART VI.
+
+ "Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
+ Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind,
+ Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
+ Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
+ And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
+ Have I not in the pitched battle heard
+ Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?"
+
+SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+My first questions to Lafontaine, when I had his wound looked to, were
+of course for those whom he had left in England.
+
+"Ah, ha!" said he with a laugh, which showed the inextinguishable
+Frenchman, "are you constant still? Well, then, Madame la Comtesse is
+constant too; but it is to her boudoir, or the gaieties of Devonshire
+House, or perhaps to her abhorrence of Monsieur le Mari."
+
+"Le Mari!" I repeated the words with an involuntary start.
+
+"Bah! 'tis all the same. She is affianced, and among us that tie is
+quite as legitimate as marriage, and, our libellers say, a little
+stronger. But they certainly are _not_ married yet, for Mademoiselle
+Clotilde either is, or affects, the invalid; and considering the
+probability that she abhors the man and the match, I think, on the
+whole, that she acts diplomatically in informing the vainest colonel, in
+or out of France, that she is sick of any thing rather than of him."
+
+"But your Mariamne--how go on your interests there?" The question
+brought a smile and a sigh together, before he could find an answer.
+
+"How she is, what she is doing, or intends to do, or even what she is,
+are matters that I can no more answer than I can why the wind blows. She
+torments me, and takes a delight in tormenting me. I have been on the
+point of throwing up my commission a hundred times since I saw you, and
+flying to America, or the world's end. She controls me in every thing,
+insists on knowing all my movements from hour to hour, finds them out
+when I attempt to conceal them as matter of duty, tortures me for the
+concealment, and then laughs at me for the confession. She is
+intolerable."
+
+"And yet you have obtained a lengthening of your chain, or how come
+here? How long have you been in Paris?"
+
+"Just two days; and busy ones, or I should have found you out before.
+Yes, I had Mariamne's full permission to come; though to this moment I
+cannot account for the change. I had received a sudden order from
+Montrecour, who is deep in the emigrant affairs, to set out with letters
+which could not be sent by the courier. But I dared not leave London
+without asking _her_ permission; and I acknowledge asking her at the
+same time to run away with me, and give herself a lawful title to be my
+tyrant for life. Applying to Mordecai was out of the question. Her
+answer was immediate; contemptuous in the extreme as to my proposal, yet
+almost urgent on me to accept the mission, and lose no time between
+London and Paris. Her postscript was the oddest part of all. It was a
+grave recommendation to discover _you_, in whatever height or depth of
+the capital you might exist; whether you figured in the court or the
+cloister; were the idol of the maids of honour, or the model of the
+monks of La Trappe; to remind you that you had forgotten every body on
+the other side of the Channel who was worth remembering, including
+herself; and commending _me_, as a truant and a trifler, to your
+especial, grave, and experienced protection. Apropos! She sent me a
+letter, to be delivered to you with my own hands. But for yourself it
+had nearly failed in the delivery."
+
+He gave me the letter. It was, like the writer, a pretty _melange_;
+trifles gracefully expressed; strong sense expressed like trifles;
+feeling carried off with a laugh; and palpable and fond anxiety for
+Lafontaine couched in the most merciless badinage. While I gave this
+missive a second, and even a third perusal--for it finished with some
+gentle mention of the being whose name was a charm to my wearied
+spirit--my eyes accidentally fell on Lafontaine. His were fixed on me
+with an expression of inconceivable distress. At length his generous
+nature broke forth.
+
+"Marston, if I were capable of jealousy, I should be jealous of _you_
+and of Mariamne. What _can_ be the caprice which dictated that letter?
+what _can_ be the interest which you evidently take in it? I wish that
+the bullet which laid me at your door this evening had finished its
+work, and put an end to an existence which has been a perpetual fever. I
+shall not ask _what_ Mariamne has said to you--but _I_ am miserable."
+
+"Yes, but you _shall_ ask, and shall have all you ask," said I, giving
+him the letter. "It is the language of the heart, and of a heart
+strongly attached to _you_. I can see affection in every line of it. Of
+course she mingles a little coquetry with her sentiment; but was there
+ever a pretty woman, who was not more or less a coquette? She is a gem:
+never think it the less pure because it sparkles. Rely upon your little
+Mariamne."
+
+"Then _you_ have no sincere regard for her--no wish to interfere with my
+claims?" said my pallid friend, dubiously extending his hand towards me.
+
+"Lafontaine, listen to me, and for the last time on the subject. I have
+a very sincere regard for her." (My sensitive auditor started.) "But, I
+have also a perfect respect for your claims. It is impossible not to
+acknowledge the animated graces of the lady on whom you have fixed your
+affections. But mine are fixed where I have neither hope to sustain
+them, nor power to change.--Those matters have nothing to do with
+choice. They are effects without a cause, judgments without a reason,
+influences without an impulse--the problems of our nature, without a
+solution since the beginning of the world."
+
+"But, Marston, you will only laugh at me for all my troubles."
+
+"Lafontaine, I shall do no such thing. Those pains and penalties have
+been the lot of some of the noblest hearts and most powerful minds that
+the earth has ever seen; and have been most keenly felt by the noblest
+and the most powerful. The poet only tells the truth more gracefully
+when he says--
+
+     "'The spell of all spells that enamours the heart,
+       To few is imparted, to millions denied;
+     'Tis the brain of the victim that poisons the dart,
+       And fools jest at that by which sages have died.'
+
+"But now, my friend, let us talk of other things. We must not sink into
+a pair of sentimentalists; these are terrible times. And now, tell me
+what brought you out of quiet England among our madmen here?"
+
+"I may now tell all the world," was the reply, "for the evil is done
+beyond remedy. I was sent by our friends in London, to carry the last
+warning to the royal family of all that has happened this day. My papers
+contained the most exact details, the names of the leaders, their
+objects, their points of assembling, and even their points of attack.
+Those were furnished, as you may conceive, by one of the principal
+conspirators; a fellow whom I afterwards saw on horseback in front of
+the Tuileries, and whom, I think, I had the satisfaction of dismounting
+by a shot from my carbine."
+
+I mentioned the fruitlessness of my own efforts to awake the ministry.
+
+"Ah," said he, with a melancholy smile, "my friend, if you had been
+admitted into the palace, or into the council-chamber itself, you would
+have had precisely the same tale to tell. All was infatuation. I was
+ushered into the highest presence last midnight. My despatches were
+read. I was complimented on my zeal, and then was told that every thing
+was provided for. I was even closeted for two hours with the two
+individuals who, of all France, or of all mankind, had the largest stake
+in the crisis, and was again told that there was no crisis to be feared.
+I even offered to take a squadron of dragoons, and arrest the
+conspirators at the moment with my own hand. I saw the eyes of the
+noblest of women fill with tears of grief and indignation at the
+hopelessness of my appeal, and the answer, 'that though Frenchmen might
+hate the ministers, they always loved their king.' I saw that all was
+over."
+
+"Still," said I, "I cannot comprehend how the mere mob of Paris could
+have succeeded against the defenders of the palace."
+
+"If you had seen it as I did, the only wonder is, how the Tuileries held
+out so long. After passing a night on guard at the Pavilon de Flore, I
+was summoned at daybreak to attend his majesty. What a staff for a
+reviewing monarch! The queen endeavouring to support the appearance of
+calmness; Madame Elizabeth, that human angel, following her, dissolved
+in tears; the two royal children, weeping and frightened, making their
+way through the crowd of nobles, guardsmen, domestics who had gathered
+promiscuously in the chambers and corridors, armed with whatever weapons
+they could find, and all in confusion. From the windows there was
+another scene; and the only time when I saw the queen shudder, was when
+she cast her eye across the Place du Carrousel, and saw it covered with
+the dense masses of the multitude drawn up in battle-array. A more
+gloomy sight never met the eye. From time to time the distant discharge
+of cannon was heard, giving us the idea that some treachery was
+transacting in the remoter parts of the city, every discharge answered
+by a roar of--'Down with the King'--'Death to Marie Antoinette'--'The
+lamp-iron to all traitors.' While, as I glanced on those around me, I
+saw despair in every countenance; the resolution perhaps to die, but the
+evident belief that their death must be in vain. You now know all."
+
+I still expressed my strong anxiety to know what had been the events
+within the palace.
+
+"Marston, I cannot think of them. I cannot speak of them. I see nothing
+but a vision of blood, shame, folly, wretchedness. There never was a
+cause more fatally abandoned. Every thing that could be done to ruin a
+monarchy was done. I was standing beside the royal group, when a
+deputation from the National Assembly made its appearance. At its head
+was a meagre villain, whom one might have taken for the public
+executioner. He came up, cringing and bowing, to the unfortunate king;
+but with a look which visibly said--We have you in our power. I could
+have plunged my sword in the triumphant villain's heart. I had even
+instinctively half drawn it, when I felt the gentle pressure of a hand
+on mine. It was the queen's. 'Remember the king's presence. We must owe
+nothing to violence,' were her words. And at this instant she looked so
+heart-broken, yet so noble, that I could have worshipped her. The
+deputation pressed the necessity of 'taking shelter,' as they phrased
+it, 'in the bosom of the faithful Assembly.' The words, 'assembly of
+traitors,' burst from my lips. A shout of approbation arose on all
+sides. But I was more rewarded by a sorrowing smile from the queen. She
+was indignant at the proposal. 'No; never shall I leave this spot but by
+the king's command!' she exclaimed. 'I would rather be chained to the
+walls.' As the guard pressed round her at the words, she suddenly
+stopped, took a pistol from one of the Garde du Corps, and forcing it on
+the king--'Now,' said the heroine--'now is the time to show yourself a
+king of France!' An universal cry of enthusiasm arose, and hundreds of
+swords were brandished in the air. The deputation, evidently expecting
+to be massacred, made an effort to reach the door, and the monarchy was
+on the point of being saved; when the leader of the party glanced back
+at the royal circle. There stood unfortunate Louis, hesitating, with the
+pistol in his hand. On such moments all depends. The villain crept up to
+the king, and whispered in his ear--'Would you have all your family put
+to death? In the Assembly all are safe.'--'Well, then, we shall go,' was
+the simple answer. He might have added--'To the scaffold.' The queen
+pressed her hands on her eyes, and wept bitterly. All were silent. In a
+few minutes more our sad procession was crossing the garden to the door
+of the Assembly, amid a roar, which could not have been fiercer or more
+triumphant had we been going to execution."
+
+It was already twilight; the fine summer's day, as if it had been
+dimmed by the desperate scenes of which it was witness, set in sudden
+clouds; and the distant shoutings of the populace seemed to be answered
+by the voice of a storm. Lafontaine's wound began to bleed afresh by the
+agitation of his story, and to find medical assistance, was my first
+object. Having seen him conveyed to my bed, and leaving him in charge of
+my valet, I hastened towards the residence of the physician to the
+embassy. In doing this, I had to cross the Rue St Honore. But there my
+course was stopped. I shrink from alluding to those horrid scenes and
+times. The scene which there met my eyes has scarcely left them since.
+
+The populace were returning from the conquest and plunder of the palace
+to the Palais Royale, the headquarters of all convulsion; and they had
+arranged their ranks into something like a triumphal procession on the
+stage. The dead bodies of the brave Swiss were carried on boards or
+biers, preceded by banners of all kinds; the plundered ornaments of the
+Tuileries were borne on the heads of men; the horses from the royal
+stables, caparisoned for the occasion, drew hearses, in which the bodies
+of the mob who had fallen were deposited. Brief as the time for
+decoration had been, wreaths of artificial flowers, taken from the shops
+of the _marchandes de modes_, and theatrical shawls and mantles from the
+stores of the _fripiers_, covered the biers; and the whole, surrounded
+and followed by a forest of pikes and bayonets, plumes and flags, had no
+other light than the lurid and shifting blaze of thousands of torches
+tossing in the wild and howling wind.
+
+The train seemed endless; shocked and sickened, I had made repeated
+efforts to cross the column, but was repeatedly driven back. If all the
+dead criminality of Paris had risen to join all the living, it could
+scarcely have increased my astonishment at the countless thousands which
+continued to pour on before me; nor scarcely, if the procession had
+started from the grave, could it have looked more strange, squalid,
+haggard, and woebegone. In the rear came the cannon, which had achieved
+this melancholy victory. And they, again, were sometimes converted into
+the carriage of the dead, sometimes of the plunder, and, in every
+instance, were surmounted by women, female furies, drinking, shouting,
+and uttering cries of unspeakable savageness and blasphemy against
+priests, nobles, and kings; and, mingled with all this, were choruses of
+bacchanal songs, accompanied with shouts of laughter. It was now near
+midnight; and my anxiety for the condition of my unfortunate friend at
+last urged me to make a desperate attempt to force my way through the
+mass of pikes and daggers. After being swept far along with the stream,
+I reached the street in which the physician lived. He set out with me
+immediately, and, by his superior knowledge of the route, we were
+enabled to make our way unimpeded through streets, that looked like dens
+of robbers, to my hotel.
+
+But there a new and still more alarming disappointment awaited me. I
+found the porter and all the attendants of the establishment gathered on
+the stairs in terror. Lafontaine was gone! Whether, frenzied by the
+insults and yells of the populace, who continued to pass in troops from
+time to time, or anxious for my safety, he had started from his bed, put
+on his sword, and rushed into the street; without the possibility of
+being restrained, and without uttering a word of explanation.
+
+Exhausted as I was by fatigue, and still more by the sights and scenes
+through which I had just passed, this intelligence was a severe blow.
+The fate of a young enthusiast, and a foreigner, whom I had known but so
+lately, and of whom I knew so little, might not have justified much
+personal sacrifice. But the thought of the heart that would be broken by
+his falling into the hands of the barbarians, who were now masters of
+every thing, smote keenly upon me. Mariamne would die; and though I was
+by no means a lover of Mariamne, yet, where I had seen so much that was
+loveable, I might have a regard next in degree. There may, and does
+often, exist the tenderness of love without the flame. I could have
+looked on this pretty and animated creature as the wife of Lafontaine,
+or of any other object of her choice, without the slightest pang; but I
+could not have looked upon her pining away in hopelessness, wasting in
+silent sorrow, or with her gay and gentle existence clouded by a loss
+which nothing could repair, without thinking every effort of mine to
+avert evil from her, due on every principle of common feeling.
+
+While I pondered, a note was brought to me, written by Lafontaine before
+he had sallied from his chamber, and evidently written under the wildest
+emotion. It told me, in a few scarcely legible words, that he felt life
+a burden to him, and thanked Heaven for the opportunity now offered of
+dying for his king and the glory of France. That the monarchy had
+perished beyond redemption. But that, though the royal family were
+surrounded by the poniards of assassins, it was his determination to
+follow and find them, rescue them, or die at their feet. This strange
+production closed with--"You shall hear of me within twenty four hours,
+living or dead. If I fall, remember me to my affianced wife; and
+vindicate my character to the world."
+
+This was so like insanity, that it perplexed me more and more; but, on
+second thoughts, it appeared to offer some clue to his pursuit.--He had
+gone to die in presence of the royal family. If they were to be found by
+him at all, they must be found in the Assembly. I immediately went to
+the garden of the Tuileries, where they met until their new legislative
+palace should be erected. The multitude had now partially retired, for
+it was midnight; and the entrance was comparatively clear. A strong
+force of the National Guard still kept the drunken rabble at a distance;
+and the five franc piece, with which I tempted the incorruptibility of a
+peculiarly ferocious-looking patriot, admitted me without delay.
+
+What a scene there presented itself to my eyes! The "Salle" was large
+and showy; and when I had attended it in former debates, it exhibited
+the taste and skill which the French, more than any other people on
+earth, exhibit in temporary things. Nothing could exceed the elegance
+with which the Parisian decorators had fitted up this silk and tinsel
+abode, which was to be superseded, within a few months, by the solid
+majesty of marble. But, on this memorable and melancholy night, the
+ornaments bore, to me, the look of those sad frivolities with which
+France is fond of ornamenting her tombs. The chandeliers burned dim; the
+busts and statues looked ghostlike; the chief part of the members had
+thrown themselves drowsily on the benches; and the debate had languished
+into the murmurs of a speech, to which no one listened. If the loaded
+table, with its pile of petitions and ordonnances, in the midst of the
+hall, could have been imagined into a bier; the whole had the aspect of
+a _chapelle ardente_; there, indeed, lay in state the monarchy of
+France. My unlucky friend, of course, was not there; but I saw, in a
+narrow box, on the right of the president, a group, from which, when
+once seen, I found it impossible to withdraw my gaze--the first and most
+exalted victims of the Revolution, the king and his family. All but one
+were apparently overcome with fatigue; for they had sat there fifteen
+hours. But that one sat with a steady eye and an erect front, as if
+superior to all suffering. I had seen Marie Antoinette, the most
+splendid figure, in all the splendours of her court. I had seen her
+unshaken before vast popular assemblages, in which any rash or ruffian
+hand might have taken her life at the instant; but she now gave me an
+impression of a still higher order. Sitting in calm resignation and
+unstained dignity, her stately form and countenance, pale and pure as
+marble, looked like some noble statue on a tomb; or rather, sitting in
+that chamber of death, like some pure spirit, awaiting the summons to
+ascend from the relics of human guilt, infirmity, and passion before
+her.
+
+But the slumbers of the Assembly were soon to be broken. A tumult, and
+the tramping of many feet, was heard at the door. It was followed by the
+thunder of clubs and hammers breaking it in; the bars gave way; the
+huissiers and other attendants rushed through the body of the hall, and
+took refuge behind the chair of the president in affright; the sleepers
+started from their seats; and, with a roar which spoke the true
+supremacy of the new power in France, the mob poured in. They announced
+themselves a deputation from the Municipality, and instantly took
+possession of the benches. Men, women, and even children, composed this
+barbarian invasion; like all that I had seen, half intoxicated; but
+evidently trained by higher hands for more determined evil. A chosen
+set of orators, in Roman robes, probably plundered from some suburb
+theatre, moved forward to the table, and took their seats round it in as
+much solemnity as conscript fathers. The chief speaker then advanced
+from the door, preceded by the head of one of the murdered Swiss on a
+pike, a hideous spectacle, and, drawing from his belt a dagger,
+commenced a furious harangue against every thing that bore the shape of
+authority in the kingdom. The Assembly did not escape in the general
+outpouring of its bitterness. They were charged with want of zeal, with
+want of honesty, and, most formidable of all, want of patriotism. I saw
+many a member cower at the word; for it was the countersign of
+Jacobinism; and the man, on whom that charge was personally fastened,
+was sure to fall by pistol or dagger. But the rage of the harangue was
+levelled at the royal family. "There sits the tyrant!" he exclaimed,
+pointing with his poniard to the meekest of monarchs and of men. "The
+vengeance of the people calls for victims. How long shall it be
+insulted? If justice is blind, tear the bandage from her eyes. How long
+shall the sword of the people rust in its sheath! Liberty sitting on her
+altar demands new sacrifices to feed the flame. The blood of tyrants is
+the only incense worthy to be offered by a regenerated people!"
+
+At every pause of those fierce interjections, the crowd burst into yells
+of applause, drew knives and daggers from their bosoms, flourished them
+in the air, and echoed the words. The Assembly were evidently held in
+terror of their lives. The president made some faint attempts to restore
+order. A few of the members made faint attempts at speeches. But the mob
+were masters; and a night of such horrors passed, as I had never dreamed
+of before. At daybreak the orator demanded that a decree should be
+instantly passed, suspending the king, the ministry, and even the
+Assembly, in the midst of which he stood. Of all the extravagances ever
+conceived--of all the insolences of power--of all the licenses of
+popular licentiousness, this was the most daring, unrivalled, and
+unimagined; and yet this was carried, with scarcely a voice raised
+against it. The trembling president, with the dagger at his throat, put
+the motion for extinguishing the throne, the cabinet, and calling a new
+Assembly! From that hour the monarchy was no more.
+
+During this tremendous discussion, I had not ventured to raise my eyes
+towards the royal family; but, as all were now about to retire, I dared
+a single glance. The king was slowly leaving the box, leading the
+dauphin by the hand; the Princess Elizabeth was carrying the sleeping
+dauphiness in her arms; the queen stayed behind, alone, for a moment,
+sitting, as she had done for hours, with her eyes fixed on vacancy, and
+her countenance calm, but corpselike. At length she seemed to recollect
+that she was alone, and suddenly started up. Then nature had its way;
+she tottered, and fainted. From that night forth, that glorious creature
+never saw the light of day but through the bars of a prison. From the
+Feuillans, the royal family were consigned to the cells of the Temple,
+from which Louis and Marie Antoinette never emerged but to the grave!
+
+This night taught me a lesson, which neither time nor circumstance has
+ever made me forget. It cured me of all my republican fantasies at once,
+and for ever. I believe myself above the affectation of romantic
+sensibility. But it would not be less affectation to deny the feelings
+to which that awful scene of human guilt and human suffering gave birth.
+If the memory of the popular atrocities made me almost abhor human
+nature, the memory of that innocent and illustrious woman restored my
+admiration of the noble qualities that may still be found in human
+nature. "If I forget thee even in my mirth," the language of the
+Israelite to his beloved city, was mine, in scarcely a less solemn or
+sacred spirit, in those hours of early experience. Let the hearts and
+eyes of others refuse to acknowledge such feelings. I am not ashamed to
+say, that I have shed many a tear over the fate of the King and Queen of
+France. In the finest fictions of genius, in the most high-wrought
+sorrows of the stage, I have never been so deeply touched, I have never
+felt myself penetrated with such true and irresistible emotion, as in
+reading, many a year after, the simplest record of the unhappy Bourbons.
+What must it be, to have witnessed the last agonies of their hearts and
+throne!
+
+On returning to my chamber, shuddering and wretched, I found a despatch
+on my table. It was from Downing Street; an order, that within twelve
+hours after its receipt, I should set out from Paris, and make my way,
+with the utmost secrecy, to the headquarters of the Austrian and
+Prussian army; where further orders would be waiting for me.
+
+This command threw me into new perplexity. It had been my purpose to
+find my unfortunate friend, if he was not already in the bosom of the
+Seine, or a victim to some of the popular violences. But my orders were
+peremptory. I, however, did all that was in my power. I spent the day in
+looking for him through all the hotels and hospitals; and, after a
+hopeless search, gave my man of mystery, Mendoza, a commission--paid for
+at a rate that made him open his hollow eyes wide with incredulity on
+the coin--to discover and protect him, wherever he was to be found.
+
+But I had now another difficulty which threatened to nip my diplomatic
+honours in the bud. The news had just arrived, that the allied armies
+had passed the frontier, and were sweeping all before them with fire and
+sword. A populace is always mad with courage, or mad with cowardice; and
+the Parisians, who, but yesterday, were ready to have made a march round
+the globe, now thought the wells and cellars of the city not too deep,
+or too dark to hold them. They would have formed a camp in the
+catacombs, if they could. All was sudden terror. The barriers were shut.
+Guards were posted tenfold at all the gates. Men were ranged on the
+heights round the city, to make signals of the first approach of the
+Prussian hussars; and the inhabitants spent half the day on every house
+top that commanded a view of the country, waiting for the first glimpse
+of their devourers. To escape from this city of terror now became next
+to impossible. All my applications were powerless. The government were
+themselves regarded as under lock and key; the populace, as if
+determined that all should share a common massacre, were clustered at
+the barriers, pike in hand, to put all "emigrants" to death; the
+ambassador was, as ambassadors generally are in cases of real
+difficulty, a cipher; and yet I _must_ leave Paris within twelve hours,
+or be cashiered.
+
+It at length occurred to me to avail myself of my Jewish spy, and I
+found him listening to a midnight harangue in the midst of a Jacobin
+crowd, in the Palais Royal. He considered the matter for a while; and I
+walked about, leaving him to his free invention, while I contrasted the
+brilliant blaze of the gaming and dancing-rooms above me with the
+assassin-like darkness of the galleries below. At length he turned to
+me. "There is but one way. Have you any objection to be arrested?"
+
+"The greatest imaginable," was my answer.
+
+"Just as you please," he replied; "but I have here an order for the
+seizure of one of the emigrant agents, a Chevalier Lafontaine, lately
+arrived in Paris. He has been seen in the palace, but we have missed him
+for the last twelve hours. The order is for Vincennes. Will you take his
+place?"
+
+I naturally looked all surprise, and peremptorily refused.
+
+"Do as you will," said my intractable adviser; "but there is no other
+way to pass the gates. I shall take you to Vincennes as a state
+prisoner; I have influence there. In short, if you trust me, you shall
+be safe, and on your road by daybreak. If you do not, here your life is
+uncertain; you are known, watched, and the first order that I receive
+to-morrow, may be one for your apprehension."
+
+All this was likely enough; there was but a moment to deliberate, and I
+got into the first cabriolet, and drove with him to the barrier. The
+streets still exhibited scattered bands, who questioned us from time to
+time, but the words, "By order of the Municipality," which were enough
+to terrify the stoutest hearts, and the display of his badge, carried us
+through. We passed the guard at the gate, after a slight examination of
+the order, and galloped to Vincennes.
+
+At the sight of the frowning fortress my blood chilled, and I refused to
+go further. "In that case," said my conductor, "_I_ am compromised, and
+_you_ are ruined; the first patrol will seize you, while I shall be
+shot. I pledge myself, that here you shall not remain; but I must be
+acquitted to the head of the police. You shall be M. le Chevalier
+Lafontaine for the night; and, if such a man exists, you will probably
+be the means of saving his life. To-morrow I shall bring proofs of my
+mistake, and then you will be outside the walls of Paris, and free to go
+where you please."
+
+The name of Lafontaine decided me. Even the risk seemed less serious
+than before, and we drove over the drawbridge. The interior of the
+fortress formed a striking contrast to the scenes which I had just left
+behind me. All was still stern, and noiseless.
+
+"Give me your papers," said Mendoza; "they will be safer in my hands
+than in yours."
+
+I had but time to give him my despatch, as we passed through the court
+which led to the governor's apartments. I was searched in the presence
+of that important functionary, a meagre old captain of invalids, who had
+been roused from his bed, and was evidently half asleep. I stoutly
+denied my being "the criminal who had offended the majesty of the
+people." But as the governor himself, on gazing at me with his purblind
+eyes, was perfectly satisfied of my identity, there was no use in
+contesting the point. A couple of sentinels were placed at the door of
+my cell, and I was left, like himself, to my slumbers. Before the door
+closed, I grasped my guide by the throat. The thought that I had been
+entrapped, actually agonized me.
+
+"Am I betrayed?" I asked, in a whisper of fury.
+
+The only answer was, "Mordecai."
+
+I felt security in the word, and, without a further pang, heard his
+tread echoing along the distant corridor.
+
+Time rolls on, whether we are happy or miserable. Morning came, and
+found me feverish from a thousand dreams. Noon came, and my impatience
+grew with the hour. Evening came, and yet no symptom of my liberation.
+If, "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," confidence duped, and
+blindly, weakly, rashly duped, turns to torture.
+
+Why trust a known agent of the police? Why put my liberty into his
+hands? Why, above all, make him master of my papers? I was overwhelmed
+with shame. I writhed with remorse. As hour after hour dragged into slow
+length along, I sank from dejection to dejection, or burst from rage to
+rage. But at last, when the drums of the garrison were making their
+final flourish for the night, the key turned in the door of my cell, and
+the Jew entered. I almost sprang upon him, and his life would have been
+worth little, but for the words--"You may now leave the fortress." He
+told me, further, that my absence was fortunate, for a domiciliary visit
+had been paid to my apartments by direction of the municipality; my
+trunks examined, and my doors sealed. My absence was imputed to flight;
+and, as jails were then the only safe residences in France, I had
+escaped actual imprisonment simply by my volunteer detention; to watch
+the event, had been the source of his delay. All was speedily settled
+with the old commandant, who was now as perfectly "convinced, on his own
+knowledge," that I was not the chevalier, as he had been convinced on
+the night before that I was. Mendoza's proofs were registered in due
+form; and with unspeakable delight I once again mounted his cabriolet,
+and heard the chains of the drawbridge rattle behind me.
+
+My Jew had been true to his pledge. I found horses provided for me at a
+lonely cabaret, a league off. With the minute foresight which men of his
+trade learn, he had provided for me a couple of disguises--the garb of a
+peasant, which I was to use when I passed among the soldiery; and the
+uniform of an aide-de-camp, with which I was to keep down enquiries when
+I came among the peasantry. But I was weary of disguise. It had never
+thriven with my temperament. I was determined, at all events, now to
+trust to chance and my proper person; and if I must fail, have the
+satisfaction of failing after my own style. The only recompense which my
+magnanimous police-officer would receive, was a promise that I should
+mention his conduct to Mordecai; and, gathering up his rejected
+wardrobe, he departed.
+
+Fortunately I found disguises unnecessary, though at any other time they
+might have been essential. The country was all in a state of flight, and
+every man was too much employed in securing himself, to think of laying
+hold of others. Thus galloped I through hill and dale, through bush and
+brier, unquestioned and almost unseen; until, on the evening of the
+fourth day, as I plunged into a forest, which for the last half hour I
+had been imagining into a scene of fairyland, a bower where a pilgrim
+might finish his journey for life, or a man, "crazed by care, or crossed
+in hopeless love," might forget woman and woe together--I was awakened
+to the realities of things by the whistle of a bullet, which struck off
+a branch within an inch of my head, followed by a fierce howl for the
+countersign. By all the laws of war, the howl should have come first;
+but these were not times for ceremony. A troop of Hulans rushed round
+me, sabre in hand. I stood like a stoic; and, of course, attempted to
+tell who I was. But my German was unintelligible to my captors, and my
+French, a suspicious language on a Prussian outpost, only confirmed
+their opinion that I was born to be stripped. Accordingly one demanded
+my watch, another my purse, and I was in a fair way of entering the
+Prussian lines in a state of pauperism, or of being "left alone in my
+glory" by shot or sabre, when an officer rode up, whom I had casually
+known in some Parisian circle. To him I could explain myself, and to him
+I exhibited the envelope of my letter, inscribed with the words, "Grand
+Quartier General." My new friend bowed to this awful address like a Turk
+to the firman of the padisha, poured out a volley of wrath on the troop,
+ordered the instant and very reluctant restitution of my property, and
+with a couple of the squadron at our heels, took me under his escort, to
+deliver my papers in person.
+
+After an hour's gallop through rocks, rivulets, and brambles, which
+seemed without end, and totally uninhabited, except by an occasional
+patrol of the irregulars of the Austrian and Prussian forces--barbarians
+as savage-looking as ever were Goth or Hun, and capital substitutes for
+the wolves and wild-boars which they had ejected for the time--a sudden
+opening of the forest brought us within view of the immense camp of the
+combined armies.
+
+All the externals of war are splendid; it is the interior, the
+consequences, the operation of that mighty trampler of man that are
+startling. This was my first sight of that most magnificent of all the
+atrocious inventions of human evil--an army. The forces of the two most
+warlike monarchies of Europe were spread before me; nearly a hundred and
+fifty thousand troops, with all the numberless followers of a host in
+the field, covering a range of low hills which circled the horizon.
+While we were still at a considerable distance, a gun was fired from the
+central hill, answered by others from the flanks. The rolling of drums
+set the vast line in motion, and just at the moment when the sun was
+lying on the edge of the west, the brigades, descending each from its
+height, halted on the slope. The whole vast manoeuvre was executed
+with the exactness of a single mind. The blaze of the sun on the arms,
+the standards, and the tents crowning the brow of the hills, was
+magical. "Are they marching to battle?" was my amazed question to my
+companion. His only answer was to check his charger, take off his shako,
+and bend his forehead to his saddle-bow. A burst of universal harmony,
+richer than I had ever yet conceived, explained the mystery. It was the
+evening prayer. The fine bands of the regiments joined the voices of the
+soldiery, and I listened, in unbroken rapture and reverence, until its
+close. In court or cathedral, in concert or shrine, I had never before
+so much felt the power of sound. It finished in a solemn chorus, and
+accumulation of music. I could have almost imagined it ascending,
+embodied, to heaven.
+
+The fire of cannon announced the conclusion of the service; we put spurs
+to our horses, and soon entered the lines; and, on the strength of my
+credentials, I had distinguished quarters assigned to me.
+
+I now, for the first time since I left England, began to feel the
+advantages of birth. In London every man is so submerged in the
+multitude, that he who can hold his head high enough out of the living
+surge to be known, must have something of remarkable buoyancy, or
+peculiar villany, about him. Even Parliament, except to a few of the
+leaders, is no distinction. The member for the shire is clipped of all
+his plumage at the moment of his entering that colossal poultry-yard,
+and must take his obscure pickings with other unnoticeable fowl. In
+Paris, once the Mahometan paradise of stars and garters, the central
+herald's office of the earth, the royal region of the Parliament
+aristocracy, where the beggar with a _cordon_ on his breast outshone the
+banker with millions in his pocket-book, the world was changed; and to
+be the son or brother of a peer might have been only a speedier passport
+to the lamp-post. But, in Germany, the land of pedigrees, to be an
+"honourable" was to be one on whom the sun shone with double beams; the
+sex, young and old, smiled with double softness and the whole host of
+Serenities were doubly serene. In camp, nothing could be more hospitable
+or distinguished than my reception; for the soldier is always
+good-humoured under canvass, and the German is good-humoured every
+where. Perhaps he has rather too high an opinion of his descent from
+Goth and Vandal, but he makes allowance for the more modern savagery of
+Europe; and although the stranger may neither wear spectacles, nor smoke
+cigars, neither muzzle his visage with mustaches, nor speak the most
+formidable tongue on earth, the German will good-naturedly admit, that
+he may be a human being after all.
+
+But the man with whom my mission brought me most immediately into
+contact, and to whom I was most indebted for courtesy, would have been a
+remarkable personage in any country of Europe; that man was the Duke of
+Brunswick.
+
+On my arrival, I found two letters forwarded from London, and in the
+hands of an aide-de-camp of the generalissimo. The first which I opened
+was from the Foreign Office, a simple statement of the purpose for which
+I was sent--namely, to stimulate the activity of the Prussian councils,
+and to urge on the commander of the army an immediate march on the
+French capital; with a postscript, directing me, in case of tardiness
+being exhibited at headquarters, instantly to transmit a despatch home,
+and return to my post in Paris. The second letter--which I must, however
+undiplomatically, admit that I opened with much stronger interest--was
+from Mordecai. I glanced over it for some mention of the "ane braw
+name," and bitterly laughed at my own folly in expecting to find such
+communications in the letter of the hard-headed and busy Jew. All was
+brief and rapid.
+
+"If this shall find you in the Prussian camp, you will have no more time
+for me than I have for you. Let me not clip your diplomatic hopes; but
+this I forewarn you, you will not obtain a single object of your
+journey; except, perhaps, showing that you can gallop a hundred miles in
+the four-and-twenty hours, and can make your way through a country of
+lunatics without being piked or sabred.
+
+"The campaign is over already--over before it was begun. The battle was
+fought in the council at Berlin, and the allies were beaten. The duke,
+within the next fortnight, will be deciding on the merits of the ballet
+in Brunswick, and the French will be madder than ever with triumphs
+which they never won, preparing for conquests which are already gained,
+and knocking down thrones, the owners themselves supplying the pickaxes
+and hammers. You will see the two best armies of the Continent running
+away from their own shadows; the old councillors of Frederick and Maria
+Theresa baffled by cabinets of cobblers and tinkers; grey-beard
+generals, covered with orders, hunted over the frontier by boys, girls,
+and old women; and France, like a _poissarde_ in a passion, with her
+hair flying about her ears, a knife in her hand, and her tongue in full
+swing, scampering half naked over Europe, to the infinite wonder of the
+wearers of velvet, Mechlin lace, and diadems,--ha, ha, ha!"
+
+While I was trying to decipher this riddle, which was rather too
+contemptuous for my new views of things, but which I referred to the
+habitual feelings of a strong-headed man in humble life, brought just
+close enough to higher to feel his exclusion, an officer was announced
+as Count Varnhorst, on the staff of the duke. His countenance struck me
+at first sight, as one which I had seen before; and I soon discovered,
+that when I was a boy at Eton, he had been on a visit of a few days at
+Mortimer castle, in the suite of one of the Prussian princes. We had
+been thus old friends, and we now became young ones within the first
+quarter of an hour. His countenance was that of a humourist, and his
+recollections of the Great Frederick rendered him sarcastic on all
+things of the later generation.
+
+"The duke has sent me for you," said he, "with his apology for keeping
+you out of bed; but he has appointed midnight for the delivery of your
+despatches. The truth is, that hitherto we have all slept so soundly,
+that we must make up for lost time by turning night into day now, just
+as we have turned day into night for the last twelvemonth."
+
+"But what can you tell me of the duke?"
+
+"Oh! a great deal; but you know that I am on his staff, and therefore
+bound to keep his secrets."
+
+"Yet, count, remember that we have sworn an eternal friendship within
+the last five minutes. What can he or I be the worse for my knowing his
+great and good qualities?"
+
+"My dear young friend, when you are as old as I am, you will see the
+improprieties of such questions."
+
+"Well, then, to come to the point; is he a great general?"
+
+"He speaks French better than any other prince in Germany."
+
+"Is he an able politician?"
+
+"You must see him on horseback; he rides like a centaur."
+
+"Well, then, in one sentence, will he fight the French?"
+
+"That wholly depends on whether he turns his horse's head towards Paris
+or Berlin."
+
+"Count, but one question more, which you may answer without a riddle. Do
+you think that he will receive my mission cordially?"
+
+"He speaks your language; he wears your broad cloth; he loves your
+porter; and he has married one of your princesses."
+
+"All my difficulties are answered. I am ready; but what shall I find him
+doing at this extraordinary hour?"
+
+"If asleep, dreaming of the opera at Brunswick; if awake, dreaming of
+the opera at Paris."
+
+His diamond repeater, which he had laid on the table between us, struck
+twelve as he spoke; and, wrapping ourselves in our cloaks, we sallied
+forth into one of the most starry nights of autumn, and made our way,
+through long ranges of patrols and videttes, to the quarters of the
+generalissimo.
+
+The mansion was an old chateau, evidently long abandoned to loneliness
+and decay one of those huge edifices; whose building had cost one
+fortune, and whose support had exhausted another. But the struggle had
+been over for the last fifty years, and two or three shrivelled
+domestics remained to keep out the invasion of the bats and owls. But at
+this period the chateau exhibited, of course, another scene;
+aides-de-camp, generals, orderlies, couriers--all the clang and clamour
+of the staff of a great army--rang through the wild old halls, and
+echoed up the long ghostly corridors. Every apartment was a blaze of
+light, and filled with groups of officers of the Prussian and Austrian
+guards; all was billiard-playing, talking, singing in chorus, and
+carousing in all the noisy gaiety of the soldier in good quarters.
+
+"All this is tempting enough," said the old count, as we hastened along
+a gallery that seemed endless, but on which the open doors of the
+successive apartments threw broad illumination. "I dare say, Mr Marston,
+that you would prefer taking your seat among those lively fellows, to
+the honour of a ducal conference; but my orders are, that you must not
+be seen until the duke gives you _carte blanche_ to appear among human
+beings again."
+
+The count now opened the door of an apartment, which appeared to have
+been more lately tenanted than the rest, yet which exhibited signs of
+the general desertion; a marble table, covered with a decaying drapery,
+a Carrara alabaster of Niobe and her children on the mantelpiece, a huge
+mirror, and a tapestry of one of the hunts of Henri Quatre, showed that
+Time had been there, and that the Prussians had not; but the indistinct
+light of the single chandelier left me but little opportunity of
+indulging my speculations on the furniture. The count had left me, to
+ascertain when the duke should be at leisure to receive me; and my first
+process was, like a good soldier, to reconnoitre the neighbouring
+territory. The first door which I opened led into a conservatory, filled
+with the remnants of dead foliage, opening on the gardens of the
+chateau, which, wild as they now were, still sent up a fragrance doubly
+refreshing, after the atmosphere of meershaums, hot brandy, and Rhine
+beer, which filled the galleries. The casement distantly overlooked the
+esplanade in front of the chateau; and the perpetual movements of the
+couriers and estafettes, arriving and departing every moment, the
+galloping of cavalry, and the march of patrols, occupied me until a
+valet of the duke came to acquaint me that supper was served, by his
+highness's commands, in the apartment which I had lately quitted, and
+that he would be present in a few minutes.
+
+I returned of course; and found the chamber which I had left so dark and
+dilapidated, changed, as if by a fairy wand, into pomp and elegance. The
+duke was renowned for splendid extravagance, and the table was covered
+with rich plate, the walls glittered with a profusion of gilt lamps, and
+all round me had the look of regal luxury. But one object suddenly
+caught my gaze, and left me no power to glance at any other. In a
+recess, which had hitherto been obscure, but over which now blazed a
+brilliant girandole, hung a full-length portrait of a nun, which, but
+for the dress, I should have pronounced to be Clotilde; the same Greek
+profile, the same deep yet vivid eye, the same matchless sweetness of
+smile, and the same mixture of melancholy and enthusiasm, which had made
+me think my idol fit to be the worship of the world. I stood wrapped in
+astonishment, delight, pain, a thousand undefined feelings, until I
+could have almost imagined that the canvass before me lived. I saw its
+eye all but glisten, its lips all but open to speak; the very marble of
+its cheek begin to glow; when I was awakened by a lively voice, saying,
+in French--"Ah, Mr Marston, I perceive that you are a connoisseur." I
+turned, and saw the speaker, a man somewhat above the middle size; a
+remarkably noble-looking personage; in full dress even at that hour,
+powdered and perfumed, and altogether a court figure; his hands loaded
+with jewels, and a diamond star of the order of the garter upon his
+breast. It required no introducer to tell me that I was in the presence
+of the Duke of Brunswick.
+
+"Come," said he, "we have no time for etiquette, nor indeed for any
+thing else to-night--we must sup first, and then talk of your mission."
+
+We sat down; a double file of valets, in liveries, loaded with
+embroidery, attended at the table; though the party consisted of but
+four; Varnhorst, and a Colonel Guiseard, chief of the secret diplomacy,
+a pale Spanish-featured officer--to whom his highness did me the honour
+of introducing me, as the son of one of his old friends.
+
+"You remember Marston," said he, "at Brunswick, five-and-twenty years
+ago, in his envoyship--a capital horseman, a brilliant dresser, and a
+very promising diplomatist. I augured well of his future career,
+but" ----the infinite elevation of the ducal shoulders, and the infinite
+drooping of the ducal eyes, completed the remainder of my unfortunate
+parent's history; but whether in panegyric or censure, I was not
+sufficiently versed in the science of saying nothing and implying all
+things, to tell. Guiseard fixed his deep sallow eye on me, without a
+word: at that moment he reminded me exactly of one of the
+Inquisitors--the deep, dark-visaged men whom the matchless pencil of
+Velasquez has immortalized.
+
+Varnhorst burst out into a laugh.
+
+"What, Guiseard," said he, "are you reconnoitring the ground before you
+make the attack? Your royal highness, I think we ought to vindicate our
+country to this English gentleman, by assuring him that the colonel is
+not a cardinal in disguise."
+
+The colonel merely smiled, which seemed an effort for his cloistered
+physiognomy; the duke laughed, and began a general conversation upon all
+possible topics--England forming the chief; the royal family--the
+court--the theatres--parliament--the people--all whirled over with the
+ease and rapidity of one turning the leaves of an album; here a verse
+and there a portrait--here a sketch of a temple, and there an outline of
+a cottage--the whole pretty, and as trifling as pretty, and cast aside
+at the first moment when any thing better worth thinking of occurred.
+
+In the midst of our gaiety, in which the duke had completely laid down
+his sceptre, and taken his full share, the great clock of the chateau
+tolled one. The table was instantly swept of supper--the valets
+withdrew. I heard the tread of a sentinel at the door of the apartment;
+and the duke, instantly changing from the man of fashion to the
+statesman, began to enter into the questions then so deeply disturbing
+all the cabinets of Europe.
+
+I found the duke a very superior man to what I had conceived of him. He
+was frank and free, spoke of the intentions of the Allies in the most
+open manner, and censured the errors which they had already committed,
+with a plainness which I had not expected to find out of London. He had
+evidently made himself master of a great variety of knowledge, and with
+the happy but most unusual power of rendering it all applicable to the
+point in question. My impressions of him and his order, imbibed among
+the prejudices of England and the libels of France, was that of
+frivolity and flutter--an idle life and a stagnant understanding. I
+never was more surprised at the contrast between this conception and the
+animated and accomplished prince before me. He seemed to know not merely
+the persons of all the leading men of Europe--which might have naturally
+been the case with one who had visited every capital--but to be
+acquainted with their characters, their abilities, and even their modes
+of thinking. He seemed to me a man born to rule. It was in later days
+that the habits of a voluptuary, of which his peculiar love of dress
+might have been slightly symptomatic, produced their effect, in
+enfeebling a mind made for eminence. I saw him afterwards, broken with
+years and misfortune. But on this night I could only see a man on whom
+the destinies of Europe were rightly reposed. I pay this tribute of
+honour to his memory.
+
+He spoke a great deal, in our conference, on the necessity of a strong
+European combination against France, and flatteringly addressed to me a
+strong panegyric on my country.
+
+"If we can obtain," said he, "the cordial co-operation of the English
+people, I see no difficulty before us. We already have the Ministry with
+us; but I know the Englishman's hatred of a foreign war, his horror of
+public expenditure on continental interests, and his general distrust of
+the policy of foreign courts. And until we can give the people some
+evidence, not only that our intentions are sincere, but that our cause
+is their own, we shall never have the nation on our side."
+
+My remark was, "that the chief difficulty with the nation would be, to
+convince them that the Allied Powers were not influenced by personal
+motives; I said that the seizure of territory, while the French remained
+in their defenceless state, would probably excite strong public
+displeasure in England; and plainly stated, that the only thing which
+could engage the public spirit in the war, would be a conviction of its
+absolute justice and stern necessity."
+
+The conversation was here interrupted by the arrival of a staff-officer
+with despatches from Berlin. A number of papers were laid on the table,
+and handed over to Varnhorst and Guiseard to read. They proved chiefly
+notes and orders relative to the advance of the army. One paper,
+however, the duke read with evident interest, and marked with his pencil
+down the margin.
+
+"I am delighted," said he, "that this paper has reached us at last. Mr
+Marston will now see what my real advice has been from the beginning.
+The French journals have attacked me furiously for the declaration
+issued at our entrance on the frontier. The journals of England have
+partly echoed the French, and I am held up to the world as the author of
+the _Declaration of Pilnitz_. This paper, which Mr Marston will do me
+the honour to send at daybreak to his court by a special messenger, will
+clear my character with his countrymen at once--with the rest of Europe,
+I am content to wait a little longer."
+
+He then read the paper in his hand; and it was a long and striking
+protest against the idea of partitioning France, or having any other
+intention in the movement of the troops than the security of the French
+throne. This document had been sent to the Council at Berlin, and been
+returned by them for revision by the duke, and the softening of its
+rather uncourtly decisiveness of expression. It stated, that even the
+conquest of France, if it could be effected, must be wholly useless
+without the conciliation of the people: that it must be insecure, that
+it never could be complete, and that even the attempt might rouse this
+powerful people to feel its own force, and turn its vast resources to
+war. The first measure ought, therefore, to be an address to the nation,
+pronouncing, in the clearest language, an utter abjuration of all local
+seizure.
+
+The paper thus returned, and containing the observations of the council,
+was given to Varnhorst, to be copied. "And now," said the duke,
+"gentlemen, I think we may retire for the night; for we have but three
+hours until the march in the morning."
+
+I said some common-place thing, of the obligations which Europe must owe
+to a sovereign prince, exposing himself to such labours, honourable as
+they were.
+
+"No," he smilingly replied; "they are part of our office, the routine of
+the life of princes, the vocation of men born for the public, and living
+for the public alone. The prince must be a soldier, and the soldier must
+make the camp his home, and the palace only his sojourn. It is his
+fortune, perhaps his misfortune, that but one profession in life is left
+open to him, whether it be the bent of his temperament or not--while
+other men may follow their tastes in the choice, serve their fellows in
+a hundred different ways, and raise a bloodless reputation among
+mankind. And now, good-night. To-morrow at five the _advance_ moves. At
+six I shall be on horseback, and then--Well! what matter for the
+_then_? We shall sleep at least to-night; and so, farewell."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO VOL. LIV.
+
+
+Aberdeen, Lord, remarks on his church bill, 545.
+
+Adventures in Louisiana, No. I., The Prairie and the Swamp, 43
+  --No. II., The Blockhouse, 234.
+
+Adventures in Texas, No. I., A Scamper in the Prairie of Jacinto, 551
+  --No. II., A Trial by Jury, 777.
+
+Ahmed-Kiuprili, career of, 175.
+
+Anti-corn-law League, proceedings of the, 539.
+
+Ancient Towns, a plea for, against railways, 398.
+
+Aristocracy of England, the, 51.
+
+Armada, the, from Schiller, 143.
+
+Armansperg, Count, administration of, in Greece, 348.
+
+Arne the composer, 26.
+
+Art, British, present state of, 188.
+
+Athens, population, institutions, &c., of, 352.
+
+Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, on the best means of establishing a
+communication between the, 658.
+
+Austria, commerce, &c., of, 251.
+
+Ballads of Schiller, the. _See_ Schiller.
+
+Balzac, M., Two Dreams, a sketch by, 672.
+
+Banking-house, the, a history in three parts. Part I. Chap. I.,
+Prospective, 576
+  --Chap. II., Retrospective, 578
+  --Chap. III., The beginning of the end, 582
+  --Chap. IV., Miching mallecho, it means mischief, 585
+  --Chap. V., Matters of course, 588
+  --Chap. VI., A discovery, 592
+  --Chap. VII., The end of the beginning, 594.
+  Part II. Chap. I., A negotiation, 719
+  --Chap. II., A lull. 723
+  --Chap. III., A sweet couple, 725
+  --Chap. IV., A speculation, 730
+  --Chap. V., A landed proprietor, 733.
+
+Bankruptcy of the Greek kingdom, the, 345
+  --means of averting it, 361.
+
+Barrett, Elizabeth B., Cry of the Children, by, 260.
+
+Bavarian government of Greece, effects of the, 345.
+
+Bennett's Ceylon and its capabilities, review of, 622.
+
+Blockhouse, the, an adventure in Louisiana, 234.
+
+Bridge over the Thur, the, from the German of Gustav Schwab, 717.
+
+British institution, exhibition at the, 203.
+
+Brownrigg, Sir Robert, conquest of Kandy, by, 632.
+
+Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, Bart., translation of the poems and ballads
+of Schiller, by. Part the last, 139.
+  --Love and Death, by, 717.
+
+Bute, lines written in, by Delta, 749.
+
+Byrd, the composer, 24.
+
+Cabinet, the Greek, construction and powers of the, 350.
+
+Canadian corn bill, the, 543.
+
+Canal, proposed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 658.
+
+Carlyle's Past and Present, review of, with notices of his other works,
+121.
+
+Ceylon and its capabilities, by Bennett, review of, 622
+  --its climate, 626
+  --sketch of its history, 627.
+
+Chapters of Turkish History; No. X. The Second Siege of Vienna, 173.
+
+Charles Edward at Versailles on the Anniversary of the Battle of
+Culloden, a poem, 107.
+
+Chronicles of Paris--the Rue St Denis, 524.
+
+Cinghalese, character of the, 627.
+
+Cobden, Mr, refutation of his statements regarding the colonies, 407, 637
+  --his misrepresentations on the corn question, 539.
+
+College Theatricals, a tale, 737.
+
+Colonies, the, examination of Cobden's statements regarding, 409, 637.
+
+Commencement of the New Century, the, from the German of Schiller, 151.
+
+Commercial Intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, on the
+best means of establishing, 658.
+
+Commercial Policy, Europe, 243
+  --ships, colonies, and commerce, 406
+  --the same continued, 637.
+
+Comparison of the protective and free-trade
+systems, 243, 406, 637.
+Conflict, the, on the German of Schiller, 144.
+
+Continental nobility, comparison of with the British, 56.
+
+Corn-law Question, the, 539.
+
+Council of State, the Greek, 350.
+
+Creswick, Mr, remarks on the style of, 188.
+
+Cry of the Children, the, 260.
+
+Darien company, the, 661.
+
+Davie, Major, conduct of, in Ceylon, 628.
+
+Death from the Sting of a Serpent, lines on, 798.
+
+Delta, a Vision of the World by, 343
+  --Lines written in the Isle of Bute by, 749.
+
+Devil's Frills, the, a Dutch illustration of the water cure,
+  --Chap. I. 225
+  --Chap. II. ib.
+  --Chap. III. 227
+  --Chap. IV. 228
+  --Chap. V. 230
+  --Chap. VI. 232.
+
+Disturbed Districts of Wales, notes on a tour in the, by Joseph Downes,
+766.
+
+Downes, Joseph, tour in the disturbed districts of Wales by, 766.
+
+Dutch, landing of the, in Ceylon, 627.
+
+Early English Musicians, notices of, 23.
+
+Early Greek Romances, the Ethiopics of Heliodorus, 109.
+
+Education, institutions for, in Greece, 357.
+
+Education, the government scheme of, 548.
+
+Emma, lines to, from the German of Schiller, 150.
+
+England, the aristocracy of, 51.
+
+English music and musicians, 23.
+
+Epigram on Dr Toe, &c., 263.
+
+Erigena, letter from, to Christopher North, 263.
+
+Ethiopics of Heliodorus, account of the, 109.
+
+Europe, commercial policy of, 243.
+
+Exhibitions, notices of--the Royal Academy's, 188
+  --the Suffolk Street gallery, 199
+  --paintings in water-colours, 201
+  --the British Institution, 203.
+
+Factory bill, the, 548.
+
+Fanariotes, character of the, 351.
+
+Farewell to the Reader, from the German of Schiller, 152.
+
+Fate of Polycrates, the, 483.
+
+France, conduct of, towards Greece, 359.
+
+Frederick Schlegel, review of the works and character of, 311.
+
+Free-trade and protective systems, comparison of the, 248.
+
+French academy, 519.
+
+French and German works of fiction, comparison between, 672.
+
+Fuseli's Lectures at the Royal Academy: his introduction, 691
+  --Lecture I., 694
+    --II., 697
+    --III., 703.
+
+Game up with the repeal agitation, the, 679.
+
+German and French literature, comparison between, 672.
+
+Gibbons the composer, 24.
+
+Gifts of Terek the, translated from the Russian of Lermontoff, by J. B.
+Shaw, 799.
+
+Gods of Greece, the, from the German of Schiller, 146.
+
+Goethe, remarks by, on the Schlegels, 311.
+
+Great Britain, proceedings of, towards Greece, 359.
+
+Greece, present state and prospects of, 345
+  --peculiarities of its inhabitants, 350
+  --its present revenues and expenditure, 361.
+
+Guizot, M., opinion of, on the union of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
+659.
+
+Heliodorus, the Ethiopics of, 109.
+
+Heber, Bishop, the Whippiad, a poem, by. Canto I., 100
+  --Canto II., 102
+  --Canto III., 104.
+
+Hendia, the history of, 479.
+
+Hullah's method of teaching, strictures on, 37.
+
+Humboldt, M., on uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 659.
+
+Hymn to Joy, from the German of Schiller, 142.
+
+Inscription on the foundation stone of the new dining-hall, &c., 79.
+
+Invincible Armada, the, from the German of Schiller, 143.
+
+Irish arms bill, the, 549.
+
+Jacinto, a scamper in the prairie of, 521.
+
+Jack Stuart's bet on the Derby, and how he paid his losses, 67.
+
+Jolly Father Joe, a tale from the Golden Legend, 255.
+
+Joy, hymn to, from the German of Schiller, 142.
+
+Jury trial in Texas, a, 777.
+
+Kandy, description of the district of, 627
+  --its conquest by the British, 632.
+
+Kerim Khan, travels of. Part I., 453
+  --Part II., 564
+  --Part III., 753.
+
+King Arthur, Purcell's opera of, and its revival, 25.
+
+Last Session of Parliament, review of the, 538
+  --the corn question, 539
+  --the Canadian corn bill, 543
+  --the Scotch church bill, 545
+  --the factory bill, 548
+  --the Irish arms bill, 549.
+
+Letter to Christopher North, 263.
+
+Lectures at the Royal Academy--Henry Fuseli, 691.
+
+Lines written in the Isle of Bute, by Delta, 749.
+
+Lloyd, Mr, report by, on uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 663.
+
+Locke, Mathew, the composer, 25.
+
+Logic, Mill's elements of, reviewed, 415.
+
+Louisiana, adventures in; the Prairie and the Swamp, 43
+  --No. II., the Blockhouse, 234.
+
+Love and Death, by Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, 717.
+
+M'Dowall, General, proceedings of, in Ceylon, 628.
+
+Maclise, Mr, remarks on the style of, 188.
+
+Mainzer and Hullah, comparison of the methods of, 37.
+
+Marston; or, Memoirs of a Statesman. Part II., 1
+  --Part III., 207
+  --Part IV., 325
+  --Part V., 608
+  --Part VI., 801.
+
+Maurer, M., administration of, in Greece, 348.
+
+Meeting, the, from the German of Schiller, 149.
+
+Memoir on the best means of establishing a communication between the
+Atlantic and Pacific oceans, 658.
+
+Mill's elements of logic, review of, 415.
+
+Minstrels of Old, the, from the German of Schiller, 152.
+
+Modern painters, their superiority in the art of landscape painting to
+the old masters, review of, 485.
+
+Municipal institutions of Greece, the, 352.
+
+Music, something about, 709.
+
+Music and musicians, English, 23
+  --present state of, in England, 33.
+
+My country neighbours, a tale, 431.
+
+Napier's (Colonel) reminiscences of Syria, review of, 476.
+
+Nobility of England, characteristics of the, 56.
+
+Non-intrusionism, remarks on, and on the proceedings of the party, 545.
+
+Notes on a tour in the disturbed districts in Wales, by Joseph Downes, 766.
+
+O'Connell, Mr, present position of, 264
+  --proceedings of the government against, and their consequences, 685.
+
+Otho, King, state of Greece on his accession to the throne, 345
+  --effects of his government, 348.
+
+Over-production, effects of, 243.
+
+Pacific and Atlantic oceans, proposed communication between the, 658.
+
+Panama, the isthmus of, its advantages for a communication between the
+two oceans, 658
+  --description of the town, 665.
+
+Paris, chronicles of--the Rue St Denis, 524.
+
+Parliament, last session of, review of its measures, 538
+  --the corn-law question, 539
+  --Canadian corn-bill, 543
+  --Scotch church bill, 545
+  --Factory bill, 548
+  --the Irish arms bill, 549.
+
+Past and Present, by Thomas Carlyle, review of, 121.
+
+Patent law, effects of the, 519.
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, review of his speech on the Irish question, 270.
+
+Persian princes, notices of the narrative of the, 453.
+
+Philhellenic drinking-song, by B. Simmons, 41.
+
+Physical science in England, state and prospects of, 514.
+
+Plea for ancient towns against railways, a, 398.
+
+Poems and ballads of Schiller, the. _See_ Schiller.
+
+Poetry--Philhellenic drinking-song, by B. Simmons, 41
+  --inscription on the foundation stone of the new dining-hall, &c., 79
+  --the Whippiad, a satirical poem, by Bishop Heber, Canto I., 100
+    --Canto II., 102
+    --Canto III., 104
+    --Charles Edward at Versailles on the anniversary of the battle of
+      Culloden, 107
+  --Poems and Ballads of Schiller; Part the Last, 139
+  --Jolly Father Joe, a tale from the Golden Legend, 255
+  --the Cry of the Children, by Elizabeth B. Barrett, 260
+  --a Vision of the World, by Delta, 343
+  --the Fate of Polycrates, 483
+  --Lines written in the Isle of Bute, by Delta, 749
+  --Death from the sting of a serpent, 798
+  --the Purple Cloak, or the return of Syloson to Samos, 714
+  --Love and Death, 717
+  --the Bridge over the Thur, from the German, ib.
+  --Gifts of Terek, the, 799.
+
+Polycrates, the Fate of, a poem, 483.
+
+Poole, Mr, critique on his painting, "Solomon Eagle," &c., 189.
+
+Portugal, the French invasion of, causes of its success, 53.
+
+Prairie and the Swamp, the, an adventure in Louisiana, 43.
+
+Protective and free-trade systems, comparison of the, 243, 406, 637.
+
+Puppet-show of Life, the, from the German of Schiller, 150.
+
+Purcell the composer, revival of his opera King Arthur, and remarks on
+it, 25.
+
+Purple Cloak, the, or the return of Syloson to Samos, 714
+  --Part II., 715.
+
+Railroad, proposed, across the isthmus of Panama, 658.
+
+Railways, a plea for ancient towns against, 398.
+
+Reading party during the long vacation, a, 153.
+
+Rebeccaites in Wales, the, 766.
+
+Reminiscences of Syria, 476.
+
+Repeal agitation, the, 264
+  --game up with, 679.
+
+Resignation, from the German of Schiller, 145.
+
+Reviews.--Scrope's Days and nights of salmon fishing, 80
+  --Carlyle's Past and Present, 121
+  --the works of Frederick Schlegel, 311
+  --Woman's rights and duties, 373
+  --Mill's elements of logic, 415
+  --Colonel Napier's reminiscences of Syria, 476
+  --Modern painters, their superiority in the art of landscape painting to
+    the old masters, 485
+  --Bennett's Ceylon and its capabilities, 622.
+
+Roads, deficiency of, in Greece, 336.
+
+Royal Academy, exhibition of the, 188
+  --Fuseli's Lectures at the, 691.
+
+Royal salute, the, a tale, 504.
+
+Royal Society of London, the, 518.
+
+Rue St Denis, chronicles of the, 524.
+
+Russia, conduct of, towards Greece, 359.
+
+Salmon fishing, Scrope's days and nights of, reviewed, 80.
+
+Scamper in the prairie of Jacinto, a, 521.
+
+Schiller, the poems and ballads of, translated, Part the Last,
+introduction, 139
+  --remarks on those of the second period, 140
+  --hymn to joy, 142
+  --the invincible armada, 143
+  --the conflict, 144
+  --resignation, 145
+  --the gods of Greece, 146
+  --the meeting, 149
+  --to Emma, 150
+  --to a young friend devoting himself to philosophy, ib.
+  --the puppet-show of life, ib.
+  --the commencement of the new century, 151
+  --the minstrels of old, 152
+  --farewell to the reader, ib.
+
+Schlegel, Frederick, review of the works of, 311.
+
+Schwab, Gustav, the Bridge over the Thur, by, translated, 717.
+
+Scotch Church, remarks on the bill for the settlement of the, 544.
+
+Scrope on salmon fishing, review of, 80.
+
+Second siege of Vienna, the, a chapter of Turkish history, 173.
+
+Senses, a speculation on the, 650.
+
+Simmons, B., Philhellenic drinking-song, by, 41.
+
+Singers, English, notices of, 31.
+
+Singhalese, character of the, 627.
+
+Sketch in the tropics, a, from a super-cargo's log, 362.
+
+Sobieski, John, deliverance of Vienna, by, 184.
+
+Society of British artists, exhibition of the, 199.
+
+Something about Music, 709.
+
+Spain, effects of the want of an aristocracy in, 52.
+
+Speculation on the senses, a, 650.
+
+Stahrenberg, Count, defence of Vienna by, 181.
+
+Statesman, memoirs of a. Part II., 1
+  --Part III., 207
+  --Part IV., 325
+  --Part V., 608
+  --Part VI., 801.
+
+Suffolk street gallery, exhibition at the, 199.
+
+Supercargo's log, sketch from a, 362.
+
+Switzerland, commercial policy, &c., of, 248.
+
+Syloson's return to Samos, 714
+  --Part II., 715.
+
+Syria, Colonel Napier's reminiscences of, 476.
+
+Tallis, the English musician, notices of, 23-24.
+
+Taprobane of the Romans, the, 623.
+
+Taxation, pressure of, in Greece, 358.
+
+Texas, adventures in. No. I., a scamper in the prairie of Jacinto, 551
+  --No. II., a trial by jury, 777.
+
+Thirteenth, the, a tale of doom, 465.
+
+To a young friend devoting himself to philosophy, from the German of
+Schiller, 150.
+
+Travels of Kerim Khan. Part I., 453
+  --Part II., 564
+  --conclusion, 753.
+
+Trial by jury, a; an adventure in Texas, 777.
+
+Tropics, a sketch in the, from a super-cargo's log, 362.
+
+Turkish history, chapters of. No. X., the second siege of Vienna, 173.
+
+Turner, J. W., strictures on the works of, 497.
+
+Two dreams, from the French of Balzac, 672.
+
+University of Athens, the, 358.
+
+Vienna, the second siege of, a chapter of Turkish history, 173.
+
+Vision of the world, a, by Delta, 343.
+
+Wales, notes on a tour in the disturbed districts of, 766.
+
+Water-colour paintings, exhibitions of, 201.
+
+"We are all low people there," a tale of the assizes. Chapter I., 273
+  --Chapter II., 288.
+
+Whewell's philosophy of the inductive sciences, remarks on, 422.
+
+Whippiad, the, a satirical poem, by Bishop Heber. Canto I., 100
+  --Canto II., 102
+  --Canto III., 104
+  --Letter relating to, 263.
+
+Woman's rights and duties, review of, 373.
+
+Women, the wrongs of, 597.
+
+Wood-paving for locomotives, advantages of, 398.
+
+World, a vision of the, by Delta, 343.
+
+Wrongs of women, the, 597.
+
+Young, A., on the habits of the Salmon, 82.
+
+
+END OF VOL. LIV.
+
+
+_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine -
+Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH ***
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