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diff --git a/25193.txt b/25193.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e93bb3d --- /dev/null +++ b/25193.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10087 @@ +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.) + + + + + + + + + + +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 *** + +***** This file should be named 25193.txt or 25193.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/1/9/25193/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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