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diff --git a/39190.txt b/39190.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b4d75a --- /dev/null +++ b/39190.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15544 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1. No +1, June 1850, 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/license + + +Title: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1. No 1, June 1850 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 19, 2012 [EBook #39190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + HARPER'S + + NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + + VOLUME I. + + JUNE TO NOVEMBER, 1850. + + NEW YORK: + + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + + 329 & 331 PEARL STREET, + + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + MDCCCL + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +The Publishers take great pleasure in presenting herewith the first +volume of the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. It was projected and commenced in +the belief, that it might be made the means of bringing within the reach +of the great mass of the American people, an immense amount of useful +and entertaining reading matter, to which, on account of the great +number and expense of the books and periodicals in which it originally +appears, they have hitherto had no access. The popularity of the work +has outstripped their most sanguine expectations. Although but six +months have elapsed since it was first announced, it has already +attained a regular monthly issue of more than FIFTY THOUSAND COPIES, and +the rate of its increase is still unchecked. Under these circumstances, +the Publishers would consider themselves failing in duty, as well as in +gratitude, to the public, if they omitted any exertion within their +power to increase its substantial value and its attractiveness. It will +be their aim to present, in a style of typography unsurpassed by any +similar publication in the world, every thing of general interest and +usefulness which the current literature of the times may contain. They +will seek, in every article, to combine entertainment with instruction, +and to enforce, through channels which attract rather than repel +attention and favor, the best and most important lessons of morality and +of practical life. They will spare neither labor nor expense in any +department of the work; freely lavishing both upon the editorial aid, +the pictorial embellishments, the typography, and the general literary +resources by which they hope to give the Magazine a popular circulation, +unequaled by that of any similar periodical ever published in the world. +And they are satisfied that they may appeal with confidence to the +present volume, for evidence of the earnestness and fidelity with which +they will enter upon the fulfillment of these promises for the future. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + + + A Bachelor's Reverie. By IK. MARVEL 620 + A Child's Dream of a Star 73 + A Chip from a Sailor's Log 478 + Adventure in a Turkish Harem 321 + Adventure with a Snake 415 + Aerial voyage of Barral and Bixio 499 + A few words on Corals 251 + A Five Days' Tour in the Odenwald. By WILLIAM HOWITT 448 + A Giraffe Chase 329 + Alchemy and Gunpowder 195 + American Literature 37 + American Vanity 274 + A Midnight Drive 820 + Amusements of the Court of Louis XV 97 + Andrew Carson's Money: A Story of Gold 503 + Anecdote of a Singer 779 + Anecdotes of Dr. Chalmers 696 + Anecdote of Lord Clive 554 + A Night in the Bell Inn. A Ghost Story. 252 + A Paris Newspaper 181 + A Pilgrimage to the Cradle of Liberty 721 + Archibald Alison (with Portrait) 134 + A Shilling's Worth of Science 597 + Assyrian Sects 454 + A Tale of the good Old Times 52 + Atlantic Waves 786 + A True Ghost Story 801 + A Tuscan Vintage 600 + A Word at the Start 1 + Bathing--Its Utility. By Dr. MOORE 215 + Battle with Life (Poetry) 731 + Benjamin West. By LEIGH HUNT 194 + Biographical Sketch of Zachary Taylor 298 + Borax Lagoons of Tuscany 397 + Burke and the Painter Barry 807 + Charlotte Corday 262 + Chemical Contradictions 736 + Christ-hospital Worthies. By LEIGH HUNT 200 + Conflict with an Elephant 352 + Death of Cromwell (Poetry) 257 + Descent into the Crater of a Volcano 838 + Diplomacy--Lord Chesterfield 246 + Doing (Poetry) 268 + Dr. Johnson: his Religious Life and Death 71 + Early History of the Use of Coal 656 + Early Rising 52 + Earth's Harvests (Poetry) 297 + Ebenezer Elliott 349 + Education in America 209 + Elephant Shooting in South Africa 393 + Encounter with a Lioness 303 + Eruptions of Mount Etna 35 + Fashions for Early Summer 142 + Fashions for July 287 + Fashions for August 431 + Fashions for early Autumn 575 + Fashions for Autumn 719 + Fashions for November 863 + Fate Days, and other Superstitions 729 + Father and Son 243 + Fearful Tragedy--A Man-eating Lion 471 + Fifty Years ago. By LEIGH HUNT 180 + Fortunes of the Gardener's Daughter 832 + Francis Jeffrey 66 + Galileo and his Daughter 347 + Genius 65 + Ghost Stories: Mademoiselle Clairon 83 + Glimpses of the East. By ALBERT SMITH 198 + Globes, and how they are Made 165 + Greenwich Weather-wisdom 265 + Habits of the African Lion 480 + Have great Poets become impossible? 340 + History of Bank Note Forgeries 745 + How to kill Clever Children 789 + How to make Home unhealthy. By HARRIET MARTINEAU 601 + How We Went Whaling 844 + Hydrophobia 846 + Ignorance of the English 205 + Illustrations of Cheapness. Lucifer Matches 75 + Industry of the Blind 848 + Jenny Lind. By FREDRIKA BREMER 657 + Jewish Veneration 119 + Lack of Poetry in America 403 + Lady Alice Daventry; or, the Night of Crime 642 + Ledru Rollin 476 + Leigh Hunt Drowning 202 + Lettice Arnold. By Mrs. MARSH 13, 168, 353 + Lines. By ROBERT SOUTHEY 206 + Literary and Scientific Miscellany 556 + + Lord Jeffrey's Account of the Origin of the Edinburgh + Review--Character of Sir Robert Peel--The Ownership of Land--A + Self-Taught Artist--Conversation of Literary Men--Rewards of + Literature--Schamyl the Prophet of the Caucasus--The Colossal + Statue--Wordsworth's Prose-Writings--Anecdotes of Beranger--The + Paris Academy of Inscriptions. + + LITERARY NOTICES. + + Bryant's Letters of a Traveler; Bayard Taylor's Eldorado, 140. + Standish the Puritan; Talbot and Vernon, 141. Smyth's Unity of + the Human Races, 284. Talvi's Literature of the Slavic Nations; + Greeley's Hints toward Reforms, 288. Antonina Martinet's Solution + of Great Problems; Lossing's Field Book, 286, 427, 837. + Lamartine's Past Present and Future of the French Republic; + Lardner's Railway Economy; The Lone Dove; Mezzofanti's Method + applied to the Study of the French Language; The Ojibway + Conquest; Buffum's Six Months in the Gold Mines; The World as it + is and as it appears; Drake's Diseases of the Interior Valley of + North America, 286. Campbell's Life and Letters, 425. Life and + Correspondence of Andrew Combe, 426. Dr. Johnson's Religious Life + and Death; Sydney Smith's Sketches of Moral Philosophy; The + Plough, the Loom, and the Anvil, 427. Mrs. Child's Rebels; + Davies's Logic and Utility of Mathematics; The Gallery of + Illustrious Americans; The Phantom World; Christopher under + Canvas; Byrne's Dictionary of Mechanics; Griffith's Marine and + Naval Architecture, 428. Duggin's Specimens of Bridges, etc. on + the U.S. Railroads; M'Clintock's Second Book in Greek; Baird's + Impressions of the West Indies, and North America; Fleetwood's + Life of Christ; The Shoulder Knot; Supplement to Forester's Fish + and Fishing; The Morning Watch; Debates in the Convention of + California; The Mothers of the Wise and Good, 429. Carlyle's + Latter-Day Pamphlets, 430, 571. The Illustrated Domestic Bible; + Earnestness; Amy Harrington; The Vale of Cedars; Chronicles and + Characters of the Stock Exchange; Wah-to-yah, and the Taos Trail; + Poems by H. Ladd Spencer; Talvi's Heloise; The Initials; The + Lorgnette, 430. Tennyson's In Memoriam, 570. Abbott's History of + Darius; Fowler's English Language in its Elements and forms; + Julia Howard; Cumming's Five Years of a Hunter's Life; Moore's + Health, Disease, and Remedy; Wright's Perforations of the + Latter-day Pamphlets; Lanman's Haw-Ho-Noo, 571. Leigh Hunt's + Autobiography; U.S. Railroad Guide and Steamboat Journal; Ware's + Hints to Young Men; The Iris; Irving's Conquest of Granada, 572. + Life and Times of Gen. John Lamb, Progress of the Northwest; + Everett's Bunker Hill Oration; Walker's Phi Beta Kappa Oration; + Bayard Taylor's American Legend; Ungewitter's Europe, Past and + Present; Downing's Architecture of Country Houses, 573. Jarvis's + Don Quixote; Halliwell's Shakspeare; Meyer's Universum; The Night + Side of Nature; Giles's Thoughts on Life; Hill's Lectures on + Surgery; The National Temperance Offering, 574. Rural Hours; + Robinson's Greek and English Lexicon; The Berber, 713. Works of + Joseph Bellamy; Adelaide Lindsay; Mayhew's Popular Education; + Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; After Dinner Table Talk; + Cooper's Deer Slayer; Stockton's Sermon on the Death of Zachary + Taylor; Raymond's Relations of the American Scholar to his + Country and his Times, 714. Loomis's Recent Progress of + Astronomy; Loomis's Mathematical Course; Autobiography of Goethe; + Braithwaite's Retrospect; Mrs. Ellett's Domestic History of the + Revolution; Lives of Eminent Literary and Scientific Men; + Johnson's Cicero; Lady Willoughby's Diary; The Young Woman's Book + of Health, 715. Whittier's Songs of Labor; Nicholson's Poems of + the Heart; The Mariner's Vision; Collins's edition of AEsop's + Fables; Seba Smith's New Elements of Geometry, 716. Buckingham's + Specimens of Newspaper Literature; Edward Everett's Orations and + Speeches, 717. Echoes of the Universe; Memoir of Anne Boleyn; The + Lily and the Totem; Reminiscences of Congress; Mental Hygiene, + 718. Williams's Religious Progress; Poetry of Science; Footprints + of the Creator; Pre-Adamite Earth, 857. Household Surgery; Gray's + Poetical Works; Memoirs of Chalmers; History of Propellers and + Steam Navigation; The Country Year-Book; Success in Life; Alton + Locke, 858. The Builder's, and the Cabinet-maker and Upholster's + Companion; Lessons from the History of Medical Delusions; Lexicon + of Terms used in Natural History; Lamartine's Additional Memoirs, + and Genevieve; Rose's Chemical Tables; Pendennis; Stockhardt's + Principles of Chemistry; Petticoat Government; Etchings to the + Bridge of Sighs, 859. Bartlett's Natural Philosophy; Church's + Calculus; Lonz Powers; Abbott's History of Xerxes; Alexander's + Dictionary of Weights and Measures; America Discovered; Dwight's + Christianity Revived in the East; Grahame, 860. George Castriot; + The Last of the Mohicans; Johnston's Relations of Science and + Agriculture; Descriptive Geography of Palestine; Life of + Commodore Talbot; American Biblical Repository; North American + Review, 861. Methodist Quarterly Review; Christian Review; + Brownson's Quarterly, 862. + + Little Mary--A tale of the Irish Famine 518 + Lizzie Leigh. By CHARLES DICKENS 38 + Longfellow 74 + Lord Byron, Wordsworth, and Lamb 293 + Lord Coke and Lord Bacon 239 + Madame Grandin 135 + Married Men 106 + Maurice Tiernay. By CHARLES LEVER 2, 219, 329, 487, 627, 790 + Memoirs of the First Duchess of Orleans 56 + Memories of Miss Jane Porter. By Mrs. S.C. HALL 433 + Men and Women 89 + Metal in Sea Water 71 + Milking in Australia 37 + Mirabeau. Anecdote of his Private Life. 648 + + MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + DOMESTIC. + + GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.--The invasion of Cuba, 275. Mr. Webster's + letter on the delivery of fugitive slaves; Reply of Hon. Horace + Mann, 275. Prof. Stuart's pamphlet, 275. The Nashville + Convention, 275. New Southern Paper at Washington, 275. + Connecticut resolutions in favor of the Compromise Bill, 275. + Dinner to Senator Dickenson, 275. Dinner to Hon. Edward Gilbert, + of California, 276. Constitutional conventions in Ohio and + Michigan; Governors Crittenden and Wright, 276. Anniversary of + the Battle of Bunker Hill, 276. Seizure of a vessel for violation + of the neutrality act, 276. Death of President Taylor; succession + of Mr. Fillmore, and the new Cabinet, 416. Release of the Contoy + prisoners, 417. Incorrect rumor of an insult to the U.S. Minister + to Spain, 417, 703. Fire in Philadelphia, 417. Will saltpetre + explode, 417. Cholera at the West, 417. Professor Webster's + confession, 418. The Collins steamers, 418. Mr. Squier's + researches in Central America, 418. Measures for a direct trade + from the South to Liverpool, 418. Free School System in New York, + 418. Medal to Colonel Fremont, 418. U.S. Boundary Commission, + 418. State Convention in New Mexico, 419. Fourth of July + Addresses at various places, 420. Celebration of the Capture of + Stony Point, 420. Affairs at Liberia, 420. American claims on + Portugal, 424. Courtesies between the Corporations of Buffalo and + Toronto, 563. Suffering the growth of the Canada thistle made + penal in Wisconsin, 563. Report of the West Point Board of + Visitors, 563. Project for shortening the passage of the + Atlantic, 563. Gen. Quitman's letter, 702. Re-election of Mr. + Rusk as Senator from Texas, indicating a disposition to accept + the U.S. proposals, 702. Arrival of a Turkish Commissioner, 702. + Changes in the Cabinet, 702. Mr. Conrad's letter to his + constituents on the slavery question, 702. Execution of Prof. + Webster, 703. Arrival of Jenny Lind, 703. Opening of the Gallery + of the Art Union, 704. Passage of the Pacific from Liverpool, the + shortest ever made, 707. Whig State Convention at Syracuse; + Convention of the seceders at Utica; Letter of Washington Hunt, + 849. Anti-Renters' convention at Albany, 849. Feeling at the + South in relation to the admission of California, 850. Hon. C.J. + Jenkins on disunion, 850. New Collins steamers, Arctic and + Baltic, 850. Property in N.Y. City, 850. Swedish colony in + Illinois, 850. Working of the Fugitive Slave Bill, 850. Jenny + Lind's concerts, 850. New York a Catholic Archepiscopal See, 850. + The Boundary Bill in Texas; Mr. Kaufman's letter, 851. Policy of + Government in relation to the transit of the Isthmus, 851. + Earthquake at Cleveland, 851. + + CONGRESSIONAL.--The Compromise Bill in the Senate, 275. Webster's + speech on the Bill, 416. The Galphin Claim, 416. Final action of + the Senate on the Compromise Bill, 561. Protest of Southern + Senators against the admission of California, 561. Proposals to + Texas, in relation to the boundary, 562. Discussion in the House + on the Appropriation Bill, 562. President's Message on Texas and + New Mexico, with Webster's letter to Gov. Bell, of Texas, 562. + Nominations to the Cabinet, 563. Passage of the Texas Bill, and + analysis of the votes, 700. Passage of the California Bill; of + the Fugitive Slave Bill; of Bill abolishing the Slave-trade in + the District, 701. Passage of the Appropriation Bills, with + provisions for abolishing flogging in the navy, and granting + bounties to soldiers; Adjournment of Congress, 849. + + ELECTIONS.--In Virginia for members of constitutional convention; + contest between the eastern and western sections, 463. In + Missouri, partial success of the Whigs, 463. In North Carolina, + success of the Democrats, 463. In Indiana, giving the Democrats + the control of the legislature and constitutional convention, + 463. In Vermont, success of the Whigs, 703. Election of Hon. + Solomon Foot as Senator, 850. + + CALIFORNIA, NEW MEXICO, AND OREGON.--Tax on foreigners, 276. + Excitement at the delay of admission to the Union, 276. Riot at + Panama, 276. Fires at San Francisco, 419. Gold, 419. Indian + hostilities, 419. Bill for the admission of California as a state + into the Union, passed the Senate, and protest of Southern + Senators, 561. Line of stages between Independence, Mo., and + Santa Fe, 563. Continued discoveries of gold, 566. Disturbances + with Foreigners and Indians, 566. Steam communication between San + Francisco and China, 566. Rumors of gold in Oregon, 566. + Resignation of Gov. Lane, 566. News from the Boundary Commission, + 702. Disturbances on account of Sutter's claims, 705. Cholera on + board steamers, 706. New rumors of gold in Oregon, 706. Arrival + of Senators from New Mexico; conflict of authorities; Indian + outrages, 706. State of affairs in California, up to Sept. 15, + 851. In Oregon to Sept. 2, 852. + + MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA.--Presidential Election in Mexico, + Cholera; Right of Way across the Isthmus, 418. Ravages of the + Indians in Mexico, 566. Transit of the Isthmus; Opening of the + Port of San Juan, 851. Steamers proposed between Valparaiso and + Panama, 851. + + LITERARY.--Agassiz and Smyth on the Unity of the Human Race; + Address of Professor Lewis; Bishop Hughes on Socialism. Walter + Colton's book on California; Professor Davies's Logic and Utility + of Mathematics, 276. Bartlett's Natural Philosophy; Mansfield on + American Education, 277. De Quincey's writings: Poems by + Longfellow, Whittier, and Lowell; Giles's Christian Thoughts on + Life; Bristed's Reply to Mann; Gould's Comedy, The Very Age, 277. + Historical Society in Trinity College, Hartford, 420. March's + Reminiscences of Congress, 564. Torrey's translation of Neander, + 564. Life of Randolph, 565. Kendall's work on the Mexican War, + 565. Commencement Exercises at various Colleges, 565. G.P.R. + James's Lectures, 704. Andrews's Latin Lexicon, 704. Hildreth's + new volume of American History, 705. Dr. Wainwright's Our Saviour + with Prophets and Apostles; Miss McIntosh's Evenings at Donaldson + Manor, 853. + + SCIENTIFIC.--Paine's Water-gas, 277, 564. Forshey's Essay on the + deepening of the channel of the Mississippi, 563. Professor + Page's experiments in electro-magnetism, 564. Mathiot's + experiment's at illuminating with hydrogen, 564. Meeting of the + American Scientific Association at New Haven, 564. Astronomical + Expedition under Lieutenant Gillis; Humboldt's Notice of American + Science, 705. + + PERSONAL.--Arrival of G.P.R. James, 419. Arrival of Gen. + Dembinski, 419. Emerson, Prescott, Hudson, Garibaldi, 420. Hon. + D.D. Barnard, 563. Henry Clay at Newport, 563. Intelligence from + the Franklin Expedition, 564. Messrs. Lawrence and Rives at the + Royal Agricultural Society, 567. Messrs. Duer, Spaulding, and + Ashmun, decline re-election to Congress, 702. Ammin Bey, 702. + Jenny Lind, 703. Nomination of George N. Briggs for re-election + as Governor of Mass., 850. Hamlet the fugitive Slave, 850. + Archbishop Hughes, 851. Bishop Onderdonk, 851. G.P.R. James and + the Whig Review, 853. + + DEATHS.--Adam Ramage; S. Margaret Fuller, 420. Commodore Jacob + Jones, 563. Mr. Nes; Professor Webster; Dr. Judson; Bishop H.B. + Bascom; John Inman, 703. Gen. Herard, ex-President of Haiti, 706. + + FOREIGN. + + ENGLAND.--Birth of Prince Arthur, 123. Mr. Gibson's motion in + Parliament to abolish all taxes on knowledge; bearing of these + taxes; motion negatived; evasion of the excise on paper by the + publisher of the "Greenock Newscloth," 124. Education Bill + introduced, discussed, and postponed, 124. Defeat of ministers on + unimportant measures, 124. Preparations for Industrial + Exhibition, 125, 280, 852, 853. Expeditions in search of Sir John + Franklin, 125, 855. The Greek quarrel, 277. Consequent action of + Russia and Austria in relation to British subjects, 278. + University reform, 278. Imprisonment of British colored seamen at + Charleston, 278. Sinecures in the ecclesiastical courts, 278. + Motion in Parliament to give the Australian colonies the full + management of their own affairs, lost, 278. Bill passed reducing + the parliamentary franchise in Ireland, and speech of Sir James + Graham in its favor, 279. Various bills for Sanitary and Social + reform, 279. Bill to abolish the Viceroyalty in Ireland, 280. + Commission of inquiry into the state of the Universities, 280. + Death of Sir Robert Peel, 420. Discussions on the Greek question; + remarkable speeches of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, + 421. Sunday labor in the Post-office, 421. Bill lost for + protecting free sugar; Intra-mural interments Bill passed, 422. + Assault on the Queen, 422. Wrecks in the Northern Atlantic; wreck + of the Orion, 422. The Rothschild case, 566. Foreign policy of + ministers sustained, 566. Sundry Bills for social and political + reform lost, 567. Grants to the Duke of Cambridge and the + Princess Mary, 567. Explosion of a coal-mine, 567. Gen. Haynau + mobbed, 706. Prorogation of Parliament, 706. Lord Brougham's + vagaries, 706. Extent of railways in Great Britain, 707. The + Times and Gen. Haynau, 852. The Arctic Expedition, 852. Cotton in + Siberia, 852. Lord Clarendon in Ireland, 852. Queen's University + and the bishops, 852, 855. Shipwrecks, 853. The Sea Serpent in + Ireland, 853. Punishment of naval officers for carelessness, 853. + Amount of Irish crop, 855. Cunard steamers, 855. + + FRANCE.--Contest in Paris for election of Member of Assembly; + election of Eugene Sue, 122. Mutiny in the 11th Infantry, 122. + Destruction of the suspension-bridge at Angers, and terrible loss + of life, 122. Arrest of M. Proudhon, 123. Capture of Louis Pellet, a + notorious murderer, 123. Bill for restricting the suffrage, 283. + Stringent proceedings against the Press, 283. Recall of the + French embassador to England, 283. Increase voted to the salary + of the President, 424. New laws for the restriction of the Press, + 424. Walker's attempt to assassinate Louis Napoleon, 424. M. + Thiers's visit to Louis Philippe, 424. Tax on feuilletons, 569. + The President's tour, 707. Death of Louis Philippe, and notice of + his life, 708. Decision of a majority of the departments in favor + of a revision of the constitution, 709. Duel between MM. Chavoix + and Dupont, 711. Death of Balzac, and notice of his life and + works, 711. The President's plans; revision of the Constitution, + 856. + + GERMANY.--Convocations at Frankfort and Berlin, 284. Attempt on + the life of the King of Prussia, 284. Dissolution of the Saxon + Chambers, and of the Wurtemberg Diet, 424. Peace Convention at + Frankfort, 424, 712. Restrictions on the Press in Prussia, 424. + Fresh hostilities in Schleswig-Holstein, Battle of Idstedt, 570. + Proceedings of Austria, respecting the Act of Confederation, 712. + Inundations in Belgium, 712. General Krogh rewarded by the + Emperor of Russia for his bravery at the battle of Idstedt, 712. + Extension of telegraphs, 855. Hungarian musicians expelled from + Vienna, 855. Colossal statue completed, 855. Revolutions in Hesse + Cassel and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 856. + + ITALY, SPAIN, PORTUGAL.--The Pope's return, and adhesion to the + Absolutists, 128. State of affairs in Italy, 284. Intrigues in + Spain, 284. Rain after a five years' drought, 284. Explosion of a + powder-mill, 284. Claims of the United States on Portugal, and + consequent difficulties, 424, 569. Birth and death of an heir to + the Spanish Crown, 569. Disturbances in Piedmont, 712. Disquiets + in Rome, 712. Inundation in Lombardy, 855. Prisons at Naples, + 855. + + INDIA, AND THE EAST.--Disturbances among the Affredies; their + villages destroyed by Sir Charles Napier, 128. Arrangements of + the Pasha of Egypt for shortening the passage across the desert, + 128. Establishment of a new journal in China, 129. Permission + granted the Jews for building a temple on Mount Zion, 129. + University in New South Wales, 129. Terrible explosion at + Benares, 570. Sickness at Canton, 570. The great diamond, 570. + Revolt at Bantam, 570. Sulphur mines in Egypt, 856. + + LITERARY.--Postponement of the French Exhibition of Paintings, + 129. Goethe's Manuscripts, 423. Mr. Hartley's bequests set aside, + 423. History of Spain, by St. Hilaire, 568. Sir Robert Peel's + MSS., 568, 712. Miss Strickland's forthcoming Lives of the Queens + of Scotland, 569. Bulwer's new novel, 710. Copyright of + foreigners, 710. Sale of the Paintings of the King of Holland, + 710. Lamartine's Confidences, 710. Notice of Ticknor's Spanish + Literature in the Morning Chronicle, 710. The North British + Review, 711. Sale of the Barbarigo Gallery at Venice, 711. A new + singer, 711. New edition of Owen's Works, 853. Copyrights paid to + American Authors, 854. Theological Faculties in Germany, 854. + Translation of Dante and Ovid into Hebrew, 854. Books issued, + 126, 282, 422, 564, 710. + + SCIENTIFIC.--Papers read by Murchison and Lepsius before the + Geological Society, 125. Before the Royal Society, by O'Brien, + Faraday, and Mantell, 125. The _Pelorosaurus_, 125. Lead for + statues, 126. Operations of Mr. Layard, 126, 280, 854. Discovery + of ancient Roman coins in the Duchy of Oldenburg, 128. Opening of + the submarine telegraph between Dover and Calais, 129. + Experimental slips dropped from balloons, 129. Box Tunnel, + London, 129. Transplantation of a full grown tree, 129. Glass + pipes for gas, 129. International railway commission, 129. + Russian expedition for exploring the Northern Ural, 129. + Invention for extinguishing tires, 280. Experiments on light and + heat, 281. Discovery of a new comet, 281. Unswathing a mummy, + 423. Society for investigating epidemics; for observations in + Meteorology, 423. Depredations on Assyrian and Egyptian + antiquities, 568. Apparatus to render sea-water drinkable, 568. + Improved mode of producing iron, 569. Prof. Johnston on American + Agriculture, 569. Telegraphic wire between Dover and Calais, 711. + Iron unsuitable for vessels of war, 853. New submarine telegraph, + 853. The atmopyre, 854. A new star, 854. The Britannia bridge, + 855. Ascent of Mount Blanc, 855. + + SOCIAL.--Great project for agricultural emigration, 129. English + criminal cases, 129. Building for the Industrial exhibition, 567. + Lord Campbell on the Sunday Letter Bill, 707. Extension of the + Franchise in Ireland, 707. Introduction of laborers into the West + Indies, 707. Tenant-right conference in Dublin, 707. Peace + Congress at Frankfort, 424, 712. + + PERSONAL.--Monument to Jeffrey, 125. Absence of mind of Bowles, + 133. Degree of Doctor of Music conferred upon Meyerbeer, 422. + Gutzlaff, Corbould, Gibson, 422. Baptism of the infant prince, + 422. Accident to Rogers, 423. Monument to Wordsworth, 423. Sir + Robert Peel's injunction to his family not to accept titles or + pensions, 567. Barral and Bixio's balloon ascent, and Poitevin's + horseback ascent, 568. Poverty of Guizot, 568. Meinhold fined for + libel, 569. Guizot's refusal to accept a seat in the Council of + Public Instruction, 569. Bulwer a candidate for the House of + Commons; his new play, 569. Ovation to Leibnitz and Humboldt, + 569. Haynau mobbed, 706. Movements of the Queen, 707. Duel + between MM. Chavoix and Dupont, 711. Viscount Fielding embraces + Catholicism, 855. Prospective liberation of Kossuth, 855. + + DEATHS.--Wordsworth, Bowles, 125; Sir James Bathurst, Madame + Dulcken, Sir Archibald Galloway, Admiral Hills, Dr. Prout, Madame + Tussaud, 127; Dr. Potts, inventor of the hydraulic pile-driver, + 129. Gay Lussac, 282; M.P. Souyet, the Emperor of China, Earl of + Roscommon, Sir James Sutherland, Mrs. Jeffrey, 283; Sir Robert + Peel, 420; Duke of Cambridge, 422; Dr. Burns, Dr. Gray, Rev. W. + Kirby, B. Simmons, 568; Neander, 569; Louis Philippe, 708; + Balzac, 711; Sir Martin Archer Shee, 711. Gale the aeronaut, 854. + + Moorish Domestic Life 161 + Morning in Spring 87 + Moscow after the Conflagration 137 + Mrs. Hemans 116 + My Novel; or Varieties in English Life. By SIR EDWARD + BULWER LYTTON 659, 761 + My Wonderful Adventures in Skitzland 258 + Neander. A Biographical Sketch 510 + Obstructions to the use of the Telescope 699 + Ode to the Sun. By HUNT 189 + Papers on Water, No. 1 50 + Physical Education 106 + Peace (Poetry). By CHAS. DRYDEN. 194 + Pilgrimage to the Home of Sir Thomas More. By Mrs. S.C. HALL 289 + Portrait of Charles I. By VANDYCK 137 + Poverty of the English Bar 218 + Presence of Mind. By DE QUINCEY 467 + Rapid Growth of America 237 + Recollections of Dr. Chalmers 383 + Recollections of Eminent Men. By LEIGH HUNT 184 + Recollections of Thomas Campbell 345 + Scenery on the Erie Railroad 213 + Scenes in Egypt 210 + Shooting Stars and Meteoric Showers 439 + Short Cuts Across the Globe 79 + Singular Proceedings of the Sand Wasp. By WILLIAM HOWITT 592 + Sir Robert Peel. A Biographical Sketch 405 + Sketches of English Character--The Old Squire--The Young + Squire. By WILLIAM HOWITT 460 + Sketches of Life. By a Radical 803 + Snakes and Serpent Charmers 680 + Sonnet on the Death of Wordsworth 218 + Sonetto 72 + Sonnets from the Italian 114 + Sophistry of Anglers. By LEIGH HUNT 164 + Sorrows and Joys (Poetry) 627 + Spider's Silk 824 + Sponges 406 + Steam 50 + Steam Bridge of the Atlantic 411 + Story of a Kite 750 + Summer Pastime (Poetry) 524 + Sydney Smith 584 + Sydney Smith on Moral Philosophy 107 + Terrestrial Magnetism 651 + The American Revolution. By GUIZOT 178 + The Appetite for News 249 + The Approach of Christmas (Poetry) 454 + The Australian Colonies 118 + The Blind Sister 826 + The Brothers Cheeryble 551 + The Chapel by the Shore 74 + The Character of Burns. By ELLIOTT 114 + The Chemistry of a Candle 524 + The Circassian Priest Warrior and his White Horse (Poetry) 98 + The Communist Sparrow--An Anecdote of Cuvier 317 + The Corn Law Rhymer 135 + The Countess 816 + The Death of an Infant (Poetry) 183 + The Disasters of a Man who wouldn't trust his Wife. By WILLIAM + HOWITT 512 + The Doom of the Slaver 846 + The Enchanted Baths 139 + The Enchanted Rock 639 + The English Peasant. By HOWITT 483 + The Every-Day Married Lady 777 + The Every-Day Young Lady 742 + The Flower Gatherer 78 + The Force of Fear 640 + The Genius of George Sand. The Comedy of Francois le Champi 95 + The Gentleman Beggar. An Attorney's Story 588 + The German Meistersingers 81 + The Haunted House in Charnwood Forest 472 + The Household Jewels (Poetry) 692 + The Imprisoned Lady 551 + The Iron Ring 808 + The Laboratory in the Chest 673 + The Light of Home 842 + The Literary Profession--Authors and Publishers 548 + The Little Hero of Haarlem 414 + The Magic Maze 684 + The Mania for Tulips in Holland 758 + The Miner's Daughters. A Tale of the Peak 150 + The Modern Argonauts (Poetry) 120 + The Mother's First Duty 105 + The Mysterious Preacher 452 + The Old Church-yard Tree--A Prose-poem 483 + The Old Man's Bequest. A Story of Gold 387 + The Old Well in Languedoc 521 + The Oldest Inhabitant of the Place de Greve 749 + The Orphan's Voyage Home (Poetry) 272 + The Paris Election 116 + The Planet-Watchers of Greenwich 233 + The Pleasures of Illness 697 + The Pope at Home again 117 + The Power of Mercy 395 + The Prodigal's Return 836 + The Quakers during the American War. By HOWITT 595 + The Railway (Poetry) 826 + The Railway Station (Poetry) 163 + The Railway Works at Crewe 408 + The Return of Pope Pius IX. to Rome 90 + The Rev. William Lisle Bowles 86 + The Salt Mines of Europe 759 + The Schoolmaster of Coleridge and Lamb. By LEIGH HUNT 207 + The Snowy Mountains in New Zealand 65 + The State of the World before Adam 754 + The Steel Pen. Illustration of Cheapness 677 + The Sun 689 + The Tea Plant 693 + The Two Guides of the Child 672 + The Two Thompsons 479 + The Young Advocate 304 + The Uses of Sorrow (Poetry) 193 + The Wahr-Wolf 797 + The Wife of Kong Tolv. A Fairy Tale 324 + Thomas Babington Macaulay 136 + Thomas Carlyle. By GEORGE GILFILLAN 586 + Thomas de Quincey, the "English Opium Eater" 145 + Thomas Moore 248 + Trial and Execution of Mad. Roland 732 + Truth 137 + Tunnel of the Alps 77 + Two-handed Dick, the Stockman. A Tale of Adventure in Australia 190 + Ugliness Redeemed--A Tale of a London Dust-Heap 455 + Unsectarian Education in England 100 + Villainy Outwitted 781 + Wallace and Fawdon (Poetry). By LEIGH HUNT 400 + What becomes of all the clever Children? 402 + What Horses Think of Men. From the Raven in the Happy Family 593 + When the Summer Comes 780 + William H. Prescott 138 + William Pitt. By S.T. COLERIDGE 202 + William Wordsworth 103 + Women in the East 10 + Work! An Anecdote 88 + Wordsworth--His Character and Genius. By GEORGE GILFILLAN 577 + Wordsworth's Posthumous Poem 546 + Writing for Periodicals 553 + Young Poet's Plaint. By ELLIOTT 113 + Young Russia--State of Society in the Russian Empire 269 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PORTRAIT OF ARCHIBALD ALISON 134 + PORTRAIT OF THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY 136 + PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT 138 + THE PYRAMIDS 210 + SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID 211 + THE GREAT HALL AT KARNAK 212 + VIEW FROM PIERMONT (ERIE RAILROAD) 213 + VALLEY OF THE NEVERSINK (FROM THE ERIE RAILROAD) 214 + STARUCCA VIADUCT (ERIE RAILROAD) 215 + PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS MORE 289 + BOX CONTAINING THE SKULL OF MORE 289 + CLOCK HOUSE AT CHELSEA 290 + HOUSE OF SIR THOMAS MORE 292 + CHELSEA CHURCH 293 + TOMB OF SIR THOMAS MORE 294 + HOUSE OF ROPER, MORE'S SON-IN-LAW 295 + SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS DAUGHTER 296 + PORTRAIT OF ZACHARY TAYLOR 298 + PORTRAIT OF JANE PORTER 433 + JANE PORTER'S COTTAGE AT ESHER 437 + TOMB OF JANE PORTER'S MOTHER 438 + SHOOTING STARS (SIX ILLUSTRATIONS) 439 + + INITIAL LETTER. METEORIC SHOWERS IN GREENLAND. METEORS AT THE + FALLS OF NIAGARA. FALLING STARS AMONG THE CORDILLERAS. THE + NOVEMBER METEORS. DIAGRAM. + + NEANDER IN THE LECTURE ROOM 510 + PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 577 + WORDSWORTH'S HOME AT RYDAL MOUNT 581 + PORTRAIT OF SYDNEY SMITH 584 + PORTRAIT OF THOMAS CARLYLE 586 + REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIALS (FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS) 721 + + INITIAL LETTER. MONUMENT AT CONCORD. MONUMENT AT LEXINGTON. NEAR + VIEW OF LEXINGTON MONUMENT. PORTRAIT OF JONATHAN HARRINGTON. + WASHINGTON'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT CAMBRIDGE. THE RIEDESEL HOUSE AT + CAMBRIDGE. AUTOGRAPH OF THE BARONESS RIEDESEL. BUNKER HILL + MONUMENT. CHANTREY'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON. MATHER'S VAULT. + HANDWRITING OF COTTON MATHER. SPEAKER'S DESK AND WINTHROP'S + CHAIR. PHILIP'S SAMP-PAN. CHURCH'S SWORD. + + PORTRAIT OF MADAME ROLAND 732 + FASHIONS FOR EARLY SUMMER (SIX ILLUSTRATIONS) 143 + + BALL AND VISITING DRESSES. STRAW HATS FOR PROMENADE. STRAW + BONNET. TULIP BONNET. LACE JACQUETTE. + + FASHIONS FOR SUMMER (THREE ILLUSTRATIONS) 287 + + CARRIAGE COSTUME. BRIDAL DRESS. RIDING DRESS. + + FASHIONS FOR LATER SUMMER (FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS) 435 + + PROMENADE DRESS. PELERINES. LITTLE GIRL'S COSTUME. HOME DRESS. + BALL DRESS. + + FASHIONS FOR EARLY AUTUMN (FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS) 573 + + PROMENADE DRESS. COSTUME FOR A YOUNG LADY. MORNING CAPS. MORNING + COSTUME. + + FASHIONS FOR AUTUMN (THREE ILLUSTRATIONS) 718 + + EVENING COSTUME. MORNING COSTUME. PROMENADE DRESS. + + FASHIONS FOR NOVEMBER (THREE ILLUSTRATIONS) 863 + + PROMENADE AND CARRIAGE COSTUME. MORNING COSTUME. OPERA COSTUME. + + + + +HARPER'S + +NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. + +NO. I--JUNE, 1850--VOL. I. + + + + +A WORD AT THE START. + + +HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, of which this is the initial number, will +be published every month, at the rate of three dollars per annum. Each +number will contain as great an amount and variety of reading matter, +and at least as many pictorial illustrations, and will be published in +the same general style, as the present. + +The design of the Publishers, in issuing this work, is to place within +the reach of the great mass of the American people the unbounded +treasures of the Periodical Literature of the present day. Periodicals +enlist and absorb much of the literary talent, the creative genius, the +scholarly accomplishment of the present age. The best writers, in all +departments and in every nation, devote themselves mainly to the +Reviews, Magazines, or Newspapers of the day. And it is through their +pages that the most powerful historical Essays, the most elaborate +critical Disquisitions, the most eloquent delineations of Manners and of +Nature, the highest Poetry and the most brilliant Wit, have, within the +last ten years, found their way to the public eye and the public heart. + +This devotion to Periodical writing is rapidly increasing. The leading +authors of Great Britain and of France, as well as of the United States, +are regular and constant contributors to the Periodicals of their +several countries. The leading statesmen of France have been for years +the leading writers in her journals. LAMARTINE has just become the +editor of a newspaper. DICKENS has just established a weekly journal of +his own, through which he is giving to the world some of the most +exquisite and delightful creations that ever came from his magic pen. +ALISON writes constantly for Blackwood. LEVER is enlisted in the Dublin +University Magazine. BULWER and CROLY publish their greatest and most +brilliant novels first in the pages of the Monthly Magazines of England +and of Scotland. MACAULAY, the greatest of living Essayists and +Historians, has enriched the Edinburgh Review with volumes of the most +magnificent productions of English Literature. And so it is with all the +living authors of England. The ablest and the best of their productions +are to be found in Magazines. The wealth and freshness of the Literature +of the Nineteenth Century are embodied in the pages of its Periodicals. + +The Weekly and Daily Journals of England, France, and America, moreover, +abound in the most brilliant contributions in every department of +intellectual effort. The current of Political Events, in an age of +unexampled political activity, can be traced only through their columns. +Scientific discovery, Mechanical inventions, the creations of Fine Art, +the Orations of Statesmen, all the varied intellectual movements of this +most stirring and productive age, find their only record upon these +multiplied and ephemeral pages. + +It is obviously impossible that all these sources of instruction and of +interest should be accessible to any considerable number even of the +reading public, much less that the great mass of the people of this +country should have any opportunity of becoming familiar with them. They +are scattered through scores and hundreds of magazines and journals, +intermingled with much that is of merely local and transient interest, +and are thus hopelessly excluded from the knowledge and the reach of +readers at large. + +The Publishers of the NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE intend to remedy this evil, +and to place every thing of the Periodical Literature of the day, which +has permanent value and commanding interest, in the hands of all who +have the slightest desire to become acquainted with it. Each number will +contain 144 octavo pages, in double columns: the volumes of a single +year, therefore, will present nearly two thousand pages of the choicest +and most attractive of the Miscellaneous Literature of the Age. The +MAGAZINE will transfer to its pages as rapidly as they may be issued all +the continuous tales of DICKENS, BULWER, CROLY, LEVER, WARREN, and other +distinguished contributors to British Periodicals: articles of +commanding interest from all the leading Quarterly Reviews of both Great +Britain and the United States: Critical Notices of the current +publications of the day: Speeches and Addresses of distinguished men +upon topics of universal interest and importance: Notices of Scientific +discoveries, of the progress and fruits of antiquarian research, of +mechanical inventions, of incidents of travel and exploration, and +generally of all the events in Science, Literature, and Art in which the +people at large have any interest. Constant and special regard will be +had to such articles as relate to the Economy of Social and Domestic +Life, or tend to promote in any way the education, advancement, and +well-being of those who are engaged in any department of productive +activity. A carefully prepared Fashion Plate, and other pictorial +illustrations, will also accompany each number. + +The MAGAZINE is not intended exclusively for any class of readers, or +for any kind of reading. The Publishers have at their command the +exhaustless resources of current Periodical Literature in all its +departments. They have the aid of Editors in whom both they and the +public have long since learned to repose full and implicit confidence. +They have no doubt that, by a careful, industrious, and intelligent use +of these appliances, they can present a Monthly Compendium of the +periodical productions of the day which no one who has the slightest +relish for miscellaneous reading, or the slightest desire to keep +himself informed of the progress and results of the literary genius of +his own age, would willingly be without. And they intend to publish it +at so low a rate, and to give to it a value so much beyond its price, +that it shall make its way into the hands or the family circle of every +intelligent citizen of the United States. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE. + + +CHAPTER I. "THE DAYS OF THE GUILLOTINE." + +Neither the tastes nor the temper of the age we live in are such as to +induce any man to boast of his family nobility. We see too many +preparations around us for laying down new foundations, to think it a +suitable occasion for alluding to the ancient edifice. I will, +therefore, confine myself to saying, that I am not to be regarded as a +mere Pretender because my name is not chronicled by Burke or Debrett. My +great-grandfather, after whom I am called, served on the personal staff +of King James at the Battle of the Boyne, and was one of the few who +accompanied the monarch on his flight from the field, for which act of +devotion he was created a peer of Ireland, by the style and title of +Timmahoo--Lord Tiernay of Timmahoo the family called it--and a very +rich-sounding and pleasant designation has it always seemed to me. + +The events of the time--the scanty intervals of leisure enjoyed by the +king, and other matters, prevented a due registry of my ancestors' +claims; and, in fact, when more peaceable days succeeded it, it was +judged prudent to say nothing about a matter which might revive unhappy +recollections, and open old scores, seeing that there was now another +king on the throne "who knew not Joseph;" and so, for this reason and +many others, my great-grandfather went back to his old appellation of +Maurice Tiernay, and was only a lord among his intimate friends and +cronies of the neighborhood. + +That I am simply recording a matter of fact, the patent of my ancestors' +nobility now in my possession will sufficiently attest: nor is its +existence the less conclusive, that it is inscribed on the back of his +commission as a captain in the Shanabogue Fencibles--the well-known +"Clear-the-way-boys"--a proud title, it is said, to which they imparted +a new reading at the memorable battle afore-mentioned. + +The document bears the address of a small public house called the Nest, +on the Kells Road, and contains in one corner a somewhat lengthy score +for potables, suggesting the notion that his majesty sympathized with +vulgar infirmities, and found, as the old song says, "that grief and +sorrow are dry." + +The prudence which for some years sealed my grandfather's lips, lapsed, +after a time, into a careless and even boastful spirit, in which he +would allude to his rank in the peerage, the place he ought to be +holding, and so on; till at last some of the government people, +doubtless taking a liking to the snug house and demesne of Timmahoo, +denounced him as a rebel, on which he was arrested and thrown into jail, +where he lingered for many years, and only came out at last to find his +estate confiscated and himself a beggar. + +There was a small gathering of Jacobites in one of the towns of +Flanders, and thither he repaired; but how he lived, or how he died, I +never learned. I only know that his son wandered away to the east of +Europe, and took service in what was called Trenck's Pandours--as jolly +a set of robbers as ever stalked the map of Europe, from one side to +the other. This was my grandfather, whose name is mentioned in various +chronicles of that estimable corps, and who was hanged at Prague +afterward for an attempt to carry off an archduchess of the empire, to +whom, by the way, there is good reason to believe he was privately +married. This suspicion was strengthened by the fact that his infant +child, Joseph, was at once adopted by the imperial family, and placed as +a pupil in the great military school of Vienna. From thence he obtained +a commission in the Maria Theresa Hussars, and subsequently, being sent +on a private mission to France, entered the service of Louis XVI., where +he married a lady of the queen's household--a Mademoiselle de la +Lasterie--of high rank and some fortune; and with whom he lived happily +till the dreadful events of 17--, when she lost her life, beside my +father, then fighting as a Garde du Corps, on the stair-case at +Versailles. How he himself escaped on that day, and what were the next +features in his history, I never knew; but when again we heard of him, +he was married to the widow of a celebrated orator of the Mountain, and +he himself an intimate friend of St. Just and Marat, and all the most +violent of the Republicans. + +My father's history about this period is involved in such obscurity, and +his second marriage followed so rapidly on the death of his first wife, +that, strange as it may seem, I never knew who was my mother--the lineal +descendant of a house, noble before the Crusades, or the humble +"bourgeoise" of the Quartier St. Denis. What peculiar line of political +action my father followed I am unable to say, nor whether he was +suspected with or without due cause: but suspected he certainly was, and +at a time when suspicion was all-sufficient for conviction. He was +arrested, and thrown into the Temple, where I remember I used to visit +him every week; and whence I accompanied him one morning, as he was led +forth with a string of others to the Place de la Greve, to be +guillotined. I believe he was accused of royalism; and I know that a +white cockade was found among his effects, and in mockery was fastened +on his shoulder on the day of his execution. This emblem, deep dyed with +blood, and still dripping, was taken up by a bystander, and pinned on my +cap, with the savage observation, "Voila, it is the proper color; see +that you profit by the way it became so." As with a bursting heart, and +a head wild with terror, I turned to find my way homeward, I felt my +hand grasped by another--I looked up, and saw an old man, whose +threadbare black clothes and emaciated appearance bespoke the priest in +the times of the Convention. + +"You have no home now, my poor boy," said he to me; "come and share +mine." + +I did not ask him why. I seemed to have suddenly become reckless as to +every thing present or future. The terrible scene I had witnessed had +dried up all the springs of my youthful heart; and, infant as I was, I +was already a skeptic as to every thing good or generous in human +nature. I followed him, therefore, without a word, and we walked on, +leaving the thoroughfares and seeking the less frequented streets, till +we arrived in what seemed a suburban part of Paris--at least the houses +were surrounded with trees and shrubs; and at a distance I could see the +hill of Montmartre and its wind-mills--objects well known to me by many +a Sunday visit. + +Even after my own home, the poverty of the Pere Michel's household was +most remarkable: he had but one small room, of which a miserable +settle-bed, two chairs, and a table constituted all the furniture; there +was no fire-place, a little pan for charcoal supplying the only means +for warmth or cookery; a crucifix and a few colored prints of saints +decorated the whitewashed walls; and, with a string of wooden beads, a +cloth skull-cap, and a bracket with two or three books, made up the +whole inventory of his possessions; and yet, as he closed the door +behind him, and drew me toward him to kiss my cheek, the tears glistened +in his eyes with gratitude as he said, + +"Now, my dear Maurice, you are at home." + +"How do you know that I am called Maurice?" said I, in astonishment. + +"Because I was an old friend of your poor father, my child; we came from +the same country--we held the same faith, had the same hopes, and may +one day yet, perhaps, have the same fate." + +He told me that the closest friendship had bound them together for years +past, and in proof of it showed me a variety of papers which my father +had intrusted to his keeping, well aware, as it would seem, of the +insecurity of his own life. + +"He charged me to take you home with me, Maurice, should the day come +when this might come to pass. You will now live with me, and I will be +your father, so far at least as humble means will suffer me." + +I was too young to know how deep my debt of gratitude ought to be. I had +not tasted the sorrows of utter desertion; nor did I know from what a +hurricane of blood and anarchy fortune had rescued me; still I accepted +the Pere's benevolent offer with a thankful heart, and turned to him at +once as to all that was left to me in the world. + +All this time, it may be wondered how I neither spoke nor thought of my +mother, if she were indeed such; but for several weeks before my +father's death I had never seen her, nor did he ever once allude to her. +The reserve thus imposed upon me remained still, and I felt as though it +would have been like a treachery to his memory were I now to speak of +her whom, in his life-time I had not dared to mention. + +The Pere lost no time in diverting my mind from the dreadful events I +had so lately witnessed. The next morning, soon after daybreak, I was +summoned to attend him to the little church of St. Blois, where he said +mass. It was a very humble little edifice, which once had been the +private chapel of a chateau, and stood in a weed-grown, neglected +garden, where broken statues and smashed fountains bore evidence of the +visits of the destroyer. A rude effigy of St. Blois, upon whom some +profane hand had stuck a Phrygian cap of liberty, and which none were +bold enough to displace, stood over the doorway; besides, not a vestige +of ornament or decoration existed. The altar, covered with a white +cloth, displayed none of the accustomed emblems; and a rude crucifix of +oak was the only symbol of the faith remaining. Small as was the +building, it was even too spacious for the few who came to worship. The +terror which prevailed on every side--the dread that devotion to +religion should be construed into an adherence to the monarchy, that +submission to God should be interpreted as an act of rebellion against +the sovereignty of human will, had gradually thinned the numbers, till +at last the few who came were only those whose afflictions had steeled +them against any reverses, and who were ready martyrs to whatever might +betide them. These were almost exclusively women--the mothers and wives +of those who had sealed their faith with their blood in the terrible +Place de la Greve. Among them was one whose dress and appearance, +although not different from the rest, always created a movement of +respect as she passed in or out of the chapel. She was a very old lady, +with hair white as snow, and who led by the hand a little girl of about +my own age; her large dark eyes and brilliant complexion giving her a +look of unearthly beauty in that assemblage of furrowed cheeks, and eyes +long dimmed by weeping. It was not alone that her features were +beautifully regular, or that their lines were fashioned in the very +perfection of symmetry, but there was a certain character in the +expression of the face so different from all around it, as to be almost +electrical in effect. Untouched by the terrible calamities that weighed +on every heart, she seemed, in the glad buoyancy of her youth, to be at +once above the very reach of sorrow, like one who bore a charmed fate, +and whom Fortune had exempted from all the trials of this life. So at +least did I read those features, as they beamed upon me in such a +contract to the almost stern character of the sad and sorrow-struck +faces of the rest. + +It was a part of my duty to place a foot-stool each morning for the +"Marquise," as she was distinctively called, and on these occasions it +was that I used to gaze upon that little girl's face with a kind of +admiring wonder that lingered in my heart for hours after. The bold look +with which she met mine, if it at first half abashed, at length +encouraged me; and as I stole noiselessly away, I used to feel as though +I carried with me some portion of that high hope which bounded within +her own heart. Strange magnetism! it seemed as though her spirit +whispered to me not to be down-hearted or depressed--that the sorrows +of life came and went as shadows pass over the earth--that the season of +mourning was fast passing, and that for us the world would wear a +brighter and more glorious aspect. + +Such were the thoughts her dark eyes revealed to me, and such the hopes +I caught up from her proud features. + +It is easy to color a life of monotony; any hue may soon tinge the outer +surface, and thus mine speedily assumed a hopeful cast; not the less +decided, that the distance was lost in vague uncertainty. The nature of +my studies--and the Pere kept me rigidly to the desk--offered little to +the discursiveness of fancy. The rudiments of Greek and Latin, the lives +of saints and martyrs, the litanies of the church, the invocations +peculiar to certain holy days, chiefly filled up my time, when not +sharing those menial offices which our poverty exacted from our own +hands. + +Our life was of the very simplest; except a cup of coffee each morning +at daybreak, we took but one meal; our drink was always water. By what +means even the humble fare we enjoyed was procured, I never knew, for I +never saw money in the Pere's possession, nor did he ever appear to buy +any thing. + +For about two hours in the week I used to enjoy entire liberty, as the +Pere was accustomed every Saturday to visit certain persons of his flock +who were too infirm to go abroad. On these occasions he would leave me +with some thoughtful injunction about reflection or pious meditation, +perhaps suggesting, for my amusement, the life of St. Vincent de Paul, +or some other of those adventurous spirits whose missions among the +Indians are so replete with heroic struggles; but still with free +permission for me to walk out at large and enjoy myself as I liked best. +We lived so near the outer Boulevard that I could already see the open +country from our windows; but fair and enticing as seemed the sunny +slopes of Montmartre--bright as glanced the young leaves of spring in +the gardens at its foot--I ever turned my steps into the crowded city, +and sought the thoroughfares where the great human tide rolled fullest. + +There were certain spots which held a kind of supernatural influence +over me--one of these was the Temple, another was the Place de la Greve. +The window at which my father used to sit, from which, as a kind of +signal, I have so often seen his red kerchief floating, I never could +pass now, without stopping to gaze at; now, thinking of him who had been +its inmate, now, wondering who might be its present occupant. It needed +not the onward current of population that each Saturday bore along, to +carry me to the Place de la Greve. It was the great day of the +guillotine, and as many as two hundred were often led out to execution. +Although the spectacle had now lost every charm of excitement to the +population, from its frequency, it had become a kind of necessity to +their existence, and the sight of blood alone seemed to slake that +feverish thirst for vengeance which no sufferings appeared capable of +satiating. It was rare, however, when some great and distinguished +criminal did not absorb all the interest of the scene. It was at that +period when the fierce tyrants of the Convention had turned upon each +other, and sought, by denouncing those who had been their bosom friends, +to seal their new allegiance to the people. There was something +demoniacal in the exultation with which the mob witnessed the fate of +those whom, but a few weeks back, they had acknowledged as their guides +and teachers. The uncertainty of human greatness appeared the most +glorious recompense to those whose station debarred them from all the +enjoyments of power, and they stood by the death-agonies of their former +friends with a fiendish joy that all the sufferings of their enemies had +never yielded. + +To me the spectacles had all the fascination that scenes of horror +exercise over the mind of youth. I knew nothing of the terrible +conflict, nothing of the fierce passions enlisted in the struggle, +nothing of the sacred names so basely polluted, nothing of that +remorseless vengeance with which the low-born and degraded were still +hounded on to slaughter. It was a solemn and a fearful sight, but it was +no more; and I gazed upon every detail of the scene with an interest +that never wandered from the spot whereon it was enacted. If the parade +of soldiers, of horse, foot, and artillery, gave these scenes a +character of public justice, the horrible mobs, who chanted ribald +songs, and danced around the guillotine, suggested the notion of popular +vengeance; so that I was lost in all my attempts to reconcile the +reasons of these executions with the circumstances that accompanied +them. + +Not daring to inform the Pere Michel of where I had been, I could not +ask him for any explanation; and thus was I left to pick up from the +scattered phrases of the crowd what was the guilt alleged against the +criminals. In many cases the simple word "Chouan," of which I knew not +the import, was all I heard; in others jeering allusions to former rank +and station would be uttered; while against some the taunt would imply +that they had shed tears over others who fell as enemies of the people, +and that such sympathy was a costly pleasure to be paid for but with a +life's-blood. Such entire possession of me had these awful sights taken, +that I lived in a continual dream of them. The sound of every cart-wheel +recalled the dull rumble of the hurdle--every distant sound seemed like +the far-off hum of the coming multitude--every sudden noise suggested +the clanking drop of the guillotine! My sleep had no other images, and I +wandered about my little round of duties pondering over this terrible +theme. + +Had I been less occupied with my own thoughts, I must have seen that +Pere Michel was suffering under some great calamity. The poor priest +became wasted to a shadow; for entire days long he would taste of +nothing; sometimes he would be absent from early morning to late at +night, and when he did return, instead of betaking himself to rest, he +would drop down before the crucifix in an agony of prayer, and thus +spend more than half the night. Often and often have I, when feigning +sleep, followed him as he recited the litanies of the breviary, adding +my own unuttered prayers to his, and beseeching for a mercy whose object +I knew not. + +For some time his little chapel had been closed by the authorities; a +heavy padlock and two massive seals being placed upon the door, and a +notice, in a vulgar handwriting, appended, to the effect, that it was by +the order of the Commissary of the Department. Could this be the source +of the Pere's sorrow? or did not his affliction seem too great for such +a cause? were questions I asked myself again and again. + +In this state were matters, when one morning, it was a Saturday, the +Pere enjoined me to spend the day in prayer, reciting particularly the +liturgies for the dead, and all those sacred offices for those who have +just departed this life. + +"Pray unceasingly, my dear child--pray with your whole heart, as though +it were for one you loved best in the world. I shall not return, +perhaps, till late to-night; but I will kiss you then, and to-morrow we +shall go into the woods together." + +The tears fell from his cheek to mine as he said this, and his damp hand +trembled as he pressed my fingers. My heart was full to bursting at his +emotion, and I resolved faithfully to do his bidding. To watch him, as +he went, I opened the sash, and as I did so, the sound of a distant +drum, the well-known muffled roll, floated on the air, and I remembered +it was the day of the guillotine--that day in which my feverish spirit +turned, as it were in relief, to the reality of blood. Remote as was +the part of the city we lived in, to escape from the hideous imaginings +of my overwrought brain, I could still mark the hastening steps of the +foot-passengers, as they listened to the far-off summons, and see the +tide was setting toward the fatal Place de Greve. It was a lowering, +heavy morning, overcast with clouds, and on its loaded atmosphere sounds +moved slowly and indistinctly; yet I could trace through all the din of +the great city, the incessant roll of the drums, and the loud shouts +that burst forth, from time to time, from some great multitude. + +Forgetting every thing, save my intense passion for scenes of terror, I +hastened down the stairs into the street, and at the top of my speed +hurried to the place of execution. As I went along, the crowded streets +and thronged avenues told of some event of more than common interest; +and in the words which fell from those around me I could trace that some +deep Royalist plot had just been discovered, and that the conspirators +would all on that day be executed. Whether it was that the frequent +sight of blood was beginning to pall upon the popular appetite, or that +these wholesale massacres interested less than the sight of individual +suffering, I know not; but certainly there was less of exultation, less +of triumphant scorn in the tone of the speakers. They talked of the +coming event, as of a common occurrence, which, from mere repetition, +was gradually losing interest. + +"I thought we had done with these Chouans," said a man in a blouse, with +a paper cap on his head. "Pardie! they must have been more numerous than +we ever suspected." + +"That they were, citoyen," said a haggard-looking fellow, whose features +showed the signs of recent strife; "they were the millions who gorged +and fed upon us for centuries--who sipped the red grape of Bourdeaux, +while you and I drank the water of the Seine." + +"Well, their time is come now," cried a third. + +"And when will ours come?" asked a fresh-looking, dark-eyed girl, whose +dress bespoke her trade of _bouquetiere_--"Do you call this our time, my +masters, when Paris has no more pleasant sight than blood, nor any music +save the 'ca ira' that drowns the cries at the guillotine? Is this our +time, when we have lost those who gave us bread, and got in their place +only those who would feed us with carnage?" + +"Down with her! down with the Chouan! a bas la Royaliste!" cried the +pale-faced fellow; and he struck the girl with his fist upon the face, +and left it covered with blood. + +"To the lantern with her!--to the Seine!" shouted several voices; and +now, rudely seizing her by the shoulders, the mob seemed bent upon +sudden vengeance; while the poor girl, letting fall her basket, begged, +with clasped hands, for mercy. + +"See here, see here, comrades," cried a fellow, stooping down among the +flowers, "she is a Royalist: here are lilies hid beneath the rest." + +What sad consequences this discovery might have led to, there is no +knowing; when, suddenly, a violent rush of the crowd turned every +thought into a different direction. It was caused by a movement of the +Gendarmerie a cheval, who were clearing the way for the approaching +procession. I had just time to place the poor girl's basket in her +hands, as the onward impulse of the dense mob carried me forward. I saw +her no more. A flower--I know not how it came there--was in my bosom, +and seeing that it was a lily, I placed it in my cap for concealment. + +The hoarse clangor of the bassoons--the only instruments which played +during the march--now told that the procession was approaching; and then +I could see, above the heads of the multitude, the leopard-skin helmets +of the dragoons, who led the way. Save this I could see nothing, as I +was borne along in the vast torrent toward the place of execution. +Slowly as we moved, our progress was far more rapid than that of the +procession, which was often obliged to halt from the density of the mob +in front. We arrived, therefore, at the Place a considerable time +before it; and now I found myself beside the massive wooden railing +placed to keep off the crowd from the space around the guillotine. + +It was the first time I had ever stood so close to the fatal spot, and +my eyes devoured every detail with the most searching intensity. The +colossal guillotine itself, painted red, and with its massive ax +suspended aloft--the terrible basket, half filled with sawdust, +beneath--the coarse table, on which a rude jar and a cap were +placed--and, more disgusting than all, the lounging group, who, with +their newspapers in hand, seemed from time to time to watch if the +procession were approaching. They sat beneath a misshapen statue of +wood, painted red like the guillotine. This was the goddess of Liberty. +I climbed one of the pillars of the paling, and could now see the great +cart, which, like a boat upon wheels, came slowly along, dragged by six +horses. It was crowded with people, so closely packed that they could +not move their bodies, and only waved their hands, which they did +incessantly. They seemed, too, as if they were singing; but the deep +growl of the bassoons, and the fierce howlings of the mob, drowned all +other sounds. As the cart came nearer, I could distinguish the faces, +amid which were those of age and youth--men and women--bold-visaged boys +and fair girls--some, whose air bespoke the very highest station, and +beside them, the hardy peasant, apparently more amazed than terrified at +all he saw around him. On they came, the great cart surging heavily, +like a bark in a stormy sea; and now it cleft the dense ocean that +filled the Place, and I could descry the lineaments wherein the +stiffened lines of death were already marked. Had any touch of pity +still lingered in that dense crowd, there might well have been some show +of compassion for the sad convoy, whose faces grew ghastly with terror +as they drew near the horrible engine. + +Down the furrowed cheek of age the heavy tears coursed freely, and sobs +and broken prayers burst forth from hearts that until now had beat high +and proudly. + +"There is the Duc d'Angeac," cried a fellow, pointing to a venerable old +man, who was seated at the corner of the cart, with an air of calm +dignity; "I know him well, for I was his perruquier." + +"His hair must be content with sawdust this morning, instead of powder," +said another; and a rude laugh followed the ruffian jest. + +"See! mark that woman with the long dark hair--that is La Bretonville, +the actress of the St. Martin." + +"I have often seen her represent terror far more naturally," cried a +fashionably-dressed man, as he stared at the victim through his +opera-glass. + +"Bah!" replied his friend, "she despises her audience, _voila tout_. +Look, Henri, if that little girl beside her be not Lucille of the +Pantheon." + +"Parbleu! so it is. Why, they'll not leave a pirouette in the Grand +Opera. Pauvre petite, what had you to do with politics?" + +"Her little feet ought to have saved her head any day." + +"See how grim that old lady beside her looks: I'd swear she is more +shocked at the company she's thrown into, than the fate that awaits her. +I never saw a glance of prouder disdain than she has just bestowed on +poor Lucille." + +"That's the old Marquise d'Estelles, the very essence of our old +nobility. They used to talk of their mesalliance with the Bourbons as +the first misfortune of their house." + +"Pardie! they have lived to learn deeper sorrows." + +I had by this time discovered her they were speaking of, whom I +recognized at once as the old marquise of the chapel of St. Blois. My +hands nearly gave up their grasp as I gazed on those features, which so +often I had seen fixed in prayer, and which now--a thought paler, +perhaps--wore the self-same calm expression. With what intense agony I +peered into the mass, to see if the little girl, her grand-daughter, +were with her; and, oh! the deep relief I felt as I saw nothing but +strange faces on every side. It was terrible to feel, as my eyes ranged +over that vast mass, where grief and despair, and heart-sinking terror +were depicted, that I should experience a spirit of joy and +thankfulness; and yet I did so, and with my lips I uttered my gratitude +that she was spared! But I had not time for many reflections like this; +already the terrible business of the day had begun, and the prisoners +were now descending from the cart, ranging themselves, as their names +were called, in a line below the scaffold. With a few exception, they +took their places in all the calm of seeming indifference. Death had +long familiarized itself to their minds in a thousand shapes. Day by day +they had seen the vacant places left by those led out to die, and if +their sorrows had not rendered them careless of life, the world itself +had grown distasteful to them. In some cases a spirit of proud scorn was +manifested to the very last; and, strange inconsistency of human nature! +the very men whose licentiousness and frivolity first evoked the +terrible storm of popular fury, were the first to display the most +chivalrous courage in the terrible face of the guillotine. Beautiful +women, too, in all the pride of their loveliness, met the inhuman stare +of that mob undismayed. Nor were these traits without their fruits. This +noble spirit--this triumphant victory of the well-born and the +great--was a continual insult to the populace, who saw themselves +defrauded of half their promised vengeance, and they learned that they +might kill, but they could never humiliate them. In vain they dipped +their hands in the red life-blood, and, holding up their dripping +fingers, asked, "How did it differ from that of the canaille?" Their +hearts gave the lie to the taunt for they witnessed instances of +heroism from gray hairs and tender womanhood, that would have shamed +the proudest deeds of their new-born chivalry! + +"Charles Gregoire Courcelles!" shouted out a deep voice from the +scaffold. + +"That is my name," said a venerable-looking old gentleman, as he arose +from his seat, adding, with a placid smile, "but, for half a century my +friends have called me the Duc de Riancourt." + +"We have no dukes nor marquises; we know of no titles in France," +replied the functionary. "All men are equal before the law." + +"If it were so, my friend, you and I might change places; for you were +my steward, and plundered my chateau." + +"Down with the royalist--away with the aristocrat!" shouted a number of +voices from the crowd. + +"Be a little patient, good people," said the old man, as he ascended the +steps with some difficulty; "I was wounded in Canada, and have never yet +recovered. I shall probably be better a few minutes hence." + +There was something of half simplicity in the careless way the words +were uttered that hushed the multitude, and already some expressions of +sympathy were heard; but as quickly the ribald insults of the hired +ruffians of the Convention drowned these sounds, and "Down with the +royalist" resounded on every side, while two officials assisted him to +remove his stock and bare his throat. The commissary, advancing to the +edge of the platform, and, as it were, addressing the people, read in a +hurried, slurring kind of voice, something that purported to be the +ground of the condemnation. But of this not a word could be heard. None +cared to hear the ten-thousand-time told tale of suspected royalism, nor +would listen to the high-sounding declamation that proclaimed the +virtuous zeal of the government--their untiring energy--their glorious +persistence in the cause of the people. The last words were, as usual, +responded to with an echoing shout, and the cry of "Vive la Republique" +rose from the great multitude. + +"Vive le Roi!" cried the old man, with a voice heard high above the +clamor; but the words were scarce out when the lips that muttered them +were closed in death; so sudden was the act, that a cry burst forth from +the mob, but whether in reprobation or in ecstasy I knew not. + +I will not follow the sad catalogue, wherein nobles and peasants, +priests, soldiers, actors, men of obscure fortune, and women of lofty +station succeeded each other, occupying for a brief minute every eye, +and passing away for ever. Many ascended the platform without a word; +some waved a farewell toward a distant quarter, where they suspected a +friend to be--others spent their last moments in prayer, and died in the +very act of supplication. All bore themselves with a noble and proud +courage; and now some five or six alone remained, of whose fate none +seemed to guess the issue, since they had been taken from the Temple by +some mistake, and were not included in the list of the commissary. There +they sat, at the foot of the scaffold, speechless and stupefied--they +looked as though it were matter of indifference to which side their +steps should turn--to the jail or the guillotine. Among these was the +marquise, who alone preserved her proud self-possession, and sat in all +her accustomed dignity; while close beside her an angry controversy was +maintained as to their future destiny--the commissary firmly refusing to +receive them for execution, and the delegate of the Temple, as he was +styled, as flatly asserting that he would not re-conduct them to prison. +The populace soon grew interested in the dispute, and the most violent +altercations arose among the partisans of each side of the question. + +Meanwhile, the commissary and his assistants prepared to depart. Already +the massive drapery of red cloth was drawn over the guillotine, and +every preparation made for withdrawing, when the mob, doubtless +dissatisfied that they should be defrauded of any portion of the +entertainment, began to climb over the wooden barricades, and, with +furious cries and shouts, threatened vengeance upon any who would screen +the enemies of the people. + +The troops resisted the movement, but rather with the air of men +entreating calmness, than with the spirit of soldiery. It was plain to +see on which side the true force lay. + +"If you will not do it, the people will do it for you," whispered the +delegate to the commissary; "and who is to say where they will stop when +their hands once learn the trick!" + +The commissary grew lividly pale, and made no reply. + +"See there!" rejoined the other; "they are carrying a fellow on their +shoulders yonder; they mean him to be executioner." + +"But I dare not--I can not--without my orders." + +"Are not the people sovereign?--whose will have we sworn to obey, but +theirs?" + +"My own head would be the penalty if I yielded." + +"It will be, if you resist--even now it is too late." + +And as he spoke he sprang from the scaffold, and disappeared in the +dense crowd that already thronged the space within the rails. + +By this time, the populace were not only masters of the area around, but +had also gained the scaffold itself, from which many of them seemed +endeavoring to harangue the mob; others contenting themselves with +imitating the gestures of the commissary and his functionaries. It was a +scene of the wildest uproar and confusion--frantic cries and screams, +ribald songs and fiendish yellings on every side. The guillotine was +again uncovered, and the great crimson drapery, torn into fragments, was +waved about like flags, or twisted into uncouth head-dresses. The +commissary failing in every attempt to restore order peaceably, and +either not possessing a sufficient force, or distrusting the temper of +the soldiers, descended from the scaffold, and gave the order to march. +This act of submission was hailed by the mob with the most furious yell +of triumph. Up to that very moment, they had never credited the bare +possibility of a victory; and now they saw themselves suddenly masters +of the field--the troops, in all the array of horse and foot, retiring +in discomfiture. Their exultation knew no bounds; and, doubtless, had +there been among them those with skill and daring to profit by the +enthusiasm, the torrent had rushed a longer and more terrific course +than through the blood-steeped clay of the Place de la Greve. + +"Here is the man we want," shouted a deep voice. "St. Just told us, +t'other day, that the occasion never failed to produce one; and see, +here is 'Jean Gougon;' and though he's but two feet high, his fingers +can reach the pin of the guillotine." + +And he held aloft on his shoulders a misshapen dwarf, who was well known +on the Pont Neuf, where he gained his living by singing infamous songs, +and performing mockeries of the service of the mass. A cheer of welcome +acknowledged this speech, to which the dwarf responded by a mock +benediction, which he bestowed with all the ceremonious observance of an +archbishop. Shouts of the wildest laughter followed this ribaldry, and +in a kind of triumph they carried him up the steps, and deposited him on +the scaffold. + +Ascending one of the chairs, the little wretch proceeded to address the +mob, which he did with all the ease and composure of a practiced public +speaker. Not a murmur was heard in that tumultuous assemblage, as he, +with a most admirable imitation of Hebert, then the popular idol, +assured them that France was, at that instant, the envy of surrounding +nations; and that, bating certain little weaknesses on the score of +humanity--certain traits of softness and over-mercy--her citizens +realized all that ever had been said of angels. From thence he passed on +to a mimicry of Marat, of Danton, and of Robespierre--tearing off his +cravat, baring his breast, and performing all the oft-exhibited antics +of the latter, as he vociferated, in a wild scream, the well-known +peroration of a speech he had lately made--"If we look to a glorious +morrow of freedom, the sun of our slavery must set in blood!" + +However amused by the dwarf's exhibition, a feeling of impatience began +to manifest itself among the mob, who felt that, by any longer delay, it +was possible time would be given for fresh troops to arrive, and the +glorious opportunity of popular sovereignty be lost in the very hour of +victory. + +"To work--to work, Master Gougon!" shouted hundreds of rude voices; "we +can not spend our day in listening to oratory." + +"You forget, my dear friends," said he blandly, "that this is to me a +new walk in life I have much to learn, ere I can acquit myself worthily +to the republic." + +"We have no leisure for preparatory studies, Gougon," cried a fellow +below the scaffold. + +"Let me, then, just begin with monsieur," said the dwarf, pointing to +the last speaker; and a shout of laughter closed the sentence. + +A brief and angry dispute now arose as to what was to be done, and it is +more than doubtful how the debate might have ended, when Gougon, with a +readiness all his own, concluded the discussion by saying, + +"I have it, messieurs, I have it. There is a lady here, who, however +respectable her family and connections, will leave few to mourn her +loss. She is, in a manner, public property, and if not born on the soil, +at least a naturalized Frenchwoman. We have done a great deal for her, +and in her name, for some time back, and I am not aware of any singular +benefit she has rendered us. With your permission, then, I'll begin with +_her_." + +"Name, name--name her," was cried by thousands. + +"_La voila_," said he, archly, as he pointed with his thumb to the +wooden effigy of Liberty above his head. + +The absurdity of the suggestion was more than enough for its success. A +dozen hands were speedily at work, and down came the Goddess of Liberty! +The other details of an execution were hurried over with all the speed +of practiced address, and the figure was placed beneath the drop. Down +fell the ax, and Gougon, lifting up the wooden head, paraded it about +the scaffold, crying, + +"Behold! an enemy of France. Long live the republic, one and +'indivisible.'" + +Loud and wild were the shouts of laughter from this brutal mockery; and +for a time it almost seemed as if the ribaldry had turned the mob from +the sterner passions of their vengeance. This hope, if one there ever +cherished it, was short-lived; and again the cry arose for blood. It was +too plain, that no momentary diversion, no passing distraction, could +withdraw them from that lust for cruelty, that had now grown into a +passion. + +And now a bustle and movement of those around the stairs showed that +something was in preparation; and in the next moment the old marquise +was led forward between two men. + +"Where is the order for this woman's execution?" asked the dwarf, +mimicking the style and air of the commissary. + +"We give it: it is from us," shouted the mob, with one savage roar. + +Gougon removed his cap, and bowed a token of obedience. + +"Let us proceed in order, messieurs," said he, gravely; "I see no priest +here." + +"Shrive her yourself, Gougon; few know the mummeries better!" cried a +voice. + +"Is there not one here can remember a prayer, or even a verse of the +offices," said Gougon, with a well-affected horror in his voice. + +"Yes, yes, I do," cried I, my zeal overcoming all sense of the mockery +in which the words were spoken; "I know them all by heart, and can +repeat them from 'lux beatissima' down to 'hora mortis;'" and as if to +gain credence for my self-laudation, I began at once to recite in the +sing-song tone of the seminary, + + "Salve, mater salvatoris, + Fons salutis, vas honoris: + Scala coeli porta et via + Salve semper, O, Maria!" + +It is possible I should have gone on to the very end, if the uproarious +laughter which rung around had not stopped me. + +"There's a brave youth!" cried Gougon, pointing toward me, with mock +admiration. "If it ever come to pass--as what may not in these strange +times?--that we turn to priest-craft again, thou shalt be the first +archbishop of Paris. Who taught thee that famous canticle?" + +"The Pere Michel," replied I, in no way conscious of the ridicule +bestowed upon me; "the Pere Michel of St. Blois." + +The old lady lifted up her head at these words, and her dark eyes rested +steadily upon me; and then, with a sign of her hand, she motioned to me +to come over to her. + +"Yes; let him come," said Gougon, as if answering the half-reluctant +glances of the crowd. And now I was assisted to descend, and passed +along over the heads of the people till I was placed upon the scaffold. +Never can I forget the terror of that moment, as I stood within a few +feet of the terrible guillotine, and saw beside me the horrid basket, +splashed with recent blood. + +"Look not at these things, child," said the old lady, as she took my +hand and drew me toward her, "but listen to me, and mark my words well." + +"I will, I will," cried I, as the hot tears rolled down my cheeks. + +"Tell the Pere--you will see him to-night--tell him that I have changed +my mind, and resolved upon another course, and that he is not to leave +Paris. Let them remain. The torrent runs too rapidly to last. This can +not endure much longer. We shall be among the last victims! You hear me, +child?" + +"I do, I do," cried I, sobbing. "Why is not the Pere Michel with you +now?" + +"Because he is suing for my pardon; asking for mercy, where its very +name is a derision. Kneel down beside me, and repeat the 'angelus.'" + +I took off my cap, and knelt down at her feet, reciting, in a voice +broken by emotion, the words of the prayer. She repeated each syllable +after me, in a tone full and unshaken, and then stooping, she took up +the lily which lay in my cap. She pressed it passionately to her lips; +two or three times passionately. "Give it to her; tell her I kissed it +at my last moment. Tell her--" + +"This 'shrift' is beyond endurance. Away, holy father," cried Gougon, +as he pushed me rudely back, and seized the marquise by the wrist. A +faint cry escaped her. I heard no more; for, jostled and pushed about by +the crowd, I was driven to the very rails of the scaffold. Stepping +beneath these, I mingled with the mob beneath; and burning with +eagerness to escape a scene, to have witnessed which would almost have +made my heart break, I forced my way into the dense mass, and, by +squeezing and creeping, succeeded at last in penetrating to the verge of +the Place. A terrible shout, and a rocking motion of the mob, like the +heavy surging of the sea, told me that all was over; but I never looked +back to the fatal spot, but having gained the open streets, ran at the +top of my speed toward home. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +[From Bender's Monthly Miscellany.] + +WOMEN IN THE EAST. + +BY AN ORIENTAL TRAVELER. + + + Within the gay kiosk reclined, + Above the scent of lemon groves, + Where bubbling fountains kiss the wind, + And birds make music to their loves, + She lives a kind of faery life, + In sisterhood of fruits and flowers, + Unconscious of the outer strife + That wears the palpitating hours. + + _The Hareem._ R.M. MILNES. + +There is a gentle, calm repose breathing through the whole of this poem, +which comes soothingly to the imagination wearied with the strife and +hollowness of modern civilization. Woman in it is the inferior being; +but it is the inferiority of the beautiful flower, or of the fairy birds +of gorgeous plumage, who wing their flight amid the gardens and bubbling +streams of the Eastern palace. Life is represented for the Eastern women +as a long dream of affection; the only emotions she is to know are those +of ardent love and tender maternity. She is not represented as the +companion to man in his life battle, as the sharer of his triumph and +his defeats: the storms of life are hushed at the entrance of the +hareem; _there_ the lord and master deposits the frown of unlimited +power, or the cringing reverence of the slave, and appears as the +watchful guardian of the loved one's happiness. Such a picture is +poetical, and would lead one to say, alas for human progress, if the +Eastern female slave is thus on earth to pass one long golden +summer--her heart only tied by those feelings which keep it young--while +her Christian sister has these emotions but as sun-gleams to lighten and +make dark by contrast, the frequent gloom of her winter life. + +But although the conception is poetical, to one who has lived many years +in the East, it appears a conception, not a description of the real +hareem life, even among the noble and wealthy of those lands. The +following anecdote may be given us the other side of the picture. The +writer was a witness of the scene, and he offers it as a consolation to +those of his fair sisters, who, in the midst of the troubles of +common-place life, might be disposed to compare their lot with that of +the inmate of the mysterious and happy home drawn by the poet. + +It was in a large and fruitful district of the south of India that I +passed a few years of my life. In this district lived, immured in his +fort, one of the native rajahs, who, with questionable justice, have +gradually been shorn of their regal state and authority, to become +pensioners of the East India Company. The inevitable consequence of such +an existence, the forced life of inactivity with the traditions of the +bold exploits of his royal ancestors, brilliant Mahratta chieftains, may +be imagined. The rajah sunk into a state of slothful dissipation, varied +by the occasional intemperate exercise of the power left him within the +limits of the fortress, his residence. This fort is not the place which +the word would suggest to the reader, but was rather a small native town +surrounded by fortifications. This town was peopled by the descendants +of the Mahrattas, and by the artisans and dependents of the rajah and +his court. Twice a year the English resident and his assistants were +accustomed to pay visits of ceremony to the rajah, and had to encounter +the fatiguing sights of dancing-girls, beast-fights, and _music_, if the +extraordinary assemblage of sounds, which in the East assume the place +of harmony, can be so called. + +We had just returned from one of these visits, and were grumbling over +our headaches, the dust, and the heat, when, to our surprise, the +rajah's vabul or confidential representative was announced. As it was +nine o'clock in the evening this somewhat surprised us. He was, however, +admitted, and after a short, hurried obeisance, he announced "that he +must die! that there had been a sudden revolt of the hareem, and that +when the rajah knew it, he would listen to no explanations, but be sure +to imprison and ruin all round him; and that foremost in the general +destruction would be himself, Veneat-Rao, who had always been the child +of the English Sahibs, who were his fathers--that they were wise above +all natives, and that he had come to them for help!" All this was +pronounced with indescribable volubility, and the appearance of the +speaker announced the most abject fear. He was a little wizened Brahmin, +with the thin blue lines of his caste carefully painted on his wrinkled +forehead. His dark black eyes gleamed with suppressed impotent rage, and +in his agitation he had lost all that staid, placid decorum which we had +been accustomed to observe in him when transacting business. When urged +to explain the domestic disaster which had befallen his master, he +exclaimed with ludicrous pathos, "By Rama! women are devils; by them all +misfortunes come upon men! But, sahibs, hasten with me; they have +broken through the guard kept on the hareem door by two old sentries; +they ran through the fort and besieged my house; they are now there, and +refuse to go back to the hareem. The rajah returns to-morrow from his +hunting--what can I say? I must die! my children, who will care for +them? what crime did my father commit that I should thus be disgraced?" + +Yielding to these entreaties, and amused at the prospect of a novel +scene, we mounted our horses and cantered to the fort. The lights were +burning brightly in the bazaars as we rode through them, and except a +few groups gathered to discuss the price of rice and the want of rain, +we perceived no agitation till we reached the Vakeel's house. Arrived +here we dismounted, and on entering the square court-yard a scene of +indescribable confusion presented itself. The first impression it +produced on me was that of entering a large aviary in which the birds, +stricken with terror, fly madly to and fro against the bars. Such was +the first effect of our entrance. Women and girls of all ages, grouped +about the court, in most picturesque attitudes, started up and fled to +its extreme end; only a few of the more matronly ladies stood their +ground, and with terribly screeching voices, declaimed against some one +or something, but for a long time we could, in this Babel of female +tongues, distinguish nothing. At last we managed to distinguish the +rajah's name, coupled with epithets most disrespectful to royalty. This, +and that they, the women, begged instantly to be put to death, was all +that the clamor would permit us to understand. We looked appealingly at +Veneat Rao, who stood by, wringing his hands. However, he made a +vigorous effort, and raising his shrill voice, told them that the sahibs +had come purposely to listen to, and redress their grievances, and that +they would hold durbar (audience) then and there. + +This announcement produced a lull, and enabled us to look round us at +the strange scene. Scattered in various parts of the court were these +poor prisoners, who now for the first time for many years tasted +liberty. Scattered about were some hideous old women, partly guardians +of the younger, partly remains, we were told, of the rajah's father's +seraglio. Young children moved among them looking very much frightened. +But the group which attracted our attention and admiration consisted of +about twenty really beautiful girls, from fourteen to eighteen years of +age, of every country and caste, in the various costume and ornament of +their races; these were clustering round a fair and very graceful +Mahratta girl, whose tall figure was seen to great advantage in the +blaze of torchlight. Her muslin vail had half fallen from her face, +allowing us to see her large, soft, dark eyes, from which the tears were +fast falling, as in a low voice she addressed her fellow-sufferers. +There was on her face a peculiar expression of patient endurance of +ill, inexpressibly touching. This is not an unfrequent character in the +beauty of Asiatic women; the natural result of habits of fear, and the +entire submission to the will of others. + +Her features were classically regular, with the short rounded chin, the +long graceful neck, and that easy port of head so seldom seen except in +the women of the East. Her arms were covered with rich bracelets, and +were of the most perfect form; her hands long and tapering, the palms +and nails dyed with the "henna." No barbarously-civilized restraint +rendered her waist a contradiction of natural beauty; a small, dark +satin bodice, richly embroidered, covered a bosom which had hardly +attained womanly perfection; a zone of gold held together the full +muslin folds of the lower portion of her dress, below which the white +satin trowsers reached, without concealing a faultless ankle and foot, +uncovered, except by the heavy anklet and rings which tinkled at every +step she took. After the disturbance that our entrance had caused, had +in a measure subsided, the children, who were richly dressed and loaded +with every kind of fantastic ornament, came sidling timidly round us, +peering curiously with their large black eyes, at the unusual sight of +white men. + +Considerably embarrassed at the very new arbitration which we were about +to undertake, B. and I consulted for a little while, after which, +gravely taking our seats, and Veneat Rao having begged them to listen +with respectful attention, I, at B.'s desire, proceeded to address them, +telling them, + +"That we supposed some grave cause must have arisen for them to desert +the palace of the rajah, their protector, during his absence, and by +violently overpowering the guard, incur his serious anger (here my eye +caught a sight of the said guard, consisting of two blear-eyed, +shriveled old men, and I nearly lost all solemnity of demeanor) that if +they complained of injustice, we supposed that it must have been +committed without his highness's knowledge, but that if they would +quietly return to the hareem we would endeavor to represent to their +master their case, and entreat him to redress their grievance." + +I spoke this in Hindusthani, which, as the _lingua franca_ of the +greater part of India, I thought was most likely to be understood by the +majority of my female audience. I succeeded perfectly in making myself +understood, but was not quite so successful in convincing them that it +was better that they should return to the rajah's palace. After rather a +stormy discussion, the Mahratta girl, whom we had so much admired on our +entrance, stepped forward, and, bowing lowly before us, and crossing her +arms, in a very sweet tone of voice proceeded to tell her story, which, +she said, was very much the history of them all. The simple, and at +times picturesque expressions lose much by translation. + +"Sir, much shame comes over me, that I, a woman, should speak before +men who are not our fathers, husbands, nor brothers, who are strangers, +of another country and religion; but they tell us that you English +sahibs love truth and justice, and protect the poor. + +"I was born of Gentoo parents--rich, for I can remember the bright, +beautiful jewels which, as a child, I wore on my head, arms, and feet, +the large house and gardens where I played, and the numerous servants +who attended me. + +"When I had reached my eighth or ninth year I heard them talk of my +betrothal,[1] and of the journey which we were, previous to the +ceremony, to take to some shrine in a distant country. My father, who +was advancing in years, and in bad health, being anxious to bathe in the +holy waters, which should give him prolonged life and health. + +[1] The usual age for the ceremony among the wealthy India. + +"The journey had lasted for many days, and one evening after we had +halted for the day I accompanied my mother when she went to bathe in a +tank near to our encampment. As I played along the bank and picked a few +wild flowers that grew under the trees I observed an old woman advancing +toward me. She spoke to me in a kind voice, asked me my name? who were +my parents? where we were going? and when I had answered her these +questions she told me that if I would accompany her a little way she +would give me some prettier flowers than those I was gathering, and that +her servant should take me back to my people. + +"I had no sooner gone far enough to be out of sight and hearing of my +mother than the old woman threw a cloth over my head, and taking me up +in her arms, hurried on for a short distance. There I could distinguish +men's voices, and was sensible of being placed in a carriage, which was +driven off at a rapid pace. No answer was returned to my cries and +entreaties to be restored to my parents, and at sunrise I found myself +near hills which I had never before seen, and among a people whose +language was new to me. + +"I remained with these people, who were not unkind to me, three or four +years; and I found out that the old woman who had carried me off from my +parents, was an emissary sent from the rajah's hareem to kidnap, when +they could not be purchased, young female children whose looks promised +that they would grow up with the beauty necessary for the gratification +of the prince's passions. + +"Sahibs! I have been two years an inmate of the rajah's hareem--would to +God I had died a child in my own country with those I loved, than that I +should have been exposed to the miseries we suffer. The splendor which +surrounds us is only a mockery. The rajah, wearied and worn out by a +life of debauchery, takes no longer any pleasure in our society, and is +only roused from his lethargy to inflict disgrace and cruelties upon +us. We, who are of Brahmin caste, for his amusement, are forced to learn +the work of men--are made to carry in the gardens of the hareem a +palanquin, to work as goldsmiths--and, may our gods pardon us, to mingle +with the dancing-girls of the bazaar. His attendants deprive us even of +our food, and we sit in the beautiful palace loaded with jewels, and +suffer from the hunger not felt even by the poor Pariah. + +"Sahibs! you who have in your country mothers and sisters, save us from +this cruel fate, and cause us to be restored to our parents; do not send +us back to such degradation, but rather let us die by your orders." + +As with a voice tremulous with emotion, she said these words, she threw +herself at our feet, and burst into an agony of weeping. + +Deeply moved by the simple expression of such undeserved misfortune, we +soothed her as well as we were able, and promising her and her +companions to make every effort with the rajah for their deliverance, we +persuaded Rosambhi, the Mahratta girl (their eloquent pleader), to +induce them to return for the night to the palace. Upon a repetition of +our promise they consented, to the infinite relief of Veneat Rao, who +alternately showered blessings on us, and curses on all womankind, as he +accompanied us back to the Residency. + +And now we had to set about the deliverance of these poor women. This +was a work of considerable difficulty. + +It was a delicate matter interfering with the rajah's domestic concerns, +and we could only commission Veneat Rao to communicate to his highness +the manner in which we had become implicated with so unusual an +occurrence as a revolt of his seraglio; we told him to express to his +highness our conviction that his generosity had been deceived by his +subordinates. In this we only imitated the profound maxim of European +diplomacy, and concealed our real ideas by our expressions. This to the +rajah. On his confidential servant we enforced the disapprobation the +resident felt at the system of kidnapping, of which his highness was the +instigator, and hinted at that which these princes most dread--an +investigation. + +This succeeded beyond our expectation, and the next morning a message +was sent from the palace, intimating that the charges were so completely +unfounded, that the rajah was prepared to offer to his revolted women, +the choice of remaining in the hareem, or being sent back to their +homes. + +Again they were assembled in Veneat Rao's house, but this time in much +more orderly fashion, for their vails were down, and except occasionally +when a coquettish movement showed a portion of some face, we were +unrewarded by any of the bright eyes we had admired on the previous +visit. The question was put to them one by one, and all with the +exception of a few old women, expressed an eager wish not to re-enter +the hareem. + +After much troublesome inquiry, we discovered their parents, and were +rewarded by their happy and grateful faces, as we sent them off under +escort to their homes. It was painful to reflect what their fate would +be; they left us rejoicing at what they thought would be a happy change, +but we well knew that no one would marry them, knowing that they had +been in the rajah's hareem, and that they would either lead a life of +neglect, or sink into vice, of which the liberty would be the only +change from that, which by our means they had escaped. + +In the inquiries we made into the circumstances of this curious case, we +found that their statements were true. + +Large sums were paid by the rajah to his creatures, who traveled to +distant parts of the country, and wherever they could meet with parents +poor enough, bought their female children from them, or when they met +with remarkable beauty such as Rosambhi's, did not hesitate to carry the +child off, and by making rapid marches, elude any vigilance of pursuit +on the part of the parents. + +The cruelties and degradations suffered by these poor girls are hardly +to be described. We well know how degraded, even in civilized countries +the pursuit of sensual pleasures renders men, to whom education and the +respect they pay the opinion of society, are checks; let us imagine the +conduct of the eastern prince, safe in the retirement of his court, +surrounded by those dependents to whom the gratification of their +master's worst passions was the sure road to favor and fortune. + +Besides the sufferings they had to endure from him, the women of the +hareem were exposed to the rapacities of those who had charge of them, +and Rosambhi did not exaggerate, when she described herself and her +companions as suffering the pangs of want amid the splendors of a +palace. + +This is the reverse of the pleasing picture drawn by the poet of the +Eastern woman's existence--but, though less pleasing, it is true--nor +need we describe her in the lower ranks of life in those countries, +where, her beauty faded, she has to pass a wearisome existence, the +servant of a rival, whose youthful charms have supplanted her in her +master's affections. The calm happiness of advancing age is seldom +hers--she is the toy while young--the slave, or the neglected servant, +at best, when, her only merit in the eyes of her master, physical +beauty, is gone. + +Let her sister in the western world, in the midst of her joys, think +with pity on these sufferings, and when sorrow's cloud seems darkest, +let her not repine, but learn resignation to her lot, as she compares it +with the condition of the women of the East; let her be grateful that +she lives in an age and land where woman is regarded as the helpmate and +consolation of man, by whom her love is justly deemed the prize of his +life. + + + + +[From The Ladies' Companion.] + +LETTICE ARNOLD. + +By the Author of "TWO OLD MEN'S TALES," "EMILIA WYNDHAM," &c. + + +CHAPTER I. + + "It is the generous spirit, who when brought + Unto the task of common life, hath wrought + Even upon the plan which pleased the childish thought + * * * * * + Who doomed to go in company with pain, + And fear, and ruin--miserable train!-- + Makes that necessity a glorious gain, + By actions that would force the soul to abate + Her feeling, rendered more compassionate. + * * * * * + More gifted with self-knowledge--even more pure + As tempted more--more able to endure, + As more exposed to suffering and distress; + Thence, also, more alive to tenderness." + + WORDSWORTH. _Happy Warrior._ + +"No, dearest mother, no! I can not. What! after all the tenderness, +care, and love I have received from you, for now one-and-twenty years, +to leave you and my father, in your old age, to yourselves! Oh, no! Oh, +no!" + +"Nay, my child," said the pale, delicate, nervous woman, thus addressed +by a blooming girl whose face beamed with every promise for future +happiness, which health and cheerfulness, and eyes filled with warm +affections could give, "Nay, my child, don't talk so. You must not talk +so. It is not to be thought of." And, as she said these words with +effort, her poor heart was dying within her, not only from sorrow at the +thought of the parting from her darling, but with all sorts of dreary, +undefined terrors at the idea of the forlorn, deserted life before her. +Abandoned to herself and to servants, so fearful, so weak as she was, +and with the poor, invalided, and crippled veteran, her husband, a +martyr to that long train of sufferings which honorable wounds, received +in the service of country, too often leave behind them, a man at all +times so difficult to sooth, so impossible to entertain--and old age +creeping upon them both; the little strength she ever had, diminishing; +the little spirit she ever possessed, failing; what should she do +without this dear, animated, this loving, clever being, who was, in one +word, every thing to her? + +But she held to her resolution--no martyr ever more courageously than +this trembling, timid woman. A prey to ten thousand imaginary fears, +and, let alone the imaginary terrors, placed in a position where the +help she was now depriving herself of was really so greatly needed. + +"No, my dear," she repeated, "don't think of it; don't speak of it. You +distress me very much. Pray don't, my dearest Catherine." + +"But I should be a shocking creature, mamma, to forsake you; and, I am +sure, Edgar would despise me as much as I should myself, if I could +think of it. I can not--I ought not to leave you." + +The gentle blue eye of the mother was fixed upon the daughter's +generous, glowing face. She smothered a sigh. She waited a while to +steady her faltering voice. She wished to hide, if possible, from her +daughter the extent of the sacrifice she was making. + +At last she recovered herself sufficiently to speak with composure, and +then she said: + +"To accept such a sacrifice from a child, I have always thought the most +monstrous piece of selfishness of which a parent could be guilty. My +love, this does not come upon me unexpectedly. I have, of course, +anticipated it. I knew my sweet girl could not be long known and seen +without inspiring and returning the attachment of some valuable man. I +have resolved--and God strengthen me in this resolve," she cast up a +silent appeal to the fountain of strength and courage--"that nothing +should tempt me to what I consider so base. A parent accept the +sacrifice of a life in exchange for the poor remnant of her own! A +parent, who has had her own portion of the joys of youth in her day, +deprive a child of a share in her turn! No, my dearest love, +never--never! I would die, and I will die first." + +But it was not death she feared. The idea of death did not appall her. +What she dreaded was melancholy. She knew the unsoundness of her own +nerves; she had often felt herself, as it were, trembling upon the +fearful verge of reason, when the mind, unable to support itself, is +forced to rest upon another. She had known a feeling, common to many +very nervous people, I believe, as though the mind would be overset when +pressed far, if not helped, strengthened, and cheered by some more +wholesome mind; and she shrank appalled from the prospect. + +But even this could not make her waver in her resolution. She was a +generous, just, disinterested woman; though the exigencies of a most +delicate constitution, and most susceptible nervous system, had too +often thrown upon her--from those who did not understand such things, +and whose iron nerves and vigorous health rendered sympathy at such +times impossible--the reproach of being a tedious, whimsical, selfish +hypochondriac. + +Poor thing, she knew this well. It was the difficulty of making herself +understood; the want of sympathy, the impossibility of rendering needs, +most urgent in her case, comprehensible by her friends, which had added +so greatly to the timorous cowardice, the fear of circumstances, of +changes, which had been the bane of her existence. + +And, therefore, this kind, animated, affectionate daughter, whose +tenderness seemed never to weary in the task of cheering her; whose +activity was never exhausted in the endeavor to assist and serve her; +whose good sense and spirit kept every thing right at home, and more +especially kept those terrible things, the servants, in order--of whom +the poor mother, like many other feeble and languid people, was so +foolishly afraid; therefore, this kind daughter was as the very spring +of her existence; and the idea of parting with her was really dreadful. +Yet she hesitated not. So did that man behave, who stood firm upon the +rampart till he had finished his observation, though his hair turned +white with fear. Mrs. Melwyn was an heroic coward of this kind. + +She had prayed ardently, fervently, that day, for courage, for +resolution, to complete the dreaded sacrifice, and she had found it. + +"Oh, Lord! I am thy servant. Do with me what thou wilt. Trembling in +spirit, the victim of my infirmity--a poor, selfish, cowardly being, I +fall down before Thee. Thou hast showed me what is right--the sacrifice +I ought to make. Oh, give me strength in my weakness to _be_ faithful to +complete it!" + +Thus had she prayed. And now resolved in heart, the poor sinking spirit +failing her within but, as I said, steadying her voice with an almost +heroic constancy, she resisted her grateful and pious child's +representation: "I have told Edgar--dear as he is to me--strong as are +the claims his generous affection gives him over me--that I will not--I +can not forsake you." + +"You must not call it forsake," said the mother, gently. "My love, the +Lord of life himself has spoken it: 'Therefore shall a man leave his +father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.'" + +"And so he is ready to do," cried Catherine, eagerly. "Yes, mother, he +desires nothing better--he respects my scruples--he has offered, dear +Edgar! to abandon his profession and come and live here, and help me to +take care of you and my father. Was not that beautiful?" and the tears +stood in her speaking eyes. + +"Beautiful! generous! devoted! My Catherine will be a happy woman;" and +the mother smiled. A ray of genuine pleasure warmed her beating heart. +This respect in the gay, handsome young officer for the filial scruples +of her he loved was indeed beautiful! But the mother knew his spirit too +well to listen to this proposal for a moment. + +"And abandon his profession? No, my sweet child, that would never, never +do." + +"But he says he is independent of his profession--that his private +fortune, though not large, is enough for such simple, moderate people as +he and I are. In short, that he shall be miserable without me, and all +that charming stuff, mamma; and that he loves me better, for what he +calls, dear fellow, my piety to you. And so, dear mother, he says if you +and my father will but consent to take him in, he will do his very best +in helping me to make you comfortable; and he is so sweet-tempered, so +reasonable, so good, so amiable, I am quite sure he would keep his +promise, mamma." And she looked anxiously into her mother's face waiting +for an answer. The temptation was very, very strong. + +Again those domestic spectres which had so appalled her poor timorous +spirit rose before her. A desolate, dull fireside--her own tendency to +melancholy--her poor maimed suffering, and, alas, too often peevish +partner--encroaching, unmanageable servants. The cook, with her +careless, saucy ways--the butler so indifferent and negligent--and her +own maid, that Randall, who in secret tyrannized over her, exercising +the empire of fear to an extent which Catherine, alive as she was to +these evils, did not suspect. And again she asked herself, if these +things were disagreeable now, when Catherine was here to take care of +her, what would they be when she was left alone? + +And then such a sweet picture of happiness presented itself to tempt +her--Catherine settled there--settled there forever. That handsome, +lively young man, with his sweet, cordial ways and polite observance of +every one, sitting by their hearth, and talking, as he did, to the +general of old days and military matters, the only subject in which this +aged military man took any interest, reading the newspaper to him, and +making such lively, pleasant comments as he read! How should _she_ ever +get through the debates, with her breath so short, and her voice so +indistinct and low? The general would lose all patience--he hated to +hear her attempt to read such things, and always got Catherine or the +young lieutenant-colonel to do it. + +Oh! it was a sore temptation. But this poor, dear, good creature +resisted it. + +"My love," she said, after a little pause, daring which this noble +victory was achieved--laugh if you will at the expression, but it _was_ +a noble victory over self--"my love," she said, "don't tempt your poor +mother beyond her strength. Gladly, gladly, as far as we are concerned, +would we enter into this arrangement; but it must not be. No, Catherine; +Edgar must not quit his profession. It would not only be a very great +sacrifice I am sure now, but it would lay the foundation of endless +regrets in future. No, my darling girl, neither his happiness nor your +happiness shall be ever sacrificed to mine. A life against a few +uncertain years! No--no." + +The mother was inflexible. The more these good children offered to give +up for her sake, the more she resolved to suffer no such sacrifice to be +made. + +Edgar could not but rejoice. He was an excellent young fellow, and +excessively in love with the charming Catherine, you may be sure, or he +never would have thought of offering to abandon a profession for her +sake in which he had distinguished himself highly--which opened to him +the fairest prospects, and of which he was especially fond--but he was +not sorry to be excused. He had resolved upon this sacrifice, for there +is something in those who truly love, and whose love is elevated almost +to adoration by the moral worth they have observed in the chosen one, +which revolts at the idea of lowering the tone of that enthusiastic +goodness and self-immolation to principle which has so enchanted them. +Edgar could not do it. He could not attempt to persuade this tender, +generous daughter, to consider her own welfare and his, in preference +to that of her parents. He could only offer, on his own part, to make +the greatest sacrifice which could have been demanded from him. Rather +than part from her what would he not do? Every thing was possible but +that. + +However, when the mother positively refused to accept of this act of +self-abnegation, I can not say that he regretted it. No: he thought Mrs. +Melwyn quite right in what she said; and he loved and respected both her +character and understanding very much more than he had done before. + + * * * * * + +That night Mrs. Melwyn was very, very low indeed. And when she went up +into her dressing-room, and Catherine, having kissed her tenderly, with +a heart quite divided between anxiety for her, and a sense of happiness +that would make itself felt in spite of all, had retired to her room, +the mother sat down, poor thing, in the most comfortable arm-chair that +ever was invented, but which imparted no comfort to her; and placing +herself by a merry blazing fire, which was reflected from all sorts of +cheerful pretty things with which the dressing-room was adorned, her +feet upon a warm, soft footstool of Catherine's own working, her elbow +resting upon her knee, and her head upon her hand, she, with her eyes +bent mournfully upon the fire, began crying very much. And so she sat a +long time, thinking and crying, very sorrowful, but not in the least +repenting. Meditating upon all sorts of dismal things, filled with all +kinds of melancholy forebodings, as to how it would, and must be, when +Catherine was really gone, she sank at last into a sorrowful reverie, +and sate quite absorbed in her own thoughts, till she--who was extremely +punctual in her hour of going to bed--for reasons best known to herself, +though never confided to any human being, namely, that her maid disliked +very much sitting up for her--started as the clock in the hall sounded +eleven and two quarters, and almost with the trepidation of a chidden +child, rose and rang the bell. Nobody came. This made her still more +uneasy. It was Randall's custom not to answer her mistress's bell the +first time, when she was cross. And poor Mrs. Melwyn dreaded few things +in this world more than cross looks in those about her, especially in +Randall; and that Randall knew perfectly well. + +"She must be fallen asleep in her chair, poor thing. It was very +thoughtless of me," Mrs. Melwyn did not say, but would have said, if +people ever did speak to themselves aloud. + +Even in this sort of mute soliloquy she did not venture to say, "Randall +will be very ill-tempered and unreasonable." She rang again; and then, +after a proper time yielded to the claims of offended dignity, it +pleased Mrs. Randall to appear. + +"I am very sorry, Randall. Really I had no idea how late it was. I was +thinking about Miss Catherine, and I missed it when it struck ten. I +had not the least idea it was so late," began the mistress in an +apologizing tone, to which Randall vouchsafed not an answer, but looked +like a thunder cloud--as she went banging up and down the room, opening +and shutting drawers with a loud noise, and treading with a rough heavy +step; two things particularly annoying, as she very well knew, to the +sensitive nerves of her mistress. But Randall settled it with +herself--that as her mistress had kept her out of bed an hour and a half +longer than usual, for no reason at all but just to please herself, she +should find she was none the better for it. + +The poor mistress bore all this with patience for some time. She would +have gone on bearing the roughness and the noise, however disagreeable, +as long as Randall liked; but her soft heart could not bear those glum, +cross looks, and this alarming silence. + +"I was thinking of Miss Catherine's marriage, Randall. That was what +made me forget the hour. What shall I do without her?" + +"Yes, that's just like it," said the insolent abigail; "nothing ever can +content some people. Most ladies would be glad to settle their daughters +so well; but some folk make a crying matter of every thing. It would be +well for poor servants, when they're sitting over the fire, their bones +aching to death for very weariness, if _they'd_ something pleasant to +think about. They wouldn't be crying for nothing, and keeping all the +world out of their beds, like those who care for naught but how to +please themselves." + +Part of this was said, part muttered, part thought; and the poor timid +mistress--one of whose domestic occupations it seemed to be to study the +humors of her servants--heard a part and divined the rest. + +"Well, Randall, I don't quite hear all you are saying; and perhaps it is +as well I do not; but I wish you would give me my things and make haste, +for I'm really very tired, and I want to go to bed." + +"People can't make more haste than they can." + +And so it went on. The maid-servant never relaxing an atom of her +offended dignity--continuing to look as ill-humored, and to do every +thing as disagreeably as she possibly could--and her poor victim, by +speaking from time to time in an anxious, most gentle, and almost +flattering manner, hoping to mollify her dependent; but all in vain. + +"I'll teach her to keep me up again for nothing at all," thought +Randall. + +And so the poor lady, very miserable in the midst of all her luxuries, +at last gained her bed, and lay there not able to sleep for very +discomfort. And the abigail retired to her own warm apartment, where she +was greeted with a pleasant fire, by which stood a little nice chocolate +simmering, to refresh her before she went to bed--not much less +miserable than her mistress, for she was dreadfully out of humor--and +thought no hardship upon earth could equal that she endured--forced to +sit up in consequence of another's whim when she wanted so sadly to go +to bed. + + * * * * * + +While, thus, all that the most abundant possession of the world's goods +could bestow, was marred by the weakness of the mistress and the +ill-temper of the maid--the plentiful gifts of fortune rendered +valueless by the erroneous facility upon one side, and insolent love of +domination on the other; how many in the large metropolis, only a few +miles distant, and of which the innumerable lights might be seen +brightening, like an Aurora, the southern sky; how many laid down their +heads supperless that night! Stretched upon miserable pallets, and +ignorant where food was to be found on the morrow to satisfy the +cravings of hunger; yet, in the midst of their misery, more miserable, +also, because they were not exempt from those pests of existence--our +own faults and infirmities. + +And even, as it was, how many poor creatures _did_ actually lay down +their heads that night, far less miserable than poor Mrs. Melwyn. The +tyranny of a servant is noticed by the wise man, if I recollect right, +as one of the most irritating and insupportable of mortal miseries. + + * * * * * + +Two young women inhabited one small room of about ten feet by eight, in +the upper story of a set of houses somewhere near Mary-le-bone street. +These houses appear to have been once intended for rather substantial +persons, but have gradually sunk into lodging-houses for the very poor. +The premises look upon an old grave-yard; a dreary prospect enough, but +perhaps preferable to a close street, and are filled, with decent but +very poor people. Every room appears to serve a whole family, and few of +the rooms are much larger than the one I have described. + +It was now half-past twelve o'clock, and still the miserable dip tallow +candle burned in a dilapidated tin candlestick. The wind whistled with +that peculiar wintry sound which betokens that snow is falling; it was +very, very cold; the fire was out; and the girl who sat plying her +needle by the hearth, which was still a little warmer than the rest of +the room, had wrapped up her feet in an old worn-out piece of flannel, +and had an old black silk wadded cloak thrown over her to keep her from +being almost perished. The room was scantily furnished, and bore an air +of extreme poverty, amounting almost to absolute destitution. One by one +the little articles of property possessed by its inmates had disappeared +to supply the calls of urgent want. An old four-post bedstead, with +curtains of worn-out serge, stood in one corner; one mattress, with two +small thin pillows, and a bolster that was almost flat; three old +blankets, cotton sheets of the coarsest description upon it: three +rush-bottomed chairs, an old claw-table, very ancient dilapidated chest +of drawers--at the top of which were a few battered band-boxes--a +miserable bit of carpet before the fire-place; a wooden box for coals; a +little low tin fender, a poker, or rather half a poker; a shovel and +tongs, much the worse for wear, and a very few kitchen utensils, was all +the furniture in the room. What there was, however, was kept clean; the +floor was clean, the yellow paint was clean; and, I forgot to say, there +was a washing-tub set aside in one corner. + +The wind blew shrill, and shook the window, and the snow was heard +beating against the panes; the clock went another quarter, but still the +indefatigable toiler sewed on. Now and then she lifted up her head, as a +sigh came from that corner of the room where the bed stood, and some one +might be heard turning and tossing uneasily upon the mattress--then she +returned to her occupation and plied her needle with increased +assiduity. + +The workwoman was a girl of from eighteen to twenty, rather below the +middle size, and of a face and form little adapted to figure in a story. +One whose life, in all probability, would never be diversified by those +romantic adventures which _real_ life in general reserves to the +beautiful and the highly-gifted. Her features were rather homely, her +hair of a light brown, _without_ golden threads through it, her hands +and arms rough and red with cold and labor; her dress ordinary to a +degree--her clothes being of the cheapest materials--but then, these +clothes were so neat, so carefully mended where they had given way; the +hair was so smooth, and so closely and neatly drawn round the face; and +the face itself had such a sweet expression, that all the defects of +line and color were redeemed to the lover of expression, rather than +beauty. + +She did not look patient, she did not look resigned; she _could_ not +look cheerful exactly. She looked earnest, composed, busy, and +exceedingly kind. She had not, it would seem, thought enough of self in +the midst of her privations, to require the exercise of the virtues of +patience and resignation; she was so occupied with the sufferings of +others that she never seemed to think of her own. + +She was naturally of the most cheerful, hopeful temper in the +world--those people without selfishness usually are. And, though sorrow +had a little lowered the tone of her spirits to composure, and work and +disappointment had faded the bright colors of hope; still hope was not +entirely gone, nor cheerfulness exhausted. But, the predominant +expression of every word, and look, and tone, and gesture, was +kindness--inexhaustible kindness. + +I said she lifted up her head from time to time, as a sigh proceeded +from the bed, and its suffering inhabitant tossed and tossed: and at +last she broke silence and said, + +"Poor Myra, can't you get to sleep?" + +"It is so fearfully cold," was the reply; "and when _will_ you have +done, and come to bed?" + +"One quarter of an hour more, and I shall have finished it. Poor Myra, +you are so nervous, you never can get to sleep till all is shut up--but +have patience, dear, one little quarter of an hour, and then I will +throw my clothes over your feet, and I hope you will be a little +warmer." + +A sigh for all answer; and then the _true_ heroine--for she was +extremely beautiful, or rather had been, poor thing, for she was too wan +and wasted to be beautiful now--lifted up her head, from which fell a +profusion of the fairest hair in the world, and leaning her head upon +her arm, watched in a sort of impatient patience the progress of the +indefatigable needle-woman. + +"One o'clock striking, and you hav'n't done yet, Lettice? how slowly you +_do_ get on." + +"I can not work fast and neatly too, dear Myra. I can not get through as +some do--I wish I could. But my hands are not so delicate and nimble as +yours, such swelled clumsy things," she said, laughing a little, as she +looked at them--swelled, indeed, and all mottled over with the cold! "I +can not get over the ground nimbly and well at the same time. You are a +fine race-horse, I am a poor little drudging pony--but I will make as +much haste as I possibly can." + +Myra once more uttered an impatient, fretful sigh, and sank down again, +saying, "My feet are so dreadfully cold!" + +"Take this bit of flannel then, and let me wrap them up." + +"Nay, but you will want it." + +"Oh, I have only five minutes more to stay, and I can wrap the carpet +round my feet." + +And she laid down her work and went to the bed, and wrapped her sister's +delicate, but now icy feet, in the flannel; and then she sat down; and +at last the task was finished. And oh, how glad she was to creep to that +mattress, and to lay her aching limbs down upon it! Hard it might be, +and wretched the pillows, and scanty the covering, but little felt she +such inconveniences. She fell asleep almost immediately, while her +sister still tossed and murmered. Presently Lettice, for Lettice it was, +awakened a little, and said, "What is it, love? Poor, poor Myra! Oh, +that you could but sleep as I do." + +And then she drew her own little pillow from under her head, and put it +under her sister's, and tried to make her more comfortable; and she +partly succeeded, and at last the poor delicate suffering creature fell +asleep, and then Lettice slumbered like a baby. + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Oh, blest with temper whose unclouded ray + Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day: + * * * * And can hear + Sighs for a sister with unwounded ear." + + POPE.--_Characters of Women._ + +Early in the morning, before it was light, while the wintry twilight +gleamed through the curtainless window, Lettice was up, dressing +herself by the scanty gleam cast from the street lamps into the room, +for she could not afford the extravagance of a candle. + +She combed and did up her hair with modest neatness; put on her brown +stuff only gown, and then going to the chest of drawers--opening one +with great precaution, lest she should make a noise, and disturb Myra, +who still slumbered --drew out a shawl, and began to fold it as if to +put it on. + +Alas! poor thing, as she opened it, she became first aware that the +threadbare, time-worn fabric had given way in two places. Had it been in +one, she might have contrived to conceal the injuries of age: but it was +in two. + +She turned it; she folded and unfolded: it would not do. The miserable +shawl seemed to give way under her hands. It was already so excessively +shabby that she was ashamed to go out in it; and it seemed as if it was +ready to fall to pieces in sundry other places, this dingy, thin, brown, +red, and green old shawl. Mend it would not: besides, she was pressed +for time; so, with the appearance of considerable reluctance, she put +her hand into the drawer, and took out another shawl. + +This was a different affair. It was a warm, and not very old, plaid +shawl, of various colors, well preserved and clean looking, and, this +cold morning, _so_ tempting. + +Should she borrow it? Myra was still asleep, but she would be horridly +cold when she got up, and she would want her shawl, perhaps; but then +Lettice must go out, and must be decent, and there seemed no help for +it. + +But if she took the shawl, had she not better light the fire before she +went out? Myra would be so chilly. But then, Myra seldom got up till +half-past eight or nine, and it was now not seven. + +An hour and a half's, perhaps two hour's, useless fire would never do. +So after a little deliberation, Lettice contented herself with "laying +it," as the housemaids say; that is, preparing the fire to be lighted +with a match: and as she took out coal by coal to do this, she perceived +with terror how very, very low the little store of fuel was. + +"We must have a bushel in to-day," she said. "Better without meat and +drink than fire, in such weather as this." + +However, she was cheered with the reflection that she should get a +little more than usual by the work that she had finished. It had been +ordered by a considerate and benevolent lady, who, instead of going to +the ready-made linen warehouses for what she wanted, gave herself a good +deal of trouble to get at the poor workwomen themselves who supplied +these houses, so that they should receive the full price for their +needle-work, which otherwise must of necessity be divided. + +What she should get she did not quite know, for she had never worked for +this lady before; and some ladies, though she always got more from +private customers than from the shops, would beat her down to the last +penny, and give her as little as they possibly could. + +Much more than the usual price of such matters people can not, I +suppose, habitually give; they should, however, beware of driving hard +bargains with the very poor. + + * * * * * + +Her bonnet looked dreadfully shabby, as poor little Lettice took it out +from one of the dilapidated band-boxes that stood upon the chest of +drawers; yet it had been carefully covered with a sheet of paper, to +guard it from the injuries of the dust and the smoke-loaded air. + +The young girl held it upon her hand, turning it round, and looking at +it, and she could not help sighing when she thought of the miserably +shabby appearance she should make; and she going to a private house, +too: and the errand!--linen for the trousseau of a young lady who was +going to be married. + +What a contrast did the busy imagination draw between all the fine +things that young lady was to have and her own destitution! She must +needs be what she was--a simple-hearted, God-fearing, generous girl, to +whom envious comparisons of others with herself were as impossible as +any other faults of the selfish--not to feel as if the difference was, +to use the common word upon such occasions, "very hard." + +She did not take it so. She did not think that it was very _hard_ that +others should be happy and have plenty, because she was poor and had +nothing. They had not robbed _her_. What they had was not taken from +_her_. Nay, at this moment their wealth was overflowing toward her. She +should gain in her little way by the general prosperity. The thought of +the increased pay came into her mind at this moment in aid of her good +and simple-hearted feelings, and she brightened up, and shook her +bonnet, and pulled out the ribbons, and made it look as tidy as she +could; bethinking herself that if it possibly could be done, she would +buy a bit of black ribbon, and make it a little more spruce when she got +her money. + +And now the bonnet is on, and she does not think it looks so _very_ bad, +and Myra's shawl, as reflected in the little threepenny glass, looks +quite neat. Now she steals to the bed in order to make her apologies to +Myra about the shawl and fire, but Myra still slumbers. It is half-past +seven and more, and she must be gone. + +The young lady for whom she made the linen lived about twenty miles from +town, but she had come up about her things, and was to set off home at +nine o'clock that very morning. The linen was to have been sent in the +night before, but Lettice had found it impossible to get it done. It +must _per force_ wait till morning to be carried home. The object was to +get to the house as soon as the servants should be stirring, so that +there would be time for the things to be packed up and accompany the +young lady upon her return home. + +Now, Lettice is in the street. Oh, what a morning it was! The wind was +intensely cold the snow was blown in buffets against her face; the +street was slippery: all the mud and mire turned into inky-looking ice. +She could scarcely stand; her face was blue with the cold; her hands, in +a pair of cotton gloves, so numbed that she could hardly hold the parcel +she carried. + +She had no umbrella. The snow beat upon her undefended head, and +completed the demolition of the poor bonnet; but she comforted herself +with the thought that its appearance would now be attributed to the bad +weather having spoiled it. Nay (and she smiled as the idea presented +itself), was it not possible that she might be supposed to have a better +bonnet at home? + +So she cheerfully made her way; and at last she entered +Grosvenor-square, where lamps were just dying away before the splendid +houses, and the wintry twilight discovered the garden, with its trees +plastered with dirty snow, while the wind rushed down from the Park +colder and bitterer than ever. She could hardly get along at all. A few +ragged, good-for-nothing boys were almost the only people yet to be seen +about; and they laughed and mocked at her, as, holding her bonnet down +with one hand, to prevent its absolutely giving way before the wind, she +endeavored to carry her parcel, and keep her shawl from flying up with +the other. + +The jeers and the laughter were very uncomfortable to her. The things +she found it the most difficult to reconcile herself to in her fallen +state were the scoffs, and the scorns, and the coarse jests of those +once so far, far beneath her; so far, that their very existence, as a +class, was once almost unknown, and who were now little, if at all, +worse off than herself. + +The rude brutality of the coarse, uneducated, and unimproved Saxon, is a +terrible grievance to those forced to come into close quarters with +such. + +At last, however, she entered Green-street, and raised the knocker, and +gave one timid, humble knock at the door of a moderate-sized house, upon +the right hand side as you go up to the Park. + +Here lived the benevolent lady of whom I have spoken, who took so much +trouble to break through the barriers which in London separate the +employers and the employed, and to assist the poor stitchers of her own +sex, by doing away with the necessity of that hand, or those many hands, +through which their ware has usually to pass, and in each of which +something of the recompense thereof must of necessity be detained. + +She had never been at the house before; but she had sometimes had to go +to other genteel houses, and she had too often found the insolence of +the pampered domestics harder to bear than even the rude incivility of +the streets. + +So she stood feeling very uncomfortable; still more afraid of the effect +her bonnet might produce upon the man that should open the door, than +upon his superiors. + +But "like master, like man," is a stale old proverb, which, like many +other old saws of our now despised as _childish_ ancestors, is full of +pith and truth. + +The servant who appeared was a grave, gray-haired man, of somewhat above +fifty. He stooped a little in his gait, and had _not_ a very fashionable +air; but his countenance was full of kind meaning, and his manner so +gentle, that it seemed respectful even to a poor girl like this. + +Before hearing her errand, observing how cold she looked, he bade her +come in and warm herself at the hall stove; and shutting the door in the +face of the chill blast, that came rushing forward as if to force its +way into the house, he then returned to her, and asked her errand. + +"I come with the young lady's work. I was so sorry that I could not +possibly get it done in time to send it in last night; but I hope I have +not put her to any inconvenience. I hope her trunks are not made up. I +started almost before it was light this morning." + +"Well, my dear, I hope not; but it was a pity you could not get it done +last night. Mrs. Danvers likes people to be exact to the moment and +punctual in performing promises, you must know. However, I'll take it up +without loss of time, and I dare say it will be all right." + +"Is it come at last?" asked a sweet, low voice, as Reynolds entered the +drawing-room. "My love, I really began to be frightened for your pretty +things, the speaker went on, turning to a young lady who was making an +early breakfast before a noble blazing fire, and who was no other a +person than Catherine Melwyn. + +"Oh, madam! I was not in the least uneasy about them, I was quite sure +they would come at last." + +"I wish, my love," said Mrs. Danvers, sitting down by the fire, "I could +have shared in your security. Poor creatures! the temptation is +sometimes so awfully great. The pawnbroker is dangerously near. So easy +to evade all inquiry by changing one miserably obscure lodging for +another, into which it is almost impossible to be traced. And, to tell +the truth, I had not used you quite well, my dear; for I happened to +know nothing of the previous character of these poor girls, but that +they were certainly very neat workwomen; and they were so out of all +measure poor, that I yielded to temptation. And that you see, my love, +had its usual effect of making me suspicious of the power of temptation +over others." + +Mrs. Danvers had once been one of the loveliest women that had ever been +seen: the face of an angel, the form of the goddess of beauty herself; +manners the softest, the most delightful. A dress that by its exquisite +good taste and elegance enhanced every other charm, and a voice so sweet +and harmonious that it made its way to every heart. + +Of all this loveliness the sweet, harmonious voice alone remained. Yet +had the sad eclipse of so much beauty been succeeded by a something so +holy, so saint-like, so tender, that the being who stood now shorn by +sorrow and suffering of all her earthly charms, seemed only to have +progressed nearer to heaven by the exchange. + +Her life had, indeed, been one shipwreck, in which all she prized had +gone down. Husband, children, parents, sister, brother--all!--every one +gone. It had been a fearful ruin. That she could not survive this wreck +of every earthly joy was expected by all her friends: but she had lived +on. She stood there, an example of the triumph of those three: faith, +hope, and charity, but the greatest of these was charity. + +In faith she rested upon the "unseen," and the world of things "seen" +around her shrunk into insignificance. In hope she looked forward to +that day when tears should be wiped from all eyes, and the lost and +severed meet to part never again. In charity--in other words, love--she +filled that aching, desolate heart with fresh affections, warm and +tender, if not possessing the joyous gladness of earlier days. + +Every sorrowing human being, every poor sufferer, be they who they +might, or whence they might, found a place in that compassionate heart. +No wonder it was filled to overflowing: there are so many sorrowing +sufferers in this world. + +She went about doing good. Her whole life was one act of pity. + +Her house was plainly furnished. The "mutton chops with a few greens and +potatoes"--laughed at in a recent trial, as if indifference to one's own +dinner were a crime--might have served her. She often was no better +served. Her dress was conventual in its simplicity. Every farthing she +could save upon herself was saved for her poor. + +You must please to recollect that she stood perfectly alone in the +world, and that there was not a human creature that could suffer by this +exercise of a sublime and universal charity. Such peculiar devotion to +one object is only permitted to those whom God has severed from their +kind, and marked out, as it were, for the generous career. + +Her days were passed in visiting all those dismal places in this great +city, where lowly want "repairs to die," or where degradation and +depravity, the children of want, hide themselves. She sat by the bed of +the inmate of the hospital, pouring the soft balm of her consolations +upon the suffering and lowly heart. In such places her presence was +hailed as the first and greatest of blessings. Every one was melted, or +was awed into good behavior by her presence. The most hardened of +brandy-drinking nurses was softened and amended by her example. + +The situation of the young women who have to gain their livelihood by +their needle had peculiarly excited her compassion, and to their welfare +she more especially devoted herself. Her rank and position in society +gave her a ready access to many fine ladies who had an immensity to be +done for them: and to many fine dress-makers who had this immensity to +do. + +She was indefatigable in her exertions to diminish the evils to which +the young ladies--"improvers," I believe, is the technical term--are in +too many of these establishments exposed. She it was who got the +work-rooms properly ventilated, and properly warmed. She it was who +insisted upon the cruelty and the wretchedness of keeping up these poor +girls hour after hour from their natural rest, till their strength was +exhausted; the very means by which they were to earn their bread taken +away; and they were sent into decline and starvation. She made fine +ladies learn to allow more time for the preparation of their dresses; +and fine ladies' dress makers to learn to say, "No." + +One of the great objects of her exertions was to save the poor +plain-sewers from the necessary loss occasioned by the middlemen. She +did not say whether the shops exacted too much labor, or not, for their +pay; with so great a competition for work, and so much always lying +unsold upon their boards, it was difficult to decide. But she spared no +trouble to get these poor women employed direct by those who wanted +sewing done; and she taught to feel ashamed of themselves those indolent +fine ladies who, rather than give themselves a little trouble to +increase a poor creature's gains, preferred going to the ready-made +shops, "because the other was such a bore." + +In one of her visits among the poor of Mary-lebone, she had accidentally +met with these two sisters, Lettice Arnold and Myra. There was something +in them both above the common stamp, which might be discerned in spite +of their squalid dress and miserable chamber; but she had not had time +to inquire into their previous history--which, indeed, they seemed +unwilling to tell. Catherine, preparing her wedding clothes, and well +knowing how anxious Mrs. Danvers was to obtain work, had reserved a good +deal for her; and Mrs. Danvers had entrusted some of it to Lettice, who +was too wretchedly destitute to be able to give any thing in the form of +a deposit. Hence her uneasiness when the promised things did not appear +to the time. + +And hence the rather grave looks of Reynolds, who could not endure to +see his mistress vexed. + +"Has the workwoman brought her bill with her, Reynolds?" asked Mrs. +Danvers. + +"I will go and ask." + +"Stay, ask her to come up; I should like to inquire how she is going on, +and whether she has any other work in prospect." + +Reynolds obeyed; and soon the door opened, and Lettice, poor thing, a +good deal ashamed of her own appearance, was introduced into this warm +and comfortable breakfast-room, where, however, as I have said, there +was no appearance of luxury, except the pretty, neat breakfast, and the +blazing fire. + +"Good morning, my dear," said Mrs. Danvers, kindly; "I am sorry you have +had such a wretched walk this morning. Why did you not come last night? +Punctuality, my dear, is the soul of business, and if you desire to form +a private connection for yourself, you will find it of the utmost +importance to attend to it. This young lady is just going off, and there +is barely time to put up the things." + +Catherine had her back turned to the door, and was quietly continuing +her breakfast. She did not even look round as Mrs. Danvers spoke, but +when a gentle voice replied: + +"Indeed, madam, I beg your pardon. Indeed, I did my very best, but--" + +She started, looked up, and rose hastily from her chair. Lettice +started, too, on her side, as she did so; and, advancing a few steps, +exclaimed, "Catherine!" + +"It must--it is--it is you!" cried Catherine hastily, coming forward and +taking her by the hand. She gazed with astonishment at the worn and +weather-beaten face, the miserable attire, the picture of utter +wretchedness before her. "You!" she kept repeating, "Lettice! Lettice +Arnold! Good Heavens! where are they all? Where is your father? Your +mother? Your sister?" + +"Gone!" said the poor girl. "Gone--every one gone but poor Myra!" + +"And she--where is _she_? The beautiful creature, that used to be the +pride of poor Mrs. Price's heart. How lovely she was! And you, dear, +dear Lettice, how can you, how have you come to this?" + +Mrs. Danvers stood like one petrified with astonishment while this +little scene was going on. She kept looking at the two girls, but said +nothing. + +"Poor, dear Lettice!" Catherine went on in a tone of the most +affectionate kindness, "have you come all through the streets and alone +this most miserable morning? And working--working for me! Good Heavens! +how has all this come about?" + +"But come to the fire first," she continued, taking hold of the almost +frozen hand. + +Mrs. Danvers now came forward. + +"You seem to have met with an old acquaintance, Catherine. Pray come to +the fire, and sit down and warm yourself; and have you breakfasted?" + +Lettice hesitated. She had become so accustomed to her fallen condition, +that it seemed to her that she could no longer with propriety sit down +to the same table with Catherine. + +Catherine perceived this, and it shocked and grieved her excessively. +"Do come and sit down," she said, encouraged by Mrs. Danvers's +invitation, "and tell us, have you breakfasted? But though you have, a +warm cup of tea this cold morning must be comfortable." + +And she pressed her forward, and seated her, half reluctant, in an +arm-chair that stood by the fire: then she poured out a cup of tea, and +carried it to her, repeating, + +"Won't you eat? Have you breakfasted?" + +The plate of bread-and-butter looked delicious to the half-starved girl: +the warm cup of tea seemed to bring life into her. She had been silent +from surprise, and a sort of humiliated embarrassment; but now her +spirits began to revive, and she said, "I never expected to have seen +you again, Miss Melwyn!" + +"_Miss Melwyn!_ What does that mean? Dear Lettice, how has all this come +about?" + +"My father was ill the last time you were in Nottinghamshire, do you not +recollect, Miss Melwyn? He never recovered of that illness; but it +lasted nearly two years. During that time, your aunt, Mrs. Montague, +died; and her house was sold, and new people came; and you never were at +Castle Rising afterward." + +"No--indeed--and from that day to this have never chanced to hear any +thing of its inhabitants. But Mrs. Price, your aunt, who was so fond of +Myra, what is become of her?" + +"She died before my poor father." + +"Well; but she was rich. Did she do nothing?" + +"Every body thought her rich, because she spent a good deal of money; +but hers was only income. Our poor aunt was no great economist--she made +no savings." + +"Well; and your mother? I can not understand it. No; I can not +understand it," Catherine kept repeating. "So horrible! dear, dear +Lettice--and your shawl is quite wet, and so is your bonnet, poor, dear +girl. Why did you not put up your umbrella?" + +"For a very good reason, dear Miss Melwyn; because I do not possess +one." + +"Call me Catherine, won't you? or I will not speak to you again." But +Mrs. Danvers's inquiring looks seemed now to deserve a little attention. +She seemed impatient to have the enigma of this strange scene solved. +Catherine caught her eye, and, turning from her friend, with whom she +had been so much absorbed as to forget every thing else, she said: + +"Lettice Arnold is a clergyman's daughter, ma'am." + +"I began to think something of that sort," said Mrs. Danvers; "but, my +dear young lady, what can have brought you to this terrible state of +destitution?" + +"Misfortune upon misfortune, madam. My father was, indeed, a clergyman, +and held the little vicarage of Castle Rising. There Catherine," looking +affectionately up at her, "met me upon her visits to her aunt, Mrs. +Montague." + +"We have known each other from children," put in Catherine. + +The door opened, and Reynolds appeared-- + +"The cab is waiting, if you please, Miss Melwyn." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! I can't go just this moment. Bid the man wait." + +"It is late already," said Reynolds, taking out his watch. "The train +starts in twenty minutes." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! and when does the next go? I can't go by this. Can +I, dear Mrs. Danvers? It is impossible." + +"Another starts in an hour afterward." + +"Oh! that will do--tell Sarah to be ready for that. Well, my dear, go +on, go on--dear Lettice, you were about to tell us how all this +happened--but just another cup of tea. Do you like it strong?" + +"I like it any way," said Lettice, who was beginning to recover her +spirits, "I have not tasted any thing so comfortable for a very long +time." + +"Dear me! dear me!" + +"You must have suffered very much, I fear, my dear young lady," said +Mrs. Danvers, in a kind voice of interest, "before you could have sunk +to the level of that miserable home where I found you." + +"Yes," said Lettice. "Every one suffers very much, be the descent slow +or rapid, when he has to fall so far. But what were my sufferings to +poor Myra's!" + +"And why were your sufferings as nothing in comparison with poor +Myra's?" + +"Ah, madam, there are some in this world not particularly favored by +nature or fortune, who were born to be denied; who are used to it from +their childhood--it becomes a sort of second nature to them, as it were. +They scarcely feel it. But a beautiful girl, adored by an old relation, +accustomed to every sort of indulgence and luxury! They doated upon the +very ground she trod on. Oh! to be cast down to such misery, that _is_ +dreadful." + +"I don't see--I don't know," said Catherine, who, like the world in +general, however much they might admire, and however much too many might +flatter Myra, greatly preferred Lettice to her sister. + +"I don't know," said she, doubtingly. + +"Ah! but you would know if you could see!" said the generous girl. "If +you could see what she suffers from every thing--from things that I do +not even feel, far less care for--you would be so sorry for her." + +Mrs. Danvers looked with increasing interest upon the speaker. She +seemed to wish to go on with the conversation about this sister, so much +pitied; so she said, "I believe what you say is very true. Very true, +Catherine, in spite of your skeptical looks. Some people really do +suffer very much more than others under the same circumstances of +privation." + +"Yes, selfish people like Myra," thought Catherine, but she said +nothing. + +"Indeed, madam, it is so. They seem to feel every thing so much more. +Poor Myra--I can sleep like a top in our bed, and she very often can not +close her eyes--and the close room, and the poor food. I can get +along--I was made to rough it, my poor aunt always said--but Myra!" + +"Well but," rejoined Catherine, "do pray tell us how you came to this +cruel pass? Your poor father--" + +"His illness was very lingering and very painful--and several times a +surgical operation was required. My mother could not bear--could any of +us?--to have it done by the poor blundering operator of that remote +village. To have a surgeon from Nottingham was very expensive; and then +the medicines; and the necessary food and attendance. The kindest and +most provident father can not save much out of one hundred and ten +pounds a year, and what was saved was soon all gone." + +"Well, well," repeated Catherine, her eyes fixed with intense interest +upon the speaker. + +"His deathbed was a painful scene," Lettice went on, her face displaying +her emotion, while she with great effort restrained her tears: "he +trusted in God; but there was a fearful prospect before us, and he could +not help trembling for his children. Dear, dear father! he reproached +himself for his want of faith, and would try to strengthen us, 'but the +flesh,' he said, 'was weak.' He could not look forward without anguish. +It was a fearful struggle to be composed and confiding--he could not +help being anxious. It was for us, you know, not for himself." + +"Frightful!" cried Catherine, indignantly; "frightful! that a man of +education, a scholar, a gentleman, a man of so much activity in doing +good, and so much power in preaching it, should be brought to this. One +hundred and ten pounds a year, was that all? How could you exist?" + +"We had the house and the garden besides, you know, and my mother was +such an excellent manager; and my father! No religious of the severest +order was ever more self-denying, and there was only me. My aunt Price, +you know, took Myra--Myra had been delicate from a child, and was so +beautiful, and she was never made to rough it, my mother and my aunt +said. Now I seemed made expressly for the purpose," she added, smiling +with perfect simplicity. + +"And his illness, so long! and so expensive!" exclaimed Catherine, with +a sort of cry. + +"Yes, it was--and to see the pains he took that it should not be +expensive. He would be quite annoyed if my mother got any thing nicer +than usual for his dinner. She used to be obliged to make a mystery of +it; and we were forced almost to go down upon our knees to get him to +have the surgeon from Nottingham. Nothing but the idea that his life +would be more secure in such hands could have persuaded him into it. He +knew how important that was to us. As for the pain which the bungling +old doctor hard by would have given him, he would have borne that rather +than have spent money. Oh, Catherine! there have been times upon times +when I have envied the poor. They have hospitals to go to; they are not +ashamed to ask for a little wine from those who have it; they can beg +when they are in want of a morsel of bread. It is natural. It is +right--they feel it to be right. But oh! for those, as they call it, +better born, and educated to habits of thought like those of my poor +father!... Want is, indeed, like an armed man, when he comes into +_their_ dwellings." + +"Too true, my dear young lady," said Mrs. Danvers, whose eyes were by +this time moist; "but go on, if it does not pain you too much, your +story is excessively interesting. There is yet a wide step between where +your relation leaves us, and where I found you." + +"We closed his eyes at last in deep sorrow. Excellent man, he deserved a +better lot! So, at least, it seems to me--but who knows? Nay, he would +have reproved me for saying so. He used to say of _himself_, so +cheerfully, 'It's a rough road, but it leads to a good place.' Why could +he not feel this for his wife and children? He found that so very +difficult!" + +"He was an excellent and a delightful man," said Catherine. "Well?"... + +"Well, my dear, when he had closed his eyes, there was his funeral. We +_could_ not have a parish funeral. The veriest pauper has a piety toward +the dead which revolts at that. We did it as simply as we possibly +could, consistently with common decency; but they charge so enormously +for such things: and my poor mother would not contest it. When I +remonstrated a little, and said I thought it was right to prevent others +being treated in the same way, who could no better afford it than we +could, I shall never forget my mother's face: 'I dare say--yes, you are +right, Lettice; quite right--but not this--not _his_. I can not debate +that matter. Forgive me, dear girl; it is weak--but I can not.' + +"This expense exhausted all that was left of our little money: only a +few pounds remained when our furniture had been sold, and we were +obliged to give up possession of that dear, dear, little parsonage, and +we were without a roof to shelter us. You remember it, Catherine!" + +"Remember it! to be sure I do. That sweet little place. The tiny house, +all covered over with honey-suckles and jasmines. How sweet they _did_ +smell. And your flower-garden, Lettice, how you used to work in it. It +was that which made you so hale and strong, aunt Montague said. She +admired your industry so, you can't think. She used to say you were +worth a whole bundle of fine ladies." + +"Did she?" and Lettice smiled again. She was beginning to look cheerful, +in spite of her dismal story. There was something so inveterately +cheerful in that temper, that nothing could entirely subdue it. The +warmth of her generous nature it was that kept the blood and spirits +flowing. + +"It was a sad day when we parted from it. My poor mother! How she kept +looking back--looking back--striving not to cry; and Myra was drowned in +tears." + +"And what did you do?" + +"I am sure I don't know; I was so sorry for them both; I quite forget +all the rest." + +"But how came you to London?" asked Mrs. Danvers. "Every body, without +other resource, seem to come to London. The worst place, especially for +women, they can possibly come to. People are so completely lost in +London. Nobody dies of want, nobody is utterly and entirely destitute +of help or friends, except in London." + +"A person we knew in the village, and to whom my father had been very +kind, had a son who was employed in one of the great linen-warehouses, +and he promised to endeavor to get us needle-work; and we flattered +ourselves, with industry, we should, all three together, do pretty well. +So we came to London, and took a small lodging, and furnished it with +the remnant of our furniture. We had our clothes, which, though plain +enough, were a sort of little property, you know. But when we came to +learn the prices they actually paid for work, it was really frightful! +Work fourteen hours a day apiece, and we could only gain between three +and four shillings a week each--sometimes hardly that. There was our +lodging to pay, three shillings a week, and six shillings left for +firing and food for three people; this was in the weeks of _plenty_. Oh! +it was frightful!" + +"Horrible!" echoed Catherine. + +"We could not bring ourselves down to it at once. We hoped and flattered +ourselves that by-and-by we should get some work that would pay better; +and when we wanted a little more food, or in very cold days a little +more fire, we were tempted to sell or pawn one article after another. At +last my mother fell sick, and then all went; she died, and she _had_ a +pauper's funeral," concluded Lettice, turning very pale. + +They were all three silent. At last Mrs. Danvers began again. + +"That was not the lodging I found you in?" + +"No, madam, that was too expensive. We left it, and we only pay +one-and-sixpence a week for this, the furniture being our own." + +"The cab is at the door, Miss Melwyn," again interrupted Reynolds. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! I can't go, indeed, Mrs. Danvers, I can't go;" with +a pleading look, "may I stay one day longer?" + +"Most gladly would I keep you, my dearest love; but your father and +mother.... And they will have sent to meet you." + +"And suppose they have, John must go back, but stay, stay, Sarah shall +go and take all my boxes, and say I am coming to-morrow; that will do." + +"And you travel alone by railway? Your mother will never like that." + +"I am ashamed," cried Catherine, with energy, "to think of such mere +conventional difficulties, when here I stand in the presence of real +misery. Indeed, my dear Mrs. Danvers, my mother will be quite satisfied +when she hears why I staid. I must be an insensible creature if I could +go away without seeing more of dear Lettice." + +Lettice looked up so pleased, so grateful, so happy. + +"Well, my love, I think your mother will not be uneasy, as Sarah goes; +and I just remember Mrs. Sands travels your way to-morrow, so she will +take care of you; for taken care of you must be, my pretty Catherine, +till you are a little less young, and somewhat less handsome." + +And she patted the sweet, fall, rosy cheek. + +Catherine was very pretty indeed, if you care to know that, and so it +was settled. + +And now, Lettice having enjoyed a happier hour than she had known for +many a long day, began to recollect herself, and to think of poor Myra. + +She rose from her chair, and taking up her bonnet and shawl, which +Catherine had hung before the fire to dry, seemed preparing to depart. + +Then both Catherine and Mrs. Danvers began to think of her little bill, +which had not been settled yet. Catherine felt excessively awkward and +uncomfortable at the idea of offering her old friend and companion +money; but Mrs. Danvers was too well acquainted with real misery, had +too much approbation for that spirit which is not above _earning_, but +is above begging, to have any embarrassment in such a case. + +"Catherine, my dear," she said, "you owe Miss Arnold some money. Had you +not better settle it before she leaves?" + +Both the girls blushed. + +"Nay, my dears," said Mrs. Danvers, kindly; "why this? I am sure," +coming up to them, and taking Lettice's hand, "I hold an honest hand +here, which is not ashamed to labor, when it has been the will of God +that it shall be by her own exertions that she obtains her bread, and +part of the bread of another, if I mistake not. What you have nobly +earned as nobly receive. Humiliation belongs to the idle and the +dependent, not to one who maintains herself." + +The eyes of Lettice glistened, and she could not help gently pressing +the hand which held hers. + +Such sentiments were congenial to her heart. She had never been able to +comprehend the conventional distinctions between what is honorable or +degrading, under the fetters of which so many lose the higher principles +of independence--true honesty and true honor. To work for her living had +never lessened her in her own eyes; and she had found, with a sort of +astonishment, that it was to sink her in the eyes of others. To deny +herself every thing in food, furniture, clothing, in order to escape +debt, and add in her little way to the comforts of those she loved, had +ever appeared to her noble and praiseworthy. She was as astonished, as +many such a heart has been before her, with the course of this world's +esteem, too often measured by what people _spend_ upon themselves, +rather than by what they spare. I can not get that story in the +newspaper--the contempt expressed for the dinner of one mutton chop, +potatoes, and a few greens--out of my head. + +Catherine's confusion had, in a moment of weakness, extended to Lettice. +She had felt ashamed to be paid as a workwoman by one once her friend, +and in social rank her equal; but now she raised her head, with a noble +frankness and spirit. + +"I am very much obliged to you for recollecting it, madam, for in truth +the money is very much wanted; and if--" turning to her old friend, "my +dear Catherine can find me a little more work, I should be very greatly +obliged to her." + +Catherine again changed color. Work! she was longing to offer her money. +She had twenty pounds in her pocket, a present from her godmother, to +buy something pretty for her wedding. She was burning with desire to put +it into Lettice's hand. + +She stammered--she hesitated. + +"Perhaps you _have_ no more work just now," said Lettice. "Never mind, +then; I am sure when there is an opportunity, you will remember what a +pleasure it will be to me to work for you; and that a poor needlewoman +is very much benefited by having private customers." + +"My dear, dear Lettice!" and Catherine's arms were round her neck. She +could not help shedding a few tears. + +"But to return to business," said Mrs. Danvers, "for I see Miss Arnold +is impatient to be gone. What is your charge, my dear? These slips are +tucked and beautifully stitched and done." + +"I should not get more than threepence, at most fourpence, at the shops +for them. Should you think ninepence an unreasonable charge? I believe +it is what you would pay if you had them done at the schools." + +"Threepence, fourpence, ninepence! Good Heavens!" cried Catherine; "so +beautifully done as these are; and then your needles and thread, you +have made no charge for them." + +"We pay for those ourselves," said Lettice. + +"But my dear," said Mrs. Danvers, "what Catherine would have to pay for +this work, if bought from a linen warehouse, would at least be fifteen +pence, and not nearly so well done, for these are beautiful. Come, you +must ask eighteen pence; there are six of them; nine shillings, my +dear." + +The eyes of poor Lettice quite glistened. She could not refuse. She felt +that to seem over delicate upon this little enhancement of price would +be really great moral indelicacy. "Thank you," said she, "you are very +liberal; but it must only be for this once. If I am to be your +needlewoman in ordinary, Catherine, I must only be paid what you would +pay to others." + +She smiled pleasantly as she said this; but Catherine could not answer +the smile. She felt very sad as she drew the nine shillings from her +purse, longing to make them nine sovereigns. But she laid the money at +last before Lettice upon the table. + +Lettice took it up, and bringing out an old dirty leathern purse, was +going to put it in. + +"At least, let me give you a better purse," said Catherine, eagerly, +offering her own handsome one, yet of a strong texture, for it was her +business purse. + +"They would think I had stolen it," said Lettice, putting it aside. "No, +thank you, dear, kind Catherine. Consistency in all things; and my old +leather convenience seems to me much more consistent with my bonnet than +your beautiful one. Not but that I shall get myself a decent bonnet +_now_, for really this is a shame to be seen. And so, good-by; and +farewell, madam. When you _have_ work, you won't forget me, will you, +dear?" + +"Oh, Catherine has plenty of work," put in Mrs. Danvers, "but somehow +she is not quite herself this morning"--again looking at her very +kindly. "You can not wonder, Miss Arnold, that she is much more agitated +by this meeting than you can be. My dear, there are those +pocket-handkerchiefs to be marked, which we durst not trust to an +unknown person. That will be a profitable job. My dear, you would have +to pay five shillings apiece at Mr. Morris's for having them embroidered +according to that pattern you fixed upon, and which I doubt not your +friend and her sister can execute. There are six of them to be done." + +"May I look at the pattern? Oh, yes! I think I can do it. I will take +the greatest possible pains. Six at five shillings each! Oh! madam!--Oh, +Catherine!--what a benefit this will be." + +Again Catherine felt it impossible to speak. She could only stoop down, +take the poor hand, so roughened with hardships, and raise it to her +lips. + +The beautiful handkerchiefs were brought. + +"I will only take one at a time, if you please. These are too valuable +to be risked at our lodgings. When I have done this, I will fetch +another, and so on. I shall not lose time in getting them done, depend +upon it," said Lettice, cheerfully. + +"Take two, at all events, and then Myra can help you." + +"No, only one at present, at least, thank you." + +She did not say what she knew to be very true, that Myra could not help +her. Myra's fingers were twice as delicate as her own; and Myra, before +their misfortunes, had mostly spent her time in ornamental work--her +aunt holding plain sewing to be an occupation rather beneath so +beautiful and distinguished a creature. Nevertheless, when work became +of so much importance to them all, and fine work especially, as gaining +so much better a recompense in proportion to the time employed, Myra's +accomplishments in this way proved very useless. She had not been +accustomed to that strenuous, and, to the indolent, painful effort, +which is necessary to do any thing _well_. To exercise self-denial, +self-government, persevering industry, virtuous resistance against +weariness, disgust, aching fingers and heavy eyes--temptations which +haunt the indefatigable laborer in such callings, she was incapable of: +the consequence was, that she worked in a very inferior manner. While +Lettice, as soon as she became aware of the importance of this +accomplishment as to the means of increasing her power of adding to her +mother's comforts, had been indefatigable in her endeavors to accomplish +herself in the art, and was become a very excellent workwoman. + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite, + As ever sullied the fair face of light."--POPE. + +And now she is upon her way home. And oh! how lightly beats that honest +simple heart in her bosom: and oh! how cheerily sits her spirit upon its +throne. How happily, too, she looks about at the shops, and thinks of +what she shall buy; not what she can possibly do without; not of the +very cheapest and poorest that is to be had for money, but upon what she +shall _choose_! + +Then she remembers the fable of the Maid and the Milk-pail, and grows +prudent and prosaic; and resolves that she will not spend her money till +she has got it. She begins to limit her desires, and to determine that +she will only lay out six shillings this morning, and keep three in her +purse, as a resource for contingencies. Nay, she begins to grow a little +Martha-like and careful, and to dream about savings-banks; and putting +half-a-crown in, out of the way of temptation, when she is paid for her +first pocket-handkerchief. + +Six shillings, however, she means to expend for the more urgent wants. +Two shillings coals; one shilling a very, very coarse straw bonnet; +fourpence ribbon to trim it with; one shilling bread, and sixpence +potatoes, a half-pennyworth of milk, and then, what is left?--one +shilling and a penny-half-penny. Myra shall have a cup of tea, with +sugar in it; and a muffin, that she loves so, and a bit of butter. +Four-pennyworth of tea, three-pennyworth of sugar, two-pennyworth of +butter, one penny muffin; and threepence-halfpenny remains in the good +little manager's hands. + +She came up the dark stairs of her lodgings so cheerfully, followed by a +boy lugging up her coals, she carrying the other purchases herself--so +happy! quite radiant with joy--and opened the door of the miserable +little apartment. + +It was a bleak wintry morning. Not a single ray of the sun could +penetrate the gray fleecy covering in which the houses were wrapped; yet +the warmth of the smoke and fires was sufficient so far to assist the +temperature of the atmosphere as to melt the dirty snow; which now kept +dripping from the roofs in dreary cadence, and splashing upon the +pavement below. + +The room looked so dark, so dreary, so dismal! Such a contrast to the +one she had just left! Myra was up, and was dressed in her miserable, +half-worn, cotton gown, which was thrown round her in the most untidy, +comfortless manner. She could not think it worth while to care how +_such_ a gown was put on. Her hair was dingy and disordered; to be sure +there was but a broken comb to straighten it with, and who could do any +thing with _such_ a comb? She was cowering over the fire, which was now +nearly extinguished, and, from time to time, picking up bit by bit of +the cinders, as they fell upon the little hearth, putting them on +again--endeavoring to keep the fire alive. Wretchedness in the extreme +was visible in her dress, her attitude, her aspect. + +She turned round as Lettice entered, and saying pettishly, "I thought +you never _would_ come back, and I do _so_ want my shawl," returned to +her former attitude, with her elbows resting upon her knees, and her +chin upon the palms of her hands. + +"I have been a sad long time, indeed," said Lettice, good-humoredly; +"you must have been tired to death of waiting for me, and wondering what +I _could_ be about. But I've brought something back which will make you +amends. And, in the first place, here's your shawl," putting it over +her, "and thank you for the use of it--though I would not ask your +leave, because I could not bear to waken you. But I was _sure_ you would +lend it me--and now for the fire. For once in a way we _will_ have a +good one. There, Sim, bring in the coals, put them in that wooden box +there. Now for a good lump or two." And on they went; and the expiring +fire began to crackle and sparkle, and make a pleased noise, and a blaze +soon caused even that room to look a little cheerful. + +"Oh dear! I am so glad we may for _once_ be allowed to have coal enough +to put a spark of life into us," said Myra. + +Lettice had by this time filled the little old tin kettle, and was +putting it upon the fire, and then she fetched an old tea-pot with a +broken spout, a saucer without a cup, and a cup without a saucer; and +putting the two together, for they were usually divided between the +sisters, said: + +"I have got something for you which I know you will like still better +than a blaze, a cup of tea. And to warm your poor fingers, see if you +can't toast yourself this muffin," handing it to her upon what was now a +two-pronged, but had once been a three-pronged fork. + +"But what have you got for yourself?" Myra had, at least, the grace to +say. + +"Oh! I have had _such_ a breakfast. And such a thing has happened! but I +can not and will not tell you till you have had your own breakfast, +poor, dear girl. You must be ravenous--at least, I should be in your +place--but you never seem so hungry as I am, poor Myra. However, I was +sure you could eat a muffin." + +"That was very good-natured of you, Lettice, to think of it. It _will_ +be a treat. But oh! to think that we should be brought to this--to think +a muffin--_one_ muffin--a treat!" she added dismally. + +"Let us be thankful when we get it, however," said her sister: "upon my +word. Mrs. Bull has given us some very good coals. Oh, how the kettle +does enjoy them! It must be quite a treat to our kettle to feel +_hot_--poor thing! Lukewarm is the best it mostly attains to. Hear how +it buzzes and hums, like a pleased child." + +And so she prattled, and put a couple of spoonfuls of tea into the +cracked tea-pot. There were but about six in the paper, but Myra liked +her tea strong, and she should have it as she pleased this once. Then +she poured out a cup, put in some milk and sugar, and, with a smile of +ineffable affection, presented it, with the muffin she had buttered, to +her sister. Myra _did_ enjoy it. To the poor, weedy, delicate thing, a +cup of good tea, with something to eat that she could relish, _was_ a +real blessing. Mrs. Danvers was right so far: things did really go much +harder with her than with Lettice; but then she made them six times +worse by her discontent and murmuring spirit, and Lettice made them six +times better by her cheerfulness and generous disregard of self. + +While the one sister was enjoying her breakfast, the other, who really +began to feel tired, was very glad to sit down and enjoy the fire. So +she took the other chair, and, putting herself upon the opposite side of +the little table, began to stretch out her feet to the fender, and feel +herself quite comfortable. Three shillings in her purse, and three-pence +halfpenny to do just what she liked with! perhaps buy Myra a roll for +tea: there would be butter enough left. + +Then she began her story. But the effect it produced was not exactly +what she had expected. Instead of sharing in her sister's thankful joy +for this unexpected deliverance from the most abject want, through the +discovery of a friend--able and willing to furnish employment herself, +and to recommend them, as, in her hopeful view of things, Lettice +anticipated, to others, and promising them work of a description that +would pay well, and make them quite comfortable--Myra began to draw a +repining contrast between Catherine's situation and her own. + +The poor beauty had been educated by her silly and romantic old aunt to +look forward to making some capital match. "She had such a sweet pretty +face, and so many accomplishments of mind and manner," for such was the +way the old woman loved to talk. Accomplishments of mind and manner, by +the way, are indefinite things; any body may put in a claim for them on +the part of any one. As for the more positive acquirements which are to +be seen, handled, or heard and appreciated--such as dancing, music, +languages, and so forth, Myra had as slender a portion of those as +usually falls to the lot of indulged, idle, nervous girls. The poor +beauty felt all the bitterness of the deepest mortification at what she +considered this cruel contrast of her fate as compared to Catherine's. +She had been indulged in that pernicious habit of the mind--the making +claims. "With claims no better than her own" was her expression for +though Catherine had more money, every body said Catherine was _only_ +pretty, which last sentence implied that there was another person of +Catherine's acquaintance, who was positively and extremely beautiful. + +Lettice, happily for herself, had never been accustomed to make +"claims." She had, indeed, never distinctly understood whom such claims +were to be made upon. She could not quite see why it was very _hard_ +that other people should be happier than herself. I am sure she would +have been very sorry if she had thought that every body was as +uncomfortable. + +She was always sorry when she heard her sister talking in this manner, +partly because she felt it could not be quite right, and partly because +she was sure it did no good, but made matters a great deal worse; but +she said nothing. Exhortation, indeed, only made matters worse: nothing +offended Myra so much as an attempt to make her feel more comfortable, +and to reconcile her to the fate she complained of as so _hard_. + +Even when let alone, it would often be some time before she recovered +her good humor; and this was the case now. I am afraid she was a little +vexed that Lettice and not herself had met with the good luck first to +stumble upon Catherine, and also a little envious of the pleasing +impression it was plain her sister had made. So she began to fall foul +of Lettice's new bonnet, and to say, in a captious tone, + +"You got money enough to buy yourself a new bonnet, I see." + +"Indeed, I did," Lettice answered with simplicity. "It was the very +first thing I thought of. Mine was such a wretched thing, and wetted +with the snow--the very boys hooted at it. Poor old friend!" said she, +turning it upon her hand, "you have lost even the shape and pretension +to be a bonnet. What must I do with thee? The back of the fire? Sad +fate! No, generous companion of my cares and labors, that shall _not_ be +thy destiny. Useful to the last, thou shalt _light_ to-morrow's fire; +and that will be the best satisfaction to thy generous manes." + +"_My_ bonnet is not so _very_ much better," said Myra, rather sulkily. + +"_Not_ so _very_ much, alas! but better, far better than mine. And, +besides, confess, please, my dear, that you had the last bonnet. Two +years ago, it's true; but mine had seen three; and then, remember, I am +going into grand company again to-morrow, and _must_ be decent." + +This last remark did not sweeten Myra's temper. + +"Oh! I forgot. Of course you'll keep your good company to yourself. I +am, indeed, not fit to be seen in it. But you'll want a new gown and a +new shawl, my dear, though, indeed, you can always take mine, as you did +this morning." + +"Now, Myra!" said Lettice, "can you really be so naughty? Nay, you are +cross; I see it in your face, though you won't look at me. Now don't be +so foolish. Is it not all the same to us both? Are we not in one box? If +you wish for the new bonnet, take it, and I'll take yours: I don't care, +my dear. You were always used to be more handsomely dressed than me--it +must seem quite odd for you not to be so. I only want to be decent when +I go about the work, which I shall have to do often, as I told you, +because I dare not have two of these expensive handkerchiefs in my +possession at once. Dear me, girl! Have we not troubles enough? For +goodness' sake don't let us _make_ them. There, dear, take the bonnet, +and I'll take yours; but I declare, when I look at the two, this is so +horridly coarse, yours, old as it is looks the genteeler to my mind," +laughing. + +So thought Myra, and kept her own bonnet, Lettice putting upon it the +piece of new ribbon she had bought, and after smoothing and rubbing the +faded one upon her sister's, trimming with it her own. + + * * * * * + +The two friends in Green-street sat silently for a short time after the +door had closed upon Lettice; and then Catherine began. + +"More astonishing things happen in the real world than one ever finds in +a book. I am sure if such a reverse of fortune as this had been +described to me in a story, I should at once have declared it to be +impossible. I could not have believed it credible that, in a society +such as ours--full of all sorts of kind, good-natured people, who are +daily doing so much for the poor--an amiable girl like this, the +daughter of a clergyman of the Church of England, could be suffered to +sink into such abject poverty." + +"Ah! my dear Catherine, that shows you have only seen life upon one +side, and that its fairest side--as it presents itself in the country. +You can not imagine what a dreadful thing it may prove in large cities. +It can not enter into the head of man to conceive the horrible contrasts +of large cities--the dreadful destitution of large cities--the awful +solitude of a crowd. In the country, I think, such a thing hardly could +have happened, however great the difficulty is of helping those who +still preserve the delicacy and dignity with regard to money matters, +which distinguishes finer minds--but in London what _can_ be done? Like +lead in the mighty waters, the moneyless and friendless sink to the +bottom, Society in all its countless degrees closes over them: they are +lost in its immensity, hidden from every eye, and they perish as an +insect might perish; amid the myriads of its kind, unheeded by every +other living creature. Ah, my love! if your walks lay where mine have +done, your heart would bleed for these destitute women, born to better +hopes, and utterly shipwrecked." + +"She was such a dear, amiable girl," Catherine went on, "so cheerful, so +sweet-tempered--so clever in all that one likes to see people clever +about! Her mother was a silly woman." + +"So she showed, I fear, by coming to London," said Mrs. Danvers. + +"She was so proud of Myra's beauty, and she seemed to think so little of +Lettice. She was always prophesying that Myra would make a great match; +and so did her aunt, Mrs. Price, who was no wiser than Mrs. Arnold; and +they brought up the poor girl to such a conceit of herself--to 'not to +do this,' and 'it was beneath her to do that'--and referring every +individual thing to her comfort and advancement, till, poor girl, she +could hardly escape growing, what she certainly did grow into, a very +spoiled, selfish creature. While dear Lettice in her simplicity--that +simplicity 'which thinketh no evil'--took it so naturally, that so it +was, and so it ought to be; that sometimes one laughed, and sometimes +one felt provoked, but one loved her above all things. I never saw such +a temper." + +"I dare say," said Mrs. Danvers, "that your intention in staying in town +to-day was to pay them a visit, which, indeed, we had better do. I had +only a glance into their apartment the other day, but it occurred to me +that they wanted common necessaries. Ignorant as I was of who they were, +I was thinking to get them put upon Lady A----'s coal and blanket list, +but that can not very well be done now. However, presents are always +permitted under certain conditions, and the most delicate receive them; +and, really, this is a case to waive a feeling of that sort in some +measure. As you are an old friend and acquaintance, there can be no harm +in a few presents before you leave town." + +"So I was thinking, ma'am, and I am very impatient to go and see them, +and find out what they may be most in want of." + +"Well, my dear, I do not see why we should lose time, and I will order a +cab to take us, for it is rather too far to walk this terrible day." + +They soon arrived at the place I have described, and, descending from +their cab, walked along in front of this row of lofty houses looking +upon the grave-yard, and inhabited by so much human misery. The doors of +most of the houses stood open, for they were all let in rooms, and the +entrance and staircase were common as the street. What forms of human +misery and degradation presented themselves during one short walk which +I once took there with a friend employed upon a mission of mercy! + +Disease in its most frightful form, panting to inhale a little fresh +air. Squalid misery, the result of the gin-shop--decent misery ready to +starve. Women shut up in one room with great heartless, brutal, +disobedient boys--sickness resting untended upon its solitary bed. +Wailing infants--scolding mothers--human nature under its most abject +and degraded forms. No thrift, no economy, no attempt at cleanliness and +order. Idleness, recklessness, dirt, and wretchedness. Perhaps the very +atmosphere of towns; perhaps these close, ill-ventilated rooms; most +certainly the poisonous gin-shop, engender a relaxed state of nerves and +muscles, which deprives people of the spirits ever to attempt to make +themselves a little decent. Then water is so dear, and dirt so pervading +the very atmosphere. Poor things, they give it up; and acquiesce in, +and become accustomed to it, and "_avec un mal heur sourd dont l'on ne +se rend pas compte_," gradually sink and sink into the lowest abyss of +habitual degradation. + +It is difficult to express the painful sensations which Catherine +experienced when she entered the room of the two sisters. To her the +dirty paper, the carpetless floor, the miserable bed, the worm-eaten and +scanty furniture, the aspect of extreme poverty which pervaded every +thing, were so shocking, that she could hardly restrain her tears. Not +so Mrs. Danvers. + +Greater poverty, even she, could rarely have seen; but it was too often +accompanied with what grieved her more, reckless indifference, and moral +degradation. Dirt and disorder, those agents of the powers of darkness, +were almost sure to be found where there was extreme want; but here the +case was different. As her experienced eye glanced round the room, she +could perceive that, poor as was the best, the best _was_ made of it; +that a cheerful, active spirit--the "How to make the best of it"--that +spirit which is like the guardian angel of the poor, had been busy here. + +The floor, though bare, was clean; the bed, though so mean, neatly +arranged and made; the grate was bright; the chairs were dusted; the +poor little plenishing neatly put in order. No dirty garments hanging +about the room; all carefully folded and put away they were; though she +could not, of course, see that, for there were no half-open drawers of +the sloven, admitting dust and dirt, and offending the eye. Lettice +herself, with hair neatly braided, her poor worn gown carefully put on, +was sitting by the little table, busy at her work, looking the very +picture of modest industry. Only one figure offended the nice moral +sense of Mrs. Danvers: that of Myra, who sat there with her fine hair +hanging round her face, in long, dirty, disheveled ringlets, her feet +stretched out and pushed slip-shod into her shoes. With her dress half +put on, and hanging over her, as the maids say, "no how," she was +leaning back in the chair, and sewing very languidly at a very dirty +piece of work which she held in her hand. + +Both sisters started up when the door opened. Lettice's cheeks flushed +with joy, and her eye sparkled with pleasure as she rose to receive her +guests, brought forward her other only chair, stirred the fire, and sent +the light of a pleasant blaze through the room. Myra colored also, but +her first action was to stoop down hastily to pull up the heels of her +shoes; she then east a hurried glance upon her dress, and arranged it a +little--occupied as usual with herself, her own appearance was the first +thought--and never in her life more disagreeably. + +Catherine shook hands heartily with Lettice, saying, "We are soon met +again, you see;" and then went up to Myra, and extended her hand to her. +The other took it, but was evidently so excessively ashamed of her +poverty, and her present appearance, before one who had seen her in +better days, that she could not speak, or make any other reply to a kind +speech of Catherine's, but by a few unintelligible murmurs. + +"I was impatient to come," said Catherine--she and Mrs. Danvers having +seated themselves upon the two smaller chairs, while the sisters sat +together upon the larger one--"because, you know, I must go out of town +so very soon, and I wanted to call upon you, and have a little chat and +talk of old times--and, really--really--" she hesitated. Dear, good +thing, she was so dreadfully afraid of mortifying either of the two in +their present fallen state. + +"And, really--really," said Mrs. Danvers, smiling, "out with it, my +love--really--really, Lettice, Catherine feels as I am sure you would +feel if the cases were reversed. She can not bear the thoughts of her +own prosperity, and at the same time think of your misfortunes. I told +her I was quite sure you would not be hurt if she did for you, what I +was certain you would have done in such a case for her, and would let +her make you a little more comfortable before she went. The poor thing's +wedding-day will be quite spoiled by thinking about you, if you won't, +Lettice." + +Lettice stretched out her hand to Catherine by way of answer; and +received in return the most warm and affectionate squeeze. Myra was very +glad to be made more comfortable--there was no doubt of that; but half +offended, and determined to be as little obliged as possible. And then, +Catherine going to be married too. How hard!--every kind of good luck to +be heaped upon _her_, and she herself so unfortunate in every way. + +But nobody cared for her ungracious looks. Catherine knew her of old, +and Mrs. Danvers understood the sort of thing she was in a minute. Her +walk had lain too long amid the victims of false views and imperfect +moral training, to be surprised at this instance of their effects. The +person who surprised her was Lettice. + +"Well, then," said Catherine, now quite relieved, and looking round the +room, "where shall we begin? What will you have? What do you want most? +I shall make you wedding presents, you see, instead of you making them +to me. When your turn comes you shall have your revenge." + +"Well," Lettice said, "what must be must be, and it's nonsense playing +at being proud. I am very much obliged to you, indeed, Catherine, for +thinking of us at this time; and if I must tell you what I should be +excessively obliged to you for, it is a pair of blankets. Poor Myra can +hardly sleep for the cold." + +"It's not the cold--it's the wretched, hard, lumpy bed," muttered Myra. + +This hint sent Catherine to the bed-side. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" cried she, piteously, "poor dear things, how could +you sleep at all? Do they call this a bed? and such blankets! Poor +Myra!" her compassion quite overcoming her dislike. "No wonder. My +goodness! my goodness! it's very shocking indeed." And the good young +thing could not help crying. + +"Blankets, dear girls! and a mattress, and a feather bed, and two +pillows. How have you lived through it? And you, poor Myra, used to be +made so much of. Poor girl! I am so sorry for you." + +And oh! how her heart smote her for all she had said and thought to +Myra's disadvantage. And oh! how the generous eyes of Lettice beamed +with pleasure as these compassionate words were addressed to her sister. +Myra was softened and affected. She could almost forgive Catherine for +being so fortunate. + +"You are very kind, indeed, Catherine," she said. + +Catherine, now quite at her ease, began to examine into their other +wants; and without asking many questions, merely by peeping about, and +forming her own conclusions, was soon pretty well aware of what was of +the most urgent necessity. She was now quite upon the fidget to be gone, +that she might order and send in the things; and ten of the twenty +pounds given her for wedding lace was spent before she and Mrs. Danvers +reached home; that lady laughing, and lamenting over the wedding gown, +which would certainly not be flounced with Honiton, as Catherine's good +god-mother had intended, and looking so pleased, contented, and happy, +that it did Catherine's heart good to see her. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "The swain in barren deserts with surprise + Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise: + And starts amid the thirsty wilds to hear + New falls of water murm'ring in his ear."--POPE. + +In the evening Mrs. Danvers seemed rather tired, and the two sat over +the fire a long time, without a single word being uttered; but, at last, +when tea was finished, and they had both taken their work, Catherine, +who had been in profound meditation all this time, began: + +"My dear Mrs. Danvers, are you rested? I have a great deal to talk to +you about, if you will let me." + +"I must be very much tired, indeed, Catherine, when I do not like to +hear _you_ talk," was the kind reply. + +Mrs. Danvers reposed very comfortably in her arm-chair, with her feet +upon a footstool before the cheerful blazing fire; and now Catherine +drew her chair closer, rested her feet upon the fender, and seemed to +prepare herself for a regular confidential talk with her beloved old +friend. + +"My dear Mrs. Danvers, you are such a friend both of my dear mother's +and mine, that I think I may, without scruple, open my whole heart to +you upon a matter in which more than myself are concerned. If you think +me wrong stop me," said she, laying her hand affectionately upon that +of her friend, and fixing those honest, earnest eyes of hers upon her +face. + +Mrs. Danvers pressed the hand, and said: + +"My love, whatever you confide to me you know is sacred; and if I can be +of any assistance to you, dear girl, I think you need not scruple +opening your mind; for you know I am a sort of general mother-confessor +to all my acquaintance, and am as secret as such a profession demands." + +Catherine lifted up the hand; she held it, pressed it, and continued to +hold it; then she looked at the fire a little while, and at last spoke. + +"Did you never in your walk in life observe one evil under the sun, +which appears to me to be a most crying one in many families, the undue +influence exercised by, and the power allowed to servants?" + +"Yes, my dear, there are few of the minor evils--if minor it can be +called--that I have thought productive of more daily discomforts than +that. At times the evils assume a much greater magnitude, and are very +serious indeed. Alienated hearts--divided families--property to a large +amount unjustly and unrighteously diverted from its natural channel--and +misery, not to be told, about old age and a dying bed." + +Catherine slightly shuddered, and said: + +"I have not had an opportunity of seeing much of the world, you know; +what you say is rather what I feared it might be, than what I have +actually observed; but I have had a sort of divination of what might in +future arise. It is inexplicable to me the power a servant may gain, and +the tyrannical way in which she will dare to exercise it. The +unaccountable way in which those who have every title to command, may be +brought to obey is scarcely to be believed, and to me inexplicable." + +"Fear and indolence, my dear. Weak spirits and a weak body, upon the one +side; on the other, that species of force which want of feeling, want of +delicacy, want of a nice conscience, want even of an enlarged +understanding--which rough habits and coarse perceptions bestow. Believe +me, dear girl, almost as much power is obtained in this foolish world by +the absence of certain qualities as by the possession of others. Silly +people think it so nice and easy to govern, and so hard to obey. It +requires many higher qualities, and much more rule over the spirit to +command obedience than to pay it." + +"Yes, no doubt one does not think enough of that. Jeremy Taylor, in his +fine prayers, has one for a new married wife just about to enter a +family: he teaches her to pray for 'a right judgment in all things; not +to be annoyed at trifles; nor discomposed by contrariety of accidents;' +a spirit 'to overcome all my infirmities, and comply with and bear with +the infirmities of others; giving offense to none, but doing good to all +I can, but I think he should have added a petition for strength to rule +and guide that portion of the household which falls under her immediate +care with a firm and righteous hand, not yielding feebly to the undue +encroachment of others, not suffering, through indolence or a mistaken +love of peace, evil habits to creep over those who look up to us and +depend upon us, to their own infinite injury as well as to our own.' Ah! +that is the part of a woman's duty hardest to fulfill; and I almost +tremble," said the young bride elect, "when I think how heavy the +responsibility; and how hard I shall find it to acquit myself as I +desire." + +"In this as in other things," answered Mrs. Danvers, affectionately +passing her hand over her young favorite's smooth and shining hair, "I +have ever observed there is but one portion of real strength; one force +alone by which we can move mountains. But, in that strength we assuredly +are able to move mountains. Was this all that you had to say, my dear?" + +"Oh, no--but--it is so disagreeable--yet I think. Did you ever notice +how things went on at home, my dear friend?" + +"Yes--a little I have. One can not help, you know, if one stays long in +a house, seeing the relation in which the different members of a family +stand to each other." + +"I thought you must have done so; that makes it easier for me--well, +then, _that_ was one great reason which made me so unwilling to leave +mamma." + +"I understand." + +"There is a vast deal of that sort of tyranny exercised in our family +already. Ever since I have grown up I have done all in my power to check +it, by encouraging my poor, dear mamma, to exert a little spirit; but +she is so gentle, so soft, so indulgent, and so affectionate--for even +_that_ comes in her way.... She gets attached to every thing around her. +She can not bear new faces, she says, and this I think the servants +know, and take advantage of. They venture to do as they like, because +they think it will be too painful an exertion for her to change them." + +"Yes, my dear, that is exactly as things go on; not in your family +alone, but in numbers that I could name if I chose. It is a very serious +evil. It amounts to a sin in many households. The waste, the almost +vicious luxury, the idleness that is allowed! The positive loss of what +might be so much better bestowed upon those who really want it, to the +positive injury of those who enjoy it! The demoralizing effect of +pampered habits--the sins which are committed through the temptation of +having nothing to do, will make, I fear, a dark catalogue against the +masters and mistresses of families; who, because they have money in +abundance, and hate trouble, allow all this misrule, and its attendant +ill consequences upon their dependents. Neglecting 'to rule with +diligence,' as the Apostle commands us, and satisfied, provided they +themselves escape suffering from the ill consequences, except as far as +an overflowing plentiful purse is concerned. Few people seem to reflect +upon the mischief they may be doing to these their half-educated fellow +creatures by such negligence." + +Catherine looked very grave, almost sorrowful, at this speech--she said: + +"Poor mamma--but she _can not_ help it--indeed she can not. She is all +love, and is gentleness itself. The blessed one 'who thinketh no evil.' +How can that Randall find the heart to tease her! as I am sure she +does--though mamma never complains. And then, I am afraid, indeed, I +feel certain, when I am gone the evil will very greatly increase. You, +perhaps, have observed," added she, lowering her voice, "that poor papa +makes it particularly difficult in our family--doubly difficult. His old +wounds, his injured arm, his age and infirmities, make all sorts of +little comforts indispensable to him. He suffers so much bodily, and he +suffers, too, so much from little inconveniences, that he can not bear +to have any thing done for him in an unaccustomed way. Randall and +Williams have lived with us ever since I was five years old--when poor +papa came back from Waterloo almost cut to pieces. And he is so fond of +them he will not hear a complaint against them--not even from mamma. Oh! +it is not her fault--poor, dear mamma!" + +"No, my love, such a dreadful sufferer as the poor general too often is, +makes things very difficult at times. I understand all that quite well; +but we are still only on the preamble of your discourse, my Catherine; +something more than vain lamentation is to come of it, I feel sure." + +"Yes, indeed. Dear generous mamma! She would not hear of my staying with +her and giving up Edgar; nor would she listen to what he was noble +enough to propose, that he should abandon his profession and come and +live at the Hazels, rather than that I should feel I was tampering with +my duty, for his sake, dear fellow!" + +And the tears stood in Catherine's eyes. + +"Nothing I could say would make her listen to it. I could hardly be +sorry for Edgar's sake. I knew what a sacrifice it would be upon his +part--more than a woman ought to accept from a _lover_, I think--a man +in his dotage, as one may say. Don't you think so, too, ma'am?" + +"Yes, my dear, indeed I do. Well, go on." + +"I have been so perplexed, so unhappy, so undecided what to do--so sorry +to leave this dear, generous mother to the mercy of those servants of +hers--whose influence, when she is alone, and with nobody to hearten her +up a little, will be so terribly upon the increase--that I have not +known what to do. But to-day, while I was dressing for dinner, a sudden, +blessed thought came into my mind--really, just like a flash of light +that seemed to put every thing clear at once--and it is about that I +want to consult you, if you will let me. That dear Lettice Arnold!--I +knew her from a child. You can not think what a creature she is. So +sensible, so cheerful, so sweet-tempered, so self-sacrificing, yet so +clever, and firm, and steady, when necessary. Mamma wants a daughter, +and papa wants a reader and a backgammon prayer. Lettice Arnold is the +very thing." + +Mrs. Danvers made no answer. + +"Don't you think so? Are you not sure? Don't you see it?" asked poor +Catherine, anxiously. + +"Alas! my dear, there is one thing I can scarcely ever persuade myself +to do; and that is--advise any one to undertake the part of humble +friend." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! I know it's a terrible part in general; and I can't +think why." + +"Because neither party in general understands the nature of the +relation, nor the exchange of duties it implies. For want of proper +attention to this, the post of governess is often rendered so +unsatisfactory to one side, and so very uncomfortable to the other, but +in that case at least _something_ is defined. In the part of the humble +friend there is really nothing--every thing depends upon the equity and +good-nature of the first party, and the candor and good-will of the +second. Equity not to exact too much--good-nature to consult the comfort +and happiness of the dependent. On that dependent's side, candor in +judging of what _is_ exacted; and good-will cheerfully to do the best in +her power to be amiable and agreeable." + +"I am not afraid of mamma. She will never be exacting _much_. She will +study the happiness of all who depend upon her; she only does it almost +too much, I sometimes think, to the sacrifice of her own comfort, and to +the spoiling of them--and though papa is sometimes so suffering that he +can't help being a little impatient, yet he is a perfect gentleman, you +know. As for Lettice Arnold, if ever there was a person who knew 'how to +make the best of it,' and sup cheerfully upon fried onions when she had +lost her piece of roast kid, it is she. Besides, she is so uniformly +good-natured, that it is quite a pleasure to her to oblige. The only +danger between dearest mamma and Lettice will be--of their quarreling +which shall give up most to the other. But, joking apart, she is a vast +deal more than I have said--she is a remarkably clever, spirited girl, +and shows it when she is called upon. You can not think how discreet, +how patient, yet how firm, she can be. Her parents, poor people, were +very difficult to live with, and were always running wrong. If it had +not been for Lettice, affairs would have got into dreadful confusion. +There is that in her so _right_, such an inherent downright sense of +propriety and justice--somehow or other I am confident she will not let +Randall tyrannize over mamma when I am gone." + +"Really," said Mrs. Danvers, "what you say seems very reasonable. There +are exceptions to every rule. It certainly is one of mine to have as +little as possible to do in recommending young women to the situation of +humble friends. Yet in some cases I have seen all the comfort you +anticipate arise to both parties from such a connection; and I own I +never saw a fairer chance presented than the present; provided Randall +is not too strong for you all; which may be feared." + +"Well, then, you do not _dis_advise me to talk to mamma about it, and I +will write to you as soon as I possibly can; and you will be kind enough +to negotiate with Lettice, if you approve of the terms. As for Randall, +she shall _not_ be too hard for me. Now is my hour; I am in the +ascendant, and I will win this battle or perish; that is, I will tell +mamma I _won't_ be married upon any other terms; and to have 'Miss' +married is quite as great a matter of pride to Mrs. Randall as to that +dearest of mothers." + + * * * * * + +The contest with Mrs. Randall was as fierce as Catherine, in her worst +anticipations, could have expected. She set herself most doggedly +against the plan. It, indeed, militated against all her schemes. She had +intended to have every thing far more than ever her own way when "Miss +Catherine was gone;" and though she had no doubt but that she should +"keep the creature in her place," and "teach her there was only one +mistress here" (which phrase usually means the maid, though it implies +the lady), yet she had a sort of a misgiving about it. There would be +one at her (Mrs. Melwyn's) ear as well as herself, and at, possibly, her +master's, too, which was of still more importance. And then "those sort +of people are so artful and cantankerous. Oh! she'd seen enough of them +in her day! Poor servants couldn't have a moment's peace with a creature +like that in the house, spying about and telling every thing in the +parlor. One can't take a walk, or see a poor friend, or have a bit of +comfort, but all goes up there. Well, those may put up with it who like. +Here's one as won't, and that's me myself; and so I shall make bold to +tell Miss Catherine. General and Mrs. Melwyn must choose between me and +the new-comer." + +Poor Catherine! Mrs. Melwyn cried, and said her daughter was very right; +but she was sure Randall never _would_ bear it. And the general, with +whom Randall had daily opportunity for private converse while she bound +up his shattered arm, and dressed the old wound, which was perpetually +breaking out afresh, and discharging splinters of bone, easily talked +her master into the most decided dislike to the scheme. + +But Catherine stood firm. She had the support of her own heart and +judgment; and the greater the difficulty, the more strongly she felt the +necessity of the measure. Edgar backed her, too, with all his might. He +could hardly keep down his vexation at this weakness on one side, and +indignation at the attempted tyranny on the other, and he said every +thing he could think of to encourage Catherine to persevere. + +She talked the matter well over with her father. The general was the +most testy, cross, and unreasonable of old men; always out of humor, +because always suffering, and always jealous of every body's influence +and authority, because he was now too weak and helpless to rule his +family with a rod of iron, such as he, the greatest of martinets, had +wielded in better days in his regiment and in his household alike. He +suffered himself to be governed by Randall, and by nobody else; because +in yielding to Randall, there was a sort of consciousness of the +exercise of free will. He _ought_ to be influenced by his gentle wife, +and clever, sensible daughter; but there was no reason on earth, but +because he _chose_ to do it, that he should mind what Randall said. + +"I hate the whole pack of them! I know well enough what sort of a +creature you'll bring among us, Catherine. A whining, methodistical old +maid, with a face like a hatchet, and a figure as if it had been pressed +between two boards, dressed in a flimsy cheap silk, of a dingy brown +color, with a cap like a grenadier's. Your mother and she will be +sitting moistening their eyes all day long over the sins of mankind; +and, I'll be bound, my own sins won't be forgotten among them. Oh! I +know the pious creatures, of old. Nothing they hate like a poor old +veteran, with a naughty word or two in his mouth now and then. Never +talk to me, Catherine, I can't abide such cattle." + +"Dearest papa, what a picture you _do_ draw! just to frighten yourself. +Why, Lettice Arnold is only about nineteen, I believe; and though she's +not particularly pretty, she's the pleasantest-looking creature you ever +saw. And as for bemoaning herself over her neighbors' sins, I'll be +bound she's not half such a Methodist as Randall." + +"Randall is a very pious, good woman, I'd have you to know, Miss +Catherine." + +"I'm sure I hope she is, papa; but you must own she makes a great fuss +about it. And I really believe, the habit she has of whispering and +turning up the whites of her eyes, when she hears of a neighbor's +peccadillos, is one thing which sets you so against the righteous, +dearest papa; now, you know it is." + +"You're a saucy baggage. How old is this thing you're trying to put upon +us, did you say?" + +"Why, about nineteen, or, perhaps, twenty. And then, who's to read to +you, papa, when I am gone, and play backgammon? You know mamma must +_not_ read, on account of her chest, and she plays so badly, you say, at +backgammon; and it's so dull, husband and wife playing, you know." (Poor +Mrs. Melwyn dreaded, of all things, backgammon; she invariably got +ridiculed if she played ill, and put her husband into a passion if she +beat him. Catherine had long taken this business upon herself.) + +"Does she play backgammon tolerably? and can she read without drawling +or galloping?" + +"Just at your own pace, papa, whatever that may be. Besides, you can +only try her; she's easily sent away if you and mamma don't like her. +And then think, she is a poor clergyman's daughter; and it would be +quite a kind action." + +"A poor parson's! It would have been more to the purpose if you had said +a poor officer's. I pay tithes enough to the black coated gentlemen, +without being bothered with their children, and who ever pays tithes to +us, I wonder? I don't see what right parsons have to marry at all; and +then, forsooth, come and ask other people to take care of their brats!" + +"Ah! but she's not to be taken care of for nothing; only think what a +comfort she'll be." + +"To your mamma, perhaps, but not to me. And _she's_ always the first +person to be considered in this house, I know very well; and I know very +well who it is that dresses the poor old soldier's wounds, and studies +his comforts--and he'll study hers; and I won't have her vexed to please +any of you." + +"But why should she be vexed? It's nothing to _her_. _She's_ not to live +with Lettice. And I must say, if Randall sets herself against this +measure, she behaves in a very unreasonable and unworthy manner, in my +opinion." + +"Hoity toity! _To_ be sure; and who's behaving in an unreasonable and +unworthy manner now, I wonder, abusing her behind her back, a worthy, +attached creature, whose sole object it is to study the welfare of us +all? She's told me so a thousand times." + +"I daresay. Well, now, papa, listen to me. I'm going away from you for +good--your little Catherine. Just for once grant me this as a favor. +Only try Lettice. I'm sure you'll like her; and if, after she's been +here a quarter of a year, you don't wish to keep her, why part with her, +and I'll promise not to say a word about it. Randall has her good +qualities, I suppose, like the rest of the world; but Randall must be +taught to keep her place, and that's not in this drawing-room. And it's +_here_ you want Lettice, not in your dressing-room. Randall shall have +it all her own way _there_, and that _ought_ to content her. And +besides, papa, do you know, I can't marry Edgar till you have consented, +because I can not leave mamma and you with nobody to keep you company." + +"Edgar and you be d----d! Well, do as you like. The sooner you're out of +the house the better. I shan't have my own way till you're gone. You're +a sad coaxing baggage, but you _have_ a pretty face of your own, Miss +Catherine." + + * * * * * + +If the debate upon the subject ran high at the Hazels, so did it in the +little humble apartment which the two sisters occupied. + +"A humble friend! No," cried Myra, "that I would never, never be; rather +die of hunger first." + +"Dying of hunger is a very horrible thing," said Lettice, quietly, "and +much more easily said than done. We have not, God be thanked for it, +ever been quite so badly off as that; but I have stood near enough to +the dreadful gulf to look down, and to sound its depth and its darkness. +I am very thankful, deeply thankful, for this offer, which I should +gladly accept, only what is to become of you?" + +"Oh! never mind me. It's the fashion now, I see, for every body to think +of _you_, and nobody to think of me. I'm not worth caring for, now those +who cared for me are gone. Oh! pray, if you like to be a domestic slave +yourself, let _me_ be no hindrance." + +"A domestic slave! why should I be a domestic slave? I see no slavery in +the case." + +"_I_ call it slavery, whatever you may do, to have nothing to do all day +but play toad-eater and flatterer to a good-for-nothing old woman; to +bear all her ill-humors, and be the butt for all her caprices. That's +what humble friends are expected to do, I believe; what else are they +hired for?" + +"I should neither toady nor flatter, I hope," said Lettice; "and as for +bearing people's ill-humors, and being now and then the sport of their +caprices, why that, as you say, is very disagreeable, yet, perhaps, it +is what we must rather expect. But Mrs. Melwyn, I have always heard, is +the gentlest of human beings. And if she is like Catherine, she must be +free from caprice, and nobody could help quite loving her." + +"Stuff!--love! love! A humble friend love her _un_humble friend; for I +suppose one must not venture to call one's mistress a tyrant. Oh, no, a +friend! a dear friend!" in a taunting, ironical voice. + +"Whomever it might be my fate to live with, I should _try_ to love; for +I believe if one tries to love people, one soon finds something lovable +about them, and Mrs. Melwyn, I feel sure, I should soon love very much." + +"So like you! ready to love any thing and every thing. I verily believe +if there was nothing else to love but the little chimney-sweeper boy, +you'd fall to loving him, rather than love nobody." + +"I am sure that's true enough," said Lettice, laughing; "I have more +than once felt very much inclined to love the little boy who carries the +soot-bag for the man who sweeps these chimneys--such a saucy-looking, +little sooty rogue." + +"As if a person's love _could_ be worth having," continued the sister, +"who is so ready to love any body." + +"No, that I deny. Some few people I _do_ find it hard to love." + +"Me for one." + +"Oh, Myra!" + +"Well, I beg your pardon. You're very kind to me. But I'll tell you who +it will be impossible for you to love--if such a thing can be: that's +that testy, cross, old general." + +"I don't suppose I shall have much to do with the old general, if I go." + +"_If_ you go. Oh, you're sure to go. You're so sanguine; every new +prospect is so promising. But pardon me, you seem quite to have +forgotten that reading to the old general, and playing backgammon with +him, are among your specified employments." + +"Well, I don't see much harm in it if they are. A man can't be very +cross with one when one's reading to him--and as for the backgammon, I +mean to lose every game, if that will please him." + +"Oh, a man can't be cross with a reader? I wish you knew as much of the +world as I do, and had heard people read. Why, nothing on earth puts one +in such a fidget. I'm sure I've been put into such a worry by people's +way of reading, that I could have pinched them. Really, Lettice, your +simplicity would shame a child of five years old." + +"Well, I shall do my best, and besides I shall take care to set my chair +so far off that I can't get pinched, at least; and as for a poor, +ailing, suffering old man being a little impatient and cross, why one +can't expect to get fifty pounds a year for just doing nothing.--I do +suppose it is expected that I should bear a few of these things in place +of Mrs. Melwyn; and I don't see why I should not." + +"Oh, dear! Well, my love, you're quite made for the place, I see; you +always had something of the spaniel in you, or the walnut-tree, or any +of those things which are the better for being ill-used. It was quite a +proverb with our poor mother, 'a worm will turn, but not Lettice.'" + +Lettice felt very much inclined to turn now. But the mention of her +mother--that mother whose mismanagement and foolish indulgence had +contributed so much to poor Myra's faults--faults for which she now paid +so heavy a penalty--silenced the generous girl, and she made no answer. + +No answer, let it proceed from never so good a motive, makes cross +people often more cross; though perhaps upon the whole it is the best +plan. + +So Myra in a still more querulous voice went on: + +"This room will be rather dismal all by one's self, and I don't know how +I'm to go about, up and down, fetch and carry, and work as you are able +to do.... I was never used to it. It comes very hard upon me." And she +began to cry. + +"Poor Myra! dear Myra! don't cry: I never intended to leave you. Though +I talked as if I did, it was only in the way of argument, because I +thought more might be said for the kind of life than you thought; and I +felt sure if people were tolerably kind and candid, I could get along +very well and make myself quite comfortable. Dear me! after such +hardships as we have gone through, a little would do that. But do you +think, poor dear girl, I could have a moment's peace, and know you were +here alone? No, no." + +And so when she went in the evening to carry her answer to Mrs. Danvers, +who had conveyed to her Catherine's proposal, Lettice said, "that she +should have liked exceedingly to accept Catherine's offer, and was sure +she should have been very happy herself, and would have done every thing +in her power to make Mrs. Melwyn happy, but that it was impossible to +leave her sister." + +"If that is your only difficulty, my dear, don't make yourself uneasy +about that. I have found a place for your sister which I think she will +like very well. It is with Mrs. Fisher, the great milliner in +Dover-street, where she will be taken care of, and may be very +comfortable. Mrs. Fisher is a most excellent person, and very anxious, +not only about the health and comfort of those she employs, but about +their good behavior and their security from evil temptation. Such a +beautiful girl as your sister is, lives in perpetual danger, exposed as +she is without protection in this great town." + +"But Myra has such an abhorrence of servitude, as she calls it--such an +independent high spirit--I fear she will never like it." + +"It will be very good for her, whether she likes it or not. Indeed, my +dear, to speak sincerely, the placing your sister out of danger in the +house of Mrs. Fisher ought to be a decisive reason with you for +accepting Catherine's proposal--even did you dislike it much more than +you seem to do." + +"Oh! to tell the truth, I should like the plan very much indeed--much +more than I have wished to say, on account of Myra: but she never, never +will submit to be ruled, I fear, and make herself happy where, of +course, she must obey orders and follow regulations, whether she likes +them or not. Unfortunately, poor dear, she has been so little accustomed +to be contradicted." + +"Well, then, it is high time she should begin; for contradicted, sooner +or later, we all of us are certain to be. Seriously, again, my dear, +good Lettice--I must call you Lettice--your innocence of heart prevents +you from knowing what snares surround a beautiful young woman like your +sister. I like you best, I own; but I have thought much more of her fate +than yours, upon that account. Such a situation as is offered to you she +evidently is quite unfit to fill: but I went--the very day Catherine and +I came to your lodgings and saw you both--to my good friend Mrs. Fisher, +and, with great difficulty, have persuaded her at last to take your +sister. She disliked the idea very much; but she's an excellent woman: +and when I represented to her the peculiar circumstances of the case, +she promised she would consider the matter. She took a week to consider +of it--for she is a very cautious person is Mrs. Fisher; and some people +call her very cold and severe. However, she has decided in our favor, as +I expected she would. Her compassion always gets the better of her +prudence, when the two are at issue. And so you would not dislike to go +to Mrs. Melwyn's?" + +"How could I? Why, after what we have suffered, it must be like going +into Paradise." + +"Nay, nay--a little too fast. No dependent situation is ever exactly a +Paradise. I should be sorry you saw things in a false light, and should +be disappointed." + +"Oh, no, I do not wish to do that--I don't think--thank you for the +great kindness and interest you are so kind as to show by this last +remark--but I think I never in my life enjoyed one day of unmixed +happiness since I was quite a little child; and I have got so entirely +into the habit of thinking that every thing in the world goes so--that +when I say Paradise, or quite happy, or so on, it is always in a certain +sense--a comparative sense." + +"I am glad to see you so reasonable--that is one sure way to be happy; +but you will find your crosses at the Hazels. The general is not very +sweet-tempered; and even dear mild Mrs. Melwyn is not perfect." + +"Why, madam, what am I to expect? If I can not bear a few disagreeable +things, what do I go there for? Not to be fed, and housed, and paid at +other people's expense, just that I may please my own humors all the +time. That _would_ be rather an unfair bargain, I think. No: I own there +are some things I could not and would not bear for any consideration; +but there are a great many others that I can, and I shall, and I +will--and do my best, too, to make happy, and be happy; and, in short, I +don't feel the least afraid." + +"No more you need--you right-spirited creature," said Mrs. Danvers, +cordially. + + * * * * * + +Many were the difficulties, endless the objections raised by Myra +against the proposed plan of going to Mrs. Fisher. Such people's +objections and difficulties are indeed endless. In their weakness and +their selfishness, they _like_ to be objects of pity--they take a +comfort in bothering and wearying people with their interminable +complaints. Theirs is not the sacred outbreak of the overloaded +heart--casting itself upon another heart for support and consolation +under suffering that is too strong and too bitter to be endured alone. +Sacred call for sympathy and consolation, and rarely made in vain! It is +the wearying and futile attempt to cast the burden of sorrow and +suffering upon others, instead of seeking their assistance in enduring +it one's self. Vain and useless endeavor, and which often bears hard +upon the sympathy even of the kindest and truest hearts! + +Ineffectually did Lettice endeavor to represent matters under a cheerful +aspect. Nothing was of any avail. Myra would persist in lamenting, and +grieving, and tormenting herself and her sister; bewailing the cruel +fate of both--would persist in recapitulating every objection which +could be made to the plan, and every evil consequence which could +possibly ensue. Not that she had the slightest intention in the world of +refusing her share in it, if she would have suffered herself to say so. +She rather liked the idea of going to that fashionable _modiste_, Mrs. +Fisher: she had the "_ame de dentelle_" with which Napoleon reproached +poor Josephine. There was something positively delightful to her +imagination in the idea of dwelling among rich silks, Brussels laces, +ribbons, and feathers; it was to her what woods, and birds, and trees +were to her sister. She fancied herself elegantly dressed, walking about +a show-room, filled with all sorts of beautiful things; herself, +perhaps, the most beautiful thing in it, and the object of a sort of +flattering interest, through the melancholy cloud "upon her fine +features." Nay, her romantic imagination traveled still +farther--gentlemen sometimes come up with ladies to show-rooms,--who +could tell? Love at first sight was not altogether a dream. Such things +_had_ happened.... Myra had read plenty of old, rubbishy novels when she +was a girl. + +Such were the comfortable thoughts she kept to herself; but it was, as I +said, one endless complaining externally. + +Catherine insisted upon being allowed to advance the money for the +necessary clothes, which, to satisfy the delicacy of the one and the +pride of the other, she agreed should be repaid by installments as their +salaries became due. The sale of their few possessions put a sovereign +or so into the pocket of each, and thus the sisters parted; the lovely +Myra to Mrs. Fisher's, and Lettice, by railway, to the Hazels. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +ERUPTION OF MOUNT ETNA IN 1669. + + +"For many days previous the sky had been overcast, and the weather, +notwithstanding the season, oppressively hot. The thunder and lightning +were incessant, and the eruption was at length ushered in by a violent +shock of an earthquake, which leveled most of the houses at Nicolosi. +Two great chasms then opened near that village, from whence ashes were +thrown out in such quantities, that, in a few weeks, a double hill, +called Monte Rosso, 450 feet high, was formed, and the surrounding +country covered to such a depth, that, nothing but the tops of the trees +could be seen. The lava ran in a stream fifty feet deep, and four miles +wide, overwhelming in its course fourteen towns and villages; and had it +not separated before reaching Catania, that city would have been +virtually annihilated as were Herculaneum and Pompeii. The walls had +been purposely raised to a height of sixty feet, to repel the danger if +possible, but the torrent accumulated behind them, and poured down in a +cascade of fire upon the town. It still continued to advance, and, after +a course of fifteen miles, ran into the sea, where it formed a mole 600 +yards long. The walls were neither thrown down nor fused by contact with +the ignited matter, and have since been discovered by Prince Biscari, +when excavating in search of a well known to have existed in a certain +spot, and from the steps of which the lava may now be seen curling over +like a monstrous billow in the very act of falling. + +"The great crater fell in during this eruption, and a fissure, six feet +wide and twelve miles long, opened in the plain of S. Leo. In the space +of six weeks, the habitations of 27,000 persons were destroyed, a vast +extent of the most fertile land rendered desolate for ages, the +course of rivers changed, and the whole face of the district +transformed."--_Marquis of Ormonde's Autumn in Sicily._ + + +VOLCANIC ERUPTION--MOUNT ETNA IN 1849. + +"The mass extended for a breadth of about 1000 paces, advancing +gradually, more or less rapidly according to the nature of the ground +over which it moved, but making steady progress. It had formed two +branches, one going in a northerly, and the other in a westerly +direction. No danger beyond loss of trees or crops was apprehended from +the former, but the second was moving in a direct line for the town of +Bronte, and to it we confined our attention. The townspeople, on their +part, had not been idle. I have before mentioned the clearance which +they made of their goods, but precautions had also been taken outside +the town, with a view, if possible, to arrest the progress of the lava; +and a very massive wall of coarse loose work was in the course of +erection across a valley down which the stream must flow. We heard +afterward, that the impelling power was spent before the strength of +this work was put to the test, but had it failed, Bronte had been lost. +It is not easy to convey by words any very accurate idea. The lava +appeared to be from thirty to forty feet in depth, and some notion of +its aspect and progress may be formed by imagining a hill of loose +stones of all sizes, the summit or brow of which is continually falling +to the base, and as constantly renewed by unseen pressure from behind. +Down it came in large masses, each leaving behind it a fiery track, as +the red-hot interior was for a moment or two exposed. The impression +most strongly left on my mind was that of its irresistible force. It did +not advance rapidly; there was no difficulty in approaching it, as I +did, closely, and taking out pieces of red-hot stone; the rattling of +the blocks overhead gave ample notice of their descent down the inclined +face of the stream, and a few paces to the rear, or aside, were quite +enough to take me quite clear of them; but still onward, onward it came, +foot by foot it encroached on the ground at its base, changing the whole +face of the country, leaving hills where formerly valleys had been, +overwhelming every work of man that it encountered in its progress, and +leaving all behind one black, rough, and monotonous mass of hard and +barren lava. It had advanced considerably during the night. On the +previous evening I had measured the distance from the base of the moving +hill to the walls of a deserted house which stood, surrounded by trees, +at about fifty yards off, and, though separated from it by a road, +evidently exposed to the full power of the stream. Not a trace of it was +now left, and it was difficult to make a guess at where it had been. The +owners of the adjacent lands were busied in all directions felling the +timber that stood in the line of the advancing fire, but they could not +in many instances do it fast enough to save their property from +destruction; and it was not a little interesting to watch the effect +produced on many a goodly tree, first thoroughly dried by the heat of +the mass, and, in a few minutes after it had been reached by the lava, +bursting into flames at the base, and soon prostrate and destroyed. It +being Sunday, all the population had turned out to see what progress the +enemy was making, and prayers and invocations to a variety of saints +were every where heard around. 'Chiamate Sant' Antonio, Signor,' said +one woman eagerly to me, 'per l'amor di Dio, chiamate la Santa Maria.' +Many females knelt around, absorbed in their anxiety and devotion, while +the men generally stood in silence gazing in dismay at the scene before +them. Our guide was a poor fiddler thrown out of employment by the +strict penance enjoined with a view to avert the impending calamity, +dancing and music being especially forbidden, even had any one under +such circumstances been inclined to indulge in them." + + * * * * * + +The Marquis of Ormonde was adventurous enough, despite the fate of +Empedocles and of Pliny, to ascend in the evening to see the Bocca di +Fuoco, which is at an elevation of about 6000 feet. The sight which met +his eyes was, he tells us, and we may well believe it, one of the +grandest and most awful it had ever been his fortune to witness: + + "The evening had completely closed in, and it was perfectly dark, + so that there was nothing which could in any way injure or weaken + the effect. The only thing to which I can compare it is, as far + as can be judged from representations of such scenes, the blowing + up of some enormous vessel of war, the effect being permanent + instead of momentary only. Directly facing us was the chasm in + the mountain's side from which the lava flowed in a broad stream + of liquid fire; masses of it had been forced up on each side, + forming, as it got comparatively cool, black, uneven banks, the + whole realizing the poetic description of Phlegethon in the most + vivid manner. The flames ascended to a considerable height from + the abyss, and high above them the air was constantly filled with + large fiery masses, projected to a great height, and meeting on + their descent a fresh supply, the roar of the flames and crash of + the falling blocks being incessant. Advancing across a valley + which intervened, we ascended another hill, and here commanded a + view of the ground on which many of the ejected stones fell, and, + though well to windward, the small ashes fell thickly around us. + The light was sufficient, even at the distance we stood, to + enable us to read small print, and to write with the greatest + ease. The thermometer stood at about 40 deg., but, cold though it + was, it was some time before we could resolve to take our last + look at this extraordinary sight, and our progress, after we had + done so, was retarded by the constant stoppages made by us to + watch the beautiful effect of the light, as seen through the + _Bosco_, which we had entered on our return."--_Marquis of + Ormonde's Autumn in Sicily._ + + + + +AMERICAN LITERATURE. + + +We believe it was M. l'Abbe Raynal who said that America had not yet +produced a single man of genius. The productions now under our notice +will do more to relieve her from this imputation than the reply of +President Jefferson: + + "When we have existed," said that gentleman, "so long as the + Greeks did before they produced Homer, the Romans Virgil, the + French a Racine and a Voltaire, the English a Shakspeare and a + Milton, we shall inquire from what unfriendly causes it has + proceeded that the other countries of Europe, and quarters of the + earth, shall not have inscribed any poet of ours on the roll of + fame." + +The ingenuity of this defense is more apparent than its truth; for +although the existence of America, as a separate nation, is +comparatively recent, it must not be forgotten that the origin of her +people is identical with that of our own. Their language is the same; +they have always had advantages in regard of literature precisely +similar to those which we now enjoy; they have free trade, and a little +more, in all our best standard authors. There is, therefore, no analogy +whatever between their condition and that of the other nations with whom +the attempt has been made to contrast them. With a literature +ready-made, as it were, to their hand, America had never to contend +against any difficulties such as they encountered. Beyond the ballads of +the Troubadours and Trouveres, France had no stock either of literature +or of traditions to begin upon; the language of Rome was foreign to its +people; Greece had but the sixteen letters of Cadmus; the literature of +England struggled through the rude chaos of Anglo-Saxon, Norman, French, +and monkish Latin. If these difficulties in pursuit of knowledge be +compared with the advantages of America, we think it must be admitted +that the president had the worst of the argument. + +But although America enjoys all these advantages, it can not be denied +that her social condition presents impediments of a formidable character +toward the cultivation of the higher and more refined branches of +literature. Liberty, equality, and fraternity are not quite so favorable +to the cultivation of elegant tastes as might be imagined; where every +kind of social rank is obliterated, the field of observation, which is +the province of fiction, becomes proportionately narrow; and although +human nature must be the same under every form of government, the +liberty of a thorough democracy by no means compensates for its +vulgarity. It might be supposed that the very obliteration of all grades +of rank, and the consequent impossibility of acquiring social +distinction, would have a direct tendency to turn the efforts of genius +in directions where the acquisition of fame might be supposed to +compensate for more substantial rewards; and when men could no longer +win their way to a coronet, they would redouble their exertions to +obtain the wreath. The history of literature, however, teaches us the +reverse: its most brilliant lights have shone in dark and uncongenial +times. Amid the clouds of bigotry and oppression, in the darkest days of +tyranny and demoralization, their lustre has been the most brilliant. +Under the luxurious tyranny of the empire, Virgil and Horace sang their +immortal strains; the profligacy of Louis the Fourteenth produced a +Voltaire and a Rosseau; amid the oppression of his country grew and +flourished the gigantic intellect of Milton; Ireland, in the darkest +times of her gloomy history, gave birth to the imperishable genius of +Swift; it was less the liberty of Athens than the tyranny of Philip, +which made Demosthenes an orator; and of the times which produced our +great dramatists it is scarcely necessary to speak. The proofs, in +short, are numberless. Be this, however, as it may, the character of +American literature which has fallen under our notice must demonstrate +to every intelligent mind, what immense advantages she has derived from +those sources which the advocates of her claims would endeavor to +repudiate. There is scarcely a page which does not contain evidence how +largely she has availed herself of the learning and labors of others. + +We do not blame her for this; far from it. We only say that, having +reaped the benefit, it is unjust to deny the obligation; and that in +discussing her literary pretensions, the plea which has been put forward +in her behalf is untenable.--_Dublin University Magazine._ + + + + +MILKING IN AUSTRALIA. + + +This is a very serious operation. First, say at four o'clock in the +morning, you drive the cows into the stock-yard, where the calves have +been penned up all the previous night in a hutch in one corner. Then you +have to commence a chase after the first cow, who, with a perversity +common to Australian females, expects to be pursued two or three times +round the yard, ankle deep in dust or mud, according to the season, with +loud halloas and a thick stick. This done, she generally proceeds up to +the _fail_, a kind of pillory, and permits her neck to be made fast. The +cow safe in the fail, her near hind leg is stretched out to its full +length, and tied to a convenient post with the universal cordage of +Australia, a piece of green hide. At this stage, in ordinary cases, the +milking commences; but it was one of the hobbies of Mr. Jumsorew, a +practice I have never seen followed in any other part of the colony, +that the cow's tail should be held tight during the operation. This +arduous duty I conscientiously performed for some weeks, until it +happened one day that a young heifer slipped her head out of an +ill-fastened fail, upset milkman and milkpail, charged the +head-stockman, who was unloosing the calves, to the serious damage of a +new pair of fustians, and ended, in spite of all my efforts, in clearing +the top rail of the stock-yard, leaving me flat and flabbergasted at the +foot of the fence.--_From "Scenes in the Life of a Bushman" +(Unpublished.)_ + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +LIZZIE LEIGH. + + +IN FOUR CHAPTERS.--CHAPTER I + +When Death is present in a household on a Christmas Day, the very +contrast between the time as it now is, and the day as it has often +been, gives a poignancy to sorrow--a more utter blankness to the +desolation. James Leigh died just as the far-away bells of Rochdale +church were ringing for morning service on Christmas Day, 1836. A few +minutes before his death, he opened his already glazing eyes, and made a +sign to his wife, by the faint motion of his lips, that he had yet +something to say. She stooped close down, and caught the broken whisper, +"I forgive her, Anne! May God forgive me." + +"Oh my love, my dear! only get well, and I will never cease showing my +thanks for those words. May God in heaven bless thee for saying them. +Thou'rt not so restless, my lad! may be--Oh God!" + +For even while she spoke, he died. + +They had been two-and-twenty years man and wife; for nineteen of those +years their life had been as calm and happy, as the most perfect +uprightness on the one side, and the most complete confidence and loving +submission on the other, could make it. Milton's famous line might have +been framed and hung up as the rule of their married life, for he was +truly the interpreter, who stood between God and her; she would have +considered herself wicked if she had ever dared even to think him +austere, though as certainly as he was an upright man, so surely was he +hard, stern, and inflexible. But for three years the moan and the murmur +had never been out of her heart; she had rebelled against her husband as +against a tyrant with a hidden, sullen rebellion, which tore up the old +landmarks of wifely duty and affection, and poisoned the fountains +whence gentlest love and reverence had once been forever springing. + +But those last blessed words replaced him on his throne in her heart, +and called out penitent anguish for all the bitter estrangement of later +years. It was this which made her refuse all the entreaties of her sons, +that she would see the kind-hearted neighbors, who called on their way +from church, to sympathize and condole. No! she would stay with the dead +husband that had spoken tenderly at last, if for three years he had kept +silence; who knew but what, if she had only been more gentle and less +angrily reserved he might have relented earlier--and in time! + +She sat rocking herself to and fro by the side of the bed, while the +footsteps below went in and out; she had been in sorrow too long to have +any violent burst of deep grief now; the furrows were well worn in her +cheeks, and the tears flowed quietly, if incessantly, all the day long. +But when the winter's night drew on, and the neighbors had gone away to +their homes, she stole to the window, and gazed out, long and +wistfully, over the dark, gray moors. She did not hear her son's voice, +as he spoke to her from the door, nor his footstep, as he drew nearer. +She started when he touched her. + +"Mother! come down to us. There's no one but Will and me. Dearest +mother, we do so want you." The poor lad's voice trembled, and he began +to cry. It appeared to require an effort on Mrs. Leigh's part to tear +herself away from the window, but with a sigh she complied with his +request. + +The two boys (for though Will was nearly twenty-one, she still thought +of him as a lad) had done every thing in their power to make the +house-place comfortable for her. She herself, in the old days before her +sorrow, had never made a brighter fire or a cleaner hearth, ready for +her husband's return home, than now awaited her. The tea-things were all +put out, and the kettle was boiling; and the boys had calmed their grief +down into a kind of sober cheerfulness. They paid her every attention +they could think of, but received little notice on her part; she did not +resist--she rather submitted to all their arrangements; but they did not +seem to touch her heart. + +When tea was ended--it was merely the form of tea that had been gone +through--Will moved the things away to the dresser. His mother leant +back languidly in her chair. + +"Mother, shall Tom read you a chapter? He's a better scholar than I." + +"Ay, lad!" said she, almost eagerly. "That's it. Read me the Prodigal +Son. Ay, ay, lad. Thank thee." + +Tom found the chapter, and read it in the high-pitched voice which is +customary in village-schools. His mother bent forward, her lips parted, +her eyes dilated; her whole body instinct with eager attention. Will sat +with his head depressed, and hung down. He knew why that chapter had +been chosen; and to him it recalled the family's disgrace. When the +reading was ended, he still hung down his head in gloomy silence. But +her face was brighter than it had been before for the day. Her eyes +looked dreamy, as if she saw a vision; and by and by she pulled the +Bible toward her, and putting her finger underneath each word, began to +read them aloud in a low voice to herself; she read again the words of +bitter sorrow and deep humiliation; but most of all she paused and +brightened over the father's tender reception of the repentant prodigal. + +So passed the Christmas evening in the Upclose Farm. + +The snow had fallen heavily over the dark waving moorland, before the +day of the funeral. The black, storm-laden dome of heaven lay very still +and close upon the white earth, as they carried the body forth out of +the house which had known his presence so long as its ruling power. Two +and two the mourners followed, making a black procession in their +winding march over the unbeaten snow, to Milne-row church--now lost in +some hollow of the bleak moors, now slowly climbing the heaving +ascents. There was no long tarrying after the funeral, for many of the +neighbors who accompanied the body to the grave had far to go, and the +great white flakes which came slowly down, were the boding forerunners +of a heavy storm. One old friend alone accompanied the widow and her +sons to their home. + +The Upclose Farm had belonged for generations to the Leighs; and yet its +possession hardly raised them above the rank of laborers. There was the +house and outbuildings, all of an old-fashioned kind, and about seven +acres of barren, unproductive land, which they had never possessed +capital enough to improve; indeed, they could hardly rely upon it for +subsistence; and it had been customary to bring up the sons to some +trade--such as a wheelwright's, or blacksmith's. + +James Leigh had left a will, in the possession of the old man who +accompanied them home. He read it aloud. James had bequeathed the farm +to his faithful wife, Anne Leigh, for her life-time; and afterward, to +his son William. The hundred and odd pounds in the savings'-bank was to +accumulate for Thomas. + +After the reading was ended, Anne Leigh sat silent for a time; and then +she asked to speak to Samuel Orme alone. The sons went into the +back-kitchen, and thence strolled out into the fields, regardless of the +driving snow. The brothers were dearly fond of each other, although they +were very different in character. Will, the elder, was like his father, +stern, reserved, and scrupulously upright. Tom (who was ten years +younger) was gentle and delicate as a girl, both in appearance and +character. He had always clung to his mother and dreaded his father. +They did not speak as they walked, for they were only in the habit of +talking about facts, and hardly knew the more sophisticated language +applied to the description of feelings. + +Meanwhile their mother had taken hold of Samuel Orme's arm with her +trembling hand. + +"Samuel, I must let the farm--I must." + +"Let the farm! What's come o'er the woman?" + +"Oh, Samuel!" said she, her eyes swimming in tears, "I'm just fain to go +and live in Manchester. I mun let the farm." + +Samuel looked and pondered, but did not speak for some time. At last he +said, + +"If thou hast made up thy mind, there's no speaking again it; and thou +must e'en go. Thou'lt be sadly pottered wi' Manchester ways; but that's +not my look-out. Why, thou'lt have to buy potatoes, a thing thou hast +never done afore in all thy born life. Well! it's not my look-out. It's +rather for me than again me. Our Jenny is going to be married to Tom +Higginbotham, and he was speaking of wanting a bit of land to begin +upon. His father will be dying sometime, I reckon, and then he'll step +into the Croft Farm. But meanwhile--" + +"Then, thou'lt let the farm," said she, still as eagerly as ever. + +"Ay, ay, he'll take it fast enough, I've a notion. But I'll not drive a +bargain with thee just now; it would not be right; we'll wait a bit." + +"No; I can not wait, settle it out at once." + +"Well, well; I'll speak to Will about it. I see him out yonder. I'll +step to him, and talk it over." + +Accordingly he went and joined the two lads, and without more ado, began +the subject to them. + +"Will, thy mother is fain to go live in Manchester, and covets to let +the farm. Now, I'm willing to take it for Tom Higginbotham; but I like +to drive a keen bargain, and there would be no fun chaffering with thy +mother just now. Let thee and me buckle to, my lad! and try and cheat +each other; it will warm us this cold day." + +"Let the farm!" said both the lads at once, with infinite surprise. "Go +live in Manchester!" + +When Samuel Orme found that the plan had never before been named to +either Will or Tom, he would have nothing to do with it, he said, until +they had spoken to their mother; likely she was "dazed" by her husband's +death; he would wait a day or two, and not name it to any one; not to +Tom Higginbotham himself, or may be he would set his heart upon it. The +lads had better go in and talk it over with their mother. He bade them +good day, and left them. + +Will looked very gloomy, but he did not speak till they got near the +house. Then he said, + +"Tom, go to th' shippon, and supper the cows. I want to speak to mother +alone." + +When he entered the house-place, she was sitting before the fire, +looking into its embers. She did not hear him come in; for some time she +had lost her quick perception of outward things. + +"Mother! what's this about going to Manchester?" asked he. + +"Oh, lad!" said she, turning round and speaking in a beseeching tone, "I +must go and seek our Lizzie. I can not rest here for thinking on her. +Many's the time I've left thy father sleeping in bed, and stole to th' +window, and looked and looked my heart out toward Manchester, till I +thought I must just set out and tramp over moor and moss straight away +till I got there, and then lift up every downcast face till I came to +our Lizzie. And often, when the south wind was blowing soft among the +hollows, I've fancied (it could but be fancy, thou knowest) I heard her +crying upon me; and I've thought the voice came closer and closer, till +it last it was sobbing out "Mother" close to the door; and I've stolen +down, and undone the latch before now, and looked out into the still, +black night, thinking to see her, and turned sick and sorrowful when I +heard no living sound but the sough of the wind dying away. Oh! speak +not to me of stopping here, when she may be perishing for hunger, like +the poor lad in the parable." And now she lifted up her voice and wept +aloud. + +Will was deeply grieved. He had been old enough to be told the family +shame when, more than two years before, his father had had his letter to +his daughter returned by her mistress in Manchester, telling him that +Lizzie had left her service some time--and why. He had sympathized with +his father's stern anger; though he had thought him something hard, it +is true, when he had forbidden his weeping, heart-broken wife to go and +try to find her poor sinning child, and declared that henceforth they +would have no daughter; that she should be as one dead; and her name +never more be named at market or at meal-time, in blessing or in prayer. +He had held his peace, with compressed lips and contracted brow, when +the neighbors had noticed to him how poor Lizzie's death had aged both +his father and his mother; and how they thought the bereaved couple +would never hold up their heads again. He himself had felt as if that +one event had made him old before his time; and had envied Tom the tears +he had shed over poor, pretty, innocent, dead Lizzie. He thought about +her sometimes, till he ground his teeth together, and could have struck +her down in her shame. His mother had never named her to him until now. + +"Mother!" said he at last. "She may be dead. Most likely she is." + +"No, Will; she is not dead," said Mrs. Leigh. "God will not let her die +till I've seen her once again. Thou dost not know how I've prayed and +prayed just once again to see her sweet face, and tell her I've forgiven +her, though she's broken my heart--she has, Will." She could not go on +for a minute or two for the choking sobs. "Thou dost not know that, or +thou wouldst not say she could be dead--for God is very merciful, Will; +He is--He is much more pitiful than man--I could never ha' spoken to thy +father as I did to Him--and yet thy father forgave her at last. The last +words he said were that he forgave her. Thou'lt not be harder than thy +father, Will? Do not try and hinder me going to seek her, for it's no +use." + +Will sat very still for a long time before he spoke. At last he said, +"I'll not hinder you. I think she's dead, but that's no matter." + +"She is not dead," said her mother, with low earnestness. Will took no +notice of the interruption. + +"We will all go to Manchester for a twelvemonth, and let the farm to Tom +Higginbotham. I'll get blacksmith's work; and Tom can have good +schooling for awhile, which he's always craving for. At the end of the +year you'll come back, mother, and give over fretting for Lizzie and +think with me that she is dead--and to my mind, that would be more +comfort than to think of her living;" he dropped his voice as he spoke +these last words. She shook her head, but made no answer. He asked +again, + +"Will you, mother, agree to this?" + +"I'll agree to it a-this-ons," said she. "If I hear and see naught of +her for a twelvemonth me being in Manchester looking out, I'll just ha' +broken my heart fairly before the year's ended, and then I shall know +neither love nor sorrow for her any more, when I'm at rest in the +grave--I'll agree to that, Will." + +"Well, I suppose it must be so. I shall not tell Tom, mother, why we're +flitting to Manchester. Best spare him." + +"As thou wilt," said she, sadly, "so that we go, that's all." + +Before the wild daffodils were in flower in the sheltered copses round +Upclose Farm, the Leighs were settled in their Manchester home; if they +could ever grow to consider that place as a home, where there was no +garden, or outbuilding, no fresh breezy outlet, no far-stretching view, +over moor and hollow--no dumb animals to be tended, and, what more than +all they missed, no old haunting memories, even though those +remembrances told of sorrow, and the dead and gone. + +Mrs. Leigh heeded the loss of all these things less than her sons. She +had more spirit in her countenance than she had had for months, because +now she had hope; of a sad enough kind, to be sure, but still it was +hope. She performed all her household duties, strange and complicated as +they were, and bewildered as she was with all the town-necessities of +her new manner of life; but when her house was "sided," and the boys +come home from their work, in the evening, she would put on her things +and steal out, unnoticed, as she thought, but not without many a heavy +sigh from Will, after she had closed the house-door and departed. It was +often past midnight before she came back, pale and weary, with almost a +guilty look upon her face; but that face so full of disappointment and +hope deferred, that Will had never the heart to say what he thought of +the folly and hopelessness of the search. Night after night it was +renewed, till days grew to weeks, and weeks to months. All this time +Will did his duty toward her as well as he could, without having +sympathy with her. He staid at home in the evenings for Tom's sake, and +often wished he had Tom's pleasure in reading, for the time hung heavy +on his hands, as he sat up for his mother. + +I need not tell you how the mother spent the weary hours. And yet I will +tell you something. She used to wander out, at first as if without a +purpose, till she rallied her thoughts, and brought all her energies to +bear on the one point; then she went with earnest patience along the +least known ways to some new part of the town, looking wistfully with +dumb entreaty into people's faces; sometimes catching a glimpse of a +figure which had a kind of momentary likeness to her child's, and +following that figure with never wearying perseverance, till some light +from shop or lamp showed the cold, strange face which was not her +daughter's. Once or twice a kind-hearted passer-by, struck by her look +of yearning woe, turned back and offered help, or asked her what she +wanted. When so spoken to, she answered only, "You don't know a poor +girl they call Lizzie Leigh, do you?" and when they denied all +knowledge, she shook her head and went on again. I think they believed +her to be crazy. But she never spoke first to any one. She sometimes +took a few minutes' rest on the door-steps, and sometimes (very seldom) +covered her face and cried; but she could not afford to lose time and +chances in this way; while her eyes were blinded with tears, the lost +one might pass by unseen. + +One evening, in the rich time of shortening autumn-days, Will saw an old +man, who, without being absolutely drunk, could not guide himself +rightly along the foot-path, and was mocked for his unsteadiness of gait +by the idle boys of the neighborhood. For his father's sake, Will +regarded old age with tenderness, even when most degraded and removed +from the stern virtues which dignified that father; so he took the old +man home, and seemed to believe his often-repeated assertions that he +drank nothing but water. The stranger tried to stiffen himself up into +steadiness as he drew nearer home, as if there were some one there, for +whose respect he cared even in his half-intoxicated state, or whose +feelings he feared to grieve. His home was exquisitely clean and neat +even in outside appearance; threshold, window, and window-sill, were +outward signs of some spirit of purity within. Will was rewarded for his +attention by a bright glance of thanks, succeeded by a blush of shame, +from a young woman of twenty or thereabouts. She did not speak, or +second her father's hospitable invitation to him to be seated. She +seemed unwilling that a stranger should witness her father's attempts at +stately sobriety, and Will could not bear to stay and see her distress. +But when the old man, with many a flabby shake of the hand, kept asking +him to come again some other evening and see them, Will sought her +downcast eyes, and, though he could not read their vailed meaning, he +answered, timidly, "If it's agreeable to every body, I'll come--and +thank ye." But there was no answer from the girl to whom this speech was +in reality addressed; and Will left the house, liking her all the better +for never speaking. + +He thought about her a great deal for the next day or two; he scolded +himself for being so foolish as to think of her, and then fell to with +fresh vigor, and thought of her more than ever. He tried to depreciate +her; he told himself she was not pretty, and then made indignant answer +that he liked her looks much better than any beauty of them all. He +wished he was not so country-looking, so red-faced, so broad-shouldered; +while she was like a lady, with her smooth, colorless complexion, her +bright dark hair, and her spotless dress. Pretty, or not pretty, she +drew his footsteps toward her; he could not resist the impulse that made +him wish to see her once more, and find out some fault which should +unloose his heart from her unconscious keeping. But there she was, pure +and maidenly as before. He sat and looked, answering her father at +cross-purposes, while she drew more and more into the shadow of the +chimney-corner out of sight. Then the spirit that possessed him (it was +not he himself, sure, that did so impudent a thing!) made him get up and +carry the candle to a different place, under the pretence of giving her +more light at her sewing, but, in reality, to be able to see her better; +she could not stand this much longer, but jumped up, and said she must +put her little niece to bed; and surely, there never was, before or +since, so troublesome a child of two years old; for, though Will staid +an hour and a half longer, she never came down again. He won the +father's heart, though, by his capacity as a listener, for some people +are not at all particular, and, so that they themselves may talk on +undisturbed, are not so unreasonable as to expect attention to what they +say. + +Will did gather this much, however, from the old man's talk. He had once +been quite in a genteel line of business, but had failed for more money +than any greengrocer he had heard of: at least, any who did not mix up +fish and game with greengrocery proper. This grand failure seemed to +have been the event of his life, and one on which he dwelt with a +strange kind of pride. It appeared as if at present he rested from his +past exertions (in the bankrupt line), and depended on his daughter, who +kept a small school for very young children. But all these particulars +Will only remembered and understood, when he had left the house; at the +time he heard them, he was thinking of Susan. After he had made good his +footing at Mr. Palmer's, he was not long, you may be sure, without +finding some reason for returning again and again. He listened to her +father, he talked to the little niece, but he looked at Susan, both +while he listened and while he talked. Her father kept on insisting upon +his former gentility, the details of which would have appeared very +questionable to Will's mind, if the sweet, delicate, modest Susan had +not thrown an inexplicable air of refinement over all she came near. She +never spoke much: she was generally diligently at work; but when she +moved, it was so noiselessly, and when she did speak, it was in so low +and soft a voice, that silence, speech, motion, and stillness, alike +seemed to remove her high above Will's reach, into some saintly and +inaccessible air of glory--high above his reach, even as she knew him! +And, if she were made acquainted with the dark secret behind, of his +sister's shame, which was kept ever present to his mind by his mother's +nightly search among the outcast and forsaken, would not Susan shrink +away from him with loathing, as if he were tainted by the involuntary +relationship? This was his dread; and thereupon followed a resolution +that he would withdraw from her sweet company before it was too late. So +he resisted internal temptation, and staid at home, and suffered and +sighed. He became angry with his mother for her untiring patience in +seeking for one who, he could not help hoping, was dead rather than +alive. He spoke sharply to her, and received only such sad, deprecatory +answers as made him reproach himself, and still more lose sight of peace +of mind. This struggle could not last long without affecting his health; +and Tom, his sole companion through the long evenings, noticed his +increasing languor, his restless irritability, with perplexed anxiety, +and at last resolved to call his mother's attention to his brother's +haggard, care-worn looks. She listened with a startled recollection of +Will's claims upon her love. She noticed his decreasing appetite, and +half-checked sighs. + +"Will, lad! what's come o'er thee?" said she to him, as he sat +listlessly gazing into the fire. + +"There's naught the matter with me," said he, as if annoyed at her +remark. + +"Nay, lad, but there is." He did not speak again to contradict her; +indeed she did not know if he had heard her, so unmoved did he look. + +"Would'st like to go back to Upclose Farm?" asked she, sorrowfully. + +"It's just blackberrying time," said Tom. + +Will shook his head. She looked at him a while, as if trying to read +that expression of despondency and trace it back to its source. + +"Will and Tom could go," said she; "I must stay here till I've found +her, thou know'st," continued she, dropping her voice. + +He turned quickly round, and with the authority he at all times +exercised over Tom, bade him begone to bed. + +When Tom had left the room he prepared to speak. + + +CHAPTER II. + +"Mother," then said Will, "why will you keep on thinking she's alive? If +she were but dead, we need never name her name again. We've never heard +naught on her since father wrote her that letter; we never knew whether +she got it or not. She'd left her place before then. Many a one dies +is--" + +"Oh, my lad! dunnot speak so to me, or my heart will break outright," +said his mother, with a sort of cry. Then she calmed herself, for she +yearned to persuade him to her own belief. "Thou never asked, and +thou'rt too like thy father for me to tell without asking--but it were +all to be near Lizzie's old place that I settled down on this side o' +Manchester; and the very day after we came, I went to her old missus, +and asked to speak a word wi' her. I had a strong mind to cast it up to +her, that she should ha' sent my poor lass away without telling on it to +us first; but she were in black, and looked so sad I could na' find in +my heart to threep it up. But I did ask her a bit about our Lizzie. The +master would have her turned away at a day's warning (he's gone to +t'other place; I hope he'll meet wi' more mercy there than he showed +our Lizzie--I do); and when the missus asked her should she write to us, +she says Lizzie shook her head; and when she speered at her again, the +poor lass went down on her knees, and begged her not, for she said it +would break my heart (as it has done, Will--God knows it has)," said the +poor mother, choking with her struggle to keep down her hard, +overmastering grief, "and her father would curse her--Oh, God, teach me +to be patient." She could not speak for a few minutes. "And the lass +threatened, and said she'd go drown herself in the canal, if the missus +wrote home--and so-- + +"Well! I'd got a trace of my child--the missus thought she'd gone to th' +workhouse to be nursed; and there I went--and there, sure enough, she +had been--and they'd turned her out as soon as she were strong, and told +her she were young enough to work--but whatten kind o' work would be +open to her, lad, and her baby to keep?" + +Will listened to his mother's tale with deep sympathy, not unmixed with +the old bitter shame. But the opening of her heart had unlocked his, and +after a while he spoke. + +"Mother! I think I'd e'en better go home. Tom can stay wi' thee. I know +I should stay too, but I can not stay in peace so near--her--without +craving to see her--Susan Palmer, I mean." + +"Has the old Mr. Palmer thou telled me on a daughter?" asked Mrs. Leigh. + +"Ay, he has. And I love her above a bit. And it's because I love her I +want to leave Manchester. That's all." + +Mrs. Leigh tried to understand this speech for some time, but found it +difficult of interpretation. + +"Why should'st thou not tell her thou lov's her? Thou'rt a likely lad, +and sure o' work. Thou'lt have Upclose at my death; and as for that I +could let thee have it now, and keep mysel' by doing a bit of charring. +It seems to me a very backward sort o' way of winning her to think of +leaving Manchester." + +"Oh, mother, she's so gentle and so good--she's downright holy. She's +never known a touch of sin; and can I ask her to marry me, knowing what +we do about Lizzie, and fearing worse! I doubt if one like her could +ever care for me; but if she knew about my sister, it would put a gulf +between us, and she'd shudder up at the thought of crossing it. You +don't know how good she is, mother!" + +"Will, Will! if she's so good as thou say'st, she'll have pity on such +as my Lizzie. If she has no pity for such, she's a cruel Pharisee, and +thou'rt best without her." + +But he only shook his head, and sighed; and for the time the +conversation dropped. + +But a new idea sprang up in Mrs. Leigh's head. She thought that she +would go and see Susan Palmer, and speak up for Will, and tell her the +truth about Lizzie; and according to her pity for the poor sinner, would +she be worthy or unworthy of him. She resolved to go the very next +afternoon, but without telling any one of her plan. Accordingly she +looked out the Sunday clothes she had never before had the heart to +unpack since she came to Manchester, but which she now desired to appear +in, in order to do credit to Will. She put on her old-fashioned black +mode bonnet, trimmed with real lace; her scarlet cloth cloak, which she +had had ever since she was married; and always spotlessly clean, she set +forth on her unauthorized embassy. She knew the Palmers lived in +Crown-street, though where she had heard it she could not tell; and +modestly asking her way, she arrived in the street about a quarter to +four o'clock. She stopped to inquire the exact number, and the woman +whom she addressed told her that Susan Palmer's school would not be +loosed till four, and asked her to step in and wait until then at her +house. + +"For," said she, smiling, "them that wants Susan Palmer wants a kind +friend of ours; so we, in a manner, call cousins. Sit down, missus, sit +down. I'll wipe the chair, so that it shanna dirty your cloak. My mother +used to wear them bright cloaks, and they're right gradely things again' +a green field." + +"Han ye known Susan Palmer long?" asked Mrs. Leigh, pleased with the +admiration of her cloak. + +"Ever since they comed to live in our street. Our Sally goes to her +school." + +"Whatten sort of a lass is she, for I ha' never seen her?" + +"Well, as for looks, I can not say. It's so long since I first knowed +her, that I've clean forgotten what I thought of her then. My master +says he never saw such a smile for gladdening the heart. But may be it's +not looks you're asking about. The best thing I can say of her looks is, +that she's just one a stranger would stop in the street to ask help from +if he needed it. All the little childer creeps as close as they can to +her; she'll have as many as three or four hanging to her apron all at +once." + +"Is she cocket at all?" + +"Cocket, bless you! you never saw a creature less set up in all your +life. Her father's cocket enough. No! she's not cocket any way. You've +not heard much of Susan Palmer, I reckon, if you think she's cocket. +She's just one to come quietly in, and do the very thing most wanted; +little things, maybe, that any one could do, but that few would think +on, for another. She'll bring her thimble wi' her, and mend up after the +childer o' nights--and she writes all Betty Harker's letters to her +grandchild out at service--and she's in nobody's way, and that's a great +matter, I take it. Here's the childer running past! School is loosed. +You'll find her now, missus, ready to hear and to help. But we none on +us frab her by going near her in schooltime." + +Poor Mrs. Leigh's heart began to beat, and she could almost have turned +round and gone home again. Her country breeding had made her shy of +strangers, and this Susan Palmer appeared to her like a real born lady +by all accounts. So she knocked with a timid feeling at the indicated +door, and when it was opened, dropped a simple curtsey without speaking. +Susan had her little niece in her arms, curled up with fond endearment +against her breast, but she put her gently down to the ground, and +instantly placed a chair in the best corner of the room for Mrs. Leigh, +when she told her who she was. + +"It's not Will as has asked me to come," said the mother, +apologetically, "I'd a wish just to speak to you myself!" + +Susan colored up to her temples, and stooped to pick up the little +toddling girl. In a minute or two Mrs. Leigh began again. + +"Will thinks you would na respect us if you knew all; but I think you +could na help feeling for us in the sorrow God has put upon us; so I +just put on my bonnet, and came off unknownst to the lads. Every one +says you're very good, and that the Lord has keeped you from falling +from His ways; but maybe you've never yet been tried and tempted as some +is. I'm perhaps speaking too plain, but my heart's welly broken, and I +can't be choice in my words as them who are happy can. Well, now! I'll +tell you the truth. Will dreads you to hear it, but I'll just tell it +you. You mun know"--but here the poor woman's words failed her, and she +could do nothing but sit rocking herself backward and forward, with sad +eyes, straight-gazing into Susan's face, as if they tried to tell the +tale of agony which the quivering lips refused to utter. Those wretched +stony eyes forced the tears down Susan's cheeks, and, as if this +sympathy gave the mother strength, she went on in a low voice, "I had a +daughter once, my heart's darling. Her father thought I made too much on +her, and that she'd grow marred staying at home; so he said she mun go +among strangers, and learn to rough it. She were young, and liked the +thought of seeing a bit of the world; and her father heard on a place in +Manchester. Well! I'll not weary you. That poor girl were led astray; +and first thing we heard on it, was when a letter of her father's was +sent back by her missus, saying she'd left her place, or, to speak +right, the master had turned her into the street soon as he had heard of +her condition--and she not seventeen!" + +She now cried aloud; and Susan wept too. The little child looked up into +their faces, and, catching their sorrow, began to whimper and wail. +Susan took it softly up, and hiding her face in its little neck, tried +to restrain her tears, and think of comfort for the mother. At last she +said: + +"Where is she now?" + +"Lass! I dunnot know," said Mrs. Leigh, checking her sobs to communicate +this addition to her distress. "Mrs. Lomax telled me she went--" + +"Mrs. Lomax--what Mrs. Lomax?" + +"Her as lives in Brabazon-street. She telled me my poor wench went to +the workhouse fra there. I'll not speak again' the dead; but if her +father would but ha' letten me--but he were one who had no notion--no, +I'll not say that; best say naught. He forgave her on his death-bed. I +dare say I did na go th' right way to work." + +"Will you hold the child for me one instant?" said Susan. + +"Ay, if it will come to me. Childer used to be fond on me till I got the +sad look on my face that scares them, I think." + +But the little girl clung to Susan; so she carried it up-stairs with +her. Mrs. Leigh sat by herself--how long she did not know. + +Susan came down with a bundle of far-worn baby-clothes. + +"You must listen to me a bit, and not think too much about what I'm +going to tell you. Nanny is not my niece, nor any kin to me that I know +of. I used to go out working by the day. One night, as I came home, I +thought some woman was following me; I turned to look. The woman, before +I could see her face (for she turned it to one side), offered me +something. I held out my arms by instinct: she dropped a bundle into +them with a bursting sob that went straight to my heart. It was a baby. +I looked round again; but the woman was gone. She had run away as quick +as lightning. There was a little packet of clothes--very few--and as if +they were made out of its mother's gowns, for they were large patterns +to buy for a baby. I was always fond of babies; and I had not my wits +about me, father says; for it was very cold, and when I'd seen as well +as I could (for it was past ten) that there was no one in the street, I +brought it in and warmed it. Father was very angry when he came, and +said he'd take it to the workhouse the next morning, and flyted me sadly +about it. But when morning came I could not bear to part with it; it had +slept in my arms all night; and I've heard what workhouse bringing is. +So I told father I'd give up going out working, and stay at home and +keep school, if I might only keep the baby; and after a while, he said +if I earned enough for him to have his comforts, he'd let me; but he's +never taken to her. Now, don't tremble so--I've but a little more to +tell--and may be I'm wrong in telling it; but I used to work next door +to Mrs. Lomax's, in Brabazon-street, and the servants were all thick +together; and I heard about Bessy (they called her) being sent away. I +don't know that ever I saw her; but the time would be about fitting to +this child's age, and I've sometimes fancied it was hers. And now, will +you look at the little clothes that came with her--bless her!" + +But Mrs. Leigh had fainted. The strange joy and shame, and gushing love +for the little child had overpowered her; it was some time before Susan +could bring her round. There she was all trembling, sick impatience to +look at the little frocks. Among them was a slip of paper which Susan +had forgotten to name, that had been pinned to the bundle. On it was +scrawled in a round stiff hand: + +"Call her Anne. She does not cry much, and takes a deal of notice. God +bless you and forgive me." + +The writing was no clew at all; the name "Anne," common though it was, +seemed something to build upon. But Mrs. Leigh recognized one of the +frocks instantly, as being made out of part of a gown that she and her +daughter had bought together in Rochdale. + +She stood up, and stretched out her hands in the attitude of blessing +over Susan's bent head. + +"God bless you, and show you his mercy in your need, as you have shown +it to this little child." + +She took the little creature in her arms, and smoothed away her sad +looks to a smile, and kissed it fondly, saying over and over again, +"Nanny, Nanny, my little Nanny." At last the child was soothed, and +looked in her face and smiled back again. + +"It has her eyes," said she to Susan. + +"I never saw her to the best of my knowledge I think it must be hers by +the frock. But where can she be?" + +"God knows," said Mrs. Leigh; "I dare not think she's dead. I'm sure she +isn't." + +"No! she's not dead. Every now and then a little packet is thrust in +under our door, with may be two half-crowns in it; once it was +half-a-sovereign. Altogether I've got seven-and-thirty shillings wrapped +up for Nanny. I never touch it, but I've often thought the poor mother +feels near to God when she brings this money. Father wanted to set the +policeman to watch, but I said, No, for I was afraid if she was watched +she might not come, and it seemed such a holy thing to be checking her +in, I could not find in my heart to do it." + +"Oh, if we could but find her! I'd take her in my arms, and we'd just +lie down and die together." + +"Nay, don't speak so!" said Susan gently, "for all that's come and gone, +she may turn right at last. Mary Magdalen did, you know." + +"Eh! but I were nearer right about thee than Will. He thought you would +never look on him again, if you knew about Lizzie. But thou'rt not a +Pharisee." + +"I'm sorry he thought I could be so hard," said Susan in a low voice, +and coloring up. Then Mrs. Leigh was alarmed, and in her motherly +anxiety, she began to fear lest she had injured Will in Susan's +estimation. + +"You see Will thinks so much of you--gold would not be good enough for +you to walk on, in his eye. He said you'd never look at him as he was, +let alone his being brother to my poor wench. He loves you so, it makes +him think meanly on every thing belonging to himself, as not fit to come +near ye--but he's a good lad, and a good son--thou'lt be a happy woman +if thou'lt have him--so don't let my words go against him; don't!" + +But Susan hung her head and made no answer. She had not known until now, +that Will thought so earnestly and seriously about her; and even now she +felt afraid that Mrs. Leigh's words promised her too much happiness, and +that they could not be true. At any rate the instinct of modesty made +her shrink from saying any thing which might seem like a confession of +her own feelings to a third person. Accordingly she turned the +conversation on the child. + +"I'm sure he could not help loving Nanny," said she. "There never was +such a good little darling; don't you think she'd win his heart if he +knew she was his niece, and perhaps bring him to think kindly on his +sister?" + +"I dunnot know," said Mrs. Leigh, shaking her head. "He has a turn in +his eye like his father, that makes me--. He's right down good though. +But you see I've never been a good one at managing folk; one severe look +turns me sick, and then I say just the wrong thing, I'm so fluttered. +Now I should like nothing better than to take Nancy home with me, but +Tom knows nothing but that his sister is dead, and I've not the knack of +speaking rightly to Will. I dare not do it, and that's the truth. But +you mun not think badly of Will. He's so good hissel, that he can't +understand how any one can do wrong; and, above all, I'm sure he loves +you dearly." + +"I don't think I could part with Nancy," said Susan, anxious to stop +this revelation of Will's attachment to herself. "He'll come round to +her soon; he can't fail; and I'll keep a sharp look-out after the poor +mother, and try and catch her the next time she comes with her little +parcels of money." + +"Ay, lass! we mun get hold of her; my Lizzie. I love thee dearly for thy +kindness to her child; but, if thou can'st catch her for me, I'll pray +for thee when I'm too near my death to speak words; and while I live, +I'll serve thee next to her--she mun come first, thou know'st. God bless +thee, lass. My heart is lighter by a deal than it was when I comed in. +Them lads will be looking for me home, and I mun go, and leave this +little sweet one," kissing it. "If I can take courage, I'll tell Will +all that has come and gone between us two. He may come and see thee, +mayn't he?" + +"Father will be very glad to see him, I'm sure," replied Susan. The way +in which this was spoken satisfied Mrs. Leigh's anxious heart that she +had done Will no harm by what she had said; and with many a kiss to the +little one, and one more fervent tearful blessing on Susan, she went +homeward. + + +CHAPTER III. + +That night Mrs. Leigh stopped at home; that only night for many months. +Even Tom, the scholar, looked up from his books in amazement; but then +he remembered that Will had not been well, and that his mother's +attention having been called to the circumstance, it was only natural +she should stay to watch him. And no watching could be more tender, or +more complete. Her loving eyes seemed never averted from his face; his +grave, sad, care-worn face. When Tom went to bed the mother left her +seat, and going up to Will where he sat looking at the fire, but not +seeing it, she kissed his forehead, and said, + +"Will! lad, I've been to see Susan Palmer!" + +She felt the start under her hand which was placed on his shoulder, but +he was silent for a minute or two. Then he said, + +"What took you there, mother?" + +"Why, my lad, it was likely I should wish to see one you cared for; I +did not put myself forward. I put on my Sunday clothes, and tried to +behave as yo'd ha liked me. At least I remember trying at first; but +after, I forgot all." + +She rather wished that he would question her as to what made her forget +all. But he only said, + +"How was she looking, mother?" + +"Will, thou seest I never set eyes on her before; but she's a good, +gentle-looking creature; and I love her dearly as I have reason to." + +Will looked up with momentary surprise; for his mother was too shy to be +usually taken with strangers. But after all it was natural in this case, +for who could look at Susan without loving her? So still he did not ask +any questions, and his poor mother had to take courage, and try again to +introduce the subject near to her heart. But how? + +"Will!" said she (jerking it out, in sudden despair of her own powers to +lead to what she wanted to say), "I've telled her all." + +"Mother! you've ruined me," said he, standing up, and standing opposite +to her with a stern, white look of affright on his face. + +"No! my own dear lad; dunnot look so scared, I have not ruined you!" she +exclaimed, placing her two hands on his shoulders and looking fondly +into his face. "She's not one to harden her heart against a mother's +sorrow. My own lad, she's too good for that. She's not one to judge and +scorn the sinner. She's too deep read in her New Testament for that. +Take courage, Will; and thou mayst, for I watched her well, though it is +not for one woman to let out another's secret. Sit thee down, lad, for +thou look'st very white." + +He sat down. His mother drew a stool toward him, and sat at his feet. + +"Did you tell her about Lizzie, then?" asked he, hoarse and low. + +"I did, I telled her all; and she fell a crying over my deep sorrow, and +the poor wench's sin. And then a light comed into her face, trembling +and quivering with some new, glad thought; and what dost thou think it +was, Will, lad? Nay, I'll not misdoubt but that thy heart will give +thanks as mine did, afore God and His angels, for her great goodness. +That little Nanny is not her niece, she's our Lizzie's own child, my +little grandchild." She could no longer restrain her tears, and they +fell hot and fast, but still she looked into his face. + +"Did she know it was Lizzie's child? I do not comprehend," said he, +flushing red. + +"She knows now: she did not at first, but took the little helpless +creature in, out of her own pitiful, loving heart, guessing only that +it was the child of shame, and she's worked for it, and kept it, and +tended it ever sin' it were a mere baby, and loves it fondly. Will! +won't you love it?" asked she, beseechingly. + +He was silent for an instant; then he said, "Mother, I'll try. Give me +time, for all these things startle me. To think of Susan having to do +with such a child!" + +"Ay, Will! and to think (as may be yet) of Susan having to do with the +child's mother! For she is tender and pitiful, and speaks hopefully of +my lost one, and will try and find her for me, when she comes, as she +does sometimes, to thrust money under the door for her baby. Think of +that Will. Here's Susan, good and pure as the angels in heaven, yet, +like them, full of hope and mercy, and one who, like them, will rejoice +over her as repents. Will, my lad, I'm not afeared of you now, and I +must speak, and you must listen. I am your mother, and I dare to command +you, because I know I am in the right and that God is on my side. If He +should lead the poor wandering lassie to Susan's door, and she comes +back crying and sorrowful, led by that good angel to us once more, thou +shalt never say a casting-up word to her about her sin, but be tender +and helpful toward one 'who was lost and is found,' so may God's +blessing rest on thee, and so mayst thou lead Susan home as thy wife." + +She stood, no longer as the meek, imploring, gentle mother, but firm and +dignified, as if the interpreter of God's will. Her manner was so +unusual and solemn, that it overcame all Will's pride and stubbornness. +He rose softly while she was speaking, and bent his head as if in +reverence at her words, and the solemn injunction which they conveyed. +When she had spoken, he said in so subdued a voice that she was almost +surprised at the sound, "Mother, I will." + +"I may be dead and gone--but all the same--thou wilt take home the +wandering sinner, and heal up her sorrows, and lead her to her Father's +house. My lad! I can speak no more; I'm turned very faint." + +He placed her in a chair; he ran for water. She opened her eyes and +smiled. + +"God bless you, Will. Oh! I am so happy. It seems as if she were found; +my heart is so filled with gladness." + +That night, Mr. Palmer staid out late and long. Susan was afraid that he +was at his old haunts and habits--getting tipsy at some public-house; +and this thought oppressed her, even though she had so much to make her +happy, in the consciousness that Will loved her. She sat up long, and +then she went to bed, leaving all arranged as well as she could for her +father's return. She looked at the little, rosy sleeping girl who was +her bed-fellow, with redoubled tenderness, and with many a prayerful +thought. The little arms entwined her neck as she lay down, for Nanny +was a light sleeper, and was conscious that she, who was loved with all +the power of that sweet childish heart, was near her, and by her, +although she was too sleepy to utter any of her half-formed words. + +And by-and-by she heard her father come home, stumbling uncertain, +trying first the windows, and next the door-fastenings, with many a +loud, incoherent murmur. The little innocent twined around her seemed +all the sweeter and more lovely, when she thought sadly of her erring +father; And presently he called aloud for a light; she had left matches +and all arranged as usual on the dresser, but, fearful of some accident +from fire, in his unusually intoxicated state, she now got up softly, +and putting on a cloak, went down to his assistance. + +Alas! the little arms that were unclosed from her soft neck belonged to +a light, easily awakened sleeper. Nanny missed her darling Susy, and +terrified at being left alone in the vast, mysterious darkness, which +had no bounds, and seemed infinite, she slipped out of bed, and tottered +in her little night-gown toward the door. There was a light below, and +there was Susy and safety! So she went onward two steps toward the +steep, abrupt stairs; and then dazzled with sleepiness, she stood, she +wavered, she fell! Down on her head, on the stone floor she fell! Susan +flew to her, and spoke all soft, entreating, loving words; but her white +lids covered, up the blue violets of eyes, and there was no murmur came +out of the pale lips. The warm tears that rained down, did not awaken +her; she lay stiff, and weary with her short life, on Susan's knee. +Susan went sick with terror. She carried her up-stairs, and laid her +tenderly in bed; she dressed herself most hastily, with her trembling +fingers. Her father was asleep on the settle down stairs; and useless, +and worse than useless if awake. But Susan flew out of the door, and +down the quiet, resounding street, toward the nearest doctor's house. +Quickly she went; but as quickly a shadow followed, as if impelled by +some sudden terror. Susan rung wildly at the night-bell--the shadow +crouched near. The doctor looked out from an up-stairs window. + +"A little child has fallen down stairs at No. 9, Crown-street, and is +very ill--dying I'm afraid. Please, for God's sake, sir, come directly. +No. 9, Crown-street." + +"I'll be there directly," said he, and shut the window. + +"For that God you have just spoken about--for His sake--tell me are you +Susan Palmer? Is it my child that lies a-dying?" said the shadow, +springing forward, and clutching poor Susan's arm. + +"It is a little child of two years old--I do not know whose it is; I +love it as my own. Come with me, whoever you are; come with me." + +The two sped along the silent streets--as silent as the night were they. +They entered the house; Susan snatched up the light, and carried it +up-stairs. The other followed. + +She stood with wild glaring eyes by the bed side, never looking at +Susan, but hungrily gazing at the little, white, still child. She +stooped down, and put her hand tight on her own heart, as if to still +its beating, and bent her ear to the pale lips. Whatever the result was, +she did not speak; but threw off the bed-clothes wherewith Susan had +tenderly covered up the little creature, and felt its left side. + +Then she threw up her arms with a cry of wild despair. + +"She is dead! she is dead!" + +She looked so fierce, so mad, so haggard, that for an instant Susan was +terrified--the next, the holy God had put courage into her heart, and +her pure arms were round that guilty, wretched creature, and her tears +were falling fast and warm upon her breast. But she was thrown off with +violence. + +"You killed her--you slighted her--you let her fall down those stairs! +you killed her!" + +Susan cleared off the thick mist before her, and gazing at the mother +with her clear, sweet, angel-eyes, said, mournfully, + +"I would have laid down my life for her." + +"Oh, the murder is on my soul!" exclaimed the wild, bereaved mother, +with the fierce impetuosity of one who has none to love her and to be +beloved, regard to whom might teach self-restraint. + +"Hush!" said Susan, her finger on her lips. "Here is the doctor. God may +suffer her to live." + +The poor mother turned sharp round. The doctor mounted the stair. Ah! +that mother was right; the little child was really dead and gone. + +And when he confirmed her judgment, the mother fell down in a fit. +Susan, with her deep grief had to forget herself, and forget her darling +(her charge for years), and question the doctor what she must do with +the poor wretch, who lay on the floor in such extreme of misery. + +"She is the mother!" said she. + +"Why did not she take better care of her child?" asked he, almost +angrily. + +But Susan only said, "The little child slept with me; and it was I that +left her." + +"I will go back and make up a composing draught; and while I am away you +must get her to bed." + +Susan took out some of her own clothes, and softly undressed the stiff, +powerless, form. There was no other bed in the house but the one in +which her father slept. So she tenderly lifted the body of her darling; +and was going to take it down stairs, but the mother opened her eyes, +and seeing what she was about, she said, + +"I am not worthy to touch her, I am so wicked; I have spoken to you as I +never should have spoken; but I think you are very good; may I have my +own child to lie in my arms for a little while?" + +Her voice was so strange a contrast to what it had been before she had +gone into the fit that Susan hardly recognized it; it was now so +unspeakably soft, so irresistibly pleading, the features too had lost +their fierce expression, and were almost as placid as death. Susan +could not speak, but she carried the little child; and laid it in its +mother's arms; then as she looked at them, something overpowered her, +and she knelt down, crying aloud: + +"Oh, my God, my God, have mercy on her, and forgive and comfort her." + +But the mother kept smiling, and stroking the little face, murmuring +soft, tender words, as if it were alive; she was going mad, Susan +thought; but she prayed on, and on, and ever still she prayed with +streaming eyes. + +The doctor came with the draught. The mother took it, with docile +unconsciousness of its nature as medicine. The doctor sat by her; and +soon she fell asleep. Then he rose softly, and beckoning Susan to the +door, he spoke to her there. + +"You must take the corpse out of her arms. She will not awake. That +draught will make her sleep for many hours. I will call before noon +again. It is now daylight. Good-by." + +Susan shut him out; and then gently extricating the dead child from its +mother's arms, she could not resist making her own quiet moan over her +darling. She tried to learn off its little placid face, dumb and pale +before her. + + "Not all the scalding tears of care + Shall wash away that vision fair + Not all the thousand thoughts that rise, + Not all the sights that dim her eyes. + Shall e'er usurp the place + Of that little angel-face." + +And then she remembered what remained to be done. She saw that all was +right in the house; her father was still dead asleep on the settle, in +spite of all the noise of the night. She went out through the quiet +streets, deserted still, although it was broad daylight, and to where +the Leighs lived. Mrs. Leigh, who kept her country hours, was opening +her window-shutters. Susan took her by the arm, and, without speaking, +went into the house-place. There she knelt down before the astonished +Mrs. Leigh, and cried as she had never done before; but the miserable +night had overpowered her, and she who had gone through so much calmly, +now that the pressure seemed removed, could not find the power to speak. + +"My poor dear! What has made thy heart so sore as to come and cry +a-this-ons? Speak and tell me. Nay, cry on, poor wench, if thou canst +not speak yet. It will ease the heart, and then thou canst tell me." + +"Nanny is dead!" said Susan. "I left her to go to father, and she fell +down stairs, and never breathed again. Oh, that's my sorrow but I've +more to tell. Her mother is come--is in our house. Come and see if it's +your Lizzie." Mrs. Leigh could not speak, but, trembling, put on her +things, and went with Susan in dizzy haste back to Crown-street. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +As they entered the house in Crown-street, they perceived that the door +would not open freely on its hinges, and Susan instinctively looked +behind to see the cause of the obstruction. She immediately recognized +the appearance of a little parcel, wrapped in a scrap of newspaper, and +evidently containing money. She stooped and picked it up. "Look!" said +she, sorrowfully, "the mother was bringing this for her child last +night." + +But Mrs. Leigh did not answer. So near to the ascertaining if it were +her lost child or no, she could not be arrested, but pressed onward with +trembling steps and a beating, fluttering heart. She entered the +bedroom, dark and still. She took no heed of the little corpse, over +which Susan paused, but she went straight to the bed, and withdrawing +the curtain, saw Lizzie--but not the former Lizzie, bright, gay, +buoyant, and undimmed. This Lizzie was old before her time; her beauty +was gone; deep lines of care, and alas! of want (or thus the mother +imagined) were printed on the cheek, so round, and fair, and smooth, +when last she gladdened her mother's eyes. Even in her sleep she bore +the look of woe and despair which was the prevalent expression of her +face by day; even in her sleep she had forgotten how to smile. But all +these marks of the sin and sorrow she had passed through only made her +mother love her the more. She stood looking at her with greedy eyes, +which seemed as though no gazing could satisfy their longing; and at +last she stooped down and kissed the pale, worn hand that lay outside +the bed-clothes. No touch disturbed the sleeper; the mother need not +have laid the hand so gently down upon the counterpane. There was no +sign of life, save only now and then a deep, sob-like sigh. Mrs. Leigh +sat down beside the bed, and, still holding back the curtain, looked on +and on, as if she could never be satisfied. + +Susan would fain have staid by her darling one; but she had many calls +upon her time and thoughts, and her will had now, as ever, to be given +up to that of others. All seemed to devolve the burden of their cares on +her. Her father, ill-humored from his last night's intemperance, did not +scruple to reproach her with being the cause of little Nanny's death; +and when, after bearing his upbraiding meekly for some time, she could +no longer restrain herself, but began to cry, he wounded her even more +by his injudicious attempts at comfort: for he said it was as well the +child was dead; it was none of theirs, and why should they be troubled +with it? Susan wrung her hands at this, and came and stood before her +father, and implored him to forbear. Then she had to take all requisite +steps for the coroner's inquest; she had to arrange for the dismissal of +her school; she had to summon a little neighbor, and send his willing +feet on a message to William Leigh, who, she felt, ought to be informed +of his mother's whereabouts, and of the whole state of affairs. She +asked her messenger to tell him to come and speak to her--that his +mother was at her house. She was thankful that her father sauntered out +to have a gossip at the nearest coach-stand, and to relate as many of +the night's adventures as he knew; for as yet he was in ignorance of the +watcher and the watched, who silently passed away the hours up-stairs. + +At dinner-time Will came. He looked red, glad, impatient, excited. Susan +stood calm and white before him, her soft, loving eyes gazing straight +into his. + +"Will," said she, in a low, quiet voice, "your sister is up-stairs." + +"My sister!" said he, as if affrighted at the idea, and losing his glad +look in one of gloom. Susan saw it, and her heart sank a little, but she +went on as calm to all appearance as ever. + +"She was little Nanny's mother, as perhaps you know. Poor little Nanny +was killed last night by a fall down stairs." All the calmness was gone; +all the suppressed feeling was displayed in spite of every effort. She +sat down, and hid her face from him, and cried bitterly. He forgot every +thing but the wish, the longing to comfort her. He put his arm round her +waist, and bent over her. But all he could say was, "Oh, Susan, how can +I comfort you? Don't take on so--pray, don't!" He never changed the +words, but the tone varied every time he spoke. At last she seemed to +regain her power over herself, and she wiped her eyes, and once more +looked upon him with her own quiet, earnest, unfearing gaze. + +"Your sister was near the house. She came in on hearing my words to the +doctor. She is asleep now, and your mother is watching her. I wanted to +tell you all myself. Would you like to see your mother?" + +"No!" said he. "I would rather see none but thee. Mother told me thou +knew'st all." His eyes were downcast in their shame. + +But the holy and pure did not lower or vail her eyes. + +She said, "Yes, I know all--all but her sufferings. Think what they must +have been!" + +He made answer low and stern, "She deserved them all--every jot." + +"In the eye of God, perhaps she does. He is the judge: we are not." + +"Oh," she said, with a sudden burst, "Will Leigh, I have thought so well +of you; don't go and make me think you cruel and hard. Goodness is not +goodness unless there is mercy and tenderness with it. There is your +mother who has been nearly heart-broken, now full of rejoicing over her +child--think of your mother." + +"I do think of her," said he. "I remember the promise I gave her last +night. Thou should'st give me time. I would do right in time. I never +think it o'er in quiet. But I will do what is right and fitting, never +fear. Thou hast spoken out very plain to me, and misdoubted me, Susan; I +love thee so, that thy words cut me. If I did hang back a bit from +making sudden promises, it was because, not even for love of thee, would +I say what I was not feeling; and at first I could not feel all at once +as thou would'st have me. But I'm not cruel and hard; for if I had +been, I should na' have grieved as I have done." + +He made as if he were going away; and indeed he did feel he would rather +think it over in quiet. But Susan, grieved at her incautious words, +which had all the appearance of harshness, went a step or two +nearer--paused--and then, all over blushes, said in a low, soft whisper, + +"Oh, Will! I beg your pardon. I am very sorry--won't you forgive me?" + +She who had always drawn back, and been so reserved, said this in the +very softest manner; with eyes now uplifted beseechingly, now dropped to +the ground. Her sweet confusion told more than words could do; and Will +turned back, all joyous in his certainty of being beloved, and took her +in his arms and kissed her. + +"My own Susan!" he said. + +Meanwhile the mother watched her child in the room above. + +It was late in the afternoon before she awoke, for the sleeping draught +had been very powerful. The instant she awoke, her eyes were fixed on +her mother's face with a gaze as unflinching as if she were fascinated. +Mrs. Leigh did not turn away, nor move. For it seemed as if motion would +unlock the stony command over herself which, while so perfectly still, +she was enabled to preserve. But by-and-by Lizzie cried out, in a +piercing voice of agony, + +"Mother, don't look at me! I have been so wicked!" and instantly she hid +her face, and groveled among the bed-clothes, and lay like one dead--so +motionless was she. + +Mrs. Leigh knelt down by the bed, and spoke in the most soothing tones. + +"Lizzie, dear, don't speak so. I'm thy mother, darling; don't be afeard +of me. I never left off loving thee, Lizzie. I was always a-thinking of +thee. Thy father forgave thee afore he died." (There was a little start +here, but no sound was heard). "Lizzie, lass, I'll do aught for thee; +I'll live for thee; only don't be afeard of me. Whate'er thou art or +hast been, we'll ne'er speak on't. We'll leave th' oud times behind us, +and go back to the Upclose Farm. I but left it to find thee, my lass; +and God has led me to thee. Blessed be His name. And God is good, too, +Lizzie. Thou hast not forgot thy Bible, I'll be bound, for thou wert +always a scholar. I'm no reader, but I learnt off them texts to comfort +me a bit, and I've said them many a time a day to myself. Lizzie, lass, +don't hide thy head so, it's thy mother as is speaking to thee. Thy +little child clung to me only yesterday; and if it's gone to be an +angel, it will speak to God for thee. Nay, don't sob a that 'as; thou +shalt have it again in heaven; I know thou'lt strive to get there, for +thy little Nancy's sake--and listen! I'll tell thee God's promises to +them that are penitent; only don't be afeard." + +Mrs. Leigh folded her hands, and strove to speak very clearly, while she +repeated every tender and merciful text she could remember. She could +tell from the breathing that her daughter was listening; but she was so +dizzy and sick herself when she had ended, that she could not go on +speaking. It was all she could do to keep from crying aloud. + +At last she heard her daughter's voice. + +"Where have they taken her to?" she asked. + +"She is down stairs. So quiet, and peaceful, and happy she looks." + +"Could she speak? Oh, if God--if I might but have heard her little +voice! Mother, I used to dream of it. May I see her once again--Oh, +mother, if I strive very hard, and God is very merciful, and I go to +Heaven, I shall not know her--I shall not know my own again--she will +shun me as a stranger, and cling to Susan Palmer and to you. Oh woe! Oh +woe!" She shook with exceeding sorrow. + +In her earnestness of speech she had uncovered her face, and tried to +read Mrs. Leigh's thoughts through her looks. And when she saw those +aged eyes brimming full of tears, and marked the quivering lips, she +threw her arms round the faithful mother's neck, and wept there as she +had done in many a childish sorrow, but with a deeper, a more wretched +grief. Her mother hushed her on her breast; and lulled her as if she +were a baby; and she grew still and quiet. + +They sat thus for a long, long time. At last Susan Palmer came up with +some tea and bread and butter for Mrs. Leigh. She watched the mother +feed her sick, unwilling child, with every fond inducement to eat which +she could devise; they neither of them took notice of Susan's presence. +That night they lay in each other's arms; but Susan slept on the ground +beside them. + +They took the little corpse (the little unconscious sacrifice, whose +early calling-home had reclaimed her poor, wandering mother), to the +hills, which in her life-time she had never seen. They dared not lay her +by the stern grandfather in Milne-row church-yard, but they bore her to +a lone moorland grave-yard, where long ago the Quakers used to bury +their dead. They laid her there on the sunny slope, where the earliest +spring-flowers blow. + +Will and Susan live at the Upclose Farm. Mrs. Leigh and Lizzie dwell in +a cottage so secluded that, until you drop into the very hollow where it +is placed, you do not see it. Tom is a schoolmaster in Rochdale, and he +and Will help to support their mother. I only know that, if the cottage +be hidden in a green hollow of the hills, every sound of sorrow in the +whole upland is heard there--every call of suffering or of sickness for +help, is listened to by a sad, gentle-looking woman, who rarely smiles +(and when she does, her smile is more sad than other people's tears), +but who comes out of her seclusion whenever there's a shadow in any +household. Many hearts bless Lizzie Leigh, but she--she prays always and +ever for forgiveness--such forgiveness as may enable her to see her +child once more. Mrs. Leigh is quiet and happy. Lizzie is to her eyes +something precious--as the lost piece of silver--found once more. Susan +is the bright one who brings sunshine to all. Children grow around her +and call her blessed. One is called Nanny. Her, Lizzie often takes to +the sunny grave-yard in the up-lands, and while the little creature +gathers the daisies, and makes chains, Lizzie sits by a little grave, +and weeps bitterly. + + + + +STEAM. + + +How wonderful are the revolutions which steam has wrought in the world! +The diamond, we are told, is but pure carbon; and the dream of the +alchymist has long been to disentomb the gem in its translucent purity +from the sooty mass dug up from the coal-field. But if the visionary has +failed to extricate the fair spirit from its earthly cerements, the +practical philosopher has produced from the grimy lump a gem, in +comparison to which the diamond is valueless--has evoked a Titanic +power, before which the gods of ancient fable could not hold their +heaven for an hour; a power wielding the thunderbolt of Jove, the sledge +of Vulcan, the club of Hercules; which takes to itself the talaria of +Mercury, the speed of Iris, and the hundred arms of Briareus. Ay, the +carbon gives us, indeed, the diamond after all; the white and feathery +vapor that hisses from the panting tube, is the priceless pearl of the +modern utilitarian. Without STEAM man is nothing--a mere zoological +specimen--Lord Monboddo's ape, without the caudal elongation of the +vertebrae. With steam, man is every thing. A creature that unites in +himself the nature and the power of every animal; more wonderful than +the ornithorhynchus--he is fish, flesh, and fowl. He can traverse the +illimitable ocean with the gambolings of the porpoise, and the snort of +the whale; rove through the regions of the earth with the speed of the +antelope, and the patient strength of the camel; he essays to fly +through the air with the steam-wing of the aeronauticon, though as yet +his pinions are not well fledged, and his efforts have been somewhat +Icarian. And, albeit our own steam aeronavigation is chiefly confined to +those involuntary gambols (as Sterne happily called Sancho's blanket +tossing), which we now and then take at the instance of an exploding +boiler, yet may we have good hope that our grandchildren will be able to +"take the wings of the morning," and sip their cup of tea genuine at +Pekin. He is more than human, and little less than Divinity. Were +Aristotle alive, he would define the genus "homo"--neither as "animal +ridens," nor yet "animal sentiens," but "Animal VAPORANS." True it is, +doubtless, that man alone can enjoy his joke. He hath his laugh, when +the monkey can but grin and the ape jabber--his thinking he shares with +the dog and the elephant; but who is there that can "get up the steam" +but man? "Man," say we, "is an animal that VAPORETH!" and we will wager +one of Stephenson's patent high-pressure engines again our cook's +potato-steamer, that Dr. Whately will affirm our definition.--_Dublin +University Magazine._ + + + + +[From The Ladies' Companion.] + +PAPERS ON WATER.--No. 1. + +WHY IS HARD WATER UNFIT FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES? + + +Few subjects have attracted more attention among sanitary reformers, +than the necessity of obtaining a copious supply of water to the +dwellers in large cities. Experience has shown that the supply should be +at least twenty gallons daily for each inhabitant, although forty +gallons are necessary to carry out to the full extent all the sanitary +improvements deemed desirable for the well-being of a population. But in +looking to quantity of supply, quality has been thought of less +importance; there could not be a more gross error, or one more fatal to +civic economy and domestic comfort. As we are anxious to instruct the +readers of this Journal in the science of every-day life, we propose to +consider the subject of water-supply in some detail, and in the present +article to explain the serious inconveniences which result from an +injudicious selection of hard water for domestic purposes. + +The water found in springs, brooks, and rivers, has its primary origin +in the rain of the district, unless there should happen to be some +accidental infiltration from the sea or other great natural reservoirs. +This rain, falling on the upper soil, either runs off in streams, or, +percolating through it and the porous beds beneath, gushes out in the +form of springs wherever it meets with an impervious bed which refuses +it a passage; pits sunk down to the latter detect it there, and these +form the ordinary wells. In its passage through the pervious rocks, it +takes up soluble impurities, varying in their amount and character with +the nature of the geological formations, these impurities being either +mineral, vegetable, or animal matter. The mineral ingredients may be +chalk, gypsum, common salt, and different other compounds but it is the +earthy salts generally which impress peculiar qualities on the water. + +The salts of lime and magnesia communicate to water the quality termed +_hardness_, a property which every one understands, but which it would +be very difficult to describe. By far the most common giver of hardness +is chalk, or, as chemists term it, carbonate of lime; a substance not +soluble in pure water, but readily so in water containing carbonic acid. +Rain water always contains this acid, and is, therefore, a solvent for +the chalk disseminated in the different geological formations through +which it percolates. Gypsum, familiarly known as plaster of Paris, and +termed sulphate of lime by chemists, is also extensively diffused in +rocks, and being itself soluble in water, becomes a very common +hardening ingredient, though not of such frequent occurrence as chalk. +Any earthy salt, such as chalk or gypsum, decomposes soap, and prevents +its action as a detergent. Soap consists of an oily acid combined +generally with soda. Now, when this is added to water containing lime, +that earth unites with the oily acid, forming an insoluble soap, of no +use as a detergent; this insoluble lime-soap is the curd which appears +in hard water during washing with soap. Hard water is of no use as a +cleanser, until all the lime has been removed by uniting with the oily +acid of the soap. Every hundred gallons of Thames water destroy in this +way thirty ounces of soap before becoming a detergent. But as this is an +enormous waste, the dwellers in towns, supplied with hard water, resort +to other methods of washing, so as to economize soap. If our readers in +London observe their habits in washing, they will perceive that the +principal quantity of the water is used by them not as a cleanser, but +merely for the purposes of rinsing off the very sparing amount employed +for detergent purposes. In London, we do not wash ourselves _in_ but +_out_ of the basin. A small quantity of water is taken on the hands and +saturated with soap so as to form a lather; the ablution is now made +with this quantity, and the water in the basin is only used to rinse it +off. The process of washing with soft water is entirely different, the +whole quantity being applied as a detergent. To illustrate this +difference an experiment may be made, by washing the hands alternately +in rain and then in hard water, such as that supplied to London; and the +value of the soft water for the purposes of washing will be at once +recognized. Even without soap, the soft water moistens the hand, while +hard water flows off, just as if the skin had been smeared with oil. +Now, although the soap may be economized in personal ablution by the +uncomfortable method here described, it is impossible to obtain this +economy in the washing of linen. In this case, the whole of the water +must be saturated with soap before it is available. Soda is, to a +certain extent, substituted with a view to economy, as much as L30,000 +worth of soda being annually used in the metropolis to compensate for +the hard quality of the water; and, perhaps, as an approximative +calculation, L200,000 worth of soap is annually wasted without being +useful as a detergent. This enormous tax on the community results from +the hardness both of the well and river water; the former being +generally much harder than the latter. But this expense, large as it may +seem, is not the only consequence of a bad water supply. The labor +required to wash with hard water is very much greater than that +necessary when it is soft, this labor being represented in the excessive +charges for washing. In fact, extraordinary as it may appear, it has +recently been shown in evidence before the General Board of Health, that +the washerwoman's interest in the community is actually greater than +that of the cotton-spinner, with all his enormous capital. An instance +of this will suffice to show our meaning: a gentleman buys one dozen +shirts at a cost of L4, three of these are washed every week, the charge +being fourpence each, making an annual account of L2 12_s._ The set of +shirts, with careful management, lasts for three years, and has cost in +washing L7 16_s._ The cotton-spinner's interest in the shirts and that +of the shirt-maker's combined, did not exceed L4, while the +washerwoman's interest is nearly double. A considerable portion of this +amount is unavoidable; but a very large part is due to the excessive +charges for washing rendered necessary by the waste of soap and +increased labor required for cleansing. A family in London, with an +annual income of L600, spends about one-twelfth of the amount, or L50, +in the expenses of the laundry. On an average, every person in London, +rich and poor, spends one shilling per week, or fifty-two shillings a +year for washing. Hence, at least five million two hundred thousand +pounds is the annual amount expended in the metropolis alone for this +purpose. Yet, large as this amount is--and it matters not whether it be +represented in the labors of household washing or that of the professed +laundress--it is obvious that the greatest part of it is expended in +actual labor, for the washerwoman is rarely a rich or even a thriving +person. Hence, it follows that this labor, barely remunerative as it is, +must be made excessive from some extraneous cause; for it is found by +experience that one-half the charge is ample compensation in a country +district supplied with soft water. The tear and wear of clothes by the +system necessary for washing in hard water, is very important in the +economical consideration of the question. The difference in this +respect, between hard and soft water, is very striking. It has been +calculated that the extra cost to ladies in London in the one article of +collars, by the unnecessary tear and wear, as compared with country +districts, is not less than, but probably much exceeds, L20,000. + +We now proceed to draw attention to the inconvenience of hard water in +cooking. It is well known that greens, peas, French beans, and other +green vegetables, lose much of their delicate color by being boiled in +hard water. They not only become yellow, but assume a shriveled and +disagreeable appearance, losing much of their delicacy to the taste. For +making tea the evil is still more obvious. It is extremely difficult to +obtain a good infusion of tea with hard water, however much may be +wasted in the attempt. We endeavor to overcome the difficulty by the +addition of soda, but the tea thus made is always inferior. One reason +of this is, that it is difficult to adjust the quantity of the soda. Tea +contains nearly 16 per cent. of cheese or casein, and this dissolves in +water rendered alkaline by soda; and although the nutritious qualities +are increased by this solution, the delicacy of the flavor is impaired. +The water commonly used in London requires, at the very least, one-fifth +more tea to produce an infusion of the same strength as that obtained by +soft water. This, calculated on the whole amount of tea consumed in +London, resolves itself into a pecuniary consideration of great +magnitude. + +The effect of hard water upon the health of the lower animals is very +obvious. Horses, sheep, and pigeons, refuse it whenever they can obtain +a supply of soft water. They prefer the muddiest pool of the latter to +the most brilliant and sparkling spring of the former. In all of them it +produces colic, and sometimes more serious diseases. The coats of horses +drinking hard water soon become rough, and stare, and they quickly fall +out of condition. It is not, however, known that it exerts similar +influences upon the health of man, although analogy would lead us to +expect that a beverage unsuited to the lower animals can not be +favorable to the human constitution. Persons with tender skins can not +wash in hard water, because the insoluble salts left by evaporation +produce an intolerable irritation. + +In order to simplify the explanation of the action of hard water, +attention has been confined to that possessing lime. But hard waters +frequently contain magnesia, and in that case a very remarkable +phenomenon attends their use. At a certain strength the magnesian salt +does not decompose the soap, or retard the formation of a lather, but +the addition of soft water developes this latent hardness. With such +waters, the extraordinary anomaly appears, that the more soft water is +added to them, up to a certain point, the harder do they become. Some of +the wells at Doncaster are very remarkable in this respect, for when +their hard water is diluted with eight times the quantity of pure soft +distilled water, the resulting mixture is as hard--that is, it +decomposes as much soap--as the undiluted water. Thus the dilution of +such water with four or five times its bulk of soft rain water actually +makes it harder. The cause of this anomaly has not yet been +satisfactorily made out, but it only occurs in waters abounding in +magnesia. + +Having now explained the inconveniences of the hardening ingredients of +water, we propose to show in the next article the action of other +deteriorating constituents; and after having done so, it will become our +duty to point out the various modes by which the evils thus exposed may +best be counteracted or remedied. + + L.P. + + + + +EARLY RISING. + + + Did you but know, when bathed in dew, + How sweet the little violet grew, + Amidst the thorny brake; + How fragrant blew the ambient air, + O'er beds of primroses so fair, + Your pillow you'd forsake. + + Paler than the autumnal leaf, + Or the wan hue of pining grief, + The cheek of sloth shall grow; + Nor can cosmetic, wash, or ball, + Nature's own favorite tints recall, + If once you let them go. + + HERRICK. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +A TALE OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES. + + +An alderman of the ancient borough of Beetlebury, and churchwarden of +the parish of St. Wulfstan's, in the said borough, Mr. Blenkinsop might +have been called, in the language of the sixteenth century, a man of +worship. This title would probably have pleased him very much, it being +an obsolete one, and he entertaining an extraordinary regard for all +things obsolete, or thoroughly deserving to be so. He looked up with +profound veneration to the griffins which formed the waterspouts of St. +Wulfstan's church, and he almost worshiped an old boot under the name of +a black jack, which on the affidavit of a foresworn broker, he had +bought for a drinking-vessel of the sixteenth century. Mr. Blenkinsop +even more admired the wisdom of our ancestors than he did their +furniture and fashions. He believed that none of their statutes and +ordinances could possibly be improved on, and in this persuasion had +petitioned parliament against every just or merciful change, which, +since he had arrived at man's estate, had been in the laws. He had +successively opposed all the Beetlebury improvements, gas, water-works, +infant schools, mechanics' institute, and library. He had been active in +an agitation against any measure for the improvement of the public +health, and being a strong advocate of intra-mural interment, was +instrumental in defeating an attempt to establish a pretty cemetery +outside Beetlebury. He had successfully resisted a project for removing +the pig-market from the middle of High-street. Through his influence the +shambles, which were corporation property, had been allowed to remain +where they were, namely, close to the Town-hall, and immediately under +his own and his brethren's noses. In short, he had regularly, +consistently, and nobly done his best to frustrate every scheme that was +proposed for the comfort and advantage of his fellow creatures. For this +conduct he was highly esteemed and respected, and, indeed, his hostility +to any interference with disease, had procured him the honor of a public +testimonial; shortly after the presentation of which, with several neat +speeches, the cholera broke out in Beetlebury. + +The truth is, that Mr. Blenkinsop's views on the subject of public +health and popular institutions were supposed to be economical (though +they were, in truth, desperately costly), and so pleased some of the +rate-payers. Besides, he withstood ameliorations, and defended nuisances +and abuses with all the heartiness of an actual philanthropist. +Moreover, he was a jovial fellow--a boon companion; and his love of +antiquity leant particularly toward old ale and old port wine. Of both +of these beverages he had been partaking rather largely at a +visitation-dinner, where, after the retirement of the bishop and his +clergy, festivities were kept up till late, under the presidency of the +deputy-registrar. One of the last to quit the Crown and Mitre was Mr. +Blenkinsop. + +He lived in a remote part of the town, whither, as he did not walk +exactly in a right line, it may be allowable perhaps, to say that he +bent his course. Many of the dwellers in Beetlebury High-street, +awakened at half-past twelve on that night, by somebody passing below, +singing, not very distinctly, + + "With a jolly full bottle let each man be armed," + +were indebted, little as they may have suspected it, to Alderman +Blenkinsop, for their serenade. + +In his homeward way stood the Market Cross; a fine medieval structure, +supported on a series of circular steps by a groined arch, which served +as a canopy to the stone figure of an ancient burgess. This was the +effigies of Wynkyn de Vokes, once mayor of Beetlebury, and a great +benefactor to the town; in which he had founded almhouses and a +grammar-school, A.D. 1440. The post was formerly occupied by St. +Wulfstan; but De Vokes had been removed from the Town Hall in Cromwell's +time, and promoted to the vacant pedestal, _vice_ Wulfstan, demolished. +Mr. Blenkinsop highly revered this work of art, and he now stopped to +take a view of it by moonlight. In that doubtful glimmer, it seemed +almost life-like. Mr. Blenkinsop had not much imagination, yet he could +well nigh fancy he was looking upon the veritable Wynkyn, with his +bonnet, beard, furred gown, and staff, and his great book under his arm. +So vivid was this impression, that it impelled him to apostrophize the +statue. + +"Fine old fellow!" said Mr. Blenkinsop. "Rare old buck! We shall never +look upon your like again. Ah! the good old times--the jolly good old +times! No times like the good old times, my ancient worthy. No such +times as the good old times!" + +"And pray, sir, what times do you call the good old times?" in distinct +and deliberate accents, answered--according to the positive affirmation +of Mr. Blenkinsop, subsequently made before divers witnesses--the +Statue. + +Mr. Blenkinsop is sure that he was in the perfect possession of his +senses. He is certain that he was not the dupe of ventriloquism, or any +other illusion. The value of these convictions must be a question +between him and the world, to whose perusal the facts of his tale, +simply as stated by himself, are here submitted. + +When first he heard the Statue speak, Mr. Blenkinsop says, he certainly +experienced a kind of sudden shock, a momentary feeling of +consternation. But this soon abated in a wonderful manner. The Statue's +voice was quite mild and gentle--not in the least grim--had no funereal +twang in it, and was quite different from the tone a statue might be +expected to take by any body who had derived his notions on that subject +from having heard the representative of the class in "Don Giovanni." + +"Well, what times do you mean by the good old times?" repeated the +Statue, quite familiarly. The churchwarden was able to reply with some +composure, that such a question coming from such a quarter had taken him +a little by surprise. + +"Come, come, Mr. Blenkinsop," said the Statue, "don't be astonished. +'Tis half-past twelve, and a moonlight night, as your favorite police, +the sleepy and infirm old watchman, says. Don't you know that we statues +are apt to speak when spoken to, at these hours? Collect yourself. I +will help you to answer my own question. Let us go back step by step; +and allow me to lead you. To begin. By the good old times, do you mean +the reign of George the Third?" + +"The last of them, sir," replied Mr. Blenkinsop, very respectfully, "I +am inclined to think, were seen by the people who lived in those days." + +"I should hope so," the Statue replied. "Those the good old old times? +What! Mr. Blenkinsop, when men were hanged by dozens, almost weekly, for +paltry thefts. When a nursing woman was dragged to the gallows with a +child at her breast, for shop-lifting, to the value of a shilling. When +you lost your American colonies, and plunged into war with France, +which, to say nothing of the useless bloodshed it cost, has left you +saddled with the national debt. Surely you will not call these the good +old times, will you, Mr. Blenkinsop?" + +"Not exactly, sir; no, on reflection I don't know that I can," answered +Mr. Blenkinsop. He had now--it was such a civil, well-spoken +statue--lost all sense of the preternatural horror of his situation, and +scratched his head, just as if he had been posed in argument by an +ordinary mortal. + +"Well then," resumed the Statue, "my dear sir, shall we take the two or +three reigns preceding? What think you of the then existing state of +prisons and prison discipline? Unfortunate debtors confined +indiscriminately with felons, in the midst of filth, vice, and misery +unspeakable. Criminals under sentence of death tippling in the condemned +cell, with the Ordinary for their pot-companion. Flogging, a common +punishment of women convicted of larceny. What say you of the times when +London streets were absolutely dangerous, and the passenger ran the risk +of being hustled and robbed even in the daytime? When not only Hounslow +and Bagshot Heath, but the public roads swarmed with robbers, and a +stage-coach was as frequently plundered as a hen-roost. When, indeed, +'the road' was esteemed the legitimate resource of a gentleman in +difficulties, and a highwayman was commonly called 'Captain'--if not +respected accordingly. When cock-fighting, bear-baiting, and +bull-baiting were popular, nay, fashionable amusements. When the bulk of +the landed gentry could barely read and write, and divided their time +between fox-hunting and guzzling. When duelist was a hero, and it was an +honor to have 'killed your man.' When a gentleman could hardly open his +mouth without uttering a profane or filthy oath. When the country was +continually in peril of civil war; through a disputed succession; and +two murderous insurrections, followed by more murderous executions, +actually took place. This era of inhumanity, shamelessness, brigandage, +brutality, and personal and political insecurity, what say you of it, +Mr. Blenkinsop? Do you regard this wig and pigtail period as +constituting the good old times, respected friend?" + +"There was Queen Anne's golden reign, sir," deferentially suggested Mr. +Blenkinsop. + +"A golden reign!" exclaimed the Statue. "A reign of favoritism and court +trickery at home, and profitless war abroad. The time of Bolingbroke's, +and Harley's, and Churchill's intrigues. The reign of Sarah, Duchess of +Marlborough and of Mrs. Masham. A golden fiddlestick! I imagine you must +go farther back yet for your good old times, Mr. Blenkinsop." + +"Well," answered the churchwarden, "I suppose I must, sir, after what +you say." + +"Take William the Third's rule," pursued the Statue. "War, war again; +nothing but war. I don't think you'll particularly call these the good +old times. Then what will you say to those of James the Second? Were +they the good old times when Judge Jefferies sat on the bench? When +Monmouth's rebellion was followed by the Bloody Assize. When the king +tried to set himself above the law, and lost his crown in consequence. +Does your worship fancy these were the good old times?" + +Mr. Blenkinsop admitted that he could not very well imagine that they +were. + +"Were Charles the Second's the good old times?" demanded the Statue. +"With a court full of riot and debauchery; a palace much less decent +than any modern casino; while Scotch Covenanters were having their legs +crushed in the 'Boots,' under the auspices and personal superintendence +of His Royal Highness the Duke of York. The time of Titus Oates, Bedloe, +and Dangerfield, and their sham plots, with the hangings, drawings, and +quarterings, on perjured evidence, that followed them. When Russell and +Sidney were judicially murdered. The time of the great plague and fire +of London. The public money wasted by roguery and embezzlement, while +sailors lay starving in the streets for want of their just pay; the +Dutch about the same time burning our ships in the Medway. My friend, I +think you will hardly call the scandalous monarchy of the 'Merry +Monarch' the good old times." + +"I feel the difficulty which you suggest, sir," owned Mr. Blenkinsop. + +"Now, that a man of your loyalty," pursued the Statue, "should identify +the good old times with Cromwell's Protectorate, is, of course, out of +the question." + +"Decidedly, sir!" exclaimed Mr. Blenkinsop. "_He_ shall not have a +statue, though you enjoy that honor," bowing. + +"And yet," said the Statue, "with all its faults, this era was perhaps +no worse than any we have discussed yet. Never mind! It was a dreary, +cant-ridden one, and if you don't think those England's palmy days, +neither do I. There's the previous reign, then. During the first part of +it, there was the king endeavoring to assert arbitrary power. During the +latter, the Parliament were fighting against him in the open field. What +ultimately became of him I need not say. At what stage of King Charles +the First's career did the good old times exist, Mr. Alderman? I need +barely mention the Star Chamber and poor Prynne; and I merely allude to +the fate of Strafford and of Laud. On consideration, should you fix the +good old times any where thereabouts?" + +"I am afraid not, indeed, sir," Mr. Blenkinsop responded, tapping his +forehead. + +"What is your opinion of James the First's reign? Are you enamored of +the good old times of the Gunpowder Plot? or when Sir Walter Raleigh was +beheaded? or when hundreds of poor, miserable old women were burnt alive +for witchcraft, and the royal wiseacre on the throne wrote as wise a +book, in defense of the execrable superstition through which they +suffered?" + +Mr. Blenkinsop confessed himself obliged to give up the times of James +the First. + +"Now, then," continued the Statue, "we come to Elizabeth." + +"There I've got you!" interrupted Mr Blenkinsop, exultingly. "I beg your +pardon, sir," he added, with a sense of the freedom he had taken; "but +everybody talks of the times of Good Queen Bess, you know." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the Statue, not at all like Zamiel, or Don Guzman, or +a pavior's rammer, but really with unaffected gayety. "Everybody +sometimes says very foolish things. Suppose Everybody's lot had been +cast under Elizabeth! How would Everybody have relished being subject to +the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Commission, with its power of +imprisonment, rack, and torture? How would Everybody have liked to see +his Roman Catholic and Dissenting fellow-subjects butchered, fined, and +imprisoned for their opinions; and charitable ladies butchered, too, for +giving them shelter in the sweet compassion of their hearts? What would +Everybody have thought of the murder of Mary Queen of Scots? Would +Everybody, would Anybody, would _you_, wish to have lived in these days, +whose emblems are cropped ears, pillory, stocks, thumb-screws, gibbet, +ax, chopping-block, and scavenger's daughter? Will you take your stand +upon this stage of history for the good old times, Mr. Blenkinsop?" + +"I should rather prefer firmer and safer ground, to be sure, upon the +whole," answered the worshiper of antiquity, dubiously. + +"Well, now," said the Statue, "'tis getting late, and, unaccustomed as I +am to conversational speaking, I must be brief. Were those the good old +times when Sanguinary Mary roasted bishops, and lighted the fires of +Smithfield? When Henry the Eighth, the British Bluebeard, cut his wives +heads off, and burnt Catholic and Protestant at the same stake? When +Richard the Third smothered his nephews in the Tower? When the Wars of +the Roses deluged the land with blood? When Jack Cade marched upon +London? When we were disgracefully driven out of France under Henry the +Sixth, or, as disgracefully, went marauding there, under Henry the +Fifth? Were the good old times those of Northumberland's rebellion? Of +Richard the Second's assassination? Of the battles, burnings, massacres, +cruel tormentings, and atrocities, which form the sum of the Plantagenet +reigns? Of John's declaring himself the Pope's vassal, and performing +dental operations on the Jews? Of the Forest Laws and Curfew under the +Norman kings? At what point of this series of bloody and cruel annals +will you place the times which you praise? Or do your good old times +extend over all that period when somebody or other was constantly +committing high treason, and there was a perpetual exhibition of heads +on London Bridge and Temple Bar?" + +It was allowed by Mr. Blenkinsop that either alternative presented +considerable difficulty. + +"Was it in the good old times that Harold fell at Hastings, and William +the Conqueror enslaved England? Were those blissful years the ages of +monkery; of Odo and Dunstan, bearding monarchs and branding queens? Of +Danish ravage and slaughter? Or were they those of the Saxon Heptarchy, +and the worship of Thor and Odin? Of the advent of Hengist and Horsa? Of +British subjugation by the Romans? Or, lastly, must we go back to the +ancient Britons, Druidism, and human sacrifices, and say that those were +the real, unadulterated, genuine, good old times, when the true-blue +natives of this island went naked, painted with woad?" + +"Upon my word, sir," said Mr. Blenkinsop, "after the observations that I +have heard from you this night, I acknowledge that I _do_ feel myself +rather at a loss to assign a precise period to the times in question." + +"Shall I do it for you?" asked the Statue. + +"If you please, sir. I should be very much obliged if you would," +replied the bewildered Blenkinsop, greatly relieved. + +"The best times, Mr. Blenkinsop," said the Statue, "are the oldest. They +are the wisest; for the older the world grows, the more experience it +acquires. It is older now than ever it was. The oldest and best times +the world has yet seen are the present. These, so far as we have yet +gone, are the genuine good old times, sir." + +"Indeed, sir!" ejaculated the astonished alderman. + +"Yes, my good friend. These are the best times that we know of--bad as +the best may be. But in proportion to their defects, they afford room +for amendment. Mind that, sir, in the future exercise of your municipal +and political wisdom. Don't continue to stand in the light which is +gradually illuminating human darkness. The Future is the date of that +happy period which your imagination has fixed in the Past. It will +arrive when all shall do what in right; hence none shall suffer what is +wrong. The true good old times are yet to come." + +"Have you any idea when, sir?" Mr. Blenkinsop inquired, modestly. + +"That is a little beyond me," the Statue answered. "I can not say how +long it will take to convert the Blenkinsops. I devoutly wish you may +live to see them. And with that, I wish you good-night, Mr. Blenkinsop." + +"Sir," returned Mr. Blenkinsop, with a profound bow, "I have the honor +to wish you the same." + +Mr. Blenkinsop returned home an altered man. This was soon manifest. In +a few days he astonished the Corporation by proposing the appointment of +an Officer of Health to preside over the sanitary affairs of Beetlebury. +It had already transpired that he had consented to the introduction of +lucifer-matches into his domestic establishment, in which, previously, +he had insisted on sticking to the old tinder-box. Next, to the wonder +of all Beetlebury, he was the first to propose a great, new school, and +to sign a requisition that a county penitentiary might be established +for the reformation of juvenile offenders. The last account of him is, +that he has not only become a subscriber to the mechanics' institute, +but that he actually presided there at, lately, on the occasion of a +lecture on Geology. + +The remarkable change which has occurred in Mr. Blenkinsop's views and +principles, he himself refers to his conversation with the Statue, as +above related. That narrative, however, his fellow-townsmen receive with +incredulous expressions, accompanied by gestures and grimaces of like +import. They hint, that Mr. Blenkinsop had been thinking for himself a +little, and only wanted a plausible excuse for recanting his errors. +Most of his fellow-aldermen believe him mad; not less on account of his +new moral and political sentiments, so very different from their own, +than of his Statue story. When it has been suggested to them that he has +only had his spectacles cleaned, and has been looking about him, they +shake their heads, and say that he had better have left his spectacles +alone, and that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and a good deal +of dirt quite the contrary. _Their_ spectacles have never been cleaned, +they say, and any one may see they don't want cleaning. + +The truth seems to be, that Mr. Blenkinsop has found an altogether new +pair of spectacles, which enable him to see in the right direction. +Formerly, he could only look backward; he now looks forward to the grand +object that all human eyes should have in view--progressive improvement. + + + + +He who can not live well to-day, will be less qualified to live well +to-morrow.--MARTIAL. + +Men are harassed, not by things themselves but by opinions respecting +them.--EPICTETUS. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +MEMOIRS OF THE FIRST DUCHESS OF ORLEANS. + + +While the fortunes of the last Duchess of Orleans are still in +uncertainty, it may not be unpleasing to read something of the family +and character of the first princess who bore that title. The retrospect +will carry us back to stirring times, and make us acquainted with the +virtues and sufferings, as well as the crimes, which mark the family +history of the great European houses. The story of Valentina Visconti +links the history of Milan with that of Paris, and imparts an Italian +grace and tenderness to the French annals. Yet although herself one of +the gentlest of women, she was sprung from the fiercest of men. The +history of the rise and progress of the family of Visconti is, in truth, +one of the most characteristic that the Lombardic annalists have +preserved. + +The Sforzias, called Visconti from their hereditary office of +_Vicecomes_, or temporal vicar of the Emperor, were a marked and +peculiar race. With the most ferocious qualities, they combined high +intellectual refinement, and an elegant and cultivated taste, in all +that was excellent in art, architecture, poetry, and classical learning. +The founder of the family was Otho, Archbishop of Milan at the close of +the 13th century. He extended his vicarial authority into a virtual +sovereignty of the Lombard towns, acknowledging only the German Emperor +as his feudal lord. This self-constituted authority he transmitted to +his nephew Matteo, "Il grande." In the powerful hands of Matteo the +Magnificent, Milan became the capital of a virtual Lombardic kingdom. +Three of the sons of Matteo were successively "tyrants" of Milan, the +designation being probably used in its classical, rather than its modern +sense. Galeazzo, the eldest, was succeeded by his son Azzo, the only one +of the male representatives of the Visconti who exhibited any of the +milder characteristics befitting the character of a virtuous prince. +Luchino, his uncle and successor, was, however, a patron of learning, +and has had the good fortune to transmit his name to us in illustrious +company. At his court, in other respects contaminated by vice, and made +infamous by cruelty, the poet Petrarch found a home and a munificent +patron. Luchino cultivated his friendship. The poet was not above +repaying attentions so acceptable by a no less acceptable flattery. +Petrarch's epistle, eulogizing the virtues and recounting the glory of +the tyrant, remains a humiliating record of the power of wealth and +greatness, and the pliability of genius. + +Luchino's fate was characteristic. His wife, Isabella of Fieschi, had +frequently suffered from his caprice and jealousy; at length she learned +that he had resolved on putting her to death. Forced to anticipate his +cruel intent, she poisoned him with the very drugs he had designed for +her destruction. + +Luchino was succeeded by his brother Giovanni, Archbishop of Milan, the +ablest of the sons of Matteo. Under his unscrupulous administration the +Milanese territory was extended, until almost the whole of Lombardy was +brought under the yoke of the vigorous and subtle tyrant. Although an +ecclesiastic, he was as prompt to use the temporal as the spiritual +sword. On his accession to power, Pope Clement the Sixth, then resident +at Avignon, summoned him to appear at his tribunal to answer certain +charges of heresy and schism. The papal legate sent with this commission +had a further demand to make on behalf of the Pontiff--the restitution +of Bologna, a fief of the church, which had been seized by the Milanese +prelate, Giovanni Visconti, as well as the cession, by the latter, of +either his temporal or spiritual authority, which the legate declared +could not be lawfully united in the person of an archbishop. Giovanni +insisted that the legate should repeat the propositions with which he +was charged at church on the following Sunday: as prince and bishop he +could only receive such a message in the presence of his subjects and +the clergy of his province. On the appointed day, the archbishop having +celebrated high-mass with unusual splendor, the legate announced the +message with which he was charged by his Holiness. The people listened +in silence, expecting a great discussion. But their astonishment was not +greater than that of the legate, when Archbishop Giovanni stepped forth, +with his crucifix in one hand, while with the other he drew from beneath +his sacerdotal robes a naked sword, and exclaimed, "Behold the spiritual +and temporal arms of Giovanni Visconti! By the help of God, with the one +I will defend the other." + +The legate could obtain no other answer save that the archbishop +declared that he had no intention of disobeying the pontiff's citation +to appear at Avignon. He accordingly prepared, indeed, to enter such an +appearance as would prevent citations of that kind in future. + +He sent, as his precursor, a confidential secretary, with orders to make +suitable preparations for his reception. Thus commissioned, the +secretary proceeded to hire every vacant house in the city and +surrounding neighborhood, within a circuit of several miles; and made +enormous contracts for the supply of furniture and provisions for the +use of the archbishop and his suite. These astounding preparations soon +reached the ears of Clement. He sent for the secretary, and demanded the +meaning of these extraordinary proceedings. The secretary replied, that +he had instructions from his master, the Archbishop of Milan, to provide +for the reception of 12,000 knights and 6,000 foot soldiers, exclusive +of the Milanese gentlemen who would accompany their lord when he +appeared at Avignon, in compliance with his Holiness's summons. Clement, +quite unprepared for such a visit, only thought how he should extricate +himself from so great a dilemma. He wrote to the haughty Visconti, +begging that he would not put himself to the inconvenience of such a +journey: and, lest this should not be sufficient to deter him, proposed +to grant him the investiture of Bologna--the matter in dispute between +them--for a sum of money: a proposal readily assented to by the wealthy +archbishop. + +Giovanni Visconti bequeathed to the three sons of his brother Stephano a +well-consolidated power; and, for that age, an enormous accumulation of +wealth. The Visconti were the most skillful of financiers. Without +overburthening their subjects, they had ever a well-filled +treasury--frequently recruited, it is true, by the plunder of their +enemies, or replenished by the contributions they levied on neighboring +cities. The uniform success which attended their negotiations in these +respects, encouraged them in that intermeddling policy they so often +pursued. We can scarcely read without a smile the proclamations of their +generals to the inoffensive cities, of whose affairs they so kindly +undertook the unsolicited management. + +"It is no unworthy design which has brought us hither," the general +would say to the citizens of the towns selected for these disinterested +interventions; "we are here to re-establish order, to destroy the +dissensions and secret animosities which divide the people (say) of +Tuscany. We have formed the unalterable resolution to reform the abuses +which abound in all the Tuscan cities. If we can not attain our object +by mild persuasions, we will succeed by the strong hand of power. Our +chief has commanded us to conduct his armies to the gates of your city, +to attack you at our swords' point, and to deliver over your property to +be pillaged, unless (solely for your own advantage) you show yourselves +pliant in conforming to his benevolent advice." + +Giovanni Visconti, as we have intimated, was succeeded by his nephews. +The two younger evinced the daring military talent which distinguished +their race. Matteo, the eldest, on the contrary, abandoned himself to +effeminate indulgences. His brothers, Bernabos and Galeazzo, would have +been well pleased that he should remain a mere cipher, leaving the +management of affairs in their hands; but they soon found that his +unrestrained licentiousness endangered the sovereignty of all. On one +occasion a complaint was carried to the younger brothers by an +influential citizen. Matteo Visconti, having heard that this citizen's +wife was possessed of great personal attractions, sent for her husband, +and informed him that he designed her for an inmate of his palace, +commanding him, upon pain of death, to fetch her immediately. The +indignant burgher, in his perplexity, claimed the protection of Bernabos +and Galeazzo. The brothers perceived that inconvenient consequences were +likely to ensue. A dose of poison, that very day, terminated the brief +career of Matteo the voluptuous. + +Of the three brothers, Bernabos was the most warlike and the most cruel; +Galeazzo the most subtle and politic. Laboring to cement his power by +foreign alliances, he purchased from John, king of France, his +daughter, Isabelle de Valois, as the bride of his young son and heir; +and procured the hand of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III. of +England, for his daughter Violante. While Galeazzo pursued these +peaceful modes of aggrandizement, Bernabos waged successful war on his +neighbors, subjecting to the most refined cruelties all who questioned +his authority. It was he who first reduced the practice of the torture +to a perfect system, extending over a period of forty-one days. During +this period, every alternate day, the miserable victim suffered the loss +of some of his members--an eye, a finger, an ear--until at last his +torments ended on the fatal wheel. Pope after pope struggled in vain +against these powerful tyrants. They laughed at excommunication, or only +marked the fulmination of a papal bull by some fresh act of oppression +on the clergy subject to their authority. On one occasion Urban the +Fifth sent Bernabos his bull of excommunication, by two legates. +Bernabos received the pontifical message unmoved. He manifested no +irritation--no resentment; but courteously escorted the legates, on +their return, as far as one of the principal bridges in Milan. Here he +paused, about to take leave of them. "It would be inhospitable to permit +you to depart," he said, addressing the legates, "without some +refreshment; choose--will you eat or drink?" The legates, terrified at +the tone in which the compliment was conveyed, declined his proffered +civility. "Not so," he exclaimed, with a terrible oath; "you shall not +leave my city without some remembrance of me; say, will you eat or +drink?" The affrighted legates, perceiving themselves surrounded by the +guards of the tyrant, and in immediate proximity to the river, felt no +taste for drinking. "We had rather eat," said they; "the _sight_ of so +much water is sufficient to quench our thirst." "Well, then," rejoined +Bernabos, "here are the bulls of excommunication which you have brought +to me; you shall not pass this bridge until you have eaten, in my +presence, the parchments on which they are written, the leaden seals +affixed to them, and the silken cords by which they are attached." The +legates urged in vain the sacred character of their offices of +embassador and priest: Bernabos kept his word; and they were left to +digest the insult as best they might. Bernabos and his brother, after +having disposed of Matteo, became, as companions in crime usually do, +suspicious of one another. In particular, each feared that the other +would poison him. Those banquets and entertainments to which they +treated one another must have been scenes of magnificent discomfort. + +Galeazzo died first. His son, Giovanni-Galeazzo, succeeded, and matched +the unscrupulous ambition of his uncle with a subtlety equal to his own. +Not satisfied with a divided sway, he maneuvered unceasingly until he +made himself master of the persons of Bernabos and his two sons. The +former he kept a close prisoner for seven months, and afterward put to +death by poison. The cruelty and pride of Bernabos had rendered him so +odious to his subjects, that they made no effort on his behalf, but +submitted without opposition to the milder government of +Giovanni-Galeazzo. He was no less successful in obtaining another object +of his ambition. He received from the Emperor Wenceslaus the investiture +and dukedom of Milan, for which he paid the sum of 100,000 florins, and +now saw himself undisputed master of Lombardy. + +The court of Milan, during such a period, seems a strange theatre for +the display of graceful and feminine virtues. Yet it was here, and under +the immediate eye of her father, this very Giovanni-Galeazzo, that +Valentina Visconti, one of the most amiable female characters of +history, passed the early days of her eventful life. As the naturalist +culls a wild flower from the brink of the volcano, the historian of the +dynasty of Milan pauses to contemplate her pure and graceful character, +presenting itself among the tyrants, poisoners, murderers, and infidels +who founded the power and amassed the wealth of her family. It would be +sad to think that the families of the wicked men of history partook of +the crimes of their parents. But we must remember that virtue has little +charm for the annalist; he records what is most calculated to excite +surprise or awake horror, but takes no notice of the unobtrusive +ongoings of those who live and die in peace and quietness. We may be +sure that among the patrons of Petrarch there was no want of refinement, +or of the domestic amenities with which a youthful princess, and only +child, ought to be surrounded. In fact, we have been left the most +permanent and practical evidences of the capacity of these tyrants for +the enjoyment of the beautiful. The majestic cathedral of Milan is a +monument of the noble architectural taste of Valentina's father. In the +midst of donjons and fortress-palaces it rose, an embodiment of the +refining influence of religion; bearing in many respects a likeness to +the fair and innocent being whose fortunes we are about to narrate, and +who assisted at its foundation. The progress of the building was slow; +it was not till a more magnificent usurper than any of the Visconti +assumed the iron-crown of Lombardy, in our own generation, that the +general design of the Duomo of Milan was completed. Many of the details +still remain unfinished; many statues to be placed on their pinnacles; +some to be replaced on the marble stands from which they were overthrown +by the cannon of Radetski. Of the old castle of the Visconti two +circular towers and a curtain wall alone remain: its court-yard is +converted into a barrack, its moats filled up, its terraced gardens laid +down as an esplanade for the troops of the Austrian garrison. The family +of the Visconti have perished. Milan, so long the scene of their glory, +and afterward the battle-ground of contending claimants, whose title was +derived through them, has ceased to be the capital of a free and +powerful Italian state: but the Cathedral, after a growth of nearly +four centuries, is still growing; and the name of the gentle Valentina, +so early associated with the majestic Gothic edifice, "smells sweet, and +blossoms in the dust." + +The year after the foundation of the Duomo, Valentina Visconti became +the bride of Louis Duke of Orleans, only brother to the reigning monarch +of France, Charles VI. Their politic father, the wise King Charles, had +repaired the disasters occasioned by the successful English invasion, +and the long captivity of John the Second. The marriage of Valentina and +Louis was considered highly desirable by all parties. The important town +of Asti, with an immense marriage portion in money, was bestowed by +Giovanni-Galeazzo on his daughter. A brilliant escort of the Lombard +chivalry accompanied the "promessa sposa" to the French frontier. + +Charles VI. made the most magnificent preparations for the reception of +his destined sister-in-law. The weak but amiable monarch, ever +delighting in fetes and entertainments, could gratify his childish +taste, while displaying a delicate consideration and brotherly regard +for Louis of Orleans. The marriage was to be celebrated at Melun. +Fountains of milk and choice wine played to the astonishment and delight +of the bourgeois. There were jousts and tournaments, masks, and +banquets, welcoming the richly-dowered daughter of Milan. All promised a +life of secured happiness; she was wedded to the brave and chivalrous +Louis of Orleans, the pride and darling of France. He was eminently +handsome; and his gay, graceful, and affable manners gained for him the +strong personal attachment of all who surrounded him. But, alas! for +Valentina and her dream of happiness, Louis was a profligate; she found +herself, from the first moment of her marriage, a neglected wife: her +modest charms and gentle deportment had no attractions for her volatile +husband. The early years of her wedded life were passed in solitude and +uncomplaining sorrow. She bore her wrongs in dignified silence. Her +quiet endurance, her pensive gentleness, never for a moment yielded; nor +was she ever heard to express an angry or bitter sentiment. Still she +was not without some consolation; she became the mother of promising +children, on whom she could bestow the treasures of love and tenderness, +of the value of which the dissolute Louis was insensible. Affliction now +began to visit the French palace. Charles VI. had long shown evidences +of a weak intellect. The events of his youth had shaken a mind never +robust: indeed they were such as one can not read of even now without +emotion. + +During his long minority the country, which, under the prudent +administration of his father, had well nigh recovered the defeats of +Cressy and Poietiers, had been torn by intestine commotions. The regency +was in the hands of the young king's uncles, the dukes of Anjou and +Burgundy. The latter inheriting by his wife, who was heiress of +Flanders, the rich provinces bordering France on the northeast, in +addition to his province of Burgundy, found himself, in some respects, +more powerful than his sovereign. The commercial prosperity of the Low +Countries filled his coffers with money, and the hardy Burgundian +population gave him, at command, a bold and intrepid soldiery. + +From his earliest years, Charles had manifested a passion for the chase. +When about twelve years old, in the forest of Senlis, he had encountered +a stag, bearing a collar with the inscription, "_Caesar hoc mihi +donavit_." This wonderful stag appeared to him in a dream a few years +afterward, as he lay in his tent before Roosebeke in Flanders, whither +he had been led by his uncle of Burgundy to quell an insurrection of the +citizens of Ghent, headed by the famous Philip van Artevelde. Great had +been the preparations of the turbulent burghers. Protected by their +massive armor, they formed themselves into a solid square bristling with +pikes. The French cavalry, armed with lances, eagerly waited for the +signal of attack. The signal was to be the unfurling of the oriflamme, +the sacred banner of France, which had never before been displayed but +when battling against infidels. It had been determined, on this +occasion, to use it against the Flemings because they rejected the +authority of Pope Clement, calling themselves Urbanists, and were +consequently looked on by the French as excluded from the pale of the +church. As the young king unfurled this formidable banner, the sun, +which had for days been obscured by a lurid fog, suddenly shone forth +with unwonted brilliancy. A dove, which had long hovered over the king's +battalion, at the same time settled on the flag-staff. + + "Now, by the lips of those you love, fair gentlemen of France, + Charge for the golden lilies--upon them with the lance!" + +The French chivalry did indeed execute a memorable charge on these +burghers of Ghent. Their lance points reached a yard beyond the heads of +the Flemish pikes. The Flemings, unable to return or parry their +thrusts, fell back on all sides. The immense central mass of human +beings thus forcibly compressed, shrieked and struggled in vain. Gasping +for breath, they perished, _en masse_, suffocated by the compression, +and crushed under the weight of their heavy armor. A reward had been +offered for the body of Philip van Artevelde: it was found amid a heap +of slain, and brought to the king's pavilion. The young monarch gazed on +the mortal remains of his foe, but no wound could be discovered on the +body of the Flemish leader--he had perished from suffocation. The corpse +was afterward hanged on the nearest tree. When the king surveyed this +horrible yet bloodless field, the appalling spectacle of this mass of +dead, amounting, it is said, to 34,000 corpses, was more than his mind +could bear. From this period unmistakable evidences of his malady became +apparent. The marvelous stag took possession of his fancy; it seemed to +him the emblem of victory, and he caused it to be introduced among the +heraldic insignia of the kingdom. + +In his sixteenth year, the king selected, as the partner of his throne, +the beautiful Isabeau of Bavaria. She also was a Visconti by the +mother's side, her father having wedded one of the daughters of +Bernabos. In her honor various costly fetes had been given. On one of +these occasions the royal bridegroom displayed his eccentricity in a +characteristic manner. The chroniclers of the time have given us very +detailed accounts of these entertainments. The costumes were +extravagantly fantastic: ladies carried on their head an enormous +_hennin_, a very cumbrous kind of head-dress, surmounted by horns of +such dimensions, that their exit or entrance into an apartment was a +work of considerable difficulty. The shoes were equally absurd and +inconvenient; their pointed extremities, half a yard in length, were +turned up and fastened to the knees in various grotesque forms. The +robes, the long open sleeves of which swept the ground, were emblazoned +with strange devices. Among the personal effects of one of the royal +princes we find an inventory of about a thousand pearls used in +embroidering on a robe the words and music of a popular song. + +The chronicle of the _Religieux de St. Denis_ describes one of these +masked balls, which was held in the court-yard of that venerable abbey, +temporarily roofed over with tapestries for the occasion. The sons of +the Duke of Anjou, cousins of the king, were prepared to invade Naples, +in right of their father, to whom Joanna of Naples had devised that +inheritance. Previous to their departure, their royal cousin resolved to +confer on them the order of knighthood. An immense concourse of guests +were invited to witness the splendid ceremonial, and take part in the +jousts and tournaments which were to follow. The king had selected a +strange scene for these gay doings. The Abbey of St. Denis was the last +resting-place of the kings of France. Here mouldered the mortal remains +of his predecessors, and here were to repose his bones when he, too, +should be "gathered to his fathers." The celebrated "Captain of the +Companies," the famous du Guesclin, the saviour of France in the reign +of his father, had paid the debt of nature many years before, and +reposed there among the mortal remains of those whose throne he had +guarded so well. The astonishment of the guests was extreme, when it +appeared that the exhumation and reinterment of du Guesclin formed part +of the programme of the revels. The old warrior was taken up, the +funeral rites solemnly gone through, three hundred livres appropriated +to the pious use of masses for his soul, and the revelers dismissed to +meditate on the royal eccentricities. + +The murder of the Constable of France, Oliver de Clisson, followed soon +after, and quite completed the break down of poor Charles's mind. This +powerful officer of the crown had long been feared and hated by the +great feudal lords especially by the Duke of Brittany, who entertained +an absurd jealousy of the one-eyed hero. Although Clisson, by his +decisive victory at Auray, had secured to him the contested dukedom of +Brittany, the jealous duke treacherously arrested his benefactor and +guest, whom he kept prisoner in the dungeons of his castle of La Motte. +In the first transports of his fury the duke had given orders that de +Clisson should be put to death; but his servants, fearing the +consequences of so audacious an act, left his commands unexecuted. +Eventually, the Constable was permitted by his captor to purchase his +freedom, a condition which was no sooner complied with, than the duke +repented having allowed his foe to escape from his hands. He now +suborned Pierre de Craon, a personal enemy of de Clisson, to be the +executioner of his vengeance. The Constable was returning to his hotel, +having spent a festive evening with his sovereign, when he was set on by +his assassins. He fell, covered with wounds, and was left for dead. To +increase his torments, the murderer announced to him, as he fell, his +name and motives. But, though severely injured, Clisson was yet alive. +The noise of the conflict reached the king, who was just retiring to +rest. He hastened to the spot. His bleeding minister clung to his robe, +and implored him to swear that he should be avenged. + +"My fidelity to your majesty has raised up for me powerful enemies: this +is my only crime. Whether I recover or perish from my wounds, swear to +me that I shall not be unavenged." + +"I shall never rest, so help me God," replied the excited monarch, +"until the authors of this audacious crime shall be brought to justice." + +Charles kept his word. Although suffering from fever, the result of this +night's alarm and exposure, he collected a considerable army, and +marched for Brittany. His impatient eagerness knew no bounds. Through +the sultry, noonday heat, over the arid plains and dense forests of +Brittany, he pursued the assassin of his Constable. He rode the foremost +of his host; often silently and alone. One day, having undergone great +personal fatigue, he had closed his eyes, still riding forward, when he +was aroused by the violent curveting of his steed, whose bridle had been +seized by a wild-looking man, singularly clad. + +"Turn back, turn back, noble king," cried he; "to proceed further is +certain death, you are betrayed!" Having uttered these words, the +stranger disappeared in the recesses of the forest before any one could +advance to arrest him. + +The army now traversed a sandy plain, which reflected the intensity of +the solar rays. The king wore a black velvet jerkin, and a cap of +crimson velvet, ornamented with a chaplet of pearls. This ill-selected +costume rendered the heat insufferable. While musing on the strange +occurrence in the forest, he was aroused by the clashing of steel around +him. The page, who bore his lance, had yielded to the drowsy influences +of the oppressive noonday heat, and as he slumbered his lance had fallen +with a ringing sound on the casque of the page before him. The +succession of these alarms quite damaged Charles's intellect. He turned, +in a paroxysm of madness, crying, "Down with the traitors!" and attacked +his own body-guard. All made way, as the mad king assailed them. Several +fell victims to his wildly-aimed thrusts, before he sunk at length, +exhausted by his efforts, a fit of total insensibility followed. His +brother of Orleans and kinsman of Burgundy had him conveyed by slow +stages to Paris. + +Charles's recovery was very tedious. Many remedies were tried--charms +and incantations, as well as medicines; but to the great joy of the +people, who had always loved him, his reason was at length pronounced to +be restored, and his physicians recommended him to seek amusement and +diversion in festive entertainments. + +Another shock, and Charles VI. became confirmed lunatic. This tragical +termination of an absurd frolic occurred as follows: + +On a gala occasion the monarch and five knights of his household +conceived the design of disguising themselves as satyrs. Close-fitting +linen dresses, covered with some bituminous substance, to which was +attached fine flax resembling hair, were stitched on their persons. +Their grotesque figures excited much merriment. The dukes of Orleans and +Bar, who had been supping elsewhere, entered the hall somewhat affected +by their night's dissipation. With inconceivable folly, one of these +tipsy noblemen applied a torch to the covering of one of the satyrs. The +miserable wretch, burning frightfully and hopelessly, rushed through the +hall in horrible torments, shrieking in the agonies of despair. The fire +was rapidly communicated. To those of the satyrs, whose hairy garments +were thus ignited, escape was hopeless. To detach the flaming pitch was +impossible; they writhed and rolled about, but in vain: their tortures +only ended with their lives. One alone beside the king escaped. +Recollecting that the buttery was near, he ran and plunged himself in +the large tub of water provided for washing the plates and dishes. Even +so, he did not escape without serious injuries. The king had been +conversing in his disguise with the young bride of the duke of Berri. +She had recognized him, and with admirable presence of mind and +devotion, she held him fast, covering him with her robe lest a spark +should descend on him. To her care and energy he owed his preservation +from so horrible a fate; but, alas! only to linger for years a miserable +maniac. The terrible spectacle of his companions in harmless frolic +perishing in this dreadful manner before his eyes, completed the wreck +of his already broken intellect. His reason returned but partially. Even +these slight amendments were at rare intervals. He became a squalid and +pitiable object; his person utterly neglected, for his garments could +only be changed by force. His heartless and faithless wife deserted +him--indeed, in his insane fits his detestation of her was +excessive--and neglected their children. One human being only could +soothe and soften him, his sister-in-law, Valentina Visconti. + +Charles had always manifested the truest friendship for the neglected +wife of his brother. They were alike unhappy in their domestic +relations; for the gallantries of the beautiful queen were scarcely less +notorious than those of Louis of Orleans; and if scandal spoke truly, +Louis himself was one of the queen's lovers. The brilliant and beautiful +Isabeau was distinguished by the dazzlingly clear and fair complexion of +her German fatherland, and the large lustrous eyes of the Italian. But +Charles detested her, and delighted in the society of Valentina. He was +never happy but when near her. In the violent paroxysms of his malady, +she only could venture to approach him--she alone had influence over the +poor maniac. He yielded to her wishes without opposition; and in his +occasional glimpses of reason, touchingly thanked his "dear sister" for +her watchful care and forbearance. + +It must have been a dismal change, even from the barbaric court of +Milan; but Valentina was not a stranger to the consolations which are +ever the reward of those who prove themselves self-sacrificing in the +performance of duty. She was eminently happy in her children. Charles, +her eldest son, early evinced a delicate enthusiasm of mind--the +sensitive organization of genius. He was afterward to become, _par +excellence_, the poet of France. In his childhood he was distinguished +for his amiable disposition and handsome person. Possibly at the time of +which we now write, was laid the foundation of that sincere affection +for his cousin Isabella, eldest daughter of the king, which many years +afterward resulted in their happy union. One of the most touching poems +of Charles of Orleans has been charmingly rendered into English by Mr. +Carey. It is addressed to his deceased wife, who died in child-bed at +the early age of twenty-two. + + "To make my lady's obsequies, + My love a minster wrought, + And in the chantry, service there + Was sung by doleful thought. + The tapers were of burning sighs, + That light and odor gave, + And grief, illumined by tears, + Irradiated her grave; + And round about in quaintest guise + Was carved, 'Within this tomb there lies + The fairest thing to mortal eyes.' + + "Above her lieth spread a tomb, + Of gold and sapphires blue; + The gold doth mark her blessedness, + The sapphires mark her true; + For blessedness and truth in her + Were livelily portray'd, + When gracious God with both his hands + Her wondrous beauty made; + She was, to speak without disguise, + The fairest thing to mortal eyes. + + "No more, no more; my heart doth faint, + When I the life recall + Of her who lived so free from taint, + So virtuous deemed by all; + Who in herself was so complete, + I think that she was ta'en + By God to deck his Paradise, + And with his saints to reign; + For well she doth become the skies, + Whom, while on earth, each one did prize, + The fairest thing to mortal eyes!" + +The same delicate taste and sweet sensibility which are here apparent, +break forth in another charming poem by Charles, composed while a +prisoner in England, and descriptive of the same delightful season that +surrounds us with light and harmony, while we write, "le premier +printemps:" + + "The Time hath laid his mantle by + Of wind, and rain, and icy chill, + And dons a rich embroidery + Of sunlight pour'd on lake and hill. + + "No beast or bird in earth or sky, + Whose voice doth not with gladness thrill; + For Time hath laid his mantle by + Of wind, and rain, and icy dull. + + "River and fountain, brook and rill, + Bespangled o'er with livery gay + Of silver droplets, wind their way. + All in their new apparel vie, + For Time hath laid his mantle by." + +We have said little of Louis of Orleans, the unfaithful husband of +Valentina. This young prince had many redeeming traits of character. He +was generous, liberal, and gracious; adored by the French people; fondly +loved, even by his neglected wife. His tragical death, assassinated in +cold blood by his cousin, Jean-sans-peur of Burgundy, excited in his +behalf universal pity. Let us review the causes which aroused the +vindictive hostility of the Duke of Burgundy, only to be appeased by the +death of his gay and unsuspicious kinsman. + +Among the vain follies of Louis of Orleans, his picture-gallery may be +reckoned the most offensive. Here were suspended the portraits of his +various mistresses; among others he had the audacity to place there the +likeness of the Bavarian princess, wife of Jean-sans-peur. The +resentment of the injured husband may readily be conceived. In addition +to this very natural cause of dislike, these dukes had been rivals for +that political power which the imbecility of Charles the Sixth placed +within their grasp. + +The unamiable elements in the character of the Duke of Burgundy had been +called into active exercise in very early life. While Duke de Nevers, he +was defeated at Nicopolis, and made prisoner by Bajazet, surnamed +"Ilderim," or the Thunderer. What rendered this defeat the more +mortifying was, the boastful expectation of success proclaimed by the +Christian army. "If the sky should fall, we could uphold it on our +lances," they exclaimed, but a few hours before their host was +scattered, and its leaders prisoners to the Moslem. Jean-sans-peur was +detained in captivity until an enormous ransom was paid for his +deliverance. Giovanni-Galeazzo was suspected of connivance with Bajazet, +both in bringing the Christians to fight at a disadvantage, and in +putting the Turks on the way of obtaining the heaviest ransoms. The +splenetic irritation of this disaster seems to have clung long after to +the Duke of Burgundy. His character was quite the reverse of that of his +confiding kinsman of Orleans. He was subtle, ambitious, designing, +crafty--dishonorably resorting to guile, where he dared not venture on +overt acts of hostility. For the various reasons we have mentioned, he +bore a secret but intense hatred to his cousin Louis. + +In the early winter of 1407, the Duke of Orleans, finding his health +impaired, bade a temporary adieu to the capital, and secluded himself in +his favorite chateau of Beaute. He seems to have been previously +awakened to serious reflections. He had passed much of his time at the +convent of the Celestines, who, among their most precious relics, still +reckon the illuminated manuscript of the Holy Scriptures presented to +them by Louis of Orleans, and bearing his autograph. To this order of +monks he peculiarly attached himself, spending most of the time his +approaching death accorded to him. A spectre, in the solitude of the +cloisters, appeared to him, and bade him prepare to stand in the +presence of his Maker. His friends in the convent, to whom he narrated +the occurrence, contributed by their exhortations to deepen the serious +convictions pressing on his mind. There now seemed a reasonable +expectation that Louis of Orleans would return from his voluntary +solitude at his chateau on the Marne, a wiser and a better man, cured, +by timely reflection, of the only blemish which tarnished the lustre of +his many virtues. + +The aged Duke of Berri had long lamented the ill-feeling and hostility +which had separated his nephews of Orleans and Burgundy. It was his +earnest desire to see these discords, so injurious to their true +interests and the well-being of the kingdom, ended by a cordial +reconciliation. He addressed himself to Jean-sans-peur, and met with +unhoped-for success. The Duke of Burgundy professed his willingness to +be reconciled, and acceded with alacrity to his uncle's proposition of a +visit to the invalided Louis. The latter, ever trusting and +warm-hearted, cordially embraced his former enemy. They received the +sacrament together, in token of peace and good-will: the Duke of +Burgundy, accepting the proffered hospitality of his kinsman, promised +to partake of a banquet to be given on this happy occasion by Louis of +Orleans, a few days later. + +During the interval the young duke returned to Paris. His sister-in-law, +Queen Isabeau, was then residing at the Hotel Barbette--a noble palace +in a retired neighborhood, with fine gardens, almost completely +secluded. Louis of Orleans, almost unattended, visited the queen, to +condole with her on the loss of her infant, who had survived its birth +but a few days. While they were supping together, Sas de Courteheuze, +valet-de-chambre to Charles VI., arrived with a message to the duke: "My +lord, the king sends for you, and you must instantly hasten to him, for +he has business of great importance to you and to him, which he must +communicate to you this night." Louis of Orleans, never doubting that +this message came from his brother, hastened to obey the summons. His +inconsiderable escort rendered him an easy prey to the ruffians who lay +in wait for him. He was cruelly murdered; his skull cleft open, the +brains scattered on the pavement; his hand so violently severed from the +body, that it was thrown to a considerable distance; the other arm +shattered in two places; and the body frightfully mangled. About +eighteen were concerned in the murder: Raoul d'Oquetonville and Scas de +Courteheuze acted as leaders. They had long waited for an opportunity, +and lodged at an hotel "having for sign the image of Our Lady," near the +Porte Barbette, where, it was afterward discovered, they had waited for +several days for their victim. Thus perished, in the prime of life, the +gay and handsome Louis of Orleans. The mutilated remains were collected, +and removed to the Church of the Guillemins, the nearest place where +they might be deposited. This confraternity were an order of hermits, +who had succeeded to the church convent of the Blanc Manteax, instituted +by St. Louis. + +The church of the Guillemins was soon crowded by the friends and +relatives of the murdered prince. All concurred in execrating the author +or authors of this horrid deed. Suspicion at first fell upon Sir Aubert +de Canny, who had good reason for hating the deceased duke. Louis of +Orleans, some years previously, had carried off his wife, Marietta +D'Enghein, and kept her openly until she had borne him a son, afterward +the celebrated Dunois. Immediate orders were issued by the king for the +arrest of the Knight of Canny. Great sympathy was felt for the widowed +Valentina, and her young and fatherless children. No one expressed +himself more strongly than the Duke of Burgundy. He sent a kind message +to Valentina, begging her to look on him as a friend and protector. +While contemplating the body of his victim, he said, "Never has there +been committed in the realm of France a fouler murder." His show of +regret did not end here: with the other immediate relatives of the +deceased prince, he bore the pall at the funeral procession. When the +body was removed to the church of the Celestines, there to be interred +in a beautiful chapel Louis of Orleans had himself founded and built, +Burgundy was observed by the spectators to shed tears. But he was +destined soon to assume quite another character, by an almost +involuntary act. The provost of Paris, having traced the flight of the +assassins, had ascertained beyond doubt that they had taken refuge at +the hotel of this very Duke of Burgundy. He presented himself at the +council, and undertook to produce the criminals, if permitted to search +the residences of the princes. Seized with a sudden panic, the Duke of +Burgundy, to the astonishment of all present, became his own accuser: +Pale and trembling, he avowed his guilt: "It was I!" he faltered; "the +devil tempted me!" The other members of the council shrunk back in +undisguised horror. Jean-sans-peur, having made this astounding +confession, left the council-chamber, and started, without a moment's +delay, for the Flemish frontier. He was hotly pursued by the friends of +the murdered Louis; but his measures had been taken with too much prompt +resolution to permit of a successful issue to his Orleanist pursuers. +Once among his subjects of the Low Countries, he might dare the utmost +malice of his opponents. + +In the mean time, the will of the deceased duke was made public. His +character, like Caesar's, rose greatly in the estimation of the citizens, +when the provisions of his last testament were made known. He desired +that he should be buried without pomp in the church of the Celestines, +arrayed in the garb of that order. He was not unmindful of the interests +of literature and science; nor did he forget to make the poor and +suffering the recipients of his bounty. Lastly, he confided his children +to the guardianship of the Duke of Burgundy: thus evincing a spirit +unmindful of injuries, generous, and confiding. This document also +proved, that even in his wild career, Louis of Orleans was at times +visited by better and holier aspirations. + +Valentina mourned over her husband long and deeply; she did not long +survive him; she sunk under her bereavement, and followed him to the +grave ere her year of widowhood expired. At first the intelligence of +his barbarous murder excited in her breast unwonted indignation. She +exerted herself actively to have his death avenged. A few days after the +murder, she entered Paris in "a litter covered with white cloth, and +drawn by four white horses." All her retinue wore deep mourning. She had +assumed for her device the despairing motto: + + "Rien ne m'est plus, + Plus ne m'est rien." + +Proceeding to the Hotel St. Pol, accompanied by her children and the +Princess Isabella, the affianced bride of Charles of Orleans, she threw +herself at the king's knees, and, in a passion of tears, prayed for +justice on the murderer of his brother, her lamented lord. Charles was +deeply moved: he also wept aloud. He would gladly have granted her that +justice which she demanded, had it been in his power to do so; but +Burgundy was too powerful. The feeble monarch dared not offend his +overgrown vassal. A process at law was all the remedy the king could +offer. + +Law was then, as now, a tedious and uncertain remedy, and a rich and +powerful traverser could weary out his prosecutor with delays and +quibbles equal to our own. Jean-sans-peur returned in defiance to Paris +to conduct the proceedings in his own defense. He had erected a strong +tower of solid masonry in his hotel; here he was secure in the midst of +his formidable guards and soldiery. For his defense, he procured the +services of Jean Petit, a distinguished member of the University of +Paris, and a popular orator. The oration of Petit (which has rendered +him infamous), was rather a philippic against Louis of Orleans, than a +defense of Jean-sans-peur. He labors to prove that the prince deserved +to die, having conspired against the king and kingdom. One of the +charges--that of having, by incantations, endeavored to destroy the +monarch--gives us a singular idea of the credulity of the times, when we +reflect that these absurd allegations were seriously made and believed +by a learned doctor, himself a distinguished member of the most learned +body in France, the University of Paris. The Duke of Orleans conspired +"to cause the king, our lord, to die of a disorder, so languishing and +so slow, that no one should divine the cause of it; he, by dint of +money, bribed four persons, an apostate monk, a knight, an esquire, and +a varlet, to whom he gave his own sword, his dagger, and a ring, for +them to consecrate to, or more properly speaking, to make use of, in the +name of the devil," &c. "The monk made several incantations.... And one +grand invocation on a Sunday, very early, and before sunrise on a +mountain near to the tower of Mont-joy.... The monk performed many +superstitious acts near a bush, with invocations to the devil; and while +so doing he stripped himself naked to his shirt and kneeled down: he +then struck the points of the sword and dagger into the ground, and +placed the ring near them. Having uttered many invocations to the +devils, two of them appeared to him in the shape of two men, clothed in +brownish-green, one of whom was called Hermias, and the other Estramain. +He paid them such honors and reverence as were due to God our +Saviour--after which he retired behind the bush. The devil who had come +for the ring took it and vanished, but he who was come for the sword and +dagger remained--but afterward, having seized them, he also vanished. +The monk, shortly after, came to where the devils had been, and found +the sword and dagger lying flat on the ground, the sword having the +point broken--but he saw the point among some powder where the devil had +laid it. Having waited half-an-hour, the other devil returned and gave +him the ring; which to the sight was of the color of red, nearly +scarlet, and said to him: 'Thou wilt put it into the mouth of a dead man +in the manner thou knowest,' and then he vanished." + +To this oration the advocate of the Duchess of Orleans replied at great +length. Valentina's answer to the accusation we have quoted, was concise +and simple. "The late duke, Louis of Orleans, was a prince of too great +piety and virtue to tamper with sorceries and witchcraft." The legal +proceedings against Jean-sans-peur seemed likely to last for an +interminable period. Even should they be decided in favor of the family +of Orleans, the feeble sovereign dared not carry the sentence of the law +into execution against so powerful an offender as the Duke of Burgundy. +Valentina knew this; she knew also that she could not find elsewhere one +who could enforce her claims for justice--justice on the murderer of her +husband--the slayer of the father of her defenseless children. Milan, +the home of her girlhood, was a slaughter-house, reeking with the blood +of her kindred. Five years previously her father, Giovanni-Galeazzo +Visconti, had died of the plague which then desolated Italy. To avoid +this terrible disorder he shut himself up in the town of Marignano, and +amused himself during his seclusion by the study of judicial astrology, +in which science he was an adept. A comet appeared in the sky. The +haughty Visconti doubted not that this phenomenon was an announcement to +him of his approaching death. "I thank God," he cried, "that this +intimation of my dissolution will be evident to all men: my glorious +life will be not ingloriously terminated." The event justified the omen. + +By his second marriage with Katharina Visconti, daughter of his uncle +Bernabos, Giovanni Galeazzo left two sons, still very young, +Giovanni-Maria and Philippo-Maria, among whom his dominions were +divided, their mother acting as guardian and regent. + +All the ferocious characteristics of the Visconti seemed to be centred +in the stepmother of Valentina. The Duchess of Milan delighted in +executions; she beheaded, on the slightest suspicions, the highest +nobles of Lombardy. At length she provoked reprisals, and died the +victim of poison. Giovanni-Maria, nurtured in blood, was the worthy son +of such a mother. His thirst for blood was unquenchable; his favorite +pursuit was to witness the torments of criminals delivered over to +bloodhounds, trained for the purpose, and fed only on human flesh. His +huntsman and favorite, Squarcia Giramo, on one occasion, for the +amusement of his master, threw to them a young boy only twelve years of +age. The innocent child clung to the knees of the duke, and entreated +that he might be preserved from so terrible a fate. The bloodhounds hung +back. Squarcia Giramo seizing the child, with his hunting-knife cut his +throat, and then flung him to the dogs. More merciful than these human +monsters, they refused to touch the innocent victim. + +Facino Cane, one of the ablest generals of the late duke, compelled the +young princes to admit him to their council, and submit to his +management of their affairs; as he was childless himself, he permitted +them to live, stripped of power, and in great penury. To the sorrow and +dismay of the Milanese, they saw this salutary check on the ferocious +Visconti about to be removed by the death of Facino Cane. Determined to +prevent the return to power of the young tyrant, they attacked and +massacred Giovanni-Maria in the streets of Milan. While this tragedy was +enacting, Facino Cane breathed his last. + +Philippo-Maria lost not a moment in causing himself to be proclaimed +duke. To secure the fidelity of the soldiery, he married, without delay, +the widow of their loved commander. Beatrice di Tenda, wife of Facino +Cane, was an old woman, while her young bridegroom was scarcely twenty +years of age: so ill-assorted a union could scarcely be a happy one. +Philippo-Maria, the moment his power was firmly secured, resolved to +free himself from a wife whose many virtues could not compensate for her +want of youth and beauty. The means to which he resorted were atrocious: +he accused the poor old duchess of having violated her marriage vow, and +compelled, by fear of the torture, a young courtier, Michel Orombelli, +to become her accuser. The duke, therefore, doomed them both to be +beheaded. Before the fatal blow of the executioner made her his victim, +Beatrice di Tenda eloquently defended herself from the calumnies of her +husband and the base and trembling Orombelli. "I do not repine," she +said, "for I am justly punished for having violated, by my second +marriage, the respect due to the memory of my deceased husband; I submit +to the chastisement of heaven; I only pray that my innocence may be made +evident to all; and that my name may be transmitted to posterity pure +and spotless." + +Such were the sons of Giovanni-Galeazzo Visconti, the half-brothers of +the gentle Valentina of Orleans. When she sank broken-hearted into an +early grave--her husband unavenged, her children unprotected--she felt +how hopeless it would be to look for succor or sympathy to her father's +house; yet her last moments were passed in peace. Her maternal +solicitude for her defenseless orphans was soothed by the conviction +that they would be guarded and protected by one true and faithful +friend. Their magnanimous and high-minded mother had attached to them, +by ties of affection and gratitude more strong, more enduring than those +of blood, one well fitted by his chivalrous nature and heroic bravery to +defend and shelter the children of his protectress. Dunois--"the young +and brave Dunois"--the bastard of Orleans, as he is generally styled, +was the illegitimate son of her husband. Valentina, far from slighting +the neglected boy, brought him home to her, nurtured and educated him +with her children, cherishing him as if he had indeed, been the son of +her bosom. If the chronicles of the time are to be believed, she loved +him more fondly than her own offspring. "My noble and gallant boy," she +would say to him, "I have been robbed of thee; it is thou that art +destined to be thy father's avenger; wilt thou not, for my sake, who +have loved thee so well, protect and cherish these helpless little +ones?" + +Long years after the death of Valentina the vengeance of heaven did +overtake Jean-sans-peur of Burgundy: he fell the victim of treachery +such as he had inflicted on Louis of Orleans; but the cruel retaliation +was not accomplished through the instrumentality or connivance of the +Orleanists: Dunois was destined to play a far nobler part. The able +seconder of Joan of Arc--the brave defender of Orleans against the +besieging English host--he may rank next to his illustrious +countrywoman, "La Pucelle," as the deliverer of his country from foreign +foes. His bravery in war was not greater than his disinterested devotion +to his half-brothers. Well and nobly did he repay to Valentina, by his +unceasing devotion to her children, her tender care of his early years. +Charles of Orleans, taken prisoner by the English at the fatal battle of +Agincourt, was detained for the greater part of his life in captivity: +his infant children were unable to maintain their rights. Dunois +reconquered for them their hereditary rights, the extensive appanages of +the house of Orleans. They owed every thing to his sincere and watchful +affection. + +Valentina's short life was one of suffering and trial; but she seems to +have issued from the furnace of affliction "purified seven times." In +the midst of a licentious court and age, she shines forth a "pale pure +star." Her spotless fame has never been assailed. Piety, purity, and +goodness, were her distinguishing characteristics. She was ever a +self-sacrificing friend, a tender mother, a loving and faithful wife. +Her gentle endurance of her domestic trials recalls to mind the +character of one who may almost be styled her contemporary, the "patient +Griselda," so immortalized by Chaucer and Boccacio. Valentina adds +another example to the many which history presents for our +contemplation, to show that suffering virtue, sooner or later, meets +with its recompense, even in this life. The broken-hearted Duchess of +Orleans became the ancestress of two lines of French sovereigns, and +through her the kings of France founded their claims to the Duchy of +Milan. Her grandson, Louis the Twelfth, the "father of his people," was +the son of the poet Duke of Orleans. On the extinction of male heirs to +this elder branch, the descendant of her younger son, the Duke of +Angouleme, ascended the throne as Francis the First. Her +great-grand-daughter was the mother of Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara, the +"magnanimo Alfonso" of the poet Tasso. His younger sister, Leonora, will +ever be remembered as the beloved one of the great epic poet of +Italy--the ill-starred Torquato Tasso. + +The mortal remains of Valentina repose at Blois; her heart is buried +with her husband, in the church of the Celestines at Paris. Over the +tomb was placed the following inscription: + + 'Cy gist Loys Duc D'Orleans. + Lequel sur tons duez terriens, + Fut le plus noble en son vivant + Mais ung qui voult aller devant, + Par envye le feist mourir.' + M.N. + + + + +THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS IN NEW ZEALAND. + + +The "Wellington Independent" gives the following account of a recent +expedition made by the Lieutenant-Governor to the Middle Island: After +leaving the Wairau, having traversed the Kaparatehau district, his +Excellency and his attendants reached the snowy mountains to the +southward, about four short days' journey from the Wairau, and encamped +at the foot of the Tapuenuko mountain, which they ascended. Previously +to starting into the pass which is supposed to exist between the Wairau +and Port Cooper plains, his Excellency ascended the great snowy mountain +which forms the principal peak of the Kaikoras, and which attains an +elevation of at least 9000 feet, the upper part being heavily covered +with snow to a great depth. He succeeded in reaching the top of the +mountain, but so late as to be unable to push on to the southern edge of +the summit, when an extensive view southwards would have been obtained. +In returning, a steep face of the hill (little less than perpendicular), +down which hung a bed of frozen snow, had to be crossed for a +considerable distance. Mr. Eyre, who had led the party up the dangerous +ascent, was in advance with one native, the others being 200 feet before +and behind him, on the same perpendicular of the snow. He heard a cry, +and looking round, saw Wiremu Hoeta falling down the precipice, pitching +from ledge to ledge, and rolling over and over in the intervals, till he +fell dead, and no doubt smashed to pieces at a depth below of about 1500 +feet, where his body could be seen in a sort of ravine, but where it was +impossible to get at it. His Excellency narrowly escaped from similar +destruction, having lost both feet from under him, and only saving +himself by the use of an iron-shod pole which he carried. Another of the +natives had a still narrower escape, having actually fallen about +fifteen yards, when he succeeded in clutching a rock and saving himself. +The gloom which this unfortunate event caused, and the uncertainty of +crossing the rivers while the snows are melting, induced his Excellency +to return. + + + + +GENIUS. + + +Self-communion and solitude are its daily bread; for what is genius but +a great and strongly-marked individuality--but an original creative +being, standing forth alone amidst the undistinguishable throng of our +everyday world? Genius is a lonely power; it is not communicative; it is +not the gift of a crowd; it is not a reflection cast from without upon +the soul. It is essentially an inward light, diffusing its clear and +glorious radiance over the external world. It is a broad flood, pouring +freely forth its deep waters; but with its source forever hidden from +human ken. It is the creator, not the creature it calls forth glorious +and immortal shapes; but it is called into being by none--save +GOD.--_Women in France during the Eighteenth Century._ + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +FRANCIS JEFFREY. + + +Jeffrey was a year younger than Scott, whom he outlived eighteen years, +and with whose career his own had some points of resemblance. They came +of the same middle-class stock, and had played together as lads in the +High School "yard" before they met as advocates in the Court of Session. +The fathers of both were connected with that court; and from childhood, +both were devoted to the law. But Scott's boyish infirmity imprisoned +him in Edinburgh, while Jeffrey was let loose to Glasgow University, and +afterward passed up to Queen's College, Oxford. The boys, thus +separated, had no remembrance of having previously met, when they saw +each other at the Speculative Society in 1791. + +The Oxford of that day suited Jeffrey ill. It suited few people well who +cared for any thing but cards and claret. Southey, who came just after +him, tells us that the Greek he took there he left there, nor ever +passed such unprofitable months; and Lord Malmesbury, who had been there +but a little time before him, wonders how it was that so many men should +make their way in the world creditably, after leaving a place that +taught nothing but idleness and drunkenness. But Jeffrey was not long +exposed to its temptations. He left after the brief residence of a +single term; and what in after life he remembered most vividly in +connection with it, seems to have been the twelve days' hard traveling +between Edinburgh and London, which preceded his entrance at Queen's. +Some seventy years before, another Scotch lad, on his way to become yet +more famous in literature and law, had taken nearly as many weeks to +perform the same journey; but, between the schooldays of Mansfield and +of Jeffrey, the world had not been resting. + +It was enacting its greatest modern incident, the first French +Revolution, when the young Scotch student returned to Edinburgh and +changed his College gown for that of the advocate. Scott had the start +of him in the Court of Session by two years, and had become rather +active and distinguished in the Speculative Society before Jeffrey +joined it. When the latter, then a lad of nineteen, was introduced (one +evening in 1791), he observed a heavy-looking young man officiating as +secretary, who sat solemnly at the bottom of the table in a huge woolen +night-cap, and who, before the business of the night began, rose from +his chair, and, with imperturbable gravity seated on as much of his face +as was discernible from the wrappings of the "portentous machine" that +enveloped it, apologized for having left home with a bad toothache. This +was his quondam schoolfellow Scott. Perhaps Jeffrey was pleased with the +mingled enthusiasm for the speculative, and regard for the practical, +implied in the woolen nightcap; or perhaps he was interested by the +Essay on Ballads which the hero of the nightcap read in the course of +the evening: but before he left the meeting he sought an introduction to +Mr. Walter Scott, and they were very intimate for many years afterward. + +The Speculative Society dealt with the usual subjects of elocution and +debate prevalent in similar places then and since; such as, whether +there ought to be an Established Religion, and whether the Execution of +Charles I. was justifiable, and if Ossian's poems were authentic? It was +not a fraternity of speculators by any means of an alarming or dangerous +sort. John Allen and his friends, at this very time, were spouting forth +active sympathy for French Republicanism at Fortune's Tavern under +immediate and watchful superintendence of the Police; James Mackintosh +was parading the streets with Horne Tooke's colors in his hat; James +Montgomery was expiating in York jail his exulting ballad on the fall of +the Bastile; and Southey and Coleridge, in despair of old England, had +completed the arrangements of their youthful colony for a community of +property, and proscription of every thing selfish, on the banks of the +Susquehanna; but the speculative orators rarely probed the sores of the +body politic deeper than an inquiry into the practical advantages of +belief in a future state? and whether it was for the interest of Britain +to maintain the balance of Europe? or if knowledge could be too much +disseminated among the lower ranks of the people? + +In short, nothing of the extravagance of the time, on either side, is +associable with the outset of Jeffrey's career. As little does he seem +to have been influenced, on the one hand, by the democratic foray of +some two hundred convention delegates into Edinburgh in 1792, as, on the +other, by the prominence of his father's name to a protest of frantic +high-tory defiance; and he was justified, not many years since, in +referring with pride to the fact that, at the opening of his public +life, his view of the character of the first French revolution, and of +its probable influence on other countries, had been such as to require +little modification during the whole of his subsequent career. The +precision and accuracy of his judgment had begun to show itself thus +early. At the crude young Jacobins, so soon to ripen into Quarterly +Reviewers, who were just now coquetting with Mary Woolstonecraft, or +making love to the ghost of Madame Roland, or branding as worthy of the +bowstring the tyrannical enormities of Mr. Pitt, he could afford to +laugh from the first. From the very first he had the strongest liberal +tendencies, but restrained them so wisely that he could cultivate them +well. + +He joined the band of youths who then sat at the feet of Dugald Stewart, +and whose first incentive to distinction in the more difficult paths of +knowledge, as well as their almost universal adoption of the liberal +school of politics, are in some degree attributable to the teaching of +that distinguished man. Among them were Brougham and Homer, who had +played together from boyhood in Edinburgh streets, had joined the +Speculative on the same evening six years after Jeffrey (who in Brougham +soon found a sharp opponent on colonial and other matters), and were +still fast friends. Jeffrey's father, raised to a deputy clerk of +session, now lived on a third or fourth flat in Buchanan's Court in the +Lawn Market, where the worthy old gentleman kept two women servants and +a man at livery; but where the furniture does not seem to have been of +the soundest. This fact his son used to illustrate by an anecdote of the +old gentleman eagerly setting to at a favorite dinner one day, with the +two corners of the table cloth tied round his neck to protect his +immense professional frills, when the leg of his chair gave way, and he +tumbled back on the floor with all the dishes, sauces, and viands a-top +of him. Father and son lived here together, till the latter took for his +first wife the daughter of the Professor of Hebrew in the University of +St. Andrew, and moved to an upper story in another part of town. He had +been called to the bar in 1794, and was married eight years afterward. +He had not meanwhile obtained much practice, and the elevation implied +in removal to an upper flat is not of the kind that a young Benedict +covets. But distinction of another kind was at length at hand. + +One day early in 1802, "in the eighth or ninth story or flat in +Buccleugh Place, the elevated residence of the then Mr. Jeffrey," Mr. +Jeffrey had received a visit from Horner and Sydney Smith, when Sydney, +at this time a young English curate temporarily resident in Edinburgh, +preaching, teaching, and joking with a flow of wit, humanity, and sense +that fascinated every body, started the notion of the Edinburgh Review. +The two Scotchmen at once voted the Englishman its editor, and the +notion was communicated to John Archibald Murray (Lord Advocate after +Jeffrey, long years afterward), John Allen (then lecturing on medical +subjects at the University, but who went abroad before he could render +any essential service), and Alexander Hamilton (afterward Sanscrit +professor at Haileybury). This was the first council; but it was +extended, after a few days, till the two Thomsons (John and Thomas, the +physician and the advocate), Thomas Brown (who succeeded to Dugald +Stewart's chair), and Henry Brougham, were admitted to the +deliberations. Horner's quondam playfellow was an ally too potent to be +obtained without trouble; and, even thus early, had not a few +characteristics in common with the Roman statesman and orator whom it +was his greatest ambition in after life to resemble, and of whom +Shakspeare has told us that he never followed any thing that other men +began. + +"You remember how cheerfully Brougham approved of our plan at first," +wrote Jeffrey to Horner, in April, in the thick of anxious preparations +for the start, "and agreed to give us an article or two without +hesitation. Three or four days ago I proposed two or three books that I +thought would suit him; when he answered with perfect good humor, that +he had changed his view of our plan a little, and rather thought now +that he should decline to have any connection with it." This little +coquetry was nevertheless overcome; and before the next six months were +over, Brougham had become an efficient and zealous member of the band. + +It is curious to see how the project hung fire at first. Jeffrey had +nearly finished four articles, Horner had partly written four, and more +than half the number was printed; and yet well-nigh the other half had +still to be written. The memorable fasciculus at last appeared in +November, after a somewhat tedious gestation of nearly ten months; +having been subject to what Jeffrey calls so "miserable a state of +backwardness" and so many "symptoms of despondency," that Constable had +to delay the publication some weeks beyond the day first fixed. Yet as +early as April had Sydney Smith completed more than half of what he +contributed, while nobody else had put pen to paper; and shortly after +the number appeared, he was probably not sorry to be summoned, with his +easy pen and his cheerful wit, to London, and to abandon the cares of +editorship to Jeffrey. + +No other choice could have been made. The first number settled the +point. It is easy to discover that Jeffrey's estimation in Edinburgh had +not, up to this time, been in any just proportion to his powers; and +that, even with those who knew him best, his playful and sportive fancy +sparkled too much to the surface of his talk to let them see the grave, +deep currents that ran underneath. Every one now read with surprise the +articles attributed to him. Sydney had yielded him the place of honor, +and he had vindicated his right to it. He had thrown out a new and +forcible style of criticism, with a fearless, unmisgiving, and +unhesitating courage. Objectors might doubt or cavil at the opinions +expressed; but the various and comprehensive knowledge, the subtle, +argumentative genius the brilliant and definite expression, there was no +disputing or denying. A fresh, and startling power was about to make +itself felt in literature. + +"Jeffrey," said his most generous fellow laborer, a few days after the +Review appeared, "is the person who will derive most honor from this +publication, as his articles in this number are generally known, and are +incomparably the best; I have received the greater pleasure from this +circumstance, because the genius of that little man has remained almost +unknown to all but his most intimate acquaintances. His manner is not at +first pleasing; what is worse, it is of that cast which almost +irresistibly impresses upon strangers the idea of levity and superficial +talents. Yet there is not any man, whose real character is so much the +reverse; he has, indeed, a very sportive and playful fancy, but it is +accompanied with an extensive and varied information, with a readiness +of apprehension almost intuitive, with judicious and calm discernment, +with a profound and penetrating understanding." This confident passage +from a private journal of the 20th November, 1802 may stand as a +remarkable monument of the prescience of Francis Horner. + +Yet it was also the opinion of this candid and sagacious man that he and +his fellows had not gained much character by that first number of the +Review. As a set-off to the talents exhibited, he spoke of the +severity--of what, in some of the papers, might be called the +scurrility--as having given general dissatisfaction; and he predicted +that they would have to soften their tone, and be more indulgent to +folly and bad taste. Perhaps it is hardly thus that the objection should +have been expressed. It is now, after the lapse of nearly half a +century, admitted on all hands that the tone adopted by these young +Edinburgh reviewers was in some respects extremely indiscreet; and that +it was not simply folly and bad taste, but originality and genius, that +had the right to more indulgence at their hands. When Lord Jeffrey +lately collected Mr. Jeffrey's critical articles, he silently dropped +those very specimens of his power which by their boldness of view, +severity of remark, and vivacity of expression, would still as of old +have attracted the greatest notice; and preferred to connect with his +name, in the regard of such as might hereafter take interest in his +writings, only those papers which, by enforcing what appeared to him +just principles and useful opinions, he hoped might have a tendency to +make men happier and better. Somebody said by way of compliment of the +early days of the Scotch Review, that it made reviewing more respectable +than authorship; and the remark, though essentially the reverse of a +compliment, exhibits with tolerable accuracy the general design of the +work at its outset. Its ardent young reviewers took a somewhat too +ambitious stand above the literature they criticised. "To all of us," +Horner ingenuously confessed, "it is only matter of temporary amusement +and subordinate occupation." + +Something of the same notion was in Scott's thoughts when, smarting from +a severe but not unjust or ungenerous review of Marmion, he said that +Jeffrey loved to see imagination best when it is bitted and managed, and +ridden upon the _grand pas_. He did not make sufficient allowance for +starts and sallies and bounds, when Pegasus was beautiful to behold, +though sometimes perilous to his rider. He would have had control of +horse as well as rider, Scott complained, and made himself master of the +menage to both. But on the other hand this was often very possible; and +nothing could then be conceived more charming than the earnest, playful, +delightful way in which his comments adorned and enriched the poets he +admired. Hogarth is not happier in Charles Lamb's company, than is the +homely vigor and genius of Crabbe under Jeffrey's friendly leading; he +returned fancy for fancy to Moore's exuberance, and sparkled with a wit +as keen; he "tamed his wild heart" to the loving thoughtfulness of +Rogers, his scholarly enthusiasm, his pure and vivid pictures; with the +fiery energy and passionate exuberance of Byron, his bright, courageous +spirit broke into earnest sympathy; for the clear and stirring strains +of Campbell he had an ever lively and liberal response; and Scott, in +the midst of many temptations to the exercise of severity never ceased +to awaken the romance and generosity of his nature. + +His own idea of the more grave critical claims put forth by him in his +early days, found expression in later life. He had constantly +endeavored, he said, to combine ethical precepts with literary +criticism. He had earnestly sought to impress his readers with a sense, +both of the close connection between sound intellectual attainments, and +the higher elements of duty and enjoyment; and of the just and ultimate +subordination of the former to the latter. Nor without good reason did +he take this praise to himself. The taste which Dugald Stewart had +implanted in him, governed him more than any other at the outset of his +career; and may often have contributed not a little, though quite +unconsciously, to lift the aspiring young metaphysician somewhat too +ambitiously above the level of the luckless author summoned to his +judgment seat. Before the third year of the review had opened, he had +broken a spear in the lists of metaphysical philosophy even with his old +tutor, and with Jeremy Bentham, both in the maturity of their fame; he +had assailed, with equal gallantry, the opposite errors of Priestley and +Reid; and, not many years later, he invited his friend Alison to a +friendly contest, from which the fancies of that amiable man came out +dulled by a superior brightness, by more lively, varied, and animated +conceptions of beauty, and by a style which recommended a more than +Scotch soberness of doctrine with a more than French vivacity of +expression. + +For it is to be said of Jeffrey, that when he opposed himself to +enthusiasm, he did so in the spirit of an enthusiast; and that this had +a tendency to correct such critical mistakes as he may occasionally have +committed. And as of him, so of his Review. In professing to go deeply +into the _principles_ on which its judgments were to be rested, as well +as to take large and original views of all the important question to +which those works might relate--it substantially succeeded, as Jeffrey +presumed to think it had done, in familiarizing the public mind with +higher speculations, and sounder and larger views of the great objects +of human pursuit; as well as in permanently raising the standard, and +increasing the influence, of all such occasional writings far beyond the +limits of Great Britain. + +Nor let it be forgotten that the system on which Jeffrey established +relations between his writers and publishers has been of the highest +value as a precedent in such matters, and has protected the independence +and dignity of a later race of reviewers. He would never receive an +unpaid-for contribution. He declined to make it the interest of the +proprietors to prefer a certain class of contributors. The payment was +ten guineas a sheet at first, and rose gradually to double that sum, +with increase on special occasions; and even when rank or other +circumstances made remuneration a matter of perfect indifference, +Jeffrey insisted that it should nevertheless be received. The Czar +Peter, when working in the trenches, he was wont to say, received pay as +a common soldier. Another principle which he rigidly carried out, was +that of a thorough independence of publishing interests. The Edinburgh +Review was never made in any manner tributary to particular bookselling +schemes. It assailed or supported with equal vehemence or heartiness the +productions of Albemarle-street and Paternoster-row. "I never asked such +a thing of him but once," said the late Mr. Constable, describing an +attempt to obtain a favorable notice from his obdurate editor, "and I +assure you the result was no encouragement to repeat such petitions." +The book was Scott's edition of Swift; and the result one of the +bitterest attacks on the popularity of Swift, in one of Jeffrey's most +masterly criticisms. + +He was the better able thus to carry his point, because against more +potent influences he had already taken a decisive stand. It was not till +six years after the Review was started that Scott remonstrated with +Jeffrey on the virulence of its party politics. But much earlier even +than this, the principal proprietors had made the same complaint; had +pushed their objections to the contemplation of Jeffrey's surrender of +the editorship; and had opened negotiations with writers known to be +bitterly opposed to him. To his honor, Southey declined these overtures, +and advised a compromise of the dispute. Some of the leading Whigs +themselves were discontented, and Horner had appealed to him from the +library of Holland House. Nevertheless, Jeffrey stood firm. He carried +the day against Paternoster-row, and unassailably established the +all-important principle of a perfect independence of his publishers' +control. He stood as resolute against his friend Scott; protesting that +on one leg, and the weakest, the Review could not and should not stand, +for that its _right leg_ he knew to be politics. To Horner he replied, +by carrying the war into the Holland House country with inimitable +spirit and cogency. "Do, for Heaven's sake, let your Whigs do something +popular and effective this session. Don't you see the nation is now +divided into two, and only two parties; and that _between_ these stand +the Whigs, utterly inefficient, and incapable of ever becoming +efficient, if they will still maintain themselves at an equal distance +from both. You must lay aside a great part of your aristocratic +feelings, and side with the most respectable and sane of the democrats." + +The vigorous wisdom of the advice was amply proved by subsequent events, +and its courage nobody will doubt who knows any thing of what Scotland +was at the time. In office, if not in intellect, the Tories were +supreme. A single one of the Dundases named the sixteen Scots peers, and +forty-three of the Scots commoners; nor was it an impossible farce, that +the sheriff of a county should be the only freeholder present at the +election of a member to represent it in Parliament, should as freeholder +vote himself chairman, should as chairman receive the oaths and the writ +for himself as sheriff, should as chairman and sheriff sign them, should +propose himself as candidate, declare himself elected, dictate and sign +the minutes of election, make the necessary indenture between the +various parties represented solely by himself, transmit it to the +Crown-office, and take his seat by the same night's mail to vote with +Mr. Addington! We must recollect such things, when we would really +understand the services of such men as Jeffrey. We must remember the +evil and injustice he so strenuously labored to remove, and the cost at +which his labor was given. We must bear in mind that he had to face day +by day, in the exercise of his profession, the very men most interested +in the abuses actively assailed, and keenly resolved, as far as +possible, to disturb and discredit their assailant. "Oh, Mr. Smith," +said Lord Stowell to Sydney, "you would have been a much richer man if +you had come over to us!" This was in effect the sort of thing said to +Jeffrey daily in the Court of Session, and disregarded with generous +scorn. What it is to an advocate to be on the deaf side of "the ear of +the Court," none but an advocate can know; and this, with Jeffrey, was +the twenty-five years' penalty imposed upon him for desiring to see the +Catholics emancipated, the consciences of dissenters relieved, the +barbarism of jurisprudence mitigated, and the trade in human souls +abolished. + +The Scotch Tories died hard. Worsted in fair fight they resorted to +foul; and among the publications avowedly established for personal +slander of their adversaries, a pre-eminence so infamous was obtained by +the Beacon, that it disgraced the cause irretrievably. Against this +malignant libeler Jeffrey rose in the Court of Session again and again, +and the result of its last prosecution showed the power of the party +represented by it thoroughly broken. The successful advocate, at length +triumphant even in that Court over the memory of his talents and virtues +elsewhere, had now forced himself into the front rank of his profession; +and they who listened to his advocacy found it even more marvelous than +his criticism, for power, versatility, and variety. Such rapidity yet +precision of thought, such volubility yet clearness of utterance, left +all competitors behind. Hardly any subject could be so indifferent or +uninviting, that this teeming and fertile intellect did not surround it +with a thousand graces of allusion, illustration, and fanciful +expression. He might have suggested Butler's hero, + + "--who could not ope + His mouth but out there flew a trope," + +with the difference that each trope flew to its proper mark, each fancy +found its place in the dazzling profusion, and he could at all times, +with a charming and instinctive ease, put the nicest restraints and +checks on his glowing velocity of declamation. A worthy Glasgow +baillie, smarting under an adverse verdict obtained by these facilities +of speech, could find nothing so bitter to advance against the speaker +as a calculation made with the help of Johnson's Dictionary, to the +effect that Mr. Jeffrey, in the course of a few hours, had spoken the +whole English language twice over! + +But the Glasgow baillie made little impression on his fellow citizens; +and from Glasgow came the first public tribute to Jeffrey's now achieved +position, and legal as well as literary fame. He was elected Lord Rector +of the University in 1821 and 1822. Some seven or eight years previously +he had married the accomplished lady who survives him, a grand-niece of +the celebrated Wilkes; and had purchased the lease of the villa near +Edinburgh which he occupied to the time of his death, and whose romantic +woods and grounds will long be associated with his name. At each step of +his career a new distinction now awaited him, and with every new +occasion his unflagging energies seemed to rise and expand. He never +wrote with such masterly success for his Review as when his whole time +appeared to be occupied with criminal prosecutions, with contested +elections, with journeyings from place to place, with examinings and +cross-examinings, with speeches, addresses, exhortations, denunciations. +In all conditions and on all occasions, a very atmosphere of activity +was around him. Even as he sat, apparently still, waiting to address a +jury or amaze a witness, it made a slow man nervous to look at him. Such +a flush of energy vibrated through that delicate frame, such rapid and +never ceasing thought played on those thin lips, such restless flashes +of light broke from those kindling eyes. You continued to look at him, +till his very silence acted as a spell; and it ceased to be difficult to +associate with his small but well-knit figure even the giant-like labors +and exertions of this part of his astonishing career. + +At length, in 1829, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates; and +thinking it unbecoming that the official head of a great law corporation +should continue the editing of a party organ, he surrendered the +management of the Edinburgh Review. In the year following, he took +office with the Whigs as Lord Advocate, and replaced Sir James Scarlett +in Lord Fitzwilliam's borough of Malton. In the next memorable year he +contested his native city against a Dundas; not succeeding in his +election, but dealing the last heavy blow to his opponent's sinking +dynasty. Subsequently he took his seat as Member for Perth, introduced +and carried the Scotch Reform bill, and in the December of 1832 was +declared member for Edinburgh. He had some great sorrows at this time to +check and alloy his triumphs. Probably no man had gone through a life of +eager conflict and active antagonism with a heart so sensitive to the +gentler emotions, and the deaths of Mackintosh and Scott affected him +deeply. He had had occasion, during the illness of the latter, to +allude to him in the House of Commons; and he did this with so much +beauty and delicacy, with such manly admiration of the genius and modest +deference to the opinions of his great Tory friend, that Sir Robert Peel +made a journey across the floor of the house to thank him cordially for +it. + +The House of Commons nevertheless was not his natural element, and when, +in 1834, a vacancy in the Court of Session invited him to his due +promotion, he gladly accepted the dignified and honorable office so +nobly earned by his labors and services. He was in his sixty-second year +at the time of his appointment, and he continued for nearly sixteen +years the chief ornament of the Court in which he sat. In former days +the judgment-seats in Scotland had not been unused to the graces of +literature; but in Jeffrey these were combined with an acute and +profound knowledge of law less usual in that connection; and also with +such a charm of demeanor, such a play of fancy and wit sobered to the +kindliest courtesies, such clear sagacity, perfect freedom from bias, +consideration for all differences of opinion; and integrity, +independence, and broad comprehensiveness of view in maintaining his +own; that there has never been but one feeling as to his judicial +career. Universal veneration and respect attended it. The speculative +studies of his youth had done much to soften all the asperities of his +varied and vigorous life, and now, at its close, they gave to his +judgments a large reflectiveness of tone, a moral beauty of feeling, and +a philosophy of charity and good taste, which have left to his +successors in that Court of Session no nobler models for imitation and +example. Impatience of dullness _would_ break from him, now and then; +and the still busy activity of his mind might be seen as he rose often +suddenly from his seat, and paced up and down before it; but in his +charges or decisions nothing of this feeling was perceptible, except +that lightness and grace of expression in which his youth seemed to +linger to the last, and a quick sensibility to emotion and enjoyment +which half concealed the ravages of time. + +If such was the public estimation of this great and amiable man, to the +very termination of his useful life, what language should describe the +charm of his influence in his private and domestic circle? The +affectionate pride with which every citizen of Edinburgh regarded him +rose here to a kind of idolatry. For here the whole man was known--his +kind heart, his open hand, his genial talk, his ready sympathy, his +generous encouragement and assistance to all that needed it. The first +passion of his life was its last, and never was the love of literature +so bright within him as at the brink of the grave. What dims and deadens +the impressibility of most men, had rendered his not only more acute and +fresh, but more tributary to calm satisfaction, and pure enjoyment. He +did not live merely in the past as age is wont to do, but drew delight +from every present manifestation of worth, or genius, from whatever +quarter it addressed him. His vivid pleasure where his interest was +awakened, his alacrity and eagerness of appreciation, the fervor of his +encouragement and praise, have animated the hopes and relieved the toil +alike of the successful and the unsuccessful, who can not hope, through +whatever checkered future may await them, to find a more, generous +critic, a more profound adviser, a more indulgent friend. + +The present year opened upon Francis Jeffrey with all hopeful promise. +He had mastered a severe illness, and resumed his duties with his +accustomed cheerfulness; private circumstances had more than ordinarily +interested him in his old Review; and the memory of past friends, giving +yet greater strength to the affection that surrounded him, was busy at +his heart. "God bless you!" he wrote to Sydney Smith's widow on the +night of the 18th of January; "I am very old, and have many infirmities; +but I am tenacious of old friendships, and find much of my present +enjoyments in the recollections of the past." He sat in Court the next +day, and on the Monday and Tuesday of the following week, with his +faculties and attention unimpaired. On the Wednesday he had a slight +attack of bronchitis; on Friday, symptoms of danger appeared; and on +Saturday he died, peacefully and without pain. Few men had completed +with such consummate success the work appointed them in this world; few +men had passed away to a better with more assured hopes of their reward. +The recollection of his virtues sanctifies his fame; and his genius will +never cease to awaken the gratitude, respect, and pride of his +countrymen. + +HAIL AND FAREWELL! + + + + +METAL IN SEA-WATER. + + +The French _savans_, MM. Malaguti, Derocher, and Sarzeaud, announce that +they have detected in the waters of the ocean the presence of copper, +lead, and silver. The water examined appears to have been taken some +leagues off the coast of St. Malo, and the fucoidal plants of that +district are also found to contain silver. The _F. serratus_ and the _F. +ceramoides_ yielded ashes containing 1-100,000th, while the water of the +sea contained but little more than 1-100,000,000th. They state also that +they find silver in sea-salt, in ordinary muriatic acid, and in the soda +of commerce; and that they have examined the rock-salt of Lorraine, in +which also they discover this metal. Beyond this, pursuing their +researches on terrestrial plants, they have obtained such indications as +leave no doubt of the existence of silver in vegetable tissues. Lead is +said to be always found in the ashes of marine plants, usually about an +18-100,000th part, and invariably a trace of copper. Should these +results be confirmed by further examination, we shall have advanced +considerably toward a knowledge of the phenomena of the formation of +mineral veins.--_Athenaeum._ + + + + +[From Bentley's Miscellany.] + +DR. JOHNSON: HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE, AND HIS DEATH. + + +The title is a captivating one, and will allure many, but it very feebly +expresses the contents of the volume, which brings under our observation +the religious opinions of scores upon scores of other men, and is +enriched with numerous anecdotes of the contemporaries of the great +lexicographer. The book, indeed, may be considered as a condensation of +all that was known and recorded of Dr. Johnson's practice and experience +of religion from his youth to his death; of its powerful influence over +him through many years of his life--of the nature of his faith, and of +its fruits in his works; but there is added to this so much that is +excellent of other people--the life of the soul is seen in so many other +characters--so many subjects are introduced that are more or less +intimately connected with that to which the title refers, and all are so +admirably blended together, and interwoven with the excellent remarks of +the author, as to justify us in saying of the book, that it is one of +the most edifying and really useful we have for years past met with. + +It has often been our lot to see the sneers of beardless boys at the +mention of religion, and to hear the titter of the empty-headed when +piety was spoken of, and we always then thought of the profound awe with +which the mighty mind of Dr. Johnson was impressed by such subjects--of +his deep humiliation of soul when he reflected upon his duties and +responsibilities--and of his solemn and reverential manner when religion +became the topic of discourse, or the subject of his thoughts. His +intellect, one of the grandest that was ever given to man, humbled +itself to the very dust before the Giver; the very superiority of his +mental powers over those of other men, made him but feel himself the +less in his own sight, when he reflected from whom he had his being, and +to whom he must render an account of the use he made of the vast +intellectual powers he possessed. + +But the religion of Dr. Johnson consisted not in deep feeling only, nor +in much talking nor professing, but was especially distinguished by its +practical benevolence; when he possessed but two-pence, one penny was +always at the service of any one who had nothing at all; his poor house +was an asylum for the poor, a home for the destitute; there, for months +and years together, he sheltered and supported the needy and the blind, +at a time when his utmost efforts could do no more than provide bare +support for them and himself. Those whom he loved not he would +serve--those whom he esteemed not he would give to, and labor for, and +devote the best powers of his pen to help and to benefit. + +The cry of distress, the appeal of the afflicted, was irresistible with +him--no matter whatever else pressed upon him--whatever literary calls +were urging him--or however great the need of the daily toil for the +daily bread--all was abandoned till the houseless were sheltered, till +the hungry were fed, and the defenseless were protected; and it would be +difficult to name any of all Dr. Johnson's contemporaries--he in all his +poverty, and they in all their abundance--in whose lives such proofs +could be found of the most enlarged charity and unwearied benevolence. + +But the book treats of so many subjects, of so much that is connected +with religion in general, and with the Church of England in particular, +that we can really do no more than refer our readers to the volume +itself; with the assurance that they will find in it much useful and +agreeable information on all those many matters which are connected in +these times with Church interests, and which are more or less +influencing all classes of the religious public. + +The author writes freely, and with great power; he argues ably, and +discusses liberally all the points of religious controversy, and a very +delightful volume is the result of his labors. It must do good, it must +please and improve the mind, as well as delight the heart of all who +read it. Indeed, no one not equal to the work could have ventured upon +it without lasting disgrace had he failed in it; a dissertation upon the +faith and morals of a man whose fame has so long filled the world, and +in whose writings so much of his religious feelings are displayed, and +so much of his spiritual life is unvailed, must be admirably written to +receive any favor from the public; and we think that the author has so +ably done what he undertook to do, that that full measure of praise will +be awarded to him, which in our judgment he deserves. + +A perusal of this excellent work reminds us of the recent sale of some +letters and documents of Dr. Johnson from Mr. Linnecar's collection. The +edifying example of this good and great man, so well set forth in the +present volume, is fully borne out in an admirable prayer composed by +Dr. Johnson, a few months before his death, the original copy of which +was here disposed of. For the gratification of the reader, we may be +allowed to give the following brief abstract of the contents of these +papers: + + "To DAVID GARRICK. + "Streatham, December 13, 1771. + + "I have thought upon your epitaph, but without much effect; an + epitaph is no easy thing. Of your three stanzas, the third is + utterly unworthy of you. The first and third together give no + discriminative character. If the first alone were to stand, + Hogarth would not be distinguished from any other man of + intellectual eminence. Suppose you worked upon something like + this: + + "The hand of Art here torpid lies, + That traced th' essential form of grace, + Here death has clos'd the curious eyes + That saw the manners in the face. + If genius warm thee, Reader, stay, + If merit touch thee, shed a tear, + Be Vice and Dullness far away, + Great Hogarth's honor'd dust is here." + + "To DR. FARMER. + "Bolt Court, July 22d, 1777. + + "The booksellers of London have undertaken a kind of body of + English Poetry, excluding generally the dramas, and I have + undertaken to put before each author's works a sketch of his + life, and a character of his writings. Of some, however, I know + very little, and am afraid I shall not easily supply my + deficiencies. Be pleased to inform me whether among Mr. Burke's + manuscripts, or any where else at Cambridge any materials are to + be found." + + "To OZIAS HUMPHREY. + "May 31st, 1784. + + "I am very much obliged by your civilities to my godson, and must + beg of you to add to them the favor of permitting him to see you + paint, that he may know how a picture is begun, advanced and + completed. If he may attend you in a few of your operations, I + hope he will show that the benefit has been properly conferred, + both by his proficiency and his gratitude." + +The following beautiful prayer is dated Ashbourne, Sept. 18, 1784: + + "Make me truly thankful for the call by which Thou hast awakened + my conscience and summoned me to repentance. Let not Thy call, O + Lord, be forgotten, or Thy summons neglected, but let the residue + of my life, whatever it shall be, be passed in true contrition, + and diligent obedience. Let me repent of the sins of my past + life, and so keep Thy laws for the time to come, that when it + shall be Thy good pleasure to call me to another state, I may + find mercy in Thy sight. Let Thy Holy Spirit support me in the + hour of death, and, O Lord, grant me pardon in the day of + Judgment." + +Besides the above, Dr. Johnson's celebrated letter to the author of +"Ossian's Poems," in which he says, "I will not be deterred from +detecting what I think to be a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian," was +sold at this sale for twelve guineas. + + + + +SONETTO. + +FROM THE ITALIAN OF BENEDETTO MENZINI. + + + I planted once a laurel tree, + And breathed to heaven an humble vow + That Phoebus' favorite it might be, + And shade and deck a poet's brow! + I prayed to Zephyr that his wing, + Descending through the April sky, + Might wave the boughs in early spring + And brush rude Boreas frowning by. + And slowly Phoebus heard the prayer, + And slowly, slowly, grew the tree, + And others sprang more fast and fair, + Yet marvel not that this should be; + For tardier still the growth of Fame-- + And who is _he_ the crown may claim? + + ETA + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +A CHILD'S DREAM OF A STAR. + + +There was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought +of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and his +constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered +at the beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the height and blueness +of the sky; they wondered at the depth of the bright water; they +wondered at the goodness and the power of God who made the lovely world. + +They used to say to one another, sometimes, Supposing all the children +upon earth were to die, would the flowers, and the water, and the sky be +sorry? They believed they would be sorry. For, said they, the buds are +the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol +down the hill-sides are the children of the water; and the smallest +bright specks, playing at hide and seek in the sky all night, must +surely be the children of the stars; and they would all be grieved to +see their playmates, the children of men, no more. + +There was one clear, shining star that used to come out in the sky +before the rest, near the church spire, above the graves. It was larger +and more beautiful, they thought, than all the others, and every night +they watched for it, standing hand in hand at a window. Whoever saw it +first, cried out, "I see the star!" And often they cried out both +together, knowing so well when it would rise, and where. So they grew to +be such friends with it, that, before lying down in their beds, they +always looked out once again, to bid it good night; and when they were +turning round to sleep, they used to say, "God bless the star!" + +But while she was still very young, oh very, very young, the sister +drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the +window at night; and then the child looked sadly out by himself, and +when he saw the star, turned round and said to the patient, pale face on +the bed, "I see the star!" and then a smile would come upon the face, +and a little, weak voice used to say, "God bless my brother and the +star!" + +And so the time came, all too soon! when the child looked out alone, and +when there was no face on the bed; and when there was a little grave +among the graves, not there before; and when the star made long rays +down toward him, as he saw it through his tears. + +Now, these rays were so bright, and they seemed to make such a shining +way from earth to heaven, that when the child went to his solitary bed, +he dreamed about the star; and dreamed that, lying where he was, he saw +a train of people taken up that sparkling road by angels. And the star, +opening, showed him a great world of light, where many more such angels +waited to receive them. + +All these angels, who were waiting, turned their beaming eyes upon the +people who were carried up into the star; and some came out from the +long rows in which they stood, and fell upon the people's necks, and +kissed them tenderly, and went away with them down avenues of light, and +were so happy in their company, that lying in his bed he wept for joy. + +But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one +he knew. The patient face that once had lain upon the bed was glorified +and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host. + +His sister's angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to +the leader among those who had brought the people thither: + +"Is my brother come?" + +And he said "No." + +She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms, +and cried, "O, sister, I am here! Take me!" and then she turned her +beaming eyes upon him, and it was night; and the star was shining into +the room, making long rays down toward him as he saw it through his +tears. + +From that hour forth, the child looked out upon the star as on the Home +he was to go to, when his time should come; and he thought that he did +not belong to the earth alone, but to the star too, because of his +sister's angel gone before. + +There was a baby born to be a brother to the child; and while he was so +little that he never yet had spoken word, he stretched his tiny form +out on his bed, and died. + +Again the child dreamed of the opened star, and of the company of +angels, and the train of people, and the rows of angels with their +beaming eyes all turned upon those people's faces. + +Said his sister's angel to the leader: + +"Is my brother come?" + +And he said, "Not that one, but another." + +As the child beheld his brother's angel in her arms, he cried, "O, +sister, I am here! Take me!" And she turned and smiled upon him, and the +star was shining. + +He grew to be a young man, and was busy at his books, when an old +servant came to him, and said, + +"Thy mother is no more. I bring her blessing on her darling son!" + +Again at night he saw the star, and all that former company. Said his +sister's angel to the leader: + +"Is my brother come?" + +And he said, "Thy mother!" + +A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the star, because the mother +was reunited to her two children. And he stretched out his arms and +cried, "O, mother, sister, and brother, I am here! Take me!" And they +answered him, "Not yet," and the star was shining. + +He grew to be a man, whose hair was turning gray, and he was sitting in +his chair by the fireside, heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed +with tears, when the star opened once again. + +Said his sister's angel to the leader, "Is my brother come?" + +And he said, "Nay, but his maiden daughter." + +And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to him, +a celestial creature among those three, and he said, "My daughter's head +is on my sister's bosom, and her arm is round my mother's neck, and at +her feet there is the baby of old time, and I can bear the parting from +her, God be praised!" + +And the star was shining. + +Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was +wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And +one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, +as he had cried so long ago, + +"I see the star!" + +They whispered one another, "He is dying." + +And he said, "I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move +toward the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank thee that it +has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who await me!" + +And the star was shining; and it shines upon his grave. + + + + +LONGFELLOW. + + +The muse of Mr. Longfellow owes little or none of her success to those +great national sources of inspiration which are most likely to influence +an ardent poetic temperament. The grand old woods--the magnificent +mountain and forest scenery--the mighty rivers--the trackless +savannahs--all those stupendous and varied features of that great +country, with which, from his boyhood, he must have been familiar, it +might be thought would have stamped some of these characteristics upon +his poetry. Such, however, has not been the case. Of lofty images and +grand conceptions we meet with few, if any, traces. But brimful of life, +of love, and of truth, the stream of his song flows on with a tender and +touching simplicity, and a gentle music, which we have not met with +since the days of our own Moore. Like him, too, the genius of Mr. +Longfellow is essentially lyric; and if he has failed to derive +inspiration from the grand features of his own country, he has been no +unsuccessful student of the great works of the German masters of song. +We could almost fancy, while reading his exquisite ballad of the +"Beleaguered City," that Goethe, Schiller, or Uhland was before us; and +yet, we must by no means be understood to insinuate that he is a mere +copyist--quite the contrary. He has become so thoroughly imbued with the +spirit of these exquisite models, that he has contrived to produce +pieces marked with an individuality of their own, and noways behind them +in point of poetical merit. In this regard he affords another +illustration of the truth of the proposition, that the legendary lore +and traditions of other countries have been very serviceable toward the +formation of American literature. + +About the year 1837, Longfellow, being engaged in making the tour of +Europe, selected Heidelberg for a permanent winter residence. There his +wife was attacked with an illness, which ultimately proved fatal. It so +happened, however, that some time afterward there came to the same +romantic place a young lady of considerable personal attractions. The +poet's heart was touched--he became attached to her; but the beauty of +sixteen did not sympathize with the poet of six-and-thirty, and +Longfellow returned to America, having lost his heart as well as his +wife. The young lady, also an American, returned home shortly afterward. +Their residences, it turned out, were contiguous, and the poet availed +himself of the opportunity of prosecuting his addresses, which he did +for a considerable time with no better success than at first. Thus +foiled, he set himself resolutely down, and instead, like Petrarch, of +laying siege to the heart of his mistress through the medium of sonnets, +he resolved to write a whole book; a book which would achieve the double +object of gaining her affections, and of establishing his own fame. +"Hyperion" was the result. His labor and his constancy were not thrown +away: they met their due reward. The lady gave him her hand as well as +her heart; and they now reside together at Cambridge, in the same house +which Washington made his head-quarters when he was first appointed to +the command of the American armies. These interesting facts were +communicated to us by a very intelligent American gentleman whom we had +the pleasure of meeting in the same place which was the scene of the +poet's early disappointment and sorrow.--_Dublin University Magazine._ + + + + +THE CHAPEL BY THE SHORE. + + + By the shore, a plot of ground + Clips a ruined chapel round, + Buttressed with a grassy mound; + Where Day, and Night, and Day go by + And bring no touch of human sound. + + Washing of the lonely seas-- + Shaking of the guardian trees-- + Piping of the salted breeze-- + Day, and Night, and Day go by, + To the endless tune of these. + + Or when, as winds and waters keep + A hush more dead than any sleep, + Still morns to stiller evenings creep, + And Day, and Night, and Day go by + Here the stillness is most deep. + + And the ruins, lapsed again + Into Nature's wide domain, + Sow themselves with seed and grain, + As Day, and Night, and Day go by, + And hoard June's sun and April's rain. + + Here fresh funeral tears were shed; + And now the graves are also dead: + And suckers from the ash-tree spread, + As Day, and Night, and Day go by + And stars move calmly overhead. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHEAPNESS. + +THE LUCIFER MATCH. + + +Some twenty years ago the process of obtaining fire, in every house in +England, with few exceptions, was as rude, as laborious, and as +uncertain, as the effort of the Indian to produce a flame by the +friction of two dry sticks. + +The nightlamp and the rushlight were for the comparatively luxurious. In +the bedrooms of the cottager, the artisan, and the small tradesman, the +infant at its mother's side too often awoke, like Milton's nightingale, +"darkling"--but that "nocturnal note" was something different from +"harmonious numbers." The mother was soon on her feet; the friendly +tinder-box was duly sought. Click, click, click; not a spark tells upon +the sullen blackness. More rapidly does the flint ply the sympathetic +steel. The room is bright with the radiant shower. But the child, +familiar enough with the operation, is impatient at its tediousness, and +shouts till the mother is frantic. At length one lucky spark does its +office--the tinder is alight. Now for the match. It will not burn. A +gentle breath is wafted into the murky box; the face that leans over the +tinder is in a glow. Another match, and another, and another. They are +all damp. The toil-worn father "swears a prayer or two," the baby is +inexorable; and the misery is only ended when the goodman has gone to +the street door, and after long shivering has obtained a light from the +watchman. + +In this, the beginning of our series of Illustrations of Cheapness, let +us trace this antique machinery through the various stages of its +production. + +The tinder-box and the steel had nothing peculiar. The tinman made the +one as he made the saucepan, with hammer and shears; the other was +forged at the great metal factories of Sheffield and Birmingham; and +happy was it for the purchaser if it were something better than a rude +piece of iron, very uncomfortable to grasp. The nearest chalk quarry +supplied the flint. The domestic manufacture of the tinder was a serious +affair. At due seasons, and very often if the premises were damp, a +stifling smell rose from the kitchen, which, to those who were not +intimate with the process, suggested doubts whether the house were not +on fire. The best linen rag was periodically burnt, and its ashes +deposited in the tinman's box, pressed down with a close fitting lid, +upon which the flint and steel reposed. The match was chiefly an article +of itinerant traffic. The chandler's shop was almost ashamed of it. The +mendicant was the universal match-seller. The girl who led the blind +beggar had invariably a basket of matches. In the day they were vendors +of matches--in the evening manufacturers. On the floor of the hovel sit +two or three squalid children, splitting deal with a common knife. The +matron is watching a pipkin upon a slow fire. The fumes which it gives +forth are blinding as the brimstone's liquifying. Little bundles of +split deal are ready to be dipped, three or four at a time. When the +pennyworth of brimstone is used up, when the capital is exhausted, the +night's labor is over. In the summer, the manufacture is suspended, or +conducted upon fraudulent principles. Fire is then needless; so delusive +matches must be produced--wet splints dipped in powdered sulphur. They +will never burn, but they will do to sell to the unwary +maid-of-all-work. + +About twenty years ago Chemistry discovered that the tinder-box might be +abolished. But Chemistry set about its function with especial reference +to the wants and the means of the rich few. In the same way the first +printed books were designed to have a great resemblance to manuscripts, +and those of the wealthy class were alone looked to as the purchasers of +the skillful imitations. The first chemical light producer was a complex +and ornamental casket, sold at a guinea. In a year or so, there were +pretty portable cases of a phial and matches, which enthusiastic young +housekeepers regarded as the cheapest of all treasures at five +shillings. By-and-by the light-box was sold as low as a shilling. The +fire revolution was slowly approaching. The old dynasty of the +tinder-box maintained its predominance for a short while in kitchen and +garret, in farm-house and cottage. At length some bold adventurer saw +that the new chemical discovery might be employed for the production of +a large article of trade--that matches, in themselves the vehicles of +fire without aid of spark and tinder, might be manufactured upon the +factory system--that the humblest in the land might have a new and +indispensable comfort at the very lowest rate of cheapness. When +Chemistry saw that phosphorus, having an affinity for oxygen at the +lowest temperature, would ignite upon slight friction, and so ignited +would ignite sulphur, which required a much higher temperature to become +inflammable, thus making the phosphorus do the work of the old tinder +with far greater certainty; or when Chemistry found that chlorate of +potash by slight friction might be exploded so as to produce combustion, +and might be safely used in the same combination--a blessing was +bestowed upon society that can scarcely be measured by those who have +had no former knowledge of the miseries and privations of the +tinder-box. The Penny Box of Lucifers, or Congreves, or by whatever name +called, is a real triumph of Science, and an advance in civilization. + +Let us now look somewhat closely and practically into the manufacture of +a Lucifer Match. + +The combustible materials used in the manufacture render the process an +unsafe one. It can not be carried on in the heart of towns without being +regarded as a common nuisance. We must therefore go somewhere in the +suburbs of London to find such a trade. In the neighborhood of Bethnal +Green there is a large open space called Wisker's Gardens. This is not a +place of courts and alleys, but a considerable area, literally divided +into small gardens, where just now the crocus and the snowdrop are +telling hopefully of the springtime. Each garden has the smallest of +cottages--for the most part wooden--which have been converted from +summer-houses into dwellings. The whole place reminds one of numberless +passages in the old dramatists, in which the citizens' wives are +described in their garden-houses of Finsbury or Hogsden, sipping +syllabub and talking fine on summer holidays. In one of these +garden-houses, not far from the public road, is the little factory of +"Henry Lester, Patentee of the Domestic Safety Match-box," as his label +proclaims. He is very ready to show his processes, which in many +respects are curious and interesting. + +Adam Smith has instructed us that the business of making a pin is +divided into about eighteen distinct operations; and further, that ten +persons could make upward of forty-eight thousand pins a day with the +division of labor; while if they had all wrought independently and +separately, and without any of them having been educated to this +peculiar business, they certainly could not each of them have made +twenty. The Lucifer Match is a similar example of division of labor, and +the skill of long, practice. At a separate factory, where there is a +steam-engine, not the refuse of the carpenter's shop, but the best +Norway deals are cut into splints by machinery, and are supplied to the +match-maker. These little pieces, beautifully accurate in their minute +squareness, and in their precise length of five inches, are made up into +bundles, each of which contains eighteen hundred. They are daily brought +on a truck to the dipping-house, as it is called--the average number of +matches finished off daily requiring two hundred of these bundles. Up to +this point we have had several hands employed in the preparation of the +match, in connection with the machinery that cuts the wood. Let us +follow one of these bundles through the subsequent processes. Without +being separated, each end of the bundle is first dipped into sulphur. +When dry, the splints, adhering to each other by means of the sulphur, +must be parted by what is called dusting. A boy sitting on the floor, +with a bundle before him, strikes the matches with a sort of a mallet on +the dipped ends till they become thoroughly loosened. In the best +matches the process of sulphur-dipping and dusting is repeated. They +have now to be plunged into a preparation of phosphorus or chlorate of +potash, according to the quality of the match. The phosphorus produces +the pale, noiseless fire; the chlorate of potash the sharp, crackling +illumination. After this application of the more inflammable substance, +the matches are separated, and dried in racks. Thoroughly dried, they +are gathered up again into bundles of the same quantity; and are taken +to the boys who cut them; for the reader will have observed that the +bundles have been dipped at each end. There are few things more +remarkable in manufactures than the extraordinary rapidity of this +cutting process, and that which is connected with it. The boy stands +before a bench, the bundle on his right hand, a pile of half opened +empty boxes on his left, which have been manufactured at another +division of this establishment. These boxes are formed of scale-board, +that is, thin slices of wood, planed or scaled off a plank. The box +itself is a marvel of neatness and cheapness. It consists of an inner +box, without a top, in which the matches are placed, and of an outer +case, open at each end, into which the first box slides. The matches, +then, are to be cut, and the empty boxes filled, by one boy. A bundle is +opened; he seizes a portion, knowing, by long habit, the required number +with sufficient exactness; puts them rapidly into a sort of frame, +knocks the ends evenly together, confines them with a strap which he +tightens with his foot, and cuts them in two parts with a knife on a +hinge, which he brings down with a strong leverage: the halves lie +projecting over each end of the frame; he grasps the left portion and +thrusts it into a half open box, which he instantly closes, and repeats +the process with the matches on his right hand. This series of movements +is performed with a rapidity almost unexampled; for in this way, two +hundred thousand matches are cut, and two thousand boxes filled in a +day, by one boy, at the wages of three halfpence per gross of boxes. +Each dozen boxes is then papered up, and they are ready for the +retailer. The number of boxes daily filled at this factory is from fifty +to sixty gross. + +The _wholesale_ price per dozen boxes of the best matches is FOURPENCE, +of the second quality, THREEPENCE. + +There are about ten Lucifer Match manufactories in London. There are +others in large provincial towns. The wholesale business is chiefly +confined to the supply of the metropolis and immediate neighborhood by +the London makers; for the railroad carriers refuse to receive the +article, which is considered dangerous in transit. But we must not +therefore assume that the metropolitan populations consume the +metropolitan matches. Taking the population at upward of two millions, +and the inhabited houses at about three hundred thousand, let us +endeavor to estimate the distribution of these little articles of +domestic comfort. + +At the manufactory at Wisker's Gardens there are fifty gross, or seven +thousand two hundred boxes, turned out daily, made from two hundred +bundles, which will produce seven hundred and twenty thousand matches. +Taking three hundred working days in the year, this will give for one +factory, two hundred and sixteen millions of matches annually, or two +millions one hundred and sixty thousand boxes, being a box of one +hundred matches for every individual of the London population. But there +are ten other Lucifer manufactories, which are estimated to produce +about four or five times as many more. London certainly can not absorb +ten millions of Lucifer boxes annually, which would be at the rate of +thirty-three boxes to each inhabited house. London, perhaps, demands a +third of the supply for its own consumption; and at this rate the annual +retail cost for each house is eightpence, averaging those boxes sold at +a halfpenny, and those at a penny. The manufacturer sells this article, +produced with such care as we have described, at one farthing and a +fraction per box. + +And thus, for the retail expenditure of three farthings per month, every +house in London, from the highest to the lowest, may secure the +inestimable blessing of constant fire at all seasons, and at all hours. +London buys this for ten thousand pounds annually. + +The excessive cheapness is produced by the extension of the demand, +enforcing the factory division of labor, and the most exact saving of +material. The scientific discovery was the foundation of the cheapness. +But connected with this general principle of cheapness, there are one or +two remarkable points, which deserve attention. + +It is a law of this manufacture that the demand is greater in the summer +than in the winter. The old match maker, as we have mentioned, was idle +in the summer--without fire for heating the brimstone--or engaged in +more profitable field-work. A worthy woman, who once kept a chandler's +shop in a village, informs us, that in summer she could buy no matches +for retail, but was obliged to make them for her customers. The +increased summer demand for the Lucifer Matches shows that the great +consumption is among the masses--the laboring population--those who +make up the vast majority of the contributors to duties of customs and +excise. In the houses of the wealthy there is always fire; in the houses +of the poor, fire in summer is a needless hourly expense. Then comes the +Lucifer Match to supply the want; to light the candle to look in the +dark cupboard--to light the afternoon fire to boil the kettle. It is now +unnecessary to run to the neighbor for a light, or, as a desperate +resource, to work at the tinder-box. The Lucifer Matches sometimes fail, +but they cost little, and so they are freely used, even by the poorest. + +And this involves another great principle. The demand for the Lucifer +Match is always continuous, for it is a perishable article. The demand +never ceases. Every match burnt demands a new match to supply its place. +This continuity of demand renders the supply always equal to the demand. +The peculiar nature of the commodity prevents any accumulation of stock; +its combustible character--requiring the simple agency of friction to +ignite it--renders it dangerous for large quantities of the article to +be kept in one place. Therefore no one makes for store, but all for +immediate sale. The average price, therefore, must always yield a +profit, or the production would altogether cease. But these essential +qualities limit the profit. The manufacturers can not be rich without +secret processes or monopoly. The contest is to obtain the largest +profit by economical management. The amount of skill required in the +laborers, and the facility of habit, which makes fingers act with the +precision of machines, limit the number of laborers, and prevent their +impoverishment. Every condition of this cheapness is a natural and +beneficial result of the laws that govern production. + + + + +TUNNEL OF THE ALPS. + + +The Sardinian Government is about to execute a grand engineering +project; it is going to pierce the summit-ridge of the Alps with a +tunnel twice as long as any existing tunnel in the world. A +correspondent of the _Times_ announces the fact. From London as far as +Chambery, by the Lyons railroad, all is at present smooth enough; and +the Lyons road is indeed about to be pushed up the ascents of Mont +Meillaud and St. Maurienne, even as far as Modane at the foot of the +Northern crest of the Graian and Cottian Alps: but there all further +progress is arrested; you can not hope to carry a train to Susa and +Turin unless you pierce the snow capped barrier itself: this is the very +step which the Chevalier Henry Maus projects. The Chevalier is Honorary +Inspector of the Genie Civil; it was he who projected and executed the +great works on the Liege railroad. After five years of incessant study, +many practical experiments, and the invention of new machinery for +boring the mountain, he made his final report to the Government on the +8th of February, 1849. A commission of distinguished civil engineers, +artillery officers, geologists, senators, and statesmen, have reported +unanimously in favor of the project; and the Government has resolved to +carry it out forthwith. The "Railroad of the Alps," connecting the +tunnel with the Chambery railway on the one side and with that of Susa +on the other side, will be 36,565 metres or 20-3/4 English miles in +length, and will cost 21,000,000 francs. The connecting tunnel is thus +described: + +"It will measure 12,290 metres, or nearly seven English miles in length; +its greatest height will be 19 feet, and its width 25 feet, admitting, +of course, of a double line of rail. Its northern entrance is to be at +Modane, and the southern entrance at Bardonneche, on the river +Mardovine. This latter entrance, being the highest point of the intended +line of rail, will be 4,092 feet above the level of the sea, and yet +2,400 feet below the highest or culminating point of the great road or +pass over the Mont Cenis. It is intended to divide the connecting lines +of rail leading to either entrance of the tunnel into eight inclined +planes of about 5,000 metres or 2-1/2 English miles each, worked like +those at Liege, by endless cables and stationary engines, but in the +present case moved by water-power derived from the torrents." + + + + +THE FLOWER GATHERER. + +[FROM THE GERMAN OF KRUMMACHER.] + + + "God sends upon the wings of Spring, + Fresh thoughts into the breasts of flowers." + + MISS BREMER. + +The young and innocent Theresa had passed the most beautiful part of the +spring upon a bed of sickness; and as soon as ever she began to regain +her strength, she spoke of flowers, asking continually if her favorites +were again as lovely as they had been the year before, when she had been +able to seek for and admire them herself. Erick, the sick girl's little +brother, took a basket, and showing it to his mamma, said, in a whisper, +"Mamma, I will run out and get poor Theresa the prettiest I can find in +the fields." So out he ran, for the first time for many a long day, and +he thought that spring had never been so beautiful before; for he looked +upon it with a gentle and loving heart, and enjoyed a run in the fresh +air, after having been a prisoner by his sister's couch, whom he had +never left during her illness. The happy child rambled about, up hill +and down hill. Nightingales sang, bees hummed, and butterflies flitted +round him, and the most lovely flowers were blowing at his feet. He +jumped about, he danced, he sang, and wandered from hedge to hedge, and +from flower to flower, with a soul as pure as the blue sky above him, +and eyes that sparkled like a little brook bubbling from a rock. At last +he had filled his basket quite full of the prettiest flowers; and, to +crown all, he had made a wreath of field-strawberry flowers, which he +laid on the top of it, neatly arranged on some grass, and one might +fancy them a string of pearls, they looked so pure and fresh. The happy +boy looked with delight at his full basket, and putting it down by his +side, rested himself in the shade of an oak, on a carpet of soft green +moss. Here he sat, looking at the beautiful prospect that lay spread out +before him in all the freshness of spring, and listening to the +ever-changing songs of the birds. But he had really tired himself out +with joy; and the merry sounds of the fields, the buzzing of the +insects, and the birds' songs, all helped to send him to sleep. And +peacefully the fair child slumbered, his rosy cheek resting on the hands +that still held his treasured basket. + +But while he slept a sudden change came on. A storm arose in the +heavens, but a few moments before so blue and beautiful. Heavy masses of +clouds gathered darkly and ominously together; the lightning flashed, +and the thunder rolled louder and nearer. Suddenly a gust of wind roared +in the boughs of the oak, and startled the boy out of his quiet sleep. +He saw the whole heavens vailed by black clouds; not a sunbeam gleamed +over the fields, and a heavy clap of thunder followed his waking. The +poor child stood up, bewildered at the sudden change; and now the rain +began to patter through the leaves of the oak, so he snatched up his +basket, and ran toward home as fast as his legs could carry him. The +storm seemed to burst over his head. Rain, hail, and thunder, striving +for the mastery, almost deafened him, and made him more bewildered every +minute. Water streamed from his poor soaked curls down his shoulders, +and he could scarcely see to find his way homeward. All on a sudden a +more violent gust of wind than usual caught the treasured basket, and +scattered all his carefully-collected flowers far away over the field. +His patience could endure no longer, for his face grew distorted with +rage, and he flung the empty basket from him, with a burst of anger. +Crying bitterly, and thoroughly wet, he reached at last his parents' +house in a pitiful plight. + +But soon another change appeared; the storm passed away, and the sky +grew clear again. The birds began their songs anew, the countryman his +labor. The air had become cooler and purer, and a bright calm seemed to +lie lovingly in every valley and on every hill. What a delicious odor +rose from the freshened fields! and their cultivators looked with +grateful joy at the departing clouds, which had poured the fertilizing +rain upon them. The sight of the blue sky soon tempted the frightened +boy out again, and being by this time ashamed of his ill-temper, he went +very quietly to look for his discarded basket, and to try and fill it +again. He seemed to feel a new life within him. The cool breath of the +air--the smell of the fields--the leafy trees--the warbling birds, all +appeared doubly beautiful after the storm, and the humiliating +consciousness of his foolish and unjust ill-temper softened and +chastened his joy. After a long search he spied the basket lying on the +slope of a hill, for a bramble bush had caught it, and sheltered it from +the violence of the wind. The child felt quite thankful to the +ugly-looking bush as he disentangled the basket. + +But how great was his delight on looking around him, to see the fields +spangled with flowers, as numerous as the stars of heaven! for the rain +had nourished into blossom thousands of daisies, opened thousands of +buds, and scattered pearly drops on every leaf. Erick flitted about like +a busy bee, and gathered away to his heart's content. The sun was now +near his setting, and the happy child hastened home with his basket full +once more. How delighted he was with his flowery treasure, and with the +pearly garland of fresh strawberry-flowers! The rays of the sinking sun +played over his fair face as he wandered on, and gave his pretty +features a placid and contented expression. But his eyes sparkled much +more joyously when he received the kisses and thanks of his gentle +sister. "Is it not true, dear," said his mother, "that the pleasures we +prepare for others are the best of all?" + + + + +ROYAL ROAD TO KNOWLEDGE.--A Mr. Jules Aleix, of Paris, states that he +has discovered a new method of education, by which a child can be taught +to read in fifteen lessons, and has petitioned the Assembly to expend +50,000 francs on a model school to demonstrate the fact. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +SHORT CUTS ACROSS THE GLOBE. + + +To a person who wishes to sail for California an inspection of the map +of the world reveals a provoking peculiarity. The Atlantic Ocean--the +highway of the globe--being separated from the Pacific by the great +western continent, it is impossible to sail to the opposite coasts +without going thousands of miles out of his way; for he must double Cape +Horn. Yet a closer inspection of the map will discover that but for one +little barrier of land, which is in size but as a grain of sand to the +bed of an ocean, the passage would be direct. Were it not for that small +neck of land, the Isthmus of Panama (which narrows in one place to +twenty-eight miles) he might save a voyage of from six to eight thousand +miles, and pass at once into the Pacific Ocean. Again, if his desires +tend toward the East, he perceives that but for the Isthmus of Suez, he +would not be obliged to double the Cape of Good Hope. The eastern +difficulty has been partially obviated by the overland route opened up +by the ill-rewarded Waghorn. The western barrier has yet to be broken +through. + +Now that we can shake hands with Brother Jonathan in twelve days by +means of weekly steamers; travel from one end of Great Britain to +another, or from the Hudson to the Ohio, as fast as the wind, and make +our words dance to distant friends upon the magic tight wire a great +deal faster--now that the European and Columbian Saxon is spreading his +children more or less over all the known habitable world: it seems +extraordinary that the simple expedient of opening a twenty-eight mile +passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, to save a dangerous +voyage of some eight thousand miles, has not been already achieved. In +this age of enterprise that so simple a remedy for so great an evil +should not have been applied appears astonishing. Nay, we ought to feel +some shame when we reflect that evidences in the neighborhood of both +isthmuses exist of such junction having existed, in what we are pleased +to designate "barbarous" ages. + +Does nature present insurmountable engineering difficulties to the +Panama scheme? By no means: for after the Croton aqueduct, our own +railway tunneling, and the Britannia tubular bridge, engineering +difficulties have become obsolete. Are the levels of the Pacific and the +Gulf of Mexico, which should be joined, so different, that if one were +admitted the fall would inundate the surrounding country? Not at all. +Hear Humboldt on these points. + +Forty years ago he declared it to be his firm opinion that "the Isthmus +of Panama is suited to the formation of an oceanic canal--one with fewer +sluices than the Caledonian Canal--capable of affording an unimpeded +passage, at all seasons of the year, to vessels of that class which sail +between New York and Liverpool, and between Chili and California." In +the recent edition of his "Views of Nature," he "sees no reason to +alter the views he has always entertained on this subject." Engineers, +both British and American, have confirmed this opinion by actual survey. +As, then, combination of British skill, capital, and energy, with that +of the most "go-ahead" people upon earth, have been dormant, whence the +secret of the delay? The answer at once allays astonishment: Till the +present time, the speculation would not have "paid." + +Large works of this nature, while they create an inconceivable +development of commerce, must have a certain amount of a trading +population to begin upon. A gold-beater can cover the effigy of a man on +horseback with a sovereign; but he must have the sovereign first. It was +not merely because the full power of the iron rail to facilitate the +transition of heavy burdens had not been estimated, and because no +Stephenson had constructed a "Rocket engine," that a railway with steam +locomotives was not made from London to Liverpool before 1836. Until the +intermediate traffic between these termini had swelled to a sufficient +amount in quantity and value to bear reimbursement for establishing such +a mode of conveyance, its execution would have been impossible, even +though men had known how to set about it. + +What has been the condition of the countries under consideration? In +1839, the entire population of the tropical American isthmus, in the +states of central America and New Grenada did not exceed three millions. +The number of the inhabitants of pure European descent did not exceed +one hundred thousand. It was only among this inconsiderable fraction +that any thing like wealth, intelligence, and enterprise, akin to that +of Europe, was to be found; the rest were poor and ignorant aboriginals +and mixed races, in a state of scarcely demi-civilization. Throughout +this thinly-peopled and poverty-stricken region, there was neither law +nor government. In Stephens's "Central America," may be found an amusing +account of a hunt after a government, by a luckless American +diplomatist, who had been sent to seek for one in central America. A +night wanderer running through bog and brake after a will-o'-the-wisp, +could not have encountered more perils, or in search of a more +impalpable phantom. In short, there was nobody to trade with. To the +south of the isthmus, along the Pacific coast of America, there was only +one station to which merchants could resort with any fair prospect of +gain--Valparaiso. Except Chili, all the Pacific states of South America +were retrograding from a very imperfect civilization, under a succession +of petty and aimless revolutions. To the north of the isthmus matters +were little, if any thing better. Mexico had gone backward from the time +of its revolution; and, at the best, its commerce in the Pacific had +been confined to a yearly ship between Acapulco and the Philippines. +Throughout California and Oregon, with the exception of a few European +and half-breed members, there were none but savage aboriginal tribes. +The Russian settlements in the far north had nothing but a paltry trade +in furs with Kamschatka, that barely defrayed its own expenses. Neither +was there any encouragement to make a short cut to the innumerable +islands of the Pacific. The whole of Polynesia lay outside of the pale +of civilization. In Tahiti, the Sandwich group, and the northern +peninsula of New Zealand, missionaries had barely sowed the first seeds +of morals and enlightenment. The limited commerce of China and the +Eastern Archipelago was engrossed by Europe, and took the route of the +Cape of Good Hope, with the exception of a few annual vessels that +traded from the sea-board states of the North American Union to +Valparaiso and Canton. The wool of New South Wales was but coming into +notice, and found its way to England alone round the Cape of Good Hope. +An American fleet of whalers scoured the Pacific, and adventurers of the +same nation carried on a desultory and inconsiderable traffic in hides +with California, in tortoise-shell and mother of pearl with the +Polynesian Islands. + +What, then, would have been the use of cutting a canal, through which +there would not have passed five ships in a twelvemonth? But twenty +years have worked a wondrous revolution in the state and prospects of +these regions. + +The traffic of Chili has received a large development, and the stability +of its institutions has been fairly tried. The resources of Costa Rica, +the population of which is mainly of European race, is steadily +advancing. American citizens have founded a state in Oregon. The +Sandwich Islands have become for all practical purposes an American +colony. The trade with China--to which the proposed canal would open a +convenient avenue by a western instead of the present eastern route--is +no longer restricted to the Canton river, but is open to all nations as +far north as the Yang-tse-Kiang. The navigation of the Amur has been +opened to the Russians by a treaty, and can not long remain closed +against the English and American settlers between Mexico and the Russian +settlements in America. Tahiti has become a kind of commercial emporium. +The English settlements in Australia and New Zealand have opened a +direct trade with the Indian Archipelago and China. The permanent +settlements of intelligent and enterprising Anglo-Americans and English +in Polynesia, and on the eastern and western shores of the Pacific, have +proved so many _depots_ for the adventurous traders with its innumerable +islands, and for the spermaceti whalers. Then the last, but greatest +addition of all, is California: a name in the world of commerce and +enterprise to conjure with. There gold is to be had for fetching. Gold, +the main-spring of commercial activity, the reward of toil--for which +men are ready to risk life, to endure every sort of privation; +sometimes, alas! to sacrifice every virtue; one most especially, and +that is patience. They will away with her now. + +Till the discovery of the new gold country how contentedly they dawdled +round Cape Horn; creeping down one coast, and up another: but now such +delay is not to be thought of. Already, indeed, Panama has become the +seat of a great, increasing, and perennial transit trade. This can not +fail to augment the settled population of the region, its wealth and +intelligence. Upon these facts we rest the conviction that the time has +arrived for realizing the project of a ship canal there or in the near +neighborhood. + +That a ship canal, and not a railway, is what is first wanted (for very +soon there will be both), must be obvious to all acquainted with the +practical details of commerce. The delay and expense to which merchants +are subjected, when obliged to "break bulk" repeatedly between the port +whence they sail and that of their destination, is extreme. The waste +and spoiling of goods, the cost of the operation, are also heavy +drawbacks, and to these they are subject by the stormy passage round +Cape Horn. + +Two points present themselves offering great facilities for the +execution of a ship canal. The one is in the immediate vicinity of +Panama, where the many imperfect observations which have hitherto been +made, are yet sufficient to leave no doubt that, as the distance is +comparatively short, the summit levels are inconsiderable, and the +supply of water ample. The other is some distance to the northward. The +isthmus is there broader, but is in part occupied by the large and deep +fresh-water lakes of Nicaragua and Naragua. The lake of Nicaragua +communicates with the Atlantic by a copious river, which may either be +rendered navigable, or be made the source of supply for a side canal. +The space between the two lakes is of inconsiderable extent, and +presents no great engineering difficulties. The elevation of the lake of +Naragua above the Pacific is inconsiderable; there is no hill range +between it and the gulf of Canchagua; and Captain Sir Edward Belcher +carried his surveying ship _Sulphur_ sixty miles up the Estero Real, +which rises near the lake, and falls into the gulf. The line of the +Panama canal presents, as Humboldt remarks, facilities equal to those of +the line of the Caledonian canal. The Nicaragua line is not more +difficult than that of the canal of Languedoc, a work executed between +1660 and 1682, at a time when the commerce to be expedited by it did not +exceed--it is equaled--that which will find its way across the Isthmus; +when great part of the maritime country was as thinly inhabited by as +poor a population as the Isthmus now is; and when the last subsiding +storms of civil war, and the dragonnades of Louis XIV., unsettled men's +minds, and made person and property insecure. + +The cosmopolitan effects of such an undertaking, if prosecuted to a +successful close, it is impossible even approximately to estimate. The +acceleration it will communicate to the already rapid progress of +civilization in the Pacific is obvious. And no less obvious are the +beneficial effects it will have upon the mutual relations of civilized +states, seeing that the recognition of the independence and neutrality +in times of general war of the canal and the region through which it +passes, is indispensable to its establishment. + +We have dwelt principally on the commercial, the economical +considerations of the enterprise, for they are what must render it +possible. But the friends of Christian missions, and the advocates of +universal peace among nations, have yet a deeper interest in it. In the +words used by Prince Albert at the dinner at the Mansion House +respecting the forthcoming great exhibition of arts and industry, +"Nobody who has paid any attention to the particular features of our +present era, will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of +most wonderful transition, which tends rapidly to accomplish that great +end--to which, indeed, all history points--the realization of the unity +of mankind. Not a unity which breaks down the limits and levels the +peculiar characteristics of the different nations of the earth, but +rather a unity the result and product of those very national varieties +and antagonistic qualities. The distances which separated the different +nations and parts of the globe are gradually vanishing before the +achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with +incredible speed; the languages of all nations are known, and their +acquirements placed within the reach of every body; thought is +communicated with the rapidity, and even by the power of lightning." + +Every short cut across the globe brings man in closer communion with his +distant brotherhood, and results in concord, prosperity, and peace. + + + + +TRUTH IN PLEASURE.--Men have been said to be sincere in their pleasures, +but this is only that the tastes and habits of men are more easily +discernible in pleasure than in business; the want of truth is as great +a hindrance to the one as to the other. Indeed, there is so much +insincerity and formality in the pleasurable department of human life, +especially in social pleasures, that instead of a bloom there is a slime +upon it, which deadens and corrupts the thing. One of the most comical +sights to superior beings must be to see two human creatures with +elaborate speech and gestures making each other exquisitely +uncomfortable from civility; the one pressing what he is most anxious +that the other should not accept, and the other accepting only from the +fear of giving offense by refusal. There is an element of charity in all +this too; and it will be the business of a just and refined nature to be +sincere and considerate at the same time. This will be better done by +enlarging our sympathy, so that more things and people are pleasant to +us, than by increasing the civil and conventional part of our nature, so +that we are able to do more seeming with greater skill and +endurance.--_Friends in Council._ + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +THE GERMAN MEISTERSINGERS--HANS SACHS. + + +We once chanced to meet with a rare old German book which contains an +accurate history of the foundation of the Meistersingers, a body which +exercised so important an influence upon the literary history, not only +of Germany, but of the whole European Continent, that the circumstances +connected with its origin can not prove uninteresting to our readers. + +The burghers of the provincial towns in Germany had gradually formed +themselves into guilds or corporations, the members of which, when the +business of the day was discussed, would amuse themselves by reading +some of the ancient traditions of their own country, as related in the +old Nordic poems. This stock of literature was soon exhausted, and the +worthy burghers began to try their hands at original composition. From +these rude snatches of song sprung to life the fire of poetic genius, +and at Mentz was first established that celebrated guild, branches of +which soon after extended themselves to most of the provincial towns. +The fame of these social meetings soon became widely spread. It reached +the ears of the emperor, Otho I., and, about the middle of the ninth +century, the guild received a royal summons to attend at Pavia, then the +emperor's residence. The history of this famous meeting remained for +upward of six hundred years upon record among the archives of Mentz, but +is supposed to have been taken away, among other plunder, about the +period of the Smalkaldic war. From other sources of information we can, +however, gratify the curiosity of the antiquarian, by giving the names +of the twelve original members of this guild: + + Walter, Lord of Vogelweid, + Wolfgang Eschenbach, Knight, + Conrad Mesmer, Knight, + Franenlob of Mentz, Theologian, + Mergliny of Ment, Theologian, + Klingsher, + Starke Papp, + Bartholomew Regenboger, a blacksmith, + The Chancellor, a fisherman, + Conrad of Wurtzburg, + Stall Seniors, + The Roman of Zgwickau. + +These gentlemen, having attended the royal summons in due form, were +subjected to a severe public examination before the court by the wisest +men of their times, and were pronounced masters of their art; +enthusiastic encomiums were lavished upon them by the delighted +audience, and they departed, having received from the emperor's hands a +crown of pure gold, to be presented annually to him who should be +selected by the voice of his fellows as laureate for the year. + +Admission to these guilds became, in process of time, the highest +literary distinction; it was eagerly sought for by numberless aspirants, +but the ordeal through which the candidate had to pass became so +difficult that very few were found qualified for the honor. The +compositions of the candidates were measured with a degree of critical +accuracy of which candidates for literary fame in these days can form +but little idea. The ordeal must have been more damping to the fire of +young genius than the most slashing article ever penned by the most +caustic reviewer. Every composition had of necessity to belong to a +certain class; each class was distinguished by a limited amount of +rhymes and syllables, and the candidate had to count each stanza, as he +read it, upon his fingers. The redundancy or the deficiency of a single +syllable was fatal to his claims, and was visited in addition by a +pecuniary fine, which went to the support of the corporation. + +Of that branch of this learned body which held its meetings at +Nuremberg, Hans Sachs became, in due time, a distinguished member. His +origin was obscure--the son of a tailor, and a shoemaker by trade. The +occupations of his early life afforded but little scope for the +cultivation of those refined pursuits which afterward made him +remarkable. The years of his boyhood were spent in the industrious +pursuit of his lowly calling; but when he had arrived at the age of +eighteen, a famous minstrel, Numenbach by name, chancing to pass his +dwelling, the young cobbler was attracted by his dulcet strains, and +followed him. Numenbach gave him gratuitous instruction in his tuneful +art, and Hans Sachs forthwith entered upon the course of probationary +wandering, which was an essential qualification for his degree. The +principal towns of Germany by turns received the itinerant minstrel, who +supported himself by the alternate manufacture of verses and of shoes. +After a protracted pilgrimage of several years, he returned to +Nuremberg, his native city, where, having taken unto himself a wife, he +spent the remainder of his existence; not unprofitably, indeed, as his +voluminous works still extant can testify. We had once the pleasure of +seeing an edition of them in the library at Nuremberg, containing two +hundred and twelve pieces of poetry, one hundred and sixteen sacred +allegories, and one hundred and ninety-seven dramas--a fertility of +production truly wonderful, and almost incredible, if we reflect that +the author had to support a numerous family by the exercise of his lowly +trade. + +The writings of this humble artisan proved an era, however, in the +literary history of Germany. To him may be ascribed the honor of being +the founder of her school of tragedy as well as comedy; and the +illustrious Goethe has, upon more than one occasion, in his works, +expressed how deeply he is indebted to this poet of the people for the +outline of his immortal tragedy of "Faust." Indeed, if we recollect +aright, there are in his works several pieces which he states are after +the manner of Hans Sachs. + +The Lord of Vogelweid, whose name we find occupying so conspicuous a +position in the roll of the original Meistersingers, made rather a +curious will--a circumstance which we find charmingly narrated in the +following exquisite ballad: + + "WALTER VON DER VOGELWEID." + + "Vogelweid, the Minnesinger, + When he left this world of ours, + Laid his body in the cloister, + Under Wurtzburg's minster towers. + + "And he gave the monks his treasure, + Gave them all with this bequest-- + They should feed the birds at noontide, + Daily, on his place of rest. + + "Saying, 'From these wandering minstrels + I have learned the art of song; + Let me now repay the lessons + They have taught so well and long. + + "Thus the bard of lore departed, + And, fulfilling his desire, + On his tomb the birds were feasted, + By the children of the choir. + + "Day by day, o'er tower and turret, + In foul weather and in fair-- + Day by day, in vaster numbers, + Flocked the poets of the air. + + "On the tree whose heavy branches + Overshadowed all the place-- + On the pavement; on the tomb-stone, + On the poet's sculptured face: + + "There they sang their merry carols, + Sang their lauds on every side; + And the name their voices uttered, + Was the name of Vogelweid. + + "'Till at length the portly abbot + Murmured, 'Why this waste of food, + Be it changed to loaves henceforward. + For our fasting brotherhood.' + + "Then in vain o'er tower and turret, + From the walls and woodland nests. + When the minster bell rang noontide, + Gathered the unwelcome guests. + + "Then in vain, with cries discordant, + Clamorous round the gothic spire. + Screamed the feathered Minnesingers + For the children of the choir. + + "Time has long effaced the inscription + On the cloister's funeral stones; + And tradition only tells us + Where repose the poet's bones. + + "But around the vast cathedral, + By sweet echoes multiplied, + Still the birds repeat the legend, + And the name of Vogelweid." + + + + +EDUCATION.--The striving of modern fashionable education is to make the +character impressive; while the result of good education, though not the +aim, would be to make it expressive. + +There is a tendency in modern education to cover the fingers with rings, +and at the same time to cut the sinews at the wrist. + +The worst education, which teaches self denial, is better than the best +which teaches every thing else, and not that.--_Tales and Essays by John +Sterling._ + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +GHOST STORIES--AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF MAD^{LLE} CLAIRON. + + +The occurrence related in the letter which we are about to quote, is a +remarkable instance of those apparently supernatural visitations which +it has been found so difficult (if not impossible) to explain and +account for. It does not appear to have been known to Scott, Brewster, +or any other English writer who has collected and endeavored to expound +those ghostly phenomena. + +Clairon was the greatest tragedian that ever appeared on the French +stage; holding on it a supremacy similar to that of Siddons on our own. +She was a woman of powerful intellect, and had the merit of affecting a +complete revolution in the French school of tragic acting; substituted +an easy, varied and natural delivery for the stilted and monotonous +declamation which had till then prevailed, and being the first to +consult classic taste and propriety of costume. Her mind was cultivated +by habits of intimacy with the most distinguished men of her day; and +she was one of the most brilliant ornaments of those literary circles +which the contemporary memoir writers describe in such glowing colors. +In an age of corruption, unparalleled in modern times, Mademoiselle +Clairon was not proof against the temptations to which her position +exposed her. But a lofty spirit, and some religious principles, which +she retained amidst a generation of infidels and scoffers, saved her +from degrading vices, and enabled her to spend an old age protracted +beyond the usual period of human life, in respectability and honor. + +She died in 1803, at the age of eighty. She was nearly seventy when the +following letter was written. It was addressed to M. Henri Meister, a +man of some eminence among the literati of that period; the associate of +Diderot, Grimm, D'Holbach, M. and Madame Necker, &c., and the +_collaborateur_ of Grimm in his famous "Correspondence." This gentleman +was Clairon's "literary executor;" having been intrusted with her +memoirs, written by herself, and published after her death. + +With this preface we give Mademoiselle Clairon's narrative, written in +her old age, of an occurrence which had taken place half a century +before. + + "In 1743, my youth, and my success on the stage, had drawn round + me a good many admirers. M. de S----, the son of a merchant in + Brittany, about thirty years old, handsome, and possessed of + considerable talent, was one of those who were most strongly + attached to me. His conversation and manners were those of a man + of education and good society, and the reserve and timidity which + distinguished his attention made a favorable impression on me. + After a green-room acquaintance of some time I permitted him to + visit me at my house, but a better knowledge of his situation and + character was not to his advantage. Ashamed of being only a + _bourgeois_, he was squandering his fortune at Paris under an + assumed title. His temper was severe and gloomy: he knew mankind + too well, he said, not to despise and avoid them. He wished to + see no one but me, and desired from me, in return, a similar + sacrifice of the world. I saw, from this time, the necessity, for + his own sake as well as mine, of destroying his hopes by reducing + our intercourse to terms of less intimacy. My behavior brought + upon him a violent illness, during which I showed him every mark + of friendly interest, but firmly refused to deviate from the + course I had adopted. My steadiness only deepened his wound; and + unhappily, at this time, a treacherous relative, to whom he had + intrusted the management of his affairs, took advantage of his + helpless condition by robbing him, and leaving him so destitute + that he was obliged to accept the little money I had, for his + subsistence, and the attendance which his condition required. You + must feel, my dear friend, the importance of never revealing this + secret. I respect his memory, and I would not expose him to the + insulting pity of the world. Preserve, then, the religious + silence which after many years I now break for the first time. + + "At length he recovered his property, but never his health; and + thinking I was doing him a service by keeping him at a distance + from me, I constantly refused to receive either his letters or + his visits. + + "Two years and a half elapsed between this period and that of his + death. He sent to beg me to see him once more in his last + moments, but I thought it necessary not to comply with his wish. + He died, having with him only his domestics, and an old lady, his + sole companion for a long time. He lodged at that time on the + Rempart, near the Chaussee d'Antin; I resided in the Rue de + Bussy, near the Abbaye St. Germain. My mother lived with me; and + that night we had a little party to supper. We were very gay, and + I was singing a lively air, when the clock struck eleven, and the + sound was succeeded by a long and piercing cry of unearthly + horror. The company looked aghast; I fainted, and remained for a + quarter of an hour totally insensible. We then began to reason + about the nature of so frightful a sound, and it was agreed to + set a watch in the street in case it were repeated. + + "It was repeated very often. All our servants, my friends, my + neighbors, even the police, heard the same cry, always at the + same hour, always proceeding from under my windows, and appearing + to come from the empty air. I could not doubt that it was meant + entirely for me. I rarely supped abroad; but the nights I did so, + nothing was heard; and several times, when I came home, and was + asking my mother and servants if they had heard any thing, it + suddenly burst forth, as if in the midst of us. One night, the + President de B----, at whose house I had supped, desired to see + me safe home. While he was bidding me 'good night' at my door, + the cry broke out seemingly from something between him and me. + He, like all Paris, was aware of the story; but he was so + horrified, that his servants lifted him into his carriage more + dead than alive. + + "Another time, I asked my comrade Rosely to accompany me to the + Rue St. Honore to choose some stuffs, and then to pay a visit to + Mademoiselle de St. P----, who lived near the Porte Saint-Denis. + My ghost story (as it was called) was the subject of our whole + conversation. This intelligent young man was struck by my + adventure, though he did not believe there was any thing + supernatural in it. He pressed me to evoke the phantom, promising + to believe if it answered my call. With weak audacity I complied, + and suddenly the cry was heard three times with fearful loudness + and rapidity. When we arrived at our friend's door both of us + were found senseless in the carriage. + + "After this scene, I remained for some months without hearing any + thing. I thought it was all over; but I was mistaken. + + "All the public performances had been transferred to Versailles + on account of the marriage of the Dauphin. We were to pass three + days there, but sufficient lodgings were not provided for us. + Madame Grandval had no apartment; and I offered to share with her + the room with two beds which had been assigned to me in the + avenue of St. Cloud. I gave her one of the beds and took the + other. While my maid was undressing to lie down beside me, I said + to her, 'We are at the world's end here, and it is dreadful + weather; the cry would be somewhat puzzled to get at us.' In a + moment it rang through the room. Madame Grandval ran in her + night-dress from top to bottom of the house, in which nobody + closed an eye for the rest of the night. This, however, was the + last time the cry was heard. + + "Seven or eight days afterward, while I was chatting with my + usual evening circle, the sound of the clock striking eleven was + followed by the report of a gun fired at one of the windows. We + all heard the noise, we all saw the fire, yet the window was + undamaged. We concluded that some one sought my life, and that it + was necessary to take precautions again another attempt. The + Intendant des Menus Plaisirs, who was present, flew to the house + of his friend, M. de Marville, the Lieutenant of Police. The + houses opposite mine were instantly searched, and for several + days were guarded from top to bottom. My house was closely + examined; the street was filled with spies in all possible + disguises. But, notwithstanding all this vigilance, the same + explosion was heard and seen for three whole months always at the + same hour, and at the same window-pane, without any one being + able to discover from whence it proceeded. This fact stands + recorded in the registers of the police. + + "Nothing was heard for some days; but having been invited by + Mademoiselle Dumesnil[2] to join a little evening party at her + house near the _Barriere blanche_, I got into a hackney-coach at + eleven o'clock with my maid. It was clear moonlight as we passed + along the Boulevards, which were then beginning to be studded + with houses. While we were looking at the half-finished + buildings, my maid said, 'Was it not in this neighborhood that M. + de S---- died?' 'From what I have heard,' I answered, 'I think it + should be there'--pointing with my finger to a house before us. + From that house came the same gun-shot that I had heard before. + It seemed to traverse our carriage, and the coachman set off at + full speed, thinking we were attacked by robbers. We arrived at + Mademoiselle Dumesnil's in a state of the utmost terror; a + feeling I did not get rid of for a long time." + + [2] The celebrated tragedian. + + [Mademoiselle Clairon gives some further details similar to the + above, and adds that the noises finally ceased in about two years + and a half. After this, intending to change her residence, she + put up a bill on the house she was leaving; and many people made + the pretext of looking at the apartments an excuse for gratifying + their curiosity to see, in her every-day guise, the great + tragedian of the Theatre Francais.] + + "One day I was told that an old lady desired to see my rooms. + Having always had a great respect for the aged, I went down to + receive her. An unaccountable emotion seized me on seeing her, + and I perceived that she was moved in a similar manner. I begged + her to sit down, and we were both silent for some time. At length + she spoke, and, after some preparation, came to the subject of + her visit. + + "'I was, mademoiselle, the best friend of M. de S----, and the + only friend whom he would see during the last year of his life. + We spoke of you incessantly; I urging him to forget you,--he + protesting that he would love you beyond the tomb. Your eyes + which are full of tears allow me to ask you why you made him so + wretched; and how, with such a mind and such feelings as yours, + you could refuse him the consolation of once more seeing and + speaking to you?' + + "'We can not,' I answered, 'command our sentiments. M. de S---- + had merit and estimable qualities; but his gloomy, bitter, and + overbearing temper made me equally afraid of his company, his + friendship, and his love. To make him happy, I must have + renounced all intercourse with society, and even the exercise of + my talents. I was poor and proud; I desire, and hope I shall ever + desire, to owe nothing to any one but myself. My friendship for + him prompted me to use every endeavor to lead him to more just + and reasonable sentiments: failing in this, and persuaded that + his obstinacy proceeded less from the excess of his passion than + from the violence of his character, I took the firm resolution to + separate from him entirely. I refused to see him in his last + moments, because the sight would have rent my heart; because I + feared to appear too barbarous if I remained inflexible, and to + make myself wretched if I yielded. Such, madame, are the + motives of my conduct--motives for which, I think, no one can + blame me.' + + "'It would indeed,' said the lady, 'be unjust to condemn you. My + poor friend himself in his reasonable moments acknowledged all + that he owed you. But his passion and his malady overcame him, + and your refusal to see him hastened his last moments. He was + counting the minutes, when at half-past ten, his servant came to + tell him that decidedly you would not come. After a moment's + silence, he took me by the hand with a frightful expression of + despair. Barbarous woman! he cried; but she will gain nothing by + her cruelty. As I have followed her in life, I shall follow her + in death! I endeavored to calm him; he was dead.' + + "I need scarcely tell you, my dear friend, what effect these last + words had upon me. Their analogy to all my apparitions filled me + with terror, but time and reflection calmed my feelings. The + consideration that I was neither the better nor the worse for all + that had happened to me, has led me to ascribe it all to chance. + I do not, indeed, know what _chance_ is; but it can not be denied + that the something which goes by that name has a great influence + on all that passes in the world. + + "Such is my story; do with it what you will. If you intend to + make it public, I beg you to suppress the initial letter of the + name, and the name of the province." + +This last injunction was not, as we see, strictly complied with; but, at +the distance of half a century, the suppression of a name was probably +of little consequence. + +There is no reason to doubt the entire truth of Mademoiselle Clairon's +narrative. The incidents which she relates made such a deep and enduring +impression on her mind, that it remained uneffaced during the whole +course of her brilliant career, and, almost at the close of a long life +spent in the bustle and business of the world, inspired her with solemn +and religious thoughts. Those incidents can scarcely be ascribed to +delusions of her imagination; for she had a strong and cultivated mind, +not likely to be influenced by superstitious credulity; and besides, the +mysterious sounds were heard by others as well as herself, and had +become the subject of general conversation in Paris. The suspicion of a +trick or conspiracy never seems to have occurred to her, though such a +supposition is the only way in which the circumstances can be explained; +and we are convinced that this explanation, though not quite +satisfactory in every particular, is the real one. Several portentous +occurrences, equally or more marvelous, have thus been accounted for. + +Our readers remember the history of the Commissioners of the Roundhead +Parliament for the sequestration of the royal domains, who were +terrified to death, and at last fairly driven out of the Palace of +Woodstock, by a series of diabolical sounds and sights, which were long +afterward discovered to be the work of one of their own servants, Joe +Tomkins by name, a loyalist in the disguise of a puritan. The famous +"Cocklane Ghost," which kept the town in agitation for months, and +baffled the penetration of multitudes of the divines, philosophers, and +literati of the day, was a young girl of some eleven or twelve years +old, whose mysterious knockings were produced by such simple means, that +their remaining so long undetected is the most marvelous part of the +story. This child was the agent of a conspiracy formed by her father, +with some confederates, to ruin the reputation of a gentleman by means +of pretended revelations from the dead. For this conspiracy these +persons were tried, and the father, the most guilty party, underwent the +punishment of the pillory. + +A more recent story is that of the "Stockwell Ghost," which forms the +subject of a volume published in 1772, and is shortly told by Mr. Hone +in the first volume of his "Every Day Book." Mrs. Golding, an elderly +lady residing at Stockwell, in Surrey, had her house disturbed by +portents, which not only terrified her and her family, but spread alarm +through the vicinity. Strange noises were heard proceeding from empty +parts of the house, and heavy articles of furniture, glass, and +earthenware, were thrown down and broken in pieces before the eyes of +the family and neighbors. Mrs. Golding, driven by terror from her own +dwelling, took refuge, first in one neighboring house, and then in +another, and thither the prodigies followed her. It was observed that +her maid-servant, Ann Robinson, was always present when these things +took place, either in Mrs. Golding's own house, or in those of the +neighbors. This girl, who had lived only about a week with her mistress, +became the subject of mistrust and was dismissed, after which the +disturbances entirely ceased. But the matter rested on mere suspicion. +"Scarcely any one," says Mr. Hone, "who lived at that time listened +patiently to the presumption, or without attributing the whole to +witchcraft." At length Mr. Hone himself obtained a solution of the +mystery from a gentleman who had become acquainted with Ann Robinson +many years after the affair happened, and to whom she had confessed that +she alone had produced all these supernatural horrors, by fixing wires +or horse-hairs to different articles, according as they were heavy or +light, and thus throwing them down, with other devices equally simple, +which the terror and confusion of the spectators prevented them from +detecting. The girl began these tricks to forward some love affair, and +continued them for amusement when she saw the effect they produced. + +Remembering these cases, we can have little doubt that Mademoiselle +Clairon's maid was the author of the noises which threw her mistress and +her friends into such consternation. Her own house was generally the +place where these things happened; and on the most remarkable occasions +where they happened elsewhere, is expressly mentioned that the maid was +present. At St. Cloud it was to the maid, who was her bed-fellow, that +Clairon was congratulating herself on being out of the way of the cry, +when it suddenly was heard in the very room. She had her maid in the +carriage with her on the Boulevards, and it was immediately after the +girl had asked her a question about the death of M. de S---- that the +gun-shot was heard, which seemed to traverse the carriage. Had the maid +a confederate--perhaps her fellow-servant on the box--to whom she might +have given the signal? When Mademoiselle Clairon went a-shopping to the +Rue St. Honore, she probably had her maid with her, either in or outside +the carriage; and, indeed, in every instance the noises took place when +the maid would most probably have been present, or close at hand. In +regard to the unearthly cry, she might easily have produced it herself +without any great skill in ventriloquism, or the art of imitating +sounds; a supposition which is rendered the more probable, as its +realization was rendered the more easy, by the fact of no words having +been uttered--merely a wild cry. Most of the common itinerant +ventriloquists on our public race-courses can utter speeches for an +imaginary person without any perceptible motion of the lips; the +utterance of a mere sound in this way would be infinitely less +difficult. + +The noises resembling the report of fire-arms (very likely to have been +unconsciously, and in perfect good faith, exaggerated by the terror of +the hearers) may have been produced by a confederate fellow-servant, or +a lover. It is to be observed, that the first time this seeming report +was heard, the houses opposite were guarded by the police, and spies +were placed in the street, but Mademoiselle Clairon's own house was +merely "examined." It is evident that these precautions, however +effectual against a plot conducted from without, could have no effect +whatever against tricks played within her house by one or more of her +own servants. + +As to the maid-servant's motives for engaging in this series of +deceptions, many may have existed and been sufficiently strong; the +lightest, which we shall state last, would probably be the strongest. +She may have been in communication with M. de S----'s relations for some +hidden purpose which never was effected. How far this circumstance may +be connected with the date of the first portent, the very night of the +young man's death, or whether that coincidence was simply accidental, is +matter for conjecture. The old lady, his relative, who afterward visited +Clairon, and told her a tale calculated to fill her with superstitious +dread, _may_ herself have been the maid-servant's employer for some +similar purpose; or (which is at least equally probable) the tale may +have had nothing whatever to do with the sound, and may have been +perfectly true. But all experience in such cases assures us that the +love of mischief, or the love of power, and the desire of being +important, would be sufficient motives to the maid for such a deception. +The more frightened Clairon was, the more necessary and valuable her +maid became to her, naturally. A thousand instances of long continued +deception on the part of young women, begun in mere folly, and continued +for the reasons just mentioned, though continued at an immense cost of +trouble, resolution, and self-denial in all other respects, are familiar +to most readers of strange transactions, medical and otherwise. There +seem to be strong grounds for the conclusion that the maid was the +principal, if not the sole agent in this otherwise supernatural part of +this remarkable story. + + + + +THE REV. WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES. + + +We must not allow a poet of the tender and manly feeling of Mr. Bowles +to pass away from among us with a mere notice of his death amid the +common gossip of the week. The peculiar excellence of his Sonnets and +his influence on English poetry deserve a further notice at our hands. + +The Rev. William Lisle Bowles, of an ancient family in the county of +Wilts, was born in the village of King's Sutton, in Northamptonshire--a +parish of which his father was vicar--on the 24th of September, 1762. +His mother was the daughter of Dr. Richard Gray, chaplain to Nathaniel +Crew, bishop of Durham. He was educated at Winchester School, under Dr. +Joseph Warton, and rose to be the senior boy. Warton took much notice of +him; and, on his removal to Oxford, in 1782, was the means, we have +heard, of inducing him to enter at Trinity College, of which Tom Warton +was then the senior Fellow. "Among my contemporaries at Trinity," he +says, "were several young men of talents and literature--Headley, Kett, +Benwell, Dallaway, Richards, Dornford." Of these Headley is still +remembered by some beautiful pieces of poetry, distinguished for +imagery, pathos, and simplicity. + +Mr. Bowles became a poet in print in his twenty-seventh year--publishing +in 1789 a very small volume in quarto, with the very modest title of +"Fourteen Sonnets." His excellencies were not lost on the public; and in +the same year appeared a second edition, with seven additional sonnets. +"I had just entered on my seventeenth year," says Coleridge, in his +"Biographia Literaria," "when the Sonnets of Mr. Bowles, twenty-one in +number, and just then published in a quarto pamphlet, were first made +known and presented to me by a schoolfellow [at Christ's Hospital] who +had quitted us for the University. As my school finances did not permit +me to purchase copies, I made, within less than a year and a half, more +than forty transcriptions--as the best presents I could offer to those +who had in any way won my regard. And with almost equal delight did I +receive the three or four following publications of the same author." +Coleridge was always consistent in his admiration of Mr. Bowles. +Charlotte Smith and Bowles, he says--writing in 1797--are they who first +made the sonnet popular among the present generation of English readers; +and in the same year in which this encomium was printed, his own volume +of poetry contains "Sonnets attempted in the manner of Mr. Bowles." "My +obligations to Mr. Bowles," he adds in another place, "were indeed +important, and for radical good;" and that his approbation might not be +confined to prose, he has said in verse: + + "My heart has thanked thee, Bowles, for those soft strains + Whose sadness soothes me, like the murmuring + Of wild bees in the sunny showers of spring." + +Mr. Bowles's sonnets were descriptive of his personal feelings; and the +manly tenderness which pervades them was occasioned, he tells us, by the +sudden death of a deserving young woman with whom + + "Sperabat longos, heu! ducere soles, + Et fido acclinis consenuisse sinu." + +An eighth edition appeared in 1802; and a ninth and a tenth have since +been demanded. + +While at Trinity--where he took his degree in 1792--Mr. Bowles obtained +the Chancellor's prize for a Latin poem. On leaving the University he +entered into holy orders, and was appointed to a curacy in Wiltshire; +from which he was preferred to a living in Gloucestershire--and in 1803 +to a canonry in Salisbury Cathedral. His next step was to the rectory of +Bremhill in Wiltshire--to which he was presented by Archbishop Moore. +Here he remained till his death--beloved by his parishioners and by all +who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. A volume of his sermons +("Paulus Parochialis"), designed for country congregations, was +published in 1826. + +The Sonnets were followed, at an Horatian interval, by other poems +hardly of an inferior quality: such, for instance, as his "Hope, an +Allegorical Sketch"--"St. Michael's Mount"--"Coombe Ellen"--and "Grave +of Howard." His "Spirit of Discovery by Sea," the longest of his +productions, was published in 1804, and is now chiefly remembered by the +unhappy notoriety which Lord Byron obtained for it by asserting in his +"English Bards" that the poet had made the woods of Madeira tremble to a +kiss. Lord Byron subsequently acknowledged that he had mistaken Mr. +Bowles's meaning: too late, however, to remove the injurious impression +which his hasty reading had occasioned. Generally, Mr. Bowles's more +ambitious works may be ranked as superior to the poems of Crowe and +Carrington--both of which in their day commanded a certain +reputation--and as higher in academical elegance than the verse of Mr. +James Montgomery; while they have neither the nerve and occasional +nobility of Cowper, nor that intimate mixture of fancy, feeling, lofty +contemplations, and simple themes and images which have placed +Wordsworth at the head of a school. + +The school of the Wartons was not the school of Pope; and the +comparatively low appreciation of the great poetical satirist, which Mr. +Bowles entertained and asserted in print, was no doubt imbibed at +Winchester under Joseph Warton, and strengthened at Oxford under Tom. +Mr. Bowles's edition of Pope is a very poor performance. He had little +diligence, and few indeed of the requirements of an editor. He undertook +to traduce the moral character of Pope; and the line in which Lord +Byron refers to him on that account + + "To do for hate what Mallet did for hire" + +will long be remembered to his prejudice. His so-called "invariable +principles of poetry" maintained in his Pope and in his controversy with +Byron and Campbell, are better based than critics hitherto have been +willing to admit. Considering how sharply the reverend Pamphleteer was +hit by the Peer's ridicule, it must be always remembered, to the credit +of his Christianity, that possibly the most popular of all the dirges +written on Lord Byron's death came from Mr. Bowles's pen; and the +following tributary stanza is deepened in its music by the memory of the +former war. + + "I will not ask sad Pity to deplore + His wayward errors who thus sadly died, + Still less, CHILDE HAROLD, now thou art no more, + Will I say aught of Genius misapplied; + Of the past shadows of thy spleen or pride: + But I will bid th' Arcadian cypress wave, + Pluck the green laurel from the Perseus's side, + And pray thy spirit may such quiet have + That not one thought unkind be murmured o'er thy grave." + +It only remains for us to add, that Mr. Bowles wrote a somewhat poor +life of Bishop Ken--that he was famous for his Parson Adams-like +forgetfulness--that his wife died in 1844, at the age of 72--and that he +himself at the time of his death was in his eighty-eighth year.--_London +Athenaeum._ + + + + +MORNING IN SPRING. + +(FROM THE GERMAN OF GUSTAV SOLLING.) + + + From the valleys to the hills + See the morning mists arise; + And the early dew distills + Balmy incense to the skies. + + Purple clouds, with vapory grace, + Round the sun their soft sail fling; + Now they fade--and from his face + Beams the new-born bliss of Spring! + + From the cool grass glitter bright + Myriad drops of diamond dew; + Bending 'neath their pressure light, + Waves the green corn, springing new + + Nought but the fragrant wind is heard, + Whispering softly through the trees, + Or, lightly perched, the early bird + Chirping to the morning breeze + + Dewy May-flowers to the sun + Ope their buds of varied hue. + Fragrant shades--his beams to shun-- + Hide the violet's heavenly blue + + A joyous sense of life revived + Streams through every limb and vein: + I thank thee, Lord! that I have lived + To see the bright young Spring again! + + ETA. + + + + +[From Household Words.] + +WORK! AN ANECDOTE. + + +A calvary officer of large fortune, who had distinguished himself in +several actions, having been quartered for a long time in a foreign +city, gradually fell into a life of extreme and incessant dissipation. +He soon found himself so indisposed to any active military service, that +even the ordinary routine became irksome and unbearable. He accordingly +solicited and obtained leave of absence from his regiment for six +months. But, instead of immediately engaging in some occupation of mind +and body, as a curative process for his morbid condition, he hastened to +London, and gave himself up entirely to greater luxuries than ever, and +plunged into every kind of sensuality. The consequence was a disgust of +life and all its healthy offices. He became unable to read half a page +of a book, or to write the shortest note; mounting his horse was too +much trouble; to lounge down the street was a hateful effort. His +appetite failed, or every thing disagreed with him; and he could seldom +sleep. Existence became an intolerable burden; he therefore determined +on suicide. + +With this intention he loaded his pistols, and, influenced by early +associations, dressed himself in his regimental frock-coat and crimson +sash, and entered St. James's Park a little before sunrise. He felt as +if he was mounting guard for the last time; listened to each sound, and +looked with miserable affection across the misty green toward the Horse +Guards, faintly seen in the distance. + +A few minutes after the officer had entered the park, there passed +through the same gate a poor mechanic, who leisurely followed in the +same direction. He was a gaunt, half-famished looking man, and walked +with a sad air, his eyes bent thoughtfully on the ground, and his large +bony hands dangling at his sides. + +The officer, absorbed in the act he meditated, walked on without being +aware of the presence of another person. Arriving about the middle of a +wide open space, he suddenly stopped, and drawing forth both pistols, +exclaimed, "Oh, most unfortunate and most wretched man that I am! +Wealth, station, honor, prospects, are of no avail! Existence has become +a heavy torment to me! I have not strength--I have not courage to endure +or face it a moment longer!" + +With these words he cocked the pistols, and was raising both of them to +his head, when his arms were seized from behind, and the pistols twisted +out of his fingers. He reeled round, and beheld the gaunt scarecrow of a +man who had followed him. + +"What are you?" stammered the officer, with a painful air; "How dare you +to step between me and death?" + +"I am a poor, hungry mechanic;" answered the man, "one who works from +fourteen to sixteen hours a day, and yet finds it hard to earn a living. +My wife is dead--my daughter was tempted away from me--and I am a lone +man. As I have nobody to live for, and have become quite tired of my +life, I came out this morning, intending to drown myself. But as the +fresh air of the park came over my face, the sickness of life gave way +to shame at my own want of strength and courage, and I determined to +walk onward and live my allotted time. But what are _you_? Have you +encountered cannon-balls and death in all shapes, and now want the +strength and courage to meet the curse of idleness?" + +The officer was moving off with some confused words, but the mechanic +took him by the arm, and threatening to hand him over to the police if +he resisted, led him droopingly away. + +This mechanic's work was that of a turner, and he lived in a dark +cellar, where he toiled at his lathe from morning to night. Hearing that +the officer had amused himself with a little turnery in his youth, the +poor artisan proposed to take him down into his work-shop. The officer +offered him money; and was anxious to escape; but the mechanic refused +it, and persisted. + +He accordingly took the morbid gentleman down into his dark cellar, and +set him to work at his lathe. The officer began very languidly, and soon +rose to depart. Whereupon, the mechanic forced him down again on the +hard bench, and swore that if he did not do an hour's work for him, in +return for saving his life, he would instantly consign him to a +policeman, and denounce him for attempting to commit suicide. At this +threat the officer was so confounded, that he at once consented to do +the work. + +When the hour was over, the mechanic insisted on a second hour, in +consequence of the slowness of the work--it had not been a fair hour's +labor. In vain the officer protested, was angry, and exhausted--had the +heartburn--pains in his back and limbs--and declared it would kill him. +The mechanic was inexorable. "If it _does_ kill you," said he, "then you +will only be where you would have been if I had not stopped you." So the +officer was compelled to continue his work with an inflamed face, and +the perspiration pouring down over his cheeks and chin. + +At last he could proceed no longer, come what would of it, and sank back +in the arms of his persecuting preserver. The mechanic now placed before +him his own breakfast, composed of a two-penny loaf of brown bread, and +a pint of small beer; the whole of which the officer disposed of in no +time, and then sent out for more. + +Before the boy who was dispatched on this errand returned, a little +conversation had ensued; and as the officer rose to go, he smilingly +placed his purse, with his card, in the hands of the mechanic. The poor, +ragged man received them with all the composure of a physician, and with +a sort of dry, grim humor which appeared peculiar to him, and the only +relief of his other wise rough and rigid character, made sombre by the +constant shadows and troubles of life. + +But the moment he read the name on the card all the hard lines in his +deeply-marked face underwent a sudden contortion. Thrusting back the +purse and card into the officer's hand, he seized him with a fierce grip +by one arm--hurried him, wondering, up the dark broken stairs, along the +narrow passage--then pushed him out at the door! + +"You are the fine gentleman who tempted my daughter away!" said he. + +"I--_your_ daughter!" exclaimed the officer. + +"Yes, my daughter; Ellen Brentwood!" said the mechanic. "Are there so +many men's daughters in the list, that you forget her name?" + +"I implore you," said the officer, "to take this purse. _Pray_, take +this purse! If you will not accept it for yourself, I entreat you to +send it to her!" + +"Go and buy a lathe with it," said the mechanic. "Work, man! and repent +of your past life!" + +So saying, he closed the door in the officer's face, and descended the +stairs to his daily labor. + + + + +IGNORANCE IN ENGLAND.--Taking the whole of northern Europe--including +Scotland, and France and Belgium (where education is at a low ebb), we +find that to every 2-1/4 of the population, there is one child acquiring +the rudiments of knowledge; while in England there is only one such +pupil to every fourteen inhabitants. It has been calculated that there +are at the present day in England and Wales nearly 8,000,000 persons who +can neither read nor write--that is to say, nearly one quarter of the +population. Also, that of all the children between five and fourteen, +more than one half attend no place of instruction. These statements +would be hard to believe, if we had not to encounter in our every-day +life degrees of illiteracy which would be startling, if we were not +thoroughly used to it. Wherever we turn, ignorance, not always allied to +poverty, stares us in the face. If we look in the _Gazette_, at the list +of partnerships dissolved, not a month passes but some unhappy man, +rolling, perhaps, in wealth, but wallowing in ignorance, is put to the +_experimentum crucis_ of "his mark." The number of petty jurors--in +rural districts especially--who can only sign with a cross, is enormous. +It is not unusual to see parish documents of great local importance +defaced with the same humiliating symbol by persons whose office shows +them to be not only "men of mark," but men of substance. A housewife in +humble life need only turn to the file of her tradesmen's bills to +discover hieroglyphics which render them so many arithmetical puzzles. +In short, the practical evidences of the low ebb to which the plainest +rudiments of education in this country have fallen, are too common to +bear repetition. We can not pass through the streets, we can not enter a +place of public assembly, or ramble in the fields, without the gloomy +shadow of Ignorance sweeping over us.--_Dickens's "Household Words."_ + + + + +[From The Ladies' Companion.] + +MEN AND WOMEN. + + +A woman is naturally gratified when a man singles her out, and addresses +his conversation to her. She takes pains to appear to the best +advantage, but without any thought of willfully misleading. + +How different is it with men! At least it is thus that women in general +think of men. The mask with them is deliberately put on and worn as a +mask, and wo betide the silly girl who is too weak or too unsuspicious, +not to appear displeased with the well-turned compliments and flattering +attentions so lavishly bestowed upon her by her partner at the ball. If +a girl has brothers she sees a little behind the scenes, and is saved +much mortification and disappointment. She discovers how little men mean +by attentions they so freely bestow upon the last new face which takes +their fancy. + +Men are singularly wanting in good feeling upon this subject; they pay a +girl marked attention, flatter her in every way, and then, perhaps, when +warned by some judicious friend that they are going too far, "can hardly +believe the girl could be so foolish as to fancy that any thing was +meant." + +The fault which strikes women most forcibly in men is _selfishness_. +They expect too much in every way, and become impatient if their +comforts and peculiarities are interfered with. If the men of the +present day were less selfish and self-indulgent, and more willing to be +contented and happy upon moderate means, there would be fewer causes of +complaint against young women undertaking situations as governesses when +they were wholly unfit for so responsible an office. I feel the deepest +interest in the present movement for the improvement of the female sex; +and most cordially do I concur in the schemes for this desirable purpose +laid down in "The Ladies' Companion;" but I could not resist the +temptation of lifting up my voice in testimony against some of the +every-day faults of men, to which I think many of the follies and +weaknesses of women are mainly to be attributed. + +Mr. Thackeray is the only writer of the present day who touches, with +any severity, upon the faults of his own sex. He has shown us the style +of women that he thinks men most admire, in "Amelia," and "Mrs. +Pendennis." Certainly, my own experience agrees with his opinion; and +until men are sufficiently improved to be able to appreciate higher +qualities in women, and to choose their wives among women who possess +such qualities, I do not expect that the present desirable movement will +make much progress. The improvement of both sexes must be simultaneous. +A "gentleman's horror" is still a "blue stocking," which unpleasing +epithet is invariably bestowed upon all women who have read much, and +who are able to think and act for themselves. + + A YOUNG WIFE + + + + +THE RETURN OF POPE PIUS IX. TO ROME. + + + The banishment of a Pope has hitherto been a rare event: the + following detailed and graphic description of the return of PIUS + IX. to his seat of empire, superadds a certain degree of + historical importance to its immediate interest. It is from the + correspondence of the "London Times." + + + VELLETRI, _Thursday, April_ 11. + +All speculation is now set at rest--the last and the most important +stage in the Papal progress has been made--the Pope has arrived at +Velletri. + +The Pope was expected yesterday at three o'clock, but very early in the +morning every one in the town, whether they had business to execute or +not, thought it necessary to rush about, here, there, and every where. I +endeavored to emulate this activity, and to make myself as ubiquitous as +the nature of the place, which is built on an ascent, and my own nature, +which is not adapted to ascents, would allow me. At one moment I stood +in admiration at the skill with which sundry sheets and napkins were +wound round a wooden figure, to give it a chaste and classic appearance, +which figure--supposed to represent Charity, Fortitude, Prudence, or +Plenty--was placed as a _basso relievo_ on the triumphal arch, where it +might have done for any goddess or virtue in the mythology or calendar. +At another moment I stood on the Grand Place, marveling at the arch and +dry manner in which half a dozen painters were inscribing to Pio Nono, +over the doors of the Municipality, every possible quality which could +have belonged to the whole family of saints--one man, in despair at +giving adequate expression to his enthusiasm, having satisfied himself +with writing _Pio Nono Immortale! Immortale! Immortale! Vero Angelo!_ + +But to say the truth, there was something very touching in the +enthusiasm of this rustic and mountain people, although it was sometimes +absurdly and quaintly expressed; for instance, in one window there was a +picture, or rather a kind of transparency, representing little angels, +which a scroll underneath indicated as the children of His Holiness. +Whether the Velletrians intended to represent their own innocence or to +question that of His Holiness, I did not choose to inquire. Then there +were other pictures of the Pope in every possible variety of dress; +sometimes as a young officer, at another as a cardinal; again, a corner +shop had him as a benevolent man in a black coat and dingy neck-cloth; +but, most curious of all, he at one place took the shape of a female +angel placing her foot on the demon of rebellion. The circumstance of +his Protean quality arose from each family having turned their pictures +from the inside outside the houses, and printed Pio Nono under each; but +if the features of each picture differed, not so the feelings that +placed them there: it was a touching and graceful sight to see the +people as they greeted each other that morning. + +As the day drew on, the preparations were completed, and the material of +which every house was built was lost under a mass of scarlet and green. +But, alas! about three o'clock the clouds gathered upon Alba; Monte +Calvi was enveloped in mist, which sailed over the top of Artemisio; the +weather turned cold; and the whole appearance of the day became +threatening. The figure of the Pope on the top of the triumphal arch, to +compose which sundry beds must have been stripped of their sheets--for +it was of colossal dimensions--quivered in the breeze, and at every +blast I expected to see the worst possible omen--the mitre, which was +only fastened by string to the sacred head, falling down headless; but +having pointed this out to some persons who were too excited themselves +to see anything practical, a boy was sent up, and with two long nails +secured the mitre more firmly on the sacred head than even Lord Minto's +counsels could do. At three o'clock the Municipality passed down the +lines of troops amid every demonstration of noisy joy. There were half a +dozen very respectable gentlemen in evening dress, all looking +wonderfully alike, and remarkably pale, either from the excitement or +the important functions which they had to perform; but I ought to speak +well of them, for they invited me to the reserved part of the small +entrance square, where I had the good fortune to shelter myself from the +gusts of wind which drove down from the hills. From three to six we all +waited, the people very patient, and fortunately so crowded that they +could not well feel cold. The cardinal's servants--strange +grotesque-looking fellows in patchwork liveries--were running up and +down the portico, and the soldiers on duty began to give evident signs +of a diminution of ardor. Some persons were just beginning to croak, +"Well, I told you he would not come," when the cannon opened from the +heights, the troops fell in--a carriage is seen coming down the hill, +but it is the wrong road. Who can it be? The troops seem to know, for +the chasseurs draw their swords, the whole line present arms, the band +strikes up, and the French General Baraguay d'Hilliers dashes through +the gates. Again roar the cannon--another carriage is seen, and this +time in the right direction; it is preceded by the Pope's courier, +covered with scarlet and gold. The people cheered loudly, although they +could not have known whom it contained; but they cheered the magnificent +arms and the reeking horses. It was the Vice-Legate of Velletri, +Monsignore Beraldi. The Municipality rushed to the door of the carriage, +and a little, energetic-looking man in lace and purple descended, and +was almost smothered in the embraces of the half dozen municipal +officers, who confused him with questions--"Dove e la sua Santita!" +"Vicino! Vicino!" "E a Frosinone, e a Valomontone?" "Bellissimo, +bellissimo, recevimento! sorprendente! Tanto bello! tanto bello!" was +all the poor little man could jerk out, and at each word he was stifled +with fresh embraces; but he was soon set aside and forgotten, when half +a dozen of the Papal couriers galloped up, splashed from head to foot. +They were followed by several carriages with four or six horses, the +postillions in their new liveries; then came a large squadron of +Neapolitan cavalry, and immediately afterward the Pope. It was a +touching sight. While the women cried, the men shouted; but however +absurd a description of enthusiasm may be, in its action it was very +fine. As he passed on, the troops presented arms, and every one knelt. +He drew up in front of the municipality, who were so affected or so +frightened that their speech ended in nothing. The carriage door was +opened, and then the scene which ensued was without parallel; every one +rushed forward to kiss the foot which he put out. One little Abbate, Don +Pietro Metranga, amused me excessively. Nothing could keep him back; he +caught hold of the sacred foot, he hugged it, he sighed, he wept over +it. A knot of gentlemen were standing on the steps of the entrance, +among others Mr. Baillie Cochrane, in the Scotch Archers' uniform, whom +His Holiness beckoned forward, and put out his hand for him to kiss. +Again the carriages would have moved on, for it was late, and _Te Deum_ +had to be sung; but for some time it was quite impossible to shake off +the crowd at the door. At last the procession moved, and I, at the peril +of my life--for the crowd, couriers, and chasseurs rode like +lunatics--ran down to the cathedral. To my surprise, the Pope had +anticipated me, and the door was shut. I was about to retire in despair, +when I saw a little man creeping silently up to a small gate, followed +by a very tall and ungainly prince in a red uniform, which put me very +much in mind of Ducrow in his worst days. I looked again, and I knew it +was my friend the Abbe, and if I followed him I must go right. It was as +I expected. While we had been abusing the arrangements, he had gone and +asked for the key of the sacristy, by which way we entered the church. +It was densely crowded in all parts, and principally by troops who had +preoccupied it. When the host was raised, the effect was grand in the +extreme. The Pope, with all his subjects, bowed their heads to the +pavement, and the crash of arms was succeeded by the most perfect +silence. The next ceremony was the benediction of the people from the +palace, which is situate on the extreme height of the town. Nerving +myself for this last effort, I struggled and stumbled up the hill. There +the thousands from the country and neighborhood were assembled, and in a +few minutes the Pope arrived. In the interval all the facades of the +houses had been illuminated, and the effects of the light on the various +picturesque groups and gay uniforms was very striking. A burst of music +and fresh cannon announced the arrival of His Holiness. He went straight +into the palace, and in a few minutes the priests with the torches +entered the small chapel which was erected on the balcony. The Pope +followed, and then arose one shout, such as I never remember to have +heard: another and another, and all knelt, and not a whisper was heard. +As the old man stretched out his hands to bless the people, his voice +rung clear and full in the night: + + "Sit nomen Dei benedictum." + +And the people, with one voice, replied: + + "Ex hoc et nunc et in seculum." + +Then the Pope: + + "Adjutorum nostrum in nomine Domini." + +The people: + + "Qui fecit coelum et terram." + +His Holiness: + + "Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus Pater, Filius, et Spiritus + Sanctus." + +And the people, with one voice: + + "Amen!" + + + _Thursday Evening._ + +The Velletri fireworks were certainly a failure; the population +understands genuflexions better than squibs and crackers; but the +illumination, which consisted of large pots of grease placed on posts at +intervals of a yard down every street, had really a very good effect, +and might afford a good hint for cheap illuminations in England. What is +most remarkable to an Englishman on such occasions is, the total absence +of drunkenness and the admirable and courteous conduct of the people to +each other. It seemed to me that the population never slept; they were +perambulating the streets chanting "Viva Pio Nono" all night; and, at 8 +o'clock this morning, there was the same crowd, with the same +excitement. I went early to the Papal Palace to witness the reception of +the different deputations; but, notwithstanding my activity, I arrived +one of the last, and on being shown into a waiting-room found myself +standing in a motley group of generals of every clime, priests in every +variety of costume, judges, embassadors, and noble guards. A long suite +of ten rooms was thrown open, and probably the old and tapestried walls +had never witnessed so strange a sight before as the gallery presented. +There was a kind of order and degree preserved in the distribution of +the visitors. The first room mostly contained priests of the lower +ranks, in the second were gentlemen in violet colored dresses, looking +proud and inflated; then came a room full of officers, then +distinguished strangers, among whom might be seen General Baraguay +d'Hilliers, Count Ludolf, the Neapolitan embassador, the Princes +Massimo, Corsini, Ruspoli, Cesareni, all covered with stars, ribbons, +and embroidery. The door of each room was kept by the municipal troops, +who were evidently very new to the work, for the pages in their pink +silk dresses might be seen occasionally instructing them in the salute. +Presently there was a move, every one drew back for Cardinal Macchi; he +is the _doyen_ of the college, and, as Archbishop of Velletri, appeared +in his brightest scarlet robes--a fit subject for the pencil of the +great masters. He was followed by Cardinals Asquini and Dupont in more +modest garb, and each as he passed received and gracefully acknowledged +the homage of the crowd. While we were standing waiting, two priests in +full canonicals marched by with stately steps, preceded by the cross, +and bearing the consecrated elements which they were to administer to +the Pope; they remained with him about twenty minutes, and again the +doors were thrown open, and they came out with the same forms. The +Sacrament was succeeded by the breakfast service of gold, which it would +have made any amateurs of Benvenuto Cellini's workmanship envious to +see. At last the breakfast was ended, and I began to hope there was some +chance of our suspense terminating, when there was a great movement +among the crowd at one end of the gallery, the pages rushed to their +posts, flung back the two doors, and the Prime Minister, Cardinal +Antonelli, entered. Standing in that old palace, and gazing on the +Priest Premier, I could realize the times of Mazarin and Richelieu. +Neither of these could have possessed a haughtier eye than Antonelli, or +carried themselves more proudly: every action spoke the man +self-possessed and confident in the greatness of his position. He is +tall, thin, about forty-four or forty-five, of a dark and somewhat +sallow complexion, distinguished not by the regularity or beauty of his +features, but by the calmness and dignity of their expression. As the +mass moved to let him pass to the Papal apartments at the other +extremity of the gallery, there was nothing flurried in his manner or +hurried in his step--he knew to a nicety the precise mode of courtesy +which he should show to each of his worshipers; for instance, when the +French general--ay, the rough soldier of the camp--bent to kiss his +hand, he drew it back, and spoke a few low, complimentary words as he +bowed low to him, always graciously, almost condescendingly. When the +Roman princes wished to perform the same salute his hand met their lips +half-way. When the crowd of abbes, monks, priests, and deacons, seized +it, it passed on unresistingly from mouth to mouth, as though he knew +that blessing was passing out of him, but that he found sufficient for +all. I was beginning to marvel what had become of my little friend of +the preceding evening, Don Pietro, when I observed a slight stoppage, +occasioned by some one falling at the Cardinal's feet. It was Don +Pietro. He had knelt down to get a better hold of the hanging fringes, +and no power could withdraw them from his lips; he appeared determined +to exhaust their valuable savor, and, for the first time, I saw a smile +on Antonelli's countenance, which soon changed into a look of severity, +which so frightened the little abbate that he gave up his prey. Cardinal +Antonelli went in to the Pope, and expectation and patience had to be +renewed. Then came all the deputations in succession, men with long +parchments and long faces of anxiety. There could not have been less +than eight or ten of these, who all returned from the interview looking +very bright and contented, ejaculating "_Quanto e buono! quanto buono!_" +To my great disappointment, a very officious little gentleman, who, it +appears, is a nephew of Cardinal Borroneo, and who, only two days since, +had been appointed a kind of deputy master of the ceremonies, informed +me that it was very unlikely His Holiness could receive any more people, +as he had to go out at eleven, which fact was confirmed by the Papal +couriers, who marched, booted and spurred, whip in hand, into the +ante-room. This announcement had scarcely been made, when Cardinal +Antonelli appeared and informed us that the Pope would receive two or +three at a time, but that they must not stop long. The first batch +consisted of "our own correspondent;" Don Flavio Ghigi, I looked round +to see who was the third, it was the little abbate. As we entered the +presence chamber, I made an inclination, but, to my surprise, both Don +Flavio and Don Pietro rushed forward. The Ghigi gracefully, and with +emotion, kissed the Sovereign's foot, and then his hand, which was +extended to him. His Holiness had evidently been greatly excited. He +took Don Flavio by the hand, saying, "Rise up, my son, our sorrows are +over." Meanwhile Don Pietro had embraced not merely the foot, but the +ankle. Vainly the Pope bade him rise. At last he exclaimed, looking at +the little man with wonder, "Eh! Che Don Pietro con una barba!" "Ah," +said the unclerical priest, not in any degree taken by surprise, "Since +our misfortunes, your Holiness, I never had the heart to shave." "Then, +now that happier times are come, we shall see your face quite clean," +was the Pope's reply. More genuflexions, more embracings, and away we +went. After a few minutes' delay, the gentlemen of the chamber gave +notice that His Holiness was about to pass; he was preceded by priests +bearing the crucifix, and this time wore a rich embroidered stole; his +benevolent face lighted up as he blessed all his servants who knelt on +his passage. He has a striking countenance, full of paternal goodness; +nor does his tendency to obesity interfere with the dignity of his +movements. Some half-dozen Capuchins fell down before him, and the +guards had some difficulty in making them move out of the way. As the +Pope moved he dispensed his blessing to the right and to the left. +Meanwhile a great crowd had collected outside. When he appeared he was +enthusiastically cheered. He entered his carriage--the scarlet couriers +kicked, cracked, and spurred--the troops all knelt--the band played some +strange anthem, for he has become rather tired of "_Viva Pio Nono_," +with which he has no agreeable associations--and the pageant passed +away. + +I was compelled to decline the invitation from the Council of State; +and, soon after his Holiness's departure, I started for Rome, in order +to arrive before the gates were shut, for the passport system is in the +strictest operation. All along the road fortunately the preparations +have taken the turn of cleanliness--whitewash is at a premium. At +Genzano and Albano the woods of Dunsinane seem to be moving through the +towns. At the former place I saw General Baraguay d'Hilliers, who had to +send to Albano for two cutlets and bread, the supplies of Genzano being +exhausted. The Pope leaves Velletri to-morrow, Friday, 12th, at 8 +o'clock. At Genzano the Neapolitan troops leave him, and are replaced by +the French; at Albano he breakfasts, and enters Rome at 4 o'clock. +Preparations are making for a grand illumination, and the town is all +alive. + + + ROME, _Friday Evening, April_ 12. + +The history of the last two years has taught us to set very little +reliance on any demonstrations of public opinion. But for this sad +experience I should have warmly congratulated the Pope and his French +advisers on the success of their experiment, and augured well of the new +Roman era from the enthusiasm which has ushered it in. It is true that +there was wanting the delirious excitement which greeted our second +Charles on his return from a sixteen years' exile; nor were the forms of +courtly etiquette broken through as on that memorable 21st of March, +when Napoleon, accompanied by Cambronne and Bertrand dashed into the +court of the Tuileries and was borne on the shoulders of his troops into +the Salle des Marechaux. Even the genuine heartiness, the uncalculating +expression of emotion, which delighted the Pope at Frosinone and +Velletri, were not found in Rome; but then it must be remembered that it +was from Rome the Pope was driven forth as an exile--that shame and +silence are the natural expressions of regret and repentance; so, +considering every thing, the Pope was very well received. Bright banners +waved over his head, bright flowers were strewn on his path, the day was +warm and sunny--in all respects it was a morning _alba notanda creda_, +one of the _dies fasti_ of the reformed Papacy. + +And yet the thoughts which the gorgeous scene suggested were not of +unmixed gratification. French troops formed the Papal escort; French +troops lined the streets and thronged St. Peter's. At first the mind was +carried back to the times when Pepin, as the eldest son of the Catholic +church, restored the Pope to the throne of the Apostle, and for the +moment we were disposed to feel that the event and the instrument were +happily associated; but a moment's glance at the tri-color standard, at +the free and easy manner of the general-in-chief when he met the Pope at +the gate of the Lateran, recalled the mind back to the French Republic, +with all its long train of intrigue, oppression, and infatuated folly. + +But, whatever the change of scene may be, it must be admitted that the +drama was full of interest and the decorations magnificent. When the sun +shone on the masses collected in the Piazza of St. Giovanni, and the +great gates of the Lateran being thrown open the gorgeous hierarchy of +Rome, with the banners of the various Basilicae, the insignia and costume +of every office issued forth, the effect was beyond measure imposing. An +artist must have failed in painting, as he must have failed in composing +such a picture. Precisely at 4 o'clock the batteries on the Place +announced that the _cortege_ was in view, and presently the clouds of +dust blown before it gave a less agreeable assurance of its approach. +The procession was headed by a strong detachment of cavalry; then +followed the tribe of couriers, outriders, and officials--whom I +described from Velletri--more troops, and then the Pope. As he passed +the drums beat the _generale_, and the soldiers knelt, it was commonly +reported, but I know not with what truth; it was the first time they +ever knelt before the head of the church. Certainly, with the Italians +church ceremonies are an instinct--the coloring and grouping are so +accidentally but artistically arranged; the bright scarlet of the +numerous cardinals mingling with the solemn black of the _Conservatori_, +the ermine of the senate, the golden vestments of the high-priests, and +the soberer hues of the inferior orders of the clergy. When the Pope +descended from the carriage a loud cheer was raised and handkerchiefs +were waved in abundance; but, alas! the enthusiasm that is valuable is +that which does not boast of such a luxury as handkerchiefs. Very few +people seemed to think it necessary to kneel, and, on the whole, the +mass were more interested in the pageant itself than in the +circumstances in which it originated. The excitement of curiosity was, +however, at its height, for many people in defiance of horse and foot +broke into the square, where they afforded excellent sport to the +chasseurs, who amused themselves in knocking off their hats and then in +preventing them from picking them up. I ran down in time to see his +Holiness march in procession up the centre of the magnificent St. +Giovanni. This religious part of the ceremony was perhaps more imposing +than that outside the church. The dead silence while the Pope prayed, +the solemn strains when he rose from his knees, the rich draperies which +covered the walls and cast an atmosphere of purple light around, the +black dresses and the vails which the ladies wore, mingling with every +variety of uniform, stars, and ribbons, produced an admirable effect. +The great object, when this ceremony was half finished, was to reach St. +Peter's before the Pope could arrive there, every body, of course, +starting at the same moment, and each party thinking they were going to +do a very clever thing in taking a narrow roundabout way to the Ponte +Sisto, so choking it up and leaving the main road by the Coliseum and +the Foro Trajano quite deserted. In the palmiest days of the circus Rome +could never have witnessed such chariot-racing. All ideas of courtesy +and solemnity befitting the occasion were banished. The only thing was +who could arrive first at the bridge. The streets as we passed through +were quite deserted--it looked like a city of the dead. As we passed +that admirable institution, the Hospital St. Giovanni Colabita, which is +always open to public view, the officiating priests and soldiers were +standing in wonder at the entrance, and the sick men raised themselves +on their arms and looked with interest on the excitement occasioned by +the return of the Head of that Church, to which they owed the foundation +where they sought repose, and the faith that taught them hope. By the +time we arrived at St. Peter's the immense space was already crowded, +but, thanks to my Irish pertinacity, I soon elbowed myself into a +foremost place at the head of the steps. Here I had to wait for about an +hour, admiring the untiring energy of the mob, who resisted all the +attempts of the troops to keep them back, the gentle expostulations of +the officers, and sometimes the less gentle persuasion of the bayonet. +At 6 o'clock, the banners flew from the top of Adrian's Tomb, and the +roar of cannon recommenced; but again the acclamations were very +partial, and, but for the invaluable pocket-handkerchiefs of the +ever-sympathizing ladies, the affair must have passed off rather coldly. +It was, however, very different in St. Peter's. When his Holiness trod +that magnificent temple the thousands collected within its walls +appeared truly impressed with the grandeur, the almost awful grandeur of +the scene. The man, the occasion, and the splendor, all so striking; +never was the host celebrated under a more remarkable combination of +circumstances. The word of command given to the troops rang through the +immense edifice, then the crash of arms, and every man knelt for some +moments amid a breathless silence, only broken by the drums, which +rolled at intervals. The mass was ended. St. Peter's sent forth the tens +of thousands, the soldiers fell in, the pageantry was at an end. Then +came the illumination, which was very beautiful, not from the brilliancy +of the lights, but from its being so universal. St. Peter's was only +lighted _en demi-toilette_, and is to appear in his glory to-morrow +evening; but as the wind played among the lamps, and the flames +flickered and brightened in the breeze, the effect from the Pincian was +singularly graceful. The Campodoglio, that centre of triumph, was in a +blaze of glory, and the statues of the mighty of old stood forth, like +dark and solemn witnesses of the past, in the sea of light. But one by +one the lamps died out, the silence and the darkness of the night +resumed their sway, and the glory of the day became the history of the +past. + +Thus far prognostications have been defeated. The Pope is in the +Vatican. Let us hope the prophets of evil may again find their +predictions falsified; but, alas! it is impossible to be blind to the +fact, that within the last few days the happiness of many homes has been +destroyed, and that the triumph of the one has been purchased by the +sorrows of the many. True, some 30,000 scudi have been given in charity, +of which the Pope granted 25,000; but there is that which is even more +blessed than food--it is liberty. There were conspiracies, it is true. +An attempt was made to set fire to the Quirinal; a small _machine +infernale_ was exploded near the Palazzo Teodoli. There was the excuse +for some arrests, but not for so many. But if the hand of the +administration is to press too heavily on the people, the absence of +prudence and indulgence on the part of the church can not be compensated +for by the presence of its head. In former days of clerical ignorance +and religious bigotry the master-writings of antiquity, which were found +inscribed on old parchments, were obliterated to make way for missals, +homilies, and golden legends, gorgeously illuminated but ignorantly +expressed. Let not the church fall into the same error in these days, by +effacing from its record the stern but solemn lessons of the past, to +replace them by illiberal, ungenerous, and therefore erroneous views, +clothed although they may be with all the pride and pomp of papal +supremacy. Doubtless some time will elapse before any particular course +of policy will be laid down. The Pope will for the moment bide his time +and observe. No one questions his good intentions, no man puts his +benevolence in doubt. Let him only follow the dictates of his own +kindness of heart, chastened by his bitter experience, which will teach +him alike to avoid the extremes of indulgence and the excesses of +severity. + + + _Saturday Morning, April_ 13. + +I am glad to be able to add that the night has passed off in the most +quiet and satisfactory manner, and I do not hear that in a single +instance public tranquillity was disturbed. The decorations, consisting +of bright colors and rich tapestry, which ornamented the windows and +balconies yesterday, are kept up to-day, and the festive appearance of +the city is fully maintained. There is an apparent increase of movement +in all the principal thoroughfares. His Holiness is engaged to-day in +receiving various deputations, but to-morrow the ceremonies will +recommence with high mass at St. Peter's, after which the Pope will +bless the people from the balcony, and no doubt for several days to come +religious observances will occupy all the time and attention of his +Holiness. I am very glad to find, from a gentleman who arrived last +night, having followed the papal progress through Cesterna, Velletri, +Genzano, and Albano, several hours after I had left, that the most +perfect tranquillity prevailed on the whole line of road, and up to the +gates of Rome, at four o'clock this morning not a single accident had +occurred to disturb the general satisfaction. Of course the whole city +is alive with reports of various descriptions; every body draws his own +conclusions from the great events of yesterday, and indulges in +vaticinations in the not improbable event of General Baraguay +d'Hilliers' immediate departure, now that his mission has been +accomplished. A fine field will be open for speculation. Meanwhile the +presence of the sovereign has been of one inestimable advantage to the +town--it has put the municipality on the alert. The heaps of rubbish +have been removed from the centres of the squares and the corners of the +different streets, to the great discomfiture of the tribes of hungry +dogs which, for the comfort of the tired population, had not energy to +bay through the night. Workpeople have been incessantly employed in +carting away the remains of republican violence. I observe, however, +that the causeway between the Vatican and St. Angelo, which was broken +down by the mob, has not yet been touched. Are we to hail this as an +omen that the sovereign will never again require to seek the shelter of +the fortress, or as an evidence that the ecclesiastical and the civil +power are not yet entirely united? + + + + +[From Bentley's Miscellany.] + +THE GENIUS OF GEORGE SAND. + +THE COMEDY OF FRANCOIS LE CHAMPI. + + +Scarcely half a dozen years have elapsed since it was considered a +dangerous experiment to introduce the name of George Sand into an +English periodical. In the interval we have overcome our scruples, and +the life and writings of George Sand are now as well known in this +country as those of Charles Dickens, or Bulwer Lytton. The fact itself +is a striking proof of the power of a great intellect to make itself +heard in spite of the prejudices and aversion of its audience. + +The intellectual power of George Sand is attested by the suffrages of +Europe. The use to which she has put it is another question. +Unfortunately, she has applied it, for the most part, to so bad a use, +that half the people who acknowledge the ascendency of her genius, see +too much occasion to deplore its perversion. + +The principles she has launched upon the world have an inevitable +tendency toward the disorganization of all existing institutions, +political and social. This is the broad, palpable fact, let sophistry +disguise or evade it as it may. Whether she pours out an intense novel +that shall plow up the roots of the domestic system, or composes a +proclamation for the Red Republicans that shall throw the streets into a +flame, her influence is equally undeniable and equally pernicious. + +It has been frequently urged, in the defense of her novels, that they do +not assail the institution of marriage, but the wrongs that are +perpetrated in its name. Give her the full benefit of her intention, and +the result is still the same. Her eloquent expositions of ill-assorted +unions--her daring appeals from the obligations they impose, to the +affections they outrage--her assertion of the rights of nature over the +conventions of society, have the final effect of justifying the +violation of duty on the precarious ground of passion and inclination. +The bulk of her readers--of all readers--take such social philosophy in +the gross; they can not pick out its nice distinctions, and sift its +mystical refinements. It is less a matter of reasoning than of feeling. +Their sensibility, and not their judgment, is invoked. It is not to +their understanding that these rhapsodies are addressed, but to their +will and their passions. A writer who really meant to vindicate an +institution against its abuses, would adopt a widely different course; +and it is only begging George Sand out of the hands of the jury to +assert that the _intention_ of her writings is opposed to their +_effect_, which is to sap the foundations upon which the fabric of +domestic life reposes. + +Her practice accords harmoniously with her doctrines. Nobody who knows +what the actual life of George Sand has been, can doubt for a moment the +true nature of her opinions on the subject of marriage. It is not a +pleasant subject to touch, and we should shrink from it, if it were not +as notorious as every thing else by which she has become famous in her +time. It forms, in reality, as much a part of the philosophy she desires +to impress upon the world, as the books through which she has expounded +her theory. It is neither more nor less than her theory of freedom and +independence in the matter of passion (we dare not dignify it by any +higher name) put into action--rather vagrant action, we fear, but, on +that account, all the more decisive. The wonder is, how any body, +however ardent an admirer of George Sand's genius, can suppose for a +moment that a woman who leads this life from choice, and who carries its +excesses to an extremity of voluptuous caprice, could by any human +possibility pass so completely out of herself into another person in her +books. The supposition is not only absurd in itself, but utterly +inconsistent with the boldness and sincerity of her character. + +Some sort of justification for the career of Madame Dudevant has been +attempted to be extracted from the alleged unhappiness of her married +life, which drove her at last to break the bond, and purchase her +liberty at the sacrifice of a large portion of her fortune, originally +considerable. But all such justifications must be accepted with +hesitation in the absence of authentic data, and more especially when +subsequent circumstances are of a nature to throw suspicion upon the +defense. Cases undoubtedly occur in which the violent disruption of +domestic ties may be extenuated even upon moral grounds; but we can not +comprehend by what process of reasoning the argument can be stretched so +as to cover any _indiscretions_ that take place afterward. + +Madame Dudevant was married in 1822, her husband is represented as a +plain country gentleman, very upright and literal in his way, and quite +incapable, as may readily be supposed, of sympathizing with what one of +her ablest critics calls her "aspirations toward the infinite, art and +liberty." She bore him two children, lived with him eight years, and, +shortly after the insurrection of July, 1830, fled from her dull house +at Nohant, and went up to Paris. Upon this step nobody has a right, to +pronounce judgment. Nor should the world penetrate the recesses of her +private life from that day forward, if her life could be truly +considered private, and if it were not in fact and in reality a part and +parcel of her literary career. She has made so little scruple about +publishing it herself, that nobody else need have any such scruple on +that head. She has been interwoven in such close intimacies with a +succession of the most celebrated persons, and has acted upon all +occasions so openly, that there is not the slightest disguise upon the +matter in the literary circles of Paris. But even all this publicity +might not wholly warrant a reference to the erratic course of this +extraordinary woman, if she had not made her own experiences, to some +extent, the basis of her works, which are said by those most familiar +with her habits and associations, to contain, in a variety of forms, the +confession of the strange vicissitudes through which her heart and +imagination have passed. The reflection is not limited to general types +of human character and passion, but constantly descends to +individualization; and her intimate friends are at no loss to trace +through her numerous productions a whole gallery of portraits, beginning +with poor M. Dudevant, and running through a remarkable group of +contemporary celebrities. Her works then are, avowedly, transcripts of +her life; and her life consequently becomes, in a grave sense, literary +property, as the spring from whence has issued the turbid principles she +glories in enunciating. + +We have no desire to pursue this view of George Sand's writings to its +ultimate consequences. It is enough for our present purpose to indicate +the source and nature of the influence she exercises. Taking her life +and her works together, their action and re-action upon each other, it +may be observed that such a writer could be produced and fostered only +in such a state of society as that of Paris. With all her genius she +would perish in London. The moral atmosphere of France is necessary +alike to its culture and reception--the volcanic soil--the perpetual +excitement--the instability of the people and the government--the +eternal turmoil, caprice, and transition--a society agitated and +polluted to its core. These elements of fanaticism and confusion, to +which she has administered so skillfully, have made her what she is. In +such a country as England, calm, orderly, and conservative, her social +philosophy would lack earth for its roots and air for its blossoms. The +very institutions of France, upon which no man can count for an hour, +are essential to her existence as a writer. + +But time that mellows all things has not been idle with George Sand. +After having written "Indiana," "Lelie," "Valentine," and sundry other +of her most conspicuous works, she found it necessary to defend herself +against the charge of advocating conjugal infidelity. The defense, to be +sure, was pre-eminently sophistical, and rested on a complete evasion of +the real question; but it was a concession to the feelings and decorum +of society which could not fail in some measure to operate as a +restraint in future labors. Her subsequent works were not quite so +decisive on these topics; and in some of them marriage was even treated +with a respectful recognition, and love was suffered to run its course +in purity and tranquillity, without any of those terrible struggles with +duty and conscience which were previously considered indispensable to +bring out its intensity. + +And now comes an entirely new phase in the development of George Sand's +mind. Perhaps about this time the influences immediately acting upon her +may have undergone a modification that will partly help to explain the +miracle. Her daughter, the fair Solange, is grown up and about to be +married; and the household thoughts and cares, and the tenderness of a +serious and unselfish cast, which creep to a mother's heart on such +occasions, may have shed their sweetness upon this wayward soul, and +inspired it with congenial utterances. This is mere speculation, more or +less corroborated by time and circumstance; but whatever may have been +the agencies by which the charm was wrought, certain it is that George +Sand has recently produced a work which, we will not say flippantly in +the words of the song, + + "Has for once a moral," + +but which is in the highest degree chaste in conception, and full of +simplicity and truthfulness in the execution. This work is in the form +of a three-act comedy, and is called "Francois le Champi." (For the +benefit of the country gentlemen, we may as well at once explain that +the word _champi_ means a foundling of the fields.) + +The domestic morality, the quiet nature, the _home feeling_ of this +comedy may be described as something wonderful for George Sand; not that +her genius was not felt to be plastic enough for such a display, but +that nobody suspected she could have accomplished it with so slight an +appearance of artifice or false sentiment, or with so much geniality and +faith in its truth. But this is not the only wonder connected with +"Francois le Champi." Its reception by the Paris audience was something +yet more wonderful. We witnessed a few weeks ago at the Odeon its +hundred and fourth or fifth representation--and it was a sight not +readily forgotten. The acting, exquisite as it was through the minutest +articulation of the scene, was infinitely less striking than the +stillness and patience of the spectators. It was a strange and curious +thing to see these mercurial people pouring in from their gay _cafes_ +and _restaurants_, and sitting down to the representation of this +dramatic pastoral with much the same close and motionless attention as a +studious audience might be expected to give to a scientific lecture. And +it was more curious still to contrast what was doing at that moment in +different places with a like satisfaction to other crowds of listeners; +and to consider what an odd compound that people must be who can equally +enjoy the rustic virtues of the Odeon, and the grossnesses and prurient +humors of the Varietes. Paris and the Parisians will, probably, forever +remain an enigma to the moral philosopher. One never can see one's way +through their surprising contradictions, or calculate upon what will +happen next, or what turn any given state of affairs will take. In this +sensuous, sentimental, volatile, and dismal Paris, any body who may +think it worth while to cross the water for such a spectacle, may see +reproduced together, side by side, the innocence of the golden age, and +the worst vices of the last stage of a high civilization. + +At the bottom of all this, no doubt, will be found a constitutional +melancholy that goes a great way to account for the opposite excesses +into which the national character runs. A Frenchman is at heart the +saddest man in the universe; but his nature is of great compass at both +ends, being deficient only in the repose of the middle notes. And this +constitutional melancholy opposed to the habitual frivolity (it never +deserved to be called mirth) of the French is now more palpable than +ever. Commercial depression has brought it out in its darkest colors. +The people having got what they wanted, begin now to discover that they +want every thing else. The shops are empty--the Palais Royal is as +_triste_ as the suburb of a country town--and the drive in the Champs +Elysees, in spite of its display of horsemen and private carriages, +mixed up in motley cavalcade with hack cabriolets and omnibuses, is as +different from what it used to be in the old days of the monarchy, as +the castle of Dublin will be by-and-by, when the viceregal pageant is +removed to London. The sparkling butterflies that used to flirt about in +the gardens of the Tuileries, may now be seen pacing moodily along, +their eyes fixed on the ground, and their hands in their pockets, +sometimes with an old umbrella (which seems to be received by common +assent as the emblem of broken-down fortunes), and sometimes with a +brown paper parcel under their arms. The animal spirits of the Parisians +are very much perplexed under these circumstances; and hence it is that +they alternately try to drown their melancholy in draughts of fierce +excitement, or to solace it by gentle sedatives. + +George Sand has done herself great honor by this charming little drama. +That she should have chosen such a turbulent moment for such an +experiment upon the public, is not the least remarkable incident +connected with it. Only a few months before we heard of her midnight +revels with the heads of the Repulican party in the midst of the fury +and bloodshed of an _emeute_; and then follows close upon the blazing +track of revolution, a picture of household virtues so sweet and +tranquil, so full of tenderness and love, that it is difficult to +believe it to be the production of the same hand that had recently flung +flaming addresses, like brands, into the streets to set the town on +fire. But we must be surprised at nothing that happens in France, where +truth is so much stranger than fiction, as to extinguish the last +fragment of an excuse for credulity and wonder. + + + + +AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. + + +At one time the whole court was thrown into great commotion by a sudden +fancy which the king took for worsted work. A courier was instantly +dispatched to Paris for wool, needles, and canvas. He only took two +hours and a half to go and come back, and the same day all the courtiers +in Versailles were seen, with the Duke of Gesvres at their head, +embroidering like their sovereign. At a later period, both the new and +the old nobility joined in the common pursuit of pleasure before their +fall. Bad taste and frivolousness marked their amusements. Titled +ladies, who eagerly sought the favor of being allowed a seat in the +presence of Madame de Pompadour, visited in secret the popular ball of +the Porcherons, or amused themselves by breaking plates and glasses in +obscure cabarets, assuming the free and reckless tone of men. Their +husbands in the meanwhile embroidered at home, or paced the stately +galleries of Louis XIV, at Versailles, a little painted cardboard figure +in one hand, while with the other they drew the string which put it in +motion. This preposterous amusement even spread throughout the whole +ration, and grave magistrates were to be met in the streets playing, +like the rest, with their _pantins_, as these figures were called. This +childish folly was satirized in the following epigram: + + "D'un peuple frivole et volage + Pantin fut la divinite. + Faut-il etre s'il cherissait l'image + Dont il est la realite?" + +The general degeneracy of the times was acknowledged even by those who +shared in it. The old nobles ascribed it to that fatal evil, the want of +female chastity. Never, indeed, had this social stain been so universal +and so great.--_Women in France during the Eighteenth Century._ + + + + +THE PLEASURES OF OLD AGE.--One forenoon I did prevail with my mother to +let them carry her to a considerable distance from the house, to a +sheltered, sunny spot, whereunto we did often resort formerly to hear +the wood-pigeons which frequented the fir trees hereabout. We seated +ourselves, and did pass an hour or two very pleasantly. She remarked, +how merciful it was ordered that these pleasures should remain to the +last days of life; that when the infirmities of age make the company of +others burdensome to us and ourselves a burden to them, the quiet +contemplation of the works of God affords a simple pleasure which +needeth not aught else than a contented mind to enjoy: the singing of +birds, even a single flower, or a pretty spot like this, with its bank +of primroses, and the brook running in there below, and this warm +sunshine, how pleasant they are. They take back our thoughts to our +youth, which ago doth love to look back upon.--_Diary of Lady +Willoughby._ + + + + +[From Bentley's Miscellany.] + +THE CIRCASSIAN PRIEST-WARRIOR AND HIS WHITE HORSE. + +A TRUE TALE OF THE DAGHESTAN. + + + The Russian camp lay at the foot + Of a bold and lofty hill, + Where many a noble tree had root, + And babbled many a rill; + And the rill's laughter and the shade-- + The melody and shade combin'd-- + Men of most gentle feelings made, + But of unbending mind. + + On that hill's side, concealed by trees, + Slumber'd Circassia's might, + Awaiting till the war-horse neighs + His welcome to the light. + The first gray light broke forth at length, + And with it rose the Invader's strength. + + Now, if the Vulture, reasoning bird, + Foretelling blood and scenting strife, + Had not among the hill-clouds stirr'd, + One would have said that human life, + Save that of shepherds tending flocks, + Breathed not among yon silent rocks. + + What Spectre, gliding tow'rd the rays + Of rising sun, meets Russian gaze, + And is it fright, amaze, or awe, + Distends each eye and hangs each jaw? + + A Horse, as snow on mountain height, + His master clothed all, too, in white, + Moved slowly up the mountain's side, + Arching his neck in conscious pride. + And though the cannon pointed stood, + Charged with its slumb'ring lava flood, + The rider gave no spur nor stroke, + Nor did he touch the rein which lay + Upon the horse's neck--who yoke + Of spur nor rein did e'er obey. + His master's voice he knew--the horse, + And by it checked or strain'd his course. + But even no voice was needed now, + For when he reach'd the mountain's brow, + He halted while his master spread + His arms full wide, threw back his head, + And pour'd to Allah forth a pray'r-- + Or seem'd to pray--for Russian ear + Even in that pure atmosphere, + The name of Allah 'lone could hear. + + The sound, whose purport is to name + God's name--it is an awful sound, + No matter from what lips it came, + Or in what form 'tis found-- + Jehovah! Allah! God alike, + Most Christian heart with terror strike. + For ignorant as may be man, + Or with perverted learning stored, + There is, within the soul's wide span, + A deep unutterable word. + + A music, and a hymn, + Which any voice of love that breaks + From pious spirit gently wakes, + Like slumb'ring Cherubim. + + And "Allah, Allah, Allah!" rose + More thrilling still for Russian foes + By Russian eyes unseen! + Behind a thick wood's screen, + Circassia's dreadful horsemen were + Bowed to the earth, and drinking there + Enthusiasm grand from pray'r, + Ready to spring as soldier fir'd, + When soldier is a Priest inspir'd. + Ay, o'er that host the sacred name + Of Allah rolled, a scorching flame, + That thrilled into the heart's deep core, + And swelled it like a heaving ocean + Visited by Tempest's roar. + Invader! such sublime emotion + Bodes thee no good--so do not mock + The sacred sound which fills each rock. + + "Yon Priest must fall, and by his blood + Damp the affrighted army's zeal, + Who dream his body's proof and good + 'Gainst flying ball or flashing steel." + + A gun was pointed--match applied-- + The ball leaped forth; the smoke spread wide. + And cleared away as the echo died, + And "Allah! Allah! Allah!" rose + From lips that never quiver'd: + Nor changed the White Priest's grand repose, + The White Horse never shiver'd. + + The cannoneer, now trembling, blushed, + For he rarely missed his aim, + While his commander forward rushed, + With words of bitter blame. + + "There is no mark to guide the eye," + Faltered the chidden man; + "Yon thing of white is as the sky-- + No difference can I scan!" + "Let charge the gun with _mitraille_ show'r, + And Allah will be heard no more." + + And the gun was charged, and fixed, and fired; + Full fifty bullets flew. + The smoke hung long, the men admired + How the cannon burst not through. + And the startled echoes thundered, + And more again all wondered-- + As died away the echoes' roar-- + The name of Allah rose once more. + + And "Allah! Allah! Allah!" rose, + While horse and rider look'd repose, + As statues on the mountain raised, + Round whom the _mitraille_ idly blazed, + And rent and tore the earth around; + But nothing shook except the ground, + Still the untroubled lip ne'er quivered, + Still that white altar-horse ne'er shivered. + + "Wait his return," the captain cried; + "The mountain's side a mark supplies, + And range in line some twenty guns: + Fire one by one, as back he runs; + With _mitraille_ loaded be each gun-- + For him who kills a grade is won!" + + But back the White Horse ran not--no! + His pace was gentle, grand, and slow; + His rider on the holy skies, + In meditation fix'd his eyes. + The enemy, with murderous plan, + Knew not which to most admire, + The grand White Steed, the grander man, + When, lo! the signal--"Fire!" + + "Unscath'd! unscath'd! now mark the race!" + The laughing soldiers cried: + The White Horse quickens not his pace, + The Priest spurs not his side. + + "Ha! mark his figure on the rock!" + A second gun is ringing, + The rock itself is springing, + As from a mine's low shock, + Its splinters flying in the air, + And round the Priest and steed is there + Of balls and stones an atmosphere. + + What not one stain upon his side! + The whited robe remains undyed-- + No bloody rain upon the path-- + Surprise subdues the soldier's wrath. + "Give him a chance for life, one chance; + (Now, hear the chance the captain gave) + Let every gun be fired at once-- + At random, too--and he, the brave, + If he escape, will have to tell + A prodigy--a miracle-- + Or meet the bloodiest grave + That ever closed o'er human corse, + O'er rider brave, or gallant horse." + + And away, and away, like thunder weather, + Full twenty cannon blaze together; + Forth the volcano vomits wide. + The men who fired them spring aside, + As back the cannons wheeled. + Then came a solemn pause; + One would have thought the mountain reeled, + As a crater opes its jaws. + + But the smoke and sulphur clearing, + Down the mountain's side, unfearing, + Phantom-like glided horse and man, + As though they had no danger ran. + + "Hurrah! hurrah!" the soldiers cheer, + And clap their hands in wild delight. + Circassia's Priest, who scorn'd to fear, + Bears the applause of Muscovite. + But, soldiers, load your guns once more; + Load them if ye have time, + For ears did hear your cannons roar, + To whom it is as sweet bells chime, + Inviting to a battle feast. + + Dark eyes did see the _mitraille_ driven, + With murderous intent, + 'Gainst the High Priest, to whom was given + Protection by offended Heaven, + From you on murder bent, + Haste, sacrilegious Russian, haste, + For behold, their forest-screen they form, + With the ominous sounds of a gathering storm. + + Promptly--swiftly--fatally burst, + That storm by Patriot-piety nursed; + Down it swept the mountain's side; + Fast o'er the plain it pour'd, + An avalanche--a deluge wide, + O'er the invader roared. + A White Horse, like a foaming wave, + Dashed forward 'mong the foremost brave, + And swift as is the silver light, + He arrowy clear'd his way, + And cut the mass as clouds a ray. + Or meteor piercing night. + Aimed at him now was many a lance, + No spear could stop his fiery prance, + Oft would he seize it with his mouth, + With snort and fierce tempestuous froth, + While swift the rider would cut down + The lanceman rash, and then dash on + Among advancing hosts, or flying, + Marking his path with foemen dying. + + Now, the morning after, when + The gray light kiss'd the mountain, + And down it, like a fountain, + Freshly, clearly ran--oh, then + The Priest and White Horse rose, + So white they scarce threw shade, + But now no sacrilegious blows + At man nor horse are made. + + The eyes profane that yester glared, + Hung'ring for that sacred life, + Were quench'd in yester's fatal strife, + And void of meaning stared. + No lip could mock--no Russian ear + Thanksgiving unto Allah hear, + "To Allah, the deliverer!" + The mountain look'd unchang'd, the plain is red; + Peaceful be the fallen invaders' bed. + + _Paris._ J.F.C. + + + + +ON ATHEISM.--"I had rather," says Sir Francis Bacon, "believe all the +fables in the Legend, the Talmud, and the Koran, than that this +universal frame is without a mind. God never wrought miracles to +convince Atheists, because His ordinary works are sufficient to convince +them. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth men's minds to +Atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth them back to religion; for +while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may +sometimes rest on them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the +chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to +Providence and Deity." + + + + +[From the London Examiner.] + +UNSECTARIAN EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. + + +Upon none of the various classes of official men who have been employed +for the last twenty years in introducing or extending social and +administrative reforms, has a more delicate, invidious, and thankless +task devolved, than upon those who have had the charge of the +preliminary arrangements for a system of national education. + +A growing sense of the importance of this great subject has been slowly +manifesting itself since the close of last century. The Edgeworths +diffused practical views of individual education. Lancaster demonstrated +the possibility, by judicious arrangement, of imparting instruction to +great numbers of children at once, and, by thus reducing the cost of +education, of rendering it acceptable to the poorest. Before Lancaster +entered the field some benevolent persons, among whom Nonconformists +were the most numerous and active, had set on foot Sunday schools for +the benefit of those whose week-day toil left them no leisure for mental +cultivation. The High Church and Tory parties at first very bitterly +opposed these Sunday and Lancaster schools; but finding the tide too +strong against them, they set up Dr. Bell, as a Churchman, against +Lancaster the Dissenter, and organized the National School Society in +opposition to the British and Foreign School Society. Controversy, as +usual, not only increased the numbers of those who took an interest in +the discussion, but rectified and improved public opinion on the matters +at issue. The _Edinburgh Review_ took the lead, and for a considerable +time kept it, as the champion of unsectarian education; and the wit and +wisdom of Sydney Smith did invaluable service in this field. + +The result was, that, very gradually, by means of individuals and +private associations, opportunities of education were extended to +classes who had not previously enjoyed them; improved methods of tuition +were introduced; and the good work went on in an imperfect, scrambling, +amorphous way till after the passing of the reform bill, and the +establishment of the Whigs in power. From this time we have to date the +first regular efforts--poor enough at first, lamentably inadequate +still, but steadily and progressively increasing--to countenance and +extend general education by the government and legislature. + +The beginnings were very feeble, as we have said. From 1833 to 1838, +L20,000 was annually voted for the promotion of educational purposes, +and this paltry sum was administered by the Lords of the Treasury. Since +1839 the annual grant has been administered by the Committee of Council +on Education, and its amount has been progressively augmented. From 1839 +to 1842 inclusive it was L30,000 per annum; in 1843 and 1844 it was +L40,000; L75,000 in 1845; L100,000 in 1846 and in 1847; and in 1848 it +was raised to L125,000. The distribution of this grant being intrusted +to a committee of council, the president became to a certain extent +invested with the character of a Minister of Education. A machinery of +government inspectors of schools was organized, and a permanent +educational secretary attached to the committee. Not to mention other +valuable results, we may add that the establishment of workhouse and +factory schools, and the institution of the normal school for training +teachers at Kneller Hall, are among the most prominent benefits for +which we are indebted to this growing recognition of a care for the +extension of general education as one of the duties of government. + +When we thus look back on the twenty years since 1830, it can not be +denied that a great advance has been made. We have now the rudiments of +an educational department of government. The grants annually voted by +parliament for educational purposes are still, it must be confessed, +unworthily small, when contrasted with the sums freely voted for less +essential objects; and the operations of the committee on education have +been thwarted, impeded, and obstructed by all kinds of narrow-minded and +vexatious opposition. Still we can console ourselves by the reflection +that we have got an educational department of government; that the +public mind is becoming familiarized with its existence, and convinced +of its utility; and that its organization, slowly indeed, but surely, is +being extended and perfected. + +This was substantially admitted by Mr. Fox in the able speech +introducing his supplementary educational plan to the House of Commons; +and with the strongest sense of the merits and claims of the government +measure, we find ourselves able very heartily to approve of the proposal +of Mr. Fox. It would remedy the defects of the existing system with the +least possible jar to existing prejudices. With nothing heretofore set +on foot for the promotion of educational purposes would it in any way +meddle--being addressed simply to the remedy of notorious defects, and +for that purpose using and strengthening the machinery at present +employed by government. It is on every account desirable that a fair and +earnest consideration should be given to the second reading of this +bill. It has been mixed up with other educational projects lately set on +foot, and not a very correct impression prevails respecting it. + +For here we must be allowed to remark, in passing, that of all the +caviling and vexatious obstructions which the committee of council have +had to encounter, the most ungracious and indefensible appear to have +been those offered by advocates of unsectarian education less reasonable +and considerate than Mr. Fox. We are not going to challenge any +particular respect for the feelings of men in office. It is the +well-understood fate of those who undertake reforms to be criticised +sharply and unreflectingly; such unsparing treatment helps to harden +them for the discharge of unpalatable duties; and even the most captious +objections may be suggestive of improved arrangements. But making every +allowance on this score, it remains incontrovertible that men +entertaining sound abstract views respecting unsectarian education, and +the importance of intrusting to the local public a large share in the +control of educational institutions, like the members of the Lancashire +School Association and others, have not only refused to make due +allowance for the obstructions opposed to the committee of council on +education by the prepossessions of the general public, but, by assuming +an attitude of jealous opposition to it, have materially increased the +difficulties with which it has had to labor. These gentlemen think no +reform worth having unless it accord precisely with their preconceived +notions; and are not in the least contented with getting what they wish, +unless they can also have it in the exact way they wish it. Other and +even more factious malcontents have been found among a class of very +worthy but not very wise persons, who, before government took any charge +of education, had exerted themselves to establish Sunday and other +schools; and have now allowed the paltry jealousy lest under a new and +improved system of general education their own local and congregational +importance may be diminished, to drive them into a virulent opposition +to any scheme of national education under the auspices or by the +instrumentality of government. But all this parenthetically. Our +immediate object is to comment upon an opposition experienced in +carrying out the scheme of operations which the state of public opinion +has compelled government to adopt, coming from the very parties who were +most instrumental in forcing that scheme upon it. + +The committee of council, finding it impossible, in the face of +threatened resistance from various religious bodies, to institute +schools by the unaided power of the secular authorities, yielded so far +as to enter into arrangements with the existing societies of promoters +of schools, with a view to carry out the object through their +instrumentality. The correspondence commenced in 1845 under the +administration of Sir Robert Peel, and the arrangements were concluded +under the ministry of Lord John Russell in 1846. It was agreed that +money should be advanced by government to assist in founding and +supporting schools in connection with various religious communions, on +the conditions that the schools should be open to the supervision of +government inspectors (who were, however, to be restrained from all +interference "with the religious instruction, or discipline, or +management of the schools"), and that certain "management clauses," +drawn up in harmony with the religious views of the respective +communions, should be adhered to. On these terms arrangements were +concluded with the National Society, representing the promoters of +Church of England schools; with the British and Foreign School Society; +with the Wesleyan body; and with the Free Church of Scotland. A +negotiation with the Poor-school Committee of the Roman Catholic Church +is still pending. + +With the exception of the National Society all the bodies who entered +into these arrangements with the Committee of Council have co-operated +with it in a frank and fair spirit, and to good purpose. A majority of +the National Society, on the other hand, have made vehement efforts to +recede from the very arrangements which they themselves had proposed; +and have at length concluded a tedious and wrangling attempt to cajole +or bully the committee on education to continue their grants, and yet +emancipate them from the conditions on which they were made, by passing, +on the 11th of December last, a resolution which virtually suspends all +co-operation between the society and government. The state of the +controversy may be briefly explained. + +The "management clauses" relating to Church of England schools are few +in number. They relate, first, to the constitution of the managing +committee in populous and wealthy districts of towns; second, to the +constitution of the committee in towns and villages having not less than +a population of five hundred, and a few wealthy and well-educated +inhabitants; third, to its constitution in very small parishes, where +the residents are all illiterate, or indifferent to education; and, +fourth, to its constitution in rural parishes having a population under +five hundred, and where, from poverty and ignorance, the number of +subscribers is limited to very few persons. There are certain provisions +common to all these clauses. The master, mistress, assistant teachers, +managers, and electors, must all be _bona fide_ members of the church; +the clergyman is _ex-officio_ chairman of the committee, with power to +place his curate or curates upon it, and with a casting vote; the +superintendence of the religious and moral instruction is vested +exclusively in the clergyman, with an appeal to the bishop, whose +decision is final; the bishop has a veto on the use of any book, in +school hours, which he deems contrary to the doctrines of the church; in +matters not relating to religious and moral instruction, an appeal lies +to the president of the council, who refers it to one of the inspectors +of schools nominated by himself, to another commissioner nominated by +the bishop of the diocese, and to a third named by the other two +commissioners. It must be kept in mind as bearing on the composition of +such commissions, that the concurrence of the archbishop of the province +is originally requisite in appointing inspectors of church schools, and +that the third commissioner must be a magistrate and member of the +church. We now come to the points of difference in these "management +clauses." They relate exclusively to the constitution of the local +school committees. In the first class of schools, the committee is +elected by annual subscribers; in the second, it is nominated by the +promoters, and vacancies are supplied by election; in the third it is +nominated, as the promotions and vacancies are filled up, by the +remaining members, till the bishop may direct the election to be thrown +open to subscribers; in the fourth no committee is provided, but the +bishop may order one to be nominated by the clergyman from among the +subscribers. + +The management clauses, thus drawn, were accepted by the National +Society. The provisions for appeal, in matters of moral and religious +instruction, had been proposed by themselves, and were in a manner +forced by them on the committee of council. Let us now look at the +claims which the society has since advanced, and on account of the +refusal of which it has suspended, if not finally broken off, its +alliance with the committee. + +The National Society required: 1st, that a free choice among the several +clauses be left to the promoters of church schools; 2d, that another +court of appeal be provided, in matters not relating to religious and +moral instruction; and 3d, that all lay members of school committees +shall qualify to serve, by subscribing a declaration not merely to the +effect that they are members of the church, but that they have for three +years past been communicants. And because demur is made to these +demands, the committee of the society have addressed a letter to the +committee of council, in which they state that they "deeply regret the +resolution finally adopted by the committee of council to exclude from +all share in the parliamentary grant for education, those church schools +the promoters of which are unwilling to constitute their trust deeds on +the model prescribed by their lordships." + +It is a minor matter, yet, in connection with considerations to be +hereafter alluded to, not unworthy of notice, that this statement is +simply untrue. The committee of council have only declined to +contribute, in the cases referred to, to the building of schools; they +have not absolutely declined to contribute to their support when built. +They have refused to give public money to build schools without a +guarantee for their proper management; but they have not refused to give +public money to support even such schools as withhold the guarantee, so +long as they _are_ properly conducted. + +The object of the alterations in the management clauses demanded by the +National Society is sufficiently obvious. It is asked that a free choice +among the several clauses be left to the promoters of church schools. +This is a Jesuitical plan for getting rid of the co-operation and +control of lay committee-men. The fourth clause would uniformly be +chosen, under which no committee is appointed, but the bishop may +empower the clergyman to nominate one. It is asked that another court of +appeal be provided in matters relating to the appointment, selection, +and dismissal of teachers and their assistants. By this means the +teachers would be placed, in all matters, secular as well as religious, +under the despotic control of the clergy instead of being amenable, in +purely secular matters, to a committee principally composed of laymen, +with an appeal to lay judges. The third demand also goes to limit the +range of lay interference with, and control of church schools. The sole +aim of the demands of the National Society, however variously expressed, +is to increase the clerical power. Their desire and determination is to +invest the clergy with absolute despotic power over all Church of +England Schools. + +In short, the quarrel fastened by the National Society on the committee +on education is but another move of that clerical faction which is +resolute to ignore the existence of laymen as part of the church, except +in the capacity of mere passing thralls and bondsmen of the clergy. It +is a scheme to further their peculiar views. It is another branch of the +agitation which preceded and has followed the appeal to the judicial +committee of the privy council in the Gorham case. It is a trick to +render the church policy and theories of Philpotts omnipotent. The +equivocation to evade the arrangement investing a degree of control over +church schools in lay contributors to their foundation and support, by +insisting upon liberty to choose an inapplicable "management clause," is +transparent. So is the factious complaint against the court of appeal +provided in secular matters, and the allegation that Nonconformists have +no such appeal, when the complainants know that this special arrangement +was conceded at their own request. The untrue averment that the +committee of council have refused to contribute to the support of +schools not adopting the management clauses is in proper keeping with +these equivocations. Let us add that the intolerant, almost blasphemous +denunciations of the council, and of all who act with it, which some +advancers of these falsehoods and equivocations have uttered from the +platform, are no more than might have been expected from men so lost to +the sense of honesty and shame. + +The position of the committee of council on education is, simply and +fairly, this: They have yielded to the religious sentiment of an +overwhelming majority in the nation, and have consented to the +experiment of conducting the secular education of the people by the +instrumentality of the various ecclesiastical associations into which +the people are divided. But with reference to the church, as to all +other communions, they insist upon the laity having a fair voice in the +administration of those schools which are in part supplied by the public +money, and which have in view secular as well as religious instruction. +The clergy of only two communions seek to thwart them in this object, +and to arrogate all power over the schools to themselves. The conduct of +the ultra-High Church faction in the Anglican establishment we have +attempted to make clear. The conduct of the Roman Catholic clergy has +been more temperate, but hardly less insincere or invidious. Their +poor-school committee declare that their prelates would be unwilling "to +accept, were it tendered to them, an appellate jurisdiction over schools +in matters purely secular;" but at the same time they claim for their +"ecclesiastical authorities" the power of deciding what questions do or +do not affect "religion and morals." The committee of the council, on +the one hand, are exerting themselves to give effect to the desire of a +great majority of the English public, that religious and moral shall be +combined with intellectual education; and, on the other, to guard +against their compliance with this desire being perverted into an +insidious instrument for enabling arrogant priesthoods to set their feet +on the necks of the laity. + +We challenge for public men thus honorably and usefully discharging +important duties a more frank and cordial support than it has yet been +their good fortune to obtain. Several ornaments of the church, +conspicuous for their learning and moderation--such men as the Bishop of +Manchester, Archdeacon Hare, and the Rev. Henry Parr Hamilton--have +already borne direct and earnest testimony to the temper and justice, as +well as straightforward, honesty of purpose, displayed by the committee +of council. It is to be hoped that the laity of the church will now +extend to them the requisite support; and that the Nonconformists and +educational enthusiasts, who, by their waywardness, have been playing +the game of the obscurantist priests, may see the wisdom of altering +this very doubtful policy. + + + + +[From the London Athenaeum.] + +WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. + + +The great philosophical poet of our age, William Wordsworth, died at +Rydal Mount, in Westmoreland--among his native lakes and hills--on the +23d of April, in the eighty-first year of his age. Those who are curious +in the accidents of birth and death, observable in the biographies of +celebrated men, have thought it worthy of notice that the day of +Wordsworth's death was the anniversary of Shakspeare's birth. + +William Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth, in Cumberland, on the 7th of +April, 1770, and educated at Hawkeshead Grammar School, and at St. +John's College, Cambridge. He was designed by his parents for the +Church--but poetry and new prospects turned him into another path. His +pursuit through life was poetry, and his profession that of Stamp +Distributor for the Government in the counties of Cumberland and +Westmoreland: to which office he was appointed by the joint interest, as +we have heard, of his friend, Sir George Beaumont, and his patron, Lord +Lonsdale. + +Mr. Wordsworth made his first appearance as a poet in the year 1793, by +the publication of a thin quarto volume entitled "An Evening Walk--an +Epistle in Verse, addressed to a young Lady from the Lakes of the North +of England, by W. Wordsworth, B.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge." +Printed at London, and published by Johnson in St. Paul's Church-yard +from whose shop seven years before had appeared "The Task" of Cowper. In +the same year he published "Descriptive Sketches in Verse, taken during +a Pedestrian Tour in the Italian, Grison, Swiss and Savoyard Alps." + +What was thought of these poems by a few youthful admirers may be +gathered from the account given by Coleridge in his "Biographia +Literaria." "During the last year of my residence at Cambridge, 1794, I +became acquainted with Mr. Wordsworth's first publication, entitled +'Descriptive Sketches;' and seldom, if ever, was the emergence of an +original poetic genius above the literary horizon more evidently +announced." The two poets, then personally unknown to each other, first +became acquainted in the summer of 1796, at Nether Stowey, in +Somersetshire. Coleridge was then in his twenty-fourth year, and +Wordsworth in his twenty-sixth. A congeniality of pursuit soon ripened +into intimacy; and in September, 1798, the two poets, accompanied by +Miss Wordsworth, made a tour in Germany. + +Wordsworth's next publication was the first volume of his "Lyrical +Ballads," published in the summer of 1798 by Mr. Joseph Cottle, of +Bristol, who purchased the copyright for thirty guineas. It made no way +with the public, and Cottle was a loser by the bargain. So little, +indeed, was thought of the volume, that when Cottle's copyrights were +transferred to the Messrs. Longman, the "Lyrical Ballads" was thrown in +as a valueless volume, in the mercantile idea of the term. The copyright +was afterward returned to Cottle; and by him transferred to the great +poet, who lived to see it of real money value in the market of +successful publications. + +Disappointed but not disheartened by the very indifferent success of his +"Lyrical Ballads," years elapsed before Mr. Wordsworth again appeared as +a poet. But he was not idle. He was every year maturing his own +principles of poetry and making good the remark of Coleridge, that to +admire on principle is the only way to imitate without loss of +originality. In the very year which witnessed the failure of his +"Lyrical Ballads," he wrote his "Peter Bell," the most strongly +condemned of all his poems. The publication of this when his name was +better known (for he kept it by him till, he says, it nearly survived +its _minority_) brought a shower of contemptuous criticisms on his +head. + +Wordsworth married in the year 1803 Miss Mary Hutchinson of Penrith, and +settled among his beloved Lakes--first at Grasmere, and afterward at +Rydal Mount. Southey's subsequent retirement to the same beautiful +country, and Coleridge's visits to his brother poets, originated the +name of the Lake School of Poetry--"the school of whining and +hypochondriacal poets that haunt the Lakes"--by which the opponents of +their principles and the admirers of the _Edinburgh Review_ +distinguished the three great poets whose names have long been and will +still continue to be connected. + +Wordsworth's fame increasing, slowly, it is true, but securely, he put +forth in 1807 two volumes of his poems. They were reviewed by Byron, +then a young man of nineteen, and as yet not even a poet in print, in +the _Monthly Literary Recreations_ for the August of that year. "The +poems before us," says the reviewer, "are by the author of 'Lyrical +Ballads,' a collection which has not undeservedly met with a +considerable share of public applause. The characteristics of Mr. +Wordsworth's muse are, simple and flowing, though occasionally +inharmonious verse, strong and sometimes irresistible appeals to the +feelings, with unexceptionable sentiments. Though the present work may +not equal his former efforts, many of the poems possess a native +elegance, natural and unaffected, totally devoid of the tinsel +embellishments and abstract hyperboles of several contemporary +sonneteers. 'The Song at the feasting of Brougham Castle,' 'The Seven +Sisters,' 'The Affliction of Margaret ----, of ----,' possess all the +beauties and few of the defects of this writer. The pieces least worthy +of the author are those entitled 'Moods of My Own Mind.' We certainly +wish these moods had been less frequent." Such is a sample of Byron's +criticism--and of the criticising indeed till very recently of a large +class of people misled by the caustic notices of the _Edinburgh Review_, +the pungent satires of Byron, and the admirable parody of the poet's +occasional style contained in the "Rejected Addresses." + +His next publication was "The Excursion, being a portion of The +Recluse," printed in quarto in the autumn of 1814. The critics were hard +upon it. "This will never do," was the memorable opening of the review +in the _Edinburgh_. Men who thought for themselves thought highly of the +poem--but few dared to speak out. Jeffrey boasted wherever he went that +he had _crushed_ it in its birth. "_He_ crush 'The Excursion!'" said +Southey, "tell him he might as easily crush Skiddaw." What Coleridge +often wished, that the first two books of "The Excursion" had been +published separately under the name of "The Deserted Cottage" was a +happy idea--and one, if it had been carried into execution, that would +have removed many of the trivial objections made at the time to its +unfinished character. + +While "The Excursion" was still dividing the critics much in the same +way that Davenant's "Gondibert" divided them in the reign of Charles the +Second, "Peter Bell" appeared, to throw among them yet greater +difference of opinion. The author was evidently aware that the poem, +from the novelty of its construction, and the still greater novelty of +its hero, required some protection, and this protection he sought behind +the name of Southey: with which he tells us in the Dedication, his own +had often appeared "both for good and evil." The deriders of the poet +laughed still louder than before--his admirers too were at first +somewhat amazed--and the only consolation which the poet obtained was +from a sonnet of his own, in imitation of Milton's sonnet, beginning: + + A book was writ of late called "Tetrachordon." + +This sonnet runs as follows-- + + A book came forth of late, called "Peter Bell;" + Not negligent the style;--the matter?--good + As aught that song records of Robin Hood; + Or Roy, renowned through many a Scottish dell; + But some (who brook these hackneyed themes full wet + Nor heat at Tam O'Shanter's name their blood) + Waxed wrath, and with foul claws, a harpy brood + On Bard and Hero clamorously fell. + Heed not, wild Rover once through heath and glen. + Who mad'st at length the better life thy choice. + Heed not such onset! Nay, if praise of men + To thee appear not an unmeaning voice, + Lift up that gray-haired forehead and rejoice + In the just tribute of thy poet's pen. + +Lamb in thanking the poet for his strange but clever poem, asked "Where +was 'The Wagoner?'" of which he retained a pleasant remembrance from +hearing Wordsworth read it in MS. when first written in 1806. Pleased +with the remembrance of the friendly essayist, the poet determined on +sending "The Wagoner" to press--and in 1815 the poem appeared with a +dedication to his old friend who had thought so favorably of it. Another +publication of this period which found still greater favor with many of +his admirers, was "The White Doe of Rylstone;" founded on a tradition +connected with the beautiful scenery that surrounds Bolton Priory, and +on a ballad in Percy's collection called "The Rising of the North." + +His next poem of consequence in the history of his mind is "The River +Duddon," described in a noble series of sonnets, and containing some of +his very finest poetry. The poem is dedicated to his brother, the Rev. +Dr. Wordsworth, and appeared in 1820. The subject seems to have been +suggested by Coleridge; who, among his many unfulfilled intentions, +designed writing "The Brook," a poem which in his hands would surely +have been a masterly performance. + +The "Duddon" did much for the extension of Wordsworth's fame; and the +public began to call, in consequence, for a fresh edition of his poems. +The sneers of Byron, so frequent in his "Don Juan," such as, + + Thou shalt believe in Milton, Dryden, Pope, + Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, + Because the first is crazed beyond all hope, + The second drunk, the third so quaint and mouthey; + +and again in another place, + + "Peddlers" and "Boats" and "Wagons." Oh! ye shades + Of Pope and Dryden, are we come to this? + +and somewhat further on, + + The little boatman and his Peter Bell + Can sneer at him who drew Achitophel, + +fell comparatively harmless. The public had now found out (what was +known only to a few before) that amid much novelty of construction and +connected with some very homely heroes, there was a rich vein of the +very noblest poetry throughout the whole of Wordsworth's works, such as +was not to be found elsewhere in the whole body of English poetry. The +author felt at the same time the truth of his own remark, that no really +great poet had ever obtained an immediate reputation, or any popular +recognition commensurate to his merits. + +Wordsworth's last publication of importance was his "Yarrow Revisited, +and other Poems," published in 1835. The new volume, however, rather +sustained than added to his reputation. Some of the finer poems are +additions to his Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, which have always +ranked among the most delightful of his works. + +In the same year Mr. Wordsworth received a pension of L300 a year from +Sir Robert Peel's government, and permission to resign his office of +Stamp Distributor in favor of his son. The remaining fifteen years of +his life were therefore even less diversified by events of moment than +any fifteen years previous had been. He seems henceforth to have +surrendered himself wholly to the muse--and to contemplations suitable +to his own habits of mind and to the lovely country in which he lived. +This course of life, however, was varied by a tour to Italy in company +with his friend, Mr. Crabb Robinson. The result of his visit, as far as +poetry is concerned, was not remarkable. + +On Southey's death Mr. Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate: an +appropriate appointment, if such an office was to be retained at +all--for the laurel dignified by the brows of Ben Johnson, Davenant, +Dryden, Tom Warton, and Southey, had been sullied and degraded by +appearing on the unworthy temples of Tate, Eusden, Whitehead, and Pye. +Once, and once only, did Wordsworth sing in discharge of his office--on +the occasion of Her Majesty's visit to the University of Cambridge. +There is more obscurity, however, than poetry in what he wrote. Indeed, +the Ode in question must be looked on as another addition to the +numerous examples that we possess of how poor a figure the Muse +invariably makes when the occasion of her appearance is such as the poet +himself would not have selected for a voluntary invocation. + +If Wordsworth was unfortunate--as he certainly was--in not finding any +recognition of his merits till his hair was gray, he was luckier than +other poets similarly situated have been in living to, a good old age, +and in the full enjoyment of the amplest fame which his youthful dreams +had ever pictured. His admirers have perhaps carried their idolatry too +far: but there can be no doubt of the high position which he must always +hold among British Poets. His style is simple, unaffected, and +vigorous--his blank verse manly and idiomatic--his sentiments both noble +and pathetic--and his images poetic and appropriate. His sonnets are +among the finest in the language: Milton's scarcely finer. "I think," +says Coleridge, "that Wordsworth possessed more of the genius of a great +philosophic poet than any man I ever knew, or, as I believe, has existed +in England since Milton; but it seems to me that he ought never to have +abandoned the contemplative position which is peculiarly--perhaps I +might say exclusively--fitted for him. His proper title is _Spectator ab +extra_." + +Mr. Wordsworth's works are rich in quotations suitable to the various +phases of human life; and his name will be remembered not by his "Peter +Bell," or his "Idiot Boy," or even his "Wagoner," but by his +"Excursion," his "Laodamia," his "Tintern Abbey," some twenty of his +sonnets, his "Daisy," and his "Yarrow _Un_visited." The lineaments of +his face will be perpetuated by Chantrey's noble bust; not by the +pictures of it, which in too many cases justify the description that he +gave of one of them in our hearing: "It is the head of a drover, or a +common juryman, or a writer in the _Edinburgh Review_, or a speaker in +the House of Commons: ... as for the head of a poet, it is no such +thing." + + + + +THE MOTHER'S FIRST DUTY. + + +I would wish every mother to pay attention to the difference between a +course of action, adopted in compliance with _the authority_, and +between a conduct pursued _for the sake of another_. + +The first proceeds from reasoning; the second flows from affection. The +first may be abandoned, when the immediate cause may have ceased to +exist; the latter will be permanent, as it did not depend upon +circumstances, or accidental considerations, but is founded in a moral +and constant principle. + +In the case now before us, if the infant does not disappoint the hope of +the mother, it will be a proof, first of affection, secondly, of +confidence. + +Of affection--for the earliest, and the most innocent wish to please, is +that of the infant to please the mother. If it be questioned, whether +that wish can at all exist in one so little advanced in development. I +would again, as I do upon almost all occasions, appeal to the experience +of mothers. + +It is a proof, also, of confidence. Whenever an infant has been +neglected; when the necessary attention has not been paid to its wants; +and when, instead of the smile of kindness, it has been treated with the +frown of severity; it will be difficult to restore it to that quiet and +amiable disposition, in which it will wait for the gratification of its +desires without impatience, and enjoy it without greediness. + +If affection and confidence have once gained ground in the heart, it +will be the first duty of the mother to do every thing in her power to +encourage, to strengthen, and to elevate this principle.--_Pestalozzi._ + + + + +PHYSICAL EDUCATION. + + +The revival of gymnastics is, in my opinion, the most important step +that has been done in that direction. The great merit of the gymnastic +art is not the facility with which certain exercises are performed, or +the qualification which they may give for certain exertions that require +much energy and dexterity; though an attainment of that sort is by no +means to be despised. But the greatest advantage resulting from a +practice of these exercises, is the natural progress which is observed +in the arrangement of them, beginning with those which, while they are +easy in themselves, yet lead as a preparatory practice to others which +are more complicated and more difficult. There is not, perhaps, any art +in which it may be so clearly shown, that energies which appeared to be +wanting, are to be produced, as it were, or at least are to be +developed, by no other means than practice alone. This might afford a +most useful hint to all those who are engaged in teaching any object of +instruction, and who meet with difficulties in bringing their pupils to +that proficiency which they had expected. Let them recommence on a new +plan, in which the exercises shall be differently arranged, and the +subjects brought forward in a manner that will admit of the natural +progress from the easier to the more difficult. When talent is wanting +altogether, I know that it can not be imparted by any system of +education. But I have been taught by experience to consider the cases, +in which talents of any kind are absolutely wanting, but very few. And +in most cases, I have had the satisfaction to find, that a faculty which +had been quite given over, instead of being developed, had been +obstructed rather in its agency by a variety of exercises which tended +to perplex or to deter from further exertion. + +And here I would attend to a prejudice, which is common enough, +concerning the use of gymnastics; it is frequently said, that they may +be very good for those who are strong enough; but that those who are +suffering from weakness of constitution would be altogether unequal to, +and even endangered by, a practice of gymnastics. + +Now, I will venture to say, that this rests merely upon a +misunderstanding of the first principles of gymnastics: the exercises +not only vary in proportion to the strength of individuals; but +exercises may be, and have been devised, for those also who were +decidedly suffering. And I have consulted the authority of the first +physicians, who declared, that in cases which had come under their +personal observation, individuals affected with pulmonary complaints, if +these had not already proceeded too far, had been materially relieved +and benefited by a constant practice of the few and simple exercises, +which the system in such cases proposes. + +And for this very reason, that exercises may be devised for every age, +and for every degree of bodily strength, however reduced, I consider it +to be essential, that mothers should make themselves acquainted with +the principles of gymnastics, in order that, among the elementary and +preparatory exercises, they may be able to select those which, according +to circumstances, will be most likely to suit and benefit their +children. + +If the physical advantage of gymnastics is great and incontrovertible, I +would contend, that the moral advantage resulting from them is as +valuable. I would again appeal to your own observation. You have seen a +number of schools in Germany and Switzerland, of which gymnastics formed +a leading feature; and I recollect that in our conversations on the +subject, you made the remark, which exactly agrees with my own +experience, that gymnastics, well conducted, essentially contribute to +render children not only cheerful and healthy, which, for moral +education, are two all-important points, but also to promote among them +a certain spirit of union, and a brotherly feeling, which is most +gratifying to the observer: habits of industry, openness and frankness +of character, personal courage, and a manly conduct in suffering pain, +are also among the natural and constant consequences of an early and a +continued practice of exercises on the gymnastic system.--_Pestalozzi._ + + + + +MARRIED MEN.--So good was he, that I now take the opportunity of making +a confession which I have often had upon my lips, but have hesitated to +make from the fear of drawing upon myself the hatred of every married +woman. But now I will run the risk--so now for it--some time or other, +people must unburden their hearts. I confess, then, that I never find, +and never have found a man more lovable, more captivating than when he +is a married man; that is to say, a good married man. A man is never so +handsome, never so perfect in my eyes as when he is married, as when he +is a husband, and the father of a family, supporting, in his manly arms, +wife and children, and the whole domestic circle, which, in his entrance +into the married state, closes around him and constitutes a part of his +home and his world. He is not merely ennobled by this position, but he +is actually _beautified_ by it. Then he appears to me as the crown of +creation; and it is only such a man as this who is dangerous to me, and +with whom I am inclined to fall in love. But then propriety forbids it. +And Moses, and all European legislators declare it to be sinful, and all +married women would consider it a sacred duty to stone me. + +Nevertheless, I can not prevent the thing. It is so, and it can not be +otherwise, and my only hope of appeasing those who are excited against +me is in my further confession, that no love affects me so pleasantly; +the contemplation of no happiness makes me so happy, as that between +married people. It is amazing to myself, because it seems to me, that I +living unmarried, or mateless, have with that happiness little to do. +But it is so, and it always was so.--_Miss Bremer._ + + + + +[From the London Examiner.] + +SIDNEY SMITH ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY. + + + _Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy_; delivered at the Royal + Institution, in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806. By the late Rev. + Sydney Smith, M.A. Longman and Co. + +How difficult it is to discover the merits of a manuscript appears from +the history of this book. Lord Jeffrey, consulted as to the expediency +of its publication, while it yet existed but in pen and ink, gave a +decidedly adverse opinion. But some hundred copies having been printed +for private distribution, and a copy reaching Lord Jeffrey, he hastened, +with his accustomed candor and sweetness of disposition, to retract his +hostile verdict, after reading the book in print; and (only three days +before he was attacked by the illness which terminated his valuable +life) thus wrote to Sydney Smith's widow: + +"I am now satisfied that in what I then said, I did great and grievous +injustice to the merit of these lectures, and was quite wrong in +dissuading their publication, or concluding they would add nothing to +the reputation of the author; on the contrary, my firm impression is, +that, with a few exceptions, they will do him as much credit as any +thing he ever wrote, and produce, on the whole, a stronger impression of +the force and vivacity of his intellect, as well as a _truer_ and more +engaging view of his character, than most of what the world has yet seen +of his writings." + +One practical application of this anecdote is to enforce the importance +of calligraphical studies upon authors. A hieroglyphical hand is the +false medium excluding British authors from the public; In general we +should say that there is no class of men whose education in this respect +is so deplorably imperfect, or to whom "only six lessons" would so often +be priceless. + +We must confess that the book before us has taken us by surprise, +notwithstanding our affectionate esteem and admiration for its writer. +It has raised our estimate of the power and range of his intellect, of +his insight into human character, of his well-balanced judgment, of his +tolerance and charity undebased by compromise with the vicious or mean, +of the vigorous play of his thoughts, of the sustained beauty of his +style, of his eloquence as well as his humor, and of his profundity no +less than of his wit. Hurriedly composed and unrevised though the +lectures obviously are, fragmentary as the condition is in which they +have been preserved, they are an invaluable addition to English +literature. + +Their delivery is associated with the first outbreak of a fashion +ridiculed by Lord Byron in his _Beppo_ and his _Blues_. The poet's +satirical touches notwithstanding, we think that those lectures at the +Royal Institution were even more wanted by their fashionable auditors at +the time, than the similar prelections at Mechanics' Institutes which +came in vogue for less fashionable auditors some few years later. Had it +only been possible to insure the services of a series of Sydney Smiths, +the Institution might have gone on lecturing to the present day to the +unspeakable advantage of all parties concerned. What innumerable +fopperies in literature, in politics, in religion, we might thus have +escaped, it is not easy to conjecture! + +The "Elementary Sketches" were delivered soon after the commencement of +Sydney's metropolitan career, and bear strong marks of his recent +residence in Edinburgh. In their general outline they closely +approximate to the course delivered from the moral philosophy chairs of +Scotch Universities. The division of the subject is the same; the +authorities most frequently and panegyrically cited are the same; the +principles and opinions set forth are in the main the same. Sydney +Smith's moral philosophy belongs undeniably to the Scotch school--to the +school of Reid, Stewart, and Adam Smith. But his "sketches" do not the +less indicate an original thinker, a master in the science taught, and +one who can suggest to the great men we have named almost as much as he +receives from them. + +The book is an excellent illustration of what could be gained by +engrafting the Edinburgh philosophy on a full-grown healthy English +intellect. The habits of English society, and the classical tastes +imbibed at an English University, preserved Sydney Smith from that touch +of pedantry which characterized the thinkers of the Scotch universities, +trained in a provincial sphere, and trammeled by the Calvinistic logic +even after they had freed themselves from the Calvinistic theology. +Without disparaging the Edinburgh school of literature, the fact must be +admitted that its most prominent ornaments have generally had the +advantage of a "foreign" education. Hume and Black studied in France; +Adam Smith was the member of an English university; Jeffrey had become +familiar with Oxford, though he did not stay there; Homer was caught +young, and civilized at Hackney; and Mackintosh and Brougham, thoroughly +Scotch-bred, expanded amazingly when transplanted to the south. It may +be a national weakness, but it occurs to us that Sydney Smith, who was +southern born as well as bred, is still more free from narrownesses and +angularities than any of them. + +The healthy and genial nature of the man accounts for his most +characteristic excellencies, but this book exhibits much we had not +looked for. The lectures on the passions evince a power of comprehending +and sympathizing with what is great in the emotional part of human +nature for which we were not prepared. The lectures on the conduct of +the understanding, and on habit, show that the writer had studied +profoundly and successfully the discipline of the mind and character. +The lectures on the beautiful are pervaded by a healthy and unaffected +appreciation of the loveliness of external nature. And combined with +these high qualities, is that incessant play of witty and humorous fancy +(perhaps the only certain safeguard against sentimental and systematic +excesses, and, when duly restrained by the judgment and moral sense, +the best corrective of hasty philosophizing), so peculiar to Sydney +Smith. Much of all that we have mentioned is indeed and undoubtedly +attributable to the original constitution of Smith's mind; but for much +he was also, beyond all question, indebted to the greater freedom of +thought and conversation which (as compared with the Scotch) has always +characterized literary and social opinion in England. + +The topics discussed in the lectures naturally resolve themselves into, +and are arranged in, three divisions. We have an analysis of the +thinking faculties, or the powers of perception, conception, and +reasoning; an analysis of the powers of taste, or of what Schiller and +other Germans designate the _aesthetical_ part of our nature; and an +exposition of the "active powers of the mind," as they are designated in +the nomenclature of the school of Reid, the appetites, passions, and +will. All these themes are discussed with constant reference to a +practical application of the knowledge conveyed. Every thing is treated +in subordination to the establishment of rules for the right conduct of +the understanding, and the formation of good habits. These practical +lessons for the strengthening of the reason, and the regulation of the +emotions and imagination, constitute what, in the language of Sydney +Smith, and the school to which he belongs, is called "Moral Philosophy." + +Apart from any particular school, the impression of the author left by +the perusal of his lectures is that he was a man of considerable reading +in books, but far more deeply read in the minds of those he encountered +in society. It is in this extensive knowledge of the world, confirming +and maturing the judgments suggested by his wisely-balanced powers of +feeling and humor, that the superiority of Smith over the rest of his +school consists. He knows men not merely as they are represented in +books, but as they actually are; he knows them not only as they exist in +a provincial sphere, narrowed by petty interests and trammeled by +pedantic opinion, but as they exist in the freest community of the +world, where boundless ambition and enterprise find full scope. + +It appears to us that Sidney Smith is most perfectly at home--most +entirely in his element--when discussing the "active powers" of man, or +those impulses in which originate the practical business of life. +Scarcely, if at all, secondary in point of excellence to his remarks on +these topics, are those which he makes on the sublime and beautiful (a +fact for which many will not be prepared), and on wit and humor (which +every body will have expected). The least conclusive and satisfactory of +his discussions are those which relate to the intellectual powers, or +the anatomy of mind. With reference to this part of the course, however, +it must be kept in remembrance that here, more than in the other two +departments, he was fettered by the necessity of being popular in his +language, and brief and striking in his illustrations, in order to keep +within the range of the understandings and intellects of his auditory. +These earlier lectures, too, survive in a more fragmentary and +dilapidated condition than the rest. And after all, even where we seem +to miss a sufficiently extensive and intimate acquaintance with the +greatest and best writers on the subjects handled, or a sufficiently +subtle and precise phraseology, we always find the redeeming qualities +of lively and original conception, of witty and forcible illustration, +and of sound manly sense most felicitously expressed. + +In the general tone and tendency of the lectures there is something +Socratic. There is the pervading common sense and practical turn of mind +which characterized the Greek philosopher. There is the liberal +tolerance, and the moral intrepidity. There is the amusement always +insinuating or enforcing instruction. There is the conversational tone, +and adaptation to the tastes and habits of the social circle. We feel +that we are listening to a man who moves habitually in what is called +the best society, who can relish and add a finishing grace to the +pleasures of those portions of the community, but who retains +unsophisticated his estimate of higher and more important matters, and +whose incessant aim is to engraft a better and worthier tone of thought +and aspiration upon the predominating frivolity of his associates. +Nothing can be more graceful or charming than the way in which Sydney +accommodates himself to the habitual language and thoughts of his +brilliant auditory; nothing more manly or strengthening than the sound +practical lessons he reads to them. Such a manual should now be +invaluable to our aristocracy. Let them thoroughly embue themselves with +its precepts, and do their best to act as largely as possible upon its +suggestions. They can have no better chance of maintaining their +position in the front of English society. + +To appreciate the book as a whole--and its purpose, thought, and +sentiment impart to it a unity of the highest kind--it must be not only +read but studied. A few citations, however, gleaned here and there at +random, may convey some notion of the characteristic beauties and +felicities of thought and expression which are scattered through every +page of it. + + +SOCRATES. + +Socrates was, in truth, not very fond of subtle and refined +speculations; and upon the intellectual part of our nature, little or +nothing of his opinions is recorded. If we may infer any thing from the +clearness and simplicity of his opinions on moral subjects, and from the +bent which his genius had received for the useful and the practical, he +would certainly have laid a strong foundation for rational metaphysics. +The slight sketch I have given of his moral doctrines contains nothing +very new or very brilliant, but comprehends those moral doctrines which +every person of education has been accustomed to hear from his +childhood; but two thousand years ago they were great discoveries, two +thousand years since, common sense was not invented. If Orpheus, or +Linus, or any of those melodious moralists, sung, in bad verses, such +advice as a grandmamma would now give to a child of six years old, he +was thought to be inspired by the gods, and statues and altars were +erected to his memory. In Hesiod there is a very grave exhortation to +mankind to wash their faces: and I have discovered a very strong analogy +between the precepts of Pythagoras and Mrs. Trimmer; both think that a +son ought to obey his father, and both are clear that a good man is +better than a bad one. Therefore, to measure aright this extraordinary +man, we must remember the period at which he lived; that he was the +first who called the attention of mankind from the pernicious subtleties +which engaged and perplexed their wandering understandings to the +practical rules of life; he was the great father and inventor of common +sense, as Ceres was of the plow, and Bacchus of intoxication. First, he +taught his contemporaries that they did not know what they pretended to +know; then he showed them that they knew nothing; then he told them what +they ought to know. Lastly, to sum the praise of Socrates, remember that +two thousand years ago, while men were worshiping the stones on which +they trod, and the insects which crawled beneath their feet; two +thousand years ago, with the bowl of poison in his hand, Socrates said, +"I am persuaded that my death, which is now just coming, will conduct me +into the presence of the gods, who are the most righteous governors, and +into the society of just and good men; and I derive confidence from the +hope that something of man remains after death, and that the condition +of good men will then be much better than that of the bad." Soon after +this he covered himself up with his cloak and expired. + + +PLATO. + +Of all the disciples of Socrates, Plato, though he calls himself the +least, was certainly the most celebrated. As long as philosophy +continued to be studied among the Greeks and Romans, his doctrines were +taught, and his name revered. Even to the present day his writings give +a tinge to the language and speculations of philosophy and theology. Of +the majestic beauty of Plato's style, it is almost impossible to convey +an adequate idea. He keeps the understanding up to a high pitch of +enthusiasm longer than any existing writer; and, in reading Plato, zeal +and animation seem rather to be the regular feelings than the casual +effervescence of the mind. He appears almost disdaining the mutability +and imperfection of the earth on which he treads, to be drawing down +fire from heaven, and to be seeking among the gods above, for the +permanent, the beautiful, and the grand! In contrasting the vigor and +the magnitude of his conceptions with the extravagance of his +philosophical tenets, it is almost impossible to avoid wishing that he +had confined himself to the practice of eloquence; and, in this way +giving range and expansion to the mind which was struggling within him, +had become one of those famous orators who + + "Wielded at will that fierce democratic, + Shook th' arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece + To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne." + +After having said so much of his language, I am afraid I must proceed to +his philosophy; observing always, that, in stating it, I do not always +pretend to understand it, and do not even engage to defend it. In +comparing the very few marks of sobriety and discretion with the +splendor of his genius, I have often exclaimed as Prince Henry did about +Falstaff's bill, "Oh, monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread to +this intolerable deal of sack!" + + +DR. REID. + +In answer to these metaphysical lunacies, Dr. Reid has contended that, +for all reasoning, there must be some first principles from whence such +reasoning originates, and which must _necessarily_ be incapable of proof +or they would not be _first principles_; and that facts so irresistibly +ingrafted upon human belief as the existence of mind and matter, must be +assumed for truths, and reasoned upon as such. All that these skeptics +have said of the outer and the inner world may, with equal justice, be +applied to every other radical truth. Who can prove his own personal +identity? A man may think himself a clergyman, and believe he has +preached for these ten years last past; but I defy him to offer any sort +of _proof_ that he has not been a fishmonger all the time ... ever doubt +that all reasoning _must_ end in arbitrary belief; that we must, at +last, come to that point where the only reply can be, "I _am so_--this +belief is the constitution of my nature--God willed it." I grant that +this reasoning is a ready asylum for ignorance and imbecility, and that +it affords too easy a relief from the pain of rendering a reason: but +the most unwearied vigor of human talents must at last end there; the +wisdom of ages can get no further; here, after all, the Porch, the +Garden, the Academy, the Lyceum, must close their labors. + +Much as we are indebted to Dr. Reid for preaching up this doctrine, he +has certainly executed it very badly; and nothing can be more imperfect +than the table of first principles which he has given us--an enumeration +of which is still a desideratum of the highest importance. The skeptics +may then call the philosophy of the human mind merely hypothetical; but +if it be so, all other knowledge must, of course, be hypothetical also; +and if it be so, and all is erroneous, it will do quite as well as +reality, if we keep up a certain proportion in our errors: for there +_may_ be no such things as lunar tables, no sea, and no ships; but, by +falling into one of these errors after the other, we avoid shipwreck, +or, what is the same thing, as it gives the same pain, the idea of +shipwreck. So with the philosophy of the human mind: I may have no +memory, and no imagination--they may be mistakes; but if I cultivate +them both, I derive honor and respect from my fellow-creatures, which +may be mistakes also; but they harmonize so well together, that they are +quite as good as realities. The only evil of errors is, that they are +never supported by consequences; if they were, they would be as good as +realities. Great merit is given to Dr. Reid for his destruction of what +is called the ideal system, but I confess I can not see the important +consequences to which it has yet led. + + +PUNS. + +I have mentioned puns. They are, I believe, what I have denominated +them--the wit of words. They are exactly the same to words which wit is +to ideas, and consist in the sudden discovery of relations in language. +A pun, to be perfect in its kind, should contain two distinct meanings; +the one common and obvious; the other, more remote; and in the notice +which the mind takes of the relation between these two sets of words, +and in the surprise which that relation excites, the pleasure of a pun +consists. Miss Hamilton, in her book on Education, mentions the instance +of a boy so very neglectful, that he could never be brought to read the +word _patriarchs_; but whenever he met with it he always pronounced it +_partridges_. A friend of the writer observed to her, that it could +hardly be considered as a mere piece of negligence, for it appeared to +him that the boy, in calling them partridges, was _making game_ of the +patriarchs. Now, here are two distinct meanings contained in the same +phrase; for to make game of the patriarchs is to laugh at them; or to +make game of them is, by a very extravagant and laughable sort of +ignorance of words, to rank them among pheasants, partridges, and other +such delicacies, which the law takes under its protection and calls +_game_; and the whole pleasure derived from this pun consists in the +sudden discovery that two such different meanings are referable to one +form of expression. I have very little to say about puns; they are in +very bad repute, and so they _ought to_ be. The wit of language is so +miserably inferior to the wit of ideas, that it is very deservedly +driven out of good company. Sometimes, indeed, a pun makes its +appearance which seems for a moment to redeem its species; but we must +not be deceived by them; it is a radically bad race of wit. By +unremitting persecution, it has been at last got under, and driven into +cloisters--from whence it must never again be suffered to emerge into +the light of the world. + + +IMPORTANCE OF BEING ABLE TO DESPISE RIDICULE. + +I know of no principle which it is of more importance to fix in the +minds of young people than that of the most determined resistance to the +encroachment of ridicule. Give up to the world, and to the ridicule with +which the world enforces its dominion, every trifling question of manner +and appearance; it is to toss courage and firmness to the winds, to +combat with the mass upon such subjects as these. But learn from the +earliest days to insure your principles against the perils of ridicule: +you can no more exercise your reason, if you live in the constant dread +of laughter, than you can enjoy your life, if you are in the constant +terror of death. If you think it right to differ from the times, and to +make a stand for any valuable point of morals, do it, however rustic, +however antiquated, however pedantic it may appear--do it, not for +insolence, but _seriously_ and _grandly_--as a man who wore a soul of +his own in his bosom, and did not wait till it was breathed into him by +the breath of fashion. Let men call you mean, if you know you are just; +hypocritical, if you are honestly religious; pusillanimous, if you feel +that you are firm: resistance soon converts unprincipled wit into +sincere respect; and no after-time can tear from you those feelings +which every man carries within him who has made a noble and successful +exertion in a virtuous cause. + + +BULLS AND CHARADES. + +A bull--which must by no means be passed over in this recapitulation of +the family of wit and humor--a bull is exactly the counterpart of a +witticism: for as wit discovers real relations that are not apparent, +bulls admit apparent relations that are not real. The pleasure arising +from bulls, proceeds from our surprise at suddenly discovering two +things to be dissimilar in which a resemblance might have been +suspected. The same doctrine will apply to wit and bulls in action. +Practical wit discovers connection or relation between actions, in which +duller understandings discover none; and practical bulls originate from +an apparent relation between two actions which more correct +understandings immediately perceive to have none at all. In the late +rebellion in Ireland, the rebels, who had conceived a high degree of +indignation against some great banker, passed a resolution that they +would burn his notes; which they accordingly did, with great assiduity; +forgetting, that in burning his notes they were destroying his debts, +and that for every note which went into the flames, a correspondent +value went into the banker's pocket. A gentleman, in speaking of a +nobleman's wife of great rank and fortune, lamented very much that she +had no children. A medical gentleman who was present observed, that to +have no children was a great misfortune, but he thought he had remarked +it was _hereditary_ in some families. Take any instance of this branch +of the ridiculous, and you will always find an apparent relation of +ideas leading to a complete inconsistency. + +I shall say nothing of charades, and such sort of unpardonable trumpery: +if charades are made at all, they should be made without benefit of +clergy, the offender should instantly be hurried off to execution, and +be cut off in the middle of his dullness, without being allowed to +explain to the executioner why his first is like his second, or what is +the resemblance between his fourth and his ninth. + + +WIT AND PROFESSED WITS. + +I wish, after all I have said about wit and humor, I could satisfy +myself of their good effects upon the character and disposition; but I +am convinced the probable tendency of both is, to corrupt the +understanding and the heart. I am not speaking of wit where it is kept +down by more serious qualities of mind, and thrown into the background +of the picture; but where it stands out boldly and emphatically, and is +evidently the master quality in any particular mind. Professed wits, +though they are generally courted for the amusement they afford, are +seldom respected for the qualities they possess. The habit of seeing +things in a witty point of view, increases, and makes incursions from +its own proper regions, upon principles and opinions which are ever held +sacred by the wise and good. A witty man is a dramatic performer: in +process of time, he can no more exist without applause than he can exist +without air; if his audience be small, or if they are inattentive, or if +a new wit defrauds him of any portion of his admiration, it is all over +with him--he sickens, and is extinguished. The applauses of the theatre +on which he performs are so essential to him, that he must obtain them +at the expense of decency, friendship, and good feeling. It must always +be _probable_, too, that a _mere_ wit is a person of light and frivolous +understanding. His business is not to discover relations of ideas that +are _useful_, and have a real influence upon life, but to discover the +more trifling relations which are only amusing; he never looks at things +with the naked eye of common sense, but is always gazing at the world +through a Claude Lorraine glass--discovering a thousand appearances +which are created only by the instrument of inspection, and covering +every object with factitious and unnatural colors. In short, the +character of a _mere_ wit it is impossible to consider as very amiable, +very respectable, or very safe. So far the world, in judging of wit +where it has swallowed up all other qualities, judge aright; but I doubt +if they are sufficiently indulgent to this faculty where it exists in a +lesser degree, and as one out of many other ingredients of the +understanding. There is an association in men's minds between dullness +and wisdom, amusement and folly, which has a very powerful influence in +decision upon character, and is not overcome without considerable +difficulty. The reason is, that the _outward_ signs of a dull man and a +wise man are the same, and so are the outward signs of a frivolous man +and a witty man; and we are not to expect that the majority will be +disposed to look to much _more_ than the outward sign. I believe the +fact to be, that wit is very seldom the _only_ eminent quality which +resides in the mind of any man; it is commonly accompanied by many other +talents of every description, and ought to be considered as a strong +evidence of a fertile and superior understanding. Almost all the great +poets, orators, and statesmen of all times, have been witty, Caesar, +Alexander, Aristotle, Descartes, and Lord Bacon, were witty men; so were +Cicero, Shakspeare, Demosthenes, Boileau, Pope, Dryden, Fontenelle, +Jonson, Waller, Cowley, Solon, Socrates, Dr. Johnson, and almost every +man who has made a distinguished figure in the House of Commons. I have +talked of the _danger_ of wit: I do not mean by that to enter into +commonplace declamation against faculties because they _are_ dangerous; +wit is dangerous, eloquence is dangerous, a talent for observation is +dangerous, _every_ thing is dangerous that has efficacy and vigor for +its characteristics: nothing is safe but mediocrity. The business is, in +conducting the understanding well, to risk something; to aim at uniting +things that are commonly incompatible. The meaning of an extraordinary +man is, that he is _eight_ men, not one man; that he has as much wit as +if he had no sense, and as much sense as if he had no wit; that his +conduct is as judicious as if he were the dullest of human beings, and +his imagination as brilliant as if he were irretrievably ruined. But +when wit is combined with sense and information; when it is softened by +benevolence, and restrained by strong principle; when it is in the hands +of a man who can use it and despise it, who can be witty and something +much _better_ than witty, who loves honor, justice, decency, +good-nature, morality, and religion, ten thousand times better than wit; +wit is _then_ a beautiful and delightful part of our nature. There is no +more interesting spectacle than to see the effects of wit upon the +different characters of men; than to observe it expanding caution, +relaxing dignity, unfreezing coldness--teaching age, and care, and pain +to smile--extorting reluctant gleams of pleasure from melancholy, and +charming even the pangs of grief. It is pleasant to observe how it +penetrates through the coldness and awkwardness of society, gradually +bringing men nearer together, and, like the combined force of wine and +oil, giving every man a glad heart and a shining countenance. Genuine +and innocent wit like this, is surely the _flavor of the mind_! Man +could direct his ways by plain reason, and support his life by tasteless +food; but God has given us wit, and flavor, and brightness, and +laughter, and perfumes, to enliven the days of man's pilgrimage, and to +"charm his pained steps over the burning marl." + + +INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATION. + +I remember once seeing an advertisement in the papers, with which I was +much struck; and which I will take the liberty of reading: "Lost, in the +Temple Coffee-house, and supposed to be taken away by mistake, an oaken +stick, which has supported its master not only over the greatest part of +Europe, but has been his companion in his journeys over the inhospitable +deserts of Africa: whoever will restore it to the waiter, will confer a +very serious obligation on the advertiser; or, if that be any object, +shall receive a recompense very much above the value of the article +restored." Now, here is a man, who buys a sixpenny stick, because it is +useful; and, totally forgetting the trifling causes which first made his +stick of any consequence, speaks of it with warmth and affection; calls +it his companion; and would hardly have changed it, perhaps, for the +gold stick which is carried before the king. But the best and the +strongest example of this, and of the customary progress of association, +is in the passion of avarice. A child only loves a guinea because it +shines; and, as it is equally splendid, he loves a gilt button as well. +In after-life, he begins to love wealth, because it affords him the +comforts of existence; and then loves it so well, that he denies himself +the common comforts of life to increase it. The uniting idea is so +totally forgotten, that it is completely sacrificed to the ideas which +it unites. Two friends unite against the person to whose introduction +they are indebted for their knowledge of each other; exclude him their +society, and ruin him by their combination. + + +INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF ENJOYMENT. + +Mankind are always happier for having been happy; so that if you make +them happy now, you make them happy twenty years hence, by the memory of +it. A childhood passed with a due mixture of rational indulgence, under +fond and wise parents, diffuses over the whole of life a feeling of calm +pleasure; and, in extreme old age, is the very last remembrance which +time can erase from the mind of man. No enjoyment, however +inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment. A man is the happier +for life, from having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any +length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable +interval of innocent pleasure: and it is most probably the recollection +of their past pleasures, which contributes to render old men so +inattentive to the scenes before them; and carries them back to a world +that is past, and to scenes never to be renewed again. + + +HAPPINESS AS A MORAL AGENT. + +That virtue gives happiness we all know; but if it be true that +happiness contributes to virtue, the principle furnishes us with some +sort of excuse for the errors and excesses of able young man, at the +bottom of life, fretting with impatience under their obscurity, and +hatching a thousand chimeras of being neglected and overlooked by the +world. The natural cure for these errors is the sunshine of prosperity: +as they get happier, they get better, and learn, from the respect which +they receive from others, to respect themselves. "Whenever," says Mr. +Lancaster (in his book just published), "I met with a boy particularly +mischievous, I made him a monitor: I never knew this fail." The _cause_ +for the promotion, and the kind of encouragement it must occasion, I +confess appear rather singular, but of the _effect_, I have no sort of +doubt. + + +POWER OF HABIT. + +Habit uniformly and constantly strengthens all our active exertions: +whatever we do often, we become more and more apt to do. A snuff-taker +begins with a pinch of snuff per day, and ends with a pound or two every +month. Swearing begins in anger; it ends by mingling itself with +ordinary conversation. Such-like instances are of too common notoriety +to need that they be adduced; but, as I before observed, at the very +time that the tendency to do the thing is every day increasing, the +pleasure resulting from it is, by the blunted sensibility of the bodily +organ, diminished, and the desire is irresistible, though the +gratification is nothing. There is rather an entertaining example of +this in Fielding's "Life of Jonathan Wild," in that scene where he is +represented as playing at cards with the count, a professed gambler. +"Such," says Mr. Fielding, "was the power of habit over the minds of +these illustrious persons, that Mr. Wild could not keep his hands out of +the count's pockets, though he knew they were empty; nor could the count +abstain from palming a card, though he was well aware Mr. Wild had no +money to pay him." + + +THE USE OF THE PASSIONS. + +The passions are in morals, what motion is in physics; they create, +preserve, and animate, and without them all would be silence and death. +Avarice guides men across the deserts of the ocean; pride covers the +earth with trophies, and mausoleums, and pyramids; love turns men from +their savage rudeness; ambition shakes the very foundations of kingdoms. +By the love of glory, weak nations swell into magnitude and strength. +Whatever there is of terrible, whatever there is of beautiful in human +events, all that shakes the soul to and fro, and is remembered while +thought and flesh cling together, all these have their origin from the +passions. As it is only in storms, and when their coming waters are +driven up into the air, that we catch a sight of the depths of the sea, +it is only in the season of perturbation that we have a glimpse of the +real internal nature of man. It is then only that the might of these +eruptions, shaking his frame, dissipates all the feeble coverings of +opinion, and rends in pieces that cobweb vail with which fashion hides +the feelings of the heart. It is then only that Nature speaks her +genuine feelings; and, as at the last night of Troy, when Venus +illumined the darkness, AEneas saw the gods themselves at work, so may +we, when the blaze of passion is flung upon man's nature, mark in him +the signs of a celestial origin, and tremble at the invisible agents of +God! + +Look at great men in critical and perilous moments, when every cold and +little spirit is extinguished: their passions always bring them out +harmless, and at the very moment when they _seem_ to perish, they emerge +into greater glory. Alexander in the midst of his mutinous soldiers; +Frederick of Prussia, combating against the armies of three kingdoms; +Cortes, breaking in pieces the Mexican empire: their passions led all +these great men to fix their attention strongly upon the objects of +their desires; they saw them under aspects unknown to, and unseen by +common men, and which enabled them to conceive and execute those hardy +enterprises, deemed rash and foolish, till their wisdom was established +by their success. It is, in fact, the great passions alone which enable +men to distinguish between what is difficult and what is impossible; a +distinction always confounded by merely _sensible_ men, who do not even +_suspect_ the existence of those means which men of genius employ to +effect their object. It is only passion which gives a man that high +enthusiasm for his country, and makes him regard it as the only object +worthy of human attention; an enthusiasm which to common eyes appears +madness and extravagance, but which always creates fresh powers of mind, +and commonly insures their ultimate success. In fact, it is only the +great passions which, tearing us away from the seductions of indolence, +endow us with that continuity of attention, to which alone superiority +of mind is attached. It is to their passions alone, under the providence +of God, that nations must trust, when perils gather thick about them, +and their last moments seem to be at hand. The history of the world +shows us that men are not to be counted by their numbers, but by the +fire and vigor of their passions; by their deep sense of injury; by +their memory of past glory; by their eagerness for fresh fame; by their +clear and steady resolution of ceasing to live, or of achieving a +particular object, which, when it is _once_ formed, strikes off a load +of manacles and chains, and gives free space to all heavenly and heroic +feelings. All great and extraordinary actions come from the heart. There +are seasons in human affairs, when qualities fit enough to conduct the +common business of life, are feeble and useless, and when men must trust +to emotion for that safety which reason at such times can never give. +These are the feelings which led the ten thousand over the Carduchian +mountains; these are the feelings by which a handful of Greeks broke in +pieces the power of Persia: they have, by turns, humbled Austria, +reduced Spain; and in the fens of the Dutch, and on the mountains of the +Swiss, defended the happiness, and revenged the oppressions of man! God +calls all the passions out in their keenness and vigor for the present +safety of mankind. Anger, and revenge, and the heroic mind, and a +readiness to suffer; all the secret strength, all the invisible array of +the feelings, all that nature has reserved for the great scenes of the +world. For the usual hopes and the common aids of man are all gone! +Kings have perished, armies are subdued, nations mouldered away! Nothing +remains, under God, but those passions which have often proved the best +ministers of His vengeance, and the surest protectors of the world. + +In that, and similar passages, a sustained feeling and expression not +ordinarily associated with Sydney Smith, impresses the reader with its +unaffected eloquence and emotion. We close the book reluctantly, for we +leave many things unquoted that had the most forcibly impressed us. In +the two chapters on the conduct of the understanding, there are most +masterly disquisitions on labor and study as connected with the +manifestations of genius; on the importance of men adhering to the +particular line of their powers or talents, and on the tendency of all +varieties of human accomplishment to the same great object of exalting +and gladdening life. We would also particularly mention a happy and +noble recommendation of the uses of classical study at the close of the +chapter on the sublime. + + + + +YOUNG POET'S PLAINT. + + + God, release our dying sister! + Beauteous blight hath sadly kiss'd her + Whiter than the wild, white roses, + Famine in her face discloses + Mute submission, patience holy, + Passing fair! but passing slowly. + + Though she said, "You know I'm dying." + In her heart green trees are sighing; + Not of them hath pain bereft her, + In the city, where we left her: + "Bring," she said, "a hedgeside blossom!" + Love shall lay it on her bosom. + + ELLIOTT. + + + + +ALEXANDER AFTER THE RETREAT FROM LUTZEN.--"The Emperor of Russia passed +the night of the battle at Pegau, whither his britcka containing his +papers and camp-bed had been brought; and, after having been twenty-four +hours on horseback, Lord Cathcart and his staff found the bare floor of +a cottage so comfortable a couch, without even the luxury of straw, that +no one seemed in a hurry to rise when we were informed soon after +daylight, that his imperial majesty was about to mount and depart, and +that the enemy were approaching to dislodge us. The emperor slowly rode +some miles toward the rear, along the Altenburg road, conversing with +Lord Cathcart about the battle: he laid great stress upon the report of +the commandant of artillery as to the want of ammunition, which he +assigned as the principal reason for not renewing the action; he spoke +of the result as a victory gained on our side; and it was afterward the +fashion in the army to consider it as such, though not perhaps a victory +so important in its consequences, or so decisive as could have been +wished. At length the emperor observed that he did not like to be seen +riding, fast to the rear, and that it was now necessary for him to go to +Dresden with all expedition, and prepare for ulterior operations: he +then entered his little traveling-carriage, which was drawn by relays of +Cossack horses, and proceeded by Altenburg to Penig."--_Cathcart._ + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +SONNETS FROM THE ITALIAN. + + +UPON THE DEATH OF THE REDEEMER. + +BY MINZONI. + + When, in that last, loud wail, the Son of God + Rent open graves and shook the mountain's steep-- + Adam, affrighted from his world-long sleep, + Raised up his head; then stark and upright stood: + With fear and wonder filled, he moved around + His troubled eyes--then asked, with throbbing heart, + Who was that awful One who hung apart, + Gore-stained and lifeless, on the curst tree bound. + Soon as he learned, his penitent hand defiled + His shriveled brow and bloodless cheeks, and tore + The hoary locks that streamed his shoulders o'er. + Turning to Eve, in lamentation wild, + He cried, 'till Calvary echoed to the cry-- + "WOMAN! FOR THEE I'VE GIVEN MY LORD TO DIE!" + + +TWO SONNETS ON JUDAS. + +BY MONTI. + + I. + + Down on the Temple-floor the traitor flung + The infamous bribe for which he sold the Lord, + Then in despair rushed forth, and with a cord, + From out the tree, his reprobate body hung. + Pent in his throat, the struggling spirit poured + A mingled sound of rage and wildest grief, + And Christ it cursed, and its own sin in chief, + Which glutted hell with triumphs so abhorred. + Forth with a howl at last the spirit fled. + Then Justice bore it to the holy mount, + And dipping there her finger in the fount + Of Christ's all-sacred blood, the sentence dread + Wrote on its brow of everlasting woe, + Then, loathing, plunged it into hell below. + + II. + + Down into hell that wretched soul she flung, + When lo! a mighty earthquake shook the ground; + The mountain reeled. The wind swept fierce around + The black and strangled body where it hung. + From Calvary at eve, the angels wending, + On slow, hushed wing, their holy vigil o'er, + Saw it afar, and swift their white wings, blending + With trembling fear, their pure eyes spread before. + Meanwhile fiends pluck the corse down in the gloom, + And on their burning shoulders, as a bier, + Convey the burden to its nameless doom. + Cursing and howling, downward thus they steer + Their hell-ward course, and in its depths restore + The wandering soul to its damned corse once more. + + +SONNET UPON JUDAS. + +BY GIANNI. + + Spent with the struggles of his mad despair, + Judas hung gasping from the fatal tree; + Then swift the tempter-fiend sprang on him there, + Flapping his flame-red wings exultingly. + With griping claws he clutched the noose that bound + The traitor's throat, and hurled him down below, + Where hell's hot depths, incessant bubbling glow + His burning flesh and crackling bones around: + There, mid the gloomy shades, asunder riven + By storm and lurid flame, was SATAN seen; + Relaxing his stern brow, with hideous grin. + Within his dusky arms the wretch he caught, + And with smutched lips, fuliginous and hot, + _Repaid the kiss which he to Christ had given._ + + + + +THE CHARACTER OF BURNS. + +BY EBENEZER ELLIOTT. + + +Perhaps no falsehood has been more frequently repeated, than that men of +genius are less fortunate and less virtuous than other men; but the +obvious truth, that they who attempt little are less liable to failure +than they who attempt much, will account for the proverbial good luck of +fools. In our estimate of the sorrows and failings of literary men, we +forget that sorrow is the common lot; we forget, too, that the +misfortunes and the errors of men of genius are recorded; and that, +although their virtues may be utterly forgotten, their minutest faults +will be sure to find zealous historians. And this is as it should be. +Let the dead instruct us. But slanderers blame, in individuals, what +belongs to the species. "We women," says Clytemnestra in Eschylus, when +meditating the murder of her husband, and in reply to an attendant who +was praising the gentleness of the sex, "We women are--what we are." So +is it with us all. Then let every fault of men of genius be known; but +let not hypocrisy come with a sponge, and wipe away their virtues. + +Of the misfortunes of Cowper we have all heard, and certainly he was +unfortunate, for he was liable to fits of insanity. But it might be said +of him, that he was tended through life by weeping angels. Warm-hearted +friends watched and guarded him with intense and unwearied solicitude; +the kindest hearted of the softer sex, the best of the best, seems to +have been born only to anticipate his wants. A glance at the world, will +show us that his fate, though sad, was not saddest; for how many madmen +are there, and how many men still more unfortunate than madmen, who have +no living-creature to aid, or soothe, or pity them! Think of +Milton--"blind among enemies!" + +But the saddest incident in the life of Cowper remains to be told. In +his latter days, he was pensioned by the crown--a misfortune which I can +forgive to him, but not to destiny. It is consoling to think, that he +was not long conscious of his degradation after the cruel kindness was +inflicted on him. But why did not his friends, if weary of sustaining +their kinsman stricken by the arrows of the Almighty, suffer him to +perish in a _beggars'_ mad-house? Would he had died in a ditch rather +than this shadow had darkened over his grave! Burns was more fortunate +in his death than Cowper: he lived self-supported to the end. Glorious +hearted Burns! Noble, but unfortunate Cowper! + +Burns was one of the few poets fit to be seen. It has been asserted that +genius is a disease--the malady of physical inferiority. It is certain +that we have heard of Pope, the hunchback: of Scott and Byron, the +cripples: of the epileptic Julius Caesar, who, it is said, never planned +a great battle without going into fits; and of Napoleon, whom a few +years of trouble killed: where Cobbett (a man of talent, not of genius) +would have melted St. Helena, rather than have given up the ghost with a +full belly. If Pope could have leaped over five-barred gates, he +probably would not have written his inimitable sofa-and-lap-dog poetry; +but it does not follow that he would not have written the "Essay on +Man;" and they who assert that genius is a physical disease, should +remember that, as true critics are more rare than true poets, we having +only one in our language, William Hazlitt, so, very tall and complete +men are as rare as genius itself, a fact well known to persons who have +the appointment of constables. And if it is undeniable that God wastes +nothing, and that we, therefore, perhaps seldom find a gigantic body +combined with a soul of AEolian tones; it is equally undeniable, that +Burns was an exception to the rule--a man of genius, tall, strong, and +handsome, as any man that could be picked out of a thousand at a country +fair. + +But he was unfortunate, we are told. Unfortunate! He was a tow-heckler +who cleared six hundred pounds by the sale of his poems: of which sum he +left two hundred pounds behind him, in the hands of his brother Gilbert: +two facts which prove that he could neither be so unfortunate, nor so +imprudent, as we are told he was. If he had been a mere tow-heckler, I +suspect he would never have possessed six hundred shillings. + +But he _was_ imprudent, it is said. Now, he is a wise man who has done +one act that influences beneficially his whole life. Burns did three +such acts--he wrote poetry--he published it; and, despairing of his +farm, he became an exciseman. It is true he did one imprudent act; and, +I hope, the young persons around me will be warned by it; he took a +farm, without thoroughly understanding the business of farming. + +It does not appear that he wasted or lost any capital, except what he +threw away on his farm. He was unlucky, but not imprudent in giving it +up when he did. Had he held it a little longer, the Bank Restriction Act +would have enriched him at the expense of his landlord; but Burns was an +honest man, and, therefore, alike incapable of desiring and foreseeing +that enormous villainy. + +But he was neglected, we are told. Neglected! No strong man in good +health _can_ be neglected, if he is true to himself. For the benefit of +the young, I wish we had a correct account of the number of persons who +fail of success, in a thousand that resolutely strive to do well. I do +not think it exceeds one per cent. By whom was Burns neglected? +Certainly not by the people of Scotland: for they paid him the highest +compliment that can be paid to an author: they bought his book! Oh, but +he ought to have been pensioned. Pensioned! Can not we think of poets +without thinking of pensions? _Are_ they such poor creatures, that they +can not earn an honest living? Let us hear no more of such degrading and +insolent nonsense. + +But he was a drunkard, it is said. I do not mean to exculpate him when I +say that he was probably no worse, in that respect, than his neighbors; +for he _was_ worse if he was not better than they, the balance being +against him; and his Almighty Father would not fail to say to him, "What +didst thou with the lent talent?" But drunkenness, in his time, was the +vice of his country--it is so still; and if the traditions of Dumfries +are to be depended on, there are allurements which Burns was much less +able to resist than those of the bottle; and the supposition of his +frequent indulgence in the crimes to which those allurements lead, is +incompatible with that of his habitual drunkenness. + + + + +OF DELAYS.--Fortune is like the market where, many times, if you can +stay a little, the price will fall; and again, it is sometimes like the +Sibyl's offer, who at first offereth the commodity at full, then +consumeth part and part, and still holdeth up the price.... There is +surely no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of +things. Dangers are no more light if they once seem light: and more +dangers have deceived men than forced them. Nay, it were better to meet +some dangers half-way, though they come nothing near, than to keep too +long a watch upon their approaches; for if a man watch too long, it is +odds he will fall asleep. On the other side, to be deceived with too +long shadows--as some have been, when the moon was low and shone on +their enemies, and so to shoot off before the time--or to teach dangers +to come on, by an over-early buckling toward them, is another extreme. +The ripeness or unripeness of the occasion must ever be well weighed; +and, generally, it is good to commit the beginnings of all great actions +to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus with his +hundred hands; first to watch, and then to speed.--_Lord Bacon._ + + + + +[From the London Examiner.] + +THE PARIS ELECTION. + + +All Paris is absorbed in the contest between the stationer Leclerc and +Eugene Sue the novelist. Strange it is that the party which pretends to +superior intelligence and refinement, should have put forward as their +candidate merely a specimen of constabulary violence, an honest +policemen, in fact; while the party accused of consisting of the mere +dregs of society has selected for its representative one of the most +refined and searching intellects of the day. If ever a man became a +Socialist from conviction, it has been Sue; for his writings clearly +show the progress and the changes of his mind. From depicting high +society and influences he acquired a disgust for them; by diving among +the vulgar, he discovered virtues whose existence he did not suspect. +And though the conclusions he has drawn are erroneous, they would seem +to be sincere. + +It is remarkable indeed to observe how all the great literary geniuses +of the day in France have taken the popular side. We know how boldly +Lamartine plunged into it. Victor Hugo has taken the same part, and +Eugene Sue. Alexandre Dumas, though in the employ of Louis Philippe in +1830, soon flung aside court livery and conservatism. Emile de Girardin, +another man of first rate literary ability, is decidedly Socialist. +Beranger, as far as age will permit him, is a stern republican. When a +cause thus attracts and absorbs all the floating talent of a country, +there is a vitality and respectability in it, more than we are at +present inclined to allow to French democratic parties. + +That the intellect, that is, the entire working intelligence of the +country, has labored on the Democratic, and, we fear even on the +Socialist side, is too evident from the fact that the opinions of the +latter have gained ground, and not retrograded even in the provinces, +where property is subdivided, and where there are few of the indigent +classes. In no place is property more generally possessed that in the +South of France; and there the results of the last two years have been +certainly to strengthen democratic ideas, and to make monarchic ones +decline. There is no mistaking, indeed, in what direction the current of +ideas has set. + +The Conservatives, or Monarchists, or the old political class, whatever +one pleases to call them, begin to perceive that they are beaten in the +intellectual, the argumentative struggle. They therefore make an appeal +to arms. This is evident in all their acts, arguments, and movements. +Their efforts are directed to crush the press, proscribe and imprison +writers, and abolish meetings and speeches, except those delivered in +their own clubs. They give the universities over to the Jesuits, and +elect for the Assembly no longer orators, but stout soldiers. +Changarnier is the Alpha, and Leclerc the Omega of such a party. +Strategy is its policy. It meditates no question of political economy or +of trade, but bethinks it how streets are best defended, and how towns +are fortified against themselves. A War Minister, a Tax Minister, and a +Police Minister--these form the head Cabinet of France. As to foreign +policy, trade policy, and the other paraphernalia of government, all +this is as much a sham and a humbug, as an assembly must be of which the +majority is marshaled and instructed in a club, before it dares proceed +to its duties of legislation. + +The entire tendency is to change an intellectual and argumentative into +a physical struggle. What events may occur, and what fortune prevail in +a war of this kind, it is utterly impossible to foretell. For, after +all, the results of war depend infinitely upon chance, and still more on +the talent of the leader which either party may choose to give itself. +Nor is it always the one which conquers first that maintains its +ascendency to the last. A war of this kind in France would evidently +have many soldiers enlisted on either side, and soldiers in that country +make excellent officers. The Conservatives seem to think that the strife +will be decided, as of old, in the streets of Paris; and they look to +the field of battle, and prepare for it, with a forethought and a +vigilance as sanguinary and destructive as it is determined. We doubt, +however, whether any quantity of street-fighting in the metropolis can +decide a quarrel which becomes every day more embittered and more +universal. Socialism will not be put down in a night, nor yet in three +days; no nor, we fear, even in a campaign. + +Looking on the future in this light, it appears to us of trifling moment +whether M. Leclerc or M. Sue carry the Paris election. Some thousand +voters, more or less, on this side or on that, is no decision. The +terrible fact is, the almost equal division of French society into two +camps, either of which makes too formidable a minority to put up with +defeat and its consequences, without one day or other taking up arms to +advance fresh pretensions and defend new claims. + + + + +MRS. HEMANS.--She reminds us of a poet just named, and whom she +passionately admired, namely, Shelley. Like him, drooping, fragile, a +reed shaken by the wind, a mighty mind, in sooth, too powerful for the +tremulous reed on which it discoursed its music--like him, the victim of +exquisite nervous organization--like him, verse flowed on and from her, +and the sweet sound often overpowered the meaning, kissing it, as it +were, to death; like him she was melancholy, but the sadness of both was +musical, tearful, active, not stony, silent and motionless, still less +misanthropical and disdainful; like him she was gentle, playful, they +could both run about their prison garden, and dally with the dark chains +which they knew bound them to death. Mrs. Hemans was not indeed a +_Vates_, she has never reached his heights, nor sounded his depths, yet +they are, to our thought, so strikingly alike as to seem brother and +sister, in one beautiful but delicate and dying family.--_Gilfillan._ + + + + +THE POPE AT HOME AGAIN. + + +The Pope has returned to Rome, but the Papacy is not reinstated. The +past can not be recalled. When Pius the Ninth abandoned the territorial +seat of the Papal power, he relinquished the post that preserved to that +power its place of command throughout many parts of Europe. It was the +"Pope _of Rome_" to whom the many did homage, and the Pope could only be +deemed to be "_of_ Rome" so long as he was _at_ Rome: for there can be +no doubt that a great part of the spiritual influence possessed by the +Sovereign Pontiff has been indissolubly connected with the temporal +sovereignty and territorial abode of the Pontificate. Even after his +dispossession, for a time, no doubt, heart might have been kept up among +his more refined and cultivated followers; but the most faithful peoples +have always demanded a tangible standard or beacon of their faith--a +pillar of fire or a visible church. When Pius left Rome, the rock became +tenantless; the mansion of St. Peter was vacant; a Pope in lodgings was +no Pope of Europe. And so it was felt. + +But the bodily restoration of Pius the Ninth to the capital of his +states is not the restoration of the Pope to his spiritual throne. That +can no more be effected. The riddle has been read, in these terrible +days of reading and writing--so different from the days when a Papal +rustication at Avignon disturbed the Catholic world, and verily shook +the Papacy to its foundations even then. Some accounts describe the +Pope's return as a triumph, and relate how the Romans submitted +themselves in obedient ecstasy to his blessing: it is not true--it is +not in the nature of things. It is easy to get up an array of popular +feeling, as in a theatre, which shall make a show--a frontage of +delight; easy to hire twelve beggars that their feet may be washed. Mr. +Anderson of Drury Lane can furnish any amount of popular feeling or +pious awe at a shilling a head; and the managers know these things in +Rome, where labor is much cheaper than with us. Pius returned to Rome +under cover of the French bayonets, to find a people cowed and +sulky--contrasting their traditions with the presence of the Gaul, +remembering in bitterness the days before the Papacy, and imputing this +crowning finish of their disgrace to the Pope forced back upon them. + +Even were the people for a moment pleased to see the well-meaning and +most unfortunate old man, the days of his inscrutable power are over. +Nothing can again be inscrutable that he can hold. While he was away, +the tongue of Rome was let loose, and can he make the ear of Rome forget +what it heard in those days of license? Can he undo the knowledge which +men then attained of each other, and their suppressed ideas? Assuredly +not. When he left the keys of St. Peter in his flight, men unlocked the +door of the sanctuary, and found out his secret--that it was bare. +Political bondage to them will be, not the renewal of pious ignorance, +but the rebinding of limbs that have learned to be free. + +Nay, were Rome to resume her subjection, the past has been too much +broken up elsewhere for a quiet return to the old regime, even in Italy. +The ecclesiastical courts have been abolished in Piedmont, and the +Sardinian states henceforth stand in point of free discussion on a level +with Germany, if not with France. The Pope will be fain to permit more +in Genoa or Turin than the eating of eggs during Lent--to permit a +canvassing of Papal authority fatal to its existence. But in Tuscany, +for many generations, a spirit of free discussion has existed among the +educated classes: the reforming spirit of Ricci has never died in the +capital of Tuscany, and the memory of Leopold protected the freedom of +thought: a sudden and a new value has been given to that prepared state +of the Tuscan mind by the existence of free institutions in Piedmont. +Giusti will no longer need to traverse the frontier of Italy in search +of a printer. With free discussion in two of the Italian states, Milan +will not be deaf, nor Naples without a whisper. Italy _must_ sooner or +later get to know her own mind, and then the Bishop of Rome will have to +devise a new position for himself. + +Abroad, in Catholic Europe, there is the same disruption between the +past and the future. The Archbishop of Cologne exposed, in his rashness, +the waning sanctity of the Church; the Neo-Catholics have exposed its +frangible condition. Sectarian distinctions are torn to pieces in +Hungary by the temporal conflicts, and the dormant spirit of a national +Protestantism survives in sullen hatred to alien rule. Austria proper is +pledged to any course of political expediency which may defer the evil +day of Imperial accountability, and will probably, in waxing +indifferency, see fit to put Lombardy on a spiritual par with Piedmont. +France is precarious in her allegiance. Two countries alone remain in +unaltered relation to the See of Rome--Spain, the most bigoted of the +children of Rome; and Ireland, the most faithful. But Ireland is +impotent. And to this day Spain asserts, and preserves, the _national_ +independence which she has retained throughout the most arrogant days of +Romish supremacy, throughout the tyrant regime of Torquemada. Even court +intrigue dares not prostitute the _nationality_ of Spain to Roman +influence. Rome is the talk of the world, and the return of Pius to the +Vatican can not restore the silent submission of the faithful. He is but +to be counted among the "fashionable arrivals."--_London Spectator._ + + + + +CIVIL LIBERTY DEFINED.--This is not the liberty which we can hope, that +no grievance ever should arise in the commonwealth; that let no man in +this world expect; but when complaints are freely heard, deeply +considered, and speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civil +liberty attained that wise men look for.--_John Milton._ + + + + +[From the London Examiner.] + +THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. + + +The Jutland and Sleswick pirates, who fourteen centuries ago performed +the great achievement of conquering and colonizing Britain, have since, +in the persons of their descendants, achieved the still greater feat of +colonizing and settling, while they are in a fair way of conquering and +occupying, a whole continent, to the destruction or absorption of every +other race. The Anglo-Saxon population of America, in fact, constitutes, +at this moment, a people more numerous and mighty than any European +nation of the period when their emigration commenced. The very same +people is now engaged in achieving another great, although not equally +great enterprise, the colonization of another continent, Australia; and +the Australian colonies, within sixty years of their first foundation, +are already calling loudly for self and responsible government, which +is, by more than a century, sooner than the American Colonies made a +similar claim. We have not the least doubt but that it will be to the +mutual and permanent advantage of both parties, that these demands of +the Colonists, which are in no respect unreasonable, should be liberally +and readily granted. + +The better to understand our position in relation to them, let us +compare the two continents alluded to. America has a greater extent of +territory, and therefore more room for expansion than Australia. Its +natural products are more valuable, its soil is more fertile, and its +climates more varied and propitious to vegetation. Its greatest +superiority over Australia, however, consists in its magnificent water +communication--its great rivers, its splendid lakes, its navigable +estuaries, and its commodious harbors. Finally, it possesses the vast +advantage of being only one-sixth part of the distance that Australia is +from the civilization and markets of Europe. + +Let us now see what Australia is. It is said to contain three millions +of square miles. But of this we take it that about one-half, or all of +it that lies north of the twenty-fifth degree of south latitude, is +unfit for our use as Europeans, and, most probably, for the profitable +use of any people, on account of the comparative sterility of the land, +or, what in such a situation is equivalent to sterility, the drought of +the climate. But for these great and, we fear, insuperable +disadvantages, the tropical portion of Australia might have been peopled +from industrious and teeming China, which, with the help of steam +navigation, is at an easy distance. Notwithstanding this serious +deduction from its available area, Australia has extent enough for the +abode of a great people, as what remains is equal to near twenty +Britains, or above seven countries as large as France! + +The absence of good water communication is the greatest defect of +Australia. It has not one great river which at once penetrates deeply +into the country and communicates by a navigable course with the sea. +The best of its rivers are not equal to those of the fourth or fifth +order in America, and it has no lake at all of commercial value. Another +almost equally great disadvantage is frequent and long-continued +droughts, even of its southern parts, which, however, as strength and +wealth increase, may in time be, at least, mitigated by the erection of +great works of irrigation, such as those on which the existence of whole +populations depend in the warmer regions of Asia. + +In salubrity of climate Australia has a great superiority, not only over +America, but over every other country. For the rearing of sheep and the +production of fine wool, it may be said to possess almost a natural +monopoly; and in this respect, it will soon become as necessary to us, +and probably as important, as America is for the growth of cotton. Its +adaptation for pastoral husbandry is such, indeed, that we have often +thought, had it been settled by Tartars or Arabs, or even by +Anglo-Saxons of the time of Hengist and Horsa, that it would have been +now thinly inhabited by nomade hordes, mere shepherds and robbers, if +there was any one to rob. One immense advantage Australia possesses over +America, which must not be omitted--the total absence of a servile +population and an alien race. In America the bondsmen form a fourth part +of the whole population, and in Australia little more than one sixtieth, +speedily to vanish all together. + +If the comparison between America and Australia have reference to the +facility of achieving and maintaining independence, all the advantages +are unquestionably on the side of Australia. It is at least six times as +far away from Europe; and a military force sufficient to have even a +chance of coercing the colonists could not get at them in less than four +months, while the voyage would force it to run the gauntlet of the +equator and both tropics. When it reached its destination, supposing its +landing to be unopposed, it would have to march every step to seek the +insurgents, for there is neither river nor estuary to transport it into +the interior of the country. The colonists, rifle in hand, and driving +their flocks and herds before them to the privation of the invader, +would of course take to the bush, and do so with impunity, being without +tents or equipage, or risk of starvation, having a wholesome sky over +their heads, and abundant food in their cattle. With a thorough +knowledge of localities, the colonial riflemen, under such +circumstances, would be more than a match for regular troops, and could +pick off soldiers with more ease than they bring down the kangaroo or +opossum. + +We should look, however, to the number and character of the Australian +population. In 1828 the total colonial population of Australia was +53,000, of whom a large proportion were convicts. In 1848 it was +300,000, of which the convicts were but 6000. In the two years since, +37,000 emigrants have proceeded thither, and the total population at +this moment can not be less than 350,000. It has, therefore, been +multiplied in twenty-two years' time by near seven-fold; and if it +should go on at this rate of increase, in the year 1872 it will amount +to close on two millions and a half, which is a greater population than +that of the old American colonies at the declaration of independence, +and after an existence of 175 years. Such a population, or the one half +of it, would, from numbers, position, and resources, be unconquerable. + +Such is a true picture, we conceive, of the position in which we stand +in relation to our Australian colonies. Meanwhile, the colonists are +loyal, affectionate, and devoted, and (the result of absence and +distance) with really warmer feelings toward the mother country than +those they left behind them. It will be the part of wisdom on our side +to keep them in this temper. They demand nothing that is +unreasonable--nothing that it is not equally for their advantage and +ours that we should promptly and freely concede. They ask for +responsible government, and doing so they ask for no more than what is +possessed by their fellow-citizens. They ought to have perfect power +over their own resources and their own expenditure; but, in justice and +fairness, they ought also to defray their own military charges; and, +seeing they have neither within nor without any enemy that can cope with +a company of light infantry, the cost ought not to be oppressive to +them. + +The Australian colonies are, at present, governed in a fashion to +produce discontent and recalcitration. They are, consequently, both +troublesome and expensive. The nation absolutely gains nothing by them +that it would not gain, and even in a higher degree, were they +self-governed, or, for that matter, were they even independent. Thus, +emigration to them would go on at least in the same degree as it does +now. It does so go on, to the self-governed colony of Canada, and to the +country which was once colonies, and this after a virtual separation of +three quarters of a century. + +In like manner will our commercial intercourse with the Australian +colonies proceed under self-government. In 1828, the whole exports of +Australia amounted only to the paltry sum of L181,000, and in 1845, the +last for which there is a return, they had come to L2,187,633, or in +seventeen years' time, had been increased by above fourteen-fold, a +rapidity of progress to which there is no parallel. At this ratio, of +course, they can not be expected to proceed in future; for the +Australians, having coal, iron, and wool in abundance, will soon learn +to make coarse fabrics for themselves. The finer they will long receive +from us, as America, after its long separation, still does. But that the +Australian Colonies, under any circumstances, are destined to become one +of the greatest marts of British commerce, may be considered as a matter +of certainty. The only good market in the world, for the wool, the +tallow, the train oil, and the copper ore of Australia, is England; and +to England they must come, even if Australia were independent to-morrow; +and they must be paid for, too, in British manufactures. Independence +has never kept the tobacco of America from finding its best market in +England, nor has it prevented American cotton from becoming the greatest +of the raw materials imported by England. + +A common lineage, a common language, common manners, customs, laws, and +institutions, bind us and our Australian brethren together, and will +continue to do so, perhaps longer than the British Constitution itself +will last. They form, in fact, a permanent bond of union; whereas the +influence of patronage, and the trickeries of Conservative legislation, +do but provoke and hasten the separation which they are foolishly framed +to prevent. + + + + +[From the Dublin University Magazine.] + +JEWISH VENERATION. + + +The veneration of the Jew for the law is displayed by the grossest +superstition, a copy of the Torah or Decalogue being carefully soldered +into a narrow tin case, and hung over the entrance to their chambers, as +old crones with us nail a horse-shoe to a door; it is even believed to +avail as an amulet or charm capable of averting evil, or curing the most +obstinate disease. "Ah," said a bed-ridden old Hebrew woman to me, as I +visited the mission hospital in Jerusalem, "what can the doctors do for +me? If I could only touch the Torah I should be made whole." Not exactly +comprehending what she meant, I handed her a little tin-cased copy of +the Ten Commandments; she grasped it in her emaciated hands, which +trembled with anxiety, and her eyes were lit up with a transient gleam +of joy. "Are you made whole?" I inquired; she made no answer, fell back +on her pillow, let drop the Torah, and turned from me with a sigh. + +Sitting one evening with an intelligent German Jew, who used often to +pay me a visit at my lodgings, the conversation turned on Jewish +religious rites and ceremonies. Alluding to the day of atonement, he +assured me that on that day the Jews believe that ministers are +appointed in heaven for the ensuing year: a minister over angels; one +over the stars; one over earth; the winds, trees, plants, birds, beasts, +fishes, men, and so forth. + +That, on that day also, the good and evil deeds of every son of Abraham +are actually summed up, and the balance struck for or against each, +individually. Where the evil deeds preponderate, such individuals are +brought in as in debt to the law; and ten days after the day of +atonement, summonses are issued to call the defaulters before God. When +these are served, the party summoned to appear is visited either with +sudden death or a rapid and violent disease which must terminate +speedily in death. "But can not the divine wrath be appeased?" said I. +"Not appeased," said my informant; "_the decree must be evaded_." "How +so?" "Thus," he replied. "When a Jew is struck with sudden sickness +about this time, if he apprehends that his call is come, he sends +immediately for twelve elders of his people; they demand his name; he +tells them, for example, my name is Isaac; they answer, thy name shall +no more be Isaac, but Jacob shall thy name be called. Then kneeling +round the sick roan, they pray for him in these words: O God, thy +servant, Isaac, has not good deeds to exceed the evil, and a summons +against him has gone forth; but this pious man before thee, is named +Jacob, and not Isaac. There is a flaw in the indictment; the name in the +angel's summons is not correct, therefore, thy servant Jacob can not be +called on to appear." "After all," said I, "suppose this Jacob dies." +"Then," replied my companion, "_the Almighty is unjust_; the summons was +irregular, and its execution not according to law." + +Does not this appear incredible? Another anecdote, and I have done. + +On the same occasion we were speaking about vows, and the obligation of +fulfilling them. "As to paying your vow," said my Jewish friend, "we +consider it performed, if the vow be observed to the letter." He then +gave me the following rather ludicrous illustration as a case in point: +There was in his native village a wealthy Jew, who was seized with a +dangerous illness. Seeing death approach, despite of his physician's +skill, he bethought him of vowing a vow; so he solemnly promised, that +if God would restore him to health, he, on his part, on his recovery, +would sell a certain fat beast in his stall, and devote the proceeds to +the Lord. + +The man recovered, and in due time appeared before the door of the +synagogue, driving before him a goodly ox, and carrying under one arm a +large, black Spanish cock. The people were coming out of the synagogue, +and several Jewish butchers, after artistically examining the fine, fat +beast, asked our convalescent what might be the price of the ox. "This +ox," replied the owner, "I value at _two shillings_ (I substitute +English money); but the cock," he added, ostentatiously exhibiting +chanticleer, "I estimate at _twenty pounds_." The butchers laughed at +him; they thought he was in joke. However, as he gravely persisted that +he was in earnest, one of them, taking him at his word, put down two +shillings for the ox. "Softly, my good friend," rejoined the seller, "_I +have made a vow not to sell the ox without the cock_; you must buy both, +or be content with neither." Great was the surprise of the bystanders, +who could not conceive what perversity possessed their wealthy neighbor. +But the cock being value for two shillings, and the ox for twenty +pounds, the bargain was concluded, and the money paid. + +Our worthy Jew now walks up to the Rabbi, cash in hand. "This," said he, +handing the two shillings, "I devote to the service of the synagogue, +being the price of the ox, which I had vowed; and this, placing the +twenty pounds in his own bosom, is lawfully mine own, for is it not the +price of the cock?" "And what did your neighbors say of the transaction? +Did they not think this rich man an arrant rogue?" "Rogue!" said my +friend, repeating my last words with some amazement, "they considered +him a pious and a _clever_ man." Sharp enough, thought I; but delicate +about exposing my ignorance, I judiciously held my peace. + + + + +[From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.] + +THE MODERN ARGONAUTS. + + + I. + + You have heard the ancient story, + How the gallant sons of Greece, + Long ago, with Jason ventured + For the fated Golden Fleece; + How they traversed distant regions, + How they trod on hostile shores; + How they vexed the hoary Ocean + With the smiting of their oars;-- + Listen, then, and you shall hear another wondrous tale, + Of a second Argo steering before a prosperous gale! + + + II. + + From the southward came a rumor, + Over sea and over land; + From the blue Ionian islands, + And the old Hellenic strand, + That the sons of Agamemnon, + To their faith no longer true, + Had confiscated the carpets + Of a black and bearded Jew! + Helen's rape, compared to this, was but an idle toy, + Deeper guilt was that of Athens than the crime of haughty Troy. + + + III. + + And the rumor, winged by Ate, + To the lofty chamber ran, + Where great Palmerston was sitting + In the midst of his Divan: + Like Saturnius triumphant, + In his high Olympian hall, + Unregarded by the mighty, + But detested by the small; + Overturning constitutions--setting nations by the ears, + With divers sapient plenipos, like Minto and his peers. + + + IV. + + With his fist the proud dictator + Smote the table that it rang-- + From the crystal vase before him + The blood-red wine upsprang! + "Is my sword a wreath of rushes, + Or an idle plume my pen, + That they dare to lay a finger + On the meanest of my men? + No amount of circumcision can annul the Briton's right-- + Are they mad, these lords of Athens, for I know they can not fight? + + + V. + + "Had the wrong been done by others, + By the cold and haughty Czar, + I had trembled ere I opened + All the thunders of my war. + But I care not for the yelping + Of these fangless curs of Greece-- + Soon and sorely will I tax them + For the merchant's plundered Fleece. + From the earth his furniture for wrath and vengeance cries-- + Ho, Eddisbury! take thy pen, and straightway write to Wyse!" + + + VI. + + Joyfully the bells are ringing + In the old Athenian town, + Gayly to Piraeus harbor + Stream the merry people down; + For they see the fleet of Britain + Proudly steering to their shore, + Underneath the Christian banner + That they knew so well of yore, + When the guns at Navarino thundered o'er the sea, + And the Angel of the North proclaimed that Greece again was free. + + + VII. + + Hark!--a signal gun--another! + On the deck a man appears + Stately as the Ocean-shaker-- + "Ye Athenians, lend your ears! + Thomas Wyse am I, a herald + Come to parley with the Greek; + Palmerston hath sent me hither, + In his awful name I speak-- + Ye have done a deed of folly--one that ye shall sorely rue! + Wherefore did ye lay a finger on the carpets of the Jew? + + + VIII. + + "Don Pacifico of Malta! + Dull indeed were Britain's ear, + If the wrongs of such a hero + Tamely she could choose to hear! + Don Pacifico of Malta! + Knight-commander of the Fleece-- + For his sake I hurl defiance + At the haughty towns of Greece. + Look to it--For by my head! since Xerxes crossed the strait, + Ye never saw an enemy so vengeful at your gate. + + + IX. + + "Therefore now, restore the carpets, + With a forfeit twenty-fold; + And a goodly tribute offer + Of your treasure and your gold + Sapienza and the islet + Cervi, ye shall likewise cede, + So the mighty gods have spoken, + Thus hath Palmerston decreed! + Ere the sunset, let an answer issue from your monarch's lips; + In the mean time, I have orders to arrest your merchants' ships." + + + X. + + Thus he spoke, and snatched a trumpet + Swiftly from a soldier's hand, + And therein he blew so shrilly, + That along the rocky strand + Rang the war-note, till the echoes + From the distant hills replied, + Hundred trumpets wildly wailing, + Poured their blast on every side; + And the loud and hearty shout of Britain rent the skies, + "Three cheers for noble Palmerston! another cheer for Wyse!" + + + XI. + + Gentles! I am very sorry + That I can not yet relate, + Of this gallant expedition, + What has been the final fate. + Whether Athens was bombarded + For her Jew-coercing crimes, + Hath not been as yet reported + In the columns of the _Times_. + But the last accounts assure us of some valuable spoil: + Various coasting vessels, laden with tobacco, fruit, and oil. + + + XII. + + Ancient chiefs! that sailed with Jason + O'er the wild and stormy waves-- + Let not sounds of later triumphs + Stir you in your quiet graves! + Other Argonauts have ventured + To your old Hellenic shore, + But they will not live in story + Like the valiant men of yore. + O! 'tis more than shame and sorrow thus to jest upon a theme + That for Britain's fame and glory, all would wish to be dream! + + + + +MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS. + + +THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE will present monthly a digest of all Foreign +Events, Incidents, and Opinions, that may seem to have either interest +or value for the great body of American readers. Domestic intelligence +reaches every one so much sooner through the Daily and Weekly +Newspapers, that its repetition in the pages of a Monthly would be dull +and profitless. We shall confine our summary, therefore, to the events +and movements of foreign lands. + + * * * * * + +The AFFAIRS OF FRANCE continue to excite general interest. The election +of member of the Assembly in Paris has been the great European event of +the month. The Socialists nominated EUGENE SUE; their opponents, M. +LECLERC. The first is known to all the world as a literary man of great +talent, personally a profligate--wealthy, unprincipled, and +unscrupulous. The latter was a tradesman, distinguished for nothing but +having fought and lost a son at the barricades, and entirely unqualified +for the post for which he had been put in nomination. The contest was +thus not so much a struggle between the _men_, as the _parties_ they +represented; and those parties were not simply Socialists and +Anti-Socialists. Each party included more than its name would imply. The +Socialists in Paris are all Republicans: it suits the purposes of the +Government to consider all Republicans as Socialists, inasmuch as it +gives them an admirable opportunity to make war upon Republicanism, +while they seem only to be resisting Socialism. In this adroit and +dangerous manner LOUIS NAPOLEON was advancing with rapid strides toward +that absolutism--that personal domination independent of the +Constitution, which is the evident aim of all his efforts and all his +hopes. He had gone on exercising the most high-handed despotism, and +violating the most explicit and sacred guarantees of the Constitution. +He had forbidden public meetings, suppressed public papers, and outraged +private rights, with the most wanton disregard of those provisions of +the Constitution by which they are expressly guaranteed. The nomination +of EUGENE SUE was a declaration of hostility to this unconstitutional +dynasty. He was supported not only by the Socialists proper, but by all +citizens who were in favor of maintaining the Republic with its +constitutional guarantees. The issue was thus between a Republic and a +Monarchy, between the Constitution and a Revolution. For days previous +to the election this issue was broadly marked, and distinctly recognized +by all the leading royalist journals, and the Republic was attacked with +all the power of argument and ridicule. Repressive laws, and a stronger +form of government, which should bridle the fierce democracy, were +clamorously demanded. The very day before the polls were opened, the +_Napoleon_ journal, which derives its chief inspiration from the +President, drew a colored parallel between the necessities of the 18th +_Brumaire_, and those of the present crisis, and entered into a labored +vindication of all the arbitrary measures which followed BONAPARTE's +dissolution of the Assembly, and his usurpation of the executive power. +The most high-handed expedients were resorted to by the ministry to +assure the success of the coalition. The sale of all the principal +democratic journals in the streets was interdicted. The legal +prosecutions of the Procureur General virtually reestablished the +censorship of the Press. Placards in favor of the democratic candidate +were excluded from the street walls, while those of his opponent were +every where emblazoned. Electoral meetings were prohibited; democratic +merchants and shop-keepers were threatened with a loss of patronage; and +the whole republican party was officially denounced as a horde of +imbeciles, and knaves, and fanatics. No means were left unemployed by +the reactionists to secure a victory. + +It was all in vain. On closing the polls the vote stood thus: + + EUGENE SUE 128,007 + + M. LECLERC 119,420 + ------- + + SUE's majority 8,587 + +And, what is still more startling, _four-fifths_ of all the votes given +by the Army were cast for SUE. The result created a good deal of alarm +in Paris. Stocks fell, and there seemed to be a general apprehension of +an outbreak. If any such event occurs, however, it will be through the +instigation of the Government. Finding himself outvoted, LOUIS NAPOLEON +would undoubtedly be willing to try force. In any event, we do not +believe it will be found possible to overthrow Republicanism in France. + +Previous to the election there was a _Mutiny in the 11th Infantry_. On +the march of the 2d battalion from Rennes to Toulon, on the 11th April, +the popular cry was raised by the common soldiers, urged on by the +democrats of the town, and they insulted their officers. At Angers the +men were entertained at a fete; and in the evening the soldiers and +subaltern officers, accompanied by their entertainers, paraded the +streets, shouting again and again, "Vive la Republique democratique et +sociale!" The Minister of War, on receiving intelligence of this affair, +ordered the battalion to be disbanded, and the subalterns and soldiers +drafted into the regiments at Algiers. + +Besides this disgrace, an involuntary and _Appalling Calamity_ befell +this regiment. When the 3d battalion was leaving Angers, on the 16th, at +eleven o'clock in the morning they met a squadron of hussars coming from +Nantes, which crossed over the suspension-bridge of the Basse Maine, +without any accident. A fearful storm raged at the time. The last of the +horses had scarcely crossed the bridge than the head of the column of +the third battalion of the 11th appeared on the other side. Reiterated +warnings were given to the troops to break into sections, as is usually +done, but, the rain falling heavily, it was disregarded, and they +advanced in close column. The head of the battalion had reached the +opposite side--the pioneers, the drummers, and a part of the band were +off the bridge, when a horrible crash was heard; the cast-iron columns +of the right bank suddenly gave way, crushing beneath them the rear of +the fourth company, which, with the flank company, had not stepped upon +the bridge. To describe the frightful spectacle, and the cries of +despair which were raised, is impossible. The whole town rushed to the +spot to give assistance. In spite of the storm, all the boats that could +be got at were launched to pick up the soldiers in the river, and a +great number who were clinging to the parapets of the bridge, or who +were afloat by their knapsacks, were immediately got out. The greater +number were, however, found to be wounded by the bayonets, or by the +fragments of the bridge falling on them. As the soldiers were got out, +they were led into the houses adjoining, and every assistance given. A +young lieutenant, M. Loup, rendered himself conspicuous for his heroic +exertions; and a young workwoman, at the imminent danger of her life, +jumped into the water, and saved the life of an officer who was just +sinking. A journeyman hatter stripped and jumped into the river, and, by +his strength and skill in swimming, saved a great many lives. One of the +soldiers who had reached the shore unhurt, immediately stripped, and +swam to the assistance of his comrades. The lieutenant-colonel, an old +officer of the empire, was taken out of the river seriously wounded, but +remained to watch over the rescue of his comrades. It appears that some +people of the town were walking on the bridge at the time of the +accident, for among the bodies found were those of a servant-maid and +two children. + +When the muster-roll was called, it was found that there were 219 +soldiers missing, whose fate was unknown. There were, besides, 33 bodies +lying in the hospital, and 30 wounded men; 70 more bodies were found +during the morning, 4 of whom were officers. + +_M. Proudhon was arrested_ on the 18th, and sent to the fortress of +Doullens, for having charged the ministry in his own paper, the "Voix du +Peuple," with having occasioned the disaster of Angers by sending the +11th Regiment of Light Infantry to Africa. In a letter from prison he +acquitted the government of design in producing the catastrophe, but in +a tone which hinted the possibility of so diabolical a crime having been +meditated. + +A _Notorious Murderer_ has been arrested in France, whose mysterious and +criminal career would afford the materials for a romance. He was taken +at Ivry; in virtue of a writ granted by the President, on the demand of +the Sardinian government, having been condemned for a murder under +extraordinary circumstances. He was arrested in 1830, at Chambery, his +native town, for being concerned in a murder; but he escaped from the +prison of Bonneville, where he was confined, and by means of a disguise +succeeded in reaching the town of Chene Tonnex, where he went to an inn +which was full of travelers. There being no vacant beds, the innkeeper +allowed him to sleep in a room with a cattle-dealer, named Claude Duret. +The unfortunate cattle-dealer was found dead in the morning, he having +been smothered with the mattress on which he had slept. He had a large +sum of money with him, which was stolen, and this, as well as his +papers, had, no doubt, been taken by Louis Pellet, who had disappeared. +Judicial inquiries ensued, and the result was that Louis Pellet, already +known to have committed a murder, was condemned, _par contumace_, to ten +years' imprisonment at the galleys by the senate of Chambery. In the +mean time Louis Pellet, profiting by the papers of the unfortunate +Claude Duret, contrived to reach Paris, when he opened a shop, where he +organized a foreign legion for Algeria, enrolled himself under the name +of his victim, and sailed for Oran in a government vessel. From this +time up to 1834 all trace of him was lost. He came to Paris, took a +house, amassed a large sum of money, and it turns out he was mixed up +with a number of cases of murder, swindling, and forgery. These facts +came to the knowledge of the police, owing to Pellet having been taken +before the Correctional Police for a trifling offense, when he appealed +against the punishment of confinement for five days. The French +government immediately sent an account of the arrest of this great +criminal to the consul of the government of Savoy resident at Paris. + + * * * * * + +Political movements in ENGLAND are not without interest and importance, +although nothing startling has occurred. The birth of another Prince, +christened ARTHUR, has furnished another occasion for evincing the +attachment of the English people to their sovereign. The event, which, +occurred on the 28th of April, was celebrated by the usual +demonstrations of popular joy. Few years will elapse, however, before +each of the princes and princesses, whose advent is now so warmly +welcomed, will require a splendid and expensive establishment, which +will add still more to the burdens of taxation which already press, with +overwhelming weight, upon the great mass of the English people. Thus it +is that every thing in that country, however fortunate and welcome it +may appear, tends irresistibly to an increase of popular burdens which +infallibly give birth to popular discontents. + +The attention of Parliament has been attracted of late, in an unusual +degree, to the intellectual wants of the humbler classes, and to the +removal, by legislation, of some of the many restrictions which now +deprive them of all access even to the most ordinary sources of +information. Even newspapers, which in this country go into the hands +of every man, woman, and child who can read, and which therefore enable +every member of the community to keep himself informed concerning all +matters of interest to him as a citizen, are virtually prohibited to the +poorer classes in England by the various duties which are imposed upon +them, and which raise the price so high as to be beyond their reach. Mr. +GIBSON, in the House of Commons, brought forward resolutions, on the +16th of April, to abolish what he justly styled these _Taxes on +Knowledge_: they proposed 1st, to repeal the excise duty only on paper; +2d, to abolish the stamp, and 3d, the advertisement duty on newspapers; +4th, to do away with the customs duty on foreign books. In urging these +measures Mr. GIBSON said, that the sacrifice of the small excise duty on +paper yearly, would lead to the employment of 40,000 people in London +alone. The suppression of Chambers' Miscellany, and the prevented +re-issue of Mr. Charles Knight's Penny Cyclopaedia, from the pressure of +the duty, were cited as gross instances of the check those duties impose +on the diffusion of knowledge. Mr. GIBSON did not propose to alter the +postal part of the newspaper stamp duties; all the duty paid for +postage--a very large proportion--would therefore still be paid. He +dwelt on the unjust Excise caprices which permit this privilege to +humorous and scientific weekly periodicals, but deny it to the avowed +"news" columns of the daily press. He especially showed by extracts from +a heap of unstamped newspapers, that great evil is committed on the +poorest reading classes, by denying them that useful fact and true +exposition which would be the best antidote to the pernicious principles +now disseminated among them by the cheap, unstamped press. There is no +reason but this duty, which only gives L350,000 per annum, why the poor +man should not have his penny and even his halfpenny newspaper, to give +him the leading facts and the important ideas of the passing time. The +tax on advertisements checks information, fines poverty, mulcts charity, +depresses literature, and impedes every species of mental activity, to +realize L150,000 per annum. That mischievous tax on knowledge, the duty +on foreign books, is imposed for the sake of no more than L8000 a year! +Mr. GIBSON concluded by expressing his firm conviction, that unless +these taxes were removed, and the progress of knowledge by that and +every other possible means facilitated, evils most terrible would arise +in the future--a not unfit retribution for the gross impolicy of the +legislature. He was supported by Mr. ROEBUCK, but the motion was +negatived, 190 to 89. In his speech he instanced a curious specimen of +the manner in which the act is sometimes evaded. A Greenock publisher +himself informed him that, having given offense to the authorities by +some political reflections in a weekly unstamped newspaper of his of the +character of _Chambers's Journal_, he was prosecuted for violation of +the Stamp Act, and fined for each of five numbers L25. Thereupon he +diligently studied the Act; and finding that printing upon _cloth_ was +not within the prohibition, he set to work and printed his journal upon +cloth--giving matter "savoring of intelligence" without the penny +stamp--and calling his paper the _Greenock Newscloth_, sent it forth +despite the Solicitor to the Stamp Office. + +The _Education Bill_ introduced by Mr. Fox came up on the 17th, and was +discussed at some length. The general character of the measure proposed, +is very forcibly set forth in an article from the _Examiner_, which will +be found upon a preceding page of this Magazine. The bill was opposed +mainly by Lord ARUNDEL, a Catholic, on the ground that it made no +provision for religious education, and secular education he denounced as +essentially atheistic. Mr. ROEBUCK advocated the bill in an able and +eloquent speech, urging the propriety of education as a means of +preventing crime. He asked for the education of the people, and he asked +it upon the lowest ground. As a mere matter of policy, the state ought +to educate the people; and why did he say so? Lord Ashley had been +useful in his generation in getting up Ragged Schools. It was a great +imputation upon the kingdom that such schools were needed. Why were they +needed? Because of the vice which was swarming in all our great cities. +"We pass laws," said he, "send forth an army of judges and barristers to +administer them, erect prisons and place aloft gibbets to enforce them; +but religious bigotry prevents the chance of our controlling the evil at +the source, by so teaching the people as to prevent the crimes we strive +to punish." It was because he believed that prevention was better than +cure; it was because he believed that the business of government was to +prevent crime in every possible way rather than to punish it after its +commission, that he asked the house to divest themselves of all that +prejudice and bigotry which was at the bottom of the opposition to this +measure. The bill was warmly opposed, however, and its further +consideration was postponed until the 20th of May. + +The ministry during the month has been defeated upon several measures, +though upon none of very great importance. In the first week of the +meeting of parliament after the Easter holidays, the cabinet had to +endure, in the House of Commons, three defeats--two positive, and one +comparative; and, shortly after, a fourth. On a motion, having for its +object improvement in the status and accommodation of assistant-surgeons +on board Her Majesty's ships, ministers were placed in a minority equal +to eight votes. On the measure for extending the jurisdiction of county +courts, to which they were not disposed to agree, they voted with a +minority, which numbered 67 against 144 votes. These were the positive +defeats; the comparative one arose out of a motion to abolish the +window-tax. Against this the cabinet made come effort, but its +supporters only mustered in sufficient strength to afford a majority of +three. Their last disaster was in a committee on the New Stamp Duties +Bill. The ministry seem disposed to gratify the public by economy so far +as possible. Lord JOHN RUSSELL having introduced and carried a motion +for a select committee on the subject. + +Great preparations are making for the Industrial Exhibition of 1851. It +has been decided that it is to take place in Hyde Park in a building +made of iron to guard against fire. The _Literary Gazette_ has the +following paragraph in regard to it: + +"We are informed that an overture has been received by the Royal +Commissioners from the government of the United States of America, +offering to remove the exhibition, after its close in London, to be +reproduced at New York, and paying a consideration for the same which +would go toward the increase of the English fund. With regard to this +fund, while we again express our regret at its languishing so much, and +at the continuance of the jobbing which inflicted the serious wound on +its commencement, and is still allowed to paralyze the proceedings in +chief, we adhere to the opinion that it will be sufficient for the +Occasion. The Occasion, not as bombastically puffed, but as nationally +worthy; and that the large sum which may be calculated upon for +admissions (not to mention this new American element), will carry it +through in as satisfactory a manner as could be expected." + +The _Expeditions to the Arctic Seas_ in search of Sir JOHN FRANKLIN +attract a good deal of attention. It is stated that Captain Penny was to +sail April 30th from Scotland, in command of the two ships the Lady +Franklin and the Sophia. He will proceed without delay to Jones's Sound; +which he purposes thoroughly to explore. The proposed expedition under +the direction of Sir John Ross will also be carried into execution. He +will sail from Ayr about the middle of May; and will probably be +accompanied by Commander Philips, who was with Sir James Ross in his +Antarctic Expedition. Another expedition, in connection with that of Sir +John Ross, is under consideration. It has for its object the search of +Prince Regent's Inlet by ship as far south as Brentford Bay; from whence +walking and boating parties might be dispatched in various directions. +This plan--which could be carried into effect by dispatching a small +vessel with Sir John Ross, efficiently equipped for the service--is +deemed highly desirable by several eminent authorities; as it is +supposed--and not without considerable reason--that Sir John Franklin +may be to the south of Cape Walker; and that he would, in such case, +presuming him to be under the necessity of forsaking his ships this +spring, prefer making for the wreck of the Fury stores in Prince +Regent's Inlet, the existence of which he is aware of, to attempting to +gain the barren shore of North America, which would involve great hazard +and fatigue. As a matter of course this second expedition would be of a +private nature, and wholly independent of those dispatched by the +Admiralty. These various expeditions, in addition to that organized by +Mr. HENRY GRINELL of New York, will do all that can be done toward +rescuing Captain FRANKLIN, or, at least, obtaining some knowledge of his +fate. + +The death of WORDSWORTH, the Patriarch of English Poetry, and that of +BOWLES, distinguished also in the same high sphere, have called forth +biographical notices from the English press. A sketch of each of these +distinguished men will be found in these pages. The propriety of +discontinuing the laureateship is forcibly urged. About L2000 has been +contributed toward the erection of a monument to Lord JEFFREY. + + * * * * * + +The LONDON SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES present nothing of extraordinary +interest for the month. At the meeting of the Geological Society, March +28, Sir RODERICK MURCHISON read a paper of some importance on the +Relations of the Hot Water and Vapor sources of Tuscany to the Volcanic +Eruptions of Italy. On the 10th of April, a paper was read from Prof. +LEPSIUS on the height of the Nile valley in Nubia, which was formerly +much greater than it is now. + +At the Royal Society, April 12, the Rev. Professor O'BRIEN, in a paper +"on a Popular View of certain Points in the Undulatory Theory of Light," +restricted his illustration to a single topic, namely, the analogy of +the mixture of colors to the mixture of sounds, having first explained +generally what the undulatory theory of light is, and the composition of +colors and sounds. At the meeting on the 19th, Mr. STENHOUSE, in +concluding a paper on the artificial production of organic bases, said +he did not despair of producing artificially the natural alkaloids, and +the more especially as, thirty years ago, we could not produce any +alkaloids. Before the chair was vacated, Mr. FARADAY submitted a +powerful magnet which had been sent to him by a foreign philosopher; +indeed, it was the strongest ever made. A good magnet, Mr. Faraday said, +weighing 8 lbs., would support a weight of about 40 lbs. The magnet he +exhibited had surprised him; it weighed only 1 lb., and it supported +26-1/2 lbs. This magnet, so beautifully made, was, we believe, +constructed by M. Lozeman, on a new method, the result of the researches +of M. Elias, both of Haarlem. + +At another meeting of the same society, Dr. MANTELL submitted a paper +upon the _Pelorosaurus_, an undescribed, gigantic terrestrial reptile, +of which an enormous arm-bone, or humerus, has recently been discovered +in Sussex. It was found imbedded in sandstone, by Mr. Peter Fuller, of +Lewes, at about twenty feet below the surface; it presents the usual +mineralized condition of the fossil bones from the arneaceous strata of +the Wealden. It is four and a half feet in length, and the circumference +of its distal extremity is 32 inches! It has a medullary cavity 3 inches +in diameter, which at once separates it from the Cetiosaurus and other +supposed marine Saurians, while its form and proportions distinguish it +from the humerus of the Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus, and Megalosaurus. It +approaches most nearly to the Crocodilians, but possesses characters +distinct from any known fossil genus. Its size is stupendous, far +surpassing that of the corresponding bone even of the gigantic +Iguanodon; and the name of _Pelorosaurus_ (from [Greek: pelor], _pelor_, +monster) is, therefore, proposed for the genus, with the specific term +_Conybeari_, in honor of the palaeontological labors of the Dean of +Llandaff. No bones have been found in such contiguity with this humerus +as to render it certain that they belonged to the same gigantic reptile; +but several very large caudal vertebrae of peculiar characters, collected +from the same quarry, are probably referable to the Pelorosaurus; these, +together with some distal caudals which belong to the same type, are +figured and described by the author. Certain femora and other bones from +the oolite of Oxfordshire, in the collection of the dean of Westminster, +at Oxford, are mentioned as possessing characters more allied to those +of the Pelorosaurus, or to some unknown terrestrial Saurian, than to the +Cetiosaurus, with which they have been confounded. As to the magnitude +of the animal to which the humerus belonged, Dr. Mantell, while +disclaiming the idea of arriving at any certain conclusions from a +single bone, stated that in a Gavial 18 feet long, the humerus is one +foot in length, _i.e._, one-eighteenth part of the length of the animal, +from the end, of the muzzle to the tip of the tail. According to these +admeasurements the Pelorosaurus would be 81 feet long, and its body 20 +feet in circumference. But if we assume the length and number of the +vertebrae as the scale, we should have a reptile of relatively +abbreviated proportions; even in this case, however, the original +creature would far surpass in magnitude the most colossal of reptilian +forms. A writer in the _Athenaeum_, in speaking of the expense of marble +and bronze statues, which limits the possession of works of high art to +the wealthy, calls attention to the fact that _lead_ possesses every +requisite for the casting of statues which bronze possesses, +while it excels that costly material in two very important +particulars--cheapness, and fusibility at a low temperature. As evidence +that it may be used for that purpose, he cites the fact that the finest +piece of statuary in Edinburgh is composed of lead. This is the +equestrian statue of Charles the Second, erected in the Parliament +Square by the magistrates of Edinburgh in honor of the restoration of +that monarch. This statue is such a fine work of art that it has +deceived almost every one who has mentioned its composition. Thus, a +late writer in giving an account of the statuary in Edinburgh describes +it as consisting of "hollow bronze;" and in "Black's Guide through +Edinburgh" it is spoken of as "the best specimen of bronze statuary +which Edinburgh possesses." _It is, however, composed of lead_, and has +already, without sensible deterioration, stood the test of 165 years' +exposure to the weather, and it still seems as fresh as if erected but +yesterday. Lead, therefore, appears from this instance to be +sufficiently durable to induce artists to make trial of it in metallic +castings, instead of bronze. + +Intelligence from Mosul to the 4th ult. states that Mr. LAYARD and his +party are still carrying on their excavations at Nimrood and Nineveh. A +large number of copper vessels beautifully engraved have been found in +the former; and from the latter a large assortment of fine slabs +illustrative of the rule, conquests, domestic life, and arts of the +ancient Assyrians, are daily coming to light, and are committed to paper +by the artist, Mr. Cooper, one of the expedition. Mr Layard intends to +make a trip to the Chaboor, the Chaboras of the Romans, and to visit +Reish Aina, the Resen of Scripture, where he hopes to find a treasure of +Assyrian remains. + + * * * * * + +THE LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month is not of special interest. The +first part of a new work by WILLIAM MURE, entitled a "Critical History +of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece," has just been +published in London, and elicits warm commendation from the critical +journals. The three volumes thus far published are devoted mainly to a +discussion of HOMER. Mr. CHARLES MERIVALE has also completed and +published two volumes of his "History of the Romans under the Empire," +which extend to the death of Julius Caesar. + +Mrs. SARA COLERIDGE, widow of HENRY NELSON, and daughter of S.T. +COLERIDGE, has collected such of her father's supposed writings in the +Watchman, Morning Post, and Courier, ranging between the years 1795 and +1817, as could with any certainty be identified for his, and, with such +as he avowed by his signature, has published them in three duodecimo +volumes, as _Essays on his own Times_, or a second series of _The +Friend_. They are dedicated to Archdeacon Hare, and embody not a little +of that system of thought, or method of regarding public affairs from +the point of view of a liberal and enlarged Christianity, which is now +ordinarily associated with what is called the German party in the +English Church. The volumes are not only a valuable contribution to the +history of a very remarkable man's mind, but also to the history of the +most powerful influence now existing in the world--the Newspaper Press. + +A more complete and elaborate work upon this subject, however, has +appeared in the shape of two post octavo volumes by Mr. F. KNIGHT HUNT, +entitled _The Fourth Estate_. Mr. Hunt describes his book very fairly as +contributions toward a history of newspapers, and of the liberty of the +press, rather than as a complete historical view of either; but he has +had a proper feeling for the literature of his subject, and has varied +his entertaining anecdotes of the present race of newspaper men, with +extremely curious and valuable notices of the past. + +Of books on mixed social and political questions the most prominent has +been a new volume of Mr. LAING's _Observations on the Social and +Political State of the European People_, devoted to the last two years, +from the momentous incidents of which Mr. Laing derives sundry warnings +as to the instability of the future, the necessity of changes in +education and political arrangements, and the certain ultimate +predominance of material over imaginative influences in the progress of +civilization, which his readers will very variously estimate, according +to their habits of thinking; and Mr. KAY's collections of evidence as to +the present _Social Condition and Education of the People in England and +Europe_, the object of which is to show that the results of the primary +schools, and of the system of dividing landed property, existing on the +Continent, has been to produce a certain amount of mental cultivation +and social comfort among the lower classes of the people abroad, to +which the same classes in England can advance no claim whatever. The +book contains a great deal of curious evidence in support of this +opinion. + +Of works strictly relating to modern history, the first volume of +General KLAPKA's memoirs of the _War in Hungary_, and a military +treatise by Colonel CATHCART on the _Russian and German Campaigns of +1812 and 1813_, may be mentioned as having authority. Klapka was a +distinguished actor in the war he now illustrates by his narrative, and +Colonel Cathcart saw eight general actions lost and won in which +Napoleon commanded in person. + +In the department of biography, the principal publications have been a +greatly improved edition of Mr. Charles Knight's illustrations of the +_Life of Shakspeare_, with the erasure of many fanciful, and the +addition of many authentic details; a narrative of the _Life of the Duke +of Kent_, by Mr. Erskine Neale, in which the somewhat troubled career of +that very amiable prince is described with an evident desire to do +justice to his character and virtues; and a _Life of Dr. Andrew Combe_, +of Edinburgh, an active and benevolent physician, who led the way in +that application of the truths and teachings of physiology to health and +education, which has of late occupied so largely the attention of the +best thinkers of the time, and whose career is described with +affectionate enthusiasm by his brother Mr. George Combe. Not as a +regular biography, but as a delightful assistance, not only to our +better knowledge of the wittiest and one of the wisest of modern men, +but to our temperate and just judgments of all men, we may mention the +publication of the posthumous fragments of Sydney Smith's _Elementary +Sketches of Moral Philosophy_. + +To the department of poetry, Mr. BROWNING's _Christmas Eve and Easter +Day_ has been the most prominent addition. But we have also to mention a +second and final volume of _More Verse and Prose_ by the late Corn-law +Rhymer; a new poetical translation of _Dante's Divine Comedy_, by Mr. +Patrick Bannerman; and a dramatic poem, called the _Roman_, by a writer +who adopts the fictitious name of Sydney Yendys, on the recent +revolutionary movements in Italy. In prose fiction, the leading +productions have been a novel entitled the _Initials_, depicting German +social life, by a new writer; and an historical romance, called +_Reginald Hastings_, of which the subject is taken from the English +civil wars, by Mr. ELIOT WARBURTON. + + * * * * * + +The DEATHS OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONS, during the month, have not been +very numerous, though they comprise names of considerable celebrity in +various departments. + +Of WORDSWORTH and BOWLES, both poets, and both friends of COLERIDGE, +LAMB, SOUTHEY, and CRABBE, more detailed mention is made in preceding +pages. + +Lieut.-General Sir JAMES BATHURST, K.C.B., died at Kibworth Rectory, +Leicestershire, on the 13th, in his 68th year. When he entered the army +in 1794, if his age be correctly stated, he could have been only twelve +years of age. He served at Gibraltar and in the West Indies, the capture +of Surinam, the campaign in Egypt in 1801, in the expedition to Hanover, +and in the actions fought for the relief of Dantzic, as well as in those +of Lomitten, Deppen, Gutstadt, Heilsberg, and Friedland. Subsequently he +served at Rugen, and at the siege of Copenhagen. In 1808 and 1809, he +served with the army in Portugal and Spain as assistant +quartermaster-general, and as military secretary to the Duke of +Wellington. + +Madame DULCKEN died on the 13th, in Harley-street, aged 38. She was the +sister of the celebrated violinist, David, and had been for many years +resident in England, where she held a conspicuous position among the +most eminent professors of the piano-forte. + +Sir ARCHIBALD GALLOWAY, Chairman of the Hon. East India Company, died on +the 6th, in London, aged 74, after a few hours' illness. He transacted +business at the India House, on the 4th, and presided at the banquet +recently given by the directors of the East India Company to Lord Gough. + +Rear-Admiral HILLS died on the 8th, aged 73. He became a lieutenant in +1798, and a post-captain in 1814. The deceased was a midshipman of the +Eclair at the occupation of Toulon, and was lieutenant of the Amethyst +at the capture of various prizes during the late war. + +Dr. PROUT, F.R.S., expired in Piccadilly, on the 9th, at an advanced +age. He was till lately in extensive practice as a physician, besides +being a successful author. + +Captain SMITH, R.N., the Admiralty superintendent of packets at +Southampton, died on the 8th, unexpectedly. He was distinguished as the +inventor of paddle-box boats for steamers, and of the movable target for +practicing naval gunnery. He entered the navy in 1808, and saw a good +deal of service till the close of the war. + +Madame TUSSAUD, the well-known exhibitor of wax figures, died on the +10th, in her 90th year. She was a native of Berne, but left Switzerland +when but six years old for Paris, where she became a pupil of her uncle, +M. Curtius, "artiste to Louis XVI.," by whom she was instructed in the +fine arts, of which he was an eminent professor. Madame Tussaud prided +herself upon the fact of having instructed Madame Elizabeth to draw and +model, and she continued to be employed by that princess until October, +1789. She passed unharmed through the horrors of the Revolution, perhaps +by reason of her peculiar ability as a modeler; for she was employed to +take heads of most of the Revolutionary leaders. She came to England in +1802, and has from that time been occupied in gathering the popular +exhibition now exhibiting in London. + + * * * * * + +Affairs in ITALY seem very unpromising. The POPE returned to Rome on the +12th: and in this number of this Magazine will be found a detailed and +very graphic account of his approach, entry, and reception. From +subsequent accounts there is reason to fear that the POPE has fallen +entirely under the influence of the Absolutist party, which now sways +the councils of the Vatican; and the same arbitrary proceedings appear +to be carried on in his immediate presence as were the order of the day +when he resided at Portici. The secret press of the Republican party is +kept at work, and its productions, somehow or other, find their way into +the hands of PIO NONO himself, filling him with indignation. It is said +that the Pontiff is very much dissatisfied with his present position, +which he feels to be that of a prisoner or hostage. No one is allowed to +approach him without permission, and all papers are opened beforehand by +the authority of Cardinal ANTONELLI. It is generally feared that his +Holiness is a tool in the hands of the Absolutists--a very pretty +consummation to have been brought about by the republican bayonets of +France! ITALY, for which so many hopes have been entertained, and of +whose successful progress in political regeneration so many delightful +anticipations have been indulged, seems to be overshadowed, from the +Alps to the Abruzzi, with one great failure. + + * * * * * + +The two Overland Mails from India which arrived during the month brought +news that there had been some fighting in the newly acquired +territories. On the 2d of February a body of Affredies, inhabitants of +the Kohat hills, about a thousand strong, attacked the camp of a party +of British sappers, employed in making a road in a pass between Peshawur +and Kohat. Twelve of the latter were killed, six wounded, and the camp +was plundered. To avenge this massacre a strong force under Colonel +Bradshaw, Sir Charles Napier himself, with Sir John Campbell, +accompanying him, marched from Peshawur an the 9th. The mountaineers +made a stand in every pass and defile; but although the troops destroyed +six villages and killed a great number of the enemy, they were obliged +to return to Peshawur on the 11th without having accomplished their +object. On the 14th February another force was sent to regain the passes +and to keep them open for a larger armament. + + * * * * * + +Accounts from EGYPT to the 6th, state that the Pacha, who had been +residing at his new palace in the Desert, had returned to Cairo. The +proximity of his residence has drawn his attention to the _Improvement +of the Overland Route_; and he has said that means must be adopted to +reduce the period of traveling between the ships in the Mediterranean +and Red Sea to 60 or 65 hours, instead of 80 or 85 hours. He has sent a +small landing steamer to ply in Suez harbor; and he is causing the work +of Macadamizing the Desert road to be proceeded with vigorously. An +agreement has been made with contractors to enlarge the station-houses +on the Desert, so as to admit of the necessary stabling accommodation +for eight or ten relays of horses, instead of four or five, by which +means 50 or 60 persons will be moved across in one train, instead of, as +at present, half that number. Mules, again, are to be substituted for +baggage camels in the transport of the Indian luggage and cargoes, with +the view to a reduction of the time consumed in this operation between +Suez and Cairo, from 36 to 24 hours. It is easy to perceive the benefits +which will be derived from these measures. + + * * * * * + +Mr. P. COLQUOHON sends to the _Athenaeum_, the following extract of a +letter from Baron de Rennenkampff, the Chief Chamberlain of H.R.H. the +Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and President of the Museum of Antiquities at +Oldenburg, which is almost entirely indebted to that gentleman for its +collection--narrating an important discovery of Roman silver coins: + +"A most interesting circumstance, the particulars of which have much +occupied my attention, has occurred here lately. Some poor day laborers +in the neighborhood of the small town of Jever, on the border of Marsch +and Gest, found, in a circle of a few feet, at a depth of from 7 to 8 +feet, a heap of small Roman coins, of fine silver, being 5000 pieces of +Roman denarii. The half of them immediately fell into the hands of a Jew +of Altona, at a very inconsiderable price. The greatest portion of the +remainder were dispersed before I gained intelligence of it, and I only +succeeded in collecting some 500 pieces for the Grand Duke's collection, +who permitted me to remunerate the discoverers with four times the value +of the metal. The coins date between the years 69 and 170 after Christ +while the oldest which have hitherto been discovered on the European +Continent, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, &c., date from 170 or +180. Each piece bears the effigy of one of the Emperors of the time, the +reverse is adorned with the impression of some occurrence (a woman lying +down with a chariot wheel, and beneath it the legend _via Trajaceae_, a +trophy, and on the escutcheon _Dacia capta_, &c.), and these are so +various that pairs have only been found in a few cases. The discovery is +so much the more wonderful, as, historically, no trace can be found of +the Romans having penetrated so far down as Jever." + +The French Minister of the Interior has decided on postponing the +Exhibition of Painting in Paris this year until November. The +comparative absence from the capital during the fine season of strangers +and of rich amateurs likely to be purchasers of pictures, is the motive +for this change in the period of opening the Salon. + +The French papers state that the submarine electric telegraph between +Dover and Calais is to be opened to the public on the 4th of May, the +anniversary of the proclamation of the French Republic by the +Constituent Assembly. + +The Indian Mail brings copies of a new journal published in China on the +first day of the present year, and called the _Pekin Monitor_. It is +written in Chinese, and carefully printed, on fine paper. The first +number contains an ordinance of the emperor, Toa-kouang, forbidding the +emigration of his subjects to California or the State of Costa Rica. + +It is stated in the _Berliner Allgemeine Kirchen Zeitung_, that the Jews +have obtained a firman from the Porte, granting them permission to build +a temple on Mount Zion. The projected edifice is, it is said, to equal +Solomon's Temple in magnificence. + +The creation of a university for New South Wales is a striking +expression of the rapid development of the history of a colony founded, +in times comparatively recent, with the worst materials of civilization +grafted on the lowest forms of barbarism existing on the earth. The new +institution is to be at Sydney; and a sum of L30,000 has been, it is +said, voted for the building and L5000 for its fittings-up. It will +contain at first chairs of the Classical Languages, Mathematics, +Chemistry, Natural History, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Physiology, +and the Medical Sciences; and professorships of History, Philosophy, and +Political Economy are to be hereafter added. There is to be no faculty +of Theology--and no religious tests. + +The late Dr. POTTS, inventor of the hydraulic pile-driving process, and +other mechanical inventions, expired at his house in Buckingham-street, +Strand, on the 23d ultimo. Dr. Potts belonged originally to the medical +profession; but by inclination, even from school-boy days, and while a +class-fellow with the present Premier and the Duke of Bedford, he +appears to have devoted himself to mechanical and engineering pursuits. +His name, however, will be most closely associated for the future with +the ingenious process for driving piles. + +It is said that "among the agriculturists of Gloucestershire, +Worcestershire, and Herefordshire," there is a grand scheme of +emigration afloat, which projects the purchase of a million acres of +land in one of the Western States of America. + +Some of the paper slips dropped by the telegraphing balloons, sent up +experimentally by the Admiralty at Whitehall, have been returned by post +from Hamburg and Altona, a distance of 450 miles direct. + +Box tunnel, London, which is 3192 yards in length, was an object of some +interest on Tuesday, the 9th of April, as on that morning at twenty-five +minutes past five the sun shone through it. The only other periods that +such an event occurs are on the 3d and 4th of September. + +An oak tree, forty feet high, with three tons of soil on its roots, has +been transplanted at Graisley, near Wolverhampton. The tree was mounted +on a timber-carriage, and, with its branches lashed to prevent damage to +windows, passed through the streets, a singular but beautiful sight. + +The Plymouth Town-Council are about to lay down a quantity of glass +pipes, jointed with gutta percha, as an experiment, for the conveyance +of water. + +The French, Belgian, and Prussian governments appointed a commission in +1848 to draw up the base of an arrangement for an international railway +communication; the commission is about to commence its sittings in +Paris. + +The Russian Geographical Society has decided upon exploring that portion +of the Northern Ural which lies between Mount Kwognar and the pass of +Koppol; an extent of 2000 wersts, which has not yet been explored by the +Ural expedition. The expedition will consist of only three persons--a +geognort, who also determines the altitude, a geographer, and one +assistant. A great number of attendants, interpreters, workpeople, and +rein-deer sledges, have already been engaged. The expedition will set +out immediately, and it is hoped will complete the investigation by +September. + + * * * * * + +It is said that nothing indicates the social and moral condition of any +community more accurately or impressively than its RECORDS OF CRIME. The +following instances, selected from English journals of the month, will +not, therefore, be without interest and instruction. + +On the 2d, Thomas Denny was tried at Kingston-on-Thames, for _Murdering +his Child_. He was a farm-servant, and so poor that he lived in a +hay-loft on his master's premises, with his reputed wife. In August a +child was born, and died immediately. Suspicions arose, and an +investigation took place, which led to the prisoner's commitment, +charged with murdering the infant. On the trial the prisoner's son, an +intelligent boy of eight years old, told the following graphic story of +his father's guilt: "We all," he said, "lived together in the hay-loft +at Ewell. When mother had a baby, I went to my father and told him to +come home directly. When we got back my father took up the baby in his +arms. He then took up an awl. [Here the child became much affected, and +cried bitterly, and it was some time before he could proceed with his +testimony. At length he went on.] My father took up the awl, and killed +the baby with it. He stuck the awl into its throat. The baby cried, and +my father took the child to its mother, and asked her if he should make +a coffin for it. Before he said this, he asked her if she would help to +kill it, and gave her the awl. She tried to kill it also. My father gave +her the child and the awl, and she did the same to it that he had done. +I was very much frightened at what I saw, and ran away, and when I came +back I found mother in bed." The woman (Eliza Tarrant) had been charged +as an accomplice, but the bill against her was ignored by the grand +jury. On the trial she was called as a witness; to which the prisoner's +counsel objected, she being a presumed participator in the crime. The +woman, however, was called, and partly corroborated her son's testimony; +but denied that she took any share in killing her offspring. The +prisoner was convicted, and Mr. Justice Maule passed sentence of death, +informing him that there was no hope of respite. Subsequently, however, +the objections of the prisoner's counsel proved more valid than the +judge supposed, for the secretary of state thought proper to commute the +sentence. The unfortunate man received the respite with heartfelt +gratitude. Since his conviction he appeared to be overcome with grief at +his awful position. + +_A Tale of Misery_ was revealed on the 3d to Mr. a Beckett, the +magistrate Of Southwark police court. He received a letter from a +gentleman who stated that as he was walking home one evening, his +attention was attracted to a young woman. She was evidently following an +immoral career; but her appearance and demeanor interesting him he spoke +to her. She candidly acknowledged, that having been deserted by her +parents, she was leading an abandoned life to obtain food for her three +sisters, all younger than herself. Her father had been in decent +circumstances, but that unfortunately her mother was addicted to drink, +and owing to this infirmity their parents had separated, and abandoned +them. The writer concluded by hoping that the magistrate would cause an +inquiry to be made. Mr. a Beckett directed an officer of the court to +investigate into this case. On the 4th, the officer called at the abode +of the young woman, in a wretched street, at a time when such a visit +could not have been expected. He found Mary Ann Bannister, the girl +alluded to, and her three sisters, of the respective ages of eight, +eleven, and fourteen, in deep distress. The eldest was washing some +clothing for her sisters. There was no food of any description in the +place. Altogether the case was a very distressing one, and although +accustomed to scenes of misery, in the course of his duties, yet this +was one of the most lamentable the officer had met with. The publication +of the case had the effect of inducing several benevolent individuals to +transmit donations to Mr. a Beckett for these destitute girls, to the +amount, as he stated on a subsequent day, of above L25. He added that +it was in contemplation to enable the girls to emigrate to South +Australia, and that meanwhile they had been admitted into the workhouse +of St. George's parish, where they would be kept till a passage was +procured for them to the colony. More than one person had offered to +take Mary Ann Bannister into domestic service; but emigration for the +whole four was thought more advisable. + +A female named Lewis, who resided at Bassalleg, left her home on the 3d +to go to Newport, about three miles distant, to make purchases. She +never returned. A search was made by her son and husband, who is a +cripple, and on the night of the following day they discovered her +_murdered in a wood_ at no very great distance from the village, so +frightfully mangled as to leave no doubt that she had been waylaid and +brutally murdered. The head was shockingly disfigured, battered by some +heavy instrument, and the clothes were saturated with blood. For some +days the perpetrators escaped detection, but eventually Murphy and +Sullivan, two young Irishmen, were arrested at Cheltenham, on suspicion. +Wearing apparel, covered with blood, and a number of trifling articles +were found on them. They were sent off to Newport, where it was found +they had been engaged in an atrocious outrage in Gloucestershire, on an +old man whom they had assailed and robbed on the road near Purby; his +skull was fractured; and his life was considered to be in imminent +peril. Both prisoners were fully committed to the county jail at +Monmouth to take their trial for willful murder. + +_A Dreadful Murder_ has been discovered in the neighborhood of Frome, in +Somersetshire. On the 3d, a young man named Thomas George, the son of a +laborer residing near that town, left his father's house about eight in +the evening, and never returned. Next morning, his father went in search +of him, and found his body in a farmer's barn; he had been apparently +dead for some hours, and there were deep wounds in his head and throat. +A man named Henry Hallier, who had been seen in company with the +deceased, the night he disappeared, close to the barn where his body was +found, was apprehended on the 18th on suspicion, and committed to the +county jail. + +An act of _Unparalleled Atrocity_ was committed during the Easter week +in the Isle of Man. Two poor men named Craine and Gill went to a +hill-side to procure a bundle of heather to make brooms. The proprietor +of the premises observed them, and remarked that he would quickly make +them remove their quarters. He at once set fire to the dry furze and +heather, directly under the hilly place where the poor men were engaged. +The fire spread furiously, and it was only by rolling himself down the +brow of the hill, and falling over the edge of a precipice into the +river underneath, that Gill escaped. His unfortunate companion, who was +a pensioner, aged 80 years, and quite a cripple, was left in his +helpless state a prey to the flames. After they had subsided, Gill went +in search of Craine, whom he found burned to a cinder. The proprietor of +the heath has been apprehended. + +_A Shot at his Sweetheart_ was fired by John Humble Sharpe, a young man +of 21, who was tried for it at the Norfolk Circuit on the 9th. The +accused, a young carpenter, had courted and had been accepted by the +prosecutrix, Sarah Lingwood. She, however, listened to other vows; the +lover grew jealous, and was at length rejected. In the night after he +had received his dismissal, the family of the girl's uncle with whom she +lived were alarmed by the report of a gun. On examining her bedroom it +was discovered that a bullet had been fired through the window, had +crossed the girl's bed, close to the bottom where she lay, grazed a +dress that was lying on the bed-clothes, and struck a chest of drawers +beyond. Suspicion having fallen on the prisoner, he was apprehended. The +prisoner's counsel admitted the fact, but denied the intent. The +prisoner had, he said, no desire to harm the girl, whom he tenderly +loved, but only to alarm her and induce her to return to him. The jury, +after long deliberation, acquitted the prisoner. + +Several shocking instances of _Agrarian Crime_ have been mentioned in +the Irish papers. At Glasslough, in the county of Monaghan, a shot was +fired into the bed-room window of Mr. John Robertson, land steward to +C.P. Leslie, Esq., on the night of the 10th. Arthur O'Donnel, Esq., of +Pickwick Cottage, in Clare, was murdered near his own house, on the +night of the 11th. He was attacked by a party of men and killed with a +hatchet. The supposition was that this deed was committed by recipients +of relief whom Mr. O'Donnel was wont to strike off the lists at the +weekly revision by the board of the Kilrush union, of which he was one. +A man was arrested on strong suspicion. There was another murder in +Clare. The herdsman of Mr. Scanlon, of Fortune in that county, went out +to look after some sheep, the property of his master, when he was +attacked by some persons who had been lurking about the wood, and his +throat cut. + +Two evidences of the _Low Price of Labor_ were brought before the +magistrates. One at Bow-street on the 10th, when W. Gronnow, a +journeyman shoemaker, was charged with pawning eight pairs of ladies' +shoes intrusted to him for making up. He pleaded extreme distress, and +said he intended to redeem the shoes that week. The prisoner's employer +owned that the man was entitled to no more than 4_s._ 8_d._ for making +and preparing the eight pairs of shoes. "Why," said the magistrate, +"that price is only _sevenpence_ a pair for the workman. I am not +surprised to hear of so many persons pawning their employers' property, +when they are paid so badly." The prisoner was fined 2_s._ and ordered +to pay the money he had received upon the shoes within fourteen days; in +default, to be imprisoned fourteen days. Being unable to pay the money, +he was locked up. + +On the previous day a man named Savage, a slop shirt seller, was +summoned at Guildhall for 9_d._, the balance due to Mrs. Wallis for +making three cotton shirts. When delivered, Savage found fault with +them, and deferred payment. Eventually 1_s._ 3_d._ was paid instead of +2_s._ The alderman said he was surprised at any tradesman who only paid +8_d._ for making a shirt, deducting 3_d._ from so small a remuneration; +it was disgraceful. He then ordered the money to be paid, with expenses. + +Alexander Levey, a goldsmith, was tried at the Central Criminal Court on +the 10th, for the _Murder of his Wife_. They were a quarrelsome pair: +one day, while the husband, with a knife in his hand, was cooking a +sweetbread, the wife came in, and, in answer to his inquiry where she +had been, said she had been to a magistrate for a warrant against him. +On this, with a violent exclamation, he stabbed her in the throat; she +ran out of the house, while he continued eating with the knife with +which he stabbed her, saying, however, he hoped she was not much hurt. +She died in consequence of the wound. The defense was, that the blow had +been given in the heat of passion, and the prisoner was found guilty of +manslaughter only. He was sentenced to fifteen years' transportation. + +On the same day, Jane Kirtland was tried for the _Manslaughter of her +Husband_. They lived at Shadwell, and were both addicted to drinking and +quarreling, in both which they indulged. Kirtland having called his wife +an opprobrious name she took up a chopper, and said that if he repeated +the offensive expression, she would chop him. He immediately repeated it +with a still more offensive addition, and at the same time thrust his +fist, in her face, when she struck him on the elbow with the chopper, +and inflicted a wound of which he died a few days afterward. The +prisoner, when called upon for her defense, burst into tears, and said +that her husband was constantly drunk, and that he was in the habit of +going out all day, and leaving her and her children in a destitute +state, and when he came home he would abuse her and insult her in every +possible way. In a moment of anger she struck him with a chopper, but +she had no intention to do him any serious injury. The jury found the +prisoner Guilty, but recommended her to mercy on account of the +provocation she had received. She was sentenced to be kept to hard labor +in the House of Correction for six months. + +A coroner's inquest was held in Southwark on the same day, respecting +the death of Mrs. Mary Carpenter, _an Eccentric Old Lady_, of +eighty-two. She had been left, by a woman who attended her, cooking a +chop for her dinner; and soon afterward the neighbors were alarmed by +smoke coming from the house. On breaking into her room on an upper +floor, the place was found to be on fire. The flames were got under, but +the old lady was burnt almost to a cinder. Mrs. Carpenter was a very +singular person; she used at one time to wear dresses so that they did +not reach down to her knees. Part of her leg was exposed, but the other +was encased with milk-white stockings, tied up with scarlet garters, the +ribbons extending to her feet, or flying about her person. In this +extraordinary dress she would sally forth to market, followed by an +immense crowd of men and children. For some years past she discontinued +these perambulations, and lived entirely shut up in her house in +Moss-alley, the windows of which she had bricked up, so that no light +could enter from without. Though she had considerable freehold property, +she had only an occasional female attendant, and would allow no other +person, but the collector of her rents, to enter her preserve. + +On the 12th, Mrs. Eleanor Dundas Percival, a lady of thirty-five, +destroyed herself by poison at the Hope Coffee-house, in Fetter-lane, +where she had taken temporary apartments. _A Distressing History_ +transpired at the inquest. She was the daughter of a Scotch clergyman, +and lost the countenance of her family by marrying a Catholic, a captain +in the navy; while her husband suffered the same penalty for marrying a +Protestant. About a year ago he and their infant died in the West +Indies; she afterward became governess in the family of Sir Colin +Campbell, governor of Barbadoes; her health failing, she returned to +England in October last, and had since been reduced to extreme distress. +Having been turned out of a West-end hotel, and had her effects detained +on account of her debt contracted there, she had been received into the +apartments in Fetter-lane, partly through the compassion of a person who +resided in the house. While there, she had written to Miss Burdett +Coutts, and, a few days before her death, a gentleman had called on her +from that benevolent lady, who paid up the rent she owed, amounting to +L2 14_s._, and left her 10_s._ On the evening above-mentioned she went +out, and returned with a phial in her hand containing morphia, which, it +appeared, she swallowed on going to bed between five and six, as she was +afterward found in a dying state, and the empty phial beside her. The +verdict was temporary insanity. + +_Elias Lucas and Mary Reeder were executed_ at Cambridge on the 13th. +Lucas was the husband of the female convict's sister, whom they had +poisoned. Morbid curiosity had attracted from twenty to thirty thousand +spectators. In the procession from the jail to the scaffold there was a +great parade of county magistrates. + +Louisa Hartley was charged at the Southwark Police Court, on the 16th, +with an _Attempt to poison her Father_, who is a fellowship porter. On +the previous morning she made the coffee for breakfast, on tasting it, +it burnt Harley's mouth, and he charged the girl with having put poison +in his cup, which she denied; he then tasted her coffee, and found it +had no unpleasant flavor. His daughter then snatched away his cup, and +threw the contents into a wash-hand basin. But in spite of her tears and +protestations of innocence, he took the basin to Guy's Hospital, where +it was found that the coffee must have contained vitriol. The girl, who +was said to be of weak intellect, and stood sobbing at the bar, being +questioned, only shook her head, and said she had nothing to say. At a +subsequent hearing the magistrate decided that there was sufficient +evidence for a committal. + +A man named William Bennison, a workman in an iron-foundry, has been +committed to prison at Leith on suspicion of having _Poisoned his Wife_. +The circumstances of the case are extraordinary. The scene of the murder +is an old-fashioned tiled house in Leith. Bennison and his wife occupied +the second floor of a house, in which also resides Alexander Milne, a +cripple from his infancy, well known to the frequenters of Leith Walk, +where he sits daily, in a small cart drawn by a dog. Mrs. Bennison, +after, it is said, partaking of some gruel, became very ill, and died on +Monday, the 22d inst. The dog which drew the cripple's cart died about +the same time; suspicion was drawn upon the husband, and he was +apprehended, and the dog's body conveyed to Surgeon's Hall for +examination. Some weeks before, Bennison had purchased arsenic from a +neighboring druggist, to kill rats, as he said. When suspected he called +on the druggist, and requested him and his wife not to mention that he +had purchased the arsenic. He even pressed for a written denial of the +fact, adding that there might be arsenic found in his wife's stomach, +but he did not put it there. On the Monday previous to her death it is +said he enrolled her name in a benefit society, by which on her death he +was entitled to a sum of L6. At the prisoner's examination before the +sheriff, the report of the chemists pronounced the contents of the dog's +stomach to have been metallic poison. The accused was eventually +committed for trial. The deceased and her husband were members of the +Wesleyan body, and bore an excellent character for piety. Bennison +professed to be extremely zealous in behalf of religion, and was in the +habit of administering its consolations to such as would accept of them. +His "gifts" of extempore prayer are said to be extensive. + +_Two Men were shot at by a Gamekeeper_ lately in a wood belonging to +Lord Wharncliffe, near Barnsley. The game on this estate is preserved by +a solicitor, who resides near Wokefield, who employs Joseph Hunter as +gamekeeper. Both the men were severely injured, and Cherry, one of them, +sued Hunter as the author of the offense, in the Barnsley County Court, +and the case was heard on the 19th instant. Cherry stated, that on the +23d February he went to see the Badsworth hounds meet at the village of +Notton, and in coming down by the side of a wood he saw the defendant, +who asked plaintiff and two others where the hounds were. Plaintiff told +him they were in Notton-park. These men left Hunter, and walked down by +the side of Noroyds-wood. They went through the wood, when one of the +men who was with him began cutting some sticks. Plaintiff then saw +Hunter, who was about twenty-five yards from them, coming toward them: +the men began to run away, when plaintiff said to the other, "He's going +to shoot us;" and before he had well delivered the words, he was shot in +the arm and side, and could not run with the others. A surgeon proved +that the wounds were severe and in a dangerous part of the body. The two +men who were with the plaintiff corroborated his evidence. The judge +said that defendant deserved to be sent to York for what he had done +already. The damages might have been laid at L100 or L1000 had plaintiff +been acting lawfully; but he thought plaintiff had acted with discretion +in laying the damages at L10 for which he should give a verdict, and all +the costs the law would allow. + +_An Affecting Case_ occurred at the Mansion House on the 23d. William +Powers, a boy, was brought up on the charge of picking a gentleman's +pocket of a handkerchief. A little boy, who had seen the theft, was +witness against him. The prisoner made a feeble attempt to represent the +witness as an accomplice; but he soon abandoned it, and said, with +tears, that he "did not believe the other boy to be a thief at all." The +alderman, moved by his manner, asked him if he had parents? He said he +had, but they were miserably poor. "My father was, when I last saw him, +six months ago, going into the workhouse. What was I to do? I was partly +brought up to the tailoring business, but I can get nothing to do at +that. I am able to job about, but still I am compelled to be idle. If I +had work, wouldn't I work! I'd be glad to work hard for a living, +instead of being obliged to thieve and tell lies for a bit of bread." +Alderman Carden--If I send you for a month to Bridewell, and from thence +into an industrial school, will you stick honestly to labor? The +prisoner--Try me. You shall never see me here or in any other +disgraceful situation again. Alderman Carden--I will try you. You shall +go to Bridewell for a month, and to the School of Occupation afterward, +where you will have an opportunity of reforming. The wretched boy +expressed himself in terms of gratitude to the alderman, and went away, +as seemed to be the general impression in the justice-room, for the +purpose of commencing a new life. + +On the 5th a pilot-boat brought into Cowes the master of the Lincoln, +sailing from Boston for California. He had reached the latitude of 4 deg. N. +and longitude 25 deg. W., and when at 10.30 p.m. of March 2, during a heavy +shower of rain, and without any menacing appearance in the air, the ship +was _Struck with Lightning_, which shivered the mainmast, and darted +into the hold. On opening the scuttle, volumes of smoke were emitted, +and finding it impossible to extinguish the fire, the crew endeavored to +stifle it by closing every aperture. In this state they remained for +nearly four days, with the fire burning in the hold, when they were +relieved from their perilous situation by the providential appearance of +the Maria Christina, and taken on board. Previous to leaving the +ill-fated brig, the hatches were opened, when the flames burst forth, +and in thirty minutes afterward the mainmast fell over the side. The +unfortunate crew were most kindly treated by Captain Voss, the master of +the Maria Christina, who did every thing in his power for their relief. + +A Miss Downie met, on the 4th, with an _Extraordinary Death_ at +Traquair-on-the-Tweed. She had suffered, since childhood, from severe +pains in the head and deafness; her health had been gradually declining +for the last three years, and in August last she was seized with most +painful inflammation in the left ear, accompanied by occasional +bleedings also from the ear. On the 20th of March an ordinary-sized +metallic pin was extracted from the left ear, which was enveloped in a +firm substance with numerous fibres attached to it; several hard bodies, +in shape resembling the grains of buckwheat, but of various colors, were +also taken out of the right ear. The poor girl endured the most intense +pain, which she bore with Christian fortitude till death terminated her +sufferings. It is believed the pin must have lodged in the head for +nearly twenty years, as she never recollected of having put one in her +ear, but she had a distinct remembrance of having, when a child, had a +pin in her mouth, which she thought she had swallowed. + +THE POET BOWLES.--The canon's absence of mind was very great, and when +his coachman drove him into Bath he had to practice all kinds of +cautions to keep him to time and place. The poet once left our office in +company with a well-known antiquary of our neighborhood, since deceased, +and who was as absent as Mr. Bowles himself. The servant of the latter +came to our establishment to look for him, and, on learning that he had +gone away with the gentleman to whom we have referred, the man +exclaimed, in a tone of ludicrous distress, "What! those two wandered +away together? then they'll never be found any more!" The act of +composition was a slow and laborious operation with him. He altered and +re-wrote his MS. until, sometimes, hardly anything remained of the +original, excepting the general conception. When we add that his +handwriting was one of the worst that ever man wrote--insomuch that +frequently he could not read that which he had written the day +before--we need not say that his printers had very tough work in getting +his works into type. At the time when we printed for Mr. Bowles we had +one compositor in our office (his death is recorded in our paper of +to-day), who had a sort of knack in making out the poet's hieroglyphics, +and he was once actually sent for by Mr Bowles into Wiltshire to copy +some MS. written a year or two before, which the poet had himself vainly +endeavored to decipher.--_Bath Chronicle._ + + + + +ARCHIBALD ALISON. + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Archibald Alison] + +Mr. Archibald Alison, author of the "History of Europe," is son of the +author of the well-known "Essay on Taste." He holds the office of +sheriff of Lanarkshire, and is much respected in the city of Glasgow, +where his official duties compel him to reside. Though educated for the +profession of the law, and daily administering justice as the principal +local judge of a populous district, Mr. Alison's tastes are entirely +literary. Besides the "History of Europe," in 20 volumes--a work which, +we believe, originated in the pages of a "Scottish Annual Register," +long since discontinued--Mr. Alison has written a "Life of Marlborough" +and various economic and political pamphlets. He is also a frequent +contributor to _Blackwood's Magazine_. It is, however, upon his "History +of Europe" that his fame principally rests. If Mr. Alison be not the +most successful of modern historians, we know not to whom, in preference +to him, the palm can be conceded. His work is to be found in every +library, and bids fair to rank hereafter as the most valuable production +of the age in which he lived. This success is due, not only to the +importance and interest of his theme, but to the skillful, eloquent, and +generally correct manner in which he has treated it. He has, doubtless, +been guilty of some errors of omission as well as of commission, as we +have heard of a literary amateur, whose chief amusement for some years +past, has been to make out a list of his mistakes; but, after all +deductions of this kind, enough of merit remains in the work to entitle +its author to a place in the highest rank of contemporary authors. + +The bust of Mr. Alison, of which we present an engraving, was executed +in the year 1846, and presented in marble to Mr. Alison by a body of his +private friends in Glasgow, as a testimonial of their friendship to him +as an individual; of their esteem and respect for him in his public +capacity, as one of their local judges; and of their admiration of his +writings. It is considered a very excellent likeness. + + + + +THE CORN-LAW RHYMER. + + +Ebenezer Elliott not only possessed poetical spirit, or the apparent +faculty of producing poetry, but he produced poems beautiful in +description, touching in incident and feeling, and kindly in sentiment, +when he was kept away from that bugbear of his imagination a landed +gentleman. A man of acres, or any upholder of the corn-laws, was to him +what brimstone and blue flames are to a certain species of devotee, or +the giant oppressor of enchanted innocence to a mad knight-errant. In a +squire or a farmer he could see no humanity; the agriculturist was an +incarnate devil, bent upon raising the price of bread, reducing wages, +checking trade, keeping the poor wretched and dirty, and rejoicing when +fever followed famine, to sweep them off by thousands to an untimely +grave. According to his creed, there was no folly, no fault, no +idleness, no improvidence in the poor. Their very crimes were brought +upon them by the gentry class. The squires, assisted a little by kings, +ministers, and farmers, were the true origin of evil in this world of +England, whatever might be the cause of it elsewhere. + +This rabid feeling was opposed to high poetical excellence. Temper and +personal passion are fatal to art: "in the very torrent, tempest, and (I +may say) whirlwind of your passion, you should acquire and beget a +temperance that may give it smoothness." It is also fatal to more than +art: where a person looks with the vulgar eyes that Ebenezer Elliott +used on many occasions, there can be neither truth nor justice. Even the +satirist must observe a partial truth and a measure in expressing it, or +he sinks down to the virulent lampooner. + +Part of this violence must be placed to the natural disposition of the +man, but part of it was owing to his narrow education; by which we mean, +not so much book-learning or reading, of which he had probably enough, +but provincial and possibly low associates. Something, perhaps, should +be ascribed to a self-sufficiency rather morbid than proud; for we think +Elliott had a liking to be "head of the company," and that he resented +any want of public notice as an affront, even when the parties could not +know that he was entitled to notice. + +These defects of character operated very mischievously upon his works. +The temper marred his political poems; though the people, their +condition, vices, and virtues, is a theme that, properly sung, might +stir the Anglo-Saxon race throughout the world and give immortality to a +poet. The provincial mind affected the mass of Elliott's poems even +where the subject was removed from his prejudices; for he had no +habitual elevation or refinement of taste: it required a favorable theme +or a happy moment to triumph over the deficiencies of nature and +education. His self-sufficiency coupled with his provincialism seems to +have prevented him from closely criticising his productions; so that he +often published things that were prosaic as well as faulty in other +respects. + +The posthumous volumes before us naturally abound in the author's +peculiarities; for the feelings of survivors are prone to err on the +side of fullness, and the friends of the lately dead too often print +indiscriminately. The consequence is, that the publication has an air of +gatherings, and contains a variety of things that a critical stranger +would wish away. It was proper, perhaps, to have given prose as a +specimen of the author; and the review of his works by Southey, said to +have been rejected by the _Quarterly_, is curious for its total +disregard of the reviewer's own canons, since very little description is +given of the poems, and not much of the characteristics of the poet. +Much of the poetry in these volumes would have been better unpublished. +Here and there we find a touching little piece, or a bit of power; but +the greater part is not only unpoetical but trivial, or merely personal +in the expression of feeling. There is, moreover, a savageness of tone +toward the agricultural interest, even after the corn-laws were +abolished, that looks as like malignity as honest anger.--_London +Spectator._ + + + + +MADAME GRANDIN, the widow of M. Victor Grandin, representative of the +Seine Inferieure, who died about seven or eight months since, met with a +melancholy end on the 6th, at her residence at Elboeuf. She was confined +to her bed from illness, and the woman, who had been watching by her +during the night, had left her but a short time, when the most piercing +shrieks were heard to proceed from her room. Her brother ran in alarm to +her assistance, but, unfortunately, he was too late, the poor lady had +expired, having been burned in her bed. It is supposed that in reaching +to take something from the table, her night-dress came in contact with +the lamp, and thus communicated to the bed. + + + + +T. BABINGTON MACAULAY. + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Thomas Babington Macaulay] + +Mr. Macaulay, though ambitious at one time, and perhaps still, of a +reputation for poetry though an acute critic and a brilliant essayist, +and though a showy and effective orator, who could command at all times +the attention of an assembly that rather dislikes studied eloquence +seems at present inclined to build up his fame upon his historical +writings. Most of his admirers consider that, in this respect, he has +judged wisely. As a poet--however pleasing his "Lays of Ancient Rome" +and some of his other ballads maybe--he could never have succeeded in +retaining the affection of the public. Depth of feeling, earnest and +far-seeing thought, fancy, imagination, a musical ear, a brilliancy of +expression, and an absolute mastery of words, are all equally essential +to him who, in this or any other time, would climb the topmost heights +of Parnassus. Mr. Macaulay has fancy but not imagination; and though his +ear is good, and his command of language unsurpassed by any living +writer, he lacks the earnestness and the deep philosophy of all the +mighty masters of song. As a critic he is, perhaps, the first of his +age; but criticism, even in its highest developments, is but a secondary +thing to the art upon which it thrives. Mr. Macaulay has in him the +stuff of which artists and originators are made, and we are of the +number of those who rejoice that, in the vigor of his days; he has +formed a proper estimate of his own powers, and that he has abandoned +the poetical studies, in the prosecution of which he never could have +attained the first rank; and those critical corruscations which, however +beautiful, must always have been placed in a lower scale of merit than +the compositions upon which they were founded; and that he has devoted +his life to the production of an original work in the very highest +department of literature. + +There was, at one time, a prospect before Mr. Macaulay of being one of +the men who _make_, instead of those who _write_ history; but his recent +retirement from parliament and from public life has, for a while at +least, closed up that avenue. In cultivating at leisure the literary +pursuits that he loves, we trust that he, as well as the world, will be +the gainer, and that his "History of England," when completed, will be +worthy of so high a title. As yet the field is clear before him. The +histories that have hitherto appeared are mostly bad or indifferent. +Some are good, but not sufficiently good to satisfy the wants of the +reader, or to render unnecessary the task of more enlightened, more +impartial, more painstaking, and more elegant writers. There never was a +work of art, whether in painting, sculpture, music, or literature, in +which lynx-eyed criticism could not detect a flaw, or something +deficient, which the lynx-eyed critic, and he alone, could have +supplied. Mr. Macaulay's history has not escaped the ordeal, neither was +it desirable that it should; but the real public opinion of the country +has pronounced itself in his favor, and longs for the worthy completion +of a task which has been worthily begun. + +The bust of Mr. Macaulay was executed shortly after that of Mr. Alison, +and is, we believe, in Mr. Macaulay's own possession. It is a very +admirable likeness. + + + + +MOSCOW AFTER THE CONFLAGRATION. + + +It was both a strange and a horrible spectacle. Some houses appeared to +have been razed; of others, fragments of smoke-blackened walls remained; +ruins of all kinds encumbered the streets; every where was a horrible +smell of burning. Here and there a cottage, a church, a palace, stood +erect amid the general destruction. The churches especially, by their +many-colored domes, by the richness and variety of their construction, +recalled the former opulence of Moscow. In them had taken refuge most of +the inhabitants, driven by our soldiers from the houses the fire had +spared. The unhappy wretches, clothed in rags, and wandering like ghosts +amid the ruins, had recourse to the saddest expedients to prolong their +miserable existence. They sought and devoured the scanty vegetables +remaining in the gardens; they tore the flesh from the animals that lay +dead in the streets; some even plunged into the river for corn the +Russians had thrown there, and which was now in a state of +fermentation.... It was with the greatest difficulty we procured black +bread and beer; meat began to be very scarce. We had to send strong +detachments to seize oxen in the woods where the peasants had taken +refuge, and often the detachments returned empty-handed. Such was the +pretended abundance procured us by the pillage of the city. We had +liquors, sugar, sweetmeats, and we wanted for meat and bread. We covered +ourselves with furs, but were almost without clothes and shoes. With +great store of diamonds, jewels, and every possible object of luxury, we +were on the eve of dying of hunger. A large number of Russian soldiers +wandered in the streets of Moscow. I had fifty of them seized; and a +general, to whom I reported the capture, told me I might have had them +shot, and that on all future occasions he authorized me to do so. I did +not abuse the authorization. It will be easily understood how many +mishaps, how much disorder, characterized our stay in Moscow. Not an +officer, not a soldier, but could tell strange anecdotes on this head. +One of the most striking is that of a Russian whom a French officer +found concealed in the ruins of a house; by signs he assured him of +protection, and the Russian accompanied him. Soon, being obliged to +carry an order, and seeing another officer pass at the head of a +detachment, he transferred the individual to his charge, saying +hastily--"I recommend this gentleman to you." The second officer, +misunderstanding the intention of the words, and the tone in which they +were pronounced, took the unfortunate Russian for an incendiary, and had +him shot.--_Fezensac's Journal._ + + + + +TRUTH.--Truth is a subject which men will not suffer to grow old. Each +age has to fight with its own falsehoods: each man with his love of +saying to himself and those around him pleasant things and things +serviceable for to-day, rather than things which are. Yet a child +appreciates at once the divine necessity for truth; never asks, "What +harm is there in saying the thing there is not?" and an old man finds in +his growing experience wider and wider applications of the great +doctrine and discipline of truth.--_Friends in Council._ + + +A provincial paper mentions the discovery of the _Original Portrait of +Charles the First_, by Vandyck, lost in the time of the Commonwealth, +and which has been found at Barnstaple in Devonshire. It had been for +many years in the possession of a furniture-broker in that town, from +whom it was lately purchased by a gentleman of the name of Taylor, for +two shillings. Mr. Taylor, the account adds, has since required L2000 +for it. + + + + +WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. + + +[Illustration: Portrait of William H. Prescott] + +William H. Prescott, the American historian, is a native of Salem, +Massachusetts, where he was born on the 4th of May 1796. He is a son of +the late eminent lawyer WILLIAM PRESCOTT, LL.D., of Boston, and a +grandson of Colonel WILLIAM PRESCOTT, who commanded the forces in the +redoubt on Breed's Hill in the memorable battle fought there on the 17th +of June 1775. Mr. Prescott entered Harvard college in 1811, where his +chief delight consisted in the study of the works of ancient authors. He +left Harvard in 1814, and resolved to devote a year to a course of +historical study, before commencing that of the law, his chosen +profession. His reading was suddenly checked by a rheumatic inflammation +of his eyes, which for a long time, deprived him wholly of sight. He had +already lost the use of one eye by an accidental blow while at college; +doubtless the burden of study being laid upon the other overtaxed it, +and produced disease. In the autumn of 1815 he went to Europe, where he +remained two years, a greater portion of the time utterly unable to +enjoy the pleasures of reading and study. He returned to Boston in 1817, +and in the course of a few years married a grand-daughter of Captain +Linzee who commanded one of the British vessels at the battle of Bunker +Hill. His vision gradually strengthened with advancing age, and he +began to use his eye sparingly in reading. The languages of continental +Europe now attracted his attention, and he soon became proficient in +their use. These acquirements, and his early taste for, and intimate +acquaintance with, the best ancient writers, prepared him for those +labors as a historian in which he has since been engaged. + +As early as 1819, Mr. Prescott conceived the idea of producing an +historical work of a superior character. For this purpose, he allowed +ten years for preliminary study, and ten for the investigation and +preparation of the work. He chose for his theme the history of the life +and times of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain; and at the end of nearly +twenty years, pursuant to his original plan, that great work was +completed. He had resolved not to allow it to be published during his +lifetime, but the remark of his father, that "The man who writes a book +which he is afraid to publish, is a coward" decided him, and it went +forth to the world in 1838. It was quickly republished in London; every +where it was pronounced a master-piece, and his fame was firmly +established. But little did those who read his delightful pages know of +the vast toil, and patient, persevering industry, in the midst of a +great privation, which the historian had employed in his task. His rare +volumes from Spain and other sources were consulted through the medium +of a reader; the copious notes were written by a secretary; much of the +work in its final shape was written by himself with a writing machine +for the blind, and in the whole preparation of this and subsequent +works, he relied far more upon his ear than his eye for aid. + +The "Conquest of Mexico" next followed, and his publishers sold seven +thousand copies the next year. It was published at the same time in +London, and translated in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and Mexico. His +"Conquest of Peru" followed soon afterward, and was received at home and +abroad with equal favor. The "Conquest of Mexico" has had three separate +translations into the Castilian, and the "Peru," two. They have been +reprinted in English in London and Paris, and have gone through repeated +editions in this country. Whether we shall soon have another work from +Mr. Prescott's pen, is a matter of doubt, as it is understood that he +proposes to employ the last ten years of his historic life in preparing +a History of the Reign of Philip the Second of Spain. His eyes have +somewhat failed in strength, and he is now able to use them for reading +less than an hour each day; "But," he says in a letter to a friend, "I +am not, and never expect to be, in the category of the blind men." + +Our allotted space will not permit us to take an analytical view of the +character and writings of Mr. Prescott. We can only say that great +industry, sound judgment, comprehensive views, purity of diction, and +fine, flowing style in description and narrative, all governed by a +genius eminently philosophical, place him in the first rank of modern +historians. Americans love him as a cherished member of their +household--throughout the Republic of Letters he is admired as one of +its brightest ornaments. + + + + +THE ENCHANTED BATHS. + + +These warm springs are natural phenomena, which perhaps have not their +equal in the whole world. I am, therefore, quite inconsolable at the +thought of having made the long and difficult journey from Bona, and +having been five whole days here in Guelma, within the distance of +five-and-twenty miles from those wonderful springs, yet unable to see +them. At the distance of a mile or two from Hammam Meskutine, thick +clouds of vapor are seen rising from these warm springs. The water is +highly impregnated with calcareous properties, whose accumulated +deposits have formed conical heaps, some of which are upwards of thirty +feet high. From amidst these cones the springs jet forth lofty columns +of water, which descend in splendid cascades, flowing over the ancient +masonry, and covering it with a white calcareous stratum. + +The mass produced by the crystalization of the particles escaping from +the seething waters, has been, after a long lapse of years, transformed +into beautiful rose-colored marble. F---- brought me a piece of this +substance from the springs. It is precisely similar to that used in +building the church at Guelma, which is obtained from a neighboring +quarry. From the remains of an ancient tower and a fort, situated near +Hammam Meskutine, it is evident that these springs were known to the +Romans. An old Arab legend records that, owing to the extreme wickedness +of the inhabitants of these districts, God visited them with a +punishment similar to that of Lot's wife, by transforming them into the +conical heaps of chalk I have mentioned above. To this day, the mass of +the people firmly believe that the larger cones represent the parents, +and the smaller ones, the children. + +Owing to the high temperature, the surrounding vegetation is clothed in +the most brilliant green; and the water of a tepid brook, which flows at +the foot of the cascades, though in itself as clear as a mirror, appears +to be of a beautiful emerald color. F---- told me that he was not a +little surprised to see in this warm rivulet a multitude of little +fishes sporting about, as lively as though they had been in the coolest +water. This curious natural phenomenon is explainable by the fact, that +in this rivulet, which is of considerable depth, the under-currents are +sufficiently cool to enable the fish to live and be healthy, though the +upper current of water is so warm, that it is scarcely possible to hold +the hand in it any longer than a few seconds. The hilly environs of +Hammam Meskutine are exceedingly beautiful, and around the waters +perpetual spring prevails.--_Travels in Barbary._ + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + LETTERS OF A TRAVELER; or, Notes of Things seen in Europe and + America. By William Cullen Bryant. 12mo, pp. 442. New York: G.P. + Putnam. + +Every one will welcome a volume of descriptive sketches from the eminent +American poet. The author has made a collection of letters, written at +wide intervals from each other, during different journeys both in Europe +and in this country, rightly judging that they possess sufficient +elements of interest to claim a less ephemeral form than that in which +most of them have been already presented to the public. They consist of +the reminiscences of travel in France, Italy, England, the Netherlands, +Cuba, and the most interesting portions of the United States. Arranged +in the order of time, without reference to subject or place, the +transition from continent to continent is often abrupt, and sometimes +introduces us without warning into scenes of the utmost incongruity with +those where we had been lingering under the spell of enchantment which +the author's pen throws around congenial objects. Thus we are +transported at once from the delicious scenery and climate of Tuscany, +and the dreamy glories of Venice, to the horse thieves and prairie +rattlesnakes of Illinois, making a break in the associations of the +reader which is any thing but agreeable. The method of grouping by +countries would be more natural, and would leave more lively impressions +both on the imagination and the memory. + +Mr. Bryant's style in these letters is an admirable model of descriptive +prose. Without any appearance of labor, it is finished with an exquisite +grace, showing the habitual elegance and accuracy of his mental habits. +The genial love of nature, and the lurking tendency to humor, which it +every where betrays, prevent its severe simplicity from running into +hardness, and give it a freshness and occasional glow, in spite of its +entire want of _abandon_, and its prevailing conscious propriety and +reserve. + +The criticisms on Art, in the European portions of the work, are less +frequent than we could have wished, and although disclaiming all +pretensions to connoisseurship, are of singular acuteness and value. Mr. +B.'s description of his first impressions of Power's Greek Slave, which +he saw in London in 1845, has a curious interest at the present time, as +predicting the reputation which has since been gained by that noble +piece of statuary. + +We notice rather a singular inadvertence for one who enjoys such +distinguished opportunities of "stated preaching" in a remark in the +first letter from Paris, that "Here, too, was the tree which was the +subject of the first Christian miracle, the fig, its branches heavy with +the bursting fruit just beginning to ripen for the market." If the first +miracle was not the turning of water into wine, we have forgot our +catechism. + + + ELDORADO; OR, ADVENTURES IN THE PATH OF EMPIRE; comprising a Voyage + to California, _via_ Panama; Life in San Francisco and Monterey; + Pictures of the Gold Region, and Experiences of Mexican Travel. + By Bayard Taylor. In two vols., 12mo, pp. 251, 247. New York: + G.P. Putnam. + +California opens as rich a field for adventure to the collector of +literary materials, as to the emigrant in pursuit of gold. We shall yet +have the poetry, the romance, the dramatic embodiment of the strange +life in the country of yellow sands. Already it has drawn forth numerous +authors, describing the results of their experience, in nearly every +variety of style, from the unpretending statement of every-day +occurrences, to the more ambitious attempts of graphic descriptive +composition. The spectacle of a mighty nation, springing suddenly into +life, has been made so familiar to us, by the frequent narratives of +eye-witnesses, that we almost lose sight of its unique and marvelous +character, surpassing the dreams of imagination which have so wildly +reveled in the magnificent promises of the nineteenth century. + +Mr. Taylor's book is presented to us at the right moment. It completes +the series of valuable productions which have been born of the +Californian excitement, supplying their deficiencies, and viewing the +subject from the highest point that has yet been attained by any +traveler. He possesses many admirable qualifications for the task which +he has performed. With a natural enthusiasm for travel, a curiosity that +never tires, and a rare power of adapting himself to novel situations +and strange forms of society, he combines a Yankee shrewdness of +perception, a genial hilarity of spirit, and a freshness of poetical +illustration, which place him in the very first rank of intelligent +travelers. His European experiences were of no small value in his +Californian expedition. He had learned from them the quickness of +observation, the habit of just comparison, the facility of manners, and +the familiarity with foreign languages, which are essential to the +success of the tourist, and enable him to feel equally at home beneath +the dome of St. Peter's, or in the golden streets of San Francisco. + +Mr. Taylor visited California with no intention of engaging in traffic +or gold-hunting. He had no private purposes to serve, no offices to +seek, no plans of amassing sudden wealth to execute. He was, +accordingly, able to look at every thing with the eye of an impartial +spectator. He has described what he saw in a style which is equally +remarkable for its picturesque beauty and its chaste simplicity. His +descriptions not only give you a lively idea of the objects which they +set forth, but the most favorable impression of the author, although he +never allows any striking prominence to the first person singular. As a +manual for the Californian traveler, as well as a delightful work for +the home circle, these volumes will be found to be at once singularly +instructive and charming, and will increase the enviable reputation +which has been so well won by the youthful author, as a man both of +genius and of heart. + +We must not close our notice without refreshing our pages with at least +one specimen of Mr. Taylor's felicitous descriptions. Here is a bit of +fine painting, which gives us a vivid idea of the scenery on the road +between San Francisco and the San Joaquin: + + SCENERY OF THE INLAND. + + Our road now led over broad plains, through occasional belts of + timber. The grass was almost entirely burned up, and dry, + gravelly arroyos, in and out of which we went with a plunge and a + scramble, marked the courses of the winter streams. The air was + as warm and balmy as May, and fragrant with the aroma of a + species of gnaphalium, which made it delicious to inhale. Not a + cloud was to be seen in the sky, and the high, sparsely-wooded + mountains on either hand showed softened and indistinct through a + blue haze. The character of the scenery was entirely new to me. + The splendid valley, untenanted except by a few solitary + rancheros living many miles apart, seemed to be some deserted + location of ancient civilization and culture. The wooded slopes + of the mountains are lawns, planted by Nature with a taste to + which Art could add no charm. The trees have nothing of the wild + growth of our forests; they are compact, picturesque, and grouped + in every variety of graceful outline. The hills were covered to + the summit with fields of wild oats, coloring them, as far as the + eye could reach, with tawny gold, against which the dark, glossy + green of the oak and cypress showed with peculiar effect. As we + advanced further, these natural harvests extended over the plain, + mixed with vast beds of wild mustard, eight feet in height, under + which a thick crop of grass had sprung up, furnishing sustenance + to the thousands of cattle, roaming every where unherded. The + only cultivation I saw was a small field of maize, green and with + good ears. + +Mr. Taylor occasionally indulges in a touch of natural +transcendentalism, as in his comparison between the Palm and the Pine, +with which we take our leave of his fascinating volumes: + + I jogged steadily onward from sunrise till blazing noon, when, + having accomplished about half the journey, I stopped under a + palm-tree and let my horse crop a little grass, while I refreshed + myself with the pine-apple. Not far off there was a single + ranche, called Piedra Gorda--a forlorn-looking place where one + can not remain long without being tortured by the sand-flies. + Beyond it, there is a natural dome of rock, twice the size of St. + Peter's, capping an isolated mountain. The broad intervals of + meadow between the wastes of sand were covered with groves of the + beautiful fan-palm, lifting their tufted tops against the pale + violet of the distant mountains. In lightness, grace, and + exquisite symmetry, the Palm is a perfect type of the rare and + sensuous expression of Beauty in the South. The first sight of + the tree had nearly charmed me into disloyalty to my native Pine; + but when the wind blew, and I heard the sharp, dry, metallic + rustle of its leaves, I retained the old allegiance. The truest + interpreter of Beauty is in the voice, and no tree has a voice + like the Pine, modulated to a rythmic accord with the subtlest + flow of Fancy, touched with a human sympathy for the expression + of Hope and Love and Sorrow, and sounding in an awful undertone, + to the darkest excess of Passion. + + + STANDISH THE PURITAN. A Tale of the American Resolution. By Edward + Grayson, Esq. 12mo, pp. 320. New York: Harper and Brothers. + +A novel by a sharp-eyed Manhattaner, illustrating some of the more +salient aspects of New York society at the period of the revolutionary +war, and combining many of the quaint traditions of that day in a +narrative of very considerable interest and power. The author wields a +satirical pen of more than common vigor, and in his descriptions of the +state of traffic and the legal profession at the time of his story, +presents a series of piquant revelations which, if founded on personal +history, would cause many "a galled jade to wince," if revivified at the +present day. His style does not exhibit a very practiced hand in +descriptive composition, nor is it distinguished for its dramatic power; +but it abounds in touches of humor and pathos, which would have had +still greater effect if not so freely blended with moral disquisitions, +in which the author seems to take a certain mischievous delight. In +spite of these drawbacks, his book is lively and readable, entitling the +author to a comfortable place among the writers of American fiction, and +if he will guard against the faults we have alluded to, his future +efforts may give him a more eminent, rank than he will be likely to gain +from the production before us. + + + TALBOT AND VERNON. A Novel. 12mo, pp 513. New York: Baker and + Scribner. + +The plot of this story turns on a point of circumstantial evidence, by +which the hero escapes the ruin of his reputation and prospects, when +arraigned as a criminal on a charge of forgery. The details are managed +with a good deal of skill, developing the course of affairs in such a +gradual manner, that the interest of the reader never sleeps, until the +final winding-up of the narrative. Familiar with the routine of courts +of law, betraying no slight acquaintance with the springs of human +action, and master of a bold and vigorous style of expression, the +author has attained a degree of success in the execution of his plan, +which gives a promising augury of future eminence. In the progress of +the story, the scene shifts from one of the western cities of the United +States to the camp of General Taylor on the plains of Mexico. Many +stirring scenes of military life are introduced with excellent effect, +as well as several graphic descriptions of Mexican scenery and manners. +The battle of Buena Vista forms the subject of a powerful episode, and +is depicted with a life-like energy. We presume the author is more +conversant with the bustle of a camp than with the tranquil retirements +of literature, although his work betrays no want of the taste and +cultivation produced by the influence of the best books. But he shows a +knowledge of the world, a familiarity with the scenes and topics of +every day life, which no scholastic training can give, and which he has +turned to admirable account in the composition of this volume. + + + + +Fashions for Early Summer. + + +[Illustration: BALL AND VISITING DRESSES] + +There is a decided tendency in fashion this season to depart from +simplicity in dress, and to adopt the extreme ornamental elegance of the +middle ages. Bonnets, dresses, and mantles are trimmed all over with +puffings of net, lace, and flowers. A great change has taken place in +the width of skirts, which, from being very large, are now worn almost +narrow. Ball dresses _a tablier_ (apron trimming, as seen in the erect +figure on the left of the above group) are much in vogue, covered with +puffings of net. The three flounces of lace, forming the trimming of the +bottom of the dress, have all a puffing of net at the top of them; the +whole being fastened to the apron with a rosette of ribbon. A precious +gem is sometimes worn in the centre of the rosette, either diamond, +emerald, or ruby, according to the color of the dress. Wreaths are worn +very full, composed of flowers and fruits of every kind; they are placed +on the forehead, and the branches at the end of them are long, and fall +on the neck. Bouquets, in shape of bunches, are put high up on the body +of the dress. Such is the mania in Paris and London for mixing fruits of +every kind, that some even wear small apples, an ornament far less +graceful than bunches of currants, grapes, and tendrils of the vine. The +taste for massive ornaments is so decided, that roses and poppies of +enormous dimensions are preferred. For young persons, wreaths of +delicate flowers, lightly fastened, and falling upon the shoulders, are +always the prettiest. Silks of light texture, in the styles which the +French manufacturers designate _chine_, will be generally employed for +walking dresses until the extreme heat of summer arrives, when they will +be superseded by French bareges, having flounces woven with borders, +consisting of either satin stripes or flowers. Many of the patterns are +in imitation of _guipure_ lace. The most admired of the French light +silks are those wrought upon a white ground, the colors including almost +every hue. In some the ground is completely covered by rich arabesque +patterns. These _chines_, on account of the Oriental designs, have +obtained the name of Persian silks. Worsted lace is the height of +fashion for mantles, which are trimmed with quillings of this article, +plaited in the old style. The dresses are made with several flounces, +narrower than last year, and more numerous. Nearly all the sleeves of +visiting dresses are Chinese, or "pagoda" fashion. The bodies are open +in front, and laced down to the waist, as seen in the figure in the +group, standing behind the sitting figure. Low dresses are made falling +on the shoulders, and straight across the chest; others are quite +square, and others are made in the shape of a heart before and behind. +Opera polkas are worn short, with wide sleeves, trimmed with large bands +of ermine. + +[Illustration: STRAW HATS FOR PROMENADE.] + +[Illustration: STRAW BONNET.] + +[Illustration: TULIP BONNET.] + +Broad-brimmed straw hats are used for the promenade; open-work straw +bonnets, of different colors, are adopted for the earlier summer wear, +trimmed with branches of lilac, or something as appropriate. White drawn +silk bonnets, covered with foldings of net, are much worn. Also, drawn +lace and crape bonnets, and black and white lace ones, are worn. +Branches of fruit are much worn upon these last-mentioned bonnets. The +tulip bonnet is composed of white silk, covered with white spotted +_tulle_; the edges of the front foliated, so as to give it a graceful +and airy appearance. Many of the straw bonnets are of dark-colored +ground, ornamented with fine open straw work. _Crinoline_ hats, of open +pattern, trimmed generally with a flower or feathers, are worn to the +opera. They are exceedingly graceful in appearance, and make a fine +accompaniment to a fancy dress. + +[Illustration: THE LACE JACQUETTE.] + +Elegant black lace jackets, with loosely-hanging sleeves, are worn, and +form a beautiful portion of the dress of a well-developed figure. There +is a style of walking dress, worn by those who have less love for +ornaments. The robe is of a beautiful light apple-green silk, figured +with white. The skirt is unflounced, but ornamented up the front with a +row of green and white fancy silk buttons. Bonnet of pink crape, drawn +in very full _bouillonnees_; strings of pink satin ribbon, and on one +side a drooping bouquet of small pink flowers. Corresponding bouquets in +the inside trimming. Shawl of pink China crape, richly embroidered with +white silk. + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Letters preceded by ^ are superscripts. + +Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired, other punctuations have +been left as printed in the paper book. + +Erroneous page numbers in Table of Content corrected. + +Captions added to captionless illustrations. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept, including: +- use of hyphen (e.g. "death-bed" and "deathbed"); +- accents (e.g. "Republique" and "Republique"); +- any other inconsistent spellings (e.g. "fairy" and "faery"). + +Following proper names have been corrected: +- In the Table of Content: + "Farraday" corrected to be "Faraday" (Faraday, and Mantell); + "Oldenburgh" corrected to be "Oldenburg" (Duchy of Oldenburg); +- Pg 116, "Lecler" corrected to be "Leclerc" (whether M. Leclerc or). + +In the Table of Content, word "of" added (Arrest of M. Proudhon). + +Pg 33, word "I" removed (I <I> don't see). + +Pg 77, title added to article (Tunnel of the Alps). + +Pg 85, word "is" removed (is <is> expressly mentioned). + +Pg 113, word "been" changed to "be seen" (to be seen riding). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 1. +No 1, June 1850, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 39190.txt or 39190.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/1/9/39190/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, David Kline, and The Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + +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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