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diff --git a/43722-0.txt b/43722-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a61f0f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/43722-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9511 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43722 *** + +BLACKWOOD'S + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +NO. CCCCVI. AUGUST, 1849. VOL. LXVI. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHARLES LAMB, 133 + + THE CAXTONS.--PART XV. 151 + + JONATHAN IN AFRICA, 172 + + THE GREEN HAND.--A "SHORT" YARN.--PART III. 183 + + FOR THE LAST PAGE OF "OUR ALBUM," 205 + + THE INSURRECTION IN BADEN, 206 + + LAMARTINE'S REVOLUTION OF 1848, 219 + + DIES BOREALES. NO. III. CHRISTOPHER UNDER CANVASS, 235 + + +EDINBURGH: + + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + +_To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + +SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. + +BLACKWOOD'S + +EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +NO. CCCCVI. AUGUST, 1849. VOL. LXVI. + + + + +CHARLES LAMB.[1] + + +To Charles Lamb shall be allotted--general assent has already assigned +it to him, and we have no wish to dispute his claim--a quiet, quaint +niche, apart to himself, in some odd nook or corner in the great +temple of English literature. It shall be carved from the solid oak, +and decorated with Gothic tracery; but where Madonnas and angels +ordinarily appear, there shall be all manner of laughing cherubs--one +amongst them disguised as a chimney-_sweep_--with abundance of sly and +humorous devices. Some such niches or stalls may occasionally be seen +in old cathedrals, sharing the eternity of the structure, and drawing +the peculiar regard of the curious and loitering visitor. You are +startled to find a merry device, and a wit by no means too reverential, +side by side with the ideal forms of Catholic piety. You approach to +examine the solemn-looking carving, and find, perhaps, a fox clothed in +priestly raiment--teaching, in his own way, divers lessons of morality +to the bears and geese. Such venerable and Gothic drollery suspends for +a moment, but hardly mars, the serious and sedate feelings which the +rest of the structure, and the other sculptured figures of the place, +are designed to excite. + +[1] _The Works of Charles Lamb._ + +_Final Memorials of Charles Lamb._ By THOMAS NOON TALFOURD. + +Some such peculiar place amongst our literary worthies seems, as we +have said, to be assigned by general consent to Charles Lamb, nor +are we about to gainsay his right to this position. He has all the +genius that could comport with oddity, and all the oddity that could +amalgamate with genius. With a range of thought most singularly +contracted, considering the times in which he lived, and the men by +whom he was surrounded, he has contrived, by a charming subtlety of +observation, and a most felicitous humour, to make us in love even +with that contractedness itself, which in another would be despised, +as evidencing a sluggishness and obtuseness of mind. Perhaps there are +few writers who could be named, of these later days, on whose peculiar +merits there is so little difference of opinion. As a poet, he was, +at all events, inoffensive, and his mediocrity has been pardoned him +in favour of that genius he displayed as the humorous and critical +essayist. The publication of his letters, too, has materially added +to his reputation, and confirmed him as a favourite with all to whom +his lambent and playful wit had already made him known and esteemed. +We are not aware, therefore, that we have anything to dispute, or +essentially to modify, in the verdict passed by popular opinion on this +writer. Yet something may remain to be said to assist in appreciating +and discriminating his peculiar merits as a humorist--something to +point out where praise is due, and something to draw the limits of that +praise. Moreover, his biography, as presented to us by Mr Talfourd, +claims some notice; disclosing, as it does, one of the saddest +tragedies, and one of the noblest acts of heroism, which ever afflicted +and dignified the life of a man of letters. This biography is also +written by one who is himself distinguished in the literary world, who +was an intimate friend of Lamb, and personally acquainted with those +literary characters by whom Lamb had surrounded himself, and who are +here grouped around him. Upon the whole, therefore, the _Life and +Writings of Elia_, though a subject which no longer wears the gloss of +novelty, still invites and may repay attention. + +We hardly know whether to regret it as a disadvantage to us, on the +present occasion, that we never enjoyed the slightest acquaintance with +Charles Lamb, or indeed with any of those literary friends amongst +whom he lived. We never saw this bland humorist; we never heard that +half-provoking, half-pleasing stutter, which awakened anticipation +whilst it delayed enjoyment, and added zest to the witticism which it +threatened to mar, and which it had held back, for a moment, only to +project with the happier impetus. We never had before us, in bodily +presence, that slight, black-coated figure, and those antique and +curiously-gaitered legs, which, we have also been assured, contributed +their part to the irresistible effect of his kindly humour. We never +even knew those who had seen and talked with him. To us he is a purely +historic figure. So, too, of his biographer--which argues ourselves +to be sadly unknown--we have no other knowledge than what runs about +bruited in the world; even his displays of eloquence, forensic or +parliamentary, we have never had an opportunity of hearing; we know him +only by his writings, and by that title we have often heard bestowed +on him, the amiable author of _Ion_;--to which amiability we refer, +because to this we must attribute, we suppose, a large portion of that +too laudatory criticism which, in these volumes, he bestows so lavishly +and diffusely. We cannot, therefore, bring to our subject any of those +vivid reminiscences, anecdotes, or details which personal acquaintance +supplies. But, on the other hand, we have no bias whatever to contend +against, whether of a friendly or hostile description, in respect of +any of the literary characters whom we may have occasion to speak of. +Had they all lived in the reign of good Queen Anne, they could not have +been more remote from our personal sympathies or antipathies. + +It is probably known to most of our readers that when, shortly after +the decease of Charles Lamb, his letters were given to the world with +some biographical notices, there were circumstances which imposed +silence on certain passages of his life, and which obliged the editor +to withhold a certain portion of the letters. That sister, in fact, was +still alive whose lamentable history was so intimately blended with the +career of Lamb, and an allusion to her unfortunate tragedy would have +been cruel in any one, and in an intimate friend utterly impossible. +Serjeant Talfourd had no other course than to leave the gap or hiatus +in the biography, and cover it up and conceal it as well as might be, +from the eyes of such readers as were not better informed from other +sources. Upon the decease of that sister, there no longer existed any +motive for this silence; and, indeed, shortly after this event, the +whole narrative was revealed by a writer in the _British Quarterly +Review_, who had himself waited till then before he permitted himself +to disclose it, and by its disclosure do an act of justice to the moral +character of Lamb. Mr Talfourd was, therefore, called upon to complete +his biographical notice, and also the publication of the letters. This +he did in the two volumes entitled _Final Memorials_, &c. + +As a separate and subsidiary publication became inevitable, and as +probably the exigencies of _the trade_ required that it should be of a +certain bulk and substance, we suppose we must rather commiserate Mr +Talfourd than cast any blame upon him for the manifest difficulty he +has had to fill these two volumes of _Final Memorials_. One of them +would have been sufficient for all that he had to communicate, or that +it was wise to add. Many of the letters of Lamb here printed are such +as he had very properly laid aside, in the first instance, not because +they trenched upon too delicate ground, but because they were wholly +uninteresting. He had very correctly said, in what, for distinction's +sake, we will call _The Life_--"I have thought it better to omit much +of this verbal criticism, which, not very interesting in itself, is +unintelligible without a contemporary reference to the poems which are +its subject."--(P. 12.) Now we cannot, of course, undertake to say that +the letters given us here are precisely those which he speaks of as +being wisely rejected on the former occasion, but we know that there +was the same good reason for this rejection, for they are occupied +with a verbal criticism utterly uninteresting. Surely, what neither +illustrates a man's life, nor adds a tittle to his literary reputation, +ought not to be allowed to encumber for ever, as with a dead weight, +the collected works of an author. The mischief is, that, if materials +of this kind are once published, every succeeding editor finds it +incumbent on him to reprint them, lest his edition should be thought +less perfect than others, and thus there is no getting rid of the +useless and burdensome increment. It is otherwise with another portion +of these two volumes, the sketches of the contemporaries and friends +of Lamb, which Mr Serjeant Talfourd, or any future editor, can either +retrench, omit, or enlarge, at his option. + +In the next edition that is published of the works of Lamb, we hope +the editor may be persuaded altogether to recast his materials. The +biography should be kept apart, and not interspersed piecemeal amongst +the letters. This is an arrangement, the most provoking and irritating +to the reader that could have been devised. Let us have all the +biography at once, and then sit down and enjoy the letters of Lamb. Why +be incessantly bandied from the one to the other? Few of the letters +need any explanation; if they do, the briefest note at the head or at +the foot would be sufficient. Not to add, that, if it is wished to +refer to any event in the biography, one does not know where to look +for it. And, _apropos_ of this matter of reference, it may be just +worth mentioning that the present volume is so divided into _Parts_, +and the parts so paged, that any reference to a passage by the number +of the page is almost useless. The numbers recommence some half-dozen +times in the course of the volume; so that if you are referred to page +50, you may find five of them--you may find page 50 five times over +before you come to the right one. For which reason we shall dispense +ourselves, in respect to this volume, with our usual punctuality of +reference, for the reference must be laboriously minute, and even +then will impose a troublesome search. In the mere and humble task of +editing, the Serjeant has been by no means fortunate. + +Lying about in such confusion as the fractions of the biography do at +present, we shall perhaps be rendering a slight service if we bring +together from the two different publications the leading events of the +life of Lamb. + +"Charles Lamb," says the first publication, "was born on the 18th +February 1775, in Crown-office Row, in the Inner Temple, where he +spent the first seven years of his life." At the age of seven he was +presented to the school of Christ's Hospital, and there remained till +his fifteenth year. His sweetness of disposition rendered him a general +favourite. From one of his schoolfellows we have the following account +of him:--"Lamb," says Mr Le Grice, "was an amiable, gentle boy, very +sensible, and keenly observing, indulged by his schoolfellows and by +his master, on account of his infirmity of speech. His countenance +was mild; his complexion clear brown, with an expression which might +lead you to think that he was of Jewish descent. His eyes were not +each of the same colour--one was hazel, the other had specks of gray +in the iris, mingled as we see red spots in the bloodstone. His step +was _plantigrade_, (Mr Le Grice must be a zoologist--Lamb would have +smiled to hear himself so scientifically described,) which made his +walk slow and peculiar, adding to the staid appearance of his figure. +I never heard his name mentioned without the addition of Charles, +although, as there was no other boy of the name of Lamb, the addition +was unnecessary; but there was an implied kindness in it, and it was +a proof that his gentle manner excited that kindness." Mr Le Grice +adds that, in the sketch Lamb gave in his _Recollections of Christ's +Hospital_, he drew a faithful portrait of himself. "While others were +all fire and play, he stole along with all the self-concentration of a +young monk." He had, in fact, only passed from cloister to cloister, +and, during the holidays, it was in the Temple that he found his home +and his only place of recreation. This cloistering-in of his mind was +the early and constant peculiarity of his life. He would have made an +excellent monk; in those good old times, be it understood, when it +was thought no great scandal if there was a well-supplied cellarage +underneath the cloister. + +After quitting Christ's Hospital, he was employed for some time in the +South Sea House, but on the 5th April 1792 obtained that appointment in +the accountant's office in the East India Company which was his stay +and support, in more senses than one, through life. + +A little anecdote is here introduced, which strikes us as very +characteristic. It reveals the humorist, ready to appreciate and +promote a jest even at his own expense, and at the easy sacrifice of +his own dignity or self-respect: but it reveals something more and +sadder; it seems to betray a broken, melancholy spirit, that was no +longer disposed to contend for its claim to respect from others. "In +the first year of his clerkship," says Mr Le Grice, "Lamb spent the +evening of the 5th November with some of his former schoolfellows, +who, being amused with the particularly large and flapping brim of his +round hat, pinned it up on the sides in the form of a cocked hat. Lamb +made no alteration in it, but walked home in his usual sauntering gait +towards the Temple. As he was going down Ludgate Hill, some gay young +men, who seemed not to have passed the London Tavern without resting, +exclaimed, 'The veritable Guy!--no man of straw!' and with this +exclamation they took him up, making a chair with their arms, carried +him, seated him on a post in St Paul's Churchyard, and there left him. +This story Lamb told so seriously, that the truth of it was never +doubted. He wore his three-cornered hat many evenings, and retained the +name of Guy ever after. Like Nym, he quietly sympathised in the fun, +and seemed to say 'that was the humour of it.'" Some one may suggest +that probably Lamb was himself in the same condition, on this 5th +of November, as the young men "who had not passed the London Tavern +without resting," and that therefore all peculiar significance of the +anecdote, as it bears upon his character and disposition, is entirely +lost. But Lamb relates the story himself, and afterwards, and when +there is no question of sobriety, quietly acquiesces and participates +in the absurd joke played upon himself. + +At this time his most constant companion was one _Jem_ White, who +wrote some imaginary "Letters of John Falstaff." These letters Lamb +went about all his life praising, and causing others to praise, but +seems never to have found any one to share his admiration. As even Mr +Talfourd has not a good word to throw away upon the literary merits of +Jem White, we may safely conclude that Lamb's friendship had in this +instance quite overruled his critical judgment. + +But the associate and friend who really exercised a permanent and +formative influence upon his mind, was a man of a very different +stamp--Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They had been schoolfellows at Christ's +Hospital, and, though no particular intimacy existed at that time, +the circumstance formed a foundation for a future friendship. "While +Coleridge," writes Mr Talfourd, "remained at the university, they met +occasionally on his visits to London; and when he quitted it and came +to town, full of mantling hopes and glorious schemes, Lamb became his +admiring disciple. The scene of these happy meetings was a little +public-house, called the _Salutation and Cat_, in the neighbourhood +of Smithfield, where they used to sup, and remain long after they had +'heard the chimes at midnight.'" + +These suppers at the Salutation and Cat, in Smithfield, seem to carry +back the imagination far beyond the period here alluded to; they +seem to transport us to the times of Oliver Goldsmith, or to take us +across the water into Germany, where poetry and philosophy may still +occasionally find refuge in the beer-shop. They were always remembered +by Lamb as the brightest spots of his life. "I think I hear you again," +he says, writing to Coleridge. "I imagine to myself the little smoky +room at the Salutation and Cat, where we sat together through the +winter nights, beguiling the cares of life with poetry." And in another +place he alludes to "those old suppers at our old inn--when life was +fresh and topics exhaustless--and you first kindled in me, if not +the power, yet the love of poetry, and beauty, and kindliness." It +was in these interviews that the project was started, we believe, of +publishing a volume of poems, the joint production of the two friends. + +But this pleasing project, and all the poetry of life, was for a time +to give place, in the history of Lamb, to a domestic tragedy of the +most afflicting nature. It is here that the Final Memorials take up +the thread of the biography. It was on the 22d September 1796, that +the terrible event took place which cast so perpetual a shade, and +reflected also so constant an honour, on the life of Lamb. He was +living at this time with his father, mother, and sister, in lodgings +in Little Queen Street, Holborn. After being engaged in his taskwork +at the India House, he returned in the evening to amuse his father by +playing cribbage. The old man had sunk into dotage and the miserable +selfishness that so often attends on old age. If his son wished to +discontinue for a time the game at cribbage, and turn to some other +avocation, or the writing of a letter, he would pettishly exclaim,--"If +you don't play cribbage, I don't see the use of your coming home at +all." The mother also was an invalid, and Miss Lamb, we are told, +was worn down to a state of extreme nervous misery, by attention to +needlework by day, and to her mother by night, until the insanity +which had been manifested more than once broke out into frenzy. "It +appeared," says the account extracted from the _Times_, (an account of +the inquest, in which the names of the parties are suppressed,) "that +while the family were preparing for dinner, the young lady seized +a case-knife lying on the table, and in a menacing manner pursued +a little girl, her apprentice, round the room. On the calls of her +infirm mother to forbear, she renounced her first object, and with +loud shrieks approached her parent. The child by her cries quickly +brought up the landlord of the house, but too late. The dreadful scene +presented to him the mother lifeless, pierced to the heart, on a chair, +her daughter yet wildly standing over her with the fatal knife, and +the old man, her father, weeping by her side, himself bleeding at the +forehead from the effects of a severe blow he received from one of the +forks she had been madly hurling about the room." + +The following is the letter which Lamb wrote to Coleridge shortly after +the event. From this it appears that it was he, and not the landlord, +who took the knife from the hand of the lunatic. + +"MY DEAREST FRIEND,--White, or some of my friends, or the public +papers, by _this_ time may have informed you of the terrible calamities +that have fallen on our family. I will only give you the outlines. My +poor, dear, dearest sister, in a fit of insanity, has been the death +of her own mother. I was at hand only time enough to snatch the knife +out of her grasp. She is at present in a madhouse, from whence I fear +she must be removed to an hospital. God has preserved to me my senses. +I eat, and drink, and sleep, and have my judgment, I believe, very +sound. My poor father was slightly wounded, and I am left to take care +of him and my aunt. Mr Norris of the Blue-coat School has been very +kind to us, and we have no other friend; but, thank God, I am very calm +and composed, and able to do the best that remains to do. Write as +religious a letter as possible, but no mention of what is gone and done +with. With me 'the former things are passed away,' and I have something +more to do than to feel. + +"God Almighty have us all in his keeping!--C. LAMB. + +"Mention nothing of poetry; I have destroyed every vestige of past +vanities of that kind. Do as you please; but if you publish, publish +mine (I give free leave) without name or initial, and never send me a +book, I charge you. + +"Your own judgment will convince you not to take any notice of this yet +to your dear wife. You look after your family--I have my reason and +strength left to take care of mine. I charge you, don't think of coming +to see me--write. I will not see you if you come. God Almighty love +you, and all of us."--C. LAMB. + +Miss Lamb was of course placed in an asylum, where, however, she was in +a short time restored to reason. And now occurred the act of life-long +heroism on the part of the brother. As soon as she was recovered, +he petitioned the authorities to resign her to his care; he pledged +himself to be her guardian, her provider, her _keeper_, for all her +days to come. He was at that time paying his addresses to a young lady, +with what hopes, or with what degree of ardour, we are not informed. +But marriage with her, or with any other, was now to be entirely +renounced. He devoted his life, and all his love, to his unhappy +sister, and to the last he fulfilled the obligation he had taken upon +himself without a murmur, and without the least diminution of affection +towards the object of it. + +We have called it an act of heroism; we applaud it, and rejoice that it +stands upon record a complete and accomplished act. There it stands, +not only to relieve the character of Lamb from such littleness as it +may have contracted from certain habits of intemperance, (of which +perhaps more has been said than was necessary;) but it remains there +as an enduring memorial, prompting, to all time, to the like acts +of self-denying kindness, and unshaken generosity of purpose. But, +admiring the act as we do, we must still be permitted to observe, that +there was a degree of imprudence in it which fully justified other +members of the family in their endeavours to dissuade Lamb from his +resolution, and which would have justified the authorities (whoever +they were--and about this matter there seems a singular obscurity, and +a suspicion is created that even in proceedings of this nature much is +done carelessly, informally, uncertainly) in refusing to accede to his +request. Miss Lamb had several relapses into temporary derangement; +and, although she never committed, as far as we are informed, any acts +of violence, this calmness of behaviour, in her seasons of mental +aberration, could not have been calculated on. We confess we should +have shrunk from the responsibility of advising the generous but +perilous course which was adopted with so fortunate a result. + +How sad and fearful a charge Lamb had entailed upon himself, let the +following extract suffice to show. The subject is too painful to be +longer dwelt upon than is necessary. "The constant impendency of +this great sorrow saddened to 'the Lambs' even their holidays, as +the journey which they both regarded as the relief and charm of the +year was frequently followed by a seizure; and, _when they ventured +to take it, a strait-waistcoat, carefully packed up by Miss Lamb +herself, was their constant companion_. Sad experience at last induced +the abandonment of the annual excursion, and Lamb was contented with +walks in and near London during the interval of labour. Miss Lamb +experienced, and full well understood, premonitory symptoms of the +attack, in restlessness, low fever, and the inability to sleep; and, +as gently as possible, prepared her brother for the duty he must soon +perform; and thus, unless he could stave off the terrible separation +till Sunday, obliged him to ask leave of absence from the office as +if for a day's pleasure--a bitter mockery! On one occasion Mr Charles +Lloyd met them slowly pacing together a little footpath in Haxton +Fields, _both weeping bitterly, and found, on joining them, that they +were taking their solemn way to the accustomed asylum_!"[2] + +[2] _Final Memorials_, vol. ii., p. 212. + +It seems that a tendency to lunacy was hereditary in the family, and +Charles Lamb himself had been for a short period deprived of his +reason. + +On this subject Mr Talfourd makes the following excellent remark:--"The +wonder is, that, amidst all the difficulties, the sorrows, and the +excitements of his succeeding forty years, the malady never recurred. +Perhaps the true cause of this remarkable exemption--an exemption the +more remarkable when his afflictions are considered in association with +one single frailty--will be found in the sudden claim made on his moral +and intellectual nature by a terrible exigency, and by his generous +answer to that claim; _so that a life of self-sacrifice was rewarded by +the preservation of unclouded reason_." + +We will not weaken so admirable a remark by repeating it in a worse +phraseology of our own. We wish the Serjeant always wrote in the same +clear, forcible, and unaffected manner. With respect to this seizure +which Lamb, in an early part of his life, had experienced, there is a +reference in one of his letters too curious to pass unnoticed. Writing +to Coleridge, he says--"At some future time I will amuse you with an +account, as full as my memory will permit, of the strange turns my +frenzy took. I look back upon it at times with a gloomy kind of envy, +for, while it lasted, I had many, many hours of pure happiness. Dream +not, Coleridge, of having tasted all the grandeur and wildness of fancy +till you have gone mad! All now seems to me vapid, or comparatively so." + +The residue of Lamb's life is uneventful. The publication of a book--a +journey into Cumberland--his final liberation from office, are the +chief incidents. These it is not necessary to arrange in chronological +order: they can be alluded to as occasion requires. But we will pursue +a little further our notice of Mr Talfourd's biographical labours, that +we may clear our way as we proceed. + +We have seen that Lamb, in the first agony of his grief, rudely +threw aside his poetry, and his scheme of publishing conjointly with +Coleridge. Poetry and schemes of publication are not, however, so +easily dismissed. As his mind subsided into a calmer state, they were +naturally resumed. The literary partnership was extended, and Lloyd +was admitted to associate his labours in the forthcoming volume. "At +length," says Mr Talfourd, "the small volume containing the poems of +Coleridge, Lloyd, and Lamb, was published by Mr Cottle at Bristol. +It excited little attention." We do not wonder at this, if the +lucubrations of Mr Lloyd had any conspicuous place in the volume. How +the other two poets--how Coleridge especially, could have consented +to this literary partnership, with so singularly inept and absurd a +writer, would be past explaining, if it were not for some hint that we +receive that Charles Lloyd was the son of a wealthy banker, and might, +therefore, be the fittest person to transact that part of the business +which occurs between the author and the publisher. Here we have a +striking instance of Mr Talfourd's misplaced amiability of criticism. +"Lloyd," he says, "wrote _pleasing_ verses, and with great facility--a +facility fatal to excellence; but his mind was chiefly remarkable +for _the fine power of analysis which distinguishes his 'London,'_ +and other of his later compositions. In this power of discriminating +and distinguishing--carried to a pitch almost of painfulness--Lloyd +has scarcely been equalled; and his poems, though rugged in point of +versification, will be found, by those who will read them with the calm +attention they require, replete with critical and moral suggestions +of the highest value." Very grateful to Mr Serjeant Talfourd will any +reader feel who shall be induced, by his recommendation, to peruse, or +attempt to peruse, Mr Lloyd's poem of "London!" We were. "Fine power of +analysis!" Why, it is one stream of mud--of theologic mud. "Rugged in +point of versification!" There is no trace of verse, and the style is +an outlandish garb, such as no man has ever seen elsewhere, either in +prose or verse. Poor Lloyd was a lunatic patient!--on him no one would +be severe; but why should an intelligent Serjeant, unless prompted by +a sly malice against all mankind, persuade us to read his execrable +stuff? The following is a fair specimen of the drug, and is, indeed, +taken as the book opened. We add the two last lines of the preceding +stanza, to give all possible help to the elucidation of the one we +quote. The italics are all Mr Lloyd's:-- + + "If you affirm _grace irresistible_, + You must deny all liberty of will. + +142. + + "But you reply, grace irresistible + Our creed admits not. I am sorry for't. + Enough, or not enough, to bind the free will, + Grace must be. Not enough? The dose falls short. + This is of _cause_ the prime condition still + That it be _operative_. Yet divines exhort + Us to deem grace _sole source_ of all salvation, + And if we're damned, blame _but its application_." + +But divinity of this kind, it may be said, though well calculated to +display "the power of discriminating and distinguishing, carried to +a pitch almost of painfulness," is not exactly favourable to flowing +verse. Here is a specimen where a lady is the subject, and the verse +should be smooth then, if ever. + + "I well remember her years, five-and-twenty, + (Ah! now my muse is got into a gallop,) + Longer perhaps! But time sufficient, plenty + Of treasured offices of love to call up. + She was then, as I recollect, quite dainty, + And delicate, and seemed a fair envelope + Of virgin sweetness and angelic goodness; + That fate should treat her with such reckless rudeness!" + +The poor man seems to have had not the least appreciation of the +power of language, so as to distinguish between the ludicrous and +the pathetic. He must have read "Hudibras" with tears, _not_ of +laughter, in his eyes, and hence drawn his notion of tenderness of +diction as well as harmony of verse. The most surprising thing about +Lloyd is, that such a man should have chosen for his literary task to +translate--Alfieri! And although he has performed the task very far +from well, he has accomplished it in a manner that could not have been +anticipated from his original compositions. + +After this specimen of Mr Talfourd's laudatory criticism, we need not +be astonished at any amount of eulogy he bestows on such names as +Hazlitt and others, which really have a certain claim on the respect +of all men. And yet, even after this, we felt some slight surprise at +hearing Mr Talfourd speak of "the splendid reputation" of Mr Harrison +Ainsworth! Would Mr Talfourd _have_ such a reputation, if it were +offered him? Would he not rather have remained in complete obscurity +than be distinguished by such "splendours" as the authorship of _Jack +Sheppard_ would have invested him with? Why should he throw about +this indiscriminate praise, and make his good word of no possible +value? Splendid reputation! Can trash be anything but trash, because +a multitude of the idle and the ignorant, whom it exactly suits, read +and admire? By-and-by they grow ashamed of their idol, when they find +they have him all to themselves, and that sensible people are smiling +at their enthusiasm; they then discard him for some new, untried, and +_unconvicted_ favourite. Such is the natural history of these splendid +reputations. + +The second volume of the "Final Memorials" is in great part occupied +with sketches of the literary friends and companions of Lamb. These Mr +Talfourd introduces by a somewhat bold parallel between the banquets +at the lordly halls of Holland House and the suppers in the dark and +elevated chambers in the Inner Temple, whither Lamb had removed. We are +by no means scandalised at such a comparison. Wit may flow, and wisdom +too, as freely in the garret as in the saloon. To eat off plate, to be +served assiduously by liveried attendants, may not give any more real +zest to colloquial pleasure, to good hearty talking, than to attack +without ceremony "the cold beef flanked with heaps of smoking potatoes, +which Becky has just brought in." Nor do we know that claret in the +flagon of beautifully cut glass, may be a more potent inspiration +of wit than "the foaming pots of porter from the best tap in Fleet +Street." We are not at all astonished that such a parallel should be +drawn; what surprises us is, that, being in the humour to draw such +comparisons, the Sergeant could find only _one_ place in all London +which could be brought into this species of contrast, and of rivalry, +with Holland House. "Two circles of rare social enjoyment, differing as +widely as possible in all external circumstances--_but each superior +in its kind to all others_, were at the same time generously opened to +men of letters." We, who have been admitted to neither, have perhaps +no right to an opinion; but, judging by the bill of fare presented to +us, we shrewdly suspect there were very many circles where we should +have preferred the intellectual repast to that set out in Inner Temple +Lane. We doubt not the Serjeant himself has assembled round his own +table a society that we should greatly more have coveted the pleasure +of joining. We have the name of Godwin, it is true, but Godwin never +opened his mouth;--played whist all the evening. Had he not written +his book? why should he talk? We have Hazlitt,--but by all accounts he +was rarely in a tolerable humour, perpetually raving, with admirable +consistency, in praise of republics and Bonaparte. Coleridge was too +rarely a visitor to be counted in the list; and certain we are that +we should have no delight in hearing Charles Lloyd "reason of fate, +free-will, foreknowledge absolute," to Leigh Hunt. Some actors are +named, of whose conversational powers we know nothing, and presume +nothing very extraordinary. Lamb's "burly jovial brother, the Ajax +Telamon of clerks," and a Captain Burney, of whom we are elsewhere +told that he liked Shakspeare "because he was so much of a gentleman," +promise little on the score of intellectual conversation; neither +should we be particularly anxious to sit opposite a certain M. B., of +whom Lamb said, "M., if dirt were trumps, what hands you would hold!" + +After this singular parallel, we are shown round a gallery of +portraits. First we have George Dyer, who appears to be the counterpart +of our old friend Dominie Sampson. But, indeed, we hold George Dyer +to be a sort of myth, a fabulous person, the creation of Charles +Lamb's imagination, and imposed as a reality on his friends. Such an +absurdity as he is here represented to be could not have been bred, +could not have existed, in these times, and in London. If we are to +credit the stories told of him, his walking in broad day into the canal +at Islington was one of the wisest things he did, or could possibly +have done. Lamb tells him, in the strictest confidence, that the +"Waverley Novels" are the works of Lord Castlereagh, just returned from +the Congress of Sovereigns at Vienna! Off he runs, nor stops till he +reaches Maida Hill, where he deposits his news in the ears of Leigh +Hunt, who, "as a public man," he thinks ought to be possessed of the +great fact. At another time Lamb gravely inquires of him, "Whether it +was true, as was commonly reported, that he was to be made a lord?" "Oh +dear, no! Mr Lamb," he responds with great earnestness, "I could not +think of such a thing: it is not true, I assure you." "I thought not," +replies the wit, "and I contradict it wherever I go; but the government +will not ask your consent--they may raise you to the peerage without +your even knowing it." "I hope not, Mr Lamb; indeed, indeed, I hope +not; it would not suit me at all," repeats our modern Dominie, and goes +away musing on the possibility of strange honours descending, whether +he will or not, upon his brow. It goes to our heart to disturb a good +story, but such a man as the George Dyer here represented never could +have existed. + +We have rather a long account of Godwin, with some remarks not very +satisfactory upon his intellectual character. That Mr Godwin was +taciturn, that he conversed, when he did talk, upon trivial subjects, +and in a small precise manner, and that he was especially fond of +sleeping after dinner--all this we can easily understand. Mr Godwin's +mental activity was absorbed in his authorship, and he was a very +voluminous author. But we cannot so easily understand Mr Talfourd's +explanations, nor why these habits should have any peculiar connexion +with the intellectual qualities of the author of _Caleb Williams_, and +a host of novels, as well as of the _Political Justice_, of the _Life +of Chaucer_, and the _History of the Commonwealth_. Such habits are +rather the result of a man's temperament, and the manner of life which +circumstances have thrown him into, than of his intellectual powers. +Profound metaphysicians have been very vivacious talkers, and light and +humorous writers very taciturn men. Mr Talfourd finds that Godwin had +no imagination, was all abstract reason, and thus accounts for his +having no desire to address his fellowmen but through the press. The +passage is too long to quote, and would be very tedious. We must leave +him in quiet possession of his own theory of the matter. + +It was new to us, and may be to our readers, to hear that Godwin +supported himself "by a shop in Skinner Street, where, under the +auspices of 'Mr J. Godwin & Co.,' the prettiest and wisest books +for children issued, which old-fashioned parents presented to their +children, without suspecting that the graceful lessons of piety and +goodness which charmed away the selfishness of infancy, were published, +and sometimes revised, and now and then written, by a philosopher +whom they would scarcely venture to name!" We admire the good sense +which induced him to adhere to so humble an occupation, if he found it +needful for his support. But what follows is not quite so admirable. +He was a great borrower; or, in the phrase of Mr Talfourd, "he met +the exigencies of business with the trusting simplicity which marked +his course; he asked his friends for aid without scruple, considering +that their means were justly the due of one who toiled in thought for +their inward life, and had little time to provide for his own outward +existence, and took their excuses when offered without doubt or +offence." And then the Serjeant proceeds to relate, in a tone of the +most touching simplicity, his own personal experience upon this matter. +"The very next day after I had been honoured and delighted by an +introduction to him at Lamb's chambers, I was made still more proud and +happy by his appearance at my own on such an errand, which my poverty, +not my will, rendered abortive. After some pleasant chat on indifferent +matters, he carelessly observed that he had a little bill for £150 +falling due on the morrow, _which he had forgotten till that morning_, +and desired the loan of the necessary amount for a few weeks. At first, +in eager hopes of being able thus to oblige one whom I regarded with +admiration akin to awe, I began to consider whether it was possible +for me to raise such a sum; but, alas! a moment's reflection sufficed +to convince me that the hope was vain, and I was obliged, with much +confusion, to assure my distinguished visitor how glad I should have +been to serve him, but that I was only just starting as a special +pleader, was obliged to write for magazines to help me on, and had not +such a sum in the world. 'Oh dear!' said the philosopher, 'I thought +you were a young gentleman of fortune--don't mention it, don't mention +it--I shall do very well elsewhere!' And then, in the most gracious +manner, reverted to our former topics, and sat in my small room for +half-an-hour, as if to convince me that my want of fortune made no +difference in his esteem." How very gracious! The most shameless +borrower coming to raise money from a young gentleman of fortune, to +meet "a little bill which he had forgotten till that morning," would +hardly, on finding his mistake, have made an abrupt departure. He would +have coolly beat a retreat, as the philosopher did. We never hear, by +the way, that he returned "to my small room" at any other time, for +half-an-hour's chat. But how very interesting it is to see the learned +Serjeant, whose briefs have made him acquainted with every trick and +turn of commercial craft, retaining this sweet and pristine simplicity! + +The Serjeant, however, has a style of narrative which, though on the +surface it displays the most good-natured simplicity, slyly insinuates +to the more intelligent reader that he sees quite as far as another, +and is by no means the dupe of his own amiability. Thus, in his +description of Coleridge, (which would be too long a subject to enter +into minutely,) he has the following passage, (perhaps the best in the +description,) which, while it seems to echo to the full the unstinted +applause so common with the admirers of that singular man, gives a +quiet intimation to the reader that he was not altogether so blind as +some of those admirers. "If his entranced hearers often were unable +to perceive the bearings of his argument--too mighty for any grasp +but his own--and sometimes reaching beyond his own--they understood +'a _beauty_ in the words, if not the words;' and a wisdom and a piety +in the illustrations, even when unable to connect them with the idea +which he desired to illustrate." Mr Talfourd reveals here, we suspect, +the true secret of the charm which Coleridge exercised in conversation. +His hearers never seemed to have carried away anything distinct or +serviceable from his long discourses. They understood "a beauty in the +words, if not the words;" they felt a charm like that of listening to +music, and, when the voice ceased, there was perhaps as little distinct +impression left, as if it had really been a beautiful symphony they had +heard. + +There is only one more in this gallery of portraits before which we +shall pause, and that only for a moment, to present a last specimen +of the critical manner of Mr Talfourd. We are sorry the last should +not be the best; and yet, as this sketch is a reprint, in an abridged +form, of an essay affixed to the _Literary Remains of Hazlitt_, it +may be considered as having received a more than usual share of the +author's attention. It is thus that he analyses the mental constitution +of one whom he appears to have studied and greatly admired--William +Hazlitt. "He had as unquenchable a desire for truth as others have +for wealth, or power, or fame: he pursued it with sturdy singleness +of purpose, and enunciated it without favour or fear. But besides +that love of truth, that sincerity in pursuing it, and that boldness +in telling it, he had also a fervent aspiration after the beautiful, +a vivid sense of pleasure, and an _intense consciousness of his own +individual being_, which sometimes produced obstacles to the current +of speculation, by which it was broken into dazzling eddies, or urged +into devious windings. Acute, fervid, vigorous as his mind was, it +wanted _the one great central power of imagination, which brings all +the other faculties into harmonious action, multiplies them into each +other, makes truth visible in the forms of beauty, and substitutes +intellectual vision for proof_. Thus in him truth and beauty held +divided empire. In him the spirit was willing but the flesh was +_strong_, and when these contend it is not difficult to anticipate the +result; 'for the power of beauty shall sooner transform honesty from +what it is into a bawd, than the person of honesty shall transform +beauty into its likeness.' This 'sometime paradox' was vividly +exemplified in Hazlitt's personal history, his conversation, and his +writings."[3] + +[3] Vol. ii., p. 157. + +Are we to gather from this most singular combination of words, that +Hazlitt had a grain too much of sensuality in his composition, which +diverted him from the search after truth? The expression, "the flesh +was strong," and the quotation so curiously introduced from Shakspeare, +seem to point this way. And then, again, are we to understand that +this too much of sensuality was owing to a want of imagination?--that +central power of imagination which is here described in a manner that +no system of metaphysics we have studied enables us in the least to +comprehend. We know something of Schelling's "intellectual intuition" +transcending the ordinary scope of reason. Is this "intellectual +vision, which the imagination substitutes for proof," of the same +family? But indeed it would be idle insincerity to ask such questions. +Sergeant Talfourd knows no more than we do what it means. The simple +truth is, that here, as too frequently elsewhere, he aims at a +certain subtlety of thought, and falls unfortunately upon no thought +whatever--upon mere confusion of thought, which he attempts to hide by +a quantity of somewhat faded phrase and rhetorical diction. + +If we refer to the original essay itself, we shall not be aiding +ourselves or Mr Talfourd. The statement is fuller, and the confusion +greater. In one point it relieves us--it relieves us entirely from +the necessity of too deeply pondering the philosophic import of any +phraseology our critic may adopt, for the phrase is changed merely to +please the ear; and what at first has the air of definition proves +to be merely a poetic colouring. He thus commences his essay: "As an +author, Mr Hazlitt may be contemplated principally in three aspects--as +a moral and political reasoner, as an observer of character and +manners, and as a critic in literature and painting. It is in the +first character only that he should be followed with caution." In the +two others he is, of course, to be followed implicitly. Why he was +not equally perfect as a moral and political reasoner, Mr Talfourd +proceeds to explain. Mr Hazlitt had "a passionate desire for truth," +and also "earnest aspirations for the beautiful." Now, continues our +critic, "the vivid sense of beauty may, indeed, have fit home in the +breast of the searcher after truth, but then he must also be endowed +with the highest of all human faculties--the great mediatory and +interfusing power of imagination, which presides supreme over the +mind, brings all its powers and impulses into harmonious action, and +becomes itself the single organ of all. At its touch, truth becomes +visible in the shape of beauty; the fairest of material things become +the living symbols of airy thought, and the mind apprehends _the finest +affinities of the world of sense and spirit 'in clear dream and solemn +vision.'_" This last expression conveys, we presume, all the meaning, +or no-meaning, of the phrase afterwards adopted--the "intellectual +vision which it substitutes for truth." Both are mere jingle. The rest +of the passage is much the same as it stands in the _Final Memorials_. +Somehow or other Mr Hazlitt is proved to have been defective as a +reasoner, because he wanted imagination!--and imagination was wanted, +not to enlarge his experience of mental phenomena, but to step between +his love of truth and his sense of beauty. Did he ever divulge this +discovery to his friend Hazlitt?--and how did the metaphysician receive +it? + +To one so generous towards others, it would be ungracious to use hard +words. Indeed, to leave before an intelligent reader these specimens of +"fine analysis," and "powers of discriminating and distinguishing," is +quite severe enough punishment. We wish we could expunge them, with a +host of similar ones, not only from our record, but from the works of +the author himself.[4] + +[4] The author of _Ion_ ought not to be held in remembrance for any of +these prosaic blunders he may have committed. + +It is time that we turn from the biography to the writings of +Charles Lamb--to Elia, the gentle humorist. Not that Charles Lamb is +exclusively the humorist: far from it. His verse is, at all events, +sufficient to demonstrate a poetic sensibility, and his prose writings +display a subtlety of analysis and a delicacy of perception which were +not always enlisted in the service of mirth, but which were often +displayed in some refined criticism, or keen observation upon men +and manners. Still it is as a humorist that he has chiefly attracted +the attention of the reading public, and obtained his popularity and +literary _status_. But the coarser lineaments of the humorist are not +to be found in him. His is a gentle, refined, and refining humour, +which never trespasses upon delicacy; which does not excite that common +and almost brutal laughter, so easily raised at what are called the +comic miseries of life--often no comedy to those who have to endure +them. It is a humour which generally attains its end by investing what +is lowly with an unexpected interest, not by degrading what is noble +by allying it with mean and grotesque circumstance, (the miserable art +of parody;) it is a humour, in short, which excites our laughter, not +by stifling all reflection, but by awakening the mind to new trains of +thought, and prompting to odd but kindly sympathies. It is a humour +which a poet might indulge in, which a very nun might smile at, which +a Fenelon would at times prepare himself mildly to admonish, but, on +seeing from how clear a spirit it emanated, would, relaxing his brows +again, let pass unreproved. + +There is a great rage at present for the comic; and, to do justice +to our own times, we think it may be said that wit was never more +abundant--and certainly the pencil was never used with more genuine +humour. But we cannot sympathise with, or much admire, that class of +writers who seem to make the comic their exclusive study, who peer into +everything merely to find matter of jest in it. Everything is no more +comic than everything is solemn, in this mingled world of ours. These +men, reversing the puritanical extravagance, would _improve_ every +incident into the occasion of a laugh. At length one extreme becomes +as tedious as the other. We have, if we may trust to advertisements, +for we never saw the production itself, a _Comic History of +England!_ and, amongst other editions of the learned commentator, +_A Comic Blackstone!_ We shall be threatened some day with a _Comic +Encyclopædia_; or we shall have these comic gentry following the track +round the whole world which Mrs Sommerville has lately taken, in her +charming book on Physical Geography. They will go hopping and grinning +after her, peeping down volcanoes, and punning upon coral reefs, and +finding laughter in all things in this circumnavigable globe. Well, let +them go grinning from pole to pole, and all along the tropics. We can +wish them no worse punishment. + +This exclusive cultivation of the comic must sadly depress the organ of +veneration, and not at all foster any refined feelings of humanity. To +him who is habitually in the mocking vein, it matters little what the +subject, or who the sufferer, so that he has his jest. It is marvellous +the utter recklessness to human feeling these light laughers attain to. +Their seemingly sportive weapon, the "satiric thong" they so gaily use, +is in harder hands than could be found anywhere else out of Smithfield. +Nor is it quite idle to notice in what a direct barefaced manner these +jesters appeal to the coarse untutored malice of our nature. If we +were to analyse the jest, we should sometimes find that we had been +laughing just as wisely as the little untaught urchin, who cannot hold +his sides for "fun," if some infirm old woman, slipping upon the slide +he has made, falls down upon the pavement. The jest only lasts while +reflection is laid asleep. + +In this, as we have already intimated, lies the difference between +the crowd of jesters and Charles Lamb. We quit their uproarious +laughter for his more quiet and pensive humour with somewhat the same +feeling that we leave the noisy, though amusing, highway, for the cool +landscape and the soft greensward. We reflect as we smile; the malice +of our nature is rather laid to rest than called forth; a kindly and +forgiving temper is excited. We rise from his works, if not with any +general truth more vividly impressed, yet prepared, by gentle and +almost imperceptible touches, to be more social in our companionships, +and warmer in our friendships. + +Whether from mental indolence, or from that strong partiality he +contracted towards familiar things, he lived, for a man of education +and intelligence, in a singularly limited circle of thought. In the +stirring times of the first French Revolution, we find him abstracting +himself from the great drama before him, to bury himself in the gossip +of _Burnet's History_. He writes to Manning--"I am reading _Burnet's +own Times_. Quite the prattle of age, and outlived importance.... +Burnet's good old prattle I can bring present to my mind; I can make +the Revolution present to me--the French Revolution, by a converse +perversity in my nature, I fling as far _from_ me." Science appears +never to have interested him, and such topics as political economy +may well be supposed to have been quite foreign to his nature. But +even as a reader of poetry, his taste, or his partialities in his +range of thought, limited him within a narrow circuit. He could make +nothing of Goethe's _Faust_; Shelley was an unknown region to him, +and the best of his productions never excited his attention. To Byron +he was almost equally indifferent. From these he could turn to study +George Withers! and find matter for applause in lines which needed, +indeed, the recommendation of age to give them the least interest. His +personal friendship for Wordsworth and Coleridge led him here out of +that circle of old writers he delighted to dwell amongst; otherwise, we +verily believe, he would have deserted them for Daniell and Quarles. +But perhaps, to one of his mental constitution, it required a certain +concentration to bring his powers into play; and we may owe to this +exclusiveness of taste the admirable fragments of criticism he has +given us on Shakspeare and the elder dramatists. + +In forming our opinion, however, of the tastes and acquirements of +Lamb, we must not forget that we are dealing with a humorist, and that +his testimony against himself cannot be always taken literally. On +some occasions we shall find that he amused himself and his friends +by a merry vein of self-disparagement; he would delight to exaggerate +some deficiency, or perhaps some Cockney taste, in which, perhaps, he +differed from others only in his boldness of avowal. He had not, by all +accounts, what is called an ear for music; but we are not to put faith +in certain witty descriptions he has given of his own obtuseness to +all melodious sounds. We find him, in some of his letters, speaking of +Braham with all the enthusiasm of a young haunter of operas. "I follow +him about," he says, "like a dog." Nothing has given more scandal to +some of the gentle admirers of Lamb, than to find him boldly avowing +his preference of Fleet Street to the mountains of Cumberland. He +claimed no love for the picturesque. Shops, and the throng of men, were +not to be deserted for lakes and waterfalls. It was his to live in +London, and, as a place to _live in_, there was no peculiarity of taste +in preferring it to Cumberland; but when he really paid his visit to +Coleridge at Keswick, he felt the charm fully as much as tourists who +are accustomed to dwell, rather too loudly, upon their raptures. The +letters he wrote, after this visit, from some of which we will quote, +if our space permits us, describe very naturally, unaffectedly, and +vividly, the impressions which are produced on a first acquaintance +with mountainous scenery. + +Indeed we may remark, that no man can properly enter into the character +or the writings of a humorist, who is not prepared both to permit and +to understand certain little departures from truth. We mean, that +playing with the subject where our _convictions_ are not intended to +be seriously affected. Those who must see everything as true or false, +and immediately approve or reject accordingly, who know nothing of that +_punctum indifferens_ on which the humorist, for a moment, takes his +stand, had better leave him and his writings entirely alone. "I like a +smuggler," says Charles Lamb, in one of his essays. Do you, thereupon, +gravely object that a smuggler, living in constant violation of the +laws of the land, ought by no means to be an object of partiality +with any respectable order-loving gentleman? Or do you nod assent and +acquiesce in this approbation of the smuggler? You do neither one nor +the other. You smile and read on. You know very well that Lamb has no +design upon your serious convictions, has no wish whatever that _you_ +should like a smuggler; he merely gives expression to a partiality of +his own, unreasonable if you will, but arising from certain elements in +the smuggler's character, which just then are uppermost in his mind. +A great deal of the art and tact of the humorist lies in bringing out +little truths, and making them stand in the foreground, where greater +truths usually take up their position. Thus, in one of Lamb's papers, +he would prove that a convalescent was in a less enviable condition +than a man downright ill. This is done by heightening the effect of a +subordinate set of circumstances, and losing sight of facts of greater +importance. No error of judgment can really be introduced by this +sportive ratiocination, this mock logic, while it perhaps may be the +means of disclosing many ingenious and subtle observations, to which, +afterwards, you may, if you will, assign their just relative importance. + +It would be a work of supererogation, even if space allowed us, to go +critically over the whole writings of Lamb--his poems, his essays, +and his letters. It is the last alone that we shall venture to pause +upon, or from which we may hope to make any extract not already +familiar to the reader. His poetry, indeed, cannot claim much critical +attention. It is possible, here and there, to find an elegant verse, +or a beautiful expression; there is a gentle, amiable, pleasing tone +throughout it; but, upon the whole, it is without force, has nothing to +recommend it of deep thought or strong passion. His tragedy of _John +Woodville_ is a tame imitation of the manner of the old dramatists--of +their manner when engaged in their subordinate and preparatory scenes. +For there is no attempt at tragic passion. We read the piece asking +ourselves when the play is to begin, and while still asking the +question, find ourselves brought to its conclusion. If the poems are +read by few, the _Essays of Elia_ have been perused by all. Who is not +familiar with what is now a historic fact--the discovery of roast pig +in China? This, and many other touches of humour, it would be useless +here to repeat. His letters, as being latest published, seem alone to +call for any especial observations, and from these we shall cull a few +extracts to enliven our own critical labours. + +What first strikes a reader, on the perusal of the letters, is their +remarkable similarity in style to the essays. Some of them, indeed, +were afterwards converted into essays, and that more by adding to +them than altering their structure. That style, which at first seems +extremely artificial, was, in fact, natural in Lamb. He had formed for +himself a manner, chiefly by the study of our classical essayists, +and of still older writers, from which it would have been an effort +in him to depart. With whatever ease, therefore, or rapidity, he may +have written his letters, it was impossible that they should bear +the impress of freedom. His style was essentially a lettered style, +partaking little of the conversational tone of his own day. They could +obtain the case of finished compositions, not of genuine letters. For +this, if for no other reason, they can never be brought into comparison +with those charming spontaneous effusions of humour which flowed from +Cowper, in his letters to his old friend Hill, and his cousin, Lady +Hesketh. They are charming productions, however, and the best of his +letters will take rank, we think, with the best of his essays, in the +public estimation. + +We must first quote from a letter to Manning, after his visits to +the lakes, to rescue his character in the eyes of the lovers of the +picturesque from the imputation of being utterly indifferent to the +higher beauties of nature. + + "Coleridge received us with all the hospitality in the world. He + dwells upon a small hill by the side of Keswick, in a comfortable + house, quite enveloped on all sides by a net of mountains: great + floundering bears and monsters they seemed, all couchant and + asleep. We got in in the evening, travelling in a post-chaise from + Penrith, in the midst of a gorgeous sunshine, which transmuted all + the mountains into colours, purple, &c., &c. We thought we had + got into fairyland. But that went off (and it never came again; + while we stayed we had no more fine sunsets), and we entered + Coleridge's comfortable study just in the dusk, when the mountains + were all dark with clouds on their heads. Such an impression I + never received from objects of sight before, nor do I suppose that + I can ever again. Glorious creatures, fine old fellows--Skiddaw, + &c.--I never shall forget ye, how ye lay about that night like + an entrenchment--gone to bed, as it seemed for the night, but + promising that ye were to be seen in the morning.... We have + clambered up to the top of Skiddaw; and I have waded up the bed + of Lodore. In fine, I have satisfied myself that there is such a + thing as tourists call _romantic_, which I very much suspected + before; they make such a sputtering about it.... Oh! its fine + black head, and the bleak air atop of it, with the prospects of + mountains about and about, making you giddy. It was a day that + will stand out like a mountain, I am sure, in my life." + +Of Mr Manning we are told little or nothing, though he seems to have +been one of the very dearest friends of Lamb. His best letters are +written to Manning--the drollest, and some of the most affecting. The +following was written to dissuade him from some scheme of oriental +travel. Manning was, at the time, at Paris:-- + + "_Feb. 19, 1803._ + + "MY DEAR MANNING,--The general scope of your letter afforded no + indications of insanity; but some particular points raised a + scruple. For God's sake, don't think any more of 'Independent + Tartary.' What are you to do among such Ethiopians? Read Sir John + Mandeville's travels to cure you, or come over to England. There + is a Tartar-man now exhibiting at Exeter Change. Come and talk + with him, and hear what he says first. Indeed, he is no favourable + specimen of his countrymen! Some say they are cannibals; and then + conceive a Tartar fellow _eating_ my friend, and adding the _cool + malignity_ of mustard and vinegar! I am afraid 'tis the reading + of Chaucer has misled you; his foolish stories about Cambuscan, + and the ring and the horse of brass. Believe me, there are no such + things. These are all tales--a horse of brass never flew, and a + king's daughter never talked with birds. The Tartars really are + a cold, insipid, smoutchy set. You'll be sadly moped (if you + are not eaten) amongst them. Pray try and cure yourself. Shave + yourself oftener. Eat no saffron; for saffron eaters contract a + terrible Tartar-like yellow. Shave _the upper lip_. Go about like + a European. Read no books of voyages, (they are nothing but lies;) + only now and then a romance, to keep the fancy _under_. Above + all, don't go to any sights of _wild beasts_. _That has been your + ruin._" + +And when Manning really departed on his voyage to China, he writes to +him in the following mingled strains of humour and of feeling. Being +obliged to omit a great deal, it would only be unsightly to mark every +instance where a sentence has been dropt. The italics, we must remark, +are not ours. If Lamb's, they show how naturally, even in writing to +his most intimate friend, he fell into the feelings of the author:-- + + "_May 10, 1806._ + + "... Be sure, if you see any of those people whose heads do + grow beneath their shoulders, that you make a draught of them. + It will be very curious. Oh! Manning, I am serious to sinking + almost, when I think that all those evenings which you have made + so pleasant are gone, perhaps for ever. Four years, you talk of, + may be ten--and you may come back and find such alterations! Some + circumstance may grow up to you or to me, that may be a bar to the + return of any such intimacy. I dare say all this is hum! and that + all will come back; but, indeed, we die many deaths before we die, + and I am almost sick to think that such a hold I had of you is + gone." + + "_Dec. 5, 1806._ + + "Manning, your letter dated Hottentots, August the--what was it? + came to hand. I can scarce hope that mine will have the same + luck. China--Canton--bless us! how it strains the imagination, + and makes it ache. It will be a point of conscience to send you + none but bran-new news (the latest edition), which will but grow + the better, like oranges, for a sea voyage. Oh that you should be + so many hemispheres off--if I speak incorrectly you can correct + me--why, the simplest death or marriage that takes place here must + be important to you as news in the old Bastile." + +He then tells him of the acceptance of his farce--_Mr H._; which farce, +by the way, was produced, and failed, Lamb turning against his own +production, and joining the audience in hissing it off the stage. It +certainly deserved its fate. + + "Now, you'd like to know the subject. The title is, 'Mr H.' + No more; how simple, how taking! A great H sprawling over the + play-bill, and attracting eyes at every corner. The story is, a + coxcomb appearing at Bath, vastly rich--all the ladies dying for + him--all bursting to know who he is; but he goes by no other name + than Mr H.--a curiosity like that of the dames of Strasburg about + the man with the great nose. But I won't tell you any more about + it. Yes, I will; but I can't give you any idea how I have done it. + I'll just tell you that, after much vehement admiration, when his + true name comes out, 'Hogsflesh,' all the women shun him, avoid + him, and not one can be found to change her name for him; that's + the idea--how flat it is here--but how whimsical in the farce! And + only think how hard upon me it is, that the ship is despatched + to-morrow, and my triumph cannot be ascertained till the Wednesday + after. But all China will ring of it by-and-by. Do you find, in + all this stuff I have written, anything like those feelings which + one should send my old adventuring friend that is gone to wander + among Tartars, and may never come again? I don't; but your going + away, and all about you, is a threadbare topic. I have worn it + out with thinking. It has come to me when I have been dull with + anything, till my sadness has seemed more to have come from it + than to have introduced it. I want you, you don't know how much; + but if I had you here, in my European garret, we should but talk + over such stuff as I have written. + + "Good Heavens! what a bit only I've got left! How shall I squeeze + all I know into this morsel! Coleridge is come home, and is going + to turn lecturer on taste at the Royal Institution. How the paper + grows less and less! In less than two minutes I shall cease to + talk to you, and you may rave to the great Wall of China.--N.B. Is + there such a wall? Is it as big as Old London Wall by Bedlam? Have + you met with a friend of mine, named Ball, at Canton? If you are + acquainted, remember me kindly to him." + +But we should be driven into as hard straits as Lamb, at the close of +his epistle, if we, should attempt, in the small space that remains to +us, to give any fair idea of the various "humours" and interests, of +many kinds, of these letters. We pass at once to those that illustrate +the last important incident of his life, his retirement from office. It +is thus he describes his manumission, and the sort of troubled delight +it brought with it, to Wordsworth:-- + + "_6th April, 1825._ + + "Here am I then, after thirty-three years' slavery, sitting in my + own room, at eleven o'clock this finest of all April mornings, a + freed man, with £441 a-year for the remainder of my life, live I + as long as John Dennis, who outlived his annuity and starved at + ninety. + + "I came home FOR EVER on Tuesday of last week. The + incomprehensibleness of my condition overwhelmed me. It was + like passing from life into eternity. Every year to be as long + as three; _i. e._, to have three times as much real time--time + that is my own in it! I wandered about thinking I was happy, but + feeling I was not. But that tumultuousness is passing off, and I + begin to understand the nature of the gift." + +And to Bernard Barton he writes: + + "My spirits are so tumultuary with the novelty of my recent + emancipation, that I have scarce steadiness of hand, much more of + mind, to compose a letter. I am free, Bernard Barton--free as air! + + 'The little bird, that wings the sky, + Knows no such liberty.' + + I was set free on Tuesday in last week at four o'clock. I came + home for ever! + + "I have been describing my feelings, as well as I can, to + Wordsworth, and care not to repeat. Take it briefly, that for a + few days I was painfully oppressed by so mighty a change, but it + is becoming daily more natural to me. I went and sat among them + all, at my old thirty-three years' desk yester morning; and deuce + take me, if I had not yearnings at leaving all my old pen-and-ink + fellows, merry sociable lads, at leaving them in the lurch--fag, + fag, fag! The comparison of my own superior felicity gave me + anything but pleasure. + + "B. B., I would not serve another seven years for seven hundred + thousand pounds! I have got £440 net for life, with a provision + for Mary if she survives me. I will live another fifty years." + +But to live without any steady compulsory occupation requires an +apprenticeship as much as any other mode of life. An idle man ought +to be born and bred to the profession. With Lamb, literature could be +nothing but an amusement, and for a mere amusement literature is far +too laborious. It cannot, indeed, serve long as an amusement except +when it is adopted also as a labour. He was destined, therefore, to +make the humiliating discovery, which so many have made before him, +that one may have too much time, as well as too little, at one's own +disposal. Writing to the same Bernard Barton, a year or two afterwards, +he says:-- + + "What I can do, and over-do, is to walk; but deadly long are + the days, these summer all-day days, with but a half-hour's + candle-light and no fire-light. I do not write, tell your kind + inquisitive Eliza, and can hardly read. 'Tis cold work authorship, + without something to puff one into fashion.... I assure you _no + work_ is worse than _over-work_. The mind preys on itself, the + most unwholesome food. I bragged, formerly, that I could not have + too much time. I have a surfeit; with few years to come, the days + are wearisome. But weariness is not eternal. Something will shine + out to take the load off that crushes me, which is at present + intolerable. I have killed an hour or two in this poor scrawl. + Well; I shall write merrier anon. 'Tis the present copy of my + countenance I send, and to complain is a little to alleviate." + +He had taken a house at Enfield, but the cares of housekeeping were +found to be burdensome to Miss Lamb, and they took up their abode as +boarders in the house of a neighbour. To this circumstance he alludes +in the following extract from a letter to Wordsworth, which is the last +we shall make, and with which we shall bid farewell to our subject. +It will be found to be not the least remarkable amongst the letters +of Lamb, and contains one passage, we think, the boldest piece of +extravagance that ever humorist ventured upon with success. It just +escapes!--and, indeed, it rather takes away our breath at its boldness +than prompts to merriment. + + "_January 2, 1831._ + + "And is it a year since we parted from you at the steps of + Edmonton stage? There are not now the years that there used to + be. The tale of the dwindled age of men, reported of successional + mankind, is true of the same man only. We do not live a year + in a year now. 'Tis a _punctum stans_. The seasons pass with + indifference. Spring cheers not, nor winter heightens our gloom; + autumn hath foregone its moralities. Let the sullen nothing + pass. Suffice it, that after sad spirits, prolonged through many + of its months, we have cast our skins; have taken a farewell of + the pompous, troublesome trifle, called housekeeping, and are + settled down into poor boarders and lodgers at next door, the + Baucis and Baucida of dull Enfield. Here we have nothing to do + with our victuals but to eat them; with the garden but to see it + grow; with the tax-gatherer but to hear him knock; with the maid + but to hear her scolded. Scot and lot, butcher, baker, are things + unknown to us, save as spectators of the pageant. We are fed we + know not how; quieted--confiding ravens. Yet in the self-condemned + obliviousness, in the stagnation, some molesting yearnings of + life, not quite killed, rise, prompting me that there was a + London, and that I was of that old Jerusalem. In dreams I am in + Fleet Market, but I wake and cry to sleep again. I die hard, a + stubborn Eloisa in this detestable Paraclete. What have I gained + by health? Intolerable dulness. What by early hours and moderate + meals? A total blank. Oh! let no native Londoner imagine that + health, and rest, and innocent occupation, interchange of converse + sweet, and recreative study, can make the country anything better + than altogether odious and detestable. _A garden was the primitive + prison, till man, with Promethean felicity and boldness, luckily + sinned himself out of it._" + +Any further summary than what we have already given, of the literary +character of Lamb, would be only tedious. He is one who will be +generally _liked_, who with a smaller class will be greatly admired, +and who will never excite hostile criticism, unless his injudicious +friends shall elevate him to a higher pedestal than is due to him, or +than he is manifestly fit to occupy. Such is the cold and calm verdict +with which criticism must dismiss him. But those who have thoroughly +enjoyed the essays of Elia and the letters of Lamb, will feel a warmer, +a more partial affection than Criticism knows well how to express: +she becomes somewhat impatient of her own enforced gravity; she would +willingly throw away those scales with which, like Justice, we suppose, +she is symbolically supplied, and, embracing the man as he is, laugh +and be pleased with the rest of the world, without further thought of +the matter. + + + + +THE CAXTONS.--PART XV. + +CHAPTER LXXXIV. + + +"Please, sir, be this note for you?" asked the waiter. + +"For me--yes; it is my name." + +I did not recognise the handwriting, and yet the note was from one +whose writing I had often seen. But formerly the writing was cramped, +stiff, perpendicular, (a feigned hand, though I guessed not it was +feigned;) now it was hasty, irregular, impatient--scarce a letter +formed, scarce a word that seemed finished--and yet strangely legible +withal, as the handwriting of a bold man almost always is. I opened the +note listlessly, and read-- + +"I have watched for you all the morning. I saw her go. Well!--I did +not throw myself under the hoofs of the horses. I write this in a +public-house, not far. Will you follow the bearer, and see once again +the outcast whom all the rest of the world will shun?" + +Though I did not recognise the hand, there could be no doubt who was +the writer. + +"The boy wants to know if there's an answer," said the waiter. + +I nodded, took up my hat, and left the room. A ragged boy was standing +in the yard, and scarcely six words passed between us, before I was +following him through a narrow lane that faced the inn, and terminated +in a turnstile. Here the boy paused, and, making me a sign to go on, +went back his way whistling. I passed the turnstile, and found myself +in a green field, with a row of stunted willows hanging over a narrow +rill. I looked round, and saw Vivian (as I intend still to call him) +half kneeling, and seemingly intent upon some object in the grass. + +My eye followed his mechanically. A young unfledged bird, that had +left the nest too soon, stood, all still and alone, on the bare short +sward--its beak open as for food, its gaze fixed on us with a wistful +stare. Methought there was something in the forlorn bird that softened +me more to the forlorner youth, of whom it seemed a type. + +"Now," said Vivian, speaking half to himself, half to me, "did the bird +fall from the nest, or leave the nest at its own wild whim? The parent +does not protect it. Mind, I say not it is the parent's fault--perhaps +the fault is all with the wanderer. But, look you, though the parent is +not here, the foe is!--yonder, see!" + +And the young man pointed to a large brindled cat, that, kept back from +its prey by our unwelcome neighbourhood, still remained watchful, a few +paces off, stirring its tail gently backwards and forwards, and with +that stealthy look in its round eyes, dulled by the sun--half fierce, +half frightened--which belongs to its tribe, when man comes between the +devourer and the victim. + +"I do see," said I, "but a passing footstep has saved the bird!" + +"Stop!" said Vivian, laying my hand on his own, and with his old bitter +smile on his lip--"stop! do you think it mercy to save the bird? What +from? and what for? From a natural enemy--from a short pang and a quick +death? Fie!--is not that better than slow starvation? or, if you take +more heed of it, than the prison-bars of a cage? You cannot restore the +nest, you cannot recall the parent. Be wiser in your mercy: leave the +bird to its gentlest fate!" + +I looked hard on Vivian; the lip had lost the bitter smile. He rose and +turned away. I sought to take up the poor bird, but it did not know its +friends, and ran from me, chirping piteously--ran towards the very jaws +of the grim enemy. I was only just in time to scare away the beast, +which sprang up a tree, and glared down through the hanging boughs. +Then I followed the bird, and, as I followed, I heard, not knowing, at +first whence the sound came, a short, quick, tremulous note. Was it +near? was it far?--from the earth? in the sky? Poor parent-bird!--like +parent-love, it seemed now far and now near; now on earth, now in sky! + +And at last, quick and sudden, as if born of the space, lo! the little +wings hovered over me! + +The young bird halted, and I also. "Come," said I, "ye have found each +other at last--settle it between you!" + +I went back to the outcast. + + +CHAPTER LXXXV. + +PISISTRATUS.--How came you to know we had stayed in the town? + +VIVIAN.--Do you think I could remain where you left me? I wandered +out--wandered hither. Passing at dawn through yon streets, I saw the +ostlers loitering by the gates of the yard, overheard them talk, and so +knew you were all at the inn--all! (_He sighed heavily._) + +PISISTRATUS.--Your poor father is very ill! O cousin, how could you +fling from you so much love! + +VIVIAN.--Love!--his!--my father's! + +PISISTRATUS.--Do you really not believe, then, that your father loved +you? + +VIVIAN.--If I had believed it, I had never left him! All the gold of +the Indies had never bribed me to leave my mother! + +PISISTRATUS.--This is indeed a strange misconception of yours. If we +can remove it, all may be well yet. Need there now be any secrets +between us? (_persuasively._) Sit down, and tell me all, cousin. + +After some hesitation, Vivian complied; and by the clearing of his +brow, and the very tone of his voice, I felt sure that he was no +longer seeking to disguise the truth. But, as I afterwards learned +the father's tale as well as now the son's, so, instead of repeating +Vivian's words, which--not by design, but by the twist of a mind +habitually wrong--distorted the facts, I will state what appears to me +the real case, as between the parties so unhappily opposed. Reader, +pardon me if the recital be tedious. And if thou thinkest that I bear +not hard enough on the erring hero of the story, remember that he who +recites judges as Austin's son must judge of Roland's. + + +CHAPTER LXXXVI. + +VIVIAN. + +AT THE ENTRANCE OF LIFE SITS--THE MOTHER. + +It was during the war in Spain that a severe wound, and the fever which +ensued, detained Roland at the house of a Spanish widow. His hostess +had once been rich; but her fortune had been ruined in the general +calamities of the country. She had an only daughter, who assisted to +nurse and tend the wounded Englishman; and when the time approached +for Roland's departure, the frank grief of the young Ramouna betrayed +the impression that the guest had made upon her affections. Much of +gratitude, and something, it might be, of an exquisite sense of honour, +aided, in Roland's breast, the charm naturally produced by the beauty +of his young nurse, and the knightly compassion he felt for her ruined +fortunes and desolate condition. + +In one of those hasty impulses common to a generous nature--and which +too often fatally vindicate the rank of Prudence amidst the tutelary +Powers of Life--Roland committed the error of marriage with a girl of +whose connexions he knew nothing, and of whose nature little more than +its warm spontaneous susceptibility. In a few days subsequent to these +rash nuptials, Roland rejoined the march of the army; nor was he able +to return to Spain till after the crowning victory of Waterloo. + +Maimed by the loss of a limb, and with the scars of many a noble wound +still fresh, Roland then hastened to a home the dreams of which had +soothed the bed of pain, and now replaced the earlier visions of +renown. During his absence a son had been born to him--a son whom he +might rear to take the place he had left in his country's service; to +renew, in some future fields, a career that had failed the romance +of his own antique and chivalrous ambition. As soon as that news had +reached him, his care had been to provide an English nurse for the +infant--so that, with the first sounds of the mother's endearments, the +child might yet hear a voice from the father's land. A female relation +of Bolt's had settled in Spain, and was induced to undertake this +duty. Natural as this appointment was to a man so devotedly English, +it displeased his wild and passionate Ramouna. She had that mother's +jealousy, strongest in minds uneducated; she had also that peculiar +pride which belongs to her country-people, of every rank and condition; +the jealousy and the pride were both wounded by the sight of the +English nurse at the child's cradle. + +That Roland, on regaining his Spanish hearth, should be disappointed +in his expectations of the happiness awaiting him there, was the +inevitable condition of such a marriage; since, not the less for his +military bluntness, Roland had that refinement of feeling, perhaps +over-fastidious, which belongs to all natures essentially poetic; and +as the first illusions of love died away, there could have been little +indeed congenial to his stately temper in one divided from him by an +utter absence of education, and by the strong but nameless distinctions +of national views and manners. The disappointment probably, however, +went deeper than that which usually attends an ill-assorted union; +for, instead of bringing his wife to his old tower, (an expatriation +which she would doubtless have resisted to the utmost,) he accepted, +maimed as he was, not very long after his return to Spain, the offer +of a military post under Ferdinand. The Cavalier doctrines and intense +loyalty of Roland attached him, without reflection, to the service of +a throne which the English arms had contributed to establish; while +the extreme unpopularity of the Constitutional Party in Spain, and +the stigma of irreligion fixed to it by the priests, aided to foster +Roland's belief that he was supporting a beloved king against the +professors of those revolutionary and Jacobinical doctrines, which +to him were the very atheism of politics. The experience of a few +years in the service of a bigot so contemptible as Ferdinand, whose +highest object of patriotism was the restoration of the Inquisition, +added another disappointment to those which had already embittered the +life of a man who had seen in the grand hero of Cervantes no follies +to satirise, but high virtues to imitate. Poor Quixote himself--he +came mournfully back to his La Mancha, with no other reward for his +knight-errantry than a decoration which he disdained to place beside +his simple Waterloo medal, and a grade for which he would have blushed +to resign his more modest, but more honourable English dignity. + +But, still weaving hopes, the sanguine man returned to his Penates. His +child now had grown from infancy into boyhood--the child would pass +naturally into his care. Delightful occupation!--At the thought, Home +smiled again. + +Now, behold the most pernicious circumstance in this ill-omened +connexion. + +The father of Ramouna had been one of that strange and mysterious +race which presents in Spain so many features distinct from the +characteristics of its kindred tribes in more civilised lands. +The Gitáno, or gipsy of Spain, is not the mere vagrant we see on +our commons and roadsides. Retaining, indeed, much of his lawless +principles and predatory inclinations, he lives often in towns, +exercises various callings, and not unfrequently becomes rich. A +wealthy Gitáno had married a Spanish woman;[5] Roland's wife had been +the offspring of this marriage. The Gitáno had died while Ramouna +was yet extremely young, and her childhood had been free from the +influences of her paternal kindred. But, though her mother, retaining +her own religion, had brought up Ramouna in the same faith, pure from +the godless creed of the Gitáno--and, at her husband's death, had +separated herself wholly from his tribe--still she had lost caste with +her own kin and people. And while struggling to regain it, the fortune, +which made her sole chance of success in that attempt, was swept away, +so that she had remained apart and solitary, and could bring no friends +to cheer the solitude of Ramouna during Roland's absence. But, while my +uncle was still in the service of Ferdinand, the widow died; and then +the only relatives who came round Ramouna were her father's kindred. +They had not ventured to claim affinity while her mother lived; and +they did so now, by attentions and caresses to her son. This opened +to them at once Ramouna's heart and doors. Meanwhile, the English +nurse--who, in spite of all that could render her abode odious to her, +had, from strong love to her charge, stoutly maintained her post--died, +a few weeks after Ramouna's mother, and no healthful influence remained +to counteract those baneful ones to which the heir of the honest old +Caxtons was subjected. But Roland returned home in a humour to be +pleased with all things. Joyously he clasped his wife to his breast, +and thought, with self-reproach, that he had forborne too little, and +exacted too much--he would be wiser now. Delightedly he acknowledged +the beauty, the intelligence, and manly bearing of the boy, who played +with his sword-knot, and ran off with his pistols as a prize. + +[5] A Spaniard very rarely indeed marries a Gitána or female gipsy. But +occasionally (observes Mr Borrow) a wealthy Gitáno marries a Spanish +female. + +The news of the Englishman's arrival at first kept the lawless kinsfolk +from the house; but they were fond of the boy, and the boy of them, and +interviews between him and these wild comrades, if stolen, were not +less frequent. Gradually Roland's eyes became opened. As, in habitual +intercourse, the boy abandoned the reserve which awe and cunning at +first imposed, Roland was inexpressibly shocked at the bold principles +his son affected, and at his utter incapacity even to comprehend that +plain honesty and that frank honour which, to the English soldier, +seemed ideas innate and heaven-planted. Soon afterwards, Roland found +that a system of plunder was carried on in his household, and tracked +it to the connivance of the wife and the agency of the son, for the +benefit of lazy bravos and dissolute vagrants. A more patient man than +Roland might well have been exasperated--a more wary man confounded, +by this discovery. He took the natural step--perhaps insisting on it +too summarily--perhaps not allowing enough for the uncultured mind and +lively passions of his wife: he ordered her instantly to prepare to +accompany him from the place, and to give up all communication with her +kindred. + +A vehement refusal ensued; but Roland was not a man to give up such +a point, and at length a false submission, and a feigned repentance +soothed his resentment and obtained his pardon. They moved several +miles from the place; but where they moved, there, some at least, and +those the worst, of the baleful brood, stealthily followed. Whatever +Ramouna's earlier love for Roland had been, it had evidently long +ceased in the thorough want of sympathy between them, and in that +absence which, if it renews a strong affection, destroys an affection +already weakened. But the mother and son adored each other with all +the strength of their strong, wild natures. Even under ordinary +circumstances, the father's influence over a boy yet in childhood is +exerted in vain, if the mother lend herself to baffle it. And in this +miserable position, what chance had the blunt, stern, honest Roland +(separated from his son during the most ductile years of infancy) +against the ascendency of a mother who humoured all the faults, and +gratified all the wishes, of her darling? + +In his despair, Roland let fall the threat that, if thus thwarted, it +would become his duty to withdraw his son from the mother. This threat +instantly hardened both hearts against him. The wife represented Roland +to the boy as a tyrant, as an enemy--as one who had destroyed all the +happiness they had before enjoyed in each other--as one whose severity +showed that he hated his own child; and the boy believed her. In his +own house a firm union was formed against Roland, and protected by the +cunning which is the force of the weak against the strong. + +In spite of all, Roland could never forget the tenderness with which +the young nurse had watched over the wounded man, nor the love--genuine +for the hour, though not drawn from the feelings which withstand the +wear and tear of life--that lips so beautiful had pledged him in the +bygone days. These thoughts must have come perpetually between his +feelings and his judgment, to embitter still more his position--to +harass still more his heart. And if, by the strength of that sense +of duty which made the force of his character, he could have strung +himself to the fulfilment of the threat, humanity, at all events, +compelled him to delay it--his wife promised to be again a mother. +Blanche was born. How could he take the infant from the mother's +breast, or abandon the daughter to the fatal influences from which +only, by so violent an effort, he could free the son? + +No wonder, poor Roland! that those deep furrows contracted thy bold +front, and thy hair grew gray before its time! + +Fortunately, perhaps, for all parties, Roland's wife died while Blanche +was still an infant. She was taken ill of a fever--she died delirious, +clasping her boy to her breast, and praying the saints to protect him +from his cruel father. How often that deathbed haunted the son, and +justified his belief that there was no parent's love in the heart +which was now his sole shelter from the world, and the "pelting of its +pitiless rain." Again I say, poor Roland!--for I know that, in that +harsh, unloving disrupture of such solemn ties, thy large generous +heart forgot its wrongs; again didst thou see tender eyes bending over +the wounded stranger--again hear low murmurs breathe the warm weakness +which the women of the south deem it no shame to own. And now did it +all end in those ravings of hate, and in that glazing gaze of terror! + + +CHAPTER LXXXVII. + +THE PRECEPTOR. + +Roland removed to France, and fixed his abode in the environs of Paris. +He placed Blanche at a convent in the immediate neighbourhood, going +to see her daily, and gave himself up to the education of his son. The +boy was apt to learn; but to unlearn was here the arduous task--and +for that task it would have needed either the passionless experience, +the exquisite forbearance of a practised teacher, or the love, and +confidence, and yielding heart of a believing pupil. Roland felt that +he was not the man to be the teacher, and that his son's heart remained +obstinately closed to him. He looked round, and found at the other +side of Paris what seemed a suitable preceptor--a young Frenchman of +some distinction in letters, more especially in science, with all +a Frenchman's eloquence of talk, full of high-sounding sentiments, +that pleased the romantic enthusiasm of the Captain; so Roland, with +sanguine hopes, confided his son to this man's care. The boy's natural +quickness mastered readily all that pleased his taste; he learned to +speak and write French with rare felicity and precision. His tenacious +memory, and those flexile organs in which the talent for languages +is placed, served, with the help of an English master, to revive his +earlier knowledge of his father's tongue, and to enable him to speak +it with fluent correctness--though there was always in his accent +something which had struck me as strange; but, not suspecting it to +be foreign, I had thought it a theatrical affectation. He did not go +far into science--little farther, perhaps, than a smattering of French +mathematics; but he acquired a remarkable facility and promptitude in +calculation. He devoured eagerly the light reading thrown in his way, +and picked up thence that kind of knowledge which novels and plays +afford, for good or evil, according as the novel or the play elevates +the understanding and ennobles the passions, or merely corrupts the +fancy, and lowers the standard of human nature. But of all that Roland +desired him to be taught, the son remained as ignorant as before. Among +the other misfortunes of this ominous marriage, Roland's wife had +possessed all the superstitions of a Roman Catholic Spaniard, and with +these the boy had unconsciously intermingled doctrines far more dreary, +imbibed from the dark paganism of the Gitános. + +Roland had sought a Protestant for his son's tutor. The preceptor was +nominally a Protestant--a biting derider of all superstitions indeed! +He was such a Protestant as some defender of Voltaire's religion says +the Great Wit would have been had he lived in a Protestant country. The +Frenchman laughed the boy out of his superstitions, to leave behind +them the sneering scepticism of the _Encyclopédie_, without those +redeeming ethics on which all sects of philosophy are agreed, but +which, unhappily, it requires a philosopher to comprehend. + +This preceptor was doubtless not aware of the mischief he was doing; +and for the rest, he taught his pupil after his own system--a mild and +plausible one, very much like the system we at home are recommended +to adopt--"Teach the understanding, all else will follow;" "Learn +to read _something_, and it will all come right;" "Follow the bias +of the pupil's mind; thus you develop genius, not thwart it." Mind, +Understanding, Genius--fine things! But, to educate the whole man, +you must educate something more than these. Not for want of mind, +understanding, genius, have Borgias and Neros left their names as +monuments of horror to mankind. Where, in all this teaching, was one +lesson to warm the heart and guide the soul? + +O mother mine! that the boy had stood by thy knee, and heard from thy +lips, why life was given us, in what life shall end, and how heaven +stands open to us night and day! O father mine! that thou hadst been +his preceptor, not in book-learning, but the heart's simple wisdom! Oh! +that he had learned from thee, in parables closed with practice, the +happiness of self-sacrifice, and how "good deeds should repair the bad!" + +It was the misfortune of this boy, with his daring and his beauty, that +there was in his exterior and his manner that which attracted indulgent +interest, and a sort of compassionate admiration. The Frenchman liked +him--believed his story--thought him ill-treated by that hard-visaged +English soldier. All English people were so disagreeable, particularly +English soldiers; and the Captain once mortally offended the Frenchman, +by calling Vilainton _un grand homme_, and denying, with brutal +indignation, that the English had poisoned Napoleon! So, instead of +teaching the son to love and revere his father, the Frenchman shrugged +his shoulders when the boy broke into some unfilial complaint, and +at most said, "_Mais, cher enfant, ton père est Anglais--c'est tout +dire_." Meanwhile, as the child sprang rapidly into precocious youth, +he was permitted a liberty in his hours of leisure, of which he availed +himself with all the zest of his early habits and adventurous temper. +He formed acquaintances among the loose young haunters of cafés, +and spendthrifts of that capital--the wits! He became an excellent +swordsman and pistol-shot--adroit in all games in which skill helps +fortune. He learned betimes to furnish himself with money, by the cards +and the billiard-balls. + +But, delighted with the easy home he had obtained, he took care to +school his features, and smooth his manner, in his father's visits--to +make the most of what he had learned of less ignoble knowledge, and, +with his characteristic imitativeness, to cite the finest sentiments he +had found in his plays and novels. What father is not credulous? Roland +believed, and wept tears of joy. And now he thought the time was come +to take back the boy--to return with a worthy heir to the old Tower. +He thanked and blest the tutor--he took the son. But, under pretence +that he had yet some things to master, whether in book knowledge or +manly accomplishments, the youth begged his father, at all events, +not yet to return to England--to let him attend his tutor daily for +some months. Roland consented, moved from his old quarters, and took +a lodging for both in the same suburb as that in which the teacher +resided. But soon, when they were under one roof, the boy's habitual +tastes, and his repugnance to all paternal authority, were betrayed. +To do my unhappy cousin justice, (such as that justice is,) though +he had the cunning for a short disguise, he had not the hypocrisy to +maintain systematic deceit. He could play a part for a while, from an +exulting joy in his own address; but he could not wear a mask with the +patience of cold-blooded dissimulation. Why enter into painful details, +so easily divined by the intelligent reader? The faults of the son +were precisely those to which Roland would be least indulgent. To the +ordinary scrapes of high-spirited boyhood, no father, I am sure, would +have been more lenient; but to anything that seemed low, petty--that +grated on him as gentleman and soldier--there, not for worlds would +I have braved the darkness of his frown, and the woe that spoke like +scorn in his voice. And when, after all warning and prohibition were +in vain, Roland found his son, in the middle of the night, in a resort +of gamblers and sharpers, carrying all before him with his cue, in the +full flush of triumph, and a great heap of five-franc pieces before +him--you may conceive with what wrath the proud, hasty, passionate man, +drove out, cane in hand, the obscene associates, flinging after them +the son's ill-gotten gains; and with what resentful humiliation the +son was compelled to follow the father home. Then Roland took the boy +to England, but not to the old Tower; that hearth of his ancestors was +still too sacred for the footsteps of the vagrant heir! + + +CHAPTER LXXXVIII. + +THE HEARTH WITHOUT TRUST, AND THE WORLD WITHOUT A GUIDE. + +And then, vainly grasping at every argument his blunt sense could +suggest--then talked Roland much and grandly of the duties men +owed--even if they threw off all love to their father--still to their +father's name; and then his pride, always so lively, grew irritable and +harsh, and seemed, no doubt, to the perverted ears of the son, unlovely +and unloving. And that pride, without serving one purpose of good, did +yet more mischief; for the youth caught the disease, but in a wrong +way. And he said to himself,-- + +"Ho! then my father is a great man, with all these ancestors and big +words! And he has lands and a castle--and yet how miserably we live, +and how he stints me! But if he has cause for pride in all these dead +men, why, so have I. And are these lodgings, these appurtenances, fit +for the 'gentleman' he says I am?" + +Even in England, the gipsy blood broke out as before; and the +youth found vagrant associates, heaven knows how or where; and +strange-looking forms, gaudily shabby, and disreputably smart, were +seen lurking in the corner of the street, or peering in at the window, +slinking off if they saw Roland--and Roland could not stoop to be a +spy. And the son's heart grew harder and harder against his father, +and his father's face now never smiled on him. Then bills came in, +and duns knocked at the door. Bills and duns to a man who shrunk from +the thought of a debt, as an ermine from a spot on its hide! And the +son's short answer to remonstrance was,--"Am I not a gentleman?--these +are the things gentlemen require." Then perhaps Roland remembered the +experiment of his French friend, and left his bureau unlocked, and +said, "Ruin me if you will, but no debts. There is money in those +drawers--they are unlocked." That trust would for ever have cured +of extravagance a youth with a high and delicate sense of honour: +the pupil of the Gitános did not understand the trust; he thought it +conveyed a natural though ungracious permission to take out what he +wanted--and he took! To Roland this seemed a theft, and a theft of the +coarsest kind: but when he so said, the son started indignant, and saw +in that which had been so touching an appeal to his honour, but a trap +to decoy him into disgrace. In short, neither could understand the +other. Roland forbade his son to stir from the house; and the young man +the same night let himself out, and stole forth into the wide world, to +enjoy or defy it in his own wild way. + +It would be tedious to follow him through his various adventures and +experiments on fortune, (even if I knew them all, which I do not.) And +now, putting altogether aside his right name, which he had voluntarily +abandoned, and not embarrassing the reader with the earlier aliases +assumed, I shall give to my unfortunate kinsman the name by which I +first knew him, and continue to do so, until--heaven grant the time +may come!--having first redeemed, he may reclaim, his own. It was in +joining a set of strolling players that Vivian became acquainted with +Peacock; and that worthy, who had many strings to his bow, soon grew +aware of Vivian's extraordinary skill with the cue, and saw therein +a better mode of making their joint fortunes than the boards of an +itinerant Thespis furnished to either. Vivian listened to him, and +it was while their intimacy was most fresh that I met them on the +highroad. That chance meeting produced (if I may be allowed to believe +his assurance) a strong, and, for the moment, a salutary effect upon +Vivian. The comparative innocence and freshness of a boy's mind were +new to him; the elastic healthful spirits with which those gifts were +accompanied startled him, by the contrast to his own forced gaiety and +secret gloom. And this boy was his own cousin! + +Coming afterwards to London, he adventured inquiry at the hotel in +the Strand at which I had given my address; learned where we were; +and, passing one night in the street, saw my uncle at the window--to +recognise and to fly from him. Having then some money at his disposal, +he broke off abruptly from the set into which he had been thrown. He +resolved to return to France--he would try for a more respectable mode +of existence. He had not found happiness in that liberty he had won, +nor room for the ambition that began to gnaw him, in those pursuits +from which his father had vainly warned him. His most reputable friend +was his old tutor; he would go to him. He went; but the tutor was now +married, and was himself a father, and that made a wonderful alteration +in his practical ethics. It was no longer moral to aid the son in +rebellion to his father. Vivian evinced his usual sarcastic haughtiness +at the reception he met, and was requested civilly to leave the house. +Then again he flung himself on his wits at Paris. But there were plenty +of wits there sharper than his own. He got into some quarrel with the +police--not indeed for any dishonest practices of his own, but from an +unwary acquaintance with others less scrupulous, and deemed it prudent +to quit France. Thus had I met him again, forlorn and ragged, in the +streets of London. + +Meanwhile Roland, after the first vain search, had yielded to the +indignation and disgust that had long rankled within him. His son had +thrown off his authority, because it preserved him from dishonour. His +ideas of discipline were stern, and patience had been wellnigh crushed +out of his heart. He thought he could bear to resign his son to his +fate--to disown him, and to say, "I have no more a son." It was in this +mood that he had first visited our house. But when, on that memorable +night in which he had narrated to his thrilling listeners the dark +tale of a fellow-sufferer's woe and crime--betraying in the tale, to +my father's quick sympathy, his own sorrow and passion--it did not +need much of his gentler brother's subtle art to learn or guess the +whole, nor much of Austin's mild persuasion to convince Roland that he +had not yet exhausted all efforts to track the wanderer and reclaim +the erring child. Then he had gone to London--then he had sought every +spot which the outcast would probably haunt--then had he saved and +pinched from his own necessities, to have wherewithal to enter theatres +and gaming-houses, and fee the agencies of police; then had he seen +the form for which he had watched and pined, in the street below +his window, and cried in a joyous delusion, "He repents!" One day a +letter reached my uncle, through his banker's, from the French tutor, +(who knew of no other means of tracing Roland but through the house +by which his salary had been paid,) informing him of his son's visit. +Roland started instantly for Paris. Arriving there, he could only learn +of his son through the police, and from them only learn that he had +been seen in the company of accomplished swindlers, who were already +in the hands of justice; but that the youth himself, whom there was +nothing to criminate, had been suffered to quit Paris, and had taken, +it was supposed, the road to England. Then at last the poor Captain's +stout heart gave way. His son the companion of swindlers!--could he be +sure that he was not their accomplice? If not yet, how small the step +between companionship and participation! He took the child left him +still from the convent, returned to England, and arrived there to be +seized with fever and delirium--apparently on the same day (or a day +before that on which) the son had dropped shelterless and penniless on +the stones of London. + + +CHAPTER LXXXIX. + +THE ATTEMPT TO BUILD A TEMPLE TO FORTUNE OUT OF THE RUINS OF HOME. + +"But," said Vivian, pursuing his tale, "but when you came to my aid, +not knowing me--when you relieved me--when from your own lips, for +the first time, I heard words that praised me, and for qualities that +implied I might yet be 'worth much.'--Ah! (he added mournfully,) I +remember the very words--a new light broke upon me--struggling and dim, +but light still. The ambition with which I had sought the truckling +Frenchman revived, and took worthier and more definite form. I would +lift myself above the mire, make a name, rise in life!" + +Vivian's head drooped, but he raised it quickly, and laughed--his +low mocking laugh. What follows of his tale may be told succinctly. +Retaining his bitter feelings towards his father, he resolved to +continue his incognito--he gave himself a name likely to mislead +conjecture, if I conversed of him to my family, since he knew that +Roland was aware that a Colonel Vivian had been afflicted by a runaway +son--and, indeed, the talk upon that subject had first put the notion +of flight into his own head. He caught at the idea of becoming known to +Trevanion; but he saw reasons to forbid his being indebted to me for +the introduction--to forbid my knowing where he was: sooner or later, +that knowledge could scarcely fail to end in the discovery of his real +name. Fortunately, as he deemed, for the plans he began to meditate, +we were all leaving London--he should have the stage to himself. And +then boldly he resolved upon what he regarded as the master scheme of +life--viz., to obtain a small pecuniary independence, and to emancipate +himself formally and entirely from his father's control. Aware of poor +Roland's chivalrous reverence for his name, firmly persuaded that +Roland had no love for the son, but only the dread that the son might +disgrace him, he determined to avail himself of his father's prejudices +in order to effect his purpose. + +He wrote a short letter to Roland, (that letter which had given the +poor man so sanguine a joy--that letter after reading which he had said +to Blanche, "Pray for me,") stating simply, that he wished to see his +father; and naming a tavern in the city for the meeting. + +The interview took place. And when Roland, love and forgiveness in +his heart--but (who shall blame him?) dignity on his brow, and rebuke +in his eye--approached, ready at a word to fling himself on the boy's +breast, Vivian, seeing only the outer signs, and interpreting them by +his own sentiments--recoiled; folded his arms on his bosom, and said +coldly, "Spare me reproach, sir--it is unavailing. I seek you only to +propose that you shall save your name, and resign your son." + +Then, intent perhaps but to gain his object, the unhappy youth +declared his fixed determination never to live with his father, never +to acquiesce in his authority, resolutely to pursue his own career, +whatever that career might be, explaining none of the circumstances +that appeared most in his disfavour--rather, perhaps, thinking that, +the worse his father judged of him, the more chance he had to achieve +his purpose. "All I ask of you," he said, "is this: Give me the least +you can afford to preserve me from the temptation to rob, or the +necessity to starve; and I, in my turn, promise never to molest you in +life--never to degrade you in my death; whatever my misdeeds, they will +never reflect on yourself, for you shall never recognise the misdoer! +The name you prize so highly shall be spared." Sickened and revolted, +Roland attempted no argument--there was that in the son's cold manner +which shut out hope, and against which his pride rose indignant. A +meeker man might have remonstrated, implored, and wept--that was not in +Roland's nature. He had but the choice of three evils, to say to his +son: "Fool, I command thee to follow me;" or say, "Wretch, since thou +wouldst cast me off as a stranger, as a stranger I say to thee--Go, +starve or rob, as thou wilt!" or lastly, to bow his proud head, stunned +by the blow, and say, "Thou refusest me the obedience of the son, thou +demandest to be as the dead to me. I can control thee not from vice, +I can guide thee not to virtue. Thou wouldst sell me the name I have +inherited stainless, and have as stainless borne. Be it so!--Name thy +price!" + +And something like this last was the father's choice. + +He listened, and was long silent; and then he said slowly, "Pause +before you decide." + +"I have paused long--my decision is made! this is the last time we +meet. I see before me now the way to fortune, fairly, honourably; you +can aid me in it only in the way I have said. Reject me now, and the +option may never come again to either!" + +And then Roland said to himself, "I have spared and saved for this son; +what care I for aught else than enough to live without debt, creep +into a corner, and await the grave! And the more I can give, why the +better chance that he will abjure the vile associate and the desperate +course." And so, out of that small income, Roland surrendered to the +rebel child more than the half. + +Vivian was not aware of his father's fortune--he did not suppose the +sum of two hundred pounds a-year was an allowance so disproportioned +to Roland's means--yet when it was named, even he was struck by the +generosity of one to whom he himself had given the right to say, "I +take thee at thy word; 'just enough not to starve!'" + +But then that hateful cynicism which, caught from bad men and evil +books, he called "knowledge of the world," made him think, "it is not +for me, it is only for his name;" and he said aloud, "I accept these +terms, sir; here is the address of a solicitor with whom yours can +settle them. Farewell for ever." + +At those last words Roland started, and stretched out his arms vaguely +like a blind man. But Vivian had already thrown open the window, (the +room was on the ground floor) and sprang upon the sill. "Farewell," he +repeated: "tell the world I am dead." + +He leapt into the street, and the father drew in the outstretched arms, +smote his heart, and said--"Well, then, my task in the world of man is +over! I will back to the old ruin--the wreck to the wrecks--and the +sight of tombs I have at least rescued from dishonour shall comfort me +for all!" + + +CHAPTER XC. + +THE RESULTS--PERVERTED AMBITION--SELFISH PASSION--THE INTELLECT +DISTORTED BY THE CROOKEDNESS OF THE HEART. + +Vivian's schemes thus prospered. He had an income that permitted him +the outward appearances of a gentleman--an independence modest indeed, +but independence still. We were all gone from London. One letter to +me, with the postmark of the town near which Colonel Vivian lived, +sufficed to confirm my belief in his parentage, and in his return to +his friends. He then presented himself to Trevanion as the young man +whose pen I had employed in the member's service; and knowing that +I had never mentioned his name to Trevanion--for without Vivian's +permission I should not, considering his apparent trust in me, have +deemed myself authorised to do so--he took that of Gower, which he +selected haphazard from an old Court Guide, as having the advantage in +common with most names borne by the higher nobility of England, viz., +of not being confined, as the ancient names of untitled gentlemen +usually are, to the members of a single family. And when, with his +usual adaptability and suppleness, he had contrived to lay aside, or +smooth over, whatever in his manners would be calculated to displease +Trevanion, and had succeeded in exciting the interest which that +generous statesman always conceived for ability, he owned candidly, one +day, in the presence of Lady Ellinor--for his experience had taught him +the comparative ease with which the sympathy of woman is enlisted in +anything that appeals to the imagination, or seems out of the ordinary +beat of life--that he had reasons for concealing his connexions for +the present--that he had cause to believe I suspected what they were, +and, from mistaken regard for his welfare, might acquaint his relations +with his whereabouts. He therefore begged Trevanion, if the latter had +occasion to write to me, not to mention him. This promise Trevanion +gave, though reluctantly; for the confidence volunteered to him seemed +to exact the promise; but as he detested mystery of all kinds, the +avowal might have been fatal to any farther acquaintance; and under +auspices so doubtful, there would have been no chance of his obtaining +that intimacy in Trevanion's house which he desired to establish, but +for an accident which at once opened that house to him almost as a home. + +Vivian had always treasured a lock of his mother's hair, cut off on her +deathbed; and when he was at his French tutor's, his first pocket-money +had been devoted to the purchase of a locket, on which he had caused to +be inscribed his own name and his mother's. Through all his wanderings +he had worn this relic; and in the direst pangs of want, no hunger had +been keen enough to induce him to part with it. Now, one morning the +ribbon that suspended the locket gave way, and his eye resting on the +names inscribed on the gold, he thought, in his own vague sense of +right, imperfect as it was, that his compact with his father obliged +him to have the names erased. He took it to a jeweller in Piccadilly +for that purpose, and gave the requisite order, not taking notice of +a lady in the further part of the shop. The locket was still on the +counter after Vivian had left, when the lady coming forward observed +it, and saw the names on the surface. She had been struck by the +peculiar tone of the voice, which she had heard before; and that very +day Mr Gower received a note from Lady Ellinor Trevanion, requesting +to see him. Much wondering, he went. Presenting him with the locket, +she said smiling, "There is only one gentleman in the world who calls +himself _De_ Caxton, unless it be his son. Ah! I see now why you wished +to conceal yourself from my friend Pisistratus. But how is this? can +you have any difference with your father? Confide in me, or it is my +duty to write to him." + +Even Vivian's powers of dissimulation abandoned him, thus taken by +surprise. He saw no alternative but to trust Lady Ellinor with his +secret, and implore her to respect it. And then he spoke bitterly +of his father's dislike to him, and his own resolution to prove the +injustice of that dislike by the position he would himself establish +in the world. At present, his father believed him dead, and perhaps +was not ill-pleased to think so. He would not dispel that belief till +he could redeem any boyish errors, and force his family to be proud to +acknowledge him. + +Though Lady Ellinor was slow to believe that Roland could dislike his +son, she could yet readily believe that he was harsh and choleric, with +a soldier's high notions of discipline; the young man's story moved +her, his determination pleased her own high spirit;--always with a +touch of romance in her, and always sympathising with each desire of +ambition--she entered into Vivian's aspirations with an alacrity that +surprised himself. She was charmed with the idea of ministering to the +son's fortunes, and ultimately reconciling him to the father,--through +her own agency;--it would atone for any fault of which Roland could +accuse herself in the old time. + +She undertook to impart the secret to Trevanion, for she would have no +secrets from him, and to secure his acquiescence in its concealment +from all others. + +And here I must a little digress from the chronological course of my +explanatory narrative, to inform the reader that, when Lady Ellinor +had her interview with Roland, she had been repelled by the sternness +of his manner from divulging Vivian's secret. But on her first +attempt to sound or conciliate him, she had begun with some eulogies +on Trevanion's new friend and assistant, Mr Gower, and had awakened +Roland's suspicions of that person's identity with his son--suspicions +which had given him a terrible interest in our joint deliverance of +Miss Trevanion. But so heroically had the poor soldier sought to resist +his own fears, that on the way he shrank to put to me the questions +that might paralyse the energies which, whatever the answer, were then +so much needed. "For," said he to my father, "I felt the blood surging +to my temples; and if I had said to Pisistratus, 'Describe this man,' +and by his description I had recognised my son, and dreaded lest I +might be too late to arrest him from so treacherous a crime, my brain +would have given way;--and so I did not dare!" + +I return to the thread of my story. From the time that Vivian confided +in Lady Ellinor, the way was cleared to his most ambitious hopes; and +though his acquisitions were not sufficiently scholastic and various to +permit Trevanion to select him as a secretary, yet, short of sleeping +at the house, he was little less intimate there than I had been. + +Among Vivian's schemes of advancement, that of winning the hand and +heart of the great heiress had not been one of the least sanguine. +This hope was annulled when, not long after his intimacy at her +father's house, she became engaged to young Lord Castleton. But he +could not see Miss Trevanion with impunity--(alas! who, with a heart +yet free, could be insensible to attractions so winning?) He permitted +the love--such love as his wild, half-educated, half-savage nature +acknowledged--to creep into his soul--to master it; but he felt no +hope, cherished no scheme while the young lord lived. With the death +of her betrothed, Fanny was free; _then_ he began to hope--not yet to +scheme. Accidentally he encountered Peacock. Partly from the levity +that accompanied a false good-nature that was constitutional with +him, partly from a vague idea that the man might be useful, Vivian +established his quondam associate in the service of Trevanion. Peacock +soon gained the secret of Vivian's love for Fanny, and, dazzled by the +advantages that a marriage with Miss Trevanion would confer on his +patron, and might reflect on himself, and delighted at an occasion to +exercise his dramatic accomplishments on the stage of real life, he +soon practised the lesson that the theatres had taught him--viz: to +make a sub-intrigue between maid and valet serve the schemes and insure +the success of the lover. If Vivian had some opportunities to imply his +admiration, Miss Trevanion gave him none to plead his cause. But the +softness of her nature, and that graceful kindness which surrounded +her like an atmosphere, emanating unconsciously from a girl's harmless +desire to please, tended to deceive him. His own personal gifts were +so rare, and, in his wandering life, the effect they had produced +had so increased his reliance on them, that he thought he wanted but +the fair opportunity to woo in order to win. In this state of mental +intoxication, Trevanion, having provided for his Scotch secretary, took +him to Lord N----'s. His hostess was one of those middle-aged ladies of +fashion, who like to patronise and bring forward young men, accepting +gratitude for condescension, as a homage to beauty. She was struck by +Vivian's exterior, and that 'picturesque' in look and in manner which +belonged to him. Naturally garrulous and indiscreet, she was unreserved +to a pupil whom she conceived the whim to make '_au fait_ to society.' +Thus she talked to him, among other topics in fashion, of Miss +Trevanion, and expressed her belief that the present Lord Castleton had +always admired her; but it was only on his accession to the marquisate +that he had made up his mind to marry, or, from his knowledge of Lady +Ellinor's ambition, thought that the Marquis of Castleton might achieve +the prize which would have been refused to Sir Sedley Beaudesert. Then, +to corroborate the predictions she hazarded, she repeated, perhaps +with exaggeration, some passages from Lord Castleton's replies to her +own suggestions on the subject. Vivian's alarm became fatally excited; +unregulated passions easily obscured a reason so long perverted, and a +conscience so habitually dulled. There is an instinct in all intense +affection, (whether it be corrupt or pure,) that usually makes its +jealousy prophetic. Thus, from the first, out of all the brilliant +idlers round Fanny Trevanion, my jealousy had pre-eminently fastened on +Sir Sedley Beaudesert, though, to all seeming, without a cause. From +the same instinct, Vivian had conceived the same vague jealousy--a +jealousy, in his instance, coupled with a deep dislike to his supposed +rival, who had wounded his self-love. For the marquis, though to be +haughty or ill-bred was impossible to the blandness of his nature, +had never shown to Vivian the genial courtesies he had lavished upon +me, and kept politely aloof from his acquaintance--while Vivian's +personal vanity had been wounded by that drawing-room effect, which the +proverbial winner of all hearts produced without an effort--an effect +that threw into the shade the youth, and the beauty (more striking, but +infinitely less prepossessing) of the adventurous rival. Thus animosity +to Lord Castleton conspired with Vivian's passion for Fanny, to rouse +all that was worst by nature and by rearing, in this audacious and +turbulent spirit. + +His confidant, Peacock, suggested from his stage experience the +outlines of a plot, to which Vivian's astuter intellect instantly gave +tangibility and colouring. Peacock had already found Miss Trevanion's +waiting-woman ripe for any measure that might secure himself as her +husband, and a provision for life as a reward. Two or three letters +between them settled the preliminary engagements. A friend of the +ex-comedian's had lately taken an inn on the North road, and might be +relied upon. At that inn it was settled that Vivian should meet Miss +Trevanion, whom Peacock, by the aid of the abigail, engaged to lure +there. The sole difficulty that then remained would, to most men, have +seemed the greatest--viz., the consent of Miss Trevanion to a Scotch +marriage. But Vivian hoped all things from his own eloquence, art, and +passion; and by an inconsistency, however strange, still not unnatural +in the twists of so crooked an intellect, he thought that, by insisting +on the intention of her parents to sacrifice her youth to the very man +of whose attractions he was most jealous--by the picture of disparity +of years, by the caricature of his rival's foibles and frivolities, +by the commonplaces of "beauty bartered for ambition," &c., he might +enlist her fears of the alternative on the side of the choice urged +upon her. The plan proceeded, the time came: Peacock pretended the +excuse of a sick relation to leave Trevanion; and Vivian, a day before, +on pretence of visiting the picturesque scenes in the neighbourhood, +obtained leave of absence. Thus the plot went on to its catastrophe. + +"And I need not ask," said I, trying in vain to conceal my indignation, +"how Miss Trevanion received your monstrous proposition!" + +Vivian's pale cheek grew paler, but he made no reply. + +"And if we had not arrived, what would you have done? Oh, dare you look +into the gulf of infamy you have escaped!" + +"I cannot, and I will not bear this!" exclaimed Vivian, starting +up. "I have laid my heart bare before you, and it is ungenerous and +unmanly thus to press upon its wounds. You can moralise, you can speak +coldly--but I--I loved!" + +"And do you think," I burst forth--"do you think that I did not love +too!--love longer than you have done; better than you have done; gone +through sharper struggles, darker days, more sleepless nights than +you,--and yet--" + +Vivian caught hold of me. + +"Hush!" he cried; "is this indeed true! I thought you might have had +some faint and fleeting fancy for Miss Trevanion, but that you curbed +and conquered it at once. Oh no; it was impossible to have loved +really, and to have surrendered all chance as you did!--have left the +house, have fled from her presence! No--no, that was not love!" + +"It _was_ love! and I pray Heaven to grant that, one day, you may +know how little your affection sprang from those feelings which make +true love sublime as honour, and meek as is religion! Oh cousin, +cousin!--with those rare gifts, what you might have been! what, if +you will pass through repentance, and cling to atonement--what, I +dare hope, you may yet be! Talk not now of your love; I talk not of +mine! Love is a thing gone from the lives of both. Go back to earlier +thoughts, to heavier wrongs!--your father--that noble heart which you +have so wantonly lacerated, that much-enduring love which you have so +little comprehended!" + +Then with all the warmth of emotion I hurried on--showed him the true +nature of honour and of Roland (for the names were one!)--showed him +the watch, the hope, the manly anguish I had witnessed, and wept--I, +not his son--to see; showed him the poverty and privation to which +the father, even at the last, had condemned himself, so that the son +might have no excuse for the sins that Want whispers to the weak. +This, and much more, and I suppose with the pathos that belongs to +all earnestness, I enforced, sentence after sentence--yielding to no +interruption, over-mastering all dissent; driving in the truth, nail +after nail, as it were, into the obdurate heart, that I constrained and +grappled to. And at last, the dark, bitter, cynical nature gave way, +and the young man fell sobbing at my feet, and cried aloud, "Spare me, +spare me!--I see it all now! Wretch that I have been!" + + +CHAPTER XCI. + +On leaving Vivian, I did not presume to promise him Roland's immediate +pardon. I did not urge him to attempt to see his father. I felt the +time was not come for either pardon or interview. I contented myself +with the victory I had already gained. I judged it right that thought, +solitude, and suffering should imprint more deeply the lesson, and +prepare the way to the steadfast resolution of reform. I left him +seated by the stream, and with the promise to inform him at the small +hostelry, where he took up his lodging, how Roland struggled through +his illness. + +On returning to the inn, I was uneasy to see how long a time had +elapsed since I had left my uncle. But on coming into his room, to +my surprise and relief I found him up and dressed, and with a serene +though fatigued expression of countenance. He asked me no questions +where I had been--perhaps from sympathy with my feelings in parting +with Miss Trevanion--perhaps from conjecture that the indulgence of +those feelings had not wholly engrossed my time. + +But he said simply, "I think I understood from you that you had sent +for Austin--is it so?" + +"Yes, sir; but I named * * * * *, as the nearest point to the Tower, +for the place of meeting." + +"Then let us go hence forthwith--nay, I shall be better for the change. +And here, there must be curiosity, conjecture--torture!" said he, +locking his hands tightly together. "Order the horses at once!" + +I left the room, accordingly; and while they were getting ready the +horses, I ran to the place where I had left Vivian. He was still there, +in the same attitude, covering his face with his hands, as if to +shut out the sun. I told him hastily of Roland's improvement, of our +approaching departure, and asked him an address in London at which I +could find him. He gave me as his direction the same lodging at which I +had so often visited him. "If there be no vacancy there for me," said +he, "I shall leave word where I am to be found. But I would gladly be +where I was, before--" He did not finish the sentence. I pressed his +hand and left him. + + +CHAPTER XCII. + +Some days have elapsed; we are in London, my father with us; and Roland +has permitted Austin to tell me his tale, and received through Austin +all that Vivian's narrative to me suggested, whether in extenuation +of the past, or in hope of redemption in the future. And Austin has +inexpressibly soothed his brother. And Roland's ordinary roughness has +gone, and his looks are meek, and his voice low. But he talks little, +and smiles never. He asks me no questions; does not to _me_ name his +son, nor recur to the voyage to Australia, nor ask 'why it is put off,' +nor interest himself as before in preparations for it--he has no heart +for anything. + +The voyage _is_ put off till the next vessel sails, and I have +seen Vivian twice or thrice, and the result of the interviews has +disappointed and depressed me. It seems to me that much of the previous +effect I had produced is already obliterated. At the very sight of +the great Babel--the evidence of the ease, the luxury, the wealth, +the pomp, the strife, the penury, the famine, and the rags, which the +focus of civilisation, in the disparities of old societies, inevitably +gathers together--the fierce combative disposition seemed to awaken +again; the perverted ambition, the hostility to the world; the wrath, +the scorn; the war with man, and the rebellious murmur against Heaven. +There was still the one redeeming point of repentance for his wrongs to +his father--his heart was still softened there; and, attendant on that +softness, I hailed a principle more like that of honour than I had yet +recognised in Vivian. He cancelled the agreement which had assured him +of a provision at the cost of his father's comforts. "At least, there," +he said, "I will injure him no more!" + +But while, on this point, repentance seemed genuine, it was not so +with regard to his conduct towards Miss Trevanion. His gipsy nurture, +his loose associates, his extravagant French romances, his theatrical +mode of looking upon love intrigues and stage plots, seemed all to rise +between his intelligence and the due sense of the fraud and treachery +he had practised. He seemed to feel more shame at the exposure than at +the guilt; more despair at the failure of success than gratitude at +escape from crime. In a word, the nature of a whole life was not to be +remodelled at once--at least by an artificer so unskilled as I. + +After one of these interviews, I stole into the room where Austin sat +with Roland, and, watching a seasonable moment when Roland, shaking off +a reverie, opened his Bible, and sat down to it, with each muscle in +his face set, as I had seen it before, into iron resolution, I beckoned +my father from the room. + +PISISTRATUS.--I have again seen my cousin. I cannot make the way I +wish. My dear father, you must see him. + +MR CAXTON.--I!--yes, assuredly, if I can be of any service. But will he +listen to me? + +PISISTRATUS.--I think so. A young man will often respect in his elder, +what he will resent as a presumption in his contemporary. + +MR CAXTON.--It maybe so: (_then, more thoughtfully,_) but you describe +this strange boy's mind as a wreck!--in what part of the mouldering +timbers can I fix the grappling-hook? Here, it seems that most of the +supports on which we can best rely, when we would save another, fail +us. Religion, honour, the associations of childhood, the bonds of +home, filial obedience--even the intelligence of self-interest, in the +philosophical sense of the word. And I, too!--a mere book-man! My dear +son!--I despair! + +PISISTRATUS.--No, you do not despair--no, you must succeed; for, if you +do not, what is to become of Uncle Roland? Do you not see his heart is +fast breaking? + +MR CAXTON.--Get me my hat; I will go. I will save this Ishmael--I will +not leave him till he is saved! + +PISISTRATUS (_some minutes after, as they are walking towards Vivian's +lodgings._)--You ask me what support you are to cling to! A strong and +a good one, sir. + +MR CAXTON.--Ay, what is that? + +PISISTRATUS.--Affection! There is a nature capable of strong affection +at the core of this wild heart! He could love his mother; tears gush to +his eyes at her name--he would have starved rather than part with the +memorial of that love. It was his belief in his father's indifference +or dislike that hardened and embruted him--it is only when he hears how +that father loved him, that I now melt his pride and curb his passions. +You have affection to deal with!--do you despair now? + +My father turned on me those eyes so inexpressibly benign and mild, and +replied softly, "No!" + +We reached the house; and my father said, as we knocked at the door, +"If he is at home, leave me. This is a hard study to which you have set +me; I must work at it alone." Vivian was at home, and the door closed +on his visitor. My father stayed some hours. + +On returning home, to my great surprise I found Trevanion with my +uncle. He had found us out--no easy matter, I should think. But a good +impulse in Trevanion was not of that feeble kind which turns home at +the sight of a difficulty. He had come to London on purpose to see and +to thank us. + +I did not think there had been so much of delicacy--of what I may +call the "beauty of kindness"--in a man whom incessant business had +rendered ordinarily blunt and abrupt. I hardly recognised the impatient +Trevanion in the soothing, tender, subtle respect that rather implied +than spoke gratitude, and sought to insinuate what he owed to the +unhappy father, without touching on his wrongs from the son. But of +this kindness--which showed how Trevanion's high nature of gentleman +raised him aloof from that coarseness of thought which those absorbed +wholly in practical affairs often contract--of this kindness, so noble +and so touching, Roland seemed scarcely aware. He sat by the embers of +the neglected fire, his hands grasping the arms of his elbow-chair, +his head drooping on his bosom; and only by a deep hectic flush on +his dark cheek could you have seen that he distinguished between an +ordinary visitor and the man whose child he had helped to save. This +minister of state--this high member of the elect, at whose gift are +places, peerages, gold sticks, and ribbons--has nothing at his command +for the bruised spirit of the half-pay soldier. Before that poverty, +that grief, and that pride, the King's Counsellor was powerless. Only +when Trevanion rose to depart, something like a sense of the soothing +intention which the visit implied seemed to rouse the repose of the old +man, and to break the ice at its surface; for he followed Trevanion +to the door, took both his hands, pressed them, then turned away, and +resumed his seat. Trevanion beckoned to me, and I followed him down +stairs, and into a little parlour which was unoccupied. + +After some remarks upon Roland, full of deep and considerate feeling, +and one quick, hurried reference to the son--to the effect that his +guilty attempt would never be known by the world--Trevanion then +addressed himself to me with a warmth and urgency that took me by +surprise. "After what has passed," he exclaimed, "I cannot suffer +you to leave England thus. Let me not feel with you, as with your +uncle, that there is nothing by which I can repay--no, I will not so +put it. Stay and serve your country at home: it is my prayer--it is +Ellinor's. Out of all at my disposal, it will go hard but what I shall +find something to suit you." And then, hurrying on, Trevanion spoke +flatteringly of my pretensions, in right of birth and capabilities, +to honourable employment, and placed before me a picture of public +life--its prizes and distinctions--which, for the moment at least, +made my heart beat loud and my breath come quick. But still, even +then, I felt (was it an unreasonable pride?) that there was something +that jarred, something that humbled, in the thought of holding all my +fortunes as a dependency on the father of the woman I loved, but might +not aspire to;--something even of personal degradation in the mere +feeling that I was thus to be repaid for a service, and recompensed for +a loss. But these were not reasons I could advance; and, indeed, so for +the time did Trevanion's generosity and eloquence overpower me, that I +could only falter out my thanks, and my promise that I would consider +and let him know. + +With that promise he was forced to content himself; he told me to +direct to him at his favourite country-seat, whither he was going that +day, and so left me. I looked round the humble parlour of the mean +lodging-house, and Trevanion's words came again before me like a flash +of golden light. I stole into the open air, and wandered through the +crowded streets, agitated and disturbed. + + +CHAPTER XCIII. + +Several days elapsed--and of each day my father spent a considerable +part at Vivian's lodgings. But he maintained a reserve as to his +success, begged me not to question him, and to refrain also for the +present from visiting my cousin. My uncle guessed or knew his brother's +mission; for I observed that, whenever Austin went noiseless away, his +eye brightened, and the colour rose in a hectic flush to his cheek. At +last my father came to me one morning, his carpet-bag in his hand, and +said, "I am going away for a week or two. Keep Roland company till I +return." + +"Going with _him_?" + +"With him." + +"That is a good sign." + +"I hope so; that is all I can say now." + +The week had not quite passed when I received from my father the +letter I am about to place before the reader; and you may judge how +earnestly his soul must have been in the task it had volunteered, if +you observe how little, comparatively speaking, the letter contains of +the subtleties and pedantries (may the last word be pardoned, for it is +scarcely a just one) which ordinarily left my father a scholar even in +the midst of his emotions. He seemed here to have abandoned his books, +to have put the human heart before the eyes of his pupil, and said, +"Read, and _un_learn!" + + +TO PISISTRATUS CAXTON. + + "MY DEAR SON,--It were needless to tell you all the earlier + difficulties I have had to encounter with my charge, nor to repeat + all the means which, acting on your suggestion, (a correct one,) + I have employed to arouse feelings long dormant and confused, and + allay others, long prematurely active, and terribly distinct. The + evil was simply this: here was the intelligence of a man in all + that is evil--and the ignorance of an infant in all that is good. + In matters merely worldly, what wonderful acumen! in the plain + principles of right and wrong, what gross and stolid obtuseness! + At one time, I am straining all my poor wit to grapple in an + encounter on the knottiest mysteries of social life; at another, + I am guiding reluctant fingers over the horn-book of the most + obvious morals. Here hieroglyphics, and there pot-hooks! But as + long as there is affection in a man, why, there is Nature to begin + with! To get rid of all the rubbish laid upon her, clear back the + way to that Nature, and start afresh--that is one's only chance. + + "Well, by degrees I won my way, waiting patiently till the bosom, + pleased with the relief, disgorged itself of all 'its perilous + stuff,'--not chiding--not even remonstrating, seeming almost to + sympathise, till I got him Socratically to disprove himself. When + I saw that he no longer feared me--that my company had become + a relief to him--I proposed an excursion, and did not tell him + whither. + + "Avoiding as much as possible the main north road, (for I did not + wish, as you may suppose, to set fire to a train of associations + that might blow us up to the dog-star,) and, where that + avoidance was not possible, travelling by night, I got him into + the neighbourhood of the old Tower. I would not admit him under + its roof. But you know the little inn, three miles off the trout + stream?--we made our abode there. + + "Well, I have taken him into the village, preserving his + incognito. I have entered with him into cottages, and turned the + talk upon Roland. You know how your uncle is adored; you know + what anecdotes of his bold, warm-hearted youth once, and now of + his kind and charitable age, would spring up from the garrulous + lips of gratitude! I made him see with his own eyes, hear with his + own ears, how all who knew Roland loved and honoured him--except + his son. Then I took him round the ruins--(still not suffering + him to enter the house,) for those ruins are the key to Roland's + character--seeing them, one sees the pathos in his poor foible + of family pride. There, you distinguish it from the insolent + boasts of the prosperous, and feel that it is little more than the + pious reverence to the dead--'the tender culture of the tomb.' + We sat down on heaps of mouldering stone, and it was there that + I explained to him what Roland was in youth, and what he had + dreamed that a son would be to him. I showed him the graves of his + ancestors, and explained to him why they were sacred in Roland's + eyes! I had gained a great way, when he longed to enter the home + that should have been his; and I could make him pause of his own + accord, and say, 'No, I must first be worthy of it.' Then you + would have smiled--sly satirist that you are--to have heard me + impressing upon this acute, sharp-witted youth, all that we plain + folk understand by the name of HOME--its perfect trust and truth, + its simple holiness, its exquisite happiness--being to the world + what conscience is to the human mind. And after that, I brought + in his sister, whom till then he had scarcely named--for whom he + scarcely seemed to care--brought her in to aid the father, and + endear the home. 'And you know,' said I, 'that if Roland were to + die, it would be a brother's duty to supply his place; to shield + her innocence--to protect her name! A good name is something, + then. Your father was not so wrong to prize it. You would like + yours to be that which your sister would be proud to own!' + + "While we were talking, Blanche suddenly came to the spot, and + rushed to my arms. She looked on him as a stranger; but I saw his + knees tremble. And then she was about to put her hand in his--but + I drew her back. Was I cruel? He thought so. But when I dismissed + her, I replied to his reproach, 'Your sister is a part of Home. + If you think yourself worthy of either, go and claim both; I will + not object.'--'She has my mother's eyes,' said he, and walked + away. I left him to muse amidst the ruins, while I went in to see + your poor mother, and relieve her fears about Roland, and make her + understand why I could not yet return _home_. + + "This brief sight of his sister has sunk deep into him. But I now + approach what seems to me the great difficulty of the whole. He is + fully anxious to redeem his name--to regain his home. So far so + well. But he cannot yet see ambition, except with hard, worldly + eyes. He still fancies that all he has to do is to get money and + power, and some of those empty prizes in the Great Lottery, which + we often win more easily by our sins than our virtues. (Here + follows a long passage from Seneca, omitted as superfluous.) He + does not yet even understand me--or, if he does, he fancies me + a mere bookworm indeed, when I imply that he might be poor, and + obscure, at the bottom of fortune's wheel, and yet be one we + should be proud of! He supposes that, to redeem his name, he has + only got to lacker it. Don't think me merely the fond father, when + I add my hope that I shall use you to advantage here. I mean to + talk to him to-morrow, as we return to London, of you, and of your + ambition: you shall hear the result. + + "At this moment, (it is past midnight,) I hear his step in the + room above me. The window-sash aloft opens--for the third time; + would to Heaven he could read the true astrology of the stars! + There they are--bright, luminous, benignant. And I seeking to + chain this wandering comet into the harmonies of heaven! Better + task than that of astrologers, and astronomers to boot! Who among + them can 'loosen the band of Orion?'--but who amongst us may not + be permitted by God to have sway over the action and orbit of the + human soul? + + "Your ever affectionate father, + + A. C." + +Two days after the receipt of this letter, came the following; and +though I would fain suppress those references to myself which must be +ascribed to a father's partiality, yet it is so needful to retain them +in connexion with Vivian, that I have no choice but to leave the tender +flatteries to the indulgence of the kind. + + "MY DEAR SON,--I was not too sanguine as to the effect that your + simple story would produce upon your cousin. Without implying any + contrast to his own conduct, I described that scene in which you + threw yourself upon our sympathy, in the struggle between love and + duty, and asked for our counsel and support; when Roland gave you + his blunt advice to tell all to Trevanion; and when, amidst such + sorrow as the heart in youth seems scarcely large enough to hold, + you caught at truth impulsively, and the truth bore you safe from + the shipwreck. I recounted your silent and manly struggles--your + resolution not to suffer the egotism of passion to unfit you for + the aims and ends of that spiritual probation which we call LIFE. + I showed you as you were, still thoughtful for us, interested in + our interests--smiling on us, that we might not guess that you + wept in secret! Oh, my son--my son! do not think that, in those + times, I did not feel and pray for you! And while he was melted by + my own emotion, I turned from your love to your ambition. I made + him see that you, too, had known the restlessness which belongs to + young ardent natures; that you, too, had your dreams of fortune, + and aspirations for success. But I painted that ambition in its + true colours: it was not the desire of a selfish intellect, to be + in yourself a somebody--a something--raised a step or two in the + social ladder, for the pleasure of looking down on those at the + foot, but the warmer yearning of a generous heart; your ambition + was to repair your father's losses--minister to your father's very + foible, in _his_ idle desire of fame--supply to your uncle what he + had lost in his natural heir--link your success to useful objects, + your interests to those of your kind, your reward to the proud and + grateful smiles of those you loved. That was thine ambition, O + my tender Anachronism! And when, as I closed the sketch, I said, + 'Pardon me: you know not what delight a father feels, when, while + sending a son away from him into the world, he can speak and think + thus of him! But this, you see, is not your kind of ambition. Let + us talk of making money, and driving a coach-and-four through this + villanous world,'--your cousin sank into a profound reverie, and + when he woke from it, it was like the waking of the earth after a + night in spring--the bare trees had put forth buds! + + "And, some time after, he startled me by a prayer that I would + permit him, with his father's consent, to accompany you to + Australia. The only answer I have given him as yet, has been in + the form of a question: 'Ask yourself if I ought? I cannot wish + Pisistratus to be other than he is; and unless you agree with him + in all his principles and objects, ought I to incur the risk that + you should give him your knowledge of the world, and inoculate him + with your ambition?' He was struck, and had the candour to attempt + no reply. + + "Now, Pisistratus, the doubt I expressed to him is the doubt + I feel. For, indeed, it is only by home-truths, not refining + arguments, that I can deal with this unscholastic Scythian, who, + fresh from the Steppes, comes to puzzle me in the Portico. + + "On the one hand, what is to become of him in the Old World? At + his age, and with his energies, it would be impossible to cage him + with us in the Cumberland ruins; weariness and discontent would + undo all we could do. He has no resource in books--and I fear + never will have! But to send him forth into one of the overcrowded + professions--to place him amidst all those 'disparities of social + life,' on the rough stones of which he is perpetually grinding + his heart--turn him adrift amongst all the temptations to which he + is most prone--this is a trial which, I fear, will be too sharp + for a conversion so incomplete. In the New World, no doubt, his + energies would find a safer field; and even the adventurous and + desultory habits of his childhood might there be put to healthful + account. Those complaints of the disparities of the civilised + world, find, I suspect, an easier if a bluffer reply from the + political economist than the Stoic philosopher. 'You don't like + them, you find it hard to submit to them,' says the political + economist; 'but they are the laws of a civilised state, and you + can't alter them. Wiser men than you have tried to alter them, + and never succeeded, though they turned the earth topsy-turvy! + Very well; but the world is wide--go into a state that is not so + civilised. The disparities of the Old World vanish amidst the + New! Emigration is the reply of Nature to the rebellious cry + against Art.' Thus would say the political economist: and, alas, + even in your case, my son, I found no reply to the reasonings! I + acknowledge, then, that Australia might open the best safety-valve + to your cousin's discontent and desires; but I acknowledge also a + counter-truth, which is this--'It is not permitted to an honest + man to corrupt himself for the sake of others.' That is almost the + only maxim of Jean Jacques to which I can cheerfully subscribe! Do + you feel quite strong enough to resist all the influences which a + companionship of this kind may subject you to--strong enough to + bear his burthen as well as your own--strong enough, also--ay, and + alert and vigilant enough--to prevent those influences harming + the others, whom you have undertaken to guide, and whose lots are + confided to you? Pause well, and consider maturely, for this must + not depend upon a generous impulse. I think that your cousin would + now pass under your charge, with a sincere desire for reform; + but between sincere desire and steadfast performance there is a + long and dreary interval--even to the best of us. Were it not for + Roland, and had I one grain less confidence in you, I could not + entertain the thought of laying on your young shoulders so great a + responsibility. But every new responsibility to an earliest nature + is a new prop to virtue;--and all I now ask of you is--to remember + that it _is_ a solemn and serious charge, not to be undertaken + without the most deliberate gauge and measure of the strength with + which it is to be borne. + + "In two days we shall be in London.--Yours, my Anachronism, + anxiously and fondly, + + A. C." + +I was in my own room while I read this letter, and I had just finished +it when, as I looked up, I saw Roland standing opposite to me. "It is +from Austin," said he; then he paused a moment, and added in a tone +that seemed quite humble, "May I see it?--and dare I?" I placed the +letter in his hands, and retired a few paces, that he might not think I +watched his countenance while he read it. And I was only aware that he +had come to the end by a heavy, anxious, but not despondent sigh. Then +I turned, and our eyes met, and there was something in Roland's look, +inquiring--and as it were imploring. I interpreted it at once. + +"Oh, yes, uncle," I said, smiling; "I have reflected, and I have no +fear of the result. Before my father wrote, what he now suggests had +become my secret wish. As for our other companions, their simple +natures would defy all such sophistries as--but he is already half +cured of those. Let him come with me, and when he returns he shall be +worthy of a place in your heart, beside his sister Blanche. I feel, I +promise it--do not fear for me! Such a change will be a talisman to +myself. I will shun every error that I might otherwise commit, so that +he may have no example to entice him to err." + +I know that in youth, and the superstition of first love, we are +credulously inclined to believe that love, and the possession of the +beloved, are the only happiness. But when my uncle folded me in his +arms, and called me the hope of his age, and stay of his house--the +music of my father's praise still ringing on my heart--I do affirm that +I knew a greater and a prouder bliss than if Trevanion had placed +Fanny's hand in mine, and said, "She is yours." + +And now the die was cast--the decision made. It was with no regret +that I wrote to Trevanion to decline his offers. Nor was the sacrifice +so great--even putting aside the natural pride which had before +inclined to it--as it may seem to some; for, restless though I was, +I had laboured to constrain myself to other views of life than those +which close the vistas of ambition with images of the terrestrial +deities--Power and Rank. Had I not been behind the scenes, noted all +of joy and of peace that the pursuit of power had cost Trevanion, and +seen how little of happiness rank gave even to one of the polished +habits and graceful attributes of Lord Castleton? Yet each nature +seemed fitted so well--the first for power, the last for rank! It is +marvellous with what liberality Providence atones for the partial +dispensations of Fortune. Independence, or the vigorous pursuit of it; +affection, with its hopes and its rewards; a life only rendered by art +more susceptible to nature--in which the physical enjoyments are pure +and healthful--in which the moral faculties expand harmoniously with +the intellectual--and the heart is at peace with the mind: is this a +mean lot for ambition to desire--and is it so far out of human reach? +"Know thyself," said the old philosophy. "Improve thyself," saith +the new. The great object of the Sojourner in Time is not to waste +all his passions and gifts on the things external that he must leave +behind--that which he cultivates within is all that he can carry into +the Eternal Progress. We are here but as schoolboys, whose life begins +where school ends; and the battles we fought with our rivals, and the +toys that we shared with our playmates, and the names that we carved, +high or low, on the wall, above our desks--will they so much bestead us +hereafter? As new facts crowd upon us, can they more than pass through +the memory with a smile or a sigh? Look back to thy school days, and +answer. + + +CHAPTER XCIV. + +Two weeks, since the date of the preceding chapter, have passed; we +have slept our last, for long years to come, on the English soil. It is +night; and Vivian has been admitted to an interview with his father. +They have been together alone an hour and more, and I and my father +will not disturb them. But the clock strikes--the hour is late--the +ship sails to-night--we should be on board. And as we two stand below, +the door opens in the room above, and a heavy step descends the stairs; +the father is leaning on the son's arm. You should see how timidly the +son guides the halting step. And now, as the light gleams on their +faces, there are tears on Vivian's cheek; but the face of Roland seems +calm and happy. Happy! when about to be separated, perhaps for ever, +from his son? Yes, happy! because he has found a son for the first +time; and is not thinking of years and absence, and the chance of +death--but thankful for the Divine mercy, and cherishing celestial +hope. If ye wonder why Roland is happy in such an hour, how vainly have +I sought to make him breathe, and live, and move before you! + + * * * * * + +We are on board; our luggage all went first. I had had time, with the +help of a carpenter, to knock up cabins for Vivian, Guy Bolding, and +myself in the hold. For, thinking we could not too soon lay aside the +pretensions of Europe--"_de_-fine-gentlemanise" ourselves, as Trevanion +recommended--we had engaged steerage passage, to the great humouring of +our finances. We had, too, the luxury to be by ourselves, and our own +Cumberland folks were round us, as our friends and servants both. + +We are on board, and have looked our last on those we are to leave, +and we stand on deck leaning on each other. We are on board, and the +lights, near and far, shine from the vast city; and the stars are on +high, bright and clear, as for the first mariners of old. Strange +noises, rough voices, and crackling cords, and here and there the sobs +of women, mingling with the oaths of men. Now the swing and heave of +the vessel--the dreary sense of exile that comes when the ship fairly +moves over the waters. And still we stood, and looked, and listened; +silent, and leaning on each other. + +Night deepened, the city vanished--not a gleam from its myriad lights! +The river widened and widened. How cold comes the wind!--is that a +gale from the sea? The stars grow faint--the moon has sunk. And now, +how desolate look the waters in the comfortless gray of dawn! Then we +shivered and looked at each other, and muttered something that was not +the thought deepest at our hearts, and crept into our berths--feeling +sure it was not for sleep. And sleep came on us soft and kind. The +ocean lulled the exiles as on a mother's breast. + + + + +JONATHAN IN AFRICA.[6] + + +A new school of novelists is evidently springing up on the western +shores of the Atlantic. The pioneers are already in the field--and +the main body, we suppose, will shortly follow. The style of these +innovators seems a compound imitation of _Gulliver_, _Munchausen_, +_The Arabian Nights_, and _Robinson Crusoe_; the ingredients being +mixed in capricious proportions, well stirred, seasoned with Yankee +bulls and scraps of sea-slang, and served hot--sometimes plain, at +others with a _hors d'oeuvre_ of puffs. We know not how such queer +ragouts affect the public palate; but we are inclined to prefer dishes +of an older fashion. Mr Herman Melville, of New York and the Pacific +Ocean, common sailor, first introduced the new-fangled kickshaw. This +young gentleman has most completely disappointed us. Two or three +years ago, he published two small volumes of sea-faring adventure and +island-rambles, of which we thought more highly than of any first +appearance of the kind we for a long time had witnessed. In the pages +of Maga, where praise is never lightly or lavishly bestowed, we said as +much; and were glad to hope that Typee and Omoo were but an earnest of +even better things. And, therefore, sadly were we disgusted on perusal +of a rubbishing rhapsody, entitled _Mardi, and a Voyage Thither_. +We sat down to it with glee and self-gratulation, and through about +half a volume we got on pleasantly enough. The author was afloat; and +although we found little that would bear comparison with the fine vein +of nautical fun and characteristic delineation which we had enjoyed +on board the Little Jule, and afterwards at Tahiti, yet there was +interest--strong interest at times; and a scene on board a deserted +vessel was particularly exciting,--replete with power of a peculiar +and uncommon kind. But this proved a mere flash in the pan--the ascent +of the rocket which was soon to fall as a stick. An outlandish young +female, one Miss Yillah, makes her first appearance: Taji, the hero and +narrator of the yarn, reaches a cluster of fabulous islands, where the +jealous queen Hautia opens a floral correspondence with him: where the +plumed and turbaned Yoomy sings indifferent doggerel; and Philosopher +Babbalanja unceasingly doth prose; and the Begum of Pimminee holds +drawing-rooms, which are attended by the Fanfums, and the Diddledees, +and the Fiddlefies, and a host of other insular magnates, with names +equally elegant, euphonious, and significant. Why, what trash is +all this!--mingled, too, with attempts at a Rabelaisian vein, and +with strainings at smartness--the style of the whole being affected, +pedantic, and wearisome exceedingly. We are reminded, by certain parts +of _Mardi_, of Foote's nonsense about the nameless lady who "went into +the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple-pie;" and at whose +wedding the Joblilies, and the Picninnies, and the Great Panjandrum, +danced till the gunpowder ran out at their boot-heels. Foote wrote his +absurd paragraph, we believe, to try a friend's memory; Mr Melville +has evidently written his unintelligible novel to try the public's +patience. Of three things we are certain, namely, that the Panjandrum +story is quite as easy to understand as _Mardi_; that it is much more +diverting; and, the chief advantage of all, an infinite deal shorter. + +[6] _Kaloolah, or Journeyinqs to the Djébel Kumri: an Autobiography of +Jonathan Romer._ Edited by W. S. MAYO, M.D. London: 1849. + +_Mardi_, which we dismissed from our mind when we closed it with a yawn +a day or two after its publication, has been recalled to our memory +by another book, also proceeding from America, although published in +London; and which, like Mr Melville's romance, blends the real and +the possible with the ideal and the fantastic. _Kaloolah_ (Heaven +help these Yankee nomenclators) professes to be the autobiography of +Jonathan Romer, a young Nantucket sailor, to whose narrative, during +his absence in the interior of Africa, one of his countrymen, Dr W. +S. Mayo, obligingly acts as editor. Most readers will probably be +of opinion that the American M.D. might claim a nearer interest in +the literary bantling--the first-born, we apprehend, of his own pen +and imagination. But our business is with the book, and not with the +author, whose name, whether Romer or Mayo, is as yet unknown to fame, +but who need not despair of achieving reputation. _Kaloolah_ combines +with certain faults, which may presently be indicated, some very +excellent qualities, and has several chapters, whereof any one contains +more real good stuff, and ingenuity, and amusement, than the whole of +the second and third volumes of _Mardi_, reduced to a concentrated +essence. Besides, it is manifest that the two books must be viewed +and judged differently--one as a first, and by no means unpromising +attempt; the other, as the backsliding performance of a man who has +proved himself capable of far better things. + +Before commencing his own story, young Jonathan Romer introduces us to +his ancestors, and asserts his right to a life of adventure. "Descended +on both sides of the house from some of the earliest settlers of +Nantucket, and more or less intimately related to the Coffins, the +Folgers, the Macys, and the Starbucks of that adventurous population, +it would seem that I had a natural right to a roving disposition, and +to a life of peril, privation, and vicissitude. Nearly all the male +members of my family, for several generations, have been followers +of the sea: some of them in the calm and peaceful employment of the +merchant-service; others, and by far the greater number, in the more +dangerous pursuit of the ocean monster." After relating some of the +feats of his family, and glancing at his own childhood, which gave +early indications of the bold and restless spirit that animated him at +a mature period, Jonathan presents himself to his readers at the age of +eighteen--a stalwart stripling and idle student; the best rider, shot, +swimmer, and leaper for many miles around, with little taste for books, +and a very decided one for rambling in the woods with rifle and rod. At +this time the academy, of which he had for four years been an inmate, +is nearly broken up by what is called "a revival of religion;" in other +words, a violent fit of fanatical enthusiasm, provoked and fed by +Baptist and Methodist preachers. Pupils and teachers alike go mad with +fervent zeal, classes are at an end, unceasing prayer is substituted +for study, and Jonathan, who ls one of the few unregenerated, walks +into the forest, and knocks the head off a partridge with a rifle-ball. +The bird is picked up, and the excellence of the aim applauded by an +old trapper and hunter, Joe Downs by name, well known along the shores +of the Rackett and Grass rivers, in the northern and uninhabited part +of the state of New York. Joe is not the wild, semi-Indian trapper of +the south and west, whom Sealsfield and Ruxton have so graphically +sketched; there is as much difference between the two characters as +between a sailor in the coasting trade and a Pacific Ocean beachcomber. +There is nothing of the half-horse, half-alligator style about Joe, +whose manner is so mild, and his coat so decent, that he has been taken +for a country parson. He despises the Redskins, sets no value on their +scalps, and would not shed their blood, except in self-defence. How he +had once been thus compelled to do so, he relates to Jonathan in the +course of their first conversation. + + "It was the way towards Tupper's lake. There had been a light + fall of snow, and I was scouting round, when I happened to make a + circumbendibus, and came across my own track, and there I saw the + marks of an Indian's foot right on my trail. Thinks I, that is + kind of queer; the fellow must have been following me; howsomever + I'll try him, and make sure; so I made another large circle, and + again struck my own track, and there was the tarnal Indian's foot + again. Says I, this won't do; I must find out what this customer + wants, and how he'll have it. So I stopped short, and soon got + sight of him; he knew that I saw him, so he came along up, in the + most friendly manner you can think. But I didn't like his looks; + he was altogether too darned glad to see me. He had no gun, but he + had an almighty long-handled tomahawk, and a lot of skins and real + traps. Thinks I, may be, old fellow, your gun has burst, or you've + pawned it for rum, and you can't raise skins enough to redeem it, + and you want mine, and perhaps you'll get it. + + "At last I grew kind of nervous; I knew the fellow would hatchet + me if I gave him a chance, and yet I didn't want to shoot him + right down just on suspicion. But I thought, if I let him cut my + throat first, it would be too late to shoot him afterwards. So I + concluded that the best way would be to give him a chance to play + his hand; and if so be he'd lead the wrong card, why I should + have a right to take the trick. Just then, at the right time, a + partridge flew into a clump that stood five or six rods off. So I + kind of 'noeuvred round a little. I drew out my ramrod, as if to + feel whether the ball in my rifle was well down; but instead of + returning it again, I kept it in my hand, and, without letting the + vagabond see me, I got out a handful of powder. I then sauntered + off to the bush, shot the partridge, and in an instant passed my + hand over the muzzle of my rifle, and dropped the powder in. I + picked up the bird, and then just took and run my ramrod right + down upon the powder. Now, he thought, was his chance before I + loaded my gun again. He came towards me with his hatchet in his + hand. I saw that he was determined to act wicked, and began to + back off; he still came on. I lowered my rifle, and told him to + keep away. He raised his tomahawk, gave one yell, and bounded + right at me. When he was just about three or four feet from the + muzzle, I fired. You never see a fellow jump so. He kicked his + heels up in the air, and came down plump on his head, dead as + Julius Cæsar. He never winked; the ramrod--a good, hard, tough + piece of hickory--had gone clean through him, and stuck out about + two feet from his back. Served him right; didn't it?" + +The old trapper urges Jonathan to accompany him on an expedition into +the woods, promising, as an inducement, to put him "right alongside +the biggest catamount he has ever seen," and to let him fight it +out, with rifle, hatchet, and knife, without making or meddling in +the contest. He also pledges himself to show him a fishpond, "where +the youngest infants, of a genteel pickerelto family, weigh at least +three pounds." Such inducements are irresistible. Jonathan packs up a +brace of blankets and his shooting and fishing fixings, and goes off +in the canoe with Joe Downs on a pleasant up-stream cruise, enlivened +by a succession of beautiful scenery, and by the varied and original +conversation of his companion. On their way they fell in with a party +of Indians, amongst them one Blacksnake, a brother of the gentleman +whom Joe had spitted on his ramrod. He suspects Joe of having shot his +kinsman, and Joe strongly suspects him of having already attempted to +revenge his death. + + "'I was leaning out of the second story doorway of Jones's shop + one day,' said Joe, 'looking across the river, when, whizz, a + rifle bullet came and buried itself in the doorpost. I hain't + the least doubt that that very identical Blacksnake sent it. + Thank God, his aim was not as his will! He's a bad chap. Why, I + really believe it was he who murdered my old friend Dan White + the trapper. If I only knew it was the fact, I wish I may be + stuck, forked end uppermost, in a coon hole, if I wouldn't send a + ball through his painted old braincase, this 'ere very identical + minute. Darn your skin!' energetically growled Joe, shaking his + fist at the distant canoe." + +It would have saved Mr Downs some trouble and suffering if he had +yielded to the impulse, and expended half-an-ounce of lead upon +Blacksnake, who, about a week later, sneaks up, with two companions, +to the trapper's pine-log fire, and shoots the unfortunate Joe, but +is shot down himself, the very next moment, by Jonathan Romer, whose +double-barrel settles two of the murderers, and then descends with +crushing force upon the cranium of the third. Joe not being dead, +although very badly wounded, his young companion conveys him to a cave, +whose hidden entrance the trapper had revealed to him the previous day, +and there tends him till he is able to bear removal. With his committal +to the hands of a village surgeon, Mr Romer's backwoods adventures +terminate, a source of regret to the reader, since they are more lively +and attractive than some subsequent portions of the book, evidently +deemed by the author more interesting and important, and therefore +dwelt upon at greater length. Indeed it is our opinion that the author +of _Kaloolah_ is mistaken, as young authors constantly are, in the real +scope and nature of his own abilities, and that he would shine much +more in a novel of backwoods life, or nautical adventure, than in the +mixed style he has selected for his first attempt, which is a sort of +mosaic, distinguished rather for variety and vividness of colour than +for harmony and regularity of design. + +Jonathan reaches home in time to receive the last adieu of his mother, +a worthy but eccentric old lady, who had fitted out her son, on his +departure for school, with a winding-sheet, amongst other necessaries, +that he might be buried decently should he die far from his friends, +and that he might be reminded of his mortality as often as he emptied +his trunk. It was a curious conceit, but, as Jonathan observes, she +was from Nantucket, and they are all queer people there, and filial +affection induced him long to preserve the shroud. Mrs Romer dead, her +son applies to the study of surgery, gets himself into trouble by a +body-snatching exploit, has to levant to New York, and there, finding +he is still in danger from the friends of the disinterred corpse, who +have set the police upon his track, ships himself on board the fine +fore-topsail schooner, "Lively Anne," bound for the Western Islands, +and commanded by Captain Coffin, an old shipmate of his father's. +In this smart little craft, he sees some country and more water, +until, upon the voyage from the Azores to Malaga, a white squall or a +waterspout--which of the two he could never ascertain--capsizes the +schooner and dashes him senseless down the hatchway, whence he was just +emerging, in alarm at the sudden uproar on deck. On recovering himself, +he finds the vessel dismasted, the deck swept of all its fixtures, and +the captain and crew missing. Doubtless they had been hurled into the +waves by the same terrible force that had shattered the bulwarks and +carried away boats, casks, and galley. The horizon was now clear, not a +sail was in sight, and Jonathan Romer was alone on a helpless wreck in +the middle of the wide ocean. But he was a man of resource and mettle, +whom it was hard to discourage or intimidate; and finding the schooner +made no water, he righted her as well as he could, and resigned himself +to float at the will of the wind until he should meet a rescuing +sail. This did not occur for some weeks, during which he floated +past Teneriffe in the night, within hail of fishermen, who would not +approach him for fear of the quarantine laws. At last, sitting over his +solitary dinner, he perceived a ship heading up for the schooner. + + "As she came on, I had full time to note all her beautiful + proportions. She was small, apparently not above 300 tons, + and had a peculiarly trim and clipper-like look. Her bright + copper, flashing occasionally in the sunlight, showed that she + was in light sailing trim; whilst from the cut of her sails, + the symmetrical arrangement of her spars and rigging, and her + quarter-boats, I concluded she must be a man-of-war. Passing me + about half a mile astern, she stood on for a little distance, + then, hoisting the bilious-looking flag of Spain, she tacked + and ran for me, backing her main-topsail within twenty yards of + my larboard beam. Her quarter-boat was immediately lowered, and + half-a-dozen fellows, in red caps and flannel shirts, jumped into + it, followed by an officer in a blue velvet jacket, with a strip + of gold lace upon his shoulders, and a broad-brimmed straw hat + upon his head. I ran below, stuffed all the money that I had in + gold--about a thousand dollars--into my pockets, and got upon + deck again just as the boat touched the side." + +The precaution was a good one: the saucy Bonito, Pedro Garbez master, +was bound from Cuba to the coast of Africa, with a cut-throat crew +and an empty slave-deck. Owing to an accident, she had sailed without +a surgeon, and Romer was well received and treated so soon as his +profession was known. When he discovered the ship's character, he would +gladly have left her, but means were wanting, for the Bonito loved not +intercourse with passing craft, and touched nowhere until she reached +her destination--Cabenda Bay, on the western coast of Africa. There +being no slaves at Cabenda, it was resolved to run a few miles up the +Congo river. + + "We at length reached Loonbee, and anchored off the town, which is + the chief market or slave-depot for Embomma. It consists of about + a hundred huts of palm-leaves, with two or three block-houses, + where the slaves are confined. About two hundred slaves were + already collected, and more were on their way down the river, and + from different towns in the interior. After presents for the King + of Embomma, and for the Mafooka (a sort of chief of the board of + slave-trade,) and other officials, had been made, and a deal of + brandy drunk, we landed, and in company with several Fukas, or + native merchants, and two or three Portuguese, went to take a + look at the slaves. Each dealer paraded his gang for inspection, + and loudly dilated upon their respective qualities. They were all + entirely naked, and of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and all + had an air of stolid indifference, varied only in some of them by + an expression of surprise and fear at sight of the white men." + +In one of these unfortunate groups of dingy humanity, Romer was struck +by the appearance of a young girl, whose features widely differed +from the usual African stamp, and whose complexion, amongst a white +population, would not have been deemed too dark for a brunette. Her +gracefully curling hair contrasted with the woolly polls of her +companions; her eyes were large and expressive, and her form elegant, +but then emaciated by fatigue and ill-treatment. This is Kaloolah. +On inquiry of the slave-dealer, a great burly negro, wielding a long +thong of plaited buffalo hide, Romer learned that she is of a far +distant nation, called the Gerboo Blanda, who dwell in stone houses on +an extensive plain. The slave-dealer knows them only by report, and +Kaloolah and her brother, who is near at hand, are the first specimens +he has seen of this remote tribe. He had bought her two months' journey +off, and then she had already come a long distance. And now that he had +got them to the coast, he esteems them of small value compared to the +full-blooded blacks; for Kaloolah has pined herself away to a shadow, +and her brother, Enphadde, is bent upon suicide, and cannot be trusted +with unfettered hands; so that for thirty dollars Romer buys them both. +The Bonito having been driven out to sea by the approach of a British +cruiser, he passes some days on shore with his new purchases; during +which time, with a rapidity bordering on the miraculous, he acquires +sufficient of their language, and they of his, to carry on a sort of +piebald conversation, to learn the history of these pale Africans, and +some particulars of their mysterious country. + + "The Gerboo Blanda, I found, was a name given to their country by + the Jagas, that its true name was Framazugda, and that the people + were called Framazugs. That it was situated at a great distance + in the interior, in a direction west by north, and that it was + surrounded by negro and savage nations, through whom a trade was + carried on with people at the north-west and east, none of whom, + however, were ever seen at Framazugda, as the trade had to pass + through a number of hands. Enphadde represented the country to + be of considerable extent, consisting mostly of a lofty plateau + or elevated plain, and exceedingly populous, containing numerous + large cities, surrounded by high walls, and filled with houses of + stone. Several large streams and lakes watered the soil, which, + according to his account, was closely cultivated, and produced + in abundance the greatest variety of trees, fruits, flowers, + and grain. Over this country ruled Selha Shounsé, the father of + Enphadde and Kaloolah, as king. It was in going from the capital + to one of the royal gardens that their escort was attacked by + a party of blacks from the lowlands, the attendants killed or + dispersed, and the young prince and princess carried off." + +Thirty dollars could hardly be deemed a heavy price for the son and +daughter of the great Shounsé, and Jonathan was well pleased with his +bargain, although it was not yet clear how he should realise a profit; +but meanwhile it was something to be the proprietor of their royal +highnesses of Framazugda; something too to gaze into Kaloolah's bright +black eyes, and listen to her dulcet tones, as she warbled one of her +country's ditties about the Fultul, a sweet-scented lily flourishing +beside the rivulets of her native mountains. The verses, by the bye, +are not to be commended in Mr Romer's version; they perhaps sounded +better in the original Framazug, and when issuing from the sweet lips +of Kaloolah. + +Instead of a week, the Bonito was month absent, having been caught in +a calm. Captain Pedro Garbez promised the Virgin Mary the value of a +young negro in wax-lights for a capful of wind, but in vain; and he was +fain to tear the hair from his head with impatience. Meanwhile Jonathan +had caught a fever in the swamps of Congo, and Kaloolah had made his +chicken-broth, and tended him tenderly, and restored him to health, +although he was still so altered in appearance that Garbez knew him not +when he mounted the side of the slaver. All speed was now made to buy +and ship a cargo. The account of the latter process is interesting, +and, we have no doubt, perfectly authentic; for although the author of +_Kaloolah_ has chosen to interlard, and perhaps deteriorate his book by +strange stories of imaginary countries, animals, flowers, &c., it is +not difficult to distinguish between his fact and his fiction, and to +recognise the internal evidence of veracity and personal observation. +A short extract may here with propriety be made, for the benefit of +anti-slavery philanthropists. + + "The first slaves that came on board were taken below the + berth-deck, and arranged upon a temporary slave-deck placed over + the water-casks, and at a distance of not more than three feet and + a half from the deck overhead.... The slaves were arranged in four + ranks. When lying down, the heads of the two outer ranks touched + the sides of the ship, their feet pointing inboard or athwart the + vessel. They, of course, occupied a space fore and aft the ship, + of about six feet on either side, or twelve feet of the whole + breadth. At the feet of the outside rank came the heads of the + inner row. They took up a space of six feet more on either side, + or together twelve feet. There was still left a space running up + and down the centre of the deck, two or three feet in breadth; + along this were stretched single slaves, between the feet of the + two inner rows, so that, when all were lying down, almost every + square foot of the deck was covered with a mass of human flesh. + Not the slightest space was allowed between the individuals of + the ranks, but the whole were packed as closely as they could be, + each slave having just room enough to stretch himself out flat + upon his back, and no more. In this way about two hundred and + fifty were crowded upon the slave-deck, and as many more upon the + berth-deck. Horrible as this may seem, it was nothing compared + to the 'packing' generally practised by slavers. Captain Garbez + boasted that he had tried both systems, tight packing and loose + packing, thoroughly, and found the latter the best. + + "'If you call this loose packing,' I replied, 'have the goodness + to explain what you mean by tight packing?' + + "'Why, tight packing consists in making a row sit with their legs + stretched apart, and then another row is placed between their + legs, and so on, until the whole deck is filled. In the one case + each slave has as much room as he can cover lying; in the other + only as much room as he can occupy sitting. With tight packing + this craft ought to stow fifteen hundred.'" + +The Bonito was not above three hundred tons. Such are the blessings for +which the negroes are indebted to the tender-mercied emancipators who +have ruined our West Indian colonies. + + "'When it comes to closing the hatches,' (in the event of a + gale) said Captain Pedro, 'it is all up with the voyage. You can + hardly save enough to pay expenses. They die like leeches in a + thunderstorm. I was once in a little schooner with three hundred + on board, and we were compelled to lie-to for three days. It was + the worst sea I ever saw, and came near swamping us several times. + We lost two hundred and fifty slaves in that gale. We couldn't + get at the dead ones to throw them overboard very handily, and so + those that didn't die from want of air were killed by the rolling + and tumbling about of the corpses. Of the living ones some had + their limbs broken, and every one had the flesh of his leg worn to + the bone, by the shackle irons.' + + "'Good God! and you still pursue the horrible trade?' + + "'Certainly; why not? Despite of accidents the trade is + profitable, and, for the cruelty of it, no one is to blame except + the English. Were it not for them, large and roomy vessels would + be employed, and it would be an object to bring the slaves + over with every comfort, and in as good condition as possible. + Now, every consideration must be sacrificed to the one great + object--escape from capture by the British cruisers.' + + "I had no wish to reply to the captain's argument. One might as + well reply to a defence of blasphemy or murder. Giddy, faint, + and sick, I turned with loathing from the fiends in human guise, + and sought the more genial companionship of the inmates of my + state-room." + +These were Kaloolah and Enphadde. To conceal the beauty of the former, +perilous amidst the lawless crew of the slaver, Jonathan had marked +her face with caustic, producing black spots which had the appearance +of disease. This temporary disfigurement secured her from licentious +outrage, but not from harsh treatment. Monte, second captain of +the Bonito, was an ex-pirate, whose vessel had been destroyed by +Yankee cruisers. To spite Romer, whom he detested as an American, he +threatened to send Kaloolah and her brother amongst the slaves, and +took every opportunity of abusing them. Chapter xxi. passes wholly on +board the slaver, and is excellent of its kind. The Bonito is chased +by a man-of-war, but escapes. At daybreak, whilst lying in his berth, +Romer hears a bustle on deck, followed by shrill cries and plunges in +the water. The following is good:-- + + "I jumped from my berth and stepped out upon deck. A dense fog + brooded upon the surface of the ocean, and closely enveloped the + ship--standing up on either side, like huge perpendicular walls + of granite, and leaving a comparatively clear space--the area of + the deck and the height of the main-topmast crosstrees. Inboard, + the sight ranged nearly free fore-and-aft the ship, but seaward no + eye could penetrate, more than a yard or two, the solid-looking + barrier of vapour. A man standing on the taffrail might have seen + the catheads the whole length of the deck, whilst at the same + time, behind him, the end of the spanker boom, projecting over + the water, was lost in the mist. I looked up at the perpendicular + walls and the lofty arch overhead with feelings of awe, and, I may + add, fear. Cursed, indeed, must be our craft, when the genius of + the mist so carefully avoided the pollution of actual contact. His + rolling legions were close around us, but vapoury horse and misty + foot shrank back affrighted from the horrors of our blood-stained + decks." + +The phenomenon was doubtless attributable to the hot air generated in +the crowded 'tween-decks. The cries and plashings that had startled +Jonathan were soon explained. Virulent ophthalmia raged on board, and +Monte was drowning the blind, whose value of course departed with their +eyesight. A blind slave was "an encumbrance, an unsaleable article, +a useless expense. Pitch him overboard! Twenty-five to-day, and a +dozen more to-morrow!" But retribution was at hand, threatened, at +least, by a British brig-of-war, which appeared when the fog cleared, +at about a mile and a half to windward. During the chase, Monte, +casually jostled by Kaloolah, struck her to the deck, and a furious +scuffle ensued between him and Jonathan, who at last, seeing some of +the crew approaching, knife in hand, leaped overboard, dragging his +antagonist with him, and followed by Enphadde and Kaloolah. After a +deep dive, during which Monte's tenacious grasp was at last relaxed, +the intrepid Jonathan regained the surface, where he and his friends +and enemy easily supported themselves till picked up by the brig. The +swift slaver escaped. Monte was put in irons, Romer and his Framazugdan +friends were made much of by Captain Halsey and the officers of her +Majesty's brig Flyaway, and landed in the picturesque but pestilent +shores of Sierra Leone. Then Kaloolah and her brother propose to seek +their way homewards, and Jonathan takes ship for Liverpool. Previously +to his departure, there are some love passages between the Yankee and +the Princess of Framazugda. These are not particularly successful. +Sentiment is not Dr Mayo's _forte_: he is much happier in scenes of +bustle and adventure--when urging his weary dromedary across boundless +tracts of sand, or waging deadly combat with the fierce inmates of +African jungles. His book will delight Mr Van Amburgh. There is a duel +between a lion and a boa that we make no doubt of seeing dramatised +at Astley's, as soon as a serpent can be tamed sufficiently for the +performance. That Dr Mayo's lions are of the very first magnitude, the +following description shows:--"His body was hardly less in size than +that of a dray-horse; his paw as large as the foot of an elephant; +while his head!--what can be said of such a head? Concentrate the +fury, the power, the capacity, and the disposition for evil of a dozen +thunderstorms into a round globe about two feet in diameter, and one +would then be able to get an idea of the terrible expression of that +head and face, enveloped and set off as it was by the dark framework +of bristling mane!" This pleasing quadruped, disturbed in its forest +solitude by the advent of Jonathan and the fair Kaloolah, who have +wandered, lover-like, to some distance from their bivouac, at once +prepares to breakfast upon them. Jonathan had imprudently laid down +his gun to pluck wild honeysuckles for his mistress, when the lion, +stepping in, cuts him off from his weapon. Suddenly "the light figure +of Kaloolah rushed past me: 'Fly, fly, Jon'than!' she wildly exclaimed, +as she dashed forward directly towards the lion. Quick as thought, I +divined her purpose, and sprang after her, grasping her dress, and +pulling her forcibly back, almost from within those formidable jaws. +The astonished animal gave several jumps sideways and backwards, +and stopped, crouching to the ground, and growling and lashing his +sides with renewed fury. It was clearly taken aback by our unexpected +charge upon him, but yet was not to be frightened into abandoning his +prey. His mouth was made up for us, and there could be no doubt, if +his motions _were_ a little slow, that he considered us as good as +gorged." Pulling back Kaloolah, and drawing his knife, Romer awaits, +with desperate determination, the monster's terrible onslaught, when +an unexpected ally arrives to the rescue. "It seemed as if one of the +gigantic creepers I have mentioned had suddenly quitted the canopy +above, and, endowed with life and a huge pair of widely distended +jaws, had darted with the rapidity of lightning upon the crouching +beast. There was a tremendous shaking of the treetops, and a confused +wrestling and jumping and whirling over and about, amid a cloud of +upturned roots and earth and leaves, accompanied with the most terrific +roars and groans. As I looked again, vision grew more distinct. +An immense body, gleaming with purple, green, and gold, appeared +convoluted around the majestic branches overhead, and, stretching down, +was turned two or three times around the struggling lion, whose head +and neck were almost concealed from sight within the cavity of a pair +of jaws still more capacious than his own." A full-grown boa, whose +length is estimated by Mr Romer at about a hundred feet, (much less +than many he subsequently saw, but still "a very respectable-sized +snake,") had dropped a few fathoms of coil from the gigantic tree +around which he was twined, and enveloped the lion, who soon was +crushed to death in the scaly embrace. Jonathan makes no doubt that the +serpent was about to swallow his victim whole, according to the custom +of his kind; and it is certainly to be regretted that the entreaties +of Kaloolah, combined with the "strong sickly odour" diffused by the +boa, prevented his remaining to witness a process of deglutition which, +considering the dimensions of the morsel to be swallowed, could not +have been otherwise than curious. + +Wrecked a second time, Romer again reaches the coast of Africa, in +company with an old sailor named Jack Thompson. They fall into the +hands of the Bedouins, and suffer much ill treatment, an account of +which, and of various adventures and escapes, occupy many chapters, +and would have borne a little curtailment. Romer is wandering about +with a tribe, upon whom he has passed himself off as an Arab from a +distant region, when he is compelled to join in an attack on a caravan. +Kaloolah is amongst the prisoners. She has been captured by a party of +slave-hunters, and is on her way to Morocco, where her master hopes +her beauty will fetch a good price from the Emperor Muley Abderrahman. +In the partition of the spoil, she falls to the share of an old Arab, +who is ill satisfied with the acquisition. "He was extremely chagrined +at the turn of fortune which threatened to throw into the wrangling +elements of his domestic felicity a feminine superfluity--or, as he +expressed it, 'another tongue in his tent.' + +"'Bismillah!' he exclaimed; 'God is great, but this is a small thing! +She is not a man; she is not a black--she cannot work; but won't she +eat and talk! They all eat and talk. I take a club sometimes, and knock +them down; beat them; break their bones; but they still eat and talk! +God's will be done! but it is too much to put such a thing upon me for +my share! She is good for nothing: I cannot sell her.'" + +The grumbling old Bedouin did sell her, however, to Jonathan, for +three or four cotton shirts. Flight now becomes necessary, for Hassan, +son of the chief of the tribe, seeks Jonathan's life, and Mrs Ali, +the chief's wife, persecutes him with her misplaced affection, and is +spiteful to Kaloolah, whom she looks upon as the chief obstacle to its +requital. Upon this head our Yankee is rather good: "Respect for the +sex," he says, "and a sentiment of gentlemanly delicacy, which the +reader will appreciate, prevents me from dwelling upon the story at +length. It was wrong, undoubtedly, in Seffora to love any other than +her old, rugose-faced, white-bearded husband; but it is not for me to +blame her. One thing, however, in her conduct can hardly be excused. +True, I might have treated her affection with more tenderness; I might +have nursed the gentle flowers of passion, instead of turning away +from their fragrance; I might have responded to that 'yearning of the +soul for sympathy'--have relieved, with the food of love, 'the mighty +hunger of the heart;' but all this, and more that I might have done, +but did not do, gave her no right to throw stones at Kaloolah." To +avoid the pelting and other disagreeables, the lovers take themselves +off in the night-time, mounted on _heiries_--camels of a peculiar +breed and excellence, famed in the desert for endurance and speed. On +their road they pick up, in a Moorish village, an Irish renegade; at +some salt-works, they find Jack Thompson working as a slave; and soon +afterwards their party is increased to five persons, by the addition +of Hassan, a runaway negro. With this motley tail, Mr Romer pushes +on in the direction of Framazugda. Here the editor very judiciously +epitomises six long chapters in as many pages; and, immediately after +this compressed portion, there begins what may be strictly termed the +fabulous, or almost the supernatural part of the book. Previously to +this there have been not a few rather startling incidents, but now +the author throws the rein on the neck of his imagination, and scours +away into the realms of the extravagant; still striving, however, +by circumstantial detail, to give an appearance of probability to +his astounding and ingenious inventions. Some of the descriptions of +scenery and savage life in the wilderness are vivid and striking, and +show power which might be better applied. Of the fabulous animals, the +following account of an amiable reptile, peculiar to central Africa, +will serve as a sufficient specimen of Yankee natural history:-- + + "It is an amphibious polypus. If the reader will conceive a large + cart-wheel, the _hub_ will represent the body of the animal, and + the spokes the long arms, about the size and shape of a full-grown + kangaroo's tail, and twenty in number, that project from it. When + the animal moves upon land, it stiffens these radii, and rolls + over upon the points like a wheel without a felloe. These arms + have also _the capability of a lateral prehensile contraction in + curves, perpendicular to its plane of revolution_, and enable + the animal to grasp its prey, and draw it into its voracious + mouth. It attacks the largest animals, and even man itself; + but, if dangerous upon land, it is still more formidable in the + water, where it has been known to attack and kill an alligator. + This horrible monster is known by the name of the Sempersough + or 'snake-star,' and is more dreaded than any other animal of + Framazugda, inasmuch as the natives have no way of destroying it, + except by catching it when young, in cane traps sunk in the water, + and baited with hippopotamus cubs(!) Fortunately it is not very + prolific; and its increase is further prevented by the furious + contests that these animals have among themselves. Sometimes + twenty or thirty will grasp each other with their long arms, + and twist themselves up into a hard and intricate knot. In this + situation they remain, hugging and gnawing each other to death; + and never relaxing their grasp until their arms are so firmly + intertwined that, when life is extinct, and the huge mass floats, + they cannot be separated. The natives now draw the ball ashore, + cut it up with axes, and make it into a compost for their land." + (!!) + +Is Dr Mayo addicted to heavy suppers? We can just fancy an unfortunate +individual, after a midnight meal on a shield of brawn and a +Brobdingnagian crab, which he has omitted to qualify by a subsequent +series of stiff tumblers, sinking into an uneasy slumber, and being +rolled over by such an incubus as this vivacious waggon-wheel. +Doubtless there is a possibility of a man dieting himself into this +style of writing, whereof a short specimen may excite a smile, but +whose frequent recurrence is necessarily wearisome, and which obviously +escapes criticism. But the author of _Kaloolah_ is not contented with +brute monstrosities. He chronicles reports that reach his hero's ears, +of nations of human monsters, with teeth filed to a sharp point (no +uncommon practice amongst certain negro tribes,) with tusks projecting +like those of a wild boar, and with pendant lips that continually +drop blood. All this is childish enough; but Jack Thompson, who is a +dry dog, caps these astounding fictions with a cannibal yarn from the +Southern Hemisphere. + + "'I've been among the New Zealanders,' quoth Jack, 'and there + they use each other for fresh grub, as regular as boiled duff in + a man-of-war's mess. They used to eat their fathers and mothers, + when they got too old to take care of themselves; but now they've + got to be more civilised, and so they only eat rickety children, + and slaves, and enemies taken in battle.' + + "'A decided instance of the progress of improvement, and march of + mind,' said I. + + "'Well, I believe that is what the missionaries call it,' replied + Jack; 'but it's a bad thing for the old folks. They don't take + to the new fashion--they are in favour of the good old custom. I + never see'd the thing myself; but Bill Brown, a messmate of mine + once, told me that, when he was at the Bay of Islands, he see'd a + great many poor old souls going about with tears in their eyes, + trying to get somebody to eat them. One of them came off to the + ship, and told them that he couldn't find rest in the stomachs of + any of his kindred, and wanted to know if the crew wouldn't take + him in. The skipper told him he was on monstrous short allowance, + but he couldn't accommodate him. The poor old fellow, Bill + said, looked as though his heart would break. There were plenty + of sharks round the ship, and the skipper advised him to jump + overboard; but he couldn't bear the idea of being eaten raw.'" + +The great audacity of Dr Mayo's fictions preclude surprise at the +boldness of his tropes and similes. The tails of his lions lash the +ground "with a sound like the falling of clods upon a coffin;" their +roar is like the boom of a thirty-two pounder, shaking the trees, and +rattling the boulders in the bed of the river. Of course, allowance +must be made for the vein of humorous rhodomontade peculiar to certain +American writers, and into which Dr Mayo sometimes unconsciously +glides, and, at others, voluntarily indulges. His description of the +conjuring tricks of the Framazugdan jugglers comes under the latter +head. + + "Some of them were truly wonderful, as, for instance, turning a + man into a tree bearing fruit, and with monkeys skipping about in + the branches; and another case, where the chief juggler apparently + swallowed five men, ten boys, and a jackass, threw them all up + again, turned himself inside out, blew himself up like a balloon, + and, exploding with a loud report, disappeared in a puff of + luminous vapour. I could not but admire the skill with which the + tricks were performed, although I was too much of a Yankee to be + much astonished at anything in the _Hey, Presto!_ line." + +A countryman of Mr Jefferson Davis is not expected to feel surprise at +anything in the way of sleight of hand, or "double shuffle;" and there +was probably nothing more startling to the senses in the evaporation +of King Shounsé's conjuror, than in the natural self-extinction of the +Mississippian debt. It is only a pity that Jonathan Romer did not carry +his smart fellow-citizen to the country of the _Pholdefoos_, a class +of enthusiasts who devote their lives to a search for the germs of +moral, religious, and political truth. Mr Davis would have felt rather +out of his element at first, but could not have failed ultimately to +have benefited by his sojourn amongst these singular savages. + +On coming in sight of her father's capital, Kaloolah is overcome +with emotion, and sinks weeping into her brother's arms. "I felt," +says Jonathan, "that this was a situation in which even the most +sympathising lover would be _de trop_. There were thronging +associations which I could not share, vibrating memories to which my +voice was not attuned, bonds of affection which all-powerful love might +transcend, and even disrupt, but whose precise nature it could not +assume. There are some lovers who are jealous of such things--fellows +who like to wholly monopolise a woman, and who are constantly on the +watch, seizing and appropriating her every look, thought, and feeling, +with somewhat of the same notion of an exclusive right, as that with +which they pocket a tooth-pick. I am not of that turn. The female heart +is as curiously and as variously stocked as a country dry-goods store. +A man may be perhaps allowed to select out, for his own exclusive use, +some of the heavier articles, such as sheetings, shirtings, flannels, +trace-chains, hobby-horses, and goose-yokes; but that is no reason why +the neighbours should be at once cut off from their accustomed supply +of small-wares." + +We venture to calculate that it takes a full-blooded Yankee to write +in this strain, which, reminds us, remotely, it is true, of some of Mr +Samuel Slick's eccentric fancies. Dr Mayo has considerable versatility +of pen; he dashes at everything, from the ultra-grotesque to the +hyper-sentimental, from the wildest fable to the most substantial +matter-of-fact; and if not particularly successful in some styles, in +others he really makes what schoolboys call "a very good offer." But +the taste of the day is by no means for extravaganza travels, after the +fashion of Gulliver, but without the brilliant and searching satire +that lurks in Lilliput and Laputa. Mr Herman Melville might have known +that much; although we have heard say that certain keen critics have +caught glimpses in his _Mardi_ of a hidden meaning--one, however, which +the most penetrating have hitherto been unable to unravel. We advise +Dr Mayo to start afresh, with a better scheme. Instead of torturing +his inventive faculties to produce rotatory dragons, wingless birds, +(propelled through the air by valves in their heads,) and countries +where courtiers, like Auriol in the ring at Franconi's, do public +homage by standing on their hands; let him seek his inspiration in real +life, as it exists in the wilder regions of the vast continent of which +he is a native. A man who has strayed so far, and seen so much, can +hardly be at a loss. The slaver's surgeon, the inmate of the Bedouin's +tent, the bold explorer of the deadly swamps of Congo, had surely +rambled nearer home before a restless fancy lured him to such distant +and dangerous latitudes. Or are we too bold in assuming that the wilds +and forests of Western America have echoed to the crack of his rifle, +and that the West Indian seas have borne the furrow of his vessel's +prow? It is in such scenes we would gladly find him, when next he risks +himself in print: beneath the shade of the live oak or on the rolling +prairie, or where the black flag, with the skeleton emblem, floats from +the masthead. He has worked out his crotchet of an imaginary white +nation in the heart of Africa, carrying it through with laborious +minuteness, and with results hardly equal to the pains bestowed: let +him now turn from the ideal to the real, and may our next meeting be +on the Spanish main under rover's bunting, or west of the clearings, +where the bison roams and the Redskin prowls, and the stragglers from +civilisation have but begun to show themselves. + + + + +THE GREEN HAND.[7] + +A "SHORT" YARN.--PART III. + + +The evening after that in which the commander of the Gloucester +Indiaman introduced his adventures, nearly the same party met on the +poop to hear them continued. + +"Well then," began Captain Collins, leaning back against a stanchion of +the quarter-rail, with folded arms, legs crossed, and his eyes fixed on +the weather-leech of the mizen-topsail to collect his thoughts;--"well +then, try to fancy the Seringapatam in chase of the Gloucester; and if +I _do_ use a few extra sea-terms, I consider the ladies good enough +sailors for them already. At any rate, just throw a glance aloft now +and then, and our good old lady will explain herself; to her own sex, +she's as good as a dictionary without words!" + +[7] See No. CCCCI., March 1849. + +The second day out we had the wind more from seaward, which broke up +the haze into bales of cloud, and away they went rolling in for the +Bay of Biscay; with a longer wave and darker water, and the big old +Indiaman surged over it as easily as might be, the blue breeze gushing +right into her main-tack through the heave of the following seas, and +the tail of the trade-wind flying high above her trucks in shreds and +patches. Things got more ship-shape on deck; anchor-flukes brought +inboard on the head-rail, and cables stowed away--the very best sign +you can have of being clear of the land. The first officer, as they +called him, was a good-looking fellow, that thought no small-beer of +himself, with his glossy blue jacket and Company's buttons, white +trowsers, and a gold thread round his cap: he had it stuck askew to +show how his hair was brushed, and changed his boots every time he came +on deck. Still he looked like a sailor, if but for the East India brown +on his face, and there was no mistake about his knowing how to set a +sail, trim yards, or put the ship about; so that the stiff old skipper +left a great deal to him, besides trusting in him for a first-rate +navigator that had learned headwork at a naval school. The crew were to +be seen all mustering before tea-time in the dog-watch, with their feet +just seen under the foot mat of the fore-course, like actors behind a +playhouse curtain: men that I warrant you had seen every country under +heaven amongst them, as private as possible, and ready to enjoy their +pots of tea upon the forecastle, as well as their talk. + +The old judge evidently fought shy of company, and perhaps meant to +have his own mess-table under the poop as long as the voyage lasted: +scarcely any of the ladies had apparently got their sea-qualms over +yet, and, for all I knew, _she_ might not be on board at all; or, if +she were, her father seemed quite Turk enough to keep her boxed up +with jalousie-blinds, Calcutta fashion, and give her a walk in the +middle watch, with the poop tabooed till morning! The jolly, red-faced +indigo-planter was the only one that tried to get up anything like +spirit at the table; indeed, he would have scraped acquaintance with +me if I had been in a mood for it: all I did was to say 'Yes' and +'No,' and to take wine with him. "Poor fellow!" said he, turning to +three or four of the cadets, that stuck by him like pilot-fish to +an old shark, "he's thinking of his mother at home, I daresay." The +fools thought this was meant as a joke, and began to laugh. "Why, you +unfledged griffins you," said the planter, "what d'ye see to nicker +at, like so many jackals in a trap? D'ye suppose one thinks the less +of a man for having a heart to be sick in, as well as a stomach--eh?" +"Oh, don't speak of it, Mr Rollock!" said one. "Come, come, old boy!" +said another, with a white mustache on his lip, "'twon't do for you +to go the sentimental, you know!" "Capsize my main-spanker, 'tis too +funny, though!" put in a fellow who wore a glazed hat on deck, and +put down all the ropes with numbers on paper, as soon as he had done +being sick. The planter leant back in his chair, looked at them coolly, +and burst out a-laughing. "Catch me ever 'going home' again!" said +he. "Of all the absurd occasions for impudence with the egg-shell +on its head coming out, hang me if these fifteen thousand miles of +infernal sea-water ain't the worst! India for ever!--that's the place +to _try_ a man! He's either sobered or gets room to work there; and +just wait, my fine fellows, till I see _you_ on the Custom-house +_Bunda_ at Bombay, or setting off up country--you're all of you the +very food for _sircars_ and _coolies_! That quiet lad there, now, soft +as he looks,--I can tell by his eye he won't be long a griff--He'll +do something! I tell you what, as soon as he's tasted a mango-fish, +he'll _understand_ the country! Why, sir!" said he again, smacking his +lips, "'tis worth the voyage of itself--you begin a new existence, so +to speak! I'll be bound all this lot o' water don't contain one single +mango-fish! Remember, boys, I promised you all a regular blow-out of +mango-fish, and _florican_ with bread sauce, whenever you can get +across to Chuckbully Factory!" "Blow good breeze, then; blow away +the main jib!" said the nautical young gentleman; "I'll join you, +old fellow!" "Not the best way to bring it about, though!" said the +indigo-planter, good-naturedly, not knowing but there _was_ such a sail +on the ship. + +The yellow setting sun was striking over the starboard quarter-boat, +and the Bay of Biscay lay broad down to leeward for a view--a couple of +large craft, with all studding-sails set before the wind, making for +land, far enough off to bring their canvass in a piece, and begin to +look blue with the air--one like a milkwoman with pitchers and a hoop; +the other like a girl carrying a big bucketful of water, and leaning +the opposite way to steady herself. There was one far to north-east, +too, no more than a white speck in the gray sky; and the land-cloud +went up over it into so many sea-lions' heads, all looking out of their +manes. The children clapped their hands and laughed; and the ladies +talked about the vessels, and thought they saw land--Spain or the +Pyrenees, perhaps. However, it wasn't long before my American friend +Snout caught sight of me in the midst of his meditations, as he turned +bolt round on his toes to hurry aft again. "The fact is, mister," said +he, "_I'm_ riled a little at _the_ 'tarnation pride of you Britishers. +There now," said he, pointing at the blaze of the sun to westward, with +his chin, "there's _a_ consolation! I calculate the sun's just over +Noo-York, which I expect to give you old country folks considerable +pain!" + +"No doubt!" said I, with a sigh, "one can't help thinking of a banker +run off with ever so much English gold!" "You're a sensible chap, you +are. It's _a_ right-down asylum _for_ oppressed Eur_o_pains, that +can't be denied." "And Africans too," I put in. "Indy, now," said he, +"I reckon there's a sight of dollars made in that country--you don't +s'pose I'm goin' out there for nothing? We'll just take it out o' your +hands yet, mister. I don't ought to let you into the scheme till I know +you better, you see; but I expect to want a sort o' company got up +before we land. There's one of your nabobs, now, came into the ship at +Possmouth with a whole tail of niggers-dressed-up ----." "And a lady +with him, I think?" said I, as coolly as I could.--"I'll somehow open +on that chap about British tyranny, I guess, after gettin' a little +knowledge out of him. We'd just _rise_ the niggurs, if they had _not_ +such a right-down cur'ous _my_-thullogy--but I tell you now, mister, +that's one of the very p'ints I expect to meet. Miss'naries won't +do it so slick off in two thousand years, I kinder think, as this +indentical specoolation will in _ten_,--besides payin' like Peruvain +mines, which the miss'nary line don't. I'm a regoolar Down-easter, ye +see--kinder piercin' into a subject, like our nation in gin'ral--and +the whull schim hangs together a little, I calculate, mister?" "So I +should think, Mr Snout, indeed," I said. Here the American gave another +chuckle, and turned to again on his walk, double quick, till you'd +have thought the whole length of the poop shook: when who should I see +with the tail of my eye, but my friend the _Kitmagar_ salaaming to +Mr Snout, by the break of the quarterdeck. The Yankee seemed rather +taken aback at first, and didn't know what to make of him. "S'laam, +sah'b," said the dark servant, with an impudent look, and loud enough +for me to hear, as I stepped from aft,--"Judge sahib i-send genteeman +salaam--say too much hivvy boot he got--all same as _Illimphant_! +S'pose master not so much loud walk, _this_ side?" "_Well!_" broke out +the American, looking at the Bengalee's flat turban and mustache, as if +he were too great a curiosity to be angry with, then, turning on his +heel to proceed with his walk, "Now, mister," said he to me, "that's +what I call an incalculable imp_u_dent black--but he's the first I +ever saw with hair on his lip, it's a fact!" "Master not _mind_?" said +the Kitmagar, raising his key next time Mr Snout wheeled round. "Judge +sahib burra burra buhadoorkea!--ver' great man!" "D---- niggur!" said +Mr Snout, tramping away aft; "there's your British regoolations, I say, +young man! niggurs bààing on the quarterdeck, and free-born citizens +put off it!" "_Bhote khoob_, mistree!" squeaked out the native again; +"burra judge sahib not i-sleep apter he dine?--ver_i_ well--I tell the +sahib, passiger mistree moor stamp-i-stamp all the moor I can say!" +So off he went to report in the poop-cabin. A little after, up shot a +head wrapped in a yellow bandanna, just on the level of the poop-deck, +looking through the breast-rail; and the next thing I saw was the +great East Indian himself, with a broad-flapped Manilla hat over +this top-gear, and a red-flowered dressing-gown, standing beside the +binnacle with Captain Williamson. "What the deuce, Captain Williamson!" +said the judge, with an angry glance up to the poop, "cannot I close +my eyelids after dinner for one instant--in my own private apartments, +sir--for this hideous noise! Who the deuce _is_ that person there--eh, +eh?" "He's an American gentleman, I believe, Sir Charles," replied +the captain. "_Believe_, sir!" said the judge, "you ought to _know_ +every individual, I think, Captain Williamson, whom you admitted into +this vessel! I expressly stipulated for quiet, sir--I understood that +no suspicious or exceptionable persons should travel in the same +conveyance with _my_ suwarry. I'd have taken the whole ship, sir!" +"I've no more to do than tell him the regulations aboard, Sir Charles," +said the captain, "and the annoyance will cease." "_Tell_ him, indeed!" +said the judge, a little more good-humouredly, "why, captain, the man +looks like a sea-pirate! You should have taken only such raw griffins +as that young lad on the other side. Ho, kitmagar!" "Maharaj?" said the +footman, bowing down to the deck. "_Slippers lao!_" "Jee, khodabund," +answered the native, and immediately after he reappeared from the +round-house door, with a pair of turned-up yellow slippers. "Take +them up with my salaam to that gentleman there," said Sir Charles, in +Hindostance, "and ask him to use them." "Hullo!," sung out Mr Snout, +on being hove-to by the kitmagar, with one hand on his breast and the +other holding the slippers, "this won't do! You'd better not _rile_ me +again, you cussed niggur you--out o' my way!" There they went at it +along the poop together, Mr Snout striding right forward with his long +legs, and the kitmagar hopping backward out of his way, as he tried to +make himself understood; till, all at once, the poor fellow lost his +balance at the ladder-head, and over he went with a smash fit to have +broken his neck, if the captain's broad back hadn't fortunately been +there to receive it. The rage of Sir Charles at this was quite beyond +joking; nothing else would satisfy him but the unlucky Yankee's being +shoved off the poop by main force, and taken below--the one stamping +and roaring like an old buffalo, and the other testifying against all +"aristocratycal _ty_ranny." + +At eight bells, again, I found it a fine breezy night, the two upper +mates walking the weather quarterdeck in blue-water style, six steps +and a look to windward, then a wheel round, and, now and then, a glance +into the binnacle. I went aft and leant over the Seringapatam's lee +quarter, looking at the white backwash running aft from her bows, in +green sparks, into the smooth alongside, and the surge coming round +her counter to meet it. Everything was set aloft that could draw, even +to a starboard main-topmast-stunsail; the high Indiaman being lighter +than if homeward-bound, and the breeze strong abeam, she had a good +heel-over to port: but she went easily through the water, and it was +only at the other side you heard it rattling both ways along the bends. +The shadow of her went far to leeward, except where a gleam came on +the top of a wave or two between the sails and under their foot. Just +below the sheer of the hull aft it was as dark as night, though now +and then the light from a port struck on it and went in again; but +every time she sank, the bight of her wake from astern swelled up away +round the counter, with its black side as smooth as a looking-glass. I +kept peering into it, and expecting to see my own face, while all the +time I was very naturally thinking of one quite different, and felt +uneasy till I should actually see her. "Confound it!" I thought, "were +it only a house, one might walk round and round it till he found out +the window!" I fancied her bewitching face through the garden door, +as clearly as if I saw it in the dark head of the swell; but I'd have +given more only to hear that imp of a cockatoo scream once--whereas +there was nothing but the water working up into the rudder-case; the +pintles creaking, and the tiller-ropes cheeping as they traversed; +and the long welter of the sea when the ship eased down, with the +surgeon and his friends walking about and laughing up to windward. +From that, again, I ran on putting things together, till, in fact, +Jacobs's notion of a shipwreck seemed by far the best. No doubt Jacobs +and Westwood, with a few others, would be saved, while I didn't even +object much to the old nabob himself, for respectability's sake, and to +spare crape. But, by Jove, wouldn't one bring him to his bearings soon +enough there! Every sailor gets hold of this notion some night-watch +or other, leaning over the side, with pretty creatures aboard he can +scarce speak to otherwise; and I was coiling it down so fast myself, +at the moment, that I had just begun to pitch into the nabob about our +all being Adam's sons and daughters, under a knot of green palm-trees, +at the door of a wooden house, half thatched with leaves, when I was +brought up with a round turn by seeing a light shining through the +hazy bull's-eye in the deck where I stood. No doubt the sweet girl I +had been thinking of was actually there, and going to bed! I stretched +over the quarter, but the heavy mouldings were in the way of seeing +more than the green bars of the after window--all turned edgeways to +the water, where the gallery hung out like a corner turret from the +ship's side. Now and then, however, when she careened a little more +than ordinary, and the smooth lee swell went heaping up opposite, I +could notice the light through the venetians from the state-room come +out upon the dark water in broad bright lines, like the grate across +a fire, then disappearing in a ripple, till it was gone again, or +somebody's shadow moved inside. It was the only lighted window in the +gallery, and I looked every time it came as if I could see in; when +at last, you may fancy my satisfaction, as, all of a sudden, one long +slow heave-over of the ship showed me the whole bright opening of +the port, squared out of her shadow, where it shone upon the glassy +round of the swell. 'Twas as plain as from a mirror in a closet,--the +lighted gallery window with its frame swung in, a bit of the deck-roof +I was standing on, and two female figures at the window--mere dark +shapes against the lamp. I almost started back at the notion of their +seeing me, but away lengthened the light on the breast of the swell, +and it sank slowly down into a black hollow, as the Indiaman eased up +to windward. Minute by minute, quite breathless, did I watch for such +another chance; but next time she leant over as much, the port had +been closed, and all was dark; although those few moments were enough +to send the heart into my mouth with sheer delight. The figure I had +seen holding with one hand by the portsill, and apparently keeping up +her dress with the other, as if she were looking down steadily on the +heave of the sea below--it couldn't be mistaken. The line of her head, +neck, and shoulders, came out more certain than if they hadn't been +filled up with nothing but a black shadow; it was just Lota Hyde's, as +she sat in the ball-room amongst the crowd, I'd have bet the Victory to +a bumboat on it: only her hair hung loose on one side, while the girl +behind seemed to be dressing the other, for it was turned back, so that +I saw clear past her cheek and neck to where the lamp was, and her ear +gleamed to the light. For one moment nothing could be plainer, than the +glimpse old Davy Jones gave me by one of his tricks; but the old fellow +was quite as decorous in his way as a chamberblind, and swallowed his +pretty little bit of blab as quickly as if it had been a mermaid caught +at her morning toilet. Whenever I found there was to be no more of it +for the night, the best thing to calm one's feelings was to light a +cigar and walk out the watch; but I took care it should rather be over +the nabob's head than his daughter's, and went up to the weather side, +where there was nobody else by this time, wishing her the sweetest of +dreams, and not doubting I should see her next day. + +I daresay I should have walked out the first watch, and the second too, +if Westwood hadn't come up beside me before he turned in. + +"Why, you look like the officer of the watch, Ned!" said my friend, +after taking a glance, round at the night. "Yes--what?--a--a--I don't +think so," stammered I, not knowing what he said, or at least the +meaning of it, though certainly it was not so deep. "I hope not though, +Tom!" said I again, "'tis the very thing I don't want to look like!" +"You seem bent on keeping it up, and coming the innocent, at any +rate," said he; "I really didn't know you the first time I saw you in +the cuddy." "Why, man, you never saw our theatricals in the dear old +Iris, on the African station! I was our best female actor of tragedy +there, and _did_ Desdemona so well that the black cook who stood for +Othello, actually cried. He said, 'Nobody but 'ee dibble umself go +forsmudder missee Dasdemoner!'" "I daresay," said Westwood; "but what +is the need for it _now_, even if _you_ could serve as a blind for me?" +"My dear fellow!" said I, "not at all--you've kept it up very well so +far--just go on." "Keep it up, Ned?" inquired he, "what do you mean? +I've done nothing except keep quiet, from mere want of spirits." "So +much the better," I said; "I never saw a man look more like a prophet +in the wilderness; it doesn't cost you the least trouble--why you'd +have done for Hamlet in the Iris, if for nothing else! After all, +though, a missionary don't wear blue pilot-cloth trousers, nor tie his +neckerchief as you do, Tom. You must bend a white neckcloth to-morrow +morning! I'm quite serious, Westwood, I assure you," continued I. +"Just think of the suspicious look of two navy men being aboard an +_Indiaman_, nobody knows how! Why, the first frigate we speak, or port +we touch at, they'd hand one or both of us over at once--which I, for +my part, shouldn't at all like!" "Indeed, Collins," said Tom, turning +round, "I really cannot understand _why_ you went out in her! It +distresses me to think that here you've got yourself into this scrape +on my account! At least you'll put back in the first home-bound ship +we----" + +"Oh!" exclaimed I, blushing a little in the dark though, both at +Westwood's simplicity and my not wishing to tell him my secret +yet--"I'm tired of shore--I _want_ to see India again--I'm thinking of +going into the _army_, curse it!" "The _army_, indeed!" said Westwood, +laughing for the first time, "and you midshipman all over. No--no--that +won't do! I see your drift, you can't deceive _me_! You're a true +friend, Ned,--to stand by an old schoolmate so!" "No, Tom!" said I; +"'tis yourself has too kind a heart, and more of a sailor's, all fair +and above-board, than I can manage! I _won't_ humbug _you_, at any +rate--I tell you I've got a scheme of my own, and you'll know more of +it soon." Tom whistled; however I went on to tell him, "The long and +the short of it is, Westwood, you'll bring both of us by the head if +you don't keep up the missionary." "Missionary!" repeated he; "you +don't mean to say you and Neville intended all that long toggery you +supplied my kit with, for me to sail under _missionary_ colours? I +tell you what, Ned, it's not a character I like to cut jokes upon, +much less to sham!" "Jokes!" said I; "there's no joking about it; 'tis +serious enough." "Why," said Westwood, "_now_ I know the reason of a +person like a clergyman sighting me through his spectacles for half an +hour together, these two evenings below! This very afternoon he called +me his brother, and began asking me all manner of questions which I +could no more answer than the cook's mate." "Clergyman be hanged!" +said I, "you must steer clear of him, Tom--take care you don't bowse +up your jib too much within hail of him! Mind, I gave your name, both +to the head-steward and the skipper, as the Reverend Mr Thomas, going +back to Bombay." "The devil you did!" "Why there was nothing else for +it, Westwood," I said, "when you were beyond thinking for yourself. All +you've got to do with that solemn chap in the spectacles, is just to +look as wise as possible, and let him know you belong to the _Church_. +And as for shamming, you needn't sham a bit--_taketoit_ my dear +fellow, if that will do you good!" I said this in joke, but Westwood +seemed to ponder on it for a minute or two. "Indeed, Collins," said he +gravely, "I _do_ think you're right. What do we sailors do, but give +up everything in life for a mere schoolboy notion, and keep turning +up salt water for years together like the old monks did the ground; +only they grew corn and apples for their pains, and we have nothing +but ever so many dull watches and wild cruises ashore to remember! +How many sailors have turned preachers and missionaries, just because +something, by accident as it were, taught them to put to account what +you can't help feeling now and then in the very _look_ of the sea? What +does it mean in the Scriptures, Ned, about 'seeing the wonders of the +Lord in the deep?'" As Westwood said this, both of us stopped on the +taffrail, and, somehow or other, a touch of I didn't well know _what_ +went through me. I held my breath, with his hand on my arm, just at the +sight I had seen a thousand times--the white wake running broad away +astern, with a mark in the middle as if it had been torn, on to the +green yeast of the waves, then right to their black crests plunging in +the dark. It was midnight ahead, and the clouds risen aloft over where +I had been looking half all hour before; but the long ragged split +to westward was opened up, and a clear glaring glance of the sky, as +pale as death, shot through it on the horizon. "I can't be sorry for +having gone to sea," said Westwood again; "but isn't it a better thing +to leave home and friends, as those men do, for the sake of carrying +the gospel to the heathen?" As soon as we wheeled round, with the ship +before us, leaning over and mounting to the heave, and her spread of +canvass looming out on the dark, my thoughts righted. "Well," said I, +"it may be all very well for some--every one to his rope; but, for my +part, I think if a man hadn't been made for the sea, he couldn't have +built a ship, and where would your missionaries be _then_? You're older +than I am, Westwood, or I'd say you let some of your notions run away +with you, like a Yankee ship with her short-handed crew!" "Oh, Ned," +said he, "of all places in the world for one's actions coming back on +him the sea is the worst, especially when you're an idler, and have +nothing to do but count the sails, or listen to the passengers' feet +on deck. These two days, now, I've thought more than I ever did in my +life. I can't get that man's death out of my head; every time, the sea +flashes round me as I come from below, I think of him--it seems to me +he is lying yet by the side of the Channel. I can't help having the +notion he perhaps _fired in the air_!" "'Twas a base lie!" said I; "If +_he_ weren't _there_, you wouldn't be here, I call tell you, Westwood." +"I don't know how I shall ever drag through this voyage," continued he. +"If there were a French gunboat to cut out to-morrow morning, or if we +were only to have a calm some day in sight of a Spanish slaver,--'tis +nothing but a jogging old Indiaman though! I shall never more see the +flag over my head with pride--every prospect I had was in the service!" + +Next morning was fine, and promised to be hot; the ship still with a +sidewind from near south-west, which 'twas easy to see had slackened +since midnight with a pour of rain, the sails being all wet, and coats +hung to dry in the fore-rigging; she was going little more than five or +six knots headway. The water was bluer, lifting in long waves, scarce +a speck of foam except about the ship; but instead of having broke +up with the sun, or sunk below the level, the long white clouds were +risen high to leeward, wandering away at the top and facing us steady +below out of the sky, a pretty sure sign they had more to do. However, +the Indiaman was all alive from stem to stern: decks drying as clean +as a table; hens and ducks clucking in the coops at their food; pigs +grunting; stewards and cabin-boys going fore and aft, below and above, +and the men from aloft coming slowly down for breakfast, with an eye +into the galley funnel. Most of the passengers were upon deck, in knots +all along the poop-nettings, to look out for Corvo and Flores, the +westernmost of the Azores, which we had passed before daybreak. + +"I say, Fawd!" said the warlike cadet with the mustache, all of a +sudden yawning and stretching himself, as if he'd been struck with the +thing himself, "Cussed dull this vessel already, ain't it?" "Blast me, +no, you fellow!" said Ford, the nautical man--"that's because you're +not interested in the ocean--the sea--as I am! You should study the +_craft_, Bob, my boy! I'll teach you to go aloft. I only wish it would +blow harder--not a mere capful of wind, you know, but a tempest!" "By +Jove! Fawd," said the other, "_how_ we _shall_ enjoy India--even that +breakfast with old Rollock! By the bye, ain't breakfast ready yet?" +These two fellows, for my part, I took for a joint-model, just trying +to hit a mid-helm betwixt them, else I couldn't have got through it: +accordingly they both patronised me. "Haw, Cawlins!" said one, nodding +to me. "Is that you, my boy?" said the other; "now you're a fellow +_never_ would make a sailor!" "I daresay not," I said, gravely, "if +they have all to commence as horse-marines." "Now, such ignorance!" +said Ford; "marines don't ride horses, Collins, you fellow!--how d'you +think they could be _fed_ at sea--eh?" "Well--now--that didn't occur +to me!" said I, in the cadet key. "Fawd, my boy, you--demmee--you +know too much--you're quite a sea-cook!" "Oh, now! But I'm afraid, +Winterton, I never shall land ashore in India--I _am_ tempted to +go into the navy instead." "I say, Mr Ford," put in a fat unlicked +cub of a tea-middy, grinning as he listened, "I've put you up to a +few _rises_ aboard, but I don't think I told you we've got a dozen +or so of _donkeys_[8] below in the steerage?" "Donkeys!--no?" said +the griffin. "Yes," replied the midshipman; "they kick like blazes, +though, if they get loose in a gale--why mine, now, would knock a hole +through the side in no time--I'll show you them for a glass of grog, +Mr Ford." "Done!" and away they went. "That fool, Fawd, you know, +Cawlins, makes one sick with his stuff; I declare he chews little +bits of tobacco in our room till he vomits as much as before," said +Winterton. "I tell you what, Cawlins, you're a sensible man--I'll let +you into a secret! What do you think--there's the deucedest pretty girl +in the vessel, we've none of us seen except myself; I caught a sight +of her this very mawning. She don't visit the cuddy at all; papa's +proud, you pusseeve--a nabob in short!" "Oh, dear!" said I. "Yes, I +do assure you, quite a bew-ty! What's to be done?--we absolutely must +meet her--eh, Cawlins?" Here I mused a bit. "Oh!" said I, looking up +again, "shall we send a deputation, do you think?" "Or get up a ball, +Cawlins?--Hallo, what's this?" said he, leaning over the breast-rail +to look at a stout lady who was lugging a chubby little boy of three +or four, half-dressed, up the poop-stair, while her careful husband +and a couple of daughters blocked it up above. "See, Tommy, dear!" +said she, "look at the _land_--the nice, land, you know, Tommy." "Come +away, my love," said her spouse, "else you won't see it." Tommy, +however, hung back manfully. "Tommy don't want wook at _yand_," sang +out he, kicking the deck; "it all such 'mell of a sheep, ma; me wook +at 'at man wis _gate feel_. Fare other _feel_, man? Oh, fat a ugwy +man!" The honest tar at the wheel pulled up his shirt, and looked +terribly cut at this plain remark on his phiz, which certainly wasn't +the most beautiful; meanwhile he had the leech of the main to'gallant +sail shaking. "Mind your helm, there," sung out the second mate from +the capstan. "My good man," said the lady, "will you be so kind as to +show us the land?" "Ay, ay, sir," growled he, putting up his weather +spokes; "sorry I carn't, ma'am--please not to speak to the man at the +wheel." Jacobs was coiling down the ropes on a carronade close by, and +stepped forward: "Beg your ladyship's pardon," said he, "but if ye'll +give me charge o' the youngster till you goes on the poop--why, I've +got a babby at home myself." The stout lady handed him over, and Jacobs +managed the little chap wonderfully. This was the first time Tommy had +been on deck since leaving home, and he couldn't see over the high +bulwarks, so he fancied it was a house he was in. "Oh, suts big _tees, +man_!" shouted he, clapping his hands as soon as he noticed the sails +and rigging aloft; "suts warge birds in a _tees_!" "Ay, ay, my little +man," answered Jacobs, "that's the wonderfowl _tree_! Did ye ever +hear Jack and the Bean-stalk, Tommy?" "Oh, 'ess, to be soo, _man_!" +said Tommy, scornfully, as if he should think he had. "Well, little +un," said Jacobs, "that's it, ye see. It grows up every night afore +Jack's door--and them's Jack an' his brothers a-comin' down out on +the wonderfowl country aloft, with fruits in their hands." The little +fellow was delighted, and for going aloft at once. "Ye must wait a bit, +Tommy, my lad, till you're bigger," said Jacobs; "here I'll show you +the country, though;" so he lifted the boy up to let him see the bright +blue sea lying high away round the sky. In place of crying, as he would +have done otherwise, Tommy stared with pleasure, and finished by vowing +to get as soon big as possible, Jacobs advising him to eat always as +hard as he had been doing hitherto. + +[8] Sea slang for sailors' chests. + +This morning the breakfast party was in high spirits: Mr Finch, the +chief officer, rigged up to the nines in white trowsers and Company's +jacket, laying himself out to please the young ladies, with whom he +began to be a regular hero. He was as blustering as a young lion, and +as salt-tongued as a Channel pilot to the men; but with the ladies, on +the poop or in the cabin, he was always twisting his sea-talk into fine +language, like what you see in books, as if the real thing weren't good +enough. He rubbed his hands at hearing the mate on deck singing out +over the skylight to trim yards, and gave a look along to the captain. +"You must understand, ladies," said the mate, "this is what we mariners +call the 'ladies' wind!'" "Oh delightful!" "Oh _so_ nice!" "You sailors +_are_ so polite!" exclaimed the young ladies--"then does it actually +_belong_ to us?" "Why it's a _Trade_ wind, Miss Fortescue!" said Ford +the nautical cadet, venturing to put in a word; but the ladies paid +no attention to him, and the chief mate gave him a look of contempt. +"You see, ladies, the reason is," said the mate, in a flourishing way, +"because it's so regular, and as gentle as--as--why it wafts your bark +into the region of, you see,--the--" "The 'Doldrums,'" put in the +third mate, who was a brinier individual by far, and a true seaman, +but wished to pay his compliments too, between his mouthfuls. "At any +rate," Finch went on, "it's congenial, I may say, to the feelings of +the fair--you need never touch her braces from one day to another. I +just wish, Miss Fortescue, you'd allow me the felicity of letting you +see how to put the ship about!" "A _soldier_ might put her in stays, +miss," said the third mate again, encouragingly, "and out of 'em again; +she's a remarkable easy craft, owing to her----" "Confound it! Mr +Rickett," said the first mate, turning round to his unlucky inferior, +"you're a sight too coarse for talking to ladies. Well the captain +didn't hear you!" Rickett looked dumbfoundered, not knowing what was +wrong; the old ladies frowned; the young ones either blushed or put +their handkerchiefs to their mouths, and some took the occasion for +walking off. + +The weather began to have a different turn already by the time we got +up--the clouds banking to leeward, the sea dusky under them, and the +air-line between rather bluish. Two or three lazy gulls in our wake +began to look alive, and show themselves, and a whole black shoal of +porpoises went tumbling and rolling across the bows for half an hour, +till down they dived of a sudden, head-foremost, one after another in +the same spot, like so many sheep through a gap. + +My gentleman-mate was to be seen everywhere about the decks, and active +enough, I must say: the next minute he was amongst two or three young +ladies aft, as polite as a dancing-master, showing them everything +in board and out, as if nobody knew it except himself. Here a young +girl, one of Master Tommy's sisters, came skipping aft, half in a +fright. "Oh, Miss Fortescue!" cried she, "just think!--I peeped over +into a nasty black hole there, with a ladder in it, and saw ever so +many common sailors hung up in bags from the ceiling. Oh, what do you +think, one of them actually kissed his hand to me!" "Only one of the +watch below awake, Miss," said the mate; "impertinent swab!--I only +wish I knew which it was." "Poor fellows!" said the young ladies; +"pray, don't be harsh to them--but what have they been doing?" "Oh, +nothing," said he, with a laugh, "but swing in their hammocks since +eight bells." "Then are they so lazy as to dislike getting up to such +delightful-looking occupations?" "Why, ma'am," said the mate, staring +a little, "they've been on deck last night two watches, of four hours +each, I must say that for them." "Dear me!" broke out the ladies; and +on this the chief officer took occasion to launch out again concerning +"the weary vigils," as he called them, "which we mariners have to keep, +far distant from land, without a smile from the eyes of the fair to +bless us! But, however, the very thought of it gives courage to the +sailor's manly heart, to disregard the billows' fearful rage, and reef +topsails in the tempest's angry height!" Thought I, "he'd much better +do it before." However, the young ladies didn't seem to see that, +evidently looking upon the mate as the very pink of seamen; and he +actually set a second lower stud-sail, to show them how fast she could +walk. + +"D'ye know, sir," put in the third mate, coming from forward, "I'm +in doubt it's going to be rather a sneezer, sir, if ye look round +the larboard stuns'ls." Sure enough, if our fine gentleman had had +time, amidst his politeness, just to cast an eye beyond his spread +of cloth, he would have noticed the clouds gathered all in a lump to +north-eastward, one shooting into another--the breast of them lowering +down to the horizon, and getting the same colour as the waves, till +it bulked out bodily in the middle. You'd have fancied the belly of +it scarce half a mile off from the white yard-arms, and the hollow of +it twenty--coming as stealthily as a ghost, that walks without feet +after you, its face to yours, and the skirt of its winding-sheet in +"kingdom come" all the while. I went up on the poop, and away behind +the spanker I could see the sun gleam for one minute right on the eye +of stray cloud risen to nor'-west, with two short streaks of red, +purple, and yellow together--what is called a "wind-gall;" then it was +gone. The American was talking away with jovial old Rollock and Ford, +who began to look wise, and think there was mischief brewing in the +weather. "Mind your helm there, sirrah!" sung out the mate, walking +aft to the wheel, as everything aloft fluttered. "She won't lie her +course, sir!" said the man. "All aback for'ud!" hailed the men at work +on the bowsprit; and hard at it went all hands, trimming yards over +and over again; the wind freshening fast, stunsails flapping, booms +bending, and the whole spread of canvass in a cumber, to teach the mate +not to be in such a hurry with his infernal merchantman's side-wings +next time. The last stunsail he hauled down caught full aback before +the wheel could keep her away quick enough; the sheet of it hitched +foul at the boom-end, and crack through went the boom itself, with a +smash that made the ladies think it a case of shipwreck commencing. The +loose scud was flying fast out from behind the top of the clouds, and +spreading away overhead, as if it would catch us on the other side; +while the clouds themselves broke up slowly to both hands, and the +north-east breeze came sweeping along right into the three topsails, +the wind one way and the sea another. As she rounded away steadying +before it, you felt the masts shake in her till the topsails blew out +full; she gave one sudden bolt up with her stern, like an old jackass +striking behind, which capsized three or four passengers in a heap; and +next minute she was surging along through the wide heave of the water +as gallantly as heart could wish, driving a wave under her bows that +swung back under the forechains on both sides, with two boys running up +the rigging far aloft on each mast to stow the royals. The next thing +I looked at was poor Ford's nautical hat lifting alongside on the top +of a wave, as if it were being handed up to him; but no sooner seen, +than it was down in the hollow a quarter of a mile off, a couple of +white gulls making snatches at it and one another, and hanging over +it again with a doubtful sort of a scream. Still the wind was as yet +nothing to speak of when once aft; the sea was getting up slowly, and +the Indiaman's easy roll over it made every one cheerful, in spite of +the shifts they were put to for getting below. When the bell struck for +dinner, the sun was pretty clear, away on our starboard bow; the waves +to south-westward glittered as they rose; one side of the ship shone +bright to the leech of the mainto'gallant-sail, and we left the second +mate hauling down the jibs for want of use for them. + +The splendid pace she went at was plain, below in the cuddy, to +everybody; you felt her shoving the long seas aside with the force of +a thousand horses in one, then sweep they came after her, her stern +lifted, she rolled round, and made a floating rush ahead. In the middle +of it all, something darkened the half-open skylight, where I perceived +the Scotch second-mate's twisted nose and red whiskers, as he squinted +down with one eye aloft, and disappeared again; after which I heard +them clue up to'gallant-sails. Still she was driving through it rather +too bodily to let the seas rise under her; you _heard_ the wind hum of +the main-topsail, and sing through betwixt it and the main-course, the +scud flying over the skysail-mast truck, which I could see from below. +The second mate looked in once more, caught the first officer's eye +with a glance aloft, and the gallant mate left attending to the ladies +to go on deck. Down went the skylight frame, and somebody carefully +threw a tarpaulin over it, so that there was only the light from the +port-windows, by which a dozen faces turned still whiter. + +The moment I shoved my head out of the booby-hatch, I saw it was +like to turn out a regular gale from nor'-east. Both courses brailed +close-up, and blowing out like rows of big-bladders; the three +topsail-yards down on the caps to reef, their canvass swelling and +thundering on the stays like so many mad elephants breaking loose; the +wild sky ahead of us staring right through in triumph, as it were, and +the wind roaring from aft in her bare rigging; while a crowd of men +in each top were laying out along the foot-ropes to both yard-arms. +Below, they were singing out at the reef-tackles, the idlers tailing on +behind from the cook to the cabin-boys, a mate to each gang, and the +first officer with his hands to his mouth before the wheel, shouting +"Bear a hand!--d'ye hear!--two reefs!" It did one's heart good, and I +entered into the spirit of it, almost forgiving Finch his fine puppy +lingo, when I saw him take it so coolly, standing like a seaman, and +sending his bull's voice right up with the wind into the bellies of +the topsails--so I e'en fell-to myself, and dragged with the steward +upon the mizen reef-tackle till it was chock up. There we were, running +dead before it, the huge waves swelling long and dark after us out +of the mist, then the tops of them scattered into spray; the glaring +white yards swayed slowly over aloft, each dotted with ten or a dozen +sturdy figures, that leant over with the reef-points in their hands, +waiting till the men at the _earings_ gave the word; and Jacobs's face, +as he looked round to do so--hanging on heaven knows what at one of +the ends--was as distinct as possible against the gray scud miles off, +and sixty feet above the water. A middy, without his cap, and his hair +blowing out, stood holding on in the main-top to quicken them; the +first mate waved his hand for the helmsman to "luff a little." The +ship's head was rounding slowly up as she rose on a big blue swell, +that caught a wild gleam on it from westward, when I happened to glance +towards the wheel. I could scarcely trust my eyes--in fact it had never +been less in my mind since coming aboard than at that very point--but +outside one of the round-house doors, which was half open, a few feet +from the bulwark I leant over--of all moments in the day, _there_ stood +Lota Hyde herself at last! Speak of faces!--why, I hadn't even power +to turn farther round, and if I was half out of breath before, what +with the wind and with pulling my share, I was breathless now--all my +notions of her never came up to the look of her face at that instant! +She just half stopped, as it were, at sight of the state of things, +her hands letting go of the large shawl, and her hair streaming from +under a straw hat tied down with a ribbon--her lips parted betwixt +dread and bewilderment, and her eyes wandering round till they settled +a-gazing straight at the scene ahead, in pure delight. I actually +looked away aloft from her again, to catch what it was she seemed to +see that could be so beautiful!--the second reef just made fast, men +crowding in to run down and hoist away with the rest, till, as they +tailed along decks, the three shortened topsails rose faster up against +the scud, and their hearty roaring chorus was as loud as the gale. +"Keep her away, my lad!" said the mate, with another wave of his hand; +the topsails swelled fair before it, and the Indiaman gave a plunge +right through the next sea, rising easily to it, heave after heave. +The setting sun struck two or three misty spokes of his wheel through +a cloud, that made a big wave here and there glitter; the ship's white +yards caught some of it, and a row of broad backs, with their feet +stretching the foot-rope as they stowed the foresail, shone bright out, +red, blue, and striped, upon the hollow of the yellow fore-topsail, in +the midst of the gale; while just under the bowsprit you saw her black +figure-head, with his white turban, and his hand to his breast, giving +a cool salaam now and then to the spray from her bows. At that moment, +though, Lota Hyde's eye was the brightest thing I could find--all the +blue gone out of the waves was in it. As for her seeing myself, I +hadn't had space to think of it yet, when all of a sudden I noticed +her glance light for the first time, as it were, on the mate, who was +standing all the while with his back to her, on the same plank of the +quarterdeck. "Down main-course!" he sung out, putting one hand in his +jacket-pocket; "down both tacks--that's it, my men--down with it!"--and +out it flapped, slapping fiercely as they dragged it by main force into +the bulwark-cleats, till it swelled steady above the main-stay, and the +old ship sprang forward faster than before, with a wild wash of the +Atlantic past her sides. "Another hand to the wheel, here!" said the +first officer. He took a look aloft, leaning to the rise of her bows, +then to windward as she rolled; everything looked trim and weatherly, +so he stepped to the binnacle, where the lamp was ready lighted, and it +just struck me what a smart, good-looking fellow the mate was, with his +sun-burnt face; and when he went to work, straight-forward, no notion +of showing off. "Confound it, though!" thought I of a sudden, seeing +_her_ eyes fixed on him again, and then to seaward. "Mr Macleod," said +he to the second mate, "send below the watch, if you please. This +breeze is first-rate, though!" When he turned round, he noticed Miss +Hyde, started, and took off his cap with a fine bow. "I beg pardon, +ma'am," said he, "a trifle of wind we have! I hope, Miss Hyde, it +hasn't troubled you in the round-house?" What Miss Hyde might have said +I don't know, but her shawl caught a gust out of the spanker, though +she was in the lee of the high poop; it blew over her head, and then +loose--I sprang forward--but the mate had hold of it, and put it over +her again. The young lady smiled politely to the mate, and gave a cold +glance of surprise, as I thought, at me. I felt, that moment, I could +have knocked the mate down and died happy. "Why, sir," said he, with a +cool half sneer, "I fancied none of you gentlemen would have favoured +us this capful of wind--plenty of air there is on deck, though." It +just flashed through my mind what sort of rig I was in--I looked over +my infernal 'long-shore toggery, and no wonder she didn't recollect me +at all! "_Curse_ this confounded folly!" muttered I, and made a dart to +run up the poop-steps, where the breeze took me slap aback, just as the +judge himself opened the larboard door. "Why, Violet!" exclaimed he, +surprised at seeing his daughter, "are you exposing yourself to this +disagreeable--I declare a perfect _storm_!" "But see, papa!" said she, +taking hold of his arm, "how changed the sea is!--and the ship!--just +look where the sun was!" "Get in--get in, do!" kept on her father; +"you can see all that again in some finer place; you should have had +a servant with you, at least, Violet." "I shall come out oftener +than I thought, papa, I can tell you!" said she, in an arch sort of +way, before she disappeared. The mate touched his cap to the judge, +who asked where the captain was. "'Gad sir," said the judge crossly, +"the floor resembles an earthquake--every piece of furniture swings, +sir; 'tis well enough for sleeping, but my family find it impossible +to dine. If this _oolta-poolta_ continues in my apartments, I must +speak to Captain Williamson about it! He must manage to get into some +other part of the sea, where it is less rough," saying which he swayed +himself in and shut the door. I still kept thinking and picturing _her_ +face--Lota Hyde's--when she noticed the mate. After all, any one that +knew tack from bowline might reef topsails in a fair wind; but a girl +like _that_ would make more count of a man knowing how to manage wind +and sea, than of the Duke on his horse at Waterloo beating Bonaparte; +and as for talk, he would jaw away the whole voyage, no doubt, about +moonlight and the ocean, and your genteel fancy mariners! "By George, +though!" thought I, "if the mate's a better man than me, hang me--it's +all right; but burn my wig if I don't go and turn a Hindoo fakeer, with +my one arm stuck up in the air till I die! Go it, old lady!" said I, as +I glanced over the side before going below for the night, "roll away, +only shake something or other to _do_ out of the pace you're going at!" + +The next morning, when Westwood and I went on deck, there was still +a long sea running after us. However, by noon the sun came sifting +through aloft, the breeze got warm, the decks were dry as a bone, +and one just saw the large dark-blue swells lift up alongside with a +shower of spray, between the seams of the bulwarks. By six o'clock, +again, it was got pretty dusk ahead, and I strolled forward right to +the heel of the bowsprit, with Westwood, looking down through her +head-boards into the heap of white foam that washed up among the +woodwork every time she plunged. One knot of the men were sitting with +their legs over the break of the top-gallant forecastle, swinging as +she rolled--laughing, roaring, and singing as loud as they could bawl, +since the wind carried it all forward out of the officers' hearing. I +was rather surprised to see and hear that Jacobs's friends, Bill Dykes +and Tom, were there: the rogues were taking back their savage to the +Andaman Isles again, I suppose. "Well, my lads," said Tom, a regular +sample of the man-o'-war's-man: "this is what I calls balling it off! +That mate knows how to make her go, any how!" "We'll soon be into +tropical regents, I consider!" remarked Bill, who made a point of never +using sea-phrases except ashore, when he came out double salt, to make +up for his gentility afloat. "Hum," grumbled a big ugly fellow, the +same so flattered at the wheel by little Tommy, "I doesn't like your +fair winds! I'll tell you what, mates, we'll be havin' it puff more +from east'ard ere third watch." "What's the odds, Harry, old ship?" +said Tom, "a fair wind still!" "I say, my lads," exclaimed Tom again, +looking along toward the poop, "yonder's the ould naboob squinting out +of the round-house doors!--what's he after now, I wonder?" On stooping +down, accordingly, I could see the judge's face with the binnacle-light +shining on it, as he swayed to and fro in the doorway, seemingly in +a passion at something or other. "Why," said Bill, "I consider he +can't altogether circumstand the shindy as this here roll kicks up +inside of his blessed paliss!" "Nabob, does ye call him!" said Harry, +sulkily; "I'll tell you what, 'mates, he ben't nothin' but a reg'lar +bloody ould tyrant! T'other mornin' there, I just chances to brush +against him as I kiles up a rope, says he '_Fellow!_' an' says he to +the skipper, 'I'd take it kind,' says he, 'if ye'd horder them commin +sailors for to pay more contention alongside o' _my_ legs, Captin +Willumsen!' Why, do the old beggar not think as a feller ben't a _man_ +as well as hisself, with his _commin sailors_, an' be blowed to him!" +"Well though, Harry, old ship," said Tom, "an't that daurter of his'n +a jewel! I say, 'mates, she's all rounded into the head, and a clear +run from aft, like a corvette model! My eye, that hair of hers is worth +gold; I'd go down on the deck to please her, d'ye see!" "No doubt," +says Bill, "she's what I call a exact sparkler!" "Well, I doesn't +know," said Harry. "Last vy'ge but one we'd got one aboard, a'most +beautifuller--half as high again, an' twice her beam--I'm not sure but +_she_--" "All my eye, messmates!" broke in Tom; "that one were built +for _stowing_, ye see, bo', like yer cargo lumpers. Now, this here +young gal minds me o' no other blessed thing but the Nymph corvette's +figure-head--and that warn't her match, neither! She don't look down +upon a sailor, I can tell ye; there I see her t'other morning-watch a +talkin' to Jacobs yonder, as pleasant and cheery as----Hullo, there's +the captain comed out o' the naboob's cabin, and speaking with the mate +by the compass,--blessed if they an't agoin' to alter her course!" + +"Send aft here to the braces!" sung out the first officer to the +boatswain. "Blow me, shipmates, that's yeer naboob now, I'll bet a +week's grog," growled Harry; "ship's course as fair as a handspike +through a grummet; couldn't bring the wind more aft; b--t my eyes, the +sea's comin' to be bought and sold!" Whatever it might be _for_, in +came the starboard yard-arms till she lay over a little; down studding +and top-gallant sails, as neither of them could stand it except from +aft; and off went the old ship rising high athwart the seas, her head +sou'-south-east, and one streak of broken yellow light, low down to +westward on her lee quarter. It was beginning to blow harder, too, and +by eight bells it was "Reef topsails, single reef!" The waves played +slap on her weather side, the heavy sprays came showering over her +bulwarks forward, and the forecastle planks were far from being so +comfortable for a snooze as the night before. As soon as the wheel was +relieved, and the other watch below, the "ugly man" and his companions +returned. "Mates," said he, solemnly, planting his back against the +bitts, "I've sailed this five-and-twenty year before the mast, an' I +never yet seed the likes o' _that_! Take my say for it, we're _on_ a +wind now, but afore next mornin' we'll be close-hauled, beating up +against it." "Well," said another, "she leaks a deal in the eyes of her +below; in that case, Harry, _your_ watch as slings in the fore-peak'll +be all afloat by that time." "What day did this here craft sail on, I +asks?" said the sailmaker gravely. "Why, a Thursday night, old ship," +replied several eagerly. "No," went on the sailmaker; "you counts +sea-fashion, shipmates; but till ye're clear o' the pilot, ye know, its +land fashion ye ought for to go by. 'Twas a _Friday_ by that 'ere said +reckoning, shipmates." "No! so it was though," said the rest--"it don't +_look_ well." "Howsomedever I'm not goin' to come for to go and be a +croaker," continued the sailmaker in a voice like a ghost's. "Well, +luck or no luck, 'mates," grumbled big Harry, "if so be them larboard +bowlines is hauled taut by the morning watch, blow me if I don't be +upsides with that 'ere bloody ould naboob--that's all." + +Next morning, after all, it was easy to feel the ship had really been +hauled close on a wind. When we went up, the weather was clearing, +though with a strongish gale from eastward, a heavy sea running, on +which the Indiaman strained and creaked as she rose, rolling slowly +to windward with her three double-reefed topsails strained full, then +pitched head into it, as a cloud of foam and spray flew over her +weather bow. It was quite early, the decks lately washed down, and the +Indian judge walking the weather quarterdeck as grave and comfortable +as if it was all right. The captain was with him, and two mates to +leeward. "Sail O!" hailed a man on the foreyard. "Where away?" sung +out the mate of the watch. "Broad abeam!" The captain went up to the +poop, and I stood on the foremost carronade near the main rigging, +where I could just see her now and then white against the blue haze +between the hollows of the waves, as the Indiaman lifted. "There she +is!" said I, thinking it was Westwood that stopped behind me; it was +the judge, however, and as soon as I got down he stepped up, holding on +with one hand to a backstay. The ship was rising after a pitch, every +bulkhead and timber in her creaking, when all of a sudden I felt by +my feet what all sailors feel the same way--she was coming up in the +wind too fast to mount with the next wave, and a regular _comber_ it +was going to be. I looked to the wheel--there was big Harry himself +with a grin on his face, and his eye on Sir Charles, as he coolly gave +her half a weather-spoke more, and then whirled it back again to meet +her. "For heaven's sake, look out, sir!" exclaimed I. "Why so I do," +said the judge, rather good-naturedly. "'Zounds! what's--" You felt +the whole ship stop creaking for a moment, as she hung with the last +wave--"Hold on!" shouted a mid--she gave a dull quiver from stem to +stern, and I fairly pulled the judge close into the bulwark, just as +smash, like thunder, came a tremendous green sea over us, three in +one, washing down into the lee scuppers. The old gentleman staggered +up, dripping like a poodle, and unable to see--one heard the water +trickling through the skylights, and stepping away down stairs like +a fellow with iron heels; while there was the sailor at the wheel +grinding down his spokes in right earnest, looking aloft at the shaking +fore-topsail, and the Indiaman seemingly doubtful whether to fall +off or broach-to. Up she rose again, however, and drove round with +her Turk-head in the air, then dip through the spray as gallantly as +ever. "Send that lubber from the wheel, Mr Macleod!" said the captain +angrily, when he came down, "he nearly broached the ship to just now!" +The "ugly man" put on a double-gloomy face, and grumbled something +about her "steering wild;" but the knowing squint he gave Jacobs, who +relieved him, was enough to show me he was one of the best helmsmen +aboard. As for the judge, he hadn't the least notion it was anything +more than a natural mischance, owing to exposing himself. He eyed the +bulwark as if he couldn't understand how any wave was able to rise over +it, while the captain was apologising, and hoping he wouldn't be the +worse. "Eh, young gentleman!" said Sir Charles of a sudden, turning +round to me, after a glance from the weather side to the lee one, "now +I observe the circumstances, the probability is I should have had +myself severely injured on the opposite side there, had it not been +for your presence of mind, sir--eh?" Here I made a bow, and looked as +modest as I could. "I perceive you are wet, young gentleman," said he +again; "you'd better change your dress--eh?" "Thank you, sir!" I said; +and as he walked off quite drenched to his cabin, with the captain, I +heard him remark it was "wonderfully intelligent in a mere griffin." + +However, the wind soon got down to a fine top-gallant breeze; less +of a sea on, the clouds sunk in a long gray bank to leeward, and the +strange sail plain abeam of us--a large ship steering seemingly more +off the wind than the Seringapatam, with top-gallant-sails set--you +could just see the heads of her courses, and her black lower-yards, +when both of us rose together. Our first officer was all alive at the +sight; the reefs were out of our topsails already, and he soon had +us ploughing along under ordinary canvass, though still hugging the +wind. In a short time the stranger appeared to take the challenge, for +he slanted his yards, clapped on royals, and hauled down a stunsail, +heading our course, till he was one body of white cloth on the horizon. +For a while we seemed to gain on her; but after dinner, there was the +other ship's hull up on our lee-bow, rising her white streak out of the +water steadily, and just lifting at times on the long blue seas: she +was fore-reaching on us, as plain as could be. The mate gave a stamp +on the deck, and kept her away a little to set a stunsail. "Why," said +I to Westwood, "he'll fall to leeward of himself!" "She's too much _by +the head_, Collins," said Westwood; "that's it!" "Hasn't he the sense +to take the fore-course off her?" said I, "instead of packing more +_on_! Why, that craft weathers on us like a schooner--I wish you and +I had the Indiaman for an hour or two, Tom!" It wasn't an hour before +we could see the very waves splashing up under her black weather-side, +and over her high bows, as she slanted right through it and rose to +windward again, standing up to cross our course--a fine frigate-built +Indiaman, sharper stemmed than her kind in ordinary, and square in her +spread; one yardarm just looking over the other as they ranged aloft, +and all signs of a weatherly craft. "That's the Duke o' Bedford!" said +a sailor at the braces to his companions, "all oak planks, and not a +splinter of teak in _her_! No chance!" Out flew the British colours +from her mizen-peak, and next the Company's striped ensign at her +fore-royal-mast head, as a signal to speak. However, the Seringapatam +only answered by showing her colours, and held on. All of a sudden the +other Indiaman was seen slowly falling off before the wind, as if in +scorn at such rude manners, and sure of passing us if she chose. For a +moment the red sunset glanced through betwixt all three of her masts, +every rope as fine as wire; then the canvass swung broad against it, +blood-red from the sun, and she showed us her quarter-gallery, with a +glimpse of her stern-windows glittering,--you even made out the crowd +of passengers and soldiers on her poop, and a man or two going up her +rigging. The sea beyond her lay as blue as blue could be, what with +the crimson streak that came zig-zag on both sides of her shadow, and +gleamed along the smooth troughs, taking a crest or two to dance on by +the way; and what with the rough of it near at hand, where the tops of +the dark waves ran hither and thither in broad white flakes, we surging +heavily over them. + +In a few minutes more the sun was not only down, but the clouds banked +up to westward, of a deep purple; and almost at once you saw nothing +of the other ship, except when a stray streak somehow or other caught +her rising, or her mast-heads came across a pale line in the clouds. +The breeze got pleasanter as the night went on, and the Seringapatam +rattled away in fine style, careening to it by herself. + +Well, you know, nothing could be better for a good understanding and +high spirits amongst us than a fast course, fine weather, and entering +the tropics. As for the tropics, if you have only a roomy ship and a +good run of wind, as we had, in those latitudes everything outside of +you seems almost to have double the stuff in it that air and water +have in other places; while _inside_ of one, again, one felt twice the +life he had before, and everybody else came out _newer_ a good deal +than on the parlour rug at home. As the days got each hotter than the +last, and the sea bluer and bluer, we began to think better of the +heavy old Seringapatam's pace, teak though she was, and her sole good +point right before the wind. Every night she lighted her binnacle +sooner, till deuce the bit of twilight there was, and the dark sky came +down on us like the extinguisher over a candle. However, the looks of +things round and aloft made full amends for it, as long as we held the +"Trades;" old Neptune shifting his scenes there so quickly, that nobody +missed getting weather and air, more than he could help, were it only +a sight of how the Indiaman got on, without trouble to any living soul +save the man at the wheel, as one long, big, bright wave shoved her to +another, and the slower they rose the more business she seemed to do +of herself. By the time they had furbished her up at their leisure, +the Seringapatam had a queer Eastern style, too, throughout; with her +grass mattings and husky _coir_ chafing-gear, the yellow varnish about +her, and her three topsails of country-canvass, cut narrow towards the +head--bamboo stunsail booms, and spare bits of bamboo always ready for +everything; besides the bilious-like gold-coloured patches here and +there in the rest of her sails, and the outlandish figure-head, that +made you sometimes think there might be twenty thousand of them under +the bows, dancing away with her like Juggernaut's travelling pagoda. +The decks were lively enough to look at; the men working quietly by +twos and threes about the bulwarks all day long, and pairs of them +to be made out at different points aloft, yarning away comfortably +together, as the one passed the ball for the other's serving-mallet, +with now a glance at the horizon, and now a grin at the passengers +below, or a cautious squint at the top of the mate's cap. White +awnings triced over poop and quarterdeck, the cover of the waist +hammock-netting clean scrubbed, and the big shady main-course half +brailed-up, rustling and bulging above the boats and booms amidships; +every hatchway and door with a round funnel of a wind-sail swelling +into it, and their bellies moving like so many boa-constrictors come +down from aloft, and going in to catch cadets. You saw the bright white +sky dazzling along under the awning-cheeks, that glared on it like +snow; and the open quarterdeck ports let in so many squares of shifting +blue light, with a draught of air into the hot carronade muzzles, +that seemed to gasp for it with their red tompions stuck out like +tongues. The very look of the lifting blue water on the shady side was +refreshing, and the brighter the light got, _it_ grew the darker blue. +You listened for every cool splash of it on the bends, and every rustle +of the canvass aloft; and instead of thinking, as the landsmen did, of +green leaves and a lazy nook for shelter, why, to my fancy there's a +deuced sigh more satisfaction in good _dark blue_, with a spray over +the cat-head to show you're going, and with somewhat to go for! For +want of better, one would have given his ears to jump in head-foremost, +and have a first-rate bathe--the very sea itself kept rising up +alongside to make an easy dive for one, and sinking into little round +troughs again, where the surges would have sprinkled over your head. +Now and then a bigger wave than ordinary would go swelling up, and out +sprang a whole glittering shower of flying-fish, freckling the dark +side with drops, and went flittering over into the next, or skimming +the crests out of sight into a hollow. The writers and cadets were in +high feather at knowing they were in the same latitude as India, and +appeared in all sorts of straw hats, white trousers, and white jackets. +Ford had left off talking of going aloft for a while, to flourish about +his swimming--when he looked over with the surgeon into the smooth of +a hollow, and saw something big and green, like all immense cucumber, +floating along within a fathom or two of the ship, deep down in the +blue water. While the griffin asked what it was, a little ripple broke +above, a wet black horn came right out of it, and two devilish round +eyes glared up at us ahead of it, as we leant over the quarter, set +wide in a broad black snout, shaped like a gravedigger's shovel; then +it sank away into the next wave. Ford shivered, in spite of the heat. +"The devil?" inquired one of the writers, coolly, to the surgeon. "Not +just him," said the Scotchman; "it's only the first _shark_!" + +The young ladies, in their white dresses, now made you think of angels +gliding about: as to the only one I had an eye for, by this time it +wasn't of not seeing her often enough I had to complain, as she seemed +to delight in nothing else but being somewhere or other upon deck; +first one part of the ship, then another, as if to see how different +the look-out could be made, or to watch something in the waves or +the horizon. Instead of sitting with a needle or a book, like the +rest, with the corner of one eye toward the gentlemen, or talking and +giggling away at no allowance, she would be noticing a man aloft as if +she were there herself, or trying to see past a sail, as if she fancied +there was something strange on the other side of it. The rest of the +girls appeared shy of her at first, no doubt on account of the Judge's +separate quarters and his grandee style; next, they made acquaintance, +she speaking and smiling just as if she had known them before; then, +again, most of them seemingly got jealous because the cadets squinted +after her; while old Rollock said Miss Hyde would be the beauty on +Chowringee Course, and the first officer was eternally pointing out +things to her, like a showman at a fair. However, she seemed not to +mind it at all, either way: those that did talk to her would scarce +hear her answer ere they lost her, and there she was, looking quietly +down by herself into the ripples alongside; a minute after, she would +be half-playing with little Tommy, and making companions of Tommy's +young sisters, to see the sheep, the pigs, and the cow, or feed the +poultry. As for the handsome "first officer," when he caught occasion +for his politeness, she took it graciously enough, and listened to +all he said; till, of a sudden, a smile would break over her face, +and she seemed to me to put him off as easy as a duchess--on the +score, it might be, of the Judge's looking for her off the poop, or +something else of the kind. 'Twas the more curious how much at home +she seemed amongst the men at work, when she chanced to go "forward" +with Tommy and his sisters, as they skipped hither and thither: the +rough, blue-shirted fellows took the quids out of their cheeks as soon +as they saw the party coming from aft, and began to smirk, shoving the +tar-buckets and ropes aside. One forenoon, an old lady under the poop +awning, where she and her daughter were sewing together at a bright +strip of needlework, asked me to hold her woollen yarns for her as +she balled them off--being the red coat for a sepoy killing a tiger, +which her daughter was making in yellow. I couldn't well refuse, +seeing that amongst the ladies I was reckoned a mild, quiet young man. +Even in these days, I must say I had a good deal of that look, and at +home they used always to call me "quiet Ned." My mother, good soul, +never would believe I broke windows, killed cats, or fought, and the +mystery to her always is _why_ the neighbours had a spite at me; for +if I had been a wild boy, she said, or as noisy as little Brown next +door, why she wouldn't have objected to my going to sea!--that noisy +little Brown, by the bye, is a fat banker. So in I had to stick my +thumbs at arms'-length, and stoop down to the old lady, the more with +a will since I guessed what they were talking of. "Well though, Kate," +continued the old lady, winding away at the thread, "you cannot deny +her to be a charming creature, my love?" "Oh, if you mean _pretty_!" +said the girl, "I don't _want_ to deny it--not _I_, ma'am!--why should +I, indeed?" "Pity she's a little light-headed," said her mother in a +musing way. "_Affected_, you mean, mother!" said Miss Fortescue, "and +haughty." "Do you know, Kate," replied the old lady, sighing, "I fear +she'll soon _go_ in India!" "_Go?_" said the daughter sharply. "Yes; +she won't stand the hot season as I did--these flighty girls never do. +Poor thing! she certainly hasn't _your_ stamina now, my love!" Here +Miss Fortescue bit her lip, tossed her head, and was saying that wasn't +what she cared about, though in fact she looked ready to cry; when just +at the moment I saw Lota Hyde herself half above the little gallery +stair, gazing straight at me, for the first time, too; a curious kind +of half-smile on her face, as I stood with my paws out, the old lady +jerking the yarn off my wrists, and I staring right over her big bonnet +at the sky astern of the awning, pretending not to listen. All at +once my mouth fell, and before she could turn her face away from the +funny countenance I no doubt put on, I saw her cheek rosy and her eyes +sparkle with laughter, instead of seeming like one to die soon. For my +part I couldn't stand it at all, so I just bolted sheer round and made +three strides to the poop ladder, as dignified as was possible with +ever so many plies of red yarn foul of my wrists, and a big red ball +hopping after me when I'd vanished, like a fellow running from a hot +shot! I daresay they thought on the poop I'd had a stroke of the sun on +my brain; but till next day I kept clear of the passengers, and took to +swigging off stiff nor'-westers of grog, as long as Westwood would let +me. + +Next evening, when the cuddy dinner was scarce over, I went up to the +poop, where there was no one to be seen; the sun just setting on our +starboard-quarter in a golden blaze that stretched overhead, with +flakes of it melting, as 'twere, all over the sky to port, and dropping +in it like threads of oil in water; the ship with a light breeze aft, +and stunsails packed large upon her, running almost due for the Line. +The waves to westward were like liquid light, and the eddies round our +counter came glittering out, the whole spread of her mizen and main +canvass shining like gold cloth against the fore: then 'twas but the +royals and skysails brighter than ever, as the big round sun dipped +down with a red streak or two, and the red waterline, against his +hot old face. Every blue surge between had a clear green edge about +its crest, the hollows turning themselves inside out from deep purple +into bright blue, and outside in again,--and the whole rim of the +sea grew out cool and clear away from the ship's taffrail. A pair of +sharp-headed dolphins that had kept alongside for the last few minutes, +swimming near the surface, turned tail round, the moment I put my nose +over the bulwark, and shot off like two streaks of a rainbow after the +flying-fish. I was just wondering where Lota Hyde could be, this time, +when on a sudden I observed little Tommy poke his curly head out of the +booby-hatch, peeping cautiously round; seeing nobody, however, save +the man at the wheel, who was looking over his shoulder at the sun, +the small rogue made a bolt out of the companion, and scampered aft +under the awning to the Judge's starboard door, with nothing on but his +nightshirt. There he commenced kicking and shoving with his bare feet +and arms, till the door flew open, and over went Tommy on his nose, +singing out in fine style. The next thing I heard was a laugh like the +sound of a silver bell; and just as the boy's sister ran up in a fright +lest he had gone overboard, Violet Hyde came out leading the little +chap wrapped in a long shawl that trailed astern of him, herself with +a straw bonnet barely thrown upon her head. "Tommy says you put him +to bed too soon, Jane!" said she smiling. "Iss!" said Master Thomas, +stoutly, "go 'way, Dzane!" "You hadn't bid me good-night--wasn't that +it, Tom? But oh! _what_ a sea!" exclaimed she, catching sight of it +under the awning. The little fellow wanted to see it too, so the young +lady lifted him up in her arms, no small weight I daresay, and they +both looked over the bulwark: the whole sky far out of the awning to +westward being spotted with orange scales, turning almost scarlet, +faster than the dusk from both ends could close in; the clear greenish +tint of it above the openings of the canvass, going up into fathomless +blue overhead, the horizon purple, and one or two still, black clouds +tipped with vermilion against the far sky--while the Indiaman stole +along, scarce plashing under her bends. Every now and then you heard a +whizz and a flutter, as the flying-fish broke out of a bigger surge, +sometimes just missing the ship's side: at last two or three fell over +the mizen chains, and pop came one all of a sudden right into the white +breast of Miss Hyde's dress inside her scarf, where only the wings +kept it from disappearing. She started, Jane screamed, but the little +boy coolly pulled it out, commencing to overhaul it in great delight. +"Oh fat a funny ickoo bird!" shouted he, "it's fell down out of 'ese +t'ees!" looking aloft. "No, no," said Miss Hyde, laughing, as she drew +her shoulders together with a shiver, "birds' noses don't drop water! +'Twill die if you don't put it in again, Tommy--'tis a fish!" "A fish!" +said he, opening his eyes wider, and smacking his lips, "yes, Tommy +eat it for my beckfust!" However the young lady took it out of his +hand and dropped it overboard; on which the small ogre went off rather +discontented, and kissed her more as a favour than otherwise. It was +almost dark already, the water shining up in the ship's wake, and the +stars coming out aloft; so I was left wondering at the impudence of +flying-fish, and the blessings of being a fat little imp in a frock and +trousers, compared with this puzzle of a "traverse," betwixt _being_ a +third lieutenant and hailing for a "griffin." + +The night following, after a sultry hot day, the wind had varied a +good deal, and the ship was running almost close-hauled on a warm +south-easterly breeze, with somewhat of a swell in the water. Early in +the first watch there was a heavy shower, after which I went on deck, +leaving Westwood at his book. The half-moon was just getting down to +leeward, clear of a ragged dark cloud, and a long space of faint white +light spread away on the horizon, behind the sheets of the sails hauled +aft; so that you just saw a sort of a glimmer under them, on the black +heave of the swell between. Every time she rolled to leeward on it, a +gleam of the moonshine slipped inside the shadow of her high bulwarks, +from one wet carronade to another, and went glistening over the moist +decks, and among the boats and booms, that looked like some big brute +or other lying stretched out on his paws, till you saw the men's faces +on the forecastle as if they were so many mutineers skulking in the +dark before they rushed aft: then up she righted again, and all was +dark inboard. The awnings were off, and the gruff third mate creaking +slowly to and fro in his soaked shoes; the Judge stood talking with the +captain before one of the round-house doors; directly after I noticed +a young lady's figure in a white dress close by the mizen-rigging, +apparently intent on the sea to leeward. "Well, now or never!" thought +I, stepping over in the shadow of the main-sheet. I heard her draw a +long breath: and then, without turning her head at the sound of my +foot, "I wonder if there is anything so strange in India," exclaimed +she; "_is_ there now?" "No, by----, no, madam!" said I, starting, and +watching as the huge cloud grew darker, with a rusty stain in it, while +three or four broad-backed swells, one beyond the other, rose up black +against the setting moon, as if they'd plunge right into her. Miss Hyde +turned round, with one hand on the bulwark to steady herself, and half +looked at me. "I thought--" said she; "where is papa?--I thought my +father--" I begged pardon for intruding, but next minute she appeared +to have forgotten it, and said, in a musing sort of way, partly to +herself, partly to me--"I seem to _remember_ it all--as if I just saw +that black wave--and--that monstrous cloud--over again! Oh! really that +is the _very_ same top it had _then_--see!" "Yes," said I, leaning +forward, with a notion I _had_ seen it before, though heaven knew +when. "Did you ever read about Columbus and Vasco da Gama?" asked she, +though directly afterwards her features broke into a laughing smile as +she caught sight of mine--at the thought, I suppose, of my ridiculous +figure the last time she saw me. "No, never," said I; "but look to +windward, ma'am; 'tis coming on a squall again. For heaven's sake, Miss +Hyde, go in! We're to have another shower, and that pretty thick. I +wonder the mate don't stow the royals." "What do you mean?" said she, +turning. "Why are you alarmed, sir? I see nothing particular." The +sea was coming over, in a smooth, round-backed swell, out of a dirty, +thick jumble of a sky, with a pitchblack line behind--what Ford would +have called "wild" by daylight; but the young lady's eye naturally saw +no more in it than a dark night. Here the Judge came over from the +binnacle, giving me a nod, as much as to say he recollected me. "I am +afraid, sir," said I, "if you don't make haste, you'll get wet." "How!" +said Sir Charles, "'tis an exceedingly pleasant night, I think, after +such a deuced hot day. They don't know how to cool rooms here--this +perpetual wood retains heat till midnight, sir! That detestable +pitch precludes walking--the sea absolutely glares like tin. _Why_ +do you suppose so now--eh, young gentleman?" said he again, turning +back, all of a sudden, with his daughter on his arm. "Why--why--why, +Sir Charles," said I, hesitating betwixt sham innocence and scarce +knowing what reason to give; "why, I just think--that is to say, +it's my feeling, you see." "Ah, ah, I _do_ see," replied the Judge, +good-humouredly; "but you shouldn't ape the sailor, my good fellow, +as I fancy you do a little. I don't particularly admire the class, +but they always have grounds for what they say in their profession, +frequently even acute. At your aunt's, Lady Somers's, now, Violet, who +was naturally so surrounded by naval officers, what I had to object to +was, not their want of intelligence, but their forwardness. Eh! eh! +who--what is _that_?" exclaimed he suddenly, looking straight up into +the dark, as five or six large drops fell on his face out of it. All +at once you heard a long sigh, as it were, in the canvass aloft, a +clap like two or three carronades fired off, as all the sails together +went in to the masts--then a hum in the air far and near--and whish! +rush! came the rain in sheets and bucketfuls off the edge of a cloud +over our very heads, plashing and washing about the deck with coils +of rope; ship rolling without a breath of wind in her sails; sails +flapping out and in; the rain pouring down ten times faster than the +scupper-holes would let it out, and smoking gray in the dark hollow of +the swells, that sank under the force of it. The first officer came on +deck, roaring in the hubbub to clue up and furl the royals before the +wind came again. It got pitch-dark, you couldn't see your hand before +you, and we had all lost mark of each other, as the men came shoving in +between us. However I knew whereabouts Miss Hyde was, so I felt along +the larboard rigging till I found a backstay clasped in her hands, +and the soaked sleeve of her muslin dress, while she leant back on a +carronade, to keep from being jerked down in the water that washed up +over her feet with every roll, full of ropes and a capstan-bar or two. +Without saying a word, I took up Lota in my arms, and carried her aft +in spite of the roll and confusion, steering for the glimmer of the +binnacle, till I got her inside one of their own cabins, where there +was a lamp swinging about, and laid her on a sofa. I felt somehow or +other, as I went, that the sweet creature hadn't fainted, though all +the while as still as death; accordingly I made off again at once to +find the Judge, who, no doubt, was calling for his daughter, with a +poor chance of being heard. In a minute or two more the rain was over; +it was light enough to make out the horizon, as the belt of foam came +broadening out of it; the ship gave two or three wild bounds, the wheel +jolting and creaking: up swelled the black waves again over one side, +the topsails flapped full as the squall rushed roaring into them, and +away she rose; then tore into it like a scared horse, shaking her head +and throwing the snow-white foam into her forechains. 'Twas as much as +three men could do to grind down her wheel, leaning and grinning to it; +you saw just the Indiaman herself, scarce so far forward as the booms, +and the broad swell mounting with her out of the dark, as she slowly +squared yards before it, taking in to'gallant-sails while she did so, +with her topsail-yards lowered on the caps. However, the look of it was +worse than its force, else the swell wouldn't have risen so fast, as +every sailor knew; and by two bells of the mid-watch she was bowling +under all, as easy as before, the mate of the watch setting a stunsail. + +When I went down, shaking myself like a Newfoundland, Westwood was +swinging in his cot with a book turned to the lamp, reading _Don +Quixote_ in Spanish. "Bless me, Ned!" said he, "you seem to like +it! paying fair and weathering it too!" "Only a little adventure, +Westwood!" said I, laughing. "Why, here have I been enjoying better +adventures than we seem likely to have," said he, "without stirring a +hand, except for the wild swings you gave me from deck. Here's _Don +Quixote_--" "Don Quixote be hanged!" said I: "I'd rather wear ship in +a gale, myself, than all the humbug that never happened--_out_ of an +infernal play-book. What's the use of _thinking_ you see service, when +you don't? After all, you couldn't _expect_ much till we've crossed the +Line--nothing like the tropics, or the Cape, for thickening a plot, +Tom. Then there's the Mozambique, you know!" "Well, we'll see," said +Westwood, lazily, and half asleep. + +The whole next day would have been weary enough in itself, as not a +single glimpse of the fair Lota could I catch; and the weather, between +the little puffs of air and squalls we had, was fit to have melted poor +Ford to the bone, but for the rain. However, that day was sufficient, +by fits and starts, to bring us up to the Line; and, before crossing +it, which we did by six o'clock in one of the black squalls, half of +the passengers had been pretty well ducked by Neptune and his gang, +besides. Rare fun we had of it for three or four hours on end; the +cadets and writers showing fight in a body, the Yankee being regularly +keelhauled, tarred, and feathered, though I believe he had crossed the +Line twice by land; while the Scotch surgeon was found out, in spite +of his caution, never to have been lower than the West Indies--so he +got double ration. A word to Jacobs took Westwood Scot-free; but, +for my own part, wishing of course to blind the officers, I let the +men stick the tar-brush in my mouth the first word I spoke, and was +shaved like the mischief, not to speak of plumping afterwards behind +the studding-sail curtain into three feet of water, where I absolutely +saved Ford from drowning, he being as sick as a dog. + +Late at night, the breeze held and freshened; and, being Saturday +night, the gentlemen in the cuddy kept it uproariously after their +troubles, drinking and singing songs, Tom Little's and your sentimental +affairs; till, being a bit flushed myself, I was on the point of giving +them one of Dibdin's, when I thought better of it, and went on deck +instead. The mate was there, however, and his red-whiskered Scotch +sub with the twisted snout, leaning on the capstan with their noses +together. The night was dark, and the ship made a good noise through +the water; so "hang it!" thought I, "somehow or other I'll have out a +stave of 'Black-eyed Susan' at the top of my pipe, though overboard +I go for it!" There was an old spare topsail-yard slung alongside to +larboard, as far as the quarter-boat, and I went up to the poop to +get over and sit on it; especially when I found Ford's friend, the +fat midshipman, was in the boat itself, "caulking"[9] his watch out, +as he did every night in a fresh place. I was no sooner there, again, +than I saw a light in the aftermost gallery window, and took it in +my head if I sung _there_, why, in place of being afraid there was +some one under her casement, that and the wind and water together +would put her to sleep, if she was the worse of last night--in fact I +may say I was a little "_slewed_"[10] at the time. How to get there, +though, was the matter, it being rather nice practice to sling over +an Indiaman's quarter-gallery, bulging out from her steep counter: +accordingly, first I took the end of a coil round the mizen-shrouds, +and made a bowline-knot to creep down the stern-mouldings with, and +then swing free by help of a guide-line to boot. Just before letting +go of the taffrail, another fancy struck me, to hitch the guide-line +to the trigger of the life-buoy that hung ready for use; not that I'd +the notion of saving myself if I went overboard, but just because of +the good joke of a fellow slipping his own life-buoy, and then cruising +away with a light at his masthead back to the Line. 'Twas curious--but +when I was "two or three cloths in the wind," far from growing stupid, +I used always to get a sort of cunning that would have made me try and +cheat a purser; so away I lowered myself till the rope was taut, when +I slipped easy enough round the counter, below the window. Every time +she rolled, out I swung, and in again, till I steadied with my feet, +slacking off the other line from one hand. Then I began to give voice +like old Boreas himself, with a sort of a notion, at each shove I got, +how I was rocking the Indiaman like a big cradle, as Jacobs did his +baby. All at once, I felt the rope was _giving_ off the belaying-pin, +till I came down with a jolt under the window below; only singing the +louder, as it was half open, and I could just look in. With every wash +of the waves, the water, a couple of fathoms under my feet, blazed +up like fire, and the wake ran boiling out from the black stern by +the rudder, like the iron out of a furnace: now and then there came a +sulky flare of dumb lightning to leeward, and showed the black swell +out of the dark for miles. I fancied I didn't care for the water, but +I began to think 'twas rather uncomfortable the notion of sousing into +such an infernally flame-looking stream: I was actually in a fright +at being boiled, and not able to swim. So I dropped chorus to haul +myself up; when of a sudden, by the lamp inside the state-room, I saw +Winterton and Ford come reeling in, one after the other, as drunk +as lords. Winterton swayed about quietly on his legs for a minute, +and then looked gravely at Ford, as if he'd got a dreadful secret to +make known. "Ford!" said he. "Ay," said Ford, feeling to haul off his +trousers,--"ay--avast you--blub-lub-lubber!" "I say, Ford!" said the +cadet again, in a melancholy way, fit to melt a marlinspike, and then +fell to cry--Ford all the time pulling off his trousers, with a cigar +in his mouth, till he got on a chest, and contrived to flounder into +his cot with his coat on. After that he stretched over to put the lamp +out, carefully enough; but he let fall his cigar, and one leg of his +nankeen trousers hung out of the cot, just scraping the deck every time +he swung. I watched, accordingly, holding on by the sill, till I saw +a spark catch in the stuff--and there it was, swinging slowly away in +the dark, with a fiery ring creeping round the leg of the trousers, +ready to blow into a flame as soon as it had a clear swing. No doubt +the fool would come down safe enough himself with his cot; but I knew +Winterton kept powder in the cabin sufficient to blow up the deck +above, where that sweet girl was sleeping at the moment. "Confound +it!" I thought, quite cooled by the sight, "the sooner I get on deck +the better!" However, you may fancy my thoughts when I heard men at +the taffrail, hauling on the spanker-boom guys, so I held on till +they'd go forward again: suddenly the mate's voice sung out to know +"what lubber had belayed the slack of a topsail-clueline _here_?" Down +I went with the word, as the rope was thrown off, with just time to +save myself by a clutch of the portsill at arm's-length--where, heaven +knew, I couldn't keep long. The mate looked over and caught sight +of my face, by a flicker of the summer lightning, as I was slipping +down: I gave him one curse as loud as I could hail, and let go the +moulding--"Man overboard!" shouted he, and the men after him: however +I wasn't altogether overboard yet, for I felt the other part of the +rope bring me up with a jerk and a swing right under the quarter-boat, +where I clung like a cat. How to get on deck again, without being seen, +was the question, and anxious enough I was at thought of the burning +train inside; when out jumped some one over my head: I heard a splash +in the water, and saw a fellow's face go sinking into the bright wake +astern, while the boat itself was coming down over me from the davits. +I still had the guide-line from the life-buoy round my wrist, and one +moment's thought was enough to make me give it a furious tug, when +away I sprang clear into the eddies. The first thing I saw at coming +up was the ships' lighted stern-windows driving to leeward, then the +life-buoy flaring and dipping on a swell, and a bare head, with two +hands, sinking a few feet off. I made for him at once, and held him up +by the hair as I struck out for the buoy. A couple of minutes after, +the men in the boat had hold of us and it; the ship came sheering round +to the wind, and we were very shortly aboard again. "Confound it, +Simm, what took you overboard, man?" asked the mid in the boat at his +dripping messmate, the fat reefer. "Oh, bother!" said he, "if you must +know--why, I mistook the quarter-boats; I thought 'twas the _other_ +I was in, when you kicked up that shindy! Now I remember, though, +there was too much _rain_ in it for comfort!" "Well, youngster," +said Tom, the man-o'-war'sman, "this here gentleman saved your life, +anyhow!" "Why, mate," whispered Bill, "'tis the wery same greenhorn we +puckalowed so to-day! Didn't he jump sharp over, too?" "Pull! for your +lives, my lads!" said I, looking up at Ford's window; and the moment we +got on deck, below I ran into the state-room, and cut Ford down by the +heels, with the tinder hanging from him, and one leg of his trousers +half gone. As for the poor reefer, a pretty blowing-up he got; the men +swore I had jumped overboard after him, and the mate would have it +that, instead of sleeping, he wanted to get into the Judge's cabins; +especially when next day Sir Charles was in a rage at his daughter +being disturbed by some sailor or other singing outside. + +[9] Sleeping on deck. + +[10] Anglicè--_not_ sober. + + + + +FOR THE LAST PAGE OF "OUR ALBUM." + + + At length our pens must find repose! + With verse, or with poetic prose, + Filled is each nook; + And these poor little rhymes must close + Our pleasant book! + + Its every page is filled at last! + When on these leaves my eyes I cast, + Dull thoughts to cheer, + How many memories of the past + Seem written here! + + Those who behold a river run + Bright glittering in the noonday sun, + See not its source; + And few can know whence has begun + Its giddy course! + + And thus the feelings that gave rise + To many a verse that meets their eyes + How few can tell! + Yet for those feelings gone, I prize + And love it well! + + Some stanzas were composed to grace + An hour of pleasure,--some to chase + Sad care away; + And some to help on time's slow pace + Which would delay! + + In some, we trace affection's tone + To friends then kind,--now colder grown + By force or art: + In some, the shade of hopes, now gone, + Then, next the heart! + + Such fancies with each line I weave, + And thus our book I cannot leave + Without a sigh! + Fond recollections make me grieve + To lay it by! + + How other hands, perchance, than mine, + A fairer wreath for it might twine, + 'Twere vain to tell; + I can but say, in one brief line, + Dear Book, Farewell! + + + + +THE INSURRECTION IN BADEN. + +(TO THE EDITOR OF BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.) + + +SIR,--I chanced to be at Heidelberg at the outbreak of the late +revolutionary movement, and remained there, or in the neighbourhood, +during its entire duration. It occurs to me that a brief narrative of +the leading events of that period of confusion and anarchy, from the +pen of one who was not only an eyewitness of all that passed, but who, +from long residence in this part of Germany, has a pretty intimate +acquaintance with the real condition and feelings of the people, may +prove suitable to the pages, and not uninteresting to the readers, of +_Blackwood's Magazine_. + +At a public meeting held at Offenburg, in the duchy of Baden, on +the 13th of May 1849, and which was attended by many of the most +violent members of the German republican party, it was resolved that +the constitution voted by the national assembly at Frankfort should +be acknowledged; that Brentano and Peter should be charged with the +formation of a new ministry; that Struve, and all other political +offenders, should be forthwith set at liberty; that the selection of +officers for the army should be left to the choice of the privates; and +lastly, that the movement in the Palatinate (Rhenish Bavaria) should be +fully supported by the government of Baden. + +For the information of those who have not closely followed the late +course of events in Germany, it may be necessary to mention, that early +in the month of May a revolutionary movement, the avowed object of +which was to force the King to acknowledge the constitution drawn up +by the parliament at Frankfort, had broken out in Rhenish Bavaria. A +provisional government had been formed, the public money seized, forced +contributions levied, and the entire Palatinate declared independent of +Bavaria. The leaders of the insurrection had been joined by a portion +of discontented military; and, in an incredibly short space of time, +the whole province, with the exception of the fortresses of Germersheim +and Landau, had fallen into their hands. + +Although the declared motive of the Offenburg assembly was to support +this movement, and thus oblige the reigning princes to bow to the +decrees of the central parliament, there is little doubt that a +long-formed and widely-extended conspiracy existed, the object of which +was to proclaim a republic throughout Germany. The meeting in question +was attended by upwards of twenty thousand persons, many of whom were +soldiers, seduced by promises of increased pay, and of the future +right to elect their officers. Money was plentifully distributed; and +towards evening the mob, mad with drink and excitement, returned, +howling revolutionary songs, to their homes. At the very time this +was going on, a mutiny in the garrison of Rastadt had placed that +fortress in the power of about four thousand soldiers, many of them raw +recruits. This extraordinary event, apparently the result of a drunken +quarrel, was shrewdly suspected to be part of a deep-laid scheme for +supporting the movement, which was expected to follow the next day's +meeting at Offenburg. If such were the hopes of the leaders, they were +not disappointed; the train was laid, and wanted but a spark to fire +it. The result of the Offenburg meeting was known at Carlsruhe by six +o'clock in the evening of the day of its occurrence; and on the same +evening, some riotous soldiers having been placed in confinement, their +comrades insisted on their release. In vain did the officers, headed by +Prince Frederick, (the Grand-duke's second son,) endeavour to appease +them; they were grossly insulted, and the prince received a sabre cut +on the head. It is thought by many persons that if, at this time, +energetic measures had been taken, the whole movement might have been +crushed. + +But with citizens timid or lukewarm, and soldiers the greater number of +whom were in open mutiny, it is difficult to say where the repressive +power was to have been found. Be this as it may, the barracks were +demolished, the stores broken open and robbed; and by eleven o'clock +that night the ducal family, and as many of the ministers and +attendants as could find the means of evasion, were in full flight. +With arms supplied by the plunder of the barracks, the mob next +attacked the arsenal, which was under the protection of the national +guard. A squadron of dragoons who came to assist the latter were fired +on by both parties, and the captain, a promising young officer, was +killed on the spot. The dragoons, seeing their efforts to support the +citizens thus misinterpreted, retired, and left the arsenal to its fate. + +Early next morning, a provisional government, headed by Brentano and +Fickler, was proclaimed, to which all people were summoned to swear +obedience; and, absurdly enough, the very men, soldiers and citizens, +who the day before had, with the acquiescence of the duke, taken an +oath of allegiance to the empire, now swore to be faithful to the new +order of things. The news of the outbreak spread like wildfire. It +was received with particular exultation in the towns of Mannheim and +Heidelberg; in the latter of which a very republican spirit prevailed, +and where, at the first call, the national guard assembled, eager to +display their valour--in words. It was not long before their mettle +was put to the proof. The Duke, who had taken refuge in the fortress +of Germersheim, had been escorted in his flight by about three hundred +dragoons, with sixteen pieces of artillery. These brave fellows, who +had remained faithful to their sovereign, attempted, after leaving +him in safety, to make their way to Frankfort. As every inch of the +country they had to traverse was in open revolt, the circumstance +was soon known at Heidelberg, where, late in the evening, the tocsin +rang, to summon the peasants from the neighbouring villages, and the +_générale_ beat through the streets to call the citizens to arms, in +order that parties might be sent out to intercept the soldiers. It +would be difficult to describe the panic that prevailed in Heidelberg +at the first sound of this terrible drum. The most ridiculous and +contradictory reports were circulated. That some great danger was +at hand, all agreed; and the story generally credited was, that the +peasants of the Odenwald were coming down, ten thousand strong, +to plunder the town. When the real cause of the disturbance was +discovered, it may be doubted whether, to many, the case appeared much +mended; for, besides the disinclination a set of peaceable tradesmen +might feel to attack a body of dragoons, backed by sixteen pieces +of artillery, many of those who were summoned from their beds were +secretly opposed to the cause they were called upon to serve. But there +was no remedy; and, amidst the tears and shrieks of women, the ringing +of bells, and beating of drums, the first detachment marched off. No +sooner did they arrive at the supposed scene of action, than, seized +with a sudden panic, caused by a row of trees which, in the dark, they +mistook for the enemy in battle array, they faced about, and fairly ran +for it till they found themselves once more in Heidelberg. + +The consequences were more serious to some of the members of a second +party, despatched to Ladenburg. In the middle of the night, the sentry +posted on the bridge mistook the trotting of some stray donkey for a +charge of dragoons, and firing his rifle, without farther deliberation +he threw himself over the bridge, breaking a thigh and a couple of ribs +in the fall. The others stood their ground; but it is well known that +several of the party were laid up next day with _nerven feber_, (a sort +of low typhus,) brought on by the fear and agitation they had undergone. + +These facts are merely mentioned to show that, had the government, at +the commencement of the outbreak, made the slightest show of firmness, +they would not have met with the resistance which they afterwards found. + +The dragoons, after dodging about for two days and nights, worn out +with fatigue and hunger, at length allowed themselves to be captured +near the frontiers of Würtemberg. It seems that the soldiers positively +refused to make use of their arms after the Duke's flight, which, +indeed, is the only way of accounting for three hundred mounted +dragoons, with sixteen pieces of artillery fully supplied with +ammunition, falling into the hands of as many peasants, who would +undoubtedly have fled at the first shot fired. + +Whilst these events passed, the reins of government at Carlsruhe +had been seized by Brentano, Peter, Fickler, and Goegg--the latter +a convicted felon. Struve and Blind, condemned to eight years' +imprisonment for their rebellion the year before, were released, and, +with their friends, took a prominent part in the formation of the new +ministry. The war department was given to a Lieutenant Eichfeld, who, +by the way, had some time previously quitted the service, on account +of a duel in which he displayed the white feather. His first measure +was to order the whole body of soldiers, now entirely deprived of their +officers, to select others from the ranks. The choice was just what +might have been expected; and instances occurred in which recruits of +three weeks' standing passed at once to the rank of captain and major. +All discipline was soon at an end. The army, consisting of 17,000 +men, was placed under the command of Lieutenant Sigel, a young man of +twenty-two, whose sole claims to preferment seem to have been, that he +was compromised in Struve's abortive attempt at Friburg, and had since +contributed a number of articles, violently abusive of the government, +to some low revolutionary newspapers. Headquarters were established at +Heidelberg, where Sigel, accompanied by Eichfeld, arrived on the 19th +of May. + +The pecuniary affairs of the insurgents were in the most flourishing +condition. Seven millions of florins (about £560,000) were found in the +war-chest, besides two and a half millions of paper-money, and large +sums belonging to other departments of the ministry. Their stock of +arms consisted of seventy thousand muskets, without reckoning those +of the national guard and military. Thus equipped and supplied, they +would have been able, with a little drill, and if properly commanded, +to make a long stand against the regular forces sent against them. By +this time, too, the country was fast filling with political refugees +of all shades of opinion. Italians, Swiss, Poles, and French were +daily pouring in; and the well-known Metternich, of Mayence celebrity, +who had not been heard of since his flight from the barricades at +Frankfort, again turned up as commander of a free corps. A sketch of +his costume will give a pretty fair idea of that adopted by all those +who wished to distinguish themselves as ultra-liberals. He wore a +white broad-brimmed felt hat, turned up on one side, with a large red +feather; a blue _kittel_ or smock-frock; a long cavalry sabre swung +from his belt, in which were stuck a pair of ponderous horse pistols; +troopers' boots, reaching to the middle of the thigh, were garnished +with enormous spurs, and across his breast flamed a crimson scarf, the +badge of the red republican. + +In order to extend the revolt, and to place Baden in a state of +defence before the governments should recover from their panic, the +most energetic measures were taken. A decree was issued for arming the +whole male population, from eighteen to thirty years of age; and as in +many instances the peasantry proved refractory, a tax of fifty florins +per day was laid on all recusants, who, when discovered, were taken +by force to join the army. Raveaux, Trutschler, Erbe, and Fröbel, the +latter that friend of Robert Blum, who so narrowly escaped the cord +when his companion was shot,--made their appearance at Carlsruhe. They +issued a violent proclamation against the King of Prussia, and, the +better to disguise their real object, called on all Germany to arm in +defence of the parliament at Frankfort, and the provisional government +of Baden. Every artifice, no matter how disreputable, that could serve +the cause, was unscrupulously resorted to. It was officially announced +that Würtemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt were only waiting a favourable +opportunity to join the movement; and to further this object, a +public meeting (which it was hoped would bring forth the same fruits +at Darmstadt, as that of Offenburg had produced at Carlsruhe) was +called by the radicals of the Odenwald. It took place at Laudenbach, +a village situated about three miles within the Hessian frontier, +and was attended by upwards of six thousand armed peasants, and by +three or four thousand of the Baden free corps. The authorities were, +however, on the alert; and after a fruitless summons to the insurgents +to quit the territory, the military were called out. Before orders to +fire were given, the civil commissary, desirous to avoid effusion of +blood, advanced alone towards the crowd, endeavouring to persuade them +to retire peaceably. He was barbarously murdered; and the sight of his +dead body so incensed the Hessian soldiers, that they rushed forward +without waiting for the word of command, and with one volley put the +whole mob of insurgents to flight. + +The spirit displayed on this occasion probably saved the country +from a bloody civil war; for had the revolutionary movement passed +the frontiers of Baden, at that moment the flame would doubtless +have spread to Würtemberg, and thence not improbably to the whole of +Germany, with the exception perhaps of Prussia. + +To counteract the very unsatisfactory effect of the meeting at +Laudenbach, it was resolved, by a council held at Carlsruhe, that a +bold stroke should be struck. The Hessians, hitherto unsupported by +other troops, could not command anything like the numerical force of +Baden, and Sigel received orders to cross the frontier with all his +disposable troops. Four battalions of the line, with about six thousand +volunteers, were reviewed at Heidelberg before taking the field. They +were indeed a motley crew! The soldiers, who had helped themselves from +the stores at Carlsruhe to whatever best suited their fancy, appeared +on parade equipped accordingly. Shakos, helmets, caps, greatcoats, +frocks, full-dress and undress uniforms, all figured in the same ranks. +The so-called officers, in particular, cut a pitiful figure. If the +smart uniform and epaulette could have disguised the clownish recruit, +who had perhaps figured but a few weeks in the ranks, the license of +his conduct would soon have betrayed him; for officers and privates, +arm in arm, and excessively drunk, might constantly be seen reeling +through the streets. The free corps, unwilling to be outdone by the +regulars, indulged in all sorts of theatrical dresses, yellow and red +boots being in great favour; whilst one fellow, claiming no lower rank +than that of colonel, actually rode about in a blouse and white cotton +drawers, with Hessian boots and large gold tassels. + +As it was strongly suspected that the soldiers placed little confidence +in their new leaders, and the free corps, many of whom were serving +against their own wishes, seemed equally unwilling to risk their lives +under such commanders as Metternich and Bönin, (a watchmaker from +Wiesbaden,) all sorts of artifices were resorted to, to encourage +both regulars and irregulars. Their whole force might amount to +thirty thousand men; but, by marches and countermarches, similar to +those by which, in a theatre, a few dozen of soldiers are made to +represent thousands, they so dazzled the eyes of the ignorant, that +it was believed their army numbered nearly a hundred thousand men. +The cavalry, in particular, which were quartered in Heidelberg, were +marched out and in again five times in as many days--at each appearance +being hailed as a fresh regiment. Soothsayers and prophets were also +consulted, and interpreted divers passages in holy writ as foretelling +the defeat of the Prussians, and the success of the "Army of Freedom." +But the trick which, no doubt, had the greatest influence on the minds +of the poor duped people was a forged declaration, purporting to be one +put forth by the Hessian troops, professing their intention of throwing +down their arms on the approach of their "German brothers." + +On the 28th of May, the insurgents, ten thousand in number, crossed the +frontier of Hesse-Darmstadt. The Hessians, with three battalions of +infantry, a couple of six-pounders, and a squadron of light cavalry, +waited their approach; and having withdrawn their outposts, (a movement +interpreted into a flight by the opposite party,) they suddenly opened +a severe fire on the advancing columns--driving them back to Weinheim, +with a loss of upwards of fifty killed and wounded. The affair +commenced at four o'clock in the afternoon, and by ten at night the +whole insurgent force arrived pell-mell at Heidelberg. Officers and +dragoons led the van, followed by artillery, infantry, baggage-waggons, +and free corps, mingled together in the utmost disorder. They had run +from Weinheim, a distance of twelve miles, in three hours--driven by +their fears only; for the Hessians, too weak to take advantage of their +victory, and content with driving them from their own territory, waited +for reinforcements before attempting farther hostilities. + +This check was a sad damper to the ardour of the insurgents. It was +necessary to find some one on whom to fix the blame; and as the +dragoons were known to be unfavourable to the new order of things, the +official account of the affair stated that the enemy would have been +thoroughly beaten, had the cavalry charged when ordered so to do. + +This was the only action fought under Sigel's generalship--as a +specimen of which it may be mentioned that the _band_ of the Guards was +sent into action at the head of the regiment, and lost five men by the +first volley fired. Whatever the reason, Sigel was removed from his +functions next day, and Eichfeld, disgusted with such an opening to the +campaign, changed his place of minister of war for a colonelcy in the +Guards; and, pocketing a month's pay, took himself quietly off, and has +never been heard of since. + +As it was now evident there could be no hopes of the Hessians joining +the movement, the tactics were changed, and the most violent abuse +was lavished on them by the organs of the provisional government. The +vilest calumnies were resorted to, to exasperate the Baden troops +against them, such as that they tortured and massacred their prisoners, +&c. + +Sigel had succeeded Eichfeld as minister of war; and as it was +tolerably clear that they possessed no general fit to lead their army +to the field, Meiroslawski was invited to take the command. A large sum +of money was sent to him in Paris, and, while waiting his arrival, it +was determined to act strictly on the defensive. With this object the +whole line of the Neckar, from Mannheim to Eberbach and Mosbach, was +strongly fortified; and the regular troops were withdrawn from Rastadt, +and concentrated on the Hessian frontier. + +At length the Polish adventurer, whose arrival had been so impatiently +expected, made his appearance at Heidelberg. Meiroslawski, a native of +the grand-duchy of Posen, began his career as a cadet in the Prussian +service. In the Polish revolution of 1832 he played an active part, +and was deeply implicated in the plot concocted at Cracow in 1846, +which brought such dreadful calamities on the unfortunate inhabitants +of Gallicia. For the second time he took refuge in France, and only +returned to his native country to join the outbreak at Posen in 1848. +There he contrived to get himself into a Prussian prison, from which, +however, he was after a time released. He next led the ranks of the +Sicilian insurgents; and on the submission of the island to the +Neapolitan troops, had scarcely time to gain his old asylum, France, +before he was called on to aid the revolutionists of Baden. He is a man +of about forty years of age, of middle height, slightly built, and, so +long as he is on foot, of military carriage and appearance; but seen on +horseback, riding like a postilion rather than a soldier, the effect +is not so good. His eyes are large and expressive, his nose aquiline, +and the lower part of his face covered with a large sandy beard, which +descends to the middle of his breast. Sixty of the Duke's horses, +left in the stables at Carlsruhe, were sent to mount him and his +aides-de-camp. Poles, Swiss, desperadoes of every description, received +commissions, and were attached to the staff, the members of which, +when assembled, were not unlike a group of masqueraders. Accidents, +such as stumbling over their own sabres or their comrades' spurs, were +of common occurrence. Sometimes a horse and his rider would be seen +rolling over together; for, excepting one gentleman, whose rank I could +not learn, but who had figured as rider at an equestrian circus that +had attended the fair, none of the party looked as if they had ever +mounted a horse before. + +The first step taken by the government, after Meiroslawski's arrival, +was to make a formal treaty of alliance with the provisional government +of Rhenish Bavaria, in pursuance of one of whose provisions a plentiful +supply of artillery was sent from the fortress of Rastadt, to furnish +the army in that part of the country. That the two governments were +in constant communication with Ledru Rollin and his friends, is now +an authenticated fact, as well as that their chief hopes of success +were built on the assistance they expected to receive from Paris. So +confidently did they anticipate the overthrow, by the Montagne party, +of the present order of things in France, that on the very morning the +attempt took place in Paris, placards were posted up in Carlsruhe, +Mannheim, and Heidelberg, announcing that the citadel of Strasburg +was in the hands of the democrats, who were hastening with a hundred +thousand men to the assistance of their friends in Baden. + +Until the arrival of Meiroslawski, Brentano had refused to put in +execution the rigorous measures urged on him by Struve and his party; +but things were now conducted differently. Numbers of persons were cast +into prison without any formal accusation. One clergyman in particular, +thrown into a miserable dungeon, and kept for weeks in solitary +confinement, entirely lost his senses, and, on the arrival of his +liberators, the Prussians, had to be taken to a lunatic asylum, where +he still remains. The whole country was declared to be under martial +law, and notice was given that anybody expressing dissatisfaction with +the government would be severely punished. No person whom the malice or +ignorance of the mob might choose to consider a spy was safe: many of +the principal shops in the towns were closed, the proprietors having +sent off or concealed their goods, and fled the country. Persons known +to be inimical to the government were punished for their opinions by +contributions being levied on their property, or soldiers billeted in +their houses. Count Obendorf, who has a chateau in the vicinity of +Heidelberg, had no less than seven hundred and twenty men quartered +on him at one time. Complaint was unavailing; tyranny and terrorism +reigned throughout the land. + +In order to give the semblance of legality to their proceedings, the +elections for a new chamber commenced. It will readily be imagined +that none but the friends of those in power presented themselves +as candidates: the deputies were therefore, without exception, the +intimates or supporters of Brentano & Co. The first act of the new +assembly was to dissolve the _Landes-auschuss_, or provisional +government, as being too numerous a body to act with the required +vigour; and a dictatorial triumvirate, composed of Brentano, Peter, and +Goegg, was appointed in its stead. + +By this time serious dissensions had broken out among the leading +members of the democratic party. Brentano had quarrelled with Struve, +who was resolved on nothing less than the proclamation of the red +republic. Finding his friends at Carlsruhe opposed to this attempt, +he called a public meeting at Mannheim. Here again his efforts were +unsuccessful, the soldiers especially being opposed to his doctrines. +As the Würtemberg deputies had always figured among the most violent +of the left, or republican party, at Frankfort, and late events had +given rise to the idea that the people of that country were disposed +to support the movement in Baden, Fickler was sent to Stuttgart, with +a considerable sum of money to corrupt the soldiers; and in full +expectation of the success of his mission, billets were made out for +three thousand men, who, it was stated, were to arrive in the evening +at Heidelberg. Disappointment ensued. The Würtembergers, satisfied with +having forced from their king a promise to accept the constitution +in support of which the Badeners professed to be fighting, were not +inclined to bring further trouble and confusion into their country, +and Fickler was thrown into prison. This untoward event, had the Baden +revolution lasted much longer, was to have produced a terrible war +between the two countries. The Würtemberg minister, however, laughed +at the insurgent government's absurd and impotent threats, and Fickler +still remains in confinement. + +The first week after Meiroslawski's arrival was taken up with +preparations for opening the campaign on a grand scale. Upwards of +fifty thousand men were collected on the Hessian frontiers, from +which side it was expected that the enemy would make their attack. +At the same time, the Hessians having been reinforced by troops from +Mecklenburg, Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, and Prussia, prepared to take the +field in earnest. Whilst the first division of the army, under the +command of the Prince of Prussia and General Hirschfeld, entered the +Palatinate between Kreutznach and Saarbrucken, and advanced to the +relief of Germersheim and Landau; Meiroslawski was held in check by +continual feints, made along the whole line of the Neckar. On the 15th +of June, a battalion of Mecklenburgers, with a squadron of Hessian +light cavalry, and a couple of guns, advanced from Weinheim as far as +Ladenburg. The village was taken at the point of the bayonet; but, +ignorant of the immense force of the insurgents, or perhaps from +undervaluing their courage, the troops allowed themselves to be almost +surrounded by the enemy. With great difficulty they succeeded in +regaining their old position; while the major who commanded the party, +and ten privates, were left in the hands of the rebels. The loss on +both sides was considerable, but was in some degree compensated to the +Imperial troops, by two companies of the Baden Guards passing over to +them. This slight success was boasted of by Meiroslawski as a splendid +victory, in the following bulletin:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS, HEIDELBERG, + _16th June 1849_. + + "Our operations against the advancing enemy have been crowned with + success. Yesterday, our brave army was simultaneously attacked on + all sides. + + "In Rhenish Bavaria the Prussians were driven back with great + loss. At Ladenburg, Colonel Sigel engaged the enemy, who had + advanced in front; while a column, under the command of the + valiant Oborski, attacked them in rear. The enemy was defeated on + all points, and driven back in the greatest confusion. + + "It is only to be regretted that want of cavalry prevented our + following and completely annihilating them. + + "Many prisoners were made, and their loss in arms, ammunition, and + baggage, all of which fell into our hands, was considerable. + + "Inhabitants of Heidelberg, fear nothing for the future. Continue + to provide the intrepid army under my command with necessaries for + continuing the campaign so gloriously commenced, and I will answer + for the result. Strict obedience to my orders is all I require + from you, to prevent the enemy from overrunning the country. + + "In commemoration of the victory of yesterday, so gloriously + obtained, the town of Heidelberg will be illuminated. The lights + will be left burning till daybreak, and the beer-houses will + remain open the whole night. + + "(Signed) LOUIS MEIROSLAWSKI, + General-in-Chief of the Army." + +This bombastic effusion was followed by several others equally false +and ridiculous. The Prussians had advanced as far as Ludwigshafen, +opposite Mannheim, without encountering any serious resistance. The +insurgent army in the Pfalz, numbering about twelve thousand men, +under the command of the Polish General Sznayda, had abandoned their +intrenchments almost without striking a blow, and, with the provisional +government, fled to Knielingen, from whence they crossed the Rhine +into Baden. The only serious impediment encountered by the Prussians +was at Ludwigshafen, which suffered immense damage from the heavy and +constant bombardment kept up from batteries erected at the opposite +town of Mannheim. The railway station was burned to the ground, and +the value of property destroyed in the store-houses alone has been +calculated at two millions of florins, (£170,000.) On the 17th, Landau +and Germersheim were relieved; and the Prince of Prussia, with his +whole force concentrated before the latter fortress, prepared to cross +the Rhine under the protection of its guns. + +Having thus fully accomplished the first part of his arduous +undertaking, by re-establishing order in the Pfalz, the Prince of +Prussia prepared to effect a junction with the second and third +divisions of the army, under the command of General Von Gröben, and +Peucker, the former of whom had again advanced to Ladenburg, on the +right bank of the Neckar. Meiroslawski, in the mean time, remained +totally inactive from the 15th to the 20th inst. Upwards of fifty +thousand men had been reviewed by him in Heidelberg and its vicinity; +besides this, the twelve thousand Bavarian insurgents, under the +command of Sznayda, were in the neighbourhood of Bruchsal; and with +such a force, anything like a determined resistance would have +compelled the Prussians to purchase victory by a heavy loss. Whatever +may be his reputation for talent, Meiroslawski showed but little skill +as a general during his short command in Baden. Instead of opposing the +crossing of the Rhine by the Prussians, which, with so large a force, +and fifty-four pieces of well-served artillery, he might easily have +done, the Prince of Prussia, with a division of fifteen thousand men, +was allowed to obtain a secure footing in his rear, almost unopposed. + +From this moment the position of the insurgents became critical in +the extreme. The line of the Neckar was occupied on the right bank +by the second and third divisions of the army, comprising upwards of +thirty thousand men. Although hitherto held in check by the strong +intrenchments that had been thrown up, they might still advance in +front; whilst the high road to Rastadt was effectually cut off by the +Prince of Prussia, whose headquarters were now at Phillipsburg. + +The Rhine had been crossed by the Prussians on the 20th, and on +the evening of that day Meiroslawski, for the first time, showed a +disposition to move from his comfortable quarters at the Prince Carl +hotel in Heidelberg. Collecting all his force, (with the exception of +three or four thousand men, who were left in the intrenchments before +Ladenburg and on the line of the Neckar,) he left Heidelberg "to +drive the Prussians," as he announced, "into the Rhine," and effect a +junction with Sznayda's corps in the neighbourhood of Carlsruhe. The +plan was a bold one; but Meiroslawski ought to have known better than +to attempt its execution with the undisciplined force he commanded. He, +however, appears to have entertained no doubt of the result; for the +commissariat, baggage, and even the military chest were sent forward, +he himself following in a carriage and four. + +Early on the morning of the 21st the action commenced, and Meiroslawski +found to his cost that six thousand well-disciplined Prussians were +more than a match for his whole army. At ten o'clock on the same +morning a proclamation was issued at Heidelberg by Struve, stating +"that the Prussians were beaten on all points, that their retreat to +the Rhine was cut off, and that ten thousand prisoners would be sent +to Heidelberg in the evening. The loss on the side of the "Army of +Freedom" was eight slightly hurt, and two severely wounded--no killed!" + +In spite of the obvious absurdity of this proclamation, most of the +townspeople believed it; and it was not till two o'clock in the +afternoon that their eyes were opened to the deception practised on +them, by the arrival of between thirty and forty cart-loads of wounded +insurgents. Before nightfall, upwards of three hundred suffering +wretches filled the hospitals. Crowds of fugitives flocked into the +town, and every appearance of discipline was at an end. It seems that, +on the approach of the enemy, the Prussian advanced guard, composed +of one battalion only, retired till they drew the insurgents into the +very centre of their line, which lay concealed in the neighbourhood of +Wagheusel. This movement was interpreted into a flight by Meiroslawski; +a halt was called; and whilst he was refreshing himself at a roadside +inn, and his troops were in imagination swallowing dozens of Prussians +with every fresh glass of beer, they suddenly found themselves almost +surrounded by the royal forces. At the very first volley fired by the +Prussians, many of the Baden heroes threw down their arms, and took +to their heels; the artillery and baggage waggons, which were most +unaccountably in advance, faced about, and drove through the ranks at +full speed, overthrowing and crushing whole companies of insurgents. +The panic soon became general: dragoons, infantry, baggage-waggons, and +artillery, got mingled together in the most inextricable confusion, and +those who could, fled to the woods for safety. The approach of night +prevented the Prince of Prussia from following up his victory, but he +established his headquarters at Langenbruken, within nine miles of the +town. + +Whilst the hopes of the insurgents received a deathblow in this +quarter, General Peucker had pushed with his division through the +Odenwald, and, after some insignificant skirmishing at Hirschhorn, +crossed the Neckar in the vicinity of Zwingenberg, with the intention +of advancing on Sinsheim, and cutting off the retreat of the rebels +in that direction. Von Gröben, who, on account of the bridges at +Ladenburg, Mannheim, and Heidelberg, being undermined, was unwilling to +cross the Neckar, sent a small reconnoitring party over the hills, and, +to the great consternation of the inhabitants, the Prussians suddenly +made their appearance on the heights above the village of Neuenheim, +thus commanding the town of Heidelberg. Four hundred of the foreign +legion immediately sallied over the bridge, and, posting themselves +in some houses on that side of the river, kept up a desperate firing, +though the enemy were too far above their heads for their bullets to +take effect. The Prussians for some time looked on with indifference, +but, before retiring, they gave the insurgents a taste of what their +newly-invented[11] _zund-nadel_ muskets could accomplish. Out of four +shots fired, at a distance of full fifteen hundred yards, two took +effect; the one killing an insurgent on the bridge, and the other +wounding one of the free corps in the town. + +[11] The advantages of this new invention (of which the Prussians have +now 50,000 in use) are the increased rapidity of loading, extent of +range, and precision of aim. A thoroughly drilled soldier can fire +from eight to ten rounds in a minute, whilst with a common percussion +gun three times is considered good practice. Neither ramrod nor cap +is required; the cartridge, which is placed in the gun by opening the +breech, contains a fulminating powder, which is pierced by the simple +action of pulling the trigger; and the charge of powder being ignited +in front, instead of from behind, (as in the common musket,) the entire +force of powder is exploded at once. The barrels are rifled, and +_spitz_ or pointed bullets are used. + +To return to Meiroslawski's army. After those who had been fortunate +enough to reach Heidelberg had taken a few hours' rest and refreshment, +the entire mass moved off in the direction of Sinsheim, their only +hope of escape being to pass that town before the arrival of General +Peucker's division. Thousands had thrown away their arms and fled; +and most of the soldiers, anxious to escape another collision with +the Prussians, threw off their uniforms and concealed themselves in +the woods. One-half of the rebels were disbanded, or had been taken +prisoners; and Meiroslawski, with the remnant, made all speed to quit +the town. Every horse in the neighbourhood was put into requisition +to aid them in their flight, and the whole gang of civil authorities, +headed by Struve and his wife in a carriage, (well filled with +plunder,) followed the great body of fugitives. The intrenchments at +Ladenburg, &c., were abandoned, and by 7 o'clock on the evening of +the 22d, the town of Heidelberg was once more left to the peaceable +possession of its terrified inhabitants. The foreign legion, composed +of Poles, Italians, Swiss, French--in short, the refuse of all +nations--were the last to leave; nor did they do so, till they had +helped themselves to whatever they could conveniently carry off: +indeed, the near vicinity of the Prussians alone prevented the complete +plunder of the town. During the night, the better disposed citizens +removed the powder that undermined the bridge, and a deputation was +sent to inform General von Gröben that he could advance without +impediment. At 4 o'clock on the morning of the 23d, to the great joy of +every respectable inhabitant of Heidelberg, he made his entry into the +town. Mannheim had also been taken possession of without firing a shot, +and the communication between the first and second divisions of the +royal army was now open. + +After leaving Heidelberg, Meiroslawski succeeded in once more uniting +about fifteen thousand of the fugitives under his banner. General +Peucker's attempt to intercept him at Sinsheim had failed, the +insurgent general having reached it two hours before him. Taking to +the hills, he got out in rear of the Prince of Prussia's division, +and joined his force to that of Sznayda, which was before Carlsruhe. +Robbery and plunder marked the entire line of march. Wine and +provisions that could not be carried off, were wantonly destroyed, and +the inhabitants of the villages traversed by this undisciplined horde, +will long have reason to remember the passage of the self-styled "Army +of Freedom." + +At Upsdal, Durlach, and Bruchsal, the rebels made a more energetic +resistance than they had yet done; and it was not without a hard +struggle, and great loss on both sides, that the Prince of Prussia, +at the head of the three divisions off his army, (now united, and +numbering upwards of forty thousand men,) entered Carlsruhe on the +25th of June. On the approach of the Prussians, the provisional +government, the members of the chamber, and the civil authorities of +every description, having emptied the treasury, and carried off all the +public money on which they could lay their hands, made their escape +to join the remains of the Rump parliament, who, since they had been +kicked out of Würtemberg, had established themselves at Freiburg. + +After a rest of two days in the capital of Baden, the Prussian army was +again put in motion to attack the insurgents, now strongly intrenched +along the valley of the Murg, the narrowest part of the duchy. Owing +to the numerous and well-served artillery of the insurgents, it was +not without severe fighting, and great sacrifice of life, that they +were driven from their positions. Another disorderly flight succeeded; +and by the 30th of the month, the Prussians were in quiet possession +of Baden-Baden, Oos, Offenburg, and Kebl, besides having completely +surrounded Rastadt, and cut off every hope of retreat from that +fortress. The remainder of Meiroslawski's force was entirely dispersed, +the greater number being captured, or escaping in small parties into +France or Switzerland. A few hundreds only remained in Freiburg, under +the command of Sigel. Meiroslawski took refuge in Basle, having held +the command of the Baden forces exactly three weeks; and Brentano, +after having remained just long enough to be abused and threatened by +his own party, made his escape with most of the other revolutionary +leaders into Switzerland, from which he issued the following +justification of his conduct. As the document contains a tolerably +faithful sketch of the revolution, with the opinion of one who may +certainly be considered as an unprejudiced judge, we give it in full:-- + + "TO THE PEOPLE OF BADEN. + + "Fellow-citizens! Before leaving the town of Freiburg and the + duchy of Baden, on the night of the 28th June, I informed the + president of the constitutional assembly that it was my intention + to justify my conduct towards the people of Baden, but not towards + an assembly that had treated me with outrage. If I did not do + this at the time I left the country for which I have acted all + through with a clear conscience, and from which I was driven by a + tyrannical and selfish party, it was because I wished to see what + this party would say against the absent. To-day I have seen their + accusation, and no longer delay my defence, in order that you may + judge whether I have merited the title of traitor; or whether the + people's cause--the cause of freedom, for which your sons, your + brothers, have bled--can prosper in the hands of men who only seek + to hide personal cowardice by barbarity, mental incapacity by + lies, and low selfishness by hypocrisy. + + "Fellow-citizens! Since the month of February I have strained + every nerve in the cause of freedom. Since the month of February, + I have sacrificed my own affairs to the defence of persecuted + republicans. I have willingly stood up for all who claimed my + assistance; and let any say if I have been reimbursed one kreutzer + of the hundreds I have expended. Fellow-citizens! I am loath + to call to mind the sacrifices I have made; but a handful of + men are shameless enough to call me traitor; a handful of men, + partly those in whose defence I disinterestedly strained every + nerve, would have me brought to 'well-deserved punishment:' these + men, whose sole merit consists in tending to bring discredit + on freedom's cause, through their incapacity, barbarity, and + terrorism; and whose unheard-of extravagance has brought us to the + brink of ruin. + + "I did not return home after Fickler's trial. The exertion I + had used in his defence had injured my health, and I went for + medical advice to Baden-Baden. On the 14th of May, I was fetched + from my bed; but, in spite of bodily weakness, I was unwilling + to remain behind. I wished to see the cause of freedom free from + all dirty machinations, I wished to prevent the holy cause from + falling into disrepute through disgraceful traffic; I wished to + keep order, and to protect life and property. For some time I was + enabled to effect this: I endeavoured to prevent injustice of all + kinds, and in every place, and whenever I was called on; I strove + to protect the innocent against force, and to prove that even the + complete overthrow of the government could be accomplished without + allowing anarchy to reign in its stead. + + "Fellow-citizens! However my conduct as a revolutionist may be + judged, I have a clear conscience. Not a deed of injustice can be + laid to my door: not a kreutzer of your money have I allowed to + be squandered, not a heller has gone into my pocket! But this I + must say, you will be astonished, if ever you see the accounts, to + find how your money has been wasted, and how few there were who + sacrificed anything to the holy cause of the people, and how many + took care to be well paid out of the national coffers for every + service rendered. + + "No sooner had the revolution broken out than hundreds of + adventurers swarmed into the land, with boasts of having suffered + in freedom's cause: they claimed their reward in hard cash from + your coffers. There was no crossing the streets of Carlsruhe + for the crowds of uniformed, sabre-carrying clerks; and whilst + this herd of idlers revelled on your money, your half-famished + sons were exposing their breasts to the bullets of the enemy in + freedom's cause. But whoever set himself to oppose this order of + things was proclaimed to be a mean and narrow-minded citizen; + whoever showed a disinclination to persecute his political + adversary _à la Windischgratz_, was a _réactionnaire_ or a traitor. + + "At the head of this party was Struve, the man whose part I took + before the tribunal at Freiburg--not as a legal adviser, but as + a friend; the man whose absurd plan for giving the ministers + salaries of six thousand florins; of sending ambassadors to Rome + and Venice, and agents to St. Petersburg and Hungary, I overruled; + the man whose endeavour to give every situation to which a good + salary was attached to foreign adventurers, was effectually + opposed by me. This man, despised for his personal cowardice, + whose dismissal from the provisional government was demanded by + the entire army--this man, instead of supporting and strengthening + the government as he promised, tried, because his ambitious + views found no encouragement, and with the assistance of foreign + adventurers, to overthrow me; and when I showed him the force that + was drawn up ready to oppose him, he took refuge in base lies, and + had not even sufficient courage to go home, till I, whom he had + just tried to overthrow, protected him with my own body to his + house. + + "The people had chosen between us, for at the elections he had + been first thrown out, and he only obtained three thousand votes + as a substitute, whilst I had been elected by seven thousand + voices. + + "I had placed all my hopes in the Constitutional Assembly. I + thought that men elected by the free choice of the people would + duly support my honest endeavours. I was mistaken. An assembly, + the majority of whose members were mere ranters, totally incapable + of fulfilling the task imposed on them, and who sought to conceal + their ignorance by proposing revolutionary measures--which were + carried one day, to be revoked as impracticable the next--was the + result of the election. That I should prove a thorn in the sides + of such men was clear; and as it was not in their power to get + rid of me, they sought to make me a powerless tool, by creating a + three-headed dictatorship, with the evident intention of making + use of my name, whilst holding me in check by the other two + dictators. Although such a situation might be undignified, still, + from love of the cause, I determined to accept it. I scarcely ever + saw my colleagues in Carlsruhe, as they found it more agreeable to + run after the army. No reports from the seat of war ever reached + me; and yet the assembly demanded from me, as being the only + one present, accounts of what I had received no report of. All + responsibility was thrown on my shoulders. If the minister of war + neglected to supply the army with arms or ammunition, the fault + was mine; if the minister of finance wanted money, I was to blame; + and if the army was beaten, my want of energy was the cause of it! + + "Thus was I abandoned at Carlsruhe in the last most dangerous + days, and left with a set of deputies who, for the most part, + had not even sufficient courage to sleep in the capital. My + co-dictators found it more convenient to play the easier part + of mock heroes with the army. Thousands can bear witness that I + shrunk from no work, however trivial; but I can prove to most + of these pot-valiant heroes, that they put off the most urgent + motions as 'not pressing,' whilst they clung to others that were + of no importance, merely because they carried them out of all + danger at the national expense. + + "In Offenburg we were joined by the newly-elected member + Gustavus Struve, who immediately demanded my dismissal from the + government. On being told that this was impossible, he next wished + me to be taken from the dictatorship, and to be given one of the + minister's places. He talked of the want of energy displayed by + the government, called it little better than treason, and tried + to learn from my friends what plans I intended to adopt. He + demanded that the fugitives from the Pfalz should be placed in + office, though, God knows, we owed them nothing. Indignant at such + conduct, I took no part in the secret council held at Freiburg, + although I informed several of the deputies of my intention to + resign, unless I received full satisfaction for the machinations + of Struve. + + "The first public meeting of the assembly took place on the + evening of the 28th June, when Struve brought forward the + following motion:-- + + "'That every effort at negotiation with the enemy be considered + and punished as high treason.' Considering what had before taken + place, I could not do less than oppose the motion, which I did on + the grounds that, as such negotiations could only proceed from + the government, the motion was tantamount to a vote of want of + confidence. In spite of this declaration on my part, the motion + was carried by twenty-eight against fifteen votes, and the contest + between Struve and Brentano was decided in favour of the former. + Although some few of the deputies declared their vote not to + imply want of confidence, the assembly did not, in that capacity, + express such an opinion. If they did, I call on them to produce + the notes of such a resolution having been carried; and if they + fail to do so, I brand them with the name of infamous liars. After + this, I did what all honourable men would have done--I resigned. + Who, I ask, was to prevent my doing so; and why am I to be branded + with the name of traitor? I laugh those fools to scorn who imagine + they could prevent freedom of action in a man who, having been + shamefully ill-used, chose to withdraw from public life. + + "I do not fear inquiry, and demand from the national assembly that + the result of their investigation be made public, as it can only + terminate in victory for me and destruction to my adversaries. Why + did this same assembly keep secret the fact that, on the 28th of + June, they decided to send me a deputation the next morning, in + order to beg I would remain in power--I the traitor, I who was to + be brought to 'well-merited punishment!' It was easy to foresee + the personal danger I was exposed to if I refused, and I therefore + preferred seeking quiet and repose in Switzerland, to enjoying the + rags of freedom emitted under Struve's dictatorship in Baden. + + "I am to be called to account! My acts are open to the world. No + money ever came under my superintendence--this was taken care + of by men who had been employed in the department for years. + My salary as head of the government was three florins per day, + and I have paid all travelling expenses out of my own pocket. + But if those are to be called to account who had charge of the + public money, and became my enemies because I would not have it + squandered, then, people of Baden! you will open your eyes with + astonishment; then, brave combatants, you will learn that, whilst + you fasted, others feasted! + + "The people of Baden will not be thankful for a 'Struve + government,' but they will have to support it; and over the grave + of freedom, over the graves of their children, will they learn to + know those who were their friends and those who only sought for + self-aggrandisement and tyranny! + + "And when the time comes that the people are in want of me + again, my ear will not be deaf to the call! But I will never + serve a government of tyrants, who can only keep in power by + adopting measures that we have learned to despise, as worthy of a + Windischgratz or a Wrangel! + + "Fellow-citizens! I have not entered into details. I have only + drawn a general sketch, which it will require time to fill up. + Accused of treason by the princes, accused of treason by the + deputies of Freiburg, I leave you to decide whether I have merited + the title. + + "_Feuerthalen bei Schaffhausen, + 1 July, 1849._ + + "LOUIS BRENTANO." + +At this time of writing, Rastadt still remains in possession of two +or three thousand insurgents; but, almost without provisions, and +deprived of all hopes of assistance, the fortress may be daily expected +to surrender. Such is the termination of an insurrection of seven +weeks' duration, which is calculated to have cost the country thirty +millions of florins and four thousand lives. There is no denying that, +at one time, it assumed a most formidable aspect; and had the people of +Würtemberg given it the support its leaders confidently expected from +them, it might, aided by the discontent that undoubtedly prevails in +many other parts of Germany, long have baffled the efforts of Prussia +to put it down. Yet there are few persons, even among those who +witnessed the outbreak from its commencement, who can tell what was the +object of its promoters, unless plunder and personal aggrandisement be +assigned as their incentives. Their professed motive was to support +the union of Germany in one empire; but, as the Grand-duke of Baden +had already taken the oath to obey and defend the constitution framed +at Frankfort, there was not the slightest pretext for upsetting his +government. It is certain that the republicans played a most active +part in the affair--their intention no doubt being, as soon as they +found themselves victorious under the banner of the empire, to hoist +a democratic flag of their own. Many who were not inclined to go so +far, joined them upon doubts of the fair intentions of the Germanic +princes towards their subjects. Some were perhaps glad of any sort +of change, other turbulent spirits were anxious for a row, but, from +first to last, none seem to have had any clearly defined object, or +anything to offer in extenuation of such waste of blood and treasure. +The next striking circumstance is the evident incapacity of the chiefs, +civil and military. Throughout the affair, we do not see one proof of +superior talent, or a single act of daring courage. The only useful +reflection it affords is one that is perhaps worthy the attention of +the rulers of Germany. Last year, Struve's attempt to revolutionise the +country was principally supported by ignorant peasants, mad students, +and a few ultra-liberals and republicans, and it was in great measure +put down by the soldiers of Baden. This year, a great proportion of the +citizens in the principal towns were openly in favour of the movement, +and nearly the whole Baden army joined the revolt. + + HEIDELBERG, _15th July 1849_. + + + + +LAMARTINE'S REVOLUTION OF 1848. + + +So completely was the ordinary framework of European society broken up +in France by the Revolution of 1789, that the leaders of every great +political movement, since that time, have sprung from an entirely +different class of society from what they were before that event. The +old territorial noblesse no longer appear as the leaders in action, +or the rulers of thought. The time has gone by when an Admiral de +Coligny, or a Henry of Béarn, stood forth as the chiefs of the Reformed +movement; a Duc d'Orleans no longer heads the defection of the nobles +from the throne, or a Mirabeau rouse a resistance to the mandates of +the sovereign. Not only the powers of the sword, not only the political +lead of the people, but the direction of their thoughts, has passed +from the old nobility. The confiscation of their property has destroyed +their consequence, the dispersion of their families ruined their +influence. Neither collectively nor individually can they now lead +the people. The revolution of 1830, begun by Thiers and the writers +in the _National_ newspaper, was carried out by Lafitte the great +banker. That of 1848, springing from the columns of the _Réforme_ and +the _Démocratie Pacifique_, soon fell under the lead of M. Marrast the +journalist, and M. Lamartine the romancer and poet. And now the latter +of these authors has come forth, not only as the leader but as the +historian of the movement. Like Cæsar, he appears as the annalist of +his own exploits: like him, he no doubt flatters himself he can say, "I +came, I saw, I conquered." + +The reason is, that mankind cannot exist even for a day but under +the lead of a few. Self-government is the dream of the enthusiast, +the vision of the inexperienced: oligarchy is the history of man. In +vain are institutions popularised, nobles destroyed, masses elevated, +education diffused, self-government established: all that will not +alter the character of man; it will not qualify the multitude for +self-direction; it will not obviate that first of necessities to +mankind--_the necessity of being governed_. What is the first act of +every assembly of men associated together for any purpose, social, +political, or charitable? To nominate a committee by whom their common +affairs are to be regulated. What is the first act of that committee? +To nominate a sub-committee of two or three, in whom the direction +of affairs is practically to be vested. Begin, if you please, with +universal suffrage: call six millions of electors to the poll, as +in France at this time, or four millions, as in America--the sway +of two or three, ultimately of one, is not the less inevitable. Not +only does the huge mass ultimately fall under the direction of one +or two leading characters, but from the very first it is swayed by +their impulsion. The millions repeat the thoughts of two or three +journals, they elaborate the ideas of two or three men. What is the +origin of the whole free-trade principles which have totally altered +the policy, and probably shortened the existence, of the British +empire? The ideas of Adam Smith, nurtured in the solitude of Kirkaldy. +Would you learn what are the opinions generally prevalent in the +urban circles in England, in whom political power is practically +vested, on Wednesday or Thursday? Read the leading articles of the +_Times_ on Monday or Tuesday. The more men are educated, the more that +instruction is diffused, the more widely that journals are read, the +more vehement the political excitement that prevails, the more is the +sway of this oligarchy established, for the greater is the aptitude +of the general mind to receive the impulse communicated to it by the +leaders of thought. The nation, in such circumstances, becomes a vast +electric-machine, which vibrates with the slightest movement of the +central battery. + +Lamartine, as an author, can never be mentioned without the highest +respect. The impress of genius is to be seen in all his works: nature +has marked him for one of the leaders of thought. A mind naturally +ardent and enthusiastic, has been nurtured by travel, enriched by +reflection, chastened by suffering. His descriptive powers are of +the very highest order. We have already done justice, and not more +than justice, to the extreme beauty of his descriptions of Oriental +scenery.[12] They are the finest in the French, second to none in +the English language. His mind is essentially poetical. Many of his +effusions in verse are touching and beautiful, though they do not +possess the exquisite grace and delicate expression of Beranger. But +his prose is poetry itself: so deeply is his mind imbued with poetical +images--so sensitive is his taste to the grand and the beautiful--so +enthusiastic is his admiration of the elevated, whether in nature or +art, that he cannot treat even an ordinary subject without tinging it +with the colours of romance. + +[12] See _Blackwood's Magazine_, vol. lvi., p. 657. + +From this peculiar texture of Lamartine's mind arises both the +excellences and defects of his historical compositions. He has all the +romantic and poetical, but few of the intellectual qualities of an +historian. Eminently dramatic in his description of event, powerful +in the delineation of character, elevated in feeling, generous in +sentiment, lofty in speculation--he is yet destitute of the sober +judgment and rational views which are the only solid foundation for +either general utility or durable fame in historical composition. He +has the conceptions of genius and the fire of poetry in his narrative, +but little good sense, and still less of practical acquaintance with +mankind. That is his great defect, and it is a defect so serious that +it will probably, in the end, deprive his historical works of the place +in general estimation to which, from the beauty of their composition +and the rich veins of romance with which they abound, they are justly +entitled. These imaginative qualities are invaluable additions to the +sterling qualities of truth, judgment, and trust-worthiness; but they +can never supply their place. They are the colouring of history; they +give infinite grace to its composition; they deck it out with all the +charms of light and shade: but they can never make up for the want of +accurate drawing from nature, and a faithful delineation of objects as +they really exist in the world around us. Nay, an undue preponderance +of the imaginative qualities in an historian, if not accompanied by a +scrupulous regard to truth, tends rather to lessen the weight due to +his narrative, by inspiring a constant dread that he is either passing +off imaginary scenes for real events, or colouring reality so highly +that it is little better than fiction. This is more especially the case +with a writer such as Lamartine, whose thoughts are so vivid and style +so poetical, that, even when he is describing events in themselves +perfectly true, his narrative is so embellished that it assumes the +character of romance, and is distrusted from a suspicion that it is a +mere creation of the imagination. + +In addition to this, there is a capital deficiency in Lamartine's +historical works, for which no qualities of style or power of +composition, how brilliant soever, can compensate; and which, if not +supplied in some future editions, will go far to deprive them of all +credit or authority with future times. This is the _entire want of +all authorities or references_, either at the bottom, of the page or +at the end of the work. In the eight volumes of the _History of the +Girondists_, and the four on the _Revolution of 1848_, now before us, +we do not recollect ever having met with a single reference or footnote +containing a quotation from any state paper, speech, or official +document. It is impossible to overestimate the magnitude of this +defect; and it is astonishing how so able and well-informed a writer +as Lamartine should have fallen into it. Does he suppose that the +world are to take everything he says off his hand, without reference +or examination; or imagine that the brilliant and attractive graces +of his style do not increase the necessity for such authorities, from +the constant suspicion they beget that they have been drawn from the +store of his imagination, not the archives of history? No brilliancy of +description, no richness of colouring, no amount of dramatic power, can +make up for a want of the one thing needful--trust in the TRUTH of the +narrative. Observe children: every one knows how passionately fond they +are of having stories told them, and how much they prefer them to any +of the ordinary pastimes suited to their years. How often, however, do +you hear them say, _But is it all true?_ It is by making them believe +that fiction is the narrative of real event that the principal interest +is communicated to the story. Where the annals of event are coloured as +Lamartine knows how to colour them, they become more attractive than +any romance. The great success of his _History of the Girondists_, +and of Macaulay's _History of England_, is a sufficient proof of +this. But still the question will recur to men and women, as well as +children--"But is it all true?" And truth in his hands wears so much +the air of romance, that he would do well, by all possible adjuncts, to +convey the impression that it is in every respect founded in reality. + +There is no work which has been published in France, of late years, +which has met with anything like the success which his _History of the +Girondists_ has had. We have heard that fifty thousand copies of it +were sold in the first year. Beyond all doubt, it had a material effect +in producing the Revolution of 1848, and precipitating Louis Philippe +from the throne. It was thus popular, from the same cause which +attracts boys to narratives of shipwrecks, or crowds to representations +of woe on the theatre--deep interest in tragic events. He represented +the heroes of the first great convulsion in such attractive colours, +that men, and still more women, were not only fascinated by the +narrative and deeply interested in the characters, but inspired by a +desire to plunge into similar scenes of excitement themselves--just +as boys become sailors from reading terrific tales of shipwreck, or +soldiers, from stories of perils in the deadly breach. In his hands, +vice equally with virtue, weakness with resolution, became attractive. +He communicated the deepest interest to Robespierre himself, who is the +real hero of his story, as Satan is of the _Paradise Lost_. He drew +no veil over the weakness, the irresolution, the personal ambition +of the Girondists, so fatal in their consequences to the cause of +freedom in France, and through it to that of liberty over the whole +world; but he contrived to make them interesting notwithstanding their +faults--nay, in consequence of those very faults. He borrowed from +romance, where it has been long understood and successfully practised, +especially in France, the dangerous secret of making characters of +_imperfect goodness_ the real heroes of his tale. He knew that none of +the leading characters at Paris were Sir Charles Grandisons; and he +knew that, if they had been so, their adventures would have excited, +comparatively speaking, very little interest. But he knew that many +of them were political Lovelaces; and he knew well that it is by such +characters that in public, equally as private life, the weakness of the +world is fascinated, and their feelings enchained. And it is in the +deep interest which his genius has communicated to really worthless +characters, and the brilliant colours in which he has clothed the most +sinister and selfish enterprises, that the real danger of his work +consists, and the secret of the terrible consequences with which its +publication was followed is to be found. + +In truth, however, the real cause of those terrible consequences lies +deeper, and a fault of a more fundamental kind than any glossing over +the frailties of historical characters has at once rendered his work +so popular and its consequences so tremendous. Rely upon it, truth +and reason, all-powerful and even victorious in the end, are never +a match for sophistry and passion in the outset. When you hear of a +philosophical historical work going through half-a-dozen editions in +six months, or selling fifty thousand copies in a year, you may be +sure that there is a large intermixture of error, misrepresentation, +and one-sidedness in its composition. The cause is, that truth and +reason are in general distasteful in the outset to the human mind; and +it is by slow degrees, and the force of experience alone, that their +ascendency is established. What attracts, in the first instance, in +thought, independent of the charms of eloquence and the graces of +composition--which of course are indispensable to great success--is +_coincidence with the tendency and aspirations of general thought_. +But so prone to error and delusion is the human mind, from its +inherent character and original texture, that it is a hundred to one +that general thought at any one time, especially if it is one of +considerable excitement or vehement feeling, is founded in error. And +thus it often happens, that the works which have the most unbounded +success at their first publication, and for a considerable time after, +are precisely those which contain the largest portion of error, and +are likely, when reduced into practice, to have the most fatal effects +upon the best interests of the species. Witness the works of Rousseau +and Voltaire in France, to whose influence the first revolution is +mainly to be ascribed; those of Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and Eugene Sue, +who have been chiefly instrumental in bringing about the still more +widespread convulsions of our times. + +The fundamental principle of Lamartine's political philosophy, and +which we regard as his grand error, and the cause at once of his +success in the outset and his failure in the end, is the principle +of the general innocence and perfectibility of human nature. It is +this principle, so directly repugnant to the fundamental doctrines +of Christianity, that it may be regarded as literally speaking the +"banner-cry of hell," which is at the bottom of the whole revolutionary +maxims; and it is so flattering to the hopes, and agreeable to the +weakness of human nature, that it can scarcely ever fail, when brought +forward with earnestness and enforced by eloquence, to captivate the +great majority of mankind. Rousseau proclaimed it in the loudest +terms in all his works; it was the great secret of his success. +According to him, man was born innocent, and with dispositions only +to virtue: all his vices arose from the absurdity of the teachers +who tortured his youth, all his sufferings from the tyranny of the +rulers who oppressed his manhood. Lamartine, taught by the crimes, +persuaded by the sufferings of the first Revolution, has modified this +principle without abandoning its main doctrines, and thus succeeded +in rendering it more practically dangerous, because less repugnant to +the common sense and general experience of mankind. His principle is, +that _démagogie_ is always selfish and dangerous; _démocratie_ always +safe and elevating. The ascendency of a few ambitious or worthless +leaders precipitates the masses, when they first rise against their +oppressors, into acts of violence, which throw a stain upon the cause +of freedom, and often retard for a season its advance. But that advance +is inevitable: it is only suspended for a time by the reaction against +bloodshed; and in the progressive elevation of the millions of mankind +to general intelligence, and the direction of affairs, he sees the +practical development of the doctrines of the gospel, and the only +secure foundation for general felicity. He is no friend to the extreme +doctrines of the Socialists and Communists, and is a stanch supporter +of the rights of property--and the most important of all rights, those +of marriage and family. But he sees in the sway of the multitude the +only real basis of general happiness, and the only security against the +inroads of selfishness; and he regards the advances towards this grand +consummation as being certain and irresistible as the advance of the +tide upon the sand, or the progress from night to morning. In this way +he hopes to reconcile the grand doctrine of human perfectibility with +the universal failure of all attempts at its practical establishment; +and continues to dream of the irresistible and blessed march of +democracy, while recounting alike the weakness of the Girondists, +and the crimes of the Jacobins--the woful result of the Revolution +of 1789--and the still more rapid and signal failure of that which +convulsed the world sixty years afterwards. + +The simple answer to all these absurdities and errors, productive of +such disastrous consequences when reduced into practice, is this--"The +heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."--"There +is none that doeth good, no, not one." It is from this _universal_ and +inevitable tendency to wickedness, that the practical impossibility +of establishing democratic institutions, without utter ruin to the +best interests of society, arises. You seek in vain to escape from +the consequences of this universal corruption, by committing power to +a multitude of individuals, or extinguishing the government of a few +in the sway of numbers. The multitude are themselves as bad by nature +as the few, and, for the discharge of the political duties with which +they are intrusted, incomparably worse; for, in their case, numbers +annihilate responsibility without conferring wisdom, and the contagion +of common opinions inflames passion without strengthening reason. In +the government of a few, capacity is generally looked for, because it +is felt to be beneficial by the depositaries of power; but in that +of numbers it is as commonly rejected, because it excites general +jealousy, without the prospect of individual benefit. Democratic +communities are ruined, no one knows how, or by whom. It is impossible +to find any one who is responsible for whatever is done. The ostensible +leaders are driven forward by an unseen power, which they are incapable +alike of regulating or withstanding: the real leaders--the directors of +thought--are unseen and irresponsible. If disasters occur, they ascribe +them to the incapacity of the statesmen at the head of affairs: they +relieve themselves of responsibility, by alleging, with truth, the +irresistible influence of an unknown power. No one is trained to the +duties of statesmanship, because no one knows who is to be a statesman. +Ignorance, presumption, and ambition, generally mount to the head of +affairs: the wheel of fortune, or the favour of a multitude incapable +of judging of the subject, determines everything. The only effectual +security against spoliation by the rulers of men, the dread of being +spoliated themselves, is lost when these rulers are men who are not +worth spoliating. Durable interest in the fortunes of the community is +no longer felt, when durable tenure of power is known to be impossible. +The only motive which remains is, that of making the most of a tenure +of power which is universally known to be as short-lived as it is +precarious; and prolonging it as long as possible, by bending, in every +instance, to the passions or fantasies of the multitude, nominally +vested with supreme power, really entirely guided by a few insolvent +and ambitious demagogues-- + + "Ces petits souverains qu'il fait pour un année, + Voyant d'un temps si court leur puissance bornée, + Des plus heureux desseins font avorter le fruit, + De peur de le laiser à celui qui le suit; + Comme ils ont peu de part aux biens dont ils ordonnent, + Dans le champs du public largement ils moissonnent; + Assurés que chacun leur pardonne aisément, + Espérant à son tour un pareil traitement; + Le pire des états, c'est l'état populaire."[13] + +[13] CORNEILLE, _Cinna_, Act ii., scene 1. + +Lamartine, regarding the march of democracy as universal and +inevitable, is noways disconcerted by the uniform failure of all +attempts in old communities to establish it, or the dreadful +catastrophes to which they have invariably led. These are merely the +breaking of the waves of the advancing tide; but the rise of the +flood is not the less progressive and inevitable. He would do well to +consider, however, whether there is not a limit to human suffering; +whether successive generations will consent to immolate themselves +and their children for no other motive than that of advancing an +abstract principle, or vindicating privileges for the people fatal to +their best interests; and whether resisted attempts, and failures at +the establishment of republican institutions, will not, in the end, +lead to _a lasting_ apathy and despair in the public mind. Certain +it is, that this was the fate of popular institutions in Greece, in +Rome, and modern Italy: all of which fell under the yoke of servitude, +from a settled conviction, founded on experience, that anything was +preferable to the tempests of anarchy. Symptoms, and those too of the +most unequivocal kind, may be observed of a similar disposition in the +great majority, at least of the rural population, both in France and +England. The election of Prince Louis Napoleon by four millions out of +six millions of electors, in the former country--the quiet despair +with which measures of the most ruinous kind to general industry are +submitted to in the latter, are so many proofs of this disposition. +The bayonets of Changarnier, the devastating measures of free trade +and a restricted currency, are submitted to in both countries, because +anything is better than shaking the foundations of government. + +In treating of the causes which have led to the revolution of 1848, +Lamartine imputes a great deal too much, in our estimation, to +individual men or shades of opinion, and too little to general causes, +and the ruinous effects of the first great convulsion. He ascribes it +to the personal unpopularity of M. Guizot, the selfish and corrupt +system of government which the king had established, and the discontent +at the national risks incurred by France for the interests only of +the Orleans dynasty, in the Montpensier alliance. This tendency +arises partly from the constitution of Lamartine's mind, which is +poetical and dramatic rather than philosophical; and partly from the +disinclination felt by all intelligent liberal writers to ascribe the +failure of their measures to their natural and inevitable effects, +rather than the errors or crimes of individual men. In this respect, +doubtless, he is more consistent and intelligible than M. Thiers, +who, in his _History of the French Revolution_, ascribes the whole +calamities which occurred to the _inevitable march of events_ in such +convulsions--forgetting that he could not in any other way so severely +condemn his own principles, and that it is little for the interest of +men to embrace a cause which, in that view, necessarily and inevitably +leads to ruin. Lamartine, in running into the opposite extreme, and +ascribing everything to the misconduct and errors of individual men, +is more consistent, because he saves the principle. But he is not the +less in error. The general discontent to which he ascribes so much, the +universal selfishness and corruption which he justly considers as so +alarming, were themselves the result of previous events: they were the +effects, not the causes, of political change. And without disputing the +influence, to a certain extent, of the individual men to whose agency +he ascribes everything, it may safely be affirmed that there are four +causes of paramount importance which concurred in bringing about the +late French revolution; and which will for a very long period, perhaps +for ever, prevent the establishment of anything like real freedom in +that country. + +The first of these is the universal disruption of all the old bonds +of society, which took place in the first Revolution, and the general +fretting against all restraint, human or divine, which arose from +the ruin of religion and confusion of morals which then took place. +These evils have only been partially remedied by the re-establishment +of the Christian faith over the whole realm, and the sway which it +has undoubtedly acquired in the rural districts. The active and +energetic inhabitants of the great towns still continue influenced by +the Revolutionary passions, the strongest of which is the thirst for +present enjoyment, and the impatience of any restraint, whether from +the influence of conscience or the authority of law. This distinctly +appears from the licentious style of the novels which have now for a +quarter of a century issued from the press of Paris, and which is in +general such that, though very frequently read in England, it is very +seldom, especially by women, that this reading is admitted. The drama, +that mirror of the public mind, is another indication of the general +prevalence of the same licentious feeling: it is for the most part +such, that few even of the least tight-laced English ladies can sit +out the representation. The irreligion, or rather _general oblivion +of religion_, which commonly prevails in the towns, is a part, though +doubtless a most important part, of this universal disposition: +Christianity is abjured or forgotten, not because it is disbelieved, +but because it is disagreeable. Men do not give themselves the trouble +to inquire whether it is true or false; they simply give it the go-by, +and pass quietly on the other side, because it imposes a restraint, +to them insupportable, on their passions. Dispositions of this sort +are the true feeders of revolution, because they generate at once its +convulsions in like manner, as passions which require gratification, +poverty which demands food, and activity which pines for employment. +Foreign war or domestic convulsion are the only alternatives which, +in such a state of society, remain to government. Napoleon tried the +first, and he brought the Cossacks to Paris; Louis Philippe strove +to become the Napoleon of peace, but he succeeded only in being the +pioneer of revolution. + +The great and durable interests of society, which the indulgence of +such passions inevitably ruins, are the barrier which, in ordinary +circumstances, is opposed to these disorders; and it is this influence +which has so long prevented any serious outbreak of anarchy in Great +Britain. But the immense extent of the confiscation of landed property +during the first Revolution, and the total ruin of commercial and +movable wealth, from the events of the maritime war, and the effects +of the enormous issue of assignats, has prevented the construction of +this barrier in anything like sufficient strength to withstand the +forces which pressed against it. Nine-tenths of the realised wealth of +the country was destroyed during the convulsion; what remained was for +the most part concentrated in the hands of a few bankers and moneyed +men, who aimed at cheapening everything, and depressing industry, in +order to augment the value of their metallic riches. The influence +of the natural leaders of the producing class, the great proprietors +of land, was at an end, for they were almost all destroyed. The six +millions of separate landed proprietors, who had come in their place, +had scarcely any influence in the state; for the great majority of +them were too poor to pay 200 francs a-year (£8) direct taxes--the +necessary condition towards an admission into the electoral body--and +as individuals they were in too humble circumstances to have any +influence in the state. The returns of the "_Impôt foncière_," or +land-tax, showed that above four millions of this immense body had +properties varying from £2 to £10 a-year each--not more than is enjoyed +by an Irish bogtrotter. In these circumstances, not only was the +steadying influence of property in general unfelt in the state, but the +property which did make itself felt was of a disturbing rather than a +pacifying tendency; for it was that of bankers and money-lenders, whose +interests, being those of consumers, not producers, went to support +measures calculated to depress industry rather than elevate it, and +thereby augment rather than diminish the distress which, from these +causes, soon came to press so severely upon the urban population. + +These causes were the necessary results of the dreadful waste of +property, and ruin of industry, which had taken place during the first +Revolution. The multitude of little proprietors with which France was +overspread, could furnish nothing to the metropolis but an endless +succession of robust hands to compete with its industry, and starving +mouths to share its resources. What could the six millions of French +landowners, the majority of them at the plough, afford to lay aside +for the luxuries of Paris? Nothing. You might as well expect the +West-End shopkeepers of London to be sustained by the starving western +Highlanders of Scotland, or the famished crowds of Irish cottars. The +natural flow of the wealth of the land to the capital of the kingdom, +which invariably sets in when agricultural property is unequally +distributed, and a considerable part of it is vested in the hands of +territorial magnates, was at once stopped when it became divided among +a multitude of persons, not one of whom could afford to travel ten +miles from home, or to buy anything but a rustic dress and a blouse to +cover it. At least sixty millions sterling, out of the eighty millions +which constitute the net territorial produce of France, was turned +aside from Paris, and spent entirely in the purchase of the coarsest +manufactures or rude subsistence in the provinces. The metropolis came +to depend mainly on the expenditure of foreigners, or of the civil +and military employés of government. This woful defalcation in its +resources occurred at a time, too, when the influx of needy adventurers +from the country was daily increasing, from the impossibility of +earning a livelihood, amidst the desperate competition of its squalid +landowners, and the decline of agriculture, which necessarily resulted +from their inability to adopt any of its improvements. Thus the +condition of the working classes in Paris went on getting constantly +worse, during the whole reign of Louis Philippe; and it was only in +consequence of the vast influx of foreigners, which the maintenance +of peace and the attractions of the court occasioned, that they were +not reduced many years before to the despair and misery which at once +occasioned and followed the last revolution. + +Amidst a population excited to discontent by these causes, another +circumstance has operated with peculiar force, which we do not +recollect to have seen hitherto noticed in disquisitions on this +subject--this is the prodigious number of _natural children_ and +foundlings at Paris. It is well known that ever since the close of the +first Revolution the number of illegitimate births in Paris has borne a +very great proportion to the legitimate; they are generally as 10,000 +to 18,000 or 19,000. For a long time past, every third child seen +in the streets of Paris has been a bastard. Hitherto this important +feature of society has been considered with reference to the state of +morality in regard to the relation of the sexes which it indicates; +but attend to its social and political effects. These bastards do +not always remain children; they grow up to be men and women. The +foundlings of Paris, already sufficiently numerous, are swelled by a +vast concourse of a similar class over all France, who flock, when +they have the means of transport, to the capital as the common sewer +of the commonwealth. There are at present about 1,050,000 souls in the +French metropolis. Suppose that a third of these are natural children, +there are then 350,000 persons, most of them foundlings of illegitimate +birth, in that capital. Taking a fourth of them as capable of bearing +arms, we have 85,000 _bastards constantly ready to fight in Paris_. + +Consider only the inevitable results of such a state of things in an +old and luxurious metropolis, teeming with indigence, abounding with +temptation, overflowing with stimulants to the passions. The _enfant +trouvé_ of Paris, when grown up, becomes a _gamin de Paris_, just as +naturally and inevitably as a chrysalis becomes a butterfly. He has +obtained enough of instruction to enable him to imbibe temptation, and +not enough to enable him to combat it. He has in general received the +rudiments of education: he can read the novels of Victor Hugo, Eugene +Sue, and George Sand; he can study daily the _Réforme_ or _National_, +or _Démocratie Pacifique_. He looks upon political strife as a game +at hazard, in which the winning party obtain wealth and honour, +mistresses, fortunes, and enjoyments. As to religion, he has never +heard of it, except as a curious relic of the olden time, sometimes +very effective on the opera stage; as to industry, he knows not what +it is; as to self-control, he regards it as downright folly where +self-indulgence is practicable. The most powerful restraints on the +passions of men--parents, children, property--are to him unknown. He +knows not to whom he owes his birth; his offspring are as strange to +him as his parents, for they, like him, are consigned to the Foundling +Hospital: he has nothing in the world he can call his own, except +a pair of stout arms to aid in the formation of barricades, and a +dauntless heart ready at any moment to accept the hazard of death +or pleasure. Hanging midway, as it were, between the past and the +future, he has inherited nothing from the former but its vices, he will +transmit nothing to the latter but its passions. Whoever considers the +inevitable results of eighty or ninety thousand men in the prime of +life actuated by these dispositions, associating with an equal number +of women of the same class, affected by the same misfortune in their +birth, and influenced by the same passions, constantly existing in a +state of indigence and destitution in the heart of Paris, will have no +difficulty in accounting for the extraordinary difficulty which, for +the last half century, has been experienced in governing France, and +will probably despair of ever succeeding in it but by force of arms. + +We hear nothing of these facts from Lamartine, whose mind is +essentially dramatic, and who represents revolutions, as he evidently +considers them, as the work of individual men, working upon the +inevitable march of society towards extreme republican institutions. +He gives us no statistics; he never refers to general causes, +except the universal progress towards democracy, which he regards +as irresistible. Least of all is he alive to the ruinous effects of +the first great disruption of the bonds of society which naturally +followed the Revolution of 1789, or disposed to regard the subsequent +convulsions, as what they really are--the inevitable result and just +punishment of the enormous sins of the Revolution. And--mark-worthy +circumstance!--these consequences are the obvious result of the great +crimes committed in its course; the confiscation of property which it +occasioned, the overthrow of religion and morals with which it was +attended. They have fallen with peculiar severity upon Paris, the +centre of the revolutionary faction, and the focus from which all its +iniquities emanated, and where the blood of its noblest victims was +shed. And if revolutions such as we have witnessed or read of in that +country are indeed inevitable, and part of the mysterious system of +Providence in the regulation of human affairs, we can regard them as +nothing but a realisation of that general tendency to evil which is so +clearly foretold in prophecy, and indications of the advent of those +disastrous times which are to be closed by the second coming of the +Messiah. + +We have all heard of the mingled treachery and irresolution--treachery +in the national guard, irresolution in the royal family--which brought +about the revolution which Lamartine has so eloquently described. It +is evident, even from his account--which, it may be supposed, is not +unduly hostile to the popular side--that it was the bar-sinister in +its birth which proved fatal, in the decisive moment, to the Throne +of the Barricades; and that the revolution might with ease have been +suppressed, if any other power had been called to combat it but that +which owed its existence to a similar convulsion. + + "The King was lost in thought, while the tocsin was sounding, on + the means by which it might yet be possible to calm the people, + and restrain the revolution, in which he persisted in seeing + nothing but a riot. The abdication of his external-political + system, personified in M. Guizot, M. Duchatel, and the majority of + the Chambers entirely devoted to his interests, appeared to him + to amount to more than the renunciation of his crown; it was the + abandonment of his thoughts, of his wisdom, of the prestige of his + infallibility in the eyes of Europe, of his family, of his people. + To yield a throne to adverse fortune, is little to a great mind. + To yield his renown and authority to triumphant adverse opinion + and implacable history, is the most painful effort which can be + required of a man, for it at once destroys and humbles him. But + the King was not one of those hardy characters who enjoy, with + _sang-froid_, the destruction of a people for the gratification of + their pride. He had read much of history, acted much in troubled + times, reflected much. He could not conceal from himself, that a + dynasty which should reconquer Paris by means of grape-shot and + bombs would be for ever besieged by the horror of the people. + His field of battle had always been opinion. It was on it that + he wished to act; he hoped to regain it by timely concessions. + Only, like a prudent economist, he higgled with opinion like a + Jewish pawnbroker, in the hopes of purchasing it at the smallest + possible sacrifice of his system and dignity. He flattered himself + he had several steps of popularity to descend before quitting the + throne."--(Vol. i., p. 102.) + +The immediate cause of the overthrow of the throne, it is well known, +was the fatal order which the delusion of M. Thiers, when called to the +ministry, extorted from the weakness of the King, to stop firing--to +cease resistance--to succumb to the assailants. Marshal Bugeaud was +perfectly firm; the troops were steady; ample military force was +at their command; everything promised decisive success to vigorous +operations. Marshal Bugeaud's plan was of the simplest but most +efficacious kind. + + "Marshal Bugeaud, with his military instinct, matured by + experience and the habit of handling troops, knew that + _immobility_ is the ruin of the morale of soldiers. He changed in + a moment the plan of operations submitted to him. He instantly + called around him the officers commanding corps. The one was + Tiburie Sebastiani, brother of the marshal of the same name, a + calm and faithful officer; the other, General Bedeau, whose name, + made illustrious by his exploits in Africa, carried respect with + it, to his companions in arms in Paris. He ordered them to form + two columns of 3500 men each, and to advance into the centre + of Paris--the one by the streets which traverse it from the + Boulevards to the Hôtel de Ville, the other by streets which cross + it from the quays. Each of the columns had artillery, and their + instructions were to carry, in their advance, all the barricades, + to destroy these fortresses of the insurrection, to cannonade the + masses, and concentrate their columns on the Hôtel de Ville, the + decisive point of the day. General Lamoricière was to command a + reserve of 9000 men, stationed around the palace."--(Vol. i., pp. + 136, 137.) + +The despair of the troops when compelled to retire before a tumultuous +mob--to confess defeat in their own capital, and in the face of Europe, +is thus described:-- + + "At daybreak the two columns of troops set out on their march; + their progress was, every ten minutes, reported by staff-officers + in disguise. _They experienced no serious resistance on their way + to the Hôtel de Ville_; the crowd opened as they advanced, with + cries of '_Vive la Réforme!_' they trampled under foot, without + firing a shot, the beginnings of the barricades. Nevertheless, + the uncertainty of what was passing in the Tuileries paralysed + the arms in the hands of the soldiers. The Marshal, at length + constrained by the reiterated orders of the King, sent orders to + his lieutenants to make the troops fall back. Marshal Bedeau, + upon this, made his battalions retire. Some soldiers threw their + muskets on the ground, as a sign of despair or fraternisation. + Their return across Paris had the appearance of a defection, or of + the advanced guard of the revolution marching on the Tuileries. + The troops, already vanquished by these orders, took up their + position, _untouched but powerless_, on the Place de la Concorde, + in the Champs Elysées, in the Rue de Rivoli. The French troops, + when disgraced, are no longer an army. They felt in their hearts + the bitterness of that retreat; they feel it still."--(Vol. i., p. + 139.) + +But it was soon found that these disgraceful concessions to mob +violence would avail nothing; that M. Thiers and M. Odillon Barrot +were alike unequal to stemming the torrent which they had put in +motion; and that the King, as a reward for his humane order to the +troops not to fire upon the people, was to be called on to abdicate! +In the disgraceful scene of pusillanimity and weakness which ensued, +we regret to say the princes of the royal family, and especially the +Duke de Montpensier, evinced as much cowardice as the princesses did +courage;--exemplifying thus again what Napoleon said of the Bourbons +in 1815, that there was only one man in the family, and that man was a +woman. The decisive moment is thus described with dramatic power, but, +we have no doubt, historic truth, by M. Lamartine:-- + + "M. Girardin, in a few brief and sad words, which abridged minutes + and cut short objections, said to the King with mournful respect, + that changes of ministry were no longer in season; that the moment + was sweeping away the throne with the councils, and that there was + but one word suitable to the urgency of the occasion, and that + word was '_abdication_.' + + "The King was in one of those moments when truths strike without + offending. Nevertheless, he let fall, upon hearing these words, + from his hands the pen with which he was arranging the names of + the new ministry. He was desirous of discussing the question. + M. Girardin, pitiless as evidence, pressing as time, would not + even admit of discussion. 'Sire!' said he, 'the abdication + of the king, or the abdication of the monarchy--there is the + alternative. Circumstances will not admit even of a minute to find + a third issue from the straits in which we are placed.' While he + thus spoke, M. Girardin placed before the King the draft of a + proclamation which he had prepared and he wished to have printed. + That proclamation, concise as a fact, consisted only of four + lines, calculated to attract the eyes of the people. + + The abdication of the King. + + The regency of the Duchess of Orleans. + + The dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. + + A general amnesty. + + "The King hesitated. _The Duke de Montpensier his son_, carried + away, doubtless, by the energetic expression in the physiognomy, + gesticulations, and words of M. Girardin, pressed his father + with more vehemence than rank, age, and misfortunes should have + permitted to the respect of a son. _The pen was presented, and the + crown torn from the monarch by an impatience which could not wait + for his full and free conviction._ The rudeness of fortune towards + the King was forgotten _in the precipitance of the council_. + On the other hand, blood was beginning to flow, the throne was + gliding away. The lives even of the King and his family might + be endangered. Everything can be explained by the solicitude + and the tenderness of the councillors. History should ever take + the version which least humiliates and bruises least the human + heart."--(Vol. i., p. 127.) + +Observe the poetic justice of this consummation. The member of his +family, who at the decisive moment failed in his duty, and compelled +his infirm and gray-haired father to abdicate, was the DUC DE +MONTPENSIER--the very prince for whose elevation he had perilled the +English alliance, violated his plighted word, endangered the peace +of Europe! The heir-presumptive of the crown of Spain was the first +to shake the crown of France from his father's head! Vanquished by +his personal fears, unworthy of his high rank and higher prospects, +a disgrace to his country, he evinced, what is rare in France in any +station, not merely moral, but physical pusillanimity. To this end have +the intrigues of the Orleans family, from Egalité downwards, ultimately +tended. They have not only lost the crown, to win which they forgot +their allegiance and violated their oaths, but they have lost it with +dishonour and disgrace: they are not only exiles, but they are despised +exiles. Such have been the fruits of the Orleans intrigues to gain the +crown of France. + +As a bright contrast to this woful exhibition, we gladly translate M. +Lamartine's account of the memorable scene in the chambers, where the +Duchess of Orleans nobly contended with an infuriated and bloodthirsty +rabble for the crown, now devolved to her son by his grandfather's +abdication. Had such spirited devotion been found in her husband's +family, they might have transmitted the honours they had won in the +Orleans dynasty. + + "The great door opposite the tribune, on a level with the most + elevated benches in the hall, opened; a woman appeared dressed in + mourning: it was the Duchess of Orleans. Her veil, half raised on + her hat, allowed her countenance to be seen, bearing the marks + of an emotion and sadness which heightened the interest of youth + and beauty. Her pale cheeks bore the traces of the tears of the + widow, the anxieties of the mother. No man could look on those + features without emotion. At their aspect, all resentment against + the monarchy fled from the mind. The blue eyes of the princess + wandered over the scene, with which she had been a moment dazzled, + as if to implore aid by her looks. Her slender but elegant form + bowed at the applause which saluted her. A slight colour--the dawn + of hope amidst ruin--of joy amidst sorrow--suffused her cheeks. + A smile of gratitude beamed through her tears. She felt herself + surrounded by friends. With one hand she held the young king, who + stumbled on the steps, with the other the young Duke of Chartres: + infants to whom the catastrophe which destroyed them was a subject + of amusement. They were both clothed in short black dresses. + A white shirt-collar was turned over their dresses, as in the + portraits by Vandyke of the children of Charles I. + + "The Duke of Nemours walked beside the princess, faithful to the + memory of his brother in his nephews; a protector who would ere + long stand in need of protection himself. The figure of that + prince, ennobled by misfortune, breathed the courageous but modest + satisfaction of a duty discharged at the hazard of his life. Some + generals in uniform, and officers of the national guard, followed + her steps. She bowed with timid grace to the assembly, and sat + down motionless at the foot of the tribune, an innocent accused + person before a tribunal without appeal, which was about to judge + the cause of royalty. At that moment, that cause was gained in the + eyes and hearts of all."--(Vol i. p. 177.) + +But it was all in vain. The mob on the outside broke into the assembly. +The national guard, as usual, failed at the decisive moment, and +royalty was lost. + + "An unwonted noise was heard at the door on the left of the + tribune. Unknown persons, _national guards_ with arms in their + hands, common people in their working-dresses, break open the + doors, overthrow the officers who surround the tribune, invade + the assembly, and, with loud cries, demand the Duke of Nemours. + Some deputies rose from their seats to make a rampart with their + bodies around the princess. M. Mauguin calmly urged them to + retire. General Oudinot addressed them with martial indignation. + Finding words unavailing, he hastily traversed the crowd to demand + the support of the national guard. He represented to them the + inviolability of the assembly, and the respect due to a princess + and a woman insulted amidst French bayonets. The national guards + heard him, feigned to be indignant, but _slowly took up their + arms, and ended by doing nothing_."--(Vol. i. p. 180.) + +In justice to Lamartine also, we must give an abstract of his animated +and eloquent account of the most honourable event in his life, and +one which should cover a multitude of sins--the moment when he singly +contended with the maddened rabble who had triumphed over the throne, +and, by the mere force of moral courage and eloquent expression, +defeated the Red Republicans, who were desirous to hoist the _drapeau +rouge_, the well-known signal of bloodshed and devastation:-- + + "In this moment of popular frenzy, Lamartine succeeded in calming + the people by a sort of patriotic hymn on their victory--so + sudden, so complete, so unlooked-for even by the most ardent + friends of liberty. He called God to witness the admirable + humanity and religious moderation which the people had hitherto + shown alike in the combat and their triumph. He placed prominently + forward that sublime instinct which, the evening before, had + thrown them, when still armed, but already disciplined and + obedient, into the arms of a few men who had submitted themselves + to calumny, exhaustion, and death, for the safety of all. + 'That,' said Lamartine, 'was what the sun beheld yesterday, and + what would he shine upon to-day? He would behold a people the + more furious that there was no longer any enemies to combat; + distrusting the men whom but yesterday it had intrusted with the + lead,--constraining them in their liberty, insulting them in their + dignity, disavowing their authority, substituting a revolution + of vengeance and punishment for one of unanimity and fraternity, + and commanding the government to hoist, in token of concord, the + standard of a combat to the death between the citizens of the + same country! That red flag, which was sometimes raised as the + standard against our enemies when blood was flowing, should be + furled after the combat, in token of reconciliation and peace. I + would rather see the black flag which they hoist sometimes in a + besieged town as a symbol of death, to designate to the bombs the + edifices consecrated to humanity, and which even the balls of the + enemy respect. Do you wish, then, that the symbol of your republic + should be more menacing and more sinister than the colours of + a besieged city?' 'No no!' cried some of the crowd, 'Lamartine + is right: let us not keep that standard, the symbol of terror, + for our citizens.' 'Yes, yes!' cried others, 'it is ours--it is + that of the people--it is that with which we have conquered. Why + should we not keep, after the conflict, the colours which we have + stained with our blood?'--'Citizens!' said Lamartine, after having + exhausted every argument calculated to affect the imagination + of the people, 'you may do violence to the government: you may + command it to change the colours of the nation and the colours + of France. If you are so ill advised and so obstinate in error + as to impose on it a republic of party and flag of terror, the + government is as decided as myself to die rather than dishonour + itself by obeying you: for myself, my hand shall never sign that + decree: I will resist even to the death that symbol of blood; and + you should repudiate it as well as I; for the red flag which you + bring us has never gone beyond the Champ de Mars, dragged red in + the blood of the people in '91 and '93; but the tricolor flag has + made the tour of the world, with the name, the glory, and the + liberty of our country.' At these words, Lamartine, interrupted + by the unanimous cries of enthusiasm, fell from the chair which + served for his tribune, into the arms stretched out on all sides + to receive him. The cause of the new republic was triumphant over + the bloody recollections which they wished to substitute for it. + The hideous crowd which filled the hall retired, amidst cries of + '_Vive Lamartine!--Vive le Drapeau Tricolor!_' + + "The danger, however, was not over. The crowd which had been + carried away by his words was met by another crowd which had not + hitherto been able to penetrate into the hall, and which was + more vehement in words and gesticulations. Menacing expressions, + ardent vociferations, cries of suffocation, threatening gestures, + discharges of firearms on the stair, tatters of a red flag waved + by naked arms above the sea of heads, rendered this one of the + most frightful scenes of the Revolution. 'Down with Lamartine! + Death to Lamartine! no Temporising,--the Decree, the Decree, + or the Government of Traitors to the lamp-post!' exclaimed the + assailants. These cries neither caused Lamartine to hesitate, to + retire, nor to turn pale. At the sight of him the fury of the + assailants, instead of being appeased, increased tenfold. Muskets + were directed at his head, the nearest brandished bayonets in his + face, and a savage group of twenty, with brutal drunken visages, + charged forward with their heads down, as if to break through + with an enormous battering-ram the circle which surrounded him. + The foremost appeared bereft of reason. Naked sabres reached + the head of the orator, whose hand was slightly wounded. The + critical moment had arrived; nothing was yet decided. Hazard + determined which should prevail. Lamartine expected momentarily + to be thrown down and trampled under foot. At that instant one + of the populace sprang from the crowd, a ball discharged from + below grazed his face and stained it with blood; while it still + flowed, he stretched out his arms to Lamartine--'Let me see him, + let me touch him,' cried he, 'let me kiss his hand! Listen to him, + oh, my citizens! follow his councils: you shall strike me before + touching him. I will die a thousand times to preserve that good + citizen for my country.' With these words he precipitated himself + into his arms, and held him convulsively embraced. The people were + moved at this scene; and a hundred voices again exclaimed '_Vive + le Gouvernement Provisoire!--Vive Lamartine!_'"--(Vol. i. pp. 393, + 402.) + +We purposely close our account of Lamartine's personal career with this +splendid passage in his life. His subsequent conduct, it is well known, +has ill accorded with this beginning. His popularity in Paris fell as +rapidly as it had risen; and on occasion of the terrible revolt of June +1848, he retired from the government, with all his colleagues, from +acknowledged inability to meet the crisis which had arisen. We have +heard different accounts of the real causes of his mysterious alliance +with his former opponent, and the head of the Red Republicans, M. Ledru +Rollin, to which this fall was owing. Some of these stories are little +to his credit. We forbear to mention them, lest we should unwittingly +disseminate falsehood in regard to a man of undoubted genius and +great acquirements. Perhaps, in some future "Confidences," he may be +able to explain much which undoubtedly at present stands in need of +explanation. We gladly leave this dubious subject, to give a place to +his dramatic account of the dreadful conflict in June, in the streets +of Paris, which is the more entitled to credit, as he was an eyewitness +of several of its most terrible scenes:-- + + "Assemblages of eight or ten thousand persons were already formed + on the Place of the Pantheon to attack the Luxembourg. M. Arago + harangued them and persuaded them to disperse; but it was only to + meet again in the quarters adjoining the Seine, in the Faubourg St + Antoine, and on the Boulevards. At the sight of them the faubourgs + turned out--the streets were filled--the _Ateliers Nationaux_ + turned out their hordes--the populace, excited by some chief, + began to raise barricades. These chiefs were, for the most part, + brigadiers of the national workshops, the pillars of sedition and + of the clubs, irritated at the disbanding of their corps, the + wages of which, passing through their hands, had been applied, + it is said, to paying the Revolution. From the barriers of + Charenton, Fontainebleau, and Menilmontant, to the heart of Paris, + the entire capital was in the hands of a few thousand men. The + _rappel_ called to their standards 200,000 National Guards, ten + times sufficient to overthrow those assemblages of the seditious, + and to destroy their fortifications. But it must be said, to + the disgrace of that day, and for the instruction of posterity, + that the National Guard at that decisive moment _did not answer + in a body to the appeal of the government_. Their tardiness, + their disinclination, their inertness, left the streets in some + quarters open to sedition. They looked on with calm eyes on the + erection of thousands of barricades, which they had afterwards to + reconquer with torrents of blood. Soon the government quitted the + Luxembourg and took refuge in the National Assembly, where, at the + headquarters of General Cavaignac, was established the supreme + council of the nation. + + "Government had reckoned on the support of the National Guard; + but the incessant beating of the _rappel_ failed in bringing it + forth to its standards. In several quarters they were imprisoned + by the insurgents. In fine, be it tardiness, or be it fatality, + the army was far from responding in a body to the imminence and + universality of the peril. Its numerical weakness aggravated the + danger. General Lamoricière, invincible, though soon besieged by + 200,000 men, occupied the whole extent from the Rue du Temple to + the Madeleine, from the Rue de Clichy to the Louvre--constantly + on horseback, ever foremost in fire, he had two horses shot under + him--his countenance black with powder, his forehead running down + with sweat, his voice hoarse with giving the word of command, but + his eye serene and calm as a soldier in his native element, he + restored spirit to his men, confidence to the National Guards. + His reports to government breathed the intrepidity of his soul, + but he made no concealment of the imminence of the danger, and + the insufficiency of the troops at his disposal. He painted the + immense multitude of the assailants and the vast network of + barricades which stretched between the Bastile and the Chateau + d'Eau, between the barriers and the Boulevard. Incessantly he + implored reinforcements, which the government as continually + summoned to its support by the telegraph, and officers specially + despatched. At length the National Guards of the neighbourhood of + Paris began to arrive, and, ranging themselves round the Assembly, + furnished an example to those of the capital. Then, and not till + then, confidence began to be felt in the midst of the chances of + the combat."--(Vol. ii., pp. 480-481.) + +It was a most fortunate event for the cause of order, and, with it, +of real freedom throughout the world, that this great revolt was so +completely suppressed, though at the cost of a greater number of lives, +particularly in general officers, than fell in many a bloody battle, by +the efforts of General Cavaignac and his brave companions in arms. It +is said that their measures, at first, were not skilfully taken--that +they lost time, and occasioned unnecessary bloodshed at the outset, by +neglecting to attack the barricades when they began to be formed; and +certainly the easy and bloodless suppression of the late revolt against +the government of Prince Louis Napoleon, by General Changarnier, seems +to favour this opinion. It must be recollected, however, that the +revolt of May 1849 occurred when the memory of the popular overthrow +of June 1848 was still fresh in the minds of the people; and it is not +easy to overestimate the effect of that decisive defeat in paralysing +revolt on the one side, and adding nerve to resistance on the other. It +is evident that Louis Napoleon is not a Duc de Montpensier--he will not +surrender his authority without a fight. But supposing that there was +some tardiness in adopting decisive measures on occasion of the June +revolt, that only makes the lesson more complete, by demonstrating the +inability of the bravest and most determined populace to contend with a +regular military force, when the troops are steady to their duty, and +bravely led by their chiefs. The subsequent suppression of the revolts +in Prague, Vienna, Madrid, and Rome, have confirmed the same important +truth. Henceforth, it is evident, the horrors of revolution may always +be averted, when government is firm, and the military are faithful. + +And these horrors are in truth such, that it becomes evidently the +first of political and social duties for the rulers of men to justify +the eminence of their rank by their courage, and the troops to +vindicate the trust reposed in them by their fidelity. Passing by the +woful _exposé_ of the almost hopeless state of the French finances, +with a deficit of above TWELVE MILLIONS sterling, despite an addition +of forty-five per cent to the direct taxes, made by Prince Louis +Napoleon to the National Assembly, we rest on the following curious and +important details taken from the _Times_ of July 12, in regard to the +effect of the revolution of 1848 upon the comforts and condition of the +labouring classes in France:-- + + "It appears it is the middle class of tradesmen that are now most + suffering from the effects of revolution. The funds on which this + class had been living, in the hope that better days would soon + arrive, and which amongst some of the small tradesmen formed their + capital, have become exhausted. Those who had no money had, at all + events, some credit; but both money and credit are now gone. The + result is, that even in this period of comparative tranquillity + more shops are closed than in the days of turbulence. + + "The following statement of the fluctuations of the revenues of + the city of Paris, occasioned also by revolution, and which goes + back to 1826, is taken from the _Débats_:-- + + "'The returns of the produce of indirect impost is the unfailing + testimony to the progress or decrease of public tranquillity. We + proved this truth yesterday in publishing, on the authority of a + well-informed journal, the comparative state of the receipts of + the Paris _octroi_ for the first six months of the years 1847, + 1848, and 1849. It is still further proved by valuable documents + which we have at this moment before us. Thus, the produce of + the _octroi_ was, in 1847, 34,511,389 francs; and in 1848, only + 26,519,627 francs, showing a difference of 7,991,762 francs. This + decrease is enormous, in relation to the immense necessities + created by the political and social crisis, the works undertaken + by the city, and the previous expenses it had to provide for. We + could analyse the different chapters of this municipal revenue, + which affords life to so many branches of Parisian industry; + but it is useless to inquire, for each of these chapters, the + particular causes of diminution. With the great event of 1848 + before us, all details disappear. One sole cause has produced a + decrease in the receipts, and that is the revolution of February; + which, at first menacing society itself by the voice of democratic + orators and the pens of demagogue writers, frightened away capital + and annihilated industry of all kinds. In order to be able to + judge of the influence of great political events on the receipts + of the Paris _octroi_, it will be sufficient to recur to the years + which preceded and followed the revolution of 1830:-- + + Francs. + In 1826 the produce was 31,057,000 + + In 1827 (the first shock in consequence + of the progress of the + opposition in the country, and + the dissolution of the national + guard) 29,215,000 + + In 1828 (fall of the Villèle ministry--continuation + of the political + movement notwithstanding + the Montignac ministry) 28,927,000 + + In 1829 (ministry of the 8th + August--presentiments of a + struggle between the crown and + country) 27,695,000 + + In 1830 (July Revolution) 26,240,000 + + In 1831 (incessant agitation--repeated + outbreaks) 24,035,000 + + In 1832 (continuation of revolutionary + movement--events of + the 5th and 6th June) 22,798,000 + + In 1833 (progressive establishment + of tranquillity) 26,667,000 + + In 1834 (the situation becomes + better, with the exception of the + events of the 13th and 14th + April, which, however, were + brief) 27,458,000 + + From 1835 to 1838 (calm--cabinet + of 15th April--the produce + in the latter year) 31,518,000 + + In 1839 (Parliamentary coalition, + 12th May) 30,654,000 + + In 1840 (fears of war--rupture of + the English Alliance, &c.) 29,906,000 + + From 1841 to 1845 (calm--progressive + increase in the latter + year) 34,165,000 + + In 1846 (notwithstanding the + dearness of food, the receipts + were) 33,990,000 + + In 1847 (commercial crisis, &c.) 33,033,000 + + In 1848 (revolution of February) 26,519,000 + + "The following from _La Patrie_ gives a good idea of the effects + of an unquiet state of society:-- + + "'Revolutions cost dear. They, in the first place, augment the + public expenses and diminish the general resources. Occasionally + they yield something, but before gathering in the profits the bill + must be paid. M. Audiganne, _chef de bureau_ at the department + of commerce and agriculture, has published a curious work on + the industrial crisis brought on by the revolution of February. + M. Audiganne has examined all branches of manufactures, and + has shown that the crisis affected every one. In the Nord, at + Lisle, cotton-spinning, which occupied thirty-four considerable + establishments, employing a capital of 7,000,000f. or 8,000,000f.; + and tulle making, employing 195 looms, were obliged to reduce + their production one-half. At Turcoing and Roubaix, where cloth + and carpet manufactories occupied 12,000 workmen, the produce went + down two-thirds, and 8000 men were thrown out of work. In the + Pas-de-Calais the fabrication of lace and cambrics was obliged + to stop before a fall of twenty-five per cent. The linen factory + of Capecure, founded in 1836, and which employed 1800 men, was + in vain aided by the Municipal Council of Boulogne and the local + banks; it at last succumbed to the crisis. In the department of + the Somme, 142,000 workmen, who were employed in the woollen, + cotton, stocking, and velvet manufactories, were reduced to + idleness. In the arrondissement of Abbeville, where the business, + known by the name of 'lockwork' of Picardy, yielded an annual + produce of 4,000,000f., the orders stopped completely, and the + unfortunate workmen were obliged to go and beg their bread in the + environs. At Rouen, where the cotton trade gave an annual produce + of more than 250,000,000f., there were the same disasters; yet + the common goods continued to find purchasers, owing to their + low price. At Caen, the lace manufacture, which in 1847 employed + upwards of 50,000 persons, or one-eighth of the population of + Calvados, was totally paralysed. At St Quentin, tulle embroidery, + which gave a living to 1500 women, received just as severe a + blow as in March and April, 1848; almost all the workshops were + obliged to close. In the east the loss was not less considerable. + Rheims was obliged to close its woollen-thread factories during + the months of March, April, and May, 1848. The communal workshop + absorbed in some weeks an extraordinary loan of 430,000f. + Fortunately, an order for 1,500,000f. of merinos, from New York, + allowed the interrupted factories to reopen, and spared the town + fresh sacrifices. The revolutionary tempest penetrated into Alsace + and there swept away two-thirds of the production. Muhlhausen + stopped for several months the greater number of its looms, and + diminished one-half the length of labour in the workshops, which + remained open. Lyons also felt all the horrors of the crisis. + In the same way as muslin and lace, silk found its consumption + stopped. For several months the unfortunate Lyons' workmen had for + sole subsistence the produce of the colours and scarfs ordered + by the Provisional Government. At St Etienne and St Chamond, + the principal points of our ribbon and velvet manufacture, and + where 85,000 workmen were employed, the production went down + two-thirds. At Paris M. Audiganne estimates the loss in what is + called Paris goods at nine-tenths of the production. The loss on + other articles, he considers, on the contrary, to have been only + two-thirds on the sale, and a little more than one-half on the + amount of the produce. We only touch in these remarks on the most + striking points of the calculation; the total loss, according + to M. Audiganne, amounts, for the workmen alone, to upwards of + 300,000,000f.'" + +Such have been the consequences to the people of listening to the voice +of their demagogues, who impelled them into the revolution of 1848--to +the national guards, of hanging back at the decisive moment, and +forgetting their oaths in the intoxication of popular enthusiasm. + +And if any one supposes that these effects were only temporary, and +that lasting freedom is to be won for France by these sacrifices, we +recommend him to consider the present state of France, a year and a +half after the revolution of 1848, as painted by one of its ablest +supporters, M. Louis Blanc. + + +PROTEST. + + "While Paris is in a state of siege, and when most of the journals + which represent our opinions are by violence condemned to silence, + we believe it to be a duty owing to our party to convey to it, if + possible, the public expression of our sentiments. + + "It is with profound astonishment that we see the organs of the + counter-revolution triumph over the events of the 13th of June. + + "Where there has been no contest, how can there have been a + victory? + + "What is then proved by the 13th of June? + + "That under the pressure of 100,000 soldiers, Paris is not free in + her movements? We have known this more than enough. + + "Now, as it has always been, the question is, if by crowding Paris + with soldiers and with cannon, by stifling with violent hands + the liberty of the press, by suppressing individual freedom, + by invading private domiciles, by substituting the reign of + Terror for that of Reason, by unceasingly repressing furious + despair--that which there is wanting a capacity to prevent, the + end will be attained of reanimating confidence, or re-establishing + credit, of diminishing taxes, of correcting the vices of the + administration, of chasing away the spectre of the deficit, of + developing industry, of cutting short the disasters attendant + upon unlimited competition, of suppressing those revolts which + have their source in the deep recesses of human feeling, of + tranquillising resentments, of calming all hearts? The state of + siege of 1848 has engendered that of 1849. The question is, if + the amiable perspective of Paris in a state of siege every eight + or ten months will restore to commerce its elastic movements, to + the industrious their markets, and to the middle classes their + repose."--_L. Blanc._ + +It is frequently asked what is to be the end of all these changes, +and under what form of government are the people of France ultimately +to settle? Difficult as it is to predict anything with certainty of +a people with whom nothing seems to be fixed but the disposition to +change, we have no hesitation in stating our opinion that the future +government of France will be what that of imperial Rome was, an +ELECTIVE MILITARY DESPOTISM. In fact, with the exception of the fifteen +years of the Restoration, when a free constitutional monarchy was +imposed on its inhabitants by the bayonets of the Allies, it has ever +since the Revolution of 1789 been nothing else. The Orleans dynasty +has, to all appearance, expired with a disgrace even greater than +that which attended its birth: the Bourbons can scarcely expect, in +a country so deeply imbued with the love of change, to re-establish +their hereditary throne. Popular passion and national vanity call +for that favourite object in democratic societies--a rotation of +governors: popular violence and general suffering will never fail to +re-establish, after a brief period of anarchy, the empire of the sword. +The successive election of military despots seems the only popular +compromise between revolutionary passion and the social necessities of +mankind; and as a similar compromise took place, after eighty years of +bloodshed and confusion, in the Roman commonwealth, so, after a similar +period of suffering, it will probably be repeated, from the influence +of the same cause, in the French nation. + + + + +Dies Boreales. + +No. III. + +CHRISTOPHER UNDER CANVASS. + + +SCENE--_Gutta Percha._ + +TIME--_Early Evening._ + +NORTH--BULLER--SEWARD--TALBOYS. + + * * * * * + +NORTH. + +Trim--trim--trim-- + +TALBOYS. + +Gentlemen, are you all seated? + +NORTH. + +Why into such strange vagaries fall as you would dance, Longfellow! +Seize his skirts, Seward. Buller, cling to his knees. Billy, the +boat-hook--he will be--he is--overboard. + +TALBOYS. + +Not at all. Gutta Percha is somewhat crank--and I am steadying her, sir. + +NORTH. + +What is that round your waist? + +TALBOYS. + +My Air-girdle. + +NORTH. + +I insist upon you dropping it, Longman. It makes you reckless. I did +not think you were such a selfish character. + +TALBOYS. + +Alas! in this world, how are our noblest intentions misunderstood! I +put it on, sir, that, in case of a capsize, I might more buoyantly bear +you ashore. + +NORTH. + +Forgive me, my friend. But--be seated. Our craft is but indifferently +well adapted for the gallopade. Be seated, I beseech you! Or, if you +will stand, do plant both feet--do not--do not alternate so--and above +all, do not, I implore you--show off on one, as if you were composing +and reciting verses.--There, down you are--and if there be not a hole +in her bottom, Gutta Percha is safe against all the hidden rocks in +Loch Awe. + +TALBOYS. + +Let me take the stroke oar. + +NORTH. + +For sake of the ancient houses of the Sewards and the Bullers, sit +where you are. We are already in four fathom water. + +TALBOYS. + +The Lines? + +BILLY. + +Nea, nea--Mister Talboys. Nane shall steer Perch when He's afloat but +t' auld commodore. + +NORTH. + +Shove off, lads. + +TALBOYS. + +Are we on earth or in heaven? + +BILLY. + +On t' watter. + +NORTH. + +Billy--mum. + +TALBOYS. + +The Heavens are high--and they are deep. Fear would rise up from that +Profound, if fear there could be in the perfectly Beautiful! + +SEWARD. + +Perhaps there is--though it wants a name. + +NORTH. + +We know there is no danger--and therefore we should feel no fear. But +we cannot wholly disencumber ourselves of the emotions that ordinarily +great depth inspires--and verily I hold with Seward, while thus we hang +over the sky-abyss below with suspended oars. + +SEWARD. + +The Ideal rests on the Real--Imagination on Memory--and the Visionary, +at its utmost, still retains relations with Truth. + +BULLER. + +Pray you to look at our Encampment. Nothing visionary there-- + +TALBOYS. + +Which Encampment? + +BULLER. + +On the hill-side--up yonder--at Cladich. + +TALBOYS. + +You should have said so at first. I thought you meant that other down-- + +BULLER. + +When I speak to you, I mean the _bona fide_ flesh and blood Talboys, +sitting by the side of the _bona fide_ flesh and blood Christopher +North, in Gutta Percha, and not that somewhat absurd, and, I trust, +ideal personage, standing on his head in the water, or it may be the +air, some fathoms below her keel--like a pearl-diver. + +TALBOYS. + +Put up your hands--so--my dear Mr North, and frame the picture. + +NORTH. + +And Maculloch not here! Why the hills behind Cladich, that people call +tame, make a background that no art might meliorate. Cultivation climbs +the green slopes, and overlays the green hill-ridges, while higher up +all is rough, brown, heathery, rocky--and behind that undulating line, +for the first time in my life, I see the peaks of mountains. From afar +they are looking at the Tents. And far off as they are, the power of +that Sycamore Grove connects them with our Encampment. + +TALBOYS. + +Are you sure, sir, they are not clouds? + +NORTH. + +If clouds, so much the better. If mountains, they deserve to be clouds; +and if clouds, they deserve to be mountains. + +SEWARD. + +The long broad shadow of the Grove tames the white of the Tents--tones +it--reduces it into harmony with the surrounding colour--into keeping +with the brown huts of the villagers, clustering on bank and brae on +both sides of the hollow river. + +NORTH. + +The cozey Inn itself from its position is picturesque. + +TALBOYS. + +The Swiss Giantess looks imposing-- + +BULLER. + +So does the Van. But Deeside is the Pandemonium-- + +TALBOYS. + +Well translated by Paterson in his Notes on Milton, "All-Devil's-Hall." + +NORTH. + +Hush. And how lovely the foreground! Sloping upland--with single trees +standing one by one, at distances wide enough to allow to each its own +little grassy domain--with its circle of bracken or broom--or its own +golden gorse grove--divided by the sylvan course of the hidden river +itself, visible only when it glimpses into the Loch--Here, friends, we +seem to see the united occupations of pastoral, agricultural--and-- + +BULLER. + +Pardon me, sir, I have a proposition to make. + +NORTH. + +You might have waited a moment till-- + +BULLER. + +Not a moment. We all Four see the background--and the middle-ground and +the foreground--and all the ground round and about--and all the islands +and their shadows--and all the mountains and theirs--and, towering high +above all, that Cruachan of yours, who, I firmly believe, is behind +us--though 'twould twist my neck now to get a vizzy of him. No use +then in describing all that lies within the visible horizon--there it +is--let us enjoy it and be thankful--and let us talk this evening of +whatever may happen to come into our respective heads--and I beg leave +to add, sir, with all reverence, let's have fair play--let no single +man--young or old--take more than his own lawful share-- + +NORTH. + +Sir? + +BULLER. + +And let the subject of angling be tabooed--and all its endless +botheration about baskets and rods, and reels and tackle--salmon, +sea-trout, yellow-fin, perch, pike, and the Ferox--and no drivel about +Deer and Eagles-- + +NORTH. + +Sir? What's the meaning of all this--Seward, say--tell, Talboys. + +BULLER. + +And let each man on opening his mouth be _timed_--and let it be +two-minute time--and let me be time-keeper--but, in consideration +of your years and habits, and presidency, let time to you, sir, be +extended to two minutes and thirty seconds--and let us all talk time +about--and let no man seek to nullify the law by talking at railway +rate--and let no man who waives his right of turn, however often, think +to make up for the loss by claiming quarter of an hour afterwards--and +that, too, perhaps at the smartest of the soiree--and let there be no +contradiction, either round, flat, or angular--and let no man speak +about what he understands--that is, has long studied and made himself +master of--for that would be giving him an unfair--I had almost +said--would be taking a mean advantage--and let no man-- + +NORTH. + +Why, the mutiny at the Nore was nothing to this! + +BULLER. + +Lord High Admiral though you be, sir, you must obey the laws of the +service-- + +NORTH. + +I see how it is. + +BULLER. + +How is it? + +NORTH. + +But it will soon wear off--that's the saving virtue of Champagne. + +BULLER. + +Champagne indeed! Small Beer, smaller than the smallest size. You have +not the heart, sir, to give Champagne. + +NORTH. + +We had better put about, gentlemen, and go ashore. + +BULLER. + +My ever-honoured, long-revered sir! I have got intoxicated on our +Teetotal debauchery. The fumes of the water have gone to my head--and I +need but a few drops of brandy to set me all right. Billy--the flask. +There--I am as sober as a Judge. + +NORTH. + +Ay, 'tis thus, Buller, you wise wag, that you would let the "old man +garrulous" into the secret of his own tendencies--too often unconscious +he of the powers that have set so many asleep. I accept the law--but +let it--do let it be three-minute time. + +BULLER. + +Five--ten--twenty--"with thee conversing I forget all time." + +NORTH. + +Strike medium--Ten. + +BULLER. + +My dear sir, for a moment let me have that Spy-glass. + +NORTH. + +I must lay it down--for a Bevy of Fair Women are on the Mount--and are +brought so near that I hear them laughing--especially the Prima Donna, +whose Glass is in dangerous proximity with my nose. + +BULLER. + +Fling her a kiss, sir. + +NORTH. + +There--and how prettily she returns it! + +BULLER. + +Happy old man! Go where you will-- + +TALBOYS. + +Ulysses and the Syrens. Had he my air-girdle, he would swim ashore. + +NORTH. + +"Oh, mihi præteritos referat si Jupiter annos!" + +TALBOYS. + +The words are regretful--but there is no regret in the voice that +syllables them--it is clear as a bell, and as gladsome. + +NORTH. + +Talking of kissing, I hear one of the most melodious songs that ever +flowed from lady's lip-- + + "The current that with gentle motion glides, + Thou knowest, being stopped, impatiently doth rage; + But when his fair course is not hindered, + He makes sweet music with th' enamelled stones, + _Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge_ + _He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;_ + And so by many winding nooks he strays + With willing sport to the wild ocean." + +Is it not perfect? + +SEWARD. + +It is. Music--Painting, and Poetry-- + +BULLER. + +Sculpture and architecture. + +NORTH. + +Buller, you're a blockhead. Dear Mr Alison, in his charming _Essays +on Taste_, finds a little fault in what seems to me a great beauty in +this, one of the sweetest passages in Shakspeare. + +BULLER. + +Sweetest. That's a miss-mollyish word. + +NORTH. + +Ass. One of the sweetest passages in Shakspeare. He finds fault with +the Current kissing the Sedges. "The pleasing personification which +we attribute to a brook is founded upon the faint belief of voluntary +motion, and is immediately checked when the Poet _descends_ to any +minute or particular resemblance." + +SEWARD. + +Descends! + +NORTH. + +The word, to my ear, does sound strangely; and though his expression, +"faint belief," is a true and a fine one, yet here the doctrine does +not apply. Nay, here we have a true notion inconsiderately misapplied. +Without doubt Poets of more wit than sensibility do follow on a +similitude beyond the suggestion of the contemplated subject. But the +rippling of water against a sedge suggests a kiss--is, I believe, a +kiss--liquid, soft, loving, _lipped_. + +BULLER. + +Beautiful. + +NORTH. + +Buller, you are a fellow of fine taste. Compare the whole catalogue of +metaphorical kisses--admitted and claimable--and you will find this one +of the most natural of them all. Pilgrimage, in Shakspeare's day, had +dropt, in the speech of our Poets, from its early religious propriety, +of seeking a holy place under a vow, into a roving of the region. +See his "Passionate Pilgrim." If Shakspeare found the word so far +generalised, then "wanderer through the woods," or plains, or through +anything else, is the suggestion of the beholding. The river is more, +indeed; being, like the pilgrim, on his way to a term, and an obliged +way--"the wild ocean." + +SEWARD. + +The "faint belief of voluntary motion"--Mr Alison's fine +phrase--is one, and possibly the grounding incentive to +impersonating the "current" here; but other elements enter in; +liquidity--transparency--which suggest a spiritual nature, and Beauty +which moves Love. + +NORTH. + +Ay, and the Poets of that age, in the fresher alacrity of their fancy, +had a justification of comparisons, which do not occur as promptly to +us, nor, when presented to us, delight so much as they would, were our +fancy as alive as theirs. You might suspect _a priori_ Ovid, Cowley, +and Dryden, as likely to be led by indulgence of their ingenuity into +passionless similitudes--and you may misdoubt even that Shakspeare +was in danger of being so run away with. But let us have clear and +unequivocal instances. This one assuredly is not of the number. It is +exquisite. + +TALBOYS. + +Mr Alison, I presume to think, sir, should either have quoted the whole +speech, or kept the whole in view, when animadverting on those two +lines about the kissing Pilgrim. Julia, a Lady of Verona, beloved by +Proteus, is only half-done--and now she comes--to herself. + + "Then let me go, and hinder not my course; + I'll be as patient as a gentle stream, + And make a pastime of each weary step, + Till the last step have brought me to my love; + And there I'll rest, as, after much turmoil, + A blessed soul doth in Elysium." + +The language of Shakspeare's Ladies is not the language we hear in +real life. I wish it were. Real life would then be delightful indeed. +Julia is privileged to be poetical far beyond the usage of the very +best circles--far beyond that of any mortal creatures. For the God +Shakspeare has made her and all her kin poetical--and if you object to +any of the lines, you must object to them all. Eminently beautiful, +sir, they are; and their beauty lies in the passionate, imaginative +spirit that pervades the whole, and sustains the Similitude throughout, +without a moment's flagging of the fancy, without a moment's departure +from the truthfulness of the heart. + +NORTH. + +Talboys, I thank you--you are at the root. + +SEWARD. + +A wonderful thing--altogether--is Impersonation. + +NORTH. + +It is indeed. If we would know the magnitude of the dominion which +the disposition constraining us to impersonate has exercised over the +human mind, we should have to go back unto those ages of the world when +it exerted itself, uncontrolled by philosophy, and in obedience to +religious impulses--when Impersonations of Natural Objects and Powers, +of Moral Powers and of Notions entertained by the Understanding, filled +the Temples of the Nations with visible Deities, and were worshipped +with altars and incense, hymns and sacrifices. + +BULLER. + +Was ever before such disquisition begotten by--an imaginary kiss among +the Sedges! + +NORTH. + +Hold your tongue, Buller. But if you would see how hard this dominion +is to eradicate, look to the most civilised and enlightened times, +when severe Truth has to the utmost cleansed the Understanding of +illusion--and observe how tenaciously these imaginary Beings, endowed +with imaginary life, hold their place in our Sculpture, Painting, and +Poetry, and Eloquence--nay, in our common and quiet speech. + +SEWARD. + +It is all full of them. The most prosaic of prosers uses poetical +language without knowing it--and Poets without knowing to what extent +and degree. + +NORTH. + +Ay, Seward, and were we to expatiate in the walks of the profounder +emotions, we should sometimes be startled by the sudden apparitions +of boldly impersonated Thoughts, upon occasions that did not seem +to promise them--where you might have thought that interests of +overwhelming moment would have effectually banished the play of +imagination. + +TALBOYS. + +Shakspeare is justified, then--and the Lady Julia spoke like a Lady in +Love with all nature--and with Proteus. + +BULLER. + +A most beautiful day is this indeed--but it is a Puzzler. + + "The Swan on still St Mary's Lake + Floats double, Swan and Shadow;" + +But here all the islands float double--and all the castles and +abbeys--and all the hills and mountains--and all the clouds and boats +and men,--double, did I say--triple--quadruple,--we are here, and +there, and everywhere, and nowhere, all at the same moment. Inishail, +I have you--no--Gutta Percha slides over you, and you have no material +existence. Very well. + +SEWARD. + +Is there no house on Inishail? + +NORTH. + +Not one--but the house appointed for all living. A Burial-place. I +see it--but not one of you--for it is little noticeable, and seldom +used--on an average, one funeral in the year. Forty years ago I stepped +into a small snuff-shop in the Saltmarket, Glasgow, to replenish my +shell--and found my friend was from Lochawe-side. I asked him if +he often revisited his native shore, and he answered--seldom, and +had not for a long time--but that though his lot did not allow him +to live there, he hoped to be buried in Inishail. We struck up a +friendship--his snuff was good, and so was his whisky, for it was +unexcised. A few years ago, trolling for Feroces, I met a boat with a +coffin, and in it the body of the old tobacconist. + +SEWARD. + +"The Churchyard among the Mountains," in Wordsworth's _Excursion_, is +alone sufficient for his immortality on earth. + +NORTH. + +It is. So for Gray's is his Elegy. But some hundred and forty lines +in all--no more--yet how comprehensive--how complete! "In a Country +Churchyard!" Every generation there buries the whole hamlet--which is +much the same as burying the whole world--or a whole world. + +SEWARD. + + "The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep!" + +All Peasants--diers and mourners! Utmost simplicity of all belonging +to life--utmost simplicity of all belonging to death. Therefore, +universally affecting. + +NORTH. + +Then the--Grayishness. + +BULLER. + +The what, sir? + +NORTH. + +The Grayishness. The exquisite scholarship, and the high artifice of +the words and music--yet all in perfect adaptation to the scene and its +essential character. Is there not in that union and communion of the +solemn-profound, and the delicate-exquisite, something Cathedral-like? +Which has the awe and infinitude of Deity and Eternity, and the +prostrations and aspirations of adoration for its basis--expressed in +the general structure and forms; and all this meeting and blent into +the minute and fine elaboration of the ornaments? Like the odours +that steal and creep on the soft, moist, evening air, whilst the dim +hush of the Universal Temple dilates and elates. The least and the +greatest in one. Why not? Is not that spiritual--angelical--divine! The +least is not too exiguous for apprehension--the amplest exceeds not +comprehension--and their united power is felt when not understood. I +speak, Seward, of that which might be suggested for a primary fault in +the Elegy--the contrast of the most artful, scholarly style, and the +simple, rude, lowly, homely matter. But you shall see that every fancy +seizes, and every memory holds especially those verses and wordings +which bring out this contrast--that richest line-- + + "The breezy call of incense-breathing morn!" + +is felt to be soon followed well by that simplest-- + + "No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed"---- + +where--I take "lowly" to imply low in earth--humbly turfed or +flowered--and of the lowly. + +SEWARD. + +And so, sir, the pomp of a Cathedral is described, though a village +Church alone is in presence. So Milton, Cromwell, and other great +powers are set in array--that which these were not, against that which +those were. + +NORTH. + +Yet hear Dr Thomas Brown--an acute metaphysician--but an obtuse +critic--and no Poet at all. "The two images in this stanza ('Full many +a gem,' &c.,) certainly produce very different degrees of poetical +delight. That which is borrowed from the rose blooming in solitude +pleases in a very high degree, both as it contains a just and beautiful +similitude, and still more as the similitude is one of the most likely +to have arisen in such a situation. But the simile in the two first +lines of the stanza, though it may perhaps philosophically be as just, +has no other charm, and strikes us immediately as not the natural +suggestion of such a moment and such a scene. To a person moralising +amid a simple Churchyard, there is perhaps no object that would not +sooner have occurred than this piece of minute jewellery--'a gem of +purest ray serene, in the unfathomed caves of ocean.'" + +SEWARD. + +A person moralising! He forgot that person was Thomas Gray. And he +never knew what you have told us now. + +NORTH. + +Why, my dear Seward, the Gem is the recognised most intense +expression, from the natural world, of worth--inestimable priceless +price--dependent on rarity and beauty. The Flower is a like intense +expression, from the same world, of the power to call forth love. The +first image is _felt_ by every reader to be high, and _exalting_ its +object; the second to be tender, and openly _pathetic_. Of course it +moves more, and of course it comes last. The Poet has just before +spoken of Milton and Cromwell--of bards and kings--and history with all +her wealth. Is the transition violent from these objects to Gems? He is +moved by, but he is not bound to, the scene and time. His own thoughts +emancipate. Brown seems utterly to have forgotten that the Poet himself +is the Dramatic person of the Monologue. Shall he be restricted from +using the richness and splendour of his own thoughts? That one stanza +sums up the two or three preceding--and is perfectly attuned to the +reigning mood, temper, or pathos. + +BULLER. + +Thank you, gentlemen. The Doctor is done brown. + +NORTH. + + "The paths of glory lead but to the grave!" + +Methinks I could read you a homily on that Text. + +BULLER. + +To-morrow, sir, if you please. To-morrow is Sunday--and you may read +it to us as we glide to Divine Service at Dalmally--two of us to the +Established, and two of us to the Free Kirk. + +NORTH. + +Be it so. But you will not be displeased with me for quoting now, from +heart-memory, a single sentence on the great line, from Beattie, and +from Adam Fergusson. "It presents to the imagination a wide plain, +where several roads appear, crowded with glittering multitudes, and +issuing from different quarters, but drawing nearer and nearer as they +advance, till they terminate in the dark and narrow house, where all +their glories enter in succession, and disappear for ever." + +SEWARD. + +Thank you, sir. That is Beattie? + +NORTH. + +It is. Fergusson's memorable words are--"If from this we are disposed +to collect any inference adverse to the pursuits of glory, it may be +asked whither do the paths of ignominy lead? If to the grave also, then +our choice of a life remains to be made on the grounds of its intrinsic +value, without regard to an end which is common to every station of +life we can lead, whether illustrious or obscure." + +SEWARD. + +Very fine. Who says it? Fergusson--who was he? + +NORTH. + +The best of you Englishers are intolerably ignorant about Scotland. Do +you know the Reverend John Mitford? + +SEWARD. + +I do--and have for him the greatest respect. + +NORTH. + +So have I. He is one of our best Editors--as Pickering is one of +our best Publishers of the Poets. But I am somewhat doubtful of the +truthfulness of his remarks on the opening of the Elegy, in the +Appendix to his excellent Life of Gray. "The Curfew 'toll' is not the +appropriate word--it was not a slow bell tolling for the dead." + +SEWARD. + +True enough, not for the dead--but Gray then felt as if it were for the +dying--and chose to say so--the parting day. Was it quick and "merry as +a marriage-bell?" I can't think it--nor did Milton, "swinging _slow_ +with sullen roar." Gray was Il Penseroso. Prospero calls it the "solemn +curfew." Toll is right. + +NORTH. + +But, says my friend Mitford, "there is another error, a confusion of +time. The curfew tolls, and the ploughman returns from work. Now the +ploughman returns two or three hours before the curfew rings; and 'the +glimmering landscape' has 'long ceased to fade' before the curfew. The +'parting day' is also incorrect; the day had long finished. But if the +word Curfew is taken simply for 'the Evening Bell,' then also is the +time incorrect--and a _knell_ is not tolled for the parting, but for +the parted--'and leaves the world to darkness and to me.' 'Now fades +the glimmering landscape on the sight.' Here the incidents, instead +of being progressive, fall back, and make the picture confused and +inharmonious; especially as it appears soon after that it was _not_ +dark. For 'the moping owl does to the moon complain.'" + +SEWARD. + +Pardon me, sir, I cannot venture to answer all that--but if Mitford +be right, Gray must be very wrong indeed. Let me see--give us it over +again--sentence by sentence-- + +BULLER. + +No--no--no. Once is enough--and enough is as good as a feast. + +NORTH. + +Talboys? + +TALBOYS. + +Since you have a great respect for Mr Mitford, sir, so have I. But +hitherto I have been a stranger to his merits. + +SEWARD. + +The best of you Scottishers are intolerably ignorant about England. + +TALBOYS. + +In the first place, Mr North, when does the Curfew toll, or ring?--for +hang me if I remember--or rather ever knew. And in the second place, +when does the Evening Bell give tongue?--for hang me if I am much +better informed as to his motions. Yet I should know something of the +family of the Bells. Say--_eight_ o'clock. Well. It is summer-time, +I suppose; for you cannot believe that so dainty a person in health +and habits, as the Poet Gray, would write an Elegy in a Country +churchyard in winter, and well on towards night. True, that is a way of +speaking; he did not write it with his crow-quill, in his neat hand, +on his neat vellum, on the only horizontal tomb-stone. But in the +Churchyard he assumes to sit--probably under a Plane-tree, for sake of +the congenial Gloom. Season of the year ascertained--Summer--time of +Curfew--eight--then I can find no fault with the Ploughman. He comes +in well--either as an image or a man. He must have been an honest, +hard-working fellow, and worth the highest wages going between the +years 1745 and 1750. At what hour do ploughmen leave the stilts in +Cambridgeshire? We must not say at six. Different hours in different +counties, Buller. + +BULLER. + +Go on--all's right, Talboys. + +TALBOYS. + +It is not too much to believe that Hodge did not grudge, occasionally, +a half-hour over, to a good master. Then he had to stable his +horses--Star and Smiler--rub them down--bed them--fill rack and +manger--water them--make sure their noses were in the oats--lock the +stable before the nags were stolen--and then, and not till then, + + "The Ploughman homewards plods his weary way." + +For he does not sleep on the Farm--he has a wife and small family--that +is, a large family of smallish children--in the Hamlet, at least two +miles off--and he does not walk for a wager of a flitch of bacon and +barrel of beer--but for his accustomed rasher and a jug--and such +endearments as will restore his weariness up to the proper pitch for a +sound night's sleep. God bless him! + +BULLER. + +Shorn of your beams, Mr North, eclipsed. + +TALBOYS. + +The ploughman, then, does not return "two or three hours before the +curfew rings." Nor has "the glimmering landscape long ceased to fade +before the curfew." Nor is "the parting day incorrect." Nor "has the +day long finished." Nor, when it may have finished, or may finish, can +any man in the hamlet, during all that gradual subsiding of light and +sound, take upon him to give any opinion at all. + +NORTH. + +My boy, Talboys. + +TALBOYS. + +"And leave the world to darkness and to me." Ay--into his hut goes +the ploughman, and leaves the world and me to darkness--which is +coming--but not yet come--the Poet knows it is coming--near at hand its +coming glooms; and Darkness shows her divinity as she is preparing to +mount her throne. + +NORTH. + +Nothing can be better. + +TALBOYS. + +"'Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight.' Here the incident, +instead of being progressive, falls back, and makes the picture +confused and inharmonious." Confused and inharmonious! By no manner +of means. Nothing of the sort. There is no retrogression--the day has +been unwilling to die--cannot believe she is dying--and cannot think +'tis for her the curfew is tolling; but the Poet feels it is even +so; the glimmering and the fading, beautiful as they are, are sure +symptoms--she is dying into Evening, and Evening will soon be the dying +into Night; but to the Poet's eye how beautiful the transmutations! Nor +knows he that the Moon has arisen, till, at the voice of the nightbird, +he looks up the ivied church-tower, and there she is, whether full, +waning, or crescent, there are not data for the Astronomer to declare. + +NORTH. + +My friend Mr Mitford says of the line, "No more shall rouse them from +their lowly bed"--That "here the epithet _lowly_, as applied to _bed_, +occasions an ambiguity, as to whether the Poet means the bed on which +they sleep, or the grave in which they are laid;" and he adds, "there +can be no greater fault in composition than a doubtful meaning." + +TALBOYS. + +There cannot be a more touching beauty. Lowly applies to both. From +their lowly bed in their lowly dwellings among the quick, those joyous +sounds used to awaken them; from their lowly bed in their lowly +dwellings among the dead, those joyous sounds will awaken them never +more: but a sound will awaken them when He comes to judge both the +quick and the dead; and for them there is Christian hope--from + + "Many a holy text around them strewed + That teach the rustic moralist to die." + +NORTH. + + "Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe hath broke; + How jocund did they drive their team afield! + How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!" + +This stanza--says Mr Mitford--"is made up of various pieces inlaid. +'Stubborn glebe' is from Gay; 'drive afield' from Milton; 'sturdy +stroke' from Spenser. Such is too much the system of Gray's +composition, and therefore such the cause of his imperfections. Purity +of language, accuracy of thought, and even similarity of rhyme, all +give way to the introduction of certain poetical expressions; in fact, +the beautiful jewel, when brought, does not fit into the new setting, +or socket. Such is the difference between the flower stuck into the +ground and those that grow from it." Talboys? + +BULLER. + +Why not--Buller? + +TALBOYS. + +I give way to the gentleman. + +BULLER. + +Not for worlds would I take the word out of any man's mouth. + +TALBOYS. + +Gray took "stubborn glebe" from Gay. Why from Gay? It has been familiar +in men's mouths from the introduction of agriculture into this Island. +May not a Saxon gentleman say "drive their teams afield" without charge +of theft from Milton, who said "drove afield." Who first said "Gee-ho, +Dobbin?" Was Spenser the first--the only man before Milton--who used +"sturdy stroke?" and has nobody used it since Gray? + +BULLER. + +You could give a "sturdy stroke" yourself, Talboys. What's your weight? + +TALBOYS. + +Gray's style is sometimes too composite--you yourself, sir, would +not deny it is so--but Mr Mitford's instances here are absurd, and +the charge founded on them false. Gray seldom, if ever--say never, +"_sacrifices_ purity of language, and accuracy of thought," for the +sake of introducing certain poetical expressions. "All give way" is a +gross exaggeration. The beautiful words of the brethren, with which +his loving memory was stored, came up in the hour of imagination, and +took their place among the words as beautiful of his own congenial +inspirations; the flowers he transplanted from poetry "languished not, +grew dim, nor died;" for he had taken them up gently by the roots, +and with some of the old mould adhering to their tendrils, and, true +florist as he was, had prepared for them a richest soil in his own +garden, which he held from nature, and which the sun and the dew of +nature nourished, and will nourish for ever. + +BULLER. + +That face is not pleasant, sir. Nothing so disfigures a face as envy. +Old Poets at last grow ugly all--but you, sir, are a Philosopher--and +on your benign countenance 'twas but a passing cloud. There--you are as +beautiful as ever--how comely in critical old age! Any farther fault to +find with our friend Mitford? + +NORTH. + + "On some fond breast the parting soul relies, + Some pious drops the closing eye requires, + Even from the tomb the voice of nature cries, + Even in our ashes live their wonted fires." + +"'Pious drops' is from Ovid--piæ lachrymæ; 'closing eye' is from +Pope--'voice of nature' from the Anthologia, and the last line from +Chaucer--'Yet on our ashes cold is fire yreken.' _From so many quarries +are the stones brought to form this elaborate Mosaic pavement._" I +say, for "piæ lachrymæ" all honour to Ovid--for "pious drops" all +honour to Gray. "Closing eye" is _not_ from Pope's Elegy; "voice +of nature" is _not_ from the Anthologia, but from Nature herself; +Chaucer's line may have suggested Gray's, but the reader of Chaucer +knows that Gray's has a tender and profound meaning which is not in +Chaucer's at all--and he knows, too, that Mr Mitford is not a reader of +Chaucer--for were he, he could not have written "ashes" for "ashen." +There were _no_ quarries--there is _no_ Mosaic. Mosaic pavement! Worse, +if possible--more ostentatiously pedantic--even than stuck in flowers, +jewels, settings, and sockets. + +TALBOYS. + +The Stanza is sacred to sorrow. + +NORTH. + +"From this Stanza," quoth Mitford, "the style of the composition drops +into _a lower key_; the language is plainer, and is not in harmony with +the splendid and elaborate diction of the former part." This objection +is disposed of by what I said some minutes ago---- + +BULLER. + +Half an hour ago--on _Grayishness_. + +NORTH. + +And I have only this farther to say, gentlemen, that though the +language is plainer--yet it is solemn; nor is it unpoetical--for +the hoary-headed swain was moved as he spake; the style, if it drop +into a lower key, is accordant with that higher key on which the +music was pitched that has not yet left our hearing. An Elegy is not +an Ode--the close should be mournful as the opening--with loftier +strain between--and it is so; and whatever we might have to say of +the Epitaph--its final lines are "awful"--as every man must have felt +them to be--whether thought on in our own lonely night-room--in the +Churchyard of Grantchester, where it is said Gray mused the Elegy--or +by that Burial-ground in Inishail--or here afloat in the joyous +sunshine for an hour privileged to be happy in a world of grief. + +BULLER. + +Let's change the subject, sir. May I ask what author you have in your +other hand? + +NORTH. + +Alison on Taste. + +BULLER. + +You don't say so! I thought you quoted from memory. + +NORTH. + +So I did; but I have dog-eared a page or two. + +BULLER. + +I see no books lying about in the Pavilion--only Newspapers--and +Magazines--and Reviews--and trash of that kind---- + +NORTH. + +Without which, you, my good fellow, could not live a week. + +BULLER. + +The Spirit of the Age! The Age should be ashamed of herself for living +from hand to mouth on Periodical Literature. The old Lady should +indeed, sir. If the Pensive Public conceits herself to be the Thinking +World-- + +NORTH. + +Let us help to make her so. I have a decent little Library of some +three hundred select volumes in the Van--my Plate-chest--and a few +dozens of choice wines for my friends--of Champagne, which you, Buller, +call small beer---- + +BULLER. + +I retracted and apologised. Is that the key of the Van at your +watch-chain? + +NORTH. + +It is. So many hundred people about the Encampment--sometimes among +them suspicious strangers in paletots in search of the picturesque, and +perhaps the pecuniary--that it is well to intrust the key to my own +body-guard. It does not weigh an ounce. And _that_ lock is not to be +picked by the ghost of Huffey White. + +SEWARD. + +But of the volume in hand, sir? + +NORTH. + +"In that fine passage in the Second Book of the Georgics," says Mr +Alison, "in which Virgil celebrates the praises of his native country, +after these fine lines-- + + 'Hic ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus æstas; + Bis gravidæ pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbos. + At rabidæ tigres absunt, et sæva leonum + Semina: nec miseros fallunt aconita legentes: + Nec rapit immensos orbes per humum, neque tanto + Squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis.' + +There is no reader whose enthusiasm is not checked by the cold and +prosaic line which follows,-- + + 'Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem.' + +The tameness and vulgarity of the transition dissipates at once the +emotion we had shared with the Poet, and reduces him, in our opinion, +to the level of a mere describer." + +SEWARD. + +Cold and prosaic line! Tameness and vulgarity! I am struck mute. + +NORTH. + +I have no doubt that Mr Alison distressed himself with "_Adde_." It is +a word from a merchant's counting-house, reckoning up his gains. And so +much the better. Virgil is making out the balance-sheet of Italy--he +is inventorying her wealth. Mr Alison would have every word away from +reality. Not so _the_ Poet. Every now and then, they--the Poets--amuse +themselves with dipping their pencils into the real, the common, the +everyday, the homely. By so doing they arrest belief, which above +everything they desire to hold fast. I should not wonder if you might +catch Spenser at it, even. Shakspeare is full of it. There is nothing +else prosaic in the passage; and if Virgil had had the bad taste to say +"Ecce" instead of "Adde," I suppose no fault would have been found. + +SEWARD. + +But what can Mr Alison mean by the charge of tameness and _vulgarity_? + +NORTH. + +I have told you, sir. + +SEWARD. + +You have not, sir. + +NORTH. + +I have, sir. + +SEWARD. + +Yes--yes--yes. "Adde" is vulgar! I cannot think so. + +NORTH. + +The Cities of Italy, and the "operum labor," always have been and +are an admiration. The words "Egregias urbes" suggest the general +stateliness and wealth--"operumque laborem," the particular +buildings--Temples, Basilicas, Theatres, and Great Works of the lower +Utility. A summary and most vivid expression of a land possessed +by intelligent, civilised, active, spirited, vigorous, tasteful +inhabitants--also an eminent adorning of the land. + +SEWARD. + +Lucretius says, that in spring the Cities are in flower--or on +flower--or a flower--with children. And Lucan, at the beginning of the +_Pharsalia_, describes the Ancient or Greek Cities desolate. They were +fond and proud of their "tot egregiæ urbes" as the Modern Italians +are--and with good reason. + +NORTH. + +How judiciously the Critics stop short of the lines that would +overthrow their criterion always! The present case is an extraordinary +example. Had Mr Alison looked to the lines immediately following, he +would not have objected to that One. For + + "Tot congesta manu præruptis oppida saxis, + Fluminaque antiquos subter labentia muros" + +is very beautiful--brings the whole under the domain of Poetry, by +singular Picturesqueness, and by gathering the whole past history of +Italy up--fetching it in with a word--_antiquos_. + +SEWARD. + +I can form no conjecture as to the meaning of Mr Alison's objections. +He quotes a few fine lines from the "Praise of Italy," and then +one line which he calls prosaic, and would have us to hold up our +hands in wonder at the lame and impotent conclusion--at the sudden +transformation of Virgil the poet into Virgil the most prosaic of +Prosers. You have said enough already, sir, to prove that he is in +error even on his own showing;--but how can this fragmentary--this +piecemeal mode of quotation--so common among critics of the lower +school, and so unworthy of those of the higher--have found favour with +Mr Alison, one of the most candid and most enlightened of men? Some +accidental prejudice from mere carelessness--but, once formed, retained +in spite of the fine and true Taste which, unfettered, would have felt +the fallacy, and vindicated his admired Virgil. + +NORTH. + +The "Laudes"--to which the Poet is brought by the preceding bold, +sweeping, winged, and poetical strain about the indigenous vines +of Italy--have two-fold root--TREES and the glory of LANDS. Virgil +kindles on the double suggestion--the trees of Italy compared to the +trees of other regions. They are the trees of primary human service +and gladness--Oil and Wine. For see at once the deep, sound natural +ground in human wants--the bounty of Nature--of Mother Earth--"whatever +Earth, all-bearing Mother, yields"--to her human children. That is the +gate of entrance; but not prosaically--but two gate-posts of a most +poetical mythus-fed husbandman. For we have Jason's fire-mouthed Bulls +_ploughing_, and Cadmus-sown teeth of the dragon springing up in armed +men. Then comes, instead, mild, benign, Man-loving Italy--"gravidæ +fruges"--the heavy-eared corn--or rather big-teeming--the juice +of Bacchus--the Olives, and the "broad herds of Cattle." Note--ye +Virgilians--the Corn of Book First--the Oil and Wine of Book +Second--and the Cattle of Book Third--for the sustaining Thought--the +organic life of his Work moves in his heart. + +BULLER. + +And the Fourth--Bees--honey--and honey-makers are like Milkers--in a +way small Milch-cows. + +NORTH. + +They are. Once a-foot--or a-wing--he hurries and rushes along, all +through the "Laudes." The majestic victim-Bull of the Clitumnus--the +incipient Spring--the double Summer--_the absence_ of all envenomed +and deadly broods--tigers--lions--aconite--serpents. This is NATURE'S +FAVOUR. Then _Man's Works_--cities and forts--(rock-fortresses)--the +great lakes of Northern Italy--showing Man again in their vast +edifications. Then Nature in veins of metals precious or useful--then +Nature in her production of Man--the Marsi--the Sabellian youth--the +Ligurian inured to labour--and the Volscian darters--then single mighty +shapes and powers of Man--ROMANS--the Decii, the Marii, the Camilli, + + "Scipiadas duros bello, et te, maxime Cæsar." + +The King of Men--the Lord of the Earth--the pacificator of the +distracted Empire--which, to a Roman, is as much as to say the World. +Then--hail Saturnian Land! Mother of Corn! Saturnian, because golden +Saturn had reigned there--Mother, I suppose the rather because in +_his_ time corn sprung unsown--_sine semine_--She gave it from out +of her own loving and cherishing bosom. _To Thee_, Italy, sing I my +Ascræan or Hesiodic song. The Works and Days--the Greek Georgics are +his avowed prototype--rude prototype to magnificence--like the Arab of +the Desert transplanted to rear his empire of dazzling and picturesque +civilisation in the Pyrenean Peninsula. + +BULLER. + +Take breath, sir. Virgil said well-- + + "Adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem." + +SEWARD. + +Allow me one other word. Virgil--in the vivid lines quoted with +admiration by Mr Alison--lauds his beloved Italy for _the absence_ of +wild beasts and serpents--and he magnifies the whole race of serpents +by his picture of One--the Serpent King--yet with subjects all equal in +size to himself in our imagination. The Serpent is _in_ the Poetry, but +he is _not in_ Italy. Is this a false artifice of composition--a vain +ornament? Oh, no! He describes the Saturnian Land--the mother of corn +and of men--bounteous, benign, golden, maternal Italy. The negation has +the plenitude of life, which the fabulous absence of noxious reptiles +has for the sacred Island of Ierne. + +BULLER. + +Erin-go-bragh! + +SEWARD. + +Suddenly he sees another vision--not of what is absent but present; +and then comes the line arraigned and condemned--followed by lines as +great-- + + "Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem, + Tot congesta manu præruptis oppida saxis, + Fluminaque antiquos subter labentia muros." + +The first line grasps in one handful all the mighty, fair, wealthy +CITIES of Italy--the second all the rock-cresting _Forts_ of +Italy--from the Alpine head to the sea-washed foot of the Peninsula. +The collective One Thought of the Human Might and Glory of Italy--as +it appears on the countenance of the Land--or visible in its utmost +concentration in the girdled Towns and Cities of Men. + +BULLER. + +"Adde" then is right, Seward. On that North and you are at one. + +NORTH. + +Yes, it is right, and any other word would be wrong. ADDE! Note the +sharpness, Buller, of the significance--the vivacity of the short +open sound. Fling it out--ring it out--sing it out. Look at the +very repetition of the powerful "TOT"--"_tot_ egregias"--"_tot_ +congesta"--witnessing by one of the first and commonest rules in the +grammar of rhetoric--whether Virgil speaks in prose or in fire. + +BULLER. + +In fire. + +NORTH. + +Mr Alison then goes on to say, "that the effect of the following +nervous and beautiful lines, in the conclusion of the same Book, is +_nearly destroyed_ by a similar defect. After these lines, + + "Hanc olim veteres vitam coluêre Sabini, + Hanc Remus et Frater; sic fortis Etruria crevit, + Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma;" + +We little expect the following _spiritless_ conclusion:-- + + "_Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces._" + +SEWARD. + +Oh! why does Mr Alison call that line _spiritless_? + +NORTH. + +He gives no reason--assured by his own dissatisfaction, that he has but +to quote it, and leave it in its own naked impotence. + +SEWARD. + +I hope you do not think it spiritless, sir. + +NORTH. + +I think it contains the concentrated essence of spirit and of power. +Let any one think of Rome, piled up in greatness, and grandeur, +and glory--and a Wall round about--and in a moment his imagination +is filled. What sort of a Wall? A garden wall to keep out orchard +thieves--or a modern wall of a French or Italian town to keep out wine +and meat, that they may come in at the gate and pay toll? I trow not. +But a Wall against the World armed and assailing! Remember that Virgil +saw Rome--and that his hearers did--and that in his eyes and theirs +she was Empress of the inhabited Earth. She held and called herself +such--it was written in her face and on her forehead. The visible, +tangible splendour and magnificence meant this, or they meant nothing. +The stone and lime said this--and Virgil's line says it, sedately and +in plain, simple phrase, which yet is a Climax. + +SEWARD. + +As the dreaded Semiramis was flesh and blood--corporeal--made of the +four elements--yet her soul and her empiry spake out of her--so spake +they from the Face of Rome. + +NORTH. + +Ay, Seward--put these two things together--the Aspect that speaks +Domination of the World, and the Wall that girds her with strength +impregnable--and what more could you possibly demand from her Great +Poet? + +SEWARD. + +Arx is a Citadel--we may say an Acropolis. Athens had one Arx--so had +Corinth. One Arx is enough to one Queenly City. But this Queen, within +her one Wall, has enclosed Seven Arces--as if she were Seven Queens. + +NORTH. + +Well said, Seward. The Seven Hills appeared--and to this day do--to +characterise the Supremacy of Rome. The Seven-Hilled City! You seem +to have said everything--the Seven Hills are as a seven-pillared +Throne--and all that is in one line--given by Virgil. Delete it--no not +for a thousand gold crowns. + +BULLER. + +Not for the Pigot Diamond--not for the Sea of Light. + +NORTH. + +Imagine Romulus tracing the circuit on which the walls were to rise of +his little Rome--the walls ominously lustrated with a brother's blood. +War after war humbles neighbouring town after town, till the seas that +bathe, and the mountains that guard Italy, enclose the confederated +Republic. It is a step--a beginning. East and West, North and South, +flies the Eagle, dipping its beak in the blood of battle-fields. Where +it swoops, there fanning away the pride, and fame, and freedom of +nations, with the wafture of its wings. Kingdoms and Empires that were, +are no more than Provinces; till the haughty Roman, stretching out the +fact to the limits of his ambitious desires, can with some plausibility +deceive himself, and call the edges of the Earth the boundaries of his +unmeasured Dominion. + +SEWARD. + +"O Italy! Italy! would Thou wert stronger or less beautiful!"--was the +mournful apostrophe of an Italian Poet, who saw, in the latter ages, +his refined but enervated countrymen trampled under the foot of a more +martial people from far beyond the Alps. + +NORTH. + +Good Manners giving a vital energy and efficacy to good Laws--in these +few words, gentlemen, may be comprised the needful constituents of +National Happiness and Prosperity--the foremost conditions. + +TALBOYS. + +Ay--ay--sir. For good Laws without good Manners are an empty +breath--whilst good Manners ask the protecting and preserving succour +of good Laws. But the good Manners are of the first necessity, for they +naturally produce the good Laws. + +NORTH. + +What does history show, Talboys, but nations risen up to flourish in +wealth, power, and greatness, that with corrupted and luxurious manners +have again sunk from their pre-eminence; whilst another purer and +simpler people has in turn grown mighty, and taken their room in the +world's eye--some hardy, simple, frugal race, perhaps, whom the seeming +disfavour of nature constrains to assiduous labour, and who maintain in +the lap of their mountains their independence and their pure and happy +homes. + +TALBOYS. + +The Luxury--the invading Goth and Hun--the dismembering--and new States +uprisen upon the ruins of the World's fallen Empire. There is one line +in Collins' _Ode to Freedom_--Mr North--which I doubt if I understand. + +NORTH. + +Which? + +TALBOYS. + + "No, Freedom, no--I will not tell + How Rome before thy weeping face + Pushed by a wild and artless race + From off its wide, ambitious base, + With heaviest sound a giant-statue fell-- + What time the northern Sons of Spoil awoke, + And all the blended work of strength and grace, + With many a rude repeated stroke, + And many a barbarous yell, to thousand fragments broke." + +NORTH. + +Which? + +TALBOYS. + +"How Rome before thy _weeping face_." + +NORTH. + +Freedom wept at Rome's overthrow--though she had long been Freedom's +enemy--and though her destroyers were Freedom's children--and "Spoil's +Sons"--for how could Freedom look unmoved at the wreck "of all that +blended work of strength and grace"--though raised by slaves at the +beck of Tyrants? It was not always so. + +BULLER. + +Let me, Apollo-like, my dear sir, pinch your ear, and admonish you to +return to the point from which, in discursive gyrations, you and Seward +have been---- + +NORTH. + +Like an Eagle giving an Eaglet lessons how to fly---- + +BULLER. + +You promised solemnly, sir, not to mention Eagles this evening. + +NORTH. + +I did not, sir. + +BULLER. + +But, then, Seward is no Eaglet--he is, and long has been, a +full-fledged bird, and can fly as well's yourself, sir. + +NORTH. + +There you're right. But then, making a discursive gyration round a +point is not leaving it--and there you're wrong. Silly folk--not you, +Buller, for you are a strong-minded, strong-bodied man--say "keep to +the point"--knowing that if you quit it one inch, you will from their +range of vision disappear--and then they comfort themselves by charging +you with having melted among the clouds. + +BULLER. + +I was afraid, my dear sir, that having got your Eaglet on your back--or +your Eaglet having got old Aquila on his--you would sail away with +him--or he with you--"to prey in distant isles." + +NORTH. + +You promised solemnly, sir, not to mention Eagles this evening. + +BULLER. + +I did not, sir. But don't let us quarrel. + +SEWARD. + +What does Virgil mean, sir, by "Rerum," in the line which Mr Alison +thinks should have concluded the strain-- + + "Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma." + +NORTH. + +"Rerum"--what does he mean by "Rerum?" Let me perpend. Why, Seward, the +legitimate meaning of Res here is a State--a Commonwealth. "The fairest +of Powers--then--of Polities--of States." + +SEWARD. + +Is that all the word means here? + +NORTH. + +Why, methinks we must explain. Observe, then, Seward, that Rome is the +Town, as England the Island. Thus "England has become the fairest among +the Kingdoms of the Earth." This is equivalent, good English; and the +only satisfactory and literal translation of the Latin verse. But here, +the Physical and the Political are identified,--that is, England. +England is the name at once of the Island--of so much earth limited +out on the surface of the terraqueous globe--and of what besides? Of +the Inhabitants? Yes; but of the Inhabitants (as the King never dies) +perpetuated from generation to generation. Moreover, of this immortal +inhabitation, further made one by blood and speech, laws, manners, and +everything that makes a people. In short, England, properly the name of +the land, is intended to be, at the same time, the name of the Nation. + + "England, with all thy faults, I love Thee still." + +There Cowper speaks to both at once--the faults are of the men +only--moral--for he does not mean fogs, and March east winds, and +fever and agues. I love thee--is to the green fields and the white +cliffs, as well as to all that still survives of the English heart and +thought and character. And this absorption, sir, and compenetration of +the two ideas--land into people, people into land--the exposition of +which might, in good hands, be made beautiful--is a fruitful germ of +Patriotism--an infinite blending of the spiritual and the corporeal. To +Virgil, Rome the City was also Rome the Romans; and, therefore, sir, +those Houses and Palaces, and that Wall, were to him, as those green +fields, and hills, and streams, and towns, and those cliffs are to Us. +The girdled-in compendium of the Heaven's Favour and the Earth's Glory +and Power. + + "Scilicet et RERUM facta est pulcherrima ROMA, + Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces." + +Do you all comprehend and adopt my explanation, gentlemen? + +TALBOYS. + +I do. + +BULLER. + +I----do. + +SEWARD. + +I ask myself whether Virgil's "Rerum Pulcherrima" may not mean "Fairest +of Things"--of Creatures--of earthly existences? To a young English +reader, probably that is the first impression. It was, I think, mine. +But fairest of earthly States and Seats of State is so much more +idiomatic and to the purpose, that I conceive it--indubitable. + +NORTH. + +You all remember what Horatio sayeth to the soldiers in Hamlet, on the +coming and going of the Ghost. + + 'In the most high and palmy state of Rome, + A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, + The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead + Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets; + Stars shone with trains of fire, dews of blood fell; + Disasters veiled the sun, and the moist star + Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, + Was sick almost to Doomsday with eclipse.' + +What does Horatio mean by high and palmy state? That Rome was in a +flourishing condition? + +BULLER. + +That, I believe, sir, is the common impression. Hitherto it has been +mine. + +NORTH. + +Let it be erased henceforth and for ever. + +BULLER. + +It is erased--I erase it. + +NORTH. + +Read henceforth and for ever high and palmy State. Write henceforth +and for ever State with a towering Capital. RES! "Most high and palmy +State" is precisely and literally "_Rerum Pulcherrima_." + +SEWARD. + +At your bidding--you cannot err. + +NORTH. + +I err not unfrequently--but not now, nor I believe this evening. +Horatio, the Scholar, speaks to the two Danish Soldiers. They have +brought him to be of their watch because he is a Scholar--and they are +none. This relation of distinction is indeed the ground and life of the +Scene. + + "Therefore I have entreated him, along + With us to watch the minutes of the night; + That if again this apparition come, + He may approve our eyes, and speak to it." + +TALBOYS. + + "Thou art a Scholar--speak to it, Horatio." + +NORTH. + +You know, Talboys, that Scholars were actual Conjurors, in the mediæval +belief, which has tales enow about Scholars in that capacity. Horatio +comes, then, possessed with an especial Power; he knows how to deal +with Ghosts--he could lay one, if need were. He is not merely a man of +superior and cultivated intellect, whom intellectual inferiors engage +to assist them in an emergency above their grasp--but he is the _very_ +man for the work. + +TALBOYS. + +Have not the Commentators said as much, sir? + +NORTH. + +Perhaps--probably--who? If they have in plenitude, I say it +again--because I once did not know it--or think of it--and I suppose +that a great many persons die believing that the Two resort in the way +of general dependence merely on Horatio. + +TALBOYS. + +I believed, but I shall not die believing so. + +NORTH. + +Therefore, the scholarship of Horatio, and the non-scholarship of +Bernardo and Marcellus, strikes into the life, soul, essence, ground, +foundation, fabric, and organisation of this First Ghost Scene--sustain +and build the whole Play. + +TALBOYS. + +Eh? + +NORTH. + +Eh? Yes. But to the point in hand. The Ghost has come and gone; and +the Scholar addresses his Mates the two Non-Scholars. And show me the +living Scholar who could speak as Horatio spake. Touching the matter +that is in all their minds oppressively, _he_ will transport _their_ +minds a flight suddenly off a thousand years, and a thousand miles or +leagues--their untutored minds into the Region of History. He will +take them to Rome--"_a little ere_"--and, therefore, before naming +Rome, he lifts and he directs their imagination--"In the most high +and palmy STATE." There had been Four Great Empires of the World--and +he will by these few words evoke in their minds the Image of the last +and greatest. And now observe with what decision, as well as with what +majesty, the nomination ensues--OF ROME. + +TALBOYS. + +I feel it, sir. + +NORTH. + +Try, Talboys, to render "State" by any other word, and you will +be put to it. You may analogise. It is for the Republic and City, +what Realm or Kingdom is to us--at once Place and indwelling Power. +"State"--properly Republic--here specifically and pointedly means +Reigning City. The Ghosts walked in the City--not in the Republic. + +TALBOYS. + +I think I have you, sir--am not sure. + +NORTH. + +You have me--you are sure. Now suppose that, instead of the solemn, +ceremonious, and stately robes in which Horatio attires the Glorious +Rome, he had said simply, "in Rome," or "at Rome," where then +his @psychagôgia@--his leading of their spirits? Where his own +scholar-enthusiasm, and love, and joy, and wonder? All gone! And +where, Talboys, are they who, by here understanding "state" for +"condition"--which every man alive does-- + +TALBOYS. + +Every man alive? + +NORTH. + +Yes, you did--confess you did. Where are they, I ask, who thus oblige +Horatio to introduce his nomination of Rome--thus nakedly--and +prosaically? Every hackneyer of this phrase--_state_--as every man +alive hackneys it--is a nine-fold Murderer. He murders the Phrase--he +murders the Speech--he murders Horatio--he murders the Ghost--he +murders the Scene--he murders the Play--he murders Rome--he murders +Shakspeare--and he murders Me. + +TALBOYS. + +I am innocent. + +NORTH. + +Why, suppose Horatio to mean--"in the most glorious and victorious +_condition_ of Rome, on the Eve of Cæsar's death, the graves stood +tenantless"--You ask--WHERE? See where you have got. A story told with +two determinations of Time, and none of Place! Is that the way that +Shakspeare, the intelligent and intelligible, recites a fact? No. But +my explanation shows the Congruity or Parallelism. "In the _most high +and palmy_ State,"--that is, City of Rome--ceremonious determination +of Place--"a little ere the _mightiest_ Julius fell,"--ceremonious +determination of Time. + +TALBOYS. + +But is not the use of State, sir, for City, bold and singular? + +NORTH. + +It is. For Verse has her own Speech--though Wordsworth denies it in +his Preface--and proves it by his Poetry, like his brethren Shakspeare +and Milton. The language of Verse is rapid--abrept and abrupt. Horatio +wants the notion of Republic; because properly the Republic is high +and palmy, and not the wood, stone, and marble. So he manages an +expeditious word that shall include both, and strike you at once. The +word of a Poet strikes like a flash of lightning--it penetrates--it +does not stay to be scanned--"probed, vexed, and criticised,"--it +illuminates and is gone. But you must have eyes--and suffer nobody to +shut them. I ask, then--Can any lawful, well-behaved Citizen, having +weighed all this, and reviewed all these things, again violate the +Poesy of the Avonian Swan, and his own muse-enlightened intelligence, +by lending hand or tongue to the convicted and condemned VULGARISM? + +TALBOYS. + +Now, then, and not till now, we Three know the full power of the lines-- + + "Scilicet et Rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, + Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces." + +NORTH. + +Another word anent Virgil. Mr Alison says--"There is a still more +surprising instance of this fault in one of the most pathetic passages +of the whole Poem, in the description of the disease among the cattle, +which concludes the Third Georgic. The passage is as follows:-- + + "Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere Taurus + Concidit, et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem + Extremosque ciet gemitus; it tristis arator, + Moerentem abjungens fraternâ morte juvencum, + Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra." + +_The unhappy image_ in the second line is less calculated to excite +compassion than disgust, and is singularly ill-suited to the tone +of tenderness and delicacy which the Poet has everywhere else so +successfully maintained, in describing the progress of the loathsome +disease." The line here objected to is the life of the description--and +instead of offence, it is the clenching of the pathos. First of +all, it is that which the Poet always will have and the Critics +wont--the _Necessitated_--the Thing itself--the Matter in hand. It +shapes--features--characterises that particular Murrain. Leave it +out--'the one Ox drops dead in the furrow, and the Ploughman detaches +the other.' It's a great pity, and very surprising--but that is NO +PLAGUE. Suddenly he falls, and blood and foam gush mixed with his +expiring breath. _That is a plague._ It has terror--affright--sensible +horror--life vitiated, poisoned in its fountains. _Vomit_--a settled +word, and one of the foremost, of the reversed, unnatural vital +function. Besides, it is the true and proper word. Besides, it is +vivid and picturesque, being the word of the Mouth. _Effundit_ (which +they would prefer)--(I do not mean it would stand in the verse) is +general--might be from the ears. _Vomit_ in itself says mouth. The +poor mouth! whose function is to breathe, and to eat grass, and +to caress--the visible organ of life--of vivification--and now of +mortification. Taken from the dominion of the holy powers, and given up +to the dark and nameless destroyer. "_Vomit ore cruorem!_" The verse +moans and groans for him--it may have in it a death-rattle. How much +more helpless and hopeless the real picture makes Arator's distress! +Now, "_it tristis_" comes with effect. + +SEWARD. + +Yes, Virgil, as in duty bound to do, faced the Cattle Plague in all its +horrors. Had he not, he would have been false to Pales, the Goddess +of Shepherds--to Apollo, who fed the herds of Admetus. So did his +Master, Lucretius--whom he emulated--equalled, but not surpassed, in +execution of the dismal but inevitable work. The whole land groaned +under the visitation--nor was it confined to Cattle--it seemed as if +the brute creation were about to perish. But his tender heart, near +the close, singled out, from the thousands, one yoke of Steers--in two +lines and a half told the death of one--in two lines and a half told +the sadness of its owner--and in as many lines more told, too, of the +survivor sinking, because his brother "was not"--and in as many more a +lament for the cruel sufferings of the harmless creature--lines which, +Scaliger says, he would rather have written than have been honoured by +the Lydian or the Persian king. + +BULLER. + +Perhaps you have said enough, Seward. It might have been better, +perhaps, to have recited the whole passage. + +NORTH. + +Here is a sentence or two about Homer. + +BULLER. + +Then you are off. Oh! sir--why not for an hour imitate that Moon +and those Stars? How silently they shine! But what care you for the +heavenly luminaries? In the majestic beauty of the nocturnal heavens +vain man will not hold his peace. + +SEWARD. + +Is that the murmur of the far-off sea? + +NORTH. + +It is--the tide, may be, is on its return--is at "Connal's raging +Ferry"--from Loch Etive--yet this is not its hour--'tis but the +mysterious voice of Night. + +BULLER. + +Hush! + +NORTH. + +By moonlight and starlight, and to the voice of Night, I read these +words from Mr Alison--"In the speech of Agamemnon to Idomeneus, in +the Fourth Book of the Iliad, a circumstance is introduced altogether +inconsistent both with the _dignity of the speech, and the Majesty of +Epic Poetry_:-- + + 'Divine Idomeneus! what thanks we owe + To worth like thine, what praise shall we bestow! + To Thee the foremost honours are decreed, + First in the fight, and every graceful deed. + For this, in banquets, when the generous bowls + Restore our blood, and raise the warriors' souls, + Though all the rest with stated rules be bound, + Unmixed, unmeasured, are thy goblets crowned.'" + +SEWARD. + +That is Pope. Do you remember Homer himself, sir? + +NORTH. + +I do. + + @Idomenehy, pheri mhen se thiô Danahôn tachyphôlôn, + hêmhen henhi ptolhemô hêd' hallohiô hephi hergô, + êd' hen dahith', hote pher te gerohysion ahithopa ohinon + 'Argehiôn ohi haristoi henhi krêthêrsi kherôntai. + ehiper ghar t' halloi ge karêkomhoôntes 'Achaiohi + daitrhon phinôsin, shon dhe plehion dhepas ahiehi + hestêch', hôsper hemohi, piheein, hote thymhos hanhôgoi. + hall' horseu pholemhond', ohios pharos ehycheo ehinai.@ + +I believe you will find that in general men praise more truly, that is +justly, deservedly, than they condemn. They praise from an impulse of +love--that is, from a capacity. Nature protects love more than hate. +Their condemnation is often mere incapacity--want of insight. Mr Alison +had elegance of apprehension--truth of taste--a fine sense of the +beautiful--a sense of the sublime. His instances for praise are always +well--often newly chosen, from an attraction felt in his own genial +and noble breast. The true chord struck then. But he was somewhat too +dainty-schooled--school-nursed, and school-born. A judge and critic of +Poetry should have been caught wild, and tamed; he should carry about +him to the last some relish of the wood and the wilderness, as if he +were ever in some danger of breaking away, and relapsing to them. He +should know Poetry as a great power of the Universe--a sun--of which +the Song--whosesoever--only catches and fixes a few rays. How different +in thought was Epos to him and to Homer! Homer paints Manners--archaic, +simple manners. Everybody feels--everybody says this--Mr Alison must +have known it--and could have said it as well as the best-- + +SEWARD. + +But the best often forget it. They seem to hold to this knowledge +better now, Mr North; and they do not make Homer answerable as a Poet, +for the facts of which he is the Historian--Why not rather accept than +criticise? + +NORTH. + +I am sorry, Seward, for the Achæan Chiefs who had to drink +@daitron@--that is all. I had hoped that they helped themselves. + +SEWARD. + +Perhaps, sir, the Stint was a custom of only the @oinon gerousion@--a +ceremonious Bowl--and if so, undoubtedly with religious institution. +The Feast is not honorary--only the Bowl: for anything that appears, +Agamemnon, feasting his Princes, might say, "Now, for the Bowl of +Honour"--and Idomeneus alone drinks. Or let the whole Feast be +honorific, and the Bowl the sealing, and crowning, and characterising +solemnity. Now, the distinction of the Stint, and the Full Bowl, +selected for a signal of different honouring, has to me no longer +anything irksome. It is no longer a grudged and scanted cheer--but +lawful Assignment of Place. + +TALBOYS. + +The moment you take it for Ceremonial, sir, you don't know what +profound meaning may, or may not be in it. The phrase is very +remarkable. + +NORTH. + +When the "Best of the Argives" mix in the Bowl "the honorific +dark-glowing wine," or the dark-glowing wine of honour--when +@hote@--quite a specific and peculiar occasion, and confined to the +wine--you would almost think that the Chiefs themselves are the +wine-mixers, and not the usual ministrants--which would perhaps express +the descent of an antique use from a time and manners of still greater +simplicity than those which Homer describes. Or take it merely, that +in great solemnities, high persons do the functions proper to Servants. +This we do know, that usually a servant, the @Tamieus@, or the +@oinochoos@, does mix the Bowl. By the way, Talboys, I think you will +be not a little amused with old Chapman's translation of the passage. + +TALBOYS. + +A fiery old Chap was George. + +NORTH. + +It runs thus-- + + "O Idomen, I ever loved thyself past all the Greeks, + In war, or any work of peace, at table, everywhere; + For when the best of Greeks, besides, mix ever at our cheer + My good old ardent wine with small, and our inferior mates + Drink ever that mixt wine measured too, thou drink'st without those + rates + Our old wine _neat_; and ever more thy bowl stands like to mine; + To drink still when and what thou wilt; then rouse that heart of + thine; + And whatsoever heretofore thou hast assumed to be, + This day be greater." + +TALBOYS. + +Well done, Old Buck! This fervour and particularity are admirable. +But, methinks, if I caught the words rightly, that George mistakes the +meaning of @gerousôn@--honorary; he has @gerôn gerontos@, an _old man_, +singing in his ears; but old for wine would be quite a different word. + +NORTH. + +And he makes Agamemnon commend Idomeneus for drinking generously and +honestly, whilst the others are afraid of their cups--as Claudius, +King of Denmark, might praise one of his strong-headed courtiers, +and laugh at Polonius. Agamemnon does not say that Idomeneus' goblet +was _not_ mixed--was _neat_--rather we use to think that wine was +always mixed--but whether "with small," as old Chapman says, or with +water, I don't know--but I fancied water! But perhaps, Seward, the +investigation of a Grecian Feast in heroic time, and in Attic, becomes +an exigency. Chapman is at least determined--and wisely--to show that +he is not afraid of the matter--that he saw nothing in it "altogether +inconsistent with the dignity of the speech and the majesty of Epic +Poetry." + +SEWARD. + +Dignity! Majesty! They stand, sir, in the whole together--in the +Manners taken collectively by themselves throughout the entire +Iliad--and then taken as a part of the total delineation. Apply our +modern notions of dignity and majesty to the Homeric Poetry, and we +shall get a shock in every other page. + +NORTH. + +The Homeric, heroic manners! Heyne has a Treatise or Excursus--as +you know--on the @hautarkeia@--I think he calls it--of the Homeric +Heroes--their waiting on themselves, or their self-sufficiency--where I +think that he collects the picture. + +SEWARD. + +I am ashamed to say I do not know it. + +NORTH. + +No matter. You see how this connects with the scheme of the Poem--in +which, prevalent or conspicuous by the amplitude of the space which it +occupies, is the individual prowess of heroes in field--conspicuous, +too, by its moment in action. This is another and loftier mode of the +@hautarkeia@. The human bosom is a seat or fountain of power. Power +goes forth, emanates in all directions, high and low, right and left. +The Man is a terrestrial God. He takes counsel with his own heart, +and he acts. "He conversed with his own magnanimous spirit"--or as +Milton says of Abdiel meeting Satan--"And thus his own undaunted heart +explored." + +SEWARD. + +Yes, Mr North, the Man is as a terrestrial God; but--with continual +recognition by the Poet and his heroes--as under the celestial Gods. +And I apprehend, sir, that this two-fold way of representing man, in +himself and towards them, is that which first separates the Homeric +from and above all other Poetry, is its proper element of grandeur, in +which we never bathe without coming out aggrandised. + +NORTH. + +Seward, you instruct me by---- + +SEWARD. + +Oh, no, sir! You instruct me---- + +NORTH. + +We instruct each other. For this the heroes are all Demigods--that is, +the son of a God, or Goddess, or the Descendant at a few Generations. +Sarpedon is the Son of Jupiter, and his death by Patroclus is perhaps +the passage of the whole Iliad that most specially and energetically, +and most profoundly and pathetically, makes the Gods intimate to the +life and being of men--presents the conduct of divinity and humanity +with condescension there, and for elevation here. I do not mean that +there is not more pomp of glorification about Achilles, for whom +Jupiter comes from Olympus to Ida, and Vulcan forges arms--whose +Mother-Goddess is Messenger to and from Jupiter, and into whose lips, +when he is faint with toil and want of nourishment--abstaining in +his passion of sorrow and vengeance--Minerva, descending, instils +Nectar. But I doubt if there be anything so touching--_under this +relation_--and so intimately aggrandising as that other whole +place--the hesitation of Jupiter whether he shall VIOLATE FATE, in +order to save his own flesh and blood from its decreed stroke--the +consolatory device of Juno (in remonstrating and dissuading) that +he shall send Apollo to call Death and Sleep--a God-Messenger to +God-Ministers--to bear the dead body from the battle-field to his own +land and kin for due obsequies. And, lastly, those _drops of blood_ +which fall from the sky to the earth, as if the heart-tears of the Sire +of all the worlds and their inhabitants. + +BULLER. + +You are always great, sir, on Homer. But, pray, have you any intention +of returning to the @hautarkeia@? + +NORTH. + +Ha! Buller--do you speak? I have not wandered from it. But since you +seem to think I have, think of Patroclus lighting a fire under a tripod +with his own hands, to boil meat for Achilles' guests--of Achilles +himself helping to lay the ransomed body of Hector on the car that was +to take it away. This last is honorific and pathetic. Ministrations of +all degrees for themselves, in their own affairs, characterise them +all. From the least of these to Achilles fighting the River-God--which +is an excess--all holds together--is of one meaning--and here, as +everywhere, the least, and the familiar, and most homely, attests, +vouches, makes evident, probable, and facile to credence, the highest, +most uncouth, remote, and difficult otherwise of acceptation. Pitching +the speculation lower, plenitude of the most robust, ardent, vigorous +life overflows the Iliad--up from the animal to the divine--from the +beautiful tall poplar by the river-side, which the wheelwright or +wainwright fells. Eating, drinking, sleeping, thrusting through with +spears, and hacking the live flesh off the bone--all go together and +help one another--and make the "Majesty and Dignity"--or what not--of +the Homeric Epos. But I see, Buller, that you are _timing me_--and I am +ashamed to confess that I have exceeded the assigned limit. Gentlemen, +I ask all your pardons. + +BULLER. + +Timing you--my dear sir! Look--'tis only my snuff-box--your own +gift--with your own haunted Head on the lid--inspired work of Laurence +Macdonald. + +NORTH. + +Give it me--why there--there--by your own unhappy awkwardness--it has +gone--gone--to the bottom of the deepest part of the Loch! + +BULLER. + +I don't care. It _was_ my chronometer! The Box is safe. + +NORTH. + +And so is the Chronometer. Here it is--I was laughing at you--in my +sleeve. + +BULLER. + +Another Herman Boaz!--Bless my eyes, there is Kilchurn! It must +be--there is no other such huge Castle, surely, at the head of the +Loch--and no other such mountains-- + +NORTH. + +You promised solemnly, sir, not to say a single word about Loch Awe +or its appurtenance, this Evening--so did every mother's son of us at +your order--and t'was well--for we have seen them and felt them all--at +times not the less profoundly--as the visionary pomp keeps all the +while gliding slowly by--perpetual accompaniment of our discourse, not +uninspired, perhaps, by the beauty or the grandeur, as our imagination +was among the ideal creations of genius--with the far-off in place and +in time--with generations and empires + + "When dark oblivion swallows cities up, + And mighty States, characterless, are grated + To dusty nothing!" + +SEWARD. + +In the declining light I wonder your eyes can see to read print. + +NORTH. + +My eyes are at a loss with Small Pica--but veritable Pica I can master, +yet, after sunset. Indeed, I am sharpest-sighted by twilight, like a +cat or an owl. + +BULLER. + +Have you any more annotations on Alison? + +NORTH. + +Many. The flaws are few. I verily believe these are all. To elucidate +his Truths--in Taste and in Morals--would require from us Four a far +longer Dialogue. Alison's Essays should be reprinted in one Pocket +Volume--wisdom and Goodness are in that family hereditary--the editing +would be a Work of Love--and in Bohn's Standard Library they would +confer benefit on thousands who now know but their name. + +SEWARD. + +My dear sir, last time we voyaged the Loch, you said +a few words--perhaps you may remember it--about those +philosophers--Alison--the "Man of Taste," as Thomas Campbell loved +to call him--assuredly is not of the number--who have insisted on +the natural Beauty of Virtue, and natural Deformity of Vice, and +have appeared to place our capacity of distinguishing Right from +Wrong chiefly, if not solely, on the sense of this Beauty and of this +Deformity-- + +NORTH. + +I remember saying, my dear Seward, that they have drawn their views +too much from the consideration of the state of these feelings in men +who had been long exercised in the pure speculative contemplation of +moral Goodness and Truth, as well as in the calmness and purity of a +tranquil, virtuous life. Was it so? + +SEWARD. + +It was. + +NORTH. + +In such minds, when all the calm faculties of the soul are wedded in +happy union to the image of Virtue, there is, I have no doubt, that +habitual feeling for which the term Beauty furnishes a natural and just +expression. But I apprehend that this is not the true expression of +that serious and solemn feeling which accompanies the understanding of +the qualities of Moral Action in the minds of the generality of men. +They who in the midst of their own unhappy perversions, are visited +with knowledge of those immutable distinctions, and they who in the +ordinary struggles and trials incident to our condition, maintain their +conduct in unison with their strongly grounded principles and better +aspirations, would seldom, I apprehend, employ this language for the +description of feelings which can hardly be separated, from the ideas +of an awful responsibility involving the happiness and misery of the +accountable subjects of a moral order of Government. + +SEWARD. + +You think, sir, that to assign this perception of Beauty and Deformity, +as the groundwork of our Moral Nature, is to rest on too slight a +foundation that part of man's constitution which is first in importance +to his welfare? + +NORTH. + +Assuredly, my dear friend, I do. Nay, I do not fear to say that the +Emotion, which may properly be termed a Feeling of Beauty in Virtue, +takes place at those times when the deepest affection of our souls +towards Good and Evil acts less strongly, and when the Emotion we feel +is derived more from Imagination--and-- + +SEWARD. + +And may I venture to suggest, sir, that as Imagination, which is +so strong a principle in our minds, will take its temper from any +prevalent feelings, and even from any fixed and permanent habits of +mind, so our Feeling of Beauty and Deformity shall be different to +different men, either according to the predominant strength of natural +principles, or according to their course of life? + +NORTH. + +Even so. And therefore this general disposition of Imagination to +receive its character will apply, no doubt, where the prevailing +feelings and habits are of a Moral cast; and hence in minds engaged +in calm intellectual speculation, and maintaining their own moral +nature rather in innocence and simplicity of life than in the midst +of difficult and trying situations and in conflict with passions, +there can be no doubt that the Imagination will give itself up to this +general Moral Cast of Mind, and feel Beauty and Deformity vividly and +uniformly in the contemplation of the moral quality of actions and +moral states of character. + +SEWARD. + +But your words imply--do they not, sir? that such is the temper of +their calmer minds, and not the emotion which is known when, from any +great act of Virtue or Crime, which comes suddenly upon them, their +Moral Spirit rises up in its native strength, to declare its own +Affection and its own Judgment? + +NORTH. + +Just so. Besides, my excellent friend, if you consider well the feeling +which takes possession of us, on contemplating some splendid act +of heroic and self-devoting Virtue, we shall find that the sort of +enthusiastic transport which may kindle towards him who has performed +it, is not properly a moral transport at all; but it is a burst of +love and admiration. Take out, then, from any such emotion, what +Imagination, and Love, and Sympathy have supplied, and leave only what +the Moral Spirit recognises of Moral Will in the act, and you will +find that much of that dazzling and splendid Beauty which produced the +transport of loving admiration is removed. + +SEWARD. + +And if so, sir, then must it be very important that we should not +deceive ourselves, and rely upon the warmth of emotion we may feel +towards generous and heroic actions as evidence of the force of the +Moral Principle in our own breasts, which requires to be ascertained by +a very different test-- + +NORTH. + +Ay, Seward; and it is important also, that we should learn to +acknowledge and to respect, in those who, without the capacity of such +vivid feelings, are yet conscientiously faithful to the known Moral +Law, the merit and dignity of their Moral Obedience. We must allow +to Virtue, my dearest Seward, all that is her due--her countenance +beautiful in its sweet serenity--her voice gentle and mild--her +demeanour graceful--and a simple majesty in the flowing folds of her +stainless raiment. So may we picture her to our imagination, and to +our hearts. But we must beware of making such abstractions fantastic +and visionary, lest we come at last to think of emotions of Virtue +and Taste as one and the same--a fatal error indeed--and that would +rob human life of much of its melancholy grandeur. The beauty of +Virtue is but the smile on her celestial countenance--and may be +admired--loved--by those who hold but little communion with her inner +heart--and it may be overlooked by those who pay to her the most devout +worship. + +TALBOYS. + +Methinks, sir, that the moral emotion with which we regard actions +greatly right or greatly wrong, is no transport; it is an earnest, +solemn feeling of a mind knowing there is no peace for living souls, +except in their Moral Obedience, and therefore receiving a deep and +grateful assurance of the peace of one soul more, in witnessing its +adherence to its virtue; and the pain which is suffered from crime +is much more allied to sorrow, in contemplating the wilful departure +of a spirit from its only possible Good, than to those feelings of +repugnance and hate which characterise the temper of our common human +emotion towards crimes offering violence and outrage to humanity. + +NORTH. + +I believe that, though darkness lies round and about us seeking to +solve such questions, a feeling of deep satisfaction in witnessing +the adherence to Moral Rectitude, and of deep pain in witnessing the +departure from it, are the necessary results of a moral sensibility; +but taken in their elementary simplicity, they have, I think, +a character distinct from those many other emotions which will +necessarily blend with them, in the heart of one human being looking +upon the actions of another--"because that we have all one human heart." + +TALBOYS. + +Who can doubt that Religion infuses power and exaltation into the Arts? +The bare History teaches this. In Greece Poetry sang of Gods, and of +Heroes, in whose transactions Gods moved. Sculpture moulded Forms +which were attempted expressions of Divine Attributes. Architecture +constructed Temples. _De facto_ the Grecian Arts rose out of Religion. +And were not the same Arts, of revived Italy, religious? + +BULLER. + +They all require for their foundation and support a great pervading +sympathy--some Feeling that holds a whole national breast. This +is needed to munificently defraying the Costlier Arts--no base +consideration at bottom. For it is _a_ life-bond of this life, that is +freely dropped, when men freely and generously contribute their means +to the honour of Religion. There is a sentiment in opening your purse. + +SEWARD. + +Yes, Buller--without that sentiment, no man can love noble Art. The +true, deep, grand support of Genius is the confidence of universal +sympathy. Homer sings because Greece listens. Phidias pours out his +soul over marble, gold, and ivory, because he knows that at Olympia +united Greece will wonder and will worship. Think how Poet is dumb and +Sculptor lame, who foreknows that what he _would_ sing, what he _would_ +carve, will neither be felt nor understood. + +BULLER. + +The Religion of a people furnishes the sympathy which both _pays and +applauds_. + +TALBOYS. + +And Religion affords to the Artist in Words or Forms the highest +Norms of Thought--sublime, beautiful, solemn--withal the sense of +Aspiration--possibly of Inspiration. + +NORTH. + +And it guards Philosophy--and preserves it, by spiritual influence, +from degradation worse than death. The mind is first excited +into activity through the impressions made by external objects +on the senses. The French metaphysicians--pretending to follow +Locke--proceeded to discover in the mind a mere compound of Sensations, +and of Ideas drawn from Sensations. Sensations, and Ideas that were the +Relics of Sensations--nothing more. + +TALBOYS. + +And thus, sir, by degrees, the Mind appeared to them to be nothing else +than a product of the Body--say rather a state of the Body. + +NORTH. + +A self-degradation, my friend, which to the utmost removes the mind +from God. And this Creed was welcome to those to whom the belief in Him +was irksome. That which we see and touch became to such Philosophers +the whole of Reality. Deity--the Relation of the Creation to the +Creator--the hope of a Futurity beyond the grave--vanished from the +Belief of Materialists living in, and by, and to--Sensation. + +SEWARD. + +And with what a horrid sympathy was the creed welcomed! + +NORTH. + +Ay, Seward, I who lived nearer the time--perhaps better than you +can--know the evil. Not in the schools alone, or in the solitude +of philosophical thought, the doctrine of an arid speculation +circulated, like a thin and unwholesome blood, through the veins of +polite literature; not in the schools alone, but in the gorgeous and +gay saloons, where the highly-born, the courtly, and the wealthy, +winged the lazy hours with light or dissolute pleasures--there the +Philosophy which fettered the soul in the pleasing bands of the +Senses, which plucked it back from a feared immortality, which opened +a gulf of infinite separation between it and its Maker, was cordially +entertained--there it pointed the jest and the jibe. Scepticism a +study--the zeal of Unbelief! Principles of false thought appeared +suddenly and widely as principles of false passion and of false action. +Doubts, difficulties, guesses, fine spinnings of the perverse brain, +seized upon the temper of the times--became the springs of public and +popular movements--engines of political change. The Venerations of Time +were changed into Abominations. A Will strong to overthrow--hostile +to Order--anarchical--"intended siege and defiance to Heaven." The +irreligious Philosophy of the calmer time now bore its fruits. The +Century had prepared the explosion that signalised its close--Impiety +was the name of the Giant whom these throes of the convulsed earth had +borne into the day, and down together went Throne and Altar--But where +are we? + +BULLER. + +At the river mouth. + +NORTH. + +What! at home. + +BULLER. + +See the Tent-Lights--hear the Tent-Music. + +NORTH. + +Your arm, Talboys--till I disembark. Up to the Mount I shall then +climb, unassisted but by the Crutch. + + +_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._ + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + + Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant + preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. + + Simple typographical and spelling errors were corrected. + + Italics markup is denoted by _underscores_. + + Bold markup is denoted by =equals=. + + Greek text has been transliterated and is denoted by @at signs@. + + Provided anchor for unanchored footnote on pp. 133 and 172. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. +66 No.406, August 1849, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43722 *** |