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diff --git a/old/63756-0.txt b/old/63756-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a92e6c0..0000000 --- a/old/63756-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2173 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, No. 751, May 18, 1878, by William Chambers - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. - 751, May 18, 1878 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: November 14, 2020 [EBook #63756] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, NO. 751, MAY 18, 1878 *** - - - - -[Illustration: CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. - -Fourth Series - -CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. - -NO. 751. SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1878. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -WANDERINGS ROUND ST VALERY. - - -Should there be any one who wishes to spend a few weeks in a quiet -French watering-place not far from the English coast, let him try St -Valery. Here he will not find the fashion and gaiety of Trouville, -requiring a dozen new costumes for his wife in as many days, nor -the picturesque scenery of Biarritz and the Pyrenees. Yet the flat -plains of Picardy have their charms, and there is much to interest the -archæologist. This is the classic ground of the troubadours. There -are great memories of heroic deeds in the middle ages, and some of -the finest monuments of religious zeal. Rivers flow quietly through -narrow valleys, planted with willows and poplars, often enlarging into -small lakes, where the water-lily spreads its broad leaves and queenly -flowers. - -Wandering on the downs near the sea, the scenery is sad, but offers -a grand and severe beauty of its own. Nothing is there to recall the -presence of man; it is a desert, with the eternal murmur of the ocean -and the ever-changing aspects of the season. Animals and birds abound -in these solitudes; rabbits swarm in their burrows to such a degree -that fourteen hundred have been taken from one spot at the same time. -The fishing-hawk comes to seek its food in the finny tribes that rise -to the surface of the water; a species of wild-fowl intrudes into the -rabbit’s burrow and there builds her nest; the sea-gull deposits her -eggs on the bare rock; the curlew mingles her plaintive cry with the -harsher note of the heron. In the cold days of winter the swan, the -eider-duck, the wild-goose, driven from the northern seas by the ice, -take refuge on the sands left bare at low-water. Sometimes, during the -prevalence of east wind, rare foreign birds are driven to the shores; -and in the marshes, lapwings, snipes, and water-fowl abound. Capital -ground this, for the ornithologist and wild-fowler. - -St Valery itself, situated on the river Somme and occupying an -important military position, suffered most cruelly in the wars of the -middle ages. Its old walls have seen the inhabitants slaughtered and -the fleets burned twenty times; English, Burgundians, and Spaniards -have helped to level it to the dust; yet the brave little town has -risen again from its ruins and set to work to restore its thriving -commerce. Here it was that a tragical event happened in the thirteenth -century, when the powerful Lord de Coucy held his sway. Many a -story-teller and troubadour has narrated within the castle walls how -he married the lovely Adèle, daughter of the Comte de Ponthieu, and -how, as she was passing through a forest with too small an escort for -such lawless times, she was attacked by brigands and subjected to the -greatest indignities. Her husband, with equal cruelty, wished to efface -the affront, and ordered her to be thrown into the sea. Some Flemings, -sailing on their way to the Holy Land, saw the beautiful lady floating -on the waves, took her on board, and when they arrived, sold her to -the Sultan of Amaria, who by kind treatment made her happy in her -banishment. - -But whilst she forgot her country and her religion, the husband and -father were filled with the deepest remorse, and determined to do -penance by going to Jerusalem. A fearful tempest stranded them on -the territory of the Sultan, by whose orders they were thrown into a -dungeon. The day after, a great festival was held in honour of the -Sultan’s birthday; and according to the custom of the country, the -people came to the palace to demand a Christian captive to torture and -kill. The choice fell upon the Comte de Ponthieu. When he was brought -out, and the astonished Adèle recognised him, she said to her husband: -‘Give me, I pray you, this captive; he knows how to play at chess and -draughts.’ Her request was granted; and then another captive appeared, -the Lord de Coucy. ‘Let me also have this one,’ she said; ‘he can tell -wonderful stories to amuse me.’ ‘Willingly,’ answered the obliging -Sultan. Recognition was soon established among the three; pardon was -sought, and granted; and Adèle, under pretext of taking a sail, escaped -with the two captives, and landed in France. They regained their own -possessions, and from that time lived a life of great piety. - -Leaving St Valery, let us take a pleasant excursion to see the fine -old feudal castle of Rambures. There is probably not a more perfect -specimen of the military architecture of the middle ages in the whole -of France. We walk round it and admire the four enormous brick towers -rising at the angles of the quadrangular fortress, crowned with the -roofs then so much in favour, resembling pepper-boxes. The walls, many -yards in thickness, are pierced with embrasures; where we now stand -they seem like a narrow slit; but when we enter, there is ample room -for a man and horse to stand in them. Everything is prepared for a long -defence: descending into the vaults, there are stables for a number -of horses, ovens to bake bread for a regiment, wells, and store-rooms -ready to contain any amount of provisions. Below these cold dark -excavations are the still more melancholy _oubliettes_, a suitable -name, where the prisoners were too often forgotten and allowed to die a -lingering death of starvation. Here the lord of the place could without -any trial confine his vassals who refused to grind their wheat at his -mill, bake their bread at his bakehouse, or get in his harvest at the -loss of their own. Such was the state of affairs in these olden times! - -The shore-line takes us to the oldest hereditary fief of the French -monarchy, a spot rendered interesting from its connection with Joan -of Arc. A few houses, half-buried in sand, form what the people still -persist in calling ‘the port and town of Crotoy,’ once so flourishing -as the centre of commerce for the wines of the south and the wool -and dye-woods of Spain, which were shipped off from here to the -cloth-workers of Flanders. When it belonged to our kings Edward II. and -III., the port dues amounted to no less than twelve hundred pounds, a -very large sum for those days; now they are but thirty-two pounds a -year. The honest hospitable fishermen are always ready to rescue any -distressed ship driven on to the coast by storms. It is remembered -that one of their race, whose name was Vandenthum, saved the Duc de -Larochefoucauld. In the worst days of the Revolution, when it was a -crime to bear a title, this most devoted of the adherents of Louis XVI. -fled to Crotoy, in the hope of getting to England. Before getting into -Vandenthum’s boat, the Duke gave his valet half of a card, the ace of -hearts, saying: ‘When this good fisherman brings you the other half, I -shall be safe on the other side; pray take it at once to my wife.’ The -card was delivered; and every year after the Duke shewed his gratitude -by making Vandenthum spend a fortnight with him, treating him in a -princely manner, seating him at his side, and recognising him as his -deliverer. - -It was in the strong castle of this place where Joan of Arc was -imprisoned in 1430. From Amiens came a priest to receive her confession -and administer the sacrament; and many ladies and citizens from the -same place, sympathising with her under her cruel treatment, visited -her. Thanking them warmly and kissing them, she exclaimed, weeping: -‘These are good people; may it please God, when my days are ended, -that I may be buried in this place.’ If you talk to the fishermen’s -wives here, they speak of this heroic woman with profound respect; and -singularly enough, the last branch of her family has settled among -the people she loved. They are living in comparative poverty, having a -place in the Custom-house, but are proud of the letters-patent which -authorise them to adopt the name of Du Lis, and bear on their arms the -_fleur de lis_ of the Bourbons. - -Six miles away we come to the once celebrated church of Rue, with a -dismantled fortress, a belfry, clock tower, and gibbet of the olden -times. St Wulphy was a saint of miracle-working power, and to him the -church was dedicated; but in the incessant attacks of the Normans his -relics were carried off. The saint still cared for his church, and -prayed God to give his people something better; whereupon some workmen -digging near Golgotha found buried in the earth a crucifix, sculptured -by Nicodemus. This was set afloat at Jaffa in a boat without oars, -sail, or pilot, and soon stranded on the shore of Rue. In the present -day it is trade which turns villages into towns; then it was faith; -wherever the relics of a saint were to be found, the most obscure -place grew rapidly in riches and population. Thus pilgrims flocked to -this out-of-the-way place from all parts of France; the popes granted -indulgences to those who visited it, and it became a rival to St James -of Compostella. Here was often found Louis XI., who had great need -for desiring pardon, and miser though he was, left behind him rich -presents. Of the fine old church nothing remains but a chapel, which -is a masterpiece of architectural beauty; the legend of the bark is -represented on the tympanum, and on the façade are statues of several -of the kings of France. All its rich treasures and the miraculous cross -were carried away at the end of the last century by the faithless -dragoons of the Republican army. - -Musing on the changes of time and public opinion, we look far away -over the downs towards Abbeville, and under the shadow of the large -forest which darkens the horizon, call to mind the great victory which -the armies of England gained on the field of Crécy. Edward III. knew -the country well, for his youthful days had been passed at the Château -Gard-les-Rue, which belonged to his mother, Isabel of Ponthieu. Walking -over the ground, the spots where the carnage was most terrible may be -traced by the names given to tracts of land, such as the _Marche à -Carognes_, meaning ‘The Pathway of Corpses.’ In the morning, when the -fields are covered with dew, the deep ditches where the victims were -buried may be distinctly traced, for there, curiously enough, the earth -remains damp much longer than in the other furrows. Standing in the -green forest-road is an old cross of sandstone, which the peasants tell -you is the spot where the body of the king of Bohemia was found. He -was one of the most faithful allies of the French king, and blind; but -in the midst of the battle he desired his two faithful knights to lead -his horse in, that he might strike one last blow for his friend. All -the three fell together in front of the hill, from which the English -archers drew their bow-strings with such fatal effect that ten thousand -of the French were left dead on the battle-field. Here it was that the -gallant Black Prince won his spurs, and the crest of feathers which -still pertains to our Prince of Wales. - -Starting on the road to Abbeville, and passing the large beetroot -manufactories which abound in Picardy, we gain a beautiful view of the -fertile vale of the Somme; but our destination is eastward, to visit -St Riquier. Two monks from Bangor are said to have preached the gospel -here 590 A.D., and incurring the anger of the idolatrous people, they -were attacked and would have perished but for the help of one of their -converts named Riquier. After their departure he became a priest, -and continued the good work, founding an abbey, which King Dagobert -richly endowed. This exquisite building was built in the form of a -triangle, as a symbol of the Trinity. The number three was everywhere -reproduced; three doors opened into the vestibule, three chapels rose -at the angles, three altars, three pulpits, the three symbols of -Constantinople, of St Athanasius, and the apostles. Three hundred monks -and thirty-three choristers sang in the processions, and finally the -abbot fed daily three hundred poor persons. - -Whilst the ruthless hands of the whitewasher have destroyed innumerable -frescoes, there still remain two large mural paintings in the treasury -of this church, one being a representation of the translation of the -relics of St Riquier, the other a Dance of Death. The latter is divided -into three compartments; in the first are three skeletons, one digging -a grave, another holding a spade (the emblem of demolition), the -third an arrow, the instrument of death. Richly-dressed well-mounted -cavaliers appear in the second, setting out for the chase with falcons -on their wrists; but at the sight of the skeletons the horses rear, and -one of the falcons is flying away. In the last, persons of every rank -are walking together to the grave; a wild and poetical teaching, which -recalled, in the midst of the inequalities of the feudal days, the -certainty of their all meeting in the final resting-place. - -It was in these well-known funereal allegories that religious thought -took refuge, whilst burlesque associations or brotherhoods traversed -the towns in disorganised bands, and the troubadours sang their -romances of ladies catching hearts in their nets to put into the box -of forgetfulness. Christian art endeavoured to bring men back to -the remembrance of God by shewing them death under various aspects. -Sometimes the artist placed him with a coffin under his arm in the -cortège of kings; or as a guest at the marriage-feast standing behind -the bride; or as a wood-cutter lopping off branches laden with nobles -and citizens; as if to illustrate that however high the position in -this world, all must at last fall. - -To St Riquier, Charlemagne loved to repair, and he made it a centre -of learning, like Tours, Metz, and St Gall. Some remains of the old -towers of his day still remain, as well as the mosaic roses which he -sent for from Rome to adorn it. In the porch were buried two abbots who -were killed in 853, in one of the numerous incursions of the Normans. -Their bodies were found wrapped in sheep-skins, when the beautiful -church of the fifteenth century rose from the ashes of the old one. -Among the many statues of saints which adorn the main portal is a very -noble one of Joan of Arc, holding a half-broken lance; her eyes are -cast down, and the expression is that of a perfectly beautiful but sad -countenance. She was confined in the castle for a few days. - -Upon the beauties of Amiens we must not dwell; it was a centre for -the cultivation of poetry, sculpture, and the fine arts throughout -the middle ages. The inhabitants worked at its glorious cathedral for -sixty-eight years, forming a kind of camp, and relieving each other as -they cut the stones, singing canticles the while. The tall spire was -destroyed by a thunderbolt in 1527; but two zealous village carpenters -determined to rebuild it; and six years later it was finished. Many -monograms testify to the visits of master-masons, who came to admire -the work of the Picardy peasants; the eighteen hundred medallions -detailing the history of the world, besides many bas-reliefs carved by -the old workmen of Amiens. Abbeville is also a most interesting old -town, not only for its past monuments, but as the home of that modern -geologist M. de Perthes, who has left his museum of relics to the -city. We must bid adieu to Picardy, to its hardy peasants, delicious -cider, and well-cultivated plains with regret, as being not the least -interesting among the French provinces, and well worthy the notice of -the wandering traveller. - - - - -HELENA, LADY HARROGATE. - - -CHAPTER XXVII.—AT THE STANNARIES. - -‘We shall have a delightful day,’ said young Lady Alice joyously, as -the sweet scent of the bruised heather and the steam of the wet earth -came floating on the breeze, and the clouds rolled off majestically -seawards, leaving the broad surface of Dartmoor, like a purple robe -dashed with green, flecked and dappled by the dancing sunbeams. ‘A -delightful day for our peep at the old Stannaries,’ repeated the girl. -‘The air will be all the fresher and the weather steadier, for the -heavy shower of this morning.’ - -Lady Alice, the youngest and, some said, the cleverest of the Earl’s -daughters, was an indulged child, and there was a carriage at High -Tor which she regarded as her very own. This was a low wagonette, -built of light osier-work, lined with dark blue, and drawn by a -hairy-heeled pony, quite as shaggy as a bear, and not much bigger than -a Newfoundland dog. The villagers for miles around were tolerably -familiar with the jingle of the bells that were attached to the pony’s -collar; but on the present occasion the boy in livery who held the -reins had been bidden to strike into one of the rugged roads that led -into the moor itself, where hamlets were scarce, and even isolated -dwellings few and far between. - -‘It would be a thousand pities,’ said Lady Alice presently, turning -towards Ethel, who sat beside her in the wagonette, ‘not to shew you -the Stannaries—which are among our principal lions hereabouts—before -the winter-storms set in. It is not always pleasant or quite safe to go -so far into the moor after apple-harvest.’ - -‘But you forget,’ said Ethel, smiling, ‘that I, in my ignorance, have -not the very faintest idea as to what Stannaries may be.’ - -‘Is it possible!’ exclaimed the child, turning upon her governess -a glance of that pitying wonder with which the very young receive -a confession of deficient information on the part of their elders. -‘Did you really never hear, Miss Gray, of our Cornish and Devon -tin-mines?—we call them Stannaries because _stannum_ is the Latin -word for tin, you know—which were worked, ever so many hundreds and -thousands of years ago, by Phœnicians and Carthaginians and Jews I -believe, and Romans I am sure. Very ancient they are at anyrate, and -very curious; and I want to shew you ours, the only ones in this part -of Dartmoor, with the stone huts of the miners still standing, although -no tin has been taken out of the lodes for many a long year.’ - -Ethel laughed good-humouredly at her own scanty stock of local lore. - -‘I have read,’ she said gently, ‘of tin mines in Cornwall, and of that -place with the odd name Marazion, which made people fancy the Lost -Tribes were to be looked for somewhere near the Land’s End, and how the -Phœnicians came of old in ships to fetch the tin away. But I did not -know they came to Devon too.’ - -‘O yes; they did,’ persisted Lady Alice, eager for the credit of her -county. ‘Our workings are quite as ancient as the great Cornish mines, -though not so big. And there was once a Mayor of Halgaver, and a -sort of diggers’ law on the moor, as there is among the gold-seekers -in Australia now. I have heard Papa speak of it. But there is the -farmhouse’—pointing to a dwelling, screened by black firs from the cold -north-east winds, which crowned a swelling ridge of high ground—‘our -explorings. You are a capital walker, and so am I; and the way to enjoy -the moor and understand it is to cross it on foot.’ - -The pony, wagonette, and lad in livery being duly left at the farm, the -two girls set off together to traverse the distance that intervened -between the ridge on which the house was built and a bleak table-land -from which cropped up, like fossil mushrooms, many gray stones of -various shapes. - -‘Those are the Circles—the Rounds as the poor people call them,’ said -Lady Alice in her character of cicerone. ‘Nobody in these parts cares -to be near them after dark. They are said to be haunted, but that is -all nonsense of course.’ - -‘They look cold and ghostly enough even in broad daylight,’ said -Ethel, as they pushed on along a broad smooth track of emerald green, -one of several green belts that varied the dull purple of the sea of -heather. Overhead, on tireless wing, the hawk wheeled. The lapwing, -with complaining note, skirred the plain, striving with world-old -artifice of drooping wing and broken flight, to lure away the human -intruders from her flat nest, full of speckled eggs. The moorland -hare, dark-furred and long-limbed, broke abruptly from her seat and -galloped off unpursued. The Circles were reached at last, and proved to -be quaint rings of dilapidated buildings, all of unhewn stone and of -the rudest construction. Here and there the huts, roof and walls alike -composed of rough slabs, were intact. Nothing could be more desolate -than the appearance of these bare, gaunt hovels, reared by the hands of -the long dead, standing solitary in the midst of a desert. - -‘Here they lived once upon a time, those old people, the heathen -miners, whose bronze tools and lumps of ore and morsels of charred wood -are even now sometimes picked up by boys who hunt for birds’ eggs on -the moor. They worked near the surface, and never drove their galleries -very deep into the earth. And then came Christian times, when these -hovels were inhabited by very different dwellers, until at last the -mines were given up as no longer worth the labour of winning the tin.’ - -Ethel looked around her with a kind of awe. She had imagination enough -to enable her to realise the dim Past, when these deserted huts were -peopled by inhabitants strange of garb and speech, gnomes of the mine -utterly unlike to any who now tread English ground. In fancy she could -behold the motley throng of Pagan toilers, whose bronze picks had -once rung against gneiss and granite, mica and sandstone, on the now -silent moor. There the Briton, his fair skin stained with woad, and -the small and swarthy mountaineer whose forefathers had preceded the -Celt in ownership of the land, had laboured side by side with Spaniard, -Moor, and Goth, with Scythian, Arab, and Indian—slaves all, and mostly -captives in war, whom the cruel policy of Rome consigned to far-off -regions of the earth, much as our justice stocked Virginian plantations -and Australian cattle-runs with the offscourings of ignorance and crime. - -It was at the grave as it were of a dead industry that Ethel now stood. -The ground, honeycombed by what resembled gigantic rabbit-burrows, was -strewed here and there with dross and scoriæ, and blackened by fire, -wherever the remains of a rude kiln told of smelting carried on long -ago. - -‘I have all sorts of things to shew you,’ said Lady Alice impatiently. -‘Just look into one of the huts, and then wonder how human beings could -ever have made a home of such a place. See! It is just like a stone -bee-hive—no windows. That was for warmth, I suppose. The little light -they wanted came in at the door, no doubt. And up above there, where -you see the hole between the stones, the smoke must have found its way -out, after it had half-choked the lungs and blinded the eyes of those -inside the hut. They wanted a good peat-fire though, to keep them alive -when the great snows of winter fell; and they had it too, for just see -how hard and black the earthen floor has become in the course of years. -Now then for the mine where the Roman sword was found, and then for the -Pixies’ Well.’ - -The Pixies’ Well proved to be a curious natural depression in the rocky -soil, thimble-shaped, and about twenty feet in depth, carpeted with -moss of the brightest green from the brink to where the water glimmered -starlike from amid rank weeds beneath. - -‘They say the fairies used to dance round this well on Midsummer night -and dip stolen children in the water, that they might never long to go -back to earth again, but live contentedly in Elfland. Our Devonshire -people believe all sorts of things still, you must know, though they -are getting ashamed of talking about them before strangers.—Are you -tired, Miss Gray?’ - -Miss Gray was not tired, and her mercurial pupil thereupon proposed a -visit to a new attraction. - -‘The idea of it came into my head while we were looking down into the -well,’ explained Lady Alice; ‘and though the Hunger Hole is not one of -the sights of the Stannaries, still if you are not afraid of a longer -walk, we might visit it and yet be at home in good time. It is a mile -or more from here.’ - -‘That is an odd name, the Hunger Hole,’ said Ethel. ‘I suppose there is -some legend to account for so ominous a word?’ - -‘There is indeed,’ said the Earl’s youngest daughter as, by Ethel’s -side, she left the ring of ruinous huts and passed along a strong -causeway that led towards the west; ‘and moreover, in this case there -can be no doubt about its being true. A young Jacobite—it was just -after the Northern rising in 1715—fled to a country-house near here, -Morford Place, where his mother’s family lived, hoping to be sheltered -and enabled to embark secretly for France. There had been treachery -at work, however, for the fugitive’s intentions were revealed to the -authorities; and on the morning of the very day when he arrived in mean -disguise, constables and soldiers had searched the mansion from garret -to cellar. - -‘That the poor refugee should be concealed at Morford seemed -impossible, and yet as the roads were beset and the harbours watched, -escape over sea was not for the moment to be thought of. The squire -of Morford bethought him of the place that we are going to see, which -was then known to very few, and where priests had often been hidden, -when every Jesuit who came to England carried his life in his hand. So -young Mr John Grahame—that was his name—was lodged in the grotto that -we shall presently see, and sometimes one of the ladies of the family, -his cousins, and sometimes a trusty servant, carried him food. But the -poor young man had some secret enemy who could not rest until assured -of his destruction, for just as the rigour of the pursuit seemed to -be over, and it was arranged that the fugitive should be put on board -a smuggling craft bound for the French coast, Morford Place was again -searched, and a chain of sentries posted, with orders to shoot whoever -tried to pass them by. - -‘Day after day dragged on, and no food could be conveyed to the -unfortunate occupant of the Hiding Hole—the Priest’s Hole, as they -called it then—while the dragoons scoured the country, questioning the -folks in every village if a stranger had been seen. No doubt it was -hoped that famine would force the Jacobite to leave his retreat; but -after a time the soldiers grew tired of waiting, or the authorities -imagined they had been on a false scent. At anyrate the troops were -withdrawn. But when some of the Morford family stole, trembling, to -the unfrequented spot where their luckless kinsman lay hid, they stood -aghast to see the raven and the carrion-crow flapping and screaming -about the grotto—a sure sign that there was death within. True enough, -poor young Grahame had perished of want, sooner than venture forth to -be dragged to the jail and the gibbet; and ever since that day the -place has borne the name of the Hunger Hole.’ - -By this time the stony causeway had given place to a narrow footway -that led through one of those swamps that vary the undrained surface of -Dartmoor. To left and right rose tall reeds, thick enough to simulate a -tropical cane-brake, while wild flax, mallows, and stunted alder-bushes -abounded. The moor-hen sprang from her nest among the bulrushes that -bordered the sullen pools of discoloured water, and the snake crept -hissing through the coarse grass, as if angry at the unwonted trespass -on his haunts. The unstable ground, even at that dry season of the -year, shook beneath the feet of the explorers; and it was easy for -Ethel to give credence to her pupil’s statement that even the hardy -moorman avoided Bitternley Swamp in winter. - -‘The place took its name from the bitterns that used to abound here,’ -said Lady Alice; ‘but there is no nook too lonely for the men whom the -London bird-stuffers employ, and the last bittern was shot two years -since. Soon there won’t be a feathered creature, except pheasants and -partridges and perhaps the saucy sparrows, left alive.—But that’—as -they passed a sheet of dark water, stained by the peat of the morass -until it resembled ink in hue—‘is Blackpool; and yonder, among those -rocks on the bank above, is the Hunger Hole. You cannot see the opening -of the grotto from here—that is the beauty of it—but wait till we get -quite close, and then you will understand how naturally the cave was -made to hide in.’ - -Even when the two girls had got clear of the swamp and scrambled up -the rude flight of steps, nearly effaced by time and rains, that -facilitated the scaling of the precipitous bank, Ethel could see -no signs of the grotto they sought, until her youthful companion -pulled aside the hazel boughs, that grew between two angles of -lichen-incrusted rock, and disclosed, about a yard above their heads, -a narrow fissure, too low for a person of ordinary stature to enter -without stooping, and even then half-hidden by grass and brambles. - -‘That is the Hunger Hole,’ said Lady Alice triumphantly. ‘A fugitive -may lie concealed here, I think, if the enemy were ranging all the moor -to capture him. It is higher inside than at the mouth, and the bridge -within gives access to the inner chamber. Come; we must be quick.—Ah! -there is no danger,’ added the girl, mistaking the cause of her -companion’s hesitation. - -‘I am not afraid; I was merely thinking of the sad story of this -place,’ said Ethel with a shudder that she could not repress. And -passing over the boulders of loose rock, they entered Indian file into -the Hunger Hole. - - -CHAPTER XXVIII.—THE HUNGER HOLE. - -Ethel, on following her young pupil through the darkling portal of the -cave, moved forward at first with extreme precaution; but gradually, -as her eyes became accustomed to the dim mysterious light that reigned -within, she could distinguish that the grotto really did increase in -height within two paces of the entrance, and that it was quite possible -to stand upright without inconvenience beneath the rocky roof. She saw -that she was in a natural cavern of small dimensions, the irregular -level of the floor being moistened by the water that oozed through a -crevice between two mossy stones and trickled onwards until it fell, -with a monotonous dripping sound, into a chasm some ten or eleven feet -in breadth, over which a wooden bridge, the timbers of which were -black with age and coated with colourless growths of fungi and mosses, -afforded the means of passing. - -‘They say the Hunger Hole was known and used from very early times,’ -observed Lady Alice, stepping fearlessly upon the dilapidated bridge, -of which the hand-rails, if such there had been, had long since rotted -away. ‘But its very existence was kept secret by the Morfords of -Morford and two or three other families of the neighbouring gentry and -their trusty retainers, until after that sad tragedy of which I told -you. You will find the inner chamber more comfortable than the outer -cave, where the spring is.’ - -And indeed Ethel found herself in a recess, somewhat smaller than the -exterior portion of the cavern, but dry, and free alike from trickling -moisture and the unwholesome growth of cryptogams, that carpeted the -slimy floor of the antechamber through which they had passed. At one -extremity of the chamber a sort of bench or bed-place had been cut, -evidently by human agency, in the stony wall. Light came filtered -down through boughs and creeping-plants from above the chasm, where a -glimpse of the sky might be caught; while beneath, some subterranean -pool or streamlet, to judge by the drip, drip, of the water that ran -over the mossy lip of the fissure, certainly existed. - -‘Life must have been very dreary here, spent in solitude, and with -the haunting apprehension that at each instant the secret of the -hiding-hole might be betrayed or discovered,’ said Ethel, again -shivering, as though the air of the cave had been icy cold. ‘It would -be almost better to face any danger than to linger’—— - -A sudden creaking and cracking, as of breaking wood-work, interrupted -Ethel’s speech, and was instantly followed by a dull heavy plunge, and -then a splashing sound, as though something weighty had fallen from a -considerable height into water below. - -‘Good heavens, the bridge—the bridge!’ Such were the words that rose -simultaneously to the lips of both the girls, and by a common impulse -pupil and governess hurried to the verge of the abyss. Their instinct -of alarm had been but too accurate in divining what had occurred. The -bridge—the rotten old timbers of which had for centuries been exposed -to the corroding influence of time and decay—had disappeared into the -depths below, and now an impassable chasm yawned between the young -explorers of the cave and the doorway by which they had entered it. -They fell back and looked at one another with white scared faces. - -Ethel was the first to recover her self-command. ‘This is awkward,’ she -said, trying to smile, ‘for we shall be late in reaching High Tor, and -I am afraid the Countess will be anxious. Of course, as soon as it is -known that we have not returned to the farm where the carriage and pony -were left, search will be made.’ - -‘No one will think of looking here,’ returned young Lady Alice, with -a disconsolate shake of the head. ‘We are fully two miles from the -Stannaries, and everybody will suppose that we have returned thence -by the footpath that crosses Bramberry Common, or the bridle-road -that skirts Otter Pool and the Red Rock—short-cuts both of them, and -favourite paths of mine, as is known. I am, unluckily, a wilful child, -and have a sad character for roving over hill and dale, so that even -Mamma will not be frightened at the first. And—and, another thing that -is bad. Nobody will suspect us of crossing Bitternley Swamp, even in -fine weather, without a gentleman or a man of some sort, to take care -of us in case of need. The truth is, Miss Gray, it was a silly thing -to do, a fool-hardy trick to play even on a day like this; for lives -have been lost there often, as all on the moor know. We got across -dry-footed or nearly so; but it might have been different. My brother -said once, I was as bad to follow as a Will-o’-the-Wisp could be.’ The -girl laughed, as though to reanimate her own drooping spirits, but the -sullen echoes of the cave gave back the laughter hollowly. - -‘Can we not make some signal—call aloud perhaps, to notify our plight -to any who may be passing near?’ asked Ethel, after a moment’s -consideration. But even as she spoke she felt the futility of the -expedient she had suggested. - -‘Nobody may pass this way for weeks to come,’ said Lady Alice -despondently. ‘You don’t know, you can’t guess how very desolate -Dartmoor is at most times. We might scream ourselves hoarse, without -getting an answer from any voice but that of the peewit by day and the -fern-owl by night. No; I was thinking I could perhaps get across.’ - -But a deliberate survey of the chasm proved the hopelessness of such -an attempt. A trained gymnast with nerves exceptionally steady could -readily have taken the leap, although to slip or stumble was to incur -a certain and miserable death in the unseen waters below. But even -the hardy maidens who tend their brass-belled kine among the Alpine -pastures of Tyrol would have flinched from the effort to spring from -one side of that yawning gulf to the other. Then for a time, a long -time, there was silence, unbroken save by the regular plash and tinkle -of the water, as it trickled over the floor of the outer cave and fell -over into the black abyss below. - -‘They must surely take the alarm at High Tor,’ said Ethel after a -space. ‘There will be a hue-and-cry through all the neighbourhood. The -worst that can happen will be that we may spend the night here, and be -very cold and very hungry.’ - -‘Hungry! Yes, we are likely to be that, before we are found,’ -half-petulantly interrupted Lady Alice. And then there was no more said -for a longer time than before. - -Ethel’s mind was busy as she sat side by side with her pupil on the -rough-hewn bench of stone that had been the death-bed of the luckless -Jacobite refugee. How little had she thought, when listening an hour -or two ago, to the legend of John Grahame’s death, that she who told -and she who hearkened to the tale would soon be shut up in that dismal -lair, to suffer hardship, perhaps even to—— No, not to die, so near to -home and friends; _that_ was a supposition too wild to be harboured! -They must be sought out, found, delivered from the prison to which -accident had consigned them. Some one would pass. Some one might even -then be within hearing, and be rambling on all-unconscious of the -predicament of those within. So strongly did the idea that friendly -ears might be near present itself to Ethel, that she started to her -feet, calling aloud again and again for help. The hollow echoes of the -cave returned the sound, as though in mockery, while Lady Alice sat -mute and listless on the rocky bench. Presently she too sprang up. ‘I -cannot bear it,’ cried the young girl, in her quick impetuous way. ‘I -would sooner run the risk of fifty deaths than remain here, listening -to the dreadful drip, drip, of the water as it falls into the pool -or the brook beneath. We can’t, now the bridge is gone, cross the -fissure. But perhaps, if you would help me, I might manage to scramble -to the top of the rocks above here where the light comes down, and at -any rate wave a handkerchief, or do something to attract attention if -any one comes near.’ - -Ethel glanced up at the ragged rocks draped with weed and bramble, and -then down at the gaping chasm, into which a false step would probably -hurl any aspirant who should prove unequal to the attempt. - -‘It is for me to try it, my dear, not you,’ she said quietly, but with -a resolution that was not to be shaken. ‘I am taller and stronger; and -besides, how could I meet the Countess again if I allowed you to run -into a danger I shrank from?’ And without further prelude Ethel grasped -a tough tendril of the ivy that hung within reach, and by clinging to -every crevice or angle of the rock that could yield support to foot or -hand, succeeded in gaining a ledge of stone, above which a tall slender -hazel shot up into the free air. But to climb the few feet of bare -stone above her was impossible. ‘It is idle; I cannot do it,’ she said -sadly. - -It did indeed begin to seem a hopeless case, that is supposing that -young Lady Alice was correct in her estimate of the loneliness of the -spot and of the unlikelihood of succour. - -‘I cannot reach the top; the rock is as steep as a wall,’ said Ethel, -again looking down from amidst the ferns and foxgloves, the ivy trails -and ropes of bramble, that half-filled the aperture. - -‘That tall nut-tree, it is close to your hand,’ cried the quick-witted -young damsel below. ‘Could you not pull it towards you, tie your -handkerchief to the topmost bough, and let it spring up again? That -would give us a chance, should any one come near.’ - -With some difficulty Ethel succeeded in grasping the tough stem of -the tall hazel, and bending it until she was able to make fast her -handkerchief, as Alice had suggested, to the uppermost twigs. Up sprang -the slender stem again the instant it was released, and the white -pennon fluttered out, clear of the rocks, in the moorland breeze. - -‘We have hoisted our flag,’ said Lady Alice blithely, ‘to let them know -we are at home.’ But as hour after hour went by, and the longed-for -help came not, and the increasing gloom of the faint cool light that -filled the grotto told of the waning of the day, the spirits of Ethel’s -young charge lost their buoyancy. - -‘I wish at least,’ she said peevishly, ‘that tiresome dripping of the -water would but stop. I feel as though it would drive me mad. Why not -try the jump back over the chasm? Even if one fell in, it would be -better so than to die by inches.’ - -Ethel did her best to impart comfort. But her pupil would not be -comforted. - -‘No, no!’ she said repeatedly; ‘they will not find us till—till it is -too late. The last place where any one would dream of looking is the -Hunger Hole. It is so far off that nobody will imagine we walked all -the way; and then, as none know of the broken bridge, it will never -occur to any one that we are shut up here. They will believe us to be -drowned. It is not difficult to get smothered in a swamp hereabouts. -And the pools will be dragged and the rivers examined, and still the -riddle will remain unsolved.’ - -Presently the girl crept up to Ethel’s side and stole her hand into -that of her governess. ‘I want you to forgive me, Miss Gray—Ethel -dear,’ she said in a low voice. ‘It is my wilfulness that has been the -cause of all.’ - -Ethel answered her soothingly; and with a great sob young Lady Alice, -who was no coward, kept down her rising tears. For an hour or more they -sat silent, hand in hand. - -‘Do you remember,’ whispered Alice De Vere, after a time, ‘an old, old -song, _The Mistletoe Bough_? Maud sings it. I am afraid it will come -true for us, and the Hunger Hole will have a new story.’ - - - - -SOME ANIMAL ENEMIES OF MAN. - - -It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the domain of human existence is -singularly liable to be intruded upon by lower forms of both animal -and plant life, which may in some cases inflict injury of great extent -upon man’s possessions or even upon his bodily frame. Not so long ago -a foreign member of the beetle-fraternity threatened the interests of -agriculturists in this country, and caused consternation to prevail -throughout the length and breadth of the land. And although the -alarm with which the advent of the insect-intruder was hailed has -now disappeared, agriculturists would inform us that their especial -territory is beset with other insect-enemies which invariably damage -their crops, and which in certain seasons cause the disastrous failure -of many a thriving field. Witness in proof of this the ravages of -the ‘turnip-fly’ and its neighbours, which blight the crops in some -districts to an extent which must be seen to be realised. Or take the -case of the hop-grower, whose favourable prospects largely depend on -the absence of a small species of plant-lice which specially affects -these plants, and which in certain seasons may cause, by their enormous -increase, the total failure of this important crop. Nor do our -insect-foes confine their ravages to growing-crops. When the fruits of -the harvest have been duly gathered in and stored within the granary, -even there they are attacked by minute pests. Numberless insects—flies, -beetles, and other forms—select the granary as a nursery or suitable -place for the upbringing of their young; the larvæ or young insects -feeding on the grain and destroying large quantities by their increase -as well as by their destructive habits. Apart from the domain of -agriculture, however, lower forms of animal and plant life powerfully -affect man’s estate. The growth and increase of lower plants produce -many skin-diseases; and if it be true—already rendered probable—that -epidemics are propagated through the agency of living ‘germs’ which -increase after the fashion of lower forms of life, then it may be -held that we are liable to be attacked on every side by enemies, -insignificant as to size, but of incalculable power when their numbers -are taken into consideration. Parasites of various kinds ravage man’s -flocks and even affect his own health, so that it is perfectly clear -that we do not by any means enjoy any immunity whatever from the -enemies which living nature in its prolific abundance produces, and -which select man and man’s belongings as their lawful spoil. - -The animal enemies of man, concerning which we purpose to say a few -words in the present paper, belong to a different sphere from that at -which we have just glanced. Some of the most powerful marauders upon -human territory belong to the Mollusca or group of the true shell-fish, -and present themselves as near relations of the oysters, mussels, -and their allies. The molluscs which become of interest to man in -other than a gastronomic sense, possess, like the famous oyster, a -bivalve shell, or one consisting of two halves. In the first of man’s -molluscan enemies to which we may direct attention, the shell is of -small size, and so far from inclosing the body of the animal, appears -to exist merely as an appendage to one extremity, which for want of -a better term, we may name the head—although, as every one knows, no -distinct head exists in the oyster and its kind. Suppose that from -this head-extremity, bearing its two small shells, a long worm-like or -tubular body is continued, and we may then form a rough and ready, but -correct idea of the appearance of the famous ‘ship-worm’—the _Teredo_ -of the naturalist. This animal was first styled the ‘ship-worm’ by -Linnæus and his contemporaries; and in truth it resembles a worm much -more closely than its shell-fish neighbours. As a worm, indeed, it -was at first classified by naturalists. But appearances in zoological -science are as deceptive as they are known proverbially to be in -common life, and the progress of research afterwards duly discovered -beneath the worm-like guise of the teredo, all the characters of a -true mollusc. The long body of the mollusc simply consists of the -breathing-tubes, by which water is admitted to the gills, being -extremely developed, the body proper being represented by the small -portion to which the two small shells are attached. - -The importance of the ship-worm arises from the use it makes of these -apparently insignificant shells as a boring-apparatus; and any sea-side -visitor, residing on a coast where an ocean-swell or severe storms -strew the shore with drift-wood, has but to use his eyes to assure -himself of the extent and perfection of the ship-worm’s labours. Pieces -of drift-wood may be seen to be literally riddled by these molluscs, -which live in the burrows they thus excavate. Each habitation is -further seen to be coated with a limy layer formed by the tubular body, -and the boring for the most part is noted to proceed in the direction -of the grain of the wood. The little excavator turns aside in its -course, however, when it meets with a knot in the wood, and an iron -nail appears of all things to be the ship-worm’s greatest obstacle—a -fact which has been taken advantage of, as we shall presently see, by -way of arresting its work of destruction. - -Linnæus long ago designated the ship-worm as the _calamitas navium_, -and although perhaps the expression as applied to ships is somewhat -far-fetched—save in the case of broken-down hulks—and utterly -inapplicable in this age of iron, there can be little doubt that -regarded relatively to wooden piles, piers, and like erections, the -ship-worm is unquestionably a calamity personified. So, at anyrate, -thought the Dutch in the years 1731-32, when the teredo began to -pay attentions of too exclusive a nature to the wooden piles which -supported the great earth-works or ‘dikes’ that keep the sea from -claiming the United Provinces as its own. A Dutchman has been well said -to pay great attention to two things which are euphoniously and shortly -expressed by the words ‘dams’ and ‘drams.’ The former keep the sea from -invading his territory, and the latter aid in protecting him personally -from the effects of the perennial damp amidst which he exists. The -ship-worm in the years just mentioned caused terror to prevail through -the length and breadth of the Netherlands, through its appearance in -large numbers in the wooden piles of the dams or dikes. On these piles -the fortunes of Holland may be said to depend; and the foundations of -the Dutch empire might therefore be regarded, correctly enough, as -having been sapped and threatened by an envious enemy in the shape of -a mollusc, and one belonging to by no means the highest group of that -division of animals. The alarm spread fast through the Netherlands, -and the government was not slow to appreciate the danger, or to offer -a reward of large amount for the discovery of any plan which would -successfully stay the progress of such dreaded invaders. - -Inventors, it might be remarked, are not slow, as a rule, to accept -invitations of such generous nature; and if report speaks truly, the -office of discriminating between the worthless and feasible projects -which were submitted to the Dutch nation on the occasion referred to, -could not have proved either an easy or enviable one. Then came the -chemists with lotions innumerable, and the inventors of varnishes, -paints, and poisons were in a state of hopeful anxiety. But none of -these preparations was found to fulfil the required conditions, and -the only project which appeared to savour of feasibility was one -which was rejected on account of its impracticable nature—namely that -of picking the teredos from their burrows like whelks from their -shells. The kingdom of Holland thus appeared in a fair way of being -undermined by an enemy of infinitely greater power and one less capable -of being successfully resisted than the Grand Turk, who once upon a -time declared his intention of exterminating the nation with an army -whose only weapons were spades and shovels. But after a period of -unrestricted labour, the ship-worm ‘turned tail’ on the Netherlands, -and disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving only a few -stragglers to mark the vantage-ground. - -Though Britain has not suffered from teredo-epidemics in the same -measure as Holland, there can be little doubt that the ravages of this -mollusc on the timber of our piers and dockyards, cost us a large -sum annually. The stoutest oak is riddled through with the same ease -displayed in perforating the softer pine; and in some of our seaport -towns, especially on the southern coasts, the yearly estimates for -repairs of damage done by the ship-worm form no inconsiderable item -in the government or local expenditure as the case may be. The most -effectual plan for the repression of the teredo and for the prevention -of its work of destruction appears to be that of protecting the exposed -timber by driving therein short nails with very broad heads. These -nails form a kind of armour-casing which is rendered more effective -through the chemical action of the water in producing rust. - -Some molluscs, near neighbours of the teredo, and which burrow for -the most part into stone, but occasionally perforate wood, are those -belonging to the Piddock-family—the genera _Pholas_ and _Saxicava_ of -the naturalist—celebrated by Pliny of old as phosphorescent animals. -The _Saxicavæ_ have somewhat elongated shells, by means of which they -burrow in rocks and lie ensconced in their dwelling-places, and whose -perforated rock-homes are eagerly sought after by all who delight in -forming rockeries in their gardens. These molluscs have ere now caused -fears for the safety of Plymouth breakwater, through the persistence -with which they excavated their burrows into the substance of the -stones. And as has been well pointed out, the destructive action of -these molluscs may pave the way for an inroad of the sea; a riddled -mass of rock or stone being rendered through their attack liable to -disintegration from the action of the waves. - -A final example of an animal enemy of man which as regards size is -to be deemed insignificant when compared with the teredo, but which -nevertheless adds by its destructive work to our annual expenditure, is -the little crustacean known as the _Limnoria terebrans_, or popularly -as the wood-boring shrimp or ‘gribble.’ This animal belongs to the -group including the familiar ‘Slaters’ or ‘Wood-lice,’ found under -stones and in damp situations, and by means of its powerful jaws -burrows deeply into wood of all kinds. Occasionally, the ship-worm and -gribble have been found at work in the same locality and have committed -ravages of great extent; the latter, on account of its small size, -being more difficult of detection and eradication than its molluscan -neighbour. - -The consideration of a subject such as the present, it may lastly be -remarked, possesses a phase not without some degree of consolation -to minds which, if incapable of seeing ‘good in everything,’ may -nevertheless believe in the adjustment and counterbalancing of most of -Nature’s operations. The repression of animal life by parasites may in -one sense prove a gain to nature at large, viewed from a Malthusian -stand-point, although humanly considered, there may be differences -of opinion regarding the applicability of the opinion to the case of -man. But if the ravages of the teredo and its neighbours on the works -of man are to be considered as a veritable affliction, we must not -fail to think also of the service these animals render in clearing the -ocean of vast masses of drift-wood, which, liberated from the mouths -of all the great rivers of the world, would speedily accumulate to -check navigation and impede commerce in many quarters of the world. -The genius of Brunel, which discerned in the manner of the ship-worm’s -burrowing the true method of excavating the tunnel associated with his -name, and which thus improved engineering science by a happy thought -and observation, may also be regarded as bearing testimony to the -consoling fact that there exist few evils which are entirely unmixed -with good. - - - - -MY JOURNEY TO BRIGHTON. - - -A few years ago, in the second week of September, I found myself, very -much against my inclination, still inhaling the dusty atmosphere of my -London chambers, Lincoln’s Inn. I was anxious that the suit upon which -I was engaged should be ready for the commencement of the November -term; it was unusually intricate; the client a man of high rank and -importance, or I should not have allowed it to detain me in town -after the 12th of August, at which date all the ordinary temptations -had assailed me and had been resisted; and now having relinquished -my favourite recreations, both grouse and partridge shooting, all my -friends dispersed far and wide, and no companion left in town with -whom I cared to spend the remaining weeks of the long vacation, I was -quite at a loss whither to betake myself for a change, so necessary to -the exhausted legal brain at that period of the year. I turned over -the leaves of my _Bradshaw_ in the hope of gaining an idea, but its -maddening pages left me more unsettled than ever. At last I suddenly -resolved to run down to Brighton by the afternoon express, which I -found would just give me time to go home for a portmanteau and make the -few necessary arrangements for a short absence; one thing only being -clear to my mind, that I should not stay long away. - -The transit from Lincoln’s Inn to Eaton Place, where as a bachelor I -still resided with my mother, was rapidly accomplished; and if I had -not been unexpectedly detained at home, I should have reached Victoria -in comfortable time; as it was, my hansom only drove into the station -as the bell was ringing for the train to start, and I hastily jumped -into the first carriage in which I could find room, as the train moved -on. It proved to be a second-class. - -As soon as I had settled myself in my corner, I naturally took an -observation of my companions. There were but two on my side of the -carriage: an elderly and very provincial-looking lady; and opposite -to her, and in the farthest corner from my own, a very young one, who -at once arrested my attention. That she was quite a girl was very -evident, though her face was almost concealed by one of those ugly blue -veils which render the complexion livid, the hair green; but in this -instance the actual shade of the latter was visible in the rich plaits -which were coiled round the back of her head, and such golden-brown is -sure to be accompanied by a skin as fair as that of the slender throat -of which I just caught a glimpse. The figure was extremely petite -and graceful, the dress perfectly plain, and the whole appearance so -undoubtedly that of a young lady, that it seemed an almost incongruous -circumstance that she should have in her lap a sleeping infant. The -child—richly dressed in ample robes, and carefully veiled—was so small -that I guessed it to be scarcely a month old. - -Now we all know that there are women who adore babies, and it is -possible that there are also some girls who are given to a predilection -so incomprehensible to the masculine mind generally. I concluded that -I beheld one of these wonders in my youthful fellow-traveller, as at -any slight movement of her little charge, she soothed and hushed it in -a truly maternal manner; while her companion (no doubt, thought I, the -child’s nurse) was entirely occupied, as it seemed to me for want of -something else to do, with a huge packet of sandwiches. - -Presently our fast train stopped at Croydon. The elderly female -prepared to alight; and having assisted her, I offered to hand out the -young lady. To my great surprise she said: ‘Thank you very much, but I -go on to Brighton.’ - -‘And baby too?’ I asked. - -‘O yes!’ she replied. ‘I never trust him to any one else.’ - -I was sorely perplexed. Surely, surely she could not be the mother. The -thought was preposterous. My curiosity was fairly roused, and I tried -to beguile her into conversation on indifferent topics; but she was a -discreet little person, and her replies were so monosyllabic, that we -arrived at our destination without having become in the least better -acquainted. However, as we entered the station, she did at last throw -back the ugly veil as she looked somewhat anxiously from the window, -and then disclosed to my admiring gaze one of the loveliest faces I -had ever looked upon. She appeared to be about sixteen. Large dark -eyes bright as stars, were shaded with long black lashes; a rosebud of -a mouth, a small delicate nose ever so slightly _retroussé_, and the -sudden blush which increased these charms, when I asked if she expected -any one to meet her, made a powerful impression upon me _then_, and -were destined, though I knew it not at the time, to affect my peace of -mind and influence my future life. - -I repeated my question before she gave her hesitating answer: ‘The -fact is I do _not_ expect any one, as my friends do not know that I am -alone.’ - -‘Pray allow me then to help you with your luggage, or in any way.’ - -‘Thank you so much, but I have no luggage; the servants brought it all -down yesterday.’ Then again blushing, she added: ‘If you _would_ kindly -call a fly, it will be all I shall require.’ - -Before handing her out of the carriage, I offered (I confess in much -tribulation) to relieve her of the infant; but she exclaimed, laughing -merrily: ‘O no; I really could not trust you for the world.’ - -So we walked together towards the fly, I having previously observed -that her ticket, like my own, was for the first-class. Here was another -mystery. In my haste I had been glad to secure a seat anywhere; but -I recollected that she must have been settled in her corner of the -carriage for some time when I jumped in, as she then appeared to be -quite absorbed in a book. We now reached the fly; and not in the least -incommoded with her burden, she skipped nimbly up the steps, and -requested me to direct the driver to ‘89 Marine Parade.’ - -‘No mystery about the address at all events,’ I thought as I raised -my hat to take leave of my fair companion, who bending towards me, -thanked me with the sweet voice and refined pronunciation that I love -to hear in women, for the slight service I had rendered her, and left -me perfectly bewitched by her grace and beauty. I stood gazing after -the fly till it was quite out of sight, before I procured one for -myself. I could not understand my feelings. That I, a man of the world, -accustomed to the society of attractive women, should in my thirtieth -year fall in love at first sight with a little girl scarcely more than -half that age, seemed incredible. I could not, and would not believe -it. No; it certainly was mere curiosity which induced me to traverse -Brighton from morning to night in the hope of seeing her again. For -three whole days my rambles were unsuccessful. I fancied once that -she passed in a barouche on the drive; but it was only the pose in -the carriage which struck me, the face being turned away. At last I -began to fear that she and her friends had only stopped at Brighton -_en route_ for some other destination; and feeling utterly weary of -all the frequented parts of the gay town, on the fourth morning I -wandered towards Cliftonville. A deep reverie was interrupted by the -sound of silvery-toned laughter; and considerably below me on the -beach I discerned the fairy form which had become so familiar to my -imagination. An adjacent seat was a ‘coigne of vantage’ whence I could -watch her who had so attracted me. - -She was attired in a dainty morning-dress of pale blue, looped up -over the crisp white frills of an under-skirt; she wore the same -hat in which I had first seen her, but without the objectionable -veil, and still better, was without the far more objectionable -baby. A fashionable-looking lady was seated near her occupied with -a book; while the fairy (as I shall call her till I know her name) -was frolicking about with a little Maltese dog, which she vainly -endeavoured to entice into the sea. The little animal, more like a ball -of white wool, scampered readily enough after the pebbles thrown for -it as the waves retreated, but rushed back to his mistress, as if for -protection from the advancing waters, as they returned and broke upon -the shingle. - -I watched these gambols with the interest of a school-boy, rather than -that of a man of my mature age, and felt that I should never tire of -so watching them. Then the elder lady rose and spoke to her companion; -the latter immediately picked up the little dog, and they walked slowly -up the beach towards the place where I was sitting, without observing -me until they were so close that I could not avoid (had I so wished) -raising my hat to my late railway companion. She returned my salutation -with a blush and a smile; while her friend’s inquiring glance was -somewhat haughty. - -‘The gentleman, dear aunt,’ explained the fairy, ‘who was so kind to me -on my journey.’ - -‘I am happy, sir, to have the opportunity of thanking you for your -attention to my niece,’ was the rejoinder—the words being courteous -enough, while the manner was so distant, that it was impossible for me -to do otherwise than wish them good-morning, and content myself with -gazing after the blue cloud which enveloped my fairy till it had melted -away in the distance. - -Of course I walked in the same direction the following morning, but -no fairy appeared to me. I tried the esplanade, the piers, the shops -at all hours, without success. At last one day, which I had almost -determined should be my last in Brighton, I thought a book might -change my thoughts, and by good-fortune went for it to the library -in St James’s Street. There, standing in the entrance, I beheld the -graceful little lady with her white dog. The stately aunt was at the -counter turning over the books; and when at last she had made her -choice, she found her niece actually conversing with a comparative -stranger. I could see that she was not greatly pleased at the meeting, -in spite of her studied politeness; but to my infinite satisfaction, -a friendly shower detained her, and she was unavoidably drawn into -the conversation, though with true English reserve; her niece, on the -contrary, chattered away with all the naïveté of a child. - -‘We must have a fly, Lily,’ said the aunt presently. ‘I am sure the -rain will not cease for some time.’ - -‘Oh, it is really hardly worth while,’ replied that young lady, ‘we are -so near home, and my considerate fellow-traveller has offered us his -umbrella.’ - -‘You are extremely polite, sir,’ said the frigid duenna; ‘but you -require it yourself; we cannot think of’—— - -‘Not at all,’ I interrupted. ‘Pray favour me by using it. Any time will -do for returning it; either to the _Old Ship_, where I am staying; -or I am here almost every day; or if you will allow me, I would save -all trouble by calling for it.’ I then presented my card, which bore -my town address. It evidently satisfied her, for the icy manner -perceptibly thawed; and taking out her card-case, she gave me her own, -expressing her hope that they might have the pleasure of seeing me. - -Here was a success. I think I must have returned to the hotel on -wings—certainly it was not the ordinary walk of mortals which conveyed -me; for I found myself seated before my solitary dinner quite oblivious -of everything that might have occurred since that parting at the -library. - -The following afternoon, on wings again, I flew to the temple which -enshrined my divinity. Miss Langdale was at home. I had of course -inquired for the elder lady. I was conducted up the broad staircase -to an elegant drawing-room, its four French windows opening upon a -spacious verandah, which pleasantly shaded this luxuriously furnished -apartment. A grand-piano and harp testified to the musical tastes -of the family. But there was little time for observation, as Miss -Langdale entered the room almost immediately. She was very gracious in -her welcome; but that could not make up to me for the absence of her -charming niece. - -‘I am sorry,’ observed the placid lady, as if stating a very -unimportant fact, ‘that my niece is not at home; it is the day for her -riding-lesson, and unfortunately she has but just gone.’ - -I could scarcely conceal my bitter disappointment sufficiently to make -a conventional reply: ‘I was of course fortunate to have found one of -the ladies at home in so fine a day, &c.’ - -There was no difficulty in ‘getting on,’ as it is called, with Miss -Langdale: the inevitable subject of the weather was disposed of at -once; politics occupied almost as short a time; church matters were -settled as briefly; in short every conceivable topic was touched upon -before I had an opportunity of leading the conversation to the niece. - -‘I have two nieces under my charge,’ said Miss Langdale—‘Lilian, whom -you have seen; the younger still a child at school; also a nephew, -who I assure you is more trouble than both the girls together; but -I am happy to say my brother has now sent him abroad with a tutor, -so we must hope he will return much improved.’ The voluble lady then -proceeded to inform me that Mr Langdale had lost his wife when ‘Rosa’ -was born, and that she, the aunt, had resided with the family ever -since—a period of ten years. ‘So I have had the entire charge of the -children, and now look upon them as my own,’ she added. - -‘The niece I have had the pleasure of seeing,’ I observed, ‘does -infinite credit to her training; I think her perfectly charming.’ - -‘I am very glad to hear you say so,’ said Miss Langdale; ‘it is -certainly the general opinion, and I naturally like to think so myself; -but it is possible I may be blinded by partiality. To me, Lilian -appears guileless as a child with the sense of a woman, a combination -which makes her manners very fascinating. But she is really almost too -fearless; I never met with a girl with so much self-reliance.’ - -Longing to hear more, yet not feeling at liberty to ask questions, I -merely murmured some commonplace truism about a ‘noble quality.’ - -‘So it is,’ replied the sedate aunt, ‘when not carried too far; that -journey, for instance. I positively shudder when I think of a girl like -Lily, brought up as she has been, undertaking it quite alone.’ - -‘With the exception of’——I stammered. - -Taking advantage of my hesitation, the talkative lady interrupted, -as if to help me to my meaning: ‘I beg your pardon, Mr Farquhar. She -certainly was fortunate enough to meet with a companion who would, -I feel sure, have protected her from any annoyance. But think how -different it might have been; and she left home expecting to take care -of herself.’ - -Much vexed at being misunderstood, I was hastening to explain, when -the door was thrown open and visitors were announced. I had already -exceeded the orthodox limits of a morning call, so I rose to take -leave, disappointed, yet consoled by an invitation to call again. ‘When -I hope,’ said my hostess, ‘that Lily will be at home.’ - -I need scarcely say that the invitation was accepted; and I made my -next visit at an earlier hour than I had ventured upon at the first, -which was necessarily more ceremonious. I was on this occasion shewn -into a small, exceedingly pretty morning-room, with glass doors opening -into a garden, fragrant with mignonette and gay with autumn flowers. I -was standing at these open doors inhaling the perfumed air, when Miss -Langdale joined me. - -‘You are admiring our garden, I see,’ said that lady. ‘I assure you -we are very proud of it; for though other people have recently found -out that flowers will flourish at Brighton, my brother has always -cultivated his. Being his own, he has spared no pains upon the -property. We live here almost as much as at Kensington; and he comes -to us as often as business will permit.’ - -This information was interesting in its way; but my thoughts were with -the fairest flower of them all. A slight rustle of silk behind us made -me aware of her presence. I held the tiny gloved hand which was placed -so frankly in mine a moment longer than was necessary, while I noticed -that she was more elaborately dressed than I had before seen her, her -hat being of white felt, with a long fleecy ostrich feather lying upon -her burnished hair. - -‘You are going out, I perceive, Miss Lilian,’ I observed, preparing -regretfully to take leave; ‘pray do not let me detain you.’ - -‘You are not detaining us at all,’ she replied, ‘for you see my aunt -has not even begun to dress; but as we generally take a drive in the -afternoon, and not knowing you were here, I thought I might as well be -ready for it.’ - -‘We shall be extremely pleased if you will accompany us,’ said Miss -Langdale, addressing me; ‘that is, if it will not bore you.’ - -Bore me indeed! I was in ecstasies. - -‘Then, if you will excuse me, I will dress at once.—In the meantime, -Lily, you can shew Mr Farquhar the garden. I shall not be long.’ - -Dear, good lady; she might have been all day at her toilet as far as I -was concerned; for was I not at last alone with my fairy! Walking up -and down the broad gravel walk, we chatted for some time before I found -an opportunity of mentioning a subject to which no allusion whatever -had been made since the never-to-be-forgotten day of our journey to -Brighton. - -‘I ought to apologise,’ I began, ‘for not having before asked after our -young fellow-traveller. I hope the baby’—— - -‘Oh, pray do not mention it,’ cried my companion, a vivid blush -overspreading face and throat. ‘I have heard quite enough of that baby, -I assure you, already.’ - -This was startling. But I was destined to be still more perplexed, -for she added earnestly: ‘Promise me, Mr Farquhar, never to allude to -that subject before my aunt, or Papa when he comes; he will be here on -Saturday. So promise me, or I shall never hear the last of it.’ - -‘You may trust me, indeed you may. But surely you will not refuse to -tell me.’ - -A velvet dress and feathered bonnet now appeared in view, and Miss -Langdale approaching, told us that the carriage was at the door. We had -a perfectly lovely drive, not dawdling up and down the Parade, but far -away over the fresh breezy downs; and when it was over I returned to my -rooms a bewitched and bewildered man. - -The following Saturday I was introduced to Mr Langdale. He was very -cordial, and immediately asked me to dinner. I found him a capital -host; and I think we were mutually pleased with the acquaintance. - -From that time I was a frequent visitor at the house, and the more -I saw of Lily the more passionately I loved her. But for that one -forbidden subject, I should have been supremely happy, for I could -see that she liked my society; and when her lovely eyes met mine with -the open truthful expression which was their characteristic, I could -scarcely believe that she had a secret in the world. Sometimes I -forgot it altogether; sometimes it haunted me even in the happiest -moments of our intercourse, when, as I relapsed into reverie, she would -innocently ask why I was ‘so absent.’ - -I hope I shall not therefore be thought guilty of impertinent curiosity -when I confess that I became intensely anxious to solve this provoking -mystery. It was not easy to do so; as though almost daily now in Lily’s -society, I was never alone with her, and I was bound by my promise in -the presence of others. The wished-for opportunity, however, occurred -at last. It was Saturday, and Mr Langdale was as usual expected by an -afternoon train. It was the custom for Miss Langdale and Lily to take -the carriage to meet him at the station, and it was at the door when -I happened to pass the house. The ladies came out at the same moment. -I was about to assist them into the carriage, when Miss Langdale, who -looked very ill, said: ‘I am afraid, my dear, I am not well enough to -go with you; I would rather lie down. With this headache the glare is -insupportable.’ - -‘I told you so, dear aunt,’ replied Lily. ‘We need not go; the carriage -can be sent for Papa without us.’ - -But Miss Langdale would not hear of Lily giving up her drive and -also disappointing Papa; so after many affectionate remonstrances, -Miss Lily was obliged to depart. Just as the footman was closing the -carriage-door, Miss Langdale said: ‘Will you go with her, Mr Farquhar? -We know,’ she added smiling, ‘by experience that you can take care of -her.’ - -Overjoyed, I sprang into the vacant seat beside Lily, who as we drove -off exclaimed: ‘What a careful old darling aunt is! She seems to think -I am never to be trusted alone; and is more particular than ever -since—since,’ she added, slightly hesitating, ‘that unlucky journey.’ - -‘Will you trust me, Lily?’ I asked, for the first time addressing her -by that familiar name. ‘Will you trust me, and grant me a favour?’ - -‘Certainly, I will, if possible,’ she replied. ‘What do you wish me to -do?’ - -‘I wish you to tell me why that journey from London was unlucky, -and—about—the baby.’ - -‘Do you really care to know?’ she asked, apparently quite amused. - -‘I care for everything which concerns you, Lily,’ I replied very -seriously. - -‘Then I suppose I must tell you,’ said she with a sigh, the glowing -colour mantling over her fair young face. ‘But I must say it is rather -hard to have to proclaim one’s own folly, at the risk too of’—— - -‘Of what?’ I asked anxiously. - -‘Well, I was going to say, of forfeiting your good opinion; but I -daresay you think me frivolous as it is.’ - -‘I think, Miss Lilian,’ I replied, now greatly excited, ‘that you are -amusing yourself at my expense.’ - -Startled by my sudden change of manner, she gazed at me in evident -amazement, then said: ‘What _can_ you mean, Mr Farquhar? I am only -surprised that you should feel any curiosity on the subject; I thought -men were never curious.’ - -‘Then I am an exception,’ I exclaimed. ‘How can I help being interested -in all that concerns you? So pray, fulfil your promise at once, as we -ought to be at the station in a few minutes.’ - -‘Oh, there is not much to tell,’ she quietly observed. ‘But if I am to -constitute you my father-confessor, I must tell you _all_, that you may -understand the motives which actuated my conduct.’ - -‘Yes, yes,’ I muttered; ‘as you please; only, pray, pray go on.’ - -‘Then,’ said Lily composedly, ‘I must begin with the day you and I -travelled together from London. Papa was to have accompanied me, my -aunt and the servants having gone the day before; but unexpected -business came in the way, and when he came in to luncheon, he told me -that he could not possibly go to Brighton till the following week, and -asked me if I could also remain in town. I told him it was impossible; -the house was dismantled, my clothes sent away, and I was actually -dressed for the journey. Papa saw how awkward it was for me; and when I -represented to him that I should be little more than an hour alone in -the train if I went, while I should be all day by myself in the great -empty house if I remained at home, he somewhat reluctantly gave his -consent to my going without him. He then desired my brother to take -me to the station, and see me safe into a carriage, gave me a book to -read, which he said would prevent any one talking to me, and wished me -good-bye; and with many injunctions to “take great care of myself,” -he left me with Harry, who grumbled very much at being detained on my -account, as he was also going from home, and had promised to meet some -friends who would be waiting for him. I had Papa’s permission, however, -and was determined to go. Then Harry told me that I should not be -allowed to have my dog with me, that it would be put into a dark place, -where it would be sure to howl all the way. This was almost too much -for me; and I was on the point of giving way to Harry’s persuasion, -and wait for the escort of Papa, who would be sure to prevent that, as -he is known to all the officials on the Brighton line, when a sudden -thought struck me. I flew up-stairs to Rosa’s room, took her doll, -which is as big as a baby, out of its box, and quickly taking off its -long robes, I dressed poor little dear struggling Sprite in them.’ - -‘Lily, Lily!’ I exclaimed, almost too vexed with myself to laugh at -this absurd solution of the mystery. ‘Why did you not tell me this -before?’ - -‘I did not know you would care about such a trifle, for one thing,’ she -replied; ‘and really aunt was so angry with me at the time that I did -not wish to renew the subject in her presence; so you see this has been -the first opportunity I have had for telling you; and now I suppose you -will think me as childish as aunt did—worse than childish, she said.’ - -‘Shall I tell you what I think, Lily?’ I asked. - -‘Yes,’ she said, laughing; ‘I should like to know the worst.’ - -‘I think then that you are much too charming to travel alone, and that -I should like to take care of you always. Tell me, my darling, if I may -hope to do so?’ - -‘Always?’ she asked wonderingly, as if scarcely understanding me. - -‘Yes, Lily, as your devoted and adoring husband.’ - -At this moment the carriage drove into the station, and stopped at -the usual place of meeting. We were not too soon, for the train had -just arrived, and Lily’s quick eyes caught sight of her father coming -towards us. ‘There’s Papa!’ she exclaimed, starting up in the carriage. -I took her hand, and gently drawing her back to her seat, I implored -her to answer me. - -Her lovely face was flushed, the ready tears trembled on the long -lashes which veiled her eyes; she hesitated for a moment, then in two -words made me happy. ‘Ask Papa,’ she whispered. - -I could only thank her by a silent pressure of her tiny hand, as ‘Papa’ -at that moment joined us, and neither of us was sufficiently composed -to explain the reason of my presence. - -Lily and I quite understood each other; and I was able to satisfy Mr -Langdale as to my position and prospects; but he would only consent to -an engagement on condition that our marriage should not take place till -his daughter was of age. I pleaded that it would be quite impossible -for me to bear the delay of so many years. - -‘How old,’ he inquired, ‘do you imagine the child to be?’ - -‘Certainly not more than seventeen.’ - -‘Then let me tell you for your comfort that Lily has reached the mature -age of nineteen and a half,’ replied her father. - -I was equally surprised and pleased, for it made the disparity between -us so much less than I thought, as well as the proposed time of -probation. - -It was a favourite joke of Mr Langdale’s that it was my darling’s -childish trick with the little dog, and not her appearance, which -had given me an erroneous opinion of her age. Miss Langdale always -pretended to agree with her brother. That good lady highly approved of -our engagement, declaring that she had taken a fancy to me from the -first. This was not exactly true, but no doubt she thought it was when -she said it. - -One evening when we were talking over the memorable journey, it -occurred to me to ask Lily why she had travelled second-class on that -occasion, her ticket being for the first. - -‘Hush!’ she whispered, placing her little hand upon my lips. ‘Aunt does -not yet know of that flagrant impropriety; but I assure you I had a -good reason.’ - -She told me afterwards that her brother was so charmed with ‘the lark,’ -as he called it, that he quite forgot his ill-humour, and tried to -assist her to carry out her plan in every possible way; he had taken -her ticket and selected a carriage, when it occurred to him that she -would look more like a nursemaid in the second-class; to which she -agreed. Lily a nursemaid! Did my darling expect to travel only with the -blind? - -On the twenty-first anniversary of her birthday, our marriage took -place at Brighton, where the first happy days of our courtship were -passed. Rosa, a pretty little girl quite as tall as her sister, was the -chief bride’s-maid, looking scarcely younger than the bride, who is now -the beloved mistress of a large establishment. My mother, who resides -with us, never interferes with my clever little wife, whom she loves -as a daughter; and as for me, I believe—well, I am sure that I am the -most obedient as well as the most devoted of her servants. - - - - -THE PROPER THING. - - -Foremost in the ranks of despots of our own creating may be mentioned -that allegorical personage Mrs Grundy, who though an unseen power, -seems to be armed with all the force and subtlety of a dreaded tyrant. -Her kindred partake of the same nature. Some are recognised facts, -and known by special names; others are nameless, and perhaps not even -supposed to exist; but all are powerful, and all are to be dreaded. - -Ancient as Mrs Grundy—generally living side by side with her amongst -civilised races—is that great uncompromising tyrant called the Proper -Thing; though among barbarous tribes, neither Mrs Grundy nor the -Proper Thing is to be found, because both spring from the corruption -of a refined instinct—the instinct of order and decorum. Races -semi-civilised and over-civilised—terms which mean nearly the same -thing—are most subject to the capricious influences of this tyrant. But -wherever the slightest improvement has been made on complete savagery, -there the gall-nut has appeared upon it, so that a few wild Bush-tribes -seem to be the only portions of the human family over whom the Proper -Thing has not more or less extended sceptre. - -The forms assumed by the Proper Thing in various regions are of -infinite variety, and sometimes even more startling than ludicrous. In -certain of the South Sea Islands, for instance, it is the Proper Thing -for children to kill their parents when verging on old age; and the -parents are quite agreeable to the practice, which derives its power -from religious belief, as the tyrant’s dictates often do in heathen -countries. In China the Proper Thing has been a terrible autocrat. -There, women’s feet have been reduced to the shape and size of a -nutmeg, and mandarins’ nails lengthened to a proportionate enormity—all -out of deference to the Proper Thing, which to them means being idle -and known to be idle. There, awe of the imperial presence has made -it indispensable to ‘nine times knock the noddle;’ and we know how -a representative of our own country was justly applauded in England -for refusing to perform that ceremony, or conform to the exigences of -the Proper Thing as by law established in China. It stalks across the -lone expanses of the North American prairies, inspiring men to let -their hair grow to the ground and make pompous speeches; while it lays -heavy weights on women’s shoulders and crops their locks, and in some -places flattens children’s heads in their cradles. East and west, in -the past and in the present, its legislation is always seen taking the -most contradictory forms, but almost equally inconvenient in all. Thus -in ancient Mexico it decreed that the nobility should go to court in -their shabbiest dresses, because no one might dare to be smart in the -presence of the Emperor; and in modern Europe it decrees that ladies -shall impoverish themselves rather than not go to court in a blaze of -splendour. In this instance, however, there is no question as to which -decree is the most convenient. - -The capriciousness of this power is its most objectionable -characteristic, since its rule would be highly beneficent if it only -attacked bad manners and customs, which on the contrary it very often -overlooks. In Germany, for example, people with the longest prefaces -to their names, the addresses on whose envelopes are a perfect volume -of titles, are allowed to pass their knives and forks with alarming -celerity in front of their neighbours at dinner, in order to plunge -them into some distant coveted dish. No doubt their appetites are more -enormous than ours, for in the matter of capacity for food, beyond the -widest width there always seems to be a wider still; but the exigences -of the Proper Thing ought at least to make them wait until the dishes -are handed to them in civilised form, or even do without the object of -their desire rather than risk cutting off their neighbours’ noses. But -it really seems that the more stringent the rule of the Proper Thing, -the more latitude is given to disagreeable manners. In the sixteenth -and seventeenth centuries, for example, it was much more of an autocrat -even than it is now; and yet with all the flattery, the bowing and -scraping and long titles, no one put any constraint on his temper, and -the best bred people thought nothing of throwing things at each other’s -heads when they were in a passion. Occurrences of this sort are rare -now, at least in high-class and diplomatic society. - -But still the rule of the Proper Thing is rather severe on all classes -even here at home, nor do any of our liberties and charters interfere -with its prerogatives. We may question them nevertheless. Of course we -do not mean to question regulations made for the comfort and decency -and order of society, such as the hostess sitting at the head of the -table, the eating of fish with a silver knife, or even a duchess taking -precedence of a marchioness. All these regulations and others of the -same kind relate to good manners, which are often quite independent of -the Proper Thing; and without a little code of niceties we should soon -sink to the lowest depths of animalism. But why should it be improper -for a lady to ride alone, whereas a similar fiat has not gone forth -against her walking alone in country roads and lanes, though she must -be much safer from molestation on horseback than on foot? Why must -invited guests to an evening party always be after their time? Why is -it necessary to dine at late unwholesome hours, to dance all night, -and to go to several parties in one evening? But these are really only -the more harmless pranks of the chief ruler. Unfortunately, there are -others which interfere tyrannically with the serious business of life. - -The Proper Thing has always taken up its stronghold very specially -in the institution of Caste, where for unnumbered centuries it has -reigned over India with a despotism harsher than that of the native -princes. Nor has it by any means confined its caste regulations to -Eastern lands. Far be it from us to make hostile reflections on the -venerable institution of distinction of classes in our own country; -on the contrary, we might rather lament the confusion into which this -institution has fallen among us. But none the less we may question -the extraordinary laws which govern what is still called ‘loss of -caste.’ Why should a lady lose hers because she earns her bread as a -governess, while a gentleman does not lose his through being a tutor? -Of course she can recover her caste if only she has a fortune left -her; it is not like Indian caste, once lost for ever lost; but in the -majority of cases this does not happen. And why, when wholesome caste -laws are thrown to the winds, should an absurd and unjust one like this -hold its ground? But after all, it is perhaps natural to the spirit -and genius of the Proper Thing, which has always been harsher with -women than with men, according to the principles on which human affairs -have generally been conducted. However, tyranny of this sort is by no -means confined to the upper and middle classes even as regards caste. -In this matter the lower ranks, and especially their female half, are -very much its slaves. In these, though the women do not therefore hold -themselves bound to speak in a low voice, or to cultivate the good -quality which is next to godliness, or to refrain from repairing at all -costs to crowded and not always very sober scenes of holiday-making, -they are fully alive to the necessity of flaunting every new fashion -in the public eye on Sunday through a medium of tawdry tint and flimsy -material; children wearing a _tablier_ or _panier_ of totally different -material and antagonistic colour to the frock which it was intended to -adorn; women with hideous complications of blue feathers and red roses -on their heads. Lately, indeed, since ladies have set the good example -of wearing the dark colours which become nearly every one, it has been -much followed by their imitators below-stairs, though we fear more for -the sake of the example than the goodness of it. - -Another and still stranger phase is to be found in some of our -small sea-side ports and fishing-villages, where it is considered a -disgrace to girls to go into service, though it is not derogatory to -their dignity to assume male attire and pick cockles all day on a -mud-bank. The men are held to have formed a _mésalliance_ if they marry -gentlemen’s servants; a falling-off which, if their wives die, they may -retrieve by a second marriage with a lady who (emphatically) ‘has never -been in service.’ But no doubt it is natural enough that the people -should copy their superiors’ worship of the Proper Thing in this as -in the other fashions, though they have different notions of what the -Proper Thing really is. - -We hope to have established the fact that this tyrant has nothing to -do with virtue. Its rule has often flourished most where virtue has -been at the lowest ebb. How brilliantly, for example, the Proper Thing -reigned in the court of Louis XIV., which was certainly not a school of -morality. Neither has it much to do with what may be justly called _les -convenances_; we mean those smaller constraints and proprieties which -young American ladies set aside without any deterioration of their real -goodness, but with a certain detriment to their manners and maidenly -charms. Originally, no doubt, the Proper Thing sprang from a sense of -true propriety, but it has degenerated so far as sometimes even to -contradict that sense; and virtue can stand all the better without -such a whimsical attempt at a buttress. Of course it will always set -itself up more or less as a buttress, and as necessary to virtue and -propriety, unless the real things should make such progress as to -crowd out the counterfeit. But we fear that there never will be a -civilisation so pure and simple that delicacy and honour will, of their -own goodness, take the place of the true Proper Thing. - - - - -INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY. - - -We had been putting to rights an old surgery that it might be turned -into a dwelling-house. A complete set of drawers, with names of drugs -and medical condiments printed thereon, had been torn from the wall; -vast heaps of bones, used formerly for scientific purposes, had been -taken from a large mouldy cupboard, and had thereafter received -Christian burial in a corner of our garden. All had been done that was -possible to sweeten and purify the ancient place, when we discovered -on a certain shelf several dusty and stained volumes, which looked to -our eyes interesting and curious. One of the volumes, entitled _Health -and Longevity_, was secured at once by my young children, and some -extraordinary woodcuts of venerable individuals, more or less hideous, -were cut therefrom, the volume itself being then thrown aside: Some -notes regarding these ancient beings may not be uninteresting. - -The first, whose portrait lies before me as I write, is named ‘Isobel -Walker, who lived in the parish of Daviot, Aberdeenshire, and died -2d November 1774, aged one hundred and twelve years.’ The period of -her birth was established beyond doubt by the records of the parish -of Rayne, in Garioch, where she was born. Nothing remarkable is known -regarding her mode of life, excepting that she is said to have had -‘a placid temper, and to have been in that medium state in regard to -leanness and corpulence which is favourable to long life.’ She is -represented on the plate as a plump-faced, cheerful woman, with no -perceptible neck, and with an intelligent expression of countenance. - -The next individual whose somewhat stolid countenance lies before me in -one of the quaint wood-engravings, is called ‘Peter Garden, who lived -also in Aberdeenshire, in the parish of Auchterless, and who died on -the 12th January 1775, aged one hundred and thirty-one years.’ He was -above the average height, led a temperate and frugal life; was employed -in agricultural pursuits to the last, and preserved his looks so well -that he appeared to be a fresher and younger man than his son, who was -far advanced in life.’ There have, the record goes on to say, ‘been -several older people in Scotland than either Isobel Walker or Peter -Garden, but unfortunately no picture or engraving of them can now be -found.’ Among these was John Taylor, a miner at the Leadhills, who -worked at that employment till he was one hundred and twelve! He did -not marry till he was sixty, after which there were nine children born -to him. ‘He saw to the last without spectacles, had excellent teeth, -and enjoyed his existence till 1770, when he yielded to fate, at the -age of one hundred and thirty-two.’ - -The fourth venerable and antique person mentioned is ‘Catharine, -Countess of Desmond, who died at the age of one hundred and forty -years, in the reign of King James I. She was a daughter of the -Fitzgeralds of Dromana in the county of Waterford, and in the reign -of Edward IV., married James, fourteenth Earl of Desmond.’ She was -in England in that reign, and danced at court with Richard, Duke of -Gloucester. It appears that she retained her full vigour to an advanced -period of life; and the ruin of the House of Desmond obliged her to -take a journey from Bristol to London, to solicit relief from the -court, when she was nearly one hundred and forty. She twice or thrice -renewed her teeth, and is represented with a heavy and voluminous -head-dress, and a most stern and masculine cast of features. - -So much for Scotland and Ireland. Our fifth wood-cut, much defaced -and time-worn, is a portraiture of ‘Thomas Parr, son of John Parr of -Winnington, in the parish of Alderbury in Shropshire, who was born in -1483, in the reign of Edward IV., and resided in the Strand, London, -in 1635; consequently was one hundred and fifty-two years and some odd -months. He lived in the reigns of ten kings and queens, and was buried -in Westminster Abbey.’ When he was about one hundred and fifty-two -years of age, he was brought up to London by Thomas, Earl of Arundel, -and carried to court. The king said to him: ‘You have lived longer than -other men. What have you done more than other men?’ He replied: ‘I did -penance when I was a hundred years old.’ His great rules for longevity -are well known: ‘Keep your head cool by temperance; your feet warm by -exercise; rise early; go soon to bed; and if you are inclined to get -fat, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.’ Or in other words: ‘Be -moderate both in your sleep and diet.’ - -Henry Jenkins is the next person on our list. His birthplace is -unknown; ‘but there is satisfactory evidence of his great longevity.’ -At the age of between ten and twelve he was sent to Northallerton with -a horse-load of arrows, ‘previous to the battle of _Flowden_, which was -fought on the 9th of September 1513; and as he died on the 8th December -1670, he must have then been one hundred and sixty-nine years of age.’ -He had been often sworn in Chancery and in other courts to above one -hundred and forty years’ memory; and there is a record preserved in -the King’s Remembrancer’s office in the Exchequer, by which it appears -‘that Henry Jenkins of Ellerton-upon-Swale, labourer, aged one hundred -and fifty-seven, was produced and deposed as a witness.’ Little is -known of his mode of living except that towards the close of his life -he ‘swam rivers.’ His diet is said to have been ‘coarse and sour.’ He -is represented with a long white beard, a shovel-hat, and a pensive -expression of face—not unpleasing. - -Our next plate represents two very disagreeable-looking Hungarian -specimens of humanity, named ‘Sarah Roffin or Rovin, and John Rovin, -man and wife.’ They are depicted as enjoying the sweets of domestic -life. John Rovin is entering the hovel in which they live, with a -long staff in his hand, a bundle of some kind on his back. Sarah -is aged one hundred and sixty-four; her husband is one hundred and -seventy-two! In these circumstances, the expression of utter disgust -and weariness to be seen on both faces is scarcely to be wondered at. -They had at the time their likenesses were taken ‘lived together one -hundred and forty-seven years, and were both born at Stadova in the -directory Casanseber in Temeswaer Banat; their children, two sons -and two daughters, being then alive. The youngest son is one hundred -and sixteen years of age, and he has two great-grandsons, the one in -the twenty-seventh, the other in the thirty-fifth year of his age.’ A -description of the picture from which this engraving is taken has been -given in the following terms: ‘The dress of John Rovin consists of a -white frock reaching almost to the knees, and confined round the waist -by a girdle made of rushes, in which is hung a knife. He is standing -supported by a stick; his knees are rather bent; in his left hand are -some heads of Indian corn, which he is presenting to his wife. His hair -and beard are a light gray; his eyes are quick, clear, and penetrating; -and though his whole aspect proclaims his life to have been a long one, -there are no such traces of old age in him as appear in his wife. _She_ -stoops very much, is wrinkled, old, and yellow, and in her whole aspect -is displayed extreme old age in its most revolting form. Near her feet -and on the ground is seated a large handsome tortoise-shell cat, which -also appears very old.’ - -The last of this extraordinary batch of aged people is called Petratsch -Zortan or Czartan, aged one hundred and eighty-five; and like the -preceding pair, is Hungarian. In a Dutch dictionary entitled _Het -algemeen Historich Woonderbok_, there is an account given of this -ancient personage, of which the following is a translation: ‘Czartan -was born in 1537 at Kosfrock, a village four miles from Temeswaer, in -Hungary, where he had lived one hundred and eighty years. When the -Turks took Temeswaer from the Christians, he kept his father’s cattle. -A few days before his death he walked with the help of his stick to -the post-house of Kosfrock, to ask alms of the travellers. He had but -little eyesight; his hair and beard were of a greenish-white colour; he -had few teeth remaining. His son was ninety-seven years of age—by his -third wife. Being a Greek, the old man was a strict observer of fasts, -and never used any food but milk and cakes, called by the Hungarians -“Kollatschen,” together with a good glass of brandy. He had descendants -in the fifth generation, with whom he sometimes played, carrying them -in his arms. He died in 1724. Count Wallis had a portrait taken of this -old man, when he fell in with him previous to his death. The Dutch -envoy then at Vienna transmitted this account to the States-general.’ - - - - -DREAMLAND—A SONNET. - - - At night, when all is hushed in still repose, - When ‘Nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep,’ - Doth o’er our wearied frame soft vigil keep, - And with her gentle hand our eyelids close, - Then doth the restless spirit take its flight, - While soft Imagination lends her wings, - And the chained watchdog Will no longer springs - To bar its progress through the realms of Night. - Reason, the watchful porter at the gate, - Tired with the constant labours of the day, - Retires to rest, and leaves it free to stray - Into the land where Fancy keeps her state, - And her attendant fays glad homage shew - To mortal visitants from earth below. - - CATHARINE DAVIDSON. - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, -and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. - - * * * * * - -_All Rights Reserved._ - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, NO. 751, MAY 18, 1878 *** - -***** This file should be named 63756-0.txt or 63756-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/7/5/63756/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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