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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361,
-November 27, 1886, by Various
-
-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: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886
-
-Author: Various
-
-Release Date: May 16, 2021 [eBook #65356]
-
-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 THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII,
-NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER
-
-VOL. VIII.—NO. 361.      NOVEMBER 27, 1886.      PRICE ONE PENNY.]
-
-
-
-
-THE FLOWER GIRL.
-
-[Illustration: THE FLOWER GIRL.]
-
-_All rights reserved._]
-
-
-    What is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,
-      Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?
-    Is it the home of her earliest childhood
-      That for a brief hour she cannot forget,
-    Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood
-        With dewdrops all wet?
-
-    All the day long in the great crowded city—
-      Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—
-    “Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”
-      She has been crying, still crying aloud.
-    She has been merry at selling so many,
-        Merry and proud.
-
-    Now as she watches the sun that is setting,
-      Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,
-    Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,
-      Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,
-    While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers
-        Once more she trips?
-
-    Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—
-      Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—
-    That takes her to woodlands away from the city,
-      Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?
-    Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity
-        Shadow her thought.
-
-            A. M.
-
-
-
-
-MERLE’S CRUSADE.
-
-BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-LABORARE EST ORARE.
-
-My mistress (how I loved to call her by that name!) was beginning to
-give me her confidence. In a little while I grew quite at my ease with
-her.
-
-She would sit down sometimes and question me about the book I was
-reading, or, if we talked of the children, she would ask my opinion of
-them in a way that showed she respected it.
-
-She told me more than once that her husband was quite satisfied with
-me; the children thrived under my care, Reggie especially, for Joyce
-was somewhat frail and delicate. It gratified me to hear this, for a
-longer acquaintance with Mr. Morton had not lessened my sense of awe in
-his presence (I had had to feel the pressure of his strong will before
-I had been many weeks in his house, and though I had submitted to his
-enforced commands, they had cost me my only tears of humiliation, and
-yet all the time I knew he was perfectly just in his demands). The
-occasion was this.
-
-It was a rule that when visitors asked to see the children, a very
-frequent occurrence when Mrs. Morton received at home, that the head
-nurse should bring them into the blue drawing-room, as it was called.
-On two afternoons I had shirked this duty. With all my boasted courage,
-the idea of facing all those strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
-chose to consider myself privileged to infringe this part of my office.
-I dressed the children carefully, and bade Hannah take them to their
-mother. I thought the girl looked at me and hesitated a moment, but her
-habitual respect kept her silent.
-
-My dereliction of duty escaped notice on the first afternoon; Mr.
-Morton was occupied with a committee, and Mrs. Morton was too gentle
-and considerate to hint that my presence was desired, but on the second
-afternoon Hannah came up looking a little flurried.
-
-Master had not seemed pleased somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
-before the visitors, and asked where nurse was that she had not brought
-the children as usual, and the mistress had looked uncomfortable, and
-had beckoned him to her.
-
-I took no notice of Hannah’s speech, for I had a hasty tongue, and
-might have said things that I should have regretted afterwards, but my
-temper was decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as quickly as possible from
-her arms, and carried him off into the other room. I wanted to be alone
-and recover myself.
-
-I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s distress; he kept patting my
-cheeks and calling to me to kiss him, that at last I was obliged
-to leave off. I had met with a difficulty at last. I could hear the
-roaring of the chained lions behind me, but I said to myself that I
-would not be beaten; if my pride must suffer I should get over the
-unpleasantness in time. Why should I be afraid of people just because
-they wore silks and satins and were strangers to me? My fears were
-undignified and absurd; Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked my duty.
-
-I hoped that nothing more would be said about it, and I determined that
-the following Thursday I would face the ordeal; but I was not to escape
-so easily.
-
-When Mrs. Morton came into the nursery that evening to bid the children
-good-night, I thought she looked a little preoccupied. She kissed them,
-and asked me, rather nervously, to follow her into the night nursery.
-
-“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly, “I hope you will not mind what I
-am going to say. My husband has asked me to speak to you. He seemed a
-little put out this afternoon; it did not please him that Hannah should
-take your place with the children.”
-
-“Hannah told me so when she came up, Mrs. Morton.”
-
-In spite of all my efforts to restrain my temper, I am afraid my voice
-was a little sullen. I had never answered her in such a tone before. I
-would obey Mr. Morton; I knew my own position well enough for that, but
-they should both see that this part of my duty was distasteful to me.
-
-To my intense surprise she took my hand and held it gently.
-
-“I was afraid you would feel it in this way, Merle, but I want you
-to look upon it in another point of view. You know that my husband
-forewarned you that your position would entail difficulties. Hitherto
-things have been quite smooth; now comes a duty which you own by your
-manner to be bitterly distasteful. I sympathise with you, but my
-husband’s wishes are sacred; he is very particular on this point. Do
-you think for my sake that you could yield in this?”
-
-She still held my hand, and I own that the foolish feeling crossed me
-that I was glad that she should know my hand was as soft as hers, but
-as she spoke to me in that beseeching voice all sullenness left me.
-
-“There is very little that I would not do for your sake, Mrs. Morton,
-when you have been so good to me. Please do not say another word
-about it. Mr. Morton was right; I have been utterly in the wrong; I
-feel that now. Next Thursday I will bring down the children into the
-drawing-room.”
-
-She thanked me so warmly that she made me feel still more ashamed of
-myself; it seemed such a wonderful thing that my mistress should stoop
-to entreat where she could by right command, but she was very tolerant
-of a girl’s waywardness. She did not leave me even then, but changed
-the subject. She sat down and talked to me for a few minutes about
-myself and Aunt Agatha. I had not been home yet, and she wanted me to
-fix some afternoon when Mrs. Garnett or Travers could take my place.
-
-“We must not let you get too dull, Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
-a good girl, but she cannot be a companion to you in any sense of the
-word.” And perhaps in that she was right.
-
-I woke the following Thursday with a sense of uneasiness oppressing me,
-so largely do our small fears magnify themselves when indulged. As the
-afternoon approached I grew quite pale with apprehension, and Hannah,
-with unspoken sympathy, but she had wonderful tact for a girl, only
-hinted at the matter in a roundabout way.
-
-I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise blue velvet, and was fastening
-my clean frilled apron over my black gown, when Hannah said quietly,
-“Well, it is no wonder master likes to show people what sort of nurse
-he has got. I don’t think anyone could look so nice in a cap and apron
-as you do, Miss Fenton. It is just as though you were making believe to
-be a servant like me, and it would not do anyhow.”
-
-I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely compliment, but I confessed it
-pleased me and gave me courage. I felt still more like myself when my
-boy put his dimpled arms round my neck, and hid his dear face on my
-shoulder. I could not persuade him to loosen his hold until his mother
-spoke to him, and there was Joyce holding tightly to my gown all the
-time.
-
-The room was so full that it almost made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
-Morton to rise from her seat and meet me, but all her coaxing speeches
-would not make Reggie do more than raise his head from my shoulder. He
-sat in my arms like a baby prince, beating off everyone with his little
-hands, and refusing even to go to his father.
-
-Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I carried him from one to another.
-Joyce had left me at once for her mother. Some of the ladies questioned
-me about the children. They spoke very civilly, but their inquisitive
-glances made my face burn, and it was with difficulty that I made
-suitable replies. Once I looked up, and saw that Mr. Morton was
-watching me. His glance was critical, but not unkindly. I had a feeling
-then that he was subjecting me purposely to this test. I must carry out
-my theory into practice. I am convinced all this was in his mind as he
-looked at me, and I no longer bore a grudge against him.
-
-Not long afterwards I had an opportunity of learning that he could own
-himself fallible on some points. He was exceedingly just, and could
-bear a rebuke even from an inferior, if it proved him to be clearly in
-the wrong.
-
-One afternoon he came into the nursery to play with the children for
-a few minutes. He would wind up their mechanical toys to amuse them.
-Reggie was unusually fretful, and nothing seemed to please him. He
-scolded both his father and his walking doll, and would have nothing
-to say to the learned dog who beat the timbrels and nodded his head
-approvingly to his own music. Presently he caught sight of his
-favourite woolly lamb placed out of his reach on the mantelpiece, and
-began screaming and kicking.
-
-“Naughty Reggie,” observed his father, complacently, and he was taking
-down the toy when I begged him respectfully to replace it.
-
-He looked at me in some little surprise.
-
-“I thought he was crying for it,” he said, somewhat perplexed at this.
-
-“Reggie must not cry for things after that fashion,” I returned,
-firmly, for I felt a serious principle was involved here. “He is only a
-baby, but he is very sensible, and knows he is naughty when he screams
-for a thing. I never give it to him until he is good.”
-
-“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he seems far off from goodness now.
-What do you mean by making all that noise, my boy?”
-
-Reggie was in one of his passions, it was easy to see that; the toy
-would have been flung to the ground in his present mood; so without
-looking at his father or asking his permission, I resorted to my usual
-method, and laid him down screaming lustily in his little cot.
-
-“There baby must stop until he is good,” I remarked, quietly, and I
-took my work and sat down at some little distance, while Mr. Morton
-watched us from the other room. I knew my plan always answered with
-Reggie, and the storm would soon be over.
-
-In two or three minutes his screams ceased, and I heard a penitent
-“Gargle do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him directly, and in a moment
-he held out his arms to be lifted out of the cot.
-
-“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as I kissed him.
-
-“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply, and the next moment he was
-cuddling his lamb.
-
-“I own your method is the best, nurse,” observed Mr. Morton,
-pleasantly. “My boy will not be spoiled, I see that. I confess I should
-have given him the toy directly he screamed for it; you showed greater
-wisdom than his father.”
-
-It is impossible to say how much this speech gratified me. From that
-moment I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.
-
-My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly. A little before the
-nursery dinner Travers brought a message from Mrs. Morton that Joyce
-was to go out with her in the carriage, and that if I liked to have
-the afternoon and evening to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take charge of
-Reggie.
-
-The offer was too tempting to be refused. I do not think I ever knew
-the meaning of the word holiday before. No schoolgirl felt in greater
-spirits than I did during dinner time.
-
-It was a lovely April afternoon. I took out of my wardrobe a soft
-grey merino, my best dress, and a little grey velvet bonnet that Aunt
-Agatha’s skilful hands had made for me. I confess I looked at myself
-with some complacency. “No one would take me for a nurse,” I thought.
-
-In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton; he was just going out. For the
-moment he did not recognise me. He removed his hat hurriedly; no doubt
-he thought me a stranger.
-
-I could not help smiling at his mistake, and then he said, rather
-awkwardly, “I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I am glad you have such
-a lovely afternoon for your holiday; there seems a look of spring in
-the air,” all very civilly, but with his keen eyes taking in every
-particular of my dress.
-
-I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards that he very much approved of Miss
-Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance, and as he was a very fastidious
-man, this was considered high praise. There was more than a touch of
-spring in the air; the delicious softness seemed to promise opening
-buds. Down Exhibition-road the flower-girls were busy with their
-baskets of snowdrops and violets. I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then
-I remembered that Uncle Keith had a weakness for a particular sort of
-scone, and I bought some and a slice of rich Dundee seed cake. I felt
-like a schoolgirl providing a little home feast, but how pleasant it
-is to cater for those we love. I was glad when my short journey was
-over, and I could see the river shimmering a steely blue in the spring
-sunshine. The old church towers seemed more venerable and picturesque.
-As I walked down High-street I looked at the well-known shops with an
-interest I never felt before.
-
-When I reached the cottage I rang very softly, that Aunt Agatha
-should not be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased exclamation when
-she caught sight of me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle? I could
-hardly believe my eyes. Mistress is in there reading,” pointing to the
-drawing-room. “She has not heard the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can
-surprise her finely.”
-
-I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened the door noiselessly. How cosy
-the room looked in the firelight! and could any sight be more pleasant
-to my eyes than dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite low chair, in
-her well-worn black silk and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget her
-look of delight when she saw me.
-
-“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you mean it is really you? Come here and
-let me look at you. I want to see what seven weeks of hard work have
-done for you.”
-
-But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim as she looked.
-
-“There, sit down, and get warm,” giving me an energetic little push,
-“and tell me all about it. Your letters never do you justice, Merle. I
-must hear your experience from your own lips.”
-
-What a talk that was. It lasted all the afternoon, until Patience
-came in to set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle Keith’s boots on the
-scraper; even that sound was musical to me. When he entered the room I
-gave him a good hug, and had put some of my violets in his button-hole
-long before he had left off saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.
-
-“She looks well, Agatha, does she not?” he observed, as we gathered
-round the tea-table. “So the scheme has held out for seven weeks, eh?
-You have not come to tell us you are tired of being a nurse?”
-
-“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly. “I am determined to prove to
-you and the whole world that my theory is a sensible one. I am quite
-happy in my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith. I would not part with my
-children for worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for Reggie, he is such
-a darling that I could not live without him.”
-
-“It is making a woman of Merle, I can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
-softly. “I confess I did not like the plan at first, but if you make it
-answer, child, you will have me for a convert. You look just as nice
-and just as much a lady as you did when you were leading a useless life
-here. Never mind if in time your hands grow a little less soft and
-white; that is a small matter if your heart expands and your conscience
-is satisfied. You remember your favourite motto, Merle?”
-
-“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare est orare.’ Now I must go, for
-Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch, which means I have to catch my
-train.”
-
-But as I trudged over the bridge beside him in the starlight, and saw
-the faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy river, a voice seemed to
-whisper to my inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle, a good beginning
-makes a glad ending. Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est orare.’”
-
-(_To be continued._)
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.
-
-BY THE REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., Author of “The Handy Natural History.”
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The death-stroke—Ways of the
-heron—Watching for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in the New
-Forest—Return to wild habits—The fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron
-and the eel—The cormorant and the conger—The heron’s power of wing—How
-the heron settles—Its resting-place—Power of the heron’s beak—Heronry
-in Wanstead Park.
-
-The water-vole has but few enemies whom it need fear, and one of them
-is now so scarce that the animal enjoys a practical immunity from
-it. This is the heron (_Ardea cinerea_), which has suffered great
-diminution of its numbers since the spread of agriculture.
-
-Even now, however, when the brook is far away from the habitations of
-man, the heron may be detected by a sharp eye standing motionless in
-the stream, and looking out for prey. Being as still as if cut out of
-stone, neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the latter should
-happen to approach within striking distance, it will be instantly
-killed by a sharp stroke on the back of the head.
-
-The throat of the heron looks too small to allow the bird to swallow
-any animal larger than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable that
-the largest water-vole can be swallowed with perfect ease.
-
-The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious about its food, and will
-eat fish, frogs, toads, or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
-has even been known to devour young waterhens, swimming out to their
-nest, and snatching up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is fish
-that comes to its beak.
-
-If the reader should be fortunate enough to espy a heron while watching
-for prey, let him make the most of the opportunity.
-
-Although the heron is a large bird, it is not easily seen. In the first
-place, there are few birds which present so many different aspects.
-When it stalks over the ground with erect bearing and alert gestures
-it seems as conspicuous a bird as can well be imagined. Still more
-conspicuous does it appear when flying, the ample wings spread, the
-head and neck stretched forwards, and the long legs extending backwards
-by way of balance.
-
-But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled fish it must
-remain absolutely still. So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird,
-its long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers of the shoulders, and
-nothing but the glancing eye denoting that it is alive.
-
-This quiescence must be imitated by the observer, should he wish to
-watch the proceedings of the bird, as the least movement will startle
-it. The reason why so many persons fail to observe the habits of
-animals, and then disbelieve those who have been more successful, is
-that they have never mastered the key to all observation, _i.e._,
-refraining from the slightest motion. A movement of the hand or foot,
-or even a turn of the head is certain to give alarm; while many
-creatures are so wary that when watching them it is as well to droop
-the eyelids as much as possible, and not even to turn the eyes quickly,
-lest the reflection of the light from their surface should attract the
-attention of the watchful creature.
-
-One of the worst results of detection is that when any animal is
-startled it conveys the alarm to all others that happen to be within
-sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals of the same species
-have a language of their own which they perfectly understand, though it
-is not likely that an animal belonging to one species can understand
-the language of another.
-
-But there seems to be a sort of universal or _lingua-franca_ language
-which is common to all the animals, whether they be beasts or birds,
-and one of the best known phrases is the cry of alarm, which is
-understood by all alike.
-
-I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely necessary to be alone,
-as there is no object in two observers going together unless they can
-communicate with each other, and there is nothing which is so alarming
-to the beasts and birds as the sound of the human voice.
-
-Yet there is a mode by which two persons who have learned to act in
-concert with each other can manage to observe in company. It was shown
-to me by an old African hunter, when I was staying with him in the New
-Forest.
-
-In the forest, although even the snapping of a dry twig will give the
-alarm, neither bird nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
-We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and practised ourselves
-thoroughly in them.
-
-Then, we went as quietly as we could to the chosen spot, and sat down
-facing each other, so that no creature could pass behind one of us
-without being detected by the other. We were both dressed in dark grey,
-and took the precaution of sitting with our backs against a tree or a
-bank, or any object which could perform the double duty of giving us
-something to lean against, and of breaking the outlines of the human
-form.
-
-Our whistled code was as low as was possible consistent with being
-audible, and I do not think that during our many experiments we gave
-the alarm to a single creature.
-
-When the observer is remaining without movement, scarcely an animal
-will notice him.
-
-I remember that on one occasion my friend and I were sitting opposite
-each other, one on either side of a narrow forest path. The sun had
-set, but at that time of the year there is scarcely any real night, and
-objects could be easily seen in the half light.
-
-Presently a fox came stealthily along the path. Now the cunning of the
-fox is proverbial, and neither of us thought that he would pass between
-us without detecting our presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
-that we could have touched him with a stick.
-
-Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the same path, walking almost
-as noiselessly as the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact that
-domesticated animals, when allowed to wander at liberty in the New
-Forest, soon revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.
-
-As the cow came along the path, neither of us could conjecture the
-owner of the stealthy footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
-poachers, in which case things would have gone hard with us, the
-poachers of the New Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of men,
-always provided with firearms and bludgeons, having scarcely the very
-slightest regard for the law, and almost out of reach of the police.
-
-They would certainly have considered us as spies upon them, and as
-certainly would have attacked and half, if not quite killed us, we
-being unarmed.
-
-But to our amusement as well as relief, the step was only that of a
-solitary cow, the animal lifting each foot high from the ground before
-she made her step, and putting it down as cautiously as she had raised
-it.
-
-Then, a barn owl came drifting silently between us, looking in the
-dusk as large and white as if it had been the snowy owl itself. Yet,
-neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl detected us, although passing
-within a few feet of us.
-
-In the daytime the observer, however careful he may be, is always
-liable to detection by a stray magpie or crow.
-
-The bird comes flying along overhead, its keen eyes directed downwards,
-on the look-out for the eggs of other birds. At first he may not notice
-the motionless and silent observer, but sooner or later he is sure to
-do so.
-
-If it were not exasperating to have all one’s precautions frustrated,
-the shriek of terrified astonishment with which the bird announces the
-unexpected presence of a human being would be exceedingly ludicrous.
-As it is, a feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of amusement,
-for at least an hour will elapse before the startled animals will have
-recovered from the magpie’s alarm cry.
-
-Supposing that we are stationed on the banks of the brook on a fine
-summer evening, while the long twilight endures, and have been
-fortunate enough to escape the notice of the magpie or other feathered
-spy, we may have the opportunity of watching the heron capture its prey.
-
-The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and in a moment the bird is
-holding a fish transversely in its beak. The long, narrow bill scarcely
-seems capable of retaining the slippery prey; but if a heron’s beak
-be examined carefully, it will be seen to possess a number of slight
-serrations upon the edges, which enable it to take a firm grasp of the
-fish.
-
-Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling, for almost as soon
-as captured it is flung in the air, caught dexterously with its head
-downwards, and swallowed.
-
-It is astonishing how large a fish will pass down the slender throat
-of a heron. As has been already mentioned, the water-vole is swallowed
-without difficulty. Now the water-vole measures between eight and nine
-inches in length from the nose to the root of the tail, and is a very
-thickset animal, so that it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.
-
-It is seldom that the heron has, like the kingfisher, to beat its prey
-against a stone or any hard object before swallowing it, though when
-it catches a rather large eel it is obliged to avail itself of this
-device before it can get the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
-attitude. The eel has the strongest objection to going down the heron’s
-throat, and has no idea of allowing its head to pass into the heron’s
-beak. The eel, therefore, must be rendered insensible before it can be
-swallowed.
-
-Generally it is enough to carry the refractory prey to the bank, hold
-it down with the foot, and peck it from one end to the other until it
-is motionless. Should the eel be too large to be held by the feet, it
-is rapidly battered against a stone, just as a large snail is treated
-by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.
-
-If the feet of the heron be examined, a remarkable comb-like appendage
-may be seen on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.
-
-What may be the precise office of this comb is not satisfactorily
-decided. Some ornithologists think that it is utilised in preening the
-plumage, I cannot, however, believe that it performs such an office. I
-have enjoyed exceptional opportunities for watching the proceedings of
-the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity, but never saw it
-preen its feathers with its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
-actually witnessed the proceeding.
-
-[Illustration: IN WANSTEAD PARK.]
-
-It is not always fair to judge from a dead bird what the living bird
-might have been able to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage of a
-dead heron with its foot-comb, and have not succeeded.
-
-Another suggestion is that the bird may use it when it holds prey under
-its feet, as has just been narrated. These suggestions, however, are
-nothing more than conjectures, but, as they have been the subject of
-much argument, I have thought it best to mention them.
-
-Sometimes it has happened that the heron has miscalculated its powers,
-and seized a fish which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
-Anglers frequently capture fish which bear the marks of the heron’s
-beak upon their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish nor the
-heron is any the worse for the struggle.
-
-But when the unmanageable fish has been an eel, the result has, more
-than once, been disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on the
-British birds, a case is recorded where a heron and eel were both found
-dead, the partially swallowed eel having twisted itself round the neck
-of the heron in its struggles.
-
-A very similar incident occurred off the coast of Devonshire, the
-victim in this case being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
-conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper mandible completely through
-the lower jaw of the fish, the horny beak having entered under the chin
-of the eel.
-
-The bird could not shake the fish off its beak, and the result was
-that both were found lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
-having coiled itself round the neck of the cormorant and strangled it.
-The stuffed skins of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro Museum,
-preserved in the position in which they were found.
-
-Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the heron will take flight for
-its home, which will probably be at a considerable distance from its
-fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles are but an easy journey for the
-bird, which measures more than five feet across the expanded wings, and
-yet barely weighs three pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
-is believed to be the lightest bird known. The Rev. C. A. Johns states
-that he has seen the heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from any
-heronry.
-
-The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically described in a letter
-published in the _Standard_ newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.
-
-“One summer evening I was under a wood by the Exe. The sun had set, and
-from over the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy cloud stretched
-out across the sky. The rooks came slowly home to roost, disappearing
-over the wood, and at the same time the herons approached in exactly
-the opposite direction, flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
-out to feed as the rooks returned home.
-
-“The first heron sailed on steadily at a great height, uttering a loud
-“caak, caak” at intervals. In a few minutes a second followed, and
-“caak, caak” sounded again over the river valley.
-
-“The third was flying at a less height, and as he came into sight
-over the line of the wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding his
-immense wings extended, dived, as a rook will, downwards through the
-air. He twisted from side to side like anything spun round by the
-finger and thumb as he came down, rushing through the air head first.
-
-“The sound of his great vanes pressing and dividing the air was
-distinctly audible. He looked unable to manage his descent, but at the
-right moment he recovered his balance, and rose a little up into a tree
-on the summit, drawing his long legs into the branches behind him.
-
-“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and so descended into the
-wood. Two more passed on over the valley—altogether six herons in about
-a quarter of an hour. They intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees
-till it was dusky, and then to go down and fish in the wood. Herons
-are here called cranes, and heronries are craneries. (This confusion
-between the heron and the crane exists in most parts of Ireland.)
-
-“A determined sportsman who used to eat every heron he could shoot, in
-revenge for their ravages among the trout, at last became suspicious,
-and, examining one, found in it the remains of a rat and of a toad,
-after which he did not eat any more herons. Another sportsman found a
-heron in the very act of gulping down a good sized trout, which stuck
-in the gullet. He shot the heron and got the trout, which was not at
-all injured, only marked at each side where the beak had cut it. The
-fish was secured and eaten.”
-
-I can corroborate the accuracy as well as the graphic wording of the
-above description.
-
-When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent, I used nearly every evening
-to see herons flying northwards. I think that they were making for the
-Essex marshes. They always flew at a very great height, and might have
-escaped observation but for the loud, harsh croak which they uttered
-at intervals, and which has been so well described by the monosyllable
-“caak.”
-
-As to their mode of settling on a tree, I have often watched the
-herons of Walton Hall, where they were so tame that they would allow
-themselves to be approached quite closely. When settling, they lower
-themselves gently until their feet are upon the branch. They then keep
-up a slight flapping of the wings until they are fairly settled.
-
-An idea is prevalent in many parts of England that when the heron sits
-on its nest, its long legs hang down on either side. Nothing can be
-more absurd. The heron can double up its legs as is usual among birds,
-and sits on its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any other
-short-legged bird.
-
-In many respects the heron much resembles the rook in its manner of
-nesting. The nest is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty tree,
-and is little more than a mere platform of small sticks. Being a larger
-bird than the rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and on an average
-the diameter of a nest is about three feet.
-
-Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its nesting, a solitary
-heron’s nest being unknown. In their modes of feeding, however, the
-two birds utterly differ from each other, the heron seeking its food
-alone, while the rook feeds in company, always placing a sentinel on
-some elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm at the approach of
-danger.
-
-The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice of a nesting-place,
-and, like the rook, prefers the neighbourhood of man, knowing
-instinctively when it will be protected by its human neighbours.
-Fortunately for the bird, the possession of a heronry is a matter of
-pride among landowners; so that even if the owner of a trout-stream
-happened also to possess a heronry, he would not think of destroying
-the herons because they ate his trout.
-
-In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it is not to be recommended as
-a pet. It is apt to bestow all its affections on one individual, and to
-consider the rest of the human race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
-pecked out.
-
-I was for some time acquainted with such a bird, but took care to keep
-well out of reach of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
-unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.
-
-It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was almost slavishly
-affectionate to the gardener, rubbing itself against his legs like a
-pet cat, and trying in every way to attract his attention. He had even
-taught it a few simple tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off his
-head, and then offer it to him.
-
-But just in proportion as it became friendly with the gardener it
-became cross-grained with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
-who came into the garden, and darting its beak at their eyes. Its last
-performance caused it to be placed in confinement.
-
-An elderly gentleman had entered the garden on business, when the bird
-instantly assailed him. Knowing the habits of the heron, he very wisely
-flung himself on his face for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
-shouted for help.
-
-Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the most of its opportunity,
-mounted upon his prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting several
-severe pecks upon his body and limbs before the gardener could come to
-the rescue.
-
-The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the mandibles being closed,
-and the blow delivered with the full power of the long neck, so that
-each blow from the beak is something like the stab of a bayonet, and so
-strong and sharp is the beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
-into an effective spearhead.
-
-Few people seem to be aware that a large and populous heronry exists in
-Wanstead Park, on the very outskirts of London.
-
-At the end of summer, when the young birds are fledged, the heronry
-is nearly deserted, but during the early days of spring the heronry
-is well worth a visit. The great birds are all in full activity, as
-is demanded by the many wants of the young, and on the ground beneath
-may be seen fragments of the pale-blue eggs. On an average there are
-three young ones in each nest, so that the scene is very lively and
-interesting, until the foliage becomes so thick that it hides the birds
-and their nests.
-
-(_To be continued._)
-
-
-
-
-THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;
-
-OR,
-
-THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.
-
-BY EMMA BREWER.
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-Just for a little time I must leave my personal history to inquire how
-England managed to do without me so long, and what the circumstances
-were which at length rendered my existence imperative.
-
-In the days following the Norman Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit
-in life was the commerce of money, were the compulsory bankers of the
-country.
-
-They were subject to much cruelty and persecution, as you may see for
-yourselves in your histories of the Kings of England. It is not to be
-denied that their demands for interest on money lent by them were most
-extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest exceeded 40 per cent., and I
-believe that 500 Jews were slain by our London citizens because one of
-them would have forced a Christian to pay more than twopence for the
-usury of 20s.[1] for one week, which sum they were allowed by the king
-to take from the Oxford students.
-
-They were ill-treated and robbed from the time they came over with the
-Conqueror until the reign of Edward I., who distinguished himself by
-robbing 15,000 Jews of their wealth, and then banishing the whole of
-them from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned against as sinning, the
-compulsory bankers of the period departed.
-
-There was no time to feel their loss, for immediately after their
-expulsion the Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of Genoa, Florence,
-Lucca and Venice, came over to England and established themselves in
-the street which still bears their name.
-
-There was no doubt as to their purpose, for it was a well-known fact
-that in whatever country or town they settled they engrossed its trade
-and became masters of its cash, and certainly they did not intend to
-make an exception in favour of London.
-
-I am not going to deny that they introduced into our midst many of
-the arts and skill of trade with which we in England were previously
-unacquainted; and it is to these Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the
-introduction of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention, and one which
-has served to connect the whole world into one, as you will see when
-the proper place arrives for their explanation.
-
-These Lombards, immediately after their arrival in London, may have
-been seen regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street with their
-wares, exposing for sale the most attractive articles; and in a short
-time became so successful that they were able to take shops in which to
-carry on their business as goldsmiths.
-
-These shops were not confined to the one street which bears their name,
-but were continued along the south row of Cheapside, extending from the
-street called Old Change into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
-after the Great Fire, when they removed to Lombard-street. There seems
-to be no street in the world where a business of one special character
-has been carried on so continuously as in Lombard-street. In the time
-of Queen Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in London. In addition
-to the art of the goldsmith, they added the business of money-changing,
-the importance of which occupation you will be able to estimate when we
-come to the subject of the coins of the realm.
-
-From money-changers they became money-lenders and money-borrowers—money
-was the commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per cent. the modest
-interest they asked and obtained for their money.
-
-Of course they gave receipts for the money lodged with them, and these
-circulated and were known by the name of “goldsmiths’ notes,” and were,
-in fact, the first kind of bank-notes issued in England.
-
-The Lombards were a most industrious class of people, and left no
-stone unturned by which they could obtain wealth; and in an incredibly
-short time we find them not only wealthy, but powerful, and occupying
-a very prominent position; and you may be quite sure that under these
-circumstances they did not escape persecution.
-
-Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were extortioners, Edward III.
-seized their property and estates. Even this seemed but slightly to
-affect them; for in the fifteenth century we find them advancing large
-sums of money for the service of the State on the security of the
-Customs.
-
-In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the time of my birth, the
-banking was entirely in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried on in
-a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently the case when unrestrained by
-rivals.
-
-I dare say you have all noticed the three golden balls on the outside
-of pawnbrokers’ shops. Originally these were three pills, the emblem of
-the Medici (physician) family; but in some way they became associated
-with St. Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths, under the name of
-the three golden balls—an emblem which the Lombards have retained.
-
-Are you curious to know how the sign has so degenerated as to be the
-inseparable companion of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well, listen.
-
-Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were established from motives of
-charity in the fifteenth century. Their object was to lend money to
-the poor upon pledges and without interest. Originally they were
-supported by voluntary contributions, but as these proved insufficient
-to pay expenses, it became necessary to charge interest for the money
-lent. These banks were first distinguished by the name of _montes
-pietatis_. The word _mont_ at this period was applied to any pecuniary
-fund, and it is probable that _pietatis_ was added by the promoters
-of the scheme, to give it an air of religion, and thus procure larger
-subscriptions.
-
-Well, these banks were not only called mounts of piety, but were
-known also as Lombards,[2] from the name of the original bankers or
-money-lenders. Now you see how it is pawnbrokers bear the sign of the
-goldsmiths.
-
-You who know so well where to place your money, both for interest
-and security, when you have any to spare, can scarcely understand
-the trouble and annoyance which our merchants and wealthy people
-experienced at having no place of security wherein they could deposit
-their money. At one time they sent it to the Mint in the Tower of
-London, which became a sort of bank, where merchants left their money
-when they had no need of it, and drew it out only as they wanted it;
-but this soon ceased to be a place of security. In 1640 Charles I.,
-without leave asked or granted, took possession of £200,000 of the
-money lodged there. Great was the wrath of the merchants, who were
-compelled, after this unkingly act, to keep their surplus money at
-home, guarded by their apprentices and servants. Even here the money
-was not safe, for on the breaking out of the war between Charles and
-his Parliament, it was no uncommon occurrence for the apprentices to
-rob their masters and run away and join the army.
-
-When the merchants found that neither the public authorities nor their
-own servants were to be trusted, they employed bankers, and these
-bankers were goldsmiths.
-
-Many a tale, however, has reached me of the shifts and contrivances
-of people to secure their savings and surplus money—people whose
-experience had taught them to distrust both authorities and places, and
-who would not, under the new state of things, have anything to do with
-the bankers. One I will relate to you.
-
-A man whose life had been one of hard work and self-denial, and who had
-two or three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness of the
-people with whom he had lodged it, determined to be their dupe no more.
-Money began once more to accumulate, and all things prospered with him;
-but no one could imagine what he did with it; as far as his household
-could tell, he did not deposit it with anyone outside the house,
-neither could they discover any place within where it was possible
-to stow it away. No persuasion could move the man to speak one word
-concerning it.
-
-At length he died, without having time or consciousness to mention
-the whereabouts of his money. Search was made in all directions, but
-without success.
-
-While living he had been a regular attendant at one of our City
-churches, and, occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
-square pew, was well known to the clergy and servants.
-
-A few weeks after his death the pew-opener told the rector, in a
-frightened voice, that she could no longer keep the matter from him,
-for as surely as she stood there, the ghost of the man who died a week
-or two ago haunted the church by night and by day.
-
-Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish fancy, the rector allowed her
-to tell her story quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and very
-nervous.
-
-She related that several times during the past weeks, when quite alone
-in the church for the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had heard a
-peculiar noise proceeding from the pew where the old man used to sit,
-and it sounded to her exactly as though he were counting out money, and
-she would be very glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.
-
-Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied the woman to the pew.
-At first all was quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound came
-exactly as described; they felt round about the pew, and at length
-discovered a movable panel near the flooring. It was the work of a
-moment to remove it, and there, in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of
-money wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted the mice, and it
-was their little pattering feet among the coins which had caught the
-woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped in his week’s savings on
-Sundays, believing that it would be safer in the church than elsewhere.
-
-It seems that after the restoration of Charles II., he being greatly
-in want of money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten per cent. for
-the loan. Often, however, they obtained thirty per cent. from him, and
-this induced the goldsmiths to lend more and more to the king, so that
-really the whole revenue passed through their hands.
-
-In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers, and put a check on their
-prodigal lending. King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526, which he had
-borrowed at eight per cent., utterly refused to pay either principal or
-interest, and he remained firm to his resolution.
-
-The way in which bankers transacted their loans with the king, was in
-this manner:—As soon as the Parliament had voted to the king certain
-sums of money out of special taxes, the goldsmith-bankers at once
-supplied the king with the whole sum so voted, and were repaid in
-weekly payments at the Exchequer[3] as the taxes were received.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Ruding, vol. I.
-
-[2] The Lombards, or _montes pietatis_, lent on gold and silver
-three-quarters of their value; on other metals half of their value;
-and on jewels according to circumstances. The rate of interest was
-determined in 1786 at five per cent.
-
-[3] Exchequer, so called because there was a building with a square
-hole in the floor, through which they used to drop the notes and gold
-on to a table beneath, covered with a chequered cloth.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.
-
-BY A LADY DRESSMAKER.
-
-
-We have had such a mild and delightful autumn, that all kinds of winter
-garments have been delayed in making an appearance. This is especially
-the case with mantles and the heavier class of jackets. However, there
-is enough to show us that no great novelty has been introduced. Mantles
-are all small and short, and the majority have ends in front more or
-less long. Black plush seems a very favourite material, and is much
-overladen with trimming. Plain plush is also used for paletôts, and for
-large cloaks; but there is a new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers,
-that is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps and epaulettes are worn
-as well as ornaments at the back, and sometimes beaded braces round
-the join of the sleeve in the small mantles, and a strip of the same
-may be used to outline the seam at the back. These hints may help some
-of my readers to do up a last year’s mantle with some of the moderate
-priced bead trimmings now in vogue. Paletôts or cloaks are made both
-long and medium in length. They are made in plush, cloth, and rough
-cloths, but are not seen in the finer fancy stuffs which are made use
-of for mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have an appearance as
-if braid were sewn on to the surface. The cloak paletôts, when long,
-close in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed with a border
-of fur, which is shaped on the shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
-“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower edge of the cloak; the cuffs
-are deep. Fur trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting follow the
-same rule, and have no trimming of fur at the edge. Fur boas are very
-decidedly the fashion this winter, and there seems no end to their
-popularity. Some of them are flat at the neck, like a collarette; and
-others are attached to the mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
-and some are nothing more than fur collars that clasp round the throat;
-and these collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the place of the
-fur capes that have been worn so long. Grey furs are more in fashion
-than brown ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock, and
-opossum, and I see that quantities of American raccoon are also being
-prepared. Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable, marten-tail,
-mink, or blue fox, are not within the ordinary range of purchasers, and
-few people care to spend so much money on dress as their acquirement
-entails. There is also a new feeling to be taken into account; the same
-feeling that makes thinking women and girls decline to wear birds,
-and their heads and wings, _i.e._, the feeling that the seal fishery
-as hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may wear furs that are
-too costly in other ways. I often think if mighty hunters—instead of
-hunting down the buffalo, and the other animals useful to the Indian in
-the North West—would go to India and hunt the tigers that so cruelly
-prey on the natives there, we should wear those skins with much
-pleasure as well as advantage. But the account of the slaying of a
-mother-seal ought to be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I have never
-cordially liked sealskins since I read of the devotion of one poor
-mother-seal in particular to her young; and I have never had a sealskin
-jacket since.
-
-[Illustration: AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.]
-
-There are numbers of jackets in every style, but all are made of
-woollen materials, not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them are
-tight-fitting, and are smart looking and stylish. Both single and
-double-breasted ones are seen. Hoods are much worn, but are by no means
-general. Coloured linings are used to pale-coloured or checked cloth
-jackets, but not to black or brown ones. Small mantles and cloaks
-are tied at the neck by a quantity of ribbons to match the colour of
-the cloth or plush. One of the new ideas for mantles is that of a
-semi-fitting jacket over a long close-fitting cloak.
-
-[Illustration: UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.]
-
-The new bonnets and hats are much smaller and prettier now, and there
-are in consequence many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
-well-dressed girls in the streets of London. Formerly no girl who
-wished to be thought somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet in London.
-
-The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on gathered, doubled and
-pleated, sometimes with as many as three frills at the edge. Many of
-the bonnets are without strings, and have pointed fronts, and there is
-much jet trimming used even on coloured velvet bonnets. I am sorry to
-say that our fashionable caterers continue to prey upon the feathered
-creation all over the world. This winter the owl has evidently fallen
-a victim, and there are besides the tern, kingfisher, and the heron.
-How I wish this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be prevented, and
-that my numberless girl-readers would try to avoid giving it the least
-encouragement. While we have the beautiful ostrich feathers, we cannot
-need these other poor victims offered up on the altar of feminine
-vanity and unthinking cruelty.
-
-Some of the felt hats for the season are very pretty. They have high
-and sloping crowns, the brims are often only bound with ribbon, but if
-wide and turned up at the back, they are lined with velvet, or rather
-only partly lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined. Many
-of them have brims turned up all round, like one of the old turban hats.
-
-The ribbons in use at present are of all kinds, satin and velvet
-reversible, as well as _moiré_ and velvet, or satin and _moiré_. These
-have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk, in colour. Velvet
-ribbons with corded stripes have one edge purled and the other fringed;
-and the strings of bonnets are of narrow _picot_-edged ribbon.
-
-The number of white gowns that have been worn during the past season
-and up to the present moment has been remarkable, and has quite
-justified the name of a “white season.” Even as the weather became
-colder, a charming mixture of materials was introduced, viz., white
-corduroy, and some soft woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
-winter white will be the special fashion for young people for the
-evening, and any colour can be given by trimming. It seems likely that
-perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of habit-cloths, will be used
-for winter day dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued fur, or
-with velvet to match the colour of the cloth. The colours that will
-be worn in these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a tint like
-heliotrope, and a reddish violet.
-
-Fancy materials in mixed colours abound, the mixtures being green
-and ruby, brown and red, sage and vermilion, and others of the same
-unæsthetic nature. The new browns are called Carmelite, chestnut,
-rosewood, hair, and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux, Indian, currant,
-and clove. A new green is called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
-popular, and brown and red violet are the special colours of the season.
-
-In the making of dresses there is but little change. The skirts are
-still short, and the draperies still long; while there is a fancy
-for over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will be a blessing for
-the possessors of half-worn and very ancient bodices. Bracers are
-one of the novelties as a form of trimming for the latter. They are
-also trimmed in imitation of a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
-returning to favour, and will be worn later on over lace skirts for
-evening dress. Serge seems to me to be the most favoured material this
-winter, and it forms the ground work of half the fancy cloths and
-mixtures. Stripes and crossbars are in the highest favour, and both
-alpaca and foulard are used, and with poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet,
-and silk rep, form the generality of the new dresses. There are numbers
-of hairy-looking woollen materials, but I should not think they would
-wear as well as a good serge, which is always a useful purchase.
-
-The new petticoat materials in winceys are very gay and pretty, and the
-pattern is usually of stripes; but the materials are various, being
-sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed, and in the weaving there is
-usually a rough or knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats have a
-few steels in them, and the addition makes the dress hold out from the
-heels a little. A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however, quite
-enough for most people, and very little crinolette is now worn—nothing
-ungraceful nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of better quality
-are made of plain silk or satin, and one of the new fashions is to line
-them with chamois leather, so as to make them warmer.
-
-[Illustration: NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.]
-
-Shoes are more worn in London than boots, and laced shoes more than
-buttoned ones. The same is the case with boots, which are considered
-to fit better, and to look more stylish when laced than buttoned. I
-have been very glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and shoes are
-on the increase, having wider toes and lower, broader heels. At the
-present moment many of the best shops have them in their windows, and
-have found it best and wisest to keep them for their customers; in
-fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities, and of all kinds of proper
-clothing, is being so much extended and impressed on the public mind
-on all sides, that I should not wonder if we all became quite reformed
-characters, and wore, ate, and drank only such things as were good for
-us.
-
-I must not forget to mention gloves and their styles. Most people
-usually wear Swede or kid gloves during the winter months; but this
-year there are some such delightfully warm and pretty gloves in wool
-and silk to be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt be tempted
-to purchase them. If the dress be of a quiet colour, the gloves should
-match it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any kind, the proper
-gloves to wear would be tan-colour. These latter are also used in the
-evening, except when the dress is black, or black and white, when the
-gloves should be of grey Swede.
-
-Our illustrations for the month are full of suggestions for making new
-gowns and for altering old ones. It will be seen that the gowns are
-both simple and elegant, with long flowing lines, and little or no
-fulness of drapery. The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown, and the
-newest model of a cape-like sleeve is given in our large front picture
-of a seashore, “Under Northern Skies.” Much braiding is used, and it
-is shown in two ways—laid on in flat bands, and also in a pattern on
-the mantle. The new shapes of hats are much more moderate, and most
-of the new shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern for the month is
-represented as worn by a lady in the centre of the smaller picture,
-“At the English Lakes;” the centre figure shows its pretty and jaunty
-outlines. It may be worn with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
-plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our sketch, which may be of
-a soft Indian silk. It is of the last and new design, and will be found
-a most useful winter bodice for usual daily wear. The pattern consists
-of a collar, cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two sleeve
-pieces. About four yards of 30 inch material are required, perhaps
-less, if very carefully cut. All patterns are of a medium size, viz.,
-36 inches round the chest, and only one size is prepared for sale. Each
-of the patterns may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care of Mr. H. G.
-Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C., price 1s. each. It is requested that the
-addresses be clearly given, and that postal notes crossed only to go
-through a bank may be sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
-The patterns already issued may always be obtained, as “The Lady
-Dressmaker” only issues patterns likely to be of constant use in home
-dressmaking and altering, and she is particularly careful to give all
-the new patterns of hygienic underclothing, both for children and young
-and old ladies, so that her readers may be aware of the best method of
-dressing.
-
-The following is a list of those already issued, price 1s. each.
-April—Braided, loose-fronted jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
-belt and full bodice, with plain sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk
-or pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or plain skirt.
-October—Combination garment (underlinen). November—Double-breasted
-out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave jacket and bodice. January—Princess
-underdress (underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt combined).
-February—Polonaise with waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
-April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle with sling sleeves. May—Early
-English bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress. June—Dressing
-jacket, princess frock, and Normandy cap for a child of four years.
-July—Princess of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat, for tailor-made
-gown. August—Bodice with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole ends
-and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or nightdress combination, with full
-back.—November—New winter bodice.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.
-
-BY MRS. G. LINNÆUS BANKS, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The
-Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-    “But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,
-    Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,
-    The third of England called, with many a dainty wood
-    Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows
-    Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows
-    She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin[4] clear—
-    Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,
-    And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,
-    Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”
-
-So began England’s descriptive poet, Michael Drayton, to sing the
-praises of the glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but Milton was more
-terse in his invocation—
-
-    “Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son
-    Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,
-    Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads
-    His thirty arms along the indented meads.”
-
-Thus much the poets; but in plain prose be it told that the Trent
-needed no invocation to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to arise
-and flood the meadows in its course most disastrously, as it did no
-later than last May. The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.
-
-But long before bridges were built or were common, there was need to
-cross the river, either by ford or ferry, and its treachery must have
-been known in very ancient days, since Swark—whoever he might be, and
-whether he found a natural ford or made an artificial one—set up on
-end an unwrought monolith above the height of a man as a guide for
-wayfarers to find the crossing-place when the waters happened to be
-“out”; since there the waste and meadow-land lay low for many a broad
-mile.
-
-There was scarcely a speck in the blue vault of heaven when Earl
-Bellamont and his friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them, crossed
-the shrunken, snake-like river that mirrored their gleaming armour in
-its broken, scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images and would
-fain clasp them. And so the sun had shone for weeks,
-
-    “All in a hot and copper sky,”
-
-until the earth cried out for rain from its parched and cracking lips.
-Only near the red, marly banks of the river did the grass and herbage
-retain its vivid tint of green. As the days went by the air seemed to
-grow hotter; the cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon the fire,
-wished the guests gone and the wedding over. The falconer out on the
-moor in the glare with William Harpur and other squires, or the anglers
-by the streams, had scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
-wearied of her many cares, and censured the languor of her daughters
-and her maids.
-
-Preparations had not ceased, they had only renewed; and there had been
-unwonted doles to the villagers of good things that would have spoiled.
-
-At length, when even the weaving of tapestry or the twanging of the
-lute was a toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western sky. The
-cattle lowed, the leaves turned themselves over to welcome it, the
-hawks screamed in the mews. That was the morning of the 14th, when
-the very hush in the air was significant. The cloud spread, darkened,
-blackened, but in the distance.
-
-“There is a storm somewhere over our northern hills!” exclaimed the
-prior, who had been up on the battlements. “The clouds hang black and
-low over Dovedale.”
-
-“It seemeth such a day as heralded the great storm three years ago,”
-cried Lady Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a flash was that!”
-
-The younger ladies gathered together in shrinking groups, as if the
-fears of the matron were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her word, and
-scorned to show timidity, whatever she might feel, as the mutterings of
-thunder rumbled over the hall.
-
-It was high noon, but the sky was darkening overhead. The horn at the
-great gates was blown. A messenger in hot haste had come spurring from
-the ford and up the hill, glad to save himself a drenching, for the
-great drops were pattering on the leaves and leads like hail.
-
-He had come at full speed from Oxford. King Henry had ratified the
-great charter of English liberty. His master, the earl, and his friends
-would be home ere nightfall. The bridal must be upon the morrow. He
-had, moreover, private messages and tokens for the ladies, Idonea and
-Avice, from their coming bridegrooms.
-
-The messages were not for general ears; the love-tokens were a couple
-of golden crosses richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
-clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to Idonea, five pearls in
-Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.
-
-They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took hers shrinkingly. “They seem
-like crosses set with tears and drops of blood,” she whispered, with
-white lips, to Idonea, who started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they
-are precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected by her sister’s
-superstitious dread.
-
-In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied that he “thought the
-Trent was rising. It was higher than when his lord had left Swarkstone.”
-
-It had been still lower at sunrise that day.
-
-Two hours later Friar John blew the horn at the gate. He and his mule
-were pitiably drenched.
-
-The Dove was swollen when he crossed the bridge near Egginton, he said,
-though the downpour did not come until he had left it five miles behind.
-
-“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a flood as swept Swark’s Stone
-away three summers back. The passage of the ford would be perilous to
-my lord now that is gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her hands,
-and it might seem with reason, for now the floodgates of the skies were
-loosed, and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.
-
-“Storms and travellers are in Almighty hands, good dame,” said Prior
-John, soberly. “Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all to Him.”
-
-Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and dames, were already on their
-knees in prayer, their hearts beating wildly.
-
-William Harpur, pacing up and down, glanced through the dim glass
-windows on the scene without, and then from one to other of the
-shuddering women within.
-
-“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a slight curl of lip, “it will
-be a sorry welcome for my noble kinsman and his friends when they come
-in, wet and weary, if no board be spread, no dry garments ready for
-their use.”
-
-The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.
-
-“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall not find us unprepared.
-Maidens, attend me.” And she swept from the tapestried reception-room,
-followed by her daughters and the noble maids who did probationary
-service under her, and soon her silver whistle might be heard, as one
-or other did her bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and bustle—and
-covert fear.
-
-The hours sped. The storm seemed to abate. The board was spread. The
-time for the evening meal came and went.
-
-There were no arrivals. There were whisperings among hungry guests, for
-time was flying.
-
-Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor impatiently, biting his nails
-and cogitating.
-
-The dark came down—the double dark of storm and evening. The great
-time-candle in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters down, and the
-hours.
-
-Villagers came scurrying to the hall in dismay. The meads were under
-water. Their fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream, with many a
-tree and bush from parts beyond in the west.
-
-The lovely sisters had busked themselves afresh to receive their
-lovers; dark tresses and fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
-bosom shone her token cross of gold.
-
-But as the hours and minutes flew, dress was disregarded, their lips
-quivered with anxiety.
-
-At length Avice whispered to her mother, “Had we not best set a cresset
-burning on the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to light the passage
-of the ford?”
-
-“I have already given orders, child; I feared to speak my alarm to you.”
-
-But even torches will not keep alight in rain and hurricane. The men,
-headed by Will Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and discomfited.
-
-“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,” said he; “we cannot keep
-a torch alight. But do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt, the
-storm will have kept our friends at Ashby, or, at least, have driven
-them back. They would never be so mad as to attempt the passage of the
-ford.” Then, aside to the prior he added, “The land is covered for
-more than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly water runs like a
-torrent, bearing bushes, beams, and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They
-must have gone back.”
-
-Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud of hoofs heard advancing up
-the hill.
-
-There was the strong black charger of Earl Bellamont, and close behind
-came the bay mare of Sir Gilbert.
-
-They were both riderless!
-
-A moment of speechless horror, then shrieks and wailing filled the air.
-
-Mid the sobbing and lamentations of women, and the clamour of men,
-fresh torches were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and affixed to
-poles. Then, with the prior and Will Harpur at their head, all the men
-about the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’ crooks, and aught
-that might save a drowning man.
-
-Alas! it was all too late.
-
-Their bravest and best beloved were gone for aye.
-
-Too rashly impatient, and trusting the leadership of impetuous Earl
-Bellamont, Sir Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the remonstrances
-of more cautious companions, and dashed across the waste of waters, so
-low at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.
-
-Alas! some floating bush may have misled the old man, for all at once
-they seemed to be carried down stream and disappear, as if they had
-missed the ford, or the current had been too strong for men weighted
-with armour.
-
-Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind him, and the scion of
-another noble house was lost.
-
-Their esquires, following behind, had been impotent to save, and only
-by turning sharply round and fighting with the rising waters did they
-manage to preserve their own lives.
-
-Day by day as the thick waters subsided did the search continue along
-the devastated banks until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
-of water into the Trent, barred further passage, and made the quest
-hopeless.
-
-A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken lance and pennon, a battered
-casque, a saddle-bow, were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
-page.
-
-Lady Bellamont was borne down by the shock. Avice drooped like a broken
-lily; only Idonea seemed capable of thought or action.
-
-The subsidence of the flood brought spurring in the more prudent party
-to comfort their own wives and daughters, along with the downcast
-esquires to tell the needless tale.
-
-There was no consoling Lady Bellamont. She seemed to take the triple
-loss to her own heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as for
-herself.
-
-In vain the prior offered such consolation as his faith afforded.
-She sat like a stone, rigid and immovable; would take no sustenance
-whatever.
-
-The tears shed over her by Idonea and Avice seemed to petrify as they
-fell rather than melt. Their affliction but intensified her own.
-
-“If they had died in battle as brave men should, we might have borne
-it bravely,” she said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold, cruel,
-treacherous waters in the height of joy and hope, almost within hail of
-home, it is too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be resigned.
-And for my crushed roses—orphaned, widowed, ere they became wives—it is
-too much; I cannot survive it.”
-
-And before that month was out the twin-sisters were left to weep out
-their tears in each other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
-they might, with only the good prior to watch and guard them in their
-orphanhood, and lead them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees of
-heaven.
-
-There was William Harpur willing to do the co-heiresses suit and
-service, and leave his own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
-his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the hall, but neither the
-prior nor the sisters cared for his interference, and when the old
-retainers, with the seneschal at their head, came in a body at the
-prior’s summons to swear fealty to the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea
-accepted their homage for herself and her sweet sister, as one born to
-command, he turned away to bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted
-the hall before the sun went down.
-
-But though Idonea could order the household, and the seneschal could
-keep the retainers in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins and
-lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping Avice, or remove the more
-rebellious sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and in the eyes of
-Idonea.
-
-“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve of his departure, “duty
-calls me away to my own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove three
-years agone, after the great hurricane, has, Friar Paul brings word,
-been shaken sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The safety of
-many lives depends on its stability. Yet I would fain see you more
-submissive to the divine will ere I depart. Think how many sufferers
-there have been by the same calamity—how many a hearth has been laid
-bare, how many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has swept away.
-Abandon not your hours to selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see
-how the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour, by good and
-charitable deeds, to win the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
-the crosses that ye wear, and think of His wounds and His tears, and
-remember that His blood and His tears were shed for others, not for
-self.”
-
-Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he began; they drooped as low as
-those of Avice ere he ended.
-
-“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just. We have thought the world was
-our own—in joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth. We ask
-your blessing ere you go.”
-
-The benediction was spoken, and on the morrow he was gone.
-
-They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds, and saw what sorrow
-meant for the very poor and for the class above them. Tottering huts,
-bare fields, where the only crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
-weeping over naked and famishing babes; churls looking hopeless on
-desolation, or seeking wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden. And
-wherever they went they left hope behind, as well as coin, or food,
-or raiment from the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy with
-sullen thanklessness. They were little better than serfs, and were more
-inclined to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful to the
-willing bestowers.
-
-Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil the peasantry with their
-frequent alms; and even the prior when he came suggested moderation in
-doles, which destroyed honest independence and fostered beggary.
-
-But the sisters had found ease in helping others, and ere long sought
-the prior’s advice over a project to serve the people for generations
-yet unborn.
-
-They had discovered that sorrow and calamity come to the poor as to the
-rich, and they proposed to preserve others from losses and heartaches
-such as theirs.
-
-There was a general lamentation that Swark’s Stone was gone and the
-ford less readily found.
-
-“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a bridge over the Trent like
-the Monks’ Bridge over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not mourning
-maidens. Let us up and build one. If we cannot restore our dead, we may
-preserve life for the living.”
-
-“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We may so make our sorrow a joy to
-thousands.”
-
-The prior hailed their project as a divine inspiration, hardly
-conscious he had struck the keynote. They were rich. They would hear
-nought of suitors. What better could they do with their wealth?
-
-He drew plans, he found them masons. Stone was not far to seek for
-quarrying; but, to be of service, the bridge must cover broad lands as
-well as common current.
-
-“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William Harpur. “The cost will be enormous.
-It will swallow up your whole possessions! You must be mad; and the
-prior is worse to sanction such a sacrifice.”
-
-“The sacrifice was made when the river robbed us of our dearest
-treasures. We must save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
-Avice, now as bold as her sister.
-
-The work began and went on steadily. Honest labour was paid for, and
-churls, who had lived half on doles and housed like dogs, were paid a
-penny[5] a day or a peck of meal, and took heart to work with a will.
-There were always loose stones and wood about, and no one said nay when
-they began to repair and improve their own dwellings. And so industry
-came to Swarkstone with the building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
-to smile upon the undertaking, for never a disaster occurred to mar it.
-
-But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the cost was enormous. It was the
-work of years. Woods were cut down to supply timber for scaffolding;
-then lands were mortgaged or sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
-buyer? But still the work proceeded.
-
-“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod will gladly pay a small
-toll for the privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
-possessions, the old hall, passed into their cousin’s hands, and they
-took refuge in a small house in a bye-way, which goes by the name of
-“No Man’s-Lane” to this day.
-
-It was a glad day for travellers on horse or foot when Swarkstone
-Bridge, of twenty-nine arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
-which spanned the Trent and its low meads for three-quarters of a mile,
-and the good Ladies Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
-those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod at all seasons to be
-grateful for the inestimable boon.
-
-They had no charter to exact a toll to repay the moneys they had
-expended; but there was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel erected
-and dedicated to St. James, in which it was fondly hoped the
-users of the bridge would pause to thank God and drop their small
-thank-offerings in a box set there to receive them.
-
-At first, when they began to build, people about called the sisters
-“the twin angels;” but by the time the bridge was built it had
-ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a matter of course; but the
-thank-offerings grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to remember the
-danger and discomfort of the passage by the ford.
-
-They had impoverished themselves for the security of strangers. The
-offerings of gratitude would not keep life in the good sisters. They
-began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice bore her lot meekly. Not
-so Idonea, into whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating like a
-canker. But Avice said gently, “If we gave our wealth to build a bridge
-expecting a return, what answer can we make to our Lord when we go to
-Him? Let us be content that our individual losses will be the gain of
-thousands after us.” And that put an end to Idonea’s rebellion.
-
-At length the aged prior, who had built Monks’ Bridge between the
-counties of Stafford and Derby for a people as ungrateful, stirred up
-William Harpur to remember the poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
-flourishing, and he offered them a home at Ticknall.
-
-The offer came too late to save them. The Ladies Bellamont died as
-they had lived, together, and were buried with their two symbolic
-crosses on their breasts. And then, thanks chiefly to the prior, who
-reverenced them, a marble monument could be erected to their memories
-with their sleeping effigies upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
-the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have added, “They built unseen
-another bridge over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from earth to
-heaven.”
-
-THE END.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[4] The Derwent.
-
-[5] A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had a different value.
-
-
-
-
-HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.
-
-SKETCH II.—OPERA (SECULAR MUSICAL DRAMA).
-
-BY MYLES B. FOSTER, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.
-
-
-Although it is stated that the ancient Greeks intoned their tragedies,
-and introduced, besides, some form of melody (μέλος), the whole
-question of the existence of opera at that period of artistic
-prosperity, when all forms of learning were so powerfully nourished,
-is a matter for speculation. Their authors certainly give us wonderful
-accounts of the great effects that this music had, and state that it
-formed an essential part of their drama, but beyond these records, in
-all probability much exaggerated, we have no data. Opera we must assume
-to be a comparatively recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
-century, composers had written all their finest work for the Church,
-and had, very rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise and
-worship of the Giver of all musical ideas and beauties.
-
-Even that which was known as secular music, and was intended for
-social occasions, was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the very
-folksongs had their freshness rubbed off by contrapuntal developments
-to which they were not suited, and were dragged in their new and
-ill-fitting costume into the masses and motetts of the day. The Church
-possessed most of the art and learning of the age, and, with that, a
-corresponding power over the ignorant people. Thus music had been,
-so far, choral music; all the secular forms, villanellas, glees,
-madrigals, and lieder, being in from three to six parts and more. The
-expressive solo form (_monodia_), whether _recitativo_ or _arioso_, was
-as yet unknown. As the people attained more knowledge, and with it more
-freedom, secular music gradually separated itself from the restraints
-of the Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom at length
-degenerated into licence.
-
-At the end of the great Renaissance period, when, after Suliman
-had taken Constantinople, the great scholars there fled before the
-conquering Turks into Italy and other new homes, an impetus was given
-to the study of Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the Greek
-drama in all its original beauty and perfection was the ambition of
-many an Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini, the singer
-Caccini, Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and, at a rather later
-date, Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which they not only agreed
-that the existing musical forms were inadequate for a true musical
-drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose pieces for one voice on
-what they imagined to be the Greek model.
-
-Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers known to have
-tried to set music to the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
-(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”) supplied the words. His first
-efforts were “Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,” and they were
-performed in Florence in 1590, the poems being set to music throughout.
-
-Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in which _aria parlante_, a kind of
-recitation in strict time, first appears. It is well described by
-Ritter, in his “History of Music,” as “something between well-formed
-melody and speech.” It appears to have pleased the Greek revivalists
-immensely, and they quite believed it to be the discovery of the lost
-art. Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600, on the occasion of the
-marriage of Henry IV. of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his work
-we have a primitive version of all our operatic forms.
-
-Composers now occasionally used the _arioso_ style; but their Greek
-beliefs prevented them from introducing a good broad melody form.
-The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for example, were choruses and
-declamatory recitatives. The orchestra was hidden behind the scenes,
-the only purely orchestral piece being a little prelude (called
-“Zinfonia”) for three flutes.
-
-With such material and upon so simple a basis was opera formed—an
-art construction which, in its more modern garb, has played a very
-important part in the history of European society.
-
-Of really great composers who advanced this _drama per musica_, one of
-the earliest and most important was Claudio Monteverde. He imbued it
-with his musicianship and originality, employing particular effects
-for each scene and for each character, his object being to unite the
-varying sentiment of the poem with his music. In his operas, the first
-of which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped forms of accompaniment,
-giving singers greater freedom in dramatic action, followed such
-reforms as a better use of rhythm and more truthful illustration of
-sentiments, whilst an increased orchestral force was added to other
-means of expression.
-
-The Italian Church writers began to compose operas, and in the
-seventeenth century we find the recitation form receiving new vigour
-and truthfulness of detail at the hands of, amongst others, Cavalli
-(whose real name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro Scarlatti,
-Carissimi’s greatest pupil. Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is
-supposed to have invented the short interludes for instruments between
-the vocal phrases, and he certainly introduced the first complete
-form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,” which, however, with
-its tiresomely exact repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
-anything but dramatic. About his time _recitativo_, as we know it, was
-separated from the _aria parlante_.
-
-Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his Neapolitan school, amongst
-whom were Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and others, and with
-them we reach a period during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.
-
-Composers had broken away from the ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the
-chorus had become of no importance, but, instead, the new aria, which
-might have taken an advantageous position as a means for occasional
-soliloquy and meditation, without interference with the dramatic story,
-now usurped the place of the latter altogether, and an opera meant
-nothing more than a string of arias in set form, an excuse for showing
-off the best voices to the greatest advantage, the most successful work
-being that one which pandered most to the vanity of the singers, who
-altered and embellished the melodies of their mechanical slave, the
-composer.
-
-Dramatic significance was fast disappearing, and a reformer was sadly
-needed, and that reformer appeared early in the eighteenth century
-in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian, who, after studying in Italy and
-writing several operas after the traditional Italian models, settled
-in Vienna, and there worked out his great ideas of regeneration and
-reform.
-
-His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a great sensation, and in
-Alceste (1766) we find him, to quote his own preface to it, “avoiding
-the abuses which have been introduced through the mistaken vanity of
-singers and the excessive complaisance of composers, and which, from
-the most splendid and beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
-the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous of spectacles.”
-
-He considered that music should second poetry, by strengthening the
-expression of the sentiments and the interest of the situations, and
-adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided interrupting a singer in
-the warmth of dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious ritornel; or
-stopping him during one of his sentences to display the agility of his
-voice in a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases the importance of
-the introduction or overture, making it foreshadow the nature of the
-coming drama.
-
-Composers were either too hardened or too cowardly to at once follow
-and imitate his excellent reforms, and great disputings and much
-rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by the singers and the old school
-headed by Piccini.
-
-We will leave this _opera seria_ for a moment, restored to its high
-position in art, and glance at a lighter form, the _opera buffa_,
-or comic opera, which may be traced to the little _entr’actes_, or
-_intermezzi_, given as a sort of relaxation between the acts of plays,
-as early as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals, or favourite
-instrumental solos, were used for this purpose; later on, when
-operatic forms appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which the chief
-idea was to raise a laugh, very often at the expense of good taste.
-Scarlatti’s pupils developed these _intermezzi_, and gave them such
-artistic importance that they grew to be rivals to the grand opera, and
-eventually held their own position as _opera buffa_. Pergolesi was most
-successful in this style, and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
-earliest specimens, was a great favourite. The accompaniment was for
-string quartett only, and there were but two _dramatis personæ_. His
-fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote several comic operas, and further
-on, Nicolo Piccini, whom we have just left opposing Gluck in Paris,
-made many advances in _opera buffa_, giving greater contrasts and more
-elaborate and effective _finales_ than his forerunners. In fact, he was
-stronger in this sort of composition than in _opera seria_, to which
-latter we now return.
-
-We find at the end of the eighteenth century the brilliant and
-successful works of Paisiello, a rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the
-same period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini, and others wrote
-operas.
-
-The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting all old traditions, good
-and bad, at the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the Italian
-composers to see that more was required than they had ever given, to
-make opera what it should be, and they were compelled to acknowledge
-that, after Gluck’s reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
-Mozart’s influence and his noble examples, they must take up higher
-ground if they would succeed in other than the Italian cities.
-
-They composed, therefore, in a more serious manner for Paris or Vienna,
-and the Italian opera gained a fresh importance by the slight reforms
-thus adopted, and through the successful power of Rossini it again held
-sway in the principal European courts.
-
-Rossini made a great many melodies and much pecuniary profit, and
-finding the singers ready to return to those abuses against which Gluck
-had protested so strongly, rather than permit them to play tricks
-with his music and embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
-embroideries so fulsome himself that there was nothing left which they
-could add!
-
-In the present century Mercadante, Bellini, and Donizetti followed
-in his train; following them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
-whose later works are very fine, being a happy combination of immense
-dramatic insight with effective situations and great melodic charm. We
-find in Boito the most decided attempt to unite Italian traditions and
-the latest German development. Thus much for the land in which opera
-was born.
-
-Opera soon spread, and travelled to the various European courts, and
-became there the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons. Such prestige
-did it carry with it, that to be successful in England or Germany, a
-composer had to write in the Italian style.
-
-France, whilst building upon the Italian foundation, created an opera
-in many ways differing from that form. Real French opera was first
-written by Lulli at the end of the seventeenth century. He will be ever
-remembered as the inventor of the overture, which replaced the small
-introduction of the Italians. Another thing he did which was new: he
-brought into his scheme the dance or ballet; and a third point was,
-that in his operas the chorus played a most important part.
-
-Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly developing all these resources.
-
-When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the supporters of Italian opera
-backed by such essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm, and named the
-“Bouffonists,” opposing the “Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
-and Rameau. Also there were Philidor, Gretry, and others trying to
-combine the new and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance of
-melody, adapted his own reforms already referred to, gave the overture
-its true connection with the poem, and, as it were, out-Rameaued
-Rameau. With all his works produced in Paris he made great successes,
-notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s powerful opposition.
-
-We will again leave Gluck elevating, for this time, the French stage
-also, and glance at _opera comique_, a term used in France as early as
-1712.
-
-I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian _intermezzo_ was the
-_vaudeville_. Claude Gilliers appears to have written many about this
-period.
-
-In the latter half of the century Dauvergne composed “Les Troqueurs,”
-in imitation of the Italian _intermezzi_, and in this work the
-dialogue, which in _opera buffa_ would have been sung, was spoken,
-a custom still adopted in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful
-chess-player), and Monsigny wrote many _operas comiques_. Gretry also
-appeared at this time as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
-Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed by D’Allayrac.
-
-To return to grand opera, the man most influenced by Gluck and his
-advances was Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune Henri” are well known,
-and who possessed undoubted talent. In the present century I may
-mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de
-Bagdad” and “La Dame Blanche,” and other works having been received at
-the time with enormous enthusiasm.
-
-Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini and Spontini, wrote much in
-the style and under the influence of the French opera. We all know and
-like Cherubini’s “Les Deux Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”
-
-Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who embodied in his operas the
-life and spirit of the Empire under the First Napoleon.”
-
-Coming into this century, we notice, as important French opera
-composers, Hérold, of “Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and Auber, who
-studied under Cherubini, and composed more comic operas than anything
-else, and whose work always contains light elegant melody and brilliant
-orchestration. Halévy has earned a good name by such operas as “La
-Juive” and “La Reine de Chypre.”
-
-An exceptionally great man was Hector Berlioz, who strove in new paths,
-and in the face of great opposition, to base his efforts upon the study
-of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.
-
-Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote as much for French opera as
-for any other. He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat, and
-every turn brought golden success. He became the greatest of French
-opera writers; but, in addition, he wrote German opera for Germans,
-Italian for Italians, and ensured by this system of “all things to all
-men” the applause which he so highly coveted.
-
-To conclude our French list, there is a composer, whose “Faust” will
-live long; I allude to Charles Gounod, who has written many other
-operas containing great dramatic beauty, richness of orchestration, and
-grace of melody. Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen” has been so
-popular, Massenet, and Ambroise Thomas.
-
-In England there is but little history to give you.
-
-English music and drama were first connected in a primitive way in the
-early miracle-plays and mysteries performed at Chester and Coventry and
-in other towns.
-
-Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions for musical
-interludes, and introduces songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
-You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the
-first half of the seventeenth century William Lawes, and Henry, his
-brother, wrote music to the masques, in which poetry, music, scenery,
-and mechanical accessories were combined, producing a decided advance
-in the direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding the patriotic
-championship of budding English opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel
-Royal, and notwithstanding the existence of the great school of
-madrigal writers, they were never encouraged to attempt dramatic work,
-as the nobility already demanded Italian opera and Italian composers
-and singers. During the civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
-the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and even from 1660 they were
-only opened for five years with an occasional performance of a masque
-by Sir William Davenant, the then poet laureate, set to music by Locke,
-in one of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find the recitative style
-used, and spoken of as new to England, although well known on the
-Continent.
-
-After those five years came the Plague, and following it the Great
-Fire, so that it was not until nearer the end of the century that a
-fair start was made in opera, and that the powerful and masterly works
-of Henry Purcell saw the light. His genius was undoubtedly superior to
-that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy, and he became a power,
-not in England only, but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should have
-died so young! The form of opera settled by him and his followers was
-similar to the French and German, in that whilst the important parts
-would be sung, the subordinate dialogue was spoken, and there was no
-accompanied recitative, excepting in some of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr.
-Arne’s operas. Arne’s “Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, _à l’Italienne_,
-set entirely in recitative form.
-
-But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr. Arnold, William Jackson (of
-Exeter), Shield, Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and many others
-adhered to the spoken dialogue. It should be quite understood that
-their music, when it occurred, formed an integral portion of the whole
-work, and, therefore, differed from interpolated pieces, which could be
-withdrawn without breaking a sequence.
-
-In 1834 John Barnett produced his “Mountain Sylph,” the first important
-English opera in the strictly modern style of that age, and one which
-introduced the school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and Macfarren.
-Italian influence was evident, and has only lately been supplanted
-by the power of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy instances, by
-the graceful delicacy of the French school. But the time for English
-opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers into which other schools
-have fallen; we have seen their heroes extricate them from those
-dangers; we have learnt what reforms are needful; the generous support
-and encouragement which has assisted the Italian, French, and German
-schools should now place all mercenary consideration on one side, and
-extend itself freely to those native artists who, in a spirit of true
-patriotism, are striving for the reputation and artistic honour of our
-country.
-
-To Handel we owe the final settlement of Italian opera in London, for
-which end he composed over forty operas, none of which are remembered,
-but from whose pages the good numbers were extracted and transferred to
-his oratorios!
-
-Comic opera, originating in Italy and developing in France, had, and
-still has, some footing in England. A very successful specimen was “The
-Beggar’s Opera,” performed in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s Inn,
-with a libretto by Gay. So enormous was its success, that people said,
-“It made Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and following successes
-arose the ballad opera, a form of comic opera taken up by the best
-composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley, words by Sheridan (Linley’s
-son-in-law), may be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally the wealth
-of England has been able to procure and import the finest foreign works
-and artists, and its riches have assisted in impoverishing what little
-native art we possessed.
-
-For the last part of my sketch I have reserved German opera.
-
-Although Italian opera soon worked its way into Germany, in fact, as
-early as the year 1627, when we reach the end of our story, we shall
-find the Germans in possession of the most advanced form of modern
-drama.
-
-Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music. It was Rinuccini’s
-“Daphne,” already set by Peri in Florence.
-
-Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned supreme until the time
-of Gluck, with such exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser and
-Handel, which contained German characteristics, and also the attempts
-on the part of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine Italian and German
-qualities.
-
-With Gluck came the great reforms in Vienna, as elsewhere, and there,
-too, party feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed by Hasse and
-his party. In Ritter’s admirable “History of Music,” already largely
-quoted from, whilst blaming the German princes for obtaining Italian
-operas at extravagant cost, he asks us to remember that these same
-princes “prepared the road, however unconsciously, for a Gluck, a
-Haydn, and a Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts were rooted
-in the Italian school of music.”
-
-Germany all this time had no national opera, the Hamburg attempt
-failing for want of encouragement.
-
-As we have previously done in dealing with the other countries, so now
-we will glance at the lighter form of opera for a moment.
-
-The German _operette_, or _singspiel_, was brought into notice by
-Johann Adam Hiller about the middle of the eighteenth century. He
-produced numbers of these, full of charming original melodies, and with
-spoken dialogue, as in _opera comique_.
-
-Amongst several writers of these light works we may number Schweitzer,
-André, and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in which dialogue is
-spoken during an undercurrent of expressive and illustrative music.
-There is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing, at the end of the
-seventeenth century, a sort of _vaudeville_ known as the “Liederspiel.”
-
-Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf and Haydn, and, in Southern
-Germany, Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.
-
-These small operas at first rather imitated the French school; but
-at the time of the above composers the national life and sentiment,
-in however insignificant a manner, had crept in, and the germ of a
-national type existed.
-
-At such a critical moment came the great genius who was to develop the
-elements of both serious and comic opera, and raise them to a lofty
-pedestal, and that genius was Mozart.
-
-Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he gave to them new life and
-meaning, and his illustration of each character, together with his
-masterly _ensembles_ and _finales_, in which, whilst each singer
-maintains his individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent, will
-ever abide as marvellous examples of dramatic scholarship and musical
-beauty. Besides understanding exactly what the human voice was capable
-of doing, he raised the orchestral accompaniment to a very high
-position.
-
-Whilst Gluck _attacked_ Italian opera, Mozart _moulded_ it in such
-a fashion that the old stiff traditions were no longer possible in
-Germany.
-
-At the commencement of this century, I must add to the list such names
-as Winter, Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and, last and greatest,
-Beethoven, whose one opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure nobility
-as long as music endures.
-
-The romantic school of poetry now finding its way into Germany, was
-soon aided by appropriate musical settings by Spohr, Marschner, and
-Weber—the greatest of them all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
-finest, the most popular, and the most thoroughly German.
-
-Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,” and Mendelssohn, ever searching
-for a libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s “Loreley,” but death came
-before he could finish it.
-
-Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes German in work, we have
-already noticed in connection with his French operas.
-
-Richard Wagner, by his theories and his great compositions, has
-caused opera once more to become the field for dispute, research, and
-speculative thought.
-
-He maintains, to put it briefly, that the real character and meaning of
-opera has been all this time misunderstood. He carries into practice
-what Gluck preached, viz., that music should second poetry, in order to
-be in its proper place. He says, “The error of the operatic art-form
-consists in the fact that music, which is really only a means of
-expression, is turned into an aim; while the real aim of expression,
-viz., the drama, is made a mere means.”
-
-It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to the free action of drama
-was the concert aria, so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
-recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works dramas, not operas. His
-orchestra illustrates the emotions and thoughts of each character,
-and the peculiar timbre of each instrument supplies the individuality
-of the person represented—a practice suggested first by Monteverde;
-and he further binds together the various episodes and scenes in the
-story, by using short _motovos_ or phrases which shall recall to the
-audience previous situations and events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
-others. Wagner very happily combines in himself the poet and musician.
-He rightly claims that his music should not be heard apart from its
-companions of equal value—the poem, the scenery, and the action. He
-has met with as much opposition as did Gluck, but the time has come
-when his works receive due recognition, and an appreciation increasing
-yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study of them.
-
-However excessive we may feel the reformer’s zeal to have been, these
-masterly art-forms supply wholesome food for meditation, and numberless
-suggestions for action, to every earnest and unbigoted student of this
-and coming generations.
-
-
-
-
-ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
-
-
-MISCELLANEOUS.
-
-JOSEPHINE.—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red nose, spots, bad
-digestion, bad breath, etc. A fine woman with a handsome figure (say
-five feet five inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches round
-the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of course, a very small or
-very thin girl would naturally measure less. You know which description
-applies to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a tobacco-pipe,
-and bulging out above and below like a bloated-looking spider, may
-solace herself with the assurance that her liver is cut in half, and
-that she would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to descant
-upon. We advise her to bequeath her remains to some hospital for the
-benefit of science and the warning of others.
-
-SEAGULL.—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on our coast-line; that
-at Holyhead is higher, and measures 719 feet, while the former is
-only 564 above the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is 678
-feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St. Catherine’s Cliff,
-on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, is higher than all those
-before-named, and rises to 830 feet.
-
-PRUDENCE PRIM.—Do you know a small illustrated book called “The Flowers
-of the Field”? Perhaps that would suit you; published by the Society
-for Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain time, letters
-waiting till called for at a foreign post-office are opened and
-directed back to the respective writers. Your writing is too careless;
-some letters well formed, others very nondescript.
-
-PAT OGAL.—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white kid gloves to a
-cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain about the dress, do. For
-gloves you pay 2d. a pair.
-
-S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line upon Line,” and
-another called “The Peep of Day,” which are very suitable for children
-of such tender years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
-“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”
-
-BERTHA.—Have you never heard of a little appliance called a
-needle-threader? You would find it most useful, and could procure one
-at a fancy-work shop.
-
-JOAN R.—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be polite to everyone
-else—busy for them even in the smallest attentions. You will have no
-time for brooding over your nervousness when you are married, so there
-is probably “a good time coming” for you. Try to prepare for it by
-studying nursing, cookery, patching and darning, etc.
-
-AN ANXIOUS ONE will find her question many times answered if she
-takes the trouble to look through our correspondence columns under
-“Miscellaneous.”
-
-E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew them neatly at
-the seams, they would be of use in a hospital for female patients
-in winter. We may suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222,
-Marylebone-road, N.W., of which we have given an illustrated account.
-Any contributions in half-worn clothing (or new articles) of use for
-wear would be gratefully received there, books included.
-
-LOVER OF THE SEA.—1. The hair darkens as years roll on, and the change
-begins to take place at three years old, if not before. In middle life
-it is very many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does not say
-that “it is never too late to repent.” We are always told “to-day is
-the accepted time; to-day is the day of salvation ... now, while it
-is called to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow. If you put
-off making your peace with God, He may not bestow on you the grace of
-repentance and the desire to turn to Him.
-
-JERRY.—Your verses are very freely written, and give a good deal of
-promise, though some little errors need correction. Part of the small
-illustration with pen and ink gives hope of better things to come,
-and both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
-whether the verses can be inserted in the G. O. P. You did not have
-them certified, which is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur
-contributions.
-
-A COUNTRY MEMBER OF THE G. F. S.—You appear to be in a very sad state
-of health, and to need change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when
-suffering from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter should
-be prescribed by a doctor.
-
-ALBERTA ROXLEY.—1. You do not give a sufficiently explicit description
-of the “Hymn to Music” for us to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide,
-Wide World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so crazy about
-sequels? There are very few written, and a good thing too; a new story
-is better than an old dish warmed up.
-
-LITTLE PUSS should ask her mother or governess for suitable books
-to read. Some on natural history would be interesting, as well as
-necessary for her to study.
-
-ONE ANXIOUS TO KNOW.—Should a husband die intestate, but leave a wife
-and a sister, half goes to the wife and the other half to his sister,
-or his brother, as the case may be. If the man had had children, the
-wife would only have had a third instead of half.
-
-WEE WILLY WANKIE.—1. It depends on the age and size of your boy
-companion. The less little girls of fifteen walk in the London streets
-(the squares and certain residential quarters excepted) the better,
-if without a lady companion much older than themselves, or a maid. 2.
-What a ridiculous question your second is! “At what age should a girl
-become engaged?” There is no “should” about the matter, and there is no
-special age either. Any age after twenty-one, up to seventy, provided
-the right man proposed and no family duties stood in the way. All
-depends on God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you should never
-marry.
-
-SCOTCH LASSIE.—We do not see that you were rendered more liable to the
-complaint you name on account of having a bad digestion.
-
-TOPSY TURVEY.—Yes, there are luminous plants, which give a
-phosphorescent light. The root-stock of a jungle orchid becomes
-luminous when wetted; wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s
-time it becomes very bright. A certain member of the fungi family,
-which, if you have a damp cellar, may be found growing on the walls,
-is known to emit so much light as to enable you to read without other
-means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy red poppy and
-potatoes, when in process of decomposition, are all phosphorescent,
-more especially the latter.
-
-MISLETOE.—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes, your first
-step would be to learn to draw and study perspective; then the colours,
-and how to produce others by blending them. So, if you have any
-original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to you by which you
-could illustrate those thoughts, you should study the art of metrical
-composition in all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
-always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right syllable. What you
-send us is not even good prose, the mere construction is all wrong, and
-there is no new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed are
-very good.
-
-JACK.—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a girl, we certainly
-advise her to wear gloves when rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather
-ones would be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign denoting a
-pause, only you make a straight line over a dot instead of a curved one
-with the points downwards. A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
-the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s taste and musical
-feeling. Were there no dot beneath the short curved line, it would be a
-“bind” or “tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone is to be
-struck.
-
-
-
-
-_“FEATHERY FLAKES,”_
-
-OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,
-
-IS NOW PUBLISHED.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-FEATHERY FLAKES.
-
-    What time we for a while have bidden
-      Farewell to summer’s bright array,
-    And azure skies again are hidden
-      By grim December’s garb of grey;
-
-    When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,
-      Too often shows a cheerless face,
-    And falling snow is fast enfolding
-      Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;
-
-    We give these pure white showers a rival
-      And namesake in our Christmas page,
-    Whose charm shall have less brief survival,
-      And banish not with winter’s rage.
-
-    Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry
-      At limits of our colder zone;
-    And may you, for the trust you carry,
-      Be warmly met and widely known.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
-
-Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]
-
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO.
-361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***
-
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65356 ***
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER
+
+VOL. VIII.—NO. 361.      NOVEMBER 27, 1886.      PRICE ONE PENNY.]
+
+
+
+
+THE FLOWER GIRL.
+
+[Illustration: THE FLOWER GIRL.]
+
+_All rights reserved._]
+
+
+    What is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,
+      Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?
+    Is it the home of her earliest childhood
+      That for a brief hour she cannot forget,
+    Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood
+        With dewdrops all wet?
+
+    All the day long in the great crowded city—
+      Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—
+    “Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”
+      She has been crying, still crying aloud.
+    She has been merry at selling so many,
+        Merry and proud.
+
+    Now as she watches the sun that is setting,
+      Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,
+    Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,
+      Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,
+    While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers
+        Once more she trips?
+
+    Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—
+      Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—
+    That takes her to woodlands away from the city,
+      Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?
+    Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity
+        Shadow her thought.
+
+            A. M.
+
+
+
+
+MERLE’S CRUSADE.
+
+BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+LABORARE EST ORARE.
+
+My mistress (how I loved to call her by that name!) was beginning to
+give me her confidence. In a little while I grew quite at my ease with
+her.
+
+She would sit down sometimes and question me about the book I was
+reading, or, if we talked of the children, she would ask my opinion of
+them in a way that showed she respected it.
+
+She told me more than once that her husband was quite satisfied with
+me; the children thrived under my care, Reggie especially, for Joyce
+was somewhat frail and delicate. It gratified me to hear this, for a
+longer acquaintance with Mr. Morton had not lessened my sense of awe in
+his presence (I had had to feel the pressure of his strong will before
+I had been many weeks in his house, and though I had submitted to his
+enforced commands, they had cost me my only tears of humiliation, and
+yet all the time I knew he was perfectly just in his demands). The
+occasion was this.
+
+It was a rule that when visitors asked to see the children, a very
+frequent occurrence when Mrs. Morton received at home, that the head
+nurse should bring them into the blue drawing-room, as it was called.
+On two afternoons I had shirked this duty. With all my boasted courage,
+the idea of facing all those strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
+chose to consider myself privileged to infringe this part of my office.
+I dressed the children carefully, and bade Hannah take them to their
+mother. I thought the girl looked at me and hesitated a moment, but her
+habitual respect kept her silent.
+
+My dereliction of duty escaped notice on the first afternoon; Mr.
+Morton was occupied with a committee, and Mrs. Morton was too gentle
+and considerate to hint that my presence was desired, but on the second
+afternoon Hannah came up looking a little flurried.
+
+Master had not seemed pleased somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
+before the visitors, and asked where nurse was that she had not brought
+the children as usual, and the mistress had looked uncomfortable, and
+had beckoned him to her.
+
+I took no notice of Hannah’s speech, for I had a hasty tongue, and
+might have said things that I should have regretted afterwards, but my
+temper was decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as quickly as possible from
+her arms, and carried him off into the other room. I wanted to be alone
+and recover myself.
+
+I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s distress; he kept patting my
+cheeks and calling to me to kiss him, that at last I was obliged
+to leave off. I had met with a difficulty at last. I could hear the
+roaring of the chained lions behind me, but I said to myself that I
+would not be beaten; if my pride must suffer I should get over the
+unpleasantness in time. Why should I be afraid of people just because
+they wore silks and satins and were strangers to me? My fears were
+undignified and absurd; Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked my duty.
+
+I hoped that nothing more would be said about it, and I determined that
+the following Thursday I would face the ordeal; but I was not to escape
+so easily.
+
+When Mrs. Morton came into the nursery that evening to bid the children
+good-night, I thought she looked a little preoccupied. She kissed them,
+and asked me, rather nervously, to follow her into the night nursery.
+
+“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly, “I hope you will not mind what I
+am going to say. My husband has asked me to speak to you. He seemed a
+little put out this afternoon; it did not please him that Hannah should
+take your place with the children.”
+
+“Hannah told me so when she came up, Mrs. Morton.”
+
+In spite of all my efforts to restrain my temper, I am afraid my voice
+was a little sullen. I had never answered her in such a tone before. I
+would obey Mr. Morton; I knew my own position well enough for that, but
+they should both see that this part of my duty was distasteful to me.
+
+To my intense surprise she took my hand and held it gently.
+
+“I was afraid you would feel it in this way, Merle, but I want you
+to look upon it in another point of view. You know that my husband
+forewarned you that your position would entail difficulties. Hitherto
+things have been quite smooth; now comes a duty which you own by your
+manner to be bitterly distasteful. I sympathise with you, but my
+husband’s wishes are sacred; he is very particular on this point. Do
+you think for my sake that you could yield in this?”
+
+She still held my hand, and I own that the foolish feeling crossed me
+that I was glad that she should know my hand was as soft as hers, but
+as she spoke to me in that beseeching voice all sullenness left me.
+
+“There is very little that I would not do for your sake, Mrs. Morton,
+when you have been so good to me. Please do not say another word
+about it. Mr. Morton was right; I have been utterly in the wrong; I
+feel that now. Next Thursday I will bring down the children into the
+drawing-room.”
+
+She thanked me so warmly that she made me feel still more ashamed of
+myself; it seemed such a wonderful thing that my mistress should stoop
+to entreat where she could by right command, but she was very tolerant
+of a girl’s waywardness. She did not leave me even then, but changed
+the subject. She sat down and talked to me for a few minutes about
+myself and Aunt Agatha. I had not been home yet, and she wanted me to
+fix some afternoon when Mrs. Garnett or Travers could take my place.
+
+“We must not let you get too dull, Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
+a good girl, but she cannot be a companion to you in any sense of the
+word.” And perhaps in that she was right.
+
+I woke the following Thursday with a sense of uneasiness oppressing me,
+so largely do our small fears magnify themselves when indulged. As the
+afternoon approached I grew quite pale with apprehension, and Hannah,
+with unspoken sympathy, but she had wonderful tact for a girl, only
+hinted at the matter in a roundabout way.
+
+I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise blue velvet, and was fastening
+my clean frilled apron over my black gown, when Hannah said quietly,
+“Well, it is no wonder master likes to show people what sort of nurse
+he has got. I don’t think anyone could look so nice in a cap and apron
+as you do, Miss Fenton. It is just as though you were making believe to
+be a servant like me, and it would not do anyhow.”
+
+I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely compliment, but I confessed it
+pleased me and gave me courage. I felt still more like myself when my
+boy put his dimpled arms round my neck, and hid his dear face on my
+shoulder. I could not persuade him to loosen his hold until his mother
+spoke to him, and there was Joyce holding tightly to my gown all the
+time.
+
+The room was so full that it almost made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
+Morton to rise from her seat and meet me, but all her coaxing speeches
+would not make Reggie do more than raise his head from my shoulder. He
+sat in my arms like a baby prince, beating off everyone with his little
+hands, and refusing even to go to his father.
+
+Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I carried him from one to another.
+Joyce had left me at once for her mother. Some of the ladies questioned
+me about the children. They spoke very civilly, but their inquisitive
+glances made my face burn, and it was with difficulty that I made
+suitable replies. Once I looked up, and saw that Mr. Morton was
+watching me. His glance was critical, but not unkindly. I had a feeling
+then that he was subjecting me purposely to this test. I must carry out
+my theory into practice. I am convinced all this was in his mind as he
+looked at me, and I no longer bore a grudge against him.
+
+Not long afterwards I had an opportunity of learning that he could own
+himself fallible on some points. He was exceedingly just, and could
+bear a rebuke even from an inferior, if it proved him to be clearly in
+the wrong.
+
+One afternoon he came into the nursery to play with the children for
+a few minutes. He would wind up their mechanical toys to amuse them.
+Reggie was unusually fretful, and nothing seemed to please him. He
+scolded both his father and his walking doll, and would have nothing
+to say to the learned dog who beat the timbrels and nodded his head
+approvingly to his own music. Presently he caught sight of his
+favourite woolly lamb placed out of his reach on the mantelpiece, and
+began screaming and kicking.
+
+“Naughty Reggie,” observed his father, complacently, and he was taking
+down the toy when I begged him respectfully to replace it.
+
+He looked at me in some little surprise.
+
+“I thought he was crying for it,” he said, somewhat perplexed at this.
+
+“Reggie must not cry for things after that fashion,” I returned,
+firmly, for I felt a serious principle was involved here. “He is only a
+baby, but he is very sensible, and knows he is naughty when he screams
+for a thing. I never give it to him until he is good.”
+
+“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he seems far off from goodness now.
+What do you mean by making all that noise, my boy?”
+
+Reggie was in one of his passions, it was easy to see that; the toy
+would have been flung to the ground in his present mood; so without
+looking at his father or asking his permission, I resorted to my usual
+method, and laid him down screaming lustily in his little cot.
+
+“There baby must stop until he is good,” I remarked, quietly, and I
+took my work and sat down at some little distance, while Mr. Morton
+watched us from the other room. I knew my plan always answered with
+Reggie, and the storm would soon be over.
+
+In two or three minutes his screams ceased, and I heard a penitent
+“Gargle do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him directly, and in a moment
+he held out his arms to be lifted out of the cot.
+
+“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as I kissed him.
+
+“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply, and the next moment he was
+cuddling his lamb.
+
+“I own your method is the best, nurse,” observed Mr. Morton,
+pleasantly. “My boy will not be spoiled, I see that. I confess I should
+have given him the toy directly he screamed for it; you showed greater
+wisdom than his father.”
+
+It is impossible to say how much this speech gratified me. From that
+moment I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.
+
+My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly. A little before the
+nursery dinner Travers brought a message from Mrs. Morton that Joyce
+was to go out with her in the carriage, and that if I liked to have
+the afternoon and evening to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take charge of
+Reggie.
+
+The offer was too tempting to be refused. I do not think I ever knew
+the meaning of the word holiday before. No schoolgirl felt in greater
+spirits than I did during dinner time.
+
+It was a lovely April afternoon. I took out of my wardrobe a soft
+grey merino, my best dress, and a little grey velvet bonnet that Aunt
+Agatha’s skilful hands had made for me. I confess I looked at myself
+with some complacency. “No one would take me for a nurse,” I thought.
+
+In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton; he was just going out. For the
+moment he did not recognise me. He removed his hat hurriedly; no doubt
+he thought me a stranger.
+
+I could not help smiling at his mistake, and then he said, rather
+awkwardly, “I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I am glad you have such
+a lovely afternoon for your holiday; there seems a look of spring in
+the air,” all very civilly, but with his keen eyes taking in every
+particular of my dress.
+
+I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards that he very much approved of Miss
+Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance, and as he was a very fastidious
+man, this was considered high praise. There was more than a touch of
+spring in the air; the delicious softness seemed to promise opening
+buds. Down Exhibition-road the flower-girls were busy with their
+baskets of snowdrops and violets. I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then
+I remembered that Uncle Keith had a weakness for a particular sort of
+scone, and I bought some and a slice of rich Dundee seed cake. I felt
+like a schoolgirl providing a little home feast, but how pleasant it
+is to cater for those we love. I was glad when my short journey was
+over, and I could see the river shimmering a steely blue in the spring
+sunshine. The old church towers seemed more venerable and picturesque.
+As I walked down High-street I looked at the well-known shops with an
+interest I never felt before.
+
+When I reached the cottage I rang very softly, that Aunt Agatha
+should not be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased exclamation when
+she caught sight of me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle? I could
+hardly believe my eyes. Mistress is in there reading,” pointing to the
+drawing-room. “She has not heard the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can
+surprise her finely.”
+
+I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened the door noiselessly. How cosy
+the room looked in the firelight! and could any sight be more pleasant
+to my eyes than dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite low chair, in
+her well-worn black silk and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget her
+look of delight when she saw me.
+
+“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you mean it is really you? Come here and
+let me look at you. I want to see what seven weeks of hard work have
+done for you.”
+
+But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim as she looked.
+
+“There, sit down, and get warm,” giving me an energetic little push,
+“and tell me all about it. Your letters never do you justice, Merle. I
+must hear your experience from your own lips.”
+
+What a talk that was. It lasted all the afternoon, until Patience
+came in to set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle Keith’s boots on the
+scraper; even that sound was musical to me. When he entered the room I
+gave him a good hug, and had put some of my violets in his button-hole
+long before he had left off saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.
+
+“She looks well, Agatha, does she not?” he observed, as we gathered
+round the tea-table. “So the scheme has held out for seven weeks, eh?
+You have not come to tell us you are tired of being a nurse?”
+
+“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly. “I am determined to prove to
+you and the whole world that my theory is a sensible one. I am quite
+happy in my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith. I would not part with my
+children for worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for Reggie, he is such
+a darling that I could not live without him.”
+
+“It is making a woman of Merle, I can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
+softly. “I confess I did not like the plan at first, but if you make it
+answer, child, you will have me for a convert. You look just as nice
+and just as much a lady as you did when you were leading a useless life
+here. Never mind if in time your hands grow a little less soft and
+white; that is a small matter if your heart expands and your conscience
+is satisfied. You remember your favourite motto, Merle?”
+
+“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare est orare.’ Now I must go, for
+Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch, which means I have to catch my
+train.”
+
+But as I trudged over the bridge beside him in the starlight, and saw
+the faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy river, a voice seemed to
+whisper to my inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle, a good beginning
+makes a glad ending. Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est orare.’”
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.
+
+BY THE REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., Author of “The Handy Natural History.”
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The death-stroke—Ways of the
+heron—Watching for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in the New
+Forest—Return to wild habits—The fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron
+and the eel—The cormorant and the conger—The heron’s power of wing—How
+the heron settles—Its resting-place—Power of the heron’s beak—Heronry
+in Wanstead Park.
+
+The water-vole has but few enemies whom it need fear, and one of them
+is now so scarce that the animal enjoys a practical immunity from
+it. This is the heron (_Ardea cinerea_), which has suffered great
+diminution of its numbers since the spread of agriculture.
+
+Even now, however, when the brook is far away from the habitations of
+man, the heron may be detected by a sharp eye standing motionless in
+the stream, and looking out for prey. Being as still as if cut out of
+stone, neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the latter should
+happen to approach within striking distance, it will be instantly
+killed by a sharp stroke on the back of the head.
+
+The throat of the heron looks too small to allow the bird to swallow
+any animal larger than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable that
+the largest water-vole can be swallowed with perfect ease.
+
+The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious about its food, and will
+eat fish, frogs, toads, or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
+has even been known to devour young waterhens, swimming out to their
+nest, and snatching up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is fish
+that comes to its beak.
+
+If the reader should be fortunate enough to espy a heron while watching
+for prey, let him make the most of the opportunity.
+
+Although the heron is a large bird, it is not easily seen. In the first
+place, there are few birds which present so many different aspects.
+When it stalks over the ground with erect bearing and alert gestures
+it seems as conspicuous a bird as can well be imagined. Still more
+conspicuous does it appear when flying, the ample wings spread, the
+head and neck stretched forwards, and the long legs extending backwards
+by way of balance.
+
+But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled fish it must
+remain absolutely still. So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird,
+its long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers of the shoulders, and
+nothing but the glancing eye denoting that it is alive.
+
+This quiescence must be imitated by the observer, should he wish to
+watch the proceedings of the bird, as the least movement will startle
+it. The reason why so many persons fail to observe the habits of
+animals, and then disbelieve those who have been more successful, is
+that they have never mastered the key to all observation, _i.e._,
+refraining from the slightest motion. A movement of the hand or foot,
+or even a turn of the head is certain to give alarm; while many
+creatures are so wary that when watching them it is as well to droop
+the eyelids as much as possible, and not even to turn the eyes quickly,
+lest the reflection of the light from their surface should attract the
+attention of the watchful creature.
+
+One of the worst results of detection is that when any animal is
+startled it conveys the alarm to all others that happen to be within
+sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals of the same species
+have a language of their own which they perfectly understand, though it
+is not likely that an animal belonging to one species can understand
+the language of another.
+
+But there seems to be a sort of universal or _lingua-franca_ language
+which is common to all the animals, whether they be beasts or birds,
+and one of the best known phrases is the cry of alarm, which is
+understood by all alike.
+
+I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely necessary to be alone,
+as there is no object in two observers going together unless they can
+communicate with each other, and there is nothing which is so alarming
+to the beasts and birds as the sound of the human voice.
+
+Yet there is a mode by which two persons who have learned to act in
+concert with each other can manage to observe in company. It was shown
+to me by an old African hunter, when I was staying with him in the New
+Forest.
+
+In the forest, although even the snapping of a dry twig will give the
+alarm, neither bird nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
+We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and practised ourselves
+thoroughly in them.
+
+Then, we went as quietly as we could to the chosen spot, and sat down
+facing each other, so that no creature could pass behind one of us
+without being detected by the other. We were both dressed in dark grey,
+and took the precaution of sitting with our backs against a tree or a
+bank, or any object which could perform the double duty of giving us
+something to lean against, and of breaking the outlines of the human
+form.
+
+Our whistled code was as low as was possible consistent with being
+audible, and I do not think that during our many experiments we gave
+the alarm to a single creature.
+
+When the observer is remaining without movement, scarcely an animal
+will notice him.
+
+I remember that on one occasion my friend and I were sitting opposite
+each other, one on either side of a narrow forest path. The sun had
+set, but at that time of the year there is scarcely any real night, and
+objects could be easily seen in the half light.
+
+Presently a fox came stealthily along the path. Now the cunning of the
+fox is proverbial, and neither of us thought that he would pass between
+us without detecting our presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
+that we could have touched him with a stick.
+
+Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the same path, walking almost
+as noiselessly as the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact that
+domesticated animals, when allowed to wander at liberty in the New
+Forest, soon revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.
+
+As the cow came along the path, neither of us could conjecture the
+owner of the stealthy footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
+poachers, in which case things would have gone hard with us, the
+poachers of the New Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of men,
+always provided with firearms and bludgeons, having scarcely the very
+slightest regard for the law, and almost out of reach of the police.
+
+They would certainly have considered us as spies upon them, and as
+certainly would have attacked and half, if not quite killed us, we
+being unarmed.
+
+But to our amusement as well as relief, the step was only that of a
+solitary cow, the animal lifting each foot high from the ground before
+she made her step, and putting it down as cautiously as she had raised
+it.
+
+Then, a barn owl came drifting silently between us, looking in the
+dusk as large and white as if it had been the snowy owl itself. Yet,
+neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl detected us, although passing
+within a few feet of us.
+
+In the daytime the observer, however careful he may be, is always
+liable to detection by a stray magpie or crow.
+
+The bird comes flying along overhead, its keen eyes directed downwards,
+on the look-out for the eggs of other birds. At first he may not notice
+the motionless and silent observer, but sooner or later he is sure to
+do so.
+
+If it were not exasperating to have all one’s precautions frustrated,
+the shriek of terrified astonishment with which the bird announces the
+unexpected presence of a human being would be exceedingly ludicrous.
+As it is, a feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of amusement,
+for at least an hour will elapse before the startled animals will have
+recovered from the magpie’s alarm cry.
+
+Supposing that we are stationed on the banks of the brook on a fine
+summer evening, while the long twilight endures, and have been
+fortunate enough to escape the notice of the magpie or other feathered
+spy, we may have the opportunity of watching the heron capture its prey.
+
+The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and in a moment the bird is
+holding a fish transversely in its beak. The long, narrow bill scarcely
+seems capable of retaining the slippery prey; but if a heron’s beak
+be examined carefully, it will be seen to possess a number of slight
+serrations upon the edges, which enable it to take a firm grasp of the
+fish.
+
+Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling, for almost as soon
+as captured it is flung in the air, caught dexterously with its head
+downwards, and swallowed.
+
+It is astonishing how large a fish will pass down the slender throat
+of a heron. As has been already mentioned, the water-vole is swallowed
+without difficulty. Now the water-vole measures between eight and nine
+inches in length from the nose to the root of the tail, and is a very
+thickset animal, so that it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.
+
+It is seldom that the heron has, like the kingfisher, to beat its prey
+against a stone or any hard object before swallowing it, though when
+it catches a rather large eel it is obliged to avail itself of this
+device before it can get the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
+attitude. The eel has the strongest objection to going down the heron’s
+throat, and has no idea of allowing its head to pass into the heron’s
+beak. The eel, therefore, must be rendered insensible before it can be
+swallowed.
+
+Generally it is enough to carry the refractory prey to the bank, hold
+it down with the foot, and peck it from one end to the other until it
+is motionless. Should the eel be too large to be held by the feet, it
+is rapidly battered against a stone, just as a large snail is treated
+by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.
+
+If the feet of the heron be examined, a remarkable comb-like appendage
+may be seen on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.
+
+What may be the precise office of this comb is not satisfactorily
+decided. Some ornithologists think that it is utilised in preening the
+plumage, I cannot, however, believe that it performs such an office. I
+have enjoyed exceptional opportunities for watching the proceedings of
+the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity, but never saw it
+preen its feathers with its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
+actually witnessed the proceeding.
+
+[Illustration: IN WANSTEAD PARK.]
+
+It is not always fair to judge from a dead bird what the living bird
+might have been able to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage of a
+dead heron with its foot-comb, and have not succeeded.
+
+Another suggestion is that the bird may use it when it holds prey under
+its feet, as has just been narrated. These suggestions, however, are
+nothing more than conjectures, but, as they have been the subject of
+much argument, I have thought it best to mention them.
+
+Sometimes it has happened that the heron has miscalculated its powers,
+and seized a fish which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
+Anglers frequently capture fish which bear the marks of the heron’s
+beak upon their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish nor the
+heron is any the worse for the struggle.
+
+But when the unmanageable fish has been an eel, the result has, more
+than once, been disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on the
+British birds, a case is recorded where a heron and eel were both found
+dead, the partially swallowed eel having twisted itself round the neck
+of the heron in its struggles.
+
+A very similar incident occurred off the coast of Devonshire, the
+victim in this case being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
+conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper mandible completely through
+the lower jaw of the fish, the horny beak having entered under the chin
+of the eel.
+
+The bird could not shake the fish off its beak, and the result was
+that both were found lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
+having coiled itself round the neck of the cormorant and strangled it.
+The stuffed skins of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro Museum,
+preserved in the position in which they were found.
+
+Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the heron will take flight for
+its home, which will probably be at a considerable distance from its
+fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles are but an easy journey for the
+bird, which measures more than five feet across the expanded wings, and
+yet barely weighs three pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
+is believed to be the lightest bird known. The Rev. C. A. Johns states
+that he has seen the heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from any
+heronry.
+
+The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically described in a letter
+published in the _Standard_ newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.
+
+“One summer evening I was under a wood by the Exe. The sun had set, and
+from over the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy cloud stretched
+out across the sky. The rooks came slowly home to roost, disappearing
+over the wood, and at the same time the herons approached in exactly
+the opposite direction, flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
+out to feed as the rooks returned home.
+
+“The first heron sailed on steadily at a great height, uttering a loud
+“caak, caak” at intervals. In a few minutes a second followed, and
+“caak, caak” sounded again over the river valley.
+
+“The third was flying at a less height, and as he came into sight
+over the line of the wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding his
+immense wings extended, dived, as a rook will, downwards through the
+air. He twisted from side to side like anything spun round by the
+finger and thumb as he came down, rushing through the air head first.
+
+“The sound of his great vanes pressing and dividing the air was
+distinctly audible. He looked unable to manage his descent, but at the
+right moment he recovered his balance, and rose a little up into a tree
+on the summit, drawing his long legs into the branches behind him.
+
+“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and so descended into the
+wood. Two more passed on over the valley—altogether six herons in about
+a quarter of an hour. They intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees
+till it was dusky, and then to go down and fish in the wood. Herons
+are here called cranes, and heronries are craneries. (This confusion
+between the heron and the crane exists in most parts of Ireland.)
+
+“A determined sportsman who used to eat every heron he could shoot, in
+revenge for their ravages among the trout, at last became suspicious,
+and, examining one, found in it the remains of a rat and of a toad,
+after which he did not eat any more herons. Another sportsman found a
+heron in the very act of gulping down a good sized trout, which stuck
+in the gullet. He shot the heron and got the trout, which was not at
+all injured, only marked at each side where the beak had cut it. The
+fish was secured and eaten.”
+
+I can corroborate the accuracy as well as the graphic wording of the
+above description.
+
+When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent, I used nearly every evening
+to see herons flying northwards. I think that they were making for the
+Essex marshes. They always flew at a very great height, and might have
+escaped observation but for the loud, harsh croak which they uttered
+at intervals, and which has been so well described by the monosyllable
+“caak.”
+
+As to their mode of settling on a tree, I have often watched the
+herons of Walton Hall, where they were so tame that they would allow
+themselves to be approached quite closely. When settling, they lower
+themselves gently until their feet are upon the branch. They then keep
+up a slight flapping of the wings until they are fairly settled.
+
+An idea is prevalent in many parts of England that when the heron sits
+on its nest, its long legs hang down on either side. Nothing can be
+more absurd. The heron can double up its legs as is usual among birds,
+and sits on its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any other
+short-legged bird.
+
+In many respects the heron much resembles the rook in its manner of
+nesting. The nest is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty tree,
+and is little more than a mere platform of small sticks. Being a larger
+bird than the rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and on an average
+the diameter of a nest is about three feet.
+
+Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its nesting, a solitary
+heron’s nest being unknown. In their modes of feeding, however, the
+two birds utterly differ from each other, the heron seeking its food
+alone, while the rook feeds in company, always placing a sentinel on
+some elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm at the approach of
+danger.
+
+The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice of a nesting-place,
+and, like the rook, prefers the neighbourhood of man, knowing
+instinctively when it will be protected by its human neighbours.
+Fortunately for the bird, the possession of a heronry is a matter of
+pride among landowners; so that even if the owner of a trout-stream
+happened also to possess a heronry, he would not think of destroying
+the herons because they ate his trout.
+
+In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it is not to be recommended as
+a pet. It is apt to bestow all its affections on one individual, and to
+consider the rest of the human race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
+pecked out.
+
+I was for some time acquainted with such a bird, but took care to keep
+well out of reach of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
+unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.
+
+It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was almost slavishly
+affectionate to the gardener, rubbing itself against his legs like a
+pet cat, and trying in every way to attract his attention. He had even
+taught it a few simple tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off his
+head, and then offer it to him.
+
+But just in proportion as it became friendly with the gardener it
+became cross-grained with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
+who came into the garden, and darting its beak at their eyes. Its last
+performance caused it to be placed in confinement.
+
+An elderly gentleman had entered the garden on business, when the bird
+instantly assailed him. Knowing the habits of the heron, he very wisely
+flung himself on his face for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
+shouted for help.
+
+Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the most of its opportunity,
+mounted upon his prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting several
+severe pecks upon his body and limbs before the gardener could come to
+the rescue.
+
+The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the mandibles being closed,
+and the blow delivered with the full power of the long neck, so that
+each blow from the beak is something like the stab of a bayonet, and so
+strong and sharp is the beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
+into an effective spearhead.
+
+Few people seem to be aware that a large and populous heronry exists in
+Wanstead Park, on the very outskirts of London.
+
+At the end of summer, when the young birds are fledged, the heronry
+is nearly deserted, but during the early days of spring the heronry
+is well worth a visit. The great birds are all in full activity, as
+is demanded by the many wants of the young, and on the ground beneath
+may be seen fragments of the pale-blue eggs. On an average there are
+three young ones in each nest, so that the scene is very lively and
+interesting, until the foliage becomes so thick that it hides the birds
+and their nests.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;
+
+OR,
+
+THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.
+
+BY EMMA BREWER.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Just for a little time I must leave my personal history to inquire how
+England managed to do without me so long, and what the circumstances
+were which at length rendered my existence imperative.
+
+In the days following the Norman Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit
+in life was the commerce of money, were the compulsory bankers of the
+country.
+
+They were subject to much cruelty and persecution, as you may see for
+yourselves in your histories of the Kings of England. It is not to be
+denied that their demands for interest on money lent by them were most
+extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest exceeded 40 per cent., and I
+believe that 500 Jews were slain by our London citizens because one of
+them would have forced a Christian to pay more than twopence for the
+usury of 20s.[1] for one week, which sum they were allowed by the king
+to take from the Oxford students.
+
+They were ill-treated and robbed from the time they came over with the
+Conqueror until the reign of Edward I., who distinguished himself by
+robbing 15,000 Jews of their wealth, and then banishing the whole of
+them from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned against as sinning, the
+compulsory bankers of the period departed.
+
+There was no time to feel their loss, for immediately after their
+expulsion the Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of Genoa, Florence,
+Lucca and Venice, came over to England and established themselves in
+the street which still bears their name.
+
+There was no doubt as to their purpose, for it was a well-known fact
+that in whatever country or town they settled they engrossed its trade
+and became masters of its cash, and certainly they did not intend to
+make an exception in favour of London.
+
+I am not going to deny that they introduced into our midst many of
+the arts and skill of trade with which we in England were previously
+unacquainted; and it is to these Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the
+introduction of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention, and one which
+has served to connect the whole world into one, as you will see when
+the proper place arrives for their explanation.
+
+These Lombards, immediately after their arrival in London, may have
+been seen regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street with their
+wares, exposing for sale the most attractive articles; and in a short
+time became so successful that they were able to take shops in which to
+carry on their business as goldsmiths.
+
+These shops were not confined to the one street which bears their name,
+but were continued along the south row of Cheapside, extending from the
+street called Old Change into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
+after the Great Fire, when they removed to Lombard-street. There seems
+to be no street in the world where a business of one special character
+has been carried on so continuously as in Lombard-street. In the time
+of Queen Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in London. In addition
+to the art of the goldsmith, they added the business of money-changing,
+the importance of which occupation you will be able to estimate when we
+come to the subject of the coins of the realm.
+
+From money-changers they became money-lenders and money-borrowers—money
+was the commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per cent. the modest
+interest they asked and obtained for their money.
+
+Of course they gave receipts for the money lodged with them, and these
+circulated and were known by the name of “goldsmiths’ notes,” and were,
+in fact, the first kind of bank-notes issued in England.
+
+The Lombards were a most industrious class of people, and left no
+stone unturned by which they could obtain wealth; and in an incredibly
+short time we find them not only wealthy, but powerful, and occupying
+a very prominent position; and you may be quite sure that under these
+circumstances they did not escape persecution.
+
+Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were extortioners, Edward III.
+seized their property and estates. Even this seemed but slightly to
+affect them; for in the fifteenth century we find them advancing large
+sums of money for the service of the State on the security of the
+Customs.
+
+In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the time of my birth, the
+banking was entirely in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried on in
+a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently the case when unrestrained by
+rivals.
+
+I dare say you have all noticed the three golden balls on the outside
+of pawnbrokers’ shops. Originally these were three pills, the emblem of
+the Medici (physician) family; but in some way they became associated
+with St. Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths, under the name of
+the three golden balls—an emblem which the Lombards have retained.
+
+Are you curious to know how the sign has so degenerated as to be the
+inseparable companion of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well, listen.
+
+Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were established from motives of
+charity in the fifteenth century. Their object was to lend money to
+the poor upon pledges and without interest. Originally they were
+supported by voluntary contributions, but as these proved insufficient
+to pay expenses, it became necessary to charge interest for the money
+lent. These banks were first distinguished by the name of _montes
+pietatis_. The word _mont_ at this period was applied to any pecuniary
+fund, and it is probable that _pietatis_ was added by the promoters
+of the scheme, to give it an air of religion, and thus procure larger
+subscriptions.
+
+Well, these banks were not only called mounts of piety, but were
+known also as Lombards,[2] from the name of the original bankers or
+money-lenders. Now you see how it is pawnbrokers bear the sign of the
+goldsmiths.
+
+You who know so well where to place your money, both for interest
+and security, when you have any to spare, can scarcely understand
+the trouble and annoyance which our merchants and wealthy people
+experienced at having no place of security wherein they could deposit
+their money. At one time they sent it to the Mint in the Tower of
+London, which became a sort of bank, where merchants left their money
+when they had no need of it, and drew it out only as they wanted it;
+but this soon ceased to be a place of security. In 1640 Charles I.,
+without leave asked or granted, took possession of £200,000 of the
+money lodged there. Great was the wrath of the merchants, who were
+compelled, after this unkingly act, to keep their surplus money at
+home, guarded by their apprentices and servants. Even here the money
+was not safe, for on the breaking out of the war between Charles and
+his Parliament, it was no uncommon occurrence for the apprentices to
+rob their masters and run away and join the army.
+
+When the merchants found that neither the public authorities nor their
+own servants were to be trusted, they employed bankers, and these
+bankers were goldsmiths.
+
+Many a tale, however, has reached me of the shifts and contrivances
+of people to secure their savings and surplus money—people whose
+experience had taught them to distrust both authorities and places, and
+who would not, under the new state of things, have anything to do with
+the bankers. One I will relate to you.
+
+A man whose life had been one of hard work and self-denial, and who had
+two or three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness of the
+people with whom he had lodged it, determined to be their dupe no more.
+Money began once more to accumulate, and all things prospered with him;
+but no one could imagine what he did with it; as far as his household
+could tell, he did not deposit it with anyone outside the house,
+neither could they discover any place within where it was possible
+to stow it away. No persuasion could move the man to speak one word
+concerning it.
+
+At length he died, without having time or consciousness to mention
+the whereabouts of his money. Search was made in all directions, but
+without success.
+
+While living he had been a regular attendant at one of our City
+churches, and, occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
+square pew, was well known to the clergy and servants.
+
+A few weeks after his death the pew-opener told the rector, in a
+frightened voice, that she could no longer keep the matter from him,
+for as surely as she stood there, the ghost of the man who died a week
+or two ago haunted the church by night and by day.
+
+Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish fancy, the rector allowed her
+to tell her story quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and very
+nervous.
+
+She related that several times during the past weeks, when quite alone
+in the church for the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had heard a
+peculiar noise proceeding from the pew where the old man used to sit,
+and it sounded to her exactly as though he were counting out money, and
+she would be very glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.
+
+Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied the woman to the pew.
+At first all was quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound came
+exactly as described; they felt round about the pew, and at length
+discovered a movable panel near the flooring. It was the work of a
+moment to remove it, and there, in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of
+money wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted the mice, and it
+was their little pattering feet among the coins which had caught the
+woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped in his week’s savings on
+Sundays, believing that it would be safer in the church than elsewhere.
+
+It seems that after the restoration of Charles II., he being greatly
+in want of money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten per cent. for
+the loan. Often, however, they obtained thirty per cent. from him, and
+this induced the goldsmiths to lend more and more to the king, so that
+really the whole revenue passed through their hands.
+
+In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers, and put a check on their
+prodigal lending. King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526, which he had
+borrowed at eight per cent., utterly refused to pay either principal or
+interest, and he remained firm to his resolution.
+
+The way in which bankers transacted their loans with the king, was in
+this manner:—As soon as the Parliament had voted to the king certain
+sums of money out of special taxes, the goldsmith-bankers at once
+supplied the king with the whole sum so voted, and were repaid in
+weekly payments at the Exchequer[3] as the taxes were received.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Ruding, vol. I.
+
+[2] The Lombards, or _montes pietatis_, lent on gold and silver
+three-quarters of their value; on other metals half of their value;
+and on jewels according to circumstances. The rate of interest was
+determined in 1786 at five per cent.
+
+[3] Exchequer, so called because there was a building with a square
+hole in the floor, through which they used to drop the notes and gold
+on to a table beneath, covered with a chequered cloth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.
+
+BY A LADY DRESSMAKER.
+
+
+We have had such a mild and delightful autumn, that all kinds of winter
+garments have been delayed in making an appearance. This is especially
+the case with mantles and the heavier class of jackets. However, there
+is enough to show us that no great novelty has been introduced. Mantles
+are all small and short, and the majority have ends in front more or
+less long. Black plush seems a very favourite material, and is much
+overladen with trimming. Plain plush is also used for paletôts, and for
+large cloaks; but there is a new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers,
+that is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps and epaulettes are worn
+as well as ornaments at the back, and sometimes beaded braces round
+the join of the sleeve in the small mantles, and a strip of the same
+may be used to outline the seam at the back. These hints may help some
+of my readers to do up a last year’s mantle with some of the moderate
+priced bead trimmings now in vogue. Paletôts or cloaks are made both
+long and medium in length. They are made in plush, cloth, and rough
+cloths, but are not seen in the finer fancy stuffs which are made use
+of for mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have an appearance as
+if braid were sewn on to the surface. The cloak paletôts, when long,
+close in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed with a border
+of fur, which is shaped on the shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
+“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower edge of the cloak; the cuffs
+are deep. Fur trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting follow the
+same rule, and have no trimming of fur at the edge. Fur boas are very
+decidedly the fashion this winter, and there seems no end to their
+popularity. Some of them are flat at the neck, like a collarette; and
+others are attached to the mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
+and some are nothing more than fur collars that clasp round the throat;
+and these collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the place of the
+fur capes that have been worn so long. Grey furs are more in fashion
+than brown ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock, and
+opossum, and I see that quantities of American raccoon are also being
+prepared. Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable, marten-tail,
+mink, or blue fox, are not within the ordinary range of purchasers, and
+few people care to spend so much money on dress as their acquirement
+entails. There is also a new feeling to be taken into account; the same
+feeling that makes thinking women and girls decline to wear birds,
+and their heads and wings, _i.e._, the feeling that the seal fishery
+as hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may wear furs that are
+too costly in other ways. I often think if mighty hunters—instead of
+hunting down the buffalo, and the other animals useful to the Indian in
+the North West—would go to India and hunt the tigers that so cruelly
+prey on the natives there, we should wear those skins with much
+pleasure as well as advantage. But the account of the slaying of a
+mother-seal ought to be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I have never
+cordially liked sealskins since I read of the devotion of one poor
+mother-seal in particular to her young; and I have never had a sealskin
+jacket since.
+
+[Illustration: AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.]
+
+There are numbers of jackets in every style, but all are made of
+woollen materials, not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them are
+tight-fitting, and are smart looking and stylish. Both single and
+double-breasted ones are seen. Hoods are much worn, but are by no means
+general. Coloured linings are used to pale-coloured or checked cloth
+jackets, but not to black or brown ones. Small mantles and cloaks
+are tied at the neck by a quantity of ribbons to match the colour of
+the cloth or plush. One of the new ideas for mantles is that of a
+semi-fitting jacket over a long close-fitting cloak.
+
+[Illustration: UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.]
+
+The new bonnets and hats are much smaller and prettier now, and there
+are in consequence many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
+well-dressed girls in the streets of London. Formerly no girl who
+wished to be thought somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet in London.
+
+The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on gathered, doubled and
+pleated, sometimes with as many as three frills at the edge. Many of
+the bonnets are without strings, and have pointed fronts, and there is
+much jet trimming used even on coloured velvet bonnets. I am sorry to
+say that our fashionable caterers continue to prey upon the feathered
+creation all over the world. This winter the owl has evidently fallen
+a victim, and there are besides the tern, kingfisher, and the heron.
+How I wish this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be prevented, and
+that my numberless girl-readers would try to avoid giving it the least
+encouragement. While we have the beautiful ostrich feathers, we cannot
+need these other poor victims offered up on the altar of feminine
+vanity and unthinking cruelty.
+
+Some of the felt hats for the season are very pretty. They have high
+and sloping crowns, the brims are often only bound with ribbon, but if
+wide and turned up at the back, they are lined with velvet, or rather
+only partly lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined. Many
+of them have brims turned up all round, like one of the old turban hats.
+
+The ribbons in use at present are of all kinds, satin and velvet
+reversible, as well as _moiré_ and velvet, or satin and _moiré_. These
+have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk, in colour. Velvet
+ribbons with corded stripes have one edge purled and the other fringed;
+and the strings of bonnets are of narrow _picot_-edged ribbon.
+
+The number of white gowns that have been worn during the past season
+and up to the present moment has been remarkable, and has quite
+justified the name of a “white season.” Even as the weather became
+colder, a charming mixture of materials was introduced, viz., white
+corduroy, and some soft woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
+winter white will be the special fashion for young people for the
+evening, and any colour can be given by trimming. It seems likely that
+perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of habit-cloths, will be used
+for winter day dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued fur, or
+with velvet to match the colour of the cloth. The colours that will
+be worn in these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a tint like
+heliotrope, and a reddish violet.
+
+Fancy materials in mixed colours abound, the mixtures being green
+and ruby, brown and red, sage and vermilion, and others of the same
+unæsthetic nature. The new browns are called Carmelite, chestnut,
+rosewood, hair, and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux, Indian, currant,
+and clove. A new green is called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
+popular, and brown and red violet are the special colours of the season.
+
+In the making of dresses there is but little change. The skirts are
+still short, and the draperies still long; while there is a fancy
+for over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will be a blessing for
+the possessors of half-worn and very ancient bodices. Bracers are
+one of the novelties as a form of trimming for the latter. They are
+also trimmed in imitation of a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
+returning to favour, and will be worn later on over lace skirts for
+evening dress. Serge seems to me to be the most favoured material this
+winter, and it forms the ground work of half the fancy cloths and
+mixtures. Stripes and crossbars are in the highest favour, and both
+alpaca and foulard are used, and with poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet,
+and silk rep, form the generality of the new dresses. There are numbers
+of hairy-looking woollen materials, but I should not think they would
+wear as well as a good serge, which is always a useful purchase.
+
+The new petticoat materials in winceys are very gay and pretty, and the
+pattern is usually of stripes; but the materials are various, being
+sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed, and in the weaving there is
+usually a rough or knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats have a
+few steels in them, and the addition makes the dress hold out from the
+heels a little. A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however, quite
+enough for most people, and very little crinolette is now worn—nothing
+ungraceful nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of better quality
+are made of plain silk or satin, and one of the new fashions is to line
+them with chamois leather, so as to make them warmer.
+
+[Illustration: NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.]
+
+Shoes are more worn in London than boots, and laced shoes more than
+buttoned ones. The same is the case with boots, which are considered
+to fit better, and to look more stylish when laced than buttoned. I
+have been very glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and shoes are
+on the increase, having wider toes and lower, broader heels. At the
+present moment many of the best shops have them in their windows, and
+have found it best and wisest to keep them for their customers; in
+fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities, and of all kinds of proper
+clothing, is being so much extended and impressed on the public mind
+on all sides, that I should not wonder if we all became quite reformed
+characters, and wore, ate, and drank only such things as were good for
+us.
+
+I must not forget to mention gloves and their styles. Most people
+usually wear Swede or kid gloves during the winter months; but this
+year there are some such delightfully warm and pretty gloves in wool
+and silk to be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt be tempted
+to purchase them. If the dress be of a quiet colour, the gloves should
+match it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any kind, the proper
+gloves to wear would be tan-colour. These latter are also used in the
+evening, except when the dress is black, or black and white, when the
+gloves should be of grey Swede.
+
+Our illustrations for the month are full of suggestions for making new
+gowns and for altering old ones. It will be seen that the gowns are
+both simple and elegant, with long flowing lines, and little or no
+fulness of drapery. The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown, and the
+newest model of a cape-like sleeve is given in our large front picture
+of a seashore, “Under Northern Skies.” Much braiding is used, and it
+is shown in two ways—laid on in flat bands, and also in a pattern on
+the mantle. The new shapes of hats are much more moderate, and most
+of the new shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern for the month is
+represented as worn by a lady in the centre of the smaller picture,
+“At the English Lakes;” the centre figure shows its pretty and jaunty
+outlines. It may be worn with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
+plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our sketch, which may be of
+a soft Indian silk. It is of the last and new design, and will be found
+a most useful winter bodice for usual daily wear. The pattern consists
+of a collar, cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two sleeve
+pieces. About four yards of 30 inch material are required, perhaps
+less, if very carefully cut. All patterns are of a medium size, viz.,
+36 inches round the chest, and only one size is prepared for sale. Each
+of the patterns may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care of Mr. H. G.
+Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C., price 1s. each. It is requested that the
+addresses be clearly given, and that postal notes crossed only to go
+through a bank may be sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
+The patterns already issued may always be obtained, as “The Lady
+Dressmaker” only issues patterns likely to be of constant use in home
+dressmaking and altering, and she is particularly careful to give all
+the new patterns of hygienic underclothing, both for children and young
+and old ladies, so that her readers may be aware of the best method of
+dressing.
+
+The following is a list of those already issued, price 1s. each.
+April—Braided, loose-fronted jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
+belt and full bodice, with plain sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk
+or pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or plain skirt.
+October—Combination garment (underlinen). November—Double-breasted
+out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave jacket and bodice. January—Princess
+underdress (underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt combined).
+February—Polonaise with waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
+April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle with sling sleeves. May—Early
+English bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress. June—Dressing
+jacket, princess frock, and Normandy cap for a child of four years.
+July—Princess of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat, for tailor-made
+gown. August—Bodice with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole ends
+and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or nightdress combination, with full
+back.—November—New winter bodice.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.
+
+BY MRS. G. LINNÆUS BANKS, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The
+Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    “But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,
+    Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,
+    The third of England called, with many a dainty wood
+    Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows
+    Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows
+    She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin[4] clear—
+    Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,
+    And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,
+    Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”
+
+So began England’s descriptive poet, Michael Drayton, to sing the
+praises of the glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but Milton was more
+terse in his invocation—
+
+    “Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son
+    Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,
+    Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads
+    His thirty arms along the indented meads.”
+
+Thus much the poets; but in plain prose be it told that the Trent
+needed no invocation to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to arise
+and flood the meadows in its course most disastrously, as it did no
+later than last May. The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.
+
+But long before bridges were built or were common, there was need to
+cross the river, either by ford or ferry, and its treachery must have
+been known in very ancient days, since Swark—whoever he might be, and
+whether he found a natural ford or made an artificial one—set up on
+end an unwrought monolith above the height of a man as a guide for
+wayfarers to find the crossing-place when the waters happened to be
+“out”; since there the waste and meadow-land lay low for many a broad
+mile.
+
+There was scarcely a speck in the blue vault of heaven when Earl
+Bellamont and his friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them, crossed
+the shrunken, snake-like river that mirrored their gleaming armour in
+its broken, scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images and would
+fain clasp them. And so the sun had shone for weeks,
+
+    “All in a hot and copper sky,”
+
+until the earth cried out for rain from its parched and cracking lips.
+Only near the red, marly banks of the river did the grass and herbage
+retain its vivid tint of green. As the days went by the air seemed to
+grow hotter; the cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon the fire,
+wished the guests gone and the wedding over. The falconer out on the
+moor in the glare with William Harpur and other squires, or the anglers
+by the streams, had scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
+wearied of her many cares, and censured the languor of her daughters
+and her maids.
+
+Preparations had not ceased, they had only renewed; and there had been
+unwonted doles to the villagers of good things that would have spoiled.
+
+At length, when even the weaving of tapestry or the twanging of the
+lute was a toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western sky. The
+cattle lowed, the leaves turned themselves over to welcome it, the
+hawks screamed in the mews. That was the morning of the 14th, when
+the very hush in the air was significant. The cloud spread, darkened,
+blackened, but in the distance.
+
+“There is a storm somewhere over our northern hills!” exclaimed the
+prior, who had been up on the battlements. “The clouds hang black and
+low over Dovedale.”
+
+“It seemeth such a day as heralded the great storm three years ago,”
+cried Lady Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a flash was that!”
+
+The younger ladies gathered together in shrinking groups, as if the
+fears of the matron were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her word, and
+scorned to show timidity, whatever she might feel, as the mutterings of
+thunder rumbled over the hall.
+
+It was high noon, but the sky was darkening overhead. The horn at the
+great gates was blown. A messenger in hot haste had come spurring from
+the ford and up the hill, glad to save himself a drenching, for the
+great drops were pattering on the leaves and leads like hail.
+
+He had come at full speed from Oxford. King Henry had ratified the
+great charter of English liberty. His master, the earl, and his friends
+would be home ere nightfall. The bridal must be upon the morrow. He
+had, moreover, private messages and tokens for the ladies, Idonea and
+Avice, from their coming bridegrooms.
+
+The messages were not for general ears; the love-tokens were a couple
+of golden crosses richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
+clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to Idonea, five pearls in
+Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.
+
+They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took hers shrinkingly. “They seem
+like crosses set with tears and drops of blood,” she whispered, with
+white lips, to Idonea, who started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they
+are precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected by her sister’s
+superstitious dread.
+
+In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied that he “thought the
+Trent was rising. It was higher than when his lord had left Swarkstone.”
+
+It had been still lower at sunrise that day.
+
+Two hours later Friar John blew the horn at the gate. He and his mule
+were pitiably drenched.
+
+The Dove was swollen when he crossed the bridge near Egginton, he said,
+though the downpour did not come until he had left it five miles behind.
+
+“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a flood as swept Swark’s Stone
+away three summers back. The passage of the ford would be perilous to
+my lord now that is gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her hands,
+and it might seem with reason, for now the floodgates of the skies were
+loosed, and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.
+
+“Storms and travellers are in Almighty hands, good dame,” said Prior
+John, soberly. “Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all to Him.”
+
+Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and dames, were already on their
+knees in prayer, their hearts beating wildly.
+
+William Harpur, pacing up and down, glanced through the dim glass
+windows on the scene without, and then from one to other of the
+shuddering women within.
+
+“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a slight curl of lip, “it will
+be a sorry welcome for my noble kinsman and his friends when they come
+in, wet and weary, if no board be spread, no dry garments ready for
+their use.”
+
+The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.
+
+“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall not find us unprepared.
+Maidens, attend me.” And she swept from the tapestried reception-room,
+followed by her daughters and the noble maids who did probationary
+service under her, and soon her silver whistle might be heard, as one
+or other did her bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and bustle—and
+covert fear.
+
+The hours sped. The storm seemed to abate. The board was spread. The
+time for the evening meal came and went.
+
+There were no arrivals. There were whisperings among hungry guests, for
+time was flying.
+
+Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor impatiently, biting his nails
+and cogitating.
+
+The dark came down—the double dark of storm and evening. The great
+time-candle in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters down, and the
+hours.
+
+Villagers came scurrying to the hall in dismay. The meads were under
+water. Their fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream, with many a
+tree and bush from parts beyond in the west.
+
+The lovely sisters had busked themselves afresh to receive their
+lovers; dark tresses and fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
+bosom shone her token cross of gold.
+
+But as the hours and minutes flew, dress was disregarded, their lips
+quivered with anxiety.
+
+At length Avice whispered to her mother, “Had we not best set a cresset
+burning on the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to light the passage
+of the ford?”
+
+“I have already given orders, child; I feared to speak my alarm to you.”
+
+But even torches will not keep alight in rain and hurricane. The men,
+headed by Will Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and discomfited.
+
+“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,” said he; “we cannot keep
+a torch alight. But do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt, the
+storm will have kept our friends at Ashby, or, at least, have driven
+them back. They would never be so mad as to attempt the passage of the
+ford.” Then, aside to the prior he added, “The land is covered for
+more than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly water runs like a
+torrent, bearing bushes, beams, and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They
+must have gone back.”
+
+Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud of hoofs heard advancing up
+the hill.
+
+There was the strong black charger of Earl Bellamont, and close behind
+came the bay mare of Sir Gilbert.
+
+They were both riderless!
+
+A moment of speechless horror, then shrieks and wailing filled the air.
+
+Mid the sobbing and lamentations of women, and the clamour of men,
+fresh torches were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and affixed to
+poles. Then, with the prior and Will Harpur at their head, all the men
+about the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’ crooks, and aught
+that might save a drowning man.
+
+Alas! it was all too late.
+
+Their bravest and best beloved were gone for aye.
+
+Too rashly impatient, and trusting the leadership of impetuous Earl
+Bellamont, Sir Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the remonstrances
+of more cautious companions, and dashed across the waste of waters, so
+low at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.
+
+Alas! some floating bush may have misled the old man, for all at once
+they seemed to be carried down stream and disappear, as if they had
+missed the ford, or the current had been too strong for men weighted
+with armour.
+
+Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind him, and the scion of
+another noble house was lost.
+
+Their esquires, following behind, had been impotent to save, and only
+by turning sharply round and fighting with the rising waters did they
+manage to preserve their own lives.
+
+Day by day as the thick waters subsided did the search continue along
+the devastated banks until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
+of water into the Trent, barred further passage, and made the quest
+hopeless.
+
+A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken lance and pennon, a battered
+casque, a saddle-bow, were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
+page.
+
+Lady Bellamont was borne down by the shock. Avice drooped like a broken
+lily; only Idonea seemed capable of thought or action.
+
+The subsidence of the flood brought spurring in the more prudent party
+to comfort their own wives and daughters, along with the downcast
+esquires to tell the needless tale.
+
+There was no consoling Lady Bellamont. She seemed to take the triple
+loss to her own heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as for
+herself.
+
+In vain the prior offered such consolation as his faith afforded.
+She sat like a stone, rigid and immovable; would take no sustenance
+whatever.
+
+The tears shed over her by Idonea and Avice seemed to petrify as they
+fell rather than melt. Their affliction but intensified her own.
+
+“If they had died in battle as brave men should, we might have borne
+it bravely,” she said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold, cruel,
+treacherous waters in the height of joy and hope, almost within hail of
+home, it is too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be resigned.
+And for my crushed roses—orphaned, widowed, ere they became wives—it is
+too much; I cannot survive it.”
+
+And before that month was out the twin-sisters were left to weep out
+their tears in each other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
+they might, with only the good prior to watch and guard them in their
+orphanhood, and lead them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees of
+heaven.
+
+There was William Harpur willing to do the co-heiresses suit and
+service, and leave his own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
+his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the hall, but neither the
+prior nor the sisters cared for his interference, and when the old
+retainers, with the seneschal at their head, came in a body at the
+prior’s summons to swear fealty to the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea
+accepted their homage for herself and her sweet sister, as one born to
+command, he turned away to bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted
+the hall before the sun went down.
+
+But though Idonea could order the household, and the seneschal could
+keep the retainers in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins and
+lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping Avice, or remove the more
+rebellious sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and in the eyes of
+Idonea.
+
+“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve of his departure, “duty
+calls me away to my own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove three
+years agone, after the great hurricane, has, Friar Paul brings word,
+been shaken sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The safety of
+many lives depends on its stability. Yet I would fain see you more
+submissive to the divine will ere I depart. Think how many sufferers
+there have been by the same calamity—how many a hearth has been laid
+bare, how many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has swept away.
+Abandon not your hours to selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see
+how the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour, by good and
+charitable deeds, to win the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
+the crosses that ye wear, and think of His wounds and His tears, and
+remember that His blood and His tears were shed for others, not for
+self.”
+
+Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he began; they drooped as low as
+those of Avice ere he ended.
+
+“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just. We have thought the world was
+our own—in joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth. We ask
+your blessing ere you go.”
+
+The benediction was spoken, and on the morrow he was gone.
+
+They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds, and saw what sorrow
+meant for the very poor and for the class above them. Tottering huts,
+bare fields, where the only crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
+weeping over naked and famishing babes; churls looking hopeless on
+desolation, or seeking wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden. And
+wherever they went they left hope behind, as well as coin, or food,
+or raiment from the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy with
+sullen thanklessness. They were little better than serfs, and were more
+inclined to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful to the
+willing bestowers.
+
+Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil the peasantry with their
+frequent alms; and even the prior when he came suggested moderation in
+doles, which destroyed honest independence and fostered beggary.
+
+But the sisters had found ease in helping others, and ere long sought
+the prior’s advice over a project to serve the people for generations
+yet unborn.
+
+They had discovered that sorrow and calamity come to the poor as to the
+rich, and they proposed to preserve others from losses and heartaches
+such as theirs.
+
+There was a general lamentation that Swark’s Stone was gone and the
+ford less readily found.
+
+“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a bridge over the Trent like
+the Monks’ Bridge over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not mourning
+maidens. Let us up and build one. If we cannot restore our dead, we may
+preserve life for the living.”
+
+“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We may so make our sorrow a joy to
+thousands.”
+
+The prior hailed their project as a divine inspiration, hardly
+conscious he had struck the keynote. They were rich. They would hear
+nought of suitors. What better could they do with their wealth?
+
+He drew plans, he found them masons. Stone was not far to seek for
+quarrying; but, to be of service, the bridge must cover broad lands as
+well as common current.
+
+“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William Harpur. “The cost will be enormous.
+It will swallow up your whole possessions! You must be mad; and the
+prior is worse to sanction such a sacrifice.”
+
+“The sacrifice was made when the river robbed us of our dearest
+treasures. We must save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
+Avice, now as bold as her sister.
+
+The work began and went on steadily. Honest labour was paid for, and
+churls, who had lived half on doles and housed like dogs, were paid a
+penny[5] a day or a peck of meal, and took heart to work with a will.
+There were always loose stones and wood about, and no one said nay when
+they began to repair and improve their own dwellings. And so industry
+came to Swarkstone with the building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
+to smile upon the undertaking, for never a disaster occurred to mar it.
+
+But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the cost was enormous. It was the
+work of years. Woods were cut down to supply timber for scaffolding;
+then lands were mortgaged or sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
+buyer? But still the work proceeded.
+
+“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod will gladly pay a small
+toll for the privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
+possessions, the old hall, passed into their cousin’s hands, and they
+took refuge in a small house in a bye-way, which goes by the name of
+“No Man’s-Lane” to this day.
+
+It was a glad day for travellers on horse or foot when Swarkstone
+Bridge, of twenty-nine arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
+which spanned the Trent and its low meads for three-quarters of a mile,
+and the good Ladies Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
+those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod at all seasons to be
+grateful for the inestimable boon.
+
+They had no charter to exact a toll to repay the moneys they had
+expended; but there was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel erected
+and dedicated to St. James, in which it was fondly hoped the
+users of the bridge would pause to thank God and drop their small
+thank-offerings in a box set there to receive them.
+
+At first, when they began to build, people about called the sisters
+“the twin angels;” but by the time the bridge was built it had
+ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a matter of course; but the
+thank-offerings grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to remember the
+danger and discomfort of the passage by the ford.
+
+They had impoverished themselves for the security of strangers. The
+offerings of gratitude would not keep life in the good sisters. They
+began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice bore her lot meekly. Not
+so Idonea, into whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating like a
+canker. But Avice said gently, “If we gave our wealth to build a bridge
+expecting a return, what answer can we make to our Lord when we go to
+Him? Let us be content that our individual losses will be the gain of
+thousands after us.” And that put an end to Idonea’s rebellion.
+
+At length the aged prior, who had built Monks’ Bridge between the
+counties of Stafford and Derby for a people as ungrateful, stirred up
+William Harpur to remember the poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
+flourishing, and he offered them a home at Ticknall.
+
+The offer came too late to save them. The Ladies Bellamont died as
+they had lived, together, and were buried with their two symbolic
+crosses on their breasts. And then, thanks chiefly to the prior, who
+reverenced them, a marble monument could be erected to their memories
+with their sleeping effigies upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
+the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have added, “They built unseen
+another bridge over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from earth to
+heaven.”
+
+THE END.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] The Derwent.
+
+[5] A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had a different value.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.
+
+SKETCH II.—OPERA (SECULAR MUSICAL DRAMA).
+
+BY MYLES B. FOSTER, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.
+
+
+Although it is stated that the ancient Greeks intoned their tragedies,
+and introduced, besides, some form of melody (μέλος), the whole
+question of the existence of opera at that period of artistic
+prosperity, when all forms of learning were so powerfully nourished,
+is a matter for speculation. Their authors certainly give us wonderful
+accounts of the great effects that this music had, and state that it
+formed an essential part of their drama, but beyond these records, in
+all probability much exaggerated, we have no data. Opera we must assume
+to be a comparatively recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
+century, composers had written all their finest work for the Church,
+and had, very rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise and
+worship of the Giver of all musical ideas and beauties.
+
+Even that which was known as secular music, and was intended for
+social occasions, was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the very
+folksongs had their freshness rubbed off by contrapuntal developments
+to which they were not suited, and were dragged in their new and
+ill-fitting costume into the masses and motetts of the day. The Church
+possessed most of the art and learning of the age, and, with that, a
+corresponding power over the ignorant people. Thus music had been,
+so far, choral music; all the secular forms, villanellas, glees,
+madrigals, and lieder, being in from three to six parts and more. The
+expressive solo form (_monodia_), whether _recitativo_ or _arioso_, was
+as yet unknown. As the people attained more knowledge, and with it more
+freedom, secular music gradually separated itself from the restraints
+of the Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom at length
+degenerated into licence.
+
+At the end of the great Renaissance period, when, after Suliman
+had taken Constantinople, the great scholars there fled before the
+conquering Turks into Italy and other new homes, an impetus was given
+to the study of Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the Greek
+drama in all its original beauty and perfection was the ambition of
+many an Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini, the singer
+Caccini, Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and, at a rather later
+date, Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which they not only agreed
+that the existing musical forms were inadequate for a true musical
+drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose pieces for one voice on
+what they imagined to be the Greek model.
+
+Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers known to have
+tried to set music to the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
+(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”) supplied the words. His first
+efforts were “Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,” and they were
+performed in Florence in 1590, the poems being set to music throughout.
+
+Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in which _aria parlante_, a kind of
+recitation in strict time, first appears. It is well described by
+Ritter, in his “History of Music,” as “something between well-formed
+melody and speech.” It appears to have pleased the Greek revivalists
+immensely, and they quite believed it to be the discovery of the lost
+art. Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600, on the occasion of the
+marriage of Henry IV. of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his work
+we have a primitive version of all our operatic forms.
+
+Composers now occasionally used the _arioso_ style; but their Greek
+beliefs prevented them from introducing a good broad melody form.
+The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for example, were choruses and
+declamatory recitatives. The orchestra was hidden behind the scenes,
+the only purely orchestral piece being a little prelude (called
+“Zinfonia”) for three flutes.
+
+With such material and upon so simple a basis was opera formed—an
+art construction which, in its more modern garb, has played a very
+important part in the history of European society.
+
+Of really great composers who advanced this _drama per musica_, one of
+the earliest and most important was Claudio Monteverde. He imbued it
+with his musicianship and originality, employing particular effects
+for each scene and for each character, his object being to unite the
+varying sentiment of the poem with his music. In his operas, the first
+of which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped forms of accompaniment,
+giving singers greater freedom in dramatic action, followed such
+reforms as a better use of rhythm and more truthful illustration of
+sentiments, whilst an increased orchestral force was added to other
+means of expression.
+
+The Italian Church writers began to compose operas, and in the
+seventeenth century we find the recitation form receiving new vigour
+and truthfulness of detail at the hands of, amongst others, Cavalli
+(whose real name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro Scarlatti,
+Carissimi’s greatest pupil. Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is
+supposed to have invented the short interludes for instruments between
+the vocal phrases, and he certainly introduced the first complete
+form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,” which, however, with
+its tiresomely exact repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
+anything but dramatic. About his time _recitativo_, as we know it, was
+separated from the _aria parlante_.
+
+Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his Neapolitan school, amongst
+whom were Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and others, and with
+them we reach a period during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.
+
+Composers had broken away from the ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the
+chorus had become of no importance, but, instead, the new aria, which
+might have taken an advantageous position as a means for occasional
+soliloquy and meditation, without interference with the dramatic story,
+now usurped the place of the latter altogether, and an opera meant
+nothing more than a string of arias in set form, an excuse for showing
+off the best voices to the greatest advantage, the most successful work
+being that one which pandered most to the vanity of the singers, who
+altered and embellished the melodies of their mechanical slave, the
+composer.
+
+Dramatic significance was fast disappearing, and a reformer was sadly
+needed, and that reformer appeared early in the eighteenth century
+in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian, who, after studying in Italy and
+writing several operas after the traditional Italian models, settled
+in Vienna, and there worked out his great ideas of regeneration and
+reform.
+
+His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a great sensation, and in
+Alceste (1766) we find him, to quote his own preface to it, “avoiding
+the abuses which have been introduced through the mistaken vanity of
+singers and the excessive complaisance of composers, and which, from
+the most splendid and beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
+the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous of spectacles.”
+
+He considered that music should second poetry, by strengthening the
+expression of the sentiments and the interest of the situations, and
+adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided interrupting a singer in
+the warmth of dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious ritornel; or
+stopping him during one of his sentences to display the agility of his
+voice in a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases the importance of
+the introduction or overture, making it foreshadow the nature of the
+coming drama.
+
+Composers were either too hardened or too cowardly to at once follow
+and imitate his excellent reforms, and great disputings and much
+rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by the singers and the old school
+headed by Piccini.
+
+We will leave this _opera seria_ for a moment, restored to its high
+position in art, and glance at a lighter form, the _opera buffa_,
+or comic opera, which may be traced to the little _entr’actes_, or
+_intermezzi_, given as a sort of relaxation between the acts of plays,
+as early as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals, or favourite
+instrumental solos, were used for this purpose; later on, when
+operatic forms appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which the chief
+idea was to raise a laugh, very often at the expense of good taste.
+Scarlatti’s pupils developed these _intermezzi_, and gave them such
+artistic importance that they grew to be rivals to the grand opera, and
+eventually held their own position as _opera buffa_. Pergolesi was most
+successful in this style, and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
+earliest specimens, was a great favourite. The accompaniment was for
+string quartett only, and there were but two _dramatis personæ_. His
+fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote several comic operas, and further
+on, Nicolo Piccini, whom we have just left opposing Gluck in Paris,
+made many advances in _opera buffa_, giving greater contrasts and more
+elaborate and effective _finales_ than his forerunners. In fact, he was
+stronger in this sort of composition than in _opera seria_, to which
+latter we now return.
+
+We find at the end of the eighteenth century the brilliant and
+successful works of Paisiello, a rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the
+same period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini, and others wrote
+operas.
+
+The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting all old traditions, good
+and bad, at the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the Italian
+composers to see that more was required than they had ever given, to
+make opera what it should be, and they were compelled to acknowledge
+that, after Gluck’s reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
+Mozart’s influence and his noble examples, they must take up higher
+ground if they would succeed in other than the Italian cities.
+
+They composed, therefore, in a more serious manner for Paris or Vienna,
+and the Italian opera gained a fresh importance by the slight reforms
+thus adopted, and through the successful power of Rossini it again held
+sway in the principal European courts.
+
+Rossini made a great many melodies and much pecuniary profit, and
+finding the singers ready to return to those abuses against which Gluck
+had protested so strongly, rather than permit them to play tricks
+with his music and embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
+embroideries so fulsome himself that there was nothing left which they
+could add!
+
+In the present century Mercadante, Bellini, and Donizetti followed
+in his train; following them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
+whose later works are very fine, being a happy combination of immense
+dramatic insight with effective situations and great melodic charm. We
+find in Boito the most decided attempt to unite Italian traditions and
+the latest German development. Thus much for the land in which opera
+was born.
+
+Opera soon spread, and travelled to the various European courts, and
+became there the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons. Such prestige
+did it carry with it, that to be successful in England or Germany, a
+composer had to write in the Italian style.
+
+France, whilst building upon the Italian foundation, created an opera
+in many ways differing from that form. Real French opera was first
+written by Lulli at the end of the seventeenth century. He will be ever
+remembered as the inventor of the overture, which replaced the small
+introduction of the Italians. Another thing he did which was new: he
+brought into his scheme the dance or ballet; and a third point was,
+that in his operas the chorus played a most important part.
+
+Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly developing all these resources.
+
+When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the supporters of Italian opera
+backed by such essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm, and named the
+“Bouffonists,” opposing the “Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
+and Rameau. Also there were Philidor, Gretry, and others trying to
+combine the new and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance of
+melody, adapted his own reforms already referred to, gave the overture
+its true connection with the poem, and, as it were, out-Rameaued
+Rameau. With all his works produced in Paris he made great successes,
+notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s powerful opposition.
+
+We will again leave Gluck elevating, for this time, the French stage
+also, and glance at _opera comique_, a term used in France as early as
+1712.
+
+I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian _intermezzo_ was the
+_vaudeville_. Claude Gilliers appears to have written many about this
+period.
+
+In the latter half of the century Dauvergne composed “Les Troqueurs,”
+in imitation of the Italian _intermezzi_, and in this work the
+dialogue, which in _opera buffa_ would have been sung, was spoken,
+a custom still adopted in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful
+chess-player), and Monsigny wrote many _operas comiques_. Gretry also
+appeared at this time as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
+Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed by D’Allayrac.
+
+To return to grand opera, the man most influenced by Gluck and his
+advances was Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune Henri” are well known,
+and who possessed undoubted talent. In the present century I may
+mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de
+Bagdad” and “La Dame Blanche,” and other works having been received at
+the time with enormous enthusiasm.
+
+Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini and Spontini, wrote much in
+the style and under the influence of the French opera. We all know and
+like Cherubini’s “Les Deux Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”
+
+Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who embodied in his operas the
+life and spirit of the Empire under the First Napoleon.”
+
+Coming into this century, we notice, as important French opera
+composers, Hérold, of “Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and Auber, who
+studied under Cherubini, and composed more comic operas than anything
+else, and whose work always contains light elegant melody and brilliant
+orchestration. Halévy has earned a good name by such operas as “La
+Juive” and “La Reine de Chypre.”
+
+An exceptionally great man was Hector Berlioz, who strove in new paths,
+and in the face of great opposition, to base his efforts upon the study
+of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.
+
+Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote as much for French opera as
+for any other. He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat, and
+every turn brought golden success. He became the greatest of French
+opera writers; but, in addition, he wrote German opera for Germans,
+Italian for Italians, and ensured by this system of “all things to all
+men” the applause which he so highly coveted.
+
+To conclude our French list, there is a composer, whose “Faust” will
+live long; I allude to Charles Gounod, who has written many other
+operas containing great dramatic beauty, richness of orchestration, and
+grace of melody. Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen” has been so
+popular, Massenet, and Ambroise Thomas.
+
+In England there is but little history to give you.
+
+English music and drama were first connected in a primitive way in the
+early miracle-plays and mysteries performed at Chester and Coventry and
+in other towns.
+
+Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions for musical
+interludes, and introduces songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
+You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the
+first half of the seventeenth century William Lawes, and Henry, his
+brother, wrote music to the masques, in which poetry, music, scenery,
+and mechanical accessories were combined, producing a decided advance
+in the direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding the patriotic
+championship of budding English opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel
+Royal, and notwithstanding the existence of the great school of
+madrigal writers, they were never encouraged to attempt dramatic work,
+as the nobility already demanded Italian opera and Italian composers
+and singers. During the civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
+the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and even from 1660 they were
+only opened for five years with an occasional performance of a masque
+by Sir William Davenant, the then poet laureate, set to music by Locke,
+in one of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find the recitative style
+used, and spoken of as new to England, although well known on the
+Continent.
+
+After those five years came the Plague, and following it the Great
+Fire, so that it was not until nearer the end of the century that a
+fair start was made in opera, and that the powerful and masterly works
+of Henry Purcell saw the light. His genius was undoubtedly superior to
+that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy, and he became a power,
+not in England only, but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should have
+died so young! The form of opera settled by him and his followers was
+similar to the French and German, in that whilst the important parts
+would be sung, the subordinate dialogue was spoken, and there was no
+accompanied recitative, excepting in some of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr.
+Arne’s operas. Arne’s “Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, _à l’Italienne_,
+set entirely in recitative form.
+
+But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr. Arnold, William Jackson (of
+Exeter), Shield, Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and many others
+adhered to the spoken dialogue. It should be quite understood that
+their music, when it occurred, formed an integral portion of the whole
+work, and, therefore, differed from interpolated pieces, which could be
+withdrawn without breaking a sequence.
+
+In 1834 John Barnett produced his “Mountain Sylph,” the first important
+English opera in the strictly modern style of that age, and one which
+introduced the school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and Macfarren.
+Italian influence was evident, and has only lately been supplanted
+by the power of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy instances, by
+the graceful delicacy of the French school. But the time for English
+opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers into which other schools
+have fallen; we have seen their heroes extricate them from those
+dangers; we have learnt what reforms are needful; the generous support
+and encouragement which has assisted the Italian, French, and German
+schools should now place all mercenary consideration on one side, and
+extend itself freely to those native artists who, in a spirit of true
+patriotism, are striving for the reputation and artistic honour of our
+country.
+
+To Handel we owe the final settlement of Italian opera in London, for
+which end he composed over forty operas, none of which are remembered,
+but from whose pages the good numbers were extracted and transferred to
+his oratorios!
+
+Comic opera, originating in Italy and developing in France, had, and
+still has, some footing in England. A very successful specimen was “The
+Beggar’s Opera,” performed in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s Inn,
+with a libretto by Gay. So enormous was its success, that people said,
+“It made Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and following successes
+arose the ballad opera, a form of comic opera taken up by the best
+composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley, words by Sheridan (Linley’s
+son-in-law), may be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally the wealth
+of England has been able to procure and import the finest foreign works
+and artists, and its riches have assisted in impoverishing what little
+native art we possessed.
+
+For the last part of my sketch I have reserved German opera.
+
+Although Italian opera soon worked its way into Germany, in fact, as
+early as the year 1627, when we reach the end of our story, we shall
+find the Germans in possession of the most advanced form of modern
+drama.
+
+Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music. It was Rinuccini’s
+“Daphne,” already set by Peri in Florence.
+
+Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned supreme until the time
+of Gluck, with such exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser and
+Handel, which contained German characteristics, and also the attempts
+on the part of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine Italian and German
+qualities.
+
+With Gluck came the great reforms in Vienna, as elsewhere, and there,
+too, party feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed by Hasse and
+his party. In Ritter’s admirable “History of Music,” already largely
+quoted from, whilst blaming the German princes for obtaining Italian
+operas at extravagant cost, he asks us to remember that these same
+princes “prepared the road, however unconsciously, for a Gluck, a
+Haydn, and a Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts were rooted
+in the Italian school of music.”
+
+Germany all this time had no national opera, the Hamburg attempt
+failing for want of encouragement.
+
+As we have previously done in dealing with the other countries, so now
+we will glance at the lighter form of opera for a moment.
+
+The German _operette_, or _singspiel_, was brought into notice by
+Johann Adam Hiller about the middle of the eighteenth century. He
+produced numbers of these, full of charming original melodies, and with
+spoken dialogue, as in _opera comique_.
+
+Amongst several writers of these light works we may number Schweitzer,
+André, and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in which dialogue is
+spoken during an undercurrent of expressive and illustrative music.
+There is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing, at the end of the
+seventeenth century, a sort of _vaudeville_ known as the “Liederspiel.”
+
+Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf and Haydn, and, in Southern
+Germany, Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.
+
+These small operas at first rather imitated the French school; but
+at the time of the above composers the national life and sentiment,
+in however insignificant a manner, had crept in, and the germ of a
+national type existed.
+
+At such a critical moment came the great genius who was to develop the
+elements of both serious and comic opera, and raise them to a lofty
+pedestal, and that genius was Mozart.
+
+Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he gave to them new life and
+meaning, and his illustration of each character, together with his
+masterly _ensembles_ and _finales_, in which, whilst each singer
+maintains his individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent, will
+ever abide as marvellous examples of dramatic scholarship and musical
+beauty. Besides understanding exactly what the human voice was capable
+of doing, he raised the orchestral accompaniment to a very high
+position.
+
+Whilst Gluck _attacked_ Italian opera, Mozart _moulded_ it in such
+a fashion that the old stiff traditions were no longer possible in
+Germany.
+
+At the commencement of this century, I must add to the list such names
+as Winter, Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and, last and greatest,
+Beethoven, whose one opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure nobility
+as long as music endures.
+
+The romantic school of poetry now finding its way into Germany, was
+soon aided by appropriate musical settings by Spohr, Marschner, and
+Weber—the greatest of them all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
+finest, the most popular, and the most thoroughly German.
+
+Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,” and Mendelssohn, ever searching
+for a libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s “Loreley,” but death came
+before he could finish it.
+
+Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes German in work, we have
+already noticed in connection with his French operas.
+
+Richard Wagner, by his theories and his great compositions, has
+caused opera once more to become the field for dispute, research, and
+speculative thought.
+
+He maintains, to put it briefly, that the real character and meaning of
+opera has been all this time misunderstood. He carries into practice
+what Gluck preached, viz., that music should second poetry, in order to
+be in its proper place. He says, “The error of the operatic art-form
+consists in the fact that music, which is really only a means of
+expression, is turned into an aim; while the real aim of expression,
+viz., the drama, is made a mere means.”
+
+It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to the free action of drama
+was the concert aria, so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
+recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works dramas, not operas. His
+orchestra illustrates the emotions and thoughts of each character,
+and the peculiar timbre of each instrument supplies the individuality
+of the person represented—a practice suggested first by Monteverde;
+and he further binds together the various episodes and scenes in the
+story, by using short _motovos_ or phrases which shall recall to the
+audience previous situations and events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
+others. Wagner very happily combines in himself the poet and musician.
+He rightly claims that his music should not be heard apart from its
+companions of equal value—the poem, the scenery, and the action. He
+has met with as much opposition as did Gluck, but the time has come
+when his works receive due recognition, and an appreciation increasing
+yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study of them.
+
+However excessive we may feel the reformer’s zeal to have been, these
+masterly art-forms supply wholesome food for meditation, and numberless
+suggestions for action, to every earnest and unbigoted student of this
+and coming generations.
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS.
+
+JOSEPHINE.—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red nose, spots, bad
+digestion, bad breath, etc. A fine woman with a handsome figure (say
+five feet five inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches round
+the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of course, a very small or
+very thin girl would naturally measure less. You know which description
+applies to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a tobacco-pipe,
+and bulging out above and below like a bloated-looking spider, may
+solace herself with the assurance that her liver is cut in half, and
+that she would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to descant
+upon. We advise her to bequeath her remains to some hospital for the
+benefit of science and the warning of others.
+
+SEAGULL.—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on our coast-line; that
+at Holyhead is higher, and measures 719 feet, while the former is
+only 564 above the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is 678
+feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St. Catherine’s Cliff,
+on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, is higher than all those
+before-named, and rises to 830 feet.
+
+PRUDENCE PRIM.—Do you know a small illustrated book called “The Flowers
+of the Field”? Perhaps that would suit you; published by the Society
+for Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain time, letters
+waiting till called for at a foreign post-office are opened and
+directed back to the respective writers. Your writing is too careless;
+some letters well formed, others very nondescript.
+
+PAT OGAL.—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white kid gloves to a
+cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain about the dress, do. For
+gloves you pay 2d. a pair.
+
+S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line upon Line,” and
+another called “The Peep of Day,” which are very suitable for children
+of such tender years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
+“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”
+
+BERTHA.—Have you never heard of a little appliance called a
+needle-threader? You would find it most useful, and could procure one
+at a fancy-work shop.
+
+JOAN R.—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be polite to everyone
+else—busy for them even in the smallest attentions. You will have no
+time for brooding over your nervousness when you are married, so there
+is probably “a good time coming” for you. Try to prepare for it by
+studying nursing, cookery, patching and darning, etc.
+
+AN ANXIOUS ONE will find her question many times answered if she
+takes the trouble to look through our correspondence columns under
+“Miscellaneous.”
+
+E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew them neatly at
+the seams, they would be of use in a hospital for female patients
+in winter. We may suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222,
+Marylebone-road, N.W., of which we have given an illustrated account.
+Any contributions in half-worn clothing (or new articles) of use for
+wear would be gratefully received there, books included.
+
+LOVER OF THE SEA.—1. The hair darkens as years roll on, and the change
+begins to take place at three years old, if not before. In middle life
+it is very many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does not say
+that “it is never too late to repent.” We are always told “to-day is
+the accepted time; to-day is the day of salvation ... now, while it
+is called to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow. If you put
+off making your peace with God, He may not bestow on you the grace of
+repentance and the desire to turn to Him.
+
+JERRY.—Your verses are very freely written, and give a good deal of
+promise, though some little errors need correction. Part of the small
+illustration with pen and ink gives hope of better things to come,
+and both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
+whether the verses can be inserted in the G. O. P. You did not have
+them certified, which is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur
+contributions.
+
+A COUNTRY MEMBER OF THE G. F. S.—You appear to be in a very sad state
+of health, and to need change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when
+suffering from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter should
+be prescribed by a doctor.
+
+ALBERTA ROXLEY.—1. You do not give a sufficiently explicit description
+of the “Hymn to Music” for us to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide,
+Wide World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so crazy about
+sequels? There are very few written, and a good thing too; a new story
+is better than an old dish warmed up.
+
+LITTLE PUSS should ask her mother or governess for suitable books
+to read. Some on natural history would be interesting, as well as
+necessary for her to study.
+
+ONE ANXIOUS TO KNOW.—Should a husband die intestate, but leave a wife
+and a sister, half goes to the wife and the other half to his sister,
+or his brother, as the case may be. If the man had had children, the
+wife would only have had a third instead of half.
+
+WEE WILLY WANKIE.—1. It depends on the age and size of your boy
+companion. The less little girls of fifteen walk in the London streets
+(the squares and certain residential quarters excepted) the better,
+if without a lady companion much older than themselves, or a maid. 2.
+What a ridiculous question your second is! “At what age should a girl
+become engaged?” There is no “should” about the matter, and there is no
+special age either. Any age after twenty-one, up to seventy, provided
+the right man proposed and no family duties stood in the way. All
+depends on God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you should never
+marry.
+
+SCOTCH LASSIE.—We do not see that you were rendered more liable to the
+complaint you name on account of having a bad digestion.
+
+TOPSY TURVEY.—Yes, there are luminous plants, which give a
+phosphorescent light. The root-stock of a jungle orchid becomes
+luminous when wetted; wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s
+time it becomes very bright. A certain member of the fungi family,
+which, if you have a damp cellar, may be found growing on the walls,
+is known to emit so much light as to enable you to read without other
+means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy red poppy and
+potatoes, when in process of decomposition, are all phosphorescent,
+more especially the latter.
+
+MISLETOE.—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes, your first
+step would be to learn to draw and study perspective; then the colours,
+and how to produce others by blending them. So, if you have any
+original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to you by which you
+could illustrate those thoughts, you should study the art of metrical
+composition in all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
+always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right syllable. What you
+send us is not even good prose, the mere construction is all wrong, and
+there is no new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed are
+very good.
+
+JACK.—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a girl, we certainly
+advise her to wear gloves when rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather
+ones would be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign denoting a
+pause, only you make a straight line over a dot instead of a curved one
+with the points downwards. A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
+the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s taste and musical
+feeling. Were there no dot beneath the short curved line, it would be a
+“bind” or “tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone is to be
+struck.
+
+
+
+
+_“FEATHERY FLAKES,”_
+
+OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,
+
+IS NOW PUBLISHED.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+FEATHERY FLAKES.
+
+    What time we for a while have bidden
+      Farewell to summer’s bright array,
+    And azure skies again are hidden
+      By grim December’s garb of grey;
+
+    When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,
+      Too often shows a cheerless face,
+    And falling snow is fast enfolding
+      Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;
+
+    We give these pure white showers a rival
+      And namesake in our Christmas page,
+    Whose charm shall have less brief survival,
+      And banish not with winter’s rage.
+
+    Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry
+      At limits of our colder zone;
+    And may you, for the trust you carry,
+      Be warmly met and widely known.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
+
+Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65356 ***
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-
-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886, by Various</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 16, 2021 [eBook #65356]</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</div>
-
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***</div>
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">{129}</span></p>
-
-<h1 class="faux">THE GIRL&#8217;S OWN PAPER</h1>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="header" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
-<img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="The Girl's Own Paper." />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="center">
-<div class="header">
-<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">Vol. VIII.—No. 361.</span></p>
-<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price One Penny.</span></p>
-<p class="floatc">NOVEMBER 27, 1886.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="center">[Transcriber&#8217;s Note: This Table of Contents was not present in the original.]</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-
-
-<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
-
-<a href="#THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER GIRL.</a><br />
-<a href="#MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.</a><br />
-<a href="#DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</a><br />
-<a href="#HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</a><br />
-<a href="#ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</a><br />
-
-<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
-
-</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER
-GIRL.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp59" id="i_page_129b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_129b.jpg" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p class="center">THE FLOWER GIRL.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="smalltext"><i>All rights reserved.</i>]</p>
-
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">What</span> is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the home of her earliest childhood</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">That for a brief hour she cannot forget,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood</div>
-    <div class="verse indent4">With dewdrops all wet?</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">All the day long in the great crowded city—</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">“Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">She has been crying, still crying aloud.</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">She has been merry at selling so many,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent4">Merry and proud.</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Now as she watches the sun that is setting,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers</div>
-    <div class="verse indent4">Once more she trips?</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">That takes her to woodlands away from the city,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity</div>
-    <div class="verse indent4">Shadow her thought.</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse right">A. M.</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">{130}</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
-
-<p class="ph3">LABORARE EST ORARE.</p>
-
-<div class="ddropcapbox illowe9_375" id="i_page_130">
-<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_130.jpg" alt='M' /></div>
-
-<p><span class="uppercase">y</span> mistress (how I loved
-to call her by that
-name!) was beginning
-to give me her
-confidence. In a
-little while I grew
-quite at my ease
-with her.</p>
-
-<p>She would sit
-down sometimes and
-question me about the book
-I was reading, or, if we
-talked of the children, she
-would ask my opinion of them in a way
-that showed she respected it.</p>
-
-<p>She told me more than once that her
-husband was quite satisfied with me;
-the children thrived under my care,
-Reggie especially, for Joyce was somewhat
-frail and delicate. It gratified me
-to hear this, for a longer acquaintance
-with Mr. Morton had not lessened my
-sense of awe in his presence (I had had
-to feel the pressure of his strong will
-before I had been many weeks in his
-house, and though I had submitted to his
-enforced commands, they had cost me
-my only tears of humiliation, and yet
-all the time I knew he was perfectly
-just in his demands). The occasion was
-this.</p>
-
-<p>It was a rule that when visitors asked
-to see the children, a very frequent occurrence
-when Mrs. Morton received at
-home, that the head nurse should bring
-them into the blue drawing-room, as it
-was called. On two afternoons I had
-shirked this duty. With all my boasted
-courage, the idea of facing all those
-strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
-chose to consider myself privileged to
-infringe this part of my office. I dressed
-the children carefully, and bade Hannah
-take them to their mother. I thought
-the girl looked at me and hesitated a
-moment, but her habitual respect kept
-her silent.</p>
-
-<p>My dereliction of duty escaped notice
-on the first afternoon; Mr. Morton was
-occupied with a committee, and Mrs.
-Morton was too gentle and considerate
-to hint that my presence was desired,
-but on the second afternoon Hannah
-came up looking a little flurried.</p>
-
-<p>Master had not seemed pleased
-somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
-before the visitors, and asked where
-nurse was that she had not brought the
-children as usual, and the mistress had
-looked uncomfortable, and had beckoned
-him to her.</p>
-
-<p>I took no notice of Hannah’s speech,
-for I had a hasty tongue, and might
-have said things that I should have regretted
-afterwards, but my temper was
-decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as
-quickly as possible from her arms, and
-carried him off into the other room. I
-wanted to be alone and recover myself.</p>
-
-<p>I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s
-distress; he kept patting my cheeks
-and calling to me to kiss him, that at
-last I was obliged to leave off. I had
-met with a difficulty at last. I could
-hear the roaring of the chained lions
-behind me, but I said to myself that I
-would not be beaten; if my pride must
-suffer I should get over the unpleasantness
-in time. Why should I be afraid
-of people just because they wore silks
-and satins and were strangers to me?
-My fears were undignified and absurd;
-Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked
-my duty.</p>
-
-<p>I hoped that nothing more would be
-said about it, and I determined that the
-following Thursday I would face the
-ordeal; but I was not to escape so
-easily.</p>
-
-<p>When Mrs. Morton came into the
-nursery that evening to bid the children
-good-night, I thought she looked a little
-preoccupied. She kissed them, and
-asked me, rather nervously, to follow her
-into the night nursery.</p>
-
-<p>“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly,
-“I hope you will not mind what I am
-going to say. My husband has asked
-me to speak to you. He seemed a little
-put out this afternoon; it did not please
-him that Hannah should take your place
-with the children.”</p>
-
-<p>“Hannah told me so when she came
-up, Mrs. Morton.”</p>
-
-<p>In spite of all my efforts to restrain
-my temper, I am afraid my voice was a
-little sullen. I had never answered her
-in such a tone before. I would obey
-Mr. Morton; I knew my own position
-well enough for that, but they should
-both see that this part of my duty was
-distasteful to me.</p>
-
-<p>To my intense surprise she took my
-hand and held it gently.</p>
-
-<p>“I was afraid you would feel it in
-this way, Merle, but I want you to look
-upon it in another point of view. You
-know that my husband forewarned you
-that your position would entail difficulties.
-Hitherto things have been quite
-smooth; now comes a duty which you
-own by your manner to be bitterly distasteful.
-I sympathise with you, but
-my husband’s wishes are sacred; he is
-very particular on this point. Do you
-think for my sake that you could yield
-in this?”</p>
-
-<p>She still held my hand, and I own that
-the foolish feeling crossed me that I was
-glad that she should know my hand was
-as soft as hers, but as she spoke to me
-in that beseeching voice all sullenness
-left me.</p>
-
-<p>“There is very little that I would not do
-for your sake, Mrs. Morton, when you
-have been so good to me. Please do
-not say another word about it. Mr.
-Morton was right; I have been utterly
-in the wrong; I feel that now. Next
-Thursday I will bring down the children
-into the drawing-room.”</p>
-
-<p>She thanked me so warmly that she
-made me feel still more ashamed of
-myself; it seemed such a wonderful
-thing that my mistress should stoop to
-entreat where she could by right command,
-but she was very tolerant of a
-girl’s waywardness. She did not leave
-me even then, but changed the subject.
-She sat down and talked to me for a few
-minutes about myself and Aunt Agatha.
-I had not been home yet, and she wanted
-me to fix some afternoon when Mrs.
-Garnett or Travers could take my place.</p>
-
-<p>“We must not let you get too dull,
-Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
-a good girl, but she cannot be a companion
-to you in any sense of the word.”
-And perhaps in that she was right.</p>
-
-<p>I woke the following Thursday with a
-sense of uneasiness oppressing me, so
-largely do our small fears magnify themselves
-when indulged. As the afternoon
-approached I grew quite pale with apprehension,
-and Hannah, with unspoken
-sympathy, but she had wonderful tact
-for a girl, only hinted at the matter in
-a roundabout way.</p>
-
-<p>I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise
-blue velvet, and was fastening my clean
-frilled apron over my black gown, when
-Hannah said quietly, “Well, it is no
-wonder master likes to show people what
-sort of nurse he has got. I don’t think
-anyone could look so nice in a cap and
-apron as you do, Miss Fenton. It is
-just as though you were making believe
-to be a servant like me, and it would
-not do anyhow.”</p>
-
-<p>I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely
-compliment, but I confessed it pleased
-me and gave me courage. I felt still
-more like myself when my boy put his
-dimpled arms round my neck, and hid
-his dear face on my shoulder. I could
-not persuade him to loosen his hold
-until his mother spoke to him, and there
-was Joyce holding tightly to my gown
-all the time.</p>
-
-<p>The room was so full that it almost
-made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
-Morton to rise from her seat and meet
-me, but all her coaxing speeches would
-not make Reggie do more than raise
-his head from my shoulder. He sat in
-my arms like a baby prince, beating off
-everyone with his little hands, and refusing
-even to go to his father.</p>
-
-<p>Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I
-carried him from one to another. Joyce
-had left me at once for her mother.
-Some of the ladies questioned me about
-the children. They spoke very civilly,
-but their inquisitive glances made my
-face burn, and it was with difficulty that
-I made suitable replies. Once I looked
-up, and saw that Mr. Morton was watching
-me. His glance was critical, but not
-unkindly. I had a feeling then that he
-was subjecting me purposely to this
-test. I must carry out my theory into
-practice. I am convinced all this was
-in his mind as he looked at me, and I no
-longer bore a grudge against him.</p>
-
-<p>Not long afterwards I had an opportunity
-of learning that he could own himself
-fallible on some points. He was
-exceedingly just, and could bear a rebuke
-even from an inferior, if it proved
-him to be clearly in the wrong.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">{131}</span></p>
-
-<p>One afternoon he came into the nursery
-to play with the children for a few minutes.
-He would wind up their mechanical
-toys to amuse them. Reggie was
-unusually fretful, and nothing seemed
-to please him. He scolded both his
-father and his walking doll, and would
-have nothing to say to the learned dog
-who beat the timbrels and nodded his
-head approvingly to his own music.
-Presently he caught sight of his favourite
-woolly lamb placed out of his reach on
-the mantelpiece, and began screaming
-and kicking.</p>
-
-<p>“Naughty Reggie,” observed his
-father, complacently, and he was taking
-down the toy when I begged him respectfully
-to replace it.</p>
-
-<p>He looked at me in some little surprise.</p>
-
-<p>“I thought he was crying for it,” he
-said, somewhat perplexed at this.</p>
-
-<p>“Reggie must not cry for things after
-that fashion,” I returned, firmly, for I
-felt a serious principle was involved here.
-“He is only a baby, but he is very sensible,
-and knows he is naughty when he
-screams for a thing. I never give it to
-him until he is good.”</p>
-
-<p>“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he
-seems far off from goodness now. What
-do you mean by making all that noise,
-my boy?”</p>
-
-<p>Reggie was in one of his passions,
-it was easy to see that; the toy would
-have been flung to the ground in his
-present mood; so without looking at his
-father or asking his permission, I resorted
-to my usual method, and laid him
-down screaming lustily in his little cot.</p>
-
-<p>“There baby must stop until he is
-good,” I remarked, quietly, and I took
-my work and sat down at some little
-distance, while Mr. Morton watched us
-from the other room. I knew my plan
-always answered with Reggie, and the
-storm would soon be over.</p>
-
-<p>In two or three minutes his screams
-ceased, and I heard a penitent “Gargle
-do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him
-directly, and in a moment he held out
-his arms to be lifted out of the cot.</p>
-
-<p>“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as
-I kissed him.</p>
-
-<p>“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply,
-and the next moment he was cuddling
-his lamb.</p>
-
-<p>“I own your method is the best,
-nurse,” observed Mr. Morton, pleasantly.
-“My boy will not be spoiled, I see that.
-I confess I should have given him the
-toy directly he screamed for it; you
-showed greater wisdom than his father.”</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible to say how much this
-speech gratified me. From that moment
-I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.</p>
-
-<p>My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly.
-A little before the nursery
-dinner Travers brought a message from
-Mrs. Morton that Joyce was to go out
-with her in the carriage, and that if I
-liked to have the afternoon and evening
-to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take
-charge of Reggie.</p>
-
-<p>The offer was too tempting to be refused.
-I do not think I ever knew the
-meaning of the word holiday before. No
-schoolgirl felt in greater spirits than I
-did during dinner time.</p>
-
-<p>It was a lovely April afternoon. I
-took out of my wardrobe a soft grey
-merino, my best dress, and a little grey
-velvet bonnet that Aunt Agatha’s skilful
-hands had made for me. I confess I
-looked at myself with some complacency.
-“No one would take me for a nurse,” I
-thought.</p>
-
-<p>In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton;
-he was just going out. For the moment
-he did not recognise me. He removed
-his hat hurriedly; no doubt he thought
-me a stranger.</p>
-
-<p>I could not help smiling at his mistake,
-and then he said, rather awkwardly,
-“I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I
-am glad you have such a lovely afternoon
-for your holiday; there seems a
-look of spring in the air,” all very civilly,
-but with his keen eyes taking in every
-particular of my dress.</p>
-
-<p>I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards
-that he very much approved of Miss
-Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance,
-and as he was a very fastidious man,
-this was considered high praise. There
-was more than a touch of spring in the
-air; the delicious softness seemed to
-promise opening buds. Down Exhibition-road
-the flower-girls were busy with
-their baskets of snowdrops and violets.
-I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then I
-remembered that Uncle Keith had a
-weakness for a particular sort of scone,
-and I bought some and a slice of rich
-Dundee seed cake. I felt like a schoolgirl
-providing a little home feast, but
-how pleasant it is to cater for those we
-love. I was glad when my short journey
-was over, and I could see the river shimmering
-a steely blue in the spring sunshine.
-The old church towers seemed
-more venerable and picturesque. As I
-walked down High-street I looked at
-the well-known shops with an interest I
-never felt before.</p>
-
-<p>When I reached the cottage I rang
-very softly, that Aunt Agatha should not
-be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased
-exclamation when she caught sight of
-me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle?
-I could hardly believe my eyes. Mistress
-is in there reading,” pointing to
-the drawing-room. “She has not heard
-the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can surprise
-her finely.”</p>
-
-<p>I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened
-the door noiselessly. How cosy the room
-looked in the firelight! and could any
-sight be more pleasant to my eyes than
-dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite
-low chair, in her well-worn black silk
-and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget
-her look of delight when she saw
-me.</p>
-
-<p>“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you
-mean it is really you? Come here and
-let me look at you. I want to see what
-seven weeks of hard work have done for
-you.”</p>
-
-<p>But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim
-as she looked.</p>
-
-<p>“There, sit down, and get warm,”
-giving me an energetic little push, “and
-tell me all about it. Your letters never
-do you justice, Merle. I must hear your
-experience from your own lips.”</p>
-
-<p>What a talk that was. It lasted all
-the afternoon, until Patience came in to
-set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle
-Keith’s boots on the scraper; even that
-sound was musical to me. When he
-entered the room I gave him a good hug,
-and had put some of my violets in his
-button-hole long before he had left off
-saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.</p>
-
-<p>“She looks well, Agatha, does she
-not?” he observed, as we gathered
-round the tea-table. “So the scheme
-has held out for seven weeks, eh? You
-have not come to tell us you are tired of
-being a nurse?”</p>
-
-<p>“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly.
-“I am determined to prove to
-you and the whole world that my theory
-is a sensible one. I am quite happy in
-my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith.
-I would not part with my children for
-worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for
-Reggie, he is such a darling that I could
-not live without him.”</p>
-
-<p>“It is making a woman of Merle, I
-can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
-softly. “I confess I did not like the
-plan at first, but if you make it answer,
-child, you will have me for a convert.
-You look just as nice and just as much
-a lady as you did when you were leading
-a useless life here. Never mind if in
-time your hands grow a little less soft
-and white; that is a small matter if your
-heart expands and your conscience is
-satisfied. You remember your favourite
-motto, Merle?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare
-est orare.’ Now I must go, for
-Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch,
-which means I have to catch my
-train.”</p>
-
-<p>But as I trudged over the bridge beside
-him in the starlight, and saw the
-faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy
-river, a voice seemed to whisper to my
-inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle,
-a good beginning makes a glad ending.
-Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est
-orare.’”</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_131" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_131.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">{132}</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. J. G. WOOD, M.A.</span>, Author of “The Handy Natural History.”</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
-
-<p>Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The
-death-stroke—Ways of the heron—Watching
-for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in
-the New Forest—Return to wild habits—The
-fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron and the
-eel—The cormorant and the conger—The
-heron’s power of wing—How the heron settles—Its
-resting-place—Power of the heron’s
-beak—Heronry in Wanstead Park.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> water-vole has but few enemies whom it
-need fear, and one of them is now so scarce
-that the animal enjoys a practical immunity
-from it. This is the heron (<i>Ardea cinerea</i>),
-which has suffered great diminution of its
-numbers since the spread of agriculture.</p>
-
-<p>Even now, however, when the brook is far
-away from the habitations of man, the heron
-may be detected by a sharp eye standing
-motionless in the stream, and looking out for
-prey. Being as still as if cut out of stone,
-neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the
-latter should happen to approach within striking
-distance, it will be instantly killed by a
-sharp stroke on the back of the head.</p>
-
-<p>The throat of the heron looks too small to
-allow the bird to swallow any animal larger
-than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable
-that the largest water-vole can be swallowed
-with perfect ease.</p>
-
-<p>The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious
-about its food, and will eat fish, frogs, toads,
-or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
-has even been known to devour young waterhens,
-swimming out to their nest, and snatching
-up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is
-fish that comes to its beak.</p>
-
-<p>If the reader should be fortunate enough to
-espy a heron while watching for prey, let him
-make the most of the opportunity.</p>
-
-<p>Although the heron is a large bird, it is not
-easily seen. In the first place, there are few
-birds which present so many different aspects.
-When it stalks over the ground with erect
-bearing and alert gestures it seems as conspicuous
-a bird as can well be imagined. Still
-more conspicuous does it appear when flying,
-the ample wings spread, the head and neck
-stretched forwards, and the long legs extending
-backwards by way of balance.</p>
-
-<p>But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled
-fish it must remain absolutely still.
-So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird, its
-long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers
-of the shoulders, and nothing but the glancing
-eye denoting that it is alive.</p>
-
-<p>This quiescence must be imitated by the
-observer, should he wish to watch the proceedings
-of the bird, as the least movement
-will startle it. The reason why so many persons
-fail to observe the habits of animals, and
-then disbelieve those who have been more
-successful, is that they have never mastered
-the key to all observation, <i>i.e.</i>, refraining
-from the slightest motion. A movement of
-the hand or foot, or even a turn of the head is
-certain to give alarm; while many creatures
-are so wary that when watching them it is as
-well to droop the eyelids as much as possible,
-and not even to turn the eyes quickly, lest the
-reflection of the light from their surface should
-attract the attention of the watchful creature.</p>
-
-<p>One of the worst results of detection is that
-when any animal is startled it conveys the
-alarm to all others that happen to be within
-sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals
-of the same species have a language of their
-own which they perfectly understand, though
-it is not likely that an animal belonging to one
-species can understand the language of another.</p>
-
-<p>But there seems to be a sort of universal or
-<i>lingua-franca</i> language which is common to
-all the animals, whether they be beasts or
-birds, and one of the best known phrases is
-the cry of alarm, which is understood by all
-alike.</p>
-
-<p>I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely
-necessary to be alone, as there is no
-object in two observers going together unless
-they can communicate with each other, and
-there is nothing which is so alarming to the
-beasts and birds as the sound of the human
-voice.</p>
-
-<p>Yet there is a mode by which two persons
-who have learned to act in concert with each
-other can manage to observe in company. It
-was shown to me by an old African hunter,
-when I was staying with him in the New
-Forest.</p>
-
-<p>In the forest, although even the snapping of
-a dry twig will give the alarm, neither bird
-nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
-We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and
-practised ourselves thoroughly in them.</p>
-
-<p>Then, we went as quietly as we could to the
-chosen spot, and sat down facing each other,
-so that no creature could pass behind one of
-us without being detected by the other. We
-were both dressed in dark grey, and took the
-precaution of sitting with our backs against a
-tree or a bank, or any object which could perform
-the double duty of giving us something
-to lean against, and of breaking the outlines
-of the human form.</p>
-
-<p>Our whistled code was as low as was
-possible consistent with being audible, and I
-do not think that during our many experiments
-we gave the alarm to a single creature.</p>
-
-<p>When the observer is remaining without
-movement, scarcely an animal will notice
-him.</p>
-
-<p>I remember that on one occasion my friend
-and I were sitting opposite each other, one on
-either side of a narrow forest path. The sun
-had set, but at that time of the year there is
-scarcely any real night, and objects could be
-easily seen in the half light.</p>
-
-<p>Presently a fox came stealthily along the
-path. Now the cunning of the fox is
-proverbial, and neither of us thought that he
-would pass between us without detecting our
-presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
-that we could have touched him with a
-stick.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the
-same path, walking almost as noiselessly as
-the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact
-that domesticated animals, when allowed to
-wander at liberty in the New Forest, soon
-revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.</p>
-
-<p>As the cow came along the path, neither of
-us could conjecture the owner of the stealthy
-footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
-poachers, in which case things would have
-gone hard with us, the poachers of the New
-Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of
-men, always provided with firearms and
-bludgeons, having scarcely the very slightest
-regard for the law, and almost out of reach of
-the police.</p>
-
-<p>They would certainly have considered
-us as spies upon them, and as certainly would
-have attacked and half, if not quite killed us,
-we being unarmed.</p>
-
-<p>But to our amusement as well as relief, the
-step was only that of a solitary cow, the
-animal lifting each foot high from the ground
-before she made her step, and putting it down
-as cautiously as she had raised it.</p>
-
-<p>Then, a barn owl came drifting silently
-between us, looking in the dusk as large and
-white as if it had been the snowy owl itself.
-Yet, neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl
-detected us, although passing within a few
-feet of us.</p>
-
-<p>In the daytime the observer, however careful
-he may be, is always liable to detection by
-a stray magpie or crow.</p>
-
-<p>The bird comes flying along overhead, its
-keen eyes directed downwards, on the look-out
-for the eggs of other birds. At first he may
-not notice the motionless and silent observer,
-but sooner or later he is sure to do so.</p>
-
-<p>If it were not exasperating to have all one’s
-precautions frustrated, the shriek of terrified
-astonishment with which the bird announces
-the unexpected presence of a human being
-would be exceedingly ludicrous. As it is, a
-feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of
-amusement, for at least an hour will elapse
-before the startled animals will have recovered
-from the magpie’s alarm cry.</p>
-
-<p>Supposing that we are stationed on the
-banks of the brook on a fine summer evening,
-while the long twilight endures, and have
-been fortunate enough to escape the notice of
-the magpie or other feathered spy, we may
-have the opportunity of watching the heron
-capture its prey.</p>
-
-<p>The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and
-in a moment the bird is holding a fish transversely
-in its beak. The long, narrow bill
-scarcely seems capable of retaining the slippery
-prey; but if a heron’s beak be examined
-carefully, it will be seen to possess a number
-of slight serrations upon the edges, which
-enable it to take a firm grasp of the fish.</p>
-
-<p>Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling,
-for almost as soon as captured it is flung
-in the air, caught dexterously with its head
-downwards, and swallowed.</p>
-
-<p>It is astonishing how large a fish will
-pass down the slender throat of a heron. As
-has been already mentioned, the water-vole
-is swallowed without difficulty. Now the
-water-vole measures between eight and nine
-inches in length from the nose to the root of
-the tail, and is a very thickset animal, so that
-it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.</p>
-
-<p>It is seldom that the heron has, like the
-kingfisher, to beat its prey against a stone or
-any hard object before swallowing it, though
-when it catches a rather large eel it is obliged
-to avail itself of this device before it can get
-the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
-attitude. The eel has the strongest objection
-to going down the heron’s throat, and has no
-idea of allowing its head to pass into the
-heron’s beak. The eel, therefore, must be
-rendered insensible before it can be swallowed.</p>
-
-<p>Generally it is enough to carry the refractory
-prey to the bank, hold it down with the
-foot, and peck it from one end to the other
-until it is motionless. Should the eel be too
-large to be held by the feet, it is rapidly battered
-against a stone, just as a large snail is
-treated by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.</p>
-
-<p>If the feet of the heron be examined, a
-remarkable comb-like appendage may be seen
-on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.</p>
-
-<p>What may be the precise office of this comb is
-not satisfactorily decided. Some ornithologists
-think that it is utilised in preening the plumage,
-I cannot, however, believe that it performs
-such an office. I have enjoyed exceptional
-opportunities for watching the proceedings of
-the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity,
-but never saw it preen its feathers with
-its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
-actually witnessed the proceeding.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp52" id="i_page_133" style="max-width: 25em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_133.jpg" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p class="center">IN WANSTEAD PARK.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is not always fair to judge from a dead
-bird what the living bird might have been able
-to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">{134}</span>
-of a dead heron with its foot-comb, and have
-not succeeded.</p>
-
-<p>Another suggestion is that the bird may use
-it when it holds prey under its feet, as has
-just been narrated. These suggestions, however,
-are nothing more than conjectures, but,
-as they have been the subject of much argument,
-I have thought it best to mention them.</p>
-
-<p>Sometimes it has happened that the heron
-has miscalculated its powers, and seized a fish
-which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
-Anglers frequently capture fish which
-bear the marks of the heron’s beak upon
-their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish
-nor the heron is any the worse for the struggle.</p>
-
-<p>But when the unmanageable fish has been
-an eel, the result has, more than once, been
-disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on
-the British birds, a case is recorded where a
-heron and eel were both found dead, the partially
-swallowed eel having twisted itself round
-the neck of the heron in its struggles.</p>
-
-<p>A very similar incident occurred off the
-coast of Devonshire, the victim in this case
-being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
-conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper
-mandible completely through the lower jaw of
-the fish, the horny beak having entered under
-the chin of the eel.</p>
-
-<p>The bird could not shake the fish off its
-beak, and the result was that both were found
-lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
-having coiled itself round the neck of the
-cormorant and strangled it. The stuffed skins
-of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro
-Museum, preserved in the position in which
-they were found.</p>
-
-<p>Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the
-heron will take flight for its home, which will
-probably be at a considerable distance from
-its fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles
-are but an easy journey for the bird, which
-measures more than five feet across the expanded
-wings, and yet barely weighs three
-pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
-is believed to be the lightest bird known. The
-Rev. C. A. Johns states that he has seen the
-heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from
-any heronry.</p>
-
-<p>The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically
-described in a letter published in the
-<i>Standard</i> newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.</p>
-
-<p>“One summer evening I was under a wood
-by the Exe. The sun had set, and from over
-the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy
-cloud stretched out across the sky. The rooks
-came slowly home to roost, disappearing over
-the wood, and at the same time the herons
-approached in exactly the opposite direction,
-flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
-out to feed as the rooks returned home.</p>
-
-<p>“The first heron sailed on steadily at a
-great height, uttering a loud “caak, caak” at
-intervals. In a few minutes a second followed,
-and “caak, caak” sounded again over the
-river valley.</p>
-
-<p>“The third was flying at a less height, and
-as he came into sight over the line of the
-wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding
-his immense wings extended, dived, as a
-rook will, downwards through the air. He
-twisted from side to side like anything spun
-round by the finger and thumb as he came
-down, rushing through the air head first.</p>
-
-<p>“The sound of his great vanes pressing
-and dividing the air was distinctly audible.
-He looked unable to manage his descent, but
-at the right moment he recovered his balance,
-and rose a little up into a tree on the summit,
-drawing his long legs into the branches
-behind him.</p>
-
-<p>“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and
-so descended into the wood. Two more
-passed on over the valley—altogether six
-herons in about a quarter of an hour. They
-intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees till it
-was dusky, and then to go down and fish in
-the wood. Herons are here called cranes, and
-heronries are craneries. (This confusion between
-the heron and the crane exists in most
-parts of Ireland.)</p>
-
-<p>“A determined sportsman who used to eat
-every heron he could shoot, in revenge for
-their ravages among the trout, at last became
-suspicious, and, examining one, found in it
-the remains of a rat and of a toad, after
-which he did not eat any more herons. Another
-sportsman found a heron in the very
-act of gulping down a good sized trout,
-which stuck in the gullet. He shot the
-heron and got the trout, which was not at
-all injured, only marked at each side where
-the beak had cut it. The fish was secured
-and eaten.”</p>
-
-<p>I can corroborate the accuracy as well as
-the graphic wording of the above description.</p>
-
-<p>When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent,
-I used nearly every evening to see herons flying
-northwards. I think that they were making
-for the Essex marshes. They always flew at
-a very great height, and might have escaped
-observation but for the loud, harsh croak
-which they uttered at intervals, and which
-has been so well described by the monosyllable
-“caak.”</p>
-
-<p>As to their mode of settling on a tree, I
-have often watched the herons of Walton
-Hall, where they were so tame that they
-would allow themselves to be approached
-quite closely. When settling, they lower
-themselves gently until their feet are upon the
-branch. They then keep up a slight flapping
-of the wings until they are fairly settled.</p>
-
-<p>An idea is prevalent in many parts of England
-that when the heron sits on its nest, its long
-legs hang down on either side. Nothing can
-be more absurd. The heron can double up
-its legs as is usual among birds, and sits on
-its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any
-other short-legged bird.</p>
-
-<p>In many respects the heron much resembles
-the rook in its manner of nesting. The nest
-is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty
-tree, and is little more than a mere platform
-of small sticks. Being a larger bird than the
-rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and
-on an average the diameter of a nest is about
-three feet.</p>
-
-<p>Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its
-nesting, a solitary heron’s nest being unknown.
-In their modes of feeding, however, the two
-birds utterly differ from each other, the heron
-seeking its food alone, while the rook feeds in
-company, always placing a sentinel on some
-elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm
-at the approach of danger.</p>
-
-<p>The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice
-of a nesting-place, and, like the rook, prefers
-the neighbourhood of man, knowing instinctively
-when it will be protected by its human
-neighbours. Fortunately for the bird, the
-possession of a heronry is a matter of pride
-among landowners; so that even if the
-owner of a trout-stream happened also to possess
-a heronry, he would not think of destroying
-the herons because they ate his trout.</p>
-
-<p>In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it
-is not to be recommended as a pet. It is
-apt to bestow all its affections on one individual,
-and to consider the rest of the human
-race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
-pecked out.</p>
-
-<p>I was for some time acquainted with such
-a bird, but took care to keep well out of reach
-of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
-unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.</p>
-
-<p>It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was
-almost slavishly affectionate to the gardener,
-rubbing itself against his legs like a pet cat,
-and trying in every way to attract his attention.
-He had even taught it a few simple
-tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off
-his head, and then offer it to him.</p>
-
-<p>But just in proportion as it became friendly
-with the gardener it became cross-grained
-with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
-who came into the garden, and darting its
-beak at their eyes. Its last performance
-caused it to be placed in confinement.</p>
-
-<p>An elderly gentleman had entered the
-garden on business, when the bird instantly
-assailed him. Knowing the habits of the
-heron, he very wisely flung himself on his face
-for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
-shouted for help.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the
-most of its opportunity, mounted upon his
-prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting
-several severe pecks upon his body and limbs
-before the gardener could come to the rescue.</p>
-
-<p>The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the
-mandibles being closed, and the blow delivered
-with the full power of the long neck, so that each
-blow from the beak is something like the stab
-of a bayonet, and so strong and sharp is the
-beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
-into an effective spearhead.</p>
-
-<p>Few people seem to be aware that a large
-and populous heronry exists in Wanstead
-Park, on the very outskirts of London.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of summer, when the young
-birds are fledged, the heronry is nearly deserted,
-but during the early days of spring the
-heronry is well worth a visit. The great birds
-are all in full activity, as is demanded by the
-many wants of the young, and on the ground
-beneath may be seen fragments of the pale-blue
-eggs. On an average there are three
-young ones in each nest, so that the scene is
-very lively and interesting, until the foliage
-becomes so thick that it hides the birds and
-their nests.</p>
-
-<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;<br />
-OR,<br />
-THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> EMMA BREWER.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Just</span> for a little time I must leave my
-personal history to inquire how England
-managed to do without me so long, and what
-the circumstances were which at length
-rendered my existence imperative.</p>
-
-<p>In the days following the Norman
-Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit in life
-was the commerce of money, were the compulsory
-bankers of the country.</p>
-
-<p>They were subject to much cruelty and
-persecution, as you may see for yourselves in
-your histories of the Kings of England.
-It is not to be denied that their demands
-for interest on money lent by them were most
-extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest
-exceeded 40 per cent., and I believe that 500
-Jews were slain by our London citizens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">{135}</span>
-because one of them would have forced a
-Christian to pay more than twopence for the
-usury of 20s.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> for one week, which sum they
-were allowed by the king to take from the
-Oxford students.</p>
-
-<p>They were ill-treated and robbed from the
-time they came over with the Conqueror until
-the reign of Edward I., who distinguished
-himself by robbing 15,000 Jews of their
-wealth, and then banishing the whole of them
-from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned
-against as sinning, the compulsory bankers of
-the period departed.</p>
-
-<p>There was no time to feel their loss, for
-immediately after their expulsion the
-Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of
-Genoa, Florence, Lucca and Venice, came over
-to England and established themselves in the
-street which still bears their name.</p>
-
-<p>There was no doubt as to their purpose, for
-it was a well-known fact that in whatever
-country or town they settled they engrossed
-its trade and became masters of its cash, and
-certainly they did not intend to make an
-exception in favour of London.</p>
-
-<p>I am not going to deny that they introduced
-into our midst many of the arts and skill of
-trade with which we in England were
-previously unacquainted; and it is to these
-Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the introduction
-of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention,
-and one which has served to connect
-the whole world into one, as you will see when
-the proper place arrives for their explanation.</p>
-
-<p>These Lombards, immediately after their
-arrival in London, may have been seen
-regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street
-with their wares, exposing for sale the most
-attractive articles; and in a short time became
-so successful that they were able to take shops
-in which to carry on their business as goldsmiths.</p>
-
-<p>These shops were not confined to the one
-street which bears their name, but were continued
-along the south row of Cheapside,
-extending from the street called Old Change
-into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
-after the Great Fire, when they removed to
-Lombard-street. There seems to be no street
-in the world where a business of one special
-character has been carried on so continuously
-as in Lombard-street. In the time of Queen
-Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in
-London. In addition to the art of the goldsmith,
-they added the business of money-changing,
-the importance of which occupation
-you will be able to estimate when we come to
-the subject of the coins of the realm.</p>
-
-<p>From money-changers they became money-lenders
-and money-borrowers—money was the
-commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per
-cent. the modest interest they asked and
-obtained for their money.</p>
-
-<p>Of course they gave receipts for the money
-lodged with them, and these circulated and
-were known by the name of “goldsmiths’
-notes,” and were, in fact, the first kind of
-bank-notes issued in England.</p>
-
-<p>The Lombards were a most industrious
-class of people, and left no stone unturned by
-which they could obtain wealth; and in an
-incredibly short time we find them not only
-wealthy, but powerful, and occupying a very
-prominent position; and you may be quite
-sure that under these circumstances they did
-not escape persecution.</p>
-
-<p>Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were
-extortioners, Edward III. seized their property
-and estates. Even this seemed but
-slightly to affect them; for in the fifteenth
-century we find them advancing large sums of
-money for the service of the State on the
-security of the Customs.</p>
-
-<p>In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the
-time of my birth, the banking was entirely
-in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried
-on in a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently
-the case when unrestrained by rivals.</p>
-
-<p>I dare say you have all noticed the three
-golden balls on the outside of pawnbrokers’
-shops. Originally these were three pills, the
-emblem of the Medici (physician) family; but
-in some way they became associated with St.
-Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths,
-under the name of the three golden balls—an
-emblem which the Lombards have retained.</p>
-
-<p>Are you curious to know how the sign has
-so degenerated as to be the inseparable companion
-of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well,
-listen.</p>
-
-<p>Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were
-established from motives of charity in the
-fifteenth century. Their object was to lend
-money to the poor upon pledges and without
-interest. Originally they were supported by
-voluntary contributions, but as these proved
-insufficient to pay expenses, it became necessary
-to charge interest for the money lent.
-These banks were first distinguished by the
-name of <i>montes pietatis</i>. The word <i>mont</i>
-at this period was applied to any pecuniary
-fund, and it is probable that <i>pietatis</i> was added
-by the promoters of the scheme, to give it an
-air of religion, and thus procure larger subscriptions.</p>
-
-<p>Well, these banks were not only called
-mounts of piety, but were known also as Lombards,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
-from the name of the original bankers
-or money-lenders. Now you see how it is
-pawnbrokers bear the sign of the goldsmiths.</p>
-
-<p>You who know so well where to place your
-money, both for interest and security, when you
-have any to spare, can scarcely understand the
-trouble and annoyance which our merchants
-and wealthy people experienced at having
-no place of security wherein they could deposit
-their money. At one time they sent it to the
-Mint in the Tower of London, which became
-a sort of bank, where merchants left their
-money when they had no need of it, and drew
-it out only as they wanted it; but this soon
-ceased to be a place of security. In 1640
-Charles I., without leave asked or granted,
-took possession of £200,000 of the money
-lodged there. Great was the wrath of the
-merchants, who were compelled, after this unkingly
-act, to keep their surplus money at
-home, guarded by their apprentices and
-servants. Even here the money was not safe,
-for on the breaking out of the war between
-Charles and his Parliament, it was no uncommon
-occurrence for the apprentices to rob
-their masters and run away and join the army.</p>
-
-<p>When the merchants found that neither the
-public authorities nor their own servants were
-to be trusted, they employed bankers, and
-these bankers were goldsmiths.</p>
-
-<p>Many a tale, however, has reached me of the
-shifts and contrivances of people to secure
-their savings and surplus money—people whose
-experience had taught them to distrust both
-authorities and places, and who would not,
-under the new state of things, have anything
-to do with the bankers. One I will relate
-to you.</p>
-
-<p>A man whose life had been one of hard
-work and self-denial, and who had two or
-three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness
-of the people with whom he had
-lodged it, determined to be their dupe no
-more. Money began once more to accumulate,
-and all things prospered with him; but no one
-could imagine what he did with it; as far as
-his household could tell, he did not deposit
-it with anyone outside the house, neither could
-they discover any place within where it was
-possible to stow it away. No persuasion could
-move the man to speak one word concerning
-it.</p>
-
-<p>At length he died, without having time or
-consciousness to mention the whereabouts of
-his money. Search was made in all directions,
-but without success.</p>
-
-<p>While living he had been a regular
-attendant at one of our City churches, and,
-occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
-square pew, was well known to the
-clergy and servants.</p>
-
-<p>A few weeks after his death the pew-opener
-told the rector, in a frightened voice,
-that she could no longer keep the matter from
-him, for as surely as she stood there, the
-ghost of the man who died a week or two ago
-haunted the church by night and by day.</p>
-
-<p>Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish
-fancy, the rector allowed her to tell her story
-quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and
-very nervous.</p>
-
-<p>She related that several times during the
-past weeks, when quite alone in the church for
-the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had
-heard a peculiar noise proceeding from the
-pew where the old man used to sit, and it
-sounded to her exactly as though he were
-counting out money, and she would be very
-glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied
-the woman to the pew. At first all was
-quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound
-came exactly as described; they felt round
-about the pew, and at length discovered a
-movable panel near the flooring. It was
-the work of a moment to remove it, and there,
-in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of money
-wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted
-the mice, and it was their little pattering feet
-among the coins which had caught the
-woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped
-in his week’s savings on Sundays, believing
-that it would be safer in the church than
-elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>It seems that after the restoration of
-Charles II., he being greatly in want of
-money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten
-per cent. for the loan. Often, however, they
-obtained thirty per cent. from him, and this
-induced the goldsmiths to lend more and
-more to the king, so that really the whole
-revenue passed through their hands.</p>
-
-<p>In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers,
-and put a check on their prodigal lending.
-King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526,
-which he had borrowed at eight per cent., utterly
-refused to pay either principal or interest, and
-he remained firm to his resolution.</p>
-
-<p>The way in which bankers transacted their
-loans with the king, was in this manner:—As
-soon as the Parliament had voted to the king
-certain sums of money out of special taxes,
-the goldsmith-bankers at once supplied the
-king with the whole sum so voted, and were
-repaid in weekly payments at the Exchequer<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
-as the taxes were received.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_135" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_135.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">{136}</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> A LADY DRESSMAKER.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have had such a mild and delightful
-autumn, that all kinds of winter garments
-have been delayed in making an appearance.
-This is especially the case with mantles and
-the heavier class of jackets. However, there
-is enough to show us that no great novelty has
-been introduced. Mantles are all small and
-short, and the majority have ends in front
-more or less long. Black plush seems a
-very favourite material, and is much overladen
-with trimming. Plain plush is also used for
-paletôts, and for large cloaks; but there is a
-new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers, that
-is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps
-and epaulettes are worn as well as ornaments
-at the back, and sometimes beaded braces
-round the join of the sleeve in the small
-mantles, and a strip of the same may be used
-to outline the seam at the back. These hints
-may help some of my readers to do up a last
-year’s mantle with some of the moderate
-priced bead trimmings now in vogue.
-Paletôts or cloaks are made both long and
-medium in length. They are made in plush,
-cloth, and rough cloths, but are not seen in
-the finer fancy stuffs which are made use of for
-mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have
-an appearance as if braid were sewn on to the
-surface. The cloak paletôts, when long, close
-in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed
-with a border of fur, which is shaped on the
-shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
-“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower
-edge of the cloak; the cuffs are deep. Fur
-trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting
-follow the same rule, and have no
-trimming of fur at the edge. Fur
-boas are very decidedly the fashion this winter,
-and there seems no end to their popularity.
-Some of them are flat at the neck, like a
-collarette; and others are attached to the
-mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
-and some are nothing more than fur collars
-that clasp round the throat; and these
-collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the
-place of the fur capes that have been worn so
-long. Grey furs are more in fashion than brown
-ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock,
-and opossum, and I see that quantities
-of American raccoon are also being prepared.
-Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable,
-marten-tail, mink, or blue fox, are not within
-the ordinary range of purchasers, and few
-people care to spend so much money on dress
-as their acquirement entails. There is also a
-new feeling to be taken into account; the
-same feeling that makes thinking women and
-girls decline to wear birds, and their heads and
-wings, <i>i.e.</i>, the feeling that the seal fishery as
-hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may
-wear furs that are too costly in other ways. I
-often think if mighty hunters—instead of
-hunting down the buffalo, and the other
-animals useful to the Indian in the North
-West—would go to India and hunt the tigers
-that so cruelly prey on the natives there, we
-should wear those skins with much pleasure
-as well as advantage. But the account
-of the slaying of a mother-seal ought to
-be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I
-have never cordially liked sealskins since
-I read of the devotion of one poor mother-seal
-in particular to her young; and I have
-never had a sealskin jacket since.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="i_page_136" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_136.jpg" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p class="center">AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There are numbers of jackets in every
-style, but all are made of woollen materials,
-not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them
-are tight-fitting, and are smart looking and
-stylish. Both single and double-breasted
-ones are seen. Hoods are much worn,
-but are by no means general. Coloured
-linings are used to pale-coloured or
-checked cloth jackets, but not to black
-or brown ones. Small mantles and
-cloaks are tied at the neck by a
-quantity of ribbons to match the colour
-of the cloth or plush. One of
-the new ideas for mantles is that
-of a semi-fitting jacket over a
-long close-fitting cloak.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">{137}</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp55" id="i_page_137" style="max-width: 26.5625em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_137.jpg" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p class="center">UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">{138}</span></p>
-
-<p>The new bonnets and hats are much smaller
-and prettier now, and there are in consequence
-many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
-well-dressed girls in the streets of London.
-Formerly no girl who wished to be thought
-somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet
-in London.</p>
-
-<p>The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on
-gathered, doubled and pleated, sometimes
-with as many as three frills at the edge. Many
-of the bonnets are without strings, and have
-pointed fronts, and there is much jet trimming
-used even on coloured velvet bonnets.
-I am sorry to say that our fashionable caterers
-continue to prey upon the feathered creation
-all over the world. This winter the owl has
-evidently fallen a victim, and there are besides
-the tern, kingfisher, and the heron. How I wish
-this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be
-prevented, and that my numberless girl-readers
-would try to avoid giving it the least encouragement.
-While we have the beautiful ostrich
-feathers, we cannot need these other poor victims
-offered up on the altar of feminine vanity
-and unthinking cruelty.</p>
-
-<p>Some of the felt hats for the season are very
-pretty. They have high and sloping crowns,
-the brims are often only bound with ribbon,
-but if wide and turned up at the back, they
-are lined with velvet, or rather only partly
-lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined.
-Many of them have brims turned up all round,
-like one of the old turban hats.</p>
-
-<p>The ribbons in use at present are of all
-kinds, satin and velvet reversible, as well as
-<i>moiré</i> and velvet, or satin and <i>moiré</i>. These
-have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk,
-in colour. Velvet ribbons with corded stripes
-have one edge purled and the other fringed;
-and the strings of bonnets are of narrow <i>picot</i>-edged
-ribbon.</p>
-
-<p>The number of white gowns that have been
-worn during the past season and up to the
-present moment has been remarkable, and
-has quite justified the name of a “white
-season.” Even as the weather became colder,
-a charming mixture of materials was introduced,
-viz., white corduroy, and some soft
-woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
-winter white will be the special fashion for
-young people for the evening, and any colour
-can be given by trimming. It seems likely
-that perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of
-habit-cloths, will be used for winter day
-dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued
-fur, or with velvet to match the colour of
-the cloth. The colours that will be worn in
-these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a
-tint like heliotrope, and a reddish violet.</p>
-
-<p>Fancy materials in mixed colours abound,
-the mixtures being green and ruby, brown
-and red, sage and vermilion, and others of
-the same unæsthetic nature. The new browns
-are called Carmelite, chestnut, rosewood, hair,
-and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux,
-Indian, currant, and clove. A new green is
-called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
-popular, and brown and red violet are the
-special colours of the season.</p>
-
-<p>In the making of dresses there is but little
-change. The skirts are still short, and the
-draperies still long; while there is a fancy for
-over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will
-be a blessing for the possessors of half-worn
-and very ancient bodices. Bracers are one of
-the novelties as a form of trimming for the
-latter. They are also trimmed in imitation of
-a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
-returning to favour, and will be worn later on
-over lace skirts for evening dress. Serge
-seems to me to be the most favoured material
-this winter, and it forms the ground work of
-half the fancy cloths and mixtures. Stripes
-and crossbars are in the highest favour, and
-both alpaca and foulard are used, and with
-poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet, and silk rep,
-form the generality of the new dresses. There
-are numbers of hairy-looking woollen materials,
-but I should not think they would
-wear as well as a good serge, which is always
-a useful purchase.</p>
-
-<p>The new petticoat materials in winceys are
-very gay and pretty, and the pattern is usually
-of stripes; but the materials are various, being
-sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed,
-and in the weaving there is usually a rough or
-knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats
-have a few steels in them, and the addition
-makes the dress hold out from the heels a little.
-A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however,
-quite enough for most people, and very little
-crinolette is now worn—nothing ungraceful
-nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of
-better quality are made of plain silk or satin,
-and one of the new fashions is to line them
-with chamois leather, so as to make them
-warmer.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_page_138a" style="max-width: 18.75em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138a.jpg" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p class="center">NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Shoes are more worn in London than boots,
-and laced shoes more than buttoned ones. The
-same is the case with boots, which are considered
-to fit better, and to look more stylish
-when laced than buttoned. I have been very
-glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and
-shoes are on the increase, having wider toes
-and lower, broader heels. At the present
-moment many of the best shops have them in
-their windows, and have found it best and
-wisest to keep them for their customers; in
-fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities,
-and of all kinds of proper clothing, is being
-so much extended and impressed on the public
-mind on all sides, that I should not wonder
-if we all became quite reformed characters,
-and wore, ate, and drank only such things as
-were good for us.</p>
-
-<p>I must not forget to mention gloves and
-their styles. Most people usually wear Swede
-or kid gloves during the winter months; but
-this year there are some such delightfully
-warm and pretty gloves in wool and silk to
-be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt
-be tempted to purchase them. If the dress
-be of a quiet colour, the gloves should match
-it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any
-kind, the proper gloves to wear would be tan-colour.
-These latter are also used in the
-evening, except when the dress is black, or
-black and white, when the gloves should be
-of grey Swede.</p>
-
-<p>Our illustrations for the month are full of
-suggestions for making new gowns and for altering
-old ones. It will be seen that the gowns
-are both simple and elegant, with long flowing
-lines, and little or no fulness of drapery.
-The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown,
-and the newest model of a cape-like sleeve
-is given in our large front picture of a seashore,
-“<a href="#i_page_137">Under Northern Skies</a>.” Much
-braiding is used, and it is shown in two ways—laid
-on in flat bands, and also in a pattern
-on the mantle. The new shapes of hats are
-much more moderate, and most of the new
-shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern
-for the month is represented as worn by a lady
-in the centre of the smaller picture, “<a href="#i_page_136">At the
-English Lakes</a>;” the centre figure shows its
-pretty and jaunty outlines. It may be worn
-with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
-plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our
-sketch, which may be of a soft Indian silk.
-It is of the last and new design, and will be
-found a most useful winter bodice for usual
-daily wear. The pattern consists of a collar,
-cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two
-sleeve pieces. About four yards of 30 inch
-material are required, perhaps less, if very carefully
-cut. All patterns are of a medium size,
-viz., 36 inches round the chest, and only one
-size is prepared for sale. Each of the patterns
-may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care
-of Mr. H. G. Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C.,
-price 1s. each. It is requested that the addresses
-be clearly given, and that postal notes
-crossed only to go through a bank may be
-sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
-The patterns already issued may always be
-obtained, as “The Lady Dressmaker” only
-issues patterns likely to be of constant use in
-home dressmaking and altering, and she is
-particularly careful to give all the new patterns
-of hygienic underclothing, both for children
-and young and old ladies, so that her readers
-may be aware of the best method of dressing.</p>
-
-<p>The following is a list of those already
-issued, price 1s. each. April—Braided, loose-fronted
-jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
-belt and full bodice, with plain
-sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk or
-pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or
-plain skirt. October—Combination garment
-(underlinen). November—Double-breasted
-out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave
-jacket and bodice. January—Princess underdress
-(underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt
-combined). February—Polonaise with
-waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
-April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle
-with sling sleeves. May—Early English
-bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress.
-June—Dressing jacket, princess frock, and
-Normandy cap for a child of four years. July—Princess
-of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat,
-for tailor-made gown. August—Bodice
-with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole
-ends and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or
-nightdress combination, with full back.—November—New
-winter bodice.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_138b" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138b.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">{139}</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. G. LINNÆUS BANKS</span>, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The third of England called, with many a dainty wood</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> clear—</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>So began England’s descriptive poet,
-Michael Drayton, to sing the praises of the
-glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but
-Milton was more terse in his invocation—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">His thirty arms along the indented meads.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Thus much the poets; but in plain prose
-be it told that the Trent needed no invocation
-to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to
-arise and flood the meadows in its course most
-disastrously, as it did no later than last May.
-The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.</p>
-
-<p>But long before bridges were built or were
-common, there was need to cross the river,
-either by ford or ferry, and its treachery
-must have been known in very ancient days,
-since Swark—whoever he might be, and
-whether he found a natural ford or made an
-artificial one—set up on end an unwrought
-monolith above the height of a man as a
-guide for wayfarers to find the crossing-place
-when the waters happened to be “out”;
-since there the waste and meadow-land lay
-low for many a broad mile.</p>
-
-<p>There was scarcely a speck in the blue
-vault of heaven when Earl Bellamont and his
-friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them,
-crossed the shrunken, snake-like river that
-mirrored their gleaming armour in its broken,
-scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images
-and would fain clasp them. And so the sun
-had shone for weeks,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“All in a hot and copper sky,”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>until the earth cried out for rain from its parched
-and cracking lips. Only near the red, marly
-banks of the river did the grass and herbage
-retain its vivid tint of green. As the days
-went by the air seemed to grow hotter; the
-cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon
-the fire, wished the guests gone and the
-wedding over. The falconer out on the moor
-in the glare with William Harpur and other
-squires, or the anglers by the streams, had
-scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
-wearied of her many cares, and censured
-the languor of her daughters and her maids.</p>
-
-<p>Preparations had not ceased, they had only
-renewed; and there had been unwonted doles
-to the villagers of good things that would
-have spoiled.</p>
-
-<p>At length, when even the weaving of
-tapestry or the twanging of the lute was a
-toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western
-sky. The cattle lowed, the leaves turned
-themselves over to welcome it, the hawks
-screamed in the mews. That was the morning
-of the 14th, when the very hush in the
-air was significant. The cloud spread,
-darkened, blackened, but in the distance.</p>
-
-<p>“There is a storm somewhere over our
-northern hills!” exclaimed the prior, who had
-been up on the battlements. “The clouds
-hang black and low over Dovedale.”</p>
-
-<p>“It seemeth such a day as heralded the
-great storm three years ago,” cried Lady
-Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a
-flash was that!”</p>
-
-<p>The younger ladies gathered together in
-shrinking groups, as if the fears of the matron
-were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her
-word, and scorned to show timidity, whatever
-she might feel, as the mutterings of thunder
-rumbled over the hall.</p>
-
-<p>It was high noon, but the sky was darkening
-overhead. The horn at the great gates
-was blown. A messenger in hot haste had
-come spurring from the ford and up the hill,
-glad to save himself a drenching, for the great
-drops were pattering on the leaves and leads
-like hail.</p>
-
-<p>He had come at full speed from Oxford.
-King Henry had ratified the great charter of
-English liberty. His master, the earl, and his
-friends would be home ere nightfall. The
-bridal must be upon the morrow. He had,
-moreover, private messages and tokens for
-the ladies, Idonea and Avice, from their coming
-bridegrooms.</p>
-
-<p>The messages were not for general ears;
-the love-tokens were a couple of golden crosses
-richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
-clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to
-Idonea, five pearls in Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.</p>
-
-<p>They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took
-hers shrinkingly. “They seem like crosses
-set with tears and drops of blood,” she
-whispered, with white lips, to Idonea, who
-started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they are
-precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected
-by her sister’s superstitious dread.</p>
-
-<p>In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied
-that he “thought the Trent was rising.
-It was higher than when his lord had left
-Swarkstone.”</p>
-
-<p>It had been still lower at sunrise that day.</p>
-
-<p>Two hours later Friar John blew the horn
-at the gate. He and his mule were pitiably
-drenched.</p>
-
-<p>The Dove was swollen when he crossed
-the bridge near Egginton, he said, though the
-downpour did not come until he had left it
-five miles behind.</p>
-
-<p>“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a
-flood as swept Swark’s Stone away three
-summers back. The passage of the ford
-would be perilous to my lord now that is
-gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her
-hands, and it might seem with reason, for
-now the floodgates of the skies were loosed,
-and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.</p>
-
-<p>“Storms and travellers are in Almighty
-hands, good dame,” said Prior John, soberly.
-“Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all
-to Him.”</p>
-
-<p>Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and
-dames, were already on their knees in prayer,
-their hearts beating wildly.</p>
-
-<p>William Harpur, pacing up and down,
-glanced through the dim glass windows on
-the scene without, and then from one to
-other of the shuddering women within.</p>
-
-<p>“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a
-slight curl of lip, “it will be a sorry welcome
-for my noble kinsman and his friends when
-they come in, wet and weary, if no board be
-spread, no dry garments ready for their use.”</p>
-
-<p>The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.</p>
-
-<p>“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall
-not find us unprepared. Maidens, attend
-me.” And she swept from the tapestried
-reception-room, followed by her daughters
-and the noble maids who did probationary
-service under her, and soon her silver whistle
-might be heard, as one or other did her
-bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and
-bustle—and covert fear.</p>
-
-<p>The hours sped. The storm seemed to
-abate. The board was spread. The time for
-the evening meal came and went.</p>
-
-<p>There were no arrivals. There were
-whisperings among hungry guests, for time
-was flying.</p>
-
-<p>Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor
-impatiently, biting his nails and cogitating.</p>
-
-<p>The dark came down—the double dark of
-storm and evening. The great time-candle
-in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters
-down, and the hours.</p>
-
-<p>Villagers came scurrying to the hall in
-dismay. The meads were under water. Their
-fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream,
-with many a tree and bush from parts beyond
-in the west.</p>
-
-<p>The lovely sisters had busked themselves
-afresh to receive their lovers; dark tresses and
-fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
-bosom shone her token cross of gold.</p>
-
-<p>But as the hours and minutes flew, dress
-was disregarded, their lips quivered with
-anxiety.</p>
-
-<p>At length Avice whispered to her mother,
-“Had we not best set a cresset burning on
-the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to
-light the passage of the ford?”</p>
-
-<p>“I have already given orders, child; I feared
-to speak my alarm to you.”</p>
-
-<p>But even torches will not keep alight in rain
-and hurricane. The men, headed by Will
-Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and
-discomfited.</p>
-
-<p>“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,”
-said he; “we cannot keep a torch alight. But
-do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt,
-the storm will have kept our friends at Ashby,
-or, at least, have driven them back. They
-would never be so mad as to attempt the
-passage of the ford.” Then, aside to the prior
-he added, “The land is covered for more
-than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly
-water runs like a torrent, bearing bushes, beams,
-and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They must
-have gone back.”</p>
-
-<p>Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud
-of hoofs heard advancing up the hill.</p>
-
-<p>There was the strong black charger of Earl
-Bellamont, and close behind came the bay
-mare of Sir Gilbert.</p>
-
-<p>They were both riderless!</p>
-
-<p>A moment of speechless horror, then
-shrieks and wailing filled the air.</p>
-
-<p>Mid the sobbing and lamentations of
-women, and the clamour of men, fresh torches
-were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and
-affixed to poles. Then, with the prior and
-Will Harpur at their head, all the men about
-the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’
-crooks, and aught that might save a
-drowning man.</p>
-
-<p>Alas! it was all too late.</p>
-
-<p>Their bravest and best beloved were gone
-for aye.</p>
-
-<p>Too rashly impatient, and trusting the
-leadership of impetuous Earl Bellamont, Sir
-Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the
-remonstrances of more cautious companions,
-and dashed across the waste of waters, so low
-at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.</p>
-
-<p>Alas! some floating bush may have misled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">{140}</span>
-the old man, for all at once they seemed to be
-carried down stream and disappear, as if they
-had missed the ford, or the current had been
-too strong for men weighted with armour.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind
-him, and the scion of another noble house was
-lost.</p>
-
-<p>Their esquires, following behind, had been
-impotent to save, and only by turning sharply
-round and fighting with the rising waters did
-they manage to preserve their own lives.</p>
-
-<p>Day by day as the thick waters subsided did
-the search continue along the devastated banks
-until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
-of water into the Trent, barred further
-passage, and made the quest hopeless.</p>
-
-<p>A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken
-lance and pennon, a battered casque, a saddle-bow,
-were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
-page.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Bellamont was borne down by the
-shock. Avice drooped like a broken lily;
-only Idonea seemed capable of thought or
-action.</p>
-
-<p>The subsidence of the flood brought spurring
-in the more prudent party to comfort their own
-wives and daughters, along with the downcast
-esquires to tell the needless tale.</p>
-
-<p>There was no consoling Lady Bellamont.
-She seemed to take the triple loss to her own
-heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as
-for herself.</p>
-
-<p>In vain the prior offered such consolation as
-his faith afforded. She sat like a stone, rigid
-and immovable; would take no sustenance
-whatever.</p>
-
-<p>The tears shed over her by Idonea and
-Avice seemed to petrify as they fell rather
-than melt. Their affliction but intensified her
-own.</p>
-
-<p>“If they had died in battle as brave men
-should, we might have borne it bravely,” she
-said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold,
-cruel, treacherous waters in the height of joy
-and hope, almost within hail of home, it is
-too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be
-resigned. And for my crushed roses—orphaned,
-widowed, ere they became wives—it is too
-much; I cannot survive it.”</p>
-
-<p>And before that month was out the twin-sisters
-were left to weep out their tears in each
-other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
-they might, with only the good prior to watch
-and guard them in their orphanhood, and lead
-them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees
-of heaven.</p>
-
-<p>There was William Harpur willing to do the
-co-heiresses suit and service, and leave his
-own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
-his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the
-hall, but neither the prior nor the sisters cared
-for his interference, and when the old retainers,
-with the seneschal at their head, came in a
-body at the prior’s summons to swear fealty to
-the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea accepted
-their homage for herself and her sweet sister,
-as one born to command, he turned away to
-bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted the
-hall before the sun went down.</p>
-
-<p>But though Idonea could order the household,
-and the seneschal could keep the retainers
-in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins
-and lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping
-Avice, or remove the more rebellious
-sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and
-in the eyes of Idonea.</p>
-
-<p>“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve
-of his departure, “duty calls me away to my
-own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove
-three years agone, after the great hurricane,
-has, Friar Paul brings word, been shaken
-sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The
-safety of many lives depends on its stability.
-Yet I would fain see you more submissive to
-the divine will ere I depart. Think how many
-sufferers there have been by the same calamity—how
-many a hearth has been laid bare, how
-many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has
-swept away. Abandon not your hours to
-selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see how
-the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour,
-by good and charitable deeds, to win
-the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
-the crosses that ye wear, and think of His
-wounds and His tears, and remember that
-His blood and His tears were shed for others,
-not for self.”</p>
-
-<p>Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he
-began; they drooped as low as those of Avice
-ere he ended.</p>
-
-<p>“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just.
-We have thought the world was our own—in
-joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth.
-We ask your blessing ere you go.”</p>
-
-<p>The benediction was spoken, and on the
-morrow he was gone.</p>
-
-<p>They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds,
-and saw what sorrow meant for the
-very poor and for the class above them.
-Tottering huts, bare fields, where the only
-crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
-weeping over naked and famishing babes;
-churls looking hopeless on desolation, or seeking
-wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden.
-And wherever they went they left hope behind,
-as well as coin, or food, or raiment from
-the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy
-with sullen thanklessness. They were
-little better than serfs, and were more inclined
-to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful
-to the willing bestowers.</p>
-
-<p>Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil
-the peasantry with their frequent alms; and
-even the prior when he came suggested
-moderation in doles, which destroyed honest
-independence and fostered beggary.</p>
-
-<p>But the sisters had found ease in helping
-others, and ere long sought the prior’s advice
-over a project to serve the people for generations
-yet unborn.</p>
-
-<p>They had discovered that sorrow and
-calamity come to the poor as to the rich, and
-they proposed to preserve others from losses
-and heartaches such as theirs.</p>
-
-<p>There was a general lamentation that
-Swark’s Stone was gone and the ford less
-readily found.</p>
-
-<p>“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a
-bridge over the Trent like the Monks’ Bridge
-over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not
-mourning maidens. Let us up and build one.
-If we cannot restore our dead, we may preserve
-life for the living.”</p>
-
-<p>“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We
-may so make our sorrow a joy to thousands.”</p>
-
-<p>The prior hailed their project as a divine
-inspiration, hardly conscious he had struck the
-keynote. They were rich. They would hear
-nought of suitors. What better could they
-do with their wealth?</p>
-
-<p>He drew plans, he found them masons.
-Stone was not far to seek for quarrying; but,
-to be of service, the bridge must cover broad
-lands as well as common current.</p>
-
-<p>“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William
-Harpur. “The cost will be enormous. It
-will swallow up your whole possessions! You
-must be mad; and the prior is worse to
-sanction such a sacrifice.”</p>
-
-<p>“The sacrifice was made when the river
-robbed us of our dearest treasures. We must
-save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
-Avice, now as bold as her sister.</p>
-
-<p>The work began and went on steadily.
-Honest labour was paid for, and churls, who
-had lived half on doles and housed like dogs,
-were paid a penny<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> a day or a peck of meal,
-and took heart to work with a will. There
-were always loose stones and wood about,
-and no one said nay when they began to
-repair and improve their own dwellings. And
-so industry came to Swarkstone with the
-building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
-to smile upon the undertaking, for never a
-disaster occurred to mar it.</p>
-
-<p>But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the
-cost was enormous. It was the work of years.
-Woods were cut down to supply timber for
-scaffolding; then lands were mortgaged or
-sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
-buyer? But still the work proceeded.</p>
-
-<p>“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod
-will gladly pay a small toll for the
-privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
-possessions, the old hall, passed into their
-cousin’s hands, and they took refuge in a
-small house in a bye-way, which goes by the
-name of “No Man’s-Lane” to this day.</p>
-
-<p>It was a glad day for travellers on horse or
-foot when Swarkstone Bridge, of twenty-nine
-arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
-which spanned the Trent and its low meads for
-three-quarters of a mile, and the good Ladies
-Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
-those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod
-at all seasons to be grateful for the inestimable
-boon.</p>
-
-<p>They had no charter to exact a toll to repay
-the moneys they had expended; but there
-was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel
-erected and dedicated to St. James, in which
-it was fondly hoped the users of the bridge
-would pause to thank God and drop their
-small thank-offerings in a box set there to
-receive them.</p>
-
-<p>At first, when they began to build, people
-about called the sisters “the twin angels;”
-but by the time the bridge was built it had
-ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a
-matter of course; but the thank-offerings
-grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to
-remember the danger and discomfort of the
-passage by the ford.</p>
-
-<p>They had impoverished themselves for the
-security of strangers. The offerings of gratitude
-would not keep life in the good sisters.
-They began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice
-bore her lot meekly. Not so Idonea, into
-whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating
-like a canker. But Avice said gently, “If we
-gave our wealth to build a bridge expecting a
-return, what answer can we make to our Lord
-when we go to Him? Let us be content that
-our individual losses will be the gain of thousands
-after us.” And that put an end to
-Idonea’s rebellion.</p>
-
-<p>At length the aged prior, who had built
-Monks’ Bridge between the counties of Stafford
-and Derby for a people as ungrateful,
-stirred up William Harpur to remember the
-poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
-flourishing, and he offered them a home at
-Ticknall.</p>
-
-<p>The offer came too late to save them. The
-Ladies Bellamont died as they had lived,
-together, and were buried with their two symbolic
-crosses on their breasts. And then,
-thanks chiefly to the prior, who reverenced
-them, a marble monument could be erected
-to their memories with their sleeping effigies
-upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
-the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have
-added, “They built unseen another bridge
-over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from
-earth to heaven.”</p>
-
-<p class="center">THE END.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">{141}</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<h3><span class="smcap">Sketch II.—Opera (Secular Musical Drama).</span></h3>
-
-<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By MYLES B. FOSTER</span>, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.</p>
-
-<div class="ddropcapbox illowe10_9375" id="i_page_141">
-<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_141.jpg" alt='A' /></div>
-
-<p><span class="uppercase">lthough</span> it is stated
-that the ancient
-Greeks intoned
-their tragedies, and
-introduced, besides,
-some form of melody
-(μέλος), the
-whole question of
-the existence of
-opera at that period
-of artistic prosperity,
-when all forms of learning were
-so powerfully nourished, is a matter for
-speculation. Their authors certainly give
-us wonderful accounts of the great effects
-that this music had, and state that it
-formed an essential part of their drama,
-but beyond these records, in all probability
-much exaggerated, we have no data.
-Opera we must assume to be a comparatively
-recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
-century, composers had written all their
-finest work for the Church, and had, very
-rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise
-and worship of the Giver of all musical ideas
-and beauties.</p>
-
-<p>Even that which was known as secular
-music, and was intended for social occasions,
-was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the
-very folksongs had their freshness rubbed off
-by contrapuntal developments to which they
-were not suited, and were dragged in their
-new and ill-fitting costume into the masses
-and motetts of the day. The Church possessed
-most of the art and learning of the age, and,
-with that, a corresponding power over the
-ignorant people. Thus music had been, so
-far, choral music; all the secular forms,
-villanellas, glees, madrigals, and lieder, being
-in from three to six parts and more. The
-expressive solo form (<i>monodia</i>), whether
-<i>recitativo</i> or <i>arioso</i>, was as yet unknown. As
-the people attained more knowledge, and
-with it more freedom, secular music gradually
-separated itself from the restraints of the
-Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom
-at length degenerated into licence.</p>
-
-<p>At the end of the great Renaissance period,
-when, after Suliman had taken Constantinople,
-the great scholars there fled before the conquering
-Turks into Italy and other new
-homes, an impetus was given to the study of
-Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the
-Greek drama in all its original beauty and
-perfection was the ambition of many an
-Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini,
-the singer Caccini, Galilei, the father of
-the astronomer, and, at a rather later date,
-Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which
-they not only agreed that the existing musical
-forms were inadequate for a true musical
-drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose
-pieces for one voice on what they imagined
-to be the Greek model.</p>
-
-<p>Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers
-known to have tried to set music to
-the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
-(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”)
-supplied the words. His first efforts were
-“Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,”
-and they were performed in Florence in 1590,
-the poems being set to music throughout.</p>
-
-<p>Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in
-which <i>aria parlante</i>, a kind of recitation
-in strict time, first appears. It is well described
-by Ritter, in his “History of Music,”
-as “something between well-formed melody
-and speech.” It appears to have pleased the
-Greek revivalists immensely, and they quite
-believed it to be the discovery of the lost art.
-Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600,
-on the occasion of the marriage of Henry IV.
-of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his
-work we have a primitive version of all our
-operatic forms.</p>
-
-<p>Composers now occasionally used the <i>arioso</i>
-style; but their Greek beliefs prevented them
-from introducing a good broad melody form.
-The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for
-example, were choruses and declamatory recitatives.
-The orchestra was hidden behind the
-scenes, the only purely orchestral piece being
-a little prelude (called “Zinfonia”) for three
-flutes.</p>
-
-<p>With such material and upon so simple a
-basis was opera formed—an art construction
-which, in its more modern garb, has played a
-very important part in the history of European
-society.</p>
-
-<p>Of really great composers who advanced
-this <i>drama per musica</i>, one of the earliest and
-most important was Claudio Monteverde. He
-imbued it with his musicianship and originality,
-employing particular effects for each
-scene and for each character, his object being
-to unite the varying sentiment of the poem
-with his music. In his operas, the first of
-which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped
-forms of accompaniment, giving singers greater
-freedom in dramatic action, followed such
-reforms as a better use of rhythm and more
-truthful illustration of sentiments, whilst an
-increased orchestral force was added to other
-means of expression.</p>
-
-<p>The Italian Church writers began to compose
-operas, and in the seventeenth century
-we find the recitation form receiving new
-vigour and truthfulness of detail at the
-hands of, amongst others, Cavalli (whose real
-name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro
-Scarlatti, Carissimi’s greatest pupil.
-Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is supposed
-to have invented the short interludes
-for instruments between the vocal phrases,
-and he certainly introduced the first complete
-form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,”
-which, however, with its tiresomely exact
-repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
-anything but dramatic. About his time
-<i>recitativo</i>, as we know it, was separated
-from the <i>aria parlante</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his
-Neapolitan school, amongst whom were
-Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and
-others, and with them we reach a period
-during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.</p>
-
-<p>Composers had broken away from the
-ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the chorus
-had become of no importance, but, instead,
-the new aria, which might have taken an
-advantageous position as a means for occasional
-soliloquy and meditation, without interference
-with the dramatic story, now usurped
-the place of the latter altogether, and an opera
-meant nothing more than a string of arias in
-set form, an excuse for showing off the best
-voices to the greatest advantage, the most
-successful work being that one which pandered
-most to the vanity of the singers, who altered
-and embellished the melodies of their mechanical
-slave, the composer.</p>
-
-<p>Dramatic significance was fast disappearing,
-and a reformer was sadly needed, and that
-reformer appeared early in the eighteenth
-century in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian,
-who, after studying in Italy and writing
-several operas after the traditional Italian
-models, settled in Vienna, and there worked
-out his great ideas of regeneration and reform.</p>
-
-<p>His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a
-great sensation, and in Alceste (1766) we
-find him, to quote his own preface to it,
-“avoiding the abuses which have been introduced
-through the mistaken vanity of singers
-and the excessive complaisance of composers,
-and which, from the most splendid and
-beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
-the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous
-of spectacles.”</p>
-
-<p>He considered that music should second
-poetry, by strengthening the expression of the
-sentiments and the interest of the situations,
-and adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided
-interrupting a singer in the warmth of
-dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious
-ritornel; or stopping him during one of his
-sentences to display the agility of his voice in
-a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases
-the importance of the introduction or overture,
-making it foreshadow the nature of the coming
-drama.</p>
-
-<p>Composers were either too hardened or too
-cowardly to at once follow and imitate his
-excellent reforms, and great disputings and
-much rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by
-the singers and the old school headed by
-Piccini.</p>
-
-<p>We will leave this <i>opera seria</i> for a moment,
-restored to its high position in art, and glance
-at a lighter form, the <i>opera buffa</i>, or comic
-opera, which may be traced to the little
-<i>entr’actes</i>, or <i>intermezzi</i>, given as a sort of
-relaxation between the acts of plays, as early
-as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals,
-or favourite instrumental solos, were used for
-this purpose; later on, when operatic forms
-appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which
-the chief idea was to raise a laugh, very often
-at the expense of good taste. Scarlatti’s
-pupils developed these <i>intermezzi</i>, and gave
-them such artistic importance that they grew
-to be rivals to the grand opera, and eventually
-held their own position as <i>opera buffa</i>.
-Pergolesi was most successful in this style,
-and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
-earliest specimens, was a great favourite.
-The accompaniment was for string quartett
-only, and there were but two <i>dramatis personæ</i>.
-His fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote
-several comic operas, and further on, Nicolo
-Piccini, whom we have just left opposing
-Gluck in Paris, made many advances in <i>opera
-buffa</i>, giving greater contrasts and more
-elaborate and effective <i>finales</i> than his forerunners.
-In fact, he was stronger in this sort
-of composition than in <i>opera seria</i>, to which
-latter we now return.</p>
-
-<p>We find at the end of the eighteenth century
-the brilliant and successful works of Paisiello, a
-rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the same
-period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini,
-and others wrote operas.</p>
-
-<p>The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting
-all old traditions, good and bad, at
-the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the
-Italian composers to see that more was
-required than they had ever given, to make
-opera what it should be, and they were compelled
-to acknowledge that, after Gluck’s
-reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
-Mozart’s influence and his noble examples,
-they must take up higher ground if they
-would succeed in other than the Italian cities.</p>
-
-<p>They composed, therefore, in a more serious
-manner for Paris or Vienna, and the Italian
-opera gained a fresh importance by the slight<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">{142}</span>
-reforms thus adopted, and through the successful
-power of Rossini it again held sway in
-the principal European courts.</p>
-
-<p>Rossini made a great many melodies and
-much pecuniary profit, and finding the singers
-ready to return to those abuses against which
-Gluck had protested so strongly, rather than
-permit them to play tricks with his music and
-embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
-embroideries so fulsome himself that there
-was nothing left which they could add!</p>
-
-<p>In the present century Mercadante, Bellini,
-and Donizetti followed in his train; following
-them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
-whose later works are very fine, being a happy
-combination of immense dramatic insight with
-effective situations and great melodic charm.
-We find in Boito the most decided attempt to
-unite Italian traditions and the latest German
-development. Thus much for the land in
-which opera was born.</p>
-
-<p>Opera soon spread, and travelled to the
-various European courts, and became there
-the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons.
-Such prestige did it carry with it, that to be
-successful in England or Germany, a composer
-had to write in the Italian style.</p>
-
-<p>France, whilst building upon the Italian
-foundation, created an opera in many ways
-differing from that form. Real French opera
-was first written by Lulli at the end of the
-seventeenth century. He will be ever remembered
-as the inventor of the overture, which replaced
-the small introduction of the Italians.
-Another thing he did which was new: he
-brought into his scheme the dance or ballet;
-and a third point was, that in his operas the
-chorus played a most important part.</p>
-
-<p>Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly
-developing all these resources.</p>
-
-<p>When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the
-supporters of Italian opera backed by such
-essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm,
-and named the “Bouffonists,” opposing the
-“Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
-and Rameau. Also there were Philidor,
-Gretry, and others trying to combine the new
-and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance
-of melody, adapted his own reforms
-already referred to, gave the overture its
-true connection with the poem, and, as it
-were, out-Rameaued Rameau. With all his
-works produced in Paris he made great successes,
-notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s
-powerful opposition.</p>
-
-<p>We will again leave Gluck elevating, for
-this time, the French stage also, and glance at
-<i>opera comique</i>, a term used in France as early
-as 1712.</p>
-
-<p>I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian
-<i>intermezzo</i> was the <i>vaudeville</i>. Claude Gilliers
-appears to have written many about this
-period.</p>
-
-<p>In the latter half of the century Dauvergne
-composed “Les Troqueurs,” in imitation of
-the Italian <i>intermezzi</i>, and in this work the
-dialogue, which in <i>opera buffa</i> would have
-been sung, was spoken, a custom still adopted
-in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful chess-player),
-and Monsigny wrote many <i>operas
-comiques</i>. Gretry also appeared at this time
-as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
-Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed
-by D’Allayrac.</p>
-
-<p>To return to grand opera, the man most influenced
-by Gluck and his advances was
-Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune
-Henri” are well known, and who possessed
-undoubted talent. In the present century I
-may mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and
-Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de Bagdad” and
-“La Dame Blanche,” and other works having
-been received at the time with enormous
-enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<p>Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini
-and Spontini, wrote much in the style and
-under the influence of the French opera. We
-all know and like Cherubini’s “Les Deux
-Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”</p>
-
-<p>Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who
-embodied in his operas the life and spirit of
-the Empire under the First Napoleon.”</p>
-
-<p>Coming into this century, we notice, as important
-French opera composers, Hérold, of
-“Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and
-Auber, who studied under Cherubini, and
-composed more comic operas than anything
-else, and whose work always contains light
-elegant melody and brilliant orchestration.
-Halévy has earned a good name by such
-operas as “La Juive” and “La Reine de
-Chypre.”</p>
-
-<p>An exceptionally great man was Hector
-Berlioz, who strove in new paths, and in the
-face of great opposition, to base his efforts
-upon the study of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.</p>
-
-<p>Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote
-as much for French opera as for any other.
-He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat,
-and every turn brought golden success.
-He became the greatest of French opera
-writers; but, in addition, he wrote German
-opera for Germans, Italian for Italians, and
-ensured by this system of “all things to all
-men” the applause which he so highly
-coveted.</p>
-
-<p>To conclude our French list, there is a composer,
-whose “Faust” will live long; I allude
-to Charles Gounod, who has written many
-other operas containing great dramatic beauty,
-richness of orchestration, and grace of melody.
-Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen”
-has been so popular, Massenet, and Ambroise
-Thomas.</p>
-
-<p>In England there is but little history to give
-you.</p>
-
-<p>English music and drama were first connected
-in a primitive way in the early miracle-plays
-and mysteries performed at Chester and
-Coventry and in other towns.</p>
-
-<p>Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions
-for musical interludes, and introduces
-songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
-You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A
-Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the first
-half of the seventeenth century William
-Lawes, and Henry, his brother, wrote music
-to the masques, in which poetry, music,
-scenery, and mechanical accessories were combined,
-producing a decided advance in the
-direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding
-the patriotic championship of budding English
-opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel Royal,
-and notwithstanding the existence of the great
-school of madrigal writers, they were never
-encouraged to attempt dramatic work, as the
-nobility already demanded Italian opera and
-Italian composers and singers. During the
-civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
-the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and
-even from 1660 they were only opened for five
-years with an occasional performance of a
-masque by Sir William Davenant, the then
-poet laureate, set to music by Locke, in one
-of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find
-the recitative style used, and spoken of as new
-to England, although well known on the Continent.</p>
-
-<p>After those five years came the Plague, and
-following it the Great Fire, so that it was not
-until nearer the end of the century that a fair
-start was made in opera, and that the powerful
-and masterly works of Henry Purcell saw the
-light. His genius was undoubtedly superior
-to that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy,
-and he became a power, not in England only,
-but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should
-have died so young! The form of opera
-settled by him and his followers was similar
-to the French and German, in that whilst the
-important parts would be sung, the subordinate
-dialogue was spoken, and there was
-no accompanied recitative, excepting in some
-of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr. Arne’s operas. Arne’s
-“Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, <i>à l’Italienne</i>,
-set entirely in recitative form.</p>
-
-<p>But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr.
-Arnold, William Jackson (of Exeter), Shield,
-Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and
-many others adhered to the spoken dialogue.
-It should be quite understood that their music,
-when it occurred, formed an integral portion
-of the whole work, and, therefore, differed
-from interpolated pieces, which could be withdrawn
-without breaking a sequence.</p>
-
-<p>In 1834 John Barnett produced his
-“Mountain Sylph,” the first important
-English opera in the strictly modern style of
-that age, and one which introduced the
-school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and
-Macfarren. Italian influence was evident, and
-has only lately been supplanted by the power
-of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy
-instances, by the graceful delicacy of the
-French school. But the time for English
-opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers
-into which other schools have fallen; we have
-seen their heroes extricate them from those
-dangers; we have learnt what reforms are
-needful; the generous support and encouragement
-which has assisted the Italian, French,
-and German schools should now place all
-mercenary consideration on one side, and
-extend itself freely to those native artists who,
-in a spirit of true patriotism, are striving for
-the reputation and artistic honour of our
-country.</p>
-
-<p>To Handel we owe the final settlement of
-Italian opera in London, for which end he
-composed over forty operas, none of which
-are remembered, but from whose pages the
-good numbers were extracted and transferred
-to his oratorios!</p>
-
-<p>Comic opera, originating in Italy and
-developing in France, had, and still has, some
-footing in England. A very successful
-specimen was “The Beggar’s Opera,” performed
-in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s
-Inn, with a libretto by Gay. So enormous
-was its success, that people said, “It made
-Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and
-following successes arose the ballad opera, a
-form of comic opera taken up by the best
-composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley,
-words by Sheridan (Linley’s son-in-law), may
-be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally
-the wealth of England has been able to
-procure and import the finest foreign works
-and artists, and its riches have assisted in
-impoverishing what little native art we
-possessed.</p>
-
-<p>For the last part of my sketch I have
-reserved German opera.</p>
-
-<p>Although Italian opera soon worked its way
-into Germany, in fact, as early as the year
-1627, when we reach the end of our story, we
-shall find the Germans in possession of the
-most advanced form of modern drama.</p>
-
-<p>Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music.
-It was Rinuccini’s “Daphne,” already set
-by Peri in Florence.</p>
-
-<p>Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned
-supreme until the time of Gluck, with such
-exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser
-and Handel, which contained German characteristics,
-and also the attempts on the part
-of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine
-Italian and German qualities.</p>
-
-<p>With Gluck came the great reforms in
-Vienna, as elsewhere, and there, too, party
-feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed
-by Hasse and his party. In Ritter’s admirable
-“History of Music,” already largely
-quoted from, whilst blaming the German
-princes for obtaining Italian operas at extravagant
-cost, he asks us to remember that these
-same princes “prepared the road, however
-unconsciously, for a Gluck, a Haydn, and a
-Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts
-were rooted in the Italian school of music.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">{143}</span></p>
-
-<p>Germany all this time had no national
-opera, the Hamburg attempt failing for want
-of encouragement.</p>
-
-<p>As we have previously done in dealing with
-the other countries, so now we will glance at
-the lighter form of opera for a moment.</p>
-
-<p>The German <i>operette</i>, or <i>singspiel</i>, was
-brought into notice by Johann Adam Hiller
-about the middle of the eighteenth century.
-He produced numbers of these, full of charming
-original melodies, and with spoken dialogue,
-as in <i>opera comique</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Amongst several writers of these light
-works we may number Schweitzer, André,
-and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in
-which dialogue is spoken during an undercurrent
-of expressive and illustrative music. There
-is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing,
-at the end of the seventeenth century, a
-sort of <i>vaudeville</i> known as the “Liederspiel.”</p>
-
-<p>Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf
-and Haydn, and, in Southern Germany,
-Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.</p>
-
-<p>These small operas at first rather imitated
-the French school; but at the time of the
-above composers the national life and sentiment,
-in however insignificant a manner, had
-crept in, and the germ of a national type
-existed.</p>
-
-<p>At such a critical moment came the great
-genius who was to develop the elements of
-both serious and comic opera, and raise them
-to a lofty pedestal, and that genius was
-Mozart.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he
-gave to them new life and meaning, and his
-illustration of each character, together with
-his masterly <i>ensembles</i> and <i>finales</i>, in
-which, whilst each singer maintains his
-individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent,
-will ever abide as marvellous examples of
-dramatic scholarship and musical beauty.
-Besides understanding exactly what the human
-voice was capable of doing, he raised the
-orchestral accompaniment to a very high
-position.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst Gluck <i>attacked</i> Italian opera, Mozart
-<i>moulded</i> it in such a fashion that the old
-stiff traditions were no longer possible in
-Germany.</p>
-
-<p>At the commencement of this century, I
-must add to the list such names as Winter,
-Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and,
-last and greatest, Beethoven, whose one
-opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure
-nobility as long as music endures.</p>
-
-<p>The romantic school of poetry now finding
-its way into Germany, was soon aided by
-appropriate musical settings by Spohr,
-Marschner, and Weber—the greatest of them
-all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
-finest, the most popular, and the most
-thoroughly German.</p>
-
-<p>Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,”
-and Mendelssohn, ever searching for a
-libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s
-“Loreley,” but death came before he could
-finish it.</p>
-
-<p>Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes
-German in work, we have already noticed
-in connection with his French operas.</p>
-
-<p>Richard Wagner, by his theories and his
-great compositions, has caused opera once
-more to become the field for dispute, research,
-and speculative thought.</p>
-
-<p>He maintains, to put it briefly, that the
-real character and meaning of opera has been
-all this time misunderstood. He carries into
-practice what Gluck preached, viz., that music
-should second poetry, in order to be in its
-proper place. He says, “The error of the
-operatic art-form consists in the fact that
-music, which is really only a means of
-expression, is turned into an aim; while the
-real aim of expression, viz., the drama, is
-made a mere means.”</p>
-
-<p>It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to
-the free action of drama was the concert aria,
-so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
-recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works
-dramas, not operas. His orchestra illustrates
-the emotions and thoughts of each character,
-and the peculiar timbre of each instrument
-supplies the individuality of the person represented—a
-practice suggested first by Monteverde;
-and he further binds together the
-various episodes and scenes in the story, by
-using short <i>motovos</i> or phrases which shall
-recall to the audience previous situations and
-events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
-others. Wagner very happily combines in himself
-the poet and musician. He rightly claims
-that his music should not be heard apart from
-its companions of equal value—the poem, the
-scenery, and the action. He has met with as
-much opposition as did Gluck, but the time
-has come when his works receive due recognition,
-and an appreciation increasing
-yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study
-of them.</p>
-
-<p>However excessive we may feel the
-reformer’s zeal to have been, these masterly
-art-forms supply wholesome food for
-meditation, and numberless suggestions for
-action, to every earnest and unbigoted
-student of this and coming generations.</p>
-
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<h3>MISCELLANEOUS.</h3>
-
-<div class="blockquot_ans">
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Josephine.</span>—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red
-nose, spots, bad digestion, bad breath, etc. A
-fine woman with a handsome figure (say five feet five
-inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches
-round the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of
-course, a very small or very thin girl would naturally
-measure less. You know which description applies
-to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a
-tobacco-pipe, and bulging out above and below like
-a bloated-looking spider, may solace herself with the
-assurance that her liver is cut in half, and that she
-would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to
-descant upon. We advise her to bequeath her
-remains to some hospital for the benefit of science
-and the warning of others.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Seagull.</span>—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on
-our coast-line; that at Holyhead is higher, and
-measures 719 feet, while the former is only 564 above
-the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is
-678 feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St.
-Catherine’s Cliff, on the south coast of the Isle of
-Wight, is higher than all those before-named, and
-rises to 830 feet.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Prudence Prim.</span>—Do you know a small illustrated
-book called “The Flowers of the Field”? Perhaps
-that would suit you; published by the Society for
-Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain
-time, letters waiting till called for at a foreign post-office
-are opened and directed back to the respective
-writers. Your writing is too careless; some letters
-well formed, others very nondescript.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Pat Ogal.</span>—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white
-kid gloves to a cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain
-about the dress, do. For gloves you pay 2d. a
-pair.</p>
-
-<p>S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line
-upon Line,” and another called “The Peep of Day,”
-which are very suitable for children of such tender
-years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
-“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Bertha.</span>—Have you never heard of a little appliance
-called a needle-threader? You would find it most
-useful, and could procure one at a fancy-work
-shop.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Joan R.</span>—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be
-polite to everyone else—busy for them even in the
-smallest attentions. You will have no time for brooding
-over your nervousness when you are married, so
-there is probably “a good time coming” for you.
-Try to prepare for it by studying nursing, cookery,
-patching and darning, etc.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">An Anxious One</span> will find her question many times
-answered if she takes the trouble to look through our
-correspondence columns under “Miscellaneous.”</p>
-
-<p>E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew
-them neatly at the seams, they would be of use in a
-hospital for female patients in winter. We may
-suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222, Marylebone-road,
-N.W., of which we have given an illustrated
-account. Any contributions in half-worn
-clothing (or new articles) of use for wear would be
-gratefully received there, books included.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Lover of the Sea.</span>—1. The hair darkens as years roll
-on, and the change begins to take place at three
-years old, if not before. In middle life it is very
-many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does
-not say that “it is never too late to repent.” We
-are always told “to-day is the accepted time; to-day
-is the day of salvation ... now, while it is called
-to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow.
-If you put off making your peace with God, He may
-not bestow on you the grace of repentance and the
-desire to turn to Him.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Jerry.</span>—Your verses are very freely written, and give
-a good deal of promise, though some little errors
-need correction. Part of the small illustration with
-pen and ink gives hope of better things to come, and
-both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
-whether the verses can be inserted in the
-G. O. P. You did not have them certified, which
-is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur contributions.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">A Country Member of the G. F. S.</span>—You appear
-to be in a very sad state of health, and to need
-change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when suffering
-from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter
-should be prescribed by a doctor.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Alberta Roxley.</span>—1. You do not give a sufficiently
-explicit description of the “Hymn to Music” for us
-to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide, Wide
-World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so
-crazy about sequels? There are very few written,
-and a good thing too; a new story is better than an
-old dish warmed up.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Little Puss</span> should ask her mother or governess for
-suitable books to read. Some on natural history
-would be interesting, as well as necessary for her to
-study.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">One Anxious to Know.</span>—Should a husband die intestate,
-but leave a wife and a sister, half goes to the
-wife and the other half to his sister, or his brother,
-as the case may be. If the man had had children,
-the wife would only have had a third instead of
-half.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Wee Willy Wankie.</span>—1. It depends on the age and
-size of your boy companion. The less little girls of
-fifteen walk in the London streets (the squares and
-certain residential quarters excepted) the better, if
-without a lady companion much older than themselves,
-or a maid. 2. What a ridiculous question your second
-is! “At what age should a girl become engaged?”
-There is no “should” about the matter, and there
-is no special age either. Any age after twenty-one,
-up to seventy, provided the right man proposed and
-no family duties stood in the way. All depends on
-God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you
-should never marry.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Scotch Lassie.</span>—We do not see that you were rendered
-more liable to the complaint you name on
-account of having a bad digestion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Topsy Turvey.</span>—Yes, there are luminous plants,
-which give a phosphorescent light. The root-stock
-of a jungle orchid becomes luminous when wetted;
-wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s time
-it becomes very bright. A certain member of the
-fungi family, which, if you have a damp cellar, may
-be found growing on the walls, is known to emit so
-much light as to enable you to read without other
-means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy
-red poppy and potatoes, when in process of decomposition,
-are all phosphorescent, more especially the
-latter.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Misletoe.</span>—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes,
-your first step would be to learn to draw
-and study perspective; then the colours, and how to
-produce others by blending them. So, if you have
-any original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to
-you by which you could illustrate those thoughts,
-you should study the art of metrical composition in
-all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
-always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right
-syllable. What you send us is not even good prose,
-the mere construction is all wrong, and there is no
-new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed
-are very good.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Jack.</span>—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a
-girl, we certainly advise her to wear gloves when
-rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather ones would
-be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign
-denoting a pause, only you make a straight line over
-a dot instead of a curved one with the points downwards.
-A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
-the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s
-taste and musical feeling. Were there no dot beneath
-the short curved line, it would be a “bind” or
-“tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone
-is to be struck.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">{144}</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="nobreak ph3"><span class="u"><i>“FEATHERY FLAKES,”</i></span></p>
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="center">OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,<br />
-IS NOW PUBLISHED.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp64" id="i_page_144" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_144b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144b.jpg" alt="Feathery Flakes" />
-</div>
-
-<p class="ph3 p2"><i>Feathery Flakes.</i></p>
-
-
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">What time we for a while have bidden</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Farewell to summer’s bright array,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And azure skies again are hidden</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">By grim December’s garb of grey;</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Too often shows a cheerless face,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And falling snow is fast enfolding</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">We give these pure white showers a rival</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">And namesake in our Christmas page,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Whose charm shall have less brief survival,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">And banish not with winter’s rage.</div>
-  </div>
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">At limits of our colder zone;</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">And may you, for the trust you carry,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent2">Be warmly met and widely known.</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Ruding, vol. I.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The Lombards, or <i>montes pietatis</i>, lent on gold and
-silver three-quarters of their value; on other metals
-half of their value; and on jewels according to circumstances.
-The rate of interest was determined in 1786 at
-five per cent.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Exchequer, so called because there was a building
-with a square hole in the floor, through which they
-used to drop the notes and gold on to a table beneath,
-covered with a chequered cloth.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Derwent.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had
-a different value.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p>[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.</p>
-
-<p>Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]</p>
-
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***</div>
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+      The Girls Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 361, by Various&mdash;A Project Gutenberg eBook
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+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65356 ***</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">{129}</span></p>
+
+<h1 class="faux">THE GIRL&#8217;S OWN PAPER</h1>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="header" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
+<img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="The Girl's Own Paper." />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div class="center">
+<div class="header">
+<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">Vol. VIII.—No. 361.</span></p>
+<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price One Penny.</span></p>
+<p class="floatc">NOVEMBER 27, 1886.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p class="center">[Transcriber&#8217;s Note: This Table of Contents was not present in the original.]</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+
+<a href="#THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER GIRL.</a><br />
+<a href="#MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.</a><br />
+<a href="#DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</a><br />
+<a href="#HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</a><br />
+<a href="#ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</a><br />
+
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER
+GIRL.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp59" id="i_page_129b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_129b.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">THE FLOWER GIRL.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="smalltext"><i>All rights reserved.</i>]</p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">What</span> is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the home of her earliest childhood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That for a brief hour she cannot forget,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With dewdrops all wet?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All the day long in the great crowded city—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She has been crying, still crying aloud.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She has been merry at selling so many,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Merry and proud.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now as she watches the sun that is setting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Once more she trips?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That takes her to woodlands away from the city,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Shadow her thought.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse right">A. M.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">{130}</span></p>
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="ph3">LABORARE EST ORARE.</p>
+
+<div class="ddropcapbox illowe9_375" id="i_page_130">
+<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_130.jpg" alt='M' /></div>
+
+<p><span class="uppercase">y</span> mistress (how I loved
+to call her by that
+name!) was beginning
+to give me her
+confidence. In a
+little while I grew
+quite at my ease
+with her.</p>
+
+<p>She would sit
+down sometimes and
+question me about the book
+I was reading, or, if we
+talked of the children, she
+would ask my opinion of them in a way
+that showed she respected it.</p>
+
+<p>She told me more than once that her
+husband was quite satisfied with me;
+the children thrived under my care,
+Reggie especially, for Joyce was somewhat
+frail and delicate. It gratified me
+to hear this, for a longer acquaintance
+with Mr. Morton had not lessened my
+sense of awe in his presence (I had had
+to feel the pressure of his strong will
+before I had been many weeks in his
+house, and though I had submitted to his
+enforced commands, they had cost me
+my only tears of humiliation, and yet
+all the time I knew he was perfectly
+just in his demands). The occasion was
+this.</p>
+
+<p>It was a rule that when visitors asked
+to see the children, a very frequent occurrence
+when Mrs. Morton received at
+home, that the head nurse should bring
+them into the blue drawing-room, as it
+was called. On two afternoons I had
+shirked this duty. With all my boasted
+courage, the idea of facing all those
+strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
+chose to consider myself privileged to
+infringe this part of my office. I dressed
+the children carefully, and bade Hannah
+take them to their mother. I thought
+the girl looked at me and hesitated a
+moment, but her habitual respect kept
+her silent.</p>
+
+<p>My dereliction of duty escaped notice
+on the first afternoon; Mr. Morton was
+occupied with a committee, and Mrs.
+Morton was too gentle and considerate
+to hint that my presence was desired,
+but on the second afternoon Hannah
+came up looking a little flurried.</p>
+
+<p>Master had not seemed pleased
+somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
+before the visitors, and asked where
+nurse was that she had not brought the
+children as usual, and the mistress had
+looked uncomfortable, and had beckoned
+him to her.</p>
+
+<p>I took no notice of Hannah’s speech,
+for I had a hasty tongue, and might
+have said things that I should have regretted
+afterwards, but my temper was
+decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as
+quickly as possible from her arms, and
+carried him off into the other room. I
+wanted to be alone and recover myself.</p>
+
+<p>I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s
+distress; he kept patting my cheeks
+and calling to me to kiss him, that at
+last I was obliged to leave off. I had
+met with a difficulty at last. I could
+hear the roaring of the chained lions
+behind me, but I said to myself that I
+would not be beaten; if my pride must
+suffer I should get over the unpleasantness
+in time. Why should I be afraid
+of people just because they wore silks
+and satins and were strangers to me?
+My fears were undignified and absurd;
+Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked
+my duty.</p>
+
+<p>I hoped that nothing more would be
+said about it, and I determined that the
+following Thursday I would face the
+ordeal; but I was not to escape so
+easily.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Morton came into the
+nursery that evening to bid the children
+good-night, I thought she looked a little
+preoccupied. She kissed them, and
+asked me, rather nervously, to follow her
+into the night nursery.</p>
+
+<p>“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly,
+“I hope you will not mind what I am
+going to say. My husband has asked
+me to speak to you. He seemed a little
+put out this afternoon; it did not please
+him that Hannah should take your place
+with the children.”</p>
+
+<p>“Hannah told me so when she came
+up, Mrs. Morton.”</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all my efforts to restrain
+my temper, I am afraid my voice was a
+little sullen. I had never answered her
+in such a tone before. I would obey
+Mr. Morton; I knew my own position
+well enough for that, but they should
+both see that this part of my duty was
+distasteful to me.</p>
+
+<p>To my intense surprise she took my
+hand and held it gently.</p>
+
+<p>“I was afraid you would feel it in
+this way, Merle, but I want you to look
+upon it in another point of view. You
+know that my husband forewarned you
+that your position would entail difficulties.
+Hitherto things have been quite
+smooth; now comes a duty which you
+own by your manner to be bitterly distasteful.
+I sympathise with you, but
+my husband’s wishes are sacred; he is
+very particular on this point. Do you
+think for my sake that you could yield
+in this?”</p>
+
+<p>She still held my hand, and I own that
+the foolish feeling crossed me that I was
+glad that she should know my hand was
+as soft as hers, but as she spoke to me
+in that beseeching voice all sullenness
+left me.</p>
+
+<p>“There is very little that I would not do
+for your sake, Mrs. Morton, when you
+have been so good to me. Please do
+not say another word about it. Mr.
+Morton was right; I have been utterly
+in the wrong; I feel that now. Next
+Thursday I will bring down the children
+into the drawing-room.”</p>
+
+<p>She thanked me so warmly that she
+made me feel still more ashamed of
+myself; it seemed such a wonderful
+thing that my mistress should stoop to
+entreat where she could by right command,
+but she was very tolerant of a
+girl’s waywardness. She did not leave
+me even then, but changed the subject.
+She sat down and talked to me for a few
+minutes about myself and Aunt Agatha.
+I had not been home yet, and she wanted
+me to fix some afternoon when Mrs.
+Garnett or Travers could take my place.</p>
+
+<p>“We must not let you get too dull,
+Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
+a good girl, but she cannot be a companion
+to you in any sense of the word.”
+And perhaps in that she was right.</p>
+
+<p>I woke the following Thursday with a
+sense of uneasiness oppressing me, so
+largely do our small fears magnify themselves
+when indulged. As the afternoon
+approached I grew quite pale with apprehension,
+and Hannah, with unspoken
+sympathy, but she had wonderful tact
+for a girl, only hinted at the matter in
+a roundabout way.</p>
+
+<p>I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise
+blue velvet, and was fastening my clean
+frilled apron over my black gown, when
+Hannah said quietly, “Well, it is no
+wonder master likes to show people what
+sort of nurse he has got. I don’t think
+anyone could look so nice in a cap and
+apron as you do, Miss Fenton. It is
+just as though you were making believe
+to be a servant like me, and it would
+not do anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p>I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely
+compliment, but I confessed it pleased
+me and gave me courage. I felt still
+more like myself when my boy put his
+dimpled arms round my neck, and hid
+his dear face on my shoulder. I could
+not persuade him to loosen his hold
+until his mother spoke to him, and there
+was Joyce holding tightly to my gown
+all the time.</p>
+
+<p>The room was so full that it almost
+made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
+Morton to rise from her seat and meet
+me, but all her coaxing speeches would
+not make Reggie do more than raise
+his head from my shoulder. He sat in
+my arms like a baby prince, beating off
+everyone with his little hands, and refusing
+even to go to his father.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I
+carried him from one to another. Joyce
+had left me at once for her mother.
+Some of the ladies questioned me about
+the children. They spoke very civilly,
+but their inquisitive glances made my
+face burn, and it was with difficulty that
+I made suitable replies. Once I looked
+up, and saw that Mr. Morton was watching
+me. His glance was critical, but not
+unkindly. I had a feeling then that he
+was subjecting me purposely to this
+test. I must carry out my theory into
+practice. I am convinced all this was
+in his mind as he looked at me, and I no
+longer bore a grudge against him.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards I had an opportunity
+of learning that he could own himself
+fallible on some points. He was
+exceedingly just, and could bear a rebuke
+even from an inferior, if it proved
+him to be clearly in the wrong.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">{131}</span></p>
+
+<p>One afternoon he came into the nursery
+to play with the children for a few minutes.
+He would wind up their mechanical
+toys to amuse them. Reggie was
+unusually fretful, and nothing seemed
+to please him. He scolded both his
+father and his walking doll, and would
+have nothing to say to the learned dog
+who beat the timbrels and nodded his
+head approvingly to his own music.
+Presently he caught sight of his favourite
+woolly lamb placed out of his reach on
+the mantelpiece, and began screaming
+and kicking.</p>
+
+<p>“Naughty Reggie,” observed his
+father, complacently, and he was taking
+down the toy when I begged him respectfully
+to replace it.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me in some little surprise.</p>
+
+<p>“I thought he was crying for it,” he
+said, somewhat perplexed at this.</p>
+
+<p>“Reggie must not cry for things after
+that fashion,” I returned, firmly, for I
+felt a serious principle was involved here.
+“He is only a baby, but he is very sensible,
+and knows he is naughty when he
+screams for a thing. I never give it to
+him until he is good.”</p>
+
+<p>“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he
+seems far off from goodness now. What
+do you mean by making all that noise,
+my boy?”</p>
+
+<p>Reggie was in one of his passions,
+it was easy to see that; the toy would
+have been flung to the ground in his
+present mood; so without looking at his
+father or asking his permission, I resorted
+to my usual method, and laid him
+down screaming lustily in his little cot.</p>
+
+<p>“There baby must stop until he is
+good,” I remarked, quietly, and I took
+my work and sat down at some little
+distance, while Mr. Morton watched us
+from the other room. I knew my plan
+always answered with Reggie, and the
+storm would soon be over.</p>
+
+<p>In two or three minutes his screams
+ceased, and I heard a penitent “Gargle
+do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him
+directly, and in a moment he held out
+his arms to be lifted out of the cot.</p>
+
+<p>“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as
+I kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply,
+and the next moment he was cuddling
+his lamb.</p>
+
+<p>“I own your method is the best,
+nurse,” observed Mr. Morton, pleasantly.
+“My boy will not be spoiled, I see that.
+I confess I should have given him the
+toy directly he screamed for it; you
+showed greater wisdom than his father.”</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to say how much this
+speech gratified me. From that moment
+I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.</p>
+
+<p>My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly.
+A little before the nursery
+dinner Travers brought a message from
+Mrs. Morton that Joyce was to go out
+with her in the carriage, and that if I
+liked to have the afternoon and evening
+to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take
+charge of Reggie.</p>
+
+<p>The offer was too tempting to be refused.
+I do not think I ever knew the
+meaning of the word holiday before. No
+schoolgirl felt in greater spirits than I
+did during dinner time.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely April afternoon. I
+took out of my wardrobe a soft grey
+merino, my best dress, and a little grey
+velvet bonnet that Aunt Agatha’s skilful
+hands had made for me. I confess I
+looked at myself with some complacency.
+“No one would take me for a nurse,” I
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton;
+he was just going out. For the moment
+he did not recognise me. He removed
+his hat hurriedly; no doubt he thought
+me a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>I could not help smiling at his mistake,
+and then he said, rather awkwardly,
+“I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I
+am glad you have such a lovely afternoon
+for your holiday; there seems a
+look of spring in the air,” all very civilly,
+but with his keen eyes taking in every
+particular of my dress.</p>
+
+<p>I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards
+that he very much approved of Miss
+Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance,
+and as he was a very fastidious man,
+this was considered high praise. There
+was more than a touch of spring in the
+air; the delicious softness seemed to
+promise opening buds. Down Exhibition-road
+the flower-girls were busy with
+their baskets of snowdrops and violets.
+I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then I
+remembered that Uncle Keith had a
+weakness for a particular sort of scone,
+and I bought some and a slice of rich
+Dundee seed cake. I felt like a schoolgirl
+providing a little home feast, but
+how pleasant it is to cater for those we
+love. I was glad when my short journey
+was over, and I could see the river shimmering
+a steely blue in the spring sunshine.
+The old church towers seemed
+more venerable and picturesque. As I
+walked down High-street I looked at
+the well-known shops with an interest I
+never felt before.</p>
+
+<p>When I reached the cottage I rang
+very softly, that Aunt Agatha should not
+be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased
+exclamation when she caught sight of
+me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle?
+I could hardly believe my eyes. Mistress
+is in there reading,” pointing to
+the drawing-room. “She has not heard
+the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can surprise
+her finely.”</p>
+
+<p>I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened
+the door noiselessly. How cosy the room
+looked in the firelight! and could any
+sight be more pleasant to my eyes than
+dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite
+low chair, in her well-worn black silk
+and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget
+her look of delight when she saw
+me.</p>
+
+<p>“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you
+mean it is really you? Come here and
+let me look at you. I want to see what
+seven weeks of hard work have done for
+you.”</p>
+
+<p>But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim
+as she looked.</p>
+
+<p>“There, sit down, and get warm,”
+giving me an energetic little push, “and
+tell me all about it. Your letters never
+do you justice, Merle. I must hear your
+experience from your own lips.”</p>
+
+<p>What a talk that was. It lasted all
+the afternoon, until Patience came in to
+set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle
+Keith’s boots on the scraper; even that
+sound was musical to me. When he
+entered the room I gave him a good hug,
+and had put some of my violets in his
+button-hole long before he had left off
+saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.</p>
+
+<p>“She looks well, Agatha, does she
+not?” he observed, as we gathered
+round the tea-table. “So the scheme
+has held out for seven weeks, eh? You
+have not come to tell us you are tired of
+being a nurse?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly.
+“I am determined to prove to
+you and the whole world that my theory
+is a sensible one. I am quite happy in
+my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith.
+I would not part with my children for
+worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for
+Reggie, he is such a darling that I could
+not live without him.”</p>
+
+<p>“It is making a woman of Merle, I
+can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
+softly. “I confess I did not like the
+plan at first, but if you make it answer,
+child, you will have me for a convert.
+You look just as nice and just as much
+a lady as you did when you were leading
+a useless life here. Never mind if in
+time your hands grow a little less soft
+and white; that is a small matter if your
+heart expands and your conscience is
+satisfied. You remember your favourite
+motto, Merle?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare
+est orare.’ Now I must go, for
+Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch,
+which means I have to catch my
+train.”</p>
+
+<p>But as I trudged over the bridge beside
+him in the starlight, and saw the
+faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy
+river, a voice seemed to whisper to my
+inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle,
+a good beginning makes a glad ending.
+Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est
+orare.’”</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_131" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_131.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">{132}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. J. G. WOOD, M.A.</span>, Author of “The Handy Natural History.”</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p>Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The
+death-stroke—Ways of the heron—Watching
+for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in
+the New Forest—Return to wild habits—The
+fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron and the
+eel—The cormorant and the conger—The
+heron’s power of wing—How the heron settles—Its
+resting-place—Power of the heron’s
+beak—Heronry in Wanstead Park.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> water-vole has but few enemies whom it
+need fear, and one of them is now so scarce
+that the animal enjoys a practical immunity
+from it. This is the heron (<i>Ardea cinerea</i>),
+which has suffered great diminution of its
+numbers since the spread of agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>Even now, however, when the brook is far
+away from the habitations of man, the heron
+may be detected by a sharp eye standing
+motionless in the stream, and looking out for
+prey. Being as still as if cut out of stone,
+neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the
+latter should happen to approach within striking
+distance, it will be instantly killed by a
+sharp stroke on the back of the head.</p>
+
+<p>The throat of the heron looks too small to
+allow the bird to swallow any animal larger
+than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable
+that the largest water-vole can be swallowed
+with perfect ease.</p>
+
+<p>The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious
+about its food, and will eat fish, frogs, toads,
+or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
+has even been known to devour young waterhens,
+swimming out to their nest, and snatching
+up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is
+fish that comes to its beak.</p>
+
+<p>If the reader should be fortunate enough to
+espy a heron while watching for prey, let him
+make the most of the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Although the heron is a large bird, it is not
+easily seen. In the first place, there are few
+birds which present so many different aspects.
+When it stalks over the ground with erect
+bearing and alert gestures it seems as conspicuous
+a bird as can well be imagined. Still
+more conspicuous does it appear when flying,
+the ample wings spread, the head and neck
+stretched forwards, and the long legs extending
+backwards by way of balance.</p>
+
+<p>But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled
+fish it must remain absolutely still.
+So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird, its
+long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers
+of the shoulders, and nothing but the glancing
+eye denoting that it is alive.</p>
+
+<p>This quiescence must be imitated by the
+observer, should he wish to watch the proceedings
+of the bird, as the least movement
+will startle it. The reason why so many persons
+fail to observe the habits of animals, and
+then disbelieve those who have been more
+successful, is that they have never mastered
+the key to all observation, <i>i.e.</i>, refraining
+from the slightest motion. A movement of
+the hand or foot, or even a turn of the head is
+certain to give alarm; while many creatures
+are so wary that when watching them it is as
+well to droop the eyelids as much as possible,
+and not even to turn the eyes quickly, lest the
+reflection of the light from their surface should
+attract the attention of the watchful creature.</p>
+
+<p>One of the worst results of detection is that
+when any animal is startled it conveys the
+alarm to all others that happen to be within
+sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals
+of the same species have a language of their
+own which they perfectly understand, though
+it is not likely that an animal belonging to one
+species can understand the language of another.</p>
+
+<p>But there seems to be a sort of universal or
+<i>lingua-franca</i> language which is common to
+all the animals, whether they be beasts or
+birds, and one of the best known phrases is
+the cry of alarm, which is understood by all
+alike.</p>
+
+<p>I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely
+necessary to be alone, as there is no
+object in two observers going together unless
+they can communicate with each other, and
+there is nothing which is so alarming to the
+beasts and birds as the sound of the human
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there is a mode by which two persons
+who have learned to act in concert with each
+other can manage to observe in company. It
+was shown to me by an old African hunter,
+when I was staying with him in the New
+Forest.</p>
+
+<p>In the forest, although even the snapping of
+a dry twig will give the alarm, neither bird
+nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
+We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and
+practised ourselves thoroughly in them.</p>
+
+<p>Then, we went as quietly as we could to the
+chosen spot, and sat down facing each other,
+so that no creature could pass behind one of
+us without being detected by the other. We
+were both dressed in dark grey, and took the
+precaution of sitting with our backs against a
+tree or a bank, or any object which could perform
+the double duty of giving us something
+to lean against, and of breaking the outlines
+of the human form.</p>
+
+<p>Our whistled code was as low as was
+possible consistent with being audible, and I
+do not think that during our many experiments
+we gave the alarm to a single creature.</p>
+
+<p>When the observer is remaining without
+movement, scarcely an animal will notice
+him.</p>
+
+<p>I remember that on one occasion my friend
+and I were sitting opposite each other, one on
+either side of a narrow forest path. The sun
+had set, but at that time of the year there is
+scarcely any real night, and objects could be
+easily seen in the half light.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a fox came stealthily along the
+path. Now the cunning of the fox is
+proverbial, and neither of us thought that he
+would pass between us without detecting our
+presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
+that we could have touched him with a
+stick.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the
+same path, walking almost as noiselessly as
+the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact
+that domesticated animals, when allowed to
+wander at liberty in the New Forest, soon
+revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>As the cow came along the path, neither of
+us could conjecture the owner of the stealthy
+footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
+poachers, in which case things would have
+gone hard with us, the poachers of the New
+Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of
+men, always provided with firearms and
+bludgeons, having scarcely the very slightest
+regard for the law, and almost out of reach of
+the police.</p>
+
+<p>They would certainly have considered
+us as spies upon them, and as certainly would
+have attacked and half, if not quite killed us,
+we being unarmed.</p>
+
+<p>But to our amusement as well as relief, the
+step was only that of a solitary cow, the
+animal lifting each foot high from the ground
+before she made her step, and putting it down
+as cautiously as she had raised it.</p>
+
+<p>Then, a barn owl came drifting silently
+between us, looking in the dusk as large and
+white as if it had been the snowy owl itself.
+Yet, neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl
+detected us, although passing within a few
+feet of us.</p>
+
+<p>In the daytime the observer, however careful
+he may be, is always liable to detection by
+a stray magpie or crow.</p>
+
+<p>The bird comes flying along overhead, its
+keen eyes directed downwards, on the look-out
+for the eggs of other birds. At first he may
+not notice the motionless and silent observer,
+but sooner or later he is sure to do so.</p>
+
+<p>If it were not exasperating to have all one’s
+precautions frustrated, the shriek of terrified
+astonishment with which the bird announces
+the unexpected presence of a human being
+would be exceedingly ludicrous. As it is, a
+feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of
+amusement, for at least an hour will elapse
+before the startled animals will have recovered
+from the magpie’s alarm cry.</p>
+
+<p>Supposing that we are stationed on the
+banks of the brook on a fine summer evening,
+while the long twilight endures, and have
+been fortunate enough to escape the notice of
+the magpie or other feathered spy, we may
+have the opportunity of watching the heron
+capture its prey.</p>
+
+<p>The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and
+in a moment the bird is holding a fish transversely
+in its beak. The long, narrow bill
+scarcely seems capable of retaining the slippery
+prey; but if a heron’s beak be examined
+carefully, it will be seen to possess a number
+of slight serrations upon the edges, which
+enable it to take a firm grasp of the fish.</p>
+
+<p>Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling,
+for almost as soon as captured it is flung
+in the air, caught dexterously with its head
+downwards, and swallowed.</p>
+
+<p>It is astonishing how large a fish will
+pass down the slender throat of a heron. As
+has been already mentioned, the water-vole
+is swallowed without difficulty. Now the
+water-vole measures between eight and nine
+inches in length from the nose to the root of
+the tail, and is a very thickset animal, so that
+it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.</p>
+
+<p>It is seldom that the heron has, like the
+kingfisher, to beat its prey against a stone or
+any hard object before swallowing it, though
+when it catches a rather large eel it is obliged
+to avail itself of this device before it can get
+the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
+attitude. The eel has the strongest objection
+to going down the heron’s throat, and has no
+idea of allowing its head to pass into the
+heron’s beak. The eel, therefore, must be
+rendered insensible before it can be swallowed.</p>
+
+<p>Generally it is enough to carry the refractory
+prey to the bank, hold it down with the
+foot, and peck it from one end to the other
+until it is motionless. Should the eel be too
+large to be held by the feet, it is rapidly battered
+against a stone, just as a large snail is
+treated by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.</p>
+
+<p>If the feet of the heron be examined, a
+remarkable comb-like appendage may be seen
+on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.</p>
+
+<p>What may be the precise office of this comb is
+not satisfactorily decided. Some ornithologists
+think that it is utilised in preening the plumage,
+I cannot, however, believe that it performs
+such an office. I have enjoyed exceptional
+opportunities for watching the proceedings of
+the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity,
+but never saw it preen its feathers with
+its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
+actually witnessed the proceeding.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp52" id="i_page_133" style="max-width: 25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_133.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">IN WANSTEAD PARK.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is not always fair to judge from a dead
+bird what the living bird might have been able
+to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">{134}</span>
+of a dead heron with its foot-comb, and have
+not succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>Another suggestion is that the bird may use
+it when it holds prey under its feet, as has
+just been narrated. These suggestions, however,
+are nothing more than conjectures, but,
+as they have been the subject of much argument,
+I have thought it best to mention them.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes it has happened that the heron
+has miscalculated its powers, and seized a fish
+which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
+Anglers frequently capture fish which
+bear the marks of the heron’s beak upon
+their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish
+nor the heron is any the worse for the struggle.</p>
+
+<p>But when the unmanageable fish has been
+an eel, the result has, more than once, been
+disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on
+the British birds, a case is recorded where a
+heron and eel were both found dead, the partially
+swallowed eel having twisted itself round
+the neck of the heron in its struggles.</p>
+
+<p>A very similar incident occurred off the
+coast of Devonshire, the victim in this case
+being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
+conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper
+mandible completely through the lower jaw of
+the fish, the horny beak having entered under
+the chin of the eel.</p>
+
+<p>The bird could not shake the fish off its
+beak, and the result was that both were found
+lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
+having coiled itself round the neck of the
+cormorant and strangled it. The stuffed skins
+of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro
+Museum, preserved in the position in which
+they were found.</p>
+
+<p>Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the
+heron will take flight for its home, which will
+probably be at a considerable distance from
+its fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles
+are but an easy journey for the bird, which
+measures more than five feet across the expanded
+wings, and yet barely weighs three
+pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
+is believed to be the lightest bird known. The
+Rev. C. A. Johns states that he has seen the
+heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from
+any heronry.</p>
+
+<p>The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically
+described in a letter published in the
+<i>Standard</i> newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.</p>
+
+<p>“One summer evening I was under a wood
+by the Exe. The sun had set, and from over
+the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy
+cloud stretched out across the sky. The rooks
+came slowly home to roost, disappearing over
+the wood, and at the same time the herons
+approached in exactly the opposite direction,
+flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
+out to feed as the rooks returned home.</p>
+
+<p>“The first heron sailed on steadily at a
+great height, uttering a loud “caak, caak” at
+intervals. In a few minutes a second followed,
+and “caak, caak” sounded again over the
+river valley.</p>
+
+<p>“The third was flying at a less height, and
+as he came into sight over the line of the
+wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding
+his immense wings extended, dived, as a
+rook will, downwards through the air. He
+twisted from side to side like anything spun
+round by the finger and thumb as he came
+down, rushing through the air head first.</p>
+
+<p>“The sound of his great vanes pressing
+and dividing the air was distinctly audible.
+He looked unable to manage his descent, but
+at the right moment he recovered his balance,
+and rose a little up into a tree on the summit,
+drawing his long legs into the branches
+behind him.</p>
+
+<p>“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and
+so descended into the wood. Two more
+passed on over the valley—altogether six
+herons in about a quarter of an hour. They
+intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees till it
+was dusky, and then to go down and fish in
+the wood. Herons are here called cranes, and
+heronries are craneries. (This confusion between
+the heron and the crane exists in most
+parts of Ireland.)</p>
+
+<p>“A determined sportsman who used to eat
+every heron he could shoot, in revenge for
+their ravages among the trout, at last became
+suspicious, and, examining one, found in it
+the remains of a rat and of a toad, after
+which he did not eat any more herons. Another
+sportsman found a heron in the very
+act of gulping down a good sized trout,
+which stuck in the gullet. He shot the
+heron and got the trout, which was not at
+all injured, only marked at each side where
+the beak had cut it. The fish was secured
+and eaten.”</p>
+
+<p>I can corroborate the accuracy as well as
+the graphic wording of the above description.</p>
+
+<p>When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent,
+I used nearly every evening to see herons flying
+northwards. I think that they were making
+for the Essex marshes. They always flew at
+a very great height, and might have escaped
+observation but for the loud, harsh croak
+which they uttered at intervals, and which
+has been so well described by the monosyllable
+“caak.”</p>
+
+<p>As to their mode of settling on a tree, I
+have often watched the herons of Walton
+Hall, where they were so tame that they
+would allow themselves to be approached
+quite closely. When settling, they lower
+themselves gently until their feet are upon the
+branch. They then keep up a slight flapping
+of the wings until they are fairly settled.</p>
+
+<p>An idea is prevalent in many parts of England
+that when the heron sits on its nest, its long
+legs hang down on either side. Nothing can
+be more absurd. The heron can double up
+its legs as is usual among birds, and sits on
+its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any
+other short-legged bird.</p>
+
+<p>In many respects the heron much resembles
+the rook in its manner of nesting. The nest
+is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty
+tree, and is little more than a mere platform
+of small sticks. Being a larger bird than the
+rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and
+on an average the diameter of a nest is about
+three feet.</p>
+
+<p>Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its
+nesting, a solitary heron’s nest being unknown.
+In their modes of feeding, however, the two
+birds utterly differ from each other, the heron
+seeking its food alone, while the rook feeds in
+company, always placing a sentinel on some
+elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm
+at the approach of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice
+of a nesting-place, and, like the rook, prefers
+the neighbourhood of man, knowing instinctively
+when it will be protected by its human
+neighbours. Fortunately for the bird, the
+possession of a heronry is a matter of pride
+among landowners; so that even if the
+owner of a trout-stream happened also to possess
+a heronry, he would not think of destroying
+the herons because they ate his trout.</p>
+
+<p>In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it
+is not to be recommended as a pet. It is
+apt to bestow all its affections on one individual,
+and to consider the rest of the human
+race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
+pecked out.</p>
+
+<p>I was for some time acquainted with such
+a bird, but took care to keep well out of reach
+of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
+unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.</p>
+
+<p>It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was
+almost slavishly affectionate to the gardener,
+rubbing itself against his legs like a pet cat,
+and trying in every way to attract his attention.
+He had even taught it a few simple
+tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off
+his head, and then offer it to him.</p>
+
+<p>But just in proportion as it became friendly
+with the gardener it became cross-grained
+with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
+who came into the garden, and darting its
+beak at their eyes. Its last performance
+caused it to be placed in confinement.</p>
+
+<p>An elderly gentleman had entered the
+garden on business, when the bird instantly
+assailed him. Knowing the habits of the
+heron, he very wisely flung himself on his face
+for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
+shouted for help.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the
+most of its opportunity, mounted upon his
+prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting
+several severe pecks upon his body and limbs
+before the gardener could come to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the
+mandibles being closed, and the blow delivered
+with the full power of the long neck, so that each
+blow from the beak is something like the stab
+of a bayonet, and so strong and sharp is the
+beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
+into an effective spearhead.</p>
+
+<p>Few people seem to be aware that a large
+and populous heronry exists in Wanstead
+Park, on the very outskirts of London.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of summer, when the young
+birds are fledged, the heronry is nearly deserted,
+but during the early days of spring the
+heronry is well worth a visit. The great birds
+are all in full activity, as is demanded by the
+many wants of the young, and on the ground
+beneath may be seen fragments of the pale-blue
+eggs. On an average there are three
+young ones in each nest, so that the scene is
+very lively and interesting, until the foliage
+becomes so thick that it hides the birds and
+their nests.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;<br />
+OR,<br />
+THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> EMMA BREWER.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Just</span> for a little time I must leave my
+personal history to inquire how England
+managed to do without me so long, and what
+the circumstances were which at length
+rendered my existence imperative.</p>
+
+<p>In the days following the Norman
+Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit in life
+was the commerce of money, were the compulsory
+bankers of the country.</p>
+
+<p>They were subject to much cruelty and
+persecution, as you may see for yourselves in
+your histories of the Kings of England.
+It is not to be denied that their demands
+for interest on money lent by them were most
+extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest
+exceeded 40 per cent., and I believe that 500
+Jews were slain by our London citizens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">{135}</span>
+because one of them would have forced a
+Christian to pay more than twopence for the
+usury of 20s.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> for one week, which sum they
+were allowed by the king to take from the
+Oxford students.</p>
+
+<p>They were ill-treated and robbed from the
+time they came over with the Conqueror until
+the reign of Edward I., who distinguished
+himself by robbing 15,000 Jews of their
+wealth, and then banishing the whole of them
+from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned
+against as sinning, the compulsory bankers of
+the period departed.</p>
+
+<p>There was no time to feel their loss, for
+immediately after their expulsion the
+Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of
+Genoa, Florence, Lucca and Venice, came over
+to England and established themselves in the
+street which still bears their name.</p>
+
+<p>There was no doubt as to their purpose, for
+it was a well-known fact that in whatever
+country or town they settled they engrossed
+its trade and became masters of its cash, and
+certainly they did not intend to make an
+exception in favour of London.</p>
+
+<p>I am not going to deny that they introduced
+into our midst many of the arts and skill of
+trade with which we in England were
+previously unacquainted; and it is to these
+Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the introduction
+of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention,
+and one which has served to connect
+the whole world into one, as you will see when
+the proper place arrives for their explanation.</p>
+
+<p>These Lombards, immediately after their
+arrival in London, may have been seen
+regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street
+with their wares, exposing for sale the most
+attractive articles; and in a short time became
+so successful that they were able to take shops
+in which to carry on their business as goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>These shops were not confined to the one
+street which bears their name, but were continued
+along the south row of Cheapside,
+extending from the street called Old Change
+into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
+after the Great Fire, when they removed to
+Lombard-street. There seems to be no street
+in the world where a business of one special
+character has been carried on so continuously
+as in Lombard-street. In the time of Queen
+Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in
+London. In addition to the art of the goldsmith,
+they added the business of money-changing,
+the importance of which occupation
+you will be able to estimate when we come to
+the subject of the coins of the realm.</p>
+
+<p>From money-changers they became money-lenders
+and money-borrowers—money was the
+commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per
+cent. the modest interest they asked and
+obtained for their money.</p>
+
+<p>Of course they gave receipts for the money
+lodged with them, and these circulated and
+were known by the name of “goldsmiths’
+notes,” and were, in fact, the first kind of
+bank-notes issued in England.</p>
+
+<p>The Lombards were a most industrious
+class of people, and left no stone unturned by
+which they could obtain wealth; and in an
+incredibly short time we find them not only
+wealthy, but powerful, and occupying a very
+prominent position; and you may be quite
+sure that under these circumstances they did
+not escape persecution.</p>
+
+<p>Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were
+extortioners, Edward III. seized their property
+and estates. Even this seemed but
+slightly to affect them; for in the fifteenth
+century we find them advancing large sums of
+money for the service of the State on the
+security of the Customs.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the
+time of my birth, the banking was entirely
+in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried
+on in a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently
+the case when unrestrained by rivals.</p>
+
+<p>I dare say you have all noticed the three
+golden balls on the outside of pawnbrokers’
+shops. Originally these were three pills, the
+emblem of the Medici (physician) family; but
+in some way they became associated with St.
+Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths,
+under the name of the three golden balls—an
+emblem which the Lombards have retained.</p>
+
+<p>Are you curious to know how the sign has
+so degenerated as to be the inseparable companion
+of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well,
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were
+established from motives of charity in the
+fifteenth century. Their object was to lend
+money to the poor upon pledges and without
+interest. Originally they were supported by
+voluntary contributions, but as these proved
+insufficient to pay expenses, it became necessary
+to charge interest for the money lent.
+These banks were first distinguished by the
+name of <i>montes pietatis</i>. The word <i>mont</i>
+at this period was applied to any pecuniary
+fund, and it is probable that <i>pietatis</i> was added
+by the promoters of the scheme, to give it an
+air of religion, and thus procure larger subscriptions.</p>
+
+<p>Well, these banks were not only called
+mounts of piety, but were known also as Lombards,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+from the name of the original bankers
+or money-lenders. Now you see how it is
+pawnbrokers bear the sign of the goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>You who know so well where to place your
+money, both for interest and security, when you
+have any to spare, can scarcely understand the
+trouble and annoyance which our merchants
+and wealthy people experienced at having
+no place of security wherein they could deposit
+their money. At one time they sent it to the
+Mint in the Tower of London, which became
+a sort of bank, where merchants left their
+money when they had no need of it, and drew
+it out only as they wanted it; but this soon
+ceased to be a place of security. In 1640
+Charles I., without leave asked or granted,
+took possession of £200,000 of the money
+lodged there. Great was the wrath of the
+merchants, who were compelled, after this unkingly
+act, to keep their surplus money at
+home, guarded by their apprentices and
+servants. Even here the money was not safe,
+for on the breaking out of the war between
+Charles and his Parliament, it was no uncommon
+occurrence for the apprentices to rob
+their masters and run away and join the army.</p>
+
+<p>When the merchants found that neither the
+public authorities nor their own servants were
+to be trusted, they employed bankers, and
+these bankers were goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>Many a tale, however, has reached me of the
+shifts and contrivances of people to secure
+their savings and surplus money—people whose
+experience had taught them to distrust both
+authorities and places, and who would not,
+under the new state of things, have anything
+to do with the bankers. One I will relate
+to you.</p>
+
+<p>A man whose life had been one of hard
+work and self-denial, and who had two or
+three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness
+of the people with whom he had
+lodged it, determined to be their dupe no
+more. Money began once more to accumulate,
+and all things prospered with him; but no one
+could imagine what he did with it; as far as
+his household could tell, he did not deposit
+it with anyone outside the house, neither could
+they discover any place within where it was
+possible to stow it away. No persuasion could
+move the man to speak one word concerning
+it.</p>
+
+<p>At length he died, without having time or
+consciousness to mention the whereabouts of
+his money. Search was made in all directions,
+but without success.</p>
+
+<p>While living he had been a regular
+attendant at one of our City churches, and,
+occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
+square pew, was well known to the
+clergy and servants.</p>
+
+<p>A few weeks after his death the pew-opener
+told the rector, in a frightened voice,
+that she could no longer keep the matter from
+him, for as surely as she stood there, the
+ghost of the man who died a week or two ago
+haunted the church by night and by day.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish
+fancy, the rector allowed her to tell her story
+quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and
+very nervous.</p>
+
+<p>She related that several times during the
+past weeks, when quite alone in the church for
+the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had
+heard a peculiar noise proceeding from the
+pew where the old man used to sit, and it
+sounded to her exactly as though he were
+counting out money, and she would be very
+glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied
+the woman to the pew. At first all was
+quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound
+came exactly as described; they felt round
+about the pew, and at length discovered a
+movable panel near the flooring. It was
+the work of a moment to remove it, and there,
+in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of money
+wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted
+the mice, and it was their little pattering feet
+among the coins which had caught the
+woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped
+in his week’s savings on Sundays, believing
+that it would be safer in the church than
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that after the restoration of
+Charles II., he being greatly in want of
+money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten
+per cent. for the loan. Often, however, they
+obtained thirty per cent. from him, and this
+induced the goldsmiths to lend more and
+more to the king, so that really the whole
+revenue passed through their hands.</p>
+
+<p>In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers,
+and put a check on their prodigal lending.
+King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526,
+which he had borrowed at eight per cent., utterly
+refused to pay either principal or interest, and
+he remained firm to his resolution.</p>
+
+<p>The way in which bankers transacted their
+loans with the king, was in this manner:—As
+soon as the Parliament had voted to the king
+certain sums of money out of special taxes,
+the goldsmith-bankers at once supplied the
+king with the whole sum so voted, and were
+repaid in weekly payments at the Exchequer<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+as the taxes were received.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_135" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_135.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">{136}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> A LADY DRESSMAKER.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have had such a mild and delightful
+autumn, that all kinds of winter garments
+have been delayed in making an appearance.
+This is especially the case with mantles and
+the heavier class of jackets. However, there
+is enough to show us that no great novelty has
+been introduced. Mantles are all small and
+short, and the majority have ends in front
+more or less long. Black plush seems a
+very favourite material, and is much overladen
+with trimming. Plain plush is also used for
+paletôts, and for large cloaks; but there is a
+new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers, that
+is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps
+and epaulettes are worn as well as ornaments
+at the back, and sometimes beaded braces
+round the join of the sleeve in the small
+mantles, and a strip of the same may be used
+to outline the seam at the back. These hints
+may help some of my readers to do up a last
+year’s mantle with some of the moderate
+priced bead trimmings now in vogue.
+Paletôts or cloaks are made both long and
+medium in length. They are made in plush,
+cloth, and rough cloths, but are not seen in
+the finer fancy stuffs which are made use of for
+mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have
+an appearance as if braid were sewn on to the
+surface. The cloak paletôts, when long, close
+in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed
+with a border of fur, which is shaped on the
+shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
+“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower
+edge of the cloak; the cuffs are deep. Fur
+trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting
+follow the same rule, and have no
+trimming of fur at the edge. Fur
+boas are very decidedly the fashion this winter,
+and there seems no end to their popularity.
+Some of them are flat at the neck, like a
+collarette; and others are attached to the
+mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
+and some are nothing more than fur collars
+that clasp round the throat; and these
+collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the
+place of the fur capes that have been worn so
+long. Grey furs are more in fashion than brown
+ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock,
+and opossum, and I see that quantities
+of American raccoon are also being prepared.
+Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable,
+marten-tail, mink, or blue fox, are not within
+the ordinary range of purchasers, and few
+people care to spend so much money on dress
+as their acquirement entails. There is also a
+new feeling to be taken into account; the
+same feeling that makes thinking women and
+girls decline to wear birds, and their heads and
+wings, <i>i.e.</i>, the feeling that the seal fishery as
+hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may
+wear furs that are too costly in other ways. I
+often think if mighty hunters—instead of
+hunting down the buffalo, and the other
+animals useful to the Indian in the North
+West—would go to India and hunt the tigers
+that so cruelly prey on the natives there, we
+should wear those skins with much pleasure
+as well as advantage. But the account
+of the slaying of a mother-seal ought to
+be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I
+have never cordially liked sealskins since
+I read of the devotion of one poor mother-seal
+in particular to her young; and I have
+never had a sealskin jacket since.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="i_page_136" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_136.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are numbers of jackets in every
+style, but all are made of woollen materials,
+not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them
+are tight-fitting, and are smart looking and
+stylish. Both single and double-breasted
+ones are seen. Hoods are much worn,
+but are by no means general. Coloured
+linings are used to pale-coloured or
+checked cloth jackets, but not to black
+or brown ones. Small mantles and
+cloaks are tied at the neck by a
+quantity of ribbons to match the colour
+of the cloth or plush. One of
+the new ideas for mantles is that
+of a semi-fitting jacket over a
+long close-fitting cloak.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">{137}</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp55" id="i_page_137" style="max-width: 26.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_137.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">{138}</span></p>
+
+<p>The new bonnets and hats are much smaller
+and prettier now, and there are in consequence
+many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
+well-dressed girls in the streets of London.
+Formerly no girl who wished to be thought
+somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet
+in London.</p>
+
+<p>The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on
+gathered, doubled and pleated, sometimes
+with as many as three frills at the edge. Many
+of the bonnets are without strings, and have
+pointed fronts, and there is much jet trimming
+used even on coloured velvet bonnets.
+I am sorry to say that our fashionable caterers
+continue to prey upon the feathered creation
+all over the world. This winter the owl has
+evidently fallen a victim, and there are besides
+the tern, kingfisher, and the heron. How I wish
+this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be
+prevented, and that my numberless girl-readers
+would try to avoid giving it the least encouragement.
+While we have the beautiful ostrich
+feathers, we cannot need these other poor victims
+offered up on the altar of feminine vanity
+and unthinking cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the felt hats for the season are very
+pretty. They have high and sloping crowns,
+the brims are often only bound with ribbon,
+but if wide and turned up at the back, they
+are lined with velvet, or rather only partly
+lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined.
+Many of them have brims turned up all round,
+like one of the old turban hats.</p>
+
+<p>The ribbons in use at present are of all
+kinds, satin and velvet reversible, as well as
+<i>moiré</i> and velvet, or satin and <i>moiré</i>. These
+have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk,
+in colour. Velvet ribbons with corded stripes
+have one edge purled and the other fringed;
+and the strings of bonnets are of narrow <i>picot</i>-edged
+ribbon.</p>
+
+<p>The number of white gowns that have been
+worn during the past season and up to the
+present moment has been remarkable, and
+has quite justified the name of a “white
+season.” Even as the weather became colder,
+a charming mixture of materials was introduced,
+viz., white corduroy, and some soft
+woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
+winter white will be the special fashion for
+young people for the evening, and any colour
+can be given by trimming. It seems likely
+that perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of
+habit-cloths, will be used for winter day
+dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued
+fur, or with velvet to match the colour of
+the cloth. The colours that will be worn in
+these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a
+tint like heliotrope, and a reddish violet.</p>
+
+<p>Fancy materials in mixed colours abound,
+the mixtures being green and ruby, brown
+and red, sage and vermilion, and others of
+the same unæsthetic nature. The new browns
+are called Carmelite, chestnut, rosewood, hair,
+and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux,
+Indian, currant, and clove. A new green is
+called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
+popular, and brown and red violet are the
+special colours of the season.</p>
+
+<p>In the making of dresses there is but little
+change. The skirts are still short, and the
+draperies still long; while there is a fancy for
+over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will
+be a blessing for the possessors of half-worn
+and very ancient bodices. Bracers are one of
+the novelties as a form of trimming for the
+latter. They are also trimmed in imitation of
+a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
+returning to favour, and will be worn later on
+over lace skirts for evening dress. Serge
+seems to me to be the most favoured material
+this winter, and it forms the ground work of
+half the fancy cloths and mixtures. Stripes
+and crossbars are in the highest favour, and
+both alpaca and foulard are used, and with
+poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet, and silk rep,
+form the generality of the new dresses. There
+are numbers of hairy-looking woollen materials,
+but I should not think they would
+wear as well as a good serge, which is always
+a useful purchase.</p>
+
+<p>The new petticoat materials in winceys are
+very gay and pretty, and the pattern is usually
+of stripes; but the materials are various, being
+sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed,
+and in the weaving there is usually a rough or
+knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats
+have a few steels in them, and the addition
+makes the dress hold out from the heels a little.
+A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however,
+quite enough for most people, and very little
+crinolette is now worn—nothing ungraceful
+nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of
+better quality are made of plain silk or satin,
+and one of the new fashions is to line them
+with chamois leather, so as to make them
+warmer.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_page_138a" style="max-width: 18.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138a.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Shoes are more worn in London than boots,
+and laced shoes more than buttoned ones. The
+same is the case with boots, which are considered
+to fit better, and to look more stylish
+when laced than buttoned. I have been very
+glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and
+shoes are on the increase, having wider toes
+and lower, broader heels. At the present
+moment many of the best shops have them in
+their windows, and have found it best and
+wisest to keep them for their customers; in
+fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities,
+and of all kinds of proper clothing, is being
+so much extended and impressed on the public
+mind on all sides, that I should not wonder
+if we all became quite reformed characters,
+and wore, ate, and drank only such things as
+were good for us.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget to mention gloves and
+their styles. Most people usually wear Swede
+or kid gloves during the winter months; but
+this year there are some such delightfully
+warm and pretty gloves in wool and silk to
+be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt
+be tempted to purchase them. If the dress
+be of a quiet colour, the gloves should match
+it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any
+kind, the proper gloves to wear would be tan-colour.
+These latter are also used in the
+evening, except when the dress is black, or
+black and white, when the gloves should be
+of grey Swede.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustrations for the month are full of
+suggestions for making new gowns and for altering
+old ones. It will be seen that the gowns
+are both simple and elegant, with long flowing
+lines, and little or no fulness of drapery.
+The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown,
+and the newest model of a cape-like sleeve
+is given in our large front picture of a seashore,
+“<a href="#i_page_137">Under Northern Skies</a>.” Much
+braiding is used, and it is shown in two ways—laid
+on in flat bands, and also in a pattern
+on the mantle. The new shapes of hats are
+much more moderate, and most of the new
+shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern
+for the month is represented as worn by a lady
+in the centre of the smaller picture, “<a href="#i_page_136">At the
+English Lakes</a>;” the centre figure shows its
+pretty and jaunty outlines. It may be worn
+with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
+plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our
+sketch, which may be of a soft Indian silk.
+It is of the last and new design, and will be
+found a most useful winter bodice for usual
+daily wear. The pattern consists of a collar,
+cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two
+sleeve pieces. About four yards of 30 inch
+material are required, perhaps less, if very carefully
+cut. All patterns are of a medium size,
+viz., 36 inches round the chest, and only one
+size is prepared for sale. Each of the patterns
+may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care
+of Mr. H. G. Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C.,
+price 1s. each. It is requested that the addresses
+be clearly given, and that postal notes
+crossed only to go through a bank may be
+sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
+The patterns already issued may always be
+obtained, as “The Lady Dressmaker” only
+issues patterns likely to be of constant use in
+home dressmaking and altering, and she is
+particularly careful to give all the new patterns
+of hygienic underclothing, both for children
+and young and old ladies, so that her readers
+may be aware of the best method of dressing.</p>
+
+<p>The following is a list of those already
+issued, price 1s. each. April—Braided, loose-fronted
+jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
+belt and full bodice, with plain
+sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk or
+pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or
+plain skirt. October—Combination garment
+(underlinen). November—Double-breasted
+out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave
+jacket and bodice. January—Princess underdress
+(underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt
+combined). February—Polonaise with
+waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
+April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle
+with sling sleeves. May—Early English
+bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress.
+June—Dressing jacket, princess frock, and
+Normandy cap for a child of four years. July—Princess
+of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat,
+for tailor-made gown. August—Bodice
+with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole
+ends and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or
+nightdress combination, with full back.—November—New
+winter bodice.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_138b" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138b.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">{139}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. G. LINNÆUS BANKS</span>, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The third of England called, with many a dainty wood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> clear—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>So began England’s descriptive poet,
+Michael Drayton, to sing the praises of the
+glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but
+Milton was more terse in his invocation—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His thirty arms along the indented meads.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus much the poets; but in plain prose
+be it told that the Trent needed no invocation
+to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to
+arise and flood the meadows in its course most
+disastrously, as it did no later than last May.
+The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.</p>
+
+<p>But long before bridges were built or were
+common, there was need to cross the river,
+either by ford or ferry, and its treachery
+must have been known in very ancient days,
+since Swark—whoever he might be, and
+whether he found a natural ford or made an
+artificial one—set up on end an unwrought
+monolith above the height of a man as a
+guide for wayfarers to find the crossing-place
+when the waters happened to be “out”;
+since there the waste and meadow-land lay
+low for many a broad mile.</p>
+
+<p>There was scarcely a speck in the blue
+vault of heaven when Earl Bellamont and his
+friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them,
+crossed the shrunken, snake-like river that
+mirrored their gleaming armour in its broken,
+scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images
+and would fain clasp them. And so the sun
+had shone for weeks,</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“All in a hot and copper sky,”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>until the earth cried out for rain from its parched
+and cracking lips. Only near the red, marly
+banks of the river did the grass and herbage
+retain its vivid tint of green. As the days
+went by the air seemed to grow hotter; the
+cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon
+the fire, wished the guests gone and the
+wedding over. The falconer out on the moor
+in the glare with William Harpur and other
+squires, or the anglers by the streams, had
+scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
+wearied of her many cares, and censured
+the languor of her daughters and her maids.</p>
+
+<p>Preparations had not ceased, they had only
+renewed; and there had been unwonted doles
+to the villagers of good things that would
+have spoiled.</p>
+
+<p>At length, when even the weaving of
+tapestry or the twanging of the lute was a
+toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western
+sky. The cattle lowed, the leaves turned
+themselves over to welcome it, the hawks
+screamed in the mews. That was the morning
+of the 14th, when the very hush in the
+air was significant. The cloud spread,
+darkened, blackened, but in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>“There is a storm somewhere over our
+northern hills!” exclaimed the prior, who had
+been up on the battlements. “The clouds
+hang black and low over Dovedale.”</p>
+
+<p>“It seemeth such a day as heralded the
+great storm three years ago,” cried Lady
+Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a
+flash was that!”</p>
+
+<p>The younger ladies gathered together in
+shrinking groups, as if the fears of the matron
+were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her
+word, and scorned to show timidity, whatever
+she might feel, as the mutterings of thunder
+rumbled over the hall.</p>
+
+<p>It was high noon, but the sky was darkening
+overhead. The horn at the great gates
+was blown. A messenger in hot haste had
+come spurring from the ford and up the hill,
+glad to save himself a drenching, for the great
+drops were pattering on the leaves and leads
+like hail.</p>
+
+<p>He had come at full speed from Oxford.
+King Henry had ratified the great charter of
+English liberty. His master, the earl, and his
+friends would be home ere nightfall. The
+bridal must be upon the morrow. He had,
+moreover, private messages and tokens for
+the ladies, Idonea and Avice, from their coming
+bridegrooms.</p>
+
+<p>The messages were not for general ears;
+the love-tokens were a couple of golden crosses
+richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
+clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to
+Idonea, five pearls in Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.</p>
+
+<p>They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took
+hers shrinkingly. “They seem like crosses
+set with tears and drops of blood,” she
+whispered, with white lips, to Idonea, who
+started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they are
+precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected
+by her sister’s superstitious dread.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied
+that he “thought the Trent was rising.
+It was higher than when his lord had left
+Swarkstone.”</p>
+
+<p>It had been still lower at sunrise that day.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later Friar John blew the horn
+at the gate. He and his mule were pitiably
+drenched.</p>
+
+<p>The Dove was swollen when he crossed
+the bridge near Egginton, he said, though the
+downpour did not come until he had left it
+five miles behind.</p>
+
+<p>“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a
+flood as swept Swark’s Stone away three
+summers back. The passage of the ford
+would be perilous to my lord now that is
+gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her
+hands, and it might seem with reason, for
+now the floodgates of the skies were loosed,
+and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.</p>
+
+<p>“Storms and travellers are in Almighty
+hands, good dame,” said Prior John, soberly.
+“Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all
+to Him.”</p>
+
+<p>Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and
+dames, were already on their knees in prayer,
+their hearts beating wildly.</p>
+
+<p>William Harpur, pacing up and down,
+glanced through the dim glass windows on
+the scene without, and then from one to
+other of the shuddering women within.</p>
+
+<p>“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a
+slight curl of lip, “it will be a sorry welcome
+for my noble kinsman and his friends when
+they come in, wet and weary, if no board be
+spread, no dry garments ready for their use.”</p>
+
+<p>The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.</p>
+
+<p>“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall
+not find us unprepared. Maidens, attend
+me.” And she swept from the tapestried
+reception-room, followed by her daughters
+and the noble maids who did probationary
+service under her, and soon her silver whistle
+might be heard, as one or other did her
+bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and
+bustle—and covert fear.</p>
+
+<p>The hours sped. The storm seemed to
+abate. The board was spread. The time for
+the evening meal came and went.</p>
+
+<p>There were no arrivals. There were
+whisperings among hungry guests, for time
+was flying.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor
+impatiently, biting his nails and cogitating.</p>
+
+<p>The dark came down—the double dark of
+storm and evening. The great time-candle
+in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters
+down, and the hours.</p>
+
+<p>Villagers came scurrying to the hall in
+dismay. The meads were under water. Their
+fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream,
+with many a tree and bush from parts beyond
+in the west.</p>
+
+<p>The lovely sisters had busked themselves
+afresh to receive their lovers; dark tresses and
+fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
+bosom shone her token cross of gold.</p>
+
+<p>But as the hours and minutes flew, dress
+was disregarded, their lips quivered with
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>At length Avice whispered to her mother,
+“Had we not best set a cresset burning on
+the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to
+light the passage of the ford?”</p>
+
+<p>“I have already given orders, child; I feared
+to speak my alarm to you.”</p>
+
+<p>But even torches will not keep alight in rain
+and hurricane. The men, headed by Will
+Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and
+discomfited.</p>
+
+<p>“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,”
+said he; “we cannot keep a torch alight. But
+do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt,
+the storm will have kept our friends at Ashby,
+or, at least, have driven them back. They
+would never be so mad as to attempt the
+passage of the ford.” Then, aside to the prior
+he added, “The land is covered for more
+than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly
+water runs like a torrent, bearing bushes, beams,
+and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They must
+have gone back.”</p>
+
+<p>Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud
+of hoofs heard advancing up the hill.</p>
+
+<p>There was the strong black charger of Earl
+Bellamont, and close behind came the bay
+mare of Sir Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>They were both riderless!</p>
+
+<p>A moment of speechless horror, then
+shrieks and wailing filled the air.</p>
+
+<p>Mid the sobbing and lamentations of
+women, and the clamour of men, fresh torches
+were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and
+affixed to poles. Then, with the prior and
+Will Harpur at their head, all the men about
+the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’
+crooks, and aught that might save a
+drowning man.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! it was all too late.</p>
+
+<p>Their bravest and best beloved were gone
+for aye.</p>
+
+<p>Too rashly impatient, and trusting the
+leadership of impetuous Earl Bellamont, Sir
+Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the
+remonstrances of more cautious companions,
+and dashed across the waste of waters, so low
+at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! some floating bush may have misled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">{140}</span>
+the old man, for all at once they seemed to be
+carried down stream and disappear, as if they
+had missed the ford, or the current had been
+too strong for men weighted with armour.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind
+him, and the scion of another noble house was
+lost.</p>
+
+<p>Their esquires, following behind, had been
+impotent to save, and only by turning sharply
+round and fighting with the rising waters did
+they manage to preserve their own lives.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day as the thick waters subsided did
+the search continue along the devastated banks
+until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
+of water into the Trent, barred further
+passage, and made the quest hopeless.</p>
+
+<p>A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken
+lance and pennon, a battered casque, a saddle-bow,
+were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
+page.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Bellamont was borne down by the
+shock. Avice drooped like a broken lily;
+only Idonea seemed capable of thought or
+action.</p>
+
+<p>The subsidence of the flood brought spurring
+in the more prudent party to comfort their own
+wives and daughters, along with the downcast
+esquires to tell the needless tale.</p>
+
+<p>There was no consoling Lady Bellamont.
+She seemed to take the triple loss to her own
+heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as
+for herself.</p>
+
+<p>In vain the prior offered such consolation as
+his faith afforded. She sat like a stone, rigid
+and immovable; would take no sustenance
+whatever.</p>
+
+<p>The tears shed over her by Idonea and
+Avice seemed to petrify as they fell rather
+than melt. Their affliction but intensified her
+own.</p>
+
+<p>“If they had died in battle as brave men
+should, we might have borne it bravely,” she
+said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold,
+cruel, treacherous waters in the height of joy
+and hope, almost within hail of home, it is
+too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be
+resigned. And for my crushed roses—orphaned,
+widowed, ere they became wives—it is too
+much; I cannot survive it.”</p>
+
+<p>And before that month was out the twin-sisters
+were left to weep out their tears in each
+other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
+they might, with only the good prior to watch
+and guard them in their orphanhood, and lead
+them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees
+of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>There was William Harpur willing to do the
+co-heiresses suit and service, and leave his
+own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
+his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the
+hall, but neither the prior nor the sisters cared
+for his interference, and when the old retainers,
+with the seneschal at their head, came in a
+body at the prior’s summons to swear fealty to
+the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea accepted
+their homage for herself and her sweet sister,
+as one born to command, he turned away to
+bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted the
+hall before the sun went down.</p>
+
+<p>But though Idonea could order the household,
+and the seneschal could keep the retainers
+in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins
+and lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping
+Avice, or remove the more rebellious
+sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and
+in the eyes of Idonea.</p>
+
+<p>“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve
+of his departure, “duty calls me away to my
+own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove
+three years agone, after the great hurricane,
+has, Friar Paul brings word, been shaken
+sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The
+safety of many lives depends on its stability.
+Yet I would fain see you more submissive to
+the divine will ere I depart. Think how many
+sufferers there have been by the same calamity—how
+many a hearth has been laid bare, how
+many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has
+swept away. Abandon not your hours to
+selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see how
+the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour,
+by good and charitable deeds, to win
+the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
+the crosses that ye wear, and think of His
+wounds and His tears, and remember that
+His blood and His tears were shed for others,
+not for self.”</p>
+
+<p>Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he
+began; they drooped as low as those of Avice
+ere he ended.</p>
+
+<p>“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just.
+We have thought the world was our own—in
+joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth.
+We ask your blessing ere you go.”</p>
+
+<p>The benediction was spoken, and on the
+morrow he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds,
+and saw what sorrow meant for the
+very poor and for the class above them.
+Tottering huts, bare fields, where the only
+crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
+weeping over naked and famishing babes;
+churls looking hopeless on desolation, or seeking
+wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden.
+And wherever they went they left hope behind,
+as well as coin, or food, or raiment from
+the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy
+with sullen thanklessness. They were
+little better than serfs, and were more inclined
+to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful
+to the willing bestowers.</p>
+
+<p>Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil
+the peasantry with their frequent alms; and
+even the prior when he came suggested
+moderation in doles, which destroyed honest
+independence and fostered beggary.</p>
+
+<p>But the sisters had found ease in helping
+others, and ere long sought the prior’s advice
+over a project to serve the people for generations
+yet unborn.</p>
+
+<p>They had discovered that sorrow and
+calamity come to the poor as to the rich, and
+they proposed to preserve others from losses
+and heartaches such as theirs.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general lamentation that
+Swark’s Stone was gone and the ford less
+readily found.</p>
+
+<p>“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a
+bridge over the Trent like the Monks’ Bridge
+over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not
+mourning maidens. Let us up and build one.
+If we cannot restore our dead, we may preserve
+life for the living.”</p>
+
+<p>“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We
+may so make our sorrow a joy to thousands.”</p>
+
+<p>The prior hailed their project as a divine
+inspiration, hardly conscious he had struck the
+keynote. They were rich. They would hear
+nought of suitors. What better could they
+do with their wealth?</p>
+
+<p>He drew plans, he found them masons.
+Stone was not far to seek for quarrying; but,
+to be of service, the bridge must cover broad
+lands as well as common current.</p>
+
+<p>“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William
+Harpur. “The cost will be enormous. It
+will swallow up your whole possessions! You
+must be mad; and the prior is worse to
+sanction such a sacrifice.”</p>
+
+<p>“The sacrifice was made when the river
+robbed us of our dearest treasures. We must
+save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
+Avice, now as bold as her sister.</p>
+
+<p>The work began and went on steadily.
+Honest labour was paid for, and churls, who
+had lived half on doles and housed like dogs,
+were paid a penny<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> a day or a peck of meal,
+and took heart to work with a will. There
+were always loose stones and wood about,
+and no one said nay when they began to
+repair and improve their own dwellings. And
+so industry came to Swarkstone with the
+building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
+to smile upon the undertaking, for never a
+disaster occurred to mar it.</p>
+
+<p>But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the
+cost was enormous. It was the work of years.
+Woods were cut down to supply timber for
+scaffolding; then lands were mortgaged or
+sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
+buyer? But still the work proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod
+will gladly pay a small toll for the
+privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
+possessions, the old hall, passed into their
+cousin’s hands, and they took refuge in a
+small house in a bye-way, which goes by the
+name of “No Man’s-Lane” to this day.</p>
+
+<p>It was a glad day for travellers on horse or
+foot when Swarkstone Bridge, of twenty-nine
+arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
+which spanned the Trent and its low meads for
+three-quarters of a mile, and the good Ladies
+Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
+those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod
+at all seasons to be grateful for the inestimable
+boon.</p>
+
+<p>They had no charter to exact a toll to repay
+the moneys they had expended; but there
+was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel
+erected and dedicated to St. James, in which
+it was fondly hoped the users of the bridge
+would pause to thank God and drop their
+small thank-offerings in a box set there to
+receive them.</p>
+
+<p>At first, when they began to build, people
+about called the sisters “the twin angels;”
+but by the time the bridge was built it had
+ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a
+matter of course; but the thank-offerings
+grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to
+remember the danger and discomfort of the
+passage by the ford.</p>
+
+<p>They had impoverished themselves for the
+security of strangers. The offerings of gratitude
+would not keep life in the good sisters.
+They began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice
+bore her lot meekly. Not so Idonea, into
+whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating
+like a canker. But Avice said gently, “If we
+gave our wealth to build a bridge expecting a
+return, what answer can we make to our Lord
+when we go to Him? Let us be content that
+our individual losses will be the gain of thousands
+after us.” And that put an end to
+Idonea’s rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>At length the aged prior, who had built
+Monks’ Bridge between the counties of Stafford
+and Derby for a people as ungrateful,
+stirred up William Harpur to remember the
+poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
+flourishing, and he offered them a home at
+Ticknall.</p>
+
+<p>The offer came too late to save them. The
+Ladies Bellamont died as they had lived,
+together, and were buried with their two symbolic
+crosses on their breasts. And then,
+thanks chiefly to the prior, who reverenced
+them, a marble monument could be erected
+to their memories with their sleeping effigies
+upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
+the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have
+added, “They built unseen another bridge
+over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from
+earth to heaven.”</p>
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">{141}</span></p>
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Sketch II.—Opera (Secular Musical Drama).</span></h3>
+
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By MYLES B. FOSTER</span>, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.</p>
+
+<div class="ddropcapbox illowe10_9375" id="i_page_141">
+<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_141.jpg" alt='A' /></div>
+
+<p><span class="uppercase">lthough</span> it is stated
+that the ancient
+Greeks intoned
+their tragedies, and
+introduced, besides,
+some form of melody
+(μέλος), the
+whole question of
+the existence of
+opera at that period
+of artistic prosperity,
+when all forms of learning were
+so powerfully nourished, is a matter for
+speculation. Their authors certainly give
+us wonderful accounts of the great effects
+that this music had, and state that it
+formed an essential part of their drama,
+but beyond these records, in all probability
+much exaggerated, we have no data.
+Opera we must assume to be a comparatively
+recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
+century, composers had written all their
+finest work for the Church, and had, very
+rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise
+and worship of the Giver of all musical ideas
+and beauties.</p>
+
+<p>Even that which was known as secular
+music, and was intended for social occasions,
+was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the
+very folksongs had their freshness rubbed off
+by contrapuntal developments to which they
+were not suited, and were dragged in their
+new and ill-fitting costume into the masses
+and motetts of the day. The Church possessed
+most of the art and learning of the age, and,
+with that, a corresponding power over the
+ignorant people. Thus music had been, so
+far, choral music; all the secular forms,
+villanellas, glees, madrigals, and lieder, being
+in from three to six parts and more. The
+expressive solo form (<i>monodia</i>), whether
+<i>recitativo</i> or <i>arioso</i>, was as yet unknown. As
+the people attained more knowledge, and
+with it more freedom, secular music gradually
+separated itself from the restraints of the
+Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom
+at length degenerated into licence.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the great Renaissance period,
+when, after Suliman had taken Constantinople,
+the great scholars there fled before the conquering
+Turks into Italy and other new
+homes, an impetus was given to the study of
+Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the
+Greek drama in all its original beauty and
+perfection was the ambition of many an
+Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini,
+the singer Caccini, Galilei, the father of
+the astronomer, and, at a rather later date,
+Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which
+they not only agreed that the existing musical
+forms were inadequate for a true musical
+drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose
+pieces for one voice on what they imagined
+to be the Greek model.</p>
+
+<p>Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers
+known to have tried to set music to
+the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
+(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”)
+supplied the words. His first efforts were
+“Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,”
+and they were performed in Florence in 1590,
+the poems being set to music throughout.</p>
+
+<p>Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in
+which <i>aria parlante</i>, a kind of recitation
+in strict time, first appears. It is well described
+by Ritter, in his “History of Music,”
+as “something between well-formed melody
+and speech.” It appears to have pleased the
+Greek revivalists immensely, and they quite
+believed it to be the discovery of the lost art.
+Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600,
+on the occasion of the marriage of Henry IV.
+of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his
+work we have a primitive version of all our
+operatic forms.</p>
+
+<p>Composers now occasionally used the <i>arioso</i>
+style; but their Greek beliefs prevented them
+from introducing a good broad melody form.
+The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for
+example, were choruses and declamatory recitatives.
+The orchestra was hidden behind the
+scenes, the only purely orchestral piece being
+a little prelude (called “Zinfonia”) for three
+flutes.</p>
+
+<p>With such material and upon so simple a
+basis was opera formed—an art construction
+which, in its more modern garb, has played a
+very important part in the history of European
+society.</p>
+
+<p>Of really great composers who advanced
+this <i>drama per musica</i>, one of the earliest and
+most important was Claudio Monteverde. He
+imbued it with his musicianship and originality,
+employing particular effects for each
+scene and for each character, his object being
+to unite the varying sentiment of the poem
+with his music. In his operas, the first of
+which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped
+forms of accompaniment, giving singers greater
+freedom in dramatic action, followed such
+reforms as a better use of rhythm and more
+truthful illustration of sentiments, whilst an
+increased orchestral force was added to other
+means of expression.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian Church writers began to compose
+operas, and in the seventeenth century
+we find the recitation form receiving new
+vigour and truthfulness of detail at the
+hands of, amongst others, Cavalli (whose real
+name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro
+Scarlatti, Carissimi’s greatest pupil.
+Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is supposed
+to have invented the short interludes
+for instruments between the vocal phrases,
+and he certainly introduced the first complete
+form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,”
+which, however, with its tiresomely exact
+repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
+anything but dramatic. About his time
+<i>recitativo</i>, as we know it, was separated
+from the <i>aria parlante</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his
+Neapolitan school, amongst whom were
+Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and
+others, and with them we reach a period
+during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.</p>
+
+<p>Composers had broken away from the
+ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the chorus
+had become of no importance, but, instead,
+the new aria, which might have taken an
+advantageous position as a means for occasional
+soliloquy and meditation, without interference
+with the dramatic story, now usurped
+the place of the latter altogether, and an opera
+meant nothing more than a string of arias in
+set form, an excuse for showing off the best
+voices to the greatest advantage, the most
+successful work being that one which pandered
+most to the vanity of the singers, who altered
+and embellished the melodies of their mechanical
+slave, the composer.</p>
+
+<p>Dramatic significance was fast disappearing,
+and a reformer was sadly needed, and that
+reformer appeared early in the eighteenth
+century in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian,
+who, after studying in Italy and writing
+several operas after the traditional Italian
+models, settled in Vienna, and there worked
+out his great ideas of regeneration and reform.</p>
+
+<p>His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a
+great sensation, and in Alceste (1766) we
+find him, to quote his own preface to it,
+“avoiding the abuses which have been introduced
+through the mistaken vanity of singers
+and the excessive complaisance of composers,
+and which, from the most splendid and
+beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
+the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous
+of spectacles.”</p>
+
+<p>He considered that music should second
+poetry, by strengthening the expression of the
+sentiments and the interest of the situations,
+and adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided
+interrupting a singer in the warmth of
+dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious
+ritornel; or stopping him during one of his
+sentences to display the agility of his voice in
+a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases
+the importance of the introduction or overture,
+making it foreshadow the nature of the coming
+drama.</p>
+
+<p>Composers were either too hardened or too
+cowardly to at once follow and imitate his
+excellent reforms, and great disputings and
+much rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by
+the singers and the old school headed by
+Piccini.</p>
+
+<p>We will leave this <i>opera seria</i> for a moment,
+restored to its high position in art, and glance
+at a lighter form, the <i>opera buffa</i>, or comic
+opera, which may be traced to the little
+<i>entr’actes</i>, or <i>intermezzi</i>, given as a sort of
+relaxation between the acts of plays, as early
+as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals,
+or favourite instrumental solos, were used for
+this purpose; later on, when operatic forms
+appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which
+the chief idea was to raise a laugh, very often
+at the expense of good taste. Scarlatti’s
+pupils developed these <i>intermezzi</i>, and gave
+them such artistic importance that they grew
+to be rivals to the grand opera, and eventually
+held their own position as <i>opera buffa</i>.
+Pergolesi was most successful in this style,
+and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
+earliest specimens, was a great favourite.
+The accompaniment was for string quartett
+only, and there were but two <i>dramatis personæ</i>.
+His fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote
+several comic operas, and further on, Nicolo
+Piccini, whom we have just left opposing
+Gluck in Paris, made many advances in <i>opera
+buffa</i>, giving greater contrasts and more
+elaborate and effective <i>finales</i> than his forerunners.
+In fact, he was stronger in this sort
+of composition than in <i>opera seria</i>, to which
+latter we now return.</p>
+
+<p>We find at the end of the eighteenth century
+the brilliant and successful works of Paisiello, a
+rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the same
+period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini,
+and others wrote operas.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting
+all old traditions, good and bad, at
+the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the
+Italian composers to see that more was
+required than they had ever given, to make
+opera what it should be, and they were compelled
+to acknowledge that, after Gluck’s
+reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
+Mozart’s influence and his noble examples,
+they must take up higher ground if they
+would succeed in other than the Italian cities.</p>
+
+<p>They composed, therefore, in a more serious
+manner for Paris or Vienna, and the Italian
+opera gained a fresh importance by the slight<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">{142}</span>
+reforms thus adopted, and through the successful
+power of Rossini it again held sway in
+the principal European courts.</p>
+
+<p>Rossini made a great many melodies and
+much pecuniary profit, and finding the singers
+ready to return to those abuses against which
+Gluck had protested so strongly, rather than
+permit them to play tricks with his music and
+embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
+embroideries so fulsome himself that there
+was nothing left which they could add!</p>
+
+<p>In the present century Mercadante, Bellini,
+and Donizetti followed in his train; following
+them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
+whose later works are very fine, being a happy
+combination of immense dramatic insight with
+effective situations and great melodic charm.
+We find in Boito the most decided attempt to
+unite Italian traditions and the latest German
+development. Thus much for the land in
+which opera was born.</p>
+
+<p>Opera soon spread, and travelled to the
+various European courts, and became there
+the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons.
+Such prestige did it carry with it, that to be
+successful in England or Germany, a composer
+had to write in the Italian style.</p>
+
+<p>France, whilst building upon the Italian
+foundation, created an opera in many ways
+differing from that form. Real French opera
+was first written by Lulli at the end of the
+seventeenth century. He will be ever remembered
+as the inventor of the overture, which replaced
+the small introduction of the Italians.
+Another thing he did which was new: he
+brought into his scheme the dance or ballet;
+and a third point was, that in his operas the
+chorus played a most important part.</p>
+
+<p>Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly
+developing all these resources.</p>
+
+<p>When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the
+supporters of Italian opera backed by such
+essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm,
+and named the “Bouffonists,” opposing the
+“Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
+and Rameau. Also there were Philidor,
+Gretry, and others trying to combine the new
+and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance
+of melody, adapted his own reforms
+already referred to, gave the overture its
+true connection with the poem, and, as it
+were, out-Rameaued Rameau. With all his
+works produced in Paris he made great successes,
+notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s
+powerful opposition.</p>
+
+<p>We will again leave Gluck elevating, for
+this time, the French stage also, and glance at
+<i>opera comique</i>, a term used in France as early
+as 1712.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian
+<i>intermezzo</i> was the <i>vaudeville</i>. Claude Gilliers
+appears to have written many about this
+period.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter half of the century Dauvergne
+composed “Les Troqueurs,” in imitation of
+the Italian <i>intermezzi</i>, and in this work the
+dialogue, which in <i>opera buffa</i> would have
+been sung, was spoken, a custom still adopted
+in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful chess-player),
+and Monsigny wrote many <i>operas
+comiques</i>. Gretry also appeared at this time
+as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
+Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed
+by D’Allayrac.</p>
+
+<p>To return to grand opera, the man most influenced
+by Gluck and his advances was
+Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune
+Henri” are well known, and who possessed
+undoubted talent. In the present century I
+may mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and
+Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de Bagdad” and
+“La Dame Blanche,” and other works having
+been received at the time with enormous
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini
+and Spontini, wrote much in the style and
+under the influence of the French opera. We
+all know and like Cherubini’s “Les Deux
+Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”</p>
+
+<p>Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who
+embodied in his operas the life and spirit of
+the Empire under the First Napoleon.”</p>
+
+<p>Coming into this century, we notice, as important
+French opera composers, Hérold, of
+“Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and
+Auber, who studied under Cherubini, and
+composed more comic operas than anything
+else, and whose work always contains light
+elegant melody and brilliant orchestration.
+Halévy has earned a good name by such
+operas as “La Juive” and “La Reine de
+Chypre.”</p>
+
+<p>An exceptionally great man was Hector
+Berlioz, who strove in new paths, and in the
+face of great opposition, to base his efforts
+upon the study of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.</p>
+
+<p>Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote
+as much for French opera as for any other.
+He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat,
+and every turn brought golden success.
+He became the greatest of French opera
+writers; but, in addition, he wrote German
+opera for Germans, Italian for Italians, and
+ensured by this system of “all things to all
+men” the applause which he so highly
+coveted.</p>
+
+<p>To conclude our French list, there is a composer,
+whose “Faust” will live long; I allude
+to Charles Gounod, who has written many
+other operas containing great dramatic beauty,
+richness of orchestration, and grace of melody.
+Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen”
+has been so popular, Massenet, and Ambroise
+Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>In England there is but little history to give
+you.</p>
+
+<p>English music and drama were first connected
+in a primitive way in the early miracle-plays
+and mysteries performed at Chester and
+Coventry and in other towns.</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions
+for musical interludes, and introduces
+songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
+You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A
+Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the first
+half of the seventeenth century William
+Lawes, and Henry, his brother, wrote music
+to the masques, in which poetry, music,
+scenery, and mechanical accessories were combined,
+producing a decided advance in the
+direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding
+the patriotic championship of budding English
+opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel Royal,
+and notwithstanding the existence of the great
+school of madrigal writers, they were never
+encouraged to attempt dramatic work, as the
+nobility already demanded Italian opera and
+Italian composers and singers. During the
+civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
+the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and
+even from 1660 they were only opened for five
+years with an occasional performance of a
+masque by Sir William Davenant, the then
+poet laureate, set to music by Locke, in one
+of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find
+the recitative style used, and spoken of as new
+to England, although well known on the Continent.</p>
+
+<p>After those five years came the Plague, and
+following it the Great Fire, so that it was not
+until nearer the end of the century that a fair
+start was made in opera, and that the powerful
+and masterly works of Henry Purcell saw the
+light. His genius was undoubtedly superior
+to that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy,
+and he became a power, not in England only,
+but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should
+have died so young! The form of opera
+settled by him and his followers was similar
+to the French and German, in that whilst the
+important parts would be sung, the subordinate
+dialogue was spoken, and there was
+no accompanied recitative, excepting in some
+of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr. Arne’s operas. Arne’s
+“Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, <i>à l’Italienne</i>,
+set entirely in recitative form.</p>
+
+<p>But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr.
+Arnold, William Jackson (of Exeter), Shield,
+Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and
+many others adhered to the spoken dialogue.
+It should be quite understood that their music,
+when it occurred, formed an integral portion
+of the whole work, and, therefore, differed
+from interpolated pieces, which could be withdrawn
+without breaking a sequence.</p>
+
+<p>In 1834 John Barnett produced his
+“Mountain Sylph,” the first important
+English opera in the strictly modern style of
+that age, and one which introduced the
+school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and
+Macfarren. Italian influence was evident, and
+has only lately been supplanted by the power
+of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy
+instances, by the graceful delicacy of the
+French school. But the time for English
+opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers
+into which other schools have fallen; we have
+seen their heroes extricate them from those
+dangers; we have learnt what reforms are
+needful; the generous support and encouragement
+which has assisted the Italian, French,
+and German schools should now place all
+mercenary consideration on one side, and
+extend itself freely to those native artists who,
+in a spirit of true patriotism, are striving for
+the reputation and artistic honour of our
+country.</p>
+
+<p>To Handel we owe the final settlement of
+Italian opera in London, for which end he
+composed over forty operas, none of which
+are remembered, but from whose pages the
+good numbers were extracted and transferred
+to his oratorios!</p>
+
+<p>Comic opera, originating in Italy and
+developing in France, had, and still has, some
+footing in England. A very successful
+specimen was “The Beggar’s Opera,” performed
+in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s
+Inn, with a libretto by Gay. So enormous
+was its success, that people said, “It made
+Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and
+following successes arose the ballad opera, a
+form of comic opera taken up by the best
+composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley,
+words by Sheridan (Linley’s son-in-law), may
+be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally
+the wealth of England has been able to
+procure and import the finest foreign works
+and artists, and its riches have assisted in
+impoverishing what little native art we
+possessed.</p>
+
+<p>For the last part of my sketch I have
+reserved German opera.</p>
+
+<p>Although Italian opera soon worked its way
+into Germany, in fact, as early as the year
+1627, when we reach the end of our story, we
+shall find the Germans in possession of the
+most advanced form of modern drama.</p>
+
+<p>Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music.
+It was Rinuccini’s “Daphne,” already set
+by Peri in Florence.</p>
+
+<p>Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned
+supreme until the time of Gluck, with such
+exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser
+and Handel, which contained German characteristics,
+and also the attempts on the part
+of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine
+Italian and German qualities.</p>
+
+<p>With Gluck came the great reforms in
+Vienna, as elsewhere, and there, too, party
+feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed
+by Hasse and his party. In Ritter’s admirable
+“History of Music,” already largely
+quoted from, whilst blaming the German
+princes for obtaining Italian operas at extravagant
+cost, he asks us to remember that these
+same princes “prepared the road, however
+unconsciously, for a Gluck, a Haydn, and a
+Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts
+were rooted in the Italian school of music.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">{143}</span></p>
+
+<p>Germany all this time had no national
+opera, the Hamburg attempt failing for want
+of encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>As we have previously done in dealing with
+the other countries, so now we will glance at
+the lighter form of opera for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>The German <i>operette</i>, or <i>singspiel</i>, was
+brought into notice by Johann Adam Hiller
+about the middle of the eighteenth century.
+He produced numbers of these, full of charming
+original melodies, and with spoken dialogue,
+as in <i>opera comique</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst several writers of these light
+works we may number Schweitzer, André,
+and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in
+which dialogue is spoken during an undercurrent
+of expressive and illustrative music. There
+is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing,
+at the end of the seventeenth century, a
+sort of <i>vaudeville</i> known as the “Liederspiel.”</p>
+
+<p>Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf
+and Haydn, and, in Southern Germany,
+Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.</p>
+
+<p>These small operas at first rather imitated
+the French school; but at the time of the
+above composers the national life and sentiment,
+in however insignificant a manner, had
+crept in, and the germ of a national type
+existed.</p>
+
+<p>At such a critical moment came the great
+genius who was to develop the elements of
+both serious and comic opera, and raise them
+to a lofty pedestal, and that genius was
+Mozart.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he
+gave to them new life and meaning, and his
+illustration of each character, together with
+his masterly <i>ensembles</i> and <i>finales</i>, in
+which, whilst each singer maintains his
+individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent,
+will ever abide as marvellous examples of
+dramatic scholarship and musical beauty.
+Besides understanding exactly what the human
+voice was capable of doing, he raised the
+orchestral accompaniment to a very high
+position.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Gluck <i>attacked</i> Italian opera, Mozart
+<i>moulded</i> it in such a fashion that the old
+stiff traditions were no longer possible in
+Germany.</p>
+
+<p>At the commencement of this century, I
+must add to the list such names as Winter,
+Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and,
+last and greatest, Beethoven, whose one
+opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure
+nobility as long as music endures.</p>
+
+<p>The romantic school of poetry now finding
+its way into Germany, was soon aided by
+appropriate musical settings by Spohr,
+Marschner, and Weber—the greatest of them
+all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
+finest, the most popular, and the most
+thoroughly German.</p>
+
+<p>Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,”
+and Mendelssohn, ever searching for a
+libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s
+“Loreley,” but death came before he could
+finish it.</p>
+
+<p>Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes
+German in work, we have already noticed
+in connection with his French operas.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Wagner, by his theories and his
+great compositions, has caused opera once
+more to become the field for dispute, research,
+and speculative thought.</p>
+
+<p>He maintains, to put it briefly, that the
+real character and meaning of opera has been
+all this time misunderstood. He carries into
+practice what Gluck preached, viz., that music
+should second poetry, in order to be in its
+proper place. He says, “The error of the
+operatic art-form consists in the fact that
+music, which is really only a means of
+expression, is turned into an aim; while the
+real aim of expression, viz., the drama, is
+made a mere means.”</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to
+the free action of drama was the concert aria,
+so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
+recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works
+dramas, not operas. His orchestra illustrates
+the emotions and thoughts of each character,
+and the peculiar timbre of each instrument
+supplies the individuality of the person represented—a
+practice suggested first by Monteverde;
+and he further binds together the
+various episodes and scenes in the story, by
+using short <i>motovos</i> or phrases which shall
+recall to the audience previous situations and
+events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
+others. Wagner very happily combines in himself
+the poet and musician. He rightly claims
+that his music should not be heard apart from
+its companions of equal value—the poem, the
+scenery, and the action. He has met with as
+much opposition as did Gluck, but the time
+has come when his works receive due recognition,
+and an appreciation increasing
+yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>However excessive we may feel the
+reformer’s zeal to have been, these masterly
+art-forms supply wholesome food for
+meditation, and numberless suggestions for
+action, to every earnest and unbigoted
+student of this and coming generations.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>MISCELLANEOUS.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot_ans">
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Josephine.</span>—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red
+nose, spots, bad digestion, bad breath, etc. A
+fine woman with a handsome figure (say five feet five
+inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches
+round the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of
+course, a very small or very thin girl would naturally
+measure less. You know which description applies
+to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a
+tobacco-pipe, and bulging out above and below like
+a bloated-looking spider, may solace herself with the
+assurance that her liver is cut in half, and that she
+would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to
+descant upon. We advise her to bequeath her
+remains to some hospital for the benefit of science
+and the warning of others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Seagull.</span>—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on
+our coast-line; that at Holyhead is higher, and
+measures 719 feet, while the former is only 564 above
+the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is
+678 feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St.
+Catherine’s Cliff, on the south coast of the Isle of
+Wight, is higher than all those before-named, and
+rises to 830 feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prudence Prim.</span>—Do you know a small illustrated
+book called “The Flowers of the Field”? Perhaps
+that would suit you; published by the Society for
+Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain
+time, letters waiting till called for at a foreign post-office
+are opened and directed back to the respective
+writers. Your writing is too careless; some letters
+well formed, others very nondescript.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pat Ogal.</span>—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white
+kid gloves to a cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain
+about the dress, do. For gloves you pay 2d. a
+pair.</p>
+
+<p>S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line
+upon Line,” and another called “The Peep of Day,”
+which are very suitable for children of such tender
+years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
+“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bertha.</span>—Have you never heard of a little appliance
+called a needle-threader? You would find it most
+useful, and could procure one at a fancy-work
+shop.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Joan R.</span>—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be
+polite to everyone else—busy for them even in the
+smallest attentions. You will have no time for brooding
+over your nervousness when you are married, so
+there is probably “a good time coming” for you.
+Try to prepare for it by studying nursing, cookery,
+patching and darning, etc.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">An Anxious One</span> will find her question many times
+answered if she takes the trouble to look through our
+correspondence columns under “Miscellaneous.”</p>
+
+<p>E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew
+them neatly at the seams, they would be of use in a
+hospital for female patients in winter. We may
+suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222, Marylebone-road,
+N.W., of which we have given an illustrated
+account. Any contributions in half-worn
+clothing (or new articles) of use for wear would be
+gratefully received there, books included.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lover of the Sea.</span>—1. The hair darkens as years roll
+on, and the change begins to take place at three
+years old, if not before. In middle life it is very
+many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does
+not say that “it is never too late to repent.” We
+are always told “to-day is the accepted time; to-day
+is the day of salvation ... now, while it is called
+to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow.
+If you put off making your peace with God, He may
+not bestow on you the grace of repentance and the
+desire to turn to Him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jerry.</span>—Your verses are very freely written, and give
+a good deal of promise, though some little errors
+need correction. Part of the small illustration with
+pen and ink gives hope of better things to come, and
+both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
+whether the verses can be inserted in the
+G. O. P. You did not have them certified, which
+is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur contributions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Country Member of the G. F. S.</span>—You appear
+to be in a very sad state of health, and to need
+change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when suffering
+from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter
+should be prescribed by a doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alberta Roxley.</span>—1. You do not give a sufficiently
+explicit description of the “Hymn to Music” for us
+to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide, Wide
+World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so
+crazy about sequels? There are very few written,
+and a good thing too; a new story is better than an
+old dish warmed up.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Little Puss</span> should ask her mother or governess for
+suitable books to read. Some on natural history
+would be interesting, as well as necessary for her to
+study.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">One Anxious to Know.</span>—Should a husband die intestate,
+but leave a wife and a sister, half goes to the
+wife and the other half to his sister, or his brother,
+as the case may be. If the man had had children,
+the wife would only have had a third instead of
+half.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Wee Willy Wankie.</span>—1. It depends on the age and
+size of your boy companion. The less little girls of
+fifteen walk in the London streets (the squares and
+certain residential quarters excepted) the better, if
+without a lady companion much older than themselves,
+or a maid. 2. What a ridiculous question your second
+is! “At what age should a girl become engaged?”
+There is no “should” about the matter, and there
+is no special age either. Any age after twenty-one,
+up to seventy, provided the right man proposed and
+no family duties stood in the way. All depends on
+God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you
+should never marry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Scotch Lassie.</span>—We do not see that you were rendered
+more liable to the complaint you name on
+account of having a bad digestion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Topsy Turvey.</span>—Yes, there are luminous plants,
+which give a phosphorescent light. The root-stock
+of a jungle orchid becomes luminous when wetted;
+wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s time
+it becomes very bright. A certain member of the
+fungi family, which, if you have a damp cellar, may
+be found growing on the walls, is known to emit so
+much light as to enable you to read without other
+means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy
+red poppy and potatoes, when in process of decomposition,
+are all phosphorescent, more especially the
+latter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Misletoe.</span>—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes,
+your first step would be to learn to draw
+and study perspective; then the colours, and how to
+produce others by blending them. So, if you have
+any original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to
+you by which you could illustrate those thoughts,
+you should study the art of metrical composition in
+all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
+always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right
+syllable. What you send us is not even good prose,
+the mere construction is all wrong, and there is no
+new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed
+are very good.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jack.</span>—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a
+girl, we certainly advise her to wear gloves when
+rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather ones would
+be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign
+denoting a pause, only you make a straight line over
+a dot instead of a curved one with the points downwards.
+A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
+the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s
+taste and musical feeling. Were there no dot beneath
+the short curved line, it would be a “bind” or
+“tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone
+is to be struck.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">{144}</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="nobreak ph3"><span class="u"><i>“FEATHERY FLAKES,”</i></span></p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center">OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,<br />
+IS NOW PUBLISHED.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp64" id="i_page_144" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_144b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144b.jpg" alt="Feathery Flakes" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="ph3 p2"><i>Feathery Flakes.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">What time we for a while have bidden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Farewell to summer’s bright array,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And azure skies again are hidden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By grim December’s garb of grey;</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Too often shows a cheerless face,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And falling snow is fast enfolding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We give these pure white showers a rival</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And namesake in our Christmas page,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose charm shall have less brief survival,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And banish not with winter’s rage.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">At limits of our colder zone;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And may you, for the trust you carry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Be warmly met and widely known.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Ruding, vol. I.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The Lombards, or <i>montes pietatis</i>, lent on gold and
+silver three-quarters of their value; on other metals
+half of their value; and on jewels according to circumstances.
+The rate of interest was determined in 1786 at
+five per cent.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Exchequer, so called because there was a building
+with a square hole in the floor, through which they
+used to drop the notes and gold on to a table beneath,
+covered with a chequered cloth.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Derwent.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had
+a different value.</p>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.</p>
+
+<p>Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]</p>
+
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 65356 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361,
+November 27, 1886, by Various
+
+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: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: May 16, 2021 [eBook #65356]
+
+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 THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII,
+NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER
+
+VOL. VIII.—NO. 361.      NOVEMBER 27, 1886.      PRICE ONE PENNY.]
+
+
+
+
+THE FLOWER GIRL.
+
+[Illustration: THE FLOWER GIRL.]
+
+_All rights reserved._]
+
+
+    What is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,
+      Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?
+    Is it the home of her earliest childhood
+      That for a brief hour she cannot forget,
+    Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood
+        With dewdrops all wet?
+
+    All the day long in the great crowded city—
+      Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—
+    “Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”
+      She has been crying, still crying aloud.
+    She has been merry at selling so many,
+        Merry and proud.
+
+    Now as she watches the sun that is setting,
+      Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,
+    Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,
+      Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,
+    While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers
+        Once more she trips?
+
+    Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—
+      Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—
+    That takes her to woodlands away from the city,
+      Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?
+    Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity
+        Shadow her thought.
+
+            A. M.
+
+
+
+
+MERLE’S CRUSADE.
+
+BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+LABORARE EST ORARE.
+
+My mistress (how I loved to call her by that name!) was beginning to
+give me her confidence. In a little while I grew quite at my ease with
+her.
+
+She would sit down sometimes and question me about the book I was
+reading, or, if we talked of the children, she would ask my opinion of
+them in a way that showed she respected it.
+
+She told me more than once that her husband was quite satisfied with
+me; the children thrived under my care, Reggie especially, for Joyce
+was somewhat frail and delicate. It gratified me to hear this, for a
+longer acquaintance with Mr. Morton had not lessened my sense of awe in
+his presence (I had had to feel the pressure of his strong will before
+I had been many weeks in his house, and though I had submitted to his
+enforced commands, they had cost me my only tears of humiliation, and
+yet all the time I knew he was perfectly just in his demands). The
+occasion was this.
+
+It was a rule that when visitors asked to see the children, a very
+frequent occurrence when Mrs. Morton received at home, that the head
+nurse should bring them into the blue drawing-room, as it was called.
+On two afternoons I had shirked this duty. With all my boasted courage,
+the idea of facing all those strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
+chose to consider myself privileged to infringe this part of my office.
+I dressed the children carefully, and bade Hannah take them to their
+mother. I thought the girl looked at me and hesitated a moment, but her
+habitual respect kept her silent.
+
+My dereliction of duty escaped notice on the first afternoon; Mr.
+Morton was occupied with a committee, and Mrs. Morton was too gentle
+and considerate to hint that my presence was desired, but on the second
+afternoon Hannah came up looking a little flurried.
+
+Master had not seemed pleased somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
+before the visitors, and asked where nurse was that she had not brought
+the children as usual, and the mistress had looked uncomfortable, and
+had beckoned him to her.
+
+I took no notice of Hannah’s speech, for I had a hasty tongue, and
+might have said things that I should have regretted afterwards, but my
+temper was decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as quickly as possible from
+her arms, and carried him off into the other room. I wanted to be alone
+and recover myself.
+
+I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s distress; he kept patting my
+cheeks and calling to me to kiss him, that at last I was obliged
+to leave off. I had met with a difficulty at last. I could hear the
+roaring of the chained lions behind me, but I said to myself that I
+would not be beaten; if my pride must suffer I should get over the
+unpleasantness in time. Why should I be afraid of people just because
+they wore silks and satins and were strangers to me? My fears were
+undignified and absurd; Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked my duty.
+
+I hoped that nothing more would be said about it, and I determined that
+the following Thursday I would face the ordeal; but I was not to escape
+so easily.
+
+When Mrs. Morton came into the nursery that evening to bid the children
+good-night, I thought she looked a little preoccupied. She kissed them,
+and asked me, rather nervously, to follow her into the night nursery.
+
+“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly, “I hope you will not mind what I
+am going to say. My husband has asked me to speak to you. He seemed a
+little put out this afternoon; it did not please him that Hannah should
+take your place with the children.”
+
+“Hannah told me so when she came up, Mrs. Morton.”
+
+In spite of all my efforts to restrain my temper, I am afraid my voice
+was a little sullen. I had never answered her in such a tone before. I
+would obey Mr. Morton; I knew my own position well enough for that, but
+they should both see that this part of my duty was distasteful to me.
+
+To my intense surprise she took my hand and held it gently.
+
+“I was afraid you would feel it in this way, Merle, but I want you
+to look upon it in another point of view. You know that my husband
+forewarned you that your position would entail difficulties. Hitherto
+things have been quite smooth; now comes a duty which you own by your
+manner to be bitterly distasteful. I sympathise with you, but my
+husband’s wishes are sacred; he is very particular on this point. Do
+you think for my sake that you could yield in this?”
+
+She still held my hand, and I own that the foolish feeling crossed me
+that I was glad that she should know my hand was as soft as hers, but
+as she spoke to me in that beseeching voice all sullenness left me.
+
+“There is very little that I would not do for your sake, Mrs. Morton,
+when you have been so good to me. Please do not say another word
+about it. Mr. Morton was right; I have been utterly in the wrong; I
+feel that now. Next Thursday I will bring down the children into the
+drawing-room.”
+
+She thanked me so warmly that she made me feel still more ashamed of
+myself; it seemed such a wonderful thing that my mistress should stoop
+to entreat where she could by right command, but she was very tolerant
+of a girl’s waywardness. She did not leave me even then, but changed
+the subject. She sat down and talked to me for a few minutes about
+myself and Aunt Agatha. I had not been home yet, and she wanted me to
+fix some afternoon when Mrs. Garnett or Travers could take my place.
+
+“We must not let you get too dull, Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
+a good girl, but she cannot be a companion to you in any sense of the
+word.” And perhaps in that she was right.
+
+I woke the following Thursday with a sense of uneasiness oppressing me,
+so largely do our small fears magnify themselves when indulged. As the
+afternoon approached I grew quite pale with apprehension, and Hannah,
+with unspoken sympathy, but she had wonderful tact for a girl, only
+hinted at the matter in a roundabout way.
+
+I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise blue velvet, and was fastening
+my clean frilled apron over my black gown, when Hannah said quietly,
+“Well, it is no wonder master likes to show people what sort of nurse
+he has got. I don’t think anyone could look so nice in a cap and apron
+as you do, Miss Fenton. It is just as though you were making believe to
+be a servant like me, and it would not do anyhow.”
+
+I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely compliment, but I confessed it
+pleased me and gave me courage. I felt still more like myself when my
+boy put his dimpled arms round my neck, and hid his dear face on my
+shoulder. I could not persuade him to loosen his hold until his mother
+spoke to him, and there was Joyce holding tightly to my gown all the
+time.
+
+The room was so full that it almost made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
+Morton to rise from her seat and meet me, but all her coaxing speeches
+would not make Reggie do more than raise his head from my shoulder. He
+sat in my arms like a baby prince, beating off everyone with his little
+hands, and refusing even to go to his father.
+
+Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I carried him from one to another.
+Joyce had left me at once for her mother. Some of the ladies questioned
+me about the children. They spoke very civilly, but their inquisitive
+glances made my face burn, and it was with difficulty that I made
+suitable replies. Once I looked up, and saw that Mr. Morton was
+watching me. His glance was critical, but not unkindly. I had a feeling
+then that he was subjecting me purposely to this test. I must carry out
+my theory into practice. I am convinced all this was in his mind as he
+looked at me, and I no longer bore a grudge against him.
+
+Not long afterwards I had an opportunity of learning that he could own
+himself fallible on some points. He was exceedingly just, and could
+bear a rebuke even from an inferior, if it proved him to be clearly in
+the wrong.
+
+One afternoon he came into the nursery to play with the children for
+a few minutes. He would wind up their mechanical toys to amuse them.
+Reggie was unusually fretful, and nothing seemed to please him. He
+scolded both his father and his walking doll, and would have nothing
+to say to the learned dog who beat the timbrels and nodded his head
+approvingly to his own music. Presently he caught sight of his
+favourite woolly lamb placed out of his reach on the mantelpiece, and
+began screaming and kicking.
+
+“Naughty Reggie,” observed his father, complacently, and he was taking
+down the toy when I begged him respectfully to replace it.
+
+He looked at me in some little surprise.
+
+“I thought he was crying for it,” he said, somewhat perplexed at this.
+
+“Reggie must not cry for things after that fashion,” I returned,
+firmly, for I felt a serious principle was involved here. “He is only a
+baby, but he is very sensible, and knows he is naughty when he screams
+for a thing. I never give it to him until he is good.”
+
+“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he seems far off from goodness now.
+What do you mean by making all that noise, my boy?”
+
+Reggie was in one of his passions, it was easy to see that; the toy
+would have been flung to the ground in his present mood; so without
+looking at his father or asking his permission, I resorted to my usual
+method, and laid him down screaming lustily in his little cot.
+
+“There baby must stop until he is good,” I remarked, quietly, and I
+took my work and sat down at some little distance, while Mr. Morton
+watched us from the other room. I knew my plan always answered with
+Reggie, and the storm would soon be over.
+
+In two or three minutes his screams ceased, and I heard a penitent
+“Gargle do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him directly, and in a moment
+he held out his arms to be lifted out of the cot.
+
+“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as I kissed him.
+
+“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply, and the next moment he was
+cuddling his lamb.
+
+“I own your method is the best, nurse,” observed Mr. Morton,
+pleasantly. “My boy will not be spoiled, I see that. I confess I should
+have given him the toy directly he screamed for it; you showed greater
+wisdom than his father.”
+
+It is impossible to say how much this speech gratified me. From that
+moment I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.
+
+My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly. A little before the
+nursery dinner Travers brought a message from Mrs. Morton that Joyce
+was to go out with her in the carriage, and that if I liked to have
+the afternoon and evening to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take charge of
+Reggie.
+
+The offer was too tempting to be refused. I do not think I ever knew
+the meaning of the word holiday before. No schoolgirl felt in greater
+spirits than I did during dinner time.
+
+It was a lovely April afternoon. I took out of my wardrobe a soft
+grey merino, my best dress, and a little grey velvet bonnet that Aunt
+Agatha’s skilful hands had made for me. I confess I looked at myself
+with some complacency. “No one would take me for a nurse,” I thought.
+
+In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton; he was just going out. For the
+moment he did not recognise me. He removed his hat hurriedly; no doubt
+he thought me a stranger.
+
+I could not help smiling at his mistake, and then he said, rather
+awkwardly, “I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I am glad you have such
+a lovely afternoon for your holiday; there seems a look of spring in
+the air,” all very civilly, but with his keen eyes taking in every
+particular of my dress.
+
+I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards that he very much approved of Miss
+Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance, and as he was a very fastidious
+man, this was considered high praise. There was more than a touch of
+spring in the air; the delicious softness seemed to promise opening
+buds. Down Exhibition-road the flower-girls were busy with their
+baskets of snowdrops and violets. I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then
+I remembered that Uncle Keith had a weakness for a particular sort of
+scone, and I bought some and a slice of rich Dundee seed cake. I felt
+like a schoolgirl providing a little home feast, but how pleasant it
+is to cater for those we love. I was glad when my short journey was
+over, and I could see the river shimmering a steely blue in the spring
+sunshine. The old church towers seemed more venerable and picturesque.
+As I walked down High-street I looked at the well-known shops with an
+interest I never felt before.
+
+When I reached the cottage I rang very softly, that Aunt Agatha
+should not be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased exclamation when
+she caught sight of me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle? I could
+hardly believe my eyes. Mistress is in there reading,” pointing to the
+drawing-room. “She has not heard the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can
+surprise her finely.”
+
+I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened the door noiselessly. How cosy
+the room looked in the firelight! and could any sight be more pleasant
+to my eyes than dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite low chair, in
+her well-worn black silk and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget her
+look of delight when she saw me.
+
+“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you mean it is really you? Come here and
+let me look at you. I want to see what seven weeks of hard work have
+done for you.”
+
+But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim as she looked.
+
+“There, sit down, and get warm,” giving me an energetic little push,
+“and tell me all about it. Your letters never do you justice, Merle. I
+must hear your experience from your own lips.”
+
+What a talk that was. It lasted all the afternoon, until Patience
+came in to set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle Keith’s boots on the
+scraper; even that sound was musical to me. When he entered the room I
+gave him a good hug, and had put some of my violets in his button-hole
+long before he had left off saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.
+
+“She looks well, Agatha, does she not?” he observed, as we gathered
+round the tea-table. “So the scheme has held out for seven weeks, eh?
+You have not come to tell us you are tired of being a nurse?”
+
+“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly. “I am determined to prove to
+you and the whole world that my theory is a sensible one. I am quite
+happy in my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith. I would not part with my
+children for worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for Reggie, he is such
+a darling that I could not live without him.”
+
+“It is making a woman of Merle, I can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
+softly. “I confess I did not like the plan at first, but if you make it
+answer, child, you will have me for a convert. You look just as nice
+and just as much a lady as you did when you were leading a useless life
+here. Never mind if in time your hands grow a little less soft and
+white; that is a small matter if your heart expands and your conscience
+is satisfied. You remember your favourite motto, Merle?”
+
+“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare est orare.’ Now I must go, for
+Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch, which means I have to catch my
+train.”
+
+But as I trudged over the bridge beside him in the starlight, and saw
+the faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy river, a voice seemed to
+whisper to my inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle, a good beginning
+makes a glad ending. Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est orare.’”
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.
+
+BY THE REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., Author of “The Handy Natural History.”
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The death-stroke—Ways of the
+heron—Watching for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in the New
+Forest—Return to wild habits—The fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron
+and the eel—The cormorant and the conger—The heron’s power of wing—How
+the heron settles—Its resting-place—Power of the heron’s beak—Heronry
+in Wanstead Park.
+
+The water-vole has but few enemies whom it need fear, and one of them
+is now so scarce that the animal enjoys a practical immunity from
+it. This is the heron (_Ardea cinerea_), which has suffered great
+diminution of its numbers since the spread of agriculture.
+
+Even now, however, when the brook is far away from the habitations of
+man, the heron may be detected by a sharp eye standing motionless in
+the stream, and looking out for prey. Being as still as if cut out of
+stone, neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the latter should
+happen to approach within striking distance, it will be instantly
+killed by a sharp stroke on the back of the head.
+
+The throat of the heron looks too small to allow the bird to swallow
+any animal larger than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable that
+the largest water-vole can be swallowed with perfect ease.
+
+The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious about its food, and will
+eat fish, frogs, toads, or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
+has even been known to devour young waterhens, swimming out to their
+nest, and snatching up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is fish
+that comes to its beak.
+
+If the reader should be fortunate enough to espy a heron while watching
+for prey, let him make the most of the opportunity.
+
+Although the heron is a large bird, it is not easily seen. In the first
+place, there are few birds which present so many different aspects.
+When it stalks over the ground with erect bearing and alert gestures
+it seems as conspicuous a bird as can well be imagined. Still more
+conspicuous does it appear when flying, the ample wings spread, the
+head and neck stretched forwards, and the long legs extending backwards
+by way of balance.
+
+But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled fish it must
+remain absolutely still. So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird,
+its long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers of the shoulders, and
+nothing but the glancing eye denoting that it is alive.
+
+This quiescence must be imitated by the observer, should he wish to
+watch the proceedings of the bird, as the least movement will startle
+it. The reason why so many persons fail to observe the habits of
+animals, and then disbelieve those who have been more successful, is
+that they have never mastered the key to all observation, _i.e._,
+refraining from the slightest motion. A movement of the hand or foot,
+or even a turn of the head is certain to give alarm; while many
+creatures are so wary that when watching them it is as well to droop
+the eyelids as much as possible, and not even to turn the eyes quickly,
+lest the reflection of the light from their surface should attract the
+attention of the watchful creature.
+
+One of the worst results of detection is that when any animal is
+startled it conveys the alarm to all others that happen to be within
+sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals of the same species
+have a language of their own which they perfectly understand, though it
+is not likely that an animal belonging to one species can understand
+the language of another.
+
+But there seems to be a sort of universal or _lingua-franca_ language
+which is common to all the animals, whether they be beasts or birds,
+and one of the best known phrases is the cry of alarm, which is
+understood by all alike.
+
+I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely necessary to be alone,
+as there is no object in two observers going together unless they can
+communicate with each other, and there is nothing which is so alarming
+to the beasts and birds as the sound of the human voice.
+
+Yet there is a mode by which two persons who have learned to act in
+concert with each other can manage to observe in company. It was shown
+to me by an old African hunter, when I was staying with him in the New
+Forest.
+
+In the forest, although even the snapping of a dry twig will give the
+alarm, neither bird nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
+We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and practised ourselves
+thoroughly in them.
+
+Then, we went as quietly as we could to the chosen spot, and sat down
+facing each other, so that no creature could pass behind one of us
+without being detected by the other. We were both dressed in dark grey,
+and took the precaution of sitting with our backs against a tree or a
+bank, or any object which could perform the double duty of giving us
+something to lean against, and of breaking the outlines of the human
+form.
+
+Our whistled code was as low as was possible consistent with being
+audible, and I do not think that during our many experiments we gave
+the alarm to a single creature.
+
+When the observer is remaining without movement, scarcely an animal
+will notice him.
+
+I remember that on one occasion my friend and I were sitting opposite
+each other, one on either side of a narrow forest path. The sun had
+set, but at that time of the year there is scarcely any real night, and
+objects could be easily seen in the half light.
+
+Presently a fox came stealthily along the path. Now the cunning of the
+fox is proverbial, and neither of us thought that he would pass between
+us without detecting our presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
+that we could have touched him with a stick.
+
+Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the same path, walking almost
+as noiselessly as the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact that
+domesticated animals, when allowed to wander at liberty in the New
+Forest, soon revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.
+
+As the cow came along the path, neither of us could conjecture the
+owner of the stealthy footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
+poachers, in which case things would have gone hard with us, the
+poachers of the New Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of men,
+always provided with firearms and bludgeons, having scarcely the very
+slightest regard for the law, and almost out of reach of the police.
+
+They would certainly have considered us as spies upon them, and as
+certainly would have attacked and half, if not quite killed us, we
+being unarmed.
+
+But to our amusement as well as relief, the step was only that of a
+solitary cow, the animal lifting each foot high from the ground before
+she made her step, and putting it down as cautiously as she had raised
+it.
+
+Then, a barn owl came drifting silently between us, looking in the
+dusk as large and white as if it had been the snowy owl itself. Yet,
+neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl detected us, although passing
+within a few feet of us.
+
+In the daytime the observer, however careful he may be, is always
+liable to detection by a stray magpie or crow.
+
+The bird comes flying along overhead, its keen eyes directed downwards,
+on the look-out for the eggs of other birds. At first he may not notice
+the motionless and silent observer, but sooner or later he is sure to
+do so.
+
+If it were not exasperating to have all one’s precautions frustrated,
+the shriek of terrified astonishment with which the bird announces the
+unexpected presence of a human being would be exceedingly ludicrous.
+As it is, a feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of amusement,
+for at least an hour will elapse before the startled animals will have
+recovered from the magpie’s alarm cry.
+
+Supposing that we are stationed on the banks of the brook on a fine
+summer evening, while the long twilight endures, and have been
+fortunate enough to escape the notice of the magpie or other feathered
+spy, we may have the opportunity of watching the heron capture its prey.
+
+The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and in a moment the bird is
+holding a fish transversely in its beak. The long, narrow bill scarcely
+seems capable of retaining the slippery prey; but if a heron’s beak
+be examined carefully, it will be seen to possess a number of slight
+serrations upon the edges, which enable it to take a firm grasp of the
+fish.
+
+Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling, for almost as soon
+as captured it is flung in the air, caught dexterously with its head
+downwards, and swallowed.
+
+It is astonishing how large a fish will pass down the slender throat
+of a heron. As has been already mentioned, the water-vole is swallowed
+without difficulty. Now the water-vole measures between eight and nine
+inches in length from the nose to the root of the tail, and is a very
+thickset animal, so that it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.
+
+It is seldom that the heron has, like the kingfisher, to beat its prey
+against a stone or any hard object before swallowing it, though when
+it catches a rather large eel it is obliged to avail itself of this
+device before it can get the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
+attitude. The eel has the strongest objection to going down the heron’s
+throat, and has no idea of allowing its head to pass into the heron’s
+beak. The eel, therefore, must be rendered insensible before it can be
+swallowed.
+
+Generally it is enough to carry the refractory prey to the bank, hold
+it down with the foot, and peck it from one end to the other until it
+is motionless. Should the eel be too large to be held by the feet, it
+is rapidly battered against a stone, just as a large snail is treated
+by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.
+
+If the feet of the heron be examined, a remarkable comb-like appendage
+may be seen on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.
+
+What may be the precise office of this comb is not satisfactorily
+decided. Some ornithologists think that it is utilised in preening the
+plumage, I cannot, however, believe that it performs such an office. I
+have enjoyed exceptional opportunities for watching the proceedings of
+the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity, but never saw it
+preen its feathers with its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
+actually witnessed the proceeding.
+
+[Illustration: IN WANSTEAD PARK.]
+
+It is not always fair to judge from a dead bird what the living bird
+might have been able to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage of a
+dead heron with its foot-comb, and have not succeeded.
+
+Another suggestion is that the bird may use it when it holds prey under
+its feet, as has just been narrated. These suggestions, however, are
+nothing more than conjectures, but, as they have been the subject of
+much argument, I have thought it best to mention them.
+
+Sometimes it has happened that the heron has miscalculated its powers,
+and seized a fish which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
+Anglers frequently capture fish which bear the marks of the heron’s
+beak upon their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish nor the
+heron is any the worse for the struggle.
+
+But when the unmanageable fish has been an eel, the result has, more
+than once, been disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on the
+British birds, a case is recorded where a heron and eel were both found
+dead, the partially swallowed eel having twisted itself round the neck
+of the heron in its struggles.
+
+A very similar incident occurred off the coast of Devonshire, the
+victim in this case being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
+conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper mandible completely through
+the lower jaw of the fish, the horny beak having entered under the chin
+of the eel.
+
+The bird could not shake the fish off its beak, and the result was
+that both were found lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
+having coiled itself round the neck of the cormorant and strangled it.
+The stuffed skins of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro Museum,
+preserved in the position in which they were found.
+
+Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the heron will take flight for
+its home, which will probably be at a considerable distance from its
+fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles are but an easy journey for the
+bird, which measures more than five feet across the expanded wings, and
+yet barely weighs three pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
+is believed to be the lightest bird known. The Rev. C. A. Johns states
+that he has seen the heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from any
+heronry.
+
+The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically described in a letter
+published in the _Standard_ newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.
+
+“One summer evening I was under a wood by the Exe. The sun had set, and
+from over the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy cloud stretched
+out across the sky. The rooks came slowly home to roost, disappearing
+over the wood, and at the same time the herons approached in exactly
+the opposite direction, flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
+out to feed as the rooks returned home.
+
+“The first heron sailed on steadily at a great height, uttering a loud
+“caak, caak” at intervals. In a few minutes a second followed, and
+“caak, caak” sounded again over the river valley.
+
+“The third was flying at a less height, and as he came into sight
+over the line of the wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding his
+immense wings extended, dived, as a rook will, downwards through the
+air. He twisted from side to side like anything spun round by the
+finger and thumb as he came down, rushing through the air head first.
+
+“The sound of his great vanes pressing and dividing the air was
+distinctly audible. He looked unable to manage his descent, but at the
+right moment he recovered his balance, and rose a little up into a tree
+on the summit, drawing his long legs into the branches behind him.
+
+“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and so descended into the
+wood. Two more passed on over the valley—altogether six herons in about
+a quarter of an hour. They intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees
+till it was dusky, and then to go down and fish in the wood. Herons
+are here called cranes, and heronries are craneries. (This confusion
+between the heron and the crane exists in most parts of Ireland.)
+
+“A determined sportsman who used to eat every heron he could shoot, in
+revenge for their ravages among the trout, at last became suspicious,
+and, examining one, found in it the remains of a rat and of a toad,
+after which he did not eat any more herons. Another sportsman found a
+heron in the very act of gulping down a good sized trout, which stuck
+in the gullet. He shot the heron and got the trout, which was not at
+all injured, only marked at each side where the beak had cut it. The
+fish was secured and eaten.”
+
+I can corroborate the accuracy as well as the graphic wording of the
+above description.
+
+When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent, I used nearly every evening
+to see herons flying northwards. I think that they were making for the
+Essex marshes. They always flew at a very great height, and might have
+escaped observation but for the loud, harsh croak which they uttered
+at intervals, and which has been so well described by the monosyllable
+“caak.”
+
+As to their mode of settling on a tree, I have often watched the
+herons of Walton Hall, where they were so tame that they would allow
+themselves to be approached quite closely. When settling, they lower
+themselves gently until their feet are upon the branch. They then keep
+up a slight flapping of the wings until they are fairly settled.
+
+An idea is prevalent in many parts of England that when the heron sits
+on its nest, its long legs hang down on either side. Nothing can be
+more absurd. The heron can double up its legs as is usual among birds,
+and sits on its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any other
+short-legged bird.
+
+In many respects the heron much resembles the rook in its manner of
+nesting. The nest is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty tree,
+and is little more than a mere platform of small sticks. Being a larger
+bird than the rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and on an average
+the diameter of a nest is about three feet.
+
+Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its nesting, a solitary
+heron’s nest being unknown. In their modes of feeding, however, the
+two birds utterly differ from each other, the heron seeking its food
+alone, while the rook feeds in company, always placing a sentinel on
+some elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm at the approach of
+danger.
+
+The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice of a nesting-place,
+and, like the rook, prefers the neighbourhood of man, knowing
+instinctively when it will be protected by its human neighbours.
+Fortunately for the bird, the possession of a heronry is a matter of
+pride among landowners; so that even if the owner of a trout-stream
+happened also to possess a heronry, he would not think of destroying
+the herons because they ate his trout.
+
+In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it is not to be recommended as
+a pet. It is apt to bestow all its affections on one individual, and to
+consider the rest of the human race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
+pecked out.
+
+I was for some time acquainted with such a bird, but took care to keep
+well out of reach of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
+unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.
+
+It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was almost slavishly
+affectionate to the gardener, rubbing itself against his legs like a
+pet cat, and trying in every way to attract his attention. He had even
+taught it a few simple tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off his
+head, and then offer it to him.
+
+But just in proportion as it became friendly with the gardener it
+became cross-grained with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
+who came into the garden, and darting its beak at their eyes. Its last
+performance caused it to be placed in confinement.
+
+An elderly gentleman had entered the garden on business, when the bird
+instantly assailed him. Knowing the habits of the heron, he very wisely
+flung himself on his face for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
+shouted for help.
+
+Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the most of its opportunity,
+mounted upon his prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting several
+severe pecks upon his body and limbs before the gardener could come to
+the rescue.
+
+The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the mandibles being closed,
+and the blow delivered with the full power of the long neck, so that
+each blow from the beak is something like the stab of a bayonet, and so
+strong and sharp is the beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
+into an effective spearhead.
+
+Few people seem to be aware that a large and populous heronry exists in
+Wanstead Park, on the very outskirts of London.
+
+At the end of summer, when the young birds are fledged, the heronry
+is nearly deserted, but during the early days of spring the heronry
+is well worth a visit. The great birds are all in full activity, as
+is demanded by the many wants of the young, and on the ground beneath
+may be seen fragments of the pale-blue eggs. On an average there are
+three young ones in each nest, so that the scene is very lively and
+interesting, until the foliage becomes so thick that it hides the birds
+and their nests.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;
+
+OR,
+
+THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.
+
+BY EMMA BREWER.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Just for a little time I must leave my personal history to inquire how
+England managed to do without me so long, and what the circumstances
+were which at length rendered my existence imperative.
+
+In the days following the Norman Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit
+in life was the commerce of money, were the compulsory bankers of the
+country.
+
+They were subject to much cruelty and persecution, as you may see for
+yourselves in your histories of the Kings of England. It is not to be
+denied that their demands for interest on money lent by them were most
+extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest exceeded 40 per cent., and I
+believe that 500 Jews were slain by our London citizens because one of
+them would have forced a Christian to pay more than twopence for the
+usury of 20s.[1] for one week, which sum they were allowed by the king
+to take from the Oxford students.
+
+They were ill-treated and robbed from the time they came over with the
+Conqueror until the reign of Edward I., who distinguished himself by
+robbing 15,000 Jews of their wealth, and then banishing the whole of
+them from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned against as sinning, the
+compulsory bankers of the period departed.
+
+There was no time to feel their loss, for immediately after their
+expulsion the Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of Genoa, Florence,
+Lucca and Venice, came over to England and established themselves in
+the street which still bears their name.
+
+There was no doubt as to their purpose, for it was a well-known fact
+that in whatever country or town they settled they engrossed its trade
+and became masters of its cash, and certainly they did not intend to
+make an exception in favour of London.
+
+I am not going to deny that they introduced into our midst many of
+the arts and skill of trade with which we in England were previously
+unacquainted; and it is to these Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the
+introduction of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention, and one which
+has served to connect the whole world into one, as you will see when
+the proper place arrives for their explanation.
+
+These Lombards, immediately after their arrival in London, may have
+been seen regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street with their
+wares, exposing for sale the most attractive articles; and in a short
+time became so successful that they were able to take shops in which to
+carry on their business as goldsmiths.
+
+These shops were not confined to the one street which bears their name,
+but were continued along the south row of Cheapside, extending from the
+street called Old Change into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
+after the Great Fire, when they removed to Lombard-street. There seems
+to be no street in the world where a business of one special character
+has been carried on so continuously as in Lombard-street. In the time
+of Queen Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in London. In addition
+to the art of the goldsmith, they added the business of money-changing,
+the importance of which occupation you will be able to estimate when we
+come to the subject of the coins of the realm.
+
+From money-changers they became money-lenders and money-borrowers—money
+was the commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per cent. the modest
+interest they asked and obtained for their money.
+
+Of course they gave receipts for the money lodged with them, and these
+circulated and were known by the name of “goldsmiths’ notes,” and were,
+in fact, the first kind of bank-notes issued in England.
+
+The Lombards were a most industrious class of people, and left no
+stone unturned by which they could obtain wealth; and in an incredibly
+short time we find them not only wealthy, but powerful, and occupying
+a very prominent position; and you may be quite sure that under these
+circumstances they did not escape persecution.
+
+Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were extortioners, Edward III.
+seized their property and estates. Even this seemed but slightly to
+affect them; for in the fifteenth century we find them advancing large
+sums of money for the service of the State on the security of the
+Customs.
+
+In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the time of my birth, the
+banking was entirely in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried on in
+a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently the case when unrestrained by
+rivals.
+
+I dare say you have all noticed the three golden balls on the outside
+of pawnbrokers’ shops. Originally these were three pills, the emblem of
+the Medici (physician) family; but in some way they became associated
+with St. Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths, under the name of
+the three golden balls—an emblem which the Lombards have retained.
+
+Are you curious to know how the sign has so degenerated as to be the
+inseparable companion of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well, listen.
+
+Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were established from motives of
+charity in the fifteenth century. Their object was to lend money to
+the poor upon pledges and without interest. Originally they were
+supported by voluntary contributions, but as these proved insufficient
+to pay expenses, it became necessary to charge interest for the money
+lent. These banks were first distinguished by the name of _montes
+pietatis_. The word _mont_ at this period was applied to any pecuniary
+fund, and it is probable that _pietatis_ was added by the promoters
+of the scheme, to give it an air of religion, and thus procure larger
+subscriptions.
+
+Well, these banks were not only called mounts of piety, but were
+known also as Lombards,[2] from the name of the original bankers or
+money-lenders. Now you see how it is pawnbrokers bear the sign of the
+goldsmiths.
+
+You who know so well where to place your money, both for interest
+and security, when you have any to spare, can scarcely understand
+the trouble and annoyance which our merchants and wealthy people
+experienced at having no place of security wherein they could deposit
+their money. At one time they sent it to the Mint in the Tower of
+London, which became a sort of bank, where merchants left their money
+when they had no need of it, and drew it out only as they wanted it;
+but this soon ceased to be a place of security. In 1640 Charles I.,
+without leave asked or granted, took possession of £200,000 of the
+money lodged there. Great was the wrath of the merchants, who were
+compelled, after this unkingly act, to keep their surplus money at
+home, guarded by their apprentices and servants. Even here the money
+was not safe, for on the breaking out of the war between Charles and
+his Parliament, it was no uncommon occurrence for the apprentices to
+rob their masters and run away and join the army.
+
+When the merchants found that neither the public authorities nor their
+own servants were to be trusted, they employed bankers, and these
+bankers were goldsmiths.
+
+Many a tale, however, has reached me of the shifts and contrivances
+of people to secure their savings and surplus money—people whose
+experience had taught them to distrust both authorities and places, and
+who would not, under the new state of things, have anything to do with
+the bankers. One I will relate to you.
+
+A man whose life had been one of hard work and self-denial, and who had
+two or three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness of the
+people with whom he had lodged it, determined to be their dupe no more.
+Money began once more to accumulate, and all things prospered with him;
+but no one could imagine what he did with it; as far as his household
+could tell, he did not deposit it with anyone outside the house,
+neither could they discover any place within where it was possible
+to stow it away. No persuasion could move the man to speak one word
+concerning it.
+
+At length he died, without having time or consciousness to mention
+the whereabouts of his money. Search was made in all directions, but
+without success.
+
+While living he had been a regular attendant at one of our City
+churches, and, occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
+square pew, was well known to the clergy and servants.
+
+A few weeks after his death the pew-opener told the rector, in a
+frightened voice, that she could no longer keep the matter from him,
+for as surely as she stood there, the ghost of the man who died a week
+or two ago haunted the church by night and by day.
+
+Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish fancy, the rector allowed her
+to tell her story quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and very
+nervous.
+
+She related that several times during the past weeks, when quite alone
+in the church for the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had heard a
+peculiar noise proceeding from the pew where the old man used to sit,
+and it sounded to her exactly as though he were counting out money, and
+she would be very glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.
+
+Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied the woman to the pew.
+At first all was quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound came
+exactly as described; they felt round about the pew, and at length
+discovered a movable panel near the flooring. It was the work of a
+moment to remove it, and there, in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of
+money wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted the mice, and it
+was their little pattering feet among the coins which had caught the
+woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped in his week’s savings on
+Sundays, believing that it would be safer in the church than elsewhere.
+
+It seems that after the restoration of Charles II., he being greatly
+in want of money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten per cent. for
+the loan. Often, however, they obtained thirty per cent. from him, and
+this induced the goldsmiths to lend more and more to the king, so that
+really the whole revenue passed through their hands.
+
+In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers, and put a check on their
+prodigal lending. King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526, which he had
+borrowed at eight per cent., utterly refused to pay either principal or
+interest, and he remained firm to his resolution.
+
+The way in which bankers transacted their loans with the king, was in
+this manner:—As soon as the Parliament had voted to the king certain
+sums of money out of special taxes, the goldsmith-bankers at once
+supplied the king with the whole sum so voted, and were repaid in
+weekly payments at the Exchequer[3] as the taxes were received.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Ruding, vol. I.
+
+[2] The Lombards, or _montes pietatis_, lent on gold and silver
+three-quarters of their value; on other metals half of their value;
+and on jewels according to circumstances. The rate of interest was
+determined in 1786 at five per cent.
+
+[3] Exchequer, so called because there was a building with a square
+hole in the floor, through which they used to drop the notes and gold
+on to a table beneath, covered with a chequered cloth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.
+
+BY A LADY DRESSMAKER.
+
+
+We have had such a mild and delightful autumn, that all kinds of winter
+garments have been delayed in making an appearance. This is especially
+the case with mantles and the heavier class of jackets. However, there
+is enough to show us that no great novelty has been introduced. Mantles
+are all small and short, and the majority have ends in front more or
+less long. Black plush seems a very favourite material, and is much
+overladen with trimming. Plain plush is also used for paletôts, and for
+large cloaks; but there is a new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers,
+that is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps and epaulettes are worn
+as well as ornaments at the back, and sometimes beaded braces round
+the join of the sleeve in the small mantles, and a strip of the same
+may be used to outline the seam at the back. These hints may help some
+of my readers to do up a last year’s mantle with some of the moderate
+priced bead trimmings now in vogue. Paletôts or cloaks are made both
+long and medium in length. They are made in plush, cloth, and rough
+cloths, but are not seen in the finer fancy stuffs which are made use
+of for mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have an appearance as
+if braid were sewn on to the surface. The cloak paletôts, when long,
+close in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed with a border
+of fur, which is shaped on the shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
+“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower edge of the cloak; the cuffs
+are deep. Fur trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting follow the
+same rule, and have no trimming of fur at the edge. Fur boas are very
+decidedly the fashion this winter, and there seems no end to their
+popularity. Some of them are flat at the neck, like a collarette; and
+others are attached to the mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
+and some are nothing more than fur collars that clasp round the throat;
+and these collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the place of the
+fur capes that have been worn so long. Grey furs are more in fashion
+than brown ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock, and
+opossum, and I see that quantities of American raccoon are also being
+prepared. Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable, marten-tail,
+mink, or blue fox, are not within the ordinary range of purchasers, and
+few people care to spend so much money on dress as their acquirement
+entails. There is also a new feeling to be taken into account; the same
+feeling that makes thinking women and girls decline to wear birds,
+and their heads and wings, _i.e._, the feeling that the seal fishery
+as hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may wear furs that are
+too costly in other ways. I often think if mighty hunters—instead of
+hunting down the buffalo, and the other animals useful to the Indian in
+the North West—would go to India and hunt the tigers that so cruelly
+prey on the natives there, we should wear those skins with much
+pleasure as well as advantage. But the account of the slaying of a
+mother-seal ought to be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I have never
+cordially liked sealskins since I read of the devotion of one poor
+mother-seal in particular to her young; and I have never had a sealskin
+jacket since.
+
+[Illustration: AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.]
+
+There are numbers of jackets in every style, but all are made of
+woollen materials, not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them are
+tight-fitting, and are smart looking and stylish. Both single and
+double-breasted ones are seen. Hoods are much worn, but are by no means
+general. Coloured linings are used to pale-coloured or checked cloth
+jackets, but not to black or brown ones. Small mantles and cloaks
+are tied at the neck by a quantity of ribbons to match the colour of
+the cloth or plush. One of the new ideas for mantles is that of a
+semi-fitting jacket over a long close-fitting cloak.
+
+[Illustration: UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.]
+
+The new bonnets and hats are much smaller and prettier now, and there
+are in consequence many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
+well-dressed girls in the streets of London. Formerly no girl who
+wished to be thought somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet in London.
+
+The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on gathered, doubled and
+pleated, sometimes with as many as three frills at the edge. Many of
+the bonnets are without strings, and have pointed fronts, and there is
+much jet trimming used even on coloured velvet bonnets. I am sorry to
+say that our fashionable caterers continue to prey upon the feathered
+creation all over the world. This winter the owl has evidently fallen
+a victim, and there are besides the tern, kingfisher, and the heron.
+How I wish this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be prevented, and
+that my numberless girl-readers would try to avoid giving it the least
+encouragement. While we have the beautiful ostrich feathers, we cannot
+need these other poor victims offered up on the altar of feminine
+vanity and unthinking cruelty.
+
+Some of the felt hats for the season are very pretty. They have high
+and sloping crowns, the brims are often only bound with ribbon, but if
+wide and turned up at the back, they are lined with velvet, or rather
+only partly lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined. Many
+of them have brims turned up all round, like one of the old turban hats.
+
+The ribbons in use at present are of all kinds, satin and velvet
+reversible, as well as _moiré_ and velvet, or satin and _moiré_. These
+have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk, in colour. Velvet
+ribbons with corded stripes have one edge purled and the other fringed;
+and the strings of bonnets are of narrow _picot_-edged ribbon.
+
+The number of white gowns that have been worn during the past season
+and up to the present moment has been remarkable, and has quite
+justified the name of a “white season.” Even as the weather became
+colder, a charming mixture of materials was introduced, viz., white
+corduroy, and some soft woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
+winter white will be the special fashion for young people for the
+evening, and any colour can be given by trimming. It seems likely that
+perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of habit-cloths, will be used
+for winter day dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued fur, or
+with velvet to match the colour of the cloth. The colours that will
+be worn in these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a tint like
+heliotrope, and a reddish violet.
+
+Fancy materials in mixed colours abound, the mixtures being green
+and ruby, brown and red, sage and vermilion, and others of the same
+unæsthetic nature. The new browns are called Carmelite, chestnut,
+rosewood, hair, and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux, Indian, currant,
+and clove. A new green is called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
+popular, and brown and red violet are the special colours of the season.
+
+In the making of dresses there is but little change. The skirts are
+still short, and the draperies still long; while there is a fancy
+for over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will be a blessing for
+the possessors of half-worn and very ancient bodices. Bracers are
+one of the novelties as a form of trimming for the latter. They are
+also trimmed in imitation of a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
+returning to favour, and will be worn later on over lace skirts for
+evening dress. Serge seems to me to be the most favoured material this
+winter, and it forms the ground work of half the fancy cloths and
+mixtures. Stripes and crossbars are in the highest favour, and both
+alpaca and foulard are used, and with poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet,
+and silk rep, form the generality of the new dresses. There are numbers
+of hairy-looking woollen materials, but I should not think they would
+wear as well as a good serge, which is always a useful purchase.
+
+The new petticoat materials in winceys are very gay and pretty, and the
+pattern is usually of stripes; but the materials are various, being
+sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed, and in the weaving there is
+usually a rough or knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats have a
+few steels in them, and the addition makes the dress hold out from the
+heels a little. A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however, quite
+enough for most people, and very little crinolette is now worn—nothing
+ungraceful nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of better quality
+are made of plain silk or satin, and one of the new fashions is to line
+them with chamois leather, so as to make them warmer.
+
+[Illustration: NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.]
+
+Shoes are more worn in London than boots, and laced shoes more than
+buttoned ones. The same is the case with boots, which are considered
+to fit better, and to look more stylish when laced than buttoned. I
+have been very glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and shoes are
+on the increase, having wider toes and lower, broader heels. At the
+present moment many of the best shops have them in their windows, and
+have found it best and wisest to keep them for their customers; in
+fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities, and of all kinds of proper
+clothing, is being so much extended and impressed on the public mind
+on all sides, that I should not wonder if we all became quite reformed
+characters, and wore, ate, and drank only such things as were good for
+us.
+
+I must not forget to mention gloves and their styles. Most people
+usually wear Swede or kid gloves during the winter months; but this
+year there are some such delightfully warm and pretty gloves in wool
+and silk to be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt be tempted
+to purchase them. If the dress be of a quiet colour, the gloves should
+match it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any kind, the proper
+gloves to wear would be tan-colour. These latter are also used in the
+evening, except when the dress is black, or black and white, when the
+gloves should be of grey Swede.
+
+Our illustrations for the month are full of suggestions for making new
+gowns and for altering old ones. It will be seen that the gowns are
+both simple and elegant, with long flowing lines, and little or no
+fulness of drapery. The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown, and the
+newest model of a cape-like sleeve is given in our large front picture
+of a seashore, “Under Northern Skies.” Much braiding is used, and it
+is shown in two ways—laid on in flat bands, and also in a pattern on
+the mantle. The new shapes of hats are much more moderate, and most
+of the new shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern for the month is
+represented as worn by a lady in the centre of the smaller picture,
+“At the English Lakes;” the centre figure shows its pretty and jaunty
+outlines. It may be worn with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
+plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our sketch, which may be of
+a soft Indian silk. It is of the last and new design, and will be found
+a most useful winter bodice for usual daily wear. The pattern consists
+of a collar, cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two sleeve
+pieces. About four yards of 30 inch material are required, perhaps
+less, if very carefully cut. All patterns are of a medium size, viz.,
+36 inches round the chest, and only one size is prepared for sale. Each
+of the patterns may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care of Mr. H. G.
+Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C., price 1s. each. It is requested that the
+addresses be clearly given, and that postal notes crossed only to go
+through a bank may be sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
+The patterns already issued may always be obtained, as “The Lady
+Dressmaker” only issues patterns likely to be of constant use in home
+dressmaking and altering, and she is particularly careful to give all
+the new patterns of hygienic underclothing, both for children and young
+and old ladies, so that her readers may be aware of the best method of
+dressing.
+
+The following is a list of those already issued, price 1s. each.
+April—Braided, loose-fronted jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
+belt and full bodice, with plain sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk
+or pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or plain skirt.
+October—Combination garment (underlinen). November—Double-breasted
+out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave jacket and bodice. January—Princess
+underdress (underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt combined).
+February—Polonaise with waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
+April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle with sling sleeves. May—Early
+English bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress. June—Dressing
+jacket, princess frock, and Normandy cap for a child of four years.
+July—Princess of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat, for tailor-made
+gown. August—Bodice with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole ends
+and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or nightdress combination, with full
+back.—November—New winter bodice.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.
+
+BY MRS. G. LINNÆUS BANKS, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The
+Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    “But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,
+    Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,
+    The third of England called, with many a dainty wood
+    Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows
+    Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows
+    She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin[4] clear—
+    Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,
+    And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,
+    Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”
+
+So began England’s descriptive poet, Michael Drayton, to sing the
+praises of the glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but Milton was more
+terse in his invocation—
+
+    “Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son
+    Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,
+    Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads
+    His thirty arms along the indented meads.”
+
+Thus much the poets; but in plain prose be it told that the Trent
+needed no invocation to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to arise
+and flood the meadows in its course most disastrously, as it did no
+later than last May. The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.
+
+But long before bridges were built or were common, there was need to
+cross the river, either by ford or ferry, and its treachery must have
+been known in very ancient days, since Swark—whoever he might be, and
+whether he found a natural ford or made an artificial one—set up on
+end an unwrought monolith above the height of a man as a guide for
+wayfarers to find the crossing-place when the waters happened to be
+“out”; since there the waste and meadow-land lay low for many a broad
+mile.
+
+There was scarcely a speck in the blue vault of heaven when Earl
+Bellamont and his friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them, crossed
+the shrunken, snake-like river that mirrored their gleaming armour in
+its broken, scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images and would
+fain clasp them. And so the sun had shone for weeks,
+
+    “All in a hot and copper sky,”
+
+until the earth cried out for rain from its parched and cracking lips.
+Only near the red, marly banks of the river did the grass and herbage
+retain its vivid tint of green. As the days went by the air seemed to
+grow hotter; the cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon the fire,
+wished the guests gone and the wedding over. The falconer out on the
+moor in the glare with William Harpur and other squires, or the anglers
+by the streams, had scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
+wearied of her many cares, and censured the languor of her daughters
+and her maids.
+
+Preparations had not ceased, they had only renewed; and there had been
+unwonted doles to the villagers of good things that would have spoiled.
+
+At length, when even the weaving of tapestry or the twanging of the
+lute was a toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western sky. The
+cattle lowed, the leaves turned themselves over to welcome it, the
+hawks screamed in the mews. That was the morning of the 14th, when
+the very hush in the air was significant. The cloud spread, darkened,
+blackened, but in the distance.
+
+“There is a storm somewhere over our northern hills!” exclaimed the
+prior, who had been up on the battlements. “The clouds hang black and
+low over Dovedale.”
+
+“It seemeth such a day as heralded the great storm three years ago,”
+cried Lady Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a flash was that!”
+
+The younger ladies gathered together in shrinking groups, as if the
+fears of the matron were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her word, and
+scorned to show timidity, whatever she might feel, as the mutterings of
+thunder rumbled over the hall.
+
+It was high noon, but the sky was darkening overhead. The horn at the
+great gates was blown. A messenger in hot haste had come spurring from
+the ford and up the hill, glad to save himself a drenching, for the
+great drops were pattering on the leaves and leads like hail.
+
+He had come at full speed from Oxford. King Henry had ratified the
+great charter of English liberty. His master, the earl, and his friends
+would be home ere nightfall. The bridal must be upon the morrow. He
+had, moreover, private messages and tokens for the ladies, Idonea and
+Avice, from their coming bridegrooms.
+
+The messages were not for general ears; the love-tokens were a couple
+of golden crosses richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
+clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to Idonea, five pearls in
+Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.
+
+They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took hers shrinkingly. “They seem
+like crosses set with tears and drops of blood,” she whispered, with
+white lips, to Idonea, who started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they
+are precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected by her sister’s
+superstitious dread.
+
+In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied that he “thought the
+Trent was rising. It was higher than when his lord had left Swarkstone.”
+
+It had been still lower at sunrise that day.
+
+Two hours later Friar John blew the horn at the gate. He and his mule
+were pitiably drenched.
+
+The Dove was swollen when he crossed the bridge near Egginton, he said,
+though the downpour did not come until he had left it five miles behind.
+
+“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a flood as swept Swark’s Stone
+away three summers back. The passage of the ford would be perilous to
+my lord now that is gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her hands,
+and it might seem with reason, for now the floodgates of the skies were
+loosed, and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.
+
+“Storms and travellers are in Almighty hands, good dame,” said Prior
+John, soberly. “Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all to Him.”
+
+Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and dames, were already on their
+knees in prayer, their hearts beating wildly.
+
+William Harpur, pacing up and down, glanced through the dim glass
+windows on the scene without, and then from one to other of the
+shuddering women within.
+
+“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a slight curl of lip, “it will
+be a sorry welcome for my noble kinsman and his friends when they come
+in, wet and weary, if no board be spread, no dry garments ready for
+their use.”
+
+The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.
+
+“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall not find us unprepared.
+Maidens, attend me.” And she swept from the tapestried reception-room,
+followed by her daughters and the noble maids who did probationary
+service under her, and soon her silver whistle might be heard, as one
+or other did her bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and bustle—and
+covert fear.
+
+The hours sped. The storm seemed to abate. The board was spread. The
+time for the evening meal came and went.
+
+There were no arrivals. There were whisperings among hungry guests, for
+time was flying.
+
+Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor impatiently, biting his nails
+and cogitating.
+
+The dark came down—the double dark of storm and evening. The great
+time-candle in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters down, and the
+hours.
+
+Villagers came scurrying to the hall in dismay. The meads were under
+water. Their fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream, with many a
+tree and bush from parts beyond in the west.
+
+The lovely sisters had busked themselves afresh to receive their
+lovers; dark tresses and fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
+bosom shone her token cross of gold.
+
+But as the hours and minutes flew, dress was disregarded, their lips
+quivered with anxiety.
+
+At length Avice whispered to her mother, “Had we not best set a cresset
+burning on the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to light the passage
+of the ford?”
+
+“I have already given orders, child; I feared to speak my alarm to you.”
+
+But even torches will not keep alight in rain and hurricane. The men,
+headed by Will Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and discomfited.
+
+“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,” said he; “we cannot keep
+a torch alight. But do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt, the
+storm will have kept our friends at Ashby, or, at least, have driven
+them back. They would never be so mad as to attempt the passage of the
+ford.” Then, aside to the prior he added, “The land is covered for
+more than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly water runs like a
+torrent, bearing bushes, beams, and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They
+must have gone back.”
+
+Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud of hoofs heard advancing up
+the hill.
+
+There was the strong black charger of Earl Bellamont, and close behind
+came the bay mare of Sir Gilbert.
+
+They were both riderless!
+
+A moment of speechless horror, then shrieks and wailing filled the air.
+
+Mid the sobbing and lamentations of women, and the clamour of men,
+fresh torches were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and affixed to
+poles. Then, with the prior and Will Harpur at their head, all the men
+about the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’ crooks, and aught
+that might save a drowning man.
+
+Alas! it was all too late.
+
+Their bravest and best beloved were gone for aye.
+
+Too rashly impatient, and trusting the leadership of impetuous Earl
+Bellamont, Sir Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the remonstrances
+of more cautious companions, and dashed across the waste of waters, so
+low at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.
+
+Alas! some floating bush may have misled the old man, for all at once
+they seemed to be carried down stream and disappear, as if they had
+missed the ford, or the current had been too strong for men weighted
+with armour.
+
+Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind him, and the scion of
+another noble house was lost.
+
+Their esquires, following behind, had been impotent to save, and only
+by turning sharply round and fighting with the rising waters did they
+manage to preserve their own lives.
+
+Day by day as the thick waters subsided did the search continue along
+the devastated banks until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
+of water into the Trent, barred further passage, and made the quest
+hopeless.
+
+A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken lance and pennon, a battered
+casque, a saddle-bow, were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
+page.
+
+Lady Bellamont was borne down by the shock. Avice drooped like a broken
+lily; only Idonea seemed capable of thought or action.
+
+The subsidence of the flood brought spurring in the more prudent party
+to comfort their own wives and daughters, along with the downcast
+esquires to tell the needless tale.
+
+There was no consoling Lady Bellamont. She seemed to take the triple
+loss to her own heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as for
+herself.
+
+In vain the prior offered such consolation as his faith afforded.
+She sat like a stone, rigid and immovable; would take no sustenance
+whatever.
+
+The tears shed over her by Idonea and Avice seemed to petrify as they
+fell rather than melt. Their affliction but intensified her own.
+
+“If they had died in battle as brave men should, we might have borne
+it bravely,” she said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold, cruel,
+treacherous waters in the height of joy and hope, almost within hail of
+home, it is too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be resigned.
+And for my crushed roses—orphaned, widowed, ere they became wives—it is
+too much; I cannot survive it.”
+
+And before that month was out the twin-sisters were left to weep out
+their tears in each other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
+they might, with only the good prior to watch and guard them in their
+orphanhood, and lead them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees of
+heaven.
+
+There was William Harpur willing to do the co-heiresses suit and
+service, and leave his own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
+his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the hall, but neither the
+prior nor the sisters cared for his interference, and when the old
+retainers, with the seneschal at their head, came in a body at the
+prior’s summons to swear fealty to the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea
+accepted their homage for herself and her sweet sister, as one born to
+command, he turned away to bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted
+the hall before the sun went down.
+
+But though Idonea could order the household, and the seneschal could
+keep the retainers in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins and
+lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping Avice, or remove the more
+rebellious sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and in the eyes of
+Idonea.
+
+“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve of his departure, “duty
+calls me away to my own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove three
+years agone, after the great hurricane, has, Friar Paul brings word,
+been shaken sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The safety of
+many lives depends on its stability. Yet I would fain see you more
+submissive to the divine will ere I depart. Think how many sufferers
+there have been by the same calamity—how many a hearth has been laid
+bare, how many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has swept away.
+Abandon not your hours to selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see
+how the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour, by good and
+charitable deeds, to win the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
+the crosses that ye wear, and think of His wounds and His tears, and
+remember that His blood and His tears were shed for others, not for
+self.”
+
+Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he began; they drooped as low as
+those of Avice ere he ended.
+
+“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just. We have thought the world was
+our own—in joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth. We ask
+your blessing ere you go.”
+
+The benediction was spoken, and on the morrow he was gone.
+
+They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds, and saw what sorrow
+meant for the very poor and for the class above them. Tottering huts,
+bare fields, where the only crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
+weeping over naked and famishing babes; churls looking hopeless on
+desolation, or seeking wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden. And
+wherever they went they left hope behind, as well as coin, or food,
+or raiment from the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy with
+sullen thanklessness. They were little better than serfs, and were more
+inclined to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful to the
+willing bestowers.
+
+Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil the peasantry with their
+frequent alms; and even the prior when he came suggested moderation in
+doles, which destroyed honest independence and fostered beggary.
+
+But the sisters had found ease in helping others, and ere long sought
+the prior’s advice over a project to serve the people for generations
+yet unborn.
+
+They had discovered that sorrow and calamity come to the poor as to the
+rich, and they proposed to preserve others from losses and heartaches
+such as theirs.
+
+There was a general lamentation that Swark’s Stone was gone and the
+ford less readily found.
+
+“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a bridge over the Trent like
+the Monks’ Bridge over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not mourning
+maidens. Let us up and build one. If we cannot restore our dead, we may
+preserve life for the living.”
+
+“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We may so make our sorrow a joy to
+thousands.”
+
+The prior hailed their project as a divine inspiration, hardly
+conscious he had struck the keynote. They were rich. They would hear
+nought of suitors. What better could they do with their wealth?
+
+He drew plans, he found them masons. Stone was not far to seek for
+quarrying; but, to be of service, the bridge must cover broad lands as
+well as common current.
+
+“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William Harpur. “The cost will be enormous.
+It will swallow up your whole possessions! You must be mad; and the
+prior is worse to sanction such a sacrifice.”
+
+“The sacrifice was made when the river robbed us of our dearest
+treasures. We must save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
+Avice, now as bold as her sister.
+
+The work began and went on steadily. Honest labour was paid for, and
+churls, who had lived half on doles and housed like dogs, were paid a
+penny[5] a day or a peck of meal, and took heart to work with a will.
+There were always loose stones and wood about, and no one said nay when
+they began to repair and improve their own dwellings. And so industry
+came to Swarkstone with the building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
+to smile upon the undertaking, for never a disaster occurred to mar it.
+
+But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the cost was enormous. It was the
+work of years. Woods were cut down to supply timber for scaffolding;
+then lands were mortgaged or sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
+buyer? But still the work proceeded.
+
+“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod will gladly pay a small
+toll for the privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
+possessions, the old hall, passed into their cousin’s hands, and they
+took refuge in a small house in a bye-way, which goes by the name of
+“No Man’s-Lane” to this day.
+
+It was a glad day for travellers on horse or foot when Swarkstone
+Bridge, of twenty-nine arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
+which spanned the Trent and its low meads for three-quarters of a mile,
+and the good Ladies Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
+those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod at all seasons to be
+grateful for the inestimable boon.
+
+They had no charter to exact a toll to repay the moneys they had
+expended; but there was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel erected
+and dedicated to St. James, in which it was fondly hoped the
+users of the bridge would pause to thank God and drop their small
+thank-offerings in a box set there to receive them.
+
+At first, when they began to build, people about called the sisters
+“the twin angels;” but by the time the bridge was built it had
+ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a matter of course; but the
+thank-offerings grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to remember the
+danger and discomfort of the passage by the ford.
+
+They had impoverished themselves for the security of strangers. The
+offerings of gratitude would not keep life in the good sisters. They
+began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice bore her lot meekly. Not
+so Idonea, into whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating like a
+canker. But Avice said gently, “If we gave our wealth to build a bridge
+expecting a return, what answer can we make to our Lord when we go to
+Him? Let us be content that our individual losses will be the gain of
+thousands after us.” And that put an end to Idonea’s rebellion.
+
+At length the aged prior, who had built Monks’ Bridge between the
+counties of Stafford and Derby for a people as ungrateful, stirred up
+William Harpur to remember the poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
+flourishing, and he offered them a home at Ticknall.
+
+The offer came too late to save them. The Ladies Bellamont died as
+they had lived, together, and were buried with their two symbolic
+crosses on their breasts. And then, thanks chiefly to the prior, who
+reverenced them, a marble monument could be erected to their memories
+with their sleeping effigies upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
+the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have added, “They built unseen
+another bridge over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from earth to
+heaven.”
+
+THE END.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] The Derwent.
+
+[5] A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had a different value.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.
+
+SKETCH II.—OPERA (SECULAR MUSICAL DRAMA).
+
+BY MYLES B. FOSTER, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.
+
+
+Although it is stated that the ancient Greeks intoned their tragedies,
+and introduced, besides, some form of melody (μέλος), the whole
+question of the existence of opera at that period of artistic
+prosperity, when all forms of learning were so powerfully nourished,
+is a matter for speculation. Their authors certainly give us wonderful
+accounts of the great effects that this music had, and state that it
+formed an essential part of their drama, but beyond these records, in
+all probability much exaggerated, we have no data. Opera we must assume
+to be a comparatively recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
+century, composers had written all their finest work for the Church,
+and had, very rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise and
+worship of the Giver of all musical ideas and beauties.
+
+Even that which was known as secular music, and was intended for
+social occasions, was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the very
+folksongs had their freshness rubbed off by contrapuntal developments
+to which they were not suited, and were dragged in their new and
+ill-fitting costume into the masses and motetts of the day. The Church
+possessed most of the art and learning of the age, and, with that, a
+corresponding power over the ignorant people. Thus music had been,
+so far, choral music; all the secular forms, villanellas, glees,
+madrigals, and lieder, being in from three to six parts and more. The
+expressive solo form (_monodia_), whether _recitativo_ or _arioso_, was
+as yet unknown. As the people attained more knowledge, and with it more
+freedom, secular music gradually separated itself from the restraints
+of the Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom at length
+degenerated into licence.
+
+At the end of the great Renaissance period, when, after Suliman
+had taken Constantinople, the great scholars there fled before the
+conquering Turks into Italy and other new homes, an impetus was given
+to the study of Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the Greek
+drama in all its original beauty and perfection was the ambition of
+many an Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini, the singer
+Caccini, Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and, at a rather later
+date, Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which they not only agreed
+that the existing musical forms were inadequate for a true musical
+drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose pieces for one voice on
+what they imagined to be the Greek model.
+
+Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers known to have
+tried to set music to the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
+(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”) supplied the words. His first
+efforts were “Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,” and they were
+performed in Florence in 1590, the poems being set to music throughout.
+
+Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in which _aria parlante_, a kind of
+recitation in strict time, first appears. It is well described by
+Ritter, in his “History of Music,” as “something between well-formed
+melody and speech.” It appears to have pleased the Greek revivalists
+immensely, and they quite believed it to be the discovery of the lost
+art. Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600, on the occasion of the
+marriage of Henry IV. of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his work
+we have a primitive version of all our operatic forms.
+
+Composers now occasionally used the _arioso_ style; but their Greek
+beliefs prevented them from introducing a good broad melody form.
+The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for example, were choruses and
+declamatory recitatives. The orchestra was hidden behind the scenes,
+the only purely orchestral piece being a little prelude (called
+“Zinfonia”) for three flutes.
+
+With such material and upon so simple a basis was opera formed—an
+art construction which, in its more modern garb, has played a very
+important part in the history of European society.
+
+Of really great composers who advanced this _drama per musica_, one of
+the earliest and most important was Claudio Monteverde. He imbued it
+with his musicianship and originality, employing particular effects
+for each scene and for each character, his object being to unite the
+varying sentiment of the poem with his music. In his operas, the first
+of which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped forms of accompaniment,
+giving singers greater freedom in dramatic action, followed such
+reforms as a better use of rhythm and more truthful illustration of
+sentiments, whilst an increased orchestral force was added to other
+means of expression.
+
+The Italian Church writers began to compose operas, and in the
+seventeenth century we find the recitation form receiving new vigour
+and truthfulness of detail at the hands of, amongst others, Cavalli
+(whose real name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro Scarlatti,
+Carissimi’s greatest pupil. Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is
+supposed to have invented the short interludes for instruments between
+the vocal phrases, and he certainly introduced the first complete
+form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,” which, however, with
+its tiresomely exact repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
+anything but dramatic. About his time _recitativo_, as we know it, was
+separated from the _aria parlante_.
+
+Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his Neapolitan school, amongst
+whom were Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and others, and with
+them we reach a period during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.
+
+Composers had broken away from the ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the
+chorus had become of no importance, but, instead, the new aria, which
+might have taken an advantageous position as a means for occasional
+soliloquy and meditation, without interference with the dramatic story,
+now usurped the place of the latter altogether, and an opera meant
+nothing more than a string of arias in set form, an excuse for showing
+off the best voices to the greatest advantage, the most successful work
+being that one which pandered most to the vanity of the singers, who
+altered and embellished the melodies of their mechanical slave, the
+composer.
+
+Dramatic significance was fast disappearing, and a reformer was sadly
+needed, and that reformer appeared early in the eighteenth century
+in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian, who, after studying in Italy and
+writing several operas after the traditional Italian models, settled
+in Vienna, and there worked out his great ideas of regeneration and
+reform.
+
+His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a great sensation, and in
+Alceste (1766) we find him, to quote his own preface to it, “avoiding
+the abuses which have been introduced through the mistaken vanity of
+singers and the excessive complaisance of composers, and which, from
+the most splendid and beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
+the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous of spectacles.”
+
+He considered that music should second poetry, by strengthening the
+expression of the sentiments and the interest of the situations, and
+adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided interrupting a singer in
+the warmth of dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious ritornel; or
+stopping him during one of his sentences to display the agility of his
+voice in a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases the importance of
+the introduction or overture, making it foreshadow the nature of the
+coming drama.
+
+Composers were either too hardened or too cowardly to at once follow
+and imitate his excellent reforms, and great disputings and much
+rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by the singers and the old school
+headed by Piccini.
+
+We will leave this _opera seria_ for a moment, restored to its high
+position in art, and glance at a lighter form, the _opera buffa_,
+or comic opera, which may be traced to the little _entr’actes_, or
+_intermezzi_, given as a sort of relaxation between the acts of plays,
+as early as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals, or favourite
+instrumental solos, were used for this purpose; later on, when
+operatic forms appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which the chief
+idea was to raise a laugh, very often at the expense of good taste.
+Scarlatti’s pupils developed these _intermezzi_, and gave them such
+artistic importance that they grew to be rivals to the grand opera, and
+eventually held their own position as _opera buffa_. Pergolesi was most
+successful in this style, and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
+earliest specimens, was a great favourite. The accompaniment was for
+string quartett only, and there were but two _dramatis personæ_. His
+fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote several comic operas, and further
+on, Nicolo Piccini, whom we have just left opposing Gluck in Paris,
+made many advances in _opera buffa_, giving greater contrasts and more
+elaborate and effective _finales_ than his forerunners. In fact, he was
+stronger in this sort of composition than in _opera seria_, to which
+latter we now return.
+
+We find at the end of the eighteenth century the brilliant and
+successful works of Paisiello, a rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the
+same period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini, and others wrote
+operas.
+
+The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting all old traditions, good
+and bad, at the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the Italian
+composers to see that more was required than they had ever given, to
+make opera what it should be, and they were compelled to acknowledge
+that, after Gluck’s reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
+Mozart’s influence and his noble examples, they must take up higher
+ground if they would succeed in other than the Italian cities.
+
+They composed, therefore, in a more serious manner for Paris or Vienna,
+and the Italian opera gained a fresh importance by the slight reforms
+thus adopted, and through the successful power of Rossini it again held
+sway in the principal European courts.
+
+Rossini made a great many melodies and much pecuniary profit, and
+finding the singers ready to return to those abuses against which Gluck
+had protested so strongly, rather than permit them to play tricks
+with his music and embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
+embroideries so fulsome himself that there was nothing left which they
+could add!
+
+In the present century Mercadante, Bellini, and Donizetti followed
+in his train; following them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
+whose later works are very fine, being a happy combination of immense
+dramatic insight with effective situations and great melodic charm. We
+find in Boito the most decided attempt to unite Italian traditions and
+the latest German development. Thus much for the land in which opera
+was born.
+
+Opera soon spread, and travelled to the various European courts, and
+became there the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons. Such prestige
+did it carry with it, that to be successful in England or Germany, a
+composer had to write in the Italian style.
+
+France, whilst building upon the Italian foundation, created an opera
+in many ways differing from that form. Real French opera was first
+written by Lulli at the end of the seventeenth century. He will be ever
+remembered as the inventor of the overture, which replaced the small
+introduction of the Italians. Another thing he did which was new: he
+brought into his scheme the dance or ballet; and a third point was,
+that in his operas the chorus played a most important part.
+
+Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly developing all these resources.
+
+When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the supporters of Italian opera
+backed by such essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm, and named the
+“Bouffonists,” opposing the “Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
+and Rameau. Also there were Philidor, Gretry, and others trying to
+combine the new and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance of
+melody, adapted his own reforms already referred to, gave the overture
+its true connection with the poem, and, as it were, out-Rameaued
+Rameau. With all his works produced in Paris he made great successes,
+notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s powerful opposition.
+
+We will again leave Gluck elevating, for this time, the French stage
+also, and glance at _opera comique_, a term used in France as early as
+1712.
+
+I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian _intermezzo_ was the
+_vaudeville_. Claude Gilliers appears to have written many about this
+period.
+
+In the latter half of the century Dauvergne composed “Les Troqueurs,”
+in imitation of the Italian _intermezzi_, and in this work the
+dialogue, which in _opera buffa_ would have been sung, was spoken,
+a custom still adopted in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful
+chess-player), and Monsigny wrote many _operas comiques_. Gretry also
+appeared at this time as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
+Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed by D’Allayrac.
+
+To return to grand opera, the man most influenced by Gluck and his
+advances was Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune Henri” are well known,
+and who possessed undoubted talent. In the present century I may
+mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de
+Bagdad” and “La Dame Blanche,” and other works having been received at
+the time with enormous enthusiasm.
+
+Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini and Spontini, wrote much in
+the style and under the influence of the French opera. We all know and
+like Cherubini’s “Les Deux Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”
+
+Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who embodied in his operas the
+life and spirit of the Empire under the First Napoleon.”
+
+Coming into this century, we notice, as important French opera
+composers, Hérold, of “Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and Auber, who
+studied under Cherubini, and composed more comic operas than anything
+else, and whose work always contains light elegant melody and brilliant
+orchestration. Halévy has earned a good name by such operas as “La
+Juive” and “La Reine de Chypre.”
+
+An exceptionally great man was Hector Berlioz, who strove in new paths,
+and in the face of great opposition, to base his efforts upon the study
+of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.
+
+Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote as much for French opera as
+for any other. He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat, and
+every turn brought golden success. He became the greatest of French
+opera writers; but, in addition, he wrote German opera for Germans,
+Italian for Italians, and ensured by this system of “all things to all
+men” the applause which he so highly coveted.
+
+To conclude our French list, there is a composer, whose “Faust” will
+live long; I allude to Charles Gounod, who has written many other
+operas containing great dramatic beauty, richness of orchestration, and
+grace of melody. Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen” has been so
+popular, Massenet, and Ambroise Thomas.
+
+In England there is but little history to give you.
+
+English music and drama were first connected in a primitive way in the
+early miracle-plays and mysteries performed at Chester and Coventry and
+in other towns.
+
+Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions for musical
+interludes, and introduces songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
+You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the
+first half of the seventeenth century William Lawes, and Henry, his
+brother, wrote music to the masques, in which poetry, music, scenery,
+and mechanical accessories were combined, producing a decided advance
+in the direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding the patriotic
+championship of budding English opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel
+Royal, and notwithstanding the existence of the great school of
+madrigal writers, they were never encouraged to attempt dramatic work,
+as the nobility already demanded Italian opera and Italian composers
+and singers. During the civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
+the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and even from 1660 they were
+only opened for five years with an occasional performance of a masque
+by Sir William Davenant, the then poet laureate, set to music by Locke,
+in one of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find the recitative style
+used, and spoken of as new to England, although well known on the
+Continent.
+
+After those five years came the Plague, and following it the Great
+Fire, so that it was not until nearer the end of the century that a
+fair start was made in opera, and that the powerful and masterly works
+of Henry Purcell saw the light. His genius was undoubtedly superior to
+that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy, and he became a power,
+not in England only, but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should have
+died so young! The form of opera settled by him and his followers was
+similar to the French and German, in that whilst the important parts
+would be sung, the subordinate dialogue was spoken, and there was no
+accompanied recitative, excepting in some of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr.
+Arne’s operas. Arne’s “Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, _à l’Italienne_,
+set entirely in recitative form.
+
+But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr. Arnold, William Jackson (of
+Exeter), Shield, Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and many others
+adhered to the spoken dialogue. It should be quite understood that
+their music, when it occurred, formed an integral portion of the whole
+work, and, therefore, differed from interpolated pieces, which could be
+withdrawn without breaking a sequence.
+
+In 1834 John Barnett produced his “Mountain Sylph,” the first important
+English opera in the strictly modern style of that age, and one which
+introduced the school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and Macfarren.
+Italian influence was evident, and has only lately been supplanted
+by the power of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy instances, by
+the graceful delicacy of the French school. But the time for English
+opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers into which other schools
+have fallen; we have seen their heroes extricate them from those
+dangers; we have learnt what reforms are needful; the generous support
+and encouragement which has assisted the Italian, French, and German
+schools should now place all mercenary consideration on one side, and
+extend itself freely to those native artists who, in a spirit of true
+patriotism, are striving for the reputation and artistic honour of our
+country.
+
+To Handel we owe the final settlement of Italian opera in London, for
+which end he composed over forty operas, none of which are remembered,
+but from whose pages the good numbers were extracted and transferred to
+his oratorios!
+
+Comic opera, originating in Italy and developing in France, had, and
+still has, some footing in England. A very successful specimen was “The
+Beggar’s Opera,” performed in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s Inn,
+with a libretto by Gay. So enormous was its success, that people said,
+“It made Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and following successes
+arose the ballad opera, a form of comic opera taken up by the best
+composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley, words by Sheridan (Linley’s
+son-in-law), may be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally the wealth
+of England has been able to procure and import the finest foreign works
+and artists, and its riches have assisted in impoverishing what little
+native art we possessed.
+
+For the last part of my sketch I have reserved German opera.
+
+Although Italian opera soon worked its way into Germany, in fact, as
+early as the year 1627, when we reach the end of our story, we shall
+find the Germans in possession of the most advanced form of modern
+drama.
+
+Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music. It was Rinuccini’s
+“Daphne,” already set by Peri in Florence.
+
+Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned supreme until the time
+of Gluck, with such exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser and
+Handel, which contained German characteristics, and also the attempts
+on the part of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine Italian and German
+qualities.
+
+With Gluck came the great reforms in Vienna, as elsewhere, and there,
+too, party feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed by Hasse and
+his party. In Ritter’s admirable “History of Music,” already largely
+quoted from, whilst blaming the German princes for obtaining Italian
+operas at extravagant cost, he asks us to remember that these same
+princes “prepared the road, however unconsciously, for a Gluck, a
+Haydn, and a Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts were rooted
+in the Italian school of music.”
+
+Germany all this time had no national opera, the Hamburg attempt
+failing for want of encouragement.
+
+As we have previously done in dealing with the other countries, so now
+we will glance at the lighter form of opera for a moment.
+
+The German _operette_, or _singspiel_, was brought into notice by
+Johann Adam Hiller about the middle of the eighteenth century. He
+produced numbers of these, full of charming original melodies, and with
+spoken dialogue, as in _opera comique_.
+
+Amongst several writers of these light works we may number Schweitzer,
+André, and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in which dialogue is
+spoken during an undercurrent of expressive and illustrative music.
+There is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing, at the end of the
+seventeenth century, a sort of _vaudeville_ known as the “Liederspiel.”
+
+Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf and Haydn, and, in Southern
+Germany, Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.
+
+These small operas at first rather imitated the French school; but
+at the time of the above composers the national life and sentiment,
+in however insignificant a manner, had crept in, and the germ of a
+national type existed.
+
+At such a critical moment came the great genius who was to develop the
+elements of both serious and comic opera, and raise them to a lofty
+pedestal, and that genius was Mozart.
+
+Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he gave to them new life and
+meaning, and his illustration of each character, together with his
+masterly _ensembles_ and _finales_, in which, whilst each singer
+maintains his individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent, will
+ever abide as marvellous examples of dramatic scholarship and musical
+beauty. Besides understanding exactly what the human voice was capable
+of doing, he raised the orchestral accompaniment to a very high
+position.
+
+Whilst Gluck _attacked_ Italian opera, Mozart _moulded_ it in such
+a fashion that the old stiff traditions were no longer possible in
+Germany.
+
+At the commencement of this century, I must add to the list such names
+as Winter, Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and, last and greatest,
+Beethoven, whose one opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure nobility
+as long as music endures.
+
+The romantic school of poetry now finding its way into Germany, was
+soon aided by appropriate musical settings by Spohr, Marschner, and
+Weber—the greatest of them all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
+finest, the most popular, and the most thoroughly German.
+
+Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,” and Mendelssohn, ever searching
+for a libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s “Loreley,” but death came
+before he could finish it.
+
+Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes German in work, we have
+already noticed in connection with his French operas.
+
+Richard Wagner, by his theories and his great compositions, has
+caused opera once more to become the field for dispute, research, and
+speculative thought.
+
+He maintains, to put it briefly, that the real character and meaning of
+opera has been all this time misunderstood. He carries into practice
+what Gluck preached, viz., that music should second poetry, in order to
+be in its proper place. He says, “The error of the operatic art-form
+consists in the fact that music, which is really only a means of
+expression, is turned into an aim; while the real aim of expression,
+viz., the drama, is made a mere means.”
+
+It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to the free action of drama
+was the concert aria, so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
+recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works dramas, not operas. His
+orchestra illustrates the emotions and thoughts of each character,
+and the peculiar timbre of each instrument supplies the individuality
+of the person represented—a practice suggested first by Monteverde;
+and he further binds together the various episodes and scenes in the
+story, by using short _motovos_ or phrases which shall recall to the
+audience previous situations and events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
+others. Wagner very happily combines in himself the poet and musician.
+He rightly claims that his music should not be heard apart from its
+companions of equal value—the poem, the scenery, and the action. He
+has met with as much opposition as did Gluck, but the time has come
+when his works receive due recognition, and an appreciation increasing
+yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study of them.
+
+However excessive we may feel the reformer’s zeal to have been, these
+masterly art-forms supply wholesome food for meditation, and numberless
+suggestions for action, to every earnest and unbigoted student of this
+and coming generations.
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS.
+
+JOSEPHINE.—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red nose, spots, bad
+digestion, bad breath, etc. A fine woman with a handsome figure (say
+five feet five inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches round
+the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of course, a very small or
+very thin girl would naturally measure less. You know which description
+applies to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a tobacco-pipe,
+and bulging out above and below like a bloated-looking spider, may
+solace herself with the assurance that her liver is cut in half, and
+that she would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to descant
+upon. We advise her to bequeath her remains to some hospital for the
+benefit of science and the warning of others.
+
+SEAGULL.—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on our coast-line; that
+at Holyhead is higher, and measures 719 feet, while the former is
+only 564 above the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is 678
+feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St. Catherine’s Cliff,
+on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, is higher than all those
+before-named, and rises to 830 feet.
+
+PRUDENCE PRIM.—Do you know a small illustrated book called “The Flowers
+of the Field”? Perhaps that would suit you; published by the Society
+for Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain time, letters
+waiting till called for at a foreign post-office are opened and
+directed back to the respective writers. Your writing is too careless;
+some letters well formed, others very nondescript.
+
+PAT OGAL.—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white kid gloves to a
+cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain about the dress, do. For
+gloves you pay 2d. a pair.
+
+S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line upon Line,” and
+another called “The Peep of Day,” which are very suitable for children
+of such tender years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
+“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”
+
+BERTHA.—Have you never heard of a little appliance called a
+needle-threader? You would find it most useful, and could procure one
+at a fancy-work shop.
+
+JOAN R.—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be polite to everyone
+else—busy for them even in the smallest attentions. You will have no
+time for brooding over your nervousness when you are married, so there
+is probably “a good time coming” for you. Try to prepare for it by
+studying nursing, cookery, patching and darning, etc.
+
+AN ANXIOUS ONE will find her question many times answered if she
+takes the trouble to look through our correspondence columns under
+“Miscellaneous.”
+
+E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew them neatly at
+the seams, they would be of use in a hospital for female patients
+in winter. We may suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222,
+Marylebone-road, N.W., of which we have given an illustrated account.
+Any contributions in half-worn clothing (or new articles) of use for
+wear would be gratefully received there, books included.
+
+LOVER OF THE SEA.—1. The hair darkens as years roll on, and the change
+begins to take place at three years old, if not before. In middle life
+it is very many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does not say
+that “it is never too late to repent.” We are always told “to-day is
+the accepted time; to-day is the day of salvation ... now, while it
+is called to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow. If you put
+off making your peace with God, He may not bestow on you the grace of
+repentance and the desire to turn to Him.
+
+JERRY.—Your verses are very freely written, and give a good deal of
+promise, though some little errors need correction. Part of the small
+illustration with pen and ink gives hope of better things to come,
+and both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
+whether the verses can be inserted in the G. O. P. You did not have
+them certified, which is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur
+contributions.
+
+A COUNTRY MEMBER OF THE G. F. S.—You appear to be in a very sad state
+of health, and to need change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when
+suffering from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter should
+be prescribed by a doctor.
+
+ALBERTA ROXLEY.—1. You do not give a sufficiently explicit description
+of the “Hymn to Music” for us to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide,
+Wide World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so crazy about
+sequels? There are very few written, and a good thing too; a new story
+is better than an old dish warmed up.
+
+LITTLE PUSS should ask her mother or governess for suitable books
+to read. Some on natural history would be interesting, as well as
+necessary for her to study.
+
+ONE ANXIOUS TO KNOW.—Should a husband die intestate, but leave a wife
+and a sister, half goes to the wife and the other half to his sister,
+or his brother, as the case may be. If the man had had children, the
+wife would only have had a third instead of half.
+
+WEE WILLY WANKIE.—1. It depends on the age and size of your boy
+companion. The less little girls of fifteen walk in the London streets
+(the squares and certain residential quarters excepted) the better,
+if without a lady companion much older than themselves, or a maid. 2.
+What a ridiculous question your second is! “At what age should a girl
+become engaged?” There is no “should” about the matter, and there is no
+special age either. Any age after twenty-one, up to seventy, provided
+the right man proposed and no family duties stood in the way. All
+depends on God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you should never
+marry.
+
+SCOTCH LASSIE.—We do not see that you were rendered more liable to the
+complaint you name on account of having a bad digestion.
+
+TOPSY TURVEY.—Yes, there are luminous plants, which give a
+phosphorescent light. The root-stock of a jungle orchid becomes
+luminous when wetted; wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s
+time it becomes very bright. A certain member of the fungi family,
+which, if you have a damp cellar, may be found growing on the walls,
+is known to emit so much light as to enable you to read without other
+means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy red poppy and
+potatoes, when in process of decomposition, are all phosphorescent,
+more especially the latter.
+
+MISLETOE.—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes, your first
+step would be to learn to draw and study perspective; then the colours,
+and how to produce others by blending them. So, if you have any
+original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to you by which you
+could illustrate those thoughts, you should study the art of metrical
+composition in all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
+always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right syllable. What you
+send us is not even good prose, the mere construction is all wrong, and
+there is no new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed are
+very good.
+
+JACK.—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a girl, we certainly
+advise her to wear gloves when rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather
+ones would be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign denoting a
+pause, only you make a straight line over a dot instead of a curved one
+with the points downwards. A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
+the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s taste and musical
+feeling. Were there no dot beneath the short curved line, it would be a
+“bind” or “tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone is to be
+struck.
+
+
+
+
+_“FEATHERY FLAKES,”_
+
+OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,
+
+IS NOW PUBLISHED.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+FEATHERY FLAKES.
+
+    What time we for a while have bidden
+      Farewell to summer’s bright array,
+    And azure skies again are hidden
+      By grim December’s garb of grey;
+
+    When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,
+      Too often shows a cheerless face,
+    And falling snow is fast enfolding
+      Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;
+
+    We give these pure white showers a rival
+      And namesake in our Christmas page,
+    Whose charm shall have less brief survival,
+      And banish not with winter’s rage.
+
+    Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry
+      At limits of our colder zone;
+    And may you, for the trust you carry,
+      Be warmly met and widely known.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
+
+Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO.
+361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***
+
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+      The Girls Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 361, by Various&mdash;A Project Gutenberg eBook
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886, by Various</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 361, November 27, 1886</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 16, 2021 [eBook #65356]</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***</div>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">{129}</span></p>
+
+<h1 class="faux">THE GIRL&#8217;S OWN PAPER</h1>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="header" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
+<img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="The Girl's Own Paper." />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div class="center">
+<div class="header">
+<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">Vol. VIII.—No. 361.</span></p>
+<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price One Penny.</span></p>
+<p class="floatc">NOVEMBER 27, 1886.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<p class="center">[Transcriber&#8217;s Note: This Table of Contents was not present in the original.]</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+
+<a href="#THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER GIRL.</a><br />
+<a href="#MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND.</a><br />
+<a href="#DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</a><br />
+<a href="#HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</a><br />
+<a href="#ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</a><br />
+
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FLOWER">THE FLOWER
+GIRL.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp59" id="i_page_129b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_129b.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">THE FLOWER GIRL.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="smalltext"><i>All rights reserved.</i>]</p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">What</span> is she thinking of, what is she dreaming of,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dreaming awhile ere the sun has quite set?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the home of her earliest childhood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That for a brief hour she cannot forget,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the sweet violets grew blue in the wild wood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With dewdrops all wet?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All the day long in the great crowded city—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Crowded, yet lonely to each in the crowd—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Violets, sweet violets, a bunch for a penny!”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She has been crying, still crying aloud.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She has been merry at selling so many,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Merry and proud.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now as she watches the sun that is setting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Far o’er the roofs and the masts of the ships,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Does her mind turn to the sweet unsold flowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gathered by baby hands, pressed by child-lips,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While in a day-dream, through wild woodland bowers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Once more she trips?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the fragrance that clings to her basket—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Fragrance of violets that rich men have bought—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That takes her to woodlands away from the city,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where with blue violets the moss is enwrought?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Surely the wings of God’s angel of pity</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Shadow her thought.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse right">A. M.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">{130}</span></p>
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="MERLES_CRUSADE">MERLE’S CRUSADE.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="ph3">LABORARE EST ORARE.</p>
+
+<div class="ddropcapbox illowe9_375" id="i_page_130">
+<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_130.jpg" alt='M' /></div>
+
+<p><span class="uppercase">y</span> mistress (how I loved
+to call her by that
+name!) was beginning
+to give me her
+confidence. In a
+little while I grew
+quite at my ease
+with her.</p>
+
+<p>She would sit
+down sometimes and
+question me about the book
+I was reading, or, if we
+talked of the children, she
+would ask my opinion of them in a way
+that showed she respected it.</p>
+
+<p>She told me more than once that her
+husband was quite satisfied with me;
+the children thrived under my care,
+Reggie especially, for Joyce was somewhat
+frail and delicate. It gratified me
+to hear this, for a longer acquaintance
+with Mr. Morton had not lessened my
+sense of awe in his presence (I had had
+to feel the pressure of his strong will
+before I had been many weeks in his
+house, and though I had submitted to his
+enforced commands, they had cost me
+my only tears of humiliation, and yet
+all the time I knew he was perfectly
+just in his demands). The occasion was
+this.</p>
+
+<p>It was a rule that when visitors asked
+to see the children, a very frequent occurrence
+when Mrs. Morton received at
+home, that the head nurse should bring
+them into the blue drawing-room, as it
+was called. On two afternoons I had
+shirked this duty. With all my boasted
+courage, the idea of facing all those
+strangers was singularly obnoxious; I
+chose to consider myself privileged to
+infringe this part of my office. I dressed
+the children carefully, and bade Hannah
+take them to their mother. I thought
+the girl looked at me and hesitated a
+moment, but her habitual respect kept
+her silent.</p>
+
+<p>My dereliction of duty escaped notice
+on the first afternoon; Mr. Morton was
+occupied with a committee, and Mrs.
+Morton was too gentle and considerate
+to hint that my presence was desired,
+but on the second afternoon Hannah
+came up looking a little flurried.</p>
+
+<p>Master had not seemed pleased
+somehow; he had spoken quite sharply
+before the visitors, and asked where
+nurse was that she had not brought the
+children as usual, and the mistress had
+looked uncomfortable, and had beckoned
+him to her.</p>
+
+<p>I took no notice of Hannah’s speech,
+for I had a hasty tongue, and might
+have said things that I should have regretted
+afterwards, but my temper was
+decidedly ruffled. I took Reggie as
+quickly as possible from her arms, and
+carried him off into the other room. I
+wanted to be alone and recover myself.</p>
+
+<p>I cried a good deal, much to Reggie’s
+distress; he kept patting my cheeks
+and calling to me to kiss him, that at
+last I was obliged to leave off. I had
+met with a difficulty at last. I could
+hear the roaring of the chained lions
+behind me, but I said to myself that I
+would not be beaten; if my pride must
+suffer I should get over the unpleasantness
+in time. Why should I be afraid
+of people just because they wore silks
+and satins and were strangers to me?
+My fears were undignified and absurd;
+Mr. Morton was right; I had shirked
+my duty.</p>
+
+<p>I hoped that nothing more would be
+said about it, and I determined that the
+following Thursday I would face the
+ordeal; but I was not to escape so
+easily.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Morton came into the
+nursery that evening to bid the children
+good-night, I thought she looked a little
+preoccupied. She kissed them, and
+asked me, rather nervously, to follow her
+into the night nursery.</p>
+
+<p>“Merle,” she said, rather hurriedly,
+“I hope you will not mind what I am
+going to say. My husband has asked
+me to speak to you. He seemed a little
+put out this afternoon; it did not please
+him that Hannah should take your place
+with the children.”</p>
+
+<p>“Hannah told me so when she came
+up, Mrs. Morton.”</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all my efforts to restrain
+my temper, I am afraid my voice was a
+little sullen. I had never answered her
+in such a tone before. I would obey
+Mr. Morton; I knew my own position
+well enough for that, but they should
+both see that this part of my duty was
+distasteful to me.</p>
+
+<p>To my intense surprise she took my
+hand and held it gently.</p>
+
+<p>“I was afraid you would feel it in
+this way, Merle, but I want you to look
+upon it in another point of view. You
+know that my husband forewarned you
+that your position would entail difficulties.
+Hitherto things have been quite
+smooth; now comes a duty which you
+own by your manner to be bitterly distasteful.
+I sympathise with you, but
+my husband’s wishes are sacred; he is
+very particular on this point. Do you
+think for my sake that you could yield
+in this?”</p>
+
+<p>She still held my hand, and I own that
+the foolish feeling crossed me that I was
+glad that she should know my hand was
+as soft as hers, but as she spoke to me
+in that beseeching voice all sullenness
+left me.</p>
+
+<p>“There is very little that I would not do
+for your sake, Mrs. Morton, when you
+have been so good to me. Please do
+not say another word about it. Mr.
+Morton was right; I have been utterly
+in the wrong; I feel that now. Next
+Thursday I will bring down the children
+into the drawing-room.”</p>
+
+<p>She thanked me so warmly that she
+made me feel still more ashamed of
+myself; it seemed such a wonderful
+thing that my mistress should stoop to
+entreat where she could by right command,
+but she was very tolerant of a
+girl’s waywardness. She did not leave
+me even then, but changed the subject.
+She sat down and talked to me for a few
+minutes about myself and Aunt Agatha.
+I had not been home yet, and she wanted
+me to fix some afternoon when Mrs.
+Garnett or Travers could take my place.</p>
+
+<p>“We must not let you get too dull,
+Merle,” she said, gently. “Hannah is
+a good girl, but she cannot be a companion
+to you in any sense of the word.”
+And perhaps in that she was right.</p>
+
+<p>I woke the following Thursday with a
+sense of uneasiness oppressing me, so
+largely do our small fears magnify themselves
+when indulged. As the afternoon
+approached I grew quite pale with apprehension,
+and Hannah, with unspoken
+sympathy, but she had wonderful tact
+for a girl, only hinted at the matter in
+a roundabout way.</p>
+
+<p>I had dressed Reggie in his turquoise
+blue velvet, and was fastening my clean
+frilled apron over my black gown, when
+Hannah said quietly, “Well, it is no
+wonder master likes to show people what
+sort of nurse he has got. I don’t think
+anyone could look so nice in a cap and
+apron as you do, Miss Fenton. It is
+just as though you were making believe
+to be a servant like me, and it would
+not do anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p>I smiled a little at Hannah’s homely
+compliment, but I confessed it pleased
+me and gave me courage. I felt still
+more like myself when my boy put his
+dimpled arms round my neck, and hid
+his dear face on my shoulder. I could
+not persuade him to loosen his hold
+until his mother spoke to him, and there
+was Joyce holding tightly to my gown
+all the time.</p>
+
+<p>The room was so full that it almost
+made me giddy. It was good of Mrs.
+Morton to rise from her seat and meet
+me, but all her coaxing speeches would
+not make Reggie do more than raise
+his head from my shoulder. He sat in
+my arms like a baby prince, beating off
+everyone with his little hands, and refusing
+even to go to his father.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone wanted to kiss him, and I
+carried him from one to another. Joyce
+had left me at once for her mother.
+Some of the ladies questioned me about
+the children. They spoke very civilly,
+but their inquisitive glances made my
+face burn, and it was with difficulty that
+I made suitable replies. Once I looked
+up, and saw that Mr. Morton was watching
+me. His glance was critical, but not
+unkindly. I had a feeling then that he
+was subjecting me purposely to this
+test. I must carry out my theory into
+practice. I am convinced all this was
+in his mind as he looked at me, and I no
+longer bore a grudge against him.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards I had an opportunity
+of learning that he could own himself
+fallible on some points. He was
+exceedingly just, and could bear a rebuke
+even from an inferior, if it proved
+him to be clearly in the wrong.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">{131}</span></p>
+
+<p>One afternoon he came into the nursery
+to play with the children for a few minutes.
+He would wind up their mechanical
+toys to amuse them. Reggie was
+unusually fretful, and nothing seemed
+to please him. He scolded both his
+father and his walking doll, and would
+have nothing to say to the learned dog
+who beat the timbrels and nodded his
+head approvingly to his own music.
+Presently he caught sight of his favourite
+woolly lamb placed out of his reach on
+the mantelpiece, and began screaming
+and kicking.</p>
+
+<p>“Naughty Reggie,” observed his
+father, complacently, and he was taking
+down the toy when I begged him respectfully
+to replace it.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me in some little surprise.</p>
+
+<p>“I thought he was crying for it,” he
+said, somewhat perplexed at this.</p>
+
+<p>“Reggie must not cry for things after
+that fashion,” I returned, firmly, for I
+felt a serious principle was involved here.
+“He is only a baby, but he is very sensible,
+and knows he is naughty when he
+screams for a thing. I never give it to
+him until he is good.”</p>
+
+<p>“Indeed,” a little dryly. “Well, he
+seems far off from goodness now. What
+do you mean by making all that noise,
+my boy?”</p>
+
+<p>Reggie was in one of his passions,
+it was easy to see that; the toy would
+have been flung to the ground in his
+present mood; so without looking at his
+father or asking his permission, I resorted
+to my usual method, and laid him
+down screaming lustily in his little cot.</p>
+
+<p>“There baby must stop until he is
+good,” I remarked, quietly, and I took
+my work and sat down at some little
+distance, while Mr. Morton watched us
+from the other room. I knew my plan
+always answered with Reggie, and the
+storm would soon be over.</p>
+
+<p>In two or three minutes his screams
+ceased, and I heard a penitent “Gargle
+do;” then “Nur, nur.” I went to him
+directly, and in a moment he held out
+his arms to be lifted out of the cot.</p>
+
+<p>“Is Reggie quite good?” I asked, as
+I kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>“Ood, ood,” was the triumphant reply,
+and the next moment he was cuddling
+his lamb.</p>
+
+<p>“I own your method is the best,
+nurse,” observed Mr. Morton, pleasantly.
+“My boy will not be spoiled, I see that.
+I confess I should have given him the
+toy directly he screamed for it; you
+showed greater wisdom than his father.”</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to say how much this
+speech gratified me. From that moment
+I liked as well as respected Mr. Morton.</p>
+
+<p>My first holiday arrived somewhat unexpectedly.
+A little before the nursery
+dinner Travers brought a message from
+Mrs. Morton that Joyce was to go out
+with her in the carriage, and that if I
+liked to have the afternoon and evening
+to myself, Mrs. Garnett could take
+charge of Reggie.</p>
+
+<p>The offer was too tempting to be refused.
+I do not think I ever knew the
+meaning of the word holiday before. No
+schoolgirl felt in greater spirits than I
+did during dinner time.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely April afternoon. I
+took out of my wardrobe a soft grey
+merino, my best dress, and a little grey
+velvet bonnet that Aunt Agatha’s skilful
+hands had made for me. I confess I
+looked at myself with some complacency.
+“No one would take me for a nurse,” I
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall I encountered Mr. Morton;
+he was just going out. For the moment
+he did not recognise me. He removed
+his hat hurriedly; no doubt he thought
+me a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>I could not help smiling at his mistake,
+and then he said, rather awkwardly,
+“I did not know you, Miss Fenton. I
+am glad you have such a lovely afternoon
+for your holiday; there seems a
+look of spring in the air,” all very civilly,
+but with his keen eyes taking in every
+particular of my dress.</p>
+
+<p>I heard from Mrs. Garnett afterwards
+that he very much approved of Miss
+Fenton’s quiet, ladylike appearance,
+and as he was a very fastidious man,
+this was considered high praise. There
+was more than a touch of spring in the
+air; the delicious softness seemed to
+promise opening buds. Down Exhibition-road
+the flower-girls were busy with
+their baskets of snowdrops and violets.
+I bought a few for Aunt Agatha, then I
+remembered that Uncle Keith had a
+weakness for a particular sort of scone,
+and I bought some and a slice of rich
+Dundee seed cake. I felt like a schoolgirl
+providing a little home feast, but
+how pleasant it is to cater for those we
+love. I was glad when my short journey
+was over, and I could see the river shimmering
+a steely blue in the spring sunshine.
+The old church towers seemed
+more venerable and picturesque. As I
+walked down High-street I looked at
+the well-known shops with an interest I
+never felt before.</p>
+
+<p>When I reached the cottage I rang
+very softly, that Aunt Agatha should not
+be disturbed. Patience uttered a pleased
+exclamation when she caught sight of
+me. “Is it really yourself, Miss Merle?
+I could hardly believe my eyes. Mistress
+is in there reading,” pointing to
+the drawing-room. “She has not heard
+the bell, I’ll be bound, so you can surprise
+her finely.”</p>
+
+<p>I acted on Patience’s hint, and opened
+the door noiselessly. How cosy the room
+looked in the firelight! and could any
+sight be more pleasant to my eyes than
+dear Aunt Agatha sitting in her favourite
+low chair, in her well-worn black silk
+and pretty lace cap. I shall never forget
+her look of delight when she saw
+me.</p>
+
+<p>“Merle! Oh, you dear child, do you
+mean it is really you? Come here and
+let me look at you. I want to see what
+seven weeks of hard work have done for
+you.”</p>
+
+<p>But Aunt Agatha’s eyes were very dim
+as she looked.</p>
+
+<p>“There, sit down, and get warm,”
+giving me an energetic little push, “and
+tell me all about it. Your letters never
+do you justice, Merle. I must hear your
+experience from your own lips.”</p>
+
+<p>What a talk that was. It lasted all
+the afternoon, until Patience came in to
+set the tea-table, and we heard Uncle
+Keith’s boots on the scraper; even that
+sound was musical to me. When he
+entered the room I gave him a good hug,
+and had put some of my violets in his
+button-hole long before he had left off
+saying “Hir-rumph” in his surprise.</p>
+
+<p>“She looks well, Agatha, does she
+not?” he observed, as we gathered
+round the tea-table. “So the scheme
+has held out for seven weeks, eh? You
+have not come to tell us you are tired of
+being a nurse?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, indeed,” I returned, indignantly.
+“I am determined to prove to
+you and the whole world that my theory
+is a sensible one. I am quite happy in
+my work—perfectly happy, Uncle Keith.
+I would not part with my children for
+worlds. Joyce is so amusing, and as for
+Reggie, he is such a darling that I could
+not live without him.”</p>
+
+<p>“It is making a woman of Merle, I
+can see that,” observed Aunt Agatha,
+softly. “I confess I did not like the
+plan at first, but if you make it answer,
+child, you will have me for a convert.
+You look just as nice and just as much
+a lady as you did when you were leading
+a useless life here. Never mind if in
+time your hands grow a little less soft
+and white; that is a small matter if your
+heart expands and your conscience is
+satisfied. You remember your favourite
+motto, Merle?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, indeed, Aunt Agatha, ‘Laborare
+est orare.’ Now I must go, for
+Uncle Keith is pulling out his watch,
+which means I have to catch my
+train.”</p>
+
+<p>But as I trudged over the bridge beside
+him in the starlight, and saw the
+faint gleams lying on the dark, shadowy
+river, a voice seemed to whisper to my
+inner consciousness, “Courage, Merle,
+a good beginning makes a glad ending.
+Hold fast to your motto, ‘Laborare est
+orare.’”</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_131" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_131.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">{132}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. J. G. WOOD, M.A.</span>, Author of “The Handy Natural History.”</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p>Enemies of the water-vole—The heron—The
+death-stroke—Ways of the heron—Watching
+for fish—A hint to naturalists—Observers in
+the New Forest—Return to wild habits—The
+fox, the cow, and the owl—The heron and the
+eel—The cormorant and the conger—The
+heron’s power of wing—How the heron settles—Its
+resting-place—Power of the heron’s
+beak—Heronry in Wanstead Park.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> water-vole has but few enemies whom it
+need fear, and one of them is now so scarce
+that the animal enjoys a practical immunity
+from it. This is the heron (<i>Ardea cinerea</i>),
+which has suffered great diminution of its
+numbers since the spread of agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>Even now, however, when the brook is far
+away from the habitations of man, the heron
+may be detected by a sharp eye standing
+motionless in the stream, and looking out for
+prey. Being as still as if cut out of stone,
+neither fish nor water-vole sees it, and if the
+latter should happen to approach within striking
+distance, it will be instantly killed by a
+sharp stroke on the back of the head.</p>
+
+<p>The throat of the heron looks too small to
+allow the bird to swallow any animal larger
+than a very small mouse; but it is so dilatable
+that the largest water-vole can be swallowed
+with perfect ease.</p>
+
+<p>The bird, in fact, is not at all fastidious
+about its food, and will eat fish, frogs, toads,
+or water-voles with perfect impartiality. It
+has even been known to devour young waterhens,
+swimming out to their nest, and snatching
+up the unsuspecting brood. In fact, all is
+fish that comes to its beak.</p>
+
+<p>If the reader should be fortunate enough to
+espy a heron while watching for prey, let him
+make the most of the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Although the heron is a large bird, it is not
+easily seen. In the first place, there are few
+birds which present so many different aspects.
+When it stalks over the ground with erect
+bearing and alert gestures it seems as conspicuous
+a bird as can well be imagined. Still
+more conspicuous does it appear when flying,
+the ample wings spread, the head and neck
+stretched forwards, and the long legs extending
+backwards by way of balance.</p>
+
+<p>But when it is on the look-out for the easily-startled
+fish it must remain absolutely still.
+So it stands as motionless as a stuffed bird, its
+long neck sunk and hidden among the feathers
+of the shoulders, and nothing but the glancing
+eye denoting that it is alive.</p>
+
+<p>This quiescence must be imitated by the
+observer, should he wish to watch the proceedings
+of the bird, as the least movement
+will startle it. The reason why so many persons
+fail to observe the habits of animals, and
+then disbelieve those who have been more
+successful, is that they have never mastered
+the key to all observation, <i>i.e.</i>, refraining
+from the slightest motion. A movement of
+the hand or foot, or even a turn of the head is
+certain to give alarm; while many creatures
+are so wary that when watching them it is as
+well to droop the eyelids as much as possible,
+and not even to turn the eyes quickly, lest the
+reflection of the light from their surface should
+attract the attention of the watchful creature.</p>
+
+<p>One of the worst results of detection is that
+when any animal is startled it conveys the
+alarm to all others that happen to be within
+sight or hearing. It is evident that all animals
+of the same species have a language of their
+own which they perfectly understand, though
+it is not likely that an animal belonging to one
+species can understand the language of another.</p>
+
+<p>But there seems to be a sort of universal or
+<i>lingua-franca</i> language which is common to
+all the animals, whether they be beasts or
+birds, and one of the best known phrases is
+the cry of alarm, which is understood by all
+alike.</p>
+
+<p>I need hardly say that it is almost absolutely
+necessary to be alone, as there is no
+object in two observers going together unless
+they can communicate with each other, and
+there is nothing which is so alarming to the
+beasts and birds as the sound of the human
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there is a mode by which two persons
+who have learned to act in concert with each
+other can manage to observe in company. It
+was shown to me by an old African hunter,
+when I was staying with him in the New
+Forest.</p>
+
+<p>In the forest, although even the snapping of
+a dry twig will give the alarm, neither bird
+nor beast seems to be disturbed by a whistle.
+We therefore drew up a code of whistles, and
+practised ourselves thoroughly in them.</p>
+
+<p>Then, we went as quietly as we could to the
+chosen spot, and sat down facing each other,
+so that no creature could pass behind one of
+us without being detected by the other. We
+were both dressed in dark grey, and took the
+precaution of sitting with our backs against a
+tree or a bank, or any object which could perform
+the double duty of giving us something
+to lean against, and of breaking the outlines
+of the human form.</p>
+
+<p>Our whistled code was as low as was
+possible consistent with being audible, and I
+do not think that during our many experiments
+we gave the alarm to a single creature.</p>
+
+<p>When the observer is remaining without
+movement, scarcely an animal will notice
+him.</p>
+
+<p>I remember that on one occasion my friend
+and I were sitting opposite each other, one on
+either side of a narrow forest path. The sun
+had set, but at that time of the year there is
+scarcely any real night, and objects could be
+easily seen in the half light.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a fox came stealthily along the
+path. Now the cunning of the fox is
+proverbial, and neither of us thought that he
+would pass between us without detecting our
+presence. Yet, he did so, passing so close,
+that we could have touched him with a
+stick.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly afterwards, a cow came along the
+same path, walking almost as noiselessly as
+the fox had done. It is a remarkable fact
+that domesticated animals, when allowed to
+wander at liberty in the New Forest, soon
+revert to the habits of their wild ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>As the cow came along the path, neither of
+us could conjecture the owner of the stealthy
+footstep. We feared lest it might be that of
+poachers, in which case things would have
+gone hard with us, the poachers of the New
+Forest being a truculent and dangerous set of
+men, always provided with firearms and
+bludgeons, having scarcely the very slightest
+regard for the law, and almost out of reach of
+the police.</p>
+
+<p>They would certainly have considered
+us as spies upon them, and as certainly would
+have attacked and half, if not quite killed us,
+we being unarmed.</p>
+
+<p>But to our amusement as well as relief, the
+step was only that of a solitary cow, the
+animal lifting each foot high from the ground
+before she made her step, and putting it down
+as cautiously as she had raised it.</p>
+
+<p>Then, a barn owl came drifting silently
+between us, looking in the dusk as large and
+white as if it had been the snowy owl itself.
+Yet, neither the fox, nor the cow, nor the owl
+detected us, although passing within a few
+feet of us.</p>
+
+<p>In the daytime the observer, however careful
+he may be, is always liable to detection by
+a stray magpie or crow.</p>
+
+<p>The bird comes flying along overhead, its
+keen eyes directed downwards, on the look-out
+for the eggs of other birds. At first he may
+not notice the motionless and silent observer,
+but sooner or later he is sure to do so.</p>
+
+<p>If it were not exasperating to have all one’s
+precautions frustrated, the shriek of terrified
+astonishment with which the bird announces
+the unexpected presence of a human being
+would be exceedingly ludicrous. As it is, a
+feeling of wrath rather prevails over that of
+amusement, for at least an hour will elapse
+before the startled animals will have recovered
+from the magpie’s alarm cry.</p>
+
+<p>Supposing that we are stationed on the
+banks of the brook on a fine summer evening,
+while the long twilight endures, and have
+been fortunate enough to escape the notice of
+the magpie or other feathered spy, we may
+have the opportunity of watching the heron
+capture its prey.</p>
+
+<p>The stroke of the beak is like lightning, and
+in a moment the bird is holding a fish transversely
+in its beak. The long, narrow bill
+scarcely seems capable of retaining the slippery
+prey; but if a heron’s beak be examined
+carefully, it will be seen to possess a number
+of slight serrations upon the edges, which
+enable it to take a firm grasp of the fish.</p>
+
+<p>Very little time is allowed the fish for struggling,
+for almost as soon as captured it is flung
+in the air, caught dexterously with its head
+downwards, and swallowed.</p>
+
+<p>It is astonishing how large a fish will
+pass down the slender throat of a heron. As
+has been already mentioned, the water-vole
+is swallowed without difficulty. Now the
+water-vole measures between eight and nine
+inches in length from the nose to the root of
+the tail, and is a very thickset animal, so that
+it forms a large and inconvenient morsel.</p>
+
+<p>It is seldom that the heron has, like the
+kingfisher, to beat its prey against a stone or
+any hard object before swallowing it, though
+when it catches a rather large eel it is obliged
+to avail itself of this device before it can get
+the wriggling and active fish into a suitable
+attitude. The eel has the strongest objection
+to going down the heron’s throat, and has no
+idea of allowing its head to pass into the
+heron’s beak. The eel, therefore, must be
+rendered insensible before it can be swallowed.</p>
+
+<p>Generally it is enough to carry the refractory
+prey to the bank, hold it down with the
+foot, and peck it from one end to the other
+until it is motionless. Should the eel be too
+large to be held by the feet, it is rapidly battered
+against a stone, just as a large snail is
+treated by a thrush, and so rendered senseless.</p>
+
+<p>If the feet of the heron be examined, a
+remarkable comb-like appendage may be seen
+on the inside of the claw of the hind foot.</p>
+
+<p>What may be the precise office of this comb is
+not satisfactorily decided. Some ornithologists
+think that it is utilised in preening the plumage,
+I cannot, however, believe that it performs
+such an office. I have enjoyed exceptional
+opportunities for watching the proceedings of
+the heron when at liberty, as well as in captivity,
+but never saw it preen its feathers with
+its foot, nor have I heard of anyone who has
+actually witnessed the proceeding.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp52" id="i_page_133" style="max-width: 25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_133.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">IN WANSTEAD PARK.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is not always fair to judge from a dead
+bird what the living bird might have been able
+to do. But I have tried to comb the plumage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">{134}</span>
+of a dead heron with its foot-comb, and have
+not succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>Another suggestion is that the bird may use
+it when it holds prey under its feet, as has
+just been narrated. These suggestions, however,
+are nothing more than conjectures, but,
+as they have been the subject of much argument,
+I have thought it best to mention them.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes it has happened that the heron
+has miscalculated its powers, and seized a fish
+which was too large and powerful to be mastered.
+Anglers frequently capture fish which
+bear the marks of the heron’s beak upon
+their bodies, and in such cases neither the fish
+nor the heron is any the worse for the struggle.</p>
+
+<p>But when the unmanageable fish has been
+an eel, the result has, more than once, been
+disastrous for the bird. In Yarrell’s work on
+the British birds, a case is recorded where a
+heron and eel were both found dead, the partially
+swallowed eel having twisted itself round
+the neck of the heron in its struggles.</p>
+
+<p>A very similar incident occurred off the
+coast of Devonshire, the victim in this case
+being a cormorant. The bird had attacked a
+conger-eel, and had struck its hooked upper
+mandible completely through the lower jaw of
+the fish, the horny beak having entered under
+the chin of the eel.</p>
+
+<p>The bird could not shake the fish off its
+beak, and the result was that both were found
+lying dead on the shore, the powerful conger-eel
+having coiled itself round the neck of the
+cormorant and strangled it. The stuffed skins
+of the bird and eel may be seen in the Truro
+Museum, preserved in the position in which
+they were found.</p>
+
+<p>Having procured a sufficiency of prey, the
+heron will take flight for its home, which will
+probably be at a considerable distance from
+its fishing ground. Twenty or thirty miles
+are but an easy journey for the bird, which
+measures more than five feet across the expanded
+wings, and yet barely weighs three
+pounds. Indeed, in proportion to its bulk, it
+is believed to be the lightest bird known. The
+Rev. C. A. Johns states that he has seen the
+heron fishing at a spot fully fifty miles from
+any heronry.</p>
+
+<p>The peculiar flight of the heron is graphically
+described in a letter published in the
+<i>Standard</i> newspaper, Sept. 25th, 1883.</p>
+
+<p>“One summer evening I was under a wood
+by the Exe. The sun had set, and from over
+the wooded hill above bars of golden and rosy
+cloud stretched out across the sky. The rooks
+came slowly home to roost, disappearing over
+the wood, and at the same time the herons
+approached in exactly the opposite direction,
+flying from Devon into Somerset, and starting
+out to feed as the rooks returned home.</p>
+
+<p>“The first heron sailed on steadily at a
+great height, uttering a loud “caak, caak” at
+intervals. In a few minutes a second followed,
+and “caak, caak” sounded again over the
+river valley.</p>
+
+<p>“The third was flying at a less height, and
+as he came into sight over the line of the
+wood, he suddenly wheeled round, and holding
+his immense wings extended, dived, as a
+rook will, downwards through the air. He
+twisted from side to side like anything spun
+round by the finger and thumb as he came
+down, rushing through the air head first.</p>
+
+<p>“The sound of his great vanes pressing
+and dividing the air was distinctly audible.
+He looked unable to manage his descent, but
+at the right moment he recovered his balance,
+and rose a little up into a tree on the summit,
+drawing his long legs into the branches
+behind him.</p>
+
+<p>“The fourth heron fetched a wide circle, and
+so descended into the wood. Two more
+passed on over the valley—altogether six
+herons in about a quarter of an hour. They
+intended, no doubt, to wait in the trees till it
+was dusky, and then to go down and fish in
+the wood. Herons are here called cranes, and
+heronries are craneries. (This confusion between
+the heron and the crane exists in most
+parts of Ireland.)</p>
+
+<p>“A determined sportsman who used to eat
+every heron he could shoot, in revenge for
+their ravages among the trout, at last became
+suspicious, and, examining one, found in it
+the remains of a rat and of a toad, after
+which he did not eat any more herons. Another
+sportsman found a heron in the very
+act of gulping down a good sized trout,
+which stuck in the gullet. He shot the
+heron and got the trout, which was not at
+all injured, only marked at each side where
+the beak had cut it. The fish was secured
+and eaten.”</p>
+
+<p>I can corroborate the accuracy as well as
+the graphic wording of the above description.</p>
+
+<p>When I was living at Belvedere, in Kent,
+I used nearly every evening to see herons flying
+northwards. I think that they were making
+for the Essex marshes. They always flew at
+a very great height, and might have escaped
+observation but for the loud, harsh croak
+which they uttered at intervals, and which
+has been so well described by the monosyllable
+“caak.”</p>
+
+<p>As to their mode of settling on a tree, I
+have often watched the herons of Walton
+Hall, where they were so tame that they
+would allow themselves to be approached
+quite closely. When settling, they lower
+themselves gently until their feet are upon the
+branch. They then keep up a slight flapping
+of the wings until they are fairly settled.</p>
+
+<p>An idea is prevalent in many parts of England
+that when the heron sits on its nest, its long
+legs hang down on either side. Nothing can
+be more absurd. The heron can double up
+its legs as is usual among birds, and sits on
+its nest as easily as if it were a rook, or any
+other short-legged bird.</p>
+
+<p>In many respects the heron much resembles
+the rook in its manner of nesting. The nest
+is placed in the topmost branches of a lofty
+tree, and is little more than a mere platform
+of small sticks. Being a larger bird than the
+rook, the heron requires a larger nest, and
+on an average the diameter of a nest is about
+three feet.</p>
+
+<p>Like the rook, the heron is gregarious in its
+nesting, a solitary heron’s nest being unknown.
+In their modes of feeding, however, the two
+birds utterly differ from each other, the heron
+seeking its food alone, while the rook feeds in
+company, always placing a sentinel on some
+elevated spot for the purpose of giving alarm
+at the approach of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The heron is curiously fastidious in its choice
+of a nesting-place, and, like the rook, prefers
+the neighbourhood of man, knowing instinctively
+when it will be protected by its human
+neighbours. Fortunately for the bird, the
+possession of a heronry is a matter of pride
+among landowners; so that even if the
+owner of a trout-stream happened also to possess
+a heronry, he would not think of destroying
+the herons because they ate his trout.</p>
+
+<p>In captivity the heron can be tamed; but it
+is not to be recommended as a pet. It is
+apt to bestow all its affections on one individual,
+and to consider the rest of the human
+race as enemies, whose eyes ought to be
+pecked out.</p>
+
+<p>I was for some time acquainted with such
+a bird, but took care to keep well out of reach
+of its terrible beak, which it would dart to an
+unexpected distance through the bars of its cage.</p>
+
+<p>It formerly ran loose in a garden, and was
+almost slavishly affectionate to the gardener,
+rubbing itself against his legs like a pet cat,
+and trying in every way to attract his attention.
+He had even taught it a few simple
+tricks, and I have seen it take his hat off
+his head, and then offer it to him.</p>
+
+<p>But just in proportion as it became friendly
+with the gardener it became cross-grained
+with the rest of the world, attacking everyone
+who came into the garden, and darting its
+beak at their eyes. Its last performance
+caused it to be placed in confinement.</p>
+
+<p>An elderly gentleman had entered the
+garden on business, when the bird instantly
+assailed him. Knowing the habits of the
+heron, he very wisely flung himself on his face
+for the purpose of preserving his eyes, and
+shouted for help.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the heron, wishing to make the
+most of its opportunity, mounted upon his
+prostrate victim, and succeeded in inflicting
+several severe pecks upon his body and limbs
+before the gardener could come to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>The peck of a heron’s beak is no trifle, the
+mandibles being closed, and the blow delivered
+with the full power of the long neck, so that each
+blow from the beak is something like the stab
+of a bayonet, and so strong and sharp is the
+beak that in some foreign lands it is converted
+into an effective spearhead.</p>
+
+<p>Few people seem to be aware that a large
+and populous heronry exists in Wanstead
+Park, on the very outskirts of London.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of summer, when the young
+birds are fledged, the heronry is nearly deserted,
+but during the early days of spring the
+heronry is well worth a visit. The great birds
+are all in full activity, as is demanded by the
+many wants of the young, and on the ground
+beneath may be seen fragments of the pale-blue
+eggs. On an average there are three
+young ones in each nest, so that the scene is
+very lively and interesting, until the foliage
+becomes so thick that it hides the birds and
+their nests.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ROMANCE_OF_THE_BANK_OF_ENGLAND">THE ROMANCE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND;<br />
+OR,<br />
+THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> EMMA BREWER.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Just</span> for a little time I must leave my
+personal history to inquire how England
+managed to do without me so long, and what
+the circumstances were which at length
+rendered my existence imperative.</p>
+
+<p>In the days following the Norman
+Conquest, the Jews, whose one pursuit in life
+was the commerce of money, were the compulsory
+bankers of the country.</p>
+
+<p>They were subject to much cruelty and
+persecution, as you may see for yourselves in
+your histories of the Kings of England.
+It is not to be denied that their demands
+for interest on money lent by them were most
+extravagant. In 1264 the rate of interest
+exceeded 40 per cent., and I believe that 500
+Jews were slain by our London citizens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">{135}</span>
+because one of them would have forced a
+Christian to pay more than twopence for the
+usury of 20s.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> for one week, which sum they
+were allowed by the king to take from the
+Oxford students.</p>
+
+<p>They were ill-treated and robbed from the
+time they came over with the Conqueror until
+the reign of Edward I., who distinguished
+himself by robbing 15,000 Jews of their
+wealth, and then banishing the whole of them
+from the kingdom; and thus, as much sinned
+against as sinning, the compulsory bankers of
+the period departed.</p>
+
+<p>There was no time to feel their loss, for
+immediately after their expulsion the
+Lombards (Longobards), or merchants of
+Genoa, Florence, Lucca and Venice, came over
+to England and established themselves in the
+street which still bears their name.</p>
+
+<p>There was no doubt as to their purpose, for
+it was a well-known fact that in whatever
+country or town they settled they engrossed
+its trade and became masters of its cash, and
+certainly they did not intend to make an
+exception in favour of London.</p>
+
+<p>I am not going to deny that they introduced
+into our midst many of the arts and skill of
+trade with which we in England were
+previously unacquainted; and it is to these
+Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the introduction
+of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention,
+and one which has served to connect
+the whole world into one, as you will see when
+the proper place arrives for their explanation.</p>
+
+<p>These Lombards, immediately after their
+arrival in London, may have been seen
+regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street
+with their wares, exposing for sale the most
+attractive articles; and in a short time became
+so successful that they were able to take shops
+in which to carry on their business as goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>These shops were not confined to the one
+street which bears their name, but were continued
+along the south row of Cheapside,
+extending from the street called Old Change
+into Bucklersbury, where they remained until
+after the Great Fire, when they removed to
+Lombard-street. There seems to be no street
+in the world where a business of one special
+character has been carried on so continuously
+as in Lombard-street. In the time of Queen
+Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in
+London. In addition to the art of the goldsmith,
+they added the business of money-changing,
+the importance of which occupation
+you will be able to estimate when we come to
+the subject of the coins of the realm.</p>
+
+<p>From money-changers they became money-lenders
+and money-borrowers—money was the
+commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per
+cent. the modest interest they asked and
+obtained for their money.</p>
+
+<p>Of course they gave receipts for the money
+lodged with them, and these circulated and
+were known by the name of “goldsmiths’
+notes,” and were, in fact, the first kind of
+bank-notes issued in England.</p>
+
+<p>The Lombards were a most industrious
+class of people, and left no stone unturned by
+which they could obtain wealth; and in an
+incredibly short time we find them not only
+wealthy, but powerful, and occupying a very
+prominent position; and you may be quite
+sure that under these circumstances they did
+not escape persecution.</p>
+
+<p>Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were
+extortioners, Edward III. seized their property
+and estates. Even this seemed but
+slightly to affect them; for in the fifteenth
+century we find them advancing large sums of
+money for the service of the State on the
+security of the Customs.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the
+time of my birth, the banking was entirely
+in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried
+on in a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently
+the case when unrestrained by rivals.</p>
+
+<p>I dare say you have all noticed the three
+golden balls on the outside of pawnbrokers’
+shops. Originally these were three pills, the
+emblem of the Medici (physician) family; but
+in some way they became associated with St.
+Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths,
+under the name of the three golden balls—an
+emblem which the Lombards have retained.</p>
+
+<p>Are you curious to know how the sign has
+so degenerated as to be the inseparable companion
+of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well,
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>Pawnbrokers’ shops, or loan banks, were
+established from motives of charity in the
+fifteenth century. Their object was to lend
+money to the poor upon pledges and without
+interest. Originally they were supported by
+voluntary contributions, but as these proved
+insufficient to pay expenses, it became necessary
+to charge interest for the money lent.
+These banks were first distinguished by the
+name of <i>montes pietatis</i>. The word <i>mont</i>
+at this period was applied to any pecuniary
+fund, and it is probable that <i>pietatis</i> was added
+by the promoters of the scheme, to give it an
+air of religion, and thus procure larger subscriptions.</p>
+
+<p>Well, these banks were not only called
+mounts of piety, but were known also as Lombards,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+from the name of the original bankers
+or money-lenders. Now you see how it is
+pawnbrokers bear the sign of the goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>You who know so well where to place your
+money, both for interest and security, when you
+have any to spare, can scarcely understand the
+trouble and annoyance which our merchants
+and wealthy people experienced at having
+no place of security wherein they could deposit
+their money. At one time they sent it to the
+Mint in the Tower of London, which became
+a sort of bank, where merchants left their
+money when they had no need of it, and drew
+it out only as they wanted it; but this soon
+ceased to be a place of security. In 1640
+Charles I., without leave asked or granted,
+took possession of £200,000 of the money
+lodged there. Great was the wrath of the
+merchants, who were compelled, after this unkingly
+act, to keep their surplus money at
+home, guarded by their apprentices and
+servants. Even here the money was not safe,
+for on the breaking out of the war between
+Charles and his Parliament, it was no uncommon
+occurrence for the apprentices to rob
+their masters and run away and join the army.</p>
+
+<p>When the merchants found that neither the
+public authorities nor their own servants were
+to be trusted, they employed bankers, and
+these bankers were goldsmiths.</p>
+
+<p>Many a tale, however, has reached me of the
+shifts and contrivances of people to secure
+their savings and surplus money—people whose
+experience had taught them to distrust both
+authorities and places, and who would not,
+under the new state of things, have anything
+to do with the bankers. One I will relate
+to you.</p>
+
+<p>A man whose life had been one of hard
+work and self-denial, and who had two or
+three times lost his all through the untrustworthiness
+of the people with whom he had
+lodged it, determined to be their dupe no
+more. Money began once more to accumulate,
+and all things prospered with him; but no one
+could imagine what he did with it; as far as
+his household could tell, he did not deposit
+it with anyone outside the house, neither could
+they discover any place within where it was
+possible to stow it away. No persuasion could
+move the man to speak one word concerning
+it.</p>
+
+<p>At length he died, without having time or
+consciousness to mention the whereabouts of
+his money. Search was made in all directions,
+but without success.</p>
+
+<p>While living he had been a regular
+attendant at one of our City churches, and,
+occupying always the same corner in the old-fashioned
+square pew, was well known to the
+clergy and servants.</p>
+
+<p>A few weeks after his death the pew-opener
+told the rector, in a frightened voice,
+that she could no longer keep the matter from
+him, for as surely as she stood there, the
+ghost of the man who died a week or two ago
+haunted the church by night and by day.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of ridiculing her for her foolish
+fancy, the rector allowed her to tell her story
+quietly, seeing that she was superstitious and
+very nervous.</p>
+
+<p>She related that several times during the
+past weeks, when quite alone in the church for
+the purpose of sweeping and dusting, she had
+heard a peculiar noise proceeding from the
+pew where the old man used to sit, and it
+sounded to her exactly as though he were
+counting out money, and she would be very
+glad if he would look to it and verify her statement.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the rector and his curate accompanied
+the woman to the pew. At first all was
+quiet, but as they listened, assuredly the sound
+came exactly as described; they felt round
+about the pew, and at length discovered a
+movable panel near the flooring. It was
+the work of a moment to remove it, and there,
+in a good sized cavity, lay heaps of money
+wrapped up in paper, which last had attracted
+the mice, and it was their little pattering feet
+among the coins which had caught the
+woman’s ear. The man had evidently dropped
+in his week’s savings on Sundays, believing
+that it would be safer in the church than
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that after the restoration of
+Charles II., he being greatly in want of
+money, the goldsmiths lent it, demanding ten
+per cent. for the loan. Often, however, they
+obtained thirty per cent. from him, and this
+induced the goldsmiths to lend more and
+more to the king, so that really the whole
+revenue passed through their hands.</p>
+
+<p>In 1672 a sad calamity befel the bankers,
+and put a check on their prodigal lending.
+King Charles, who owed them £1,328,526,
+which he had borrowed at eight per cent., utterly
+refused to pay either principal or interest, and
+he remained firm to his resolution.</p>
+
+<p>The way in which bankers transacted their
+loans with the king, was in this manner:—As
+soon as the Parliament had voted to the king
+certain sums of money out of special taxes,
+the goldsmith-bankers at once supplied the
+king with the whole sum so voted, and were
+repaid in weekly payments at the Exchequer<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+as the taxes were received.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_135" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_135.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">{136}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="DRESS_IN_SEASON_AND_IN_REASON">DRESS: IN SEASON AND IN REASON.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By</span> A LADY DRESSMAKER.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have had such a mild and delightful
+autumn, that all kinds of winter garments
+have been delayed in making an appearance.
+This is especially the case with mantles and
+the heavier class of jackets. However, there
+is enough to show us that no great novelty has
+been introduced. Mantles are all small and
+short, and the majority have ends in front
+more or less long. Black plush seems a
+very favourite material, and is much overladen
+with trimming. Plain plush is also used for
+paletôts, and for large cloaks; but there is a
+new-patterned plush, with ribs in layers, that
+is much used also. Beaded shoulder-straps
+and epaulettes are worn as well as ornaments
+at the back, and sometimes beaded braces
+round the join of the sleeve in the small
+mantles, and a strip of the same may be used
+to outline the seam at the back. These hints
+may help some of my readers to do up a last
+year’s mantle with some of the moderate
+priced bead trimmings now in vogue.
+Paletôts or cloaks are made both long and
+medium in length. They are made in plush,
+cloth, and rough cloths, but are not seen in
+the finer fancy stuffs which are made use of for
+mantles and jackets. These fancy cloths have
+an appearance as if braid were sewn on to the
+surface. The cloak paletôts, when long, close
+in front to the feet, and the fronts are trimmed
+with a border of fur, which is shaped on the
+shoulders like a pointed old-fashioned
+“Victorine.” No fur is placed at the lower
+edge of the cloak; the cuffs are deep. Fur
+trimmings on jackets that are tight-fitting
+follow the same rule, and have no
+trimming of fur at the edge. Fur
+boas are very decidedly the fashion this winter,
+and there seems no end to their popularity.
+Some of them are flat at the neck, like a
+collarette; and others are attached to the
+mantle. The newest boas are rather shorter,
+and some are nothing more than fur collars
+that clasp round the throat; and these
+collars, or “tippets,” will probably take the
+place of the fur capes that have been worn so
+long. Grey furs are more in fashion than brown
+ones—such as chinchilla, grey fox, squirrel-lock,
+and opossum, and I see that quantities
+of American raccoon are also being prepared.
+Of course, the best kind of furs, like sable,
+marten-tail, mink, or blue fox, are not within
+the ordinary range of purchasers, and few
+people care to spend so much money on dress
+as their acquirement entails. There is also a
+new feeling to be taken into account; the
+same feeling that makes thinking women and
+girls decline to wear birds, and their heads and
+wings, <i>i.e.</i>, the feeling that the seal fishery as
+hitherto conducted is cruel; and that one may
+wear furs that are too costly in other ways. I
+often think if mighty hunters—instead of
+hunting down the buffalo, and the other
+animals useful to the Indian in the North
+West—would go to India and hunt the tigers
+that so cruelly prey on the natives there, we
+should wear those skins with much pleasure
+as well as advantage. But the account
+of the slaying of a mother-seal ought to
+be enough for a tender-hearted woman. I
+have never cordially liked sealskins since
+I read of the devotion of one poor mother-seal
+in particular to her young; and I have
+never had a sealskin jacket since.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="i_page_136" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_136.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">AT THE ENGLISH LAKES.—AUTUMN AND WINTER GOWNS.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are numbers of jackets in every
+style, but all are made of woollen materials,
+not of silk nor of velvet. Most of them
+are tight-fitting, and are smart looking and
+stylish. Both single and double-breasted
+ones are seen. Hoods are much worn,
+but are by no means general. Coloured
+linings are used to pale-coloured or
+checked cloth jackets, but not to black
+or brown ones. Small mantles and
+cloaks are tied at the neck by a
+quantity of ribbons to match the colour
+of the cloth or plush. One of
+the new ideas for mantles is that
+of a semi-fitting jacket over a
+long close-fitting cloak.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">{137}</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp55" id="i_page_137" style="max-width: 26.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_137.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">UNDER NORTHERN SKIES.—A STUDY OF COMFORT IN DRESS.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">{138}</span></p>
+
+<p>The new bonnets and hats are much smaller
+and prettier now, and there are in consequence
+many of these quieter hats to be seen worn by
+well-dressed girls in the streets of London.
+Formerly no girl who wished to be thought
+somebody ever wore anything but a bonnet
+in London.</p>
+
+<p>The velvet trimmings of bonnets are put on
+gathered, doubled and pleated, sometimes
+with as many as three frills at the edge. Many
+of the bonnets are without strings, and have
+pointed fronts, and there is much jet trimming
+used even on coloured velvet bonnets.
+I am sorry to say that our fashionable caterers
+continue to prey upon the feathered creation
+all over the world. This winter the owl has
+evidently fallen a victim, and there are besides
+the tern, kingfisher, and the heron. How I wish
+this wicked and cruel bird slaughter could be
+prevented, and that my numberless girl-readers
+would try to avoid giving it the least encouragement.
+While we have the beautiful ostrich
+feathers, we cannot need these other poor victims
+offered up on the altar of feminine vanity
+and unthinking cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the felt hats for the season are very
+pretty. They have high and sloping crowns,
+the brims are often only bound with ribbon,
+but if wide and turned up at the back, they
+are lined with velvet, or rather only partly
+lined, as half of the brim at least is left unlined.
+Many of them have brims turned up all round,
+like one of the old turban hats.</p>
+
+<p>The ribbons in use at present are of all
+kinds, satin and velvet reversible, as well as
+<i>moiré</i> and velvet, or satin and <i>moiré</i>. These
+have an edge of lacet, or one with tufts of silk,
+in colour. Velvet ribbons with corded stripes
+have one edge purled and the other fringed;
+and the strings of bonnets are of narrow <i>picot</i>-edged
+ribbon.</p>
+
+<p>The number of white gowns that have been
+worn during the past season and up to the
+present moment has been remarkable, and
+has quite justified the name of a “white
+season.” Even as the weather became colder,
+a charming mixture of materials was introduced,
+viz., white corduroy, and some soft
+woollen stuff, like serge or flannel. For the
+winter white will be the special fashion for
+young people for the evening, and any colour
+can be given by trimming. It seems likely
+that perfectly smooth cloths, of the nature of
+habit-cloths, will be used for winter day
+dresses, trimmed with bands of short dark-hued
+fur, or with velvet to match the colour of
+the cloth. The colours that will be worn in
+these will be myrtle, a new shade of blue, a
+tint like heliotrope, and a reddish violet.</p>
+
+<p>Fancy materials in mixed colours abound,
+the mixtures being green and ruby, brown
+and red, sage and vermilion, and others of
+the same unæsthetic nature. The new browns
+are called Carmelite, chestnut, rosewood, hair,
+and earth; the new reds are, Bordeaux,
+Indian, currant, and clove. A new green is
+called verdigris. Grey does not seem to be
+popular, and brown and red violet are the
+special colours of the season.</p>
+
+<p>In the making of dresses there is but little
+change. The skirts are still short, and the
+draperies still long; while there is a fancy for
+over-trimming bodices of all kinds. This will
+be a blessing for the possessors of half-worn
+and very ancient bodices. Bracers are one of
+the novelties as a form of trimming for the
+latter. They are also trimmed in imitation of
+a Zouave jacket. Polonaises seem to be
+returning to favour, and will be worn later on
+over lace skirts for evening dress. Serge
+seems to me to be the most favoured material
+this winter, and it forms the ground work of
+half the fancy cloths and mixtures. Stripes
+and crossbars are in the highest favour, and
+both alpaca and foulard are used, and with
+poplin, chuddah cloth, velvet, and silk rep,
+form the generality of the new dresses. There
+are numbers of hairy-looking woollen materials,
+but I should not think they would
+wear as well as a good serge, which is always
+a useful purchase.</p>
+
+<p>The new petticoat materials in winceys are
+very gay and pretty, and the pattern is usually
+of stripes; but the materials are various, being
+sometimes all wool, or wool and silk mixed,
+and in the weaving there is usually a rough or
+knotted stripe. Some of the new petticoats
+have a few steels in them, and the addition
+makes the dress hold out from the heels a little.
+A small steel-wire dress-improver is, however,
+quite enough for most people, and very little
+crinolette is now worn—nothing ungraceful
+nor immoderate in size. Other petticoats of
+better quality are made of plain silk or satin,
+and one of the new fashions is to line them
+with chamois leather, so as to make them
+warmer.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_page_138a" style="max-width: 18.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138a.jpg" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p class="center">NEW WINTER JACKET BODICE.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Shoes are more worn in London than boots,
+and laced shoes more than buttoned ones. The
+same is the case with boots, which are considered
+to fit better, and to look more stylish
+when laced than buttoned. I have been very
+glad to see that sensibly-shaped boots and
+shoes are on the increase, having wider toes
+and lower, broader heels. At the present
+moment many of the best shops have them in
+their windows, and have found it best and
+wisest to keep them for their customers; in
+fact, the knowledge of hygienic necessities,
+and of all kinds of proper clothing, is being
+so much extended and impressed on the public
+mind on all sides, that I should not wonder
+if we all became quite reformed characters,
+and wore, ate, and drank only such things as
+were good for us.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget to mention gloves and
+their styles. Most people usually wear Swede
+or kid gloves during the winter months; but
+this year there are some such delightfully
+warm and pretty gloves in wool and silk to
+be seen in the shops, that many will no doubt
+be tempted to purchase them. If the dress
+be of a quiet colour, the gloves should match
+it; but if red, or of a decided colour of any
+kind, the proper gloves to wear would be tan-colour.
+These latter are also used in the
+evening, except when the dress is black, or
+black and white, when the gloves should be
+of grey Swede.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustrations for the month are full of
+suggestions for making new gowns and for altering
+old ones. It will be seen that the gowns
+are both simple and elegant, with long flowing
+lines, and little or no fulness of drapery.
+The prevailing fancy for jackets is shown,
+and the newest model of a cape-like sleeve
+is given in our large front picture of a seashore,
+“<a href="#i_page_137">Under Northern Skies</a>.” Much
+braiding is used, and it is shown in two ways—laid
+on in flat bands, and also in a pattern
+on the mantle. The new shapes of hats are
+much more moderate, and most of the new
+shapes are illustrated. Our paper pattern
+for the month is represented as worn by a lady
+in the centre of the smaller picture, “<a href="#i_page_136">At the
+English Lakes</a>;” the centre figure shows its
+pretty and jaunty outlines. It may be worn
+with either a plain waistcoat or a full silk
+plastron, divided into puffings as shown in our
+sketch, which may be of a soft Indian silk.
+It is of the last and new design, and will be
+found a most useful winter bodice for usual
+daily wear. The pattern consists of a collar,
+cuff, front, half of back, side pieces, and two
+sleeve pieces. About four yards of 30 inch
+material are required, perhaps less, if very carefully
+cut. All patterns are of a medium size,
+viz., 36 inches round the chest, and only one
+size is prepared for sale. Each of the patterns
+may be had of “The Lady Dressmaker,” care
+of Mr. H. G. Davis, 73, Ludgate Hill, E.C.,
+price 1s. each. It is requested that the addresses
+be clearly given, and that postal notes
+crossed only to go through a bank may be
+sent, as so many losses have recently occurred.
+The patterns already issued may always be
+obtained, as “The Lady Dressmaker” only
+issues patterns likely to be of constant use in
+home dressmaking and altering, and she is
+particularly careful to give all the new patterns
+of hygienic underclothing, both for children
+and young and old ladies, so that her readers
+may be aware of the best method of dressing.</p>
+
+<p>The following is a list of those already
+issued, price 1s. each. April—Braided, loose-fronted
+jacket. May—Velvet bodice. June—Swiss
+belt and full bodice, with plain
+sleeves. July—Mantle. August—Norfolk or
+pleated jacket. September—Housemaid’s or
+plain skirt. October—Combination garment
+(underlinen). November—Double-breasted
+out-of-door jacket. December—Zouave
+jacket and bodice. January—Princess underdress
+(underlinen, underbodice, and underskirt
+combined). February—Polonaise with
+waterfall back. March—New spring bodice.
+April—Divided skirt, and Bernhardt mantle
+with sling sleeves. May—Early English
+bodice and yoke bodice for summer dress.
+June—Dressing jacket, princess frock, and
+Normandy cap for a child of four years. July—Princess
+of Wales’ jacket-bodice and waistcoat,
+for tailor-made gown. August—Bodice
+with guimpe. September—Mantle with stole
+ends and hood. October—“Pyjama,” or
+nightdress combination, with full back.—November—New
+winter bodice.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_138b" style="max-width: 21.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_138b.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">{139}</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BUILDERS_OF_THE_BRIDGE">THE BUILDERS OF THE BRIDGE.</h2>
+</div>
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. G. LINNÆUS BANKS</span>, Author of “God’s Providence House,” “The Manchester Man,” “More than Coronets,” etc.</p>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“But, Muse, return at last; attend the princely Trent,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who, straining on in state, the north’s imperious flood,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The third of England called, with many a dainty wood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Being crowned, to Burton comes, to Needwood, where she shows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Herself in all her pomp, and as from thence she flows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She takes into her train rich Dove and Darwin<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> clear—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Darwin, whose font and fall are both in Derbyshire,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And of whose thirty floods that wait the Trent upon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth stand without compare, the very paragon.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>So began England’s descriptive poet,
+Michael Drayton, to sing the praises of the
+glorious Trent in his “Polyolbion;” but
+Milton was more terse in his invocation—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Rivers, arise! whether thou be the son</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Don,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His thirty arms along the indented meads.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus much the poets; but in plain prose
+be it told that the Trent needed no invocation
+to “arise.” It had, and has, a tendency to
+arise and flood the meadows in its course most
+disastrously, as it did no later than last May.
+The many arches of its bridges tell the tale.</p>
+
+<p>But long before bridges were built or were
+common, there was need to cross the river,
+either by ford or ferry, and its treachery
+must have been known in very ancient days,
+since Swark—whoever he might be, and
+whether he found a natural ford or made an
+artificial one—set up on end an unwrought
+monolith above the height of a man as a
+guide for wayfarers to find the crossing-place
+when the waters happened to be “out”;
+since there the waste and meadow-land lay
+low for many a broad mile.</p>
+
+<p>There was scarcely a speck in the blue
+vault of heaven when Earl Bellamont and his
+friends, leaving a cloud of dust behind them,
+crossed the shrunken, snake-like river that
+mirrored their gleaming armour in its broken,
+scale-like wavelets, as if it held their images
+and would fain clasp them. And so the sun
+had shone for weeks,</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“All in a hot and copper sky,”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>until the earth cried out for rain from its parched
+and cracking lips. Only near the red, marly
+banks of the river did the grass and herbage
+retain its vivid tint of green. As the days
+went by the air seemed to grow hotter; the
+cooks in the kitchen, piling fresh logs upon
+the fire, wished the guests gone and the
+wedding over. The falconer out on the moor
+in the glare with William Harpur and other
+squires, or the anglers by the streams, had
+scarcely the best of it, though Lady Bellamont
+wearied of her many cares, and censured
+the languor of her daughters and her maids.</p>
+
+<p>Preparations had not ceased, they had only
+renewed; and there had been unwonted doles
+to the villagers of good things that would
+have spoiled.</p>
+
+<p>At length, when even the weaving of
+tapestry or the twanging of the lute was a
+toil, there rose a cloud in the north-western
+sky. The cattle lowed, the leaves turned
+themselves over to welcome it, the hawks
+screamed in the mews. That was the morning
+of the 14th, when the very hush in the
+air was significant. The cloud spread,
+darkened, blackened, but in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>“There is a storm somewhere over our
+northern hills!” exclaimed the prior, who had
+been up on the battlements. “The clouds
+hang black and low over Dovedale.”</p>
+
+<p>“It seemeth such a day as heralded the
+great storm three years ago,” cried Lady
+Bellamont, in alarm. “And, ah! what a
+flash was that!”</p>
+
+<p>The younger ladies gathered together in
+shrinking groups, as if the fears of the matron
+were infectious. Only Idonea kept at her
+word, and scorned to show timidity, whatever
+she might feel, as the mutterings of thunder
+rumbled over the hall.</p>
+
+<p>It was high noon, but the sky was darkening
+overhead. The horn at the great gates
+was blown. A messenger in hot haste had
+come spurring from the ford and up the hill,
+glad to save himself a drenching, for the great
+drops were pattering on the leaves and leads
+like hail.</p>
+
+<p>He had come at full speed from Oxford.
+King Henry had ratified the great charter of
+English liberty. His master, the earl, and his
+friends would be home ere nightfall. The
+bridal must be upon the morrow. He had,
+moreover, private messages and tokens for
+the ladies, Idonea and Avice, from their coming
+bridegrooms.</p>
+
+<p>The messages were not for general ears;
+the love-tokens were a couple of golden crosses
+richly wrought and set with gems. Five rubies
+clustered in the centre of Sir Ralph’s gift to
+Idonea, five pearls in Sir Gilbert’s to Avice.</p>
+
+<p>They were dainty trinkets, but Avice took
+hers shrinkingly. “They seem like crosses
+set with tears and drops of blood,” she
+whispered, with white lips, to Idonea, who
+started, and, if she said “Tut, tut! they are
+precious tokens,” was not altogether unaffected
+by her sister’s superstitious dread.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to inquiries, the messenger replied
+that he “thought the Trent was rising.
+It was higher than when his lord had left
+Swarkstone.”</p>
+
+<p>It had been still lower at sunrise that day.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later Friar John blew the horn
+at the gate. He and his mule were pitiably
+drenched.</p>
+
+<p>The Dove was swollen when he crossed
+the bridge near Egginton, he said, though the
+downpour did not come until he had left it
+five miles behind.</p>
+
+<p>“Now, heaven forfend there be not such a
+flood as swept Swark’s Stone away three
+summers back. The passage of the ford
+would be perilous to my lord now that is
+gone,” cried Lady Bellamont, wringing her
+hands, and it might seem with reason, for
+now the floodgates of the skies were loosed,
+and heaven’s artillery waged war with earth.</p>
+
+<p>“Storms and travellers are in Almighty
+hands, good dame,” said Prior John, soberly.
+“Tell your beads devoutly, and trust your all
+to Him.”</p>
+
+<p>Avice and Idonea, with other damsels and
+dames, were already on their knees in prayer,
+their hearts beating wildly.</p>
+
+<p>William Harpur, pacing up and down,
+glanced through the dim glass windows on
+the scene without, and then from one to
+other of the shuddering women within.</p>
+
+<p>“I think, Prior John,” he observed, with a
+slight curl of lip, “it will be a sorry welcome
+for my noble kinsman and his friends when
+they come in, wet and weary, if no board be
+spread, no dry garments ready for their use.”</p>
+
+<p>The taunt seemed to sting the good dame.</p>
+
+<p>“Storm or no storm, Will, my lord shall
+not find us unprepared. Maidens, attend
+me.” And she swept from the tapestried
+reception-room, followed by her daughters
+and the noble maids who did probationary
+service under her, and soon her silver whistle
+might be heard, as one or other did her
+bidding, and all below-stairs was speed and
+bustle—and covert fear.</p>
+
+<p>The hours sped. The storm seemed to
+abate. The board was spread. The time for
+the evening meal came and went.</p>
+
+<p>There were no arrivals. There were
+whisperings among hungry guests, for time
+was flying.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Harpur paced the rush-strewn floor
+impatiently, biting his nails and cogitating.</p>
+
+<p>The dark came down—the double dark of
+storm and evening. The great time-candle
+in its sheltering lanthorn burnt the quarters
+down, and the hours.</p>
+
+<p>Villagers came scurrying to the hall in
+dismay. The meads were under water. Their
+fresh-cut hay was floating down the stream,
+with many a tree and bush from parts beyond
+in the west.</p>
+
+<p>The lovely sisters had busked themselves
+afresh to receive their lovers; dark tresses and
+fair were coiled in golden nets, and on each
+bosom shone her token cross of gold.</p>
+
+<p>But as the hours and minutes flew, dress
+was disregarded, their lips quivered with
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>At length Avice whispered to her mother,
+“Had we not best set a cresset burning on
+the watch-tower, and send torch-bearers to
+light the passage of the ford?”</p>
+
+<p>“I have already given orders, child; I feared
+to speak my alarm to you.”</p>
+
+<p>But even torches will not keep alight in rain
+and hurricane. The men, headed by Will
+Harpur, returned to the hall drenched and
+discomfited.</p>
+
+<p>“The blazing sky will be their surest guide,”
+said he; “we cannot keep a torch alight. But
+do not give way to bootless terror, good aunt,
+the storm will have kept our friends at Ashby,
+or, at least, have driven them back. They
+would never be so mad as to attempt the
+passage of the ford.” Then, aside to the prior
+he added, “The land is covered for more
+than half a mile, and in mid-stream the marly
+water runs like a torrent, bearing bushes, beams,
+and haycocks swiftly out of sight. They must
+have gone back.”</p>
+
+<p>Almost as he spoke there was a rapid thud
+of hoofs heard advancing up the hill.</p>
+
+<p>There was the strong black charger of Earl
+Bellamont, and close behind came the bay
+mare of Sir Gilbert.</p>
+
+<p>They were both riderless!</p>
+
+<p>A moment of speechless horror, then
+shrieks and wailing filled the air.</p>
+
+<p>Mid the sobbing and lamentations of
+women, and the clamour of men, fresh torches
+were kindled, horn lanthorns lighted and
+affixed to poles. Then, with the prior and
+Will Harpur at their head, all the men about
+the place rushed forthwith ropes and shepherds’
+crooks, and aught that might save a
+drowning man.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! it was all too late.</p>
+
+<p>Their bravest and best beloved were gone
+for aye.</p>
+
+<p>Too rashly impatient, and trusting the
+leadership of impetuous Earl Bellamont, Sir
+Ralph and Sir Gilbert had disregarded the
+remonstrances of more cautious companions,
+and dashed across the waste of waters, so low
+at first as barely to cover their horses’ fetlocks.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! some floating bush may have misled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">{140}</span>
+the old man, for all at once they seemed to be
+carried down stream and disappear, as if they
+had missed the ford, or the current had been
+too strong for men weighted with armour.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Ralph had mounted his foot page behind
+him, and the scion of another noble house was
+lost.</p>
+
+<p>Their esquires, following behind, had been
+impotent to save, and only by turning sharply
+round and fighting with the rising waters did
+they manage to preserve their own lives.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day as the thick waters subsided did
+the search continue along the devastated banks
+until the dark Derwent, rolling its great volume
+of water into the Trent, barred further
+passage, and made the quest hopeless.</p>
+
+<p>A silken scarf caught in a bush, a broken
+lance and pennon, a battered casque, a saddle-bow,
+were all the relics found of father, bridegrooms,
+page.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Bellamont was borne down by the
+shock. Avice drooped like a broken lily;
+only Idonea seemed capable of thought or
+action.</p>
+
+<p>The subsidence of the flood brought spurring
+in the more prudent party to comfort their own
+wives and daughters, along with the downcast
+esquires to tell the needless tale.</p>
+
+<p>There was no consoling Lady Bellamont.
+She seemed to take the triple loss to her own
+heart, and grieve for her daughters as much as
+for herself.</p>
+
+<p>In vain the prior offered such consolation as
+his faith afforded. She sat like a stone, rigid
+and immovable; would take no sustenance
+whatever.</p>
+
+<p>The tears shed over her by Idonea and
+Avice seemed to petrify as they fell rather
+than melt. Their affliction but intensified her
+own.</p>
+
+<p>“If they had died in battle as brave men
+should, we might have borne it bravely,” she
+said, at last; “but to be slain by the cold,
+cruel, treacherous waters in the height of joy
+and hope, almost within hail of home, it is
+too terrible, too terrible, prior; I cannot be
+resigned. And for my crushed roses—orphaned,
+widowed, ere they became wives—it is too
+much; I cannot survive it.”</p>
+
+<p>And before that month was out the twin-sisters
+were left to weep out their tears in each
+other’s arms, and bear the fresh blow as best
+they might, with only the good prior to watch
+and guard them in their orphanhood, and lead
+them to bow meekly to the inscrutable decrees
+of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>There was William Harpur willing to do the
+co-heiresses suit and service, and leave his
+own estate, a mile or so away, to the care of
+his reeve, whilst he administered affairs at the
+hall, but neither the prior nor the sisters cared
+for his interference, and when the old retainers,
+with the seneschal at their head, came in a
+body at the prior’s summons to swear fealty to
+the ladies Bellamont, and Idonea accepted
+their homage for herself and her sweet sister,
+as one born to command, he turned away to
+bite his nails in displeasure, and quitted the
+hall before the sun went down.</p>
+
+<p>But though Idonea could order the household,
+and the seneschal could keep the retainers
+in order, and the reeve overlook the villeins
+and lands, nothing seemed to rouse the drooping
+Avice, or remove the more rebellious
+sorrow that mutely burned on the cheeks and
+in the eyes of Idonea.</p>
+
+<p>“My daughters,” said the prior, on the eve
+of his departure, “duty calls me away to my
+own flock. The bridge I built over the Dove
+three years agone, after the great hurricane,
+has, Friar Paul brings word, been shaken
+sorely. I must needs see to its repair. The
+safety of many lives depends on its stability.
+Yet I would fain see you more submissive to
+the divine will ere I depart. Think how many
+sufferers there have been by the same calamity—how
+many a hearth has been laid bare, how
+many cry aloud for sustenance the flood has
+swept away. Abandon not your hours to
+selfish lamentations, but go abroad, see how
+the poor hinds bear their sorrows, and endeavour,
+by good and charitable deeds, to win
+the favour of your offended Lord. Look on
+the crosses that ye wear, and think of His
+wounds and His tears, and remember that
+His blood and His tears were shed for others,
+not for self.”</p>
+
+<p>Idonea’s eyes were fixed on him when he
+began; they drooped as low as those of Avice
+ere he ended.</p>
+
+<p>“Father,” said she, “your rebuke is just.
+We have thought the world was our own—in
+joy and in sorrow. It shall not be so henceforth.
+We ask your blessing ere you go.”</p>
+
+<p>The benediction was spoken, and on the
+morrow he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>They, too, went forth in their mourning-weeds,
+and saw what sorrow meant for the
+very poor and for the class above them.
+Tottering huts, bare fields, where the only
+crop was dull red mud; mothers in rags
+weeping over naked and famishing babes;
+churls looking hopeless on desolation, or seeking
+wearily to repair a fence or clear a garden.
+And wherever they went they left hope behind,
+as well as coin, or food, or raiment from
+the hall. But some took their gifts and sympathy
+with sullen thanklessness. They were
+little better than serfs, and were more inclined
+to resent the ability to bestow than feel grateful
+to the willing bestowers.</p>
+
+<p>Seneschal and reeve said they would spoil
+the peasantry with their frequent alms; and
+even the prior when he came suggested
+moderation in doles, which destroyed honest
+independence and fostered beggary.</p>
+
+<p>But the sisters had found ease in helping
+others, and ere long sought the prior’s advice
+over a project to serve the people for generations
+yet unborn.</p>
+
+<p>They had discovered that sorrow and
+calamity come to the poor as to the rich, and
+they proposed to preserve others from losses
+and heartaches such as theirs.</p>
+
+<p>There was a general lamentation that
+Swark’s Stone was gone and the ford less
+readily found.</p>
+
+<p>“Sister,” said Idonea, “had there been a
+bridge over the Trent like the Monks’ Bridge
+over the Dove, we had been happy wives, not
+mourning maidens. Let us up and build one.
+If we cannot restore our dead, we may preserve
+life for the living.”</p>
+
+<p>“Right gladly,” assented Avice. “We
+may so make our sorrow a joy to thousands.”</p>
+
+<p>The prior hailed their project as a divine
+inspiration, hardly conscious he had struck the
+keynote. They were rich. They would hear
+nought of suitors. What better could they
+do with their wealth?</p>
+
+<p>He drew plans, he found them masons.
+Stone was not far to seek for quarrying; but,
+to be of service, the bridge must cover broad
+lands as well as common current.</p>
+
+<p>“Twenty-nine arches!” cried William
+Harpur. “The cost will be enormous. It
+will swallow up your whole possessions! You
+must be mad; and the prior is worse to
+sanction such a sacrifice.”</p>
+
+<p>“The sacrifice was made when the river
+robbed us of our dearest treasures. We must
+save others a like sacrifice at any cost,” said
+Avice, now as bold as her sister.</p>
+
+<p>The work began and went on steadily.
+Honest labour was paid for, and churls, who
+had lived half on doles and housed like dogs,
+were paid a penny<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> a day or a peck of meal,
+and took heart to work with a will. There
+were always loose stones and wood about,
+and no one said nay when they began to
+repair and improve their own dwellings. And
+so industry came to Swarkstone with the
+building of the bridge. Heaven, too, seemed
+to smile upon the undertaking, for never a
+disaster occurred to mar it.</p>
+
+<p>But, as Squire Harpur had prophesied, the
+cost was enormous. It was the work of years.
+Woods were cut down to supply timber for
+scaffolding; then lands were mortgaged or
+sold, and who but William Harpur was chief
+buyer? But still the work proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>“Travellers who can cross the river dry-shod
+will gladly pay a small toll for the
+privilege,” said the sisters, as the last of their
+possessions, the old hall, passed into their
+cousin’s hands, and they took refuge in a
+small house in a bye-way, which goes by the
+name of “No Man’s-Lane” to this day.</p>
+
+<p>It was a glad day for travellers on horse or
+foot when Swarkstone Bridge, of twenty-nine
+arches, was declared free for traffic, a bridge
+which spanned the Trent and its low meads for
+three-quarters of a mile, and the good Ladies
+Bellamont, who built it, had a right to expect
+those who could thus travel safely and dry-shod
+at all seasons to be grateful for the inestimable
+boon.</p>
+
+<p>They had no charter to exact a toll to repay
+the moneys they had expended; but there
+was at the Swarkstone end a small chapel
+erected and dedicated to St. James, in which
+it was fondly hoped the users of the bridge
+would pause to thank God and drop their
+small thank-offerings in a box set there to
+receive them.</p>
+
+<p>At first, when they began to build, people
+about called the sisters “the twin angels;”
+but by the time the bridge was built it had
+ceased to be a new thing. It was used as a
+matter of course; but the thank-offerings
+grew fewer and fewer as people ceased to
+remember the danger and discomfort of the
+passage by the ford.</p>
+
+<p>They had impoverished themselves for the
+security of strangers. The offerings of gratitude
+would not keep life in the good sisters.
+They began to spin flax for a livelihood. Avice
+bore her lot meekly. Not so Idonea, into
+whose soul the sense of ingratitude was eating
+like a canker. But Avice said gently, “If we
+gave our wealth to build a bridge expecting a
+return, what answer can we make to our Lord
+when we go to Him? Let us be content that
+our individual losses will be the gain of thousands
+after us.” And that put an end to
+Idonea’s rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>At length the aged prior, who had built
+Monks’ Bridge between the counties of Stafford
+and Derby for a people as ungrateful,
+stirred up William Harpur to remember the
+poor kinswomen on whose lands he was
+flourishing, and he offered them a home at
+Ticknall.</p>
+
+<p>The offer came too late to save them. The
+Ladies Bellamont died as they had lived,
+together, and were buried with their two symbolic
+crosses on their breasts. And then,
+thanks chiefly to the prior, who reverenced
+them, a marble monument could be erected
+to their memories with their sleeping effigies
+upon it. It was inscribed “The Builders of
+the Bridge.” But the prior would fain have
+added, “They built unseen another bridge
+over the troubled waters of life—a bridge from
+earth to heaven.”</p>
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">{141}</span></p>
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="HISTORICAL_SKETCHES_OF_MUSICAL_FORMS">HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Sketch II.—Opera (Secular Musical Drama).</span></h3>
+
+<p class="ph3"><span class="smcap">By MYLES B. FOSTER</span>, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.</p>
+
+<div class="ddropcapbox illowe10_9375" id="i_page_141">
+<img class="idropcap w100" src="images/i_page_141.jpg" alt='A' /></div>
+
+<p><span class="uppercase">lthough</span> it is stated
+that the ancient
+Greeks intoned
+their tragedies, and
+introduced, besides,
+some form of melody
+(μέλος), the
+whole question of
+the existence of
+opera at that period
+of artistic prosperity,
+when all forms of learning were
+so powerfully nourished, is a matter for
+speculation. Their authors certainly give
+us wonderful accounts of the great effects
+that this music had, and state that it
+formed an essential part of their drama,
+but beyond these records, in all probability
+much exaggerated, we have no data.
+Opera we must assume to be a comparatively
+recent invention. To the end of the sixteenth
+century, composers had written all their
+finest work for the Church, and had, very
+rightly, devoted their best efforts to the praise
+and worship of the Giver of all musical ideas
+and beauties.</p>
+
+<p>Even that which was known as secular
+music, and was intended for social occasions,
+was written in ecclesiastical forms, and the
+very folksongs had their freshness rubbed off
+by contrapuntal developments to which they
+were not suited, and were dragged in their
+new and ill-fitting costume into the masses
+and motetts of the day. The Church possessed
+most of the art and learning of the age, and,
+with that, a corresponding power over the
+ignorant people. Thus music had been, so
+far, choral music; all the secular forms,
+villanellas, glees, madrigals, and lieder, being
+in from three to six parts and more. The
+expressive solo form (<i>monodia</i>), whether
+<i>recitativo</i> or <i>arioso</i>, was as yet unknown. As
+the people attained more knowledge, and
+with it more freedom, secular music gradually
+separated itself from the restraints of the
+Church, and, as in other parallel cases, freedom
+at length degenerated into licence.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the great Renaissance period,
+when, after Suliman had taken Constantinople,
+the great scholars there fled before the conquering
+Turks into Italy and other new
+homes, an impetus was given to the study of
+Greek literature, and a desire to repossess the
+Greek drama in all its original beauty and
+perfection was the ambition of many an
+Italian student. In Florence the poet Rinuccini,
+the singer Caccini, Galilei, the father of
+the astronomer, and, at a rather later date,
+Jacopo Peri, used to hold meetings in which
+they not only agreed that the existing musical
+forms were inadequate for a true musical
+drama, but they proceeded forthwith to compose
+pieces for one voice on what they imagined
+to be the Greek model.</p>
+
+<p>Emilio del Cavalieri is one of the first composers
+known to have tried to set music to
+the new form of drama. The poetess Guidiccioni
+(mentioned in the sketch “Oratorio”)
+supplied the words. His first efforts were
+“Il Satiro” and “La Disperazione di Fileno,”
+and they were performed in Florence in 1590,
+the poems being set to music throughout.</p>
+
+<p>Peri followed with his “Daphne,” in
+which <i>aria parlante</i>, a kind of recitation
+in strict time, first appears. It is well described
+by Ritter, in his “History of Music,”
+as “something between well-formed melody
+and speech.” It appears to have pleased the
+Greek revivalists immensely, and they quite
+believed it to be the discovery of the lost art.
+Peri composed “Euridice” in the year 1600,
+on the occasion of the marriage of Henry IV.
+of France with Maria di Medicis, and in his
+work we have a primitive version of all our
+operatic forms.</p>
+
+<p>Composers now occasionally used the <i>arioso</i>
+style; but their Greek beliefs prevented them
+from introducing a good broad melody form.
+The principal numbers of “Euridice,” for
+example, were choruses and declamatory recitatives.
+The orchestra was hidden behind the
+scenes, the only purely orchestral piece being
+a little prelude (called “Zinfonia”) for three
+flutes.</p>
+
+<p>With such material and upon so simple a
+basis was opera formed—an art construction
+which, in its more modern garb, has played a
+very important part in the history of European
+society.</p>
+
+<p>Of really great composers who advanced
+this <i>drama per musica</i>, one of the earliest and
+most important was Claudio Monteverde. He
+imbued it with his musicianship and originality,
+employing particular effects for each
+scene and for each character, his object being
+to unite the varying sentiment of the poem
+with his music. In his operas, the first of
+which was “Orfeo,” new and less cramped
+forms of accompaniment, giving singers greater
+freedom in dramatic action, followed such
+reforms as a better use of rhythm and more
+truthful illustration of sentiments, whilst an
+increased orchestral force was added to other
+means of expression.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian Church writers began to compose
+operas, and in the seventeenth century
+we find the recitation form receiving new
+vigour and truthfulness of detail at the
+hands of, amongst others, Cavalli (whose real
+name was Caletti-Bruni), Cesti, and Alessandro
+Scarlatti, Carissimi’s greatest pupil.
+Scarlatti did much for the opera. He is supposed
+to have invented the short interludes
+for instruments between the vocal phrases,
+and he certainly introduced the first complete
+form of aria, known as the “Scarlatti-form,”
+which, however, with its tiresomely exact
+repetitions, seems to us quite artificial, and
+anything but dramatic. About his time
+<i>recitativo</i>, as we know it, was separated
+from the <i>aria parlante</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Succeeding Scarlatti, came the pupils of his
+Neapolitan school, amongst whom were
+Durante, Buononcini, Porpora, Jomelli, and
+others, and with them we reach a period
+during which the opera-form sadly deteriorated.</p>
+
+<p>Composers had broken away from the
+ecclesiastical forms—nay, more, the chorus
+had become of no importance, but, instead,
+the new aria, which might have taken an
+advantageous position as a means for occasional
+soliloquy and meditation, without interference
+with the dramatic story, now usurped
+the place of the latter altogether, and an opera
+meant nothing more than a string of arias in
+set form, an excuse for showing off the best
+voices to the greatest advantage, the most
+successful work being that one which pandered
+most to the vanity of the singers, who altered
+and embellished the melodies of their mechanical
+slave, the composer.</p>
+
+<p>Dramatic significance was fast disappearing,
+and a reformer was sadly needed, and that
+reformer appeared early in the eighteenth
+century in the person of Gluck, a Bohemian,
+who, after studying in Italy and writing
+several operas after the traditional Italian
+models, settled in Vienna, and there worked
+out his great ideas of regeneration and reform.</p>
+
+<p>His “Orfeo,” produced in 1762, created a
+great sensation, and in Alceste (1766) we
+find him, to quote his own preface to it,
+“avoiding the abuses which have been introduced
+through the mistaken vanity of singers
+and the excessive complaisance of composers,
+and which, from the most splendid and
+beautiful of all public exhibitions, has reduced
+the opera to the most tiresome and ridiculous
+of spectacles.”</p>
+
+<p>He considered that music should second
+poetry, by strengthening the expression of the
+sentiments and the interest of the situations,
+and adds, “I have therefore carefully avoided
+interrupting a singer in the warmth of
+dialogue, in order to wait for a tedious
+ritornel; or stopping him during one of his
+sentences to display the agility of his voice in
+a large vocal passage.” He greatly increases
+the importance of the introduction or overture,
+making it foreshadow the nature of the coming
+drama.</p>
+
+<p>Composers were either too hardened or too
+cowardly to at once follow and imitate his
+excellent reforms, and great disputings and
+much rancour ensued, Gluck being opposed by
+the singers and the old school headed by
+Piccini.</p>
+
+<p>We will leave this <i>opera seria</i> for a moment,
+restored to its high position in art, and glance
+at a lighter form, the <i>opera buffa</i>, or comic
+opera, which may be traced to the little
+<i>entr’actes</i>, or <i>intermezzi</i>, given as a sort of
+relaxation between the acts of plays, as early
+as the sixteenth century. At first, madrigals,
+or favourite instrumental solos, were used for
+this purpose; later on, when operatic forms
+appeared, you find scenas or duets, in which
+the chief idea was to raise a laugh, very often
+at the expense of good taste. Scarlatti’s
+pupils developed these <i>intermezzi</i>, and gave
+them such artistic importance that they grew
+to be rivals to the grand opera, and eventually
+held their own position as <i>opera buffa</i>.
+Pergolesi was most successful in this style,
+and his “La Serva Padrona” (1746), one of the
+earliest specimens, was a great favourite.
+The accompaniment was for string quartett
+only, and there were but two <i>dramatis personæ</i>.
+His fellow student, Leonardo Vinci, wrote
+several comic operas, and further on, Nicolo
+Piccini, whom we have just left opposing
+Gluck in Paris, made many advances in <i>opera
+buffa</i>, giving greater contrasts and more
+elaborate and effective <i>finales</i> than his forerunners.
+In fact, he was stronger in this sort
+of composition than in <i>opera seria</i>, to which
+latter we now return.</p>
+
+<p>We find at the end of the eighteenth century
+the brilliant and successful works of Paisiello, a
+rival, at that time, of Mozart. At the same
+period Sarti, Salieri, Cimarosa, Paër, Righini,
+and others wrote operas.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of revolution, which was uprooting
+all old traditions, good and bad, at
+the end of the eighteenth century, forced even the
+Italian composers to see that more was
+required than they had ever given, to make
+opera what it should be, and they were compelled
+to acknowledge that, after Gluck’s
+reforms and their still lasting effects, and after
+Mozart’s influence and his noble examples,
+they must take up higher ground if they
+would succeed in other than the Italian cities.</p>
+
+<p>They composed, therefore, in a more serious
+manner for Paris or Vienna, and the Italian
+opera gained a fresh importance by the slight<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">{142}</span>
+reforms thus adopted, and through the successful
+power of Rossini it again held sway in
+the principal European courts.</p>
+
+<p>Rossini made a great many melodies and
+much pecuniary profit, and finding the singers
+ready to return to those abuses against which
+Gluck had protested so strongly, rather than
+permit them to play tricks with his music and
+embellish his melodies, he made the trills and
+embroideries so fulsome himself that there
+was nothing left which they could add!</p>
+
+<p>In the present century Mercadante, Bellini,
+and Donizetti followed in his train; following
+them comes Verdi, who is still living, and
+whose later works are very fine, being a happy
+combination of immense dramatic insight with
+effective situations and great melodic charm.
+We find in Boito the most decided attempt to
+unite Italian traditions and the latest German
+development. Thus much for the land in
+which opera was born.</p>
+
+<p>Opera soon spread, and travelled to the
+various European courts, and became there
+the amusement of noble and wealthy patrons.
+Such prestige did it carry with it, that to be
+successful in England or Germany, a composer
+had to write in the Italian style.</p>
+
+<p>France, whilst building upon the Italian
+foundation, created an opera in many ways
+differing from that form. Real French opera
+was first written by Lulli at the end of the
+seventeenth century. He will be ever remembered
+as the inventor of the overture, which replaced
+the small introduction of the Italians.
+Another thing he did which was new: he
+brought into his scheme the dance or ballet;
+and a third point was, that in his operas the
+chorus played a most important part.</p>
+
+<p>Following Lulli, we see Rameau greatly
+developing all these resources.</p>
+
+<p>When Gluck migrated to Paris he found the
+supporters of Italian opera backed by such
+essayists as Rousseau and Baron von Grimm,
+and named the “Bouffonists,” opposing the
+“Anti-Bouffonists,” who adhered to Lulli
+and Rameau. Also there were Philidor,
+Gretry, and others trying to combine the new
+and old styles. Gluck cut down the superabundance
+of melody, adapted his own reforms
+already referred to, gave the overture its
+true connection with the poem, and, as it
+were, out-Rameaued Rameau. With all his
+works produced in Paris he made great successes,
+notwithstanding his rival Piccini’s
+powerful opposition.</p>
+
+<p>We will again leave Gluck elevating, for
+this time, the French stage also, and glance at
+<i>opera comique</i>, a term used in France as early
+as 1712.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose that the equivalent of the Italian
+<i>intermezzo</i> was the <i>vaudeville</i>. Claude Gilliers
+appears to have written many about this
+period.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter half of the century Dauvergne
+composed “Les Troqueurs,” in imitation of
+the Italian <i>intermezzi</i>, and in this work the
+dialogue, which in <i>opera buffa</i> would have
+been sung, was spoken, a custom still adopted
+in France. Duni, Philidor (a wonderful chess-player),
+and Monsigny wrote many <i>operas
+comiques</i>. Gretry also appeared at this time
+as one of the superior composers—also Gaveaux,
+Gossec, and J. J. Rousseau, followed
+by D’Allayrac.</p>
+
+<p>To return to grand opera, the man most influenced
+by Gluck and his advances was
+Mehul, whose “Joseph” and “Le Jeune
+Henri” are well known, and who possessed
+undoubted talent. In the present century I
+may mention Catel, Isouard, Berton, and
+Boildieu, the latter’s “Calife de Bagdad” and
+“La Dame Blanche,” and other works having
+been received at the time with enormous
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Two composers, Italian by birth, Cherubini
+and Spontini, wrote much in the style and
+under the influence of the French opera. We
+all know and like Cherubini’s “Les Deux
+Journées,” “Medea,” and “Anacreon.”</p>
+
+<p>Spontini is spoken of as “the composer who
+embodied in his operas the life and spirit of
+the Empire under the First Napoleon.”</p>
+
+<p>Coming into this century, we notice, as important
+French opera composers, Hérold, of
+“Zampa” celebrity, Adolphe Adam, and
+Auber, who studied under Cherubini, and
+composed more comic operas than anything
+else, and whose work always contains light
+elegant melody and brilliant orchestration.
+Halévy has earned a good name by such
+operas as “La Juive” and “La Reine de
+Chypre.”</p>
+
+<p>An exceptionally great man was Hector
+Berlioz, who strove in new paths, and in the
+face of great opposition, to base his efforts
+upon the study of Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven.</p>
+
+<p>Meyerbeer, though born in Germany, wrote
+as much for French opera as for any other.
+He seems to have been a sort of musical turncoat,
+and every turn brought golden success.
+He became the greatest of French opera
+writers; but, in addition, he wrote German
+opera for Germans, Italian for Italians, and
+ensured by this system of “all things to all
+men” the applause which he so highly
+coveted.</p>
+
+<p>To conclude our French list, there is a composer,
+whose “Faust” will live long; I allude
+to Charles Gounod, who has written many
+other operas containing great dramatic beauty,
+richness of orchestration, and grace of melody.
+Following him are Bizet, whose “Carmen”
+has been so popular, Massenet, and Ambroise
+Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>In England there is but little history to give
+you.</p>
+
+<p>English music and drama were first connected
+in a primitive way in the early miracle-plays
+and mysteries performed at Chester and
+Coventry and in other towns.</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare, in his plays, gives several directions
+for musical interludes, and introduces
+songs and choruses, more particularly in “As
+You Like It,” “Twelfth Night,” and “A
+Midsummer Night’s Dream.” In the first
+half of the seventeenth century William
+Lawes, and Henry, his brother, wrote music
+to the masques, in which poetry, music,
+scenery, and mechanical accessories were combined,
+producing a decided advance in the
+direction of real opera; but, notwithstanding
+the patriotic championship of budding English
+opera by these gentlemen of the Chapel Royal,
+and notwithstanding the existence of the great
+school of madrigal writers, they were never
+encouraged to attempt dramatic work, as the
+nobility already demanded Italian opera and
+Italian composers and singers. During the
+civil war, and until Charles II.’s restoration,
+the theatres were closed by the Puritans, and
+even from 1660 they were only opened for five
+years with an occasional performance of a
+masque by Sir William Davenant, the then
+poet laureate, set to music by Locke, in one
+of which, “The Siege of Rhodes,” we find
+the recitative style used, and spoken of as new
+to England, although well known on the Continent.</p>
+
+<p>After those five years came the Plague, and
+following it the Great Fire, so that it was not
+until nearer the end of the century that a fair
+start was made in opera, and that the powerful
+and masterly works of Henry Purcell saw the
+light. His genius was undoubtedly superior
+to that of Lulli in France or Scarlatti in Italy,
+and he became a power, not in England only,
+but throughout Europe. Alas, that he should
+have died so young! The form of opera
+settled by him and his followers was similar
+to the French and German, in that whilst the
+important parts would be sung, the subordinate
+dialogue was spoken, and there was
+no accompanied recitative, excepting in some
+of Dr. Boyce’s and Dr. Arne’s operas. Arne’s
+“Artaxerxes” has the dialogue, <i>à l’Italienne</i>,
+set entirely in recitative form.</p>
+
+<p>But these were exceptions. Dibdin, Dr.
+Arnold, William Jackson (of Exeter), Shield,
+Storace, Attwood, Sir Henry Bishop, and
+many others adhered to the spoken dialogue.
+It should be quite understood that their music,
+when it occurred, formed an integral portion
+of the whole work, and, therefore, differed
+from interpolated pieces, which could be withdrawn
+without breaking a sequence.</p>
+
+<p>In 1834 John Barnett produced his
+“Mountain Sylph,” the first important
+English opera in the strictly modern style of
+that age, and one which introduced the
+school typified by Balfe, Wallace, and
+Macfarren. Italian influence was evident, and
+has only lately been supplanted by the power
+of Germany, and, in one or two noteworthy
+instances, by the graceful delicacy of the
+French school. But the time for English
+opera is ripe; we have watched the dangers
+into which other schools have fallen; we have
+seen their heroes extricate them from those
+dangers; we have learnt what reforms are
+needful; the generous support and encouragement
+which has assisted the Italian, French,
+and German schools should now place all
+mercenary consideration on one side, and
+extend itself freely to those native artists who,
+in a spirit of true patriotism, are striving for
+the reputation and artistic honour of our
+country.</p>
+
+<p>To Handel we owe the final settlement of
+Italian opera in London, for which end he
+composed over forty operas, none of which
+are remembered, but from whose pages the
+good numbers were extracted and transferred
+to his oratorios!</p>
+
+<p>Comic opera, originating in Italy and
+developing in France, had, and still has, some
+footing in England. A very successful
+specimen was “The Beggar’s Opera,” performed
+in 1728 at Rich’s Theatre, in Lincoln’s
+Inn, with a libretto by Gay. So enormous
+was its success, that people said, “It made
+Gay rich, and Rich gay!” From this and
+following successes arose the ballad opera, a
+form of comic opera taken up by the best
+composers. “The Duenna,” music by Linley,
+words by Sheridan (Linley’s son-in-law), may
+be quoted as an excellent specimen. Finally
+the wealth of England has been able to
+procure and import the finest foreign works
+and artists, and its riches have assisted in
+impoverishing what little native art we
+possessed.</p>
+
+<p>For the last part of my sketch I have
+reserved German opera.</p>
+
+<p>Although Italian opera soon worked its way
+into Germany, in fact, as early as the year
+1627, when we reach the end of our story, we
+shall find the Germans in possession of the
+most advanced form of modern drama.</p>
+
+<p>Heinrich Schütz set the first opera to music.
+It was Rinuccini’s “Daphne,” already set
+by Peri in Florence.</p>
+
+<p>Italian style and Italian vocalists reigned
+supreme until the time of Gluck, with such
+exceptions as the Hamburg operas of Keiser
+and Handel, which contained German characteristics,
+and also the attempts on the part
+of Hasse, Graun, and Naumann to combine
+Italian and German qualities.</p>
+
+<p>With Gluck came the great reforms in
+Vienna, as elsewhere, and there, too, party
+feeling ran high, Gluck being warmly opposed
+by Hasse and his party. In Ritter’s admirable
+“History of Music,” already largely
+quoted from, whilst blaming the German
+princes for obtaining Italian operas at extravagant
+cost, he asks us to remember that these
+same princes “prepared the road, however
+unconsciously, for a Gluck, a Haydn, and a
+Mozart; for all these masters’ early efforts
+were rooted in the Italian school of music.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">{143}</span></p>
+
+<p>Germany all this time had no national
+opera, the Hamburg attempt failing for want
+of encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>As we have previously done in dealing with
+the other countries, so now we will glance at
+the lighter form of opera for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>The German <i>operette</i>, or <i>singspiel</i>, was
+brought into notice by Johann Adam Hiller
+about the middle of the eighteenth century.
+He produced numbers of these, full of charming
+original melodies, and with spoken dialogue,
+as in <i>opera comique</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst several writers of these light
+works we may number Schweitzer, André,
+and Benda, who introduced the melodrama, in
+which dialogue is spoken during an undercurrent
+of expressive and illustrative music. There
+is also Johann Friedrich Reichardt, composing,
+at the end of the seventeenth century, a
+sort of <i>vaudeville</i> known as the “Liederspiel.”</p>
+
+<p>Contemporary with these stand Dittersdorf
+and Haydn, and, in Southern Germany,
+Klauer, Schenk, and Müller.</p>
+
+<p>These small operas at first rather imitated
+the French school; but at the time of the
+above composers the national life and sentiment,
+in however insignificant a manner, had
+crept in, and the germ of a national type
+existed.</p>
+
+<p>At such a critical moment came the great
+genius who was to develop the elements of
+both serious and comic opera, and raise them
+to a lofty pedestal, and that genius was
+Mozart.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst accepting the forms of his day, he
+gave to them new life and meaning, and his
+illustration of each character, together with
+his masterly <i>ensembles</i> and <i>finales</i>, in
+which, whilst each singer maintains his
+individuality, clearness is still pre-eminent,
+will ever abide as marvellous examples of
+dramatic scholarship and musical beauty.
+Besides understanding exactly what the human
+voice was capable of doing, he raised the
+orchestral accompaniment to a very high
+position.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Gluck <i>attacked</i> Italian opera, Mozart
+<i>moulded</i> it in such a fashion that the old
+stiff traditions were no longer possible in
+Germany.</p>
+
+<p>At the commencement of this century, I
+must add to the list such names as Winter,
+Hummel the pianist, Weigl, Himmel, and,
+last and greatest, Beethoven, whose one
+opera, “Fidelio,” will endure in its pure
+nobility as long as music endures.</p>
+
+<p>The romantic school of poetry now finding
+its way into Germany, was soon aided by
+appropriate musical settings by Spohr,
+Marschner, and Weber—the greatest of them
+all. Of his operas, “Der Freischütz” is the
+finest, the most popular, and the most
+thoroughly German.</p>
+
+<p>Schumann wrote one opera, “Genoveva,”
+and Mendelssohn, ever searching for a
+libretto, commenced setting Geibel’s
+“Loreley,” but death came before he could
+finish it.</p>
+
+<p>Meyerbeer, a Berliner by birth, and sometimes
+German in work, we have already noticed
+in connection with his French operas.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Wagner, by his theories and his
+great compositions, has caused opera once
+more to become the field for dispute, research,
+and speculative thought.</p>
+
+<p>He maintains, to put it briefly, that the
+real character and meaning of opera has been
+all this time misunderstood. He carries into
+practice what Gluck preached, viz., that music
+should second poetry, in order to be in its
+proper place. He says, “The error of the
+operatic art-form consists in the fact that
+music, which is really only a means of
+expression, is turned into an aim; while the
+real aim of expression, viz., the drama, is
+made a mere means.”</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to him that the chief hindrance to
+the free action of drama was the concert aria,
+so he drops it altogether, using a melodious
+recitation in lieu of it, and calls his works
+dramas, not operas. His orchestra illustrates
+the emotions and thoughts of each character,
+and the peculiar timbre of each instrument
+supplies the individuality of the person represented—a
+practice suggested first by Monteverde;
+and he further binds together the
+various episodes and scenes in the story, by
+using short <i>motovos</i> or phrases which shall
+recall to the audience previous situations and
+events—a device used by Gluck, amongst
+others. Wagner very happily combines in himself
+the poet and musician. He rightly claims
+that his music should not be heard apart from
+its companions of equal value—the poem, the
+scenery, and the action. He has met with as
+much opposition as did Gluck, but the time
+has come when his works receive due recognition,
+and an appreciation increasing
+yearly in proportion to our unbiassed study
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>However excessive we may feel the
+reformer’s zeal to have been, these masterly
+art-forms supply wholesome food for
+meditation, and numberless suggestions for
+action, to every earnest and unbigoted
+student of this and coming generations.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS">ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<h3>MISCELLANEOUS.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot_ans">
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Josephine.</span>—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red
+nose, spots, bad digestion, bad breath, etc. A
+fine woman with a handsome figure (say five feet five
+inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches
+round the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of
+course, a very small or very thin girl would naturally
+measure less. You know which description applies
+to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a
+tobacco-pipe, and bulging out above and below like
+a bloated-looking spider, may solace herself with the
+assurance that her liver is cut in half, and that she
+would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to
+descant upon. We advise her to bequeath her
+remains to some hospital for the benefit of science
+and the warning of others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Seagull.</span>—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on
+our coast-line; that at Holyhead is higher, and
+measures 719 feet, while the former is only 564 above
+the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is
+678 feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St.
+Catherine’s Cliff, on the south coast of the Isle of
+Wight, is higher than all those before-named, and
+rises to 830 feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prudence Prim.</span>—Do you know a small illustrated
+book called “The Flowers of the Field”? Perhaps
+that would suit you; published by the Society for
+Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain
+time, letters waiting till called for at a foreign post-office
+are opened and directed back to the respective
+writers. Your writing is too careless; some letters
+well formed, others very nondescript.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pat Ogal.</span>—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white
+kid gloves to a cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain
+about the dress, do. For gloves you pay 2d. a
+pair.</p>
+
+<p>S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line
+upon Line,” and another called “The Peep of Day,”
+which are very suitable for children of such tender
+years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word
+“instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bertha.</span>—Have you never heard of a little appliance
+called a needle-threader? You would find it most
+useful, and could procure one at a fancy-work
+shop.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Joan R.</span>—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be
+polite to everyone else—busy for them even in the
+smallest attentions. You will have no time for brooding
+over your nervousness when you are married, so
+there is probably “a good time coming” for you.
+Try to prepare for it by studying nursing, cookery,
+patching and darning, etc.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">An Anxious One</span> will find her question many times
+answered if she takes the trouble to look through our
+correspondence columns under “Miscellaneous.”</p>
+
+<p>E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew
+them neatly at the seams, they would be of use in a
+hospital for female patients in winter. We may
+suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222, Marylebone-road,
+N.W., of which we have given an illustrated
+account. Any contributions in half-worn
+clothing (or new articles) of use for wear would be
+gratefully received there, books included.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lover of the Sea.</span>—1. The hair darkens as years roll
+on, and the change begins to take place at three
+years old, if not before. In middle life it is very
+many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does
+not say that “it is never too late to repent.” We
+are always told “to-day is the accepted time; to-day
+is the day of salvation ... now, while it is called
+to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow.
+If you put off making your peace with God, He may
+not bestow on you the grace of repentance and the
+desire to turn to Him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jerry.</span>—Your verses are very freely written, and give
+a good deal of promise, though some little errors
+need correction. Part of the small illustration with
+pen and ink gives hope of better things to come, and
+both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration
+whether the verses can be inserted in the
+G. O. P. You did not have them certified, which
+is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur contributions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Country Member of the G. F. S.</span>—You appear
+to be in a very sad state of health, and to need
+change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when suffering
+from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter
+should be prescribed by a doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Alberta Roxley.</span>—1. You do not give a sufficiently
+explicit description of the “Hymn to Music” for us
+to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide, Wide
+World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so
+crazy about sequels? There are very few written,
+and a good thing too; a new story is better than an
+old dish warmed up.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Little Puss</span> should ask her mother or governess for
+suitable books to read. Some on natural history
+would be interesting, as well as necessary for her to
+study.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">One Anxious to Know.</span>—Should a husband die intestate,
+but leave a wife and a sister, half goes to the
+wife and the other half to his sister, or his brother,
+as the case may be. If the man had had children,
+the wife would only have had a third instead of
+half.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Wee Willy Wankie.</span>—1. It depends on the age and
+size of your boy companion. The less little girls of
+fifteen walk in the London streets (the squares and
+certain residential quarters excepted) the better, if
+without a lady companion much older than themselves,
+or a maid. 2. What a ridiculous question your second
+is! “At what age should a girl become engaged?”
+There is no “should” about the matter, and there
+is no special age either. Any age after twenty-one,
+up to seventy, provided the right man proposed and
+no family duties stood in the way. All depends on
+God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you
+should never marry.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Scotch Lassie.</span>—We do not see that you were rendered
+more liable to the complaint you name on
+account of having a bad digestion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Topsy Turvey.</span>—Yes, there are luminous plants,
+which give a phosphorescent light. The root-stock
+of a jungle orchid becomes luminous when wetted;
+wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s time
+it becomes very bright. A certain member of the
+fungi family, which, if you have a damp cellar, may
+be found growing on the walls, is known to emit so
+much light as to enable you to read without other
+means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy
+red poppy and potatoes, when in process of decomposition,
+are all phosphorescent, more especially the
+latter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Misletoe.</span>—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes,
+your first step would be to learn to draw
+and study perspective; then the colours, and how to
+produce others by blending them. So, if you have
+any original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to
+you by which you could illustrate those thoughts,
+you should study the art of metrical composition in
+all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should
+always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right
+syllable. What you send us is not even good prose,
+the mere construction is all wrong, and there is no
+new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed
+are very good.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jack.</span>—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a
+girl, we certainly advise her to wear gloves when
+rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather ones would
+be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign
+denoting a pause, only you make a straight line over
+a dot instead of a curved one with the points downwards.
+A pause leaves the duration of the note, or
+the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s
+taste and musical feeling. Were there no dot beneath
+the short curved line, it would be a “bind” or
+“tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone
+is to be struck.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">{144}</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="nobreak ph3"><span class="u"><i>“FEATHERY FLAKES,”</i></span></p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center">OUR NEW CHRISTMAS PART,<br />
+IS NOW PUBLISHED.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp64" id="i_page_144" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144.jpg" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_page_144b" style="max-width: 28.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i_page_144b.jpg" alt="Feathery Flakes" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="ph3 p2"><i>Feathery Flakes.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">What time we for a while have bidden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Farewell to summer’s bright array,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And azure skies again are hidden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By grim December’s garb of grey;</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the pale sun, his warmth withholding,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Too often shows a cheerless face,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And falling snow is fast enfolding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s treasure in its soft embrace;</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We give these pure white showers a rival</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And namesake in our Christmas page,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose charm shall have less brief survival,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And banish not with winter’s rage.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Go, Feathery Flakes! Go forth, nor tarry</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">At limits of our colder zone;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And may you, for the trust you carry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Be warmly met and widely known.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Ruding, vol. I.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The Lombards, or <i>montes pietatis</i>, lent on gold and
+silver three-quarters of their value; on other metals
+half of their value; and on jewels according to circumstances.
+The rate of interest was determined in 1786 at
+five per cent.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Exchequer, so called because there was a building
+with a square hole in the floor, through which they
+used to drop the notes and gold on to a table beneath,
+covered with a chequered cloth.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Derwent.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> A penny a day was a good wage then. Money had
+a different value.</p>
+
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.</p>
+
+<p>Page 132: swalowed to swallowed—“swallowed with perfect ease.”]</p>
+
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. VIII, NO. 361, NOVEMBER 27, 1886 ***</div>
+<div style='text-align:left'>
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author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-23 01:21:37 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-23 01:21:37 -0800
commit	7918a078c10a3ff5c1834d149484d722cfdd234f (patch)
tree	1c98ef7c32ef09562bb8937056c9b28062a5e97e
parent	79d24b781776d94b6b96d80dcb8bc1c75332ec48 (diff)