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diff --git a/75449-h/75449-h.htm b/75449-h/75449-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cea452c --- /dev/null +++ b/75449-h/75449-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2635 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Chambers’s Journal, November 6, 1886 | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} + +.ph3{ + text-align: center; + font-size: large; + font-weight: bold; +} + + + +.header {text-align: center; margin-top: 0;} +.header p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} +.header .floatl {float: left;} +.header .floatr {float: right;} +.header .floatc {padding-top: .5em;} + +.x-ebookmaker .header {text-align: center; margin-top: 0;} +.x-ebookmaker .header p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} +.x-ebookmaker .header .floatl {float: left;} +.x-ebookmaker .header .floatr {float: right;} +.x-ebookmaker .header .floatc {padding-top: .5em;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +.smalltext {font-size: large;} + + + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} +.poetry .attrib {text-align: right;} + + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} +.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6.0em;} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowe0_75 {width: 0.75em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75449 ***</div> + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<h1>CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL<br> +OF<br> +POPULAR<br> +LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +<a href="#NOTES_ON_THE_NEW_HEBRIDES">NOTES ON THE NEW HEBRIDES.</a><br> +<a href="#BY_ORDER_OF_THE_LEAGUE">BY ORDER OF THE LEAGUE.</a><br> +<a href="#FOUNDLING_QUOTATIONS">FOUNDLING QUOTATIONS.</a><br> +<a href="#MISS_MASTERMANS_DISCOVERY">MISS MASTERMAN’S DISCOVERY.</a><br> +<a href="#POPULAR_LEGAL_FALLACIES1">POPULAR LEGAL FALLACIES.</a><br> +<a href="#A_DEAD_SHOT">A DEAD SHOT.</a><br> +<a href="#THE_EVIDENCE_OF_THE_SENSES">THE EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES.</a><br> +<a href="#THE_STATES_NEGLECT_OF_DENTISTRY">THE STATE’S NEGLECT OF DENTISTRY.</a><br> +<a href="#THE_BOARD_OF_TRADE_JOURNAL">THE BOARD OF TRADE JOURNAL.</a><br> +<a href="#LOVES_SEASONS">LOVE’S SEASONS.</a><br> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_705">{705}</span></p> + + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="figcenter" id="header" style="max-width: 37.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/header.jpg" alt="Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, +and Art. Fifth Series. Established by William and Robert Chambers, 1832. Conducted by R. Chambers (Secundus)."> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> +<div class="center"> +<div class="header"> +<p class="floatl"><span class="smcap">No. 149.—Vol. III.</span></p> +<p class="floatr"><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<em>d.</em></p> +<p class="floatc">SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1886.</p> +</div></div></div> + +<hr class="full"> + + + + +<div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTES_ON_THE_NEW_HEBRIDES">NOTES ON THE NEW HEBRIDES.</h2></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is a wide contrast between the Hebrides +of Scotland and the New Hebrides of the Western +Pacific; but both have come into a good deal +of prominence of late—the one in connection +with the crofters, the other in connection with +the French. It is of the New Hebrides we +propose to say something.</p> + +<p>The group of islands forming part of Melanesia +to which the name of New Hebrides has been +given extends for about seven hundred miles. The +most northern of the group is about one hundred +miles from the Santa Cruz Islands, and the most +southern about two hundred miles from New +Caledonia. Espiritu Santo is the largest and most +northerly of the group, and is about seventy-five +miles long by forty miles broad. The next largest +island is called Mallicolo, and is fifty-six miles +long by twenty miles broad. The entire land +area of the group may be taken as about five +thousand square miles; and the population of the +whole group has been estimated variously from +fifty thousand to two hundred thousand. But +whatever the total population, the peoples probably +sprung from one original stock, although +they have drifted far apart in the matter of +language. There are said to be no fewer than +thirty different languages in the New Hebridean +group—all having a certain grammatical likeness, +but quite unintelligible to the other islanders. +The difference is not merely such as exists +between Scotch, Irish, and Welsh Gaelic; it is +a more marked division of tongues.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants vary nearly as much as their +languages. Although distinctly Papuan, there +are traits and traces of Polynesian intermixture +and even of separate Polynesian settlement. +Thus, on Vaté, the men are taller, fairer, and +better-looking than those on some of the other +islands, the more generally prevailing type being +one of extreme ugliness and short stature. They +all are, or have been, cannibals; but on Aneityum +they are now supposed to be all Christianised.</p> + +<p>Aneityum, or Anateum, or Anatom—for it is +spelt in all three ways—is within two hundred +miles of the nearest point in New Caledonia, +and within five hundred miles of Fiji. It has +a spacious, well-sheltered harbour, which is easy +of access, and is throughout well wooded and +watered. The general character of the island is +mountainous; and there is an agreeable diversity +of hill and valley, the mountains being intersected +by deep ravines, and cultivated spots +alternating with barren tracts. The principal +wealth of this island is in its timber, of which +the kauri pine appears to be the chief; but there +is also a good deal of valuable sandal-wood. +Some years ago, an attempt was made to establish +a whale-fishery off the shores of Aneityum; +but we have not heard with what result. The +length of this island is about fourteen miles, +and its breadth about eight. The climate, +although damp, is not disagreeable, and is not +marked by great variations. The thermometer +seldom goes below sixty-two degrees, and never +below fifty-eight degrees; but, on the other +hand, it never goes above ninety-four degrees, +and seldom above eighty-nine degrees in the +shade.</p> + +<p>Aneityum deserves especial mention because the +whole population is understood now to profess +Christianity. That population in 1865 was stated +by Mr Brenchley to be two thousand two hundred, +and it has not probably increased much, +if any, since then. Previous to 1850, the natives +of Aneityum were as degraded and savage as on +any island of the Pacific; but two missionaries +who settled there about the date mentioned began +to work a steady and continuous change.</p> + +<p>The Aneityum people do not live in villages, +but separately in the midst of their cultivated +patches, which are divided into districts, each +containing about sixty. The government is in +the hands of chiefs, of whom there are three +principal, each having a number of petty chiefs +under them. But their power appears limited.</p> + +<p>Aneityum, like the other islands of the New +Hebrides, is of volcanic origin, and it is surrounded +by coral reefs. No minerals have been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_706">{706}</span>found; and in this connection it is worthy of +remark that Australians insist that there is +a much closer natural affinity between the New +Hebrides and Fiji than there is between the +New Hebrides and New Caledonia, which is an +island rich in minerals. Mr Brenchley enumerates +the principal indigenous products of Aneityum +as bread-fruit, banana, cocoa-nut, horse-chestnut, +sago-palm, another species of palm bearing small +nuts, sugar-cane, taro—the staple article of food—yams +in small quantities, sweet-potatoes, and +arrowroot. Of fruits, &c., introduced, the orange, +lime, lemon, citron, pine-apple, custard-apple, +papaw-apple, melons, and pumpkins, have succeeded. +The cotton plant had also been introduced, +and promised well; and French beans +were grown for the Sydney market. There +are more than a hundred species of ferns on the +island, and more than a hundred species of +fish in the waters surrounding it. But the fish +are not all edible, and besides being different +from, are inferior to those found in the northern +hemisphere. The birds are not very numerous; +but butterflies and insects abound, in the +case of the latter the list being lengthened +by the importation of fleas by Europeans. +Among themselves, the natives barter fishing-baskets, +nets, sleeping-mats, hand-baskets, pigs, +fowls, taro, and cocoa-nuts. With foreigners, +they barter pigs, fowls, taro, bananas, cocoa-nuts, +sugar-cane, &c., for European clothing, hatchets, +knives, fish-hooks, and so forth. Their weapons +are spears, clubs, bows and arrows—the spears +being rude and very crooked.</p> + +<p>Of Tanna, another of the southern division +of the group, many interesting notes have been +left by Mr Brenchley and Dr Turner. It is +about forty or fifty miles from Aneityum, and +has a somewhat narrow anchorage, called Port +Resolution Bay. On the west side of this bay +there is a large and preternaturally active volcano, +which pulsates in a regular sequence of eruptions +at intervals of five, seven, or ten minutes, night +and day, all the year round. The regularity of +the eruptions is supposed to be caused by the +influx of water into the volcano from a lake +which lies at its base. Tanna is nearly circular, +and between thirty-five and forty miles across. +It is covered with lofty hills, bright with +verdure.</p> + +<p>Mr Brenchley stated the population at fifteen +to twenty thousand; but Dr Turner placed it +at only ten or twelve thousand; and Turner, +who resided for some months on the island, is +likely to be nearer the mark. The people are +of middle stature, and of a copper colour naturally, +although some of them are as black as +New Hollanders, through artificial dyeing of +their skins. They are rather better-looking than +average Papuans, but make themselves hideous +with red paint. The men frizzle their hair, +which is oftener light-brown than black in +colour; the women wear the hair short, but +‘laid out in a forest of little erect curls about +an inch and a half long.’ They pierce the septum +of the nose, and insert horizontally a small piece +of wood; and in their ears they wear huge +ornaments of tortoise-shell. They do not tattoo. +The women wear long girdles, hanging to the +knee, made of the dried fibre of banana stalks; +and the men wear an unsightly waistcloth of +matting. Their weapons are clubs, bows and +arrows, and spears, with which they are very +expert, and they always work and sleep with +their weapons by their sides. They are, in fact—or +were, when Dr Turner lived among them—a +race of warriors, for the tribes were incessantly +at war with each other. ‘We were never able,’ +says Dr Turner, ‘to extend our journeys above +four miles from our dwelling at Port Resolution. +At such distances we came to boundaries which +were never passed, and beyond which the people +spoke a different dialect. At one of these +boundaries, actual war would be going on; at +another, kidnapping and cooking each other; and +at another, all might be peace, but, by mutual +consent, they had no dealings with each other.... +When visiting the volcano one day, the natives +told us about a battle in which one party which +was pursued ran right into the crater, and there +fought for a while on the downward slope inside +the cup!’</p> + +<p>The climate of Tanna is damp for four months +of the year, when fever and ague are common; +but it is agreeable during the remainder of +the year; and the average annual temperature +is about eighty-six degrees. The soil, on account +of the volcanic origin, is extremely fertile, and +there are a number of boiling springs.</p> + +<p>Erromango, to the north of Tanna, is celebrated +for its massacres of missionaries and white settlers, +and it was here that Mr Williams was murdered +many years ago. This island is covered with +dense vegetation down to the very water’s edge. +It contains a great deal of fine timber, such +as sandal-wood, kauri pine, &c. The population +was estimated at about five thousand by both +Mr Brenchley and Dr Turner. The people are +very much like the Tannese, but are without +any settled villages or considerable chiefs. The +Erromangan women tattoo the upper part of +their bodies, and wear leaf-girdles hanging from +waist to heel; but the men prefer nudity. +Neither infanticide nor euthanasia seems to prevail +here, but the sick are not particularly well +cared for. Dr Turner traced a belief in witchcraft +and some belief in a future state. The +spirits of the dead are supposed to go eastward, +and some are thought to roam about in the +bush.</p> + +<p>Vaté or Sandwich Island, still to the north, +is another interesting member of the group. It +has attracted many Australians and others, who +have attempted settlements, but not, we believe, +with success as yet. Dr Turner calls it a ‘lovely +island’—although, whether it compares with the +island of Aurora, one of the most northerly of +the group, which Mr Walter Coote says is a +perfect earthly paradise, we cannot tell. Vaté, +at anyrate, is very lovely, and seems to be of +coral formation. Its size is about one hundred +miles in circumference, and its population perhaps, +ten thousand—although Dr Turner said twelve +thousand. There is no general king, but a large +number of petty chiefs. The people are more +fully clothed than those of the other islands we +have referred to; they do not tattoo—they only +paint the face in war; they wear trinkets and +armlets; and they live in regular villages. There +are several dialects, but not such diversity as in +Tanna. They do not fight so much as the +Tannese; but have clubs, spears, and poisoned +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_707">{707}</span>arrows. Infanticide, unfortunately, is prevalent, +and seems to be the consequence of the practice +of the women having to do all the plantation +and other hard work.</p> + +<p>In Vaté, they have no idols, and they say +that the human race sprang from stones and +the earth. The men of the stones were <i>Natamoli +nefat</i>, and the men of the earth <i>Natamoli natana</i>. +The native name of the island is Efat or Stone—which +has been corrupted into Vaté. The +principal god is Supu, who created Vaté and +everything on it; and when a person dies, he is +supposed to be taken away by Supu. Ancestor-worship +is also practised, and the aged were +often buried alive at their own request.</p> + +<p>The island of Vaté is high above the sea, of an +irregular outline, and distinguished by some fine +bold features. ‘We could see,’ says Mr Brenchley, +‘high mountains, whose summits seemed clad +with verdure, while the thick woods towards +their base formed, as it were, a girdle which +spread downwards as far as the beach.’ Ashore, +he saw high reed-grass, wild sugar-canes ten feet +high, and vast plantations of banana and cocoa-nut. +The soil is of remarkable fertility; but +the island is subject to frequent shocks of earthquake, +sometimes very violent. The climate is +damp, but not unhealthy. Of the natives, we +have read differing accounts, one describing them +as among the best, and another as among the +worst of New Hebridean aborigines, with a remarkably +developed and insatiable craving for +human flesh. The happy mean is probably +near the truth, that is to say, they are neither +better nor worse than the rest of their race, and +are very much as the visitor makes them.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak x-ebookmaker-important" id="BY_ORDER_OF_THE_LEAGUE">BY ORDER OF THE LEAGUE.</h2> + +<p class="ph3">BY FRED. M. WHITE.</p></div> + + +<h3 title="CHAP. XII.">IN TWENTY CHAPTERS.—CHAP. XII.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coolly</span>, as if the whole transaction had been +a little light recreation, and untroubled in conscience, +as if the fatal card had fallen to Maxwell +by pure chance, instead of base trickery, Le +Gautier turned his steps in the direction of +Fitzroy Square. It was a matter of supreme +indifference to him now whether Maxwell obeyed +the dictum of the League or not; indeed, flat +rebellion would have suited his purpose better, +for in that case he would be all the sooner rid +of; and there was just a chance that the affair +with Visci might end favourably; whereas, on +the other hand, a refusal would end fatally for +the rash man who defied the League. Men can +face open danger; it is the uncertainty, the +blind groping in the dark, that wears body and +mind out, unstrings the nerves, and sometimes +unseats reason. Better fight with fearful odds, +than walk out with the shadow of the sword +hanging over one night and day. The inestimable +Frenchman had seen what defiance to the +League generally came to; and as he reviewed +his rosy prospects, his bright thoughts lent +additional flavour to his cigarette. Nevertheless, +his heart beat a trifle faster as he pulled the +bell at the quiet house in Ventnor Street. +Adventures of this sort were nothing novel to +him; but he had something more at stake here +than the fortunes of the little blind boy and +the light intrigue he looked for. Miss St Jean +was in, he found; and he was shown up to +her room, where he sat noting the apartment—the +open piano, and the shaded waxlights, shining +softly—just the proper amount of light to +note charms by, and just dim enough to unite +confidences. As he noted these things, he smiled, +for Le Gautier was a connoisseur in the graceful +art of love-making, and boasted that he could +read women as scholars can expound abstruse +passages of the earlier classics, or think they +can, which pleases them equally. In such like +case, the Frenchman was about to fall into a +similar error, never dreaming that the artistically +arranged room with its shaded lights was +a trap to catch his soul. He waited impatiently +for the coming fair one, knowing full well that +she wished to create an impression. If such was +her intention, she succeeded beyond expectation.</p> + +<p>With her magnificent hair piled up upon her +small shapely head, and its glossy blackness +relieved only by a single diamond star, shining +like a planet on the bosom of the midnight +sky, with a radiant smile upon her face, she +came towards him. She was dressed in some +light shimmering material, cut low upon the +shoulders; and round the corsage was a wreath +of deep red roses, a crimson ribbon round the +neck, from which depended a diamond cross. +She came forward murmuring a few well-chosen +words, and sank into a chair, waiting for Le +Gautier to recover.</p> + +<p>He had need of time to recover his scattered +senses, for, man of the world as he was, and +acquainted with beauty as he was, he had never +seen anything like this before. But he was not +the sort to be long taken aback; he raised his +eyes to hers with a mute homage which was +more eloquent than words. He began to feel at +home; the dazzling loveliness threw a spell upon +him, the delicious mystery was to his liking; and +he was tête-à-tête.</p> + +<p>‘I began to think I had failed to interest +you sufficiently last night,’ Isodore commenced, +waving her fan slowly before her face. ‘I began +to imagine you were not coming to take pity +on my loneliness.’</p> + +<p>‘How could you dream such a thing?’ Le +Gautier replied in his most languishing voice. +His pulses began to beat at these last words. +‘Did I not promise to come? I should have +been here long since, but sordid claims of business +detained me from your side.’</p> + +<p>‘It must have been pressing business,’ Isodore +laughed archly. ‘And pray, what throne are you +going to rock to its foundations now?’</p> + +<p>Had Le Gautier been a trifle less vain, he +would have been on his guard when the conversation +took so personal a turn; but he was flattered; +the question betokened an interest in himself. +‘How would it interest you?’ he asked.</p> + +<p>‘How do you know that it would not? Remember, +that though I am bound by no oath, I am +one of you. Anything connected with the League, +anything connected with yourself, cannot fail +to interest me.’</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_708">{708}</span></p> +<p>The words ran through Le Gautier’s frame +like quicksilver. He was impulsive and passionate; +these few minutes had almost sufficed +to seal his thraldom. He began to lose his +head. ‘You flatter me,’ he said joyously. ‘Our +business to-night was short; we only had to +choose an avenging angel.’</p> + +<p>‘For Visci, I suppose?’ Isodore observed with +some faint show of interest. ‘Poor man! And +upon whom did the choice fall?’</p> + +<p>‘A new member, curiously enough. I do not +know if you are acquainted with him: his name +is Maxwell.’</p> + +<p>‘May he prove as true to the cause as—as you +are. I have never had the fortune to be present +on one of these occasions. How do you manage +it? Do you draw lots, or do you settle it with +dice?’</p> + +<p>‘On this occasion, no. We have a much fairer +plan than that. We take a pack of cards; they +are counted, to see if they are correct; then each +man present shuffles them; a particular one +represents the fatal number, and the president +of the assembly deals them out. Whoever the +chosen one falls to has to do the task in hand.’</p> + +<p>‘That, I suppose, must be fair, unless there +is a conjurer presiding,’ Isodore observed reflectively.—‘Who +was the president to-night?’</p> + +<p>‘I myself. I took my chance with the others, +you must understand.’</p> + +<p>Isodore did not reply, as she sat there waving +her fan backwards and forwards before her face. +Le Gautier fancied that for a moment a smile +of bitter contempt flashed out from her eyes; +but he dismissed the idea, for, when she dropped +the fan again, her face was clear and smiling.</p> + +<p>‘I am wearying you,’ she said, ‘by my silly +questions. A woman who asks questions should +not be allowed in society; she should be shut +away from her fellow-creatures, as a thing to be +avoided. I am no talker myself, at least not +in the sense men mean.—Shall I play to you?’</p> + +<p>Le Gautier would have asked nothing better +than to sit there feasting his eyes upon her matchless +beauty; but now he assented eagerly to the +suggestion. Music is an accomplishment which +forces flirtation; besides which, he could stand +close to her side, turning over the leaves with +opportunities which a quiet conversation never +furnishes. Taking him at his word, she sat down +at the instrument and commenced to play. It +might have been brilliant or despicably bad, +opera or oratorio, anything to the listener; he +was far too deeply engrossed in the player to +have any sense alive to the music. Perfectly +collected, she did not fail to note this, and when +she had finished, she looked up in his passionate +face with a glance melting and tender, yet wholly +womanly. It took all Le Gautier’s self-command +to restrain himself from snatching her to his +heart in his madness and covering the dark face +with kisses. He was reckless now, too far gone +to disguise his admiration, and she knew it. +With one final crash upon the keys she rose +from her seat, confronting him.</p> + +<p>‘Do not leave off yet,’ he urged, and saying +this, he laid his hand upon her arm. She started, +trembling, as if some deadly thing had stung her. +To her it was a sting; to him, the evidence of +awaking passion, and he, poor fool, felt his heart +beat faster. She sat down again, panting a little, +as from some inward emotion. ‘As you please,’ +she said. ‘Shall I sing to you?’</p> + +<p>‘Sweeter than the voice of the nightingales to +me!’ he exclaimed passionately. ‘Yes, do sing. +I shall close my eyes, and fancy myself in paradise.’</p> + +<p>‘Your imagination must be a powerful one.—Do +you know this?’</p> + +<p>Isodore took a piece of music from the stand, +a simple Italian air, and placed it in his hands. +He turned over the leaves carelessly, and returned +it to her with a gesture of denial. There was +a curious smile upon her lips as she sat down +to sing, a smile that puzzled and bewildered him.</p> + +<p>‘Do you not know it?’ she asked, when the +last chords died away.</p> + +<p>‘Now you have sung it, I think I do. It is +a sentimental sort of thing, do you not think? +A little girl I used to know near Rome sang it +to me. She, I remember, used to imagine it was +my favourite song. She was one of the romantic +schoolgirls, Miss St Jean, and the eyes she used +to make at me when she sang it are something +to be remembered.’</p> + +<p>Isodore turned her back sharply and searched +among the music. If he could only have seen +the bitter scorn in the face then—scorn partly +for him, and wholly for herself. But again she +steeled herself.</p> + +<p>‘I daresay you gave her some cause, Monsieur +Le Gautier,’ she said. ‘You men of the world, +flitting from place to place, think nothing of +breaking a country heart or two. You may not +mean it, perhaps, but so it is.’</p> + +<p>‘Hearts do not break so easily,’ Le Gautier +replied lightly. ‘Perhaps I did give the child +some cause, as you say. <i>Pardieu!</i> a man tied +down in a country village must amuse himself, +and a little unsophisticated human nature is a +pleasant chance. She was a little spitfire, I +remember, and when I left, could not see the +matter in a reasonable light. There is still some +bitter vengeance awaiting me, if I am to believe +her words.’</p> + +<p>‘Then you had best beware. A woman’s heart +is a dangerous plaything,’ Isodore replied. ‘Do +you never feel sorry, never experience a pang of +conscience after such a thing as that? Surely, +at times you must regret?’</p> + +<p>‘I have heard of such a thing as conscience,’ +Le Gautier put in airily; ‘but I must have been +born before they came into fashion. No, Miss +St Jean, I cannot afford to indulge in luxuries.’</p> + +<p>‘And the League takes up so much of your +time. And that reminds me. We have said +nothing yet about your insignia. I may tell you +now that it is not yet in my hands; but I shall +obtain it for you. How bold, how reckless you +were that night, and yet I do not wonder! At +times, the sense of restraint must bear heavy upon +a man of spirit.’</p> + +<p>‘Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,’ +Le Gautier fervently exclaimed. ‘You are too +good to me.—Yes,’ he continued, ‘there are times +when I feel the burden sorely—times like the +present, let us say, when I have a foretaste of +happier things. If I had you by my side, I +could defy the world.’</p> + +<p>Isodore looked at him and laughed, her wonderful +magnetic smile making her eyes aglow and +full of dazzling tints.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_709">{709}</span></p> +<p>‘That could not be,’ she said. ‘I would have +no divided attentions; I would have a man’s +whole heart, or nothing. I have too long been +alone in the world not to realise what a full meed +of affection means.’</p> + +<p>‘You should have all mine!’ Le Gautier cried, +carried away by the torrent of his passions. ‘No +longer should the League bind me. I would be +free, if it cost ten thousand lives! No chains +should hold me then, for, by heaven, I would not +hesitate to betray it!’</p> + +<p>‘Hush, hush!’ Isodore exclaimed in a startled +whisper. ‘You do not understand what you are +saying. You do not comprehend the meaning +of your words. Would you betray the Brotherhood?’</p> + +<p>‘Ay, if you but say the word—ten thousand +Brotherhoods.’</p> + +<p>‘I am not bound by solemn oath like you,’ +Isodore replied sadly; ‘and at times I think it +could never do good. It is too dark and mysterious +and too violent to my taste; but you are +bound in honour.’</p> + +<p>‘But suppose I was to come to you and say +I was free?’ Le Gautier asked hoarsely. ‘To +tell you that my hands were no longer fettered—what +words would you have to say to me then—Marie?’ +He hesitated before he uttered the +last word, dwelling upon it in an accent of the +deepest tenderness. Apparently, Isodore did not +notice, for her eyes were sad, her thoughts evidently +far away.</p> + +<p>‘I do not know what I should say to you—in +time.’</p> + +<p>‘Your words are like new life to me,’ Le +Gautier exclaimed; ‘they give me hope and +strength, and in my undertaking I shall succeed.’</p> + +<p>‘You will do nothing rash, nothing headstrong, +without telling me. Let me know when +you are coming to see me again, and we will talk +the matter over; but I fear, without treachery, +you never can be free.’</p> + +<p>‘Anything to be my own master!’ he retorted +fervently.—‘Good-night, and remember that any +step I may take will be for you.’ With a long +lingering pressure of the hand and many burning +glances, he was gone.</p> + +<p>Isodore heard his retreating footsteps echoing +down the stairs, and thence along the silent +street. The mask fell from her face; she clenched +her hands, and her countenance was crossed +with a hundred angry passions. Valerie entering +at that moment, looked at her with something +like fear.</p> + +<p>‘Sit down, Valerie,’ Isodore whispered hoarsely, +in a voice like the tones of one in great pain, +as she walked impatiently about the room, her +hands twisted together convulsively. ‘Do not be +afraid; I shall be better presently. I feel as if +I want to scream, or do some desperate thing +to-night. He has been here, Valerie; how I +sustained myself, I cannot tell.’</p> + +<p>‘Did he recognise you?’ Valerie asked timidly.</p> + +<p>‘Recognise me? No, indeed! He spoke about +the old days by the Mattio woods, the old times +when we were together, and laughed at me for +a romantic schoolgirl. I nearly stabbed him +then. There is treachery afloat; his plan is +prospering. As I told you it would be, Maxwell +is chosen for the Roman mission; but he will +never do the deed, for I shall warn Visci myself. +And he was my bro——Visci’s friend!’</p> + +<p>‘But what are you going to do now?’ Valerie +asked.</p> + +<p>‘He is a traitor. He is going to betray the +League, and I am going to be his confidant. I +saw it in his face. I wonder how I bear it—I +wonder I do not die! What would they say +if they saw Isodore now?—Come, Valerie, come +and hold me tightly in your arms—tighter still. +If I do not have a little pity, my poor heart +will break.’</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Long and earnestly did Salvarini and Maxwell +sit in the latter’s studio discussing the events of +the evening, till the fire had burnt down to +ashes and the clock in the neighbouring steeple +struck three. It was settled that Maxwell +should go to Rome, though with what ulterior +object they did not decide. Time was in his +favour, the lapse of a month or so in the commission +being a matter of little object to the +League. They preferred that vengeance should +be deferred for a time, and that the blow might +be struck when it was least expected, when the +victim was just beginning to imagine himself +safe and the matter forgotten.</p> + +<p>‘I suppose I had better lose no time in going?’ +Maxwell observed, when they had discussed the +matter thoroughly. ‘Time and distance are no +objects to me, or money either.’</p> + +<p>‘As to your time of departure, I should say +as soon as possible,’ Salvarini replied; ‘and as +to money, the League finds that.’</p> + +<p>‘I would not touch a penny of it, Luigi—no, +not if I was starving. I could not soil my fingers +with their blood-money.—What do you say to +my starting on Monday night? I could get to +Rome by Thursday morning at the latest.—And +yet, to what good? I almost feel inclined to +refuse, and bid them do their worst.’</p> + +<p>‘For heaven’s sake, do not!’ Salvarini implored. +‘Such a thing is worse than folly. If +you assume a readiness to fulfil your undertaking, +something may turn up in your favour.’ +Maxwell gazed moodily in the dead ashes, +and cursed the hot-headed haste which had +placed him in that awful position. Like every +right-minded man, he shrank with horror from +such a cowardly crime.</p> + +<p>‘You will never attain your ends,’ he said. +‘Your cause is a noble one; but true liberty, perfect +freedom, turns against cold-blooded murder; +for call it what you will, it is nothing else.’</p> + +<p>‘You are right, my friend,’ Salvarini mournfully +replied. ‘No good can come of it; and +when reprisals come, as they must, they shall be +swift and terrible.—But Frederick,’ he continued, +laying his hand on the other’s shoulder, ‘do not +blame me too deeply, for I will lay down my +own life cheerfully before harm shall come to +you.’</p> + +<p>Maxwell was not aware that Sir Geoffrey +Charteris was a member of the League, as Le +Gautier had taken care to keep them apart, +so far as business matters were concerned, only +allowing the baronet to attend such meetings +as were perfectly harmless in their general character, +and calculated to inspire him with admiration +of the philanthropic schemes and self-denying +usefulness of the Brotherhood; nor was it +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_710">{710}</span>the Frenchman’s intention to admit him any +deeper into its secrets; indeed, his admission +only formed part of the scheme by which the +baronet, and through him his daughter, should +be entirely in the Frenchman’s power. The +cards were sorted, and, once Maxwell was out +of the way, the game was ready to be played. +All this the artist did not know.</p> + +<p>With a heavy heart and a foreboding of coming +evil, he made the simple preparations for his +journey. He had delayed to the last the task +of informing Enid of his departure, partly from +a distaste of alarming her, and partly out of fear. +It would look more natural, he thought, to break +it suddenly, merely saying he had been called +to Rome on pressing business, and that his +absence would not be a prolonged one. Till +Saturday, he put this off, and then, bracing up +his nerves, he got into his cab, and was driven +off rapidly in the direction of Grosvenor Square. +He was roused from his meditations by a shock +and a crash, the sound of broken glass, the sight +of two plunging horses on the ground—roused +by being shot forward violently, by the shouts +of the crowd, and above all, by the piercing +scream of a woman’s voice. Scrambling out as +best he could, he rose to his feet and looked +around. His cab had come violently in collision +with another in the centre of Piccadilly. +A woman had attempted to cross hurriedly; and +the two cabs had swerved suddenly, coming +together sharply, but not too late to save the +woman, who was lying there, in the centre of +an eager, excited crowd, perfectly unconscious, +the blood streaming down her white face, and +staining her light summer dress. A doctor had +raised her a little, and was trying to force some +brandy between the clenched teeth, as Maxwell +pushed his way through the crowd.</p> + +<p>‘Nothing very serious,’ he said, in answer to +Maxwell’s question. ‘She is simply stunned by +the blow, and has sustained, I should say, a +simple fracture of the right arm. She must be +moved from here at once.—If you will call a +cab, I will take her to a hospital.’</p> + +<p>‘No, no!’ Maxwell cried, moved to pity by +the pale fair face and slight girlish figure. ‘I +am mainly responsible for the accident, and you +must allow me to be the best judge. My cab, +you see, is almost uninjured; put her in there, +and I will tell you where to drive.’</p> + +<p>They lifted the unconscious girl and placed +her tenderly on the seat. There were warm +hearts and sympathetic hands there, as you may +notice on such occasions as these, and there was +a look of feeling in every face as the cab drove +slowly away.</p> + +<p>‘Go on to Grosvenor Square,’ Maxwell instructed +his man. ‘Drive slowly up New Bond +Street. We shall be there as soon as you.’</p> + +<p>They arrived at Sir Geoffrey’s house together, +considerably astonishing the footman, as, without +ceremony, they carried the sufferer in. Alarmed +by strange voices and the shrieks of the servants, +who had come up at the first alarm, Enid made +her appearance to demand the meaning of this +unseemly noise; but directly she heard the +cause, as coherently as Maxwell could tell her, +her face changed, and she became at once all +tenderness and womanly sympathy.</p> + +<p>‘I knew you would not mind, darling,’ he +whispered gratefully. ‘I hardly knew what to +do, and it was partly my fault.’</p> + +<p>‘You did quite right. Of course I do not +mind. Fred, what do you take me for?’ She +knelt down beside the injured woman there in +the hall, in the presence of all the servants, and +helped to carry her up the stairs.</p> + +<p>Lucrece looked on for a moment, and then +a startled look came in her face. ‘Ah!’ she +exclaimed, ‘I know that face—it is Linda +Despard.’</p> + +<p>Enid heard these words, but did not heed +them at the time. They carried the girl into +one of the rooms and laid her on the bed. At +a sign from the doctor, the room was cleared, +with the exception of Enid and Lucrece, and +the medical man proceeded to look to the broken +limb. It was only a very simple fracture, he +said. The gravest danger was from the shock +to the system and the wound upon the forehead. +Presently, they got her comfortably in +bed, breathing regularly, and apparently asleep. +The good-natured doctor, waving aside all thanks, +left the room, promising to call again later in +the day.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="FOUNDLING_QUOTATIONS">FOUNDLING QUOTATIONS.</h2></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Quotations</span> play no small part in conversation +and general literature. There are some which we +know must inevitably be made under certain circumstances. +It is almost impossible, for instance, +for the conventional novelist, when he wants to +convey to his readers the fact that his heroine’s +nose is of a particular order—which, formerly, +through our lack of invention, we could only +describe by a somewhat ungraceful term—to avoid +quoting Lord Tennyson’s description of the feature +as it graced Lynette’s fair face—‘Tip-tilted like the +petal of a flower.’ We feel sure that it must come; +and there is now, happily, no occasion for a young +lady in the position of one of Miss Braddon’s +earlier heroines, when listening to a detailed +description of her appearance, to interrupt the +speaker, as he is about to mention the characteristics +of her nose, with a beseeching, ‘Please, +don’t say <i>pug</i>!’</p> + +<p>And then, does anybody ever expect to read +a description of a certain celebrated Scotch ruin, +without being told that</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Go visit it by the pale moonlight?</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>or to get through an account of the ancient gladiatorial +games at Rome without coming across the +line,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Butchered to make a Roman holiday?</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>You know, perhaps, what praise Mark Twain took +to himself because he did <i>not</i> quote this line. ‘If +any man has a right,’ he says, ‘to feel proud of +himself and satisfied, surely it is I; for I have +written about the Coliseum, and the gladiators, +the martyrs, and the lions, and yet have never +used the phrase, “Butchered to make a Roman +holiday.” I am the only free white man of +mature age who has accomplished this since Byron +originated the expression.’ This little piece of +self-congratulation rather reminds one of the lady +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_711">{711}</span>who was accused of never being able to write a +letter without adding a P.S. At last, she managed +to write one without the usual addition; but +when she saw what she had succeeded in doing, +she wrote: ‘P.S.—At last, you see, I have written +a letter without a P.S.’ And so, though Mark +Twain managed to steer clear of the hackneyed +quotation in the body of his account, he could +not help running against it in a P.S.</p> + +<p>Then we have all the multitude of Shaksperean +quotations which are sure to be heard in their +accustomed places, many of which, indeed, have +become—to quote again—such ‘household words,’ +that to very many people they do not appear to +be quotations at all, but merely every-day expressions, +of the same order as ‘A fine day’ or ‘A +biting wind.’</p> + +<p>Again, when we read of some cheerful fireside +scene, when the curtains are drawn closely against +the winter wind that is roaring round the house, +and the logs are crackling and spitting in the +grate, and the urn is hissing and steaming upon +the table, don’t we know that a reference to the +‘cup which cheers but not inebriates’ is certainly +coming? This, by the way, is a line that is +almost invariably incorrectly quoted, and it is +the usual and incorrect form that we have given. +We shall leave our readers to turn up the line +for themselves, and see what the correct form is, +and then, perhaps, the trouble they will thereby +have had will serve to impress it upon their +minds, and prevent them again quoting it incorrectly.</p> + +<p>But it was not with the intention of talking +about these well-known and every-day quotations +from Tennyson, Scott, Byron, Shakspeare, and +Cowper that we thought of writing this paper. +We want to talk about a few quotations, quite as +well known as those to which we have already +alluded, which have been so bandied about that +all trace, or nearly all trace, of their original +parish and paternity has been lost; and, though +they are as familiar to us as the most hackneyed +phrases from our best known poets, no one can +say with certainty by whom they were first +spoken or written.</p> + +<p>A good many wagers have been made as to +the source of the well-known and much-quoted +couplet:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He that fights and runs away,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">May live to fight another day.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>The popular belief is that they are to be found +in Butler’s <i>Hudibras</i>. But the pages of that poem +may be turned over and over again, and the +lines will not be found in them. We may as well +say at once that they cannot be found anywhere +in the exact form in which they are usually +quoted. The late Mr James Yeowell, formerly sub-editor +of <i>Notes and Queries</i>, once thought that he +had discovered their author in Oliver Goldsmith, +as a couplet, varying very slightly from the form +we have given, occurs in <i>The Art of Poetry on a +New Plan</i>, which was compiled by Newbery—the +children’s publisher—more than a century ago, +and revised and enlarged by Goldsmith. But the +lines are to be found in a book that was published +some thirteen years before <i>The Art of Poetry</i>, +namely, Ray’s <i>History of the Rebellion</i>. There +they appear as a quotation, and no hint is given +as to the source from which they are taken. +Ray gives them as follows (first edition, 1749, +page 54):</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">He that fights and runs away,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">May turn and fight another day.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>Though this is the earliest appearance in print +of the exact words, or almost the exact words, in +which the quotation is now usually given, it is by +no means the earliest appearance of a similar +thought. Even as far back as Demosthenes we +find it. It appears, too, in Scarron, in his +<i>Virgile Travesti</i>, if we remember rightly. And +now we must confess that the still prevailing +belief that the lines occur in <i>Hudibras</i> is not +entirely without a <i>raison d’être</i>, and it is not +impossible that Ray may have thought he was +quoting Butler, preserving some hazy and indistinct +recollection of lines read long ago, and +putting their meaning, perhaps quite unwittingly +and unconsciously, into a new and unauthorised +form. This, however, is mere conjecture. The +lines, as they appear in <i>Hudibras</i> (part iii. canto +iii., lines 243, 244), are as follows:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">For those that fly, may fight again,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Which he can never do that’s slain.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>We may just add that Collet, in his <i>Relics of +Literature</i>, says that the couplet occurs in a +small volume of miscellaneous poems by Sir +John Mennis, written in the reign of Charles II. +With this book, however, we are unacquainted, +and cannot, therefore, discuss the appearance of +the foundling lines in it, or what claims its +author may have to be their legitimate parent.</p> + +<p>All readers of Tennyson—and who that reads +at all is not numbered amongst them?—know +well the opening stanza of <i>In Memoriam</i>:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">I held it truth, with him who sings</div> +<div class="verse indent2">To one clear harp in divers tones,</div> +<div class="verse indent2">That men may rise on stepping-stones</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Of their dead selves to higher things.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>These lines contain another quotation of the +order we have designated as ‘Foundling Quotations.’ +Who is the singer, ‘to one clear harp +in divers tones,’ to whom Lord Tennyson refers? +Passages from Seneca and from St Augustine +(Bishop of Hippo) have been suggested as inspiring +the poet when he penned the lines; but +neither Seneca nor St Augustine can be said to +<i>sing</i> ‘to one clear harp in divers tones.’ Perhaps +the most reasonable hypothesis is that Lord +Tennyson had in his mind Longfellow’s beautiful +poem of <i>St Augustine’s Ladder</i>, the opening lines +of which are:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Saint Augustine! well hast thou said,</div> +<div class="verse indent2">That of our vices we can frame</div> +<div class="verse indent0">A ladder, if we will but tread</div> +<div class="verse indent2">Beneath our feet each deed of shame!</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>and the closing ones:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Nor deem the irrevocable Past</div> +<div class="verse indent2">As wholly wasted, wholly vain,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">If, rising on its wrecks, at last</div> +<div class="verse indent2">To something nobler we attain.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>The question, however, though Lord Tennyson +is still alive, is one that is not likely ever to be +clearly solved; for we have very good authority +for saying that he has himself quite forgotten +of what poet or verses he was thinking when +he composed the first stanza of <i>In Memoriam</i>.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_712">{712}</span></p> +<p>The equally well-known</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent18">This is truth the poet sings,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">That a sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things,</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>in <i>Locksley Hall</i>, refers, of course, to the line in +Dante’s <i>Inferno</i>.</p> + +<p>The trite ‘Not lost, but gone before,’ might +alone provide subject-matter for a fairly long +essay. Like the other quotations which we are +discussing, it can be definitely assigned to no +author. The thought can be traced back as far +as the time of Antiphanes, a portion of whose +eleventh ‘fragment,’ Cumberland has translated, +fairly literally, as follows:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Advanced a stage or two upon that road</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Which you must travel, in the steps they trod.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>Seneca, in his ninety-ninth Epistle, says: +‘Quem putas periisse, præmissus est’ (He whom +you think dead has been sent on before); and he +also has: ‘Non amittuntur, sed præmittuntur’ +(They are not lost, but are sent on before), +which corresponds very closely with the popular +form of the quotation. Cicero has the remark +that ‘Friends, though absent, are still present;’ +and it is very probable that it is to this phrase +of Cicero that we are really indebted for the +modern, ‘Not lost, but gone before.’ We may +note that Rogers, in his <i>Human Life</i>, has, ‘Not +dead, but gone before.’</p> + +<p>Then there is the somewhat similar, ‘Though +lost to sight, to memory dear,’ which no one +has succeeded in satisfactorily tracing to its +original source. It was said, some years ago, +that the line was to be found in a poem published +in a journal whose name was given as +<i>The Greenwich Magazine</i>, in 1701, and written by +one Ruthven Jenkyns. The words formed the +refrain of each stanza of the poem. We give one +of them as a sample:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Sweetheart, good-bye! the fluttering sail</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Is spread to waft me far from thee;</div> +<div class="verse indent0">And soon before the fav’ring gale</div> +<div class="verse indent0">My ship shall bound upon the sea.</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Perchance all desolate and forlorn,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">These eyes shall miss thee many a year,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">But unforgotten every charm—</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Though lost to sight, to memory dear.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>Mr Bartlett, however, in the last edition of his +<i>Dictionary of Quotations</i>, has demolished this +story of Mr Ruthven Jenkyns; and the line is +still unclaimed and fatherless. Probably, as in +the case of the last mentioned, ‘Not lost, but +gone before,’ its germ is to be found in an +expression of Cicero.</p> + +<p>There is a Latin line familiar to all of us, +‘Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis’ +(The times change, and we change with them), +which we are frequently hearing and seeing. +This is a much-abused line; probably there is +none more so; and we do not think we shall +be guilty of exaggeration if we say that it is +misquoted ten times for every time it is correctly +cited. The positions of the <i>nos</i> and the <i>et</i> are +usually interchanged; the result being, of course, +a false quantity; for the line is a hexameter. +Now, who first wrote this line? The answer +must be, as in the cases of all our other ‘Foundling +Quotations,’ that we do not know. But in +this particular instance we may venture to be +a little more certain and definite in our remarks +concerning its pedigree than we have dared to +be in previous ones. There can be little doubt +that the line is a corruption of one to be found +in the <i>Delitiæ Poetarum Germanorum</i> (vol. i. +page 685), amongst the poems of Matthias Borbonius, +who considers it a saying of Lotharius I., +who flourished, as the phrase goes, about 830 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> +We give the correct form of the line in question, +and the one which follows it:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis;</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Illa vices quasdem res habet, illa suas.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>There is another foundling Latin line, almost +as frequently quoted as the one we have just +been discussing, namely, ‘Quos Deus vult perdere, +prius dementat’ (Whom the gods would +destroy, they first madden). Concerning this there +is a note in the fifth chapter of the eighth volume +of Mr Croker’s edition of Boswell’s <i>Life of +Johnson</i>, in which it is said to be a translation +from a Greek iambic of Euripides, which is +quoted; but no such line is to be found amongst +the writings of Euripides. Words, however, +expressing the same sentiment are to be found +in a fragment of Athenagoras; and it is most +likely that the Latin phrase now so commonly +quoted is merely a translation from this writer’s +Greek, though by whom it was first made we +cannot say. The same sentiment has been expressed +more than once in English poetry.</p> + +<p>Dryden, in the third part of <i>The Hind and +the Panther</i>, has:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">For those whom God to ruin has designed,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>And Butler writes in <i>Hudibras</i> (part iii. canto +ii., lines 565, 566):</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Like men condemned to thunder-bolts,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">Who, ere the blow, become mere dolts.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<p>Further consideration will probably bring to +the reader’s mind other examples of these +‘Foundling Quotations’ which have won for themselves +an imperishable existence; though their +authors, whose names these few-syllabled sentences +might have kept alive for ever, if they +were only linked the one with the other, are +now utterly unknown and forgotten. Any one +who can succeed in discovering the real authorship +of the quotations we have been considering +will win for himself the credit of having solved +problems which have long and persistently baffled +the most curious and diligent research.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="MISS_MASTERMANS_DISCOVERY">MISS MASTERMAN’S DISCOVERY.</h2></div> + + +<h3 title="CHAP. I.">IN TWO CHAPTERS.—CHAP. I.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Miss Phœbe Masterman</span> was a spinster over +whose head some fifty summers had flown—with, +it may be presumed, incredible swiftness +to herself. She was very comfortably situated +with regard to this world’s goods, having inherited +ample means from her father, a native of +Durham, who had made a considerable fortune +as a coal-merchant. At the time of her father’s +death, she was thirty-five; and as she had no +near relative in whom to interest herself, she +established an Orphanage for twelve girls at +Bradborough, a market-town in the north of +England, within two miles of the coast. Brought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_713">{713}</span>up in the strictest conformity with Miss Masterman’s +peculiar views, dressed with the most rigid +simplicity, fed on the plainest fare, taught to +look upon the mildest forms of recreation as +vanity and vexation of spirit, these fortunate +orphans, one would think, could hardly fail to +become virtuous and happy; yet, inconceivable +as it may appear, there were legends that orphans +had been seen with red eyes and countenances +expressive of anything but content; there was +even a dark rumour to the effect that one of +them had been heard to declare that if she only +had the opportunity she would gladly commit +a crime, that she might be sent to prison, and +so escape from the thraldom of Miss Masterman!</p> + +<p>But even this ingratitude and depravity paled +before that of the Rev. Shanghan Lambe, incumbent +of the little church of St Mary’s. Now, +Miss Masterman had built that church for the +good of the district, and the living was in her +own gift. Yet Mr Lambe, entirely ignoring the +latter fact, had had the hardihood to baptise +an orphan in Miss Masterman’s absence without +previously obtaining the permission of that lady; +upon which the indignant lady declared that +unless he promised not to interfere with her +orphans, she would withdraw all her subscriptions +and leave him to find his own income. +Nor was this all. There were other reasons to +make Mr Lambe pause before quarrelling with +Miss Masterman. Before he was appointed to +St Mary’s, he had been only a poor curate with +a stipend of fifty pounds a year, which munificent +income he had found totally inadequate +to his wants and those of an aged mother who +was dependent on him; consequently, he had +entered upon his duties at Bradborough shackled +with small debts to the amount of a hundred +pounds.</p> + +<p>Miss Masterman, who made a point of +inquiring into every one’s affairs, soon became +aware of this, and as want of generosity was +by no means to be numbered among her failings, +she rightly judged that it would not be reasonable +to expect a man to give his mind to his +work if he were weighed down by other cares; +so, in an evil hour for himself, poor Mr Lambe +accepted from the lady a sum of money sufficient +to defray his debts—a sum for which, as he +soon found, he would have to pay compound +interest in the way of blind obedience to Miss +Masterman’s behests. Not a funeral could be +performed, not a marriage could be solemnised, +not an infant could be baptised, without Miss +Masterman’s permission; and it was even asserted +by some that Miss Masterman selected the texts +for the poor man’s sermons! The only oasis in +his desert was the annual departure of Miss +Masterman for change of air; then, and then +only, did Mr Lambe breathe in peace. For a +brief period, he felt that he was really master +of himself. He could sit down and smoke his +pipe without fear that his sitting-room door +would be rudely flung open by an imperious +female of fierce aspect, who would lecture him +on his sinful extravagance in the use of tobacco, +when he couldn’t pay his debts.</p> + +<p>One bright August morning, Miss Masterman +was seated at her breakfast table, and having +concluded her meal, had taken up the morning +paper and was studying the advertisements, +holding the paper at arm’s-length with an air +of grim combativeness, as if she were prepared +to give battle to any or all the advertisers who +did not offer exactly what she sought. Suddenly, +she pounced upon the following: ‘A Home is +offered in a Country Rectory by a Rector and +his family for two or three months to a Single +Lady needing change of air. House, with large +grounds, conservatories, pony-carriage, beautiful +scenery.—Address, Rector, <i>Clerical Times Office</i>.’</p> + +<p>‘That will do,’ said Miss Masterman to herself; +and, with her usual promptitude, she sat +down then and there and wrote to the advertiser, +asking particulars as to terms, &c. And +in due course she received an answer so perfectly +satisfactory in every respect, that the end +of the month found her comfortably installed +in the charming rectory of Sunnydale, in the +county of Hampshire, in the family of the Rev. +Stephen Draycott, rector of Sunnydale.</p> + +<p>The rector’s family, besides himself and his +wife, consisted of two sons and two daughters, +all grown up, with the exception of Master +Hubert, a boy of ten years old, who was endowed +with such a remarkable fund of animal spirits +that he was the terror of the neighbourhood; and +from the first moment of Miss Masterman’s arrival, +he became the special <i>bête noire</i> of that lady. +With all the other members of the family, Miss +Masterman was much pleased. The rector himself +was a polished and dignified person, and +by the extreme, if rather laboured, courtesy +of his manners, he endeavoured to tone down +the somewhat exuberant spirits of the rest of +his family. Mrs Draycott was a gentle, refined +matron, with a sweet, though rather weary face, +and was simply adored by her husband and +children. The two daughters, Adela and Magdalen, +were charming girls, full of fun, and very +popular with their two brothers, of whom the +senior, Clive, was aged nineteen.</p> + +<p>To the young people, Miss Masterman’s +arrival was little short of a calamity; they were +so much in the habit of freely stating their +opinions on all subjects without restraint, that +the presence of a stranger appeared to them an +unmitigated bore. It was in vain that their +mother reminded them that the handsome sum +paid by Miss Masterman for her board would +be a very desirable addition to the family +exchequer. At a sort of cabinet council held +after she had retired to her room the first +night after her arrival, Master Hubert expressed, +in schoolboy slang, his conviction that she was +a ‘ghastly old crumpet;’ a nickname which she +retained until a servant one day brought in a +letter which, she said, was addressed to ‘Miss +Pobe Masterman;’ from which moment, Miss +Masterman went by the name of ‘Pobe’ till +the end of her visit—a piece of irreverence of +which that lady happily remained quite unconscious.</p> + +<p>By the time Miss Masterman had settled down +in her new abode, the principal ladies of the +parish came to call upon her; and as some +of them were not only rich but very highly +connected, Miss Masterman greatly appreciated +their kind attentions. Among them was a Lady +O’Leary, an Irish widow, with whom Miss +Masterman soon struck up a great intimacy. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_714">{714}</span>Lady O’Leary was generally believed to be a +person of large fortune; but as this supposition +was based entirely on her own representations +with regard to property in Ireland, there were +some sceptical spirits who declined to believe in +it as an established fact. Lady O’Leary shared +three furnished rooms with a Miss Moone, who +lived with her as companion; and it soon +became quite an institution for Miss Masterman +to take tea with her two or three times a +week at least. On these occasions, the two +ladies—for Miss Moone discreetly withdrew +when Lady O’Leary had visitors—discussed all +the affairs of the parish, until, by degrees, they +got upon such thoroughly confidential terms, that +before long they had imparted to each other +their joint conviction that the general moral tone +of the parish was lamentably low, and that it +was doubtless owing in a great measure to the +deplorably frivolous conduct of the family at the +rectory; for Miss Masterman had discovered, to +her amazement and horror, that the rector not +only permitted his daughters to read Shakspeare, +but even gave them direct encouragement to do +so. Nor was this all; he actually was in the +habit, once a year, of taking all his children +up to London to see the pantomime at Drury +Lane!</p> + +<p>Among the more frequent visitors at the rectory +was a Mrs Penrose, an exceedingly pretty young +widow, who had recently taken a small house +in the village, where she lived very quietly with +an old servant, who appeared greatly attached to +her mistress. The widow, who was apparently +not more than five-and-twenty, was a charming +brunette, with sparkling black eyes, and hair like +waves of shining brown satin; and her sweet +face and animated manners made her generally +very popular in the village, where she visited the +poor and assisted the rector in various parochial +works of charity. Especially was she a favourite +at the rectory, not only with Mr and Mrs +Draycott, but with the young people, her presence +in the family circle invariably giving rise +to so much hilarity, that even the rector was +attracted by the general merriment, and would +leave his study to come and sit with his family, +and allow himself to join in their mirth at Mrs +Penrose’s lively sallies. Indeed, he had even been +heard to declare, in Miss Masterman’s hearing, +to that lady’s unspeakable disgust, that when +he was fagged and worried with the necessary +work of a parish, a few minutes of Mrs Penrose’s +cheerful society acted on his mind like a +tonic.</p> + +<p>Miss Masterman, from the first, had taken an +extraordinary antipathy to Mrs Penrose, who +appeared to her to be everything that a widow +ought not to be! Her bright face and unflagging +spirits were a constant offence to the elder lady, +though she had often been told that the late +Captain Penrose was such a worthless man that +his early death, brought about entirely by his +own excesses, could be nothing but an intense +relief to his young widow, who was now enjoying +the reaction, after five years of married misery. +Miss Masterman’s dislike to Mrs Penrose was +fully shared by her friend Lady O’Leary; and +they both agreed that the widow was in all +probability a designing adventuress, and deplored +the infatuation which evidently blinded the rector +as to her real character, for, as Lady O’Leary +observed: ‘Though it was given out that Mrs +Penrose was the particular friend of <i>Mrs</i> Draycott, +the rector’s partiality was obvious!’</p> + +<p>Miss Masterman had been at Sunnydale for +six weeks, when one morning she received a +letter from her housekeeper, informing her that +Mr Lambe had taken upon himself to remark +that the orphans were looking pale and jaded, +and that he was going to take them all to spend a +day at the seaside. Miss Masterman, on reading +this letter, felt most indignant, and at once wrote +to Mr Lambe to forbid the proposed excursion; +and after enumerating the many obligations under +which she had laid him—not forgetting the hundred +pounds she had lent him—she concluded +by expressing her surprise that he should presume +to interfere with her special protégées in +any way whatever.</p> + +<p>To this Mr Lambe replied that he was +‘extremely sorry if he had offended Miss Masterman; +that he had imagined that she would be +pleased for the orphans to have the treat, particularly +as some of them looked far from well; +but that, having promised the children, it was +impossible for him to break his word, particularly +as he had ordered a van for their conveyance +and made all the necessary arrangements +for the trip; he therefore trusted that Miss +Masterman would forgive him if he still kept +his promise to his little friends.’</p> + +<p>Furious at this unexpected opposition to her +will, Miss Masterman at once went in search of +Mrs Draycott to inform her that it was necessary +for her to go home for a week or ten days +on business of importance. Finding that Mrs +Draycott was not at home, she repaired to the +rector’s study, and after knocking at the door, +and being told to enter, she informed Mr Draycott +of her intentions. Saying that she must +write home at once, she was about to withdraw, +when Mr Draycott courteously asked her if she +would not write in the study, to save time, +as he was just going out. Miss Masterman +thanked him; and as soon as he had gone, sat +down and wrote to her housekeeper to say that +she would be at home the following day without +fail. Having finished her letter, she was about +to leave the room, when she observed a note +in a lady’s handwriting, which had apparently +slipped out of the blotting-pad on to the floor. +She picked it up, and was about to return it to +its place, when the signature, ‘Florence Penrose,’ +caught her eye. ‘What can that frivolous being +have to say to the rector?’ thought Miss Masterman; +and feeling that her curiosity was too +strong to be resisted, she unfolded the note, and +read the following words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Friend</span>—I have just received the +diamonds, which are exactly what I wanted. The +baby’s cloak and hood will do very well. I have +now nearly all that I require. My only terror +is, lest our secret should be discovered.—In great +haste. Yours, as ever,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Florence Penrose</span>.<br> +</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I hope you won’t forget to supply me +with plenty of flowers.</p> +</div> + +<p>Here was a discovery! For a few moments +Miss Masterman sat motionless with horror; her +head was in a whirl, and she had to collect her +thoughts before she could make up her mind +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_715">{715}</span>what to do. The first definite idea that occurred +to her was to secure the note; the next was, to +show it to Lady O’Leary and to discuss with +her what was to be done. As soon, therefore, +as she had completed all her arrangements for +her journey on the morrow, she repaired to her +friend’s lodgings; and after Lady O’Leary had +fairly exhausted all the expletives that even her +extensive Irish vocabulary could supply, to express +her horror and detestation of the conduct +of the rector and Mrs Penrose, the two ladies +laid their heads together, and seriously discussed +the advisability of writing to the bishop of the +diocese and sending him the incriminating letter. +However, they finally decided to do nothing +before Miss Masterman’s return to Sunnydale; +and in the meantime, Lady O’Leary undertook +to be on the watch, and to keep her friend +<i>au courant</i> as to what was going on in the +parish.</p> + +<p>It was late that evening when Miss Masterman +returned to the rectory, and by going up directly +to her room, she avoided meeting the rector. The +next morning she pleaded headache as an excuse +for having her breakfast sent up to her; and did +not come down until, from her window, she +had seen Mr Draycott leave the house, knowing +he would be away for some hours. He left +a polite message with his wife, regretting that +he had not been able to say good-bye in person +to Miss Masterman.</p> + +<p>‘The wily hypocrite!’ thought that lady. +‘He little thinks that his guilt is no secret to +me. But such atrocity shall not go unpunished!’</p> + +<p>When she took leave of Mrs Draycott, she +astonished that lady by holding her hand for +some moments as she gazed mournfully into her +face; then, with a final commiserating glance, +the worthy spinster hurried into her fly. As +she drove away, she leant forward and waved +her hand to the assembled family with such +effusion, that Mrs Draycott exclaimed: ‘Dear +me, I fear I have done Miss Masterman injustice. +I had no idea that she possessed so much feeling +as she showed just now. One would really +think she was going for good, instead of only +ten days!’</p> + +<p>‘No such luck,’ cried the irrepressible Hubert. +‘But, at all events, we have got rid of her for +a week at least; so now, we’ll enjoy ourselves, +and forget all about “Pobe” till she turns up +again!’—a resolution which the young gentleman +did not fail to keep most faithfully.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Miss Masterman was busily +employed at Bradborough in quelling orphans +and other myrmidons, and reducing things in +general to complete subjection to her will; but +with regard to Mr Lambe, she found her task +more difficult than she expected. In fact, the +worm had turned; and on her summoning him +to her presence and opening the vials of her +wrath on his devoted head, he calmly but firmly +announced his intention of sending his resignation +to his bishop; which took Miss Masterman +so completely by surprise, that, in her bewilderment, +she actually asked him to reconsider his +decision. But though she even went so far as +to give her consent to the orphans having their +coveted treat, Mr Lambe’s determination was not +to be shaken.</p> + +<p>The following week flew swiftly away; a good +deal of correspondence devolved upon Miss Masterman +through having to think of a successor +to Mr Lambe, and the lady of the manor was +very much worried. At last, however, everything +was settled, and Miss Masterman began to +think of returning to Sunnydale, where, as she +felt, fresh anxieties and most painful duties +awaited her.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="POPULAR_LEGAL_FALLACIES1" title="POPULAR LEGAL FALLACIES.">POPULAR LEGAL FALLACIES.<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<p class="ph3">BY AN EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER.</p></div> + + +<h3><i>DEEDS OF GIFT AND WILLS.—I.</i></h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the most universally believed fallacies +is that it is better to make a deed of gift than +a will for the disposal of property. Nothing +can be more dangerous than this delusion, as +we have often had occasion to observe in the +course of our experience. A deed of gift—pure +and simple—is a document under seal evidencing +the fact that certain property specified therein +has been absolutely given by the donor to the +donee, without any reservation for the benefit +of the former, or any power for him to revoke +the gift or resume possession of the property +in any circumstances. If the deed contains a +condition that the donor shall have the enjoyment +of the property during his life, and that +he shall have a right to recall the gift thereby +made, and dispose of the property in some other +way, then the document is to all intents and +purposes a will; and if it is only executed and +attested as an ordinary deed, it is altogether void, +in consequence of non-compliance with the directions +contained in the Wills Act, 1837, which +very properly requires more precautions against +fraud and forgery in the case of a will than +in the case of a deed. We say ‘very properly,’ +because the will does not take effect during the +lifetime of the testator; and therefore the greatest +safeguard is removed by his death before the document +can be acted upon or its authenticity be +likely to be questioned. This is a common oversight. +The deed is prepared and duly stamped; +and in consequence of the insertion of the powers +alluded to above, it proves to be utterly useless, +when, after the decease of the donor, his property +is claimed by his heir-at-law and next +of kin because of his having died intestate. It +may occasion some surprise that any solicitor +will prepare a deed which he knows cannot +stand the test of litigation; but this is not altogether +the fault of the profession. In many cases, +the danger is pointed out; but if the donor is +determined to dispose of his own property in +his own way, who can gainsay him? If he +cannot get what he requires in one office, he +will go to another; and we have several times +lost clients in consequence of our refusal to +prepare such a deed; all our arguments being +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_716">{716}</span>met by the reply that there would be no duties +to pay to the government if the deed were executed; +a complete fallacy in many cases, as we +have afterwards had occasion to know, when +we have seen what followed the decease of the +misguided donor.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, if there is a genuine gift, +and possession is given in accordance with the +deed, what then? One case which came under +our notice may illustrate the danger against +which we have frequently protested in vain. +A retired merchant invested the whole of his +savings in a freehold estate which would produce +sufficient annual income to supply all his +wants and leave a good margin for future accumulations. +Being a widower, in somewhat infirm +health, he took up his residence in the house +of his younger son, the elder being an irreclaimable +reprobate. Unfortunately, the wife of +this younger son was an artful and avaricious +woman, whose sole reason for consenting to the +arrangement as to residence was the hope of future +gain. The old gentleman had an insurmountable +objection to making a will—not an uncommon +weakness—as it reminded him too forcibly of +the time when he would have to leave his fine +estate and go over to the great majority. At +length, after urgent and repeated representations +as to the risk of his estate being sold by his +dissipated heir-at-law in case of his dying intestate, +he was persuaded to execute a deed of gift +to his younger son, to whom at the same time +he handed the title-deeds relating to the estate. +Soon afterwards, a quarrel arose between the +donor and his daughter-in-law; and the latter +persuaded her husband—whose moral principles +were as weak as those of his brother, though +in a different way—to sell the estate, and then +turn his father out of his house. After his +ignominious dismissal, the poor old gentleman +went to the house of a nephew, who soon tired +of supporting him; and eventually he was obliged +to go into the workhouse, altogether neglected +to the time of his death by all his relatives, +except his graceless elder son; and alas! he +could not assist his aged parent, as he was +himself almost destitute. This may appear to be +an extreme case; but it is not a solitary one, +although it is one of the worst of those which +have come under our own observation.</p> + +<p>This brief narrative may serve as an introduction +to the explanation of one remarkable +peculiarity in the practical working of a deed of +gift of real estate. Personal property may of +course be sold, and the sale completed by delivery +of the goods or other chattels to the purchaser; +but actual possession of land is no clue to the +ownership thereof, the title being evidenced by +deeds in the general way, the exceptions being +those cases in which land has descended to the +heir in consequence of the intestacy of the former +owner; and also those cases in which long-continued +possession has given an impregnable +title to a person who was originally a mere +trespasser, or at the most a tenant whose landlord +has been lost sight of. When the freehold +estate above mentioned was given away and the +gift was evidenced by deed and actual possession, +the donor lost the power of again giving it away +either by deed or by his will. But he might +have sold the property if he could have found +a purchaser willing to complete without actual +possession of the title-deeds; which, however, +he might afterwards have recovered from the +holder thereof; the reason for this being, that +where there are two inconsistent titles, both +derived from the same person, but one depending +upon an actual sale and payment by the purchaser +of the price agreed upon, while the other +rests upon no better foundation than a mere +voluntary act on the part of the donor, the title +of the purchaser will prevail, because of the +valuable consideration which he has paid; while +the other person has paid nothing. On the other +hand, if the donee, before he is dispossessed or +his title superseded by a conveyance for value, +were to sell the property, and if the sale were +completed and the purchase-money paid, the +donor would have lost his right to sell. Having +placed the donee in a position to make a good +title to the property, he must take the consequences +of his own folly. We once had the +pleasure of saving for the benefit of the vendor +the value of an estate which he had previously +given away; greatly to the astonishment of the +donee, who supposed himself to be safely possessed +of the whole estate.</p> + +<p>It will be understood that our remarks have +no application to marriage settlements or similar +documents in which extensive though limited +powers of appointment are generally reserved to +the settler, the power extending over the whole +estate or a specified part thereof; while the +persons to be the beneficiaries are strictly defined; +and powers are also given to him to direct the +payment of portions to his younger children, and +to charge them upon the estate which is comprised +in the settlement. This is the legitimate +way in which a landed proprietor can provide for +his family; and the only serious objection which +has ever been made thereto is that it has a +tendency to perpetuate the descent of the estates, +instead of their distribution and subdivision into +smaller properties. But these documents are +beyond the scope of this paper. What we +strongly object to are voluntary deeds of gift, +which are generally made for the purpose of +avoiding the payment of legacy and succession +duty, but lead too frequently to disastrous consequences. +They are beneficial to the legal profession, +often leading to costly and harassing +litigation; but to the intended recipients of the +bounty of the donor, and sometimes to the donor +himself, they are in a corresponding degree +injurious.</p> + +<p>Attention may here be called to the provisions +of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, +on the subject of voluntary gifts of personal +property made for the purpose of avoiding the +payment of the duties accruing due on the death +of the owner of personal estate. By this Act, +duty is payable at the like rates as the ordinary +probate duty on voluntary gifts which may have +been made by any person dying after 1st June +1881, whether such gift may have been made in +contemplation of approaching death or otherwise, +if the donor has not lived three calendar months +afterwards; or by voluntarily causing property to +be transferred to or vested in himself and some +other person jointly, so as to give such other person +benefit of survivorship; or by deed or other +instrument not taking effect as a will, whereby +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_717">{717}</span>an interest is reserved to the donor for life, or +whereby he may have reserved to himself the +right, by the exercise of any power, to reclaim +the absolute interest in such property. This +enactment removes the last argument in favour +of deeds of gift, for they do not now have the +effect of avoiding the payment of probate duty; +and in any event, since 19th May 1853, succession +duty has always been payable in respect +of the benefit acquired by the successor by reason +of the decease of his predecessor in title. The +case of a voluntary settlement in respect of +which the stamp duty has been paid is provided +for by a direction that on production of +such deed duly stamped, the stamp duty thereon +may be returned. Personal estate includes leasehold +property.</p> + +<p>With respect to wills, the position is very different. +Every man who has any property of +any kind ought to make a will, especially if he +desires his property to be distributed in any way +different from the mode prescribed by law in +case of his intestacy. Many cases occur in which +the neglect to make a will is not only foolish +but positively wrong. A husband has a duty +to perform towards his wife which cannot be +omitted without culpability; and the same may +be said of the duty of a parent to his children. +As to the former, there is a danger which is often +unsuspected by the owner of real estate. The +law provides that on the death of such a person +intestate, leaving a widow, she shall be entitled +to dower out of such estate; that is to say, one-third +of the rents thereof during the remainder +of her life; but this right to dower is subject +to any disposition which the owner of the estate +may have made thereof, or any charges which +he may have created thereon. In England, +there is no inalienable share of property which +the widow and children can claim, even as +against the devisee, as is the case in Scotland. +But there is a power to bar the right of the +widow to her dower by means of a declaration +to that effect in the conveyance to a purchaser, +or in any deed subsequently executed +by him relating to the property. It must be +observed that the declaration in bar of dower +is not necessary for the purpose of creating +charges upon the estate, because dower is expressly +made subject to such charges. But if +the declaration has been inserted in the conveyance—without +the knowledge of the purchaser—his +widow will have no claim to any provision +out of such estate unless it shall be made for +her by the will of her husband, who, in ignorance +of the necessity for making a will, dies +intestate, thus leaving his widow dependent upon +his heir-at-law; in numerous cases, a distant +relative, who is not disposed to acknowledge +that the widow of his predecessor has any claim +upon him.</p> + +<p>Again, as to his children, the possessor of real +estate ought not to forget that in the case of freehold +property it will descend upon his eldest +son as heir-at-law; thus leaving his younger +sons and his daughters unprovided for except +as to their respective shares of his personal estate, +which may be of small value, or even insufficient +for the payment of his debts. If the property +should be copyhold, it would descend to the +customary heir, who might be the eldest son, +the youngest son, or all the sons as tenants in +common in equal undivided shares; but in any +event, the daughters would remain unprovided +for.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="A_DEAD_SHOT">A DEAD SHOT.</h2> + +<p class="ph3">AN INCIDENT IN 1801.</p></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> following singular story is perhaps worth +putting on record because the narrative is strictly +true.</p> + +<p>In the year 1801, a fine old Jacobean house, +known as Chatford House, situated on the borders +of Devon and Somerset, was in the occupation +of a Mr Edward Leggett, a wealthy farmer, and +his two sons. The house, like many of its class, +had originally been built so that its ground-plan +formed the letter <img class="illowe0_75" src="images/letter_e.jpg" alt="E,"> +a centre, with projecting +doorway, and two wings; but one wing had +been taken down altogether, as well as a portion +of the other, so that the ground-plan became +thereby altered and took this form, + <img class="illowe0_75" src="images/letter_e_bar_removed.jpg" alt="E with the top bar removed,"> +the centre +doorway remaining untouched. This should be +remembered, in order to understand the circumstances +of the principal incident of the narrative. +Over the projecting doorway was a room which +went by the name of the ‘Oratory,’ probably on +account of its large projecting bay window, which +gave it somewhat of an ecclesiastical appearance, +and from this window a view could be obtained +on all sides. The small part of the wing which +was left standing was used as storerooms, and +access from the outside was gained by a small +door, which had been injudiciously opened in +the corner, or angle, when the alterations were +made.</p> + +<p>Mr Leggett possessed a large quantity of very +fine old massive silver-plate, which was placed +in one of the storerooms, strongly secured and +locked, in the remains of the wing referred to. +It was supposed that he had also a considerable +sum of money locked up with the plate, as banking +was not so common in remote country-places +in those days.</p> + +<p>Now it happened that, on the 23d of April +1801, Mr Leggett and his two sons had to attend +a neighbouring cattle fair, and had proposed to +sleep in the town, instead of returning home the +same night; but, a good customer having arranged +to complete a purchase early the next morning, +Mr Leggett’s eldest son, George, came back to +Chatford very late and went quietly to bed; +but the worry of the fair, and anxiety about +to-morrow’s purchase, prevented him sleeping. +His bedroom was at the end of the house, close +to the store wing, and just above the little door +in the angle already mentioned. Whilst restlessly +tossing about from side to side, young +Leggett heard the house clock strike two, and +just after became aware of a peculiar grating +noise, apparently under his window. To jump +up and cautiously and silently open the casement +was the work of a minute. It was a +cloudy moonlight night, just light enough to +show objects imperfectly, but enough for George +Leggett to observe the figures of two men close +to the little door in the angle immediately below, +on which they were apparently operating with +some cutting tool, which had produced the grating +noise he had heard. George, who was a young +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_718">{718}</span>man of great intelligence, quick judgment, and +ready resource, instantly comprehending the situation, +took his measures accordingly. He happened +to be a member of the county yeomanry cavalry; +and catching up his carabine and some ball +cartridges, he silently left his room, and proceeding +down the corridor—loading his carabine +as he went along—soon reached the ‘Oratory’ +room over the porch, whence he could see straight +down on to the little door, which was then right +in front of him. Silently opening the casement, +he made a careful survey of the position, which +a passing ray of moonlight enabled him to take +in at a glance.</p> + +<p>At the little white-painted door were the two +men, whose dark figures were well thrown +up by so light a background. One was stooping +or kneeling, and the other was standing +close behind him, their backs, of course, being +turned towards their observer. Putting his carabine +on full-cock and laying it carefully on the +window-sill, after a deliberate aim, Leggett pressed +the trigger. A loud shriek and a stifled cry +followed, then all was still. Leggett stood intently +watching the spot for several moments; +but profound silence prevailed—not a sound was +heard, not a movement was perceptible. The +only other man in the house was the groom, +who was quickly roused; and lanterns having +been procured, he and Leggett repaired to the +spot, and were not a little staggered to find both +burglars lying dead. The hand of one of them +still grasped a very large steel centre-bit, with +which he had been operating on the door. Subsequent +surgical investigation showed that the +bullet had struck the back of the first man, +passing through his heart, and had then entered +the head of the man who was stooping or kneeling +in front of him, just behind the ear, lodging in +the brain. The bodies were at once removed +in-doors; and at the inquest, held the next day, +the following particulars were elicited:</p> + +<p>By the side of the dead men was found a +leather travelling portmanteau, containing a +highly finished and elaborate set of housebreaking +tools, together with a piece of candle +and a preparation of phosphorus for obtaining +a light, as it is needless to say that lucifer +matches were unknown in 1801, their place being +supplied by the old-fashioned flint and steel and +tinder-box, articles not available for burglars’ use. +Each man was armed with a brace of pocket +pistols, loaded and primed; and one of them +carried a formidable-looking dagger, fitted into +the breast of his coat; clearly showing that these +ruffians were prepared to offer a desperate resistance, +if interrupted or molested. They were +both well dressed, and had quite the appearance +of gentlemen. Each possessed a good watch and +seals, and carried a well-filled purse. One only +had a pocket-book, containing many papers, chiefly +relating to money matters and betting transactions; +but only one letter, which, however, proved +of immense importance in throwing light on the +lives and characters of the deceased burglars, +and in telling the story of the attempted robbery. +The letter was directed to ‘Mr John Bellamy,’ +at an address in Shoreditch, London, and was +dated from Roxburn, the name of a large neighbouring +farm, and bore the initials ‘J. P.,’ which, +with the writing, were at once recognised at the +inquest as those of ‘James Palmer,’ the managing +bailiff at Roxburn Farm, a clever and unscrupulous +fellow, without any regard for truth or +principle, well known in those parts, but a man +whom nobody liked and everybody distrusted. +This communication was in these few but significant +words: ‘The 23d will do best; coast clear, +no fear, all straight.—J. P.’</p> + +<p>This letter, with the tools and a full report +of the whole case, was at once sent to Bow Street, +London, and an investigation made by the ‘Bow +Street runners’—the detectives of those days—for +there were then no regular ‘police,’ as we +now understand the term. On searching the +premises in Shoreditch, indicated in the letter, +where John Bellamy lived, it was discovered +that the supposed John Bellamy was no other +than ‘Jack Rolfe,’ one of the most successful professional +burglars of that day; and the authorities +hesitated not to express their satisfaction that his +career had been so cleverly cut short.</p> + +<p>An immense quantity of stolen property, of +almost every description, was found at Rolfe’s +lodgings in Shoreditch; and what was more +important—as regards the present narrative at +least—a correspondence extending over three +or four years between Mr James Palmer of +Roxburn Farm and the arch-burglar John +Bellamy, alias Jack Rolfe himself, by which it +appeared that this robbery had been planned +and arranged by Palmer, who had supplied Rolfe +with the fullest information as to Mr Leggett’s +plate and money, as well as a neatly drawn plan +of the premises, which was found amongst the +papers. Palmer had also arranged the date of +the robbery for the 23d of April, as he had +discovered that Mr Leggett and his two sons +intended to sleep out that night. Nor was this +all; for only a few weeks previously, the rascal +had had the effrontery to invite Rolfe to pay +him a visit at Roxburn, under colour of his +being a personal friend, which invitation Rolfe +had readily accepted; and one of the witnesses +at the inquest well remembered his coming, and +at once recognised him in one of the dead men—he +of the centre-bit. Rolfe was described +as a quiet, pleasant, and rather gentlemanly +man.</p> + +<p>Not far from Mr Leggett’s gate, a light cart +and pony were found tethered early in the +morning of the attempted robbery. The cart had +been hired from a neighbouring market-town to +convey the thieves to the scene of operations, +and to bring them back with—as they fondly +anticipated—a sackful of rich plunder. They +had been staying a day or two at this inn as +commercial travellers, calling themselves brothers, +and giving the name of Sutton.</p> + +<p>On the evidence afforded by the correspondence +found in Shoreditch, Palmer was apprehended; +and further investigation brought out the fact +that the notorious Jack Rolfe was not only his +friend, correspondent, and accomplice, but his +own brother also, Rolfe being merely an ‘alias’ +for his real name of Palmer. The two men were +very much alike both in face and figure; and +it came out in evidence that they belonged to +a family of burglars and sharpers. One brother +had been transported for life for robbery and +violence; another was then in prison for fraud +and theft; James had just been apprehended; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_719">{719}</span>and John had been shot dead whilst plying his +trade. James appeared to have been the only +member who had held a respectable position—that +of manager of Roxburn Farm, and he could +not keep away from dishonest practices. It was +also further discovered that Palmer had been an +accomplice in two or three mysterious burglaries +which had been perpetrated in the neighbourhood +during the two or three previous years, in +which the thieves had displayed an accurate +knowledge—even to minute details—of the premises +attacked, the habits of the inmates, and +the drawers or closets where valuables were +kept. All this was due to the planning and +arranging of the brother James, who could at his +leisure quietly take his measures on the spot; +which were then carefully communicated to his +brother John, who ultimately became the willing +executant. Palmer was shortly after brought to +trial, convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years’ +transportation.</p> + +<p>The verdict of the coroner’s jury was ‘justifiable +homicide;’ for in those days of desperate and +well-armed burglars, the shooting of one or two +of these gentry, whilst in the act of plying their +nefarious calling, was considered not only a clever +but a meritorious action.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_EVIDENCE_OF_THE_SENSES">THE EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES.</h2></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> senses are the witnesses which bring in +evidence from the outer world, without which +that world would for us have no existence at all; +but the mind sits aloft on the judgment-seat +and forms its conclusions from the evidence laid +before it; and these conclusions are for the +most part wonderfully correct; for, though the +testimony of one sense alone might lead the +mind to form an erroneous opinion, this can +be rectified by discovering what one or more +of the other senses have to say on the same +subject. When, however—as sometimes happens +under peculiar circumstances—the evidence of +one sense only is available, the mind may very +readily arrive at a false conclusion. As an +instance of this may be cited what is often observed +by surgeons in cases of hip-joint disease. +The patient, usually a child, complains of severe +pain in the knee, which, however, has not, so +far as can be ascertained, been injured in any +way. Very likely, the pain is severe enough +to prevent sleep at night, so that there can be +no doubt about its existence, and it may perhaps +have been almost continuous for some time past. +Now, in such a case the surgeon will have a +shrewd suspicion of what is really amiss, and +very often will at once proceed to examine the +hip. This he will do, too, in spite of assurances +on the part of the parents that the patient always +complains of the knee and of that joint only. +He does not doubt that the pain feels as if it +was in the knee, but he strongly suspects, nevertheless, +that the disease is in the hip; and this +often proves to be the case. This is an instance +of what is called ‘referred sensation.’ The nerve +which conveys sensation from the knee also sends +a branch to the hip-joint, and it is this anatomical +fact which explains the phenomenon. It +might be expected that even if the pain was +not felt solely in the hip, it would at least be +always felt there as well as in the knee. This, +however, though sometimes the case, is by no +means always so. In this instance, the patient +comes not unnaturally to the conclusion that +where he feels the pain, there the cause of the +pain must of necessity be situated. He would +be quite ready to declare that there was nothing +the matter with his hip, for he cannot see into +the joint and discover the disease there. He has, +in fact, to depend upon the evidence of one sense +only, and the conclusion based upon the evidence +of the single sensation of pain, is false.</p> + +<p>Another instance in which the testimony of +one sense alone may lead to a false conclusion +as to the whereabouts of the cause of a pain is +found in what often takes place after the amputation +of a limb. Most people are aware that +after part of a limb has been removed by the +surgeon’s knife, the patient may still feel as +though his arm or leg, as the case may be, was +entire, may feel much pain in the foot when the +leg has been amputated far above the ankle. +Here, in recovering from the effects of the anæsthetic, +were it not for the additional evidence +of his eyesight, the patient might well doubt +whether his limb had been removed at all. The +amusing story, in Marryat’s <i>Jacob Faithful</i>, of the +old sailor who, having two wooden legs, was +accustomed at times to wrap them up in flannel +on account of the rheumatic pains which he said +he felt in them, is not so very extravagant after +all. It is not, however, altogether correct, as +it represents the man feeling these pains in his +legs <i>long</i> after they had been amputated. As a +matter of fact, the false impression passes off +before very long. The explanation given by +physiologists is as follows: The severed nerve +in the stump is irritated and gives rise to pain; +and inasmuch as irritation to this nerve-trunk +has hitherto been always caused by irritation of +its ultimate filaments distributed to the foot and +leg, the mind continues for some time to believe +that the sensation still proceeds from thence.</p> + +<p>We may glance at another and very similar +instance of referred sensations occurring also in +surgical practice. Amongst the rarer operations +of what is termed plastic, and, by Sir James +Paget, ‘decorative’ surgery is that by which a +new nose is formed by calling in the aid of the +tissue of other parts of the body. This has +been done by bringing a flap of skin cut from +the forehead down over the nasal bones. The +flap retains its connection with the deeper +tissues at a point between the eyes by means +of a small pedicle, and thus its blood-vessels +and nerves are not all severed. This flap is +not simply pulled down from the forehead—it +is twisted at the pedicle, so that the raw surface +lies on the bones of the nose. Now, for +some time after this operation has been performed, +any irritation in the nose is referred by the +mind to that part of the forehead from which the +flap of skin was taken; and therefore, if a fly +crawls over the patient’s nose, it appears to him +to be creeping across his forehead. Before the +operation, whenever the nerve-ends in the flap +were irritated, it was caused by something touching +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_720">{720}</span>the forehead, and it is some time before the mind +ceases to refer such irritation to that part of +the face.</p> + +<p>Leaving, now, the domain of surgery, we may +notice two simple experiments mentioned by +physiologists, which all can perform for themselves. +They both prove that conclusions formed +upon the evidence of the sense of touch alone +may be quite incorrect. By crossing the +second finger over the first, and then placing +a marble between the tips of the fingers, we +get a sensation that leads us to suppose that +there must be two marbles instead of one only. +This is because two points in the fingers are +touched simultaneously, which in the ordinary +position could only be touched at the same +moment by two marbles. Judging, then, from +the sense of touch alone, the mind infers that +there are two round hard substances beneath +the finger-tips; but the evidence of eyesight and +the knowledge that we have placed but one +marble in position, corrects the misapprehension. +Again, if we take a pair of compasses the points +of which are not sufficiently sharp to prick the +skin, and separating the extremities rather more +than an inch from one another, draw them +across the cheek transversely from a little in +front of one ear to the lips, we shall be tempted +to think, from the evidence of touch alone, that +the points are becoming more widely separated. +By measuring the distance between the two points +afterwards, we can assure ourselves that this has +not been so; but whilst the compasses were being +drawn along the cheek, and still more when they +had reached the lips, the impression that the +distance between the points increased was very +strong. This delusion is said to depend upon +the fact, that some parts of the cutaneous covering +of the body are much more plentifully +supplied with nerves than others. It is stated +that the mind probably forms its idea of the +distance between two points on the skin which +are irritated in any way—as, for instance, by +the points of a pair of compasses touching the +surface—by the number of nerve-endings lying +between these two points which remain unirritated. +Thus, if there be fewer unirritated nerve-endings +lying between the two points of the +compasses when placed on the cheek, than there +are when they are placed at the lips, the mind +will infer that the distance between these points +is smaller in the former position than in the +latter.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak smalltext" id="THE_STATES_NEGLECT_OF_DENTISTRY">THE STATE’S NEGLECT OF DENTISTRY.</h2></div> + + +<p>The machinery of the State is so vast that it +may well be imperfect here and there. It frequently +falls to the lot of individuals to point +out how the tide of progress has left details in +a condition of inefficiency. We note a recent +instance of this. In August last, at the annual +meeting of the British Dental Association, Mr +George Cunningham, one of its members, drew +attention to the backwardness of the practice of +dentistry in the various departments of the +State. The substance of his case amounted to +this: In the army and navy, unskilled practitioners +wielded uncouth and inefficient instruments +in following antiquated and unscientific +methods; while the police force and the employees +of the India and Post offices by no means +derived the full advantages of this department +of medical science. Mr Cunningham was bold +enough to include the inmates of prisons among +those whose interests were neglected; and of +course the principle of the humane treatment +of criminals is already conceded in the appointment +of jail chaplains and surgeons. We need +not enter here into the voluminous details with +which Mr Cunningham substantiated his case. +The broad conclusions he would seem to draw +are these: that the medical practitioner employed +by the State should possess a more +thorough knowledge of dentistry; that, where +necessary, the services of the completely trained +and qualified dentist should be secured; and that +full resort should be had to the remedial resources +of dental science. Seeing the suffering +caused by diseases of the teeth, and the subtle +and intimate connection existing between dental +and other maladies, we trust Mr Cunningham’s +paper may receive the consideration it would +seem to deserve.</p> + + + + +<div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak smalltext" id="THE_BOARD_OF_TRADE_JOURNAL">THE BOARD OF TRADE JOURNAL.</h2></div> + + +<p>Persons wishing to keep up their information +on subjects connected with trade and changes in +foreign tariffs may do so by consulting the <i>Board +of Trade Journal</i>, the first numbers of which have +just been issued. An attempt is also made in +this journal to give the public information as +to trade movements abroad, from the communications +of the different consuls and colonial +governors. Some of the periodical statistical +returns of the Board of Trade will also be +included from time to time. Such a journal +deserves the support of all merchants and manufacturers +at all interested in our foreign trade. +Formerly, the commercial Reports from Her +Majesty’s representatives abroad did not see the +light for months, or perhaps a year, after they +were received; now, these have some chance of +being really useful to persons interested in foreign +trade and to the community at large.</p> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"><div class="chapter"><h2 class="nobreak" id="LOVES_SEASONS">LOVE’S SEASONS.</h2></div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Love</span> came to my heart with the earliest swallow,</div> +<div class="verse indent2">The lark’s blithe matins and breath of Spring;</div> +<div class="verse indent0">With hyacinth-bell and with budding sallow,</div> +<div class="verse indent2">And all the promise the year could bring.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Love dwelt in my heart while the Summer roses</div> +<div class="verse indent2">Poured forth their incense on every hand;</div> +<div class="verse indent0">And from wood and meadow and garden-closes</div> +<div class="verse indent2">The sweet bird-voices made glad the land.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Love grew in my heart to its full fruition</div> +<div class="verse indent2">When Autumn lavished her gifts untold,</div> +<div class="verse indent0">And answered earth’s myriad-voiced petition</div> +<div class="verse indent2">With orchard-treasure and harvest-gold.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="verse indent0">Love waned in my heart when the snows were shaken</div> +<div class="verse indent2">From Winter’s hand o’er the rose’s bed;</div> +<div class="verse indent0">And never again shall my soul awaken</div> +<div class="verse indent2">At Hope’s glad summons—for Love lies dead.</div> +<div class="attrib">W. P. W.</div></div> +</div></div> + +<hr class="full"> + +<p class="center">Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. & R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster +Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="ph3">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> It should be understood that this series of articles +deals mainly with English as apart from Scotch law.</p></div></div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75449 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75449-h/images/cover.jpg b/75449-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea1fab4 --- /dev/null +++ b/75449-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75449-h/images/header.jpg b/75449-h/images/header.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7892f08 --- /dev/null +++ b/75449-h/images/header.jpg diff --git a/75449-h/images/letter_e.jpg b/75449-h/images/letter_e.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98669bc --- /dev/null +++ b/75449-h/images/letter_e.jpg diff --git a/75449-h/images/letter_e_bar_removed.jpg b/75449-h/images/letter_e_bar_removed.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1953ffb --- /dev/null +++ b/75449-h/images/letter_e_bar_removed.jpg |
