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+Project Gutenberg's Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 31, May, 1860, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
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+
+Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 31, May, 1860
+
+Author: Various
+
+Posting Date: November 4, 2012 [EBook #9472]
+Release Date: December, 2005
+First Posted: October 3, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, MAY 1860 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project
+Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
+
+A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS
+
+VOL. V, MAY, 1860, NO. XXXI
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INSTINCT.
+
+
+"Instinct is a great matter," quoth Falstaff, when called upon to find
+out a device, a "starting-hole," to hide himself from the open and
+apparent shame of having run away from the fight and hacked his sword
+like a handsaw with his own dagger. Like a valiant lion, he would not
+turn upon the true prince, but ran away upon instinct. Although the
+peculiar circumstances of the occasion upon which the subject was
+presented to Falstaff's mind were not very favorable to a calm
+consideration of it, he was undoubtedly correct in saying that instinct
+is a great matter. "If, then, the tree may be known by the fruit," says
+Falstaff, "as the fruit by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it,
+there is virtue in that Falstaff"; and it is proper that his authority
+should be quoted, even upon a question of metaphysical science.
+
+That psychological endowment of animals which we denominate instinct
+has in every age been a matter full of wonder; and men of thought have
+found few more interesting subjects of inquiry. But it is confessed
+that little has been satisfactorily made out concerning the nature and
+limitations of instinct. In former times the habits and mental
+characteristics of those orders of animated being which are inferior to
+man were observed with but a careless eye; and it was late before the
+phenomena of animal life received a careful and reverent examination.
+It is vain to inquire what instinct is, before there has been an
+accurate observation of its manifestations. It is only from its outward
+manifestations that we can know anything of that marvellous inward
+nature which is given to animals. We cannot know anything of the
+essential constitution of mind, but can know only its properties. This
+is all we know even of matter. "If material existence," says Sir
+William Hamilton, "could exhibit ten thousand phenomena, and if we
+possessed ten thousand senses to apprehend these ten thousand phenomena
+of material existence, of existence absolutely and in itself we should
+be then as ignorant as we are at present." But this limitation of human
+knowledge has not always been kept in view. Men have been solicitous to
+penetrate into the higher mysteries of absolute and essential
+existence. But in thus reaching out after the unattainable, we have
+often passed by the only knowledge which it was possible for us to
+gain. Much vague speculation concerning instinct has arisen from the
+attempt to resolve the problem of its ultimate nature; and perhaps much
+more might have been made out with certainty about it, if no greater
+task had been attempted than to classify the phenomena which it
+exhibits and determine the nature of its manifestations. In regard to
+instinct, as well as everything else, we must be content with finding
+out what it seems to us to be, rather than what it is. Even with this
+limitation, the inquiry will prove sufficiently difficult. The
+properties of instinct are a little more inscrutable than those of the
+human mind, inasmuch as we have our own consciousness to assist us in
+this case, while we are left to infer the peculiarities of instinct
+from its outward manifestations only. And moreover, the inquiry
+involves an understanding of the workings of the human mind; for it is
+only when viewed in contrast with the rational endowments of man that
+the character of instinct is best known. All other questions connected
+with the subject are subordinate to this one of the apparent difference
+between instinct and reason.
+
+Many definitions have been given of instinctive actions. These differ
+widely in their extent, and are for the most part quite inadequate.
+Some writers have ranged under this term all those customary habits and
+actions which are common to all the individuals of a species. According
+to this definition, almost every action of animated life is
+instinctive. But the general idea of an instinctive action is much more
+restricted; it is one that is performed without instruction and prior
+to experience,--and not for the immediate gratification of the agent,
+but only as the means for the attainment of some ulterior end. To apply
+the term instinct to the regular and involuntary movements of the
+bodily organs, such as the beating of the heart and the action of the
+organs of respiration, is manifestly an extension of the ordinary
+acceptation of the term. Organic actions of a similar character are
+also performed by plants, and are purely mechanical. "In the lowest and
+simplest class of excited movements," says Müller, "the nervous system
+would not appear to be concerned. They result from stimuli directly
+applied to the muscles, which immediately excite their contractility;
+and they are evidently of the same character with the motions of
+plants." Thus, the heart is excited to pulsation by the direct contact
+of the blood with the muscle. The hand of a sleeping child closes upon
+any object which gently touches the palm. And it is in this way,
+doubtless, that the Sea Anemone entraps its prey, or anything else that
+may come in contact with its tentacles. But so far are these movements
+from indicating of themselves the action of any instinctive principle,
+that they are no proof of animality; for a precisely analogous power is
+possessed by the sensitive plant known as the Fly-Trap of Venus
+(_Dionoea muscipula_): "any insect touching the sensitive hairs on the
+surface of its leaf instantly causes the leaf to shut up and enclose
+the insect, as in a trap; nor is this all; a mucilaginous secretion
+acts like a gastric juice on the captive, digests it, and renders it
+assimilable by the plant, which thus feeds on the victim, as the
+Actinea feeds on the Annelid or Crustacean it may entrap." In the
+animal organization a large class of reflex actions are excited, not by
+a direct influence, but indirectly by the agency of the nerves and
+spinal cord. Such actions are essentially independent of the brain; for
+they occur in animals which have no brain, and in those whose brain has
+been removed. However marvellous these functions of organic life may
+be, there is nothing in them at all resembling that agency properly
+called instinct, which may be said to take the place in the inferior
+tribes of reason in man. To refer these operations to the same source
+as the wonderful instinct that guides the bird in its long migratory
+flight, or in the construction of its nest, would be to make the bird a
+curiously constructed machine which is operated by impressions from
+without upon its sentient nerves.
+
+Those actions have sometimes been called instinctive which arise from
+the appetites and passions; and they have been referred to instinct,
+doubtless, because they have one characteristic of instinct,--that they
+are not acquired by experience or instruction. "But they differ," says
+Professor Bowen, "at least in one important respect from those
+instincts of the lower animals which are usually contrasted with human
+reason. The objects towards which they are directed are prized for
+their own sake; they are sought as _ends_; while instinct teaches
+brutes to do many things which are needed only as means for the
+attainment of some ulterior purpose." When the butterfly extracts the
+nectar from the flowers which she loves most, she meets a want of her
+physical nature which demands satisfaction at the moment; but when, in
+opposition to her appetite, she proceeds to the flowerless shrub to
+deposit her eggs upon the leaves best suited to support her
+unthought-of progeny, she is not influenced by any desire for the
+immediate gratification of her senses, but is led to the act by some
+dim impulse, in order that an ultimate object may be provided for to
+which she has no reference at the time. We are surprised to find it
+declared, in the very interesting "Psychological Inquiries" of Sir B.C.
+Brodie, that the desire for food is the simplest form of an instinct,
+and that such an instinct goes far towards explaining others which are
+more complicated. It is true that the appetites and passions of animals
+have an ultimate object, but they are impelled to action by a desire
+for immediate gratification only; but when we speak of an instinct, we
+mean something more than a mere want or desire,--we have chiefly in
+view the end beyond the blind instrumentality by which it is reached.
+
+When we watch the movements of a young bee, as it first goes forth from
+its waxen cradle, we are forced to recognize an influence at work which
+is unlike reason, and which is neither appetite nor any mechanical
+principle of organic life. Rising upon the comb, and holding steadily
+with its tiny feet, with admirable adroitness the young bee smooths its
+wings for its first flight, and rubs its body with its fore legs and
+antennae; then walking along the comb to the mouth of the hive, it
+mounts into the air, flies forth into the fields, alights upon the
+proper flowers, extracts their juices, collects their pollen, and,
+kneading it into little balls, deposits them in the sacks upon its
+feet; and then returning to its hive, it delivers up the honey and the
+wax and the bread which it has gathered and elaborated. In the hive it
+works the wax with its paws and feelers into an hexagonal cell with a
+rhomboidal bottom, the three plates of which form such angles with each
+other as require the least wax and space in the construction of the
+cell. All these complex operations the bee performs as adroitly, on the
+first morning of its life, as the most experienced workman in the hive.
+The tyro gatherer sought the flowery fields upon untried wings, and
+returned to its home from this first expedition with unerring flight by
+the most direct course through the trackless air.
+
+This is one instance of that great class of actions which are allowed
+on all hands to be strictly instinctive. In the fact, that the occult
+faculties which urge the bee to make honey and construct geometrical
+cells are in complete development when it first emerges from its cell,
+we recognize one of the most striking characteristics of instinct,--its
+existence prior to all experience or instruction. The insect tribes
+furnish us with many instances in which the young being never sees its
+parents, and therefore all possibility of its profiting from their
+instructions or of its imitating their actions is cut off. The solitary
+wasp, for example, is accustomed to construct a tunnelled nest in which
+she deposits her eggs and then brings a number of living caterpillars
+and places them in a hole which she has made above each egg; being very
+careful to furnish just caterpillars enough to maintain the young worm
+from the time of its exclusion from the egg till it can provide for
+itself, and to place them so as to be readily accessible the moment
+food is required. But what is most curious of all is the fact that the
+wasp does not deposit the caterpillars unhurt, for thus they would
+disturb or perhaps destroy the young; nor does she sting them to death,
+for thus they would soon be in no state of proper preservation; but, as
+if understanding these contingencies, she inflicts a disabling wound.
+Yet the wasp does not feed upon caterpillars herself, nor has she ever
+seen a wasp provide them for her future offspring. She has never seen a
+worm such as will spring from her egg, nor can she know that her egg
+will produce a worm; and besides, she herself will be dead long before
+the unknown worm can be in existence. Therefore she works blindly;
+without knowing that her work is to subserve any useful purpose, she
+works to a purpose both definite and important; and her acts are
+uniform with those of all solitary wasps that have lived before her or
+that will live after her; so that we are compelled to refer these
+untaught actions to some constant impulse connected with the special
+organization of the wasp,--an innate tact, uniform throughout the
+species, of which we, not possessing anything of the kind, can form
+only a poor conception, but which we call instinct.
+
+There have been some philosophers, however, who have exercised their
+ingenuity in tracing so-called instinctive actions to the operation of
+experience. The celebrated Doctor Erasmus Darwin gave, as an
+illustration of this view, his opinion that the young of animals know
+how to swallow from their experience of swallowing _in utero_. Without
+going into any refutation of this position, we would only remark, in
+passing, that the act of swallowing is not an instinctive action at
+all, but a purely mechanical one. Would not Doctor Darwin have rejoiced
+greatly, if he could have brought to the support of his theory the
+observation of our own great naturalist, Agassiz, who, knowing the
+savage snap of one of the large, full-grown Testudinata, is said to
+have asserted, that, under the microscope, he has seen the juvenile
+turtle snapping precociously _in embryo_?
+
+But not only is instinct prior to all experience, it is even superior
+to it, and often leads animals to disregard it,--the spontaneous
+impulse which Nature has given them being their best guide. The
+carrier-pigeon or the bird of passage, taken a long distance from home
+by a circuitous route, trusting to this "pilot-sense," flies back in a
+straight course; and the hound takes the shortest way home through
+fields where he has never previously set foot.
+
+The existence of instinct prior to all experience or instruction, and
+its perfection in the beginning, render cultivation and improvement not
+only unnecessary, but impossible. As it is with the individual, so it
+is with the race. One generation of the irrational tribes does not
+improve upon the preceding or educate its successor. The web which you
+watched the spider weaving in your open window last summer, carefully
+measuring off each radius of her wheel and each circular mesh by one of
+her legs, was just such a web as the spider wove of old when she was
+pronounced to be "little upon the earth, yet exceeding wise."
+
+This incapacity for education is what so widely separates instinct from
+the rational powers of man. Man gathers knowledge and transmits it from
+generation to generation. He is not born with a ready skill, but with a
+capacity for it. His mind is formed destitute of all connate knowledge,
+that it may acquire the knowledge of all things. "Man's imperfection at
+his nativity is his perfection; while the perfection of brutes at their
+nativity is their imperfection." No rational being has ever arrived at
+such perfection that he cannot still improve; he can travel on from one
+attainment to another in a perpetual progress of improvement. He is,
+moreover, free to choose his own path of action; while the being of
+instinct is governed by a power which is not subject to his will, and
+which confines him to a narrow path which he cannot leave. But
+instinct, within its narrow limits, in many cases quite transcends
+reason in its achievements.
+
+  "Man's attainments in his own concerns,
+  Matched with the expertness of the brutes in theirs,
+  Are ofttimes vanquished and thrown far behind."
+
+Perhaps man has never made a structure as perfect in all its
+adaptations as the honeycomb. Yet when Virgil spoke of the belief that
+bees have a portion of the mind divine, nothing was known of the
+wonderful mathematical properties of this beautiful fabric; and the
+demonstration of them which has been made within the present century is
+beyond the comprehension of far the larger part of mankind. If the bee
+comprehended the problem which it has been working out for these many
+ages before man was able to solve it, would its intellectual powers be
+inferior to his in degree, if they were the same in kind? The
+water-spider weaves for herself a cocoon, makes it impervious to water,
+and fastens it by loose threads to the leaves of plants growing at the
+bottom of a still pool. She carries down air in a bag made for this
+purpose, till the water is expelled from the cell through the opening
+below. The spider lived quite dry in her little air-chamber beneath the
+water ages before the diving-bell was invented; but that she understood
+anything of the doctrines of space and gravity, no one would venture to
+assert.
+
+It has been the belief of some philosophers, and poets as well, that
+man has taken the hint for some of the arts he now practises from the
+brute creation. Democritus represents him as having derived the arts of
+weaving and sewing from the spider, and the art of building of tempered
+clay from the swallow; and we also read in Pliny's "Natural History,"
+that the nest of the swallow suggested to Toxius, the son of Coelus,
+the invention of mortar. According to Lucretius, men learned music from
+the song of birds, and Pope describes them as learning from the mole to
+plough, from the nautilus to sail, and from bees and ants to form a
+political community. Perhaps we were behind the beaver in felling
+timber, in leading dams across rivers, and in building cabin
+villages,--behind the wasp in making paper, and behind the squirrel and
+spider in crossing streams upon rafts. So, if man had needed any
+example of war and violence and wrong, he had only to go to the
+ant-hill and see the red ants invade the camps of the black and bear
+off their little negro prisoners into slavery.
+
+Whatever truth there may be in these ideas, it is at least conceivable
+that man may have profited from the example of these animals. He has
+copied from patterns set by Nature in tree and leaf and flower and
+plant; he has formed the Gothic arch and column from the trunks and
+interlacing boughs of the lofty avenue, the Corinthian capital from the
+acanthus foliage embracing a basket, and classic urns and vases from
+flowers. But no one could describe one species of the brute world as
+having derived a similar lesson from another, and much less from trees
+and plants. No species of animals has learnt anything new even from
+man, except within the narrow sphere of domestication.
+
+It is only in particulars that instinct appears superior to reason in
+the works it achieves. When an animal is taken, ever so little, out of
+the ordinary circumstances in which its instincts act, it is apt to
+behave very foolishly. If a woodpecker's egg is hatched by a bird which
+builds an open nest upon the branches of a tree, when the young bird is
+grown large enough to shuffle about in the nest, induced by its
+instinct to suppose that its nest is in a hole walled round on all
+sides by the tree, with a long, narrow entrance down from above, it
+does not see that it has been inducted into the open nest of another
+bird, and is sure to tumble out. The bee and the ant, in a few
+particulars, show wonderful sagacity; but remove them from the narrow
+compass of their instincts, and all their wisdom is at an end. That
+animals are so wise in a few things and so wanting in wisdom in all
+others shows that they are endowed with a mental principle essentially
+of a different nature from that of the human race. "They do many things
+even better than ourselves," says Descartes; "but this does not prove
+them to be endowed with reason, for this would prove them to have more
+reason than we have, and that they should excel us in all other things
+also"; for reason can act not only in one direction, but in all.
+
+But it will be said that instinct is not invariable,--that it often
+displays a capacity of accommodating itself, like reason, to
+circumstances, and is therefore a principle the same in kind with
+it,--or else that the animal has something of the rational faculty
+superadded to the instinctive. But does the animal make these
+variations in its conduct from a true perception of their meaning and
+purpose?
+
+It is very natural for us to ascribe to reason those actions of other
+animals which would be ascribable to reason, if performed by man. "If,"
+says Keller, (an old German writer,) "the fly be enabled to choose the
+place which suits her best for the deposition of her eggs, (as, for
+instance, in my sugar-basin, in which I placed a quantity of decaying
+wheat,) she takes a correct survey of every part and selects that in
+which she believes her ova will be the best preserved and her young
+ones well cared for." The fly, in this instance, apparently exercises
+an intelligent choice; but does any one doubt that the selection she
+makes is determined wholly by a blind, uncalculating instinct? The
+beaver selects a site for his dam at a place where the depth, width,
+and rapidity of the stream are most fit. There is a tree upon the bank,
+and food and materials for his work in the vicinity. If a man should
+attempt to build a beaver's dam, he would abstractly consider all these
+elements of fitness. The outward manifestations of the quality of
+abstraction are equally observable in either case. But we must not
+hastily conclude, because the beaver in one instance acts in a manner
+apparently reasonable, that he has any reason of his own; for, when we
+come to study the habits of this animal, we find that he displays all
+the characteristics of the instinctive principle. If animals are
+endowed with instincts which apparently act so much like reason in the
+ordinary course of their operations, we should not at once conclude
+that there is any need of endowing them with a modicum of reason to
+account for their deviations from this course, which do not outwardly
+resemble the acts of reason any more strongly. And besides, it is said,
+that, if we refer the variations to an intelligent principle, we must
+refer the ordinary conduct to the same principle. To use an old
+illustration,--if a bird is reasonable and intelligent, when, on
+perceiving the swollen waters of the stream approach her half-finished
+nest, she builds higher up the bank, she was intelligent while making
+her first nest, and was always intelligent; for how otherwise, it is
+asked, could she know when to lay down instinct and take up reason?
+
+Instinct aims at certain definite ends; but these ends cannot always be
+reached by the same means, especially when places and circumstances are
+not the same. Accommodation is necessary, or it could not always
+produce the effects for which it is intended. Would the instinct of the
+spider be complete, if, after it has guided her to spin a web so neat
+and trim and regular, it did not also lead her to repair her broken
+snare, when the cords have been sundered by the struggles of some
+powerful captive? But this pliancy of the spider's instinct is no more
+remarkable than the contingent operation of the instincts of many
+species of animals. "It is remarkable," says Kirby, "that many of the
+insects which are occasionally observed to emigrate are not usually
+social animals, but seem to congregate, like swallows, merely for the
+purpose of emigration." When certain rare emergencies occur, which
+render it necessary for the insects to migrate, a contingent instinct
+develops itself, and renders an unsocial species gregarious.
+
+It is probable that most of our domesticated species, exhibiting as
+they do in that condition attainments foreign to their natural habits
+and faculties in a wild state, were endowed with provisional instincts
+with a view to their association with man. But generally the docility
+of animals does not extend to attainments which are radically different
+from their habits and faculties in a wild state. Casual acquirements,
+which have no relation to their exigencies in their natural condition,
+never become hereditary, and are not, therefore, instinctive. A young
+pointer-dog, which has never been in the fields before, will not only
+point at a covey of partridges, but will remain motionless, like a
+well-trained dog. The fact that the sagacity of the pointer is
+hereditary shows that it is the development of an instinctive
+propensity; for simple knowledge is not transmitted by blood from one
+generation to another. We have heard of a pig that pointed game, and of
+another that was learned in letters; but we ascertain in every such
+instance that their foreign acquirements do not reappear in their
+progeny, but end with the pupils of the time being. The pig's
+peculiarity of pointing did not arise from the development of a
+provisional instinct, because it does not become hereditary; but the
+same act in the pointer-dog is instinctive,--for, when once brought out
+by associating with man, it has remained with the breed, being a part
+of the animal's nature, which existed in embryo till it was developed
+by a companionship with man, for whose use this faculty was alone
+intended.
+
+Although the animals which especially display these exceptional or
+contingent instincts are those which are fitted for the use and comfort
+of man and may be domesticated, it is doubtless true that many other
+species are in some degree provided with them, and that they thus have
+a plasticity in their nature which enables them to exercise, under
+particular circumstances, unlooked-for attention, foresight, and
+caution. And besides, it is only in analogy with the laws of the
+physical world that instinct should admit of a slightly diversified
+application.
+
+It is to be noticed in this connection that many animals are gifted
+with a wonderful sensibility of the senses,--the action of which is
+sometimes mistaken not only for the action of instinct, but for that of
+reason also. The acuteness of the sense of smell in the dog, which
+enables him to trace the steps of his master for miles through crowded
+streets by the infinitesimal odor which his footsteps left upon the
+pavement, is quite beyond our conception. Equally incomprehensible to
+us are the keenness of sight and wide range of vision of the eagle,
+which enable him to discover the rabbit nipping the clover amid the
+thick grass at a distance at which a like object would be to us
+altogether imperceptible. The chameleon is enabled to seize the little
+insects upon which it feeds by darting forth its wonderfully
+constructed tongue with such rapidity and with such delicacy of
+perception that "wonder-loving sages" have told us that it feeds upon
+the air.
+
+It has been the belief of some observers that some animals have senses
+by which they are enabled to take cognizance of things which are not
+revealed directly to our senses. It is easy enough to conceive of
+beings endowed with a more perfect perception of the external world,
+both in its condition and the number of objects it presents, than we
+have, by means of other organs of outward perception. Voltaire, in one
+of his philosophical romances, represents an inhabitant of one of the
+planets of the Dog-Star as inquiring of the Secretary of the Academy of
+Sciences in the planet of Saturn, at which he had recently arrived in a
+journey through the heavens, how many senses the men of his globe had;
+and when the Academician answered, that they had seventy-two, and were
+every day complaining of the smallness of the number, he of the
+Dog-Star replied, that in his globe they had very near one thousand
+senses, and yet with all these they felt continually a sort of listless
+inquietude and vague desire which told them how very imperfect they
+were. But we shall not travel so far as this for our illustrations. We
+have all seen in the fields and about our houses birds and insects
+which seem to take cognizance of the electric state of the atmosphere;
+and we have learnt to feel quite sure, when, early in the morning of a
+summer's day, we see fresh piles of sand around the holes of the ants,
+that a storm is approaching, although the sky may as yet be cloudless
+and the air perfectly serene. In like manner birds perceive the
+approach of rain, and are all busy oiling and smoothing their feathers
+in preparation for it; and then, before the clouds break away, they
+come out from their retreats and joyfully hail the return of fair
+weather. So, by some analogous sense, the birds of passage are informed
+of the approach of winter and the return of spring.
+
+It is doubtless true that in some animals the senses are immediately
+connected with instincts which assist and extend their operation.
+Metaphysicians and physiologists are agreed that the perception of
+distance is an acquired knowledge. The sense of sight by itself
+principally makes us conversant with extension only. The painting upon
+the retina of the eye presents all external things with flat surfaces
+and at the same distance. Before we can have any correct ideas of
+distance, we must be able to compare the result of the sense of sight
+with the result of the sense of feeling. By experience we in time come
+to judge something of distance by the size of the image which an object
+makes upon the retina, but more by our acquired knowledge of the form
+and color of external things. It is true that the eyes of many animals
+are constructed like those of man; but they do not learn to judge of
+distance by the same slow process. It is known from experiment that
+some animals have a perfect conception of distance at the moment of
+their birth; and the young of the greater part of animals possess some
+instinctive perception of this kind. "A flycatcher, for example, just
+come out of its shell, has been seen to peck at an insect with an aim
+as perfect as if it had been all its life engaged in learning the art."
+And so when the hen takes her chickens out into the field for the first
+time to feed, they seem to perceive very distinctly the relative
+distance of all objects about them, and will run by the straightest
+course when she calls them to pick up the little grains which she
+points out to them. Without this instinctive power of determining the
+relative distance and figure of objects, the young of most animals
+would perish before their sense of sight could be perfected, as ours
+is, by experience.
+
+We have now noticed the chief characteristics of instinct: its
+existence prior to all experience or instruction; its incapacity of
+improvement, except within the narrow sphere of domestication; its
+limitation to a few objects, and the certainty of its action within
+these limits; the distinctness and permanence of its character for each
+species; and its constant hereditary nature. In regard to the
+uniformity of instinct throughout each species, it may be further
+remarked, that this seems to be very constantly preserved in the lowest
+divisions of the animal kingdom. Among the Articulates, also, instinct
+appears almost unvarying; and it is in this department among the insect
+tribes that the most striking manifestations of instinct are to be met
+with. When we arrive among the higher orders of the Vertebrates, we
+find in some species that each individual is capable of some
+modification of its actions, according to the particular circumstances
+in which it finds itself placed. But throughout the long series of
+animals, from the polype to man, there is instinctive action more or
+less in amount in every species, with, perhaps, the exception of man
+alone. The variety of that endowment, which is adapted to definite
+objects, means, and results, in each particular one of the five hundred
+thousand species estimated to be now living, may well call forth our
+admiration and astonishment at the magnitude and extent of the
+prospective contrivance of the Creator. How various the relations of
+all these animals to each other and to the inanimate world about them!
+and yet how admirable the adjustments of that immaterial principle
+which regulates their lives, so as to secure the well-being of each and
+the symmetry of the general plan!
+
+There has been much diversity of opinion as to the existence of
+instincts in the human species,--some making the whole mind of man
+nothing but a bundle of instincts, and others wholly denying him any
+endowment of this nature, while others still have given him a complex
+mental nature, and have, moreover, declared that intellect and instinct
+in him are so interwoven that it is impossible to tell where the one
+begins and the other ends. But we believe, with the author of "Ancient
+Metaphysics," that in Nature, however intimately things are blended
+together and run into each other like different shades of the same
+color, the species of things are absolutely distinct, and that there
+are certain fixed boundaries which separate them, however difficult it
+may be for us to find them out. In regard to intelligence and instinct,
+the two principles seem to us to be not more distinctly and widely
+separated in their nature than in the provinces of their operation.
+
+Sir Henry Holland, who believes that intelligence and instinct are
+blended in man, admits that instincts, properly so called, form the
+_minimum_ in relation to reason, and are difficult of definition from
+their connection with his higher mental functions, but that, wherever
+we can truly distinguish them, they are the same in principle and
+manner of operation as those of other animals. He makes one
+distinction, however, between the instincts of man and those of lower
+animals,--that in the former they have more of individual character,
+are far less numerous and definite in relation to the physical
+conditions of life, and more various and extensive in regard to his
+moral nature. But, on the other hand, Sir B.C. Brodie seems to be of
+opinion that the majority of instincts belonging to man resemble those
+of the inferior animals, inasmuch as they relate to the preservation of
+the individual and the continuation of the species; and that when man
+first began to exist, and for some generations afterwards, the range of
+his instincts was much more extensive than it is at the present time.
+When authorities so eminent as these differ so widely upon the
+question, to what human instincts relate, we see at least that it is
+very difficult to define and distinguish these instincts, and we may be
+led to doubt their existence at all. Of that marvellous endowment which
+guides the bee to fabricate its cells according to laws of the most
+rigid mathematical exactness, and guides the swallow in its long flight
+to its winter home, we agree with Professor Bowen, that there is no
+trace whatever in human nature. The actions of man which have been
+loosely described as instinctive belong for the most part to those
+classes of actions which we have already shown to be in no proper sense
+of the word instinctive, that is, those concerned in the appetites and
+in the functions of organic life. There are also numerous automatic and
+habitual actions which are liable to be mistaken for instincts. Some
+have included in the category of instincts those intuitive perceptions
+and primary beliefs which are a part of our constitution, and are the
+foundation of all our knowledge. But these propensities of thought and
+feeling are of a higher nature than mere instincts; they are immutable
+laws of the human mind, which time and physical changes cannot reach:
+they do not seem to depend upon the physical organization, but to be
+inherent in the soul itself. If these are instincts, then, why are not
+all the ways in which the mind exerts itself instincts also, and reason
+itself an instinct?
+
+There is hardly any human action, feeling, or belief, which has not
+been ranged under the term instinct. Hunger and thirst have been called
+instincts; so have the faculty of speech, the use of the right hand in
+preference to the left, the love of society, the desire to possess
+property, the desire to avoid danger and prolong life, and the belief
+in supernatural agencies, upon which is engrafted the religious
+sentiment. We cannot, in this paper, attempt to analyze these and many
+other similar examples which have been given as illustrations of
+instinct in treatises of high repute, and show that they do not at all
+come within that class of actions which we contrast with reason. In
+regard to those actions of early infancy which have often been adduced
+as illustrations of instinct, the physiologists of the present day are
+agreed that they are as mechanical as the act of breathing. To place
+these upon the same level with the complex and wonderful operations of
+the bee, the ant, and the beaver, is to admit that the instincts of the
+latter are merely reflex actions following impressions on the nerves of
+sense.
+
+On the other hand, whether the animals inferior to man ever exercise
+any conscious process of reasoning is a question which has often been
+discussed, and upon which there is no general agreement. Instances of
+the remarkable sagacity of some domesticated animals are often adduced
+as proofs of reasoning on their part. Some of these wonderful feats may
+be traced to the unconscious faculty of imitation, which even in man
+often appears as a blind propensity, although he exercises an active
+and rational imitation as well. Sometimes the mere association of
+ideas, or the perception by animals that one thing is accompanied by
+another or that one event follows another, is mistaken for that higher
+principle which in man judges, reflects, and understands causes and
+effects. When the dog sees his master take down his gun, his
+blandishments show that he anticipates a renewal of the pleasures of
+the chase. He does not reflect upon past pleasures; but, seeing the gun
+in his master's hand, a confused idea of the feelings that were
+associated with the gun in times past is called up. So the ox and the
+horse learn to associate certain movements with the voice and gesture
+of man. And so a fish, about the most stupid of all animals, comes to a
+certain spot at a certain signal to be fed. These combinations are
+quite elementary. This is quite another thing from that reciprocal
+action of ideas on each other by which man perceives the relations of
+things, understands the laws of cause and effect, and not only forms
+judgments of the past, but draws conclusions which are laws for the
+future. We find in the brute no power of attending to and arranging its
+thoughts,--no power of calling up the past at will and reflecting upon
+it. The animal has the faculty of memory, and, when this is awakened,
+the object remembered may be accompanied by a train or attendance of
+accessory notions which have been connected with the object in the
+animal's past experience. But it never seems to be able to exercise the
+purely voluntary act of recollection. It is not capable of comparing
+one thing with another, so far as we can judge. If the animal could
+exercise any true act of comparison, there would be no limit to the
+exercise of it, and the animal would be an intelligent being; for the
+result of a simple act of comparison is judgment, and reasoning is only
+a double act of comparison. We have the authority of Sir William
+Hamilton for saying that the highest function of mind is nothing higher
+than comparison. Hence comes thought,--hence, the power of discovering
+truth,--and hence, the mind's highest dignity, in being able to ascend
+unassisted to the knowledge of a God. Those who hold that the minds of
+the inferior animals are essentially of the same nature with that of
+the human race, and differ only in degree, should reflect that the
+distinguishing attribute of the human mind does not admit of degrees.
+The faculty of comparison, in all its various applications, must be
+either wholly denied or else wholly attributed. Hence, Pope is not
+philosophical, when he applies the epithet "half-reasoning" to the
+elephant. "As reasoning," says Coleridge, "consists wholly in a man's
+power of seeing whether any two ideas which happen to be in his mind
+are or are not in contradiction with each other, it follows of
+necessity, not only that all men have reason, but that every individual
+has it in the same degree." We gather also from the same acute writer
+that in the simple determination, "black is not white," all the powers
+are implied that distinguish man from other animals. If, then, the
+brute reasoned at all, he would be a rational being, and would improve
+and gain knowledge by experience; and, moreover, he would be a moral
+agent, accountable for his conduct. "Would not the brute," asks an able
+writer in the "Zoölogical Journal," "take a survey of his lower powers,
+and would he not, as man does, either rightly use or pervert them, at
+his pleasure?"
+
+It has been suggested by some one, that, by the law of merciful
+adaptation, which extends throughout the universe, thought would not be
+imprisoned and pent up forever in an intelligence wanting the power of
+expression. But it is also to be noticed that the want of an articulate
+language or a system of general signs puts it out of the power of
+animals to perform a single act of reasoning. The use of language to
+communicate wants and feelings is not peculiar to "word-dividing men,"
+though enjoyed by them in a much higher degree than by other animals.
+Doubtless every species of social animals has some kind of language,
+however imperfect it may be. "We never watch the busy workers of the
+ant-hill," says Acheta Domestics, (the author of "Episodes of
+Insect-Life,") "stopping as they encounter and laying their heads
+together, without being pretty certain that they are saying to each
+other something quite as significant as 'Fine day.'" And when the
+morning wakes the choral song of the birds, they seem to be telling
+each other of their happiness. But though animals have a language
+appropriate to the expression of their sensations and emotions, they
+have no words, "those shadows of the soul, those living sounds." Words
+are symbols of thoughts, and may be considered as a revelation of the
+human mind. It is this use of language as an instrument of thought, as
+a system of general signs, which, according to Bishop Whately,
+distinguishes the language of man from that of the brute; and the same
+eminent authority declares that without such a system of general signs
+the reasoning process could not be conducted.
+
+It is true, that we often see in the inferior animals manifestations of
+deductions of intellect similar to those of the human mind,--only that
+they are not made by the animals themselves, but for them and above
+their conscious perception. "When a bee," says Dr. Reid, "makes its
+combs so geometrically, the geometry is not in the bee, but in that
+great Geometrician who made the bee, and made all things in number,
+weight, and measure." Since the animal is not conscious of the
+intelligence and design which are manifested in its instincts, which it
+obeys and works out, the conscious life of the individual must be
+wholly a life within the senses. The senses alone can give the animal
+only an empirical knowledge of the world of its observation. The senses
+may register and report facts, but they can never arrive at an
+understanding of necessary truths; the source of this kind of knowledge
+is the rational mind, which has an active disposition to draw out these
+infallible laws and eternal truths from its own bosom. The main
+tendency of the rational mind is not towards mere phenomena, but their
+scientific explanation. It seeks to trace effects, as presented to us
+by the senses, back to the causes which produced them; or contemplating
+things wholly metaphysical, it seeks to follow out the laws which it
+has itself discovered, till they have gone through a thousand probable
+contingencies and lost themselves in numberless results. It is on
+account of this capacity and tendency of the human mind to look through
+fact to law, through individuals to classes, through effects to causes,
+through phenomena to general principles, that the late Dr. Burnap was
+led to declare, in a very interesting course of lectures which he
+delivered before the Lowell Institute a few years since, that he
+considered the first characteristic difference between the highest
+species of animals and the lowest race of man to be a capacity of
+science. But is not the whole edifice of human science built upon the
+simple faculty of comparison?
+
+This is the ultimate analysis of all the highest manifestations of the
+human mind, whether of judgment, or reason, or intellect, or common
+sense, or the power of generalization, or the capacity of science. We
+have already quoted Hamilton to this effect, and we, moreover, have his
+authority for saying that the faculty of discovering truth, by a
+comparison of the notions we have obtained by observation and
+experience, is the attribute by which man is distinguished as a
+creature higher than the animals. We might also cite Leibnitz to the
+effect that men differ from animals in being capable of the formation
+of necessary judgments, and hence capable of demonstrative sciences.
+
+But notwithstanding it seems so apparent that what is customarily
+called reason is the distinguishing endowment which makes man the
+"paragon of animals," we very often meet with attempts to set up some
+other distinction. We cannot here go into an examination of these
+various theories, or even allude to them specially. We will, however,
+briefly refer to a view which was recently advanced in one of our
+leading periodicals, inasmuch as it makes prominent a distinction which
+we wish to notice, although it seems to us to be only subordinate to
+the distinguishing attribute of the human mind which we have already
+pointed out. It is said that self-consciousness is what makes the great
+difference between man and other animals; that the latter do not
+separate themselves consciously from the world in which they exist; and
+that, though they have emotions, impulses, pains, and pleasures, every
+change of feeling in them takes at once the form of an outward change
+either in place or position. It is not intended, however, to be said
+that they have no conscious perception of external things. We cannot
+possibly conceive of an animal without this condition of consciousness.
+A consciousness of an outward world is an essential quality of the
+animal soul; this distinguishes the very lowest form of animal life
+from the vegetable world; and hence it cannot possibly be, as has been
+suggested by some, that there are any animate beings which have no
+endowments superior to those which belong to plants. The plant is not
+conscious of an outward world, when it sends out its roots to obtain
+the nourishment which is fitting for itself; but the polype, which is
+fixed with hundreds of its kind on the same coral-stock, and is able
+only to move its mouth and tentacles, is aware of the presence of the
+little craw-fish upon which it feeds, and throws out its lasso-cells
+and catches it. The world of which the polype has any perception is not
+a very large one. The outer world of a bird is vastly greater; and man
+knows a world without, which is immeasurably large beyond that of which
+any other animal is conscious, because both his physical organs and his
+mental faculties bring him into far the most diversified and intimate
+relations with all created things. He sees in every flower of the
+garden and every beast of the field, in the air and in the sea, in the
+earth beneath his feet and in the starry heavens above him, countless
+meanings which are hidden to all the living world besides. To him there
+is a world which has existed and a world that will exist. "Man," says
+Protagoras, "is the measure of the universe." But he has a greater
+dignity in being able to apprehend the world of thought within. "Whilst
+I study to find how I am a microcosm or little world," says Sir Thomas
+Browne, "I find myself something more than the great." Man can make
+himself an object to himself and gain the deepest insight into the
+workings of his own mind. This internal perception seems never to be
+developed in other animals. We have already observed that they have no
+thought of their own. The intelligence and design which they often
+manifest in their actions are not the workings of their own minds. The
+intelligence and design belong to Him who impressed the thought upon
+the animal's mind and unceasingly sustains it in action. They
+themselves are not conscious of any thought, but only of "certain dim
+imperious influences" which urge them on. They are conscious of
+feelings and desires and impulses. We could not conceive of the
+existence of these affections in animals without their having an
+immediate knowledge of them. Even "the function of voluntary motion,"
+says Hamilton, "which is a function of the animal soul in the
+Peripatetic doctrine, ought not, as is generally done, to be excluded
+from the phenomena of consciousness and mind." The conscious life of
+the irrational tribes seems, then, to be a life almost wholly within
+the senses. They have nothing of that higher conscious personality
+which belongs to man and is an attribute of a free intellect.
+
+A general statement of the points made out in the foregoing inquiry
+will more clearly show our conception of the nature and limitations of
+instinct. First, we limited the word instinct so as to exclude all
+those automatic and mechanical actions concerned in the simple
+functions of organic life,--as also to exclude the operations of the
+passions and appetites, since these seek no other end than their own
+gratification. Then it was shown that instinct exists prior to all
+experience or memory; that it comes to an instant or speedy perfection,
+and is not capable of any improvement or cultivation; that its objects
+are precise and limited; that within its proper sphere it often appears
+as the highest wisdom, but beyond this is only foolishness; that it
+uses complex and laborious means to provide for the future, without any
+prescience of it; that it performs important and rational operations
+which the animal neither intends nor knows anything about; that it is
+permanent for each species, and is transmitted as an hereditary gift of
+Nature; and that the few variations in its action result from the
+development of provisional faculties, or from blind imitation. We were
+led to conclude that instinct is not a free and conscious possession of
+the animal itself. We found some points of resemblance between
+intelligence in man and instinct in other animals,--but at the same
+time points of dissimilarity, such as to make the two principles appear
+radically unlike.
+
+This brief summary presents nearly all that we can satisfactorily make
+out respecting instinct; and at the same time it shows how much is
+still wanting to a complete solution of all the questions which it
+involves. And then there are higher mysteries connected with the
+subject, which we do not attempt to penetrate,--mysteries in regard to
+the creation and the maintenance of instinctive action: whether it be
+the result of particular external conditions acting on the organization
+of animals, or whether, as Sir Isaac Newton thought, the Deity himself
+is virtually the active and present moving principle in them;--and
+mysteries, too, about the future of the brute world: whether, as
+Southey wrote,
+
+        "There is another world
+For all that live and move,--a better world."
+
+If we ever find a path which seems about to lead us up to these
+mysteries, it speedily closes against us, and leaves us without any
+rational hope of attaining their solution.
+
+
+
+
+MY OWN STORY.
+
+
+"Oh, tell her, brief is life, but love is long."
+
+"What have I got that you would like to have? Your letters are tied up
+and directed to you. Mother will give them to you, when she finds them
+in my desk. I could execute my last will myself, if it were not for
+giving her additional pain. I will leave everything for her to do
+except this: take these letters, and when I am dead, give them to
+Frank. There is not a reproach in them, and they are full of wit; but
+he won't laugh, when he reads them again. Choose now, what will you
+have of mine?"
+
+"Well," I said, "give me the gold pen-holder that Redmond sent you
+after he went away."
+
+Laura rose up in her bed, and seized me by my shoulder, and shook me,
+crying between her teeth, "You love him! you love him!" Then she fell
+back on her pillow. "Oh, if he were here now! He went, I say, to marry
+the woman he was engaged to before he saw you. He was nearly mad,
+though, when he went. The night mother gave them their last party, when
+you wore your black lace dress, and had pink roses in your hair,
+somehow I hardly knew you that night. I was in the little parlor,
+looking at the flowers on the mantelpiece, when Redmond came into the
+room, and, rushing up to me, bent down and whispered, 'Did you see her
+go? I shall see her no more; she is walking on the beach with Maurice.'
+He sighed so loud that I felt embarrassed; for I was afraid that Harry
+Lothrop, who was laughing and talking in a corner with two or three
+men, would hear him; but he was not aware that they were there. I did
+not know what to do, unless I ridiculed him. 'Follow them,' I said.
+'Step on her flounces, and Maurice will have a chance to humiliate you
+with some of his cutting, exquisite politeness.' He never answered a
+word, and I would not look at him, but presently I understood that
+there were tears falling. Oh, you need not look towards me with such
+longing; he does not cry for you now. They seemed to bring him to his
+senses. He stamped his foot; but the carpet was thick; it only made a
+thud. Then he buttoned his coat, giving himself a violent twist as he
+did it, and looked at me with such a haughty composure, that, if I had
+been you, I should have trembled in my shoes. He walked across the room
+toward the group of men.--'Ah, Harry,' he said, 'where is Maurice?'
+'Don't you know?' they all cried out; 'he has gone as Miss Denham's
+escort?' 'By Jove!' said Harry Lothrop,--'Miss Denham was as handsome
+as Cleopatra, to-night. Little Maurice is now singing to her. Did he
+take his guitar under his arm? It was here; for I saw a green bag near
+his hat, when we came in to-night.' Just then we heard the twang of a
+guitar under the window, and Redmond, in spite of himself, could not
+help a grimace.--Is it not a droll world?" said Laura, after a pause;
+"things come about so contrariwise."
+
+She laughed such a shrill laugh, that I shuddered to hear it, and I
+fell a-crying.  "But," she continued, "I am going, I trust, where a key
+will be given me for this cipher."
+
+Tears came into her eyes, and an expression of gentleness filled her
+face.
+
+"It is strange," she said, "when I know that I must die, that I should
+be so moved by earthly passions and so interested in earthly
+speculations. My heart supplicates God for peace and patience, and at
+the same moment my thoughts float away in dreams of the past. I shall
+soon be wiser; I am convinced of that. The doctrine of compensation
+extends beyond this world; if it be not so, why should I die at twenty,
+with all this mysterious suffering of soul? You must not wonder over
+me, when I am gone, and ask yourself, 'Why did she live?' Believe that
+I shall know why I lived, and let it suffice you and encourage you to
+go on bravely. Live and make your powers felt. Your nature is affluent,
+and you may yet learn how to be happy."
+
+She sighed softly, and turned her face to the wall, and moved her
+fingers as sick people do. She waited for me to cease weeping: my tears
+rained over my face so that I could neither see nor speak.
+
+After I had become calmer, she moved toward me again and took my hand:
+her own trembled.
+
+"It is for the last time, Margaret. My good, skilful father gives me no
+medicine now. My sisters have come home; they sit about the house like
+mourners, with idle hands, and do not speak with each other. It is
+terrible, but it will soon be over."
+
+She pulled at my hand for me to rise. I staggered up, and met her eyes.
+Mine were dry now.
+
+"Do not come here again. It will be enough for my family to look at my
+coffin. I feel better to think you will be spared the pain."
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Good-bye!"
+
+A sob broke in her throat.
+
+"Margaret,"--she spoke like a little child,--"I am going to heaven."
+
+I kissed her, but I was blind and dumb. I lifted her half out of the
+bed. She clasped her frail arms round me, and hid her face in my bosom.
+
+"Oh, I love you!" she said.
+
+Her heart gave such a violent plunge, that I felt it, and laid her back
+quickly. She waved her hand to me with a determined smile. I reached
+the door, still looking at her, crossed the dark threshold, and passed
+out of the house. The bold sunshine smote my face, and the insolent
+wind played about me. The whole earth was as brilliant and joyous as if
+it had never been furrowed by graves.
+
+Laura lived some days after my interview with her. She sent me no
+message, and I did not go to see her. From the garret-windows of our
+house, which was half a mile distant from Laura's, I could see the
+windows of the room where she was lying. Three tall poplar-trees
+intervened in the landscape. I thought they stood motionless so that
+they might not intercept my view while I watched the house of death.
+One morning I saw that the blinds had been thrown back and the windows
+opened. I knew then that Laura was dead.
+
+The day after the funeral I gave Frank his letters, his miniature, and
+the locket which held a ring of his hair.
+
+"Is there a fire?" he asked, when I gave them to him; "I want to burn
+these things."
+
+I went to another room with him.
+
+"I'll leave everything here to-day; and may I never see this cursed
+place again! Did she die, do you know, because I held her promise that
+she would be my wife?"
+
+He threw the papers into the grate, and crowded them down with his
+boot, and watched them till the last blackened flake disappeared. He
+then took from his neck a hair chain, and threw that into the fire
+also.
+
+"It is all done now," he said.
+
+He shook my hand with a firm grasp and left me.
+
+A month later Laura's mother sent me a package containing two bundles
+of letters. It startled me to see that the direction was dated before
+she was taken ill:--"To be given to Margaret in case of my death.
+June 5th, 1848." They were my letters, and those which she had
+received from Harry Lothrop. On this envelop was written, "Put these
+into the black box he gave you." The gold pen-holder came into my hands
+also. _Departure_ was engraved on the handle, and Laura's initials were
+cut in an emerald in its top. The black box was an ebony, gold-plated
+toy, which Harry Lothrop had given me at the same time Redmond gave
+Laura the pen-holder. It was when they went away, after a whole
+summer's visit in our little town, the year before. I locked the
+letters in the black box, and,
+
+  "Whether from reason or from impulse only,"
+
+I know not, but I was prompted to write a line to Harry Lothrop.  "Do
+not," I said, "write Laura any more letters. Those you have already
+written to her are in my keeping, for she is dead. Was it not a
+pleasant summer we passed together? The second autumn is already at
+hand: time flies the same, whether we are dull or gay. For all this
+period what remains except the poor harvest of a few letters?"
+
+I received in answer an incoherent and agitated letter. What was the
+matter with Laura? he asked. He had not heard from her for months. Had
+any rupture occurred between her and her friend Frank? Did I suppose
+she was ever unhappy? He was shocked at the news, and said he must come
+and learn the particulars of the event. He thanked me for my note, and
+begged me to believe how sincere was his friendship for my poor friend.
+
+"Redmond," he continued, "is, for the present, attached to the engineer
+corps to which I belong, and he has offered to take charge of my
+business while I am a day or two absent. He is in my room at this
+moment, holding your note in his hand, and appears painfully
+disturbed."
+
+It was now a little past the time of year when Redmond and Harry
+Lothrop had left us,--early autumn. After their departure, Laura and I
+had been sentimental enough to talk over the events of their visit.
+Recalling these associations, we created an illusion of pleasure which
+of course could not last. Harry Lothrop wrote to Laura, but the
+correspondence declined and died. As time passed on, we talked less and
+less of our visitors, and finally ceased to speak of them. Neither of
+us knew or suspected the other of any deep or lasting feeling toward
+the two friends. Laura knew Redmond better than I did; at least, she
+saw him oftener; in fact, she knew both in a different way. They had
+visited her alone; while I had met them almost entirely in society. I
+never found so much time to spare as she seemed to have; for everybody
+liked her, and everybody sought her. As often as we had talked over our
+acquaintance, she was wary of speaking of Redmond. Her last
+conversation with me revealed her thoughts, and awakened feelings which
+I thought I had buffeted down. The tone of Harry Lothrop's note
+perplexed me, and I found myself drifting back into an old state of
+mind I had reason to dread.
+
+As I said, the autumn had come round. Its quiet days, its sombre
+nights, filled my soul with melancholy. The lonesome moan of the sea
+and the waiting stillness of the woods were just the same a year ago;
+but Laura was dead, and Nature grieved me. Yet none of us are in one
+mood long, and at this very time there were intervals when I found
+something delicious in life, either in myself or the atmosphere.
+
+  "Moreover, something is or seems
+  That touches me with mystic gleams."
+
+A golden morning, a starry night, the azure round of the sky, the
+undulating horizon of sea, the blue haze which rose and fell over the
+distant hills, the freshness of youth, the power of beauty,--all gave
+me deep voluptuous dreams.
+
+I can afford to confess that I possessed beauty; for half my faults and
+miseries arose from the fact of my being beautiful. I was not vain, but
+as conscious of my beauty as I was of that of a flower, and sometimes
+it intoxicated me. For, in spite of the comforting novels of the Jane
+Eyre school, it is hardly possible to set an undue value upon beauty;
+it defies ennui.
+
+As I expected, Harry Lothrop came to see me. The sad remembrance of
+Laura's death prevented any ceremony between us; we met as old
+acquaintances, of course, although we had never conversed together half
+an hour without interruption. I began with the theme of Laura's illness
+and death, and the relation which she had held toward me. All at once I
+discovered, without evidence, that he was indifferent to what I was
+saying; but I talked on mechanically, and like a phantasm the truth
+came to my mind. The real man was there,--not the one I had carelessly
+looked at and known through Laura.
+
+I became silent.
+
+He twisted his fingers in the fringe of my scarf, which had fallen off,
+and I watched them.
+
+"Why," I abruptly asked, "have I not known you before?"
+
+He let go the fringe, and folded his hands, and in a dreamy voice
+replied,--
+
+"Redmond admires you."
+
+"What a pity!" I said. "And you,--you admire me, or yourself, just now;
+which?"
+
+He flushed slightly, but continued with a bland voice, which irritated
+and interested me.
+
+"All that time I was so near you, and you scarcely saw me; what a
+chance I had to study you! Your friend was intelligent and sympathetic,
+so we struck a league of friendship: I could dare so much with her,
+because I knew that she was engaged to marry Mr. Ballard. I own that I
+have been troubled about her since I went away. How odd it is that I am
+here alone with you in this room! how many times I have wished it! I
+liked you best here; and while absent, the remembrance of it has been
+inseparable from the remembrance of you,--a picture within a picture. I
+know all that the room contains,--the white vases, and the wire
+baskets, with pots of Egyptian lilies and damask roses, the books bound
+in green and gold, the engravings of nymphs and fauns, the crimson bars
+in the carpet, the flowers on the cushions, and, best of all, the
+arched window and its low seat. But I had promised myself never to see
+you: it was all I could do for Laura. She is dead, and I am here."
+
+I rose and walked to the window, and looked out on the misty sea, and
+felt strangely.
+
+"Another lover," I thought,--"and Redmond's friend, and Laura's. But it
+all belongs to the comedy we play."
+
+He came to where I stood.
+
+"I know you so well," he said,--"your pride, your self-control, even
+your foibles: but they attract one, too. You did not escape heart-whole
+from Redmond's influence. He is not married yet, but he will be; he is
+a chivalrous fellow. It was a desperate matter between you two,--a
+hand-to-hand struggle. It is over with you both, I believe: you are
+something alike. Now may I offer you my friendship? If I love you, let
+me say so. Do not resist me. I appeal to the spirit of coquetry which
+tempted you before you saw me to-night. You are dressed to please me."
+
+I was thinking what I should say, when he skilfully turned the
+conversation into an ordinary channel. He shook off his dreamy manner,
+and talked with his old vivacity. I was charmed a little; an
+association added to the charm, I fancy. It was late at night when he
+took his leave. He had arranged it all; for a man brought his carriage
+to the door and drove him to the next town, where he had procured it to
+come over from the railway.
+
+When I was shut in my room for the night, rage took possession of me. I
+tore off my dress, twisted my hair with vehemence, and hurried to bed
+and tried to go to sleep, but could not, of course. As when we press
+our eyelids together for meditation or sleep, violet rings and changing
+rays of light flash and fade before the darkened eyeballs, so in the
+dark unrest of my mind the past flashed up, and this is what I saw:--
+
+The county ball, where Laura and I first met Redmond, Harry Lothrop,
+and Maurice. We were struggling through the crowd of girls at the
+dressing-room door, to rejoin Frank, who was waiting for us. As we
+passed out, satisfied with the mutual inspection of our dresses of
+white silk, which were trimmed with bunches of rose-geranium, we saw a
+group of strangers close by us, buttoning their gloves, looking at
+their boots, and comparing looks. Laura pushed her fan against my arm;
+we looked at each other, and made signs behind Frank, and were caught
+in the act, not only by him, but by a tall gentleman in the group which
+she had signalled me to notice.
+
+The shadow of a smile was travelling over his face as I caught his eye,
+but he turned away so suddenly that I had no opportunity for
+embarrassment. An usher gave us a place near the band, at the head of
+the hall.
+
+"Do not be reckless, Laura," I said,--"at least till the music gives
+you an excuse."
+
+"You are obliged to me, you know," she answered, "for directing your
+attention to such attractive prey. Being in bonds myself, I can only
+use my eyes for you: don't be ungrateful."
+
+The band struck up a crashing polka, and she and Frank whirled away,
+with a hundred others. I found a seat and amused myself by contrasting
+the imperturbable countenances of the musicians with those of the
+dancers. The perfumes the women wore floated by me. These odors, the
+rhythmic motion of the dancers, and the hard, energetic music
+exhilarated me. The music ended, and the crowd began to buzz. The loud,
+inarticulate speech of a brilliant crowd is like good wine. As my
+acquaintances gathered about me, I began to feel its electricity, and
+grew blithe and vivacious. Presently I saw one of the ushers speaking
+to Frank, who went down the hall with him.
+
+"Oh, my prophetic soul!" said Laura, "they are coming."
+
+Frank came back with the three, and introduced them. Redmond asked me
+for the first quadrille, and Harry Lothrop engaged Laura. Frank said to
+me behind his handkerchief,--"It's _en rčgle_; I know where they came
+from; their fathers are brave, and their mothers are virtuous."
+
+The quadrille had not commenced, so I talked with several persons near;
+but I felt a constraint, for I knew I was closely observed by the
+stranger, who was entirely quiet. Curiosity made me impatient for the
+dance to begin; and when we took our places, I was cool enough to
+examine him. Tall, slender, and swarthy, with a delicate moustache over
+a pair of thin scarlet lips, penetrating eyes, and a tranquil air. My
+antipodes in looks, for I was short and fair; my hair was straight and
+black like his, but my eyes were blue, and my mouth wide and full.
+
+"What an unnaturally pleasant thing a ball-room is!" he said,--"before
+the dust rises and the lights flare, I mean. But nobody ever leaves
+early; as the freshness vanishes, the extravagance deepens. Did you
+ever notice how much faster the musicians play as it grows late? When
+we open the windows, the fresh breath of the night increases the
+delirium within. I have seen the quietest women toss their faded
+bouquets out of the windows without a thought of making a comparison
+between the flowers and themselves."
+
+"My poor geraniums!" I said,--"what eloquence!"
+
+He laughed, and answered,--
+
+"My friend Maurice yonder would have said it twice as well."
+
+We were in the promenade then, and stopped where the said Maurice was
+fanning himself against the wall.
+
+"May I venture to ask you for a waltz, Miss Denham? it is the next
+dance on the card," said Maurice;--"but of course you are engaged."
+
+I gave him my card, and he began to mark it, when Redmond took it, and
+placed his own initials against the dance after supper, and the last
+one on the list. He left me then, and I saw him a moment after talking
+with Laura.
+
+We passed a gay night. When Laura and I equipped for our ten miles'
+ride, it was four in the morning. Redmond helped Frank to pack us in
+the carriage, and we rewarded him with a knot of faded leaves.
+
+"This late event," said Laura, with a ministerial air, after we had
+started, "was a providential one. You, my dear Frank, were at liberty
+to pursue your favorite pastime of whist, in some remote apartment,
+without being conscience-torn respecting me. I have danced very well
+without you, thanks to the strangers. And you, Margaret, have had an
+unusual opportunity of displaying your latent forces. Three such
+different men! But let us drive fast. I am in want of the cup of tea
+which mother will have waiting for me."
+
+We arrived first at my door. As I was going up the steps, Laura broke
+the silence; for neither of us had spoken since her remarks.
+
+"By the way, they are coming here to stay awhile. They are anxious for
+some deep-sea fishing. They'll have it, I think."
+
+I heard Frank's laugh of delight at Laura's wit, as the carriage drove
+off.
+
+It was our last ball that season.
+
+It was late in the spring; and when Redmond came with his two friends
+and settled at the hotel in our town, it was early summer. When I saw
+them again, they came with Laura and Frank to pay me a visit. Laura was
+already acquainted with them, and asked me if I did not perceive her
+superiority in the fact.
+
+"Let us arrange," said Harry Lothrop, "some systematic plan of
+amusement by sea and land. I have a pair of horses, Maurice owns a
+guitar, and Redmond's boat will be here in a few days. Jones, our
+landlord, has two horses that are tolerable under the saddle. Let us
+ride, sail, and be serenaded. The Lake House, Jones again, is eight
+miles distant. This is Monday; shall we go there on horse-back
+Wednesday?"
+
+Laura looked mournfully at Frank, who replied to her look,--
+
+"You must go; I cannot; I shall go back to business to-morrow."
+
+I glanced at Redmond; he was contemplating a portrait of myself at the
+age of fourteen.
+
+"Shall we go?" Laura asked him.
+
+"Nothing, thank you," he answered.
+
+We all laughed, and Harry Lothrop said,--
+
+"Redmond, my boy, how fond you are of pictures!"
+
+Redmond, with an unmoved face, said,--
+
+"Don't be absurd about my absent-mindedness. What were you saying?"
+
+And he turned to me.
+
+"Do you like our plan," I asked, "of going to the Lake House? There is
+a deep pond, a fine wood, a bridge,--perch, pickerel,--a one-story inn
+with a veranda,--ham and eggs, stewed quince, elderberry wine,--and a
+romantic road to ride over."
+
+"I like it."
+
+Frank opened a discussion on fishing; Laura and I withdrew, and went to
+the window-seat.
+
+"I am light-hearted," I said.
+
+"It is my duty to be melancholy," she replied; "but I shall not mope
+after Frank has gone."
+
+"'After them the deluge,'" said I. "How long will they stay?"
+
+"Till they are bored, I fancy."
+
+"Oh, they are going; we must leave our recess."
+
+Frank and she remained; the others bid us good-night.
+
+"I shall not come again till Christmas," he said. "These college-chaps
+will amuse you and make the time pass; they are young,--quite suitable
+companions for you girls. _Vive la bagatelle!_"
+
+He sighed, and, drawing Laura's arm in his, rose to go. She groaned
+loudly, and he nipped her ears.
+
+"Good-bye, Margaret; let Laura take care of you. There is a deal of
+wisdom in her."
+
+We shook hands, Laura moaning all the while, and they went home.
+
+Frank and Laura had been engaged three years. He was about thirty, and
+was still too poor to marry.
+
+Wednesday proved pleasant. We had an early dinner, and our cavalcade
+started from Laura's. I rode my small bay horse Folly, a gift from my
+absentee brother. His coat was sleeker than satin; his ears moved
+perpetually, and his wide nostrils were always in a quiver. He was not
+entirely safe, for now and then he jumped unexpectedly; but I had
+ridden him a year without accident, and felt enough acquainted with him
+not to be afraid.
+
+Redmond eyed him.
+
+"You are a bold rider," he said.
+
+"No," I answered,--"a careful one. Look at the bit, and my whip, too. I
+cut his hind legs when he jumps. Observe that I do not wear a long
+skirt. I can slip off the saddle, if need be, without danger."
+
+"That's all very well; but his eyes are vicious; he will serve you a
+trick some day."
+
+"When he does, I'll sell him for a cart-horse."
+
+Laura and Redmond rode Jones's horses. Harry Lothrop was mounted on his
+horse Black, a superb, thick-maned creature, with a cluster of white
+stars on one of his shoulders. Maurice rode a wall-eyed pony. Our
+friends Dickenson and Jack Parker drove two young ladies in a
+carriage,--all the saddle-horses our town could boast of being in use.
+We were in high spirits, and rode fast. I was occupied in watching
+Folly, who had not been out for several days. At last, tired of tugging
+at his mouth, I gave him rein, and he flew along. I tucked the edge of
+my skirt under the saddle-flap, slanted forward, and held the bridle
+with both hands close to his head. A long sandy reach of road lay
+before me. I enjoyed Folly's fierce trotting; but, as I expected, the
+good horse Black was on my track, while the rest of the party were far
+behind. He soon overtook me. Folly snorted when he heard Black's step.
+We pulled up, and the two horses began to sidle and prance, and throw
+up their heads so that we could not indulge in a bit of conversation.
+
+"Brute!" said Harry Lothrop,--"if I were sure of getting on again, I
+would dismount and thrash you awfully."
+
+"Remember Pickwick," I said; "don't do it."
+
+I had hardly spoken, when the strap of his cap broke, and it fell from
+his head to the ground. I laughed, and so did he.
+
+"I can hold your horse while you dismount for it."
+
+I stopped Folly, and he forced Black near enough for me to seize the
+rein and twist it round my hand; when I had done so, Folly turned his
+head, and was tempted to take Black's mane in his teeth; Black felt it,
+reared, and came down with his nose in my lap. I could not loose my
+hands, which confused me, but I saw Harry Lothrop making a great leap.
+Both horses were running now, and he was lying across the saddle,
+trying to free my hand. It was over in an instant. He got his seat, and
+the horses were checked.
+
+"Good God!" he said, "your fingers are crushed."
+
+He pulled off my glove, and turned pale when he saw my purple hand.
+
+"It is nothing," I said.
+
+But I was miserably fatigued, and prayed that the Lake House might come
+in sight. We were near the wood, which extended to it, and I was
+wondering if we should ever reach it, when he said,--
+
+"You must dismount, and rest under the first tree. We will wait there
+for the rest of the party to come up."
+
+I did so. Numerous were the inquiries, when they reached us. Laura,
+when she heard the story, declared she now believed in Ellen Pickering.
+Redmond gave me a searching look, and asked me if the one-story inn had
+good beds.
+
+"I can take a nap, if necessary," I answered, "in one of Mrs. Sampson's
+rush-bottomed chairs on the veranda. The croak of the frogs in the pond
+and the buzz of the bluebottles shall be my lullaby."
+
+"No matter how, if you will rest," he said, and assisted me to remount.
+
+We rode quietly together the rest of the way. After arriving, we girls
+went by ourselves into one of Mrs. Sampson's sloping chambers, where
+there was a low bedstead, and a thick feather-bed covered with a
+patchwork-quilt of the "Job's Trouble" pattern, a small, dim
+looking-glass surmounted by a bunch of "sparrow-grass," and an
+unpainted floor ornamented with home-made rugs which were embroidered
+with pink flower-pots containing worsted rose-bushes, the stalks,
+leaves, and flowers all in bright yellow. We hung up our riding-skirts
+on ancient wooden pegs, for we had worn others underneath them suitable
+for walking, and then tilted the wooden chairs at a comfortable angle
+against the wall, put our feet on the rounds, and felt at peace with
+all mankind.
+
+"Alas!" I said, "it is too early for currant-pies."
+
+"I saw," said one of the girls, "Mrs. Sampson poking the oven, and a
+smell of pies was in the air."
+
+"Let us go into the kitchen," exclaimed Laura.
+
+The proposal was agreeable; so we went, and found Mrs. Sampson making
+plum-cake.
+
+"The pies are green-gooseberry-pies," whispered Laura,--"very good,
+too."
+
+"Miss Denham," shrieked Mrs. Sampson, "you haven't done growing
+yet.--How's your mother and your grandmother?--Have you had a revival
+in your church?--I heard of the young men down to Jones's,--our
+minister's wife knows their fathers,--first-rate men, she says.--I
+thought you would be here with them.--'Sampson,' I said this morning, as
+soon as I dressed, 'do pick some gooseberries. I'll have before sundown
+twenty pies in this house.' There they are,--six gooseberry, six
+custard, and, though it's late for them, six mince, and two awful great
+pigeon pies. It's poor trash, I expect; I'm afraid you can't eat it;
+but it is as good as anybody's, I suppose."
+
+We told her we should devour it all, but must first catch some fish;
+and we joined the gentlemen on the veranda. A boat was ready for us.
+Laura, however, refused to go in it. It was too small; it was wet; she
+wanted to walk on the bridge; she could watch us from that; she wanted
+some flowers, too. Like many who are not afraid of the ocean, she held
+ponds and lakes in abhorrence, and fear kept her from going with us.
+Harry Lothrop offered to stay with her, and take lines to fish from the
+bridge. She assented, and, after we pushed off, they strolled away.
+
+The lake was as smooth and white as silver beneath the afternoon sun
+and a windless sky; it was bordered with a mound of green bushes,
+beyond which stretched deep pine woods. There was no shade, and we soon
+grew weary. Jack Parker caught all the fish, which flopped about our
+feet. A little way down, where the lake narrowed, we saw Laura and
+Harry Lothrop hanging over the bridge.
+
+"They must be interested in conversation," I thought; "he has not
+lifted his line out of the water once."
+
+Redmond, too, looked over that way often, and at last said,--
+
+"We will row up to the bridge, and walk back to the house, if you,
+Maurice, will take the boat to the little pier again."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Maurice.
+
+We came to the bridge, and Laura reached out her hand to me.
+
+"Why, dear!" she exclaimed, "you have burnt your face. Why did you,"
+turning to Redmond, "paddle about so long in the hot sun?"
+
+Her words were light enough, but the tone of her voice was savage.
+Redmond looked surprised; he waved his hand deprecatingly, but said
+nothing. We went up toward the house, but Laura lingered behind, and
+did not come in till we were ready to go to supper.
+
+It was past sundown when we rose from the ruins of Mrs. Sampson's pies.
+We voted not to start for home till the evening was advanced, so that
+we might enjoy the gloom of the pine wood. We sat on the veranda and
+heard the sounds of approaching night. The atmosphere was like powdered
+gold. Swallows fluttered in the air, delaying to drop into their nests,
+and chirped their evening song. We heard the plunge of the little
+turtles in the lake, and the noisy crows as they flew home over the
+distant tree-tops. They grew dark, and the sky deepened slowly into a
+soft gray. A gentle wind arose, and wafted us the sighs of the pines
+and their resinous odors. I was happy, but Laura was unaccountably
+silent.
+
+"What is it, Laura?" I asked, in a whisper.
+
+"Nothing, Margaret,--only it seems to me that we mortals are always
+riding or fishing, eating or drinking, and that we never get to living.
+To tell you the truth, the pies were too sour. Come, we must go," she
+said aloud.
+
+Redmond himself brought Folly from the stable.
+
+"We will ride home together," he said. "My calm nag will suit yours
+better than Black. Why does your hand tremble?"
+
+He saw my shaking hands, as I took the rein; the fact was, my wrists
+were nearly broken.
+
+"Nothing shall happen to-night, I assure you," he continued, while he
+tightened Folly's girth.
+
+He contrived to be busy till all the party had disappeared down a turn
+of the road. As he was mounting his horse, Mrs. Sampson, who was on the
+steps, whispered to me,--
+
+"He's a beautiful young man, now!"
+
+He heard her; he had the ear of a wild animal; he took off his hat to
+Mrs. Sampson, and we rode slowly away.
+
+As soon as we were in the wood, Redmond tied the bridles of the horses
+together with his handkerchief. It was so dark that my sight could not
+separate him from his horse. They moved beside me, a vague, black
+shape. The horses' feet fell without noise in the cool, moist sand. If
+our companions were near us, we could not see them, and we did not hear
+them. Horses generally keep an even pace, when travelling at
+night,--subdued by the darkness, perhaps,--and Folly went along without
+swaying an inch. I dropped the rein on his neck, and took hold of the
+pommel. My hand fell on Redmond's. Before I could take it away, he had
+clasped it, and touched it with his lips. The movement was so sudden
+that I half lost my balance, but the horses stepped evenly together. He
+threw his arm round me, and recoiled from me as if he had received a
+blow.
+
+"Take up your rein," he said, with a strange voice,--"quick!--we must
+ride fast out of this."
+
+I made no reply, for I was trying to untie the handkerchief. The knot
+was too firm.
+
+"No, no," he said, when he perceived what I was doing, "let it be so."
+
+"Untie it, Sir!"
+
+"I will not."
+
+I put my face down between the horses' necks and bit it apart, and
+thrust it into my bosom.
+
+"Now," I said, "shall we ride fast?"
+
+He shook his rein, and we rode fiercely,--past our party, who shouted
+at us,--through the wood,--over the brow of the great hill, from whose
+top we saw the dark, motionless sea,--through the long street,--and
+through my father's gateway into the stable-yard, where I leaped from
+my horse, and, bridle in hand, said, "Good night!" in a loud voice.
+
+Redmond swung his hat and galloped off.
+
+Early next morning, Laura sent me a note:--
+
+"DEAR MARGARET,--I have an ague, and mean to have it till Sunday night.
+The pines did it. Did you bring home any needles? On Monday, mother
+will give one of her whist-parties. I shall add a dozen or two of our
+set; you will come.
+
+"P.S. What do you think of Mr. Harry Lothrop? Good young man, eh?"
+
+I was glad that Laura had shut herself up for a few days; I dreaded to
+see her just now. I suffered from an inexplicable feeling of pride and
+disappointment, and did not care to have her discover it. Laura, like
+myself, sometimes chose to protect herself against neighborly
+invasions. We never kept our doors locked in the country; the sending
+in of a card was an unknown process there. Our acquaintances walked in
+upon us whenever the whim took them, and it now and then happened to be
+an inconvenience to us who loved an occasional fit of solitude. I
+determined to keep in-doors for a few days also. Whenever I was in an
+unquiet mood, I took to industry; so that day I set about arranging my
+drawers, making over my ribbons, and turning my room upside down. I
+rehung all my pictures, and moved my bottles and boxes. Then I mended
+my stockings, and marked my clothes, which was not a necessary piece of
+work, as I never left home. I next attacked the parlor,--washed all the
+vases, changed the places of the furniture, and distressed my mother
+very much. When evening came, I brushed my hair a good deal, and looked
+at my hands, and went to bed early. I could not read then, though I
+often took books from the shelves, and I would not think.
+
+Sunday came round. The church-bells made me lonesome. I looked out of
+the window many times that day, and, fixing on the sash one of my
+father's ship-glasses, swept the sea, and peered at the islands on the
+other side of the bay, gazing through their openings, beyond which I
+could see the great dim ocean. Mother came home from church, and said
+young Maurice was there, and inquired about me. He hoped I did not take
+cold; his friend Redmond had been hoarse ever since our ride, and had
+passed most of the time in his own room, drumming on the window-pane
+and whistling dirges. Mother dropped her acute eyes on me, while she
+was telling me this; but I yawned all expression from my face.
+
+As Monday night drew near, my numbness of feeling began to pass off;
+thought came into my brain by plunges. Now I desired; now I hoped. I
+dressed myself in black silk, and wore a cape of black Chantilly lace.
+I made my hair as glossy as possible, drew it down on my face, and put
+round my head a band composed of minute sticks of coral. When all was
+done, I took the candle and held it above my head and surveyed myself
+in the glass. I was very pale. The pupils of my eyes were dilated, as
+if I had received some impression that would not pass away. My lips had
+the redness of youth; their color was deepened by my paleness.
+
+"How handsome I am!" I thought, as I set down the candle.
+
+When I entered Laura's parlor, she came toward me and said,--
+
+"Artful creature! you knew well, this warm night, that every girl of us
+would wear a light dress; so you wore a black one. How well you
+understand such matters! You are very clever; your real sensibility
+adds effect to your cleverness. I see how it is. Come into this corner.
+Have you got a fan? Good gracious! black, with gold spangles;--where
+_do_ you buy your things? I can tell you now," she continued, "my
+conversation on the bridge the other day."
+
+She hesitated, and asked me if I liked her new muslin. She did look
+well in it; it was a white fabric, with red rose-buds scattered over
+it. Her delicate face was shadowed by light brown curls. She was
+attractive, and I told her so, and she began again:--
+
+"Harry Lothrop said, as he was impaling the half of a worm,--
+
+"'Redmond is a handsome fellow, is he not?'
+
+"'He is too awfully thin,' I answered, 'but his eyes are good.'
+
+"He gave me a crafty side-look, like that of a parrot, when he means to
+bite your finger.
+
+"'Your friend, too,' he added, 'is really one of the most beautiful
+girls I ever saw,--a coquette with a heart.'
+
+"'Let down your line into the water,' I said.
+
+"He laughed a little laugh. By-the-by, there is an insidious tenacity
+about Mr. Harry Lothrop which irritates me; but I like him, for I think
+he understands women. I feel at ease with him, when he is not throwing
+out his tenacious feelers. Then he said,--
+
+"'Redmond is engaged to his cousin. The girl's mother had the charge of
+him through his boyhood. He is ardently attached to her,--the mother, I
+mean. She is most anxious to call Redmond her son.'
+
+"'Didn't you have a bite?' I said.
+
+"'Well, I think the bait is off the hook,' he answered; and then we
+were silent and pondered the water.
+
+"There are some people I must speak to,"--and Laura moved away without
+looking at me.
+
+I opened my fan, but felt chilly. A bustle near me caused me to raise
+my eyes; Redmond was speaking to a lady. He was in black, too, and very
+pale. He turned toward me and our eyes met. His expression agitated me
+so that I unconsciously rose to my feet and warned him off with my fan;
+but he seemed rooted to the spot. Laura took care of us both; she came
+and stood between us. I saw her look at him so sweetly and so
+mournfully, that he understood her in a moment. He shook his head and
+walked abruptly into another room. Laura went again from me without
+giving me a look. Maurice came up and I made room for him beside me. We
+talked of the riding-party, and then of our first meeting at the ball.
+He told me that Redmond's boat had arrived, and what a famous boat it
+was, and "what jolly sprees we fellows had, cruising about with her." I
+asked him about his guitar, and when we might hear him play. He grew
+more chatty and began to tell me about his sister, when Redmond and
+Harry Lothrop came over to us, which ended his chat.
+
+The party was like all parties,--dull at first, and brighter as it grew
+late. The old ladies played whist in one room, and the younger part of
+the company were in another. Champagne was not a prevalent drink in our
+village, but it happened that we had some that night.
+
+"It may be a sinful beverage," said an old lady near me, "but it is
+good."
+
+Redmond opened a bottle for me, we clinked glasses, and drank to an
+indefinite, silent wish.
+
+"One more," he asked, "and let us change glasses."
+
+Presently a cloud of delicate warmth spread over my brain, and gave me
+courage to seek and meet his glance. There must have been an expression
+of irresolution in my face, for he looked at me inquiringly, and then
+his own face grew very sad. I felt awkward from my intuition of his
+opinion of my mood, when he relieved me by saying something about
+Shelley,--a copy of whose poems lay on a table near. From Shelley he
+went to his boat, and said he hoped to have some pleasant excursions
+with Laura and myself. He "would go at once and talk with Laura's
+mother about them." I watched him through the door, while he spoke to
+her. She was in a low chair, and he leaned his face on one hand close
+to hers. I saw that his natural expression was one of tranquillity and
+courage. He was not more than twenty-two, but the firmness of the lines
+about his mouth belied his youth.
+
+"He has a wonderful face," I thought, "and just as wonderful a will."
+
+I felt my own will rise as I looked at him,--a will that should make me
+mistress of myself, powerful enough to contend with, and resist, or
+turn to advantage any controlling fate which might come near me.
+
+"Do you feel like singing?" Harry Lothrop inquired. "Do you know
+Byron's song, 'One struggle more and I am free'?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" I replied,--"it is set to music which suits my voice. I will
+sing it."
+
+Laura had been playing polkas with great spirit. Since the Champagne,
+the old ladies had closed their games of whist for talking, and, as it
+was nearly time to go, the company was gay. There was laughing and
+talking when I began, but silence soon after, for the wine made my
+voice husky and effective. I sang as if deeply moved.
+
+"Lord!" I heard Maurice say to Laura, as I rose from the piano, "what a
+girl! she's really tragic."
+
+I caught Harry Lothrop's eye, as I passed through the door to go
+up-stairs; it was burning; I felt as if a hot coal had dropped on me.
+Maurice ran into the hall and sprang upon the stair-railing to ask me
+if he might be my escort home. That night he serenaded me. He was a
+good-hearted, cheerful creature; conceited, as small men are apt to
+be,--conceit answering for size with them,--but pleasantly so, and I
+learned to like him as much as Redmond did.
+
+The summer days were passing. We had all sorts of parties,--parties in
+houses and out-of-doors; we rode and sailed and walked. Laura walked
+and talked much with Harry Lothrop. We did not often see each other
+alone, but, when we met, were more serious and affectionate with each
+other. We did not speak, except in a general way, of Redmond and Harry
+Lothrop. I did not avoid Redmond, nor did I seek him. We had many a
+serious conversation in public, as well as many a gay one; but I had
+never met him alone since the night we rode through the pines.
+
+He went away for a fortnight. On the day of his return he came to see
+me. He looked so glad, when I entered the room, that I could not help
+feeling a wild thrill. I went up to him, but said nothing. He held out
+both his hands. I retreated. An angry feeling rushed into my heart.
+
+"No," I said, "Whose hand did you hold last?"
+
+He turned deadly pale.
+
+"That of the woman I am going to marry."
+
+I smiled to hide the trembling of my lips, and offered my hand to him;
+_but he waved it away_, and fell back on his chair, hurriedly drawing
+his handkerchief across his face. I saw that he was very faint, and
+stood against the door, waiting for him to recover.
+
+"More than I have played the woman and the fool before you."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought so. You seem experienced."
+
+"I am."
+
+"Forgive me," he said, gently; "being only a man, I think you can. Good
+God!" he exclaimed, "what an infernal self-possession you show!"
+
+"Redmond, is it not time to end this? The summer has been a long
+one,--has it not?--long enough for me to have learned what it is to
+live. Our positions are reversed since we have become acquainted. I am
+for the first time forgetting self, and you for the first time remember
+self. Redmond, you are a noble man. You have a steadfast soul. Do not
+be shaken. I am not like you; I am not simple or single-hearted. But I
+imitate you. Now come, I beg you will go."
+
+"Certainly, I will. I have little to say."
+
+August had nearly gone when Maurice told me they were about to leave.
+Laura said we must prepare for retrospection and the fall sewing.
+
+"Well," I said, "the future looks gloomy, and I must have some new
+dresses."
+
+Maurice came to see me one morning in a state of excitement to say we
+were all going to Bird Island to spend the day, dine at the
+light-house, and sail home by moonlight. Fifteen of the party were
+going down by the sloop Sapphire, and Redmond had begged him to ask if
+Laura and I would go in his boat.
+
+"Do go," said Maurice; "it will be our last excursion together; next
+week we are off. I am broken-hearted about it. I shall never be so
+happy again. I have actually whimpered once or twice. You should hear
+Redmond whistle nowadays. Harry pulls his moustache and laughs his oily
+laughs, but he is sorry to go, and kicks his clothes about awfully. By
+the way, he is going down in the sloop because Miss Fairfax is
+going,--he says,--that tall young lady with crinkled hair;--he hates
+her, and hopes to see her sick. May I come for you in the morning, by
+ten o'clock? Redmond will be waiting on the wharf."
+
+"Tell Redmond," I answered, "that I will go; and will you ask Harry
+Lothrop not to engage himself for all the reels to Miss Fairfax?"
+
+He promised to fulfil my message, and went off in high spirits. I
+wondered, as I saw him going down the walk, why it was that I felt so
+much more natural and friendly with him than with either of his
+friends. I often talked confidentially to him; he knew how I loved my
+mother, and how I admired my father, and I told him all about my
+brother's business. He also knew what I liked best to eat and to wear.
+In return, he confided his family secrets to me. I knew his tastes and
+wishes. There was no common ground where I met Redmond and Harry
+Lothrop. There were too many topics between Redmond and myself to be
+avoided, for us to venture upon private or familiar conversation. Harry
+Lothrop was an accomplished, fastidious man of the world, I dreaded
+boring him, and so I said little. He was several years older than
+Redmond, and possessed more knowledge of men, women, and books. Redmond
+had no acquirements, he knew enough by nature, and I never saw a person
+with more fascination of manner and voice.
+
+The evening before the sailing-party, I had a melancholy fit. I was
+restless, and after dark I put a shawl over my head and went out to
+walk. I went up a lonesome road, beyond our house. On one side I heard
+the water washing against the shore with regularity, as if it were
+breathing. On the other side were meadows, where there were cows
+crunching the grass. A mile farther was a low wood of oaks, through
+which ran a path. I determined to walk through that. The darkness and a
+sharp breeze which blew against me from limitless space made me feel as
+if I were the only human creature the elements could find to contend
+with, I turned down the little path into the deeper darkness of the
+wood, sat down on a heap of dead leaves, and began to cry.
+
+"Mine is a miserable pride," was my thought,--"that of arming myself
+with beauty and talent and going through the world conquering! Girls
+are ignorant, till they are disappointed. The only knowledge men
+proffer us is the knowledge of the heart; it becomes us to profit by
+it. Redmond will marry that girl. He must, and shall. I will empty the
+dust and ashes of my heart as soon as the fire goes down: that is, I
+think so; but I know that I do not know myself. I have two
+natures,--one that acts, and one that is acted upon,--and I cannot
+always separate the one from the other."
+
+Something darkened the opening into the path. Two persons passed in
+slowly. I perceived the odor of violets, and felt that one of them must
+be Laura. Waiting till they passed beyond me, I rose and went home.
+
+The next morning was cloudy, and the sea was rough with a high wind;
+but we were old sailors, and decided to go on our excursion. The sloop
+and Redmond's boat left the wharf at the same time. We expected to be
+several hours beating down to Bird Island, for the wind was ahead.
+Laura and I, muffled in cloaks, were placed on the thwarts and
+neglected; for Redmond and Maurice were busy with the boat. Laura was
+silent, and looked ill. Redmond sat at the helm, and kept the boat up
+to the wind, which drove the hissing spray over us. The sloop hugged
+the shore, and did not feel the blast as we did. I slid along my seat
+to be near Redmond. He saw me coming, and put out his hand and drew me
+towards him, looking so kindly at me that I was melted. Trying to get
+at my handkerchief, which was in my dress-pocket, my cloak flew open,
+the wind caught it, and, as I rose to draw it closer, I nearly fell
+overboard. Redmond gave a spring to catch me, and the boat lost her
+headway. The sail flapped with a loud bang. Maurice swore, and we
+chopped about in the short sea.
+
+"It is your destiny to have a scene, wherever you are," said Laura. "If
+I did not feel desperate, I should be frightened. But these green,
+crawling waves are so opaque, if we fall in, we shall not see ourselves
+drown."
+
+"Courage! the boat is under way," Maurice cried out; "we are nearly
+there."
+
+And rounding a little point, we saw the light-house at last. The sloop
+anchored a quarter of a mile from the shore, the water being shoal, and
+Redmond took off her party by instalments.
+
+"What the deuse was the matter with you at one time?" asked Jack
+Parker. "We saw you were having a sort of convulsion. Our cap'n said
+you were bold chaps to be trifling with such a top-heavy boat."
+
+"Miss Denham," said Redmond, "thought she could steer the boat as well
+as I could, and so the boat lost headway."
+
+Harry Lothrop gave Redmond one of his soft smiles, and a vexed look
+passed over Redmond's face when he saw it.
+
+We had to scramble over a low range of rocks to get to the shore.
+Redmond anchored his boat by one of them. Bird Island was a famous
+place for parties. It was a mile in extent. Not a creature was on it
+except the light-house keeper, his wife, and daughter. The gulls made
+their nests in its rocky borders; their shrill cries, the incessant
+dashing of the waves on the ledges, and the creaking of the lantern in
+the stone tower were all the sounds the family heard, except when they
+were invaded by some noisy party like ours. They were glad to see us.
+The light-house keeper went into the world only when it was necessary
+to buy stores, or when his wife and daughter wanted to pay a visit to
+the mainland.
+
+The house was of stone, one story high, with thick walls. The small,
+deep-set windows and the low ceilings gave the rooms the air of a
+prison; but there was also an air of security about them: for, in
+looking from the narrow windows, one felt that the house was a
+steadfast ship in the circle of the turbulent sea, whose waves from
+every point seemed advancing towards it. A pale, coarse grass grew in
+the sand of the island. It was too feeble to resist the acrid breath of
+the ocean, so it shuddered perpetually, and bent landward, as if
+invoking the protection of its stepmother, the solid earth.
+
+"It is perfect," said Redmond to me; "I have been looking for this spot
+all my life; I am ready to swear that I will never leave it."
+
+We were sitting in a window, facing each other. He looked out toward
+the west, and presently was lost in thought. He folded his arms tightly
+across his breast, and his eyes were a hundred miles away. The sound of
+a fiddle in the long alley which led from the house to the tower broke
+his reverie.
+
+"We shall be uproarious before we leave," I said; "we always are, when
+we come here."
+
+The fun had already set in. Some of the girls had pinned up their
+dresses, and borrowed aprons from the light-house keeper's wife, and
+with scorched faces were helping her to make chowder and fry
+fish. Others were arranging the table, assisted by the young men, who
+put the dishes in the wrong places. Others were singing in the best
+room. One or two had brought novels along, and were reading them in
+corners. It was all merry and pleasant, but I felt quiet. Redmond
+entered into the spirit of the scene. I had never seen him so gay. He
+chatted with all the girls, interfering or helping, as the case might
+be. Maurice brought his guitar, and had a group about him at the foot
+of the tower-stairs. He sung loud, but his voice seemed to
+fluctuate;--now it rang through the tower, now it was half overpowered
+by the roar of the sea. His poetical temperament led him to choose
+songs in harmony with the place, not to suit the company,--melancholy
+words set to wild, fitful chords, which rose and died away according to
+the skill of the player. I had gone near him, for his singing had
+attracted me.
+
+"You are inspired," I said.
+
+He nodded.
+
+"You never sung so before."
+
+"I feel old to-day," he answered, and he swept his hands across all the
+strings; "my ditties are done."
+
+After dinner Laura asked me to go out with her. We slipped away unseen,
+and went to the beach, and seated ourselves on a great rock whose outer
+side was lapped by the water. The sun had broken through the clouds,
+but shone luridly, giving the sea a leaden tint. The wind was going
+down. We had not been there long, when Redmond joined us. He asked us
+to go round the island in his boat. Laura declined, and said she would
+sit on the rock while we went, if I chose to go. I did choose to go,
+and he brought the boat to the rock. He hoisted the sail half up the
+mast, and we sailed close to the shore. It rose gradually along the
+east side of the island, and terminated in a bold ledge which curved
+into the sea. We ran inside the curve, where the water was nearly
+smooth. Redmond lowered the sail and the boat drifted toward the ledge
+slowly. A tongue of land, covered with pale sedge, was on the left
+side. Above the ledge, at the right, we could see the tower of the
+light-house. Redmond tied down the helm, and, throwing himself beside
+me, leaned his head on his hand, and looked at me a long time without
+speaking. I listened to the water, which plashed faintly against the
+bows. He covered his face with his hands. I looked out seaward over the
+tongue of land; my heart quaked, like the grass which grew upon it. At
+last he rose, and I saw that he was crying,--the tears rained fast.
+
+"My soul is dying," he said, in a stifled voice; "I am not more than
+mortal,--I cannot endure it."
+
+I pointed toward the open sea, which loomed so vague in the distance.
+
+"The future is like that,--is it not? Courage! we must drift through
+it; we shall find something."
+
+He stamped his foot on the deck.
+
+"Women always talk so; but men are different. If there is a veil before
+us, we must tear it away,--not sit muffled in its folds, and speculate
+on what is behind it. Rise."
+
+I obeyed him. He held me firmly. We were face to face.
+
+"Look at me."
+
+I did. His eyes were blazing.
+
+"Do you love me?"
+
+"No."
+
+He placed me on the bench, hoisted the sail, untied the helm, and we
+were soon ploughing round to the spot where we had left Laura; but she
+was gone. On the rock where she was, perched a solitary gull, which
+flew away with a scream as we approached.
+
+That day was the last that I saw Redmond alone. He was at the party at
+Laura's house which took place the night before they left. We did not
+bid each other adieu.
+
+After the three friends had gone, they sent us gifts of remembrance.
+Redmond's keepsake was a white fan with forget-me-nots painted on it.
+To Laura he sent the pen-holder, which was now mine.
+
+We missed them, and should have felt their loss, had no deep feeling
+been involved; for they gave an impetus to our dull country life, and
+the whole summer had been one of excitement and pleasure. We settled by
+degrees into our old habits. At Christmas, Frank came. He looked
+worried and older. He had heard something of Laura's intimacy with
+Harry Lothrop, and was troubled about it, I know: but I believe Laura
+was silent on the matter. She was quiet and affectionate toward him
+during his visit, and he went back consoled.
+
+The winter passed. Spring came and went, and we were deep into the
+summer when Laura was taken ill. She had had a little cough, which no
+one except her mother noticed. Her spirits fell, and she failed fast.
+When I saw her last, she had been ill some weeks, and had never felt
+strong enough to talk as much as she did in that interview. She nerved
+herself to make the effort, and as she bade me farewell, bade farewell
+to life also. And now it was all over with her!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I fell asleep at length, and woke late. It seemed as if a year had
+dropped out of the procession of Time. My heart was still beating with
+the emotion which stirred it when Redmond and I were together last.
+Recollection had stung me to the quick. A terrible longing urged me to
+go and find him. The feeling I had when we were in the boat, face to
+face, thrilled my fibres again. I saw his gleaming eyes; I could have
+rushed through the air to meet him. But, alas! exaltation of feeling
+lasts only a moment; it drops us where it finds us. If it were not so,
+how easy to be a hero! The dull reaction of the present, like a slow
+avalanche, crushed and ground me into nothingness.
+
+"Something must happen at last," I thought, "to amuse me, and make time
+endurable."
+
+What can a woman do, when she knows that an epoch of feeling is rounded
+off, finished, dead? Go back to her story-books, her dress-making, her
+worsted-work? Shall she attempt to rise to mediocrity on the piano or
+in drawing, distribute tracts, become secretary of a Dorcas society? or
+shall she turn her mind to the matter of cultivating another lover at
+once? Few of us women have courage enough to shoulder out the corpses
+of what men leave in our hearts. We keep them there, and conceal the
+ruins in which they lie. We grow cunning and artful in our tricks, the
+longer we practise them. But how we palpitate and shrink and shudder,
+when we are alone in the dark!
+
+After Redmond departed, I had locked up my feelings and thrown the key
+away. The death of Laura, and the awakening of my recollections, caused
+by the appearance of Harry Lothrop, wrenched the door open. Hitherto I
+had acted with the bravery of a girl; I must now behave with the
+resolution of a woman. I looked into my heart closely. No skeleton was
+there, but the image of a living man,--_Redmond_.
+
+"I love him," I confessed. "To be his wife and the mother of his
+children is the only lot I ever care to choose. He is noble, handsome,
+and loyal. But I cannot belong to him, nor can he ever be mine.
+
+  "'Of love that never found his earthly close
+  What sequel?'
+
+"What did he do with the remembrance of me? He scattered it, perhaps,
+with the ashes of the first cigar he smoked after he went from
+me,--made a mound of it, maybe, in honor of Duty. I am as ignorant of
+him as if he no longer existed; so this image must be torn away. I will
+not burn the lamp of life before it, but will build up the niche where
+it stands into a solid wall."
+
+The ideal happiness of love is so sweet and powerful, that, for a
+while, adverse influences only exalt the imagination. When Laura told
+me of Redmond's engagement, it did but change my dream of what might be
+into what might have been. It was a mirage which continued while he was
+present and faded with his departure. Then my heart was locked in the
+depths of will, till circumstance brought it a power of revenge. I
+think now, if we had spoken freely and truly to each other, I should
+have suffered less when I saw his friend. We feel better when the
+funeral of our dearest friend is over and we have returned to the
+house. There is to be no more preparation, no waiting; the windows may
+be opened, and the doors set wide; the very dreariness and desolation
+force our attention towards the living.
+
+"Something will come," I thought; and I determined not to have any more
+reveries. "Mr. Harry Lothrop is a pleasant riddle; I shall see him
+soon, or he will write."
+
+It occurred to me then that I had some letters of his already in my
+possession,--those he had written to Laura. I found the ebony box, and,
+taking from it the sealed package, unfolded the letters one by one,
+reading them according to their dates. There was a note among them for
+me, from Laura.
+
+"When you read these letters, Margaret," it said, "you will see that I
+must have studied the writer of them in vain. You know now that he made
+me unhappy; not that I was in love with him much, but he stirred depths
+of feeling which I had no knowledge of, and which between Frank, my
+betrothed husband, and myself had no existence. But '_le roi s'amuse._'
+Perhaps a strong passion will master this man; but I shall never know.
+Will you?"
+
+I laid the letters back in their place, and felt no very strong desire
+to learn anything more of the writer. I did not know then how little
+trouble it would be,--my share of making the acquaintance.
+
+It was not many weeks before Mr. Lothrop came again, and rather
+ostentatiously, so that everybody knew of his visit to me. But he saw
+none of the friends he had made during his stay the year before. I
+happened to see him coming, and went to the door to meet him. Almost
+his first words were,--
+
+"Maurice is dead. He went to Florida,--took the fever,--which killed
+him, of course. He died only a week after--after Laura. Poor fellow!
+did he interest you much? I believe he was in love with you, too; but
+musical people are never desperate, except when they play a false
+note."
+
+"Yes," I answered; "I was fond of him. His conceit did not trouble me,
+and he never fatigued me; he had nothing to conceal. He was a
+commonplace man; one liked him, when with him,--and when away, one had
+no thought about him."
+
+"I alone am left you," said my visitor, putting his hat on a chair, and
+slowly pulling off his gloves, finger by finger.
+
+He had slender, white hands, like a woman's, and they were always in
+motion. After he had thrown his gloves into his hat, he put his finger
+against his cheek, leaned his elbow on the arm of his chair, crossed
+his legs, and looked at me with a cunning self-possession. I glanced at
+his feet; they were small and well-booted. I looked into his face; it
+was not a handsome one; but he had magnetic eyes, of a lightish blue,
+and a clever, loose mouth. It is impossible to describe him,--just as
+impossible as it is for a man who was born a boor to attain the bearing
+of a gentleman; any attempt at it would prove a bungling matter, when
+compared with the original. He felt my scrutiny, and knew, too, that I
+had never looked at him till then.
+
+"Do you sing nowadays?" he asked, tapping with his fingers the keys of
+the piano behind him.
+
+"Psalms."
+
+"They suit you admirably; but I perceive you attend to your dress
+still. How effective those velvet bands are! You look older than you
+did two years ago."
+
+"Two years are enough to age a woman."
+
+"Yes, if she is miserable. Can you be unhappy?" he asked, rising, and
+taking a seat beside me.
+
+There was a tone of sympathy in his voice which made me shudder, I knew
+not why. It was neither aversion nor liking; but I dreaded to be thrown
+into any tumult of feeling. I realized afterward more fully that it is
+next to impossible for a passionate woman to receive the sincere
+addresses of a manly man without feeling some fluctuation of soul.
+Ignorant spectators call her a coquette for this. Happily, there are
+teachers among our own sex, women of cold temperaments, able to
+vindicate themselves from the imputation. They spare themselves great
+waste of heart and some generous emotion,--also remorse and
+self-accusations regarding the want of propriety, and the other
+ingredients which go to make up a white-muslin heroine.
+
+Harry Lothrop saw that my cheek was burning, and made a movement toward
+me. I tossed my head back, and moved down the sofa; he did not follow
+me, but smiled and mused in his old way.
+
+And so it went on,--not once, but many times. He wrote me quiet,
+persuasive, eloquent letters. By degrees I learned his own history and
+that of his family, his prospects and his intentions. He was rich. I
+knew well what position I should have, if I were his wife. My beauty
+would be splendidly set. I was well enough off, but not rich enough to
+harmonize all things according to my taste. I was proud, and he was
+refined; if we were married, what better promise of delicacy could be
+given than that of pride in a woman, refinement in a man? He brought me
+flowers or books, when he came. The flowers were not delicate and
+inodorous, but magnificent and deep-scented; and the material of the
+books was stalwart and vigorous. I read his favorite authors with him.
+He was the first person who ever made any appeal to my intellect. In
+short, he was educating me for a purpose.
+
+Once he offered me a diamond cross. I refused it, and he never asked me
+to accept any gift again. His visits were not frequent, and they were
+short. However great the distance he accomplished to reach me, he staid
+only an evening, and then returned. He came and went at night. In time
+I grew to look upon our connection as an established thing. He made me
+understand that he loved me, and that he only waited for me to return
+it; but he did not say so.
+
+I lived an idle life, inhaling the perfume of the flowers he gave me,
+devouring old literature, the taste for which he had created, and
+reading and answering his letters. To be sure, other duties were
+fulfilled, I was an affectionate child to my parents, and a proper
+acquaintance for my friends. I never lost any sleep now, nor was I
+troubled with dreams. I lived in the outward; all my restless activity,
+that constant questioning of the heavens and the earth, had ceased
+entirely. Five years had passed since I first saw Redmond. I was now
+twenty-four. The Fates grew tired of the monotony of my life, I
+suppose, for about this time it changed.
+
+My oldest brother, a bachelor, lived in New York. He asked me to spend
+the winter with him; he lived in a quiet hotel, had a suite of rooms,
+and could make me comfortable, he said. He had just asked somebody to
+marry him, and that somebody wished to make my acquaintance. I was glad
+to go. My heart gave a bound at the prospect of change; I was still
+young enough to dream of the impossible, when any chance offered itself
+to my imagination; so I accepted my brother's invitation with some
+elation.
+
+I had been in New York a month. One day I was out with my future
+sister, on a shopping raid; with our hands full of little paper
+parcels, we stopped to look into Goupil's window. There was always a
+rim of crowd there, so I paid no attention to the jostles we received.
+We were looking at an engraving of Ary Scheffer's Françoise de Rimini.
+"Not the worst hell," muttered a voice behind me, which I knew. I
+started, and pulled Leonora's arm; she turned round, and the fringe of
+her cloak-sleeve caught a button on the overcoat of one of the
+gentlemen standing together. It was Redmond; the other was his
+"ancient," Harry Lothrop. Leonora was arrested; I stood still, of
+course. Redmond had not seen my face, for I turned it from him; and his
+head was bent down to the task of disengaging his button.
+
+  "'Each only as God wills
+  Can work; God's puppets, best and worst,
+  Are we; there is no last nor first,'"
+
+I thought, and turned my head. He instinctively took off his hat, and
+then planted it back on his head firmly, and looked over to Harry
+Lothrop, to whom I gave my hand. He knew me before I saw him, I am
+convinced; but his dramatic sense kept him silent,--perhaps a deeper
+feeling. There was an expression of pain in his face, which impelled me
+to take his arm.
+
+"Let us move on, Leonora," I said; "these are some summer friends of
+mine," and I introduced them to her.
+
+My chief feeling was embarrassment, which was shared by all the party;
+for Leonora felt that there was something unusual in the meeting. The
+door of the hotel seemed to come round at last, and as we were going
+in, Harry Lothrop asked me if he might see me the next morning.
+
+"Do come," I answered aloud.
+
+We all bowed, and they disappeared.
+
+"What an elegant Indian your tall friend is!" said Leonora.
+
+"Yes,--of the Camanche tribe."
+
+"But he would look better hanging from his horse's mane than he does in
+a long coat."
+
+"He is spoiled by civilization and white parents. But, Leonora, stay
+and dine with me, in my own room. John will not come home till it is
+time for the opera. You know we are going. You must make me splendid;
+you can torture me into style, I know."
+
+She consented, provided I would send a note to her mother, explaining
+that it was my invitation, and not her old John's, as she irreverently
+called him. I did so, and she was delighted to stay.
+
+"This is fast," she said; "can't we have Champagne and black coffee?"
+
+She fell to rummaging John's closets, and brought out a dusty,
+Chinese-looking affair, which she put on for a dressing-gown. She found
+some Chinese straw shoes, and tucked her little feet into them, and
+then braided her hair in a long tail, and declared she was ready for
+dinner. Her gayety was refreshing, and I did not wonder at John's
+admiration. My spirits rose, too, and I astonished Leonora at the table
+with my chat; she had never seen me except when quiet. I fell into one
+of those unselfish, unasking moods which are the glory of youth: I felt
+that the pure heaven of love was in the depths of my being; my soul
+shone like a star in its atmosphere; my heart throbbed, and I cried
+softly to it,--"Live! live! he is here!" I still chatted with Leonora
+and made her laugh, and the child for the first time thoroughly liked
+me. We were finishing our dessert, when we heard John's knock. We
+allowed him to come in for a moment, and gave him some almonds, which,
+he leisurely cracked and ate.
+
+"Somehow, Margaret," he said, "you remind me of those women who enjoy
+the Indian festival of the funeral pile. I have seen the thing done;
+you have something of the sort in your mind; be sure to immolate
+yourself handsomely. Women are the deuse."
+
+"Finish your almonds, John," I said, "and go away; we must dress."
+
+He put his hand on my arm, and whispered,--
+
+"Smother that light in your eyes, my girl; it is dangerous. And you
+have lived under your mother's eye all your life! You see what I have
+done,"--indicating Leonora with his eyebrows,--"taken a baby on my
+hands."
+
+"John, John!" I inwardly ejaculated, "you are an idiot."
+
+"She shall never suffer what you suffer; she shall have the benefit of
+the experience which other women have given me."
+
+"Very likely," I answered; "I know we often serve you as pioneers
+merely."
+
+He gave a sad nod, and I closed the door upon him.
+
+"Put these pins into my hair, Leonora, and tell me, how do you like my
+new dress?"
+
+"Paris!" she cried.
+
+It was a dove-colored silk with a black velvet stripe through it. I
+showed her a shawl which John had given me,--a pale-yellow gauzy fabric
+with a gold-thread border,--and told her to make me up. She produced
+quite a marvellous effect; for this baby understood the art of dress to
+perfection. She made my hair into a loose mass, rolling it away from my
+face; yet it was firmly fastened. Then she shook out the shawl, and
+wrapped me in it, so that my head seemed to be emerging from a
+pale-tinted cloud. John said I looked outlandish, but Leonora thought
+otherwise. She begged him for some Indian perfume, and he found an
+aromatic powder, which she sprinkled inside my gloves and over my shawl.
+
+We found the opera-house crowded. Our seats were near the stage. John
+sat behind us, so that he might slip out into the lobby occasionally;
+for the opera was a bore to him. The second act was over; John had left
+his seat; I was opening and shutting my fan mechanically, half lost in
+thought, when Leonora, who had been looking at the house with her
+lorgnette, turned and said,--
+
+"Is not that your friend of this morning, on the other side, in the
+second row, leaning against the third pillar? There is a
+queenish-looking old lady with him. He hasn't spoken to her for a long
+time, and she continually looks up at him."
+
+I took her glass, and discovered Redmond. He looked back at me through
+another; I made a slight motion with my handkerchief; he dropped his
+glass into the lap of the lady next him and darted out, and in a moment
+he was behind me in John's seat.
+
+"Who is with you?" he asked.
+
+"Brother," I answered.
+
+"You intoxicate me with some strange perfume; don't fan it this way."
+
+I quietly passed the fan to Leonora, who now looked back and spoke to
+him. He talked with her a moment, and then she discreetly resumed her
+lorgnette.
+
+"What happened for two years after I left B.? The last year I know
+something of."
+
+"Breakfast, dinner, and tea; the ebb and flow of the tide; and the days
+of the week."
+
+"Nothing more?" And his voice came nearer.
+
+"A few trifles."
+
+"They are under lock and key, I suppose?"
+
+"We do not carry relics about with us."
+
+"There is the conductor; I must go. Turn your face toward me more."
+
+I obeyed him, and our eyes met. His searching gaze made me shiver.
+
+"I have been married," he said, and his eyes were unflinching, "and my
+wife is dead."
+
+All the lights went down, I thought; I struck out my arm to find
+Leonora, who caught it and pressed it down.
+
+"I must get out," I said; and I walked up the alley to the door without
+stumbling.
+
+I knew that I was fainting or dying; as I had never fainted, I did not
+know which. Redmond carried me through the cloak-room and put me on a
+sofa.
+
+"I never can speak to him again," I thought, and then I lost sight of
+them all.
+
+A terribly sharp pain through my heart roused me, and I was in a
+violent chill. They had thrown water over my face; my hair was matted,
+and the water was dripping from it on my naked shoulders. The gloves
+had been ripped from my hands, and Leonora was wringing my
+handkerchief.
+
+"The heat made you faint, dear," she said.
+
+John was walking up and down the room with a phlegmatic countenance,
+but he was fuming.
+
+"My new dress is ruined, John," I said.
+
+"Hang the dress! How do you feel now?"
+
+"It is drowned; and I feel better; shall we go home?"
+
+He went out to order the carriage, and Leonora whispered to me that she
+had forgotten Redmond's name.
+
+"No matter," I answered. I could not have spoken it then.
+
+When John came, Leonora beckoned to Redmond to introduce himself. John
+shook hands with him, gave him an intent look, and told us the carriage
+was ready. Redmond followed us, and took leave of us at the
+carriage-door.
+
+Leonora begged me to stay at her house; I refused, for I wished to be
+alone. John deposited her with her mother, and we drove home. He gave
+me one of his infallible medicines, and told me not to get up in the
+morning. But when morning came, I remembered Harry Lothrop was coming,
+and made myself ready for him. As human nature is not quite perfect, I
+felt unhappy about him, and rather fond of him, and thought he
+possessed some admirable qualities. I never could read the old poets
+any more without a pang, unless he were with me, directing my eye along
+their pages with his long white finger! I never should smell tuberoses
+again without feeling faint, unless they were his gift!
+
+By the time he came I was in a state of romantic regret, and in that
+state many a woman has answered, "Yes!" He asked me abruptly if I
+thought it would be folly in him to ask me to marry him. The question
+turned the tide.
+
+"No," I answered,--"not folly; for I have thought many times in the
+last two years, that I should marry you, if you said I must. But now I
+believe that it is not best. You have pursued me patiently; your
+self-love made the conquest of me a necessary pleasure. That was well
+enough for me; for you made me feel all the while, that, if I loved
+you, you were worth possessing. And you are. I like you. But my feeling
+for you did not prevent my fainting away at the opera-house last night,
+when Redmond told me that his wife was dead."
+
+"So," he said, "the long-smothered fire has broken out again! Chance
+does not befriend me. He saw you last night, and yielded. He said
+yesterday he should not tell you. He asked me about you after we left
+you, and wished to know if I had seen you much for the last year. I
+offered him your last letter to read,--am I not generous?--but he
+refused it.
+
+"'When I see her,' he asked, 'am I at liberty to say what I choose?'
+
+"On that I could have said, 'No.' Redmond and I have not seen each
+other since the period of my first visit to you. He has been nursing
+his wife in the mean time, taking journeys with her, and trying all
+sorts of cures; and now he seems tied to his aunt and mother-in-law. He
+was merely passing through the city with her, and this morning they
+have gone again.--Well," after a pause, "there is no need of words
+between us. I have in my possession a part of you. Beautiful women are
+like flowers which open their leaves wide enough for their perfume to
+attract wandering bees; the perfume is wasted, though the honey may be
+hid."
+
+"Alas, what a lesson this man is giving me!" I thought.
+
+"Farewell, then," he said. He bit his lips, and his clenched hands
+trembled; but he mastered his emotion. "You must think of me."
+
+"And see you, too," I answered. "Everything comes round again, if we
+live long enough. Dramatic unities are never preserved in life; if they
+were, how poetical would all these things be! But Time whirls us round,
+showing us our many-sided feelings as carelessly as a child rattles the
+bits of glass in his kaleidoscope."
+
+"So be it!" he replied. "Adieu!"
+
+That afternoon I staid at home, and put John's room in order, and
+cleaned the dust from his Indian idols, and was extremely busy till he
+came in. Then I kissed his whiskers, and told him all my sins, and
+cried once or twice during my confession. He petted me a good deal, and
+made me eat twice as much dinner as I wanted; he said it was good for
+me, and I obeyed him, for I felt uncommonly meek that day.
+
+Soon after, Redmond sent me a long letter. He said he had been, from a
+boy, under an obligation to his aunt, the mother of his wife. It was a
+common story, and he would not trouble me with it. He was married soon
+after Harry Lothrop's first visit to me, at the time they had received
+the news of Laura's death. How much he had thought of Laura afterward,
+while he was watching the fading away of his pale blossom! His aunt had
+been ill since the death of her daughter, restless, and discontented
+with every change. He hoped she was now settled among some old friends
+with whom she might find consolation. In conclusion, he wrote,--"My
+aunt noticed our hasty exit from the opera-house that night, when I was
+brute enough to nearly kill you. I told her that I loved you. She now
+feels, after a struggle, that she must let me go. 'Old women have no
+rights,' she said to me yesterday. Margaret, may I come, and never leave
+you again?"
+
+My answer may be guessed, for one day he arrived. It was the dusk of a
+cheery winter day, the time when home wears so bright a look to those
+who seek it. It was an hour before dinner, and I was waiting for John
+to come in. The amber evening sky gleamed before the windows, and the
+fire made a red core of light in the room. John's sandal-wood boxes
+gave out strange odors in the heat, and the pattern of the Persian rug
+was just visible. A servant came to the door with a card. I held it to
+the grate, and the fire lit up his name.
+
+"Show him up-stairs," I said.
+
+I stood in the doorway, and heard his step on every stair. When he
+came, I took him by the hand, and drew him into the room. He was
+speechless.
+
+"Oh, Redmond, I love you! How long you were away!"
+
+He kneeled by me, and put my arms round his neck, and we kissed each
+other with the first, best kiss of passion.
+
+John came in, and I reached out my hand to him and said, "This is my
+husband."
+
+"That's comfortable," he answered. "Won't you stay to dinner?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Redmond; "this is my hotel."
+
+"I see," said John.
+
+But after dinner they had a long talk together. John sent me to my
+room, and I was glad to go. I walked up and down, crying, I must say,
+most of the time, asking forgiveness of myself for my faults, and
+remembering Laura and Maurice,--and then thinking Redmond was mine,
+with a contraction of the heart which threatened to stifle me.
+
+John took us up to Leonora's that evening; he said he wanted to see if
+Puss would be tantalized with the sight of such a beautiful romantic
+couple just from fairy-land, who were now prepared "to live in peace."
+
+We were married the next day in a church in a by-street. John was the
+only witness, and flourished a large silk handkerchief, so that it had
+the effect of a triumphal banner. Redmond put the ring on the wrong
+finger,--a mistake which the minister kindly rectified. All I had new
+for the occasion was a pair of gloves.
+
+One morning after my marriage, when Redmond and John were smoking
+together, I was turning over some boxes, for I was packing to go home
+on a visit to our mother. I called Redmond to leave his pipe and come
+to me.
+
+"You have not seen any of my property. Look, here it is:--
+
+"One bitten handkerchief.
+
+"A fan never used.
+
+"A gold pen-holder.
+
+"A draggled shawl."
+
+"Margaret," he said, taking my chin in his hand and bringing his eyes
+close to mine, "I am wild with happiness."
+
+"Your pipe has gone out," we heard John say.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE PLAYMATE.
+
+
+  The pines were dark on Ramoth hill,
+    Their song was soft and low;
+  The blossoms in the sweet May wind
+    Were falling like the snow.
+
+  The blossoms drifted at our feet,
+    The orchard birds sang clear;
+  The sweetest and the saddest day
+    It seemed of all the year.
+
+  For, more to me than birds or flowers,
+    My playmate left her home,
+  And took with her the laughing spring,
+    The music and the bloom.
+
+  She kissed the lips of kith and kin,
+    She laid her hand in mine:
+  What more could ask the bashful boy
+    Who fed her father's kine?
+
+  She left us in the bloom of May:
+    The constant years told o'er
+  Their seasons with as sweet May morns.
+    But she came back no more.
+
+  I walk, with noiseless feet, the round
+    Of uneventful years;
+  Still o'er and o'er I sow the spring
+    And reap the autumn ears.
+
+  She lives where all the golden year
+    Her summer roses blow;
+  The dusky children of the sun
+    Before her come and go.
+
+  There haply with her jewelled hands
+    She smooths her silken gown,--
+  No more the homespun lap wherein
+    I shook the walnuts down.
+
+  The wild grapes wait us by the brook,
+    The brown nuts on the hill,
+  And still the May-day flowers make sweet
+    The woods of Follymill.
+
+  The lilies blossom in the pond,
+    The bird builds in the tree,
+  The dark pines sing on Ramoth hill
+    The slow song of the sea.
+
+  I wonder if she thinks of them,
+    And how the old time seems,--
+  If ever the pines of Ramoth wood
+    Are sounding in her dreams.
+
+  I see her face, I hear her voice:
+    Does she remember mine?
+  And what to her is now the boy
+    Who fed her father's kine?
+
+  What cares she that the orioles build
+    For other eyes than ours,--
+  That other hands with nuts are filled,
+    And other laps with flowers?
+
+  O playmate in the golden time!
+    Our mossy seat is green,
+  Its fringing violets blossom yet,
+    The old trees o'er it lean.
+
+  The winds so sweet with birch and fern
+    A sweeter memory blow;
+  And there in spring the veeries sing
+    The song of long ago.
+
+  And still the pines of Ramoth wood
+    Are moaning like the sea,--
+  The moaning of the sea of change
+    Between myself and thee!
+
+
+
+
+THE MAROONS OF SURINAM.
+
+
+When that eccentric individual, Captain John Gabriel Stedman, resigned
+his commission in the English navy, took the oath of abjuration, and
+was appointed ensign in the Scots brigade employed for two centuries by
+Holland, he little knew that "their High Mightinesses the States of the
+United Provinces" would send him out, within a year, to the forests of
+Guiana, to subdue rebel negroes. He never imagined that the year 1773
+would behold him beneath the rainy season in a tropical country, wading
+through marshes and splashing through lakes, exploring with his feet
+for submerged paths, commanding impracticable troops and commanded by
+an insufferable colonel, feeding on gree-gree worms and fed upon by
+mosquitoes, howled at by jaguars, hissed at by serpents, and shot at by
+those exceedingly unattainable gentlemen, "still longed for, never seen,"
+the Maroons of Surinam.
+
+Yet, as our young ensign sailed up the Surinam river, the world of
+tropic beauty came upon him with enchantment. Dark, moist verdure was
+close around him, rippling waters below; the tall trees of the jungle
+and the low mangroves beneath were all hung with long vines and lianas,
+a maze of cordage, like a fleet at anchor; odd monkeys travelled
+ceaselessly up and down these airy paths, in armies, bearing their
+young, like knapsacks, on their backs; macaws and humming-birds, winged
+jewels, flew from tree to tree. As they neared Paramaribo, the river
+became a smooth canal among luxuriant plantations, the air was perfumed
+music, redolent of orange-blossoms and echoing with the songs of birds
+and the sweet plash of oars; gay barges came forth to meet them; "while
+groups of naked boys and girls were promiscuously playing and
+flouncing, like so many tritons and mermaids, in the water." And when
+the troops disembarked,--five hundred fine young men, the oldest not
+thirty, all arrayed in new uniforms and bearing orange-flowers in their
+caps, a bridal wreath for beautiful Guiana,--it is no wonder that the
+Creole ladies were in ecstasy, and the boyish recruits little foresaw
+the day, when, reduced to a few dozens, barefooted and ragged as
+filibusters, their last survivors would gladly reëmbark from a country
+beside which even Holland looked dry and even Scotland comfortable.
+
+For over all that earthly paradise there brooded not alone its terrible
+malaria, its days of fever and its nights of deadly chill, but the
+worse shadows of oppression and of sin, which neither day nor night
+could banish. The first object which met Stedman's eye, as he stepped
+on shore, was the figure of a young girl stripped to receive two
+hundred lashes, and chained to a hundred-pound-weight. And the few
+first days gave a glimpse into a state of society worthy of this
+exhibition,--men without mercy, women without modesty, the black man a
+slave to the white man's passions, and the white man a slave to his
+own. The present West Indian society in its worst forms is probably a
+mere dilution of the utter profligacy of those days. Greek or Roman
+decline produced nothing more debilitating or destructive than the
+ordinary life of a Surinam planter, and his one virtue of hospitality
+only led to more unbridled excesses and completed the work of vice. No
+wonder that Stedman himself, who, with all his peculiarities, was
+essentially simple and manly, soon became disgusted, and made haste to
+get into the woods and cultivate the society of the Maroons.
+
+The rebels against whom this expedition was sent were not the original
+Maroons of Surinam, but a later generation. The originals had long
+since established their independence, and their leaders were
+flourishing their honorary silver-mounted canes in the streets of
+Paramaribo. Fugitive negroes had begun to establish themselves in the
+woods from the time when the colony was finally ceded by the English to
+the Dutch, in 1674. The first open outbreak occurred in 1726, when the
+plantations on the Seramica river revolted; it was found impossible to
+subdue them, and the government very imprudently resolved to make an
+example of eleven captives, and thus terrify the rest of the rebels.
+They were tortured to death, eight of the eleven being women; this
+drove the others to madness, and plantation after plantation was
+visited with fire and sword. After a long conflict, their chief, Adoe,
+was induced to make a treaty, in 1749. The rebels promised to keep the
+peace, and in turn were promised freedom, money, tools, clothes, and,
+finally, arms and ammunition.
+
+But no permanent peace was ever made upon a barrel of gunpowder as a
+basis, and of course an explosion followed this one. The colonists
+naturally evaded the last item of the bargain, and the rebels,
+receiving the gifts and remarking the omission of the part of Hamlet,
+asked contemptuously if the Europeans expected negroes to subsist on
+combs and looking-glasses? New hostilities at once began; a new body of
+slaves on the Ouca river revolted; the colonial government was changed
+in consequence, and fresh troops shipped from Holland; and after four
+different embassies had been sent into the woods, the rebels began to
+listen to reason. The black generals, Captain Araby and Captain Boston,
+agreed upon a truce for a year, during which the colonial government
+might decide for peace or war, the Maroons declaring themselves
+indifferent. Finally the government chose peace, delivered ammunition,
+and made a treaty, in 1761; the white and black plenipotentiaries
+exchanged English oaths and then negro oaths, each tasting a drop of
+the other's blood during the latter ceremony, amid a volley of
+remarkable incantations from the black _gadoman_ or priest. After some
+final skirmishes, in which the rebels almost always triumphed, the
+treaty was at length accepted by all the various villages of Maroons.
+Had they known that at this very time five thousand slaves in Berbice
+were just rising against their masters and were looking to them for
+assistance, the result might have been different; but this fact had not
+reached them, nor had the rumors of insurrection in Brazil, among negro
+and Indian slaves. They consented, therefore, to the peace. "They write
+from Surinam," says the "Annual Register" for January 23, 1761, "that
+the Dutch governor, finding himself unable to subdue the rebel negroes
+of that country by force, hath wisely followed the example of Governor
+Trelawney at Jamaica, and concluded an amicable treaty with them; in
+consequence of which, all the negroes of the woods are acknowledged to
+be free, and all that is past is buried in oblivion." So ended a war of
+thirty-six years, and in Stedman's day the original three thousand Ouca
+and Seramica Maroons had multiplied (almost incredibly) to fifteen
+thousand.
+
+But for the slaves not sharing in this revolt it was not so
+easy to "bury the whole past in oblivion." The Maroons had told
+some very plain truths to the white ambassadors, and had frankly
+advised them, if they wished for peace, to mend their own
+manners and treat their slaves humanely. But the planters learned
+nothing by experience,--and indeed, the terrible narrations of Stedman
+were confirmed by those of Alexander, so lately as 1831. Of course,
+therefore, in a colony comprising eighty thousand blacks to four
+thousand whites, other revolts were stimulated by the success of this
+one. They reached their highest point in 1772, when an insurrection on
+the Cottica river, led by a negro named Baron, almost gave the
+finishing blow to the colony; the only adequate protection being found
+in a body of slaves liberated expressly for that purpose,--a dangerous
+and humiliating precedent. "We have been obliged to set three or four
+hundred of our stoutest negroes free to defend us," says an honest
+letter from Surinam in the "Annual Register" for September 5, 1772.
+Fortunately for the safety of the planters, Baron presumed too much
+upon his numbers, and injudiciously built a camp too near the
+sea-coast, in a marshy fastness, from which he was finally ejected by
+twelve hundred Dutch troops, though the chief work was done, Stedman
+thinks, by the "black rangers" or liberated slaves. Checked by this
+defeat, he again drew back into the forests, resuming his guerrilla
+warfare against the plantations. Nothing could dislodge him;
+bloodhounds were proposed, but the moisture of the country made them
+useless; and thus matters stood when Stedman came sailing, amid
+orange-blossoms and music, up the winding Surinam.
+
+Our young officer went into the woods in the condition of Falstaff,
+"heinously unprovided." Coming from the unbounded luxury of the
+plantations, he found himself entering "the most horrid and
+impenetrable forests, where no kind of refreshment was to be had,"--he
+being provisioned only with salt pork and peas. After a wail of sorrow
+for this inhuman neglect, he bursts into a gush of gratitude for the
+private generosity which relieved his wants at the last moment by the
+following list of supplies:--"24 bottles best claret, 12 ditto Madeira,
+12 ditto porter, 12 ditto cider, 12 ditto rum, 2 large loaves white
+sugar, 2 gallons brandy, 6 bottles muscadel, 2 gallons lemon-juice, 2
+gallons ground coffee, 2 large Westphalia hams, 2 salted bullocks'
+tongues, 1 bottle Durham mustard, 6 dozen spermaceti candles." The hams
+and tongues seem, indeed, rather a poor halfpennyworth to this
+intolerable deal of sack; but this instance of Surinam privation in
+those days may open some glimpse at the colonial standards of comfort.
+"From this specimen," moralizes our hero, "the reader will easily
+perceive, that, if some of the inhabitants of Surinam show themselves
+the disgrace of the creation by their cruelties and brutality, others,
+by their social feelings, approve themselves an ornament to the human
+species. With this instance of virtue and generosity I therefore
+conclude this chapter."
+
+But the troops soon had to undergo worse troubles than those of the
+_commisariat_. The rainy season had just set in. "As for the negroes,"
+said Mr. Klynhaus, the last planter with whom they parted, "you may
+depend on never seeing a soul of them, unless they attack you off
+guard; but the climate, the climate, will murder you all." Bringing
+with them constitutions already impaired by the fevers and dissipation
+of Paramaribo, the poor boys began to perish long before they began to
+fight. Wading in water all day, hanging their hammocks over water at
+night, it seemed a moist existence, even compared with the climate of
+England and the soil of Holland. It was "Invent a shovel and be a
+magistrate," even more than Andrew Marvell found it in the United
+Provinces. In fact, Raynal evidently thinks that nothing but Dutch
+experience in hydraulics could ever have cultivated Surinam.
+
+The two gun-boats which held one division of the expedition were merely
+old sugar-barges, roofed over with boards, and looking like coffins.
+They were pleasantly named the "Charon" and the "Cerberus," but Stedman
+thought that the "Sudden Death" and the "Wilful Murder" would have been
+titles more appropriate. The chief duty of the troops consisted in
+lying at anchor at the intersections of wooded streams, waiting for
+rebels who never came. It was dismal work, and the raw recruits were
+full of the same imaginary terrors which have haunted other heroes less
+severely tested: the monkeys never rattled the cocoa-nuts against the
+trees, but they all heard the axes of Maroon wood-choppers; and when a
+sentinel declared, one night, that he had seen a negro go down the
+river in a canoe, with his pipe lighted, the whole force was called to
+arms--against a firefly. In fact, the insect race brought by far the
+most substantial dangers. The rebels eluded the military, but the
+chigres, locusts, scorpions, and bush-spiders were ever ready to come
+half-way to meet them; likewise serpents and alligators proffered them
+the freedom of the forests and exhibited a hospitality almost
+excessive. Snakes twenty feet long hung their seductive length from the
+trees; jaguars volunteered their society through almost impenetrable
+marshes; vampire bats perched by night with lulling endearments upon
+their toes. When Stedman describes himself as killing thirty-eight
+mosquitoes at one stroke, we must perhaps pardon something to the
+spirit of martyrdom. But when we add to these the other woes of his
+catalogue,--prickly-heat, ring-worm, putrid-fever, "the growling of
+Colonel Fougeaud, dry, sandy savannas, unfordable marshes, burning hot
+days, cold and damp nights, heavy rains, and short allowance,"--we can
+hardly wonder that three captains died in a month, and that in two
+months his detachment of forty-two was reduced to a miserable seven.
+
+Yet, through all this, Stedman himself kept his health. His theory of
+the matter almost recalls the time-honored prescription of "A light
+heart and a thin pair of breeches," for he attributes his good
+condition to his keeping up his spirits and kicking off his shoes.
+Daily bathing in the river had also something to do with it,--and,
+indeed, hydropathy (this may not be generally known) was first learned
+of the West India Maroons, who did their "packing" in wet clay,--and it
+was carried by Dr. Wright to England. But his extraordinary personal
+qualities must have contributed most to his preservation. Never did a
+"meagre, starved, black, burnt, and ragged tatterdemalion," as he calls
+himself, carry about him such a fund of sentiment, philosophy, poetry,
+and art. He had a great faculty for sketching, as the engravings in his
+volumes, with all their odd peculiarities, show; his deepest woes he
+coined always into couplets, and fortified himself against hopeless
+despair with Ovid and Valerius Flaccus, Pope's "Homer" and Thomson's
+"Seasons." Above all reigned his passion for natural history, a ready
+balm for every ill. Here he was never wanting to the occasion, and, to
+do justice to Dutch Guiana, the occasion never was wanting to him. Were
+his men sickening, the peccaries were always healthy without, and the
+cockroaches within the camp; just escaping from a she-jaguar, he
+satisfies himself, ere he flees, that the print of her claws on the
+sand is precisely the size of a pewter dinner-plate; bitten by a
+scorpion, he makes sure of his scientific description in case he should
+expire of the bite; is the water undrinkable, there is at least some
+rational interest in the number of legs possessed by the centipedes
+which preoccupy it. This is the highest triumph of man over his
+accidents, when he thus turns his pains to gains, and becomes an
+entomologist in the tropics.
+
+Meanwhile the rebels kept their own course in the forests, and
+occasionally descended upon plantations beside the very river on whose
+upper waters the useless troops were sickening and dying. Stedman
+himself made several campaigns, with long intervals of illness, before
+he came any nearer to the enemy than to burn a deserted village or
+destroy a rice-field. Sometimes they left the Charon and the Cerberus
+moored by grape-vines to the pine-trees, and made expeditions into the
+woods single file. Our ensign, true to himself, gives the minutest
+schedule of the order of march, and the oddest little diagram of
+manikins with cocked hats, and blacker manikins bearing burdens. First,
+negroes with bill-hooks to clear the way; then the van-guard; then the
+main body, interspersed with negroes bearing boxes of ball-cartridges;
+then the rear-guard, with many more negroes, bearing camp-equipage,
+provisions, and new rum, surnamed "kill-devil," and appropriately
+followed by a sort of palanquin for the disabled. Thus arrayed, they
+marched valorously forth into the woods, to some given point; then they
+turned, marched back to the boats, then rowed back to camp, and
+straightaway went into the hospital. Immediately upon this, the coast
+being clear. Baron and his rebels marched out again and proceeded to
+business.
+
+In the course of years, these Maroons had acquired their own peculiar
+tactics. They built stockaded fortresses on marshy islands, accessible
+by fords which they alone could traverse. These they defended further
+by sharp wooden pins, or crows'-feet, concealed beneath the surface of
+the miry ground,--and, latterly, by the more substantial protection of
+cannon, which they dragged into the woods, and learned to use. Their
+bush-fighting was unique. Having always more men than weapons, they
+arranged their warriors in threes,--one to use the musket, another to
+take his place, if wounded or slain, and a third to drag away the body.
+They had Indian stealthiness and swiftness, with more than Indian
+discipline; discharged their fire with some approach to regularity, in
+three successive lines, the signals being given by the captain's horn.
+They were full of ingenuity: marked their movements for each other by
+scattered leaves and blazed trees; ran zigzag, to dodge bullets; gave
+wooden guns to their unarmed men, to frighten the plantation negroes on
+their guerrilla expeditions; and borrowed the red caps of the black
+rangers whom they slew, to bewilder the aim of the others. One of
+them, finding himself close to the muzzle of a ranger's gun, threw up
+his hand hastily. "What!" he exclaimed, "will you fire on one of your
+own party?" "God forbid!" cried the ranger, dropping his piece, and was
+instantly shot through the body by the Maroon, who the next instant had
+disappeared in the woods.
+
+These rebels were no saints: their worship was obi-worship; the women
+had not far outgrown the plantation standard of chastity, and the men
+drank "kill-devil" like their betters. Stedman was struck with the
+difference between the meaning of the word "good" in rebellious circles
+and in reputable. "It must, however, be observed that what we Europeans
+call a good character was by the Africans looked upon as detestable,
+especially by those born in the woods, whose only crime consisted in
+avenging the wrongs done to their forefathers." But if martial virtues
+be virtues, such were theirs. Not a rebel ever turned traitor or
+informer, ever flinched in battle or under torture, ever violated a
+treaty or even a private promise. But it was their power of endurance
+which was especially astounding; Stedman is never weary of paying
+tribute to this, or of illustrating it in sickening detail; indeed, the
+records of the world show nothing to surpass it; "the lifted axe, the
+agonizing wheel" proved powerless to subdue it; with every limb lopped,
+every bone broken, the victims yet defied their tormentors, laughed,
+sang, and died triumphant.
+
+Of course, they repaid these atrocities in kind. If they had not, it
+would have demonstrated the absurd paradox, that slavery educates
+higher virtues than freedom. It bewilders all the relations of human
+responsibility, if we expect the insurrectionary slave to commit no
+outrages; if slavery have not depraved him, it has done him little
+harm. If it be the normal tendency of bondage to produce saints like
+Uncle Tom, let us all offer ourselves at auction immediately. It is
+Cassy and Dred who are the normal protest of human nature against
+systems which degrade it. Accordingly, these poor, ignorant Maroons,
+who had seen their brothers and sisters flogged, burned, mutilated,
+hanged on iron hooks, broken on the wheel, and had been all the while
+solemnly assured that this was paternal government, could only repay
+the paternalism in the same fashion, when they had the power. Stedman
+saw a negro chained to a red-hot distillery-furnace; he saw disobedient
+slaves, in repeated instances, punished by the amputation of a leg, and
+sent to boat-service for the rest of their lives; and of course the
+rebels borrowed these suggestions. They could bear to watch their
+captives expire under the lash, for they had previously watched their
+parents. If the government rangers received twenty-five florins for
+every rebel right-hand which they brought in, of course they risked
+their own right-hands in the pursuit. The difference was, that the one
+brutality was that of a mighty state, and the other was only the
+retaliation of the victims. And after all, Stedman never ventures to
+assert that the imitation equalled the original, or that the Maroons
+had inflicted nearly so much as they had suffered.
+
+The leaders of the rebels, especially, were men who had each his own
+story of wrongs to tell. Baron, the most formidable, had been the slave
+of a Swedish gentleman, who had taught him to read and write, taken him
+to Europe, promised to manumit him on his return,--and then, breaking
+his word, sold him to a Jew. Baron refused to work for his new master,
+was publicly flogged under the gallows, fled to the woods next day, and
+became the terror of the colony. Joli Coeur, his first captain, was
+avenging the cruel wrongs of his mother. Bonny, another leader, was
+born in the woods, his mother having taken refuge there just
+previously, to escape from his father, who was also his master. Cojo,
+another, had defended his master against the insurgents until he was
+obliged by ill usage to take refuge among them; and he still bore upon
+his wrist, when Stedman saw him, a silver band, with the inscription,--
+"True to the Europeans." In dealing with wrongs like these, Mr. Carlyle
+would have found the despised negroes quite as ready as himself to take
+the total-abstinence pledge against rose-water.
+
+In his first two months' campaign, Stedman never saw the trace of a
+Maroon; in the second, he once came upon their trail; in the third, one
+captive was brought in, two surrendered themselves voluntarily, and a
+large party was found to have crossed a river within a mile of the
+camp, ferrying themselves on palm-trunks, according to their fashion.
+Deep swamps and scorching sands,--toiling through briers all day, and
+sleeping at night in hammocks suspended over stagnant water, with
+weapons supported on sticks crossed beneath,--all this was endured for
+two years and a half, before Stedman personally came in sight of the
+enemy.
+
+On August 20th, 1775, the troops found themselves at last in the midst
+of the rebel settlements. These villages and forts bore a variety of
+expressive names, such as "Hide me, O thou surrounding verdure," "I
+shall be taken," "The woods lament for me," "Disturb me, if you dare,"
+"Take a tasting, if you like it," "Come, try me, if you be men," "God
+knows me and none else," "I shall moulder before I shall be taken."
+Some were only plantation-grounds with a few huts, and were easily laid
+waste; but all were protected more or less by their mere situations.
+Quagmires surrounded them, covered by a thin crust of verdure,
+sometimes broken through by one man's weight, when the victim sank
+hopelessly into the black and bottomless depths below. In other
+directions there was a solid bottom, but inconveniently covered by
+three or four feet of water, through which the troops waded
+breast-deep, holding their muskets high in the air, unable to reload
+them when once discharged, and liable to be picked off by rebel scouts,
+who ingeniously posted themselves in the tops of palm-trees.
+
+Through this delectable region Colonel Fougeaud and his followers
+slowly advanced, drawing near the fatal shore where Captain Meyland's
+detachment had just been defeated, and where their mangled remains
+still polluted the beach. Passing this point of danger without attack,
+they suddenly met a small party of rebels, each bearing on his back a
+beautifully-woven hamper of snow-white rice: these loads they threw
+down, and disappeared. Next appeared an armed body from the same
+direction, who fired upon them once and swiftly retreated; and in a few
+moments the soldiers came upon a large field of standing rice, beyond
+which lay, like an amphitheatre, the rebel village. But between the
+village and the field had been piled successive defences of logs and
+branches, behind which simple redoubts the Maroons lay concealed. A
+fight ensued, lasting forty minutes, during which nearly every soldier
+and ranger was wounded, but, to their great amazement, not one was
+killed. This was an enigma to them until after the skirmish, when the
+surgeon found that most of them had been struck, not by bullets, but by
+various substitutes, such as pebbles, coat-buttons, and bits of silver
+coin, which had penetrated only skin-deep. "We also observed that
+several of the poor rebel negroes, who had been shot, had only the
+shards of Spa-water cans, instead of flints, which could seldom do
+execution; and it was certainly owing to these circumstances that we
+came off so well."
+
+The rebels at length retreated, first setting fire to their village; a
+hundred or more lightly built houses, some of them two stories high,
+were soon in flames; and as this conflagration occupied the only neck
+of land between two impassable morasses, the troops were unable to
+follow, and the Maroons had left nothing but rice-fields to be
+pillaged. That night the military force was encamped in the woods;
+their ammunition was almost gone; so they were ordered to lie flat on
+the ground, even in case of attack; they could not so much as build a
+fire. Before midnight an attack was made on them, partly with bullets
+and partly with words; the Maroons were all around them in the forest,
+but their object was a puzzle: they spent most of the night in bandying
+compliments with the black rangers, whom they alternately denounced,
+ridiculed, and challenged to single combat. At last Fougeaud and
+Stedman joined in the conversation, and endeavored to make this
+midnight volley of talk the occasion for a treaty. This was received
+with inextinguishable laughter, which echoed through the woods like a
+concert of screech-owls, ending in a _charivari_ of horns and
+hallooing. The Colonel, persisting, offered them "life, liberty,
+victuals, drink, and all they wanted"; in return, they ridiculed him
+unmercifully: he was a half-starved Frenchman, who had run away from
+his own country, and would soon run away from theirs; they profoundly
+pitied him and his soldiers; they would scorn to spend powder on such
+scarecrows; they would rather feed and clothe them, as being poor white
+slaves, hired to be shot at and starved for four-pence a day. But as
+for the planters, overseers, and rangers, they should die, every one of
+them, and Bonny should be governor of the colony. "After this, they
+tinkled their bill-hooks, fired a volley, and gave three cheers; which
+being answered by the rangers, the clamor ended, and the rebels
+dispersed with the rising sun."
+
+Very aimless nonsense it certainly appeared. But the next day put a new
+aspect on it; for it was found, that, under cover of all this noise,
+the Maroons had been busily occupied all night, men, women, and
+children, in preparing and filling great hampers of the finest rice,
+yams, and cassava, from the adjacent provision-grounds, to be used for
+subsistence during their escape, leaving only chaff and refuse for the
+hungry soldiers. "This was certainly such a masterly trait of
+generalship in a savage people, whom we affected to despise, as would
+have done honor to any European commander."
+
+From this time the Maroons fulfilled their threats. Shooting down
+without mercy every black ranger who came within their reach,--one of
+these rangers being, in Stedman's estimate, worth six white
+soldiers,--they left Colonel Fougeaud and his regulars to die of
+starvation and fatigue. The enraged Colonel, "finding himself thus
+foiled by a naked negro, swore he would pursue Bonny to the world's
+end." But he never got any nearer than to Bonny's kitchen-gardens. He
+put the troops on half-allowance, sent back for provisions and
+ammunition,--and within ten days changed his mind, and retreated to the
+settlements in despair. Soon after, this very body of rebels, under
+Bonny's leadership, plundered two plantations in the vicinity, and
+nearly captured a powder-magazine, which was, however, successfully
+defended by some armed slaves.
+
+For a year longer these expeditions continued. The troops never gained
+a victory, and they lost twenty men for every rebel killed; but they
+gradually checked the plunder of plantations, destroyed villages and
+planting-grounds, and drove the rebels, for the time at least, into the
+deeper recesses of the woods or into the adjacent province of Cayenne.
+They had the slight satisfaction of burning Bonny's own house, a
+two-story wooden hut, built in the fashion of our frontier
+guard-houses. They often took single prisoners,--some child, born and
+bred in the woods, and frightened equally by the first sight of a white
+man and of a cow,--or some warrior, who, on being threatened with
+torture, stretched forth both hands in disdain, and said, with Indian
+eloquence,--"These hands have made tigers tremble." As for Stedman, he
+still went bare-footed, still quarrelled with his colonel, still
+sketched the scenery and described the reptiles, still reared gree-gree
+worms for his private kitchen, still quoted good poetry and wrote
+execrable, still pitied all the sufferers around him, black, white, and
+red, until finally he and his comrades were ordered back to Holland in
+1776.
+
+Among all that wasted regiment of weary and broken-down men, there was
+probably no one but Stedman who looked backward with longing as they
+sailed down the lovely Surinam. True, he bore all his precious
+collections with him,--parrots and butterflies, drawings on the backs
+of old letters, and journals kept on bones and cartridges. But he had
+left behind him a dearer treasure; for there runs through all his
+eccentric narrative a single thread of pure romance, in his love for
+his beautiful quadroon wife and his only son.
+
+Within a month after his arrival in the colony, our susceptible ensign
+first saw Joanna, a slave-girl of fifteen, at the house of an intimate
+friend. Her extreme beauty and modesty first fascinated him, and then
+her piteous narrative,--for she was the daughter of a planter, who had
+just gone mad and died in despair from the discovery that he could not
+legally emancipate his own children from slavery. Soon after, Stedman
+was dangerously ill, was neglected and alone; fruits and cordials were
+anonymously sent to him, which proved at last to have come from Joanna,
+and she came herself, ere long, and nursed him, grateful for the
+visible sympathy he had shown to her. This completed the conquest; the
+passionate young Englishman, once recovered, loaded her with presents,
+which she refused,--talked of purchasing her and educating her in
+Europe, which she also declined, as burdening him too greatly,--and
+finally, amid the ridicule of all good society in Paramaribo,
+surmounted all legal obstacles and was united to the beautiful girl in
+honorable marriage. He provided a cottage for her, where he spent his
+furloughs, in perfect happiness, for four years.
+
+The simple idyl of their loves was unbroken by any stain or
+disappointment, and yet always shadowed with the deepest anxiety for
+the future. Though treated with the utmost indulgence, she was legally
+a slave, and so was the boy of whom she became the mother. Cojo, her
+uncle, was a captain among the rebels against whom her husband fought.
+And up to the time when Stedman was ordered back to Holland, he was
+unable to purchase her freedom, nor could he, until the very last
+moment, procure the emancipation of his boy. His perfect delight at
+this last triumph, when obtained, elicited some satire from his white
+friends. "While the well-thinking few highly applauded my sensibility,
+many not only blamed, but publicly derided me for my paternal
+affection, which was called a weakness, a whim." "Nearly forty
+beautiful boys and girls were left to perpetual slavery by their
+parents of my acquaintance, and many of them without being so much as
+once inquired after at all."
+
+But Stedman was a true-hearted fellow, if his sentiment did sometimes
+run to rodomontade; he left his Joanna only in the hope that a year or
+two in Europe would repair his ruined fortunes, and he could return to
+treat himself to the purchase of his own wedded wife. He describes,
+with unaffected pathos, their parting scene,--though, indeed, there
+were several successive partings,--and closes the description in a
+manner worthy of that remarkable combination of enthusiasms which
+characterized him. "My melancholy having surpassed all description, I
+at last determined to weather one or two painful years in her absence;
+and in the afternoon went to dissipate my mind at a Mr. Roux' cabinet
+of Indian curiosities; where as my eye chanced to fall on a
+rattlesnake, I will, before I leave the colony, describe this dangerous
+reptile."
+
+It was impossible to write the history of the Maroons of Surinam except
+through the biography of our Ensign, (at last promoted Captain,)
+because nearly all we know of them is through his quaint and
+picturesque narrative, with its profuse illustrations by his own hand.
+It is not fair, therefore, to end without chronicling his safe arrival
+in Holland, on June 3d, 1777. It is a remarkable fact, that, after his
+life in the woods, even the Dutch looked slovenly to his eyes. "The
+inhabitants, who crowded about us, appeared but a disgusting assemblage
+of ill-formed and ill-dressed rabble,--so much had my prejudices been
+changed by living among Indians and blacks: their eyes seemed to
+resemble those of a pig; their complexions were like the color of foul
+linen; they seemed to have no teeth, and to be covered over with rags
+and dirt. This prejudice, however, was not against these people only,
+but against all Europeans in general, when compared to the sparkling
+eyes, ivory teeth, shining skin, and remarkable cleanliness of those I
+had left behind me." Yet, in spite of these superior attractions, he
+never recrossed the Atlantic; for his Joanna died soon after, and his
+promising son, being sent to the father, was educated in England,
+became a midshipman in the navy, and was lost at sea. With his elegy,
+in which the last depths of bathos are sadly sounded by a mourning
+parent,--who is induced to print them only by "the effect they had on
+the sympathetic and ingenious Mrs. Cowley,"--the "Narrative of a Five
+Years' Expedition" closes.
+
+The war, which had cost the government forty thousand pounds a year,
+was ended, and left both parties essentially as when it began. The
+Maroons gradually returned to their old abodes, and, being unmolested
+themselves, left others unmolested thenceforward. Originally three
+thousand,--in Stedman's time, fifteen thousand,--they were estimated at
+seventy thousand by Captain Alexander, who saw Guiana in 1831,--and a
+recent American scientific expedition, having visited them in their
+homes, reported them as still enjoying their wild freedom, and
+multiplying, while the Indians on the same soil decay. The beautiful
+forests of Surinam still make the morning gorgeous with their beauty,
+and the night deadly with their chill; the stately palm still rears, a
+hundred feet in air, its straight gray shaft and its head of verdure;
+the mora builds its solid, buttressed trunk, a pedestal for the eagle;
+the pine of the tropics holds out its myriad hands with water-cups for
+the rain and dews, where all the birds and the monkeys may drink their
+fill; the trees are garlanded with epiphytes and convolvuli, and
+anchored to the earth by a thousand vines. High among their branches,
+the red and yellow mockingbirds still build their hanging nests,
+uncouth storks and tree-porcupines cling above, and the spotted deer
+and the tapir drink from the sluggish stream below. The night is still
+made noisy with a thousand cries of bird and beast; and the stillness
+of the sultry noon is broken by the slow tolling of the _campańero_, or
+bell-bird, far in the deep, dark woods, like the chime of some lost
+convent. And as Nature is unchanged there, so apparently is man; the
+Maroons still retain their savage freedom, still shoot their wild game
+and trap their fish, still raise their rice and cassava, yams and
+plantains,--still make cups from the gourd-tree and hammocks from the
+silk-grass plant, wine from the palm-tree's sap, brooms from its
+leaves, fishing-lines from its fibres, and salt from its ashes. Their
+life does not yield, indeed, the very highest results of spiritual
+culture; its mental and moral results may not come up to the level of
+civilization, but they rise far above the level of slavery. In the
+changes of time, the Maroons may yet elevate themselves into the one,
+but they will never relapse into the other.
+
+
+
+
+CIRCUMSTANCE.
+
+
+She had remained, during all that day, with a sick neighbor,--those
+eastern wilds of Maine in that epoch frequently making neighbors and
+miles synonymous,--and so busy had she been with care and sympathy that
+she did not at first observe the approaching night. But finally the
+level rays, reddening the snow, threw their gleam upon the wall, and,
+hastily donning cloak and hood, she bade her friends farewell and
+sallied forth on her return. Home lay some three miles distant, across
+a copse, a meadow, and a piece of woods,--the woods being a fringe on
+the skirts of the great forests that stretch far away into the North.
+That home was one of a dozen log-houses lying a few furlongs apart from
+each other, with their half-cleared demesnes separating them at the
+rear from a wilderness untrodden save by stealthy native or deadly
+panther tribes.
+
+She was in a nowise exalted frame of spirit,--on the contrary, rather
+depressed by the pain she had witnessed and the fatigue she had
+endured; but in certain temperaments such a condition throws open the
+mental pores, so to speak, and renders one receptive of every
+influence. Through the little copse she walked slowly, with her cloak
+folded about her, lingering to imbibe the sense of shelter, the sunset
+filtered in purple through the mist of woven spray and twig, the
+companionship of growth not sufficiently dense to band against her the
+sweet home-feeling of a young and tender wintry wood. It was therefore
+just on the edge of the evening that she emerged from the place and
+began to cross the meadow-land. At one hand lay the forest to which her
+path wound; at the other the evening star hung over a tide of failing
+orange that slowly slipped down the earth's broad side to sadden other
+hemispheres with sweet regret. Walking rapidly now, and with her eyes
+wide-open, she distinctly saw in the air before her what was not there
+a moment ago, a winding-sheet,--cold, white, and ghastly, waved by the
+likeness of four wan hands,--that rose with a long inflation and fell
+in rigid folds, while a voice, shaping itself from the hollowness
+above, spectral and melancholy, sighed,--"The Lord have mercy on the
+people! The Lord have mercy on the people!" Three times the sheet with
+its corpse-covering outline waved beneath the pale hands, and the
+voice, awful in its solemn and mysterious depth, sighed, "The Lord have
+mercy on the people!" Then all was gone, the place was clear again, the
+gray sky was obstructed by no deathly blot; she looked about her, shook
+her shoulders decidedly, and, pulling on her hood, went forward once
+more.
+
+She might have been a little frightened by such an apparition, if she
+had led a life of less reality than frontier settlers are apt to lead;
+but dealing with hard fact does not engender a flimsy habit of mind,
+and this woman was too sincere and earnest in her character, and too
+happy in her situation, to be thrown by antagonism merely upon
+superstitious fancies and chimeras of the second-sight. She did not
+even believe herself subject to an hallucination, but smiled simply, a
+little vexed that her thought could have framed such a glamour from the
+day's occurrences, and not sorry to lift the bough of the warder of the
+woods and enter and disappear in their sombre path. If she had been
+imaginative, she would have hesitated at her first step into a region
+whose dangers were not visionary; but I suppose that the thought of a
+little child at home would conquer that propensity in the most
+habituated. So, biting a bit of spicy birch, she went along. Now and
+then she came to a gap where the trees had been partially felled, and
+here she found that the lingering twilight was explained by that
+peculiar and perhaps electric film which sometimes sheathes the sky in
+diffused light for very many hours before a brilliant aurora. Suddenly,
+a swift shadow, like the fabulous flying-dragon, writhed through the
+air before her, and she felt herself instantly seized and borne aloft.
+It was that wild beast--the most savage and serpentine and subtle and
+fearless of our latitudes--known by hunters as the Indian Devil, and he
+held her in his clutches on the broad floor of a swinging fir-bough.
+His long sharp claws were caught in her clothing, he worried them
+sagaciously a little, then, finding that ineffectual to free them, he
+commenced licking her bare white arm with his rasping tongue and
+pouring over her the wide streams of his hot, fetid breath. So quick
+had this flashing action been that the woman had had no time for alarm;
+moreover, she was not of the screaming kind; but now, as she felt him
+endeavoring to disentangle his claws, and the horrid sense of her fate
+smote her, and she saw instinctively the fierce plunge of those
+weapons, the long strips of living flesh torn from her bones, the
+agony, the quivering disgust, itself a worse agony,--while by her side,
+and holding her in his great lithe embrace, the monster crouched, his
+white tusks whetting and gnashing, his eyes glaring through all the
+darkness like balls of red fire,--a shriek, that rang in every forest
+hollow, that startled every winter-housed thing, that stirred and woke
+the least needle of the tasselled pines, tore through her lips. A
+moment afterward, the beast left the arm, once white, now crimson, and
+looked up alertly.
+
+She did not think at this instant to call upon God. She called upon her
+husband. It seemed to her that she had but one friend in the world;
+that was he; and again the cry, loud, clear, prolonged, echoed through
+the woods. It was not the shriek that disturbed the creature at his
+relish; he was not born in the woods to be scared of an owl, you know;
+what then? It mast have been the echo, most musical, most resonant,
+repeated and yet repeated, dying with long sighs of sweet sound,
+vibrated from rock to river and back again from depth to depth of cave
+and cliff. Her thought flew after it; she knew, that, even if her
+husband heard it, he yet could not reach her in time; she saw that
+while the beast listened he would not gnaw,--and this she _felt_
+directly, when the rough, sharp, and multiplied stings of his tongue
+retouched her arm. Again her lips opened by instinct, but the sound
+that issued thence came by reason. She had heard that music charmed
+wild beasts,--just this point between life and death intensified every
+faculty,--and when she opened her lips the third time, it was not for
+shrieking, but for singing.
+
+A little thread of melody stole out, a rill of tremulous motion; it was
+the cradle-song with which she rocked her baby;--how could she sing
+that? And then she remembered the baby sleeping rosily on the long
+settee before the fire,--the father cleaning his gun, with one foot on
+the green wooden rundle,--the merry light from the chimney dancing out
+and through the room, on the rafters of the ceiling with their tassels
+of onions and herbs, on the log walls painted with lichens and
+festooned with apples, on the king's-arm slung across the shelf with
+the old pirate's-cutlass, on the snow-pile of the bed, and on the great
+brass clock,--dancing, too, and lingering on the baby, with his fringed
+gentian eyes, his chubby fists clenched on the pillow, and his fine
+breezy hair fanning with the motion of his father's foot. All this
+struck her in one, and made a sob of her breath, and she ceased.
+
+Immediately the long red tongue was thrust forth again. Before it
+touched, a song sprang to her lips, a wild sea-song, such as some
+sailor might be singing far out on trackless blue water that night, the
+shrouds whistling with frost and the sheets glued in ice,--a song with
+the wind in its burden and the spray in its chorus. The monster raised
+his head and flared the fiery eyeballs upon her, then fretted the
+imprisoned claws a moment and was quiet; only the breath like the vapor
+from some hell-pit still swathed her. Her voice, at first faint and
+fearful, gradually lost its quaver, grew under her control and subject
+to her modulation; it rose on long swells, it fell in subtile cadences,
+now and then its tones pealed out like bells from distant belfries on
+fresh sonorous mornings. She sung the song through, and, wondering lest
+his name of Indian Devil were not his true name, and if he would not
+detect her, she repeated it. Once or twice now, indeed, the beast
+stirred uneasily, turned, and made the bough sway at his movement. As
+she ended, he snapped his jaws together, and tore away the fettered
+member, curling it under him with a snarl,--when she burst into the
+gayest reel that ever answered a fiddle-bow. How many a time she had
+heard her husband play it on the homely fiddle made by himself from
+birch and cherry-wood! how many a time she had seen it danced on the
+floor of their one room, to the patter of wooden clogs and the rustle
+of homespun petticoat! how many a time she had danced it herself!--and
+did she not remember once, as they joined clasps for right-hands-round,
+how it had lent its gay, bright measure to her life? And here she was
+singing it alone, in the forest, at midnight, to a wild beast! As she
+sent her voice trilling up and down its quick oscillations between joy
+and pain, the creature who grasped her uncurled his paw and scratched
+the bark from the bough; she must vary the spell; and her voice spun
+leaping along the projecting points of tune of a hornpipe. Still
+singing, she felt herself twisted about with a low growl and a lifting
+of the red lip from the glittering teeth; she broke the hornpipe's
+thread, and commenced unravelling a lighter, livelier thing, an Irish
+jig. Up and down and round about her voice flew, the beast threw back
+his head so that the diabolical face fronted hers, and the torrent of
+his breath prepared her for his feast as the anaconda slimes his prey.
+Franticly she darted from tune to tune; his restless movements followed
+her. She tired herself with dancing and vivid national airs, growing
+feverish and singing spasmodically as she felt her horrid tomb yawning
+wider. Touching in this manner all the slogan and keen clan cries, the
+beast moved again, but only to lay the disengaged paw across her with
+heavy satisfaction. She did not dare to pause; through the clear cold
+air, the frosty starlight, she sang. If there were yet any tremor in
+the tone, it was not fear,--she had learned the secret of sound at
+last; nor could it be chill,--far too high a fervor throbbed her
+pulses; it was nothing but the thought of the log-house and of what
+might be passing within it. She fancied the baby stirring in his sleep
+and moving his pretty lips,--her husband rising and opening the door,
+looking out after her, and wondering at her absence. She fancied the
+light pouring through the chink and then shut in again with all the
+safety and comfort and joy, her husband taking down the fiddle and
+playing lightly with his head inclined, playing while she sang, while
+she sang for her life to an Indian Devil. Then she knew he was fumbling
+for and finding some shining fragment and scoring it down the yellowing
+hair, and unconsciously her voice forsook the wild war-tunes and
+drifted into the half-gay, half-melancholy Rosin the Bow.
+
+Suddenly she woke pierced with a pang, and the daggered tooth
+penetrating her flesh;--dreaming of safety, she had ceased singing and
+lost it. The beast had regained the use of all his limbs, and now,
+standing and raising his back, bristling and foaming, with sounds that
+would have been like hisses but for their deep and fearful sonority, he
+withdrew step by step toward the trunk of the tree, still with his
+flaming balls upon her. She was all at once free, on one end of the
+bough, twenty feet from the ground. She did not measure the distance,
+but rose to drop herself down, careless of any death, so that it were
+not this. Instantly, as if he scanned her thoughts, the creature
+bounded forward with a yell and caught her again in his dreadful hold.
+It might be that he was not greatly famished; for, as she suddenly
+flung up her voice again, he settled himself composedly on the bough,
+still clasping her with invincible pressure to his rough, ravenous
+breast, and listening in a fascination to the sad, strange U-la-lu that
+now moaned forth in loud, hollow tones above him. He half closed his
+eyes, and sleepily reopened and shut them again.
+
+What rending pains were close at hand! Death! and what a death! worse
+than any other that is to be named! Water, be it cold or warm, that
+which buoys up blue ice-fields, or which bathes tropical coasts with
+currents of balmy bliss, is yet a gentle conqueror, kisses as it kills,
+and draws you down gently through darkening fathoms to its heart. Death
+at the sword is the festival of trumpet and bugle and banner, with
+glory ringing out around you and distant hearts thrilling through
+yours. No gnawing disease can bring such hideous end as this; for that
+is a fiend bred of your own flesh, and this--is it a fiend, this living
+lump of appetites? What dread comes with the thought of perishing in
+flames! but fire, let it leap and hiss never so hotly, is something too
+remote, too alien, to inspire us with such loathly horror as a wild
+beast; if it have a life, that life is too utterly beyond our
+comprehension. Fire is not half ourselves; as it devours, arouses
+neither hatred nor disgust; is not to be known by the strength of our
+lower natures let loose; does not drip our blood into our faces from
+foaming chaps, nor mouth nor snarl above us with vitality. Let us be
+ended by fire, and we are ashes, for the winds to bear, the leaves to
+cover; let us be ended by wild beasts, and the base, cursed thing howls
+with us forever through the forest. All this she felt as she charmed
+him, and what force it lent to her song God knows. If her voice should
+fail! If the damp and cold should give her any fatal hoarseness! If all
+the silent powers of the forest did not conspire to help her! The dark,
+hollow night rose indifferently over her; the wide, cold air breathed
+rudely past her, lifted her wet hair and blew it down again; the great
+boughs swung with a ponderous strength, now and then clashed their iron
+lengths together and shook off a sparkle of icy spears or some
+long-lain weight of snow from their heavy shadows. The green depths
+were utterly cold and silent and stern. These beautiful haunts that all
+the summer were hers and rejoiced to share with her their bounty, these
+heavens that had yielded their largess, these stems that had thrust
+their blossoms into her hands, all these friends of three moons ago
+forgot her now and knew her no longer.
+
+Feeling her desolation, wild, melancholy, forsaken songs rose thereon
+from that frightful aerie,--weeping, wailing tunes, that sob among the
+people from age to age, and overflow with otherwise unexpressed
+sadness,--all rude, mournful ballads,--old tearful strains, that
+Shakspeare heard the vagrants sing, and that rise and fall like the
+wind and tide,--sailor-songs, to be heard only in lone mid-watches
+beneath the moon and stars,--ghastly rhyming romances, such as that
+famous one of the "Lady Margaret," when
+
+"She slipped on her gown of green
+   A piece below the knee,--
+And 'twas all a long, cold winter's night
+   A dead corse followed she."
+
+Still the beast lay with closed eyes, yet never relaxing his grasp.
+Once a half-whine of enjoyment escaped him,--he fawned his fearful head
+upon her; once he scored her cheek with his tongue: savage caresses
+that hurt like wounds. How weary she was! and yet how terribly awake!
+How fuller and fuller of dismay grew the knowledge that she was only
+prolonging her anguish and playing with death! How appalling the
+thought that with her voice ceased her existence! Yet she could not
+sing forever; her throat was dry and hard; her very breath was a pain;
+her mouth was hotter than any desert-worn pilgrim's;--if she could but
+drop upon her burning tongue one atom of the ice that glittered about
+her!--but both of her arms were pinioned in the giant's vice. She
+remembered the winding-sheet, and for the first time in her life
+shivered with spiritual fear. Was it hers? She asked herself, as she
+sang, what sins she had committed, what life she had led, to find her
+punishment so soon and in these pangs,--and then she sought eagerly for
+some reason why her husband was not up and abroad to find her. He
+failed her,--her one sole hope in life; and without being aware of it,
+her voice forsook the songs of suffering and sorrow for old Covenanting
+hymns,--hymns with which her mother had lulled her, which the
+class-leader pitched in the chimney-corners,--grand and sweet Methodist
+hymns, brimming with melody and with all fantastic involutions of tune
+to suit that ecstatic worship,--hymns full of the beauty of holiness,
+steadfast, relying, sanctified by the salvation they had lent to those
+in worse extremity than hers,--for they had found themselves in the
+grasp of hell, while she was but in the jaws of death. Out of this
+strange music, peculiar to one character of faith, and than which there
+is none more beautiful in its degree nor owning a more potent sway of
+sound, her voice soared into the glorified chants of churches. What to
+her was death by cold or famine or wild beasts? "Though He slay me, yet
+will I trust in Him," she sang. High and clear through the frore fair
+night, the level moonbeams splintering in the wood, the scarce glints
+of stars in the shadowy roof of branches, these sacred anthems
+rose,--rose as a hope from despair, as some snowy spray of flower-bells
+from blackest mould. Was she not in God's hands? Did not the world
+swing at His will? If this were in His great plan of providence, was it
+not best, and should she not accept it?
+
+"He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth."
+
+Oh, sublime faith of our fathers, where utter self-sacrifice alone was
+true love, the fragrance of whose unrequired subjection was pleasant as
+that of golden censers swung in purple-vapored chancels!
+
+Never ceasing in the rhythm of her thoughts, articulated in music as
+they thronged, the memory of her first communion flashed over her.
+Again she was in that distant place on that sweet spring morning. Again
+the congregation rustled out, and the few remained, and she trembled to
+find herself among them.
+
+How well she remembered the devout, quiet faces; too accustomed to the
+sacred feast to glow with their inner joy! how well the snowy linen at
+the altar, the silver vessels slowly and silently shifting! and as the
+cup approached and passed, how the sense of delicious perfume stole in
+and heightened the transport of her prayer, and she had seemed, looking
+up through the windows where the sky soared blue in constant freshness,
+to feel all heaven's balms dripping from the portals, and to scent the
+lilies of eternal peace! Perhaps another would not have felt so much
+ecstasy as satisfaction on that occasion; but it is a true, if a later
+disciple, who has said, "The Lord bestoweth his blessings there, where
+he findeth the vessels empty."--"And does it need the walls of a church
+to renew my communion?" she asked. "Does not every moment stand a
+temple four-square to God? And in that morning, with its buoyant
+sunlight, was I any dearer to the Heart of the World than now?" "My
+beloved is mine, and I am his," she sang over and over again, with all
+varied inflection and profuse tune. How gently all the winter-wrapt
+things bent toward her then! into what relation with her had they
+grown! how this common dependence was the spell of their intimacy! how
+at one with Nature had she become! how all the night and the silence
+and the forest seemed to hold its breath, and to send its soul up to
+God in her singing! It was no longer despondency, that singing. It was
+neither prayer nor petition. She had left imploring, "How long wilt
+thou forget me, O Lord?" "Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of
+death!" "For in death there is no remembrance of thee";--with countless
+other such fragments of supplication. She cried rather, "Yea, though I
+walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
+for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me";--and
+lingered, and repeated, and sang again, "I shall be satisfied, when I
+awake, with thy likeness."
+
+Then she thought of the Great Deliverance, when he drew her up out of
+many waters, and the flashing old psalm pealed forth triumphantly:--
+
+"The Lord descended from above,
+  and bow'd the heavens hie;
+And underneath his feet he cast
+  the darknesse of the skie.
+On cherubs and on cherubins
+  full royally he road:
+And on the wings of all the winds
+  came flying all abroad."
+
+She forgot how recently, and with what a strange pity for her own
+shapeless form that was to be, she had quaintly sung,--
+
+"Oh, lovely appearance of death!
+  What sight upon earth is so fair?
+Not all the gay pageants that breathe
+  Can with a dead body compare!"
+
+She remembered instead,--"In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
+right hand there are pleasures forevermore"; and, "God will redeem my
+soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me"; "He will
+swallow up death in victory." Not once now did she say, "Lord, how long
+wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling
+from the lions"--for she knew that "the young lions roar after their
+prey and seek their meat from God." "O Lord, thou preservest man and
+beast!" she said.
+
+She had no comfort or consolation in this season, such as sustained the
+Christian martyrs in the amphitheatre. She was not dying for her faith;
+there were no palms in heaven for her to wave; but how many a time had
+she declared,--"I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
+than to dwell in the tents of wickedness!" And as the broad rays here
+and there broke through the dense covert of shade and lay in rivers of
+lustre on crystal sheathing and frozen fretting of trunk and limb and
+on the great spaces of refraction, they builded up visibly that house,
+the shining city on the hill, and singing, "Beautiful for situation,
+the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North,
+the city of the Great King," her vision climbed to that higher picture
+where the angel shows the dazzling thing, the holy Jerusalem descending
+out of heaven from God, with its splendid battlements and gates of
+pearls, and its foundations, the eleventh a jacinth, the twelfth an
+amethyst,--with its great white throne, and the rainbow round about it,
+in sight like unto an emerald:--"And there shall be no night
+there,--for the Lord God giveth them light," she sang.
+
+What whisper of dawn now rustled through the wilderness? How the night
+was passing! And still the beast crouched upon the bough, changing only
+the posture of his head, that again he might command her with those
+charmed eyes;--half their fire was gone; she could almost have released
+herself from his custody; yet, had she stirred, no one knows what
+malevolent instinct might have dominated anew. But of that she did not
+dream; long ago stripped of any expectation, she was experiencing in
+her divine rapture how mystically true it is that "he that dwelleth in
+the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
+Almighty."
+
+Slow clarion cries now wound from the distance as the cocks caught the
+intelligence of day and reechoed it faintly from farm to farm,--sleepy
+sentinels of night, sounding the foe's invasion, and translating that
+dim intuition to ringing notes of warning. Still she chanted on. A
+remote crash of brushwood told of some other beast on his depredations,
+or some night-belated traveller groping his way through the narrow
+path. Still she chanted on. The far, faint echoes of the chanticleers
+died into distance,--the crashing of the branches grew nearer. No wild
+beast that, but a man's step,--a man's form in the moonlight, stalwart
+and strong,--on one arm slept a little child, in the other hand he held
+his gun. Still she chanted on.
+
+Perhaps, when her husband last looked forth, he was half ashamed to
+find what a fear he felt for her. He knew she would never leave the
+child so long but for some direst need,--and yet he may have laughed at
+himself, as he lifted and wrapped it with awkward care, and, loading
+his gun and strapping on his horn, opened the door again and closed it
+behind him, going out and plunging into the darkness and dangers of the
+forest. He was more singularly alarmed than he would have been willing
+to acknowledge; as he had sat with his bow hovering over the strings,
+he had half believed to hear her voice mingling gayly with the
+instrument, till he paused and listened if she were not about to lift
+the latch and enter. As he drew nearer the heart of the forest, that
+intimation of melody seemed to grow more actual, to take body and
+breath, to come and go on long swells and ebbs of the night-breeze, to
+increase with tune and words, till a strange, shrill singing grew ever
+clearer, and, as he stepped into an open space of moonbeams, far up in
+the branches, rocked by the wind, and singing, "How beautiful upon the
+mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
+publisheth peace," he saw his wife,--his wife,--but, great God in
+heaven! how? Some mad exclamation escaped him, but without diverting
+her. The child knew the singing voice, though never heard before in
+that unearthly key, and turned toward it through the veiling dreams.
+With a celerity almost instantaneous, it lay, in the twinkling of an
+eye, on the ground at the father's feet, while his gun was raised to
+his shoulder and levelled at the monster covering his wife with shaggy
+form and flaming gaze,--his wife so ghastly white, so rigid, so stained
+with blood, her eyes so fixedly bent above, and her lips, that had
+indurated into the chiselled pallor of marble, parted only with that
+flood of solemn song.
+
+I do not know if it were the mother-instinct that for a moment lowered
+her eyes,--those eyes, so lately riveted on heaven, now suddenly seeing
+all life-long bliss possible. A thrill of joy pierced and shivered
+through her like a weapon, her voice trembled in its course, her glance
+lost its steady strength, fever-flushes chased each other over her
+face, yet she never once ceased chanting. She was quite aware, that, if
+her husband shot now, the ball must pierce her body before reaching any
+vital part of the beast,--and yet better that death, by his hand, than
+the other. But this her husband also knew, and he remained motionless,
+just covering the creature with the sight. He dared not fire, lest some
+wound not mortal should break the spell exercised by her voice, and the
+beast, enraged with pain, should rend her in atoms; moreover, the light
+was too uncertain for his aim. So he waited. Now and then he examined
+his gun to see if the damp were injuring its charge, now and then he
+wiped the great drops from his forehead. Again the cocks crowed with
+the passing hour,--the last time they were heard on that night.
+Cheerful home sound then, how full of safety and all comfort and rest
+it seemed! what sweet morning incidents of sparkling fire and sunshine,
+of gay household bustle, shining dresser, and cooing baby, of steaming
+cattle in the yard, and brimming milk-pails at the door! what pleasant
+voices! what laughter! what security! and here----
+
+Now, as she sang on in the slow, endless, infinite moments, the fervent
+vision of God's peace was gone. Just as the grave had lost its sting,
+she was snatched back again into the arms of earthly hope. In vain she
+tried to sing, "There remaineth a rest for the people of God,"--her
+eyes trembled on her husband's, and she could think only of him, and of
+the child, and of happiness that yet might be, but with what a dreadful
+gulf of doubt between! She shuddered now in the suspense; all calm
+forsook her; she was tortured with dissolving heats or frozen with icy
+blasts; her face contracted, growing small and pinched; her voice was
+hoarse and sharp,--every tone cut like a knife,--the notes became heavy
+to lift,--withheld by some hostile pressure,--impossible. One gasp, a
+convulsive effort, and there was silence,--she had lost her voice.
+
+The beast made a sluggish movement,--stretched and fawned like one
+awaking,--then, as if he would have yet more of the enchantment,
+stirred her slightly with his muzzle. As he did so, a sidelong hint of
+the man standing below with the raised gun smote him; he sprung round
+furiously, and, seizing his prey, was about to leap into some unknown
+airy den of the topmost branches now waving to the slow dawn. The late
+moon had rounded through the sky so that her gleam at last fell full
+upon the bough with fairy frosting; the wintry morning light did not
+yet penetrate the gloom. The woman, suspended in mid-air an instant,
+cast only one agonized glance beneath,--but across and through it, ere
+the lids could fall, shot a withering sheet of flame,--a rifle-crack,
+half heard, was lost in the terrible yell of desperation that bounded
+after it and filled her ears with savage echoes, and in the wide arc of
+some eternal descent she was falling;--but the beast fell under her. I
+think that the moment following must have been too sacred for us, and
+perhaps the three have no special interest again till they issue from
+the shadows of the wilderness upon the white hills that skirt their
+home. The father carries the child hushed again into slumber; the
+mother follows with no such feeble step as might be anticipated,--and
+as they slowly climb the steep under the clear gray sky and the paling
+morning star, she stops to gather a spray of the red-rose berries or a
+feathery tuft of dead grasses for the chimney-piece of the log-house,
+or a handful of brown ones for the child's play,--and of these quiet,
+happy folk you would scarcely dream how lately they had stolen from
+under the banner and encampment of the great King Death. The husband
+proceeds a step or two in advance; the wife lingers over a singular
+foot-print in the snow, stoops and examines it, then looks up with a
+hurried word. Her husband stands alone on the hill, his arms folded
+across the babe, his gun fallen,--stands defined against the pallid sky
+like a bronze. What is there in their home, lying below and yellowing
+in the light, to fix him with such a stare? She springs to his side.
+There is no home there. The log-house, the barns, the neighboring
+farms, the fences, are all blotted out and mingled in one smoking ruin.
+Desolation and death were indeed there, and beneficence and life in the
+forest. Tomahawk and scalping-knife, descending during that night, had
+left behind them only this work of their accomplished hatred and one
+subtle foot-print in the snow.
+
+For the rest,--the world was all before them, where to choose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+URANIA.
+
+
+Hast thou forgotten whose thou art?
+  To what high service consecrate?
+I gave thee not a noble heart
+  To wed with such ignoble fate.
+
+I found thee where the laurels grow
+  Around the lonely Delphian shrine;
+There, where the sacred fountains flow,
+  I found thee, and I made thee mine.
+
+I gave thy soul to agony,
+  And strange unsatisfied desire,
+That thou mightst dearer be to me,
+  And worthier of thy burning lyre.
+
+O child, thy fate had made thee God,
+  To thee such powers divine were given;
+The paths of fire thou mightst have trod
+  Had led thee to the stars of heaven.
+
+And those who in the early dawn
+  Of beauty sat and sang of day,
+Deep in their twilight shades withdrawn,
+  Had heard thy coming far away,--
+
+With haunting music sweet and strange,
+  And airs ambrosial blown before,
+Vague breathings of the floral change
+  That glorifies the hills of yore:
+
+Had felt the joy those only find
+  Who in their secret souls have known
+The mystery of the poet mind
+  That through all beauty feels its own:
+
+Had felt the God within them rise
+  To meet thy radiant soul divine;
+Had searched with their prophetic eyes
+  The midnight luminous of thine.
+
+So fondly did Urania deem!
+  So proudly did she prophesy!
+Oh, ruin of a noble dream
+  She thought too glorious to die!
+
+Nor knew thy passionate songs of yore
+  Were as a promise unfulfilled,--
+A stately portal set before
+  The palace thou shall never build!
+
+For is it come to this, at last?
+  And thou forever must remain
+A godlike statue, formed and cast
+  In marble attitude of pain,--
+
+Proud lips that in their scorn are mute,
+  And haunting eyes of anguished love,
+One hand that grasps a silent lute,
+  And one convulsčd hand above
+
+That will not strike? Ah, scorn and shame!
+  Shame for the apostate unforgiven,
+Beholding an unconquered fame
+  In undiscovered fields of heaven!
+
+For Beauty not by one alone
+  In her completeness is revealed:
+The smiles and tears her face hath shown
+  To thee from others are concealed.
+
+Men see not in the midnight sky
+  All miracles she worketh there:
+It is the blindness of the eye
+  That paints its darkness on the air.
+
+Two friends who wander by the shore
+  Look not upon the selfsame seas,
+Hearing two voices in the roar,
+  Because of different memories.
+
+For him whose love the sea hath drowned,
+  It moans the music of his wrong;
+For him whose life with love is crowned,
+  It breaks upon the beach in song.
+
+So dreaming not another's dream,
+  But still interpreting thine own,
+By woodland wild and quiet stream
+  Thou wanderest in the world alone.
+
+Then what thou slayest none can save:
+  Silent and dark oblivion rolls
+Over the glory in the grave
+  Of fierce and suicidal souls.
+
+From that dark wave no pleading ghost
+  With pointing hand shall ever rise,
+To say,--The world hath treasure lost,
+  And here the buried treasure lies!
+
+Beware, and yet beware! my fear
+  Unfolds a vision in the gloom
+Of Beauty borne upon her bier,
+  And Darkness crouching in the tomb.
+
+Beware, and yet beware! her end
+  Is thine; or else, her shadowy hearse
+Beside, thy spirit shall descend
+  The vast sepulchral universe,
+
+And, with the passion that remains
+  In desolated hearts, implore
+The spectre sitting bound in chains
+  To yield what he shall not restore:--
+
+The mystery whose soul divine
+  Breathed love, and only love, on thee;
+Which better far had not been thine,
+  Than, having been, to cease to be.
+
+
+
+
+MARY SOMERVILLE.
+
+
+There have been in every age a few women of genius who have become the
+successful rivals of man in the paths which they have severally chosen.
+Three instances are of our time. Mrs. Browning is called a poet even by
+poets; the artists admit that Rosa Bonheur is a painter; and the
+mathematicians accord to Mary Somerville a high rank among themselves.
+
+"In pure mathematics," said Humboldt, "Mrs. Somerville is strong." Of
+no other woman of the age could the remark have been made; and this
+would probably be true, were the walks of science as marked by the
+feminine footprint as are those of literature. To read mathematical
+works is an easy task; the formula can be learned and their meaning
+apprehended: to read the most profound of them, with such appreciation
+that one stands side by side with the great minds who originated them,
+requires a higher order of intellect; and far-reaching indeed is that
+which, pondering in the study on a few phenomena known by observation,
+develops the theory of worlds, traces back for ages their history, and
+sketches the outline of their future destiny.
+
+Caroline Herschel, the sister of Sir William, was doubtless gifted with
+much of the Herschel talent, and, under other circumstances, her mind
+might have turned to original research; but she belonged rather to the
+last century, and Hanover was not a region favorable to intellectual
+efforts in her sex. She lived the life of a simple-hearted,
+truth-loving woman; most worthy of the name she bore, she made notes
+for her brother, she swept the heavens and found comets for him, she
+computed and tabulated his observations; it seems never to have
+occurred to her to be other than the patient, helping sister of a truly
+great man.
+
+Mrs. Somerville's life has been more individual. She is the daughter of
+Admiral Fairfax, and was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, December 26,
+1780, in the house of her uncle, the father of her present husband.
+
+The home training and the school education of the daughters of Great
+Britain are very unlike those of their American sisters. The manners
+and customs of the Old World change so slowly, that one can scarcely
+assent to a remark made by Sir John Herschel:--"The Englishman sticks
+to his old ways, but is not cemented to them." The Englishwoman submits
+to authority from her infancy; belonging to the middle class, she does
+not expect the higher education of the nobility; a woman, she is not
+supposed to desire to enter into the studies of her brothers. A
+governess, generally the daughter of a curate, who prefers this
+position to that of "companion" to a fine lady, is provided for her in
+her early years. If the choice be fortunate and the parents watchful,
+the young girl is thoroughly taught in a few branches of what are
+commonly considered feminine studies. She learns to read and to speak
+French; tutors are employed for music and drawing: every young lady
+above the rank of the tradesman's daughter plays well upon the piano;
+every one has her portfolio of drawings, in which sketches from Nature
+can always be found, and frequently the family portraits. The history
+of the country is considered a study suitable for girls; the Englishman
+expects that his daughter shall know something of the past, of which he
+is so justly proud.
+
+But the more solid book-learning given to the girls of New England,
+even in the public schools, is known only to the daughters of the
+higher classes, and among them an instance like that of Lady Jane Grey
+could scarcely now be found. As the girls and boys are never taught in
+the same schools, no taste is aroused by the example of manly studies.
+An English girl is astonished to hear that an American girl passes a
+public examination, like her brothers, and with them competes for
+prizes; she doubts the truthfulness of some of the representations of
+life found in American novels; and so little is the freedom of manners
+understood, that the American traveller is frequently asked,--"Can it
+really be as Mrs. Stowe represents in America? Does a young lady really
+give a party herself?"
+
+The difference that one would expect is found between the women of
+England or Scotland and the women of New England. The young
+Englishwoman is tasteful and elegant, mindful of all the proprieties
+and graces of social life; she speaks slowly and cautiously, and gives
+her opinions with great modesty. These are not at present the
+characteristics of the American girl.
+
+Mary Fairfax passed through the usual routine. At fourteen she had read
+the books to be found in her father's house, including the few works
+on Navigation which were necessary to him in his profession. She had
+thus obtained an idea of the world of science, and it was dull to
+return to worsted-work for amusement. The needle, which has been the
+fetter of so many women, became, however, in her hand, magnetic, and
+pointed her to her destiny. She was in the habit of taking her work
+into her brother's study, and listening to his recitations; the
+revelations of Geometry were thus opened to her; she listened and
+worked for a time, until the desire to know more of this region of form
+and law, of harmony and of relations, became too strong to be resisted;
+the worsted was thrown aside, and she ventured to ask the tutor to
+instruct her. The honest man told her that he was no mathematician: he
+could lend her Euclid, but he could do no more.
+
+The first great step was now taken; Euclid was quickly read; other
+books were borrowed from other friends; Bonnycastle's and Euler's
+Algebra were obtained, and she exulted in the use of those mystic
+symbols, _x, y_, and _z_. Her parents looked on with indifference; so
+that the music were not neglected and the governess reported well of
+her studies, they felt there was no harm in her amusing herself as she
+chose. When the days of the governess were over, the young lady "came
+out" in Edinburgh, and mingled much with the best society. This most
+picturesque city had long been the resort of the most gifted minds; men
+of literature and men of science made the charm of its winter life.
+Never was it more the gathering-place of intellect than in the early
+part of this century; but there was no room for a woman of genius, and
+the young girl's friends advised her to conceal her pursuits. Move as
+quietly, however, and as unobtrusively as she might in the brilliant
+circle, her genius was not without recognition. There was a word of
+encouragement from Professor Playfair. "Persevere in your study," said
+he; "it will be a source of happiness to you when all else fails; for
+it is the study of truth." She had a champion, too, in the dreaded
+critic, Jeffrey. "I am told," said a friend, writing to him, "that the
+ladies of Edinburgh are literary, and that one of them sets up as a
+blue-stocking and an astronomer." "The lady of whom you speak," replied
+Jeffrey, "may wear blue stockings, but her petticoats are so long that
+I have never seen them."
+
+Mrs. Somerville has been twice married. Her first husband, a gentleman
+of the name of Greig, regarded her pursuits as her parents had, simply
+with indifference. Dr. Somerville, her present husband, has taken the
+utmost pains to secure her time for her studies, and has himself
+relieved her from many household cares.
+
+The simplicity of character which belonged to her in early life was not
+lost when her reputation became established. The Royal Society, whose
+doors do not open at every knock, admitted her to membership, and, by
+their order, her bust was sculptured by Chantrey, and now adorns the
+hall of the Society in Somerset House. During the sittings for this
+purpose, a lady, a friend of the sculptor, him to introduce her to Mrs.
+Somerville. Chantrey consented, and made a dinner-party for the
+purpose. The two ladies were placed side by side at table, and the
+benevolent artist rejoiced to perceive, from the flow of talk, that
+they were mutually pleased. The next day, to his astonishment, his
+friend called on him in a state of great indignation, believing herself
+the victim of a practical joke. "How could you do so?" said she. "You
+knew that I did not want to know _that_ Mrs. Somerville; I wanted to
+know the astronomer: that lady talked of the theatre, the opera, and
+common things."
+
+The anecdote so often told of Laplace's compliment is literally true.
+Mrs. Somerville dined with this great geometer in Paris. "I write
+books," said Laplace, "that no one can read. Only two women have ever
+read the 'Mécanique Céleste'; both are Scotch women: Mrs. Greig and
+yourself."
+
+Upon the "Mécanique Céleste" Mrs. Somerville's greatest work is
+founded. "I simply translated Laplace's work," said she, "from algebra
+into common language." That is, she did what very few men and no other
+woman could do. It is of this work of Laplace that Bonaparte said, "I
+will give to it my first _six months_ of leisure." The student who
+reads it by the aid of Dr. Bowditch's notes has little idea of the
+difficulties to be met in the original work. Even Dr. Bowditch himself
+said, "I never come across one of Laplace's 'Thus it plainly appears,'
+without feeling sure that I have got hours of hard study before me, to
+fill up the chasm and show _how_ it plainly appears."
+
+This "translation into common language" was undertaken at the request
+of Lord Brougham, who desired a mathematical work suited to the
+"Library of Useful Knowledge." The manuscript was submitted to Sir John
+Herschel, who expressed himself "delighted with it,--that it was a book
+for posterity, but quite above the class for which Lord Brougham's
+course was intended." It was published at once, and became the
+text-book for the students of Cambridge.
+
+"The Connection of the Physical Sciences" and the "Physical Geography"
+are the later works of Mrs. Somerville. These volumes have probably
+been more read in our country than in Europe; for it is a common remark
+of the scientific writers of Great Britain, that their "readers are
+found in the United States." They contain vast collections of facts in
+all branches of Physical Science, connected together by the delicate
+web of Mrs. Somerville's own thought, showing an amount and variety of
+learning to be compared only to that of Humboldt.
+
+Provided with an "open sesame" to her heart, in the shape of a letter
+from her old friend, Lady Herschel, we sought the acquaintance of Mrs.
+Somerville in the spring of 1858. She was at that time residing in
+Florence, and, sending the letter and a card to her by the servant, we
+awaited the reply in the large Florentine parlor, in the fireplace of
+which a wood-fire blazed, suggestive of English comfort,--a suggestion
+which in Italy rarely becomes a reality.
+
+There was the usual delay; then a footstep came slowly through the
+outer room, and a very old man, exceedingly tall, with a red silk
+handkerchief around his head, entered, and introduced himself as Doctor
+Somerville. He is proud of his wife; a pardonable weakness in any man,
+especially so in the husband of Mary Somerville. He began at once to
+talk of her. "Mrs. Somerville," he said, "was much interested in the
+Americans, for she claimed a connection with the family of Washington.
+Washington's half-brother, Lawrence, married Anne Fairfax, who was of
+the Scotch family of that name. When Mrs. Somerville's father, as
+Lieutenant Fairfax, was ordered to America, General Washington wrote to
+him as a family relative, and invited him to his house. Lieutenant
+Fairfax applied to his commanding officer for leave to accept the
+invitation, and it was refused; they never met. Much to the regret of
+the Somervilles, the letter of Washington has been lost. The Fairfaxes
+of Virginia are of the same family, and occasionally some member of the
+American branch visits his Scotch cousins."
+
+While Doctor Somerville was talking of these things, Mrs. Somerville
+came tripping into the room, speaking with the vivacity of a young
+person. She was seventy-seven years old, but appeared twenty years
+younger. Her face is pleasing, the forehead low and broad, the eyes
+blue,--the features so regular, that, as sculptured by Chantrey, in the
+bust at Somerset House, they convey the idea of a very handsome woman.
+Neither this bust nor the picture of her, however, gives a correct
+impression, except in the outline of the head and shoulders. She spoke
+with a strong Scotch accent, and was slightly affected by deafness.
+
+At this time, Mrs. Somerville was re-writing her "Physical Geography."
+She said that she worked as well as when she was younger, but was more
+quickly fatigued; yet, in order to gain time, she had given up her
+afternoon nap, without apparent injury to her health. Her working hours
+were in the morning, and she never refused a visitor after noon. For
+her first work she said she computed a good deal; and here she stepped
+quickly into an adjoining room, and brought out a mass of manuscript
+computations made for that work, the mere sight of which would give a
+headache to most women. The conversation was rather of the familiar and
+chatty order, and marked by great simplicity. She touched upon the
+recent discoveries in chemical science,--upon California, its gold and
+its consequences, some good from which she thought would be found in
+the improvement of seamanship,--on the nebulae, more and more of which
+she thought would be resolved, while yet there might exist irresolvable
+nebulous matter, such as composed the tails of comets, or the
+satellites of the planets, which she thought had other uses than as
+their subordinates. Of Doctor Whewell's attempt to prove that our
+planet is the only one inhabited she spoke with disapprobation; she
+said she believed that the other planets might be inhabited by beings
+of a higher order than ourselves.
+
+On subsequent visits, Mrs. Somerville had much to say of the Americans.
+She regretted that she so rarely received scientific articles from
+America; the papers of Lieutenant Maury alone reached her. She spoke of
+the late Doctor Bowditch with great interest, and said she had had some
+correspondence with one of his sons; of Professor Peirce as a great
+mathematician; and she was much interested in the successful
+photography of the stars by Mr. Whipple. To a traveller, thousands of
+miles from home, the mere mention of familiar names is cheering.
+
+Mrs. Somerville resides in Florence on account of the health of her
+husband. A little garden, well-stocked with rose-bushes, which she
+shows with great pride to her visitors, furnishes her with a means of
+healthy recreation after her severe studies. Her children are a son by
+Mr. Greig and two daughters by Doctor Somerville. In early life, Mrs.
+Somerville was a fine musician: the daughters have inherited this
+talent; and having lived long in Florence, they speak Italian with a
+perfect accent. "I speak Italian," said Mrs. Somerville; "but no one
+could ever take me for other than a Scotchwoman."
+
+No one can make the acquaintance of this remarkable woman without
+increased admiration for her. The ascent of the steep and rugged path
+of science has not unfitted her for the drawing-room circle; the hours
+of devotion to close study have not been incompatible with the duties
+of the wife and the mother; the mind that has turned to rigid
+demonstration has not thereby lost its faith in the truths which
+figures will not prove. "I have no doubt," said she, in speaking of the
+heavenly bodies, "that in another state of existence we shall know more
+about these things."
+
+
+
+
+ROBA DI ROMA.
+
+MAY IN ROME.
+
+
+May has come again,--"the delicate-footed May," her feet hidden in
+flowers as she wanders over the Campagna, and the cool breeze of the
+Campagna blowing back her loosened hair. She calls to us from the open
+fields to leave the wells of damp churches and shadowy streets, and to
+come abroad and meet her where the mountains look down from roseate
+heights of vanishing snow upon plains of waving grain. The hedges have
+put on their best draperies of leaves and flowers, and, girdled in at
+their waist by double osier bands, stagger luxuriantly along the road
+like a drunken Bacchanal procession, crowned with festive ivy, and
+holding aloft their snowy clusters of elder-blossoms like _thyrsi_.
+Among their green robes may be seen thousands of beautiful
+wild-flowers,--the sweet-scented laurustinus, all sorts of running
+vetches and wild sweet-pea, the delicate vases of dewy morning-glories,
+clusters of eglantine or sweetbrier roses, fragrant acacia-blossoms
+covered with bees and buzzing flies, the gold of glowing gorses, and
+scores of purple and yellow flowers, of which I know not the names. On
+the gray walls, vines, grass, and the humble class of flowers which go
+by the ignoble name of weeds straggle and cluster; and over them, held
+down by the green cord of the stalk, balance the bursted balloons of
+hundreds of flaming scarlet poppies that seem to have fed on fire. The
+undulating swell of the Campagna is here ablaze with them for acres,
+and there deepening with growing grain, or snowed over with myriads of
+daisies. Music and song, too, are not wanting; hundreds of birds are in
+the hedges. The lark, "from his moist cabinet rising," rains down his
+trills of incessant song from invisible heights of blue sky; and
+whenever one passes the wayside groves, a nightingale is sure to bubble
+into song. The oranges, too, are in blossom, perfuming the air;
+locust-trees are tasselled with odorous flowers; and over the walls of
+the Campagna villa bursts a cascade of vines covered with foamy Banksia
+roses.
+
+The Carnival of the kitchen-gardens is now commencing. Peas are already
+an old story, strawberries are abundant, and cherries are beginning to
+make their appearance, in these first days of May; old women sell them
+at every corner, tied together in tempting bunches, as in "the
+cherry-orchard" which Miss Edgeworth has made fairy-land in our
+childish memories. Asparagus also has long since come; and artichokes
+make their daily appearance on the table, sliced up and fried, or
+boiled whole, or coming up roasted and gleaming with butter, with more
+outside capes and coats than an ideal English coachman of the olden
+times. _Finocchi_, too, are here, tasting like anisette, and good to
+mix in the salads. And great beans lie about in piles, the _contadini_
+twisting them out of their thick pods with their thumbs, to eat them
+raw. Nay, even the _signoria_ of the noble families do the same, as
+they walk through the gardens, and think them such a luxury that they
+eat them raw for breakfast. But over and above all other vegetables are
+the lettuces, which are one of the great staples of food for the Roman
+people, and so crisp, fresh, delicate, and high-flavored, that be who
+eats them once will hold Nebuchadnezzar no longer a subject for
+compassion, but rather of envy. Drowned in fresh olive-oil and strong
+with vinegar, they are a feast for the gods; and even in their natural
+state, without condiments, they are by no means to be despised. At the
+corners of the streets they lie piled in green heaps, and are sold at a
+_baiocco_ for five heads. At noontide, the _contadini_ and laborers
+feed upon them without even the condiment of salt, crunching their
+white teeth through the crisp, wet leaves, and alternating a bite at a
+great wedge of bread; and toward nightfall, one may see carts laden
+high up with closely packed masses of them, coming in from the Campagna
+for the market. In a word, the _festa_ of the vegetables, at which they
+do not eat, but are eaten, and the Carnival of the kitchen-garden have
+come.
+
+But--a thousand, thousand pardons, O mighty Cavolo!--how have I dared
+omit thy august name? On my knees, O potentest of vegetables, I crave
+forgiveness! I will burn at thy shrine ten waxen candles, in penance,
+if thou wilt pardon the sin and shame of my forgetfulness! The smoke of
+thy altar-fires, the steam of thy incense, and the odors of thy
+sanctity rise from every hypaethral shrine in Rome. Out-doors and
+in-doors, wherever the foot wanders, on palatial stairs or in the hut
+of poverty, in the convent pottage and the _Lepre_ soup, in the wooden
+platter of the beggar and the silver tureen of the prince, thou fillest
+our nostrils, thou satisfiest our stomach. Thou hast no false pride;
+great as thou art, thou condescendest to be exchanged for a _baiocco_.
+Dear enchantress! to thee, and to thy glorious cousin Broccoli, that
+tender-hearted, efflorescent nymph, the Egeria of the _osteria con
+cucina_, the peerless maid that goes with the steak and accepts
+martyrdom without moan, to drive away the demon of Hunger from her
+devoted followers,--all honor! Far away, whenever I inhale thy odor, I
+shall think of "Roman Joys"; a whiff from thine altar in a foreign land
+will bear me back to the Eternal City, "the City of the Soul," the City
+of the Cabbage, the home of the Dioscuri, _Cavolo_ and _Broccoli!_ Yes,
+as Paris is recalled by the odor of chocolate, and London by the damp
+steam of malt, so shall Rome come back when my nostrils are filled with
+thy penetrative fragrance!
+
+Saunter out at any of the city-gates, or lean over the wall at San
+Giovanni, (and where will you find a more charming spot?) or look down
+from the windows of the Villa Negroni, and your eye will surely fall on
+one of the Roman kitchen-gardens, patterned out in even rows and
+squares of green. Nothing can be prettier or more tasteful in their
+arrangement than these variegated carpets of vegetables. A great
+cistern of running water crowns the height of the ground, which is used
+for the purposes of irrigation, and towards nightfall the vent is
+opened, and you may see the gardeners imbanking the channelled rows to
+let the inundation flow through hundreds of little lanes of
+intersection and canals between the beds, and then banking them up at
+the entrance when a sufficient quantity of water has entered. In this
+way they fertilize and refresh the soil, which else would parch under
+the continuous sun. And this, indeed, is all the fertilization they
+need,--so strong is the soil all over the Campagna. The accretions and
+decay of thousands of years have covered it with a loam whose richness
+and depth are astonishing. Dig where you will, for ten feet down, and
+you do not pass through its wonderfully fertile loam into gravel, and
+the slightest labor is repaid a hundred-fold.
+
+As one looks from the Villa Negroni windows, he cannot fail to be
+impressed by the strange changes through which this wonderful city has
+passed. The very spot on which Nero, the insane emperor-artist, fiddled
+while Rome was burning has now become a vast kitchen-garden, belonging
+to Prince Massimo, (himself a descendant, as he claims, of Fabius
+Cunctator,) where men no longer, but only lettuces, asparagus, and
+artichokes, are ruthlessly cut down. The inundations are not for mock
+sea-fights among slaves, but for the peaceful purposes of irrigation.
+And though the fiddle of Nero is only traditional, the trumpets of the
+French, murdering many an unhappy strain near by, are a most melancholy
+fact. In the bottom of the valley, a noble old villa, covered with
+frescoes, has been turned into a manufactory of bricks, and the very
+Villa Negroni itself is now doomed to be the site of a railway station.
+Yet here the princely family of Negroni lived, and the very lady at
+whose house Lucrezia Borgia took her famous revenge may once have
+sauntered under the walls, which still glow with ripening oranges, to
+feed the gold-fish in the fountain, or walked with stately friends
+through the long alleys of clipped cypresses, and pic-nicked _alia
+Giorgione_ on lawns which are now but kitchen-gardens, dedicated to San
+Cavolo. It pleases me, also, descending in memories to a later time, to
+look up at the summer-house built above the gateway, and recall the
+days when Shelley and Keats came there to visit their friend Severn,
+the artist, (for that was his studio,) and look over the same alleys
+and gardens, and speak words one would have been so glad to hear,--and,
+coming still later down, to recall the hearty words and brave heart of
+America's best sculptor and my dear friend, Crawford.
+
+But to return to the kitchen-gardens. Pretty as they are to the eye,
+they are not considered to be wholesome; and no Roman will live in a
+house near one of them, especially if it lie on the southern and
+western side, so that the Sirocco and the prevalent summer winds blow
+over it. The daily irrigation, in itself, would be sufficient to
+frighten all Italians away; for they have a deadly fear of all effluvia
+arising from decomposing vegetable substances, and suppose, with a good
+deal of truth, that, wherever there is water on the earth, there is
+decomposition. But this is not the only reason; for the same prejudice
+exists in regard to all kinds of gardens, whether irrigated or
+not,--and even to groves of trees and clusters of bushes, or vegetation
+of any kind, around a house. This is the real reason why, even in their
+country villas, their trees are almost always planted at a distance
+from the house, so as to expose it to the sun and to give it a free
+ventilation; these they do not care for; damp is their determined foe,
+and therefore they will not purchase the luxury of shade from trees at
+the risk of the damp it is supposed to engender. On the north, however,
+gardens are not thought to be so prejudicial as on the south and
+west,--as the cold, dry winds come from the former direction. The
+malaria, as we call it, though the term is unknown to Romans, is never
+so dangerous as after a slight rain, just sufficient to wet the surface
+of the earth without deeply penetrating it; for decomposition is then
+stimulated, and the miasma arising from the Campagna is blown abroad.
+So long as the earth is dry, there is no danger of fever, except at
+morning and nightfall, and then simply because of the heavy dews which
+the porous and baked earth then inhales and expires. After the autumn
+has given a thorough, drenching rain, Rome is healthy and free from
+fever.
+
+Rome has with strangers the reputation of being unhealthy; but this
+opinion I cannot think well founded,--to the extent, at least, of the
+common belief. The diseases of children there are ordinarily very
+light, while in America and England they are terrible. Scarlet and
+typhus fevers, those fearful scourges in the North, are known at Rome
+only under most mitigated forms. Cholera has shown no virulence there;
+and for diseases of the throat and lungs the air alone is almost
+curative. The great curse of the place is the intermittent fever, in
+which any other illness is apt to end. But this, except in its peculiar
+phase of _Perniciosa_, though a very annoying, is by no means a
+dangerous disease, and has the additional advantage of a specific
+remedy. The Romans themselves of the better class seldom suffer from
+it, and I cannot but think that with a little prudence it may be easily
+avoided. Those who are most attacked by it are the laborers and
+_contadini_ on the Campagna; and how can it be otherwise with them?
+They sleep often on the bare ground, or on a little straw under a
+_capanna_ just large enough to admit them on all-fours. Their labor is
+exhausting, and performed in the sun, and while in a violent
+perspiration they are often exposed to sudden draughts and checks.
+Their food is poor, their habits careless, and it would require an iron
+constitution to resist what they endure. But, despite the life they
+lead and their various exposures, they are for the most part a very
+strong and sturdy class. This intermittent fever is undoubtedly a far
+from pleasant thing; but Americans who are terrified at it in Rome give
+it no thought in Philadelphia, where it is more prevalent,--and while
+they call Rome unhealthy, live with undisturbed confidence in cities
+where scarlet and typhus fevers annually rage.
+
+It is a curious fact, that the French soldiers, who in 1848 made the
+siege of Rome, suffered no inconvenience or injury to their health from
+sleeping on the Campagna, and that, despite the prophecies to the
+contrary, very few cases of fever appeared, though the siege lasted
+during all the summer months. The reason of this is doubtless to be
+found in the fact that they were better clothed, better fed, and in
+every way more careful of themselves, than the _contadini_. Foreigners,
+too, who visit Rome, are very seldom attacked by intermittent fever;
+and it may truly be said, that, when they are, it is, for the most
+part, their own fault. There is generally the grossest inconsistency
+between their theories and their practice. Believing as they do that
+the least exposure will induce fever, they expose themselves with
+singular recklessness to the very causes of fever. After hurrying
+through the streets and getting into a violent perspiration, they
+plunge at once into some damp pit-like church or chill gallery, where
+the temperature is at least ten degrees lower than the outer air. The
+bald-headed, rosy John Bull, steaming with heat, doffs at once the hat
+which he wore in the street, and, of course, is astounded, if the
+result prove just what it would be anywhere else,--and if he take cold
+and get a fever, charges it to the climate, and not to his own
+stupidity and recklessness. Beside this, foreigners will always insist
+on carrying their home-habits with them wherever they go, and it is
+exceedingly difficult to persuade any one that he does not understand
+the climate better than the Italians themselves, whom he puts down as a
+poor set of timid ignoramuses. However, the longer one lives in Rome,
+the more he learns to value the Italian rules of health. There is
+probably no people so careful in these matters as the Italians, and
+especially the Romans. They understand their own climate, and they have
+a special dislike of death. In France and England suicides are very
+common; in Italy they are almost unknown. The American recklessness of
+life completely astounds the Italian. He enjoys life, studies every
+method to preserve it, and considers any one who risks it unnecessarily
+as simply a fool.
+
+What, then, are their rules of life? In the first place, in all their
+habits they are very regular. They eat at stated times, and cannot be
+persuaded to partake of anything in the intervals. If it be not their
+hour for eating, they will refuse the choicest viands, and will sit at
+your table fasting, despite every temptation you can offer them. They
+are also very abstemious in their diet, and gluttony is the very rarest
+of vices. I do not believe there is another nation in Europe that eats
+so sparingly. In the morning they take a cup of coffee, generally
+without milk, sopping in it some light _brioche_. Later in the day they
+take a slight lunch of soup and macaroni, with a glass of wine. This
+lasts them until dinner, which begins with a watery soup; after which
+the _lesso_ or boiled meat comes on and is eaten with one vegetable,
+which is less a dish than a garnish to the meat; then comes a dish of
+some vegetable eaten with bread; then, perhaps, a chop, or another dish
+of meat, garnished with a vegetable; some light _dolce_ or fruit, and a
+cup of black coffee,--the latter for digestion's sake,--finish the
+repast. The quantity is very small, however, compared to what is eaten
+in England, France, America, or, though last, not least, Germany. Late
+in the evening they have a supper. When dinner is taken in the middle
+of the day, lunch is omitted. This is the rule of the better classes.
+The workmen and middle classes, after their cup of coffee and bit of
+bread or _brioche_ in the morning, take nothing until night, except
+another cup of coffee and bread,--and their dinner finishes their meals
+after their work is done. From my own observation, I should say that an
+Italian does not certainly eat more than half as much as a German, or
+two-thirds as much as an American. The climate will not allow of
+gormandizing, and much less food is required to sustain the vital
+powers than in America, where the atmosphere is so stimulating to the
+brain and the digestion, or in England, where the depressing effects of
+the climate must be counteracted by stimulants. Go to any _table
+d'hôte_ in the season, and you will at once know all the English who
+are new comers by their bottle of ale or claret or sherry or brandy;
+for the Englishman assimilates with difficulty, and unwillingly puts
+off his home-habits. The fresh American will always be recognized by
+the morning-dinner, which he calls a breakfast.
+
+If you wish to keep your health in Italy, follow the example of the
+Italians. Eat a third less than you are accustomed to at home. Do not
+drink habitually of brandy, porter, ale, or even Marsala, but confine
+yourselves to the lighter wines of the country or of France. Do not
+walk much in the sun; "only Englishmen and dogs" do that, as the
+proverb goes; and especially take heed not to expose yourself, when
+warm, to any sudden changes of temperature. If you have heated yourself
+with walking in the sun, be careful not to go at once, and especially
+towards nightfall, into the lower and shaded streets, which have begun
+to gather the damps, and which are kept cool by the high, thick walls
+of the houses. Remember that the difference of temperature is very
+great between the narrow, shaded streets and the high, sunny Pincio. If
+you have the misfortune to be of the male sex, and especially if you
+suffer under the sorrow of the first great Caesar in being bald, buy
+yourself a little skullcap, (it is as good as his laurels for the
+purpose,) and put it on your head whenever you enter the churches and
+cold galleries. Almost every fever here is the result of suddenly
+checked transpiration of the skin; and if you will take the precaution
+to cool yourself before entering churches and galleries, and not to
+expose yourself while warm to sudden changes of temperature, you may
+live twenty years in Rome without a fever. Do not stand in draughts of
+cold air, and shut your windows when you go to bed. There is nothing an
+Italian fears like a current of air, and with reason. He will never sit
+between two doors or two windows. If he has walked to see you and is in
+the least warm, pray him to keep his hat on until he is cool, if you
+would be courteous to him. You will find that he will always use the
+same _gentilezza_ to you. The reason why you should shut your windows
+at night is very simple. The night-air is invariably damp and cold,
+contrasting greatly with the warmth of the day, and it is then that the
+miasma from the Campagna drifts into the city. And oh, my American
+friends! repress your national love for hot rooms and great fires, and
+do not make an oven of your _salon_. Bake yourselves, kiln-dry
+yourselves, if you choose, in your furnaced houses at home, but, if you
+value your health, "reform that altogether" in Italy. Increase your
+clothing and suppress your fires, and you will find yourselves better
+in head and in pocket. With your great fires you will always be cold
+and always have colds; for the houses are not tight, and you only
+create great draughts thereby. You will not persuade an Italian to sit
+near them;--"_Scusa, Signore_" he will say, "_mi fa male; se non gli
+dispiace, mi metto in questo cantone_,"--and with your permission he
+takes the farthest corner away from the fire. Seven winters in Rome
+have convinced me of the correctness of their rule. Of course, you do
+not believe me or them; but it would be better for you, if you
+did,--and for me, too, when I come to visit you.
+
+But I must beg pardon for all this advice; and as my business is not to
+write a medical thesis here, let me return to pleasanter things.
+
+Scarcely does the sun drop behind St. Peter's on the first day of May,
+before bonfires begin to blaze from all the country towns on the
+mountain-sides, showing like great beacons. This is a custom founded in
+great antiquity, and common to the North and South. The first of May is
+the Festival of the Holy Apostles in Italy; but in Germany, and still
+farther north, in Sweden and Norway, it is _Walpurgisnacht_,--when
+goblins, witches, hags, and devils hold high holiday, mounting on their
+brooms for the Brocken. And it was on this night that Mephistopheles
+carried Faust on his wondrous ride, and showed him the spectre of
+Margaret with the red line round her throat. Miss Bremer, in her "Life
+in Dalecarlia," gives the following account of the origin of this
+custom:--"It is so old," she says, "that there is no perfect certainty
+either of its origin or signification. It is, however, believed that it
+derives its origin from a heathen sacrificatory festival; and there is
+ground for the acceptation that children were sacrificed alive at this
+very feast,--and this, in fact, in order to expel or reconcile the evil
+spirits, of whom the people believed, that, partly flying, partly
+riding, they commenced their passages over fields and woods at the
+beginning of spring, and which are to this day called enchanters,
+witches, nymphs, and so forth. It is also believed that about this time
+the spirits of the earth came forth from out of the bosom of the earth
+and the heart of the mountains in order to seek intercourse with the
+children of men. Fires were frequently kindled upon the sepulchral
+hills, and at these, sacrifices were offered, chiefly to the good
+powers, namely, to those who provide for a fruitful year. At present I
+should scarcely think there is an individual who believes in such
+superstitious stuff. But they still, as in days of yore, kindle fires
+upon the mountains on this night, and still look upon it as a bad omen,
+if any common or ugly-formed creature, whether beast or man, makes its
+appearance at the fire."
+
+In the Neapolitan towns great fires are built on this festival, around
+which the people dance, jumping through the flames, and flinging
+themselves about in every wild and fantastic attitude. It is probably a
+relic of some old sacrificatory festival to Maia, who has given her
+name to this month,--the custom still remaining after its significance
+is gone.
+
+The month of May is the culmination of the spring and the season of
+seasons at Rome. No wonder that foreigners who have come when winter
+sets in and take wing before April shows her sky sometimes growl at the
+weather, and ask if this is the beautiful Italian clime. They have
+simply selected the rainy season for their visit; and one cannot expect
+to have sun the whole year through, without intermission. Where will
+they find more sun in the same season? where will they find milder and
+softer air? Days even in the middle of winter, and sometimes weeks,
+descend as it were from heaven to fill the soul with delight; and a
+lovely day in Rome is lovelier than under any other sky on earth. But
+just when foreigners go away in crowds, the weather is settling into
+the perfection of spring, and then it is that Rome is most charming.
+The rains are over, the sun is a daily blessing, all Nature is bursting
+into leaf and flower, and one may spend days on the Campagna without
+fear of colds and fever. Stay in Rome during May, if you wish to feel
+its beauty.
+
+The best rule for a traveller who desires to enjoy the charms of every
+clime would be to go to the North in the winter and to the South in the
+spring and summer. Cold is the speciality of the North, and all its
+sports and gayeties take thence their tone. The houses are built to
+shut out the demon of Frost, and protect one from his assaults of ice
+and snow. Let him howl about your windows and scrawl his wonderful
+landscapes on your panes and pile his fantastic wreaths outside, while
+you draw round the blazing hearth and enjoy the artificial heat and
+warm in the social converse that he provokes. Your punch is all the
+better for his threats; by contrast you enjoy the more. Or brave him
+outside in a flying sledge, careering with jangling bells over white
+wastes of snow, while the stars, as you go, fly through the naked trees
+that are glittering with ice-jewels, and your blood tingles with
+excitement, and your breath is blown like a white incense to the skies.
+That is the real North. How tame he will look to you, when you go back
+in August and find a few hard apples, a few tough plums, and some sour
+little things which are apologies for grapes! He looks sneaky enough
+then, with his make-believe summer, and all his furs off. No, then is
+the time for the South. All is simmering outside, and the locust saws
+and shrills till he seems to heat the air. You stay in the house at
+noon, and know what a virtue there is in thick walls which keep out the
+fierce heats, in gaping windows and doors that will not shut because
+you need the ventilation. You will not now complain of the stone and
+brick floors that you cursed all winter long, and on which you now
+sprinkle water to keep the air cool in your rooms. The blunders and
+stupidities of winter are all over. The breezy _loggia_ is no longer a
+joke. You are glad enough to sit there and drink your wine and look
+over the landscape. Manuccia brings in a great basket of grapes that
+are grapes, which the wasp envies you as you eat, and comes to share.
+And here are luscious figs bursting with seedy sweetness, and apricots
+rusted in the sun, and velvety peaches that break into juice in your
+mouth, and great black-seeded _cocomeri_. Nature empties her cornucopia
+of fruits and flowers and vegetables all over your table. Luxuriously
+you enjoy them and fan yourself and take your _siesta_, with full
+appreciation of your _dolce far niente_. When the sun begins to slope
+westward, if you are in the country, you wander through the green lanes
+festooned with vines and pluck the grapes as you go; or, if you are in
+the city, you saunter the evening long through the streets, where all
+the world are strolling, and take your _granito_ of ice or sherbet, and
+talk over the things of the day and the time, and pass as you go home
+groups of singers and serenaders with guitars, flutes, and
+violins,--serenade, perhaps, sometimes, yourself; and all the time the
+great planets and stars palpitate in the near heavens, and the soft air
+full of fragrance blows against your cheek. And you can really say,
+This is Italy! For it is not what you do, so much as what you feel,
+that makes Italy.
+
+But pray remember, when you go there, that in the South every
+arrangement is made for the nine hot months, and not for the three cold
+and rainy ones you choose to spend there, and perhaps your views may be
+somewhat modified in respect of this "miserable people," who, you say,
+"have no idea of comfort,"--meaning, of course, English comfort.
+Perhaps, I say; for it is in the nature of travellers to come to sudden
+conclusions upon slight premises, to maintain with obstinacy
+preconceived notions, and to quarrel with all national traits except
+their own. And being English, unless you have a friend in India who has
+made you aware that cane-bottom chairs are India-English, you will be
+pretty sure to believe that there is no comfort without carpets and
+coal; or being an American, you will be apt to undervalue a gallery of
+pictures with only a three-ply carpet on the floor, and to "calculate,"
+that, if they could see your house in Washington Street, they would
+feel rather ashamed. However, there is a great deal of human nature in
+mankind, wherever you go,--except in Paris, perhaps, where Nature is
+rather inhuman and artificial. And when I instance the Englishman and
+American as making false judgments, let me not be misunderstood as
+supposing them the only nations in that category. No, no! did not my
+Parisian acquaintance the other day assure me very gravely, after
+lamenting the absurdity of the Italians' not speaking French instead of
+their own language,--"But, Sir, what is this Italian? nothing but bad
+French!"--and did not another of that same polished nation, in
+describing his travels to Naples, say, in answer to the question,
+whether he had seen the grand old temples of Paestum,--"Ah, yes, I have
+seen Paestum; 'tis a detestable country!--like the Campagna of Rome"? I
+am perfectly aware that there are differences of opinion.
+
+Let me, then, beg you to remain in Rome during the mouth of May, if
+you can possibly make your arrangements to do so.
+
+May is the month of the Madonna, and on every _festa_-day you will see
+at the corners of the streets a little improvised shrine, or it may be
+only a festooned print of the Madonna hung against the walls of some
+house or against the back of a chair, and tended by two or three
+children, who hold out to you a plate, as you pass, and beg for
+charity, sometimes, I confess, in the most pertinacious way,--the money
+thus raised to be expended in oil for the lamps before the Madonna
+shrines in the streets. The monasteries of nuns are also busy with
+processions and celebrations in honor of "the Mother of God," which are
+carried on pleasantly within their precincts and seen only of female
+friends. Sometimes you will meet a procession of ladies outside the
+gates following a cross on foot, while their carriages come after in a
+long file. These are societies which are making the pilgrimage of the
+Seven Basilicas outside the Walls. They set out early in the morning,
+stopping in each basilica for a half-hour to say their prayers, and
+return to Rome at Ave Maria.
+
+Life, too, is altogether changed now. All the windows are wide open,
+and there is at least one head and shoulders leaning out at every
+house. And the poorer families are all out on their door-steps, working
+and chatting together, while their children run about them in the
+streets, sprawling, playing, and fighting. Many a beautiful theme for
+the artist is now to be found in these careless and characteristic
+groups; and curly-headed Saint Johns may be seen in every street, half
+naked, with great black eyes and rounded arms and legs. It is this
+which makes Rome so admirable a residence for an artist. All things are
+easy and careless in the out-of-doors life of the common people,--all
+poses unsought, all groupings accidental, all action unaffected and
+unconscious. One meets Nature at every turn,--not braced up in prim
+forms, not conscious in manners, not made up into the fashionable or
+the proper, but impulsive, free, and simple. With the whole street
+looking on, they are as unconscious and natural as if they were where
+no eye could see them,--ay, and more natural, too, than it is possible
+for some people to be, even in the privacy of their solitary rooms.
+They sing at the top of their lungs as they sit on their door-steps at
+their work, and often shout from house to house across the street a
+long conversation, and sometimes even read letters from upper windows
+to their friends below in the street. The men and women who cry their
+fruits, vegetables, and wares up and down the city, laden with baskets
+or panniers, and often accompanied by a donkey, stop to chat with group
+after group, or get into animated debates about prices, or exercise
+their wits and lungs at once in repartee in a very amusing way.
+Everybody is in dishabille in the morning, but towards twilight the
+girls put on their better dresses, and comb their glossy raven hair,
+heaping it up in great solid braids, and, hanging two long golden
+ear-rings in their ears and _collane_ round their full necks, come
+forth conquering and to conquer, and saunter bare-headed up and down
+the streets, or lounge about the doorways or piazzas in groups, ready
+to give back to any jeerer as good as he sends. You see them marching
+along sometimes in a broad platoon of five or six, all their brows as
+straight as if they had been ruled, and their great dark eyes flashing
+out under them, ready in a moment for a laugh or a frown. What stalwart
+creatures they are! What shoulders, bosoms, and backs they have! what a
+chance for the lungs under those stout _busti_! and what finished and
+elegant heads! They are certainly cast in a large mould, with nothing
+belittled or meagre about them, either in feature or figure.
+
+Early in the morning you will see streaming through the streets or
+gathered together in picturesque groups, some standing, some couching
+on the pavement, herds of long-haired goats, brown and white and black,
+which have been driven, or rather which have followed their shepherd,
+into the city to be milked. The majestical, long-bearded, patriarchal
+rams shake their bells and parade solemnly round,--while the silken
+females clatter their little hoofs as they run from the hand of the
+milker when he has filled his can. The shepherd is kept pretty busy,
+too, milking at everybody's door; and before the fashionable world is
+up at nine, the milk is gone and the goats are off.
+
+You may know that it is May by the orange and lemon stands, which are
+erected in almost every piazza. These are little booths covered with
+canvas, and fantastically adorned with lemons and oranges intermixed,
+which, piled into pyramids and disposed about everywhere, have a very
+gay effect. They are generally placed near a fountain, the water of
+which is conducted through a _canna_ into the centre of the booth, and
+there, finding its own level again, makes a little spilling fountain
+from which the _bibite_ are diluted. Here for a _baiocco_ one buys
+lemonade or orangeade and all sorts of curious little drinks or
+_bibite_, with a feeble taste of anisette or some other herb to take
+off the mawkishness of the water,--or for a half-_baiocco_ one may have
+the lemonade without sugar, and in this way it is usually drunk. On all
+_festa_-days, little portable tables are carried round the streets,
+hung to the neck of the _limonaro_, and set down at convenient spots,
+or whenever a customer presents himself, and the cries of "_Acqua
+fresca,--limonaro, limonaro,--chi vuol bere?_" are heard on all sides;
+and I can assure you, that, after standing on tiptoe for an hour in the
+heat and straining your neck and head to get sight of some Church
+procession, you are glad enough to go to the extravagance of even a
+lemonade with sugar; and smacking your lips, you bless the institution
+of the _limonaro_ as one which must have been early instituted by the
+Good Samaritan. Listen to his own description of himself in one of the
+popular _canzonetti_ sung about the streets by wandering musicians to
+the accompaniment of a violin and guitar:--
+
+  "Ma per altro son uomo ingegnoso,
+    Non possiedo, ma sono padrone;
+    Vendo l' acqua con spirto e limone
+  Finche dura d' estate il calor.
+
+  "Ho an capello di paglia,--ma bello!
+    Un zinale di sopra fino;
+    Chi mi osserva nel mio tavolino,
+  Gli vien sete, se sete non ha.
+
+  "Spaccio spirti, siroppi, acquavite
+    Fo 'ranciate di nuova invenzione;
+    Voi vedete quante persone
+  Chiedon acqua,--e rispondo,--Son quŕ!"
+
+The _limonaro_ is the exponent, the algebraic power, of the Church
+processions which abound this month; and he is as faithful to them as
+Boswell to Johnson;--wherever they appear, he is there to console and
+refresh. Nor is his office a sinecure now; and let us hope that he has
+his small profits, as well as the Church,--though they spell theirs
+differently.
+
+The great procession of the year takes place this month on Corpus
+Domini, and is well worth seeing, as being the very finest and most
+characteristic of all the Church festivals. It was instituted in honor
+of the famous miracle at Bolsena, when the wafer dripped blood, and is,
+therefore, in commemoration of one of the cardinal doctrines of the
+Roman Church, Transubstantiation, and one of its most theological
+miracles. The Papal procession takes place in the morning, in the
+piazza of Saint Peter's; and if you would be sure of it, you must be on
+the spot as soon as eight o'clock at the latest. The whole circle of
+the piazza itself is covered with an awning, festooned gayly with
+garlands of box, under which the procession passes; and the ground is
+covered with yellow sand, over which box and bay are strewn. The
+celebration commences with morning mass in the basilica, and that over,
+the procession issues from one door, and, making the whole circuit of
+the piazza, returns into the church. First come the _Seminaristi_, or
+scholars and attendants of the various hospitals and charity-schools,
+such as San Michele and Santo Spirito,--all in white. Then follow the
+brown-cowled, long-bearded Franciscans, the white Carmelites, and the
+black Benedictines, bearing lighted candles and chanting hoarsely as
+they go. You may see pass before you now all the members of these
+different conventual orders that there are in Rome, and have an
+admirable opportunity to study their physiognomies in mass. If you are
+a convert to Romanism, you will perhaps find in their bald beads and
+shaven crowns and bearded faces a noble expression of reverence and
+humility; but, suffering as I do under the misfortune of being a
+heretic, I could but remark on their heads an enormous development of
+the two organs of reverence and firmness, and a singular deficiency in
+the upper forehead, while there was an almost universal enlargement of
+the lower jaw and of the base of the brain. Being, unfortunately, a
+friend of Phrenology, as well as a heretic, I drew no very auspicious
+augury from these developments; and looking into their faces, the
+physiognomical traits were narrow-mindedness, bigotry, or cunning. The
+Benedictine heads showed more intellect and will; the Franciscans more
+dulness and good-nature.
+
+But while I am criticizing them, they are passing by, and a picturesque
+set of fellows they are. Much as I dislike the conventual creed, I
+should be sorry to see the costume disappear. Directly on the heels of
+their poverty come the three splendid triple crowns of the Pope,
+glittering with gorgeous jewels, and borne in triumph on silken
+embroidered cushions, and preceded by the court jeweller. After them
+follow the chapters, canons, and choirs of the seven basilicas,
+chanting in lofty altos and solid basses and clear ringing tenors from
+their old Church books, each basilica bearing a typical tent of colored
+stripes and a wooden campanile and a bell which is constantly rung.
+Next come the canons of the churches and the _monsignori_, in splendid
+dresses and rich capes of beautiful lace falling below their waists;
+the bishops clad in cloth of silver with mitres on their heads; the
+cardinals brilliant in gold embroidery and gleaming in the sun; and at
+last the Pope himself, borne on a platform splendid with silver and
+gold, with a rich canopy over his head. Beneath this he kneels, or
+rather, seems to kneel; for, though his splendid draperies and train
+are skilfully arranged so as to present this semblance, being drawn
+behind him over two blocks which are so placed as to represent his
+heels, yet in fact he is seated on a sunken bench or chair, as any
+careful eye can plainly see. However, kneeling or sitting, just as you
+will, there he is, before an altar, holding up the _ostia_, which is
+the _corpus Domini_, "the body of God," and surrounded by officers of
+the Swiss guards in glittering armor, chamberlains in their beautiful
+black and Spanish dresses with ruffs and swords, attendants in scarlet
+and purple costumes, and the _guardia nobile_ in their red dress
+uniforms. Nothing could be more striking than this group. It is the
+very type of the Church,--pompous, rich, splendid, imposing. After them
+follow the dragoons mounted,--first a company on black horses, then
+another on bays, and then a third on grays; foot-soldiers with flashing
+bayonets bring up the rear, and the procession is over. As the last
+soldiers enter the church, there is a stir among the gilt equipages of
+the cardinals which line one side of the piazza,--the horses toss their
+scarlet plumes, the liveried servants sway as the carriages lumber on,
+and you may spend a half-hour hunting out your own humble vehicle, if
+you have one, or throng homeward on foot with the crowd through the
+Borgo and over the bridge of Sant' Angelo.
+
+This grand procession strikes the note of all the others, and in the
+afternoon each parish brings out its banners, arrays itself in its
+choicest dresses, and with pomp and music bears the _ostia_ through the
+streets, the crowd kneeling before it, and the priests chanting. During
+the next _ottava_ or eight days, all the processions take place in
+honor of this festival; and when the week has passed, everything ends
+with the Papal procession in Saint Peter's piazza, when, without music,
+and with uncovered heads, the Pope, cardinals, _monsignori_, canons,
+and the rest of the priests and officials, make the round of the
+piazza, bearing great Church banners.
+
+One of the most striking of their celebrations took place this year at
+the church of San Rocco in the Ripetta, when the church was made
+splendid with lighted candles and gold bands, and a preacher held forth
+to a crowded audience in the afternoon. At Ave Maria there was a great
+procession, with banners, music, and torches, and all the evening the
+people sauntered to and fro in crowds before the church, where a
+platform was erected and draped with old tapestries, from which a band
+played constantly. Do not believe, my dear Presbyterian friend, that
+these spectacles fail deeply to affect the common mind. So long as
+human nature remains the same, this splendor and pomp of processions,
+these lighted torches and ornamented churches, this triumphant music
+and glad holiday of religion will attract more than your plain
+conventicles, your ugly meeting-houses, and your compromise with the
+bass-viol. For my own part, I do not believe that music and painting
+and all the other arts really belong to the Devil, or that God gave him
+joy and beauty to deceive with, and kept only the ugly, sour, and sad
+for himself. We are always better when we are happy; and we are about
+as sure of being good when we are happy, as of being happy when we are
+good. Cheerfulness and happiness are, in my humble opinion, duties and
+habits to be cultivated; but, if you don't think so, I certainly would
+not deny you the privilege of being wretched: don't let us quarrel
+about it.
+
+Rather let us turn to the Artists' Festival, which takes place in this
+month, and is one of the great attractions of the season. Formerly,
+this festival took place at Cerbara, an ancient Etruscan town on the
+Campagna, of which only certain subterranean caves remain. But during
+the revolutionary days which followed the disasters of 1848, it was
+suspended for two or three years by the interdict of the Papal
+government, and when it was again instituted, the place of meeting was
+changed to Fidenae, the site of another Etruscan town, with similar
+subterranean excavations, which were made the head-quarters of the
+festival. But the new railway to Bologna having been laid out directly
+over this ground, the artists have been again driven away, and this
+year the _festa_ was held, for the first time, in the grove of Egeria,
+one of the most beautiful spots on the whole Campagna,--and here it is
+to be hoped it will have an abiding rest.
+
+This festival was instituted by the German artists, and, though the
+artists of all nations now join in it, the Germans still remain its
+special patrons and directors. Early in the morning, the artists
+rendezvous at an appointed _osteria_ outside the walls, dressed in
+every sort of grotesque and ludicrous costume which can be imagined.
+All the old dresses which can be rummaged out of the studios or
+theatres, or pieced together from masking wardrobes, are now in
+requisition. Indians and Chinese, ancient warriors and mediaeval
+heroes, militia-men and Punches, generals in top-boots and pigtails,
+doctors in gigantic wigs and small-clothes, Falstaffs and justices
+"with fair round belly with good capon lined," magnificent foolscaps,
+wooden swords with terrible inscriptions, gigantic chapeaus with plumes
+made of vegetables, in a word, every imaginable absurdity is to be
+seen. Arrived at the place of rendezvous, they all breakfast, and then
+the line of march is arranged. A great wooden cart, adorned with quaint
+devices, garlanded with laurel and bay, bears the president and
+committee. This is drawn by great white oxen, who are decorated with
+wreaths and flowers and gay trappings, and from it floats the noble
+banner of Cerbara or Fidenae. After this follows a strange and motley
+train,--some mounted on donkeys, some on horses, and some afoot,--and
+the line of march is taken up for the grove of Egeria. What mad jests
+and wild fun now take place it is impossible to describe; suffice it to
+say, that all are right glad of a little rest when they reach their
+destination.
+
+Now begin to stream out from the city hundreds of carriages,--for all
+the world will be abroad to-day to see,--and soon the green slopes are
+swarming with gay crowds. Some bring with them a hamper of provisions
+and wine, and, spreading them on the grass, lunch and dine when and
+where they will; but those who would dine with the artists must have
+the order of the _mezzo baiocco_ hanging to their buttonhole, which is
+distributed previously in Rome to all the artists who purchase tickets.
+Some few there are who also bear upon their breasts the nobler medal of
+_troppo merito_, gained on previous days, and those are looked upon
+with due reverence.
+
+But before dinner or lunch there is a high ceremony to take place,--the
+great feature of the day. It is the mock-heroic play. This year it was
+the meeting of Numa with the nymph Egeria at the grotto; and thither
+went the festive procession; and the priest, befilletted and draped in
+white, burned upon the altar as a sacrifice a great toy sheep, whose
+offence "smelt to heaven"; and then from the niches suddenly appeared
+Numa, a gallant youth in spectacles, and Egeria, a Spanish artist with
+white dress and fillet, who made vows over the smoking sheep, and then
+were escorted back to the sacred grove with festal music by a joyous,
+turbulent crowd.
+
+Last year, however, at Fidenae, it was better. We had a travesty of the
+taking of Troy, which was eminently ludicrous, and which deserves a
+better description than I can give. Troy was a space inclosed within
+paper barriers, about breast-high, painted "to present a wall," and
+within these were the Trojans, clad in red, and all wearing gigantic
+paper helmets. There was old Priam, in spectacles, with his crown and
+robes,--Laocoön, in white, with a white wool beard and wig,--Ulysses,
+in a long, yellow beard and mantle,--and Aeneas, with a bald head, in a
+blue, long-tailed coat, and tall dickey, looking like the traditional
+Englishman in the circus who comes to hire the horse. The Grecians were
+encamped at a short distance. All had round, basket-work shields,--some
+with their names painted on them in great letters, and some with an odd
+device, such as a cat or pig. There were Ulysses, Agamemnon, Ajax,
+Nestor, Patroclus, Diomedes, Achilles, "all honorable men." The drama
+commenced with the issuing of Paris and Helen from the walls of
+Troy,--he in a tall, black French hat, girdled with a gilt crown, and
+she in a white dress, with a great wig hanging round her face in a
+profusion of carrotty curls. Queer figures enough they were, as they
+stepped along together, caricaturing love in a pantomime, he making
+terrible demonstrations of his ardent passion, and she finally falling
+on his neck in rapture. This over, they seated themselves near by two
+large pasteboard rocks, he sitting on his shield and taking out his
+flute to play to her, while she brought forth her knitting and ogled
+him as he played. While they were thus engaged, came creeping up with
+the stage stride of a double step, and dragging one foot behind him,
+Menelaus, whom Thersites had, meantime, been taunting, by pointing at
+him two great ox-horns. He walked all round the lovers, pantomiming
+rage and jealousy in the accredited ballet style, and then, suddenly
+approaching, crushed poor Paris's great black hat down over his eyes.
+Both, very much frightened, then took to their heels and rushed into
+the city, while Menelaus, after shaking Paris's shield, in defiance, at
+the walls, retired to the Grecian camp. Then came the preparations for
+battle. The Trojans leaned over their paper battlements, with their
+fingers to their noses, twiddling them in scorn, while the Greeks shook
+their fists back at them. The battle now commenced on the
+"ringing-plains of Troy," and was eminently absurd. Paris, in hat and
+pantaloons, (_ŕ la mode de Paris_,) soon showed the white feather, and
+incontinently fled. Everybody hit nowhere, fiercely striking the ground
+or the shields, and always carefully avoiding, as on the stage, to hit
+in the right place. At last, however, Patroclus was killed, whereupon
+the battle was suspended, and a grand _tableau_ of surprise and horror
+took place, from which at last they recovered, and the Greeks prepared
+to carry him off on their shoulders. Then terrible to behold was the
+grief of Achilles. Homer himself would have wept to see him. He flung
+himself on the body, and shrieked, and tore his hair, and violently
+shook the corpse, which, under such demonstrations, now and then kicked
+up. Finally, he rises and challenges Hector to single combat, and out
+comes the valiant Trojan, and a duel ensues with wooden axes. Such
+blows and counter blows were never seen, only they never hit, but often
+whirled the warrior who dealt them completely round; they tumbled over
+their own blows, panted with feigned rage, lost their robes and great
+pasteboard helmets, and were even more absurd than Richmond and Richard
+ever were on the country boards at a fifth-rate theatre. But Hector is
+at last slain and borne away, and a ludicrous lay figure is laid out to
+represent him, with bunged-up eyes and a general flabbiness of body and
+want of features, charming to behold. On their necks the Trojans bear
+him to their walls, and with a sudden jerk pitch him over them head
+first, and he tumbles, in a heap, into the city. Then Ulysses harangues
+the Greeks. He has brought out a _quarteruola_ barrel of wine, which,
+with most expressive pantomime, he shows to be the wooden horse that
+must be carried into Troy. His proposition is joyfully accepted, and,
+accompanied by all, he rolls the cask up to the walls, and, flourishing
+a tin cup in one hand, invites the Trojans to partake. At first there
+is confusion in the city, and fingers are twiddled over the walls, but
+after a time all go out and drink, and become ludicrously drunk, and
+stagger about, embracing each other in the most maudlin style. Even
+Helen herself comes out, gets tipsy with the rest, and dances about
+like the most disreputable of Maenades. A great scena, however, takes
+place as they are about to drink. Laocoön, got up in white wool,
+appears, and violently endeavors to dissuade them, but in vain. In the
+midst of his harangue, a long string of blown up sausage-skins is
+dragged in for the serpent, and suddenly cast about his neck. His sons
+and he then form a group, the sausage-snake is twined about them,--only
+the old story is reversed, and he bites the serpent instead of the
+serpent biting him,--and all die in agony, travestying the ancient
+group.
+
+All, being now drunk, go in, and Ulysses with them. A quantity of straw
+is kindled, the smoke rises, the Greeks approach and dash in the paper
+walls with clubs, and all is confusion. Then Aeneas, in his blue
+long-tailed circus-coat, broad white hat, and tall shirt-collar,
+carries off old Anchises on his shoulders with a cigar in his mouth,
+and bears him to a painted section of a vessel, which is rocked to and
+fro by hand, as if violently agitated by the waves. Aeneas and Anchises
+enter the boat, or rather stand behind it so as to conceal their legs,
+and off it sets, rocked to and fro constantly,--Aeolus and Tramontana
+following behind, with bellows to blow up a wind, and Fair Weather,
+with his name written on big back, accompanying them. The violent
+motion, however, soon makes Aeneas sick, and as he leans over the side
+in a helpless and melancholy manner, and almost gives up the ghost, as
+well as more material things, the crowd burst into laughter. However,
+at last they reach two painted rocks, and found Latium, and a general
+rejoicing takes place.--The donkey who was to have ended all by
+dragging the body of Hector round the walls came too late, and this
+part of the programme did not take place.
+
+So much of the entertainment over, preparations are made for dinner. In
+the grove of Egeria the plates are spread in circles, while all the
+company sing part-songs and dance. At last all is ready, the signal is
+given, and the feast takes place after the most rustic manner. Great
+barrels of wine covered with green branches stand at one side, from
+which flagons are filled and passed round, and the good appetites soon
+make direful gaps in the beef and mighty plates of lettuce. After this,
+and a little sauntering about for digestion's sake, come the afternoon
+sports. And there are donkey races, and tilting at a ring, and
+foot-races, and running in sacks. Nothing can be more picturesque than
+the scene, with its motley masqueraders, its crowds of spectators
+seated along the slopes, its little tents here and there, its races in
+the valley, and, above all, the glorious mountains looking down from
+the distance. Not till the golden light slopes over the Campagna,
+gilding the skeletons of aqueducts, and drawing a delicate veil of
+beauty over the mountains, can we tear ourselves away, and rattle back
+in our carriage to Rome.
+
+The wealthy Roman families, who have villas in the immediate vicinity
+of Rome, now leave the city to spend a month in them and breathe the
+fresh air of spring. Many and many a tradesman who is well to do in the
+world has a little _vigna_ outside the gates, where he raises
+vegetables and grapes and other fruits; and every _festa_-day you will
+be sure to find him and his family out in his little _villetta_,
+wandering about the grounds or sitting beneath his arbors, smoking and
+chatting with his children around him. His friends who have no villas
+of their own here visit him, and often there is a considerable company
+thus collected, who, if one may judge from their cheerful countenances
+and much laughter, enjoy themselves mightily. Knock at any of these
+villa-gates, and, if you happen to have the acquaintance of the owner,
+or are evidently a stranger of respectability, you will be received
+with much hospitality, invited to partake of the fruit and wine, and
+overwhelmed with thanks for your _gentilezza_ when you take your leave;
+for the Italians are a most good-natured and social people, and nothing
+pleases them better than a stranger who breaks the common round of
+topics by accounts of his own land. Everything new is to them
+wonderful, just as it is to a child. They are credulous of everything
+you tell them about America, which is to them in some measure what it
+was to the English in the days of Raleigh, Drake, and Hawkins, and say
+"_Per Bacco!_" to every new statement. And they are so magnificently
+ignorant, that you have _carte blanche_ for your stories. Never did I
+know any one staggered by anything I chose to say, but once. I was
+walking with my respectable old _padrone_, Nisi, about his little
+garden one day, when an ambition to know something about America
+inflamed his breast.
+
+"Are there any mountains?" he asked.
+
+I told him "Yes," and, with a chuckle of delight, he cried,--
+
+"_Per Bacco!_ And have you any cities?"
+
+"Yes, a few little ones,"--for I thought I would sing small, contrary
+to the general "'Ercles vein" of my countrymen. He was evidently
+pleased that they were small, and, swelling with natural pride, said,--
+
+"Large as Rome, of course, they could not be"; then, after a moment, he
+added, interrogatively, "And rivers, too,--have you any rivers?"
+
+"A few," I answered.
+
+"But not as large as our Tiber," he replied,--feeling assured, that, if
+the cities were smaller than Rome, as a necessary consequence, the
+rivers that flowed by them must be in the same category.
+
+The bait now offered was too tempting. I measured my respectable and
+somewhat obese friend carefully with my eye, for a moment, and then
+hurled this terrible fact at him:--
+
+"We have some rivers three thousand miles long."
+
+The effect was awful. He stood and stared at me, as if petrified, for a
+moment. Then the blood rushed into his face, and, turning on his heel,
+he took off his hat, said suddenly, "_Buona sera_," and carried my fact
+and his opinions together up into his private room. I am afraid that
+Don Pietro decided, on consideration, that I had been taking
+unwarrantable liberties with him, and exceeding all proper bounds, in
+my attempt to impose on his good-nature. From that time forward he
+asked me no more questions about America.
+
+And here, by the way, I am reminded of an incident, which, though not
+exactly pertinent, may find here a parenthetical place, merely as
+illustrating some points of Italian character. One fact and two names
+relating to America they know universally,--Columbus and his discovery
+of America, and Washington.
+
+"_Sě, Signore_," said a respectable person some time since, as he was
+driving me to see a carriage which he wished to sell me, and therefore
+desired to be particularly polite to me and my nation,--"a great man,
+your Vashintoni! but I was sorry to hear, the other day, that his
+father had died in London."
+
+"His father dead, and in London?" I stammered, completely confounded at
+this extraordinary news, and fearing lest I had been too stupid in
+misunderstanding him.
+
+"Yes," he said, "it is too true that his father Vellintoni is dead. I
+read it in the _Diario di Roma_."
+
+But better than this was the ingenious argument of a _Frate_, whom I
+met on board a steamer in going from Leghorn to Genoa, and who, having
+pumped out the fact that I was an American, immediately began to
+"improve" it in a discourse on Columbus. So he informed me that
+Columbus was an Italian, and that he had discovered America, and was a
+remarkable man; to all of which I readily assented, as being true, if
+not new. But now a severe abstract question began to tax my friend's
+powers. He said, "But how could he ever have imagined that the
+continent of America was there? That's the question. It is
+extraordinary indeed!" And so he sat cogitating, and saying, at
+intervals, "_Curioso! Straordinario!_" At last "a light broke in upon
+his brain." Some little bird whispered the secret. His face lightened,
+and, looking at me, he said, "Perhaps he may have read that it was
+there in some old book, and so went to see if it were or no." Vainly I
+endeavored to show him that this view would deprive Columbus of his
+greatest distinction. He answered invariably, "But without having read
+it, how could he ever have known it?"--thus putting the earth upon the
+tortoise and leaving the tortoise to account for his own support.
+
+Imagine that I have told you these stories sitting under the vine and
+fig-tree of some _villetta_, while Angiolina has gone to call the
+_padrone_, who will only be too glad to see you. But, _ecco!_ at last
+our _padrone_ comes. No, it is not the _padrone_, it is the
+_vignarualo_, who takes care of his grapes and garden, and who
+recognizes us as friends of the _padrone_, and tells us that we are
+ourselves _padroni_ of the whole place, and offers us all sorts of
+fruits.
+
+One old custom, which existed in Rome some fifteen years ago, has now
+passed away with other good old things. It was the celebration of the
+_Fravolata_ or Strawberry-Feast, when men in gala-dress at the height
+of the strawberry-season went in procession through the streets,
+carrying on their heads enormous wooden platters heaped with this
+delicious fruit, accompanied by girls in costume, who, beating their
+_tamburelli_, danced along at their sides and sung the praises of the
+strawberry. After threading the streets of the city, they passed
+singing out of the gates, and at different places on the Campagna spent
+the day in festive sports and had an out-door dinner and dance.
+
+One of these festivals still exists, however, in the picturesque town
+of Genzano, which lies above the old crater now filled with the still
+waters of Lake Nemi, and is called the _Infiorata di Genzano_, "The
+Flower-Festival of Genzano." It takes place on the eighth day of the
+Corpus Domini, and receives its name from the popular custom of
+spreading flowers upon the pavements of the streets so as to represent
+heraldic devices, figures, arabesques, and all sorts of ornamental
+designs. The people are all dressed in their effective costumes,--the
+girls in _busti_ and silken skirts, with all their corals and jewels
+on, and the men with white stockings on their legs, their velvet
+jackets dropping over one shoulder, and flowers and rosettes in their
+conical hats. The town is then very gay, the bells clang, the incense
+steams from the censer in the church, where the organ peals and mass is
+said, and a brilliant procession marches over the strewn flower-mosaic,
+with music and crucifixes and Church-banners. Hundreds of strangers,
+too, are there to look on; and on the Cesarini Piazza and under the
+shadow of the long avenues of ilexes that lead to the tower are
+hundreds of handsome girls, with their snowy _tovaglie_ peaked over
+their heads. The rub and thrum of _tamburelli_ and the clicking of
+castanets are heard, too, as twilight comes on, and the _salterello_ is
+danced by many a group. This is the national Roman dance, and is named
+from the little jumping step which characterizes it. Any number of
+couples dance it, though the dance is perfect with two. Some of the
+movements are very graceful and piquant, and particularly that where
+one of the dancers kneels and whirls her arms on high, clicking her
+castanets, while the other circles her round and round, striking his
+hands together, and approaching nearer and nearer, till he is ready to
+give her a kiss, which she refuses: of course it is the old story of
+every national dance,--love and repulse, love and repulse, until the
+maiden yields. As one couple panting and rosy retires, another fresh
+one takes its place, while the bystanders play on the accordion the
+whirling, circling, never-ending tune of the Tarantella, which would
+"put a spirit of youth in everything."
+
+If you are tired of the festival, roam up a few paces out of the crowd,
+and you stand upon the brink of Lake Nemi. Over opposite, and crowning
+the height where the little town of Nemi perches, frowns the old feudal
+castle of the Colonna, with its tall, round tower, where many a
+princely family has dwelt and many an unprincely act has been done.
+There, in turn, have dwelt the Colonna, Borgia, Piccolomini, Cenci,
+Frangipani, and Braschi, and there the descendants of the last-named
+family still pass a few weeks in the summer.[1] Below you, silent and
+silvery, lies the lake itself,--and rising around it, like a green
+bowl, tower its richly wooded banks, covered with gigantic oaks,
+ilexes, and chestnuts. This was the ancient grove dedicated to Diana,
+which extended to L'Ariccia; and here are still to be seen the vestiges
+of an ancient villa built by Julius Caesar. Here, too, if you trust
+some of the antiquaries, once stood the temple of Diana Nemorensis,[2]
+where human sacrifices were offered, and whose chief-priest, called
+_Rex Nemorensis_, obtained his office by slaying his predecessor, and
+reigned over these groves by force of his personal arm. Times have,
+indeed, changed since the priesthood was thus won and baptized by
+blood; and as you stand there, and look, on the one side, at the site
+of this ancient temple, which some of the gigantic chestnut-trees may
+almost have seen in their youth, and, on the other side, at the
+campanile of the Catholic church at Genzano, with its flower-strewn
+pavements, you may have as sharp a contrast between the past and the
+present as can easily be found.
+
+[Footnote 1: On the Genzano side stands the castellated villa of the
+Cesarini Sforza, looking peacefully across the lake at the rival tower,
+which in the old baronial days it used to challenge,--and in its
+garden-pond you may see stately white swans oaring their way with rosy
+feet along.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The better opinion of late seems to be that it was on the
+slopes of the Val d'Ariccia. But "who shall decide, when doctors
+disagree?"]
+
+
+
+
+THRENODIA.
+
+
+ADDRESSED TO ALFRED TENNYSON, P.L., IN RESPONSE TO VERSES OF HIS "ON A
+LATE EVENT IN ENGLAND."
+
+  I heard you In your English home,--
+I read you by my little brook,
+  Thousands of miles from British foam,
+Hid in my dear New England nook:
+But heard you with a sullen look;
+  But read you with a gloomy brow;
+And thus unto my Muse I spoke:--
+  Who is there to write history now?
+
+  Hallam is dead! and Prescott gone!
+And Irving sleeps at Sunnyside!
+  And now that Lord has wandered on,
+Whose laurels must with theirs abide:
+I greatly mourned the man who died
+  First on this dismal roll of death,--
+And him, of all observers eyed,
+  My townsman here, who spent his breath
+
+  In telling of the things of Spain,
+And doing friendly things to friends,
+  Prescott, well known beyond the main
+And past the Pillars, to earth's ends:
+Both had my tears: but England sends
+  Another word across the seas,
+Might rouse the dying from his bed:
+  Oh, bear it gently, ocean-breeze!
+That bitter word,--Thy friend is dead!
+
+  Macaulay dead, who made to live
+Past kingdoms, with his vivid brain!
+  Who could such warmth to shadows give,
+By the mere magic of his pen,
+That Charles and England rose again!
+  Well sleeps he 'mid the Abbey's dust:
+And, Laureate! thy funereal verse
+  Shall have such echo as it must
+From hearts just wrung at Irving's hearse.
+
+  These are two names to mark the year
+As one of memorable woe,
+  Two men to the two nations dear
+Laid in one fatal winter low!
+About the streets the mourners go;
+  But I within my chamber rest,
+Or walk the room with measured tread,
+  Murmuring, with head upon my breast,
+My God! and is Macaulay dead?
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL MIRANDA'S EXPEDITION.
+
+
+In November, 1805, a good-looking foreigner, gentlemanlike in dress
+and in manner, and apparently fifty years of age, arrived in New York
+from England, and took lodgings at Mrs. Avery's, State Street. He
+called himself George Martin; but this incognito was intended only for
+the vulgar. Some of the principal citizens of New York, who recollected
+his first visit to this country twenty years before, knew him as Don
+Francisco de Miranda of Caracas, one of the most distinguished
+adventurers of that revolutionary era,--a favorite of the Empress of
+Russia, a friend of Mr. Pitt, and second in command under Dumouriez in
+the Belgian campaign of 1793. To these gentlemen he avowed that for
+many years he had meditated the independence of the Spanish-American
+Colonies, and meant to make an attempt to carry out his plans. On
+Evacuation Day, a New York festival, which is now nearly worn out, they
+invited him to a Corporation dinner, as a foreign officer of rank, and
+toasted him, wishing him the same success in South America that we had
+had here. He then went to Washington, under the name of Molini. There,
+as everywhere, he was received by the best society as General Miranda.
+The President and the Secretary of State, Mr. Madison, granted him
+several private interviews. In January he returned to New York,--and on
+the 2d of February departed thence mysteriously in the Leander, a ship
+belonging to Mr. Samuel G. Ogden, merchant.
+
+While the Leander lay at anchor off Staten Island, a gentleman notified
+the Naval Officer of the Port, that large quantities of arms and
+ammunition had been taken on board of her in boats, at night. He was
+informed in return, that the Leander was cleared for Jacquemel, and
+that no law existed to prevent her from sailing. No other attempt was
+made to detain her; but a few weeks later, rumors affecting the
+character of the ship broke out in a more decided form. It was
+generally believed at the Tontine Coffee-House that the Leander had
+been fitted out by Miranda to attack the Spanish possessions in the
+West India Islands or on the Main. And yet the New York journals took
+no notice of her until the 21st of February, nineteen days after she
+sailed. In the mean time the Marquis Yrujo, backed by the French
+Ambassador, had made a formal complaint to Government, and had caused
+the insertion in the "Philadelphia Gazette" of a series of
+interrogatories to Mr. Madison, which indirectly accused the
+Administration of encouraging Miranda's preparations, or at least of
+conniving at the expedition. This perverse Marquis, who gave Mr.
+Jefferson a taste of the annoyance which Genet, Adet, and Fauchet had
+inflicted upon the previous administrations, was clamorous and
+persisting. The authorities in Washington thought it proper to order
+the arrest of Mr. Ogden, and of Colonel William Smith, son-in-law of
+John Adams and Surveyor of the Port of New York, under the Act of 1794.
+The prisoners were taken before Judge Tallmadge of the United States
+District Court. They were refused counsel, and were forced by threats
+of imprisonment to submit to a searching examination. They were then
+held to bail, both as principals and witnesses, in the sum of twenty
+thousand dollars. Soon after, the President removed Colonel Smith from
+his office.
+
+Such a waste of editorial raw-material appears very singular to
+newspaper-readers of the present day, accustomed as they are to see in
+print everything that has happened or that might have happened; but we
+must recollect that our grandfathers found the excitement necessary to
+civilized man in party politics, national and local. This game they
+played with a fierce eagerness which is now limited to a small class of
+inferior men.
+
+To the violence and personal spitefulness of their newspaper articles
+we have fortunately nothing comparable, even in the speeches of
+Honorable Members on Helper and John Brown. The "_Tu quoque_" and the
+"_Vos damnamini_" were their favorite logical processes, and "Fool" and
+"Liar" the simple and conclusive arguments with which they established
+a principle. Not that these ancients suffered at all from a lack of
+stirring news. Bonaparte's wonderful campaigns, (Austerlitz had just
+been heard of in New York,) the outrages on our sailors by English
+cruisers, our merchantmen plundered by French and Spanish privateers,
+the irritating behavior of the Dons in Louisiana, kept them abundantly
+supplied with this staff of mental life. But they did not care much for
+news in the abstract as news, unless they could work it up into
+political ammunition and discharge it at each other's heads. We must
+not forget, too, that newspaper-editing, the "California of the
+spiritually vagabond," as Carlyle calls it, was a recent discovery, and
+that the rich mine was but surface-worked. "Our own Reporter" was, like
+Milton's original lion, only half unearthed; and deep hidden from
+mortal eyes as yet lay the sensation-items-man, who has made the
+last-dying-speech-and-confession style of literature the principal
+element of our daily press.
+
+At last the Federal editors gave tongue. It was high time; the town was
+in an uproar. They perceived that Miranda might become a useful ally
+against Mr. T. Jefferson. His expedition came opportunely, as the
+Mammoth Cheese and Black Sally were beginning to grow stale. Mr. Lang
+opened the cry in the "New York Gazette" by asserting the complicity of
+Government, on the authority of a "gentleman of the first
+respectability,"--meaning Mr. Rufus King.--Cheetham, of the "Citizen,"
+barked back at Lang, a would-be "Solomon," "a foul and abominable
+slanderer." Mr. King, he could prove, had been examined, and had
+nothing to reveal.--Tom Paine wrote to the "Citizen" to mention that he
+had known Miranda in New York in 1783 and in Paris in 1793. Mr.
+Littlepage of Virginia, Chamberlain to the King of Poland, had then
+informed him that the Empress Catharine had given Miranda four thousand
+pounds "as a retaining fee," and that Mr. Pitt had also paid him twelve
+hundred pounds for his services in the Nootka Sound business.--All the
+Federal papers charged the Government with connivance. You knew the
+destination of the Leander; you did not prevent her from sailing; you
+nourished the offence until it attained maturity, and then, after
+permitting the principals to go upon this expedition, you seize upon
+the accessories who remain at home. And in how shameful and illegal a
+way! You examine them before a single judge, with no counsel to advise
+them. You force them to criminate themselves, and to sign their
+confessions, by the threat of imprisonment; and you punish Colonel
+Smith before you have tried him, by depriving him of his office. Why,
+such a proceeding is worse than any "Inquisitorial Tribunal" or
+"Star-Chamber Court."--Nonsense! answered the Democrats. Ogden's and
+Smith's testimony does not implicate the Government in the least. It
+only proves that Smith has been the dupe of Miranda. The President knew
+nothing about the matter. If the object of the Leander's outfit was so
+generally spoken of, why did it escape the notice of the Marquis Yrujo?
+Why did he not demand her seizure before she sailed? This charge
+against the Government is a mere Federal trick. Your friends, the
+British, are at the bottom of the expedition, and they have artfully
+employed Rufus King, a Federal chief, to throw the blame upon the
+Executive of the United States. By ascribing to those who administer
+the government the atrocities committed by Transatlantic rulers, you
+aim a deadly blow at the character of our system; and your conduct,
+base in any view we can take of it, is particularly reprehensible in
+the delicate state of our relations with Spain.
+
+Mr. Cadwallader Golden, of counsel for the defendants, made a motion
+before Judge Tallmadge for an order to prevent the District Attorney
+from using the preliminary evidence taken at the private examinations.
+"It was a proceeding," he said, "arbitrary and subversive of the first
+principles of law and liberty,"--"which would have disgraced the reign
+of Charles and stained the character of Jeffries." The District
+Attorney was heard in opposition, and was successful.
+
+On the 7th of April, the Grand Jury found a bill against Smith, Ogden,
+Miranda, and Thomas Lewis, captain of the Leander, for "setting on foot
+and beginning with force and arms a certain military enterprise or
+expedition, to be carried on from the United States against the
+dominions of a foreign prince: to wit, the dominions of the King of
+Spain; the said King of Spain then and there being at peace with the
+United States." The Grand Jury, as an evidence of their impartiality,
+or of the public feeling, also handed the Judge a presentment of
+himself, which he put into his pocket, censuring his conduct in the
+private examinations, because "unusual, oppressive, and contrary to
+law."
+
+The trial was set down for the 14th of July. Messrs. Ogden and Smith
+did not wait so long for a hearing. They laid their case at once before
+the public, in two memorials addressed to Congress, complaining
+bitterly of the prosecution, not to say persecution, instituted against
+them by the authorities in Washington, and of the cruel and oppressive
+measures taken by Judge Tallmadge to carry out the mandates of his
+superiors. If they had done wrong, they urged, it was innocently. A war
+with Spain was imminent. The critical position of the Louisiana
+Boundary question, the President's Message of the 6th of December, and
+the documents accompanying it, left no doubts on that point. Were they
+not right, then, in supposing, that, under these circumstances, the
+President would encourage an expedition against the colonies of a
+hostile power? As evidence of Mr. Jefferson's knowledge of Miranda's
+schemes, they stated that the General had brought with him from England
+a letter to "a gentleman of the first consequence in New York," (Mr.
+King,) which contained a sketch of his project: this letter was
+forwarded to the Secretary of State and laid before the President by
+him. Miranda then went to Washington, saw the President and the
+Secretary, and wrote to the memorialists that he had fully unfolded his
+plans to both. In the course of a long conversation with Mr. Madison,
+he asked for pecuniary assistance and for open encouragement, on the
+ground that individuals might not be willing to join in the enterprise,
+if Government did not approve it,--particularly as a bill was then
+before Congress to prohibit the exportation of arms. He also requested
+leave of absence for Colonel Smith, who wished to accompany him. Mr.
+Madison answered, that the sentiments of the President could not be
+doubted, but that the Government of the United States could afford no
+assistance of any kind. Private individuals were at liberty to act as
+they pleased, provided they did not violate the laws; and New York
+merchants would always advance money, if they saw their advantage in
+it. As to the bill Miranda had spoken of, it was unlikely that it would
+pass,--and, in fact, it did not. It was impossible, Mr. Madison added,
+to grant leave of absence to Colonel Smith, although he thought him
+better fitted for military employment than for the custom-house. He
+closed the interview by recommending the greatest discretion.
+
+Miranda, continued the memorialists, remained fourteen days in
+Washington after this conversation, and returned to New York confident
+of the silent approval of Government. Eleven days before the Leander
+sailed, he sent a letter to Mr. Madison, inclosing another to Mr.
+Jefferson, both of which he read to Ogden and to Smith. He assured Mr.
+Madison that he had conformed in every way to the intentions of
+Government, and requested him to keep the secret. To Mr. Jefferson he
+wrote in a strain more fashionable ten years before than then, but well
+adapted to the sentimentality, both scientific and political, of the
+"Philosophic President." Here it is:--
+
+"I have the honor to send you, inclosed, the 'Natural and Civil History
+of Chili,' of which we conversed at Washington,--and in which you will,
+perhaps, find more than in those which have been before published on
+the same subject, concerning this beautiful country.
+
+"If ever the happy prediction, which you have pronounced on the future
+destiny of our dear Columbia, is to be accomplished in our day, may
+Providence grant that it may be under your auspices, and by the
+generous efforts of her own children! We shall then, in some sort,
+behold the revival of that age, the return of which the Roman bard
+invoked in favor of the human race:--
+
+"'The last great age foretold by sacred rhymes
+  Renews its finished course; Saturnian times
+  Roll round again; and mighty years, begun
+  From this first orb, in radiant circles run.'"
+
+On Miranda's reports, these letters, and the fact that the Leander had
+not been seized, they rested their case, and prayed for the
+interference of Congress in their behalf.
+
+Congress unanimously granted the petitioners leave to withdraw. Such
+evidence as this, not only hearsay, but heard from the party most
+interested in misrepresenting the Administration, was not entitled to
+much consideration. It had, moreover, the additional disadvantage of
+proving nothing against the President and Secretary, even if every word
+of it were admitted as true.
+
+Public attention was diverted from the Leander, Captain Lewis, to the
+Leander, Captain Whitby. This English frigate was cruising off Sandy
+Hook, bringing to inward and outward bound vessels, searching them for
+articles contraband of war, and helping herself to able-bodied seamen
+who looked like British subjects. All of which was meekly submitted to
+in 1806. Mr. Jefferson could not overcome his doubts as to the
+constitutionality of a fleet, and the Opposition had the twofold
+pleasure of chuckling over the insults offered by John Bull to a
+government with French proclivities, and of reproaching the party in
+power with its supineness and want of spirit.
+
+But the accident of the 25th of April brought the American people to a
+proper sense of their situation, for the moment. On that day, His
+British Majesty's ship Leander fired a round-shot into the sloop
+Richard, bound to New York, and killed the man at the helm, John
+Pierce. The body was brought to the city and borne through the
+principal streets, in the midst of universal excitement, anger, and
+cries for vengeance. Black streamers were displayed from the houses;
+shops were closed; the newspapers appeared in mourning. A public
+funeral was attended by the whole population. Captain Whitby was
+indicted for murder, and took care to keep out of the reach of United
+States law-officers. This homicide happened just in time for the May
+election in New York. Both parties attempted to make use of it. The
+Federalists proclaimed that the blood of Pierce was on the head of
+Jefferson and his followers. These retorted, that the English pirates
+were the friends and comrades of the Federalists. Cheetham had seen the
+first lieutenant of the Leander, disguised, in company with eight or
+ten of them, some days after the murder!!! And the Democratic
+Republicans, as was and is still usual, had a majority at the polls.
+
+From time to time short paragraphs appeared in the papers, advertising
+Miranda's success. "His flag was flying on every fort from Cumana to
+Laguayra." "The whole of this fine country may be considered as lost to
+Spain." Then came tidings of sadder complexion. He had been beaten off
+with the loss of forty men, taken prisoners. The Spaniards had
+threatened to hang them as pirates, but they would not dare to do it.
+The British had furnished Miranda with forty Spanish prisoners, as
+hostages, "to avenge the threatened insult to the feelings of every
+friend to the rights of self-government in every part of the world." At
+last, news arrived from the Gulf which left Miranda's failure in his
+first attempt to land no longer doubtful. This, of course, made the
+position of Ogden and Smith more dangerous, and their case more difficult
+to manage.
+
+When the trial of Colonel Smith came on, public interest revived, and
+became stronger than before. The court-room was crowded by intelligent
+spectators during the whole course of the proceedings, The case was
+peculiar, and had almost a dramatic interest. Here was a Government
+prosecution against a man well known in the community, for an offence
+new to our courts; and the heads of that Government, Jefferson and
+Madison, were indirectly on trial at the same time:--"For, if Smith and
+Ogden are acquitted," said the Federal papers, "then must the whole
+guilt rest on the Administration." Apart from the political interest of
+the trial, the eminence of the counsel employed would have commanded an
+audience anywhere. Never, since New York has had courts of justice,
+have so many distinguished lawyers adorned and dignified her bar as in
+the first twenty years of this century. In this case, nearly all of the
+leaders were retained: Nathan Sandford, District Attorney, and
+Pierrepoint Edwards, for the prosecution; for the defence, Cadwallader
+Colden, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Thomas Addis Emmet, Richard Harrison, and
+Washington Morton.[*]
+
+[Footnote *: Judge Patterson, of the United States Court, occupied the
+bench with Judge Tallmadge, until ill-health obliged him to withdraw.
+He died soon after.]
+
+Mr. Colden handed the Clerk a list of his witnesses, and requested him
+to call their names. Among them were those of Madison, Dearborn,
+Gallatin, Granger, and Robert Smith, all members of the Government. He
+then read the affidavit of service of subpoenas upon them on the 25th
+of May, and, inasmuch as these gentlemen had not obeyed the subpoena,
+and as Colonel Smith could not safely proceed to trial without their
+testimony, he moved that an attachment issue against them.
+
+The District Attorney opposed the motion, on the ground that the
+testimony of these witnesses could not possibly be of any use to the
+defendant. None of them were present in New York when the Leander was
+fitted out. And even if it could be shown by these witnesses that the
+Administration had approved of this illegal expedition, it would not
+help the defendant. This is a country governed by laws, and not by
+arbitrary edicts. If Colonel Smith had violated these laws, he had
+rendered himself liable to punishment. He could not escape by making
+the President a _particeps criminis_. An amusing letter was read from
+Madison, Dearborn, and Smith, which stated, "that the President, taking
+into view the state of our public affairs, has specially signified to
+us that our official duties cannot consistently therewith be at this
+juncture dispensed with." They suggested that a commission should issue
+for the purpose of taking their respective testimonies.
+
+Colden insisted that this was an attempt of the Executive to interfere
+with the Judiciary, which ought not to be tolerated. Counsel in
+criminal cases had always the right to stand face to face with
+witnesses. It was outrageous that the President should first approve of
+the conduct of Colonel Smith, then order a prosecution against him and
+forbid his witnesses to attend the trial.
+
+The Court refused to grant an attachment. And later in the trial, when
+the defence offered Rufus King to prove the President's knowledge and
+approbation of the enterprise, the Court decided against the admission
+of the evidence.
+
+The history of the expedition in New York, as shown by the testimony,
+was briefly this:--Colonel Smith introduced Miranda to Ogden; and Ogden
+agreed to furnish his armed ship Leander, and to load her with the
+necessary provisions, stores, arms, and ammunition. He estimated his
+expenditure at seventy thousand dollars. Miranda had brought with him
+from London a bill of exchange on New York for eight hundred pounds,
+which had been paid, and had drawn bills on England and on Trinidad for
+seven thousand pounds, which had not been paid. This was all that Ogden
+had received. But if the enterprise were successful, he was to be paid
+two hundred per cent, advance on the ship and cargo. Smith had engaged
+fifteen or twenty officers, without informing them of the object of the
+expedition, but expressly stipulating in writing that they would not be
+employed against England or France, and giving them a general verbal
+assurance that they would speedily make their fortunes. In this he was
+sincere, for he took his son from college and sent him with Miranda.
+Smith had employed John Fink, a Bowery butcher, to engage men who could
+serve on horseback. Fink enlisted twenty-three at fifteen dollars a
+month, and fifteen more as a bounty. They were not to be taken out of
+the territory of the United States. Some of them were told that the
+President was raising a mounted guard; others, that they were to guard
+the mail from Washington to New Orleans. One of Fink's papers was shown
+on the trial, indorsed, "Muster-Roll for the President's Guard." Smith
+had furnished the bounty-money, but it did not appear that he had
+authorized these misrepresentations of Fink, who developed a talent in
+this business which forty years later would have made his fortune as an
+emigrant-runner. Abundant proofs of the purchase of military clothing,
+arms, powder, shot, and cannon were produced.
+
+The Counsel for Colonel Smith, unable to get the connivance of the
+Administration before the Jury in the shape of evidence, coolly assumed
+it as established, and urged it in defence of their client. They used
+his memorial to Congress as their brief, enlarged upon the arbitrary
+conduct of the Judge in the examinations and upon the tyrannical
+interference of the President with their witnesses. As Mr. Emmet
+cleverly and classically remarked, quoting from Tacitus's description
+of the funeral of Junia, "Perhaps their very absence rendered them more
+decided witnesses in our favor." They also maintained that the Act of
+1794, under which the prisoner was indicted, did not prohibit an
+enterprise of this character. Even if it did, no proof existed that
+this expedition was organized in New York. On the contrary, it was
+known that Miranda had gone hence to Jacquemel, and had made his
+preparations there, in a port out of our jurisdiction.
+
+This point made, they boldly went a step farther, and declared that the
+United States were actually at war with Spain. The affair of the
+Kempers, and of Flanagan in Louisiana, the obstruction of the Mobile
+Kiver, the depredations upon our commerce by Spanish privateers, were
+sufficient proof of a state of war. We had a right to meet force by
+force. The President must have been of this opinion, else he could not
+have violated his trust by authorizing this expedition.
+
+The case for the defence, considered in a logical point of view, was
+desperate; but no case is desperate before a Jury; and when Mr. Colden,
+Mr. Hoffman, and Mr. Emmet had each in his own peculiar mode of
+eloquence appealed to the Jury to protect their client, already
+punished by removal from his place, without a trial or even a hearing,
+for an offence committed with, the sanction of his superior
+officers,--when they compared this State prosecution to the attempts
+made by despotic European governments to crush innocent men by the
+machinery of law, and asserted that it was instituted solely to gratify
+the malice of the King of Spain, a bitter enemy to the United
+States,--and when they enlarged upon the grandeur of an undertaking to
+give liberty to the down-trodden victims of Colonial tyranny, comparing
+Miranda and his friends to our own Revolutionary heroes, there could be
+but little doubt of the verdict. But there was an uneasy feeling after
+the District Attorney had closed. He demolished with ease the arguments
+of the other side, for not one of them had sufficient strength to stand
+alone. Smith's perpetual excuse, that he had been led astray by the
+belief of connivance in Washington, was preposterous. If he had been
+anxious to know the sentiments of Government on the subject, he might
+at any time within six days have ascertained whether Miranda told him
+truth or not. He spoke of the cruelty and reckless folly of all such
+attempts upon a neighboring people; asked the Jury how they would like
+to see an armed force landed upon our shores to take part with one or
+the other of the great political parties; and closed with a few strong
+words, as true at this day as then:--"If you acquit the defendant, you
+say to the world that the United States have renounced the law of
+nations,--that they permit their citizens not only to violate their own
+laws with impunity, but to invade the people of other countries with
+hostile force in a time of peace, as avarice, ambition, or the thought
+of plunder may dictate. Such a decision would justify the acts of the
+pirate on the ocean, and would sink our national character to the
+barbarism of savage tribes."
+
+The Jury were out two hours, and brought in a verdict of not guilty,
+which gave great satisfaction to Federal editors. A few days afterward,
+Mr. Ogden was acquitted.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Mr. Jefferson, after the expiration of his second term,
+wrote to Don Valentino de Fornonda as follows:--
+
+"Your predecessor [Yrujo] wished it to be believed that we were in
+unjustifiable coöperation in Miranda's expedition.
+
+"I solemnly and on my personal truth and honor declare to you that this
+was entirely without foundation, and that there was neither coöperation
+nor connivance on our part. He informed us he was about to attempt the
+liberation of his native country from bondage, and intimated a hope of
+our aid, or connivance at least. He was at once informed, that, though
+we had great cause of complaint against Spain, and even of war, yet,
+whenever we should think proper to act as her enemy, it should be
+openly and aboveboard, and that our hostility should never be exercised
+by such petty means. We had no suspicion that he expected to engage men
+here, but merely to purchase military stores. Against this there was no
+law, nor, consequently, any authority for us to interpose. On the other
+hand, we deemed it improper to betray his voluntary communication to
+the agents of Spain. Although his measures were many days in
+preparation at New York, we never had the least intimation or suspicion
+of his engaging men in his enterprise until he was gone; and I presume
+that the secrecy of his proceedings kept them equally unknown to the
+Marquis Yrujo and to the Spanish Consul at New York, since neither of
+them gave us any information of the enlistment of men until it was too
+late for any measures taken at Washington to prevent their departure."]
+
+This is a brief account of the first filibuster-trial in the United
+States. Other heroes of this profession, compared with whom Smith and
+Ogden were spotless, have since come before our courts only to be
+turned loose upon the world again. No other result is to be
+anticipated. It is an established principle with our fellow-citizens,
+that no man is happy, or ought to be, who lives under any other system
+of government than our own. Let a lawyer pronounce the magic formula,
+"Liberty to the oppressed," or "Free institutions to the victims of
+despotism," and, _presto!_--rascality is metamorphosed into merit.
+After all, it makes such a difference, when it is only our neighbor's
+ox that is gored!
+
+Here closed the first act of the expedition. Colonel Smith lost his
+office, and Mr. Ogden stopped payment. The passengers by the Leander
+fared worse. There were two hundred men on board: one hundred and
+twenty belonged to the ship; the others had been engaged by Smith and
+his agent Fink as officers, dragoons, printers, and armorers. With the
+exception of two or three, none of them had seen their commander or
+knew their destination. The officers, all gentlemen "of crooked
+fortunes," supposed that they were sailing to enlarge the area of
+freedom somewhere in America; but what particular region of the Spanish
+dominions was to be subjected to this wholesome treatment they neither
+knew nor cared, provided they could improve their own financial
+condition. Both officers and privates were for the most part
+serviceable, steady men, worthy of a more efficient leader.
+
+On the 12th of February, they were overhauled and searched by H.B.M.
+ship Cleopatra. Nineteen men with American protections were carried off
+in the frigate's boat, and twelve native Americans taken out of prizes
+sent back to replace them. The Leander's papers were examined and
+pronounced unsatisfactory. Miranda was obliged to go on board the
+Cleopatra, where he had a long private conversation with the captain.
+He returned with full liberty to proceed, and with a written pass to
+prevent detention or search by British cruisers. This adventure was
+made to give an air of respectability to the enterprise; and Miranda
+hinted to his suite that the English captain had promised to join him
+with his frigate. A day or two later, the Leander took other airs upon
+herself. Meeting a small Spanish schooner, laden with logwood, off the
+Haytian coast, Lewis fired into her, and ordered the captain on board
+with his papers, for the mere pleasure of exercising power. The
+Spaniard, as soon as he got back to his own craft, made the best of his
+way home and gave the first alarm.
+
+On the 18th of February, they cast anchor at Jacquemel. Lewis went
+immediately to Port au-Prince, to engage the Emperor, a ship commanded
+by his brother, to join the expedition. Miranda remained behind to
+organize his followers. He at last announced to them that he intended
+to land near Caracas; the whole country would rise at his name; his
+brave Americans would form the nucleus and the heart of a great army;
+there was no Spanish force in the province to resist him. In a general
+order, "Parole, America; Countersign, Liberty," he assigned to his
+officers their rank in the Columbian army, distributing them into the
+Engineers, Artillery, Dragoons, Riflemen, and Foot. Another general
+order, "Parole, Warren; Countersign, Bunker's Hill," fixed the uniforms
+of the different corps,--to be distinguished by blue, yellow, or green
+facings. All hands were set to work upon the crowded deck. Printers
+struck off proclamations and blank commissions in the name of "Don
+Francisco de Miranda, Commander-in-Chief of the Columbian Army";
+carpenters made pike-handles; armorers repaired the arms bought in New
+York; (they had cost little, and were worth less;) the regimental
+tailor and his disciples stitched the gay facings upon the new
+uniforms; files of awkward fellows were put through the manual exercise
+by an old drill-sergeant; and the young gentlemen officers read
+diligently in treatises on war, or listened to the discourses of their
+general upon the noble art. In the midst of this stir of preparation,
+Lewis returned unsuccessful, without the ship Emperor; but Miranda
+seemed in no hurry to depart. He continued his lectures and his
+drilling until the 28th of March. At last he hoisted the new Columbian
+flag,--a tricolor, blue, yellow, and red,--fired a grand salute, and
+stood gallantly out of the harbor, where he had wasted six precious
+weeks.
+
+Captain Lewis had chartered at Port-au-Prince the Bee, a small, unarmed
+schooner, and had bought the Bacchus, a vessel of the same class, last
+from Laguayra, whose captain and men disappeared mysteriously after
+their arrival at Jacquemel. Some of the Leander's hands volunteered for
+the schooners, to get out of the crowded ship; others were forced on
+board, to make up a crew. The little fleet steered for Bonair, but,
+through the ignorance of their pilot, or of their captain, found
+themselves, after a ten-days' cruise, seventy miles to leeward, off the
+Gulf of Venezuela. The Leander was a dull sailer; and, with the wind
+and current against her, it took them four days to beat up to the
+Island of Aruba, and seven more to reach Bonair. On the evening of the
+27th of April, they were lying to off Puerto Cabello, preparing to
+land, and sure of success, when they made out two Spanish
+_guardacostas_ close in shore, beating up to windward. Miranda thought
+them unworthy of attention, and gave the order to stand in. But the
+pilot mistook the landmarks, owing to the darkness, and missed the
+point agreed upon for landing. The Bacchus was sent in to reconnoitre
+and did not return, although signals of recall were repeated throughout
+the night. About midnight signals were noticed passing between the fort
+at Puerto Cabello and the _guardacostas_; Captain Lewis beat to
+quarters, and kept his men at their guns until morning. At daybreak the
+Bacchus was seen close in shore, carrying a press of sail and closely
+pursued by the Spanish vessels. The Leander bore down with a flowing
+sheet upon the enemy, fired a few ineffective shot, and then, for some
+reason best known to her captain, or to Miranda, hauled on to the wind,
+and sailed away, leaving the schooners to take care of themselves. The
+_guardacostas_ soon took possession of both, and carried their prizes,
+with sixty prisoners, into Puerto Cabello,[1] before the eyes of their
+astonished and indignant comrades, who could not understand such a want
+of courage or conduct on the part of their chief.
+
+[Footnote 1: The unfortunate men taken in the schooners were tried at
+Puerto Cabello for piracy. Ten officers were hanged, their heads cut
+off and stuck upon poles, and six of them sent to Caracas, two to
+Laguayra, and two set up at Puerto Cabello. The other prisoners were
+sentenced to the chain-gang. The execution took place on the 21st of
+July, the day before Smith was acquitted in New York.]
+
+After this disaster, the Leander sailed for Bonair for water. Miranda
+still assumed a confident tone, and called a council of war to
+deliberate whether they should attempt a landing at Coro. The council
+decided, that, in view of the loss they had sustained, it would be
+advisable to make for Trinidad in search of reinforcements. With wind
+and tide against them, and a slow ship, the voyage was long. They were
+reduced to their last barrel of bread, when they fell in with the
+English sloop-of-war Lily, Captain Campbell, who was looking for
+Miranda, and who sent supplies of all kinds on board. On the 6th of
+June, they ran into Bridgetown, Barbadoes. Admiral Cochrane, who
+commanded on that station, gave Miranda every assistance in his power,
+and offered to put some of his smaller vessels under his orders, upon
+condition that all goods imported into the new state of Columbia in
+British bottoms should be assessed ten per cent, lower than the
+products of any other nation, except the United States. Miranda signed
+a formal agreement to this effect, and sailed for Trinidad, accompanied
+by H.B.M. ships Lily and Express, and the Trimmer, a transport
+schooner. Captain Lewis, whose repeated quarrels with Miranda had
+affected the discipline of the force, resigned at Barbadoes. He was
+succeeded by Captain Johnson, a daring fellow, who risked and lost life
+and property in this expedition.
+
+The Governor of Trinidad, like all the English of the Gulf, was well
+disposed to aid in an attack on the Spanish Provinces. Eighty
+volunteers of all nations, most of them worthless fellows and
+candidates for a commission, joined the fleet at this place. Miranda
+was once more in high spirits. His army amounted to four hundred men,
+and he had secured the cooperation of the English. Success seemed
+certain. He issued a new proclamation to his followers, headed "To
+Victory and Wealth," and set sail, accompanied by seven small British
+war-vessels and three transports.
+
+On the 2d of August, the fleet anchored within nine miles of La Vela de
+Coro. The next day two hundred and ninety men were landed in the boats
+of the squadron. They were all "Mirandanians," the English furnishing
+only the means of transportation and the necessary supplies. As the
+boats approached the shore, they were fired upon from the bushes which
+lined the beach. The Columbians jumped into the water and charged; the
+Spaniards retreated to a fort near the shore. This was carried, sword
+in hand,--the Spaniards leaping from the walls and flying in all
+directions. Miranda then formed his party, and marched to the town, a
+quarter of a mile distant, which was evacuated by the Spaniards with
+such precipitation that they left their cannon loaded. The inhabitants
+had fled, as well as the military, carrying off all their movable
+property. The Columbian colors were hoisted, flags of truce sent in all
+directions, the printed proclamations distributed about the neighboring
+country; but in vain; nobody appeared.
+
+The same evening the Liberators marched twelve miles in a northwesterly
+direction to Coro. They arrived an hour before dawn, and found the town
+silent and deserted. Dividing themselves into two parties, they entered
+cautiously on opposite sides, for fear of an ambuscade,--but,
+unfortunately, when the detachments met in the Grand Plaza, they
+mistook each other, in the dusk of the morning, for the enemy, and
+fired. Miranda's most efficient officer fell, shot through both thighs.
+One man was killed, and seven others badly wounded. Not a soul was
+found in the place, except those who were too old or too ill to move,
+and the occupants of the prison. The jailer presented himself,
+surrendered his keys, and informed the General that the Governor had
+forced the citizens to leave their homes. Miranda remained in the
+deserted town for five days, endeavoring, by the most alluring
+proclamations, to bring the inhabitants back. But it was useless. Not a
+man presented himself. He then lost heart, and, instead of advancing
+into the country, ordered a retreat to La Vela, and reembarked on the
+19th.
+
+Those he left behind in the Leander had been still more unfortunate.
+Captain Johnson had gone in the boats to a river three or four miles to
+the eastward, for water, and, while filling his casks, was set upon by
+a party of Spanish soldiers. He was killed, fighting bravely, with
+fifteen of his men. The remainder escaped with difficulty.
+
+The discomfited invaders sailed for the Island of Aruba, where their
+English allies, pretty well satisfied that nothing could be done with
+this expedition, left them. Miranda landed his men and took formal
+possession of the island. He sent an ambassador to the Governor of the
+neighboring island of Curaçoa, requesting him to surrender. This
+request was declined. He was equally unsuccessful in a mission to
+Jamaica, begging for assistance from Admiral Dacres. Dacres refused, on
+the ground that he had no orders from his Government.
+
+Miranda remained at Aruba, drilling, issuing proclamations, and holding
+courts martial, until the want of provisions brought the enterprise to
+an end. An English ship-of-war, which touched at the island, offered
+him a safe means of escape. On the 29th of October, after a passage of
+twenty-five days, the Liberators arrived at Trinidad, and disbanded in
+disgrace. The blue and yellow uniforms they had worn with pride, as
+"Columbians," on their last visit, were hastily laid aside to escape
+the scoff of the rabble, who jeered them as adventurers and
+merry-andrews. Miranda kept out of sight until he could get the
+opportunity of a passage to England. All his followers who could find
+means to quit the island made their way home as best they could. To
+conclude the business, the Leander was sold by order of the courts, and
+the few poor fellows who had remained by her received a small share of
+the proceeds. Nobody else was paid the smallest fraction of the sums
+the General had so liberally promised.
+
+That a commander, safely landed with three hundred fighting men, in
+possession of Coro, whose peninsular situation might have afforded him
+an inexpugnable position, master of the sea, and backed by an English
+fleet, should have retreated, without effecting anything, from a
+country ripe for rebellion since the conspiracy of 1797, can be
+explained only in one way: he must have been ignorant of the real
+feelings of the people, and totally unfit to lead such an expedition.
+Miranda had what we may call a pretty talent for war. He had studied
+the principles of the art, and had seen some service. Excited by the
+splendid career of Washington, he, like a certain distinguished
+Frenchman, determined to imitate him and become the liberator of his
+country. When the Giant at a show bends the iron bar, it seems so easy
+that every strong man in the crowd thinks he can do as much, until he
+tries. It needs a Giant of the first class to handle a people in
+revolution. Miranda was not made of that kind of stuff. He was weak and
+inefficient, fond of mystery and pomp, easily affected by flattery,
+loving dearly to hear himself talk, and unable to control his temper.
+His incessant quarrels with Captain Lewis were one cause of the loss of
+the schooners off Puerto Cabello. A want of quickness and energy was
+felt in all his operations. Delays are proverbially dangerous, but in a
+_coup de main_ fatal. The time wasted by him at Jacquemel and at Aruba
+was employed by the Spaniards in making preparations for defence. They
+had few troops, and did not dare to trust the natives with arms, but
+they succeeded in persuading them that Miranda and his men were pagans
+and pirates, whose triumph would be ten times more insufferable than
+the rule of the mother country.
+
+If Miranda was incompetent to carry out a liberating expedition, he had
+wonderful success in talking it up. For twenty years he had carried
+this project about with him in America and in Europe. It was elaborated
+to perfection in every part, and there were answers prepared to every
+objection. The new government was to be modelled upon the English
+Constitution,--an hereditary chief, to be called Inca,--a senate,
+nominated by the chief, composed of nobles, but not hereditary,--and a
+chamber elected by suffrage, limited by a property qualification. He
+had collected all the statistics of population and of trade, to show
+what commercial advantages the world might expect from a free South
+American government. And, "rising upon a wind of prophecy," he already
+saw in the future a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Panama, and the
+Nicaragua route opened. He had laid these plans before Catharine of
+Russia, who gave him money to help them on. Mr. Pitt listened, promised
+him assistance in return for commercial privileges, and kept him in pay
+for years. The French Revolutionists were eager to furnish him with an
+army and a fleet. Rufus King, American Ambassador at London, sent word
+of the scheme to Hamilton and Knox, who both approved of it. Miranda
+seems to have made the same impression upon everybody. His extensive
+travels and acquaintance with distinguished men, his knowledge of
+facts, dates, and figures, his retentive and ready memory, his
+wonderful cleverness in persuading his hearers, are spoken of in the
+same terms by all. Dr. Rush wrote to a friend, that Miranda had dined
+with him, and had talked about European politics as if he had been "in
+the inside of all the kings and princes." He might have been a second
+Count de St. Germain, if he had lived in the reign of Louis XIV.,
+instead of in an era when men had abandoned the philosopher's stone,
+and were seeking in politics for a new _magnum opus_, Constitutions, as
+the certain means of perfecting the human species.
+
+Everybody was mistaken in him. Although he talked "like an angel," in
+action he was worthless. If he had never undertaken to carry out his
+plans, he might have left an excellent reputation, and have remained in
+South American memory as the possible Father of his Country: _Capax
+imperii, nisi imperasset_. A short sketch of his career may be
+interesting, before we dismiss him again to the oblivion from which we
+have evoked him for this month.
+
+Miranda entered the Spanish army in America at the age of seventeen,
+and was advanced to be Colonel, a grade seldom or never before reached
+by a Creole. He left the service before the close of the Revolutionary
+War, travelled in the United States, and was admitted to the society of
+Washington and of the leading men of the day. Here, his attainments,
+quickness, and insatiable curiosity attracted attention. He knew the
+topography and strategy of every battle fought during the war better
+than our officers who had been on the field, and soon made himself
+familiar with parties, and even with family connections in this
+country. His constant topic was the independence of South America.
+After the peace of 1783, Miranda went to England: Colonel Smith was
+then Secretary of John Adams, the American Minister, and the
+acquaintance between them began in London, which ended so disastrously
+twenty years later in New York. Leaving England, he travelled over
+Europe. At Cherson, he attracted the notice of Prince Potemkin, who
+presented him to the Empress at Kiew. In 1790, when the dispute about
+Nootka Sound[*] threatened to produce a war between Great Britain and
+Spain, he reappeared in London, and proposed to Mr. Pitt his scheme for
+revolutionizing the American Colonies. Pitt at once engaged his
+services, but Spain yielded, and the project could not be carried out.
+Miranda crossed to France, accepted a command in the Republican army,
+and served, with credit, in the Netherlands, under Dumouriez, until the
+Battle of Neerwinden. In November, 1792, the French rulers conceived
+the idea of revolutionizing Spain, both in Europe and in America.
+Brissot suggested Miranda as the fittest person for this purpose. He
+was to take twelve thousand troops of the line from St. Domingo,
+enlist, in addition, ten or fifteen thousand "_braves mulâtres_," and
+make a descent, with this force, upon the Main. "_Le nom de Miranda_,"
+wrote Brissot to Dumouriez, "_lui vaudra une armée; et ses talens, son
+courage, son génie, tout nous répond du succčs_." Monge, Gensonné,
+Clavičre, Pétion, were pleased with the plan, but Miranda started
+difficulties. The French system was too democratic for his taste, and
+the pressure of affairs in Europe soon turned the attention of Brissot
+and his friends in another direction.
+
+[Footnote *: In May, 1789, the Spanish sloop-of-war Princesa seized
+four English vessels engaged in a trade with the natives of Vancouver's
+Island, and took them into a Mexican port as prizes, on the ground that
+they had violated the Spanish Colonial laws. The English government
+denied the claim of Spain to those distant regions, and insisted upon
+ample satisfaction. The King of Spain was obliged to submit to avoid
+war, but the question of territory was left open.]
+
+After the disastrous affair of Neerwinden, Miranda was accused of
+misconduct, arrested, and sent to Paris for trial, but was acquitted by
+the _Tribunal Révolutionnaire_, and conducted home in triumph. He was
+again imprisoned for _incivisme_, during the Reign of Terror, and did
+not recover his liberty until the general jail-delivery which followed
+the death of Robespierre. He was seized for the third time in 1797, by
+the Directory, as an adherent of the Pichegru faction, and banished
+from France.
+
+In January, 1798, Mr. Pitt again sent for Miranda, and a new plan was
+arranged for the emancipation of South America. On this occasion, the
+coöperation of the United States was confidently relied upon. Both Pitt
+and our own rulers foresaw that Spain must inevitably fall a prey to
+France, and that the whole of her American possessions would probably
+share her fate. Our relations with France were in so critical a
+condition, that we were making preparations for defence; and it was, of
+course, of the highest importance to our safety, that the Floridas and
+Louisiana should not fall into the hands of a powerful enemy. It was
+proposed, consequently, to form a commercial and defensive alliance
+between England, the United States, and South America. We were to get
+the Floridas and Louisiana to the Mississippi, and in return to furnish
+a land-force of ten thousand men. Great Britain would provide the
+fleet, in consideration of certain important advantages in trade.
+Miranda kept his friends in the United States fully advised of the
+progress of affairs. Hamilton and Knox were in favor of the project,
+provided war were declared. Our provisional army might then have played
+a brilliant part. But there was no war. President Adams refused to
+listen to Miranda's communications, and patched up our difficulties
+with France. Nothing was done by the English.
+
+In 1801 Lord Sidmouth revived Miranda's hopes, but the Peace of Amiens
+put a stop to the preparations. In 1804 Mr. Pitt was again at the head
+of affairs, and renewed his intercourse with Miranda. Orders were given
+to prepare ships and to enrol men, when the hopes of the third
+coalition again suspended the execution of the project.
+
+It was after this last blow from Fortune that Miranda came to New York
+and fitted out the expedition we have undertaken to describe. His
+disastrous failure seemed neither to destroy his hopes, nor to shake
+the confidence of his English friends in his pretensions. When he
+returned to England from Trinidad, he found ministers prepared to
+embark with energy in the South American scheme. This time a fleet and
+an army were really assembled at Cork, and Sir Arthur Wellesley was to
+command them,--when the Spanish Revolution broke out, altered at once
+the face of affairs in Europe, and turned Sir Arthur and his army
+toward Portugal, to begin that brilliant series of campaigns which
+drove the French out of the Peninsula.
+
+Few men fix their minds pertinaciously upon an object, and adhere to
+the pursuit through life, without at least a partial attainment of it.
+Miranda, the victim of so many bitter disappointments, at last found
+himself for a few months in the position he had so often dreamed of.
+When the news of the fall of Seville, and of the dispersion of the
+Junta who governed in the name of Ferdinand VII., reached South
+America, open rebellion broke out at Caracas. King Joseph Bonaparte had
+sent over a proclamation, imploring his trusty and well-beloved South
+Americans to come to his paternal arms,--or, if they would not do that,
+at least to set up a government for themselves, and not take part with
+Ferdinand and England. His emissaries were hunted down and hanged,
+wherever caught. Revolutionary Juntas were established all over the
+country. On the 19th of April, 1810, the American Confederation of
+Venezuela, in Congress assembled, undertook to rule in the name of
+Ferdinand VII., but in reality as an independent government. Miranda
+was called to the command of the native army. On the 5th of July, 1811,
+the Congress published their Declaration of Independence, and a
+Constitution, both of them remarkable state-papers. In point of
+liberality of sentiment and elegance of style they will bear comparison
+with our own celebrated documents of '76 and '87. Indeed, in all these
+Spanish political plays, the plot has been good, the text admirable,
+but the actors so poor as to spoil the piece. So it fell out in
+Venezuela. At first the Patriots were successful; Miranda defeated the
+Royalists and took Valencia. The principal towns fell into the hands of
+the insurgents. Then, came the terrible earthquake of 1812, which not
+only shattered the resources of the Patriots, but was skilfully used by
+the Church as a proof that Providence had taken sides against the
+rebels. Monteverde, the Spanish general, recaptured Valencia. Congress
+placed the dictatorship with unlimited power in Miranda's hands, but he
+was not the man for desperate situations. On the 6th of July, the
+Royalists took Puerto Cabello; Caracas fell on the 28th; and Miranda,
+betrayed by his own party into the hands of the Spaniards, was sent a
+prisoner to Cadiz in October. Simon Bolivar and others, men of
+different mettle, regained all that had been lost, and cut loose the
+Colonies from Spain. From California to Cape Horn the inestimable
+system of self-government was established. According to the theory, the
+South Americans should have been prosperous and happy; but,
+unfortunately, the result has been murder, robbery, and general ruin.
+The burden of taking care of one's self, which the North American had
+the strength to bear, has crushed the poor half-caste Spaniard. There
+are persons who assert that a political regimen which agrees so well
+with us must therefore be good for all others. It may be instructive to
+such believers in system to compare Humboldt's narrative of the
+cultivation shown by the great Colonial Universities of Mexico, Quito,
+and Lima, of the pleasing Creole society that entertained him, and the
+peaceful quiet and security he noticed throughout country, with the
+relations of modern travellers or newspaper-correspondents who visit
+those semi-barbarous regions.
+
+Don Francisco de Miranda did not live to hear of the freedom of his
+"Columbia." Before the close of the year 1812 he died in prison, at
+Cadiz.  Thus perished the most gentlemanlike of filibusters, since the
+days when Jason sailed in the Argo to extend the blessing of Greek
+institutions over Colchis and to appropriate the Golden Fleece.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE PROFESSOR'S STORY.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE MORNING AFTER.
+
+
+Colonel Sprowle's family arose late the next morning. The fatigues and
+excitements of the evening and the preparation for it were followed by
+a natural collapse, of which somnolence was a leading symptom. The sun
+shone into the window at a pretty well opened angle when the Colonel
+first found himself sufficiently awake to address his yet slumbering
+spouse.
+
+"Sally!" said the Colonel, in a voice that was a little husky,--for he
+had finished off the evening with an extra glass or two of "Madary,"
+and had a somewhat rusty and headachy sense of renewed existence, on
+greeting the rather advanced dawn,--"Sally!"
+
+"Take care o' them custard-cups! There they go!"
+
+Poor Mrs. Sprowle was fighting the party over in her dream; and as the
+visionary custard-cups crashed down through one lobe of her brain into
+another, she gave a start as if an inch of lightning from a quart
+Leyden jar had jumped into one of her knuckles with its sudden and
+lively _poonk_!
+
+"Sally!" said the Colonel,--"wake up, wake up! What 'r' y' dreamin'
+abaout?"
+
+Mrs. Sprowle raised herself, by a sort of spasm, _sur son séant_, as
+they say in France,--up on end, as we have it in New England. She
+looked first to the left, then to the right, then straight before her,
+apparently without seeing anything, and at last slowly settled down,
+with her two eyes, blank of any particular meaning, directed upon the
+Colonel.
+
+"What time is't?" she said.
+
+"Ten o'clock. What 'y' been dreamin' abaout? Y' giv a jump like a
+hoppergrass. Wake up, wake up! Th' party's over, and y' been asleep all
+the mornin'. The party's over, I tell ye! Wake up!"
+
+"Over!" said Mrs. Sprowle, who began to define her position at
+last,--"over! I should think 'twas time 'twas over! It's lasted a
+hundud year. I've been workin' for that party longer 'n Methuselah's
+lifetime, sence I been asleep. The pies wouldn' bake, and the blo'monge
+wouldn' set, and the ice-cream wouldn' freeze, and all the folks kep'
+comin' 'n' comin' 'n' comin',--everybody I ever knew in all my
+life,--some of 'em's been dead this twenty year 'n' more,--'n' nothin'
+for 'em to eat nor drink. The fire wouldn' burn to cook anything, all
+we could do. We blowed with the belluses, 'n' we stuffed in paper 'n'
+pitch-pine kindlin's, but nothin' could make that fire burn; 'n' all
+the time the folks kep' comin', as if they'd never stop,--'n' nothin'
+for 'em but empty dishes, 'n' all the borrowed chaney slippin' round on
+the waiters 'n' chippin' 'n' crackin'. I wouldn' go through what I been
+through t'-night for all th' money in th' Bank,--I do believe it's
+harder t' have a party than t'"----
+
+Mrs. Sprowle stated the case strongly.
+
+The Colonel said he didn't know how that might be. She was a better
+judge than he was. It was bother enough, anyhow, and he was glad that
+it was over. After this, the worthy pair commenced preparations for
+rejoining the waking world, and in due time proceeded down-stairs.
+
+Everybody was late that morning, and nothing had got put to rights. The
+house looked as if a small army had been quartered in it over night.
+The tables were of course in huge disorder, after the protracted
+assault they had undergone. There had been a great battle evidently,
+and it had gone against the provisions. Some points had been stormed,
+and all their defences annihilated, but here and there were centres of
+resistance which had held out against all attacks,--large rounds of
+beef, and solid loaves of cake, against which the inexperienced had
+wasted their energies in the enthusiasm of youth or uninformed
+maturity, while the longer-headed guests were making discoveries of
+"shell-oysters" and "patridges" and similar delicacies.
+
+The breakfast was naturally of a somewhat fragmentary character. A
+chicken that had lost his legs in the service of the preceding campaign
+was once more put on duty. A great ham stuck with cloves, as Saint
+Sebastian was with arrows, was again offered for martyrdom. It would
+have been a pleasant sight for a medical man of a speculative turn to
+have seen the prospect before the Colonel's family of the next week's
+breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. The trail that one of these great
+rural parties leaves after it is one of its most formidable
+considerations. Every door-handle in the house is suggestive of
+sweetmeats for the next week, at least. The most unnatural articles of
+diet displace the frugal but nutritious food of unconvulsed periods of
+existence. If there is a walking infant about the house, it will
+certainly have a more or less fatal fit from overmuch of some
+indigestible delicacy. Before the week is out, everybody will be tired
+to death of sugary forms of nourishment and long to see the last of the
+remnants of the festival.
+
+The family had not yet arrived at this condition. On the contrary, the
+first inspection of the tables suggested the prospect of days of
+unstinted luxury; and the younger portion of the household, especially,
+were in a state of great excitement as the account of stock was taken
+with reference to future internal investments, Some curious facts came
+to light during these researches.
+
+"Where's all the oranges gone to?" said Mrs. Sprowle. "I expected
+there'd be ever so many of 'em left. I didn't see many of the folks
+eatin' oranges. Where's the skins of 'em? There ought to be six dozen
+orange-skins round on the plates, and there a'n't one dozen. And all
+the small cakes, too, and all the sugar things that was stuck on the
+big cakes.--Has anybody counted the spoons? Some of 'em got swallered,
+perhaps. I hope they was plated ones, if they did!"
+
+The failure of the morning's orange-crop and the deficit in other
+expected residual delicacies were not very difficult to account for. In
+many of the two-story Rockland families, and in those favored
+households of the neighboring villages whose members had been invited
+to the great party, there was a very general excitement among the
+younger people on the morning after the great event. "Did y' bring home
+somethin' from the party? What is it? What is it? Is it frűt-cake? Is
+it nuts and oranges and apples? Give me some! Give _me_ some!" Such a
+concert of treble voices uttering accents like these had not been heard
+since the great Temperance Festival with the celebrated "colation" in
+the open air under the trees of the Parnassian Grove,--as the place was
+christened by the young ladies of the Institute. The cry of the
+children was not in vain. From the pockets of demure fathers, from the
+bags of sharp-eyed spinsters, from the folded handkerchiefs of
+light-fingered sisters, from the tall hats of sly-winking brothers,
+there was a resurrection of the missing oranges and cakes and
+sugar-things in many a rejoicing family-circle, enough to astonish the
+most hardened "caterer" that ever contracted to feed a thousand people
+under canvas.
+
+The tender recollection of those dear little ones whom extreme youth or
+other pressing considerations detain from scenes of festivity--a trait
+of affection by no means uncommon among our thoughtful people
+--dignifies those social meetings where it is manifested, and
+sheds a ray of sunshine on our common nature. It is "an oasis in the
+desert,"--to use the striking expression of the last year's
+"Valedictorian" of the Apollinean Institute. In the midst of so much
+that is purely selfish, it is delightful to meet such disinterested
+care for others. When a large family of children are expecting a
+parent's return from an entertainment, it will often require great
+exertions on his part to provide himself so as to meet their reasonable
+expectations. A few rules are worth remembering by all who attend
+anniversary dinners in Faneuil Hall or elsewhere. Thus: Lobsters' claws
+are always acceptable to children of all ages. Oranges and apples are
+to be taken _one at a time_, until the coat-pockets begin to become
+inconveniently heavy. Cakes are injured by sitting upon them; it is,
+therefore, well to carry a stout tin box of a size to hold as many
+pieces as there are children in the domestic circle. A very pleasant
+amusement, at the close of one of these banquets, is grabbing for the
+flowers with which the table is embellished. These will please the
+ladies at home very greatly, and, if the children are at the same time
+abundantly supplied with fruits, nuts, cakes, and any little ornamental
+articles of confectionery which are of a nature to be unostentatiously
+removed, the kind-hearted parent will make a whole household happy,
+without any additional expense beyond the outlay for his ticket.
+
+There were fragmentary delicacies enough left, of one kind and another,
+at any rate, to make all the Colonel's family uncomfortable for the
+next week. It bid fair to take as long to get rid of the remains of the
+great party as it had taken to make ready for it.
+
+In the mean time Mr. Bernard had been dreaming, as young men dream, of
+gliding shapes with bright eyes and burning cheeks, strangely blended
+with red planets and hissing meteors, and, shining over all, the white,
+unwandering star of the North, girt with its tethered constellations.
+
+After breakfast he walked into the parlor, where he found Miss Darley.
+She was alone, and, holding a school-book in her hand, was at work with
+one of the morning's lessons. She hardly noticed him as he entered,
+being very busy with her book,--and he paused a moment before speaking,
+and looked at her with a kind of reverence. It would not have been
+strictly true to call her beautiful. For years,--since her earliest
+womanhood,--those slender hands had taken the bread which repaid the
+toil of heart and brain from the coarse palms that offered it in the
+world's rude market. It was not for herself alone that she had bartered
+away the life of her youth, that she had breathed the hot air of
+school-rooms, that she had forced her intelligence to posture before
+her will, as the exigencies of her place required,--waking to mental
+labor,--sleeping to dream of problems,--rolling up the stone of
+education for an endless twelvemonth's term, to find it at the bottom
+of the hill again when another year called her to its renewed
+duties,--schooling her temper in unending inward and outward conflicts,
+until neither dulness nor obstinacy nor ingratitude nor insolence could
+reach her serene self-possession. Not for herself alone. Poorly as her
+prodigal labors were repaid in proportion to the waste of life they
+cost, her value was too well established to leave her without what,
+under other circumstances, would have been a more than sufficient
+compensation. But there were others who looked to her in their need,
+and so the modest fountain which might have been filled to its brim was
+continually drained through silent-flowing, hidden sluices.
+
+Out of such a life, inherited from a race which had lived in conditions
+not unlike her own, _beauty_, in the common sense of the term, could
+hardly find leisure to develop and shape itself. For it must be
+remembered, that symmetry and elegance of features and figure, like
+perfectly formed crystals in the mineral world, are reached only by
+insuring a certain necessary repose to individuals and to generations.
+Human beauty is an agricultural product in the country, growing up in
+men and women as in corn and cattle, where the soil is good. It is a
+luxury almost monopolized by the rich in cities, bred under glass like
+their forced pine-apples and peaches. Both in city and country, the
+evolution of the physical harmonics which make music to our eyes
+requires a combination of favorable circumstances, of which
+alternations of unburdened tranquillity with intervals of varied
+excitement of mind and body are among the most important. Where
+sufficient excitement is wanting, as often happens in the country, the
+features, however rich in red and white, get heavy, and the movements
+sluggish; where excitement is furnished in excess, as is frequently
+the case in cities, the contours and colors are impoverished, and the
+nerves begin to make their existence known to the consciousness, as the
+face very soon informs us.
+
+Helen Darley could not, in the nature of things, have possessed the
+kind of beauty which pleases the common taste. Her eye was calm,
+sad-looking, her features very still, except when her pleasant smile
+changed them for a moment, all her outlines were delicate, her voice
+was very gentle, but somewhat subdued by years of thoughtful labor, and
+on her smooth forehead one little hinted line whispered already that
+Care was beginning to mark the trace which Time sooner or later would
+make a furrow. She could not be a beauty; if she had been, it would
+have been much harder for many persons to be interested in her. For,
+although in the abstract we all love beauty, and although, if we were
+sent naked souls into some ultramundane warehouse of soul-less bodies
+and told to select one to our liking, we should each choose a handsome
+one, and never think of the consequences,--it is quite certain that
+beauty carries an atmosphere of repulsion as well as of attraction with
+it, alike in both sexes. We may be well assured that there are many
+persons who no more think of specializing their love of the other sex
+upon one endowed with signal beauty, than they think of wanting great
+diamonds or thousand-dollar horses. No man or woman can appropriate
+beauty without paying for it,--in endowments, in fortune, in position,
+in self-surrender, or other valuable stock; and there are a great many
+who are too poor, too ordinary, too humble, too busy, too proud, to pay
+any of these prices for it. So the unbeautiful get many more lovers
+than the beauties; only, as there are more of them, their lovers are
+spread thinner and do not make so much show.
+
+The young master stood looking at Helen Darley with a kind of tender
+admiration. She was such a picture of the martyr by the slow social
+combustive process, that it almost seemed to him he could see a pale
+lambent aureole round her head.
+
+"I did not see you at the great party last evening," he said,
+presently.
+
+She looked up and answered, "No. I have not much taste for such large
+companies. Besides, I do not feel as if my time belonged to me after it
+has been paid for. There is always something to do, some lesson or
+exercise,--and it so happened, I was very busy last night with the new
+problems in geometry. I hope you had a good time."
+
+"Very. Two or three of our girls were there. Rosa Milburn. What a
+beauty she is! I wonder what she feeds on! Wine and musk and chloroform
+and coals of fire, I believe; I didn't think there was such color and
+flavor in a woman outside the tropics."
+
+Miss Darley smiled rather faintly; the imagery was not just to her
+taste: _femineity_ often finds it very hard to accept the fact of
+_muliebrity_.
+
+"Was"----?
+
+She stopped short; but her question had asked itself.
+
+"Elsie there? She was, for an hour or so. She looked frightfully
+handsome. I meant to have spoken to her, but she slipped away before I
+knew it."
+
+"I thought she meant to go to the party," said Miss Darley. "Did she
+look at you?"
+
+"She did. Why?"
+
+"And you did not speak to her?"
+
+"No. I should have spoken to her, but she was gone when I looked for
+her. A strange creature! Isn't there an odd sort of fascination about
+her? You have not explained all the mystery about the girl. What does
+she come to this school for? She seems to do pretty much as she likes
+about studying."
+
+Miss Darley answered in very low tones. "It was a fancy of hers to
+come, and they let her have her way. I don't know what there is about
+her, except that she seems to take my life out of me when she looks at
+me. I don't like to ask other people about our girls. She says very
+little to anybody, and studies, or makes believe study, almost what she
+likes. I don't know what she is," (Miss Darley laid her hand,
+trembling, on the young master's sleeve,) "but I can tell when she is
+in the room without seeing or hearing her. Oh, Mr. Langdon, I am weak
+and nervous, and no doubt foolish,--but--if there were women now, as
+in the days of our Saviour, possessed of devils, I should think there
+was something not human looking out of Elsie Venner's eyes!"
+
+The poor girl's breast rose and fell tumultuously as she spoke, and her
+voice labored, as if some obstruction were rising in her throat.
+
+A scene might possibly have come of it, but the door opened. Mr. Silas
+Peckham. Miss Darley got away as soon as she well could.
+
+"Why did not Miss Darley go to the party last evening?" said Mr.
+Bernard.
+
+"Well, the fact is," answered Mr. Silas Peckham, "Miss Darley, she's
+pootty much took up with the school. She's an industris young
+woman,--yis, she _is_ industris,--but perhaps she a'n't quite so spry a
+worker as some. Maybe, considerin' she's paid for her time, she isn't
+fur out o' the way in occoopyin' herself evenin's,--that is, if so be
+she a'n't smart enough to finish up all her work in the daytime.
+Edoocation is the great business of the Institoot. Amoosements are
+objec's of a secondary natur', accordin' to my v'oo." [The unspellable
+pronunciation of this word is the touchstone of New England
+Brahminism.]
+
+Mr. Bernard drew a deep breath, his thin nostrils dilating, as if the
+air did not rush in fast enough to cool his blood, while Silas Peckham
+was speaking. The Head of the Apollinean Institute delivered himself of
+these judicious sentiments in that peculiar acid, penetrating tone,
+wadded with a nasal twang, which not rarely becomes hereditary after
+three or four generations raised upon east winds, salt fish, and large,
+white-bellied, pickled cucumbers. He spoke deliberately, as if weighing
+his words well, so that, during his few remarks, Mr. Bernard had time
+for a mental accompaniment with variations, accented by certain bodily
+changes, which escaped Mr. Peckham's observation. First there was a
+feeling of disgust and shame at hearing Helen Darley spoken of like a
+dumb working animal. That sent the blood up into his cheeks. Then the
+slur upon her probable want of force--_her_ incapacity, who made the
+character of the school and left this man to pocket its profits--sent a
+thrill of the old Wentworth fire through him, so that his muscles
+hardened, his hands closed, and he took the measure of Mr. Silas
+Peckham, to see if his head would strike the wall in case he went over
+backwards all of a sudden. This would not do, of course, and so the
+thrill passed off and the muscles softened again. Then came that state
+of tenderness in the heart, overlying wrath in the stomach, in which
+the eyes grow moist like a woman's, and there is also a great
+boiling-up of objectionable terms out of the deep-water vocabulary, so
+that Prudence and Propriety and all the other pious Ps have to jump
+upon the lid of speech to keep them from boiling _over_ into fierce
+articulation. All this was internal, chiefly, and of course not
+recognized by Mr. Silas Peckham. The idea, that any full-grown,
+sensible man should have any other notion than that of getting the most
+work for the least money out of his assistants, had never suggested
+itself to him.
+
+Mr. Bernard had gone through this paroxysm, and cooled down, in the
+period while Mr. Peckham was uttering these words in his thin, shallow
+whine, twanging up into the frontal sinuses. What was the use of losing
+his temper and throwing away his place, and so, among the consequences
+which would necessarily follow, leaving the poor lady-teacher without a
+friend to stand by her ready to lay his hand on the grand-inquisitor
+before the windlass of his rack had taken one turn too many?
+
+"No doubt, Mr. Peckham," he said, in a grave, calm voice, "there is a
+great deal of work to be done in the school; but perhaps we can
+distribute the duties a little more evenly after a time. I shall look
+over the girls' themes myself, after this week. Perhaps there will be
+some other parts of her labor that I can take on myself. We can arrange
+a new programme of studies and recitations."
+
+"We can do that," said Mr. Silas Peckham. "But I don't propose
+mater'lly alterin' Miss Darley's dooties. I don't think she works to
+hurt herself. Some of the Trustees have proposed interdoosin' new
+branches of study, and I expect you will be pootty much occoopied with
+the dooties that belong to your place. On the Sabbath you will be able
+to attend divine service three times, which is expected of our
+teachers. I shall continoo myself to give Sabbath Scriptur'-readin's to
+the young ladies. That is a solemn dooty I can't make up my mind to
+commit to other people. My teachers enjoy the Lord's day as a day of
+rest. In it they do no manner of work,--except in cases of necessity or
+mercy, such as fillin' out diplomas, or when we git crowded jest at the
+end of a term, or when there is an extry number of poopils, or other
+Providential call to dispense with the ordinance."
+
+Mr. Bernard had a fine glow in his cheeks by this time,--doubtless
+kindled by the thought of the kind consideration Mr. Peckham showed for
+his subordinates in allowing them the between-meeting-time on Sundays
+except for some special reason. But the morning was wearing away; so he
+went to the school-room, taking leave very properly of his respected
+principal, who soon took his hat and departed.
+
+Mr. Peckham visited certain "stores" or shops, where he made inquiries
+after various articles in the provision-line, and effected a purchase
+or two. Two or three barrels of potatoes, which had sprouted in a
+promising way, he secured at a bargain. A side of feminine beef was
+also obtained at a low figure. He was entirely satisfied with a couple
+of barrels of flour, which, being invoiced "slightly damaged", were to
+be had at a reasonable price.
+
+After this, Silas Peckham felt in good spirits. He had done a pretty
+stroke of business. It came into his head whether he might not follow
+it up with a still more brilliant speculation. So he turned his steps
+in the direction of Colonel Sprowle's.
+
+It was now eleven o'clock, and the battlefield of last evening was as
+we left it. Mr. Peckham's visit was unexpected, perhaps not very well
+timed, but the Colonel received him civilly.
+
+"Beautifully lighted,--these rooms last night!" said Mr. Peckham.
+"Winter-strained?"
+
+The Colonel nodded.
+
+"How much do you pay for your winter-strained?"
+
+The Colonel told him the price.
+
+"Very hahnsome supper,--very hahnsome! Nothin' ever seen like it in
+Rockland. Must have been a great heap of things left over."
+
+The compliment was not ungrateful, and the Colonel acknowledged it by
+smiling and saying, "I should think the' was a trifle! Come and look."
+
+When Silas Peckham saw how many delicacies had survived the evening's
+conflict, his commercial spirit rose at once to the point of a
+proposal.
+
+"Colonel Sprowle," said he, "there's meat and cakes and pies and
+pickles enough on that table to spread a hahnsome colation. If you'd
+like to trade reasonable, I think perhaps I should be willin' to take
+'em off your hands. There's been a talk about our havin' a celebration
+in the Parnassian Grove, and I think I could work in what your folks
+don't want and make myself whole by chargin' a small sum for tickets.
+Broken meats, of course, a'n't of the same valoo as fresh provisions;
+so I think you might be willin' to trade reasonable."
+
+Mr. Peckham paused and rested on his proposal. It would not, perhaps,
+have been very extraordinary, if Colonel Sprowle had entertained the
+proposition. There is no telling beforehand how such things will strike
+people. It didn't happen to strike the Colonel favorably. He had a
+little red-blooded manhood in him.
+
+"Sell you them things to make a colation out of?" the Colonel replied.
+"Walk up to that table, Mr. Peckham, and help yourself! Fill your
+pockets, Mr. Peckham! Fetch a basket, and our hired folks shall fill it
+full for ye! Send a cart, if y' like, 'n' carry off them leavin's to
+make a celebration for your pupils with! Only let me tell ye this:--as
+sure's my name's Hezekiah Spraowle, you'll be known through the taown
+'n' through the caounty, from that day forrard, as the Principal of the
+Broken-Victuals Institoot!"
+
+Even provincial human-nature sometimes has a touch of sublimity about
+it. Mr. Silas Peckham had gone a little deeper than he meant, and come
+upon the "hard pan," as the well-diggers call it, of the Colonel's
+character, before he thought of it. A militia-colonel standing on his
+sentiments is not to be despised. That was shown pretty well in New
+England two or three generations ago. There were a good many plain
+officers that talked about their "rigiment" and their "caounty" who
+knew very well how to say "Make ready!" "Take aim!" "Fire!"--in the
+face of a line of grenadiers with bullets in their guns and bayonets on
+them. And though a rustic uniform is not always unexceptionable in its
+cut and trimmings, yet there was many an ill-made coat in those old
+times that was good enough to be shown to the enemy's front rank, too
+often to be left on the field with a round hole in its left lapel that
+matched another going right through the brave heart of the plain
+country captain or major or colonel who was buried in it under the
+crimson turf.
+
+Mr. Silas Peckham said little or nothing. His sensibilities were not
+acute, but he perceived that he had made a miscalculation. He hoped
+that there was no offence,--thought it might have been mutooally
+agreeable, conclooded he would give up the idee of a colation, and
+backed himself out as if unwilling to expose the less guarded aspect of
+his person to the risk of accelerating impulses.
+
+The Colonel shut the door,--cast his eye on the toe of his right boot,
+as if it had had a strong temptation,--looked at his watch, then round
+the room, and, going to a cupboard, swallowed a glass of deep-red
+brandy and water to compose his feelings.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE DOCTOR ORDERS THE BEST SULKY.
+
+
+(_With a Digression on "Hired Help"_)
+
+"Abel! Slip Cassia into the new sulky, and fetch her round."
+
+Abel was Dr. Kittredge's hired man. He was born in New Hampshire, a
+queer sort of a State, with fat streaks of soil and population where
+they breed giants in mind and body, and lean streaks which export
+imperfectly nourished young men with promising but neglected appetites,
+who may be found in great numbers in all the large towns, or could be
+until of late years, when they have been half driven out of their
+favorite basement-stories by foreigners, and half coaxed away from them
+by California. New Hampshire is in more than one sense the Switzerland
+of New England. The "Granite State" being naturally enough deficient in
+pudding-stone, its children are apt to wander southward in search of
+that deposit,--in the unpetrified condition.
+
+Abel Stebbins was a good specimen of that extraordinary hybrid or mule
+between democracy and chrysocracy, a native-born New-England
+serving-man. The Old World has nothing at all like him. He is at once
+an emperor and a subordinate. In one hand he holds one five-millionth
+part (be the same more or less) of the power that sways the destinies
+of the Great Republic. His other hand is in your boot, which he is
+about to polish. It is impossible to turn a fellow-citizen whose vote
+may make his master--say, rather, employer--Governor or President, or
+who may be one or both himself, into a flunky. That article must be
+imported ready-made from other centres of civilization. When a
+New-Englander has lost his self-respect as a citizen and as a man, he
+is demoralized, and cannot be trusted with the money to pay for a
+dinner.
+
+It may be supposed, therefore, that this fractional emperor, this
+continent-shaper, finds his position awkward when he goes into service,
+and that his employer is apt to find it still more embarrassing. It is
+always under protest that the hired man does his duty. Every act of
+service is subject to the drawback, "I am as good as you are." This is
+so common, at least, as almost to be the rule, and partly accounts for
+the rapid disappearance of the indigenous "domestic" from the basements
+above mentioned. Paleontologists will by-and-by be examining the floors
+of our kitchens for tracks of the extinct native species of
+serving-man. The female of the same race is fast dying out; indeed, the
+time is not far distant when all the varieties of young _woman_ will
+have vanished from New England, as the dodo has perished in the
+Mauritius. The young _lady_ is all that we shall have left, and the mop
+and duster of the last Almira or Loďzy will be stared at by generations
+of Bridgets and Noras as that famous head and foot of the lost bird are
+stared at in the Ashmolean Museum.
+
+Abel Stebbins, the Doctor's man, took the true American view of his
+difficult position. He sold his time to the Doctor, and, having sold
+it, he took care to fulfil his half of the bargain. The Doctor, on his
+part, treated him, not like a gentleman, because one does not order a
+gentleman to bring up his horse or run his errands, but he treated him
+like a man. Every order was given in courteous terms. His reasonable
+privileges were respected as much as if they had been guarantied under
+hand and seal. The Doctor lent him books from his own library, and gave
+him all friendly counsel, as if he were a son or a younger brother.
+
+Abel had Revolutionary blood in his veins, and though he saw fit to
+"hire out," he could never stand the word "servant," or consider
+himself the inferior one of the two high contracting parties. When he
+came to live with the Doctor, he made up his mind he would dismiss the
+old gentleman, if he did not behave according to his notions of
+propriety. But he soon found that the Doctor was one of the right sort,
+and so determined to keep him. The Doctor soon found, on his side, that
+he had a trustworthy, intelligent fellow, who would be invaluable to
+him, if he only let him have his own way of doing what was to be done.
+
+The Doctor's hired man had not the manners of a French valet. He was
+grave and taciturn for the most part, he never bowed and rarely smiled,
+but was always at work in the daytime and always reading in the
+evening. He was hostler, and did all the housework that a man could
+properly do, would go to the door or "tend table," bought the
+provisions for the family,--in short, did almost everything for them
+but get their clothing. There was no office in a perfectly appointed
+household, from that of steward down to that of stable-boy, which he
+did not cheerfully assume. His round of work not consuming all his
+energies, he must needs cultivate the Doctor's garden, which he kept in
+one perpetual bloom, from the blowing of the first crocus to the fading
+of the last dahlia.
+
+This garden was Abel's poem. Its half-dozen beds were so many cantos.
+Nature crowded them for him with imagery such as no Laureate could copy
+in the cold mosaic of language. The rhythm of alternating dawn and
+sunset, the strophe and antistrophe still perceptible through all the
+sudden shifts of our dithyrambic seasons and echoed in corresponding
+floral harmonies, made melody in the soul of Abel, the plain serving-
+man. It softened his whole otherwise rigid aspect. He worshipped God
+according to the strict way of his fathers; but a florist's Puritanism
+is always colored by the petals of his flowers,--and Nature never shows
+him a black corolla.
+
+Perhaps he may have little or nothing to do in this narrative; but as
+there must be some who confound the New-England _hired man_,
+native-born, with the _servant_ of foreign birth, and as there is the
+difference of two continents and two civilizations between them, it did
+not seem fair to let Abel bring round the Doctor's mare and sulky
+without touching his features in half-shadow into our background.
+
+The Doctor's mare, Cassia, was so called by her master from her
+cinnamon color, cassia being one of the professional names for that
+spice or drug. She was of the shade we call sorrel, or, as an
+Englishman would perhaps say, chestnut,--a genuine "Morgan" mare, with
+a low forehand, as is common in this breed, but with strong quarters
+and flat hocks, well ribbed up, with a good eye and a pair of lively
+ears,--a first-rate doctor's beast,--would stand until her harness
+dropped off her back at the door of a tedious case, and trot over hill
+and dale thirty miles in three hours, if there was a child in the next
+county with a bean in its windpipe and the Doctor gave her a hint of
+the fact. Cassia was not large, but she had a good deal of action, and
+was the Doctor's show-horse. There were two other animals in his
+stable: Quassia or Quashy, the black horse, and Caustic, the old bay,
+with whom he jogged round the village.
+
+"A long ride to-day?" said Abel, as he brought up the equipage.
+
+"Just out of the village,--that's all.--There's a kink in her
+mane,--pull it out, will you?"
+
+"Goin' to visit some of the great folks," Abel said to himself. "Wonder
+who it is."--Then to the Doctor,--"Anybody get sick at Sprowles's? They
+say Deacon Soper had a fit, after eatin' some o' their frozen
+victuals."
+
+The Doctor smiled. He guessed the Deacon would do well enough. He was
+only going to ride over to the Dudley mansion-house.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE DOCTOR CALLS ON ELSIE VENNER.
+
+
+If that primitive physician, CHIRON, M.D., appears as a Centaur, as we
+look at him through the lapse of thirty centuries, the modern
+country-doctor, if he could be seen about thirty miles off, could not
+be distinguished from a wheel-animalcule. He _inhabits_ a
+wheel-carriage. He thinks of stationary dwellings as Long Tom Coffin
+did of land in general; a house may be well enough for incidental
+purposes, but for a "stiddy" residence give him a "kerridge." If he is
+classified in the Linnaean scale, he must be set down thus: Genus
+_Homo_; Species _Rotifer infusorius_,--the wheel-animal of infusions.
+
+The Dudley mansion was not a mile from the Doctor's; but it never
+occurred to him to think of walking to see any of his patients'
+families, if he had any professional object in his visit. Whenever the
+narrow sulky turned in at a gate, the rustic who was digging potatoes,
+or hoeing corn, or swishing through the grass with his scythe in
+wave-like crescents, or stepping short behind a loaded wheel-barrow,
+or trudging lazily by the side of the swinging, loose-throated,
+short-legged oxen, rocking along the road as if they had just been
+landed after a three-months' voyage,--the toiling native, whatever he
+was doing, stopped and looked up at the house the doctor was visiting.
+
+"Somebody sick over there t' Haynes's. Guess th' old man's ailin'
+ag'in. Winder's haäf-way open in the chamber,--shouldn't wonder 'f he
+was dead and laid aout. Docterin' a'n't no use, when y' see the winders
+open like that. Wahl, money a'n't much to speak of to th' old man naow!
+He don't want but _tew cents_,--and old Widah Peake, she knows what he
+wants them for!"
+
+Or again,--
+
+"Measles raound pootty thick. Briggs's folks's' buried two children
+with 'em laäst week. Th' old Doctor, he'd h' ker'd 'em threugh. Struck
+in 'n' p'dooeed mot'f cation,--so they say."
+
+This is only meant as a sample of the kind of way they used to think or
+talk, when the narrow sulky turned in at the gate of some house where
+there was a visit to be made.
+
+Oh, that narrow sulky! What hopes, what fears, what comfort, what
+anguish, what despair, in the roll of its coming or its parting wheels!
+In the spring, when the old people get the coughs which give them a few
+shakes and their lives drop in pieces like the ashes of a burned thread
+which have kept the threadlike shape until they were stirred,--in the
+hot summer noons, when the strong man comes in from the fields, like
+the son of the Shunamite, crying, "My head, my head,"--in the dying
+autumn days, when youth and maiden lie fever-stricken in many a
+household, still-faced, dull-eyed, dark-flushed, dry-lipped,
+low-muttering in their daylight dreams, their fingers moving singly
+like those of slumbering harpers,--in the dead winter, when the white
+plague of the North has caged its wasted victims, shuddering as they
+think of the frozen soil which must be quarried like rock to receive
+them, if their perpetual convalescence should happen to be interfered
+with by any untoward accident,--at every season, the narrow sulky
+rolled round freighted with unmeasured burdens of joy and woe.
+
+The Doctor drove along the southern foot of The Mountain. The "Dudley
+mansion" was near the eastern edge of this declivity, where it rose
+steepest, with baldest cliffs and densest patches of over-hanging wood.
+It seemed almost too steep to climb, but a practised eye could see from
+a distance the zigzag lines of the sheep-paths which scaled it like
+miniature Alpine roads. A few hundred feet up The Mountain's side was a
+dark, deep dell, unwooded, save for a few spindling, crazy--looking
+hackmatacks or native larches, with pallid green tufts sticking out
+fantastically all over them. It shelved so deeply, that, while the
+hemlock-tassels were swinging on the trees around its border, all would
+be still at its springy bottom, save that perhaps a single fern would
+wave slowly backward and forward like a sabre, with a twist as of a
+feathered oar,--and this, when not a breath could be felt, and every
+other stem and blade were motionless. There was an old story of one
+having perished here in the winter of '86, and his body having been
+found in the spring,--whence its common name of "Dead-Man's Hollow."
+Higher up there were huge cliffs with chasms, and, it was thought,
+concealed caves, where in old times they said that Tories lay
+hid,--some hinted not without occasional aid and comfort from the
+Dudleys then living in the mansion-house. Still higher and farther west
+lay the accursed ledge,--shunned by all, unless it were now and then a
+daring youth, or a wandering naturalist who ventured to its edge in the
+hope of securing some infantile _Crotalus durissus_, who had not yet
+cut his poison-teeth.
+
+Long, long ago, in old Colonial times, the Honorable Thomas Dudley,
+Esquire, a man of note and name and great resources, allied by descent
+to the family of "Tom Dudley," as the early Governor is sometimes
+irreverently called by our most venerable, but still youthful
+antiquary,--and to the other public Dudleys, of course,--of all of whom
+he made small account, as being himself an English gentleman, with
+little taste for the splendors of provincial office,--early in the last
+century, Thomas Dudley had built this mansion. For several generations
+it had been dwelt in by descendants of the same name, but soon after
+the Revolution it passed by marriage into the hands of the Venners, by
+whom it had ever since been held and tenanted.
+
+As the Doctor turned an angle in the road, all at once the stately old
+house rose before him. It was a skilfully managed effect, as it well
+might be, for it was no vulgar English architect who had planned the
+mansion and arranged its position and approach. The old house rose
+before the Doctor crowning a terraced garden, flanked at the left by a
+double avenue of tall elms. The flower-beds were edged with box, which
+diffused around it that dreamy balsamic odor, full of ante-natal
+reminiscences of a lost Paradise, dimly fragrant as might be the
+bdellium of ancient Havilah, the land compassed by the river Pison that
+went out of Eden. The garden was somewhat neglected, but not in
+disgrace,--and in the time of tulips and hyacinths, of roses, of
+"snowballs," of honeysuckles, of lilacs, of syringas, it was rich with
+blossoms.
+
+From the front-windows of the mansion the eye reached a far blue
+mountain-summit,--no rounded heap, such as often shuts in a
+village-landscape, but a sharp peak, clean-angled as Ascutney from the
+Dartmouth green. A wide gap through miles of woods had opened this
+distant view, and showed more, perhaps, than all the labors of the
+architect and the landscape-gardener the large style of the early
+Dudleys.
+
+The great stone chimney of the mansion-house was the centre from which
+all the artificial features of the scene appeared to flow. The roofs,
+the gables, the dormer-windows, the porches, the clustered offices in
+the rear, all seemed to crowd about the great chimney. To this central
+pillar the paths all converged. The single poplar behind the
+house,--Nature is jealous of proud chimneys, and always loves to put a
+poplar near one, so that it may fling a leaf or two down its black
+throat every autumn,--the one tall poplar behind the house seemed to
+nod and whisper to the grave square column, the elms to sway their
+branches towards it. And when the blue smoke rose from its summit, it
+seemed to be wafted away to join the azure haze which hung around the
+peak in the far distance, so that both should bathe in a common
+atmosphere.
+
+Behind the house were clumps of lilacs with a century's growth upon
+them, and looking more like trees than like shrubs. Shaded by a group
+of these was the ancient well, of huge circuit, and with a low arch
+opening out of its wall about ten feet below the surface,--whether the
+door of a crypt for the concealment of treasure, or of a subterranean
+passage, or merely of a vault for keeping provisions cool in hot
+weather, opinions differed.
+
+On looking at the house, it was plain that it was built with Old-World
+notions of strength and durability, and, so far as might be, with
+Old-World materials. The hinges of the doors stretched out like arms,
+instead of like hands, as we make them. The bolts were massive enough
+for a donjon-keep. The small window-panes were actually inclosed in the
+wood of the sashes, instead of being stuck to them with putty, as in
+our modern windows. The broad staircase was of easy ascent, and was
+guarded by quaintly turned and twisted balusters. The ceilings of the
+two rooms of state were moulded with medallion-portraits and rustic
+figures, such as may have been seen by many readers in the famous old
+Philipse house,--Washington's headquarters,--in the town of Yonkers.
+The fireplaces, worthy of the wide-throated central chimney, were
+bordered by pictured tiles, some of them with Scripture stories, some
+with Watteau-like figures,--tall damsels in slim waists and with spread
+enough of skirt for a modern ballroom, with bowing, reclining, or
+musical swains of what everybody calls the "conventional" sort,--that
+is, the swain adapted to genteel society rather than to a literal
+sheep-compelling existence.
+
+The house was furnished, soon after it was completed, with many heavy
+articles made in London from a rare wood just then come into fashion,
+not so rare now, and commonly known as mahogany. Time had turned it
+very dark, and the stately bedsteads and tall cabinets and claw-footed
+chairs and tables were in keeping with the sober dignity of the ancient
+mansion. The old "hangings" were yet preserved in the chambers, faded,
+but still showing their rich patterns,--properly entitled to their
+name, for they were literally hung upon flat wooden frames like
+trellis-work, which again were secured to the naked partitions.
+There were portraits of different date on the walls of the various
+apartments, old painted coats-of-arms, bevel-edged mirrors, and in one
+sleeping-room a glass case of wax-work flowers and spangly symbols,
+with a legend signifying that E.M. (supposed to be Elizabeth Mascarene)
+wished not to be "forgot"
+
+  "When I am dead and lay'd in dust
+  And all my bones are"----
+
+Poor E.M.! Poor everybody that sighs for earthly remembrance in a
+planet with a core of fire and a crust of fossils!
+
+Such was the Dudley mansion-house,--for it kept its ancient name in
+spite of the change in the line of descent. Its spacious apartments
+looked dreary and desolate; for here Dudley Venner and his daughter
+dwelt by themselves, with such servants only as their quiet mode of
+life required. He almost lived in his library, the western room on the
+ground-floor. Its window looked upon a small plat of green, in the
+midst of which was a single grave marked by a plain marble slab. Except
+this room, and the chamber where he slept, and the servants' wing, the
+rest of the house was all Elsie's. She was always a restless, wandering
+child from her early years, and would have her little bed moved from
+one chamber to another,--flitting round as the fancy took her.
+Sometimes she would drag a mat and a pillow into one of the great empty
+rooms, and, wrapping herself in a shawl, coil up and go to sleep in a
+corner. Nothing frightened her; the "haunted" chamber, with the torn
+hangings that flapped like wings when there was air stirring, was one
+of her favorite retreats.
+
+She had been a very hard creature to manage. Her father could
+influence, but not govern her. Old Sophy, born of a slave mother in the
+house, could do more with her than anybody, knowing her by long
+instinctive study. The other servants were afraid of her. Her father
+had sent for governesses, but none of them ever stayed long. She made
+them nervous; one of them had a strange fit of sickness; not one of
+them ever came back to the house to see her. A young Spanish woman who
+taught her dancing succeeded best with her, for she had a passion for
+that exercise, and had mastered some of the most difficult dances.
+
+Long before this period, she had manifested some most extraordinary
+singularities of taste or instinct. The extreme sensitiveness of her
+father on this point prevented any allusion to them; but there were
+stories floating round, some of them even getting into the
+papers,--without her name, of course,--which were of a kind to excite
+intense curiosity, if not more anxious feelings. This thing was
+certain, that at the age of twelve she was missed one night, and was
+found sleeping in the open air under a tree, like a wild creature. Very
+often she would wander off by day, always without a companion, bringing
+home with her a nest, a flower, or even a more questionable trophy of
+her ramble, such as showed that there was no place where she was afraid
+to venture. Once in a while she had stayed out over night, in which
+case the alarm was spread, and men went in search of her, but never
+successfully,--so that some said she hid herself in trees, and others
+that she had found one of the old Tory caves.
+
+Some, of course, said she was a crazy girl, and ought to be sent to an
+Asylum. But old Dr. Kittredge had shaken his head, and told them to
+bear with her, and let her have her way as much as they could, but
+watch her, as far as possible, without making her suspicious of them.
+He visited her now and then, under the pretext of seeing her father on
+business, or of only making a friendly call.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Doctor fastened his horse outside the gate, and walked up the
+garden-alley. He stopped suddenly with a start. A strange sound had
+jarred upon his ear. It was a sharp prolonged rattle, continuous, but
+rising and falling as if in rhythmical cadence. He moved softly towards
+the open window from which the sound seemed to proceed.
+
+Elsie was alone in the room, dancing one of those wild Moorish
+fandangos, such as a _matador_ hot from the _Plaza de Toros_ of Seville
+or Madrid might love to lie and gaze at. She was a figure to look upon
+in silence. The dancing frenzy must have seized upon her while she was
+dressing; for she was in her bodice, bare-armed, her hair floating
+unbound far below the waist of her barred or banded skirt. She had
+caught up her castanets, and rattled them as she danced with a kind of
+passionate fierceness, her lithe body undulating with flexuous grace,
+her diamond eyes glittering, her round arms wreathing and unwinding,
+alive and vibrant to the tips of the slender fingers. Some passion
+seemed to exhaust itself in this dancing paroxysm; for all at once she
+reeled from the middle of the floor, and flung herself, as it were in a
+careless coil, upon a great tiger's-skin which was spread out in one corner
+of the apartment.
+
+The old Doctor stood motionless, looking at her as she lay panting on
+the tawny, black-lined robe of the dead monster, which stretched out
+beneath her, its rude flattened outline recalling the Terror of the
+Jungle as he crouched for his fatal spring. In a few moments her head
+drooped upon her arm, and her glittering eyes closed,--she was
+sleeping. He stood looking at her still, steadily, thoughtfully,
+tenderly. Presently he lifted his hand to his forehead, as if recalling
+some fading remembrance of other years.
+
+"Poor Catalina!"
+
+This was all he said. He shook his head,--implying that his visit would
+be in vain to-day,--returned to his sulky, and rode away, as if in a
+dream.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
+
+
+The romance of "The Marble Faun" will be widely welcomed, not only for
+its intrinsic merits, but because it is a sign that its writer, after a
+silence of seven or eight years, has determined to resume his place in
+the ranks of authorship. In his preface he tells us, that in each of
+his previous publications he had unconsciously one person in his eye,
+whom he styles his "gentle reader." He meant it "for that one congenial
+friend, more comprehensive of his purposes, more appreciative of his.
+success, more indulgent of his short-comings, and, in all respects,
+closer and kinder than a brother,--that all-sympathizing critic, in
+short, whom an author never actually meets, but to whom he implicitly
+makes his appeal, whenever he is conscious of having done his best." He
+believes that this reader did once exist for him, and duly received the
+scrolls he flung "upon whatever wind was blowing, in the faith that
+they would find him out." "But," he questions, "is he extant now? In
+these many years since he last heard from me, may he not have deemed
+his earthly task accomplished, and have withdrawn to the paradise of
+gentle readers, wherever it may be, to the enjoyments of which his
+kindly charity on my behalf must surely have entitled him?" As we feel
+assured that Hawthorne's reputation has been steadily growing with the
+lapse of time, he has no cause to fear that the longevity of his gentle
+reader will not equal his own. As long as he writes, there will be
+readers enough to admire and appreciate.
+
+The publication of this new romance seems to offer us a fitting
+occasion to attempt some description of the peculiarities of the genius
+of which it is the latest offspring, and to hazard some judgments on
+its predecessors. It is more than twenty-five years since Hawthorne
+began that remarkable series of stories and essays which are now
+collected in the volumes of "Twice-Told Tales," "The Snow Image and
+other Tales," and "Mosses from an Old Manse." From the first he was
+recognized by such readers as he chanced to find as a man of genius,
+yet for a long time he enjoyed, in his own words, the distinction of
+being "the obscurest man of letters in America." His readers were
+"gentle" rather than enthusiastic; their fine delight in his creations
+was a private perception of subtile excellences of thought and style,
+too refined and self-satisfying to be contagious; and the public was
+untouched, whilst the "gentle" reader was full of placid enjoyment.
+Indeed, we fear that this kind of reader is something of an
+Epicurean,--receives a new genius as a private blessing, sent by a
+benign Providence to quicken a new life in his somewhat jaded sense of
+intellectual pleasure; and after having received a fresh sensation, he
+is apt to be serenely indifferent whether the creator of it starve
+bodily or pine mentally from the lack of a cordial human shout of
+recognition.
+
+There would appear, on a slight view of the matter, no reason for the
+little notice which Hawthorne's early productions received. The
+subjects were mostly drawn from the traditions and written records of
+New England, and gave the "beautiful strangeness" of imagination to
+objects, incidents, and characters which were familiar facts in the
+popular mind. The style, while it had a purity, sweetness, and grace
+which satisfied the most fastidious and exacting taste, had, at the
+same time, more than the simplicity and clearness of an ordinary
+school-book. But though the subjects and the style were thus popular,
+there was something in the shaping and informing spirit which failed to
+awaken interest, or awakened interest without exciting delight.
+Misanthropy, when it has its source in passion,--when it is fierce,
+bitter, fiery, and scornful,--when it vigorously echoes the aggressive
+discontent of the world, and furiously tramples on the institutions and
+the men luckily rather than rightfully in the ascendant,--this is
+always popular; but a misanthropy which springs from insight,--a
+misanthropy which is lounging, languid, sad, and depressing,--a
+misanthropy which remorselessly looks through cursing misanthropes and
+chirping men of the world with the same sure, detecting glance of
+reason,--a misanthropy which has no fanaticism, and which casts the
+same ominous doubt on subjectively morbid as on subjectively moral
+action,--a misanthropy which has no respect for impulses, but has a
+terrible perception of spiritual laws,--this is a misanthropy which can
+expect no wide recognition; and it would be vain to deny that traces of
+this kind of misanthropy are to be found in Hawthorne's earlier, and
+are not altogether absent from his later works. He had spiritual
+insight, but it did not penetrate to the sources of spiritual joy; and
+his deepest glimpses of truth were calculated rather to sadden than to
+inspire. A blandly cynical distrust of human nature was the result of
+his most piercing glances into the human soul. He had humor, and
+sometimes humor of a delicious kind; but this sunshine of the soul was
+but sunshine breaking through or lighting up a sombre and ominous
+cloud. There was also observable in his earlier stories a lack of vigor,
+as if the power of his nature had been impaired by the very
+process--which gave depth and excursiveness to his mental vision.
+Throughout, the impression is conveyed of a shy recluse, alternately
+bashful in disposition and bold in thought, gifted with original and
+various capacities, but capacities which seemed to have developed
+themselves in the shade, without sufficient energy of will or desire to
+force them, except fitfully, into the sunlight. Shakspeare calls
+moonlight the sunlight _sick_; and it is in some such moonlight of the
+mind that the genius of Hawthorne found its first expression. A mild
+melancholy, sometimes deepening into gloom, sometimes brightened into a
+"humorous sadness," characterized his early creations. Like his own
+Hepzibah Pyncheon, he appeared "to be walking in a dream"; or rather,
+the life and reality assumed by his emotions "made all outward
+occurrences unsubstantial, like the teasing phantasms of an unconscious
+slumber." Though dealing largely in description, and with the most
+accurate perceptions of outward objects, he still, to use again his own
+words, gives the impression of a man "chiefly accustomed to look
+inward, and to whom external matters are of little value or import,
+unless they bear relation to something within his own mind." But that
+"something within his own mind" was often an unpleasant something,
+perhaps a ghastly occult perception of deformity and sin in what
+appeared outwardly fair and good; so that the reader felt a secret
+dissatisfaction with the disposition which directed the genius, even in
+the homage he awarded to the genius itself. As psychological portraits
+of morbid natures, his delineations of character might have given a
+purely intellectual satisfaction; but there was audible, to the
+delicate ear, a faint and muffled growl of personal discontent, which
+showed they were not mere exercises of penetrating imaginative
+analysis, but had in them the morbid vitality of a despondent mood.
+
+Yet, after admitting these peculiarities, nobody who is now drawn to
+the "Twice-Told Tales," from his interest in the later romances of
+Hawthorne, can fail to wonder a little at the limited number of readers
+they attracted on their original publication. For many of these stories
+are at once a representation of early New-England life and a criticism
+on it. They have much of the deepest truth of history in them. "The
+Legends of the Province House," "The Gray Champion," "The Gentle Boy,"
+"The Minister's Black Veil," "Endicott and the Red Cross," not to
+mention others, contain important matter which cannot be found in
+Bancroft or Grahame. They exhibit the inward struggles of New-England
+men and women with some of the darkest problems of existence, and have
+more vital import to thoughtful minds than the records of Indian or
+Revolutionary warfare. In the "Prophetic Pictures," "Fancy's Show-Box,"
+"The Great Carbuncle," "The Haunted Mind," and "Edward Fane's
+Rose-Bud," there are flashes of moral insight, which light up, for the
+moment, the darkest recesses of the individual mind; and few sermons
+reach to the depth of thought and sentiment from which these seemingly
+airy sketches draw their sombre life. It is common, for instance, for
+religious moralists to insist on the great spiritual truth, that wicked
+thoughts and impulses, which circumstances prevent from passing into
+wicked acts, are still deeds in the sight of God; but the living truth
+subsides into a dead truism, as enforced by commonplace preachers. In
+"Fancy's Show-Box," Hawthorne seizes the prolific idea; and the
+respectable merchant and respected church-member, in the still hour of
+his own meditation, convicts himself of being a liar, cheat, thief,
+seducer, and murderer, as he casts his glance over the mental events
+which form his spiritual biography. Interspersed with serious histories
+and moralities like these, are others which embody the sweet and
+playful, though still thoughtful and slightly saturnine action of
+Hawthorne's mind,--like "The Seven Vagabonds," "Snow-Flakes," "The
+Lily's Quest," "Mr. Higgenbotham's Catastrophe," "Little Annie's
+Ramble," "Sights from a Steeple," "Sunday at Home," and "A Rill from
+the Town-Pump."
+
+The "Mosses from an Old Manse" are intellectually and artistically an
+advance from the "Twice-Told Tales." The twenty-three stories and
+essays which make up the volumes are almost perfect of their kind. Each
+is complete in itself, and many might be expanded into long romances by
+the simple method of developing the possibilities of their shadowy
+types of character into appropriate incidents. In description,
+narration, allegory, humor, reason, fancy, subtilty, inventiveness,
+they exceed the best productions of Addison; but they want Addison's
+sensuous contentment and sweet and kindly spirit. Though the author
+denies that he has exhibited his own individual attributes in these
+"Mosses," though he professes not to be "one of those supremely
+hospitable people who serve up their own hearts delicately fried, with
+brain-sauce, as a titbit for their beloved public,"--yet it is none the
+less apparent that he has diffused through each tale and sketch the
+life of the mental mood to which it owed its existence, and that one
+individuality pervades and colors the whole collection. The defect of
+the serious stories is, that character is introduced, not as thinking,
+but as the illustration of thought. The persons are ghostly, with a sad
+lack of flesh and blood. They are phantasmal symbols of a reflective
+and imaginative analysis of human passions and aspirations. The
+dialogue, especially, is bookish, as though the personages knew their
+speech was to be printed, and were careful of the collocation and
+rhythm of their words. The author throughout is evidently more
+interested in his large, wide, deep, indolently serene, and lazily sure
+and critical view of the conflict of ideas and passions, than he is
+with the individuals who embody them. He shows moral insight without
+moral earnestness. He cannot contract his mind to the patient
+delineation of a moral individual, but attempts to use individuals in
+order to express the last results of patient moral perception. Young
+Goodman Brown and Roger Malvin are not persons; they are the mere,
+loose, personal expression of subtile thinking. "The Celestial
+Railroad," "The Procession of Life," "Earth's Holocaust," "The Bosom
+Serpent," indicate thought of a character equally deep, delicate, and
+comprehensive, but the characters are ghosts of men rather than
+substantial individualities. In the "Mosses from an Old Manse," we are
+really studying the phenomena of human nature, while, for the time, we
+beguile ourselves into the belief that we are following the fortunes of
+individual natures.
+
+Up to this time the writings of Hawthorne conveyed the impression of a
+genius in which insight so dominated over impulse, that it was rather
+mentally and morally curious than mentally and morally impassioned. The
+quality evidently wanting to its full expression was intensity. In the
+romance of "The Scarlet Letter" he first made his genius efficient by
+penetrating it with passion. This book forced itself into attention by
+its inherent power; and the author's name, previously known only to a
+limited circle of readers, suddenly became a familiar word in the
+mouths of the great reading public of America and England. It may be
+said, that it "captivated" nobody, but took everybody captive. Its
+power could neither be denied nor resisted. There were growls of
+disapprobation from novel-readers, that Hester Prynne and the Rev. Mr.
+Dimmesdale were subjected to cruel punishments unknown to the
+jurisprudence of fiction,--that the author was an inquisitor who put
+his victims on the rack,--and that neither amusement nor delight
+resulted from seeing the contortions and hearing the groans of these
+martyrs of sin; but the fact was no less plain that Hawthorne had for
+once compelled the most superficial lovers of romance to submit
+themselves to the magic of his genius. The readers of Dickens voted
+him, with three times three, to the presidency of their republic of
+letters; the readers of Hawthorne were caught by a _coup d'état_, and
+fretfully submitted to a despot whom they could not depose.
+
+The success of "The Scarlet Letter" is an example of the advantage
+which an author gains by the simple concentration of his powers on one
+absorbing subject. In the "Twice-Told Tales" and the "Mosses from an
+Old Manse" Hawthorne had exhibited a wider range of sight and insight
+than in "The Scarlet Letter." Indeed, in the little sketch of "Endicott
+and the Red Cross," written twenty years before, he had included in a
+few sentences the whole matter which he afterwards treated in his
+famous story. In describing the various inhabitants of an early
+New-England town, as far as they were representative, he touches
+incidentally on a "young woman, with no mean share of beauty, whose
+doom it was to wear the letter A on the breast of her gown, in the eyes
+of all the world and her own children. And even her own children knew
+what that initial signified. Sporting with her infamy, the lost and
+desperate creature had embroidered the fatal token in scarlet cloth,
+with golden thread and the nicest art of needle-work; so that the
+capital A might have been thought to mean Admirable, or anything,
+rather than Adulteress." Here is the germ of the whole pathos and
+terror of "The Scarlet Letter"; but it is hardly noted in the throng of
+symbols, equally pertinent, in the few pages of the little sketch from
+which we have quoted.
+
+Two characteristics of Hawthorne's genius stand plainly out, in the
+conduct and characterization of the romance of "The Scarlet Letter,"
+which were less obviously prominent in his previous works. The first
+relates to his subordination of external incidents to inward events.
+Mr. James's "solitary horseman" does more in one chapter than
+Hawthorne's hero in twenty chapters; but then James deals with the arms
+of men, while Hawthorne deals with their souls. Hawthorne relies almost
+entirely for the interest of his story on what is felt and done within
+the minds of his characters. Even his most picturesque descriptions and
+narratives are only one-tenth matter to nine-tenths spirit. The results
+that follow from one external act of folly or crime are to him enough
+for an Iliad of woes. It might be supposed that his whole theory of
+Romantic Art was based on these tremendous lines of Wordsworth:--
+
+             "Action is momentary,--
+  The motion of a muscle, this way or that:
+  Suffering is long, obscure, and infinite."
+
+The second characteristic of his genius is connected with the first.
+With his insight of individual souls he combines a far deeper insight
+of the spiritual laws which govern the strangest aberrations of
+individual souls. But it seems to us that his mental eye, keen-sighted
+and far-sighted as it is, overlooks the merciful modifications of the
+austere code whose pitiless action it so clearly discerns. In his long
+and patient brooding over the spiritual phenomena of Puritan life, it
+is apparent, to the least critical observer, that he has imbibed a deep
+personal antipathy to the Puritanic ideal of character; but it is no
+less apparent that his intellect and imagination have been strangely
+fascinated by the Puritanic idea of justice. His brain has been subtly
+infected by the Puritanic perception of Law, without being warmed by
+the Puritanic faith in Grace. Individually, he would much prefer to
+have been one of his own "Seven Vagabonds" rather than one of the
+austerest preachers of the primitive church of New England; but the
+austerest preacher of the primitive church of New England would have
+been more tender and considerate to a real Mr. Dimmesdale and a real
+Hester Prynne than this modern romancer has been to their typical
+representatives in the world of imagination. Throughout "The Scarlet
+Letter" we seem to be following the guidance of an author who is
+personally good-natured, but intellectually and morally relentless.
+
+"The House of the Seven Gables," Hawthorne's next work, while it has
+less concentration of passion and tension of mind than "The Scarlet
+Letter," includes a wider range of observation, reflection, and
+character; and the morality, dreadful as fate, which hung like a black
+cloud over the personages of the previous story, is exhibited in more
+relief. Although the book has no imaginative creation equal to little
+Pearl, it still contains numerous examples of characterization at once
+delicate and deep. Clifford, especially, is a study in psychology, as
+well as a marvellously subtile delineation of enfeebled manhood. The
+general idea of the story is this,--"that the wrong-doing of one
+generation lives into the successive ones, and, divesting itself of
+every temporary advantage, becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief";
+and the mode in which this idea is carried out shows great force,
+fertility, and refinement of mind. A weird fancy, sporting with the
+facts detected by a keen observation, gives to every gable of the Seven
+Gables, every room in the House, every burdock growing rankly before
+the door, a symbolic significance. The queer mansion is
+haunted,--haunted with thoughts which every moment are liable to take
+ghostly shape. All the Pyncheons who have resided in it appear to have
+infected the very timbers and walls with the spiritual essence of their
+lives, and each seems ready to pass from a memory into a presence. The
+stern theory of the author regarding the hereditary transmission of
+family qualities, and the visiting of the sins of the fathers on the
+heads of their children, almost wins our reluctant assent through the
+pertinacity with which the generations of the Pyncheon race are made
+not merely to live in the blood and brain of their descendants, but to
+cling to their old abiding-place on earth, so that to inhabit the house
+is to breathe the Pyncheon soul and assimilate the Pyncheon
+individuality. The whole representation, masterly as it is, considered
+as an effort of intellectual and imaginative power, would still be
+morally bleak, were it not for the sunshine and warmth radiated from
+the character of Phoebe. In this delightful creation Hawthorne for once
+gives himself up to homely human nature, and has succeeded in
+delineating a New-England girl, cheerful, blooming, practical,
+affectionate, efficient, full of innocence and happiness, with all the
+"handiness" and native sagacity of her class, and so true and close to
+Nature that the process by which she is slightly idealized is
+completely hidden.
+
+In this romance there is also more humor than in any of his other
+works. It peeps out, even in the most serious passages, in a kind of
+demure rebellion against the fanaticism of his remorseless
+intelligence. In the description of the Pyncheon poultry, which we
+think unexcelled by anything in Dickens for quaintly fanciful humor,
+the author seems to indulge in a sort of parody on his own doctrine of
+the hereditary transmission of family qualities. At any rate, that
+strutting chanticleer, with his two meagre wives and one wizened
+chicken, is a sly side fleer at the tragic aspect of the law of
+descent. Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, her shop, and her customers, are so
+delightful, that the reader would willingly spare a good deal of
+Clifford and Judge Pyncheon and Holgrave, for more details of them and
+Phoebe. Uncle Venner, also, the old wood-sawyer, who boasts "that he
+has seen a good deal of the world, not only in people's kitchens and
+back-yards, but at the street-corners, and on the wharves, and in other
+places where his business" called him, and who, on the strength of this
+comprehensive experience, feels qualified to give the final decision in
+every case which tasks the resources of human wisdom, is a very much
+more humane and interesting gentleman than the Judge. Indeed, one
+cannot but regret that Hawthorne should be so economical of his
+undoubted stores of humor,--and that, in the two romances he has since
+written, humor, in the form of character, does not appear at all.
+
+Before proceeding to the consideration of "The Blithedale Romance," it
+is necessary to say a few words on the seeming separation of
+Hawthorne's genius from his will. He has none of that ability which
+enabled Scott and enables Dickens to force their powers into action,
+and to make what was begun in drudgery soon assume the character of
+inspiration. Hawthorne cannot thus use his genius; his genius always
+uses him. This is so true, that he often succeeds better in what calls
+forth his personal antipathies than in what calls forth his personal
+sympathies. His life of General Pierce, for instance, is altogether
+destitute of life; yet in writing it he must have exerted himself to
+the utmost, as his object was to urge the claims of an old and dear
+friend to the Presidency of the Republic. The style, of course, is
+excellent, as it is impossible for Hawthorne to write bad English, but
+the genius of the man has deserted him. General Pierce, whom he loves,
+he draws so feebly, that one doubts, while reading the biography, if
+such a man exists; Hollingsworth, whom he hates, is so vividly
+characterized, that the doubt is, while we read the romance, whether
+such a man can possibly be fictitious.
+
+Midway between such a work as the "Life of General Pierce" and "The
+Scarlet Letter" may be placed "The Wonder-Book" and "Tanglewood Tales."
+In these Hawthorne's genius distinctly appears, and appears in its most
+lovable, though not in its deepest form. These delicious stories,
+founded on the mythology of Greece, were written for children, but they
+delight men and women as well. Hawthorne never pleases grown people so
+much as when he writes with an eye to the enjoyment of little people.
+
+Now "The Blithedale Romance" is far from being so pleasing a
+performance as "Tanglewood Tales," yet it very much better illustrates
+the operation, indicates the quality, and expresses the power, of the
+author's genius. His great books appear not so much created by him as
+through him. They have the character of revelations,--he, the
+instrument, being often troubled with the burden they impose on his
+mind. His profoundest glances into individual souls are like the
+marvels of clairvoyance. It would seem, that, in the production of such
+a work as "The Blithedale Romance," his mind had hit accidentally, as
+it were, on an idea or fact mysteriously related to some morbid
+sentiment in the inmost core of his nature, and connecting itself with
+numerous scattered observations of human life, lying unrelated in his
+imagination. In a sort of meditative dream, his intellect drifts in the
+direction to which the subject points, broods patiently over it, looks
+at it, looks into it, and at last looks through it to the law by which
+it is governed. Gradually, individual beings, definite in spiritual
+quality, but shadowy in substantial form, group themselves around this
+central conception, and by degrees assume an outward body and
+expression corresponding to their internal nature. On the depth and
+intensity of the mental mood, the force of the fascination it exerts
+over him, and the length of time it holds him captive, depend the
+solidity and substance of the individual characterizations. In this way
+Miles Coverdale, Hollingsworth, Westervelt, Zenobia, and Priscilla
+become real persons to the mind which has called them into being. He
+knows every secret and watches every motion of their souls, yet is, in
+a measure, independent of them, and pretends to no authority by which
+he can alter the destiny which consigns them to misery or happiness.
+They drift to their doom by the same law by which they drifted across
+the path of his vision. Individually, he abhors Hollingsworth, and
+would like to annihilate Westervelt, yet he allows the superb Zenobia
+to be their victim; and if his readers object that the effect of the
+whole representation is painful, he would doubtless agree with them,
+but profess his incapacity honestly to alter a sentence. He professes
+to tell the story as it was revealed to him; and the license in which a
+romancer might indulge is denied to a biographer of spirits. Show him a
+fallacy in his logic of passion and character, point out a false or
+defective step in his analysis, and he will gladly alter the whole to
+your satisfaction; but four human souls, such as he has described,
+being given, their mutual attractions and repulsions will end, he feels
+assured, in just such a catastrophe as he has stated.
+
+Eight years have passed since "The Blithedale Romance" was written, and
+during nearly the whole of this period Hawthorne has resided abroad.
+"The Marble Faun," which must, on the whole, be considered the greatest
+of his works, proves that his genius has widened and deepened in this
+interval, without any alteration or modification of its characteristic
+merits and characteristic defects. The most obvious excellence of the
+work is the vivid truthfulness of its descriptions of Italian life,
+manners, and scenery; and, considered merely as a record of a tour in
+Italy, it is of great interest and attractiveness. The opinions on Art,
+and the special criticisms on the masterpieces of architecture,
+sculpture, and painting, also possess a value of their own. The story
+might have been told, and the characters fully represented, in
+one-third of the space devoted to them, yet description and narration
+are so artfully combined that each assists to give interest to the
+other. Hawthorne is one of those true observers who concentrate in
+observation every power of their minds. He has accurate sight and
+piercing insight. When he modifies either the form or the spirit of the
+objects he describes, he does it either by viewing them through the
+medium of an imagined mind or by obeying associations which they
+themselves suggest. We might quote from the descriptive portions of the
+work a hundred pages, at least, which would demonstrate how closely
+accurate observation is connected with the highest powers of the
+intellect and imagination.
+
+The style of the book is perfect of its kind, and, if Hawthorne had
+written nothing else, would entitle him to rank among the great masters
+of English composition. Walter Savage Landor is reported to have said
+of an author whom he knew in his youth, "My friend wrote excellent
+English, a language now obsolete." Had "The Marble Faun" appeared
+before he uttered this sarcasm, the wit of the remark would have been
+pointless. Hawthorne not only writes English, but the sweetest,
+simplest, and clearest English that ever has been made the vehicle of
+equal depth, variety, and subtilty of thought and emotion. His mind is
+reflected in his style as a face is reflected in a mirror; and the
+latter does not give back its image with less appearance of effort than
+the former. His excellence consists not so much in using common words
+as in making common words express uncommon things. Swift, Addison,
+Goldsmith, not to mention others, wrote with as much simplicity; but
+the style of neither embodies an individuality so complex, passions so
+strange and intense, sentiments so fantastic and preternatural,
+thoughts so profound and delicate, and imaginations so remote from the
+recognized limits of the ideal, as find an orderly outlet in the pure
+English of Hawthorne. He has hardly a word to which Mrs. Trimmer would
+primly object, hardly a sentence which would call forth the frosty
+anathema of Blair, Hurd, Kames, or Whately, and yet he contrives to
+embody in his simple style qualities which would almost excuse the
+verbal extravagances of Carlyle.
+
+In regard to the characterization and plot of "The Marble Faun," there
+is room for widely varying opinions. Hilda, Miriam, and Donatello will
+be generally received as superior in power and depth to any of
+Hawthorne's previous creations of character; Donatello, especially,
+must be considered one of the most original and exquisite conceptions
+in the whole range of romance; but the story in which they appear will
+seem to many an unsolved puzzle, and even the tolerant and
+interpretative "gentle reader" will be troubled with the unsatisfactory
+conclusion. It is justifiable for a romancer to sting the curiosity of
+his readers with a mystery, only on the implied obligation to explain
+it at last; but this story begins in mystery only to end in mist. The
+suggestive faculty is tormented rather than genially excited, and in
+the end is left a prey to doubts. The central idea of the story, the
+necessity of sin to convert such a creature as Donatello into a moral
+being, is also not happily illustrated in the leading event. When
+Donatello kills the wretch who malignantly dogs the steps of Miriam,
+all readers think that Donatello committed no sin at all; and the
+reason is, that Hawthorne has deprived the persecutor of Miriam of all
+human attributes, made him an allegorical representation of one of the
+most fiendish forms of unmixed evil, so that we welcome his destruction
+with something of the same feeling with which, in following the
+allegory of Spenser or Bunyan, we rejoice in the hero's victory over
+the Blatant Beast or Giant Despair. Conceding, however, that
+Donatello's act was murder, and not "justifiable homicide," we are
+still not sure that the author's conception of his nature and of the
+change caused in his nature by that act, are carried out with a
+felicity corresponding to the original conception.
+
+In the first volume, and in the early part of the second, the author's
+hold on his design is comparatively firm, but it somewhat relaxes as he
+proceeds, and in the end it seems almost to escape from his grasp. Few
+can be satisfied with the concluding chapters, for the reason that
+nothing is really concluded. We are willing to follow the ingenious
+processes of Calhoun's deductive logic, because we are sure, that,
+however severely they task the faculty of attention, they will lead to
+some positive result; but Hawthorne's logic of events leaves us in the
+end bewildered in a labyrinth of guesses. The book is, on the whole,
+such a great book, that its defects are felt with all the more force.
+
+In this rapid glance at some of the peculiarities of Hawthorne's
+genius, we have not, of course, been able to do full justice to the
+special merits of the works we have passed in review; but we trust that
+we have said nothing which would convey the impression that we do not
+place them among the most remarkable romances produced in an age in
+which romance-writing has called forth some of the highest powers of
+the human mind. In intellect and imagination, in the faculty of
+discerning spirits and detecting laws, we doubt if any living novelist
+is his equal; but his genius, in its creative action, has been
+heretofore attracted to the dark rather than the bright side of the
+interior life of humanity, and the geniality which evidently is in him
+has rarely found adequate expression. In the many works which he may
+still be expected to write, it is to be hoped that his mind will lose
+some of its sadness of tone without losing any of its subtilty and
+depth; but, in any event, it would be unjust to deny that he has
+already done enough to insure him a commanding position in American
+literature as long as American literature has an existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
+
+
+_Le Prime Quattro Edizioni della Divina Commedia Letteralmente
+Ristampate per Cura di_ G.G. WARREN LORD VERNON. Londra: Presso Tommaso
+e Guglielmo Boone. MDCCCLVIII. 4to. pp. xxvi., 748.
+
+The zeal with which the study of Dante has been followed by students in
+every country of Europe, during the last forty years, is one of the
+most illustrative facts of the moral as well as of the intellectual
+character of the period. The interest which has attracted men of the
+most different tempers and persuasions to this study is not due alone
+to the poetic or historic value of his works, however high we may place
+them in these respects, but also and especially to the circumstance
+that they present a complete and distinct view of the internal life and
+spiritual disposition of an age in which the questions which still
+chiefly concern men were for the first time positively stated, and
+which exhibited in its achievements and its efforts some of the highest
+qualities of human nature in a condition of vigor such as they have
+never since shown. Dante himself combined a power of imagination beyond
+that of any other poet with an intensity and directness of individual
+character not less extraordinary. The tendency of modern civilization
+is to diminish rather than to strengthen the originality and
+independence of individuals. Autocracy and democracy seem to have a
+like effect in reducing men to a uniform level of thought and effort.
+And thus during a time when these two principles have been brought into
+sharp conflict, it is not surprising that the most thoughtful students
+should turn to the works of a man who by actual experience, or by force
+of imagination, comprehended all the conditions of his own age, and
+exhibited in his life and in his writings an individualism of the
+noblest sort. The conservative and the reformer, the king and the
+radical, the priest and the heretic, the man of affairs and the man of
+letters, have taken their seats, side by side, on the scholars'
+benches, before the same teacher, and, after listening to his large
+discourse, have discussed among themselves the questions in religion,
+in philosophy, in morals, politics, or history, which his words
+suggested or explained.
+
+The success which has attended these studies has been in some degree
+proportioned to the zeal with which they have been pursued. Dante is
+now better understood and more intelligently commented than ever
+before. Much remains to be done as regards the clearing up of some
+difficult points and the explanation of some dark passages,--and the
+obscurity in which Dante intentionally involved some portions of his
+writings is such as to leave little hope that their absolute meaning
+will ever be satisfactorily established. The history of the study of
+the poet, of the comments on his meaning or his text, of the formation
+of the commonly received text, and of the translations of the "Divina
+Commedia," affords much curious and entertaining matter to the lover of
+purely literary and bibliographic narrative, and incidentally
+illustrates the general character of each century since his death. As
+regards the settlement of the text, no single publication has ever
+appeared of equal value to that of the magnificent volume the title of
+which stands at the head of this notice. Lord Vernon has been known for
+many years as the most munificent fosterer of Dantesque publications.
+One after another, precious and costly books upon Dante have appeared,
+edited and printed at his expense, showing both a taste and a
+liberality as honorable as unusual.
+
+The first four editions of the "Divina Commedia," of which this volume
+is a reprint, are all of excessive rarity. Although each is a document
+of the highest importance in determining the text, few of the editors
+of the poem have had the means of consulting more than one or two of
+them. The volumes are to be found united only in the Library of the
+British Museum, and it is but a few years that even that great
+collection has included them all. They were printed originally between
+1470 and 1480 at Foligno, Jesi, Mantua, and Naples; and their chief
+value arises from the fact that they present the various readings of
+three, if not four, early and selected manuscripts. The doubt whether
+four manuscripts are represented by them is occasioned by the
+similarity between the editions of Foligno and Naples, which are of
+such a sort (for instance, correspondence in the most unlikely and odd
+misprints) as to prove that one must have served as the basis of the
+other. But at the same time there are such differences between them as
+indicate a separate revision of each, and possibly the consultation by
+their editors of different codices.
+
+Unfortunately, there is no edition of the "Divina Commedia" which can
+claim any special authority,--none which has even in a small degree
+such authority as belongs to the first folio of Shakspeare's plays. The
+text, as now received, rests upon a comparison of manuscripts and early
+printed editions; and as affording to scholars the means of an
+independent critical judgment upon it, a knowledge of the readings of
+these earliest editions is indispensable. But reprints of old books are
+proverbially open to error. The reprint of the first folio Shakspeare
+is so full of mistakes as to be of comparatively little use. The
+character of the Italian language is such that inaccuracies are both
+easier and more dangerous than in English. Unless the reprint of the
+first four editions were literally correct, it would be of little
+value. To secure this correctness, so far as was possible, Lord Vernon
+engaged Mr. Panizzi, the chief librarian of the British Museum, to edit
+the volume. A more competent editor never lived. Mr. Panizzi is
+distinguished not more for his thorough and appreciative acquaintance
+with the poetic literature of his country than for the extent and
+accuracy of his bibliographical knowledge and the refinement of his
+bibliographic skill. There can be no doubt that the reprint is as exact
+as the most rigid critic could desire. It is a monument of patience and
+of unpretending labor, as well as of typographic beauty,--the work of
+the editor having been well seconded by that well-known disciple of
+Aldus, Mr. Charles Whittingham.
+
+Nor is it only in essential variations that these four texts are
+important, but also in the illustration which their different spelling
+and their varying grammatical forms afford in regard to the language
+used by Dante. At the time when these editions appeared, the
+orthography of the Italian tongue was not yet established, and its
+grammatical inflections not in all cases definitely settled. Printing
+had not yet been long enough in use to fix a permanent form upon words.
+Moreover, the misprints themselves, which in these early editions are
+very numerous, often give hints as to the changes which they may have
+induced, or as to the misplacing of letters most likely to occur, and
+consequently most likely to lead to unobserved errors of the text.
+
+The style of the printing in these first editions, and the aid it may
+give, or the difficulty it may occasion, are hardly to be understood
+without an extract. We open at _Paradiso_, xv. 70. Cacciaguida has just
+spoken to his descendant, and then follows, according to the Foligno,
+the following passage:--
+
+  Io mi uolfi abeatrice et quella udio
+    pria chio parlaffi et arofemi un cenno
+    che fece crefcer lali aluoler mio
+
+  Poi cominciai con leefftto elfenno
+    come laprima equalita napparfe
+    dun pefo per ciafchun di noi fi fenno
+
+  Pero chel fole che nallumo et arfe
+    colcaldo et conlaluce et fi iguali
+    che tutte fimiglianze fono fcarfe.
+
+This looks different enough from the common text, that, for example, of
+the Florentine edition of 1844.
+
+  I' mi volsi a Beatrice, e quella udio
+    Pria ch' io parlassi, ed arrisemi un cenno
+    Che fece crescer l' ale al voler mio.
+
+  Poi cominciai cosi: L' affetto e il senno,
+    Come la prima egualitŕ v' apparse,
+    D' un peso per ciascun di voi si fenno;
+
+  Perocchč al Sol, che v' allumň ed arse
+    Col caldo e con la luce, en sě iguali,
+    Che tutte simiglianze sono scarse.
+
+"I turned to Beatrice, and she heard before I spoke, and smiled on me a
+sign which added wings to my desire. Then I began thus: Love and
+wisdom, as soon as the primal Equality has appeared to you, become of
+one weight in each one of you; since in that Sun, which illuminates and
+warms you with heat and light, they are so equal, that every comparison
+falls short."
+
+The three other ancient texts are each quite as different from the
+modern one as that which we have given, nor is the passage one that
+affords example of unusual variations. It would have been easy to
+select many others varying much more than this, but our object is to
+show the general character of these first editions. The second line of
+the quotation offers a various reading which is supported by the
+_arrossemi_ of the Jesi edition, and the _arossemi_ of that of Naples,
+as well as by the text of the comment of Benvenuto da Imola, and some
+other early authorities. But even were the weight of evidence in its
+favor far greater than it is, it could never be received in place of
+the thoroughly Dantesque and exquisite expression, _arrisemi un cenno_,
+which is found in the Mantua edition. The _napparse_ and the _noi_ of
+the fifth and sixth lines and the _nallumo_ of the seventh are plainly
+mistakes of the scribe, puzzled by the somewhat obscure meaning of the
+passage. Not one of the four editions before us gives us the right
+pronouns, but they are found in the Bartolinian codex, (as well as many
+others,) and they are established in the rare Aldine edition of 1502,
+the chief source of the modern text. In the eighth line, where we now
+read _en sě iguali_, the four give us _et_ or _e si iguali_, a reading
+from which it is difficult to extract a meaning, unless, with the
+Bartolinian, we omit the _che_ in the preceding line, and suppose the
+_pero chel_ to stand, not for _perocchč al_, but for _perocchč
+il_,--or, retaining the _che_, read the first words _perocch' č il
+Sol_, and take the clause as a parenthesis. The meaning, according to
+the first supposition, would be, "Love and wisdom are of one measure in
+you, (since the Sun [_sc._ the primal Equality] warmed and enlightened
+you,) and so equal that," etc. According to the second supposition, we
+should translate, "Since it [the primal Equality] is the sun which,"
+etc. Benvenuto da Imola gives still a third reading, making the _e si
+iguali_ into _ee si iguale_, or, in modern orthography, _č sě iguale_;
+but, as this spoils the rhyme, it may be left out of account. There
+seems to us to be some ground for believing the second reading
+suggested above,
+
+  Perocch' č il Sol che v' allumň ed arse
+  Con caldo e con la luce, e sě iguali.
+
+to be the true one, not only from its correspondence with most of the
+early copies, but from the rarity of the use of _en_ by Dante. There is
+but one other passage in the poem where it is found (_Purgatory_, xvi.
+121).
+
+Such is an example, taken at random, of the doubts suggested and the
+illustration afforded by these editions in the study of the text. Of
+course such minute criticism is of interest only to those few who
+reckon Dante's words at their true worth. The common reader may be
+content with the text as he finds it in common editions, But Dante,
+more than any other author, stimulates his student to research as to
+his exact words; for no other author has been so choice in his
+selection of them. He is not only the greatest modern master of
+condensation in style, but he has the deepest insight into the value
+and force of separate words, the most delicate sense of appropriateness
+in position, and in the highest degree the poetic faculty of selecting
+the word most fitting for the thought and most characteristic in
+expression. It rarely happens that the place of a word of any
+importance is a matter of indifference in his verse, no regard being
+had to the rhythm; and every one sufficiently familiar with the
+language in which he wrote to be conscious of its indefinable powers
+will feel, though he may be unable to point out specifically, a marked
+distinction in the quality and combinations of the words in the
+different parts of the poem. The description of the entrance to Hell,
+in the third canto of the _Inferno_ is, for instance, hardly more
+different from the description of the Terrestrial Paradise,
+(_Purgatory_, xxviii.,) in scenery and imagery, than it is in the vague
+but absolute qualities of language, in its rhythmical and verbal
+essence.
+
+But, leaving these subtilties, let us look at some of the disputed
+passages of the poem, upon which the texts before us may give their
+evidence.
+
+In the episode of Francesca da Rimini, Mr. Barlow has recently
+attempted to give currency to a various reading long known, but never
+accepted, in the line (_Inferno_, v. 102) in which Francesca expresses
+her horror at the manner of her death. She says, _il modo ancor m'
+offende_, "the manner still offends me." But for _il modo_ Mr. Barlow
+would substitute _il mondo_, "the world still offends me,"--that is, as
+we suppose, by holding a false opinion of her conduct. Mr. Barlow's
+suggestions are always to be received with respect, but we cannot but
+think him wrong in proposing this change. The spirits in Hell are not
+supposed to be aware of what is passing upon earth; they are
+self-convicted, (_Purgatory_, xxvi. 85, 86,) and Francesca being doomed
+to eternal woe, the world could not do her wrong by taxing her with
+sin; while, further, the shudder at the method of her death, lasting
+even in torment, seems to us a far more imaginative conception than the
+one proposed in its stead. Our four texts read _elmodo_.
+
+In the famous simile (_Inferno_, iii. 112-114) in which Dante compares
+the spirits falling from the bank of Acheron to the dead leaves
+fluttering from a bough in autumn, giving, as Mr. Ruskin says, "the
+most perfect image possible of their utter lightness, feebleness,
+passiveness, and scattering agony of despair," our common texts have
+
+  infin che il ramo
+  Rende alla terra tutte le sue spoglie,
+
+"Until the branch gives to the earth all its spoils"; but the texts of
+Jesi and Mantua, as well as those of the Bartolinian and the Aldus, and
+many other early authorities, here put the word _Vede_ in place of
+_Rende_, giving a variation which for its poetic worth well deserves to
+be marked, if not to be introduced into the received text. "Until the
+branch sees all its spoils upon the earth" is a personification quite
+in Dante's manner. A confirmation of the value of this reading is given
+by the fact that Tasso preferred it to the more common one, and in his
+treatise on the "Art of Poetry" praises it as full of energy.
+
+The value of this work of Lord Vernon's to the students of Dante, in
+enabling them to secure accuracy in their statements in regard to the
+early texts, has been illustrated to us by finding that Blanc, in his
+useful and excellent "Vocabolario Dantesco," has not unfrequently
+fallen into error through his inability to consult those first
+editions. For example, in the line, (_Inferno_, xviii. 43,) _Perciň a
+figuralo i piedi affissi_, as it is commonly given, or, _Perciň a
+firgurarlo gli occhi affissi_, as it appears in some editions, Blanc,
+who prefers the latter reading, states that _gli occhi_ is found in
+_"toutes les anciennes éditions."_ But the truth is, that those of
+Foligno and Naples read _ipedi_, that of Jesi has _in piedi_, and that
+of Mantua _i pie_. The Aldine of 1502 is the earliest edition we have
+seen which has _gli occhi_.
+
+In the episode of Ugolino, (_Inferno,_ xxxiii.,) the verse which has
+given rise to more comment, perhaps than any other is that (the 26th)
+in which the Count says, according to the usual reading, that the
+narrow window in his tower had shown him many moons before he dreamed
+his evil dream: _Piů lune giŕ, quand' i' feci il mal sonno,_ "Many
+moons already, when I had my ill slumber." But another reading, found
+in a majority of the early MSS. and editions, including those of Jesi
+and Mantua gives the variation, _piů lume;_ while the editions of
+Foligno and Naples give _lieve_, which, affording no intelligible
+meaning, must be regarded as a mere misprint. In spite of the weight
+of early authority for _lume_, the reading _lune_ is perhaps to be
+preferred, as giving in a word a brief expressive statement of a weary
+length of imprisonment,--while _lume_ would only serve to fix the
+moment of the dream as having been between the first dawn and the full
+day. It is rare that the difference between an _n_ and an _m_ is of
+such marked effect.
+
+In the sixth canto of _Purgatory_, verse 58, Virgil says, "Behold there
+a soul which _a posta_ looks toward us." Such at least is the common
+reading, and the words _a posta_ are explained as meaning _fixedly._
+But this signification is somewhat forced, _a posta_, or _apposta_,
+being more properly used with the meaning of _on purpose_ or
+_deliberately_,--and the first four editions supply a reading without
+this difficulty, and one which adds a new and significant feature to
+the description. They unite in the omission of the letter _a_. The
+passage then bears the meaning,--"But behold there a soul which,
+_fixed_, or _placed_, alone and all apart, looks toward us." This
+reading, beside being supported by the weight of ancient authority,
+finds confirmation, in the context, in the terms in which Sordello's
+aspect is described: "How lofty and disdainful didst thou stand! how
+slow and decorous in the moving of thy eyes!"
+
+A curious example of the mistakes of the old copies is afforded in the
+charming description of the Terrestrial Paradise in the twenty-eighth
+canto of the _Purgatory_. Dante says, that the leaves on the trees,
+trembling in the soft air, were not so disturbed that the little birds
+in their tops ceased from any of their arts,--
+
+           che gli augelletti per le cime
+  Lasciasser d' operare ogni lor arte.
+
+The lines are so plain that a mistake is difficult in them; but, of our
+four editions, the Jesi is the only one which gives them correctly.
+Foligno and Naples read _angeleti_ for _augelletti_, while Mantua gives
+us the astonishing word _intelletti_. Again, in line 98 of the same
+canto, all four read, _exaltation dell' acqua_, for the simple and
+correct _esalazion dell' acqua_. And in line 131, for _Eunoe si
+chiama_, Jesi supplies the curious word _curioce si chiama_.
+
+These examples of error are not of great importance in themselves, and
+are easily corrected, but they serve to illustrate the great frequency
+of error in all the early texts of the "Divina Commedia," and the
+probability that many errors not so readily discovered may still exist
+in the text, making difficulties where none originally existed. They
+are of value, furthermore, in the wider range of critical studies, as
+illustrating in a striking way the liability to error which existed in
+all books so long as they were preserved only by the work of scribes.
+Here is a poem which was transmitted in manuscript for only about one
+hundred and fifty years, the first four printed editions of which show
+differences in almost every line. It is no exaggeration to say that the
+variations between the editions of Foligno, Jesi, and Mantua, in
+orthography, inflection, and other grammatical and dialectic forms, not
+to speak of the less frequent, though still numerous differences in the
+words themselves, greatly exceed, throughout the poem, the number of
+lines of which it is composed. Yet by a comparison of them one with
+another a consistent and generally satisfactory text has been formed.
+The bearing of this upon the views to be taken of the condition of the
+text of more ancient works, as, for instance, that of the Gospels, is
+plain.
+
+The work before us is so full of matter interesting to the student of
+Dante, that we are tempted to go on with further illustrations of it,
+though well aware that there are few who have zeal or patience enough
+to continue the examination with us. But the number of those in America
+who are beginning to read the "Divina Commedia," as something more than
+a mere exercise in the Italian language, is increasing, and some of
+them, at least, will take pleasure with us in this inquiry concerning
+the words, that is, the thoughts of Dante. Why should the minute, but
+not fruitless criticism of texts be reserved for the ancient classic
+writers? The great poet of the Middle Ages deserves this work at our
+hands far more than any of the Latin poets, not excluding even his own
+master and guide.
+
+The eleventh canto of the _Paradiso_ is chiefly occupied with the noble
+narrative of the life of St. Francis. Reading it as we do, at such a
+distance from the time of the events which it records, and with
+feelings that have never been warmed into fervor by the facts or the
+legends concerning the Saint, it is hard for us to appreciate at its
+full worth the beauty of this canto, and its effect upon those who had
+seen and conversed with the first Franciscans. Not a century had yet
+passed since the death of St. Francis, and the order which he had
+founded kept his memory alive in every part of the Catholic world. A
+story which may be true or false, and it matters little which, tells us
+that Dante himself in his early manhood had proposed to enter its
+ranks. There is no doubt that its vows of poverty and chastity, its
+arduous but invigorating rule during its early days, appealed with
+strong force to his temperament and his imagination, as promising a
+withdrawal from those worldly temptations of which he was conscious,
+from that pressure of private and public affairs of which he was
+impatient. The contrast between the effects which the life of St.
+Francis and that of St. Dominic had upon the poet's mind is shown by
+the contrast in tone in which in successive cantos he tells of these
+two great pillars of the Church.
+
+In lines 71 and 72, speaking of Poverty, the bride of the Saint, he
+says,--
+
+  Si che dove Maria rimase giuso,
+  Ella con Cristo salse in sulia croce:
+
+"So that whilst Mary remained below, she mounted the cross with
+Christ," Such is the common reading. Now in all four of the editions
+which are in Lord Vernon's reprint, in Benvenuto da Imola, in the
+Bartolinian codex, in the precious codex of Cortona, and in many other
+early manuscripts and editions, the word _pianse_ is found in the place
+of _salse_; "She lamented upon the cross with Christ." The antithesis,
+though less direct, is not less striking, and the phrase seems to us to
+become simpler, more natural, and more touching. Yet this reading has
+found little favor with recent editors, and one of them goes so far as
+to say, "che non solo impoverisce, ma adultera l' idea."
+
+Passing over other variations, some of them of importance, in this
+eleventh canto, we find the last verses standing in most modern
+editions,--
+
+  E vedrŕ il coreggier che argomenta
+  U' ben s' impingua, se non si vaneggia.
+
+And the meaning is explained as being,--"And he who is girt with a
+leathern cord (_i.e._ the Dominican) will see what is meant by 'Where
+well they fatten, if they do not stray.'" But to this there are several
+objections. No other example of _coreggier_ thus used is, we believe,
+to be found. Moreover, the introduction of a Dominican to learn this
+lesson is forced, for it was Dante himself who had had a doubt as to
+the meaning of these words, and it was for his instruction that the
+discourse in which they were explained was held. We prefer, therefore,
+the reading which is found in the editions of Jesi, Foligno, and
+Naples, (in part in that of Mantua,) and which is given by many other
+ancient texts: _Vedrai_ or _E vedrai il correger che argomenta:_ "Thou
+wilt see the reproof which 'Where well they fatten, if they do not
+stray,' conveys." This reading has been adopted by Mr. Cayley in his
+remarkable translation.
+
+One more instance of the value of Lord Vernon's work, and we have done.
+The 106th, 107th, and 108th verses of the twenty-sixth canto of the
+_Paradiso_ are among the most difficult of the poem, and have given
+rise to great variety of comment. In the edition of Florence of 1830,
+in those of Foscolo, and of Costa, and many others, they stand,--
+
+  Perch' io la veggio nel verace speglio
+  Che fa di se pareglie l' altre cose
+  E nulla face lui di se pareglio.
+
+And they are explained by Bianchi as meaning, "Because I see it in that
+true mirror (i. e. God) which makes other things like to themselves,
+(that is, represents them as they are,) while nothing can represent Him
+like to Himself." Those who love the quarrels of commentators should
+look at the notes in the Variorum editions of Padua or Florence to see
+with what amusing asperity they have treated each other's solutions of
+the passage. Italian words of abuse have a sonorous quality which gives
+grandeur to a skirmish of critics. One is declared by his opponent to
+have _ingarbugliato_ the clearest meaning; another _guasta il
+sentimento_ and _sproposita in grammatica_; a third brings _falso_ and
+_assurdo_ to the charge, and, not satisfied with their force, adds
+_blasfemo_; a fourth declares that the third has contrived _capovolgere
+la consegitenza_; and so on;--from all which the reader, trying to find
+shelter from the pelting of hard words, discovers that the meaning is
+not clear even to the most confident of the critics. But, standing
+apart from the battle, and looking only at the text, and not at the
+bewildered comment, we find in the editions of Foligno, Jesi, and
+Naples, and in many other ancient texts, a reading which seems to us
+somewhat easier than the one commonly adopted. We copy the lines after
+the Foligno:--
+
+  Per chio laueggio neluerace speglio
+  che fa dise pareglio alaltre cose
+  et nulla face lui dise pareglio.
+
+And we would translate them, "Because I see it in that true mirror who
+in Himself affords a likeness to [or of] all other things, while
+nothing gives back to Him a likeness of Himself." Here _pareglio_
+corresponds with the Provençal _parelh_ and the later French
+_pareil_,--and the Provençal phrase _rendre le parelha_ affords an
+example of similar application to that of the word in Dante.
+
+With us in America, criticism is not rated as it deserves; it is little
+followed as a study, and the love for the great masters and poets of
+other times and other tongues than our own fails to stimulate the ardor
+of students to the thorough examination of their thoughts and words. No
+doubt, criticism, as it has too often been pursued, is of small worth,
+displaying itself in useless inquiries, and lavishing time and labor
+upon insoluble and uninteresting questions. But such is not its true
+end. Verbal criticism, rightly viewed, has a dignity which belongs to
+few other studies; for it deals with words as the symbols of
+thoughts,--with words, which are the most spiritual of the instruments
+of human power, the most marvellous of human possessions. It makes
+thought accurate, and perception fine. It adds truth to the creations
+of imagination by teaching the modes by which they may be best
+expressed, and it thus leads to fuller and more appreciative
+understanding and enjoyment of the noblest works of the past. There
+can, indeed, be no thorough culture without it.
+
+To restore the balance of our lives, in these days of haste, novelty,
+and restlessness, there is a need of a larger infusion into them of
+pursuits which have no end of immediate publicity or instant return of
+tangible profit,--of pursuits which, while separating us from the
+intrusive world around us, should introduce us into the freer,
+tranquiller, and more spacious world of noble and everlasting thought.
+The greener and lonelier precincts of our minds are now trampled upon
+by the hurrying feet of daily events and transient interests. If we
+would keep that spiritual region unpolluted, we need to acquaint
+ourselves with some other literature than that of newspapers and
+magazines, and to entertain as familiars the men long dead, yet living
+in their works. As Americans, our birthrights in the past are
+imperfect; we are born into the present alone. But he who lives only in
+present things lives but half a life, and death comes to him as an
+impertinent interruption: by living also in the past we learn to value
+the present at its worth, to hold ourselves ready for its end. With
+Dante, taking him as a guide and companion in our privater moods, we
+may, even in the natural body, pass through the world of spirit.
+
+It will be a good indication of the improvement in the intellectual
+disposition of our people, when the study of Dante becomes more
+general. Meanwhile, on the part of his few students in America, we
+would offer our thanks to Lord Vernon and to Mr. Panizzi for the aid
+which the liberality of the one and the skill and learning of the other
+have given to us, and for the honor they have done to the memory of our
+common Author and Leader.
+
+_Notes of Travel and Study in Italy_. By CHARLES ELIOT NORTON. Boston:
+Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. x., 320.
+
+There is, perhaps, no country with which we are so intimate as with
+Italy,--none of which we are always so willing to hear more. Poets and
+prosers have alike compared her to a beautiful woman; and while one
+finds nothing but loveliness in her, another shudders at her fatal
+fascination. She is the very Witch-Venus of the Middle Ages. Roger
+Ascham says, "I was once in _Italy_ myself, but I thank God my abode
+there was but nine days; and yet I saw in that little time, in one
+city, more liberty to sin than ever I heard tell of in our noble city
+of London in nine years." He quotes triumphantly the proverb,--_Inglese
+italianato, diavolo incarnato_. A century later, the entertaining
+"Richard Lassels, Gent., who Travelled through Italy Five times as
+Tutor to several of the _English_ Nobility and Gentry," and who is open
+to new engagements in that kind, declares, that, "For the Country
+itself, it seemed to me to be _Nature's Darling_, and the _Eldest
+Sister_ of all other Countries; carrying away from them all the
+greatest blessings and favours, and receiving such gracious looks from
+the _Sun_ and _Heaven_, that, if there be any fault in _Italy_, it is,
+that her Mother _Nature_ hath cockered her too much, even to make her
+become Wanton." Plainly, our Tannhäuser is but too ready to go back to
+the Venus-berg!
+
+A new book on Italy seems a dangerous experiment. Has not all been told
+and told and told again? Is it not one chief charm of the land, that it
+is changeless without being Chinese? Did not Abbot Samson, in 1159,
+_Scotti habitum induens_, (which must have shown his massive calves to
+great advantage.) probably see much the same popular characteristics
+that Hawthorne saw seven hundred years later? Shall a man try to be
+entertaining after Montaigne, aesthetic after Winckelmann, wise after
+Goethe, or trenchant after Forsyth? Can he hope to bring back anything
+so useful as the _fork_, which honest Tom Coryate made prize of two
+centuries and a half ago, and put into the greasy fingers of Northern
+barbarians? Is not the "Descrittione" of Leandro Alberti still a
+competent itinerary? And can one hope to pick up a fresh Latin
+quotation, when Addison and Eustace have been before him with their
+scrap-baskets?
+
+If there be anything which a person of even moderate accomplishments
+may be presumed to know, it is Italy. The only open question left seems
+to be, whether Shakespeare were the only man that could write his name
+who had never been there. We have read our share of Italian travels,
+both in prose and verse, but, as the nicely discriminating Dutchman
+found that "too moch brahndee was too moch, but too moch lager-beer was
+jost hright," so we are inclined to say that too much Italy is just
+what we want. After Des Brosses, we are ready for Henri Beyle, and
+Ampčre, and Hillard, and About, and Gallenga, and Julia Kavanagh;
+"Corinne" only makes us hungry for George Sand. That no one can tell us
+anything new is as undeniable as the compensating fact that no one can
+tell us anything too old.
+
+There are two kinds of travellers,--those who tell us what they went to
+see, and those who tell us what they saw. The latter class are the only
+ones whose journals are worth the sifting; and the value of their eyes
+depends on the amount of individual character they took with them, and
+of the previous culture that had sharpened and tutored the faculty of
+observation. In our conscious age the frankness and naďveté of the
+elder voyagers is impossible, and we are weary of those humorous
+confidences on the subject of fleas with which we are favored by some
+modern travellers, whose motto should be (slightly altered) from
+Horace,--_Flea-bit, et toto cantabitur orbe._ A naturalist
+self-sacrificing enough may have this experience more cheaply at home.
+
+The book before us is the record of a second residence in Italy, of
+about two years. This in itself is an advantage; since a renewed
+experience, after an interval of absence and distraction, enables us to
+distinguish what had merely interested us by its strangeness from what
+is permanently worthy of study and remembrance. In a second visit we
+know at least what we do _not_ wish to see, and our first impressions
+have so defined themselves that they afford us a safer standard of
+comparison. To most travellers Italy is a land of pure vacation, a
+lotus-eating region, "in which it seemeth always afternoon." But Mr.
+Norton, whose book shows bow well his time had been employed at home,
+could not but spend it to good purpose abroad. The word "study" has a
+right to its place on his title-page, and his volume is worthy of a
+student. He shows himself to be one who, like Wordsworth, "does not
+much or oft delight in personal talk"; there is no gossip between the
+covers of his book, no impertinent self-obtrusion. Familiar with what
+has been written about Italy by others, he has known how to avoid the
+trite highways, and by going back to what was old has found topics that
+are really fresh and delightful. The Italy of the ancient Romans is a
+foreign country to us, and must always continue so; but the Italy of
+the Middle Ages is nearer, not so much in time, as because there is no
+impassable rift of religious faith, and consequently of ideas and
+motives, between us and it. Far enough away in the centuries to be
+picturesque, it is near enough in the sympathy of belief and thought to
+be thoroughly intelligible. The chapter on the Brotherhood of the
+Misericordia at Florence is remarkably interesting, and the coincidence
+which Mr. Norton points out in a note between the circumstances which
+led to its foundation and those in which a somewhat similar society
+originated in California so lately as 1859 is not only curious, but
+pleasant, as showing that there is a natural piety proper to man in all
+ages alike. In his account of the building of the Cathedral of Orvieto,
+and his notices of Rome as it was when Dante and Petrarch saw it, Mr.
+Norton has struck a rich vein, which we hope he will find time to work
+more thoroughly hereafter. By the essential fairness of his mind, his
+patience in investigation, and his sympathy with what is noble in
+character and morally influential in events, he seems to us peculiarly
+fitted for that middle ground occupied by the historical essayist, to
+whom literature is something coördinate with politics, and who finds a
+great book more eventful than a small battle.
+
+But if, as a scholar and lover of Art, Mr. Norton naturally turns to
+the past, he does not fail to tell us whatever he finds worth knowing
+in the present. His tone of mind and habitual subjects of thought may
+be inferred from the character of the topics that interest him. The
+glimpses he gives us of the actual condition of the people of Italy, as
+indicated by their practical conception of the religious dogmas of
+their Church, by the quality of the cheap literature that is popular
+among them, of the tracts provided for their spiritual aliment by
+ecclesiastical authority, and of the caricatures produced in 1848-9,
+(as in his notice of "Don Pirlone,") are of special value, and show that
+he knows where to look for signs of what lies beneath the surface. His
+appreciation of the beautiful in Art has not been cultivated at the
+expense of his interest in the moral, political, and physical
+well-being of man. His touching sketch of the life of Letterato, the
+founder of Ragged Schools, shows that moral loveliness attracts his
+sympathy as much when embodied in a life of obscure usefulness as when
+it gleams in the saints and angels of Fra Angelico. A conscientious
+Protestant, he exposes the corruptions of the Established Church in
+Italy, not as an anti-Romanist, but because he sees that they are
+practically operative in the social and political degradation of the
+people. What good there is never escapes his attention, and we learn
+from him much that is new and interesting concerning public charities
+and private efforts for the elevation of the lower orders. The miles of
+statuary in the Vatican do not weary him so much that he cannot at
+night make the round of evening schools for the poor.
+
+We have not read a pleasanter or more instructive book of Italian
+travel than this. Mr. Norton's range of interest is so wide that we are
+refreshed with continual variety of topic; and his style is pure,
+clear, and chaste, without any sacrifice of warmth or richness. It is
+always especially agreeable to us to encounter an American who is a
+scholar in the true sense of the word, in which sense it is never
+dissociated from gentleman. When, as in the present instance,
+scholarship is united with a deep and active interest in whatever
+concerns the practical well-being of men, we have one of the best
+results of our modern civilization. We are no lovers of dilettantism,
+but we see in these scholarly tastes and habits which do not seclude a
+man from the duties of real life and useful citizenship the only
+safeguard against the evils which the rapid heaping-up of wealth is
+sure to bring with it.
+
+We do not always agree with Mr. Norton in his estimate of the
+comparative merit of different artists. We think he sometimes makes Mr.
+Ruskin's mistake of attributing to positive religious sentiment what is
+rather to be ascribed to the negative influence of circumstances and
+date. We cannot help thinking that the mere arrangement of their
+figures by such painters as Cima da Conegliano and Francesco Francia,
+the architectural regularity of their disposition, the sculpturesque
+dignity of their attitudes, and the consequent impression of
+simplicity and repose which they convey, have much to do with the
+religious effect they produce on the mind, as contrasted with the more
+dramatic and picturesque conceptions of later artists. When we look at
+John Bellino's "Gods come down to taste the Fruits of the Earth," we
+cannot think him essentially a more religious man than his great pupil
+who painted that truly divine countenance of Christ in "The
+Tribute-Money." At the same time we go along with Mr. Norton heartily,
+where, in the concluding pages of his book, with equal learning and
+eloquence, he points out the causes and traces the progress of the
+moral and artistic decline which came over Italy in the sixteenth
+century, and whose effect made the seventeenth almost a desert. This is
+one of the most striking passages in the volume, and the lesson of it
+is brought home to us with a force and fervor worthy of the theme. It
+also affords a good type of the quiet vigor of thought and the high
+moral purpose which are characteristic of the author.
+
+
+1. _An American Dictionary of the English Language,_ etc., etc. By
+NOAH WEBSTER, LL. D. Revised and enlarged by CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH,
+Professor in Yale College. Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam. 1859.
+pp. ccxxxvi., 1512.
+
+2. _A Dictionary of the English Language._ By JOSEPH E. WORCESTER, LL.
+D. Boston: Hickling, Swan, & Brewer. 1860. pp. lxviii,, 1786.
+
+Since the famous Battle of the Books in St. James's Library, no
+literary controversy has been more sharply waged than that between the
+adherents of the rival Dictionaries of Doctors Worcester and Webster.
+The attack was begun thirty years ago, by Dr. Webster's publishers,
+when Dr. Worcester's "Comprehensive Dictionary" first appeared in
+print. On the publication of his "Universal and Critical Dictionary,"
+in 1846, it was renewed, and, not to speak of occasional skirmishes
+during the interval, the appearance of Dr. Worcester's enlarged and
+finished work brought matters to the crisis of a pitched battle.
+
+From this long conflict Dr. Worcester has unquestionably come off
+victorious. Dr. Webster seemed to assume that he had a kind of monopoly
+in the English language, and that whoever ventured to compile a
+dictionary was guilty of infringing his patent-right. He drew up a list
+of words, and triumphantly asked Dr. Worcester where he had found them,
+unless in his two quartos of 1828. Dr. Worcester replied by showing
+that most of the words were to be found in previous English
+dictionaries, and added, with sly humor, that he freely acknowledged
+Dr. Webster's exclusive property in the word "bridegoom," and others
+like it, which would be sought for vainly in any volumes but his own.
+Dr. Webster's attack was as unfair as the result of it was unfortunate
+for himself.
+
+We have several reasons, which seem to us sufficient, for preferring
+Dr. Worcester's Dictionary; but we are not, on that account, disposed
+to underrate the remarkable merits of its rival. Dr. Webster was a man
+of vigorous mind, and endowed with a genuine faculty of independent
+thinking. He has hardly received justice at the hands of his
+countrymen, a large portion of whom have too hastily taken a few
+obstinate whimsies as the measure of his powers. Utterly fanciful as
+are many of his etymologies, we should be false to our duty as critics,
+if we did not acknowledge that Dr. Webster possessed in very large
+measure the chief qualities which go to the making of a great
+philologist. The very tendency to theorize, which led him to adopt
+those oddities of spelling by which he may be said to be chiefly known,
+united as it was to an understanding of uncommon breadth and clearness,
+would under more favorable auspices have given him a very eminent place
+among the philosophic students of language. His great mistake was in
+attempting to force his peculiar notions upon the world in his
+Dictionary, instead of confining them to his Preface, or putting them
+forward tentatively in a separate treatise. The importance which he
+attached to these trifles ought to have given him a hint that others
+might be as obstinate on the other side, and that the prejudices of
+taste have much tougher roots than those of opinion. We are inclined to
+think that many of the changes proposed by Dr. Webster will be adopted
+in the course of time. But it is a matter of little consequence, and
+the progress of such reforms is slow. Already two hundred years ago,
+James Howel (the author of Charles Lamb's favorite "Epistolae
+Ho-Elianae") advocated similar reforms, and, as far as the printers
+would let him, carried them out in practice. "The printer hath not bin
+so careful as he should have bin," he complains. He especially condemns
+the superfluous letters in many of our words, choosing to write _don_,
+_com_, and _som_, rather than _done_, _come_, and _some_. "Moreover,"
+he says, "those words that have the Latin for their original, the
+author prefers that orthography rather than the French, whereby divers
+letters are spar'd: as _Physic, Logic, Afric_, not _Physique, Logique,
+Afrique; favor, honor, labor_, not _favour, honour, labour_, and very
+many more; as also he omits the Dutch _k_ in most words; here you shall
+read _peeple_, not _pe-ople_, _tresure_, not _tre-asure_, _toung_, not
+_ton-gue_, &c.; _Parlement_, not _Parliament_; _busines, witnes,
+sicknes_, not _businesse, witnesse, sicknesse_; _star, war, far_, not
+_starre, warre, farre_; and multitudes of such words, wherein the two
+last letters may well be spar'd. Here you shall also read _pity, piety,
+witty_, not _piti-e, pieti-e, witti-e_, as strangers at first sight
+pronounce them, and abundance of such like words."
+
+Howel gives a weak reason for making the changes he proposes, namely,
+that the language will thereby be simplified to foreigners. He hints at
+the true one when he says that "we do not speak as we write." Dr.
+Webster also, speaking of certain words ending in _our_, says, "What
+motive could induce them to write these words, and _errour, honour,
+favour, inferiour_, &c., in this manner, following neither the Latin
+nor the French, I cannot conceive." Had Dr. Webster's knowledge of the
+written English language been as great as it undoubtedly was of its
+linguistic relations, he would have seen that the _spelling_ followed
+the _accent_. The third verse of the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales"
+would have satisfied him:--
+
+  "And bathéd every root in such licoúr";
+
+and a little farther on,--
+
+  "Or swinken with his houdés and laboúre."
+
+In this respect the spelling of our older writers, where it can be
+depended on, and especially of reformers like Howel, is of value, as
+throwing some light on the question, how long the Norman pronunciation
+lingered in England. Warner, for instance, in his "Albion's England,"
+spells _creator_ and _creature_ as they are spelt now, but gives the
+French accent to both; and we are inclined to think that the charge of
+speaking "right Chaucer," brought against the courtiers of Queen
+Elizabeth, referred rather to accent than diction.
+
+The very title of Dr. Webster's Dictionary indicates a radical
+misapprehension as to the nature and office of such a work. He calls
+the result of his labors an "_American_ Dictionary of the English
+Language," as if provincialism were a merit. He evidently thought that
+the business of a lexicographer was to _regulate_, not to _record_.
+Sometimes also his zeal as an etymologist misled him, as in his famous
+attempt to make the word _bridegroom_ more conformable to its supposed
+Anglo-Saxon root and its modern Teutonic congeners. It never occurred
+to him that we were still as far as ever from the goal, and that it
+would be quite as inconvenient to explain that the termination _goom_
+was a derivation from the Anglo-Saxon _guma_ as that it was a
+corruption of it; the point to be gained being, after all, that we
+should be able to find out the meaning of the English word
+_bridegroom_, having no pressing need of _guma_ for conversational
+purposes. We have spoken of this word only because we have heard it
+brought up against Dr. Webster as often as anything else, and because
+the disproportionate antipathy produced by this and a few similar
+oddities shows, that, the primary object of all writing being the clear
+conveyance of meaning, and not only so, but its conveyance in the most
+winning way, a writer blunders who wilfully estranges the reader's eye
+or jars upon its habitual associations, and that a lexicographer
+blunders still more desperately, who, upon system, teaches to offend in
+that kind. And it is amusing in respect to this very word _bridegoom_,
+that the whimsey is not Dr. Webster's own, but that the bee was put
+into his bonnet by Horne Tooke.
+
+Webster in these matters was a bit of a Hotspur. He thought to deal
+with language as the vehement Percy would have done with the Trent. The
+smug and silver stream was to be allowed no more wilful windings, but
+to run
+
+  "In a new channel fair and evenly."
+
+He found an equally hot-headed Glendower, wherever there was an
+educated man, ready with the answer,--
+
+  "Not wind? it shall; it must; you see it
+    doth."
+
+"You see _it doth_" is an argument whose force no theorist ever takes
+into his reckoning.
+
+We said that the title "American Dictionary of the English Language"
+was an absurdity. Fancy a "Cuban Dictionary of the Spanish Language."
+It would be of value only to the comparative philologist, curious in
+the changes of meaning, pronunciation, and the like, which
+circumstances are always bringing about in languages subjected to new
+conditions of life and climate. But we must not forget to say
+that the title chosen by Dr. Webster conveyed also a meaning
+creditable to his spirit and judgment. He always stoutly maintained the
+right of English as spoken in America to all the privileges of a living
+language. In opposition to the purists who would have clasped the
+language forever within the covers of Johnson, he insisted on the
+necessity of coining new words or adapting old ones to express new
+things and new relations. It is many years since we read his "Remarks"
+(if that was the title) on Pickering's "Vocabulary," and in answer to
+the rather supercilious criticisms on himself in the "Anthology"; but
+the impression left on our mind by that pamphlet is one of great
+respect for the good sense, acuteness, and courage of its author. And
+of his Dictionary it may safely be said, that, with all its mistakes,
+no work of the kind had then appeared so learned and so comprehensive.
+It may be doubted if any living language possessed at that time a
+dictionary, or one, at least, the work of a single man, in all respects
+its equal.
+
+But etymologies are not the most important part of a good working
+dictionary, the intention of which is not to inform readers and writers
+what a word may have meant before the Dispersion, but what it means
+now. The pedigree of an adjective or substantive is of little
+consequence to ninety-nine men in a hundred, and the writers who have
+wielded our mother-tongue with the greatest mastery have been men who
+knew what words had most meaning to their neighbors and acquaintances,
+and did not stay their pens to ask what ideas the radicals of those
+words may possibly have conveyed to the mind of a bricklayer going up
+from Padanaram to seek work on the Tower of Babel. A thoroughly good
+etymological dictionary of English is yet to seek; and even if we
+should ever get one, it will be for students, and not for the laity.
+Nor is it the primary object of a common dictionary to trace the
+history of the language. Of great interest and importance to scholars,
+it is of comparatively little to Smith and Brown and their children at
+the public school. It is a work apart, which we hope to see
+accomplished by the London Philological Society in a manner worthy of
+comparison with what has been partly done for German by the brothers
+Grimm,--alas that the illustrious duality should have been broken by
+death! A lexicon of that kind should be an index to all the more
+eminent books in the language; but we do not hold this to be the office
+of a dictionary for daily reference. A dictionary that should embrace
+every unusual word, every new compound, every metaphorical turn of
+meaning, to be found in our great writers, would be a compendium of the
+genius of our authors rather than of our language; and a lexicographer
+who rakes the books of second and third-rate men for out-of-the-way
+phrases is doing us no favor. A dictionary is not a drag-net to bring
+up for us the broken pots and dead kittens, the sewerage of speech, as
+well as its living fishes. Nor do we think it a fair test of such a
+work, that one should seek in it for every odd word that may have
+tickled his fancy in a favorite author. Like most middle-aged readers,
+we have our specially private volumes. One of these--but we will not
+betray the secret of our loves--contains some rare words, such as the
+Gallicism _mistresse-piece_, and the delightful hybrid _pundonnore_ for
+trifling points-of-honor; yet we by no means complain that we can find
+neither of them in Worcester, and only the former (with a ludicrously
+mistaken definition) in Webster.
+
+A conclusive reason with us for preferring Dr. Worcester's Dictionary
+is, that its author has properly understood his functions, and has
+aimed to give us a true view of English as it is, and not as he himself
+may have wished it should be or thought it ought to he. Its etymologies
+are sufficient for the ordinary reader,--sometimes superfluously full,
+as where the same word is given over and over again in cognate
+languages. We do not see the use, under the word PLAIN, of taking up
+room with a list like the following: "L. _planus;_ It. _piano;_ Sp.
+_piano;_ Fr. _plain._" Not content with this, Dr. Worcester gives it
+once more under PLAN: "L. _planus_, flat; It. _piano_, a plan; Sp.
+_piano;_ Fr. _plan._--Dut., Ger., Dan., and Sw. _plan._" Even yet we
+have not done with it, for under PLANE we find "L. _planus;_ It.
+_piano;_ Sp._plano_, Fr. _plan._" One would think this rather a Polyglot
+Lexicon than an English Dictionary. It seems to us that no Romanic
+derivative of the Latin root should he given, unless to show that the
+word has come into English by that channel. And so of the Teutonic
+languages. If we have Danish, Swedish, German, and Dutch, why not
+Scotch, Icelandic, Frisic, Swiss, and every other conceivable dialectic
+variety?
+
+Another fault of superfluousness we find in the number of compounded
+words, where the meaning is obvious,--such, for instance, as are formed
+with the adverb out, which the genius of the language permits without
+limit in the case of verbs. Dr. Worcester gives us, among many
+others,--
+
+"OUT-BABBLE, _v. a._ To surpass in Idle prattle; to exceed in babbling.
+_Milton._"
+
+"OUT-BELLOW, _v. a._ To bellow more or louder than; to exceed or
+surpass in bellowing. _Bp. Hall._"
+
+"OUT-BLEAT, _v. a._ To bleat more than; to exceed in bleating. _Bp.
+Hall_."
+
+"OUT-BRAG, _v. a._ To surpass in bragging. _Shak._"
+
+"OUT-BRIBE, _v, a._ To exceed in bribing. _Blair._"
+
+"OUT-BURN, _v. a._ To exceed in burning. _Young._" [The definition here
+is hardly complete; since the word means also to burn longer than.]
+
+"OUT-CANT, _v. a._ To surpass in canting. _Pope._"
+
+"OUT-CHEAT, _v. a._ To surpass in cheating."
+
+"OUT-CURSE, _v. a._ To surpass in cursing."
+
+"OUT-DRINK, _v. a._ To exceed in drinking. _Donne._"
+
+"OUT-FAWN, _v. a._ To excel in fawning. _Hudibras._"
+
+"OUT-FEAT, _v. a._ To surpass in feats. _Smart._"
+
+"OUT-FLASH, _v. a._ To surpass in flashing. _Clarke._"
+
+Similar words occur at frequent intervals through nine columns. Dr.
+Webster is equally relentless, (even roping in a few estrays in his
+Appendix,) and we hardly know which has out-worded the other. We were
+surprised to find in neither the useful and legitimate substantive form
+of _outgo_, as the opposite of _income_. This superfluousness (unless
+we apply Voltaire's saying, "_Le superflu, chose bien nécessaire_" to
+dictionaries also) is the result, we suppose, of the rivalry of
+publishers, who have done their best to persuade the public that
+numerosity is the chief excellence in works of this kind, and that
+whoever buys their particular quarto may be sure of an honest
+pennyworth and of owning a thousand or two more words than his less
+judicious neighbors. In this way a false standard is manufactured, to
+which the lexicographer must conform, if he would have a remunerative
+sale for his book. He accordingly explores every lane and _impasse_ in
+the purlieus of Grub Street, and pounces on a new word as a naturalist
+would on a new bug,--the stranger and uglier, the better. We regret
+that this kind of rivalry has been forced on Dr. Worcester; but he is
+so thorough, patient, and conscientious, that he leaves little behind
+him for the gleaner. We confess that the amplitude of his research has
+surprised us, highly as we were prepared to rate him in this respect
+by our familiarity with his former works. We have subjected his Dictionary
+to a pretty severe test. From the time of its publication we have made
+a point of seeking in it every unusual word, old or new, that we met with
+in our reading. We have been disappointed in hardly a single instance, and
+we are not acquainted with any other dictionary of which we could say as
+much.
+
+An attempt has been made to damage Dr. Worcester's work by a partial
+comparison of his definitions with those of Dr. Webster; and here,
+again, the assumption has been, that _number_ was of more importance
+than concise completeness. In the case of a quarto dictionary, we
+suppose an honest reviewer may confess that he has not read through the
+subject of his criticism. We have opened Dr. Webster's volume at
+random, and have found some of his definitions as extraordinarily
+inaccurate as many of his etymologies. They quite justify a
+_double-entendre_ of Daniel Webster's, which we heard him utter many
+years ago in court. He had forced such a meaning upon some word in a
+paper connected with the case on trial, that the opposing counsel
+interrupted him to ask in what dictionary he found the word so defined.
+He silenced his questioner instantly with a happy play upon the name
+common to himself and the lexicographer: "In _Webster's_ Dictionary,
+Sir!" We find in Webster, for example, the following definition of a
+word as to whose meaning he could have been set right by any
+coasting-skipper that sailed out of New Haven:--
+
+"AMID-SHIPS; _in marine language_, the middle of a ship with regard to
+her length and breadth." Now, when one ship runs into another at sea
+and strikes her _amid-ships_, how is she to contrive to accomplish it
+so as to satisfy the requirements of this definition? Or if a sailor is
+said to be standing amidships, must he be planted precisely in what he
+would probably agree with Dr. Webster in spelling the _center_ of the
+main-hatch? Dr. Worcester, quoting Falconer, is of course right.
+
+We give another of Dr. Webster's definitions, which caught our eye in
+looking over his array of words compounded with _out_. "OUTWARD-BOUND;
+proceeding from a port or country." Now Dr. Webster does not tell his
+readers that the term is exclusively applicable to vessels; and we
+should like to know whence a vessel is likely to proceed, unless from a
+port,--and where ports are commonly situated, unless in countries? If
+an American ship be "proceeding from" the port of Liverpool to some
+port in the United States, how soon does she enter on what
+lexicographers call "the state of being" homeward-bound? The narrow
+limits to which Dr. Webster confines the word would not extend beyond
+the jaws of the harbor from which the ship is sailing. Dr. Worcester's
+definition is, "OUTWARD-BOUND. (_Naut_.) Bound outward or to foreign
+parts. _Crabb_."
+
+Under the word MORESQUE we find in Webster the following definition: "A
+species of painting or carving done after the Moorish manner,
+consisting of _grotesque_ pieces and compartments _promiscuously
+interspersed_; arabesque. _Gwilt_." (The Italics are our own.) We have
+not Mr. Gwilt's Encyclopaedia at hand; but if this be a fair
+representation of one of its definitions, it is a very untrustworthy
+authority. The last term to be applied to arabesque-work is
+_grotesque_, or _promiscuously interspersed_; and the description here
+given leaves out the most beautiful kind of arabesque, namely, the
+inlaid work of geometrical figures in colored marbles, in which the
+Arabs far surpassed the older _opus Alexandrinum_. Nothing could be
+less grotesque, less promiscuously interspersed, or more beautiful in
+its harmonious variety, than the work of this kind in the famous
+_Capella Reale_ at Palermo.
+
+Dr. Webster defines NIGHT-PIECE as "a piece of painting so colored as
+to be supposed seen by candle-light,"--a description which we suspect
+would have somewhat puzzled Gherardo della Notte.
+
+We might give other instances, had we time and space; but our object is
+not to depreciate Webster, but only to show that the claim set up for
+him of superior exactness in definition is altogether gratuitous. We
+have found no inaccuracies comparable with these in Dr. Worcester's
+Dictionary, which we tried in precisely the same way, by opening it
+here and there at random. Moreover, looking at his work, not
+absolutely, but in comparison with Dr. Webster's, (as we are challenged
+to do,) we cannot leave out of view that the former is a first edition,
+while the latter has had the advantage of repeated revisions.
+
+Under the word MAGDALEN, we find Webster superior to Worcester. Under
+ULAN, we find them both wrong. Dr. Worcester says it means "a species
+of militia among the modern Tartars"; and Dr. Webster, "a certain
+description of militia among the modern Tartars." In any Polish
+dictionary they would have found the word defined as meaning "lancer,"
+and the Uhlans in the Austrian army can hardly be described as modern
+Tartar militia. Both Dictionaries give SLAW, and neither explains it
+rightly. The word does not properly belong in an English dictionary,
+unless as an American provincialism of very narrow range. As such, it
+will be found, properly defined, in Mr. Bartlett's excellent
+Vocabulary. Lexicographers who so often cite the Dutch equivalents of
+English words should own Dutch dictionaries. Under IMAGINATION, a good
+kind of test-word, we find Worcester much superior to Webster,
+especially in illustrative citations.
+
+We have been astonished by some instances of slovenly writing to be
+found here and there in Dr. Webster's Dictionary, because he was
+capable of writing pure and vigorous English. Under MAGAZINE (and by
+the way, Dr. Webster's definition omits altogether the metaphorical
+sense of the word) we read that "The first publication of this bind in
+England was the _Gentleman's Magazine_, which first appeared in 1731,
+under the name of _Sylvanus Urban_, by Edward Cave, and which is still
+continued." A reader who knew nothing about the facts would be puzzled
+to say what the name of the new periodical really was, whether
+_Gentleman's Magazine_ or _Sylvanus Urban_; and a reader who knew
+little about English would be led to think that "appeared by" was
+equivalent to "was commenced by," unless, indeed, he came to the
+conclusion that its apparition took place in the neighborhood of some
+cavern known by the name of Edward.
+
+We have only a word to say as to the _illustrations_, as they are
+called, a mistaken profuseness in which disfigures both Dictionaries,
+another evil result of bookselling competition. The greater part of
+them, especially those in Webster, are fitter for a child's scrap-book
+than for a volume intended to go into a student's library. Such
+adjuncts seem to us allowable only, if at all, somewhat as they were
+introduced by Blunt in his "Glossographia," to make terms of heraldry
+more easily comprehensible. They might be admitted to save trouble in
+describing geometrical figures, or in explaining certain of the more
+frequently occurring terms in architecture and mechanics, but beyond
+this they are childish. The publishers of Webster give us all the
+coats-of-arms of the States of the American Union, among other equally
+impertinent woodcuts. We enter a protest against the whole thing, as an
+equally unfair imputation on the taste and the standard of judgment of
+intelligent Americans. If we must have illustrations, let them be strictly
+so, and not primer-pictures. Both Dictionaries give us the figure of a
+crossbow, for instance, as if there could be anywhere a boy of ten years
+old who did not know the implement, at least under its other name of
+_bow-gun_. Neither cut would give the slightest notion of the thing as
+a weapon, nor of the mode in which it was wound up and let off. Dr.
+Worcester says that it was intended "for shooting _arrows_," which is not
+strictly correct, since the proper name of the missile it discharged
+was _bolt_,--something very unlike the shaft used by ordinary bowmen.
+
+We believe Dr. Worcester's Dictionary to be the most complete and
+accurate of any hitherto published. He intrudes no theories of his own
+as to pronunciation or orthography, but cites the opinions of the best
+authorities, and briefly adds his own where there is occasion. He is no
+bigot for the present spelling of certain classes of words, but gives
+them, as he should do, in the way they are written by educated men, at
+the same time expressing his belief that the drift of the language is
+toward a change, wherever he thinks such to be the case. We reprobate,
+in the name of literary decency, the methods which have been employed
+to give an unfair impression of his work, as if it had been compiled
+merely to supplant Webster, and as if the whole matter were a question
+of blind partisanship and prejudice. The assigning of such motives as
+these, even by implication, to such men, among many others, as Mr.
+Marsh and Mr. Bryant, both of whom have expressed themselves in favor
+of the new Dictionary, is an insult to American letters. Mr. Marsh, by
+the extent of his learning, is probably better qualified than any other
+man in America to pronounce judgment in such a case; and Mr. Bryant has
+not left it doubtful that he knows what pure and vigorous English is,
+whether in verse or prose, or that he could not employ it except to
+maintain a well-grounded conviction.
+
+Apart from more general considerations, there are several reasons which
+would induce us to prefer Dr. Worcester's Dictionary. It has the great
+advantage, not only that it is constructed on sounder principles, as it
+seems to us, but that it is the latest. Stereotyping is an unfortunate
+invention, when it tends to perpetuate error or incompleteness, and
+already the Appendix of added words in Webster amounts to eighty pages.
+For all the words it contains, accordingly, the reader is put to double
+pains: he must first search the main body of the work, and then the
+supplement. Again, in Worcester, the synonymes are given, each under
+its proper head, in the main work; in Webster they form a separate
+treatise. One other advantage of Worcester would be conclusive with us,
+even were other things equal,--and that is the size of the type, and
+the greater clearness of the page, owing to the freshness of the
+stereotype-plates.
+
+We know the inadequacy of such hand-to-mouth criticism as that of a
+monthly reviewer must be upon works demanding so minute an examination
+as a dictionary deserves. For ourselves, we should wish to own both
+Webster and Worcester, but, if we could possess only one, we should
+choose the latter. It is a monument to the industry, judgment, and
+accuracy of the author, of which he may well be proud.
+
+
+_Elements of Mechanics, for the Use of Colleges, Academies, and High
+Schools._ By WILLIAM G. PECK, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia
+College. New York: A.S. Barnes & Burr. 1859.
+
+Text-books on Mechanics are of three sorts. Many teachers,
+school-committees, and parents wish to add a taste of Mechanics to the
+smatterings of twenty or thirty different subjects which constitute
+"liberal education," as understood in American high schools and
+colleges. For this purpose it is of the first importance that the
+text-book should be brief, for the time to be devoted to it is very
+short; secondly, it must divest the subject of every perplexity and
+difficulty, that it may be readily understood by all young persons,
+though of small capacity and less application. Such a text-book can
+contain nothing beyond the statement, without proof, of the more
+important principles, illustrated by familiar examples, and simple
+explanations of the commonest phenomena of motion, and of the machines
+and mechanical forces used in the arts. To a few it seems that more
+light comes into a room through two or three broad windows, though they
+be all on one side, than through fifty bull's-eyes, scattered on every
+wall. But the many prefer bull's-eyes,--fifty narrow, distorted
+glimpses in as many directions, rather than a broad, clear view of the
+heavens and the earth in one direction. Hence superficial, scanty
+text-books on science are the only ones which are popular and salable.
+
+The thorough study of Mechanics is, or should be, an essential part of
+the training of an architect, an engineer, or a machinist; and there
+are several text-books, like Weisbach's Mechanics and Engineering,
+intended for students preparing for any of these professions, which are
+complete mathematical treatises upon the subject. Such text-books are
+invaluable; they become standard works, and win for their authors a
+well-deserved reputation.
+
+Professor Peck's book belongs to neither of the two classes of
+text-books indicated, but to a class intermediate between the two. It
+is at once too good, too difficult a book for general, popular use, and
+too incomplete for the purposes of the professional student. As it
+assumes that the student is already acquainted with the elements of
+Algebra, Trigonometry, Analytic Geometry, and the Calculus, the
+successful use of this text-book in the general classes of any academy
+or college will be good evidence that the Mathematics are there taught
+more thoroughly than is usual in this country. In few American colleges
+is the study of the Calculus required of all students. In preparing a
+scientific text-book of this sort, originality is neither aimed at nor
+required. A judicious selection of materials, correct translation from
+the excellent French and German hand-books, with such changes in the
+notation as will better adapt it for American use, and a clear, logical
+arrangement are the chief merits of such a treatise; and these are
+merits which seldom gain much praise, though their absence would expose
+the author to censure. The definitions of Professor Peck's book are
+exact and concise, every proposition is rigidly demonstrated, and the
+illustrations and descriptions are brief, pointed, and intelligible.
+Professor Peck says in the Preface, that the book was prepared "to
+supply a want felt by the author when engaged in teaching Natural
+Philosophy to college classes"; but surely a teacher who prepares a
+text-book for his own classes must need a double share of patience and
+zeal. Every error which the book contains will be exposed, and the
+author will have ample opportunity to repent of all the inaccuracies
+which may have crept into his work. Again, the instructor who uses his
+own text-book encounters, besides the inevitable monotony of teaching
+the same subject year after year, the additional weariness of finding
+in the pages of his text-book no mind but his own, which he has read so
+often and with so little satisfaction. Even in teaching Mechanics,
+there is no exception to the general rule, that two heads are better
+than one.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Stories from Famous Ballads_. For Children. By GRACE GREENWOOD, Author
+of "History of my Pets," "Merrie England," etc., etc. With
+Illustrations by BILLINGS. Boston: Ticknor & Fields.
+
+All "famous ballads" are so close to Nature in their conceptions,
+emotions, incidents, and expressions, that it seems hardly possible to
+change their form without losing their soul. The present little volume
+proves that they may be turned into prose stories for children, and yet
+preserve much of the vitality of their sentiment and the interest of
+their narrative. Grace Greenwood, well known for her previous successes
+in writing works for the young, has contrived in this, her most
+difficult task, to combine simplicity with energy and richness of
+diction, and to present the events and characters of the Ballads in the
+form best calculated to fill the youthful imagination and kindle the
+youthful love of action and adventure. Among the subjects are Patient
+Griselda, The King of France's Daughter, Chevy Chase, The Beggar's
+Daughter of Bednall Green, Sir Patrick Spens, and Auld Robin Gray. Much
+of the author's success in giving prose versions of these, without
+making them prosaic, is due to the intense admiration she evidently
+feels for the originals. Among American children's books, this volume
+deserves a high place.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Mary Staunton; or the Pupils of Marvel Hall_. By the Author of
+"Portraits of, my Married Friends." New York: D. Appleton & Co.
+
+This story has a practical aim, the exposure of the faults of
+fashionable boarding-schools. "A good plot, and full of expectation,"
+as Hotspur said; but the author had not the ability to execute the
+design. The satire and denunciation are both weak, and are not relieved
+by the introduction of a very silly and threadbare love-story.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Poems_. By the Author of "John Halifax," "A Life for a Life," etc.
+Boston: Ticknor & Fields.
+
+Some of the verses in this little volume are quite pretty, especially
+those entitled, "By the Alma River," "The Night before the Mowing," "My
+Christian Name," and "My Love Annie." Miss Muloch is not able to take
+any high rank as a poetess, and very sensibly does not try.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Title-Hunting_. By E. L. LLEWELLYN, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott &
+Co.
+
+This is a miraculously foolish book. Titled villains, impossible
+parvenus, abductions, and convents abound in its pages, and all are as
+stupid as they are improbable.
+
+
+
+
+RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS
+
+RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
+
+
+The Haunted Homestead, and other Nouvellettes. With an Autobiography of
+the Author.  By Mrs. Emma D.E.N. Southworth, Author of "India," "Lady
+of the Isle," etc., etc. Philadelphia. Peterson and Brothers. 12mo. pp.
+292. $1.25.
+
+Adela, the Octoroon. By H. L. Hosmer. Columbus. Follett, Foster, & Co.
+12mo. pp. 400. $1.00.
+
+The Caxtons: A Family Picture. By Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Hart.
+Library Edition. In Two Volumes. Philadelphia. Lippincott & Co. 16mo.
+pp. 398, 387. $2.00.
+
+Julian Home: A Tale of College Life. By Frederic W. Farrar, M.A.,
+Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Author of "Eric; or, Little by
+Little." Philadelphia. Lippincott & Co. 16mo. pp. 420. $1.00.
+
+Bible History: A Text-Book for Seminaries, Schools, and Families. By
+Sarah E. Hanna, (formerly Miss Foster,) Principal of the Female
+Seminary, Washington, Pa. New York. Barnes & Burr. 12mo. pp. 290. 76
+cts.
+
+Elements of Mechanics: For the Use of Colleges, Academies, and High
+Schools. By William G. Peck, M. A,, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia
+College. New York. Barnes & Burr. 12mo. pp. 338. $1.50.
+
+The Human Voice: its Right Management in Speaking, Reading, and
+Debating, including the Principles of True Eloquence; together with the
+Functions of the Vocal Organs,--the Motion of the Letters of the
+Alphabet,--the Cultivation of the Ear,--the Disorders of the Vocal and
+Articulating Organs,--Origin and Construction of the English
+Language.--Proper Methods of Delivery,--Remedial Effects of Reading and
+Speaking, etc. By the Rev. W. W. Cazalet, A. M., Cantab. New York.
+Fowler & Wells. 16mo. paper, pp. 46. 10 cts.
+
+American Normal Schools: their Theory, their Workings, and their
+Results, as embodied in the Proceedings of the First Annual Convention
+of the American Normal School Association, held at Trenton, New Jersey,
+August 19th and 20th, 1859. New York. Barnes & Burr. 8vo. pp. 113.
+$1.25.
+
+History of the Early Church, from the First Preaching of the Gospel, to
+the Council of Nicea. For the Use of Young Persons. By the Author of
+"Amy Herbert." New York. Appleton & Co. 16mo. pp. x., 383. 60 cts.
+
+Our Bible Chronology, Historic and Prophetic, Critically Examined and
+Demonstrated, and Harmonized with the Chronology of Profane Writers:
+Embracing an Examination and Refutation of the Theories of Modern
+Egyptologists. Accompanied with Extensive Chronological and
+Genealogical Tables, from the Earliest Records to the Present Time; a
+Map of the Ancients; a Chart of the Course of Empires; and Various
+Pictorial Illustrations. On a Plan entirely New. Designed for the Use
+of Universities, Colleges, Academies, Bible Classes, Sabbath Schools,
+Families, etc. By the Rev. R.C. Shimeall, a Member of the Presbytery of
+New York; Author of an Illuminated Scripture Chart; Dr. Watts's
+Scripture History, Enlarged; a Treatise on Prayer; etc. New York.
+Barnes & Burr. 4to. pp. 234. $2.00.
+
+The National Fifth Reader: Containing a Treatise on Elocution;
+Exercises in Reading and Declamation; with Biographical Sketches and
+Copious Notes. Adapted to the Use of Students in English and American
+Literature. By Richard G. Parker, A.M., and J. Madison Watson. New
+York. Barnes & Burr. 12mo. pp. 600. $1.00.
+
+Popular Music of the Olden Time: A Collection of Ancient Songs,
+Ballads, and Dance Tunes, Illustrative of the National Music of
+England. With Short Introductions to the Different Reigns, and Notices
+of the Airs from Writers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.
+Also a Short Account of the Minstrels. By W. Chappell, F.S.A. The whole
+of the Airs harmonized by G.A. Macfarren. In Two Volumes. London:
+Cramer, Beale, & Chappell. New York. Webb & Allen. 8vo. pp. xx., 822.
+(Paged as one vol.) $15.75.
+
+The Material Condition of the People of Massachusetts. By Rev. Theodore
+Parker. Reprinted from the Christian Examiner. Boston. Published by the
+Fraternity. 16mo. paper, pp. 52. 15 cts.
+
+Die Teutschen und die Amerikaner. Von K. Heinzen. Boston. Selbstverlag
+des Verfassers. 16mo. paper, pp. 69. 25 cts.
+
+Letters from Switzerland. By Samuel Irenaeus Prime, Author of "Travels
+in Europe and the East," etc., etc. New York. Sheldon & Co. 12mo. pp.
+264. $1.00.
+
+Disquisitions and Notes on the Gospels. Matthew. By John H. Morison.
+Boston. Walker, Wise, & Co. 12mo. pp. 588. $1.25.
+
+Chamber's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the
+People. Part XII. New York. Appleton & Co. 8vo. paper, pp. 64. 15 cts.
+
+The Monikins. By J. Fenimore Cooper. Illustrated from Drawings by
+F.O.C. Darley. New York. Townsend & Co. 12mo. pp. 454. $1.50.
+
+Life Before Him. A Novel of American Life. New York. Townsend & Co.
+12mo. pp. 401. $1.00.
+
+Against Wind and Tide. By Holme Lee, Author of "Kathie Brande," "Sylvan
+Holt's Daughter," etc. New York. Townsend & Co. 12mo. pp. 440. $1.00.
+
+Mrs. Ellis's Housekeeping Made Easy. A Complete Instructor in all
+Branches of Cookery and Domestic Economy. Edited by Mrs. Mowatt. New
+York. Townsend & Co. 12mo. paper, pp. 120. 25 cts.
+
+Life's Evening; or, Thoughts for the Aged. By the Author of "Life's
+Morning," etc, Boston. Tilton & Co. 16mo. pp. 265. $1.00.
+
+Wooing and Warring in the Wilderness. By Charles D. Kirk. New York.
+Derby & Jackson. 18mo. pp. 288. $1.00.
+
+The History of Herodotus. A New English Version, edited with Copious
+Notes and Appendices, illustrating the History and Geography of
+Herodotus, from the most Recent Sources of Information; and embodying
+the Chief Results, Historical and Ethnographical, which have been
+obtained in the Progress of Cuneiform and Hieroglyphical Discovery. By
+George Rawlinson, M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College,
+Oxford. Assisted by Col. Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B., and Sir J.G.
+Wilkinson, F.R.S. In Four Volumes. Vol. III. With Maps and
+Illustrations. New York. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. viii., 463. $2.50.
+
+Cathara Clyde: A Novel. By Inconnu. New York. Scribner. 16mo. PP. 377.
+$1.00.
+
+Napoleon III. in Italy, and other Poems. By Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
+New York. Francis & Co. 16mo. pp. 72. 50 cts.
+
+Say and Seal. By the Author of "Wide, Wide World," and the Author of
+"Dollars and Cents." In Two Volumes. Philadelphia. Lippincott & Co.
+16mo, pp. 513, 500. $2.00.
+
+Walter Ashwood. A Love Story. By Paul Siogvolk, Author of "Schediasms."
+New York. Rudd & Carleton. 16mo. pp. 296. $1.00.
+
+Elementary Anatomy and Physiology, for Colleges, Academies, and other
+Schools. By Edward Hitchcock, D.D., LL.D., of Amherst College, and
+Edward Hitchcock, Jr., M.D., Teacher in Williston Seminary. New York.
+Ivison, Phinney, & Co. 12mo. pp. vi., 442. $1.00.
+
+Fragments from the Study of a Pastor. By Rev. George W. Nichols, A.M.
+New York. H.B. Price. 16mo. pp. 252. 75 cts.
+
+"My Novel"; or, Varieties in English Life. By Pisistratus Caxton. By
+Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart. Library Edition. In Four Volumes.
+Philadelphia. Lippincott & Co. 16mo. pp. 414, 408, 491, 482. $4.00.
+
+Cousin Maude and Rosamond. By Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, Author of "Lena
+Rivers," "Meadow Brook," etc. New York. Saxton, Barker, & Co. 12mo. pp.
+374. $1.25.
+
+The Caxtons: A Family Picture. By Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart.
+Library Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 505. $1.00.
+
+Stories of Rainbow and Lucky. By Jacob Abbott. The Three Pines. New
+York. Harper & Brothers. 16mo. pp. 190. 50 cts.
+
+Stories of Inventors and Discoverers in Science and the Useful Arts. A
+Book for Old and Young. By John Timbs, F.S.A. With Illustrations. New
+York. Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 473. $1.25.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 31, May,
+1860, by Various
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