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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9486-8.txt b/9486-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bfaac1 --- /dev/null +++ b/9486-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8482 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 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 + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Posting Date: November 4, 2012 [EBook #9486] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, JUNE 1860 *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Thomas +Hutchinson and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + + + +VOL. V.--JUNE, 1860. NO. XXXII. + + + + +THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS. + + +The condition of our railways, and their financial prospects, should +interest all of us. It has become a common remark, that railways have +benefited everybody but their projectors. There is a strong doubt in the +minds of many intelligent persons, whether _any_ railways have actually +paid a return on the capital invested in them. It is believed that one of +two results inevitably takes place: in the one case, there is not business +enough to earn a dividend; in the other, although the apparent net earnings +are large enough to pay from six to eight per cent. on the cost, yet in a +few years it is discovered that the machine has been wearing itself out so +fast that the cost of renewal has absorbed more than the earnings, and the +deficiency has been made up by creating new capital or running in debt, to +supply the place of what has been worn out and destroyed. The Illinois +Central has been pointed out as an example of the first kind; the New-York +Central, of the second; while the New-York and Erie is a melancholy +instance of a railway which, never having enough legitimate business of its +own, has worn itself out in carrying at unremunerative rates whatever it +could steal from its neighbors. The general opinion of the community, after +the crash of 1857, was, that all our railways approximated more or less +closely to these unhappy conditions, and it was merely a question of time +as to their final bankruptcy and ruin. Even now, when they have recovered +themselves considerably, and are paying dividends again, capitalists are +very shy of them. + +It is our belief, contrary to the current opinion, that during the next +decade such a change will have taken place in the condition of our +railways, that we shall see them averaging eight to ten per cent, dividends +on their legitimate cost. We propose in the present article to give the +reasons which have led us to this conclusion. + +The causes to which may be traced the languishing condition of our railways +may be stated as follows:--Financial mismanagement; imperfect construction; +and want of individual responsibility in their operation. + +The financial mismanagement of our railways has arisen from precisely the +opposite cause to that which has made British railways cost from two to +three times as much as they should have done. Their excess of cost was +owing to their having too much money; ours to our having too little. They +were robbed right and left for Parliamentary expenses, land-damages, +etc. The Great Northern, from London to York, three hundred and fourteen +miles, expended five millions of dollars in getting its charter. +Mr. E. Stephenson says that the cost of land and compensation on British +railways has averaged forty-three thousand dollars per mile, or as much as +the total cost of the railways of Massachusetts. + +American railway-companies have never been troubled with too much money. +They have usually commenced with a great desire for economy, selecting a +"cheap" engineer, and getting a low estimate of the probable cost. A +portion of the amount is subscribed for in stock, and the next thing is to +run in debt. "First mortgage bonds" are issued and sold. The proceeds are +expended, and the road is not half done. Another issue is sold at a great +discount, and yet another, if possible. As the road approaches completion, +the desperate Directors raise money by the most desperate expedients, such +as would bankrupt any merchant in the country in his private business. +Sometimes the road has vitality enough to work itself out of its troubles; +but in other cases, unfortunately too numerous, it passes into the hands of +the bond-holders, and all it can earn goes to remunerate trustees, and pay +legal expenses, commissions, etc. + +The financial mistakes of our railways have been, endeavoring to do too +much with too little money, and crippling themselves with a load of debt +that no project could stand under. This has led, as a matter of course, to +the second evil,--Imperfect construction. The projectors of a new railway +have thus reasoned with themselves:--"The average cost of our railways has +been between forty and fifty thousand dollars per mile, and this one, no +doubt, will reach those figures before we get through. But it will never do +to talk so, or we could not get the money to build it. Mr. Transit, our +engineer, says it can be opened for twenty thousand dollars per mile, and +we will earn money enough to finish it by-and-by." So they go on, and, to +get the road open for the small sum attainable, everything has to be +"scrimped" and pared down to the lowest scale. The cuttings are taken out +just wide enough for the cars to pass through, and the ends of the ties +overhang the edges of the embankments. Temporary trestle-work of wood is +substituted for stone bridges and culverts. Some reckless fellow tosses +down the iron as fast as a horse can trot, and the road is opened. + +Another way in which imperfect construction is inevitable is where +companies admit their inability to be their own financiers by giving some +influential contractor his price, and allowing him to "do his own +engineering," in consideration of his taking such securities as they have +to offer, and which he undertakes to float by means of his superior +connections. Having the thing his own way, and being naturally anxious to +build his road for as little money as possible, he pares down everything +even below the standard of embarrassed railway-boards. If the road will +only hold together until he has sold his bonds, it is all he asks. If the +business is good, the road will perhaps be finished, or what is thought to +be finished, some day or other. If business is dull, nothing is done, and +the bridges and trestle-works remain such murder-traps as that on the +Albany Northern Road which broke down last year. + +But it is not with such miserable apologies for railways that we have to +deal. It is on our really valuable roads, like the main lines in +Massachusetts and New York, that we shall show that the evils of imperfect +construction are felt, and will be felt, until a thorough reconstruction +has taken place. It was observed some time ago that the returns of the +Massachusetts railways for 1856 showed that there were 1,325 miles open, +costing on an average $46,480 per mile, or $61,611,721 in all. The receipts +per mile of road were $7,217, the expenses $4,260, leaving a net earning of +$2,957, or 40 per cent. of the whole. This was equal to 6.42 per cent. on +the whole cost of the railways. + +For the same year the returns of all the railways in Great Britain showed +that there were 8,502 miles open, costing $173,040 per mile, or +$1,506,826,363 in all; and that the receipts per mile of road were $13,296, +the expenses $6,249, leaving a net earning of $7,047, or 53 per cent of the +whole. This was equal to a dividend of 3.97 per cent. on the whole +cost. These figures showed, that, however extravagantly the British +railways had been built, they certainly were worked more economically than +our own. + +At first view it might be thought that the economy was due to their greater +business; but further inquiry showed, that, from the better shape of +American cars, and from the wants of the public requiring fewer trains, the +actual receipts per mile run of Massachusetts trains were $1.83 against +$1.44 of British trains. The expenses per mile run of Massachusetts trains +were $1.08, while those of British trains were only 63 3/8 cents. Could +Massachusetts railways be worked as cheaply, the result would be that they +could declare nine per cent. dividends on their cost, instead of six. + +Here offered a rich reward for investigation. Accordingly two gentlemen +well known to the railway world, Messrs. Zerah Colburn and Alexander +L. Holley, made a trip to England for the purpose of discovering how it was +that John Bull could work his railways so much cheaper than Brother +Jonathan. The results of their investigations are embodied in a handsome +quarto volume, illustrated with numerous drawings, which has been +subscribed for by most of the railways and prominent railway-men throughout +the country. It is not too much to say, that the effect of it, in directing +the attention of American railway-managers to the weak points of their +system, has resulted already in a saving to the stockholders of our +railways of millions of dollars. [Footnote: The statistics of the English +railways given in this article are taken from the volume here referred to. + +Because some cunning English contractors in South America took advantage of +the statements in this book to depreciate the American railway system and +American civil engineers, for their own private advantage in obtaining +work, some Americans have been so foolish as to decry the book altogether, +as traitorous to the interests of the country. Such mingled bigotry and +conceit, shrinking from just criticism, would fetter all progress but +fortunately it is rare.] + +More than half the cost of operating a railway consists of the repairs of +track and machinery and the cost of fuel and oil. These expenses are +exactly proportional to the mileage of trains. It was soon seen that the +greater economy of British railways was almost entirely confined to these +items. + +The cost of "maintenance of way" upon English railways was 10 1/2 cents per +mile run, against 25 cents on those of Massachusetts. The cost of repairs +of cars and engines was nearly the same on both. The cost of fuel per mile +run was 6 1/2 cents, against 15 cents. While English trains are from 20 to +30 per cent. lighter than ours, they average 25 per cent. faster, so that +practically these conditions must nearly balance each other. In alignment +the English roads are superior to ours, and as to gradients they have some +advantage; although grades of 40 to 52.8 feet per mile are quite common. +In climate they have less severe difficulties to contend with; although +their moist weather, the nature of their soil, and their heavy earthworks +involve much extra expense. In prices, the advantage is at least 20 per +cent, in their favor. + +These considerations might account for an economy of 30 per cent. as +compared with our expenses for maintenance of way, but they cannot account +for the great actual economy of 60 per cent. which we have seen. We must +seek farther to find the explanation of this, and we soon discover it by +comparing the condition of the road-beds and tracks on the railways of the +two countries. + +The English railways are thoroughly built, are not opened to the public +until finished, and no expense is spared to keep them in order. American +railways are too often put in operation when half finished. The consequence +is, they never are finished, and are continually wearing out,--not lasting, +on an average, more than half as long as they should, if once thoroughly +constructed. Wooden bridges are allowed to rot down for want of protection. +Rails are left to be battered to pieces for want of drainage and ballast. +One road spends thirty-four thousand dollars a year for "watching cuts," +and fifty-five thousand more for removing slides that should never have +taken place. Everything is done for the moment, and nothing thoroughly. Who +can wonder that this system tells upon the cost of maintenance of way? + +The amount of fuel burned is the exact measure of the resistance to be +overcome, and a rough track must necessarily require a larger amount of +fuel. The English roads now generally burn bituminous coal; most American +roads burn wood; but these being reduced to the same equivalent quantity, +it will be found that the American roads burn nearly twice as much as the +English. + +That the cost of the repairs of American cars and engines is not more is +attributable solely to their superior design. An English engine and cars +would be battered to pieces in a few months on our rough roads, on account +of their rigidity and concentration of weight; while those of America, by +yielding to shocks both vertically and horizontally, escape injury. +American cars and engines are as much superior in design to the English as +their roads excel ours in solidity and finish. + +But it will be asked, Shall we imitate the notorious extravagance of +British railways built at a cost of one hundred and seventy-three thousand +dollars per mile? + +The answer is plain. The only thing about them to be imitated is their +thorough and permanent construction. That this need not involve +extravagance is evident from the fact that the actual cost of construction +has been only eighty-eight thousand dollars per mile of double-track +railway, including all the costly viaducts, tunnels, and bridges, which in +many cases a more judicious location or a bolder use of gradients would +have avoided. The remainder of their cost is made up of law and +Parliamentary expenses, engineering and management, land and damages, +interest on stock, bonuses, dividends paid from capital, etc., etc., +amounting to eighty-five thousand dollars per mile. The folly of all this +has been seen, and neither the financial nor the engineering errors of that +day are now repeated. To show that a better system prevails, it is only +necessary to state that between 1848 and 1858, 390 miles of first-class +single-track railway have been opened at an average cost of $46.692 per +mile, and in all that relates to economical maintenance are not inferior to +any in the kingdom. + +Such railways as these, costing no more than our own, we would hold up for +imitation. How, then, do they differ from ours? or rather, what must be +done to put ours into the same condition of economical efficiency? + +In the first place, stone culverts and earth embankments should replace +wooden structures, wherever possible. As fast as wooden bridges decay, they +should be replaced with iron; and if the piers and abutments require it, as +is too often the case, they should be rebuilt in a substantial manner. + +The tubular iron bridge we do not recommend, on account of its excessive +cost. For short spans of sixty feet and under, two riveted boiler-plate +girders under the track make a cheap and permanent bridge, and can be +manufactured in any part of the country. For large spans there are several +excellent forms of iron trusses, Bollman's, Fink's, or, still better, the +wrought-iron lattice. + +Cuttings should be widened, if not already wide enough, so as to admit of +good ditches along the track. The slopes should be dressed off and +turfed. This costs little, and prevents the earth from washing down and +choking up the ditches, and much of that terrible nuisance, dust. + +The secret of all good road-making, whether railways or common roads, lies +in thorough drainage. Until our railways are well drained, it is of little +use to try to improve the condition of the track. "In an economical view," +says Mr. Colburn, "the damage occasioned by water is far greater than the +utmost cost of its removal. The track is disturbed, the iron bruised, the +fastenings strained, the chairs broken, the ties rotted, the resistance and +thereby the consumption of fuel increased, and the whole wear and tear +greatly enhanced." + +Next to drainage in importance is plenty of good ballast. The New-England +roads are well ballasted, as a general thing; but in the West, where gravel +is scarce, they do not trouble themselves to find a substitute. Even the +great New York and Erie road, after ten years' use, is only half ballasted, +which accounts for its being more than half worn out. + +Much has been said and written on the necessity of a good joint for the +rails, and many are the inventions for securing this object,--"compound +rails," "fished joints," "bracket chairs," "sleeve joints," etc., etc. But +without better road-beds no form of superstructure will last, and with +road-beds as good as they ought to be almost any simple and easily adjusted +arrangement will answer well enough. + +But a more important matter than all these, so far as the economy of +maintenance is concerned, is the quality and shape of the iron rails, +forming one-eighth of the whole cost of our railways. Where companies, +instead of buying rails, are selling bonds, they have no right to complain, +if the iron turn out as worthless as the debentures. But where they pay +cash, they can insist on good iron, and will get it, if they will pay the +price, which will rule from eighteen to twenty dollars per ton over that of +the poorest article. Nor should the shape and weight of the rail be +overlooked. Experience, that stern schoolmaster, has taught us, that, while +heavy rails of seventy pounds to the yard, and over, of ordinary iron, go +to pieces in three or four years, sixty-pound rails of well-worked and good +iron will last more than double that time. The extraordinary durability of +the forty-five pound rails made for the Reading Railway Company by the Ebbw +Vale Company in 1837 is well known to railway men. + +A short calculation will show the superiority, in point of economy, of +light and good rails to heavy rails of an inferior quality. A seventy-pound +rail requires 110 tons to the mile, costing, at 860 per ton, $6,600. At the +end of four years this has to be re-rolled at a cost of $30 per ton, or +$3,300 more. This is equal in eight years to an annual depreciation of +$1,237 per mile. A sixty-pound rail requires 94 tons to a mile, costing for +the best iron that can be rolled $80 per ton, or $7,520 per mile. This +would last eight years, and the annual depreciation would be $940 per mile, +or $297 less than the other. The 30,000 miles of American railways are thus +taxed annually nearly nine millions of dollars for preferring quantity to +quality. + +In England, it is the custom to retain the best engineering talent upon +railways, after as well as during construction. In this country, as soon as +the engineer has made out his "final estimate," he is dismissed with as +little ceremony as a daylaborer. We employ the best mechanical engineers +that we can find to look after the repairs of our engines and cars; while +the road, which is more important, and upon the good condition of which we +have seen that the success or failure of a railway as a commercial +enterprise may depend, is handed over to some ignorant fellow whose only +qualifications are industry and obedience. + +There are no unmixed evils in this world. The impecuniosity of American +railways, besides causing the bad results which we have described, has had +a good effect upon the training of American engineers. Being obliged to do +a great deal with a little money, they have steered clear of those enormous +extravagances which have characterized the works of such engineers as the +late Mr. Brunel, colossal less in proportions than cost. It has been well +observed, that there was more talent shown on a certain division of the +New-York and Erie Railway, in avoiding the necessity for viaducts, than +could possibly have been exhibited in constructing them. This remark is a +key to the difference between the old English and the American systems of +civil engineering. The one is for show, the other for use. We say the _old_ +English system, because a better practice has now arisen. Cost is looked to +as well as splendor; and there is no engineer now in England whose +reputation, would sustain him in constructing such monuments of +extravagance as the Great Western Railway or the Britannia Bridge. American +civil engineers have not been fairly treated. The wretched construction of +many of our railways, and the uneconomical condition of all, have been cast +against them by their English brethren as a reproach. But the faults of +construction, we have shown, are attributable to another cause. No engineer +of standing would lend himself to many of the schemes that have been pushed +through in the West. But in order to build a "cheap" road, it is only +necessary to get a "cheap" engineer, and that is a commodity easily picked +up. If their ignorance and blunders tarnish the fair fame of the +profession, it cannot be helped. But if American engineers of standing had +been allowed to finish the railways begun by them, and to take care of them +and see that they were not abused after they were finished, our railway +securities would be quoted at higher rates than they now are. + +Although there are many civil engineers of standing and experience who have +been thrown out of employment by the general stoppage of public works, and +who are better qualified to take care of that costly and delicate machine, +a Railway, than men whose knowledge is entirely empirical, yet few railways +employ a resident engineer. Those that follow this practice are generally +supposed to do so because he is a relative of some Director, and wants a +place, and not because such an officer is really required. + +"Construction accounts," says Mr. Colburn, "can never be closed, until our +roads are _built_. To attempt it only involves a destruction account of +fearful magnitude. Under our present system, we are _perpetually +rebuilding_ our roads, not realizing the _life_ of our works, and thereby +running capital to waste." + +"With good earthwork, thoroughly drained, well-ballasted tracks, rails of +good iron, correct form, not exceeding 60 pounds per yard, and properly +supported at the joints, the ties properly preserved, and the whole +maintained by a judicious system of repairs, the average working expenses +might unquestionably be reduced by as much as 18 cents per mile run." + +The mileage of the Massachusetts railways for 1859 was 5,949,761 miles run, +and the expenses of operating $0.93, being a saving of 15 cents over those +of 1856, amounting to $892,464. If, by a judicious expenditure of $5,000 +per mile, a still further saving of 18 cents per mile run could be made, it +would amount, on the present mileage, to $1,070,956 per annum, which, the +receipts being equal, would return eight per cent. on the increased capital +of sixty-eight and a half millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +We have thus shown the combined effects of financial mismanagement and +imperfect construction upon our railway property. But there is a third evil +to be cured before it can become productive. + +Under the present system of railway management, everybody is busy getting +rich at the expense of the stockholders. Railway men are as honest as the +average of mankind, but there is no reason why they should be more so; and +if their temptations are greater, a certain percentage of them will +inevitably yield to those temptations,--just as statistical tables show +that the average number of arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct +is greater on Sundays and holidays than on working-days. + +A few years ago it was impossible to compare the results of the working of +one railway with those of another. The returns were so ingeniously made +out, that only one thing was certain,--the amount of dividend that it +pleased the Board of Directors to declare. If this was three or four per +cent. for the half-year, the stockholders were delighted, and passed a vote +of thanks to those worthy gentlemen for devoting so much valuable time to +their interests gratuitously. What if a dividend was not earned? it was +easy enough to raise money in Wall Street on the Company's paper, until +some excuse could be found for a new issue of bonds or stock. But those +benefactors of the human race, Tuckerman and Schuyler, put a stop to all +this. After their proceedings became public, and still more certainly after +the crash of 1857, if railways did not earn a dividend, they had to say +so. This led to investigations, and stockholders became "posted," as the +phrase is. Chiefly by the exertions of one newspaper, the "Boston Railway +Times," railway companies were shamed into giving their reports in such +form as to distinguish the expenses per mile run, for fuel, oil, repairs of +road, machines, etc., etc. This gave a common standard of comparison; and, +as we have seen, it was made use of to discover in what particular +departments English railways were worked more economically than our +own. This has led, as we have also seen, to a great reduction in the cost +of operating; and the revival of railways, as an investment, dates from +that time, 1857-8. + +But there is something more wanted yet. As we have said, railway men are +not out of the reach of temptation. Let the various officers of a railway +manage it so as not to exceed the average expense of other roads of their +State, and their reputation stands high. Let them reduce their expenses +below the average, and their power is despotic. If they are men of ability, +they can do all this,--operate their road for less than many others, run +their trains regularly and without accident, even treat the public with +civility, and make themselves rich, in a few years, by percentages and +commissions on the cost of supplies, and by other modes, which, perhaps, +had better not be referred to here. If any one doubt this, let him take +pains to inquire how large a proportion of railway-men get rich in a few +years on salaries of from one to two thousand dollars per annum. Nor can +this be prevented; for every new check is only a transfer of power from +intelligent to ignorant hands; and ignorance, however honest, is a more +expensive manager and easier victim than knavery. There is but one remedy. +Make it for men's interest to reduce the expenses of operating to a +minimum. Make it for their interest to do so, by allowing them to share in +the profits, and then the question is solved, and you have a thousand +vigilant guardians of your property day and night. Let all supplies be +furnished by public competition under sealed tender, as is done in the army +and navy, and on the large railways of Great Britain. + +There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way of carrying out +these changes, as there are in introducing all new systems. You have to +meet the doubts and suspicions of those who are unacquainted with them, the +opposition of interested parties, and the general feeling which influences +all men to let well enough alone. But that there are no insuperable +obstacles in the way is evident from the fact that this system has already +been partially applied on a railway doing a very large business, the +Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, under the able superintendence of +S. M. Felton, Esq., who, in his last Report, says, "It still works well, +and is productive of much saving to the Company. [Footnote: The cost of +operating this railway for 1859, as per last Report, was only 37.4 per +cent. of the receipts, while that of the railways of Massachusetts for the +same year was 56.9 per cent. The result is a dividend of 8-1/2 per cent. +on capital, after paying the interest on bonded debt.] It promotes +regularity in running the trains, and in all branches of our business. It +diminishes accidents, _by bringing home the responsibility directly upon +individuals_ instead of the corporation." + +There is a great deal of significance in this last remark. Every one knows, +that, when an accident happens on a railway, "no one is to blame,"--which +means, that everybody should have so much blame as can be expressed by a +fraction whose numerator is unity and whose denominator represents the +whole number of employees. Such an infinitesimal dose of censure, contrary +to the homeopathic doctrine, always produces infinitesimal results. + +To what is the extraordinary success of the Hudson's Bay Company +owing,--that wonderful organization which rules the wilds of British North +America with a discipline which has no parallel in the history of mankind, +except that of the order of Jesuits? Simply to the fact, that every man +whose duties require intelligent action is a partner of the Company, shares +in its gains, and loses with its losses. And so it should be with our +railway-employees. Instead of excusing waste of time and property by the +stereotyped phrase, "The Company is rich and can stand it," they would +strive to exercise a rigid economy, knowing that at the end of the week +their pockets would be so much the heavier. + +To show how the thing should be done would involve matters of detail which +would be out of place here. What we desire to show is the +principle. Instead of paying all men alike, good, bad, and indifferent, let +the amount of a man's wages depend on his skill and intelligence; the more +he shows, the better let him be paid. In almost every department of +manufacturing and commercial business this is done. Why not in railway +management? + +We subjoin a tabular statement of the railways of the world, made up to +1857, except those of the United States, which are for 1858-9. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +|Name of country. |Cost per|Receipts |Percentage of|Percentage of | +| | mile. | per mile| expenses to | net earnings | +| | | of road.| receipts. | to total | +| | | | | capital. | +|-------------------|--------|---------|-------------|---------------| +|Great Britain |$173,040| $13,296 | 47 | 4.00 | +|Australia | 169,225| 6,810 | 72 | 1.02 | +|India | 51,400| 8,645 | 42 | 4.09 | +|France | 128,340| 13,530 | 44 | 6.58 | +|Belgium | 81,955| 10,790 | 58 | 5.48 | +|Austria | 92,325| 13,430 | 54 | 6.75 | +|Prussia | 72,430| 9,915 | 45 | 7.44 | +|Other German States| 66,160| 7,085 | 63 | 5.52 | +|United States | 41,376| 6,170 | 60 | 5.51 | +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +From this it will be seen how much economy of working has to do with paying +a dividend,--as in the case of the Indian railways, where, although the +receipts are very small, the prime cost and expenses of working are also +very small, and they divide 4.09 per cent, while the Australian railways, +whose cost and expense of working are large, can pay only 1.02 per cent. It +is proper to say, however, that this was during the "gold fever." Railways +are now built in Australia for $50,000 per mile. + +The railways of the United States occupy a very favorable position, both as +to cost and amount of receipts per mile. During the last ten years, the +principal efforts of their managers have been directed toward increasing +the receipts. During the next ten, their policy will be to diminish the +working expenses, leaving the receipts to increase with the natural growth +of the country, and avoiding unhealthy competition for that delusive +phantom, "through-trade," which has lured so many railways to financial +shipwreck and ruin. If this policy be steadily followed, we shall see +railway stocks once more a favorite investment. + + * * * * * + + + +IN A FOG. + + +A few minutes before one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 8th of +February, 1857, Policeman Smithers, of the Third District, was meditatively +pursuing his path of duty through the quietest streets of Ward Five, +beguiling, as usual, the weariness of his watch by reminiscent +Æthiopianisms, mellifluous in design, though not severely artistic in +execution. Passing from the turbulent precincts of Portland and Causeway +Streets, he had entered upon the solitudes of Green Street, along which he +now dragged himself dreamily enough, ever extracting consolations from +lugubrious cadences mournfully intoned. Very silent was the +neighborhood. Very dismal the night. Very dreary and damp was Mr. Smithers; +for a vile fog wrapped itself around him, filling his body with moist +misery, and his mind with anticipated rheumatic horrors. Still he surged +heavily along, tired Nature with tuneful charms sweetly restoring. + +As he wound off a tender tribute to the virtues of the Ancient Tray, and +was about sounding the opening notes of a requiem over the memory of the +lost African Lily, surnamed Dale, one o'clock was announced by the bell of +the Lynde-Street Church. Mr. Smithers's heart warmed a little at the +thought of speedy respite from his midnight toil, and with hastening step +he approached Chambers Street, and came within range of his relief post. He +paused a moment upon the corner, and gazed around. It is the peculiar +instinct of a policeman to become suspicious at every corner. + +Nothing stirring. Silence everywhere. He listens acutely. No sound. He +strains his eyes to penetrate the misty atmosphere. He is satisfied that +order reigns. He prepares to resume his march, and the measure of his +melancholy chant. + +Three seconds more, and Policeman Smithers is another being. Now his hand +convulsively grasps his staff; his foot falls lightly on the pavement; his +carol is changed to a quick, sharp inhalation of the breath; for directly +before him, just visible through the fog, a figure, lightly clad, leans +from a window close upon the street, then clambers noiselessly upon the +sill, leaps over, and dashes swiftly down Chambers Street, disappearing in +the darkness. + +Gathering himself well together, in an instant, Mr. Smithers is off and +away in pursuit. His heavy rubber-boots spatter over the bricks with an +echo that startles the sober residents from their slumbers. Strong of limb, +and not wholly unaccustomed to such exercise, he rapidly gains upon the +fugitive, who, finding himself so hotly followed, utters a faint cry, as if +unable to control his terror, and suddenly darts into one of the numerous +narrow passages which connect Chambers and Leverett Streets. + +Not prepared for this sharp dodge, Mr. Smithers is for a moment unable to +check his headlong plunges, and shoots past the opening a yard or two +before the wet sidewalk affords him a foothold. + +In great wrath, he turns about, and gropes his way cautiously through the +lane in the narrow labyrinth of which the fugitive has disappeared,--always +cautiously, for there are precipitous descents in Hammond Avenue, and deep +arched door-ways, from which a sudden onslaught might be dangerous. But he +meets no interruption here. Emerging into Leverett Street, he with +difficulty descries a white garment distantly fluttering in the feeble +light of a street-lamp. Any other color would have eluded him, but the way +is clear now, and it is a mere question of strength and speed. He sets his +teeth together, takes a full breath, and gives chase again. + +Mr. Smithers has now passed the limits of his own beat, and he fears his +adventure may be shared by some of his associates. For the world he would +not have this happen. Nothing could tempt him at this moment to swing his +rattle. His blood is roused, and he will make this capture himself, alone +and without aid. + +He rapidly reconsiders the chances. + +"This fellow does not know the turns," he thinks, "or he would have taken +Cushman Avenue, and then I should have lost him." + +This is in his favor. On the other hand, Mr. Smithers's action is impeded +by his heavy overcoat and rubber boots, and he knows that the pursued is +unincumbered in all his movements. + +It is a fierce, desperate struggle, that mad race down Leverett Street, at +one o'clock on Sunday morning. + +At each corner, the street-lamps throw a dull red haze around, revealing +the fugitive's slender form as he rushes wildly through. Another moment, +and the friendly fog shelters and conceals him from view. + +Breathless, panting, sobbing, he ere long is forced to relax his speed. The +policeman, who has held his best energies in reserve, now puts forth his +utmost strength. + +Presently he gains upon the runaway so that he can detect the white feet +pattering along the red bricks, rising and falling quite noiselessly. He +ejects imprecations upon his own stout boots, which not only fail to fasten +themselves firmly to the slippery pavements, but continually betray by +their noisy splashing his exact position. + +As they pass the next lamp, Mr. Smithers sees plainly enough that the end +is near. The fugitive touches the ground with only the balls of his feet, +as if each step were torture, and expels his breath with unceasing +violence. He does not gasp or pant,--he groans. + +Just at the bend in Leverett Street, leading to the bridge, there is a dark +and half-hidden aperture among the ill-assorted houses. Into this, as a +forlorn hope, the fugitive endeavors to fling himself. But the game is +up. Here, at last, he is overhauled by Mr. Smithers, who, dropping a heavy +hand upon his shoulder, whirls him violently to the ground. Having +accomplished this exploit with rare dexterity, he forthwith proceeds to set +the captive on his feet again, and to shake him about with sprightly vigor, +according to established usage. + +Mr. Smithers next makes a rapid but close examination of his prize, who, +bewildered by the fall, stares vacantly around, and speaks no word. He was +a young man, apparently about twenty years old, with nothing peculiar in +appearance except an unseasonable deficiency in clothing. Coat, waistcoat, +trousers, boots, hat, had he none; shirt, drawers, and stockings made up +his scant raiment. Mr. Smithers set aside the suspicion of burglary, which +he had originally entertained, in favor of domestic disorder. The symptoms +did not, to his mind, point towards delirium tremens. + +Suddenly recovering consciousness, the youth was seized with a fit of +trembling so violent that he with difficulty stood upright, and cried out +in piteous tones,-- + +"For God's sake, let me go! let me go!" + +Mr. Smithers answered by gruffly ordering the prisoner to move along with +him. + +By some species of inspiration--for, as the era of police uniforms had not +then dawned, it could have been nothing else--the young man conceived the +correct idea of the function of his custodian, and, after verifying his +belief, expressed himself enraptured. + +All his perturbation seemed to vanish at the moment. + +The affair was getting too deep for Mr. Smithers, who could not fathom the +idea of a midnight malefactor becoming jubilant over his arrest. So he gave +no ear to the torrent of excited explanations that burst upon him, but +silently took the direct route to the station. + +Here he resigned his charge to Captain Merrill's care, and, after narrating +the circumstances, went forth again, attended by two choice spirits, to +continue investigations. On reaching Chambers Street, he became confused +and dubious. A row of houses, all precisely alike excepting in color, stood +not far from the corner of Green Street. From a lower window of one of +these he believed that the apparition had sprung; but, in his agitation, he +had neglected to mark with sufficient care the precise spot. Now, no open +window nor any other trace of the event could be discovered. + +The three policemen, having arrived at the end of their wits, went back to +the station for an extension. + +There they found Captain Morrill listening to a strange and startling +story, the incidents of which can here be more coherently recapitulated +than they were on that occasion by the half-distracted sufferer. + +On the morning of Saturday, February the 7th, this young man, whose name +was Richard Lorrimer, and who was a clerk in a New-York mercantile house, +started from that city in the early train for Boston, whither he had been +despatched to arrange some business matters that needed the presence of a +representative of the firm. It chanced to be his first journey of any +extent; but the day was cheerless and gloomy, and the novelty of travel, +which would otherwise have been attractive, was not especially agreeable. +After exhausting the enlivening resources of a package of morning papers, +which at that time overflowed with records of every variety of crime, from +the daily murder to the hourly garrote, he dozed. At Springfield he +dined. Here, also, he fortified himself against returning ennui with a +supply of the day's journals from Boston. Singularly enough, five minutes +after resuming his place, he was once more peacefully slumbering. The pause +at Worcester scarcely roused him; but near Framingham a sharp shriek from +the locomotive, and the rapid working of the brakes, banished his dreams, +and put an end to his drowsy humor for the remainder of the journey. It was +soon made known that the engine was suffering from internal disarrangement, +and that a delay of an hour or more might be expected. The red flag was +despatched to the rear, the lamps were lighted, and the passengers composed +themselves, each as patiently and as comfortably as he could. + +Lorrimer felt no inclination for further repose. He was much disturbed at +the prospect of long detention, having received directions to execute a +part of his commission that evening. Comforting himself with the profound +reflection that the fault was not his, he turned wearily to his +newspaper-files. + +A middle-aged man with a keen nose and a snapping eye asked permission to +share the benefit of his treasures of journalism. As the middle-aged man +glanced over the New-York dailies, he ventured an anathema upon the +abominations of Gotham. + +The patriotic pride of a genuine New-Yorker never deserts him. Lorrimer +discovered that the maligner of his city was a Bostonian, and a stormy +debate ensued. + +As between cat and dog, so is the hostility which divides the residents of +these two towns. So the conversation became at once spirited, and +eventually spiteful. + +Boston pointed with sarcastic finger to the close columns heavily laden +with iniquitous recitals, the result of a reporter's experience of one day +in the metropolis. + +New York, with icy imperturbability, rehearsed from memory the recent +revelations of matrimonial and clerical delinquencies which had given the +City of Notions an unpleasant notoriety. + +Boston burst out in eloquent denunciation of the Bowery assassin's knife. + +New York was placidly pleased to revert to a tale of bloodshed in the +abiding-place of Massachusetts authority, the State Prison. + +Boston fell back upon the garrote,--"the meanest and most diabolical +invention of Five-Point villany,--a thing unknown, Sir, and never to be +known with us, while our police system lasts!" + +New York quietly folded together a paper so as to reveal one particular +paragraph, which appeared in smallest type, as seeking to avoid +recognition. Boston read as follows:-- + +"The garroting system of highway robbery, which has been so fashionable for +some time past in New York, and which has so much alarmed the people of +that city, has been introduced in Boston, and was practised on Thomas +W. Steamburg, barber, on Thursday night. While crossing the Common to his +home, he was attacked by three men; one seized him by the throat and half +strangled him, another sealed his mouth with a gloved hand, and the third +abstracted his wallet, which contained about seventy-five dollars in +money." + +This was from the "Courier" of that morning. New York had triumphed, and +Boston, with eyes snapping virulently, sought another portion of the car, +perhaps to hunt up his temper, which had been for some time on the point of +departure, and had now left him altogether. + +Lorrimer took to himself great satisfaction, in a mild way, and laughed +inwardly at his opponent's discomfiture. + +Presently, the vitalities of the locomotive having been restored, the train +rolled on, and Lorrimer took to calculating the chances of fulfilling his +appointment that evening. He at length abandoned the hope, and resigned +himself to the afflicting prospect of a solitary Sunday in a strange place. + +At eight o'clock, P.M., the Boston station was achieved. Then followed, for +Mr. Lorrimer, the hotel, the supper, the vain search for Saturday-evening +amusements, and a discontented stroll in a wilderness of unfamiliar +streets, with spirits dampened by the dismal foggy weather. + +He found the Common, and secretly admired, but longed for an opportunity to +vilify it to some ardent native. His point of attack would be, that it +furnished dangerous opportunities for crime, as illustrated in the case he +had recently been discussing. He looked around for some one to accost, and +felt aggrieved at finding no available victim. Finally, in great depth of +spirits, and anxious for a temporary shelter from the all-penetrating +moisture, he wandered into a saloon of inviting appearance, and sought the +national consolation,--Oysters. + +While he was accumulating his appetite, a stranger entered the same stall, +and dropped, with a smile and a nod, upon the opposite seat. "I wouldn't +intrude, Sir," he said, "but every other place is filled. It's wonderful +how Boston gives itself up to oysters on Saturday nights,--all other sorts +of rational enjoyment being legally prohibited." + +Lorrimer welcomed the stranger, and, delighted at the opportunity of a bit +of discussion, and still cherishing the malignant desire to injure +somebody's feelings in the matter of the Common, opened a conversation by +asking if Boston were really much given to bivalvular excesses. + +The stranger, who was a strongly built and rough-visaged man, with nothing +specially attractive about him, except a humorous and fascinating +eye-twinkle, straightened himself, and delivered a short oration. + +"Bless me, Sir!" said he, "are you a foreigner? Why, oysters are the +universal bond of brotherhood, not only in Boston, but throughout this +land. They harmonize with our sharp, wide-awake spirit. They are an element +in our politics. Our statesmen, legislators, and high-placed men, +generally, are weaned on them. Why, dear me! oysters are a fundamental idea +in our social system. The best society circles around 'fried' and 'stewed.' +Our 'festive scenes,' you know, depend on them in no small degree for their +zest. That isn't all, either. A full third of our population is over +'oysters' every morning at eleven o'clock. Young Smith, on his way down +town after breakfast, drops into the first saloon and absorbs some +oysters. At precisely eleven o'clock he is overcome with hunger and takes a +few on the 'half-shell.' In the course of an hour appetite clamors, and he +'oysters' again. So on till dinner-time, and, after dinner, oysters at +short intervals until bed-time." + +And the stalwart stranger leaned back and laughed lustily for a few +seconds, until, abruptly checking his mirth, he, in solemn tones, directed +the waiter to introduce ale. + +Then occurred an interesting exchange of courtesies. Social enlightenment +was vividly illustrated. The sparkling ale was set upon the table. In +silent contemplation, the two gentlemen awaited the subsidence of the +bead. Then, smiling intensely, they cordially grasped the flowing mugs; +they made the edges click; they paused. + +"Sir," said one, with genial blandness. + +"Sir," responded the other, in like manner. + +Contemporaneously they partook of the cheering fluid. Gradually each +gentleman's nose was eclipsed by the aspiring orb of pottery. The mugs +assumed a lofty elevation, then fell, to rise no more. The two gentlemen +beamed with amity. Each respected the other, and the acquaintance was +formed. + +Lorrimer was charmed to meet an intelligent being who would talk and be +talked to. He flattered himself he had exploited a "character," and was +determined not to allow him to slip away. He cautiously broke to his new +companion the fact that he was a native of New York, and was a little +surprised to see the announcement followed by no manifestation of awe, but +only a lively wink. He reserved his defamatory intentions respecting the +Common, and endeavored to draw the stranger out, who, in return, shot forth +eccentricities as profusely as the emery wheel of the street grinder emits +sparks when assailed by a scissors-blade. + +Lorrimer learned that this delightful fellow's name was Glover, and +rejoiced greatly in so much knowledge. + +Mr. Glover ordered in ale, and Mr. Lorrimer ordered in oysters,--and from +oysters to ale they pleasantly alternated for the space of two hours. + +Cloud-compelling cigars varied at intervals the monotony of the +proceedings. + +At length the young gentleman from New York vanquished his last "fried in +crumb," and victory perched upon his knife. Just then the gas-burners began +to meander queerly before his eyes. Around and above him he beheld showers +of glittering sparks,--snaky threads of light,--fantastic figures of +fire,--jets of liquid lustre. He communicated, in confidence, to +Mr. Glover, that his seat seemed to him of the nature of a rocking-chair +operating viciously upon a steep slated roof. Mr. Glover laughed, and +proposed an adjournment. + +As they settled their little bills, Lorrimer thoughtlessly displayed a +plethoric pile of bank-notes. He saw, or fancied he saw, his companion gaze +at them in a manner which made him restless; but the circumstance soon +passed from his mind, until later events enforced the recollection. + +When they walked into the open air, Mr. Lorrimer first became intimate with +a lamp-post, which he was loath to leave, and then bitterly bewailed his +ignorance of localities. Glover good-naturedly suggested that his young +friend would do well to take up quarters with him, that night, and promised +to conduct him wherever he desired to go, the next morning. His young +friend was not in the humor for hesitation, and, distrusting his own +perambulatory powers, gave himself up, without reserve, to Glover's +guidance. Linked together by their arms, they sailed along, like an +energetic little steam-tug, puffing, plunging, sputtering, under the shadow +of a serene and stately Indiaman. + +The fog had now gathered solidity, and hung chillingly over the city's +heart. How desolate were the thoroughfares! The street-lamps gleamed +luridly from their stands, serving only to make the dreary darkness +visible. Lorrimer's late merry fancies were all extinguished as suddenly as +they had blazed forth. Even his sturdy guide showed a depression and +constraint that strangely contrasted with his former gayety. He vainly drew +upon his mirth-account; there was no issue, "Beastly fog!" said he, "we +might drill holes in it, and blast it with gunpowder!" They approached the +Common, and the hideous structure opposite West Street glared on them like +a fiery monster, and seemed exactly the reverse of the gate to a forty-acre +Paradise. Sheltering their faces from the wind, which now added its +inconveniences to the saturating atmosphere, they struck the broad avenue, +and pushed across towards the West End. + +The wind sang most doleful strains, and the bending branches of the trees +sighed sadly over them. Lorrimer was filled with an anxious tribulation, as +he remembered the story of the villany that, two nights before, near the +spot where they now walked, and perhaps at the same hour, had been +perpetrated. An impulse, which he could not restrain, caused him to whisper +his fears to his companion. Glover laughed, a little uneasily, he thought, +but made no answer. + +Soon they reached the opposite boundary of the Common, and continued +through Hancock Street, ascending and descending the hill. While passing +the reservoir in that dull gray darkness, Lorrimer felt as if under the +shadow of some giant tomb. Hastening forward, for it was growing late, they +threaded a number of the short avenues of Ward Three, and at length, when +young New York's endurance was nearly exhausted, reached their destination +in Chambers Street. It must have been the fatigue which, as they crossed +the threshold, propelled Mr. Lorrimer against the door, causing him to +stain himself unbecomingly with new paint. + +They mounted the stairs, and entered a comfortable apartment, in which a +fresh fire was diffusing a most welcome glow, and a spacious bed +luxuriously invited occupancy. Lorrimer had but one grief, which he freely +communicated to his host,--his fingers were liberally decorated with dark +daubs, to which he pointed with unsteady anguish. + +"It's a filthy shame!" said he, with more energy of manner than certainty +of utterance. + +A section of the chamber was separated from the rest by a screen. Into this +retreat Glover disappeared, and immediately returned with a bottle, from +which he poured an acid that effaced the spots. "It will wash away +anything," said he, laughing. + +Lorrimer was superabundantly profuse in thanks, and announced that his mind +was now at ease. By some mysterious process, not clearly explicable to +himself, he contrived to lay aside a portion of his dress, and to dispose +himself within the folds of balmy bedclothes that awaited him. In forty +seconds he was dreaming. + +Nearly an hour had elapsed when he half woke from an uneasy slumber, and +strove to collect his drowsy faculties. His sleep had been disturbed by +frightful visions. He had passed through a scene of violence on the Common; +he had been engaged in a life-and-death struggle with his new acquaintance; +he had been seized by unseen hands, and thrown into a vast vault. His brain +throbbed and his heart ached, as he endeavored to disentangle the +bewildering fancies of his sleep from wakeful reality. + +He lay with his face to the wall, and the grotesque decorations of the +paper assumed ghostly forms, and moved menacingly before his eyes, +thrilling him through and through. + +In a few moments the murmur of voices close at hand aroused him more +effectually. He then recollected the incidents of the night, and reproached +himself for his wild excesses, and his reckless and imprudent confidence in +a stranger. He dreaded to think what the consequences might be, and again +became confused with the memories of his distressing dreams. + +Three facts, however, were fastened upon his mind. He could not forget +Glover's singular glance at his roll of bank-notes,--the hesitation to +converse about the garrote,--nor the bottle of acid which would "wash away +anything." Would it wash away stains of blood? + +The sounds of subdued conversation again arrested his attention. He +listened earnestly, but without changing his position. + +"Speak softly," said a voice which he recognized as Glover's,--"speak +softly; you will wake my guest." + +Then the words failed to reach him for a few moments. He strained his ears, +and hardly breathed, for fear of interrupting a syllable. Presently he was +able to distinguish a few sentences. + +"Do you call this a profitable job?" said a strange voice. + +"Oh, very fair,--worth about fifty dollars, I should guess. I wouldn't +undertake such a piece of work at a smaller chance," said Glover. + +"Shall you cut the face?" said the other, after a minute's pause. + +"Of course," was the answer; "it's the only way to do it handsomely." + +"Hum!--what do you use? steel?" + +"Steel, by all means." + +"I shouldn't." + +"I like it better; and I have a nice bit that has done service in this way +before." + +From Lorrimer's brow exuded a deadly sudor. His heart ceased to palpitate. +His muscles became rigid; his eyes fixed. His terror was almost too great +for him to bear. With difficulty he controlled himself, and listened again. + +"Can it be done here?" asked the strange voice;--"will not the features be +recognized?" + +"There is nothing deeply marked, except the eyes," said Glover, "and I can +easily remove them, you know." + +"You can try the acid." + +"The other way is best." + +"I suppose it must be done quickly." + +"So quickly that there will be no chance for any proof." + +Lorrimer gasped feebly, and clutched the bedclothes with a nervous, +convulsive movement. He had no power to reflect upon his situation; but he +felt that he was lost. Alone and unaided, he could not hope to combat the +evil designs of two men, a single one of whom he knew was vastly his +superior in strength. His blood seemed to cease flowing in his veins. He +thought for an instant of springing from the bed, and imploring mercy; but +the nature of their conversation, with its minutiae of cruelty, forbade all +hope in that direction. His brain whirled, and he thought that reason was +about to forsake him. But a movement in the room restored him to a sense of +his peril. + +He saw the shadows changing their places, and knew that the light was +moving. He heard faint footsteps. Hope deserted him, and be closed his +eyes, quite despairing. When be opened them a minute later, he was in +darkness. + +Then hope returned. There might yet be a means of escape. They had left +him,--for how long he could not conjecture; but now, at least, he was +alone. What a flood of joy came over him then! + +Swiftly and softly he threw off the bedclothes, and by the uncertain light +of the fire, which was still glimmering, found his way noiselessly to the +floor. + +His trembling limbs at first refused to sustain him, but the thought of his +impending fate, should he remain, invested him with an unexpected +courage. Passing around the foot of the bed, he approached the door of the +chamber. + +As he moved, his shadow, dimly cast by the flickering embers, fell across +the mouth of the inclosure whence Glover had brought the acid. He shuddered +to think what might be hidden by that screen. He burned with curiosity, +even in that moment of danger. For a moment he even rashly thought of +seeking to penetrate the mystery. + +Treading lightly, and partially supporting himself by the wall, lest his +feet should press too heavily upon some loose board and cause it to rattle +beneath him, he reached the door. It was not wholly closed, and with utmost +gentleness he essayed to pull it open. With all his care he could not +prevent it from creaking sharply. His nerves were again shaken, and a new +tremor assailed him. Tears filled his eyes. His heart was like ice, only +heavier, within him. + +He stood for a minute motionless and half-unconscious. Then recovering +himself by a powerful effort, he advanced once more. Without venturing to +open the door wider, he worked through the narrow aperture, inch by inch, +stopping every few seconds for fear that the rustle of his shirt against +the jamb might be overheard. At length, by almost imperceptible movements, +he succeeded in gaining the head of the staircase. + +Then he believed that his deliverance was near at hand. He had thus far +eluded detection, and it only remained for him to descend, and depart by +the outer door. + +Bending forward at every step to catch the slightest echo of alarm, he felt +his way down through the darkness. The difficulty at this point was +great. As one recovered from a long illness finds his knees yield under him +at the first attempt to descend a staircase, just so it was with +Lorrimer. At one time a faintness came over him, and he was obliged to sit +down and rest. A movement above aroused him, and, starting up, he hurriedly +groped his way to the street-door. + +The darkness was absolute. He could discern nothing, but, after a short +search, he caught hold of the handle and turned it slowly. The door +remained immovable. By another exploration he discovered a large key +suspended from a nail near the centre of the door. This he inserted in the +lock, and turned--with all the caution he could command. It was not enough, +for it snapped loudly. + +A voice from the head of the stairs cried out, "Who is there?" + +Lorrimer was appalled. He shook the door, but it remained fast. Like +lightning he passed his hand up and down the crevice in search of a hidden +bolt. He found nothing, and felt that he was in the hands of the +murderers;--for he could entertain no doubt of their design. In the agony +of desperation he flung out his arms, and a door beside him flew open. He +entered, and rushed to a window, which was easily lifted, and out of which +he threw himself at the moment that a light streamed into the apartment +behind him. + +When Mr. Lorrimer had finished relating to Captain Morrill, with all the +energy of truth, the more important of the above circumstances, that +officer arose, and, calling to his assistance a couple of his force, +started out in great haste in the direction of Chambers Street. Lorrimer, +who had been provided with shoes, hat, and coat, went with them. After a +little search, a row of houses with windows close upon the street was +found. More diligent examination showed that the door of one of these was +freshly painted. A vigorous assault upon the panels brought down the +household. Mr. Glover, and another person whose voice was identified by +Lorrimer, were marched off with few words to the station. Mr. Lorrimer's +clothes were rescued, and an officer was left to look after the premises. + +Mr. Glover, on arriving at the station, expressed great indignation, and +employed uncivil terms in speaking of his late guest. Under the subduing +influences of Captain Merrill's treatment, he soon became tranquil, and +subsequently manifested an excess of hilarity, which the guardians of the +night strove in vain to check. But he answered unreservedly all the +questions which Captain Morrill put to him. His statement ran somewhat +thus:-- + +"I met this young man, for the first time, a few hours ago, at an +oyster-saloon on Washington Street. We drank a good deal of ale, and he +lost his balance. I kept mine. I saw he had a pretty large amount of money, +and doubted his ability to keep as good a watch over it as he ought to. So +I took him home with me. On the way he would talk uneasily about garrote +robberies, but I refused to encourage him. + +"You want to know about that alarming conversation? Well,"--(here Mr. +Glover was so overcome with merriment, that, after a proper time, the +interposition of official authority became necessary,)--"well, I am an +engraver. My business is mainly to cut heads. Sometimes I use steel, +sometimes copper. My brother, who is also an engraver, and I were +discussing a new commission. I told him I should make use of a good bit of +steel, which had already been engraved upon, but not so deeply but that the +lines could be easily removed, excepting the eyes, which would have to be +scraped away. My allusion to proof is easily explained: it is common for +engravers to have a proof-impression taken of their work after it is +finished, by which they are enabled to detect any imperfections, and remedy +them. + +"I am very sorry that my young friend should have considered me so much of +a blood-thirsty ruffian. But the ale of Boston is no doubt strange to him, +and his confusion at finding himself in a large city quite +natural. Besides, his suspicions were in some degree reciprocated. When I +saw him flying out of the window, I was convinced that he must be an +ingenious burglar, and instantly ran back to examine my tools. I am glad to +find that I was wrong. If he will return now with me, he shall be welcome +to his share of the bed." + +Mr. Lorrimer politely, but positively, declined. + +Captain Morrill urbanely apologized to Mr. Glover, and engaged himself to +make it right in the morning; whereupon Mr. Glover withdrew in cachinnatory +convulsions. Mr. Lorrimer was instructed to resume his proper garments, and +was then conveyed safely to his hotel, where he remained in deep +abstraction until Monday, when, after transacting his business, he took the +afternoon return-train for New York. + +The case was not entered upon the records of the Third District Police. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GRANADAN GIRL'S SONG. + +All day the lime blows in the sun, + All day the silver aspens quiver, +All day along the far blue plain + Winds serpent-like the golden river. + From clustering flower and myrtle bower + Sweet sounds arise forever, + From gleaming tower with crescent dower + Our banner floats forever. + +Its purple bloom the grape puts on, + Pulping to this Granadan summer, +And heavy dews shake through the globes + Scarce stirred by some bright-winged new-comer, + On gyon brown hill, where all is still, + Where lightly rides the muleteer, + With jangling bells, whose burden swells + Till shaft and arch rise fine and clear. + +As one by one the shadows creep + Back to their lairs in hilly hollows, +A broader splendor issues forth + And on their track in silence follows; + A fuller air swims everywhere, + A freer murmur shakes the bough, + A thousand fires surprise the spires, + And all the city wakes below. + +What morn shall rise, what cursed morn, + To find this bright pomp all surrendered, +These palaces an empty shell, + This vigor listless ruin rendered,-- + While every sprite of its delight + Mocks fickle echoes through the court, + And in our place a sculptured trace + Saddens some stranger's careless sport? + +Oh, gay with all the stately stir, + And bending to your silken flowing, +One day, my banner-poles, ye creak + Naked beneath the high winds blowing! + One day ye fall across the wall + And moulder in the moat's green bosom, + While in the cleft the wild tree left + Bursts into spikes of cruel blossom! + +Ah, never dawn that day for me! + O Fate, its fierce foreboding banish! +When all our hosts, like pallid ghosts + Blown on by morning, melt and vanish! + Oh, in the fires of their desires + Consume the toil of those invaders! + And let the brand divide the hand + That grasps the hilt of the Crusaders! + +Yet idle words in such a scene! + Yon rosy mists on high careering,-- +The Moorish cavaliers who fleet + With hawk and hound and distant cheering,-- + The dipping sail puffed to the gale, + The prow that spurns the billow's fawning,-- + How can they fade to dimmer shade, + And how this day desert its dawning? + +Forget to soar, thou rosy rack! + Ye riders, bronze your airy motion! +Still skim the seas, so snowy craft,-- + Forever sail to meet the ocean! + There bid the tide refuse to slide, + Glassing, below, thy drooping pinion,-- + Forever cease its wild caprice, + Fallen at the feet of our dominion! + + * * * * * + + + +THE HUMMING-BIRD. + +_May 9th._ + + +To-day, Estelle, your special messenger, the Humming-Bird, comes darting to +our oriel, my Orient. As I sat sewing, his sudden, unexpected whirr made me +look up. How did he know that the very first Japan-pear-bud opened this +morning? Flower and bird came together by some wise prescience. + +He has been sipping honey from your passion-flowers, and now has come to +taste my blossoms. What bright-winged thought of yours sent him so straight +to me, across that wide space of sea and land? Did he dart like a sunbeam +all the way? There were many of them voyaged together; a little line of +wavering light pierced the dark that night. + +A large, brave heart has our bold sailor of the upper deep. Old Pindar +never saw our little pet, this darling of the New World; yet he says,-- + +"Were it the will of Heaven, an osier-bough Were vessel safe enough the +seas to plough." + +Here he is, safe enough, not one tiny feather ruffled,--all the intense +life of the tropics condensed into this one live jewel,--the glance of the +sun on emeralds and rubies. Is it soft downy feathers that take this rich +metallic glow, changing their hue with every rapid turn? + +Other birds fly: he darts quick as the glance of the eye,--sudden as +thought, he is here, he is there. No floating, balancing motion, like the +lazy butterfly, who fans the air with her broad sails. To the point, always +to the point, he turns in straight lines. How stumbling and heavy is the +flight of the "burly, dozing bumblebee," beside this quick intelligence! +Our knight of the ruby throat, with lance in rest, makes wild and rapid +sallies on this "little mundane bird,"--this bumblebee,--this rolling +sailor, never off his sea-legs, always spinning his long homespun +yarns. This rich bed of golden and crimson flowers is a handsome field of +tournament. What invisible circle sits round to adjudge the prize? + +What secret does he bring me under those misty wings,--that busy birring +sound, like Neighbor Clark's spinning-wheel? Is he busy as well, this bit +of pure light and heat? Yes! he, too, has got a little home down in the +swamp over there,--that bit of a knot on the young oak-sapling. Last year +we found a nest (and brought it home) lined with the floss of +willow-catkin, stuck all over with lichens, deep enough to secure the two +pure round pearls from being thrown out, strongly fastened to the forked +branch,--a home so snug, so warm, so soft!--a home "contrived for fairy +needs." + +Who but the fairies, or Mr. Fine-Ear himself, ever heard the tiny tap of +the young bird, when he breaks the imprisoning shell? + +The mother-bird knows well the fine sound. Hours? days? no, weeks, she has +sat to hear at last that least wave of sound. + +What! this tiny bit of restless motion sit there still? Minutes must be +long hours to her quick panting heart. + +I will just whisper it in your ear, that the meek-looking mother-bird only +comes out between daylight and dark,--just like other busy mothers I have +known, who take a little run out after tea. + +Can it be, that Mr. Ruby-Throat, my _preux chevalier_, keeps all the +sunshiny hours for himself, that he may enjoy to the full his own gay +flight? + +Ah! you know nothing, hear nothing of woman's rights up there, in that +well-ordered household. Were it not well, if we, too, could give up our +royal right of choice,--if we could fall back on our strong earth-born +instincts, to be, to know, to do, one thing? + +See how closely our darling curls up his slender black feet and legs, that +we may not see this one bit of mortality about him! No, my little immortal +does not touch the earth; he hangs suspended by that long bill, which just +tethers him to its flowers. Now and then he will let down the little black +tendrils of legs and feet on some bare twig, and there be rests and preens +those already smooth plumules with the long slender bodkin you lent +him. Now, just now, he darts into my room, coquets with my basket of +flowers, "a kiss, a touch, and then away." I heard the whirr of those gauzy +wings; it was not to the flowers alone he told his story. You did well to +trust this most passionate pilgrim with your secret; the room is radiant +with it. Slow-flying doves may well draw the car of Venus; but this arrow +tipped with flame darts before, to tell of its coming. What need of word, +of song, with that iridescent glow? Some day I will hear the whole story; +just now let the Humming-Bird keep it under his misty wings. + +I have heard of a lady who reared these little birds from the nest; they +would suck honey from her lips, and fly in and out of her chamber. Only +think of seeing these callow fledglings! It is as if the winged thought +could be domesticated, could learn to make its nest with us and rear its +young. + +Bountiful Nature has spared to our cold North this one compact bit from the +Tropics. + + * * * * * + +I believe we allow that birds are very highly organized creatures,--next to +man, they say. We, with our weary feet plodding always on the earth, our +heavy arms pinioned close to our sides!--look at this live creature, with +thinnest wing cutting the fine air! We, slow in word, slow in +thought!--look at this quivering flame, kindled by some more passionate +glance of Nature! Next to man? Yes, we might say next above. Had it not +been for that fire we stole one day, that Promethean spark, hidden in the +ashes, kept a-light ever since, it had gone hard with us; Nature might have +kept her pet, her darling, high, high above us,--almost out of roach of our +dull senses. + +What is our boasted speech, with its harsh, rude sounds, to their gushing +melody? We learn music, certainly, with much pains and care. The bird +cannot tell if it be A sharp or B flat, but he sings. + +Our old friend, the friend of our childhood, Mr. White of Selborne, (who +had attended much to the life and conversation of birds,) says, "Their +language is very elliptical; little is said, and much is meant and +understood." Something like a lady's letter, is it not? + +How wise we might grow, if we could only "the bird-language rightly spell"! +In the olden times, we are told, the Caliphs and Viziers always listened to +what the birds said about it, before they undertook any new enterprise. I +have often thought I heard wise old folk discoursing, when a company of +hens were busy on the side-hill, scratching and clucking +together. Perchance some day we shall pick up a leaf of that herb which +shall open our ears to these now inarticulate sounds. + +Why may we not (just for this summer) believe in Transmigrations, and find +some elder civilization embodied in this community of birds,--all those +lost arts taken wings, not to fly away, but to come flitting and building +in our trees, picking crumbs from our door-steps? + +Do they say birds are limited? Who are we that set bounds to this direct +knowledge, this instinct? Mathematical, constructive, they certainly +are. What bold architect has builded so snug, so airy a house,--well +concealed, and yet with a good outlook? We make our dwellings conspicuous; +they hide their pretty art. + +We wiseacres, who stay at home, instead of following the seasons round the +globe, should learn the art of making happy homes; yet what housekeeper +will not hang her head in shame and despair, to see this nice adaptation of +use to wants, shown each year in multitudes of nests? Now, only look at +it! always just room enough,--none to spare. First, the four or five eggs +lie comfortably in the small round at the bottom of the nest, with room +enough for the mother robin to give them the whole warmth of her broad red +breast,--her sloping back and wings making a rain-proof roof over her +jewels. Then the callow younglings rise a little higher into the wider +circle. Next the fledglings brim the cup; at last it runs over; four large +clumsy robins flutter to the ground, with much noise, much anxious calling +from papa and mamma,--much good advice, no doubt. They are fairly turned +out to shift for themselves; with the same wise, unfathomable eyes which +have mirrored the round world for so many years, which know all things, say +nothing, older than time, lively and quick as to-day; with the same +touching melody in their long monotonous call; soon with the same power of +wing; next year to build a nest with the same wise economy, each young +robin carrying in his own swelling, bulging breast the model of the hollow +circle, the cradle of other young robins. So you see it is a nest within a +nest,--a whole nest of nests; like Vishnu Sarma's fables, or Scheherazade's +stories, you can never find where one leaves off and another begins, they +shut so one into the other. No wonder the children and philosophers are +they who ask, whether the egg comes from the bird, or the bird from the +egg. Yes, it is a _Heimskringla_, a world-circle, a home-circle, this nest. + +You remember that little, old, withered man who used to bring us eggs; the +boys, you know, called him Egg Pop. When the thrifty housewife complained +of the small size of his ware, he always said,-- + +"Yes, Marm, they be small; but they be monstrous full." + +Yes, the packing of the nest is close; but closer is the packing of the +egg. "As full as an egg of meat" is a wise proverb. + +Let us look at these first-fruits which the bountiful Spring hangs on our +trees. + +"To break the eggshell after the meat is out we are taught in our +childhood, and practise it all our lives; which, nevertheless, is but a +superstitious relict, according to the judgment of Pliny, and the intent +hereof was to prevent witch-craft [to keep the fairies out]; for lest +witches should draw or prick their names therein, and veneficiously +mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as Dalecampius hath +observed." This is what Sir Thomas Browne tells us about eggshells. And +Dr. Wren adds, "Least they [the witches] perchance might use them for +boates to sayle in by night." But I, who have no fear of witches, would not +break them,--rather use them, try what an untold variety of forms we may +make out of this delicate oval. + +By a little skilful turning and reversing, putting on a handle, a lip here, +a foot there, always following the sacred oval, we shall get a countless +array of pitchers and vases, of perfect finished form, handsome enough to +be the oval for a king's name. Should they attempt to copy our rare vases +in finest Parian, alabaster, or jasper, their art would fail to hit the +delicate tints and smoothness of this fine shell; and then those dots and +dashes, careless as put on by a master's hand! + +Are not these rare lines? They look to me as wise as hieroglyphics. Who +knows what rhyme and reason are written there,--what subtile wisdom rounded +into this small curve,--repeated on the breasts and backs of the +birds,--their own notes, it may be, photographed on their swelling breasts +like the musical notes on the harp-shell,--written in bright, almost +audible colors on the petals of flowers,--harmonies, melodies, for ear and +eye? Has this language, older than Erse, older than Sanscrit, ever got +translated? I am afraid, dear, the key has been turned in the lock, and +thrown into the well. + +The ornithologists tell us that some birds build nicer nests, sing sweeter +songs, than their companions of the same species. Can experience add wisdom +to instinct? or is it the right of the elder-born,--the birthright of the +young robin who first breaks the shell? Who has rightly looked into these +things? + +I half remember the story of a beautiful princess who had all imaginable +wealth in her stately palace, itself builded up of rare and costly +jewels. She had everything that heart could desire,--everything but a roc's +egg. Her mind was contracted with sorrow, till she could procure this one +ornament more to her splendors. I think it turned out that the palace +itself was built within the roc's egg. These birds are immense, and take up +three elephants at a time in their powerful talons, (almost as many as +Gordon Cumming himself, on a good day's hunt,) and their eggs are like +domes. + +Now, do not you be like the foolish princess, and desire a roc's egg; it +will prove a stone, the egg of a rock, indeed. Be content rather with this +ostrich-egg I send you; with your own slender fingers lift the +lid;--pretty, is it not, the tea-service I send you? The tidy warblers +threw out the emptied shells; one by one I picked them up, and have made +cups and saucers, bowls and pitchers for you: a roc's egg never held +anything one-half so fine. + +You will say I am a fairy, as brother Evelyn says, when I relate to him the +fine sights and sounds I have seen and heard in the woods. No, but the +little silent people are very good to me. + +Let me, then, go on my bird's-egging and tell you one more fact about our +fairy, our Humming-Bird. Audubon says "that an all-wise Providence has made +this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost universally +through Nature,--namely, that the smallest species of a tribe are the most +prolific. The eagle lays one, sometimes two eggs; the small European wren +fifteen; the humming-bird two: and yet this latter is abundantly more +numerous in America than the wren in Europe." All on account of his +wonderful courage, admirable instinct, or whatever it is that guards and +guides him so unerringly. + +You see we may well love him whom +Nature herself loves so dearly. + +"Ce que Dieu garde est bien gardé." + +Ah, Estelle! your bonnie birdie, with +his wild whirr, darting back and forth +like a weaver's shuttle weaving fine +wefts, has got into my head; not "bee-bonneted," +but bird-bonneted, I go. Yes, +this day shall be given to the king, as +our country-folk say, when they go a-pleasuring. +I am off with the little wool-gatherers, +to see what thorn and brier +and fern-stalk and willow-catkin will give +me. Good-day! good-day! + +Your own + +SUSAN, SUSY, SUE. + +P. S. "May our friendship never +moult a feather!" + + * * * * * + + + +CHESS. + + +Schatrenschar, the Persian, who could count the stars one by one, who is +known to have been borne, (by the Simorg, the Eternal Fowl,) at midnight, +first to the evening star, and then to the moon, and then set down safely +in his home,--and Al Kahlminar, the Arabian, who was a mystic seer, and had +conversed face to face with the Demons of the Seven Planets, approaching +also, on one occasion, so nigh unto Uriel that his beard was singed by the +sun, wherein that angel resideth,--these, ten million years ago, lived in +their palaces on adjoining estates and lands. But about the boundary-line +atwixt them they could not agree: Schatrenschar maintaining that he had +lived there longest, and had a right to choose where the wall should be +built between himself and a later comer; Al Kahlminar declaring that the +world was not made for Schatrenschar,--furthermore, that the Astronomer had +paid nothing for the land, and had already more than he could attend to, +since his chief devotion was manifestly to the estates he was reputed to +own in Venus and the moon. They came to no decision; and it was beneath the +dignity of these men, who prided themselves on being confidants elect of +invisible and superior worlds, publicly to wrangle about the gross soil of +this. Nevertheless, Schatrenschar, at last, losing patience, cried,-- + +"Al Kahlminar, 'tis but by the grace of Yezdan, who hath commissioned me to +watch the sacred stars, which reveal not themselves to the violent, that I +am saved this day from flogging thee!" + +To this the Seer: "O Schatrenschar, thou must have left in some of thy +other worlds, mayhap in Venus, the limbs which can cope with these." + +"Nay," replied the Astronomer, discerning some truth in that remark, "but I +am not alone, Al Kahlminar; I have within my palace two valiant knights, +skilled with the steed and the spear, who are ready to go forth in my stead +at a word." + +"And I," answered the Mystic, warming, "have two godly priests, men skilled +by the orthodox beheading of heretics into the aim and valor of Arjoon +himself. Your knights cannot stand before these messengers of Heaven; they +will tremble like aspen-leaves, lest Allah be wroth, if they receive harm." + +"If thou shouldst bring forth thy priests, Al Kahlminar, then would I +confront them and thee with the two elephants which my brother sent me +lately from Geestan, on each of which I can place a rook with a slave +cunning with the javelin, before which thy priests will flee; for the +animals see no difference between priests and other mortals;--the elephant +is sagacious, neighbor!" + +"And I," said the other, "haye riches, which thou hast not. Whatever thou +hast wherewith to extend thy line into my lot, I can oppose with an equal +force,--nay, with a stronger." + +Schatrenschar hereupon paused in deep meditation. Presently a subtile +thought struck him. He took a parchment-leaf and drew thereon a diagram; +and after inscribing several hieroglyphic characters, he cried out,-- + +"Hearken, Al Kahlminar; hast thou not heard it among the sayings of Sasan, +that the battle is not always to him who hath the superior physical force? +Suppose that in our encounter thy forces stood here, as marked on these +squares: by what stratagem couldst thou reach me, who stand here with even +fewer and weaker men? If thou canst tell as much without my assistance, I +will yield the boundary-line; for it will show thee to have a calculation +equal to my own, as well as riches." + +Al Kahlminar pondered long, suffered manifold headaches, closed not an +eyelid for a week, but could not give answer. The Mystic was used to seeing +only those things to see which the eyes must be closed. At length +Schatrenschar opened the problem to him, which so delighted his heart that +he clave unto him, and besought him that their estates should be one, and +that he would use his (Al Kahlminar's) riches as his own. A bower was built +midway between their houses, wherein they sat for hours over other +diagrams, contrived first by the Astronomer afterward by the Mystic: and +out of it arose a curious and knightly play which beareth to this day the +name Schatrenschar. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps this last line of the old Sanscrit story is the only veracious +thing in it. Perhaps it is all true. Who can answer? Was there ever a +great thing whose origin was not in some doubt? If so with the Iliad, with +Platonic Dialogues, with Shakspearian Plays, how naturally so with Chess! +The historic sinew of the above would seem to be, that Schatrenschar, the +Oriental word for Chess, is the name of a very ancient and learned +astronomer of Persia; how much mythologic fat has enveloped said sinew the +reader must decide. Philological inquisition of the origin of the low Latin +_Scacchi_ (whence the French _Echecs_, Ger. _Schach_, and our _Chess,_) has +led to a variety of conclusions. Leunclavius takes it from _Uscoches_, +famous Turkish banditti. Sirmond finds the word's parent in German +_Schächer_ (robber) and grandparent in _Calculus_! Tolosanus derives +_check-mate_ from Heb. _schach_ (to prevail) and _mat_ (dead). Fabricius +favors the idea we have given above, and says, "A celebrated Persian +astronomer, one Schatrenschar, invented the game of Chess, and gave it his +own name, which it still bears in that country." Nicod derives it from +_Xeque_, a Moorish word for Prince or Lord. Bochart maintains that +_Schach-mat_ is originally Persian, and means "the king is dead." We +incline to accept this last opinion; and believe, that, though the game +must have originated with some person, perhaps Schatrenschar, yet it +reached its present form and perfection only through many touchings and +retouchings of men and generations. Pope's translation of the "Odyssey" has +led many persons to think that chess was known to the ancient Greeks, +because, in describing the sports of Penelope's suitors, the translator +says,-- + + "With rival art and ardor in their mien, + At Chess they vie to captivate the Queen." + +But there can be little doubt that this is an anachronism. + +In short, we may safely conclude that the game is of purely Oriental +origin. The Hindoos claim to have originated it,--or rather, say that Siva, +the Third Person of their Trinity, (Siva, the Destroyer,--alas! of time?) +gave it to them; Professor Forbes has shown that it has been known among +them five thousand years; but words tell no myths, and the Bengalee name +for Chess, _Shathorunch_, casts its ballot for Persia and +Shatrenschar;--though India may almost claim it, on account of the greater +perfection to which it has brought the game, and the lead it has always +taken in chess-culture. India rejoices in a flourishing chess-school. The +Indian Problem is known as the perfection of Enigmatic Chess. And if Paul +Morphy had gone to Calcutta, instead of London and Paris, he would have +found there one Mohesh Ghutuck, who, without discovering that he was a +P. and move behind his best play, and without becoming too sick to proceed +with the match, would have given him a much finer game than any antagonist +he has yet encountered. This Mohesh, who was presented by his admiring king +with a richly-carved chess-king of solid gold nine inches high, not only +plays a fabulous number of games at once whilst he lies on the ground with +closed eyes, but games that none of the many fine native and English +players of India can engage in but with dismay. Fine, indeed, it would have +been, if the world could have seen in the youths of Calcutta and New +Orleans the extreme West matched with the extreme East! + +There is no call for any one to vindicate this game. Chess is a great, +worldwide fact. Wherever a highway is found, there, we may be sure, a +reason existed for a highway. And when we find that the explorer on his +northward voyage, pausing a day in Iceland, may pass his time in keen +encounters with the natives,--that the trader in Kamtschatka and China, +unable to speak a word with the people surrounding him, yet holds a long +evening's converse over the board which is polyglot,--that the missionary +returns from his pulpit, and the Hindoo from his widow-burning, to engage +in a controversy without the _theologicum odium_ attached,--the game +becomes authentic from its universality. It is akin to music, to love, to +joy, in that it sets aside alike social caste and sectarian differences: +kings and peasants, warriors and priests, lords and ladies, mingle over the +board as they are represented upon it. "The earliest chess-men on the banks +of the Sacred River were worshippers of Buddha; a player whose name and +fame have grown into an Arabic proverb was a Moslem; a Hebrew Rabbi of +renown, in and out of the Synagogues, wrote one of the finest chess poems +extant; a Catholic priest of Spain has bestowed his name upon two openings; +one of the foremost problem--composers of the age is a Protestant clergyman +of England; and the Greek Church numbers several cultivators of chess +unrivaled in our day." It has received eulogies from Burton,--from +Castiglione,--from Chatham, who, in reply to a compliment on a grand stroke +of invention and successful oratory, said, "My success arose only from +having been checkmated by discovery, the day before, at chess,"--from +Comenius, the grammarian,--from Condé, Cowley, Denham, Justus van Effen, +Sir Thomas Elyot, Guillim, Helvetia, Huarte, Sir William Jones, Leibnitz, +Lydgate, Olaus Magnus, Pasquier, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau, Voltaire, +Samuel Warren, Warton, Franklin, Buckle, and many others of ability in +every department of letters, philosophy, and art. We know of but one man of +genius or learning--who has repudiated it,--Montaigne. "Or if he +[Alexander] played at chess," says Montaigne, "what string of his soul was +not touched by this idle and childish game? I hate and avoid it because it +is not play enough,--that it is too grave and serious a diversion; and I am +ashamed to lay out as much thought and study upon that as would serve to +much better uses." Looked at simply as a diversion, chess might naturally +impress a man of intellectual earnestness thus. It is not a diversion; a +recreation it may be called, but only as any variation from "the shop" is +recreative. But chess has, by the experiences of many, sufficiently proved +itself to have serious uses to men of thought, and in the way of an +intellectual gymnasium. It is to the limbs and sinews of the +mind--prudence, foresight, memory, combination, analysis--just what a +gymnasium is to the body. In it every muscle, every joint of the +understanding is put under drill; and we know, that, where the mind does +not have exercise for its body, but relics simply on idle cessation for its +reinforcement, it will get too much lymph. Work is worship; but work +without rest is idolatry. And rest is not, as some seem to think, a swoon, +a slumber; it is an active receptivity, a masterly inactivity, which alone +can deserve the fine name of Rest. Such, we believe, our favorite game +secures better than all others. Besides this direct use, one who loves it +finds many other incidental uses starting up about it,--such as made +Archbishop Magnus, the learned historian of Sweden, say, "Anger, love, +peevishness, covetousness, dulness, idleness, and many other passions and +motions of the minds of men may be discovered by it."--But we promised not +to vindicate chess, and shall leave this portion of our topic with the fine +verse of the Oriental bard, Ibn ul Mûtazz:-- + +"O thou whose cynic sneers express + The censure of our favorite chess, +Know that its skill is Science' self, + Its play distraction from distress. +It soothes the anxious lover's care; + It weans the drunkard from excess; +It counsels warriors in their art, + When dangers threat and perils press; +And yields us, when we need them most, + Companions in our loneliness." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Translated in that excellent periodical, which no lover of +chess should be without, _The Chess Monthly_, edited by Fiske and Morphy, +New York. (Vol. i. p. 92.)] + +Now that the Persian poet has touched his lyre in our pages, we will not at +once pass to any cold geographical or analytical realm of our subject, but +pause awhile to cull some flowers of song which have sprung up on good +English soil, which the feet of Caïssa have ever loved to press. No other +games, and few other subjects, have gathered about them so rich a +literature, or been intertwined with so much philological and historical +lore. Not the least of this is to be found in the English classics, from +which we propose to make one or two selections. We begin where English +poetry begins, with Dan Chaucer; and from many beautiful conceits turning +upon chess, we select one which must receive universal admiration. It is +from the "Booke of the Duchesse." + +"My boldnesse is turned to shame, +For false Fortune hath played a game +At the Chesse with me. + +"At the Chesse with me she gan to play, +With her false draughts full divers +Sho stale on me, and toke my fers:[1] +And when I sawe my fers away, +Alas! I couth no longer play. + +"Therewith Fortune said,' Checke here, +And mate in the mid point of the checkere +With a paune errant.' Alas! +Full craftier to play she was +Than Athalus, that made the game +First of the Chesse, so was his name." + +[Footnote 1: Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally +the Counsellor,)--the strength of the +board.] + +In the early part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Middleton wrote a +comedy styled "A Game at Chess," which was acted at the Globe +(Shakspeare's) nine times successively. It seems to have been a severe +tirade on the religious aspects of the times. The stage directions are +significant: for example:--Act I., Scene 1. _Enter severally, in order of +the game, the White and Black houses_. Act II., Scene 1. _Enter severally +White Queen's Pawnes and Black Queen's Pawnes_. The Prologue is as +follows:-- + +"What of the game called Chesse-play can be made +To make a stage-play shall this day be played. +First you shall see the men in order set, +States, and their Pawnes, when both the sides are met; +The houses well distinguished: in the game +Some men entrapt, and taken to their shame, +Bewarded by their play: and in the close +You shall see checque-mate given to Virtue's foes. +But the fair'st jewel that our hopes can decke +Is so to play our game t'avoid your checke." + +The play excited indignation in the partisans of the Romish Church, and was +not only suppressed by James I., but at the demand of the Queen its author +was imprisoned, and was relieved only by a witty verse sent to the King. + +The last which we have room to quote is anonymous, and of date near +1632. It may have been written by the celebrated divine, Thomas Jackson, of +Corpus-Christi College, whose discourse comparing the visible world to a +"Devil's Chess-board" evidently suggested the familiar etching in which +Satan contends with a youth for his soul. The lines are entitled: + +THE PAWNE. + +"A lowly one I saw, + With aim fist high: + Ne to the righte, + Ne to the lefte +Veering, he marchèd by his Lawe, + The crested Knyghte passed by, + And haughty surplice-vest, + As onward toward his heste + With patient step he prest, + Soothfaste his eye: +Now, lo! the last doore yieldeth, +His hand a sceptre wieldeth, +A crowne his forehead shieldeth! + +"So 'mergeth the true-hearted, + With aim fixt high, +From place obscure and lowly: + Veereth he nought; + His work he wroughte. +How many loyall paths be trod, +Soe many royall Crownes hath God!" + +It is very clear that the pawns in chess represent the common soldiers in +battle. The Germans call them "peasants" (_Bauern_); the Hindoos call them +_Baul_, or "powers" (in the sense of _force_); and that each of these, if +he can pursue his file to its end, should win a crown has always given to +this game a popular stamp. These pawns are doubtless, next to knights, the +most interesting pieces on the board: Philidor called them "the soul of +chess." + +At an early period Asiatic chess was divided into two branches,--known +amongst players as Chinese and Indian. They are different games in many +respects, and yet enough alike to show that they were at some period the +same. The Chinese game maintains its place in Eastern Asia, Japan, etc.; in +the islands of the Archipelago, and, with very slight modifications, +throughout the civilized world, the Indian game is played. Indeed, there is +no difference between Indian and European chess, except that in the former +the Bishop is called Elephant,--the Rooks, Boats,--the Queen, Minister: the +movements of the pieces are the same. + +Of Chinese chess some description will be more novel. Their chess-board, +like ours, has sixty-four squares, which are not distinguished into +alternate black and white squares. The pieces are not placed on the +squares, but on the corners of the squares. The board is divided into two +equal parts by an uncheckered space, which is called the River. There are +nine points on each line, and forty-five on each half of the board. They +have the same number of pieces with ourselves. Each player has a king, two +guards, two elephants, two knights, two chariots, two cannon, and five +pawns. Each player places nine pieces on the first line of the board,--the +king in the centre, a guard on each side of him, two elephants next, two +knights next, and then the two chariots upon the extremities of the board; +the two cannons go in front of the two knights and the pawns on the fourth +line. + +The king moves only one square at a time, but not diagonally, and only in +an _enceinte_, or court, of four squares,--to wit, his own, the queen's, +queen's paw and king's pawn's. Castling is unknown. The two guards remain +in the same limits, but can move only diagonally; thus we have in our king +both the Chinese king and his guard. The elephants move diagonally, two +squares at a time, and cannot pass the river. Their knight moves like ours, +but must not pass over pieces; he can pass the river, which counts as one +square. The chariots and cannon move like our castles, and can cross the +river. The pawns always move one step, and may move sidewise as well as +forward,--taking in the same line in which they move; they cross the +river. The cannon alone can pass over any piece; indeed, a cannon can take +only when there is a piece between it and the piece it takes,--which +intervening piece may belong to either player. The king must not be +opposite the other king without a piece between. All this certainly sounds +very complex and awkward to the English or American player; and our game +has the preferable tendency of increasing the power of the pieces, (as +distinct from pawns,) rather than, with theirs, limiting their powers and +multiplying their number. However, it is probable, whatever may be the +respective merits of the two games, that neither of them will ever be +altered; the Chinese, who can roast his pig only by burning the sty, +because the first historic roast-pig was so roasted, will be likely to +continue his chess as nearly as possible in the same form as the celestial +Tia-hoang and the terrestrial Yin-hoang played it a million years ago. In +Europe and America we have all complacently concluded, that, when David +said he had seen an end of all perfection, it only indicated that he was +unacquainted with chess as played in accordance with Staunton's Handbook. + +But it is only the Indian game which has had a development equal to the +development of the civilized arts. This has been chiefly through what are +called by the Italian-French name of _gambits_. There is much prejudice, +amongst a certain class of chess-players, against what is called +"book-chess," but it rarely exists with players of the first rank. These +gambits are as necessary to the first-rate player as are classifications to +the naturalist. They are the venerable results of experience; and he who +tries to excel without an acquaintance with them will find that it is much +as if he should ignore the results of the past and put his hand into the +fire to prove that fire would burn. If he should try every method of +answering a special attack, he would be sure to find in the end that the +method laid down in the gambit was the true one. An acquaintance, +therefore, with these approved openings puts a player at an advanced +starting-point in a game, inexhaustible enough in any case, and where he +need not take time in doing what others have already done. Although we +design in this article to refrain, as much as possible, from technical +chess, it may be well enough to give a list of the usual openings, and +their key-moves. + +PHILIDOR'S DEFENCE. +(_Philidor_, 1749.) + +White. Black. +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. P. to Q. 3d. + + +GIUOCO PIANO. +(_Italian_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q. 3d or Q.B. 3d. + + +RUY LOPEZ'S KNIGHT'S GAME. +(_Lopez_, 1584.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.Kt. 5th. + + +PETROFF'S DEFENCE. +(1837.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. + + +Q. PAWN OR SCOTCH GAME. +(_So named from the great match between London +and Edinburgh in_ 1826, _but first analyzed +as a gambit by Ghulam Xassitrt, Madras,_ +1829.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. P. to Q. 4th. + + +SICILIAN GAME. +(_Ancient Italian MS_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to Q.B. 4th. + + +EVANS'S GAMBIT. +(_Captain Evans_, 1833.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q.Kt. 4th. + + +KING'S BISHOP'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. B. to Q.B. 4th. 2. B. to Q.B. 4th. + + +KING'S KNIGHT'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. B. to K.Kt. 2d. + + +ALLGAIER GAMBIT. +_(Johann Allgaier_, 1795.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th, +4. P. to K.B. 4th. + + +MUZIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to K.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Castles. 5. P. takes Kt. + + +SALVIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved from the Portuguese by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. K.Kt. to B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. K.B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Kt. to K. 5th. 5. Q.to K.R.'s 5th. (ch.) +6. K. to B. Sq. 6. K.Kt. to B. 3d. + + +FRENCH GAME. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 3d. + +These gambits may be classed under what are, in common phrase, termed +"open" or "close" games; an open game being where the pieces are brought +out into more immediate engagement,--a close game where the pawns +interlock, and the pieces can less easily issue to the attack. An instance +of the former may be found in the Allgaier,--of the latter in Philidor's +Defence. These two kinds of games are found in chess-play because they are +found in human temperament; as there are brilliant and daring Napoleons, +and cautious, pertinacious Washingtons in war, so are there in chess +Philidor and La Bourdonnais, Staunton and Morphy. In examining +Mr. Staunton's play, for example, one is struck with the French tact of +M. St. Amant's remark, made many years ago: "M. Staunton has the solidity +of iron, but neither the purity of gold nor the brilliancy of the diamond." +However much Mr. Staunton's ignoble evasion of the match with Morphy--after +bringing him, by his letter, all the way from New Orleans to London, a +voyage which would scarcely have been taken otherwise--may have stained his +reputation as a courageous and honorable chess-player, we cannot be blind +to the fact, that he is the strongest master of the game in Europe. With a +fine mathematical head, (more at home, however, in the Calculus than in +Algebra,)--with an immense power of reserve and masterly repose,--able to +hold an almost incredible number of threads without getting them +entangled,--he has all the qualities which bear that glorious flower, +success. But he is never brilliant; he has outwearied many a deeper man by +his indefatigable evenness and persistance; he is Giant Despair to the +brilliant young men. Mr. Morphy is just the _otherest_ from Staunton. Like +him only in sustained and quiet power, he brings to the board that demon of +his, Memory,--such a memory, too, as no other chess-player has ever +possessed: add to this wonderful analytic power and you have the secret of +this Chess-King. Patient practice, ambition, and leisure have done the +rest. He has thus the _lustre du diamant_, which St. Amant missed in +Mr. Staunton; and we know that the brilliant diamond is hard enough also to +make its mark upon the "solid iron." + +Amongst other great living players who incline to the "close game," we may +mention Mr. Harrwitz, whose match with Morphy furnished not one brilliant +game; also Messrs. Slous, Horwitz, Bledow, Szen, and others. But the +tendency has been, ever since the celebrated and magnificent matches of the +two greatest chess geniuses which England and France have ever known, +McDonnel and De la Bourdonnais, to cultivate the bolder and more exciting +open gambits. And under the lead of Paul Morphy this tendency is likely to +be inaugurated as the rule of modern chess. Professor Anderssen, Mayet, +Lange, and Von der Lasa, in Germany,--Dubois and Centurini, at +Rome,--St. Amant, Laroche, and Lécrivain, of Paris,--Löwenthal, Perigal, +Kipping, Owen, Mengredien, etc., of London,--are all players of the heroic +sort, and the games recently played by some of them with Morphy are perhaps +the finest on record. And certainly, whatever may be said of their tendency +to promote careless and reckless play, the open and daring games are at +once more interesting, more brief, and more conducive to the mental drill +which has been claimed as a sufficient compensation for the outlay of +thought and time demanded by chess. + +We have already given some specimens of the Poetry of Chess. The Chess +Philosophy itself has penetrated every direction of literature. From the +time that Miranda is "discovered playing chess with Ferdinand" in +Prospero's cell, (an early instance of "discovered mate,") the numberless +Mirandas of Romance have played for and been played for mates. Chess has +even its Mythology,--Caïssa being now, we believe, generally received at +the Olympian Feasts. True, some one has been wicked enough to observe that +all chess-stories are divisible into two classes,--in one a man plays for +his own soul with the Devil, in the other the hero plays and wins a +wife,--and to beg for a chess-story _minus_ wives and devils; but such +grumblers are worthless baggage, and ought to be checked. The Chess Library +has now become an important collection. Time was, when, if one man had +Staunton's "Handbook," Sarratt, Philidor, Walker's "Thousand Games," and +Lewis on "The Game of Chess," he was regarded as uniting the character of a +chess-scholar with that of the antiquary. But now we hear of Bledow of +Berlin with eight hundred volumes on chess; and Professor George Allen, of +the University of Pennsylvania, with more than a thousand! Such a +literature has Chess collected about it since Paolo Boi, "the great +Syracusan," as he was called, wrote what perhaps was the first work on +chess, in the middle of the sixteenth century. + +But such numbers of works on chess are very rare, and when the reader hears +of an enormous chess library, he may be safe in recalling the story of +Walker, whose friend turned chess author; seven years after, he boasted to +Walker of the extent of his chess library, which, he affirmed consisted of +one thousand volumes _minus_ eighteen! It turned out that eighteen copies +of his work had been sold, the rest of the edition remaining on his hands. + +Though these old works are like galleries of old and valuable pictures to +the chess enthusiast, they contain very little that is valuable to the +general reader. Their terms and signs are to the uninitiated suggestive of +a doctor's prescription. But the anecdotes of the game are, many of them, +remarkable; and we believe they are known to have less of the mythical +about them than those told in other departments. One who knows the game +will feel that it is sufficiently absorbing to be woven in with the +textures of government, of history, and of biography. It is of the nature +of chess gradually to gather up all the senses and faculties of the player, +so that for the time being he is an automaton chess-player, to whom life +and death are abstractions. + +How seriously, even religiously, the game has always been regarded by both +Church and State may be judged by the account given by old Carrera of one +whom we have already named as probably the earliest chess author, as he +certainly is one of the greatest players known to fame. "In the time of our +fathers," says this ancient enthusiast, "we had many famous players, of +whom _Paolo Boi_, Sicilian, of the city of Syracuse, and commonly called +the Syracusan, was considered the best. He was born in Syracuse of a rich +and good family. When a boy, he made considerable progress in literature, +for he had a very quick apprehension. He had a wonderful talent for the +game of Chess; and having in a short time beaten all the players of the +city, he resolved to go to Spain, where he heard there were famous players, +honored and rewarded not only by noblemen, but also by Philip II., who took +no small delight in the game. He first beat with ease all the players of +Sicily, and was very superior in playing without seeing the board; for, +playing at once three games blindfold, he conversed with others on +different subjects. Before going into Spain, he travelled over all Italy, +playing with the best players, amongst others with the Pultino, who was of +equal force; they are therefore called by Salvio the light and glory of +chess. He was the favorite of many Italian Princes, and particularly of the +Duke of Urbino, and of several Cardinals, and even of Pope Pius V. himself, +who would have given him a considerable benefice, if he would have become a +clergyman; but this he declined, that he might follow his own +inclinations. He afterward went to Venice, where a circumstance happened +which had never occurred before: he played with a person and lost. Having +afterward by himself examined the games with great care, and finding that +he ought to have won, he was astonished that his adversary should have +gained contrary to all reason, and suspected that he had used some secret +art whereby he was prevented from seeing clearly; and as he was very +devout, and was possessed of a rosary rich with many relics of saints, he +resolved to play again with his antagonist, armed not only with the rosary, +but strengthened by having previously received the sacrament: by these +means he conquered his adversary, who, after his defeat, said to him these +words,--'Thine is more potent than mine.'" + +Some of the earliest writers on chess have given their idea of the +all-absorbing nature of the game in the pleasant legend, that it was +invented by the two Grecian brothers Ledo and Tyrrheno to alleviate the +pangs of hunger with which they were pressed, and that, whilst playing it, +they lived weeks without considering that they had eaten nothing. + +But we need not any mythical proof of its competency in this +direction. Hyde, in his History of the Saracens, relates with authenticity, +that Al Amin, the Caliph of Bagdad, was engaged at chess with his freedman +Kuthar, at the time when Al Mamun's forces were carrying on the siege of +the city with a vigor which promised him success. When one rushed in to +inform the Caliph of his danger, he cried,--"Let me alone, for I see +checkmate against Kuthar!" Charles I. was at chess when he was informed of +the decision of the Scots to sell him to the English, but only paused from +his game long enough to receive the intelligence. King John was at chess +when the deputies from Rouen came to inform him that Philip Augustus had +besieged their city; but he would not hear them until he had finished the +game. An old English MS. gives in the following sentence no very handsome +picture of the chess-play of King John of England:--"John, son of King +Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes, and John brake Fulco's head +with the Chest-borde; and then Fulco gave him such a blow that he almost +killed him." The laws of chess do not now permit the king such free range +of the board. Dr. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., relates that +John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, whilst he was playing with Ernest, Duke +of Brunswick, was told that the Emperor had sentenced him to be beheaded +before the gate of Wittenberg; he with great composure proceeded with the +game, and, having beaten, expressed the usual satisfaction of a victor. He +was not executed, however, but set at liberty, after five years' +confinement, on petition of Mauritius. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "I wish to +live no longer than I can play at chess." Rousseau speaks of himself as +_forcené des échecs_, "mad after chess." Voltaire called it "the one, of +all games, which does most honor to the human mind." + +"When an Eastern guest was asked if he knew anything in the universe more +beautiful than the gardens of his host, which lay, an ocean of green, +broad, brilliant, enchanting, upon the flowery margin of the Euphrates, he +replied,--'Yes, the chess-playing of El-Zuli.'" Surely, the compliment, +though Oriental, is not without its strict truth. When Nature rises up to +her culmination, the human brain, and there reveals her potencies of +insight, foresight, analysis, memory, we are touched with a mystic beauty; +the profile on the mountain-top is sublimer than the mountain. But we must +heed well Mr. Morphy's advice, and not suffer this fascinating game to be +more than a porter at the gate of the fairer garden. Only when it secures, +not when it usurps the day, can it be regarded as a friend. There is a +myriad-move problem, of which Society is the Sphinx, given us to solve. + +He who masters chess without being mastered by it will find that it +discovers essential principles. In the world he will see a larger +chess-field, and one also shaped by the severest mathematics: the world is +so because the brain of man is so,--motive and move, motive and move: they +sum up life, all life,--from the aspen-leaf turning its back to the wind, +to the ecstasy of a saint. See the array of pawns (_forces_, as the Hindoo +calls them): the bodily presence and abilities, power of persistence, +endurance, nerve, the eye, the larynx, the tongue, the senses. Do they not +exist in life as on the board, to cut the way for royal or nobler pieces? +Does not the Imperial Mind win its experiences, its insight, through the +wear and tear of its physical twin? Is not the perfect soul "perfect +through sufferings" for evermore? For every coin reason gets from Nature, +the heart must leave a red drop impawned, the face must bear its scar. See, +then, the powers of the human arena: here Castle, Knight, Bishop are +Passion, Love, Hope; and above all, the sacred Queen of each man, his +specialty, his strength, by which he must win the day, if he win at +all. Here is the Idea with reference to which each man is planned; it +preexisted in the universe, and was born when he was born; it is King on +the board,--that lost, life's game is lost. By his side stands the special +Strength into whose keeping it is given, making, in Goethe's words, "every +man strong enough to enforce his conviction,"--his _conviction_, mark! +Pawns and pieces form themselves about that Queen; they are all to perish, +to perish one by one,--even the specialty,--that the King may triumph. Over +our largest, sublimest individualities the eternal tide flows on, and the +grandest personal strides are merged in the general success. The old author +dreamed that the heroes of the Trojan War were changed by Zeus into the +warriors of the mimic strife in order that such renowned exploits should be +perpetuated among men forever: rather must we reverse the dream, and +apotheosize the powers of the board, that they may appear in the sieges, +heroisms, and victories of life. + + * * * * * + + + +SPRING-SONG. + +Creep slowly up the willow-wand, + Young leaves! and, in your lightness, +Teach us that spirits which despond + May wear their own pure brightness. + +Into new sweetness slowly dip, + O May!--advance; yet linger: +Nor let the ring too swiftly slip + Down that new-plighted finger. + +Thy bursting blooms, O spring, retard! + While thus thy raptures press on, +How many a joy is lost, or marred + How many a lovely lesson! + +For each new sweet thou giv'st us, those + Which first we loved are taken: +In death their eyes must violets close + Before the rose can waken. + +Ye woods, with ice-threads tingling late, + Where late was heard the robin, +Your chants that hour but antedate + When autumn winds are sobbing! + +Ye gummy buds, in silken sheath + Hang back, content to glisten! +Hold in, O earth, thy charmèd breath! + Thou air, be still, and listen! + + * * * * * + + + +MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON. + +The present sanitary condition of our great cities is a reproach to our +intelligence not less than to our humanity. Our system of self-government, +so far as regards the protection of the mass of the dwellers in cities from +the worst physical evils, is now on trial. The tests to which it is exposed +are severe. We may boast as we like of our national prosperity, of the +rapidity of our material progress,--we may take pride in liberty, in wide +extent of territory, in the welcome to our shores of the exiled and the +poor of all other lands, or in whatsoever matter of self-gratulation we +choose,--but by the side of all these satisfactions stands the fact, that +in our chief cities the duration of life is diminishing and the suffering +from disease increasing. The question inevitably arises, Is this a +consequence of our political system? and if so, is political liberty worth +having, are democratic principles worth establishing, if the price to be +paid for them is increased insecurity of life and greater wretchedness +among the poor? If the origin of these evils is to be found in the +incompetency of the government or the inefficiency of individuals in a +democracy, a remedy must be applied, or the whole system must be changed. + +The intimate connection between physical misery and moral degradation is +plain and generally acknowledged. We are startled from time to time at the +rapid growth of crime in our cities; but it is the natural result of +preexisting physical evils. These evils have become more apparent during +the last twenty years than before, and it has been the fashion to attribute +their increase, with their frightful consequences, mainly to the enormous +Irish immigration, which for a time crowded our streets with poor, foreign +in origin, and degraded, not only by hereditary poverty, but by centuries +of civil and religious oppression. This view is no doubt in part correct; +but the larger share of the evils in our cities is due to causes +unconnected in any necessary relation with the immigration,--causes +contemporaneous with it in their development, and brought into fuller +action by it, rather than consequent upon it. + +More than half the sickness and more than half the deaths in New York (and +probably the same holds true of our other cities) are due to causes which +may be prevented,--in other words, which are the result of individual or +municipal neglect, of carelessness or indifference in regard to the known +and established laws of life. More than half the children who are born in +New York (and the proportion is over forty per cent. in Boston) die before +they are five years old. Much is implied in these statements,--among other +things, much criminal recklessness and wanton waste of the sources of +wealth and strength in a state. + +In Paris, in London, and in other European cities, the average mortality +has been gradually diminishing during the last fifty years. In New York, on +the contrary, it has increased with frightful rapidity; and in Boston, +though the increase has not been so alarming, it has been steady and +rapid. [Footnote: The facts upon winch these statements are based are +recorded in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, +1850,--in the Annual Reports of the Boston City Registrar,--in the Annual +Reports of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the +Poor,--and in other public documents. + +It appears that the ratio of deaths to population was, + +In New York, in 1810, 1 in 46.46 + " 1840, 1 in 39.74 + " 1850, 1 in 33.52 + " 1857, 1 in 27.15 + +In Boston, in 1830, 1 in 48 + " 1840, 1 in 45 + " 1850, 1 in 38 + " 1858, 1 in 41 + +It is probable that the ratio for the year 1858 showed somewhat more +improvement even than appears from the above figures. The proportion is +based on the population as ascertained in 1855. Up to 1858, the population +was somewhat, though not greatly, increased, and any increase would serve +to render the proportion in 1858 more favorable to the health of the +city. But it was a year in which the number of deaths was less than it had +been since 1850; it was, therefore, an exceptional year; and the change in +the ratio of the deaths is, we fear, not the sign of the beginning of a +progressive improvement.] + +But more and worse than this is the fact, that in these two cities the +average duration of life (and this means the material prosperity of the +people) has of late terribly decreased. While out of every hundred people +more die than was the case ten, twenty, thirty years ago, those who die +have lived a shorter time. Life is not now to be reckoned by its +"threescore years and ten." Its average duration in Boston is little above +twenty years; in New York it is less than twenty years. [Footnote: In +Boston, from 1810 to 1820, the average age of all that died was 27.85 +years; in 1857, leaving deaths by casualty out of the calculation, it was +but 20.63 years; in 1858, it was 21.76. In New York, from 1810 to 1820, it +was 26.15; for the last ten years of which the statistics are known, it was +less than 20.] Is the diminution of the length of life to go on from year +to year? + +This needless sacrifice and shortening of life, this accumulating amount of +ill health, causes an annual loss, in each of our great cities, of +productive capacity to the value of millions of dollars, as well as an +unnatural expense of millions more. This is no figure of speech. The +community is poorer by millions of dollars each year through the waste +which it allows of health and life. Leaving out of view all humane +considerations, all thought of the misery, social and moral, which +accompanies this physical degradation, and looking simply at its economical +effects, we find that it increases our taxes, diminishes our means of +paying them, creates permanent public burdens, and lessens the value of +property. An outlay of a million of dollars a year to reduce and to remove +the causes of these evils would be the cheapest and most profitable +expenditure of the public money by the municipal government. The principal +would soon be returned to the general treasury with all arrears of +interest. + +The main causes of this great and growing misery are patent. The remedies +for them are scarcely less plain. The chief sources of that disease and +death which may be prevented by the action of the community are, first, the +filthy and poisonous houses into which a large part of the people are +crowded; second, the imperfect ventilation of portions of the city,--its +narrow and dirty streets, lanes, and yards; and, third, the want of +sufficient house and street drainage and sewerage. It is important to note +in relation to these sources of evil, that, while the poverty of our poor +is generally not such complete destitution as that of many of the poor in +foreign cities, their average condition is worse. The increase of disease +and mortality is a result not so much of poverty as of condition. "The pith +and burden of the whole matter is, that the great mass of the poor are +compelled to live in tenements that are unfit for human beings, and under +circumstances in which it is impossible to preserve health and life." + +To improve the dwellings of the poor, to make them decent and wholesome, +is, then, the first step to be taken in checking the causes of preventable +disease and death in our cities. This work implies, if it be done +thoroughly, the securing of proper ventilation, sewerage, and drainage. + +Most of the houses which the poor occupy are the property of persons who +receive from them a rent very large in proportion to their value. No other +class of houses gives, on an average, a larger return upon the capital +invested in it. The rents which the poor pay, though paid in small sums, +are usually enormous in comparison with the accommodation afforded. The +houses are crowded from top to bottom. Many of them are built without +reference to the comfort or health of their occupants, but with the sole +object of getting the largest return for the smallest outlay. They are +hotbeds of disease, and exposed to constant peril from fire. Now it seems +plain that here is an occasion for the interposition of municipal +authority. In spite of the jealousy (proper within certain limits) with +which governmental interference with private property is regarded in this +country, it is a manifest dereliction of duty on the part of our city +authorities not to exercise a strict supervision over these houses. The +interests which are chiefly affected by their condition are not private, +but public interests. There are legal means for abating nuisances; and +there is no reason why houses which affect the health of whole districts +should not be treated in the same way as nuisances which are more +obtrusive, though less pernicious. In some of the cities of Europe, in +Nuremberg, for instance, there is a public architect, to whom all plans for +new buildings are submitted for approval or rejection according as they +correspond or not with the style of building suitable for the city. What is +done abroad to secure the beauty of a city might well be done here to +secure its health. Again, by legal enactment, we have prevented the +overcrowding of our emigrant ships: the same thing should be done in our +cities, to prevent the overcrowding of our tenement-houses. No house should +be allowed to receive more than a fixed maximum of dwellers in proportion +to its size and accommodations. These are simple propositions, but, if +properly carried out by enactment, they would secure an incalculable good. + +[Footnote: Since writing the preceding sentences, we have been gratified to +see that a bill proposing the creation of a Metropolitan Board of Health +has been introduced into the Legislature of New York. If the bill becomes a +law, as we trust it may, the board will be invested with power "to enact +ordinances for the proper government and control of buildings erecting or +to be erected, ... to compel the lessees or owners of dwellings to put the +same in proper order, and to provide sufficient means of egress in case of +fire." The New-York Evening Post of March 23, in giving an account of this +bill, says,--and there is no exaggeration in its statements,-- + +"The nearly one million of souls of this great city are left to take care +of themselves,--to be crowded mercilessly by landlords into houses without +light, air, or water, and without means of egress in case of fire; and the +street filth is allowed to accumulate till the city has become as the +famous Pontine Marshes, to breathe whose exhalations is certain +disease. All this results, as is proved by comparison with other cities, in +the unnecessary loss of five thousand to eight thousand lives annually, and +of many millions of dollars expended for unnecessary sickness, and the +consequent loss of time and strength,--all of which might be saved, as they +are actually saved in other and larger cities, by the application of +sanitary laws by intelligent and efficient officers. + +"And yet our Common Council are unmoved to apply the corrective, and the +Legislature postpones action upon the numerous petitions of the people upon +the subject. How long these bodies will be suffered to abuse the patience +of our citizens we cannot tell; but the breaking out of a pestilence which +shall sweep a thousand a week into the grave, and bring this city to +financial ruin, will be but a natural issue of the present neglect. The +Health Bill now before the Legislature has been prepared under the auspices +of the Sanitary Association. Its provisions are sweeping; but the +importance of the subject, the uniform filthy condition of our streets, and +the wretched and unsafe condition of our tenement-houses imperatively +demand changes of the most radical nature. The general provisions of the +bill seem to cover the points most requiring legislation; and while in some +of its details it could probably be improved, it is difficult to imagine +that the present state of sanitary regulations could be made worse, and +certain that the proposed reforms, if carried out, would be of great +advantage." + +In Massachusetts, statutes have existed for some years, giving to the +Boards of Health of the different cities or towns powers of a similar +nature to those granted by the bill proposed for New York, but of far too +limited scope. By Chapter 26, § 11, of the General Statutes, which are to +go into operation this year, the Boards of Health are authorized to remove +the occupants of any tenement, occupied as a dwelling-place, which is unfit +for the purpose, and a cause of nuisance or sickness either to the +occupants or the public,--and may require the premises, previously to their +reoccupation, to be properly cleansed at the expense of the owner. But the +penalty for a violation of this article is too light, being a fine of not +less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. To secure any essential good +from this law, it must be energetically enforced, with a disregard of +personal consequences, and an enlightened view of public and private rights +and necessities, scarcely to be expected from Boards of Health as commonly +constituted. We require a law upon this subject conveying far ampler +powers, enforced by far heavier penalties. It should embrace oversight of +the construction as well as of the condition of the dwellings of the +poor. Until we obtain such a law, the community is bound to insist upon a +rigid enforcement of the present imperfect statute. + +[The bill above alluded to by our correspondent has since been rejected by +the Legislature of New York.--EDS. ATLANTIC.]] + +Still, however much may be done by public authority, the condition of the +dwellings of the poor must be determined chiefly by the interest and the +legal responsibility of their individual owners. That men may be found +willing to make fortunes for themselves by grinding the faces of the poor +is certain; but there are, on the other hand, many who would be willing to +use some portion, at least, of their means to provide suitable homes for +the destitute, could they be assured of receiving a fair return upon the +property invested. It has been a matter of doubt whether proper houses +could be built for the dwellings of the lower classes, with all necessary +accommodations for health and comfort, at such a cost that the rents could +be kept as low as those paid for the common wretched tenements, and at the +same time be sufficient to afford a reasonable interest upon the +investment. Toward the solution of this doubt, an experiment which has been +tried in Boston during the last five years has afforded important results. + +In the spring of 1853, a number of gentlemen having subscribed a sufficient +sum for the purpose of building a house or houses on the best plan, as +Model Dwellings for the Poor, a society was formed, which, in the next +year, received an act of incorporation from the Legislature under the style +of "The Model Lodging-House Association." A suitable lot of land having +been obtained upon favorable terms, at the corner of Pleasant Street and +Osborn Place, the Directors of the Association proceeded to erect two brick +houses, of different construction, each containing separate tenements for +twenty families. The plans of the buildings were prepared with great care +to secure the essentials of a healthy home,--pure air, pure water, +efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light. In their details, strict regard +was had to the most economical and best use of a limited space, and ample +precautions were taken to reduce to its least the risk of fire. In each +house, double staircases, continuous to the roof, (and in one of them of +iron,) and two main exits were provided; and more recently, the two +buildings, which are separated from each other by a passage-way some feet +in width, have been connected by throwing an iron bridge from roof to roof, +by which, in case of alarm in one of them, escape may be readily had +through the other. Each house was, moreover, divided in the middle by a +solid brick partition-wall. + +The houses are five stories in height, not including the basement or +cellar, with four tenements in each story. The reduced plans, on the +opposite page, exhibit the general arrangements of the houses, and show the +complete separation of each set of apartments from the others, each one +opening by a single door upon the common stairs or passage. Their relation +is scarcely closer than that of separate houses in a common continuous +block. Each tenement, it will be observed, consists of a living-room, and +two or three sleeping-rooms, according to the space, a wash-room, with sink +and cupboards, and a water-closet. The stories are eight feet and six +inches in height, which is ample for the necessities of ventilation. In one +of the buildings, each tenement is provided with shafts for dust and offal, +communicating with receptacles in the cellar. The roofs of both are fitted +with conveniences for the drying of clothes, properly guarded; and in the +cellars of both are closets, one for each tenement, to hold fuel or +stores. In the basement of house No. 1 there are also two bathing-rooms, +which have been found of great use. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 1 OSBORN PLACE, BOSTON.] + +[Illustration: PLAN OF ONE-HALF OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 3 OSBORN PLACE, +BOSTON.] + +It would be difficult, after some years' experience, to pronounce which of +the two houses is the best fitted for its object. Their cost was nearly the +same. The plan of No. 1 is original and ingenious; its large open central +space is valuable for purposes of ventilation, and as affording opportunity +for exercise under cover in stormy weather for infants and infirm +people. This advantage is perhaps compensated for in the other house by the +fact of each tenement reaching from back to front of the house, thus +securing within itself the means of a thorough draught of fresh air. Both +plans are excellent, and may be unqualifiedly recommended. + +The houses were ready for occupation about the beginning of 1855, and since +that time have been constantly full. The applicants for tenements, whenever +one becomes vacant, are always numerous. + +The cost of these two buildings was a little over $18,000 each, exclusive +of the cost of the land upon which they stand. The land cost about $8,000; +and the whole cost of the buildings, including some slight changes +subsequent to their original erection, and of the lot on which they stand, +would be more than covered by the sum of $46,000. + +The rents were fixed upon a scale varying with the amount of accommodation +afforded by the separate tenements, and with their convenience of access. +They run from $2 to $2.87 per week. By those familiar with the rents paid +by the poor these sums will be seen to be not higher than are frequently +paid for the most unhealthy and inconvenient lodgings. The total annual +amount of rent received from each house is $2,353, which, after paying +taxes, water-rates, gas-bills, and all other expenses, including all +repairs necessary to keep the building in good order, leaves a full six per +cent. interest upon the sum invested. + +A portion of the land purchased by the Association not having been occupied +by the two houses already described, it was determined to erect a third +house upon it, of a somewhat superior character, for a class just above the +line of actual poverty, but often forced by circumstances into unhealthy +and uncomfortable homes. This was accordingly done, at a cost, including +the land, of about $26,000. The house, of which the plan is well worthy of +imitation, contains a shop and nine tenements. These tenements, which form +not only comfortable, but agreeable homes, are rented at from two to three +hundred dollars a year, and the gross income derived from the building is +about $2,500. + +During the five years since the first occupation of the houses no loss of +rents has occurred. For the most part, the rent has been paid not only +punctually, but with satisfaction, and the expressions which have been +received of the content of the occupants of the tenements have been of the +most gratifying sort. The houses, as we know from personal inspection, are +now in a state of excellent repair, and show no signs of carelessness or +neglect on the part of their occupants. Few private houses would have a +fresher and neater aspect after so long occupancy. The tenants have been, +with few exceptions, Americans by birth, and they have taken pains to keep +up the character of their dwellings. + +One of the Trustees of the Association, a gentleman to whose good judgment +and constant oversight, as well as to his sympathetic kindness tor the +occupants of the houses and interest in their affairs, much of the success +of this experiment is due, says, in a letter from which we are permitted to +quote,--"From my experience in the management of this kind of property, I +believe that it may in all cases with proper care be made _safe and +permanent for investment_. But what I think better of is the good such +houses do in elevating and making happier their tenants, and I much rejoice +in having had an opportunity to test their usefulness." + +As a comment upon these brief, but weighty sentences, we would beg any of +our readers, who may have opportunity, to look for himself at the +substantial and not unornamental buildings of the Association, with their +showier front on Pleasant Street, and their imposing length and height of +range along the side of Osborn Place,--to see them affording healthy and +convenient homes to fifty families, many of whom, without some such +provision, would be exposed to be forced into the wretched quarters too +familiar to the poor,--and then to compare them with the common +lodging-houses in any of the lower streets or alleys of Boston or New York. + +A similar work to that performed by the Boston Association was undertaken +shortly afterward by a society in New York, who in 1854-5 erected a +building containing ninety tenements of three rooms each, under the name of +"The Working-Men's Home." The cost of this enormous building, which was +well designed, was about $90,000. It is fifty-five feet in breadth by one +hundred and ninety feet in length; it is nearly fireproof, and is provided +with double stairways. It has been occupied from the first by colored +people, and we regret to learn that it has not proved a success, so far as +regards the annual return upon the property invested. After paying the +heavy city tax of 1 3/4 per cent., and the charges for gas and water, the +sum remaining for an annual dividend is not more than four per cent. + +This want of success is not, we believe, inherent in the plan itself, but +is the result of a want of proper management and supervision. We learn that +the tenants often leave without paying rent, and that the building is more +or less injured by their neglect. The class of tenants has undoubtedly been +of a lower grade than that which has occupied the Boston houses, and the +habits of the blacks are far inferior to those of the white American poor +in personal neatness and care of their dwellings. But we have no doubt, +that, in spite of these drawbacks, a good revenue might be derived from the +rents paid by this class of tenants. The success of the Boston experiment +is due in considerable part to the employment by the Association of a paid +Superintendent, living with his family in one of the buildings, who has a +general oversight of the houses, collects the rents, and determines the +claims of occupants of the tenements. Such an officer is indispensable for +the proper carrying on of any similar undertaking on so large a scale. We +trust that no effort will be spared in New York to bring out more +satisfactory results from this great establishment. Benevolence is one +thing, and good investments another; but benevolence in this case does not +do half its work, unless it can be proved to pay. It must be profitable, in +order to be in the best sense a charity. + +The effect which the Boston houses have already had, in proving that homes +for the poor can be built on the best plan for the health and comfort of +their inmates and at the same time be good investments of property, is +manifest in many private undertakings. Several large houses have already +been built upon similar plans; old lodging-houses have been in several +instances remodelled and otherwise improved; blocks of small dwellings for +one or two families have been erected with every convenience for the class +who can afford to pay from three to six dollars a week for their +accommodations. The example set by the Association promises to be widely +followed. + +Much, however, yet remains to be done, and associate or private energy is +needed for the trial of new and not less important experiments than that +already well performed. The means for some of them are at hand. It will be +remembered that the late Hon. Abbott Lawrence, to whose beneficence during +his life the community was so largely indebted, and whose liberal deeds +will long be remembered with gratitude, left by will the sum of $50,000 to +be held by Trustees for the erection of dwellings for the poor. This sum +will in a short time be ready for employment for its designated purpose, +and it may be hoped that those who control its disposal will not so much +imitate the work already done as perform a work not yet accomplished, but +not less essential. The houses of the Association are, as we have stated, +not occupied by the most destitute poor,--and it is for this lowest class +that the most pressing need exists for an improvement in their +habitations. If the cellar-dwelling poor can be provided with healthy +homes, and these homes can be made to pay a fair rent, the worst evil in +the condition of our cities will be in a way to be remedied. It is very +desirable that a house should be erected in one of the crowded quarters of +the city, and at a distance from the buildings of the Association, in which +each room should be arranged for separate occupation. The rooms might be of +different sizes upon the different floors, to accommodate single men who +require only a lodging-place, or a man and wife. Perhaps on one floor rooms +should be made with means of opening into each other, to supply the need of +those who might require more than one of them. The house should be heated +throughout by furnaces, to save the necessity of fires in the rooms; and as +no private meals could be cooked in the house, an eating-room, where meals +could be had or provisions purchased ready for eating, should form part of +the arrangements of the house in the lower story. There can be no doubt +that such a house would be at once filled,--and but little, that, if +properly built and managed, under efficient superintendence it would pay +well, at the lowest rates of rent. Even with a possibility of its failing +to return a net annual income of six per cent upon its cost, it is an +experiment that ought to be tried,--and we earnestly hope that the Trustees +of Mr. Lawrence's bequest will not hesitate to make it. Putting out of +question all considerations of profitable investment, it would be, as a +pure charity, one of the best works that could be performed. + +We must restore health to our cities, and, to accomplish this end, we must +provide fit homes for the poor. The way in which this may be done has been +shown. + + * * * * * + + + +A SHORT CAMPAIGN ON THE HUDSON. + +The campaigner marched out of a lawyer's office in Nassau Street, New York. + +"Shyster," said our old man, as he called me into his own den, or rather +lair,--(for den, I take it, is the private residence of a beast of prey, +and lair his place of business. I do not think that this definition is +mine, but I forget to whom it belongs,)--"I suppose you would not dislike a +trip into the country? Very well. These papers must be explained to General +Van Bummel, and signed by him. He lives at Thunderkill, on the Hudson. Take +the ten-o'clock train, and get back as soon as you can. Charge your +expenses to the office." + +"What luck!" thought I, as I dashed down-stairs into the +street,--determined to obey his last injunction to the letter, whatever +course I might think fit to adopt about the one preceding it. No one who +has not been an attorney's clerk at three dollars a week, copying +declarations and answers from nine A.M. to six P.M., in a dusty, inky, +uncarpeted room, with windows unwashed since the last lease expired, can +form a correct notion of the exhilaration of my mind when I took my seat in +the railroad-car. The great Van Bnmmel himself never felt bigger nor +better. + +It was in that loveliest season of the year, the Indian summer,--a week or +ten days of atmospheric perfection which the clerk of the weather allows us +as a compensation for our biting winter and rheumatic spring. The veiled +rays of the sun and the soft shadows produce the effect of a golden +moonlight, and make even Nature's shabbiest corners attractive. To be +out-of-doors with nothing to do, and nothing to think of but the mere +pleasure of existence, is happiness enough at such times. But I was looking +at a river panorama which is one of Nature's best efforts, I have heard; +and on that morning it seemed to me impossible that the world could show +anything grander. + +It was very calm. The broad glittering surface of the river showed here and +there a slight ripple, when some breath of air touched it for a moment; but +wind there was none,--only a few idle breezes lounging about, waiting for +orders to join old Boreas in his next autumnal effort to crack his +cheeks. The bright-colored trees glowed on the mountain-sides like beds of +living coals. + +"How the deuse," thought I, as I stared at them, "can a discerning public +be satisfied with Cole's pictures of 'American Scenery in the Fall of the +Year'? You see on his canvas, to be sure, red, green, orange, and so on, +the peculiar tints of the leaves; but Nature does more (and Cole does not): +she blends the variegated hues into one bright mass of bewitching color by +the magic of this soft, golden, hazy sunshine. I wish, too, that the great +company of story-tellers would let scenery rest in peace. The charm of a +landscape is entireness, unity; it strikes the eye at once and as a whole. +Examination of the component parts is quite a different thing. Who ean +build up a view in his mind by piling up details like bricks upon one +another? Most people, I suspect, will find, as I do, that, no matter what +author they may be reading, the same picture always presents itself. A +vague outline of some view they have seen arises in the memory,--like the +forest scene in a scantily furnished theatre, which comes on for every +play. The naked woods, trees, rocks, lake, river, mountain, would have done +the business just as well, and saved a deal of writing and of printing. The +most successful artist in this line I know of is Michael Scott, whose +tropical sketches in 'Tom Cringle's Log' are unequalled by any +landscape-painter, past or present, who uses pen and ink instead of canvas +and colors." + +My trance was broken by the voice of the brakeman shouting, "Thunderkill," +into the car, as the train drew up at a wooden station-house. Jumping out, +I asked the way to General Van Bummel's. A man with a whip in his hand +offered his services as guide and common carrier. I determined to +experience a new sensation,--for once in my life to anathematize +expenditure, and charge it to the office. So, climbing into a kind of +leathern tent upon wheels, I was soon on my way to the leaguer of the +General. A drive of a mile brought us to two stout stone gateposts, +surmounted each by a cannon-ball, which marked Van Bummel's boundary. We +turned into a lane shut in by trees. While busily taking an inventory of +the General's landed possessions for future use, my attention was drawn off +by loud shouts, the sound of the gallop of horses and the rattling of +wheels. Imagining at once that the General's family-pair must be running +away with his family-coach, I eagerly urged my driver to push on; but the +cold-hearted wretch only laughed and said he "guessed there was nothing +particular the matter." At last, we _debouched_ (excuse the word; I have +not yet got the military taste out of my mouth) upon a lawn, across which a +pair of large bay horses, ridden postilion-fashion by one man, were +dragging a brass six-pounder, upon which sat another in full uniform. + +"What the Devil is that?" said I. + +"That's the Gineral and his coachman a-having a training," answered my +driver. + +As he spoke, the officer shouted, "Halt!" + +Coachy pulled up. + +"Unlimber!" thundered the chief; and, aided by his man, obeyed his own +orders. + +"Load!" and "Fire!" followed in rapid succession. + +I saw and smelt that they used real powder. This over, the horses were made +fast again, John, bestrode his nag, the General clambered on to his brazen +seat and down they came at a tearing pace directly towards us. Luckily I +had read "Charles O'Malley," and knew how to behave in such cases. I jumped +from the wagon, and, tying my handkerchief to the ferule of my umbrella, +advanced, waving it and shouting, "A flag of truce!" The General ordered a +halt and despatched himself to the flag. As he approached I beheld a stout, +middle-aged, good natured looking man, dressed in the graceless costume of +Uncle Sam's army; but I must say that he wore it with more grace than most +of the Regulars I have seen. Our soldiers look unbecomingly in their +clothes,--there is no denying it,--a good deal like _sups_ in a procession +at the Bowery. A New-York policeman sports pretty much the same dress in +much better style. You hardly ever see an officer or private, least of all +the officer, with the _air militaire_. I also noticed with pleasure that +the General had not on his head that melodramatic black felt, +feather-bedecked hat, which some fantastic Secretary of War must have +imagined in a dream, after seeing "Fra Diavolo" at the opera, or Wallack in +Massaroni. In place of this abomination, a cap covered with glazed leather +surmounted his martial brow. When we met, I lowered my umbrella and offered +my card, with the office pasteboard. He took them with great gravity, read +the names, and requested me to fall back to the rear and await orders. Then +rejoining his gun, he was driven slowly towards the house,--my peaceful +_ambulance_ following at a respectful distance. When I reached the door, +the six-pounder had disappeared behind a clump of evergreens, and the +General stood waiting to receive me. His manner was affable. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Shyster? Glad to see you, Sir. Walk into the library, +Sir." + +I complied, and while the General was absent, engaged in carrying out some +hospitable suggestions for my refreshment, I examined the room. It was +large, and handsomely furnished. I looked into the bookcases: the shelves +were filled with works on War, from Cæsar's Commentaries down to Louis +Napoleon on Rifled Cannon. In one corner stood a suit of armor; in another +a stand of firearms; between them a star of bayonets. On the mantelpiece I +perceived a model of a small field-piece in brass and oak, and, what +interested me more, a cigarbox. I raised the lid; the box was half full of +highly creditable-looking cigars. My soul expanded with the thought of a +probable offer of at least one. + +"None of your Flor de Connecticuts," I thought, "from the Vuelta Abajo of +New-Windsor, but the genuine Simon Puros." + +A second glance at the inside of the lid caused grave doubts to depress my +spirits. I beheld there, in place of the usual ill-executed lithograph with +its _fábricas_ and its _calles_, three small portraits. The middle one was +the General in full uniform; I recognized him easily; the other two were no +doubt his aides-de-camp;--all evidently photographs; they were so ugly. I +dropped the lid in disappointment, and turned to the side-table. On it lay +a handsome sword in an open box lined with silk. Over it hung, framed and +glazed, the speech of the committee appointed by his fellow-soldiers of the +county to present the sword to the General, together with the General's +"neat and appropriate" answer and acceptance. + +I began to be a little astonished. I certainly did not expect anything of +this sort. Our old man called him General, to be sure; but General means +nothing, in the rural districts, but a certain amount of wealth and +respectability. It has taken the place of Squire. But here was I with a man +who took his title _au sérieux_. What with the uniform, the cannon, and the +coachman, I began to feel like an ambassador to a potentate with a standing +army. + +Here the General reappeared, bearing in his august hands a decanter and a +pitcher. After due refreshment, I produced my papers, made the necessary +explanations, and executed my commission so much to his satisfaction that +he invited me cordially to dine and spend the night, instead of taking the +evening-train down. I accepted, of course,--such chances seldom fell into +my way,--and was shown into a nice little bedroom, in which I was expected +to dress for dinner. Dress, indeed! I had on my best, and did not come to +stay. Novel-heroes manage to remain weeks without apparent luggage; but a +modern attorney's clerk, however moderate may be his toilette-tackle, finds +it inconvenient to be separated from it. However, I did what I +could,--washed my hands, settled the bow of my neck-tie, smoothed my hair +with my fingers, and thought, as I descended to the drawing-room, of the +travelling Frenchman, who, after a night spent in a diligence, wiped out +his eyes with his handkerchief, put on a paper false collar, and +exclaimed,--"_Me voici propre!_" + +The General, in a fatigue-dress, presented me to Mrs. Van Bummel, a +good-looking woman of pleasant dimensions,--to Miss Bellona Van Bummel, who +evidently thought me beneath her notice,--and to the Reverend Moses Wether, +whose mild face, white cravat, and straight-cut collar proclaimed him. As I +came in, his Reverence attempted to slip meekly out, but was stopped +energetically by the General. + +"How is this? Mr. Wether, you know you cannot leave, Sir." + +"But, my dear General, I only dropped in for a few moments; and really I +have so much to do!" + +"I am sorry, Sir," rejoined the General, sternly, "but you cannot be +excused. You accepted the position of Chaplain to the Regiment. You +neglected to attend the last two reviews. You were condemned by a Court +Martial, over which I presided, to twenty-four hours' arrest, which you +must now submit to." + +"But, my dear General," feebly expostulated the man of prayer, "you know I +thought the nomination a mere pleasantry; I had no idea you were serious, +or I should never have listened to the proposition." + +"Can't help that, Sir. You accepted the commission, you neglected your +duty, and you must take the consequences." + +Just then, as the poor perplexed parson was about to make another attempt +for liberty, a side-door swung open; a well-built, comely servant-girl, +dressed like Jenny Lind in the "Fille du Régiment," appeared. Bringing the +back of her hand to her forehead, she said,-- + +"General, dinner is ready." + +Van Bummel muttered something about "joining our mess," and led the way to +the banqueting-hall. I was too hungry to be particular about names, and did +ample justice to an excellent spread and well-selected tap,--carefully +avoiding eating with my knife or putting salt upon the table-cloth, which I +had often heard was never done by the aristocracy. As I kept my eyes upon +the others and imitated them to the best of my ability, I hope I did not +disgrace Nassau Street. + +The evening passed quickly and agreeably. I played chess with the reverend +prisoner. The man of war read steadily folio history of Marlborough's +campaigns, making occasional references to maps and plans. As the clock +struck nine, an explosion on the lawn made the windows rattle again. I +jumped to my feet, but, seeing that the rest of the company looked +surprised at my vivacity, I sat down, guessing that the six-pounder and the +coachman had something to do with it. + +"Don't be alarmed, Sir," said the General, "it's only gun-fire. We retire +about this time." + +I took the hint, requested to be shown to my room, undressed, jumped into a +camp bedstead, and tried to sleep. Impossible!--the novelty of my day's +experiences, the beauty of the night, (for the full moon was shining into +the windows,) or perhaps a cup of strong coffee I had swallowed without +milk after dinner because the others took it, kept me awake. Finding sleep +out of the question, I got up and dressed myself. My chamber was on the +ground-floor, and opened upon the lawn. I stepped quietly out into the hazy +moonlight, lighted a cigar, and walked towards the river. It was a +remarkably fine evening, certainly, but a very damp one. Heavy dew dripped +from the trees. I found, as my weed grew shorter, that my fondness for the +romantic in Nature waned, and slowly retraced my steps to the house, +muttering to myself some of Edgar Poe's ghostly lines:-- + + "I stand beneath the mystic moon; + An opiate vapor, dewey, dim + Exhales from out her golden rim, + And softly dripping, drop by drop, + Upon the quiet mountain-top, + Steals drowsily and musically + Into the universal valley." + +I was about entering, when a figure advanced suddenly from behind a pillar +of the veranda, holding a something in its hand which glittered in the +moonlight, and which rattled as it dropped from the perpendicular to the +horizontal, pointing at me. + +"Who goes there?" said the apparition, in a hoarse voice. "Stand, and give +the countersign!" + +I recognized the voice of the soldier-servant of the morning. There he was +again, that indefatigable coachman, doing duty as sentinel with a musket in +his hands. Not knowing what else to say, I replied,-- + +"It is I, a friend!" + +My good grammar was thrown away upon the brute. + +"The countersign," he repeated. + +"Pooh, pooh!" said I, "I do not know anything about the countersign. I am +Mr. Shyster, who came up this morning, when you and the General were doing +light-artillery practice on the lawn. Please let me go to my room." + +But the brute stood immovable. As I advanced, I heard him cock his musket. + +"Good God!" thought I, "this is no joke, after all. This stupid stable-man +may have loaded his musket. What if it should go off? If I retreat, I must +camp out,--no joke at this season;--rheumatism and a loss of salary, to say +the least. This will never do." + +And I screamed,-- + +"General! General Van Bummel!" + +"Silence! or I'll march you to the guard-house," thundered the sentinel. + +Luckily the General lay, like Irene, "with casement open to the skies." He +heard the noise. I recognized his martial tones. I hurriedly explained my +situation. He gave me the word; it was Eugene; countersign, +Marlborough. This satisfied the Coach-Cerberus, and I passed into bed +without further mishap. + +The first sound I heard the next morning was the rat-tat-too of a +drum. "There goes that d----d coachman again," I said to myself, and turned +over for another nap; but a shrill bugle-call brought me to my seat. + +Running to the window, I saw two men on horseback in dragoon equipments. +The horses were the artillery-nags of yesterday; the riders, the General +and his man-at-all-arms. Hurrying on my clothes, I got out of doors in time +to see them go at a gallop across the lawn, leap a low hedge at the end of +the grass-plot, and disappear in the orchard. Thither I followed fast to +see the sport. They reached the boundary-line of the Van-Bummel estate, +wheeled, and turned back on a trot. When the General espied me, he waved +his sabre and shouted, "Charge!" They galloped straight at me. I had barely +time to dodge behind an apple-tree, when they passed like a whirlwind over +the spot I had been standing on, and covered me with dirt from the heels of +their horses. I walked back to the house, very much annoyed, as men are apt +to be, when they think they have compromised their dignity a little by +dodging to escape danger from another's mischief or folly. At breakfast, +accordingly, I remonstrated with the chief; but he only laughed, and asked +me why I did not form a hollow square and let the front rank kneel and +fire. + +"As soon as you have finished your coffee," he added, "I will take you into +the trenches, and there you will be out of danger." + +I could not refuse. The trenches were at the bottom of the garden, near the +entrance-drive. I had seen them yesterday, and in my ignorance thought of +celery; now, I knew better. This morning, a tent was pitched a few yards +from a long low wall of sods; and between the tent and the sods there was a +small trench, about large enough to hold draining-tiles. Pointing to the +wall, the general said,-- + +"There is Sebastopol," (pronouncing it correctly, accent on the _to_,) "and +here," turning to the tent, "are my head-quarters. My sappers have just +established a mine under the Quarantine Battery. In a few moments I shall +blow it up, and storm the breach, if we make a practicable one." + +Here the Protean coachman made his appearance with a leather apron and a +broad-axe. He signified that all was ready. A lucifer was rubbed upon a +stone, the train ignited, bang went the mine, and over went we all three, +prostrated by a shower of turf and mud. The mine had exploded backward, and +had annihilated the storming party. Fortunately, the General had economised +in powder. Gradually we picked ourselves up, considerably bewildered, but +not much hurt. Van Bummel attempted to explain; but I had had enough of +war's alarms, and yearned for the safety and peace of Nassau Street. So I +bade the warrior good-morning, and took the first down-train, _multa mecum +volvens_; "making a revolver of my mind," Van Bummel would have translated +it. I knew that our soil produced more soldiers even than France, the +fertile mother of red-legged heroes; but I did not expect, in the +Nineteenth Century and in the State of New York, to have beheld an avatar +of the God Mars. + + * * * * * + + + +THINE. + + The tide will ebb at day's decline: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Impatient for the open sea, + At anchor rocks the tossing ship, + The ship which only waits for thee; + Yet with no tremble of the lip + I say again, thy hand in mine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + I shall not weep, or grieve, or pine. + _Ich bin dein!_ + Go, lave once more thy restless hands + Afar within the azure sea,-- + Traverse Arabia's scorching sands,-- + Fly where no thought can follow thee, + O'er desert waste and billowy brine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Dream on the slopes of Apennine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Stand where the glaciers freeze and frown, + Where Alpine torrents flash and foam, + Or watch the loving sun go down + Behind the purple hills of Rome, + Leaving a twilight half divine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Thy steps may fall beside the Rhine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Slumber may kiss thy drooping lids + Amid the mazes of the Nile, + The shadow of the Pyramids + May cool thy feet,--yet all the while, + Though storms may beat, or stars may shine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Where smile the hills of Palestine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + Where rise the mosques and minarets,-- + Where every breath brings flowery balms,-- + Where souls forget their dark regrets + Beneath the strange, mysterious palms,-- + Where the banana builds her shrine,-- + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Too many clusters break the vine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The tree whose strength and life outpour + In one exultant blossom-gush + Must flowerless be forevermore: + We walk _this_ way but once, friend;--hush! + Our feet have left no trodden line: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Who heaps his goblet wastes his wine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The boat is moving from the land;-- + I have no chiding and no tears;-- + Now give me back my empty hand + To battle with the cruel years,-- + Behold, the triumph shall be mine! + _Ich bin dein!_ + + * * * * * + + + +THE REPRESENTATIVE ART. + +No art is worth anything that does not embody an idea,--that is not +representative: otherwise, it is like a body without a soul, or the image +of some divinity that never had existence. Art needs, indeed, to be +individualized, to betray the characteristics of the artist, to be himself +infused into his work; but more than this, it needs to typify, to +illustrate the character of the age,--to be of a piece with other +expressions of the sentiment that animates other men at the time. It must +be one note in the concert, and that not discordant,--neither behind time +nor ahead of it,--neither in the wrong key nor the other mode: you don't +want Verdi in one of Beethoven's symphonies; you don't want Mozart in +Rossini's operas. No art ever has lived that was not the genuine product of +the era in which it appeared; no art ever can live that is not such a +product: it may, perchance, have a temporary or fictitious success, but it +can neither really and truly exert an influence at the moment of its +highest triumph, nor afterwards remain a power among men, unless it reflect +the spirit of the epoch, unless it show the very age and body of the time +his form and pressure. + +All greatness consists in this: in being alive to what is going on around +one; in living actually; in giving voice to the thought of humanity; in +saying to one's fellows what they want to hear or need to hear at that +moment; in being the concretion, the result, of the influences of the +present world. In no other way can one affect the world than in responding +thus to its needs, in embodying thus its ideas. You will see, in looking to +history, that all great men have been a piece of their time; take them out +and set them elsewhere, they will not fit so well; they were made for their +day and generation. The literature which has left any mark, which has been +worthy of the name, has always mirrored what was doing around it; not +necessarily daguerreotyping the mere outside, but at least reflecting the +inside,--the thoughts, if not the actions of men,--their feelings and +sentiments, even if it treated of apparently far-off themes. You may +discuss the Greek republics in the spirit of the modern one; you may sing +idyls of King Arthur in the very mood of the nineteenth century. Art, too, +will be seen always to have felt this necessity, to have submitted to this +law. The great dramatists of Greece, like those of England, all flourished +in a single period, blossomed in one soil; the sculptures of antiquity +represented the classic spirit, and have never been equalled since, because +they were the legitimate product of that classic spirit. You cannot have +another Phidias till man again believes in Jupiter. The Gothic +architecture, how meanly is it imitated now! What cathedrals built in this +century rival those of Milan or Strasbourg or Notre Dame? Ah! there is no +such Catholicism to inspire the builders; the very men who reared them +would not be architects, if they lived to-day. And the Italian painters, +the Angelos and Raphaels and Da Vincis and Titians, who were geniuses of +such universal power that they builded and carved and went on embassies and +worked in mathematics only with less splendid success than they +painted,--they painted because the age demanded it; they painted as the age +demanded; they were religious, yet sensuous, like their nation; they felt +the influence of the Italian sun and soil. Their faith and their history +were compressed into The Last Judgment and the Cartoons; their passion as +well as their power may be recognized in The Last Supper and The Venus of +the Bath. + +There is always a necessity for this expression of the character of the +age. This spirit of our age, this mixed materialistic and imaginative +spirit,--this that abroad prompts Russian and Italian wars, and at home +discovers California mines,--that realizes gorgeous dreams of hidden gold, +and Napoleonic ideas of almost universal sway,--that bridges Niagara, and +under-lays the sea with wire, and, forgetful of the Titan fate, essays to +penetrate the clouds,--this spirit, so practical that those who choose to +look on one side only of the shield can see only perjured monarchs +trampling on deceived or decaying peoples, and backwoodsmen hewing forests, +and begrimed laborers setting up telegraph-poles or working at +printing-presses,--this spirit also so full of imagination,--which has +produced an outburst of music (that most intangible and subtile and +imaginative of arts) such as the earth never heard before,--which is +developing in the splendid, showy life, in the reviving taste for pageantry +that some supposed extinct, in the hurried, crowded incidents that will +fill up the historic page that treats of the nineteenth century,--this +spirit is sure to get expression in art. + +The American people, cosmopolitan, concrete, the union, the result rather +of a union of so many nationalities, ought surely to do its share towards +this expression. The American people surely represents the century,--has +much of its spirit: is full of unrest; is eminently practical, but +practical only in embodying poetical or lofty ideas; is demonstrative and +excitable; resembles the French much and in many things,--the French, who +are at the head of modern and European civilization,--who think and feel +deeply, but do not keep their feelings hidden. The Americans, too, like +expression: when they admire a Kossuth or a Jenny Lind, a patriot exile or +a foreign singer, all the world is sure to know of their admiration; when +they are delighted at some great achievement in science, like the laying of +an Atlantic Cable, they demonstrate their delight. They make their +successful generals Presidents; they give dinners to Morphy and banquets to +Cyrus Field. They are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the +age. Therefore they are artistic. + +How amazed some will be at the proposition,--amazed that the age should be +called an artistic one,--amazed that Americans should be considered an +artistic nation! Yet art is only the expression in outward and visible form +of an inward and spiritual grace,--the sacrament of the imagination. Art is +an incarnation in colors or stone or music or words of some subtile essence +which requires the embodiment. We all have delicate fancies, lofty +imaginings, profound sentiments; the artist expresses them for us. If, +then, this age be one that requires expression for its ideas, that is +practical, that insists on accomplishing its designs, on creating its +children, on producing its results, it is an artistic age. For art works; a +poet is a maker, according to the Greeks: and all artists are poets; they +all produce; they all do; they all make. They do just what all the +practical men of this practical age are doing, what even the Gradgrinds are +doing: they embody ideas; they put thoughts into facts. A quiet, +contemplative age is not an artistic one; art has ever flourished in +stirring times: Grecian wars and Guelphic strife have been its fostering +influences. An artist is very far from being an idle dreamer; he works as +hard as the merchant or the mechanic,--works, too, physically as well as +mentally, with his hand as well as his head. + +This is all statement: let us have some facts; let us embody our ideas. Do +you not call Meyerbeer, with his years of study and effort and application, +a worker? Do you not call Verdi, who has produced thirty operas, a worker? +Do you not imagine that Turner labored on his splendid pictures? Do you not +know how Crawford toiled and spun away his nerves and brain? Have you not +heard of the incessant and tremendous attention that for many months Church +bestowed on the canvas that of late attracted the admiration of English +critics and their Queen? Was Rachel idle? Have these artists not spent the +substance of themselves as truly as any of your politicians or your +soldiers or your traders? Can you not trace in them the same energy, the +same effort, the same determination as in Louis Napoleon, as in Zachary +Taylor, as in Stephen Girard? Are not they also representative? + +And their works,--for by these shall ye know them,--do they reflect in +nothing this fitful, uneasy, yet splendid intensity of to-day? Can you not +read in the colors on Turner's canvas, can you not see in the rush of +Church's Niagara, can you not hear in the strains of the Traviata, can you +not perceive in the tones and looks of Ristori, just what you find in the +successful men in other spheres of life? Rothschild's fortune speaks no +more plainly than the Robert le Diable; George Sand's novels and Carlyle's +histories tell the same story as Kossuth's eloquence and Garibaldi's +deeds. The artists are as alive to-day as any in the the world. For, again +and again, art is not an outside thing; its professors, its lovers, are not +placed outside the world; they are in it and of it as absolutely as the +rest. You who think otherwise, remember that Verdi's name six months ago +was the watchword of the Italian revolutionists; remember that certain +operas are forbidden now to be played in Naples, lest they should arouse +the countrymen of Masaniello; remember, or learn, if you did not know, how +in New York, last June, all the singers in town offered their services for +a benefit to the Italian cause, and all the _habitués_, late though the +season was, crowded to their places to see an opera whose attractiveness +had been worn out and whose novelty was nearly gone. You who think that art +is an interest unworthy of men who live in the world, that it is a thing +apart, what say you to the French, the most actual, the most practical, the +most worldly of peoples, and yet the fondest of art in all its phases,--the +French, who remembered the statues in the Tuileries amid the massacres of +the First Revolution, and spared the architecture of antiquity when they +bombarded the city of the Caesars? + +Consider, too, the growing love for art in practical America; remark the +crowds of newly rich who deck their houses with pictures and busts, even +though they cannot always appreciate them; remember that nearly every +prominent town in the country has its theatre; that the opera, the most +refined luxury of European civilization, considered for long an affectation +beyond every other, is relished here as decidedly as in Italy or France. In +New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, there are +buildings exclusively appropriated to this new form of art, this exotic, +expensive amusement. These opera-houses, too, illustrate most aptly the +progress of other arts. They are adorned with painting and gilding and +carving; they are as sumptuous in accommodation as the palaces of European +potentates; they are lighted with a brilliancy that Aladdin's garden never +rivalled; they are thronged, with crowds as gayly dressed as those that +fill the saloons of Parisian belles; and the singers and actors who +interpret the thoughts of mighty foreign masters are the same who delight +the Emperor of the French when he pays a visit to the Queen of Great +Britain and Ireland. Orchestras of many instruments discourse most eloquent +music, and involuted strains are criticized in learned style, in capitals +thousands of miles from the seashore. And there is no appreciation of art +in all this! there is no embodiment of the love of the age for material +magnificence, there is no poetry incarnated into form, in this combination +of splendors rivalling the opium-eater's visions! The Americans are a dull, +stupid people, immersed in business; art has no effect upon them; it is +despised among them; it can never prosper here! + +The stage, indeed, in its various forms, seems more fully to manifest and +illustrate the artistic influence among Americans than any other art. It +often addresses those whom more refined solicitations might never +reach. Those who would turn from Church's or Page's pictures with +indifference are frequently attracted by the representations in a theatre. +The pictures there are more alive, more real, more intense, and fascinate +many unable to appreciate the recondite charms of the canvas. The grace of +attitude, the splendid expression, the intellectual art of Ristori or +Rachel may impress those who fail to discover the same merits in colder +stone, in Crawford's marble or the statues of Palmer; and they may +sometimes learn to relish even the delicate beauties of Shakspeare's text, +from hearing it fitly declaimed, who would never spell out its meaning by +themselves. The drama is certainly superior to other arts while its reign +lasts, because of its veriness, its actuality. He must be dull of +imagination, indeed, who cannot give himself up for a while to its +illusions; he must be stupid who cannot open his senses to its delights or +waken his intellect to receive its influences. + +Neither can a taste for the stage be declared one which only the ignorant +or vulgar share. Though away in the wilds of California a theatre was often +erected next after a hotel, the second building in a town, and the +strolling player would summon the miners by his trumpet when not one was in +sight, and instantly a swarm peeped forth from the earth, like the armed +men who sprang from the furrows that Cadmus ploughed,--though the wildest +and rudest of Western cities and the wildest and rudest inhabitants of +Western towns are quick to acknowledge the charms of the stage,--yet also +the most highly cultured and the most intellectual Americans pay the same +tribute to this art. We have all seen, within a few years, one of the most +profound scholars and most prominent divines in the country proclaiming his +approbation of the drama. We may find, to-day, in any Eastern city, members +of the liberal clergy at an opera, and sometimes at a play. The scholars +and writers and artists and thinkers, as well as the people of leisure and +of fashion, frequent places of amusement, not only for amusement, but to +cultivate their tastes, to exercise their intellects, ay, and oftentimes to +refine their hearts. The splendid homage paid in England not long ago to +the drama, when the highest nobility and the first statesmen in the land +were present at a banquet in honor of Charles Kean, is evidence enough that +no puerile or uncultivated taste is this which relishes the theatre. Goethe +presiding over the playhouse at Weimar, Euripides and Sophocles writing +tragedies, the greatest genius of the English language acting in his own +productions at the Globe Theatre, people like Siddons and Kean and Cushman +and Macready illustrating this art with the resources of their fine +intellects and great attainments,--surely these need scarcely be mentioned, +to relieve the drama from the reproach that some would put upon it, of +puerility. + +New York is, perhaps, more of a representative city than any other in the +land. It is an aggregation from all the other portions of the country; it +is the result, the precipitate, of the whole. It has no distinctive, +individual character of its own; it is a condensation of all the rest, a +focus. Thither all the country goes at times. Restless, fitful, changing, +yet still the same in its change; like the waves of the sea, that toss and +roll and move away, and still the mighty mass is ever there. New York, in +its various phases and developments, its crowded and cosmopolitan +population, its out-door kaleidoscopic splendor, is indeed a representative +of the entire country. It has not the purely literary life of Boston, nor +so distinctive an intellectual character; it is not so stamped by the +impress of olden times as Philadelphia; but it has an outside garb +significant of the inward nature. It is like the face of a great actor, +splendid in expression, full of character, changing with a thousand +changing emotions, but betraying a great soul beneath them all. New York is +artistic just as America is artistic, just as the age is artistic: not, +perhaps, in the loftiest or most refined sense, but in the sense that art +is an expression, in tangible form, of ideas. New York is a great thought +uttered. It is like those fruits or seeds which germinate by turning +themselves inside out; the soul is on the outside, crusted all over it, but +none the less soul for all that. + +And New York illustrates this idea of the drama being the representative +art of to-day. The theatre there, including the opera, is a great +established fact,--as important nearly as it was in the palmiest days of +the Athenian republic, or on the road to be of as much consequence as it is +in Paris, the representative city of the world. Fifty thousand people +nightly crowd twenty different theatres in New York. From the splendid +halls where Grisi and Gazzaniga and La Borde and La Grange have by turns +translated into sound the ideas of Meyerbeer and Bellini and Donizetti and +Mozart, to the little rooms where sixpenny tickets procure lager-beer as +well as music for the purchaser, the drama is worshipped. And this not only +by New-Yorkers: not only do those who lead the busy, excited life of the +metropolis acquire a taste, as some might say, for a factitious excitement, +but all strangers hasten to the theatres. The sober farmer, the citizens +from plodding interior towns, the gay Southerners, accustomed almost +exclusively to social amusements, the denizens of rival Bostons and +Philadelphias all frequent the operas and playhouses of New York. When the +richer portion of its inhabitants have left the hot and sultry town, or, in +mid-winter, are immersed in the more exclusive pleasures of fashionable +life, even then the theatres are thronged; and in September and October you +shall find all parts of the country represented in their boxes and +parquets,--proving that this is not an exclusively metropolitan taste, that +it is shared by the whole nation, that in this also New York is truly +representative. + +Boston typifies a peculiar phase of American life; it is the illustration, +the exponent, of the cultivated side of our nationality; its thought, its +action, its character are taken abroad as symbols of the national thought +and action and character, in whatever relates to literature or art. The +Professor said truly, Boston does really in some sort stand for the brain +of America. Well the brain of America appreciates the stage. It is but a +few months since the culture and distinction of Boston nightly crowded a +small and inferior theatre, to witness the personations of the young genius +who is destined at no distant day to rival the proudest names of the drama. +The most brilliant successes Edwin Booth has yet achieved have been +achieved in Boston; scholars and wits and poets and professors crowd the +boxes when he plays; women of talent write poems in his praise and publish +them in the "Atlantic Monthly"; professors of Harvard College send him +congratulatory letters; artists paint and carve his intellectual beauty; +and fashion follows in the wake of intellect, alike acknowledging his +merits. Boston recognized those merits, too, when they were first presented +to its appreciation; and now that they verge nearer upon maturity, her +appreciation is quickened and her applause redoubled. It cannot be said +that the taste or culture of the nation is indifferent to histrionic +excellence, when absolute excellence is found. + +No other art is yet on such a footing among us. Neither is this because of +our partially developed civilization. It is equally so abroad; where the +nations are oldest and best established in culture, there, too, a similar +state of things exists. No school in painting, no style of sculpture, no +kind of architecture has made such an impression on the age as its music, +as its dramatic music, its opera. This speaks to all nations, in all +languages. No writer, though he write like Tennyson, or Longfellow, or +Lamartine, or Dudevant, can hope for such an audience as Verdi or +Meyerbeer. No orator speaks to such crowds as Rossini; no Everett or +Kossuth, or Gavazzi or Spurgeon, has so many listeners as Donizetti. For +the stage is the art of to-day,--perhaps more especially, but still not, +exclusively, the operatic stage; the theatre in its various forms +represents the feeling of the time so as Grecian and Gothic architecture +and Italian painting have in their time done for their time,--so as no +pictures, no architecture, no statuary can now do. Painting and statuary, +when they do anything towards representing this age, incarnate the dramatic +spirit; the literature that has most influence today is journalism,--the +effective, present, actual, short-lived, dramatic newspaper, where all the +actors speak for themselves: other literature has its listeners, but it +lags behind; other art has its appreciators, but it cannot keep pace with +the march of armies, with the rush to California, with the swarm to +Australia; there is no art on these outskirts but the dramatic. That +travels with the advancing mass in every exodus; that went with Dr. Kane to +the North Pole (he had private theatricals aboard the Resolute); that alone +gave utterance immediately to the latest cry of humanity in the Italian +War. + +Neither can it be said that the theatre has no more consequence now than it +has always enjoyed. At the time when Gothic architects and Italian painters +expressed the meaning of their own ages, there was nothing like a real +drama in existence, and the Roman theatre was never comparable with +ours. The Greeks, indeed, had a stage which was an important element of +their civilization, and which took the character of their time, giving and +receiving influence; but their stage was essentially different from that of +the moderns. Its success did not depend upon the individual performer; its +pageantry was perhaps as splendid as what we now see; but the play of the +countenance, that great intellectual opportunity offered an actor by our +drama, was not known. In this see also a characteristic of the present +age. Individuality is a distinctive peculiarity of the nineteenth century; +it has been for centuries gradually becoming more possible; but every man +now works his own way, acts himself, more completely than ever +before. Therefore appropriate is it that the drama should give importance +to the individual, and allow a great actor to incarnate and illustrate in +his own form and face feelings and passions that formerly were only hinted +at; for remember that the Greek players usually wore masks, while their +amphitheatres were so large that in any event the expression of the +features was lost. + +With this individuality, this opportunity for each to develop his own +identity and intensity, the nineteenth century strangely combines another +peculiarity, that of association. All these units, these atoms, so +marvellously distinct, are incorporated into one grand whole; though each +be more, by and of himself, than ever before, yet the great power, the +great motor, is the mass. The mass is made powerful by the added importance +given to each individual. And you may trace without conceit a state of +things behind the scenes very similar to this in front of the +footlights. In the theatre, also, the many workers contribute to a grand +result. The manager would be as powerless in his little empire, without +important assistants, as a monarch without ministers and people. What makes +the French army and the American so irresistible is the thought that each +private is more than a machine, is an intellectual being, understands what +his general wants, fights with his bayonet at Solferino or his musket at +Monterey on his own account, yet subject to the supreme control. And the +theatre, with all its actors and scene-painters and costumers and +carpenters and musicians, is only an army on a different scale. The forces +of the stage answer to the generals and colonels, the marshals and +privates, all marching and working and fighting for the same end. Those +splendid dramatic triumphs of Charles Kean were only illustrations of the +principle of association,--only illustrations of the readiness of the stage +to adapt itself to the times, to seize hold of whatever is suggested by the +outside world, to appropriate the discoveries of Layard and the revelations +of Science to its own uses,--illustrations, too, of the importance of the +individual Kean, as well as of the crowd of clever subordinates. + +That the theatre feels this reflex influence, that it appreciates all that +is going on around it, that it is not asleep, that it is penetrated with +the spirit of the century, whether that spirit be good or evil, the +selection of plays now popular is another proof. In France, where the +success of the histrionic art now culminates, a contemporaneous drama is +flourishing, the absolute society of the day is represented. That society +has faults, and the stage mirrors them. "La Dame aux Camélias," "Les Filles +de Marbre," "Le Demi-Monde" reflect exactly the peculiarities of the life +they aim to imitate. And these very plays, whose influence is so often +condemned, would never have had the popularity they have attained in nearly +every city of the civilized world, had there not been Marguerite Gautiers +and Traviatas outside of Paris as well as in it. Another attempt, perhaps +not an entirely successful one, but still a significant attempt, has been +made in this country to produce a contemporaneous drama. "Jessie Brown" and +"The Poor of New York," and other plays directly daguerreotyping ordinary +incidents, at any rate show that the drama is an art that responds +instantly to the pulses of the time. + +But it ia not necessary for the stage to daguerreotype; it mirrors more +truly when it embodies the spirit. And never before was there an age whose +spirit was more theatrical, in the best sense of the term; full of outside +expression, but also full of inside feeling; working, accomplishing, +putting into actual form its ideas; incarnating its passions; intellectual, +yet passionate; lofty in imagination, yet practical in exemplification; +showy, but significantly showy,--theatrical. An art, then, that is all +this, surely expresses as no other art does or can the character of the +nineteenth century,--surely is the representative art. + + * * * * * + + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +THE EVIL EYE AND OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. + + +I have already, in a former article, spoken of some of the superstitions +belonging to the Church which are prevalent in Italy; but there are other, +and, so to speak, _lay_ superstitions, which also claim a place,--and to +them this chapter shall be dedicated. + +It is dangerous ground, a twilight marsh, where the will-o'-wisps light us, +over which I propose to lead you; and had I not armed myself with all sorts +of amulets, I should shrink from the enterprise. But the famous weapon with +which Luther drove away the Evil One is at my side, potent as evil, I hope, +so long as a pen can be put into it,--and Saint Dunstan's friend is in the +corner, ready, at a pinch, for service; and having shut out all those +spirits which so sorely tempted Saint Anthony, and locked my door to dark +eyes and blue eyes and dark hair and blonde hair, I may hope to get through +my dangerous chapter, and-- + +Strange fatality!--one of Saint Anthony's spirits tempts me from the other +room, even at the moment I boast; but I resist,--manfully dipping my pen +into Luther's stronghold,--and it vanishes, and leaves me face to face +with--the Evil Eye. Yes! it is the Evil Eye, the _Jettatura_ of Italy, that +we are boldly to face for an hour. + +This is one of the oldest and most interesting superstitions that have come +down to us from the past; and as it still lives and flourishes in Italy +with a singular vitality and freshness, it may be worth while to trace it +back to some of its early sources. Its birth-place was the East, where it +existed in dillomnt forms amongst almost every people. Thence it was +imported into Greece, where it was called _Baskania_, and was adopted by +the Romans under the name of _Fascinum_. Solomon himself alludes to it in +the Book of Wisdom. Isigonus relates that among the Triballi and Illyrii +there were men who by a glance fascinated and killed those whom they looked +upon with angry eyes; and Nymphodorus asserts that there were fascinators +whose voices had the power to destroy flocks, to blast trees, and to kill +infants. In Scythia, also, according to Apollonides, there were women of +this class, "_quoe vocantur Bithyoe_"; and Phylarchus says that in Pontus +there was a tribe, called the Thibii, and many others, of the same nature +and having the same powers. The testimony of Algazeli is to the same +effect; and he adds, that these fascinators have a peculiar power over +women. We have also the testimony of Aristotle, Pliny, and Plutarch, who +all speak as believers, while Solinus enumerates certain families of +fascinators who exerted their influence _voce et linguâ_, and Philostratus +makes special mention of Apolloius Thyaneus as having been possessed of +these wonderful powers. Indeed, nearly all the old writers agree in +recognizing the existence of the faculty of fascination; and among the +Romans it was so universally admitted, that in the "Decemvirales Tabulae" +there was a law prohibiting the exercise of it under a capital +penalty:--"_Ne pelliciunto alienas segeles, excantando, ne incantando; ne +agrum defraudanto._" Some jurisconsults skilled in the ancient law say that +boys are sometimes fascinated by the burning eyes of these infected men so +as to lose all their health and strength. Pliny relates that one Caius +Furius Cresinus, a freedman, having been very successful in cultivating his +farms, became an object of envy, and was publicly accused of poisoning by +arts of fascination his neighbors' fruits; whereupon he brought into the +Forum his daughter, ploughs, tools, and oxen, and, pointing to them, +said,--"These which I have brought, and my labor, sweat, watching, and +care, (which I cannot bring,) are all my arts." Let those who consider the +moving of tables as wonderful listen to the surprising statement of Pliny +as to an occurrence in his own time, when a whole olive-orchard belonging +to a certain Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, crossed over the public +way, and took its place, ground and all, on the other side. [Footnote: +Plinii _Nat. Hist._ Lib. xvii. cap. 38.] This same fact is also alluded to +by Virgil in his Eighth Eclogue, on _Pharmaceutria_ (all of which, by the +way, he stole from Theocritus):-- + +"Atque satas aliò vidi traducere messes." + +"Now," says the worthy Vairus, who has written an elaborate treatise on +this subject in Latin, well worthy to be examined, "let no man laugh at +these stories as old wives' tales, (_aniles nugas_,) nor, because the +reason passes our knowledge, let us turn them into ridicule, for infinite +are the things which we cannot understand, (_infinita enim prope sunt +quorum rationem adipisci nequimus_); but rather than turn all miracles out +of Nature because we cannot understand them, let us make that fact the +beginning and reason of investigation. For does not Solomon in his Book of +Wisdom say, '_Fascinatio malignitatis obscurat bona'?_ and does not Dominus +Paulus cry out to the Galatians, '_O insensati Galatoe, quis vos +fascinavit'?_ which the best interpreters admit to refer to those whose +burning eyes (_oculos urentes_) with a single look blast all persons, and +especially boys." + +It seems to have been a peculiarity in the superstitions as to the +_fascinum_, that boys and women were specially susceptible to its +influence; and in this respect, as well as in some of the symptoms of +fascination, it bears a curious resemblance to the effects of modern +witchcraft as practised in New England. Dionysius Carthusianus, speaking of +the nomad tribes of the Biarmii and Amaxobii, who, according to him, were +most skilful fascinators, says that they so affected persons with their +curse that they lost their freedom of will and became insane and idiotic, +and often wasted away in extreme leanness and corruption, and so perished: +"_ut liberi non sint nec mentis compotes, soepe ad extremam maciem +deveniant, et tabescendo dispereant._" Olaus Magnus agrees with him in +these symptoms; and Hieronymus says, that, when infants suddenly grow lean, +waste away, twist about as if in pain, and sometimes scream out and cry in +a wonderful way, you may be certain that they have been fascinated. This, +to be sure, looks mightily like a diagnosis for worms; but we would not +measure our wits with the grave Hieronymus. Still, as an amulet against +such fascination, "Jaynes's Vermifuge" might be suggested as efficient, or +at least a grain or two of _Santonina_. + +In Abyssinia, it is supposed that men who work in iron or pottery are +peculiarly endowed with this fatal power of fascination, and in consequence +of this prejudice they are expelled from society and even from the +privilege of partaking of the holy sacrament. They are known by the name of +_Buda_, and, though excluded from the more sacred rites of the Church, +profess great respect for religion, and are surpassed by none in the +strictness of their fasts. All convulsions and hysterical disorders are +attributed to these unfortunate artificers; and they are also supposed to +have the power of changing themselves into hyenas and other ravenous +beasts. Nathaniel Pearce, the African traveller, relates that the +Abyssinians are so fully convinced that these unhappy men are in the habit +of rifling graves in their character of hyenas, that no one will venture to +eat _quareter_ or dried meat in their houses, nor any flesh, unless it be +raw, or unless they have seen it killed. These Budas usually wear earrings +of a peculiar shape, and Pearce states that he has frequently seen them in +the ears of hyenas that have been caught or trapped, and confesses, that, +although he had taken considerable pains to investigate the subject, he had +never been able to discover how these ornaments came there; and Mr. Coffin, +his friend, relates a story of one of these transformations which took +place under his own eyes. [Footnote: Herodotus makes the same statement as +to the Buda. "They are said to be evil-minded and enchanters," he says, +"that for a day every year change themselves into wolves. This the +Scythians and Greeks who dwell there affirm with great oaths. But they do +not persuade me of it."--Herod. Lib. iii. cap. 7. + +See on this subject _Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce_, and _Nubia +and Abyssinia_, by Rev. Michael Russell. Petronius's story of a Versipelles +is well known.] + +This is the old superstition of the were-wolf, which existed also among the +Greeks and Romans. Those endowed with this power of transforming themselves +into beasts were called _Versipelles_. Pliny makes mention of them, and +cites from a Greek author the case of a man "who lived nine years in the +shape of a wolf"; but, credulous as he is, he says that the superstition +"is a fabulous opinion, not worthy of credit." For myself, I can say that I +have known many men who were wolves; and we all remember what Queen Labe +used to do with her lovers. + +Fascination was of two kinds, moral and natural. Those in whom the power +was moral could exert it only by the exercise of their will; but those in +whom it was natural could but keep exercising it unconsciously. And these +latter were the most terrible. It is generally explained by ancient writers +as being a power of the spirit or imagination, (as they termed it.) +exhibited in persons of a peculiar organization, and diffusing _radios +salutares vel perniciosos_. Though the terms employed by them, as well as +their notions of its origin, are very unphilosophical and vague, it is +plain that they considered it as a species of mesmeric or biologic power, +operating by nervous impression. The fascinator generally endeavored to +provoke in his victims an excited and pleased attention, for in this +condition they were peculiarly predisposed to his influence. And inasmuch +as persons are thrown off their guard of reserve and attracted by praise, +those who flattered excessively were looked upon with suspicion; and it was +a universally recognized rule of good manners and morals, that every one in +praising another should be careful not to do so immoderately, lest he +should fascinate even against his will. Hieronymus Fracastorius, in his +treatise "On Sympathy and Antipathy," thus states the fact and the +philosophy,--and who shall dare gainsay the conclusions of one so learned +in science, medicine, and astrology as this distinguished man?--"We read," +he says, "that there were certain families in Crete who fascinated by +praising, and this is doubtless quite possible. For as there exists in the +nature of some persons a poison which is ejaculated through their eyes by +evil spirits, there is no reason why infants and even grown persons should +not be peculiarly injured by this fascination of praise. For praise creates +a peculiar pleasure, and pleasure in turn, as we have already said, first +dilates and opens the heart and then the spirit, and then the whole face +and especially the eyes,--so that all these doors are opened to receive the +poison which is ejaculated by the fascinator. Wherefore it is most proper, +whenever we intend to praise a person, that we should warn him, and use +some form to avert the ill effects of our words, as by saying, 'May it be +of no injury to you!' There are, indeed, some, who, when they are praised, +avert their faces, not to indicate that praise in itself is unpleasant, but +to avoid fascination; it being thought that fascination is often effected +by means of praise";[1] or in other words, the poison being given in the +honey of flattery. Now in order to close up this _dilatationem_ or opening +of the system, a _corona baccaris_ was worn, which, by its odoriferous and +constipating qualities, produced this effect, as Dioscorides assures us.[2] +Virgil, in his Seventh Eclogue, alludes to the same, antidote:-- + +"Aut si ultra placitum laudant, baccare frontem + Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro." + +[Footnote 1: Hier. Fracastorius, _De Sympathiâ et Antipathiâ_, +Lib. i. cap. 23. See also Vincentius Alsarius, _De Invid. et Fasc. Vet._, +in Graevius, _Thes. Rom. Antiq._ Vol. xii. p. 890.] + +[Footnote 2: Lib. iii. cap. 46, confirmed also by Athenaeus, _Deipnos_. +Lib. iii.] + +Tertullian, in his work "De Virginibus Velandis," states the same fact as +Fracastorius, and says that among the heathens there are persons who are +possessed of a terrible somewhat which they call _Fascinum_, effected by +excessive praise: _"Nam est aliquod etiam apud Ethnicos metuendum, quod +Fascinum vocant, infeliciorem laudis et gloriae enormioris eventum_." + +To avert this evil influence, every well-mannered person among the ancients +said, "_Proefiscine_," before wishing well to another,--as clearly appears +from the following passage cited by Charisius [Footnote: _Inst. Gram._ +Lib. iv.] from Titinius in "Setina." One person exclaims, "_Paula mea, +amabo----_" Whereupon a friend who stands by says, "He was going to praise +Paula!" "_Ecce qui loquitur, Paulam puellam laudare parabat!_" And another +friend present cries out, "By Pollux! you should better say, +'_Proefiscini_,' or you may fascinate her": "_Pol! tu in laudem addito +Proefiscini, ne puella fascinaretur_." [Footnote: See also Turnebi +_Comm. in Orat. Sec. contra P.S. Rullum de Leg. Agrar._ M.T. Ciceronis.] +This same custom exists at the present day among the Turks, who always +accompany a compliment to you or to anything belonging to you with the +phrase, _"Mashallah!"_ (God be praised!)--thus referring the good gifts you +possess to the Higher Spirit. To omit this is a breach of courtesy, and in +such case the other person instantly adds it in order to avert fascination; +for the superstition is, that, if this phrase be omitted, we may seem to +refer all good gifts to our own merit instead of God's grace, and so +provoke the divine wrath. The same custom also exists in Italy; and the +common reply to any salutation in which your looks or health may be +complimented is, "_Grazia a Dio!_" In some parts of Italy, if you praise a +pretty child in the street, or even if you look earnestly at it, the nurse +will be sure to say, "_Dio la benedica!_" so as to cut off all ill-luck; +and if you happen to be walking with a child and catch any person watching +it, such person will invariably employ some such phrase to show you that he +does not mean to do it injury, or to cast a spell of _jettatura_ upon +it. The modern Greeks are even more jealous of praise, and if you +compliment a child of theirs, you are expected to spit three times at him +and say, [Greek: Na maen baskanthaes], ("May no evil come to you!") or +mutter [Greek: Skordo], ("Garlic,") which has a special power as a +counter-charm. So, too, in Corsica, the peasants are strict believers in +the _jettatura_ of praise, which they call _l'annocchiatura_,--supposing, +that, if any evil influence attend you, your good wishes will turn into +curses. They are therefore very careful in praising, and sometimes express +themselves in language the very reverse of what they intend,--as, "'_Va, +coquine!'_ says Bandalaccio, in M. Merimée's pleasant story of "Colomba," +'_sois excommuniée, sois maudite, friponne!' Car Bandalaccio, superstitieux +comme tous les bandits, craignait de fasciner les enfans en les addressant +les bénédictions et les éloges. On sait que les puissances mystérieuses qui +président à l'annocchiatura ont la mauvaise habitude d'exécuter le +contraire de nos souhaits._" Perhaps our familiar habit of calling our +children "scamp" and "rascal," when we are caressing them, may be founded +on a worn-out superstition of the same kind. + +But it is not only praise administered by others which may inflict evil +upon us,--we must also be specially careful not to have too "gude a conceit +of ourselves," lest we thereby draw down upon us the fate of a certain +Eutelidas, who, having regarded his image in the water with peculiar +self-satisfaction and laudation, immediately lost his health, and from that +time forward was afflicted with sore diseases. During a supper at the house +of Metrius Florus, where, among others, Plutarch, Soclarus, and Caius, the +son-in-law of Florus, were guests, a curious and interesting conversation +took place on the subject of the _Fascinum_, which is reported by Plutarch +in one of his Symposia. The existence of the power of fascination was +admitted by all, and a philosophical explanation of its phenomena was +attempted. In reply to some suggestions of Plutarch, Soclarus says there is +no doubt that their ancestors fully believed in this power, and then cites +the case of Eutelidas as being well known to his auditors, and celebrated +by some poet in these lines:-- + + "Eutelidas was once a beauteous youth, + But, luckless, in the wave his face beholding, + Himself he fascinates, and pines away." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Plutarchi _Symp_. V. Prob. VII.] + +Fascination was excited by touch, voice, and look. The fascination by touch +was simply mesmerism, or rather the biology of the present day, in an +undeveloped stage. There were said to be four qualities of +touch,--_calidus, humidus, frigidus, et siccus_, or hot, cold, moist, and +dry,--according to which persons were active or passive in the exercise of +the fascinum. Its function was double, by raising or by lowering the +arm,--"_modo per arteriæ elevationem, modo per ejusdem submissionem_" says +the worthy Vairits; "for," he continues, "when the artery is thrown out and +is open, the spirits are emitted with wonderful celerity, and in some +imperceptible manner are carried to the thing to fascinate it. And because +the artery has its origin in the heart, the spirits issuing thence retain +its infected and vitiated nature, and according to its depravity fascinate +and destroy." + +This power of touch is recognized in all history and in all climes. All who +saw Christ desired to touch his garment, and so receive some healing +virtue; and his miracles of cure he almost always performed by his +hand. When the woman who had the issue of blood came behind him and touched +him, Jesus asked who touched him, and said,--"Somebody hath touched me; for +I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." It has always been a popular +superstition that the scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king or of +the seventh son of a seventh son. The old belief that the body of a +murdered man would distill blood, if his murderer's hand were placed on +him, is also of the same class. + +Descending to the sphere of animals, we find some curious facts having +relation to this power. The electrical eel, for instance, has the faculty +of overcoming and numbing his prey by this means. And among the Arabs, +according to Gerard, the French lion-killer, whoever inhales the breath of +the lion goes mad. + +Dr. Livingstone, in his interesting travels in South Africa, makes a +curious statement bearing upon this subject. He was out shooting lions one +day, when, "after having shot once, just," he says, "as I was in the act of +ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, +I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little +height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground +below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a +terrier-dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which +seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a +sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of +terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all +the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the +result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no +sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is +probably produced in all animals killed by the _carnivora_, and, if so, is +a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of +death." + +The next method of fascination was by the Voice. Aristotle speaks of it as +the cause of fascination, and says that the mere sound of the fascinator's +voice has this wondrous power, independently of his good or ill will, as +well as of the words he uses. And Alexander Aphrodisiensis calls the +fascinators poisoners, who poison their victim by intently looking at him +_carmine prolato_, "with a measured song or cadence." The same peculiarity +is observable in all experiments with the moving tables or rapping spirits, +which are more successful when accompanied by constant music. Circe +fascinated with incantation; and the Psalmist alludes to it as a means of +charming. Serpents, as well as men, are thus charmed. Virgil says, that, if +to this incantation by words certain herbs are joined, the fascination +works with more terrible effect:-- + + "Pocula si quando sævae infecêre novercæ, + Miscueruntque herbas et non irmoxia verba, + Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena." + +It is related of a certain magician, that, when he whispered in the ear of +a bull, he could prostrate him to the earth as if he were dead; [Footnote: +Vairus, _De Fascino_. p. 24.] and in our own time we have had an example +of the same wonderful faculty in Sullivan, the famous horse-whisperer, +whose secret died with him, or, at least, never was made public. Pliny also +relates, that tigers are rendered so furious by the sound of the drum, that +they often end by tearing themselves limb from limb in their rage; but I am +afraid this is one of Pliny's stories. Plutarch, however, agrees with him +in this belief.[Footnote: Plut. _Præcepta Conjugialia_.] + +And next as to the Evil Eye ([Greek: ophthalmos baskanos]). From the +earliest ages of the world, the potency of the eye in fascination has been +recognized. "Nihil oculo nequius creatum" says the Preacher; and the +philosopher calls it alter animus, "another spirit." "It sends forth its +rays," says Vairus, "like spears and arrows, to charm the hearts of men": +"veluti jacula et sagittæ ad effascinandorum corda." And it carries +disease and death, as well as love and delight, in its course: "Totumque +corpus inficiunt, atque ita (nullâ interpositâ morâ) arbores, segetes, +bruta animalia et homines perniciosâ qualitate inficiunt et ad interitum +deducunt." Vairus relates that a friend of his saw a fascinator simply with +a look break in two a precious gem while in the hands of the artist who was +working upon it. Horace thua alludes to it:-- + + "Non isthic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam + Limat; non odio obscuro morsuque venenat." + +Among the diseases given by a glance are ophthalmia and jaundice, say the +ancients; and in these cases, the fascinator loses the disease as his +victim takes it A similar peculiarity is to be remarked in the superstition +of the basilisk, who kills, if he sees first, but when he is seen first, +dies. No animals, it is said, can bear the steady gaze of man, and there +are some persons who by this means seem to exercise a wonderful power over +them. Animals, however, have sometimes their revenge on man. It is an old +superstition, that he whom the wolf sees first loses his voice. Among +themselves, also, they use this power of charming,--as in the case of the +serpent, who thus attracts the bird, and of the toad, the "jewels in whose +head" have a like magical influence. Dr. Andrew Smith, in his excellent +work on "Reptilia," gives the following interesting account of the power of +the serpent, and of other animals, to fascinate their prey. Speaking of the +_Bucephalus Capetisis_, he says,-- + +"It is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of +catching birds, on which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in +a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighborhood, who +collect round it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing cries, +until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, +and, almost without resistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such a +proceeding, the snake is generally observed with its head raised about ten +or twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are +entwined, with its mouth open and its neck inflated, as if anxiously +endeavoring to increase the terror, which it would almost appear it was +aware would sooner or later bring within its grasp some one of the +feathered group. + +"Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true +that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable +to retire from the presence of certain of their enemies, and, what is even +more extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a +situation of actual safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I +have often seen exemplified in the case of birds and snakes; and I have +heard of instances equally curious, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds +have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance of crocodiles, and by the +grimaces and distortions they practised, as to be unable to fly or even +move from the spot towards which they were approaching to seize them." + +The fascination which fire and flame exercise upon certain insects is well +known, and the beautiful moths which so painfully insist on sacrificing +themselves in our candle are the commonplaces of poets and lovers. They are +generally supposed to be attracted by the light and ignorantly to rush to +their destruction; but this simple explanation does not fully account for +all the facts. Dr. Livingstone says, that "fire exercises a fascinating +effect upon some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the +evenings, without even starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot +embers rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the +hottest parts, and they never cease their struggles for the centre even +when their juices are coagulating and their limbs stiffening in the +roasting heat. Various insects also are thus fascinated; but the scorpions +may be seen coming away from the fire in fierce disgust, and they are so +irritated as to inflict at that time their most painful stings." + +May it not be that flame exercises upon certain insects and animals an +influence similar to that produced upon man by the moon, rendering them mad +when subjected too long to its influence? Is not the moon the Evil Eye of +the night? + +A curious story, bearing upon this subject, is told in one of a series of +interesting articles in "Household Words," called "Wanderings in India." +The author is talking with an old soldier about a cobra-capello, which has +been known to the latter for thirteen years. + +"This cobra," says the soldier, "has never offered to do me any harm; and +when I sing, as I sometimes do when I am alone here at work on some tomb or +other, he will crawl up and listen for two or three hours together. One +morning, while he was listening, he came in for a good meal, which lasted +him some days." + +"How was that?" + +"I will tell you, Sir. A minar was chased by a small hawk, and, in despair, +came and perched itself on the top of a most lofty tomb at which I was at +work. The hawk, with his eyes fixed intently on his prey, did not, I fancy, +see the snake lying motionless in the grass; or, if he did see him, he did +not think he was a snake, but something else,--my crowbar, perhaps. After a +little while, the hawk pounced down, and was just about to give the minar a +blow and a grip, when the snake suddenly lifted his head, raised his hood, +and hissed. The hawk gave a shriek, fluttered, flapped his wings with all +his might, and tried very hard to fly away. But it would not do. Strong as +the eye of the hawk was, the eye of the snake was stronger. The hawk, for a +time, seemed suspended in the air; but at last he was obliged to come down +and sit opposite the old gentleman, (the snake,) who commenced with his +forked tongue, and keeping his eyes on him all the while, to slime his +victim all over. This occupied him for at least forty minutes, and by the +time the process was over the hawk was perfectly motionless. I don't think +he was dead,--but he was very soon, however, for the old gentleman put him +into a coil or two and crackled up every bone in the hawk's body. He then +gave him another sliming, made a big mouth, distended his neck till it was +as big round as the thickest part of my arm, and down went the hawk like a +shin of beef into a beggar-man's bag." [Footnote: _Household Words_, +Jan. 23, 1858, vol. xvii., P. 139.] + +The same writer, in another paper, relates a case in which he was cured of +a violent attack of _tic-douloureux_, from which he "suffered extreme +agonies," by the steady gaze of a native doctor, who was called in for the +purpose. He used no other method than a fixed, steady gaze, making no +mesmeric passes; and in this way he cured his patients by "locking up their +eyes," as he termed it. His power seemed to have been very great; and what +is curious is, that, "with one exception, and that was in the case of a +Keranu, a half-caste, no patient had ever fallen asleep or had become +'_beehosh_' (unconscious) under his gaze." He related several cases, one of +which was of "a sahib who had gone mad," drink-delirious. "His wife would +not suffer him to be strapped down, and he was so violent that it took four +or five other sahibs to hold him. I was sent for, and at first had great +difficulty with him, and much trembling. At last, however, I locked his +eyes up as soon as I got him to look at me, and kept him, for several +hours, as quiet as a mouse. I stayed with him two days, and whatever I told +him to do he did immediately. When I got his eyes fixed on mine, he could +not take them away,--could not move." + +All these different kinds of fascination have now become united together +and go under the general name of _Jettatura_, in Italy, though the eye is +considered as the most potent and terrible charmer. The superstition is +universal, and pervades all modes of thought among the ignorant classes, +but its sanctuary is Naples. There it is as much a matter of faith as the +Madonna and San Gennaro. Every coral-shop is filled with amulets, and +everybody wears a counter-charm,--ladies on their arms, gentlemen on their +watch-chains, lazzaroni on their necks. If you are going to Italy,--and as +all the world now goes to Italy, you will join the endless caravan, of +course,--it becomes a matter of no small importance for you to know the +signs by which you may recognize the fascinator, and the means by which you +may avert his evil influence; for, should you fall in his way and be +unprotected, direful, indeed, might be the consequences. Sudden disease, +like a pestilence at mid-day, might seize you, and on those lovely shores +you might pine away and die. Dreadful accidents might overwhelm you and +bury all your happiness forever. Therefore be wise in time. + +"Women," says Vairus, "have more power to fascinate than men"; but the +reason he gives will not, I fear, recommend itself to the sex,--for the +worthy _padre_ feared women as devils. According to him, their evil +influence results from their unbridled passions: "_Quia irascendi et +concupiscendi animi vim adeo effrenatam habent, ut nullo modo ab irâ et +cupiditate sese temperare valeant_." (Certainly, he _is_ a wretch.) But it +will be some consolation to know that the young and beautiful have far less +power for evil than "little old women," (_aniculas_,) and for these you +must specially look out. But most of all to be dreaded, male or female, are +those who are lean and melancholy by temperament, ("lean and hungry +Cassiuses,") and who have double pupils in their eyes, or in one eye a +double pupil and in the other the figure of a horse. Perhaps Mr. Squeers +and all of his kind come within this class, as having more than one pupil +always in their eye,--but, specially, this rule would seem to warn us +against jockey schoolmasters, with a horse in one eye and several pupils in +the other. Those, too, are dangerous, according to Didymus, who have +hollow, pit-like eyes, sunken under concave orbits, with great projecting +eyebrows,--as well as those who emit a disagreeable odor from their +armpits, (_con rispetto_,) and are remarkable for a general squalor of +complexion and appearance. Persons also are greatly to be suspected who +squint, or have sea-green, shining, terrible eyes. "One of these," says +Didymus, "I knew,--a certain Spaniard, whose name it is not permitted me to +mention,--who, with black and angry countenance and truculent eyes, having +reprimanded his servant for something or other, the latter was so overcome +by fear and terror, that he was not only affected with fascination, but +even deprived of his reason, and a melancholic humor attacking his whole +body, he became utterly insane, and, in the very house of his master, next +the Church of St. James, committed suicide, by hanging himself with a +rope." [Footnote: The passage from Didymus is this: "Macilenti et +melancholici, qui binas pupillas in oculis habent, aut in uno oculo geminam +pupillam, in altero effigiem equi,--quique oculos concavos ac veluti +quibusdam quasi foveis reconditos gerunt, exhaustoque adeo universo humore +ut ossa,--quibus palpebræ coherent, eminere, hirquique sordibus scatere +cernuntur,--quibus in tota cute quæ faciem obducit squallor et situs +immoderatus conspicitur, facillime fascinant. Strabones, glaucos, micantes +et terribiles oculos habentes quæcumque et iratis oculis aspiciunt fascino +inficiunt. Et _ego_ hisce oculis Romæ quondam Hispanum genere vidi, quem +nominare non licet, qui cum truculentis oculis tetro et irato vultu servum +ob nescio quod objurgâsset, adeo servus ille timore ac terrore perterritus +fuit, ut non modo fascino affectus, sed rationis usu privatus fuerit, et +melancholico humore totum ejus corpus invadente, ita ad insaniam redactus +fuit, ut in domo sui heri prope ecclesiam Divi Jacobi sibi mortem +consciverit et laqueo vitam finiverit."] + +_Moral_.--If you ever meet with such an agreeable person as this Spaniard +appears to have been,--look out! + +In this connection, the reader will recall the similar power of Vathek, in +Beckford's romance, who killed with his eye,--and the story of Racine, whom +a look of Louis XIV. sent to his grave. + +The famous Albertus Magnus, master of medicine and magic, devotes a long +chapter to the subject of eyes, giving us, at length, descriptions of those +which we may trust and those which we must fear, some of them terrible and +vigorous enough. From among them I select the following:--"Those who have +hollow eyes are noted for evil; and the larger and moister they are, the +more they indicate envy. The same eyes, when dry, show the possessors to be +faithless, traitorous, and sacrilegious; and if these eyes are also yellow +and cold, they argue insanity. For hollow eyes are the sign of craft and +malignity; and if they are wanting in darkness, they also show +foolishness. But if the eyes are too hollow, and of medium size, dry and +rigid,--if, besides this, they have broad, overhanging eyebrows, and livid +and pallid circles round them, they indicate impudence and malignity." +[Footnote: Albertus Magnus, _De Animâ_.] If this be not enough to enable +you, O my reader, to recognise the Evil Eye at sight, let me refer you to +the whole chapter, where you will find ample and very curious rules laid +down, showing a singular acuteness of observation. + +Things have, indeed, somewhat changed since the days of Didymus, in this +respect, that men are now thought to be more potent for evil _jettatura_ +than women; but his general views still coincide with those entertained at +the present time in Italy. Ever since the establishment, or rather +decadence, of the Church in the Middle Ages, monks have been considered as +peculiarly open to suspicion of possessing the Evil Eye. As long ago as the +ninth century, in the year 842, Erchempert, a _frate_ of the celebrated +convent of Monte Cassino, writes,--"I knew formerly Messer Landulf, Bishop +of Capua, a man of singular prudence, who was wont to say, 'Whenever I meet +a monk, something unlucky always happens to me during the day.'" And to +this day, there are many persons, who, if they meet a monk or priest, on +first going out in the morning, will not proceed upon their errand or +business until they have returned to their house and waited awhile. In Rome +there are certain persons who are noted for this evil power, and marked and +avoided in consequence. One of them is a most pleasant and handsome man, +attached to the Church, and yet, by odd coincidence, wherever he goes, he +carries ill-luck. If he go to a party, the ices do not arrive, the music is +late, the lamps go out, a storm comes on, the waiter smashes his tray of +refreshments,--something or other is sure to happen. "_Sentite_," said some +one the other day to me. "Yesterday, I was looking out of my window, when +I saw ---- coming along. 'Phew!' said I, making the sign of the cross and +pointing both fingers, 'what ill-luck will happen now to some poor devil +that does not see him?' I watched him all down the street, however, and +nothing occurred; but this morning I hear, that, after turning the corner, +he spoke to a poor little boy, who was up in a tree gathering some fruit, +and no sooner was out of sight than smash! down fell the boy and broke his +arm." Even the Pope himself has the reputation of possessing the Evil Eye +to some extent. Ask a Roman how this is, and he will answer, as one did to +me the other day,--"_Si dice, e per me veramente mi pare di sì_": "They say +so; and as for me, really it seems to me true. If he have not the +_jettatura_, it is very odd that everything he blesses makes _fiasco_. We +all did very well in the campaign of '48 against the Austrians. We were +winning battle after battle, and all was gayety and hope, when suddenly he +blesses the cause, and everything goes to the Devil at once. Nothing +succeeds with anybody or anything when he wishes well to them. See, here +the other day he went to Santa Agnese to have a great festival, and down +goes the floor, and the people are all smashed together. Then he visits the +column to the Madonna in the Piazza di Spagna, and blesses it and the +workmen, and of course one falls from the scaffolding the same day and +kills himself. A week or two ago he arranged to meet the King of Naples at +Porto d'Anzo, and up comes a violent storm and gale that lasts a week; +then another arrangement was made, and then the fracas about the ex-queen +of Spain. Then, again, here was Lord O----- came in the other day from +Albano, being rather unwell; so the Pope sends him his special blessing, +when pop! he dies right off in a twinkling. There is nothing so fatal as +his blessing. We were a great deal better off under Gregory, before he +blessed us. Now, if he hasn't the _jettatura_, what is it that makes +everything turn out at cross purposes with him? For my part, I don't wonder +the workmen at the Column refused to work the other day in raising it, +unless the Pope stayed away." + +No less a person than Rachel seems also to have been affected with this +same superstition in regard to the Pope, if we may place confidence in the +strange story which Madame de B----- relates in her memoirs of that +celebrated daughter of Israel. According to her account, Rachel had been on +a visit to her sister, who was quite ill in the Pyrenees, when one day the +disease appeared to take so favorable a turn that Rachel left her to visit +another sister. There she met several friends, and, (to continue the story +in Madame de B-----'s words,) "exhilarated by the good news she had +brought, and the hopes all hastened to build on the change, she began to +chat and laugh quite merrily. In the midst of this exuberant gayety, her +maid broke into the room in a state of great excitement; a fit had come on, +the patient was in much danger, the physician desired Mdlle. Rachel's +immediate presence. Rising with the bound of a wounded tigress, the +_tragédienne_ seemed to seek, bewildered, some cause for the blow that had +fallen thus unexpectedly. Her eye lighted on a rosary blessed by the Pope, +and which she had worn round her arm as a bracelet ever since her visit to +Rome. Without, perhaps, accounting to herself for the belief, she had +attached some talismanic virtue to the beads. Now, however, in the height +of her rage and disappointment, she tore them from her wrist, and, dashing +them to the ground, exclaimed, 'Oh, fatal gift! 'tis thou hast entailed +this curse upon me!' With these words, she sprang out of the room, leaving +every one in mute astonishment at her frantic action." On the 23d of June, +immediately after, the sister died. + +And yet the Pope does not at all answer to the accredited portraits of +those who have the Evil Eye. He is fat, smiling, and most pleasant of +aspect, as he is good in heart. But, certainly, nothing has prospered that +he has touched. Read Dumas' description, and see if you should have +recognized the Pope as a _jettatore_. "_Le Jettatore_," says he, "_est +ordinairement pâle et maigre. II a un nez en bec de corbin, de gros yeux +qui ont quelque chose de ceux de crapaud, et qu'il recouvre ordinairement +pour les dissimuler d'une paire de lunettes._" But it is the exception that +proves the rule, say those who insist on the _jettatura_ of Pius IX. + +Dumas also speaks of a work on the _jettatura_, which I have vainly +endeavored to procure, written by Nicola Valetta; and from what one can +gather from the heads of the chapters which Dumas gives, it must be a very +amusing book. [Footnote: The title of this work is _Cicalata sul Fascino, +volgarmente detto Jettatura_, by Nicola Valetta. It was published more than +fifty years since, and copies are now rare.] These heads are as +follows. They speak for themselves, and show the fear entertained of a +monk. He examines:-- + +"1. If a man inflicts a more terrible _jettatura_ than a woman? + +"2. If he who wears a peruke is more to be feared than he who wears none? + +"3. If he who wears spectacles is not more to be feared than he who wears a +peruke? + +"4. If he who takes tobacco is not more to be feared than he who wears +spectacles? and if spectacles, peruke, and snuff-box combined do not triple +the force of the _jettatura?_ + +"5. If the woman _jettatrice_ is more to be feared when she is _enceinte?_ + +"6. If there is still more to be feared from her when she is certain that +she is not _enceinte?_ + +"7. If monks are more generally _jettatori_ than other men? and among monks +what order is most to be feared? + +"8. At what distance can _jettatura_ be made? + +"9. Must it be made in front, or at the side, or behind? + +"10. If there are really gestures, sounds of voice, and particular looks, +by which _jettatura_ may be recognized? + +"11. If there are prayers which can guaranty us against the _jettatura?_ +and if so, whether there are any special prayers to guaranty us against the +_jettatura_ of monks? + +"12. Lastly, whether the power of modern talismans is equal to the power of +ancient talismans? and whether the single or the double horn is most +efficacious?" + +Luckless, indeed, is he who has the misfortune to possess, or the +reputation of possessing this fatal power. From that time forward the world +flees him, as the water did Thalaba. A curse is on him, and from the very +terror at seeing him accidents are most likely to follow. Keep him from +your children, or they will break their legs, arms, or necks. Look not at +him from your carriage, or it will upset. Let him not see your wife when +she is _enceinte,_ or she will miscarry, or you will have a monster for a +son. Never invite him to a ball, unless you wish to see your chandelier +smash, or the floor give way. Invite him not to dinner, or your mushrooms +will poison you, and your fish will smell. If he wishes you _buon viaggio_, +abandon the journey, if you would return alive. Nor be deceived by his good +manners and kind heart. It is of no avail that he is amiable and good in +all his intentions,--his _jettatura_ is without and beyond his will,--nay, +worse, is contrary to it; for all _jettatura_ goes like dreams, by +contraries. Therefore shudder when he wishes you well, for he can do no +worse thing. + +If you do not believe what I tell you, read the wonderful story of Count +----- which is told by Dumas in his "Corriccolo," and at least you will be +amused, if not convinced. Listen, however, to this one historical incident, +and believe it or not, as you please. Ferdinand of Naples died on the night +of the 3d of January, 1825, and was found dead in the morning. The +physicians attributed his death to a stroke of apoplexy; but that was in +consequence of their pretended science and real ignorance. The actual cause +of his death was this,--and if you do not believe it, ask any true +Neapolitan, or Alexander Dumas, if you put more faith in him.--A certain +_canonico,_ named Don Ojori, had for many years desired an audience of +Ferdinand, to present him a certain book, of which Don Ojori was the +author. The King had his good reasons for refusing, for Don Ojori was well +known to be the greatest _jettatore_ in Naples. Finally, on the 2d of +January, the King was persuaded to grant him the desired favor the next +day, much against his will. The _canonico_ came, and after a long audience +left his book and many prayers for the King's prosperity. But Ferdinand did +not survive the interview a whole day; and if this be not proof that Don +Ojori bewitched him to his destruction, what is? + + * * * * * + + + +PYTHAGORAS. + +Above the petty passions of the crowd +I stand in frozen marble like a god, +Inviolate, and ancient as the moon. +The thing I am, and not the thing Man is, +Fills these blank sockets. Let him moan and die; +For he is dust that shall be laid again: +I know my own creation was divine. +Strewn on the breezy continents I see +The veined shells and glistening scales which once +Enwrapt my being,--husks that had their use; +I brood on all the shapes I must attain +Before I reach the Perfect, which is God, +And dream my dream, and let the rabble go: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + +I was a spirit on the mountain-tops,-- +A perfume in the valleys,--a simoom +On arid deserts,--a nomadic wind +Roaming the universe,--a tireless Voice. +I was ere Romulus and Remus were; +I was ere Nineveh and Babylon; +I was, and am, and evermore shall be,-- +Progressing, never reaching to the end. + +A hundred years I trembled in the grass, +The delicate trefoil that muffled warm +A slope on Ida; for a hundred years +Moved in the purple gyre of those dark flowers +The Grecian women strew upon the dead. +Under the earth, in fragrant glooms, I dwelt; +Then in the veins and sinews of a pine +On a lone isle, where, from the Cyclades, +A mighty wind, like a leviathan, +Ploughed through the brine, and from those solitudes +Sent Silence, frightened. To and fro I swayed, +Drawing the sunshine from the stooping clouds. +Suns came and went,--and many a mystic moon, +Orbing and waning,--and fierce meteor, +Leaving its lurid ghost to haunt the night +I heard loud voices by the sounding shore, +The stormy sea-gods,--and from ivory conchs +Wild music; and strange shadows floated by, +Some moaning and some singing. So the years +Clustered about me, till the hand of God +Let down the lightning from a sultry sky, +Splintered the pine and split the iron rock; +And from my odorous prison-house, a bird, +I in its bosom, darted: so we fled, +Turning the brittle edge of one high wave,-- +Island and tree and sea-gods left behind! + +Free as the air, from zone to zone I flew, +Far from the tumult to the quiet gates +Of daybreak; and beneath me I beheld +Vineyards, and rivers that like silver threads +Ran through the green, and gold of pasture-lands,-- +And here and there a hamlet, a white rose,-- +And here and there a city, whose slim spires +And palace-roofs and swollen domes uprose +Like scintillant stalagmites in the sun; +I saw huge navies battling with a storm +By ragged reefs along the desolate coasts,-- +And lazy merchantmen, that crawled, like flies, +Over the blue enamel of the sea +To India or the icy Labradors. + +A century was as a single day. +What is a day to an immortal soul? +A breath,--no more. And yet I hold one hour +Beyond all price,--that hour when from the heavens +I circled near and nearer to the earth, +Nearer and nearer, till I brushed my wings +Against the pointed chestnuts, where a stream +That foamed and chattered over pebbly shoals +Fled through the bryony, and with a shout +Leaped headlong down a precipice: and there, +Gathering wild-flowers in the cool ravine, +Wandered a woman more divinely shaped +Than any of the creatures of the air, +Or river-goddesses, or restless shades +Of noble matrons marvellous in their time +For beauty and great suffering; and I sung, +I charmed her thought, I gave her dreams; and then +Down from the sunny atmosphere I stole +And nestled in her bosom. There I slept +From moon to moon, while in her eyes a thought +Grew sweet and sweeter, deepening like the dawn, +A mystical forewarning! When the stream, +Breaking through leafless brambles and dead leaves, +Piped shriller treble, and from chestnut-boughs +The fruit dropped noiseless through the autumn night, +I gave a quick, low cry, as infants do: +We weep when we are born, not when we die! +So was it destined; and thus came I here, +To walk the earth and wear the form of man, +To suffer bravely as becomes my state,-- +One step, one grade, one cycle nearer God. + +And knowing these things, can I stoop to fret +And lie and haggle in the market-place, +Give dross for dross, or everything for nought? +No! let me sit above the crowd, and sing, +Waiting with hope for that miraculous change +Which seems like sleep; and though I waiting starve, +I cannot kiss the idols that are set +By every gate, in every street and park,-- +I cannot fawn, I cannot soil my soul: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + + * * * * * + + + +CLARIAN'S PICTURE. + +A LEGEND OF NASSAU HALL. + +"Turbine raptus ingenii."--SCALIGER. + + +Mac and I dined together yesterday,--as we are used to do at least once or +twice every year, for the sake of our ever-mellowing friendship, and those +good old times in which it began. Like all who are ripe enough to have +memories, we delight to recall the period of our vernal equinox, and to +moralize, with gentle sadness and many wise wags of our frosty polls, upon +the events in which that period was prolific; and so, when the cloth was +removed yesterday, and we sat toying with our cigars and our Sherry, our +talk insensibly drifted back to those merry college-days when we not +infrequently "heard the chimes at midnight." + +"Ah, old fellow," quoth I to my chum, "those good old days are gone by, +now, and Israel worships strange gods. Old Nassau will never be what she +was before the fire of '55. Those precious heirlooms of our day are sunk +from sight forever, dear and mossy as they were,--swept down, like cobwebs, +before the flame-besom. _'Fuit Ilium!'_ The old bell will never again ring +out the gay 'larums of a 'Third Entry' barring-out. Homer's head no longer +perches owl-like and wise over the central door-way. _'Ai, Adonai!'_ No +more wilt proud fingers point to the spot whereat entered--not like +'Casca's envious dagger'--that well-aimed cannon-ball which pierced the +picture-gallery, punched 'Georgius Res' on the head, and frightened away +forever the Hessians that were stabled there, fouling the nest of stout old +John Witherspoon. They call other rolls now in chapel and in class-room, +and chant other songs at their revels and their feasts. '_Eheu, +Posthume!_'" + +"Pshaw, Ned Blount! there's corn in Egypt still. Out of that bug-riddled +old barn we used to know a new and comely Phoenix has been born unto +Princeton; the fire hath purged, not destroyed; and we wiseacres who +flourished in the old 'flush times' yet survive in tradition, patterns for +our children, very Turveydrops of collegiate deportment. The belfry clangs +with a louder peal; even Clarian's Picture, though it hath utterly perished +to the eye of sense, lives vivid in a thousand memories, and, having found +in the tenderness of tradition and legend an engraver whose burin is as +faithful as Raphael Morghen's, has left the damp dark wall, like Leonardo's +_Cenacolo_, to accompany all of us to our firesides." + +Clarian's Picture! what memories the mention of it stirred up! + +"Poor Clarian!" I murmured. + +"Poor, indeed I" repeated Mac, with a sneer. "He is only worth a lovely +wife and six children, with half a million to back them. And he only weighs +two hundred pounds, with I forget how many inches of fat over the +brisket. Poor, indeed! 'Tis pity you and I have not experienced a slight +attack of that same poverty, Ned Blount!" + +"Poor Clarian!" repeated I, sturdily. "To think that a man who could paint +such a picture, a soul of imagination so compact, a so delicate +ether-breathing spirit, should settle down at last into a mere mechanical, +a plodding, every-day merchant, whose finest fancies are given to the +condition of the money-market, who governs his actions by a decline of +Erie, and narrows his ideas down to the requirements of filthy lucre, like +a mere 'wintry clod of earth'! Ay, poor Clarian, poor anybody, when we wake +from our bright youth-dream and tread the rough pathway of a reality like +this!" + +"_Potz tausend_! the man is _fou_!" shouted Mac. "Come, drink your wine, +Ned, and we'll have our coffee. It is quite time, I think,--and he used to +be a three-bottle fellow," muttered my dear old friend, _sotto +voce_. "'_Heu, heu! tempora mutantur, et nos_'--well, well, well!" + + * * * * * + +Clarian's Picture! What a gush of recollection the words evoke! I was in +the heyday and blossom of my youth then, and now--well, 'tis some years +since; yet how vividly I remember that pleasant noontide of a day of early +summer, when, as a party of us students were lounging about the gates that +opened from our shady campus upon the street, "Dennis" handed me a note +from Clarian, in which my little friend announced that his picture was +finished at last, and invited Mac and myself to call and see it +"exhibited," at nine o'clock that very evening. We were talking about +Clarian and his picture, at the time,--as, indeed, we had been doing for a +month,--and when I mentioned the purport of the note, curiosity rose to the +tiptoe of expectation, and numerous surmises were set afloat. I could have +satisfied their queries as to the subject and character of the picture, for +Mac and I had seen it only a few days before, but Clarian expected us to be +secret about it; so I only listened and smiled, while the eager talk ran +on, and a thousand conjectures were hazarded. + +"So the _magnum opus_ is finished at last," said Clayt Zoile, showing by +his manner, as he joined us, that he at least had not received an +invitation; "a precious specimen of Art it will prove, I doubt not, after +all the outcry about it. '_Montes parturiunt_' etc." + +"You'll lose your wish this time, Clayt," drawled Mounchersey, carelessly; +"Mr. Cosine told me yesterday that 'Boss' has called on Clarian about his +cutting so many prayers and recites, and that, after seeing the unfinished +picture, he gave the youngster _carte blanche_ as to time, till it is +completed;--so it must be something worth looking at" + +"I guess Ned Blount's glad the picture is finished," said Tone Ninyan, +turning to me,--"a'n't you, Ned?" + +I confessed I was not by any means sorry, for Clarian's sake. + +"No," laughed Zoile, "Ned isn't sorry,--be sure of that; for he wants his +dear 'Whitewash' restored again to the bosom of society, lest the walls of +his reputation should by chance suffer from fly-speck." + +These words created a laugh at my expense; for Clarian had shown himself, +in his warm, generous way, such a zealous advocate of my immaculate +perfection, that he was quite generally known by the _sobriquet_ of "Ned +Blount's Whitewash." + +Just then Mac came along, on his way to the post-office, and I joined him, +showing him Ciarian's note. + +"Hum," growled my good old chum, as he read it, "don't want to be disturbed +to-day; sick, is he? I'd like to know who's to blame, if he isn't. Wishes +me to bring my Shakspeare along;--it's a wonder he had not said Plotinus, +or Jacob Böhme's 'Aurora'; they're more in his style. The deuse take that +boy and his picture, Ned! What if we two fools have been playing too +roughly with such plastic clay? I wish to-night were come and gone +safely. I'll go see Dr. Thorne, and ask him to accompany us to-night. He +claims to be something of a connoisseur, and the picture is really worth +seeing, if the lad has not spoiled it with his 'final touches'. And anyhow, +the boy will be a study for a psychological monomaniac like Thorne." + +"You apprehend, then...." + +"_Sapperment_, you owl-face! I apprehend nothing; only it will be as well +to have Thorne present, for the boy is out of sorts, and his nerves were +never very strong. Now look here, Ned Blount! don't put on that lugubrious +phiz, I pray you;--and, moreover, don't you ever dare introduce any more of +your Freshmen _protégé's_ to me; for, I warn you, I'll insult them, and +you, too,--I will, by Jove!" + +I was not less impatient than Mac for the night to come, for I was very +anxious about Clarian, dreading lest some catastrophe was about to overtake +him,--and the thought was by no means pleasant. For, as Mac had said, the +lad was a _protégé_ of mine; he had been given into my charge by his sweet +lady-mother; he had looked up to me as his senior and his friend; and I +could not help feeling, that, if anything untoward should happen to him, it +would be partly my fault. + +From the very first I had been strongly attracted towards Clarian. Indeed, +the lad was remarkable for a peculiar spiritual beauty of person and +sweetness of manner that made almost every one love him. He was, in fact, +_lovely_, in the etymological sense of that misused word, and people +softened towards him as to a young, guileless child. I have known men cease +swearing when he drew near, drop ribaldry, and take up some more innocent +topic, simply through an unconscious impulse of fitness,--feeling that such +things had no business to be repeated in his presence. And they were right; +for a purer spirit than Clarian's I have never encountered in man or woman. +His face most reminded one of the portraits of Raphael at twenty. He had +the same broad, smooth forehead,--the same soft skin, delicate, yet rich as +the inner leaves of a pale rose,--the same finely shaped nose, and ripe, +womanly mouth, which a Persian, in default of a more tangible analogy, +would have likened to the seal of Solomon. But his lower face was somewhat +less full than Raphael's, the chin being shorter and sharper, and the jaw +curving less sensuously. His hair was of the purest chestnut hue, rich and +silken, showing here and there a thread of gold; he wore it long, and +flowing in half-ringlets upon his neck and shoulders. Clarian's eye was +large and dark, tender, rather sad, with now and then a speculative depth, +now and then a hint of the Romeo fore-doom, now and then a warm eloquence, +when meeting yours, that reminded strangely of a woman loving and in +love. Other womanly traits he had, such as the ingenuous blush with which +he asked or did a favor, and a certain not very boyish fondness for +softness and elegance of dress. Not that Clarian was effeminate, or in any +material respect deficient in manly character; but his mother was a widow, +and he her only son, and consequently he had been brought up like a girl, +at home, without any slightest opportunity to acquire those +rough-and-tumble experiences of ordinary boyhood which are so necessary to +fit us for battling in the world; for the world, though not unfeeling at +core, wears yet a sufficiently rough rind, and pretends but little sympathy +with persons of Clarian's stamp. + +Hence, when Clarian came to college, he knew very little of life +indeed,--and, moreover, he cherished not a few ascetic notions, deeming +this world "all a fleeting show," from whose vain illusions it was one's +chief duty to shield one's self. He had never read a novel, save "some of +Scott's,"--nor ever seen or read a play, not even of Shakspeare's. How I +envied him this new world, in whose usages I had been _blasé_ long before I +was of an age to appreciate its beauties,--this bright, fancy-fostering +world, to which he was to go all fresh and unsophisticated, like a bride to +the nuptial sheets! In literature of a more solid kind his practice was +quite considerable: he had surveyed many fields of Art, History, and +Theology, all of which, however, had first been submitted to the test of +that anxious maternal _Index Expurgatorius_, lest some drop of infidelity +or impurity should trickle in unawares, to darken or embitter the pure +crystal waters of his soul. Ah, thou poor fond mother, so unreasoningly +ignoring the fact that each of us must somehow eat his "peck of dirt"! + +Thus intrusted to my charge, and having such attractive elements in his +character, I naturally took great interest in Clarian, and particularly +spared no effort to give him use in college ways. I saw that the lad was +not one to bear being laughed at, and so did all I could to screen him from +the embarrassments of ignorance,--taught him our customs, our fashions, and +gave him lessons upon that immemorial dialect in which college sublegists +delight. I chicaned to secure him a fine room, which his lady-mother +furnished "like a bridal chamher", if our Nassau cynics were to be +credited,--introduced him where it was necessary, and exercised generally +towards him that distinguished patronage which one who "knows the ropes" is +able to bestow upon a very Freshman. + +A fine generous fellow was Clarian, for all his apron-string +antecedents,--bold as a lion, and as trustworthy as he was enthusiastic. +He was of rather too nervous a temperament to be precisely healthy in all +mental respects, but nevertheless had a fine comprehensive mind, very +capable of sustained and concentrated effort. He had been well taught, and, +unfortunately, was so far advanced beyond the studies of his class as to +have a great deal of leisure. In consequence he turned to reading, and +here, again unfortunately, he put himself under my guidance, and suffered +me to govern him in his choice of books: unfortunately, I say, for I was +then a worshipper of that clay-footed Nebuchadnezzar-image, Metaphysics, +which I fondly deemed all of gold, and the most genuine of things. So, when +Clarian came to me, I was eager enough to put to his lips the wine of which +I was drunken. The boy took his first sip from Coleridge's "Biographia +Literaria",--that cracked Bohemian glass, which, handed in a golden salver +that might have come from the cunning graver of Cellini, yet forces one to +taste, over a flawed and broken edge, the sourest drop of ill-made _vin du +pays_, heavily drugged and made bitter with Paracelsian laudanum. Under +that strange patchwork quilt so imaginative a soul as Clarian could not +fail to dream. It was a great pity I had not been more circumspect, for the +boy was already too deeply steeped in those Acherontic waters. His mother, +like many other women, had loved to wander along the dreamy paths of +sentimental theology, clothing from her own beautiful mind the dim, +unsubstantial spectres that beckoned her, and accepting all their mystic +utterances, in blind faith, for genuine oracles of God. Into these by-ways +he had followed her, and his clearer vision had just sufficed to reveal to +him the ghosts, without teaching him how to master or dispel them. Thus, +Cowper's sweetness, which charmed her, became to him Cowper's dejection and +despairing sadness, perplexing enough to his young brain. Where she took up +and fed her soul upon John Wesley's conclusions, the boy found himself +involved in John Wesley's perplexities, and struggling in desperate wrestle +with the haunting shapes to which John Wesley had given successful +battle. Thus prepared, no wonder my eager little friend plunged headlong +into the sea of doubts, impatient to cry, "Eureka!" and plant his foot upon +the Islands of the Blessed. The new excitement completely swept his feet +from under him. 'Twas but a step from Coleridge and _Esemplastic_ matters +to Plotinus, and in a month he had taken that step,--the more readily, that +he was a right good Grecian, and found no unpleasant philological +difficulties in the "Enneades". Thence he went on in feverish unrest, +wildly running up and down all _Niffelheim_ in quest of some centre-point +upon which he could stand firm and look around him. He had an excellent +mind, and, unexcited, could take sufficiently common-sense views of most +matters; but this was too much for him. He made substance of shadows, and +then exhausted himself in giving them battle. He became anxious, uneasy, +nervous,--showing very plainly, that, in his search after the Alkahest, he +had injured his powers by making trial of too many drugs. + +Mac, with his sturdy good sense, and unerring mace-like judgment, speedily +became aware of this waste of function to which Clarian was subjecting +himself, and warned me accordingly. + +"Why do you let that boy bother his brains about your stupid _Ego_ and +_Non-Ego_?" said he. "Don't you see he is injuring himself, beginning to +sink under a sort of mental _albumenurea_,--at the very time, too, when he +has most need of stamina? He does nothing but read, read, read,--and what, +forsooth? Not anything that will teach him the genuineness of life and +manhood, but those damnable spirit-exalting, body-despising emasculates of +Alexandria,--Madame Guyon's meditations, too, and Isaac Taylor's giddy +see-sawings,--all heresies, and bosh,--'Dead-Sea fruits that turn to +ashes', and not only disgust you, but blister tongue and lips most +vilely. You'll have him next trying to treat with the gods, to attain +Brahm's purification, Boodh's annihilation, to jump over the moon, or doing +something that will make him candidate for the shaved-head-and-blister +treatment. Remember, Ned, his brain is made of finer stuff than that stolid +sponge inside your _pia mater_, that can take in _quantum sufficit_ of +beer, fog, and tobacco-smoke, unharmed. He can't stand it, and he's too +rare and delicate a machine to go cranky thus soon. You've got the child +under your thumb,--bring him out o' that. Make him take a dose of Verulam, +get him back into the world again, and order him four hours _per diem_ at +the dumb-bells." + +And so, the next time Clarian came to our rooms, and was eagerly soliciting +my opinion of a little essay he had written, to establish the identity of +the Logos with the Demiurgic Mind, ("Plato's World-Soul, called in 'Timæus' +the best of Eternal Intelligences, the Noetic Partaker and Digester of +Reason", said Clarian in his tract,) with some corollaries for the purpose +of reconciling _Geist_ and _Freiheit_, all sauced down, _à l'Allemagne_, +with numerous capitals and a proper degree of incomprehensibility,--Mac +bluffly interrupted the colloquy, and accosted Clarian,-- + +"Younker! do you know you're a fool?" + +Clarian colored up,-- + +"How, Mac?" + +"What are we--Ned, and you, and I--here for?" + +"To acquire knowledge." + +"Ay, knowledge,--but what for?" + +"To fit us for heaven." + +"Phew! then you calculate to graduate from 'these classic shades' direct +into celestial regions, do you, without sojourning awhile in this terrene +purgatory? I do not, and, moreover, _je n'en ai pas l'envie_; I think the +world has some claims upon me, and I mean to pay that debt, D. V." + +"So do I, Mac," rejoined Clarian, a little proudly. + +"And do you suppose your present studies adapted to fit you for such work? +Now, if you want to be a monk, if you are willing, like Origen, to purchase +with your entire manhood some supposed facility of spiritual contemplation +and depth of insight into the Infinite, or if you intend to become a +Brahmin, and seek in your navel the dyspeptic divinity who there wields his +sceptre, while your despised body is given up to the predatory ravages of +_genus pediculus_, well and good. Follow your hest, go on and conquer the +[Greek: gnosis] and when you have got it, just inform me what it looks +like, and whether you will be more able to make use of it than the fellow +was of the elephant he bought at auction. But if you desire to take a man's +part in this grand world around you, you must leap off your shadow, and +never think about thinking, as the new Olympian has it. Let quiddities +alone, they are dry-bone vampires, that drain you of your blood without +growing fatter themselves." + +"But how can truth harm? and that is what I seek,--truth, and beauty; if I +commune with the world-soul, then also I know the world." + +"Faugh! let shadows alone; believe in the man; do not be persuaded that the +body is depraved and corrupt, and only the soul is worthy to be cultivated. +Hold fast to the tangible. We know that we have a body, spite the Bishop of +Cloyne, far more certainly than we know we have a soul. See, the soul is +this smoke, that evanishes so quickly; the body this meerschaum that I have +in my fingers, and will smoke again, please God." + +"But it is the smoke, not the pipe, that gives you pleasure, and is the +important consideration, Mac." + +"Confound analogies, and pert Freshmen!" growled my chum, puffing +vigorously. "Nevertheless, it is a noble and right royal thing, this +body,--a thing to be cared for and cultivated for its own sake, apart from +the fact of its being God's chosen sanctuary for what He lends us to see +Him by. And you are neglecting it, both in theory and practice, Clarian; so +you must give up these infernal Metaphysics. If you _will_ bother about +speculative matters, let Bacon teach you the correctives of error, and +Locke how to govern and rein in the understanding. But you'd better learn +first what men say about men. It may not make you happier, but it will make +you wiser, and wisdom ranks high in heaven: Gabriel, Raphael, +Michael,--'tis the second person in that archangelic trinity. Did you ever +read Shakspeare? No, of course not; and yet I'll wager you have been +hankering after the Bhagavat Ghita, and trying to get a copy of the +illustrious Trismegistan Gimander! Don't blush,--you're not the first young +man who has made an a--ahem--made a mistake. Fie! Learn men, Clarian, and +then you will come to know man,--the surest way, I take it, of knowing the +Multitudinous God. So read you Shakspeare, and Æschylus, save the +'Prometheus,'--_that_ was begotten of Bactrian lore upon the mysteries of +Karnac, and does not touch man nearly, spite of all its grandeur. Here, +listen, and I will give you a lesson in the Myriad-Minded whom +Stratford-upon-Avon blessed our little earth with." + +Therewith, Mac began to read from the first act of "The Tempest." Now chum +was a Shakspeare enthusiast, and, withal, a very fine reader, as well as, +from long study, quite pervaded with the Master's diction and style of +thought. As he read on, he commented, in his brief, pointed way, upon the +text, contrasting the Boatswain's practical usefulness with the shivering +helplessness of the Courtiers. "Now this is your proper somatology," he +added. "What our Bo's'un says to Gonzalo, the world will say to you, +Clarian, when you propose to it any of your panaceas: Are you able to do +better than we? If so, save us from the shipwreck that threatens. If not, +go to your prayers. Anyhow, 'out of our way, I say!'" + +"Bravo!" cried I, when the homily came to an end, "Mac is preaching +Carlylism, as I'm a sinner. The next utterance will be something about +roofing Hell over, or the Everlasting Yea, or Morrison's Pills! Proceed: +'lay on,' Mac! none of us will cry, 'Hold, enough!' save under risible +compulsion." + +Mac sulked awhile, but soon resumed his reading,--sparing us further +comment, however. Thus was Clarian led over the threshold, and introduced +into Shakspeare's magic world. When Mac closed his book at the end of the +act, Clarian's face glowed with a flattering something that must have +pleased my chum, for he _was_ proud of his reading,--and the moisture +glittering in the lad's eye, his flushed cheek, and the tremor of his voice +as he asked to hear more, spoke volumes. + +But Mac said, "No,--enough is as good as a feast, younker, and just now I +have to go with Bacchus in quest of a tragedian for Athens,--[Greek: brek +kek koax, koax], you know. Study the Master yourself: and let me by all +means advise your wisdom to detect a mystery in 'Hamlet,' and to essay the +solution of the same. Nobody else has done so, of course, and it will +become your long head. I've met several very mild, quiet people, whom you +would not suspect of the slightest impropriety; but mention the Dane, and, +_presto!_ off they go upon their hobbies, ('theories,' they call 'em,) and +canter around Bedlam at a most generous pace. '_Semel insanivimus omnes_,' +I suppose, and Hamlet and the Apocalypse offer rare opportunities." + +"Now, Ned," said Mac, somewhat complacently, when Clarian was gone, "I +think I have done that young rascal some good, and the bard will advantage +him still more, if he can only be moderate enough." + +And, indeed, these new pastures thus unbarred to Clarian's coltish fancies +made a great change in the lad. At first he simply revelled in the new +world of beauty that the Master's wand evoked, like a bird in the fresh, +warm sunshine of returning spring. But this did not last long; the bird +must busy himself with nest-building. Clarian's ardent, impetuous nature +must evolve results, would not content itself with mere sensations. So he +began to study Shakspeare,--not, as he had studied the philosophers, to +pluck out and make his own some cosmical, pervading thought, but to find +matter for Art-purposes. I think, that, if ever there was a born artist, +who united to a fine æsthetic sense the fervor of a devotee, Clarian was +that one, heart and soul. Some men make a mistress of Art, and sink down, +lost in sensual pleasure and excess, till the Siren grows tired and +destroys them. Other men wed Art, and from the union beget them fair, +lovely, ay, immortal children, as Raphael did. Some again, confounding Art +with their own inordinate vanity, grow stern and harsh with making +sacrifices to the stone idol, grinding down their own hearts in vain +experimenting after properer pigments, whereby themselves may attain to a +chill and profitless immortality. But there are others still, who, +elevating Art into a grand divinity, bow down and worship it, devote their +lives to its priesthood, and, as a reward, only ask the god to reveal to +them once his unveiled effulgence, content with the one communion, though +their rashness be fatal, and the god's benison prove but the ashes of +Semele. Towards this class Clarian tended, I knew very well, and hence, +from the first, I had thrown a damper upon his artistic aspirations, often +rewarded by his mournful and reproaching glances, as I sneered at his +sketches,--which, to tell the truth, were most admirable, showing at once a +keen poetic insight, fine composition, and an unusual mastery of technical +details. The obedient fellow had bowed to what he deemed my better +judgment, and turned away, with something of a sigh, from his dear love and +ambition. Now, however, this love came suddenly back, and with tenfold +intensity, as is always the case, and, though I dreaded its unhealthiness, +I could no longer thwart him. Indeed, the Art-sense took such complete +possession of him that I feared to interpose obstacles. He did not go about +his work like a boy, but bent himself to it with the calm, resolute purpose +of a man of forty. I could see the increasing mastery of the idea, in his +changed eye, in his compressed lip, in his statelier, calmer pose; and, +however incredulous we may be respecting _results_, these initiatory +motions never fail to impress us. Even Bluebeard would forbear to strike +down his pregnant wife, for the sake of what she bore under her bosom; and +I, seeing the boy's careful study, and his long and laborious preparation, +could not help looking forward to a result of commensurate importance. + +Nevertheless, it was my duty to have combated Clarian's tendencies, for I +could not help seeing the daily injury they did him. _Ars longa, vita +brevis_, was an overpowering conviction of the lad's, and he went to work +to apply the maddest of correctives. Art so exacting and life so short, +then it was his office to labor so much the more earnestly, so much the +more eagerly, that he might squeeze dry this orange of the present, and +lose no opportunity, no moment. Thus it came to pass with him, as it does +with us all who overwork ourselves, that actually he did less than he might +have done, and warped himself in a most pitiable way indeed. A +conscientious fellow, as he was, Clarian had hitherto been very faithful to +his duties in the regular curriculum,--but now all this was changed. Here +was a grand something to be done, a something so grand, indeed, that his +whole life must bow before its exactions, and all minor duties step out of +the way of Juggernaut. Who thinks of etiquette, of drawing-room +trivialities, when here we are before this mistress, at whose feet we must +pour out our soul? for her love blesses us with new life, her scorn damns +us with eternal despair. In this cursed fashion always the Idea masters a +man's soul, when he has once listened to its Lurlei-song. Henceforth he is +only to see things in the light it chooses to shed upon them. Let your +Alchemist but seek his Elixir long enough for the poison to fairly fill his +veins, and behold what a slave and a monster the Idea shall make of him! +Projection awaits him; the elements are here, commingling _in balneo +Mariæ_; already _Rosa Solis_ lends its generative warmth; already hath _Leo +Rubeus_ wooed and won his lily bride; already hath the tincture headed up +royally in ruby and in purple, and sublimed, and gone through the entire +circle of embryonic processes: quick! there lacks but the one element; in +with it, and we are masters of the Life-Secret, of wealth, and power, and +all else the world can bestow,--ay, and we can give back to the world all +it asks! Yes, but that element is _Sanguis Virginis_. Well, and why not a +virgin's blood? Great things must be purchased,--cannot be plucked, like +fruit, from every tree. Were it _Sanguis Senis_, now, who would tap a vein +more readily than we, ay, even were a drop from the carotid required? And +must the world lose all this divine gift for a simple? What did Abraham on +Moriah? Here is this child; of what use is she to the world?--yet a few +ounces of her blood, and man is regenerate. In her innocence, too,--why, a +Manichee would have done it for her own sake. Come, quick knife,--and, we +do murder! I tell you, by dwelling on it, tasting, smelling of it, taking +it into our bosoms, and making ourselves familiar with it, we poor men can +finally persuade ourselves that the most damning thought begot of Hell upon +a putrescent brain is the fairest, brightest, most glorious _Deus +vult_. Here was the danger that menaced Clarian, ay, had already begun to +insinuate its poison into his daily food. The simple fact of his neglecting +his studies proved this. It was a venial sin, doubtless,--but still, it was +his _premier pas_, and, as such, ominous enough. + +Giving himself up to his art, he soon began to illustrate in his person the +effects of confinement and excessive thought. His pale cheek grew paler +still, the hollows under his eyes deepened, and his slim fingers waxed +slimmer and more transparent than ever. I could see also that he had +excessive bile,--not only ascertainable by looking at his imbrowned eye, +but deducible from a change in his temper that was by no means an +improvement. His room was full of sketches and drawing-material: these +attracted visitors, and visitors were a trouble. Perhaps there was +impertinence in their curiosity, very likely their presence hindered him; +but, nevertheless, it was by no means like the sweet-tempered Clarian to +show irritability and petulance, and finally, closing his door obstinately +against all comers, to elect for solitude and silence at his work. +No,--the boy was changed, grown morbid, a pervert, ripe for whatever +Devil's sickle might be put forth to gather him in. + +Thus things went on from bad to worse, until the authorities began to take +notice of the lad's derelictions. The kind old President sent for me, and +made many inquiries about Clarian. Evidently the elders were not a trifle +bothered by my little _protégé's_ proceedings, and did not know how to +act. He had been much liked, his character was unblemished, he had done +himself credit in his studies: what did all this change mean? The Faculty +made it a rule to respect every man's privacy as much as possible,--but +Mr. Blount well knew that the present state of things could not long be +permitted. In their eyes, the backslider was palpably a far more unsavory +fact than the original sinner. Could not Mr. Blount use his influence in +some way, or suggest some course? Mr. Blount presented Clarian's cause in +as favorable a light as possible; spoke of the youth's noble nature; +guarantied that there was no moral obliquity; strongly advised leniency; +venturing withal to hope, nay, to believe, that all this devotion, so +intense, to a single purpose, would not be fruitless, might possibly win +him credit. He certainly had fine imagination, and then he was so absorbed +in his work;--it was a question whether it would help him most to encourage +or to repress his ardor at present. The Doctor pondered, said he would take +the matter into consideration,--it were a pity to nip any wholesome +enthusiasm i' the bud,--"but it is very apparent, Mr. Blount, that the +young man, if he goes on, will experience the fate of Orpheus, and so needs +to be curbed in time. '_Medio tutissimus ibis_', saith Naso,--a maxim the +non-observance of which cost him the pain and disgrace of exile. And you +should strive to impress the truth of it upon Clarian; spare no pains to +rouse him. This seclusion is what I most dread. The poet Spenser hath made +all his viler passions dwellers in caves and darkness, and with truth; for +solitude is fatal, where there are morbid and melancholic tendencies. A +very wise German, remarking upon the text, 'It is not good for man to be +alone,' added, very finely,--'and above all, it is not good for man to +_work_ alone; he requires sympathy, encouragement, excitement, to succeed +in anything good.'" + +But I found the worthy old Doctor's advice easier to inculcate than to +practise. Clarian did not need my sympathy, had excitement and +encouragement enough in his own hopes, and, in fact, like the Boatswain in +"The Tempest," only required to be let alone. Still, he paid us a visit now +and then, and gave us to understand that he denied himself our society, did +not thrust it aside as something useless and disagreeable. When he came, he +would talk freely, and give us but too plain evidence of the change and +confusion that were taking place in him. Mac never spared him at these +times, and on one occasion, only a fortnight previous to the exhibition of +the picture, fairly drove the boy into a passion. + +"Well, Mr. Whitewash," said he, as Clarian came in, "how are you at this +present writing? You _look_ as if you had been dieting on Gamboge and Flake +White. Take care, young man, or you'll put us students to the cost of a +tombstone with a Latin epitaph for you, yet,--beginning, _Interfecit +se_.--How comes on the Art? You've given the go-by to _Ego_ and _Non-Ego_, +I suppose, and have resolved to achieve the very [Greek: kudos] upon a +ten-foot whitewashed wall, eh? _Soit_,--but what results? Can you say yet, +as Correggio did when he saw the St. Cecilia of Raphael, '_Anch' io son +pittore_'? or do you intend to limit your ambition, _à la_ Dick Tinto, to +the effecting of two liquidations in one by the restoration of +tavern-signs?" + +"Please do not taunt me, Mac, for I am cast down, almost. I have the +grandest conception, but the life-touch escapes me. It is in vain I seek +it: we cannot do a thing properly, unless we _feel_ it; passion will not be +simulated. What we know, and can do well, must all be repeated from our own +experience, says St. Simon,--and I agree with him." + +"St. Simon be--hanged!" quoth Mac. "So, it seems, the Metaphysic is not +abandoned. St. Simon, forsooth!--why, his doctrine was, that, to comprehend +the nature of crime, one had first to commit crime himself. Pah! according +to that, he who would most thoroughly learn the philosophy of our carnal +lusts must exchange natures with the goat. Pray, why do not you solicit +Herr Urian to give you a hircine metamorphosis, Clarian?" + +"Nay, Mac, can it be thus put off with a jest and a sneer, after all? What +do you think of these words I came across last night?"--and opening his +note-book, Clarian read as follows: "For of old it hath been clearly +proven, action without passion is nought save idle folly. _Passio Christi +hominis redemptio_. For as sin came into the world by suffering, so also +the gift of knowledge, which man would have confessedly lacked, had he not +purchased it _pretio mortis_,--even whereat, meseemeth, 'tis not a +commodity too high-priced. And as Philo Judæus hath well observed, (as that +arch heretic doth but seldom, wherefore let us ascribe to him the full +credit,) '_Materia parens est (etiam ipsa mater) peccali_,' so, to attain +to anything really spiritual, we have even to be born again of this our +parent, by the reëntrance of whose womb, in pain and darkness, we come back +to the true and the living, and have provision given us wherewith we shall +conquer worlds. For, to fix the pure thought and to identify it with the +true and holy, we must first divide it from the base clogs of matter; and +how can we effect this disjunction, save, as it hath ever been done, by +passion,--not simulate nor taken at second hand, cold,'_bis coctum quasi_,' +but rather presently and in our very selves reiterate? So Naaman dipt in +Jordan,--a task unto him, a sin in the eyes of his gods, and painful +exceedingly to his pride-gorged humor, that would only have Abana and +Pharpar,--yet only so was his skin made whole again, and soft like an +infant's. So also did David the king come into tasting of the bliss of a +true repentance by the terrible gateways of shameful adultery and +blood-thirst." + +"Oh, I agree with your author perfectly," said Mac, with inimitable +gravity, while I gazed at Clarian, wondering what would come next. "All the +greatest gifts man possesses have had evil sponsors or unrighteous +baptism. Even Prometheus _filched_ his fire from heaven, or t'other +place. Doing evil for the sake of a prospective good is an immemorial +custom, and well precedented. Revenue-farming, the _parc-aux-cerfs_, and Du +Barry only went down before _La Terreur_, Robespierre, and _Les Journées de +Septembre_." + +"But seriously, Mac, is it not admissible, now and then, to employ +questionable means, ordinary ones failing?" + +"Certainly. You may even sin, provided you believe in your cause. Faith is +the one save-all and cure-all. You smile? I can give you good +authority,--none other than Martin Luther, who, in one of his disputations, +says emphatically, '_Si in fide posset fieri adulterium, peccatum non +esset_'; and he wrote still more plainly upon this point in one of his +letters to Melancthon, saying, '_Ab hoc nos non avellet peccatum, etiamsi +millies millies uno die fornicamur aut occidamus._' [Footnote: _Vie de +Luther_, par AUDIN, Paris, 1839. An accurate book, but scathingly bitter.] +So follow your bent, younker, and they cannot say you are without +'precedent right reverend.'" + +Clarian sprang to his feet, his pale face all ablaze with indignation. "You +have no right to say such things to me, Sir," he cried, "for you know well +enough"-- + +"I know well enough that you are a crack-brained jackanapes, with your +damned fantastics!" bellowed Mac, angry in his turn. "What do you +mean,--you, who are a perfect little saint in your life,--what do you mean +by thrusting all these foul heresies at me, as if you were a veritable +citizen of Sodom, or a rejuvenized Faust, who have just replenished your +stock of 'experiences,' as you call them, by seducing Margaret and stabbing +her brother? Burn your books, if that filth is all they teach you,--and +mend your manners, if you expect to be tolerated in respectable +company. Good-bye!" cried he, as Clarian rushed white-heated from the room. + +"Pshaw, Ned, spare your remonstrances, if you please,--I'm tired of the +little fool's nonsense." + +"But the boy is sick, my dear fellow, and requires to be treated more +gently. His mind is diseased, and it would not take much to drive him quite +desperate." + +"No such good luck, Ned. I wish I _could_ make him pitch into somebody or +something. Nothing would do the beggar so much good, just now, as to get +himself into a regular scrape. It would act like a shower-bath, wake him +up, and purge him of these dismal humors." + +"Still, you would not like to have it said that _you_ were the cause of his +getting into any difficulty; and you know very well he is not one to +extricate himself easily, if once involved." + +"Never fear. '_Il y a un Dieu pour les enfants et les ivrognes_', says a +proverb in which I place implicit faith." + + * * * * * + +We saw nothing of Clarian until some three or four nights after this, when +he came hurriedly into our room. It was quite late, but Mac was still at +his Mathematics, while I was dawdling with my pipe and a volume of +Sternberg's pleasant tales. Clarian walked directly up to Mac, holding out +his hand, and saying, "I have come to ask your forgiveness, my dear Mac; I +was wrong and foolish the other day." + +"Nonsense, you flighty canary-bird!" said Mac; "you owe me nothing, so +have done with that. Sit down and smoke a pipe with us." + +"No,--I have come for you and Ned; I want you to see my picture to-night. +Come, I will take no denial,--I am about to finish it, and I want your +criticisms before I lay on the final touches." + +"Why not to-morrow, Clarian?" + +"Then everybody will want to see. No, it must be to-night." + +Mac and I were by no means reluctant to humor the lad, for we were not +incurious respecting the picture, and we accompanied him forthwith. His +room was quite large, well lighted and airy, with a sleeping-closet +attached. Over the blank wall opposite the windows hung a black muslin +curtain of most funereal aspect, which rolled up to the ceiling by means of +a cord and pulley, and, being now down, effectually concealed from view +what we had come to see. Clarian placed three or four candles, made us be +seated, filling pipes for us, and taking one himself, a most rare +occurrence with him,--all the while talking with more vivacity than I had +seen him exhibit for several months. "I have carefully studied my subject, +fellows," said he, "and have striven after perfection. I went to Shakspeare +for it, Mac, and sought one that would give me at once a proper field, and +at the same time pervade me so that I could paint from myself. Singularly +enough, I have found this magnetic influence most completely in +'Macbeth'. Do you remember Scene Fourth of the Third Act? That is the +situation I have endeavored to portray. Macbeth, wretched criminal, +suspects every one of his own dark purposes, or fears their hatred, because +he feels himself hateful. He is not a coward, either physically or morally; +his fears are all intellectual; he knows that Banquo is too noble to serve +him, too powerful to be permitted to serve against him,--so he must out of +the way. The murderers have received their commission; the king, satisfied +now that all he has to fear will shortly be removed, has said, 'There's +comfort yet'; he has cheered his wife with words even merry, as he can with +some complacency, for it is truly his principle of action, that + +'Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill'; + +and now, in this scene, he is to meet his courtiers at a state-banquet, +given in honor of Banquo, he tells them with hardihood. For we must +remember that this jealous king is no longer the warrior Thane whom we +first encounter upon the 'blasted heath', and whom we afterwards see +haunted by horrid visions of 'air-drawn daggers', as he turns his hand to +crime. He has gotten far beyond all this. Murders to him are become but +'trifles light as air'; use has blunted his sensibility, and to bring back +all that agony and horror needs a vastly stronger excitement than a mere +deed of blood. We see this in the cool way he tells the murderer, 'There's +blood upon thy face', as if it simply made him look less presentable. +Nevertheless, suffer for it Macbeth must. That is ordained; and the means +to it, and particularly the _effect_ of those means, are what I have tried +to represent here." + +So saying, he drew up the curtain, and the picture stood before us. Mac and +I gave it one quick glance, and then, with a simultaneous impulse, extended +our hands to Clarian. The lad laughed a little laugh of joy as he returned +our embrace, and then silently nodded towards the picture again. + +Those old Princetonians who have seen Clarian's Picture will easily be able +to explain our emotion upon beholding it thus for the first time. It was in +colored crayon, and covered a large portion of the wall, representing a +lofty, but entirely unornamented Gothic hall, with a table in the centre, +around which were grouped the guests. These showed in their faces and +disordered array that dismay and anxiety which were natural to them at +sight of their king so strangely and appallingly stricken, but evidently +they were entirely and happily unconscious of the THING that sat there in +their midst, touching them, consorting its charnel horrors with their +warm-blooded humanity,--so near, so close to them, that _he_ fancied the +smell of that trickling gore, that dank grave-soil, must necessarily enter +in at their nostrils, and he sickened at the thought for very sympathy. The +woe-wasted wife, comprehending what it meant, as she chiefly, from the dark +depths of her own spotted consciousness, _could_ comprehend, had yet flung +her fear aside for the sake of him whom she loved with a love so +bitter-costly, and now she stood at his side, fiercely clutching him, and +taunting him like a tigress with his unmanly fears. Ah, had that clutch +upon his elbow been the searing grasp of white-heated pincers, eating to +the bone, it had not stirred _him_. He stood there, a tall, large-limbed +man, brown and weather-stained, one who had endured much, wrinkled +somewhat, care-marked about the brow, but very capable, and evidently as +bold and daring, to the line, as he asserted himself,--he stood there, +flung back, fixed, petrified, as it were, by the baleful judgment that +lighted those unearthly eyes which watched him from across the table there; +and though his arm be flung up over his face, half to protect, half in +menace,--though his fist be clenched and swollen, his brow dark and +frowning, we know he will not spring forward, but will stand there still, +no life in all that mass of muscle, no will-power in that capable brain, +nought but impotent malignity in that murderous frown: for he is +stricken,--his sin has found him out,--ay, at the very altar, Orestes hears +the Furies shriek their hatred in his ears, exultingly proclaiming that for +him at least there is no rest, nor ever shall be! + +Such was the impression of Clarian's Picture, and I felt my blood fairly +tingle with recognition of the boy's power. + +"It is noble, great," said Mac, in those deep tones that spoke how he was +moved, "and men shall call you Artist when it is finished." + +Finished! what more did it want? what more could be done to this so +perfect composition? + +"Ah, Mac," said Clarian, enthusiastically seizing my chum's hands, "such +recognition as yours is what I have yearned for, and yet--'tis you who have +chiefly mocked me. It _shall_ be finished, Mac, and worthily! Do you not +think I have prayed for the inspiration, that I might bestow that final, +life-giving touch? Two months ago it was as near complete as it is +now,--but not until this very night have I felt the power of it. Now, +however, my soul is full of it, and it shall wax into a poem. This is why I +sought you, dear friends, to-night; for I am too gloriously happy to be +selfish, and I want you to share my happiness with me. Yes, Mac, it has +come at last, the warm Promethean fire, and at last I can proclaim, '_Anch' +io son pittore_!'" + +I gazed at the lad as he raised his voice with these last words, and was +almost awed by his singular beauty. It seemed almost as if a halo should +encircle his brow. There was a delicate rose-flush on his cheek that +rivalled in strange loveliness the hectic color of the young mother when +her first-born nestles close and fondly to her thrilled bosom, and his eyes +glowed with a rare lambent light that touched one with the eloquence of a +beautiful dream. Mac eyed him with equal wonder and delight, but said, +teasingly,-- + +"Hey! so you have come at last to the 'true and the living,' have you? Art +regenerate? I hope thou hast also undergone that true baphometic +fire-baptism, whereof the worthy Diogenes Teufelsdröckh hath discoursed so +appetizingly, causing us to long after it, none the less that he hath +scrupulously refrained from expounding whatever it is." + +"Yes, Mac, the new life dawns upon me,--no Plotinian trance, no somnambulic +introspection, but a genuine awakening of the soul to a sense of its own +beauty." + +"Prodigious! as Dominie Sampson would say. Nay, I am not laughing at you, +Clarian," said Mac, pointing to the picture; "_there_ is enough to make me +believe in you, though how you achieved it I cannot imagine." + +"The means, Mac? Is not that rather my question than yours? We judge +ourselves from within; 'others judge us by what we have done,' says +Goethe. The means, ha, and the motive? Why will men seek stumblingly after +these, when actually their sole concern is with the thing done? So, you two +look at me,--I was but pondering,--putting a case;--so far, the means here +have been simple and innocent,--my hand, my eye, my brain, my purpose; +but--Mac!" added he, suddenly, after a pause, "did you never, in reading +Rabelais, feel that somehow there was a profound and reverential symbolism +underlying the wild froth of words in which the histories of Gargantua and +Pantagruel have come down to us? that in all that _olla-podrida_ of filth, +quip, jest, wicked folly, and mad wisdom, was yet hidden, like the pearl in +the oyster, a deep and most mystic system of world-philosophy?" + +"Anan?" said Mac, looking at the boy curiously. + +"For instance, in what the good Curé of Meudon says about the 'herb +Pantagruelion',--did the symbolism and esoteric meaning of all that never +strike you?" + +"Oh, yes," cried Mac, with a singularly significant smile, "I see how it is +now. I understand. You are improving, Clarian, rapidly. Hum, wonder what +your mother would say, if she knew you were a friend of Panurge's, and did +draw such inferences from his wisdom! Yes, _mon enfant_, I have long felt +the profundity of Pantagruelion, not less than the oracular efficacy of +Bacbuc. And no one can deny that the thinnest strand of Manila, if not full +of mysteries _per se_, can at least open the way for us to the very +innermost crypts, and hence may be styled _potentially_ a very gateway to +Eleusinia." + +"I do not mean that, Mac,--not the mere mechanical warp and woof of it, to +hang beggars and sots with,--but the more potent essence, the inner cosmic +power of it, to rouse the soul into grand expansive consciousness, and then +to suspend it far above the carks and cares of this weary world, to sew it +aloft to some leaf of the Tree of Life, like the nest of Jean Paul's +tailor-bird, that it may swing there, above the hum and dust of matter, +swayed and sung to sleep by the expanding breath of Infinity! Oh, yes!" +cried Clarian, while his cheek glowed warmer, his eye flamed brighter, and +his voice flowed on with a rhythmic throb, "oh, yes, I know it all, now! +The Idea is awake, and dwells in my soul, at once master there and slave. I +leap out of this base Present: I stand panting and glowing before the +mighty portals of Infinity, from whose inner masses I see the grand Gods +beckoning to me, greeting me as of their kindred, summoning me to take my +throne also, which awaits me in their midst. I have burst these narrow +bonds of flesh, and my soul shall soar henceforth in the grandeur realized +of the Spirit, like a proud falcon just unmewed and flung off in sight of +the noblest quarry. Art! what a dull, meaningless sound it was +yesterday!--but now, the entombing pyramid of matter is up-heaved, flung +off forever, and the Spirit stands erect in her bright Palingenesis, +half-intoxicate with the all-pervading sense of her own grand beauty. The +tree is rent asunder,--Ariel soars again in his element. Psyche has loosed +herself from the fettering contact of Daimon, and lo, now, how daintily she +poises on tiptoe, fluttering her wings ere she launches like a star into +the wide exhilarant ether! O divine Art! pride, glory, first love of my +soul! now, indeed, hast thou exchanged the yoke of dull Saturn and the +gloomy caverns of earth for the fair heights of Olympus, and the +companionship of Zeus [Greek: Nephelaegeretaes], him at whose nod the +heavens display themselves like a many-figured arras, all alive with +beauties and significance that the dull eye conjectures not, that the +impure, unpurged eye shrinks away from, lest it be seared by the too great +splendor! I know it all now. I began gropingly, in surmise, error, +darkness; but now my brow catches, ay, and reflects, the calm, pure, +effulgent light of Nature's definite day, and I bathe myself in its happy +warmth. Erst, I grovelled like a worm, blind and earth-fed: now, I shall +speed through very space, winged heel and shoulder, a swift, untiring +Hermes, who have drunk of the milk that flows rich in Nature's breasts, and +am emancipate forever in the decorous freedom of the beautiful +self-conscious spirit! Oh, the glory, oh, the boon of Art, the play-deity! +Phoebus no longer drives herds for Admetus, but is grown into Helios, feels +in his breast the freer life of the very Hyperion, the walker on high. Ay, +ay, smile on, Mac, you and Ned! I shall not quarrel with you for not +understanding me; it is only just now that I have learned to understand +myself. My Art will reward me; even now, while you doubt, it is already +doing so. I tell you, you two, whom I love and honor", cried he, rising to +his feet, lifted up, as it were, by the exaltation of his soul, while his +voice rose like the gush of a fine-toned flute, "I tell you, moreover, that +I am an artist, with a work to do that shall be done, and so done that you +two who love me will be the first to salute me Artist, to recognize me, and +acknowledge me for what I shall become." + +"We do that already, Clarian," said Mac's emphatic voice. + +"No," said Clarian, firmly, proudly, like a poet about to kneel that he may +receive the laurel crown, "no, you do not know me yet." + +And he was right. We did not yet know him. + +"That is a boy after my own heart", said Mac, after we had returned to our +room. He was standing by the open window, and I at his elbow, both of us +thinking of the strange child we had just left, while our eyes took note of +the fair night, how the silvery sheen of the moonlight glistened upon the +leaves, and sprinkled itself in dappling flecks between the trees on the +soft even sward of the campus below. "A boy after my own heart,--and, in +spite of all his twaddle, will make an artist. It's in him." + +"But did you not think him strangely wild to-night? I never heard him talk +so fluently; but it was not the talk of a sane man." + +Mac looked at me, laughing long and loud. "Thou dear innocent Ned!" cried +he at last, "what a diagnostic thou wouldst make! It was indeed the talk of +madness, good chum, and a very pretty madness was it, one that needeth not +any Anticyran purgatives to expel it. So thou must not fash thyself about +the lad, _du liebe dummkopf_, for he will come right very speedily. Didst +remark not what he said about the 'herb Pantagruelion,' which, in the +vulgar, meaneth only _hemp_? And surely you noted the warm flush of his +cheek, the dilatation of his eye, and its phosphorescent glow? Dr. Thorne +would soon enough tell you what these things signify. The boy is not crazy, +Ned, but drunk,--drunk in the decorous delirium of a Damascene Pacha, +propped against a Georgian maid, and fanned by Houris of Bethlehem +Judah. He has been reading Monte Cristo, perhaps, or has somehow heard +about the Indian Hemp, not the '_utilissima funibus cannabis_' of practical +Pliny, but _Cannabis Indica_, wherewith, I believe, Amrou spurred on his +Arabs to their miraculous feats of war, when he conquered Egypt and drove +Alexandria's Prefect into the sea,--the _bhang_ of amok-running Malays, the +_haschish_ of Syria and Cairo. This is what hath made him drunk, and, i' +faith, the intoxication does not ill become him. He will be all right in +the morning, and all the better for this little brush. And anyhow, Ned, you +must not watch the boy too closely, nor interfere with him. Let him 'gang +his ain gait.' He comes of another breed than ours, I begin to suspect, +and our rough fodder and grooming may not suit his higher blood.--_Ach, +Himmel!_ Ned," cried he, laughing, "it pleased me, though, to see how +adroitly he contrived to twist that new reading out of the _bon homme +François_. It was quite in the style of St. Augustine, and would have +delighted that ex-sophist hugely; for, great as he was, and self-denying as +he was, he always had a hankering after the dialectic flesh-pots. How he +would have rubbed his hands, when Clarian wanted to persuade us that the +herb Pantagruelion was no other than Haschish, the expander of +souls!--Hollo! yonder goes the lad now. I wonder what he is up to. See him, +Ned, yonder, just coming out of the shadow of North College. How fast he +walks! how he is swinging his arms! I'll bet he is repeating poetry. I +wonder what the lad is after, anyhow.--There he goes, round the corner of +West College,--over the fence. Can he mean to have a game of ball by +moonlight?--No,--he's making across the fields; if he had a pitcher with +him now, I'd say he was going to the spring in the hollow.--Confound that +tree! I've lost him." + +I proposed following Clarian, being really uneasy about him, but Mac +entered his veto,-- + +"No, Ned,--there's no need, and--it's none of our business. Children like +him have a hundred baby-houses we do not know anything about. He wants a +bath in the moonlight, I suppose, and wouldn't thank you for playing Actæon +to the naked Diana of his midnight musings. Come, 'tis bedtime; or do you +want to finish Sternberg's 'Herr von Mondschein'? It is _à propos_, and I +see your book is opened to the very place." + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +JAPAN. + + +The arrival in this country of an embassy from Japan, the first political +delegation ever vouchsafed to a foreign nation by that reticent and jealous +people, is now a topic of universal interest. It is well understood, that, +by the efforts of the government of the United States, the traditional +policy of Japan, which for more than two hundred years forbade all freedom +of intercourse with the surrounding world, has been so effectively +subverted that its reëstablishment is now impossible. Within eight years +the barriers of Japanese seclusion have been removed, and the extreme +prejudice against foreign communications almost obliterated. That this has +been accomplished with a prudent and just regard for the rights and +feelings of this singular race, the appointment of an embassy to the +particular government which first successfully invaded its long cherished +privacy abundantly proves. + +The countries of Japan and China, and everything directly concerning them, +have always claimed a peculiar consideration. Their self-imposed isolation, +the mystery with which they have sought to surround themselves, the +extraordinary habits and character of the people, the evidences of an +earlier civilization in China--formerly supposed also to have extended to +Japan--than is recorded of any other existing nation, account for the +curious attention that has been bestowed upon them. Although now known to +be entirely distinct, the Chinese and Japanese, by reason of the similarity +of their occupations, customs, religion, written language, dress, and so +forth, were for a long time looked upon as kindred races, and esteemed +alike. Probably even at this time popular appreciation makes little +distinction between the two countries. But since the necessities of +commerce have recently compelled a somewhat vigorous interference with +their seclusion, we begin to get a clearer understanding of the subject. We +find, that, while, on close examination, the imagined attractions of China +disappear, those of Japan become only more definite and substantial. The +old interest in China is transferred to its worthier neighbor; for, in +spite of all Celestial and Flowery preconceptions, it is impossible to view +with any sincere interest a nation so palsied, so corrupt, so wretchedly +degraded, and so enfeebled by misgovernment, as to be already more than +half sunk in decay; while, on the other hand, the real vigor, thrift, and +intelligence of Japan, its great and still advancing power, and the rich +promise of its future are such as to reward the most attentive study. Its +commanding position, its wealth, its commercial resources, and the quick +intelligence of its people--not at all inferior to that of the people of +the West, although naturally restricted in its development--give to Japan, +now that it is about to emerge from its chrysalis condition, and unfold +itself to the outer world, an importance far above that of any other +Eastern country. + +We propose to relate, with necessary brevity, what is most important of the +little that is known of this interesting people. All records bearing upon +the subject are imperfect, and the best of them are more profuse in +speculation and surmise than in solid fact. The information possessed has +been drawn bit by bit from the reluctant Japanese. The difficulties of +investigation have been almost insurmountable,--no visitor, during two +hundred years, having been allowed the slightest freedom of association +with the people, or opportunity for travel. With very few exceptions, +foreigners have been confined to the extremest limit of the islands, and +forbidden even to leave the coast; and in no case has any disposition been +shown to satisfy the curious demands of those who have attempted to break +through the national reserve. + +The origin of the Japanese is still involved in obscurity, and the date of +the settlement of the islands is unknown. The boldest theory is, that a +tribe proceeded thither directly from the land of Shinar, at the division +of the races. In support of this, the purity of the Japanese language, +which, in its primitive form, bears very slight affinity to any other +tongue, and the evident dissimilarity of the people to those of any other +Asiatic country, are adduced. The more general belief is, that the Japanese +are an offshoot of the Mongol family, and that their emigration to these +islands was at so remote a period that tradition has preserved no +recollection of it. The favorite idea, that the first settlements were by +Chinese, has long been set aside, except by the Chinese themselves, whose +custom is to claim the origin of everything, and who still assume to +consider Japan as a sort of province under their dominion. The fact is, +that, to the Japanese, a Chinaman is the most worthless and contemptible +object in Nature. The Chinese have, however, a fanciful legend in which +they find an irresistible argument upon their side of the question. A +certain Emperor, they say, seeking to prolong his life, demanded of the +court physician an elixir of immortality. The physician modestly declared +his ignorance of any such preparation, but, after receiving a significant +hint, involving the loss of his head, recollected himself, and acknowledged +that an herb of immortality did certainly exist, but that its delicacy was +so rare it could be properly culled only by the most chaste hands. He thus +succeeded in securing three hundred brave young men, and the same number of +virtuous young women, whose twelve hundred chaste hands were at once +consecrated to the plucking of the magical plant, which was declared to +grow only in the islands of the sea. Once out of the Emperor's reach, all +thought of the particular duty in hand was instantly abolished, and +superseded by a successful effort to establish a new nation, which in time +resolved itself into Japan. + +This, although satisfactory to the Chinese, fails to convince less +credulous investigators. While the Japanese and Chinese have, perhaps, more +common characteristics than can be readily explained with our present +knowledge of them, yet no fact is better demonstrated than that they are +wholly distinct races. There is an opinion, for which there is reasonable +ground, that one of the earliest rulers of Japan was a Chinese invader, who +founded the dynasty of the Mikados, or Spiritual Emperors; but, if this +were so, it is evident that the conquerors must have mingled with the +native inhabitants, and soon lost their identity. This would in a measure +account for the prevalence of certain Chinese habits and customs in Japan. +The question of Japanese origin remains yet undecided. Its earlier history, +previous to the year 660 B.C., is mostly fabulous. There are the usual +legends of dignitaries in close relationship with every member of the solar +system, who were accustomed to reign an indefinite number of +years,--generally some thousands. Beginning with 660 B.C., we have +something authentic. At that time a warrior whose name signified "the +divine conqueror"--(the supposed Chinese invader)--entered Japan, and +assumed the control of its destinies. He called himself "Mikado," and +established his court at Miako, in Nipon, the largest of the group of +islands, where he built temples and palaces, both spiritual and +secular. Claiming to rule by divine right, he exercised the sole functions +of the government, which, upon his death, descended to his heir, and +thenceforward in direct order of succession. The Mikado, by reason of his +superhuman dignities, was invested with a sanctity that gradually became +irksome, shutting him out, as it did, from all fellowship with men, and +compelling him to forego all familiar intercourse with even the highest +nobles around his throne. Consequently arose the custom of abdication at a +very early age by the Mikados, in favor of their children, for whom they +acted as regents, circulating freely, upon their descent to mere mundane +authority, with the rest of the court. By this course, however, the +integrity of the government was weakened, and, dissensions arising, the +stability of the throne was endangered by the agressions of some of the +more powerful princes. In the twelfth century, it happened that a Mikado, +particularly alive to the vanities of the world, not only gave up his +station to his son, then three years old, but also renounced the labors of +the regency, which were intrusted to the infant monarch's grandfather, +whose first exercise of power was the immediate imprisonment of the +abdicator. This was worse than had been bargained for, and a contest +ensued, which terminated in favor of the ex-Mikado, owing to the valor of a +young warrior prince named Yoritomo. The prisoner was released, and himself +assumed the regency; but from that moment the strength of the Mikados was +gone. Yoritomo, having demonstrated that his power was superior to that of +the spiritual lord, demanded and obtained the rank and title of +"Ziogoon",--General, or General-in-Chief. He at first divided with the +Mikado the duties of the government, but by degrees succeeded in +concentrating in himself the real supremacy. From him descended the +temporal sovereignty of Japan, which has ever since overbalanced the +spiritual authority, although the first nominal rank is still accorded to +the Mikado. + +In the year 1295, the existence of Japan was first announced to the Western +world. Marco Polo, returning from his Asiatic travels, related all that he +had learned of a vast island lying to the east of China, and even +designated its position on his maps. He called it Zipangu, the name he had +heard in China. This narration was not received with much credit, and was, +until the sixteenth century, generally forgotten. It is a singular fact, +that the record left by Marco Polo had a strong influence in deciding the +convictions of Christopher Columbus, whose expectation in sailing from +Spain was to discover the island spoken of by the Venetian voyager. But the +ambition of Columbus was otherwise satisfied, and Japan was not visited by +the representatives of any Western nation until the year 1543, or 1545, +when a party of Portuguese, among whom was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, were +driven by a storm upon the coast, and forced to take shelter in the +province of Bungo, upon the island of Kiu-siu. The account of this visit, +given by Pinto, is full of interest, and, notwithstanding the questionable +character that clings to his writings, is without doubt correct in almost +every particular. + +At the time when fortune threw these wanderers upon the Japanese coast, +there was disinclination to admit strangers, or to communicate with them in +the most liberal manner. They were warmly received, and treated with great +consideration. The same friendship appeared to animate both parties. The +Portuguese made presents of arms and ammunition to the Japanese, who, with +ready skill, soon discovered the methods of manufacturing others for +themselves. The Japanese consented that Portuguese commerce should be +introduced, and the King of Bungo authorized an annual visit from a +Portuguese ship. Thus commercial relations were established, and at the +same time a religious mission, led by St. Francis Xavier, was despatched to +Japan. The prospects of trade and the new principles of religion were +welcomed with equal readiness. The visitors were restricted in no manner +whatever. Converts to Christianity were almost without number. When Xavier +departed from Japan, in 1551, he left behind him thousands of ardent and +enthusiastic professors of his faith, and a religious sentiment that +promised speedily to extend its influences throughout the land. + +The government openly encouraged the diffusion of Christianity. The Ziogoon +Nobanunga, who then reigned, having been importuned by native priests to +expel the foreign missionaries, inquired how many different religions there +were in Japan. "Thirty-five", was the reply. "Well," said he, "where +thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily bear with +thirty-six. Leave the strangers in peace". Some of the most powerful +princes espoused the Christian religion, and about the year 1584, a +mission, consisting of two young Japanese noblemen, attended by two +counsellors of less rank, was sent to Rome by the subordinate kings of +Bungo and Arima, and the Prince of Omura, in testimony of the devotion of +those rulers. The people themselves hastened to the new faith with such +zeal as to win the warmest affections of all the missionaries who went +among them. Xavier wrote of them, "I know not when to cease, in speaking of +the Japanese; they are truly the delight of my heart." + +So long as the mild teachings of Xavier and his Jesuit band prevailed, the +cause of Christianity advanced and prospered. But their field of labor was +soon invaded by multitudes of Dominicans and Franciscans from various +Portuguese settlements in Asia. By the persistent exercise of their best +faculties for mischief, these friars succeeded without much delay in +working irreparable injury where their predecessors had effected so much +good. They quarrelled, first among themselves, and then with the Jesuits, +until their strifes became the mockery of the people. The native priests of +the Siutoo and Buddhist religions took advantage of this state of things to +make a bold stand against the spread of the new doctrines. They organized a +force in the dominions of Omura, destroyed a Jesuit settlement and church, +and marched about in open rebellion against the authority of the +Prince. This movement, however, was checked without difficulty, and the +insurgents were overthrown in battle. The church was rebuilt at the place +now known as Nagasaki, which, an inferior village at that time, soon became +the centre of Portuguese commerce, and grew to great importance among +Japanese cities. But the friars continued their intrigues and tumults, in +spite of the growing contempt shown by the Japanese. Many of the Roman +clergy, moreover, assuming too great confidence in their easily gained +power, began to defy the usages of the country, and to adopt airs of +superiority quite at variance with the notions of the inhabitants upon that +subject. At the commencement of this altered condition of affairs, the +Ziogoon Nobanunga, who certainly was not unfavorably disposed to the +Christians, was assassinated, and his office and rank, after a series of +violent struggles, which lasted five years, fell to a man of humble origin, +but great talents, named Fide-yosi. This person had in his youth served +Nobanunga in the most menial capacity, but, owing partly to his remarkable +abilities, and partly to the circumstances which threw the succession into +so much confusion, he contrived to place himself, in the year 1587, at the +head of the nation. He then married the Mikado's daughter, and assumed the +name of Taiko-sama, with a view, perhaps, of dissociating himself as +completely as possible, in his exaltation, from the obscure individual +Fide-yosi, with whom, otherwise, he might not unnaturally be confounded. + +The new Ziogoon cared very little for the operations of the Christians, +while they kept themselves free from interference in the political affairs +of the country, and respected its customs. But the offensive spirit of the +Portuguese laity was not to be repressed. Their manners grew more +intolerable, from year to year. In time the progress of conversion almost +ceased, and yet the Portuguese, blind to danger, disdained to retrace their +steps. At length the Ziogoon, having journeyed through that part of the +country mostly under Christian influences, suddenly determined to rid +himself of so dangerous an element, and issued an order for the expulsion +of all missionaries throughout the empire. This was resisted by some of the +converted nobles, and particularly by the young prince of Omura, whose +obstinacy was punished in a very summary way,--the Ziogoon seizing upon the +port of Nagasaki, and transferring it to his own immediate government. On +paying a heavy ransom, however, the prince was permitted to resume +authority in Nagasaki, and Taiko-sama, busily occupied with more important +affairs of state, neglected to enforce his decree of expulsion, and left +the Christians undisturbed for some years, until a new evidence of affront +once more aroused his indignation against them. + +A Japanese nobleman and a Portuguese bishop, riding in their sedans, met, +one day, on a high-road of Nagasaki. The duty of the bishop, according to +the law of the country, was to alight and respectfully recognize the +nobleman. But, instead of doing this, he refused to tarry, and even turned +his head to the other side. Full of wrath, the nobleman made bitter +complaint to the Ziogoon, who from that time turned his heart more +resolutely than ever against the presumptuous and insolent foreigners. He +again assumed the direct government of Nagasaki, and was about to adopt +more vigorous measures, when he unexpectedly died, leaving the Christians a +few remaining years of probation. + +Taiko-sama was undoubtedly the greatest monarch that ever reigned in Japan. +He succeeded in bringing for the first time into complete subjection the +numerous powerful princes who had previously held an almost undivided sway +in the larger provinces. By this means he consolidated the strength of the +nation, and was enabled to undertake some very brilliant conquests. A +letter sent by him to the Portuguese viceroy of Goa shows his own estimate +of his power, and his general opinion of the insignificance of the external +world. + +"This vast monarchy," he wrote, "is like an immovable rock, and all the +efforts of its enemies will not be able to shake it. Thus not only am I at +peace at home, but persons come even from the most distant countries to +render me that homage which is my due. _Just now I am projecting the +subjugation of China;_ and as I have no doubt that I shall succeed in this +design, I trust that we shall soon be much nearer to each other.... As to +that which regards religion, Japan is the kingdom of the Kamis, that is to +say, of Xim, which is the principle of everything.... The [Jesuit] fathers +are come into these islands to teach another religion; but as that of the +Kamis is too well established to be abolished, this new law can only serve +to introduce into Japan a diversity of religion prejudicial to the welfare +of the state. That is why I have prohibited, by imperial edict, these +foreign doctors from continuing to preach their doctrine.... I desire, +nevertheless, that our commercial relations shall remain upon the same +footing." + +In regard to the religion of Japan, which Taiko-sama lucidly and +felicitously expounds by pronouncing it the religion "of the Kamis, +[Princes, or Nobles,] that is to say, of Xim, which is the principle of +everything," it may be assumed that the Ziogoon had little thought of any +theological troubles that might arise. His apprehensions were purely of a +political nature. It is related that the captain of a Spanish man-of-war, +in attempting to explain the secret of the vast colonial possessions of +Spain, incautiously told Taiko that the introduction of Christianity into +heathen nations was the first step, and the only difficult one, conquest +naturally and easily following. Such an avowal was not likely to be lost +upon so acute a mind as Taiko's, and it may very probably have been one of +the immediate causes which induced his extreme hostility to the diffusion +of Christianity. + +Taiko's warlike declarations were by no means vain boasts. He did invade +China, and spread such terror among the timid Celestials that they yielded +him all possible submission, giving him a number of Corean provinces, a +daughter of their Emperor in marriage, and the promise of an annual tribute +to Japan, in token of Japanese supremacy. The tribute not appearing at the +proper time, the Ziogoon immediately despatched a few armies to the Corea +and again destroyed the Celestial balance of mind. These forces, however, +were soon after recalled, in consequence of Taiko-sama's death. + +During the first year of the reign of his successor, Ogosho-sama, the Dutch +appeared in Japan. A fleet of five ships, sent from Holland by the Indian +Company, had been dispersed in the Pacific, and, sickness breaking out +among the crews, only one ship remained. On board was an English pilot, a +man of some education, named William Adams, who suggested visiting Japan, +which was finally decided upon. In April, 1600, the Dutch vessel anchored +in the harbor of Bungo, and the crew were cordially received by the +people. But they found formidable enemies in the Portuguese and Spaniards +of Nagasaki, who assailed them with the most unjust aspersions, and +endeavored in every way to turn the prejudices of the Japanese against +them. Notwithstanding this, however, the Dutch were kindly treated, +although never permitted to leave the country again, on account of the +suspicions aroused by the imputations of the Portuguese. William Adams was +taken in charge by the Ziogoon himself, who found the Englishman so +valuable and instructive a person that he would never hear of his leaving +the imperial presence. + +In 1609, other Dutch ships came to Japan, and, the scruples of the Ziogoon +having been set at rest, commercial relations were entered into. The Dutch +established a factory at Firando, in opposition to the Portuguese factory +at Nagasaki. A rivalry arose, heightened by the political and religious +feud between the nations, which was actively carried on for a number of +years. The Portuguese at first beset the Ziogoon with importunities for the +expulsion of the Dutch; but Ogosho-sama, in the most catholic spirit, +intimated, that, if devils from hell should take a fancy to visit his +realm, they should be treated like angels from heaven, so long as they +respected his laws. + +In the midst of the jealous struggles of Dutch and Portuguese, came a new +application for Japanese favor. In June, 1613, a vessel, despatched for the +purpose by the English government, arrived at Firando, bearing letters and +presents from King James I. to the Ziogoon. These were graciously received, +and a commercial treaty of the most favorable character was at once +negotiated. Among other not less important privileges, the Ziogoon gave to +English merchants the following:--"Free license forever safely to come into +any of our ports of our Empire of Japan, with their ships and merchandise, +without any hindrance to them or their goods; and to abide, buy, sell, and +barter, according to their own manner with all nations; to tarry here as +long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure"; also, "that, +without other passport, they shall and may set out upon the discovery of +Jesso or any other port in or about our Empire". The Ziogoon also sent a +letter, assuring the English monarch of his love and esteem, and announcing +that every facility desired in the way of trade would be gladly granted, +even to the establishment of a factory at Firando. A settlement was +accordingly made at that place, and commercial communications were +continued until about 1623, when they were voluntarily abandoned by the +English. It appears that their affairs were less successful than those of +the Dutch, who were stationed at the same port; but, whether from their own +misapprehension of the kind of merchandise needed for Japan, or from the +opposition of their rivals, who sought, in this case as in others, to +secure for themselves the monopoly of trade, is uncertain. + +For some years after the departure of the English, the contests between the +Portuguese and Dutch grew more bitter and violent, and the arrogance of the +Portuguese more unbearable, until at length, in 1637, the climax of their +offences was reached, and the affections of the Japanese rulers, which, but +for their own follies, would always have been with them, were turned into +the most unrelenting hatred. The Portuguese, not content with the great +privileges they already enjoyed, formed a conspiracy with certain of the +native Christian princes to depose the Ziogoon, overturn the government, +and take the power into their own hands. Letters containing the details of +this plot were discovered by the Dutch, and straightway sent to the +monarch. The statement has been made by Spanish writers, that this +conspiracy had no existence excepting in Dutch invention, and that the +proofs of guilt were all forged for the purpose of more completely +destroying the Portuguese; but the evidence is too strong to be overthrown +by any such allegation. The result was, that imperial edicts were +immediately put forth, enjoining the expulsion of all Portuguese from the +islands, and the utter extirpation of the Christian religion. For nearly +two years there was a series of the most terrible persecutions. The +Portuguese were at length banished, and the native converts who rose in +rebellion against the decree were slaughtered by thousands, _the Dutch +themselves cooperating in the work of destruction_. The history of these +massacres is one of the most remarkable that the annals of Christianity can +show. It stands forever, an ineffaceable record, covering with shame those +pretended disciples of the religion of Christ, who by their reckless and +wicked course not only invited their own destruction, but compelled that of +thousands of innocent fellow-beings, and interrupted for centuries the +progress of the cause they had so poorly essayed to promote. + +It is thus evident, that, for the system of seclusion which during nearly +two hundred and fifty years was closely adhered to, the Japanese themselves +are in no degree to be blamed. The fault lay with the representatives of +two refined and enlightened nations, who, by a persistent career of selfish +folly and pride, covered themselves with the deserved reproach of a people +to whose untutored apprehension such extraordinary principles of +civilization appeared unworthy of cultivation. That the Japanese were at +first amiably and liberally disposed toward foreigners, their frank +admission of the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and especially of the +English, amply shows. Until constrained for their own safety to do so, they +took no step toward interfering with the almost unlimited privileges they +had granted. It is, indeed, difficult to condemn their course, when we +consider the enormity of their provocation, and the dangers to which they +believed themselves exposed. If Christianity has suffered, the errors of +those who misrepresented it were the cause. How soon it may be possible to +again attempt its introduction is doubtful; for, of all foreign evils, the +Japanese look upon Christianity as the worst, viewing it simply as the +covert means of conquest, and reducing to submission those over whom its +influences extend. + +Beyond the removal of their rivals, the Dutch had little upon which to +congratulate themselves in this movement. The monopoly of trade was theirs, +but with the most degrading and humiliating conditions. They were obliged +to give up their factory at Firando, and take a new station upon the small +island of Desima, in the harbor of Nagasaki. To preserve even the most +limited intercourse with the Japanese, they were forced to relinquish all +sense of dignity and self-respect. The history of their relations with +Japan, for the past two hundred years, is a continual record of absolute +contempt and pitiless constraint on the one hand, and the most abject and +disgraceful servitude on the other. + +During the excitements which followed the expulsion of the Portuguese, a +second effort to enter Japan was made by the English; but, owing, it is +supposed, to the interference of the Dutch, this attempt was wholly +unsuccessful. In 1673, the East India Company despatched another vessel, +which was also received with distrust. The Japanese had learned, through +the Dutch, that the English king, Charles II., had allied himself by +marriage to the royal family of Portugal. On this account, and on this +only, the Japanese declared that no English ship could be admitted. Two +other equally fruitless attempts were made in 1791 and 1803. In 1808, an +English ship of war, by showing Dutch colors, gained entrance to the port +of Nagasaki, where, instead of peaceably deporting himself, the captain +began by capturing the Dutch officials who came on board, and setting at +defiance the requisitions of the Japanese. This English ship had been +cruising after the Dutch traders, England and Holland being at war at the +time, and, failing to meet them, the captain concluded they had eluded him, +and sought them at Nagasaki. A plan to attack the ship and burn it was +devised by the Japanese, but before it could be carried out the Englishman +had sailed. Conscious that his dignity was forfeited by this invasion, the +Japanese governor of Nagasaki, notwithstanding he was in no wise +censurable, in pursuance of the national custom, immediately destroyed +himself, and his example was followed by twelve of his subordinate +officers. The garrison of Nagasaki was reinforced, and the most warlike +attitude was assumed by the inhabitants, who are noted for their +courage. The affair caused great indignation, and is yet remembered to the +discredit of the English. In 1813, only five years later, a somewhat +similar stratagem was employed by the English. It was an ingenious scheme +on the part of the English governor of Java, which had, within a few years, +been ceded to England. The independence of Holland had ceased, and the +governor of Java undertook, by despatching English vessels under the Dutch +flag, to secure the trade which Holland had alone enjoyed. But the Dutch +director at Desima refused compliance, and the plan fell through. Three +other ventures, all resulting in the same way, were made by the English in +1814, 1818, and 1849. + +Of other European nations, Russia alone has sought to secure a position and +influence in Japan. The proximity of the islands to the Siberian coast, and +the fact that they lie directly between the American and Asian possessions +of that nation, render it important that Russia should forego no +opportunity to extend its relations in this direction. It does not appear, +however, that much has been accomplished. About the year 1780, a Japanese +junk was wrecked upon an island belonging to Russia. The crew were taken to +Siberia, and there detained ten years, after which an attempt was made to +return them to their homes. They were conveyed in a Russian ship to +Hakodadi, on the island of Yesso, but were refused admission, on account of +the edict issued at the time of the Portuguese expulsion, forbidding the +return of any Japanese after once leaving the country. In 1804, a second +mission was sent by the Emperor Alexander I., with the purpose of effecting +a treaty of some sort; but the ambassador, whose name was Resanoff, +commenced operations by disputing points of etiquette with the Japanese, +who, in return, treated him with more courtesy than ever, and insisted upon +paying all his expenses while in their country, but sent him away +unsatisfied. Enraged at his failure, Resanoff despatched two armed vessels +to the Kurile Islands, where, under his directions, a wanton attack was +made upon a number of villages, the inhabitants being killed or taken +prisoners, and the houses plundered. This was an offence not to be +forgiven; and when, in 1811, Captain Golownin was despatched by the Russian +government to make renewed applications, he was captured by stratagem, with +one or two attendants, and imprisoned for several years. But he was always +treated with kindness, and was finally released, without having received +the slightest injury. He was intrusted, when sent away, with a message to +the Russian government, setting forth the impossibility of any +understanding between the two nations. + +Previous to the expedition of Commodore Perry, few efforts to intrude upon +the Japanese had proceeded from the United States. An unsuccessful attempt +was made in 1837, by an American merchantman, to return a party of Japanese +who had been shipwrecked on our Western coast. In 1846, Commodore Biddle +was deputed to open negotiations, and entered the Bay of Yedo with two +ships of war. Receiving an unfavorable answer to his demands, he +immediately sailed away. In 1849, Commodore Glynn, having learned of the +imprisonment of sixteen American sailors, who had been driven ashore on one +of the Japanese islands, entered the harbor of Nagasaki with the United +States ship Preble, and demanded the release of his countrymen. For a time +a disposition was shown to evade his claim and to affect ignorance of the +alleged captivity; but upon his assuming a bolder and more determined tone, +the native officials became suddenly conscious of the state of affairs, and +forthwith delivered up the seamen. Commodore Glynn then set sail, and until +the visit of Commodore Perry, in 1853, the tranquillity of Japan was +disturbed by no American intrusion. + +It may be observed, that, of the nations which up to this time had +undertaken to effect communications with Japan, all excepting the United +States had given reasonable cause for offence, and some of them for deep +enmity. The Dutch, though disliked, were tolerated; but the Portuguese, +Spanish, English, and Russians had forfeited the good opinion of the +islanders by their unprovoked and unjustifiable aggressions. It is not +improbable that the selection of the United States for their first foreign +embassy may have been induced by the consideration that the relations +between the Japanese and their American neighbors have always been pacific, +and that they have never suffered injustice or ill-treatment at our hands. + +Meanwhile, until 1852, the Dutch had held exclusive commercial privileges +in Japan. In return for these, they submitted to all sorts of +indignities. They were restricted to the narrow limits of the artificially +constructed island of Desima, which is only six hundred feet in length, and +two hundred and forty in breadth. Here they were confined within high +fences fringed with spikes. Their houses were all of wood, no stone +buildings being permitted, undoubtedly with a view to preventing the +slightest chance of fortification. At the northern extremity of the island +was a large water-gate, which was kept continually closed, under a guard, +except upon the arrival of the Dutch vessels. These restrictions were in +great part continued almost to the present day, and many of them are still +in force. On the arrival of a Dutch ship, all the Bibles on board were +obliged to be put into a chest, which, after being nailed down, was given +in charge of the Japanese officials, to be retained by them until the time +of departure. All arms and ammunition, also, were required to be given +up. The crew, on landing at Desima, were placed under rigorous +surveillance, which was never relaxed. Even the permanent Dutch residents +received but little better treatment. They were unable to make any open +avowal of the Christian religion, and the Japanese officers who came in +contact with them were compelled to make frequent disavowals of +Christianity, and publicly to trample the cross, its symbol, under +foot. The island of Desima was infested with Japanese spies, whom the Dutch +were required to employ and pay as secretaries and servants, while knowing +their real office, If a Dutch resident aspired to occasional egress from +his prison, it was necessary to petition the governor of Nagasaki for the +privilege. As a general thing, the application was granted, but with such +conditions as to destroy all possibility of enjoyment; for, upon appearing +in Nagasaki, the unfortunate Dutchman was set upon by a band of spies and +policemen, who accompanied him wherever he turned and who were always +pleasantly inviting themselves to be entertained at his expense,--a +proposition which he was not at liberty to decline. These spies gradually +got into the habit of taking with them as many of their acquaintances as +they could gather together, until the cost of a stroll about Nagasaki +became too heavy to be endured. But there was no remedy; he must either pay +or stay at home; and even upon these extravagant terms, he was not allowed +to enter any Japanese house, or to remain within the city after sunset. For +the rare favor of visiting the residence of a native Nagasakian, a special +petition was needed, and if granted, the number of spies on such an +occasion was multiplied at a most appalling rate. The Dutch were, moreover, +forbidden the companionship of their own countrywomen, and only the most +degraded female class of Nagasaki were allowed to visit them. In every way +they were forced to acknowledge their inferiority and undergo deprivations +and mortifications, for which, let us hope, they succeeded in finding some +compensation in the scant privileges of their trade. + +At length the time arrived when the reluctant Japanese were to be taught +the uselessness of further efforts to resist the advances of other +nations. In November, 1852, an expedition, long contemplated and carefully +prearranged, set sail from the United States under the command of Commodore +M.C. Perry. Although this mission was the subject of much discussion +abroad, no very general hope of its success was expressed. The opinion +appeared to be, that, under all circumstances, Japan would still continue +locked in its seclusion. The result proved how easily, by the exercise of +firmness, prudence, and energy, all of which Commodore Perry displayed in +every movement, the much desired end could be accomplished. The secret of +two hundred years was solved in a day. The path once opened, there were +plenty to follow it: Russia, England, and France were quick to share the +benefits which had in the first place been gained by the United States. But +thus far the best fruits of Japanese intercourse have fallen to the United +States, and it seems clear that only a continuance of the same ability +hitherto shown in the management of our affairs with that nation is needed +to preserve to this country the superior advantages it now holds. + +On the 8th of July, 1853, Commodore Perry, with two steamers and two +sloops-of-war, entered the Bay of Yedo, having purposely avoided the port +of Nagasaki, at which all strangers had previously been accustomed to hold +communications with the government. In this, as in other movements, the +Commodore acted independently of much opposing counsel. By first visiting +the Loo-choo and Bonin islands, which are under Japanese control, and +mostly peopled by Japanese, he had acquired a considerable knowledge of the +character of those with whom he was to deal, and had been enabled to trace +for himself a policy which the result proved to be eminently just and +effective. He determined boldly to insist upon, rather than to beseech, the +privileges he had been deputed to gain. Understanding perfectly the +vexatious and embarrassing expedients by which the Japanese had been +accustomed to hamper and resist the endeavors of even the best-disposed of +their visitors, he resolved to listen to no suggestions of delay, and to +push vigorously forward with his mission, in spite of every obstacle their +wily ingenuity could oppose to him. Their assumptions of exclusiveness and +superiority he met by precisely the same sort of display, allowing no +familiarity on the part of the natives until all was definitely settled as +he desired, and intrenching himself in a mysterious seclusion which rather +exceeded even their own notions of personal dignity. Until one of the first +noblemen in the nation was sent to treat with him, the Commodore shunned +all intercourse with the people, and systematically refused to expose +himself to the profane eyes of the multitude. This unusual course took the +Japanese quite by surprise, and, not without some feeling of trepidation, +they bestirred themselves with unexampled alacrity to satisfy, so far as +they were able, his reasonable demands. Of course it was impossible for +them to set aside all their prejudices, and the record of their schemes to +impede the Commodore's progress, all of which were quietly overcome by his +firmness and decision, is equally amusing and instructive.[1] At the moment +of his entering the Bay of Yedo, he was surrounded by guard-boats, and +saluted with various warnings of peril, which might have deterred a less +resolute man. But, wholly indifferent to Japanese guard-boats, he sent out +his own for surveying purposes without hesitation, taking it for granted +that perfect fearlessness would secure the crews from molestation. In +answer to the remonstrances received at the outset, he simply pushed still +farther up the bay, until, finding it impossible to obtain compliance with +their requirements, the Japanese concluded to yield to his; and after as +much hesitation as the Commodore thought proper to give them opportunity +for, the letters from President Fillmore were received by the Emperor, or +Tycoon,[2] negotiations were opened, and, finally, a treaty, yielding all +the important points that had been asked for, was agreed upon. This treaty +proclaimed "a perfect, permanent, and universal peace, and a sincere and +cordial amity", between the two nations; designated certain ports where +American ships should obtain supplies; promised protection to American +seamen who should chance to be shipwrecked on the coast; and contained the +important stipulation, that no further privileges should be vouchsafed to +any other government except on condition of their being fully shared by the +United States. + +[Footnote 1: The details are to be found in the _Narratives of the +Expedition_, by Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., published by Congress at +Washington, in 1856.] + +[Footnote 2: As will be shown hereafter, the military functions of the +temporal ruler long ago ceased, and the title of Tycoon has been +substituted for that of Ziogoon.] + +The communications between Commodore Perry and the Japanese were carried on +in the most friendly manner. While the Commodore allowed no interference +with what he regarded as his own rights in the case, he was careful to +check any disposition on the part of his officers to defy those of the +islanders. Thus the utmost cordiality was preserved throughout. The +Japanese received the presents from the American government with delight, +and were quite overcome at the sight of the steam-engine and the magnetic +telegraph. A series of agreeable entertainments followed the signing of the +treaty, in which the Japanese showed themselves especially alive to the +civilizing influences of foreign cookery, and appreciation of such +refinements as whiskey and Champagne, to whose beneficent influences they +gave themselves up with ardor. Commodore Perry, on his departure, after +freely visiting various Japanese ports, was intrusted with a number of +presents for the American government, and entreated to bear with him the +assurance of entire confidence and amity. + +In August, 1853, subsequently to the arrival of Commodore Perry, a Russian +squadron visited Nagasaki, but, after protracted negotiations, departed +without obtaining a treaty. In September, 1854, Admiral James Stirling, on +behalf of the English government, effected a treaty at Nagasaki, the terms +of which were rather less liberal and advantageous than those granted to +the United States. But the inevitable result of Commodore Perry's success +could not long be delayed. Since the time of his mission, the governments +of France, England, Holland, and Russia have secured treaties guarantying +important privileges. It appears, however, that the superiority of +influence remains with the United States, owing, in a measure, no doubt, to +the excellent abilities of the Consul-General, Mr. Townsend Harris, who has +permitted no opportunity to escape of pressing the claims of his +government. As early as July, 1858, he negotiated a fair commercial +treaty. Mr. Harris is the only foreigner who was ever permitted to enter +the palace of the Tycoon of Japan without the degrading forms of submission +formerly exacted from the Dutch. He was received there with every +testimonial of respect. At a time when Mr. Harris was seriously ill, the +Tycoon despatched his own physician to attend him, while her Majesty +continually sent him the most delicate preparations of food, the work of +her own imperial hands. The ease with which the missions of Lord Elgin and +Baron Gros,[1] in 1858, were accomplished, may fairly be attributed to the +effects already produced by American influences. It was through +Mr. Harris's exertions that the Japanese embassy to this government was +secured. The English government endeavored to obtain first this important +mark of recognition, but, as it appears, unsuccessfully. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's expedition (_Narrative +of the Earl of Elgin's Mission_, etc., by Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.) is one +of the most valuable contributions from Japan. His observations, which at +Yedo were more extended and unimpeded than those of any preceding visitor, +are recorded in the most lively and charming manner. The history of the +embassy of Baron Gros (_Souvenirs d'une Ambassade en Chine et au Japon_, +par le Marquis de Moges) is less complete and entertaining, but by no means +destitute of interest.] + +At the present moment, all seems favorable for the development of the long +hidden resources of the Empire. But there are still difficulties in the +way; for a powerful class of nobles, those who trace their descent from the +ancient spiritual dynasty, are strongly opposed to the overthrow of the old +system. It is only by constant struggles that the more progressive class +can make way against them. The arrival of this embassy, and the recent +visit of a Japanese ship to California, are hopeful signs; for these could +have been permitted only on the abrogation of the old law of seclusion, +proclaimed at the time of the Portuguese expulsion; and such are the +peculiar principles of the Japanese government, that, as will hereafter be +shown, an important law like this cannot be revoked without a general +change of its policy. Within the city of Yedo are now the representatives +of three powerful nations, England, France, and the United States; others +are seeking admission; and the period when Japan shall mingle freely with +the world it has so long affected to contemn can hardly be long deferred. + +In a future number we shall speak of the present condition of Japan, the +forms of government, so far as known, its social state and prospects, and +the character of the people, as represented in the embassy which is now +receiving the hospitalities of our own government. + + * * * * * + + + +THE VINEYARD-SAINT. + + +She, pacing down the vineyard walks, +Put back the branches, one by one, +Stripped the dry foliage from the stalks, +And gave their bunches to the sun. + +On fairer hill-sides, looking south, +The vines were brown with cankerous rust, +The earth was hot with summer drouth, +And all the grapes were dim with dust. + +Yet here some blessed influence rained +From kinder skies, the season through; +On every bunch the bloom remained, +And every leaf was washed in dew. + +I saw her blue eyes, clear and calm; +I saw the aureole of her hair; +I heard her chant some unknown psalm, +In triumph half, and half in prayer. + +"Hail, maiden of the vines!" I cried: +"Hail, Oread of the purple hill! +For vineyard fauns too fair a bride, +For me thy cup of welcome fill! + +"Unlatch the wicket; let me in, +And, sharing, make thy toil more dear: +No riper vintage holds the bin +Than that our feet shall trample here. + +"Beneath thy beauty's light I glow, +As in the sun those grapes of thine: +Touch thou my heart with love, and lo! +The foaming must is turned to wine!" + +She, pausing, stayed her careful task, +And, lifting eyes of steady ray, +Blew, as a wind the mountain's mask +Of mist, my cloudy words away. + +No troubled flush o'erran her cheek; +But when her quiet lips did stir, +My heart knelt down to hear her speak, +And mine the blush I sought in her. + +"Oh, not for me," she said, "the vow +So lightly breathed, to break erelong; +The vintage-garland on the brow; +The revels of the dancing throng! + +"To maiden love I shut my heart, +Yet none the less a stainless bride; +I work alone, I dwell apart, +Because my work is sanctified. + +"A virgin hand must tend the vine, +By virgin feet the vat be trod, +Whose consecrated gush of wine +Becomes the blessed blood of God! + +"No sinful purple here shall stain, +Nor juice profane these grapes afford; +But reverent lips their sweetness drain +Around the table of the Lord. + +"The cup I fill, of chaster gold, +Upon the lighted altar stands; +There, when the gates of heaven unfold, +The priest exalts it in his hands. + +"The censer yields adoring breath, +The awful anthem sinks and dies, +While God, who suffered life and death, +Renews His ancient sacrifice. + +"O sacred garden of the vine! +And blessed she, ordained to press +God's chosen vintage, for the wine +Of pardon and of holiness!" + + * * * * * + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COUSIN RICHARD'S VISIT. + + +The Doctor was roused from his reverie by the clatter of approaching +hoofs. He looked forward and saw a young fellow galloping rapidly towards +him. + +A common New-England rider with his toes turned out, his elbows jerking and +the daylight showing under him at every step, bestriding a cantering beast +of the plebeian breed, thick at every point where he should be thin, and +thin at every point where he should be thick, is not one of those noble +objects that bewitch the world. The best horsemen outside of the cities are +the unshod country-boys, who ride "bare-backed," with only a halter round +the horse's neck, digging their brown heels into his ribs, and slanting +over backwards, but sticking on like leeches, and taking the hardest trot +as if they loved it. This was a different sight on which the Doctor was +looking. The streaming mane and tail of the unshorn, savage-looking, black +horse, the dashing grace with which the young fellow in the shadowy +_sombrero_, and armed with the huge spurs, sat in his high-peaked saddle, +could belong only to the mustang of the Pampas and his master. This bold +rider was a young man whose sudden apparition in the quiet inland town had +reminded some of the good people of a bright, curly-haired boy they had +known some eight or ten years before as little Dick Venner. + +This boy had passed several of his early years at the Dudley mansion, the +playmate of Elsie, being her cousin, two or three years older than herself, +the son of Captain Richard Venner, a South American trader, who, as he +changed his residence often, was glad to leave the boy in his brother's +charge. The Captain's wife, this boy's mother, was a lady of Buenos Ayres, +of Spanish descent, and had died while the child was in his cradle. These +two motherless children were as strange a pair as one roof could well +cover. Both handsome, wild, impetuous, unmanageable, they played and fought +together like two young leopards, beautiful, but dangerous, their lawless +instincts showing through all their graceful movements. + +The boy was little else than a young _Gaucho_ when he first came to +Rockland; for he had learned to ride almost as soon as to walk, and could +jump on his pony and trip up a runaway pig with the _bolas_ or noose him +with his miniature _lasso_ at an age when some city-children would hardly +be trusted out of sight of a nursery-maid. It makes men imperious to sit a +horse; no man governs his fellows so well as from this living throne. And +so, from Marcus Aurelius in Roman bronze, down to the "man on horseback" in +General Cushing's prophetic speech, the saddle has always been the true +seat of empire. The absolute tyranny of the human will over a noble and +powerful beast develops the instinct of personal prevalence and dominion; +so that horse-subduer and hero were almost synonymous in simpler times, and +are closely related still. An ancestry of wild riders naturally enough +bequeathes also those other tendencies which we see in the Tartars, the +Cossacks, and our own Indian Centaurs,--and as well, perhaps, in the +old-fashioned fox-hunting squire as in any of these. Sharp alternations of +violent action and self-indulgent repose; a hard run, and a long revel +after it: this is what over-much horse tends to animalize a man into. Such +antecedents may have helped to make little Dick Venner a self-willed, +capricious boy, and a rough playmate for Elsie. + +Elsie was the wilder of the two. Old Sophy, who used to watch them with +those quick, animal-looking eyes of hers,--she was said to the the +granddaughter of a cannibal chief, and inherited the keen senses belonging +to all creatures which are hunted as game,--Old Sophy, who watched them in +their play and their quarrels, always seemed to be more afraid for the boy +than the girl. "Massa Dick! Massa Dick! don' you be too rough wi' dat gal! +She scratch you las' week, 'n' some day she bite you; 'n' if she bite you, +Massa Dick!"--Old Sophy nodded her head ominously, as if she could say a +great deal more; while, in grateful acknowledgment of her caution, Master +Dick put his two little fingers in the angles of his mouth, and his +forefingers on his lower eyelids, drawing upon these features until his +expression reminded her of something she vaguely recollected in her +infancy,--the face of a favorite deity executed in wood by an African +artist for her grandfather, brought over by her mother, and burned when she +became a Christian. + +These two wild children had much in common. They loved to ramble together, +to build huts, to climb trees for nests, to ride the colts, to dance, to +race, and to play at boys' rude games as if both were boys. But wherever +two natures have a great deal in common, the conditions of a first-rate +quarrel are furnished ready-made. Relations are very apt to hate each other +just because they are too much alike. It is so frightful to be in an +atmosphere of family idiosyncrasies; to see all the hereditary uncomeliness +or infirmity of body, all the defects of speech, all the failings of +temper, intensified by concentration, so that every fault of our own finds +itself multiplied by reflections, like our images in a saloon lined with +mirrors! Nature knows what she is about. The centrifugal principle which +grows out of the antipathy of like to like is only the repetition in +character of the arrangement we see expressed materially in certain +seed-capsules, which burst and throw the seed to all points of the compass. +A house is a large pod with a human germ or two in each of its cells or +chambers; it opens by dehiscence of the frontdoor by-and-by, and projects +one of its germs to Kansas, another to San Francisco, another to Chicago, +and so on; and this that Smith may not be Smithed to death and Brown be +Browned into a mad-house, but mix in with the world again and struggle back +to average humanity. + +Elsie's father, whose fault was to indulge her in everything, found that it +would never do to let these children grow up together. They would either +love each other as they got older, and pair like wild creatures, or take +some fierce antipathy, which might end nobody could tell where. It was not +safe to try. The boy must be sent away. A sharper quarrel than common +decided this point. Master Dick forgot Old Sophy's caution, and vexed the +girl into a paroxysm of wrath, in which she sprang at him and bit his +arm. Perhaps they made too much of it; for they sent for the old Doctor, +who came at once when he heard what had happened. He had a good deal to say +about the danger there was from the teeth of animals or human beings when +enraged; and as he emphasized his remarks by the application of a pencil of +lunar caustic to each of the marks left by the sharp white teeth, they were +like to be remembered by at least one of his hearers. + +So Master Dick went off on his travels, which led him into strange places +and stranger company. Elsie was half pleased and half sorry to have him go; +the children had a kind of mingled liking and hate for each other, just +such as is very common among relations. Whether the girl had most +satisfaction in the plays they shared, or in teasing him, or taking her +small revenge upon him for teasing her, it would have been hard to say. At +any rate, she was lonely without him. She had more fondness for the old +black woman than anybody; but Sophy could not follow her far beyond her own +old rocking-chair. As for her father, she had made him afraid of her, not +for his sake, but for her own. Sometimes she would seem, to be fond of him, +and the parent's heart would yearn within him as she twined her supple arms +about him; and then some look she gave him, some half-articulated +expression, would turn his cheek pale and almost make him shiver, and he +would say kindly, "Now go, Elsie, dear," and smile upon her as she went, +and close and lock the door softly after her. Then his forehead would knot +and furrow itself, and the drops of anguish stand thick upon it. He would +go to the western window of his study and look at the solitary mound with +the marble slab for its head-stone. After his grief had had its way, he +would kneel down and pray for his child as one who has no hope save in that +special grace which can bring the most rebellious spirit into sweet +subjection. All this might seem like weakness in a parent having the charge +of one sole daughter of his house and heart; but he had tried authority and +tenderness by turns so long without any good effect, that be had become +sore perplexed, and, surrounding her with cautious watchfulness as he best +might, left her in the main to her own guidance and the merciful influences +which Heaven might send down to direct her footsteps. + +Meantime the boy grew up to youth and early manhood through a strange +succession of adventures. He had been at school at Buenos Ayres,--had +quarrelled with his mother's relatives,--had run off to the Pampas, and +lived with the _Cauchos_,--had made friends with the Indians, and ridden +with them, it was rumored, in some of their savage forays,--had returned +and made up his quarrel,--had got money by inheritance or otherwise,--had +troubled I he peace of certain magistrates,--had found it convenient to +leave the City of Wholesome Breezes for a time, and had galloped off on a +fast horse of his, (so it was said,) with some officers riding after him, +who took good care (but this was only the popular story) not to catch +him. A few days after this he was taking his ice on the Alameda of Mendoza, +and a week or two later sailed from Valparaiso for New York, carrying with +him the horse with which he had scampered over the Plains, a trunk or two +with his newly purchased outfit of clothing and other conveniences, and a +belt heavy with gold and with a few Brazilian diamonds sewed in it, enough +in value to serve him for a long journey. + +Dick Venner had seen life enough to wear out the earlier sensibilities of +adolescence. He was tired of worshipping or tyrannizing over the bistred or +umbered beauties of mingled blood among whom he had been living. Even that +piquant exhibition which the Rio de Mendoza presents to the amateur of +breathing sculpture failed to interest him. He was thinking of a far-off +village on the other side of the equator, and of the wild girl with whom he +used to play and quarrel, a creature of a different race from these +degenerate mongrels. + +"A game little devil she was, sure enough!"--and as Dick spoke, he bared +his wrist to look for the marks she had left on it: two small white scars, +where the two small sharp upper teeth had struck when she flashed at him +with her eyes sparkling as bright as those glittering stones sewed up in +the belt he wore.--"That's a filly worth noosing!" said Dick to himself, as +he looked in admiration at the sign of her spirit and passion. "I wonder if +she will bite at eighteen as she did at eight! She shall have a chance to +try, at any rate!" + +Such was the self-sacrificing disposition with which Richard Venner, Esq., +a passenger by the Condor from Valparaiso, set foot upon his native shore, +and turned his face in the direction of Rockland, The Mountain, and the +mansion-house. He had heard something, from time to time, of his +New-England relatives, and knew that they were living together as he left +them. And so he heralded himself to "My dear Uncle" by a letter signed +"Your loving nephew, Richard Venner," in which letter he told a very frank +story of travel and mercantile adventure, expressed much gratitude for the +excellent counsel and example which had helped to form his character and +preserve him in the midst of temptation, inquired affectionately after his +uncle's health, was much interested to know whether his lively cousin who +used to be his playmate had grown up as handsome as she promised to be, and +announced his intention of paying his respects to them both at +Rockland. Not long after this came the trunks marked R.V. which he had sent +before him, forerunners of his advent: he was not going to wait for a reply +or an invitation. + +What a sound that is,--the banging down of the preliminary trunk, without +its claimant to give it the life which is borrowed by all personal +appendages, so long as the owner's hand or eye is on them! If it announce +the coming of one loved and longed for, how we delight to look at it, to +sit down on it, to caress it in our fancies, as a lone exile walking out on +a windy pier yearns towards the merchantman lying along-side, with the +colors of his own native land at her peak, and the name of the port he +sailed from long ago upon her stern! But if it tell the near approach of +the undesired, inevitable guest, what sound short of the muffled noises +made by the undertakers as they turn the corners in the dim-lighted house, +with low shuffle of feet and whispered cautions, carries such a sense of +knocking-kneed collapse with it as the thumping down in the front entry of +the heavy portmanteau, rammed with the changes of uncounted coming weeks? + +Whether the R.V. portmanteaus brought one or the other of these emotions to +the tenants of the Dudley mansion, it might not be easy to settle. Elsie +professed to be pleased with the thought of having an adventurous young +stranger, with stories to tell, an inmate of their quiet, not to say dull, +family. Under almost any other circumstances, her father would have been +unwilling to take a young fellow of whom he knew so little under his roof; +but this was his nephew, and anything that seemed like to amuse or please +Elsie was agreeable to him. He had grown almost desperate, and felt as if +any change in the current of her life and feelings might save her from some +strange paroxysm of dangerous mental exaltation or sullen perversion of +disposition, from which some fearful calamity might come to herself or +others. + +Dick had been some weeks at the Dudley mansion. A few days before, he had +made a sudden dash for the nearest large city,--and when the Doctor met +him, he was just returning from his visit. + + * * * * * + +It had been a curious meeting between the two young persons, who had parted +so young and after such strange relations with each other. When Dick first +presented himself at the mansion, not one in the house would have known him +for the boy who had left them all so suddenly years ago. He was so dark, +partly from his descent, partly from long habits of exposure, that Elsie +looked almost fair beside him. He had something of the family beauty which +belonged to his cousin, but his eye had a fierce passion in it, very unlike +the cold glitter of Elsie's. Like many people of strong and imperious +temper, he was soft-voiced and very gentle in his address, when he had no +special reason for being otherwise. He soon found reasons enough to be as +amiable as he could force himself to be with his uncle and his +cousin. Elsie was to his fancy. She had a strange attraction for him, quite +unlike anything he had ever known in other women. There was something, too, +in early associations: when those who parted as children meet as man and +woman, there is always a renewal of that early experience which followed +the taste of the forbidden fruit,--a natural blush of consciousness, not +without its charm. + +Nothing could be more becoming than the behavior of "Richard Venner, +Esquire, the guest of Dudley Venner, Esquire, at his noble mansion," as he +was announced in the Court column of the "Rockland Weekly Universe." He was +pleased to find himself treated with kindness and attention as a +relative. He made himself very agreeable by abundant details concerning the +religious, political, social, commercial, and educational progress of the +South American cities and states. He was himself much interested in +everything that was going on about the Dudley mansion, walked all over it, +noticed its valuable wood-lots with special approbation, was delighted with +the grand old house and its furniture, and would not be easy until he had +seen all the family silver and heard its history. In return, he had much to +tell of his father, now dead,--the only one of the Tenners, beside +themselves, in whose fate his uncle was interested. With Elsie, he was +subdued and almost tender in his manner; with the few visitors whom they +saw, shy and silent,--perhaps a little watchful, if any young man happened +to be among them. + +Young fellows placed on their good behavior are apt to get restless and +nervous, all ready to fly off into some mischief or other. Dick Venner had +his half-tamed horse with him to work off his suppressed life with. When +the savage passion of his young blood came over him, he would fetch out the +mustang, screaming and kicking as these amiable beasts are wont to do, +strap the Spanish saddle tight to his back, vault into it, and, after +getting away from the village, strike the long spurs into his sides and +whirl away in a wild gallop, until the black horse was flecked with white +foam, and the cruel steel points were red with his blood. When horse and +rider were alike tired, he would fling the bridle on his neck and saunter +homeward, always contriving to get to the stable in a quiet way, and coming +into the house as calm as a bishop after a sober trot on his steady-going +cob. + +After a few weeks of this kind of life, he began to want some more fierce +excitement. He had tried making downright love to Elsie, with no great +success as yet, in his own opinion. The girl was capricious in her +treatment of him, sometimes scowling and repellent, sometimes familiar, +very often, as she used to be of old, teasing and malicious. All this, +perhaps, made her more interesting to a young man who was tired of easy +conquests. There was a strange fascination in her eyes, too, which at times +was quite irresistible, so that he would feel himself drawn to her by a +power which seemed to take away his will for the moment It may have been +nothing but the common charm of bright eyes; but he had never before +experienced the same kind of attraction. + +Perhaps she was not so very different from what she had been as a child, +after all. At any rate, so it seemed to Dick Venner, who, as was said +before, had tried making love to her. They were sitting alone in the study +one day; Elsie had round her neck that somewhat peculiar ornament, the +golden _torque_, which she had worn to the great party. Youth is +adventurous and very curious about neck laces, brooches, chains, and other +such adornments, so long as they are worn by young persons of the female +sex. Dick was seized with a great passion for examining this curious chain, +and, after some preliminary questions, was rash enough to lean towards her +and put out his hand toward the neck that lay in the golden coil. She threw +her head back, her eyes narrowing and her forehead drawing down so that +Dick thought her head actually flattened itself. He started involuntarily; +for she looked so like the little girl who had struck him with those sharp +flashing teeth, that the whole scene came back, and he felt the stroke +again as if it had just been given, and the two white scars began to sting +as they did after the old Doctor had burned them with that stick of gray +caustic, which looked so like a slate pencil, and felt so much like the end +of a red-hot poker. + +It took something more than a gallop to set him right after this. The next +day he mentioned having received a letter from a mercantile agent with whom +he had dealings. What his business was is, perhaps, none of our +business. At any rate, it required him to go at once to the city where his +correspondent resided. + +Independently of this "business" which called him, there may have been +other motives, such as have been hinted at. People who have been living for +a long time in dreary country-places, without any emotion beyond such as +are occasioned by a trivial pleasure or annoyance, often get crazy at last +for a vital paroxysm of some kind or other. In this state they rush to the +great cities for a plunge into their turbid life-baths, with a frantic +thirst for every exciting pleasure, which makes them the willing and easy +victims of all those who sell the Devil's wares on commission. The less +intelligent and instructed class of unfortunates, who venture with their +ignorance and their instincts into what is sometimes called the "life" of +great cities, are put through a rapid course of instruction which entitles +them very commonly to a diploma from the police court. But they only +illustrate the working of the same tendency in mankind at large which has +been occasionally noticed in the sons of ministers and other eminently +worthy people, by many ascribed to that intense congenital hatred for +goodness which distinguishes human nature from that of the brute, but +perhaps as readily accounted for by considering it as the yawning and +stretching of a young soul cramped too long in one moral posture. + +Richard Venner was a young man of remarkable experience for his years. He +ran less risk, therefore, in exposing himself to the temptations and +dangers of a great city than many older men, who, seeking the livelier +scenes of excitement to be found in large towns as a relaxation after the +monotonous routine of family-life, are too often taken advantage of and +made the victims of their sentiments or their generous confidence in their +fellow-creatures. Such was not his destiny. There was something about him +which looked as if he would not take bullying kindly. He had also the +advantage of being acquainted with most of those ingenious devices by which +the proverbial inconstancy of fortune is steadied to something more nearly +approaching fixed laws, and the dangerous risks which have so often led +young men to ruin and suicide are practically reduced to somewhat less than +nothing. So that Mr, Richard Venner worked off his nervous energies without +any troublesome adventure, and was ready to return to Rockland in less than +a week, without having lightened the money-belt he wore round his body, or +tarnished the long glittering knife he carried in his boot. + +Dick had sent his trunk to the nearest town through which the railroad +leading to the city passed. He rode off on his black horse and left him at +the place where he took the cars. On arriving at the city station, he took +a coach and drove to one of the great hotels. Thither drove also a +sagacious-looking, middle-aged man, who entered his name as "W. Thompson" +in the book at the office immediately after that of "R. Venner." Mr, +"Thompson" kept a carelessly observant eye upon Mr. Venner during his stay +at the hotel, and followed him to the cars when he left, looking over his +shoulder when he bought his ticket at the station, and seeing him fairly +off without obtruding himself in any offensive way upon his +attention. Mr. Thompson, known in other quarters as Detective Policeman +Terry, got very little by his trouble. Richard Venner did not turn out to +be the wife-poisoner, the defaulting cashier, the river-pirate, or the +great counterfeiter. He paid his hotel-bill as a gentleman should always +do, if he has the money, and can spare it. The detective had probably +overrated his own sagacity when he ventured to suspect Mr. Venner. He +reported to his chief that there was a knowing-looking fellow he had been +round after, but he rather guessed he was nothing more than "one o' them +Southern sportsmen." + +The poor fellows at the stable where Dick had left his horse had had +trouble enough with him. One of the ostlers was limping about with a lame +leg, and another had lost a mouthful of his coat, which came very near +carrying a piece of his shoulder with it. When Mr. Venner came back for his +beast, he was as wild as if he had just been lassoed, screaming, kicking, +rolling over to get rid of his saddle,--and when his rider was at last +mounted, jumping about in a way to dislodge any common horseman. To all +this Dick replied by sticking his long spurs deeper and deeper into his +flanks, until the creature found he was mastered, and dashed off as if all +the thistles of the Pampas were pricking him. + +"One more gallop, Juan!" This was in the last mile of the road before he +came to the town--which brought him in sight of the mansion-house. It was +in this last gallop that the fiery mustang and his rider flashed by the old +Doctor. Cassia pointed her sharp ears and shied to let them pass. The +Doctor turned and looked through the little round glass in the back of his +sulky. + +"Dick Turpin, there, will find more than his match!" said the Doctor. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE APOLLINEAN INSTITUTE. + +_With Extracts from the "Report of the Committee."_ + + +The readers of this narrative will hardly expect any elaborate details of +the educational management of the Apollinean Institute. They cannot be +supposed to take the same interest in its affairs as was shown by the +Annual Committees who reported upon its condition and prospects. As these +Committees were, however, an important part of the mechanism of the +establishment, some general account of their organization and a few +extracts from the Report of the one last appointed may not be out of place. + +Whether Mr. Silas Peckham had some contrivance for packing his Committees, +whether they happened always to be made up of optimists by nature, whether +they were cajoled into good-humor by polite attentions, or whether they +were always really delighted with the wonderful acquirements of the pupils +and the admirable order of the school, it is certain that their Annual +Reports were couched in language which might warm the heart of the most +cold-blooded and calculating father that ever had a family of daughters to +educate. In fact, these Annual Reports were considered by Mr. Peckham as +his most effective advertisements. + +The first thing, therefore, was to see that the Committee was made up of +persons known to the public. Some worn-out politician, in that leisurely +and amiable transition-state which comes between official extinction and +the paralysis which will finish him as soon as his brain gets a little +softer, made an admirable Chairman for Mr. Peckham, when he had the luck to +pick up such an article. Old reputations, like old fashions, are more +prized in the grassy than in the stony districts. An effete celebrity, who +would never be heard of again in the great places until the funeral sermon +waked up his memory for one parting spasm, finds himself in full flavor of +renown a little farther back from the changing winds of the sea-coast. If +such a public character was not to be had, so that there was no chance of +heading the Report with the name of the Honorable Mr. Somebody, the next +best thing was to get the Reverend Dr. Somebody to take that conspicuous +position. Then would follow two or three local worthies with Esquire after +their names. If any stray literary personage from one of the great cities +happened to be within reach, he was pounced upon by Mr. Silas Peckham. It +was a hard case for the poor man, who had travelled a hundred miles or two +to the outside suburbs after peace and unwatered milk, to be pumped for a +speech in this unexpected way. It was harder still, if he had been induced +to venture a few tremulous remarks, to be obliged to write them out for the +"Rockland Weekly Universe," with the chance of seeing them used as an +advertising certificate as long as he lived, if he lived as long as the +late Dr. Waterhouse did after giving his certificate in favor of Whitwell's +celebrated Cephalic Snuff. + +The Report of the last Committee had been signed by the Honorable ----, +late ---- of ----, as Chairman. (It is with reluctance that the name and +titles are left in blank; but our public characters are so familiarly known +to the whole community that this reserve becomes necessary.) The other +members of the Committee were the Reverend Mr. Butters, of a neighboring +town, who was to make the prayer before the Exercises of the Exhibition, +and two or three notabilities of Rockiand, with geoponic eyes, and +glabrous, bumpless foreheads. A few extracts from the Report are +subjoined:-- + +"The Committee have great pleasure in recording their unanimous opinion, +that the Institution was never in so flourishing a condition.... + +"The health of the pupils is excellent; the admirable quality of food +supplied shows itself in their appearance; their blooming aspect excited +the admiration of the Committee, and bears testimony to the assiduity of +the excellent Matron. + +"......moral and religious condition most encouraging, which they cannot +but attribute to the personal efforts and instruction of the faithful +Principal, who considers religious instruction a solemn duty which he +cannot commit to other people. + +".......great progress in their studies, under the intelligent +superintendence of the accomplished Principal, assisted by Mr. Badger, +[Mr. Langdon's predecessor,] Miss Darley, the lady who superintends the +English branches, Miss Crabs, her assistant and teacher of Modern +Languages, and Mr. Schneider, teacher of French, German, Latin, and Music. + +"Education is the great business of the Institute. Amusements are objects +of a secondary nature; but these are by no means neglected.... + +".........English compositions of great originality and beauty, creditable +alike to the head and heart of their accomplished authors......several +poems of a very high order of merit, which would do honor to the literature +of any age or country.....life-like drawings, showing great proficiency.... +Many converse fluently in various modern languages......perform the most +difficult airs with the skill of professional musicians..... + +".....advantages unsurpassed, if equalled, by those of any Institution in +the country, and reflecting the highest honor on the distinguished Head of +the Establishment, SILAS PECKHAM, Esquire, and his admirable Lady, the +MATRON, with their worthy assistants....." + + +The perusal of this Report did Mr. Bernard more good than a week's vacation +would have done. It gave him such a laugh as he had not had for a +month. The way in which Silas Peckham had made his Committee say what he +wanted them to--for he recognized a number of expressions in the Report as +coming directly from the lips of his principal, and could not help thinking +how cleverly he had _forced_ his phrases, as jugglers do the particular +card they wish their dupe to take--struck him as particularly neat and +pleasing. + +He had passed through the sympathetic and emotional stages in his new +experience, and had arrived at the philosophical and practical state, which +takes things coolly, and goes to work to set them right. He had breadth +enough of view to see that there was nothing so very exceptional in this +educational trader's dealings with his subordinates, but he had also manly +feeling enough to attack the particular individual instance of wrong before +him. There are plenty of dealers in morals, as in ordinary traffic, who +confine themselves to wholesale business. They leave the small necessity of +their next-door neighbor to the retailers, who are poorer in statistics and +general facts, but richer in the every-day charities. Mr. Bernard felt, at +first, as one does who sees a gray rat steal out of a drain and begin +gnawing at the bark of some tree loaded with fruit or blossoms, which he +will soon girdle, if he is let alone. The first impulse is to murder him +with the nearest ragged stone. Then one remembers that he is a rodent, +acting after the law of his kind, and cools down and is contented to drive +him off and guard the tree against his teeth for the future. As soon as +this is done, one can watch his attempts at mischief with a certain +amusement. + +This was the kind of process Mr. Bernard had gone through. First, the +indignant surprise of a generous nature, when it comes unexpectedly into +relations with a mean one. Then the impulse of extermination,--a divine +instinct, intended to keep down vermin of all classes to their working +averages in the economy of Nature. Then a return of cheerful tolerance,--a +feeling, that, if the Deity could bear with rats and sharpers, he could; +with a confident trust, that, in the long run, terriers and honest men +would have the upperhand, and a grateful consciousness that he had been +sent just at the right time to come between a patient victim and the master +who held her in peonage. + +Having once made up his mind what to do, Mr. Bernard was as good-natured +and hopeful as ever. He had the great advantage, from his professional +training, of knowing how to recognize and deal with the nervous +disturbances to which overtasked women are so liable. He saw well enough +that Helen Darley would certainly kill herself or lose her wits, if he +could not lighten her labors and lift off a large part of her weight of +cares. The worst of it was, that she of those women who naturally overwork +themselves, like those horses who will go at the top of their pace until +they drop. Such women are dreadfully unmanageable. It is as hard reasoning +with them as it would have been reasoning with lo, when she was flying over +land and sea, driven by the sting of the never-sleeping gadfly. + +This was a delicate, interesting game that he played. Under one innocent +pretext or another, he invaded this or that special province she had made +her own. He would collect the themes and have them all read and marked, +answer all the puzzling questions in mathematics, make the other teachers +come to him for directions, and in this way gradually took upon himself not +only all the general superintendence that belonged to his office, but stole +away so many of the special duties which might fairly have belonged to his +assistant, that, before she knew it, she was looking better and feeling +more cheerful than for many and many a month before. + +When the nervous energy is depressed by any bodily cause, or exhausted by +overworking, there follow effects which have often been misinterpreted by +moralists, and especially by theologians. The conscience itself becomes +neuralgic, sometimes actually inflamed, so that the least touch is +agony. Of all liars and false accusers, a sick conscience is the most +inventive and indefatigable. The devoted daughter, wife, mother, whose life +has been given to unselfish labors, who has filled a place which it seems +to others only and angel would make good, reproaches herself with +incompetence and neglect of duty. The humble Christian, who has been a +model to others, calls himself a worm of the dust on one page of his diary, +and arraigns himself on the next for coming short of the perfection of an +archangel. + +Conscience itself requires a conscience, or nothing can be more +unscrupulous. It told Saul that he did well in persecuting the +Christians. It has goaded countless multitudes of various creeds to endless +forms of self-torture. The cities of India are full of cripples it has +made. The hill-sides of Syria are riddled with holes, where miserable +hermits, whose lives it had palsied, lived and died like the vermin they +harbored. Our libraries are crammed with books written by spiritual +hypochondriacs, who inspected all their moral secretions a dozen times a +day. They are full of interest, but they should be transferred from the +shelf of the theologian to that of the medical man who makes a study of +insanity. + +This was the state into which too much work and too much responsibility +were bringing Helen Darley, when the new master came and lifted so much of +the burden that was crushing her as must be removed before she could have a +chance to recover her natural elasticity and buoyancy. Many of the noblest +women, suffering like her, but less fortunate in being relieved at the +right moment, die worried out of life by the perpetual teasing of this +inflamed, neuralgic conscience. So subtile is the line which separates the +true and almost angelic sensibility of a healthy, but exalted nature, from +the soreness of a soul which is sympathizing with a morbid state of the +body, that it is no wonder they are often confounded. And thus many good +women are suffered to perish by that form of spontaneous combustion in +which the victim goes on toiling day and night with the hidden fire +consuming her, until all at once her cheek whitens, and, as we look upon +her, she drops away, a heap of ashes. The more they over-work themselves, +the more exacting becomes the sense of duty,--as the draught of the +locomotive's furnace blows stronger and makes the fire burn more fiercely, +the faster it spins along the track. + +It is not very likely, as was said at the beginning of this chapter, that +we shall trouble ourselves a great deal about the internal affairs of the +Apollinean Institute. These schools are, in the nature of things, not so +very unlike each other as to require a minute description for each +particular one among them. They have all very much the same general +features, pleasing and displeasing. All feeding-establishments have +something odious about them,--from the wretched country-houses where +paupers are farmed out to the lowest bidder, up to the commons-tables at +colleges, and even the fashionable boarding-house. A person's appetite +should be at war with no other purse than his own. Young people, +especially, who have a bone-factory at work in them, and have to feed the +living looms of innumerable growing tissues, should be provided for, if +possible, by those that love them like their own flesh and blood. Elsewhere +their appetites will be sure to make them enemies, or, what are almost as +bad, friends whose interests are at variance with the claims of their +exacting necessities and demands. + +Besides, all commercial transactions in regard to the most sacred interests +of life are hateful even to those who profit by them. The clergyman, the +physician, the teacher, must be paid; but each of them, if his duty be +performed in the true spirit, can hardly help a shiver of disgust when. +money is counted out to him for administering the consolations of religion, +for saving some precious life, for sowing the seeds of Christian +civilization in young, ingenuous souls. + +And yet all these schools, with their provincial French and their +mechanical accomplishments, with their cheap parade of diplomas and +commencements and other public honors, have an ever fresh interest to all +who see the task they are performing in our new social order. These girls +are not being educated for governesses, or to be exported, with other +manufactured articles, to colonies where there happens to be a surplus of +males. Most of them will be wives, and every American-born husband is a +possible President of these United States. Any one of these girls may be a +four-years' queen. There is no sphere of human activity so exalted that she +may not be called upon to fill it. + +But there is another consideration of far higher interest. The education of +our community to all that is beautiful is flowing in mainly through its +women, and that to a considerable extent by the aid of these large +establishments, the least perfect of which do something to stimulate the +higher tastes and partially instruct them. Sometimes there is, perhaps, +reason to fear that girls will be too highly educated for their own +happiness, if they are lifted by their culture out of the range of the +practical and every-day working youth by whom they are surrounded. But this +is a risk we must take. Our young men come into active life so early, that, +if our girls were not educated to something beyond mere practical duties, +our material prosperity would outstrip our culture; as it often does in +large places where money is made too rapidly. This is the meaning, +therefore, of that somewhat ambitious programme common to most of these +large institutions, at which we sometimes smile, perhaps unwisely or +uncharitably. + +We shall take it for granted that the routine of instruction went on at the +Apollinean Institute much as it does in other schools of the same +class. People, young or old, are wonderfully different, if we contrast +extremes in pairs. They approach much nearer, if we take them in groups of +twenty. Take two separate hundreds as they come, without choosing, and you +get the gamut of human character in both so completely that you can strike +many chords in each which shall be in perfect unison with corresponding +ones in the other. If we go a step farther, and compare the population of +two villages of the same race and region, there is such a regularly +graduated distribution and parallelism of character, that it seems as if +Nature must turn out human beings in sets like chessmen. + +It must be confessed that the position in which Mr. Bernard now found +himself had a pleasing danger about it which might well justify all the +fears entertained on his account by more experienced friends, when they +learned that he was engaged in a Young Ladies' Seminary. The school never +went on more smoothly than during the first period of his administration, +after he had arranged its duties, and taken his share, and even more than +his share, upon himself. But human nature does not wait for the diploma of +the Apollinean Institute to claim the exercise of its instincts and +faculties. There young girls saw but little of the youth of the +neighborhood. The mansion-house young men were off at college or in the +cities, or making love to each other's sisters, or at any rate unavailable +for some reason or other. There were a few "clerks,"--that is, young men +who attended shops, commonly called "stores,"--who were fond of walking by +the Institute, when they were off duty, for the sake of exchanging a word +or a glance with any one of the young ladies they might happen to know, if +any such were stirring abroad: crude young men, mostly, with a great many +"Sirs" and "Ma'ams" in their speech, and with that style of address +sometimes acquired in the retail business, as if the salesman were +recommending himself to a customer,--"First-rate family article, Ma'am; +warranted to wear a lifetime; just one yard and three quarters in this +pattern, Ma'am; sha'n't I have the pleasure?" and so forth. If there had +been ever so many of them, and if they had been ever so fascinating, the +quarantine of the Institute was too rigorous to allow any romantic +infection to be introduced from without. + +Anybody might see what would happen, with a good-looking, well-dressed, +well-bred young man, who had the authority of a master, it is true, but the +manners of a friend and equal, moving about among these young girls day +after day, his eyes meeting theirs, his breath mingling with theirs, his +voice growing familiar to them, never in any harsh tones, often soothing, +encouraging, always sympathetic, with its male depth and breadth of sound +among the chorus of trebles, as if it were a river in which a hundred of +these little piping streamlets might lose themselves; anybody might see +what would happen. Young girls wrote home to their parents that they +enjoyed themselves much this term at the Institute, and thought they were +making rapid progress in their studies. There was a great enthusiasm for +the young master's reading-classes in English poetry. Some of the poor +little things began to adorn themselves with an extra ribbon, or a bit of +such jewelry as they had before kept for great occasions. Dear souls! they +only half knew what they were doing it for. Does the bird know why its +feathers grow more brilliant and its voice becomes musical in the pairing +season? + +And so, in the midst of this quiet inland town, where a mere accident had +placed Mr. Bernard Langdon, there was a concentration of explosive +materials which might at any time change its Arcadian and academic repose +into a scene of dangerous commotion. What said Helen Darley, when she saw +with her woman's glance that more than one girl, when she should be looking +at her book, was looking over it toward the master's desk? Was her own +heart warmed by any livelier feeling than gratitude, as its life began to +flow with fuller pulses, and the morning sky again looked bright and the +flowers recovered their lost fragrance? Was there any strange, mysterious +affinity between the master and the dark girl who sat by herself? Could she +call him at will by looking at him? Could it be that ----? It made her +shiver to think of it.--And who was that strange horseman who passed +Mr. Bernard at dusk the other evening, looking so like Mephistopheles +galloping hard to be in season at the witches' Sabbath-gathering? That must +be the cousin of Elsie's who wants to marry her, they say. A +dangerous-looking fellow for a rival, if one took a fancy to the dark girl! +And who is she, and what?--by what demon is she haunted, by what taint is +she blighted, by what curse is she followed, by what destiny is she marked, +that her strange beauty has such a terror in it, and that hardly one shall +dare to love her, and her eye glitters always, but warms for none? + +Some of these questions are ours. Some were Helen Darley's. Some of them +mingled with the dreams of Bernard Langdon, as he slept the night after +meeting the strange horseman. In the morning he happened to be a little +late in entering the school-room. There was something between the leaves of +the Virgil that lay upon his desk. He opened it and saw a freshly gathered +mountain-flower. He looked at Elsie, instinctively, involuntarily. She had +another such flower on her breast. + +A young girl's graceful compliment,--that is all,--no doubt,--no doubt. It +was odd that the flower should have happened to be laid between the leaves +of the Fourth Book of the "Æneid," and at this line,-- + +"Incipit effari, mediâque in voce resistit." + +A remembrance of an ancient superstition flashed through the master's mind, +and he determined to try the _Sortes Virgilianæ_. He shut the volume, and +opened it again at a venture.--The story of Laocoön! + +He read, with a strange feeling of unwilling fascination, from "_Horresco +referens_" to "_Bis medium amplexi_," and flung the book from him, as if +its leaves had been steeped in the subtle poisons that princes die of. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SPHINX'S CHILDREN. + +"Que la volonté soit le destin!" + + +Long had she sat, crouched upon her breast,--crouched, but not for slumber +or for spring. No slumber gloomed darkly in those broad, sad eyes; no dream +indefinably softened the lips, whose patient outline breathed only +wakefulness and expectation,--a long-deferred, yet constant expectation,--a +hope that would have been despair, save that it was just within hope's +limits,--a monotonous, reiterate, indestructible chord in the creature's +mystic existence, that, once struck by some mighty, shrouded Hand of Power, +still reverberated, and trailed its still renewing echoes through every +fibre of its secret habitation. Nor yet for spring;--a couchant leopard has +posed itself with horrid intent; murder glitters in its fixed golden eye, +quivers in the tense loins, creeps in the tawny glitter of the skin, +clutches the keen claws, that recoil, and grasp, and recoil again from the +velvet ball of that heavy foot; murder grins in the withdrawn lip, the +white, red-set teeth, the slavering crunch of the jaw: but nothing of all +these fired the quiet and the silence of the crouching Sphinx; nerve and +muscle in tranquil strength lay relaxed, though not unconscious. Year after +year the yellow Desert robed itself in burning mists, splendid and deadly; +year after year the hot simoom licked up its sands, and, whirling them +madly over the dead plain, dashed them against the silent Sphinx, and grain +by grain heaped her slow-growing grave; the Nile spread its waters across +the green valley, and lapped its brink with a watery thirst for land, and +then receded to its channel, and poured its ancient flood still downward to +the sea; worshipped, or desecrated; threaded by black Nubian boatmen, who +mocked its sacred name with such savage mirth as satyrs might have spirted +from their hairy lips; navigated by keen-eyed Arabs, lithe and dark and +treacherous as the river beneath them; Coptic shepherds, lingering on the +brink, drank the sweet waters, and led their flocks to drink at the +shallows, when the shepherd's star cleft that deepest sky with its crest, +and warned the simple people of their hour;--yet forever stood the Sphinx, +passionately patient, looking for sunrise, over desert, vale, and +river,--beyond man,--to her hour.--And the hour came. + +Once to all things comes their hour. The black column of basalt quivers to +its heart with one keen lightning thrill that vindicates its kin to the +electric flash without; the granite cliff loses one atom from its bald +front, and every other atom quails before the dumb shiver of gravitation +and shifts its place; the breathing, breathless marble, which a sculptor +has rescued from its primeval sleep, and, repeating after God, though with +stammering and insufficient lips, the great drama of Paradise, makes a man +out of dust,--once, once, in the dcadness of its beauty, that marble +thrills with magnetic life, drinks its maker's soul, repeats the Paradisaic +amen, and owns that it is good. Yea, greater miracle of transcendental +truth,--once,--perhaps twice,--the sodden, valueless heart of that old man, +whose gold has sucked out all that made him a man, beats with a pulse of +generous honor; even in the dust of stocks and the ashes of speculation, +amid the howling curses of the poor and the bitter weeping of his own +flesh, once he hears the Voice of God, and all eternity cleaves the earth +at his feet with a glare of truth. Once in her loathsome life, that woman, +brazen with sin and shame, flaunting on the pavement, the scorn and jest of +decency and indecency, the fearful index of corrupt society,--even she has +her hour of softness, when the tiny grass that creeps out from the stones +comes greenly into a spring sunshine, and as with a divine whisper recalls +to her the time before she fell, the unburdened heart, the pure childish +pleasures, the kind look of her dead mother's eye, the clasp of that +sister's arm who passed her but yesterday pallid with disgust and ashamed +to own their sacred birth-tie: then the tide rolls back: the hour is come! +She, too, called a woman, who leads society, and triumphs over caste and +custom with metallic ring and force,--she who forgets the decencies of age +in her shameless attire, and supplies its defects with subterfuges, falser +in heart even than in aspect,--she, about whom cluster men old and young, +applauding with brays of laughter and coarser jeers the rancor of her wit, +as it drops its laughing venom or its sneering sophisms of worldly +wisdom,--even she, when the lights are fled, when the music has ceased from +its own desecration, when the frenzy of wine and laughter mock her in their +dead dregs, when the men who flattered and the women who envied are all +gone,--she recalls one calm eye in the crowd, that stung her with its pure +contemptuous pity, a look not to be shut out with draperies as the stars +are; and even through her soul, harder than the soul of that unowned sister +walking the midnight street beneath the window, since it has ceased to know +the stab of sin or the choking agony of shame,--even through that +world-trodden heart flashes one conscious pang, one glimpse of a possible +heaven and an inevitable hell, one naked and open vision of herself. + +Long had the Sphinx waited. Year after year the flocking pigeons flitted +and wheeled through the sweet skies of spring, built their nests and reared +their young; tiny lizards, the new birth of the season, coiled and +glittered on the hot sands like wandering jewels; every creature, dying out +of conscious life, left its perpetuated self behind it, and repeated its +own youth in its young, according to its kind: but the Sphinx lived +alone. Nor all-unconscious of her solitude: for he who formed that massive +shape, chiselled those calm, expectant lips, and wide eyes pensive as +setting moons, he had not failed to do what all true artists do in virtue +of their truth,--he had shared his own life with his own creation, and it +was his lonely yearning that stirred her pulseless heart. Little did he +think, toiling at that stupendous figure, ages gone by, that he transfused +into the stone at which he labored, like a patient ant at some stupendous +burden, no little share of that creative yearning that inspired him to his +task; as little as you think, dear poet, whether poet, painter, or +sculptor,--for all are one, and one is all,--that in those dreams which you +write, as unconscious of your power as the transcribing stylus of its +office, your own heart pulsates for a listening world, and the very linking +of words that so respire their own music makes those words self-sentient of +their breaking, thrilling melody, and wrings or exalts them, idea-garments +as they are, with the restless heaving of the thought that wears them. + +Or you, whose sun-steeped brush brings to life on canvas the golden trances +of August noons, the high, still splendor of its mountain-tops, which the +sun caresses with fiery languor, the unrippled slumber of its warm streams, +the broad glory of its woods and meadows fused with light and heat into the +resplendent haze that earth exhales in her day of prime, till he who sees +the picture hears the cricket's chirping in its moveless grasses, and +scents the rich aromatic breath of its summer-passion and its rapturous +noon,--do you dream, when at last the perfect work repeats your thought, +and you rest in the tropie atmosphere you have created, that in very truth +the picture itself is full of inward heat and breathless languor? For you +have poured out the colors that light makes out of heat, and in them the +still inevitable light shall ever stir the recreating heat that clothes +itself in color, and bring your thought, no more a dead abstraction, but a +living power, into the very substance whereby you have expressed it. And +even so far as you were creative, so shall your work be informed by you, +and not mere dead pigment and dried oil and dull canvas be your autograph, +but the vivid and inspiring blazon of an inspired idea shall glow life-like +on some friendly wall, and in its turn inspire some other soul, whose light +within needs but the breath from without to burst upward in clear flame. + +Or you, who unveil from its marble tomb that figure of a chained and +stainless woman, whose atmosphere is as a nun's veil, whose sad divinity is +a crown,--do you dare imagine that the holy despair you have imaged, the +pause of a saint's resignation and a martyr's courage, is but the outline +and the faultless contour of a stone? Come back, Pygmalion, from your +mythic sleep! return, Art's divinest mystery, germ of all its power, from +the deep dust of ages! and teach these modern men that his story whose +passion fired a statue's breast was but an immortal fable, a similitude of +the truth you feel, but do not see,--that even as our Creator shared His +life with His creatures, so do you pour, in far less measure, but obedient +to that precedent which is law, your own life and the magnetic instincts of +that life, into what you create! + +Keep your hearts pure and your hands clean, therefore; for these things +that you sell for dead shall one day livingly confront you, and tell their +own story of your life and your nature with terrible honesty to men and +angels. + +But whoever, in those mystic ages that have ceased to be historic and have +become mythic, whoever made the Sphinx,--whether it were some Titaness +sequestered from all her kind by genie-spells, forced to live amid these +desert solitudes, fed from the abundant hands of Nature, and taught by +dreams inspired and twilight visions,-- + + "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, + And most divinely fair"; + +her only image of human beauty the reflex of her white, symmetric limbs, +her wide, dark eyes, her full lips and soft Egyptian features, wherewith +the river greeted her from its blue placidity; her only sense of love the +unspoken yearning within, when the soft, tumultuous stress of the west-wind +kissed her, who should have been clasped in tender arms and caressed by +loving lips; whose dumb, creative instincts, becoming genius instead of +maternity, struggled outward from their home in heart and brain to +culminate in this world's-wonder, and so build a monument namelessly +splendid to the grand nature that found its bread of life was a stone and +perished: or whether this creature were the fashioning of some +demigod,--"for there were giants in those days,"--who, in the fulness of +his strength, despairing of a mortal mate, wandered away from men and +wrought his patience and his longing into the rock,--as lesser men have +carved their memorials on hard Fate,--and then died between its paws, sated +with labor and glad to sleep: or whether, indeed, the captive spirits, +sealed in Caucasus with the seal of Solomon, did penance for their +rebellion in mortal work on mere dull matter, and with anguished essence +toiled for ages to mimic in her own clay the dumb pathos of waiting +Earth:--whichever of these dreams be nearest truth, one thing is +true,--that the maker of the Sphinx infused into his work, in as much +greater measure as his nature was greater than that of other men, that +yearning of pathetic solitude that most wrings a woman's heart; and the +outward semblance, working in, wrought upon the heavy stone with incessant +and accumulative power, till through that sluggish sandstone crept a +confused thrill of consciousness, and the great creature felt the +loneliness that she looked. Far away below her the Nile-valley teemed with +life; the antelopes coursed beside their young to feed on the green pasture +fresh from its long overflow; red foxes sported with their cubs on the +tawny sand; the birds taught their infant offspring their own sweet arts of +flight and song on every bough; and even the ostrich, lonely Desert-runner, +heaped her treasure of white eggs in the sand, or guided her callow young +far from the sight and fear of man;--but the Sphinx sat alone. + +Mightier and mightier grew the yearning within her, as the full moon +floated upward from the east and cast her dewy dreams over land and +sea. The hour was come; the whole impulse and persistence of her nature +went out in vivid life, and, filling the very stones which the winds had +gathered and piled against her breast, cleft them with its sentient spell, +clothed them with lean flesh and wiry sinews, shaped them after the fashion +of the Desert men, and sent them out alive with intellect and will, but +with hearts of flint, into the wide world,--the Sphinx's children! + +With a sigh that shook the shores of Egypt and smote the Sicilian midnight +with sickening vibrations of earthquake, the Sphinx beheld this culmination +of her great desire; in the very hour of fruition, hope fled; and as this +grim certainty sped away from before her, taking with it all her borrowed +life, she dropped that majestic head lower upon her bosom, uplifted it +again for one last look at her offspring, and so stiffened,--once more a +stone. + +Age after age rolled by; storm and tempest hurled their thunders at her +head; wave after wave of bright insidious sand curled about her feet and +heaped its sliding grains against her side; men came and went in fleeting +generations, and seasons fled like hours through the whirling wheel of +Time; but the Sphinx longed and suffered no more. Her hour had come and +gone; her dull instinct had burnt out, her comely outline began to +disintegrate, her face grew blank and stony, her features crumbled away, +altars and inscriptions defaced her breast and hieroglyphed her ponderous +sides, men worshipped and wondered there, and travellers from lands beyond +the sun pitched their tents before her face and defiled her feet with +barbaric orgies; but she knew it no more,--her children were gone out into +the world. And the world had need of them. Its rank and miasmatic +civilization,--its hotbeds of sin and misery,--its civil corruptions and +its social lies,--its reeling, rotten principalities,--its sickly +atmosphere of effeminate luxury, wherein neither justice nor judgment +lived, and the solitary virtues left mere effete shadows of philanthropy +and cowardly impulses called love and mercy,--needed a new race, stony and +strong, unshrinking in conquest and reformation, full of zeal, and +incapable of pity, to rend away the fogs that smothered truth and decency, +to disperse the low-lying clouds of weak passion and maudlin luxury, to +blow a reveille clear and keen as the trumpet of the northwest wind, when +it sweeps down from its mountain-tops in stern exultation, and shouts its +Puritanic battle-psalm across the reeking, steaming meadows of sultry +August, fever-smitten and pestilent. + +Such were the Sphinx's children: had they but died out with their need! +Here and there a monk, fresh from his Desert-Laura, hurtles through the +eclipse-light of history like the stone from a catapult,--rules a church +with iron rods, organizes, denounces, intrigues, executes, keeps an unarmed +soldiery to do his behests, and hurls ecclesiastic thunders at kings and +emperors with the grand audacity of a commission presumedly divine, while +Greeks cringe, and Jews blaspheme, and heathen flee into, or away from, +conversion; and the Church itself canonizes this spiritual father, this +Sphinx-son of an instinct and a stone! + +Or an Emperor exalted himself above the legions and the populace of Rome, +banqueted his enemies and beheaded them at table, drank in the sight of +blood and the sound of human shrieks as if they were his natural light and +air, tormented God's creatures and cursed his kind, kindled a fire among +the miserable myriads of his own city, and, exulting in a safe height, +mixed the leaping, frantic discords of his own music with the horrid sounds +of the hell's tragedy below him; seething in crime, steeped in murder, +black with blasphemy, the horror and the hate of men, death gaped for his +coming, and he went! Men revile him through all posterior ages; women +shudder at the legend of his deeds; but the Sphinx stands unconscious in +the Desert,--she knew not her child! + +Or a Reformer springs up. High above his birthplace the snowy Alps paint +themselves against the sky, an aerial dream of beauty, softened by the +tender hues of dawn and sunset, serenely fair through the rift of the +tempest; even their white death takes a nameless grace from distance and +atmosphere, clothing itself in beauty as a spirit in clay, and tempting +wanderers to their graves: but no such beauty clothes the man whose daily +vision beholds them; hard, clamorous, disputatious, with one hand he rends +the rotten splendors of Rome from its tottering Image, and with the other +plunges baby-souls to inevitable damnation; strong and fiercely rigid, full +of burning and slaughter for the idolatries and harlotries of Popery, fired +with lurid zeal, and bestriding one stringent idea, he rides on over dead +and living, preaches predestination and hell as if the Gospel dwelt only +upon destiny and despair, casts no tender look at the loving piety that +underlay shrines and woman-worship and bead-counting wherever a true heart +sought its God through the sole formulas it knew, but spurs forward to the +end, a mighty power to destroy, to do away with old corruptions and break +down idols on their altars,--saint and iconoclast! Did the heart of stone +within him know its ancestry,--track its hard, loveless descent from the +Sphinx's children? + +Then a Queen;--a solitary woman, proud of her solitude, isolated in her +regnant splendor, a dead planet like the moon, sung and pictured and +adored, but keeping on her majestic path in awful beauty, deaf to human +entreaty, cold to human love; a great statesman in a queen's robes; a keen, +subtle politician, coifed and farthingaled; a revengeful sovereign; a +deadly enemy; a woman who forgave nothing to a woman, and retaliated +everything upon a man; she who brought unshrinkingly to death a sister +queen discrowned and captive, a sister whose grace and loveliness and +kindly aspect might have moved the lions of the arena to fawn upon her, but +nowise disarmed the tigress who lapped her blood; she who banished and slew +the man she would not stoop to love, because he dared to love another; and +when death stared her in the face, and open-eyed judgment shook her soul, +rose from that death-pallet to grapple and abuse a false woman, penitent +for and confessing her falseness; a virgin-monarch, pitiless, relentless, +cruel as jealousy; an anomalous woman, were she not a stone-born child of +the Sphinx! + +Or a great General, before whose iron will horse and horseman quailed and +fled, like dry stubble before flame; who wielded the sword of Gideon, and +cut off the armies of his kindred people and his anointed king as a mower +fells the glittering grass on a summer dawn, heedless that he, too, shall +be cut down from his flourishing. On his track fire and blood spread their +banners, and the raven scented his trophies afar off; age and youth alike +were crushed under the tread of his war-horse; honor and valor and life's +best prime opposed him as summer opposes the Arctic hail-fury, and lay +beaten into mire at his feet. Hated, feared, followed to the death; +victorious or vanquished, the same strong, imperturbable, sullen nature; +persistent rather than patient in effort, vigorously direct in action; a +minister of unconscious good, of half-conscious evil; stern and gloomy to +the sacrilegious climax of his well-battled life, even in the regicidal act +going as one driven to his deeds by Fate that forgot God;--was he to be +wondered at, whose life, in ages far gone, began among the stony Sphinx +children? + +Nor alone in these great landmarks of their dwelling have the Sphinx's +children haunted Earth. Poets have sung them under myriad names; History +has chronicled them in groups; Painting and Sculpture have handed down +their aspect to a gazing world. From them sprung the Eumenides, pursuers +and destroyers of men. They wore the garb of Roman legionaries, when Ramah +wept for her children dashed against the walls of the Holy City, and not +one stone stood upon another in Zion. They crowded the offices of the +Inquisition, and tested the endurance of its victims, with steady finger on +the flickering pulse, and calm eye on the death-sweating brow and bitten +lip. They put on the Druid's robe and wreath, and held the human sacrifice +closer to its altar. In the Asiatic jungle, lurking behind the palm-trunk, +they waited, lithe and swarthy Thugs, treacherously to slay whatever victim +passed by alone; or in the fair Pacific islands kept horrid jubilee above +their feasts of human flesh, and streaked themselves with kindred blood in +their carousals. Holland tells its fearful story of their Spanish +rule. Russian serfs record their despotism, cowering at the memory of the +knout. France cringes yet at the names of the black few who guided her +roaring Revolution as one might guide the ravages of a tiger with curb of +adamant and rein of linked steel. + +Africa stretches out her hands to testify of their presence. Too well those +golden shores recall the wail of women and the yelling curses of men, +driven, beast-fashion, to their pen, and floated from home to hell, +or,--happier fate!--dragged up, in terror of pursuit, and thrown overboard, +a brief agony for a long one. They know them, too, whose continual cry of +separation, starvation, insult, agony, and death rises from the heart of +freedom like the steam of a great pestilence,--Pity them, hearts of flesh! +pity also the captors,--the Sphinx children, the flint-hearts! pity those +who cannot feel, far beyond those who can,--though it be but to suffer! + +New England knew them, in band and steeple-hat, hanging and pressing to +death helpless women, bewitched with witchcraft. Acadia knew them, when its +depopulated shores lay barren before the sun, and its homes sent up no +smoke to heaven. + +Greece quivers at the phantasm of their Turkish turbans and gleaming +sabres, their skill at massacre and their fiendish tortures; Italy, fair +and sad, "woman-country," droops shuddering at sight of their Austrian +uniforms; and the Brahmin sees them in scarlet, blood-dyed, hurling from +the cannon's mouth helpless captives,--killing, not converting. + +Wherever, all the wide world over, a nation shrinks from its oppressors, or +a slave from his master,--wherever a child flees from the face of a parent +who knows neither justice nor mercy, or a wife goes mad under the secret +tyranny of her inevitable fate,--wherever pity and mercy and love veil +their faces and wring their hands outside the threshold,--there abide the +Sphinx's children. + +For this she longed and hoped and waited in the Desert! for this she envied +the red fox and the ostrich! for this her dumb lips parted, in their +struggle after speech, to ask of earth and air some solace to her solitude! +for this, for these, she poured out her dim life in one strong, wilful +aspiration! + +Happy Sphinx, to be left even of that dull existence! blessedly unconscious +of that granted desire! mouldering away in the curling sand-hills, the prey +of hostile elements, the mysterious symbol of a secret yearning and a vain +desire! Not for thee the bitterness of success! not for thee the conscious +agony of penitence,--the falling temple of the will crushing its idolater! +No wild voices in the wind reproach the wilder pulses of a slow-breaking +heart; no keen words of taunt sting thee into madness; Memory hurls at thee +no flying javelins; broken-winged Hope flutters about thee no more! Thy day +is over, thine hour is past! + +_"Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living +which are yet alive!"_ + + * * * * * + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Dies Irae:_ in Thirteen Original Versions. By Abraham Coles, M.D. New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1859. pp. xxxiv., 70. + +It is pleasant to see how many wiles Nature employs to draw off into side +channels the enthusiasm which is always secreting itself and gathering in +the human brain. She knows what a dangerous clement it may become, if the +individual rills of it run together, and, with united forces, take for a +time a single direction. So she taps it at its sources, and leads it away +to various ends, useful because they are harmless. Bibliomania, +tulipomania, potichomania, squaring the circle, perpetual motion, a +religious epic, the northwest passage,--anything will serve the +purpose. _Divide et impera_ is her motto. The hobby is the safeguard of +society. Once mounted, every enthusiast ambles quietly off on some errand +of his own, caring little what direction he takes, provided only it be _the +other_. The Fifth-Monarchy men might have been troublesome, but for the +Beast in Revelation;--each insisted on a Beast to himself. Protestantism +might have become Democracy, had either Luther or Calvin been willing to +ride behind. The five points of the Charter are blunted to a Lancashire +weaver who is fattening a prize-gooseberry. + +We sympathize heartily with such gentle enthusiasms as this of +Dr. Coles. It is the interest of all Grub Street that men should be +encouraged whose amiable weakness it is to fall in love with pieces of +poetry. In this case, to be sure, the verses are Latin, and the author more +nameless even than Junius; but who knows but some one's turn shall come +next whose verses were at least meant to be English, and whose name +is--Legion? If some translator, charged from the other pole of Dr. Coles's +enthusiasm, should favor us with thirteen Latin versions of some modern +English poems, it would give them a chance of being more generally +intelligible to the laity. Nay, even if such a baker's-dozen of +mediæval-Latin renderings of Mrs. Browning's last poem--and by this term we +mean, of course, the rather shady Latin of middle-aged men--should be +shuffled together, we are not sure that it would not be a help to the +understanding of the Coptic original. But this, perhaps, is hoping too +much. + +In the case of Dr. Coles, how lucky the direction of the superfluous +energy! how wise the humane precaution of Nature! For there is no +destructive agency like a doctor with a hygienic hobby. If your +constitution be a salt or sugar one, he will melt you away with damp sheets +and duckings; if you are as exsanguine as a turnip, his scientific delight +in getting blood out of you will be only heightened. For such erratic +enthusiasms as this of Dr. Coles we want a milder term than monomania. +Something like _monowhimsia_ would do. It is seldom that an oddity takes so +pleasant a turn. He has published a dainty little volume, with a +well-written introduction, giving the history of the "Dies Iræ," and an +account of the various versions of it; this is followed by his own thirteen +translations; and an appendix tells us what is meant by a Sequence, has a +page or two on the origin of rhyming Latin, and concludes with the music of +the hymn itself. The book is illustrated by delicate photographs from the +Last Judgments of Michel Angelo, Rubens, and Cornelius, and from the +"Christus Remunerator" of Ary Scheffer. It is exquisitely printed at the +Riverside Press, which is doing such good service to everybody but the +spectacle-makers. + +We hold the translation of any first-rate poem, nay, even of any +second-rate one which has any peculiar charm of rhythm or tone, to be an +impossibility. The translation of rhyming Latin verses presents peculiar +difficulties. The rhythm is always simple and strongly accented, it is +true; but the ear-filling sonority, the variety of female rhymes, and the +simple directness of expression cannot be echoed by our muffling +consonants, our endings in _ing_ and _ed_, and _a_-s, _the_-s, and _of +the_-s. For example, the stanza, + +"Tuba, mirum spargens sonum + Per sepulchra regionum, + Coget omnes ante thronum," + +is very inadequately represented by + +"Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder +Rending sepulchres asunder, +Shall resistless summons thunder," + +in which, to speak of nothing else, there are thirteen _s_-s to five in the +original. Even Crashaw, whose translation of Strada's "Music's Duel" is a +masterpiece for litheness of phrase and sinuous suppleness of rhythm, +quails before the "Dies Iræ," and contents himself with a largely watered +paraphrase. No one has ever yet succeeded more than tolerably with the +opening stanza,-- + +"Dies Iræ, dies illa, +Solvet sæclum in favillâ, +Teste David cum Sibyllâ." + +The difficulty is increased where the Latin word has some special force of +theological or other meaning which has no single equivalent in English. + +Doctor Coles has made, we think, the most successful attempt at an English +translation of the hymn that we have ever seen. He has done all that could +be done, where complete success was out of the question. Out of his first +two versions, which seem to us the best, a very satisfactory rendering of +the original can be made up by choosing the better stanzas from each. In +his first trial he misses the pathetic force of the + +"Rex tremendæ majestatis, +Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +Salva me, fons pietatis!" + +where the petition is piercingly individualized by the accentual stress +thrown on the _me_. He gives it thus:-- + +"King Almighty and All-knowing, +Grace to sinners freely showing, +Save me, Fount of Good o'erflowing!" +His second attempt is better:-- + +"Awful King, who nothing cravest, +Since Thyself full ransom gavest, +Save thou me, who freely savest!" + +Here the emphatic _me_ is preserved, but in neither version is the true +meaning of _salvandos_ even hinted at, and in both we miss the tenderness +of the _fons pietatis_, with which the _tremenda majestas_ is balanced and +softened. + +There are three or four of these Latin hymns that for simple force and +pathos have never been matched in their kind, and never approached, except +by a few of the more fortunate poems of Herbert, Vaughan, and Quarles. We +know not why it is that what is called religious poetry is commonly so +bad. The thing gives the lie to both the adjective and the noun of its +title. Anything more flat and flavorless, whether in sentiment or language, +is beyond the conception even of an editor with the nightmare. Men have +been hanged for more venial murders than some have been praised for who +have choked out the immortal soul of the Psalms of David. We have, however, +the consolation of thinking that the Devil's Psalter of convivial songs is +quite as bad. + +Dr. Coles has done so well that we hope he will try his hand on some of the +other Latin hymns. He cannot expect to satisfy those who have been +penetrated by the almost inexplicable charm of the originals; but by +rendering them in their own metres, and with so large a transfusion of +their spirit as characterizes his present attempt, he will be doing a real +service to the lovers of that kind of religious poetry in which neither the +religion nor the poetry is left out. As we said before, to translate +rhyming Latin without losing its peculiar _tang_ is wellnigh +impossible. Even Father Prout himself would be staggered by Walter Mapes's +"Mihi est propositum" or "Testamentum Goliae"; but perhaps the spirit of +the hymns is more easily caught, and Dr. Coles has shown that he knows the +worth of faithfulness. + + + +_Mademoiselle Mori_; A Tale of Modern Rome. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +Author's Edition. 16mo. pp. 526. + +This is a reprint of a remarkable book. It is the book of a person familiar +with Rome and with the Romans, who has thought seriously and felt deeply in +regard to their character and fortunes, who has studied with keen and +sympathetic imagination the hearts of the people, and observed closely the +outward aspect and common shows of the city. The story is well constructed, +and has the essential merit of interest. Not only are the characters +distinctly presented, but there is in them, what it is rare to find in the +personages of our modern novelists, a real and natural development, which +is exhibited not so much by what is said about them as by their own +apparently unconscious words and acts. So just a view is given in this +novel of Italian habits of thought and tones of feeling, so true an +appreciation is shown of the peculiarities of national disposition and +temperament, and so intimate and exact an acquaintance with public events +and the course of politics in Rome, as to lead to the conclusion that the +author writes from the fulness of personal experience, and was no stranger +to the interests of the stirring period in which the scenes of the story +are laid. + +The book, indeed, has a double character. It is not a mere novel; for it +contains, in addition to its story, a sketch of the course of public +affairs in Rome during the three memorable years from the accession of Pius +IX. to the fall of the Republic and the entry of the French troops into the +city, which they still hold in subjection to rulers who claim to govern it +for the spiritual interests of the world. And while it may be warmly +recommended to such readers as only desire to find an interesting story, it +deserves not less hearty recommendation to such as may care to understand +one of the most striking and dramatic episodes of modern history, and to +gain an acquaintance with events which throw great illustration on the +present condition and hopes of Italy. In this respect, as well as in the +ability with which it is written, it may fairly be classed with the novels +of Ruffini,--"Lorenzo Benoni" and "Doctor Antonio." To those who have read +these two books it need not be said that this is high praise. + +History is not treated by the author of "Mademoiselle Mori" after the +common fashion of novelists. Events are not misrepresented in it, nor are +the characters of the prominent actors in public affairs distorted to suit +any theory, or to advance the interest of the story. The chief value of the +book, and that which ought to secure for it a permanent place, does not, +however, consist in any formal narrative of events, or in its pictures of +noted individuals, but in its representation of the states of mind and +feeling of the Romans during the first years of the pontificate of the +present Pope, of the objects and methods of action of the various parties +that were then called into active existence, of the occasions of the rapid +changes in the popular disposition from the time when Pius IX. was the idol +of the crowd to that when he was a faithless fugitive to Gaeta, and of the +causes which led to the bitter disappointment and utter failure of the +efforts of the Roman patriots. + +We do not know of any book in which so intelligent and so true an account +of these things, which were the springs from which events issued, and which +underlie all their currents, is to be found. The sympathies of the author +are with the liberal party, with the party that labored for reform, but not +for a republic, and whose hopes and plans were crushed by the horrible +assassination of Rossi. It is one of the most calamitous results of a +tyranny like that exercised at Rome, that it renders a gradual progress of +reform at any time when it may be undertaken almost an impossibility, and +sows the seed of inevitable violence and of revolution, which is apt to +end, as in the Roman instance, in a return of despotism. The view given of +the Roman revolution and republic of 1849 by the author of "Mademoiselle +Mori" coincides in the main with that taken by Farini, and the other chief +Italian statesmen of the present day; and its accuracy and good sense are +confirmed by the course of recent events, not merely in Rome, but in other +parts of Italy as well. It is vain to predict the future of a state so +anomalous as that of Rome; but it is safe to say that the Romans learned +much from their last revolution, and are learning much from its results, so +that, when another opportunity arrives for them to gain some share of that +freedom which Northern Italy has been so happy in securing, they will not +repeat their former mistakes, and will not be found less competent for +liberty than the Tuscans or the people of the Romagna. Perhaps the failure +of 1849 may then turn out to have been a dark blessing; and the blood of +those who fell on the Roman walls, and the tears of those who have wept in +Roman prisons, may not have been shed in vain. + +The cause of Italy deserves the heartiest sympathy, and, if need be, a +personal sacrifice on the part of every lover of liberty and of justice in +the world. The question of Italian unity and independence is the most +important that has been presented in Europe in our time. The issue involved +in it is that of the advance or the degradation of a nation so noble that +none can be called nobler,--of the rights of the many, as against the power +of the few,--of the rights of thought, as against those of the sword,--of +the establishment of those principles which do most to make life precious, +as against those by which it is made vile and wretched. The last year has +seen a part of the great work of freeing Italy accomplished. If Sardinia +can but have time allowed her in which to knit her forces, if she can for a +time escape from foreign attacks and from internal divisions, Italy is +secure. Venice, Rome, and Naples will not long languish under the tyranny +of Austrian, of priest, and of Bourbon. + +We return for a few words to "Mademoiselle Mori." The readers of +Mr. Hawthorne's imaginative Italian romance will be pleased to find in this +book further illustrations of the Rome he has so admirably pictured. The +author has not the genius of Mr. Hawthorne, but the descriptions which the +book contains of Roman scenes and places are full of truth, and render the +common, every-day aspect of streets and squares, of gardens and churches, +of popular customs and social habits, with equal spirit and fidelity. The +interest of the story is sustained by the distinctness with which the +localities in which it passes are depicted. The style of the book is so +excellent that we the more regret a few careless and clumsy expressions, +and some awkward sentences, which a little pains might have prevented. We +regret also that the Italian words and phrases which appear in the volume +are sometimes grievously disfigured by misprints. The distinguished name of +Saffi is travestied by being misprinted Gaffi,--and there are other +blunders of the same sort, in which the Riverside Press has but too +faithfully followed the English edition. + + + +_Critical and Miscellaneous Essays_. Collected and republished by THOMAS +CARLYLE. In Four Volumes. Boston: Brown and Taggard. 1860. + +Carlyle's Essays need at the present day no introduction or commendation to +American readers. Their place is established, and they will hold it +permanently, in spite of the wild philosophy, and in spite of +characteristics of style which would ruin weaker writings. As Ben Jonson +said of a volume of poems, now quite forgotten, by his friend Sir John +Beaumont,-- + +"This book will live; it hath a genius; this Above his reader or his +praiser is." + +There is no fear that these Essays will be forgotten; for, beside their +intrinsic merits and interest, they are at once introductory and +supplementary to their author's more important works,--to his "French +Revolution" and his "Life of Frederic the Great." + +This new edition of the Essays is a reprint of the last English edition +revised by the author, and both printer and publisher deserve high credit +for the beauty of the volumes. The paper, press-work, and binding are all +excellent, and of a sort not only to please the general public, but to +satisfy the demands of the exacting lover of good books. We are glad to +welcome Messrs. Brown and Taggard among our publishing houses, on occasion +of the issue of a book so creditable alike to their taste and to their +judgment, and we hope that the success of this edition of these Essays may +he such as to encourage them to follow it with a reprint of the other +volumes of the revised edition of Mr. Carlyle's works. + +We trust, that, though the words "Author's Edition" are not found upon the +back of the title-page, it is not because the moral, if not legal rights +which the author possesses have been disregarded. + + + +_The Mill on the Floss_. By GEORGE ELIOT, Author of "Scenes of Clerical +Life" and "Adam Bede." New York: Harper & Brothers. + +It is not difficult to understand how the reader's attention may he +attracted and his interest retained by a romance of the old chivalrous days +whose very name and dim memory fill the mind with fascinating images, or by +a novel whose high-born characters claim sympathy for their dignified +sorrows and refined delights, or whose story is illuminated by the light of +artistic culture and adorned with gems of rhetoric and fine fancy; but it +is sometimes surprising to observe the favor which attends a simple tale of +humble, unobtrusive, we might almost say insignificant people, whose plane +of life appears nowhere to coincide with our own, and to whom romance and +passion seem entirely foreign. Such a tale was "Adam Bede," whose great +success as a literary venture hardly yet belongs to the chronicle of the +past; such a tale is also "The Mill on the Floss," by the author of "Adam +Bede," and such, we are confident, will also be its success. + +Both books have many elements in common, but the second is the greater work +of art, and indicates more fairly the scope and vigor of the author's +mind. It is written in the same pure, hardy style, strong with Saxon words +that admit of no equivocation or misunderstanding; it is illustrated with +sketches of outward Nature and tranquil rural beauty, none the less vivid +or truthful that they are drawn with the pen rather than the brush; and it +is instinct with an honest, high-souled purpose. In these respects it +resembles "Adam Bede," but in others it surpasses its predecessor. It +displays a far keener insight into human passion, a subtler analysis of +motives and principles, and it suggests a mental and a moral philosophy +nobler in themselves and truer to humanity and religion. The pathos, too, +is more genuine; for it is not based upon the mere utterance of grief or of +entreaty,--which the eloquent and the artful may, indeed, feign,--but it is +found in that skilful combination of material circumstance and spiritual +influence which impresses upon the feeling, more than it proves to the +reason, that the hour of heart-break is at hand, and which depends less for +its effect upon the dramatic power of the imagination than upon the instant +sympathy of the soul. + +The principal fault which will be found with "The Mill on the Floss," and +probably the only one, is, that the action moves too slowly and tamely in +the first three or four books, and that the author shows an undue +inclination to reflection and metaphysical digression. This will, indeed, +be a great objection to the superficial reader, who will impatiently regret +that the tedious growth of a miller's boy and girl should usurp so many +pages which might better have been filled with exciting incidents. But this +very elaboration, tardy and idle though it may seem, was necessary to the +completion of the author's plan, and--in our eyes--instead of being a +blemish upon a fair story, is one of its principal charms. On this very +account, however, the book will be less popular, and fewer persons will +admire it wholly; but, as thoughtful readers draw near to the end of the +narrative, and anxiously hasten on past trial, temptation, and conflict, to +the dreaded and yet inevitable downfall, muse mournfully over the agony and +remorse that follow, and slowly close the volume upon tender forgiveness +and final joy, they will be thankful for the far-seeing genius which, by +this gradual process of education, enabled them to understand clearly the +fateful scroll at last unfolded to them, and which, if they have read in +the true spirit, has made them wiser and better. + + + +_Nugamenta; a Book of Verses_, By GEORGE EDWARD RICE. Boston: J. E. Tilton +& Co. 1860. pp. 146. + +The author of this little volume modestly waives all claim to the title of +poet, and thus disarms severer criticism. His book, nevertheless, has the +merit of being lively and agreeable, which is more than can be said of many +more pretentious volumes of verse. His pieces are mostly of the kind called +verses of society, a variety whose range is all the way up from Concanen to +Horace. It is enough, if they are only passable; but good specimens are +easy and sprightly,--their philosophy not worldly precisely, but +man-of-the-worldly,--their morality an elegant Poor-Richardism,--their +poetry whatever may be reached by the fancy and understanding. Sometimes, +if the author have been lucky enough, like Béranger, to have enjoyed low +company, his verses will gather a richer tone, his wit will broaden into +humor, his sentiment deepen to hearty good-nature, and his worldliness +ripen into a genuine humanity. + +To embody primeval sentiments, to deal with transcendent passions, and to +idealize those fatal moods by which not individuals merely, but races, are +possessed, those tidal ebbs and flows which, for want of a better name, we +call the Spirit of the Age,--this is a gift whose return among us we do not +look for with as much certainty as that of shad and salmon, but meanwhile +we are not too nice to be pleased with verses that express average thoughts +and feelings gracefully and with a dash of sentiment. It is a vast deal +wiser and better to express neatly, in language that is not alien to the +concerns of every day, feelings we have really had, than to maunder about +what we think we ought to have felt in a diction that has no more to do +with our ordinary habits of thought and expression than Monmouth with +Macedon. The contrast of matter and manner in much of our current verse is +such as to remind one of the notes which are sometimes sent to their +sweethearts by schoolboys, who cut their fingers (not too deep) that they +may asseverate the eternal constancy of the three-weeks'-vacation in that +solemn fluid proper to contracts with the Evil One. + +It is pleasant to meet with one who is able to say a natural thing in a +natural way, as Mr. Rice has shown that he can do. There is a very +agreeable mingling of feeling and fun in his lighter pieces, rising into +real grace and lyric fancy in some of them, such as "New Year's Eve" and +"The Revisit." + + + +_A Voyage down the Amoor; with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan._ By PERRY +McDONOUGH COLLINS, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River, New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. pp. 390. + +This is a very amusing book. The introductory part of it, in which the +author recounts his adventures in Siberia before setting out on his +expedition down the Amoor, is full of bad taste, bad rhetoric, and bad +grammar. If we had read no farther, we should have thought that a more +unfit personage than this gentleman with the monumental name could not have +been chosen for any public service. + +Mr. Perry McDonough Collins gives us the bill of fare of gentlemen's tables +at which he dined, tells us how much and what kinds of wine were "drank," +and sometimes winds up his account of the feast with a compliment to the +"amiable and interesting" family of his host. Mr. Egouminoff's dinner, he +tells us, "was excellent, with several kinds of wine, closing with +Champagne. We had _also_ the pleasure of the company of Mrs. E. and her +daughter, and several other guests, besides a handsome widow." There is +something charmingly _naïf_ in thus throwing in the company as a +_succedaneum_ to the dinner, and carefully segregating the widow from the +rest of mankind as a distinct species. + +Mr. Collins also reports for us carefully the orations he made on various +festive occasions,--a piece of very proper economy, since they were +delivered in English to an audience of Russians. He confesses that it is +not the custom to make after-dinner-speeches in Siberia, which proves that +the Russian Government has neglected at least one opportunity of adding to +the terrors of a Penal Colony. At one dinner he had the satisfaction of +making three of these terrible mistakes. He responds to the health of +General Mouravieff, Governor of the Province, to that of President +Buchanan, and to that of "our guests." We should like to have been present +at this display, provided we could have been speech-proofed, like the +Russians in their ignorance of English. It was certainly a proud day for +America, and the bird of our country will be glad that the eloquence has +been carefully saved by Mr, Collins for the good of his compatriots. + +After this multiloquent festival, the Siberian merchants, naturally +exasperated, seized upon Mr. Collins, and an unhappy countryman of his who +was present, and tossed them after the fashion of Sancho Panza. "This +sport," adds our traveller, gravely, "is called in Russian _podkeedovate_, +or tossing-up, and is considered a mark of great respect. General +Mouravieff told me, after our return, that he had had _podkeedovate_ +performed upon him in the same room." The General must be something of a +humorist. + +Mr. Collins, however, has a more astounding incident to relate than even +the respectful tossing-up of a general in the army and governor of Siberia +by a party of provincial shopkeepers. In returning from an excursion, +Mr. Collins had the ill-luck to lose a horse. + +"The death of that horse," he says, "was +a singular circumstance. We were galloping +rapidiy and were approaching the station, +when the animal dropped as if struck by +lightning. We were in such rapid motion +upon the smooth ice of the river, that, though +several yards from the stopping-point, the +other horses kept on, dragging the dead horse, +nor did the driver attempt to stop them, but +seemed determined to reach the station at +full speed. As soon as we had stopped, I got +out and examined the body. It was as stiff +as a poker and stirred not a muscle, the +eyes being cold and glassy. _The fact is, the +horse must have been dead before he fell, and +his muscular action was kept up some time after +life had departed._" (p. 89.) + +We do not remember to have met with a more wonderful example of the force +of habit. + +After Mr. Collins is fairly embarked, however, on his voyage of +exploration, his book becomes more interesting. He shows himself a +thoroughly good-humored, observant, and intelligent traveller. If, in the +earlier pages of his journal, he is indiscreetly communicative as to the +good cheer he enjoyed, in the later ones he does not waste time in +grumbling at discomforts and lenten fare. He observes minutely and +describes well all that he sees along the great river,--the people, the +productions, the scenery, and the vegetation. He gives us a lively +impression of the capabilities of the country, and of the results which are +to follow the introduction of steam-navigation on the Amoor. Like a true +American, he believes in the manifest destiny of Russia, and looks forward +to the not distant time when, with a kind of retributive justice, the +Muscovite is to swallow up the Manchew, as Charles Lamb used to call +him. Already American merchants have established themselves at the mouth of +the Amoor, and, unless Mr. Collins is oversanguine, a great trade is to +spring up between the Californians and their opposite neighbors on the +eastern coast of Asia. + +On the whole, we take leave of Mr. Collins with a feeling of decided esteem +for his genuine good qualities, and can safely commend his book as both +lively and instructive. + + + +_Revolutions in English History_. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, +D.D. Vol. I. _Revolutions of Race_. New York: D. Appleton & Co. +1860. pp. xvi., 663. + +We do not think that Dr. Vaughan has been happy in his choice of a title +for his book. It is more properly an introduction to the study of English +history, than the limitation of the title would seem to import. The Saxon +occupation of England is, perhaps, the only event which may fitly be called +a revolution of race. The volume, however, is a solid and sensible one. Dr. +Vaughan is not a brilliant writer; but brilliancy is not always the best +quality in an historian, for it as often leaves readers dazzled as +taught. A decidedly matter-of-fact turn of mind prevents his being a +theorist, so that he does not formulate characters and events in accordance +with some fixed preconception. His learning seems sometimes limited by what +was accessible to him at the least expense of study,--as, for example, in +his account of the religion of the Teutonic races, where he depends almost +altogether on Mallet. His style is generally clear and unpretending, never +remarkable for any rhetorical merit, sometimes disfigured by inaccuracies, +which, had they occurred in an American book, would have been attributed by +English critics to the low grade of our culture and civilization. In one +instance he is guilty of the barbarous cockneyism of using the word _party_ +as an equivalent for _person_. He speaks of the Roman Wall as having been +kept _perpetually_ guarded when he means _constantly_, of border land as +"separating between" two races, and of ornaments made "from jet." + +Though we do not find in Dr. Vaughan the fascinating qualities which we +have been spoiled into expecting by some recent English and French examples +of historical composition, we can give him the praise of being fair-minded, +sensible, and clear. If he anywhere shows prejudice, it is in his somewhat +depreciatory estimate of the Normans, whom he rather gratuitously supposes +to have acquired civilization and the love of art from the Saxons,--a +supposition at war with probability as well as fact. If anything +distinguished the Norman from the Saxon, it was his aptitude for +appreciating beauty as distinguished from use,--an aptitude on which French +influence could not have been lost before the Conquest of England. The +Normans in Sicily certainly had not had the advantage of Saxon training in +aesthetics, and the poetry and architecture of the Normans in England were +no reproduction of Saxon models. + +But whatever deductions are to be made on the score of want of +picturesqueness in style, of generalizing power, and of that imagination +which sets before us dramatically the mutual interaction of men and events, +Dr. Vaughan's history will be found a useful and enlightened compendium of +the facts with which it deals. + + + +_Fresh Hearts that failed Three Thousand Years Ago; with Other Things_. By +the Author of "The New Priest in Conception Bay." Boston: Ticknor & Fields. +1860. pp. 121. + +In noticing the "New Priest," in a former number of the "ATLANTIC," we had +occasion to speak of the author's remarkable beauty and vigor of style, his +keen sense of the picturesque and imaginative aspects of outward Nature, +his comic power, and his original conception of character. At the same time +we could not but feel that a certain tendency to multiplicity of detail, +and a neglect of form or insensibility to it, hindered the book of that +direct and vigorous effect which its power and variety of resource would +otherwise have produced. Something of the same impression is made by the +present volume. There are glimpses in it of real genius, but it shows +itself generally here and there only, as the natural outcrop, seldom in the +bars and ingots which give proof of patient mining and smelting at +furnace-heat, still more seldom in the beautiful shapes of artistic +elaboration. Here, again, we find the same unborrowed feeling for outward +Nature and familiarity with her moods, the same poetic beauty of +expression, and in many of the pieces the same overcrowdedness, as if the +author would fain say all he could, instead of saying only what he could +not help. + +There are some of the poems that do more justice to the abilities of the +author. In "The Year is Gone" there is great tenderness of sentiment and +grace of expression; "Love Disposed of" is a pretty fancy embodied with +true lyric feeling; but the poem which over crests all the others like a +decuman wave is "The Brave Old Ship, the Orient." It is a truly masculine +poem, full of vigor and imagination, and giving evidence of true original +power in the author. There is scarce a weak verse in it, and the measure +has a swing, at once easy and stately, like that of the sea itself. We know +not if we are right in conjecturing some hint of deeper meaning in the name +"Orient," but, taking it merely as a descriptive poem, it is one of the +finest of its kind. The writer's heart seems more in the work here than in +the devotional verses. We quote a single passage from it, which seems to us +particularly fine:-- + +"We scanned her well, as we drifted by: +A strange old ship, with her poop built high, +And with quarter-galleries wide, +And a huge beaked prow, as no ships are builded now, +And carvings all strange, beside: +A Byzantine bark, and a ship of name and mark +Long years and generations ago; +Ere any mast or yard of ours was growing hard +With the seasoning of long Norwegian snow. + * * * * * +"Down her old black side poured the water in a tide, +As they toiled to get the better of a leak. +We had got a signal set in the shrouds, +And our men through the storm looked on in crowds: +But for wind, we were near enough to speak. +It seemed her sea and sky were in times long, long gone by, +That we read in winter-evens about; +As if to other stars +She had reared her old-world spars, +And her hull had kept an old-time ocean out." + + + +_Hester, the Bride of the Islands_. A Poem. By SYLVESTER +B. BECKETT. Portland: Bailey & Noyes. + +Mr. Beckett is evidently an admirer of Walter Scott; and it is not the +least remarkable fact in connection with "Hester," that an author with the +good sense to propose to himself such a model, disregarding the more +elaborate poets of a later date, should have proved himself so utterly +unable to follow that model, except in a few phrases, which were quite +appropriate as Scott used them, but are ludicrously out of place in his own +verse. In adopting the brief lines and irregularly recurring rhymes of +Scott, he has taken a hazardous step. The curt lines are excellent with Sir +Walter's liveliness and dash; but when dull commonplaces are to be written, +their feebleness would be more decorously concealed by a longer and more +conventional dress. The cutty sark, so appropriate when displaying the +free, vigorous stops of Maggie Lauder, is not to be worn by every +lackadaisical lady's-maid of a muse. In the moral reflections, with which +"Hester" abounds, there is a most comical imitation of Scott,--as if the +poem were written as a parody of "The Lady of the Lake," by +Mrs. Southworth, or Sylvanus Cobb, Junior. + +Mr. Beckett closes some very singular stanzas, entitled an Introduction, +with the following lines:-- + +"Give it praise, or blame, +Or pass it without comment, as may seem +To you most meet; with me 'tis all the same. +I hymn because I must, and not for greed of fame." + +These lines incline us at first to let Mr. Beckett "pass without comment," +considering, that, as he says, he cannot help writing; but we are finally +decided to observe him more closely, inasmuch as he says it makes no +difference to him, thus relieving us of the dreadful fear of wantonly +crushing some delicate John Keats (always supposing we had him) by our +severe censure. + +Instead of entering into a philosophical examination of "Hester," we shall +present some specimen pearls, making our first extract from the 21st +page:-- + +"The very desert would have smiled + In such a presence! yet despite +Her dimpled cheek, her soft blue eye, + Her voice so fraught with music's thrill, +The shrewd observer might espy + The traces therein of a will +That scorned restraint, the soul of fire + That slumbered in her tacit sire." + +"The traces therein." Wherein? Not in the cheek, eye, or voice, clearly; +for it was "despite" all these that he would make the discovery,--they are +obstacles, entirely outside of the success. It is necessarily, then, in the +"presence," in which the unthinking desert would have smiled unsuspecting, +but in which "the shrewd observer might espy" a good deal that was ominous +of trouble. Now it is obvious that the writer intended to refer "therein" +to the cheek, eye, and voice, a reference from which he barred himself by +the word "despite." As it happens, luckily for him, there is a word to +refer to, so that his grammatical salvation is secured; but the result is +sad nonsense. + +Page 23,-- + +"Indeed, it was their chief delight, +When combed the far seas feather-white, +To steer out on the roughening bay +With leaning prow and flying spray, +_And gunnel ready to submerge +Itself beneath the flaming surge_!" + +Page 28,-- + + "nor gave +He heed to aught on land or wave; +As if some kyanized regret + Were in his heart," etc., etc. + +"Kyanized regret" is good, as Polonius would say; but we would humbly +suggest that Mr. Beckett substitute, in his next edition, "Burnettized," as +even better, if that be possible. + +Page 72,-- + + "in hope, perchance +(Like arrant knight of old romance), +That _some complacent circumstance +Would end her curiosity_." + +Page 94,-- + +"Thereafter, she but knew the charm +Of resting on her lover's arm, +And listening to his voice elate, +As he betimes _went on to state +The phases in his own strange fate, +Since last they met_." + +Page 100.--Speaking of "those of +thoughtful mood," he says,-- + +"With whom I oft have whiled away + The dusky hour upon the deep, + Which most men wisely give to sleep." + +There is in this last line a dark, grim, sardonic appreciation of the +advantages which common minds have over those that, like the poet's own, +have to endure the splendid miseries of genius,--a dark moodiness, like +that of a tame Byron remorsefully recalling a wild debauch upon green +tea,--that is deliciously funny. + +Page 230.--The heroine, who is less +poetical by far than her rough servitor, +says,-- + +"Carl! not for all the golden sand +Of famed Pactolus, would I hurt +Thy feelings; _'tis my wont to blurt_ +My humour thus." + +Page 298.--The hero, who is hardly +more romantic than the heroine, has married +his own sister:-- + +"Lord Hubart gazed with steady eye +And arms still folded, on old Carl-- +'Here is, i' faith, a pretty snarl +To be unwound'--but his reply +Was cut short," etc., etc. + +In fact, the great objection to Lord Hubart, as may be inferred from the +above-quoted passage, is, that he is hopelessly vulgar. We are loath to say +so, because of our respect for English aristocracy; but English +aristocracy, truth compels us to observe, cuts no great figure on our +American stage or in our American literature. + +In short, this is a very silly book. It abounds in trite moralizing, for +instances of which we will merely refer the reader to pp. 65, 131, and +299. The author remarks exultingly, in his Introduction, that his is +comparatively an uncultivated mind, We can only say, we should think so! +Ignorance is plentiful everywhere, but it really seems as if it were +reserved for some of our American writers to display in its finest +specimens ignorance vaunting its own deficiencies. There is a great deal of +nonsense talked about "uncultivated minds": some men are eminent in spite +of being uncultivated; but no man was ever eminent because he was +uncultivated. Some instances of a lamentable misuse of language in "Hester" +we give below. + +Page 16,-- + +"They would have won implicit sway." + +Page 53,-- + "By the nonce!" + +Evidently thinking of the phrase, "for the nonce,"--meaning, for the +occasion. In the text, "by the nonce" is an oath! + +Page 71,-- + +"And he some squire of low behest." + +Page 221,-- + + "and when is won +At last the longed-for rubicon." + +Page 256,--the use of the word "denizens." + +Page 262,-- + +"None may their evil doing shirk! + That wrong, in any shape, will bring, + Or soon or late, its _meted sting_." + +Page 313,-- + +"as gnats, which sometimes sting + Their life away when rankled." + +Another fault is the senseless use of certain words and phrases, which a +good writer uses only when he must, Mr. Beckett always when he can. We give +without comment a mere list of these:--maugre, 'sdeath, eke, erst, deft, +romaunt, pleasaunce, certes, whilom, distraught, quotha, good lack, +well-a-day, vermeil, perchance, hight, wight, lea, wist, list, sheen, anon, +gliff, astrolt, what boots it? malfortunes, ween, God wot, I trow, emprise, +duress, donjon, puissant, sooth, rock, bruit, ken, eld, o'ersprent, etc. Of +course, such a word as "lady" is made to do good service, and "ye" asserts +its well-known superiority to "you." All this the author evidently +considers highly meritorious, although the words are entirely unsuitable. +His notion seems to be, that these are poetical words, and the way to write +poetry is to take all the exclusively poetical words you can find. The +occasional attempt to make his verses familiar and natural by the use of +such abbreviations as "I've" or "can't" is as much a failure as the effort +of an awkward man in a ball-room to make everybody think him at his ease by +forcing an unhappy smile and a look of preternatural buoyancy. + +From the beginning to the end of "Hester," there is one unerring indication +of an uncultivated mind and an unpractised pen. This is the writer's +fondness for well-worn phrases, which authors of a severer taste have long +discarded as suited only to the newspapers, but which Mr. Beckett has +picked up with eager delight, and, having distributed them liberally +throughout the poem, contemplates with a complacency to be matched only by +his satisfaction with the success of his expedients for filling out his +rhymes, some of which are certainly ingenious and startling, + +The plot is a jumble of improbabilities, to which we would gladly attend, +for it passes even the liberal bounds of poetic license, but we have +already spent all the time we can upon the New Poem, and we must decline +(in Mr. Beckett's own impressive language) any further "to distend the +title." + + * * * * * + + + +NOTE + +TO THE ARTICLE ON "MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON." + + +Although the proposed act establishing a Sanitary Commission for the City +of New York was defeated in the last State Legislature, some of its +provisions were engrafted on a bill passed on the nineteenth of April, +amending a previous "Act to establish a Metropolitan Police District, and +to provide for the Government thereof." + +By article 51 of this new act it is made the duty of the Board of +Metropolitan Police to set apart a Sanitary Police Company, which by +article 52 is empowered "to take all necessary legal measures for promoting +the security of life or health," upon or in boats, manufactories, houses, +and edifices. Article 53 gives power to the board to cause any +tenement-house to be cleansed at any time after three days' notice, and +provides means for meeting the expense of this and other similar +operations. + +These powers may, perhaps, if wisely exercised, secure a great improvement +in the health of the city. We trust that the duties imposed by them will be +thoroughly and efficiently performed, and we are gratified to see that a +good beginning has already been made; but our regret is not diminished that +the more complete proposed Sanitary Act failed to pass. + +The annual report on "The Sanitary Condition of the City of London" has +just been published. By this report it appears, that, during the year +ending on the 31st of March, 1860, the rate of mortality in London was 22.4 +per thousand of the population, or 1 in 44; in all England, the average +rate is 22.3; in country districts it is only 20; in the large towns, +26. "Ten years ago," says Dr. Letheby, the author of the report from which +we quote, "the annual mortality of the city was rarely less than 25 in the +thousand.....Our present condition is 19 per cent. better than that, and we +owe it to the sanitary labors of the last ten years." In another part of +the report he says,--"7233 inspections of houses have been made in the +course of the year, of which 803 were of the common lodging-houses, and 935 +orders have been issued for sanitary improvement in various particulars." + +Compare these facts with those given in our article concerning the rate of +mortality in our cities. The spirit of emulation, if no other, should force +us into energetic measures of reform. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/9486-8.zip b/9486-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5af4443 --- /dev/null +++ b/9486-8.zip diff --git a/9486.txt b/9486.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a84f667 --- /dev/null +++ b/9486.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8482 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 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 + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Posting Date: November 4, 2012 [EBook #9486] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, JUNE 1860 *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Thomas +Hutchinson and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + + + +VOL. V.--JUNE, 1860. NO. XXXII. + + + + +THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS. + + +The condition of our railways, and their financial prospects, should +interest all of us. It has become a common remark, that railways have +benefited everybody but their projectors. There is a strong doubt in the +minds of many intelligent persons, whether _any_ railways have actually +paid a return on the capital invested in them. It is believed that one of +two results inevitably takes place: in the one case, there is not business +enough to earn a dividend; in the other, although the apparent net earnings +are large enough to pay from six to eight per cent. on the cost, yet in a +few years it is discovered that the machine has been wearing itself out so +fast that the cost of renewal has absorbed more than the earnings, and the +deficiency has been made up by creating new capital or running in debt, to +supply the place of what has been worn out and destroyed. The Illinois +Central has been pointed out as an example of the first kind; the New-York +Central, of the second; while the New-York and Erie is a melancholy +instance of a railway which, never having enough legitimate business of its +own, has worn itself out in carrying at unremunerative rates whatever it +could steal from its neighbors. The general opinion of the community, after +the crash of 1857, was, that all our railways approximated more or less +closely to these unhappy conditions, and it was merely a question of time +as to their final bankruptcy and ruin. Even now, when they have recovered +themselves considerably, and are paying dividends again, capitalists are +very shy of them. + +It is our belief, contrary to the current opinion, that during the next +decade such a change will have taken place in the condition of our +railways, that we shall see them averaging eight to ten per cent, dividends +on their legitimate cost. We propose in the present article to give the +reasons which have led us to this conclusion. + +The causes to which may be traced the languishing condition of our railways +may be stated as follows:--Financial mismanagement; imperfect construction; +and want of individual responsibility in their operation. + +The financial mismanagement of our railways has arisen from precisely the +opposite cause to that which has made British railways cost from two to +three times as much as they should have done. Their excess of cost was +owing to their having too much money; ours to our having too little. They +were robbed right and left for Parliamentary expenses, land-damages, +etc. The Great Northern, from London to York, three hundred and fourteen +miles, expended five millions of dollars in getting its charter. +Mr. E. Stephenson says that the cost of land and compensation on British +railways has averaged forty-three thousand dollars per mile, or as much as +the total cost of the railways of Massachusetts. + +American railway-companies have never been troubled with too much money. +They have usually commenced with a great desire for economy, selecting a +"cheap" engineer, and getting a low estimate of the probable cost. A +portion of the amount is subscribed for in stock, and the next thing is to +run in debt. "First mortgage bonds" are issued and sold. The proceeds are +expended, and the road is not half done. Another issue is sold at a great +discount, and yet another, if possible. As the road approaches completion, +the desperate Directors raise money by the most desperate expedients, such +as would bankrupt any merchant in the country in his private business. +Sometimes the road has vitality enough to work itself out of its troubles; +but in other cases, unfortunately too numerous, it passes into the hands of +the bond-holders, and all it can earn goes to remunerate trustees, and pay +legal expenses, commissions, etc. + +The financial mistakes of our railways have been, endeavoring to do too +much with too little money, and crippling themselves with a load of debt +that no project could stand under. This has led, as a matter of course, to +the second evil,--Imperfect construction. The projectors of a new railway +have thus reasoned with themselves:--"The average cost of our railways has +been between forty and fifty thousand dollars per mile, and this one, no +doubt, will reach those figures before we get through. But it will never do +to talk so, or we could not get the money to build it. Mr. Transit, our +engineer, says it can be opened for twenty thousand dollars per mile, and +we will earn money enough to finish it by-and-by." So they go on, and, to +get the road open for the small sum attainable, everything has to be +"scrimped" and pared down to the lowest scale. The cuttings are taken out +just wide enough for the cars to pass through, and the ends of the ties +overhang the edges of the embankments. Temporary trestle-work of wood is +substituted for stone bridges and culverts. Some reckless fellow tosses +down the iron as fast as a horse can trot, and the road is opened. + +Another way in which imperfect construction is inevitable is where +companies admit their inability to be their own financiers by giving some +influential contractor his price, and allowing him to "do his own +engineering," in consideration of his taking such securities as they have +to offer, and which he undertakes to float by means of his superior +connections. Having the thing his own way, and being naturally anxious to +build his road for as little money as possible, he pares down everything +even below the standard of embarrassed railway-boards. If the road will +only hold together until he has sold his bonds, it is all he asks. If the +business is good, the road will perhaps be finished, or what is thought to +be finished, some day or other. If business is dull, nothing is done, and +the bridges and trestle-works remain such murder-traps as that on the +Albany Northern Road which broke down last year. + +But it is not with such miserable apologies for railways that we have to +deal. It is on our really valuable roads, like the main lines in +Massachusetts and New York, that we shall show that the evils of imperfect +construction are felt, and will be felt, until a thorough reconstruction +has taken place. It was observed some time ago that the returns of the +Massachusetts railways for 1856 showed that there were 1,325 miles open, +costing on an average $46,480 per mile, or $61,611,721 in all. The receipts +per mile of road were $7,217, the expenses $4,260, leaving a net earning of +$2,957, or 40 per cent. of the whole. This was equal to 6.42 per cent. on +the whole cost of the railways. + +For the same year the returns of all the railways in Great Britain showed +that there were 8,502 miles open, costing $173,040 per mile, or +$1,506,826,363 in all; and that the receipts per mile of road were $13,296, +the expenses $6,249, leaving a net earning of $7,047, or 53 per cent of the +whole. This was equal to a dividend of 3.97 per cent. on the whole +cost. These figures showed, that, however extravagantly the British +railways had been built, they certainly were worked more economically than +our own. + +At first view it might be thought that the economy was due to their greater +business; but further inquiry showed, that, from the better shape of +American cars, and from the wants of the public requiring fewer trains, the +actual receipts per mile run of Massachusetts trains were $1.83 against +$1.44 of British trains. The expenses per mile run of Massachusetts trains +were $1.08, while those of British trains were only 63 3/8 cents. Could +Massachusetts railways be worked as cheaply, the result would be that they +could declare nine per cent. dividends on their cost, instead of six. + +Here offered a rich reward for investigation. Accordingly two gentlemen +well known to the railway world, Messrs. Zerah Colburn and Alexander +L. Holley, made a trip to England for the purpose of discovering how it was +that John Bull could work his railways so much cheaper than Brother +Jonathan. The results of their investigations are embodied in a handsome +quarto volume, illustrated with numerous drawings, which has been +subscribed for by most of the railways and prominent railway-men throughout +the country. It is not too much to say, that the effect of it, in directing +the attention of American railway-managers to the weak points of their +system, has resulted already in a saving to the stockholders of our +railways of millions of dollars. [Footnote: The statistics of the English +railways given in this article are taken from the volume here referred to. + +Because some cunning English contractors in South America took advantage of +the statements in this book to depreciate the American railway system and +American civil engineers, for their own private advantage in obtaining +work, some Americans have been so foolish as to decry the book altogether, +as traitorous to the interests of the country. Such mingled bigotry and +conceit, shrinking from just criticism, would fetter all progress but +fortunately it is rare.] + +More than half the cost of operating a railway consists of the repairs of +track and machinery and the cost of fuel and oil. These expenses are +exactly proportional to the mileage of trains. It was soon seen that the +greater economy of British railways was almost entirely confined to these +items. + +The cost of "maintenance of way" upon English railways was 10 1/2 cents per +mile run, against 25 cents on those of Massachusetts. The cost of repairs +of cars and engines was nearly the same on both. The cost of fuel per mile +run was 6 1/2 cents, against 15 cents. While English trains are from 20 to +30 per cent. lighter than ours, they average 25 per cent. faster, so that +practically these conditions must nearly balance each other. In alignment +the English roads are superior to ours, and as to gradients they have some +advantage; although grades of 40 to 52.8 feet per mile are quite common. +In climate they have less severe difficulties to contend with; although +their moist weather, the nature of their soil, and their heavy earthworks +involve much extra expense. In prices, the advantage is at least 20 per +cent, in their favor. + +These considerations might account for an economy of 30 per cent. as +compared with our expenses for maintenance of way, but they cannot account +for the great actual economy of 60 per cent. which we have seen. We must +seek farther to find the explanation of this, and we soon discover it by +comparing the condition of the road-beds and tracks on the railways of the +two countries. + +The English railways are thoroughly built, are not opened to the public +until finished, and no expense is spared to keep them in order. American +railways are too often put in operation when half finished. The consequence +is, they never are finished, and are continually wearing out,--not lasting, +on an average, more than half as long as they should, if once thoroughly +constructed. Wooden bridges are allowed to rot down for want of protection. +Rails are left to be battered to pieces for want of drainage and ballast. +One road spends thirty-four thousand dollars a year for "watching cuts," +and fifty-five thousand more for removing slides that should never have +taken place. Everything is done for the moment, and nothing thoroughly. Who +can wonder that this system tells upon the cost of maintenance of way? + +The amount of fuel burned is the exact measure of the resistance to be +overcome, and a rough track must necessarily require a larger amount of +fuel. The English roads now generally burn bituminous coal; most American +roads burn wood; but these being reduced to the same equivalent quantity, +it will be found that the American roads burn nearly twice as much as the +English. + +That the cost of the repairs of American cars and engines is not more is +attributable solely to their superior design. An English engine and cars +would be battered to pieces in a few months on our rough roads, on account +of their rigidity and concentration of weight; while those of America, by +yielding to shocks both vertically and horizontally, escape injury. +American cars and engines are as much superior in design to the English as +their roads excel ours in solidity and finish. + +But it will be asked, Shall we imitate the notorious extravagance of +British railways built at a cost of one hundred and seventy-three thousand +dollars per mile? + +The answer is plain. The only thing about them to be imitated is their +thorough and permanent construction. That this need not involve +extravagance is evident from the fact that the actual cost of construction +has been only eighty-eight thousand dollars per mile of double-track +railway, including all the costly viaducts, tunnels, and bridges, which in +many cases a more judicious location or a bolder use of gradients would +have avoided. The remainder of their cost is made up of law and +Parliamentary expenses, engineering and management, land and damages, +interest on stock, bonuses, dividends paid from capital, etc., etc., +amounting to eighty-five thousand dollars per mile. The folly of all this +has been seen, and neither the financial nor the engineering errors of that +day are now repeated. To show that a better system prevails, it is only +necessary to state that between 1848 and 1858, 390 miles of first-class +single-track railway have been opened at an average cost of $46.692 per +mile, and in all that relates to economical maintenance are not inferior to +any in the kingdom. + +Such railways as these, costing no more than our own, we would hold up for +imitation. How, then, do they differ from ours? or rather, what must be +done to put ours into the same condition of economical efficiency? + +In the first place, stone culverts and earth embankments should replace +wooden structures, wherever possible. As fast as wooden bridges decay, they +should be replaced with iron; and if the piers and abutments require it, as +is too often the case, they should be rebuilt in a substantial manner. + +The tubular iron bridge we do not recommend, on account of its excessive +cost. For short spans of sixty feet and under, two riveted boiler-plate +girders under the track make a cheap and permanent bridge, and can be +manufactured in any part of the country. For large spans there are several +excellent forms of iron trusses, Bollman's, Fink's, or, still better, the +wrought-iron lattice. + +Cuttings should be widened, if not already wide enough, so as to admit of +good ditches along the track. The slopes should be dressed off and +turfed. This costs little, and prevents the earth from washing down and +choking up the ditches, and much of that terrible nuisance, dust. + +The secret of all good road-making, whether railways or common roads, lies +in thorough drainage. Until our railways are well drained, it is of little +use to try to improve the condition of the track. "In an economical view," +says Mr. Colburn, "the damage occasioned by water is far greater than the +utmost cost of its removal. The track is disturbed, the iron bruised, the +fastenings strained, the chairs broken, the ties rotted, the resistance and +thereby the consumption of fuel increased, and the whole wear and tear +greatly enhanced." + +Next to drainage in importance is plenty of good ballast. The New-England +roads are well ballasted, as a general thing; but in the West, where gravel +is scarce, they do not trouble themselves to find a substitute. Even the +great New York and Erie road, after ten years' use, is only half ballasted, +which accounts for its being more than half worn out. + +Much has been said and written on the necessity of a good joint for the +rails, and many are the inventions for securing this object,--"compound +rails," "fished joints," "bracket chairs," "sleeve joints," etc., etc. But +without better road-beds no form of superstructure will last, and with +road-beds as good as they ought to be almost any simple and easily adjusted +arrangement will answer well enough. + +But a more important matter than all these, so far as the economy of +maintenance is concerned, is the quality and shape of the iron rails, +forming one-eighth of the whole cost of our railways. Where companies, +instead of buying rails, are selling bonds, they have no right to complain, +if the iron turn out as worthless as the debentures. But where they pay +cash, they can insist on good iron, and will get it, if they will pay the +price, which will rule from eighteen to twenty dollars per ton over that of +the poorest article. Nor should the shape and weight of the rail be +overlooked. Experience, that stern schoolmaster, has taught us, that, while +heavy rails of seventy pounds to the yard, and over, of ordinary iron, go +to pieces in three or four years, sixty-pound rails of well-worked and good +iron will last more than double that time. The extraordinary durability of +the forty-five pound rails made for the Reading Railway Company by the Ebbw +Vale Company in 1837 is well known to railway men. + +A short calculation will show the superiority, in point of economy, of +light and good rails to heavy rails of an inferior quality. A seventy-pound +rail requires 110 tons to the mile, costing, at 860 per ton, $6,600. At the +end of four years this has to be re-rolled at a cost of $30 per ton, or +$3,300 more. This is equal in eight years to an annual depreciation of +$1,237 per mile. A sixty-pound rail requires 94 tons to a mile, costing for +the best iron that can be rolled $80 per ton, or $7,520 per mile. This +would last eight years, and the annual depreciation would be $940 per mile, +or $297 less than the other. The 30,000 miles of American railways are thus +taxed annually nearly nine millions of dollars for preferring quantity to +quality. + +In England, it is the custom to retain the best engineering talent upon +railways, after as well as during construction. In this country, as soon as +the engineer has made out his "final estimate," he is dismissed with as +little ceremony as a daylaborer. We employ the best mechanical engineers +that we can find to look after the repairs of our engines and cars; while +the road, which is more important, and upon the good condition of which we +have seen that the success or failure of a railway as a commercial +enterprise may depend, is handed over to some ignorant fellow whose only +qualifications are industry and obedience. + +There are no unmixed evils in this world. The impecuniosity of American +railways, besides causing the bad results which we have described, has had +a good effect upon the training of American engineers. Being obliged to do +a great deal with a little money, they have steered clear of those enormous +extravagances which have characterized the works of such engineers as the +late Mr. Brunel, colossal less in proportions than cost. It has been well +observed, that there was more talent shown on a certain division of the +New-York and Erie Railway, in avoiding the necessity for viaducts, than +could possibly have been exhibited in constructing them. This remark is a +key to the difference between the old English and the American systems of +civil engineering. The one is for show, the other for use. We say the _old_ +English system, because a better practice has now arisen. Cost is looked to +as well as splendor; and there is no engineer now in England whose +reputation, would sustain him in constructing such monuments of +extravagance as the Great Western Railway or the Britannia Bridge. American +civil engineers have not been fairly treated. The wretched construction of +many of our railways, and the uneconomical condition of all, have been cast +against them by their English brethren as a reproach. But the faults of +construction, we have shown, are attributable to another cause. No engineer +of standing would lend himself to many of the schemes that have been pushed +through in the West. But in order to build a "cheap" road, it is only +necessary to get a "cheap" engineer, and that is a commodity easily picked +up. If their ignorance and blunders tarnish the fair fame of the +profession, it cannot be helped. But if American engineers of standing had +been allowed to finish the railways begun by them, and to take care of them +and see that they were not abused after they were finished, our railway +securities would be quoted at higher rates than they now are. + +Although there are many civil engineers of standing and experience who have +been thrown out of employment by the general stoppage of public works, and +who are better qualified to take care of that costly and delicate machine, +a Railway, than men whose knowledge is entirely empirical, yet few railways +employ a resident engineer. Those that follow this practice are generally +supposed to do so because he is a relative of some Director, and wants a +place, and not because such an officer is really required. + +"Construction accounts," says Mr. Colburn, "can never be closed, until our +roads are _built_. To attempt it only involves a destruction account of +fearful magnitude. Under our present system, we are _perpetually +rebuilding_ our roads, not realizing the _life_ of our works, and thereby +running capital to waste." + +"With good earthwork, thoroughly drained, well-ballasted tracks, rails of +good iron, correct form, not exceeding 60 pounds per yard, and properly +supported at the joints, the ties properly preserved, and the whole +maintained by a judicious system of repairs, the average working expenses +might unquestionably be reduced by as much as 18 cents per mile run." + +The mileage of the Massachusetts railways for 1859 was 5,949,761 miles run, +and the expenses of operating $0.93, being a saving of 15 cents over those +of 1856, amounting to $892,464. If, by a judicious expenditure of $5,000 +per mile, a still further saving of 18 cents per mile run could be made, it +would amount, on the present mileage, to $1,070,956 per annum, which, the +receipts being equal, would return eight per cent. on the increased capital +of sixty-eight and a half millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +We have thus shown the combined effects of financial mismanagement and +imperfect construction upon our railway property. But there is a third evil +to be cured before it can become productive. + +Under the present system of railway management, everybody is busy getting +rich at the expense of the stockholders. Railway men are as honest as the +average of mankind, but there is no reason why they should be more so; and +if their temptations are greater, a certain percentage of them will +inevitably yield to those temptations,--just as statistical tables show +that the average number of arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct +is greater on Sundays and holidays than on working-days. + +A few years ago it was impossible to compare the results of the working of +one railway with those of another. The returns were so ingeniously made +out, that only one thing was certain,--the amount of dividend that it +pleased the Board of Directors to declare. If this was three or four per +cent. for the half-year, the stockholders were delighted, and passed a vote +of thanks to those worthy gentlemen for devoting so much valuable time to +their interests gratuitously. What if a dividend was not earned? it was +easy enough to raise money in Wall Street on the Company's paper, until +some excuse could be found for a new issue of bonds or stock. But those +benefactors of the human race, Tuckerman and Schuyler, put a stop to all +this. After their proceedings became public, and still more certainly after +the crash of 1857, if railways did not earn a dividend, they had to say +so. This led to investigations, and stockholders became "posted," as the +phrase is. Chiefly by the exertions of one newspaper, the "Boston Railway +Times," railway companies were shamed into giving their reports in such +form as to distinguish the expenses per mile run, for fuel, oil, repairs of +road, machines, etc., etc. This gave a common standard of comparison; and, +as we have seen, it was made use of to discover in what particular +departments English railways were worked more economically than our +own. This has led, as we have also seen, to a great reduction in the cost +of operating; and the revival of railways, as an investment, dates from +that time, 1857-8. + +But there is something more wanted yet. As we have said, railway men are +not out of the reach of temptation. Let the various officers of a railway +manage it so as not to exceed the average expense of other roads of their +State, and their reputation stands high. Let them reduce their expenses +below the average, and their power is despotic. If they are men of ability, +they can do all this,--operate their road for less than many others, run +their trains regularly and without accident, even treat the public with +civility, and make themselves rich, in a few years, by percentages and +commissions on the cost of supplies, and by other modes, which, perhaps, +had better not be referred to here. If any one doubt this, let him take +pains to inquire how large a proportion of railway-men get rich in a few +years on salaries of from one to two thousand dollars per annum. Nor can +this be prevented; for every new check is only a transfer of power from +intelligent to ignorant hands; and ignorance, however honest, is a more +expensive manager and easier victim than knavery. There is but one remedy. +Make it for men's interest to reduce the expenses of operating to a +minimum. Make it for their interest to do so, by allowing them to share in +the profits, and then the question is solved, and you have a thousand +vigilant guardians of your property day and night. Let all supplies be +furnished by public competition under sealed tender, as is done in the army +and navy, and on the large railways of Great Britain. + +There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way of carrying out +these changes, as there are in introducing all new systems. You have to +meet the doubts and suspicions of those who are unacquainted with them, the +opposition of interested parties, and the general feeling which influences +all men to let well enough alone. But that there are no insuperable +obstacles in the way is evident from the fact that this system has already +been partially applied on a railway doing a very large business, the +Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, under the able superintendence of +S. M. Felton, Esq., who, in his last Report, says, "It still works well, +and is productive of much saving to the Company. [Footnote: The cost of +operating this railway for 1859, as per last Report, was only 37.4 per +cent. of the receipts, while that of the railways of Massachusetts for the +same year was 56.9 per cent. The result is a dividend of 8-1/2 per cent. +on capital, after paying the interest on bonded debt.] It promotes +regularity in running the trains, and in all branches of our business. It +diminishes accidents, _by bringing home the responsibility directly upon +individuals_ instead of the corporation." + +There is a great deal of significance in this last remark. Every one knows, +that, when an accident happens on a railway, "no one is to blame,"--which +means, that everybody should have so much blame as can be expressed by a +fraction whose numerator is unity and whose denominator represents the +whole number of employees. Such an infinitesimal dose of censure, contrary +to the homeopathic doctrine, always produces infinitesimal results. + +To what is the extraordinary success of the Hudson's Bay Company +owing,--that wonderful organization which rules the wilds of British North +America with a discipline which has no parallel in the history of mankind, +except that of the order of Jesuits? Simply to the fact, that every man +whose duties require intelligent action is a partner of the Company, shares +in its gains, and loses with its losses. And so it should be with our +railway-employees. Instead of excusing waste of time and property by the +stereotyped phrase, "The Company is rich and can stand it," they would +strive to exercise a rigid economy, knowing that at the end of the week +their pockets would be so much the heavier. + +To show how the thing should be done would involve matters of detail which +would be out of place here. What we desire to show is the +principle. Instead of paying all men alike, good, bad, and indifferent, let +the amount of a man's wages depend on his skill and intelligence; the more +he shows, the better let him be paid. In almost every department of +manufacturing and commercial business this is done. Why not in railway +management? + +We subjoin a tabular statement of the railways of the world, made up to +1857, except those of the United States, which are for 1858-9. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +|Name of country. |Cost per|Receipts |Percentage of|Percentage of | +| | mile. | per mile| expenses to | net earnings | +| | | of road.| receipts. | to total | +| | | | | capital. | +|-------------------|--------|---------|-------------|---------------| +|Great Britain |$173,040| $13,296 | 47 | 4.00 | +|Australia | 169,225| 6,810 | 72 | 1.02 | +|India | 51,400| 8,645 | 42 | 4.09 | +|France | 128,340| 13,530 | 44 | 6.58 | +|Belgium | 81,955| 10,790 | 58 | 5.48 | +|Austria | 92,325| 13,430 | 54 | 6.75 | +|Prussia | 72,430| 9,915 | 45 | 7.44 | +|Other German States| 66,160| 7,085 | 63 | 5.52 | +|United States | 41,376| 6,170 | 60 | 5.51 | +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +From this it will be seen how much economy of working has to do with paying +a dividend,--as in the case of the Indian railways, where, although the +receipts are very small, the prime cost and expenses of working are also +very small, and they divide 4.09 per cent, while the Australian railways, +whose cost and expense of working are large, can pay only 1.02 per cent. It +is proper to say, however, that this was during the "gold fever." Railways +are now built in Australia for $50,000 per mile. + +The railways of the United States occupy a very favorable position, both as +to cost and amount of receipts per mile. During the last ten years, the +principal efforts of their managers have been directed toward increasing +the receipts. During the next ten, their policy will be to diminish the +working expenses, leaving the receipts to increase with the natural growth +of the country, and avoiding unhealthy competition for that delusive +phantom, "through-trade," which has lured so many railways to financial +shipwreck and ruin. If this policy be steadily followed, we shall see +railway stocks once more a favorite investment. + + * * * * * + + + +IN A FOG. + + +A few minutes before one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 8th of +February, 1857, Policeman Smithers, of the Third District, was meditatively +pursuing his path of duty through the quietest streets of Ward Five, +beguiling, as usual, the weariness of his watch by reminiscent +AEthiopianisms, mellifluous in design, though not severely artistic in +execution. Passing from the turbulent precincts of Portland and Causeway +Streets, he had entered upon the solitudes of Green Street, along which he +now dragged himself dreamily enough, ever extracting consolations from +lugubrious cadences mournfully intoned. Very silent was the +neighborhood. Very dismal the night. Very dreary and damp was Mr. Smithers; +for a vile fog wrapped itself around him, filling his body with moist +misery, and his mind with anticipated rheumatic horrors. Still he surged +heavily along, tired Nature with tuneful charms sweetly restoring. + +As he wound off a tender tribute to the virtues of the Ancient Tray, and +was about sounding the opening notes of a requiem over the memory of the +lost African Lily, surnamed Dale, one o'clock was announced by the bell of +the Lynde-Street Church. Mr. Smithers's heart warmed a little at the +thought of speedy respite from his midnight toil, and with hastening step +he approached Chambers Street, and came within range of his relief post. He +paused a moment upon the corner, and gazed around. It is the peculiar +instinct of a policeman to become suspicious at every corner. + +Nothing stirring. Silence everywhere. He listens acutely. No sound. He +strains his eyes to penetrate the misty atmosphere. He is satisfied that +order reigns. He prepares to resume his march, and the measure of his +melancholy chant. + +Three seconds more, and Policeman Smithers is another being. Now his hand +convulsively grasps his staff; his foot falls lightly on the pavement; his +carol is changed to a quick, sharp inhalation of the breath; for directly +before him, just visible through the fog, a figure, lightly clad, leans +from a window close upon the street, then clambers noiselessly upon the +sill, leaps over, and dashes swiftly down Chambers Street, disappearing in +the darkness. + +Gathering himself well together, in an instant, Mr. Smithers is off and +away in pursuit. His heavy rubber-boots spatter over the bricks with an +echo that startles the sober residents from their slumbers. Strong of limb, +and not wholly unaccustomed to such exercise, he rapidly gains upon the +fugitive, who, finding himself so hotly followed, utters a faint cry, as if +unable to control his terror, and suddenly darts into one of the numerous +narrow passages which connect Chambers and Leverett Streets. + +Not prepared for this sharp dodge, Mr. Smithers is for a moment unable to +check his headlong plunges, and shoots past the opening a yard or two +before the wet sidewalk affords him a foothold. + +In great wrath, he turns about, and gropes his way cautiously through the +lane in the narrow labyrinth of which the fugitive has disappeared,--always +cautiously, for there are precipitous descents in Hammond Avenue, and deep +arched door-ways, from which a sudden onslaught might be dangerous. But he +meets no interruption here. Emerging into Leverett Street, he with +difficulty descries a white garment distantly fluttering in the feeble +light of a street-lamp. Any other color would have eluded him, but the way +is clear now, and it is a mere question of strength and speed. He sets his +teeth together, takes a full breath, and gives chase again. + +Mr. Smithers has now passed the limits of his own beat, and he fears his +adventure may be shared by some of his associates. For the world he would +not have this happen. Nothing could tempt him at this moment to swing his +rattle. His blood is roused, and he will make this capture himself, alone +and without aid. + +He rapidly reconsiders the chances. + +"This fellow does not know the turns," he thinks, "or he would have taken +Cushman Avenue, and then I should have lost him." + +This is in his favor. On the other hand, Mr. Smithers's action is impeded +by his heavy overcoat and rubber boots, and he knows that the pursued is +unincumbered in all his movements. + +It is a fierce, desperate struggle, that mad race down Leverett Street, at +one o'clock on Sunday morning. + +At each corner, the street-lamps throw a dull red haze around, revealing +the fugitive's slender form as he rushes wildly through. Another moment, +and the friendly fog shelters and conceals him from view. + +Breathless, panting, sobbing, he ere long is forced to relax his speed. The +policeman, who has held his best energies in reserve, now puts forth his +utmost strength. + +Presently he gains upon the runaway so that he can detect the white feet +pattering along the red bricks, rising and falling quite noiselessly. He +ejects imprecations upon his own stout boots, which not only fail to fasten +themselves firmly to the slippery pavements, but continually betray by +their noisy splashing his exact position. + +As they pass the next lamp, Mr. Smithers sees plainly enough that the end +is near. The fugitive touches the ground with only the balls of his feet, +as if each step were torture, and expels his breath with unceasing +violence. He does not gasp or pant,--he groans. + +Just at the bend in Leverett Street, leading to the bridge, there is a dark +and half-hidden aperture among the ill-assorted houses. Into this, as a +forlorn hope, the fugitive endeavors to fling himself. But the game is +up. Here, at last, he is overhauled by Mr. Smithers, who, dropping a heavy +hand upon his shoulder, whirls him violently to the ground. Having +accomplished this exploit with rare dexterity, he forthwith proceeds to set +the captive on his feet again, and to shake him about with sprightly vigor, +according to established usage. + +Mr. Smithers next makes a rapid but close examination of his prize, who, +bewildered by the fall, stares vacantly around, and speaks no word. He was +a young man, apparently about twenty years old, with nothing peculiar in +appearance except an unseasonable deficiency in clothing. Coat, waistcoat, +trousers, boots, hat, had he none; shirt, drawers, and stockings made up +his scant raiment. Mr. Smithers set aside the suspicion of burglary, which +he had originally entertained, in favor of domestic disorder. The symptoms +did not, to his mind, point towards delirium tremens. + +Suddenly recovering consciousness, the youth was seized with a fit of +trembling so violent that he with difficulty stood upright, and cried out +in piteous tones,-- + +"For God's sake, let me go! let me go!" + +Mr. Smithers answered by gruffly ordering the prisoner to move along with +him. + +By some species of inspiration--for, as the era of police uniforms had not +then dawned, it could have been nothing else--the young man conceived the +correct idea of the function of his custodian, and, after verifying his +belief, expressed himself enraptured. + +All his perturbation seemed to vanish at the moment. + +The affair was getting too deep for Mr. Smithers, who could not fathom the +idea of a midnight malefactor becoming jubilant over his arrest. So he gave +no ear to the torrent of excited explanations that burst upon him, but +silently took the direct route to the station. + +Here he resigned his charge to Captain Merrill's care, and, after narrating +the circumstances, went forth again, attended by two choice spirits, to +continue investigations. On reaching Chambers Street, he became confused +and dubious. A row of houses, all precisely alike excepting in color, stood +not far from the corner of Green Street. From a lower window of one of +these he believed that the apparition had sprung; but, in his agitation, he +had neglected to mark with sufficient care the precise spot. Now, no open +window nor any other trace of the event could be discovered. + +The three policemen, having arrived at the end of their wits, went back to +the station for an extension. + +There they found Captain Morrill listening to a strange and startling +story, the incidents of which can here be more coherently recapitulated +than they were on that occasion by the half-distracted sufferer. + +On the morning of Saturday, February the 7th, this young man, whose name +was Richard Lorrimer, and who was a clerk in a New-York mercantile house, +started from that city in the early train for Boston, whither he had been +despatched to arrange some business matters that needed the presence of a +representative of the firm. It chanced to be his first journey of any +extent; but the day was cheerless and gloomy, and the novelty of travel, +which would otherwise have been attractive, was not especially agreeable. +After exhausting the enlivening resources of a package of morning papers, +which at that time overflowed with records of every variety of crime, from +the daily murder to the hourly garrote, he dozed. At Springfield he +dined. Here, also, he fortified himself against returning ennui with a +supply of the day's journals from Boston. Singularly enough, five minutes +after resuming his place, he was once more peacefully slumbering. The pause +at Worcester scarcely roused him; but near Framingham a sharp shriek from +the locomotive, and the rapid working of the brakes, banished his dreams, +and put an end to his drowsy humor for the remainder of the journey. It was +soon made known that the engine was suffering from internal disarrangement, +and that a delay of an hour or more might be expected. The red flag was +despatched to the rear, the lamps were lighted, and the passengers composed +themselves, each as patiently and as comfortably as he could. + +Lorrimer felt no inclination for further repose. He was much disturbed at +the prospect of long detention, having received directions to execute a +part of his commission that evening. Comforting himself with the profound +reflection that the fault was not his, he turned wearily to his +newspaper-files. + +A middle-aged man with a keen nose and a snapping eye asked permission to +share the benefit of his treasures of journalism. As the middle-aged man +glanced over the New-York dailies, he ventured an anathema upon the +abominations of Gotham. + +The patriotic pride of a genuine New-Yorker never deserts him. Lorrimer +discovered that the maligner of his city was a Bostonian, and a stormy +debate ensued. + +As between cat and dog, so is the hostility which divides the residents of +these two towns. So the conversation became at once spirited, and +eventually spiteful. + +Boston pointed with sarcastic finger to the close columns heavily laden +with iniquitous recitals, the result of a reporter's experience of one day +in the metropolis. + +New York, with icy imperturbability, rehearsed from memory the recent +revelations of matrimonial and clerical delinquencies which had given the +City of Notions an unpleasant notoriety. + +Boston burst out in eloquent denunciation of the Bowery assassin's knife. + +New York was placidly pleased to revert to a tale of bloodshed in the +abiding-place of Massachusetts authority, the State Prison. + +Boston fell back upon the garrote,--"the meanest and most diabolical +invention of Five-Point villany,--a thing unknown, Sir, and never to be +known with us, while our police system lasts!" + +New York quietly folded together a paper so as to reveal one particular +paragraph, which appeared in smallest type, as seeking to avoid +recognition. Boston read as follows:-- + +"The garroting system of highway robbery, which has been so fashionable for +some time past in New York, and which has so much alarmed the people of +that city, has been introduced in Boston, and was practised on Thomas +W. Steamburg, barber, on Thursday night. While crossing the Common to his +home, he was attacked by three men; one seized him by the throat and half +strangled him, another sealed his mouth with a gloved hand, and the third +abstracted his wallet, which contained about seventy-five dollars in +money." + +This was from the "Courier" of that morning. New York had triumphed, and +Boston, with eyes snapping virulently, sought another portion of the car, +perhaps to hunt up his temper, which had been for some time on the point of +departure, and had now left him altogether. + +Lorrimer took to himself great satisfaction, in a mild way, and laughed +inwardly at his opponent's discomfiture. + +Presently, the vitalities of the locomotive having been restored, the train +rolled on, and Lorrimer took to calculating the chances of fulfilling his +appointment that evening. He at length abandoned the hope, and resigned +himself to the afflicting prospect of a solitary Sunday in a strange place. + +At eight o'clock, P.M., the Boston station was achieved. Then followed, for +Mr. Lorrimer, the hotel, the supper, the vain search for Saturday-evening +amusements, and a discontented stroll in a wilderness of unfamiliar +streets, with spirits dampened by the dismal foggy weather. + +He found the Common, and secretly admired, but longed for an opportunity to +vilify it to some ardent native. His point of attack would be, that it +furnished dangerous opportunities for crime, as illustrated in the case he +had recently been discussing. He looked around for some one to accost, and +felt aggrieved at finding no available victim. Finally, in great depth of +spirits, and anxious for a temporary shelter from the all-penetrating +moisture, he wandered into a saloon of inviting appearance, and sought the +national consolation,--Oysters. + +While he was accumulating his appetite, a stranger entered the same stall, +and dropped, with a smile and a nod, upon the opposite seat. "I wouldn't +intrude, Sir," he said, "but every other place is filled. It's wonderful +how Boston gives itself up to oysters on Saturday nights,--all other sorts +of rational enjoyment being legally prohibited." + +Lorrimer welcomed the stranger, and, delighted at the opportunity of a bit +of discussion, and still cherishing the malignant desire to injure +somebody's feelings in the matter of the Common, opened a conversation by +asking if Boston were really much given to bivalvular excesses. + +The stranger, who was a strongly built and rough-visaged man, with nothing +specially attractive about him, except a humorous and fascinating +eye-twinkle, straightened himself, and delivered a short oration. + +"Bless me, Sir!" said he, "are you a foreigner? Why, oysters are the +universal bond of brotherhood, not only in Boston, but throughout this +land. They harmonize with our sharp, wide-awake spirit. They are an element +in our politics. Our statesmen, legislators, and high-placed men, +generally, are weaned on them. Why, dear me! oysters are a fundamental idea +in our social system. The best society circles around 'fried' and 'stewed.' +Our 'festive scenes,' you know, depend on them in no small degree for their +zest. That isn't all, either. A full third of our population is over +'oysters' every morning at eleven o'clock. Young Smith, on his way down +town after breakfast, drops into the first saloon and absorbs some +oysters. At precisely eleven o'clock he is overcome with hunger and takes a +few on the 'half-shell.' In the course of an hour appetite clamors, and he +'oysters' again. So on till dinner-time, and, after dinner, oysters at +short intervals until bed-time." + +And the stalwart stranger leaned back and laughed lustily for a few +seconds, until, abruptly checking his mirth, he, in solemn tones, directed +the waiter to introduce ale. + +Then occurred an interesting exchange of courtesies. Social enlightenment +was vividly illustrated. The sparkling ale was set upon the table. In +silent contemplation, the two gentlemen awaited the subsidence of the +bead. Then, smiling intensely, they cordially grasped the flowing mugs; +they made the edges click; they paused. + +"Sir," said one, with genial blandness. + +"Sir," responded the other, in like manner. + +Contemporaneously they partook of the cheering fluid. Gradually each +gentleman's nose was eclipsed by the aspiring orb of pottery. The mugs +assumed a lofty elevation, then fell, to rise no more. The two gentlemen +beamed with amity. Each respected the other, and the acquaintance was +formed. + +Lorrimer was charmed to meet an intelligent being who would talk and be +talked to. He flattered himself he had exploited a "character," and was +determined not to allow him to slip away. He cautiously broke to his new +companion the fact that he was a native of New York, and was a little +surprised to see the announcement followed by no manifestation of awe, but +only a lively wink. He reserved his defamatory intentions respecting the +Common, and endeavored to draw the stranger out, who, in return, shot forth +eccentricities as profusely as the emery wheel of the street grinder emits +sparks when assailed by a scissors-blade. + +Lorrimer learned that this delightful fellow's name was Glover, and +rejoiced greatly in so much knowledge. + +Mr. Glover ordered in ale, and Mr. Lorrimer ordered in oysters,--and from +oysters to ale they pleasantly alternated for the space of two hours. + +Cloud-compelling cigars varied at intervals the monotony of the +proceedings. + +At length the young gentleman from New York vanquished his last "fried in +crumb," and victory perched upon his knife. Just then the gas-burners began +to meander queerly before his eyes. Around and above him he beheld showers +of glittering sparks,--snaky threads of light,--fantastic figures of +fire,--jets of liquid lustre. He communicated, in confidence, to +Mr. Glover, that his seat seemed to him of the nature of a rocking-chair +operating viciously upon a steep slated roof. Mr. Glover laughed, and +proposed an adjournment. + +As they settled their little bills, Lorrimer thoughtlessly displayed a +plethoric pile of bank-notes. He saw, or fancied he saw, his companion gaze +at them in a manner which made him restless; but the circumstance soon +passed from his mind, until later events enforced the recollection. + +When they walked into the open air, Mr. Lorrimer first became intimate with +a lamp-post, which he was loath to leave, and then bitterly bewailed his +ignorance of localities. Glover good-naturedly suggested that his young +friend would do well to take up quarters with him, that night, and promised +to conduct him wherever he desired to go, the next morning. His young +friend was not in the humor for hesitation, and, distrusting his own +perambulatory powers, gave himself up, without reserve, to Glover's +guidance. Linked together by their arms, they sailed along, like an +energetic little steam-tug, puffing, plunging, sputtering, under the shadow +of a serene and stately Indiaman. + +The fog had now gathered solidity, and hung chillingly over the city's +heart. How desolate were the thoroughfares! The street-lamps gleamed +luridly from their stands, serving only to make the dreary darkness +visible. Lorrimer's late merry fancies were all extinguished as suddenly as +they had blazed forth. Even his sturdy guide showed a depression and +constraint that strangely contrasted with his former gayety. He vainly drew +upon his mirth-account; there was no issue, "Beastly fog!" said he, "we +might drill holes in it, and blast it with gunpowder!" They approached the +Common, and the hideous structure opposite West Street glared on them like +a fiery monster, and seemed exactly the reverse of the gate to a forty-acre +Paradise. Sheltering their faces from the wind, which now added its +inconveniences to the saturating atmosphere, they struck the broad avenue, +and pushed across towards the West End. + +The wind sang most doleful strains, and the bending branches of the trees +sighed sadly over them. Lorrimer was filled with an anxious tribulation, as +he remembered the story of the villany that, two nights before, near the +spot where they now walked, and perhaps at the same hour, had been +perpetrated. An impulse, which he could not restrain, caused him to whisper +his fears to his companion. Glover laughed, a little uneasily, he thought, +but made no answer. + +Soon they reached the opposite boundary of the Common, and continued +through Hancock Street, ascending and descending the hill. While passing +the reservoir in that dull gray darkness, Lorrimer felt as if under the +shadow of some giant tomb. Hastening forward, for it was growing late, they +threaded a number of the short avenues of Ward Three, and at length, when +young New York's endurance was nearly exhausted, reached their destination +in Chambers Street. It must have been the fatigue which, as they crossed +the threshold, propelled Mr. Lorrimer against the door, causing him to +stain himself unbecomingly with new paint. + +They mounted the stairs, and entered a comfortable apartment, in which a +fresh fire was diffusing a most welcome glow, and a spacious bed +luxuriously invited occupancy. Lorrimer had but one grief, which he freely +communicated to his host,--his fingers were liberally decorated with dark +daubs, to which he pointed with unsteady anguish. + +"It's a filthy shame!" said he, with more energy of manner than certainty +of utterance. + +A section of the chamber was separated from the rest by a screen. Into this +retreat Glover disappeared, and immediately returned with a bottle, from +which he poured an acid that effaced the spots. "It will wash away +anything," said he, laughing. + +Lorrimer was superabundantly profuse in thanks, and announced that his mind +was now at ease. By some mysterious process, not clearly explicable to +himself, he contrived to lay aside a portion of his dress, and to dispose +himself within the folds of balmy bedclothes that awaited him. In forty +seconds he was dreaming. + +Nearly an hour had elapsed when he half woke from an uneasy slumber, and +strove to collect his drowsy faculties. His sleep had been disturbed by +frightful visions. He had passed through a scene of violence on the Common; +he had been engaged in a life-and-death struggle with his new acquaintance; +he had been seized by unseen hands, and thrown into a vast vault. His brain +throbbed and his heart ached, as he endeavored to disentangle the +bewildering fancies of his sleep from wakeful reality. + +He lay with his face to the wall, and the grotesque decorations of the +paper assumed ghostly forms, and moved menacingly before his eyes, +thrilling him through and through. + +In a few moments the murmur of voices close at hand aroused him more +effectually. He then recollected the incidents of the night, and reproached +himself for his wild excesses, and his reckless and imprudent confidence in +a stranger. He dreaded to think what the consequences might be, and again +became confused with the memories of his distressing dreams. + +Three facts, however, were fastened upon his mind. He could not forget +Glover's singular glance at his roll of bank-notes,--the hesitation to +converse about the garrote,--nor the bottle of acid which would "wash away +anything." Would it wash away stains of blood? + +The sounds of subdued conversation again arrested his attention. He +listened earnestly, but without changing his position. + +"Speak softly," said a voice which he recognized as Glover's,--"speak +softly; you will wake my guest." + +Then the words failed to reach him for a few moments. He strained his ears, +and hardly breathed, for fear of interrupting a syllable. Presently he was +able to distinguish a few sentences. + +"Do you call this a profitable job?" said a strange voice. + +"Oh, very fair,--worth about fifty dollars, I should guess. I wouldn't +undertake such a piece of work at a smaller chance," said Glover. + +"Shall you cut the face?" said the other, after a minute's pause. + +"Of course," was the answer; "it's the only way to do it handsomely." + +"Hum!--what do you use? steel?" + +"Steel, by all means." + +"I shouldn't." + +"I like it better; and I have a nice bit that has done service in this way +before." + +From Lorrimer's brow exuded a deadly sudor. His heart ceased to palpitate. +His muscles became rigid; his eyes fixed. His terror was almost too great +for him to bear. With difficulty he controlled himself, and listened again. + +"Can it be done here?" asked the strange voice;--"will not the features be +recognized?" + +"There is nothing deeply marked, except the eyes," said Glover, "and I can +easily remove them, you know." + +"You can try the acid." + +"The other way is best." + +"I suppose it must be done quickly." + +"So quickly that there will be no chance for any proof." + +Lorrimer gasped feebly, and clutched the bedclothes with a nervous, +convulsive movement. He had no power to reflect upon his situation; but he +felt that he was lost. Alone and unaided, he could not hope to combat the +evil designs of two men, a single one of whom he knew was vastly his +superior in strength. His blood seemed to cease flowing in his veins. He +thought for an instant of springing from the bed, and imploring mercy; but +the nature of their conversation, with its minutiae of cruelty, forbade all +hope in that direction. His brain whirled, and he thought that reason was +about to forsake him. But a movement in the room restored him to a sense of +his peril. + +He saw the shadows changing their places, and knew that the light was +moving. He heard faint footsteps. Hope deserted him, and be closed his +eyes, quite despairing. When be opened them a minute later, he was in +darkness. + +Then hope returned. There might yet be a means of escape. They had left +him,--for how long he could not conjecture; but now, at least, he was +alone. What a flood of joy came over him then! + +Swiftly and softly he threw off the bedclothes, and by the uncertain light +of the fire, which was still glimmering, found his way noiselessly to the +floor. + +His trembling limbs at first refused to sustain him, but the thought of his +impending fate, should he remain, invested him with an unexpected +courage. Passing around the foot of the bed, he approached the door of the +chamber. + +As he moved, his shadow, dimly cast by the flickering embers, fell across +the mouth of the inclosure whence Glover had brought the acid. He shuddered +to think what might be hidden by that screen. He burned with curiosity, +even in that moment of danger. For a moment he even rashly thought of +seeking to penetrate the mystery. + +Treading lightly, and partially supporting himself by the wall, lest his +feet should press too heavily upon some loose board and cause it to rattle +beneath him, he reached the door. It was not wholly closed, and with utmost +gentleness he essayed to pull it open. With all his care he could not +prevent it from creaking sharply. His nerves were again shaken, and a new +tremor assailed him. Tears filled his eyes. His heart was like ice, only +heavier, within him. + +He stood for a minute motionless and half-unconscious. Then recovering +himself by a powerful effort, he advanced once more. Without venturing to +open the door wider, he worked through the narrow aperture, inch by inch, +stopping every few seconds for fear that the rustle of his shirt against +the jamb might be overheard. At length, by almost imperceptible movements, +he succeeded in gaining the head of the staircase. + +Then he believed that his deliverance was near at hand. He had thus far +eluded detection, and it only remained for him to descend, and depart by +the outer door. + +Bending forward at every step to catch the slightest echo of alarm, he felt +his way down through the darkness. The difficulty at this point was +great. As one recovered from a long illness finds his knees yield under him +at the first attempt to descend a staircase, just so it was with +Lorrimer. At one time a faintness came over him, and he was obliged to sit +down and rest. A movement above aroused him, and, starting up, he hurriedly +groped his way to the street-door. + +The darkness was absolute. He could discern nothing, but, after a short +search, he caught hold of the handle and turned it slowly. The door +remained immovable. By another exploration he discovered a large key +suspended from a nail near the centre of the door. This he inserted in the +lock, and turned--with all the caution he could command. It was not enough, +for it snapped loudly. + +A voice from the head of the stairs cried out, "Who is there?" + +Lorrimer was appalled. He shook the door, but it remained fast. Like +lightning he passed his hand up and down the crevice in search of a hidden +bolt. He found nothing, and felt that he was in the hands of the +murderers;--for he could entertain no doubt of their design. In the agony +of desperation he flung out his arms, and a door beside him flew open. He +entered, and rushed to a window, which was easily lifted, and out of which +he threw himself at the moment that a light streamed into the apartment +behind him. + +When Mr. Lorrimer had finished relating to Captain Morrill, with all the +energy of truth, the more important of the above circumstances, that +officer arose, and, calling to his assistance a couple of his force, +started out in great haste in the direction of Chambers Street. Lorrimer, +who had been provided with shoes, hat, and coat, went with them. After a +little search, a row of houses with windows close upon the street was +found. More diligent examination showed that the door of one of these was +freshly painted. A vigorous assault upon the panels brought down the +household. Mr. Glover, and another person whose voice was identified by +Lorrimer, were marched off with few words to the station. Mr. Lorrimer's +clothes were rescued, and an officer was left to look after the premises. + +Mr. Glover, on arriving at the station, expressed great indignation, and +employed uncivil terms in speaking of his late guest. Under the subduing +influences of Captain Merrill's treatment, he soon became tranquil, and +subsequently manifested an excess of hilarity, which the guardians of the +night strove in vain to check. But he answered unreservedly all the +questions which Captain Morrill put to him. His statement ran somewhat +thus:-- + +"I met this young man, for the first time, a few hours ago, at an +oyster-saloon on Washington Street. We drank a good deal of ale, and he +lost his balance. I kept mine. I saw he had a pretty large amount of money, +and doubted his ability to keep as good a watch over it as he ought to. So +I took him home with me. On the way he would talk uneasily about garrote +robberies, but I refused to encourage him. + +"You want to know about that alarming conversation? Well,"--(here Mr. +Glover was so overcome with merriment, that, after a proper time, the +interposition of official authority became necessary,)--"well, I am an +engraver. My business is mainly to cut heads. Sometimes I use steel, +sometimes copper. My brother, who is also an engraver, and I were +discussing a new commission. I told him I should make use of a good bit of +steel, which had already been engraved upon, but not so deeply but that the +lines could be easily removed, excepting the eyes, which would have to be +scraped away. My allusion to proof is easily explained: it is common for +engravers to have a proof-impression taken of their work after it is +finished, by which they are enabled to detect any imperfections, and remedy +them. + +"I am very sorry that my young friend should have considered me so much of +a blood-thirsty ruffian. But the ale of Boston is no doubt strange to him, +and his confusion at finding himself in a large city quite +natural. Besides, his suspicions were in some degree reciprocated. When I +saw him flying out of the window, I was convinced that he must be an +ingenious burglar, and instantly ran back to examine my tools. I am glad to +find that I was wrong. If he will return now with me, he shall be welcome +to his share of the bed." + +Mr. Lorrimer politely, but positively, declined. + +Captain Morrill urbanely apologized to Mr. Glover, and engaged himself to +make it right in the morning; whereupon Mr. Glover withdrew in cachinnatory +convulsions. Mr. Lorrimer was instructed to resume his proper garments, and +was then conveyed safely to his hotel, where he remained in deep +abstraction until Monday, when, after transacting his business, he took the +afternoon return-train for New York. + +The case was not entered upon the records of the Third District Police. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GRANADAN GIRL'S SONG. + +All day the lime blows in the sun, + All day the silver aspens quiver, +All day along the far blue plain + Winds serpent-like the golden river. + From clustering flower and myrtle bower + Sweet sounds arise forever, + From gleaming tower with crescent dower + Our banner floats forever. + +Its purple bloom the grape puts on, + Pulping to this Granadan summer, +And heavy dews shake through the globes + Scarce stirred by some bright-winged new-comer, + On gyon brown hill, where all is still, + Where lightly rides the muleteer, + With jangling bells, whose burden swells + Till shaft and arch rise fine and clear. + +As one by one the shadows creep + Back to their lairs in hilly hollows, +A broader splendor issues forth + And on their track in silence follows; + A fuller air swims everywhere, + A freer murmur shakes the bough, + A thousand fires surprise the spires, + And all the city wakes below. + +What morn shall rise, what cursed morn, + To find this bright pomp all surrendered, +These palaces an empty shell, + This vigor listless ruin rendered,-- + While every sprite of its delight + Mocks fickle echoes through the court, + And in our place a sculptured trace + Saddens some stranger's careless sport? + +Oh, gay with all the stately stir, + And bending to your silken flowing, +One day, my banner-poles, ye creak + Naked beneath the high winds blowing! + One day ye fall across the wall + And moulder in the moat's green bosom, + While in the cleft the wild tree left + Bursts into spikes of cruel blossom! + +Ah, never dawn that day for me! + O Fate, its fierce foreboding banish! +When all our hosts, like pallid ghosts + Blown on by morning, melt and vanish! + Oh, in the fires of their desires + Consume the toil of those invaders! + And let the brand divide the hand + That grasps the hilt of the Crusaders! + +Yet idle words in such a scene! + Yon rosy mists on high careering,-- +The Moorish cavaliers who fleet + With hawk and hound and distant cheering,-- + The dipping sail puffed to the gale, + The prow that spurns the billow's fawning,-- + How can they fade to dimmer shade, + And how this day desert its dawning? + +Forget to soar, thou rosy rack! + Ye riders, bronze your airy motion! +Still skim the seas, so snowy craft,-- + Forever sail to meet the ocean! + There bid the tide refuse to slide, + Glassing, below, thy drooping pinion,-- + Forever cease its wild caprice, + Fallen at the feet of our dominion! + + * * * * * + + + +THE HUMMING-BIRD. + +_May 9th._ + + +To-day, Estelle, your special messenger, the Humming-Bird, comes darting to +our oriel, my Orient. As I sat sewing, his sudden, unexpected whirr made me +look up. How did he know that the very first Japan-pear-bud opened this +morning? Flower and bird came together by some wise prescience. + +He has been sipping honey from your passion-flowers, and now has come to +taste my blossoms. What bright-winged thought of yours sent him so straight +to me, across that wide space of sea and land? Did he dart like a sunbeam +all the way? There were many of them voyaged together; a little line of +wavering light pierced the dark that night. + +A large, brave heart has our bold sailor of the upper deep. Old Pindar +never saw our little pet, this darling of the New World; yet he says,-- + +"Were it the will of Heaven, an osier-bough Were vessel safe enough the +seas to plough." + +Here he is, safe enough, not one tiny feather ruffled,--all the intense +life of the tropics condensed into this one live jewel,--the glance of the +sun on emeralds and rubies. Is it soft downy feathers that take this rich +metallic glow, changing their hue with every rapid turn? + +Other birds fly: he darts quick as the glance of the eye,--sudden as +thought, he is here, he is there. No floating, balancing motion, like the +lazy butterfly, who fans the air with her broad sails. To the point, always +to the point, he turns in straight lines. How stumbling and heavy is the +flight of the "burly, dozing bumblebee," beside this quick intelligence! +Our knight of the ruby throat, with lance in rest, makes wild and rapid +sallies on this "little mundane bird,"--this bumblebee,--this rolling +sailor, never off his sea-legs, always spinning his long homespun +yarns. This rich bed of golden and crimson flowers is a handsome field of +tournament. What invisible circle sits round to adjudge the prize? + +What secret does he bring me under those misty wings,--that busy birring +sound, like Neighbor Clark's spinning-wheel? Is he busy as well, this bit +of pure light and heat? Yes! he, too, has got a little home down in the +swamp over there,--that bit of a knot on the young oak-sapling. Last year +we found a nest (and brought it home) lined with the floss of +willow-catkin, stuck all over with lichens, deep enough to secure the two +pure round pearls from being thrown out, strongly fastened to the forked +branch,--a home so snug, so warm, so soft!--a home "contrived for fairy +needs." + +Who but the fairies, or Mr. Fine-Ear himself, ever heard the tiny tap of +the young bird, when he breaks the imprisoning shell? + +The mother-bird knows well the fine sound. Hours? days? no, weeks, she has +sat to hear at last that least wave of sound. + +What! this tiny bit of restless motion sit there still? Minutes must be +long hours to her quick panting heart. + +I will just whisper it in your ear, that the meek-looking mother-bird only +comes out between daylight and dark,--just like other busy mothers I have +known, who take a little run out after tea. + +Can it be, that Mr. Ruby-Throat, my _preux chevalier_, keeps all the +sunshiny hours for himself, that he may enjoy to the full his own gay +flight? + +Ah! you know nothing, hear nothing of woman's rights up there, in that +well-ordered household. Were it not well, if we, too, could give up our +royal right of choice,--if we could fall back on our strong earth-born +instincts, to be, to know, to do, one thing? + +See how closely our darling curls up his slender black feet and legs, that +we may not see this one bit of mortality about him! No, my little immortal +does not touch the earth; he hangs suspended by that long bill, which just +tethers him to its flowers. Now and then he will let down the little black +tendrils of legs and feet on some bare twig, and there be rests and preens +those already smooth plumules with the long slender bodkin you lent +him. Now, just now, he darts into my room, coquets with my basket of +flowers, "a kiss, a touch, and then away." I heard the whirr of those gauzy +wings; it was not to the flowers alone he told his story. You did well to +trust this most passionate pilgrim with your secret; the room is radiant +with it. Slow-flying doves may well draw the car of Venus; but this arrow +tipped with flame darts before, to tell of its coming. What need of word, +of song, with that iridescent glow? Some day I will hear the whole story; +just now let the Humming-Bird keep it under his misty wings. + +I have heard of a lady who reared these little birds from the nest; they +would suck honey from her lips, and fly in and out of her chamber. Only +think of seeing these callow fledglings! It is as if the winged thought +could be domesticated, could learn to make its nest with us and rear its +young. + +Bountiful Nature has spared to our cold North this one compact bit from the +Tropics. + + * * * * * + +I believe we allow that birds are very highly organized creatures,--next to +man, they say. We, with our weary feet plodding always on the earth, our +heavy arms pinioned close to our sides!--look at this live creature, with +thinnest wing cutting the fine air! We, slow in word, slow in +thought!--look at this quivering flame, kindled by some more passionate +glance of Nature! Next to man? Yes, we might say next above. Had it not +been for that fire we stole one day, that Promethean spark, hidden in the +ashes, kept a-light ever since, it had gone hard with us; Nature might have +kept her pet, her darling, high, high above us,--almost out of roach of our +dull senses. + +What is our boasted speech, with its harsh, rude sounds, to their gushing +melody? We learn music, certainly, with much pains and care. The bird +cannot tell if it be A sharp or B flat, but he sings. + +Our old friend, the friend of our childhood, Mr. White of Selborne, (who +had attended much to the life and conversation of birds,) says, "Their +language is very elliptical; little is said, and much is meant and +understood." Something like a lady's letter, is it not? + +How wise we might grow, if we could only "the bird-language rightly spell"! +In the olden times, we are told, the Caliphs and Viziers always listened to +what the birds said about it, before they undertook any new enterprise. I +have often thought I heard wise old folk discoursing, when a company of +hens were busy on the side-hill, scratching and clucking +together. Perchance some day we shall pick up a leaf of that herb which +shall open our ears to these now inarticulate sounds. + +Why may we not (just for this summer) believe in Transmigrations, and find +some elder civilization embodied in this community of birds,--all those +lost arts taken wings, not to fly away, but to come flitting and building +in our trees, picking crumbs from our door-steps? + +Do they say birds are limited? Who are we that set bounds to this direct +knowledge, this instinct? Mathematical, constructive, they certainly +are. What bold architect has builded so snug, so airy a house,--well +concealed, and yet with a good outlook? We make our dwellings conspicuous; +they hide their pretty art. + +We wiseacres, who stay at home, instead of following the seasons round the +globe, should learn the art of making happy homes; yet what housekeeper +will not hang her head in shame and despair, to see this nice adaptation of +use to wants, shown each year in multitudes of nests? Now, only look at +it! always just room enough,--none to spare. First, the four or five eggs +lie comfortably in the small round at the bottom of the nest, with room +enough for the mother robin to give them the whole warmth of her broad red +breast,--her sloping back and wings making a rain-proof roof over her +jewels. Then the callow younglings rise a little higher into the wider +circle. Next the fledglings brim the cup; at last it runs over; four large +clumsy robins flutter to the ground, with much noise, much anxious calling +from papa and mamma,--much good advice, no doubt. They are fairly turned +out to shift for themselves; with the same wise, unfathomable eyes which +have mirrored the round world for so many years, which know all things, say +nothing, older than time, lively and quick as to-day; with the same +touching melody in their long monotonous call; soon with the same power of +wing; next year to build a nest with the same wise economy, each young +robin carrying in his own swelling, bulging breast the model of the hollow +circle, the cradle of other young robins. So you see it is a nest within a +nest,--a whole nest of nests; like Vishnu Sarma's fables, or Scheherazade's +stories, you can never find where one leaves off and another begins, they +shut so one into the other. No wonder the children and philosophers are +they who ask, whether the egg comes from the bird, or the bird from the +egg. Yes, it is a _Heimskringla_, a world-circle, a home-circle, this nest. + +You remember that little, old, withered man who used to bring us eggs; the +boys, you know, called him Egg Pop. When the thrifty housewife complained +of the small size of his ware, he always said,-- + +"Yes, Marm, they be small; but they be monstrous full." + +Yes, the packing of the nest is close; but closer is the packing of the +egg. "As full as an egg of meat" is a wise proverb. + +Let us look at these first-fruits which the bountiful Spring hangs on our +trees. + +"To break the eggshell after the meat is out we are taught in our +childhood, and practise it all our lives; which, nevertheless, is but a +superstitious relict, according to the judgment of Pliny, and the intent +hereof was to prevent witch-craft [to keep the fairies out]; for lest +witches should draw or prick their names therein, and veneficiously +mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as Dalecampius hath +observed." This is what Sir Thomas Browne tells us about eggshells. And +Dr. Wren adds, "Least they [the witches] perchance might use them for +boates to sayle in by night." But I, who have no fear of witches, would not +break them,--rather use them, try what an untold variety of forms we may +make out of this delicate oval. + +By a little skilful turning and reversing, putting on a handle, a lip here, +a foot there, always following the sacred oval, we shall get a countless +array of pitchers and vases, of perfect finished form, handsome enough to +be the oval for a king's name. Should they attempt to copy our rare vases +in finest Parian, alabaster, or jasper, their art would fail to hit the +delicate tints and smoothness of this fine shell; and then those dots and +dashes, careless as put on by a master's hand! + +Are not these rare lines? They look to me as wise as hieroglyphics. Who +knows what rhyme and reason are written there,--what subtile wisdom rounded +into this small curve,--repeated on the breasts and backs of the +birds,--their own notes, it may be, photographed on their swelling breasts +like the musical notes on the harp-shell,--written in bright, almost +audible colors on the petals of flowers,--harmonies, melodies, for ear and +eye? Has this language, older than Erse, older than Sanscrit, ever got +translated? I am afraid, dear, the key has been turned in the lock, and +thrown into the well. + +The ornithologists tell us that some birds build nicer nests, sing sweeter +songs, than their companions of the same species. Can experience add wisdom +to instinct? or is it the right of the elder-born,--the birthright of the +young robin who first breaks the shell? Who has rightly looked into these +things? + +I half remember the story of a beautiful princess who had all imaginable +wealth in her stately palace, itself builded up of rare and costly +jewels. She had everything that heart could desire,--everything but a roc's +egg. Her mind was contracted with sorrow, till she could procure this one +ornament more to her splendors. I think it turned out that the palace +itself was built within the roc's egg. These birds are immense, and take up +three elephants at a time in their powerful talons, (almost as many as +Gordon Cumming himself, on a good day's hunt,) and their eggs are like +domes. + +Now, do not you be like the foolish princess, and desire a roc's egg; it +will prove a stone, the egg of a rock, indeed. Be content rather with this +ostrich-egg I send you; with your own slender fingers lift the +lid;--pretty, is it not, the tea-service I send you? The tidy warblers +threw out the emptied shells; one by one I picked them up, and have made +cups and saucers, bowls and pitchers for you: a roc's egg never held +anything one-half so fine. + +You will say I am a fairy, as brother Evelyn says, when I relate to him the +fine sights and sounds I have seen and heard in the woods. No, but the +little silent people are very good to me. + +Let me, then, go on my bird's-egging and tell you one more fact about our +fairy, our Humming-Bird. Audubon says "that an all-wise Providence has made +this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost universally +through Nature,--namely, that the smallest species of a tribe are the most +prolific. The eagle lays one, sometimes two eggs; the small European wren +fifteen; the humming-bird two: and yet this latter is abundantly more +numerous in America than the wren in Europe." All on account of his +wonderful courage, admirable instinct, or whatever it is that guards and +guides him so unerringly. + +You see we may well love him whom +Nature herself loves so dearly. + +"Ce que Dieu garde est bien garde." + +Ah, Estelle! your bonnie birdie, with +his wild whirr, darting back and forth +like a weaver's shuttle weaving fine +wefts, has got into my head; not "bee-bonneted," +but bird-bonneted, I go. Yes, +this day shall be given to the king, as +our country-folk say, when they go a-pleasuring. +I am off with the little wool-gatherers, +to see what thorn and brier +and fern-stalk and willow-catkin will give +me. Good-day! good-day! + +Your own + +SUSAN, SUSY, SUE. + +P. S. "May our friendship never +moult a feather!" + + * * * * * + + + +CHESS. + + +Schatrenschar, the Persian, who could count the stars one by one, who is +known to have been borne, (by the Simorg, the Eternal Fowl,) at midnight, +first to the evening star, and then to the moon, and then set down safely +in his home,--and Al Kahlminar, the Arabian, who was a mystic seer, and had +conversed face to face with the Demons of the Seven Planets, approaching +also, on one occasion, so nigh unto Uriel that his beard was singed by the +sun, wherein that angel resideth,--these, ten million years ago, lived in +their palaces on adjoining estates and lands. But about the boundary-line +atwixt them they could not agree: Schatrenschar maintaining that he had +lived there longest, and had a right to choose where the wall should be +built between himself and a later comer; Al Kahlminar declaring that the +world was not made for Schatrenschar,--furthermore, that the Astronomer had +paid nothing for the land, and had already more than he could attend to, +since his chief devotion was manifestly to the estates he was reputed to +own in Venus and the moon. They came to no decision; and it was beneath the +dignity of these men, who prided themselves on being confidants elect of +invisible and superior worlds, publicly to wrangle about the gross soil of +this. Nevertheless, Schatrenschar, at last, losing patience, cried,-- + +"Al Kahlminar, 'tis but by the grace of Yezdan, who hath commissioned me to +watch the sacred stars, which reveal not themselves to the violent, that I +am saved this day from flogging thee!" + +To this the Seer: "O Schatrenschar, thou must have left in some of thy +other worlds, mayhap in Venus, the limbs which can cope with these." + +"Nay," replied the Astronomer, discerning some truth in that remark, "but I +am not alone, Al Kahlminar; I have within my palace two valiant knights, +skilled with the steed and the spear, who are ready to go forth in my stead +at a word." + +"And I," answered the Mystic, warming, "have two godly priests, men skilled +by the orthodox beheading of heretics into the aim and valor of Arjoon +himself. Your knights cannot stand before these messengers of Heaven; they +will tremble like aspen-leaves, lest Allah be wroth, if they receive harm." + +"If thou shouldst bring forth thy priests, Al Kahlminar, then would I +confront them and thee with the two elephants which my brother sent me +lately from Geestan, on each of which I can place a rook with a slave +cunning with the javelin, before which thy priests will flee; for the +animals see no difference between priests and other mortals;--the elephant +is sagacious, neighbor!" + +"And I," said the other, "haye riches, which thou hast not. Whatever thou +hast wherewith to extend thy line into my lot, I can oppose with an equal +force,--nay, with a stronger." + +Schatrenschar hereupon paused in deep meditation. Presently a subtile +thought struck him. He took a parchment-leaf and drew thereon a diagram; +and after inscribing several hieroglyphic characters, he cried out,-- + +"Hearken, Al Kahlminar; hast thou not heard it among the sayings of Sasan, +that the battle is not always to him who hath the superior physical force? +Suppose that in our encounter thy forces stood here, as marked on these +squares: by what stratagem couldst thou reach me, who stand here with even +fewer and weaker men? If thou canst tell as much without my assistance, I +will yield the boundary-line; for it will show thee to have a calculation +equal to my own, as well as riches." + +Al Kahlminar pondered long, suffered manifold headaches, closed not an +eyelid for a week, but could not give answer. The Mystic was used to seeing +only those things to see which the eyes must be closed. At length +Schatrenschar opened the problem to him, which so delighted his heart that +he clave unto him, and besought him that their estates should be one, and +that he would use his (Al Kahlminar's) riches as his own. A bower was built +midway between their houses, wherein they sat for hours over other +diagrams, contrived first by the Astronomer afterward by the Mystic: and +out of it arose a curious and knightly play which beareth to this day the +name Schatrenschar. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps this last line of the old Sanscrit story is the only veracious +thing in it. Perhaps it is all true. Who can answer? Was there ever a +great thing whose origin was not in some doubt? If so with the Iliad, with +Platonic Dialogues, with Shakspearian Plays, how naturally so with Chess! +The historic sinew of the above would seem to be, that Schatrenschar, the +Oriental word for Chess, is the name of a very ancient and learned +astronomer of Persia; how much mythologic fat has enveloped said sinew the +reader must decide. Philological inquisition of the origin of the low Latin +_Scacchi_ (whence the French _Echecs_, Ger. _Schach_, and our _Chess,_) has +led to a variety of conclusions. Leunclavius takes it from _Uscoches_, +famous Turkish banditti. Sirmond finds the word's parent in German +_Schaecher_ (robber) and grandparent in _Calculus_! Tolosanus derives +_check-mate_ from Heb. _schach_ (to prevail) and _mat_ (dead). Fabricius +favors the idea we have given above, and says, "A celebrated Persian +astronomer, one Schatrenschar, invented the game of Chess, and gave it his +own name, which it still bears in that country." Nicod derives it from +_Xeque_, a Moorish word for Prince or Lord. Bochart maintains that +_Schach-mat_ is originally Persian, and means "the king is dead." We +incline to accept this last opinion; and believe, that, though the game +must have originated with some person, perhaps Schatrenschar, yet it +reached its present form and perfection only through many touchings and +retouchings of men and generations. Pope's translation of the "Odyssey" has +led many persons to think that chess was known to the ancient Greeks, +because, in describing the sports of Penelope's suitors, the translator +says,-- + + "With rival art and ardor in their mien, + At Chess they vie to captivate the Queen." + +But there can be little doubt that this is an anachronism. + +In short, we may safely conclude that the game is of purely Oriental +origin. The Hindoos claim to have originated it,--or rather, say that Siva, +the Third Person of their Trinity, (Siva, the Destroyer,--alas! of time?) +gave it to them; Professor Forbes has shown that it has been known among +them five thousand years; but words tell no myths, and the Bengalee name +for Chess, _Shathorunch_, casts its ballot for Persia and +Shatrenschar;--though India may almost claim it, on account of the greater +perfection to which it has brought the game, and the lead it has always +taken in chess-culture. India rejoices in a flourishing chess-school. The +Indian Problem is known as the perfection of Enigmatic Chess. And if Paul +Morphy had gone to Calcutta, instead of London and Paris, he would have +found there one Mohesh Ghutuck, who, without discovering that he was a +P. and move behind his best play, and without becoming too sick to proceed +with the match, would have given him a much finer game than any antagonist +he has yet encountered. This Mohesh, who was presented by his admiring king +with a richly-carved chess-king of solid gold nine inches high, not only +plays a fabulous number of games at once whilst he lies on the ground with +closed eyes, but games that none of the many fine native and English +players of India can engage in but with dismay. Fine, indeed, it would have +been, if the world could have seen in the youths of Calcutta and New +Orleans the extreme West matched with the extreme East! + +There is no call for any one to vindicate this game. Chess is a great, +worldwide fact. Wherever a highway is found, there, we may be sure, a +reason existed for a highway. And when we find that the explorer on his +northward voyage, pausing a day in Iceland, may pass his time in keen +encounters with the natives,--that the trader in Kamtschatka and China, +unable to speak a word with the people surrounding him, yet holds a long +evening's converse over the board which is polyglot,--that the missionary +returns from his pulpit, and the Hindoo from his widow-burning, to engage +in a controversy without the _theologicum odium_ attached,--the game +becomes authentic from its universality. It is akin to music, to love, to +joy, in that it sets aside alike social caste and sectarian differences: +kings and peasants, warriors and priests, lords and ladies, mingle over the +board as they are represented upon it. "The earliest chess-men on the banks +of the Sacred River were worshippers of Buddha; a player whose name and +fame have grown into an Arabic proverb was a Moslem; a Hebrew Rabbi of +renown, in and out of the Synagogues, wrote one of the finest chess poems +extant; a Catholic priest of Spain has bestowed his name upon two openings; +one of the foremost problem--composers of the age is a Protestant clergyman +of England; and the Greek Church numbers several cultivators of chess +unrivaled in our day." It has received eulogies from Burton,--from +Castiglione,--from Chatham, who, in reply to a compliment on a grand stroke +of invention and successful oratory, said, "My success arose only from +having been checkmated by discovery, the day before, at chess,"--from +Comenius, the grammarian,--from Conde, Cowley, Denham, Justus van Effen, +Sir Thomas Elyot, Guillim, Helvetia, Huarte, Sir William Jones, Leibnitz, +Lydgate, Olaus Magnus, Pasquier, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau, Voltaire, +Samuel Warren, Warton, Franklin, Buckle, and many others of ability in +every department of letters, philosophy, and art. We know of but one man of +genius or learning--who has repudiated it,--Montaigne. "Or if he +[Alexander] played at chess," says Montaigne, "what string of his soul was +not touched by this idle and childish game? I hate and avoid it because it +is not play enough,--that it is too grave and serious a diversion; and I am +ashamed to lay out as much thought and study upon that as would serve to +much better uses." Looked at simply as a diversion, chess might naturally +impress a man of intellectual earnestness thus. It is not a diversion; a +recreation it may be called, but only as any variation from "the shop" is +recreative. But chess has, by the experiences of many, sufficiently proved +itself to have serious uses to men of thought, and in the way of an +intellectual gymnasium. It is to the limbs and sinews of the +mind--prudence, foresight, memory, combination, analysis--just what a +gymnasium is to the body. In it every muscle, every joint of the +understanding is put under drill; and we know, that, where the mind does +not have exercise for its body, but relics simply on idle cessation for its +reinforcement, it will get too much lymph. Work is worship; but work +without rest is idolatry. And rest is not, as some seem to think, a swoon, +a slumber; it is an active receptivity, a masterly inactivity, which alone +can deserve the fine name of Rest. Such, we believe, our favorite game +secures better than all others. Besides this direct use, one who loves it +finds many other incidental uses starting up about it,--such as made +Archbishop Magnus, the learned historian of Sweden, say, "Anger, love, +peevishness, covetousness, dulness, idleness, and many other passions and +motions of the minds of men may be discovered by it."--But we promised not +to vindicate chess, and shall leave this portion of our topic with the fine +verse of the Oriental bard, Ibn ul Mutazz:-- + +"O thou whose cynic sneers express + The censure of our favorite chess, +Know that its skill is Science' self, + Its play distraction from distress. +It soothes the anxious lover's care; + It weans the drunkard from excess; +It counsels warriors in their art, + When dangers threat and perils press; +And yields us, when we need them most, + Companions in our loneliness." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Translated in that excellent periodical, which no lover of +chess should be without, _The Chess Monthly_, edited by Fiske and Morphy, +New York. (Vol. i. p. 92.)] + +Now that the Persian poet has touched his lyre in our pages, we will not at +once pass to any cold geographical or analytical realm of our subject, but +pause awhile to cull some flowers of song which have sprung up on good +English soil, which the feet of Caissa have ever loved to press. No other +games, and few other subjects, have gathered about them so rich a +literature, or been intertwined with so much philological and historical +lore. Not the least of this is to be found in the English classics, from +which we propose to make one or two selections. We begin where English +poetry begins, with Dan Chaucer; and from many beautiful conceits turning +upon chess, we select one which must receive universal admiration. It is +from the "Booke of the Duchesse." + +"My boldnesse is turned to shame, +For false Fortune hath played a game +At the Chesse with me. + +"At the Chesse with me she gan to play, +With her false draughts full divers +Sho stale on me, and toke my fers:[1] +And when I sawe my fers away, +Alas! I couth no longer play. + +"Therewith Fortune said,' Checke here, +And mate in the mid point of the checkere +With a paune errant.' Alas! +Full craftier to play she was +Than Athalus, that made the game +First of the Chesse, so was his name." + +[Footnote 1: Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally +the Counsellor,)--the strength of the +board.] + +In the early part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Middleton wrote a +comedy styled "A Game at Chess," which was acted at the Globe +(Shakspeare's) nine times successively. It seems to have been a severe +tirade on the religious aspects of the times. The stage directions are +significant: for example:--Act I., Scene 1. _Enter severally, in order of +the game, the White and Black houses_. Act II., Scene 1. _Enter severally +White Queen's Pawnes and Black Queen's Pawnes_. The Prologue is as +follows:-- + +"What of the game called Chesse-play can be made +To make a stage-play shall this day be played. +First you shall see the men in order set, +States, and their Pawnes, when both the sides are met; +The houses well distinguished: in the game +Some men entrapt, and taken to their shame, +Bewarded by their play: and in the close +You shall see checque-mate given to Virtue's foes. +But the fair'st jewel that our hopes can decke +Is so to play our game t'avoid your checke." + +The play excited indignation in the partisans of the Romish Church, and was +not only suppressed by James I., but at the demand of the Queen its author +was imprisoned, and was relieved only by a witty verse sent to the King. + +The last which we have room to quote is anonymous, and of date near +1632. It may have been written by the celebrated divine, Thomas Jackson, of +Corpus-Christi College, whose discourse comparing the visible world to a +"Devil's Chess-board" evidently suggested the familiar etching in which +Satan contends with a youth for his soul. The lines are entitled: + +THE PAWNE. + +"A lowly one I saw, + With aim fist high: + Ne to the righte, + Ne to the lefte +Veering, he marched by his Lawe, + The crested Knyghte passed by, + And haughty surplice-vest, + As onward toward his heste + With patient step he prest, + Soothfaste his eye: +Now, lo! the last doore yieldeth, +His hand a sceptre wieldeth, +A crowne his forehead shieldeth! + +"So 'mergeth the true-hearted, + With aim fixt high, +From place obscure and lowly: + Veereth he nought; + His work he wroughte. +How many loyall paths be trod, +Soe many royall Crownes hath God!" + +It is very clear that the pawns in chess represent the common soldiers in +battle. The Germans call them "peasants" (_Bauern_); the Hindoos call them +_Baul_, or "powers" (in the sense of _force_); and that each of these, if +he can pursue his file to its end, should win a crown has always given to +this game a popular stamp. These pawns are doubtless, next to knights, the +most interesting pieces on the board: Philidor called them "the soul of +chess." + +At an early period Asiatic chess was divided into two branches,--known +amongst players as Chinese and Indian. They are different games in many +respects, and yet enough alike to show that they were at some period the +same. The Chinese game maintains its place in Eastern Asia, Japan, etc.; in +the islands of the Archipelago, and, with very slight modifications, +throughout the civilized world, the Indian game is played. Indeed, there is +no difference between Indian and European chess, except that in the former +the Bishop is called Elephant,--the Rooks, Boats,--the Queen, Minister: the +movements of the pieces are the same. + +Of Chinese chess some description will be more novel. Their chess-board, +like ours, has sixty-four squares, which are not distinguished into +alternate black and white squares. The pieces are not placed on the +squares, but on the corners of the squares. The board is divided into two +equal parts by an uncheckered space, which is called the River. There are +nine points on each line, and forty-five on each half of the board. They +have the same number of pieces with ourselves. Each player has a king, two +guards, two elephants, two knights, two chariots, two cannon, and five +pawns. Each player places nine pieces on the first line of the board,--the +king in the centre, a guard on each side of him, two elephants next, two +knights next, and then the two chariots upon the extremities of the board; +the two cannons go in front of the two knights and the pawns on the fourth +line. + +The king moves only one square at a time, but not diagonally, and only in +an _enceinte_, or court, of four squares,--to wit, his own, the queen's, +queen's paw and king's pawn's. Castling is unknown. The two guards remain +in the same limits, but can move only diagonally; thus we have in our king +both the Chinese king and his guard. The elephants move diagonally, two +squares at a time, and cannot pass the river. Their knight moves like ours, +but must not pass over pieces; he can pass the river, which counts as one +square. The chariots and cannon move like our castles, and can cross the +river. The pawns always move one step, and may move sidewise as well as +forward,--taking in the same line in which they move; they cross the +river. The cannon alone can pass over any piece; indeed, a cannon can take +only when there is a piece between it and the piece it takes,--which +intervening piece may belong to either player. The king must not be +opposite the other king without a piece between. All this certainly sounds +very complex and awkward to the English or American player; and our game +has the preferable tendency of increasing the power of the pieces, (as +distinct from pawns,) rather than, with theirs, limiting their powers and +multiplying their number. However, it is probable, whatever may be the +respective merits of the two games, that neither of them will ever be +altered; the Chinese, who can roast his pig only by burning the sty, +because the first historic roast-pig was so roasted, will be likely to +continue his chess as nearly as possible in the same form as the celestial +Tia-hoang and the terrestrial Yin-hoang played it a million years ago. In +Europe and America we have all complacently concluded, that, when David +said he had seen an end of all perfection, it only indicated that he was +unacquainted with chess as played in accordance with Staunton's Handbook. + +But it is only the Indian game which has had a development equal to the +development of the civilized arts. This has been chiefly through what are +called by the Italian-French name of _gambits_. There is much prejudice, +amongst a certain class of chess-players, against what is called +"book-chess," but it rarely exists with players of the first rank. These +gambits are as necessary to the first-rate player as are classifications to +the naturalist. They are the venerable results of experience; and he who +tries to excel without an acquaintance with them will find that it is much +as if he should ignore the results of the past and put his hand into the +fire to prove that fire would burn. If he should try every method of +answering a special attack, he would be sure to find in the end that the +method laid down in the gambit was the true one. An acquaintance, +therefore, with these approved openings puts a player at an advanced +starting-point in a game, inexhaustible enough in any case, and where he +need not take time in doing what others have already done. Although we +design in this article to refrain, as much as possible, from technical +chess, it may be well enough to give a list of the usual openings, and +their key-moves. + +PHILIDOR'S DEFENCE. +(_Philidor_, 1749.) + +White. Black. +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. P. to Q. 3d. + + +GIUOCO PIANO. +(_Italian_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q. 3d or Q.B. 3d. + + +RUY LOPEZ'S KNIGHT'S GAME. +(_Lopez_, 1584.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.Kt. 5th. + + +PETROFF'S DEFENCE. +(1837.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. + + +Q. PAWN OR SCOTCH GAME. +(_So named from the great match between London +and Edinburgh in_ 1826, _but first analyzed +as a gambit by Ghulam Xassitrt, Madras,_ +1829.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. P. to Q. 4th. + + +SICILIAN GAME. +(_Ancient Italian MS_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to Q.B. 4th. + + +EVANS'S GAMBIT. +(_Captain Evans_, 1833.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q.Kt. 4th. + + +KING'S BISHOP'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. B. to Q.B. 4th. 2. B. to Q.B. 4th. + + +KING'S KNIGHT'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. B. to K.Kt. 2d. + + +ALLGAIER GAMBIT. +_(Johann Allgaier_, 1795.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th, +4. P. to K.B. 4th. + + +MUZIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to K.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Castles. 5. P. takes Kt. + + +SALVIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved from the Portuguese by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. K.Kt. to B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. K.B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Kt. to K. 5th. 5. Q.to K.R.'s 5th. (ch.) +6. K. to B. Sq. 6. K.Kt. to B. 3d. + + +FRENCH GAME. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 3d. + +These gambits may be classed under what are, in common phrase, termed +"open" or "close" games; an open game being where the pieces are brought +out into more immediate engagement,--a close game where the pawns +interlock, and the pieces can less easily issue to the attack. An instance +of the former may be found in the Allgaier,--of the latter in Philidor's +Defence. These two kinds of games are found in chess-play because they are +found in human temperament; as there are brilliant and daring Napoleons, +and cautious, pertinacious Washingtons in war, so are there in chess +Philidor and La Bourdonnais, Staunton and Morphy. In examining +Mr. Staunton's play, for example, one is struck with the French tact of +M. St. Amant's remark, made many years ago: "M. Staunton has the solidity +of iron, but neither the purity of gold nor the brilliancy of the diamond." +However much Mr. Staunton's ignoble evasion of the match with Morphy--after +bringing him, by his letter, all the way from New Orleans to London, a +voyage which would scarcely have been taken otherwise--may have stained his +reputation as a courageous and honorable chess-player, we cannot be blind +to the fact, that he is the strongest master of the game in Europe. With a +fine mathematical head, (more at home, however, in the Calculus than in +Algebra,)--with an immense power of reserve and masterly repose,--able to +hold an almost incredible number of threads without getting them +entangled,--he has all the qualities which bear that glorious flower, +success. But he is never brilliant; he has outwearied many a deeper man by +his indefatigable evenness and persistance; he is Giant Despair to the +brilliant young men. Mr. Morphy is just the _otherest_ from Staunton. Like +him only in sustained and quiet power, he brings to the board that demon of +his, Memory,--such a memory, too, as no other chess-player has ever +possessed: add to this wonderful analytic power and you have the secret of +this Chess-King. Patient practice, ambition, and leisure have done the +rest. He has thus the _lustre du diamant_, which St. Amant missed in +Mr. Staunton; and we know that the brilliant diamond is hard enough also to +make its mark upon the "solid iron." + +Amongst other great living players who incline to the "close game," we may +mention Mr. Harrwitz, whose match with Morphy furnished not one brilliant +game; also Messrs. Slous, Horwitz, Bledow, Szen, and others. But the +tendency has been, ever since the celebrated and magnificent matches of the +two greatest chess geniuses which England and France have ever known, +McDonnel and De la Bourdonnais, to cultivate the bolder and more exciting +open gambits. And under the lead of Paul Morphy this tendency is likely to +be inaugurated as the rule of modern chess. Professor Anderssen, Mayet, +Lange, and Von der Lasa, in Germany,--Dubois and Centurini, at +Rome,--St. Amant, Laroche, and Lecrivain, of Paris,--Loewenthal, Perigal, +Kipping, Owen, Mengredien, etc., of London,--are all players of the heroic +sort, and the games recently played by some of them with Morphy are perhaps +the finest on record. And certainly, whatever may be said of their tendency +to promote careless and reckless play, the open and daring games are at +once more interesting, more brief, and more conducive to the mental drill +which has been claimed as a sufficient compensation for the outlay of +thought and time demanded by chess. + +We have already given some specimens of the Poetry of Chess. The Chess +Philosophy itself has penetrated every direction of literature. From the +time that Miranda is "discovered playing chess with Ferdinand" in +Prospero's cell, (an early instance of "discovered mate,") the numberless +Mirandas of Romance have played for and been played for mates. Chess has +even its Mythology,--Caissa being now, we believe, generally received at +the Olympian Feasts. True, some one has been wicked enough to observe that +all chess-stories are divisible into two classes,--in one a man plays for +his own soul with the Devil, in the other the hero plays and wins a +wife,--and to beg for a chess-story _minus_ wives and devils; but such +grumblers are worthless baggage, and ought to be checked. The Chess Library +has now become an important collection. Time was, when, if one man had +Staunton's "Handbook," Sarratt, Philidor, Walker's "Thousand Games," and +Lewis on "The Game of Chess," he was regarded as uniting the character of a +chess-scholar with that of the antiquary. But now we hear of Bledow of +Berlin with eight hundred volumes on chess; and Professor George Allen, of +the University of Pennsylvania, with more than a thousand! Such a +literature has Chess collected about it since Paolo Boi, "the great +Syracusan," as he was called, wrote what perhaps was the first work on +chess, in the middle of the sixteenth century. + +But such numbers of works on chess are very rare, and when the reader hears +of an enormous chess library, he may be safe in recalling the story of +Walker, whose friend turned chess author; seven years after, he boasted to +Walker of the extent of his chess library, which, he affirmed consisted of +one thousand volumes _minus_ eighteen! It turned out that eighteen copies +of his work had been sold, the rest of the edition remaining on his hands. + +Though these old works are like galleries of old and valuable pictures to +the chess enthusiast, they contain very little that is valuable to the +general reader. Their terms and signs are to the uninitiated suggestive of +a doctor's prescription. But the anecdotes of the game are, many of them, +remarkable; and we believe they are known to have less of the mythical +about them than those told in other departments. One who knows the game +will feel that it is sufficiently absorbing to be woven in with the +textures of government, of history, and of biography. It is of the nature +of chess gradually to gather up all the senses and faculties of the player, +so that for the time being he is an automaton chess-player, to whom life +and death are abstractions. + +How seriously, even religiously, the game has always been regarded by both +Church and State may be judged by the account given by old Carrera of one +whom we have already named as probably the earliest chess author, as he +certainly is one of the greatest players known to fame. "In the time of our +fathers," says this ancient enthusiast, "we had many famous players, of +whom _Paolo Boi_, Sicilian, of the city of Syracuse, and commonly called +the Syracusan, was considered the best. He was born in Syracuse of a rich +and good family. When a boy, he made considerable progress in literature, +for he had a very quick apprehension. He had a wonderful talent for the +game of Chess; and having in a short time beaten all the players of the +city, he resolved to go to Spain, where he heard there were famous players, +honored and rewarded not only by noblemen, but also by Philip II., who took +no small delight in the game. He first beat with ease all the players of +Sicily, and was very superior in playing without seeing the board; for, +playing at once three games blindfold, he conversed with others on +different subjects. Before going into Spain, he travelled over all Italy, +playing with the best players, amongst others with the Pultino, who was of +equal force; they are therefore called by Salvio the light and glory of +chess. He was the favorite of many Italian Princes, and particularly of the +Duke of Urbino, and of several Cardinals, and even of Pope Pius V. himself, +who would have given him a considerable benefice, if he would have become a +clergyman; but this he declined, that he might follow his own +inclinations. He afterward went to Venice, where a circumstance happened +which had never occurred before: he played with a person and lost. Having +afterward by himself examined the games with great care, and finding that +he ought to have won, he was astonished that his adversary should have +gained contrary to all reason, and suspected that he had used some secret +art whereby he was prevented from seeing clearly; and as he was very +devout, and was possessed of a rosary rich with many relics of saints, he +resolved to play again with his antagonist, armed not only with the rosary, +but strengthened by having previously received the sacrament: by these +means he conquered his adversary, who, after his defeat, said to him these +words,--'Thine is more potent than mine.'" + +Some of the earliest writers on chess have given their idea of the +all-absorbing nature of the game in the pleasant legend, that it was +invented by the two Grecian brothers Ledo and Tyrrheno to alleviate the +pangs of hunger with which they were pressed, and that, whilst playing it, +they lived weeks without considering that they had eaten nothing. + +But we need not any mythical proof of its competency in this +direction. Hyde, in his History of the Saracens, relates with authenticity, +that Al Amin, the Caliph of Bagdad, was engaged at chess with his freedman +Kuthar, at the time when Al Mamun's forces were carrying on the siege of +the city with a vigor which promised him success. When one rushed in to +inform the Caliph of his danger, he cried,--"Let me alone, for I see +checkmate against Kuthar!" Charles I. was at chess when he was informed of +the decision of the Scots to sell him to the English, but only paused from +his game long enough to receive the intelligence. King John was at chess +when the deputies from Rouen came to inform him that Philip Augustus had +besieged their city; but he would not hear them until he had finished the +game. An old English MS. gives in the following sentence no very handsome +picture of the chess-play of King John of England:--"John, son of King +Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes, and John brake Fulco's head +with the Chest-borde; and then Fulco gave him such a blow that he almost +killed him." The laws of chess do not now permit the king such free range +of the board. Dr. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., relates that +John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, whilst he was playing with Ernest, Duke +of Brunswick, was told that the Emperor had sentenced him to be beheaded +before the gate of Wittenberg; he with great composure proceeded with the +game, and, having beaten, expressed the usual satisfaction of a victor. He +was not executed, however, but set at liberty, after five years' +confinement, on petition of Mauritius. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "I wish to +live no longer than I can play at chess." Rousseau speaks of himself as +_forcene des echecs_, "mad after chess." Voltaire called it "the one, of +all games, which does most honor to the human mind." + +"When an Eastern guest was asked if he knew anything in the universe more +beautiful than the gardens of his host, which lay, an ocean of green, +broad, brilliant, enchanting, upon the flowery margin of the Euphrates, he +replied,--'Yes, the chess-playing of El-Zuli.'" Surely, the compliment, +though Oriental, is not without its strict truth. When Nature rises up to +her culmination, the human brain, and there reveals her potencies of +insight, foresight, analysis, memory, we are touched with a mystic beauty; +the profile on the mountain-top is sublimer than the mountain. But we must +heed well Mr. Morphy's advice, and not suffer this fascinating game to be +more than a porter at the gate of the fairer garden. Only when it secures, +not when it usurps the day, can it be regarded as a friend. There is a +myriad-move problem, of which Society is the Sphinx, given us to solve. + +He who masters chess without being mastered by it will find that it +discovers essential principles. In the world he will see a larger +chess-field, and one also shaped by the severest mathematics: the world is +so because the brain of man is so,--motive and move, motive and move: they +sum up life, all life,--from the aspen-leaf turning its back to the wind, +to the ecstasy of a saint. See the array of pawns (_forces_, as the Hindoo +calls them): the bodily presence and abilities, power of persistence, +endurance, nerve, the eye, the larynx, the tongue, the senses. Do they not +exist in life as on the board, to cut the way for royal or nobler pieces? +Does not the Imperial Mind win its experiences, its insight, through the +wear and tear of its physical twin? Is not the perfect soul "perfect +through sufferings" for evermore? For every coin reason gets from Nature, +the heart must leave a red drop impawned, the face must bear its scar. See, +then, the powers of the human arena: here Castle, Knight, Bishop are +Passion, Love, Hope; and above all, the sacred Queen of each man, his +specialty, his strength, by which he must win the day, if he win at +all. Here is the Idea with reference to which each man is planned; it +preexisted in the universe, and was born when he was born; it is King on +the board,--that lost, life's game is lost. By his side stands the special +Strength into whose keeping it is given, making, in Goethe's words, "every +man strong enough to enforce his conviction,"--his _conviction_, mark! +Pawns and pieces form themselves about that Queen; they are all to perish, +to perish one by one,--even the specialty,--that the King may triumph. Over +our largest, sublimest individualities the eternal tide flows on, and the +grandest personal strides are merged in the general success. The old author +dreamed that the heroes of the Trojan War were changed by Zeus into the +warriors of the mimic strife in order that such renowned exploits should be +perpetuated among men forever: rather must we reverse the dream, and +apotheosize the powers of the board, that they may appear in the sieges, +heroisms, and victories of life. + + * * * * * + + + +SPRING-SONG. + +Creep slowly up the willow-wand, + Young leaves! and, in your lightness, +Teach us that spirits which despond + May wear their own pure brightness. + +Into new sweetness slowly dip, + O May!--advance; yet linger: +Nor let the ring too swiftly slip + Down that new-plighted finger. + +Thy bursting blooms, O spring, retard! + While thus thy raptures press on, +How many a joy is lost, or marred + How many a lovely lesson! + +For each new sweet thou giv'st us, those + Which first we loved are taken: +In death their eyes must violets close + Before the rose can waken. + +Ye woods, with ice-threads tingling late, + Where late was heard the robin, +Your chants that hour but antedate + When autumn winds are sobbing! + +Ye gummy buds, in silken sheath + Hang back, content to glisten! +Hold in, O earth, thy charmed breath! + Thou air, be still, and listen! + + * * * * * + + + +MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON. + +The present sanitary condition of our great cities is a reproach to our +intelligence not less than to our humanity. Our system of self-government, +so far as regards the protection of the mass of the dwellers in cities from +the worst physical evils, is now on trial. The tests to which it is exposed +are severe. We may boast as we like of our national prosperity, of the +rapidity of our material progress,--we may take pride in liberty, in wide +extent of territory, in the welcome to our shores of the exiled and the +poor of all other lands, or in whatsoever matter of self-gratulation we +choose,--but by the side of all these satisfactions stands the fact, that +in our chief cities the duration of life is diminishing and the suffering +from disease increasing. The question inevitably arises, Is this a +consequence of our political system? and if so, is political liberty worth +having, are democratic principles worth establishing, if the price to be +paid for them is increased insecurity of life and greater wretchedness +among the poor? If the origin of these evils is to be found in the +incompetency of the government or the inefficiency of individuals in a +democracy, a remedy must be applied, or the whole system must be changed. + +The intimate connection between physical misery and moral degradation is +plain and generally acknowledged. We are startled from time to time at the +rapid growth of crime in our cities; but it is the natural result of +preexisting physical evils. These evils have become more apparent during +the last twenty years than before, and it has been the fashion to attribute +their increase, with their frightful consequences, mainly to the enormous +Irish immigration, which for a time crowded our streets with poor, foreign +in origin, and degraded, not only by hereditary poverty, but by centuries +of civil and religious oppression. This view is no doubt in part correct; +but the larger share of the evils in our cities is due to causes +unconnected in any necessary relation with the immigration,--causes +contemporaneous with it in their development, and brought into fuller +action by it, rather than consequent upon it. + +More than half the sickness and more than half the deaths in New York (and +probably the same holds true of our other cities) are due to causes which +may be prevented,--in other words, which are the result of individual or +municipal neglect, of carelessness or indifference in regard to the known +and established laws of life. More than half the children who are born in +New York (and the proportion is over forty per cent. in Boston) die before +they are five years old. Much is implied in these statements,--among other +things, much criminal recklessness and wanton waste of the sources of +wealth and strength in a state. + +In Paris, in London, and in other European cities, the average mortality +has been gradually diminishing during the last fifty years. In New York, on +the contrary, it has increased with frightful rapidity; and in Boston, +though the increase has not been so alarming, it has been steady and +rapid. [Footnote: The facts upon winch these statements are based are +recorded in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, +1850,--in the Annual Reports of the Boston City Registrar,--in the Annual +Reports of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the +Poor,--and in other public documents. + +It appears that the ratio of deaths to population was, + +In New York, in 1810, 1 in 46.46 + " 1840, 1 in 39.74 + " 1850, 1 in 33.52 + " 1857, 1 in 27.15 + +In Boston, in 1830, 1 in 48 + " 1840, 1 in 45 + " 1850, 1 in 38 + " 1858, 1 in 41 + +It is probable that the ratio for the year 1858 showed somewhat more +improvement even than appears from the above figures. The proportion is +based on the population as ascertained in 1855. Up to 1858, the population +was somewhat, though not greatly, increased, and any increase would serve +to render the proportion in 1858 more favorable to the health of the +city. But it was a year in which the number of deaths was less than it had +been since 1850; it was, therefore, an exceptional year; and the change in +the ratio of the deaths is, we fear, not the sign of the beginning of a +progressive improvement.] + +But more and worse than this is the fact, that in these two cities the +average duration of life (and this means the material prosperity of the +people) has of late terribly decreased. While out of every hundred people +more die than was the case ten, twenty, thirty years ago, those who die +have lived a shorter time. Life is not now to be reckoned by its +"threescore years and ten." Its average duration in Boston is little above +twenty years; in New York it is less than twenty years. [Footnote: In +Boston, from 1810 to 1820, the average age of all that died was 27.85 +years; in 1857, leaving deaths by casualty out of the calculation, it was +but 20.63 years; in 1858, it was 21.76. In New York, from 1810 to 1820, it +was 26.15; for the last ten years of which the statistics are known, it was +less than 20.] Is the diminution of the length of life to go on from year +to year? + +This needless sacrifice and shortening of life, this accumulating amount of +ill health, causes an annual loss, in each of our great cities, of +productive capacity to the value of millions of dollars, as well as an +unnatural expense of millions more. This is no figure of speech. The +community is poorer by millions of dollars each year through the waste +which it allows of health and life. Leaving out of view all humane +considerations, all thought of the misery, social and moral, which +accompanies this physical degradation, and looking simply at its economical +effects, we find that it increases our taxes, diminishes our means of +paying them, creates permanent public burdens, and lessens the value of +property. An outlay of a million of dollars a year to reduce and to remove +the causes of these evils would be the cheapest and most profitable +expenditure of the public money by the municipal government. The principal +would soon be returned to the general treasury with all arrears of +interest. + +The main causes of this great and growing misery are patent. The remedies +for them are scarcely less plain. The chief sources of that disease and +death which may be prevented by the action of the community are, first, the +filthy and poisonous houses into which a large part of the people are +crowded; second, the imperfect ventilation of portions of the city,--its +narrow and dirty streets, lanes, and yards; and, third, the want of +sufficient house and street drainage and sewerage. It is important to note +in relation to these sources of evil, that, while the poverty of our poor +is generally not such complete destitution as that of many of the poor in +foreign cities, their average condition is worse. The increase of disease +and mortality is a result not so much of poverty as of condition. "The pith +and burden of the whole matter is, that the great mass of the poor are +compelled to live in tenements that are unfit for human beings, and under +circumstances in which it is impossible to preserve health and life." + +To improve the dwellings of the poor, to make them decent and wholesome, +is, then, the first step to be taken in checking the causes of preventable +disease and death in our cities. This work implies, if it be done +thoroughly, the securing of proper ventilation, sewerage, and drainage. + +Most of the houses which the poor occupy are the property of persons who +receive from them a rent very large in proportion to their value. No other +class of houses gives, on an average, a larger return upon the capital +invested in it. The rents which the poor pay, though paid in small sums, +are usually enormous in comparison with the accommodation afforded. The +houses are crowded from top to bottom. Many of them are built without +reference to the comfort or health of their occupants, but with the sole +object of getting the largest return for the smallest outlay. They are +hotbeds of disease, and exposed to constant peril from fire. Now it seems +plain that here is an occasion for the interposition of municipal +authority. In spite of the jealousy (proper within certain limits) with +which governmental interference with private property is regarded in this +country, it is a manifest dereliction of duty on the part of our city +authorities not to exercise a strict supervision over these houses. The +interests which are chiefly affected by their condition are not private, +but public interests. There are legal means for abating nuisances; and +there is no reason why houses which affect the health of whole districts +should not be treated in the same way as nuisances which are more +obtrusive, though less pernicious. In some of the cities of Europe, in +Nuremberg, for instance, there is a public architect, to whom all plans for +new buildings are submitted for approval or rejection according as they +correspond or not with the style of building suitable for the city. What is +done abroad to secure the beauty of a city might well be done here to +secure its health. Again, by legal enactment, we have prevented the +overcrowding of our emigrant ships: the same thing should be done in our +cities, to prevent the overcrowding of our tenement-houses. No house should +be allowed to receive more than a fixed maximum of dwellers in proportion +to its size and accommodations. These are simple propositions, but, if +properly carried out by enactment, they would secure an incalculable good. + +[Footnote: Since writing the preceding sentences, we have been gratified to +see that a bill proposing the creation of a Metropolitan Board of Health +has been introduced into the Legislature of New York. If the bill becomes a +law, as we trust it may, the board will be invested with power "to enact +ordinances for the proper government and control of buildings erecting or +to be erected, ... to compel the lessees or owners of dwellings to put the +same in proper order, and to provide sufficient means of egress in case of +fire." The New-York Evening Post of March 23, in giving an account of this +bill, says,--and there is no exaggeration in its statements,-- + +"The nearly one million of souls of this great city are left to take care +of themselves,--to be crowded mercilessly by landlords into houses without +light, air, or water, and without means of egress in case of fire; and the +street filth is allowed to accumulate till the city has become as the +famous Pontine Marshes, to breathe whose exhalations is certain +disease. All this results, as is proved by comparison with other cities, in +the unnecessary loss of five thousand to eight thousand lives annually, and +of many millions of dollars expended for unnecessary sickness, and the +consequent loss of time and strength,--all of which might be saved, as they +are actually saved in other and larger cities, by the application of +sanitary laws by intelligent and efficient officers. + +"And yet our Common Council are unmoved to apply the corrective, and the +Legislature postpones action upon the numerous petitions of the people upon +the subject. How long these bodies will be suffered to abuse the patience +of our citizens we cannot tell; but the breaking out of a pestilence which +shall sweep a thousand a week into the grave, and bring this city to +financial ruin, will be but a natural issue of the present neglect. The +Health Bill now before the Legislature has been prepared under the auspices +of the Sanitary Association. Its provisions are sweeping; but the +importance of the subject, the uniform filthy condition of our streets, and +the wretched and unsafe condition of our tenement-houses imperatively +demand changes of the most radical nature. The general provisions of the +bill seem to cover the points most requiring legislation; and while in some +of its details it could probably be improved, it is difficult to imagine +that the present state of sanitary regulations could be made worse, and +certain that the proposed reforms, if carried out, would be of great +advantage." + +In Massachusetts, statutes have existed for some years, giving to the +Boards of Health of the different cities or towns powers of a similar +nature to those granted by the bill proposed for New York, but of far too +limited scope. By Chapter 26, Sec. 11, of the General Statutes, which are to +go into operation this year, the Boards of Health are authorized to remove +the occupants of any tenement, occupied as a dwelling-place, which is unfit +for the purpose, and a cause of nuisance or sickness either to the +occupants or the public,--and may require the premises, previously to their +reoccupation, to be properly cleansed at the expense of the owner. But the +penalty for a violation of this article is too light, being a fine of not +less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. To secure any essential good +from this law, it must be energetically enforced, with a disregard of +personal consequences, and an enlightened view of public and private rights +and necessities, scarcely to be expected from Boards of Health as commonly +constituted. We require a law upon this subject conveying far ampler +powers, enforced by far heavier penalties. It should embrace oversight of +the construction as well as of the condition of the dwellings of the +poor. Until we obtain such a law, the community is bound to insist upon a +rigid enforcement of the present imperfect statute. + +[The bill above alluded to by our correspondent has since been rejected by +the Legislature of New York.--EDS. ATLANTIC.]] + +Still, however much may be done by public authority, the condition of the +dwellings of the poor must be determined chiefly by the interest and the +legal responsibility of their individual owners. That men may be found +willing to make fortunes for themselves by grinding the faces of the poor +is certain; but there are, on the other hand, many who would be willing to +use some portion, at least, of their means to provide suitable homes for +the destitute, could they be assured of receiving a fair return upon the +property invested. It has been a matter of doubt whether proper houses +could be built for the dwellings of the lower classes, with all necessary +accommodations for health and comfort, at such a cost that the rents could +be kept as low as those paid for the common wretched tenements, and at the +same time be sufficient to afford a reasonable interest upon the +investment. Toward the solution of this doubt, an experiment which has been +tried in Boston during the last five years has afforded important results. + +In the spring of 1853, a number of gentlemen having subscribed a sufficient +sum for the purpose of building a house or houses on the best plan, as +Model Dwellings for the Poor, a society was formed, which, in the next +year, received an act of incorporation from the Legislature under the style +of "The Model Lodging-House Association." A suitable lot of land having +been obtained upon favorable terms, at the corner of Pleasant Street and +Osborn Place, the Directors of the Association proceeded to erect two brick +houses, of different construction, each containing separate tenements for +twenty families. The plans of the buildings were prepared with great care +to secure the essentials of a healthy home,--pure air, pure water, +efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light. In their details, strict regard +was had to the most economical and best use of a limited space, and ample +precautions were taken to reduce to its least the risk of fire. In each +house, double staircases, continuous to the roof, (and in one of them of +iron,) and two main exits were provided; and more recently, the two +buildings, which are separated from each other by a passage-way some feet +in width, have been connected by throwing an iron bridge from roof to roof, +by which, in case of alarm in one of them, escape may be readily had +through the other. Each house was, moreover, divided in the middle by a +solid brick partition-wall. + +The houses are five stories in height, not including the basement or +cellar, with four tenements in each story. The reduced plans, on the +opposite page, exhibit the general arrangements of the houses, and show the +complete separation of each set of apartments from the others, each one +opening by a single door upon the common stairs or passage. Their relation +is scarcely closer than that of separate houses in a common continuous +block. Each tenement, it will be observed, consists of a living-room, and +two or three sleeping-rooms, according to the space, a wash-room, with sink +and cupboards, and a water-closet. The stories are eight feet and six +inches in height, which is ample for the necessities of ventilation. In one +of the buildings, each tenement is provided with shafts for dust and offal, +communicating with receptacles in the cellar. The roofs of both are fitted +with conveniences for the drying of clothes, properly guarded; and in the +cellars of both are closets, one for each tenement, to hold fuel or +stores. In the basement of house No. 1 there are also two bathing-rooms, +which have been found of great use. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 1 OSBORN PLACE, BOSTON.] + +[Illustration: PLAN OF ONE-HALF OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 3 OSBORN PLACE, +BOSTON.] + +It would be difficult, after some years' experience, to pronounce which of +the two houses is the best fitted for its object. Their cost was nearly the +same. The plan of No. 1 is original and ingenious; its large open central +space is valuable for purposes of ventilation, and as affording opportunity +for exercise under cover in stormy weather for infants and infirm +people. This advantage is perhaps compensated for in the other house by the +fact of each tenement reaching from back to front of the house, thus +securing within itself the means of a thorough draught of fresh air. Both +plans are excellent, and may be unqualifiedly recommended. + +The houses were ready for occupation about the beginning of 1855, and since +that time have been constantly full. The applicants for tenements, whenever +one becomes vacant, are always numerous. + +The cost of these two buildings was a little over $18,000 each, exclusive +of the cost of the land upon which they stand. The land cost about $8,000; +and the whole cost of the buildings, including some slight changes +subsequent to their original erection, and of the lot on which they stand, +would be more than covered by the sum of $46,000. + +The rents were fixed upon a scale varying with the amount of accommodation +afforded by the separate tenements, and with their convenience of access. +They run from $2 to $2.87 per week. By those familiar with the rents paid +by the poor these sums will be seen to be not higher than are frequently +paid for the most unhealthy and inconvenient lodgings. The total annual +amount of rent received from each house is $2,353, which, after paying +taxes, water-rates, gas-bills, and all other expenses, including all +repairs necessary to keep the building in good order, leaves a full six per +cent. interest upon the sum invested. + +A portion of the land purchased by the Association not having been occupied +by the two houses already described, it was determined to erect a third +house upon it, of a somewhat superior character, for a class just above the +line of actual poverty, but often forced by circumstances into unhealthy +and uncomfortable homes. This was accordingly done, at a cost, including +the land, of about $26,000. The house, of which the plan is well worthy of +imitation, contains a shop and nine tenements. These tenements, which form +not only comfortable, but agreeable homes, are rented at from two to three +hundred dollars a year, and the gross income derived from the building is +about $2,500. + +During the five years since the first occupation of the houses no loss of +rents has occurred. For the most part, the rent has been paid not only +punctually, but with satisfaction, and the expressions which have been +received of the content of the occupants of the tenements have been of the +most gratifying sort. The houses, as we know from personal inspection, are +now in a state of excellent repair, and show no signs of carelessness or +neglect on the part of their occupants. Few private houses would have a +fresher and neater aspect after so long occupancy. The tenants have been, +with few exceptions, Americans by birth, and they have taken pains to keep +up the character of their dwellings. + +One of the Trustees of the Association, a gentleman to whose good judgment +and constant oversight, as well as to his sympathetic kindness tor the +occupants of the houses and interest in their affairs, much of the success +of this experiment is due, says, in a letter from which we are permitted to +quote,--"From my experience in the management of this kind of property, I +believe that it may in all cases with proper care be made _safe and +permanent for investment_. But what I think better of is the good such +houses do in elevating and making happier their tenants, and I much rejoice +in having had an opportunity to test their usefulness." + +As a comment upon these brief, but weighty sentences, we would beg any of +our readers, who may have opportunity, to look for himself at the +substantial and not unornamental buildings of the Association, with their +showier front on Pleasant Street, and their imposing length and height of +range along the side of Osborn Place,--to see them affording healthy and +convenient homes to fifty families, many of whom, without some such +provision, would be exposed to be forced into the wretched quarters too +familiar to the poor,--and then to compare them with the common +lodging-houses in any of the lower streets or alleys of Boston or New York. + +A similar work to that performed by the Boston Association was undertaken +shortly afterward by a society in New York, who in 1854-5 erected a +building containing ninety tenements of three rooms each, under the name of +"The Working-Men's Home." The cost of this enormous building, which was +well designed, was about $90,000. It is fifty-five feet in breadth by one +hundred and ninety feet in length; it is nearly fireproof, and is provided +with double stairways. It has been occupied from the first by colored +people, and we regret to learn that it has not proved a success, so far as +regards the annual return upon the property invested. After paying the +heavy city tax of 1 3/4 per cent., and the charges for gas and water, the +sum remaining for an annual dividend is not more than four per cent. + +This want of success is not, we believe, inherent in the plan itself, but +is the result of a want of proper management and supervision. We learn that +the tenants often leave without paying rent, and that the building is more +or less injured by their neglect. The class of tenants has undoubtedly been +of a lower grade than that which has occupied the Boston houses, and the +habits of the blacks are far inferior to those of the white American poor +in personal neatness and care of their dwellings. But we have no doubt, +that, in spite of these drawbacks, a good revenue might be derived from the +rents paid by this class of tenants. The success of the Boston experiment +is due in considerable part to the employment by the Association of a paid +Superintendent, living with his family in one of the buildings, who has a +general oversight of the houses, collects the rents, and determines the +claims of occupants of the tenements. Such an officer is indispensable for +the proper carrying on of any similar undertaking on so large a scale. We +trust that no effort will be spared in New York to bring out more +satisfactory results from this great establishment. Benevolence is one +thing, and good investments another; but benevolence in this case does not +do half its work, unless it can be proved to pay. It must be profitable, in +order to be in the best sense a charity. + +The effect which the Boston houses have already had, in proving that homes +for the poor can be built on the best plan for the health and comfort of +their inmates and at the same time be good investments of property, is +manifest in many private undertakings. Several large houses have already +been built upon similar plans; old lodging-houses have been in several +instances remodelled and otherwise improved; blocks of small dwellings for +one or two families have been erected with every convenience for the class +who can afford to pay from three to six dollars a week for their +accommodations. The example set by the Association promises to be widely +followed. + +Much, however, yet remains to be done, and associate or private energy is +needed for the trial of new and not less important experiments than that +already well performed. The means for some of them are at hand. It will be +remembered that the late Hon. Abbott Lawrence, to whose beneficence during +his life the community was so largely indebted, and whose liberal deeds +will long be remembered with gratitude, left by will the sum of $50,000 to +be held by Trustees for the erection of dwellings for the poor. This sum +will in a short time be ready for employment for its designated purpose, +and it may be hoped that those who control its disposal will not so much +imitate the work already done as perform a work not yet accomplished, but +not less essential. The houses of the Association are, as we have stated, +not occupied by the most destitute poor,--and it is for this lowest class +that the most pressing need exists for an improvement in their +habitations. If the cellar-dwelling poor can be provided with healthy +homes, and these homes can be made to pay a fair rent, the worst evil in +the condition of our cities will be in a way to be remedied. It is very +desirable that a house should be erected in one of the crowded quarters of +the city, and at a distance from the buildings of the Association, in which +each room should be arranged for separate occupation. The rooms might be of +different sizes upon the different floors, to accommodate single men who +require only a lodging-place, or a man and wife. Perhaps on one floor rooms +should be made with means of opening into each other, to supply the need of +those who might require more than one of them. The house should be heated +throughout by furnaces, to save the necessity of fires in the rooms; and as +no private meals could be cooked in the house, an eating-room, where meals +could be had or provisions purchased ready for eating, should form part of +the arrangements of the house in the lower story. There can be no doubt +that such a house would be at once filled,--and but little, that, if +properly built and managed, under efficient superintendence it would pay +well, at the lowest rates of rent. Even with a possibility of its failing +to return a net annual income of six per cent upon its cost, it is an +experiment that ought to be tried,--and we earnestly hope that the Trustees +of Mr. Lawrence's bequest will not hesitate to make it. Putting out of +question all considerations of profitable investment, it would be, as a +pure charity, one of the best works that could be performed. + +We must restore health to our cities, and, to accomplish this end, we must +provide fit homes for the poor. The way in which this may be done has been +shown. + + * * * * * + + + +A SHORT CAMPAIGN ON THE HUDSON. + +The campaigner marched out of a lawyer's office in Nassau Street, New York. + +"Shyster," said our old man, as he called me into his own den, or rather +lair,--(for den, I take it, is the private residence of a beast of prey, +and lair his place of business. I do not think that this definition is +mine, but I forget to whom it belongs,)--"I suppose you would not dislike a +trip into the country? Very well. These papers must be explained to General +Van Bummel, and signed by him. He lives at Thunderkill, on the Hudson. Take +the ten-o'clock train, and get back as soon as you can. Charge your +expenses to the office." + +"What luck!" thought I, as I dashed down-stairs into the +street,--determined to obey his last injunction to the letter, whatever +course I might think fit to adopt about the one preceding it. No one who +has not been an attorney's clerk at three dollars a week, copying +declarations and answers from nine A.M. to six P.M., in a dusty, inky, +uncarpeted room, with windows unwashed since the last lease expired, can +form a correct notion of the exhilaration of my mind when I took my seat in +the railroad-car. The great Van Bnmmel himself never felt bigger nor +better. + +It was in that loveliest season of the year, the Indian summer,--a week or +ten days of atmospheric perfection which the clerk of the weather allows us +as a compensation for our biting winter and rheumatic spring. The veiled +rays of the sun and the soft shadows produce the effect of a golden +moonlight, and make even Nature's shabbiest corners attractive. To be +out-of-doors with nothing to do, and nothing to think of but the mere +pleasure of existence, is happiness enough at such times. But I was looking +at a river panorama which is one of Nature's best efforts, I have heard; +and on that morning it seemed to me impossible that the world could show +anything grander. + +It was very calm. The broad glittering surface of the river showed here and +there a slight ripple, when some breath of air touched it for a moment; but +wind there was none,--only a few idle breezes lounging about, waiting for +orders to join old Boreas in his next autumnal effort to crack his +cheeks. The bright-colored trees glowed on the mountain-sides like beds of +living coals. + +"How the deuse," thought I, as I stared at them, "can a discerning public +be satisfied with Cole's pictures of 'American Scenery in the Fall of the +Year'? You see on his canvas, to be sure, red, green, orange, and so on, +the peculiar tints of the leaves; but Nature does more (and Cole does not): +she blends the variegated hues into one bright mass of bewitching color by +the magic of this soft, golden, hazy sunshine. I wish, too, that the great +company of story-tellers would let scenery rest in peace. The charm of a +landscape is entireness, unity; it strikes the eye at once and as a whole. +Examination of the component parts is quite a different thing. Who ean +build up a view in his mind by piling up details like bricks upon one +another? Most people, I suspect, will find, as I do, that, no matter what +author they may be reading, the same picture always presents itself. A +vague outline of some view they have seen arises in the memory,--like the +forest scene in a scantily furnished theatre, which comes on for every +play. The naked woods, trees, rocks, lake, river, mountain, would have done +the business just as well, and saved a deal of writing and of printing. The +most successful artist in this line I know of is Michael Scott, whose +tropical sketches in 'Tom Cringle's Log' are unequalled by any +landscape-painter, past or present, who uses pen and ink instead of canvas +and colors." + +My trance was broken by the voice of the brakeman shouting, "Thunderkill," +into the car, as the train drew up at a wooden station-house. Jumping out, +I asked the way to General Van Bummel's. A man with a whip in his hand +offered his services as guide and common carrier. I determined to +experience a new sensation,--for once in my life to anathematize +expenditure, and charge it to the office. So, climbing into a kind of +leathern tent upon wheels, I was soon on my way to the leaguer of the +General. A drive of a mile brought us to two stout stone gateposts, +surmounted each by a cannon-ball, which marked Van Bummel's boundary. We +turned into a lane shut in by trees. While busily taking an inventory of +the General's landed possessions for future use, my attention was drawn off +by loud shouts, the sound of the gallop of horses and the rattling of +wheels. Imagining at once that the General's family-pair must be running +away with his family-coach, I eagerly urged my driver to push on; but the +cold-hearted wretch only laughed and said he "guessed there was nothing +particular the matter." At last, we _debouched_ (excuse the word; I have +not yet got the military taste out of my mouth) upon a lawn, across which a +pair of large bay horses, ridden postilion-fashion by one man, were +dragging a brass six-pounder, upon which sat another in full uniform. + +"What the Devil is that?" said I. + +"That's the Gineral and his coachman a-having a training," answered my +driver. + +As he spoke, the officer shouted, "Halt!" + +Coachy pulled up. + +"Unlimber!" thundered the chief; and, aided by his man, obeyed his own +orders. + +"Load!" and "Fire!" followed in rapid succession. + +I saw and smelt that they used real powder. This over, the horses were made +fast again, John, bestrode his nag, the General clambered on to his brazen +seat and down they came at a tearing pace directly towards us. Luckily I +had read "Charles O'Malley," and knew how to behave in such cases. I jumped +from the wagon, and, tying my handkerchief to the ferule of my umbrella, +advanced, waving it and shouting, "A flag of truce!" The General ordered a +halt and despatched himself to the flag. As he approached I beheld a stout, +middle-aged, good natured looking man, dressed in the graceless costume of +Uncle Sam's army; but I must say that he wore it with more grace than most +of the Regulars I have seen. Our soldiers look unbecomingly in their +clothes,--there is no denying it,--a good deal like _sups_ in a procession +at the Bowery. A New-York policeman sports pretty much the same dress in +much better style. You hardly ever see an officer or private, least of all +the officer, with the _air militaire_. I also noticed with pleasure that +the General had not on his head that melodramatic black felt, +feather-bedecked hat, which some fantastic Secretary of War must have +imagined in a dream, after seeing "Fra Diavolo" at the opera, or Wallack in +Massaroni. In place of this abomination, a cap covered with glazed leather +surmounted his martial brow. When we met, I lowered my umbrella and offered +my card, with the office pasteboard. He took them with great gravity, read +the names, and requested me to fall back to the rear and await orders. Then +rejoining his gun, he was driven slowly towards the house,--my peaceful +_ambulance_ following at a respectful distance. When I reached the door, +the six-pounder had disappeared behind a clump of evergreens, and the +General stood waiting to receive me. His manner was affable. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Shyster? Glad to see you, Sir. Walk into the library, +Sir." + +I complied, and while the General was absent, engaged in carrying out some +hospitable suggestions for my refreshment, I examined the room. It was +large, and handsomely furnished. I looked into the bookcases: the shelves +were filled with works on War, from Caesar's Commentaries down to Louis +Napoleon on Rifled Cannon. In one corner stood a suit of armor; in another +a stand of firearms; between them a star of bayonets. On the mantelpiece I +perceived a model of a small field-piece in brass and oak, and, what +interested me more, a cigarbox. I raised the lid; the box was half full of +highly creditable-looking cigars. My soul expanded with the thought of a +probable offer of at least one. + +"None of your Flor de Connecticuts," I thought, "from the Vuelta Abajo of +New-Windsor, but the genuine Simon Puros." + +A second glance at the inside of the lid caused grave doubts to depress my +spirits. I beheld there, in place of the usual ill-executed lithograph with +its _fabricas_ and its _calles_, three small portraits. The middle one was +the General in full uniform; I recognized him easily; the other two were no +doubt his aides-de-camp;--all evidently photographs; they were so ugly. I +dropped the lid in disappointment, and turned to the side-table. On it lay +a handsome sword in an open box lined with silk. Over it hung, framed and +glazed, the speech of the committee appointed by his fellow-soldiers of the +county to present the sword to the General, together with the General's +"neat and appropriate" answer and acceptance. + +I began to be a little astonished. I certainly did not expect anything of +this sort. Our old man called him General, to be sure; but General means +nothing, in the rural districts, but a certain amount of wealth and +respectability. It has taken the place of Squire. But here was I with a man +who took his title _au serieux_. What with the uniform, the cannon, and the +coachman, I began to feel like an ambassador to a potentate with a standing +army. + +Here the General reappeared, bearing in his august hands a decanter and a +pitcher. After due refreshment, I produced my papers, made the necessary +explanations, and executed my commission so much to his satisfaction that +he invited me cordially to dine and spend the night, instead of taking the +evening-train down. I accepted, of course,--such chances seldom fell into +my way,--and was shown into a nice little bedroom, in which I was expected +to dress for dinner. Dress, indeed! I had on my best, and did not come to +stay. Novel-heroes manage to remain weeks without apparent luggage; but a +modern attorney's clerk, however moderate may be his toilette-tackle, finds +it inconvenient to be separated from it. However, I did what I +could,--washed my hands, settled the bow of my neck-tie, smoothed my hair +with my fingers, and thought, as I descended to the drawing-room, of the +travelling Frenchman, who, after a night spent in a diligence, wiped out +his eyes with his handkerchief, put on a paper false collar, and +exclaimed,--"_Me voici propre!_" + +The General, in a fatigue-dress, presented me to Mrs. Van Bummel, a +good-looking woman of pleasant dimensions,--to Miss Bellona Van Bummel, who +evidently thought me beneath her notice,--and to the Reverend Moses Wether, +whose mild face, white cravat, and straight-cut collar proclaimed him. As I +came in, his Reverence attempted to slip meekly out, but was stopped +energetically by the General. + +"How is this? Mr. Wether, you know you cannot leave, Sir." + +"But, my dear General, I only dropped in for a few moments; and really I +have so much to do!" + +"I am sorry, Sir," rejoined the General, sternly, "but you cannot be +excused. You accepted the position of Chaplain to the Regiment. You +neglected to attend the last two reviews. You were condemned by a Court +Martial, over which I presided, to twenty-four hours' arrest, which you +must now submit to." + +"But, my dear General," feebly expostulated the man of prayer, "you know I +thought the nomination a mere pleasantry; I had no idea you were serious, +or I should never have listened to the proposition." + +"Can't help that, Sir. You accepted the commission, you neglected your +duty, and you must take the consequences." + +Just then, as the poor perplexed parson was about to make another attempt +for liberty, a side-door swung open; a well-built, comely servant-girl, +dressed like Jenny Lind in the "Fille du Regiment," appeared. Bringing the +back of her hand to her forehead, she said,-- + +"General, dinner is ready." + +Van Bummel muttered something about "joining our mess," and led the way to +the banqueting-hall. I was too hungry to be particular about names, and did +ample justice to an excellent spread and well-selected tap,--carefully +avoiding eating with my knife or putting salt upon the table-cloth, which I +had often heard was never done by the aristocracy. As I kept my eyes upon +the others and imitated them to the best of my ability, I hope I did not +disgrace Nassau Street. + +The evening passed quickly and agreeably. I played chess with the reverend +prisoner. The man of war read steadily folio history of Marlborough's +campaigns, making occasional references to maps and plans. As the clock +struck nine, an explosion on the lawn made the windows rattle again. I +jumped to my feet, but, seeing that the rest of the company looked +surprised at my vivacity, I sat down, guessing that the six-pounder and the +coachman had something to do with it. + +"Don't be alarmed, Sir," said the General, "it's only gun-fire. We retire +about this time." + +I took the hint, requested to be shown to my room, undressed, jumped into a +camp bedstead, and tried to sleep. Impossible!--the novelty of my day's +experiences, the beauty of the night, (for the full moon was shining into +the windows,) or perhaps a cup of strong coffee I had swallowed without +milk after dinner because the others took it, kept me awake. Finding sleep +out of the question, I got up and dressed myself. My chamber was on the +ground-floor, and opened upon the lawn. I stepped quietly out into the hazy +moonlight, lighted a cigar, and walked towards the river. It was a +remarkably fine evening, certainly, but a very damp one. Heavy dew dripped +from the trees. I found, as my weed grew shorter, that my fondness for the +romantic in Nature waned, and slowly retraced my steps to the house, +muttering to myself some of Edgar Poe's ghostly lines:-- + + "I stand beneath the mystic moon; + An opiate vapor, dewey, dim + Exhales from out her golden rim, + And softly dripping, drop by drop, + Upon the quiet mountain-top, + Steals drowsily and musically + Into the universal valley." + +I was about entering, when a figure advanced suddenly from behind a pillar +of the veranda, holding a something in its hand which glittered in the +moonlight, and which rattled as it dropped from the perpendicular to the +horizontal, pointing at me. + +"Who goes there?" said the apparition, in a hoarse voice. "Stand, and give +the countersign!" + +I recognized the voice of the soldier-servant of the morning. There he was +again, that indefatigable coachman, doing duty as sentinel with a musket in +his hands. Not knowing what else to say, I replied,-- + +"It is I, a friend!" + +My good grammar was thrown away upon the brute. + +"The countersign," he repeated. + +"Pooh, pooh!" said I, "I do not know anything about the countersign. I am +Mr. Shyster, who came up this morning, when you and the General were doing +light-artillery practice on the lawn. Please let me go to my room." + +But the brute stood immovable. As I advanced, I heard him cock his musket. + +"Good God!" thought I, "this is no joke, after all. This stupid stable-man +may have loaded his musket. What if it should go off? If I retreat, I must +camp out,--no joke at this season;--rheumatism and a loss of salary, to say +the least. This will never do." + +And I screamed,-- + +"General! General Van Bummel!" + +"Silence! or I'll march you to the guard-house," thundered the sentinel. + +Luckily the General lay, like Irene, "with casement open to the skies." He +heard the noise. I recognized his martial tones. I hurriedly explained my +situation. He gave me the word; it was Eugene; countersign, +Marlborough. This satisfied the Coach-Cerberus, and I passed into bed +without further mishap. + +The first sound I heard the next morning was the rat-tat-too of a +drum. "There goes that d----d coachman again," I said to myself, and turned +over for another nap; but a shrill bugle-call brought me to my seat. + +Running to the window, I saw two men on horseback in dragoon equipments. +The horses were the artillery-nags of yesterday; the riders, the General +and his man-at-all-arms. Hurrying on my clothes, I got out of doors in time +to see them go at a gallop across the lawn, leap a low hedge at the end of +the grass-plot, and disappear in the orchard. Thither I followed fast to +see the sport. They reached the boundary-line of the Van-Bummel estate, +wheeled, and turned back on a trot. When the General espied me, he waved +his sabre and shouted, "Charge!" They galloped straight at me. I had barely +time to dodge behind an apple-tree, when they passed like a whirlwind over +the spot I had been standing on, and covered me with dirt from the heels of +their horses. I walked back to the house, very much annoyed, as men are apt +to be, when they think they have compromised their dignity a little by +dodging to escape danger from another's mischief or folly. At breakfast, +accordingly, I remonstrated with the chief; but he only laughed, and asked +me why I did not form a hollow square and let the front rank kneel and +fire. + +"As soon as you have finished your coffee," he added, "I will take you into +the trenches, and there you will be out of danger." + +I could not refuse. The trenches were at the bottom of the garden, near the +entrance-drive. I had seen them yesterday, and in my ignorance thought of +celery; now, I knew better. This morning, a tent was pitched a few yards +from a long low wall of sods; and between the tent and the sods there was a +small trench, about large enough to hold draining-tiles. Pointing to the +wall, the general said,-- + +"There is Sebastopol," (pronouncing it correctly, accent on the _to_,) "and +here," turning to the tent, "are my head-quarters. My sappers have just +established a mine under the Quarantine Battery. In a few moments I shall +blow it up, and storm the breach, if we make a practicable one." + +Here the Protean coachman made his appearance with a leather apron and a +broad-axe. He signified that all was ready. A lucifer was rubbed upon a +stone, the train ignited, bang went the mine, and over went we all three, +prostrated by a shower of turf and mud. The mine had exploded backward, and +had annihilated the storming party. Fortunately, the General had economised +in powder. Gradually we picked ourselves up, considerably bewildered, but +not much hurt. Van Bummel attempted to explain; but I had had enough of +war's alarms, and yearned for the safety and peace of Nassau Street. So I +bade the warrior good-morning, and took the first down-train, _multa mecum +volvens_; "making a revolver of my mind," Van Bummel would have translated +it. I knew that our soil produced more soldiers even than France, the +fertile mother of red-legged heroes; but I did not expect, in the +Nineteenth Century and in the State of New York, to have beheld an avatar +of the God Mars. + + * * * * * + + + +THINE. + + The tide will ebb at day's decline: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Impatient for the open sea, + At anchor rocks the tossing ship, + The ship which only waits for thee; + Yet with no tremble of the lip + I say again, thy hand in mine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + I shall not weep, or grieve, or pine. + _Ich bin dein!_ + Go, lave once more thy restless hands + Afar within the azure sea,-- + Traverse Arabia's scorching sands,-- + Fly where no thought can follow thee, + O'er desert waste and billowy brine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Dream on the slopes of Apennine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Stand where the glaciers freeze and frown, + Where Alpine torrents flash and foam, + Or watch the loving sun go down + Behind the purple hills of Rome, + Leaving a twilight half divine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Thy steps may fall beside the Rhine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Slumber may kiss thy drooping lids + Amid the mazes of the Nile, + The shadow of the Pyramids + May cool thy feet,--yet all the while, + Though storms may beat, or stars may shine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Where smile the hills of Palestine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + Where rise the mosques and minarets,-- + Where every breath brings flowery balms,-- + Where souls forget their dark regrets + Beneath the strange, mysterious palms,-- + Where the banana builds her shrine,-- + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Too many clusters break the vine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The tree whose strength and life outpour + In one exultant blossom-gush + Must flowerless be forevermore: + We walk _this_ way but once, friend;--hush! + Our feet have left no trodden line: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Who heaps his goblet wastes his wine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The boat is moving from the land;-- + I have no chiding and no tears;-- + Now give me back my empty hand + To battle with the cruel years,-- + Behold, the triumph shall be mine! + _Ich bin dein!_ + + * * * * * + + + +THE REPRESENTATIVE ART. + +No art is worth anything that does not embody an idea,--that is not +representative: otherwise, it is like a body without a soul, or the image +of some divinity that never had existence. Art needs, indeed, to be +individualized, to betray the characteristics of the artist, to be himself +infused into his work; but more than this, it needs to typify, to +illustrate the character of the age,--to be of a piece with other +expressions of the sentiment that animates other men at the time. It must +be one note in the concert, and that not discordant,--neither behind time +nor ahead of it,--neither in the wrong key nor the other mode: you don't +want Verdi in one of Beethoven's symphonies; you don't want Mozart in +Rossini's operas. No art ever has lived that was not the genuine product of +the era in which it appeared; no art ever can live that is not such a +product: it may, perchance, have a temporary or fictitious success, but it +can neither really and truly exert an influence at the moment of its +highest triumph, nor afterwards remain a power among men, unless it reflect +the spirit of the epoch, unless it show the very age and body of the time +his form and pressure. + +All greatness consists in this: in being alive to what is going on around +one; in living actually; in giving voice to the thought of humanity; in +saying to one's fellows what they want to hear or need to hear at that +moment; in being the concretion, the result, of the influences of the +present world. In no other way can one affect the world than in responding +thus to its needs, in embodying thus its ideas. You will see, in looking to +history, that all great men have been a piece of their time; take them out +and set them elsewhere, they will not fit so well; they were made for their +day and generation. The literature which has left any mark, which has been +worthy of the name, has always mirrored what was doing around it; not +necessarily daguerreotyping the mere outside, but at least reflecting the +inside,--the thoughts, if not the actions of men,--their feelings and +sentiments, even if it treated of apparently far-off themes. You may +discuss the Greek republics in the spirit of the modern one; you may sing +idyls of King Arthur in the very mood of the nineteenth century. Art, too, +will be seen always to have felt this necessity, to have submitted to this +law. The great dramatists of Greece, like those of England, all flourished +in a single period, blossomed in one soil; the sculptures of antiquity +represented the classic spirit, and have never been equalled since, because +they were the legitimate product of that classic spirit. You cannot have +another Phidias till man again believes in Jupiter. The Gothic +architecture, how meanly is it imitated now! What cathedrals built in this +century rival those of Milan or Strasbourg or Notre Dame? Ah! there is no +such Catholicism to inspire the builders; the very men who reared them +would not be architects, if they lived to-day. And the Italian painters, +the Angelos and Raphaels and Da Vincis and Titians, who were geniuses of +such universal power that they builded and carved and went on embassies and +worked in mathematics only with less splendid success than they +painted,--they painted because the age demanded it; they painted as the age +demanded; they were religious, yet sensuous, like their nation; they felt +the influence of the Italian sun and soil. Their faith and their history +were compressed into The Last Judgment and the Cartoons; their passion as +well as their power may be recognized in The Last Supper and The Venus of +the Bath. + +There is always a necessity for this expression of the character of the +age. This spirit of our age, this mixed materialistic and imaginative +spirit,--this that abroad prompts Russian and Italian wars, and at home +discovers California mines,--that realizes gorgeous dreams of hidden gold, +and Napoleonic ideas of almost universal sway,--that bridges Niagara, and +under-lays the sea with wire, and, forgetful of the Titan fate, essays to +penetrate the clouds,--this spirit, so practical that those who choose to +look on one side only of the shield can see only perjured monarchs +trampling on deceived or decaying peoples, and backwoodsmen hewing forests, +and begrimed laborers setting up telegraph-poles or working at +printing-presses,--this spirit also so full of imagination,--which has +produced an outburst of music (that most intangible and subtile and +imaginative of arts) such as the earth never heard before,--which is +developing in the splendid, showy life, in the reviving taste for pageantry +that some supposed extinct, in the hurried, crowded incidents that will +fill up the historic page that treats of the nineteenth century,--this +spirit is sure to get expression in art. + +The American people, cosmopolitan, concrete, the union, the result rather +of a union of so many nationalities, ought surely to do its share towards +this expression. The American people surely represents the century,--has +much of its spirit: is full of unrest; is eminently practical, but +practical only in embodying poetical or lofty ideas; is demonstrative and +excitable; resembles the French much and in many things,--the French, who +are at the head of modern and European civilization,--who think and feel +deeply, but do not keep their feelings hidden. The Americans, too, like +expression: when they admire a Kossuth or a Jenny Lind, a patriot exile or +a foreign singer, all the world is sure to know of their admiration; when +they are delighted at some great achievement in science, like the laying of +an Atlantic Cable, they demonstrate their delight. They make their +successful generals Presidents; they give dinners to Morphy and banquets to +Cyrus Field. They are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the +age. Therefore they are artistic. + +How amazed some will be at the proposition,--amazed that the age should be +called an artistic one,--amazed that Americans should be considered an +artistic nation! Yet art is only the expression in outward and visible form +of an inward and spiritual grace,--the sacrament of the imagination. Art is +an incarnation in colors or stone or music or words of some subtile essence +which requires the embodiment. We all have delicate fancies, lofty +imaginings, profound sentiments; the artist expresses them for us. If, +then, this age be one that requires expression for its ideas, that is +practical, that insists on accomplishing its designs, on creating its +children, on producing its results, it is an artistic age. For art works; a +poet is a maker, according to the Greeks: and all artists are poets; they +all produce; they all do; they all make. They do just what all the +practical men of this practical age are doing, what even the Gradgrinds are +doing: they embody ideas; they put thoughts into facts. A quiet, +contemplative age is not an artistic one; art has ever flourished in +stirring times: Grecian wars and Guelphic strife have been its fostering +influences. An artist is very far from being an idle dreamer; he works as +hard as the merchant or the mechanic,--works, too, physically as well as +mentally, with his hand as well as his head. + +This is all statement: let us have some facts; let us embody our ideas. Do +you not call Meyerbeer, with his years of study and effort and application, +a worker? Do you not call Verdi, who has produced thirty operas, a worker? +Do you not imagine that Turner labored on his splendid pictures? Do you not +know how Crawford toiled and spun away his nerves and brain? Have you not +heard of the incessant and tremendous attention that for many months Church +bestowed on the canvas that of late attracted the admiration of English +critics and their Queen? Was Rachel idle? Have these artists not spent the +substance of themselves as truly as any of your politicians or your +soldiers or your traders? Can you not trace in them the same energy, the +same effort, the same determination as in Louis Napoleon, as in Zachary +Taylor, as in Stephen Girard? Are not they also representative? + +And their works,--for by these shall ye know them,--do they reflect in +nothing this fitful, uneasy, yet splendid intensity of to-day? Can you not +read in the colors on Turner's canvas, can you not see in the rush of +Church's Niagara, can you not hear in the strains of the Traviata, can you +not perceive in the tones and looks of Ristori, just what you find in the +successful men in other spheres of life? Rothschild's fortune speaks no +more plainly than the Robert le Diable; George Sand's novels and Carlyle's +histories tell the same story as Kossuth's eloquence and Garibaldi's +deeds. The artists are as alive to-day as any in the the world. For, again +and again, art is not an outside thing; its professors, its lovers, are not +placed outside the world; they are in it and of it as absolutely as the +rest. You who think otherwise, remember that Verdi's name six months ago +was the watchword of the Italian revolutionists; remember that certain +operas are forbidden now to be played in Naples, lest they should arouse +the countrymen of Masaniello; remember, or learn, if you did not know, how +in New York, last June, all the singers in town offered their services for +a benefit to the Italian cause, and all the _habitues_, late though the +season was, crowded to their places to see an opera whose attractiveness +had been worn out and whose novelty was nearly gone. You who think that art +is an interest unworthy of men who live in the world, that it is a thing +apart, what say you to the French, the most actual, the most practical, the +most worldly of peoples, and yet the fondest of art in all its phases,--the +French, who remembered the statues in the Tuileries amid the massacres of +the First Revolution, and spared the architecture of antiquity when they +bombarded the city of the Caesars? + +Consider, too, the growing love for art in practical America; remark the +crowds of newly rich who deck their houses with pictures and busts, even +though they cannot always appreciate them; remember that nearly every +prominent town in the country has its theatre; that the opera, the most +refined luxury of European civilization, considered for long an affectation +beyond every other, is relished here as decidedly as in Italy or France. In +New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, there are +buildings exclusively appropriated to this new form of art, this exotic, +expensive amusement. These opera-houses, too, illustrate most aptly the +progress of other arts. They are adorned with painting and gilding and +carving; they are as sumptuous in accommodation as the palaces of European +potentates; they are lighted with a brilliancy that Aladdin's garden never +rivalled; they are thronged, with crowds as gayly dressed as those that +fill the saloons of Parisian belles; and the singers and actors who +interpret the thoughts of mighty foreign masters are the same who delight +the Emperor of the French when he pays a visit to the Queen of Great +Britain and Ireland. Orchestras of many instruments discourse most eloquent +music, and involuted strains are criticized in learned style, in capitals +thousands of miles from the seashore. And there is no appreciation of art +in all this! there is no embodiment of the love of the age for material +magnificence, there is no poetry incarnated into form, in this combination +of splendors rivalling the opium-eater's visions! The Americans are a dull, +stupid people, immersed in business; art has no effect upon them; it is +despised among them; it can never prosper here! + +The stage, indeed, in its various forms, seems more fully to manifest and +illustrate the artistic influence among Americans than any other art. It +often addresses those whom more refined solicitations might never +reach. Those who would turn from Church's or Page's pictures with +indifference are frequently attracted by the representations in a theatre. +The pictures there are more alive, more real, more intense, and fascinate +many unable to appreciate the recondite charms of the canvas. The grace of +attitude, the splendid expression, the intellectual art of Ristori or +Rachel may impress those who fail to discover the same merits in colder +stone, in Crawford's marble or the statues of Palmer; and they may +sometimes learn to relish even the delicate beauties of Shakspeare's text, +from hearing it fitly declaimed, who would never spell out its meaning by +themselves. The drama is certainly superior to other arts while its reign +lasts, because of its veriness, its actuality. He must be dull of +imagination, indeed, who cannot give himself up for a while to its +illusions; he must be stupid who cannot open his senses to its delights or +waken his intellect to receive its influences. + +Neither can a taste for the stage be declared one which only the ignorant +or vulgar share. Though away in the wilds of California a theatre was often +erected next after a hotel, the second building in a town, and the +strolling player would summon the miners by his trumpet when not one was in +sight, and instantly a swarm peeped forth from the earth, like the armed +men who sprang from the furrows that Cadmus ploughed,--though the wildest +and rudest of Western cities and the wildest and rudest inhabitants of +Western towns are quick to acknowledge the charms of the stage,--yet also +the most highly cultured and the most intellectual Americans pay the same +tribute to this art. We have all seen, within a few years, one of the most +profound scholars and most prominent divines in the country proclaiming his +approbation of the drama. We may find, to-day, in any Eastern city, members +of the liberal clergy at an opera, and sometimes at a play. The scholars +and writers and artists and thinkers, as well as the people of leisure and +of fashion, frequent places of amusement, not only for amusement, but to +cultivate their tastes, to exercise their intellects, ay, and oftentimes to +refine their hearts. The splendid homage paid in England not long ago to +the drama, when the highest nobility and the first statesmen in the land +were present at a banquet in honor of Charles Kean, is evidence enough that +no puerile or uncultivated taste is this which relishes the theatre. Goethe +presiding over the playhouse at Weimar, Euripides and Sophocles writing +tragedies, the greatest genius of the English language acting in his own +productions at the Globe Theatre, people like Siddons and Kean and Cushman +and Macready illustrating this art with the resources of their fine +intellects and great attainments,--surely these need scarcely be mentioned, +to relieve the drama from the reproach that some would put upon it, of +puerility. + +New York is, perhaps, more of a representative city than any other in the +land. It is an aggregation from all the other portions of the country; it +is the result, the precipitate, of the whole. It has no distinctive, +individual character of its own; it is a condensation of all the rest, a +focus. Thither all the country goes at times. Restless, fitful, changing, +yet still the same in its change; like the waves of the sea, that toss and +roll and move away, and still the mighty mass is ever there. New York, in +its various phases and developments, its crowded and cosmopolitan +population, its out-door kaleidoscopic splendor, is indeed a representative +of the entire country. It has not the purely literary life of Boston, nor +so distinctive an intellectual character; it is not so stamped by the +impress of olden times as Philadelphia; but it has an outside garb +significant of the inward nature. It is like the face of a great actor, +splendid in expression, full of character, changing with a thousand +changing emotions, but betraying a great soul beneath them all. New York is +artistic just as America is artistic, just as the age is artistic: not, +perhaps, in the loftiest or most refined sense, but in the sense that art +is an expression, in tangible form, of ideas. New York is a great thought +uttered. It is like those fruits or seeds which germinate by turning +themselves inside out; the soul is on the outside, crusted all over it, but +none the less soul for all that. + +And New York illustrates this idea of the drama being the representative +art of to-day. The theatre there, including the opera, is a great +established fact,--as important nearly as it was in the palmiest days of +the Athenian republic, or on the road to be of as much consequence as it is +in Paris, the representative city of the world. Fifty thousand people +nightly crowd twenty different theatres in New York. From the splendid +halls where Grisi and Gazzaniga and La Borde and La Grange have by turns +translated into sound the ideas of Meyerbeer and Bellini and Donizetti and +Mozart, to the little rooms where sixpenny tickets procure lager-beer as +well as music for the purchaser, the drama is worshipped. And this not only +by New-Yorkers: not only do those who lead the busy, excited life of the +metropolis acquire a taste, as some might say, for a factitious excitement, +but all strangers hasten to the theatres. The sober farmer, the citizens +from plodding interior towns, the gay Southerners, accustomed almost +exclusively to social amusements, the denizens of rival Bostons and +Philadelphias all frequent the operas and playhouses of New York. When the +richer portion of its inhabitants have left the hot and sultry town, or, in +mid-winter, are immersed in the more exclusive pleasures of fashionable +life, even then the theatres are thronged; and in September and October you +shall find all parts of the country represented in their boxes and +parquets,--proving that this is not an exclusively metropolitan taste, that +it is shared by the whole nation, that in this also New York is truly +representative. + +Boston typifies a peculiar phase of American life; it is the illustration, +the exponent, of the cultivated side of our nationality; its thought, its +action, its character are taken abroad as symbols of the national thought +and action and character, in whatever relates to literature or art. The +Professor said truly, Boston does really in some sort stand for the brain +of America. Well the brain of America appreciates the stage. It is but a +few months since the culture and distinction of Boston nightly crowded a +small and inferior theatre, to witness the personations of the young genius +who is destined at no distant day to rival the proudest names of the drama. +The most brilliant successes Edwin Booth has yet achieved have been +achieved in Boston; scholars and wits and poets and professors crowd the +boxes when he plays; women of talent write poems in his praise and publish +them in the "Atlantic Monthly"; professors of Harvard College send him +congratulatory letters; artists paint and carve his intellectual beauty; +and fashion follows in the wake of intellect, alike acknowledging his +merits. Boston recognized those merits, too, when they were first presented +to its appreciation; and now that they verge nearer upon maturity, her +appreciation is quickened and her applause redoubled. It cannot be said +that the taste or culture of the nation is indifferent to histrionic +excellence, when absolute excellence is found. + +No other art is yet on such a footing among us. Neither is this because of +our partially developed civilization. It is equally so abroad; where the +nations are oldest and best established in culture, there, too, a similar +state of things exists. No school in painting, no style of sculpture, no +kind of architecture has made such an impression on the age as its music, +as its dramatic music, its opera. This speaks to all nations, in all +languages. No writer, though he write like Tennyson, or Longfellow, or +Lamartine, or Dudevant, can hope for such an audience as Verdi or +Meyerbeer. No orator speaks to such crowds as Rossini; no Everett or +Kossuth, or Gavazzi or Spurgeon, has so many listeners as Donizetti. For +the stage is the art of to-day,--perhaps more especially, but still not, +exclusively, the operatic stage; the theatre in its various forms +represents the feeling of the time so as Grecian and Gothic architecture +and Italian painting have in their time done for their time,--so as no +pictures, no architecture, no statuary can now do. Painting and statuary, +when they do anything towards representing this age, incarnate the dramatic +spirit; the literature that has most influence today is journalism,--the +effective, present, actual, short-lived, dramatic newspaper, where all the +actors speak for themselves: other literature has its listeners, but it +lags behind; other art has its appreciators, but it cannot keep pace with +the march of armies, with the rush to California, with the swarm to +Australia; there is no art on these outskirts but the dramatic. That +travels with the advancing mass in every exodus; that went with Dr. Kane to +the North Pole (he had private theatricals aboard the Resolute); that alone +gave utterance immediately to the latest cry of humanity in the Italian +War. + +Neither can it be said that the theatre has no more consequence now than it +has always enjoyed. At the time when Gothic architects and Italian painters +expressed the meaning of their own ages, there was nothing like a real +drama in existence, and the Roman theatre was never comparable with +ours. The Greeks, indeed, had a stage which was an important element of +their civilization, and which took the character of their time, giving and +receiving influence; but their stage was essentially different from that of +the moderns. Its success did not depend upon the individual performer; its +pageantry was perhaps as splendid as what we now see; but the play of the +countenance, that great intellectual opportunity offered an actor by our +drama, was not known. In this see also a characteristic of the present +age. Individuality is a distinctive peculiarity of the nineteenth century; +it has been for centuries gradually becoming more possible; but every man +now works his own way, acts himself, more completely than ever +before. Therefore appropriate is it that the drama should give importance +to the individual, and allow a great actor to incarnate and illustrate in +his own form and face feelings and passions that formerly were only hinted +at; for remember that the Greek players usually wore masks, while their +amphitheatres were so large that in any event the expression of the +features was lost. + +With this individuality, this opportunity for each to develop his own +identity and intensity, the nineteenth century strangely combines another +peculiarity, that of association. All these units, these atoms, so +marvellously distinct, are incorporated into one grand whole; though each +be more, by and of himself, than ever before, yet the great power, the +great motor, is the mass. The mass is made powerful by the added importance +given to each individual. And you may trace without conceit a state of +things behind the scenes very similar to this in front of the +footlights. In the theatre, also, the many workers contribute to a grand +result. The manager would be as powerless in his little empire, without +important assistants, as a monarch without ministers and people. What makes +the French army and the American so irresistible is the thought that each +private is more than a machine, is an intellectual being, understands what +his general wants, fights with his bayonet at Solferino or his musket at +Monterey on his own account, yet subject to the supreme control. And the +theatre, with all its actors and scene-painters and costumers and +carpenters and musicians, is only an army on a different scale. The forces +of the stage answer to the generals and colonels, the marshals and +privates, all marching and working and fighting for the same end. Those +splendid dramatic triumphs of Charles Kean were only illustrations of the +principle of association,--only illustrations of the readiness of the stage +to adapt itself to the times, to seize hold of whatever is suggested by the +outside world, to appropriate the discoveries of Layard and the revelations +of Science to its own uses,--illustrations, too, of the importance of the +individual Kean, as well as of the crowd of clever subordinates. + +That the theatre feels this reflex influence, that it appreciates all that +is going on around it, that it is not asleep, that it is penetrated with +the spirit of the century, whether that spirit be good or evil, the +selection of plays now popular is another proof. In France, where the +success of the histrionic art now culminates, a contemporaneous drama is +flourishing, the absolute society of the day is represented. That society +has faults, and the stage mirrors them. "La Dame aux Camelias," "Les Filles +de Marbre," "Le Demi-Monde" reflect exactly the peculiarities of the life +they aim to imitate. And these very plays, whose influence is so often +condemned, would never have had the popularity they have attained in nearly +every city of the civilized world, had there not been Marguerite Gautiers +and Traviatas outside of Paris as well as in it. Another attempt, perhaps +not an entirely successful one, but still a significant attempt, has been +made in this country to produce a contemporaneous drama. "Jessie Brown" and +"The Poor of New York," and other plays directly daguerreotyping ordinary +incidents, at any rate show that the drama is an art that responds +instantly to the pulses of the time. + +But it ia not necessary for the stage to daguerreotype; it mirrors more +truly when it embodies the spirit. And never before was there an age whose +spirit was more theatrical, in the best sense of the term; full of outside +expression, but also full of inside feeling; working, accomplishing, +putting into actual form its ideas; incarnating its passions; intellectual, +yet passionate; lofty in imagination, yet practical in exemplification; +showy, but significantly showy,--theatrical. An art, then, that is all +this, surely expresses as no other art does or can the character of the +nineteenth century,--surely is the representative art. + + * * * * * + + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +THE EVIL EYE AND OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. + + +I have already, in a former article, spoken of some of the superstitions +belonging to the Church which are prevalent in Italy; but there are other, +and, so to speak, _lay_ superstitions, which also claim a place,--and to +them this chapter shall be dedicated. + +It is dangerous ground, a twilight marsh, where the will-o'-wisps light us, +over which I propose to lead you; and had I not armed myself with all sorts +of amulets, I should shrink from the enterprise. But the famous weapon with +which Luther drove away the Evil One is at my side, potent as evil, I hope, +so long as a pen can be put into it,--and Saint Dunstan's friend is in the +corner, ready, at a pinch, for service; and having shut out all those +spirits which so sorely tempted Saint Anthony, and locked my door to dark +eyes and blue eyes and dark hair and blonde hair, I may hope to get through +my dangerous chapter, and-- + +Strange fatality!--one of Saint Anthony's spirits tempts me from the other +room, even at the moment I boast; but I resist,--manfully dipping my pen +into Luther's stronghold,--and it vanishes, and leaves me face to face +with--the Evil Eye. Yes! it is the Evil Eye, the _Jettatura_ of Italy, that +we are boldly to face for an hour. + +This is one of the oldest and most interesting superstitions that have come +down to us from the past; and as it still lives and flourishes in Italy +with a singular vitality and freshness, it may be worth while to trace it +back to some of its early sources. Its birth-place was the East, where it +existed in dillomnt forms amongst almost every people. Thence it was +imported into Greece, where it was called _Baskania_, and was adopted by +the Romans under the name of _Fascinum_. Solomon himself alludes to it in +the Book of Wisdom. Isigonus relates that among the Triballi and Illyrii +there were men who by a glance fascinated and killed those whom they looked +upon with angry eyes; and Nymphodorus asserts that there were fascinators +whose voices had the power to destroy flocks, to blast trees, and to kill +infants. In Scythia, also, according to Apollonides, there were women of +this class, "_quoe vocantur Bithyoe_"; and Phylarchus says that in Pontus +there was a tribe, called the Thibii, and many others, of the same nature +and having the same powers. The testimony of Algazeli is to the same +effect; and he adds, that these fascinators have a peculiar power over +women. We have also the testimony of Aristotle, Pliny, and Plutarch, who +all speak as believers, while Solinus enumerates certain families of +fascinators who exerted their influence _voce et lingua_, and Philostratus +makes special mention of Apolloius Thyaneus as having been possessed of +these wonderful powers. Indeed, nearly all the old writers agree in +recognizing the existence of the faculty of fascination; and among the +Romans it was so universally admitted, that in the "Decemvirales Tabulae" +there was a law prohibiting the exercise of it under a capital +penalty:--"_Ne pelliciunto alienas segeles, excantando, ne incantando; ne +agrum defraudanto._" Some jurisconsults skilled in the ancient law say that +boys are sometimes fascinated by the burning eyes of these infected men so +as to lose all their health and strength. Pliny relates that one Caius +Furius Cresinus, a freedman, having been very successful in cultivating his +farms, became an object of envy, and was publicly accused of poisoning by +arts of fascination his neighbors' fruits; whereupon he brought into the +Forum his daughter, ploughs, tools, and oxen, and, pointing to them, +said,--"These which I have brought, and my labor, sweat, watching, and +care, (which I cannot bring,) are all my arts." Let those who consider the +moving of tables as wonderful listen to the surprising statement of Pliny +as to an occurrence in his own time, when a whole olive-orchard belonging +to a certain Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, crossed over the public +way, and took its place, ground and all, on the other side. [Footnote: +Plinii _Nat. Hist._ Lib. xvii. cap. 38.] This same fact is also alluded to +by Virgil in his Eighth Eclogue, on _Pharmaceutria_ (all of which, by the +way, he stole from Theocritus):-- + +"Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes." + +"Now," says the worthy Vairus, who has written an elaborate treatise on +this subject in Latin, well worthy to be examined, "let no man laugh at +these stories as old wives' tales, (_aniles nugas_,) nor, because the +reason passes our knowledge, let us turn them into ridicule, for infinite +are the things which we cannot understand, (_infinita enim prope sunt +quorum rationem adipisci nequimus_); but rather than turn all miracles out +of Nature because we cannot understand them, let us make that fact the +beginning and reason of investigation. For does not Solomon in his Book of +Wisdom say, '_Fascinatio malignitatis obscurat bona'?_ and does not Dominus +Paulus cry out to the Galatians, '_O insensati Galatoe, quis vos +fascinavit'?_ which the best interpreters admit to refer to those whose +burning eyes (_oculos urentes_) with a single look blast all persons, and +especially boys." + +It seems to have been a peculiarity in the superstitions as to the +_fascinum_, that boys and women were specially susceptible to its +influence; and in this respect, as well as in some of the symptoms of +fascination, it bears a curious resemblance to the effects of modern +witchcraft as practised in New England. Dionysius Carthusianus, speaking of +the nomad tribes of the Biarmii and Amaxobii, who, according to him, were +most skilful fascinators, says that they so affected persons with their +curse that they lost their freedom of will and became insane and idiotic, +and often wasted away in extreme leanness and corruption, and so perished: +"_ut liberi non sint nec mentis compotes, soepe ad extremam maciem +deveniant, et tabescendo dispereant._" Olaus Magnus agrees with him in +these symptoms; and Hieronymus says, that, when infants suddenly grow lean, +waste away, twist about as if in pain, and sometimes scream out and cry in +a wonderful way, you may be certain that they have been fascinated. This, +to be sure, looks mightily like a diagnosis for worms; but we would not +measure our wits with the grave Hieronymus. Still, as an amulet against +such fascination, "Jaynes's Vermifuge" might be suggested as efficient, or +at least a grain or two of _Santonina_. + +In Abyssinia, it is supposed that men who work in iron or pottery are +peculiarly endowed with this fatal power of fascination, and in consequence +of this prejudice they are expelled from society and even from the +privilege of partaking of the holy sacrament. They are known by the name of +_Buda_, and, though excluded from the more sacred rites of the Church, +profess great respect for religion, and are surpassed by none in the +strictness of their fasts. All convulsions and hysterical disorders are +attributed to these unfortunate artificers; and they are also supposed to +have the power of changing themselves into hyenas and other ravenous +beasts. Nathaniel Pearce, the African traveller, relates that the +Abyssinians are so fully convinced that these unhappy men are in the habit +of rifling graves in their character of hyenas, that no one will venture to +eat _quareter_ or dried meat in their houses, nor any flesh, unless it be +raw, or unless they have seen it killed. These Budas usually wear earrings +of a peculiar shape, and Pearce states that he has frequently seen them in +the ears of hyenas that have been caught or trapped, and confesses, that, +although he had taken considerable pains to investigate the subject, he had +never been able to discover how these ornaments came there; and Mr. Coffin, +his friend, relates a story of one of these transformations which took +place under his own eyes. [Footnote: Herodotus makes the same statement as +to the Buda. "They are said to be evil-minded and enchanters," he says, +"that for a day every year change themselves into wolves. This the +Scythians and Greeks who dwell there affirm with great oaths. But they do +not persuade me of it."--Herod. Lib. iii. cap. 7. + +See on this subject _Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce_, and _Nubia +and Abyssinia_, by Rev. Michael Russell. Petronius's story of a Versipelles +is well known.] + +This is the old superstition of the were-wolf, which existed also among the +Greeks and Romans. Those endowed with this power of transforming themselves +into beasts were called _Versipelles_. Pliny makes mention of them, and +cites from a Greek author the case of a man "who lived nine years in the +shape of a wolf"; but, credulous as he is, he says that the superstition +"is a fabulous opinion, not worthy of credit." For myself, I can say that I +have known many men who were wolves; and we all remember what Queen Labe +used to do with her lovers. + +Fascination was of two kinds, moral and natural. Those in whom the power +was moral could exert it only by the exercise of their will; but those in +whom it was natural could but keep exercising it unconsciously. And these +latter were the most terrible. It is generally explained by ancient writers +as being a power of the spirit or imagination, (as they termed it.) +exhibited in persons of a peculiar organization, and diffusing _radios +salutares vel perniciosos_. Though the terms employed by them, as well as +their notions of its origin, are very unphilosophical and vague, it is +plain that they considered it as a species of mesmeric or biologic power, +operating by nervous impression. The fascinator generally endeavored to +provoke in his victims an excited and pleased attention, for in this +condition they were peculiarly predisposed to his influence. And inasmuch +as persons are thrown off their guard of reserve and attracted by praise, +those who flattered excessively were looked upon with suspicion; and it was +a universally recognized rule of good manners and morals, that every one in +praising another should be careful not to do so immoderately, lest he +should fascinate even against his will. Hieronymus Fracastorius, in his +treatise "On Sympathy and Antipathy," thus states the fact and the +philosophy,--and who shall dare gainsay the conclusions of one so learned +in science, medicine, and astrology as this distinguished man?--"We read," +he says, "that there were certain families in Crete who fascinated by +praising, and this is doubtless quite possible. For as there exists in the +nature of some persons a poison which is ejaculated through their eyes by +evil spirits, there is no reason why infants and even grown persons should +not be peculiarly injured by this fascination of praise. For praise creates +a peculiar pleasure, and pleasure in turn, as we have already said, first +dilates and opens the heart and then the spirit, and then the whole face +and especially the eyes,--so that all these doors are opened to receive the +poison which is ejaculated by the fascinator. Wherefore it is most proper, +whenever we intend to praise a person, that we should warn him, and use +some form to avert the ill effects of our words, as by saying, 'May it be +of no injury to you!' There are, indeed, some, who, when they are praised, +avert their faces, not to indicate that praise in itself is unpleasant, but +to avoid fascination; it being thought that fascination is often effected +by means of praise";[1] or in other words, the poison being given in the +honey of flattery. Now in order to close up this _dilatationem_ or opening +of the system, a _corona baccaris_ was worn, which, by its odoriferous and +constipating qualities, produced this effect, as Dioscorides assures us.[2] +Virgil, in his Seventh Eclogue, alludes to the same, antidote:-- + +"Aut si ultra placitum laudant, baccare frontem + Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro." + +[Footnote 1: Hier. Fracastorius, _De Sympathia et Antipathia_, +Lib. i. cap. 23. See also Vincentius Alsarius, _De Invid. et Fasc. Vet._, +in Graevius, _Thes. Rom. Antiq._ Vol. xii. p. 890.] + +[Footnote 2: Lib. iii. cap. 46, confirmed also by Athenaeus, _Deipnos_. +Lib. iii.] + +Tertullian, in his work "De Virginibus Velandis," states the same fact as +Fracastorius, and says that among the heathens there are persons who are +possessed of a terrible somewhat which they call _Fascinum_, effected by +excessive praise: _"Nam est aliquod etiam apud Ethnicos metuendum, quod +Fascinum vocant, infeliciorem laudis et gloriae enormioris eventum_." + +To avert this evil influence, every well-mannered person among the ancients +said, "_Proefiscine_," before wishing well to another,--as clearly appears +from the following passage cited by Charisius [Footnote: _Inst. Gram._ +Lib. iv.] from Titinius in "Setina." One person exclaims, "_Paula mea, +amabo----_" Whereupon a friend who stands by says, "He was going to praise +Paula!" "_Ecce qui loquitur, Paulam puellam laudare parabat!_" And another +friend present cries out, "By Pollux! you should better say, +'_Proefiscini_,' or you may fascinate her": "_Pol! tu in laudem addito +Proefiscini, ne puella fascinaretur_." [Footnote: See also Turnebi +_Comm. in Orat. Sec. contra P.S. Rullum de Leg. Agrar._ M.T. Ciceronis.] +This same custom exists at the present day among the Turks, who always +accompany a compliment to you or to anything belonging to you with the +phrase, _"Mashallah!"_ (God be praised!)--thus referring the good gifts you +possess to the Higher Spirit. To omit this is a breach of courtesy, and in +such case the other person instantly adds it in order to avert fascination; +for the superstition is, that, if this phrase be omitted, we may seem to +refer all good gifts to our own merit instead of God's grace, and so +provoke the divine wrath. The same custom also exists in Italy; and the +common reply to any salutation in which your looks or health may be +complimented is, "_Grazia a Dio!_" In some parts of Italy, if you praise a +pretty child in the street, or even if you look earnestly at it, the nurse +will be sure to say, "_Dio la benedica!_" so as to cut off all ill-luck; +and if you happen to be walking with a child and catch any person watching +it, such person will invariably employ some such phrase to show you that he +does not mean to do it injury, or to cast a spell of _jettatura_ upon +it. The modern Greeks are even more jealous of praise, and if you +compliment a child of theirs, you are expected to spit three times at him +and say, [Greek: Na maen baskanthaes], ("May no evil come to you!") or +mutter [Greek: Skordo], ("Garlic,") which has a special power as a +counter-charm. So, too, in Corsica, the peasants are strict believers in +the _jettatura_ of praise, which they call _l'annocchiatura_,--supposing, +that, if any evil influence attend you, your good wishes will turn into +curses. They are therefore very careful in praising, and sometimes express +themselves in language the very reverse of what they intend,--as, "'_Va, +coquine!'_ says Bandalaccio, in M. Merimee's pleasant story of "Colomba," +'_sois excommuniee, sois maudite, friponne!' Car Bandalaccio, superstitieux +comme tous les bandits, craignait de fasciner les enfans en les addressant +les benedictions et les eloges. On sait que les puissances mysterieuses qui +president a l'annocchiatura ont la mauvaise habitude d'executer le +contraire de nos souhaits._" Perhaps our familiar habit of calling our +children "scamp" and "rascal," when we are caressing them, may be founded +on a worn-out superstition of the same kind. + +But it is not only praise administered by others which may inflict evil +upon us,--we must also be specially careful not to have too "gude a conceit +of ourselves," lest we thereby draw down upon us the fate of a certain +Eutelidas, who, having regarded his image in the water with peculiar +self-satisfaction and laudation, immediately lost his health, and from that +time forward was afflicted with sore diseases. During a supper at the house +of Metrius Florus, where, among others, Plutarch, Soclarus, and Caius, the +son-in-law of Florus, were guests, a curious and interesting conversation +took place on the subject of the _Fascinum_, which is reported by Plutarch +in one of his Symposia. The existence of the power of fascination was +admitted by all, and a philosophical explanation of its phenomena was +attempted. In reply to some suggestions of Plutarch, Soclarus says there is +no doubt that their ancestors fully believed in this power, and then cites +the case of Eutelidas as being well known to his auditors, and celebrated +by some poet in these lines:-- + + "Eutelidas was once a beauteous youth, + But, luckless, in the wave his face beholding, + Himself he fascinates, and pines away." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Plutarchi _Symp_. V. Prob. VII.] + +Fascination was excited by touch, voice, and look. The fascination by touch +was simply mesmerism, or rather the biology of the present day, in an +undeveloped stage. There were said to be four qualities of +touch,--_calidus, humidus, frigidus, et siccus_, or hot, cold, moist, and +dry,--according to which persons were active or passive in the exercise of +the fascinum. Its function was double, by raising or by lowering the +arm,--"_modo per arteriae elevationem, modo per ejusdem submissionem_" says +the worthy Vairits; "for," he continues, "when the artery is thrown out and +is open, the spirits are emitted with wonderful celerity, and in some +imperceptible manner are carried to the thing to fascinate it. And because +the artery has its origin in the heart, the spirits issuing thence retain +its infected and vitiated nature, and according to its depravity fascinate +and destroy." + +This power of touch is recognized in all history and in all climes. All who +saw Christ desired to touch his garment, and so receive some healing +virtue; and his miracles of cure he almost always performed by his +hand. When the woman who had the issue of blood came behind him and touched +him, Jesus asked who touched him, and said,--"Somebody hath touched me; for +I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." It has always been a popular +superstition that the scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king or of +the seventh son of a seventh son. The old belief that the body of a +murdered man would distill blood, if his murderer's hand were placed on +him, is also of the same class. + +Descending to the sphere of animals, we find some curious facts having +relation to this power. The electrical eel, for instance, has the faculty +of overcoming and numbing his prey by this means. And among the Arabs, +according to Gerard, the French lion-killer, whoever inhales the breath of +the lion goes mad. + +Dr. Livingstone, in his interesting travels in South Africa, makes a +curious statement bearing upon this subject. He was out shooting lions one +day, when, "after having shot once, just," he says, "as I was in the act of +ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, +I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little +height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground +below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a +terrier-dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which +seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a +sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of +terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all +the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the +result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no +sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is +probably produced in all animals killed by the _carnivora_, and, if so, is +a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of +death." + +The next method of fascination was by the Voice. Aristotle speaks of it as +the cause of fascination, and says that the mere sound of the fascinator's +voice has this wondrous power, independently of his good or ill will, as +well as of the words he uses. And Alexander Aphrodisiensis calls the +fascinators poisoners, who poison their victim by intently looking at him +_carmine prolato_, "with a measured song or cadence." The same peculiarity +is observable in all experiments with the moving tables or rapping spirits, +which are more successful when accompanied by constant music. Circe +fascinated with incantation; and the Psalmist alludes to it as a means of +charming. Serpents, as well as men, are thus charmed. Virgil says, that, if +to this incantation by words certain herbs are joined, the fascination +works with more terrible effect:-- + + "Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, + Miscueruntque herbas et non irmoxia verba, + Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena." + +It is related of a certain magician, that, when he whispered in the ear of +a bull, he could prostrate him to the earth as if he were dead; [Footnote: +Vairus, _De Fascino_. p. 24.] and in our own time we have had an example +of the same wonderful faculty in Sullivan, the famous horse-whisperer, +whose secret died with him, or, at least, never was made public. Pliny also +relates, that tigers are rendered so furious by the sound of the drum, that +they often end by tearing themselves limb from limb in their rage; but I am +afraid this is one of Pliny's stories. Plutarch, however, agrees with him +in this belief.[Footnote: Plut. _Praecepta Conjugialia_.] + +And next as to the Evil Eye ([Greek: ophthalmos baskanos]). From the +earliest ages of the world, the potency of the eye in fascination has been +recognized. "Nihil oculo nequius creatum" says the Preacher; and the +philosopher calls it alter animus, "another spirit." "It sends forth its +rays," says Vairus, "like spears and arrows, to charm the hearts of men": +"veluti jacula et sagittae ad effascinandorum corda." And it carries +disease and death, as well as love and delight, in its course: "Totumque +corpus inficiunt, atque ita (nulla interposita mora) arbores, segetes, +bruta animalia et homines perniciosa qualitate inficiunt et ad interitum +deducunt." Vairus relates that a friend of his saw a fascinator simply with +a look break in two a precious gem while in the hands of the artist who was +working upon it. Horace thua alludes to it:-- + + "Non isthic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam + Limat; non odio obscuro morsuque venenat." + +Among the diseases given by a glance are ophthalmia and jaundice, say the +ancients; and in these cases, the fascinator loses the disease as his +victim takes it A similar peculiarity is to be remarked in the superstition +of the basilisk, who kills, if he sees first, but when he is seen first, +dies. No animals, it is said, can bear the steady gaze of man, and there +are some persons who by this means seem to exercise a wonderful power over +them. Animals, however, have sometimes their revenge on man. It is an old +superstition, that he whom the wolf sees first loses his voice. Among +themselves, also, they use this power of charming,--as in the case of the +serpent, who thus attracts the bird, and of the toad, the "jewels in whose +head" have a like magical influence. Dr. Andrew Smith, in his excellent +work on "Reptilia," gives the following interesting account of the power of +the serpent, and of other animals, to fascinate their prey. Speaking of the +_Bucephalus Capetisis_, he says,-- + +"It is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of +catching birds, on which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in +a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighborhood, who +collect round it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing cries, +until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, +and, almost without resistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such a +proceeding, the snake is generally observed with its head raised about ten +or twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are +entwined, with its mouth open and its neck inflated, as if anxiously +endeavoring to increase the terror, which it would almost appear it was +aware would sooner or later bring within its grasp some one of the +feathered group. + +"Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true +that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable +to retire from the presence of certain of their enemies, and, what is even +more extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a +situation of actual safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I +have often seen exemplified in the case of birds and snakes; and I have +heard of instances equally curious, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds +have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance of crocodiles, and by the +grimaces and distortions they practised, as to be unable to fly or even +move from the spot towards which they were approaching to seize them." + +The fascination which fire and flame exercise upon certain insects is well +known, and the beautiful moths which so painfully insist on sacrificing +themselves in our candle are the commonplaces of poets and lovers. They are +generally supposed to be attracted by the light and ignorantly to rush to +their destruction; but this simple explanation does not fully account for +all the facts. Dr. Livingstone says, that "fire exercises a fascinating +effect upon some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the +evenings, without even starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot +embers rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the +hottest parts, and they never cease their struggles for the centre even +when their juices are coagulating and their limbs stiffening in the +roasting heat. Various insects also are thus fascinated; but the scorpions +may be seen coming away from the fire in fierce disgust, and they are so +irritated as to inflict at that time their most painful stings." + +May it not be that flame exercises upon certain insects and animals an +influence similar to that produced upon man by the moon, rendering them mad +when subjected too long to its influence? Is not the moon the Evil Eye of +the night? + +A curious story, bearing upon this subject, is told in one of a series of +interesting articles in "Household Words," called "Wanderings in India." +The author is talking with an old soldier about a cobra-capello, which has +been known to the latter for thirteen years. + +"This cobra," says the soldier, "has never offered to do me any harm; and +when I sing, as I sometimes do when I am alone here at work on some tomb or +other, he will crawl up and listen for two or three hours together. One +morning, while he was listening, he came in for a good meal, which lasted +him some days." + +"How was that?" + +"I will tell you, Sir. A minar was chased by a small hawk, and, in despair, +came and perched itself on the top of a most lofty tomb at which I was at +work. The hawk, with his eyes fixed intently on his prey, did not, I fancy, +see the snake lying motionless in the grass; or, if he did see him, he did +not think he was a snake, but something else,--my crowbar, perhaps. After a +little while, the hawk pounced down, and was just about to give the minar a +blow and a grip, when the snake suddenly lifted his head, raised his hood, +and hissed. The hawk gave a shriek, fluttered, flapped his wings with all +his might, and tried very hard to fly away. But it would not do. Strong as +the eye of the hawk was, the eye of the snake was stronger. The hawk, for a +time, seemed suspended in the air; but at last he was obliged to come down +and sit opposite the old gentleman, (the snake,) who commenced with his +forked tongue, and keeping his eyes on him all the while, to slime his +victim all over. This occupied him for at least forty minutes, and by the +time the process was over the hawk was perfectly motionless. I don't think +he was dead,--but he was very soon, however, for the old gentleman put him +into a coil or two and crackled up every bone in the hawk's body. He then +gave him another sliming, made a big mouth, distended his neck till it was +as big round as the thickest part of my arm, and down went the hawk like a +shin of beef into a beggar-man's bag." [Footnote: _Household Words_, +Jan. 23, 1858, vol. xvii., P. 139.] + +The same writer, in another paper, relates a case in which he was cured of +a violent attack of _tic-douloureux_, from which he "suffered extreme +agonies," by the steady gaze of a native doctor, who was called in for the +purpose. He used no other method than a fixed, steady gaze, making no +mesmeric passes; and in this way he cured his patients by "locking up their +eyes," as he termed it. His power seemed to have been very great; and what +is curious is, that, "with one exception, and that was in the case of a +Keranu, a half-caste, no patient had ever fallen asleep or had become +'_beehosh_' (unconscious) under his gaze." He related several cases, one of +which was of "a sahib who had gone mad," drink-delirious. "His wife would +not suffer him to be strapped down, and he was so violent that it took four +or five other sahibs to hold him. I was sent for, and at first had great +difficulty with him, and much trembling. At last, however, I locked his +eyes up as soon as I got him to look at me, and kept him, for several +hours, as quiet as a mouse. I stayed with him two days, and whatever I told +him to do he did immediately. When I got his eyes fixed on mine, he could +not take them away,--could not move." + +All these different kinds of fascination have now become united together +and go under the general name of _Jettatura_, in Italy, though the eye is +considered as the most potent and terrible charmer. The superstition is +universal, and pervades all modes of thought among the ignorant classes, +but its sanctuary is Naples. There it is as much a matter of faith as the +Madonna and San Gennaro. Every coral-shop is filled with amulets, and +everybody wears a counter-charm,--ladies on their arms, gentlemen on their +watch-chains, lazzaroni on their necks. If you are going to Italy,--and as +all the world now goes to Italy, you will join the endless caravan, of +course,--it becomes a matter of no small importance for you to know the +signs by which you may recognize the fascinator, and the means by which you +may avert his evil influence; for, should you fall in his way and be +unprotected, direful, indeed, might be the consequences. Sudden disease, +like a pestilence at mid-day, might seize you, and on those lovely shores +you might pine away and die. Dreadful accidents might overwhelm you and +bury all your happiness forever. Therefore be wise in time. + +"Women," says Vairus, "have more power to fascinate than men"; but the +reason he gives will not, I fear, recommend itself to the sex,--for the +worthy _padre_ feared women as devils. According to him, their evil +influence results from their unbridled passions: "_Quia irascendi et +concupiscendi animi vim adeo effrenatam habent, ut nullo modo ab ira et +cupiditate sese temperare valeant_." (Certainly, he _is_ a wretch.) But it +will be some consolation to know that the young and beautiful have far less +power for evil than "little old women," (_aniculas_,) and for these you +must specially look out. But most of all to be dreaded, male or female, are +those who are lean and melancholy by temperament, ("lean and hungry +Cassiuses,") and who have double pupils in their eyes, or in one eye a +double pupil and in the other the figure of a horse. Perhaps Mr. Squeers +and all of his kind come within this class, as having more than one pupil +always in their eye,--but, specially, this rule would seem to warn us +against jockey schoolmasters, with a horse in one eye and several pupils in +the other. Those, too, are dangerous, according to Didymus, who have +hollow, pit-like eyes, sunken under concave orbits, with great projecting +eyebrows,--as well as those who emit a disagreeable odor from their +armpits, (_con rispetto_,) and are remarkable for a general squalor of +complexion and appearance. Persons also are greatly to be suspected who +squint, or have sea-green, shining, terrible eyes. "One of these," says +Didymus, "I knew,--a certain Spaniard, whose name it is not permitted me to +mention,--who, with black and angry countenance and truculent eyes, having +reprimanded his servant for something or other, the latter was so overcome +by fear and terror, that he was not only affected with fascination, but +even deprived of his reason, and a melancholic humor attacking his whole +body, he became utterly insane, and, in the very house of his master, next +the Church of St. James, committed suicide, by hanging himself with a +rope." [Footnote: The passage from Didymus is this: "Macilenti et +melancholici, qui binas pupillas in oculis habent, aut in uno oculo geminam +pupillam, in altero effigiem equi,--quique oculos concavos ac veluti +quibusdam quasi foveis reconditos gerunt, exhaustoque adeo universo humore +ut ossa,--quibus palpebrae coherent, eminere, hirquique sordibus scatere +cernuntur,--quibus in tota cute quae faciem obducit squallor et situs +immoderatus conspicitur, facillime fascinant. Strabones, glaucos, micantes +et terribiles oculos habentes quaecumque et iratis oculis aspiciunt fascino +inficiunt. Et _ego_ hisce oculis Romae quondam Hispanum genere vidi, quem +nominare non licet, qui cum truculentis oculis tetro et irato vultu servum +ob nescio quod objurgasset, adeo servus ille timore ac terrore perterritus +fuit, ut non modo fascino affectus, sed rationis usu privatus fuerit, et +melancholico humore totum ejus corpus invadente, ita ad insaniam redactus +fuit, ut in domo sui heri prope ecclesiam Divi Jacobi sibi mortem +consciverit et laqueo vitam finiverit."] + +_Moral_.--If you ever meet with such an agreeable person as this Spaniard +appears to have been,--look out! + +In this connection, the reader will recall the similar power of Vathek, in +Beckford's romance, who killed with his eye,--and the story of Racine, whom +a look of Louis XIV. sent to his grave. + +The famous Albertus Magnus, master of medicine and magic, devotes a long +chapter to the subject of eyes, giving us, at length, descriptions of those +which we may trust and those which we must fear, some of them terrible and +vigorous enough. From among them I select the following:--"Those who have +hollow eyes are noted for evil; and the larger and moister they are, the +more they indicate envy. The same eyes, when dry, show the possessors to be +faithless, traitorous, and sacrilegious; and if these eyes are also yellow +and cold, they argue insanity. For hollow eyes are the sign of craft and +malignity; and if they are wanting in darkness, they also show +foolishness. But if the eyes are too hollow, and of medium size, dry and +rigid,--if, besides this, they have broad, overhanging eyebrows, and livid +and pallid circles round them, they indicate impudence and malignity." +[Footnote: Albertus Magnus, _De Anima_.] If this be not enough to enable +you, O my reader, to recognise the Evil Eye at sight, let me refer you to +the whole chapter, where you will find ample and very curious rules laid +down, showing a singular acuteness of observation. + +Things have, indeed, somewhat changed since the days of Didymus, in this +respect, that men are now thought to be more potent for evil _jettatura_ +than women; but his general views still coincide with those entertained at +the present time in Italy. Ever since the establishment, or rather +decadence, of the Church in the Middle Ages, monks have been considered as +peculiarly open to suspicion of possessing the Evil Eye. As long ago as the +ninth century, in the year 842, Erchempert, a _frate_ of the celebrated +convent of Monte Cassino, writes,--"I knew formerly Messer Landulf, Bishop +of Capua, a man of singular prudence, who was wont to say, 'Whenever I meet +a monk, something unlucky always happens to me during the day.'" And to +this day, there are many persons, who, if they meet a monk or priest, on +first going out in the morning, will not proceed upon their errand or +business until they have returned to their house and waited awhile. In Rome +there are certain persons who are noted for this evil power, and marked and +avoided in consequence. One of them is a most pleasant and handsome man, +attached to the Church, and yet, by odd coincidence, wherever he goes, he +carries ill-luck. If he go to a party, the ices do not arrive, the music is +late, the lamps go out, a storm comes on, the waiter smashes his tray of +refreshments,--something or other is sure to happen. "_Sentite_," said some +one the other day to me. "Yesterday, I was looking out of my window, when +I saw ---- coming along. 'Phew!' said I, making the sign of the cross and +pointing both fingers, 'what ill-luck will happen now to some poor devil +that does not see him?' I watched him all down the street, however, and +nothing occurred; but this morning I hear, that, after turning the corner, +he spoke to a poor little boy, who was up in a tree gathering some fruit, +and no sooner was out of sight than smash! down fell the boy and broke his +arm." Even the Pope himself has the reputation of possessing the Evil Eye +to some extent. Ask a Roman how this is, and he will answer, as one did to +me the other day,--"_Si dice, e per me veramente mi pare di si_": "They say +so; and as for me, really it seems to me true. If he have not the +_jettatura_, it is very odd that everything he blesses makes _fiasco_. We +all did very well in the campaign of '48 against the Austrians. We were +winning battle after battle, and all was gayety and hope, when suddenly he +blesses the cause, and everything goes to the Devil at once. Nothing +succeeds with anybody or anything when he wishes well to them. See, here +the other day he went to Santa Agnese to have a great festival, and down +goes the floor, and the people are all smashed together. Then he visits the +column to the Madonna in the Piazza di Spagna, and blesses it and the +workmen, and of course one falls from the scaffolding the same day and +kills himself. A week or two ago he arranged to meet the King of Naples at +Porto d'Anzo, and up comes a violent storm and gale that lasts a week; +then another arrangement was made, and then the fracas about the ex-queen +of Spain. Then, again, here was Lord O----- came in the other day from +Albano, being rather unwell; so the Pope sends him his special blessing, +when pop! he dies right off in a twinkling. There is nothing so fatal as +his blessing. We were a great deal better off under Gregory, before he +blessed us. Now, if he hasn't the _jettatura_, what is it that makes +everything turn out at cross purposes with him? For my part, I don't wonder +the workmen at the Column refused to work the other day in raising it, +unless the Pope stayed away." + +No less a person than Rachel seems also to have been affected with this +same superstition in regard to the Pope, if we may place confidence in the +strange story which Madame de B----- relates in her memoirs of that +celebrated daughter of Israel. According to her account, Rachel had been on +a visit to her sister, who was quite ill in the Pyrenees, when one day the +disease appeared to take so favorable a turn that Rachel left her to visit +another sister. There she met several friends, and, (to continue the story +in Madame de B-----'s words,) "exhilarated by the good news she had +brought, and the hopes all hastened to build on the change, she began to +chat and laugh quite merrily. In the midst of this exuberant gayety, her +maid broke into the room in a state of great excitement; a fit had come on, +the patient was in much danger, the physician desired Mdlle. Rachel's +immediate presence. Rising with the bound of a wounded tigress, the +_tragedienne_ seemed to seek, bewildered, some cause for the blow that had +fallen thus unexpectedly. Her eye lighted on a rosary blessed by the Pope, +and which she had worn round her arm as a bracelet ever since her visit to +Rome. Without, perhaps, accounting to herself for the belief, she had +attached some talismanic virtue to the beads. Now, however, in the height +of her rage and disappointment, she tore them from her wrist, and, dashing +them to the ground, exclaimed, 'Oh, fatal gift! 'tis thou hast entailed +this curse upon me!' With these words, she sprang out of the room, leaving +every one in mute astonishment at her frantic action." On the 23d of June, +immediately after, the sister died. + +And yet the Pope does not at all answer to the accredited portraits of +those who have the Evil Eye. He is fat, smiling, and most pleasant of +aspect, as he is good in heart. But, certainly, nothing has prospered that +he has touched. Read Dumas' description, and see if you should have +recognized the Pope as a _jettatore_. "_Le Jettatore_," says he, "_est +ordinairement pale et maigre. II a un nez en bec de corbin, de gros yeux +qui ont quelque chose de ceux de crapaud, et qu'il recouvre ordinairement +pour les dissimuler d'une paire de lunettes._" But it is the exception that +proves the rule, say those who insist on the _jettatura_ of Pius IX. + +Dumas also speaks of a work on the _jettatura_, which I have vainly +endeavored to procure, written by Nicola Valetta; and from what one can +gather from the heads of the chapters which Dumas gives, it must be a very +amusing book. [Footnote: The title of this work is _Cicalata sul Fascino, +volgarmente detto Jettatura_, by Nicola Valetta. It was published more than +fifty years since, and copies are now rare.] These heads are as +follows. They speak for themselves, and show the fear entertained of a +monk. He examines:-- + +"1. If a man inflicts a more terrible _jettatura_ than a woman? + +"2. If he who wears a peruke is more to be feared than he who wears none? + +"3. If he who wears spectacles is not more to be feared than he who wears a +peruke? + +"4. If he who takes tobacco is not more to be feared than he who wears +spectacles? and if spectacles, peruke, and snuff-box combined do not triple +the force of the _jettatura?_ + +"5. If the woman _jettatrice_ is more to be feared when she is _enceinte?_ + +"6. If there is still more to be feared from her when she is certain that +she is not _enceinte?_ + +"7. If monks are more generally _jettatori_ than other men? and among monks +what order is most to be feared? + +"8. At what distance can _jettatura_ be made? + +"9. Must it be made in front, or at the side, or behind? + +"10. If there are really gestures, sounds of voice, and particular looks, +by which _jettatura_ may be recognized? + +"11. If there are prayers which can guaranty us against the _jettatura?_ +and if so, whether there are any special prayers to guaranty us against the +_jettatura_ of monks? + +"12. Lastly, whether the power of modern talismans is equal to the power of +ancient talismans? and whether the single or the double horn is most +efficacious?" + +Luckless, indeed, is he who has the misfortune to possess, or the +reputation of possessing this fatal power. From that time forward the world +flees him, as the water did Thalaba. A curse is on him, and from the very +terror at seeing him accidents are most likely to follow. Keep him from +your children, or they will break their legs, arms, or necks. Look not at +him from your carriage, or it will upset. Let him not see your wife when +she is _enceinte,_ or she will miscarry, or you will have a monster for a +son. Never invite him to a ball, unless you wish to see your chandelier +smash, or the floor give way. Invite him not to dinner, or your mushrooms +will poison you, and your fish will smell. If he wishes you _buon viaggio_, +abandon the journey, if you would return alive. Nor be deceived by his good +manners and kind heart. It is of no avail that he is amiable and good in +all his intentions,--his _jettatura_ is without and beyond his will,--nay, +worse, is contrary to it; for all _jettatura_ goes like dreams, by +contraries. Therefore shudder when he wishes you well, for he can do no +worse thing. + +If you do not believe what I tell you, read the wonderful story of Count +----- which is told by Dumas in his "Corriccolo," and at least you will be +amused, if not convinced. Listen, however, to this one historical incident, +and believe it or not, as you please. Ferdinand of Naples died on the night +of the 3d of January, 1825, and was found dead in the morning. The +physicians attributed his death to a stroke of apoplexy; but that was in +consequence of their pretended science and real ignorance. The actual cause +of his death was this,--and if you do not believe it, ask any true +Neapolitan, or Alexander Dumas, if you put more faith in him.--A certain +_canonico,_ named Don Ojori, had for many years desired an audience of +Ferdinand, to present him a certain book, of which Don Ojori was the +author. The King had his good reasons for refusing, for Don Ojori was well +known to be the greatest _jettatore_ in Naples. Finally, on the 2d of +January, the King was persuaded to grant him the desired favor the next +day, much against his will. The _canonico_ came, and after a long audience +left his book and many prayers for the King's prosperity. But Ferdinand did +not survive the interview a whole day; and if this be not proof that Don +Ojori bewitched him to his destruction, what is? + + * * * * * + + + +PYTHAGORAS. + +Above the petty passions of the crowd +I stand in frozen marble like a god, +Inviolate, and ancient as the moon. +The thing I am, and not the thing Man is, +Fills these blank sockets. Let him moan and die; +For he is dust that shall be laid again: +I know my own creation was divine. +Strewn on the breezy continents I see +The veined shells and glistening scales which once +Enwrapt my being,--husks that had their use; +I brood on all the shapes I must attain +Before I reach the Perfect, which is God, +And dream my dream, and let the rabble go: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + +I was a spirit on the mountain-tops,-- +A perfume in the valleys,--a simoom +On arid deserts,--a nomadic wind +Roaming the universe,--a tireless Voice. +I was ere Romulus and Remus were; +I was ere Nineveh and Babylon; +I was, and am, and evermore shall be,-- +Progressing, never reaching to the end. + +A hundred years I trembled in the grass, +The delicate trefoil that muffled warm +A slope on Ida; for a hundred years +Moved in the purple gyre of those dark flowers +The Grecian women strew upon the dead. +Under the earth, in fragrant glooms, I dwelt; +Then in the veins and sinews of a pine +On a lone isle, where, from the Cyclades, +A mighty wind, like a leviathan, +Ploughed through the brine, and from those solitudes +Sent Silence, frightened. To and fro I swayed, +Drawing the sunshine from the stooping clouds. +Suns came and went,--and many a mystic moon, +Orbing and waning,--and fierce meteor, +Leaving its lurid ghost to haunt the night +I heard loud voices by the sounding shore, +The stormy sea-gods,--and from ivory conchs +Wild music; and strange shadows floated by, +Some moaning and some singing. So the years +Clustered about me, till the hand of God +Let down the lightning from a sultry sky, +Splintered the pine and split the iron rock; +And from my odorous prison-house, a bird, +I in its bosom, darted: so we fled, +Turning the brittle edge of one high wave,-- +Island and tree and sea-gods left behind! + +Free as the air, from zone to zone I flew, +Far from the tumult to the quiet gates +Of daybreak; and beneath me I beheld +Vineyards, and rivers that like silver threads +Ran through the green, and gold of pasture-lands,-- +And here and there a hamlet, a white rose,-- +And here and there a city, whose slim spires +And palace-roofs and swollen domes uprose +Like scintillant stalagmites in the sun; +I saw huge navies battling with a storm +By ragged reefs along the desolate coasts,-- +And lazy merchantmen, that crawled, like flies, +Over the blue enamel of the sea +To India or the icy Labradors. + +A century was as a single day. +What is a day to an immortal soul? +A breath,--no more. And yet I hold one hour +Beyond all price,--that hour when from the heavens +I circled near and nearer to the earth, +Nearer and nearer, till I brushed my wings +Against the pointed chestnuts, where a stream +That foamed and chattered over pebbly shoals +Fled through the bryony, and with a shout +Leaped headlong down a precipice: and there, +Gathering wild-flowers in the cool ravine, +Wandered a woman more divinely shaped +Than any of the creatures of the air, +Or river-goddesses, or restless shades +Of noble matrons marvellous in their time +For beauty and great suffering; and I sung, +I charmed her thought, I gave her dreams; and then +Down from the sunny atmosphere I stole +And nestled in her bosom. There I slept +From moon to moon, while in her eyes a thought +Grew sweet and sweeter, deepening like the dawn, +A mystical forewarning! When the stream, +Breaking through leafless brambles and dead leaves, +Piped shriller treble, and from chestnut-boughs +The fruit dropped noiseless through the autumn night, +I gave a quick, low cry, as infants do: +We weep when we are born, not when we die! +So was it destined; and thus came I here, +To walk the earth and wear the form of man, +To suffer bravely as becomes my state,-- +One step, one grade, one cycle nearer God. + +And knowing these things, can I stoop to fret +And lie and haggle in the market-place, +Give dross for dross, or everything for nought? +No! let me sit above the crowd, and sing, +Waiting with hope for that miraculous change +Which seems like sleep; and though I waiting starve, +I cannot kiss the idols that are set +By every gate, in every street and park,-- +I cannot fawn, I cannot soil my soul: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + + * * * * * + + + +CLARIAN'S PICTURE. + +A LEGEND OF NASSAU HALL. + +"Turbine raptus ingenii."--SCALIGER. + + +Mac and I dined together yesterday,--as we are used to do at least once or +twice every year, for the sake of our ever-mellowing friendship, and those +good old times in which it began. Like all who are ripe enough to have +memories, we delight to recall the period of our vernal equinox, and to +moralize, with gentle sadness and many wise wags of our frosty polls, upon +the events in which that period was prolific; and so, when the cloth was +removed yesterday, and we sat toying with our cigars and our Sherry, our +talk insensibly drifted back to those merry college-days when we not +infrequently "heard the chimes at midnight." + +"Ah, old fellow," quoth I to my chum, "those good old days are gone by, +now, and Israel worships strange gods. Old Nassau will never be what she +was before the fire of '55. Those precious heirlooms of our day are sunk +from sight forever, dear and mossy as they were,--swept down, like cobwebs, +before the flame-besom. _'Fuit Ilium!'_ The old bell will never again ring +out the gay 'larums of a 'Third Entry' barring-out. Homer's head no longer +perches owl-like and wise over the central door-way. _'Ai, Adonai!'_ No +more wilt proud fingers point to the spot whereat entered--not like +'Casca's envious dagger'--that well-aimed cannon-ball which pierced the +picture-gallery, punched 'Georgius Res' on the head, and frightened away +forever the Hessians that were stabled there, fouling the nest of stout old +John Witherspoon. They call other rolls now in chapel and in class-room, +and chant other songs at their revels and their feasts. '_Eheu, +Posthume!_'" + +"Pshaw, Ned Blount! there's corn in Egypt still. Out of that bug-riddled +old barn we used to know a new and comely Phoenix has been born unto +Princeton; the fire hath purged, not destroyed; and we wiseacres who +flourished in the old 'flush times' yet survive in tradition, patterns for +our children, very Turveydrops of collegiate deportment. The belfry clangs +with a louder peal; even Clarian's Picture, though it hath utterly perished +to the eye of sense, lives vivid in a thousand memories, and, having found +in the tenderness of tradition and legend an engraver whose burin is as +faithful as Raphael Morghen's, has left the damp dark wall, like Leonardo's +_Cenacolo_, to accompany all of us to our firesides." + +Clarian's Picture! what memories the mention of it stirred up! + +"Poor Clarian!" I murmured. + +"Poor, indeed I" repeated Mac, with a sneer. "He is only worth a lovely +wife and six children, with half a million to back them. And he only weighs +two hundred pounds, with I forget how many inches of fat over the +brisket. Poor, indeed! 'Tis pity you and I have not experienced a slight +attack of that same poverty, Ned Blount!" + +"Poor Clarian!" repeated I, sturdily. "To think that a man who could paint +such a picture, a soul of imagination so compact, a so delicate +ether-breathing spirit, should settle down at last into a mere mechanical, +a plodding, every-day merchant, whose finest fancies are given to the +condition of the money-market, who governs his actions by a decline of +Erie, and narrows his ideas down to the requirements of filthy lucre, like +a mere 'wintry clod of earth'! Ay, poor Clarian, poor anybody, when we wake +from our bright youth-dream and tread the rough pathway of a reality like +this!" + +"_Potz tausend_! the man is _fou_!" shouted Mac. "Come, drink your wine, +Ned, and we'll have our coffee. It is quite time, I think,--and he used to +be a three-bottle fellow," muttered my dear old friend, _sotto +voce_. "'_Heu, heu! tempora mutantur, et nos_'--well, well, well!" + + * * * * * + +Clarian's Picture! What a gush of recollection the words evoke! I was in +the heyday and blossom of my youth then, and now--well, 'tis some years +since; yet how vividly I remember that pleasant noontide of a day of early +summer, when, as a party of us students were lounging about the gates that +opened from our shady campus upon the street, "Dennis" handed me a note +from Clarian, in which my little friend announced that his picture was +finished at last, and invited Mac and myself to call and see it +"exhibited," at nine o'clock that very evening. We were talking about +Clarian and his picture, at the time,--as, indeed, we had been doing for a +month,--and when I mentioned the purport of the note, curiosity rose to the +tiptoe of expectation, and numerous surmises were set afloat. I could have +satisfied their queries as to the subject and character of the picture, for +Mac and I had seen it only a few days before, but Clarian expected us to be +secret about it; so I only listened and smiled, while the eager talk ran +on, and a thousand conjectures were hazarded. + +"So the _magnum opus_ is finished at last," said Clayt Zoile, showing by +his manner, as he joined us, that he at least had not received an +invitation; "a precious specimen of Art it will prove, I doubt not, after +all the outcry about it. '_Montes parturiunt_' etc." + +"You'll lose your wish this time, Clayt," drawled Mounchersey, carelessly; +"Mr. Cosine told me yesterday that 'Boss' has called on Clarian about his +cutting so many prayers and recites, and that, after seeing the unfinished +picture, he gave the youngster _carte blanche_ as to time, till it is +completed;--so it must be something worth looking at" + +"I guess Ned Blount's glad the picture is finished," said Tone Ninyan, +turning to me,--"a'n't you, Ned?" + +I confessed I was not by any means sorry, for Clarian's sake. + +"No," laughed Zoile, "Ned isn't sorry,--be sure of that; for he wants his +dear 'Whitewash' restored again to the bosom of society, lest the walls of +his reputation should by chance suffer from fly-speck." + +These words created a laugh at my expense; for Clarian had shown himself, +in his warm, generous way, such a zealous advocate of my immaculate +perfection, that he was quite generally known by the _sobriquet_ of "Ned +Blount's Whitewash." + +Just then Mac came along, on his way to the post-office, and I joined him, +showing him Ciarian's note. + +"Hum," growled my good old chum, as he read it, "don't want to be disturbed +to-day; sick, is he? I'd like to know who's to blame, if he isn't. Wishes +me to bring my Shakspeare along;--it's a wonder he had not said Plotinus, +or Jacob Boehme's 'Aurora'; they're more in his style. The deuse take that +boy and his picture, Ned! What if we two fools have been playing too +roughly with such plastic clay? I wish to-night were come and gone +safely. I'll go see Dr. Thorne, and ask him to accompany us to-night. He +claims to be something of a connoisseur, and the picture is really worth +seeing, if the lad has not spoiled it with his 'final touches'. And anyhow, +the boy will be a study for a psychological monomaniac like Thorne." + +"You apprehend, then...." + +"_Sapperment_, you owl-face! I apprehend nothing; only it will be as well +to have Thorne present, for the boy is out of sorts, and his nerves were +never very strong. Now look here, Ned Blount! don't put on that lugubrious +phiz, I pray you;--and, moreover, don't you ever dare introduce any more of +your Freshmen _protege's_ to me; for, I warn you, I'll insult them, and +you, too,--I will, by Jove!" + +I was not less impatient than Mac for the night to come, for I was very +anxious about Clarian, dreading lest some catastrophe was about to overtake +him,--and the thought was by no means pleasant. For, as Mac had said, the +lad was a _protege_ of mine; he had been given into my charge by his sweet +lady-mother; he had looked up to me as his senior and his friend; and I +could not help feeling, that, if anything untoward should happen to him, it +would be partly my fault. + +From the very first I had been strongly attracted towards Clarian. Indeed, +the lad was remarkable for a peculiar spiritual beauty of person and +sweetness of manner that made almost every one love him. He was, in fact, +_lovely_, in the etymological sense of that misused word, and people +softened towards him as to a young, guileless child. I have known men cease +swearing when he drew near, drop ribaldry, and take up some more innocent +topic, simply through an unconscious impulse of fitness,--feeling that such +things had no business to be repeated in his presence. And they were right; +for a purer spirit than Clarian's I have never encountered in man or woman. +His face most reminded one of the portraits of Raphael at twenty. He had +the same broad, smooth forehead,--the same soft skin, delicate, yet rich as +the inner leaves of a pale rose,--the same finely shaped nose, and ripe, +womanly mouth, which a Persian, in default of a more tangible analogy, +would have likened to the seal of Solomon. But his lower face was somewhat +less full than Raphael's, the chin being shorter and sharper, and the jaw +curving less sensuously. His hair was of the purest chestnut hue, rich and +silken, showing here and there a thread of gold; he wore it long, and +flowing in half-ringlets upon his neck and shoulders. Clarian's eye was +large and dark, tender, rather sad, with now and then a speculative depth, +now and then a hint of the Romeo fore-doom, now and then a warm eloquence, +when meeting yours, that reminded strangely of a woman loving and in +love. Other womanly traits he had, such as the ingenuous blush with which +he asked or did a favor, and a certain not very boyish fondness for +softness and elegance of dress. Not that Clarian was effeminate, or in any +material respect deficient in manly character; but his mother was a widow, +and he her only son, and consequently he had been brought up like a girl, +at home, without any slightest opportunity to acquire those +rough-and-tumble experiences of ordinary boyhood which are so necessary to +fit us for battling in the world; for the world, though not unfeeling at +core, wears yet a sufficiently rough rind, and pretends but little sympathy +with persons of Clarian's stamp. + +Hence, when Clarian came to college, he knew very little of life +indeed,--and, moreover, he cherished not a few ascetic notions, deeming +this world "all a fleeting show," from whose vain illusions it was one's +chief duty to shield one's self. He had never read a novel, save "some of +Scott's,"--nor ever seen or read a play, not even of Shakspeare's. How I +envied him this new world, in whose usages I had been _blase_ long before I +was of an age to appreciate its beauties,--this bright, fancy-fostering +world, to which he was to go all fresh and unsophisticated, like a bride to +the nuptial sheets! In literature of a more solid kind his practice was +quite considerable: he had surveyed many fields of Art, History, and +Theology, all of which, however, had first been submitted to the test of +that anxious maternal _Index Expurgatorius_, lest some drop of infidelity +or impurity should trickle in unawares, to darken or embitter the pure +crystal waters of his soul. Ah, thou poor fond mother, so unreasoningly +ignoring the fact that each of us must somehow eat his "peck of dirt"! + +Thus intrusted to my charge, and having such attractive elements in his +character, I naturally took great interest in Clarian, and particularly +spared no effort to give him use in college ways. I saw that the lad was +not one to bear being laughed at, and so did all I could to screen him from +the embarrassments of ignorance,--taught him our customs, our fashions, and +gave him lessons upon that immemorial dialect in which college sublegists +delight. I chicaned to secure him a fine room, which his lady-mother +furnished "like a bridal chamher", if our Nassau cynics were to be +credited,--introduced him where it was necessary, and exercised generally +towards him that distinguished patronage which one who "knows the ropes" is +able to bestow upon a very Freshman. + +A fine generous fellow was Clarian, for all his apron-string +antecedents,--bold as a lion, and as trustworthy as he was enthusiastic. +He was of rather too nervous a temperament to be precisely healthy in all +mental respects, but nevertheless had a fine comprehensive mind, very +capable of sustained and concentrated effort. He had been well taught, and, +unfortunately, was so far advanced beyond the studies of his class as to +have a great deal of leisure. In consequence he turned to reading, and +here, again unfortunately, he put himself under my guidance, and suffered +me to govern him in his choice of books: unfortunately, I say, for I was +then a worshipper of that clay-footed Nebuchadnezzar-image, Metaphysics, +which I fondly deemed all of gold, and the most genuine of things. So, when +Clarian came to me, I was eager enough to put to his lips the wine of which +I was drunken. The boy took his first sip from Coleridge's "Biographia +Literaria",--that cracked Bohemian glass, which, handed in a golden salver +that might have come from the cunning graver of Cellini, yet forces one to +taste, over a flawed and broken edge, the sourest drop of ill-made _vin du +pays_, heavily drugged and made bitter with Paracelsian laudanum. Under +that strange patchwork quilt so imaginative a soul as Clarian could not +fail to dream. It was a great pity I had not been more circumspect, for the +boy was already too deeply steeped in those Acherontic waters. His mother, +like many other women, had loved to wander along the dreamy paths of +sentimental theology, clothing from her own beautiful mind the dim, +unsubstantial spectres that beckoned her, and accepting all their mystic +utterances, in blind faith, for genuine oracles of God. Into these by-ways +he had followed her, and his clearer vision had just sufficed to reveal to +him the ghosts, without teaching him how to master or dispel them. Thus, +Cowper's sweetness, which charmed her, became to him Cowper's dejection and +despairing sadness, perplexing enough to his young brain. Where she took up +and fed her soul upon John Wesley's conclusions, the boy found himself +involved in John Wesley's perplexities, and struggling in desperate wrestle +with the haunting shapes to which John Wesley had given successful +battle. Thus prepared, no wonder my eager little friend plunged headlong +into the sea of doubts, impatient to cry, "Eureka!" and plant his foot upon +the Islands of the Blessed. The new excitement completely swept his feet +from under him. 'Twas but a step from Coleridge and _Esemplastic_ matters +to Plotinus, and in a month he had taken that step,--the more readily, that +he was a right good Grecian, and found no unpleasant philological +difficulties in the "Enneades". Thence he went on in feverish unrest, +wildly running up and down all _Niffelheim_ in quest of some centre-point +upon which he could stand firm and look around him. He had an excellent +mind, and, unexcited, could take sufficiently common-sense views of most +matters; but this was too much for him. He made substance of shadows, and +then exhausted himself in giving them battle. He became anxious, uneasy, +nervous,--showing very plainly, that, in his search after the Alkahest, he +had injured his powers by making trial of too many drugs. + +Mac, with his sturdy good sense, and unerring mace-like judgment, speedily +became aware of this waste of function to which Clarian was subjecting +himself, and warned me accordingly. + +"Why do you let that boy bother his brains about your stupid _Ego_ and +_Non-Ego_?" said he. "Don't you see he is injuring himself, beginning to +sink under a sort of mental _albumenurea_,--at the very time, too, when he +has most need of stamina? He does nothing but read, read, read,--and what, +forsooth? Not anything that will teach him the genuineness of life and +manhood, but those damnable spirit-exalting, body-despising emasculates of +Alexandria,--Madame Guyon's meditations, too, and Isaac Taylor's giddy +see-sawings,--all heresies, and bosh,--'Dead-Sea fruits that turn to +ashes', and not only disgust you, but blister tongue and lips most +vilely. You'll have him next trying to treat with the gods, to attain +Brahm's purification, Boodh's annihilation, to jump over the moon, or doing +something that will make him candidate for the shaved-head-and-blister +treatment. Remember, Ned, his brain is made of finer stuff than that stolid +sponge inside your _pia mater_, that can take in _quantum sufficit_ of +beer, fog, and tobacco-smoke, unharmed. He can't stand it, and he's too +rare and delicate a machine to go cranky thus soon. You've got the child +under your thumb,--bring him out o' that. Make him take a dose of Verulam, +get him back into the world again, and order him four hours _per diem_ at +the dumb-bells." + +And so, the next time Clarian came to our rooms, and was eagerly soliciting +my opinion of a little essay he had written, to establish the identity of +the Logos with the Demiurgic Mind, ("Plato's World-Soul, called in 'Timaeus' +the best of Eternal Intelligences, the Noetic Partaker and Digester of +Reason", said Clarian in his tract,) with some corollaries for the purpose +of reconciling _Geist_ and _Freiheit_, all sauced down, _a l'Allemagne_, +with numerous capitals and a proper degree of incomprehensibility,--Mac +bluffly interrupted the colloquy, and accosted Clarian,-- + +"Younker! do you know you're a fool?" + +Clarian colored up,-- + +"How, Mac?" + +"What are we--Ned, and you, and I--here for?" + +"To acquire knowledge." + +"Ay, knowledge,--but what for?" + +"To fit us for heaven." + +"Phew! then you calculate to graduate from 'these classic shades' direct +into celestial regions, do you, without sojourning awhile in this terrene +purgatory? I do not, and, moreover, _je n'en ai pas l'envie_; I think the +world has some claims upon me, and I mean to pay that debt, D. V." + +"So do I, Mac," rejoined Clarian, a little proudly. + +"And do you suppose your present studies adapted to fit you for such work? +Now, if you want to be a monk, if you are willing, like Origen, to purchase +with your entire manhood some supposed facility of spiritual contemplation +and depth of insight into the Infinite, or if you intend to become a +Brahmin, and seek in your navel the dyspeptic divinity who there wields his +sceptre, while your despised body is given up to the predatory ravages of +_genus pediculus_, well and good. Follow your hest, go on and conquer the +[Greek: gnosis] and when you have got it, just inform me what it looks +like, and whether you will be more able to make use of it than the fellow +was of the elephant he bought at auction. But if you desire to take a man's +part in this grand world around you, you must leap off your shadow, and +never think about thinking, as the new Olympian has it. Let quiddities +alone, they are dry-bone vampires, that drain you of your blood without +growing fatter themselves." + +"But how can truth harm? and that is what I seek,--truth, and beauty; if I +commune with the world-soul, then also I know the world." + +"Faugh! let shadows alone; believe in the man; do not be persuaded that the +body is depraved and corrupt, and only the soul is worthy to be cultivated. +Hold fast to the tangible. We know that we have a body, spite the Bishop of +Cloyne, far more certainly than we know we have a soul. See, the soul is +this smoke, that evanishes so quickly; the body this meerschaum that I have +in my fingers, and will smoke again, please God." + +"But it is the smoke, not the pipe, that gives you pleasure, and is the +important consideration, Mac." + +"Confound analogies, and pert Freshmen!" growled my chum, puffing +vigorously. "Nevertheless, it is a noble and right royal thing, this +body,--a thing to be cared for and cultivated for its own sake, apart from +the fact of its being God's chosen sanctuary for what He lends us to see +Him by. And you are neglecting it, both in theory and practice, Clarian; so +you must give up these infernal Metaphysics. If you _will_ bother about +speculative matters, let Bacon teach you the correctives of error, and +Locke how to govern and rein in the understanding. But you'd better learn +first what men say about men. It may not make you happier, but it will make +you wiser, and wisdom ranks high in heaven: Gabriel, Raphael, +Michael,--'tis the second person in that archangelic trinity. Did you ever +read Shakspeare? No, of course not; and yet I'll wager you have been +hankering after the Bhagavat Ghita, and trying to get a copy of the +illustrious Trismegistan Gimander! Don't blush,--you're not the first young +man who has made an a--ahem--made a mistake. Fie! Learn men, Clarian, and +then you will come to know man,--the surest way, I take it, of knowing the +Multitudinous God. So read you Shakspeare, and AEschylus, save the +'Prometheus,'--_that_ was begotten of Bactrian lore upon the mysteries of +Karnac, and does not touch man nearly, spite of all its grandeur. Here, +listen, and I will give you a lesson in the Myriad-Minded whom +Stratford-upon-Avon blessed our little earth with." + +Therewith, Mac began to read from the first act of "The Tempest." Now chum +was a Shakspeare enthusiast, and, withal, a very fine reader, as well as, +from long study, quite pervaded with the Master's diction and style of +thought. As he read on, he commented, in his brief, pointed way, upon the +text, contrasting the Boatswain's practical usefulness with the shivering +helplessness of the Courtiers. "Now this is your proper somatology," he +added. "What our Bo's'un says to Gonzalo, the world will say to you, +Clarian, when you propose to it any of your panaceas: Are you able to do +better than we? If so, save us from the shipwreck that threatens. If not, +go to your prayers. Anyhow, 'out of our way, I say!'" + +"Bravo!" cried I, when the homily came to an end, "Mac is preaching +Carlylism, as I'm a sinner. The next utterance will be something about +roofing Hell over, or the Everlasting Yea, or Morrison's Pills! Proceed: +'lay on,' Mac! none of us will cry, 'Hold, enough!' save under risible +compulsion." + +Mac sulked awhile, but soon resumed his reading,--sparing us further +comment, however. Thus was Clarian led over the threshold, and introduced +into Shakspeare's magic world. When Mac closed his book at the end of the +act, Clarian's face glowed with a flattering something that must have +pleased my chum, for he _was_ proud of his reading,--and the moisture +glittering in the lad's eye, his flushed cheek, and the tremor of his voice +as he asked to hear more, spoke volumes. + +But Mac said, "No,--enough is as good as a feast, younker, and just now I +have to go with Bacchus in quest of a tragedian for Athens,--[Greek: brek +kek koax, koax], you know. Study the Master yourself: and let me by all +means advise your wisdom to detect a mystery in 'Hamlet,' and to essay the +solution of the same. Nobody else has done so, of course, and it will +become your long head. I've met several very mild, quiet people, whom you +would not suspect of the slightest impropriety; but mention the Dane, and, +_presto!_ off they go upon their hobbies, ('theories,' they call 'em,) and +canter around Bedlam at a most generous pace. '_Semel insanivimus omnes_,' +I suppose, and Hamlet and the Apocalypse offer rare opportunities." + +"Now, Ned," said Mac, somewhat complacently, when Clarian was gone, "I +think I have done that young rascal some good, and the bard will advantage +him still more, if he can only be moderate enough." + +And, indeed, these new pastures thus unbarred to Clarian's coltish fancies +made a great change in the lad. At first he simply revelled in the new +world of beauty that the Master's wand evoked, like a bird in the fresh, +warm sunshine of returning spring. But this did not last long; the bird +must busy himself with nest-building. Clarian's ardent, impetuous nature +must evolve results, would not content itself with mere sensations. So he +began to study Shakspeare,--not, as he had studied the philosophers, to +pluck out and make his own some cosmical, pervading thought, but to find +matter for Art-purposes. I think, that, if ever there was a born artist, +who united to a fine aesthetic sense the fervor of a devotee, Clarian was +that one, heart and soul. Some men make a mistress of Art, and sink down, +lost in sensual pleasure and excess, till the Siren grows tired and +destroys them. Other men wed Art, and from the union beget them fair, +lovely, ay, immortal children, as Raphael did. Some again, confounding Art +with their own inordinate vanity, grow stern and harsh with making +sacrifices to the stone idol, grinding down their own hearts in vain +experimenting after properer pigments, whereby themselves may attain to a +chill and profitless immortality. But there are others still, who, +elevating Art into a grand divinity, bow down and worship it, devote their +lives to its priesthood, and, as a reward, only ask the god to reveal to +them once his unveiled effulgence, content with the one communion, though +their rashness be fatal, and the god's benison prove but the ashes of +Semele. Towards this class Clarian tended, I knew very well, and hence, +from the first, I had thrown a damper upon his artistic aspirations, often +rewarded by his mournful and reproaching glances, as I sneered at his +sketches,--which, to tell the truth, were most admirable, showing at once a +keen poetic insight, fine composition, and an unusual mastery of technical +details. The obedient fellow had bowed to what he deemed my better +judgment, and turned away, with something of a sigh, from his dear love and +ambition. Now, however, this love came suddenly back, and with tenfold +intensity, as is always the case, and, though I dreaded its unhealthiness, +I could no longer thwart him. Indeed, the Art-sense took such complete +possession of him that I feared to interpose obstacles. He did not go about +his work like a boy, but bent himself to it with the calm, resolute purpose +of a man of forty. I could see the increasing mastery of the idea, in his +changed eye, in his compressed lip, in his statelier, calmer pose; and, +however incredulous we may be respecting _results_, these initiatory +motions never fail to impress us. Even Bluebeard would forbear to strike +down his pregnant wife, for the sake of what she bore under her bosom; and +I, seeing the boy's careful study, and his long and laborious preparation, +could not help looking forward to a result of commensurate importance. + +Nevertheless, it was my duty to have combated Clarian's tendencies, for I +could not help seeing the daily injury they did him. _Ars longa, vita +brevis_, was an overpowering conviction of the lad's, and he went to work +to apply the maddest of correctives. Art so exacting and life so short, +then it was his office to labor so much the more earnestly, so much the +more eagerly, that he might squeeze dry this orange of the present, and +lose no opportunity, no moment. Thus it came to pass with him, as it does +with us all who overwork ourselves, that actually he did less than he might +have done, and warped himself in a most pitiable way indeed. A +conscientious fellow, as he was, Clarian had hitherto been very faithful to +his duties in the regular curriculum,--but now all this was changed. Here +was a grand something to be done, a something so grand, indeed, that his +whole life must bow before its exactions, and all minor duties step out of +the way of Juggernaut. Who thinks of etiquette, of drawing-room +trivialities, when here we are before this mistress, at whose feet we must +pour out our soul? for her love blesses us with new life, her scorn damns +us with eternal despair. In this cursed fashion always the Idea masters a +man's soul, when he has once listened to its Lurlei-song. Henceforth he is +only to see things in the light it chooses to shed upon them. Let your +Alchemist but seek his Elixir long enough for the poison to fairly fill his +veins, and behold what a slave and a monster the Idea shall make of him! +Projection awaits him; the elements are here, commingling _in balneo +Mariae_; already _Rosa Solis_ lends its generative warmth; already hath _Leo +Rubeus_ wooed and won his lily bride; already hath the tincture headed up +royally in ruby and in purple, and sublimed, and gone through the entire +circle of embryonic processes: quick! there lacks but the one element; in +with it, and we are masters of the Life-Secret, of wealth, and power, and +all else the world can bestow,--ay, and we can give back to the world all +it asks! Yes, but that element is _Sanguis Virginis_. Well, and why not a +virgin's blood? Great things must be purchased,--cannot be plucked, like +fruit, from every tree. Were it _Sanguis Senis_, now, who would tap a vein +more readily than we, ay, even were a drop from the carotid required? And +must the world lose all this divine gift for a simple? What did Abraham on +Moriah? Here is this child; of what use is she to the world?--yet a few +ounces of her blood, and man is regenerate. In her innocence, too,--why, a +Manichee would have done it for her own sake. Come, quick knife,--and, we +do murder! I tell you, by dwelling on it, tasting, smelling of it, taking +it into our bosoms, and making ourselves familiar with it, we poor men can +finally persuade ourselves that the most damning thought begot of Hell upon +a putrescent brain is the fairest, brightest, most glorious _Deus +vult_. Here was the danger that menaced Clarian, ay, had already begun to +insinuate its poison into his daily food. The simple fact of his neglecting +his studies proved this. It was a venial sin, doubtless,--but still, it was +his _premier pas_, and, as such, ominous enough. + +Giving himself up to his art, he soon began to illustrate in his person the +effects of confinement and excessive thought. His pale cheek grew paler +still, the hollows under his eyes deepened, and his slim fingers waxed +slimmer and more transparent than ever. I could see also that he had +excessive bile,--not only ascertainable by looking at his imbrowned eye, +but deducible from a change in his temper that was by no means an +improvement. His room was full of sketches and drawing-material: these +attracted visitors, and visitors were a trouble. Perhaps there was +impertinence in their curiosity, very likely their presence hindered him; +but, nevertheless, it was by no means like the sweet-tempered Clarian to +show irritability and petulance, and finally, closing his door obstinately +against all comers, to elect for solitude and silence at his work. +No,--the boy was changed, grown morbid, a pervert, ripe for whatever +Devil's sickle might be put forth to gather him in. + +Thus things went on from bad to worse, until the authorities began to take +notice of the lad's derelictions. The kind old President sent for me, and +made many inquiries about Clarian. Evidently the elders were not a trifle +bothered by my little _protege's_ proceedings, and did not know how to +act. He had been much liked, his character was unblemished, he had done +himself credit in his studies: what did all this change mean? The Faculty +made it a rule to respect every man's privacy as much as possible,--but +Mr. Blount well knew that the present state of things could not long be +permitted. In their eyes, the backslider was palpably a far more unsavory +fact than the original sinner. Could not Mr. Blount use his influence in +some way, or suggest some course? Mr. Blount presented Clarian's cause in +as favorable a light as possible; spoke of the youth's noble nature; +guarantied that there was no moral obliquity; strongly advised leniency; +venturing withal to hope, nay, to believe, that all this devotion, so +intense, to a single purpose, would not be fruitless, might possibly win +him credit. He certainly had fine imagination, and then he was so absorbed +in his work;--it was a question whether it would help him most to encourage +or to repress his ardor at present. The Doctor pondered, said he would take +the matter into consideration,--it were a pity to nip any wholesome +enthusiasm i' the bud,--"but it is very apparent, Mr. Blount, that the +young man, if he goes on, will experience the fate of Orpheus, and so needs +to be curbed in time. '_Medio tutissimus ibis_', saith Naso,--a maxim the +non-observance of which cost him the pain and disgrace of exile. And you +should strive to impress the truth of it upon Clarian; spare no pains to +rouse him. This seclusion is what I most dread. The poet Spenser hath made +all his viler passions dwellers in caves and darkness, and with truth; for +solitude is fatal, where there are morbid and melancholic tendencies. A +very wise German, remarking upon the text, 'It is not good for man to be +alone,' added, very finely,--'and above all, it is not good for man to +_work_ alone; he requires sympathy, encouragement, excitement, to succeed +in anything good.'" + +But I found the worthy old Doctor's advice easier to inculcate than to +practise. Clarian did not need my sympathy, had excitement and +encouragement enough in his own hopes, and, in fact, like the Boatswain in +"The Tempest," only required to be let alone. Still, he paid us a visit now +and then, and gave us to understand that he denied himself our society, did +not thrust it aside as something useless and disagreeable. When he came, he +would talk freely, and give us but too plain evidence of the change and +confusion that were taking place in him. Mac never spared him at these +times, and on one occasion, only a fortnight previous to the exhibition of +the picture, fairly drove the boy into a passion. + +"Well, Mr. Whitewash," said he, as Clarian came in, "how are you at this +present writing? You _look_ as if you had been dieting on Gamboge and Flake +White. Take care, young man, or you'll put us students to the cost of a +tombstone with a Latin epitaph for you, yet,--beginning, _Interfecit +se_.--How comes on the Art? You've given the go-by to _Ego_ and _Non-Ego_, +I suppose, and have resolved to achieve the very [Greek: kudos] upon a +ten-foot whitewashed wall, eh? _Soit_,--but what results? Can you say yet, +as Correggio did when he saw the St. Cecilia of Raphael, '_Anch' io son +pittore_'? or do you intend to limit your ambition, _a la_ Dick Tinto, to +the effecting of two liquidations in one by the restoration of +tavern-signs?" + +"Please do not taunt me, Mac, for I am cast down, almost. I have the +grandest conception, but the life-touch escapes me. It is in vain I seek +it: we cannot do a thing properly, unless we _feel_ it; passion will not be +simulated. What we know, and can do well, must all be repeated from our own +experience, says St. Simon,--and I agree with him." + +"St. Simon be--hanged!" quoth Mac. "So, it seems, the Metaphysic is not +abandoned. St. Simon, forsooth!--why, his doctrine was, that, to comprehend +the nature of crime, one had first to commit crime himself. Pah! according +to that, he who would most thoroughly learn the philosophy of our carnal +lusts must exchange natures with the goat. Pray, why do not you solicit +Herr Urian to give you a hircine metamorphosis, Clarian?" + +"Nay, Mac, can it be thus put off with a jest and a sneer, after all? What +do you think of these words I came across last night?"--and opening his +note-book, Clarian read as follows: "For of old it hath been clearly +proven, action without passion is nought save idle folly. _Passio Christi +hominis redemptio_. For as sin came into the world by suffering, so also +the gift of knowledge, which man would have confessedly lacked, had he not +purchased it _pretio mortis_,--even whereat, meseemeth, 'tis not a +commodity too high-priced. And as Philo Judaeus hath well observed, (as that +arch heretic doth but seldom, wherefore let us ascribe to him the full +credit,) '_Materia parens est (etiam ipsa mater) peccali_,' so, to attain +to anything really spiritual, we have even to be born again of this our +parent, by the reentrance of whose womb, in pain and darkness, we come back +to the true and the living, and have provision given us wherewith we shall +conquer worlds. For, to fix the pure thought and to identify it with the +true and holy, we must first divide it from the base clogs of matter; and +how can we effect this disjunction, save, as it hath ever been done, by +passion,--not simulate nor taken at second hand, cold,'_bis coctum quasi_,' +but rather presently and in our very selves reiterate? So Naaman dipt in +Jordan,--a task unto him, a sin in the eyes of his gods, and painful +exceedingly to his pride-gorged humor, that would only have Abana and +Pharpar,--yet only so was his skin made whole again, and soft like an +infant's. So also did David the king come into tasting of the bliss of a +true repentance by the terrible gateways of shameful adultery and +blood-thirst." + +"Oh, I agree with your author perfectly," said Mac, with inimitable +gravity, while I gazed at Clarian, wondering what would come next. "All the +greatest gifts man possesses have had evil sponsors or unrighteous +baptism. Even Prometheus _filched_ his fire from heaven, or t'other +place. Doing evil for the sake of a prospective good is an immemorial +custom, and well precedented. Revenue-farming, the _parc-aux-cerfs_, and Du +Barry only went down before _La Terreur_, Robespierre, and _Les Journees de +Septembre_." + +"But seriously, Mac, is it not admissible, now and then, to employ +questionable means, ordinary ones failing?" + +"Certainly. You may even sin, provided you believe in your cause. Faith is +the one save-all and cure-all. You smile? I can give you good +authority,--none other than Martin Luther, who, in one of his disputations, +says emphatically, '_Si in fide posset fieri adulterium, peccatum non +esset_'; and he wrote still more plainly upon this point in one of his +letters to Melancthon, saying, '_Ab hoc nos non avellet peccatum, etiamsi +millies millies uno die fornicamur aut occidamus._' [Footnote: _Vie de +Luther_, par AUDIN, Paris, 1839. An accurate book, but scathingly bitter.] +So follow your bent, younker, and they cannot say you are without +'precedent right reverend.'" + +Clarian sprang to his feet, his pale face all ablaze with indignation. "You +have no right to say such things to me, Sir," he cried, "for you know well +enough"-- + +"I know well enough that you are a crack-brained jackanapes, with your +damned fantastics!" bellowed Mac, angry in his turn. "What do you +mean,--you, who are a perfect little saint in your life,--what do you mean +by thrusting all these foul heresies at me, as if you were a veritable +citizen of Sodom, or a rejuvenized Faust, who have just replenished your +stock of 'experiences,' as you call them, by seducing Margaret and stabbing +her brother? Burn your books, if that filth is all they teach you,--and +mend your manners, if you expect to be tolerated in respectable +company. Good-bye!" cried he, as Clarian rushed white-heated from the room. + +"Pshaw, Ned, spare your remonstrances, if you please,--I'm tired of the +little fool's nonsense." + +"But the boy is sick, my dear fellow, and requires to be treated more +gently. His mind is diseased, and it would not take much to drive him quite +desperate." + +"No such good luck, Ned. I wish I _could_ make him pitch into somebody or +something. Nothing would do the beggar so much good, just now, as to get +himself into a regular scrape. It would act like a shower-bath, wake him +up, and purge him of these dismal humors." + +"Still, you would not like to have it said that _you_ were the cause of his +getting into any difficulty; and you know very well he is not one to +extricate himself easily, if once involved." + +"Never fear. '_Il y a un Dieu pour les enfants et les ivrognes_', says a +proverb in which I place implicit faith." + + * * * * * + +We saw nothing of Clarian until some three or four nights after this, when +he came hurriedly into our room. It was quite late, but Mac was still at +his Mathematics, while I was dawdling with my pipe and a volume of +Sternberg's pleasant tales. Clarian walked directly up to Mac, holding out +his hand, and saying, "I have come to ask your forgiveness, my dear Mac; I +was wrong and foolish the other day." + +"Nonsense, you flighty canary-bird!" said Mac; "you owe me nothing, so +have done with that. Sit down and smoke a pipe with us." + +"No,--I have come for you and Ned; I want you to see my picture to-night. +Come, I will take no denial,--I am about to finish it, and I want your +criticisms before I lay on the final touches." + +"Why not to-morrow, Clarian?" + +"Then everybody will want to see. No, it must be to-night." + +Mac and I were by no means reluctant to humor the lad, for we were not +incurious respecting the picture, and we accompanied him forthwith. His +room was quite large, well lighted and airy, with a sleeping-closet +attached. Over the blank wall opposite the windows hung a black muslin +curtain of most funereal aspect, which rolled up to the ceiling by means of +a cord and pulley, and, being now down, effectually concealed from view +what we had come to see. Clarian placed three or four candles, made us be +seated, filling pipes for us, and taking one himself, a most rare +occurrence with him,--all the while talking with more vivacity than I had +seen him exhibit for several months. "I have carefully studied my subject, +fellows," said he, "and have striven after perfection. I went to Shakspeare +for it, Mac, and sought one that would give me at once a proper field, and +at the same time pervade me so that I could paint from myself. Singularly +enough, I have found this magnetic influence most completely in +'Macbeth'. Do you remember Scene Fourth of the Third Act? That is the +situation I have endeavored to portray. Macbeth, wretched criminal, +suspects every one of his own dark purposes, or fears their hatred, because +he feels himself hateful. He is not a coward, either physically or morally; +his fears are all intellectual; he knows that Banquo is too noble to serve +him, too powerful to be permitted to serve against him,--so he must out of +the way. The murderers have received their commission; the king, satisfied +now that all he has to fear will shortly be removed, has said, 'There's +comfort yet'; he has cheered his wife with words even merry, as he can with +some complacency, for it is truly his principle of action, that + +'Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill'; + +and now, in this scene, he is to meet his courtiers at a state-banquet, +given in honor of Banquo, he tells them with hardihood. For we must +remember that this jealous king is no longer the warrior Thane whom we +first encounter upon the 'blasted heath', and whom we afterwards see +haunted by horrid visions of 'air-drawn daggers', as he turns his hand to +crime. He has gotten far beyond all this. Murders to him are become but +'trifles light as air'; use has blunted his sensibility, and to bring back +all that agony and horror needs a vastly stronger excitement than a mere +deed of blood. We see this in the cool way he tells the murderer, 'There's +blood upon thy face', as if it simply made him look less presentable. +Nevertheless, suffer for it Macbeth must. That is ordained; and the means +to it, and particularly the _effect_ of those means, are what I have tried +to represent here." + +So saying, he drew up the curtain, and the picture stood before us. Mac and +I gave it one quick glance, and then, with a simultaneous impulse, extended +our hands to Clarian. The lad laughed a little laugh of joy as he returned +our embrace, and then silently nodded towards the picture again. + +Those old Princetonians who have seen Clarian's Picture will easily be able +to explain our emotion upon beholding it thus for the first time. It was in +colored crayon, and covered a large portion of the wall, representing a +lofty, but entirely unornamented Gothic hall, with a table in the centre, +around which were grouped the guests. These showed in their faces and +disordered array that dismay and anxiety which were natural to them at +sight of their king so strangely and appallingly stricken, but evidently +they were entirely and happily unconscious of the THING that sat there in +their midst, touching them, consorting its charnel horrors with their +warm-blooded humanity,--so near, so close to them, that _he_ fancied the +smell of that trickling gore, that dank grave-soil, must necessarily enter +in at their nostrils, and he sickened at the thought for very sympathy. The +woe-wasted wife, comprehending what it meant, as she chiefly, from the dark +depths of her own spotted consciousness, _could_ comprehend, had yet flung +her fear aside for the sake of him whom she loved with a love so +bitter-costly, and now she stood at his side, fiercely clutching him, and +taunting him like a tigress with his unmanly fears. Ah, had that clutch +upon his elbow been the searing grasp of white-heated pincers, eating to +the bone, it had not stirred _him_. He stood there, a tall, large-limbed +man, brown and weather-stained, one who had endured much, wrinkled +somewhat, care-marked about the brow, but very capable, and evidently as +bold and daring, to the line, as he asserted himself,--he stood there, +flung back, fixed, petrified, as it were, by the baleful judgment that +lighted those unearthly eyes which watched him from across the table there; +and though his arm be flung up over his face, half to protect, half in +menace,--though his fist be clenched and swollen, his brow dark and +frowning, we know he will not spring forward, but will stand there still, +no life in all that mass of muscle, no will-power in that capable brain, +nought but impotent malignity in that murderous frown: for he is +stricken,--his sin has found him out,--ay, at the very altar, Orestes hears +the Furies shriek their hatred in his ears, exultingly proclaiming that for +him at least there is no rest, nor ever shall be! + +Such was the impression of Clarian's Picture, and I felt my blood fairly +tingle with recognition of the boy's power. + +"It is noble, great," said Mac, in those deep tones that spoke how he was +moved, "and men shall call you Artist when it is finished." + +Finished! what more did it want? what more could be done to this so +perfect composition? + +"Ah, Mac," said Clarian, enthusiastically seizing my chum's hands, "such +recognition as yours is what I have yearned for, and yet--'tis you who have +chiefly mocked me. It _shall_ be finished, Mac, and worthily! Do you not +think I have prayed for the inspiration, that I might bestow that final, +life-giving touch? Two months ago it was as near complete as it is +now,--but not until this very night have I felt the power of it. Now, +however, my soul is full of it, and it shall wax into a poem. This is why I +sought you, dear friends, to-night; for I am too gloriously happy to be +selfish, and I want you to share my happiness with me. Yes, Mac, it has +come at last, the warm Promethean fire, and at last I can proclaim, '_Anch' +io son pittore_!'" + +I gazed at the lad as he raised his voice with these last words, and was +almost awed by his singular beauty. It seemed almost as if a halo should +encircle his brow. There was a delicate rose-flush on his cheek that +rivalled in strange loveliness the hectic color of the young mother when +her first-born nestles close and fondly to her thrilled bosom, and his eyes +glowed with a rare lambent light that touched one with the eloquence of a +beautiful dream. Mac eyed him with equal wonder and delight, but said, +teasingly,-- + +"Hey! so you have come at last to the 'true and the living,' have you? Art +regenerate? I hope thou hast also undergone that true baphometic +fire-baptism, whereof the worthy Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh hath discoursed so +appetizingly, causing us to long after it, none the less that he hath +scrupulously refrained from expounding whatever it is." + +"Yes, Mac, the new life dawns upon me,--no Plotinian trance, no somnambulic +introspection, but a genuine awakening of the soul to a sense of its own +beauty." + +"Prodigious! as Dominie Sampson would say. Nay, I am not laughing at you, +Clarian," said Mac, pointing to the picture; "_there_ is enough to make me +believe in you, though how you achieved it I cannot imagine." + +"The means, Mac? Is not that rather my question than yours? We judge +ourselves from within; 'others judge us by what we have done,' says +Goethe. The means, ha, and the motive? Why will men seek stumblingly after +these, when actually their sole concern is with the thing done? So, you two +look at me,--I was but pondering,--putting a case;--so far, the means here +have been simple and innocent,--my hand, my eye, my brain, my purpose; +but--Mac!" added he, suddenly, after a pause, "did you never, in reading +Rabelais, feel that somehow there was a profound and reverential symbolism +underlying the wild froth of words in which the histories of Gargantua and +Pantagruel have come down to us? that in all that _olla-podrida_ of filth, +quip, jest, wicked folly, and mad wisdom, was yet hidden, like the pearl in +the oyster, a deep and most mystic system of world-philosophy?" + +"Anan?" said Mac, looking at the boy curiously. + +"For instance, in what the good Cure of Meudon says about the 'herb +Pantagruelion',--did the symbolism and esoteric meaning of all that never +strike you?" + +"Oh, yes," cried Mac, with a singularly significant smile, "I see how it is +now. I understand. You are improving, Clarian, rapidly. Hum, wonder what +your mother would say, if she knew you were a friend of Panurge's, and did +draw such inferences from his wisdom! Yes, _mon enfant_, I have long felt +the profundity of Pantagruelion, not less than the oracular efficacy of +Bacbuc. And no one can deny that the thinnest strand of Manila, if not full +of mysteries _per se_, can at least open the way for us to the very +innermost crypts, and hence may be styled _potentially_ a very gateway to +Eleusinia." + +"I do not mean that, Mac,--not the mere mechanical warp and woof of it, to +hang beggars and sots with,--but the more potent essence, the inner cosmic +power of it, to rouse the soul into grand expansive consciousness, and then +to suspend it far above the carks and cares of this weary world, to sew it +aloft to some leaf of the Tree of Life, like the nest of Jean Paul's +tailor-bird, that it may swing there, above the hum and dust of matter, +swayed and sung to sleep by the expanding breath of Infinity! Oh, yes!" +cried Clarian, while his cheek glowed warmer, his eye flamed brighter, and +his voice flowed on with a rhythmic throb, "oh, yes, I know it all, now! +The Idea is awake, and dwells in my soul, at once master there and slave. I +leap out of this base Present: I stand panting and glowing before the +mighty portals of Infinity, from whose inner masses I see the grand Gods +beckoning to me, greeting me as of their kindred, summoning me to take my +throne also, which awaits me in their midst. I have burst these narrow +bonds of flesh, and my soul shall soar henceforth in the grandeur realized +of the Spirit, like a proud falcon just unmewed and flung off in sight of +the noblest quarry. Art! what a dull, meaningless sound it was +yesterday!--but now, the entombing pyramid of matter is up-heaved, flung +off forever, and the Spirit stands erect in her bright Palingenesis, +half-intoxicate with the all-pervading sense of her own grand beauty. The +tree is rent asunder,--Ariel soars again in his element. Psyche has loosed +herself from the fettering contact of Daimon, and lo, now, how daintily she +poises on tiptoe, fluttering her wings ere she launches like a star into +the wide exhilarant ether! O divine Art! pride, glory, first love of my +soul! now, indeed, hast thou exchanged the yoke of dull Saturn and the +gloomy caverns of earth for the fair heights of Olympus, and the +companionship of Zeus [Greek: Nephelaegeretaes], him at whose nod the +heavens display themselves like a many-figured arras, all alive with +beauties and significance that the dull eye conjectures not, that the +impure, unpurged eye shrinks away from, lest it be seared by the too great +splendor! I know it all now. I began gropingly, in surmise, error, +darkness; but now my brow catches, ay, and reflects, the calm, pure, +effulgent light of Nature's definite day, and I bathe myself in its happy +warmth. Erst, I grovelled like a worm, blind and earth-fed: now, I shall +speed through very space, winged heel and shoulder, a swift, untiring +Hermes, who have drunk of the milk that flows rich in Nature's breasts, and +am emancipate forever in the decorous freedom of the beautiful +self-conscious spirit! Oh, the glory, oh, the boon of Art, the play-deity! +Phoebus no longer drives herds for Admetus, but is grown into Helios, feels +in his breast the freer life of the very Hyperion, the walker on high. Ay, +ay, smile on, Mac, you and Ned! I shall not quarrel with you for not +understanding me; it is only just now that I have learned to understand +myself. My Art will reward me; even now, while you doubt, it is already +doing so. I tell you, you two, whom I love and honor", cried he, rising to +his feet, lifted up, as it were, by the exaltation of his soul, while his +voice rose like the gush of a fine-toned flute, "I tell you, moreover, that +I am an artist, with a work to do that shall be done, and so done that you +two who love me will be the first to salute me Artist, to recognize me, and +acknowledge me for what I shall become." + +"We do that already, Clarian," said Mac's emphatic voice. + +"No," said Clarian, firmly, proudly, like a poet about to kneel that he may +receive the laurel crown, "no, you do not know me yet." + +And he was right. We did not yet know him. + +"That is a boy after my own heart", said Mac, after we had returned to our +room. He was standing by the open window, and I at his elbow, both of us +thinking of the strange child we had just left, while our eyes took note of +the fair night, how the silvery sheen of the moonlight glistened upon the +leaves, and sprinkled itself in dappling flecks between the trees on the +soft even sward of the campus below. "A boy after my own heart,--and, in +spite of all his twaddle, will make an artist. It's in him." + +"But did you not think him strangely wild to-night? I never heard him talk +so fluently; but it was not the talk of a sane man." + +Mac looked at me, laughing long and loud. "Thou dear innocent Ned!" cried +he at last, "what a diagnostic thou wouldst make! It was indeed the talk of +madness, good chum, and a very pretty madness was it, one that needeth not +any Anticyran purgatives to expel it. So thou must not fash thyself about +the lad, _du liebe dummkopf_, for he will come right very speedily. Didst +remark not what he said about the 'herb Pantagruelion,' which, in the +vulgar, meaneth only _hemp_? And surely you noted the warm flush of his +cheek, the dilatation of his eye, and its phosphorescent glow? Dr. Thorne +would soon enough tell you what these things signify. The boy is not crazy, +Ned, but drunk,--drunk in the decorous delirium of a Damascene Pacha, +propped against a Georgian maid, and fanned by Houris of Bethlehem +Judah. He has been reading Monte Cristo, perhaps, or has somehow heard +about the Indian Hemp, not the '_utilissima funibus cannabis_' of practical +Pliny, but _Cannabis Indica_, wherewith, I believe, Amrou spurred on his +Arabs to their miraculous feats of war, when he conquered Egypt and drove +Alexandria's Prefect into the sea,--the _bhang_ of amok-running Malays, the +_haschish_ of Syria and Cairo. This is what hath made him drunk, and, i' +faith, the intoxication does not ill become him. He will be all right in +the morning, and all the better for this little brush. And anyhow, Ned, you +must not watch the boy too closely, nor interfere with him. Let him 'gang +his ain gait.' He comes of another breed than ours, I begin to suspect, +and our rough fodder and grooming may not suit his higher blood.--_Ach, +Himmel!_ Ned," cried he, laughing, "it pleased me, though, to see how +adroitly he contrived to twist that new reading out of the _bon homme +Francois_. It was quite in the style of St. Augustine, and would have +delighted that ex-sophist hugely; for, great as he was, and self-denying as +he was, he always had a hankering after the dialectic flesh-pots. How he +would have rubbed his hands, when Clarian wanted to persuade us that the +herb Pantagruelion was no other than Haschish, the expander of +souls!--Hollo! yonder goes the lad now. I wonder what he is up to. See him, +Ned, yonder, just coming out of the shadow of North College. How fast he +walks! how he is swinging his arms! I'll bet he is repeating poetry. I +wonder what the lad is after, anyhow.--There he goes, round the corner of +West College,--over the fence. Can he mean to have a game of ball by +moonlight?--No,--he's making across the fields; if he had a pitcher with +him now, I'd say he was going to the spring in the hollow.--Confound that +tree! I've lost him." + +I proposed following Clarian, being really uneasy about him, but Mac +entered his veto,-- + +"No, Ned,--there's no need, and--it's none of our business. Children like +him have a hundred baby-houses we do not know anything about. He wants a +bath in the moonlight, I suppose, and wouldn't thank you for playing Actaeon +to the naked Diana of his midnight musings. Come, 'tis bedtime; or do you +want to finish Sternberg's 'Herr von Mondschein'? It is _a propos_, and I +see your book is opened to the very place." + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +JAPAN. + + +The arrival in this country of an embassy from Japan, the first political +delegation ever vouchsafed to a foreign nation by that reticent and jealous +people, is now a topic of universal interest. It is well understood, that, +by the efforts of the government of the United States, the traditional +policy of Japan, which for more than two hundred years forbade all freedom +of intercourse with the surrounding world, has been so effectively +subverted that its reestablishment is now impossible. Within eight years +the barriers of Japanese seclusion have been removed, and the extreme +prejudice against foreign communications almost obliterated. That this has +been accomplished with a prudent and just regard for the rights and +feelings of this singular race, the appointment of an embassy to the +particular government which first successfully invaded its long cherished +privacy abundantly proves. + +The countries of Japan and China, and everything directly concerning them, +have always claimed a peculiar consideration. Their self-imposed isolation, +the mystery with which they have sought to surround themselves, the +extraordinary habits and character of the people, the evidences of an +earlier civilization in China--formerly supposed also to have extended to +Japan--than is recorded of any other existing nation, account for the +curious attention that has been bestowed upon them. Although now known to +be entirely distinct, the Chinese and Japanese, by reason of the similarity +of their occupations, customs, religion, written language, dress, and so +forth, were for a long time looked upon as kindred races, and esteemed +alike. Probably even at this time popular appreciation makes little +distinction between the two countries. But since the necessities of +commerce have recently compelled a somewhat vigorous interference with +their seclusion, we begin to get a clearer understanding of the subject. We +find, that, while, on close examination, the imagined attractions of China +disappear, those of Japan become only more definite and substantial. The +old interest in China is transferred to its worthier neighbor; for, in +spite of all Celestial and Flowery preconceptions, it is impossible to view +with any sincere interest a nation so palsied, so corrupt, so wretchedly +degraded, and so enfeebled by misgovernment, as to be already more than +half sunk in decay; while, on the other hand, the real vigor, thrift, and +intelligence of Japan, its great and still advancing power, and the rich +promise of its future are such as to reward the most attentive study. Its +commanding position, its wealth, its commercial resources, and the quick +intelligence of its people--not at all inferior to that of the people of +the West, although naturally restricted in its development--give to Japan, +now that it is about to emerge from its chrysalis condition, and unfold +itself to the outer world, an importance far above that of any other +Eastern country. + +We propose to relate, with necessary brevity, what is most important of the +little that is known of this interesting people. All records bearing upon +the subject are imperfect, and the best of them are more profuse in +speculation and surmise than in solid fact. The information possessed has +been drawn bit by bit from the reluctant Japanese. The difficulties of +investigation have been almost insurmountable,--no visitor, during two +hundred years, having been allowed the slightest freedom of association +with the people, or opportunity for travel. With very few exceptions, +foreigners have been confined to the extremest limit of the islands, and +forbidden even to leave the coast; and in no case has any disposition been +shown to satisfy the curious demands of those who have attempted to break +through the national reserve. + +The origin of the Japanese is still involved in obscurity, and the date of +the settlement of the islands is unknown. The boldest theory is, that a +tribe proceeded thither directly from the land of Shinar, at the division +of the races. In support of this, the purity of the Japanese language, +which, in its primitive form, bears very slight affinity to any other +tongue, and the evident dissimilarity of the people to those of any other +Asiatic country, are adduced. The more general belief is, that the Japanese +are an offshoot of the Mongol family, and that their emigration to these +islands was at so remote a period that tradition has preserved no +recollection of it. The favorite idea, that the first settlements were by +Chinese, has long been set aside, except by the Chinese themselves, whose +custom is to claim the origin of everything, and who still assume to +consider Japan as a sort of province under their dominion. The fact is, +that, to the Japanese, a Chinaman is the most worthless and contemptible +object in Nature. The Chinese have, however, a fanciful legend in which +they find an irresistible argument upon their side of the question. A +certain Emperor, they say, seeking to prolong his life, demanded of the +court physician an elixir of immortality. The physician modestly declared +his ignorance of any such preparation, but, after receiving a significant +hint, involving the loss of his head, recollected himself, and acknowledged +that an herb of immortality did certainly exist, but that its delicacy was +so rare it could be properly culled only by the most chaste hands. He thus +succeeded in securing three hundred brave young men, and the same number of +virtuous young women, whose twelve hundred chaste hands were at once +consecrated to the plucking of the magical plant, which was declared to +grow only in the islands of the sea. Once out of the Emperor's reach, all +thought of the particular duty in hand was instantly abolished, and +superseded by a successful effort to establish a new nation, which in time +resolved itself into Japan. + +This, although satisfactory to the Chinese, fails to convince less +credulous investigators. While the Japanese and Chinese have, perhaps, more +common characteristics than can be readily explained with our present +knowledge of them, yet no fact is better demonstrated than that they are +wholly distinct races. There is an opinion, for which there is reasonable +ground, that one of the earliest rulers of Japan was a Chinese invader, who +founded the dynasty of the Mikados, or Spiritual Emperors; but, if this +were so, it is evident that the conquerors must have mingled with the +native inhabitants, and soon lost their identity. This would in a measure +account for the prevalence of certain Chinese habits and customs in Japan. +The question of Japanese origin remains yet undecided. Its earlier history, +previous to the year 660 B.C., is mostly fabulous. There are the usual +legends of dignitaries in close relationship with every member of the solar +system, who were accustomed to reign an indefinite number of +years,--generally some thousands. Beginning with 660 B.C., we have +something authentic. At that time a warrior whose name signified "the +divine conqueror"--(the supposed Chinese invader)--entered Japan, and +assumed the control of its destinies. He called himself "Mikado," and +established his court at Miako, in Nipon, the largest of the group of +islands, where he built temples and palaces, both spiritual and +secular. Claiming to rule by divine right, he exercised the sole functions +of the government, which, upon his death, descended to his heir, and +thenceforward in direct order of succession. The Mikado, by reason of his +superhuman dignities, was invested with a sanctity that gradually became +irksome, shutting him out, as it did, from all fellowship with men, and +compelling him to forego all familiar intercourse with even the highest +nobles around his throne. Consequently arose the custom of abdication at a +very early age by the Mikados, in favor of their children, for whom they +acted as regents, circulating freely, upon their descent to mere mundane +authority, with the rest of the court. By this course, however, the +integrity of the government was weakened, and, dissensions arising, the +stability of the throne was endangered by the agressions of some of the +more powerful princes. In the twelfth century, it happened that a Mikado, +particularly alive to the vanities of the world, not only gave up his +station to his son, then three years old, but also renounced the labors of +the regency, which were intrusted to the infant monarch's grandfather, +whose first exercise of power was the immediate imprisonment of the +abdicator. This was worse than had been bargained for, and a contest +ensued, which terminated in favor of the ex-Mikado, owing to the valor of a +young warrior prince named Yoritomo. The prisoner was released, and himself +assumed the regency; but from that moment the strength of the Mikados was +gone. Yoritomo, having demonstrated that his power was superior to that of +the spiritual lord, demanded and obtained the rank and title of +"Ziogoon",--General, or General-in-Chief. He at first divided with the +Mikado the duties of the government, but by degrees succeeded in +concentrating in himself the real supremacy. From him descended the +temporal sovereignty of Japan, which has ever since overbalanced the +spiritual authority, although the first nominal rank is still accorded to +the Mikado. + +In the year 1295, the existence of Japan was first announced to the Western +world. Marco Polo, returning from his Asiatic travels, related all that he +had learned of a vast island lying to the east of China, and even +designated its position on his maps. He called it Zipangu, the name he had +heard in China. This narration was not received with much credit, and was, +until the sixteenth century, generally forgotten. It is a singular fact, +that the record left by Marco Polo had a strong influence in deciding the +convictions of Christopher Columbus, whose expectation in sailing from +Spain was to discover the island spoken of by the Venetian voyager. But the +ambition of Columbus was otherwise satisfied, and Japan was not visited by +the representatives of any Western nation until the year 1543, or 1545, +when a party of Portuguese, among whom was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, were +driven by a storm upon the coast, and forced to take shelter in the +province of Bungo, upon the island of Kiu-siu. The account of this visit, +given by Pinto, is full of interest, and, notwithstanding the questionable +character that clings to his writings, is without doubt correct in almost +every particular. + +At the time when fortune threw these wanderers upon the Japanese coast, +there was disinclination to admit strangers, or to communicate with them in +the most liberal manner. They were warmly received, and treated with great +consideration. The same friendship appeared to animate both parties. The +Portuguese made presents of arms and ammunition to the Japanese, who, with +ready skill, soon discovered the methods of manufacturing others for +themselves. The Japanese consented that Portuguese commerce should be +introduced, and the King of Bungo authorized an annual visit from a +Portuguese ship. Thus commercial relations were established, and at the +same time a religious mission, led by St. Francis Xavier, was despatched to +Japan. The prospects of trade and the new principles of religion were +welcomed with equal readiness. The visitors were restricted in no manner +whatever. Converts to Christianity were almost without number. When Xavier +departed from Japan, in 1551, he left behind him thousands of ardent and +enthusiastic professors of his faith, and a religious sentiment that +promised speedily to extend its influences throughout the land. + +The government openly encouraged the diffusion of Christianity. The Ziogoon +Nobanunga, who then reigned, having been importuned by native priests to +expel the foreign missionaries, inquired how many different religions there +were in Japan. "Thirty-five", was the reply. "Well," said he, "where +thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily bear with +thirty-six. Leave the strangers in peace". Some of the most powerful +princes espoused the Christian religion, and about the year 1584, a +mission, consisting of two young Japanese noblemen, attended by two +counsellors of less rank, was sent to Rome by the subordinate kings of +Bungo and Arima, and the Prince of Omura, in testimony of the devotion of +those rulers. The people themselves hastened to the new faith with such +zeal as to win the warmest affections of all the missionaries who went +among them. Xavier wrote of them, "I know not when to cease, in speaking of +the Japanese; they are truly the delight of my heart." + +So long as the mild teachings of Xavier and his Jesuit band prevailed, the +cause of Christianity advanced and prospered. But their field of labor was +soon invaded by multitudes of Dominicans and Franciscans from various +Portuguese settlements in Asia. By the persistent exercise of their best +faculties for mischief, these friars succeeded without much delay in +working irreparable injury where their predecessors had effected so much +good. They quarrelled, first among themselves, and then with the Jesuits, +until their strifes became the mockery of the people. The native priests of +the Siutoo and Buddhist religions took advantage of this state of things to +make a bold stand against the spread of the new doctrines. They organized a +force in the dominions of Omura, destroyed a Jesuit settlement and church, +and marched about in open rebellion against the authority of the +Prince. This movement, however, was checked without difficulty, and the +insurgents were overthrown in battle. The church was rebuilt at the place +now known as Nagasaki, which, an inferior village at that time, soon became +the centre of Portuguese commerce, and grew to great importance among +Japanese cities. But the friars continued their intrigues and tumults, in +spite of the growing contempt shown by the Japanese. Many of the Roman +clergy, moreover, assuming too great confidence in their easily gained +power, began to defy the usages of the country, and to adopt airs of +superiority quite at variance with the notions of the inhabitants upon that +subject. At the commencement of this altered condition of affairs, the +Ziogoon Nobanunga, who certainly was not unfavorably disposed to the +Christians, was assassinated, and his office and rank, after a series of +violent struggles, which lasted five years, fell to a man of humble origin, +but great talents, named Fide-yosi. This person had in his youth served +Nobanunga in the most menial capacity, but, owing partly to his remarkable +abilities, and partly to the circumstances which threw the succession into +so much confusion, he contrived to place himself, in the year 1587, at the +head of the nation. He then married the Mikado's daughter, and assumed the +name of Taiko-sama, with a view, perhaps, of dissociating himself as +completely as possible, in his exaltation, from the obscure individual +Fide-yosi, with whom, otherwise, he might not unnaturally be confounded. + +The new Ziogoon cared very little for the operations of the Christians, +while they kept themselves free from interference in the political affairs +of the country, and respected its customs. But the offensive spirit of the +Portuguese laity was not to be repressed. Their manners grew more +intolerable, from year to year. In time the progress of conversion almost +ceased, and yet the Portuguese, blind to danger, disdained to retrace their +steps. At length the Ziogoon, having journeyed through that part of the +country mostly under Christian influences, suddenly determined to rid +himself of so dangerous an element, and issued an order for the expulsion +of all missionaries throughout the empire. This was resisted by some of the +converted nobles, and particularly by the young prince of Omura, whose +obstinacy was punished in a very summary way,--the Ziogoon seizing upon the +port of Nagasaki, and transferring it to his own immediate government. On +paying a heavy ransom, however, the prince was permitted to resume +authority in Nagasaki, and Taiko-sama, busily occupied with more important +affairs of state, neglected to enforce his decree of expulsion, and left +the Christians undisturbed for some years, until a new evidence of affront +once more aroused his indignation against them. + +A Japanese nobleman and a Portuguese bishop, riding in their sedans, met, +one day, on a high-road of Nagasaki. The duty of the bishop, according to +the law of the country, was to alight and respectfully recognize the +nobleman. But, instead of doing this, he refused to tarry, and even turned +his head to the other side. Full of wrath, the nobleman made bitter +complaint to the Ziogoon, who from that time turned his heart more +resolutely than ever against the presumptuous and insolent foreigners. He +again assumed the direct government of Nagasaki, and was about to adopt +more vigorous measures, when he unexpectedly died, leaving the Christians a +few remaining years of probation. + +Taiko-sama was undoubtedly the greatest monarch that ever reigned in Japan. +He succeeded in bringing for the first time into complete subjection the +numerous powerful princes who had previously held an almost undivided sway +in the larger provinces. By this means he consolidated the strength of the +nation, and was enabled to undertake some very brilliant conquests. A +letter sent by him to the Portuguese viceroy of Goa shows his own estimate +of his power, and his general opinion of the insignificance of the external +world. + +"This vast monarchy," he wrote, "is like an immovable rock, and all the +efforts of its enemies will not be able to shake it. Thus not only am I at +peace at home, but persons come even from the most distant countries to +render me that homage which is my due. _Just now I am projecting the +subjugation of China;_ and as I have no doubt that I shall succeed in this +design, I trust that we shall soon be much nearer to each other.... As to +that which regards religion, Japan is the kingdom of the Kamis, that is to +say, of Xim, which is the principle of everything.... The [Jesuit] fathers +are come into these islands to teach another religion; but as that of the +Kamis is too well established to be abolished, this new law can only serve +to introduce into Japan a diversity of religion prejudicial to the welfare +of the state. That is why I have prohibited, by imperial edict, these +foreign doctors from continuing to preach their doctrine.... I desire, +nevertheless, that our commercial relations shall remain upon the same +footing." + +In regard to the religion of Japan, which Taiko-sama lucidly and +felicitously expounds by pronouncing it the religion "of the Kamis, +[Princes, or Nobles,] that is to say, of Xim, which is the principle of +everything," it may be assumed that the Ziogoon had little thought of any +theological troubles that might arise. His apprehensions were purely of a +political nature. It is related that the captain of a Spanish man-of-war, +in attempting to explain the secret of the vast colonial possessions of +Spain, incautiously told Taiko that the introduction of Christianity into +heathen nations was the first step, and the only difficult one, conquest +naturally and easily following. Such an avowal was not likely to be lost +upon so acute a mind as Taiko's, and it may very probably have been one of +the immediate causes which induced his extreme hostility to the diffusion +of Christianity. + +Taiko's warlike declarations were by no means vain boasts. He did invade +China, and spread such terror among the timid Celestials that they yielded +him all possible submission, giving him a number of Corean provinces, a +daughter of their Emperor in marriage, and the promise of an annual tribute +to Japan, in token of Japanese supremacy. The tribute not appearing at the +proper time, the Ziogoon immediately despatched a few armies to the Corea +and again destroyed the Celestial balance of mind. These forces, however, +were soon after recalled, in consequence of Taiko-sama's death. + +During the first year of the reign of his successor, Ogosho-sama, the Dutch +appeared in Japan. A fleet of five ships, sent from Holland by the Indian +Company, had been dispersed in the Pacific, and, sickness breaking out +among the crews, only one ship remained. On board was an English pilot, a +man of some education, named William Adams, who suggested visiting Japan, +which was finally decided upon. In April, 1600, the Dutch vessel anchored +in the harbor of Bungo, and the crew were cordially received by the +people. But they found formidable enemies in the Portuguese and Spaniards +of Nagasaki, who assailed them with the most unjust aspersions, and +endeavored in every way to turn the prejudices of the Japanese against +them. Notwithstanding this, however, the Dutch were kindly treated, +although never permitted to leave the country again, on account of the +suspicions aroused by the imputations of the Portuguese. William Adams was +taken in charge by the Ziogoon himself, who found the Englishman so +valuable and instructive a person that he would never hear of his leaving +the imperial presence. + +In 1609, other Dutch ships came to Japan, and, the scruples of the Ziogoon +having been set at rest, commercial relations were entered into. The Dutch +established a factory at Firando, in opposition to the Portuguese factory +at Nagasaki. A rivalry arose, heightened by the political and religious +feud between the nations, which was actively carried on for a number of +years. The Portuguese at first beset the Ziogoon with importunities for the +expulsion of the Dutch; but Ogosho-sama, in the most catholic spirit, +intimated, that, if devils from hell should take a fancy to visit his +realm, they should be treated like angels from heaven, so long as they +respected his laws. + +In the midst of the jealous struggles of Dutch and Portuguese, came a new +application for Japanese favor. In June, 1613, a vessel, despatched for the +purpose by the English government, arrived at Firando, bearing letters and +presents from King James I. to the Ziogoon. These were graciously received, +and a commercial treaty of the most favorable character was at once +negotiated. Among other not less important privileges, the Ziogoon gave to +English merchants the following:--"Free license forever safely to come into +any of our ports of our Empire of Japan, with their ships and merchandise, +without any hindrance to them or their goods; and to abide, buy, sell, and +barter, according to their own manner with all nations; to tarry here as +long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure"; also, "that, +without other passport, they shall and may set out upon the discovery of +Jesso or any other port in or about our Empire". The Ziogoon also sent a +letter, assuring the English monarch of his love and esteem, and announcing +that every facility desired in the way of trade would be gladly granted, +even to the establishment of a factory at Firando. A settlement was +accordingly made at that place, and commercial communications were +continued until about 1623, when they were voluntarily abandoned by the +English. It appears that their affairs were less successful than those of +the Dutch, who were stationed at the same port; but, whether from their own +misapprehension of the kind of merchandise needed for Japan, or from the +opposition of their rivals, who sought, in this case as in others, to +secure for themselves the monopoly of trade, is uncertain. + +For some years after the departure of the English, the contests between the +Portuguese and Dutch grew more bitter and violent, and the arrogance of the +Portuguese more unbearable, until at length, in 1637, the climax of their +offences was reached, and the affections of the Japanese rulers, which, but +for their own follies, would always have been with them, were turned into +the most unrelenting hatred. The Portuguese, not content with the great +privileges they already enjoyed, formed a conspiracy with certain of the +native Christian princes to depose the Ziogoon, overturn the government, +and take the power into their own hands. Letters containing the details of +this plot were discovered by the Dutch, and straightway sent to the +monarch. The statement has been made by Spanish writers, that this +conspiracy had no existence excepting in Dutch invention, and that the +proofs of guilt were all forged for the purpose of more completely +destroying the Portuguese; but the evidence is too strong to be overthrown +by any such allegation. The result was, that imperial edicts were +immediately put forth, enjoining the expulsion of all Portuguese from the +islands, and the utter extirpation of the Christian religion. For nearly +two years there was a series of the most terrible persecutions. The +Portuguese were at length banished, and the native converts who rose in +rebellion against the decree were slaughtered by thousands, _the Dutch +themselves cooperating in the work of destruction_. The history of these +massacres is one of the most remarkable that the annals of Christianity can +show. It stands forever, an ineffaceable record, covering with shame those +pretended disciples of the religion of Christ, who by their reckless and +wicked course not only invited their own destruction, but compelled that of +thousands of innocent fellow-beings, and interrupted for centuries the +progress of the cause they had so poorly essayed to promote. + +It is thus evident, that, for the system of seclusion which during nearly +two hundred and fifty years was closely adhered to, the Japanese themselves +are in no degree to be blamed. The fault lay with the representatives of +two refined and enlightened nations, who, by a persistent career of selfish +folly and pride, covered themselves with the deserved reproach of a people +to whose untutored apprehension such extraordinary principles of +civilization appeared unworthy of cultivation. That the Japanese were at +first amiably and liberally disposed toward foreigners, their frank +admission of the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and especially of the +English, amply shows. Until constrained for their own safety to do so, they +took no step toward interfering with the almost unlimited privileges they +had granted. It is, indeed, difficult to condemn their course, when we +consider the enormity of their provocation, and the dangers to which they +believed themselves exposed. If Christianity has suffered, the errors of +those who misrepresented it were the cause. How soon it may be possible to +again attempt its introduction is doubtful; for, of all foreign evils, the +Japanese look upon Christianity as the worst, viewing it simply as the +covert means of conquest, and reducing to submission those over whom its +influences extend. + +Beyond the removal of their rivals, the Dutch had little upon which to +congratulate themselves in this movement. The monopoly of trade was theirs, +but with the most degrading and humiliating conditions. They were obliged +to give up their factory at Firando, and take a new station upon the small +island of Desima, in the harbor of Nagasaki. To preserve even the most +limited intercourse with the Japanese, they were forced to relinquish all +sense of dignity and self-respect. The history of their relations with +Japan, for the past two hundred years, is a continual record of absolute +contempt and pitiless constraint on the one hand, and the most abject and +disgraceful servitude on the other. + +During the excitements which followed the expulsion of the Portuguese, a +second effort to enter Japan was made by the English; but, owing, it is +supposed, to the interference of the Dutch, this attempt was wholly +unsuccessful. In 1673, the East India Company despatched another vessel, +which was also received with distrust. The Japanese had learned, through +the Dutch, that the English king, Charles II., had allied himself by +marriage to the royal family of Portugal. On this account, and on this +only, the Japanese declared that no English ship could be admitted. Two +other equally fruitless attempts were made in 1791 and 1803. In 1808, an +English ship of war, by showing Dutch colors, gained entrance to the port +of Nagasaki, where, instead of peaceably deporting himself, the captain +began by capturing the Dutch officials who came on board, and setting at +defiance the requisitions of the Japanese. This English ship had been +cruising after the Dutch traders, England and Holland being at war at the +time, and, failing to meet them, the captain concluded they had eluded him, +and sought them at Nagasaki. A plan to attack the ship and burn it was +devised by the Japanese, but before it could be carried out the Englishman +had sailed. Conscious that his dignity was forfeited by this invasion, the +Japanese governor of Nagasaki, notwithstanding he was in no wise +censurable, in pursuance of the national custom, immediately destroyed +himself, and his example was followed by twelve of his subordinate +officers. The garrison of Nagasaki was reinforced, and the most warlike +attitude was assumed by the inhabitants, who are noted for their +courage. The affair caused great indignation, and is yet remembered to the +discredit of the English. In 1813, only five years later, a somewhat +similar stratagem was employed by the English. It was an ingenious scheme +on the part of the English governor of Java, which had, within a few years, +been ceded to England. The independence of Holland had ceased, and the +governor of Java undertook, by despatching English vessels under the Dutch +flag, to secure the trade which Holland had alone enjoyed. But the Dutch +director at Desima refused compliance, and the plan fell through. Three +other ventures, all resulting in the same way, were made by the English in +1814, 1818, and 1849. + +Of other European nations, Russia alone has sought to secure a position and +influence in Japan. The proximity of the islands to the Siberian coast, and +the fact that they lie directly between the American and Asian possessions +of that nation, render it important that Russia should forego no +opportunity to extend its relations in this direction. It does not appear, +however, that much has been accomplished. About the year 1780, a Japanese +junk was wrecked upon an island belonging to Russia. The crew were taken to +Siberia, and there detained ten years, after which an attempt was made to +return them to their homes. They were conveyed in a Russian ship to +Hakodadi, on the island of Yesso, but were refused admission, on account of +the edict issued at the time of the Portuguese expulsion, forbidding the +return of any Japanese after once leaving the country. In 1804, a second +mission was sent by the Emperor Alexander I., with the purpose of effecting +a treaty of some sort; but the ambassador, whose name was Resanoff, +commenced operations by disputing points of etiquette with the Japanese, +who, in return, treated him with more courtesy than ever, and insisted upon +paying all his expenses while in their country, but sent him away +unsatisfied. Enraged at his failure, Resanoff despatched two armed vessels +to the Kurile Islands, where, under his directions, a wanton attack was +made upon a number of villages, the inhabitants being killed or taken +prisoners, and the houses plundered. This was an offence not to be +forgiven; and when, in 1811, Captain Golownin was despatched by the Russian +government to make renewed applications, he was captured by stratagem, with +one or two attendants, and imprisoned for several years. But he was always +treated with kindness, and was finally released, without having received +the slightest injury. He was intrusted, when sent away, with a message to +the Russian government, setting forth the impossibility of any +understanding between the two nations. + +Previous to the expedition of Commodore Perry, few efforts to intrude upon +the Japanese had proceeded from the United States. An unsuccessful attempt +was made in 1837, by an American merchantman, to return a party of Japanese +who had been shipwrecked on our Western coast. In 1846, Commodore Biddle +was deputed to open negotiations, and entered the Bay of Yedo with two +ships of war. Receiving an unfavorable answer to his demands, he +immediately sailed away. In 1849, Commodore Glynn, having learned of the +imprisonment of sixteen American sailors, who had been driven ashore on one +of the Japanese islands, entered the harbor of Nagasaki with the United +States ship Preble, and demanded the release of his countrymen. For a time +a disposition was shown to evade his claim and to affect ignorance of the +alleged captivity; but upon his assuming a bolder and more determined tone, +the native officials became suddenly conscious of the state of affairs, and +forthwith delivered up the seamen. Commodore Glynn then set sail, and until +the visit of Commodore Perry, in 1853, the tranquillity of Japan was +disturbed by no American intrusion. + +It may be observed, that, of the nations which up to this time had +undertaken to effect communications with Japan, all excepting the United +States had given reasonable cause for offence, and some of them for deep +enmity. The Dutch, though disliked, were tolerated; but the Portuguese, +Spanish, English, and Russians had forfeited the good opinion of the +islanders by their unprovoked and unjustifiable aggressions. It is not +improbable that the selection of the United States for their first foreign +embassy may have been induced by the consideration that the relations +between the Japanese and their American neighbors have always been pacific, +and that they have never suffered injustice or ill-treatment at our hands. + +Meanwhile, until 1852, the Dutch had held exclusive commercial privileges +in Japan. In return for these, they submitted to all sorts of +indignities. They were restricted to the narrow limits of the artificially +constructed island of Desima, which is only six hundred feet in length, and +two hundred and forty in breadth. Here they were confined within high +fences fringed with spikes. Their houses were all of wood, no stone +buildings being permitted, undoubtedly with a view to preventing the +slightest chance of fortification. At the northern extremity of the island +was a large water-gate, which was kept continually closed, under a guard, +except upon the arrival of the Dutch vessels. These restrictions were in +great part continued almost to the present day, and many of them are still +in force. On the arrival of a Dutch ship, all the Bibles on board were +obliged to be put into a chest, which, after being nailed down, was given +in charge of the Japanese officials, to be retained by them until the time +of departure. All arms and ammunition, also, were required to be given +up. The crew, on landing at Desima, were placed under rigorous +surveillance, which was never relaxed. Even the permanent Dutch residents +received but little better treatment. They were unable to make any open +avowal of the Christian religion, and the Japanese officers who came in +contact with them were compelled to make frequent disavowals of +Christianity, and publicly to trample the cross, its symbol, under +foot. The island of Desima was infested with Japanese spies, whom the Dutch +were required to employ and pay as secretaries and servants, while knowing +their real office, If a Dutch resident aspired to occasional egress from +his prison, it was necessary to petition the governor of Nagasaki for the +privilege. As a general thing, the application was granted, but with such +conditions as to destroy all possibility of enjoyment; for, upon appearing +in Nagasaki, the unfortunate Dutchman was set upon by a band of spies and +policemen, who accompanied him wherever he turned and who were always +pleasantly inviting themselves to be entertained at his expense,--a +proposition which he was not at liberty to decline. These spies gradually +got into the habit of taking with them as many of their acquaintances as +they could gather together, until the cost of a stroll about Nagasaki +became too heavy to be endured. But there was no remedy; he must either pay +or stay at home; and even upon these extravagant terms, he was not allowed +to enter any Japanese house, or to remain within the city after sunset. For +the rare favor of visiting the residence of a native Nagasakian, a special +petition was needed, and if granted, the number of spies on such an +occasion was multiplied at a most appalling rate. The Dutch were, moreover, +forbidden the companionship of their own countrywomen, and only the most +degraded female class of Nagasaki were allowed to visit them. In every way +they were forced to acknowledge their inferiority and undergo deprivations +and mortifications, for which, let us hope, they succeeded in finding some +compensation in the scant privileges of their trade. + +At length the time arrived when the reluctant Japanese were to be taught +the uselessness of further efforts to resist the advances of other +nations. In November, 1852, an expedition, long contemplated and carefully +prearranged, set sail from the United States under the command of Commodore +M.C. Perry. Although this mission was the subject of much discussion +abroad, no very general hope of its success was expressed. The opinion +appeared to be, that, under all circumstances, Japan would still continue +locked in its seclusion. The result proved how easily, by the exercise of +firmness, prudence, and energy, all of which Commodore Perry displayed in +every movement, the much desired end could be accomplished. The secret of +two hundred years was solved in a day. The path once opened, there were +plenty to follow it: Russia, England, and France were quick to share the +benefits which had in the first place been gained by the United States. But +thus far the best fruits of Japanese intercourse have fallen to the United +States, and it seems clear that only a continuance of the same ability +hitherto shown in the management of our affairs with that nation is needed +to preserve to this country the superior advantages it now holds. + +On the 8th of July, 1853, Commodore Perry, with two steamers and two +sloops-of-war, entered the Bay of Yedo, having purposely avoided the port +of Nagasaki, at which all strangers had previously been accustomed to hold +communications with the government. In this, as in other movements, the +Commodore acted independently of much opposing counsel. By first visiting +the Loo-choo and Bonin islands, which are under Japanese control, and +mostly peopled by Japanese, he had acquired a considerable knowledge of the +character of those with whom he was to deal, and had been enabled to trace +for himself a policy which the result proved to be eminently just and +effective. He determined boldly to insist upon, rather than to beseech, the +privileges he had been deputed to gain. Understanding perfectly the +vexatious and embarrassing expedients by which the Japanese had been +accustomed to hamper and resist the endeavors of even the best-disposed of +their visitors, he resolved to listen to no suggestions of delay, and to +push vigorously forward with his mission, in spite of every obstacle their +wily ingenuity could oppose to him. Their assumptions of exclusiveness and +superiority he met by precisely the same sort of display, allowing no +familiarity on the part of the natives until all was definitely settled as +he desired, and intrenching himself in a mysterious seclusion which rather +exceeded even their own notions of personal dignity. Until one of the first +noblemen in the nation was sent to treat with him, the Commodore shunned +all intercourse with the people, and systematically refused to expose +himself to the profane eyes of the multitude. This unusual course took the +Japanese quite by surprise, and, not without some feeling of trepidation, +they bestirred themselves with unexampled alacrity to satisfy, so far as +they were able, his reasonable demands. Of course it was impossible for +them to set aside all their prejudices, and the record of their schemes to +impede the Commodore's progress, all of which were quietly overcome by his +firmness and decision, is equally amusing and instructive.[1] At the moment +of his entering the Bay of Yedo, he was surrounded by guard-boats, and +saluted with various warnings of peril, which might have deterred a less +resolute man. But, wholly indifferent to Japanese guard-boats, he sent out +his own for surveying purposes without hesitation, taking it for granted +that perfect fearlessness would secure the crews from molestation. In +answer to the remonstrances received at the outset, he simply pushed still +farther up the bay, until, finding it impossible to obtain compliance with +their requirements, the Japanese concluded to yield to his; and after as +much hesitation as the Commodore thought proper to give them opportunity +for, the letters from President Fillmore were received by the Emperor, or +Tycoon,[2] negotiations were opened, and, finally, a treaty, yielding all +the important points that had been asked for, was agreed upon. This treaty +proclaimed "a perfect, permanent, and universal peace, and a sincere and +cordial amity", between the two nations; designated certain ports where +American ships should obtain supplies; promised protection to American +seamen who should chance to be shipwrecked on the coast; and contained the +important stipulation, that no further privileges should be vouchsafed to +any other government except on condition of their being fully shared by the +United States. + +[Footnote 1: The details are to be found in the _Narratives of the +Expedition_, by Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., published by Congress at +Washington, in 1856.] + +[Footnote 2: As will be shown hereafter, the military functions of the +temporal ruler long ago ceased, and the title of Tycoon has been +substituted for that of Ziogoon.] + +The communications between Commodore Perry and the Japanese were carried on +in the most friendly manner. While the Commodore allowed no interference +with what he regarded as his own rights in the case, he was careful to +check any disposition on the part of his officers to defy those of the +islanders. Thus the utmost cordiality was preserved throughout. The +Japanese received the presents from the American government with delight, +and were quite overcome at the sight of the steam-engine and the magnetic +telegraph. A series of agreeable entertainments followed the signing of the +treaty, in which the Japanese showed themselves especially alive to the +civilizing influences of foreign cookery, and appreciation of such +refinements as whiskey and Champagne, to whose beneficent influences they +gave themselves up with ardor. Commodore Perry, on his departure, after +freely visiting various Japanese ports, was intrusted with a number of +presents for the American government, and entreated to bear with him the +assurance of entire confidence and amity. + +In August, 1853, subsequently to the arrival of Commodore Perry, a Russian +squadron visited Nagasaki, but, after protracted negotiations, departed +without obtaining a treaty. In September, 1854, Admiral James Stirling, on +behalf of the English government, effected a treaty at Nagasaki, the terms +of which were rather less liberal and advantageous than those granted to +the United States. But the inevitable result of Commodore Perry's success +could not long be delayed. Since the time of his mission, the governments +of France, England, Holland, and Russia have secured treaties guarantying +important privileges. It appears, however, that the superiority of +influence remains with the United States, owing, in a measure, no doubt, to +the excellent abilities of the Consul-General, Mr. Townsend Harris, who has +permitted no opportunity to escape of pressing the claims of his +government. As early as July, 1858, he negotiated a fair commercial +treaty. Mr. Harris is the only foreigner who was ever permitted to enter +the palace of the Tycoon of Japan without the degrading forms of submission +formerly exacted from the Dutch. He was received there with every +testimonial of respect. At a time when Mr. Harris was seriously ill, the +Tycoon despatched his own physician to attend him, while her Majesty +continually sent him the most delicate preparations of food, the work of +her own imperial hands. The ease with which the missions of Lord Elgin and +Baron Gros,[1] in 1858, were accomplished, may fairly be attributed to the +effects already produced by American influences. It was through +Mr. Harris's exertions that the Japanese embassy to this government was +secured. The English government endeavored to obtain first this important +mark of recognition, but, as it appears, unsuccessfully. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's expedition (_Narrative +of the Earl of Elgin's Mission_, etc., by Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.) is one +of the most valuable contributions from Japan. His observations, which at +Yedo were more extended and unimpeded than those of any preceding visitor, +are recorded in the most lively and charming manner. The history of the +embassy of Baron Gros (_Souvenirs d'une Ambassade en Chine et au Japon_, +par le Marquis de Moges) is less complete and entertaining, but by no means +destitute of interest.] + +At the present moment, all seems favorable for the development of the long +hidden resources of the Empire. But there are still difficulties in the +way; for a powerful class of nobles, those who trace their descent from the +ancient spiritual dynasty, are strongly opposed to the overthrow of the old +system. It is only by constant struggles that the more progressive class +can make way against them. The arrival of this embassy, and the recent +visit of a Japanese ship to California, are hopeful signs; for these could +have been permitted only on the abrogation of the old law of seclusion, +proclaimed at the time of the Portuguese expulsion; and such are the +peculiar principles of the Japanese government, that, as will hereafter be +shown, an important law like this cannot be revoked without a general +change of its policy. Within the city of Yedo are now the representatives +of three powerful nations, England, France, and the United States; others +are seeking admission; and the period when Japan shall mingle freely with +the world it has so long affected to contemn can hardly be long deferred. + +In a future number we shall speak of the present condition of Japan, the +forms of government, so far as known, its social state and prospects, and +the character of the people, as represented in the embassy which is now +receiving the hospitalities of our own government. + + * * * * * + + + +THE VINEYARD-SAINT. + + +She, pacing down the vineyard walks, +Put back the branches, one by one, +Stripped the dry foliage from the stalks, +And gave their bunches to the sun. + +On fairer hill-sides, looking south, +The vines were brown with cankerous rust, +The earth was hot with summer drouth, +And all the grapes were dim with dust. + +Yet here some blessed influence rained +From kinder skies, the season through; +On every bunch the bloom remained, +And every leaf was washed in dew. + +I saw her blue eyes, clear and calm; +I saw the aureole of her hair; +I heard her chant some unknown psalm, +In triumph half, and half in prayer. + +"Hail, maiden of the vines!" I cried: +"Hail, Oread of the purple hill! +For vineyard fauns too fair a bride, +For me thy cup of welcome fill! + +"Unlatch the wicket; let me in, +And, sharing, make thy toil more dear: +No riper vintage holds the bin +Than that our feet shall trample here. + +"Beneath thy beauty's light I glow, +As in the sun those grapes of thine: +Touch thou my heart with love, and lo! +The foaming must is turned to wine!" + +She, pausing, stayed her careful task, +And, lifting eyes of steady ray, +Blew, as a wind the mountain's mask +Of mist, my cloudy words away. + +No troubled flush o'erran her cheek; +But when her quiet lips did stir, +My heart knelt down to hear her speak, +And mine the blush I sought in her. + +"Oh, not for me," she said, "the vow +So lightly breathed, to break erelong; +The vintage-garland on the brow; +The revels of the dancing throng! + +"To maiden love I shut my heart, +Yet none the less a stainless bride; +I work alone, I dwell apart, +Because my work is sanctified. + +"A virgin hand must tend the vine, +By virgin feet the vat be trod, +Whose consecrated gush of wine +Becomes the blessed blood of God! + +"No sinful purple here shall stain, +Nor juice profane these grapes afford; +But reverent lips their sweetness drain +Around the table of the Lord. + +"The cup I fill, of chaster gold, +Upon the lighted altar stands; +There, when the gates of heaven unfold, +The priest exalts it in his hands. + +"The censer yields adoring breath, +The awful anthem sinks and dies, +While God, who suffered life and death, +Renews His ancient sacrifice. + +"O sacred garden of the vine! +And blessed she, ordained to press +God's chosen vintage, for the wine +Of pardon and of holiness!" + + * * * * * + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COUSIN RICHARD'S VISIT. + + +The Doctor was roused from his reverie by the clatter of approaching +hoofs. He looked forward and saw a young fellow galloping rapidly towards +him. + +A common New-England rider with his toes turned out, his elbows jerking and +the daylight showing under him at every step, bestriding a cantering beast +of the plebeian breed, thick at every point where he should be thin, and +thin at every point where he should be thick, is not one of those noble +objects that bewitch the world. The best horsemen outside of the cities are +the unshod country-boys, who ride "bare-backed," with only a halter round +the horse's neck, digging their brown heels into his ribs, and slanting +over backwards, but sticking on like leeches, and taking the hardest trot +as if they loved it. This was a different sight on which the Doctor was +looking. The streaming mane and tail of the unshorn, savage-looking, black +horse, the dashing grace with which the young fellow in the shadowy +_sombrero_, and armed with the huge spurs, sat in his high-peaked saddle, +could belong only to the mustang of the Pampas and his master. This bold +rider was a young man whose sudden apparition in the quiet inland town had +reminded some of the good people of a bright, curly-haired boy they had +known some eight or ten years before as little Dick Venner. + +This boy had passed several of his early years at the Dudley mansion, the +playmate of Elsie, being her cousin, two or three years older than herself, +the son of Captain Richard Venner, a South American trader, who, as he +changed his residence often, was glad to leave the boy in his brother's +charge. The Captain's wife, this boy's mother, was a lady of Buenos Ayres, +of Spanish descent, and had died while the child was in his cradle. These +two motherless children were as strange a pair as one roof could well +cover. Both handsome, wild, impetuous, unmanageable, they played and fought +together like two young leopards, beautiful, but dangerous, their lawless +instincts showing through all their graceful movements. + +The boy was little else than a young _Gaucho_ when he first came to +Rockland; for he had learned to ride almost as soon as to walk, and could +jump on his pony and trip up a runaway pig with the _bolas_ or noose him +with his miniature _lasso_ at an age when some city-children would hardly +be trusted out of sight of a nursery-maid. It makes men imperious to sit a +horse; no man governs his fellows so well as from this living throne. And +so, from Marcus Aurelius in Roman bronze, down to the "man on horseback" in +General Cushing's prophetic speech, the saddle has always been the true +seat of empire. The absolute tyranny of the human will over a noble and +powerful beast develops the instinct of personal prevalence and dominion; +so that horse-subduer and hero were almost synonymous in simpler times, and +are closely related still. An ancestry of wild riders naturally enough +bequeathes also those other tendencies which we see in the Tartars, the +Cossacks, and our own Indian Centaurs,--and as well, perhaps, in the +old-fashioned fox-hunting squire as in any of these. Sharp alternations of +violent action and self-indulgent repose; a hard run, and a long revel +after it: this is what over-much horse tends to animalize a man into. Such +antecedents may have helped to make little Dick Venner a self-willed, +capricious boy, and a rough playmate for Elsie. + +Elsie was the wilder of the two. Old Sophy, who used to watch them with +those quick, animal-looking eyes of hers,--she was said to the the +granddaughter of a cannibal chief, and inherited the keen senses belonging +to all creatures which are hunted as game,--Old Sophy, who watched them in +their play and their quarrels, always seemed to be more afraid for the boy +than the girl. "Massa Dick! Massa Dick! don' you be too rough wi' dat gal! +She scratch you las' week, 'n' some day she bite you; 'n' if she bite you, +Massa Dick!"--Old Sophy nodded her head ominously, as if she could say a +great deal more; while, in grateful acknowledgment of her caution, Master +Dick put his two little fingers in the angles of his mouth, and his +forefingers on his lower eyelids, drawing upon these features until his +expression reminded her of something she vaguely recollected in her +infancy,--the face of a favorite deity executed in wood by an African +artist for her grandfather, brought over by her mother, and burned when she +became a Christian. + +These two wild children had much in common. They loved to ramble together, +to build huts, to climb trees for nests, to ride the colts, to dance, to +race, and to play at boys' rude games as if both were boys. But wherever +two natures have a great deal in common, the conditions of a first-rate +quarrel are furnished ready-made. Relations are very apt to hate each other +just because they are too much alike. It is so frightful to be in an +atmosphere of family idiosyncrasies; to see all the hereditary uncomeliness +or infirmity of body, all the defects of speech, all the failings of +temper, intensified by concentration, so that every fault of our own finds +itself multiplied by reflections, like our images in a saloon lined with +mirrors! Nature knows what she is about. The centrifugal principle which +grows out of the antipathy of like to like is only the repetition in +character of the arrangement we see expressed materially in certain +seed-capsules, which burst and throw the seed to all points of the compass. +A house is a large pod with a human germ or two in each of its cells or +chambers; it opens by dehiscence of the frontdoor by-and-by, and projects +one of its germs to Kansas, another to San Francisco, another to Chicago, +and so on; and this that Smith may not be Smithed to death and Brown be +Browned into a mad-house, but mix in with the world again and struggle back +to average humanity. + +Elsie's father, whose fault was to indulge her in everything, found that it +would never do to let these children grow up together. They would either +love each other as they got older, and pair like wild creatures, or take +some fierce antipathy, which might end nobody could tell where. It was not +safe to try. The boy must be sent away. A sharper quarrel than common +decided this point. Master Dick forgot Old Sophy's caution, and vexed the +girl into a paroxysm of wrath, in which she sprang at him and bit his +arm. Perhaps they made too much of it; for they sent for the old Doctor, +who came at once when he heard what had happened. He had a good deal to say +about the danger there was from the teeth of animals or human beings when +enraged; and as he emphasized his remarks by the application of a pencil of +lunar caustic to each of the marks left by the sharp white teeth, they were +like to be remembered by at least one of his hearers. + +So Master Dick went off on his travels, which led him into strange places +and stranger company. Elsie was half pleased and half sorry to have him go; +the children had a kind of mingled liking and hate for each other, just +such as is very common among relations. Whether the girl had most +satisfaction in the plays they shared, or in teasing him, or taking her +small revenge upon him for teasing her, it would have been hard to say. At +any rate, she was lonely without him. She had more fondness for the old +black woman than anybody; but Sophy could not follow her far beyond her own +old rocking-chair. As for her father, she had made him afraid of her, not +for his sake, but for her own. Sometimes she would seem, to be fond of him, +and the parent's heart would yearn within him as she twined her supple arms +about him; and then some look she gave him, some half-articulated +expression, would turn his cheek pale and almost make him shiver, and he +would say kindly, "Now go, Elsie, dear," and smile upon her as she went, +and close and lock the door softly after her. Then his forehead would knot +and furrow itself, and the drops of anguish stand thick upon it. He would +go to the western window of his study and look at the solitary mound with +the marble slab for its head-stone. After his grief had had its way, he +would kneel down and pray for his child as one who has no hope save in that +special grace which can bring the most rebellious spirit into sweet +subjection. All this might seem like weakness in a parent having the charge +of one sole daughter of his house and heart; but he had tried authority and +tenderness by turns so long without any good effect, that be had become +sore perplexed, and, surrounding her with cautious watchfulness as he best +might, left her in the main to her own guidance and the merciful influences +which Heaven might send down to direct her footsteps. + +Meantime the boy grew up to youth and early manhood through a strange +succession of adventures. He had been at school at Buenos Ayres,--had +quarrelled with his mother's relatives,--had run off to the Pampas, and +lived with the _Cauchos_,--had made friends with the Indians, and ridden +with them, it was rumored, in some of their savage forays,--had returned +and made up his quarrel,--had got money by inheritance or otherwise,--had +troubled I he peace of certain magistrates,--had found it convenient to +leave the City of Wholesome Breezes for a time, and had galloped off on a +fast horse of his, (so it was said,) with some officers riding after him, +who took good care (but this was only the popular story) not to catch +him. A few days after this he was taking his ice on the Alameda of Mendoza, +and a week or two later sailed from Valparaiso for New York, carrying with +him the horse with which he had scampered over the Plains, a trunk or two +with his newly purchased outfit of clothing and other conveniences, and a +belt heavy with gold and with a few Brazilian diamonds sewed in it, enough +in value to serve him for a long journey. + +Dick Venner had seen life enough to wear out the earlier sensibilities of +adolescence. He was tired of worshipping or tyrannizing over the bistred or +umbered beauties of mingled blood among whom he had been living. Even that +piquant exhibition which the Rio de Mendoza presents to the amateur of +breathing sculpture failed to interest him. He was thinking of a far-off +village on the other side of the equator, and of the wild girl with whom he +used to play and quarrel, a creature of a different race from these +degenerate mongrels. + +"A game little devil she was, sure enough!"--and as Dick spoke, he bared +his wrist to look for the marks she had left on it: two small white scars, +where the two small sharp upper teeth had struck when she flashed at him +with her eyes sparkling as bright as those glittering stones sewed up in +the belt he wore.--"That's a filly worth noosing!" said Dick to himself, as +he looked in admiration at the sign of her spirit and passion. "I wonder if +she will bite at eighteen as she did at eight! She shall have a chance to +try, at any rate!" + +Such was the self-sacrificing disposition with which Richard Venner, Esq., +a passenger by the Condor from Valparaiso, set foot upon his native shore, +and turned his face in the direction of Rockland, The Mountain, and the +mansion-house. He had heard something, from time to time, of his +New-England relatives, and knew that they were living together as he left +them. And so he heralded himself to "My dear Uncle" by a letter signed +"Your loving nephew, Richard Venner," in which letter he told a very frank +story of travel and mercantile adventure, expressed much gratitude for the +excellent counsel and example which had helped to form his character and +preserve him in the midst of temptation, inquired affectionately after his +uncle's health, was much interested to know whether his lively cousin who +used to be his playmate had grown up as handsome as she promised to be, and +announced his intention of paying his respects to them both at +Rockland. Not long after this came the trunks marked R.V. which he had sent +before him, forerunners of his advent: he was not going to wait for a reply +or an invitation. + +What a sound that is,--the banging down of the preliminary trunk, without +its claimant to give it the life which is borrowed by all personal +appendages, so long as the owner's hand or eye is on them! If it announce +the coming of one loved and longed for, how we delight to look at it, to +sit down on it, to caress it in our fancies, as a lone exile walking out on +a windy pier yearns towards the merchantman lying along-side, with the +colors of his own native land at her peak, and the name of the port he +sailed from long ago upon her stern! But if it tell the near approach of +the undesired, inevitable guest, what sound short of the muffled noises +made by the undertakers as they turn the corners in the dim-lighted house, +with low shuffle of feet and whispered cautions, carries such a sense of +knocking-kneed collapse with it as the thumping down in the front entry of +the heavy portmanteau, rammed with the changes of uncounted coming weeks? + +Whether the R.V. portmanteaus brought one or the other of these emotions to +the tenants of the Dudley mansion, it might not be easy to settle. Elsie +professed to be pleased with the thought of having an adventurous young +stranger, with stories to tell, an inmate of their quiet, not to say dull, +family. Under almost any other circumstances, her father would have been +unwilling to take a young fellow of whom he knew so little under his roof; +but this was his nephew, and anything that seemed like to amuse or please +Elsie was agreeable to him. He had grown almost desperate, and felt as if +any change in the current of her life and feelings might save her from some +strange paroxysm of dangerous mental exaltation or sullen perversion of +disposition, from which some fearful calamity might come to herself or +others. + +Dick had been some weeks at the Dudley mansion. A few days before, he had +made a sudden dash for the nearest large city,--and when the Doctor met +him, he was just returning from his visit. + + * * * * * + +It had been a curious meeting between the two young persons, who had parted +so young and after such strange relations with each other. When Dick first +presented himself at the mansion, not one in the house would have known him +for the boy who had left them all so suddenly years ago. He was so dark, +partly from his descent, partly from long habits of exposure, that Elsie +looked almost fair beside him. He had something of the family beauty which +belonged to his cousin, but his eye had a fierce passion in it, very unlike +the cold glitter of Elsie's. Like many people of strong and imperious +temper, he was soft-voiced and very gentle in his address, when he had no +special reason for being otherwise. He soon found reasons enough to be as +amiable as he could force himself to be with his uncle and his +cousin. Elsie was to his fancy. She had a strange attraction for him, quite +unlike anything he had ever known in other women. There was something, too, +in early associations: when those who parted as children meet as man and +woman, there is always a renewal of that early experience which followed +the taste of the forbidden fruit,--a natural blush of consciousness, not +without its charm. + +Nothing could be more becoming than the behavior of "Richard Venner, +Esquire, the guest of Dudley Venner, Esquire, at his noble mansion," as he +was announced in the Court column of the "Rockland Weekly Universe." He was +pleased to find himself treated with kindness and attention as a +relative. He made himself very agreeable by abundant details concerning the +religious, political, social, commercial, and educational progress of the +South American cities and states. He was himself much interested in +everything that was going on about the Dudley mansion, walked all over it, +noticed its valuable wood-lots with special approbation, was delighted with +the grand old house and its furniture, and would not be easy until he had +seen all the family silver and heard its history. In return, he had much to +tell of his father, now dead,--the only one of the Tenners, beside +themselves, in whose fate his uncle was interested. With Elsie, he was +subdued and almost tender in his manner; with the few visitors whom they +saw, shy and silent,--perhaps a little watchful, if any young man happened +to be among them. + +Young fellows placed on their good behavior are apt to get restless and +nervous, all ready to fly off into some mischief or other. Dick Venner had +his half-tamed horse with him to work off his suppressed life with. When +the savage passion of his young blood came over him, he would fetch out the +mustang, screaming and kicking as these amiable beasts are wont to do, +strap the Spanish saddle tight to his back, vault into it, and, after +getting away from the village, strike the long spurs into his sides and +whirl away in a wild gallop, until the black horse was flecked with white +foam, and the cruel steel points were red with his blood. When horse and +rider were alike tired, he would fling the bridle on his neck and saunter +homeward, always contriving to get to the stable in a quiet way, and coming +into the house as calm as a bishop after a sober trot on his steady-going +cob. + +After a few weeks of this kind of life, he began to want some more fierce +excitement. He had tried making downright love to Elsie, with no great +success as yet, in his own opinion. The girl was capricious in her +treatment of him, sometimes scowling and repellent, sometimes familiar, +very often, as she used to be of old, teasing and malicious. All this, +perhaps, made her more interesting to a young man who was tired of easy +conquests. There was a strange fascination in her eyes, too, which at times +was quite irresistible, so that he would feel himself drawn to her by a +power which seemed to take away his will for the moment It may have been +nothing but the common charm of bright eyes; but he had never before +experienced the same kind of attraction. + +Perhaps she was not so very different from what she had been as a child, +after all. At any rate, so it seemed to Dick Venner, who, as was said +before, had tried making love to her. They were sitting alone in the study +one day; Elsie had round her neck that somewhat peculiar ornament, the +golden _torque_, which she had worn to the great party. Youth is +adventurous and very curious about neck laces, brooches, chains, and other +such adornments, so long as they are worn by young persons of the female +sex. Dick was seized with a great passion for examining this curious chain, +and, after some preliminary questions, was rash enough to lean towards her +and put out his hand toward the neck that lay in the golden coil. She threw +her head back, her eyes narrowing and her forehead drawing down so that +Dick thought her head actually flattened itself. He started involuntarily; +for she looked so like the little girl who had struck him with those sharp +flashing teeth, that the whole scene came back, and he felt the stroke +again as if it had just been given, and the two white scars began to sting +as they did after the old Doctor had burned them with that stick of gray +caustic, which looked so like a slate pencil, and felt so much like the end +of a red-hot poker. + +It took something more than a gallop to set him right after this. The next +day he mentioned having received a letter from a mercantile agent with whom +he had dealings. What his business was is, perhaps, none of our +business. At any rate, it required him to go at once to the city where his +correspondent resided. + +Independently of this "business" which called him, there may have been +other motives, such as have been hinted at. People who have been living for +a long time in dreary country-places, without any emotion beyond such as +are occasioned by a trivial pleasure or annoyance, often get crazy at last +for a vital paroxysm of some kind or other. In this state they rush to the +great cities for a plunge into their turbid life-baths, with a frantic +thirst for every exciting pleasure, which makes them the willing and easy +victims of all those who sell the Devil's wares on commission. The less +intelligent and instructed class of unfortunates, who venture with their +ignorance and their instincts into what is sometimes called the "life" of +great cities, are put through a rapid course of instruction which entitles +them very commonly to a diploma from the police court. But they only +illustrate the working of the same tendency in mankind at large which has +been occasionally noticed in the sons of ministers and other eminently +worthy people, by many ascribed to that intense congenital hatred for +goodness which distinguishes human nature from that of the brute, but +perhaps as readily accounted for by considering it as the yawning and +stretching of a young soul cramped too long in one moral posture. + +Richard Venner was a young man of remarkable experience for his years. He +ran less risk, therefore, in exposing himself to the temptations and +dangers of a great city than many older men, who, seeking the livelier +scenes of excitement to be found in large towns as a relaxation after the +monotonous routine of family-life, are too often taken advantage of and +made the victims of their sentiments or their generous confidence in their +fellow-creatures. Such was not his destiny. There was something about him +which looked as if he would not take bullying kindly. He had also the +advantage of being acquainted with most of those ingenious devices by which +the proverbial inconstancy of fortune is steadied to something more nearly +approaching fixed laws, and the dangerous risks which have so often led +young men to ruin and suicide are practically reduced to somewhat less than +nothing. So that Mr, Richard Venner worked off his nervous energies without +any troublesome adventure, and was ready to return to Rockland in less than +a week, without having lightened the money-belt he wore round his body, or +tarnished the long glittering knife he carried in his boot. + +Dick had sent his trunk to the nearest town through which the railroad +leading to the city passed. He rode off on his black horse and left him at +the place where he took the cars. On arriving at the city station, he took +a coach and drove to one of the great hotels. Thither drove also a +sagacious-looking, middle-aged man, who entered his name as "W. Thompson" +in the book at the office immediately after that of "R. Venner." Mr, +"Thompson" kept a carelessly observant eye upon Mr. Venner during his stay +at the hotel, and followed him to the cars when he left, looking over his +shoulder when he bought his ticket at the station, and seeing him fairly +off without obtruding himself in any offensive way upon his +attention. Mr. Thompson, known in other quarters as Detective Policeman +Terry, got very little by his trouble. Richard Venner did not turn out to +be the wife-poisoner, the defaulting cashier, the river-pirate, or the +great counterfeiter. He paid his hotel-bill as a gentleman should always +do, if he has the money, and can spare it. The detective had probably +overrated his own sagacity when he ventured to suspect Mr. Venner. He +reported to his chief that there was a knowing-looking fellow he had been +round after, but he rather guessed he was nothing more than "one o' them +Southern sportsmen." + +The poor fellows at the stable where Dick had left his horse had had +trouble enough with him. One of the ostlers was limping about with a lame +leg, and another had lost a mouthful of his coat, which came very near +carrying a piece of his shoulder with it. When Mr. Venner came back for his +beast, he was as wild as if he had just been lassoed, screaming, kicking, +rolling over to get rid of his saddle,--and when his rider was at last +mounted, jumping about in a way to dislodge any common horseman. To all +this Dick replied by sticking his long spurs deeper and deeper into his +flanks, until the creature found he was mastered, and dashed off as if all +the thistles of the Pampas were pricking him. + +"One more gallop, Juan!" This was in the last mile of the road before he +came to the town--which brought him in sight of the mansion-house. It was +in this last gallop that the fiery mustang and his rider flashed by the old +Doctor. Cassia pointed her sharp ears and shied to let them pass. The +Doctor turned and looked through the little round glass in the back of his +sulky. + +"Dick Turpin, there, will find more than his match!" said the Doctor. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE APOLLINEAN INSTITUTE. + +_With Extracts from the "Report of the Committee."_ + + +The readers of this narrative will hardly expect any elaborate details of +the educational management of the Apollinean Institute. They cannot be +supposed to take the same interest in its affairs as was shown by the +Annual Committees who reported upon its condition and prospects. As these +Committees were, however, an important part of the mechanism of the +establishment, some general account of their organization and a few +extracts from the Report of the one last appointed may not be out of place. + +Whether Mr. Silas Peckham had some contrivance for packing his Committees, +whether they happened always to be made up of optimists by nature, whether +they were cajoled into good-humor by polite attentions, or whether they +were always really delighted with the wonderful acquirements of the pupils +and the admirable order of the school, it is certain that their Annual +Reports were couched in language which might warm the heart of the most +cold-blooded and calculating father that ever had a family of daughters to +educate. In fact, these Annual Reports were considered by Mr. Peckham as +his most effective advertisements. + +The first thing, therefore, was to see that the Committee was made up of +persons known to the public. Some worn-out politician, in that leisurely +and amiable transition-state which comes between official extinction and +the paralysis which will finish him as soon as his brain gets a little +softer, made an admirable Chairman for Mr. Peckham, when he had the luck to +pick up such an article. Old reputations, like old fashions, are more +prized in the grassy than in the stony districts. An effete celebrity, who +would never be heard of again in the great places until the funeral sermon +waked up his memory for one parting spasm, finds himself in full flavor of +renown a little farther back from the changing winds of the sea-coast. If +such a public character was not to be had, so that there was no chance of +heading the Report with the name of the Honorable Mr. Somebody, the next +best thing was to get the Reverend Dr. Somebody to take that conspicuous +position. Then would follow two or three local worthies with Esquire after +their names. If any stray literary personage from one of the great cities +happened to be within reach, he was pounced upon by Mr. Silas Peckham. It +was a hard case for the poor man, who had travelled a hundred miles or two +to the outside suburbs after peace and unwatered milk, to be pumped for a +speech in this unexpected way. It was harder still, if he had been induced +to venture a few tremulous remarks, to be obliged to write them out for the +"Rockland Weekly Universe," with the chance of seeing them used as an +advertising certificate as long as he lived, if he lived as long as the +late Dr. Waterhouse did after giving his certificate in favor of Whitwell's +celebrated Cephalic Snuff. + +The Report of the last Committee had been signed by the Honorable ----, +late ---- of ----, as Chairman. (It is with reluctance that the name and +titles are left in blank; but our public characters are so familiarly known +to the whole community that this reserve becomes necessary.) The other +members of the Committee were the Reverend Mr. Butters, of a neighboring +town, who was to make the prayer before the Exercises of the Exhibition, +and two or three notabilities of Rockiand, with geoponic eyes, and +glabrous, bumpless foreheads. A few extracts from the Report are +subjoined:-- + +"The Committee have great pleasure in recording their unanimous opinion, +that the Institution was never in so flourishing a condition.... + +"The health of the pupils is excellent; the admirable quality of food +supplied shows itself in their appearance; their blooming aspect excited +the admiration of the Committee, and bears testimony to the assiduity of +the excellent Matron. + +"......moral and religious condition most encouraging, which they cannot +but attribute to the personal efforts and instruction of the faithful +Principal, who considers religious instruction a solemn duty which he +cannot commit to other people. + +".......great progress in their studies, under the intelligent +superintendence of the accomplished Principal, assisted by Mr. Badger, +[Mr. Langdon's predecessor,] Miss Darley, the lady who superintends the +English branches, Miss Crabs, her assistant and teacher of Modern +Languages, and Mr. Schneider, teacher of French, German, Latin, and Music. + +"Education is the great business of the Institute. Amusements are objects +of a secondary nature; but these are by no means neglected.... + +".........English compositions of great originality and beauty, creditable +alike to the head and heart of their accomplished authors......several +poems of a very high order of merit, which would do honor to the literature +of any age or country.....life-like drawings, showing great proficiency.... +Many converse fluently in various modern languages......perform the most +difficult airs with the skill of professional musicians..... + +".....advantages unsurpassed, if equalled, by those of any Institution in +the country, and reflecting the highest honor on the distinguished Head of +the Establishment, SILAS PECKHAM, Esquire, and his admirable Lady, the +MATRON, with their worthy assistants....." + + +The perusal of this Report did Mr. Bernard more good than a week's vacation +would have done. It gave him such a laugh as he had not had for a +month. The way in which Silas Peckham had made his Committee say what he +wanted them to--for he recognized a number of expressions in the Report as +coming directly from the lips of his principal, and could not help thinking +how cleverly he had _forced_ his phrases, as jugglers do the particular +card they wish their dupe to take--struck him as particularly neat and +pleasing. + +He had passed through the sympathetic and emotional stages in his new +experience, and had arrived at the philosophical and practical state, which +takes things coolly, and goes to work to set them right. He had breadth +enough of view to see that there was nothing so very exceptional in this +educational trader's dealings with his subordinates, but he had also manly +feeling enough to attack the particular individual instance of wrong before +him. There are plenty of dealers in morals, as in ordinary traffic, who +confine themselves to wholesale business. They leave the small necessity of +their next-door neighbor to the retailers, who are poorer in statistics and +general facts, but richer in the every-day charities. Mr. Bernard felt, at +first, as one does who sees a gray rat steal out of a drain and begin +gnawing at the bark of some tree loaded with fruit or blossoms, which he +will soon girdle, if he is let alone. The first impulse is to murder him +with the nearest ragged stone. Then one remembers that he is a rodent, +acting after the law of his kind, and cools down and is contented to drive +him off and guard the tree against his teeth for the future. As soon as +this is done, one can watch his attempts at mischief with a certain +amusement. + +This was the kind of process Mr. Bernard had gone through. First, the +indignant surprise of a generous nature, when it comes unexpectedly into +relations with a mean one. Then the impulse of extermination,--a divine +instinct, intended to keep down vermin of all classes to their working +averages in the economy of Nature. Then a return of cheerful tolerance,--a +feeling, that, if the Deity could bear with rats and sharpers, he could; +with a confident trust, that, in the long run, terriers and honest men +would have the upperhand, and a grateful consciousness that he had been +sent just at the right time to come between a patient victim and the master +who held her in peonage. + +Having once made up his mind what to do, Mr. Bernard was as good-natured +and hopeful as ever. He had the great advantage, from his professional +training, of knowing how to recognize and deal with the nervous +disturbances to which overtasked women are so liable. He saw well enough +that Helen Darley would certainly kill herself or lose her wits, if he +could not lighten her labors and lift off a large part of her weight of +cares. The worst of it was, that she of those women who naturally overwork +themselves, like those horses who will go at the top of their pace until +they drop. Such women are dreadfully unmanageable. It is as hard reasoning +with them as it would have been reasoning with lo, when she was flying over +land and sea, driven by the sting of the never-sleeping gadfly. + +This was a delicate, interesting game that he played. Under one innocent +pretext or another, he invaded this or that special province she had made +her own. He would collect the themes and have them all read and marked, +answer all the puzzling questions in mathematics, make the other teachers +come to him for directions, and in this way gradually took upon himself not +only all the general superintendence that belonged to his office, but stole +away so many of the special duties which might fairly have belonged to his +assistant, that, before she knew it, she was looking better and feeling +more cheerful than for many and many a month before. + +When the nervous energy is depressed by any bodily cause, or exhausted by +overworking, there follow effects which have often been misinterpreted by +moralists, and especially by theologians. The conscience itself becomes +neuralgic, sometimes actually inflamed, so that the least touch is +agony. Of all liars and false accusers, a sick conscience is the most +inventive and indefatigable. The devoted daughter, wife, mother, whose life +has been given to unselfish labors, who has filled a place which it seems +to others only and angel would make good, reproaches herself with +incompetence and neglect of duty. The humble Christian, who has been a +model to others, calls himself a worm of the dust on one page of his diary, +and arraigns himself on the next for coming short of the perfection of an +archangel. + +Conscience itself requires a conscience, or nothing can be more +unscrupulous. It told Saul that he did well in persecuting the +Christians. It has goaded countless multitudes of various creeds to endless +forms of self-torture. The cities of India are full of cripples it has +made. The hill-sides of Syria are riddled with holes, where miserable +hermits, whose lives it had palsied, lived and died like the vermin they +harbored. Our libraries are crammed with books written by spiritual +hypochondriacs, who inspected all their moral secretions a dozen times a +day. They are full of interest, but they should be transferred from the +shelf of the theologian to that of the medical man who makes a study of +insanity. + +This was the state into which too much work and too much responsibility +were bringing Helen Darley, when the new master came and lifted so much of +the burden that was crushing her as must be removed before she could have a +chance to recover her natural elasticity and buoyancy. Many of the noblest +women, suffering like her, but less fortunate in being relieved at the +right moment, die worried out of life by the perpetual teasing of this +inflamed, neuralgic conscience. So subtile is the line which separates the +true and almost angelic sensibility of a healthy, but exalted nature, from +the soreness of a soul which is sympathizing with a morbid state of the +body, that it is no wonder they are often confounded. And thus many good +women are suffered to perish by that form of spontaneous combustion in +which the victim goes on toiling day and night with the hidden fire +consuming her, until all at once her cheek whitens, and, as we look upon +her, she drops away, a heap of ashes. The more they over-work themselves, +the more exacting becomes the sense of duty,--as the draught of the +locomotive's furnace blows stronger and makes the fire burn more fiercely, +the faster it spins along the track. + +It is not very likely, as was said at the beginning of this chapter, that +we shall trouble ourselves a great deal about the internal affairs of the +Apollinean Institute. These schools are, in the nature of things, not so +very unlike each other as to require a minute description for each +particular one among them. They have all very much the same general +features, pleasing and displeasing. All feeding-establishments have +something odious about them,--from the wretched country-houses where +paupers are farmed out to the lowest bidder, up to the commons-tables at +colleges, and even the fashionable boarding-house. A person's appetite +should be at war with no other purse than his own. Young people, +especially, who have a bone-factory at work in them, and have to feed the +living looms of innumerable growing tissues, should be provided for, if +possible, by those that love them like their own flesh and blood. Elsewhere +their appetites will be sure to make them enemies, or, what are almost as +bad, friends whose interests are at variance with the claims of their +exacting necessities and demands. + +Besides, all commercial transactions in regard to the most sacred interests +of life are hateful even to those who profit by them. The clergyman, the +physician, the teacher, must be paid; but each of them, if his duty be +performed in the true spirit, can hardly help a shiver of disgust when. +money is counted out to him for administering the consolations of religion, +for saving some precious life, for sowing the seeds of Christian +civilization in young, ingenuous souls. + +And yet all these schools, with their provincial French and their +mechanical accomplishments, with their cheap parade of diplomas and +commencements and other public honors, have an ever fresh interest to all +who see the task they are performing in our new social order. These girls +are not being educated for governesses, or to be exported, with other +manufactured articles, to colonies where there happens to be a surplus of +males. Most of them will be wives, and every American-born husband is a +possible President of these United States. Any one of these girls may be a +four-years' queen. There is no sphere of human activity so exalted that she +may not be called upon to fill it. + +But there is another consideration of far higher interest. The education of +our community to all that is beautiful is flowing in mainly through its +women, and that to a considerable extent by the aid of these large +establishments, the least perfect of which do something to stimulate the +higher tastes and partially instruct them. Sometimes there is, perhaps, +reason to fear that girls will be too highly educated for their own +happiness, if they are lifted by their culture out of the range of the +practical and every-day working youth by whom they are surrounded. But this +is a risk we must take. Our young men come into active life so early, that, +if our girls were not educated to something beyond mere practical duties, +our material prosperity would outstrip our culture; as it often does in +large places where money is made too rapidly. This is the meaning, +therefore, of that somewhat ambitious programme common to most of these +large institutions, at which we sometimes smile, perhaps unwisely or +uncharitably. + +We shall take it for granted that the routine of instruction went on at the +Apollinean Institute much as it does in other schools of the same +class. People, young or old, are wonderfully different, if we contrast +extremes in pairs. They approach much nearer, if we take them in groups of +twenty. Take two separate hundreds as they come, without choosing, and you +get the gamut of human character in both so completely that you can strike +many chords in each which shall be in perfect unison with corresponding +ones in the other. If we go a step farther, and compare the population of +two villages of the same race and region, there is such a regularly +graduated distribution and parallelism of character, that it seems as if +Nature must turn out human beings in sets like chessmen. + +It must be confessed that the position in which Mr. Bernard now found +himself had a pleasing danger about it which might well justify all the +fears entertained on his account by more experienced friends, when they +learned that he was engaged in a Young Ladies' Seminary. The school never +went on more smoothly than during the first period of his administration, +after he had arranged its duties, and taken his share, and even more than +his share, upon himself. But human nature does not wait for the diploma of +the Apollinean Institute to claim the exercise of its instincts and +faculties. There young girls saw but little of the youth of the +neighborhood. The mansion-house young men were off at college or in the +cities, or making love to each other's sisters, or at any rate unavailable +for some reason or other. There were a few "clerks,"--that is, young men +who attended shops, commonly called "stores,"--who were fond of walking by +the Institute, when they were off duty, for the sake of exchanging a word +or a glance with any one of the young ladies they might happen to know, if +any such were stirring abroad: crude young men, mostly, with a great many +"Sirs" and "Ma'ams" in their speech, and with that style of address +sometimes acquired in the retail business, as if the salesman were +recommending himself to a customer,--"First-rate family article, Ma'am; +warranted to wear a lifetime; just one yard and three quarters in this +pattern, Ma'am; sha'n't I have the pleasure?" and so forth. If there had +been ever so many of them, and if they had been ever so fascinating, the +quarantine of the Institute was too rigorous to allow any romantic +infection to be introduced from without. + +Anybody might see what would happen, with a good-looking, well-dressed, +well-bred young man, who had the authority of a master, it is true, but the +manners of a friend and equal, moving about among these young girls day +after day, his eyes meeting theirs, his breath mingling with theirs, his +voice growing familiar to them, never in any harsh tones, often soothing, +encouraging, always sympathetic, with its male depth and breadth of sound +among the chorus of trebles, as if it were a river in which a hundred of +these little piping streamlets might lose themselves; anybody might see +what would happen. Young girls wrote home to their parents that they +enjoyed themselves much this term at the Institute, and thought they were +making rapid progress in their studies. There was a great enthusiasm for +the young master's reading-classes in English poetry. Some of the poor +little things began to adorn themselves with an extra ribbon, or a bit of +such jewelry as they had before kept for great occasions. Dear souls! they +only half knew what they were doing it for. Does the bird know why its +feathers grow more brilliant and its voice becomes musical in the pairing +season? + +And so, in the midst of this quiet inland town, where a mere accident had +placed Mr. Bernard Langdon, there was a concentration of explosive +materials which might at any time change its Arcadian and academic repose +into a scene of dangerous commotion. What said Helen Darley, when she saw +with her woman's glance that more than one girl, when she should be looking +at her book, was looking over it toward the master's desk? Was her own +heart warmed by any livelier feeling than gratitude, as its life began to +flow with fuller pulses, and the morning sky again looked bright and the +flowers recovered their lost fragrance? Was there any strange, mysterious +affinity between the master and the dark girl who sat by herself? Could she +call him at will by looking at him? Could it be that ----? It made her +shiver to think of it.--And who was that strange horseman who passed +Mr. Bernard at dusk the other evening, looking so like Mephistopheles +galloping hard to be in season at the witches' Sabbath-gathering? That must +be the cousin of Elsie's who wants to marry her, they say. A +dangerous-looking fellow for a rival, if one took a fancy to the dark girl! +And who is she, and what?--by what demon is she haunted, by what taint is +she blighted, by what curse is she followed, by what destiny is she marked, +that her strange beauty has such a terror in it, and that hardly one shall +dare to love her, and her eye glitters always, but warms for none? + +Some of these questions are ours. Some were Helen Darley's. Some of them +mingled with the dreams of Bernard Langdon, as he slept the night after +meeting the strange horseman. In the morning he happened to be a little +late in entering the school-room. There was something between the leaves of +the Virgil that lay upon his desk. He opened it and saw a freshly gathered +mountain-flower. He looked at Elsie, instinctively, involuntarily. She had +another such flower on her breast. + +A young girl's graceful compliment,--that is all,--no doubt,--no doubt. It +was odd that the flower should have happened to be laid between the leaves +of the Fourth Book of the "AEneid," and at this line,-- + +"Incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit." + +A remembrance of an ancient superstition flashed through the master's mind, +and he determined to try the _Sortes Virgilianae_. He shut the volume, and +opened it again at a venture.--The story of Laocooen! + +He read, with a strange feeling of unwilling fascination, from "_Horresco +referens_" to "_Bis medium amplexi_," and flung the book from him, as if +its leaves had been steeped in the subtle poisons that princes die of. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SPHINX'S CHILDREN. + +"Que la volonte soit le destin!" + + +Long had she sat, crouched upon her breast,--crouched, but not for slumber +or for spring. No slumber gloomed darkly in those broad, sad eyes; no dream +indefinably softened the lips, whose patient outline breathed only +wakefulness and expectation,--a long-deferred, yet constant expectation,--a +hope that would have been despair, save that it was just within hope's +limits,--a monotonous, reiterate, indestructible chord in the creature's +mystic existence, that, once struck by some mighty, shrouded Hand of Power, +still reverberated, and trailed its still renewing echoes through every +fibre of its secret habitation. Nor yet for spring;--a couchant leopard has +posed itself with horrid intent; murder glitters in its fixed golden eye, +quivers in the tense loins, creeps in the tawny glitter of the skin, +clutches the keen claws, that recoil, and grasp, and recoil again from the +velvet ball of that heavy foot; murder grins in the withdrawn lip, the +white, red-set teeth, the slavering crunch of the jaw: but nothing of all +these fired the quiet and the silence of the crouching Sphinx; nerve and +muscle in tranquil strength lay relaxed, though not unconscious. Year after +year the yellow Desert robed itself in burning mists, splendid and deadly; +year after year the hot simoom licked up its sands, and, whirling them +madly over the dead plain, dashed them against the silent Sphinx, and grain +by grain heaped her slow-growing grave; the Nile spread its waters across +the green valley, and lapped its brink with a watery thirst for land, and +then receded to its channel, and poured its ancient flood still downward to +the sea; worshipped, or desecrated; threaded by black Nubian boatmen, who +mocked its sacred name with such savage mirth as satyrs might have spirted +from their hairy lips; navigated by keen-eyed Arabs, lithe and dark and +treacherous as the river beneath them; Coptic shepherds, lingering on the +brink, drank the sweet waters, and led their flocks to drink at the +shallows, when the shepherd's star cleft that deepest sky with its crest, +and warned the simple people of their hour;--yet forever stood the Sphinx, +passionately patient, looking for sunrise, over desert, vale, and +river,--beyond man,--to her hour.--And the hour came. + +Once to all things comes their hour. The black column of basalt quivers to +its heart with one keen lightning thrill that vindicates its kin to the +electric flash without; the granite cliff loses one atom from its bald +front, and every other atom quails before the dumb shiver of gravitation +and shifts its place; the breathing, breathless marble, which a sculptor +has rescued from its primeval sleep, and, repeating after God, though with +stammering and insufficient lips, the great drama of Paradise, makes a man +out of dust,--once, once, in the dcadness of its beauty, that marble +thrills with magnetic life, drinks its maker's soul, repeats the Paradisaic +amen, and owns that it is good. Yea, greater miracle of transcendental +truth,--once,--perhaps twice,--the sodden, valueless heart of that old man, +whose gold has sucked out all that made him a man, beats with a pulse of +generous honor; even in the dust of stocks and the ashes of speculation, +amid the howling curses of the poor and the bitter weeping of his own +flesh, once he hears the Voice of God, and all eternity cleaves the earth +at his feet with a glare of truth. Once in her loathsome life, that woman, +brazen with sin and shame, flaunting on the pavement, the scorn and jest of +decency and indecency, the fearful index of corrupt society,--even she has +her hour of softness, when the tiny grass that creeps out from the stones +comes greenly into a spring sunshine, and as with a divine whisper recalls +to her the time before she fell, the unburdened heart, the pure childish +pleasures, the kind look of her dead mother's eye, the clasp of that +sister's arm who passed her but yesterday pallid with disgust and ashamed +to own their sacred birth-tie: then the tide rolls back: the hour is come! +She, too, called a woman, who leads society, and triumphs over caste and +custom with metallic ring and force,--she who forgets the decencies of age +in her shameless attire, and supplies its defects with subterfuges, falser +in heart even than in aspect,--she, about whom cluster men old and young, +applauding with brays of laughter and coarser jeers the rancor of her wit, +as it drops its laughing venom or its sneering sophisms of worldly +wisdom,--even she, when the lights are fled, when the music has ceased from +its own desecration, when the frenzy of wine and laughter mock her in their +dead dregs, when the men who flattered and the women who envied are all +gone,--she recalls one calm eye in the crowd, that stung her with its pure +contemptuous pity, a look not to be shut out with draperies as the stars +are; and even through her soul, harder than the soul of that unowned sister +walking the midnight street beneath the window, since it has ceased to know +the stab of sin or the choking agony of shame,--even through that +world-trodden heart flashes one conscious pang, one glimpse of a possible +heaven and an inevitable hell, one naked and open vision of herself. + +Long had the Sphinx waited. Year after year the flocking pigeons flitted +and wheeled through the sweet skies of spring, built their nests and reared +their young; tiny lizards, the new birth of the season, coiled and +glittered on the hot sands like wandering jewels; every creature, dying out +of conscious life, left its perpetuated self behind it, and repeated its +own youth in its young, according to its kind: but the Sphinx lived +alone. Nor all-unconscious of her solitude: for he who formed that massive +shape, chiselled those calm, expectant lips, and wide eyes pensive as +setting moons, he had not failed to do what all true artists do in virtue +of their truth,--he had shared his own life with his own creation, and it +was his lonely yearning that stirred her pulseless heart. Little did he +think, toiling at that stupendous figure, ages gone by, that he transfused +into the stone at which he labored, like a patient ant at some stupendous +burden, no little share of that creative yearning that inspired him to his +task; as little as you think, dear poet, whether poet, painter, or +sculptor,--for all are one, and one is all,--that in those dreams which you +write, as unconscious of your power as the transcribing stylus of its +office, your own heart pulsates for a listening world, and the very linking +of words that so respire their own music makes those words self-sentient of +their breaking, thrilling melody, and wrings or exalts them, idea-garments +as they are, with the restless heaving of the thought that wears them. + +Or you, whose sun-steeped brush brings to life on canvas the golden trances +of August noons, the high, still splendor of its mountain-tops, which the +sun caresses with fiery languor, the unrippled slumber of its warm streams, +the broad glory of its woods and meadows fused with light and heat into the +resplendent haze that earth exhales in her day of prime, till he who sees +the picture hears the cricket's chirping in its moveless grasses, and +scents the rich aromatic breath of its summer-passion and its rapturous +noon,--do you dream, when at last the perfect work repeats your thought, +and you rest in the tropie atmosphere you have created, that in very truth +the picture itself is full of inward heat and breathless languor? For you +have poured out the colors that light makes out of heat, and in them the +still inevitable light shall ever stir the recreating heat that clothes +itself in color, and bring your thought, no more a dead abstraction, but a +living power, into the very substance whereby you have expressed it. And +even so far as you were creative, so shall your work be informed by you, +and not mere dead pigment and dried oil and dull canvas be your autograph, +but the vivid and inspiring blazon of an inspired idea shall glow life-like +on some friendly wall, and in its turn inspire some other soul, whose light +within needs but the breath from without to burst upward in clear flame. + +Or you, who unveil from its marble tomb that figure of a chained and +stainless woman, whose atmosphere is as a nun's veil, whose sad divinity is +a crown,--do you dare imagine that the holy despair you have imaged, the +pause of a saint's resignation and a martyr's courage, is but the outline +and the faultless contour of a stone? Come back, Pygmalion, from your +mythic sleep! return, Art's divinest mystery, germ of all its power, from +the deep dust of ages! and teach these modern men that his story whose +passion fired a statue's breast was but an immortal fable, a similitude of +the truth you feel, but do not see,--that even as our Creator shared His +life with His creatures, so do you pour, in far less measure, but obedient +to that precedent which is law, your own life and the magnetic instincts of +that life, into what you create! + +Keep your hearts pure and your hands clean, therefore; for these things +that you sell for dead shall one day livingly confront you, and tell their +own story of your life and your nature with terrible honesty to men and +angels. + +But whoever, in those mystic ages that have ceased to be historic and have +become mythic, whoever made the Sphinx,--whether it were some Titaness +sequestered from all her kind by genie-spells, forced to live amid these +desert solitudes, fed from the abundant hands of Nature, and taught by +dreams inspired and twilight visions,-- + + "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, + And most divinely fair"; + +her only image of human beauty the reflex of her white, symmetric limbs, +her wide, dark eyes, her full lips and soft Egyptian features, wherewith +the river greeted her from its blue placidity; her only sense of love the +unspoken yearning within, when the soft, tumultuous stress of the west-wind +kissed her, who should have been clasped in tender arms and caressed by +loving lips; whose dumb, creative instincts, becoming genius instead of +maternity, struggled outward from their home in heart and brain to +culminate in this world's-wonder, and so build a monument namelessly +splendid to the grand nature that found its bread of life was a stone and +perished: or whether this creature were the fashioning of some +demigod,--"for there were giants in those days,"--who, in the fulness of +his strength, despairing of a mortal mate, wandered away from men and +wrought his patience and his longing into the rock,--as lesser men have +carved their memorials on hard Fate,--and then died between its paws, sated +with labor and glad to sleep: or whether, indeed, the captive spirits, +sealed in Caucasus with the seal of Solomon, did penance for their +rebellion in mortal work on mere dull matter, and with anguished essence +toiled for ages to mimic in her own clay the dumb pathos of waiting +Earth:--whichever of these dreams be nearest truth, one thing is +true,--that the maker of the Sphinx infused into his work, in as much +greater measure as his nature was greater than that of other men, that +yearning of pathetic solitude that most wrings a woman's heart; and the +outward semblance, working in, wrought upon the heavy stone with incessant +and accumulative power, till through that sluggish sandstone crept a +confused thrill of consciousness, and the great creature felt the +loneliness that she looked. Far away below her the Nile-valley teemed with +life; the antelopes coursed beside their young to feed on the green pasture +fresh from its long overflow; red foxes sported with their cubs on the +tawny sand; the birds taught their infant offspring their own sweet arts of +flight and song on every bough; and even the ostrich, lonely Desert-runner, +heaped her treasure of white eggs in the sand, or guided her callow young +far from the sight and fear of man;--but the Sphinx sat alone. + +Mightier and mightier grew the yearning within her, as the full moon +floated upward from the east and cast her dewy dreams over land and +sea. The hour was come; the whole impulse and persistence of her nature +went out in vivid life, and, filling the very stones which the winds had +gathered and piled against her breast, cleft them with its sentient spell, +clothed them with lean flesh and wiry sinews, shaped them after the fashion +of the Desert men, and sent them out alive with intellect and will, but +with hearts of flint, into the wide world,--the Sphinx's children! + +With a sigh that shook the shores of Egypt and smote the Sicilian midnight +with sickening vibrations of earthquake, the Sphinx beheld this culmination +of her great desire; in the very hour of fruition, hope fled; and as this +grim certainty sped away from before her, taking with it all her borrowed +life, she dropped that majestic head lower upon her bosom, uplifted it +again for one last look at her offspring, and so stiffened,--once more a +stone. + +Age after age rolled by; storm and tempest hurled their thunders at her +head; wave after wave of bright insidious sand curled about her feet and +heaped its sliding grains against her side; men came and went in fleeting +generations, and seasons fled like hours through the whirling wheel of +Time; but the Sphinx longed and suffered no more. Her hour had come and +gone; her dull instinct had burnt out, her comely outline began to +disintegrate, her face grew blank and stony, her features crumbled away, +altars and inscriptions defaced her breast and hieroglyphed her ponderous +sides, men worshipped and wondered there, and travellers from lands beyond +the sun pitched their tents before her face and defiled her feet with +barbaric orgies; but she knew it no more,--her children were gone out into +the world. And the world had need of them. Its rank and miasmatic +civilization,--its hotbeds of sin and misery,--its civil corruptions and +its social lies,--its reeling, rotten principalities,--its sickly +atmosphere of effeminate luxury, wherein neither justice nor judgment +lived, and the solitary virtues left mere effete shadows of philanthropy +and cowardly impulses called love and mercy,--needed a new race, stony and +strong, unshrinking in conquest and reformation, full of zeal, and +incapable of pity, to rend away the fogs that smothered truth and decency, +to disperse the low-lying clouds of weak passion and maudlin luxury, to +blow a reveille clear and keen as the trumpet of the northwest wind, when +it sweeps down from its mountain-tops in stern exultation, and shouts its +Puritanic battle-psalm across the reeking, steaming meadows of sultry +August, fever-smitten and pestilent. + +Such were the Sphinx's children: had they but died out with their need! +Here and there a monk, fresh from his Desert-Laura, hurtles through the +eclipse-light of history like the stone from a catapult,--rules a church +with iron rods, organizes, denounces, intrigues, executes, keeps an unarmed +soldiery to do his behests, and hurls ecclesiastic thunders at kings and +emperors with the grand audacity of a commission presumedly divine, while +Greeks cringe, and Jews blaspheme, and heathen flee into, or away from, +conversion; and the Church itself canonizes this spiritual father, this +Sphinx-son of an instinct and a stone! + +Or an Emperor exalted himself above the legions and the populace of Rome, +banqueted his enemies and beheaded them at table, drank in the sight of +blood and the sound of human shrieks as if they were his natural light and +air, tormented God's creatures and cursed his kind, kindled a fire among +the miserable myriads of his own city, and, exulting in a safe height, +mixed the leaping, frantic discords of his own music with the horrid sounds +of the hell's tragedy below him; seething in crime, steeped in murder, +black with blasphemy, the horror and the hate of men, death gaped for his +coming, and he went! Men revile him through all posterior ages; women +shudder at the legend of his deeds; but the Sphinx stands unconscious in +the Desert,--she knew not her child! + +Or a Reformer springs up. High above his birthplace the snowy Alps paint +themselves against the sky, an aerial dream of beauty, softened by the +tender hues of dawn and sunset, serenely fair through the rift of the +tempest; even their white death takes a nameless grace from distance and +atmosphere, clothing itself in beauty as a spirit in clay, and tempting +wanderers to their graves: but no such beauty clothes the man whose daily +vision beholds them; hard, clamorous, disputatious, with one hand he rends +the rotten splendors of Rome from its tottering Image, and with the other +plunges baby-souls to inevitable damnation; strong and fiercely rigid, full +of burning and slaughter for the idolatries and harlotries of Popery, fired +with lurid zeal, and bestriding one stringent idea, he rides on over dead +and living, preaches predestination and hell as if the Gospel dwelt only +upon destiny and despair, casts no tender look at the loving piety that +underlay shrines and woman-worship and bead-counting wherever a true heart +sought its God through the sole formulas it knew, but spurs forward to the +end, a mighty power to destroy, to do away with old corruptions and break +down idols on their altars,--saint and iconoclast! Did the heart of stone +within him know its ancestry,--track its hard, loveless descent from the +Sphinx's children? + +Then a Queen;--a solitary woman, proud of her solitude, isolated in her +regnant splendor, a dead planet like the moon, sung and pictured and +adored, but keeping on her majestic path in awful beauty, deaf to human +entreaty, cold to human love; a great statesman in a queen's robes; a keen, +subtle politician, coifed and farthingaled; a revengeful sovereign; a +deadly enemy; a woman who forgave nothing to a woman, and retaliated +everything upon a man; she who brought unshrinkingly to death a sister +queen discrowned and captive, a sister whose grace and loveliness and +kindly aspect might have moved the lions of the arena to fawn upon her, but +nowise disarmed the tigress who lapped her blood; she who banished and slew +the man she would not stoop to love, because he dared to love another; and +when death stared her in the face, and open-eyed judgment shook her soul, +rose from that death-pallet to grapple and abuse a false woman, penitent +for and confessing her falseness; a virgin-monarch, pitiless, relentless, +cruel as jealousy; an anomalous woman, were she not a stone-born child of +the Sphinx! + +Or a great General, before whose iron will horse and horseman quailed and +fled, like dry stubble before flame; who wielded the sword of Gideon, and +cut off the armies of his kindred people and his anointed king as a mower +fells the glittering grass on a summer dawn, heedless that he, too, shall +be cut down from his flourishing. On his track fire and blood spread their +banners, and the raven scented his trophies afar off; age and youth alike +were crushed under the tread of his war-horse; honor and valor and life's +best prime opposed him as summer opposes the Arctic hail-fury, and lay +beaten into mire at his feet. Hated, feared, followed to the death; +victorious or vanquished, the same strong, imperturbable, sullen nature; +persistent rather than patient in effort, vigorously direct in action; a +minister of unconscious good, of half-conscious evil; stern and gloomy to +the sacrilegious climax of his well-battled life, even in the regicidal act +going as one driven to his deeds by Fate that forgot God;--was he to be +wondered at, whose life, in ages far gone, began among the stony Sphinx +children? + +Nor alone in these great landmarks of their dwelling have the Sphinx's +children haunted Earth. Poets have sung them under myriad names; History +has chronicled them in groups; Painting and Sculpture have handed down +their aspect to a gazing world. From them sprung the Eumenides, pursuers +and destroyers of men. They wore the garb of Roman legionaries, when Ramah +wept for her children dashed against the walls of the Holy City, and not +one stone stood upon another in Zion. They crowded the offices of the +Inquisition, and tested the endurance of its victims, with steady finger on +the flickering pulse, and calm eye on the death-sweating brow and bitten +lip. They put on the Druid's robe and wreath, and held the human sacrifice +closer to its altar. In the Asiatic jungle, lurking behind the palm-trunk, +they waited, lithe and swarthy Thugs, treacherously to slay whatever victim +passed by alone; or in the fair Pacific islands kept horrid jubilee above +their feasts of human flesh, and streaked themselves with kindred blood in +their carousals. Holland tells its fearful story of their Spanish +rule. Russian serfs record their despotism, cowering at the memory of the +knout. France cringes yet at the names of the black few who guided her +roaring Revolution as one might guide the ravages of a tiger with curb of +adamant and rein of linked steel. + +Africa stretches out her hands to testify of their presence. Too well those +golden shores recall the wail of women and the yelling curses of men, +driven, beast-fashion, to their pen, and floated from home to hell, +or,--happier fate!--dragged up, in terror of pursuit, and thrown overboard, +a brief agony for a long one. They know them, too, whose continual cry of +separation, starvation, insult, agony, and death rises from the heart of +freedom like the steam of a great pestilence,--Pity them, hearts of flesh! +pity also the captors,--the Sphinx children, the flint-hearts! pity those +who cannot feel, far beyond those who can,--though it be but to suffer! + +New England knew them, in band and steeple-hat, hanging and pressing to +death helpless women, bewitched with witchcraft. Acadia knew them, when its +depopulated shores lay barren before the sun, and its homes sent up no +smoke to heaven. + +Greece quivers at the phantasm of their Turkish turbans and gleaming +sabres, their skill at massacre and their fiendish tortures; Italy, fair +and sad, "woman-country," droops shuddering at sight of their Austrian +uniforms; and the Brahmin sees them in scarlet, blood-dyed, hurling from +the cannon's mouth helpless captives,--killing, not converting. + +Wherever, all the wide world over, a nation shrinks from its oppressors, or +a slave from his master,--wherever a child flees from the face of a parent +who knows neither justice nor mercy, or a wife goes mad under the secret +tyranny of her inevitable fate,--wherever pity and mercy and love veil +their faces and wring their hands outside the threshold,--there abide the +Sphinx's children. + +For this she longed and hoped and waited in the Desert! for this she envied +the red fox and the ostrich! for this her dumb lips parted, in their +struggle after speech, to ask of earth and air some solace to her solitude! +for this, for these, she poured out her dim life in one strong, wilful +aspiration! + +Happy Sphinx, to be left even of that dull existence! blessedly unconscious +of that granted desire! mouldering away in the curling sand-hills, the prey +of hostile elements, the mysterious symbol of a secret yearning and a vain +desire! Not for thee the bitterness of success! not for thee the conscious +agony of penitence,--the falling temple of the will crushing its idolater! +No wild voices in the wind reproach the wilder pulses of a slow-breaking +heart; no keen words of taunt sting thee into madness; Memory hurls at thee +no flying javelins; broken-winged Hope flutters about thee no more! Thy day +is over, thine hour is past! + +_"Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living +which are yet alive!"_ + + * * * * * + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Dies Irae:_ in Thirteen Original Versions. By Abraham Coles, M.D. New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1859. pp. xxxiv., 70. + +It is pleasant to see how many wiles Nature employs to draw off into side +channels the enthusiasm which is always secreting itself and gathering in +the human brain. She knows what a dangerous clement it may become, if the +individual rills of it run together, and, with united forces, take for a +time a single direction. So she taps it at its sources, and leads it away +to various ends, useful because they are harmless. Bibliomania, +tulipomania, potichomania, squaring the circle, perpetual motion, a +religious epic, the northwest passage,--anything will serve the +purpose. _Divide et impera_ is her motto. The hobby is the safeguard of +society. Once mounted, every enthusiast ambles quietly off on some errand +of his own, caring little what direction he takes, provided only it be _the +other_. The Fifth-Monarchy men might have been troublesome, but for the +Beast in Revelation;--each insisted on a Beast to himself. Protestantism +might have become Democracy, had either Luther or Calvin been willing to +ride behind. The five points of the Charter are blunted to a Lancashire +weaver who is fattening a prize-gooseberry. + +We sympathize heartily with such gentle enthusiasms as this of +Dr. Coles. It is the interest of all Grub Street that men should be +encouraged whose amiable weakness it is to fall in love with pieces of +poetry. In this case, to be sure, the verses are Latin, and the author more +nameless even than Junius; but who knows but some one's turn shall come +next whose verses were at least meant to be English, and whose name +is--Legion? If some translator, charged from the other pole of Dr. Coles's +enthusiasm, should favor us with thirteen Latin versions of some modern +English poems, it would give them a chance of being more generally +intelligible to the laity. Nay, even if such a baker's-dozen of +mediaeval-Latin renderings of Mrs. Browning's last poem--and by this term we +mean, of course, the rather shady Latin of middle-aged men--should be +shuffled together, we are not sure that it would not be a help to the +understanding of the Coptic original. But this, perhaps, is hoping too +much. + +In the case of Dr. Coles, how lucky the direction of the superfluous +energy! how wise the humane precaution of Nature! For there is no +destructive agency like a doctor with a hygienic hobby. If your +constitution be a salt or sugar one, he will melt you away with damp sheets +and duckings; if you are as exsanguine as a turnip, his scientific delight +in getting blood out of you will be only heightened. For such erratic +enthusiasms as this of Dr. Coles we want a milder term than monomania. +Something like _monowhimsia_ would do. It is seldom that an oddity takes so +pleasant a turn. He has published a dainty little volume, with a +well-written introduction, giving the history of the "Dies Irae," and an +account of the various versions of it; this is followed by his own thirteen +translations; and an appendix tells us what is meant by a Sequence, has a +page or two on the origin of rhyming Latin, and concludes with the music of +the hymn itself. The book is illustrated by delicate photographs from the +Last Judgments of Michel Angelo, Rubens, and Cornelius, and from the +"Christus Remunerator" of Ary Scheffer. It is exquisitely printed at the +Riverside Press, which is doing such good service to everybody but the +spectacle-makers. + +We hold the translation of any first-rate poem, nay, even of any +second-rate one which has any peculiar charm of rhythm or tone, to be an +impossibility. The translation of rhyming Latin verses presents peculiar +difficulties. The rhythm is always simple and strongly accented, it is +true; but the ear-filling sonority, the variety of female rhymes, and the +simple directness of expression cannot be echoed by our muffling +consonants, our endings in _ing_ and _ed_, and _a_-s, _the_-s, and _of +the_-s. For example, the stanza, + +"Tuba, mirum spargens sonum + Per sepulchra regionum, + Coget omnes ante thronum," + +is very inadequately represented by + +"Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder +Rending sepulchres asunder, +Shall resistless summons thunder," + +in which, to speak of nothing else, there are thirteen _s_-s to five in the +original. Even Crashaw, whose translation of Strada's "Music's Duel" is a +masterpiece for litheness of phrase and sinuous suppleness of rhythm, +quails before the "Dies Irae," and contents himself with a largely watered +paraphrase. No one has ever yet succeeded more than tolerably with the +opening stanza,-- + +"Dies Irae, dies illa, +Solvet saeclum in favilla, +Teste David cum Sibylla." + +The difficulty is increased where the Latin word has some special force of +theological or other meaning which has no single equivalent in English. + +Doctor Coles has made, we think, the most successful attempt at an English +translation of the hymn that we have ever seen. He has done all that could +be done, where complete success was out of the question. Out of his first +two versions, which seem to us the best, a very satisfactory rendering of +the original can be made up by choosing the better stanzas from each. In +his first trial he misses the pathetic force of the + +"Rex tremendae majestatis, +Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +Salva me, fons pietatis!" + +where the petition is piercingly individualized by the accentual stress +thrown on the _me_. He gives it thus:-- + +"King Almighty and All-knowing, +Grace to sinners freely showing, +Save me, Fount of Good o'erflowing!" +His second attempt is better:-- + +"Awful King, who nothing cravest, +Since Thyself full ransom gavest, +Save thou me, who freely savest!" + +Here the emphatic _me_ is preserved, but in neither version is the true +meaning of _salvandos_ even hinted at, and in both we miss the tenderness +of the _fons pietatis_, with which the _tremenda majestas_ is balanced and +softened. + +There are three or four of these Latin hymns that for simple force and +pathos have never been matched in their kind, and never approached, except +by a few of the more fortunate poems of Herbert, Vaughan, and Quarles. We +know not why it is that what is called religious poetry is commonly so +bad. The thing gives the lie to both the adjective and the noun of its +title. Anything more flat and flavorless, whether in sentiment or language, +is beyond the conception even of an editor with the nightmare. Men have +been hanged for more venial murders than some have been praised for who +have choked out the immortal soul of the Psalms of David. We have, however, +the consolation of thinking that the Devil's Psalter of convivial songs is +quite as bad. + +Dr. Coles has done so well that we hope he will try his hand on some of the +other Latin hymns. He cannot expect to satisfy those who have been +penetrated by the almost inexplicable charm of the originals; but by +rendering them in their own metres, and with so large a transfusion of +their spirit as characterizes his present attempt, he will be doing a real +service to the lovers of that kind of religious poetry in which neither the +religion nor the poetry is left out. As we said before, to translate +rhyming Latin without losing its peculiar _tang_ is wellnigh +impossible. Even Father Prout himself would be staggered by Walter Mapes's +"Mihi est propositum" or "Testamentum Goliae"; but perhaps the spirit of +the hymns is more easily caught, and Dr. Coles has shown that he knows the +worth of faithfulness. + + + +_Mademoiselle Mori_; A Tale of Modern Rome. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +Author's Edition. 16mo. pp. 526. + +This is a reprint of a remarkable book. It is the book of a person familiar +with Rome and with the Romans, who has thought seriously and felt deeply in +regard to their character and fortunes, who has studied with keen and +sympathetic imagination the hearts of the people, and observed closely the +outward aspect and common shows of the city. The story is well constructed, +and has the essential merit of interest. Not only are the characters +distinctly presented, but there is in them, what it is rare to find in the +personages of our modern novelists, a real and natural development, which +is exhibited not so much by what is said about them as by their own +apparently unconscious words and acts. So just a view is given in this +novel of Italian habits of thought and tones of feeling, so true an +appreciation is shown of the peculiarities of national disposition and +temperament, and so intimate and exact an acquaintance with public events +and the course of politics in Rome, as to lead to the conclusion that the +author writes from the fulness of personal experience, and was no stranger +to the interests of the stirring period in which the scenes of the story +are laid. + +The book, indeed, has a double character. It is not a mere novel; for it +contains, in addition to its story, a sketch of the course of public +affairs in Rome during the three memorable years from the accession of Pius +IX. to the fall of the Republic and the entry of the French troops into the +city, which they still hold in subjection to rulers who claim to govern it +for the spiritual interests of the world. And while it may be warmly +recommended to such readers as only desire to find an interesting story, it +deserves not less hearty recommendation to such as may care to understand +one of the most striking and dramatic episodes of modern history, and to +gain an acquaintance with events which throw great illustration on the +present condition and hopes of Italy. In this respect, as well as in the +ability with which it is written, it may fairly be classed with the novels +of Ruffini,--"Lorenzo Benoni" and "Doctor Antonio." To those who have read +these two books it need not be said that this is high praise. + +History is not treated by the author of "Mademoiselle Mori" after the +common fashion of novelists. Events are not misrepresented in it, nor are +the characters of the prominent actors in public affairs distorted to suit +any theory, or to advance the interest of the story. The chief value of the +book, and that which ought to secure for it a permanent place, does not, +however, consist in any formal narrative of events, or in its pictures of +noted individuals, but in its representation of the states of mind and +feeling of the Romans during the first years of the pontificate of the +present Pope, of the objects and methods of action of the various parties +that were then called into active existence, of the occasions of the rapid +changes in the popular disposition from the time when Pius IX. was the idol +of the crowd to that when he was a faithless fugitive to Gaeta, and of the +causes which led to the bitter disappointment and utter failure of the +efforts of the Roman patriots. + +We do not know of any book in which so intelligent and so true an account +of these things, which were the springs from which events issued, and which +underlie all their currents, is to be found. The sympathies of the author +are with the liberal party, with the party that labored for reform, but not +for a republic, and whose hopes and plans were crushed by the horrible +assassination of Rossi. It is one of the most calamitous results of a +tyranny like that exercised at Rome, that it renders a gradual progress of +reform at any time when it may be undertaken almost an impossibility, and +sows the seed of inevitable violence and of revolution, which is apt to +end, as in the Roman instance, in a return of despotism. The view given of +the Roman revolution and republic of 1849 by the author of "Mademoiselle +Mori" coincides in the main with that taken by Farini, and the other chief +Italian statesmen of the present day; and its accuracy and good sense are +confirmed by the course of recent events, not merely in Rome, but in other +parts of Italy as well. It is vain to predict the future of a state so +anomalous as that of Rome; but it is safe to say that the Romans learned +much from their last revolution, and are learning much from its results, so +that, when another opportunity arrives for them to gain some share of that +freedom which Northern Italy has been so happy in securing, they will not +repeat their former mistakes, and will not be found less competent for +liberty than the Tuscans or the people of the Romagna. Perhaps the failure +of 1849 may then turn out to have been a dark blessing; and the blood of +those who fell on the Roman walls, and the tears of those who have wept in +Roman prisons, may not have been shed in vain. + +The cause of Italy deserves the heartiest sympathy, and, if need be, a +personal sacrifice on the part of every lover of liberty and of justice in +the world. The question of Italian unity and independence is the most +important that has been presented in Europe in our time. The issue involved +in it is that of the advance or the degradation of a nation so noble that +none can be called nobler,--of the rights of the many, as against the power +of the few,--of the rights of thought, as against those of the sword,--of +the establishment of those principles which do most to make life precious, +as against those by which it is made vile and wretched. The last year has +seen a part of the great work of freeing Italy accomplished. If Sardinia +can but have time allowed her in which to knit her forces, if she can for a +time escape from foreign attacks and from internal divisions, Italy is +secure. Venice, Rome, and Naples will not long languish under the tyranny +of Austrian, of priest, and of Bourbon. + +We return for a few words to "Mademoiselle Mori." The readers of +Mr. Hawthorne's imaginative Italian romance will be pleased to find in this +book further illustrations of the Rome he has so admirably pictured. The +author has not the genius of Mr. Hawthorne, but the descriptions which the +book contains of Roman scenes and places are full of truth, and render the +common, every-day aspect of streets and squares, of gardens and churches, +of popular customs and social habits, with equal spirit and fidelity. The +interest of the story is sustained by the distinctness with which the +localities in which it passes are depicted. The style of the book is so +excellent that we the more regret a few careless and clumsy expressions, +and some awkward sentences, which a little pains might have prevented. We +regret also that the Italian words and phrases which appear in the volume +are sometimes grievously disfigured by misprints. The distinguished name of +Saffi is travestied by being misprinted Gaffi,--and there are other +blunders of the same sort, in which the Riverside Press has but too +faithfully followed the English edition. + + + +_Critical and Miscellaneous Essays_. Collected and republished by THOMAS +CARLYLE. In Four Volumes. Boston: Brown and Taggard. 1860. + +Carlyle's Essays need at the present day no introduction or commendation to +American readers. Their place is established, and they will hold it +permanently, in spite of the wild philosophy, and in spite of +characteristics of style which would ruin weaker writings. As Ben Jonson +said of a volume of poems, now quite forgotten, by his friend Sir John +Beaumont,-- + +"This book will live; it hath a genius; this Above his reader or his +praiser is." + +There is no fear that these Essays will be forgotten; for, beside their +intrinsic merits and interest, they are at once introductory and +supplementary to their author's more important works,--to his "French +Revolution" and his "Life of Frederic the Great." + +This new edition of the Essays is a reprint of the last English edition +revised by the author, and both printer and publisher deserve high credit +for the beauty of the volumes. The paper, press-work, and binding are all +excellent, and of a sort not only to please the general public, but to +satisfy the demands of the exacting lover of good books. We are glad to +welcome Messrs. Brown and Taggard among our publishing houses, on occasion +of the issue of a book so creditable alike to their taste and to their +judgment, and we hope that the success of this edition of these Essays may +he such as to encourage them to follow it with a reprint of the other +volumes of the revised edition of Mr. Carlyle's works. + +We trust, that, though the words "Author's Edition" are not found upon the +back of the title-page, it is not because the moral, if not legal rights +which the author possesses have been disregarded. + + + +_The Mill on the Floss_. By GEORGE ELIOT, Author of "Scenes of Clerical +Life" and "Adam Bede." New York: Harper & Brothers. + +It is not difficult to understand how the reader's attention may he +attracted and his interest retained by a romance of the old chivalrous days +whose very name and dim memory fill the mind with fascinating images, or by +a novel whose high-born characters claim sympathy for their dignified +sorrows and refined delights, or whose story is illuminated by the light of +artistic culture and adorned with gems of rhetoric and fine fancy; but it +is sometimes surprising to observe the favor which attends a simple tale of +humble, unobtrusive, we might almost say insignificant people, whose plane +of life appears nowhere to coincide with our own, and to whom romance and +passion seem entirely foreign. Such a tale was "Adam Bede," whose great +success as a literary venture hardly yet belongs to the chronicle of the +past; such a tale is also "The Mill on the Floss," by the author of "Adam +Bede," and such, we are confident, will also be its success. + +Both books have many elements in common, but the second is the greater work +of art, and indicates more fairly the scope and vigor of the author's +mind. It is written in the same pure, hardy style, strong with Saxon words +that admit of no equivocation or misunderstanding; it is illustrated with +sketches of outward Nature and tranquil rural beauty, none the less vivid +or truthful that they are drawn with the pen rather than the brush; and it +is instinct with an honest, high-souled purpose. In these respects it +resembles "Adam Bede," but in others it surpasses its predecessor. It +displays a far keener insight into human passion, a subtler analysis of +motives and principles, and it suggests a mental and a moral philosophy +nobler in themselves and truer to humanity and religion. The pathos, too, +is more genuine; for it is not based upon the mere utterance of grief or of +entreaty,--which the eloquent and the artful may, indeed, feign,--but it is +found in that skilful combination of material circumstance and spiritual +influence which impresses upon the feeling, more than it proves to the +reason, that the hour of heart-break is at hand, and which depends less for +its effect upon the dramatic power of the imagination than upon the instant +sympathy of the soul. + +The principal fault which will be found with "The Mill on the Floss," and +probably the only one, is, that the action moves too slowly and tamely in +the first three or four books, and that the author shows an undue +inclination to reflection and metaphysical digression. This will, indeed, +be a great objection to the superficial reader, who will impatiently regret +that the tedious growth of a miller's boy and girl should usurp so many +pages which might better have been filled with exciting incidents. But this +very elaboration, tardy and idle though it may seem, was necessary to the +completion of the author's plan, and--in our eyes--instead of being a +blemish upon a fair story, is one of its principal charms. On this very +account, however, the book will be less popular, and fewer persons will +admire it wholly; but, as thoughtful readers draw near to the end of the +narrative, and anxiously hasten on past trial, temptation, and conflict, to +the dreaded and yet inevitable downfall, muse mournfully over the agony and +remorse that follow, and slowly close the volume upon tender forgiveness +and final joy, they will be thankful for the far-seeing genius which, by +this gradual process of education, enabled them to understand clearly the +fateful scroll at last unfolded to them, and which, if they have read in +the true spirit, has made them wiser and better. + + + +_Nugamenta; a Book of Verses_, By GEORGE EDWARD RICE. Boston: J. E. Tilton +& Co. 1860. pp. 146. + +The author of this little volume modestly waives all claim to the title of +poet, and thus disarms severer criticism. His book, nevertheless, has the +merit of being lively and agreeable, which is more than can be said of many +more pretentious volumes of verse. His pieces are mostly of the kind called +verses of society, a variety whose range is all the way up from Concanen to +Horace. It is enough, if they are only passable; but good specimens are +easy and sprightly,--their philosophy not worldly precisely, but +man-of-the-worldly,--their morality an elegant Poor-Richardism,--their +poetry whatever may be reached by the fancy and understanding. Sometimes, +if the author have been lucky enough, like Beranger, to have enjoyed low +company, his verses will gather a richer tone, his wit will broaden into +humor, his sentiment deepen to hearty good-nature, and his worldliness +ripen into a genuine humanity. + +To embody primeval sentiments, to deal with transcendent passions, and to +idealize those fatal moods by which not individuals merely, but races, are +possessed, those tidal ebbs and flows which, for want of a better name, we +call the Spirit of the Age,--this is a gift whose return among us we do not +look for with as much certainty as that of shad and salmon, but meanwhile +we are not too nice to be pleased with verses that express average thoughts +and feelings gracefully and with a dash of sentiment. It is a vast deal +wiser and better to express neatly, in language that is not alien to the +concerns of every day, feelings we have really had, than to maunder about +what we think we ought to have felt in a diction that has no more to do +with our ordinary habits of thought and expression than Monmouth with +Macedon. The contrast of matter and manner in much of our current verse is +such as to remind one of the notes which are sometimes sent to their +sweethearts by schoolboys, who cut their fingers (not too deep) that they +may asseverate the eternal constancy of the three-weeks'-vacation in that +solemn fluid proper to contracts with the Evil One. + +It is pleasant to meet with one who is able to say a natural thing in a +natural way, as Mr. Rice has shown that he can do. There is a very +agreeable mingling of feeling and fun in his lighter pieces, rising into +real grace and lyric fancy in some of them, such as "New Year's Eve" and +"The Revisit." + + + +_A Voyage down the Amoor; with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan._ By PERRY +McDONOUGH COLLINS, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River, New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. pp. 390. + +This is a very amusing book. The introductory part of it, in which the +author recounts his adventures in Siberia before setting out on his +expedition down the Amoor, is full of bad taste, bad rhetoric, and bad +grammar. If we had read no farther, we should have thought that a more +unfit personage than this gentleman with the monumental name could not have +been chosen for any public service. + +Mr. Perry McDonough Collins gives us the bill of fare of gentlemen's tables +at which he dined, tells us how much and what kinds of wine were "drank," +and sometimes winds up his account of the feast with a compliment to the +"amiable and interesting" family of his host. Mr. Egouminoff's dinner, he +tells us, "was excellent, with several kinds of wine, closing with +Champagne. We had _also_ the pleasure of the company of Mrs. E. and her +daughter, and several other guests, besides a handsome widow." There is +something charmingly _naif_ in thus throwing in the company as a +_succedaneum_ to the dinner, and carefully segregating the widow from the +rest of mankind as a distinct species. + +Mr. Collins also reports for us carefully the orations he made on various +festive occasions,--a piece of very proper economy, since they were +delivered in English to an audience of Russians. He confesses that it is +not the custom to make after-dinner-speeches in Siberia, which proves that +the Russian Government has neglected at least one opportunity of adding to +the terrors of a Penal Colony. At one dinner he had the satisfaction of +making three of these terrible mistakes. He responds to the health of +General Mouravieff, Governor of the Province, to that of President +Buchanan, and to that of "our guests." We should like to have been present +at this display, provided we could have been speech-proofed, like the +Russians in their ignorance of English. It was certainly a proud day for +America, and the bird of our country will be glad that the eloquence has +been carefully saved by Mr, Collins for the good of his compatriots. + +After this multiloquent festival, the Siberian merchants, naturally +exasperated, seized upon Mr. Collins, and an unhappy countryman of his who +was present, and tossed them after the fashion of Sancho Panza. "This +sport," adds our traveller, gravely, "is called in Russian _podkeedovate_, +or tossing-up, and is considered a mark of great respect. General +Mouravieff told me, after our return, that he had had _podkeedovate_ +performed upon him in the same room." The General must be something of a +humorist. + +Mr. Collins, however, has a more astounding incident to relate than even +the respectful tossing-up of a general in the army and governor of Siberia +by a party of provincial shopkeepers. In returning from an excursion, +Mr. Collins had the ill-luck to lose a horse. + +"The death of that horse," he says, "was +a singular circumstance. We were galloping +rapidiy and were approaching the station, +when the animal dropped as if struck by +lightning. We were in such rapid motion +upon the smooth ice of the river, that, though +several yards from the stopping-point, the +other horses kept on, dragging the dead horse, +nor did the driver attempt to stop them, but +seemed determined to reach the station at +full speed. As soon as we had stopped, I got +out and examined the body. It was as stiff +as a poker and stirred not a muscle, the +eyes being cold and glassy. _The fact is, the +horse must have been dead before he fell, and +his muscular action was kept up some time after +life had departed._" (p. 89.) + +We do not remember to have met with a more wonderful example of the force +of habit. + +After Mr. Collins is fairly embarked, however, on his voyage of +exploration, his book becomes more interesting. He shows himself a +thoroughly good-humored, observant, and intelligent traveller. If, in the +earlier pages of his journal, he is indiscreetly communicative as to the +good cheer he enjoyed, in the later ones he does not waste time in +grumbling at discomforts and lenten fare. He observes minutely and +describes well all that he sees along the great river,--the people, the +productions, the scenery, and the vegetation. He gives us a lively +impression of the capabilities of the country, and of the results which are +to follow the introduction of steam-navigation on the Amoor. Like a true +American, he believes in the manifest destiny of Russia, and looks forward +to the not distant time when, with a kind of retributive justice, the +Muscovite is to swallow up the Manchew, as Charles Lamb used to call +him. Already American merchants have established themselves at the mouth of +the Amoor, and, unless Mr. Collins is oversanguine, a great trade is to +spring up between the Californians and their opposite neighbors on the +eastern coast of Asia. + +On the whole, we take leave of Mr. Collins with a feeling of decided esteem +for his genuine good qualities, and can safely commend his book as both +lively and instructive. + + + +_Revolutions in English History_. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, +D.D. Vol. I. _Revolutions of Race_. New York: D. Appleton & Co. +1860. pp. xvi., 663. + +We do not think that Dr. Vaughan has been happy in his choice of a title +for his book. It is more properly an introduction to the study of English +history, than the limitation of the title would seem to import. The Saxon +occupation of England is, perhaps, the only event which may fitly be called +a revolution of race. The volume, however, is a solid and sensible one. Dr. +Vaughan is not a brilliant writer; but brilliancy is not always the best +quality in an historian, for it as often leaves readers dazzled as +taught. A decidedly matter-of-fact turn of mind prevents his being a +theorist, so that he does not formulate characters and events in accordance +with some fixed preconception. His learning seems sometimes limited by what +was accessible to him at the least expense of study,--as, for example, in +his account of the religion of the Teutonic races, where he depends almost +altogether on Mallet. His style is generally clear and unpretending, never +remarkable for any rhetorical merit, sometimes disfigured by inaccuracies, +which, had they occurred in an American book, would have been attributed by +English critics to the low grade of our culture and civilization. In one +instance he is guilty of the barbarous cockneyism of using the word _party_ +as an equivalent for _person_. He speaks of the Roman Wall as having been +kept _perpetually_ guarded when he means _constantly_, of border land as +"separating between" two races, and of ornaments made "from jet." + +Though we do not find in Dr. Vaughan the fascinating qualities which we +have been spoiled into expecting by some recent English and French examples +of historical composition, we can give him the praise of being fair-minded, +sensible, and clear. If he anywhere shows prejudice, it is in his somewhat +depreciatory estimate of the Normans, whom he rather gratuitously supposes +to have acquired civilization and the love of art from the Saxons,--a +supposition at war with probability as well as fact. If anything +distinguished the Norman from the Saxon, it was his aptitude for +appreciating beauty as distinguished from use,--an aptitude on which French +influence could not have been lost before the Conquest of England. The +Normans in Sicily certainly had not had the advantage of Saxon training in +aesthetics, and the poetry and architecture of the Normans in England were +no reproduction of Saxon models. + +But whatever deductions are to be made on the score of want of +picturesqueness in style, of generalizing power, and of that imagination +which sets before us dramatically the mutual interaction of men and events, +Dr. Vaughan's history will be found a useful and enlightened compendium of +the facts with which it deals. + + + +_Fresh Hearts that failed Three Thousand Years Ago; with Other Things_. By +the Author of "The New Priest in Conception Bay." Boston: Ticknor & Fields. +1860. pp. 121. + +In noticing the "New Priest," in a former number of the "ATLANTIC," we had +occasion to speak of the author's remarkable beauty and vigor of style, his +keen sense of the picturesque and imaginative aspects of outward Nature, +his comic power, and his original conception of character. At the same time +we could not but feel that a certain tendency to multiplicity of detail, +and a neglect of form or insensibility to it, hindered the book of that +direct and vigorous effect which its power and variety of resource would +otherwise have produced. Something of the same impression is made by the +present volume. There are glimpses in it of real genius, but it shows +itself generally here and there only, as the natural outcrop, seldom in the +bars and ingots which give proof of patient mining and smelting at +furnace-heat, still more seldom in the beautiful shapes of artistic +elaboration. Here, again, we find the same unborrowed feeling for outward +Nature and familiarity with her moods, the same poetic beauty of +expression, and in many of the pieces the same overcrowdedness, as if the +author would fain say all he could, instead of saying only what he could +not help. + +There are some of the poems that do more justice to the abilities of the +author. In "The Year is Gone" there is great tenderness of sentiment and +grace of expression; "Love Disposed of" is a pretty fancy embodied with +true lyric feeling; but the poem which over crests all the others like a +decuman wave is "The Brave Old Ship, the Orient." It is a truly masculine +poem, full of vigor and imagination, and giving evidence of true original +power in the author. There is scarce a weak verse in it, and the measure +has a swing, at once easy and stately, like that of the sea itself. We know +not if we are right in conjecturing some hint of deeper meaning in the name +"Orient," but, taking it merely as a descriptive poem, it is one of the +finest of its kind. The writer's heart seems more in the work here than in +the devotional verses. We quote a single passage from it, which seems to us +particularly fine:-- + +"We scanned her well, as we drifted by: +A strange old ship, with her poop built high, +And with quarter-galleries wide, +And a huge beaked prow, as no ships are builded now, +And carvings all strange, beside: +A Byzantine bark, and a ship of name and mark +Long years and generations ago; +Ere any mast or yard of ours was growing hard +With the seasoning of long Norwegian snow. + * * * * * +"Down her old black side poured the water in a tide, +As they toiled to get the better of a leak. +We had got a signal set in the shrouds, +And our men through the storm looked on in crowds: +But for wind, we were near enough to speak. +It seemed her sea and sky were in times long, long gone by, +That we read in winter-evens about; +As if to other stars +She had reared her old-world spars, +And her hull had kept an old-time ocean out." + + + +_Hester, the Bride of the Islands_. A Poem. By SYLVESTER +B. BECKETT. Portland: Bailey & Noyes. + +Mr. Beckett is evidently an admirer of Walter Scott; and it is not the +least remarkable fact in connection with "Hester," that an author with the +good sense to propose to himself such a model, disregarding the more +elaborate poets of a later date, should have proved himself so utterly +unable to follow that model, except in a few phrases, which were quite +appropriate as Scott used them, but are ludicrously out of place in his own +verse. In adopting the brief lines and irregularly recurring rhymes of +Scott, he has taken a hazardous step. The curt lines are excellent with Sir +Walter's liveliness and dash; but when dull commonplaces are to be written, +their feebleness would be more decorously concealed by a longer and more +conventional dress. The cutty sark, so appropriate when displaying the +free, vigorous stops of Maggie Lauder, is not to be worn by every +lackadaisical lady's-maid of a muse. In the moral reflections, with which +"Hester" abounds, there is a most comical imitation of Scott,--as if the +poem were written as a parody of "The Lady of the Lake," by +Mrs. Southworth, or Sylvanus Cobb, Junior. + +Mr. Beckett closes some very singular stanzas, entitled an Introduction, +with the following lines:-- + +"Give it praise, or blame, +Or pass it without comment, as may seem +To you most meet; with me 'tis all the same. +I hymn because I must, and not for greed of fame." + +These lines incline us at first to let Mr. Beckett "pass without comment," +considering, that, as he says, he cannot help writing; but we are finally +decided to observe him more closely, inasmuch as he says it makes no +difference to him, thus relieving us of the dreadful fear of wantonly +crushing some delicate John Keats (always supposing we had him) by our +severe censure. + +Instead of entering into a philosophical examination of "Hester," we shall +present some specimen pearls, making our first extract from the 21st +page:-- + +"The very desert would have smiled + In such a presence! yet despite +Her dimpled cheek, her soft blue eye, + Her voice so fraught with music's thrill, +The shrewd observer might espy + The traces therein of a will +That scorned restraint, the soul of fire + That slumbered in her tacit sire." + +"The traces therein." Wherein? Not in the cheek, eye, or voice, clearly; +for it was "despite" all these that he would make the discovery,--they are +obstacles, entirely outside of the success. It is necessarily, then, in the +"presence," in which the unthinking desert would have smiled unsuspecting, +but in which "the shrewd observer might espy" a good deal that was ominous +of trouble. Now it is obvious that the writer intended to refer "therein" +to the cheek, eye, and voice, a reference from which he barred himself by +the word "despite." As it happens, luckily for him, there is a word to +refer to, so that his grammatical salvation is secured; but the result is +sad nonsense. + +Page 23,-- + +"Indeed, it was their chief delight, +When combed the far seas feather-white, +To steer out on the roughening bay +With leaning prow and flying spray, +_And gunnel ready to submerge +Itself beneath the flaming surge_!" + +Page 28,-- + + "nor gave +He heed to aught on land or wave; +As if some kyanized regret + Were in his heart," etc., etc. + +"Kyanized regret" is good, as Polonius would say; but we would humbly +suggest that Mr. Beckett substitute, in his next edition, "Burnettized," as +even better, if that be possible. + +Page 72,-- + + "in hope, perchance +(Like arrant knight of old romance), +That _some complacent circumstance +Would end her curiosity_." + +Page 94,-- + +"Thereafter, she but knew the charm +Of resting on her lover's arm, +And listening to his voice elate, +As he betimes _went on to state +The phases in his own strange fate, +Since last they met_." + +Page 100.--Speaking of "those of +thoughtful mood," he says,-- + +"With whom I oft have whiled away + The dusky hour upon the deep, + Which most men wisely give to sleep." + +There is in this last line a dark, grim, sardonic appreciation of the +advantages which common minds have over those that, like the poet's own, +have to endure the splendid miseries of genius,--a dark moodiness, like +that of a tame Byron remorsefully recalling a wild debauch upon green +tea,--that is deliciously funny. + +Page 230.--The heroine, who is less +poetical by far than her rough servitor, +says,-- + +"Carl! not for all the golden sand +Of famed Pactolus, would I hurt +Thy feelings; _'tis my wont to blurt_ +My humour thus." + +Page 298.--The hero, who is hardly +more romantic than the heroine, has married +his own sister:-- + +"Lord Hubart gazed with steady eye +And arms still folded, on old Carl-- +'Here is, i' faith, a pretty snarl +To be unwound'--but his reply +Was cut short," etc., etc. + +In fact, the great objection to Lord Hubart, as may be inferred from the +above-quoted passage, is, that he is hopelessly vulgar. We are loath to say +so, because of our respect for English aristocracy; but English +aristocracy, truth compels us to observe, cuts no great figure on our +American stage or in our American literature. + +In short, this is a very silly book. It abounds in trite moralizing, for +instances of which we will merely refer the reader to pp. 65, 131, and +299. The author remarks exultingly, in his Introduction, that his is +comparatively an uncultivated mind, We can only say, we should think so! +Ignorance is plentiful everywhere, but it really seems as if it were +reserved for some of our American writers to display in its finest +specimens ignorance vaunting its own deficiencies. There is a great deal of +nonsense talked about "uncultivated minds": some men are eminent in spite +of being uncultivated; but no man was ever eminent because he was +uncultivated. Some instances of a lamentable misuse of language in "Hester" +we give below. + +Page 16,-- + +"They would have won implicit sway." + +Page 53,-- + "By the nonce!" + +Evidently thinking of the phrase, "for the nonce,"--meaning, for the +occasion. In the text, "by the nonce" is an oath! + +Page 71,-- + +"And he some squire of low behest." + +Page 221,-- + + "and when is won +At last the longed-for rubicon." + +Page 256,--the use of the word "denizens." + +Page 262,-- + +"None may their evil doing shirk! + That wrong, in any shape, will bring, + Or soon or late, its _meted sting_." + +Page 313,-- + +"as gnats, which sometimes sting + Their life away when rankled." + +Another fault is the senseless use of certain words and phrases, which a +good writer uses only when he must, Mr. Beckett always when he can. We give +without comment a mere list of these:--maugre, 'sdeath, eke, erst, deft, +romaunt, pleasaunce, certes, whilom, distraught, quotha, good lack, +well-a-day, vermeil, perchance, hight, wight, lea, wist, list, sheen, anon, +gliff, astrolt, what boots it? malfortunes, ween, God wot, I trow, emprise, +duress, donjon, puissant, sooth, rock, bruit, ken, eld, o'ersprent, etc. Of +course, such a word as "lady" is made to do good service, and "ye" asserts +its well-known superiority to "you." All this the author evidently +considers highly meritorious, although the words are entirely unsuitable. +His notion seems to be, that these are poetical words, and the way to write +poetry is to take all the exclusively poetical words you can find. The +occasional attempt to make his verses familiar and natural by the use of +such abbreviations as "I've" or "can't" is as much a failure as the effort +of an awkward man in a ball-room to make everybody think him at his ease by +forcing an unhappy smile and a look of preternatural buoyancy. + +From the beginning to the end of "Hester," there is one unerring indication +of an uncultivated mind and an unpractised pen. This is the writer's +fondness for well-worn phrases, which authors of a severer taste have long +discarded as suited only to the newspapers, but which Mr. Beckett has +picked up with eager delight, and, having distributed them liberally +throughout the poem, contemplates with a complacency to be matched only by +his satisfaction with the success of his expedients for filling out his +rhymes, some of which are certainly ingenious and startling, + +The plot is a jumble of improbabilities, to which we would gladly attend, +for it passes even the liberal bounds of poetic license, but we have +already spent all the time we can upon the New Poem, and we must decline +(in Mr. Beckett's own impressive language) any further "to distend the +title." + + * * * * * + + + +NOTE + +TO THE ARTICLE ON "MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON." + + +Although the proposed act establishing a Sanitary Commission for the City +of New York was defeated in the last State Legislature, some of its +provisions were engrafted on a bill passed on the nineteenth of April, +amending a previous "Act to establish a Metropolitan Police District, and +to provide for the Government thereof." + +By article 51 of this new act it is made the duty of the Board of +Metropolitan Police to set apart a Sanitary Police Company, which by +article 52 is empowered "to take all necessary legal measures for promoting +the security of life or health," upon or in boats, manufactories, houses, +and edifices. Article 53 gives power to the board to cause any +tenement-house to be cleansed at any time after three days' notice, and +provides means for meeting the expense of this and other similar +operations. + +These powers may, perhaps, if wisely exercised, secure a great improvement +in the health of the city. We trust that the duties imposed by them will be +thoroughly and efficiently performed, and we are gratified to see that a +good beginning has already been made; but our regret is not diminished that +the more complete proposed Sanitary Act failed to pass. + +The annual report on "The Sanitary Condition of the City of London" has +just been published. By this report it appears, that, during the year +ending on the 31st of March, 1860, the rate of mortality in London was 22.4 +per thousand of the population, or 1 in 44; in all England, the average +rate is 22.3; in country districts it is only 20; in the large towns, +26. "Ten years ago," says Dr. Letheby, the author of the report from which +we quote, "the annual mortality of the city was rarely less than 25 in the +thousand.....Our present condition is 19 per cent. better than that, and we +owe it to the sanitary labors of the last ten years." In another part of +the report he says,--"7233 inspections of houses have been made in the +course of the year, of which 803 were of the common lodging-houses, and 935 +orders have been issued for sanitary improvement in various particulars." + +Compare these facts with those given in our article concerning the rate of +mortality in our cities. The spirit of emulation, if no other, should force +us into energetic measures of reform. Boston with a death-rate of 1 in 41, +New York of 1 in 27, and London of 1 in 44! + + * * * * * + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +High School Grammar; or, An Exposition of the Grammatical Construction of +the English Language. By W. S. Barton, A. M., Author of "Easy Lessons in +English Grammar," "Intermediate Grammar," etc., etc. Boston. Gould & +Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 373. $1.00. + +Friarswood Post-Office. By the Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," etc., +etc. New York. Appleton. & Co. 18mo. pp. 251. 50 cents. + +A Voyage down the Amoor: with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan. By Perry McDonough +Collins, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River. New +York. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 390. $1.25. + +The Pioneer Preachers and People of the Mississippi Valley. By William +Henry Milburn, Author of "The Rifle, Axe, and Saddle-Bags." and "Ten Years +of Preacher Life." 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9486] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOL. 5, NO. 32 *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Thomas Hutchinson +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + + + +VOL. V.--JUNE, 1860. NO. XXXII. + + + + +THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS. + + +The condition of our railways, and their financial prospects, should +interest all of us. It has become a common remark, that railways have +benefited everybody but their projectors. There is a strong doubt in the +minds of many intelligent persons, whether _any_ railways have actually +paid a return on the capital invested in them. It is believed that one of +two results inevitably takes place: in the one case, there is not business +enough to earn a dividend; in the other, although the apparent net earnings +are large enough to pay from six to eight per cent. on the cost, yet in a +few years it is discovered that the machine has been wearing itself out so +fast that the cost of renewal has absorbed more than the earnings, and the +deficiency has been made up by creating new capital or running in debt, to +supply the place of what has been worn out and destroyed. The Illinois +Central has been pointed out as an example of the first kind; the New-York +Central, of the second; while the New-York and Erie is a melancholy +instance of a railway which, never having enough legitimate business of its +own, has worn itself out in carrying at unremunerative rates whatever it +could steal from its neighbors. The general opinion of the community, after +the crash of 1857, was, that all our railways approximated more or less +closely to these unhappy conditions, and it was merely a question of time +as to their final bankruptcy and ruin. Even now, when they have recovered +themselves considerably, and are paying dividends again, capitalists are +very shy of them. + +It is our belief, contrary to the current opinion, that during the next +decade such a change will have taken place in the condition of our +railways, that we shall see them averaging eight to ten per cent, dividends +on their legitimate cost. We propose in the present article to give the +reasons which have led us to this conclusion. + +The causes to which may be traced the languishing condition of our railways +may be stated as follows:--Financial mismanagement; imperfect construction; +and want of individual responsibility in their operation. + +The financial mismanagement of our railways has arisen from precisely the +opposite cause to that which has made British railways cost from two to +three times as much as they should have done. Their excess of cost was +owing to their having too much money; ours to our having too little. They +were robbed right and left for Parliamentary expenses, land-damages, +etc. The Great Northern, from London to York, three hundred and fourteen +miles, expended five millions of dollars in getting its charter. +Mr. E. Stephenson says that the cost of land and compensation on British +railways has averaged forty-three thousand dollars per mile, or as much as +the total cost of the railways of Massachusetts. + +American railway-companies have never been troubled with too much money. +They have usually commenced with a great desire for economy, selecting a +"cheap" engineer, and getting a low estimate of the probable cost. A +portion of the amount is subscribed for in stock, and the next thing is to +run in debt. "First mortgage bonds" are issued and sold. The proceeds are +expended, and the road is not half done. Another issue is sold at a great +discount, and yet another, if possible. As the road approaches completion, +the desperate Directors raise money by the most desperate expedients, such +as would bankrupt any merchant in the country in his private business. +Sometimes the road has vitality enough to work itself out of its troubles; +but in other cases, unfortunately too numerous, it passes into the hands of +the bond-holders, and all it can earn goes to remunerate trustees, and pay +legal expenses, commissions, etc. + +The financial mistakes of our railways have been, endeavoring to do too +much with too little money, and crippling themselves with a load of debt +that no project could stand under. This has led, as a matter of course, to +the second evil,--Imperfect construction. The projectors of a new railway +have thus reasoned with themselves:--"The average cost of our railways has +been between forty and fifty thousand dollars per mile, and this one, no +doubt, will reach those figures before we get through. But it will never do +to talk so, or we could not get the money to build it. Mr. Transit, our +engineer, says it can be opened for twenty thousand dollars per mile, and +we will earn money enough to finish it by-and-by." So they go on, and, to +get the road open for the small sum attainable, everything has to be +"scrimped" and pared down to the lowest scale. The cuttings are taken out +just wide enough for the cars to pass through, and the ends of the ties +overhang the edges of the embankments. Temporary trestle-work of wood is +substituted for stone bridges and culverts. Some reckless fellow tosses +down the iron as fast as a horse can trot, and the road is opened. + +Another way in which imperfect construction is inevitable is where +companies admit their inability to be their own financiers by giving some +influential contractor his price, and allowing him to "do his own +engineering," in consideration of his taking such securities as they have +to offer, and which he undertakes to float by means of his superior +connections. Having the thing his own way, and being naturally anxious to +build his road for as little money as possible, he pares down everything +even below the standard of embarrassed railway-boards. If the road will +only hold together until he has sold his bonds, it is all he asks. If the +business is good, the road will perhaps be finished, or what is thought to +be finished, some day or other. If business is dull, nothing is done, and +the bridges and trestle-works remain such murder-traps as that on the +Albany Northern Road which broke down last year. + +But it is not with such miserable apologies for railways that we have to +deal. It is on our really valuable roads, like the main lines in +Massachusetts and New York, that we shall show that the evils of imperfect +construction are felt, and will be felt, until a thorough reconstruction +has taken place. It was observed some time ago that the returns of the +Massachusetts railways for 1856 showed that there were 1,325 miles open, +costing on an average $46,480 per mile, or $61,611,721 in all. The receipts +per mile of road were $7,217, the expenses $4,260, leaving a net earning of +$2,957, or 40 per cent. of the whole. This was equal to 6.42 per cent. on +the whole cost of the railways. + +For the same year the returns of all the railways in Great Britain showed +that there were 8,502 miles open, costing $173,040 per mile, or +$1,506,826,363 in all; and that the receipts per mile of road were $13,296, +the expenses $6,249, leaving a net earning of $7,047, or 53 per cent of the +whole. This was equal to a dividend of 3.97 per cent. on the whole +cost. These figures showed, that, however extravagantly the British +railways had been built, they certainly were worked more economically than +our own. + +At first view it might be thought that the economy was due to their greater +business; but further inquiry showed, that, from the better shape of +American cars, and from the wants of the public requiring fewer trains, the +actual receipts per mile run of Massachusetts trains were $1.83 against +$1.44 of British trains. The expenses per mile run of Massachusetts trains +were $1.08, while those of British trains were only 63 3/8 cents. Could +Massachusetts railways be worked as cheaply, the result would be that they +could declare nine per cent. dividends on their cost, instead of six. + +Here offered a rich reward for investigation. Accordingly two gentlemen +well known to the railway world, Messrs. Zerah Colburn and Alexander +L. Holley, made a trip to England for the purpose of discovering how it was +that John Bull could work his railways so much cheaper than Brother +Jonathan. The results of their investigations are embodied in a handsome +quarto volume, illustrated with numerous drawings, which has been +subscribed for by most of the railways and prominent railway-men throughout +the country. It is not too much to say, that the effect of it, in directing +the attention of American railway-managers to the weak points of their +system, has resulted already in a saving to the stockholders of our +railways of millions of dollars. [Footnote: The statistics of the English +railways given in this article are taken from the volume here referred to. + +Because some cunning English contractors in South America took advantage of +the statements in this book to depreciate the American railway system and +American civil engineers, for their own private advantage in obtaining +work, some Americans have been so foolish as to decry the book altogether, +as traitorous to the interests of the country. Such mingled bigotry and +conceit, shrinking from just criticism, would fetter all progress but +fortunately it is rare.] + +More than half the cost of operating a railway consists of the repairs of +track and machinery and the cost of fuel and oil. These expenses are +exactly proportional to the mileage of trains. It was soon seen that the +greater economy of British railways was almost entirely confined to these +items. + +The cost of "maintenance of way" upon English railways was 10 1/2 cents per +mile run, against 25 cents on those of Massachusetts. The cost of repairs +of cars and engines was nearly the same on both. The cost of fuel per mile +run was 6 1/2 cents, against 15 cents. While English trains are from 20 to +30 per cent. lighter than ours, they average 25 per cent. faster, so that +practically these conditions must nearly balance each other. In alignment +the English roads are superior to ours, and as to gradients they have some +advantage; although grades of 40 to 52.8 feet per mile are quite common. +In climate they have less severe difficulties to contend with; although +their moist weather, the nature of their soil, and their heavy earthworks +involve much extra expense. In prices, the advantage is at least 20 per +cent, in their favor. + +These considerations might account for an economy of 30 per cent. as +compared with our expenses for maintenance of way, but they cannot account +for the great actual economy of 60 per cent. which we have seen. We must +seek farther to find the explanation of this, and we soon discover it by +comparing the condition of the road-beds and tracks on the railways of the +two countries. + +The English railways are thoroughly built, are not opened to the public +until finished, and no expense is spared to keep them in order. American +railways are too often put in operation when half finished. The consequence +is, they never are finished, and are continually wearing out,--not lasting, +on an average, more than half as long as they should, if once thoroughly +constructed. Wooden bridges are allowed to rot down for want of protection. +Rails are left to be battered to pieces for want of drainage and ballast. +One road spends thirty-four thousand dollars a year for "watching cuts," +and fifty-five thousand more for removing slides that should never have +taken place. Everything is done for the moment, and nothing thoroughly. Who +can wonder that this system tells upon the cost of maintenance of way? + +The amount of fuel burned is the exact measure of the resistance to be +overcome, and a rough track must necessarily require a larger amount of +fuel. The English roads now generally burn bituminous coal; most American +roads burn wood; but these being reduced to the same equivalent quantity, +it will be found that the American roads burn nearly twice as much as the +English. + +That the cost of the repairs of American cars and engines is not more is +attributable solely to their superior design. An English engine and cars +would be battered to pieces in a few months on our rough roads, on account +of their rigidity and concentration of weight; while those of America, by +yielding to shocks both vertically and horizontally, escape injury. +American cars and engines are as much superior in design to the English as +their roads excel ours in solidity and finish. + +But it will be asked, Shall we imitate the notorious extravagance of +British railways built at a cost of one hundred and seventy-three thousand +dollars per mile? + +The answer is plain. The only thing about them to be imitated is their +thorough and permanent construction. That this need not involve +extravagance is evident from the fact that the actual cost of construction +has been only eighty-eight thousand dollars per mile of double-track +railway, including all the costly viaducts, tunnels, and bridges, which in +many cases a more judicious location or a bolder use of gradients would +have avoided. The remainder of their cost is made up of law and +Parliamentary expenses, engineering and management, land and damages, +interest on stock, bonuses, dividends paid from capital, etc., etc., +amounting to eighty-five thousand dollars per mile. The folly of all this +has been seen, and neither the financial nor the engineering errors of that +day are now repeated. To show that a better system prevails, it is only +necessary to state that between 1848 and 1858, 390 miles of first-class +single-track railway have been opened at an average cost of $46.692 per +mile, and in all that relates to economical maintenance are not inferior to +any in the kingdom. + +Such railways as these, costing no more than our own, we would hold up for +imitation. How, then, do they differ from ours? or rather, what must be +done to put ours into the same condition of economical efficiency? + +In the first place, stone culverts and earth embankments should replace +wooden structures, wherever possible. As fast as wooden bridges decay, they +should be replaced with iron; and if the piers and abutments require it, as +is too often the case, they should be rebuilt in a substantial manner. + +The tubular iron bridge we do not recommend, on account of its excessive +cost. For short spans of sixty feet and under, two riveted boiler-plate +girders under the track make a cheap and permanent bridge, and can be +manufactured in any part of the country. For large spans there are several +excellent forms of iron trusses, Bollman's, Fink's, or, still better, the +wrought-iron lattice. + +Cuttings should be widened, if not already wide enough, so as to admit of +good ditches along the track. The slopes should be dressed off and +turfed. This costs little, and prevents the earth from washing down and +choking up the ditches, and much of that terrible nuisance, dust. + +The secret of all good road-making, whether railways or common roads, lies +in thorough drainage. Until our railways are well drained, it is of little +use to try to improve the condition of the track. "In an economical view," +says Mr. Colburn, "the damage occasioned by water is far greater than the +utmost cost of its removal. The track is disturbed, the iron bruised, the +fastenings strained, the chairs broken, the ties rotted, the resistance and +thereby the consumption of fuel increased, and the whole wear and tear +greatly enhanced." + +Next to drainage in importance is plenty of good ballast. The New-England +roads are well ballasted, as a general thing; but in the West, where gravel +is scarce, they do not trouble themselves to find a substitute. Even the +great New York and Erie road, after ten years' use, is only half ballasted, +which accounts for its being more than half worn out. + +Much has been said and written on the necessity of a good joint for the +rails, and many are the inventions for securing this object,--"compound +rails," "fished joints," "bracket chairs," "sleeve joints," etc., etc. But +without better road-beds no form of superstructure will last, and with +road-beds as good as they ought to be almost any simple and easily adjusted +arrangement will answer well enough. + +But a more important matter than all these, so far as the economy of +maintenance is concerned, is the quality and shape of the iron rails, +forming one-eighth of the whole cost of our railways. Where companies, +instead of buying rails, are selling bonds, they have no right to complain, +if the iron turn out as worthless as the debentures. But where they pay +cash, they can insist on good iron, and will get it, if they will pay the +price, which will rule from eighteen to twenty dollars per ton over that of +the poorest article. Nor should the shape and weight of the rail be +overlooked. Experience, that stern schoolmaster, has taught us, that, while +heavy rails of seventy pounds to the yard, and over, of ordinary iron, go +to pieces in three or four years, sixty-pound rails of well-worked and good +iron will last more than double that time. The extraordinary durability of +the forty-five pound rails made for the Reading Railway Company by the Ebbw +Vale Company in 1837 is well known to railway men. + +A short calculation will show the superiority, in point of economy, of +light and good rails to heavy rails of an inferior quality. A seventy-pound +rail requires 110 tons to the mile, costing, at 860 per ton, $6,600. At the +end of four years this has to be re-rolled at a cost of $30 per ton, or +$3,300 more. This is equal in eight years to an annual depreciation of +$1,237 per mile. A sixty-pound rail requires 94 tons to a mile, costing for +the best iron that can be rolled $80 per ton, or $7,520 per mile. This +would last eight years, and the annual depreciation would be $940 per mile, +or $297 less than the other. The 30,000 miles of American railways are thus +taxed annually nearly nine millions of dollars for preferring quantity to +quality. + +In England, it is the custom to retain the best engineering talent upon +railways, after as well as during construction. In this country, as soon as +the engineer has made out his "final estimate," he is dismissed with as +little ceremony as a daylaborer. We employ the best mechanical engineers +that we can find to look after the repairs of our engines and cars; while +the road, which is more important, and upon the good condition of which we +have seen that the success or failure of a railway as a commercial +enterprise may depend, is handed over to some ignorant fellow whose only +qualifications are industry and obedience. + +There are no unmixed evils in this world. The impecuniosity of American +railways, besides causing the bad results which we have described, has had +a good effect upon the training of American engineers. Being obliged to do +a great deal with a little money, they have steered clear of those enormous +extravagances which have characterized the works of such engineers as the +late Mr. Brunel, colossal less in proportions than cost. It has been well +observed, that there was more talent shown on a certain division of the +New-York and Erie Railway, in avoiding the necessity for viaducts, than +could possibly have been exhibited in constructing them. This remark is a +key to the difference between the old English and the American systems of +civil engineering. The one is for show, the other for use. We say the _old_ +English system, because a better practice has now arisen. Cost is looked to +as well as splendor; and there is no engineer now in England whose +reputation, would sustain him in constructing such monuments of +extravagance as the Great Western Railway or the Britannia Bridge. American +civil engineers have not been fairly treated. The wretched construction of +many of our railways, and the uneconomical condition of all, have been cast +against them by their English brethren as a reproach. But the faults of +construction, we have shown, are attributable to another cause. No engineer +of standing would lend himself to many of the schemes that have been pushed +through in the West. But in order to build a "cheap" road, it is only +necessary to get a "cheap" engineer, and that is a commodity easily picked +up. If their ignorance and blunders tarnish the fair fame of the +profession, it cannot be helped. But if American engineers of standing had +been allowed to finish the railways begun by them, and to take care of them +and see that they were not abused after they were finished, our railway +securities would be quoted at higher rates than they now are. + +Although there are many civil engineers of standing and experience who have +been thrown out of employment by the general stoppage of public works, and +who are better qualified to take care of that costly and delicate machine, +a Railway, than men whose knowledge is entirely empirical, yet few railways +employ a resident engineer. Those that follow this practice are generally +supposed to do so because he is a relative of some Director, and wants a +place, and not because such an officer is really required. + +"Construction accounts," says Mr. Colburn, "can never be closed, until our +roads are _built_. To attempt it only involves a destruction account of +fearful magnitude. Under our present system, we are _perpetually +rebuilding_ our roads, not realizing the _life_ of our works, and thereby +running capital to waste." + +"With good earthwork, thoroughly drained, well-ballasted tracks, rails of +good iron, correct form, not exceeding 60 pounds per yard, and properly +supported at the joints, the ties properly preserved, and the whole +maintained by a judicious system of repairs, the average working expenses +might unquestionably be reduced by as much as 18 cents per mile run." + +The mileage of the Massachusetts railways for 1859 was 5,949,761 miles run, +and the expenses of operating $0.93, being a saving of 15 cents over those +of 1856, amounting to $892,464. If, by a judicious expenditure of $5,000 +per mile, a still further saving of 18 cents per mile run could be made, it +would amount, on the present mileage, to $1,070,956 per annum, which, the +receipts being equal, would return eight per cent. on the increased capital +of sixty-eight and a half millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +We have thus shown the combined effects of financial mismanagement and +imperfect construction upon our railway property. But there is a third evil +to be cured before it can become productive. + +Under the present system of railway management, everybody is busy getting +rich at the expense of the stockholders. Railway men are as honest as the +average of mankind, but there is no reason why they should be more so; and +if their temptations are greater, a certain percentage of them will +inevitably yield to those temptations,--just as statistical tables show +that the average number of arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct +is greater on Sundays and holidays than on working-days. + +A few years ago it was impossible to compare the results of the working of +one railway with those of another. The returns were so ingeniously made +out, that only one thing was certain,--the amount of dividend that it +pleased the Board of Directors to declare. If this was three or four per +cent. for the half-year, the stockholders were delighted, and passed a vote +of thanks to those worthy gentlemen for devoting so much valuable time to +their interests gratuitously. What if a dividend was not earned? it was +easy enough to raise money in Wall Street on the Company's paper, until +some excuse could be found for a new issue of bonds or stock. But those +benefactors of the human race, Tuckerman and Schuyler, put a stop to all +this. After their proceedings became public, and still more certainly after +the crash of 1857, if railways did not earn a dividend, they had to say +so. This led to investigations, and stockholders became "posted," as the +phrase is. Chiefly by the exertions of one newspaper, the "Boston Railway +Times," railway companies were shamed into giving their reports in such +form as to distinguish the expenses per mile run, for fuel, oil, repairs of +road, machines, etc., etc. This gave a common standard of comparison; and, +as we have seen, it was made use of to discover in what particular +departments English railways were worked more economically than our +own. This has led, as we have also seen, to a great reduction in the cost +of operating; and the revival of railways, as an investment, dates from +that time, 1857-8. + +But there is something more wanted yet. As we have said, railway men are +not out of the reach of temptation. Let the various officers of a railway +manage it so as not to exceed the average expense of other roads of their +State, and their reputation stands high. Let them reduce their expenses +below the average, and their power is despotic. If they are men of ability, +they can do all this,--operate their road for less than many others, run +their trains regularly and without accident, even treat the public with +civility, and make themselves rich, in a few years, by percentages and +commissions on the cost of supplies, and by other modes, which, perhaps, +had better not be referred to here. If any one doubt this, let him take +pains to inquire how large a proportion of railway-men get rich in a few +years on salaries of from one to two thousand dollars per annum. Nor can +this be prevented; for every new check is only a transfer of power from +intelligent to ignorant hands; and ignorance, however honest, is a more +expensive manager and easier victim than knavery. There is but one remedy. +Make it for men's interest to reduce the expenses of operating to a +minimum. Make it for their interest to do so, by allowing them to share in +the profits, and then the question is solved, and you have a thousand +vigilant guardians of your property day and night. Let all supplies be +furnished by public competition under sealed tender, as is done in the army +and navy, and on the large railways of Great Britain. + +There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way of carrying out +these changes, as there are in introducing all new systems. You have to +meet the doubts and suspicions of those who are unacquainted with them, the +opposition of interested parties, and the general feeling which influences +all men to let well enough alone. But that there are no insuperable +obstacles in the way is evident from the fact that this system has already +been partially applied on a railway doing a very large business, the +Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, under the able superintendence of +S. M. Felton, Esq., who, in his last Report, says, "It still works well, +and is productive of much saving to the Company. [Footnote: The cost of +operating this railway for 1859, as per last Report, was only 37.4 per +cent. of the receipts, while that of the railways of Massachusetts for the +same year was 56.9 per cent. The result is a dividend of 8-1/2 per cent. +on capital, after paying the interest on bonded debt.] It promotes +regularity in running the trains, and in all branches of our business. It +diminishes accidents, _by bringing home the responsibility directly upon +individuals_ instead of the corporation." + +There is a great deal of significance in this last remark. Every one knows, +that, when an accident happens on a railway, "no one is to blame,"--which +means, that everybody should have so much blame as can be expressed by a +fraction whose numerator is unity and whose denominator represents the +whole number of employees. Such an infinitesimal dose of censure, contrary +to the homeopathic doctrine, always produces infinitesimal results. + +To what is the extraordinary success of the Hudson's Bay Company +owing,--that wonderful organization which rules the wilds of British North +America with a discipline which has no parallel in the history of mankind, +except that of the order of Jesuits? Simply to the fact, that every man +whose duties require intelligent action is a partner of the Company, shares +in its gains, and loses with its losses. And so it should be with our +railway-employees. Instead of excusing waste of time and property by the +stereotyped phrase, "The Company is rich and can stand it," they would +strive to exercise a rigid economy, knowing that at the end of the week +their pockets would be so much the heavier. + +To show how the thing should be done would involve matters of detail which +would be out of place here. What we desire to show is the +principle. Instead of paying all men alike, good, bad, and indifferent, let +the amount of a man's wages depend on his skill and intelligence; the more +he shows, the better let him be paid. In almost every department of +manufacturing and commercial business this is done. Why not in railway +management? + +We subjoin a tabular statement of the railways of the world, made up to +1857, except those of the United States, which are for 1858-9. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +|Name of country. |Cost per|Receipts |Percentage of|Percentage of | +| | mile. | per mile| expenses to | net earnings | +| | | of road.| receipts. | to total | +| | | | | capital. | +|-------------------|--------|---------|-------------|---------------| +|Great Britain |$173,040| $13,296 | 47 | 4.00 | +|Australia | 169,225| 6,810 | 72 | 1.02 | +|India | 51,400| 8,645 | 42 | 4.09 | +|France | 128,340| 13,530 | 44 | 6.58 | +|Belgium | 81,955| 10,790 | 58 | 5.48 | +|Austria | 92,325| 13,430 | 54 | 6.75 | +|Prussia | 72,430| 9,915 | 45 | 7.44 | +|Other German States| 66,160| 7,085 | 63 | 5.52 | +|United States | 41,376| 6,170 | 60 | 5.51 | +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +From this it will be seen how much economy of working has to do with paying +a dividend,--as in the case of the Indian railways, where, although the +receipts are very small, the prime cost and expenses of working are also +very small, and they divide 4.09 per cent, while the Australian railways, +whose cost and expense of working are large, can pay only 1.02 per cent. It +is proper to say, however, that this was during the "gold fever." Railways +are now built in Australia for $50,000 per mile. + +The railways of the United States occupy a very favorable position, both as +to cost and amount of receipts per mile. During the last ten years, the +principal efforts of their managers have been directed toward increasing +the receipts. During the next ten, their policy will be to diminish the +working expenses, leaving the receipts to increase with the natural growth +of the country, and avoiding unhealthy competition for that delusive +phantom, "through-trade," which has lured so many railways to financial +shipwreck and ruin. If this policy be steadily followed, we shall see +railway stocks once more a favorite investment. + + * * * * * + + + +IN A FOG. + + +A few minutes before one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 8th of +February, 1857, Policeman Smithers, of the Third District, was meditatively +pursuing his path of duty through the quietest streets of Ward Five, +beguiling, as usual, the weariness of his watch by reminiscent +AEthiopianisms, mellifluous in design, though not severely artistic in +execution. Passing from the turbulent precincts of Portland and Causeway +Streets, he had entered upon the solitudes of Green Street, along which he +now dragged himself dreamily enough, ever extracting consolations from +lugubrious cadences mournfully intoned. Very silent was the +neighborhood. Very dismal the night. Very dreary and damp was Mr. Smithers; +for a vile fog wrapped itself around him, filling his body with moist +misery, and his mind with anticipated rheumatic horrors. Still he surged +heavily along, tired Nature with tuneful charms sweetly restoring. + +As he wound off a tender tribute to the virtues of the Ancient Tray, and +was about sounding the opening notes of a requiem over the memory of the +lost African Lily, surnamed Dale, one o'clock was announced by the bell of +the Lynde-Street Church. Mr. Smithers's heart warmed a little at the +thought of speedy respite from his midnight toil, and with hastening step +he approached Chambers Street, and came within range of his relief post. He +paused a moment upon the corner, and gazed around. It is the peculiar +instinct of a policeman to become suspicious at every corner. + +Nothing stirring. Silence everywhere. He listens acutely. No sound. He +strains his eyes to penetrate the misty atmosphere. He is satisfied that +order reigns. He prepares to resume his march, and the measure of his +melancholy chant. + +Three seconds more, and Policeman Smithers is another being. Now his hand +convulsively grasps his staff; his foot falls lightly on the pavement; his +carol is changed to a quick, sharp inhalation of the breath; for directly +before him, just visible through the fog, a figure, lightly clad, leans +from a window close upon the street, then clambers noiselessly upon the +sill, leaps over, and dashes swiftly down Chambers Street, disappearing in +the darkness. + +Gathering himself well together, in an instant, Mr. Smithers is off and +away in pursuit. His heavy rubber-boots spatter over the bricks with an +echo that startles the sober residents from their slumbers. Strong of limb, +and not wholly unaccustomed to such exercise, he rapidly gains upon the +fugitive, who, finding himself so hotly followed, utters a faint cry, as if +unable to control his terror, and suddenly darts into one of the numerous +narrow passages which connect Chambers and Leverett Streets. + +Not prepared for this sharp dodge, Mr. Smithers is for a moment unable to +check his headlong plunges, and shoots past the opening a yard or two +before the wet sidewalk affords him a foothold. + +In great wrath, he turns about, and gropes his way cautiously through the +lane in the narrow labyrinth of which the fugitive has disappeared,--always +cautiously, for there are precipitous descents in Hammond Avenue, and deep +arched door-ways, from which a sudden onslaught might be dangerous. But he +meets no interruption here. Emerging into Leverett Street, he with +difficulty descries a white garment distantly fluttering in the feeble +light of a street-lamp. Any other color would have eluded him, but the way +is clear now, and it is a mere question of strength and speed. He sets his +teeth together, takes a full breath, and gives chase again. + +Mr. Smithers has now passed the limits of his own beat, and he fears his +adventure may be shared by some of his associates. For the world he would +not have this happen. Nothing could tempt him at this moment to swing his +rattle. His blood is roused, and he will make this capture himself, alone +and without aid. + +He rapidly reconsiders the chances. + +"This fellow does not know the turns," he thinks, "or he would have taken +Cushman Avenue, and then I should have lost him." + +This is in his favor. On the other hand, Mr. Smithers's action is impeded +by his heavy overcoat and rubber boots, and he knows that the pursued is +unincumbered in all his movements. + +It is a fierce, desperate struggle, that mad race down Leverett Street, at +one o'clock on Sunday morning. + +At each corner, the street-lamps throw a dull red haze around, revealing +the fugitive's slender form as he rushes wildly through. Another moment, +and the friendly fog shelters and conceals him from view. + +Breathless, panting, sobbing, he ere long is forced to relax his speed. The +policeman, who has held his best energies in reserve, now puts forth his +utmost strength. + +Presently he gains upon the runaway so that he can detect the white feet +pattering along the red bricks, rising and falling quite noiselessly. He +ejects imprecations upon his own stout boots, which not only fail to fasten +themselves firmly to the slippery pavements, but continually betray by +their noisy splashing his exact position. + +As they pass the next lamp, Mr. Smithers sees plainly enough that the end +is near. The fugitive touches the ground with only the balls of his feet, +as if each step were torture, and expels his breath with unceasing +violence. He does not gasp or pant,--he groans. + +Just at the bend in Leverett Street, leading to the bridge, there is a dark +and half-hidden aperture among the ill-assorted houses. Into this, as a +forlorn hope, the fugitive endeavors to fling himself. But the game is +up. Here, at last, he is overhauled by Mr. Smithers, who, dropping a heavy +hand upon his shoulder, whirls him violently to the ground. Having +accomplished this exploit with rare dexterity, he forthwith proceeds to set +the captive on his feet again, and to shake him about with sprightly vigor, +according to established usage. + +Mr. Smithers next makes a rapid but close examination of his prize, who, +bewildered by the fall, stares vacantly around, and speaks no word. He was +a young man, apparently about twenty years old, with nothing peculiar in +appearance except an unseasonable deficiency in clothing. Coat, waistcoat, +trousers, boots, hat, had he none; shirt, drawers, and stockings made up +his scant raiment. Mr. Smithers set aside the suspicion of burglary, which +he had originally entertained, in favor of domestic disorder. The symptoms +did not, to his mind, point towards delirium tremens. + +Suddenly recovering consciousness, the youth was seized with a fit of +trembling so violent that he with difficulty stood upright, and cried out +in piteous tones,-- + +"For God's sake, let me go! let me go!" + +Mr. Smithers answered by gruffly ordering the prisoner to move along with +him. + +By some species of inspiration--for, as the era of police uniforms had not +then dawned, it could have been nothing else--the young man conceived the +correct idea of the function of his custodian, and, after verifying his +belief, expressed himself enraptured. + +All his perturbation seemed to vanish at the moment. + +The affair was getting too deep for Mr. Smithers, who could not fathom the +idea of a midnight malefactor becoming jubilant over his arrest. So he gave +no ear to the torrent of excited explanations that burst upon him, but +silently took the direct route to the station. + +Here he resigned his charge to Captain Merrill's care, and, after narrating +the circumstances, went forth again, attended by two choice spirits, to +continue investigations. On reaching Chambers Street, he became confused +and dubious. A row of houses, all precisely alike excepting in color, stood +not far from the corner of Green Street. From a lower window of one of +these he believed that the apparition had sprung; but, in his agitation, he +had neglected to mark with sufficient care the precise spot. Now, no open +window nor any other trace of the event could be discovered. + +The three policemen, having arrived at the end of their wits, went back to +the station for an extension. + +There they found Captain Morrill listening to a strange and startling +story, the incidents of which can here be more coherently recapitulated +than they were on that occasion by the half-distracted sufferer. + +On the morning of Saturday, February the 7th, this young man, whose name +was Richard Lorrimer, and who was a clerk in a New-York mercantile house, +started from that city in the early train for Boston, whither he had been +despatched to arrange some business matters that needed the presence of a +representative of the firm. It chanced to be his first journey of any +extent; but the day was cheerless and gloomy, and the novelty of travel, +which would otherwise have been attractive, was not especially agreeable. +After exhausting the enlivening resources of a package of morning papers, +which at that time overflowed with records of every variety of crime, from +the daily murder to the hourly garrote, he dozed. At Springfield he +dined. Here, also, he fortified himself against returning ennui with a +supply of the day's journals from Boston. Singularly enough, five minutes +after resuming his place, he was once more peacefully slumbering. The pause +at Worcester scarcely roused him; but near Framingham a sharp shriek from +the locomotive, and the rapid working of the brakes, banished his dreams, +and put an end to his drowsy humor for the remainder of the journey. It was +soon made known that the engine was suffering from internal disarrangement, +and that a delay of an hour or more might be expected. The red flag was +despatched to the rear, the lamps were lighted, and the passengers composed +themselves, each as patiently and as comfortably as he could. + +Lorrimer felt no inclination for further repose. He was much disturbed at +the prospect of long detention, having received directions to execute a +part of his commission that evening. Comforting himself with the profound +reflection that the fault was not his, he turned wearily to his +newspaper-files. + +A middle-aged man with a keen nose and a snapping eye asked permission to +share the benefit of his treasures of journalism. As the middle-aged man +glanced over the New-York dailies, he ventured an anathema upon the +abominations of Gotham. + +The patriotic pride of a genuine New-Yorker never deserts him. Lorrimer +discovered that the maligner of his city was a Bostonian, and a stormy +debate ensued. + +As between cat and dog, so is the hostility which divides the residents of +these two towns. So the conversation became at once spirited, and +eventually spiteful. + +Boston pointed with sarcastic finger to the close columns heavily laden +with iniquitous recitals, the result of a reporter's experience of one day +in the metropolis. + +New York, with icy imperturbability, rehearsed from memory the recent +revelations of matrimonial and clerical delinquencies which had given the +City of Notions an unpleasant notoriety. + +Boston burst out in eloquent denunciation of the Bowery assassin's knife. + +New York was placidly pleased to revert to a tale of bloodshed in the +abiding-place of Massachusetts authority, the State Prison. + +Boston fell back upon the garrote,--"the meanest and most diabolical +invention of Five-Point villany,--a thing unknown, Sir, and never to be +known with us, while our police system lasts!" + +New York quietly folded together a paper so as to reveal one particular +paragraph, which appeared in smallest type, as seeking to avoid +recognition. Boston read as follows:-- + +"The garroting system of highway robbery, which has been so fashionable for +some time past in New York, and which has so much alarmed the people of +that city, has been introduced in Boston, and was practised on Thomas +W. Steamburg, barber, on Thursday night. While crossing the Common to his +home, he was attacked by three men; one seized him by the throat and half +strangled him, another sealed his mouth with a gloved hand, and the third +abstracted his wallet, which contained about seventy-five dollars in +money." + +This was from the "Courier" of that morning. New York had triumphed, and +Boston, with eyes snapping virulently, sought another portion of the car, +perhaps to hunt up his temper, which had been for some time on the point of +departure, and had now left him altogether. + +Lorrimer took to himself great satisfaction, in a mild way, and laughed +inwardly at his opponent's discomfiture. + +Presently, the vitalities of the locomotive having been restored, the train +rolled on, and Lorrimer took to calculating the chances of fulfilling his +appointment that evening. He at length abandoned the hope, and resigned +himself to the afflicting prospect of a solitary Sunday in a strange place. + +At eight o'clock, P.M., the Boston station was achieved. Then followed, for +Mr. Lorrimer, the hotel, the supper, the vain search for Saturday-evening +amusements, and a discontented stroll in a wilderness of unfamiliar +streets, with spirits dampened by the dismal foggy weather. + +He found the Common, and secretly admired, but longed for an opportunity to +vilify it to some ardent native. His point of attack would be, that it +furnished dangerous opportunities for crime, as illustrated in the case he +had recently been discussing. He looked around for some one to accost, and +felt aggrieved at finding no available victim. Finally, in great depth of +spirits, and anxious for a temporary shelter from the all-penetrating +moisture, he wandered into a saloon of inviting appearance, and sought the +national consolation,--Oysters. + +While he was accumulating his appetite, a stranger entered the same stall, +and dropped, with a smile and a nod, upon the opposite seat. "I wouldn't +intrude, Sir," he said, "but every other place is filled. It's wonderful +how Boston gives itself up to oysters on Saturday nights,--all other sorts +of rational enjoyment being legally prohibited." + +Lorrimer welcomed the stranger, and, delighted at the opportunity of a bit +of discussion, and still cherishing the malignant desire to injure +somebody's feelings in the matter of the Common, opened a conversation by +asking if Boston were really much given to bivalvular excesses. + +The stranger, who was a strongly built and rough-visaged man, with nothing +specially attractive about him, except a humorous and fascinating +eye-twinkle, straightened himself, and delivered a short oration. + +"Bless me, Sir!" said he, "are you a foreigner? Why, oysters are the +universal bond of brotherhood, not only in Boston, but throughout this +land. They harmonize with our sharp, wide-awake spirit. They are an element +in our politics. Our statesmen, legislators, and high-placed men, +generally, are weaned on them. Why, dear me! oysters are a fundamental idea +in our social system. The best society circles around 'fried' and 'stewed.' +Our 'festive scenes,' you know, depend on them in no small degree for their +zest. That isn't all, either. A full third of our population is over +'oysters' every morning at eleven o'clock. Young Smith, on his way down +town after breakfast, drops into the first saloon and absorbs some +oysters. At precisely eleven o'clock he is overcome with hunger and takes a +few on the 'half-shell.' In the course of an hour appetite clamors, and he +'oysters' again. So on till dinner-time, and, after dinner, oysters at +short intervals until bed-time." + +And the stalwart stranger leaned back and laughed lustily for a few +seconds, until, abruptly checking his mirth, he, in solemn tones, directed +the waiter to introduce ale. + +Then occurred an interesting exchange of courtesies. Social enlightenment +was vividly illustrated. The sparkling ale was set upon the table. In +silent contemplation, the two gentlemen awaited the subsidence of the +bead. Then, smiling intensely, they cordially grasped the flowing mugs; +they made the edges click; they paused. + +"Sir," said one, with genial blandness. + +"Sir," responded the other, in like manner. + +Contemporaneously they partook of the cheering fluid. Gradually each +gentleman's nose was eclipsed by the aspiring orb of pottery. The mugs +assumed a lofty elevation, then fell, to rise no more. The two gentlemen +beamed with amity. Each respected the other, and the acquaintance was +formed. + +Lorrimer was charmed to meet an intelligent being who would talk and be +talked to. He flattered himself he had exploited a "character," and was +determined not to allow him to slip away. He cautiously broke to his new +companion the fact that he was a native of New York, and was a little +surprised to see the announcement followed by no manifestation of awe, but +only a lively wink. He reserved his defamatory intentions respecting the +Common, and endeavored to draw the stranger out, who, in return, shot forth +eccentricities as profusely as the emery wheel of the street grinder emits +sparks when assailed by a scissors-blade. + +Lorrimer learned that this delightful fellow's name was Glover, and +rejoiced greatly in so much knowledge. + +Mr. Glover ordered in ale, and Mr. Lorrimer ordered in oysters,--and from +oysters to ale they pleasantly alternated for the space of two hours. + +Cloud-compelling cigars varied at intervals the monotony of the +proceedings. + +At length the young gentleman from New York vanquished his last "fried in +crumb," and victory perched upon his knife. Just then the gas-burners began +to meander queerly before his eyes. Around and above him he beheld showers +of glittering sparks,--snaky threads of light,--fantastic figures of +fire,--jets of liquid lustre. He communicated, in confidence, to +Mr. Glover, that his seat seemed to him of the nature of a rocking-chair +operating viciously upon a steep slated roof. Mr. Glover laughed, and +proposed an adjournment. + +As they settled their little bills, Lorrimer thoughtlessly displayed a +plethoric pile of bank-notes. He saw, or fancied he saw, his companion gaze +at them in a manner which made him restless; but the circumstance soon +passed from his mind, until later events enforced the recollection. + +When they walked into the open air, Mr. Lorrimer first became intimate with +a lamp-post, which he was loath to leave, and then bitterly bewailed his +ignorance of localities. Glover good-naturedly suggested that his young +friend would do well to take up quarters with him, that night, and promised +to conduct him wherever he desired to go, the next morning. His young +friend was not in the humor for hesitation, and, distrusting his own +perambulatory powers, gave himself up, without reserve, to Glover's +guidance. Linked together by their arms, they sailed along, like an +energetic little steam-tug, puffing, plunging, sputtering, under the shadow +of a serene and stately Indiaman. + +The fog had now gathered solidity, and hung chillingly over the city's +heart. How desolate were the thoroughfares! The street-lamps gleamed +luridly from their stands, serving only to make the dreary darkness +visible. Lorrimer's late merry fancies were all extinguished as suddenly as +they had blazed forth. Even his sturdy guide showed a depression and +constraint that strangely contrasted with his former gayety. He vainly drew +upon his mirth-account; there was no issue, "Beastly fog!" said he, "we +might drill holes in it, and blast it with gunpowder!" They approached the +Common, and the hideous structure opposite West Street glared on them like +a fiery monster, and seemed exactly the reverse of the gate to a forty-acre +Paradise. Sheltering their faces from the wind, which now added its +inconveniences to the saturating atmosphere, they struck the broad avenue, +and pushed across towards the West End. + +The wind sang most doleful strains, and the bending branches of the trees +sighed sadly over them. Lorrimer was filled with an anxious tribulation, as +he remembered the story of the villany that, two nights before, near the +spot where they now walked, and perhaps at the same hour, had been +perpetrated. An impulse, which he could not restrain, caused him to whisper +his fears to his companion. Glover laughed, a little uneasily, he thought, +but made no answer. + +Soon they reached the opposite boundary of the Common, and continued +through Hancock Street, ascending and descending the hill. While passing +the reservoir in that dull gray darkness, Lorrimer felt as if under the +shadow of some giant tomb. Hastening forward, for it was growing late, they +threaded a number of the short avenues of Ward Three, and at length, when +young New York's endurance was nearly exhausted, reached their destination +in Chambers Street. It must have been the fatigue which, as they crossed +the threshold, propelled Mr. Lorrimer against the door, causing him to +stain himself unbecomingly with new paint. + +They mounted the stairs, and entered a comfortable apartment, in which a +fresh fire was diffusing a most welcome glow, and a spacious bed +luxuriously invited occupancy. Lorrimer had but one grief, which he freely +communicated to his host,--his fingers were liberally decorated with dark +daubs, to which he pointed with unsteady anguish. + +"It's a filthy shame!" said he, with more energy of manner than certainty +of utterance. + +A section of the chamber was separated from the rest by a screen. Into this +retreat Glover disappeared, and immediately returned with a bottle, from +which he poured an acid that effaced the spots. "It will wash away +anything," said he, laughing. + +Lorrimer was superabundantly profuse in thanks, and announced that his mind +was now at ease. By some mysterious process, not clearly explicable to +himself, he contrived to lay aside a portion of his dress, and to dispose +himself within the folds of balmy bedclothes that awaited him. In forty +seconds he was dreaming. + +Nearly an hour had elapsed when he half woke from an uneasy slumber, and +strove to collect his drowsy faculties. His sleep had been disturbed by +frightful visions. He had passed through a scene of violence on the Common; +he had been engaged in a life-and-death struggle with his new acquaintance; +he had been seized by unseen hands, and thrown into a vast vault. His brain +throbbed and his heart ached, as he endeavored to disentangle the +bewildering fancies of his sleep from wakeful reality. + +He lay with his face to the wall, and the grotesque decorations of the +paper assumed ghostly forms, and moved menacingly before his eyes, +thrilling him through and through. + +In a few moments the murmur of voices close at hand aroused him more +effectually. He then recollected the incidents of the night, and reproached +himself for his wild excesses, and his reckless and imprudent confidence in +a stranger. He dreaded to think what the consequences might be, and again +became confused with the memories of his distressing dreams. + +Three facts, however, were fastened upon his mind. He could not forget +Glover's singular glance at his roll of bank-notes,--the hesitation to +converse about the garrote,--nor the bottle of acid which would "wash away +anything." Would it wash away stains of blood? + +The sounds of subdued conversation again arrested his attention. He +listened earnestly, but without changing his position. + +"Speak softly," said a voice which he recognized as Glover's,--"speak +softly; you will wake my guest." + +Then the words failed to reach him for a few moments. He strained his ears, +and hardly breathed, for fear of interrupting a syllable. Presently he was +able to distinguish a few sentences. + +"Do you call this a profitable job?" said a strange voice. + +"Oh, very fair,--worth about fifty dollars, I should guess. I wouldn't +undertake such a piece of work at a smaller chance," said Glover. + +"Shall you cut the face?" said the other, after a minute's pause. + +"Of course," was the answer; "it's the only way to do it handsomely." + +"Hum!--what do you use? steel?" + +"Steel, by all means." + +"I shouldn't." + +"I like it better; and I have a nice bit that has done service in this way +before." + +From Lorrimer's brow exuded a deadly sudor. His heart ceased to palpitate. +His muscles became rigid; his eyes fixed. His terror was almost too great +for him to bear. With difficulty he controlled himself, and listened again. + +"Can it be done here?" asked the strange voice;--"will not the features be +recognized?" + +"There is nothing deeply marked, except the eyes," said Glover, "and I can +easily remove them, you know." + +"You can try the acid." + +"The other way is best." + +"I suppose it must be done quickly." + +"So quickly that there will be no chance for any proof." + +Lorrimer gasped feebly, and clutched the bedclothes with a nervous, +convulsive movement. He had no power to reflect upon his situation; but he +felt that he was lost. Alone and unaided, he could not hope to combat the +evil designs of two men, a single one of whom he knew was vastly his +superior in strength. His blood seemed to cease flowing in his veins. He +thought for an instant of springing from the bed, and imploring mercy; but +the nature of their conversation, with its minutiae of cruelty, forbade all +hope in that direction. His brain whirled, and he thought that reason was +about to forsake him. But a movement in the room restored him to a sense of +his peril. + +He saw the shadows changing their places, and knew that the light was +moving. He heard faint footsteps. Hope deserted him, and be closed his +eyes, quite despairing. When be opened them a minute later, he was in +darkness. + +Then hope returned. There might yet be a means of escape. They had left +him,--for how long he could not conjecture; but now, at least, he was +alone. What a flood of joy came over him then! + +Swiftly and softly he threw off the bedclothes, and by the uncertain light +of the fire, which was still glimmering, found his way noiselessly to the +floor. + +His trembling limbs at first refused to sustain him, but the thought of his +impending fate, should he remain, invested him with an unexpected +courage. Passing around the foot of the bed, he approached the door of the +chamber. + +As he moved, his shadow, dimly cast by the flickering embers, fell across +the mouth of the inclosure whence Glover had brought the acid. He shuddered +to think what might be hidden by that screen. He burned with curiosity, +even in that moment of danger. For a moment he even rashly thought of +seeking to penetrate the mystery. + +Treading lightly, and partially supporting himself by the wall, lest his +feet should press too heavily upon some loose board and cause it to rattle +beneath him, he reached the door. It was not wholly closed, and with utmost +gentleness he essayed to pull it open. With all his care he could not +prevent it from creaking sharply. His nerves were again shaken, and a new +tremor assailed him. Tears filled his eyes. His heart was like ice, only +heavier, within him. + +He stood for a minute motionless and half-unconscious. Then recovering +himself by a powerful effort, he advanced once more. Without venturing to +open the door wider, he worked through the narrow aperture, inch by inch, +stopping every few seconds for fear that the rustle of his shirt against +the jamb might be overheard. At length, by almost imperceptible movements, +he succeeded in gaining the head of the staircase. + +Then he believed that his deliverance was near at hand. He had thus far +eluded detection, and it only remained for him to descend, and depart by +the outer door. + +Bending forward at every step to catch the slightest echo of alarm, he felt +his way down through the darkness. The difficulty at this point was +great. As one recovered from a long illness finds his knees yield under him +at the first attempt to descend a staircase, just so it was with +Lorrimer. At one time a faintness came over him, and he was obliged to sit +down and rest. A movement above aroused him, and, starting up, he hurriedly +groped his way to the street-door. + +The darkness was absolute. He could discern nothing, but, after a short +search, he caught hold of the handle and turned it slowly. The door +remained immovable. By another exploration he discovered a large key +suspended from a nail near the centre of the door. This he inserted in the +lock, and turned--with all the caution he could command. It was not enough, +for it snapped loudly. + +A voice from the head of the stairs cried out, "Who is there?" + +Lorrimer was appalled. He shook the door, but it remained fast. Like +lightning he passed his hand up and down the crevice in search of a hidden +bolt. He found nothing, and felt that he was in the hands of the +murderers;--for he could entertain no doubt of their design. In the agony +of desperation he flung out his arms, and a door beside him flew open. He +entered, and rushed to a window, which was easily lifted, and out of which +he threw himself at the moment that a light streamed into the apartment +behind him. + +When Mr. Lorrimer had finished relating to Captain Morrill, with all the +energy of truth, the more important of the above circumstances, that +officer arose, and, calling to his assistance a couple of his force, +started out in great haste in the direction of Chambers Street. Lorrimer, +who had been provided with shoes, hat, and coat, went with them. After a +little search, a row of houses with windows close upon the street was +found. More diligent examination showed that the door of one of these was +freshly painted. A vigorous assault upon the panels brought down the +household. Mr. Glover, and another person whose voice was identified by +Lorrimer, were marched off with few words to the station. Mr. Lorrimer's +clothes were rescued, and an officer was left to look after the premises. + +Mr. Glover, on arriving at the station, expressed great indignation, and +employed uncivil terms in speaking of his late guest. Under the subduing +influences of Captain Merrill's treatment, he soon became tranquil, and +subsequently manifested an excess of hilarity, which the guardians of the +night strove in vain to check. But he answered unreservedly all the +questions which Captain Morrill put to him. His statement ran somewhat +thus:-- + +"I met this young man, for the first time, a few hours ago, at an +oyster-saloon on Washington Street. We drank a good deal of ale, and he +lost his balance. I kept mine. I saw he had a pretty large amount of money, +and doubted his ability to keep as good a watch over it as he ought to. So +I took him home with me. On the way he would talk uneasily about garrote +robberies, but I refused to encourage him. + +"You want to know about that alarming conversation? Well,"--(here Mr. +Glover was so overcome with merriment, that, after a proper time, the +interposition of official authority became necessary,)--"well, I am an +engraver. My business is mainly to cut heads. Sometimes I use steel, +sometimes copper. My brother, who is also an engraver, and I were +discussing a new commission. I told him I should make use of a good bit of +steel, which had already been engraved upon, but not so deeply but that the +lines could be easily removed, excepting the eyes, which would have to be +scraped away. My allusion to proof is easily explained: it is common for +engravers to have a proof-impression taken of their work after it is +finished, by which they are enabled to detect any imperfections, and remedy +them. + +"I am very sorry that my young friend should have considered me so much of +a blood-thirsty ruffian. But the ale of Boston is no doubt strange to him, +and his confusion at finding himself in a large city quite +natural. Besides, his suspicions were in some degree reciprocated. When I +saw him flying out of the window, I was convinced that he must be an +ingenious burglar, and instantly ran back to examine my tools. I am glad to +find that I was wrong. If he will return now with me, he shall be welcome +to his share of the bed." + +Mr. Lorrimer politely, but positively, declined. + +Captain Morrill urbanely apologized to Mr. Glover, and engaged himself to +make it right in the morning; whereupon Mr. Glover withdrew in cachinnatory +convulsions. Mr. Lorrimer was instructed to resume his proper garments, and +was then conveyed safely to his hotel, where he remained in deep +abstraction until Monday, when, after transacting his business, he took the +afternoon return-train for New York. + +The case was not entered upon the records of the Third District Police. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GRANADAN GIRL'S SONG. + +All day the lime blows in the sun, + All day the silver aspens quiver, +All day along the far blue plain + Winds serpent-like the golden river. + From clustering flower and myrtle bower + Sweet sounds arise forever, + From gleaming tower with crescent dower + Our banner floats forever. + +Its purple bloom the grape puts on, + Pulping to this Granadan summer, +And heavy dews shake through the globes + Scarce stirred by some bright-winged new-comer, + On gyon brown hill, where all is still, + Where lightly rides the muleteer, + With jangling bells, whose burden swells + Till shaft and arch rise fine and clear. + +As one by one the shadows creep + Back to their lairs in hilly hollows, +A broader splendor issues forth + And on their track in silence follows; + A fuller air swims everywhere, + A freer murmur shakes the bough, + A thousand fires surprise the spires, + And all the city wakes below. + +What morn shall rise, what cursed morn, + To find this bright pomp all surrendered, +These palaces an empty shell, + This vigor listless ruin rendered,-- + While every sprite of its delight + Mocks fickle echoes through the court, + And in our place a sculptured trace + Saddens some stranger's careless sport? + +Oh, gay with all the stately stir, + And bending to your silken flowing, +One day, my banner-poles, ye creak + Naked beneath the high winds blowing! + One day ye fall across the wall + And moulder in the moat's green bosom, + While in the cleft the wild tree left + Bursts into spikes of cruel blossom! + +Ah, never dawn that day for me! + O Fate, its fierce foreboding banish! +When all our hosts, like pallid ghosts + Blown on by morning, melt and vanish! + Oh, in the fires of their desires + Consume the toil of those invaders! + And let the brand divide the hand + That grasps the hilt of the Crusaders! + +Yet idle words in such a scene! + Yon rosy mists on high careering,-- +The Moorish cavaliers who fleet + With hawk and hound and distant cheering,-- + The dipping sail puffed to the gale, + The prow that spurns the billow's fawning,-- + How can they fade to dimmer shade, + And how this day desert its dawning? + +Forget to soar, thou rosy rack! + Ye riders, bronze your airy motion! +Still skim the seas, so snowy craft,-- + Forever sail to meet the ocean! + There bid the tide refuse to slide, + Glassing, below, thy drooping pinion,-- + Forever cease its wild caprice, + Fallen at the feet of our dominion! + + * * * * * + + + +THE HUMMING-BIRD. + +_May 9th._ + + +To-day, Estelle, your special messenger, the Humming-Bird, comes darting to +our oriel, my Orient. As I sat sewing, his sudden, unexpected whirr made me +look up. How did he know that the very first Japan-pear-bud opened this +morning? Flower and bird came together by some wise prescience. + +He has been sipping honey from your passion-flowers, and now has come to +taste my blossoms. What bright-winged thought of yours sent him so straight +to me, across that wide space of sea and land? Did he dart like a sunbeam +all the way? There were many of them voyaged together; a little line of +wavering light pierced the dark that night. + +A large, brave heart has our bold sailor of the upper deep. Old Pindar +never saw our little pet, this darling of the New World; yet he says,-- + +"Were it the will of Heaven, an osier-bough Were vessel safe enough the +seas to plough." + +Here he is, safe enough, not one tiny feather ruffled,--all the intense +life of the tropics condensed into this one live jewel,--the glance of the +sun on emeralds and rubies. Is it soft downy feathers that take this rich +metallic glow, changing their hue with every rapid turn? + +Other birds fly: he darts quick as the glance of the eye,--sudden as +thought, he is here, he is there. No floating, balancing motion, like the +lazy butterfly, who fans the air with her broad sails. To the point, always +to the point, he turns in straight lines. How stumbling and heavy is the +flight of the "burly, dozing bumblebee," beside this quick intelligence! +Our knight of the ruby throat, with lance in rest, makes wild and rapid +sallies on this "little mundane bird,"--this bumblebee,--this rolling +sailor, never off his sea-legs, always spinning his long homespun +yarns. This rich bed of golden and crimson flowers is a handsome field of +tournament. What invisible circle sits round to adjudge the prize? + +What secret does he bring me under those misty wings,--that busy birring +sound, like Neighbor Clark's spinning-wheel? Is he busy as well, this bit +of pure light and heat? Yes! he, too, has got a little home down in the +swamp over there,--that bit of a knot on the young oak-sapling. Last year +we found a nest (and brought it home) lined with the floss of +willow-catkin, stuck all over with lichens, deep enough to secure the two +pure round pearls from being thrown out, strongly fastened to the forked +branch,--a home so snug, so warm, so soft!--a home "contrived for fairy +needs." + +Who but the fairies, or Mr. Fine-Ear himself, ever heard the tiny tap of +the young bird, when he breaks the imprisoning shell? + +The mother-bird knows well the fine sound. Hours? days? no, weeks, she has +sat to hear at last that least wave of sound. + +What! this tiny bit of restless motion sit there still? Minutes must be +long hours to her quick panting heart. + +I will just whisper it in your ear, that the meek-looking mother-bird only +comes out between daylight and dark,--just like other busy mothers I have +known, who take a little run out after tea. + +Can it be, that Mr. Ruby-Throat, my _preux chevalier_, keeps all the +sunshiny hours for himself, that he may enjoy to the full his own gay +flight? + +Ah! you know nothing, hear nothing of woman's rights up there, in that +well-ordered household. Were it not well, if we, too, could give up our +royal right of choice,--if we could fall back on our strong earth-born +instincts, to be, to know, to do, one thing? + +See how closely our darling curls up his slender black feet and legs, that +we may not see this one bit of mortality about him! No, my little immortal +does not touch the earth; he hangs suspended by that long bill, which just +tethers him to its flowers. Now and then he will let down the little black +tendrils of legs and feet on some bare twig, and there be rests and preens +those already smooth plumules with the long slender bodkin you lent +him. Now, just now, he darts into my room, coquets with my basket of +flowers, "a kiss, a touch, and then away." I heard the whirr of those gauzy +wings; it was not to the flowers alone he told his story. You did well to +trust this most passionate pilgrim with your secret; the room is radiant +with it. Slow-flying doves may well draw the car of Venus; but this arrow +tipped with flame darts before, to tell of its coming. What need of word, +of song, with that iridescent glow? Some day I will hear the whole story; +just now let the Humming-Bird keep it under his misty wings. + +I have heard of a lady who reared these little birds from the nest; they +would suck honey from her lips, and fly in and out of her chamber. Only +think of seeing these callow fledglings! It is as if the winged thought +could be domesticated, could learn to make its nest with us and rear its +young. + +Bountiful Nature has spared to our cold North this one compact bit from the +Tropics. + + * * * * * + +I believe we allow that birds are very highly organized creatures,--next to +man, they say. We, with our weary feet plodding always on the earth, our +heavy arms pinioned close to our sides!--look at this live creature, with +thinnest wing cutting the fine air! We, slow in word, slow in +thought!--look at this quivering flame, kindled by some more passionate +glance of Nature! Next to man? Yes, we might say next above. Had it not +been for that fire we stole one day, that Promethean spark, hidden in the +ashes, kept a-light ever since, it had gone hard with us; Nature might have +kept her pet, her darling, high, high above us,--almost out of roach of our +dull senses. + +What is our boasted speech, with its harsh, rude sounds, to their gushing +melody? We learn music, certainly, with much pains and care. The bird +cannot tell if it be A sharp or B flat, but he sings. + +Our old friend, the friend of our childhood, Mr. White of Selborne, (who +had attended much to the life and conversation of birds,) says, "Their +language is very elliptical; little is said, and much is meant and +understood." Something like a lady's letter, is it not? + +How wise we might grow, if we could only "the bird-language rightly spell"! +In the olden times, we are told, the Caliphs and Viziers always listened to +what the birds said about it, before they undertook any new enterprise. I +have often thought I heard wise old folk discoursing, when a company of +hens were busy on the side-hill, scratching and clucking +together. Perchance some day we shall pick up a leaf of that herb which +shall open our ears to these now inarticulate sounds. + +Why may we not (just for this summer) believe in Transmigrations, and find +some elder civilization embodied in this community of birds,--all those +lost arts taken wings, not to fly away, but to come flitting and building +in our trees, picking crumbs from our door-steps? + +Do they say birds are limited? Who are we that set bounds to this direct +knowledge, this instinct? Mathematical, constructive, they certainly +are. What bold architect has builded so snug, so airy a house,--well +concealed, and yet with a good outlook? We make our dwellings conspicuous; +they hide their pretty art. + +We wiseacres, who stay at home, instead of following the seasons round the +globe, should learn the art of making happy homes; yet what housekeeper +will not hang her head in shame and despair, to see this nice adaptation of +use to wants, shown each year in multitudes of nests? Now, only look at +it! always just room enough,--none to spare. First, the four or five eggs +lie comfortably in the small round at the bottom of the nest, with room +enough for the mother robin to give them the whole warmth of her broad red +breast,--her sloping back and wings making a rain-proof roof over her +jewels. Then the callow younglings rise a little higher into the wider +circle. Next the fledglings brim the cup; at last it runs over; four large +clumsy robins flutter to the ground, with much noise, much anxious calling +from papa and mamma,--much good advice, no doubt. They are fairly turned +out to shift for themselves; with the same wise, unfathomable eyes which +have mirrored the round world for so many years, which know all things, say +nothing, older than time, lively and quick as to-day; with the same +touching melody in their long monotonous call; soon with the same power of +wing; next year to build a nest with the same wise economy, each young +robin carrying in his own swelling, bulging breast the model of the hollow +circle, the cradle of other young robins. So you see it is a nest within a +nest,--a whole nest of nests; like Vishnu Sarma's fables, or Scheherazade's +stories, you can never find where one leaves off and another begins, they +shut so one into the other. No wonder the children and philosophers are +they who ask, whether the egg comes from the bird, or the bird from the +egg. Yes, it is a _Heimskringla_, a world-circle, a home-circle, this nest. + +You remember that little, old, withered man who used to bring us eggs; the +boys, you know, called him Egg Pop. When the thrifty housewife complained +of the small size of his ware, he always said,-- + +"Yes, Marm, they be small; but they be monstrous full." + +Yes, the packing of the nest is close; but closer is the packing of the +egg. "As full as an egg of meat" is a wise proverb. + +Let us look at these first-fruits which the bountiful Spring hangs on our +trees. + +"To break the eggshell after the meat is out we are taught in our +childhood, and practise it all our lives; which, nevertheless, is but a +superstitious relict, according to the judgment of Pliny, and the intent +hereof was to prevent witch-craft [to keep the fairies out]; for lest +witches should draw or prick their names therein, and veneficiously +mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as Dalecampius hath +observed." This is what Sir Thomas Browne tells us about eggshells. And +Dr. Wren adds, "Least they [the witches] perchance might use them for +boates to sayle in by night." But I, who have no fear of witches, would not +break them,--rather use them, try what an untold variety of forms we may +make out of this delicate oval. + +By a little skilful turning and reversing, putting on a handle, a lip here, +a foot there, always following the sacred oval, we shall get a countless +array of pitchers and vases, of perfect finished form, handsome enough to +be the oval for a king's name. Should they attempt to copy our rare vases +in finest Parian, alabaster, or jasper, their art would fail to hit the +delicate tints and smoothness of this fine shell; and then those dots and +dashes, careless as put on by a master's hand! + +Are not these rare lines? They look to me as wise as hieroglyphics. Who +knows what rhyme and reason are written there,--what subtile wisdom rounded +into this small curve,--repeated on the breasts and backs of the +birds,--their own notes, it may be, photographed on their swelling breasts +like the musical notes on the harp-shell,--written in bright, almost +audible colors on the petals of flowers,--harmonies, melodies, for ear and +eye? Has this language, older than Erse, older than Sanscrit, ever got +translated? I am afraid, dear, the key has been turned in the lock, and +thrown into the well. + +The ornithologists tell us that some birds build nicer nests, sing sweeter +songs, than their companions of the same species. Can experience add wisdom +to instinct? or is it the right of the elder-born,--the birthright of the +young robin who first breaks the shell? Who has rightly looked into these +things? + +I half remember the story of a beautiful princess who had all imaginable +wealth in her stately palace, itself builded up of rare and costly +jewels. She had everything that heart could desire,--everything but a roc's +egg. Her mind was contracted with sorrow, till she could procure this one +ornament more to her splendors. I think it turned out that the palace +itself was built within the roc's egg. These birds are immense, and take up +three elephants at a time in their powerful talons, (almost as many as +Gordon Cumming himself, on a good day's hunt,) and their eggs are like +domes. + +Now, do not you be like the foolish princess, and desire a roc's egg; it +will prove a stone, the egg of a rock, indeed. Be content rather with this +ostrich-egg I send you; with your own slender fingers lift the +lid;--pretty, is it not, the tea-service I send you? The tidy warblers +threw out the emptied shells; one by one I picked them up, and have made +cups and saucers, bowls and pitchers for you: a roc's egg never held +anything one-half so fine. + +You will say I am a fairy, as brother Evelyn says, when I relate to him the +fine sights and sounds I have seen and heard in the woods. No, but the +little silent people are very good to me. + +Let me, then, go on my bird's-egging and tell you one more fact about our +fairy, our Humming-Bird. Audubon says "that an all-wise Providence has made +this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost universally +through Nature,--namely, that the smallest species of a tribe are the most +prolific. The eagle lays one, sometimes two eggs; the small European wren +fifteen; the humming-bird two: and yet this latter is abundantly more +numerous in America than the wren in Europe." All on account of his +wonderful courage, admirable instinct, or whatever it is that guards and +guides him so unerringly. + +You see we may well love him whom +Nature herself loves so dearly. + +"Ce que Dieu garde est bien garde." + +Ah, Estelle! your bonnie birdie, with +his wild whirr, darting back and forth +like a weaver's shuttle weaving fine +wefts, has got into my head; not "bee-bonneted," +but bird-bonneted, I go. Yes, +this day shall be given to the king, as +our country-folk say, when they go a-pleasuring. +I am off with the little wool-gatherers, +to see what thorn and brier +and fern-stalk and willow-catkin will give +me. Good-day! good-day! + +Your own + +SUSAN, SUSY, SUE. + +P. S. "May our friendship never +moult a feather!" + + * * * * * + + + +CHESS. + + +Schatrenschar, the Persian, who could count the stars one by one, who is +known to have been borne, (by the Simorg, the Eternal Fowl,) at midnight, +first to the evening star, and then to the moon, and then set down safely +in his home,--and Al Kahlminar, the Arabian, who was a mystic seer, and had +conversed face to face with the Demons of the Seven Planets, approaching +also, on one occasion, so nigh unto Uriel that his beard was singed by the +sun, wherein that angel resideth,--these, ten million years ago, lived in +their palaces on adjoining estates and lands. But about the boundary-line +atwixt them they could not agree: Schatrenschar maintaining that he had +lived there longest, and had a right to choose where the wall should be +built between himself and a later comer; Al Kahlminar declaring that the +world was not made for Schatrenschar,--furthermore, that the Astronomer had +paid nothing for the land, and had already more than he could attend to, +since his chief devotion was manifestly to the estates he was reputed to +own in Venus and the moon. They came to no decision; and it was beneath the +dignity of these men, who prided themselves on being confidants elect of +invisible and superior worlds, publicly to wrangle about the gross soil of +this. Nevertheless, Schatrenschar, at last, losing patience, cried,-- + +"Al Kahlminar, 'tis but by the grace of Yezdan, who hath commissioned me to +watch the sacred stars, which reveal not themselves to the violent, that I +am saved this day from flogging thee!" + +To this the Seer: "O Schatrenschar, thou must have left in some of thy +other worlds, mayhap in Venus, the limbs which can cope with these." + +"Nay," replied the Astronomer, discerning some truth in that remark, "but I +am not alone, Al Kahlminar; I have within my palace two valiant knights, +skilled with the steed and the spear, who are ready to go forth in my stead +at a word." + +"And I," answered the Mystic, warming, "have two godly priests, men skilled +by the orthodox beheading of heretics into the aim and valor of Arjoon +himself. Your knights cannot stand before these messengers of Heaven; they +will tremble like aspen-leaves, lest Allah be wroth, if they receive harm." + +"If thou shouldst bring forth thy priests, Al Kahlminar, then would I +confront them and thee with the two elephants which my brother sent me +lately from Geestan, on each of which I can place a rook with a slave +cunning with the javelin, before which thy priests will flee; for the +animals see no difference between priests and other mortals;--the elephant +is sagacious, neighbor!" + +"And I," said the other, "haye riches, which thou hast not. Whatever thou +hast wherewith to extend thy line into my lot, I can oppose with an equal +force,--nay, with a stronger." + +Schatrenschar hereupon paused in deep meditation. Presently a subtile +thought struck him. He took a parchment-leaf and drew thereon a diagram; +and after inscribing several hieroglyphic characters, he cried out,-- + +"Hearken, Al Kahlminar; hast thou not heard it among the sayings of Sasan, +that the battle is not always to him who hath the superior physical force? +Suppose that in our encounter thy forces stood here, as marked on these +squares: by what stratagem couldst thou reach me, who stand here with even +fewer and weaker men? If thou canst tell as much without my assistance, I +will yield the boundary-line; for it will show thee to have a calculation +equal to my own, as well as riches." + +Al Kahlminar pondered long, suffered manifold headaches, closed not an +eyelid for a week, but could not give answer. The Mystic was used to seeing +only those things to see which the eyes must be closed. At length +Schatrenschar opened the problem to him, which so delighted his heart that +he clave unto him, and besought him that their estates should be one, and +that he would use his (Al Kahlminar's) riches as his own. A bower was built +midway between their houses, wherein they sat for hours over other +diagrams, contrived first by the Astronomer afterward by the Mystic: and +out of it arose a curious and knightly play which beareth to this day the +name Schatrenschar. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps this last line of the old Sanscrit story is the only veracious +thing in it. Perhaps it is all true. Who can answer? Was there ever a +great thing whose origin was not in some doubt? If so with the Iliad, with +Platonic Dialogues, with Shakspearian Plays, how naturally so with Chess! +The historic sinew of the above would seem to be, that Schatrenschar, the +Oriental word for Chess, is the name of a very ancient and learned +astronomer of Persia; how much mythologic fat has enveloped said sinew the +reader must decide. Philological inquisition of the origin of the low Latin +_Scacchi_ (whence the French _Echecs_, Ger. _Schach_, and our _Chess,_) has +led to a variety of conclusions. Leunclavius takes it from _Uscoches_, +famous Turkish banditti. Sirmond finds the word's parent in German +_Schaecher_ (robber) and grandparent in _Calculus_! Tolosanus derives +_check-mate_ from Heb. _schach_ (to prevail) and _mat_ (dead). Fabricius +favors the idea we have given above, and says, "A celebrated Persian +astronomer, one Schatrenschar, invented the game of Chess, and gave it his +own name, which it still bears in that country." Nicod derives it from +_Xeque_, a Moorish word for Prince or Lord. Bochart maintains that +_Schach-mat_ is originally Persian, and means "the king is dead." We +incline to accept this last opinion; and believe, that, though the game +must have originated with some person, perhaps Schatrenschar, yet it +reached its present form and perfection only through many touchings and +retouchings of men and generations. Pope's translation of the "Odyssey" has +led many persons to think that chess was known to the ancient Greeks, +because, in describing the sports of Penelope's suitors, the translator +says,-- + + "With rival art and ardor in their mien, + At Chess they vie to captivate the Queen." + +But there can be little doubt that this is an anachronism. + +In short, we may safely conclude that the game is of purely Oriental +origin. The Hindoos claim to have originated it,--or rather, say that Siva, +the Third Person of their Trinity, (Siva, the Destroyer,--alas! of time?) +gave it to them; Professor Forbes has shown that it has been known among +them five thousand years; but words tell no myths, and the Bengalee name +for Chess, _Shathorunch_, casts its ballot for Persia and +Shatrenschar;--though India may almost claim it, on account of the greater +perfection to which it has brought the game, and the lead it has always +taken in chess-culture. India rejoices in a flourishing chess-school. The +Indian Problem is known as the perfection of Enigmatic Chess. And if Paul +Morphy had gone to Calcutta, instead of London and Paris, he would have +found there one Mohesh Ghutuck, who, without discovering that he was a +P. and move behind his best play, and without becoming too sick to proceed +with the match, would have given him a much finer game than any antagonist +he has yet encountered. This Mohesh, who was presented by his admiring king +with a richly-carved chess-king of solid gold nine inches high, not only +plays a fabulous number of games at once whilst he lies on the ground with +closed eyes, but games that none of the many fine native and English +players of India can engage in but with dismay. Fine, indeed, it would have +been, if the world could have seen in the youths of Calcutta and New +Orleans the extreme West matched with the extreme East! + +There is no call for any one to vindicate this game. Chess is a great, +worldwide fact. Wherever a highway is found, there, we may be sure, a +reason existed for a highway. And when we find that the explorer on his +northward voyage, pausing a day in Iceland, may pass his time in keen +encounters with the natives,--that the trader in Kamtschatka and China, +unable to speak a word with the people surrounding him, yet holds a long +evening's converse over the board which is polyglot,--that the missionary +returns from his pulpit, and the Hindoo from his widow-burning, to engage +in a controversy without the _theologicum odium_ attached,--the game +becomes authentic from its universality. It is akin to music, to love, to +joy, in that it sets aside alike social caste and sectarian differences: +kings and peasants, warriors and priests, lords and ladies, mingle over the +board as they are represented upon it. "The earliest chess-men on the banks +of the Sacred River were worshippers of Buddha; a player whose name and +fame have grown into an Arabic proverb was a Moslem; a Hebrew Rabbi of +renown, in and out of the Synagogues, wrote one of the finest chess poems +extant; a Catholic priest of Spain has bestowed his name upon two openings; +one of the foremost problem--composers of the age is a Protestant clergyman +of England; and the Greek Church numbers several cultivators of chess +unrivaled in our day." It has received eulogies from Burton,--from +Castiglione,--from Chatham, who, in reply to a compliment on a grand stroke +of invention and successful oratory, said, "My success arose only from +having been checkmated by discovery, the day before, at chess,"--from +Comenius, the grammarian,--from Conde, Cowley, Denham, Justus van Effen, +Sir Thomas Elyot, Guillim, Helvetia, Huarte, Sir William Jones, Leibnitz, +Lydgate, Olaus Magnus, Pasquier, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau, Voltaire, +Samuel Warren, Warton, Franklin, Buckle, and many others of ability in +every department of letters, philosophy, and art. We know of but one man of +genius or learning--who has repudiated it,--Montaigne. "Or if he +[Alexander] played at chess," says Montaigne, "what string of his soul was +not touched by this idle and childish game? I hate and avoid it because it +is not play enough,--that it is too grave and serious a diversion; and I am +ashamed to lay out as much thought and study upon that as would serve to +much better uses." Looked at simply as a diversion, chess might naturally +impress a man of intellectual earnestness thus. It is not a diversion; a +recreation it may be called, but only as any variation from "the shop" is +recreative. But chess has, by the experiences of many, sufficiently proved +itself to have serious uses to men of thought, and in the way of an +intellectual gymnasium. It is to the limbs and sinews of the +mind--prudence, foresight, memory, combination, analysis--just what a +gymnasium is to the body. In it every muscle, every joint of the +understanding is put under drill; and we know, that, where the mind does +not have exercise for its body, but relics simply on idle cessation for its +reinforcement, it will get too much lymph. Work is worship; but work +without rest is idolatry. And rest is not, as some seem to think, a swoon, +a slumber; it is an active receptivity, a masterly inactivity, which alone +can deserve the fine name of Rest. Such, we believe, our favorite game +secures better than all others. Besides this direct use, one who loves it +finds many other incidental uses starting up about it,--such as made +Archbishop Magnus, the learned historian of Sweden, say, "Anger, love, +peevishness, covetousness, dulness, idleness, and many other passions and +motions of the minds of men may be discovered by it."--But we promised not +to vindicate chess, and shall leave this portion of our topic with the fine +verse of the Oriental bard, Ibn ul Mutazz:-- + +"O thou whose cynic sneers express + The censure of our favorite chess, +Know that its skill is Science' self, + Its play distraction from distress. +It soothes the anxious lover's care; + It weans the drunkard from excess; +It counsels warriors in their art, + When dangers threat and perils press; +And yields us, when we need them most, + Companions in our loneliness." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Translated in that excellent periodical, which no lover of +chess should be without, _The Chess Monthly_, edited by Fiske and Morphy, +New York. (Vol. i. p. 92.)] + +Now that the Persian poet has touched his lyre in our pages, we will not at +once pass to any cold geographical or analytical realm of our subject, but +pause awhile to cull some flowers of song which have sprung up on good +English soil, which the feet of Caissa have ever loved to press. No other +games, and few other subjects, have gathered about them so rich a +literature, or been intertwined with so much philological and historical +lore. Not the least of this is to be found in the English classics, from +which we propose to make one or two selections. We begin where English +poetry begins, with Dan Chaucer; and from many beautiful conceits turning +upon chess, we select one which must receive universal admiration. It is +from the "Booke of the Duchesse." + +"My boldnesse is turned to shame, +For false Fortune hath played a game +At the Chesse with me. + +"At the Chesse with me she gan to play, +With her false draughts full divers +Sho stale on me, and toke my fers:[1] +And when I sawe my fers away, +Alas! I couth no longer play. + +"Therewith Fortune said,' Checke here, +And mate in the mid point of the checkere +With a paune errant.' Alas! +Full craftier to play she was +Than Athalus, that made the game +First of the Chesse, so was his name." + +[Footnote 1: Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally +the Counsellor,)--the strength of the +board.] + +In the early part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Middleton wrote a +comedy styled "A Game at Chess," which was acted at the Globe +(Shakspeare's) nine times successively. It seems to have been a severe +tirade on the religious aspects of the times. The stage directions are +significant: for example:--Act I., Scene 1. _Enter severally, in order of +the game, the White and Black houses_. Act II., Scene 1. _Enter severally +White Queen's Pawnes and Black Queen's Pawnes_. The Prologue is as +follows:-- + +"What of the game called Chesse-play can be made +To make a stage-play shall this day be played. +First you shall see the men in order set, +States, and their Pawnes, when both the sides are met; +The houses well distinguished: in the game +Some men entrapt, and taken to their shame, +Bewarded by their play: and in the close +You shall see checque-mate given to Virtue's foes. +But the fair'st jewel that our hopes can decke +Is so to play our game t'avoid your checke." + +The play excited indignation in the partisans of the Romish Church, and was +not only suppressed by James I., but at the demand of the Queen its author +was imprisoned, and was relieved only by a witty verse sent to the King. + +The last which we have room to quote is anonymous, and of date near +1632. It may have been written by the celebrated divine, Thomas Jackson, of +Corpus-Christi College, whose discourse comparing the visible world to a +"Devil's Chess-board" evidently suggested the familiar etching in which +Satan contends with a youth for his soul. The lines are entitled: + +THE PAWNE. + +"A lowly one I saw, + With aim fist high: + Ne to the righte, + Ne to the lefte +Veering, he marched by his Lawe, + The crested Knyghte passed by, + And haughty surplice-vest, + As onward toward his heste + With patient step he prest, + Soothfaste his eye: +Now, lo! the last doore yieldeth, +His hand a sceptre wieldeth, +A crowne his forehead shieldeth! + +"So 'mergeth the true-hearted, + With aim fixt high, +From place obscure and lowly: + Veereth he nought; + His work he wroughte. +How many loyall paths be trod, +Soe many royall Crownes hath God!" + +It is very clear that the pawns in chess represent the common soldiers in +battle. The Germans call them "peasants" (_Bauern_); the Hindoos call them +_Baul_, or "powers" (in the sense of _force_); and that each of these, if +he can pursue his file to its end, should win a crown has always given to +this game a popular stamp. These pawns are doubtless, next to knights, the +most interesting pieces on the board: Philidor called them "the soul of +chess." + +At an early period Asiatic chess was divided into two branches,--known +amongst players as Chinese and Indian. They are different games in many +respects, and yet enough alike to show that they were at some period the +same. The Chinese game maintains its place in Eastern Asia, Japan, etc.; in +the islands of the Archipelago, and, with very slight modifications, +throughout the civilized world, the Indian game is played. Indeed, there is +no difference between Indian and European chess, except that in the former +the Bishop is called Elephant,--the Rooks, Boats,--the Queen, Minister: the +movements of the pieces are the same. + +Of Chinese chess some description will be more novel. Their chess-board, +like ours, has sixty-four squares, which are not distinguished into +alternate black and white squares. The pieces are not placed on the +squares, but on the corners of the squares. The board is divided into two +equal parts by an uncheckered space, which is called the River. There are +nine points on each line, and forty-five on each half of the board. They +have the same number of pieces with ourselves. Each player has a king, two +guards, two elephants, two knights, two chariots, two cannon, and five +pawns. Each player places nine pieces on the first line of the board,--the +king in the centre, a guard on each side of him, two elephants next, two +knights next, and then the two chariots upon the extremities of the board; +the two cannons go in front of the two knights and the pawns on the fourth +line. + +The king moves only one square at a time, but not diagonally, and only in +an _enceinte_, or court, of four squares,--to wit, his own, the queen's, +queen's paw and king's pawn's. Castling is unknown. The two guards remain +in the same limits, but can move only diagonally; thus we have in our king +both the Chinese king and his guard. The elephants move diagonally, two +squares at a time, and cannot pass the river. Their knight moves like ours, +but must not pass over pieces; he can pass the river, which counts as one +square. The chariots and cannon move like our castles, and can cross the +river. The pawns always move one step, and may move sidewise as well as +forward,--taking in the same line in which they move; they cross the +river. The cannon alone can pass over any piece; indeed, a cannon can take +only when there is a piece between it and the piece it takes,--which +intervening piece may belong to either player. The king must not be +opposite the other king without a piece between. All this certainly sounds +very complex and awkward to the English or American player; and our game +has the preferable tendency of increasing the power of the pieces, (as +distinct from pawns,) rather than, with theirs, limiting their powers and +multiplying their number. However, it is probable, whatever may be the +respective merits of the two games, that neither of them will ever be +altered; the Chinese, who can roast his pig only by burning the sty, +because the first historic roast-pig was so roasted, will be likely to +continue his chess as nearly as possible in the same form as the celestial +Tia-hoang and the terrestrial Yin-hoang played it a million years ago. In +Europe and America we have all complacently concluded, that, when David +said he had seen an end of all perfection, it only indicated that he was +unacquainted with chess as played in accordance with Staunton's Handbook. + +But it is only the Indian game which has had a development equal to the +development of the civilized arts. This has been chiefly through what are +called by the Italian-French name of _gambits_. There is much prejudice, +amongst a certain class of chess-players, against what is called +"book-chess," but it rarely exists with players of the first rank. These +gambits are as necessary to the first-rate player as are classifications to +the naturalist. They are the venerable results of experience; and he who +tries to excel without an acquaintance with them will find that it is much +as if he should ignore the results of the past and put his hand into the +fire to prove that fire would burn. If he should try every method of +answering a special attack, he would be sure to find in the end that the +method laid down in the gambit was the true one. An acquaintance, +therefore, with these approved openings puts a player at an advanced +starting-point in a game, inexhaustible enough in any case, and where he +need not take time in doing what others have already done. Although we +design in this article to refrain, as much as possible, from technical +chess, it may be well enough to give a list of the usual openings, and +their key-moves. + +PHILIDOR'S DEFENCE. +(_Philidor_, 1749.) + +White. Black. +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. P. to Q. 3d. + + +GIUOCO PIANO. +(_Italian_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q. 3d or Q.B. 3d. + + +RUY LOPEZ'S KNIGHT'S GAME. +(_Lopez_, 1584.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.Kt. 5th. + + +PETROFF'S DEFENCE. +(1837.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. + + +Q. PAWN OR SCOTCH GAME. +(_So named from the great match between London +and Edinburgh in_ 1826, _but first analyzed +as a gambit by Ghulam Xassitrt, Madras,_ +1829.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. P. to Q. 4th. + + +SICILIAN GAME. +(_Ancient Italian MS_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to Q.B. 4th. + + +EVANS'S GAMBIT. +(_Captain Evans_, 1833.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q.Kt. 4th. + + +KING'S BISHOP'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. B. to Q.B. 4th. 2. B. to Q.B. 4th. + + +KING'S KNIGHT'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. B. to K.Kt. 2d. + + +ALLGAIER GAMBIT. +_(Johann Allgaier_, 1795.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th, +4. P. to K.B. 4th. + + +MUZIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to K.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Castles. 5. P. takes Kt. + + +SALVIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved from the Portuguese by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. K.Kt. to B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. K.B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Kt. to K. 5th. 5. Q.to K.R.'s 5th. (ch.) +6. K. to B. Sq. 6. K.Kt. to B. 3d. + + +FRENCH GAME. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 3d. + +These gambits may be classed under what are, in common phrase, termed +"open" or "close" games; an open game being where the pieces are brought +out into more immediate engagement,--a close game where the pawns +interlock, and the pieces can less easily issue to the attack. An instance +of the former may be found in the Allgaier,--of the latter in Philidor's +Defence. These two kinds of games are found in chess-play because they are +found in human temperament; as there are brilliant and daring Napoleons, +and cautious, pertinacious Washingtons in war, so are there in chess +Philidor and La Bourdonnais, Staunton and Morphy. In examining +Mr. Staunton's play, for example, one is struck with the French tact of +M. St. Amant's remark, made many years ago: "M. Staunton has the solidity +of iron, but neither the purity of gold nor the brilliancy of the diamond." +However much Mr. Staunton's ignoble evasion of the match with Morphy--after +bringing him, by his letter, all the way from New Orleans to London, a +voyage which would scarcely have been taken otherwise--may have stained his +reputation as a courageous and honorable chess-player, we cannot be blind +to the fact, that he is the strongest master of the game in Europe. With a +fine mathematical head, (more at home, however, in the Calculus than in +Algebra,)--with an immense power of reserve and masterly repose,--able to +hold an almost incredible number of threads without getting them +entangled,--he has all the qualities which bear that glorious flower, +success. But he is never brilliant; he has outwearied many a deeper man by +his indefatigable evenness and persistance; he is Giant Despair to the +brilliant young men. Mr. Morphy is just the _otherest_ from Staunton. Like +him only in sustained and quiet power, he brings to the board that demon of +his, Memory,--such a memory, too, as no other chess-player has ever +possessed: add to this wonderful analytic power and you have the secret of +this Chess-King. Patient practice, ambition, and leisure have done the +rest. He has thus the _lustre du diamant_, which St. Amant missed in +Mr. Staunton; and we know that the brilliant diamond is hard enough also to +make its mark upon the "solid iron." + +Amongst other great living players who incline to the "close game," we may +mention Mr. Harrwitz, whose match with Morphy furnished not one brilliant +game; also Messrs. Slous, Horwitz, Bledow, Szen, and others. But the +tendency has been, ever since the celebrated and magnificent matches of the +two greatest chess geniuses which England and France have ever known, +McDonnel and De la Bourdonnais, to cultivate the bolder and more exciting +open gambits. And under the lead of Paul Morphy this tendency is likely to +be inaugurated as the rule of modern chess. Professor Anderssen, Mayet, +Lange, and Von der Lasa, in Germany,--Dubois and Centurini, at +Rome,--St. Amant, Laroche, and Lecrivain, of Paris,--Loewenthal, Perigal, +Kipping, Owen, Mengredien, etc., of London,--are all players of the heroic +sort, and the games recently played by some of them with Morphy are perhaps +the finest on record. And certainly, whatever may be said of their tendency +to promote careless and reckless play, the open and daring games are at +once more interesting, more brief, and more conducive to the mental drill +which has been claimed as a sufficient compensation for the outlay of +thought and time demanded by chess. + +We have already given some specimens of the Poetry of Chess. The Chess +Philosophy itself has penetrated every direction of literature. From the +time that Miranda is "discovered playing chess with Ferdinand" in +Prospero's cell, (an early instance of "discovered mate,") the numberless +Mirandas of Romance have played for and been played for mates. Chess has +even its Mythology,--Caissa being now, we believe, generally received at +the Olympian Feasts. True, some one has been wicked enough to observe that +all chess-stories are divisible into two classes,--in one a man plays for +his own soul with the Devil, in the other the hero plays and wins a +wife,--and to beg for a chess-story _minus_ wives and devils; but such +grumblers are worthless baggage, and ought to be checked. The Chess Library +has now become an important collection. Time was, when, if one man had +Staunton's "Handbook," Sarratt, Philidor, Walker's "Thousand Games," and +Lewis on "The Game of Chess," he was regarded as uniting the character of a +chess-scholar with that of the antiquary. But now we hear of Bledow of +Berlin with eight hundred volumes on chess; and Professor George Allen, of +the University of Pennsylvania, with more than a thousand! Such a +literature has Chess collected about it since Paolo Boi, "the great +Syracusan," as he was called, wrote what perhaps was the first work on +chess, in the middle of the sixteenth century. + +But such numbers of works on chess are very rare, and when the reader hears +of an enormous chess library, he may be safe in recalling the story of +Walker, whose friend turned chess author; seven years after, he boasted to +Walker of the extent of his chess library, which, he affirmed consisted of +one thousand volumes _minus_ eighteen! It turned out that eighteen copies +of his work had been sold, the rest of the edition remaining on his hands. + +Though these old works are like galleries of old and valuable pictures to +the chess enthusiast, they contain very little that is valuable to the +general reader. Their terms and signs are to the uninitiated suggestive of +a doctor's prescription. But the anecdotes of the game are, many of them, +remarkable; and we believe they are known to have less of the mythical +about them than those told in other departments. One who knows the game +will feel that it is sufficiently absorbing to be woven in with the +textures of government, of history, and of biography. It is of the nature +of chess gradually to gather up all the senses and faculties of the player, +so that for the time being he is an automaton chess-player, to whom life +and death are abstractions. + +How seriously, even religiously, the game has always been regarded by both +Church and State may be judged by the account given by old Carrera of one +whom we have already named as probably the earliest chess author, as he +certainly is one of the greatest players known to fame. "In the time of our +fathers," says this ancient enthusiast, "we had many famous players, of +whom _Paolo Boi_, Sicilian, of the city of Syracuse, and commonly called +the Syracusan, was considered the best. He was born in Syracuse of a rich +and good family. When a boy, he made considerable progress in literature, +for he had a very quick apprehension. He had a wonderful talent for the +game of Chess; and having in a short time beaten all the players of the +city, he resolved to go to Spain, where he heard there were famous players, +honored and rewarded not only by noblemen, but also by Philip II., who took +no small delight in the game. He first beat with ease all the players of +Sicily, and was very superior in playing without seeing the board; for, +playing at once three games blindfold, he conversed with others on +different subjects. Before going into Spain, he travelled over all Italy, +playing with the best players, amongst others with the Pultino, who was of +equal force; they are therefore called by Salvio the light and glory of +chess. He was the favorite of many Italian Princes, and particularly of the +Duke of Urbino, and of several Cardinals, and even of Pope Pius V. himself, +who would have given him a considerable benefice, if he would have become a +clergyman; but this he declined, that he might follow his own +inclinations. He afterward went to Venice, where a circumstance happened +which had never occurred before: he played with a person and lost. Having +afterward by himself examined the games with great care, and finding that +he ought to have won, he was astonished that his adversary should have +gained contrary to all reason, and suspected that he had used some secret +art whereby he was prevented from seeing clearly; and as he was very +devout, and was possessed of a rosary rich with many relics of saints, he +resolved to play again with his antagonist, armed not only with the rosary, +but strengthened by having previously received the sacrament: by these +means he conquered his adversary, who, after his defeat, said to him these +words,--'Thine is more potent than mine.'" + +Some of the earliest writers on chess have given their idea of the +all-absorbing nature of the game in the pleasant legend, that it was +invented by the two Grecian brothers Ledo and Tyrrheno to alleviate the +pangs of hunger with which they were pressed, and that, whilst playing it, +they lived weeks without considering that they had eaten nothing. + +But we need not any mythical proof of its competency in this +direction. Hyde, in his History of the Saracens, relates with authenticity, +that Al Amin, the Caliph of Bagdad, was engaged at chess with his freedman +Kuthar, at the time when Al Mamun's forces were carrying on the siege of +the city with a vigor which promised him success. When one rushed in to +inform the Caliph of his danger, he cried,--"Let me alone, for I see +checkmate against Kuthar!" Charles I. was at chess when he was informed of +the decision of the Scots to sell him to the English, but only paused from +his game long enough to receive the intelligence. King John was at chess +when the deputies from Rouen came to inform him that Philip Augustus had +besieged their city; but he would not hear them until he had finished the +game. An old English MS. gives in the following sentence no very handsome +picture of the chess-play of King John of England:--"John, son of King +Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes, and John brake Fulco's head +with the Chest-borde; and then Fulco gave him such a blow that he almost +killed him." The laws of chess do not now permit the king such free range +of the board. Dr. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., relates that +John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, whilst he was playing with Ernest, Duke +of Brunswick, was told that the Emperor had sentenced him to be beheaded +before the gate of Wittenberg; he with great composure proceeded with the +game, and, having beaten, expressed the usual satisfaction of a victor. He +was not executed, however, but set at liberty, after five years' +confinement, on petition of Mauritius. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "I wish to +live no longer than I can play at chess." Rousseau speaks of himself as +_forcene des echecs_, "mad after chess." Voltaire called it "the one, of +all games, which does most honor to the human mind." + +"When an Eastern guest was asked if he knew anything in the universe more +beautiful than the gardens of his host, which lay, an ocean of green, +broad, brilliant, enchanting, upon the flowery margin of the Euphrates, he +replied,--'Yes, the chess-playing of El-Zuli.'" Surely, the compliment, +though Oriental, is not without its strict truth. When Nature rises up to +her culmination, the human brain, and there reveals her potencies of +insight, foresight, analysis, memory, we are touched with a mystic beauty; +the profile on the mountain-top is sublimer than the mountain. But we must +heed well Mr. Morphy's advice, and not suffer this fascinating game to be +more than a porter at the gate of the fairer garden. Only when it secures, +not when it usurps the day, can it be regarded as a friend. There is a +myriad-move problem, of which Society is the Sphinx, given us to solve. + +He who masters chess without being mastered by it will find that it +discovers essential principles. In the world he will see a larger +chess-field, and one also shaped by the severest mathematics: the world is +so because the brain of man is so,--motive and move, motive and move: they +sum up life, all life,--from the aspen-leaf turning its back to the wind, +to the ecstasy of a saint. See the array of pawns (_forces_, as the Hindoo +calls them): the bodily presence and abilities, power of persistence, +endurance, nerve, the eye, the larynx, the tongue, the senses. Do they not +exist in life as on the board, to cut the way for royal or nobler pieces? +Does not the Imperial Mind win its experiences, its insight, through the +wear and tear of its physical twin? Is not the perfect soul "perfect +through sufferings" for evermore? For every coin reason gets from Nature, +the heart must leave a red drop impawned, the face must bear its scar. See, +then, the powers of the human arena: here Castle, Knight, Bishop are +Passion, Love, Hope; and above all, the sacred Queen of each man, his +specialty, his strength, by which he must win the day, if he win at +all. Here is the Idea with reference to which each man is planned; it +preexisted in the universe, and was born when he was born; it is King on +the board,--that lost, life's game is lost. By his side stands the special +Strength into whose keeping it is given, making, in Goethe's words, "every +man strong enough to enforce his conviction,"--his _conviction_, mark! +Pawns and pieces form themselves about that Queen; they are all to perish, +to perish one by one,--even the specialty,--that the King may triumph. Over +our largest, sublimest individualities the eternal tide flows on, and the +grandest personal strides are merged in the general success. The old author +dreamed that the heroes of the Trojan War were changed by Zeus into the +warriors of the mimic strife in order that such renowned exploits should be +perpetuated among men forever: rather must we reverse the dream, and +apotheosize the powers of the board, that they may appear in the sieges, +heroisms, and victories of life. + + * * * * * + + + +SPRING-SONG. + +Creep slowly up the willow-wand, + Young leaves! and, in your lightness, +Teach us that spirits which despond + May wear their own pure brightness. + +Into new sweetness slowly dip, + O May!--advance; yet linger: +Nor let the ring too swiftly slip + Down that new-plighted finger. + +Thy bursting blooms, O spring, retard! + While thus thy raptures press on, +How many a joy is lost, or marred + How many a lovely lesson! + +For each new sweet thou giv'st us, those + Which first we loved are taken: +In death their eyes must violets close + Before the rose can waken. + +Ye woods, with ice-threads tingling late, + Where late was heard the robin, +Your chants that hour but antedate + When autumn winds are sobbing! + +Ye gummy buds, in silken sheath + Hang back, content to glisten! +Hold in, O earth, thy charmed breath! + Thou air, be still, and listen! + + * * * * * + + + +MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON. + +The present sanitary condition of our great cities is a reproach to our +intelligence not less than to our humanity. Our system of self-government, +so far as regards the protection of the mass of the dwellers in cities from +the worst physical evils, is now on trial. The tests to which it is exposed +are severe. We may boast as we like of our national prosperity, of the +rapidity of our material progress,--we may take pride in liberty, in wide +extent of territory, in the welcome to our shores of the exiled and the +poor of all other lands, or in whatsoever matter of self-gratulation we +choose,--but by the side of all these satisfactions stands the fact, that +in our chief cities the duration of life is diminishing and the suffering +from disease increasing. The question inevitably arises, Is this a +consequence of our political system? and if so, is political liberty worth +having, are democratic principles worth establishing, if the price to be +paid for them is increased insecurity of life and greater wretchedness +among the poor? If the origin of these evils is to be found in the +incompetency of the government or the inefficiency of individuals in a +democracy, a remedy must be applied, or the whole system must be changed. + +The intimate connection between physical misery and moral degradation is +plain and generally acknowledged. We are startled from time to time at the +rapid growth of crime in our cities; but it is the natural result of +preexisting physical evils. These evils have become more apparent during +the last twenty years than before, and it has been the fashion to attribute +their increase, with their frightful consequences, mainly to the enormous +Irish immigration, which for a time crowded our streets with poor, foreign +in origin, and degraded, not only by hereditary poverty, but by centuries +of civil and religious oppression. This view is no doubt in part correct; +but the larger share of the evils in our cities is due to causes +unconnected in any necessary relation with the immigration,--causes +contemporaneous with it in their development, and brought into fuller +action by it, rather than consequent upon it. + +More than half the sickness and more than half the deaths in New York (and +probably the same holds true of our other cities) are due to causes which +may be prevented,--in other words, which are the result of individual or +municipal neglect, of carelessness or indifference in regard to the known +and established laws of life. More than half the children who are born in +New York (and the proportion is over forty per cent. in Boston) die before +they are five years old. Much is implied in these statements,--among other +things, much criminal recklessness and wanton waste of the sources of +wealth and strength in a state. + +In Paris, in London, and in other European cities, the average mortality +has been gradually diminishing during the last fifty years. In New York, on +the contrary, it has increased with frightful rapidity; and in Boston, +though the increase has not been so alarming, it has been steady and +rapid. [Footnote: The facts upon winch these statements are based are +recorded in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, +1850,--in the Annual Reports of the Boston City Registrar,--in the Annual +Reports of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the +Poor,--and in other public documents. + +It appears that the ratio of deaths to population was, + +In New York, in 1810, 1 in 46.46 + " 1840, 1 in 39.74 + " 1850, 1 in 33.52 + " 1857, 1 in 27.15 + +In Boston, in 1830, 1 in 48 + " 1840, 1 in 45 + " 1850, 1 in 38 + " 1858, 1 in 41 + +It is probable that the ratio for the year 1858 showed somewhat more +improvement even than appears from the above figures. The proportion is +based on the population as ascertained in 1855. Up to 1858, the population +was somewhat, though not greatly, increased, and any increase would serve +to render the proportion in 1858 more favorable to the health of the +city. But it was a year in which the number of deaths was less than it had +been since 1850; it was, therefore, an exceptional year; and the change in +the ratio of the deaths is, we fear, not the sign of the beginning of a +progressive improvement.] + +But more and worse than this is the fact, that in these two cities the +average duration of life (and this means the material prosperity of the +people) has of late terribly decreased. While out of every hundred people +more die than was the case ten, twenty, thirty years ago, those who die +have lived a shorter time. Life is not now to be reckoned by its +"threescore years and ten." Its average duration in Boston is little above +twenty years; in New York it is less than twenty years. [Footnote: In +Boston, from 1810 to 1820, the average age of all that died was 27.85 +years; in 1857, leaving deaths by casualty out of the calculation, it was +but 20.63 years; in 1858, it was 21.76. In New York, from 1810 to 1820, it +was 26.15; for the last ten years of which the statistics are known, it was +less than 20.] Is the diminution of the length of life to go on from year +to year? + +This needless sacrifice and shortening of life, this accumulating amount of +ill health, causes an annual loss, in each of our great cities, of +productive capacity to the value of millions of dollars, as well as an +unnatural expense of millions more. This is no figure of speech. The +community is poorer by millions of dollars each year through the waste +which it allows of health and life. Leaving out of view all humane +considerations, all thought of the misery, social and moral, which +accompanies this physical degradation, and looking simply at its economical +effects, we find that it increases our taxes, diminishes our means of +paying them, creates permanent public burdens, and lessens the value of +property. An outlay of a million of dollars a year to reduce and to remove +the causes of these evils would be the cheapest and most profitable +expenditure of the public money by the municipal government. The principal +would soon be returned to the general treasury with all arrears of +interest. + +The main causes of this great and growing misery are patent. The remedies +for them are scarcely less plain. The chief sources of that disease and +death which may be prevented by the action of the community are, first, the +filthy and poisonous houses into which a large part of the people are +crowded; second, the imperfect ventilation of portions of the city,--its +narrow and dirty streets, lanes, and yards; and, third, the want of +sufficient house and street drainage and sewerage. It is important to note +in relation to these sources of evil, that, while the poverty of our poor +is generally not such complete destitution as that of many of the poor in +foreign cities, their average condition is worse. The increase of disease +and mortality is a result not so much of poverty as of condition. "The pith +and burden of the whole matter is, that the great mass of the poor are +compelled to live in tenements that are unfit for human beings, and under +circumstances in which it is impossible to preserve health and life." + +To improve the dwellings of the poor, to make them decent and wholesome, +is, then, the first step to be taken in checking the causes of preventable +disease and death in our cities. This work implies, if it be done +thoroughly, the securing of proper ventilation, sewerage, and drainage. + +Most of the houses which the poor occupy are the property of persons who +receive from them a rent very large in proportion to their value. No other +class of houses gives, on an average, a larger return upon the capital +invested in it. The rents which the poor pay, though paid in small sums, +are usually enormous in comparison with the accommodation afforded. The +houses are crowded from top to bottom. Many of them are built without +reference to the comfort or health of their occupants, but with the sole +object of getting the largest return for the smallest outlay. They are +hotbeds of disease, and exposed to constant peril from fire. Now it seems +plain that here is an occasion for the interposition of municipal +authority. In spite of the jealousy (proper within certain limits) with +which governmental interference with private property is regarded in this +country, it is a manifest dereliction of duty on the part of our city +authorities not to exercise a strict supervision over these houses. The +interests which are chiefly affected by their condition are not private, +but public interests. There are legal means for abating nuisances; and +there is no reason why houses which affect the health of whole districts +should not be treated in the same way as nuisances which are more +obtrusive, though less pernicious. In some of the cities of Europe, in +Nuremberg, for instance, there is a public architect, to whom all plans for +new buildings are submitted for approval or rejection according as they +correspond or not with the style of building suitable for the city. What is +done abroad to secure the beauty of a city might well be done here to +secure its health. Again, by legal enactment, we have prevented the +overcrowding of our emigrant ships: the same thing should be done in our +cities, to prevent the overcrowding of our tenement-houses. No house should +be allowed to receive more than a fixed maximum of dwellers in proportion +to its size and accommodations. These are simple propositions, but, if +properly carried out by enactment, they would secure an incalculable good. + +[Footnote: Since writing the preceding sentences, we have been gratified to +see that a bill proposing the creation of a Metropolitan Board of Health +has been introduced into the Legislature of New York. If the bill becomes a +law, as we trust it may, the board will be invested with power "to enact +ordinances for the proper government and control of buildings erecting or +to be erected, ... to compel the lessees or owners of dwellings to put the +same in proper order, and to provide sufficient means of egress in case of +fire." The New-York Evening Post of March 23, in giving an account of this +bill, says,--and there is no exaggeration in its statements,-- + +"The nearly one million of souls of this great city are left to take care +of themselves,--to be crowded mercilessly by landlords into houses without +light, air, or water, and without means of egress in case of fire; and the +street filth is allowed to accumulate till the city has become as the +famous Pontine Marshes, to breathe whose exhalations is certain +disease. All this results, as is proved by comparison with other cities, in +the unnecessary loss of five thousand to eight thousand lives annually, and +of many millions of dollars expended for unnecessary sickness, and the +consequent loss of time and strength,--all of which might be saved, as they +are actually saved in other and larger cities, by the application of +sanitary laws by intelligent and efficient officers. + +"And yet our Common Council are unmoved to apply the corrective, and the +Legislature postpones action upon the numerous petitions of the people upon +the subject. How long these bodies will be suffered to abuse the patience +of our citizens we cannot tell; but the breaking out of a pestilence which +shall sweep a thousand a week into the grave, and bring this city to +financial ruin, will be but a natural issue of the present neglect. The +Health Bill now before the Legislature has been prepared under the auspices +of the Sanitary Association. Its provisions are sweeping; but the +importance of the subject, the uniform filthy condition of our streets, and +the wretched and unsafe condition of our tenement-houses imperatively +demand changes of the most radical nature. The general provisions of the +bill seem to cover the points most requiring legislation; and while in some +of its details it could probably be improved, it is difficult to imagine +that the present state of sanitary regulations could be made worse, and +certain that the proposed reforms, if carried out, would be of great +advantage." + +In Massachusetts, statutes have existed for some years, giving to the +Boards of Health of the different cities or towns powers of a similar +nature to those granted by the bill proposed for New York, but of far too +limited scope. By Chapter 26, Sec. 11, of the General Statutes, which are to +go into operation this year, the Boards of Health are authorized to remove +the occupants of any tenement, occupied as a dwelling-place, which is unfit +for the purpose, and a cause of nuisance or sickness either to the +occupants or the public,--and may require the premises, previously to their +reoccupation, to be properly cleansed at the expense of the owner. But the +penalty for a violation of this article is too light, being a fine of not +less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. To secure any essential good +from this law, it must be energetically enforced, with a disregard of +personal consequences, and an enlightened view of public and private rights +and necessities, scarcely to be expected from Boards of Health as commonly +constituted. We require a law upon this subject conveying far ampler +powers, enforced by far heavier penalties. It should embrace oversight of +the construction as well as of the condition of the dwellings of the +poor. Until we obtain such a law, the community is bound to insist upon a +rigid enforcement of the present imperfect statute. + +[The bill above alluded to by our correspondent has since been rejected by +the Legislature of New York.--EDS. ATLANTIC.]] + +Still, however much may be done by public authority, the condition of the +dwellings of the poor must be determined chiefly by the interest and the +legal responsibility of their individual owners. That men may be found +willing to make fortunes for themselves by grinding the faces of the poor +is certain; but there are, on the other hand, many who would be willing to +use some portion, at least, of their means to provide suitable homes for +the destitute, could they be assured of receiving a fair return upon the +property invested. It has been a matter of doubt whether proper houses +could be built for the dwellings of the lower classes, with all necessary +accommodations for health and comfort, at such a cost that the rents could +be kept as low as those paid for the common wretched tenements, and at the +same time be sufficient to afford a reasonable interest upon the +investment. Toward the solution of this doubt, an experiment which has been +tried in Boston during the last five years has afforded important results. + +In the spring of 1853, a number of gentlemen having subscribed a sufficient +sum for the purpose of building a house or houses on the best plan, as +Model Dwellings for the Poor, a society was formed, which, in the next +year, received an act of incorporation from the Legislature under the style +of "The Model Lodging-House Association." A suitable lot of land having +been obtained upon favorable terms, at the corner of Pleasant Street and +Osborn Place, the Directors of the Association proceeded to erect two brick +houses, of different construction, each containing separate tenements for +twenty families. The plans of the buildings were prepared with great care +to secure the essentials of a healthy home,--pure air, pure water, +efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light. In their details, strict regard +was had to the most economical and best use of a limited space, and ample +precautions were taken to reduce to its least the risk of fire. In each +house, double staircases, continuous to the roof, (and in one of them of +iron,) and two main exits were provided; and more recently, the two +buildings, which are separated from each other by a passage-way some feet +in width, have been connected by throwing an iron bridge from roof to roof, +by which, in case of alarm in one of them, escape may be readily had +through the other. Each house was, moreover, divided in the middle by a +solid brick partition-wall. + +The houses are five stories in height, not including the basement or +cellar, with four tenements in each story. The reduced plans, on the +opposite page, exhibit the general arrangements of the houses, and show the +complete separation of each set of apartments from the others, each one +opening by a single door upon the common stairs or passage. Their relation +is scarcely closer than that of separate houses in a common continuous +block. Each tenement, it will be observed, consists of a living-room, and +two or three sleeping-rooms, according to the space, a wash-room, with sink +and cupboards, and a water-closet. The stories are eight feet and six +inches in height, which is ample for the necessities of ventilation. In one +of the buildings, each tenement is provided with shafts for dust and offal, +communicating with receptacles in the cellar. The roofs of both are fitted +with conveniences for the drying of clothes, properly guarded; and in the +cellars of both are closets, one for each tenement, to hold fuel or +stores. In the basement of house No. 1 there are also two bathing-rooms, +which have been found of great use. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 1 OSBORN PLACE, BOSTON.] + +[Illustration: PLAN OF ONE-HALF OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 3 OSBORN PLACE, +BOSTON.] + +It would be difficult, after some years' experience, to pronounce which of +the two houses is the best fitted for its object. Their cost was nearly the +same. The plan of No. 1 is original and ingenious; its large open central +space is valuable for purposes of ventilation, and as affording opportunity +for exercise under cover in stormy weather for infants and infirm +people. This advantage is perhaps compensated for in the other house by the +fact of each tenement reaching from back to front of the house, thus +securing within itself the means of a thorough draught of fresh air. Both +plans are excellent, and may be unqualifiedly recommended. + +The houses were ready for occupation about the beginning of 1855, and since +that time have been constantly full. The applicants for tenements, whenever +one becomes vacant, are always numerous. + +The cost of these two buildings was a little over $18,000 each, exclusive +of the cost of the land upon which they stand. The land cost about $8,000; +and the whole cost of the buildings, including some slight changes +subsequent to their original erection, and of the lot on which they stand, +would be more than covered by the sum of $46,000. + +The rents were fixed upon a scale varying with the amount of accommodation +afforded by the separate tenements, and with their convenience of access. +They run from $2 to $2.87 per week. By those familiar with the rents paid +by the poor these sums will be seen to be not higher than are frequently +paid for the most unhealthy and inconvenient lodgings. The total annual +amount of rent received from each house is $2,353, which, after paying +taxes, water-rates, gas-bills, and all other expenses, including all +repairs necessary to keep the building in good order, leaves a full six per +cent. interest upon the sum invested. + +A portion of the land purchased by the Association not having been occupied +by the two houses already described, it was determined to erect a third +house upon it, of a somewhat superior character, for a class just above the +line of actual poverty, but often forced by circumstances into unhealthy +and uncomfortable homes. This was accordingly done, at a cost, including +the land, of about $26,000. The house, of which the plan is well worthy of +imitation, contains a shop and nine tenements. These tenements, which form +not only comfortable, but agreeable homes, are rented at from two to three +hundred dollars a year, and the gross income derived from the building is +about $2,500. + +During the five years since the first occupation of the houses no loss of +rents has occurred. For the most part, the rent has been paid not only +punctually, but with satisfaction, and the expressions which have been +received of the content of the occupants of the tenements have been of the +most gratifying sort. The houses, as we know from personal inspection, are +now in a state of excellent repair, and show no signs of carelessness or +neglect on the part of their occupants. Few private houses would have a +fresher and neater aspect after so long occupancy. The tenants have been, +with few exceptions, Americans by birth, and they have taken pains to keep +up the character of their dwellings. + +One of the Trustees of the Association, a gentleman to whose good judgment +and constant oversight, as well as to his sympathetic kindness tor the +occupants of the houses and interest in their affairs, much of the success +of this experiment is due, says, in a letter from which we are permitted to +quote,--"From my experience in the management of this kind of property, I +believe that it may in all cases with proper care be made _safe and +permanent for investment_. But what I think better of is the good such +houses do in elevating and making happier their tenants, and I much rejoice +in having had an opportunity to test their usefulness." + +As a comment upon these brief, but weighty sentences, we would beg any of +our readers, who may have opportunity, to look for himself at the +substantial and not unornamental buildings of the Association, with their +showier front on Pleasant Street, and their imposing length and height of +range along the side of Osborn Place,--to see them affording healthy and +convenient homes to fifty families, many of whom, without some such +provision, would be exposed to be forced into the wretched quarters too +familiar to the poor,--and then to compare them with the common +lodging-houses in any of the lower streets or alleys of Boston or New York. + +A similar work to that performed by the Boston Association was undertaken +shortly afterward by a society in New York, who in 1854-5 erected a +building containing ninety tenements of three rooms each, under the name of +"The Working-Men's Home." The cost of this enormous building, which was +well designed, was about $90,000. It is fifty-five feet in breadth by one +hundred and ninety feet in length; it is nearly fireproof, and is provided +with double stairways. It has been occupied from the first by colored +people, and we regret to learn that it has not proved a success, so far as +regards the annual return upon the property invested. After paying the +heavy city tax of 1 3/4 per cent., and the charges for gas and water, the +sum remaining for an annual dividend is not more than four per cent. + +This want of success is not, we believe, inherent in the plan itself, but +is the result of a want of proper management and supervision. We learn that +the tenants often leave without paying rent, and that the building is more +or less injured by their neglect. The class of tenants has undoubtedly been +of a lower grade than that which has occupied the Boston houses, and the +habits of the blacks are far inferior to those of the white American poor +in personal neatness and care of their dwellings. But we have no doubt, +that, in spite of these drawbacks, a good revenue might be derived from the +rents paid by this class of tenants. The success of the Boston experiment +is due in considerable part to the employment by the Association of a paid +Superintendent, living with his family in one of the buildings, who has a +general oversight of the houses, collects the rents, and determines the +claims of occupants of the tenements. Such an officer is indispensable for +the proper carrying on of any similar undertaking on so large a scale. We +trust that no effort will be spared in New York to bring out more +satisfactory results from this great establishment. Benevolence is one +thing, and good investments another; but benevolence in this case does not +do half its work, unless it can be proved to pay. It must be profitable, in +order to be in the best sense a charity. + +The effect which the Boston houses have already had, in proving that homes +for the poor can be built on the best plan for the health and comfort of +their inmates and at the same time be good investments of property, is +manifest in many private undertakings. Several large houses have already +been built upon similar plans; old lodging-houses have been in several +instances remodelled and otherwise improved; blocks of small dwellings for +one or two families have been erected with every convenience for the class +who can afford to pay from three to six dollars a week for their +accommodations. The example set by the Association promises to be widely +followed. + +Much, however, yet remains to be done, and associate or private energy is +needed for the trial of new and not less important experiments than that +already well performed. The means for some of them are at hand. It will be +remembered that the late Hon. Abbott Lawrence, to whose beneficence during +his life the community was so largely indebted, and whose liberal deeds +will long be remembered with gratitude, left by will the sum of $50,000 to +be held by Trustees for the erection of dwellings for the poor. This sum +will in a short time be ready for employment for its designated purpose, +and it may be hoped that those who control its disposal will not so much +imitate the work already done as perform a work not yet accomplished, but +not less essential. The houses of the Association are, as we have stated, +not occupied by the most destitute poor,--and it is for this lowest class +that the most pressing need exists for an improvement in their +habitations. If the cellar-dwelling poor can be provided with healthy +homes, and these homes can be made to pay a fair rent, the worst evil in +the condition of our cities will be in a way to be remedied. It is very +desirable that a house should be erected in one of the crowded quarters of +the city, and at a distance from the buildings of the Association, in which +each room should be arranged for separate occupation. The rooms might be of +different sizes upon the different floors, to accommodate single men who +require only a lodging-place, or a man and wife. Perhaps on one floor rooms +should be made with means of opening into each other, to supply the need of +those who might require more than one of them. The house should be heated +throughout by furnaces, to save the necessity of fires in the rooms; and as +no private meals could be cooked in the house, an eating-room, where meals +could be had or provisions purchased ready for eating, should form part of +the arrangements of the house in the lower story. There can be no doubt +that such a house would be at once filled,--and but little, that, if +properly built and managed, under efficient superintendence it would pay +well, at the lowest rates of rent. Even with a possibility of its failing +to return a net annual income of six per cent upon its cost, it is an +experiment that ought to be tried,--and we earnestly hope that the Trustees +of Mr. Lawrence's bequest will not hesitate to make it. Putting out of +question all considerations of profitable investment, it would be, as a +pure charity, one of the best works that could be performed. + +We must restore health to our cities, and, to accomplish this end, we must +provide fit homes for the poor. The way in which this may be done has been +shown. + + * * * * * + + + +A SHORT CAMPAIGN ON THE HUDSON. + +The campaigner marched out of a lawyer's office in Nassau Street, New York. + +"Shyster," said our old man, as he called me into his own den, or rather +lair,--(for den, I take it, is the private residence of a beast of prey, +and lair his place of business. I do not think that this definition is +mine, but I forget to whom it belongs,)--"I suppose you would not dislike a +trip into the country? Very well. These papers must be explained to General +Van Bummel, and signed by him. He lives at Thunderkill, on the Hudson. Take +the ten-o'clock train, and get back as soon as you can. Charge your +expenses to the office." + +"What luck!" thought I, as I dashed down-stairs into the +street,--determined to obey his last injunction to the letter, whatever +course I might think fit to adopt about the one preceding it. No one who +has not been an attorney's clerk at three dollars a week, copying +declarations and answers from nine A.M. to six P.M., in a dusty, inky, +uncarpeted room, with windows unwashed since the last lease expired, can +form a correct notion of the exhilaration of my mind when I took my seat in +the railroad-car. The great Van Bnmmel himself never felt bigger nor +better. + +It was in that loveliest season of the year, the Indian summer,--a week or +ten days of atmospheric perfection which the clerk of the weather allows us +as a compensation for our biting winter and rheumatic spring. The veiled +rays of the sun and the soft shadows produce the effect of a golden +moonlight, and make even Nature's shabbiest corners attractive. To be +out-of-doors with nothing to do, and nothing to think of but the mere +pleasure of existence, is happiness enough at such times. But I was looking +at a river panorama which is one of Nature's best efforts, I have heard; +and on that morning it seemed to me impossible that the world could show +anything grander. + +It was very calm. The broad glittering surface of the river showed here and +there a slight ripple, when some breath of air touched it for a moment; but +wind there was none,--only a few idle breezes lounging about, waiting for +orders to join old Boreas in his next autumnal effort to crack his +cheeks. The bright-colored trees glowed on the mountain-sides like beds of +living coals. + +"How the deuse," thought I, as I stared at them, "can a discerning public +be satisfied with Cole's pictures of 'American Scenery in the Fall of the +Year'? You see on his canvas, to be sure, red, green, orange, and so on, +the peculiar tints of the leaves; but Nature does more (and Cole does not): +she blends the variegated hues into one bright mass of bewitching color by +the magic of this soft, golden, hazy sunshine. I wish, too, that the great +company of story-tellers would let scenery rest in peace. The charm of a +landscape is entireness, unity; it strikes the eye at once and as a whole. +Examination of the component parts is quite a different thing. Who ean +build up a view in his mind by piling up details like bricks upon one +another? Most people, I suspect, will find, as I do, that, no matter what +author they may be reading, the same picture always presents itself. A +vague outline of some view they have seen arises in the memory,--like the +forest scene in a scantily furnished theatre, which comes on for every +play. The naked woods, trees, rocks, lake, river, mountain, would have done +the business just as well, and saved a deal of writing and of printing. The +most successful artist in this line I know of is Michael Scott, whose +tropical sketches in 'Tom Cringle's Log' are unequalled by any +landscape-painter, past or present, who uses pen and ink instead of canvas +and colors." + +My trance was broken by the voice of the brakeman shouting, "Thunderkill," +into the car, as the train drew up at a wooden station-house. Jumping out, +I asked the way to General Van Bummel's. A man with a whip in his hand +offered his services as guide and common carrier. I determined to +experience a new sensation,--for once in my life to anathematize +expenditure, and charge it to the office. So, climbing into a kind of +leathern tent upon wheels, I was soon on my way to the leaguer of the +General. A drive of a mile brought us to two stout stone gateposts, +surmounted each by a cannon-ball, which marked Van Bummel's boundary. We +turned into a lane shut in by trees. While busily taking an inventory of +the General's landed possessions for future use, my attention was drawn off +by loud shouts, the sound of the gallop of horses and the rattling of +wheels. Imagining at once that the General's family-pair must be running +away with his family-coach, I eagerly urged my driver to push on; but the +cold-hearted wretch only laughed and said he "guessed there was nothing +particular the matter." At last, we _debouched_ (excuse the word; I have +not yet got the military taste out of my mouth) upon a lawn, across which a +pair of large bay horses, ridden postilion-fashion by one man, were +dragging a brass six-pounder, upon which sat another in full uniform. + +"What the Devil is that?" said I. + +"That's the Gineral and his coachman a-having a training," answered my +driver. + +As he spoke, the officer shouted, "Halt!" + +Coachy pulled up. + +"Unlimber!" thundered the chief; and, aided by his man, obeyed his own +orders. + +"Load!" and "Fire!" followed in rapid succession. + +I saw and smelt that they used real powder. This over, the horses were made +fast again, John, bestrode his nag, the General clambered on to his brazen +seat and down they came at a tearing pace directly towards us. Luckily I +had read "Charles O'Malley," and knew how to behave in such cases. I jumped +from the wagon, and, tying my handkerchief to the ferule of my umbrella, +advanced, waving it and shouting, "A flag of truce!" The General ordered a +halt and despatched himself to the flag. As he approached I beheld a stout, +middle-aged, good natured looking man, dressed in the graceless costume of +Uncle Sam's army; but I must say that he wore it with more grace than most +of the Regulars I have seen. Our soldiers look unbecomingly in their +clothes,--there is no denying it,--a good deal like _sups_ in a procession +at the Bowery. A New-York policeman sports pretty much the same dress in +much better style. You hardly ever see an officer or private, least of all +the officer, with the _air militaire_. I also noticed with pleasure that +the General had not on his head that melodramatic black felt, +feather-bedecked hat, which some fantastic Secretary of War must have +imagined in a dream, after seeing "Fra Diavolo" at the opera, or Wallack in +Massaroni. In place of this abomination, a cap covered with glazed leather +surmounted his martial brow. When we met, I lowered my umbrella and offered +my card, with the office pasteboard. He took them with great gravity, read +the names, and requested me to fall back to the rear and await orders. Then +rejoining his gun, he was driven slowly towards the house,--my peaceful +_ambulance_ following at a respectful distance. When I reached the door, +the six-pounder had disappeared behind a clump of evergreens, and the +General stood waiting to receive me. His manner was affable. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Shyster? Glad to see you, Sir. Walk into the library, +Sir." + +I complied, and while the General was absent, engaged in carrying out some +hospitable suggestions for my refreshment, I examined the room. It was +large, and handsomely furnished. I looked into the bookcases: the shelves +were filled with works on War, from Caesar's Commentaries down to Louis +Napoleon on Rifled Cannon. In one corner stood a suit of armor; in another +a stand of firearms; between them a star of bayonets. On the mantelpiece I +perceived a model of a small field-piece in brass and oak, and, what +interested me more, a cigarbox. I raised the lid; the box was half full of +highly creditable-looking cigars. My soul expanded with the thought of a +probable offer of at least one. + +"None of your Flor de Connecticuts," I thought, "from the Vuelta Abajo of +New-Windsor, but the genuine Simon Puros." + +A second glance at the inside of the lid caused grave doubts to depress my +spirits. I beheld there, in place of the usual ill-executed lithograph with +its _fabricas_ and its _calles_, three small portraits. The middle one was +the General in full uniform; I recognized him easily; the other two were no +doubt his aides-de-camp;--all evidently photographs; they were so ugly. I +dropped the lid in disappointment, and turned to the side-table. On it lay +a handsome sword in an open box lined with silk. Over it hung, framed and +glazed, the speech of the committee appointed by his fellow-soldiers of the +county to present the sword to the General, together with the General's +"neat and appropriate" answer and acceptance. + +I began to be a little astonished. I certainly did not expect anything of +this sort. Our old man called him General, to be sure; but General means +nothing, in the rural districts, but a certain amount of wealth and +respectability. It has taken the place of Squire. But here was I with a man +who took his title _au serieux_. What with the uniform, the cannon, and the +coachman, I began to feel like an ambassador to a potentate with a standing +army. + +Here the General reappeared, bearing in his august hands a decanter and a +pitcher. After due refreshment, I produced my papers, made the necessary +explanations, and executed my commission so much to his satisfaction that +he invited me cordially to dine and spend the night, instead of taking the +evening-train down. I accepted, of course,--such chances seldom fell into +my way,--and was shown into a nice little bedroom, in which I was expected +to dress for dinner. Dress, indeed! I had on my best, and did not come to +stay. Novel-heroes manage to remain weeks without apparent luggage; but a +modern attorney's clerk, however moderate may be his toilette-tackle, finds +it inconvenient to be separated from it. However, I did what I +could,--washed my hands, settled the bow of my neck-tie, smoothed my hair +with my fingers, and thought, as I descended to the drawing-room, of the +travelling Frenchman, who, after a night spent in a diligence, wiped out +his eyes with his handkerchief, put on a paper false collar, and +exclaimed,--"_Me voici propre!_" + +The General, in a fatigue-dress, presented me to Mrs. Van Bummel, a +good-looking woman of pleasant dimensions,--to Miss Bellona Van Bummel, who +evidently thought me beneath her notice,--and to the Reverend Moses Wether, +whose mild face, white cravat, and straight-cut collar proclaimed him. As I +came in, his Reverence attempted to slip meekly out, but was stopped +energetically by the General. + +"How is this? Mr. Wether, you know you cannot leave, Sir." + +"But, my dear General, I only dropped in for a few moments; and really I +have so much to do!" + +"I am sorry, Sir," rejoined the General, sternly, "but you cannot be +excused. You accepted the position of Chaplain to the Regiment. You +neglected to attend the last two reviews. You were condemned by a Court +Martial, over which I presided, to twenty-four hours' arrest, which you +must now submit to." + +"But, my dear General," feebly expostulated the man of prayer, "you know I +thought the nomination a mere pleasantry; I had no idea you were serious, +or I should never have listened to the proposition." + +"Can't help that, Sir. You accepted the commission, you neglected your +duty, and you must take the consequences." + +Just then, as the poor perplexed parson was about to make another attempt +for liberty, a side-door swung open; a well-built, comely servant-girl, +dressed like Jenny Lind in the "Fille du Regiment," appeared. Bringing the +back of her hand to her forehead, she said,-- + +"General, dinner is ready." + +Van Bummel muttered something about "joining our mess," and led the way to +the banqueting-hall. I was too hungry to be particular about names, and did +ample justice to an excellent spread and well-selected tap,--carefully +avoiding eating with my knife or putting salt upon the table-cloth, which I +had often heard was never done by the aristocracy. As I kept my eyes upon +the others and imitated them to the best of my ability, I hope I did not +disgrace Nassau Street. + +The evening passed quickly and agreeably. I played chess with the reverend +prisoner. The man of war read steadily folio history of Marlborough's +campaigns, making occasional references to maps and plans. As the clock +struck nine, an explosion on the lawn made the windows rattle again. I +jumped to my feet, but, seeing that the rest of the company looked +surprised at my vivacity, I sat down, guessing that the six-pounder and the +coachman had something to do with it. + +"Don't be alarmed, Sir," said the General, "it's only gun-fire. We retire +about this time." + +I took the hint, requested to be shown to my room, undressed, jumped into a +camp bedstead, and tried to sleep. Impossible!--the novelty of my day's +experiences, the beauty of the night, (for the full moon was shining into +the windows,) or perhaps a cup of strong coffee I had swallowed without +milk after dinner because the others took it, kept me awake. Finding sleep +out of the question, I got up and dressed myself. My chamber was on the +ground-floor, and opened upon the lawn. I stepped quietly out into the hazy +moonlight, lighted a cigar, and walked towards the river. It was a +remarkably fine evening, certainly, but a very damp one. Heavy dew dripped +from the trees. I found, as my weed grew shorter, that my fondness for the +romantic in Nature waned, and slowly retraced my steps to the house, +muttering to myself some of Edgar Poe's ghostly lines:-- + + "I stand beneath the mystic moon; + An opiate vapor, dewey, dim + Exhales from out her golden rim, + And softly dripping, drop by drop, + Upon the quiet mountain-top, + Steals drowsily and musically + Into the universal valley." + +I was about entering, when a figure advanced suddenly from behind a pillar +of the veranda, holding a something in its hand which glittered in the +moonlight, and which rattled as it dropped from the perpendicular to the +horizontal, pointing at me. + +"Who goes there?" said the apparition, in a hoarse voice. "Stand, and give +the countersign!" + +I recognized the voice of the soldier-servant of the morning. There he was +again, that indefatigable coachman, doing duty as sentinel with a musket in +his hands. Not knowing what else to say, I replied,-- + +"It is I, a friend!" + +My good grammar was thrown away upon the brute. + +"The countersign," he repeated. + +"Pooh, pooh!" said I, "I do not know anything about the countersign. I am +Mr. Shyster, who came up this morning, when you and the General were doing +light-artillery practice on the lawn. Please let me go to my room." + +But the brute stood immovable. As I advanced, I heard him cock his musket. + +"Good God!" thought I, "this is no joke, after all. This stupid stable-man +may have loaded his musket. What if it should go off? If I retreat, I must +camp out,--no joke at this season;--rheumatism and a loss of salary, to say +the least. This will never do." + +And I screamed,-- + +"General! General Van Bummel!" + +"Silence! or I'll march you to the guard-house," thundered the sentinel. + +Luckily the General lay, like Irene, "with casement open to the skies." He +heard the noise. I recognized his martial tones. I hurriedly explained my +situation. He gave me the word; it was Eugene; countersign, +Marlborough. This satisfied the Coach-Cerberus, and I passed into bed +without further mishap. + +The first sound I heard the next morning was the rat-tat-too of a +drum. "There goes that d----d coachman again," I said to myself, and turned +over for another nap; but a shrill bugle-call brought me to my seat. + +Running to the window, I saw two men on horseback in dragoon equipments. +The horses were the artillery-nags of yesterday; the riders, the General +and his man-at-all-arms. Hurrying on my clothes, I got out of doors in time +to see them go at a gallop across the lawn, leap a low hedge at the end of +the grass-plot, and disappear in the orchard. Thither I followed fast to +see the sport. They reached the boundary-line of the Van-Bummel estate, +wheeled, and turned back on a trot. When the General espied me, he waved +his sabre and shouted, "Charge!" They galloped straight at me. I had barely +time to dodge behind an apple-tree, when they passed like a whirlwind over +the spot I had been standing on, and covered me with dirt from the heels of +their horses. I walked back to the house, very much annoyed, as men are apt +to be, when they think they have compromised their dignity a little by +dodging to escape danger from another's mischief or folly. At breakfast, +accordingly, I remonstrated with the chief; but he only laughed, and asked +me why I did not form a hollow square and let the front rank kneel and +fire. + +"As soon as you have finished your coffee," he added, "I will take you into +the trenches, and there you will be out of danger." + +I could not refuse. The trenches were at the bottom of the garden, near the +entrance-drive. I had seen them yesterday, and in my ignorance thought of +celery; now, I knew better. This morning, a tent was pitched a few yards +from a long low wall of sods; and between the tent and the sods there was a +small trench, about large enough to hold draining-tiles. Pointing to the +wall, the general said,-- + +"There is Sebastopol," (pronouncing it correctly, accent on the _to_,) "and +here," turning to the tent, "are my head-quarters. My sappers have just +established a mine under the Quarantine Battery. In a few moments I shall +blow it up, and storm the breach, if we make a practicable one." + +Here the Protean coachman made his appearance with a leather apron and a +broad-axe. He signified that all was ready. A lucifer was rubbed upon a +stone, the train ignited, bang went the mine, and over went we all three, +prostrated by a shower of turf and mud. The mine had exploded backward, and +had annihilated the storming party. Fortunately, the General had economised +in powder. Gradually we picked ourselves up, considerably bewildered, but +not much hurt. Van Bummel attempted to explain; but I had had enough of +war's alarms, and yearned for the safety and peace of Nassau Street. So I +bade the warrior good-morning, and took the first down-train, _multa mecum +volvens_; "making a revolver of my mind," Van Bummel would have translated +it. I knew that our soil produced more soldiers even than France, the +fertile mother of red-legged heroes; but I did not expect, in the +Nineteenth Century and in the State of New York, to have beheld an avatar +of the God Mars. + + * * * * * + + + +THINE. + + The tide will ebb at day's decline: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Impatient for the open sea, + At anchor rocks the tossing ship, + The ship which only waits for thee; + Yet with no tremble of the lip + I say again, thy hand in mine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + I shall not weep, or grieve, or pine. + _Ich bin dein!_ + Go, lave once more thy restless hands + Afar within the azure sea,-- + Traverse Arabia's scorching sands,-- + Fly where no thought can follow thee, + O'er desert waste and billowy brine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Dream on the slopes of Apennine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Stand where the glaciers freeze and frown, + Where Alpine torrents flash and foam, + Or watch the loving sun go down + Behind the purple hills of Rome, + Leaving a twilight half divine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Thy steps may fall beside the Rhine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Slumber may kiss thy drooping lids + Amid the mazes of the Nile, + The shadow of the Pyramids + May cool thy feet,--yet all the while, + Though storms may beat, or stars may shine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Where smile the hills of Palestine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + Where rise the mosques and minarets,-- + Where every breath brings flowery balms,-- + Where souls forget their dark regrets + Beneath the strange, mysterious palms,-- + Where the banana builds her shrine,-- + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Too many clusters break the vine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The tree whose strength and life outpour + In one exultant blossom-gush + Must flowerless be forevermore: + We walk _this_ way but once, friend;--hush! + Our feet have left no trodden line: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Who heaps his goblet wastes his wine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The boat is moving from the land;-- + I have no chiding and no tears;-- + Now give me back my empty hand + To battle with the cruel years,-- + Behold, the triumph shall be mine! + _Ich bin dein!_ + + * * * * * + + + +THE REPRESENTATIVE ART. + +No art is worth anything that does not embody an idea,--that is not +representative: otherwise, it is like a body without a soul, or the image +of some divinity that never had existence. Art needs, indeed, to be +individualized, to betray the characteristics of the artist, to be himself +infused into his work; but more than this, it needs to typify, to +illustrate the character of the age,--to be of a piece with other +expressions of the sentiment that animates other men at the time. It must +be one note in the concert, and that not discordant,--neither behind time +nor ahead of it,--neither in the wrong key nor the other mode: you don't +want Verdi in one of Beethoven's symphonies; you don't want Mozart in +Rossini's operas. No art ever has lived that was not the genuine product of +the era in which it appeared; no art ever can live that is not such a +product: it may, perchance, have a temporary or fictitious success, but it +can neither really and truly exert an influence at the moment of its +highest triumph, nor afterwards remain a power among men, unless it reflect +the spirit of the epoch, unless it show the very age and body of the time +his form and pressure. + +All greatness consists in this: in being alive to what is going on around +one; in living actually; in giving voice to the thought of humanity; in +saying to one's fellows what they want to hear or need to hear at that +moment; in being the concretion, the result, of the influences of the +present world. In no other way can one affect the world than in responding +thus to its needs, in embodying thus its ideas. You will see, in looking to +history, that all great men have been a piece of their time; take them out +and set them elsewhere, they will not fit so well; they were made for their +day and generation. The literature which has left any mark, which has been +worthy of the name, has always mirrored what was doing around it; not +necessarily daguerreotyping the mere outside, but at least reflecting the +inside,--the thoughts, if not the actions of men,--their feelings and +sentiments, even if it treated of apparently far-off themes. You may +discuss the Greek republics in the spirit of the modern one; you may sing +idyls of King Arthur in the very mood of the nineteenth century. Art, too, +will be seen always to have felt this necessity, to have submitted to this +law. The great dramatists of Greece, like those of England, all flourished +in a single period, blossomed in one soil; the sculptures of antiquity +represented the classic spirit, and have never been equalled since, because +they were the legitimate product of that classic spirit. You cannot have +another Phidias till man again believes in Jupiter. The Gothic +architecture, how meanly is it imitated now! What cathedrals built in this +century rival those of Milan or Strasbourg or Notre Dame? Ah! there is no +such Catholicism to inspire the builders; the very men who reared them +would not be architects, if they lived to-day. And the Italian painters, +the Angelos and Raphaels and Da Vincis and Titians, who were geniuses of +such universal power that they builded and carved and went on embassies and +worked in mathematics only with less splendid success than they +painted,--they painted because the age demanded it; they painted as the age +demanded; they were religious, yet sensuous, like their nation; they felt +the influence of the Italian sun and soil. Their faith and their history +were compressed into The Last Judgment and the Cartoons; their passion as +well as their power may be recognized in The Last Supper and The Venus of +the Bath. + +There is always a necessity for this expression of the character of the +age. This spirit of our age, this mixed materialistic and imaginative +spirit,--this that abroad prompts Russian and Italian wars, and at home +discovers California mines,--that realizes gorgeous dreams of hidden gold, +and Napoleonic ideas of almost universal sway,--that bridges Niagara, and +under-lays the sea with wire, and, forgetful of the Titan fate, essays to +penetrate the clouds,--this spirit, so practical that those who choose to +look on one side only of the shield can see only perjured monarchs +trampling on deceived or decaying peoples, and backwoodsmen hewing forests, +and begrimed laborers setting up telegraph-poles or working at +printing-presses,--this spirit also so full of imagination,--which has +produced an outburst of music (that most intangible and subtile and +imaginative of arts) such as the earth never heard before,--which is +developing in the splendid, showy life, in the reviving taste for pageantry +that some supposed extinct, in the hurried, crowded incidents that will +fill up the historic page that treats of the nineteenth century,--this +spirit is sure to get expression in art. + +The American people, cosmopolitan, concrete, the union, the result rather +of a union of so many nationalities, ought surely to do its share towards +this expression. The American people surely represents the century,--has +much of its spirit: is full of unrest; is eminently practical, but +practical only in embodying poetical or lofty ideas; is demonstrative and +excitable; resembles the French much and in many things,--the French, who +are at the head of modern and European civilization,--who think and feel +deeply, but do not keep their feelings hidden. The Americans, too, like +expression: when they admire a Kossuth or a Jenny Lind, a patriot exile or +a foreign singer, all the world is sure to know of their admiration; when +they are delighted at some great achievement in science, like the laying of +an Atlantic Cable, they demonstrate their delight. They make their +successful generals Presidents; they give dinners to Morphy and banquets to +Cyrus Field. They are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the +age. Therefore they are artistic. + +How amazed some will be at the proposition,--amazed that the age should be +called an artistic one,--amazed that Americans should be considered an +artistic nation! Yet art is only the expression in outward and visible form +of an inward and spiritual grace,--the sacrament of the imagination. Art is +an incarnation in colors or stone or music or words of some subtile essence +which requires the embodiment. We all have delicate fancies, lofty +imaginings, profound sentiments; the artist expresses them for us. If, +then, this age be one that requires expression for its ideas, that is +practical, that insists on accomplishing its designs, on creating its +children, on producing its results, it is an artistic age. For art works; a +poet is a maker, according to the Greeks: and all artists are poets; they +all produce; they all do; they all make. They do just what all the +practical men of this practical age are doing, what even the Gradgrinds are +doing: they embody ideas; they put thoughts into facts. A quiet, +contemplative age is not an artistic one; art has ever flourished in +stirring times: Grecian wars and Guelphic strife have been its fostering +influences. An artist is very far from being an idle dreamer; he works as +hard as the merchant or the mechanic,--works, too, physically as well as +mentally, with his hand as well as his head. + +This is all statement: let us have some facts; let us embody our ideas. Do +you not call Meyerbeer, with his years of study and effort and application, +a worker? Do you not call Verdi, who has produced thirty operas, a worker? +Do you not imagine that Turner labored on his splendid pictures? Do you not +know how Crawford toiled and spun away his nerves and brain? Have you not +heard of the incessant and tremendous attention that for many months Church +bestowed on the canvas that of late attracted the admiration of English +critics and their Queen? Was Rachel idle? Have these artists not spent the +substance of themselves as truly as any of your politicians or your +soldiers or your traders? Can you not trace in them the same energy, the +same effort, the same determination as in Louis Napoleon, as in Zachary +Taylor, as in Stephen Girard? Are not they also representative? + +And their works,--for by these shall ye know them,--do they reflect in +nothing this fitful, uneasy, yet splendid intensity of to-day? Can you not +read in the colors on Turner's canvas, can you not see in the rush of +Church's Niagara, can you not hear in the strains of the Traviata, can you +not perceive in the tones and looks of Ristori, just what you find in the +successful men in other spheres of life? Rothschild's fortune speaks no +more plainly than the Robert le Diable; George Sand's novels and Carlyle's +histories tell the same story as Kossuth's eloquence and Garibaldi's +deeds. The artists are as alive to-day as any in the the world. For, again +and again, art is not an outside thing; its professors, its lovers, are not +placed outside the world; they are in it and of it as absolutely as the +rest. You who think otherwise, remember that Verdi's name six months ago +was the watchword of the Italian revolutionists; remember that certain +operas are forbidden now to be played in Naples, lest they should arouse +the countrymen of Masaniello; remember, or learn, if you did not know, how +in New York, last June, all the singers in town offered their services for +a benefit to the Italian cause, and all the _habitues_, late though the +season was, crowded to their places to see an opera whose attractiveness +had been worn out and whose novelty was nearly gone. You who think that art +is an interest unworthy of men who live in the world, that it is a thing +apart, what say you to the French, the most actual, the most practical, the +most worldly of peoples, and yet the fondest of art in all its phases,--the +French, who remembered the statues in the Tuileries amid the massacres of +the First Revolution, and spared the architecture of antiquity when they +bombarded the city of the Caesars? + +Consider, too, the growing love for art in practical America; remark the +crowds of newly rich who deck their houses with pictures and busts, even +though they cannot always appreciate them; remember that nearly every +prominent town in the country has its theatre; that the opera, the most +refined luxury of European civilization, considered for long an affectation +beyond every other, is relished here as decidedly as in Italy or France. In +New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, there are +buildings exclusively appropriated to this new form of art, this exotic, +expensive amusement. These opera-houses, too, illustrate most aptly the +progress of other arts. They are adorned with painting and gilding and +carving; they are as sumptuous in accommodation as the palaces of European +potentates; they are lighted with a brilliancy that Aladdin's garden never +rivalled; they are thronged, with crowds as gayly dressed as those that +fill the saloons of Parisian belles; and the singers and actors who +interpret the thoughts of mighty foreign masters are the same who delight +the Emperor of the French when he pays a visit to the Queen of Great +Britain and Ireland. Orchestras of many instruments discourse most eloquent +music, and involuted strains are criticized in learned style, in capitals +thousands of miles from the seashore. And there is no appreciation of art +in all this! there is no embodiment of the love of the age for material +magnificence, there is no poetry incarnated into form, in this combination +of splendors rivalling the opium-eater's visions! The Americans are a dull, +stupid people, immersed in business; art has no effect upon them; it is +despised among them; it can never prosper here! + +The stage, indeed, in its various forms, seems more fully to manifest and +illustrate the artistic influence among Americans than any other art. It +often addresses those whom more refined solicitations might never +reach. Those who would turn from Church's or Page's pictures with +indifference are frequently attracted by the representations in a theatre. +The pictures there are more alive, more real, more intense, and fascinate +many unable to appreciate the recondite charms of the canvas. The grace of +attitude, the splendid expression, the intellectual art of Ristori or +Rachel may impress those who fail to discover the same merits in colder +stone, in Crawford's marble or the statues of Palmer; and they may +sometimes learn to relish even the delicate beauties of Shakspeare's text, +from hearing it fitly declaimed, who would never spell out its meaning by +themselves. The drama is certainly superior to other arts while its reign +lasts, because of its veriness, its actuality. He must be dull of +imagination, indeed, who cannot give himself up for a while to its +illusions; he must be stupid who cannot open his senses to its delights or +waken his intellect to receive its influences. + +Neither can a taste for the stage be declared one which only the ignorant +or vulgar share. Though away in the wilds of California a theatre was often +erected next after a hotel, the second building in a town, and the +strolling player would summon the miners by his trumpet when not one was in +sight, and instantly a swarm peeped forth from the earth, like the armed +men who sprang from the furrows that Cadmus ploughed,--though the wildest +and rudest of Western cities and the wildest and rudest inhabitants of +Western towns are quick to acknowledge the charms of the stage,--yet also +the most highly cultured and the most intellectual Americans pay the same +tribute to this art. We have all seen, within a few years, one of the most +profound scholars and most prominent divines in the country proclaiming his +approbation of the drama. We may find, to-day, in any Eastern city, members +of the liberal clergy at an opera, and sometimes at a play. The scholars +and writers and artists and thinkers, as well as the people of leisure and +of fashion, frequent places of amusement, not only for amusement, but to +cultivate their tastes, to exercise their intellects, ay, and oftentimes to +refine their hearts. The splendid homage paid in England not long ago to +the drama, when the highest nobility and the first statesmen in the land +were present at a banquet in honor of Charles Kean, is evidence enough that +no puerile or uncultivated taste is this which relishes the theatre. Goethe +presiding over the playhouse at Weimar, Euripides and Sophocles writing +tragedies, the greatest genius of the English language acting in his own +productions at the Globe Theatre, people like Siddons and Kean and Cushman +and Macready illustrating this art with the resources of their fine +intellects and great attainments,--surely these need scarcely be mentioned, +to relieve the drama from the reproach that some would put upon it, of +puerility. + +New York is, perhaps, more of a representative city than any other in the +land. It is an aggregation from all the other portions of the country; it +is the result, the precipitate, of the whole. It has no distinctive, +individual character of its own; it is a condensation of all the rest, a +focus. Thither all the country goes at times. Restless, fitful, changing, +yet still the same in its change; like the waves of the sea, that toss and +roll and move away, and still the mighty mass is ever there. New York, in +its various phases and developments, its crowded and cosmopolitan +population, its out-door kaleidoscopic splendor, is indeed a representative +of the entire country. It has not the purely literary life of Boston, nor +so distinctive an intellectual character; it is not so stamped by the +impress of olden times as Philadelphia; but it has an outside garb +significant of the inward nature. It is like the face of a great actor, +splendid in expression, full of character, changing with a thousand +changing emotions, but betraying a great soul beneath them all. New York is +artistic just as America is artistic, just as the age is artistic: not, +perhaps, in the loftiest or most refined sense, but in the sense that art +is an expression, in tangible form, of ideas. New York is a great thought +uttered. It is like those fruits or seeds which germinate by turning +themselves inside out; the soul is on the outside, crusted all over it, but +none the less soul for all that. + +And New York illustrates this idea of the drama being the representative +art of to-day. The theatre there, including the opera, is a great +established fact,--as important nearly as it was in the palmiest days of +the Athenian republic, or on the road to be of as much consequence as it is +in Paris, the representative city of the world. Fifty thousand people +nightly crowd twenty different theatres in New York. From the splendid +halls where Grisi and Gazzaniga and La Borde and La Grange have by turns +translated into sound the ideas of Meyerbeer and Bellini and Donizetti and +Mozart, to the little rooms where sixpenny tickets procure lager-beer as +well as music for the purchaser, the drama is worshipped. And this not only +by New-Yorkers: not only do those who lead the busy, excited life of the +metropolis acquire a taste, as some might say, for a factitious excitement, +but all strangers hasten to the theatres. The sober farmer, the citizens +from plodding interior towns, the gay Southerners, accustomed almost +exclusively to social amusements, the denizens of rival Bostons and +Philadelphias all frequent the operas and playhouses of New York. When the +richer portion of its inhabitants have left the hot and sultry town, or, in +mid-winter, are immersed in the more exclusive pleasures of fashionable +life, even then the theatres are thronged; and in September and October you +shall find all parts of the country represented in their boxes and +parquets,--proving that this is not an exclusively metropolitan taste, that +it is shared by the whole nation, that in this also New York is truly +representative. + +Boston typifies a peculiar phase of American life; it is the illustration, +the exponent, of the cultivated side of our nationality; its thought, its +action, its character are taken abroad as symbols of the national thought +and action and character, in whatever relates to literature or art. The +Professor said truly, Boston does really in some sort stand for the brain +of America. Well the brain of America appreciates the stage. It is but a +few months since the culture and distinction of Boston nightly crowded a +small and inferior theatre, to witness the personations of the young genius +who is destined at no distant day to rival the proudest names of the drama. +The most brilliant successes Edwin Booth has yet achieved have been +achieved in Boston; scholars and wits and poets and professors crowd the +boxes when he plays; women of talent write poems in his praise and publish +them in the "Atlantic Monthly"; professors of Harvard College send him +congratulatory letters; artists paint and carve his intellectual beauty; +and fashion follows in the wake of intellect, alike acknowledging his +merits. Boston recognized those merits, too, when they were first presented +to its appreciation; and now that they verge nearer upon maturity, her +appreciation is quickened and her applause redoubled. It cannot be said +that the taste or culture of the nation is indifferent to histrionic +excellence, when absolute excellence is found. + +No other art is yet on such a footing among us. Neither is this because of +our partially developed civilization. It is equally so abroad; where the +nations are oldest and best established in culture, there, too, a similar +state of things exists. No school in painting, no style of sculpture, no +kind of architecture has made such an impression on the age as its music, +as its dramatic music, its opera. This speaks to all nations, in all +languages. No writer, though he write like Tennyson, or Longfellow, or +Lamartine, or Dudevant, can hope for such an audience as Verdi or +Meyerbeer. No orator speaks to such crowds as Rossini; no Everett or +Kossuth, or Gavazzi or Spurgeon, has so many listeners as Donizetti. For +the stage is the art of to-day,--perhaps more especially, but still not, +exclusively, the operatic stage; the theatre in its various forms +represents the feeling of the time so as Grecian and Gothic architecture +and Italian painting have in their time done for their time,--so as no +pictures, no architecture, no statuary can now do. Painting and statuary, +when they do anything towards representing this age, incarnate the dramatic +spirit; the literature that has most influence today is journalism,--the +effective, present, actual, short-lived, dramatic newspaper, where all the +actors speak for themselves: other literature has its listeners, but it +lags behind; other art has its appreciators, but it cannot keep pace with +the march of armies, with the rush to California, with the swarm to +Australia; there is no art on these outskirts but the dramatic. That +travels with the advancing mass in every exodus; that went with Dr. Kane to +the North Pole (he had private theatricals aboard the Resolute); that alone +gave utterance immediately to the latest cry of humanity in the Italian +War. + +Neither can it be said that the theatre has no more consequence now than it +has always enjoyed. At the time when Gothic architects and Italian painters +expressed the meaning of their own ages, there was nothing like a real +drama in existence, and the Roman theatre was never comparable with +ours. The Greeks, indeed, had a stage which was an important element of +their civilization, and which took the character of their time, giving and +receiving influence; but their stage was essentially different from that of +the moderns. Its success did not depend upon the individual performer; its +pageantry was perhaps as splendid as what we now see; but the play of the +countenance, that great intellectual opportunity offered an actor by our +drama, was not known. In this see also a characteristic of the present +age. Individuality is a distinctive peculiarity of the nineteenth century; +it has been for centuries gradually becoming more possible; but every man +now works his own way, acts himself, more completely than ever +before. Therefore appropriate is it that the drama should give importance +to the individual, and allow a great actor to incarnate and illustrate in +his own form and face feelings and passions that formerly were only hinted +at; for remember that the Greek players usually wore masks, while their +amphitheatres were so large that in any event the expression of the +features was lost. + +With this individuality, this opportunity for each to develop his own +identity and intensity, the nineteenth century strangely combines another +peculiarity, that of association. All these units, these atoms, so +marvellously distinct, are incorporated into one grand whole; though each +be more, by and of himself, than ever before, yet the great power, the +great motor, is the mass. The mass is made powerful by the added importance +given to each individual. And you may trace without conceit a state of +things behind the scenes very similar to this in front of the +footlights. In the theatre, also, the many workers contribute to a grand +result. The manager would be as powerless in his little empire, without +important assistants, as a monarch without ministers and people. What makes +the French army and the American so irresistible is the thought that each +private is more than a machine, is an intellectual being, understands what +his general wants, fights with his bayonet at Solferino or his musket at +Monterey on his own account, yet subject to the supreme control. And the +theatre, with all its actors and scene-painters and costumers and +carpenters and musicians, is only an army on a different scale. The forces +of the stage answer to the generals and colonels, the marshals and +privates, all marching and working and fighting for the same end. Those +splendid dramatic triumphs of Charles Kean were only illustrations of the +principle of association,--only illustrations of the readiness of the stage +to adapt itself to the times, to seize hold of whatever is suggested by the +outside world, to appropriate the discoveries of Layard and the revelations +of Science to its own uses,--illustrations, too, of the importance of the +individual Kean, as well as of the crowd of clever subordinates. + +That the theatre feels this reflex influence, that it appreciates all that +is going on around it, that it is not asleep, that it is penetrated with +the spirit of the century, whether that spirit be good or evil, the +selection of plays now popular is another proof. In France, where the +success of the histrionic art now culminates, a contemporaneous drama is +flourishing, the absolute society of the day is represented. That society +has faults, and the stage mirrors them. "La Dame aux Camelias," "Les Filles +de Marbre," "Le Demi-Monde" reflect exactly the peculiarities of the life +they aim to imitate. And these very plays, whose influence is so often +condemned, would never have had the popularity they have attained in nearly +every city of the civilized world, had there not been Marguerite Gautiers +and Traviatas outside of Paris as well as in it. Another attempt, perhaps +not an entirely successful one, but still a significant attempt, has been +made in this country to produce a contemporaneous drama. "Jessie Brown" and +"The Poor of New York," and other plays directly daguerreotyping ordinary +incidents, at any rate show that the drama is an art that responds +instantly to the pulses of the time. + +But it ia not necessary for the stage to daguerreotype; it mirrors more +truly when it embodies the spirit. And never before was there an age whose +spirit was more theatrical, in the best sense of the term; full of outside +expression, but also full of inside feeling; working, accomplishing, +putting into actual form its ideas; incarnating its passions; intellectual, +yet passionate; lofty in imagination, yet practical in exemplification; +showy, but significantly showy,--theatrical. An art, then, that is all +this, surely expresses as no other art does or can the character of the +nineteenth century,--surely is the representative art. + + * * * * * + + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +THE EVIL EYE AND OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. + + +I have already, in a former article, spoken of some of the superstitions +belonging to the Church which are prevalent in Italy; but there are other, +and, so to speak, _lay_ superstitions, which also claim a place,--and to +them this chapter shall be dedicated. + +It is dangerous ground, a twilight marsh, where the will-o'-wisps light us, +over which I propose to lead you; and had I not armed myself with all sorts +of amulets, I should shrink from the enterprise. But the famous weapon with +which Luther drove away the Evil One is at my side, potent as evil, I hope, +so long as a pen can be put into it,--and Saint Dunstan's friend is in the +corner, ready, at a pinch, for service; and having shut out all those +spirits which so sorely tempted Saint Anthony, and locked my door to dark +eyes and blue eyes and dark hair and blonde hair, I may hope to get through +my dangerous chapter, and-- + +Strange fatality!--one of Saint Anthony's spirits tempts me from the other +room, even at the moment I boast; but I resist,--manfully dipping my pen +into Luther's stronghold,--and it vanishes, and leaves me face to face +with--the Evil Eye. Yes! it is the Evil Eye, the _Jettatura_ of Italy, that +we are boldly to face for an hour. + +This is one of the oldest and most interesting superstitions that have come +down to us from the past; and as it still lives and flourishes in Italy +with a singular vitality and freshness, it may be worth while to trace it +back to some of its early sources. Its birth-place was the East, where it +existed in dillomnt forms amongst almost every people. Thence it was +imported into Greece, where it was called _Baskania_, and was adopted by +the Romans under the name of _Fascinum_. Solomon himself alludes to it in +the Book of Wisdom. Isigonus relates that among the Triballi and Illyrii +there were men who by a glance fascinated and killed those whom they looked +upon with angry eyes; and Nymphodorus asserts that there were fascinators +whose voices had the power to destroy flocks, to blast trees, and to kill +infants. In Scythia, also, according to Apollonides, there were women of +this class, "_quoe vocantur Bithyoe_"; and Phylarchus says that in Pontus +there was a tribe, called the Thibii, and many others, of the same nature +and having the same powers. The testimony of Algazeli is to the same +effect; and he adds, that these fascinators have a peculiar power over +women. We have also the testimony of Aristotle, Pliny, and Plutarch, who +all speak as believers, while Solinus enumerates certain families of +fascinators who exerted their influence _voce et lingua_, and Philostratus +makes special mention of Apolloius Thyaneus as having been possessed of +these wonderful powers. Indeed, nearly all the old writers agree in +recognizing the existence of the faculty of fascination; and among the +Romans it was so universally admitted, that in the "Decemvirales Tabulae" +there was a law prohibiting the exercise of it under a capital +penalty:--"_Ne pelliciunto alienas segeles, excantando, ne incantando; ne +agrum defraudanto._" Some jurisconsults skilled in the ancient law say that +boys are sometimes fascinated by the burning eyes of these infected men so +as to lose all their health and strength. Pliny relates that one Caius +Furius Cresinus, a freedman, having been very successful in cultivating his +farms, became an object of envy, and was publicly accused of poisoning by +arts of fascination his neighbors' fruits; whereupon he brought into the +Forum his daughter, ploughs, tools, and oxen, and, pointing to them, +said,--"These which I have brought, and my labor, sweat, watching, and +care, (which I cannot bring,) are all my arts." Let those who consider the +moving of tables as wonderful listen to the surprising statement of Pliny +as to an occurrence in his own time, when a whole olive-orchard belonging +to a certain Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, crossed over the public +way, and took its place, ground and all, on the other side. [Footnote: +Plinii _Nat. Hist._ Lib. xvii. cap. 38.] This same fact is also alluded to +by Virgil in his Eighth Eclogue, on _Pharmaceutria_ (all of which, by the +way, he stole from Theocritus):-- + +"Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes." + +"Now," says the worthy Vairus, who has written an elaborate treatise on +this subject in Latin, well worthy to be examined, "let no man laugh at +these stories as old wives' tales, (_aniles nugas_,) nor, because the +reason passes our knowledge, let us turn them into ridicule, for infinite +are the things which we cannot understand, (_infinita enim prope sunt +quorum rationem adipisci nequimus_); but rather than turn all miracles out +of Nature because we cannot understand them, let us make that fact the +beginning and reason of investigation. For does not Solomon in his Book of +Wisdom say, '_Fascinatio malignitatis obscurat bona'?_ and does not Dominus +Paulus cry out to the Galatians, '_O insensati Galatoe, quis vos +fascinavit'?_ which the best interpreters admit to refer to those whose +burning eyes (_oculos urentes_) with a single look blast all persons, and +especially boys." + +It seems to have been a peculiarity in the superstitions as to the +_fascinum_, that boys and women were specially susceptible to its +influence; and in this respect, as well as in some of the symptoms of +fascination, it bears a curious resemblance to the effects of modern +witchcraft as practised in New England. Dionysius Carthusianus, speaking of +the nomad tribes of the Biarmii and Amaxobii, who, according to him, were +most skilful fascinators, says that they so affected persons with their +curse that they lost their freedom of will and became insane and idiotic, +and often wasted away in extreme leanness and corruption, and so perished: +"_ut liberi non sint nec mentis compotes, soepe ad extremam maciem +deveniant, et tabescendo dispereant._" Olaus Magnus agrees with him in +these symptoms; and Hieronymus says, that, when infants suddenly grow lean, +waste away, twist about as if in pain, and sometimes scream out and cry in +a wonderful way, you may be certain that they have been fascinated. This, +to be sure, looks mightily like a diagnosis for worms; but we would not +measure our wits with the grave Hieronymus. Still, as an amulet against +such fascination, "Jaynes's Vermifuge" might be suggested as efficient, or +at least a grain or two of _Santonina_. + +In Abyssinia, it is supposed that men who work in iron or pottery are +peculiarly endowed with this fatal power of fascination, and in consequence +of this prejudice they are expelled from society and even from the +privilege of partaking of the holy sacrament. They are known by the name of +_Buda_, and, though excluded from the more sacred rites of the Church, +profess great respect for religion, and are surpassed by none in the +strictness of their fasts. All convulsions and hysterical disorders are +attributed to these unfortunate artificers; and they are also supposed to +have the power of changing themselves into hyenas and other ravenous +beasts. Nathaniel Pearce, the African traveller, relates that the +Abyssinians are so fully convinced that these unhappy men are in the habit +of rifling graves in their character of hyenas, that no one will venture to +eat _quareter_ or dried meat in their houses, nor any flesh, unless it be +raw, or unless they have seen it killed. These Budas usually wear earrings +of a peculiar shape, and Pearce states that he has frequently seen them in +the ears of hyenas that have been caught or trapped, and confesses, that, +although he had taken considerable pains to investigate the subject, he had +never been able to discover how these ornaments came there; and Mr. Coffin, +his friend, relates a story of one of these transformations which took +place under his own eyes. [Footnote: Herodotus makes the same statement as +to the Buda. "They are said to be evil-minded and enchanters," he says, +"that for a day every year change themselves into wolves. This the +Scythians and Greeks who dwell there affirm with great oaths. But they do +not persuade me of it."--Herod. Lib. iii. cap. 7. + +See on this subject _Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce_, and _Nubia +and Abyssinia_, by Rev. Michael Russell. Petronius's story of a Versipelles +is well known.] + +This is the old superstition of the were-wolf, which existed also among the +Greeks and Romans. Those endowed with this power of transforming themselves +into beasts were called _Versipelles_. Pliny makes mention of them, and +cites from a Greek author the case of a man "who lived nine years in the +shape of a wolf"; but, credulous as he is, he says that the superstition +"is a fabulous opinion, not worthy of credit." For myself, I can say that I +have known many men who were wolves; and we all remember what Queen Labe +used to do with her lovers. + +Fascination was of two kinds, moral and natural. Those in whom the power +was moral could exert it only by the exercise of their will; but those in +whom it was natural could but keep exercising it unconsciously. And these +latter were the most terrible. It is generally explained by ancient writers +as being a power of the spirit or imagination, (as they termed it.) +exhibited in persons of a peculiar organization, and diffusing _radios +salutares vel perniciosos_. Though the terms employed by them, as well as +their notions of its origin, are very unphilosophical and vague, it is +plain that they considered it as a species of mesmeric or biologic power, +operating by nervous impression. The fascinator generally endeavored to +provoke in his victims an excited and pleased attention, for in this +condition they were peculiarly predisposed to his influence. And inasmuch +as persons are thrown off their guard of reserve and attracted by praise, +those who flattered excessively were looked upon with suspicion; and it was +a universally recognized rule of good manners and morals, that every one in +praising another should be careful not to do so immoderately, lest he +should fascinate even against his will. Hieronymus Fracastorius, in his +treatise "On Sympathy and Antipathy," thus states the fact and the +philosophy,--and who shall dare gainsay the conclusions of one so learned +in science, medicine, and astrology as this distinguished man?--"We read," +he says, "that there were certain families in Crete who fascinated by +praising, and this is doubtless quite possible. For as there exists in the +nature of some persons a poison which is ejaculated through their eyes by +evil spirits, there is no reason why infants and even grown persons should +not be peculiarly injured by this fascination of praise. For praise creates +a peculiar pleasure, and pleasure in turn, as we have already said, first +dilates and opens the heart and then the spirit, and then the whole face +and especially the eyes,--so that all these doors are opened to receive the +poison which is ejaculated by the fascinator. Wherefore it is most proper, +whenever we intend to praise a person, that we should warn him, and use +some form to avert the ill effects of our words, as by saying, 'May it be +of no injury to you!' There are, indeed, some, who, when they are praised, +avert their faces, not to indicate that praise in itself is unpleasant, but +to avoid fascination; it being thought that fascination is often effected +by means of praise";[1] or in other words, the poison being given in the +honey of flattery. Now in order to close up this _dilatationem_ or opening +of the system, a _corona baccaris_ was worn, which, by its odoriferous and +constipating qualities, produced this effect, as Dioscorides assures us.[2] +Virgil, in his Seventh Eclogue, alludes to the same, antidote:-- + +"Aut si ultra placitum laudant, baccare frontem + Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro." + +[Footnote 1: Hier. Fracastorius, _De Sympathia et Antipathia_, +Lib. i. cap. 23. See also Vincentius Alsarius, _De Invid. et Fasc. Vet._, +in Graevius, _Thes. Rom. Antiq._ Vol. xii. p. 890.] + +[Footnote 2: Lib. iii. cap. 46, confirmed also by Athenaeus, _Deipnos_. +Lib. iii.] + +Tertullian, in his work "De Virginibus Velandis," states the same fact as +Fracastorius, and says that among the heathens there are persons who are +possessed of a terrible somewhat which they call _Fascinum_, effected by +excessive praise: _"Nam est aliquod etiam apud Ethnicos metuendum, quod +Fascinum vocant, infeliciorem laudis et gloriae enormioris eventum_." + +To avert this evil influence, every well-mannered person among the ancients +said, "_Proefiscine_," before wishing well to another,--as clearly appears +from the following passage cited by Charisius [Footnote: _Inst. Gram._ +Lib. iv.] from Titinius in "Setina." One person exclaims, "_Paula mea, +amabo----_" Whereupon a friend who stands by says, "He was going to praise +Paula!" "_Ecce qui loquitur, Paulam puellam laudare parabat!_" And another +friend present cries out, "By Pollux! you should better say, +'_Proefiscini_,' or you may fascinate her": "_Pol! tu in laudem addito +Proefiscini, ne puella fascinaretur_." [Footnote: See also Turnebi +_Comm. in Orat. Sec. contra P.S. Rullum de Leg. Agrar._ M.T. Ciceronis.] +This same custom exists at the present day among the Turks, who always +accompany a compliment to you or to anything belonging to you with the +phrase, _"Mashallah!"_ (God be praised!)--thus referring the good gifts you +possess to the Higher Spirit. To omit this is a breach of courtesy, and in +such case the other person instantly adds it in order to avert fascination; +for the superstition is, that, if this phrase be omitted, we may seem to +refer all good gifts to our own merit instead of God's grace, and so +provoke the divine wrath. The same custom also exists in Italy; and the +common reply to any salutation in which your looks or health may be +complimented is, "_Grazia a Dio!_" In some parts of Italy, if you praise a +pretty child in the street, or even if you look earnestly at it, the nurse +will be sure to say, "_Dio la benedica!_" so as to cut off all ill-luck; +and if you happen to be walking with a child and catch any person watching +it, such person will invariably employ some such phrase to show you that he +does not mean to do it injury, or to cast a spell of _jettatura_ upon +it. The modern Greeks are even more jealous of praise, and if you +compliment a child of theirs, you are expected to spit three times at him +and say, [Greek: Na maen baskanthaes], ("May no evil come to you!") or +mutter [Greek: Skordo], ("Garlic,") which has a special power as a +counter-charm. So, too, in Corsica, the peasants are strict believers in +the _jettatura_ of praise, which they call _l'annocchiatura_,--supposing, +that, if any evil influence attend you, your good wishes will turn into +curses. They are therefore very careful in praising, and sometimes express +themselves in language the very reverse of what they intend,--as, "'_Va, +coquine!'_ says Bandalaccio, in M. Merimee's pleasant story of "Colomba," +'_sois excommuniee, sois maudite, friponne!' Car Bandalaccio, superstitieux +comme tous les bandits, craignait de fasciner les enfans en les addressant +les benedictions et les eloges. On sait que les puissances mysterieuses qui +president a l'annocchiatura ont la mauvaise habitude d'executer le +contraire de nos souhaits._" Perhaps our familiar habit of calling our +children "scamp" and "rascal," when we are caressing them, may be founded +on a worn-out superstition of the same kind. + +But it is not only praise administered by others which may inflict evil +upon us,--we must also be specially careful not to have too "gude a conceit +of ourselves," lest we thereby draw down upon us the fate of a certain +Eutelidas, who, having regarded his image in the water with peculiar +self-satisfaction and laudation, immediately lost his health, and from that +time forward was afflicted with sore diseases. During a supper at the house +of Metrius Florus, where, among others, Plutarch, Soclarus, and Caius, the +son-in-law of Florus, were guests, a curious and interesting conversation +took place on the subject of the _Fascinum_, which is reported by Plutarch +in one of his Symposia. The existence of the power of fascination was +admitted by all, and a philosophical explanation of its phenomena was +attempted. In reply to some suggestions of Plutarch, Soclarus says there is +no doubt that their ancestors fully believed in this power, and then cites +the case of Eutelidas as being well known to his auditors, and celebrated +by some poet in these lines:-- + + "Eutelidas was once a beauteous youth, + But, luckless, in the wave his face beholding, + Himself he fascinates, and pines away." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Plutarchi _Symp_. V. Prob. VII.] + +Fascination was excited by touch, voice, and look. The fascination by touch +was simply mesmerism, or rather the biology of the present day, in an +undeveloped stage. There were said to be four qualities of +touch,--_calidus, humidus, frigidus, et siccus_, or hot, cold, moist, and +dry,--according to which persons were active or passive in the exercise of +the fascinum. Its function was double, by raising or by lowering the +arm,--"_modo per arteriae elevationem, modo per ejusdem submissionem_" says +the worthy Vairits; "for," he continues, "when the artery is thrown out and +is open, the spirits are emitted with wonderful celerity, and in some +imperceptible manner are carried to the thing to fascinate it. And because +the artery has its origin in the heart, the spirits issuing thence retain +its infected and vitiated nature, and according to its depravity fascinate +and destroy." + +This power of touch is recognized in all history and in all climes. All who +saw Christ desired to touch his garment, and so receive some healing +virtue; and his miracles of cure he almost always performed by his +hand. When the woman who had the issue of blood came behind him and touched +him, Jesus asked who touched him, and said,--"Somebody hath touched me; for +I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." It has always been a popular +superstition that the scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king or of +the seventh son of a seventh son. The old belief that the body of a +murdered man would distill blood, if his murderer's hand were placed on +him, is also of the same class. + +Descending to the sphere of animals, we find some curious facts having +relation to this power. The electrical eel, for instance, has the faculty +of overcoming and numbing his prey by this means. And among the Arabs, +according to Gerard, the French lion-killer, whoever inhales the breath of +the lion goes mad. + +Dr. Livingstone, in his interesting travels in South Africa, makes a +curious statement bearing upon this subject. He was out shooting lions one +day, when, "after having shot once, just," he says, "as I was in the act of +ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, +I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little +height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground +below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a +terrier-dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which +seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a +sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of +terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all +the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the +result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no +sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is +probably produced in all animals killed by the _carnivora_, and, if so, is +a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of +death." + +The next method of fascination was by the Voice. Aristotle speaks of it as +the cause of fascination, and says that the mere sound of the fascinator's +voice has this wondrous power, independently of his good or ill will, as +well as of the words he uses. And Alexander Aphrodisiensis calls the +fascinators poisoners, who poison their victim by intently looking at him +_carmine prolato_, "with a measured song or cadence." The same peculiarity +is observable in all experiments with the moving tables or rapping spirits, +which are more successful when accompanied by constant music. Circe +fascinated with incantation; and the Psalmist alludes to it as a means of +charming. Serpents, as well as men, are thus charmed. Virgil says, that, if +to this incantation by words certain herbs are joined, the fascination +works with more terrible effect:-- + + "Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, + Miscueruntque herbas et non irmoxia verba, + Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena." + +It is related of a certain magician, that, when he whispered in the ear of +a bull, he could prostrate him to the earth as if he were dead; [Footnote: +Vairus, _De Fascino_. p. 24.] and in our own time we have had an example +of the same wonderful faculty in Sullivan, the famous horse-whisperer, +whose secret died with him, or, at least, never was made public. Pliny also +relates, that tigers are rendered so furious by the sound of the drum, that +they often end by tearing themselves limb from limb in their rage; but I am +afraid this is one of Pliny's stories. Plutarch, however, agrees with him +in this belief.[Footnote: Plut. _Praecepta Conjugialia_.] + +And next as to the Evil Eye ([Greek: ophthalmos baskanos]). From the +earliest ages of the world, the potency of the eye in fascination has been +recognized. "Nihil oculo nequius creatum" says the Preacher; and the +philosopher calls it alter animus, "another spirit." "It sends forth its +rays," says Vairus, "like spears and arrows, to charm the hearts of men": +"veluti jacula et sagittae ad effascinandorum corda." And it carries +disease and death, as well as love and delight, in its course: "Totumque +corpus inficiunt, atque ita (nulla interposita mora) arbores, segetes, +bruta animalia et homines perniciosa qualitate inficiunt et ad interitum +deducunt." Vairus relates that a friend of his saw a fascinator simply with +a look break in two a precious gem while in the hands of the artist who was +working upon it. Horace thua alludes to it:-- + + "Non isthic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam + Limat; non odio obscuro morsuque venenat." + +Among the diseases given by a glance are ophthalmia and jaundice, say the +ancients; and in these cases, the fascinator loses the disease as his +victim takes it A similar peculiarity is to be remarked in the superstition +of the basilisk, who kills, if he sees first, but when he is seen first, +dies. No animals, it is said, can bear the steady gaze of man, and there +are some persons who by this means seem to exercise a wonderful power over +them. Animals, however, have sometimes their revenge on man. It is an old +superstition, that he whom the wolf sees first loses his voice. Among +themselves, also, they use this power of charming,--as in the case of the +serpent, who thus attracts the bird, and of the toad, the "jewels in whose +head" have a like magical influence. Dr. Andrew Smith, in his excellent +work on "Reptilia," gives the following interesting account of the power of +the serpent, and of other animals, to fascinate their prey. Speaking of the +_Bucephalus Capetisis_, he says,-- + +"It is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of +catching birds, on which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in +a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighborhood, who +collect round it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing cries, +until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, +and, almost without resistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such a +proceeding, the snake is generally observed with its head raised about ten +or twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are +entwined, with its mouth open and its neck inflated, as if anxiously +endeavoring to increase the terror, which it would almost appear it was +aware would sooner or later bring within its grasp some one of the +feathered group. + +"Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true +that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable +to retire from the presence of certain of their enemies, and, what is even +more extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a +situation of actual safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I +have often seen exemplified in the case of birds and snakes; and I have +heard of instances equally curious, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds +have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance of crocodiles, and by the +grimaces and distortions they practised, as to be unable to fly or even +move from the spot towards which they were approaching to seize them." + +The fascination which fire and flame exercise upon certain insects is well +known, and the beautiful moths which so painfully insist on sacrificing +themselves in our candle are the commonplaces of poets and lovers. They are +generally supposed to be attracted by the light and ignorantly to rush to +their destruction; but this simple explanation does not fully account for +all the facts. Dr. Livingstone says, that "fire exercises a fascinating +effect upon some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the +evenings, without even starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot +embers rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the +hottest parts, and they never cease their struggles for the centre even +when their juices are coagulating and their limbs stiffening in the +roasting heat. Various insects also are thus fascinated; but the scorpions +may be seen coming away from the fire in fierce disgust, and they are so +irritated as to inflict at that time their most painful stings." + +May it not be that flame exercises upon certain insects and animals an +influence similar to that produced upon man by the moon, rendering them mad +when subjected too long to its influence? Is not the moon the Evil Eye of +the night? + +A curious story, bearing upon this subject, is told in one of a series of +interesting articles in "Household Words," called "Wanderings in India." +The author is talking with an old soldier about a cobra-capello, which has +been known to the latter for thirteen years. + +"This cobra," says the soldier, "has never offered to do me any harm; and +when I sing, as I sometimes do when I am alone here at work on some tomb or +other, he will crawl up and listen for two or three hours together. One +morning, while he was listening, he came in for a good meal, which lasted +him some days." + +"How was that?" + +"I will tell you, Sir. A minar was chased by a small hawk, and, in despair, +came and perched itself on the top of a most lofty tomb at which I was at +work. The hawk, with his eyes fixed intently on his prey, did not, I fancy, +see the snake lying motionless in the grass; or, if he did see him, he did +not think he was a snake, but something else,--my crowbar, perhaps. After a +little while, the hawk pounced down, and was just about to give the minar a +blow and a grip, when the snake suddenly lifted his head, raised his hood, +and hissed. The hawk gave a shriek, fluttered, flapped his wings with all +his might, and tried very hard to fly away. But it would not do. Strong as +the eye of the hawk was, the eye of the snake was stronger. The hawk, for a +time, seemed suspended in the air; but at last he was obliged to come down +and sit opposite the old gentleman, (the snake,) who commenced with his +forked tongue, and keeping his eyes on him all the while, to slime his +victim all over. This occupied him for at least forty minutes, and by the +time the process was over the hawk was perfectly motionless. I don't think +he was dead,--but he was very soon, however, for the old gentleman put him +into a coil or two and crackled up every bone in the hawk's body. He then +gave him another sliming, made a big mouth, distended his neck till it was +as big round as the thickest part of my arm, and down went the hawk like a +shin of beef into a beggar-man's bag." [Footnote: _Household Words_, +Jan. 23, 1858, vol. xvii., P. 139.] + +The same writer, in another paper, relates a case in which he was cured of +a violent attack of _tic-douloureux_, from which he "suffered extreme +agonies," by the steady gaze of a native doctor, who was called in for the +purpose. He used no other method than a fixed, steady gaze, making no +mesmeric passes; and in this way he cured his patients by "locking up their +eyes," as he termed it. His power seemed to have been very great; and what +is curious is, that, "with one exception, and that was in the case of a +Keranu, a half-caste, no patient had ever fallen asleep or had become +'_beehosh_' (unconscious) under his gaze." He related several cases, one of +which was of "a sahib who had gone mad," drink-delirious. "His wife would +not suffer him to be strapped down, and he was so violent that it took four +or five other sahibs to hold him. I was sent for, and at first had great +difficulty with him, and much trembling. At last, however, I locked his +eyes up as soon as I got him to look at me, and kept him, for several +hours, as quiet as a mouse. I stayed with him two days, and whatever I told +him to do he did immediately. When I got his eyes fixed on mine, he could +not take them away,--could not move." + +All these different kinds of fascination have now become united together +and go under the general name of _Jettatura_, in Italy, though the eye is +considered as the most potent and terrible charmer. The superstition is +universal, and pervades all modes of thought among the ignorant classes, +but its sanctuary is Naples. There it is as much a matter of faith as the +Madonna and San Gennaro. Every coral-shop is filled with amulets, and +everybody wears a counter-charm,--ladies on their arms, gentlemen on their +watch-chains, lazzaroni on their necks. If you are going to Italy,--and as +all the world now goes to Italy, you will join the endless caravan, of +course,--it becomes a matter of no small importance for you to know the +signs by which you may recognize the fascinator, and the means by which you +may avert his evil influence; for, should you fall in his way and be +unprotected, direful, indeed, might be the consequences. Sudden disease, +like a pestilence at mid-day, might seize you, and on those lovely shores +you might pine away and die. Dreadful accidents might overwhelm you and +bury all your happiness forever. Therefore be wise in time. + +"Women," says Vairus, "have more power to fascinate than men"; but the +reason he gives will not, I fear, recommend itself to the sex,--for the +worthy _padre_ feared women as devils. According to him, their evil +influence results from their unbridled passions: "_Quia irascendi et +concupiscendi animi vim adeo effrenatam habent, ut nullo modo ab ira et +cupiditate sese temperare valeant_." (Certainly, he _is_ a wretch.) But it +will be some consolation to know that the young and beautiful have far less +power for evil than "little old women," (_aniculas_,) and for these you +must specially look out. But most of all to be dreaded, male or female, are +those who are lean and melancholy by temperament, ("lean and hungry +Cassiuses,") and who have double pupils in their eyes, or in one eye a +double pupil and in the other the figure of a horse. Perhaps Mr. Squeers +and all of his kind come within this class, as having more than one pupil +always in their eye,--but, specially, this rule would seem to warn us +against jockey schoolmasters, with a horse in one eye and several pupils in +the other. Those, too, are dangerous, according to Didymus, who have +hollow, pit-like eyes, sunken under concave orbits, with great projecting +eyebrows,--as well as those who emit a disagreeable odor from their +armpits, (_con rispetto_,) and are remarkable for a general squalor of +complexion and appearance. Persons also are greatly to be suspected who +squint, or have sea-green, shining, terrible eyes. "One of these," says +Didymus, "I knew,--a certain Spaniard, whose name it is not permitted me to +mention,--who, with black and angry countenance and truculent eyes, having +reprimanded his servant for something or other, the latter was so overcome +by fear and terror, that he was not only affected with fascination, but +even deprived of his reason, and a melancholic humor attacking his whole +body, he became utterly insane, and, in the very house of his master, next +the Church of St. James, committed suicide, by hanging himself with a +rope." [Footnote: The passage from Didymus is this: "Macilenti et +melancholici, qui binas pupillas in oculis habent, aut in uno oculo geminam +pupillam, in altero effigiem equi,--quique oculos concavos ac veluti +quibusdam quasi foveis reconditos gerunt, exhaustoque adeo universo humore +ut ossa,--quibus palpebrae coherent, eminere, hirquique sordibus scatere +cernuntur,--quibus in tota cute quae faciem obducit squallor et situs +immoderatus conspicitur, facillime fascinant. Strabones, glaucos, micantes +et terribiles oculos habentes quaecumque et iratis oculis aspiciunt fascino +inficiunt. Et _ego_ hisce oculis Romae quondam Hispanum genere vidi, quem +nominare non licet, qui cum truculentis oculis tetro et irato vultu servum +ob nescio quod objurgasset, adeo servus ille timore ac terrore perterritus +fuit, ut non modo fascino affectus, sed rationis usu privatus fuerit, et +melancholico humore totum ejus corpus invadente, ita ad insaniam redactus +fuit, ut in domo sui heri prope ecclesiam Divi Jacobi sibi mortem +consciverit et laqueo vitam finiverit."] + +_Moral_.--If you ever meet with such an agreeable person as this Spaniard +appears to have been,--look out! + +In this connection, the reader will recall the similar power of Vathek, in +Beckford's romance, who killed with his eye,--and the story of Racine, whom +a look of Louis XIV. sent to his grave. + +The famous Albertus Magnus, master of medicine and magic, devotes a long +chapter to the subject of eyes, giving us, at length, descriptions of those +which we may trust and those which we must fear, some of them terrible and +vigorous enough. From among them I select the following:--"Those who have +hollow eyes are noted for evil; and the larger and moister they are, the +more they indicate envy. The same eyes, when dry, show the possessors to be +faithless, traitorous, and sacrilegious; and if these eyes are also yellow +and cold, they argue insanity. For hollow eyes are the sign of craft and +malignity; and if they are wanting in darkness, they also show +foolishness. But if the eyes are too hollow, and of medium size, dry and +rigid,--if, besides this, they have broad, overhanging eyebrows, and livid +and pallid circles round them, they indicate impudence and malignity." +[Footnote: Albertus Magnus, _De Anima_.] If this be not enough to enable +you, O my reader, to recognise the Evil Eye at sight, let me refer you to +the whole chapter, where you will find ample and very curious rules laid +down, showing a singular acuteness of observation. + +Things have, indeed, somewhat changed since the days of Didymus, in this +respect, that men are now thought to be more potent for evil _jettatura_ +than women; but his general views still coincide with those entertained at +the present time in Italy. Ever since the establishment, or rather +decadence, of the Church in the Middle Ages, monks have been considered as +peculiarly open to suspicion of possessing the Evil Eye. As long ago as the +ninth century, in the year 842, Erchempert, a _frate_ of the celebrated +convent of Monte Cassino, writes,--"I knew formerly Messer Landulf, Bishop +of Capua, a man of singular prudence, who was wont to say, 'Whenever I meet +a monk, something unlucky always happens to me during the day.'" And to +this day, there are many persons, who, if they meet a monk or priest, on +first going out in the morning, will not proceed upon their errand or +business until they have returned to their house and waited awhile. In Rome +there are certain persons who are noted for this evil power, and marked and +avoided in consequence. One of them is a most pleasant and handsome man, +attached to the Church, and yet, by odd coincidence, wherever he goes, he +carries ill-luck. If he go to a party, the ices do not arrive, the music is +late, the lamps go out, a storm comes on, the waiter smashes his tray of +refreshments,--something or other is sure to happen. "_Sentite_," said some +one the other day to me. "Yesterday, I was looking out of my window, when +I saw ---- coming along. 'Phew!' said I, making the sign of the cross and +pointing both fingers, 'what ill-luck will happen now to some poor devil +that does not see him?' I watched him all down the street, however, and +nothing occurred; but this morning I hear, that, after turning the corner, +he spoke to a poor little boy, who was up in a tree gathering some fruit, +and no sooner was out of sight than smash! down fell the boy and broke his +arm." Even the Pope himself has the reputation of possessing the Evil Eye +to some extent. Ask a Roman how this is, and he will answer, as one did to +me the other day,--"_Si dice, e per me veramente mi pare di si_": "They say +so; and as for me, really it seems to me true. If he have not the +_jettatura_, it is very odd that everything he blesses makes _fiasco_. We +all did very well in the campaign of '48 against the Austrians. We were +winning battle after battle, and all was gayety and hope, when suddenly he +blesses the cause, and everything goes to the Devil at once. Nothing +succeeds with anybody or anything when he wishes well to them. See, here +the other day he went to Santa Agnese to have a great festival, and down +goes the floor, and the people are all smashed together. Then he visits the +column to the Madonna in the Piazza di Spagna, and blesses it and the +workmen, and of course one falls from the scaffolding the same day and +kills himself. A week or two ago he arranged to meet the King of Naples at +Porto d'Anzo, and up comes a violent storm and gale that lasts a week; +then another arrangement was made, and then the fracas about the ex-queen +of Spain. Then, again, here was Lord O----- came in the other day from +Albano, being rather unwell; so the Pope sends him his special blessing, +when pop! he dies right off in a twinkling. There is nothing so fatal as +his blessing. We were a great deal better off under Gregory, before he +blessed us. Now, if he hasn't the _jettatura_, what is it that makes +everything turn out at cross purposes with him? For my part, I don't wonder +the workmen at the Column refused to work the other day in raising it, +unless the Pope stayed away." + +No less a person than Rachel seems also to have been affected with this +same superstition in regard to the Pope, if we may place confidence in the +strange story which Madame de B----- relates in her memoirs of that +celebrated daughter of Israel. According to her account, Rachel had been on +a visit to her sister, who was quite ill in the Pyrenees, when one day the +disease appeared to take so favorable a turn that Rachel left her to visit +another sister. There she met several friends, and, (to continue the story +in Madame de B-----'s words,) "exhilarated by the good news she had +brought, and the hopes all hastened to build on the change, she began to +chat and laugh quite merrily. In the midst of this exuberant gayety, her +maid broke into the room in a state of great excitement; a fit had come on, +the patient was in much danger, the physician desired Mdlle. Rachel's +immediate presence. Rising with the bound of a wounded tigress, the +_tragedienne_ seemed to seek, bewildered, some cause for the blow that had +fallen thus unexpectedly. Her eye lighted on a rosary blessed by the Pope, +and which she had worn round her arm as a bracelet ever since her visit to +Rome. Without, perhaps, accounting to herself for the belief, she had +attached some talismanic virtue to the beads. Now, however, in the height +of her rage and disappointment, she tore them from her wrist, and, dashing +them to the ground, exclaimed, 'Oh, fatal gift! 'tis thou hast entailed +this curse upon me!' With these words, she sprang out of the room, leaving +every one in mute astonishment at her frantic action." On the 23d of June, +immediately after, the sister died. + +And yet the Pope does not at all answer to the accredited portraits of +those who have the Evil Eye. He is fat, smiling, and most pleasant of +aspect, as he is good in heart. But, certainly, nothing has prospered that +he has touched. Read Dumas' description, and see if you should have +recognized the Pope as a _jettatore_. "_Le Jettatore_," says he, "_est +ordinairement pale et maigre. II a un nez en bec de corbin, de gros yeux +qui ont quelque chose de ceux de crapaud, et qu'il recouvre ordinairement +pour les dissimuler d'une paire de lunettes._" But it is the exception that +proves the rule, say those who insist on the _jettatura_ of Pius IX. + +Dumas also speaks of a work on the _jettatura_, which I have vainly +endeavored to procure, written by Nicola Valetta; and from what one can +gather from the heads of the chapters which Dumas gives, it must be a very +amusing book. [Footnote: The title of this work is _Cicalata sul Fascino, +volgarmente detto Jettatura_, by Nicola Valetta. It was published more than +fifty years since, and copies are now rare.] These heads are as +follows. They speak for themselves, and show the fear entertained of a +monk. He examines:-- + +"1. If a man inflicts a more terrible _jettatura_ than a woman? + +"2. If he who wears a peruke is more to be feared than he who wears none? + +"3. If he who wears spectacles is not more to be feared than he who wears a +peruke? + +"4. If he who takes tobacco is not more to be feared than he who wears +spectacles? and if spectacles, peruke, and snuff-box combined do not triple +the force of the _jettatura?_ + +"5. If the woman _jettatrice_ is more to be feared when she is _enceinte?_ + +"6. If there is still more to be feared from her when she is certain that +she is not _enceinte?_ + +"7. If monks are more generally _jettatori_ than other men? and among monks +what order is most to be feared? + +"8. At what distance can _jettatura_ be made? + +"9. Must it be made in front, or at the side, or behind? + +"10. If there are really gestures, sounds of voice, and particular looks, +by which _jettatura_ may be recognized? + +"11. If there are prayers which can guaranty us against the _jettatura?_ +and if so, whether there are any special prayers to guaranty us against the +_jettatura_ of monks? + +"12. Lastly, whether the power of modern talismans is equal to the power of +ancient talismans? and whether the single or the double horn is most +efficacious?" + +Luckless, indeed, is he who has the misfortune to possess, or the +reputation of possessing this fatal power. From that time forward the world +flees him, as the water did Thalaba. A curse is on him, and from the very +terror at seeing him accidents are most likely to follow. Keep him from +your children, or they will break their legs, arms, or necks. Look not at +him from your carriage, or it will upset. Let him not see your wife when +she is _enceinte,_ or she will miscarry, or you will have a monster for a +son. Never invite him to a ball, unless you wish to see your chandelier +smash, or the floor give way. Invite him not to dinner, or your mushrooms +will poison you, and your fish will smell. If he wishes you _buon viaggio_, +abandon the journey, if you would return alive. Nor be deceived by his good +manners and kind heart. It is of no avail that he is amiable and good in +all his intentions,--his _jettatura_ is without and beyond his will,--nay, +worse, is contrary to it; for all _jettatura_ goes like dreams, by +contraries. Therefore shudder when he wishes you well, for he can do no +worse thing. + +If you do not believe what I tell you, read the wonderful story of Count +----- which is told by Dumas in his "Corriccolo," and at least you will be +amused, if not convinced. Listen, however, to this one historical incident, +and believe it or not, as you please. Ferdinand of Naples died on the night +of the 3d of January, 1825, and was found dead in the morning. The +physicians attributed his death to a stroke of apoplexy; but that was in +consequence of their pretended science and real ignorance. The actual cause +of his death was this,--and if you do not believe it, ask any true +Neapolitan, or Alexander Dumas, if you put more faith in him.--A certain +_canonico,_ named Don Ojori, had for many years desired an audience of +Ferdinand, to present him a certain book, of which Don Ojori was the +author. The King had his good reasons for refusing, for Don Ojori was well +known to be the greatest _jettatore_ in Naples. Finally, on the 2d of +January, the King was persuaded to grant him the desired favor the next +day, much against his will. The _canonico_ came, and after a long audience +left his book and many prayers for the King's prosperity. But Ferdinand did +not survive the interview a whole day; and if this be not proof that Don +Ojori bewitched him to his destruction, what is? + + * * * * * + + + +PYTHAGORAS. + +Above the petty passions of the crowd +I stand in frozen marble like a god, +Inviolate, and ancient as the moon. +The thing I am, and not the thing Man is, +Fills these blank sockets. Let him moan and die; +For he is dust that shall be laid again: +I know my own creation was divine. +Strewn on the breezy continents I see +The veined shells and glistening scales which once +Enwrapt my being,--husks that had their use; +I brood on all the shapes I must attain +Before I reach the Perfect, which is God, +And dream my dream, and let the rabble go: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + +I was a spirit on the mountain-tops,-- +A perfume in the valleys,--a simoom +On arid deserts,--a nomadic wind +Roaming the universe,--a tireless Voice. +I was ere Romulus and Remus were; +I was ere Nineveh and Babylon; +I was, and am, and evermore shall be,-- +Progressing, never reaching to the end. + +A hundred years I trembled in the grass, +The delicate trefoil that muffled warm +A slope on Ida; for a hundred years +Moved in the purple gyre of those dark flowers +The Grecian women strew upon the dead. +Under the earth, in fragrant glooms, I dwelt; +Then in the veins and sinews of a pine +On a lone isle, where, from the Cyclades, +A mighty wind, like a leviathan, +Ploughed through the brine, and from those solitudes +Sent Silence, frightened. To and fro I swayed, +Drawing the sunshine from the stooping clouds. +Suns came and went,--and many a mystic moon, +Orbing and waning,--and fierce meteor, +Leaving its lurid ghost to haunt the night +I heard loud voices by the sounding shore, +The stormy sea-gods,--and from ivory conchs +Wild music; and strange shadows floated by, +Some moaning and some singing. So the years +Clustered about me, till the hand of God +Let down the lightning from a sultry sky, +Splintered the pine and split the iron rock; +And from my odorous prison-house, a bird, +I in its bosom, darted: so we fled, +Turning the brittle edge of one high wave,-- +Island and tree and sea-gods left behind! + +Free as the air, from zone to zone I flew, +Far from the tumult to the quiet gates +Of daybreak; and beneath me I beheld +Vineyards, and rivers that like silver threads +Ran through the green, and gold of pasture-lands,-- +And here and there a hamlet, a white rose,-- +And here and there a city, whose slim spires +And palace-roofs and swollen domes uprose +Like scintillant stalagmites in the sun; +I saw huge navies battling with a storm +By ragged reefs along the desolate coasts,-- +And lazy merchantmen, that crawled, like flies, +Over the blue enamel of the sea +To India or the icy Labradors. + +A century was as a single day. +What is a day to an immortal soul? +A breath,--no more. And yet I hold one hour +Beyond all price,--that hour when from the heavens +I circled near and nearer to the earth, +Nearer and nearer, till I brushed my wings +Against the pointed chestnuts, where a stream +That foamed and chattered over pebbly shoals +Fled through the bryony, and with a shout +Leaped headlong down a precipice: and there, +Gathering wild-flowers in the cool ravine, +Wandered a woman more divinely shaped +Than any of the creatures of the air, +Or river-goddesses, or restless shades +Of noble matrons marvellous in their time +For beauty and great suffering; and I sung, +I charmed her thought, I gave her dreams; and then +Down from the sunny atmosphere I stole +And nestled in her bosom. There I slept +From moon to moon, while in her eyes a thought +Grew sweet and sweeter, deepening like the dawn, +A mystical forewarning! When the stream, +Breaking through leafless brambles and dead leaves, +Piped shriller treble, and from chestnut-boughs +The fruit dropped noiseless through the autumn night, +I gave a quick, low cry, as infants do: +We weep when we are born, not when we die! +So was it destined; and thus came I here, +To walk the earth and wear the form of man, +To suffer bravely as becomes my state,-- +One step, one grade, one cycle nearer God. + +And knowing these things, can I stoop to fret +And lie and haggle in the market-place, +Give dross for dross, or everything for nought? +No! let me sit above the crowd, and sing, +Waiting with hope for that miraculous change +Which seems like sleep; and though I waiting starve, +I cannot kiss the idols that are set +By every gate, in every street and park,-- +I cannot fawn, I cannot soil my soul: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + + * * * * * + + + +CLARIAN'S PICTURE. + +A LEGEND OF NASSAU HALL. + +"Turbine raptus ingenii."--SCALIGER. + + +Mac and I dined together yesterday,--as we are used to do at least once or +twice every year, for the sake of our ever-mellowing friendship, and those +good old times in which it began. Like all who are ripe enough to have +memories, we delight to recall the period of our vernal equinox, and to +moralize, with gentle sadness and many wise wags of our frosty polls, upon +the events in which that period was prolific; and so, when the cloth was +removed yesterday, and we sat toying with our cigars and our Sherry, our +talk insensibly drifted back to those merry college-days when we not +infrequently "heard the chimes at midnight." + +"Ah, old fellow," quoth I to my chum, "those good old days are gone by, +now, and Israel worships strange gods. Old Nassau will never be what she +was before the fire of '55. Those precious heirlooms of our day are sunk +from sight forever, dear and mossy as they were,--swept down, like cobwebs, +before the flame-besom. _'Fuit Ilium!'_ The old bell will never again ring +out the gay 'larums of a 'Third Entry' barring-out. Homer's head no longer +perches owl-like and wise over the central door-way. _'Ai, Adonai!'_ No +more wilt proud fingers point to the spot whereat entered--not like +'Casca's envious dagger'--that well-aimed cannon-ball which pierced the +picture-gallery, punched 'Georgius Res' on the head, and frightened away +forever the Hessians that were stabled there, fouling the nest of stout old +John Witherspoon. They call other rolls now in chapel and in class-room, +and chant other songs at their revels and their feasts. '_Eheu, +Posthume!_'" + +"Pshaw, Ned Blount! there's corn in Egypt still. Out of that bug-riddled +old barn we used to know a new and comely Phoenix has been born unto +Princeton; the fire hath purged, not destroyed; and we wiseacres who +flourished in the old 'flush times' yet survive in tradition, patterns for +our children, very Turveydrops of collegiate deportment. The belfry clangs +with a louder peal; even Clarian's Picture, though it hath utterly perished +to the eye of sense, lives vivid in a thousand memories, and, having found +in the tenderness of tradition and legend an engraver whose burin is as +faithful as Raphael Morghen's, has left the damp dark wall, like Leonardo's +_Cenacolo_, to accompany all of us to our firesides." + +Clarian's Picture! what memories the mention of it stirred up! + +"Poor Clarian!" I murmured. + +"Poor, indeed I" repeated Mac, with a sneer. "He is only worth a lovely +wife and six children, with half a million to back them. And he only weighs +two hundred pounds, with I forget how many inches of fat over the +brisket. Poor, indeed! 'Tis pity you and I have not experienced a slight +attack of that same poverty, Ned Blount!" + +"Poor Clarian!" repeated I, sturdily. "To think that a man who could paint +such a picture, a soul of imagination so compact, a so delicate +ether-breathing spirit, should settle down at last into a mere mechanical, +a plodding, every-day merchant, whose finest fancies are given to the +condition of the money-market, who governs his actions by a decline of +Erie, and narrows his ideas down to the requirements of filthy lucre, like +a mere 'wintry clod of earth'! Ay, poor Clarian, poor anybody, when we wake +from our bright youth-dream and tread the rough pathway of a reality like +this!" + +"_Potz tausend_! the man is _fou_!" shouted Mac. "Come, drink your wine, +Ned, and we'll have our coffee. It is quite time, I think,--and he used to +be a three-bottle fellow," muttered my dear old friend, _sotto +voce_. "'_Heu, heu! tempora mutantur, et nos_'--well, well, well!" + + * * * * * + +Clarian's Picture! What a gush of recollection the words evoke! I was in +the heyday and blossom of my youth then, and now--well, 'tis some years +since; yet how vividly I remember that pleasant noontide of a day of early +summer, when, as a party of us students were lounging about the gates that +opened from our shady campus upon the street, "Dennis" handed me a note +from Clarian, in which my little friend announced that his picture was +finished at last, and invited Mac and myself to call and see it +"exhibited," at nine o'clock that very evening. We were talking about +Clarian and his picture, at the time,--as, indeed, we had been doing for a +month,--and when I mentioned the purport of the note, curiosity rose to the +tiptoe of expectation, and numerous surmises were set afloat. I could have +satisfied their queries as to the subject and character of the picture, for +Mac and I had seen it only a few days before, but Clarian expected us to be +secret about it; so I only listened and smiled, while the eager talk ran +on, and a thousand conjectures were hazarded. + +"So the _magnum opus_ is finished at last," said Clayt Zoile, showing by +his manner, as he joined us, that he at least had not received an +invitation; "a precious specimen of Art it will prove, I doubt not, after +all the outcry about it. '_Montes parturiunt_' etc." + +"You'll lose your wish this time, Clayt," drawled Mounchersey, carelessly; +"Mr. Cosine told me yesterday that 'Boss' has called on Clarian about his +cutting so many prayers and recites, and that, after seeing the unfinished +picture, he gave the youngster _carte blanche_ as to time, till it is +completed;--so it must be something worth looking at" + +"I guess Ned Blount's glad the picture is finished," said Tone Ninyan, +turning to me,--"a'n't you, Ned?" + +I confessed I was not by any means sorry, for Clarian's sake. + +"No," laughed Zoile, "Ned isn't sorry,--be sure of that; for he wants his +dear 'Whitewash' restored again to the bosom of society, lest the walls of +his reputation should by chance suffer from fly-speck." + +These words created a laugh at my expense; for Clarian had shown himself, +in his warm, generous way, such a zealous advocate of my immaculate +perfection, that he was quite generally known by the _sobriquet_ of "Ned +Blount's Whitewash." + +Just then Mac came along, on his way to the post-office, and I joined him, +showing him Ciarian's note. + +"Hum," growled my good old chum, as he read it, "don't want to be disturbed +to-day; sick, is he? I'd like to know who's to blame, if he isn't. Wishes +me to bring my Shakspeare along;--it's a wonder he had not said Plotinus, +or Jacob Boehme's 'Aurora'; they're more in his style. The deuse take that +boy and his picture, Ned! What if we two fools have been playing too +roughly with such plastic clay? I wish to-night were come and gone +safely. I'll go see Dr. Thorne, and ask him to accompany us to-night. He +claims to be something of a connoisseur, and the picture is really worth +seeing, if the lad has not spoiled it with his 'final touches'. And anyhow, +the boy will be a study for a psychological monomaniac like Thorne." + +"You apprehend, then...." + +"_Sapperment_, you owl-face! I apprehend nothing; only it will be as well +to have Thorne present, for the boy is out of sorts, and his nerves were +never very strong. Now look here, Ned Blount! don't put on that lugubrious +phiz, I pray you;--and, moreover, don't you ever dare introduce any more of +your Freshmen _protege's_ to me; for, I warn you, I'll insult them, and +you, too,--I will, by Jove!" + +I was not less impatient than Mac for the night to come, for I was very +anxious about Clarian, dreading lest some catastrophe was about to overtake +him,--and the thought was by no means pleasant. For, as Mac had said, the +lad was a _protege_ of mine; he had been given into my charge by his sweet +lady-mother; he had looked up to me as his senior and his friend; and I +could not help feeling, that, if anything untoward should happen to him, it +would be partly my fault. + +From the very first I had been strongly attracted towards Clarian. Indeed, +the lad was remarkable for a peculiar spiritual beauty of person and +sweetness of manner that made almost every one love him. He was, in fact, +_lovely_, in the etymological sense of that misused word, and people +softened towards him as to a young, guileless child. I have known men cease +swearing when he drew near, drop ribaldry, and take up some more innocent +topic, simply through an unconscious impulse of fitness,--feeling that such +things had no business to be repeated in his presence. And they were right; +for a purer spirit than Clarian's I have never encountered in man or woman. +His face most reminded one of the portraits of Raphael at twenty. He had +the same broad, smooth forehead,--the same soft skin, delicate, yet rich as +the inner leaves of a pale rose,--the same finely shaped nose, and ripe, +womanly mouth, which a Persian, in default of a more tangible analogy, +would have likened to the seal of Solomon. But his lower face was somewhat +less full than Raphael's, the chin being shorter and sharper, and the jaw +curving less sensuously. His hair was of the purest chestnut hue, rich and +silken, showing here and there a thread of gold; he wore it long, and +flowing in half-ringlets upon his neck and shoulders. Clarian's eye was +large and dark, tender, rather sad, with now and then a speculative depth, +now and then a hint of the Romeo fore-doom, now and then a warm eloquence, +when meeting yours, that reminded strangely of a woman loving and in +love. Other womanly traits he had, such as the ingenuous blush with which +he asked or did a favor, and a certain not very boyish fondness for +softness and elegance of dress. Not that Clarian was effeminate, or in any +material respect deficient in manly character; but his mother was a widow, +and he her only son, and consequently he had been brought up like a girl, +at home, without any slightest opportunity to acquire those +rough-and-tumble experiences of ordinary boyhood which are so necessary to +fit us for battling in the world; for the world, though not unfeeling at +core, wears yet a sufficiently rough rind, and pretends but little sympathy +with persons of Clarian's stamp. + +Hence, when Clarian came to college, he knew very little of life +indeed,--and, moreover, he cherished not a few ascetic notions, deeming +this world "all a fleeting show," from whose vain illusions it was one's +chief duty to shield one's self. He had never read a novel, save "some of +Scott's,"--nor ever seen or read a play, not even of Shakspeare's. How I +envied him this new world, in whose usages I had been _blase_ long before I +was of an age to appreciate its beauties,--this bright, fancy-fostering +world, to which he was to go all fresh and unsophisticated, like a bride to +the nuptial sheets! In literature of a more solid kind his practice was +quite considerable: he had surveyed many fields of Art, History, and +Theology, all of which, however, had first been submitted to the test of +that anxious maternal _Index Expurgatorius_, lest some drop of infidelity +or impurity should trickle in unawares, to darken or embitter the pure +crystal waters of his soul. Ah, thou poor fond mother, so unreasoningly +ignoring the fact that each of us must somehow eat his "peck of dirt"! + +Thus intrusted to my charge, and having such attractive elements in his +character, I naturally took great interest in Clarian, and particularly +spared no effort to give him use in college ways. I saw that the lad was +not one to bear being laughed at, and so did all I could to screen him from +the embarrassments of ignorance,--taught him our customs, our fashions, and +gave him lessons upon that immemorial dialect in which college sublegists +delight. I chicaned to secure him a fine room, which his lady-mother +furnished "like a bridal chamher", if our Nassau cynics were to be +credited,--introduced him where it was necessary, and exercised generally +towards him that distinguished patronage which one who "knows the ropes" is +able to bestow upon a very Freshman. + +A fine generous fellow was Clarian, for all his apron-string +antecedents,--bold as a lion, and as trustworthy as he was enthusiastic. +He was of rather too nervous a temperament to be precisely healthy in all +mental respects, but nevertheless had a fine comprehensive mind, very +capable of sustained and concentrated effort. He had been well taught, and, +unfortunately, was so far advanced beyond the studies of his class as to +have a great deal of leisure. In consequence he turned to reading, and +here, again unfortunately, he put himself under my guidance, and suffered +me to govern him in his choice of books: unfortunately, I say, for I was +then a worshipper of that clay-footed Nebuchadnezzar-image, Metaphysics, +which I fondly deemed all of gold, and the most genuine of things. So, when +Clarian came to me, I was eager enough to put to his lips the wine of which +I was drunken. The boy took his first sip from Coleridge's "Biographia +Literaria",--that cracked Bohemian glass, which, handed in a golden salver +that might have come from the cunning graver of Cellini, yet forces one to +taste, over a flawed and broken edge, the sourest drop of ill-made _vin du +pays_, heavily drugged and made bitter with Paracelsian laudanum. Under +that strange patchwork quilt so imaginative a soul as Clarian could not +fail to dream. It was a great pity I had not been more circumspect, for the +boy was already too deeply steeped in those Acherontic waters. His mother, +like many other women, had loved to wander along the dreamy paths of +sentimental theology, clothing from her own beautiful mind the dim, +unsubstantial spectres that beckoned her, and accepting all their mystic +utterances, in blind faith, for genuine oracles of God. Into these by-ways +he had followed her, and his clearer vision had just sufficed to reveal to +him the ghosts, without teaching him how to master or dispel them. Thus, +Cowper's sweetness, which charmed her, became to him Cowper's dejection and +despairing sadness, perplexing enough to his young brain. Where she took up +and fed her soul upon John Wesley's conclusions, the boy found himself +involved in John Wesley's perplexities, and struggling in desperate wrestle +with the haunting shapes to which John Wesley had given successful +battle. Thus prepared, no wonder my eager little friend plunged headlong +into the sea of doubts, impatient to cry, "Eureka!" and plant his foot upon +the Islands of the Blessed. The new excitement completely swept his feet +from under him. 'Twas but a step from Coleridge and _Esemplastic_ matters +to Plotinus, and in a month he had taken that step,--the more readily, that +he was a right good Grecian, and found no unpleasant philological +difficulties in the "Enneades". Thence he went on in feverish unrest, +wildly running up and down all _Niffelheim_ in quest of some centre-point +upon which he could stand firm and look around him. He had an excellent +mind, and, unexcited, could take sufficiently common-sense views of most +matters; but this was too much for him. He made substance of shadows, and +then exhausted himself in giving them battle. He became anxious, uneasy, +nervous,--showing very plainly, that, in his search after the Alkahest, he +had injured his powers by making trial of too many drugs. + +Mac, with his sturdy good sense, and unerring mace-like judgment, speedily +became aware of this waste of function to which Clarian was subjecting +himself, and warned me accordingly. + +"Why do you let that boy bother his brains about your stupid _Ego_ and +_Non-Ego_?" said he. "Don't you see he is injuring himself, beginning to +sink under a sort of mental _albumenurea_,--at the very time, too, when he +has most need of stamina? He does nothing but read, read, read,--and what, +forsooth? Not anything that will teach him the genuineness of life and +manhood, but those damnable spirit-exalting, body-despising emasculates of +Alexandria,--Madame Guyon's meditations, too, and Isaac Taylor's giddy +see-sawings,--all heresies, and bosh,--'Dead-Sea fruits that turn to +ashes', and not only disgust you, but blister tongue and lips most +vilely. You'll have him next trying to treat with the gods, to attain +Brahm's purification, Boodh's annihilation, to jump over the moon, or doing +something that will make him candidate for the shaved-head-and-blister +treatment. Remember, Ned, his brain is made of finer stuff than that stolid +sponge inside your _pia mater_, that can take in _quantum sufficit_ of +beer, fog, and tobacco-smoke, unharmed. He can't stand it, and he's too +rare and delicate a machine to go cranky thus soon. You've got the child +under your thumb,--bring him out o' that. Make him take a dose of Verulam, +get him back into the world again, and order him four hours _per diem_ at +the dumb-bells." + +And so, the next time Clarian came to our rooms, and was eagerly soliciting +my opinion of a little essay he had written, to establish the identity of +the Logos with the Demiurgic Mind, ("Plato's World-Soul, called in 'Timaeus' +the best of Eternal Intelligences, the Noetic Partaker and Digester of +Reason", said Clarian in his tract,) with some corollaries for the purpose +of reconciling _Geist_ and _Freiheit_, all sauced down, _a l'Allemagne_, +with numerous capitals and a proper degree of incomprehensibility,--Mac +bluffly interrupted the colloquy, and accosted Clarian,-- + +"Younker! do you know you're a fool?" + +Clarian colored up,-- + +"How, Mac?" + +"What are we--Ned, and you, and I--here for?" + +"To acquire knowledge." + +"Ay, knowledge,--but what for?" + +"To fit us for heaven." + +"Phew! then you calculate to graduate from 'these classic shades' direct +into celestial regions, do you, without sojourning awhile in this terrene +purgatory? I do not, and, moreover, _je n'en ai pas l'envie_; I think the +world has some claims upon me, and I mean to pay that debt, D. V." + +"So do I, Mac," rejoined Clarian, a little proudly. + +"And do you suppose your present studies adapted to fit you for such work? +Now, if you want to be a monk, if you are willing, like Origen, to purchase +with your entire manhood some supposed facility of spiritual contemplation +and depth of insight into the Infinite, or if you intend to become a +Brahmin, and seek in your navel the dyspeptic divinity who there wields his +sceptre, while your despised body is given up to the predatory ravages of +_genus pediculus_, well and good. Follow your hest, go on and conquer the +[Greek: gnosis] and when you have got it, just inform me what it looks +like, and whether you will be more able to make use of it than the fellow +was of the elephant he bought at auction. But if you desire to take a man's +part in this grand world around you, you must leap off your shadow, and +never think about thinking, as the new Olympian has it. Let quiddities +alone, they are dry-bone vampires, that drain you of your blood without +growing fatter themselves." + +"But how can truth harm? and that is what I seek,--truth, and beauty; if I +commune with the world-soul, then also I know the world." + +"Faugh! let shadows alone; believe in the man; do not be persuaded that the +body is depraved and corrupt, and only the soul is worthy to be cultivated. +Hold fast to the tangible. We know that we have a body, spite the Bishop of +Cloyne, far more certainly than we know we have a soul. See, the soul is +this smoke, that evanishes so quickly; the body this meerschaum that I have +in my fingers, and will smoke again, please God." + +"But it is the smoke, not the pipe, that gives you pleasure, and is the +important consideration, Mac." + +"Confound analogies, and pert Freshmen!" growled my chum, puffing +vigorously. "Nevertheless, it is a noble and right royal thing, this +body,--a thing to be cared for and cultivated for its own sake, apart from +the fact of its being God's chosen sanctuary for what He lends us to see +Him by. And you are neglecting it, both in theory and practice, Clarian; so +you must give up these infernal Metaphysics. If you _will_ bother about +speculative matters, let Bacon teach you the correctives of error, and +Locke how to govern and rein in the understanding. But you'd better learn +first what men say about men. It may not make you happier, but it will make +you wiser, and wisdom ranks high in heaven: Gabriel, Raphael, +Michael,--'tis the second person in that archangelic trinity. Did you ever +read Shakspeare? No, of course not; and yet I'll wager you have been +hankering after the Bhagavat Ghita, and trying to get a copy of the +illustrious Trismegistan Gimander! Don't blush,--you're not the first young +man who has made an a--ahem--made a mistake. Fie! Learn men, Clarian, and +then you will come to know man,--the surest way, I take it, of knowing the +Multitudinous God. So read you Shakspeare, and AEschylus, save the +'Prometheus,'--_that_ was begotten of Bactrian lore upon the mysteries of +Karnac, and does not touch man nearly, spite of all its grandeur. Here, +listen, and I will give you a lesson in the Myriad-Minded whom +Stratford-upon-Avon blessed our little earth with." + +Therewith, Mac began to read from the first act of "The Tempest." Now chum +was a Shakspeare enthusiast, and, withal, a very fine reader, as well as, +from long study, quite pervaded with the Master's diction and style of +thought. As he read on, he commented, in his brief, pointed way, upon the +text, contrasting the Boatswain's practical usefulness with the shivering +helplessness of the Courtiers. "Now this is your proper somatology," he +added. "What our Bo's'un says to Gonzalo, the world will say to you, +Clarian, when you propose to it any of your panaceas: Are you able to do +better than we? If so, save us from the shipwreck that threatens. If not, +go to your prayers. Anyhow, 'out of our way, I say!'" + +"Bravo!" cried I, when the homily came to an end, "Mac is preaching +Carlylism, as I'm a sinner. The next utterance will be something about +roofing Hell over, or the Everlasting Yea, or Morrison's Pills! Proceed: +'lay on,' Mac! none of us will cry, 'Hold, enough!' save under risible +compulsion." + +Mac sulked awhile, but soon resumed his reading,--sparing us further +comment, however. Thus was Clarian led over the threshold, and introduced +into Shakspeare's magic world. When Mac closed his book at the end of the +act, Clarian's face glowed with a flattering something that must have +pleased my chum, for he _was_ proud of his reading,--and the moisture +glittering in the lad's eye, his flushed cheek, and the tremor of his voice +as he asked to hear more, spoke volumes. + +But Mac said, "No,--enough is as good as a feast, younker, and just now I +have to go with Bacchus in quest of a tragedian for Athens,--[Greek: brek +kek koax, koax], you know. Study the Master yourself: and let me by all +means advise your wisdom to detect a mystery in 'Hamlet,' and to essay the +solution of the same. Nobody else has done so, of course, and it will +become your long head. I've met several very mild, quiet people, whom you +would not suspect of the slightest impropriety; but mention the Dane, and, +_presto!_ off they go upon their hobbies, ('theories,' they call 'em,) and +canter around Bedlam at a most generous pace. '_Semel insanivimus omnes_,' +I suppose, and Hamlet and the Apocalypse offer rare opportunities." + +"Now, Ned," said Mac, somewhat complacently, when Clarian was gone, "I +think I have done that young rascal some good, and the bard will advantage +him still more, if he can only be moderate enough." + +And, indeed, these new pastures thus unbarred to Clarian's coltish fancies +made a great change in the lad. At first he simply revelled in the new +world of beauty that the Master's wand evoked, like a bird in the fresh, +warm sunshine of returning spring. But this did not last long; the bird +must busy himself with nest-building. Clarian's ardent, impetuous nature +must evolve results, would not content itself with mere sensations. So he +began to study Shakspeare,--not, as he had studied the philosophers, to +pluck out and make his own some cosmical, pervading thought, but to find +matter for Art-purposes. I think, that, if ever there was a born artist, +who united to a fine aesthetic sense the fervor of a devotee, Clarian was +that one, heart and soul. Some men make a mistress of Art, and sink down, +lost in sensual pleasure and excess, till the Siren grows tired and +destroys them. Other men wed Art, and from the union beget them fair, +lovely, ay, immortal children, as Raphael did. Some again, confounding Art +with their own inordinate vanity, grow stern and harsh with making +sacrifices to the stone idol, grinding down their own hearts in vain +experimenting after properer pigments, whereby themselves may attain to a +chill and profitless immortality. But there are others still, who, +elevating Art into a grand divinity, bow down and worship it, devote their +lives to its priesthood, and, as a reward, only ask the god to reveal to +them once his unveiled effulgence, content with the one communion, though +their rashness be fatal, and the god's benison prove but the ashes of +Semele. Towards this class Clarian tended, I knew very well, and hence, +from the first, I had thrown a damper upon his artistic aspirations, often +rewarded by his mournful and reproaching glances, as I sneered at his +sketches,--which, to tell the truth, were most admirable, showing at once a +keen poetic insight, fine composition, and an unusual mastery of technical +details. The obedient fellow had bowed to what he deemed my better +judgment, and turned away, with something of a sigh, from his dear love and +ambition. Now, however, this love came suddenly back, and with tenfold +intensity, as is always the case, and, though I dreaded its unhealthiness, +I could no longer thwart him. Indeed, the Art-sense took such complete +possession of him that I feared to interpose obstacles. He did not go about +his work like a boy, but bent himself to it with the calm, resolute purpose +of a man of forty. I could see the increasing mastery of the idea, in his +changed eye, in his compressed lip, in his statelier, calmer pose; and, +however incredulous we may be respecting _results_, these initiatory +motions never fail to impress us. Even Bluebeard would forbear to strike +down his pregnant wife, for the sake of what she bore under her bosom; and +I, seeing the boy's careful study, and his long and laborious preparation, +could not help looking forward to a result of commensurate importance. + +Nevertheless, it was my duty to have combated Clarian's tendencies, for I +could not help seeing the daily injury they did him. _Ars longa, vita +brevis_, was an overpowering conviction of the lad's, and he went to work +to apply the maddest of correctives. Art so exacting and life so short, +then it was his office to labor so much the more earnestly, so much the +more eagerly, that he might squeeze dry this orange of the present, and +lose no opportunity, no moment. Thus it came to pass with him, as it does +with us all who overwork ourselves, that actually he did less than he might +have done, and warped himself in a most pitiable way indeed. A +conscientious fellow, as he was, Clarian had hitherto been very faithful to +his duties in the regular curriculum,--but now all this was changed. Here +was a grand something to be done, a something so grand, indeed, that his +whole life must bow before its exactions, and all minor duties step out of +the way of Juggernaut. Who thinks of etiquette, of drawing-room +trivialities, when here we are before this mistress, at whose feet we must +pour out our soul? for her love blesses us with new life, her scorn damns +us with eternal despair. In this cursed fashion always the Idea masters a +man's soul, when he has once listened to its Lurlei-song. Henceforth he is +only to see things in the light it chooses to shed upon them. Let your +Alchemist but seek his Elixir long enough for the poison to fairly fill his +veins, and behold what a slave and a monster the Idea shall make of him! +Projection awaits him; the elements are here, commingling _in balneo +Mariae_; already _Rosa Solis_ lends its generative warmth; already hath _Leo +Rubeus_ wooed and won his lily bride; already hath the tincture headed up +royally in ruby and in purple, and sublimed, and gone through the entire +circle of embryonic processes: quick! there lacks but the one element; in +with it, and we are masters of the Life-Secret, of wealth, and power, and +all else the world can bestow,--ay, and we can give back to the world all +it asks! Yes, but that element is _Sanguis Virginis_. Well, and why not a +virgin's blood? Great things must be purchased,--cannot be plucked, like +fruit, from every tree. Were it _Sanguis Senis_, now, who would tap a vein +more readily than we, ay, even were a drop from the carotid required? And +must the world lose all this divine gift for a simple? What did Abraham on +Moriah? Here is this child; of what use is she to the world?--yet a few +ounces of her blood, and man is regenerate. In her innocence, too,--why, a +Manichee would have done it for her own sake. Come, quick knife,--and, we +do murder! I tell you, by dwelling on it, tasting, smelling of it, taking +it into our bosoms, and making ourselves familiar with it, we poor men can +finally persuade ourselves that the most damning thought begot of Hell upon +a putrescent brain is the fairest, brightest, most glorious _Deus +vult_. Here was the danger that menaced Clarian, ay, had already begun to +insinuate its poison into his daily food. The simple fact of his neglecting +his studies proved this. It was a venial sin, doubtless,--but still, it was +his _premier pas_, and, as such, ominous enough. + +Giving himself up to his art, he soon began to illustrate in his person the +effects of confinement and excessive thought. His pale cheek grew paler +still, the hollows under his eyes deepened, and his slim fingers waxed +slimmer and more transparent than ever. I could see also that he had +excessive bile,--not only ascertainable by looking at his imbrowned eye, +but deducible from a change in his temper that was by no means an +improvement. His room was full of sketches and drawing-material: these +attracted visitors, and visitors were a trouble. Perhaps there was +impertinence in their curiosity, very likely their presence hindered him; +but, nevertheless, it was by no means like the sweet-tempered Clarian to +show irritability and petulance, and finally, closing his door obstinately +against all comers, to elect for solitude and silence at his work. +No,--the boy was changed, grown morbid, a pervert, ripe for whatever +Devil's sickle might be put forth to gather him in. + +Thus things went on from bad to worse, until the authorities began to take +notice of the lad's derelictions. The kind old President sent for me, and +made many inquiries about Clarian. Evidently the elders were not a trifle +bothered by my little _protege's_ proceedings, and did not know how to +act. He had been much liked, his character was unblemished, he had done +himself credit in his studies: what did all this change mean? The Faculty +made it a rule to respect every man's privacy as much as possible,--but +Mr. Blount well knew that the present state of things could not long be +permitted. In their eyes, the backslider was palpably a far more unsavory +fact than the original sinner. Could not Mr. Blount use his influence in +some way, or suggest some course? Mr. Blount presented Clarian's cause in +as favorable a light as possible; spoke of the youth's noble nature; +guarantied that there was no moral obliquity; strongly advised leniency; +venturing withal to hope, nay, to believe, that all this devotion, so +intense, to a single purpose, would not be fruitless, might possibly win +him credit. He certainly had fine imagination, and then he was so absorbed +in his work;--it was a question whether it would help him most to encourage +or to repress his ardor at present. The Doctor pondered, said he would take +the matter into consideration,--it were a pity to nip any wholesome +enthusiasm i' the bud,--"but it is very apparent, Mr. Blount, that the +young man, if he goes on, will experience the fate of Orpheus, and so needs +to be curbed in time. '_Medio tutissimus ibis_', saith Naso,--a maxim the +non-observance of which cost him the pain and disgrace of exile. And you +should strive to impress the truth of it upon Clarian; spare no pains to +rouse him. This seclusion is what I most dread. The poet Spenser hath made +all his viler passions dwellers in caves and darkness, and with truth; for +solitude is fatal, where there are morbid and melancholic tendencies. A +very wise German, remarking upon the text, 'It is not good for man to be +alone,' added, very finely,--'and above all, it is not good for man to +_work_ alone; he requires sympathy, encouragement, excitement, to succeed +in anything good.'" + +But I found the worthy old Doctor's advice easier to inculcate than to +practise. Clarian did not need my sympathy, had excitement and +encouragement enough in his own hopes, and, in fact, like the Boatswain in +"The Tempest," only required to be let alone. Still, he paid us a visit now +and then, and gave us to understand that he denied himself our society, did +not thrust it aside as something useless and disagreeable. When he came, he +would talk freely, and give us but too plain evidence of the change and +confusion that were taking place in him. Mac never spared him at these +times, and on one occasion, only a fortnight previous to the exhibition of +the picture, fairly drove the boy into a passion. + +"Well, Mr. Whitewash," said he, as Clarian came in, "how are you at this +present writing? You _look_ as if you had been dieting on Gamboge and Flake +White. Take care, young man, or you'll put us students to the cost of a +tombstone with a Latin epitaph for you, yet,--beginning, _Interfecit +se_.--How comes on the Art? You've given the go-by to _Ego_ and _Non-Ego_, +I suppose, and have resolved to achieve the very [Greek: kudos] upon a +ten-foot whitewashed wall, eh? _Soit_,--but what results? Can you say yet, +as Correggio did when he saw the St. Cecilia of Raphael, '_Anch' io son +pittore_'? or do you intend to limit your ambition, _a la_ Dick Tinto, to +the effecting of two liquidations in one by the restoration of +tavern-signs?" + +"Please do not taunt me, Mac, for I am cast down, almost. I have the +grandest conception, but the life-touch escapes me. It is in vain I seek +it: we cannot do a thing properly, unless we _feel_ it; passion will not be +simulated. What we know, and can do well, must all be repeated from our own +experience, says St. Simon,--and I agree with him." + +"St. Simon be--hanged!" quoth Mac. "So, it seems, the Metaphysic is not +abandoned. St. Simon, forsooth!--why, his doctrine was, that, to comprehend +the nature of crime, one had first to commit crime himself. Pah! according +to that, he who would most thoroughly learn the philosophy of our carnal +lusts must exchange natures with the goat. Pray, why do not you solicit +Herr Urian to give you a hircine metamorphosis, Clarian?" + +"Nay, Mac, can it be thus put off with a jest and a sneer, after all? What +do you think of these words I came across last night?"--and opening his +note-book, Clarian read as follows: "For of old it hath been clearly +proven, action without passion is nought save idle folly. _Passio Christi +hominis redemptio_. For as sin came into the world by suffering, so also +the gift of knowledge, which man would have confessedly lacked, had he not +purchased it _pretio mortis_,--even whereat, meseemeth, 'tis not a +commodity too high-priced. And as Philo Judaeus hath well observed, (as that +arch heretic doth but seldom, wherefore let us ascribe to him the full +credit,) '_Materia parens est (etiam ipsa mater) peccali_,' so, to attain +to anything really spiritual, we have even to be born again of this our +parent, by the reentrance of whose womb, in pain and darkness, we come back +to the true and the living, and have provision given us wherewith we shall +conquer worlds. For, to fix the pure thought and to identify it with the +true and holy, we must first divide it from the base clogs of matter; and +how can we effect this disjunction, save, as it hath ever been done, by +passion,--not simulate nor taken at second hand, cold,'_bis coctum quasi_,' +but rather presently and in our very selves reiterate? So Naaman dipt in +Jordan,--a task unto him, a sin in the eyes of his gods, and painful +exceedingly to his pride-gorged humor, that would only have Abana and +Pharpar,--yet only so was his skin made whole again, and soft like an +infant's. So also did David the king come into tasting of the bliss of a +true repentance by the terrible gateways of shameful adultery and +blood-thirst." + +"Oh, I agree with your author perfectly," said Mac, with inimitable +gravity, while I gazed at Clarian, wondering what would come next. "All the +greatest gifts man possesses have had evil sponsors or unrighteous +baptism. Even Prometheus _filched_ his fire from heaven, or t'other +place. Doing evil for the sake of a prospective good is an immemorial +custom, and well precedented. Revenue-farming, the _parc-aux-cerfs_, and Du +Barry only went down before _La Terreur_, Robespierre, and _Les Journees de +Septembre_." + +"But seriously, Mac, is it not admissible, now and then, to employ +questionable means, ordinary ones failing?" + +"Certainly. You may even sin, provided you believe in your cause. Faith is +the one save-all and cure-all. You smile? I can give you good +authority,--none other than Martin Luther, who, in one of his disputations, +says emphatically, '_Si in fide posset fieri adulterium, peccatum non +esset_'; and he wrote still more plainly upon this point in one of his +letters to Melancthon, saying, '_Ab hoc nos non avellet peccatum, etiamsi +millies millies uno die fornicamur aut occidamus._' [Footnote: _Vie de +Luther_, par AUDIN, Paris, 1839. An accurate book, but scathingly bitter.] +So follow your bent, younker, and they cannot say you are without +'precedent right reverend.'" + +Clarian sprang to his feet, his pale face all ablaze with indignation. "You +have no right to say such things to me, Sir," he cried, "for you know well +enough"-- + +"I know well enough that you are a crack-brained jackanapes, with your +damned fantastics!" bellowed Mac, angry in his turn. "What do you +mean,--you, who are a perfect little saint in your life,--what do you mean +by thrusting all these foul heresies at me, as if you were a veritable +citizen of Sodom, or a rejuvenized Faust, who have just replenished your +stock of 'experiences,' as you call them, by seducing Margaret and stabbing +her brother? Burn your books, if that filth is all they teach you,--and +mend your manners, if you expect to be tolerated in respectable +company. Good-bye!" cried he, as Clarian rushed white-heated from the room. + +"Pshaw, Ned, spare your remonstrances, if you please,--I'm tired of the +little fool's nonsense." + +"But the boy is sick, my dear fellow, and requires to be treated more +gently. His mind is diseased, and it would not take much to drive him quite +desperate." + +"No such good luck, Ned. I wish I _could_ make him pitch into somebody or +something. Nothing would do the beggar so much good, just now, as to get +himself into a regular scrape. It would act like a shower-bath, wake him +up, and purge him of these dismal humors." + +"Still, you would not like to have it said that _you_ were the cause of his +getting into any difficulty; and you know very well he is not one to +extricate himself easily, if once involved." + +"Never fear. '_Il y a un Dieu pour les enfants et les ivrognes_', says a +proverb in which I place implicit faith." + + * * * * * + +We saw nothing of Clarian until some three or four nights after this, when +he came hurriedly into our room. It was quite late, but Mac was still at +his Mathematics, while I was dawdling with my pipe and a volume of +Sternberg's pleasant tales. Clarian walked directly up to Mac, holding out +his hand, and saying, "I have come to ask your forgiveness, my dear Mac; I +was wrong and foolish the other day." + +"Nonsense, you flighty canary-bird!" said Mac; "you owe me nothing, so +have done with that. Sit down and smoke a pipe with us." + +"No,--I have come for you and Ned; I want you to see my picture to-night. +Come, I will take no denial,--I am about to finish it, and I want your +criticisms before I lay on the final touches." + +"Why not to-morrow, Clarian?" + +"Then everybody will want to see. No, it must be to-night." + +Mac and I were by no means reluctant to humor the lad, for we were not +incurious respecting the picture, and we accompanied him forthwith. His +room was quite large, well lighted and airy, with a sleeping-closet +attached. Over the blank wall opposite the windows hung a black muslin +curtain of most funereal aspect, which rolled up to the ceiling by means of +a cord and pulley, and, being now down, effectually concealed from view +what we had come to see. Clarian placed three or four candles, made us be +seated, filling pipes for us, and taking one himself, a most rare +occurrence with him,--all the while talking with more vivacity than I had +seen him exhibit for several months. "I have carefully studied my subject, +fellows," said he, "and have striven after perfection. I went to Shakspeare +for it, Mac, and sought one that would give me at once a proper field, and +at the same time pervade me so that I could paint from myself. Singularly +enough, I have found this magnetic influence most completely in +'Macbeth'. Do you remember Scene Fourth of the Third Act? That is the +situation I have endeavored to portray. Macbeth, wretched criminal, +suspects every one of his own dark purposes, or fears their hatred, because +he feels himself hateful. He is not a coward, either physically or morally; +his fears are all intellectual; he knows that Banquo is too noble to serve +him, too powerful to be permitted to serve against him,--so he must out of +the way. The murderers have received their commission; the king, satisfied +now that all he has to fear will shortly be removed, has said, 'There's +comfort yet'; he has cheered his wife with words even merry, as he can with +some complacency, for it is truly his principle of action, that + +'Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill'; + +and now, in this scene, he is to meet his courtiers at a state-banquet, +given in honor of Banquo, he tells them with hardihood. For we must +remember that this jealous king is no longer the warrior Thane whom we +first encounter upon the 'blasted heath', and whom we afterwards see +haunted by horrid visions of 'air-drawn daggers', as he turns his hand to +crime. He has gotten far beyond all this. Murders to him are become but +'trifles light as air'; use has blunted his sensibility, and to bring back +all that agony and horror needs a vastly stronger excitement than a mere +deed of blood. We see this in the cool way he tells the murderer, 'There's +blood upon thy face', as if it simply made him look less presentable. +Nevertheless, suffer for it Macbeth must. That is ordained; and the means +to it, and particularly the _effect_ of those means, are what I have tried +to represent here." + +So saying, he drew up the curtain, and the picture stood before us. Mac and +I gave it one quick glance, and then, with a simultaneous impulse, extended +our hands to Clarian. The lad laughed a little laugh of joy as he returned +our embrace, and then silently nodded towards the picture again. + +Those old Princetonians who have seen Clarian's Picture will easily be able +to explain our emotion upon beholding it thus for the first time. It was in +colored crayon, and covered a large portion of the wall, representing a +lofty, but entirely unornamented Gothic hall, with a table in the centre, +around which were grouped the guests. These showed in their faces and +disordered array that dismay and anxiety which were natural to them at +sight of their king so strangely and appallingly stricken, but evidently +they were entirely and happily unconscious of the THING that sat there in +their midst, touching them, consorting its charnel horrors with their +warm-blooded humanity,--so near, so close to them, that _he_ fancied the +smell of that trickling gore, that dank grave-soil, must necessarily enter +in at their nostrils, and he sickened at the thought for very sympathy. The +woe-wasted wife, comprehending what it meant, as she chiefly, from the dark +depths of her own spotted consciousness, _could_ comprehend, had yet flung +her fear aside for the sake of him whom she loved with a love so +bitter-costly, and now she stood at his side, fiercely clutching him, and +taunting him like a tigress with his unmanly fears. Ah, had that clutch +upon his elbow been the searing grasp of white-heated pincers, eating to +the bone, it had not stirred _him_. He stood there, a tall, large-limbed +man, brown and weather-stained, one who had endured much, wrinkled +somewhat, care-marked about the brow, but very capable, and evidently as +bold and daring, to the line, as he asserted himself,--he stood there, +flung back, fixed, petrified, as it were, by the baleful judgment that +lighted those unearthly eyes which watched him from across the table there; +and though his arm be flung up over his face, half to protect, half in +menace,--though his fist be clenched and swollen, his brow dark and +frowning, we know he will not spring forward, but will stand there still, +no life in all that mass of muscle, no will-power in that capable brain, +nought but impotent malignity in that murderous frown: for he is +stricken,--his sin has found him out,--ay, at the very altar, Orestes hears +the Furies shriek their hatred in his ears, exultingly proclaiming that for +him at least there is no rest, nor ever shall be! + +Such was the impression of Clarian's Picture, and I felt my blood fairly +tingle with recognition of the boy's power. + +"It is noble, great," said Mac, in those deep tones that spoke how he was +moved, "and men shall call you Artist when it is finished." + +Finished! what more did it want? what more could be done to this so +perfect composition? + +"Ah, Mac," said Clarian, enthusiastically seizing my chum's hands, "such +recognition as yours is what I have yearned for, and yet--'tis you who have +chiefly mocked me. It _shall_ be finished, Mac, and worthily! Do you not +think I have prayed for the inspiration, that I might bestow that final, +life-giving touch? Two months ago it was as near complete as it is +now,--but not until this very night have I felt the power of it. Now, +however, my soul is full of it, and it shall wax into a poem. This is why I +sought you, dear friends, to-night; for I am too gloriously happy to be +selfish, and I want you to share my happiness with me. Yes, Mac, it has +come at last, the warm Promethean fire, and at last I can proclaim, '_Anch' +io son pittore_!'" + +I gazed at the lad as he raised his voice with these last words, and was +almost awed by his singular beauty. It seemed almost as if a halo should +encircle his brow. There was a delicate rose-flush on his cheek that +rivalled in strange loveliness the hectic color of the young mother when +her first-born nestles close and fondly to her thrilled bosom, and his eyes +glowed with a rare lambent light that touched one with the eloquence of a +beautiful dream. Mac eyed him with equal wonder and delight, but said, +teasingly,-- + +"Hey! so you have come at last to the 'true and the living,' have you? Art +regenerate? I hope thou hast also undergone that true baphometic +fire-baptism, whereof the worthy Diogenes Teufelsdroeckh hath discoursed so +appetizingly, causing us to long after it, none the less that he hath +scrupulously refrained from expounding whatever it is." + +"Yes, Mac, the new life dawns upon me,--no Plotinian trance, no somnambulic +introspection, but a genuine awakening of the soul to a sense of its own +beauty." + +"Prodigious! as Dominie Sampson would say. Nay, I am not laughing at you, +Clarian," said Mac, pointing to the picture; "_there_ is enough to make me +believe in you, though how you achieved it I cannot imagine." + +"The means, Mac? Is not that rather my question than yours? We judge +ourselves from within; 'others judge us by what we have done,' says +Goethe. The means, ha, and the motive? Why will men seek stumblingly after +these, when actually their sole concern is with the thing done? So, you two +look at me,--I was but pondering,--putting a case;--so far, the means here +have been simple and innocent,--my hand, my eye, my brain, my purpose; +but--Mac!" added he, suddenly, after a pause, "did you never, in reading +Rabelais, feel that somehow there was a profound and reverential symbolism +underlying the wild froth of words in which the histories of Gargantua and +Pantagruel have come down to us? that in all that _olla-podrida_ of filth, +quip, jest, wicked folly, and mad wisdom, was yet hidden, like the pearl in +the oyster, a deep and most mystic system of world-philosophy?" + +"Anan?" said Mac, looking at the boy curiously. + +"For instance, in what the good Cure of Meudon says about the 'herb +Pantagruelion',--did the symbolism and esoteric meaning of all that never +strike you?" + +"Oh, yes," cried Mac, with a singularly significant smile, "I see how it is +now. I understand. You are improving, Clarian, rapidly. Hum, wonder what +your mother would say, if she knew you were a friend of Panurge's, and did +draw such inferences from his wisdom! Yes, _mon enfant_, I have long felt +the profundity of Pantagruelion, not less than the oracular efficacy of +Bacbuc. And no one can deny that the thinnest strand of Manila, if not full +of mysteries _per se_, can at least open the way for us to the very +innermost crypts, and hence may be styled _potentially_ a very gateway to +Eleusinia." + +"I do not mean that, Mac,--not the mere mechanical warp and woof of it, to +hang beggars and sots with,--but the more potent essence, the inner cosmic +power of it, to rouse the soul into grand expansive consciousness, and then +to suspend it far above the carks and cares of this weary world, to sew it +aloft to some leaf of the Tree of Life, like the nest of Jean Paul's +tailor-bird, that it may swing there, above the hum and dust of matter, +swayed and sung to sleep by the expanding breath of Infinity! Oh, yes!" +cried Clarian, while his cheek glowed warmer, his eye flamed brighter, and +his voice flowed on with a rhythmic throb, "oh, yes, I know it all, now! +The Idea is awake, and dwells in my soul, at once master there and slave. I +leap out of this base Present: I stand panting and glowing before the +mighty portals of Infinity, from whose inner masses I see the grand Gods +beckoning to me, greeting me as of their kindred, summoning me to take my +throne also, which awaits me in their midst. I have burst these narrow +bonds of flesh, and my soul shall soar henceforth in the grandeur realized +of the Spirit, like a proud falcon just unmewed and flung off in sight of +the noblest quarry. Art! what a dull, meaningless sound it was +yesterday!--but now, the entombing pyramid of matter is up-heaved, flung +off forever, and the Spirit stands erect in her bright Palingenesis, +half-intoxicate with the all-pervading sense of her own grand beauty. The +tree is rent asunder,--Ariel soars again in his element. Psyche has loosed +herself from the fettering contact of Daimon, and lo, now, how daintily she +poises on tiptoe, fluttering her wings ere she launches like a star into +the wide exhilarant ether! O divine Art! pride, glory, first love of my +soul! now, indeed, hast thou exchanged the yoke of dull Saturn and the +gloomy caverns of earth for the fair heights of Olympus, and the +companionship of Zeus [Greek: Nephelaegeretaes], him at whose nod the +heavens display themselves like a many-figured arras, all alive with +beauties and significance that the dull eye conjectures not, that the +impure, unpurged eye shrinks away from, lest it be seared by the too great +splendor! I know it all now. I began gropingly, in surmise, error, +darkness; but now my brow catches, ay, and reflects, the calm, pure, +effulgent light of Nature's definite day, and I bathe myself in its happy +warmth. Erst, I grovelled like a worm, blind and earth-fed: now, I shall +speed through very space, winged heel and shoulder, a swift, untiring +Hermes, who have drunk of the milk that flows rich in Nature's breasts, and +am emancipate forever in the decorous freedom of the beautiful +self-conscious spirit! Oh, the glory, oh, the boon of Art, the play-deity! +Phoebus no longer drives herds for Admetus, but is grown into Helios, feels +in his breast the freer life of the very Hyperion, the walker on high. Ay, +ay, smile on, Mac, you and Ned! I shall not quarrel with you for not +understanding me; it is only just now that I have learned to understand +myself. My Art will reward me; even now, while you doubt, it is already +doing so. I tell you, you two, whom I love and honor", cried he, rising to +his feet, lifted up, as it were, by the exaltation of his soul, while his +voice rose like the gush of a fine-toned flute, "I tell you, moreover, that +I am an artist, with a work to do that shall be done, and so done that you +two who love me will be the first to salute me Artist, to recognize me, and +acknowledge me for what I shall become." + +"We do that already, Clarian," said Mac's emphatic voice. + +"No," said Clarian, firmly, proudly, like a poet about to kneel that he may +receive the laurel crown, "no, you do not know me yet." + +And he was right. We did not yet know him. + +"That is a boy after my own heart", said Mac, after we had returned to our +room. He was standing by the open window, and I at his elbow, both of us +thinking of the strange child we had just left, while our eyes took note of +the fair night, how the silvery sheen of the moonlight glistened upon the +leaves, and sprinkled itself in dappling flecks between the trees on the +soft even sward of the campus below. "A boy after my own heart,--and, in +spite of all his twaddle, will make an artist. It's in him." + +"But did you not think him strangely wild to-night? I never heard him talk +so fluently; but it was not the talk of a sane man." + +Mac looked at me, laughing long and loud. "Thou dear innocent Ned!" cried +he at last, "what a diagnostic thou wouldst make! It was indeed the talk of +madness, good chum, and a very pretty madness was it, one that needeth not +any Anticyran purgatives to expel it. So thou must not fash thyself about +the lad, _du liebe dummkopf_, for he will come right very speedily. Didst +remark not what he said about the 'herb Pantagruelion,' which, in the +vulgar, meaneth only _hemp_? And surely you noted the warm flush of his +cheek, the dilatation of his eye, and its phosphorescent glow? Dr. Thorne +would soon enough tell you what these things signify. The boy is not crazy, +Ned, but drunk,--drunk in the decorous delirium of a Damascene Pacha, +propped against a Georgian maid, and fanned by Houris of Bethlehem +Judah. He has been reading Monte Cristo, perhaps, or has somehow heard +about the Indian Hemp, not the '_utilissima funibus cannabis_' of practical +Pliny, but _Cannabis Indica_, wherewith, I believe, Amrou spurred on his +Arabs to their miraculous feats of war, when he conquered Egypt and drove +Alexandria's Prefect into the sea,--the _bhang_ of amok-running Malays, the +_haschish_ of Syria and Cairo. This is what hath made him drunk, and, i' +faith, the intoxication does not ill become him. He will be all right in +the morning, and all the better for this little brush. And anyhow, Ned, you +must not watch the boy too closely, nor interfere with him. Let him 'gang +his ain gait.' He comes of another breed than ours, I begin to suspect, +and our rough fodder and grooming may not suit his higher blood.--_Ach, +Himmel!_ Ned," cried he, laughing, "it pleased me, though, to see how +adroitly he contrived to twist that new reading out of the _bon homme +Francois_. It was quite in the style of St. Augustine, and would have +delighted that ex-sophist hugely; for, great as he was, and self-denying as +he was, he always had a hankering after the dialectic flesh-pots. How he +would have rubbed his hands, when Clarian wanted to persuade us that the +herb Pantagruelion was no other than Haschish, the expander of +souls!--Hollo! yonder goes the lad now. I wonder what he is up to. See him, +Ned, yonder, just coming out of the shadow of North College. How fast he +walks! how he is swinging his arms! I'll bet he is repeating poetry. I +wonder what the lad is after, anyhow.--There he goes, round the corner of +West College,--over the fence. Can he mean to have a game of ball by +moonlight?--No,--he's making across the fields; if he had a pitcher with +him now, I'd say he was going to the spring in the hollow.--Confound that +tree! I've lost him." + +I proposed following Clarian, being really uneasy about him, but Mac +entered his veto,-- + +"No, Ned,--there's no need, and--it's none of our business. Children like +him have a hundred baby-houses we do not know anything about. He wants a +bath in the moonlight, I suppose, and wouldn't thank you for playing Actaeon +to the naked Diana of his midnight musings. Come, 'tis bedtime; or do you +want to finish Sternberg's 'Herr von Mondschein'? It is _a propos_, and I +see your book is opened to the very place." + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +JAPAN. + + +The arrival in this country of an embassy from Japan, the first political +delegation ever vouchsafed to a foreign nation by that reticent and jealous +people, is now a topic of universal interest. It is well understood, that, +by the efforts of the government of the United States, the traditional +policy of Japan, which for more than two hundred years forbade all freedom +of intercourse with the surrounding world, has been so effectively +subverted that its reestablishment is now impossible. Within eight years +the barriers of Japanese seclusion have been removed, and the extreme +prejudice against foreign communications almost obliterated. That this has +been accomplished with a prudent and just regard for the rights and +feelings of this singular race, the appointment of an embassy to the +particular government which first successfully invaded its long cherished +privacy abundantly proves. + +The countries of Japan and China, and everything directly concerning them, +have always claimed a peculiar consideration. Their self-imposed isolation, +the mystery with which they have sought to surround themselves, the +extraordinary habits and character of the people, the evidences of an +earlier civilization in China--formerly supposed also to have extended to +Japan--than is recorded of any other existing nation, account for the +curious attention that has been bestowed upon them. Although now known to +be entirely distinct, the Chinese and Japanese, by reason of the similarity +of their occupations, customs, religion, written language, dress, and so +forth, were for a long time looked upon as kindred races, and esteemed +alike. Probably even at this time popular appreciation makes little +distinction between the two countries. But since the necessities of +commerce have recently compelled a somewhat vigorous interference with +their seclusion, we begin to get a clearer understanding of the subject. We +find, that, while, on close examination, the imagined attractions of China +disappear, those of Japan become only more definite and substantial. The +old interest in China is transferred to its worthier neighbor; for, in +spite of all Celestial and Flowery preconceptions, it is impossible to view +with any sincere interest a nation so palsied, so corrupt, so wretchedly +degraded, and so enfeebled by misgovernment, as to be already more than +half sunk in decay; while, on the other hand, the real vigor, thrift, and +intelligence of Japan, its great and still advancing power, and the rich +promise of its future are such as to reward the most attentive study. Its +commanding position, its wealth, its commercial resources, and the quick +intelligence of its people--not at all inferior to that of the people of +the West, although naturally restricted in its development--give to Japan, +now that it is about to emerge from its chrysalis condition, and unfold +itself to the outer world, an importance far above that of any other +Eastern country. + +We propose to relate, with necessary brevity, what is most important of the +little that is known of this interesting people. All records bearing upon +the subject are imperfect, and the best of them are more profuse in +speculation and surmise than in solid fact. The information possessed has +been drawn bit by bit from the reluctant Japanese. The difficulties of +investigation have been almost insurmountable,--no visitor, during two +hundred years, having been allowed the slightest freedom of association +with the people, or opportunity for travel. With very few exceptions, +foreigners have been confined to the extremest limit of the islands, and +forbidden even to leave the coast; and in no case has any disposition been +shown to satisfy the curious demands of those who have attempted to break +through the national reserve. + +The origin of the Japanese is still involved in obscurity, and the date of +the settlement of the islands is unknown. The boldest theory is, that a +tribe proceeded thither directly from the land of Shinar, at the division +of the races. In support of this, the purity of the Japanese language, +which, in its primitive form, bears very slight affinity to any other +tongue, and the evident dissimilarity of the people to those of any other +Asiatic country, are adduced. The more general belief is, that the Japanese +are an offshoot of the Mongol family, and that their emigration to these +islands was at so remote a period that tradition has preserved no +recollection of it. The favorite idea, that the first settlements were by +Chinese, has long been set aside, except by the Chinese themselves, whose +custom is to claim the origin of everything, and who still assume to +consider Japan as a sort of province under their dominion. The fact is, +that, to the Japanese, a Chinaman is the most worthless and contemptible +object in Nature. The Chinese have, however, a fanciful legend in which +they find an irresistible argument upon their side of the question. A +certain Emperor, they say, seeking to prolong his life, demanded of the +court physician an elixir of immortality. The physician modestly declared +his ignorance of any such preparation, but, after receiving a significant +hint, involving the loss of his head, recollected himself, and acknowledged +that an herb of immortality did certainly exist, but that its delicacy was +so rare it could be properly culled only by the most chaste hands. He thus +succeeded in securing three hundred brave young men, and the same number of +virtuous young women, whose twelve hundred chaste hands were at once +consecrated to the plucking of the magical plant, which was declared to +grow only in the islands of the sea. Once out of the Emperor's reach, all +thought of the particular duty in hand was instantly abolished, and +superseded by a successful effort to establish a new nation, which in time +resolved itself into Japan. + +This, although satisfactory to the Chinese, fails to convince less +credulous investigators. While the Japanese and Chinese have, perhaps, more +common characteristics than can be readily explained with our present +knowledge of them, yet no fact is better demonstrated than that they are +wholly distinct races. There is an opinion, for which there is reasonable +ground, that one of the earliest rulers of Japan was a Chinese invader, who +founded the dynasty of the Mikados, or Spiritual Emperors; but, if this +were so, it is evident that the conquerors must have mingled with the +native inhabitants, and soon lost their identity. This would in a measure +account for the prevalence of certain Chinese habits and customs in Japan. +The question of Japanese origin remains yet undecided. Its earlier history, +previous to the year 660 B.C., is mostly fabulous. There are the usual +legends of dignitaries in close relationship with every member of the solar +system, who were accustomed to reign an indefinite number of +years,--generally some thousands. Beginning with 660 B.C., we have +something authentic. At that time a warrior whose name signified "the +divine conqueror"--(the supposed Chinese invader)--entered Japan, and +assumed the control of its destinies. He called himself "Mikado," and +established his court at Miako, in Nipon, the largest of the group of +islands, where he built temples and palaces, both spiritual and +secular. Claiming to rule by divine right, he exercised the sole functions +of the government, which, upon his death, descended to his heir, and +thenceforward in direct order of succession. The Mikado, by reason of his +superhuman dignities, was invested with a sanctity that gradually became +irksome, shutting him out, as it did, from all fellowship with men, and +compelling him to forego all familiar intercourse with even the highest +nobles around his throne. Consequently arose the custom of abdication at a +very early age by the Mikados, in favor of their children, for whom they +acted as regents, circulating freely, upon their descent to mere mundane +authority, with the rest of the court. By this course, however, the +integrity of the government was weakened, and, dissensions arising, the +stability of the throne was endangered by the agressions of some of the +more powerful princes. In the twelfth century, it happened that a Mikado, +particularly alive to the vanities of the world, not only gave up his +station to his son, then three years old, but also renounced the labors of +the regency, which were intrusted to the infant monarch's grandfather, +whose first exercise of power was the immediate imprisonment of the +abdicator. This was worse than had been bargained for, and a contest +ensued, which terminated in favor of the ex-Mikado, owing to the valor of a +young warrior prince named Yoritomo. The prisoner was released, and himself +assumed the regency; but from that moment the strength of the Mikados was +gone. Yoritomo, having demonstrated that his power was superior to that of +the spiritual lord, demanded and obtained the rank and title of +"Ziogoon",--General, or General-in-Chief. He at first divided with the +Mikado the duties of the government, but by degrees succeeded in +concentrating in himself the real supremacy. From him descended the +temporal sovereignty of Japan, which has ever since overbalanced the +spiritual authority, although the first nominal rank is still accorded to +the Mikado. + +In the year 1295, the existence of Japan was first announced to the Western +world. Marco Polo, returning from his Asiatic travels, related all that he +had learned of a vast island lying to the east of China, and even +designated its position on his maps. He called it Zipangu, the name he had +heard in China. This narration was not received with much credit, and was, +until the sixteenth century, generally forgotten. It is a singular fact, +that the record left by Marco Polo had a strong influence in deciding the +convictions of Christopher Columbus, whose expectation in sailing from +Spain was to discover the island spoken of by the Venetian voyager. But the +ambition of Columbus was otherwise satisfied, and Japan was not visited by +the representatives of any Western nation until the year 1543, or 1545, +when a party of Portuguese, among whom was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, were +driven by a storm upon the coast, and forced to take shelter in the +province of Bungo, upon the island of Kiu-siu. The account of this visit, +given by Pinto, is full of interest, and, notwithstanding the questionable +character that clings to his writings, is without doubt correct in almost +every particular. + +At the time when fortune threw these wanderers upon the Japanese coast, +there was disinclination to admit strangers, or to communicate with them in +the most liberal manner. They were warmly received, and treated with great +consideration. The same friendship appeared to animate both parties. The +Portuguese made presents of arms and ammunition to the Japanese, who, with +ready skill, soon discovered the methods of manufacturing others for +themselves. The Japanese consented that Portuguese commerce should be +introduced, and the King of Bungo authorized an annual visit from a +Portuguese ship. Thus commercial relations were established, and at the +same time a religious mission, led by St. Francis Xavier, was despatched to +Japan. The prospects of trade and the new principles of religion were +welcomed with equal readiness. The visitors were restricted in no manner +whatever. Converts to Christianity were almost without number. When Xavier +departed from Japan, in 1551, he left behind him thousands of ardent and +enthusiastic professors of his faith, and a religious sentiment that +promised speedily to extend its influences throughout the land. + +The government openly encouraged the diffusion of Christianity. The Ziogoon +Nobanunga, who then reigned, having been importuned by native priests to +expel the foreign missionaries, inquired how many different religions there +were in Japan. "Thirty-five", was the reply. "Well," said he, "where +thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily bear with +thirty-six. Leave the strangers in peace". Some of the most powerful +princes espoused the Christian religion, and about the year 1584, a +mission, consisting of two young Japanese noblemen, attended by two +counsellors of less rank, was sent to Rome by the subordinate kings of +Bungo and Arima, and the Prince of Omura, in testimony of the devotion of +those rulers. The people themselves hastened to the new faith with such +zeal as to win the warmest affections of all the missionaries who went +among them. Xavier wrote of them, "I know not when to cease, in speaking of +the Japanese; they are truly the delight of my heart." + +So long as the mild teachings of Xavier and his Jesuit band prevailed, the +cause of Christianity advanced and prospered. But their field of labor was +soon invaded by multitudes of Dominicans and Franciscans from various +Portuguese settlements in Asia. By the persistent exercise of their best +faculties for mischief, these friars succeeded without much delay in +working irreparable injury where their predecessors had effected so much +good. They quarrelled, first among themselves, and then with the Jesuits, +until their strifes became the mockery of the people. The native priests of +the Siutoo and Buddhist religions took advantage of this state of things to +make a bold stand against the spread of the new doctrines. They organized a +force in the dominions of Omura, destroyed a Jesuit settlement and church, +and marched about in open rebellion against the authority of the +Prince. This movement, however, was checked without difficulty, and the +insurgents were overthrown in battle. The church was rebuilt at the place +now known as Nagasaki, which, an inferior village at that time, soon became +the centre of Portuguese commerce, and grew to great importance among +Japanese cities. But the friars continued their intrigues and tumults, in +spite of the growing contempt shown by the Japanese. Many of the Roman +clergy, moreover, assuming too great confidence in their easily gained +power, began to defy the usages of the country, and to adopt airs of +superiority quite at variance with the notions of the inhabitants upon that +subject. At the commencement of this altered condition of affairs, the +Ziogoon Nobanunga, who certainly was not unfavorably disposed to the +Christians, was assassinated, and his office and rank, after a series of +violent struggles, which lasted five years, fell to a man of humble origin, +but great talents, named Fide-yosi. This person had in his youth served +Nobanunga in the most menial capacity, but, owing partly to his remarkable +abilities, and partly to the circumstances which threw the succession into +so much confusion, he contrived to place himself, in the year 1587, at the +head of the nation. He then married the Mikado's daughter, and assumed the +name of Taiko-sama, with a view, perhaps, of dissociating himself as +completely as possible, in his exaltation, from the obscure individual +Fide-yosi, with whom, otherwise, he might not unnaturally be confounded. + +The new Ziogoon cared very little for the operations of the Christians, +while they kept themselves free from interference in the political affairs +of the country, and respected its customs. But the offensive spirit of the +Portuguese laity was not to be repressed. Their manners grew more +intolerable, from year to year. In time the progress of conversion almost +ceased, and yet the Portuguese, blind to danger, disdained to retrace their +steps. At length the Ziogoon, having journeyed through that part of the +country mostly under Christian influences, suddenly determined to rid +himself of so dangerous an element, and issued an order for the expulsion +of all missionaries throughout the empire. This was resisted by some of the +converted nobles, and particularly by the young prince of Omura, whose +obstinacy was punished in a very summary way,--the Ziogoon seizing upon the +port of Nagasaki, and transferring it to his own immediate government. On +paying a heavy ransom, however, the prince was permitted to resume +authority in Nagasaki, and Taiko-sama, busily occupied with more important +affairs of state, neglected to enforce his decree of expulsion, and left +the Christians undisturbed for some years, until a new evidence of affront +once more aroused his indignation against them. + +A Japanese nobleman and a Portuguese bishop, riding in their sedans, met, +one day, on a high-road of Nagasaki. The duty of the bishop, according to +the law of the country, was to alight and respectfully recognize the +nobleman. But, instead of doing this, he refused to tarry, and even turned +his head to the other side. Full of wrath, the nobleman made bitter +complaint to the Ziogoon, who from that time turned his heart more +resolutely than ever against the presumptuous and insolent foreigners. He +again assumed the direct government of Nagasaki, and was about to adopt +more vigorous measures, when he unexpectedly died, leaving the Christians a +few remaining years of probation. + +Taiko-sama was undoubtedly the greatest monarch that ever reigned in Japan. +He succeeded in bringing for the first time into complete subjection the +numerous powerful princes who had previously held an almost undivided sway +in the larger provinces. By this means he consolidated the strength of the +nation, and was enabled to undertake some very brilliant conquests. A +letter sent by him to the Portuguese viceroy of Goa shows his own estimate +of his power, and his general opinion of the insignificance of the external +world. + +"This vast monarchy," he wrote, "is like an immovable rock, and all the +efforts of its enemies will not be able to shake it. Thus not only am I at +peace at home, but persons come even from the most distant countries to +render me that homage which is my due. _Just now I am projecting the +subjugation of China;_ and as I have no doubt that I shall succeed in this +design, I trust that we shall soon be much nearer to each other.... As to +that which regards religion, Japan is the kingdom of the Kamis, that is to +say, of Xim, which is the principle of everything.... The [Jesuit] fathers +are come into these islands to teach another religion; but as that of the +Kamis is too well established to be abolished, this new law can only serve +to introduce into Japan a diversity of religion prejudicial to the welfare +of the state. That is why I have prohibited, by imperial edict, these +foreign doctors from continuing to preach their doctrine.... I desire, +nevertheless, that our commercial relations shall remain upon the same +footing." + +In regard to the religion of Japan, which Taiko-sama lucidly and +felicitously expounds by pronouncing it the religion "of the Kamis, +[Princes, or Nobles,] that is to say, of Xim, which is the principle of +everything," it may be assumed that the Ziogoon had little thought of any +theological troubles that might arise. His apprehensions were purely of a +political nature. It is related that the captain of a Spanish man-of-war, +in attempting to explain the secret of the vast colonial possessions of +Spain, incautiously told Taiko that the introduction of Christianity into +heathen nations was the first step, and the only difficult one, conquest +naturally and easily following. Such an avowal was not likely to be lost +upon so acute a mind as Taiko's, and it may very probably have been one of +the immediate causes which induced his extreme hostility to the diffusion +of Christianity. + +Taiko's warlike declarations were by no means vain boasts. He did invade +China, and spread such terror among the timid Celestials that they yielded +him all possible submission, giving him a number of Corean provinces, a +daughter of their Emperor in marriage, and the promise of an annual tribute +to Japan, in token of Japanese supremacy. The tribute not appearing at the +proper time, the Ziogoon immediately despatched a few armies to the Corea +and again destroyed the Celestial balance of mind. These forces, however, +were soon after recalled, in consequence of Taiko-sama's death. + +During the first year of the reign of his successor, Ogosho-sama, the Dutch +appeared in Japan. A fleet of five ships, sent from Holland by the Indian +Company, had been dispersed in the Pacific, and, sickness breaking out +among the crews, only one ship remained. On board was an English pilot, a +man of some education, named William Adams, who suggested visiting Japan, +which was finally decided upon. In April, 1600, the Dutch vessel anchored +in the harbor of Bungo, and the crew were cordially received by the +people. But they found formidable enemies in the Portuguese and Spaniards +of Nagasaki, who assailed them with the most unjust aspersions, and +endeavored in every way to turn the prejudices of the Japanese against +them. Notwithstanding this, however, the Dutch were kindly treated, +although never permitted to leave the country again, on account of the +suspicions aroused by the imputations of the Portuguese. William Adams was +taken in charge by the Ziogoon himself, who found the Englishman so +valuable and instructive a person that he would never hear of his leaving +the imperial presence. + +In 1609, other Dutch ships came to Japan, and, the scruples of the Ziogoon +having been set at rest, commercial relations were entered into. The Dutch +established a factory at Firando, in opposition to the Portuguese factory +at Nagasaki. A rivalry arose, heightened by the political and religious +feud between the nations, which was actively carried on for a number of +years. The Portuguese at first beset the Ziogoon with importunities for the +expulsion of the Dutch; but Ogosho-sama, in the most catholic spirit, +intimated, that, if devils from hell should take a fancy to visit his +realm, they should be treated like angels from heaven, so long as they +respected his laws. + +In the midst of the jealous struggles of Dutch and Portuguese, came a new +application for Japanese favor. In June, 1613, a vessel, despatched for the +purpose by the English government, arrived at Firando, bearing letters and +presents from King James I. to the Ziogoon. These were graciously received, +and a commercial treaty of the most favorable character was at once +negotiated. Among other not less important privileges, the Ziogoon gave to +English merchants the following:--"Free license forever safely to come into +any of our ports of our Empire of Japan, with their ships and merchandise, +without any hindrance to them or their goods; and to abide, buy, sell, and +barter, according to their own manner with all nations; to tarry here as +long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure"; also, "that, +without other passport, they shall and may set out upon the discovery of +Jesso or any other port in or about our Empire". The Ziogoon also sent a +letter, assuring the English monarch of his love and esteem, and announcing +that every facility desired in the way of trade would be gladly granted, +even to the establishment of a factory at Firando. A settlement was +accordingly made at that place, and commercial communications were +continued until about 1623, when they were voluntarily abandoned by the +English. It appears that their affairs were less successful than those of +the Dutch, who were stationed at the same port; but, whether from their own +misapprehension of the kind of merchandise needed for Japan, or from the +opposition of their rivals, who sought, in this case as in others, to +secure for themselves the monopoly of trade, is uncertain. + +For some years after the departure of the English, the contests between the +Portuguese and Dutch grew more bitter and violent, and the arrogance of the +Portuguese more unbearable, until at length, in 1637, the climax of their +offences was reached, and the affections of the Japanese rulers, which, but +for their own follies, would always have been with them, were turned into +the most unrelenting hatred. The Portuguese, not content with the great +privileges they already enjoyed, formed a conspiracy with certain of the +native Christian princes to depose the Ziogoon, overturn the government, +and take the power into their own hands. Letters containing the details of +this plot were discovered by the Dutch, and straightway sent to the +monarch. The statement has been made by Spanish writers, that this +conspiracy had no existence excepting in Dutch invention, and that the +proofs of guilt were all forged for the purpose of more completely +destroying the Portuguese; but the evidence is too strong to be overthrown +by any such allegation. The result was, that imperial edicts were +immediately put forth, enjoining the expulsion of all Portuguese from the +islands, and the utter extirpation of the Christian religion. For nearly +two years there was a series of the most terrible persecutions. The +Portuguese were at length banished, and the native converts who rose in +rebellion against the decree were slaughtered by thousands, _the Dutch +themselves cooperating in the work of destruction_. The history of these +massacres is one of the most remarkable that the annals of Christianity can +show. It stands forever, an ineffaceable record, covering with shame those +pretended disciples of the religion of Christ, who by their reckless and +wicked course not only invited their own destruction, but compelled that of +thousands of innocent fellow-beings, and interrupted for centuries the +progress of the cause they had so poorly essayed to promote. + +It is thus evident, that, for the system of seclusion which during nearly +two hundred and fifty years was closely adhered to, the Japanese themselves +are in no degree to be blamed. The fault lay with the representatives of +two refined and enlightened nations, who, by a persistent career of selfish +folly and pride, covered themselves with the deserved reproach of a people +to whose untutored apprehension such extraordinary principles of +civilization appeared unworthy of cultivation. That the Japanese were at +first amiably and liberally disposed toward foreigners, their frank +admission of the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and especially of the +English, amply shows. Until constrained for their own safety to do so, they +took no step toward interfering with the almost unlimited privileges they +had granted. It is, indeed, difficult to condemn their course, when we +consider the enormity of their provocation, and the dangers to which they +believed themselves exposed. If Christianity has suffered, the errors of +those who misrepresented it were the cause. How soon it may be possible to +again attempt its introduction is doubtful; for, of all foreign evils, the +Japanese look upon Christianity as the worst, viewing it simply as the +covert means of conquest, and reducing to submission those over whom its +influences extend. + +Beyond the removal of their rivals, the Dutch had little upon which to +congratulate themselves in this movement. The monopoly of trade was theirs, +but with the most degrading and humiliating conditions. They were obliged +to give up their factory at Firando, and take a new station upon the small +island of Desima, in the harbor of Nagasaki. To preserve even the most +limited intercourse with the Japanese, they were forced to relinquish all +sense of dignity and self-respect. The history of their relations with +Japan, for the past two hundred years, is a continual record of absolute +contempt and pitiless constraint on the one hand, and the most abject and +disgraceful servitude on the other. + +During the excitements which followed the expulsion of the Portuguese, a +second effort to enter Japan was made by the English; but, owing, it is +supposed, to the interference of the Dutch, this attempt was wholly +unsuccessful. In 1673, the East India Company despatched another vessel, +which was also received with distrust. The Japanese had learned, through +the Dutch, that the English king, Charles II., had allied himself by +marriage to the royal family of Portugal. On this account, and on this +only, the Japanese declared that no English ship could be admitted. Two +other equally fruitless attempts were made in 1791 and 1803. In 1808, an +English ship of war, by showing Dutch colors, gained entrance to the port +of Nagasaki, where, instead of peaceably deporting himself, the captain +began by capturing the Dutch officials who came on board, and setting at +defiance the requisitions of the Japanese. This English ship had been +cruising after the Dutch traders, England and Holland being at war at the +time, and, failing to meet them, the captain concluded they had eluded him, +and sought them at Nagasaki. A plan to attack the ship and burn it was +devised by the Japanese, but before it could be carried out the Englishman +had sailed. Conscious that his dignity was forfeited by this invasion, the +Japanese governor of Nagasaki, notwithstanding he was in no wise +censurable, in pursuance of the national custom, immediately destroyed +himself, and his example was followed by twelve of his subordinate +officers. The garrison of Nagasaki was reinforced, and the most warlike +attitude was assumed by the inhabitants, who are noted for their +courage. The affair caused great indignation, and is yet remembered to the +discredit of the English. In 1813, only five years later, a somewhat +similar stratagem was employed by the English. It was an ingenious scheme +on the part of the English governor of Java, which had, within a few years, +been ceded to England. The independence of Holland had ceased, and the +governor of Java undertook, by despatching English vessels under the Dutch +flag, to secure the trade which Holland had alone enjoyed. But the Dutch +director at Desima refused compliance, and the plan fell through. Three +other ventures, all resulting in the same way, were made by the English in +1814, 1818, and 1849. + +Of other European nations, Russia alone has sought to secure a position and +influence in Japan. The proximity of the islands to the Siberian coast, and +the fact that they lie directly between the American and Asian possessions +of that nation, render it important that Russia should forego no +opportunity to extend its relations in this direction. It does not appear, +however, that much has been accomplished. About the year 1780, a Japanese +junk was wrecked upon an island belonging to Russia. The crew were taken to +Siberia, and there detained ten years, after which an attempt was made to +return them to their homes. They were conveyed in a Russian ship to +Hakodadi, on the island of Yesso, but were refused admission, on account of +the edict issued at the time of the Portuguese expulsion, forbidding the +return of any Japanese after once leaving the country. In 1804, a second +mission was sent by the Emperor Alexander I., with the purpose of effecting +a treaty of some sort; but the ambassador, whose name was Resanoff, +commenced operations by disputing points of etiquette with the Japanese, +who, in return, treated him with more courtesy than ever, and insisted upon +paying all his expenses while in their country, but sent him away +unsatisfied. Enraged at his failure, Resanoff despatched two armed vessels +to the Kurile Islands, where, under his directions, a wanton attack was +made upon a number of villages, the inhabitants being killed or taken +prisoners, and the houses plundered. This was an offence not to be +forgiven; and when, in 1811, Captain Golownin was despatched by the Russian +government to make renewed applications, he was captured by stratagem, with +one or two attendants, and imprisoned for several years. But he was always +treated with kindness, and was finally released, without having received +the slightest injury. He was intrusted, when sent away, with a message to +the Russian government, setting forth the impossibility of any +understanding between the two nations. + +Previous to the expedition of Commodore Perry, few efforts to intrude upon +the Japanese had proceeded from the United States. An unsuccessful attempt +was made in 1837, by an American merchantman, to return a party of Japanese +who had been shipwrecked on our Western coast. In 1846, Commodore Biddle +was deputed to open negotiations, and entered the Bay of Yedo with two +ships of war. Receiving an unfavorable answer to his demands, he +immediately sailed away. In 1849, Commodore Glynn, having learned of the +imprisonment of sixteen American sailors, who had been driven ashore on one +of the Japanese islands, entered the harbor of Nagasaki with the United +States ship Preble, and demanded the release of his countrymen. For a time +a disposition was shown to evade his claim and to affect ignorance of the +alleged captivity; but upon his assuming a bolder and more determined tone, +the native officials became suddenly conscious of the state of affairs, and +forthwith delivered up the seamen. Commodore Glynn then set sail, and until +the visit of Commodore Perry, in 1853, the tranquillity of Japan was +disturbed by no American intrusion. + +It may be observed, that, of the nations which up to this time had +undertaken to effect communications with Japan, all excepting the United +States had given reasonable cause for offence, and some of them for deep +enmity. The Dutch, though disliked, were tolerated; but the Portuguese, +Spanish, English, and Russians had forfeited the good opinion of the +islanders by their unprovoked and unjustifiable aggressions. It is not +improbable that the selection of the United States for their first foreign +embassy may have been induced by the consideration that the relations +between the Japanese and their American neighbors have always been pacific, +and that they have never suffered injustice or ill-treatment at our hands. + +Meanwhile, until 1852, the Dutch had held exclusive commercial privileges +in Japan. In return for these, they submitted to all sorts of +indignities. They were restricted to the narrow limits of the artificially +constructed island of Desima, which is only six hundred feet in length, and +two hundred and forty in breadth. Here they were confined within high +fences fringed with spikes. Their houses were all of wood, no stone +buildings being permitted, undoubtedly with a view to preventing the +slightest chance of fortification. At the northern extremity of the island +was a large water-gate, which was kept continually closed, under a guard, +except upon the arrival of the Dutch vessels. These restrictions were in +great part continued almost to the present day, and many of them are still +in force. On the arrival of a Dutch ship, all the Bibles on board were +obliged to be put into a chest, which, after being nailed down, was given +in charge of the Japanese officials, to be retained by them until the time +of departure. All arms and ammunition, also, were required to be given +up. The crew, on landing at Desima, were placed under rigorous +surveillance, which was never relaxed. Even the permanent Dutch residents +received but little better treatment. They were unable to make any open +avowal of the Christian religion, and the Japanese officers who came in +contact with them were compelled to make frequent disavowals of +Christianity, and publicly to trample the cross, its symbol, under +foot. The island of Desima was infested with Japanese spies, whom the Dutch +were required to employ and pay as secretaries and servants, while knowing +their real office, If a Dutch resident aspired to occasional egress from +his prison, it was necessary to petition the governor of Nagasaki for the +privilege. As a general thing, the application was granted, but with such +conditions as to destroy all possibility of enjoyment; for, upon appearing +in Nagasaki, the unfortunate Dutchman was set upon by a band of spies and +policemen, who accompanied him wherever he turned and who were always +pleasantly inviting themselves to be entertained at his expense,--a +proposition which he was not at liberty to decline. These spies gradually +got into the habit of taking with them as many of their acquaintances as +they could gather together, until the cost of a stroll about Nagasaki +became too heavy to be endured. But there was no remedy; he must either pay +or stay at home; and even upon these extravagant terms, he was not allowed +to enter any Japanese house, or to remain within the city after sunset. For +the rare favor of visiting the residence of a native Nagasakian, a special +petition was needed, and if granted, the number of spies on such an +occasion was multiplied at a most appalling rate. The Dutch were, moreover, +forbidden the companionship of their own countrywomen, and only the most +degraded female class of Nagasaki were allowed to visit them. In every way +they were forced to acknowledge their inferiority and undergo deprivations +and mortifications, for which, let us hope, they succeeded in finding some +compensation in the scant privileges of their trade. + +At length the time arrived when the reluctant Japanese were to be taught +the uselessness of further efforts to resist the advances of other +nations. In November, 1852, an expedition, long contemplated and carefully +prearranged, set sail from the United States under the command of Commodore +M.C. Perry. Although this mission was the subject of much discussion +abroad, no very general hope of its success was expressed. The opinion +appeared to be, that, under all circumstances, Japan would still continue +locked in its seclusion. The result proved how easily, by the exercise of +firmness, prudence, and energy, all of which Commodore Perry displayed in +every movement, the much desired end could be accomplished. The secret of +two hundred years was solved in a day. The path once opened, there were +plenty to follow it: Russia, England, and France were quick to share the +benefits which had in the first place been gained by the United States. But +thus far the best fruits of Japanese intercourse have fallen to the United +States, and it seems clear that only a continuance of the same ability +hitherto shown in the management of our affairs with that nation is needed +to preserve to this country the superior advantages it now holds. + +On the 8th of July, 1853, Commodore Perry, with two steamers and two +sloops-of-war, entered the Bay of Yedo, having purposely avoided the port +of Nagasaki, at which all strangers had previously been accustomed to hold +communications with the government. In this, as in other movements, the +Commodore acted independently of much opposing counsel. By first visiting +the Loo-choo and Bonin islands, which are under Japanese control, and +mostly peopled by Japanese, he had acquired a considerable knowledge of the +character of those with whom he was to deal, and had been enabled to trace +for himself a policy which the result proved to be eminently just and +effective. He determined boldly to insist upon, rather than to beseech, the +privileges he had been deputed to gain. Understanding perfectly the +vexatious and embarrassing expedients by which the Japanese had been +accustomed to hamper and resist the endeavors of even the best-disposed of +their visitors, he resolved to listen to no suggestions of delay, and to +push vigorously forward with his mission, in spite of every obstacle their +wily ingenuity could oppose to him. Their assumptions of exclusiveness and +superiority he met by precisely the same sort of display, allowing no +familiarity on the part of the natives until all was definitely settled as +he desired, and intrenching himself in a mysterious seclusion which rather +exceeded even their own notions of personal dignity. Until one of the first +noblemen in the nation was sent to treat with him, the Commodore shunned +all intercourse with the people, and systematically refused to expose +himself to the profane eyes of the multitude. This unusual course took the +Japanese quite by surprise, and, not without some feeling of trepidation, +they bestirred themselves with unexampled alacrity to satisfy, so far as +they were able, his reasonable demands. Of course it was impossible for +them to set aside all their prejudices, and the record of their schemes to +impede the Commodore's progress, all of which were quietly overcome by his +firmness and decision, is equally amusing and instructive.[1] At the moment +of his entering the Bay of Yedo, he was surrounded by guard-boats, and +saluted with various warnings of peril, which might have deterred a less +resolute man. But, wholly indifferent to Japanese guard-boats, he sent out +his own for surveying purposes without hesitation, taking it for granted +that perfect fearlessness would secure the crews from molestation. In +answer to the remonstrances received at the outset, he simply pushed still +farther up the bay, until, finding it impossible to obtain compliance with +their requirements, the Japanese concluded to yield to his; and after as +much hesitation as the Commodore thought proper to give them opportunity +for, the letters from President Fillmore were received by the Emperor, or +Tycoon,[2] negotiations were opened, and, finally, a treaty, yielding all +the important points that had been asked for, was agreed upon. This treaty +proclaimed "a perfect, permanent, and universal peace, and a sincere and +cordial amity", between the two nations; designated certain ports where +American ships should obtain supplies; promised protection to American +seamen who should chance to be shipwrecked on the coast; and contained the +important stipulation, that no further privileges should be vouchsafed to +any other government except on condition of their being fully shared by the +United States. + +[Footnote 1: The details are to be found in the _Narratives of the +Expedition_, by Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., published by Congress at +Washington, in 1856.] + +[Footnote 2: As will be shown hereafter, the military functions of the +temporal ruler long ago ceased, and the title of Tycoon has been +substituted for that of Ziogoon.] + +The communications between Commodore Perry and the Japanese were carried on +in the most friendly manner. While the Commodore allowed no interference +with what he regarded as his own rights in the case, he was careful to +check any disposition on the part of his officers to defy those of the +islanders. Thus the utmost cordiality was preserved throughout. The +Japanese received the presents from the American government with delight, +and were quite overcome at the sight of the steam-engine and the magnetic +telegraph. A series of agreeable entertainments followed the signing of the +treaty, in which the Japanese showed themselves especially alive to the +civilizing influences of foreign cookery, and appreciation of such +refinements as whiskey and Champagne, to whose beneficent influences they +gave themselves up with ardor. Commodore Perry, on his departure, after +freely visiting various Japanese ports, was intrusted with a number of +presents for the American government, and entreated to bear with him the +assurance of entire confidence and amity. + +In August, 1853, subsequently to the arrival of Commodore Perry, a Russian +squadron visited Nagasaki, but, after protracted negotiations, departed +without obtaining a treaty. In September, 1854, Admiral James Stirling, on +behalf of the English government, effected a treaty at Nagasaki, the terms +of which were rather less liberal and advantageous than those granted to +the United States. But the inevitable result of Commodore Perry's success +could not long be delayed. Since the time of his mission, the governments +of France, England, Holland, and Russia have secured treaties guarantying +important privileges. It appears, however, that the superiority of +influence remains with the United States, owing, in a measure, no doubt, to +the excellent abilities of the Consul-General, Mr. Townsend Harris, who has +permitted no opportunity to escape of pressing the claims of his +government. As early as July, 1858, he negotiated a fair commercial +treaty. Mr. Harris is the only foreigner who was ever permitted to enter +the palace of the Tycoon of Japan without the degrading forms of submission +formerly exacted from the Dutch. He was received there with every +testimonial of respect. At a time when Mr. Harris was seriously ill, the +Tycoon despatched his own physician to attend him, while her Majesty +continually sent him the most delicate preparations of food, the work of +her own imperial hands. The ease with which the missions of Lord Elgin and +Baron Gros,[1] in 1858, were accomplished, may fairly be attributed to the +effects already produced by American influences. It was through +Mr. Harris's exertions that the Japanese embassy to this government was +secured. The English government endeavored to obtain first this important +mark of recognition, but, as it appears, unsuccessfully. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's expedition (_Narrative +of the Earl of Elgin's Mission_, etc., by Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.) is one +of the most valuable contributions from Japan. His observations, which at +Yedo were more extended and unimpeded than those of any preceding visitor, +are recorded in the most lively and charming manner. The history of the +embassy of Baron Gros (_Souvenirs d'une Ambassade en Chine et au Japon_, +par le Marquis de Moges) is less complete and entertaining, but by no means +destitute of interest.] + +At the present moment, all seems favorable for the development of the long +hidden resources of the Empire. But there are still difficulties in the +way; for a powerful class of nobles, those who trace their descent from the +ancient spiritual dynasty, are strongly opposed to the overthrow of the old +system. It is only by constant struggles that the more progressive class +can make way against them. The arrival of this embassy, and the recent +visit of a Japanese ship to California, are hopeful signs; for these could +have been permitted only on the abrogation of the old law of seclusion, +proclaimed at the time of the Portuguese expulsion; and such are the +peculiar principles of the Japanese government, that, as will hereafter be +shown, an important law like this cannot be revoked without a general +change of its policy. Within the city of Yedo are now the representatives +of three powerful nations, England, France, and the United States; others +are seeking admission; and the period when Japan shall mingle freely with +the world it has so long affected to contemn can hardly be long deferred. + +In a future number we shall speak of the present condition of Japan, the +forms of government, so far as known, its social state and prospects, and +the character of the people, as represented in the embassy which is now +receiving the hospitalities of our own government. + + * * * * * + + + +THE VINEYARD-SAINT. + + +She, pacing down the vineyard walks, +Put back the branches, one by one, +Stripped the dry foliage from the stalks, +And gave their bunches to the sun. + +On fairer hill-sides, looking south, +The vines were brown with cankerous rust, +The earth was hot with summer drouth, +And all the grapes were dim with dust. + +Yet here some blessed influence rained +From kinder skies, the season through; +On every bunch the bloom remained, +And every leaf was washed in dew. + +I saw her blue eyes, clear and calm; +I saw the aureole of her hair; +I heard her chant some unknown psalm, +In triumph half, and half in prayer. + +"Hail, maiden of the vines!" I cried: +"Hail, Oread of the purple hill! +For vineyard fauns too fair a bride, +For me thy cup of welcome fill! + +"Unlatch the wicket; let me in, +And, sharing, make thy toil more dear: +No riper vintage holds the bin +Than that our feet shall trample here. + +"Beneath thy beauty's light I glow, +As in the sun those grapes of thine: +Touch thou my heart with love, and lo! +The foaming must is turned to wine!" + +She, pausing, stayed her careful task, +And, lifting eyes of steady ray, +Blew, as a wind the mountain's mask +Of mist, my cloudy words away. + +No troubled flush o'erran her cheek; +But when her quiet lips did stir, +My heart knelt down to hear her speak, +And mine the blush I sought in her. + +"Oh, not for me," she said, "the vow +So lightly breathed, to break erelong; +The vintage-garland on the brow; +The revels of the dancing throng! + +"To maiden love I shut my heart, +Yet none the less a stainless bride; +I work alone, I dwell apart, +Because my work is sanctified. + +"A virgin hand must tend the vine, +By virgin feet the vat be trod, +Whose consecrated gush of wine +Becomes the blessed blood of God! + +"No sinful purple here shall stain, +Nor juice profane these grapes afford; +But reverent lips their sweetness drain +Around the table of the Lord. + +"The cup I fill, of chaster gold, +Upon the lighted altar stands; +There, when the gates of heaven unfold, +The priest exalts it in his hands. + +"The censer yields adoring breath, +The awful anthem sinks and dies, +While God, who suffered life and death, +Renews His ancient sacrifice. + +"O sacred garden of the vine! +And blessed she, ordained to press +God's chosen vintage, for the wine +Of pardon and of holiness!" + + * * * * * + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COUSIN RICHARD'S VISIT. + + +The Doctor was roused from his reverie by the clatter of approaching +hoofs. He looked forward and saw a young fellow galloping rapidly towards +him. + +A common New-England rider with his toes turned out, his elbows jerking and +the daylight showing under him at every step, bestriding a cantering beast +of the plebeian breed, thick at every point where he should be thin, and +thin at every point where he should be thick, is not one of those noble +objects that bewitch the world. The best horsemen outside of the cities are +the unshod country-boys, who ride "bare-backed," with only a halter round +the horse's neck, digging their brown heels into his ribs, and slanting +over backwards, but sticking on like leeches, and taking the hardest trot +as if they loved it. This was a different sight on which the Doctor was +looking. The streaming mane and tail of the unshorn, savage-looking, black +horse, the dashing grace with which the young fellow in the shadowy +_sombrero_, and armed with the huge spurs, sat in his high-peaked saddle, +could belong only to the mustang of the Pampas and his master. This bold +rider was a young man whose sudden apparition in the quiet inland town had +reminded some of the good people of a bright, curly-haired boy they had +known some eight or ten years before as little Dick Venner. + +This boy had passed several of his early years at the Dudley mansion, the +playmate of Elsie, being her cousin, two or three years older than herself, +the son of Captain Richard Venner, a South American trader, who, as he +changed his residence often, was glad to leave the boy in his brother's +charge. The Captain's wife, this boy's mother, was a lady of Buenos Ayres, +of Spanish descent, and had died while the child was in his cradle. These +two motherless children were as strange a pair as one roof could well +cover. Both handsome, wild, impetuous, unmanageable, they played and fought +together like two young leopards, beautiful, but dangerous, their lawless +instincts showing through all their graceful movements. + +The boy was little else than a young _Gaucho_ when he first came to +Rockland; for he had learned to ride almost as soon as to walk, and could +jump on his pony and trip up a runaway pig with the _bolas_ or noose him +with his miniature _lasso_ at an age when some city-children would hardly +be trusted out of sight of a nursery-maid. It makes men imperious to sit a +horse; no man governs his fellows so well as from this living throne. And +so, from Marcus Aurelius in Roman bronze, down to the "man on horseback" in +General Cushing's prophetic speech, the saddle has always been the true +seat of empire. The absolute tyranny of the human will over a noble and +powerful beast develops the instinct of personal prevalence and dominion; +so that horse-subduer and hero were almost synonymous in simpler times, and +are closely related still. An ancestry of wild riders naturally enough +bequeathes also those other tendencies which we see in the Tartars, the +Cossacks, and our own Indian Centaurs,--and as well, perhaps, in the +old-fashioned fox-hunting squire as in any of these. Sharp alternations of +violent action and self-indulgent repose; a hard run, and a long revel +after it: this is what over-much horse tends to animalize a man into. Such +antecedents may have helped to make little Dick Venner a self-willed, +capricious boy, and a rough playmate for Elsie. + +Elsie was the wilder of the two. Old Sophy, who used to watch them with +those quick, animal-looking eyes of hers,--she was said to the the +granddaughter of a cannibal chief, and inherited the keen senses belonging +to all creatures which are hunted as game,--Old Sophy, who watched them in +their play and their quarrels, always seemed to be more afraid for the boy +than the girl. "Massa Dick! Massa Dick! don' you be too rough wi' dat gal! +She scratch you las' week, 'n' some day she bite you; 'n' if she bite you, +Massa Dick!"--Old Sophy nodded her head ominously, as if she could say a +great deal more; while, in grateful acknowledgment of her caution, Master +Dick put his two little fingers in the angles of his mouth, and his +forefingers on his lower eyelids, drawing upon these features until his +expression reminded her of something she vaguely recollected in her +infancy,--the face of a favorite deity executed in wood by an African +artist for her grandfather, brought over by her mother, and burned when she +became a Christian. + +These two wild children had much in common. They loved to ramble together, +to build huts, to climb trees for nests, to ride the colts, to dance, to +race, and to play at boys' rude games as if both were boys. But wherever +two natures have a great deal in common, the conditions of a first-rate +quarrel are furnished ready-made. Relations are very apt to hate each other +just because they are too much alike. It is so frightful to be in an +atmosphere of family idiosyncrasies; to see all the hereditary uncomeliness +or infirmity of body, all the defects of speech, all the failings of +temper, intensified by concentration, so that every fault of our own finds +itself multiplied by reflections, like our images in a saloon lined with +mirrors! Nature knows what she is about. The centrifugal principle which +grows out of the antipathy of like to like is only the repetition in +character of the arrangement we see expressed materially in certain +seed-capsules, which burst and throw the seed to all points of the compass. +A house is a large pod with a human germ or two in each of its cells or +chambers; it opens by dehiscence of the frontdoor by-and-by, and projects +one of its germs to Kansas, another to San Francisco, another to Chicago, +and so on; and this that Smith may not be Smithed to death and Brown be +Browned into a mad-house, but mix in with the world again and struggle back +to average humanity. + +Elsie's father, whose fault was to indulge her in everything, found that it +would never do to let these children grow up together. They would either +love each other as they got older, and pair like wild creatures, or take +some fierce antipathy, which might end nobody could tell where. It was not +safe to try. The boy must be sent away. A sharper quarrel than common +decided this point. Master Dick forgot Old Sophy's caution, and vexed the +girl into a paroxysm of wrath, in which she sprang at him and bit his +arm. Perhaps they made too much of it; for they sent for the old Doctor, +who came at once when he heard what had happened. He had a good deal to say +about the danger there was from the teeth of animals or human beings when +enraged; and as he emphasized his remarks by the application of a pencil of +lunar caustic to each of the marks left by the sharp white teeth, they were +like to be remembered by at least one of his hearers. + +So Master Dick went off on his travels, which led him into strange places +and stranger company. Elsie was half pleased and half sorry to have him go; +the children had a kind of mingled liking and hate for each other, just +such as is very common among relations. Whether the girl had most +satisfaction in the plays they shared, or in teasing him, or taking her +small revenge upon him for teasing her, it would have been hard to say. At +any rate, she was lonely without him. She had more fondness for the old +black woman than anybody; but Sophy could not follow her far beyond her own +old rocking-chair. As for her father, she had made him afraid of her, not +for his sake, but for her own. Sometimes she would seem, to be fond of him, +and the parent's heart would yearn within him as she twined her supple arms +about him; and then some look she gave him, some half-articulated +expression, would turn his cheek pale and almost make him shiver, and he +would say kindly, "Now go, Elsie, dear," and smile upon her as she went, +and close and lock the door softly after her. Then his forehead would knot +and furrow itself, and the drops of anguish stand thick upon it. He would +go to the western window of his study and look at the solitary mound with +the marble slab for its head-stone. After his grief had had its way, he +would kneel down and pray for his child as one who has no hope save in that +special grace which can bring the most rebellious spirit into sweet +subjection. All this might seem like weakness in a parent having the charge +of one sole daughter of his house and heart; but he had tried authority and +tenderness by turns so long without any good effect, that be had become +sore perplexed, and, surrounding her with cautious watchfulness as he best +might, left her in the main to her own guidance and the merciful influences +which Heaven might send down to direct her footsteps. + +Meantime the boy grew up to youth and early manhood through a strange +succession of adventures. He had been at school at Buenos Ayres,--had +quarrelled with his mother's relatives,--had run off to the Pampas, and +lived with the _Cauchos_,--had made friends with the Indians, and ridden +with them, it was rumored, in some of their savage forays,--had returned +and made up his quarrel,--had got money by inheritance or otherwise,--had +troubled I he peace of certain magistrates,--had found it convenient to +leave the City of Wholesome Breezes for a time, and had galloped off on a +fast horse of his, (so it was said,) with some officers riding after him, +who took good care (but this was only the popular story) not to catch +him. A few days after this he was taking his ice on the Alameda of Mendoza, +and a week or two later sailed from Valparaiso for New York, carrying with +him the horse with which he had scampered over the Plains, a trunk or two +with his newly purchased outfit of clothing and other conveniences, and a +belt heavy with gold and with a few Brazilian diamonds sewed in it, enough +in value to serve him for a long journey. + +Dick Venner had seen life enough to wear out the earlier sensibilities of +adolescence. He was tired of worshipping or tyrannizing over the bistred or +umbered beauties of mingled blood among whom he had been living. Even that +piquant exhibition which the Rio de Mendoza presents to the amateur of +breathing sculpture failed to interest him. He was thinking of a far-off +village on the other side of the equator, and of the wild girl with whom he +used to play and quarrel, a creature of a different race from these +degenerate mongrels. + +"A game little devil she was, sure enough!"--and as Dick spoke, he bared +his wrist to look for the marks she had left on it: two small white scars, +where the two small sharp upper teeth had struck when she flashed at him +with her eyes sparkling as bright as those glittering stones sewed up in +the belt he wore.--"That's a filly worth noosing!" said Dick to himself, as +he looked in admiration at the sign of her spirit and passion. "I wonder if +she will bite at eighteen as she did at eight! She shall have a chance to +try, at any rate!" + +Such was the self-sacrificing disposition with which Richard Venner, Esq., +a passenger by the Condor from Valparaiso, set foot upon his native shore, +and turned his face in the direction of Rockland, The Mountain, and the +mansion-house. He had heard something, from time to time, of his +New-England relatives, and knew that they were living together as he left +them. And so he heralded himself to "My dear Uncle" by a letter signed +"Your loving nephew, Richard Venner," in which letter he told a very frank +story of travel and mercantile adventure, expressed much gratitude for the +excellent counsel and example which had helped to form his character and +preserve him in the midst of temptation, inquired affectionately after his +uncle's health, was much interested to know whether his lively cousin who +used to be his playmate had grown up as handsome as she promised to be, and +announced his intention of paying his respects to them both at +Rockland. Not long after this came the trunks marked R.V. which he had sent +before him, forerunners of his advent: he was not going to wait for a reply +or an invitation. + +What a sound that is,--the banging down of the preliminary trunk, without +its claimant to give it the life which is borrowed by all personal +appendages, so long as the owner's hand or eye is on them! If it announce +the coming of one loved and longed for, how we delight to look at it, to +sit down on it, to caress it in our fancies, as a lone exile walking out on +a windy pier yearns towards the merchantman lying along-side, with the +colors of his own native land at her peak, and the name of the port he +sailed from long ago upon her stern! But if it tell the near approach of +the undesired, inevitable guest, what sound short of the muffled noises +made by the undertakers as they turn the corners in the dim-lighted house, +with low shuffle of feet and whispered cautions, carries such a sense of +knocking-kneed collapse with it as the thumping down in the front entry of +the heavy portmanteau, rammed with the changes of uncounted coming weeks? + +Whether the R.V. portmanteaus brought one or the other of these emotions to +the tenants of the Dudley mansion, it might not be easy to settle. Elsie +professed to be pleased with the thought of having an adventurous young +stranger, with stories to tell, an inmate of their quiet, not to say dull, +family. Under almost any other circumstances, her father would have been +unwilling to take a young fellow of whom he knew so little under his roof; +but this was his nephew, and anything that seemed like to amuse or please +Elsie was agreeable to him. He had grown almost desperate, and felt as if +any change in the current of her life and feelings might save her from some +strange paroxysm of dangerous mental exaltation or sullen perversion of +disposition, from which some fearful calamity might come to herself or +others. + +Dick had been some weeks at the Dudley mansion. A few days before, he had +made a sudden dash for the nearest large city,--and when the Doctor met +him, he was just returning from his visit. + + * * * * * + +It had been a curious meeting between the two young persons, who had parted +so young and after such strange relations with each other. When Dick first +presented himself at the mansion, not one in the house would have known him +for the boy who had left them all so suddenly years ago. He was so dark, +partly from his descent, partly from long habits of exposure, that Elsie +looked almost fair beside him. He had something of the family beauty which +belonged to his cousin, but his eye had a fierce passion in it, very unlike +the cold glitter of Elsie's. Like many people of strong and imperious +temper, he was soft-voiced and very gentle in his address, when he had no +special reason for being otherwise. He soon found reasons enough to be as +amiable as he could force himself to be with his uncle and his +cousin. Elsie was to his fancy. She had a strange attraction for him, quite +unlike anything he had ever known in other women. There was something, too, +in early associations: when those who parted as children meet as man and +woman, there is always a renewal of that early experience which followed +the taste of the forbidden fruit,--a natural blush of consciousness, not +without its charm. + +Nothing could be more becoming than the behavior of "Richard Venner, +Esquire, the guest of Dudley Venner, Esquire, at his noble mansion," as he +was announced in the Court column of the "Rockland Weekly Universe." He was +pleased to find himself treated with kindness and attention as a +relative. He made himself very agreeable by abundant details concerning the +religious, political, social, commercial, and educational progress of the +South American cities and states. He was himself much interested in +everything that was going on about the Dudley mansion, walked all over it, +noticed its valuable wood-lots with special approbation, was delighted with +the grand old house and its furniture, and would not be easy until he had +seen all the family silver and heard its history. In return, he had much to +tell of his father, now dead,--the only one of the Tenners, beside +themselves, in whose fate his uncle was interested. With Elsie, he was +subdued and almost tender in his manner; with the few visitors whom they +saw, shy and silent,--perhaps a little watchful, if any young man happened +to be among them. + +Young fellows placed on their good behavior are apt to get restless and +nervous, all ready to fly off into some mischief or other. Dick Venner had +his half-tamed horse with him to work off his suppressed life with. When +the savage passion of his young blood came over him, he would fetch out the +mustang, screaming and kicking as these amiable beasts are wont to do, +strap the Spanish saddle tight to his back, vault into it, and, after +getting away from the village, strike the long spurs into his sides and +whirl away in a wild gallop, until the black horse was flecked with white +foam, and the cruel steel points were red with his blood. When horse and +rider were alike tired, he would fling the bridle on his neck and saunter +homeward, always contriving to get to the stable in a quiet way, and coming +into the house as calm as a bishop after a sober trot on his steady-going +cob. + +After a few weeks of this kind of life, he began to want some more fierce +excitement. He had tried making downright love to Elsie, with no great +success as yet, in his own opinion. The girl was capricious in her +treatment of him, sometimes scowling and repellent, sometimes familiar, +very often, as she used to be of old, teasing and malicious. All this, +perhaps, made her more interesting to a young man who was tired of easy +conquests. There was a strange fascination in her eyes, too, which at times +was quite irresistible, so that he would feel himself drawn to her by a +power which seemed to take away his will for the moment It may have been +nothing but the common charm of bright eyes; but he had never before +experienced the same kind of attraction. + +Perhaps she was not so very different from what she had been as a child, +after all. At any rate, so it seemed to Dick Venner, who, as was said +before, had tried making love to her. They were sitting alone in the study +one day; Elsie had round her neck that somewhat peculiar ornament, the +golden _torque_, which she had worn to the great party. Youth is +adventurous and very curious about neck laces, brooches, chains, and other +such adornments, so long as they are worn by young persons of the female +sex. Dick was seized with a great passion for examining this curious chain, +and, after some preliminary questions, was rash enough to lean towards her +and put out his hand toward the neck that lay in the golden coil. She threw +her head back, her eyes narrowing and her forehead drawing down so that +Dick thought her head actually flattened itself. He started involuntarily; +for she looked so like the little girl who had struck him with those sharp +flashing teeth, that the whole scene came back, and he felt the stroke +again as if it had just been given, and the two white scars began to sting +as they did after the old Doctor had burned them with that stick of gray +caustic, which looked so like a slate pencil, and felt so much like the end +of a red-hot poker. + +It took something more than a gallop to set him right after this. The next +day he mentioned having received a letter from a mercantile agent with whom +he had dealings. What his business was is, perhaps, none of our +business. At any rate, it required him to go at once to the city where his +correspondent resided. + +Independently of this "business" which called him, there may have been +other motives, such as have been hinted at. People who have been living for +a long time in dreary country-places, without any emotion beyond such as +are occasioned by a trivial pleasure or annoyance, often get crazy at last +for a vital paroxysm of some kind or other. In this state they rush to the +great cities for a plunge into their turbid life-baths, with a frantic +thirst for every exciting pleasure, which makes them the willing and easy +victims of all those who sell the Devil's wares on commission. The less +intelligent and instructed class of unfortunates, who venture with their +ignorance and their instincts into what is sometimes called the "life" of +great cities, are put through a rapid course of instruction which entitles +them very commonly to a diploma from the police court. But they only +illustrate the working of the same tendency in mankind at large which has +been occasionally noticed in the sons of ministers and other eminently +worthy people, by many ascribed to that intense congenital hatred for +goodness which distinguishes human nature from that of the brute, but +perhaps as readily accounted for by considering it as the yawning and +stretching of a young soul cramped too long in one moral posture. + +Richard Venner was a young man of remarkable experience for his years. He +ran less risk, therefore, in exposing himself to the temptations and +dangers of a great city than many older men, who, seeking the livelier +scenes of excitement to be found in large towns as a relaxation after the +monotonous routine of family-life, are too often taken advantage of and +made the victims of their sentiments or their generous confidence in their +fellow-creatures. Such was not his destiny. There was something about him +which looked as if he would not take bullying kindly. He had also the +advantage of being acquainted with most of those ingenious devices by which +the proverbial inconstancy of fortune is steadied to something more nearly +approaching fixed laws, and the dangerous risks which have so often led +young men to ruin and suicide are practically reduced to somewhat less than +nothing. So that Mr, Richard Venner worked off his nervous energies without +any troublesome adventure, and was ready to return to Rockland in less than +a week, without having lightened the money-belt he wore round his body, or +tarnished the long glittering knife he carried in his boot. + +Dick had sent his trunk to the nearest town through which the railroad +leading to the city passed. He rode off on his black horse and left him at +the place where he took the cars. On arriving at the city station, he took +a coach and drove to one of the great hotels. Thither drove also a +sagacious-looking, middle-aged man, who entered his name as "W. Thompson" +in the book at the office immediately after that of "R. Venner." Mr, +"Thompson" kept a carelessly observant eye upon Mr. Venner during his stay +at the hotel, and followed him to the cars when he left, looking over his +shoulder when he bought his ticket at the station, and seeing him fairly +off without obtruding himself in any offensive way upon his +attention. Mr. Thompson, known in other quarters as Detective Policeman +Terry, got very little by his trouble. Richard Venner did not turn out to +be the wife-poisoner, the defaulting cashier, the river-pirate, or the +great counterfeiter. He paid his hotel-bill as a gentleman should always +do, if he has the money, and can spare it. The detective had probably +overrated his own sagacity when he ventured to suspect Mr. Venner. He +reported to his chief that there was a knowing-looking fellow he had been +round after, but he rather guessed he was nothing more than "one o' them +Southern sportsmen." + +The poor fellows at the stable where Dick had left his horse had had +trouble enough with him. One of the ostlers was limping about with a lame +leg, and another had lost a mouthful of his coat, which came very near +carrying a piece of his shoulder with it. When Mr. Venner came back for his +beast, he was as wild as if he had just been lassoed, screaming, kicking, +rolling over to get rid of his saddle,--and when his rider was at last +mounted, jumping about in a way to dislodge any common horseman. To all +this Dick replied by sticking his long spurs deeper and deeper into his +flanks, until the creature found he was mastered, and dashed off as if all +the thistles of the Pampas were pricking him. + +"One more gallop, Juan!" This was in the last mile of the road before he +came to the town--which brought him in sight of the mansion-house. It was +in this last gallop that the fiery mustang and his rider flashed by the old +Doctor. Cassia pointed her sharp ears and shied to let them pass. The +Doctor turned and looked through the little round glass in the back of his +sulky. + +"Dick Turpin, there, will find more than his match!" said the Doctor. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE APOLLINEAN INSTITUTE. + +_With Extracts from the "Report of the Committee."_ + + +The readers of this narrative will hardly expect any elaborate details of +the educational management of the Apollinean Institute. They cannot be +supposed to take the same interest in its affairs as was shown by the +Annual Committees who reported upon its condition and prospects. As these +Committees were, however, an important part of the mechanism of the +establishment, some general account of their organization and a few +extracts from the Report of the one last appointed may not be out of place. + +Whether Mr. Silas Peckham had some contrivance for packing his Committees, +whether they happened always to be made up of optimists by nature, whether +they were cajoled into good-humor by polite attentions, or whether they +were always really delighted with the wonderful acquirements of the pupils +and the admirable order of the school, it is certain that their Annual +Reports were couched in language which might warm the heart of the most +cold-blooded and calculating father that ever had a family of daughters to +educate. In fact, these Annual Reports were considered by Mr. Peckham as +his most effective advertisements. + +The first thing, therefore, was to see that the Committee was made up of +persons known to the public. Some worn-out politician, in that leisurely +and amiable transition-state which comes between official extinction and +the paralysis which will finish him as soon as his brain gets a little +softer, made an admirable Chairman for Mr. Peckham, when he had the luck to +pick up such an article. Old reputations, like old fashions, are more +prized in the grassy than in the stony districts. An effete celebrity, who +would never be heard of again in the great places until the funeral sermon +waked up his memory for one parting spasm, finds himself in full flavor of +renown a little farther back from the changing winds of the sea-coast. If +such a public character was not to be had, so that there was no chance of +heading the Report with the name of the Honorable Mr. Somebody, the next +best thing was to get the Reverend Dr. Somebody to take that conspicuous +position. Then would follow two or three local worthies with Esquire after +their names. If any stray literary personage from one of the great cities +happened to be within reach, he was pounced upon by Mr. Silas Peckham. It +was a hard case for the poor man, who had travelled a hundred miles or two +to the outside suburbs after peace and unwatered milk, to be pumped for a +speech in this unexpected way. It was harder still, if he had been induced +to venture a few tremulous remarks, to be obliged to write them out for the +"Rockland Weekly Universe," with the chance of seeing them used as an +advertising certificate as long as he lived, if he lived as long as the +late Dr. Waterhouse did after giving his certificate in favor of Whitwell's +celebrated Cephalic Snuff. + +The Report of the last Committee had been signed by the Honorable ----, +late ---- of ----, as Chairman. (It is with reluctance that the name and +titles are left in blank; but our public characters are so familiarly known +to the whole community that this reserve becomes necessary.) The other +members of the Committee were the Reverend Mr. Butters, of a neighboring +town, who was to make the prayer before the Exercises of the Exhibition, +and two or three notabilities of Rockiand, with geoponic eyes, and +glabrous, bumpless foreheads. A few extracts from the Report are +subjoined:-- + +"The Committee have great pleasure in recording their unanimous opinion, +that the Institution was never in so flourishing a condition.... + +"The health of the pupils is excellent; the admirable quality of food +supplied shows itself in their appearance; their blooming aspect excited +the admiration of the Committee, and bears testimony to the assiduity of +the excellent Matron. + +"......moral and religious condition most encouraging, which they cannot +but attribute to the personal efforts and instruction of the faithful +Principal, who considers religious instruction a solemn duty which he +cannot commit to other people. + +".......great progress in their studies, under the intelligent +superintendence of the accomplished Principal, assisted by Mr. Badger, +[Mr. Langdon's predecessor,] Miss Darley, the lady who superintends the +English branches, Miss Crabs, her assistant and teacher of Modern +Languages, and Mr. Schneider, teacher of French, German, Latin, and Music. + +"Education is the great business of the Institute. Amusements are objects +of a secondary nature; but these are by no means neglected.... + +".........English compositions of great originality and beauty, creditable +alike to the head and heart of their accomplished authors......several +poems of a very high order of merit, which would do honor to the literature +of any age or country.....life-like drawings, showing great proficiency.... +Many converse fluently in various modern languages......perform the most +difficult airs with the skill of professional musicians..... + +".....advantages unsurpassed, if equalled, by those of any Institution in +the country, and reflecting the highest honor on the distinguished Head of +the Establishment, SILAS PECKHAM, Esquire, and his admirable Lady, the +MATRON, with their worthy assistants....." + + +The perusal of this Report did Mr. Bernard more good than a week's vacation +would have done. It gave him such a laugh as he had not had for a +month. The way in which Silas Peckham had made his Committee say what he +wanted them to--for he recognized a number of expressions in the Report as +coming directly from the lips of his principal, and could not help thinking +how cleverly he had _forced_ his phrases, as jugglers do the particular +card they wish their dupe to take--struck him as particularly neat and +pleasing. + +He had passed through the sympathetic and emotional stages in his new +experience, and had arrived at the philosophical and practical state, which +takes things coolly, and goes to work to set them right. He had breadth +enough of view to see that there was nothing so very exceptional in this +educational trader's dealings with his subordinates, but he had also manly +feeling enough to attack the particular individual instance of wrong before +him. There are plenty of dealers in morals, as in ordinary traffic, who +confine themselves to wholesale business. They leave the small necessity of +their next-door neighbor to the retailers, who are poorer in statistics and +general facts, but richer in the every-day charities. Mr. Bernard felt, at +first, as one does who sees a gray rat steal out of a drain and begin +gnawing at the bark of some tree loaded with fruit or blossoms, which he +will soon girdle, if he is let alone. The first impulse is to murder him +with the nearest ragged stone. Then one remembers that he is a rodent, +acting after the law of his kind, and cools down and is contented to drive +him off and guard the tree against his teeth for the future. As soon as +this is done, one can watch his attempts at mischief with a certain +amusement. + +This was the kind of process Mr. Bernard had gone through. First, the +indignant surprise of a generous nature, when it comes unexpectedly into +relations with a mean one. Then the impulse of extermination,--a divine +instinct, intended to keep down vermin of all classes to their working +averages in the economy of Nature. Then a return of cheerful tolerance,--a +feeling, that, if the Deity could bear with rats and sharpers, he could; +with a confident trust, that, in the long run, terriers and honest men +would have the upperhand, and a grateful consciousness that he had been +sent just at the right time to come between a patient victim and the master +who held her in peonage. + +Having once made up his mind what to do, Mr. Bernard was as good-natured +and hopeful as ever. He had the great advantage, from his professional +training, of knowing how to recognize and deal with the nervous +disturbances to which overtasked women are so liable. He saw well enough +that Helen Darley would certainly kill herself or lose her wits, if he +could not lighten her labors and lift off a large part of her weight of +cares. The worst of it was, that she of those women who naturally overwork +themselves, like those horses who will go at the top of their pace until +they drop. Such women are dreadfully unmanageable. It is as hard reasoning +with them as it would have been reasoning with lo, when she was flying over +land and sea, driven by the sting of the never-sleeping gadfly. + +This was a delicate, interesting game that he played. Under one innocent +pretext or another, he invaded this or that special province she had made +her own. He would collect the themes and have them all read and marked, +answer all the puzzling questions in mathematics, make the other teachers +come to him for directions, and in this way gradually took upon himself not +only all the general superintendence that belonged to his office, but stole +away so many of the special duties which might fairly have belonged to his +assistant, that, before she knew it, she was looking better and feeling +more cheerful than for many and many a month before. + +When the nervous energy is depressed by any bodily cause, or exhausted by +overworking, there follow effects which have often been misinterpreted by +moralists, and especially by theologians. The conscience itself becomes +neuralgic, sometimes actually inflamed, so that the least touch is +agony. Of all liars and false accusers, a sick conscience is the most +inventive and indefatigable. The devoted daughter, wife, mother, whose life +has been given to unselfish labors, who has filled a place which it seems +to others only and angel would make good, reproaches herself with +incompetence and neglect of duty. The humble Christian, who has been a +model to others, calls himself a worm of the dust on one page of his diary, +and arraigns himself on the next for coming short of the perfection of an +archangel. + +Conscience itself requires a conscience, or nothing can be more +unscrupulous. It told Saul that he did well in persecuting the +Christians. It has goaded countless multitudes of various creeds to endless +forms of self-torture. The cities of India are full of cripples it has +made. The hill-sides of Syria are riddled with holes, where miserable +hermits, whose lives it had palsied, lived and died like the vermin they +harbored. Our libraries are crammed with books written by spiritual +hypochondriacs, who inspected all their moral secretions a dozen times a +day. They are full of interest, but they should be transferred from the +shelf of the theologian to that of the medical man who makes a study of +insanity. + +This was the state into which too much work and too much responsibility +were bringing Helen Darley, when the new master came and lifted so much of +the burden that was crushing her as must be removed before she could have a +chance to recover her natural elasticity and buoyancy. Many of the noblest +women, suffering like her, but less fortunate in being relieved at the +right moment, die worried out of life by the perpetual teasing of this +inflamed, neuralgic conscience. So subtile is the line which separates the +true and almost angelic sensibility of a healthy, but exalted nature, from +the soreness of a soul which is sympathizing with a morbid state of the +body, that it is no wonder they are often confounded. And thus many good +women are suffered to perish by that form of spontaneous combustion in +which the victim goes on toiling day and night with the hidden fire +consuming her, until all at once her cheek whitens, and, as we look upon +her, she drops away, a heap of ashes. The more they over-work themselves, +the more exacting becomes the sense of duty,--as the draught of the +locomotive's furnace blows stronger and makes the fire burn more fiercely, +the faster it spins along the track. + +It is not very likely, as was said at the beginning of this chapter, that +we shall trouble ourselves a great deal about the internal affairs of the +Apollinean Institute. These schools are, in the nature of things, not so +very unlike each other as to require a minute description for each +particular one among them. They have all very much the same general +features, pleasing and displeasing. All feeding-establishments have +something odious about them,--from the wretched country-houses where +paupers are farmed out to the lowest bidder, up to the commons-tables at +colleges, and even the fashionable boarding-house. A person's appetite +should be at war with no other purse than his own. Young people, +especially, who have a bone-factory at work in them, and have to feed the +living looms of innumerable growing tissues, should be provided for, if +possible, by those that love them like their own flesh and blood. Elsewhere +their appetites will be sure to make them enemies, or, what are almost as +bad, friends whose interests are at variance with the claims of their +exacting necessities and demands. + +Besides, all commercial transactions in regard to the most sacred interests +of life are hateful even to those who profit by them. The clergyman, the +physician, the teacher, must be paid; but each of them, if his duty be +performed in the true spirit, can hardly help a shiver of disgust when. +money is counted out to him for administering the consolations of religion, +for saving some precious life, for sowing the seeds of Christian +civilization in young, ingenuous souls. + +And yet all these schools, with their provincial French and their +mechanical accomplishments, with their cheap parade of diplomas and +commencements and other public honors, have an ever fresh interest to all +who see the task they are performing in our new social order. These girls +are not being educated for governesses, or to be exported, with other +manufactured articles, to colonies where there happens to be a surplus of +males. Most of them will be wives, and every American-born husband is a +possible President of these United States. Any one of these girls may be a +four-years' queen. There is no sphere of human activity so exalted that she +may not be called upon to fill it. + +But there is another consideration of far higher interest. The education of +our community to all that is beautiful is flowing in mainly through its +women, and that to a considerable extent by the aid of these large +establishments, the least perfect of which do something to stimulate the +higher tastes and partially instruct them. Sometimes there is, perhaps, +reason to fear that girls will be too highly educated for their own +happiness, if they are lifted by their culture out of the range of the +practical and every-day working youth by whom they are surrounded. But this +is a risk we must take. Our young men come into active life so early, that, +if our girls were not educated to something beyond mere practical duties, +our material prosperity would outstrip our culture; as it often does in +large places where money is made too rapidly. This is the meaning, +therefore, of that somewhat ambitious programme common to most of these +large institutions, at which we sometimes smile, perhaps unwisely or +uncharitably. + +We shall take it for granted that the routine of instruction went on at the +Apollinean Institute much as it does in other schools of the same +class. People, young or old, are wonderfully different, if we contrast +extremes in pairs. They approach much nearer, if we take them in groups of +twenty. Take two separate hundreds as they come, without choosing, and you +get the gamut of human character in both so completely that you can strike +many chords in each which shall be in perfect unison with corresponding +ones in the other. If we go a step farther, and compare the population of +two villages of the same race and region, there is such a regularly +graduated distribution and parallelism of character, that it seems as if +Nature must turn out human beings in sets like chessmen. + +It must be confessed that the position in which Mr. Bernard now found +himself had a pleasing danger about it which might well justify all the +fears entertained on his account by more experienced friends, when they +learned that he was engaged in a Young Ladies' Seminary. The school never +went on more smoothly than during the first period of his administration, +after he had arranged its duties, and taken his share, and even more than +his share, upon himself. But human nature does not wait for the diploma of +the Apollinean Institute to claim the exercise of its instincts and +faculties. There young girls saw but little of the youth of the +neighborhood. The mansion-house young men were off at college or in the +cities, or making love to each other's sisters, or at any rate unavailable +for some reason or other. There were a few "clerks,"--that is, young men +who attended shops, commonly called "stores,"--who were fond of walking by +the Institute, when they were off duty, for the sake of exchanging a word +or a glance with any one of the young ladies they might happen to know, if +any such were stirring abroad: crude young men, mostly, with a great many +"Sirs" and "Ma'ams" in their speech, and with that style of address +sometimes acquired in the retail business, as if the salesman were +recommending himself to a customer,--"First-rate family article, Ma'am; +warranted to wear a lifetime; just one yard and three quarters in this +pattern, Ma'am; sha'n't I have the pleasure?" and so forth. If there had +been ever so many of them, and if they had been ever so fascinating, the +quarantine of the Institute was too rigorous to allow any romantic +infection to be introduced from without. + +Anybody might see what would happen, with a good-looking, well-dressed, +well-bred young man, who had the authority of a master, it is true, but the +manners of a friend and equal, moving about among these young girls day +after day, his eyes meeting theirs, his breath mingling with theirs, his +voice growing familiar to them, never in any harsh tones, often soothing, +encouraging, always sympathetic, with its male depth and breadth of sound +among the chorus of trebles, as if it were a river in which a hundred of +these little piping streamlets might lose themselves; anybody might see +what would happen. Young girls wrote home to their parents that they +enjoyed themselves much this term at the Institute, and thought they were +making rapid progress in their studies. There was a great enthusiasm for +the young master's reading-classes in English poetry. Some of the poor +little things began to adorn themselves with an extra ribbon, or a bit of +such jewelry as they had before kept for great occasions. Dear souls! they +only half knew what they were doing it for. Does the bird know why its +feathers grow more brilliant and its voice becomes musical in the pairing +season? + +And so, in the midst of this quiet inland town, where a mere accident had +placed Mr. Bernard Langdon, there was a concentration of explosive +materials which might at any time change its Arcadian and academic repose +into a scene of dangerous commotion. What said Helen Darley, when she saw +with her woman's glance that more than one girl, when she should be looking +at her book, was looking over it toward the master's desk? Was her own +heart warmed by any livelier feeling than gratitude, as its life began to +flow with fuller pulses, and the morning sky again looked bright and the +flowers recovered their lost fragrance? Was there any strange, mysterious +affinity between the master and the dark girl who sat by herself? Could she +call him at will by looking at him? Could it be that ----? It made her +shiver to think of it.--And who was that strange horseman who passed +Mr. Bernard at dusk the other evening, looking so like Mephistopheles +galloping hard to be in season at the witches' Sabbath-gathering? That must +be the cousin of Elsie's who wants to marry her, they say. A +dangerous-looking fellow for a rival, if one took a fancy to the dark girl! +And who is she, and what?--by what demon is she haunted, by what taint is +she blighted, by what curse is she followed, by what destiny is she marked, +that her strange beauty has such a terror in it, and that hardly one shall +dare to love her, and her eye glitters always, but warms for none? + +Some of these questions are ours. Some were Helen Darley's. Some of them +mingled with the dreams of Bernard Langdon, as he slept the night after +meeting the strange horseman. In the morning he happened to be a little +late in entering the school-room. There was something between the leaves of +the Virgil that lay upon his desk. He opened it and saw a freshly gathered +mountain-flower. He looked at Elsie, instinctively, involuntarily. She had +another such flower on her breast. + +A young girl's graceful compliment,--that is all,--no doubt,--no doubt. It +was odd that the flower should have happened to be laid between the leaves +of the Fourth Book of the "AEneid," and at this line,-- + +"Incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit." + +A remembrance of an ancient superstition flashed through the master's mind, +and he determined to try the _Sortes Virgilianae_. He shut the volume, and +opened it again at a venture.--The story of Laocooen! + +He read, with a strange feeling of unwilling fascination, from "_Horresco +referens_" to "_Bis medium amplexi_," and flung the book from him, as if +its leaves had been steeped in the subtle poisons that princes die of. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SPHINX'S CHILDREN. + +"Que la volonte soit le destin!" + + +Long had she sat, crouched upon her breast,--crouched, but not for slumber +or for spring. No slumber gloomed darkly in those broad, sad eyes; no dream +indefinably softened the lips, whose patient outline breathed only +wakefulness and expectation,--a long-deferred, yet constant expectation,--a +hope that would have been despair, save that it was just within hope's +limits,--a monotonous, reiterate, indestructible chord in the creature's +mystic existence, that, once struck by some mighty, shrouded Hand of Power, +still reverberated, and trailed its still renewing echoes through every +fibre of its secret habitation. Nor yet for spring;--a couchant leopard has +posed itself with horrid intent; murder glitters in its fixed golden eye, +quivers in the tense loins, creeps in the tawny glitter of the skin, +clutches the keen claws, that recoil, and grasp, and recoil again from the +velvet ball of that heavy foot; murder grins in the withdrawn lip, the +white, red-set teeth, the slavering crunch of the jaw: but nothing of all +these fired the quiet and the silence of the crouching Sphinx; nerve and +muscle in tranquil strength lay relaxed, though not unconscious. Year after +year the yellow Desert robed itself in burning mists, splendid and deadly; +year after year the hot simoom licked up its sands, and, whirling them +madly over the dead plain, dashed them against the silent Sphinx, and grain +by grain heaped her slow-growing grave; the Nile spread its waters across +the green valley, and lapped its brink with a watery thirst for land, and +then receded to its channel, and poured its ancient flood still downward to +the sea; worshipped, or desecrated; threaded by black Nubian boatmen, who +mocked its sacred name with such savage mirth as satyrs might have spirted +from their hairy lips; navigated by keen-eyed Arabs, lithe and dark and +treacherous as the river beneath them; Coptic shepherds, lingering on the +brink, drank the sweet waters, and led their flocks to drink at the +shallows, when the shepherd's star cleft that deepest sky with its crest, +and warned the simple people of their hour;--yet forever stood the Sphinx, +passionately patient, looking for sunrise, over desert, vale, and +river,--beyond man,--to her hour.--And the hour came. + +Once to all things comes their hour. The black column of basalt quivers to +its heart with one keen lightning thrill that vindicates its kin to the +electric flash without; the granite cliff loses one atom from its bald +front, and every other atom quails before the dumb shiver of gravitation +and shifts its place; the breathing, breathless marble, which a sculptor +has rescued from its primeval sleep, and, repeating after God, though with +stammering and insufficient lips, the great drama of Paradise, makes a man +out of dust,--once, once, in the dcadness of its beauty, that marble +thrills with magnetic life, drinks its maker's soul, repeats the Paradisaic +amen, and owns that it is good. Yea, greater miracle of transcendental +truth,--once,--perhaps twice,--the sodden, valueless heart of that old man, +whose gold has sucked out all that made him a man, beats with a pulse of +generous honor; even in the dust of stocks and the ashes of speculation, +amid the howling curses of the poor and the bitter weeping of his own +flesh, once he hears the Voice of God, and all eternity cleaves the earth +at his feet with a glare of truth. Once in her loathsome life, that woman, +brazen with sin and shame, flaunting on the pavement, the scorn and jest of +decency and indecency, the fearful index of corrupt society,--even she has +her hour of softness, when the tiny grass that creeps out from the stones +comes greenly into a spring sunshine, and as with a divine whisper recalls +to her the time before she fell, the unburdened heart, the pure childish +pleasures, the kind look of her dead mother's eye, the clasp of that +sister's arm who passed her but yesterday pallid with disgust and ashamed +to own their sacred birth-tie: then the tide rolls back: the hour is come! +She, too, called a woman, who leads society, and triumphs over caste and +custom with metallic ring and force,--she who forgets the decencies of age +in her shameless attire, and supplies its defects with subterfuges, falser +in heart even than in aspect,--she, about whom cluster men old and young, +applauding with brays of laughter and coarser jeers the rancor of her wit, +as it drops its laughing venom or its sneering sophisms of worldly +wisdom,--even she, when the lights are fled, when the music has ceased from +its own desecration, when the frenzy of wine and laughter mock her in their +dead dregs, when the men who flattered and the women who envied are all +gone,--she recalls one calm eye in the crowd, that stung her with its pure +contemptuous pity, a look not to be shut out with draperies as the stars +are; and even through her soul, harder than the soul of that unowned sister +walking the midnight street beneath the window, since it has ceased to know +the stab of sin or the choking agony of shame,--even through that +world-trodden heart flashes one conscious pang, one glimpse of a possible +heaven and an inevitable hell, one naked and open vision of herself. + +Long had the Sphinx waited. Year after year the flocking pigeons flitted +and wheeled through the sweet skies of spring, built their nests and reared +their young; tiny lizards, the new birth of the season, coiled and +glittered on the hot sands like wandering jewels; every creature, dying out +of conscious life, left its perpetuated self behind it, and repeated its +own youth in its young, according to its kind: but the Sphinx lived +alone. Nor all-unconscious of her solitude: for he who formed that massive +shape, chiselled those calm, expectant lips, and wide eyes pensive as +setting moons, he had not failed to do what all true artists do in virtue +of their truth,--he had shared his own life with his own creation, and it +was his lonely yearning that stirred her pulseless heart. Little did he +think, toiling at that stupendous figure, ages gone by, that he transfused +into the stone at which he labored, like a patient ant at some stupendous +burden, no little share of that creative yearning that inspired him to his +task; as little as you think, dear poet, whether poet, painter, or +sculptor,--for all are one, and one is all,--that in those dreams which you +write, as unconscious of your power as the transcribing stylus of its +office, your own heart pulsates for a listening world, and the very linking +of words that so respire their own music makes those words self-sentient of +their breaking, thrilling melody, and wrings or exalts them, idea-garments +as they are, with the restless heaving of the thought that wears them. + +Or you, whose sun-steeped brush brings to life on canvas the golden trances +of August noons, the high, still splendor of its mountain-tops, which the +sun caresses with fiery languor, the unrippled slumber of its warm streams, +the broad glory of its woods and meadows fused with light and heat into the +resplendent haze that earth exhales in her day of prime, till he who sees +the picture hears the cricket's chirping in its moveless grasses, and +scents the rich aromatic breath of its summer-passion and its rapturous +noon,--do you dream, when at last the perfect work repeats your thought, +and you rest in the tropie atmosphere you have created, that in very truth +the picture itself is full of inward heat and breathless languor? For you +have poured out the colors that light makes out of heat, and in them the +still inevitable light shall ever stir the recreating heat that clothes +itself in color, and bring your thought, no more a dead abstraction, but a +living power, into the very substance whereby you have expressed it. And +even so far as you were creative, so shall your work be informed by you, +and not mere dead pigment and dried oil and dull canvas be your autograph, +but the vivid and inspiring blazon of an inspired idea shall glow life-like +on some friendly wall, and in its turn inspire some other soul, whose light +within needs but the breath from without to burst upward in clear flame. + +Or you, who unveil from its marble tomb that figure of a chained and +stainless woman, whose atmosphere is as a nun's veil, whose sad divinity is +a crown,--do you dare imagine that the holy despair you have imaged, the +pause of a saint's resignation and a martyr's courage, is but the outline +and the faultless contour of a stone? Come back, Pygmalion, from your +mythic sleep! return, Art's divinest mystery, germ of all its power, from +the deep dust of ages! and teach these modern men that his story whose +passion fired a statue's breast was but an immortal fable, a similitude of +the truth you feel, but do not see,--that even as our Creator shared His +life with His creatures, so do you pour, in far less measure, but obedient +to that precedent which is law, your own life and the magnetic instincts of +that life, into what you create! + +Keep your hearts pure and your hands clean, therefore; for these things +that you sell for dead shall one day livingly confront you, and tell their +own story of your life and your nature with terrible honesty to men and +angels. + +But whoever, in those mystic ages that have ceased to be historic and have +become mythic, whoever made the Sphinx,--whether it were some Titaness +sequestered from all her kind by genie-spells, forced to live amid these +desert solitudes, fed from the abundant hands of Nature, and taught by +dreams inspired and twilight visions,-- + + "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, + And most divinely fair"; + +her only image of human beauty the reflex of her white, symmetric limbs, +her wide, dark eyes, her full lips and soft Egyptian features, wherewith +the river greeted her from its blue placidity; her only sense of love the +unspoken yearning within, when the soft, tumultuous stress of the west-wind +kissed her, who should have been clasped in tender arms and caressed by +loving lips; whose dumb, creative instincts, becoming genius instead of +maternity, struggled outward from their home in heart and brain to +culminate in this world's-wonder, and so build a monument namelessly +splendid to the grand nature that found its bread of life was a stone and +perished: or whether this creature were the fashioning of some +demigod,--"for there were giants in those days,"--who, in the fulness of +his strength, despairing of a mortal mate, wandered away from men and +wrought his patience and his longing into the rock,--as lesser men have +carved their memorials on hard Fate,--and then died between its paws, sated +with labor and glad to sleep: or whether, indeed, the captive spirits, +sealed in Caucasus with the seal of Solomon, did penance for their +rebellion in mortal work on mere dull matter, and with anguished essence +toiled for ages to mimic in her own clay the dumb pathos of waiting +Earth:--whichever of these dreams be nearest truth, one thing is +true,--that the maker of the Sphinx infused into his work, in as much +greater measure as his nature was greater than that of other men, that +yearning of pathetic solitude that most wrings a woman's heart; and the +outward semblance, working in, wrought upon the heavy stone with incessant +and accumulative power, till through that sluggish sandstone crept a +confused thrill of consciousness, and the great creature felt the +loneliness that she looked. Far away below her the Nile-valley teemed with +life; the antelopes coursed beside their young to feed on the green pasture +fresh from its long overflow; red foxes sported with their cubs on the +tawny sand; the birds taught their infant offspring their own sweet arts of +flight and song on every bough; and even the ostrich, lonely Desert-runner, +heaped her treasure of white eggs in the sand, or guided her callow young +far from the sight and fear of man;--but the Sphinx sat alone. + +Mightier and mightier grew the yearning within her, as the full moon +floated upward from the east and cast her dewy dreams over land and +sea. The hour was come; the whole impulse and persistence of her nature +went out in vivid life, and, filling the very stones which the winds had +gathered and piled against her breast, cleft them with its sentient spell, +clothed them with lean flesh and wiry sinews, shaped them after the fashion +of the Desert men, and sent them out alive with intellect and will, but +with hearts of flint, into the wide world,--the Sphinx's children! + +With a sigh that shook the shores of Egypt and smote the Sicilian midnight +with sickening vibrations of earthquake, the Sphinx beheld this culmination +of her great desire; in the very hour of fruition, hope fled; and as this +grim certainty sped away from before her, taking with it all her borrowed +life, she dropped that majestic head lower upon her bosom, uplifted it +again for one last look at her offspring, and so stiffened,--once more a +stone. + +Age after age rolled by; storm and tempest hurled their thunders at her +head; wave after wave of bright insidious sand curled about her feet and +heaped its sliding grains against her side; men came and went in fleeting +generations, and seasons fled like hours through the whirling wheel of +Time; but the Sphinx longed and suffered no more. Her hour had come and +gone; her dull instinct had burnt out, her comely outline began to +disintegrate, her face grew blank and stony, her features crumbled away, +altars and inscriptions defaced her breast and hieroglyphed her ponderous +sides, men worshipped and wondered there, and travellers from lands beyond +the sun pitched their tents before her face and defiled her feet with +barbaric orgies; but she knew it no more,--her children were gone out into +the world. And the world had need of them. Its rank and miasmatic +civilization,--its hotbeds of sin and misery,--its civil corruptions and +its social lies,--its reeling, rotten principalities,--its sickly +atmosphere of effeminate luxury, wherein neither justice nor judgment +lived, and the solitary virtues left mere effete shadows of philanthropy +and cowardly impulses called love and mercy,--needed a new race, stony and +strong, unshrinking in conquest and reformation, full of zeal, and +incapable of pity, to rend away the fogs that smothered truth and decency, +to disperse the low-lying clouds of weak passion and maudlin luxury, to +blow a reveille clear and keen as the trumpet of the northwest wind, when +it sweeps down from its mountain-tops in stern exultation, and shouts its +Puritanic battle-psalm across the reeking, steaming meadows of sultry +August, fever-smitten and pestilent. + +Such were the Sphinx's children: had they but died out with their need! +Here and there a monk, fresh from his Desert-Laura, hurtles through the +eclipse-light of history like the stone from a catapult,--rules a church +with iron rods, organizes, denounces, intrigues, executes, keeps an unarmed +soldiery to do his behests, and hurls ecclesiastic thunders at kings and +emperors with the grand audacity of a commission presumedly divine, while +Greeks cringe, and Jews blaspheme, and heathen flee into, or away from, +conversion; and the Church itself canonizes this spiritual father, this +Sphinx-son of an instinct and a stone! + +Or an Emperor exalted himself above the legions and the populace of Rome, +banqueted his enemies and beheaded them at table, drank in the sight of +blood and the sound of human shrieks as if they were his natural light and +air, tormented God's creatures and cursed his kind, kindled a fire among +the miserable myriads of his own city, and, exulting in a safe height, +mixed the leaping, frantic discords of his own music with the horrid sounds +of the hell's tragedy below him; seething in crime, steeped in murder, +black with blasphemy, the horror and the hate of men, death gaped for his +coming, and he went! Men revile him through all posterior ages; women +shudder at the legend of his deeds; but the Sphinx stands unconscious in +the Desert,--she knew not her child! + +Or a Reformer springs up. High above his birthplace the snowy Alps paint +themselves against the sky, an aerial dream of beauty, softened by the +tender hues of dawn and sunset, serenely fair through the rift of the +tempest; even their white death takes a nameless grace from distance and +atmosphere, clothing itself in beauty as a spirit in clay, and tempting +wanderers to their graves: but no such beauty clothes the man whose daily +vision beholds them; hard, clamorous, disputatious, with one hand he rends +the rotten splendors of Rome from its tottering Image, and with the other +plunges baby-souls to inevitable damnation; strong and fiercely rigid, full +of burning and slaughter for the idolatries and harlotries of Popery, fired +with lurid zeal, and bestriding one stringent idea, he rides on over dead +and living, preaches predestination and hell as if the Gospel dwelt only +upon destiny and despair, casts no tender look at the loving piety that +underlay shrines and woman-worship and bead-counting wherever a true heart +sought its God through the sole formulas it knew, but spurs forward to the +end, a mighty power to destroy, to do away with old corruptions and break +down idols on their altars,--saint and iconoclast! Did the heart of stone +within him know its ancestry,--track its hard, loveless descent from the +Sphinx's children? + +Then a Queen;--a solitary woman, proud of her solitude, isolated in her +regnant splendor, a dead planet like the moon, sung and pictured and +adored, but keeping on her majestic path in awful beauty, deaf to human +entreaty, cold to human love; a great statesman in a queen's robes; a keen, +subtle politician, coifed and farthingaled; a revengeful sovereign; a +deadly enemy; a woman who forgave nothing to a woman, and retaliated +everything upon a man; she who brought unshrinkingly to death a sister +queen discrowned and captive, a sister whose grace and loveliness and +kindly aspect might have moved the lions of the arena to fawn upon her, but +nowise disarmed the tigress who lapped her blood; she who banished and slew +the man she would not stoop to love, because he dared to love another; and +when death stared her in the face, and open-eyed judgment shook her soul, +rose from that death-pallet to grapple and abuse a false woman, penitent +for and confessing her falseness; a virgin-monarch, pitiless, relentless, +cruel as jealousy; an anomalous woman, were she not a stone-born child of +the Sphinx! + +Or a great General, before whose iron will horse and horseman quailed and +fled, like dry stubble before flame; who wielded the sword of Gideon, and +cut off the armies of his kindred people and his anointed king as a mower +fells the glittering grass on a summer dawn, heedless that he, too, shall +be cut down from his flourishing. On his track fire and blood spread their +banners, and the raven scented his trophies afar off; age and youth alike +were crushed under the tread of his war-horse; honor and valor and life's +best prime opposed him as summer opposes the Arctic hail-fury, and lay +beaten into mire at his feet. Hated, feared, followed to the death; +victorious or vanquished, the same strong, imperturbable, sullen nature; +persistent rather than patient in effort, vigorously direct in action; a +minister of unconscious good, of half-conscious evil; stern and gloomy to +the sacrilegious climax of his well-battled life, even in the regicidal act +going as one driven to his deeds by Fate that forgot God;--was he to be +wondered at, whose life, in ages far gone, began among the stony Sphinx +children? + +Nor alone in these great landmarks of their dwelling have the Sphinx's +children haunted Earth. Poets have sung them under myriad names; History +has chronicled them in groups; Painting and Sculpture have handed down +their aspect to a gazing world. From them sprung the Eumenides, pursuers +and destroyers of men. They wore the garb of Roman legionaries, when Ramah +wept for her children dashed against the walls of the Holy City, and not +one stone stood upon another in Zion. They crowded the offices of the +Inquisition, and tested the endurance of its victims, with steady finger on +the flickering pulse, and calm eye on the death-sweating brow and bitten +lip. They put on the Druid's robe and wreath, and held the human sacrifice +closer to its altar. In the Asiatic jungle, lurking behind the palm-trunk, +they waited, lithe and swarthy Thugs, treacherously to slay whatever victim +passed by alone; or in the fair Pacific islands kept horrid jubilee above +their feasts of human flesh, and streaked themselves with kindred blood in +their carousals. Holland tells its fearful story of their Spanish +rule. Russian serfs record their despotism, cowering at the memory of the +knout. France cringes yet at the names of the black few who guided her +roaring Revolution as one might guide the ravages of a tiger with curb of +adamant and rein of linked steel. + +Africa stretches out her hands to testify of their presence. Too well those +golden shores recall the wail of women and the yelling curses of men, +driven, beast-fashion, to their pen, and floated from home to hell, +or,--happier fate!--dragged up, in terror of pursuit, and thrown overboard, +a brief agony for a long one. They know them, too, whose continual cry of +separation, starvation, insult, agony, and death rises from the heart of +freedom like the steam of a great pestilence,--Pity them, hearts of flesh! +pity also the captors,--the Sphinx children, the flint-hearts! pity those +who cannot feel, far beyond those who can,--though it be but to suffer! + +New England knew them, in band and steeple-hat, hanging and pressing to +death helpless women, bewitched with witchcraft. Acadia knew them, when its +depopulated shores lay barren before the sun, and its homes sent up no +smoke to heaven. + +Greece quivers at the phantasm of their Turkish turbans and gleaming +sabres, their skill at massacre and their fiendish tortures; Italy, fair +and sad, "woman-country," droops shuddering at sight of their Austrian +uniforms; and the Brahmin sees them in scarlet, blood-dyed, hurling from +the cannon's mouth helpless captives,--killing, not converting. + +Wherever, all the wide world over, a nation shrinks from its oppressors, or +a slave from his master,--wherever a child flees from the face of a parent +who knows neither justice nor mercy, or a wife goes mad under the secret +tyranny of her inevitable fate,--wherever pity and mercy and love veil +their faces and wring their hands outside the threshold,--there abide the +Sphinx's children. + +For this she longed and hoped and waited in the Desert! for this she envied +the red fox and the ostrich! for this her dumb lips parted, in their +struggle after speech, to ask of earth and air some solace to her solitude! +for this, for these, she poured out her dim life in one strong, wilful +aspiration! + +Happy Sphinx, to be left even of that dull existence! blessedly unconscious +of that granted desire! mouldering away in the curling sand-hills, the prey +of hostile elements, the mysterious symbol of a secret yearning and a vain +desire! Not for thee the bitterness of success! not for thee the conscious +agony of penitence,--the falling temple of the will crushing its idolater! +No wild voices in the wind reproach the wilder pulses of a slow-breaking +heart; no keen words of taunt sting thee into madness; Memory hurls at thee +no flying javelins; broken-winged Hope flutters about thee no more! Thy day +is over, thine hour is past! + +_"Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living +which are yet alive!"_ + + * * * * * + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Dies Irae:_ in Thirteen Original Versions. By Abraham Coles, M.D. New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1859. pp. xxxiv., 70. + +It is pleasant to see how many wiles Nature employs to draw off into side +channels the enthusiasm which is always secreting itself and gathering in +the human brain. She knows what a dangerous clement it may become, if the +individual rills of it run together, and, with united forces, take for a +time a single direction. So she taps it at its sources, and leads it away +to various ends, useful because they are harmless. Bibliomania, +tulipomania, potichomania, squaring the circle, perpetual motion, a +religious epic, the northwest passage,--anything will serve the +purpose. _Divide et impera_ is her motto. The hobby is the safeguard of +society. Once mounted, every enthusiast ambles quietly off on some errand +of his own, caring little what direction he takes, provided only it be _the +other_. The Fifth-Monarchy men might have been troublesome, but for the +Beast in Revelation;--each insisted on a Beast to himself. Protestantism +might have become Democracy, had either Luther or Calvin been willing to +ride behind. The five points of the Charter are blunted to a Lancashire +weaver who is fattening a prize-gooseberry. + +We sympathize heartily with such gentle enthusiasms as this of +Dr. Coles. It is the interest of all Grub Street that men should be +encouraged whose amiable weakness it is to fall in love with pieces of +poetry. In this case, to be sure, the verses are Latin, and the author more +nameless even than Junius; but who knows but some one's turn shall come +next whose verses were at least meant to be English, and whose name +is--Legion? If some translator, charged from the other pole of Dr. Coles's +enthusiasm, should favor us with thirteen Latin versions of some modern +English poems, it would give them a chance of being more generally +intelligible to the laity. Nay, even if such a baker's-dozen of +mediaeval-Latin renderings of Mrs. Browning's last poem--and by this term we +mean, of course, the rather shady Latin of middle-aged men--should be +shuffled together, we are not sure that it would not be a help to the +understanding of the Coptic original. But this, perhaps, is hoping too +much. + +In the case of Dr. Coles, how lucky the direction of the superfluous +energy! how wise the humane precaution of Nature! For there is no +destructive agency like a doctor with a hygienic hobby. If your +constitution be a salt or sugar one, he will melt you away with damp sheets +and duckings; if you are as exsanguine as a turnip, his scientific delight +in getting blood out of you will be only heightened. For such erratic +enthusiasms as this of Dr. Coles we want a milder term than monomania. +Something like _monowhimsia_ would do. It is seldom that an oddity takes so +pleasant a turn. He has published a dainty little volume, with a +well-written introduction, giving the history of the "Dies Irae," and an +account of the various versions of it; this is followed by his own thirteen +translations; and an appendix tells us what is meant by a Sequence, has a +page or two on the origin of rhyming Latin, and concludes with the music of +the hymn itself. The book is illustrated by delicate photographs from the +Last Judgments of Michel Angelo, Rubens, and Cornelius, and from the +"Christus Remunerator" of Ary Scheffer. It is exquisitely printed at the +Riverside Press, which is doing such good service to everybody but the +spectacle-makers. + +We hold the translation of any first-rate poem, nay, even of any +second-rate one which has any peculiar charm of rhythm or tone, to be an +impossibility. The translation of rhyming Latin verses presents peculiar +difficulties. The rhythm is always simple and strongly accented, it is +true; but the ear-filling sonority, the variety of female rhymes, and the +simple directness of expression cannot be echoed by our muffling +consonants, our endings in _ing_ and _ed_, and _a_-s, _the_-s, and _of +the_-s. For example, the stanza, + +"Tuba, mirum spargens sonum + Per sepulchra regionum, + Coget omnes ante thronum," + +is very inadequately represented by + +"Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder +Rending sepulchres asunder, +Shall resistless summons thunder," + +in which, to speak of nothing else, there are thirteen _s_-s to five in the +original. Even Crashaw, whose translation of Strada's "Music's Duel" is a +masterpiece for litheness of phrase and sinuous suppleness of rhythm, +quails before the "Dies Irae," and contents himself with a largely watered +paraphrase. No one has ever yet succeeded more than tolerably with the +opening stanza,-- + +"Dies Irae, dies illa, +Solvet saeclum in favilla, +Teste David cum Sibylla." + +The difficulty is increased where the Latin word has some special force of +theological or other meaning which has no single equivalent in English. + +Doctor Coles has made, we think, the most successful attempt at an English +translation of the hymn that we have ever seen. He has done all that could +be done, where complete success was out of the question. Out of his first +two versions, which seem to us the best, a very satisfactory rendering of +the original can be made up by choosing the better stanzas from each. In +his first trial he misses the pathetic force of the + +"Rex tremendae majestatis, +Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +Salva me, fons pietatis!" + +where the petition is piercingly individualized by the accentual stress +thrown on the _me_. He gives it thus:-- + +"King Almighty and All-knowing, +Grace to sinners freely showing, +Save me, Fount of Good o'erflowing!" +His second attempt is better:-- + +"Awful King, who nothing cravest, +Since Thyself full ransom gavest, +Save thou me, who freely savest!" + +Here the emphatic _me_ is preserved, but in neither version is the true +meaning of _salvandos_ even hinted at, and in both we miss the tenderness +of the _fons pietatis_, with which the _tremenda majestas_ is balanced and +softened. + +There are three or four of these Latin hymns that for simple force and +pathos have never been matched in their kind, and never approached, except +by a few of the more fortunate poems of Herbert, Vaughan, and Quarles. We +know not why it is that what is called religious poetry is commonly so +bad. The thing gives the lie to both the adjective and the noun of its +title. Anything more flat and flavorless, whether in sentiment or language, +is beyond the conception even of an editor with the nightmare. Men have +been hanged for more venial murders than some have been praised for who +have choked out the immortal soul of the Psalms of David. We have, however, +the consolation of thinking that the Devil's Psalter of convivial songs is +quite as bad. + +Dr. Coles has done so well that we hope he will try his hand on some of the +other Latin hymns. He cannot expect to satisfy those who have been +penetrated by the almost inexplicable charm of the originals; but by +rendering them in their own metres, and with so large a transfusion of +their spirit as characterizes his present attempt, he will be doing a real +service to the lovers of that kind of religious poetry in which neither the +religion nor the poetry is left out. As we said before, to translate +rhyming Latin without losing its peculiar _tang_ is wellnigh +impossible. Even Father Prout himself would be staggered by Walter Mapes's +"Mihi est propositum" or "Testamentum Goliae"; but perhaps the spirit of +the hymns is more easily caught, and Dr. Coles has shown that he knows the +worth of faithfulness. + + + +_Mademoiselle Mori_; A Tale of Modern Rome. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +Author's Edition. 16mo. pp. 526. + +This is a reprint of a remarkable book. It is the book of a person familiar +with Rome and with the Romans, who has thought seriously and felt deeply in +regard to their character and fortunes, who has studied with keen and +sympathetic imagination the hearts of the people, and observed closely the +outward aspect and common shows of the city. The story is well constructed, +and has the essential merit of interest. Not only are the characters +distinctly presented, but there is in them, what it is rare to find in the +personages of our modern novelists, a real and natural development, which +is exhibited not so much by what is said about them as by their own +apparently unconscious words and acts. So just a view is given in this +novel of Italian habits of thought and tones of feeling, so true an +appreciation is shown of the peculiarities of national disposition and +temperament, and so intimate and exact an acquaintance with public events +and the course of politics in Rome, as to lead to the conclusion that the +author writes from the fulness of personal experience, and was no stranger +to the interests of the stirring period in which the scenes of the story +are laid. + +The book, indeed, has a double character. It is not a mere novel; for it +contains, in addition to its story, a sketch of the course of public +affairs in Rome during the three memorable years from the accession of Pius +IX. to the fall of the Republic and the entry of the French troops into the +city, which they still hold in subjection to rulers who claim to govern it +for the spiritual interests of the world. And while it may be warmly +recommended to such readers as only desire to find an interesting story, it +deserves not less hearty recommendation to such as may care to understand +one of the most striking and dramatic episodes of modern history, and to +gain an acquaintance with events which throw great illustration on the +present condition and hopes of Italy. In this respect, as well as in the +ability with which it is written, it may fairly be classed with the novels +of Ruffini,--"Lorenzo Benoni" and "Doctor Antonio." To those who have read +these two books it need not be said that this is high praise. + +History is not treated by the author of "Mademoiselle Mori" after the +common fashion of novelists. Events are not misrepresented in it, nor are +the characters of the prominent actors in public affairs distorted to suit +any theory, or to advance the interest of the story. The chief value of the +book, and that which ought to secure for it a permanent place, does not, +however, consist in any formal narrative of events, or in its pictures of +noted individuals, but in its representation of the states of mind and +feeling of the Romans during the first years of the pontificate of the +present Pope, of the objects and methods of action of the various parties +that were then called into active existence, of the occasions of the rapid +changes in the popular disposition from the time when Pius IX. was the idol +of the crowd to that when he was a faithless fugitive to Gaeta, and of the +causes which led to the bitter disappointment and utter failure of the +efforts of the Roman patriots. + +We do not know of any book in which so intelligent and so true an account +of these things, which were the springs from which events issued, and which +underlie all their currents, is to be found. The sympathies of the author +are with the liberal party, with the party that labored for reform, but not +for a republic, and whose hopes and plans were crushed by the horrible +assassination of Rossi. It is one of the most calamitous results of a +tyranny like that exercised at Rome, that it renders a gradual progress of +reform at any time when it may be undertaken almost an impossibility, and +sows the seed of inevitable violence and of revolution, which is apt to +end, as in the Roman instance, in a return of despotism. The view given of +the Roman revolution and republic of 1849 by the author of "Mademoiselle +Mori" coincides in the main with that taken by Farini, and the other chief +Italian statesmen of the present day; and its accuracy and good sense are +confirmed by the course of recent events, not merely in Rome, but in other +parts of Italy as well. It is vain to predict the future of a state so +anomalous as that of Rome; but it is safe to say that the Romans learned +much from their last revolution, and are learning much from its results, so +that, when another opportunity arrives for them to gain some share of that +freedom which Northern Italy has been so happy in securing, they will not +repeat their former mistakes, and will not be found less competent for +liberty than the Tuscans or the people of the Romagna. Perhaps the failure +of 1849 may then turn out to have been a dark blessing; and the blood of +those who fell on the Roman walls, and the tears of those who have wept in +Roman prisons, may not have been shed in vain. + +The cause of Italy deserves the heartiest sympathy, and, if need be, a +personal sacrifice on the part of every lover of liberty and of justice in +the world. The question of Italian unity and independence is the most +important that has been presented in Europe in our time. The issue involved +in it is that of the advance or the degradation of a nation so noble that +none can be called nobler,--of the rights of the many, as against the power +of the few,--of the rights of thought, as against those of the sword,--of +the establishment of those principles which do most to make life precious, +as against those by which it is made vile and wretched. The last year has +seen a part of the great work of freeing Italy accomplished. If Sardinia +can but have time allowed her in which to knit her forces, if she can for a +time escape from foreign attacks and from internal divisions, Italy is +secure. Venice, Rome, and Naples will not long languish under the tyranny +of Austrian, of priest, and of Bourbon. + +We return for a few words to "Mademoiselle Mori." The readers of +Mr. Hawthorne's imaginative Italian romance will be pleased to find in this +book further illustrations of the Rome he has so admirably pictured. The +author has not the genius of Mr. Hawthorne, but the descriptions which the +book contains of Roman scenes and places are full of truth, and render the +common, every-day aspect of streets and squares, of gardens and churches, +of popular customs and social habits, with equal spirit and fidelity. The +interest of the story is sustained by the distinctness with which the +localities in which it passes are depicted. The style of the book is so +excellent that we the more regret a few careless and clumsy expressions, +and some awkward sentences, which a little pains might have prevented. We +regret also that the Italian words and phrases which appear in the volume +are sometimes grievously disfigured by misprints. The distinguished name of +Saffi is travestied by being misprinted Gaffi,--and there are other +blunders of the same sort, in which the Riverside Press has but too +faithfully followed the English edition. + + + +_Critical and Miscellaneous Essays_. Collected and republished by THOMAS +CARLYLE. In Four Volumes. Boston: Brown and Taggard. 1860. + +Carlyle's Essays need at the present day no introduction or commendation to +American readers. Their place is established, and they will hold it +permanently, in spite of the wild philosophy, and in spite of +characteristics of style which would ruin weaker writings. As Ben Jonson +said of a volume of poems, now quite forgotten, by his friend Sir John +Beaumont,-- + +"This book will live; it hath a genius; this Above his reader or his +praiser is." + +There is no fear that these Essays will be forgotten; for, beside their +intrinsic merits and interest, they are at once introductory and +supplementary to their author's more important works,--to his "French +Revolution" and his "Life of Frederic the Great." + +This new edition of the Essays is a reprint of the last English edition +revised by the author, and both printer and publisher deserve high credit +for the beauty of the volumes. The paper, press-work, and binding are all +excellent, and of a sort not only to please the general public, but to +satisfy the demands of the exacting lover of good books. We are glad to +welcome Messrs. Brown and Taggard among our publishing houses, on occasion +of the issue of a book so creditable alike to their taste and to their +judgment, and we hope that the success of this edition of these Essays may +he such as to encourage them to follow it with a reprint of the other +volumes of the revised edition of Mr. Carlyle's works. + +We trust, that, though the words "Author's Edition" are not found upon the +back of the title-page, it is not because the moral, if not legal rights +which the author possesses have been disregarded. + + + +_The Mill on the Floss_. By GEORGE ELIOT, Author of "Scenes of Clerical +Life" and "Adam Bede." New York: Harper & Brothers. + +It is not difficult to understand how the reader's attention may he +attracted and his interest retained by a romance of the old chivalrous days +whose very name and dim memory fill the mind with fascinating images, or by +a novel whose high-born characters claim sympathy for their dignified +sorrows and refined delights, or whose story is illuminated by the light of +artistic culture and adorned with gems of rhetoric and fine fancy; but it +is sometimes surprising to observe the favor which attends a simple tale of +humble, unobtrusive, we might almost say insignificant people, whose plane +of life appears nowhere to coincide with our own, and to whom romance and +passion seem entirely foreign. Such a tale was "Adam Bede," whose great +success as a literary venture hardly yet belongs to the chronicle of the +past; such a tale is also "The Mill on the Floss," by the author of "Adam +Bede," and such, we are confident, will also be its success. + +Both books have many elements in common, but the second is the greater work +of art, and indicates more fairly the scope and vigor of the author's +mind. It is written in the same pure, hardy style, strong with Saxon words +that admit of no equivocation or misunderstanding; it is illustrated with +sketches of outward Nature and tranquil rural beauty, none the less vivid +or truthful that they are drawn with the pen rather than the brush; and it +is instinct with an honest, high-souled purpose. In these respects it +resembles "Adam Bede," but in others it surpasses its predecessor. It +displays a far keener insight into human passion, a subtler analysis of +motives and principles, and it suggests a mental and a moral philosophy +nobler in themselves and truer to humanity and religion. The pathos, too, +is more genuine; for it is not based upon the mere utterance of grief or of +entreaty,--which the eloquent and the artful may, indeed, feign,--but it is +found in that skilful combination of material circumstance and spiritual +influence which impresses upon the feeling, more than it proves to the +reason, that the hour of heart-break is at hand, and which depends less for +its effect upon the dramatic power of the imagination than upon the instant +sympathy of the soul. + +The principal fault which will be found with "The Mill on the Floss," and +probably the only one, is, that the action moves too slowly and tamely in +the first three or four books, and that the author shows an undue +inclination to reflection and metaphysical digression. This will, indeed, +be a great objection to the superficial reader, who will impatiently regret +that the tedious growth of a miller's boy and girl should usurp so many +pages which might better have been filled with exciting incidents. But this +very elaboration, tardy and idle though it may seem, was necessary to the +completion of the author's plan, and--in our eyes--instead of being a +blemish upon a fair story, is one of its principal charms. On this very +account, however, the book will be less popular, and fewer persons will +admire it wholly; but, as thoughtful readers draw near to the end of the +narrative, and anxiously hasten on past trial, temptation, and conflict, to +the dreaded and yet inevitable downfall, muse mournfully over the agony and +remorse that follow, and slowly close the volume upon tender forgiveness +and final joy, they will be thankful for the far-seeing genius which, by +this gradual process of education, enabled them to understand clearly the +fateful scroll at last unfolded to them, and which, if they have read in +the true spirit, has made them wiser and better. + + + +_Nugamenta; a Book of Verses_, By GEORGE EDWARD RICE. Boston: J. E. Tilton +& Co. 1860. pp. 146. + +The author of this little volume modestly waives all claim to the title of +poet, and thus disarms severer criticism. His book, nevertheless, has the +merit of being lively and agreeable, which is more than can be said of many +more pretentious volumes of verse. His pieces are mostly of the kind called +verses of society, a variety whose range is all the way up from Concanen to +Horace. It is enough, if they are only passable; but good specimens are +easy and sprightly,--their philosophy not worldly precisely, but +man-of-the-worldly,--their morality an elegant Poor-Richardism,--their +poetry whatever may be reached by the fancy and understanding. Sometimes, +if the author have been lucky enough, like Beranger, to have enjoyed low +company, his verses will gather a richer tone, his wit will broaden into +humor, his sentiment deepen to hearty good-nature, and his worldliness +ripen into a genuine humanity. + +To embody primeval sentiments, to deal with transcendent passions, and to +idealize those fatal moods by which not individuals merely, but races, are +possessed, those tidal ebbs and flows which, for want of a better name, we +call the Spirit of the Age,--this is a gift whose return among us we do not +look for with as much certainty as that of shad and salmon, but meanwhile +we are not too nice to be pleased with verses that express average thoughts +and feelings gracefully and with a dash of sentiment. It is a vast deal +wiser and better to express neatly, in language that is not alien to the +concerns of every day, feelings we have really had, than to maunder about +what we think we ought to have felt in a diction that has no more to do +with our ordinary habits of thought and expression than Monmouth with +Macedon. The contrast of matter and manner in much of our current verse is +such as to remind one of the notes which are sometimes sent to their +sweethearts by schoolboys, who cut their fingers (not too deep) that they +may asseverate the eternal constancy of the three-weeks'-vacation in that +solemn fluid proper to contracts with the Evil One. + +It is pleasant to meet with one who is able to say a natural thing in a +natural way, as Mr. Rice has shown that he can do. There is a very +agreeable mingling of feeling and fun in his lighter pieces, rising into +real grace and lyric fancy in some of them, such as "New Year's Eve" and +"The Revisit." + + + +_A Voyage down the Amoor; with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan._ By PERRY +McDONOUGH COLLINS, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River, New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. pp. 390. + +This is a very amusing book. The introductory part of it, in which the +author recounts his adventures in Siberia before setting out on his +expedition down the Amoor, is full of bad taste, bad rhetoric, and bad +grammar. If we had read no farther, we should have thought that a more +unfit personage than this gentleman with the monumental name could not have +been chosen for any public service. + +Mr. Perry McDonough Collins gives us the bill of fare of gentlemen's tables +at which he dined, tells us how much and what kinds of wine were "drank," +and sometimes winds up his account of the feast with a compliment to the +"amiable and interesting" family of his host. Mr. Egouminoff's dinner, he +tells us, "was excellent, with several kinds of wine, closing with +Champagne. We had _also_ the pleasure of the company of Mrs. E. and her +daughter, and several other guests, besides a handsome widow." There is +something charmingly _naif_ in thus throwing in the company as a +_succedaneum_ to the dinner, and carefully segregating the widow from the +rest of mankind as a distinct species. + +Mr. Collins also reports for us carefully the orations he made on various +festive occasions,--a piece of very proper economy, since they were +delivered in English to an audience of Russians. He confesses that it is +not the custom to make after-dinner-speeches in Siberia, which proves that +the Russian Government has neglected at least one opportunity of adding to +the terrors of a Penal Colony. At one dinner he had the satisfaction of +making three of these terrible mistakes. He responds to the health of +General Mouravieff, Governor of the Province, to that of President +Buchanan, and to that of "our guests." We should like to have been present +at this display, provided we could have been speech-proofed, like the +Russians in their ignorance of English. It was certainly a proud day for +America, and the bird of our country will be glad that the eloquence has +been carefully saved by Mr, Collins for the good of his compatriots. + +After this multiloquent festival, the Siberian merchants, naturally +exasperated, seized upon Mr. Collins, and an unhappy countryman of his who +was present, and tossed them after the fashion of Sancho Panza. "This +sport," adds our traveller, gravely, "is called in Russian _podkeedovate_, +or tossing-up, and is considered a mark of great respect. General +Mouravieff told me, after our return, that he had had _podkeedovate_ +performed upon him in the same room." The General must be something of a +humorist. + +Mr. Collins, however, has a more astounding incident to relate than even +the respectful tossing-up of a general in the army and governor of Siberia +by a party of provincial shopkeepers. In returning from an excursion, +Mr. Collins had the ill-luck to lose a horse. + +"The death of that horse," he says, "was +a singular circumstance. We were galloping +rapidiy and were approaching the station, +when the animal dropped as if struck by +lightning. We were in such rapid motion +upon the smooth ice of the river, that, though +several yards from the stopping-point, the +other horses kept on, dragging the dead horse, +nor did the driver attempt to stop them, but +seemed determined to reach the station at +full speed. As soon as we had stopped, I got +out and examined the body. It was as stiff +as a poker and stirred not a muscle, the +eyes being cold and glassy. _The fact is, the +horse must have been dead before he fell, and +his muscular action was kept up some time after +life had departed._" (p. 89.) + +We do not remember to have met with a more wonderful example of the force +of habit. + +After Mr. Collins is fairly embarked, however, on his voyage of +exploration, his book becomes more interesting. He shows himself a +thoroughly good-humored, observant, and intelligent traveller. If, in the +earlier pages of his journal, he is indiscreetly communicative as to the +good cheer he enjoyed, in the later ones he does not waste time in +grumbling at discomforts and lenten fare. He observes minutely and +describes well all that he sees along the great river,--the people, the +productions, the scenery, and the vegetation. He gives us a lively +impression of the capabilities of the country, and of the results which are +to follow the introduction of steam-navigation on the Amoor. Like a true +American, he believes in the manifest destiny of Russia, and looks forward +to the not distant time when, with a kind of retributive justice, the +Muscovite is to swallow up the Manchew, as Charles Lamb used to call +him. Already American merchants have established themselves at the mouth of +the Amoor, and, unless Mr. Collins is oversanguine, a great trade is to +spring up between the Californians and their opposite neighbors on the +eastern coast of Asia. + +On the whole, we take leave of Mr. Collins with a feeling of decided esteem +for his genuine good qualities, and can safely commend his book as both +lively and instructive. + + + +_Revolutions in English History_. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, +D.D. Vol. I. _Revolutions of Race_. New York: D. Appleton & Co. +1860. pp. xvi., 663. + +We do not think that Dr. Vaughan has been happy in his choice of a title +for his book. It is more properly an introduction to the study of English +history, than the limitation of the title would seem to import. The Saxon +occupation of England is, perhaps, the only event which may fitly be called +a revolution of race. The volume, however, is a solid and sensible one. Dr. +Vaughan is not a brilliant writer; but brilliancy is not always the best +quality in an historian, for it as often leaves readers dazzled as +taught. A decidedly matter-of-fact turn of mind prevents his being a +theorist, so that he does not formulate characters and events in accordance +with some fixed preconception. His learning seems sometimes limited by what +was accessible to him at the least expense of study,--as, for example, in +his account of the religion of the Teutonic races, where he depends almost +altogether on Mallet. His style is generally clear and unpretending, never +remarkable for any rhetorical merit, sometimes disfigured by inaccuracies, +which, had they occurred in an American book, would have been attributed by +English critics to the low grade of our culture and civilization. In one +instance he is guilty of the barbarous cockneyism of using the word _party_ +as an equivalent for _person_. He speaks of the Roman Wall as having been +kept _perpetually_ guarded when he means _constantly_, of border land as +"separating between" two races, and of ornaments made "from jet." + +Though we do not find in Dr. Vaughan the fascinating qualities which we +have been spoiled into expecting by some recent English and French examples +of historical composition, we can give him the praise of being fair-minded, +sensible, and clear. If he anywhere shows prejudice, it is in his somewhat +depreciatory estimate of the Normans, whom he rather gratuitously supposes +to have acquired civilization and the love of art from the Saxons,--a +supposition at war with probability as well as fact. If anything +distinguished the Norman from the Saxon, it was his aptitude for +appreciating beauty as distinguished from use,--an aptitude on which French +influence could not have been lost before the Conquest of England. The +Normans in Sicily certainly had not had the advantage of Saxon training in +aesthetics, and the poetry and architecture of the Normans in England were +no reproduction of Saxon models. + +But whatever deductions are to be made on the score of want of +picturesqueness in style, of generalizing power, and of that imagination +which sets before us dramatically the mutual interaction of men and events, +Dr. Vaughan's history will be found a useful and enlightened compendium of +the facts with which it deals. + + + +_Fresh Hearts that failed Three Thousand Years Ago; with Other Things_. By +the Author of "The New Priest in Conception Bay." Boston: Ticknor & Fields. +1860. pp. 121. + +In noticing the "New Priest," in a former number of the "ATLANTIC," we had +occasion to speak of the author's remarkable beauty and vigor of style, his +keen sense of the picturesque and imaginative aspects of outward Nature, +his comic power, and his original conception of character. At the same time +we could not but feel that a certain tendency to multiplicity of detail, +and a neglect of form or insensibility to it, hindered the book of that +direct and vigorous effect which its power and variety of resource would +otherwise have produced. Something of the same impression is made by the +present volume. There are glimpses in it of real genius, but it shows +itself generally here and there only, as the natural outcrop, seldom in the +bars and ingots which give proof of patient mining and smelting at +furnace-heat, still more seldom in the beautiful shapes of artistic +elaboration. Here, again, we find the same unborrowed feeling for outward +Nature and familiarity with her moods, the same poetic beauty of +expression, and in many of the pieces the same overcrowdedness, as if the +author would fain say all he could, instead of saying only what he could +not help. + +There are some of the poems that do more justice to the abilities of the +author. In "The Year is Gone" there is great tenderness of sentiment and +grace of expression; "Love Disposed of" is a pretty fancy embodied with +true lyric feeling; but the poem which over crests all the others like a +decuman wave is "The Brave Old Ship, the Orient." It is a truly masculine +poem, full of vigor and imagination, and giving evidence of true original +power in the author. There is scarce a weak verse in it, and the measure +has a swing, at once easy and stately, like that of the sea itself. We know +not if we are right in conjecturing some hint of deeper meaning in the name +"Orient," but, taking it merely as a descriptive poem, it is one of the +finest of its kind. The writer's heart seems more in the work here than in +the devotional verses. We quote a single passage from it, which seems to us +particularly fine:-- + +"We scanned her well, as we drifted by: +A strange old ship, with her poop built high, +And with quarter-galleries wide, +And a huge beaked prow, as no ships are builded now, +And carvings all strange, beside: +A Byzantine bark, and a ship of name and mark +Long years and generations ago; +Ere any mast or yard of ours was growing hard +With the seasoning of long Norwegian snow. + * * * * * +"Down her old black side poured the water in a tide, +As they toiled to get the better of a leak. +We had got a signal set in the shrouds, +And our men through the storm looked on in crowds: +But for wind, we were near enough to speak. +It seemed her sea and sky were in times long, long gone by, +That we read in winter-evens about; +As if to other stars +She had reared her old-world spars, +And her hull had kept an old-time ocean out." + + + +_Hester, the Bride of the Islands_. A Poem. By SYLVESTER +B. BECKETT. Portland: Bailey & Noyes. + +Mr. Beckett is evidently an admirer of Walter Scott; and it is not the +least remarkable fact in connection with "Hester," that an author with the +good sense to propose to himself such a model, disregarding the more +elaborate poets of a later date, should have proved himself so utterly +unable to follow that model, except in a few phrases, which were quite +appropriate as Scott used them, but are ludicrously out of place in his own +verse. In adopting the brief lines and irregularly recurring rhymes of +Scott, he has taken a hazardous step. The curt lines are excellent with Sir +Walter's liveliness and dash; but when dull commonplaces are to be written, +their feebleness would be more decorously concealed by a longer and more +conventional dress. The cutty sark, so appropriate when displaying the +free, vigorous stops of Maggie Lauder, is not to be worn by every +lackadaisical lady's-maid of a muse. In the moral reflections, with which +"Hester" abounds, there is a most comical imitation of Scott,--as if the +poem were written as a parody of "The Lady of the Lake," by +Mrs. Southworth, or Sylvanus Cobb, Junior. + +Mr. Beckett closes some very singular stanzas, entitled an Introduction, +with the following lines:-- + +"Give it praise, or blame, +Or pass it without comment, as may seem +To you most meet; with me 'tis all the same. +I hymn because I must, and not for greed of fame." + +These lines incline us at first to let Mr. Beckett "pass without comment," +considering, that, as he says, he cannot help writing; but we are finally +decided to observe him more closely, inasmuch as he says it makes no +difference to him, thus relieving us of the dreadful fear of wantonly +crushing some delicate John Keats (always supposing we had him) by our +severe censure. + +Instead of entering into a philosophical examination of "Hester," we shall +present some specimen pearls, making our first extract from the 21st +page:-- + +"The very desert would have smiled + In such a presence! yet despite +Her dimpled cheek, her soft blue eye, + Her voice so fraught with music's thrill, +The shrewd observer might espy + The traces therein of a will +That scorned restraint, the soul of fire + That slumbered in her tacit sire." + +"The traces therein." Wherein? Not in the cheek, eye, or voice, clearly; +for it was "despite" all these that he would make the discovery,--they are +obstacles, entirely outside of the success. It is necessarily, then, in the +"presence," in which the unthinking desert would have smiled unsuspecting, +but in which "the shrewd observer might espy" a good deal that was ominous +of trouble. Now it is obvious that the writer intended to refer "therein" +to the cheek, eye, and voice, a reference from which he barred himself by +the word "despite." As it happens, luckily for him, there is a word to +refer to, so that his grammatical salvation is secured; but the result is +sad nonsense. + +Page 23,-- + +"Indeed, it was their chief delight, +When combed the far seas feather-white, +To steer out on the roughening bay +With leaning prow and flying spray, +_And gunnel ready to submerge +Itself beneath the flaming surge_!" + +Page 28,-- + + "nor gave +He heed to aught on land or wave; +As if some kyanized regret + Were in his heart," etc., etc. + +"Kyanized regret" is good, as Polonius would say; but we would humbly +suggest that Mr. Beckett substitute, in his next edition, "Burnettized," as +even better, if that be possible. + +Page 72,-- + + "in hope, perchance +(Like arrant knight of old romance), +That _some complacent circumstance +Would end her curiosity_." + +Page 94,-- + +"Thereafter, she but knew the charm +Of resting on her lover's arm, +And listening to his voice elate, +As he betimes _went on to state +The phases in his own strange fate, +Since last they met_." + +Page 100.--Speaking of "those of +thoughtful mood," he says,-- + +"With whom I oft have whiled away + The dusky hour upon the deep, + Which most men wisely give to sleep." + +There is in this last line a dark, grim, sardonic appreciation of the +advantages which common minds have over those that, like the poet's own, +have to endure the splendid miseries of genius,--a dark moodiness, like +that of a tame Byron remorsefully recalling a wild debauch upon green +tea,--that is deliciously funny. + +Page 230.--The heroine, who is less +poetical by far than her rough servitor, +says,-- + +"Carl! not for all the golden sand +Of famed Pactolus, would I hurt +Thy feelings; _'tis my wont to blurt_ +My humour thus." + +Page 298.--The hero, who is hardly +more romantic than the heroine, has married +his own sister:-- + +"Lord Hubart gazed with steady eye +And arms still folded, on old Carl-- +'Here is, i' faith, a pretty snarl +To be unwound'--but his reply +Was cut short," etc., etc. + +In fact, the great objection to Lord Hubart, as may be inferred from the +above-quoted passage, is, that he is hopelessly vulgar. We are loath to say +so, because of our respect for English aristocracy; but English +aristocracy, truth compels us to observe, cuts no great figure on our +American stage or in our American literature. + +In short, this is a very silly book. It abounds in trite moralizing, for +instances of which we will merely refer the reader to pp. 65, 131, and +299. The author remarks exultingly, in his Introduction, that his is +comparatively an uncultivated mind, We can only say, we should think so! +Ignorance is plentiful everywhere, but it really seems as if it were +reserved for some of our American writers to display in its finest +specimens ignorance vaunting its own deficiencies. There is a great deal of +nonsense talked about "uncultivated minds": some men are eminent in spite +of being uncultivated; but no man was ever eminent because he was +uncultivated. Some instances of a lamentable misuse of language in "Hester" +we give below. + +Page 16,-- + +"They would have won implicit sway." + +Page 53,-- + "By the nonce!" + +Evidently thinking of the phrase, "for the nonce,"--meaning, for the +occasion. In the text, "by the nonce" is an oath! + +Page 71,-- + +"And he some squire of low behest." + +Page 221,-- + + "and when is won +At last the longed-for rubicon." + +Page 256,--the use of the word "denizens." + +Page 262,-- + +"None may their evil doing shirk! + That wrong, in any shape, will bring, + Or soon or late, its _meted sting_." + +Page 313,-- + +"as gnats, which sometimes sting + Their life away when rankled." + +Another fault is the senseless use of certain words and phrases, which a +good writer uses only when he must, Mr. Beckett always when he can. We give +without comment a mere list of these:--maugre, 'sdeath, eke, erst, deft, +romaunt, pleasaunce, certes, whilom, distraught, quotha, good lack, +well-a-day, vermeil, perchance, hight, wight, lea, wist, list, sheen, anon, +gliff, astrolt, what boots it? malfortunes, ween, God wot, I trow, emprise, +duress, donjon, puissant, sooth, rock, bruit, ken, eld, o'ersprent, etc. Of +course, such a word as "lady" is made to do good service, and "ye" asserts +its well-known superiority to "you." All this the author evidently +considers highly meritorious, although the words are entirely unsuitable. +His notion seems to be, that these are poetical words, and the way to write +poetry is to take all the exclusively poetical words you can find. The +occasional attempt to make his verses familiar and natural by the use of +such abbreviations as "I've" or "can't" is as much a failure as the effort +of an awkward man in a ball-room to make everybody think him at his ease by +forcing an unhappy smile and a look of preternatural buoyancy. + +From the beginning to the end of "Hester," there is one unerring indication +of an uncultivated mind and an unpractised pen. This is the writer's +fondness for well-worn phrases, which authors of a severer taste have long +discarded as suited only to the newspapers, but which Mr. Beckett has +picked up with eager delight, and, having distributed them liberally +throughout the poem, contemplates with a complacency to be matched only by +his satisfaction with the success of his expedients for filling out his +rhymes, some of which are certainly ingenious and startling, + +The plot is a jumble of improbabilities, to which we would gladly attend, +for it passes even the liberal bounds of poetic license, but we have +already spent all the time we can upon the New Poem, and we must decline +(in Mr. Beckett's own impressive language) any further "to distend the +title." + + * * * * * + + + +NOTE + +TO THE ARTICLE ON "MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON." + + +Although the proposed act establishing a Sanitary Commission for the City +of New York was defeated in the last State Legislature, some of its +provisions were engrafted on a bill passed on the nineteenth of April, +amending a previous "Act to establish a Metropolitan Police District, and +to provide for the Government thereof." + +By article 51 of this new act it is made the duty of the Board of +Metropolitan Police to set apart a Sanitary Police Company, which by +article 52 is empowered "to take all necessary legal measures for promoting +the security of life or health," upon or in boats, manufactories, houses, +and edifices. Article 53 gives power to the board to cause any +tenement-house to be cleansed at any time after three days' notice, and +provides means for meeting the expense of this and other similar +operations. + +These powers may, perhaps, if wisely exercised, secure a great improvement +in the health of the city. We trust that the duties imposed by them will be +thoroughly and efficiently performed, and we are gratified to see that a +good beginning has already been made; but our regret is not diminished that +the more complete proposed Sanitary Act failed to pass. + +The annual report on "The Sanitary Condition of the City of London" has +just been published. By this report it appears, that, during the year +ending on the 31st of March, 1860, the rate of mortality in London was 22.4 +per thousand of the population, or 1 in 44; in all England, the average +rate is 22.3; in country districts it is only 20; in the large towns, +26. "Ten years ago," says Dr. Letheby, the author of the report from which +we quote, "the annual mortality of the city was rarely less than 25 in the +thousand.....Our present condition is 19 per cent. better than that, and we +owe it to the sanitary labors of the last ten years." In another part of +the report he says,--"7233 inspections of houses have been made in the +course of the year, of which 803 were of the common lodging-houses, and 935 +orders have been issued for sanitary improvement in various particulars." + +Compare these facts with those given in our article concerning the rate of +mortality in our cities. The spirit of emulation, if no other, should force +us into energetic measures of reform. Boston with a death-rate of 1 in 41, +New York of 1 in 27, and London of 1 in 44! + + * * * * * + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +High School Grammar; or, An Exposition of the Grammatical Construction of +the English Language. By W. S. Barton, A. M., Author of "Easy Lessons in +English Grammar," "Intermediate Grammar," etc., etc. Boston. Gould & +Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 373. $1.00. + +Friarswood Post-Office. By the Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," etc., +etc. New York. Appleton. & Co. 18mo. pp. 251. 50 cents. + +A Voyage down the Amoor: with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan. By Perry McDonough +Collins, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River. New +York. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 390. $1.25. + +The Pioneer Preachers and People of the Mississippi Valley. By William +Henry Milburn, Author of "The Rifle, Axe, and Saddle-Bags." and "Ten Years +of Preacher Life." 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9486] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOL. 5, NO. 32 *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Thomas Hutchinson +and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + + + +VOL. V.--JUNE, 1860. NO. XXXII. + + + + +THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS. + + +The condition of our railways, and their financial prospects, should +interest all of us. It has become a common remark, that railways have +benefited everybody but their projectors. There is a strong doubt in the +minds of many intelligent persons, whether _any_ railways have actually +paid a return on the capital invested in them. It is believed that one of +two results inevitably takes place: in the one case, there is not business +enough to earn a dividend; in the other, although the apparent net earnings +are large enough to pay from six to eight per cent. on the cost, yet in a +few years it is discovered that the machine has been wearing itself out so +fast that the cost of renewal has absorbed more than the earnings, and the +deficiency has been made up by creating new capital or running in debt, to +supply the place of what has been worn out and destroyed. The Illinois +Central has been pointed out as an example of the first kind; the New-York +Central, of the second; while the New-York and Erie is a melancholy +instance of a railway which, never having enough legitimate business of its +own, has worn itself out in carrying at unremunerative rates whatever it +could steal from its neighbors. The general opinion of the community, after +the crash of 1857, was, that all our railways approximated more or less +closely to these unhappy conditions, and it was merely a question of time +as to their final bankruptcy and ruin. Even now, when they have recovered +themselves considerably, and are paying dividends again, capitalists are +very shy of them. + +It is our belief, contrary to the current opinion, that during the next +decade such a change will have taken place in the condition of our +railways, that we shall see them averaging eight to ten per cent, dividends +on their legitimate cost. We propose in the present article to give the +reasons which have led us to this conclusion. + +The causes to which may be traced the languishing condition of our railways +may be stated as follows:--Financial mismanagement; imperfect construction; +and want of individual responsibility in their operation. + +The financial mismanagement of our railways has arisen from precisely the +opposite cause to that which has made British railways cost from two to +three times as much as they should have done. Their excess of cost was +owing to their having too much money; ours to our having too little. They +were robbed right and left for Parliamentary expenses, land-damages, +etc. The Great Northern, from London to York, three hundred and fourteen +miles, expended five millions of dollars in getting its charter. +Mr. E. Stephenson says that the cost of land and compensation on British +railways has averaged forty-three thousand dollars per mile, or as much as +the total cost of the railways of Massachusetts. + +American railway-companies have never been troubled with too much money. +They have usually commenced with a great desire for economy, selecting a +"cheap" engineer, and getting a low estimate of the probable cost. A +portion of the amount is subscribed for in stock, and the next thing is to +run in debt. "First mortgage bonds" are issued and sold. The proceeds are +expended, and the road is not half done. Another issue is sold at a great +discount, and yet another, if possible. As the road approaches completion, +the desperate Directors raise money by the most desperate expedients, such +as would bankrupt any merchant in the country in his private business. +Sometimes the road has vitality enough to work itself out of its troubles; +but in other cases, unfortunately too numerous, it passes into the hands of +the bond-holders, and all it can earn goes to remunerate trustees, and pay +legal expenses, commissions, etc. + +The financial mistakes of our railways have been, endeavoring to do too +much with too little money, and crippling themselves with a load of debt +that no project could stand under. This has led, as a matter of course, to +the second evil,--Imperfect construction. The projectors of a new railway +have thus reasoned with themselves:--"The average cost of our railways has +been between forty and fifty thousand dollars per mile, and this one, no +doubt, will reach those figures before we get through. But it will never do +to talk so, or we could not get the money to build it. Mr. Transit, our +engineer, says it can be opened for twenty thousand dollars per mile, and +we will earn money enough to finish it by-and-by." So they go on, and, to +get the road open for the small sum attainable, everything has to be +"scrimped" and pared down to the lowest scale. The cuttings are taken out +just wide enough for the cars to pass through, and the ends of the ties +overhang the edges of the embankments. Temporary trestle-work of wood is +substituted for stone bridges and culverts. Some reckless fellow tosses +down the iron as fast as a horse can trot, and the road is opened. + +Another way in which imperfect construction is inevitable is where +companies admit their inability to be their own financiers by giving some +influential contractor his price, and allowing him to "do his own +engineering," in consideration of his taking such securities as they have +to offer, and which he undertakes to float by means of his superior +connections. Having the thing his own way, and being naturally anxious to +build his road for as little money as possible, he pares down everything +even below the standard of embarrassed railway-boards. If the road will +only hold together until he has sold his bonds, it is all he asks. If the +business is good, the road will perhaps be finished, or what is thought to +be finished, some day or other. If business is dull, nothing is done, and +the bridges and trestle-works remain such murder-traps as that on the +Albany Northern Road which broke down last year. + +But it is not with such miserable apologies for railways that we have to +deal. It is on our really valuable roads, like the main lines in +Massachusetts and New York, that we shall show that the evils of imperfect +construction are felt, and will be felt, until a thorough reconstruction +has taken place. It was observed some time ago that the returns of the +Massachusetts railways for 1856 showed that there were 1,325 miles open, +costing on an average $46,480 per mile, or $61,611,721 in all. The receipts +per mile of road were $7,217, the expenses $4,260, leaving a net earning of +$2,957, or 40 per cent. of the whole. This was equal to 6.42 per cent. on +the whole cost of the railways. + +For the same year the returns of all the railways in Great Britain showed +that there were 8,502 miles open, costing $173,040 per mile, or +$1,506,826,363 in all; and that the receipts per mile of road were $13,296, +the expenses $6,249, leaving a net earning of $7,047, or 53 per cent of the +whole. This was equal to a dividend of 3.97 per cent. on the whole +cost. These figures showed, that, however extravagantly the British +railways had been built, they certainly were worked more economically than +our own. + +At first view it might be thought that the economy was due to their greater +business; but further inquiry showed, that, from the better shape of +American cars, and from the wants of the public requiring fewer trains, the +actual receipts per mile run of Massachusetts trains were $1.83 against +$1.44 of British trains. The expenses per mile run of Massachusetts trains +were $1.08, while those of British trains were only 63 3/8 cents. Could +Massachusetts railways be worked as cheaply, the result would be that they +could declare nine per cent. dividends on their cost, instead of six. + +Here offered a rich reward for investigation. Accordingly two gentlemen +well known to the railway world, Messrs. Zerah Colburn and Alexander +L. Holley, made a trip to England for the purpose of discovering how it was +that John Bull could work his railways so much cheaper than Brother +Jonathan. The results of their investigations are embodied in a handsome +quarto volume, illustrated with numerous drawings, which has been +subscribed for by most of the railways and prominent railway-men throughout +the country. It is not too much to say, that the effect of it, in directing +the attention of American railway-managers to the weak points of their +system, has resulted already in a saving to the stockholders of our +railways of millions of dollars. [Footnote: The statistics of the English +railways given in this article are taken from the volume here referred to. + +Because some cunning English contractors in South America took advantage of +the statements in this book to depreciate the American railway system and +American civil engineers, for their own private advantage in obtaining +work, some Americans have been so foolish as to decry the book altogether, +as traitorous to the interests of the country. Such mingled bigotry and +conceit, shrinking from just criticism, would fetter all progress but +fortunately it is rare.] + +More than half the cost of operating a railway consists of the repairs of +track and machinery and the cost of fuel and oil. These expenses are +exactly proportional to the mileage of trains. It was soon seen that the +greater economy of British railways was almost entirely confined to these +items. + +The cost of "maintenance of way" upon English railways was 10 1/2 cents per +mile run, against 25 cents on those of Massachusetts. The cost of repairs +of cars and engines was nearly the same on both. The cost of fuel per mile +run was 6 1/2 cents, against 15 cents. While English trains are from 20 to +30 per cent. lighter than ours, they average 25 per cent. faster, so that +practically these conditions must nearly balance each other. In alignment +the English roads are superior to ours, and as to gradients they have some +advantage; although grades of 40 to 52.8 feet per mile are quite common. +In climate they have less severe difficulties to contend with; although +their moist weather, the nature of their soil, and their heavy earthworks +involve much extra expense. In prices, the advantage is at least 20 per +cent, in their favor. + +These considerations might account for an economy of 30 per cent. as +compared with our expenses for maintenance of way, but they cannot account +for the great actual economy of 60 per cent. which we have seen. We must +seek farther to find the explanation of this, and we soon discover it by +comparing the condition of the road-beds and tracks on the railways of the +two countries. + +The English railways are thoroughly built, are not opened to the public +until finished, and no expense is spared to keep them in order. American +railways are too often put in operation when half finished. The consequence +is, they never are finished, and are continually wearing out,--not lasting, +on an average, more than half as long as they should, if once thoroughly +constructed. Wooden bridges are allowed to rot down for want of protection. +Rails are left to be battered to pieces for want of drainage and ballast. +One road spends thirty-four thousand dollars a year for "watching cuts," +and fifty-five thousand more for removing slides that should never have +taken place. Everything is done for the moment, and nothing thoroughly. Who +can wonder that this system tells upon the cost of maintenance of way? + +The amount of fuel burned is the exact measure of the resistance to be +overcome, and a rough track must necessarily require a larger amount of +fuel. The English roads now generally burn bituminous coal; most American +roads burn wood; but these being reduced to the same equivalent quantity, +it will be found that the American roads burn nearly twice as much as the +English. + +That the cost of the repairs of American cars and engines is not more is +attributable solely to their superior design. An English engine and cars +would be battered to pieces in a few months on our rough roads, on account +of their rigidity and concentration of weight; while those of America, by +yielding to shocks both vertically and horizontally, escape injury. +American cars and engines are as much superior in design to the English as +their roads excel ours in solidity and finish. + +But it will be asked, Shall we imitate the notorious extravagance of +British railways built at a cost of one hundred and seventy-three thousand +dollars per mile? + +The answer is plain. The only thing about them to be imitated is their +thorough and permanent construction. That this need not involve +extravagance is evident from the fact that the actual cost of construction +has been only eighty-eight thousand dollars per mile of double-track +railway, including all the costly viaducts, tunnels, and bridges, which in +many cases a more judicious location or a bolder use of gradients would +have avoided. The remainder of their cost is made up of law and +Parliamentary expenses, engineering and management, land and damages, +interest on stock, bonuses, dividends paid from capital, etc., etc., +amounting to eighty-five thousand dollars per mile. The folly of all this +has been seen, and neither the financial nor the engineering errors of that +day are now repeated. To show that a better system prevails, it is only +necessary to state that between 1848 and 1858, 390 miles of first-class +single-track railway have been opened at an average cost of $46.692 per +mile, and in all that relates to economical maintenance are not inferior to +any in the kingdom. + +Such railways as these, costing no more than our own, we would hold up for +imitation. How, then, do they differ from ours? or rather, what must be +done to put ours into the same condition of economical efficiency? + +In the first place, stone culverts and earth embankments should replace +wooden structures, wherever possible. As fast as wooden bridges decay, they +should be replaced with iron; and if the piers and abutments require it, as +is too often the case, they should be rebuilt in a substantial manner. + +The tubular iron bridge we do not recommend, on account of its excessive +cost. For short spans of sixty feet and under, two riveted boiler-plate +girders under the track make a cheap and permanent bridge, and can be +manufactured in any part of the country. For large spans there are several +excellent forms of iron trusses, Bollman's, Fink's, or, still better, the +wrought-iron lattice. + +Cuttings should be widened, if not already wide enough, so as to admit of +good ditches along the track. The slopes should be dressed off and +turfed. This costs little, and prevents the earth from washing down and +choking up the ditches, and much of that terrible nuisance, dust. + +The secret of all good road-making, whether railways or common roads, lies +in thorough drainage. Until our railways are well drained, it is of little +use to try to improve the condition of the track. "In an economical view," +says Mr. Colburn, "the damage occasioned by water is far greater than the +utmost cost of its removal. The track is disturbed, the iron bruised, the +fastenings strained, the chairs broken, the ties rotted, the resistance and +thereby the consumption of fuel increased, and the whole wear and tear +greatly enhanced." + +Next to drainage in importance is plenty of good ballast. The New-England +roads are well ballasted, as a general thing; but in the West, where gravel +is scarce, they do not trouble themselves to find a substitute. Even the +great New York and Erie road, after ten years' use, is only half ballasted, +which accounts for its being more than half worn out. + +Much has been said and written on the necessity of a good joint for the +rails, and many are the inventions for securing this object,--"compound +rails," "fished joints," "bracket chairs," "sleeve joints," etc., etc. But +without better road-beds no form of superstructure will last, and with +road-beds as good as they ought to be almost any simple and easily adjusted +arrangement will answer well enough. + +But a more important matter than all these, so far as the economy of +maintenance is concerned, is the quality and shape of the iron rails, +forming one-eighth of the whole cost of our railways. Where companies, +instead of buying rails, are selling bonds, they have no right to complain, +if the iron turn out as worthless as the debentures. But where they pay +cash, they can insist on good iron, and will get it, if they will pay the +price, which will rule from eighteen to twenty dollars per ton over that of +the poorest article. Nor should the shape and weight of the rail be +overlooked. Experience, that stern schoolmaster, has taught us, that, while +heavy rails of seventy pounds to the yard, and over, of ordinary iron, go +to pieces in three or four years, sixty-pound rails of well-worked and good +iron will last more than double that time. The extraordinary durability of +the forty-five pound rails made for the Reading Railway Company by the Ebbw +Vale Company in 1837 is well known to railway men. + +A short calculation will show the superiority, in point of economy, of +light and good rails to heavy rails of an inferior quality. A seventy-pound +rail requires 110 tons to the mile, costing, at 860 per ton, $6,600. At the +end of four years this has to be re-rolled at a cost of $30 per ton, or +$3,300 more. This is equal in eight years to an annual depreciation of +$1,237 per mile. A sixty-pound rail requires 94 tons to a mile, costing for +the best iron that can be rolled $80 per ton, or $7,520 per mile. This +would last eight years, and the annual depreciation would be $940 per mile, +or $297 less than the other. The 30,000 miles of American railways are thus +taxed annually nearly nine millions of dollars for preferring quantity to +quality. + +In England, it is the custom to retain the best engineering talent upon +railways, after as well as during construction. In this country, as soon as +the engineer has made out his "final estimate," he is dismissed with as +little ceremony as a daylaborer. We employ the best mechanical engineers +that we can find to look after the repairs of our engines and cars; while +the road, which is more important, and upon the good condition of which we +have seen that the success or failure of a railway as a commercial +enterprise may depend, is handed over to some ignorant fellow whose only +qualifications are industry and obedience. + +There are no unmixed evils in this world. The impecuniosity of American +railways, besides causing the bad results which we have described, has had +a good effect upon the training of American engineers. Being obliged to do +a great deal with a little money, they have steered clear of those enormous +extravagances which have characterized the works of such engineers as the +late Mr. Brunel, colossal less in proportions than cost. It has been well +observed, that there was more talent shown on a certain division of the +New-York and Erie Railway, in avoiding the necessity for viaducts, than +could possibly have been exhibited in constructing them. This remark is a +key to the difference between the old English and the American systems of +civil engineering. The one is for show, the other for use. We say the _old_ +English system, because a better practice has now arisen. Cost is looked to +as well as splendor; and there is no engineer now in England whose +reputation, would sustain him in constructing such monuments of +extravagance as the Great Western Railway or the Britannia Bridge. American +civil engineers have not been fairly treated. The wretched construction of +many of our railways, and the uneconomical condition of all, have been cast +against them by their English brethren as a reproach. But the faults of +construction, we have shown, are attributable to another cause. No engineer +of standing would lend himself to many of the schemes that have been pushed +through in the West. But in order to build a "cheap" road, it is only +necessary to get a "cheap" engineer, and that is a commodity easily picked +up. If their ignorance and blunders tarnish the fair fame of the +profession, it cannot be helped. But if American engineers of standing had +been allowed to finish the railways begun by them, and to take care of them +and see that they were not abused after they were finished, our railway +securities would be quoted at higher rates than they now are. + +Although there are many civil engineers of standing and experience who have +been thrown out of employment by the general stoppage of public works, and +who are better qualified to take care of that costly and delicate machine, +a Railway, than men whose knowledge is entirely empirical, yet few railways +employ a resident engineer. Those that follow this practice are generally +supposed to do so because he is a relative of some Director, and wants a +place, and not because such an officer is really required. + +"Construction accounts," says Mr. Colburn, "can never be closed, until our +roads are _built_. To attempt it only involves a destruction account of +fearful magnitude. Under our present system, we are _perpetually +rebuilding_ our roads, not realizing the _life_ of our works, and thereby +running capital to waste." + +"With good earthwork, thoroughly drained, well-ballasted tracks, rails of +good iron, correct form, not exceeding 60 pounds per yard, and properly +supported at the joints, the ties properly preserved, and the whole +maintained by a judicious system of repairs, the average working expenses +might unquestionably be reduced by as much as 18 cents per mile run." + +The mileage of the Massachusetts railways for 1859 was 5,949,761 miles run, +and the expenses of operating $0.93, being a saving of 15 cents over those +of 1856, amounting to $892,464. If, by a judicious expenditure of $5,000 +per mile, a still further saving of 18 cents per mile run could be made, it +would amount, on the present mileage, to $1,070,956 per annum, which, the +receipts being equal, would return eight per cent. on the increased capital +of sixty-eight and a half millions of dollars. + + * * * * * + +We have thus shown the combined effects of financial mismanagement and +imperfect construction upon our railway property. But there is a third evil +to be cured before it can become productive. + +Under the present system of railway management, everybody is busy getting +rich at the expense of the stockholders. Railway men are as honest as the +average of mankind, but there is no reason why they should be more so; and +if their temptations are greater, a certain percentage of them will +inevitably yield to those temptations,--just as statistical tables show +that the average number of arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct +is greater on Sundays and holidays than on working-days. + +A few years ago it was impossible to compare the results of the working of +one railway with those of another. The returns were so ingeniously made +out, that only one thing was certain,--the amount of dividend that it +pleased the Board of Directors to declare. If this was three or four per +cent. for the half-year, the stockholders were delighted, and passed a vote +of thanks to those worthy gentlemen for devoting so much valuable time to +their interests gratuitously. What if a dividend was not earned? it was +easy enough to raise money in Wall Street on the Company's paper, until +some excuse could be found for a new issue of bonds or stock. But those +benefactors of the human race, Tuckerman and Schuyler, put a stop to all +this. After their proceedings became public, and still more certainly after +the crash of 1857, if railways did not earn a dividend, they had to say +so. This led to investigations, and stockholders became "posted," as the +phrase is. Chiefly by the exertions of one newspaper, the "Boston Railway +Times," railway companies were shamed into giving their reports in such +form as to distinguish the expenses per mile run, for fuel, oil, repairs of +road, machines, etc., etc. This gave a common standard of comparison; and, +as we have seen, it was made use of to discover in what particular +departments English railways were worked more economically than our +own. This has led, as we have also seen, to a great reduction in the cost +of operating; and the revival of railways, as an investment, dates from +that time, 1857-8. + +But there is something more wanted yet. As we have said, railway men are +not out of the reach of temptation. Let the various officers of a railway +manage it so as not to exceed the average expense of other roads of their +State, and their reputation stands high. Let them reduce their expenses +below the average, and their power is despotic. If they are men of ability, +they can do all this,--operate their road for less than many others, run +their trains regularly and without accident, even treat the public with +civility, and make themselves rich, in a few years, by percentages and +commissions on the cost of supplies, and by other modes, which, perhaps, +had better not be referred to here. If any one doubt this, let him take +pains to inquire how large a proportion of railway-men get rich in a few +years on salaries of from one to two thousand dollars per annum. Nor can +this be prevented; for every new check is only a transfer of power from +intelligent to ignorant hands; and ignorance, however honest, is a more +expensive manager and easier victim than knavery. There is but one remedy. +Make it for men's interest to reduce the expenses of operating to a +minimum. Make it for their interest to do so, by allowing them to share in +the profits, and then the question is solved, and you have a thousand +vigilant guardians of your property day and night. Let all supplies be +furnished by public competition under sealed tender, as is done in the army +and navy, and on the large railways of Great Britain. + +There are, no doubt, practical difficulties in the way of carrying out +these changes, as there are in introducing all new systems. You have to +meet the doubts and suspicions of those who are unacquainted with them, the +opposition of interested parties, and the general feeling which influences +all men to let well enough alone. But that there are no insuperable +obstacles in the way is evident from the fact that this system has already +been partially applied on a railway doing a very large business, the +Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, under the able superintendence of +S. M. Felton, Esq., who, in his last Report, says, "It still works well, +and is productive of much saving to the Company. [Footnote: The cost of +operating this railway for 1859, as per last Report, was only 37.4 per +cent. of the receipts, while that of the railways of Massachusetts for the +same year was 56.9 per cent. The result is a dividend of 8-1/2 per cent. +on capital, after paying the interest on bonded debt.] It promotes +regularity in running the trains, and in all branches of our business. It +diminishes accidents, _by bringing home the responsibility directly upon +individuals_ instead of the corporation." + +There is a great deal of significance in this last remark. Every one knows, +that, when an accident happens on a railway, "no one is to blame,"--which +means, that everybody should have so much blame as can be expressed by a +fraction whose numerator is unity and whose denominator represents the +whole number of employees. Such an infinitesimal dose of censure, contrary +to the homeopathic doctrine, always produces infinitesimal results. + +To what is the extraordinary success of the Hudson's Bay Company +owing,--that wonderful organization which rules the wilds of British North +America with a discipline which has no parallel in the history of mankind, +except that of the order of Jesuits? Simply to the fact, that every man +whose duties require intelligent action is a partner of the Company, shares +in its gains, and loses with its losses. And so it should be with our +railway-employees. Instead of excusing waste of time and property by the +stereotyped phrase, "The Company is rich and can stand it," they would +strive to exercise a rigid economy, knowing that at the end of the week +their pockets would be so much the heavier. + +To show how the thing should be done would involve matters of detail which +would be out of place here. What we desire to show is the +principle. Instead of paying all men alike, good, bad, and indifferent, let +the amount of a man's wages depend on his skill and intelligence; the more +he shows, the better let him be paid. In almost every department of +manufacturing and commercial business this is done. Why not in railway +management? + +We subjoin a tabular statement of the railways of the world, made up to +1857, except those of the United States, which are for 1858-9. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +|Name of country. |Cost per|Receipts |Percentage of|Percentage of | +| | mile. | per mile| expenses to | net earnings | +| | | of road.| receipts. | to total | +| | | | | capital. | +|-------------------|--------|---------|-------------|---------------| +|Great Britain |$173,040| $13,296 | 47 | 4.00 | +|Australia | 169,225| 6,810 | 72 | 1.02 | +|India | 51,400| 8,645 | 42 | 4.09 | +|France | 128,340| 13,530 | 44 | 6.58 | +|Belgium | 81,955| 10,790 | 58 | 5.48 | +|Austria | 92,325| 13,430 | 54 | 6.75 | +|Prussia | 72,430| 9,915 | 45 | 7.44 | +|Other German States| 66,160| 7,085 | 63 | 5.52 | +|United States | 41,376| 6,170 | 60 | 5.51 | +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +From this it will be seen how much economy of working has to do with paying +a dividend,--as in the case of the Indian railways, where, although the +receipts are very small, the prime cost and expenses of working are also +very small, and they divide 4.09 per cent, while the Australian railways, +whose cost and expense of working are large, can pay only 1.02 per cent. It +is proper to say, however, that this was during the "gold fever." Railways +are now built in Australia for $50,000 per mile. + +The railways of the United States occupy a very favorable position, both as +to cost and amount of receipts per mile. During the last ten years, the +principal efforts of their managers have been directed toward increasing +the receipts. During the next ten, their policy will be to diminish the +working expenses, leaving the receipts to increase with the natural growth +of the country, and avoiding unhealthy competition for that delusive +phantom, "through-trade," which has lured so many railways to financial +shipwreck and ruin. If this policy be steadily followed, we shall see +railway stocks once more a favorite investment. + + * * * * * + + + +IN A FOG. + + +A few minutes before one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 8th of +February, 1857, Policeman Smithers, of the Third District, was meditatively +pursuing his path of duty through the quietest streets of Ward Five, +beguiling, as usual, the weariness of his watch by reminiscent +Æthiopianisms, mellifluous in design, though not severely artistic in +execution. Passing from the turbulent precincts of Portland and Causeway +Streets, he had entered upon the solitudes of Green Street, along which he +now dragged himself dreamily enough, ever extracting consolations from +lugubrious cadences mournfully intoned. Very silent was the +neighborhood. Very dismal the night. Very dreary and damp was Mr. Smithers; +for a vile fog wrapped itself around him, filling his body with moist +misery, and his mind with anticipated rheumatic horrors. Still he surged +heavily along, tired Nature with tuneful charms sweetly restoring. + +As he wound off a tender tribute to the virtues of the Ancient Tray, and +was about sounding the opening notes of a requiem over the memory of the +lost African Lily, surnamed Dale, one o'clock was announced by the bell of +the Lynde-Street Church. Mr. Smithers's heart warmed a little at the +thought of speedy respite from his midnight toil, and with hastening step +he approached Chambers Street, and came within range of his relief post. He +paused a moment upon the corner, and gazed around. It is the peculiar +instinct of a policeman to become suspicious at every corner. + +Nothing stirring. Silence everywhere. He listens acutely. No sound. He +strains his eyes to penetrate the misty atmosphere. He is satisfied that +order reigns. He prepares to resume his march, and the measure of his +melancholy chant. + +Three seconds more, and Policeman Smithers is another being. Now his hand +convulsively grasps his staff; his foot falls lightly on the pavement; his +carol is changed to a quick, sharp inhalation of the breath; for directly +before him, just visible through the fog, a figure, lightly clad, leans +from a window close upon the street, then clambers noiselessly upon the +sill, leaps over, and dashes swiftly down Chambers Street, disappearing in +the darkness. + +Gathering himself well together, in an instant, Mr. Smithers is off and +away in pursuit. His heavy rubber-boots spatter over the bricks with an +echo that startles the sober residents from their slumbers. Strong of limb, +and not wholly unaccustomed to such exercise, he rapidly gains upon the +fugitive, who, finding himself so hotly followed, utters a faint cry, as if +unable to control his terror, and suddenly darts into one of the numerous +narrow passages which connect Chambers and Leverett Streets. + +Not prepared for this sharp dodge, Mr. Smithers is for a moment unable to +check his headlong plunges, and shoots past the opening a yard or two +before the wet sidewalk affords him a foothold. + +In great wrath, he turns about, and gropes his way cautiously through the +lane in the narrow labyrinth of which the fugitive has disappeared,--always +cautiously, for there are precipitous descents in Hammond Avenue, and deep +arched door-ways, from which a sudden onslaught might be dangerous. But he +meets no interruption here. Emerging into Leverett Street, he with +difficulty descries a white garment distantly fluttering in the feeble +light of a street-lamp. Any other color would have eluded him, but the way +is clear now, and it is a mere question of strength and speed. He sets his +teeth together, takes a full breath, and gives chase again. + +Mr. Smithers has now passed the limits of his own beat, and he fears his +adventure may be shared by some of his associates. For the world he would +not have this happen. Nothing could tempt him at this moment to swing his +rattle. His blood is roused, and he will make this capture himself, alone +and without aid. + +He rapidly reconsiders the chances. + +"This fellow does not know the turns," he thinks, "or he would have taken +Cushman Avenue, and then I should have lost him." + +This is in his favor. On the other hand, Mr. Smithers's action is impeded +by his heavy overcoat and rubber boots, and he knows that the pursued is +unincumbered in all his movements. + +It is a fierce, desperate struggle, that mad race down Leverett Street, at +one o'clock on Sunday morning. + +At each corner, the street-lamps throw a dull red haze around, revealing +the fugitive's slender form as he rushes wildly through. Another moment, +and the friendly fog shelters and conceals him from view. + +Breathless, panting, sobbing, he ere long is forced to relax his speed. The +policeman, who has held his best energies in reserve, now puts forth his +utmost strength. + +Presently he gains upon the runaway so that he can detect the white feet +pattering along the red bricks, rising and falling quite noiselessly. He +ejects imprecations upon his own stout boots, which not only fail to fasten +themselves firmly to the slippery pavements, but continually betray by +their noisy splashing his exact position. + +As they pass the next lamp, Mr. Smithers sees plainly enough that the end +is near. The fugitive touches the ground with only the balls of his feet, +as if each step were torture, and expels his breath with unceasing +violence. He does not gasp or pant,--he groans. + +Just at the bend in Leverett Street, leading to the bridge, there is a dark +and half-hidden aperture among the ill-assorted houses. Into this, as a +forlorn hope, the fugitive endeavors to fling himself. But the game is +up. Here, at last, he is overhauled by Mr. Smithers, who, dropping a heavy +hand upon his shoulder, whirls him violently to the ground. Having +accomplished this exploit with rare dexterity, he forthwith proceeds to set +the captive on his feet again, and to shake him about with sprightly vigor, +according to established usage. + +Mr. Smithers next makes a rapid but close examination of his prize, who, +bewildered by the fall, stares vacantly around, and speaks no word. He was +a young man, apparently about twenty years old, with nothing peculiar in +appearance except an unseasonable deficiency in clothing. Coat, waistcoat, +trousers, boots, hat, had he none; shirt, drawers, and stockings made up +his scant raiment. Mr. Smithers set aside the suspicion of burglary, which +he had originally entertained, in favor of domestic disorder. The symptoms +did not, to his mind, point towards delirium tremens. + +Suddenly recovering consciousness, the youth was seized with a fit of +trembling so violent that he with difficulty stood upright, and cried out +in piteous tones,-- + +"For God's sake, let me go! let me go!" + +Mr. Smithers answered by gruffly ordering the prisoner to move along with +him. + +By some species of inspiration--for, as the era of police uniforms had not +then dawned, it could have been nothing else--the young man conceived the +correct idea of the function of his custodian, and, after verifying his +belief, expressed himself enraptured. + +All his perturbation seemed to vanish at the moment. + +The affair was getting too deep for Mr. Smithers, who could not fathom the +idea of a midnight malefactor becoming jubilant over his arrest. So he gave +no ear to the torrent of excited explanations that burst upon him, but +silently took the direct route to the station. + +Here he resigned his charge to Captain Merrill's care, and, after narrating +the circumstances, went forth again, attended by two choice spirits, to +continue investigations. On reaching Chambers Street, he became confused +and dubious. A row of houses, all precisely alike excepting in color, stood +not far from the corner of Green Street. From a lower window of one of +these he believed that the apparition had sprung; but, in his agitation, he +had neglected to mark with sufficient care the precise spot. Now, no open +window nor any other trace of the event could be discovered. + +The three policemen, having arrived at the end of their wits, went back to +the station for an extension. + +There they found Captain Morrill listening to a strange and startling +story, the incidents of which can here be more coherently recapitulated +than they were on that occasion by the half-distracted sufferer. + +On the morning of Saturday, February the 7th, this young man, whose name +was Richard Lorrimer, and who was a clerk in a New-York mercantile house, +started from that city in the early train for Boston, whither he had been +despatched to arrange some business matters that needed the presence of a +representative of the firm. It chanced to be his first journey of any +extent; but the day was cheerless and gloomy, and the novelty of travel, +which would otherwise have been attractive, was not especially agreeable. +After exhausting the enlivening resources of a package of morning papers, +which at that time overflowed with records of every variety of crime, from +the daily murder to the hourly garrote, he dozed. At Springfield he +dined. Here, also, he fortified himself against returning ennui with a +supply of the day's journals from Boston. Singularly enough, five minutes +after resuming his place, he was once more peacefully slumbering. The pause +at Worcester scarcely roused him; but near Framingham a sharp shriek from +the locomotive, and the rapid working of the brakes, banished his dreams, +and put an end to his drowsy humor for the remainder of the journey. It was +soon made known that the engine was suffering from internal disarrangement, +and that a delay of an hour or more might be expected. The red flag was +despatched to the rear, the lamps were lighted, and the passengers composed +themselves, each as patiently and as comfortably as he could. + +Lorrimer felt no inclination for further repose. He was much disturbed at +the prospect of long detention, having received directions to execute a +part of his commission that evening. Comforting himself with the profound +reflection that the fault was not his, he turned wearily to his +newspaper-files. + +A middle-aged man with a keen nose and a snapping eye asked permission to +share the benefit of his treasures of journalism. As the middle-aged man +glanced over the New-York dailies, he ventured an anathema upon the +abominations of Gotham. + +The patriotic pride of a genuine New-Yorker never deserts him. Lorrimer +discovered that the maligner of his city was a Bostonian, and a stormy +debate ensued. + +As between cat and dog, so is the hostility which divides the residents of +these two towns. So the conversation became at once spirited, and +eventually spiteful. + +Boston pointed with sarcastic finger to the close columns heavily laden +with iniquitous recitals, the result of a reporter's experience of one day +in the metropolis. + +New York, with icy imperturbability, rehearsed from memory the recent +revelations of matrimonial and clerical delinquencies which had given the +City of Notions an unpleasant notoriety. + +Boston burst out in eloquent denunciation of the Bowery assassin's knife. + +New York was placidly pleased to revert to a tale of bloodshed in the +abiding-place of Massachusetts authority, the State Prison. + +Boston fell back upon the garrote,--"the meanest and most diabolical +invention of Five-Point villany,--a thing unknown, Sir, and never to be +known with us, while our police system lasts!" + +New York quietly folded together a paper so as to reveal one particular +paragraph, which appeared in smallest type, as seeking to avoid +recognition. Boston read as follows:-- + +"The garroting system of highway robbery, which has been so fashionable for +some time past in New York, and which has so much alarmed the people of +that city, has been introduced in Boston, and was practised on Thomas +W. Steamburg, barber, on Thursday night. While crossing the Common to his +home, he was attacked by three men; one seized him by the throat and half +strangled him, another sealed his mouth with a gloved hand, and the third +abstracted his wallet, which contained about seventy-five dollars in +money." + +This was from the "Courier" of that morning. New York had triumphed, and +Boston, with eyes snapping virulently, sought another portion of the car, +perhaps to hunt up his temper, which had been for some time on the point of +departure, and had now left him altogether. + +Lorrimer took to himself great satisfaction, in a mild way, and laughed +inwardly at his opponent's discomfiture. + +Presently, the vitalities of the locomotive having been restored, the train +rolled on, and Lorrimer took to calculating the chances of fulfilling his +appointment that evening. He at length abandoned the hope, and resigned +himself to the afflicting prospect of a solitary Sunday in a strange place. + +At eight o'clock, P.M., the Boston station was achieved. Then followed, for +Mr. Lorrimer, the hotel, the supper, the vain search for Saturday-evening +amusements, and a discontented stroll in a wilderness of unfamiliar +streets, with spirits dampened by the dismal foggy weather. + +He found the Common, and secretly admired, but longed for an opportunity to +vilify it to some ardent native. His point of attack would be, that it +furnished dangerous opportunities for crime, as illustrated in the case he +had recently been discussing. He looked around for some one to accost, and +felt aggrieved at finding no available victim. Finally, in great depth of +spirits, and anxious for a temporary shelter from the all-penetrating +moisture, he wandered into a saloon of inviting appearance, and sought the +national consolation,--Oysters. + +While he was accumulating his appetite, a stranger entered the same stall, +and dropped, with a smile and a nod, upon the opposite seat. "I wouldn't +intrude, Sir," he said, "but every other place is filled. It's wonderful +how Boston gives itself up to oysters on Saturday nights,--all other sorts +of rational enjoyment being legally prohibited." + +Lorrimer welcomed the stranger, and, delighted at the opportunity of a bit +of discussion, and still cherishing the malignant desire to injure +somebody's feelings in the matter of the Common, opened a conversation by +asking if Boston were really much given to bivalvular excesses. + +The stranger, who was a strongly built and rough-visaged man, with nothing +specially attractive about him, except a humorous and fascinating +eye-twinkle, straightened himself, and delivered a short oration. + +"Bless me, Sir!" said he, "are you a foreigner? Why, oysters are the +universal bond of brotherhood, not only in Boston, but throughout this +land. They harmonize with our sharp, wide-awake spirit. They are an element +in our politics. Our statesmen, legislators, and high-placed men, +generally, are weaned on them. Why, dear me! oysters are a fundamental idea +in our social system. The best society circles around 'fried' and 'stewed.' +Our 'festive scenes,' you know, depend on them in no small degree for their +zest. That isn't all, either. A full third of our population is over +'oysters' every morning at eleven o'clock. Young Smith, on his way down +town after breakfast, drops into the first saloon and absorbs some +oysters. At precisely eleven o'clock he is overcome with hunger and takes a +few on the 'half-shell.' In the course of an hour appetite clamors, and he +'oysters' again. So on till dinner-time, and, after dinner, oysters at +short intervals until bed-time." + +And the stalwart stranger leaned back and laughed lustily for a few +seconds, until, abruptly checking his mirth, he, in solemn tones, directed +the waiter to introduce ale. + +Then occurred an interesting exchange of courtesies. Social enlightenment +was vividly illustrated. The sparkling ale was set upon the table. In +silent contemplation, the two gentlemen awaited the subsidence of the +bead. Then, smiling intensely, they cordially grasped the flowing mugs; +they made the edges click; they paused. + +"Sir," said one, with genial blandness. + +"Sir," responded the other, in like manner. + +Contemporaneously they partook of the cheering fluid. Gradually each +gentleman's nose was eclipsed by the aspiring orb of pottery. The mugs +assumed a lofty elevation, then fell, to rise no more. The two gentlemen +beamed with amity. Each respected the other, and the acquaintance was +formed. + +Lorrimer was charmed to meet an intelligent being who would talk and be +talked to. He flattered himself he had exploited a "character," and was +determined not to allow him to slip away. He cautiously broke to his new +companion the fact that he was a native of New York, and was a little +surprised to see the announcement followed by no manifestation of awe, but +only a lively wink. He reserved his defamatory intentions respecting the +Common, and endeavored to draw the stranger out, who, in return, shot forth +eccentricities as profusely as the emery wheel of the street grinder emits +sparks when assailed by a scissors-blade. + +Lorrimer learned that this delightful fellow's name was Glover, and +rejoiced greatly in so much knowledge. + +Mr. Glover ordered in ale, and Mr. Lorrimer ordered in oysters,--and from +oysters to ale they pleasantly alternated for the space of two hours. + +Cloud-compelling cigars varied at intervals the monotony of the +proceedings. + +At length the young gentleman from New York vanquished his last "fried in +crumb," and victory perched upon his knife. Just then the gas-burners began +to meander queerly before his eyes. Around and above him he beheld showers +of glittering sparks,--snaky threads of light,--fantastic figures of +fire,--jets of liquid lustre. He communicated, in confidence, to +Mr. Glover, that his seat seemed to him of the nature of a rocking-chair +operating viciously upon a steep slated roof. Mr. Glover laughed, and +proposed an adjournment. + +As they settled their little bills, Lorrimer thoughtlessly displayed a +plethoric pile of bank-notes. He saw, or fancied he saw, his companion gaze +at them in a manner which made him restless; but the circumstance soon +passed from his mind, until later events enforced the recollection. + +When they walked into the open air, Mr. Lorrimer first became intimate with +a lamp-post, which he was loath to leave, and then bitterly bewailed his +ignorance of localities. Glover good-naturedly suggested that his young +friend would do well to take up quarters with him, that night, and promised +to conduct him wherever he desired to go, the next morning. His young +friend was not in the humor for hesitation, and, distrusting his own +perambulatory powers, gave himself up, without reserve, to Glover's +guidance. Linked together by their arms, they sailed along, like an +energetic little steam-tug, puffing, plunging, sputtering, under the shadow +of a serene and stately Indiaman. + +The fog had now gathered solidity, and hung chillingly over the city's +heart. How desolate were the thoroughfares! The street-lamps gleamed +luridly from their stands, serving only to make the dreary darkness +visible. Lorrimer's late merry fancies were all extinguished as suddenly as +they had blazed forth. Even his sturdy guide showed a depression and +constraint that strangely contrasted with his former gayety. He vainly drew +upon his mirth-account; there was no issue, "Beastly fog!" said he, "we +might drill holes in it, and blast it with gunpowder!" They approached the +Common, and the hideous structure opposite West Street glared on them like +a fiery monster, and seemed exactly the reverse of the gate to a forty-acre +Paradise. Sheltering their faces from the wind, which now added its +inconveniences to the saturating atmosphere, they struck the broad avenue, +and pushed across towards the West End. + +The wind sang most doleful strains, and the bending branches of the trees +sighed sadly over them. Lorrimer was filled with an anxious tribulation, as +he remembered the story of the villany that, two nights before, near the +spot where they now walked, and perhaps at the same hour, had been +perpetrated. An impulse, which he could not restrain, caused him to whisper +his fears to his companion. Glover laughed, a little uneasily, he thought, +but made no answer. + +Soon they reached the opposite boundary of the Common, and continued +through Hancock Street, ascending and descending the hill. While passing +the reservoir in that dull gray darkness, Lorrimer felt as if under the +shadow of some giant tomb. Hastening forward, for it was growing late, they +threaded a number of the short avenues of Ward Three, and at length, when +young New York's endurance was nearly exhausted, reached their destination +in Chambers Street. It must have been the fatigue which, as they crossed +the threshold, propelled Mr. Lorrimer against the door, causing him to +stain himself unbecomingly with new paint. + +They mounted the stairs, and entered a comfortable apartment, in which a +fresh fire was diffusing a most welcome glow, and a spacious bed +luxuriously invited occupancy. Lorrimer had but one grief, which he freely +communicated to his host,--his fingers were liberally decorated with dark +daubs, to which he pointed with unsteady anguish. + +"It's a filthy shame!" said he, with more energy of manner than certainty +of utterance. + +A section of the chamber was separated from the rest by a screen. Into this +retreat Glover disappeared, and immediately returned with a bottle, from +which he poured an acid that effaced the spots. "It will wash away +anything," said he, laughing. + +Lorrimer was superabundantly profuse in thanks, and announced that his mind +was now at ease. By some mysterious process, not clearly explicable to +himself, he contrived to lay aside a portion of his dress, and to dispose +himself within the folds of balmy bedclothes that awaited him. In forty +seconds he was dreaming. + +Nearly an hour had elapsed when he half woke from an uneasy slumber, and +strove to collect his drowsy faculties. His sleep had been disturbed by +frightful visions. He had passed through a scene of violence on the Common; +he had been engaged in a life-and-death struggle with his new acquaintance; +he had been seized by unseen hands, and thrown into a vast vault. His brain +throbbed and his heart ached, as he endeavored to disentangle the +bewildering fancies of his sleep from wakeful reality. + +He lay with his face to the wall, and the grotesque decorations of the +paper assumed ghostly forms, and moved menacingly before his eyes, +thrilling him through and through. + +In a few moments the murmur of voices close at hand aroused him more +effectually. He then recollected the incidents of the night, and reproached +himself for his wild excesses, and his reckless and imprudent confidence in +a stranger. He dreaded to think what the consequences might be, and again +became confused with the memories of his distressing dreams. + +Three facts, however, were fastened upon his mind. He could not forget +Glover's singular glance at his roll of bank-notes,--the hesitation to +converse about the garrote,--nor the bottle of acid which would "wash away +anything." Would it wash away stains of blood? + +The sounds of subdued conversation again arrested his attention. He +listened earnestly, but without changing his position. + +"Speak softly," said a voice which he recognized as Glover's,--"speak +softly; you will wake my guest." + +Then the words failed to reach him for a few moments. He strained his ears, +and hardly breathed, for fear of interrupting a syllable. Presently he was +able to distinguish a few sentences. + +"Do you call this a profitable job?" said a strange voice. + +"Oh, very fair,--worth about fifty dollars, I should guess. I wouldn't +undertake such a piece of work at a smaller chance," said Glover. + +"Shall you cut the face?" said the other, after a minute's pause. + +"Of course," was the answer; "it's the only way to do it handsomely." + +"Hum!--what do you use? steel?" + +"Steel, by all means." + +"I shouldn't." + +"I like it better; and I have a nice bit that has done service in this way +before." + +From Lorrimer's brow exuded a deadly sudor. His heart ceased to palpitate. +His muscles became rigid; his eyes fixed. His terror was almost too great +for him to bear. With difficulty he controlled himself, and listened again. + +"Can it be done here?" asked the strange voice;--"will not the features be +recognized?" + +"There is nothing deeply marked, except the eyes," said Glover, "and I can +easily remove them, you know." + +"You can try the acid." + +"The other way is best." + +"I suppose it must be done quickly." + +"So quickly that there will be no chance for any proof." + +Lorrimer gasped feebly, and clutched the bedclothes with a nervous, +convulsive movement. He had no power to reflect upon his situation; but he +felt that he was lost. Alone and unaided, he could not hope to combat the +evil designs of two men, a single one of whom he knew was vastly his +superior in strength. His blood seemed to cease flowing in his veins. He +thought for an instant of springing from the bed, and imploring mercy; but +the nature of their conversation, with its minutiae of cruelty, forbade all +hope in that direction. His brain whirled, and he thought that reason was +about to forsake him. But a movement in the room restored him to a sense of +his peril. + +He saw the shadows changing their places, and knew that the light was +moving. He heard faint footsteps. Hope deserted him, and be closed his +eyes, quite despairing. When be opened them a minute later, he was in +darkness. + +Then hope returned. There might yet be a means of escape. They had left +him,--for how long he could not conjecture; but now, at least, he was +alone. What a flood of joy came over him then! + +Swiftly and softly he threw off the bedclothes, and by the uncertain light +of the fire, which was still glimmering, found his way noiselessly to the +floor. + +His trembling limbs at first refused to sustain him, but the thought of his +impending fate, should he remain, invested him with an unexpected +courage. Passing around the foot of the bed, he approached the door of the +chamber. + +As he moved, his shadow, dimly cast by the flickering embers, fell across +the mouth of the inclosure whence Glover had brought the acid. He shuddered +to think what might be hidden by that screen. He burned with curiosity, +even in that moment of danger. For a moment he even rashly thought of +seeking to penetrate the mystery. + +Treading lightly, and partially supporting himself by the wall, lest his +feet should press too heavily upon some loose board and cause it to rattle +beneath him, he reached the door. It was not wholly closed, and with utmost +gentleness he essayed to pull it open. With all his care he could not +prevent it from creaking sharply. His nerves were again shaken, and a new +tremor assailed him. Tears filled his eyes. His heart was like ice, only +heavier, within him. + +He stood for a minute motionless and half-unconscious. Then recovering +himself by a powerful effort, he advanced once more. Without venturing to +open the door wider, he worked through the narrow aperture, inch by inch, +stopping every few seconds for fear that the rustle of his shirt against +the jamb might be overheard. At length, by almost imperceptible movements, +he succeeded in gaining the head of the staircase. + +Then he believed that his deliverance was near at hand. He had thus far +eluded detection, and it only remained for him to descend, and depart by +the outer door. + +Bending forward at every step to catch the slightest echo of alarm, he felt +his way down through the darkness. The difficulty at this point was +great. As one recovered from a long illness finds his knees yield under him +at the first attempt to descend a staircase, just so it was with +Lorrimer. At one time a faintness came over him, and he was obliged to sit +down and rest. A movement above aroused him, and, starting up, he hurriedly +groped his way to the street-door. + +The darkness was absolute. He could discern nothing, but, after a short +search, he caught hold of the handle and turned it slowly. The door +remained immovable. By another exploration he discovered a large key +suspended from a nail near the centre of the door. This he inserted in the +lock, and turned--with all the caution he could command. It was not enough, +for it snapped loudly. + +A voice from the head of the stairs cried out, "Who is there?" + +Lorrimer was appalled. He shook the door, but it remained fast. Like +lightning he passed his hand up and down the crevice in search of a hidden +bolt. He found nothing, and felt that he was in the hands of the +murderers;--for he could entertain no doubt of their design. In the agony +of desperation he flung out his arms, and a door beside him flew open. He +entered, and rushed to a window, which was easily lifted, and out of which +he threw himself at the moment that a light streamed into the apartment +behind him. + +When Mr. Lorrimer had finished relating to Captain Morrill, with all the +energy of truth, the more important of the above circumstances, that +officer arose, and, calling to his assistance a couple of his force, +started out in great haste in the direction of Chambers Street. Lorrimer, +who had been provided with shoes, hat, and coat, went with them. After a +little search, a row of houses with windows close upon the street was +found. More diligent examination showed that the door of one of these was +freshly painted. A vigorous assault upon the panels brought down the +household. Mr. Glover, and another person whose voice was identified by +Lorrimer, were marched off with few words to the station. Mr. Lorrimer's +clothes were rescued, and an officer was left to look after the premises. + +Mr. Glover, on arriving at the station, expressed great indignation, and +employed uncivil terms in speaking of his late guest. Under the subduing +influences of Captain Merrill's treatment, he soon became tranquil, and +subsequently manifested an excess of hilarity, which the guardians of the +night strove in vain to check. But he answered unreservedly all the +questions which Captain Morrill put to him. His statement ran somewhat +thus:-- + +"I met this young man, for the first time, a few hours ago, at an +oyster-saloon on Washington Street. We drank a good deal of ale, and he +lost his balance. I kept mine. I saw he had a pretty large amount of money, +and doubted his ability to keep as good a watch over it as he ought to. So +I took him home with me. On the way he would talk uneasily about garrote +robberies, but I refused to encourage him. + +"You want to know about that alarming conversation? Well,"--(here Mr. +Glover was so overcome with merriment, that, after a proper time, the +interposition of official authority became necessary,)--"well, I am an +engraver. My business is mainly to cut heads. Sometimes I use steel, +sometimes copper. My brother, who is also an engraver, and I were +discussing a new commission. I told him I should make use of a good bit of +steel, which had already been engraved upon, but not so deeply but that the +lines could be easily removed, excepting the eyes, which would have to be +scraped away. My allusion to proof is easily explained: it is common for +engravers to have a proof-impression taken of their work after it is +finished, by which they are enabled to detect any imperfections, and remedy +them. + +"I am very sorry that my young friend should have considered me so much of +a blood-thirsty ruffian. But the ale of Boston is no doubt strange to him, +and his confusion at finding himself in a large city quite +natural. Besides, his suspicions were in some degree reciprocated. When I +saw him flying out of the window, I was convinced that he must be an +ingenious burglar, and instantly ran back to examine my tools. I am glad to +find that I was wrong. If he will return now with me, he shall be welcome +to his share of the bed." + +Mr. Lorrimer politely, but positively, declined. + +Captain Morrill urbanely apologized to Mr. Glover, and engaged himself to +make it right in the morning; whereupon Mr. Glover withdrew in cachinnatory +convulsions. Mr. Lorrimer was instructed to resume his proper garments, and +was then conveyed safely to his hotel, where he remained in deep +abstraction until Monday, when, after transacting his business, he took the +afternoon return-train for New York. + +The case was not entered upon the records of the Third District Police. + + * * * * * + + + +THE GRANADAN GIRL'S SONG. + +All day the lime blows in the sun, + All day the silver aspens quiver, +All day along the far blue plain + Winds serpent-like the golden river. + From clustering flower and myrtle bower + Sweet sounds arise forever, + From gleaming tower with crescent dower + Our banner floats forever. + +Its purple bloom the grape puts on, + Pulping to this Granadan summer, +And heavy dews shake through the globes + Scarce stirred by some bright-winged new-comer, + On gyon brown hill, where all is still, + Where lightly rides the muleteer, + With jangling bells, whose burden swells + Till shaft and arch rise fine and clear. + +As one by one the shadows creep + Back to their lairs in hilly hollows, +A broader splendor issues forth + And on their track in silence follows; + A fuller air swims everywhere, + A freer murmur shakes the bough, + A thousand fires surprise the spires, + And all the city wakes below. + +What morn shall rise, what cursed morn, + To find this bright pomp all surrendered, +These palaces an empty shell, + This vigor listless ruin rendered,-- + While every sprite of its delight + Mocks fickle echoes through the court, + And in our place a sculptured trace + Saddens some stranger's careless sport? + +Oh, gay with all the stately stir, + And bending to your silken flowing, +One day, my banner-poles, ye creak + Naked beneath the high winds blowing! + One day ye fall across the wall + And moulder in the moat's green bosom, + While in the cleft the wild tree left + Bursts into spikes of cruel blossom! + +Ah, never dawn that day for me! + O Fate, its fierce foreboding banish! +When all our hosts, like pallid ghosts + Blown on by morning, melt and vanish! + Oh, in the fires of their desires + Consume the toil of those invaders! + And let the brand divide the hand + That grasps the hilt of the Crusaders! + +Yet idle words in such a scene! + Yon rosy mists on high careering,-- +The Moorish cavaliers who fleet + With hawk and hound and distant cheering,-- + The dipping sail puffed to the gale, + The prow that spurns the billow's fawning,-- + How can they fade to dimmer shade, + And how this day desert its dawning? + +Forget to soar, thou rosy rack! + Ye riders, bronze your airy motion! +Still skim the seas, so snowy craft,-- + Forever sail to meet the ocean! + There bid the tide refuse to slide, + Glassing, below, thy drooping pinion,-- + Forever cease its wild caprice, + Fallen at the feet of our dominion! + + * * * * * + + + +THE HUMMING-BIRD. + +_May 9th._ + + +To-day, Estelle, your special messenger, the Humming-Bird, comes darting to +our oriel, my Orient. As I sat sewing, his sudden, unexpected whirr made me +look up. How did he know that the very first Japan-pear-bud opened this +morning? Flower and bird came together by some wise prescience. + +He has been sipping honey from your passion-flowers, and now has come to +taste my blossoms. What bright-winged thought of yours sent him so straight +to me, across that wide space of sea and land? Did he dart like a sunbeam +all the way? There were many of them voyaged together; a little line of +wavering light pierced the dark that night. + +A large, brave heart has our bold sailor of the upper deep. Old Pindar +never saw our little pet, this darling of the New World; yet he says,-- + +"Were it the will of Heaven, an osier-bough Were vessel safe enough the +seas to plough." + +Here he is, safe enough, not one tiny feather ruffled,--all the intense +life of the tropics condensed into this one live jewel,--the glance of the +sun on emeralds and rubies. Is it soft downy feathers that take this rich +metallic glow, changing their hue with every rapid turn? + +Other birds fly: he darts quick as the glance of the eye,--sudden as +thought, he is here, he is there. No floating, balancing motion, like the +lazy butterfly, who fans the air with her broad sails. To the point, always +to the point, he turns in straight lines. How stumbling and heavy is the +flight of the "burly, dozing bumblebee," beside this quick intelligence! +Our knight of the ruby throat, with lance in rest, makes wild and rapid +sallies on this "little mundane bird,"--this bumblebee,--this rolling +sailor, never off his sea-legs, always spinning his long homespun +yarns. This rich bed of golden and crimson flowers is a handsome field of +tournament. What invisible circle sits round to adjudge the prize? + +What secret does he bring me under those misty wings,--that busy birring +sound, like Neighbor Clark's spinning-wheel? Is he busy as well, this bit +of pure light and heat? Yes! he, too, has got a little home down in the +swamp over there,--that bit of a knot on the young oak-sapling. Last year +we found a nest (and brought it home) lined with the floss of +willow-catkin, stuck all over with lichens, deep enough to secure the two +pure round pearls from being thrown out, strongly fastened to the forked +branch,--a home so snug, so warm, so soft!--a home "contrived for fairy +needs." + +Who but the fairies, or Mr. Fine-Ear himself, ever heard the tiny tap of +the young bird, when he breaks the imprisoning shell? + +The mother-bird knows well the fine sound. Hours? days? no, weeks, she has +sat to hear at last that least wave of sound. + +What! this tiny bit of restless motion sit there still? Minutes must be +long hours to her quick panting heart. + +I will just whisper it in your ear, that the meek-looking mother-bird only +comes out between daylight and dark,--just like other busy mothers I have +known, who take a little run out after tea. + +Can it be, that Mr. Ruby-Throat, my _preux chevalier_, keeps all the +sunshiny hours for himself, that he may enjoy to the full his own gay +flight? + +Ah! you know nothing, hear nothing of woman's rights up there, in that +well-ordered household. Were it not well, if we, too, could give up our +royal right of choice,--if we could fall back on our strong earth-born +instincts, to be, to know, to do, one thing? + +See how closely our darling curls up his slender black feet and legs, that +we may not see this one bit of mortality about him! No, my little immortal +does not touch the earth; he hangs suspended by that long bill, which just +tethers him to its flowers. Now and then he will let down the little black +tendrils of legs and feet on some bare twig, and there be rests and preens +those already smooth plumules with the long slender bodkin you lent +him. Now, just now, he darts into my room, coquets with my basket of +flowers, "a kiss, a touch, and then away." I heard the whirr of those gauzy +wings; it was not to the flowers alone he told his story. You did well to +trust this most passionate pilgrim with your secret; the room is radiant +with it. Slow-flying doves may well draw the car of Venus; but this arrow +tipped with flame darts before, to tell of its coming. What need of word, +of song, with that iridescent glow? Some day I will hear the whole story; +just now let the Humming-Bird keep it under his misty wings. + +I have heard of a lady who reared these little birds from the nest; they +would suck honey from her lips, and fly in and out of her chamber. Only +think of seeing these callow fledglings! It is as if the winged thought +could be domesticated, could learn to make its nest with us and rear its +young. + +Bountiful Nature has spared to our cold North this one compact bit from the +Tropics. + + * * * * * + +I believe we allow that birds are very highly organized creatures,--next to +man, they say. We, with our weary feet plodding always on the earth, our +heavy arms pinioned close to our sides!--look at this live creature, with +thinnest wing cutting the fine air! We, slow in word, slow in +thought!--look at this quivering flame, kindled by some more passionate +glance of Nature! Next to man? Yes, we might say next above. Had it not +been for that fire we stole one day, that Promethean spark, hidden in the +ashes, kept a-light ever since, it had gone hard with us; Nature might have +kept her pet, her darling, high, high above us,--almost out of roach of our +dull senses. + +What is our boasted speech, with its harsh, rude sounds, to their gushing +melody? We learn music, certainly, with much pains and care. The bird +cannot tell if it be A sharp or B flat, but he sings. + +Our old friend, the friend of our childhood, Mr. White of Selborne, (who +had attended much to the life and conversation of birds,) says, "Their +language is very elliptical; little is said, and much is meant and +understood." Something like a lady's letter, is it not? + +How wise we might grow, if we could only "the bird-language rightly spell"! +In the olden times, we are told, the Caliphs and Viziers always listened to +what the birds said about it, before they undertook any new enterprise. I +have often thought I heard wise old folk discoursing, when a company of +hens were busy on the side-hill, scratching and clucking +together. Perchance some day we shall pick up a leaf of that herb which +shall open our ears to these now inarticulate sounds. + +Why may we not (just for this summer) believe in Transmigrations, and find +some elder civilization embodied in this community of birds,--all those +lost arts taken wings, not to fly away, but to come flitting and building +in our trees, picking crumbs from our door-steps? + +Do they say birds are limited? Who are we that set bounds to this direct +knowledge, this instinct? Mathematical, constructive, they certainly +are. What bold architect has builded so snug, so airy a house,--well +concealed, and yet with a good outlook? We make our dwellings conspicuous; +they hide their pretty art. + +We wiseacres, who stay at home, instead of following the seasons round the +globe, should learn the art of making happy homes; yet what housekeeper +will not hang her head in shame and despair, to see this nice adaptation of +use to wants, shown each year in multitudes of nests? Now, only look at +it! always just room enough,--none to spare. First, the four or five eggs +lie comfortably in the small round at the bottom of the nest, with room +enough for the mother robin to give them the whole warmth of her broad red +breast,--her sloping back and wings making a rain-proof roof over her +jewels. Then the callow younglings rise a little higher into the wider +circle. Next the fledglings brim the cup; at last it runs over; four large +clumsy robins flutter to the ground, with much noise, much anxious calling +from papa and mamma,--much good advice, no doubt. They are fairly turned +out to shift for themselves; with the same wise, unfathomable eyes which +have mirrored the round world for so many years, which know all things, say +nothing, older than time, lively and quick as to-day; with the same +touching melody in their long monotonous call; soon with the same power of +wing; next year to build a nest with the same wise economy, each young +robin carrying in his own swelling, bulging breast the model of the hollow +circle, the cradle of other young robins. So you see it is a nest within a +nest,--a whole nest of nests; like Vishnu Sarma's fables, or Scheherazade's +stories, you can never find where one leaves off and another begins, they +shut so one into the other. No wonder the children and philosophers are +they who ask, whether the egg comes from the bird, or the bird from the +egg. Yes, it is a _Heimskringla_, a world-circle, a home-circle, this nest. + +You remember that little, old, withered man who used to bring us eggs; the +boys, you know, called him Egg Pop. When the thrifty housewife complained +of the small size of his ware, he always said,-- + +"Yes, Marm, they be small; but they be monstrous full." + +Yes, the packing of the nest is close; but closer is the packing of the +egg. "As full as an egg of meat" is a wise proverb. + +Let us look at these first-fruits which the bountiful Spring hangs on our +trees. + +"To break the eggshell after the meat is out we are taught in our +childhood, and practise it all our lives; which, nevertheless, is but a +superstitious relict, according to the judgment of Pliny, and the intent +hereof was to prevent witch-craft [to keep the fairies out]; for lest +witches should draw or prick their names therein, and veneficiously +mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as Dalecampius hath +observed." This is what Sir Thomas Browne tells us about eggshells. And +Dr. Wren adds, "Least they [the witches] perchance might use them for +boates to sayle in by night." But I, who have no fear of witches, would not +break them,--rather use them, try what an untold variety of forms we may +make out of this delicate oval. + +By a little skilful turning and reversing, putting on a handle, a lip here, +a foot there, always following the sacred oval, we shall get a countless +array of pitchers and vases, of perfect finished form, handsome enough to +be the oval for a king's name. Should they attempt to copy our rare vases +in finest Parian, alabaster, or jasper, their art would fail to hit the +delicate tints and smoothness of this fine shell; and then those dots and +dashes, careless as put on by a master's hand! + +Are not these rare lines? They look to me as wise as hieroglyphics. Who +knows what rhyme and reason are written there,--what subtile wisdom rounded +into this small curve,--repeated on the breasts and backs of the +birds,--their own notes, it may be, photographed on their swelling breasts +like the musical notes on the harp-shell,--written in bright, almost +audible colors on the petals of flowers,--harmonies, melodies, for ear and +eye? Has this language, older than Erse, older than Sanscrit, ever got +translated? I am afraid, dear, the key has been turned in the lock, and +thrown into the well. + +The ornithologists tell us that some birds build nicer nests, sing sweeter +songs, than their companions of the same species. Can experience add wisdom +to instinct? or is it the right of the elder-born,--the birthright of the +young robin who first breaks the shell? Who has rightly looked into these +things? + +I half remember the story of a beautiful princess who had all imaginable +wealth in her stately palace, itself builded up of rare and costly +jewels. She had everything that heart could desire,--everything but a roc's +egg. Her mind was contracted with sorrow, till she could procure this one +ornament more to her splendors. I think it turned out that the palace +itself was built within the roc's egg. These birds are immense, and take up +three elephants at a time in their powerful talons, (almost as many as +Gordon Cumming himself, on a good day's hunt,) and their eggs are like +domes. + +Now, do not you be like the foolish princess, and desire a roc's egg; it +will prove a stone, the egg of a rock, indeed. Be content rather with this +ostrich-egg I send you; with your own slender fingers lift the +lid;--pretty, is it not, the tea-service I send you? The tidy warblers +threw out the emptied shells; one by one I picked them up, and have made +cups and saucers, bowls and pitchers for you: a roc's egg never held +anything one-half so fine. + +You will say I am a fairy, as brother Evelyn says, when I relate to him the +fine sights and sounds I have seen and heard in the woods. No, but the +little silent people are very good to me. + +Let me, then, go on my bird's-egging and tell you one more fact about our +fairy, our Humming-Bird. Audubon says "that an all-wise Providence has made +this little hero an exception to a rule which prevails almost universally +through Nature,--namely, that the smallest species of a tribe are the most +prolific. The eagle lays one, sometimes two eggs; the small European wren +fifteen; the humming-bird two: and yet this latter is abundantly more +numerous in America than the wren in Europe." All on account of his +wonderful courage, admirable instinct, or whatever it is that guards and +guides him so unerringly. + +You see we may well love him whom +Nature herself loves so dearly. + +"Ce que Dieu garde est bien gardé." + +Ah, Estelle! your bonnie birdie, with +his wild whirr, darting back and forth +like a weaver's shuttle weaving fine +wefts, has got into my head; not "bee-bonneted," +but bird-bonneted, I go. Yes, +this day shall be given to the king, as +our country-folk say, when they go a-pleasuring. +I am off with the little wool-gatherers, +to see what thorn and brier +and fern-stalk and willow-catkin will give +me. Good-day! good-day! + +Your own + +SUSAN, SUSY, SUE. + +P. S. "May our friendship never +moult a feather!" + + * * * * * + + + +CHESS. + + +Schatrenschar, the Persian, who could count the stars one by one, who is +known to have been borne, (by the Simorg, the Eternal Fowl,) at midnight, +first to the evening star, and then to the moon, and then set down safely +in his home,--and Al Kahlminar, the Arabian, who was a mystic seer, and had +conversed face to face with the Demons of the Seven Planets, approaching +also, on one occasion, so nigh unto Uriel that his beard was singed by the +sun, wherein that angel resideth,--these, ten million years ago, lived in +their palaces on adjoining estates and lands. But about the boundary-line +atwixt them they could not agree: Schatrenschar maintaining that he had +lived there longest, and had a right to choose where the wall should be +built between himself and a later comer; Al Kahlminar declaring that the +world was not made for Schatrenschar,--furthermore, that the Astronomer had +paid nothing for the land, and had already more than he could attend to, +since his chief devotion was manifestly to the estates he was reputed to +own in Venus and the moon. They came to no decision; and it was beneath the +dignity of these men, who prided themselves on being confidants elect of +invisible and superior worlds, publicly to wrangle about the gross soil of +this. Nevertheless, Schatrenschar, at last, losing patience, cried,-- + +"Al Kahlminar, 'tis but by the grace of Yezdan, who hath commissioned me to +watch the sacred stars, which reveal not themselves to the violent, that I +am saved this day from flogging thee!" + +To this the Seer: "O Schatrenschar, thou must have left in some of thy +other worlds, mayhap in Venus, the limbs which can cope with these." + +"Nay," replied the Astronomer, discerning some truth in that remark, "but I +am not alone, Al Kahlminar; I have within my palace two valiant knights, +skilled with the steed and the spear, who are ready to go forth in my stead +at a word." + +"And I," answered the Mystic, warming, "have two godly priests, men skilled +by the orthodox beheading of heretics into the aim and valor of Arjoon +himself. Your knights cannot stand before these messengers of Heaven; they +will tremble like aspen-leaves, lest Allah be wroth, if they receive harm." + +"If thou shouldst bring forth thy priests, Al Kahlminar, then would I +confront them and thee with the two elephants which my brother sent me +lately from Geestan, on each of which I can place a rook with a slave +cunning with the javelin, before which thy priests will flee; for the +animals see no difference between priests and other mortals;--the elephant +is sagacious, neighbor!" + +"And I," said the other, "haye riches, which thou hast not. Whatever thou +hast wherewith to extend thy line into my lot, I can oppose with an equal +force,--nay, with a stronger." + +Schatrenschar hereupon paused in deep meditation. Presently a subtile +thought struck him. He took a parchment-leaf and drew thereon a diagram; +and after inscribing several hieroglyphic characters, he cried out,-- + +"Hearken, Al Kahlminar; hast thou not heard it among the sayings of Sasan, +that the battle is not always to him who hath the superior physical force? +Suppose that in our encounter thy forces stood here, as marked on these +squares: by what stratagem couldst thou reach me, who stand here with even +fewer and weaker men? If thou canst tell as much without my assistance, I +will yield the boundary-line; for it will show thee to have a calculation +equal to my own, as well as riches." + +Al Kahlminar pondered long, suffered manifold headaches, closed not an +eyelid for a week, but could not give answer. The Mystic was used to seeing +only those things to see which the eyes must be closed. At length +Schatrenschar opened the problem to him, which so delighted his heart that +he clave unto him, and besought him that their estates should be one, and +that he would use his (Al Kahlminar's) riches as his own. A bower was built +midway between their houses, wherein they sat for hours over other +diagrams, contrived first by the Astronomer afterward by the Mystic: and +out of it arose a curious and knightly play which beareth to this day the +name Schatrenschar. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps this last line of the old Sanscrit story is the only veracious +thing in it. Perhaps it is all true. Who can answer? Was there ever a +great thing whose origin was not in some doubt? If so with the Iliad, with +Platonic Dialogues, with Shakspearian Plays, how naturally so with Chess! +The historic sinew of the above would seem to be, that Schatrenschar, the +Oriental word for Chess, is the name of a very ancient and learned +astronomer of Persia; how much mythologic fat has enveloped said sinew the +reader must decide. Philological inquisition of the origin of the low Latin +_Scacchi_ (whence the French _Echecs_, Ger. _Schach_, and our _Chess,_) has +led to a variety of conclusions. Leunclavius takes it from _Uscoches_, +famous Turkish banditti. Sirmond finds the word's parent in German +_Schächer_ (robber) and grandparent in _Calculus_! Tolosanus derives +_check-mate_ from Heb. _schach_ (to prevail) and _mat_ (dead). Fabricius +favors the idea we have given above, and says, "A celebrated Persian +astronomer, one Schatrenschar, invented the game of Chess, and gave it his +own name, which it still bears in that country." Nicod derives it from +_Xeque_, a Moorish word for Prince or Lord. Bochart maintains that +_Schach-mat_ is originally Persian, and means "the king is dead." We +incline to accept this last opinion; and believe, that, though the game +must have originated with some person, perhaps Schatrenschar, yet it +reached its present form and perfection only through many touchings and +retouchings of men and generations. Pope's translation of the "Odyssey" has +led many persons to think that chess was known to the ancient Greeks, +because, in describing the sports of Penelope's suitors, the translator +says,-- + + "With rival art and ardor in their mien, + At Chess they vie to captivate the Queen." + +But there can be little doubt that this is an anachronism. + +In short, we may safely conclude that the game is of purely Oriental +origin. The Hindoos claim to have originated it,--or rather, say that Siva, +the Third Person of their Trinity, (Siva, the Destroyer,--alas! of time?) +gave it to them; Professor Forbes has shown that it has been known among +them five thousand years; but words tell no myths, and the Bengalee name +for Chess, _Shathorunch_, casts its ballot for Persia and +Shatrenschar;--though India may almost claim it, on account of the greater +perfection to which it has brought the game, and the lead it has always +taken in chess-culture. India rejoices in a flourishing chess-school. The +Indian Problem is known as the perfection of Enigmatic Chess. And if Paul +Morphy had gone to Calcutta, instead of London and Paris, he would have +found there one Mohesh Ghutuck, who, without discovering that he was a +P. and move behind his best play, and without becoming too sick to proceed +with the match, would have given him a much finer game than any antagonist +he has yet encountered. This Mohesh, who was presented by his admiring king +with a richly-carved chess-king of solid gold nine inches high, not only +plays a fabulous number of games at once whilst he lies on the ground with +closed eyes, but games that none of the many fine native and English +players of India can engage in but with dismay. Fine, indeed, it would have +been, if the world could have seen in the youths of Calcutta and New +Orleans the extreme West matched with the extreme East! + +There is no call for any one to vindicate this game. Chess is a great, +worldwide fact. Wherever a highway is found, there, we may be sure, a +reason existed for a highway. And when we find that the explorer on his +northward voyage, pausing a day in Iceland, may pass his time in keen +encounters with the natives,--that the trader in Kamtschatka and China, +unable to speak a word with the people surrounding him, yet holds a long +evening's converse over the board which is polyglot,--that the missionary +returns from his pulpit, and the Hindoo from his widow-burning, to engage +in a controversy without the _theologicum odium_ attached,--the game +becomes authentic from its universality. It is akin to music, to love, to +joy, in that it sets aside alike social caste and sectarian differences: +kings and peasants, warriors and priests, lords and ladies, mingle over the +board as they are represented upon it. "The earliest chess-men on the banks +of the Sacred River were worshippers of Buddha; a player whose name and +fame have grown into an Arabic proverb was a Moslem; a Hebrew Rabbi of +renown, in and out of the Synagogues, wrote one of the finest chess poems +extant; a Catholic priest of Spain has bestowed his name upon two openings; +one of the foremost problem--composers of the age is a Protestant clergyman +of England; and the Greek Church numbers several cultivators of chess +unrivaled in our day." It has received eulogies from Burton,--from +Castiglione,--from Chatham, who, in reply to a compliment on a grand stroke +of invention and successful oratory, said, "My success arose only from +having been checkmated by discovery, the day before, at chess,"--from +Comenius, the grammarian,--from Condé, Cowley, Denham, Justus van Effen, +Sir Thomas Elyot, Guillim, Helvetia, Huarte, Sir William Jones, Leibnitz, +Lydgate, Olaus Magnus, Pasquier, Sir Walter Raleigh, Rousseau, Voltaire, +Samuel Warren, Warton, Franklin, Buckle, and many others of ability in +every department of letters, philosophy, and art. We know of but one man of +genius or learning--who has repudiated it,--Montaigne. "Or if he +[Alexander] played at chess," says Montaigne, "what string of his soul was +not touched by this idle and childish game? I hate and avoid it because it +is not play enough,--that it is too grave and serious a diversion; and I am +ashamed to lay out as much thought and study upon that as would serve to +much better uses." Looked at simply as a diversion, chess might naturally +impress a man of intellectual earnestness thus. It is not a diversion; a +recreation it may be called, but only as any variation from "the shop" is +recreative. But chess has, by the experiences of many, sufficiently proved +itself to have serious uses to men of thought, and in the way of an +intellectual gymnasium. It is to the limbs and sinews of the +mind--prudence, foresight, memory, combination, analysis--just what a +gymnasium is to the body. In it every muscle, every joint of the +understanding is put under drill; and we know, that, where the mind does +not have exercise for its body, but relics simply on idle cessation for its +reinforcement, it will get too much lymph. Work is worship; but work +without rest is idolatry. And rest is not, as some seem to think, a swoon, +a slumber; it is an active receptivity, a masterly inactivity, which alone +can deserve the fine name of Rest. Such, we believe, our favorite game +secures better than all others. Besides this direct use, one who loves it +finds many other incidental uses starting up about it,--such as made +Archbishop Magnus, the learned historian of Sweden, say, "Anger, love, +peevishness, covetousness, dulness, idleness, and many other passions and +motions of the minds of men may be discovered by it."--But we promised not +to vindicate chess, and shall leave this portion of our topic with the fine +verse of the Oriental bard, Ibn ul Mûtazz:-- + +"O thou whose cynic sneers express + The censure of our favorite chess, +Know that its skill is Science' self, + Its play distraction from distress. +It soothes the anxious lover's care; + It weans the drunkard from excess; +It counsels warriors in their art, + When dangers threat and perils press; +And yields us, when we need them most, + Companions in our loneliness." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Translated in that excellent periodical, which no lover of +chess should be without, _The Chess Monthly_, edited by Fiske and Morphy, +New York. (Vol. i. p. 92.)] + +Now that the Persian poet has touched his lyre in our pages, we will not at +once pass to any cold geographical or analytical realm of our subject, but +pause awhile to cull some flowers of song which have sprung up on good +English soil, which the feet of Caïssa have ever loved to press. No other +games, and few other subjects, have gathered about them so rich a +literature, or been intertwined with so much philological and historical +lore. Not the least of this is to be found in the English classics, from +which we propose to make one or two selections. We begin where English +poetry begins, with Dan Chaucer; and from many beautiful conceits turning +upon chess, we select one which must receive universal admiration. It is +from the "Booke of the Duchesse." + +"My boldnesse is turned to shame, +For false Fortune hath played a game +At the Chesse with me. + +"At the Chesse with me she gan to play, +With her false draughts full divers +Sho stale on me, and toke my fers:[1] +And when I sawe my fers away, +Alas! I couth no longer play. + +"Therewith Fortune said,' Checke here, +And mate in the mid point of the checkere +With a paune errant.' Alas! +Full craftier to play she was +Than Athalus, that made the game +First of the Chesse, so was his name." + +[Footnote 1: Mediaeval name for the Queen, (originally +the Counsellor,)--the strength of the +board.] + +In the early part of the seventeenth century, Thomas Middleton wrote a +comedy styled "A Game at Chess," which was acted at the Globe +(Shakspeare's) nine times successively. It seems to have been a severe +tirade on the religious aspects of the times. The stage directions are +significant: for example:--Act I., Scene 1. _Enter severally, in order of +the game, the White and Black houses_. Act II., Scene 1. _Enter severally +White Queen's Pawnes and Black Queen's Pawnes_. The Prologue is as +follows:-- + +"What of the game called Chesse-play can be made +To make a stage-play shall this day be played. +First you shall see the men in order set, +States, and their Pawnes, when both the sides are met; +The houses well distinguished: in the game +Some men entrapt, and taken to their shame, +Bewarded by their play: and in the close +You shall see checque-mate given to Virtue's foes. +But the fair'st jewel that our hopes can decke +Is so to play our game t'avoid your checke." + +The play excited indignation in the partisans of the Romish Church, and was +not only suppressed by James I., but at the demand of the Queen its author +was imprisoned, and was relieved only by a witty verse sent to the King. + +The last which we have room to quote is anonymous, and of date near +1632. It may have been written by the celebrated divine, Thomas Jackson, of +Corpus-Christi College, whose discourse comparing the visible world to a +"Devil's Chess-board" evidently suggested the familiar etching in which +Satan contends with a youth for his soul. The lines are entitled: + +THE PAWNE. + +"A lowly one I saw, + With aim fist high: + Ne to the righte, + Ne to the lefte +Veering, he marchèd by his Lawe, + The crested Knyghte passed by, + And haughty surplice-vest, + As onward toward his heste + With patient step he prest, + Soothfaste his eye: +Now, lo! the last doore yieldeth, +His hand a sceptre wieldeth, +A crowne his forehead shieldeth! + +"So 'mergeth the true-hearted, + With aim fixt high, +From place obscure and lowly: + Veereth he nought; + His work he wroughte. +How many loyall paths be trod, +Soe many royall Crownes hath God!" + +It is very clear that the pawns in chess represent the common soldiers in +battle. The Germans call them "peasants" (_Bauern_); the Hindoos call them +_Baul_, or "powers" (in the sense of _force_); and that each of these, if +he can pursue his file to its end, should win a crown has always given to +this game a popular stamp. These pawns are doubtless, next to knights, the +most interesting pieces on the board: Philidor called them "the soul of +chess." + +At an early period Asiatic chess was divided into two branches,--known +amongst players as Chinese and Indian. They are different games in many +respects, and yet enough alike to show that they were at some period the +same. The Chinese game maintains its place in Eastern Asia, Japan, etc.; in +the islands of the Archipelago, and, with very slight modifications, +throughout the civilized world, the Indian game is played. Indeed, there is +no difference between Indian and European chess, except that in the former +the Bishop is called Elephant,--the Rooks, Boats,--the Queen, Minister: the +movements of the pieces are the same. + +Of Chinese chess some description will be more novel. Their chess-board, +like ours, has sixty-four squares, which are not distinguished into +alternate black and white squares. The pieces are not placed on the +squares, but on the corners of the squares. The board is divided into two +equal parts by an uncheckered space, which is called the River. There are +nine points on each line, and forty-five on each half of the board. They +have the same number of pieces with ourselves. Each player has a king, two +guards, two elephants, two knights, two chariots, two cannon, and five +pawns. Each player places nine pieces on the first line of the board,--the +king in the centre, a guard on each side of him, two elephants next, two +knights next, and then the two chariots upon the extremities of the board; +the two cannons go in front of the two knights and the pawns on the fourth +line. + +The king moves only one square at a time, but not diagonally, and only in +an _enceinte_, or court, of four squares,--to wit, his own, the queen's, +queen's paw and king's pawn's. Castling is unknown. The two guards remain +in the same limits, but can move only diagonally; thus we have in our king +both the Chinese king and his guard. The elephants move diagonally, two +squares at a time, and cannot pass the river. Their knight moves like ours, +but must not pass over pieces; he can pass the river, which counts as one +square. The chariots and cannon move like our castles, and can cross the +river. The pawns always move one step, and may move sidewise as well as +forward,--taking in the same line in which they move; they cross the +river. The cannon alone can pass over any piece; indeed, a cannon can take +only when there is a piece between it and the piece it takes,--which +intervening piece may belong to either player. The king must not be +opposite the other king without a piece between. All this certainly sounds +very complex and awkward to the English or American player; and our game +has the preferable tendency of increasing the power of the pieces, (as +distinct from pawns,) rather than, with theirs, limiting their powers and +multiplying their number. However, it is probable, whatever may be the +respective merits of the two games, that neither of them will ever be +altered; the Chinese, who can roast his pig only by burning the sty, +because the first historic roast-pig was so roasted, will be likely to +continue his chess as nearly as possible in the same form as the celestial +Tia-hoang and the terrestrial Yin-hoang played it a million years ago. In +Europe and America we have all complacently concluded, that, when David +said he had seen an end of all perfection, it only indicated that he was +unacquainted with chess as played in accordance with Staunton's Handbook. + +But it is only the Indian game which has had a development equal to the +development of the civilized arts. This has been chiefly through what are +called by the Italian-French name of _gambits_. There is much prejudice, +amongst a certain class of chess-players, against what is called +"book-chess," but it rarely exists with players of the first rank. These +gambits are as necessary to the first-rate player as are classifications to +the naturalist. They are the venerable results of experience; and he who +tries to excel without an acquaintance with them will find that it is much +as if he should ignore the results of the past and put his hand into the +fire to prove that fire would burn. If he should try every method of +answering a special attack, he would be sure to find in the end that the +method laid down in the gambit was the true one. An acquaintance, +therefore, with these approved openings puts a player at an advanced +starting-point in a game, inexhaustible enough in any case, and where he +need not take time in doing what others have already done. Although we +design in this article to refrain, as much as possible, from technical +chess, it may be well enough to give a list of the usual openings, and +their key-moves. + +PHILIDOR'S DEFENCE. +(_Philidor_, 1749.) + +White. Black. +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. P. to Q. 3d. + + +GIUOCO PIANO. +(_Italian_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q. 3d or Q.B. 3d. + + +RUY LOPEZ'S KNIGHT'S GAME. +(_Lopez_, 1584.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.Kt. 5th. + + +PETROFF'S DEFENCE. +(1837.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. + + +Q. PAWN OR SCOTCH GAME. +(_So named from the great match between London +and Edinburgh in_ 1826, _but first analyzed +as a gambit by Ghulam Xassitrt, Madras,_ +1829.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. P. to Q. 4th. + + +SICILIAN GAME. +(_Ancient Italian MS_.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to Q.B. 4th. + + +EVANS'S GAMBIT. +(_Captain Evans_, 1833.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 2. Kt. to Q.B. 3d. +3. B. to Q.B. 4th. 3. B. to Q.B. 4th. +4. P. to Q.Kt. 4th. + + +KING'S BISHOP'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. B. to Q.B. 4th. 2. B. to Q.B. 4th. + + +KING'S KNIGHT'S GAMBIT. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. B. to K.Kt. 2d. + + +ALLGAIER GAMBIT. +_(Johann Allgaier_, 1795.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th, +4. P. to K.B. 4th. + + +MUZIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. Kt. to K.B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. B. to K.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Castles. 5. P. takes Kt. + + +SALVIO GAMBIT. +(_Preserved from the Portuguese by Salvio_, 1604.) + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 4th. +2. P. to K.B. 4th. 2. P. takes P. +3. K.Kt. to B. 3d. 3. P. to K.Kt. 4th. +4. K.B. to Q.B. 4th. 4. P. to K.Kt. 5th. +5. Kt. to K. 5th. 5. Q.to K.R.'s 5th. (ch.) +6. K. to B. Sq. 6. K.Kt. to B. 3d. + + +FRENCH GAME. + +1. P. to K. 4th. 1. P. to K. 3d. + +These gambits may be classed under what are, in common phrase, termed +"open" or "close" games; an open game being where the pieces are brought +out into more immediate engagement,--a close game where the pawns +interlock, and the pieces can less easily issue to the attack. An instance +of the former may be found in the Allgaier,--of the latter in Philidor's +Defence. These two kinds of games are found in chess-play because they are +found in human temperament; as there are brilliant and daring Napoleons, +and cautious, pertinacious Washingtons in war, so are there in chess +Philidor and La Bourdonnais, Staunton and Morphy. In examining +Mr. Staunton's play, for example, one is struck with the French tact of +M. St. Amant's remark, made many years ago: "M. Staunton has the solidity +of iron, but neither the purity of gold nor the brilliancy of the diamond." +However much Mr. Staunton's ignoble evasion of the match with Morphy--after +bringing him, by his letter, all the way from New Orleans to London, a +voyage which would scarcely have been taken otherwise--may have stained his +reputation as a courageous and honorable chess-player, we cannot be blind +to the fact, that he is the strongest master of the game in Europe. With a +fine mathematical head, (more at home, however, in the Calculus than in +Algebra,)--with an immense power of reserve and masterly repose,--able to +hold an almost incredible number of threads without getting them +entangled,--he has all the qualities which bear that glorious flower, +success. But he is never brilliant; he has outwearied many a deeper man by +his indefatigable evenness and persistance; he is Giant Despair to the +brilliant young men. Mr. Morphy is just the _otherest_ from Staunton. Like +him only in sustained and quiet power, he brings to the board that demon of +his, Memory,--such a memory, too, as no other chess-player has ever +possessed: add to this wonderful analytic power and you have the secret of +this Chess-King. Patient practice, ambition, and leisure have done the +rest. He has thus the _lustre du diamant_, which St. Amant missed in +Mr. Staunton; and we know that the brilliant diamond is hard enough also to +make its mark upon the "solid iron." + +Amongst other great living players who incline to the "close game," we may +mention Mr. Harrwitz, whose match with Morphy furnished not one brilliant +game; also Messrs. Slous, Horwitz, Bledow, Szen, and others. But the +tendency has been, ever since the celebrated and magnificent matches of the +two greatest chess geniuses which England and France have ever known, +McDonnel and De la Bourdonnais, to cultivate the bolder and more exciting +open gambits. And under the lead of Paul Morphy this tendency is likely to +be inaugurated as the rule of modern chess. Professor Anderssen, Mayet, +Lange, and Von der Lasa, in Germany,--Dubois and Centurini, at +Rome,--St. Amant, Laroche, and Lécrivain, of Paris,--Löwenthal, Perigal, +Kipping, Owen, Mengredien, etc., of London,--are all players of the heroic +sort, and the games recently played by some of them with Morphy are perhaps +the finest on record. And certainly, whatever may be said of their tendency +to promote careless and reckless play, the open and daring games are at +once more interesting, more brief, and more conducive to the mental drill +which has been claimed as a sufficient compensation for the outlay of +thought and time demanded by chess. + +We have already given some specimens of the Poetry of Chess. The Chess +Philosophy itself has penetrated every direction of literature. From the +time that Miranda is "discovered playing chess with Ferdinand" in +Prospero's cell, (an early instance of "discovered mate,") the numberless +Mirandas of Romance have played for and been played for mates. Chess has +even its Mythology,--Caïssa being now, we believe, generally received at +the Olympian Feasts. True, some one has been wicked enough to observe that +all chess-stories are divisible into two classes,--in one a man plays for +his own soul with the Devil, in the other the hero plays and wins a +wife,--and to beg for a chess-story _minus_ wives and devils; but such +grumblers are worthless baggage, and ought to be checked. The Chess Library +has now become an important collection. Time was, when, if one man had +Staunton's "Handbook," Sarratt, Philidor, Walker's "Thousand Games," and +Lewis on "The Game of Chess," he was regarded as uniting the character of a +chess-scholar with that of the antiquary. But now we hear of Bledow of +Berlin with eight hundred volumes on chess; and Professor George Allen, of +the University of Pennsylvania, with more than a thousand! Such a +literature has Chess collected about it since Paolo Boi, "the great +Syracusan," as he was called, wrote what perhaps was the first work on +chess, in the middle of the sixteenth century. + +But such numbers of works on chess are very rare, and when the reader hears +of an enormous chess library, he may be safe in recalling the story of +Walker, whose friend turned chess author; seven years after, he boasted to +Walker of the extent of his chess library, which, he affirmed consisted of +one thousand volumes _minus_ eighteen! It turned out that eighteen copies +of his work had been sold, the rest of the edition remaining on his hands. + +Though these old works are like galleries of old and valuable pictures to +the chess enthusiast, they contain very little that is valuable to the +general reader. Their terms and signs are to the uninitiated suggestive of +a doctor's prescription. But the anecdotes of the game are, many of them, +remarkable; and we believe they are known to have less of the mythical +about them than those told in other departments. One who knows the game +will feel that it is sufficiently absorbing to be woven in with the +textures of government, of history, and of biography. It is of the nature +of chess gradually to gather up all the senses and faculties of the player, +so that for the time being he is an automaton chess-player, to whom life +and death are abstractions. + +How seriously, even religiously, the game has always been regarded by both +Church and State may be judged by the account given by old Carrera of one +whom we have already named as probably the earliest chess author, as he +certainly is one of the greatest players known to fame. "In the time of our +fathers," says this ancient enthusiast, "we had many famous players, of +whom _Paolo Boi_, Sicilian, of the city of Syracuse, and commonly called +the Syracusan, was considered the best. He was born in Syracuse of a rich +and good family. When a boy, he made considerable progress in literature, +for he had a very quick apprehension. He had a wonderful talent for the +game of Chess; and having in a short time beaten all the players of the +city, he resolved to go to Spain, where he heard there were famous players, +honored and rewarded not only by noblemen, but also by Philip II., who took +no small delight in the game. He first beat with ease all the players of +Sicily, and was very superior in playing without seeing the board; for, +playing at once three games blindfold, he conversed with others on +different subjects. Before going into Spain, he travelled over all Italy, +playing with the best players, amongst others with the Pultino, who was of +equal force; they are therefore called by Salvio the light and glory of +chess. He was the favorite of many Italian Princes, and particularly of the +Duke of Urbino, and of several Cardinals, and even of Pope Pius V. himself, +who would have given him a considerable benefice, if he would have become a +clergyman; but this he declined, that he might follow his own +inclinations. He afterward went to Venice, where a circumstance happened +which had never occurred before: he played with a person and lost. Having +afterward by himself examined the games with great care, and finding that +he ought to have won, he was astonished that his adversary should have +gained contrary to all reason, and suspected that he had used some secret +art whereby he was prevented from seeing clearly; and as he was very +devout, and was possessed of a rosary rich with many relics of saints, he +resolved to play again with his antagonist, armed not only with the rosary, +but strengthened by having previously received the sacrament: by these +means he conquered his adversary, who, after his defeat, said to him these +words,--'Thine is more potent than mine.'" + +Some of the earliest writers on chess have given their idea of the +all-absorbing nature of the game in the pleasant legend, that it was +invented by the two Grecian brothers Ledo and Tyrrheno to alleviate the +pangs of hunger with which they were pressed, and that, whilst playing it, +they lived weeks without considering that they had eaten nothing. + +But we need not any mythical proof of its competency in this +direction. Hyde, in his History of the Saracens, relates with authenticity, +that Al Amin, the Caliph of Bagdad, was engaged at chess with his freedman +Kuthar, at the time when Al Mamun's forces were carrying on the siege of +the city with a vigor which promised him success. When one rushed in to +inform the Caliph of his danger, he cried,--"Let me alone, for I see +checkmate against Kuthar!" Charles I. was at chess when he was informed of +the decision of the Scots to sell him to the English, but only paused from +his game long enough to receive the intelligence. King John was at chess +when the deputies from Rouen came to inform him that Philip Augustus had +besieged their city; but he would not hear them until he had finished the +game. An old English MS. gives in the following sentence no very handsome +picture of the chess-play of King John of England:--"John, son of King +Henry, and Fulco felle at variance at Chestes, and John brake Fulco's head +with the Chest-borde; and then Fulco gave him such a blow that he almost +killed him." The laws of chess do not now permit the king such free range +of the board. Dr. Robertson, in his History of Charles V., relates that +John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, whilst he was playing with Ernest, Duke +of Brunswick, was told that the Emperor had sentenced him to be beheaded +before the gate of Wittenberg; he with great composure proceeded with the +game, and, having beaten, expressed the usual satisfaction of a victor. He +was not executed, however, but set at liberty, after five years' +confinement, on petition of Mauritius. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "I wish to +live no longer than I can play at chess." Rousseau speaks of himself as +_forcené des échecs_, "mad after chess." Voltaire called it "the one, of +all games, which does most honor to the human mind." + +"When an Eastern guest was asked if he knew anything in the universe more +beautiful than the gardens of his host, which lay, an ocean of green, +broad, brilliant, enchanting, upon the flowery margin of the Euphrates, he +replied,--'Yes, the chess-playing of El-Zuli.'" Surely, the compliment, +though Oriental, is not without its strict truth. When Nature rises up to +her culmination, the human brain, and there reveals her potencies of +insight, foresight, analysis, memory, we are touched with a mystic beauty; +the profile on the mountain-top is sublimer than the mountain. But we must +heed well Mr. Morphy's advice, and not suffer this fascinating game to be +more than a porter at the gate of the fairer garden. Only when it secures, +not when it usurps the day, can it be regarded as a friend. There is a +myriad-move problem, of which Society is the Sphinx, given us to solve. + +He who masters chess without being mastered by it will find that it +discovers essential principles. In the world he will see a larger +chess-field, and one also shaped by the severest mathematics: the world is +so because the brain of man is so,--motive and move, motive and move: they +sum up life, all life,--from the aspen-leaf turning its back to the wind, +to the ecstasy of a saint. See the array of pawns (_forces_, as the Hindoo +calls them): the bodily presence and abilities, power of persistence, +endurance, nerve, the eye, the larynx, the tongue, the senses. Do they not +exist in life as on the board, to cut the way for royal or nobler pieces? +Does not the Imperial Mind win its experiences, its insight, through the +wear and tear of its physical twin? Is not the perfect soul "perfect +through sufferings" for evermore? For every coin reason gets from Nature, +the heart must leave a red drop impawned, the face must bear its scar. See, +then, the powers of the human arena: here Castle, Knight, Bishop are +Passion, Love, Hope; and above all, the sacred Queen of each man, his +specialty, his strength, by which he must win the day, if he win at +all. Here is the Idea with reference to which each man is planned; it +preexisted in the universe, and was born when he was born; it is King on +the board,--that lost, life's game is lost. By his side stands the special +Strength into whose keeping it is given, making, in Goethe's words, "every +man strong enough to enforce his conviction,"--his _conviction_, mark! +Pawns and pieces form themselves about that Queen; they are all to perish, +to perish one by one,--even the specialty,--that the King may triumph. Over +our largest, sublimest individualities the eternal tide flows on, and the +grandest personal strides are merged in the general success. The old author +dreamed that the heroes of the Trojan War were changed by Zeus into the +warriors of the mimic strife in order that such renowned exploits should be +perpetuated among men forever: rather must we reverse the dream, and +apotheosize the powers of the board, that they may appear in the sieges, +heroisms, and victories of life. + + * * * * * + + + +SPRING-SONG. + +Creep slowly up the willow-wand, + Young leaves! and, in your lightness, +Teach us that spirits which despond + May wear their own pure brightness. + +Into new sweetness slowly dip, + O May!--advance; yet linger: +Nor let the ring too swiftly slip + Down that new-plighted finger. + +Thy bursting blooms, O spring, retard! + While thus thy raptures press on, +How many a joy is lost, or marred + How many a lovely lesson! + +For each new sweet thou giv'st us, those + Which first we loved are taken: +In death their eyes must violets close + Before the rose can waken. + +Ye woods, with ice-threads tingling late, + Where late was heard the robin, +Your chants that hour but antedate + When autumn winds are sobbing! + +Ye gummy buds, in silken sheath + Hang back, content to glisten! +Hold in, O earth, thy charmèd breath! + Thou air, be still, and listen! + + * * * * * + + + +MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON. + +The present sanitary condition of our great cities is a reproach to our +intelligence not less than to our humanity. Our system of self-government, +so far as regards the protection of the mass of the dwellers in cities from +the worst physical evils, is now on trial. The tests to which it is exposed +are severe. We may boast as we like of our national prosperity, of the +rapidity of our material progress,--we may take pride in liberty, in wide +extent of territory, in the welcome to our shores of the exiled and the +poor of all other lands, or in whatsoever matter of self-gratulation we +choose,--but by the side of all these satisfactions stands the fact, that +in our chief cities the duration of life is diminishing and the suffering +from disease increasing. The question inevitably arises, Is this a +consequence of our political system? and if so, is political liberty worth +having, are democratic principles worth establishing, if the price to be +paid for them is increased insecurity of life and greater wretchedness +among the poor? If the origin of these evils is to be found in the +incompetency of the government or the inefficiency of individuals in a +democracy, a remedy must be applied, or the whole system must be changed. + +The intimate connection between physical misery and moral degradation is +plain and generally acknowledged. We are startled from time to time at the +rapid growth of crime in our cities; but it is the natural result of +preexisting physical evils. These evils have become more apparent during +the last twenty years than before, and it has been the fashion to attribute +their increase, with their frightful consequences, mainly to the enormous +Irish immigration, which for a time crowded our streets with poor, foreign +in origin, and degraded, not only by hereditary poverty, but by centuries +of civil and religious oppression. This view is no doubt in part correct; +but the larger share of the evils in our cities is due to causes +unconnected in any necessary relation with the immigration,--causes +contemporaneous with it in their development, and brought into fuller +action by it, rather than consequent upon it. + +More than half the sickness and more than half the deaths in New York (and +probably the same holds true of our other cities) are due to causes which +may be prevented,--in other words, which are the result of individual or +municipal neglect, of carelessness or indifference in regard to the known +and established laws of life. More than half the children who are born in +New York (and the proportion is over forty per cent. in Boston) die before +they are five years old. Much is implied in these statements,--among other +things, much criminal recklessness and wanton waste of the sources of +wealth and strength in a state. + +In Paris, in London, and in other European cities, the average mortality +has been gradually diminishing during the last fifty years. In New York, on +the contrary, it has increased with frightful rapidity; and in Boston, +though the increase has not been so alarming, it has been steady and +rapid. [Footnote: The facts upon winch these statements are based are +recorded in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts, +1850,--in the Annual Reports of the Boston City Registrar,--in the Annual +Reports of the New York Society for Improving the Condition of the +Poor,--and in other public documents. + +It appears that the ratio of deaths to population was, + +In New York, in 1810, 1 in 46.46 + " 1840, 1 in 39.74 + " 1850, 1 in 33.52 + " 1857, 1 in 27.15 + +In Boston, in 1830, 1 in 48 + " 1840, 1 in 45 + " 1850, 1 in 38 + " 1858, 1 in 41 + +It is probable that the ratio for the year 1858 showed somewhat more +improvement even than appears from the above figures. The proportion is +based on the population as ascertained in 1855. Up to 1858, the population +was somewhat, though not greatly, increased, and any increase would serve +to render the proportion in 1858 more favorable to the health of the +city. But it was a year in which the number of deaths was less than it had +been since 1850; it was, therefore, an exceptional year; and the change in +the ratio of the deaths is, we fear, not the sign of the beginning of a +progressive improvement.] + +But more and worse than this is the fact, that in these two cities the +average duration of life (and this means the material prosperity of the +people) has of late terribly decreased. While out of every hundred people +more die than was the case ten, twenty, thirty years ago, those who die +have lived a shorter time. Life is not now to be reckoned by its +"threescore years and ten." Its average duration in Boston is little above +twenty years; in New York it is less than twenty years. [Footnote: In +Boston, from 1810 to 1820, the average age of all that died was 27.85 +years; in 1857, leaving deaths by casualty out of the calculation, it was +but 20.63 years; in 1858, it was 21.76. In New York, from 1810 to 1820, it +was 26.15; for the last ten years of which the statistics are known, it was +less than 20.] Is the diminution of the length of life to go on from year +to year? + +This needless sacrifice and shortening of life, this accumulating amount of +ill health, causes an annual loss, in each of our great cities, of +productive capacity to the value of millions of dollars, as well as an +unnatural expense of millions more. This is no figure of speech. The +community is poorer by millions of dollars each year through the waste +which it allows of health and life. Leaving out of view all humane +considerations, all thought of the misery, social and moral, which +accompanies this physical degradation, and looking simply at its economical +effects, we find that it increases our taxes, diminishes our means of +paying them, creates permanent public burdens, and lessens the value of +property. An outlay of a million of dollars a year to reduce and to remove +the causes of these evils would be the cheapest and most profitable +expenditure of the public money by the municipal government. The principal +would soon be returned to the general treasury with all arrears of +interest. + +The main causes of this great and growing misery are patent. The remedies +for them are scarcely less plain. The chief sources of that disease and +death which may be prevented by the action of the community are, first, the +filthy and poisonous houses into which a large part of the people are +crowded; second, the imperfect ventilation of portions of the city,--its +narrow and dirty streets, lanes, and yards; and, third, the want of +sufficient house and street drainage and sewerage. It is important to note +in relation to these sources of evil, that, while the poverty of our poor +is generally not such complete destitution as that of many of the poor in +foreign cities, their average condition is worse. The increase of disease +and mortality is a result not so much of poverty as of condition. "The pith +and burden of the whole matter is, that the great mass of the poor are +compelled to live in tenements that are unfit for human beings, and under +circumstances in which it is impossible to preserve health and life." + +To improve the dwellings of the poor, to make them decent and wholesome, +is, then, the first step to be taken in checking the causes of preventable +disease and death in our cities. This work implies, if it be done +thoroughly, the securing of proper ventilation, sewerage, and drainage. + +Most of the houses which the poor occupy are the property of persons who +receive from them a rent very large in proportion to their value. No other +class of houses gives, on an average, a larger return upon the capital +invested in it. The rents which the poor pay, though paid in small sums, +are usually enormous in comparison with the accommodation afforded. The +houses are crowded from top to bottom. Many of them are built without +reference to the comfort or health of their occupants, but with the sole +object of getting the largest return for the smallest outlay. They are +hotbeds of disease, and exposed to constant peril from fire. Now it seems +plain that here is an occasion for the interposition of municipal +authority. In spite of the jealousy (proper within certain limits) with +which governmental interference with private property is regarded in this +country, it is a manifest dereliction of duty on the part of our city +authorities not to exercise a strict supervision over these houses. The +interests which are chiefly affected by their condition are not private, +but public interests. There are legal means for abating nuisances; and +there is no reason why houses which affect the health of whole districts +should not be treated in the same way as nuisances which are more +obtrusive, though less pernicious. In some of the cities of Europe, in +Nuremberg, for instance, there is a public architect, to whom all plans for +new buildings are submitted for approval or rejection according as they +correspond or not with the style of building suitable for the city. What is +done abroad to secure the beauty of a city might well be done here to +secure its health. Again, by legal enactment, we have prevented the +overcrowding of our emigrant ships: the same thing should be done in our +cities, to prevent the overcrowding of our tenement-houses. No house should +be allowed to receive more than a fixed maximum of dwellers in proportion +to its size and accommodations. These are simple propositions, but, if +properly carried out by enactment, they would secure an incalculable good. + +[Footnote: Since writing the preceding sentences, we have been gratified to +see that a bill proposing the creation of a Metropolitan Board of Health +has been introduced into the Legislature of New York. If the bill becomes a +law, as we trust it may, the board will be invested with power "to enact +ordinances for the proper government and control of buildings erecting or +to be erected, ... to compel the lessees or owners of dwellings to put the +same in proper order, and to provide sufficient means of egress in case of +fire." The New-York Evening Post of March 23, in giving an account of this +bill, says,--and there is no exaggeration in its statements,-- + +"The nearly one million of souls of this great city are left to take care +of themselves,--to be crowded mercilessly by landlords into houses without +light, air, or water, and without means of egress in case of fire; and the +street filth is allowed to accumulate till the city has become as the +famous Pontine Marshes, to breathe whose exhalations is certain +disease. All this results, as is proved by comparison with other cities, in +the unnecessary loss of five thousand to eight thousand lives annually, and +of many millions of dollars expended for unnecessary sickness, and the +consequent loss of time and strength,--all of which might be saved, as they +are actually saved in other and larger cities, by the application of +sanitary laws by intelligent and efficient officers. + +"And yet our Common Council are unmoved to apply the corrective, and the +Legislature postpones action upon the numerous petitions of the people upon +the subject. How long these bodies will be suffered to abuse the patience +of our citizens we cannot tell; but the breaking out of a pestilence which +shall sweep a thousand a week into the grave, and bring this city to +financial ruin, will be but a natural issue of the present neglect. The +Health Bill now before the Legislature has been prepared under the auspices +of the Sanitary Association. Its provisions are sweeping; but the +importance of the subject, the uniform filthy condition of our streets, and +the wretched and unsafe condition of our tenement-houses imperatively +demand changes of the most radical nature. The general provisions of the +bill seem to cover the points most requiring legislation; and while in some +of its details it could probably be improved, it is difficult to imagine +that the present state of sanitary regulations could be made worse, and +certain that the proposed reforms, if carried out, would be of great +advantage." + +In Massachusetts, statutes have existed for some years, giving to the +Boards of Health of the different cities or towns powers of a similar +nature to those granted by the bill proposed for New York, but of far too +limited scope. By Chapter 26, § 11, of the General Statutes, which are to +go into operation this year, the Boards of Health are authorized to remove +the occupants of any tenement, occupied as a dwelling-place, which is unfit +for the purpose, and a cause of nuisance or sickness either to the +occupants or the public,--and may require the premises, previously to their +reoccupation, to be properly cleansed at the expense of the owner. But the +penalty for a violation of this article is too light, being a fine of not +less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. To secure any essential good +from this law, it must be energetically enforced, with a disregard of +personal consequences, and an enlightened view of public and private rights +and necessities, scarcely to be expected from Boards of Health as commonly +constituted. We require a law upon this subject conveying far ampler +powers, enforced by far heavier penalties. It should embrace oversight of +the construction as well as of the condition of the dwellings of the +poor. Until we obtain such a law, the community is bound to insist upon a +rigid enforcement of the present imperfect statute. + +[The bill above alluded to by our correspondent has since been rejected by +the Legislature of New York.--EDS. ATLANTIC.]] + +Still, however much may be done by public authority, the condition of the +dwellings of the poor must be determined chiefly by the interest and the +legal responsibility of their individual owners. That men may be found +willing to make fortunes for themselves by grinding the faces of the poor +is certain; but there are, on the other hand, many who would be willing to +use some portion, at least, of their means to provide suitable homes for +the destitute, could they be assured of receiving a fair return upon the +property invested. It has been a matter of doubt whether proper houses +could be built for the dwellings of the lower classes, with all necessary +accommodations for health and comfort, at such a cost that the rents could +be kept as low as those paid for the common wretched tenements, and at the +same time be sufficient to afford a reasonable interest upon the +investment. Toward the solution of this doubt, an experiment which has been +tried in Boston during the last five years has afforded important results. + +In the spring of 1853, a number of gentlemen having subscribed a sufficient +sum for the purpose of building a house or houses on the best plan, as +Model Dwellings for the Poor, a society was formed, which, in the next +year, received an act of incorporation from the Legislature under the style +of "The Model Lodging-House Association." A suitable lot of land having +been obtained upon favorable terms, at the corner of Pleasant Street and +Osborn Place, the Directors of the Association proceeded to erect two brick +houses, of different construction, each containing separate tenements for +twenty families. The plans of the buildings were prepared with great care +to secure the essentials of a healthy home,--pure air, pure water, +efficient drainage, cleanliness, and light. In their details, strict regard +was had to the most economical and best use of a limited space, and ample +precautions were taken to reduce to its least the risk of fire. In each +house, double staircases, continuous to the roof, (and in one of them of +iron,) and two main exits were provided; and more recently, the two +buildings, which are separated from each other by a passage-way some feet +in width, have been connected by throwing an iron bridge from roof to roof, +by which, in case of alarm in one of them, escape may be readily had +through the other. Each house was, moreover, divided in the middle by a +solid brick partition-wall. + +The houses are five stories in height, not including the basement or +cellar, with four tenements in each story. The reduced plans, on the +opposite page, exhibit the general arrangements of the houses, and show the +complete separation of each set of apartments from the others, each one +opening by a single door upon the common stairs or passage. Their relation +is scarcely closer than that of separate houses in a common continuous +block. Each tenement, it will be observed, consists of a living-room, and +two or three sleeping-rooms, according to the space, a wash-room, with sink +and cupboards, and a water-closet. The stories are eight feet and six +inches in height, which is ample for the necessities of ventilation. In one +of the buildings, each tenement is provided with shafts for dust and offal, +communicating with receptacles in the cellar. The roofs of both are fitted +with conveniences for the drying of clothes, properly guarded; and in the +cellars of both are closets, one for each tenement, to hold fuel or +stores. In the basement of house No. 1 there are also two bathing-rooms, +which have been found of great use. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 1 OSBORN PLACE, BOSTON.] + +[Illustration: PLAN OF ONE-HALF OF MODEL HOUSE, No. 3 OSBORN PLACE, +BOSTON.] + +It would be difficult, after some years' experience, to pronounce which of +the two houses is the best fitted for its object. Their cost was nearly the +same. The plan of No. 1 is original and ingenious; its large open central +space is valuable for purposes of ventilation, and as affording opportunity +for exercise under cover in stormy weather for infants and infirm +people. This advantage is perhaps compensated for in the other house by the +fact of each tenement reaching from back to front of the house, thus +securing within itself the means of a thorough draught of fresh air. Both +plans are excellent, and may be unqualifiedly recommended. + +The houses were ready for occupation about the beginning of 1855, and since +that time have been constantly full. The applicants for tenements, whenever +one becomes vacant, are always numerous. + +The cost of these two buildings was a little over $18,000 each, exclusive +of the cost of the land upon which they stand. The land cost about $8,000; +and the whole cost of the buildings, including some slight changes +subsequent to their original erection, and of the lot on which they stand, +would be more than covered by the sum of $46,000. + +The rents were fixed upon a scale varying with the amount of accommodation +afforded by the separate tenements, and with their convenience of access. +They run from $2 to $2.87 per week. By those familiar with the rents paid +by the poor these sums will be seen to be not higher than are frequently +paid for the most unhealthy and inconvenient lodgings. The total annual +amount of rent received from each house is $2,353, which, after paying +taxes, water-rates, gas-bills, and all other expenses, including all +repairs necessary to keep the building in good order, leaves a full six per +cent. interest upon the sum invested. + +A portion of the land purchased by the Association not having been occupied +by the two houses already described, it was determined to erect a third +house upon it, of a somewhat superior character, for a class just above the +line of actual poverty, but often forced by circumstances into unhealthy +and uncomfortable homes. This was accordingly done, at a cost, including +the land, of about $26,000. The house, of which the plan is well worthy of +imitation, contains a shop and nine tenements. These tenements, which form +not only comfortable, but agreeable homes, are rented at from two to three +hundred dollars a year, and the gross income derived from the building is +about $2,500. + +During the five years since the first occupation of the houses no loss of +rents has occurred. For the most part, the rent has been paid not only +punctually, but with satisfaction, and the expressions which have been +received of the content of the occupants of the tenements have been of the +most gratifying sort. The houses, as we know from personal inspection, are +now in a state of excellent repair, and show no signs of carelessness or +neglect on the part of their occupants. Few private houses would have a +fresher and neater aspect after so long occupancy. The tenants have been, +with few exceptions, Americans by birth, and they have taken pains to keep +up the character of their dwellings. + +One of the Trustees of the Association, a gentleman to whose good judgment +and constant oversight, as well as to his sympathetic kindness tor the +occupants of the houses and interest in their affairs, much of the success +of this experiment is due, says, in a letter from which we are permitted to +quote,--"From my experience in the management of this kind of property, I +believe that it may in all cases with proper care be made _safe and +permanent for investment_. But what I think better of is the good such +houses do in elevating and making happier their tenants, and I much rejoice +in having had an opportunity to test their usefulness." + +As a comment upon these brief, but weighty sentences, we would beg any of +our readers, who may have opportunity, to look for himself at the +substantial and not unornamental buildings of the Association, with their +showier front on Pleasant Street, and their imposing length and height of +range along the side of Osborn Place,--to see them affording healthy and +convenient homes to fifty families, many of whom, without some such +provision, would be exposed to be forced into the wretched quarters too +familiar to the poor,--and then to compare them with the common +lodging-houses in any of the lower streets or alleys of Boston or New York. + +A similar work to that performed by the Boston Association was undertaken +shortly afterward by a society in New York, who in 1854-5 erected a +building containing ninety tenements of three rooms each, under the name of +"The Working-Men's Home." The cost of this enormous building, which was +well designed, was about $90,000. It is fifty-five feet in breadth by one +hundred and ninety feet in length; it is nearly fireproof, and is provided +with double stairways. It has been occupied from the first by colored +people, and we regret to learn that it has not proved a success, so far as +regards the annual return upon the property invested. After paying the +heavy city tax of 1 3/4 per cent., and the charges for gas and water, the +sum remaining for an annual dividend is not more than four per cent. + +This want of success is not, we believe, inherent in the plan itself, but +is the result of a want of proper management and supervision. We learn that +the tenants often leave without paying rent, and that the building is more +or less injured by their neglect. The class of tenants has undoubtedly been +of a lower grade than that which has occupied the Boston houses, and the +habits of the blacks are far inferior to those of the white American poor +in personal neatness and care of their dwellings. But we have no doubt, +that, in spite of these drawbacks, a good revenue might be derived from the +rents paid by this class of tenants. The success of the Boston experiment +is due in considerable part to the employment by the Association of a paid +Superintendent, living with his family in one of the buildings, who has a +general oversight of the houses, collects the rents, and determines the +claims of occupants of the tenements. Such an officer is indispensable for +the proper carrying on of any similar undertaking on so large a scale. We +trust that no effort will be spared in New York to bring out more +satisfactory results from this great establishment. Benevolence is one +thing, and good investments another; but benevolence in this case does not +do half its work, unless it can be proved to pay. It must be profitable, in +order to be in the best sense a charity. + +The effect which the Boston houses have already had, in proving that homes +for the poor can be built on the best plan for the health and comfort of +their inmates and at the same time be good investments of property, is +manifest in many private undertakings. Several large houses have already +been built upon similar plans; old lodging-houses have been in several +instances remodelled and otherwise improved; blocks of small dwellings for +one or two families have been erected with every convenience for the class +who can afford to pay from three to six dollars a week for their +accommodations. The example set by the Association promises to be widely +followed. + +Much, however, yet remains to be done, and associate or private energy is +needed for the trial of new and not less important experiments than that +already well performed. The means for some of them are at hand. It will be +remembered that the late Hon. Abbott Lawrence, to whose beneficence during +his life the community was so largely indebted, and whose liberal deeds +will long be remembered with gratitude, left by will the sum of $50,000 to +be held by Trustees for the erection of dwellings for the poor. This sum +will in a short time be ready for employment for its designated purpose, +and it may be hoped that those who control its disposal will not so much +imitate the work already done as perform a work not yet accomplished, but +not less essential. The houses of the Association are, as we have stated, +not occupied by the most destitute poor,--and it is for this lowest class +that the most pressing need exists for an improvement in their +habitations. If the cellar-dwelling poor can be provided with healthy +homes, and these homes can be made to pay a fair rent, the worst evil in +the condition of our cities will be in a way to be remedied. It is very +desirable that a house should be erected in one of the crowded quarters of +the city, and at a distance from the buildings of the Association, in which +each room should be arranged for separate occupation. The rooms might be of +different sizes upon the different floors, to accommodate single men who +require only a lodging-place, or a man and wife. Perhaps on one floor rooms +should be made with means of opening into each other, to supply the need of +those who might require more than one of them. The house should be heated +throughout by furnaces, to save the necessity of fires in the rooms; and as +no private meals could be cooked in the house, an eating-room, where meals +could be had or provisions purchased ready for eating, should form part of +the arrangements of the house in the lower story. There can be no doubt +that such a house would be at once filled,--and but little, that, if +properly built and managed, under efficient superintendence it would pay +well, at the lowest rates of rent. Even with a possibility of its failing +to return a net annual income of six per cent upon its cost, it is an +experiment that ought to be tried,--and we earnestly hope that the Trustees +of Mr. Lawrence's bequest will not hesitate to make it. Putting out of +question all considerations of profitable investment, it would be, as a +pure charity, one of the best works that could be performed. + +We must restore health to our cities, and, to accomplish this end, we must +provide fit homes for the poor. The way in which this may be done has been +shown. + + * * * * * + + + +A SHORT CAMPAIGN ON THE HUDSON. + +The campaigner marched out of a lawyer's office in Nassau Street, New York. + +"Shyster," said our old man, as he called me into his own den, or rather +lair,--(for den, I take it, is the private residence of a beast of prey, +and lair his place of business. I do not think that this definition is +mine, but I forget to whom it belongs,)--"I suppose you would not dislike a +trip into the country? Very well. These papers must be explained to General +Van Bummel, and signed by him. He lives at Thunderkill, on the Hudson. Take +the ten-o'clock train, and get back as soon as you can. Charge your +expenses to the office." + +"What luck!" thought I, as I dashed down-stairs into the +street,--determined to obey his last injunction to the letter, whatever +course I might think fit to adopt about the one preceding it. No one who +has not been an attorney's clerk at three dollars a week, copying +declarations and answers from nine A.M. to six P.M., in a dusty, inky, +uncarpeted room, with windows unwashed since the last lease expired, can +form a correct notion of the exhilaration of my mind when I took my seat in +the railroad-car. The great Van Bnmmel himself never felt bigger nor +better. + +It was in that loveliest season of the year, the Indian summer,--a week or +ten days of atmospheric perfection which the clerk of the weather allows us +as a compensation for our biting winter and rheumatic spring. The veiled +rays of the sun and the soft shadows produce the effect of a golden +moonlight, and make even Nature's shabbiest corners attractive. To be +out-of-doors with nothing to do, and nothing to think of but the mere +pleasure of existence, is happiness enough at such times. But I was looking +at a river panorama which is one of Nature's best efforts, I have heard; +and on that morning it seemed to me impossible that the world could show +anything grander. + +It was very calm. The broad glittering surface of the river showed here and +there a slight ripple, when some breath of air touched it for a moment; but +wind there was none,--only a few idle breezes lounging about, waiting for +orders to join old Boreas in his next autumnal effort to crack his +cheeks. The bright-colored trees glowed on the mountain-sides like beds of +living coals. + +"How the deuse," thought I, as I stared at them, "can a discerning public +be satisfied with Cole's pictures of 'American Scenery in the Fall of the +Year'? You see on his canvas, to be sure, red, green, orange, and so on, +the peculiar tints of the leaves; but Nature does more (and Cole does not): +she blends the variegated hues into one bright mass of bewitching color by +the magic of this soft, golden, hazy sunshine. I wish, too, that the great +company of story-tellers would let scenery rest in peace. The charm of a +landscape is entireness, unity; it strikes the eye at once and as a whole. +Examination of the component parts is quite a different thing. Who ean +build up a view in his mind by piling up details like bricks upon one +another? Most people, I suspect, will find, as I do, that, no matter what +author they may be reading, the same picture always presents itself. A +vague outline of some view they have seen arises in the memory,--like the +forest scene in a scantily furnished theatre, which comes on for every +play. The naked woods, trees, rocks, lake, river, mountain, would have done +the business just as well, and saved a deal of writing and of printing. The +most successful artist in this line I know of is Michael Scott, whose +tropical sketches in 'Tom Cringle's Log' are unequalled by any +landscape-painter, past or present, who uses pen and ink instead of canvas +and colors." + +My trance was broken by the voice of the brakeman shouting, "Thunderkill," +into the car, as the train drew up at a wooden station-house. Jumping out, +I asked the way to General Van Bummel's. A man with a whip in his hand +offered his services as guide and common carrier. I determined to +experience a new sensation,--for once in my life to anathematize +expenditure, and charge it to the office. So, climbing into a kind of +leathern tent upon wheels, I was soon on my way to the leaguer of the +General. A drive of a mile brought us to two stout stone gateposts, +surmounted each by a cannon-ball, which marked Van Bummel's boundary. We +turned into a lane shut in by trees. While busily taking an inventory of +the General's landed possessions for future use, my attention was drawn off +by loud shouts, the sound of the gallop of horses and the rattling of +wheels. Imagining at once that the General's family-pair must be running +away with his family-coach, I eagerly urged my driver to push on; but the +cold-hearted wretch only laughed and said he "guessed there was nothing +particular the matter." At last, we _debouched_ (excuse the word; I have +not yet got the military taste out of my mouth) upon a lawn, across which a +pair of large bay horses, ridden postilion-fashion by one man, were +dragging a brass six-pounder, upon which sat another in full uniform. + +"What the Devil is that?" said I. + +"That's the Gineral and his coachman a-having a training," answered my +driver. + +As he spoke, the officer shouted, "Halt!" + +Coachy pulled up. + +"Unlimber!" thundered the chief; and, aided by his man, obeyed his own +orders. + +"Load!" and "Fire!" followed in rapid succession. + +I saw and smelt that they used real powder. This over, the horses were made +fast again, John, bestrode his nag, the General clambered on to his brazen +seat and down they came at a tearing pace directly towards us. Luckily I +had read "Charles O'Malley," and knew how to behave in such cases. I jumped +from the wagon, and, tying my handkerchief to the ferule of my umbrella, +advanced, waving it and shouting, "A flag of truce!" The General ordered a +halt and despatched himself to the flag. As he approached I beheld a stout, +middle-aged, good natured looking man, dressed in the graceless costume of +Uncle Sam's army; but I must say that he wore it with more grace than most +of the Regulars I have seen. Our soldiers look unbecomingly in their +clothes,--there is no denying it,--a good deal like _sups_ in a procession +at the Bowery. A New-York policeman sports pretty much the same dress in +much better style. You hardly ever see an officer or private, least of all +the officer, with the _air militaire_. I also noticed with pleasure that +the General had not on his head that melodramatic black felt, +feather-bedecked hat, which some fantastic Secretary of War must have +imagined in a dream, after seeing "Fra Diavolo" at the opera, or Wallack in +Massaroni. In place of this abomination, a cap covered with glazed leather +surmounted his martial brow. When we met, I lowered my umbrella and offered +my card, with the office pasteboard. He took them with great gravity, read +the names, and requested me to fall back to the rear and await orders. Then +rejoining his gun, he was driven slowly towards the house,--my peaceful +_ambulance_ following at a respectful distance. When I reached the door, +the six-pounder had disappeared behind a clump of evergreens, and the +General stood waiting to receive me. His manner was affable. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Shyster? Glad to see you, Sir. Walk into the library, +Sir." + +I complied, and while the General was absent, engaged in carrying out some +hospitable suggestions for my refreshment, I examined the room. It was +large, and handsomely furnished. I looked into the bookcases: the shelves +were filled with works on War, from Cæsar's Commentaries down to Louis +Napoleon on Rifled Cannon. In one corner stood a suit of armor; in another +a stand of firearms; between them a star of bayonets. On the mantelpiece I +perceived a model of a small field-piece in brass and oak, and, what +interested me more, a cigarbox. I raised the lid; the box was half full of +highly creditable-looking cigars. My soul expanded with the thought of a +probable offer of at least one. + +"None of your Flor de Connecticuts," I thought, "from the Vuelta Abajo of +New-Windsor, but the genuine Simon Puros." + +A second glance at the inside of the lid caused grave doubts to depress my +spirits. I beheld there, in place of the usual ill-executed lithograph with +its _fábricas_ and its _calles_, three small portraits. The middle one was +the General in full uniform; I recognized him easily; the other two were no +doubt his aides-de-camp;--all evidently photographs; they were so ugly. I +dropped the lid in disappointment, and turned to the side-table. On it lay +a handsome sword in an open box lined with silk. Over it hung, framed and +glazed, the speech of the committee appointed by his fellow-soldiers of the +county to present the sword to the General, together with the General's +"neat and appropriate" answer and acceptance. + +I began to be a little astonished. I certainly did not expect anything of +this sort. Our old man called him General, to be sure; but General means +nothing, in the rural districts, but a certain amount of wealth and +respectability. It has taken the place of Squire. But here was I with a man +who took his title _au sérieux_. What with the uniform, the cannon, and the +coachman, I began to feel like an ambassador to a potentate with a standing +army. + +Here the General reappeared, bearing in his august hands a decanter and a +pitcher. After due refreshment, I produced my papers, made the necessary +explanations, and executed my commission so much to his satisfaction that +he invited me cordially to dine and spend the night, instead of taking the +evening-train down. I accepted, of course,--such chances seldom fell into +my way,--and was shown into a nice little bedroom, in which I was expected +to dress for dinner. Dress, indeed! I had on my best, and did not come to +stay. Novel-heroes manage to remain weeks without apparent luggage; but a +modern attorney's clerk, however moderate may be his toilette-tackle, finds +it inconvenient to be separated from it. However, I did what I +could,--washed my hands, settled the bow of my neck-tie, smoothed my hair +with my fingers, and thought, as I descended to the drawing-room, of the +travelling Frenchman, who, after a night spent in a diligence, wiped out +his eyes with his handkerchief, put on a paper false collar, and +exclaimed,--"_Me voici propre!_" + +The General, in a fatigue-dress, presented me to Mrs. Van Bummel, a +good-looking woman of pleasant dimensions,--to Miss Bellona Van Bummel, who +evidently thought me beneath her notice,--and to the Reverend Moses Wether, +whose mild face, white cravat, and straight-cut collar proclaimed him. As I +came in, his Reverence attempted to slip meekly out, but was stopped +energetically by the General. + +"How is this? Mr. Wether, you know you cannot leave, Sir." + +"But, my dear General, I only dropped in for a few moments; and really I +have so much to do!" + +"I am sorry, Sir," rejoined the General, sternly, "but you cannot be +excused. You accepted the position of Chaplain to the Regiment. You +neglected to attend the last two reviews. You were condemned by a Court +Martial, over which I presided, to twenty-four hours' arrest, which you +must now submit to." + +"But, my dear General," feebly expostulated the man of prayer, "you know I +thought the nomination a mere pleasantry; I had no idea you were serious, +or I should never have listened to the proposition." + +"Can't help that, Sir. You accepted the commission, you neglected your +duty, and you must take the consequences." + +Just then, as the poor perplexed parson was about to make another attempt +for liberty, a side-door swung open; a well-built, comely servant-girl, +dressed like Jenny Lind in the "Fille du Régiment," appeared. Bringing the +back of her hand to her forehead, she said,-- + +"General, dinner is ready." + +Van Bummel muttered something about "joining our mess," and led the way to +the banqueting-hall. I was too hungry to be particular about names, and did +ample justice to an excellent spread and well-selected tap,--carefully +avoiding eating with my knife or putting salt upon the table-cloth, which I +had often heard was never done by the aristocracy. As I kept my eyes upon +the others and imitated them to the best of my ability, I hope I did not +disgrace Nassau Street. + +The evening passed quickly and agreeably. I played chess with the reverend +prisoner. The man of war read steadily folio history of Marlborough's +campaigns, making occasional references to maps and plans. As the clock +struck nine, an explosion on the lawn made the windows rattle again. I +jumped to my feet, but, seeing that the rest of the company looked +surprised at my vivacity, I sat down, guessing that the six-pounder and the +coachman had something to do with it. + +"Don't be alarmed, Sir," said the General, "it's only gun-fire. We retire +about this time." + +I took the hint, requested to be shown to my room, undressed, jumped into a +camp bedstead, and tried to sleep. Impossible!--the novelty of my day's +experiences, the beauty of the night, (for the full moon was shining into +the windows,) or perhaps a cup of strong coffee I had swallowed without +milk after dinner because the others took it, kept me awake. Finding sleep +out of the question, I got up and dressed myself. My chamber was on the +ground-floor, and opened upon the lawn. I stepped quietly out into the hazy +moonlight, lighted a cigar, and walked towards the river. It was a +remarkably fine evening, certainly, but a very damp one. Heavy dew dripped +from the trees. I found, as my weed grew shorter, that my fondness for the +romantic in Nature waned, and slowly retraced my steps to the house, +muttering to myself some of Edgar Poe's ghostly lines:-- + + "I stand beneath the mystic moon; + An opiate vapor, dewey, dim + Exhales from out her golden rim, + And softly dripping, drop by drop, + Upon the quiet mountain-top, + Steals drowsily and musically + Into the universal valley." + +I was about entering, when a figure advanced suddenly from behind a pillar +of the veranda, holding a something in its hand which glittered in the +moonlight, and which rattled as it dropped from the perpendicular to the +horizontal, pointing at me. + +"Who goes there?" said the apparition, in a hoarse voice. "Stand, and give +the countersign!" + +I recognized the voice of the soldier-servant of the morning. There he was +again, that indefatigable coachman, doing duty as sentinel with a musket in +his hands. Not knowing what else to say, I replied,-- + +"It is I, a friend!" + +My good grammar was thrown away upon the brute. + +"The countersign," he repeated. + +"Pooh, pooh!" said I, "I do not know anything about the countersign. I am +Mr. Shyster, who came up this morning, when you and the General were doing +light-artillery practice on the lawn. Please let me go to my room." + +But the brute stood immovable. As I advanced, I heard him cock his musket. + +"Good God!" thought I, "this is no joke, after all. This stupid stable-man +may have loaded his musket. What if it should go off? If I retreat, I must +camp out,--no joke at this season;--rheumatism and a loss of salary, to say +the least. This will never do." + +And I screamed,-- + +"General! General Van Bummel!" + +"Silence! or I'll march you to the guard-house," thundered the sentinel. + +Luckily the General lay, like Irene, "with casement open to the skies." He +heard the noise. I recognized his martial tones. I hurriedly explained my +situation. He gave me the word; it was Eugene; countersign, +Marlborough. This satisfied the Coach-Cerberus, and I passed into bed +without further mishap. + +The first sound I heard the next morning was the rat-tat-too of a +drum. "There goes that d----d coachman again," I said to myself, and turned +over for another nap; but a shrill bugle-call brought me to my seat. + +Running to the window, I saw two men on horseback in dragoon equipments. +The horses were the artillery-nags of yesterday; the riders, the General +and his man-at-all-arms. Hurrying on my clothes, I got out of doors in time +to see them go at a gallop across the lawn, leap a low hedge at the end of +the grass-plot, and disappear in the orchard. Thither I followed fast to +see the sport. They reached the boundary-line of the Van-Bummel estate, +wheeled, and turned back on a trot. When the General espied me, he waved +his sabre and shouted, "Charge!" They galloped straight at me. I had barely +time to dodge behind an apple-tree, when they passed like a whirlwind over +the spot I had been standing on, and covered me with dirt from the heels of +their horses. I walked back to the house, very much annoyed, as men are apt +to be, when they think they have compromised their dignity a little by +dodging to escape danger from another's mischief or folly. At breakfast, +accordingly, I remonstrated with the chief; but he only laughed, and asked +me why I did not form a hollow square and let the front rank kneel and +fire. + +"As soon as you have finished your coffee," he added, "I will take you into +the trenches, and there you will be out of danger." + +I could not refuse. The trenches were at the bottom of the garden, near the +entrance-drive. I had seen them yesterday, and in my ignorance thought of +celery; now, I knew better. This morning, a tent was pitched a few yards +from a long low wall of sods; and between the tent and the sods there was a +small trench, about large enough to hold draining-tiles. Pointing to the +wall, the general said,-- + +"There is Sebastopol," (pronouncing it correctly, accent on the _to_,) "and +here," turning to the tent, "are my head-quarters. My sappers have just +established a mine under the Quarantine Battery. In a few moments I shall +blow it up, and storm the breach, if we make a practicable one." + +Here the Protean coachman made his appearance with a leather apron and a +broad-axe. He signified that all was ready. A lucifer was rubbed upon a +stone, the train ignited, bang went the mine, and over went we all three, +prostrated by a shower of turf and mud. The mine had exploded backward, and +had annihilated the storming party. Fortunately, the General had economised +in powder. Gradually we picked ourselves up, considerably bewildered, but +not much hurt. Van Bummel attempted to explain; but I had had enough of +war's alarms, and yearned for the safety and peace of Nassau Street. So I +bade the warrior good-morning, and took the first down-train, _multa mecum +volvens_; "making a revolver of my mind," Van Bummel would have translated +it. I knew that our soil produced more soldiers even than France, the +fertile mother of red-legged heroes; but I did not expect, in the +Nineteenth Century and in the State of New York, to have beheld an avatar +of the God Mars. + + * * * * * + + + +THINE. + + The tide will ebb at day's decline: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Impatient for the open sea, + At anchor rocks the tossing ship, + The ship which only waits for thee; + Yet with no tremble of the lip + I say again, thy hand in mine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + I shall not weep, or grieve, or pine. + _Ich bin dein!_ + Go, lave once more thy restless hands + Afar within the azure sea,-- + Traverse Arabia's scorching sands,-- + Fly where no thought can follow thee, + O'er desert waste and billowy brine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Dream on the slopes of Apennine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Stand where the glaciers freeze and frown, + Where Alpine torrents flash and foam, + Or watch the loving sun go down + Behind the purple hills of Rome, + Leaving a twilight half divine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Thy steps may fall beside the Rhine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + Slumber may kiss thy drooping lids + Amid the mazes of the Nile, + The shadow of the Pyramids + May cool thy feet,--yet all the while, + Though storms may beat, or stars may shine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Where smile the hills of Palestine, + _Ich bin dein!_ + Where rise the mosques and minarets,-- + Where every breath brings flowery balms,-- + Where souls forget their dark regrets + Beneath the strange, mysterious palms,-- + Where the banana builds her shrine,-- + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Too many clusters break the vine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The tree whose strength and life outpour + In one exultant blossom-gush + Must flowerless be forevermore: + We walk _this_ way but once, friend;--hush! + Our feet have left no trodden line: + _Ich bin dein!_ + + Who heaps his goblet wastes his wine: + _Ich bin dein!_ + The boat is moving from the land;-- + I have no chiding and no tears;-- + Now give me back my empty hand + To battle with the cruel years,-- + Behold, the triumph shall be mine! + _Ich bin dein!_ + + * * * * * + + + +THE REPRESENTATIVE ART. + +No art is worth anything that does not embody an idea,--that is not +representative: otherwise, it is like a body without a soul, or the image +of some divinity that never had existence. Art needs, indeed, to be +individualized, to betray the characteristics of the artist, to be himself +infused into his work; but more than this, it needs to typify, to +illustrate the character of the age,--to be of a piece with other +expressions of the sentiment that animates other men at the time. It must +be one note in the concert, and that not discordant,--neither behind time +nor ahead of it,--neither in the wrong key nor the other mode: you don't +want Verdi in one of Beethoven's symphonies; you don't want Mozart in +Rossini's operas. No art ever has lived that was not the genuine product of +the era in which it appeared; no art ever can live that is not such a +product: it may, perchance, have a temporary or fictitious success, but it +can neither really and truly exert an influence at the moment of its +highest triumph, nor afterwards remain a power among men, unless it reflect +the spirit of the epoch, unless it show the very age and body of the time +his form and pressure. + +All greatness consists in this: in being alive to what is going on around +one; in living actually; in giving voice to the thought of humanity; in +saying to one's fellows what they want to hear or need to hear at that +moment; in being the concretion, the result, of the influences of the +present world. In no other way can one affect the world than in responding +thus to its needs, in embodying thus its ideas. You will see, in looking to +history, that all great men have been a piece of their time; take them out +and set them elsewhere, they will not fit so well; they were made for their +day and generation. The literature which has left any mark, which has been +worthy of the name, has always mirrored what was doing around it; not +necessarily daguerreotyping the mere outside, but at least reflecting the +inside,--the thoughts, if not the actions of men,--their feelings and +sentiments, even if it treated of apparently far-off themes. You may +discuss the Greek republics in the spirit of the modern one; you may sing +idyls of King Arthur in the very mood of the nineteenth century. Art, too, +will be seen always to have felt this necessity, to have submitted to this +law. The great dramatists of Greece, like those of England, all flourished +in a single period, blossomed in one soil; the sculptures of antiquity +represented the classic spirit, and have never been equalled since, because +they were the legitimate product of that classic spirit. You cannot have +another Phidias till man again believes in Jupiter. The Gothic +architecture, how meanly is it imitated now! What cathedrals built in this +century rival those of Milan or Strasbourg or Notre Dame? Ah! there is no +such Catholicism to inspire the builders; the very men who reared them +would not be architects, if they lived to-day. And the Italian painters, +the Angelos and Raphaels and Da Vincis and Titians, who were geniuses of +such universal power that they builded and carved and went on embassies and +worked in mathematics only with less splendid success than they +painted,--they painted because the age demanded it; they painted as the age +demanded; they were religious, yet sensuous, like their nation; they felt +the influence of the Italian sun and soil. Their faith and their history +were compressed into The Last Judgment and the Cartoons; their passion as +well as their power may be recognized in The Last Supper and The Venus of +the Bath. + +There is always a necessity for this expression of the character of the +age. This spirit of our age, this mixed materialistic and imaginative +spirit,--this that abroad prompts Russian and Italian wars, and at home +discovers California mines,--that realizes gorgeous dreams of hidden gold, +and Napoleonic ideas of almost universal sway,--that bridges Niagara, and +under-lays the sea with wire, and, forgetful of the Titan fate, essays to +penetrate the clouds,--this spirit, so practical that those who choose to +look on one side only of the shield can see only perjured monarchs +trampling on deceived or decaying peoples, and backwoodsmen hewing forests, +and begrimed laborers setting up telegraph-poles or working at +printing-presses,--this spirit also so full of imagination,--which has +produced an outburst of music (that most intangible and subtile and +imaginative of arts) such as the earth never heard before,--which is +developing in the splendid, showy life, in the reviving taste for pageantry +that some supposed extinct, in the hurried, crowded incidents that will +fill up the historic page that treats of the nineteenth century,--this +spirit is sure to get expression in art. + +The American people, cosmopolitan, concrete, the union, the result rather +of a union of so many nationalities, ought surely to do its share towards +this expression. The American people surely represents the century,--has +much of its spirit: is full of unrest; is eminently practical, but +practical only in embodying poetical or lofty ideas; is demonstrative and +excitable; resembles the French much and in many things,--the French, who +are at the head of modern and European civilization,--who think and feel +deeply, but do not keep their feelings hidden. The Americans, too, like +expression: when they admire a Kossuth or a Jenny Lind, a patriot exile or +a foreign singer, all the world is sure to know of their admiration; when +they are delighted at some great achievement in science, like the laying of +an Atlantic Cable, they demonstrate their delight. They make their +successful generals Presidents; they give dinners to Morphy and banquets to +Cyrus Field. They are thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the +age. Therefore they are artistic. + +How amazed some will be at the proposition,--amazed that the age should be +called an artistic one,--amazed that Americans should be considered an +artistic nation! Yet art is only the expression in outward and visible form +of an inward and spiritual grace,--the sacrament of the imagination. Art is +an incarnation in colors or stone or music or words of some subtile essence +which requires the embodiment. We all have delicate fancies, lofty +imaginings, profound sentiments; the artist expresses them for us. If, +then, this age be one that requires expression for its ideas, that is +practical, that insists on accomplishing its designs, on creating its +children, on producing its results, it is an artistic age. For art works; a +poet is a maker, according to the Greeks: and all artists are poets; they +all produce; they all do; they all make. They do just what all the +practical men of this practical age are doing, what even the Gradgrinds are +doing: they embody ideas; they put thoughts into facts. A quiet, +contemplative age is not an artistic one; art has ever flourished in +stirring times: Grecian wars and Guelphic strife have been its fostering +influences. An artist is very far from being an idle dreamer; he works as +hard as the merchant or the mechanic,--works, too, physically as well as +mentally, with his hand as well as his head. + +This is all statement: let us have some facts; let us embody our ideas. Do +you not call Meyerbeer, with his years of study and effort and application, +a worker? Do you not call Verdi, who has produced thirty operas, a worker? +Do you not imagine that Turner labored on his splendid pictures? Do you not +know how Crawford toiled and spun away his nerves and brain? Have you not +heard of the incessant and tremendous attention that for many months Church +bestowed on the canvas that of late attracted the admiration of English +critics and their Queen? Was Rachel idle? Have these artists not spent the +substance of themselves as truly as any of your politicians or your +soldiers or your traders? Can you not trace in them the same energy, the +same effort, the same determination as in Louis Napoleon, as in Zachary +Taylor, as in Stephen Girard? Are not they also representative? + +And their works,--for by these shall ye know them,--do they reflect in +nothing this fitful, uneasy, yet splendid intensity of to-day? Can you not +read in the colors on Turner's canvas, can you not see in the rush of +Church's Niagara, can you not hear in the strains of the Traviata, can you +not perceive in the tones and looks of Ristori, just what you find in the +successful men in other spheres of life? Rothschild's fortune speaks no +more plainly than the Robert le Diable; George Sand's novels and Carlyle's +histories tell the same story as Kossuth's eloquence and Garibaldi's +deeds. The artists are as alive to-day as any in the the world. For, again +and again, art is not an outside thing; its professors, its lovers, are not +placed outside the world; they are in it and of it as absolutely as the +rest. You who think otherwise, remember that Verdi's name six months ago +was the watchword of the Italian revolutionists; remember that certain +operas are forbidden now to be played in Naples, lest they should arouse +the countrymen of Masaniello; remember, or learn, if you did not know, how +in New York, last June, all the singers in town offered their services for +a benefit to the Italian cause, and all the _habitués_, late though the +season was, crowded to their places to see an opera whose attractiveness +had been worn out and whose novelty was nearly gone. You who think that art +is an interest unworthy of men who live in the world, that it is a thing +apart, what say you to the French, the most actual, the most practical, the +most worldly of peoples, and yet the fondest of art in all its phases,--the +French, who remembered the statues in the Tuileries amid the massacres of +the First Revolution, and spared the architecture of antiquity when they +bombarded the city of the Caesars? + +Consider, too, the growing love for art in practical America; remark the +crowds of newly rich who deck their houses with pictures and busts, even +though they cannot always appreciate them; remember that nearly every +prominent town in the country has its theatre; that the opera, the most +refined luxury of European civilization, considered for long an affectation +beyond every other, is relished here as decidedly as in Italy or France. In +New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, there are +buildings exclusively appropriated to this new form of art, this exotic, +expensive amusement. These opera-houses, too, illustrate most aptly the +progress of other arts. They are adorned with painting and gilding and +carving; they are as sumptuous in accommodation as the palaces of European +potentates; they are lighted with a brilliancy that Aladdin's garden never +rivalled; they are thronged, with crowds as gayly dressed as those that +fill the saloons of Parisian belles; and the singers and actors who +interpret the thoughts of mighty foreign masters are the same who delight +the Emperor of the French when he pays a visit to the Queen of Great +Britain and Ireland. Orchestras of many instruments discourse most eloquent +music, and involuted strains are criticized in learned style, in capitals +thousands of miles from the seashore. And there is no appreciation of art +in all this! there is no embodiment of the love of the age for material +magnificence, there is no poetry incarnated into form, in this combination +of splendors rivalling the opium-eater's visions! The Americans are a dull, +stupid people, immersed in business; art has no effect upon them; it is +despised among them; it can never prosper here! + +The stage, indeed, in its various forms, seems more fully to manifest and +illustrate the artistic influence among Americans than any other art. It +often addresses those whom more refined solicitations might never +reach. Those who would turn from Church's or Page's pictures with +indifference are frequently attracted by the representations in a theatre. +The pictures there are more alive, more real, more intense, and fascinate +many unable to appreciate the recondite charms of the canvas. The grace of +attitude, the splendid expression, the intellectual art of Ristori or +Rachel may impress those who fail to discover the same merits in colder +stone, in Crawford's marble or the statues of Palmer; and they may +sometimes learn to relish even the delicate beauties of Shakspeare's text, +from hearing it fitly declaimed, who would never spell out its meaning by +themselves. The drama is certainly superior to other arts while its reign +lasts, because of its veriness, its actuality. He must be dull of +imagination, indeed, who cannot give himself up for a while to its +illusions; he must be stupid who cannot open his senses to its delights or +waken his intellect to receive its influences. + +Neither can a taste for the stage be declared one which only the ignorant +or vulgar share. Though away in the wilds of California a theatre was often +erected next after a hotel, the second building in a town, and the +strolling player would summon the miners by his trumpet when not one was in +sight, and instantly a swarm peeped forth from the earth, like the armed +men who sprang from the furrows that Cadmus ploughed,--though the wildest +and rudest of Western cities and the wildest and rudest inhabitants of +Western towns are quick to acknowledge the charms of the stage,--yet also +the most highly cultured and the most intellectual Americans pay the same +tribute to this art. We have all seen, within a few years, one of the most +profound scholars and most prominent divines in the country proclaiming his +approbation of the drama. We may find, to-day, in any Eastern city, members +of the liberal clergy at an opera, and sometimes at a play. The scholars +and writers and artists and thinkers, as well as the people of leisure and +of fashion, frequent places of amusement, not only for amusement, but to +cultivate their tastes, to exercise their intellects, ay, and oftentimes to +refine their hearts. The splendid homage paid in England not long ago to +the drama, when the highest nobility and the first statesmen in the land +were present at a banquet in honor of Charles Kean, is evidence enough that +no puerile or uncultivated taste is this which relishes the theatre. Goethe +presiding over the playhouse at Weimar, Euripides and Sophocles writing +tragedies, the greatest genius of the English language acting in his own +productions at the Globe Theatre, people like Siddons and Kean and Cushman +and Macready illustrating this art with the resources of their fine +intellects and great attainments,--surely these need scarcely be mentioned, +to relieve the drama from the reproach that some would put upon it, of +puerility. + +New York is, perhaps, more of a representative city than any other in the +land. It is an aggregation from all the other portions of the country; it +is the result, the precipitate, of the whole. It has no distinctive, +individual character of its own; it is a condensation of all the rest, a +focus. Thither all the country goes at times. Restless, fitful, changing, +yet still the same in its change; like the waves of the sea, that toss and +roll and move away, and still the mighty mass is ever there. New York, in +its various phases and developments, its crowded and cosmopolitan +population, its out-door kaleidoscopic splendor, is indeed a representative +of the entire country. It has not the purely literary life of Boston, nor +so distinctive an intellectual character; it is not so stamped by the +impress of olden times as Philadelphia; but it has an outside garb +significant of the inward nature. It is like the face of a great actor, +splendid in expression, full of character, changing with a thousand +changing emotions, but betraying a great soul beneath them all. New York is +artistic just as America is artistic, just as the age is artistic: not, +perhaps, in the loftiest or most refined sense, but in the sense that art +is an expression, in tangible form, of ideas. New York is a great thought +uttered. It is like those fruits or seeds which germinate by turning +themselves inside out; the soul is on the outside, crusted all over it, but +none the less soul for all that. + +And New York illustrates this idea of the drama being the representative +art of to-day. The theatre there, including the opera, is a great +established fact,--as important nearly as it was in the palmiest days of +the Athenian republic, or on the road to be of as much consequence as it is +in Paris, the representative city of the world. Fifty thousand people +nightly crowd twenty different theatres in New York. From the splendid +halls where Grisi and Gazzaniga and La Borde and La Grange have by turns +translated into sound the ideas of Meyerbeer and Bellini and Donizetti and +Mozart, to the little rooms where sixpenny tickets procure lager-beer as +well as music for the purchaser, the drama is worshipped. And this not only +by New-Yorkers: not only do those who lead the busy, excited life of the +metropolis acquire a taste, as some might say, for a factitious excitement, +but all strangers hasten to the theatres. The sober farmer, the citizens +from plodding interior towns, the gay Southerners, accustomed almost +exclusively to social amusements, the denizens of rival Bostons and +Philadelphias all frequent the operas and playhouses of New York. When the +richer portion of its inhabitants have left the hot and sultry town, or, in +mid-winter, are immersed in the more exclusive pleasures of fashionable +life, even then the theatres are thronged; and in September and October you +shall find all parts of the country represented in their boxes and +parquets,--proving that this is not an exclusively metropolitan taste, that +it is shared by the whole nation, that in this also New York is truly +representative. + +Boston typifies a peculiar phase of American life; it is the illustration, +the exponent, of the cultivated side of our nationality; its thought, its +action, its character are taken abroad as symbols of the national thought +and action and character, in whatever relates to literature or art. The +Professor said truly, Boston does really in some sort stand for the brain +of America. Well the brain of America appreciates the stage. It is but a +few months since the culture and distinction of Boston nightly crowded a +small and inferior theatre, to witness the personations of the young genius +who is destined at no distant day to rival the proudest names of the drama. +The most brilliant successes Edwin Booth has yet achieved have been +achieved in Boston; scholars and wits and poets and professors crowd the +boxes when he plays; women of talent write poems in his praise and publish +them in the "Atlantic Monthly"; professors of Harvard College send him +congratulatory letters; artists paint and carve his intellectual beauty; +and fashion follows in the wake of intellect, alike acknowledging his +merits. Boston recognized those merits, too, when they were first presented +to its appreciation; and now that they verge nearer upon maturity, her +appreciation is quickened and her applause redoubled. It cannot be said +that the taste or culture of the nation is indifferent to histrionic +excellence, when absolute excellence is found. + +No other art is yet on such a footing among us. Neither is this because of +our partially developed civilization. It is equally so abroad; where the +nations are oldest and best established in culture, there, too, a similar +state of things exists. No school in painting, no style of sculpture, no +kind of architecture has made such an impression on the age as its music, +as its dramatic music, its opera. This speaks to all nations, in all +languages. No writer, though he write like Tennyson, or Longfellow, or +Lamartine, or Dudevant, can hope for such an audience as Verdi or +Meyerbeer. No orator speaks to such crowds as Rossini; no Everett or +Kossuth, or Gavazzi or Spurgeon, has so many listeners as Donizetti. For +the stage is the art of to-day,--perhaps more especially, but still not, +exclusively, the operatic stage; the theatre in its various forms +represents the feeling of the time so as Grecian and Gothic architecture +and Italian painting have in their time done for their time,--so as no +pictures, no architecture, no statuary can now do. Painting and statuary, +when they do anything towards representing this age, incarnate the dramatic +spirit; the literature that has most influence today is journalism,--the +effective, present, actual, short-lived, dramatic newspaper, where all the +actors speak for themselves: other literature has its listeners, but it +lags behind; other art has its appreciators, but it cannot keep pace with +the march of armies, with the rush to California, with the swarm to +Australia; there is no art on these outskirts but the dramatic. That +travels with the advancing mass in every exodus; that went with Dr. Kane to +the North Pole (he had private theatricals aboard the Resolute); that alone +gave utterance immediately to the latest cry of humanity in the Italian +War. + +Neither can it be said that the theatre has no more consequence now than it +has always enjoyed. At the time when Gothic architects and Italian painters +expressed the meaning of their own ages, there was nothing like a real +drama in existence, and the Roman theatre was never comparable with +ours. The Greeks, indeed, had a stage which was an important element of +their civilization, and which took the character of their time, giving and +receiving influence; but their stage was essentially different from that of +the moderns. Its success did not depend upon the individual performer; its +pageantry was perhaps as splendid as what we now see; but the play of the +countenance, that great intellectual opportunity offered an actor by our +drama, was not known. In this see also a characteristic of the present +age. Individuality is a distinctive peculiarity of the nineteenth century; +it has been for centuries gradually becoming more possible; but every man +now works his own way, acts himself, more completely than ever +before. Therefore appropriate is it that the drama should give importance +to the individual, and allow a great actor to incarnate and illustrate in +his own form and face feelings and passions that formerly were only hinted +at; for remember that the Greek players usually wore masks, while their +amphitheatres were so large that in any event the expression of the +features was lost. + +With this individuality, this opportunity for each to develop his own +identity and intensity, the nineteenth century strangely combines another +peculiarity, that of association. All these units, these atoms, so +marvellously distinct, are incorporated into one grand whole; though each +be more, by and of himself, than ever before, yet the great power, the +great motor, is the mass. The mass is made powerful by the added importance +given to each individual. And you may trace without conceit a state of +things behind the scenes very similar to this in front of the +footlights. In the theatre, also, the many workers contribute to a grand +result. The manager would be as powerless in his little empire, without +important assistants, as a monarch without ministers and people. What makes +the French army and the American so irresistible is the thought that each +private is more than a machine, is an intellectual being, understands what +his general wants, fights with his bayonet at Solferino or his musket at +Monterey on his own account, yet subject to the supreme control. And the +theatre, with all its actors and scene-painters and costumers and +carpenters and musicians, is only an army on a different scale. The forces +of the stage answer to the generals and colonels, the marshals and +privates, all marching and working and fighting for the same end. Those +splendid dramatic triumphs of Charles Kean were only illustrations of the +principle of association,--only illustrations of the readiness of the stage +to adapt itself to the times, to seize hold of whatever is suggested by the +outside world, to appropriate the discoveries of Layard and the revelations +of Science to its own uses,--illustrations, too, of the importance of the +individual Kean, as well as of the crowd of clever subordinates. + +That the theatre feels this reflex influence, that it appreciates all that +is going on around it, that it is not asleep, that it is penetrated with +the spirit of the century, whether that spirit be good or evil, the +selection of plays now popular is another proof. In France, where the +success of the histrionic art now culminates, a contemporaneous drama is +flourishing, the absolute society of the day is represented. That society +has faults, and the stage mirrors them. "La Dame aux Camélias," "Les Filles +de Marbre," "Le Demi-Monde" reflect exactly the peculiarities of the life +they aim to imitate. And these very plays, whose influence is so often +condemned, would never have had the popularity they have attained in nearly +every city of the civilized world, had there not been Marguerite Gautiers +and Traviatas outside of Paris as well as in it. Another attempt, perhaps +not an entirely successful one, but still a significant attempt, has been +made in this country to produce a contemporaneous drama. "Jessie Brown" and +"The Poor of New York," and other plays directly daguerreotyping ordinary +incidents, at any rate show that the drama is an art that responds +instantly to the pulses of the time. + +But it ia not necessary for the stage to daguerreotype; it mirrors more +truly when it embodies the spirit. And never before was there an age whose +spirit was more theatrical, in the best sense of the term; full of outside +expression, but also full of inside feeling; working, accomplishing, +putting into actual form its ideas; incarnating its passions; intellectual, +yet passionate; lofty in imagination, yet practical in exemplification; +showy, but significantly showy,--theatrical. An art, then, that is all +this, surely expresses as no other art does or can the character of the +nineteenth century,--surely is the representative art. + + * * * * * + + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +THE EVIL EYE AND OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. + + +I have already, in a former article, spoken of some of the superstitions +belonging to the Church which are prevalent in Italy; but there are other, +and, so to speak, _lay_ superstitions, which also claim a place,--and to +them this chapter shall be dedicated. + +It is dangerous ground, a twilight marsh, where the will-o'-wisps light us, +over which I propose to lead you; and had I not armed myself with all sorts +of amulets, I should shrink from the enterprise. But the famous weapon with +which Luther drove away the Evil One is at my side, potent as evil, I hope, +so long as a pen can be put into it,--and Saint Dunstan's friend is in the +corner, ready, at a pinch, for service; and having shut out all those +spirits which so sorely tempted Saint Anthony, and locked my door to dark +eyes and blue eyes and dark hair and blonde hair, I may hope to get through +my dangerous chapter, and-- + +Strange fatality!--one of Saint Anthony's spirits tempts me from the other +room, even at the moment I boast; but I resist,--manfully dipping my pen +into Luther's stronghold,--and it vanishes, and leaves me face to face +with--the Evil Eye. Yes! it is the Evil Eye, the _Jettatura_ of Italy, that +we are boldly to face for an hour. + +This is one of the oldest and most interesting superstitions that have come +down to us from the past; and as it still lives and flourishes in Italy +with a singular vitality and freshness, it may be worth while to trace it +back to some of its early sources. Its birth-place was the East, where it +existed in dillomnt forms amongst almost every people. Thence it was +imported into Greece, where it was called _Baskania_, and was adopted by +the Romans under the name of _Fascinum_. Solomon himself alludes to it in +the Book of Wisdom. Isigonus relates that among the Triballi and Illyrii +there were men who by a glance fascinated and killed those whom they looked +upon with angry eyes; and Nymphodorus asserts that there were fascinators +whose voices had the power to destroy flocks, to blast trees, and to kill +infants. In Scythia, also, according to Apollonides, there were women of +this class, "_quoe vocantur Bithyoe_"; and Phylarchus says that in Pontus +there was a tribe, called the Thibii, and many others, of the same nature +and having the same powers. The testimony of Algazeli is to the same +effect; and he adds, that these fascinators have a peculiar power over +women. We have also the testimony of Aristotle, Pliny, and Plutarch, who +all speak as believers, while Solinus enumerates certain families of +fascinators who exerted their influence _voce et linguâ_, and Philostratus +makes special mention of Apolloius Thyaneus as having been possessed of +these wonderful powers. Indeed, nearly all the old writers agree in +recognizing the existence of the faculty of fascination; and among the +Romans it was so universally admitted, that in the "Decemvirales Tabulae" +there was a law prohibiting the exercise of it under a capital +penalty:--"_Ne pelliciunto alienas segeles, excantando, ne incantando; ne +agrum defraudanto._" Some jurisconsults skilled in the ancient law say that +boys are sometimes fascinated by the burning eyes of these infected men so +as to lose all their health and strength. Pliny relates that one Caius +Furius Cresinus, a freedman, having been very successful in cultivating his +farms, became an object of envy, and was publicly accused of poisoning by +arts of fascination his neighbors' fruits; whereupon he brought into the +Forum his daughter, ploughs, tools, and oxen, and, pointing to them, +said,--"These which I have brought, and my labor, sweat, watching, and +care, (which I cannot bring,) are all my arts." Let those who consider the +moving of tables as wonderful listen to the surprising statement of Pliny +as to an occurrence in his own time, when a whole olive-orchard belonging +to a certain Vectius Marcellus, a Roman knight, crossed over the public +way, and took its place, ground and all, on the other side. [Footnote: +Plinii _Nat. Hist._ Lib. xvii. cap. 38.] This same fact is also alluded to +by Virgil in his Eighth Eclogue, on _Pharmaceutria_ (all of which, by the +way, he stole from Theocritus):-- + +"Atque satas aliò vidi traducere messes." + +"Now," says the worthy Vairus, who has written an elaborate treatise on +this subject in Latin, well worthy to be examined, "let no man laugh at +these stories as old wives' tales, (_aniles nugas_,) nor, because the +reason passes our knowledge, let us turn them into ridicule, for infinite +are the things which we cannot understand, (_infinita enim prope sunt +quorum rationem adipisci nequimus_); but rather than turn all miracles out +of Nature because we cannot understand them, let us make that fact the +beginning and reason of investigation. For does not Solomon in his Book of +Wisdom say, '_Fascinatio malignitatis obscurat bona'?_ and does not Dominus +Paulus cry out to the Galatians, '_O insensati Galatoe, quis vos +fascinavit'?_ which the best interpreters admit to refer to those whose +burning eyes (_oculos urentes_) with a single look blast all persons, and +especially boys." + +It seems to have been a peculiarity in the superstitions as to the +_fascinum_, that boys and women were specially susceptible to its +influence; and in this respect, as well as in some of the symptoms of +fascination, it bears a curious resemblance to the effects of modern +witchcraft as practised in New England. Dionysius Carthusianus, speaking of +the nomad tribes of the Biarmii and Amaxobii, who, according to him, were +most skilful fascinators, says that they so affected persons with their +curse that they lost their freedom of will and became insane and idiotic, +and often wasted away in extreme leanness and corruption, and so perished: +"_ut liberi non sint nec mentis compotes, soepe ad extremam maciem +deveniant, et tabescendo dispereant._" Olaus Magnus agrees with him in +these symptoms; and Hieronymus says, that, when infants suddenly grow lean, +waste away, twist about as if in pain, and sometimes scream out and cry in +a wonderful way, you may be certain that they have been fascinated. This, +to be sure, looks mightily like a diagnosis for worms; but we would not +measure our wits with the grave Hieronymus. Still, as an amulet against +such fascination, "Jaynes's Vermifuge" might be suggested as efficient, or +at least a grain or two of _Santonina_. + +In Abyssinia, it is supposed that men who work in iron or pottery are +peculiarly endowed with this fatal power of fascination, and in consequence +of this prejudice they are expelled from society and even from the +privilege of partaking of the holy sacrament. They are known by the name of +_Buda_, and, though excluded from the more sacred rites of the Church, +profess great respect for religion, and are surpassed by none in the +strictness of their fasts. All convulsions and hysterical disorders are +attributed to these unfortunate artificers; and they are also supposed to +have the power of changing themselves into hyenas and other ravenous +beasts. Nathaniel Pearce, the African traveller, relates that the +Abyssinians are so fully convinced that these unhappy men are in the habit +of rifling graves in their character of hyenas, that no one will venture to +eat _quareter_ or dried meat in their houses, nor any flesh, unless it be +raw, or unless they have seen it killed. These Budas usually wear earrings +of a peculiar shape, and Pearce states that he has frequently seen them in +the ears of hyenas that have been caught or trapped, and confesses, that, +although he had taken considerable pains to investigate the subject, he had +never been able to discover how these ornaments came there; and Mr. Coffin, +his friend, relates a story of one of these transformations which took +place under his own eyes. [Footnote: Herodotus makes the same statement as +to the Buda. "They are said to be evil-minded and enchanters," he says, +"that for a day every year change themselves into wolves. This the +Scythians and Greeks who dwell there affirm with great oaths. But they do +not persuade me of it."--Herod. Lib. iii. cap. 7. + +See on this subject _Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce_, and _Nubia +and Abyssinia_, by Rev. Michael Russell. Petronius's story of a Versipelles +is well known.] + +This is the old superstition of the were-wolf, which existed also among the +Greeks and Romans. Those endowed with this power of transforming themselves +into beasts were called _Versipelles_. Pliny makes mention of them, and +cites from a Greek author the case of a man "who lived nine years in the +shape of a wolf"; but, credulous as he is, he says that the superstition +"is a fabulous opinion, not worthy of credit." For myself, I can say that I +have known many men who were wolves; and we all remember what Queen Labe +used to do with her lovers. + +Fascination was of two kinds, moral and natural. Those in whom the power +was moral could exert it only by the exercise of their will; but those in +whom it was natural could but keep exercising it unconsciously. And these +latter were the most terrible. It is generally explained by ancient writers +as being a power of the spirit or imagination, (as they termed it.) +exhibited in persons of a peculiar organization, and diffusing _radios +salutares vel perniciosos_. Though the terms employed by them, as well as +their notions of its origin, are very unphilosophical and vague, it is +plain that they considered it as a species of mesmeric or biologic power, +operating by nervous impression. The fascinator generally endeavored to +provoke in his victims an excited and pleased attention, for in this +condition they were peculiarly predisposed to his influence. And inasmuch +as persons are thrown off their guard of reserve and attracted by praise, +those who flattered excessively were looked upon with suspicion; and it was +a universally recognized rule of good manners and morals, that every one in +praising another should be careful not to do so immoderately, lest he +should fascinate even against his will. Hieronymus Fracastorius, in his +treatise "On Sympathy and Antipathy," thus states the fact and the +philosophy,--and who shall dare gainsay the conclusions of one so learned +in science, medicine, and astrology as this distinguished man?--"We read," +he says, "that there were certain families in Crete who fascinated by +praising, and this is doubtless quite possible. For as there exists in the +nature of some persons a poison which is ejaculated through their eyes by +evil spirits, there is no reason why infants and even grown persons should +not be peculiarly injured by this fascination of praise. For praise creates +a peculiar pleasure, and pleasure in turn, as we have already said, first +dilates and opens the heart and then the spirit, and then the whole face +and especially the eyes,--so that all these doors are opened to receive the +poison which is ejaculated by the fascinator. Wherefore it is most proper, +whenever we intend to praise a person, that we should warn him, and use +some form to avert the ill effects of our words, as by saying, 'May it be +of no injury to you!' There are, indeed, some, who, when they are praised, +avert their faces, not to indicate that praise in itself is unpleasant, but +to avoid fascination; it being thought that fascination is often effected +by means of praise";[1] or in other words, the poison being given in the +honey of flattery. Now in order to close up this _dilatationem_ or opening +of the system, a _corona baccaris_ was worn, which, by its odoriferous and +constipating qualities, produced this effect, as Dioscorides assures us.[2] +Virgil, in his Seventh Eclogue, alludes to the same, antidote:-- + +"Aut si ultra placitum laudant, baccare frontem + Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro." + +[Footnote 1: Hier. Fracastorius, _De Sympathiâ et Antipathiâ_, +Lib. i. cap. 23. See also Vincentius Alsarius, _De Invid. et Fasc. Vet._, +in Graevius, _Thes. Rom. Antiq._ Vol. xii. p. 890.] + +[Footnote 2: Lib. iii. cap. 46, confirmed also by Athenaeus, _Deipnos_. +Lib. iii.] + +Tertullian, in his work "De Virginibus Velandis," states the same fact as +Fracastorius, and says that among the heathens there are persons who are +possessed of a terrible somewhat which they call _Fascinum_, effected by +excessive praise: _"Nam est aliquod etiam apud Ethnicos metuendum, quod +Fascinum vocant, infeliciorem laudis et gloriae enormioris eventum_." + +To avert this evil influence, every well-mannered person among the ancients +said, "_Proefiscine_," before wishing well to another,--as clearly appears +from the following passage cited by Charisius [Footnote: _Inst. Gram._ +Lib. iv.] from Titinius in "Setina." One person exclaims, "_Paula mea, +amabo----_" Whereupon a friend who stands by says, "He was going to praise +Paula!" "_Ecce qui loquitur, Paulam puellam laudare parabat!_" And another +friend present cries out, "By Pollux! you should better say, +'_Proefiscini_,' or you may fascinate her": "_Pol! tu in laudem addito +Proefiscini, ne puella fascinaretur_." [Footnote: See also Turnebi +_Comm. in Orat. Sec. contra P.S. Rullum de Leg. Agrar._ M.T. Ciceronis.] +This same custom exists at the present day among the Turks, who always +accompany a compliment to you or to anything belonging to you with the +phrase, _"Mashallah!"_ (God be praised!)--thus referring the good gifts you +possess to the Higher Spirit. To omit this is a breach of courtesy, and in +such case the other person instantly adds it in order to avert fascination; +for the superstition is, that, if this phrase be omitted, we may seem to +refer all good gifts to our own merit instead of God's grace, and so +provoke the divine wrath. The same custom also exists in Italy; and the +common reply to any salutation in which your looks or health may be +complimented is, "_Grazia a Dio!_" In some parts of Italy, if you praise a +pretty child in the street, or even if you look earnestly at it, the nurse +will be sure to say, "_Dio la benedica!_" so as to cut off all ill-luck; +and if you happen to be walking with a child and catch any person watching +it, such person will invariably employ some such phrase to show you that he +does not mean to do it injury, or to cast a spell of _jettatura_ upon +it. The modern Greeks are even more jealous of praise, and if you +compliment a child of theirs, you are expected to spit three times at him +and say, [Greek: Na maen baskanthaes], ("May no evil come to you!") or +mutter [Greek: Skordo], ("Garlic,") which has a special power as a +counter-charm. So, too, in Corsica, the peasants are strict believers in +the _jettatura_ of praise, which they call _l'annocchiatura_,--supposing, +that, if any evil influence attend you, your good wishes will turn into +curses. They are therefore very careful in praising, and sometimes express +themselves in language the very reverse of what they intend,--as, "'_Va, +coquine!'_ says Bandalaccio, in M. Merimée's pleasant story of "Colomba," +'_sois excommuniée, sois maudite, friponne!' Car Bandalaccio, superstitieux +comme tous les bandits, craignait de fasciner les enfans en les addressant +les bénédictions et les éloges. On sait que les puissances mystérieuses qui +président à l'annocchiatura ont la mauvaise habitude d'exécuter le +contraire de nos souhaits._" Perhaps our familiar habit of calling our +children "scamp" and "rascal," when we are caressing them, may be founded +on a worn-out superstition of the same kind. + +But it is not only praise administered by others which may inflict evil +upon us,--we must also be specially careful not to have too "gude a conceit +of ourselves," lest we thereby draw down upon us the fate of a certain +Eutelidas, who, having regarded his image in the water with peculiar +self-satisfaction and laudation, immediately lost his health, and from that +time forward was afflicted with sore diseases. During a supper at the house +of Metrius Florus, where, among others, Plutarch, Soclarus, and Caius, the +son-in-law of Florus, were guests, a curious and interesting conversation +took place on the subject of the _Fascinum_, which is reported by Plutarch +in one of his Symposia. The existence of the power of fascination was +admitted by all, and a philosophical explanation of its phenomena was +attempted. In reply to some suggestions of Plutarch, Soclarus says there is +no doubt that their ancestors fully believed in this power, and then cites +the case of Eutelidas as being well known to his auditors, and celebrated +by some poet in these lines:-- + + "Eutelidas was once a beauteous youth, + But, luckless, in the wave his face beholding, + Himself he fascinates, and pines away." [1] + +[Footnote 1: Plutarchi _Symp_. V. Prob. VII.] + +Fascination was excited by touch, voice, and look. The fascination by touch +was simply mesmerism, or rather the biology of the present day, in an +undeveloped stage. There were said to be four qualities of +touch,--_calidus, humidus, frigidus, et siccus_, or hot, cold, moist, and +dry,--according to which persons were active or passive in the exercise of +the fascinum. Its function was double, by raising or by lowering the +arm,--"_modo per arteriæ elevationem, modo per ejusdem submissionem_" says +the worthy Vairits; "for," he continues, "when the artery is thrown out and +is open, the spirits are emitted with wonderful celerity, and in some +imperceptible manner are carried to the thing to fascinate it. And because +the artery has its origin in the heart, the spirits issuing thence retain +its infected and vitiated nature, and according to its depravity fascinate +and destroy." + +This power of touch is recognized in all history and in all climes. All who +saw Christ desired to touch his garment, and so receive some healing +virtue; and his miracles of cure he almost always performed by his +hand. When the woman who had the issue of blood came behind him and touched +him, Jesus asked who touched him, and said,--"Somebody hath touched me; for +I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." It has always been a popular +superstition that the scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king or of +the seventh son of a seventh son. The old belief that the body of a +murdered man would distill blood, if his murderer's hand were placed on +him, is also of the same class. + +Descending to the sphere of animals, we find some curious facts having +relation to this power. The electrical eel, for instance, has the faculty +of overcoming and numbing his prey by this means. And among the Arabs, +according to Gerard, the French lion-killer, whoever inhales the breath of +the lion goes mad. + +Dr. Livingstone, in his interesting travels in South Africa, makes a +curious statement bearing upon this subject. He was out shooting lions one +day, when, "after having shot once, just," he says, "as I was in the act of +ramming down the bullets, I heard a shout. Starting and looking half round, +I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little +height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground +below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a +terrier-dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which +seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a +sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of +terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what +patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all +the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the +result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no +sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is +probably produced in all animals killed by the _carnivora_, and, if so, is +a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of +death." + +The next method of fascination was by the Voice. Aristotle speaks of it as +the cause of fascination, and says that the mere sound of the fascinator's +voice has this wondrous power, independently of his good or ill will, as +well as of the words he uses. And Alexander Aphrodisiensis calls the +fascinators poisoners, who poison their victim by intently looking at him +_carmine prolato_, "with a measured song or cadence." The same peculiarity +is observable in all experiments with the moving tables or rapping spirits, +which are more successful when accompanied by constant music. Circe +fascinated with incantation; and the Psalmist alludes to it as a means of +charming. Serpents, as well as men, are thus charmed. Virgil says, that, if +to this incantation by words certain herbs are joined, the fascination +works with more terrible effect:-- + + "Pocula si quando sævae infecêre novercæ, + Miscueruntque herbas et non irmoxia verba, + Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena." + +It is related of a certain magician, that, when he whispered in the ear of +a bull, he could prostrate him to the earth as if he were dead; [Footnote: +Vairus, _De Fascino_. p. 24.] and in our own time we have had an example +of the same wonderful faculty in Sullivan, the famous horse-whisperer, +whose secret died with him, or, at least, never was made public. Pliny also +relates, that tigers are rendered so furious by the sound of the drum, that +they often end by tearing themselves limb from limb in their rage; but I am +afraid this is one of Pliny's stories. Plutarch, however, agrees with him +in this belief.[Footnote: Plut. _Præcepta Conjugialia_.] + +And next as to the Evil Eye ([Greek: ophthalmos baskanos]). From the +earliest ages of the world, the potency of the eye in fascination has been +recognized. "Nihil oculo nequius creatum" says the Preacher; and the +philosopher calls it alter animus, "another spirit." "It sends forth its +rays," says Vairus, "like spears and arrows, to charm the hearts of men": +"veluti jacula et sagittæ ad effascinandorum corda." And it carries +disease and death, as well as love and delight, in its course: "Totumque +corpus inficiunt, atque ita (nullâ interpositâ morâ) arbores, segetes, +bruta animalia et homines perniciosâ qualitate inficiunt et ad interitum +deducunt." Vairus relates that a friend of his saw a fascinator simply with +a look break in two a precious gem while in the hands of the artist who was +working upon it. Horace thua alludes to it:-- + + "Non isthic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam + Limat; non odio obscuro morsuque venenat." + +Among the diseases given by a glance are ophthalmia and jaundice, say the +ancients; and in these cases, the fascinator loses the disease as his +victim takes it A similar peculiarity is to be remarked in the superstition +of the basilisk, who kills, if he sees first, but when he is seen first, +dies. No animals, it is said, can bear the steady gaze of man, and there +are some persons who by this means seem to exercise a wonderful power over +them. Animals, however, have sometimes their revenge on man. It is an old +superstition, that he whom the wolf sees first loses his voice. Among +themselves, also, they use this power of charming,--as in the case of the +serpent, who thus attracts the bird, and of the toad, the "jewels in whose +head" have a like magical influence. Dr. Andrew Smith, in his excellent +work on "Reptilia," gives the following interesting account of the power of +the serpent, and of other animals, to fascinate their prey. Speaking of the +_Bucephalus Capetisis_, he says,-- + +"It is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts for the purpose of +catching birds, on which it delights to feed. The presence of a specimen in +a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neighborhood, who +collect round it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing cries, +until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, +and, almost without resistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such a +proceeding, the snake is generally observed with its head raised about ten +or twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are +entwined, with its mouth open and its neck inflated, as if anxiously +endeavoring to increase the terror, which it would almost appear it was +aware would sooner or later bring within its grasp some one of the +feathered group. + +"Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true +that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable +to retire from the presence of certain of their enemies, and, what is even +more extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a +situation of actual safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I +have often seen exemplified in the case of birds and snakes; and I have +heard of instances equally curious, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds +have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance of crocodiles, and by the +grimaces and distortions they practised, as to be unable to fly or even +move from the spot towards which they were approaching to seize them." + +The fascination which fire and flame exercise upon certain insects is well +known, and the beautiful moths which so painfully insist on sacrificing +themselves in our candle are the commonplaces of poets and lovers. They are +generally supposed to be attracted by the light and ignorantly to rush to +their destruction; but this simple explanation does not fully account for +all the facts. Dr. Livingstone says, that "fire exercises a fascinating +effect upon some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the +evenings, without even starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot +embers rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the +hottest parts, and they never cease their struggles for the centre even +when their juices are coagulating and their limbs stiffening in the +roasting heat. Various insects also are thus fascinated; but the scorpions +may be seen coming away from the fire in fierce disgust, and they are so +irritated as to inflict at that time their most painful stings." + +May it not be that flame exercises upon certain insects and animals an +influence similar to that produced upon man by the moon, rendering them mad +when subjected too long to its influence? Is not the moon the Evil Eye of +the night? + +A curious story, bearing upon this subject, is told in one of a series of +interesting articles in "Household Words," called "Wanderings in India." +The author is talking with an old soldier about a cobra-capello, which has +been known to the latter for thirteen years. + +"This cobra," says the soldier, "has never offered to do me any harm; and +when I sing, as I sometimes do when I am alone here at work on some tomb or +other, he will crawl up and listen for two or three hours together. One +morning, while he was listening, he came in for a good meal, which lasted +him some days." + +"How was that?" + +"I will tell you, Sir. A minar was chased by a small hawk, and, in despair, +came and perched itself on the top of a most lofty tomb at which I was at +work. The hawk, with his eyes fixed intently on his prey, did not, I fancy, +see the snake lying motionless in the grass; or, if he did see him, he did +not think he was a snake, but something else,--my crowbar, perhaps. After a +little while, the hawk pounced down, and was just about to give the minar a +blow and a grip, when the snake suddenly lifted his head, raised his hood, +and hissed. The hawk gave a shriek, fluttered, flapped his wings with all +his might, and tried very hard to fly away. But it would not do. Strong as +the eye of the hawk was, the eye of the snake was stronger. The hawk, for a +time, seemed suspended in the air; but at last he was obliged to come down +and sit opposite the old gentleman, (the snake,) who commenced with his +forked tongue, and keeping his eyes on him all the while, to slime his +victim all over. This occupied him for at least forty minutes, and by the +time the process was over the hawk was perfectly motionless. I don't think +he was dead,--but he was very soon, however, for the old gentleman put him +into a coil or two and crackled up every bone in the hawk's body. He then +gave him another sliming, made a big mouth, distended his neck till it was +as big round as the thickest part of my arm, and down went the hawk like a +shin of beef into a beggar-man's bag." [Footnote: _Household Words_, +Jan. 23, 1858, vol. xvii., P. 139.] + +The same writer, in another paper, relates a case in which he was cured of +a violent attack of _tic-douloureux_, from which he "suffered extreme +agonies," by the steady gaze of a native doctor, who was called in for the +purpose. He used no other method than a fixed, steady gaze, making no +mesmeric passes; and in this way he cured his patients by "locking up their +eyes," as he termed it. His power seemed to have been very great; and what +is curious is, that, "with one exception, and that was in the case of a +Keranu, a half-caste, no patient had ever fallen asleep or had become +'_beehosh_' (unconscious) under his gaze." He related several cases, one of +which was of "a sahib who had gone mad," drink-delirious. "His wife would +not suffer him to be strapped down, and he was so violent that it took four +or five other sahibs to hold him. I was sent for, and at first had great +difficulty with him, and much trembling. At last, however, I locked his +eyes up as soon as I got him to look at me, and kept him, for several +hours, as quiet as a mouse. I stayed with him two days, and whatever I told +him to do he did immediately. When I got his eyes fixed on mine, he could +not take them away,--could not move." + +All these different kinds of fascination have now become united together +and go under the general name of _Jettatura_, in Italy, though the eye is +considered as the most potent and terrible charmer. The superstition is +universal, and pervades all modes of thought among the ignorant classes, +but its sanctuary is Naples. There it is as much a matter of faith as the +Madonna and San Gennaro. Every coral-shop is filled with amulets, and +everybody wears a counter-charm,--ladies on their arms, gentlemen on their +watch-chains, lazzaroni on their necks. If you are going to Italy,--and as +all the world now goes to Italy, you will join the endless caravan, of +course,--it becomes a matter of no small importance for you to know the +signs by which you may recognize the fascinator, and the means by which you +may avert his evil influence; for, should you fall in his way and be +unprotected, direful, indeed, might be the consequences. Sudden disease, +like a pestilence at mid-day, might seize you, and on those lovely shores +you might pine away and die. Dreadful accidents might overwhelm you and +bury all your happiness forever. Therefore be wise in time. + +"Women," says Vairus, "have more power to fascinate than men"; but the +reason he gives will not, I fear, recommend itself to the sex,--for the +worthy _padre_ feared women as devils. According to him, their evil +influence results from their unbridled passions: "_Quia irascendi et +concupiscendi animi vim adeo effrenatam habent, ut nullo modo ab irâ et +cupiditate sese temperare valeant_." (Certainly, he _is_ a wretch.) But it +will be some consolation to know that the young and beautiful have far less +power for evil than "little old women," (_aniculas_,) and for these you +must specially look out. But most of all to be dreaded, male or female, are +those who are lean and melancholy by temperament, ("lean and hungry +Cassiuses,") and who have double pupils in their eyes, or in one eye a +double pupil and in the other the figure of a horse. Perhaps Mr. Squeers +and all of his kind come within this class, as having more than one pupil +always in their eye,--but, specially, this rule would seem to warn us +against jockey schoolmasters, with a horse in one eye and several pupils in +the other. Those, too, are dangerous, according to Didymus, who have +hollow, pit-like eyes, sunken under concave orbits, with great projecting +eyebrows,--as well as those who emit a disagreeable odor from their +armpits, (_con rispetto_,) and are remarkable for a general squalor of +complexion and appearance. Persons also are greatly to be suspected who +squint, or have sea-green, shining, terrible eyes. "One of these," says +Didymus, "I knew,--a certain Spaniard, whose name it is not permitted me to +mention,--who, with black and angry countenance and truculent eyes, having +reprimanded his servant for something or other, the latter was so overcome +by fear and terror, that he was not only affected with fascination, but +even deprived of his reason, and a melancholic humor attacking his whole +body, he became utterly insane, and, in the very house of his master, next +the Church of St. James, committed suicide, by hanging himself with a +rope." [Footnote: The passage from Didymus is this: "Macilenti et +melancholici, qui binas pupillas in oculis habent, aut in uno oculo geminam +pupillam, in altero effigiem equi,--quique oculos concavos ac veluti +quibusdam quasi foveis reconditos gerunt, exhaustoque adeo universo humore +ut ossa,--quibus palpebræ coherent, eminere, hirquique sordibus scatere +cernuntur,--quibus in tota cute quæ faciem obducit squallor et situs +immoderatus conspicitur, facillime fascinant. Strabones, glaucos, micantes +et terribiles oculos habentes quæcumque et iratis oculis aspiciunt fascino +inficiunt. Et _ego_ hisce oculis Romæ quondam Hispanum genere vidi, quem +nominare non licet, qui cum truculentis oculis tetro et irato vultu servum +ob nescio quod objurgâsset, adeo servus ille timore ac terrore perterritus +fuit, ut non modo fascino affectus, sed rationis usu privatus fuerit, et +melancholico humore totum ejus corpus invadente, ita ad insaniam redactus +fuit, ut in domo sui heri prope ecclesiam Divi Jacobi sibi mortem +consciverit et laqueo vitam finiverit."] + +_Moral_.--If you ever meet with such an agreeable person as this Spaniard +appears to have been,--look out! + +In this connection, the reader will recall the similar power of Vathek, in +Beckford's romance, who killed with his eye,--and the story of Racine, whom +a look of Louis XIV. sent to his grave. + +The famous Albertus Magnus, master of medicine and magic, devotes a long +chapter to the subject of eyes, giving us, at length, descriptions of those +which we may trust and those which we must fear, some of them terrible and +vigorous enough. From among them I select the following:--"Those who have +hollow eyes are noted for evil; and the larger and moister they are, the +more they indicate envy. The same eyes, when dry, show the possessors to be +faithless, traitorous, and sacrilegious; and if these eyes are also yellow +and cold, they argue insanity. For hollow eyes are the sign of craft and +malignity; and if they are wanting in darkness, they also show +foolishness. But if the eyes are too hollow, and of medium size, dry and +rigid,--if, besides this, they have broad, overhanging eyebrows, and livid +and pallid circles round them, they indicate impudence and malignity." +[Footnote: Albertus Magnus, _De Animâ_.] If this be not enough to enable +you, O my reader, to recognise the Evil Eye at sight, let me refer you to +the whole chapter, where you will find ample and very curious rules laid +down, showing a singular acuteness of observation. + +Things have, indeed, somewhat changed since the days of Didymus, in this +respect, that men are now thought to be more potent for evil _jettatura_ +than women; but his general views still coincide with those entertained at +the present time in Italy. Ever since the establishment, or rather +decadence, of the Church in the Middle Ages, monks have been considered as +peculiarly open to suspicion of possessing the Evil Eye. As long ago as the +ninth century, in the year 842, Erchempert, a _frate_ of the celebrated +convent of Monte Cassino, writes,--"I knew formerly Messer Landulf, Bishop +of Capua, a man of singular prudence, who was wont to say, 'Whenever I meet +a monk, something unlucky always happens to me during the day.'" And to +this day, there are many persons, who, if they meet a monk or priest, on +first going out in the morning, will not proceed upon their errand or +business until they have returned to their house and waited awhile. In Rome +there are certain persons who are noted for this evil power, and marked and +avoided in consequence. One of them is a most pleasant and handsome man, +attached to the Church, and yet, by odd coincidence, wherever he goes, he +carries ill-luck. If he go to a party, the ices do not arrive, the music is +late, the lamps go out, a storm comes on, the waiter smashes his tray of +refreshments,--something or other is sure to happen. "_Sentite_," said some +one the other day to me. "Yesterday, I was looking out of my window, when +I saw ---- coming along. 'Phew!' said I, making the sign of the cross and +pointing both fingers, 'what ill-luck will happen now to some poor devil +that does not see him?' I watched him all down the street, however, and +nothing occurred; but this morning I hear, that, after turning the corner, +he spoke to a poor little boy, who was up in a tree gathering some fruit, +and no sooner was out of sight than smash! down fell the boy and broke his +arm." Even the Pope himself has the reputation of possessing the Evil Eye +to some extent. Ask a Roman how this is, and he will answer, as one did to +me the other day,--"_Si dice, e per me veramente mi pare di sì_": "They say +so; and as for me, really it seems to me true. If he have not the +_jettatura_, it is very odd that everything he blesses makes _fiasco_. We +all did very well in the campaign of '48 against the Austrians. We were +winning battle after battle, and all was gayety and hope, when suddenly he +blesses the cause, and everything goes to the Devil at once. Nothing +succeeds with anybody or anything when he wishes well to them. See, here +the other day he went to Santa Agnese to have a great festival, and down +goes the floor, and the people are all smashed together. Then he visits the +column to the Madonna in the Piazza di Spagna, and blesses it and the +workmen, and of course one falls from the scaffolding the same day and +kills himself. A week or two ago he arranged to meet the King of Naples at +Porto d'Anzo, and up comes a violent storm and gale that lasts a week; +then another arrangement was made, and then the fracas about the ex-queen +of Spain. Then, again, here was Lord O----- came in the other day from +Albano, being rather unwell; so the Pope sends him his special blessing, +when pop! he dies right off in a twinkling. There is nothing so fatal as +his blessing. We were a great deal better off under Gregory, before he +blessed us. Now, if he hasn't the _jettatura_, what is it that makes +everything turn out at cross purposes with him? For my part, I don't wonder +the workmen at the Column refused to work the other day in raising it, +unless the Pope stayed away." + +No less a person than Rachel seems also to have been affected with this +same superstition in regard to the Pope, if we may place confidence in the +strange story which Madame de B----- relates in her memoirs of that +celebrated daughter of Israel. According to her account, Rachel had been on +a visit to her sister, who was quite ill in the Pyrenees, when one day the +disease appeared to take so favorable a turn that Rachel left her to visit +another sister. There she met several friends, and, (to continue the story +in Madame de B-----'s words,) "exhilarated by the good news she had +brought, and the hopes all hastened to build on the change, she began to +chat and laugh quite merrily. In the midst of this exuberant gayety, her +maid broke into the room in a state of great excitement; a fit had come on, +the patient was in much danger, the physician desired Mdlle. Rachel's +immediate presence. Rising with the bound of a wounded tigress, the +_tragédienne_ seemed to seek, bewildered, some cause for the blow that had +fallen thus unexpectedly. Her eye lighted on a rosary blessed by the Pope, +and which she had worn round her arm as a bracelet ever since her visit to +Rome. Without, perhaps, accounting to herself for the belief, she had +attached some talismanic virtue to the beads. Now, however, in the height +of her rage and disappointment, she tore them from her wrist, and, dashing +them to the ground, exclaimed, 'Oh, fatal gift! 'tis thou hast entailed +this curse upon me!' With these words, she sprang out of the room, leaving +every one in mute astonishment at her frantic action." On the 23d of June, +immediately after, the sister died. + +And yet the Pope does not at all answer to the accredited portraits of +those who have the Evil Eye. He is fat, smiling, and most pleasant of +aspect, as he is good in heart. But, certainly, nothing has prospered that +he has touched. Read Dumas' description, and see if you should have +recognized the Pope as a _jettatore_. "_Le Jettatore_," says he, "_est +ordinairement pâle et maigre. II a un nez en bec de corbin, de gros yeux +qui ont quelque chose de ceux de crapaud, et qu'il recouvre ordinairement +pour les dissimuler d'une paire de lunettes._" But it is the exception that +proves the rule, say those who insist on the _jettatura_ of Pius IX. + +Dumas also speaks of a work on the _jettatura_, which I have vainly +endeavored to procure, written by Nicola Valetta; and from what one can +gather from the heads of the chapters which Dumas gives, it must be a very +amusing book. [Footnote: The title of this work is _Cicalata sul Fascino, +volgarmente detto Jettatura_, by Nicola Valetta. It was published more than +fifty years since, and copies are now rare.] These heads are as +follows. They speak for themselves, and show the fear entertained of a +monk. He examines:-- + +"1. If a man inflicts a more terrible _jettatura_ than a woman? + +"2. If he who wears a peruke is more to be feared than he who wears none? + +"3. If he who wears spectacles is not more to be feared than he who wears a +peruke? + +"4. If he who takes tobacco is not more to be feared than he who wears +spectacles? and if spectacles, peruke, and snuff-box combined do not triple +the force of the _jettatura?_ + +"5. If the woman _jettatrice_ is more to be feared when she is _enceinte?_ + +"6. If there is still more to be feared from her when she is certain that +she is not _enceinte?_ + +"7. If monks are more generally _jettatori_ than other men? and among monks +what order is most to be feared? + +"8. At what distance can _jettatura_ be made? + +"9. Must it be made in front, or at the side, or behind? + +"10. If there are really gestures, sounds of voice, and particular looks, +by which _jettatura_ may be recognized? + +"11. If there are prayers which can guaranty us against the _jettatura?_ +and if so, whether there are any special prayers to guaranty us against the +_jettatura_ of monks? + +"12. Lastly, whether the power of modern talismans is equal to the power of +ancient talismans? and whether the single or the double horn is most +efficacious?" + +Luckless, indeed, is he who has the misfortune to possess, or the +reputation of possessing this fatal power. From that time forward the world +flees him, as the water did Thalaba. A curse is on him, and from the very +terror at seeing him accidents are most likely to follow. Keep him from +your children, or they will break their legs, arms, or necks. Look not at +him from your carriage, or it will upset. Let him not see your wife when +she is _enceinte,_ or she will miscarry, or you will have a monster for a +son. Never invite him to a ball, unless you wish to see your chandelier +smash, or the floor give way. Invite him not to dinner, or your mushrooms +will poison you, and your fish will smell. If he wishes you _buon viaggio_, +abandon the journey, if you would return alive. Nor be deceived by his good +manners and kind heart. It is of no avail that he is amiable and good in +all his intentions,--his _jettatura_ is without and beyond his will,--nay, +worse, is contrary to it; for all _jettatura_ goes like dreams, by +contraries. Therefore shudder when he wishes you well, for he can do no +worse thing. + +If you do not believe what I tell you, read the wonderful story of Count +----- which is told by Dumas in his "Corriccolo," and at least you will be +amused, if not convinced. Listen, however, to this one historical incident, +and believe it or not, as you please. Ferdinand of Naples died on the night +of the 3d of January, 1825, and was found dead in the morning. The +physicians attributed his death to a stroke of apoplexy; but that was in +consequence of their pretended science and real ignorance. The actual cause +of his death was this,--and if you do not believe it, ask any true +Neapolitan, or Alexander Dumas, if you put more faith in him.--A certain +_canonico,_ named Don Ojori, had for many years desired an audience of +Ferdinand, to present him a certain book, of which Don Ojori was the +author. The King had his good reasons for refusing, for Don Ojori was well +known to be the greatest _jettatore_ in Naples. Finally, on the 2d of +January, the King was persuaded to grant him the desired favor the next +day, much against his will. The _canonico_ came, and after a long audience +left his book and many prayers for the King's prosperity. But Ferdinand did +not survive the interview a whole day; and if this be not proof that Don +Ojori bewitched him to his destruction, what is? + + * * * * * + + + +PYTHAGORAS. + +Above the petty passions of the crowd +I stand in frozen marble like a god, +Inviolate, and ancient as the moon. +The thing I am, and not the thing Man is, +Fills these blank sockets. Let him moan and die; +For he is dust that shall be laid again: +I know my own creation was divine. +Strewn on the breezy continents I see +The veined shells and glistening scales which once +Enwrapt my being,--husks that had their use; +I brood on all the shapes I must attain +Before I reach the Perfect, which is God, +And dream my dream, and let the rabble go: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + +I was a spirit on the mountain-tops,-- +A perfume in the valleys,--a simoom +On arid deserts,--a nomadic wind +Roaming the universe,--a tireless Voice. +I was ere Romulus and Remus were; +I was ere Nineveh and Babylon; +I was, and am, and evermore shall be,-- +Progressing, never reaching to the end. + +A hundred years I trembled in the grass, +The delicate trefoil that muffled warm +A slope on Ida; for a hundred years +Moved in the purple gyre of those dark flowers +The Grecian women strew upon the dead. +Under the earth, in fragrant glooms, I dwelt; +Then in the veins and sinews of a pine +On a lone isle, where, from the Cyclades, +A mighty wind, like a leviathan, +Ploughed through the brine, and from those solitudes +Sent Silence, frightened. To and fro I swayed, +Drawing the sunshine from the stooping clouds. +Suns came and went,--and many a mystic moon, +Orbing and waning,--and fierce meteor, +Leaving its lurid ghost to haunt the night +I heard loud voices by the sounding shore, +The stormy sea-gods,--and from ivory conchs +Wild music; and strange shadows floated by, +Some moaning and some singing. So the years +Clustered about me, till the hand of God +Let down the lightning from a sultry sky, +Splintered the pine and split the iron rock; +And from my odorous prison-house, a bird, +I in its bosom, darted: so we fled, +Turning the brittle edge of one high wave,-- +Island and tree and sea-gods left behind! + +Free as the air, from zone to zone I flew, +Far from the tumult to the quiet gates +Of daybreak; and beneath me I beheld +Vineyards, and rivers that like silver threads +Ran through the green, and gold of pasture-lands,-- +And here and there a hamlet, a white rose,-- +And here and there a city, whose slim spires +And palace-roofs and swollen domes uprose +Like scintillant stalagmites in the sun; +I saw huge navies battling with a storm +By ragged reefs along the desolate coasts,-- +And lazy merchantmen, that crawled, like flies, +Over the blue enamel of the sea +To India or the icy Labradors. + +A century was as a single day. +What is a day to an immortal soul? +A breath,--no more. And yet I hold one hour +Beyond all price,--that hour when from the heavens +I circled near and nearer to the earth, +Nearer and nearer, till I brushed my wings +Against the pointed chestnuts, where a stream +That foamed and chattered over pebbly shoals +Fled through the bryony, and with a shout +Leaped headlong down a precipice: and there, +Gathering wild-flowers in the cool ravine, +Wandered a woman more divinely shaped +Than any of the creatures of the air, +Or river-goddesses, or restless shades +Of noble matrons marvellous in their time +For beauty and great suffering; and I sung, +I charmed her thought, I gave her dreams; and then +Down from the sunny atmosphere I stole +And nestled in her bosom. There I slept +From moon to moon, while in her eyes a thought +Grew sweet and sweeter, deepening like the dawn, +A mystical forewarning! When the stream, +Breaking through leafless brambles and dead leaves, +Piped shriller treble, and from chestnut-boughs +The fruit dropped noiseless through the autumn night, +I gave a quick, low cry, as infants do: +We weep when we are born, not when we die! +So was it destined; and thus came I here, +To walk the earth and wear the form of man, +To suffer bravely as becomes my state,-- +One step, one grade, one cycle nearer God. + +And knowing these things, can I stoop to fret +And lie and haggle in the market-place, +Give dross for dross, or everything for nought? +No! let me sit above the crowd, and sing, +Waiting with hope for that miraculous change +Which seems like sleep; and though I waiting starve, +I cannot kiss the idols that are set +By every gate, in every street and park,-- +I cannot fawn, I cannot soil my soul: +For I am of the mountains and the sea, +The deserts, and the caverns in the earth, +The catacombs and fragments of old worlds. + + * * * * * + + + +CLARIAN'S PICTURE. + +A LEGEND OF NASSAU HALL. + +"Turbine raptus ingenii."--SCALIGER. + + +Mac and I dined together yesterday,--as we are used to do at least once or +twice every year, for the sake of our ever-mellowing friendship, and those +good old times in which it began. Like all who are ripe enough to have +memories, we delight to recall the period of our vernal equinox, and to +moralize, with gentle sadness and many wise wags of our frosty polls, upon +the events in which that period was prolific; and so, when the cloth was +removed yesterday, and we sat toying with our cigars and our Sherry, our +talk insensibly drifted back to those merry college-days when we not +infrequently "heard the chimes at midnight." + +"Ah, old fellow," quoth I to my chum, "those good old days are gone by, +now, and Israel worships strange gods. Old Nassau will never be what she +was before the fire of '55. Those precious heirlooms of our day are sunk +from sight forever, dear and mossy as they were,--swept down, like cobwebs, +before the flame-besom. _'Fuit Ilium!'_ The old bell will never again ring +out the gay 'larums of a 'Third Entry' barring-out. Homer's head no longer +perches owl-like and wise over the central door-way. _'Ai, Adonai!'_ No +more wilt proud fingers point to the spot whereat entered--not like +'Casca's envious dagger'--that well-aimed cannon-ball which pierced the +picture-gallery, punched 'Georgius Res' on the head, and frightened away +forever the Hessians that were stabled there, fouling the nest of stout old +John Witherspoon. They call other rolls now in chapel and in class-room, +and chant other songs at their revels and their feasts. '_Eheu, +Posthume!_'" + +"Pshaw, Ned Blount! there's corn in Egypt still. Out of that bug-riddled +old barn we used to know a new and comely Phoenix has been born unto +Princeton; the fire hath purged, not destroyed; and we wiseacres who +flourished in the old 'flush times' yet survive in tradition, patterns for +our children, very Turveydrops of collegiate deportment. The belfry clangs +with a louder peal; even Clarian's Picture, though it hath utterly perished +to the eye of sense, lives vivid in a thousand memories, and, having found +in the tenderness of tradition and legend an engraver whose burin is as +faithful as Raphael Morghen's, has left the damp dark wall, like Leonardo's +_Cenacolo_, to accompany all of us to our firesides." + +Clarian's Picture! what memories the mention of it stirred up! + +"Poor Clarian!" I murmured. + +"Poor, indeed I" repeated Mac, with a sneer. "He is only worth a lovely +wife and six children, with half a million to back them. And he only weighs +two hundred pounds, with I forget how many inches of fat over the +brisket. Poor, indeed! 'Tis pity you and I have not experienced a slight +attack of that same poverty, Ned Blount!" + +"Poor Clarian!" repeated I, sturdily. "To think that a man who could paint +such a picture, a soul of imagination so compact, a so delicate +ether-breathing spirit, should settle down at last into a mere mechanical, +a plodding, every-day merchant, whose finest fancies are given to the +condition of the money-market, who governs his actions by a decline of +Erie, and narrows his ideas down to the requirements of filthy lucre, like +a mere 'wintry clod of earth'! Ay, poor Clarian, poor anybody, when we wake +from our bright youth-dream and tread the rough pathway of a reality like +this!" + +"_Potz tausend_! the man is _fou_!" shouted Mac. "Come, drink your wine, +Ned, and we'll have our coffee. It is quite time, I think,--and he used to +be a three-bottle fellow," muttered my dear old friend, _sotto +voce_. "'_Heu, heu! tempora mutantur, et nos_'--well, well, well!" + + * * * * * + +Clarian's Picture! What a gush of recollection the words evoke! I was in +the heyday and blossom of my youth then, and now--well, 'tis some years +since; yet how vividly I remember that pleasant noontide of a day of early +summer, when, as a party of us students were lounging about the gates that +opened from our shady campus upon the street, "Dennis" handed me a note +from Clarian, in which my little friend announced that his picture was +finished at last, and invited Mac and myself to call and see it +"exhibited," at nine o'clock that very evening. We were talking about +Clarian and his picture, at the time,--as, indeed, we had been doing for a +month,--and when I mentioned the purport of the note, curiosity rose to the +tiptoe of expectation, and numerous surmises were set afloat. I could have +satisfied their queries as to the subject and character of the picture, for +Mac and I had seen it only a few days before, but Clarian expected us to be +secret about it; so I only listened and smiled, while the eager talk ran +on, and a thousand conjectures were hazarded. + +"So the _magnum opus_ is finished at last," said Clayt Zoile, showing by +his manner, as he joined us, that he at least had not received an +invitation; "a precious specimen of Art it will prove, I doubt not, after +all the outcry about it. '_Montes parturiunt_' etc." + +"You'll lose your wish this time, Clayt," drawled Mounchersey, carelessly; +"Mr. Cosine told me yesterday that 'Boss' has called on Clarian about his +cutting so many prayers and recites, and that, after seeing the unfinished +picture, he gave the youngster _carte blanche_ as to time, till it is +completed;--so it must be something worth looking at" + +"I guess Ned Blount's glad the picture is finished," said Tone Ninyan, +turning to me,--"a'n't you, Ned?" + +I confessed I was not by any means sorry, for Clarian's sake. + +"No," laughed Zoile, "Ned isn't sorry,--be sure of that; for he wants his +dear 'Whitewash' restored again to the bosom of society, lest the walls of +his reputation should by chance suffer from fly-speck." + +These words created a laugh at my expense; for Clarian had shown himself, +in his warm, generous way, such a zealous advocate of my immaculate +perfection, that he was quite generally known by the _sobriquet_ of "Ned +Blount's Whitewash." + +Just then Mac came along, on his way to the post-office, and I joined him, +showing him Ciarian's note. + +"Hum," growled my good old chum, as he read it, "don't want to be disturbed +to-day; sick, is he? I'd like to know who's to blame, if he isn't. Wishes +me to bring my Shakspeare along;--it's a wonder he had not said Plotinus, +or Jacob Böhme's 'Aurora'; they're more in his style. The deuse take that +boy and his picture, Ned! What if we two fools have been playing too +roughly with such plastic clay? I wish to-night were come and gone +safely. I'll go see Dr. Thorne, and ask him to accompany us to-night. He +claims to be something of a connoisseur, and the picture is really worth +seeing, if the lad has not spoiled it with his 'final touches'. And anyhow, +the boy will be a study for a psychological monomaniac like Thorne." + +"You apprehend, then...." + +"_Sapperment_, you owl-face! I apprehend nothing; only it will be as well +to have Thorne present, for the boy is out of sorts, and his nerves were +never very strong. Now look here, Ned Blount! don't put on that lugubrious +phiz, I pray you;--and, moreover, don't you ever dare introduce any more of +your Freshmen _protégé's_ to me; for, I warn you, I'll insult them, and +you, too,--I will, by Jove!" + +I was not less impatient than Mac for the night to come, for I was very +anxious about Clarian, dreading lest some catastrophe was about to overtake +him,--and the thought was by no means pleasant. For, as Mac had said, the +lad was a _protégé_ of mine; he had been given into my charge by his sweet +lady-mother; he had looked up to me as his senior and his friend; and I +could not help feeling, that, if anything untoward should happen to him, it +would be partly my fault. + +From the very first I had been strongly attracted towards Clarian. Indeed, +the lad was remarkable for a peculiar spiritual beauty of person and +sweetness of manner that made almost every one love him. He was, in fact, +_lovely_, in the etymological sense of that misused word, and people +softened towards him as to a young, guileless child. I have known men cease +swearing when he drew near, drop ribaldry, and take up some more innocent +topic, simply through an unconscious impulse of fitness,--feeling that such +things had no business to be repeated in his presence. And they were right; +for a purer spirit than Clarian's I have never encountered in man or woman. +His face most reminded one of the portraits of Raphael at twenty. He had +the same broad, smooth forehead,--the same soft skin, delicate, yet rich as +the inner leaves of a pale rose,--the same finely shaped nose, and ripe, +womanly mouth, which a Persian, in default of a more tangible analogy, +would have likened to the seal of Solomon. But his lower face was somewhat +less full than Raphael's, the chin being shorter and sharper, and the jaw +curving less sensuously. His hair was of the purest chestnut hue, rich and +silken, showing here and there a thread of gold; he wore it long, and +flowing in half-ringlets upon his neck and shoulders. Clarian's eye was +large and dark, tender, rather sad, with now and then a speculative depth, +now and then a hint of the Romeo fore-doom, now and then a warm eloquence, +when meeting yours, that reminded strangely of a woman loving and in +love. Other womanly traits he had, such as the ingenuous blush with which +he asked or did a favor, and a certain not very boyish fondness for +softness and elegance of dress. Not that Clarian was effeminate, or in any +material respect deficient in manly character; but his mother was a widow, +and he her only son, and consequently he had been brought up like a girl, +at home, without any slightest opportunity to acquire those +rough-and-tumble experiences of ordinary boyhood which are so necessary to +fit us for battling in the world; for the world, though not unfeeling at +core, wears yet a sufficiently rough rind, and pretends but little sympathy +with persons of Clarian's stamp. + +Hence, when Clarian came to college, he knew very little of life +indeed,--and, moreover, he cherished not a few ascetic notions, deeming +this world "all a fleeting show," from whose vain illusions it was one's +chief duty to shield one's self. He had never read a novel, save "some of +Scott's,"--nor ever seen or read a play, not even of Shakspeare's. How I +envied him this new world, in whose usages I had been _blasé_ long before I +was of an age to appreciate its beauties,--this bright, fancy-fostering +world, to which he was to go all fresh and unsophisticated, like a bride to +the nuptial sheets! In literature of a more solid kind his practice was +quite considerable: he had surveyed many fields of Art, History, and +Theology, all of which, however, had first been submitted to the test of +that anxious maternal _Index Expurgatorius_, lest some drop of infidelity +or impurity should trickle in unawares, to darken or embitter the pure +crystal waters of his soul. Ah, thou poor fond mother, so unreasoningly +ignoring the fact that each of us must somehow eat his "peck of dirt"! + +Thus intrusted to my charge, and having such attractive elements in his +character, I naturally took great interest in Clarian, and particularly +spared no effort to give him use in college ways. I saw that the lad was +not one to bear being laughed at, and so did all I could to screen him from +the embarrassments of ignorance,--taught him our customs, our fashions, and +gave him lessons upon that immemorial dialect in which college sublegists +delight. I chicaned to secure him a fine room, which his lady-mother +furnished "like a bridal chamher", if our Nassau cynics were to be +credited,--introduced him where it was necessary, and exercised generally +towards him that distinguished patronage which one who "knows the ropes" is +able to bestow upon a very Freshman. + +A fine generous fellow was Clarian, for all his apron-string +antecedents,--bold as a lion, and as trustworthy as he was enthusiastic. +He was of rather too nervous a temperament to be precisely healthy in all +mental respects, but nevertheless had a fine comprehensive mind, very +capable of sustained and concentrated effort. He had been well taught, and, +unfortunately, was so far advanced beyond the studies of his class as to +have a great deal of leisure. In consequence he turned to reading, and +here, again unfortunately, he put himself under my guidance, and suffered +me to govern him in his choice of books: unfortunately, I say, for I was +then a worshipper of that clay-footed Nebuchadnezzar-image, Metaphysics, +which I fondly deemed all of gold, and the most genuine of things. So, when +Clarian came to me, I was eager enough to put to his lips the wine of which +I was drunken. The boy took his first sip from Coleridge's "Biographia +Literaria",--that cracked Bohemian glass, which, handed in a golden salver +that might have come from the cunning graver of Cellini, yet forces one to +taste, over a flawed and broken edge, the sourest drop of ill-made _vin du +pays_, heavily drugged and made bitter with Paracelsian laudanum. Under +that strange patchwork quilt so imaginative a soul as Clarian could not +fail to dream. It was a great pity I had not been more circumspect, for the +boy was already too deeply steeped in those Acherontic waters. His mother, +like many other women, had loved to wander along the dreamy paths of +sentimental theology, clothing from her own beautiful mind the dim, +unsubstantial spectres that beckoned her, and accepting all their mystic +utterances, in blind faith, for genuine oracles of God. Into these by-ways +he had followed her, and his clearer vision had just sufficed to reveal to +him the ghosts, without teaching him how to master or dispel them. Thus, +Cowper's sweetness, which charmed her, became to him Cowper's dejection and +despairing sadness, perplexing enough to his young brain. Where she took up +and fed her soul upon John Wesley's conclusions, the boy found himself +involved in John Wesley's perplexities, and struggling in desperate wrestle +with the haunting shapes to which John Wesley had given successful +battle. Thus prepared, no wonder my eager little friend plunged headlong +into the sea of doubts, impatient to cry, "Eureka!" and plant his foot upon +the Islands of the Blessed. The new excitement completely swept his feet +from under him. 'Twas but a step from Coleridge and _Esemplastic_ matters +to Plotinus, and in a month he had taken that step,--the more readily, that +he was a right good Grecian, and found no unpleasant philological +difficulties in the "Enneades". Thence he went on in feverish unrest, +wildly running up and down all _Niffelheim_ in quest of some centre-point +upon which he could stand firm and look around him. He had an excellent +mind, and, unexcited, could take sufficiently common-sense views of most +matters; but this was too much for him. He made substance of shadows, and +then exhausted himself in giving them battle. He became anxious, uneasy, +nervous,--showing very plainly, that, in his search after the Alkahest, he +had injured his powers by making trial of too many drugs. + +Mac, with his sturdy good sense, and unerring mace-like judgment, speedily +became aware of this waste of function to which Clarian was subjecting +himself, and warned me accordingly. + +"Why do you let that boy bother his brains about your stupid _Ego_ and +_Non-Ego_?" said he. "Don't you see he is injuring himself, beginning to +sink under a sort of mental _albumenurea_,--at the very time, too, when he +has most need of stamina? He does nothing but read, read, read,--and what, +forsooth? Not anything that will teach him the genuineness of life and +manhood, but those damnable spirit-exalting, body-despising emasculates of +Alexandria,--Madame Guyon's meditations, too, and Isaac Taylor's giddy +see-sawings,--all heresies, and bosh,--'Dead-Sea fruits that turn to +ashes', and not only disgust you, but blister tongue and lips most +vilely. You'll have him next trying to treat with the gods, to attain +Brahm's purification, Boodh's annihilation, to jump over the moon, or doing +something that will make him candidate for the shaved-head-and-blister +treatment. Remember, Ned, his brain is made of finer stuff than that stolid +sponge inside your _pia mater_, that can take in _quantum sufficit_ of +beer, fog, and tobacco-smoke, unharmed. He can't stand it, and he's too +rare and delicate a machine to go cranky thus soon. You've got the child +under your thumb,--bring him out o' that. Make him take a dose of Verulam, +get him back into the world again, and order him four hours _per diem_ at +the dumb-bells." + +And so, the next time Clarian came to our rooms, and was eagerly soliciting +my opinion of a little essay he had written, to establish the identity of +the Logos with the Demiurgic Mind, ("Plato's World-Soul, called in 'Timæus' +the best of Eternal Intelligences, the Noetic Partaker and Digester of +Reason", said Clarian in his tract,) with some corollaries for the purpose +of reconciling _Geist_ and _Freiheit_, all sauced down, _à l'Allemagne_, +with numerous capitals and a proper degree of incomprehensibility,--Mac +bluffly interrupted the colloquy, and accosted Clarian,-- + +"Younker! do you know you're a fool?" + +Clarian colored up,-- + +"How, Mac?" + +"What are we--Ned, and you, and I--here for?" + +"To acquire knowledge." + +"Ay, knowledge,--but what for?" + +"To fit us for heaven." + +"Phew! then you calculate to graduate from 'these classic shades' direct +into celestial regions, do you, without sojourning awhile in this terrene +purgatory? I do not, and, moreover, _je n'en ai pas l'envie_; I think the +world has some claims upon me, and I mean to pay that debt, D. V." + +"So do I, Mac," rejoined Clarian, a little proudly. + +"And do you suppose your present studies adapted to fit you for such work? +Now, if you want to be a monk, if you are willing, like Origen, to purchase +with your entire manhood some supposed facility of spiritual contemplation +and depth of insight into the Infinite, or if you intend to become a +Brahmin, and seek in your navel the dyspeptic divinity who there wields his +sceptre, while your despised body is given up to the predatory ravages of +_genus pediculus_, well and good. Follow your hest, go on and conquer the +[Greek: gnosis] and when you have got it, just inform me what it looks +like, and whether you will be more able to make use of it than the fellow +was of the elephant he bought at auction. But if you desire to take a man's +part in this grand world around you, you must leap off your shadow, and +never think about thinking, as the new Olympian has it. Let quiddities +alone, they are dry-bone vampires, that drain you of your blood without +growing fatter themselves." + +"But how can truth harm? and that is what I seek,--truth, and beauty; if I +commune with the world-soul, then also I know the world." + +"Faugh! let shadows alone; believe in the man; do not be persuaded that the +body is depraved and corrupt, and only the soul is worthy to be cultivated. +Hold fast to the tangible. We know that we have a body, spite the Bishop of +Cloyne, far more certainly than we know we have a soul. See, the soul is +this smoke, that evanishes so quickly; the body this meerschaum that I have +in my fingers, and will smoke again, please God." + +"But it is the smoke, not the pipe, that gives you pleasure, and is the +important consideration, Mac." + +"Confound analogies, and pert Freshmen!" growled my chum, puffing +vigorously. "Nevertheless, it is a noble and right royal thing, this +body,--a thing to be cared for and cultivated for its own sake, apart from +the fact of its being God's chosen sanctuary for what He lends us to see +Him by. And you are neglecting it, both in theory and practice, Clarian; so +you must give up these infernal Metaphysics. If you _will_ bother about +speculative matters, let Bacon teach you the correctives of error, and +Locke how to govern and rein in the understanding. But you'd better learn +first what men say about men. It may not make you happier, but it will make +you wiser, and wisdom ranks high in heaven: Gabriel, Raphael, +Michael,--'tis the second person in that archangelic trinity. Did you ever +read Shakspeare? No, of course not; and yet I'll wager you have been +hankering after the Bhagavat Ghita, and trying to get a copy of the +illustrious Trismegistan Gimander! Don't blush,--you're not the first young +man who has made an a--ahem--made a mistake. Fie! Learn men, Clarian, and +then you will come to know man,--the surest way, I take it, of knowing the +Multitudinous God. So read you Shakspeare, and Æschylus, save the +'Prometheus,'--_that_ was begotten of Bactrian lore upon the mysteries of +Karnac, and does not touch man nearly, spite of all its grandeur. Here, +listen, and I will give you a lesson in the Myriad-Minded whom +Stratford-upon-Avon blessed our little earth with." + +Therewith, Mac began to read from the first act of "The Tempest." Now chum +was a Shakspeare enthusiast, and, withal, a very fine reader, as well as, +from long study, quite pervaded with the Master's diction and style of +thought. As he read on, he commented, in his brief, pointed way, upon the +text, contrasting the Boatswain's practical usefulness with the shivering +helplessness of the Courtiers. "Now this is your proper somatology," he +added. "What our Bo's'un says to Gonzalo, the world will say to you, +Clarian, when you propose to it any of your panaceas: Are you able to do +better than we? If so, save us from the shipwreck that threatens. If not, +go to your prayers. Anyhow, 'out of our way, I say!'" + +"Bravo!" cried I, when the homily came to an end, "Mac is preaching +Carlylism, as I'm a sinner. The next utterance will be something about +roofing Hell over, or the Everlasting Yea, or Morrison's Pills! Proceed: +'lay on,' Mac! none of us will cry, 'Hold, enough!' save under risible +compulsion." + +Mac sulked awhile, but soon resumed his reading,--sparing us further +comment, however. Thus was Clarian led over the threshold, and introduced +into Shakspeare's magic world. When Mac closed his book at the end of the +act, Clarian's face glowed with a flattering something that must have +pleased my chum, for he _was_ proud of his reading,--and the moisture +glittering in the lad's eye, his flushed cheek, and the tremor of his voice +as he asked to hear more, spoke volumes. + +But Mac said, "No,--enough is as good as a feast, younker, and just now I +have to go with Bacchus in quest of a tragedian for Athens,--[Greek: brek +kek koax, koax], you know. Study the Master yourself: and let me by all +means advise your wisdom to detect a mystery in 'Hamlet,' and to essay the +solution of the same. Nobody else has done so, of course, and it will +become your long head. I've met several very mild, quiet people, whom you +would not suspect of the slightest impropriety; but mention the Dane, and, +_presto!_ off they go upon their hobbies, ('theories,' they call 'em,) and +canter around Bedlam at a most generous pace. '_Semel insanivimus omnes_,' +I suppose, and Hamlet and the Apocalypse offer rare opportunities." + +"Now, Ned," said Mac, somewhat complacently, when Clarian was gone, "I +think I have done that young rascal some good, and the bard will advantage +him still more, if he can only be moderate enough." + +And, indeed, these new pastures thus unbarred to Clarian's coltish fancies +made a great change in the lad. At first he simply revelled in the new +world of beauty that the Master's wand evoked, like a bird in the fresh, +warm sunshine of returning spring. But this did not last long; the bird +must busy himself with nest-building. Clarian's ardent, impetuous nature +must evolve results, would not content itself with mere sensations. So he +began to study Shakspeare,--not, as he had studied the philosophers, to +pluck out and make his own some cosmical, pervading thought, but to find +matter for Art-purposes. I think, that, if ever there was a born artist, +who united to a fine æsthetic sense the fervor of a devotee, Clarian was +that one, heart and soul. Some men make a mistress of Art, and sink down, +lost in sensual pleasure and excess, till the Siren grows tired and +destroys them. Other men wed Art, and from the union beget them fair, +lovely, ay, immortal children, as Raphael did. Some again, confounding Art +with their own inordinate vanity, grow stern and harsh with making +sacrifices to the stone idol, grinding down their own hearts in vain +experimenting after properer pigments, whereby themselves may attain to a +chill and profitless immortality. But there are others still, who, +elevating Art into a grand divinity, bow down and worship it, devote their +lives to its priesthood, and, as a reward, only ask the god to reveal to +them once his unveiled effulgence, content with the one communion, though +their rashness be fatal, and the god's benison prove but the ashes of +Semele. Towards this class Clarian tended, I knew very well, and hence, +from the first, I had thrown a damper upon his artistic aspirations, often +rewarded by his mournful and reproaching glances, as I sneered at his +sketches,--which, to tell the truth, were most admirable, showing at once a +keen poetic insight, fine composition, and an unusual mastery of technical +details. The obedient fellow had bowed to what he deemed my better +judgment, and turned away, with something of a sigh, from his dear love and +ambition. Now, however, this love came suddenly back, and with tenfold +intensity, as is always the case, and, though I dreaded its unhealthiness, +I could no longer thwart him. Indeed, the Art-sense took such complete +possession of him that I feared to interpose obstacles. He did not go about +his work like a boy, but bent himself to it with the calm, resolute purpose +of a man of forty. I could see the increasing mastery of the idea, in his +changed eye, in his compressed lip, in his statelier, calmer pose; and, +however incredulous we may be respecting _results_, these initiatory +motions never fail to impress us. Even Bluebeard would forbear to strike +down his pregnant wife, for the sake of what she bore under her bosom; and +I, seeing the boy's careful study, and his long and laborious preparation, +could not help looking forward to a result of commensurate importance. + +Nevertheless, it was my duty to have combated Clarian's tendencies, for I +could not help seeing the daily injury they did him. _Ars longa, vita +brevis_, was an overpowering conviction of the lad's, and he went to work +to apply the maddest of correctives. Art so exacting and life so short, +then it was his office to labor so much the more earnestly, so much the +more eagerly, that he might squeeze dry this orange of the present, and +lose no opportunity, no moment. Thus it came to pass with him, as it does +with us all who overwork ourselves, that actually he did less than he might +have done, and warped himself in a most pitiable way indeed. A +conscientious fellow, as he was, Clarian had hitherto been very faithful to +his duties in the regular curriculum,--but now all this was changed. Here +was a grand something to be done, a something so grand, indeed, that his +whole life must bow before its exactions, and all minor duties step out of +the way of Juggernaut. Who thinks of etiquette, of drawing-room +trivialities, when here we are before this mistress, at whose feet we must +pour out our soul? for her love blesses us with new life, her scorn damns +us with eternal despair. In this cursed fashion always the Idea masters a +man's soul, when he has once listened to its Lurlei-song. Henceforth he is +only to see things in the light it chooses to shed upon them. Let your +Alchemist but seek his Elixir long enough for the poison to fairly fill his +veins, and behold what a slave and a monster the Idea shall make of him! +Projection awaits him; the elements are here, commingling _in balneo +Mariæ_; already _Rosa Solis_ lends its generative warmth; already hath _Leo +Rubeus_ wooed and won his lily bride; already hath the tincture headed up +royally in ruby and in purple, and sublimed, and gone through the entire +circle of embryonic processes: quick! there lacks but the one element; in +with it, and we are masters of the Life-Secret, of wealth, and power, and +all else the world can bestow,--ay, and we can give back to the world all +it asks! Yes, but that element is _Sanguis Virginis_. Well, and why not a +virgin's blood? Great things must be purchased,--cannot be plucked, like +fruit, from every tree. Were it _Sanguis Senis_, now, who would tap a vein +more readily than we, ay, even were a drop from the carotid required? And +must the world lose all this divine gift for a simple? What did Abraham on +Moriah? Here is this child; of what use is she to the world?--yet a few +ounces of her blood, and man is regenerate. In her innocence, too,--why, a +Manichee would have done it for her own sake. Come, quick knife,--and, we +do murder! I tell you, by dwelling on it, tasting, smelling of it, taking +it into our bosoms, and making ourselves familiar with it, we poor men can +finally persuade ourselves that the most damning thought begot of Hell upon +a putrescent brain is the fairest, brightest, most glorious _Deus +vult_. Here was the danger that menaced Clarian, ay, had already begun to +insinuate its poison into his daily food. The simple fact of his neglecting +his studies proved this. It was a venial sin, doubtless,--but still, it was +his _premier pas_, and, as such, ominous enough. + +Giving himself up to his art, he soon began to illustrate in his person the +effects of confinement and excessive thought. His pale cheek grew paler +still, the hollows under his eyes deepened, and his slim fingers waxed +slimmer and more transparent than ever. I could see also that he had +excessive bile,--not only ascertainable by looking at his imbrowned eye, +but deducible from a change in his temper that was by no means an +improvement. His room was full of sketches and drawing-material: these +attracted visitors, and visitors were a trouble. Perhaps there was +impertinence in their curiosity, very likely their presence hindered him; +but, nevertheless, it was by no means like the sweet-tempered Clarian to +show irritability and petulance, and finally, closing his door obstinately +against all comers, to elect for solitude and silence at his work. +No,--the boy was changed, grown morbid, a pervert, ripe for whatever +Devil's sickle might be put forth to gather him in. + +Thus things went on from bad to worse, until the authorities began to take +notice of the lad's derelictions. The kind old President sent for me, and +made many inquiries about Clarian. Evidently the elders were not a trifle +bothered by my little _protégé's_ proceedings, and did not know how to +act. He had been much liked, his character was unblemished, he had done +himself credit in his studies: what did all this change mean? The Faculty +made it a rule to respect every man's privacy as much as possible,--but +Mr. Blount well knew that the present state of things could not long be +permitted. In their eyes, the backslider was palpably a far more unsavory +fact than the original sinner. Could not Mr. Blount use his influence in +some way, or suggest some course? Mr. Blount presented Clarian's cause in +as favorable a light as possible; spoke of the youth's noble nature; +guarantied that there was no moral obliquity; strongly advised leniency; +venturing withal to hope, nay, to believe, that all this devotion, so +intense, to a single purpose, would not be fruitless, might possibly win +him credit. He certainly had fine imagination, and then he was so absorbed +in his work;--it was a question whether it would help him most to encourage +or to repress his ardor at present. The Doctor pondered, said he would take +the matter into consideration,--it were a pity to nip any wholesome +enthusiasm i' the bud,--"but it is very apparent, Mr. Blount, that the +young man, if he goes on, will experience the fate of Orpheus, and so needs +to be curbed in time. '_Medio tutissimus ibis_', saith Naso,--a maxim the +non-observance of which cost him the pain and disgrace of exile. And you +should strive to impress the truth of it upon Clarian; spare no pains to +rouse him. This seclusion is what I most dread. The poet Spenser hath made +all his viler passions dwellers in caves and darkness, and with truth; for +solitude is fatal, where there are morbid and melancholic tendencies. A +very wise German, remarking upon the text, 'It is not good for man to be +alone,' added, very finely,--'and above all, it is not good for man to +_work_ alone; he requires sympathy, encouragement, excitement, to succeed +in anything good.'" + +But I found the worthy old Doctor's advice easier to inculcate than to +practise. Clarian did not need my sympathy, had excitement and +encouragement enough in his own hopes, and, in fact, like the Boatswain in +"The Tempest," only required to be let alone. Still, he paid us a visit now +and then, and gave us to understand that he denied himself our society, did +not thrust it aside as something useless and disagreeable. When he came, he +would talk freely, and give us but too plain evidence of the change and +confusion that were taking place in him. Mac never spared him at these +times, and on one occasion, only a fortnight previous to the exhibition of +the picture, fairly drove the boy into a passion. + +"Well, Mr. Whitewash," said he, as Clarian came in, "how are you at this +present writing? You _look_ as if you had been dieting on Gamboge and Flake +White. Take care, young man, or you'll put us students to the cost of a +tombstone with a Latin epitaph for you, yet,--beginning, _Interfecit +se_.--How comes on the Art? You've given the go-by to _Ego_ and _Non-Ego_, +I suppose, and have resolved to achieve the very [Greek: kudos] upon a +ten-foot whitewashed wall, eh? _Soit_,--but what results? Can you say yet, +as Correggio did when he saw the St. Cecilia of Raphael, '_Anch' io son +pittore_'? or do you intend to limit your ambition, _à la_ Dick Tinto, to +the effecting of two liquidations in one by the restoration of +tavern-signs?" + +"Please do not taunt me, Mac, for I am cast down, almost. I have the +grandest conception, but the life-touch escapes me. It is in vain I seek +it: we cannot do a thing properly, unless we _feel_ it; passion will not be +simulated. What we know, and can do well, must all be repeated from our own +experience, says St. Simon,--and I agree with him." + +"St. Simon be--hanged!" quoth Mac. "So, it seems, the Metaphysic is not +abandoned. St. Simon, forsooth!--why, his doctrine was, that, to comprehend +the nature of crime, one had first to commit crime himself. Pah! according +to that, he who would most thoroughly learn the philosophy of our carnal +lusts must exchange natures with the goat. Pray, why do not you solicit +Herr Urian to give you a hircine metamorphosis, Clarian?" + +"Nay, Mac, can it be thus put off with a jest and a sneer, after all? What +do you think of these words I came across last night?"--and opening his +note-book, Clarian read as follows: "For of old it hath been clearly +proven, action without passion is nought save idle folly. _Passio Christi +hominis redemptio_. For as sin came into the world by suffering, so also +the gift of knowledge, which man would have confessedly lacked, had he not +purchased it _pretio mortis_,--even whereat, meseemeth, 'tis not a +commodity too high-priced. And as Philo Judæus hath well observed, (as that +arch heretic doth but seldom, wherefore let us ascribe to him the full +credit,) '_Materia parens est (etiam ipsa mater) peccali_,' so, to attain +to anything really spiritual, we have even to be born again of this our +parent, by the reëntrance of whose womb, in pain and darkness, we come back +to the true and the living, and have provision given us wherewith we shall +conquer worlds. For, to fix the pure thought and to identify it with the +true and holy, we must first divide it from the base clogs of matter; and +how can we effect this disjunction, save, as it hath ever been done, by +passion,--not simulate nor taken at second hand, cold,'_bis coctum quasi_,' +but rather presently and in our very selves reiterate? So Naaman dipt in +Jordan,--a task unto him, a sin in the eyes of his gods, and painful +exceedingly to his pride-gorged humor, that would only have Abana and +Pharpar,--yet only so was his skin made whole again, and soft like an +infant's. So also did David the king come into tasting of the bliss of a +true repentance by the terrible gateways of shameful adultery and +blood-thirst." + +"Oh, I agree with your author perfectly," said Mac, with inimitable +gravity, while I gazed at Clarian, wondering what would come next. "All the +greatest gifts man possesses have had evil sponsors or unrighteous +baptism. Even Prometheus _filched_ his fire from heaven, or t'other +place. Doing evil for the sake of a prospective good is an immemorial +custom, and well precedented. Revenue-farming, the _parc-aux-cerfs_, and Du +Barry only went down before _La Terreur_, Robespierre, and _Les Journées de +Septembre_." + +"But seriously, Mac, is it not admissible, now and then, to employ +questionable means, ordinary ones failing?" + +"Certainly. You may even sin, provided you believe in your cause. Faith is +the one save-all and cure-all. You smile? I can give you good +authority,--none other than Martin Luther, who, in one of his disputations, +says emphatically, '_Si in fide posset fieri adulterium, peccatum non +esset_'; and he wrote still more plainly upon this point in one of his +letters to Melancthon, saying, '_Ab hoc nos non avellet peccatum, etiamsi +millies millies uno die fornicamur aut occidamus._' [Footnote: _Vie de +Luther_, par AUDIN, Paris, 1839. An accurate book, but scathingly bitter.] +So follow your bent, younker, and they cannot say you are without +'precedent right reverend.'" + +Clarian sprang to his feet, his pale face all ablaze with indignation. "You +have no right to say such things to me, Sir," he cried, "for you know well +enough"-- + +"I know well enough that you are a crack-brained jackanapes, with your +damned fantastics!" bellowed Mac, angry in his turn. "What do you +mean,--you, who are a perfect little saint in your life,--what do you mean +by thrusting all these foul heresies at me, as if you were a veritable +citizen of Sodom, or a rejuvenized Faust, who have just replenished your +stock of 'experiences,' as you call them, by seducing Margaret and stabbing +her brother? Burn your books, if that filth is all they teach you,--and +mend your manners, if you expect to be tolerated in respectable +company. Good-bye!" cried he, as Clarian rushed white-heated from the room. + +"Pshaw, Ned, spare your remonstrances, if you please,--I'm tired of the +little fool's nonsense." + +"But the boy is sick, my dear fellow, and requires to be treated more +gently. His mind is diseased, and it would not take much to drive him quite +desperate." + +"No such good luck, Ned. I wish I _could_ make him pitch into somebody or +something. Nothing would do the beggar so much good, just now, as to get +himself into a regular scrape. It would act like a shower-bath, wake him +up, and purge him of these dismal humors." + +"Still, you would not like to have it said that _you_ were the cause of his +getting into any difficulty; and you know very well he is not one to +extricate himself easily, if once involved." + +"Never fear. '_Il y a un Dieu pour les enfants et les ivrognes_', says a +proverb in which I place implicit faith." + + * * * * * + +We saw nothing of Clarian until some three or four nights after this, when +he came hurriedly into our room. It was quite late, but Mac was still at +his Mathematics, while I was dawdling with my pipe and a volume of +Sternberg's pleasant tales. Clarian walked directly up to Mac, holding out +his hand, and saying, "I have come to ask your forgiveness, my dear Mac; I +was wrong and foolish the other day." + +"Nonsense, you flighty canary-bird!" said Mac; "you owe me nothing, so +have done with that. Sit down and smoke a pipe with us." + +"No,--I have come for you and Ned; I want you to see my picture to-night. +Come, I will take no denial,--I am about to finish it, and I want your +criticisms before I lay on the final touches." + +"Why not to-morrow, Clarian?" + +"Then everybody will want to see. No, it must be to-night." + +Mac and I were by no means reluctant to humor the lad, for we were not +incurious respecting the picture, and we accompanied him forthwith. His +room was quite large, well lighted and airy, with a sleeping-closet +attached. Over the blank wall opposite the windows hung a black muslin +curtain of most funereal aspect, which rolled up to the ceiling by means of +a cord and pulley, and, being now down, effectually concealed from view +what we had come to see. Clarian placed three or four candles, made us be +seated, filling pipes for us, and taking one himself, a most rare +occurrence with him,--all the while talking with more vivacity than I had +seen him exhibit for several months. "I have carefully studied my subject, +fellows," said he, "and have striven after perfection. I went to Shakspeare +for it, Mac, and sought one that would give me at once a proper field, and +at the same time pervade me so that I could paint from myself. Singularly +enough, I have found this magnetic influence most completely in +'Macbeth'. Do you remember Scene Fourth of the Third Act? That is the +situation I have endeavored to portray. Macbeth, wretched criminal, +suspects every one of his own dark purposes, or fears their hatred, because +he feels himself hateful. He is not a coward, either physically or morally; +his fears are all intellectual; he knows that Banquo is too noble to serve +him, too powerful to be permitted to serve against him,--so he must out of +the way. The murderers have received their commission; the king, satisfied +now that all he has to fear will shortly be removed, has said, 'There's +comfort yet'; he has cheered his wife with words even merry, as he can with +some complacency, for it is truly his principle of action, that + +'Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill'; + +and now, in this scene, he is to meet his courtiers at a state-banquet, +given in honor of Banquo, he tells them with hardihood. For we must +remember that this jealous king is no longer the warrior Thane whom we +first encounter upon the 'blasted heath', and whom we afterwards see +haunted by horrid visions of 'air-drawn daggers', as he turns his hand to +crime. He has gotten far beyond all this. Murders to him are become but +'trifles light as air'; use has blunted his sensibility, and to bring back +all that agony and horror needs a vastly stronger excitement than a mere +deed of blood. We see this in the cool way he tells the murderer, 'There's +blood upon thy face', as if it simply made him look less presentable. +Nevertheless, suffer for it Macbeth must. That is ordained; and the means +to it, and particularly the _effect_ of those means, are what I have tried +to represent here." + +So saying, he drew up the curtain, and the picture stood before us. Mac and +I gave it one quick glance, and then, with a simultaneous impulse, extended +our hands to Clarian. The lad laughed a little laugh of joy as he returned +our embrace, and then silently nodded towards the picture again. + +Those old Princetonians who have seen Clarian's Picture will easily be able +to explain our emotion upon beholding it thus for the first time. It was in +colored crayon, and covered a large portion of the wall, representing a +lofty, but entirely unornamented Gothic hall, with a table in the centre, +around which were grouped the guests. These showed in their faces and +disordered array that dismay and anxiety which were natural to them at +sight of their king so strangely and appallingly stricken, but evidently +they were entirely and happily unconscious of the THING that sat there in +their midst, touching them, consorting its charnel horrors with their +warm-blooded humanity,--so near, so close to them, that _he_ fancied the +smell of that trickling gore, that dank grave-soil, must necessarily enter +in at their nostrils, and he sickened at the thought for very sympathy. The +woe-wasted wife, comprehending what it meant, as she chiefly, from the dark +depths of her own spotted consciousness, _could_ comprehend, had yet flung +her fear aside for the sake of him whom she loved with a love so +bitter-costly, and now she stood at his side, fiercely clutching him, and +taunting him like a tigress with his unmanly fears. Ah, had that clutch +upon his elbow been the searing grasp of white-heated pincers, eating to +the bone, it had not stirred _him_. He stood there, a tall, large-limbed +man, brown and weather-stained, one who had endured much, wrinkled +somewhat, care-marked about the brow, but very capable, and evidently as +bold and daring, to the line, as he asserted himself,--he stood there, +flung back, fixed, petrified, as it were, by the baleful judgment that +lighted those unearthly eyes which watched him from across the table there; +and though his arm be flung up over his face, half to protect, half in +menace,--though his fist be clenched and swollen, his brow dark and +frowning, we know he will not spring forward, but will stand there still, +no life in all that mass of muscle, no will-power in that capable brain, +nought but impotent malignity in that murderous frown: for he is +stricken,--his sin has found him out,--ay, at the very altar, Orestes hears +the Furies shriek their hatred in his ears, exultingly proclaiming that for +him at least there is no rest, nor ever shall be! + +Such was the impression of Clarian's Picture, and I felt my blood fairly +tingle with recognition of the boy's power. + +"It is noble, great," said Mac, in those deep tones that spoke how he was +moved, "and men shall call you Artist when it is finished." + +Finished! what more did it want? what more could be done to this so +perfect composition? + +"Ah, Mac," said Clarian, enthusiastically seizing my chum's hands, "such +recognition as yours is what I have yearned for, and yet--'tis you who have +chiefly mocked me. It _shall_ be finished, Mac, and worthily! Do you not +think I have prayed for the inspiration, that I might bestow that final, +life-giving touch? Two months ago it was as near complete as it is +now,--but not until this very night have I felt the power of it. Now, +however, my soul is full of it, and it shall wax into a poem. This is why I +sought you, dear friends, to-night; for I am too gloriously happy to be +selfish, and I want you to share my happiness with me. Yes, Mac, it has +come at last, the warm Promethean fire, and at last I can proclaim, '_Anch' +io son pittore_!'" + +I gazed at the lad as he raised his voice with these last words, and was +almost awed by his singular beauty. It seemed almost as if a halo should +encircle his brow. There was a delicate rose-flush on his cheek that +rivalled in strange loveliness the hectic color of the young mother when +her first-born nestles close and fondly to her thrilled bosom, and his eyes +glowed with a rare lambent light that touched one with the eloquence of a +beautiful dream. Mac eyed him with equal wonder and delight, but said, +teasingly,-- + +"Hey! so you have come at last to the 'true and the living,' have you? Art +regenerate? I hope thou hast also undergone that true baphometic +fire-baptism, whereof the worthy Diogenes Teufelsdröckh hath discoursed so +appetizingly, causing us to long after it, none the less that he hath +scrupulously refrained from expounding whatever it is." + +"Yes, Mac, the new life dawns upon me,--no Plotinian trance, no somnambulic +introspection, but a genuine awakening of the soul to a sense of its own +beauty." + +"Prodigious! as Dominie Sampson would say. Nay, I am not laughing at you, +Clarian," said Mac, pointing to the picture; "_there_ is enough to make me +believe in you, though how you achieved it I cannot imagine." + +"The means, Mac? Is not that rather my question than yours? We judge +ourselves from within; 'others judge us by what we have done,' says +Goethe. The means, ha, and the motive? Why will men seek stumblingly after +these, when actually their sole concern is with the thing done? So, you two +look at me,--I was but pondering,--putting a case;--so far, the means here +have been simple and innocent,--my hand, my eye, my brain, my purpose; +but--Mac!" added he, suddenly, after a pause, "did you never, in reading +Rabelais, feel that somehow there was a profound and reverential symbolism +underlying the wild froth of words in which the histories of Gargantua and +Pantagruel have come down to us? that in all that _olla-podrida_ of filth, +quip, jest, wicked folly, and mad wisdom, was yet hidden, like the pearl in +the oyster, a deep and most mystic system of world-philosophy?" + +"Anan?" said Mac, looking at the boy curiously. + +"For instance, in what the good Curé of Meudon says about the 'herb +Pantagruelion',--did the symbolism and esoteric meaning of all that never +strike you?" + +"Oh, yes," cried Mac, with a singularly significant smile, "I see how it is +now. I understand. You are improving, Clarian, rapidly. Hum, wonder what +your mother would say, if she knew you were a friend of Panurge's, and did +draw such inferences from his wisdom! Yes, _mon enfant_, I have long felt +the profundity of Pantagruelion, not less than the oracular efficacy of +Bacbuc. And no one can deny that the thinnest strand of Manila, if not full +of mysteries _per se_, can at least open the way for us to the very +innermost crypts, and hence may be styled _potentially_ a very gateway to +Eleusinia." + +"I do not mean that, Mac,--not the mere mechanical warp and woof of it, to +hang beggars and sots with,--but the more potent essence, the inner cosmic +power of it, to rouse the soul into grand expansive consciousness, and then +to suspend it far above the carks and cares of this weary world, to sew it +aloft to some leaf of the Tree of Life, like the nest of Jean Paul's +tailor-bird, that it may swing there, above the hum and dust of matter, +swayed and sung to sleep by the expanding breath of Infinity! Oh, yes!" +cried Clarian, while his cheek glowed warmer, his eye flamed brighter, and +his voice flowed on with a rhythmic throb, "oh, yes, I know it all, now! +The Idea is awake, and dwells in my soul, at once master there and slave. I +leap out of this base Present: I stand panting and glowing before the +mighty portals of Infinity, from whose inner masses I see the grand Gods +beckoning to me, greeting me as of their kindred, summoning me to take my +throne also, which awaits me in their midst. I have burst these narrow +bonds of flesh, and my soul shall soar henceforth in the grandeur realized +of the Spirit, like a proud falcon just unmewed and flung off in sight of +the noblest quarry. Art! what a dull, meaningless sound it was +yesterday!--but now, the entombing pyramid of matter is up-heaved, flung +off forever, and the Spirit stands erect in her bright Palingenesis, +half-intoxicate with the all-pervading sense of her own grand beauty. The +tree is rent asunder,--Ariel soars again in his element. Psyche has loosed +herself from the fettering contact of Daimon, and lo, now, how daintily she +poises on tiptoe, fluttering her wings ere she launches like a star into +the wide exhilarant ether! O divine Art! pride, glory, first love of my +soul! now, indeed, hast thou exchanged the yoke of dull Saturn and the +gloomy caverns of earth for the fair heights of Olympus, and the +companionship of Zeus [Greek: Nephelaegeretaes], him at whose nod the +heavens display themselves like a many-figured arras, all alive with +beauties and significance that the dull eye conjectures not, that the +impure, unpurged eye shrinks away from, lest it be seared by the too great +splendor! I know it all now. I began gropingly, in surmise, error, +darkness; but now my brow catches, ay, and reflects, the calm, pure, +effulgent light of Nature's definite day, and I bathe myself in its happy +warmth. Erst, I grovelled like a worm, blind and earth-fed: now, I shall +speed through very space, winged heel and shoulder, a swift, untiring +Hermes, who have drunk of the milk that flows rich in Nature's breasts, and +am emancipate forever in the decorous freedom of the beautiful +self-conscious spirit! Oh, the glory, oh, the boon of Art, the play-deity! +Phoebus no longer drives herds for Admetus, but is grown into Helios, feels +in his breast the freer life of the very Hyperion, the walker on high. Ay, +ay, smile on, Mac, you and Ned! I shall not quarrel with you for not +understanding me; it is only just now that I have learned to understand +myself. My Art will reward me; even now, while you doubt, it is already +doing so. I tell you, you two, whom I love and honor", cried he, rising to +his feet, lifted up, as it were, by the exaltation of his soul, while his +voice rose like the gush of a fine-toned flute, "I tell you, moreover, that +I am an artist, with a work to do that shall be done, and so done that you +two who love me will be the first to salute me Artist, to recognize me, and +acknowledge me for what I shall become." + +"We do that already, Clarian," said Mac's emphatic voice. + +"No," said Clarian, firmly, proudly, like a poet about to kneel that he may +receive the laurel crown, "no, you do not know me yet." + +And he was right. We did not yet know him. + +"That is a boy after my own heart", said Mac, after we had returned to our +room. He was standing by the open window, and I at his elbow, both of us +thinking of the strange child we had just left, while our eyes took note of +the fair night, how the silvery sheen of the moonlight glistened upon the +leaves, and sprinkled itself in dappling flecks between the trees on the +soft even sward of the campus below. "A boy after my own heart,--and, in +spite of all his twaddle, will make an artist. It's in him." + +"But did you not think him strangely wild to-night? I never heard him talk +so fluently; but it was not the talk of a sane man." + +Mac looked at me, laughing long and loud. "Thou dear innocent Ned!" cried +he at last, "what a diagnostic thou wouldst make! It was indeed the talk of +madness, good chum, and a very pretty madness was it, one that needeth not +any Anticyran purgatives to expel it. So thou must not fash thyself about +the lad, _du liebe dummkopf_, for he will come right very speedily. Didst +remark not what he said about the 'herb Pantagruelion,' which, in the +vulgar, meaneth only _hemp_? And surely you noted the warm flush of his +cheek, the dilatation of his eye, and its phosphorescent glow? Dr. Thorne +would soon enough tell you what these things signify. The boy is not crazy, +Ned, but drunk,--drunk in the decorous delirium of a Damascene Pacha, +propped against a Georgian maid, and fanned by Houris of Bethlehem +Judah. He has been reading Monte Cristo, perhaps, or has somehow heard +about the Indian Hemp, not the '_utilissima funibus cannabis_' of practical +Pliny, but _Cannabis Indica_, wherewith, I believe, Amrou spurred on his +Arabs to their miraculous feats of war, when he conquered Egypt and drove +Alexandria's Prefect into the sea,--the _bhang_ of amok-running Malays, the +_haschish_ of Syria and Cairo. This is what hath made him drunk, and, i' +faith, the intoxication does not ill become him. He will be all right in +the morning, and all the better for this little brush. And anyhow, Ned, you +must not watch the boy too closely, nor interfere with him. Let him 'gang +his ain gait.' He comes of another breed than ours, I begin to suspect, +and our rough fodder and grooming may not suit his higher blood.--_Ach, +Himmel!_ Ned," cried he, laughing, "it pleased me, though, to see how +adroitly he contrived to twist that new reading out of the _bon homme +François_. It was quite in the style of St. Augustine, and would have +delighted that ex-sophist hugely; for, great as he was, and self-denying as +he was, he always had a hankering after the dialectic flesh-pots. How he +would have rubbed his hands, when Clarian wanted to persuade us that the +herb Pantagruelion was no other than Haschish, the expander of +souls!--Hollo! yonder goes the lad now. I wonder what he is up to. See him, +Ned, yonder, just coming out of the shadow of North College. How fast he +walks! how he is swinging his arms! I'll bet he is repeating poetry. I +wonder what the lad is after, anyhow.--There he goes, round the corner of +West College,--over the fence. Can he mean to have a game of ball by +moonlight?--No,--he's making across the fields; if he had a pitcher with +him now, I'd say he was going to the spring in the hollow.--Confound that +tree! I've lost him." + +I proposed following Clarian, being really uneasy about him, but Mac +entered his veto,-- + +"No, Ned,--there's no need, and--it's none of our business. Children like +him have a hundred baby-houses we do not know anything about. He wants a +bath in the moonlight, I suppose, and wouldn't thank you for playing Actæon +to the naked Diana of his midnight musings. Come, 'tis bedtime; or do you +want to finish Sternberg's 'Herr von Mondschein'? It is _à propos_, and I +see your book is opened to the very place." + +[To be continued.] + + * * * * * + + + +JAPAN. + + +The arrival in this country of an embassy from Japan, the first political +delegation ever vouchsafed to a foreign nation by that reticent and jealous +people, is now a topic of universal interest. It is well understood, that, +by the efforts of the government of the United States, the traditional +policy of Japan, which for more than two hundred years forbade all freedom +of intercourse with the surrounding world, has been so effectively +subverted that its reëstablishment is now impossible. Within eight years +the barriers of Japanese seclusion have been removed, and the extreme +prejudice against foreign communications almost obliterated. That this has +been accomplished with a prudent and just regard for the rights and +feelings of this singular race, the appointment of an embassy to the +particular government which first successfully invaded its long cherished +privacy abundantly proves. + +The countries of Japan and China, and everything directly concerning them, +have always claimed a peculiar consideration. Their self-imposed isolation, +the mystery with which they have sought to surround themselves, the +extraordinary habits and character of the people, the evidences of an +earlier civilization in China--formerly supposed also to have extended to +Japan--than is recorded of any other existing nation, account for the +curious attention that has been bestowed upon them. Although now known to +be entirely distinct, the Chinese and Japanese, by reason of the similarity +of their occupations, customs, religion, written language, dress, and so +forth, were for a long time looked upon as kindred races, and esteemed +alike. Probably even at this time popular appreciation makes little +distinction between the two countries. But since the necessities of +commerce have recently compelled a somewhat vigorous interference with +their seclusion, we begin to get a clearer understanding of the subject. We +find, that, while, on close examination, the imagined attractions of China +disappear, those of Japan become only more definite and substantial. The +old interest in China is transferred to its worthier neighbor; for, in +spite of all Celestial and Flowery preconceptions, it is impossible to view +with any sincere interest a nation so palsied, so corrupt, so wretchedly +degraded, and so enfeebled by misgovernment, as to be already more than +half sunk in decay; while, on the other hand, the real vigor, thrift, and +intelligence of Japan, its great and still advancing power, and the rich +promise of its future are such as to reward the most attentive study. Its +commanding position, its wealth, its commercial resources, and the quick +intelligence of its people--not at all inferior to that of the people of +the West, although naturally restricted in its development--give to Japan, +now that it is about to emerge from its chrysalis condition, and unfold +itself to the outer world, an importance far above that of any other +Eastern country. + +We propose to relate, with necessary brevity, what is most important of the +little that is known of this interesting people. All records bearing upon +the subject are imperfect, and the best of them are more profuse in +speculation and surmise than in solid fact. The information possessed has +been drawn bit by bit from the reluctant Japanese. The difficulties of +investigation have been almost insurmountable,--no visitor, during two +hundred years, having been allowed the slightest freedom of association +with the people, or opportunity for travel. With very few exceptions, +foreigners have been confined to the extremest limit of the islands, and +forbidden even to leave the coast; and in no case has any disposition been +shown to satisfy the curious demands of those who have attempted to break +through the national reserve. + +The origin of the Japanese is still involved in obscurity, and the date of +the settlement of the islands is unknown. The boldest theory is, that a +tribe proceeded thither directly from the land of Shinar, at the division +of the races. In support of this, the purity of the Japanese language, +which, in its primitive form, bears very slight affinity to any other +tongue, and the evident dissimilarity of the people to those of any other +Asiatic country, are adduced. The more general belief is, that the Japanese +are an offshoot of the Mongol family, and that their emigration to these +islands was at so remote a period that tradition has preserved no +recollection of it. The favorite idea, that the first settlements were by +Chinese, has long been set aside, except by the Chinese themselves, whose +custom is to claim the origin of everything, and who still assume to +consider Japan as a sort of province under their dominion. The fact is, +that, to the Japanese, a Chinaman is the most worthless and contemptible +object in Nature. The Chinese have, however, a fanciful legend in which +they find an irresistible argument upon their side of the question. A +certain Emperor, they say, seeking to prolong his life, demanded of the +court physician an elixir of immortality. The physician modestly declared +his ignorance of any such preparation, but, after receiving a significant +hint, involving the loss of his head, recollected himself, and acknowledged +that an herb of immortality did certainly exist, but that its delicacy was +so rare it could be properly culled only by the most chaste hands. He thus +succeeded in securing three hundred brave young men, and the same number of +virtuous young women, whose twelve hundred chaste hands were at once +consecrated to the plucking of the magical plant, which was declared to +grow only in the islands of the sea. Once out of the Emperor's reach, all +thought of the particular duty in hand was instantly abolished, and +superseded by a successful effort to establish a new nation, which in time +resolved itself into Japan. + +This, although satisfactory to the Chinese, fails to convince less +credulous investigators. While the Japanese and Chinese have, perhaps, more +common characteristics than can be readily explained with our present +knowledge of them, yet no fact is better demonstrated than that they are +wholly distinct races. There is an opinion, for which there is reasonable +ground, that one of the earliest rulers of Japan was a Chinese invader, who +founded the dynasty of the Mikados, or Spiritual Emperors; but, if this +were so, it is evident that the conquerors must have mingled with the +native inhabitants, and soon lost their identity. This would in a measure +account for the prevalence of certain Chinese habits and customs in Japan. +The question of Japanese origin remains yet undecided. Its earlier history, +previous to the year 660 B.C., is mostly fabulous. There are the usual +legends of dignitaries in close relationship with every member of the solar +system, who were accustomed to reign an indefinite number of +years,--generally some thousands. Beginning with 660 B.C., we have +something authentic. At that time a warrior whose name signified "the +divine conqueror"--(the supposed Chinese invader)--entered Japan, and +assumed the control of its destinies. He called himself "Mikado," and +established his court at Miako, in Nipon, the largest of the group of +islands, where he built temples and palaces, both spiritual and +secular. Claiming to rule by divine right, he exercised the sole functions +of the government, which, upon his death, descended to his heir, and +thenceforward in direct order of succession. The Mikado, by reason of his +superhuman dignities, was invested with a sanctity that gradually became +irksome, shutting him out, as it did, from all fellowship with men, and +compelling him to forego all familiar intercourse with even the highest +nobles around his throne. Consequently arose the custom of abdication at a +very early age by the Mikados, in favor of their children, for whom they +acted as regents, circulating freely, upon their descent to mere mundane +authority, with the rest of the court. By this course, however, the +integrity of the government was weakened, and, dissensions arising, the +stability of the throne was endangered by the agressions of some of the +more powerful princes. In the twelfth century, it happened that a Mikado, +particularly alive to the vanities of the world, not only gave up his +station to his son, then three years old, but also renounced the labors of +the regency, which were intrusted to the infant monarch's grandfather, +whose first exercise of power was the immediate imprisonment of the +abdicator. This was worse than had been bargained for, and a contest +ensued, which terminated in favor of the ex-Mikado, owing to the valor of a +young warrior prince named Yoritomo. The prisoner was released, and himself +assumed the regency; but from that moment the strength of the Mikados was +gone. Yoritomo, having demonstrated that his power was superior to that of +the spiritual lord, demanded and obtained the rank and title of +"Ziogoon",--General, or General-in-Chief. He at first divided with the +Mikado the duties of the government, but by degrees succeeded in +concentrating in himself the real supremacy. From him descended the +temporal sovereignty of Japan, which has ever since overbalanced the +spiritual authority, although the first nominal rank is still accorded to +the Mikado. + +In the year 1295, the existence of Japan was first announced to the Western +world. Marco Polo, returning from his Asiatic travels, related all that he +had learned of a vast island lying to the east of China, and even +designated its position on his maps. He called it Zipangu, the name he had +heard in China. This narration was not received with much credit, and was, +until the sixteenth century, generally forgotten. It is a singular fact, +that the record left by Marco Polo had a strong influence in deciding the +convictions of Christopher Columbus, whose expectation in sailing from +Spain was to discover the island spoken of by the Venetian voyager. But the +ambition of Columbus was otherwise satisfied, and Japan was not visited by +the representatives of any Western nation until the year 1543, or 1545, +when a party of Portuguese, among whom was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, were +driven by a storm upon the coast, and forced to take shelter in the +province of Bungo, upon the island of Kiu-siu. The account of this visit, +given by Pinto, is full of interest, and, notwithstanding the questionable +character that clings to his writings, is without doubt correct in almost +every particular. + +At the time when fortune threw these wanderers upon the Japanese coast, +there was disinclination to admit strangers, or to communicate with them in +the most liberal manner. They were warmly received, and treated with great +consideration. The same friendship appeared to animate both parties. The +Portuguese made presents of arms and ammunition to the Japanese, who, with +ready skill, soon discovered the methods of manufacturing others for +themselves. The Japanese consented that Portuguese commerce should be +introduced, and the King of Bungo authorized an annual visit from a +Portuguese ship. Thus commercial relations were established, and at the +same time a religious mission, led by St. Francis Xavier, was despatched to +Japan. The prospects of trade and the new principles of religion were +welcomed with equal readiness. The visitors were restricted in no manner +whatever. Converts to Christianity were almost without number. When Xavier +departed from Japan, in 1551, he left behind him thousands of ardent and +enthusiastic professors of his faith, and a religious sentiment that +promised speedily to extend its influences throughout the land. + +The government openly encouraged the diffusion of Christianity. The Ziogoon +Nobanunga, who then reigned, having been importuned by native priests to +expel the foreign missionaries, inquired how many different religions there +were in Japan. "Thirty-five", was the reply. "Well," said he, "where +thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily bear with +thirty-six. Leave the strangers in peace". Some of the most powerful +princes espoused the Christian religion, and about the year 1584, a +mission, consisting of two young Japanese noblemen, attended by two +counsellors of less rank, was sent to Rome by the subordinate kings of +Bungo and Arima, and the Prince of Omura, in testimony of the devotion of +those rulers. The people themselves hastened to the new faith with such +zeal as to win the warmest affections of all the missionaries who went +among them. Xavier wrote of them, "I know not when to cease, in speaking of +the Japanese; they are truly the delight of my heart." + +So long as the mild teachings of Xavier and his Jesuit band prevailed, the +cause of Christianity advanced and prospered. But their field of labor was +soon invaded by multitudes of Dominicans and Franciscans from various +Portuguese settlements in Asia. By the persistent exercise of their best +faculties for mischief, these friars succeeded without much delay in +working irreparable injury where their predecessors had effected so much +good. They quarrelled, first among themselves, and then with the Jesuits, +until their strifes became the mockery of the people. The native priests of +the Siutoo and Buddhist religions took advantage of this state of things to +make a bold stand against the spread of the new doctrines. They organized a +force in the dominions of Omura, destroyed a Jesuit settlement and church, +and marched about in open rebellion against the authority of the +Prince. This movement, however, was checked without difficulty, and the +insurgents were overthrown in battle. The church was rebuilt at the place +now known as Nagasaki, which, an inferior village at that time, soon became +the centre of Portuguese commerce, and grew to great importance among +Japanese cities. But the friars continued their intrigues and tumults, in +spite of the growing contempt shown by the Japanese. Many of the Roman +clergy, moreover, assuming too great confidence in their easily gained +power, began to defy the usages of the country, and to adopt airs of +superiority quite at variance with the notions of the inhabitants upon that +subject. At the commencement of this altered condition of affairs, the +Ziogoon Nobanunga, who certainly was not unfavorably disposed to the +Christians, was assassinated, and his office and rank, after a series of +violent struggles, which lasted five years, fell to a man of humble origin, +but great talents, named Fide-yosi. This person had in his youth served +Nobanunga in the most menial capacity, but, owing partly to his remarkable +abilities, and partly to the circumstances which threw the succession into +so much confusion, he contrived to place himself, in the year 1587, at the +head of the nation. He then married the Mikado's daughter, and assumed the +name of Taiko-sama, with a view, perhaps, of dissociating himself as +completely as possible, in his exaltation, from the obscure individual +Fide-yosi, with whom, otherwise, he might not unnaturally be confounded. + +The new Ziogoon cared very little for the operations of the Christians, +while they kept themselves free from interference in the political affairs +of the country, and respected its customs. But the offensive spirit of the +Portuguese laity was not to be repressed. Their manners grew more +intolerable, from year to year. In time the progress of conversion almost +ceased, and yet the Portuguese, blind to danger, disdained to retrace their +steps. At length the Ziogoon, having journeyed through that part of the +country mostly under Christian influences, suddenly determined to rid +himself of so dangerous an element, and issued an order for the expulsion +of all missionaries throughout the empire. This was resisted by some of the +converted nobles, and particularly by the young prince of Omura, whose +obstinacy was punished in a very summary way,--the Ziogoon seizing upon the +port of Nagasaki, and transferring it to his own immediate government. On +paying a heavy ransom, however, the prince was permitted to resume +authority in Nagasaki, and Taiko-sama, busily occupied with more important +affairs of state, neglected to enforce his decree of expulsion, and left +the Christians undisturbed for some years, until a new evidence of affront +once more aroused his indignation against them. + +A Japanese nobleman and a Portuguese bishop, riding in their sedans, met, +one day, on a high-road of Nagasaki. The duty of the bishop, according to +the law of the country, was to alight and respectfully recognize the +nobleman. But, instead of doing this, he refused to tarry, and even turned +his head to the other side. Full of wrath, the nobleman made bitter +complaint to the Ziogoon, who from that time turned his heart more +resolutely than ever against the presumptuous and insolent foreigners. He +again assumed the direct government of Nagasaki, and was about to adopt +more vigorous measures, when he unexpectedly died, leaving the Christians a +few remaining years of probation. + +Taiko-sama was undoubtedly the greatest monarch that ever reigned in Japan. +He succeeded in bringing for the first time into complete subjection the +numerous powerful princes who had previously held an almost undivided sway +in the larger provinces. By this means he consolidated the strength of the +nation, and was enabled to undertake some very brilliant conquests. A +letter sent by him to the Portuguese viceroy of Goa shows his own estimate +of his power, and his general opinion of the insignificance of the external +world. + +"This vast monarchy," he wrote, "is like an immovable rock, and all the +efforts of its enemies will not be able to shake it. Thus not only am I at +peace at home, but persons come even from the most distant countries to +render me that homage which is my due. _Just now I am projecting the +subjugation of China;_ and as I have no doubt that I shall succeed in this +design, I trust that we shall soon be much nearer to each other.... As to +that which regards religion, Japan is the kingdom of the Kamis, that is to +say, of Xim, which is the principle of everything.... The [Jesuit] fathers +are come into these islands to teach another religion; but as that of the +Kamis is too well established to be abolished, this new law can only serve +to introduce into Japan a diversity of religion prejudicial to the welfare +of the state. That is why I have prohibited, by imperial edict, these +foreign doctors from continuing to preach their doctrine.... I desire, +nevertheless, that our commercial relations shall remain upon the same +footing." + +In regard to the religion of Japan, which Taiko-sama lucidly and +felicitously expounds by pronouncing it the religion "of the Kamis, +[Princes, or Nobles,] that is to say, of Xim, which is the principle of +everything," it may be assumed that the Ziogoon had little thought of any +theological troubles that might arise. His apprehensions were purely of a +political nature. It is related that the captain of a Spanish man-of-war, +in attempting to explain the secret of the vast colonial possessions of +Spain, incautiously told Taiko that the introduction of Christianity into +heathen nations was the first step, and the only difficult one, conquest +naturally and easily following. Such an avowal was not likely to be lost +upon so acute a mind as Taiko's, and it may very probably have been one of +the immediate causes which induced his extreme hostility to the diffusion +of Christianity. + +Taiko's warlike declarations were by no means vain boasts. He did invade +China, and spread such terror among the timid Celestials that they yielded +him all possible submission, giving him a number of Corean provinces, a +daughter of their Emperor in marriage, and the promise of an annual tribute +to Japan, in token of Japanese supremacy. The tribute not appearing at the +proper time, the Ziogoon immediately despatched a few armies to the Corea +and again destroyed the Celestial balance of mind. These forces, however, +were soon after recalled, in consequence of Taiko-sama's death. + +During the first year of the reign of his successor, Ogosho-sama, the Dutch +appeared in Japan. A fleet of five ships, sent from Holland by the Indian +Company, had been dispersed in the Pacific, and, sickness breaking out +among the crews, only one ship remained. On board was an English pilot, a +man of some education, named William Adams, who suggested visiting Japan, +which was finally decided upon. In April, 1600, the Dutch vessel anchored +in the harbor of Bungo, and the crew were cordially received by the +people. But they found formidable enemies in the Portuguese and Spaniards +of Nagasaki, who assailed them with the most unjust aspersions, and +endeavored in every way to turn the prejudices of the Japanese against +them. Notwithstanding this, however, the Dutch were kindly treated, +although never permitted to leave the country again, on account of the +suspicions aroused by the imputations of the Portuguese. William Adams was +taken in charge by the Ziogoon himself, who found the Englishman so +valuable and instructive a person that he would never hear of his leaving +the imperial presence. + +In 1609, other Dutch ships came to Japan, and, the scruples of the Ziogoon +having been set at rest, commercial relations were entered into. The Dutch +established a factory at Firando, in opposition to the Portuguese factory +at Nagasaki. A rivalry arose, heightened by the political and religious +feud between the nations, which was actively carried on for a number of +years. The Portuguese at first beset the Ziogoon with importunities for the +expulsion of the Dutch; but Ogosho-sama, in the most catholic spirit, +intimated, that, if devils from hell should take a fancy to visit his +realm, they should be treated like angels from heaven, so long as they +respected his laws. + +In the midst of the jealous struggles of Dutch and Portuguese, came a new +application for Japanese favor. In June, 1613, a vessel, despatched for the +purpose by the English government, arrived at Firando, bearing letters and +presents from King James I. to the Ziogoon. These were graciously received, +and a commercial treaty of the most favorable character was at once +negotiated. Among other not less important privileges, the Ziogoon gave to +English merchants the following:--"Free license forever safely to come into +any of our ports of our Empire of Japan, with their ships and merchandise, +without any hindrance to them or their goods; and to abide, buy, sell, and +barter, according to their own manner with all nations; to tarry here as +long as they think good, and to depart at their pleasure"; also, "that, +without other passport, they shall and may set out upon the discovery of +Jesso or any other port in or about our Empire". The Ziogoon also sent a +letter, assuring the English monarch of his love and esteem, and announcing +that every facility desired in the way of trade would be gladly granted, +even to the establishment of a factory at Firando. A settlement was +accordingly made at that place, and commercial communications were +continued until about 1623, when they were voluntarily abandoned by the +English. It appears that their affairs were less successful than those of +the Dutch, who were stationed at the same port; but, whether from their own +misapprehension of the kind of merchandise needed for Japan, or from the +opposition of their rivals, who sought, in this case as in others, to +secure for themselves the monopoly of trade, is uncertain. + +For some years after the departure of the English, the contests between the +Portuguese and Dutch grew more bitter and violent, and the arrogance of the +Portuguese more unbearable, until at length, in 1637, the climax of their +offences was reached, and the affections of the Japanese rulers, which, but +for their own follies, would always have been with them, were turned into +the most unrelenting hatred. The Portuguese, not content with the great +privileges they already enjoyed, formed a conspiracy with certain of the +native Christian princes to depose the Ziogoon, overturn the government, +and take the power into their own hands. Letters containing the details of +this plot were discovered by the Dutch, and straightway sent to the +monarch. The statement has been made by Spanish writers, that this +conspiracy had no existence excepting in Dutch invention, and that the +proofs of guilt were all forged for the purpose of more completely +destroying the Portuguese; but the evidence is too strong to be overthrown +by any such allegation. The result was, that imperial edicts were +immediately put forth, enjoining the expulsion of all Portuguese from the +islands, and the utter extirpation of the Christian religion. For nearly +two years there was a series of the most terrible persecutions. The +Portuguese were at length banished, and the native converts who rose in +rebellion against the decree were slaughtered by thousands, _the Dutch +themselves cooperating in the work of destruction_. The history of these +massacres is one of the most remarkable that the annals of Christianity can +show. It stands forever, an ineffaceable record, covering with shame those +pretended disciples of the religion of Christ, who by their reckless and +wicked course not only invited their own destruction, but compelled that of +thousands of innocent fellow-beings, and interrupted for centuries the +progress of the cause they had so poorly essayed to promote. + +It is thus evident, that, for the system of seclusion which during nearly +two hundred and fifty years was closely adhered to, the Japanese themselves +are in no degree to be blamed. The fault lay with the representatives of +two refined and enlightened nations, who, by a persistent career of selfish +folly and pride, covered themselves with the deserved reproach of a people +to whose untutored apprehension such extraordinary principles of +civilization appeared unworthy of cultivation. That the Japanese were at +first amiably and liberally disposed toward foreigners, their frank +admission of the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, and especially of the +English, amply shows. Until constrained for their own safety to do so, they +took no step toward interfering with the almost unlimited privileges they +had granted. It is, indeed, difficult to condemn their course, when we +consider the enormity of their provocation, and the dangers to which they +believed themselves exposed. If Christianity has suffered, the errors of +those who misrepresented it were the cause. How soon it may be possible to +again attempt its introduction is doubtful; for, of all foreign evils, the +Japanese look upon Christianity as the worst, viewing it simply as the +covert means of conquest, and reducing to submission those over whom its +influences extend. + +Beyond the removal of their rivals, the Dutch had little upon which to +congratulate themselves in this movement. The monopoly of trade was theirs, +but with the most degrading and humiliating conditions. They were obliged +to give up their factory at Firando, and take a new station upon the small +island of Desima, in the harbor of Nagasaki. To preserve even the most +limited intercourse with the Japanese, they were forced to relinquish all +sense of dignity and self-respect. The history of their relations with +Japan, for the past two hundred years, is a continual record of absolute +contempt and pitiless constraint on the one hand, and the most abject and +disgraceful servitude on the other. + +During the excitements which followed the expulsion of the Portuguese, a +second effort to enter Japan was made by the English; but, owing, it is +supposed, to the interference of the Dutch, this attempt was wholly +unsuccessful. In 1673, the East India Company despatched another vessel, +which was also received with distrust. The Japanese had learned, through +the Dutch, that the English king, Charles II., had allied himself by +marriage to the royal family of Portugal. On this account, and on this +only, the Japanese declared that no English ship could be admitted. Two +other equally fruitless attempts were made in 1791 and 1803. In 1808, an +English ship of war, by showing Dutch colors, gained entrance to the port +of Nagasaki, where, instead of peaceably deporting himself, the captain +began by capturing the Dutch officials who came on board, and setting at +defiance the requisitions of the Japanese. This English ship had been +cruising after the Dutch traders, England and Holland being at war at the +time, and, failing to meet them, the captain concluded they had eluded him, +and sought them at Nagasaki. A plan to attack the ship and burn it was +devised by the Japanese, but before it could be carried out the Englishman +had sailed. Conscious that his dignity was forfeited by this invasion, the +Japanese governor of Nagasaki, notwithstanding he was in no wise +censurable, in pursuance of the national custom, immediately destroyed +himself, and his example was followed by twelve of his subordinate +officers. The garrison of Nagasaki was reinforced, and the most warlike +attitude was assumed by the inhabitants, who are noted for their +courage. The affair caused great indignation, and is yet remembered to the +discredit of the English. In 1813, only five years later, a somewhat +similar stratagem was employed by the English. It was an ingenious scheme +on the part of the English governor of Java, which had, within a few years, +been ceded to England. The independence of Holland had ceased, and the +governor of Java undertook, by despatching English vessels under the Dutch +flag, to secure the trade which Holland had alone enjoyed. But the Dutch +director at Desima refused compliance, and the plan fell through. Three +other ventures, all resulting in the same way, were made by the English in +1814, 1818, and 1849. + +Of other European nations, Russia alone has sought to secure a position and +influence in Japan. The proximity of the islands to the Siberian coast, and +the fact that they lie directly between the American and Asian possessions +of that nation, render it important that Russia should forego no +opportunity to extend its relations in this direction. It does not appear, +however, that much has been accomplished. About the year 1780, a Japanese +junk was wrecked upon an island belonging to Russia. The crew were taken to +Siberia, and there detained ten years, after which an attempt was made to +return them to their homes. They were conveyed in a Russian ship to +Hakodadi, on the island of Yesso, but were refused admission, on account of +the edict issued at the time of the Portuguese expulsion, forbidding the +return of any Japanese after once leaving the country. In 1804, a second +mission was sent by the Emperor Alexander I., with the purpose of effecting +a treaty of some sort; but the ambassador, whose name was Resanoff, +commenced operations by disputing points of etiquette with the Japanese, +who, in return, treated him with more courtesy than ever, and insisted upon +paying all his expenses while in their country, but sent him away +unsatisfied. Enraged at his failure, Resanoff despatched two armed vessels +to the Kurile Islands, where, under his directions, a wanton attack was +made upon a number of villages, the inhabitants being killed or taken +prisoners, and the houses plundered. This was an offence not to be +forgiven; and when, in 1811, Captain Golownin was despatched by the Russian +government to make renewed applications, he was captured by stratagem, with +one or two attendants, and imprisoned for several years. But he was always +treated with kindness, and was finally released, without having received +the slightest injury. He was intrusted, when sent away, with a message to +the Russian government, setting forth the impossibility of any +understanding between the two nations. + +Previous to the expedition of Commodore Perry, few efforts to intrude upon +the Japanese had proceeded from the United States. An unsuccessful attempt +was made in 1837, by an American merchantman, to return a party of Japanese +who had been shipwrecked on our Western coast. In 1846, Commodore Biddle +was deputed to open negotiations, and entered the Bay of Yedo with two +ships of war. Receiving an unfavorable answer to his demands, he +immediately sailed away. In 1849, Commodore Glynn, having learned of the +imprisonment of sixteen American sailors, who had been driven ashore on one +of the Japanese islands, entered the harbor of Nagasaki with the United +States ship Preble, and demanded the release of his countrymen. For a time +a disposition was shown to evade his claim and to affect ignorance of the +alleged captivity; but upon his assuming a bolder and more determined tone, +the native officials became suddenly conscious of the state of affairs, and +forthwith delivered up the seamen. Commodore Glynn then set sail, and until +the visit of Commodore Perry, in 1853, the tranquillity of Japan was +disturbed by no American intrusion. + +It may be observed, that, of the nations which up to this time had +undertaken to effect communications with Japan, all excepting the United +States had given reasonable cause for offence, and some of them for deep +enmity. The Dutch, though disliked, were tolerated; but the Portuguese, +Spanish, English, and Russians had forfeited the good opinion of the +islanders by their unprovoked and unjustifiable aggressions. It is not +improbable that the selection of the United States for their first foreign +embassy may have been induced by the consideration that the relations +between the Japanese and their American neighbors have always been pacific, +and that they have never suffered injustice or ill-treatment at our hands. + +Meanwhile, until 1852, the Dutch had held exclusive commercial privileges +in Japan. In return for these, they submitted to all sorts of +indignities. They were restricted to the narrow limits of the artificially +constructed island of Desima, which is only six hundred feet in length, and +two hundred and forty in breadth. Here they were confined within high +fences fringed with spikes. Their houses were all of wood, no stone +buildings being permitted, undoubtedly with a view to preventing the +slightest chance of fortification. At the northern extremity of the island +was a large water-gate, which was kept continually closed, under a guard, +except upon the arrival of the Dutch vessels. These restrictions were in +great part continued almost to the present day, and many of them are still +in force. On the arrival of a Dutch ship, all the Bibles on board were +obliged to be put into a chest, which, after being nailed down, was given +in charge of the Japanese officials, to be retained by them until the time +of departure. All arms and ammunition, also, were required to be given +up. The crew, on landing at Desima, were placed under rigorous +surveillance, which was never relaxed. Even the permanent Dutch residents +received but little better treatment. They were unable to make any open +avowal of the Christian religion, and the Japanese officers who came in +contact with them were compelled to make frequent disavowals of +Christianity, and publicly to trample the cross, its symbol, under +foot. The island of Desima was infested with Japanese spies, whom the Dutch +were required to employ and pay as secretaries and servants, while knowing +their real office, If a Dutch resident aspired to occasional egress from +his prison, it was necessary to petition the governor of Nagasaki for the +privilege. As a general thing, the application was granted, but with such +conditions as to destroy all possibility of enjoyment; for, upon appearing +in Nagasaki, the unfortunate Dutchman was set upon by a band of spies and +policemen, who accompanied him wherever he turned and who were always +pleasantly inviting themselves to be entertained at his expense,--a +proposition which he was not at liberty to decline. These spies gradually +got into the habit of taking with them as many of their acquaintances as +they could gather together, until the cost of a stroll about Nagasaki +became too heavy to be endured. But there was no remedy; he must either pay +or stay at home; and even upon these extravagant terms, he was not allowed +to enter any Japanese house, or to remain within the city after sunset. For +the rare favor of visiting the residence of a native Nagasakian, a special +petition was needed, and if granted, the number of spies on such an +occasion was multiplied at a most appalling rate. The Dutch were, moreover, +forbidden the companionship of their own countrywomen, and only the most +degraded female class of Nagasaki were allowed to visit them. In every way +they were forced to acknowledge their inferiority and undergo deprivations +and mortifications, for which, let us hope, they succeeded in finding some +compensation in the scant privileges of their trade. + +At length the time arrived when the reluctant Japanese were to be taught +the uselessness of further efforts to resist the advances of other +nations. In November, 1852, an expedition, long contemplated and carefully +prearranged, set sail from the United States under the command of Commodore +M.C. Perry. Although this mission was the subject of much discussion +abroad, no very general hope of its success was expressed. The opinion +appeared to be, that, under all circumstances, Japan would still continue +locked in its seclusion. The result proved how easily, by the exercise of +firmness, prudence, and energy, all of which Commodore Perry displayed in +every movement, the much desired end could be accomplished. The secret of +two hundred years was solved in a day. The path once opened, there were +plenty to follow it: Russia, England, and France were quick to share the +benefits which had in the first place been gained by the United States. But +thus far the best fruits of Japanese intercourse have fallen to the United +States, and it seems clear that only a continuance of the same ability +hitherto shown in the management of our affairs with that nation is needed +to preserve to this country the superior advantages it now holds. + +On the 8th of July, 1853, Commodore Perry, with two steamers and two +sloops-of-war, entered the Bay of Yedo, having purposely avoided the port +of Nagasaki, at which all strangers had previously been accustomed to hold +communications with the government. In this, as in other movements, the +Commodore acted independently of much opposing counsel. By first visiting +the Loo-choo and Bonin islands, which are under Japanese control, and +mostly peopled by Japanese, he had acquired a considerable knowledge of the +character of those with whom he was to deal, and had been enabled to trace +for himself a policy which the result proved to be eminently just and +effective. He determined boldly to insist upon, rather than to beseech, the +privileges he had been deputed to gain. Understanding perfectly the +vexatious and embarrassing expedients by which the Japanese had been +accustomed to hamper and resist the endeavors of even the best-disposed of +their visitors, he resolved to listen to no suggestions of delay, and to +push vigorously forward with his mission, in spite of every obstacle their +wily ingenuity could oppose to him. Their assumptions of exclusiveness and +superiority he met by precisely the same sort of display, allowing no +familiarity on the part of the natives until all was definitely settled as +he desired, and intrenching himself in a mysterious seclusion which rather +exceeded even their own notions of personal dignity. Until one of the first +noblemen in the nation was sent to treat with him, the Commodore shunned +all intercourse with the people, and systematically refused to expose +himself to the profane eyes of the multitude. This unusual course took the +Japanese quite by surprise, and, not without some feeling of trepidation, +they bestirred themselves with unexampled alacrity to satisfy, so far as +they were able, his reasonable demands. Of course it was impossible for +them to set aside all their prejudices, and the record of their schemes to +impede the Commodore's progress, all of which were quietly overcome by his +firmness and decision, is equally amusing and instructive.[1] At the moment +of his entering the Bay of Yedo, he was surrounded by guard-boats, and +saluted with various warnings of peril, which might have deterred a less +resolute man. But, wholly indifferent to Japanese guard-boats, he sent out +his own for surveying purposes without hesitation, taking it for granted +that perfect fearlessness would secure the crews from molestation. In +answer to the remonstrances received at the outset, he simply pushed still +farther up the bay, until, finding it impossible to obtain compliance with +their requirements, the Japanese concluded to yield to his; and after as +much hesitation as the Commodore thought proper to give them opportunity +for, the letters from President Fillmore were received by the Emperor, or +Tycoon,[2] negotiations were opened, and, finally, a treaty, yielding all +the important points that had been asked for, was agreed upon. This treaty +proclaimed "a perfect, permanent, and universal peace, and a sincere and +cordial amity", between the two nations; designated certain ports where +American ships should obtain supplies; promised protection to American +seamen who should chance to be shipwrecked on the coast; and contained the +important stipulation, that no further privileges should be vouchsafed to +any other government except on condition of their being fully shared by the +United States. + +[Footnote 1: The details are to be found in the _Narratives of the +Expedition_, by Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., published by Congress at +Washington, in 1856.] + +[Footnote 2: As will be shown hereafter, the military functions of the +temporal ruler long ago ceased, and the title of Tycoon has been +substituted for that of Ziogoon.] + +The communications between Commodore Perry and the Japanese were carried on +in the most friendly manner. While the Commodore allowed no interference +with what he regarded as his own rights in the case, he was careful to +check any disposition on the part of his officers to defy those of the +islanders. Thus the utmost cordiality was preserved throughout. The +Japanese received the presents from the American government with delight, +and were quite overcome at the sight of the steam-engine and the magnetic +telegraph. A series of agreeable entertainments followed the signing of the +treaty, in which the Japanese showed themselves especially alive to the +civilizing influences of foreign cookery, and appreciation of such +refinements as whiskey and Champagne, to whose beneficent influences they +gave themselves up with ardor. Commodore Perry, on his departure, after +freely visiting various Japanese ports, was intrusted with a number of +presents for the American government, and entreated to bear with him the +assurance of entire confidence and amity. + +In August, 1853, subsequently to the arrival of Commodore Perry, a Russian +squadron visited Nagasaki, but, after protracted negotiations, departed +without obtaining a treaty. In September, 1854, Admiral James Stirling, on +behalf of the English government, effected a treaty at Nagasaki, the terms +of which were rather less liberal and advantageous than those granted to +the United States. But the inevitable result of Commodore Perry's success +could not long be delayed. Since the time of his mission, the governments +of France, England, Holland, and Russia have secured treaties guarantying +important privileges. It appears, however, that the superiority of +influence remains with the United States, owing, in a measure, no doubt, to +the excellent abilities of the Consul-General, Mr. Townsend Harris, who has +permitted no opportunity to escape of pressing the claims of his +government. As early as July, 1858, he negotiated a fair commercial +treaty. Mr. Harris is the only foreigner who was ever permitted to enter +the palace of the Tycoon of Japan without the degrading forms of submission +formerly exacted from the Dutch. He was received there with every +testimonial of respect. At a time when Mr. Harris was seriously ill, the +Tycoon despatched his own physician to attend him, while her Majesty +continually sent him the most delicate preparations of food, the work of +her own imperial hands. The ease with which the missions of Lord Elgin and +Baron Gros,[1] in 1858, were accomplished, may fairly be attributed to the +effects already produced by American influences. It was through +Mr. Harris's exertions that the Japanese embassy to this government was +secured. The English government endeavored to obtain first this important +mark of recognition, but, as it appears, unsuccessfully. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's expedition (_Narrative +of the Earl of Elgin's Mission_, etc., by Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.) is one +of the most valuable contributions from Japan. His observations, which at +Yedo were more extended and unimpeded than those of any preceding visitor, +are recorded in the most lively and charming manner. The history of the +embassy of Baron Gros (_Souvenirs d'une Ambassade en Chine et au Japon_, +par le Marquis de Moges) is less complete and entertaining, but by no means +destitute of interest.] + +At the present moment, all seems favorable for the development of the long +hidden resources of the Empire. But there are still difficulties in the +way; for a powerful class of nobles, those who trace their descent from the +ancient spiritual dynasty, are strongly opposed to the overthrow of the old +system. It is only by constant struggles that the more progressive class +can make way against them. The arrival of this embassy, and the recent +visit of a Japanese ship to California, are hopeful signs; for these could +have been permitted only on the abrogation of the old law of seclusion, +proclaimed at the time of the Portuguese expulsion; and such are the +peculiar principles of the Japanese government, that, as will hereafter be +shown, an important law like this cannot be revoked without a general +change of its policy. Within the city of Yedo are now the representatives +of three powerful nations, England, France, and the United States; others +are seeking admission; and the period when Japan shall mingle freely with +the world it has so long affected to contemn can hardly be long deferred. + +In a future number we shall speak of the present condition of Japan, the +forms of government, so far as known, its social state and prospects, and +the character of the people, as represented in the embassy which is now +receiving the hospitalities of our own government. + + * * * * * + + + +THE VINEYARD-SAINT. + + +She, pacing down the vineyard walks, +Put back the branches, one by one, +Stripped the dry foliage from the stalks, +And gave their bunches to the sun. + +On fairer hill-sides, looking south, +The vines were brown with cankerous rust, +The earth was hot with summer drouth, +And all the grapes were dim with dust. + +Yet here some blessed influence rained +From kinder skies, the season through; +On every bunch the bloom remained, +And every leaf was washed in dew. + +I saw her blue eyes, clear and calm; +I saw the aureole of her hair; +I heard her chant some unknown psalm, +In triumph half, and half in prayer. + +"Hail, maiden of the vines!" I cried: +"Hail, Oread of the purple hill! +For vineyard fauns too fair a bride, +For me thy cup of welcome fill! + +"Unlatch the wicket; let me in, +And, sharing, make thy toil more dear: +No riper vintage holds the bin +Than that our feet shall trample here. + +"Beneath thy beauty's light I glow, +As in the sun those grapes of thine: +Touch thou my heart with love, and lo! +The foaming must is turned to wine!" + +She, pausing, stayed her careful task, +And, lifting eyes of steady ray, +Blew, as a wind the mountain's mask +Of mist, my cloudy words away. + +No troubled flush o'erran her cheek; +But when her quiet lips did stir, +My heart knelt down to hear her speak, +And mine the blush I sought in her. + +"Oh, not for me," she said, "the vow +So lightly breathed, to break erelong; +The vintage-garland on the brow; +The revels of the dancing throng! + +"To maiden love I shut my heart, +Yet none the less a stainless bride; +I work alone, I dwell apart, +Because my work is sanctified. + +"A virgin hand must tend the vine, +By virgin feet the vat be trod, +Whose consecrated gush of wine +Becomes the blessed blood of God! + +"No sinful purple here shall stain, +Nor juice profane these grapes afford; +But reverent lips their sweetness drain +Around the table of the Lord. + +"The cup I fill, of chaster gold, +Upon the lighted altar stands; +There, when the gates of heaven unfold, +The priest exalts it in his hands. + +"The censer yields adoring breath, +The awful anthem sinks and dies, +While God, who suffered life and death, +Renews His ancient sacrifice. + +"O sacred garden of the vine! +And blessed she, ordained to press +God's chosen vintage, for the wine +Of pardon and of holiness!" + + * * * * * + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +COUSIN RICHARD'S VISIT. + + +The Doctor was roused from his reverie by the clatter of approaching +hoofs. He looked forward and saw a young fellow galloping rapidly towards +him. + +A common New-England rider with his toes turned out, his elbows jerking and +the daylight showing under him at every step, bestriding a cantering beast +of the plebeian breed, thick at every point where he should be thin, and +thin at every point where he should be thick, is not one of those noble +objects that bewitch the world. The best horsemen outside of the cities are +the unshod country-boys, who ride "bare-backed," with only a halter round +the horse's neck, digging their brown heels into his ribs, and slanting +over backwards, but sticking on like leeches, and taking the hardest trot +as if they loved it. This was a different sight on which the Doctor was +looking. The streaming mane and tail of the unshorn, savage-looking, black +horse, the dashing grace with which the young fellow in the shadowy +_sombrero_, and armed with the huge spurs, sat in his high-peaked saddle, +could belong only to the mustang of the Pampas and his master. This bold +rider was a young man whose sudden apparition in the quiet inland town had +reminded some of the good people of a bright, curly-haired boy they had +known some eight or ten years before as little Dick Venner. + +This boy had passed several of his early years at the Dudley mansion, the +playmate of Elsie, being her cousin, two or three years older than herself, +the son of Captain Richard Venner, a South American trader, who, as he +changed his residence often, was glad to leave the boy in his brother's +charge. The Captain's wife, this boy's mother, was a lady of Buenos Ayres, +of Spanish descent, and had died while the child was in his cradle. These +two motherless children were as strange a pair as one roof could well +cover. Both handsome, wild, impetuous, unmanageable, they played and fought +together like two young leopards, beautiful, but dangerous, their lawless +instincts showing through all their graceful movements. + +The boy was little else than a young _Gaucho_ when he first came to +Rockland; for he had learned to ride almost as soon as to walk, and could +jump on his pony and trip up a runaway pig with the _bolas_ or noose him +with his miniature _lasso_ at an age when some city-children would hardly +be trusted out of sight of a nursery-maid. It makes men imperious to sit a +horse; no man governs his fellows so well as from this living throne. And +so, from Marcus Aurelius in Roman bronze, down to the "man on horseback" in +General Cushing's prophetic speech, the saddle has always been the true +seat of empire. The absolute tyranny of the human will over a noble and +powerful beast develops the instinct of personal prevalence and dominion; +so that horse-subduer and hero were almost synonymous in simpler times, and +are closely related still. An ancestry of wild riders naturally enough +bequeathes also those other tendencies which we see in the Tartars, the +Cossacks, and our own Indian Centaurs,--and as well, perhaps, in the +old-fashioned fox-hunting squire as in any of these. Sharp alternations of +violent action and self-indulgent repose; a hard run, and a long revel +after it: this is what over-much horse tends to animalize a man into. Such +antecedents may have helped to make little Dick Venner a self-willed, +capricious boy, and a rough playmate for Elsie. + +Elsie was the wilder of the two. Old Sophy, who used to watch them with +those quick, animal-looking eyes of hers,--she was said to the the +granddaughter of a cannibal chief, and inherited the keen senses belonging +to all creatures which are hunted as game,--Old Sophy, who watched them in +their play and their quarrels, always seemed to be more afraid for the boy +than the girl. "Massa Dick! Massa Dick! don' you be too rough wi' dat gal! +She scratch you las' week, 'n' some day she bite you; 'n' if she bite you, +Massa Dick!"--Old Sophy nodded her head ominously, as if she could say a +great deal more; while, in grateful acknowledgment of her caution, Master +Dick put his two little fingers in the angles of his mouth, and his +forefingers on his lower eyelids, drawing upon these features until his +expression reminded her of something she vaguely recollected in her +infancy,--the face of a favorite deity executed in wood by an African +artist for her grandfather, brought over by her mother, and burned when she +became a Christian. + +These two wild children had much in common. They loved to ramble together, +to build huts, to climb trees for nests, to ride the colts, to dance, to +race, and to play at boys' rude games as if both were boys. But wherever +two natures have a great deal in common, the conditions of a first-rate +quarrel are furnished ready-made. Relations are very apt to hate each other +just because they are too much alike. It is so frightful to be in an +atmosphere of family idiosyncrasies; to see all the hereditary uncomeliness +or infirmity of body, all the defects of speech, all the failings of +temper, intensified by concentration, so that every fault of our own finds +itself multiplied by reflections, like our images in a saloon lined with +mirrors! Nature knows what she is about. The centrifugal principle which +grows out of the antipathy of like to like is only the repetition in +character of the arrangement we see expressed materially in certain +seed-capsules, which burst and throw the seed to all points of the compass. +A house is a large pod with a human germ or two in each of its cells or +chambers; it opens by dehiscence of the frontdoor by-and-by, and projects +one of its germs to Kansas, another to San Francisco, another to Chicago, +and so on; and this that Smith may not be Smithed to death and Brown be +Browned into a mad-house, but mix in with the world again and struggle back +to average humanity. + +Elsie's father, whose fault was to indulge her in everything, found that it +would never do to let these children grow up together. They would either +love each other as they got older, and pair like wild creatures, or take +some fierce antipathy, which might end nobody could tell where. It was not +safe to try. The boy must be sent away. A sharper quarrel than common +decided this point. Master Dick forgot Old Sophy's caution, and vexed the +girl into a paroxysm of wrath, in which she sprang at him and bit his +arm. Perhaps they made too much of it; for they sent for the old Doctor, +who came at once when he heard what had happened. He had a good deal to say +about the danger there was from the teeth of animals or human beings when +enraged; and as he emphasized his remarks by the application of a pencil of +lunar caustic to each of the marks left by the sharp white teeth, they were +like to be remembered by at least one of his hearers. + +So Master Dick went off on his travels, which led him into strange places +and stranger company. Elsie was half pleased and half sorry to have him go; +the children had a kind of mingled liking and hate for each other, just +such as is very common among relations. Whether the girl had most +satisfaction in the plays they shared, or in teasing him, or taking her +small revenge upon him for teasing her, it would have been hard to say. At +any rate, she was lonely without him. She had more fondness for the old +black woman than anybody; but Sophy could not follow her far beyond her own +old rocking-chair. As for her father, she had made him afraid of her, not +for his sake, but for her own. Sometimes she would seem, to be fond of him, +and the parent's heart would yearn within him as she twined her supple arms +about him; and then some look she gave him, some half-articulated +expression, would turn his cheek pale and almost make him shiver, and he +would say kindly, "Now go, Elsie, dear," and smile upon her as she went, +and close and lock the door softly after her. Then his forehead would knot +and furrow itself, and the drops of anguish stand thick upon it. He would +go to the western window of his study and look at the solitary mound with +the marble slab for its head-stone. After his grief had had its way, he +would kneel down and pray for his child as one who has no hope save in that +special grace which can bring the most rebellious spirit into sweet +subjection. All this might seem like weakness in a parent having the charge +of one sole daughter of his house and heart; but he had tried authority and +tenderness by turns so long without any good effect, that be had become +sore perplexed, and, surrounding her with cautious watchfulness as he best +might, left her in the main to her own guidance and the merciful influences +which Heaven might send down to direct her footsteps. + +Meantime the boy grew up to youth and early manhood through a strange +succession of adventures. He had been at school at Buenos Ayres,--had +quarrelled with his mother's relatives,--had run off to the Pampas, and +lived with the _Cauchos_,--had made friends with the Indians, and ridden +with them, it was rumored, in some of their savage forays,--had returned +and made up his quarrel,--had got money by inheritance or otherwise,--had +troubled I he peace of certain magistrates,--had found it convenient to +leave the City of Wholesome Breezes for a time, and had galloped off on a +fast horse of his, (so it was said,) with some officers riding after him, +who took good care (but this was only the popular story) not to catch +him. A few days after this he was taking his ice on the Alameda of Mendoza, +and a week or two later sailed from Valparaiso for New York, carrying with +him the horse with which he had scampered over the Plains, a trunk or two +with his newly purchased outfit of clothing and other conveniences, and a +belt heavy with gold and with a few Brazilian diamonds sewed in it, enough +in value to serve him for a long journey. + +Dick Venner had seen life enough to wear out the earlier sensibilities of +adolescence. He was tired of worshipping or tyrannizing over the bistred or +umbered beauties of mingled blood among whom he had been living. Even that +piquant exhibition which the Rio de Mendoza presents to the amateur of +breathing sculpture failed to interest him. He was thinking of a far-off +village on the other side of the equator, and of the wild girl with whom he +used to play and quarrel, a creature of a different race from these +degenerate mongrels. + +"A game little devil she was, sure enough!"--and as Dick spoke, he bared +his wrist to look for the marks she had left on it: two small white scars, +where the two small sharp upper teeth had struck when she flashed at him +with her eyes sparkling as bright as those glittering stones sewed up in +the belt he wore.--"That's a filly worth noosing!" said Dick to himself, as +he looked in admiration at the sign of her spirit and passion. "I wonder if +she will bite at eighteen as she did at eight! She shall have a chance to +try, at any rate!" + +Such was the self-sacrificing disposition with which Richard Venner, Esq., +a passenger by the Condor from Valparaiso, set foot upon his native shore, +and turned his face in the direction of Rockland, The Mountain, and the +mansion-house. He had heard something, from time to time, of his +New-England relatives, and knew that they were living together as he left +them. And so he heralded himself to "My dear Uncle" by a letter signed +"Your loving nephew, Richard Venner," in which letter he told a very frank +story of travel and mercantile adventure, expressed much gratitude for the +excellent counsel and example which had helped to form his character and +preserve him in the midst of temptation, inquired affectionately after his +uncle's health, was much interested to know whether his lively cousin who +used to be his playmate had grown up as handsome as she promised to be, and +announced his intention of paying his respects to them both at +Rockland. Not long after this came the trunks marked R.V. which he had sent +before him, forerunners of his advent: he was not going to wait for a reply +or an invitation. + +What a sound that is,--the banging down of the preliminary trunk, without +its claimant to give it the life which is borrowed by all personal +appendages, so long as the owner's hand or eye is on them! If it announce +the coming of one loved and longed for, how we delight to look at it, to +sit down on it, to caress it in our fancies, as a lone exile walking out on +a windy pier yearns towards the merchantman lying along-side, with the +colors of his own native land at her peak, and the name of the port he +sailed from long ago upon her stern! But if it tell the near approach of +the undesired, inevitable guest, what sound short of the muffled noises +made by the undertakers as they turn the corners in the dim-lighted house, +with low shuffle of feet and whispered cautions, carries such a sense of +knocking-kneed collapse with it as the thumping down in the front entry of +the heavy portmanteau, rammed with the changes of uncounted coming weeks? + +Whether the R.V. portmanteaus brought one or the other of these emotions to +the tenants of the Dudley mansion, it might not be easy to settle. Elsie +professed to be pleased with the thought of having an adventurous young +stranger, with stories to tell, an inmate of their quiet, not to say dull, +family. Under almost any other circumstances, her father would have been +unwilling to take a young fellow of whom he knew so little under his roof; +but this was his nephew, and anything that seemed like to amuse or please +Elsie was agreeable to him. He had grown almost desperate, and felt as if +any change in the current of her life and feelings might save her from some +strange paroxysm of dangerous mental exaltation or sullen perversion of +disposition, from which some fearful calamity might come to herself or +others. + +Dick had been some weeks at the Dudley mansion. A few days before, he had +made a sudden dash for the nearest large city,--and when the Doctor met +him, he was just returning from his visit. + + * * * * * + +It had been a curious meeting between the two young persons, who had parted +so young and after such strange relations with each other. When Dick first +presented himself at the mansion, not one in the house would have known him +for the boy who had left them all so suddenly years ago. He was so dark, +partly from his descent, partly from long habits of exposure, that Elsie +looked almost fair beside him. He had something of the family beauty which +belonged to his cousin, but his eye had a fierce passion in it, very unlike +the cold glitter of Elsie's. Like many people of strong and imperious +temper, he was soft-voiced and very gentle in his address, when he had no +special reason for being otherwise. He soon found reasons enough to be as +amiable as he could force himself to be with his uncle and his +cousin. Elsie was to his fancy. She had a strange attraction for him, quite +unlike anything he had ever known in other women. There was something, too, +in early associations: when those who parted as children meet as man and +woman, there is always a renewal of that early experience which followed +the taste of the forbidden fruit,--a natural blush of consciousness, not +without its charm. + +Nothing could be more becoming than the behavior of "Richard Venner, +Esquire, the guest of Dudley Venner, Esquire, at his noble mansion," as he +was announced in the Court column of the "Rockland Weekly Universe." He was +pleased to find himself treated with kindness and attention as a +relative. He made himself very agreeable by abundant details concerning the +religious, political, social, commercial, and educational progress of the +South American cities and states. He was himself much interested in +everything that was going on about the Dudley mansion, walked all over it, +noticed its valuable wood-lots with special approbation, was delighted with +the grand old house and its furniture, and would not be easy until he had +seen all the family silver and heard its history. In return, he had much to +tell of his father, now dead,--the only one of the Tenners, beside +themselves, in whose fate his uncle was interested. With Elsie, he was +subdued and almost tender in his manner; with the few visitors whom they +saw, shy and silent,--perhaps a little watchful, if any young man happened +to be among them. + +Young fellows placed on their good behavior are apt to get restless and +nervous, all ready to fly off into some mischief or other. Dick Venner had +his half-tamed horse with him to work off his suppressed life with. When +the savage passion of his young blood came over him, he would fetch out the +mustang, screaming and kicking as these amiable beasts are wont to do, +strap the Spanish saddle tight to his back, vault into it, and, after +getting away from the village, strike the long spurs into his sides and +whirl away in a wild gallop, until the black horse was flecked with white +foam, and the cruel steel points were red with his blood. When horse and +rider were alike tired, he would fling the bridle on his neck and saunter +homeward, always contriving to get to the stable in a quiet way, and coming +into the house as calm as a bishop after a sober trot on his steady-going +cob. + +After a few weeks of this kind of life, he began to want some more fierce +excitement. He had tried making downright love to Elsie, with no great +success as yet, in his own opinion. The girl was capricious in her +treatment of him, sometimes scowling and repellent, sometimes familiar, +very often, as she used to be of old, teasing and malicious. All this, +perhaps, made her more interesting to a young man who was tired of easy +conquests. There was a strange fascination in her eyes, too, which at times +was quite irresistible, so that he would feel himself drawn to her by a +power which seemed to take away his will for the moment It may have been +nothing but the common charm of bright eyes; but he had never before +experienced the same kind of attraction. + +Perhaps she was not so very different from what she had been as a child, +after all. At any rate, so it seemed to Dick Venner, who, as was said +before, had tried making love to her. They were sitting alone in the study +one day; Elsie had round her neck that somewhat peculiar ornament, the +golden _torque_, which she had worn to the great party. Youth is +adventurous and very curious about neck laces, brooches, chains, and other +such adornments, so long as they are worn by young persons of the female +sex. Dick was seized with a great passion for examining this curious chain, +and, after some preliminary questions, was rash enough to lean towards her +and put out his hand toward the neck that lay in the golden coil. She threw +her head back, her eyes narrowing and her forehead drawing down so that +Dick thought her head actually flattened itself. He started involuntarily; +for she looked so like the little girl who had struck him with those sharp +flashing teeth, that the whole scene came back, and he felt the stroke +again as if it had just been given, and the two white scars began to sting +as they did after the old Doctor had burned them with that stick of gray +caustic, which looked so like a slate pencil, and felt so much like the end +of a red-hot poker. + +It took something more than a gallop to set him right after this. The next +day he mentioned having received a letter from a mercantile agent with whom +he had dealings. What his business was is, perhaps, none of our +business. At any rate, it required him to go at once to the city where his +correspondent resided. + +Independently of this "business" which called him, there may have been +other motives, such as have been hinted at. People who have been living for +a long time in dreary country-places, without any emotion beyond such as +are occasioned by a trivial pleasure or annoyance, often get crazy at last +for a vital paroxysm of some kind or other. In this state they rush to the +great cities for a plunge into their turbid life-baths, with a frantic +thirst for every exciting pleasure, which makes them the willing and easy +victims of all those who sell the Devil's wares on commission. The less +intelligent and instructed class of unfortunates, who venture with their +ignorance and their instincts into what is sometimes called the "life" of +great cities, are put through a rapid course of instruction which entitles +them very commonly to a diploma from the police court. But they only +illustrate the working of the same tendency in mankind at large which has +been occasionally noticed in the sons of ministers and other eminently +worthy people, by many ascribed to that intense congenital hatred for +goodness which distinguishes human nature from that of the brute, but +perhaps as readily accounted for by considering it as the yawning and +stretching of a young soul cramped too long in one moral posture. + +Richard Venner was a young man of remarkable experience for his years. He +ran less risk, therefore, in exposing himself to the temptations and +dangers of a great city than many older men, who, seeking the livelier +scenes of excitement to be found in large towns as a relaxation after the +monotonous routine of family-life, are too often taken advantage of and +made the victims of their sentiments or their generous confidence in their +fellow-creatures. Such was not his destiny. There was something about him +which looked as if he would not take bullying kindly. He had also the +advantage of being acquainted with most of those ingenious devices by which +the proverbial inconstancy of fortune is steadied to something more nearly +approaching fixed laws, and the dangerous risks which have so often led +young men to ruin and suicide are practically reduced to somewhat less than +nothing. So that Mr, Richard Venner worked off his nervous energies without +any troublesome adventure, and was ready to return to Rockland in less than +a week, without having lightened the money-belt he wore round his body, or +tarnished the long glittering knife he carried in his boot. + +Dick had sent his trunk to the nearest town through which the railroad +leading to the city passed. He rode off on his black horse and left him at +the place where he took the cars. On arriving at the city station, he took +a coach and drove to one of the great hotels. Thither drove also a +sagacious-looking, middle-aged man, who entered his name as "W. Thompson" +in the book at the office immediately after that of "R. Venner." Mr, +"Thompson" kept a carelessly observant eye upon Mr. Venner during his stay +at the hotel, and followed him to the cars when he left, looking over his +shoulder when he bought his ticket at the station, and seeing him fairly +off without obtruding himself in any offensive way upon his +attention. Mr. Thompson, known in other quarters as Detective Policeman +Terry, got very little by his trouble. Richard Venner did not turn out to +be the wife-poisoner, the defaulting cashier, the river-pirate, or the +great counterfeiter. He paid his hotel-bill as a gentleman should always +do, if he has the money, and can spare it. The detective had probably +overrated his own sagacity when he ventured to suspect Mr. Venner. He +reported to his chief that there was a knowing-looking fellow he had been +round after, but he rather guessed he was nothing more than "one o' them +Southern sportsmen." + +The poor fellows at the stable where Dick had left his horse had had +trouble enough with him. One of the ostlers was limping about with a lame +leg, and another had lost a mouthful of his coat, which came very near +carrying a piece of his shoulder with it. When Mr. Venner came back for his +beast, he was as wild as if he had just been lassoed, screaming, kicking, +rolling over to get rid of his saddle,--and when his rider was at last +mounted, jumping about in a way to dislodge any common horseman. To all +this Dick replied by sticking his long spurs deeper and deeper into his +flanks, until the creature found he was mastered, and dashed off as if all +the thistles of the Pampas were pricking him. + +"One more gallop, Juan!" This was in the last mile of the road before he +came to the town--which brought him in sight of the mansion-house. It was +in this last gallop that the fiery mustang and his rider flashed by the old +Doctor. Cassia pointed her sharp ears and shied to let them pass. The +Doctor turned and looked through the little round glass in the back of his +sulky. + +"Dick Turpin, there, will find more than his match!" said the Doctor. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE APOLLINEAN INSTITUTE. + +_With Extracts from the "Report of the Committee."_ + + +The readers of this narrative will hardly expect any elaborate details of +the educational management of the Apollinean Institute. They cannot be +supposed to take the same interest in its affairs as was shown by the +Annual Committees who reported upon its condition and prospects. As these +Committees were, however, an important part of the mechanism of the +establishment, some general account of their organization and a few +extracts from the Report of the one last appointed may not be out of place. + +Whether Mr. Silas Peckham had some contrivance for packing his Committees, +whether they happened always to be made up of optimists by nature, whether +they were cajoled into good-humor by polite attentions, or whether they +were always really delighted with the wonderful acquirements of the pupils +and the admirable order of the school, it is certain that their Annual +Reports were couched in language which might warm the heart of the most +cold-blooded and calculating father that ever had a family of daughters to +educate. In fact, these Annual Reports were considered by Mr. Peckham as +his most effective advertisements. + +The first thing, therefore, was to see that the Committee was made up of +persons known to the public. Some worn-out politician, in that leisurely +and amiable transition-state which comes between official extinction and +the paralysis which will finish him as soon as his brain gets a little +softer, made an admirable Chairman for Mr. Peckham, when he had the luck to +pick up such an article. Old reputations, like old fashions, are more +prized in the grassy than in the stony districts. An effete celebrity, who +would never be heard of again in the great places until the funeral sermon +waked up his memory for one parting spasm, finds himself in full flavor of +renown a little farther back from the changing winds of the sea-coast. If +such a public character was not to be had, so that there was no chance of +heading the Report with the name of the Honorable Mr. Somebody, the next +best thing was to get the Reverend Dr. Somebody to take that conspicuous +position. Then would follow two or three local worthies with Esquire after +their names. If any stray literary personage from one of the great cities +happened to be within reach, he was pounced upon by Mr. Silas Peckham. It +was a hard case for the poor man, who had travelled a hundred miles or two +to the outside suburbs after peace and unwatered milk, to be pumped for a +speech in this unexpected way. It was harder still, if he had been induced +to venture a few tremulous remarks, to be obliged to write them out for the +"Rockland Weekly Universe," with the chance of seeing them used as an +advertising certificate as long as he lived, if he lived as long as the +late Dr. Waterhouse did after giving his certificate in favor of Whitwell's +celebrated Cephalic Snuff. + +The Report of the last Committee had been signed by the Honorable ----, +late ---- of ----, as Chairman. (It is with reluctance that the name and +titles are left in blank; but our public characters are so familiarly known +to the whole community that this reserve becomes necessary.) The other +members of the Committee were the Reverend Mr. Butters, of a neighboring +town, who was to make the prayer before the Exercises of the Exhibition, +and two or three notabilities of Rockiand, with geoponic eyes, and +glabrous, bumpless foreheads. A few extracts from the Report are +subjoined:-- + +"The Committee have great pleasure in recording their unanimous opinion, +that the Institution was never in so flourishing a condition.... + +"The health of the pupils is excellent; the admirable quality of food +supplied shows itself in their appearance; their blooming aspect excited +the admiration of the Committee, and bears testimony to the assiduity of +the excellent Matron. + +"......moral and religious condition most encouraging, which they cannot +but attribute to the personal efforts and instruction of the faithful +Principal, who considers religious instruction a solemn duty which he +cannot commit to other people. + +".......great progress in their studies, under the intelligent +superintendence of the accomplished Principal, assisted by Mr. Badger, +[Mr. Langdon's predecessor,] Miss Darley, the lady who superintends the +English branches, Miss Crabs, her assistant and teacher of Modern +Languages, and Mr. Schneider, teacher of French, German, Latin, and Music. + +"Education is the great business of the Institute. Amusements are objects +of a secondary nature; but these are by no means neglected.... + +".........English compositions of great originality and beauty, creditable +alike to the head and heart of their accomplished authors......several +poems of a very high order of merit, which would do honor to the literature +of any age or country.....life-like drawings, showing great proficiency.... +Many converse fluently in various modern languages......perform the most +difficult airs with the skill of professional musicians..... + +".....advantages unsurpassed, if equalled, by those of any Institution in +the country, and reflecting the highest honor on the distinguished Head of +the Establishment, SILAS PECKHAM, Esquire, and his admirable Lady, the +MATRON, with their worthy assistants....." + + +The perusal of this Report did Mr. Bernard more good than a week's vacation +would have done. It gave him such a laugh as he had not had for a +month. The way in which Silas Peckham had made his Committee say what he +wanted them to--for he recognized a number of expressions in the Report as +coming directly from the lips of his principal, and could not help thinking +how cleverly he had _forced_ his phrases, as jugglers do the particular +card they wish their dupe to take--struck him as particularly neat and +pleasing. + +He had passed through the sympathetic and emotional stages in his new +experience, and had arrived at the philosophical and practical state, which +takes things coolly, and goes to work to set them right. He had breadth +enough of view to see that there was nothing so very exceptional in this +educational trader's dealings with his subordinates, but he had also manly +feeling enough to attack the particular individual instance of wrong before +him. There are plenty of dealers in morals, as in ordinary traffic, who +confine themselves to wholesale business. They leave the small necessity of +their next-door neighbor to the retailers, who are poorer in statistics and +general facts, but richer in the every-day charities. Mr. Bernard felt, at +first, as one does who sees a gray rat steal out of a drain and begin +gnawing at the bark of some tree loaded with fruit or blossoms, which he +will soon girdle, if he is let alone. The first impulse is to murder him +with the nearest ragged stone. Then one remembers that he is a rodent, +acting after the law of his kind, and cools down and is contented to drive +him off and guard the tree against his teeth for the future. As soon as +this is done, one can watch his attempts at mischief with a certain +amusement. + +This was the kind of process Mr. Bernard had gone through. First, the +indignant surprise of a generous nature, when it comes unexpectedly into +relations with a mean one. Then the impulse of extermination,--a divine +instinct, intended to keep down vermin of all classes to their working +averages in the economy of Nature. Then a return of cheerful tolerance,--a +feeling, that, if the Deity could bear with rats and sharpers, he could; +with a confident trust, that, in the long run, terriers and honest men +would have the upperhand, and a grateful consciousness that he had been +sent just at the right time to come between a patient victim and the master +who held her in peonage. + +Having once made up his mind what to do, Mr. Bernard was as good-natured +and hopeful as ever. He had the great advantage, from his professional +training, of knowing how to recognize and deal with the nervous +disturbances to which overtasked women are so liable. He saw well enough +that Helen Darley would certainly kill herself or lose her wits, if he +could not lighten her labors and lift off a large part of her weight of +cares. The worst of it was, that she of those women who naturally overwork +themselves, like those horses who will go at the top of their pace until +they drop. Such women are dreadfully unmanageable. It is as hard reasoning +with them as it would have been reasoning with lo, when she was flying over +land and sea, driven by the sting of the never-sleeping gadfly. + +This was a delicate, interesting game that he played. Under one innocent +pretext or another, he invaded this or that special province she had made +her own. He would collect the themes and have them all read and marked, +answer all the puzzling questions in mathematics, make the other teachers +come to him for directions, and in this way gradually took upon himself not +only all the general superintendence that belonged to his office, but stole +away so many of the special duties which might fairly have belonged to his +assistant, that, before she knew it, she was looking better and feeling +more cheerful than for many and many a month before. + +When the nervous energy is depressed by any bodily cause, or exhausted by +overworking, there follow effects which have often been misinterpreted by +moralists, and especially by theologians. The conscience itself becomes +neuralgic, sometimes actually inflamed, so that the least touch is +agony. Of all liars and false accusers, a sick conscience is the most +inventive and indefatigable. The devoted daughter, wife, mother, whose life +has been given to unselfish labors, who has filled a place which it seems +to others only and angel would make good, reproaches herself with +incompetence and neglect of duty. The humble Christian, who has been a +model to others, calls himself a worm of the dust on one page of his diary, +and arraigns himself on the next for coming short of the perfection of an +archangel. + +Conscience itself requires a conscience, or nothing can be more +unscrupulous. It told Saul that he did well in persecuting the +Christians. It has goaded countless multitudes of various creeds to endless +forms of self-torture. The cities of India are full of cripples it has +made. The hill-sides of Syria are riddled with holes, where miserable +hermits, whose lives it had palsied, lived and died like the vermin they +harbored. Our libraries are crammed with books written by spiritual +hypochondriacs, who inspected all their moral secretions a dozen times a +day. They are full of interest, but they should be transferred from the +shelf of the theologian to that of the medical man who makes a study of +insanity. + +This was the state into which too much work and too much responsibility +were bringing Helen Darley, when the new master came and lifted so much of +the burden that was crushing her as must be removed before she could have a +chance to recover her natural elasticity and buoyancy. Many of the noblest +women, suffering like her, but less fortunate in being relieved at the +right moment, die worried out of life by the perpetual teasing of this +inflamed, neuralgic conscience. So subtile is the line which separates the +true and almost angelic sensibility of a healthy, but exalted nature, from +the soreness of a soul which is sympathizing with a morbid state of the +body, that it is no wonder they are often confounded. And thus many good +women are suffered to perish by that form of spontaneous combustion in +which the victim goes on toiling day and night with the hidden fire +consuming her, until all at once her cheek whitens, and, as we look upon +her, she drops away, a heap of ashes. The more they over-work themselves, +the more exacting becomes the sense of duty,--as the draught of the +locomotive's furnace blows stronger and makes the fire burn more fiercely, +the faster it spins along the track. + +It is not very likely, as was said at the beginning of this chapter, that +we shall trouble ourselves a great deal about the internal affairs of the +Apollinean Institute. These schools are, in the nature of things, not so +very unlike each other as to require a minute description for each +particular one among them. They have all very much the same general +features, pleasing and displeasing. All feeding-establishments have +something odious about them,--from the wretched country-houses where +paupers are farmed out to the lowest bidder, up to the commons-tables at +colleges, and even the fashionable boarding-house. A person's appetite +should be at war with no other purse than his own. Young people, +especially, who have a bone-factory at work in them, and have to feed the +living looms of innumerable growing tissues, should be provided for, if +possible, by those that love them like their own flesh and blood. Elsewhere +their appetites will be sure to make them enemies, or, what are almost as +bad, friends whose interests are at variance with the claims of their +exacting necessities and demands. + +Besides, all commercial transactions in regard to the most sacred interests +of life are hateful even to those who profit by them. The clergyman, the +physician, the teacher, must be paid; but each of them, if his duty be +performed in the true spirit, can hardly help a shiver of disgust when. +money is counted out to him for administering the consolations of religion, +for saving some precious life, for sowing the seeds of Christian +civilization in young, ingenuous souls. + +And yet all these schools, with their provincial French and their +mechanical accomplishments, with their cheap parade of diplomas and +commencements and other public honors, have an ever fresh interest to all +who see the task they are performing in our new social order. These girls +are not being educated for governesses, or to be exported, with other +manufactured articles, to colonies where there happens to be a surplus of +males. Most of them will be wives, and every American-born husband is a +possible President of these United States. Any one of these girls may be a +four-years' queen. There is no sphere of human activity so exalted that she +may not be called upon to fill it. + +But there is another consideration of far higher interest. The education of +our community to all that is beautiful is flowing in mainly through its +women, and that to a considerable extent by the aid of these large +establishments, the least perfect of which do something to stimulate the +higher tastes and partially instruct them. Sometimes there is, perhaps, +reason to fear that girls will be too highly educated for their own +happiness, if they are lifted by their culture out of the range of the +practical and every-day working youth by whom they are surrounded. But this +is a risk we must take. Our young men come into active life so early, that, +if our girls were not educated to something beyond mere practical duties, +our material prosperity would outstrip our culture; as it often does in +large places where money is made too rapidly. This is the meaning, +therefore, of that somewhat ambitious programme common to most of these +large institutions, at which we sometimes smile, perhaps unwisely or +uncharitably. + +We shall take it for granted that the routine of instruction went on at the +Apollinean Institute much as it does in other schools of the same +class. People, young or old, are wonderfully different, if we contrast +extremes in pairs. They approach much nearer, if we take them in groups of +twenty. Take two separate hundreds as they come, without choosing, and you +get the gamut of human character in both so completely that you can strike +many chords in each which shall be in perfect unison with corresponding +ones in the other. If we go a step farther, and compare the population of +two villages of the same race and region, there is such a regularly +graduated distribution and parallelism of character, that it seems as if +Nature must turn out human beings in sets like chessmen. + +It must be confessed that the position in which Mr. Bernard now found +himself had a pleasing danger about it which might well justify all the +fears entertained on his account by more experienced friends, when they +learned that he was engaged in a Young Ladies' Seminary. The school never +went on more smoothly than during the first period of his administration, +after he had arranged its duties, and taken his share, and even more than +his share, upon himself. But human nature does not wait for the diploma of +the Apollinean Institute to claim the exercise of its instincts and +faculties. There young girls saw but little of the youth of the +neighborhood. The mansion-house young men were off at college or in the +cities, or making love to each other's sisters, or at any rate unavailable +for some reason or other. There were a few "clerks,"--that is, young men +who attended shops, commonly called "stores,"--who were fond of walking by +the Institute, when they were off duty, for the sake of exchanging a word +or a glance with any one of the young ladies they might happen to know, if +any such were stirring abroad: crude young men, mostly, with a great many +"Sirs" and "Ma'ams" in their speech, and with that style of address +sometimes acquired in the retail business, as if the salesman were +recommending himself to a customer,--"First-rate family article, Ma'am; +warranted to wear a lifetime; just one yard and three quarters in this +pattern, Ma'am; sha'n't I have the pleasure?" and so forth. If there had +been ever so many of them, and if they had been ever so fascinating, the +quarantine of the Institute was too rigorous to allow any romantic +infection to be introduced from without. + +Anybody might see what would happen, with a good-looking, well-dressed, +well-bred young man, who had the authority of a master, it is true, but the +manners of a friend and equal, moving about among these young girls day +after day, his eyes meeting theirs, his breath mingling with theirs, his +voice growing familiar to them, never in any harsh tones, often soothing, +encouraging, always sympathetic, with its male depth and breadth of sound +among the chorus of trebles, as if it were a river in which a hundred of +these little piping streamlets might lose themselves; anybody might see +what would happen. Young girls wrote home to their parents that they +enjoyed themselves much this term at the Institute, and thought they were +making rapid progress in their studies. There was a great enthusiasm for +the young master's reading-classes in English poetry. Some of the poor +little things began to adorn themselves with an extra ribbon, or a bit of +such jewelry as they had before kept for great occasions. Dear souls! they +only half knew what they were doing it for. Does the bird know why its +feathers grow more brilliant and its voice becomes musical in the pairing +season? + +And so, in the midst of this quiet inland town, where a mere accident had +placed Mr. Bernard Langdon, there was a concentration of explosive +materials which might at any time change its Arcadian and academic repose +into a scene of dangerous commotion. What said Helen Darley, when she saw +with her woman's glance that more than one girl, when she should be looking +at her book, was looking over it toward the master's desk? Was her own +heart warmed by any livelier feeling than gratitude, as its life began to +flow with fuller pulses, and the morning sky again looked bright and the +flowers recovered their lost fragrance? Was there any strange, mysterious +affinity between the master and the dark girl who sat by herself? Could she +call him at will by looking at him? Could it be that ----? It made her +shiver to think of it.--And who was that strange horseman who passed +Mr. Bernard at dusk the other evening, looking so like Mephistopheles +galloping hard to be in season at the witches' Sabbath-gathering? That must +be the cousin of Elsie's who wants to marry her, they say. A +dangerous-looking fellow for a rival, if one took a fancy to the dark girl! +And who is she, and what?--by what demon is she haunted, by what taint is +she blighted, by what curse is she followed, by what destiny is she marked, +that her strange beauty has such a terror in it, and that hardly one shall +dare to love her, and her eye glitters always, but warms for none? + +Some of these questions are ours. Some were Helen Darley's. Some of them +mingled with the dreams of Bernard Langdon, as he slept the night after +meeting the strange horseman. In the morning he happened to be a little +late in entering the school-room. There was something between the leaves of +the Virgil that lay upon his desk. He opened it and saw a freshly gathered +mountain-flower. He looked at Elsie, instinctively, involuntarily. She had +another such flower on her breast. + +A young girl's graceful compliment,--that is all,--no doubt,--no doubt. It +was odd that the flower should have happened to be laid between the leaves +of the Fourth Book of the "Æneid," and at this line,-- + +"Incipit effari, mediâque in voce resistit." + +A remembrance of an ancient superstition flashed through the master's mind, +and he determined to try the _Sortes Virgilianæ_. He shut the volume, and +opened it again at a venture.--The story of Laocoön! + +He read, with a strange feeling of unwilling fascination, from "_Horresco +referens_" to "_Bis medium amplexi_," and flung the book from him, as if +its leaves had been steeped in the subtle poisons that princes die of. + + * * * * * + + + +THE SPHINX'S CHILDREN. + +"Que la volonté soit le destin!" + + +Long had she sat, crouched upon her breast,--crouched, but not for slumber +or for spring. No slumber gloomed darkly in those broad, sad eyes; no dream +indefinably softened the lips, whose patient outline breathed only +wakefulness and expectation,--a long-deferred, yet constant expectation,--a +hope that would have been despair, save that it was just within hope's +limits,--a monotonous, reiterate, indestructible chord in the creature's +mystic existence, that, once struck by some mighty, shrouded Hand of Power, +still reverberated, and trailed its still renewing echoes through every +fibre of its secret habitation. Nor yet for spring;--a couchant leopard has +posed itself with horrid intent; murder glitters in its fixed golden eye, +quivers in the tense loins, creeps in the tawny glitter of the skin, +clutches the keen claws, that recoil, and grasp, and recoil again from the +velvet ball of that heavy foot; murder grins in the withdrawn lip, the +white, red-set teeth, the slavering crunch of the jaw: but nothing of all +these fired the quiet and the silence of the crouching Sphinx; nerve and +muscle in tranquil strength lay relaxed, though not unconscious. Year after +year the yellow Desert robed itself in burning mists, splendid and deadly; +year after year the hot simoom licked up its sands, and, whirling them +madly over the dead plain, dashed them against the silent Sphinx, and grain +by grain heaped her slow-growing grave; the Nile spread its waters across +the green valley, and lapped its brink with a watery thirst for land, and +then receded to its channel, and poured its ancient flood still downward to +the sea; worshipped, or desecrated; threaded by black Nubian boatmen, who +mocked its sacred name with such savage mirth as satyrs might have spirted +from their hairy lips; navigated by keen-eyed Arabs, lithe and dark and +treacherous as the river beneath them; Coptic shepherds, lingering on the +brink, drank the sweet waters, and led their flocks to drink at the +shallows, when the shepherd's star cleft that deepest sky with its crest, +and warned the simple people of their hour;--yet forever stood the Sphinx, +passionately patient, looking for sunrise, over desert, vale, and +river,--beyond man,--to her hour.--And the hour came. + +Once to all things comes their hour. The black column of basalt quivers to +its heart with one keen lightning thrill that vindicates its kin to the +electric flash without; the granite cliff loses one atom from its bald +front, and every other atom quails before the dumb shiver of gravitation +and shifts its place; the breathing, breathless marble, which a sculptor +has rescued from its primeval sleep, and, repeating after God, though with +stammering and insufficient lips, the great drama of Paradise, makes a man +out of dust,--once, once, in the dcadness of its beauty, that marble +thrills with magnetic life, drinks its maker's soul, repeats the Paradisaic +amen, and owns that it is good. Yea, greater miracle of transcendental +truth,--once,--perhaps twice,--the sodden, valueless heart of that old man, +whose gold has sucked out all that made him a man, beats with a pulse of +generous honor; even in the dust of stocks and the ashes of speculation, +amid the howling curses of the poor and the bitter weeping of his own +flesh, once he hears the Voice of God, and all eternity cleaves the earth +at his feet with a glare of truth. Once in her loathsome life, that woman, +brazen with sin and shame, flaunting on the pavement, the scorn and jest of +decency and indecency, the fearful index of corrupt society,--even she has +her hour of softness, when the tiny grass that creeps out from the stones +comes greenly into a spring sunshine, and as with a divine whisper recalls +to her the time before she fell, the unburdened heart, the pure childish +pleasures, the kind look of her dead mother's eye, the clasp of that +sister's arm who passed her but yesterday pallid with disgust and ashamed +to own their sacred birth-tie: then the tide rolls back: the hour is come! +She, too, called a woman, who leads society, and triumphs over caste and +custom with metallic ring and force,--she who forgets the decencies of age +in her shameless attire, and supplies its defects with subterfuges, falser +in heart even than in aspect,--she, about whom cluster men old and young, +applauding with brays of laughter and coarser jeers the rancor of her wit, +as it drops its laughing venom or its sneering sophisms of worldly +wisdom,--even she, when the lights are fled, when the music has ceased from +its own desecration, when the frenzy of wine and laughter mock her in their +dead dregs, when the men who flattered and the women who envied are all +gone,--she recalls one calm eye in the crowd, that stung her with its pure +contemptuous pity, a look not to be shut out with draperies as the stars +are; and even through her soul, harder than the soul of that unowned sister +walking the midnight street beneath the window, since it has ceased to know +the stab of sin or the choking agony of shame,--even through that +world-trodden heart flashes one conscious pang, one glimpse of a possible +heaven and an inevitable hell, one naked and open vision of herself. + +Long had the Sphinx waited. Year after year the flocking pigeons flitted +and wheeled through the sweet skies of spring, built their nests and reared +their young; tiny lizards, the new birth of the season, coiled and +glittered on the hot sands like wandering jewels; every creature, dying out +of conscious life, left its perpetuated self behind it, and repeated its +own youth in its young, according to its kind: but the Sphinx lived +alone. Nor all-unconscious of her solitude: for he who formed that massive +shape, chiselled those calm, expectant lips, and wide eyes pensive as +setting moons, he had not failed to do what all true artists do in virtue +of their truth,--he had shared his own life with his own creation, and it +was his lonely yearning that stirred her pulseless heart. Little did he +think, toiling at that stupendous figure, ages gone by, that he transfused +into the stone at which he labored, like a patient ant at some stupendous +burden, no little share of that creative yearning that inspired him to his +task; as little as you think, dear poet, whether poet, painter, or +sculptor,--for all are one, and one is all,--that in those dreams which you +write, as unconscious of your power as the transcribing stylus of its +office, your own heart pulsates for a listening world, and the very linking +of words that so respire their own music makes those words self-sentient of +their breaking, thrilling melody, and wrings or exalts them, idea-garments +as they are, with the restless heaving of the thought that wears them. + +Or you, whose sun-steeped brush brings to life on canvas the golden trances +of August noons, the high, still splendor of its mountain-tops, which the +sun caresses with fiery languor, the unrippled slumber of its warm streams, +the broad glory of its woods and meadows fused with light and heat into the +resplendent haze that earth exhales in her day of prime, till he who sees +the picture hears the cricket's chirping in its moveless grasses, and +scents the rich aromatic breath of its summer-passion and its rapturous +noon,--do you dream, when at last the perfect work repeats your thought, +and you rest in the tropie atmosphere you have created, that in very truth +the picture itself is full of inward heat and breathless languor? For you +have poured out the colors that light makes out of heat, and in them the +still inevitable light shall ever stir the recreating heat that clothes +itself in color, and bring your thought, no more a dead abstraction, but a +living power, into the very substance whereby you have expressed it. And +even so far as you were creative, so shall your work be informed by you, +and not mere dead pigment and dried oil and dull canvas be your autograph, +but the vivid and inspiring blazon of an inspired idea shall glow life-like +on some friendly wall, and in its turn inspire some other soul, whose light +within needs but the breath from without to burst upward in clear flame. + +Or you, who unveil from its marble tomb that figure of a chained and +stainless woman, whose atmosphere is as a nun's veil, whose sad divinity is +a crown,--do you dare imagine that the holy despair you have imaged, the +pause of a saint's resignation and a martyr's courage, is but the outline +and the faultless contour of a stone? Come back, Pygmalion, from your +mythic sleep! return, Art's divinest mystery, germ of all its power, from +the deep dust of ages! and teach these modern men that his story whose +passion fired a statue's breast was but an immortal fable, a similitude of +the truth you feel, but do not see,--that even as our Creator shared His +life with His creatures, so do you pour, in far less measure, but obedient +to that precedent which is law, your own life and the magnetic instincts of +that life, into what you create! + +Keep your hearts pure and your hands clean, therefore; for these things +that you sell for dead shall one day livingly confront you, and tell their +own story of your life and your nature with terrible honesty to men and +angels. + +But whoever, in those mystic ages that have ceased to be historic and have +become mythic, whoever made the Sphinx,--whether it were some Titaness +sequestered from all her kind by genie-spells, forced to live amid these +desert solitudes, fed from the abundant hands of Nature, and taught by +dreams inspired and twilight visions,-- + + "A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, + And most divinely fair"; + +her only image of human beauty the reflex of her white, symmetric limbs, +her wide, dark eyes, her full lips and soft Egyptian features, wherewith +the river greeted her from its blue placidity; her only sense of love the +unspoken yearning within, when the soft, tumultuous stress of the west-wind +kissed her, who should have been clasped in tender arms and caressed by +loving lips; whose dumb, creative instincts, becoming genius instead of +maternity, struggled outward from their home in heart and brain to +culminate in this world's-wonder, and so build a monument namelessly +splendid to the grand nature that found its bread of life was a stone and +perished: or whether this creature were the fashioning of some +demigod,--"for there were giants in those days,"--who, in the fulness of +his strength, despairing of a mortal mate, wandered away from men and +wrought his patience and his longing into the rock,--as lesser men have +carved their memorials on hard Fate,--and then died between its paws, sated +with labor and glad to sleep: or whether, indeed, the captive spirits, +sealed in Caucasus with the seal of Solomon, did penance for their +rebellion in mortal work on mere dull matter, and with anguished essence +toiled for ages to mimic in her own clay the dumb pathos of waiting +Earth:--whichever of these dreams be nearest truth, one thing is +true,--that the maker of the Sphinx infused into his work, in as much +greater measure as his nature was greater than that of other men, that +yearning of pathetic solitude that most wrings a woman's heart; and the +outward semblance, working in, wrought upon the heavy stone with incessant +and accumulative power, till through that sluggish sandstone crept a +confused thrill of consciousness, and the great creature felt the +loneliness that she looked. Far away below her the Nile-valley teemed with +life; the antelopes coursed beside their young to feed on the green pasture +fresh from its long overflow; red foxes sported with their cubs on the +tawny sand; the birds taught their infant offspring their own sweet arts of +flight and song on every bough; and even the ostrich, lonely Desert-runner, +heaped her treasure of white eggs in the sand, or guided her callow young +far from the sight and fear of man;--but the Sphinx sat alone. + +Mightier and mightier grew the yearning within her, as the full moon +floated upward from the east and cast her dewy dreams over land and +sea. The hour was come; the whole impulse and persistence of her nature +went out in vivid life, and, filling the very stones which the winds had +gathered and piled against her breast, cleft them with its sentient spell, +clothed them with lean flesh and wiry sinews, shaped them after the fashion +of the Desert men, and sent them out alive with intellect and will, but +with hearts of flint, into the wide world,--the Sphinx's children! + +With a sigh that shook the shores of Egypt and smote the Sicilian midnight +with sickening vibrations of earthquake, the Sphinx beheld this culmination +of her great desire; in the very hour of fruition, hope fled; and as this +grim certainty sped away from before her, taking with it all her borrowed +life, she dropped that majestic head lower upon her bosom, uplifted it +again for one last look at her offspring, and so stiffened,--once more a +stone. + +Age after age rolled by; storm and tempest hurled their thunders at her +head; wave after wave of bright insidious sand curled about her feet and +heaped its sliding grains against her side; men came and went in fleeting +generations, and seasons fled like hours through the whirling wheel of +Time; but the Sphinx longed and suffered no more. Her hour had come and +gone; her dull instinct had burnt out, her comely outline began to +disintegrate, her face grew blank and stony, her features crumbled away, +altars and inscriptions defaced her breast and hieroglyphed her ponderous +sides, men worshipped and wondered there, and travellers from lands beyond +the sun pitched their tents before her face and defiled her feet with +barbaric orgies; but she knew it no more,--her children were gone out into +the world. And the world had need of them. Its rank and miasmatic +civilization,--its hotbeds of sin and misery,--its civil corruptions and +its social lies,--its reeling, rotten principalities,--its sickly +atmosphere of effeminate luxury, wherein neither justice nor judgment +lived, and the solitary virtues left mere effete shadows of philanthropy +and cowardly impulses called love and mercy,--needed a new race, stony and +strong, unshrinking in conquest and reformation, full of zeal, and +incapable of pity, to rend away the fogs that smothered truth and decency, +to disperse the low-lying clouds of weak passion and maudlin luxury, to +blow a reveille clear and keen as the trumpet of the northwest wind, when +it sweeps down from its mountain-tops in stern exultation, and shouts its +Puritanic battle-psalm across the reeking, steaming meadows of sultry +August, fever-smitten and pestilent. + +Such were the Sphinx's children: had they but died out with their need! +Here and there a monk, fresh from his Desert-Laura, hurtles through the +eclipse-light of history like the stone from a catapult,--rules a church +with iron rods, organizes, denounces, intrigues, executes, keeps an unarmed +soldiery to do his behests, and hurls ecclesiastic thunders at kings and +emperors with the grand audacity of a commission presumedly divine, while +Greeks cringe, and Jews blaspheme, and heathen flee into, or away from, +conversion; and the Church itself canonizes this spiritual father, this +Sphinx-son of an instinct and a stone! + +Or an Emperor exalted himself above the legions and the populace of Rome, +banqueted his enemies and beheaded them at table, drank in the sight of +blood and the sound of human shrieks as if they were his natural light and +air, tormented God's creatures and cursed his kind, kindled a fire among +the miserable myriads of his own city, and, exulting in a safe height, +mixed the leaping, frantic discords of his own music with the horrid sounds +of the hell's tragedy below him; seething in crime, steeped in murder, +black with blasphemy, the horror and the hate of men, death gaped for his +coming, and he went! Men revile him through all posterior ages; women +shudder at the legend of his deeds; but the Sphinx stands unconscious in +the Desert,--she knew not her child! + +Or a Reformer springs up. High above his birthplace the snowy Alps paint +themselves against the sky, an aerial dream of beauty, softened by the +tender hues of dawn and sunset, serenely fair through the rift of the +tempest; even their white death takes a nameless grace from distance and +atmosphere, clothing itself in beauty as a spirit in clay, and tempting +wanderers to their graves: but no such beauty clothes the man whose daily +vision beholds them; hard, clamorous, disputatious, with one hand he rends +the rotten splendors of Rome from its tottering Image, and with the other +plunges baby-souls to inevitable damnation; strong and fiercely rigid, full +of burning and slaughter for the idolatries and harlotries of Popery, fired +with lurid zeal, and bestriding one stringent idea, he rides on over dead +and living, preaches predestination and hell as if the Gospel dwelt only +upon destiny and despair, casts no tender look at the loving piety that +underlay shrines and woman-worship and bead-counting wherever a true heart +sought its God through the sole formulas it knew, but spurs forward to the +end, a mighty power to destroy, to do away with old corruptions and break +down idols on their altars,--saint and iconoclast! Did the heart of stone +within him know its ancestry,--track its hard, loveless descent from the +Sphinx's children? + +Then a Queen;--a solitary woman, proud of her solitude, isolated in her +regnant splendor, a dead planet like the moon, sung and pictured and +adored, but keeping on her majestic path in awful beauty, deaf to human +entreaty, cold to human love; a great statesman in a queen's robes; a keen, +subtle politician, coifed and farthingaled; a revengeful sovereign; a +deadly enemy; a woman who forgave nothing to a woman, and retaliated +everything upon a man; she who brought unshrinkingly to death a sister +queen discrowned and captive, a sister whose grace and loveliness and +kindly aspect might have moved the lions of the arena to fawn upon her, but +nowise disarmed the tigress who lapped her blood; she who banished and slew +the man she would not stoop to love, because he dared to love another; and +when death stared her in the face, and open-eyed judgment shook her soul, +rose from that death-pallet to grapple and abuse a false woman, penitent +for and confessing her falseness; a virgin-monarch, pitiless, relentless, +cruel as jealousy; an anomalous woman, were she not a stone-born child of +the Sphinx! + +Or a great General, before whose iron will horse and horseman quailed and +fled, like dry stubble before flame; who wielded the sword of Gideon, and +cut off the armies of his kindred people and his anointed king as a mower +fells the glittering grass on a summer dawn, heedless that he, too, shall +be cut down from his flourishing. On his track fire and blood spread their +banners, and the raven scented his trophies afar off; age and youth alike +were crushed under the tread of his war-horse; honor and valor and life's +best prime opposed him as summer opposes the Arctic hail-fury, and lay +beaten into mire at his feet. Hated, feared, followed to the death; +victorious or vanquished, the same strong, imperturbable, sullen nature; +persistent rather than patient in effort, vigorously direct in action; a +minister of unconscious good, of half-conscious evil; stern and gloomy to +the sacrilegious climax of his well-battled life, even in the regicidal act +going as one driven to his deeds by Fate that forgot God;--was he to be +wondered at, whose life, in ages far gone, began among the stony Sphinx +children? + +Nor alone in these great landmarks of their dwelling have the Sphinx's +children haunted Earth. Poets have sung them under myriad names; History +has chronicled them in groups; Painting and Sculpture have handed down +their aspect to a gazing world. From them sprung the Eumenides, pursuers +and destroyers of men. They wore the garb of Roman legionaries, when Ramah +wept for her children dashed against the walls of the Holy City, and not +one stone stood upon another in Zion. They crowded the offices of the +Inquisition, and tested the endurance of its victims, with steady finger on +the flickering pulse, and calm eye on the death-sweating brow and bitten +lip. They put on the Druid's robe and wreath, and held the human sacrifice +closer to its altar. In the Asiatic jungle, lurking behind the palm-trunk, +they waited, lithe and swarthy Thugs, treacherously to slay whatever victim +passed by alone; or in the fair Pacific islands kept horrid jubilee above +their feasts of human flesh, and streaked themselves with kindred blood in +their carousals. Holland tells its fearful story of their Spanish +rule. Russian serfs record their despotism, cowering at the memory of the +knout. France cringes yet at the names of the black few who guided her +roaring Revolution as one might guide the ravages of a tiger with curb of +adamant and rein of linked steel. + +Africa stretches out her hands to testify of their presence. Too well those +golden shores recall the wail of women and the yelling curses of men, +driven, beast-fashion, to their pen, and floated from home to hell, +or,--happier fate!--dragged up, in terror of pursuit, and thrown overboard, +a brief agony for a long one. They know them, too, whose continual cry of +separation, starvation, insult, agony, and death rises from the heart of +freedom like the steam of a great pestilence,--Pity them, hearts of flesh! +pity also the captors,--the Sphinx children, the flint-hearts! pity those +who cannot feel, far beyond those who can,--though it be but to suffer! + +New England knew them, in band and steeple-hat, hanging and pressing to +death helpless women, bewitched with witchcraft. Acadia knew them, when its +depopulated shores lay barren before the sun, and its homes sent up no +smoke to heaven. + +Greece quivers at the phantasm of their Turkish turbans and gleaming +sabres, their skill at massacre and their fiendish tortures; Italy, fair +and sad, "woman-country," droops shuddering at sight of their Austrian +uniforms; and the Brahmin sees them in scarlet, blood-dyed, hurling from +the cannon's mouth helpless captives,--killing, not converting. + +Wherever, all the wide world over, a nation shrinks from its oppressors, or +a slave from his master,--wherever a child flees from the face of a parent +who knows neither justice nor mercy, or a wife goes mad under the secret +tyranny of her inevitable fate,--wherever pity and mercy and love veil +their faces and wring their hands outside the threshold,--there abide the +Sphinx's children. + +For this she longed and hoped and waited in the Desert! for this she envied +the red fox and the ostrich! for this her dumb lips parted, in their +struggle after speech, to ask of earth and air some solace to her solitude! +for this, for these, she poured out her dim life in one strong, wilful +aspiration! + +Happy Sphinx, to be left even of that dull existence! blessedly unconscious +of that granted desire! mouldering away in the curling sand-hills, the prey +of hostile elements, the mysterious symbol of a secret yearning and a vain +desire! Not for thee the bitterness of success! not for thee the conscious +agony of penitence,--the falling temple of the will crushing its idolater! +No wild voices in the wind reproach the wilder pulses of a slow-breaking +heart; no keen words of taunt sting thee into madness; Memory hurls at thee +no flying javelins; broken-winged Hope flutters about thee no more! Thy day +is over, thine hour is past! + +_"Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living +which are yet alive!"_ + + * * * * * + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Dies Irae:_ in Thirteen Original Versions. By Abraham Coles, M.D. New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1859. pp. xxxiv., 70. + +It is pleasant to see how many wiles Nature employs to draw off into side +channels the enthusiasm which is always secreting itself and gathering in +the human brain. She knows what a dangerous clement it may become, if the +individual rills of it run together, and, with united forces, take for a +time a single direction. So she taps it at its sources, and leads it away +to various ends, useful because they are harmless. Bibliomania, +tulipomania, potichomania, squaring the circle, perpetual motion, a +religious epic, the northwest passage,--anything will serve the +purpose. _Divide et impera_ is her motto. The hobby is the safeguard of +society. Once mounted, every enthusiast ambles quietly off on some errand +of his own, caring little what direction he takes, provided only it be _the +other_. The Fifth-Monarchy men might have been troublesome, but for the +Beast in Revelation;--each insisted on a Beast to himself. Protestantism +might have become Democracy, had either Luther or Calvin been willing to +ride behind. The five points of the Charter are blunted to a Lancashire +weaver who is fattening a prize-gooseberry. + +We sympathize heartily with such gentle enthusiasms as this of +Dr. Coles. It is the interest of all Grub Street that men should be +encouraged whose amiable weakness it is to fall in love with pieces of +poetry. In this case, to be sure, the verses are Latin, and the author more +nameless even than Junius; but who knows but some one's turn shall come +next whose verses were at least meant to be English, and whose name +is--Legion? If some translator, charged from the other pole of Dr. Coles's +enthusiasm, should favor us with thirteen Latin versions of some modern +English poems, it would give them a chance of being more generally +intelligible to the laity. Nay, even if such a baker's-dozen of +mediæval-Latin renderings of Mrs. Browning's last poem--and by this term we +mean, of course, the rather shady Latin of middle-aged men--should be +shuffled together, we are not sure that it would not be a help to the +understanding of the Coptic original. But this, perhaps, is hoping too +much. + +In the case of Dr. Coles, how lucky the direction of the superfluous +energy! how wise the humane precaution of Nature! For there is no +destructive agency like a doctor with a hygienic hobby. If your +constitution be a salt or sugar one, he will melt you away with damp sheets +and duckings; if you are as exsanguine as a turnip, his scientific delight +in getting blood out of you will be only heightened. For such erratic +enthusiasms as this of Dr. Coles we want a milder term than monomania. +Something like _monowhimsia_ would do. It is seldom that an oddity takes so +pleasant a turn. He has published a dainty little volume, with a +well-written introduction, giving the history of the "Dies Iræ," and an +account of the various versions of it; this is followed by his own thirteen +translations; and an appendix tells us what is meant by a Sequence, has a +page or two on the origin of rhyming Latin, and concludes with the music of +the hymn itself. The book is illustrated by delicate photographs from the +Last Judgments of Michel Angelo, Rubens, and Cornelius, and from the +"Christus Remunerator" of Ary Scheffer. It is exquisitely printed at the +Riverside Press, which is doing such good service to everybody but the +spectacle-makers. + +We hold the translation of any first-rate poem, nay, even of any +second-rate one which has any peculiar charm of rhythm or tone, to be an +impossibility. The translation of rhyming Latin verses presents peculiar +difficulties. The rhythm is always simple and strongly accented, it is +true; but the ear-filling sonority, the variety of female rhymes, and the +simple directness of expression cannot be echoed by our muffling +consonants, our endings in _ing_ and _ed_, and _a_-s, _the_-s, and _of +the_-s. For example, the stanza, + +"Tuba, mirum spargens sonum + Per sepulchra regionum, + Coget omnes ante thronum," + +is very inadequately represented by + +"Trumpet, scattering sounds of wonder +Rending sepulchres asunder, +Shall resistless summons thunder," + +in which, to speak of nothing else, there are thirteen _s_-s to five in the +original. Even Crashaw, whose translation of Strada's "Music's Duel" is a +masterpiece for litheness of phrase and sinuous suppleness of rhythm, +quails before the "Dies Iræ," and contents himself with a largely watered +paraphrase. No one has ever yet succeeded more than tolerably with the +opening stanza,-- + +"Dies Iræ, dies illa, +Solvet sæclum in favillâ, +Teste David cum Sibyllâ." + +The difficulty is increased where the Latin word has some special force of +theological or other meaning which has no single equivalent in English. + +Doctor Coles has made, we think, the most successful attempt at an English +translation of the hymn that we have ever seen. He has done all that could +be done, where complete success was out of the question. Out of his first +two versions, which seem to us the best, a very satisfactory rendering of +the original can be made up by choosing the better stanzas from each. In +his first trial he misses the pathetic force of the + +"Rex tremendæ majestatis, +Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +Salva me, fons pietatis!" + +where the petition is piercingly individualized by the accentual stress +thrown on the _me_. He gives it thus:-- + +"King Almighty and All-knowing, +Grace to sinners freely showing, +Save me, Fount of Good o'erflowing!" +His second attempt is better:-- + +"Awful King, who nothing cravest, +Since Thyself full ransom gavest, +Save thou me, who freely savest!" + +Here the emphatic _me_ is preserved, but in neither version is the true +meaning of _salvandos_ even hinted at, and in both we miss the tenderness +of the _fons pietatis_, with which the _tremenda majestas_ is balanced and +softened. + +There are three or four of these Latin hymns that for simple force and +pathos have never been matched in their kind, and never approached, except +by a few of the more fortunate poems of Herbert, Vaughan, and Quarles. We +know not why it is that what is called religious poetry is commonly so +bad. The thing gives the lie to both the adjective and the noun of its +title. Anything more flat and flavorless, whether in sentiment or language, +is beyond the conception even of an editor with the nightmare. Men have +been hanged for more venial murders than some have been praised for who +have choked out the immortal soul of the Psalms of David. We have, however, +the consolation of thinking that the Devil's Psalter of convivial songs is +quite as bad. + +Dr. Coles has done so well that we hope he will try his hand on some of the +other Latin hymns. He cannot expect to satisfy those who have been +penetrated by the almost inexplicable charm of the originals; but by +rendering them in their own metres, and with so large a transfusion of +their spirit as characterizes his present attempt, he will be doing a real +service to the lovers of that kind of religious poetry in which neither the +religion nor the poetry is left out. As we said before, to translate +rhyming Latin without losing its peculiar _tang_ is wellnigh +impossible. Even Father Prout himself would be staggered by Walter Mapes's +"Mihi est propositum" or "Testamentum Goliae"; but perhaps the spirit of +the hymns is more easily caught, and Dr. Coles has shown that he knows the +worth of faithfulness. + + + +_Mademoiselle Mori_; A Tale of Modern Rome. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +Author's Edition. 16mo. pp. 526. + +This is a reprint of a remarkable book. It is the book of a person familiar +with Rome and with the Romans, who has thought seriously and felt deeply in +regard to their character and fortunes, who has studied with keen and +sympathetic imagination the hearts of the people, and observed closely the +outward aspect and common shows of the city. The story is well constructed, +and has the essential merit of interest. Not only are the characters +distinctly presented, but there is in them, what it is rare to find in the +personages of our modern novelists, a real and natural development, which +is exhibited not so much by what is said about them as by their own +apparently unconscious words and acts. So just a view is given in this +novel of Italian habits of thought and tones of feeling, so true an +appreciation is shown of the peculiarities of national disposition and +temperament, and so intimate and exact an acquaintance with public events +and the course of politics in Rome, as to lead to the conclusion that the +author writes from the fulness of personal experience, and was no stranger +to the interests of the stirring period in which the scenes of the story +are laid. + +The book, indeed, has a double character. It is not a mere novel; for it +contains, in addition to its story, a sketch of the course of public +affairs in Rome during the three memorable years from the accession of Pius +IX. to the fall of the Republic and the entry of the French troops into the +city, which they still hold in subjection to rulers who claim to govern it +for the spiritual interests of the world. And while it may be warmly +recommended to such readers as only desire to find an interesting story, it +deserves not less hearty recommendation to such as may care to understand +one of the most striking and dramatic episodes of modern history, and to +gain an acquaintance with events which throw great illustration on the +present condition and hopes of Italy. In this respect, as well as in the +ability with which it is written, it may fairly be classed with the novels +of Ruffini,--"Lorenzo Benoni" and "Doctor Antonio." To those who have read +these two books it need not be said that this is high praise. + +History is not treated by the author of "Mademoiselle Mori" after the +common fashion of novelists. Events are not misrepresented in it, nor are +the characters of the prominent actors in public affairs distorted to suit +any theory, or to advance the interest of the story. The chief value of the +book, and that which ought to secure for it a permanent place, does not, +however, consist in any formal narrative of events, or in its pictures of +noted individuals, but in its representation of the states of mind and +feeling of the Romans during the first years of the pontificate of the +present Pope, of the objects and methods of action of the various parties +that were then called into active existence, of the occasions of the rapid +changes in the popular disposition from the time when Pius IX. was the idol +of the crowd to that when he was a faithless fugitive to Gaeta, and of the +causes which led to the bitter disappointment and utter failure of the +efforts of the Roman patriots. + +We do not know of any book in which so intelligent and so true an account +of these things, which were the springs from which events issued, and which +underlie all their currents, is to be found. The sympathies of the author +are with the liberal party, with the party that labored for reform, but not +for a republic, and whose hopes and plans were crushed by the horrible +assassination of Rossi. It is one of the most calamitous results of a +tyranny like that exercised at Rome, that it renders a gradual progress of +reform at any time when it may be undertaken almost an impossibility, and +sows the seed of inevitable violence and of revolution, which is apt to +end, as in the Roman instance, in a return of despotism. The view given of +the Roman revolution and republic of 1849 by the author of "Mademoiselle +Mori" coincides in the main with that taken by Farini, and the other chief +Italian statesmen of the present day; and its accuracy and good sense are +confirmed by the course of recent events, not merely in Rome, but in other +parts of Italy as well. It is vain to predict the future of a state so +anomalous as that of Rome; but it is safe to say that the Romans learned +much from their last revolution, and are learning much from its results, so +that, when another opportunity arrives for them to gain some share of that +freedom which Northern Italy has been so happy in securing, they will not +repeat their former mistakes, and will not be found less competent for +liberty than the Tuscans or the people of the Romagna. Perhaps the failure +of 1849 may then turn out to have been a dark blessing; and the blood of +those who fell on the Roman walls, and the tears of those who have wept in +Roman prisons, may not have been shed in vain. + +The cause of Italy deserves the heartiest sympathy, and, if need be, a +personal sacrifice on the part of every lover of liberty and of justice in +the world. The question of Italian unity and independence is the most +important that has been presented in Europe in our time. The issue involved +in it is that of the advance or the degradation of a nation so noble that +none can be called nobler,--of the rights of the many, as against the power +of the few,--of the rights of thought, as against those of the sword,--of +the establishment of those principles which do most to make life precious, +as against those by which it is made vile and wretched. The last year has +seen a part of the great work of freeing Italy accomplished. If Sardinia +can but have time allowed her in which to knit her forces, if she can for a +time escape from foreign attacks and from internal divisions, Italy is +secure. Venice, Rome, and Naples will not long languish under the tyranny +of Austrian, of priest, and of Bourbon. + +We return for a few words to "Mademoiselle Mori." The readers of +Mr. Hawthorne's imaginative Italian romance will be pleased to find in this +book further illustrations of the Rome he has so admirably pictured. The +author has not the genius of Mr. Hawthorne, but the descriptions which the +book contains of Roman scenes and places are full of truth, and render the +common, every-day aspect of streets and squares, of gardens and churches, +of popular customs and social habits, with equal spirit and fidelity. The +interest of the story is sustained by the distinctness with which the +localities in which it passes are depicted. The style of the book is so +excellent that we the more regret a few careless and clumsy expressions, +and some awkward sentences, which a little pains might have prevented. We +regret also that the Italian words and phrases which appear in the volume +are sometimes grievously disfigured by misprints. The distinguished name of +Saffi is travestied by being misprinted Gaffi,--and there are other +blunders of the same sort, in which the Riverside Press has but too +faithfully followed the English edition. + + + +_Critical and Miscellaneous Essays_. Collected and republished by THOMAS +CARLYLE. In Four Volumes. Boston: Brown and Taggard. 1860. + +Carlyle's Essays need at the present day no introduction or commendation to +American readers. Their place is established, and they will hold it +permanently, in spite of the wild philosophy, and in spite of +characteristics of style which would ruin weaker writings. As Ben Jonson +said of a volume of poems, now quite forgotten, by his friend Sir John +Beaumont,-- + +"This book will live; it hath a genius; this Above his reader or his +praiser is." + +There is no fear that these Essays will be forgotten; for, beside their +intrinsic merits and interest, they are at once introductory and +supplementary to their author's more important works,--to his "French +Revolution" and his "Life of Frederic the Great." + +This new edition of the Essays is a reprint of the last English edition +revised by the author, and both printer and publisher deserve high credit +for the beauty of the volumes. The paper, press-work, and binding are all +excellent, and of a sort not only to please the general public, but to +satisfy the demands of the exacting lover of good books. We are glad to +welcome Messrs. Brown and Taggard among our publishing houses, on occasion +of the issue of a book so creditable alike to their taste and to their +judgment, and we hope that the success of this edition of these Essays may +he such as to encourage them to follow it with a reprint of the other +volumes of the revised edition of Mr. Carlyle's works. + +We trust, that, though the words "Author's Edition" are not found upon the +back of the title-page, it is not because the moral, if not legal rights +which the author possesses have been disregarded. + + + +_The Mill on the Floss_. By GEORGE ELIOT, Author of "Scenes of Clerical +Life" and "Adam Bede." New York: Harper & Brothers. + +It is not difficult to understand how the reader's attention may he +attracted and his interest retained by a romance of the old chivalrous days +whose very name and dim memory fill the mind with fascinating images, or by +a novel whose high-born characters claim sympathy for their dignified +sorrows and refined delights, or whose story is illuminated by the light of +artistic culture and adorned with gems of rhetoric and fine fancy; but it +is sometimes surprising to observe the favor which attends a simple tale of +humble, unobtrusive, we might almost say insignificant people, whose plane +of life appears nowhere to coincide with our own, and to whom romance and +passion seem entirely foreign. Such a tale was "Adam Bede," whose great +success as a literary venture hardly yet belongs to the chronicle of the +past; such a tale is also "The Mill on the Floss," by the author of "Adam +Bede," and such, we are confident, will also be its success. + +Both books have many elements in common, but the second is the greater work +of art, and indicates more fairly the scope and vigor of the author's +mind. It is written in the same pure, hardy style, strong with Saxon words +that admit of no equivocation or misunderstanding; it is illustrated with +sketches of outward Nature and tranquil rural beauty, none the less vivid +or truthful that they are drawn with the pen rather than the brush; and it +is instinct with an honest, high-souled purpose. In these respects it +resembles "Adam Bede," but in others it surpasses its predecessor. It +displays a far keener insight into human passion, a subtler analysis of +motives and principles, and it suggests a mental and a moral philosophy +nobler in themselves and truer to humanity and religion. The pathos, too, +is more genuine; for it is not based upon the mere utterance of grief or of +entreaty,--which the eloquent and the artful may, indeed, feign,--but it is +found in that skilful combination of material circumstance and spiritual +influence which impresses upon the feeling, more than it proves to the +reason, that the hour of heart-break is at hand, and which depends less for +its effect upon the dramatic power of the imagination than upon the instant +sympathy of the soul. + +The principal fault which will be found with "The Mill on the Floss," and +probably the only one, is, that the action moves too slowly and tamely in +the first three or four books, and that the author shows an undue +inclination to reflection and metaphysical digression. This will, indeed, +be a great objection to the superficial reader, who will impatiently regret +that the tedious growth of a miller's boy and girl should usurp so many +pages which might better have been filled with exciting incidents. But this +very elaboration, tardy and idle though it may seem, was necessary to the +completion of the author's plan, and--in our eyes--instead of being a +blemish upon a fair story, is one of its principal charms. On this very +account, however, the book will be less popular, and fewer persons will +admire it wholly; but, as thoughtful readers draw near to the end of the +narrative, and anxiously hasten on past trial, temptation, and conflict, to +the dreaded and yet inevitable downfall, muse mournfully over the agony and +remorse that follow, and slowly close the volume upon tender forgiveness +and final joy, they will be thankful for the far-seeing genius which, by +this gradual process of education, enabled them to understand clearly the +fateful scroll at last unfolded to them, and which, if they have read in +the true spirit, has made them wiser and better. + + + +_Nugamenta; a Book of Verses_, By GEORGE EDWARD RICE. Boston: J. E. Tilton +& Co. 1860. pp. 146. + +The author of this little volume modestly waives all claim to the title of +poet, and thus disarms severer criticism. His book, nevertheless, has the +merit of being lively and agreeable, which is more than can be said of many +more pretentious volumes of verse. His pieces are mostly of the kind called +verses of society, a variety whose range is all the way up from Concanen to +Horace. It is enough, if they are only passable; but good specimens are +easy and sprightly,--their philosophy not worldly precisely, but +man-of-the-worldly,--their morality an elegant Poor-Richardism,--their +poetry whatever may be reached by the fancy and understanding. Sometimes, +if the author have been lucky enough, like Béranger, to have enjoyed low +company, his verses will gather a richer tone, his wit will broaden into +humor, his sentiment deepen to hearty good-nature, and his worldliness +ripen into a genuine humanity. + +To embody primeval sentiments, to deal with transcendent passions, and to +idealize those fatal moods by which not individuals merely, but races, are +possessed, those tidal ebbs and flows which, for want of a better name, we +call the Spirit of the Age,--this is a gift whose return among us we do not +look for with as much certainty as that of shad and salmon, but meanwhile +we are not too nice to be pleased with verses that express average thoughts +and feelings gracefully and with a dash of sentiment. It is a vast deal +wiser and better to express neatly, in language that is not alien to the +concerns of every day, feelings we have really had, than to maunder about +what we think we ought to have felt in a diction that has no more to do +with our ordinary habits of thought and expression than Monmouth with +Macedon. The contrast of matter and manner in much of our current verse is +such as to remind one of the notes which are sometimes sent to their +sweethearts by schoolboys, who cut their fingers (not too deep) that they +may asseverate the eternal constancy of the three-weeks'-vacation in that +solemn fluid proper to contracts with the Evil One. + +It is pleasant to meet with one who is able to say a natural thing in a +natural way, as Mr. Rice has shown that he can do. There is a very +agreeable mingling of feeling and fun in his lighter pieces, rising into +real grace and lyric fancy in some of them, such as "New Year's Eve" and +"The Revisit." + + + +_A Voyage down the Amoor; with a Land Journey through Siberia, and +Incidental Notices of Manchooria, Kamschatka, and Japan._ By PERRY +McDONOUGH COLLINS, United States Commercial Agent at the Amoor River, New +York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. pp. 390. + +This is a very amusing book. The introductory part of it, in which the +author recounts his adventures in Siberia before setting out on his +expedition down the Amoor, is full of bad taste, bad rhetoric, and bad +grammar. If we had read no farther, we should have thought that a more +unfit personage than this gentleman with the monumental name could not have +been chosen for any public service. + +Mr. Perry McDonough Collins gives us the bill of fare of gentlemen's tables +at which he dined, tells us how much and what kinds of wine were "drank," +and sometimes winds up his account of the feast with a compliment to the +"amiable and interesting" family of his host. Mr. Egouminoff's dinner, he +tells us, "was excellent, with several kinds of wine, closing with +Champagne. We had _also_ the pleasure of the company of Mrs. E. and her +daughter, and several other guests, besides a handsome widow." There is +something charmingly _naïf_ in thus throwing in the company as a +_succedaneum_ to the dinner, and carefully segregating the widow from the +rest of mankind as a distinct species. + +Mr. Collins also reports for us carefully the orations he made on various +festive occasions,--a piece of very proper economy, since they were +delivered in English to an audience of Russians. He confesses that it is +not the custom to make after-dinner-speeches in Siberia, which proves that +the Russian Government has neglected at least one opportunity of adding to +the terrors of a Penal Colony. At one dinner he had the satisfaction of +making three of these terrible mistakes. He responds to the health of +General Mouravieff, Governor of the Province, to that of President +Buchanan, and to that of "our guests." We should like to have been present +at this display, provided we could have been speech-proofed, like the +Russians in their ignorance of English. It was certainly a proud day for +America, and the bird of our country will be glad that the eloquence has +been carefully saved by Mr, Collins for the good of his compatriots. + +After this multiloquent festival, the Siberian merchants, naturally +exasperated, seized upon Mr. Collins, and an unhappy countryman of his who +was present, and tossed them after the fashion of Sancho Panza. "This +sport," adds our traveller, gravely, "is called in Russian _podkeedovate_, +or tossing-up, and is considered a mark of great respect. General +Mouravieff told me, after our return, that he had had _podkeedovate_ +performed upon him in the same room." The General must be something of a +humorist. + +Mr. Collins, however, has a more astounding incident to relate than even +the respectful tossing-up of a general in the army and governor of Siberia +by a party of provincial shopkeepers. In returning from an excursion, +Mr. Collins had the ill-luck to lose a horse. + +"The death of that horse," he says, "was +a singular circumstance. We were galloping +rapidiy and were approaching the station, +when the animal dropped as if struck by +lightning. We were in such rapid motion +upon the smooth ice of the river, that, though +several yards from the stopping-point, the +other horses kept on, dragging the dead horse, +nor did the driver attempt to stop them, but +seemed determined to reach the station at +full speed. As soon as we had stopped, I got +out and examined the body. It was as stiff +as a poker and stirred not a muscle, the +eyes being cold and glassy. _The fact is, the +horse must have been dead before he fell, and +his muscular action was kept up some time after +life had departed._" (p. 89.) + +We do not remember to have met with a more wonderful example of the force +of habit. + +After Mr. Collins is fairly embarked, however, on his voyage of +exploration, his book becomes more interesting. He shows himself a +thoroughly good-humored, observant, and intelligent traveller. If, in the +earlier pages of his journal, he is indiscreetly communicative as to the +good cheer he enjoyed, in the later ones he does not waste time in +grumbling at discomforts and lenten fare. He observes minutely and +describes well all that he sees along the great river,--the people, the +productions, the scenery, and the vegetation. He gives us a lively +impression of the capabilities of the country, and of the results which are +to follow the introduction of steam-navigation on the Amoor. Like a true +American, he believes in the manifest destiny of Russia, and looks forward +to the not distant time when, with a kind of retributive justice, the +Muscovite is to swallow up the Manchew, as Charles Lamb used to call +him. Already American merchants have established themselves at the mouth of +the Amoor, and, unless Mr. Collins is oversanguine, a great trade is to +spring up between the Californians and their opposite neighbors on the +eastern coast of Asia. + +On the whole, we take leave of Mr. Collins with a feeling of decided esteem +for his genuine good qualities, and can safely commend his book as both +lively and instructive. + + + +_Revolutions in English History_. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, +D.D. Vol. I. _Revolutions of Race_. New York: D. Appleton & Co. +1860. pp. xvi., 663. + +We do not think that Dr. Vaughan has been happy in his choice of a title +for his book. It is more properly an introduction to the study of English +history, than the limitation of the title would seem to import. The Saxon +occupation of England is, perhaps, the only event which may fitly be called +a revolution of race. The volume, however, is a solid and sensible one. Dr. +Vaughan is not a brilliant writer; but brilliancy is not always the best +quality in an historian, for it as often leaves readers dazzled as +taught. A decidedly matter-of-fact turn of mind prevents his being a +theorist, so that he does not formulate characters and events in accordance +with some fixed preconception. His learning seems sometimes limited by what +was accessible to him at the least expense of study,--as, for example, in +his account of the religion of the Teutonic races, where he depends almost +altogether on Mallet. His style is generally clear and unpretending, never +remarkable for any rhetorical merit, sometimes disfigured by inaccuracies, +which, had they occurred in an American book, would have been attributed by +English critics to the low grade of our culture and civilization. In one +instance he is guilty of the barbarous cockneyism of using the word _party_ +as an equivalent for _person_. He speaks of the Roman Wall as having been +kept _perpetually_ guarded when he means _constantly_, of border land as +"separating between" two races, and of ornaments made "from jet." + +Though we do not find in Dr. Vaughan the fascinating qualities which we +have been spoiled into expecting by some recent English and French examples +of historical composition, we can give him the praise of being fair-minded, +sensible, and clear. If he anywhere shows prejudice, it is in his somewhat +depreciatory estimate of the Normans, whom he rather gratuitously supposes +to have acquired civilization and the love of art from the Saxons,--a +supposition at war with probability as well as fact. If anything +distinguished the Norman from the Saxon, it was his aptitude for +appreciating beauty as distinguished from use,--an aptitude on which French +influence could not have been lost before the Conquest of England. The +Normans in Sicily certainly had not had the advantage of Saxon training in +aesthetics, and the poetry and architecture of the Normans in England were +no reproduction of Saxon models. + +But whatever deductions are to be made on the score of want of +picturesqueness in style, of generalizing power, and of that imagination +which sets before us dramatically the mutual interaction of men and events, +Dr. Vaughan's history will be found a useful and enlightened compendium of +the facts with which it deals. + + + +_Fresh Hearts that failed Three Thousand Years Ago; with Other Things_. By +the Author of "The New Priest in Conception Bay." Boston: Ticknor & Fields. +1860. pp. 121. + +In noticing the "New Priest," in a former number of the "ATLANTIC," we had +occasion to speak of the author's remarkable beauty and vigor of style, his +keen sense of the picturesque and imaginative aspects of outward Nature, +his comic power, and his original conception of character. At the same time +we could not but feel that a certain tendency to multiplicity of detail, +and a neglect of form or insensibility to it, hindered the book of that +direct and vigorous effect which its power and variety of resource would +otherwise have produced. Something of the same impression is made by the +present volume. There are glimpses in it of real genius, but it shows +itself generally here and there only, as the natural outcrop, seldom in the +bars and ingots which give proof of patient mining and smelting at +furnace-heat, still more seldom in the beautiful shapes of artistic +elaboration. Here, again, we find the same unborrowed feeling for outward +Nature and familiarity with her moods, the same poetic beauty of +expression, and in many of the pieces the same overcrowdedness, as if the +author would fain say all he could, instead of saying only what he could +not help. + +There are some of the poems that do more justice to the abilities of the +author. In "The Year is Gone" there is great tenderness of sentiment and +grace of expression; "Love Disposed of" is a pretty fancy embodied with +true lyric feeling; but the poem which over crests all the others like a +decuman wave is "The Brave Old Ship, the Orient." It is a truly masculine +poem, full of vigor and imagination, and giving evidence of true original +power in the author. There is scarce a weak verse in it, and the measure +has a swing, at once easy and stately, like that of the sea itself. We know +not if we are right in conjecturing some hint of deeper meaning in the name +"Orient," but, taking it merely as a descriptive poem, it is one of the +finest of its kind. The writer's heart seems more in the work here than in +the devotional verses. We quote a single passage from it, which seems to us +particularly fine:-- + +"We scanned her well, as we drifted by: +A strange old ship, with her poop built high, +And with quarter-galleries wide, +And a huge beaked prow, as no ships are builded now, +And carvings all strange, beside: +A Byzantine bark, and a ship of name and mark +Long years and generations ago; +Ere any mast or yard of ours was growing hard +With the seasoning of long Norwegian snow. + * * * * * +"Down her old black side poured the water in a tide, +As they toiled to get the better of a leak. +We had got a signal set in the shrouds, +And our men through the storm looked on in crowds: +But for wind, we were near enough to speak. +It seemed her sea and sky were in times long, long gone by, +That we read in winter-evens about; +As if to other stars +She had reared her old-world spars, +And her hull had kept an old-time ocean out." + + + +_Hester, the Bride of the Islands_. A Poem. By SYLVESTER +B. BECKETT. Portland: Bailey & Noyes. + +Mr. Beckett is evidently an admirer of Walter Scott; and it is not the +least remarkable fact in connection with "Hester," that an author with the +good sense to propose to himself such a model, disregarding the more +elaborate poets of a later date, should have proved himself so utterly +unable to follow that model, except in a few phrases, which were quite +appropriate as Scott used them, but are ludicrously out of place in his own +verse. In adopting the brief lines and irregularly recurring rhymes of +Scott, he has taken a hazardous step. The curt lines are excellent with Sir +Walter's liveliness and dash; but when dull commonplaces are to be written, +their feebleness would be more decorously concealed by a longer and more +conventional dress. The cutty sark, so appropriate when displaying the +free, vigorous stops of Maggie Lauder, is not to be worn by every +lackadaisical lady's-maid of a muse. In the moral reflections, with which +"Hester" abounds, there is a most comical imitation of Scott,--as if the +poem were written as a parody of "The Lady of the Lake," by +Mrs. Southworth, or Sylvanus Cobb, Junior. + +Mr. Beckett closes some very singular stanzas, entitled an Introduction, +with the following lines:-- + +"Give it praise, or blame, +Or pass it without comment, as may seem +To you most meet; with me 'tis all the same. +I hymn because I must, and not for greed of fame." + +These lines incline us at first to let Mr. Beckett "pass without comment," +considering, that, as he says, he cannot help writing; but we are finally +decided to observe him more closely, inasmuch as he says it makes no +difference to him, thus relieving us of the dreadful fear of wantonly +crushing some delicate John Keats (always supposing we had him) by our +severe censure. + +Instead of entering into a philosophical examination of "Hester," we shall +present some specimen pearls, making our first extract from the 21st +page:-- + +"The very desert would have smiled + In such a presence! yet despite +Her dimpled cheek, her soft blue eye, + Her voice so fraught with music's thrill, +The shrewd observer might espy + The traces therein of a will +That scorned restraint, the soul of fire + That slumbered in her tacit sire." + +"The traces therein." Wherein? Not in the cheek, eye, or voice, clearly; +for it was "despite" all these that he would make the discovery,--they are +obstacles, entirely outside of the success. It is necessarily, then, in the +"presence," in which the unthinking desert would have smiled unsuspecting, +but in which "the shrewd observer might espy" a good deal that was ominous +of trouble. Now it is obvious that the writer intended to refer "therein" +to the cheek, eye, and voice, a reference from which he barred himself by +the word "despite." As it happens, luckily for him, there is a word to +refer to, so that his grammatical salvation is secured; but the result is +sad nonsense. + +Page 23,-- + +"Indeed, it was their chief delight, +When combed the far seas feather-white, +To steer out on the roughening bay +With leaning prow and flying spray, +_And gunnel ready to submerge +Itself beneath the flaming surge_!" + +Page 28,-- + + "nor gave +He heed to aught on land or wave; +As if some kyanized regret + Were in his heart," etc., etc. + +"Kyanized regret" is good, as Polonius would say; but we would humbly +suggest that Mr. Beckett substitute, in his next edition, "Burnettized," as +even better, if that be possible. + +Page 72,-- + + "in hope, perchance +(Like arrant knight of old romance), +That _some complacent circumstance +Would end her curiosity_." + +Page 94,-- + +"Thereafter, she but knew the charm +Of resting on her lover's arm, +And listening to his voice elate, +As he betimes _went on to state +The phases in his own strange fate, +Since last they met_." + +Page 100.--Speaking of "those of +thoughtful mood," he says,-- + +"With whom I oft have whiled away + The dusky hour upon the deep, + Which most men wisely give to sleep." + +There is in this last line a dark, grim, sardonic appreciation of the +advantages which common minds have over those that, like the poet's own, +have to endure the splendid miseries of genius,--a dark moodiness, like +that of a tame Byron remorsefully recalling a wild debauch upon green +tea,--that is deliciously funny. + +Page 230.--The heroine, who is less +poetical by far than her rough servitor, +says,-- + +"Carl! not for all the golden sand +Of famed Pactolus, would I hurt +Thy feelings; _'tis my wont to blurt_ +My humour thus." + +Page 298.--The hero, who is hardly +more romantic than the heroine, has married +his own sister:-- + +"Lord Hubart gazed with steady eye +And arms still folded, on old Carl-- +'Here is, i' faith, a pretty snarl +To be unwound'--but his reply +Was cut short," etc., etc. + +In fact, the great objection to Lord Hubart, as may be inferred from the +above-quoted passage, is, that he is hopelessly vulgar. We are loath to say +so, because of our respect for English aristocracy; but English +aristocracy, truth compels us to observe, cuts no great figure on our +American stage or in our American literature. + +In short, this is a very silly book. It abounds in trite moralizing, for +instances of which we will merely refer the reader to pp. 65, 131, and +299. The author remarks exultingly, in his Introduction, that his is +comparatively an uncultivated mind, We can only say, we should think so! +Ignorance is plentiful everywhere, but it really seems as if it were +reserved for some of our American writers to display in its finest +specimens ignorance vaunting its own deficiencies. There is a great deal of +nonsense talked about "uncultivated minds": some men are eminent in spite +of being uncultivated; but no man was ever eminent because he was +uncultivated. Some instances of a lamentable misuse of language in "Hester" +we give below. + +Page 16,-- + +"They would have won implicit sway." + +Page 53,-- + "By the nonce!" + +Evidently thinking of the phrase, "for the nonce,"--meaning, for the +occasion. In the text, "by the nonce" is an oath! + +Page 71,-- + +"And he some squire of low behest." + +Page 221,-- + + "and when is won +At last the longed-for rubicon." + +Page 256,--the use of the word "denizens." + +Page 262,-- + +"None may their evil doing shirk! + That wrong, in any shape, will bring, + Or soon or late, its _meted sting_." + +Page 313,-- + +"as gnats, which sometimes sting + Their life away when rankled." + +Another fault is the senseless use of certain words and phrases, which a +good writer uses only when he must, Mr. Beckett always when he can. We give +without comment a mere list of these:--maugre, 'sdeath, eke, erst, deft, +romaunt, pleasaunce, certes, whilom, distraught, quotha, good lack, +well-a-day, vermeil, perchance, hight, wight, lea, wist, list, sheen, anon, +gliff, astrolt, what boots it? malfortunes, ween, God wot, I trow, emprise, +duress, donjon, puissant, sooth, rock, bruit, ken, eld, o'ersprent, etc. Of +course, such a word as "lady" is made to do good service, and "ye" asserts +its well-known superiority to "you." All this the author evidently +considers highly meritorious, although the words are entirely unsuitable. +His notion seems to be, that these are poetical words, and the way to write +poetry is to take all the exclusively poetical words you can find. The +occasional attempt to make his verses familiar and natural by the use of +such abbreviations as "I've" or "can't" is as much a failure as the effort +of an awkward man in a ball-room to make everybody think him at his ease by +forcing an unhappy smile and a look of preternatural buoyancy. + +From the beginning to the end of "Hester," there is one unerring indication +of an uncultivated mind and an unpractised pen. This is the writer's +fondness for well-worn phrases, which authors of a severer taste have long +discarded as suited only to the newspapers, but which Mr. Beckett has +picked up with eager delight, and, having distributed them liberally +throughout the poem, contemplates with a complacency to be matched only by +his satisfaction with the success of his expedients for filling out his +rhymes, some of which are certainly ingenious and startling, + +The plot is a jumble of improbabilities, to which we would gladly attend, +for it passes even the liberal bounds of poetic license, but we have +already spent all the time we can upon the New Poem, and we must decline +(in Mr. Beckett's own impressive language) any further "to distend the +title." + + * * * * * + + + +NOTE + +TO THE ARTICLE ON "MODEL LODGING-HOUSES IN BOSTON." + + +Although the proposed act establishing a Sanitary Commission for the City +of New York was defeated in the last State Legislature, some of its +provisions were engrafted on a bill passed on the nineteenth of April, +amending a previous "Act to establish a Metropolitan Police District, and +to provide for the Government thereof." + +By article 51 of this new act it is made the duty of the Board of +Metropolitan Police to set apart a Sanitary Police Company, which by +article 52 is empowered "to take all necessary legal measures for promoting +the security of life or health," upon or in boats, manufactories, houses, +and edifices. Article 53 gives power to the board to cause any +tenement-house to be cleansed at any time after three days' notice, and +provides means for meeting the expense of this and other similar +operations. + +These powers may, perhaps, if wisely exercised, secure a great improvement +in the health of the city. We trust that the duties imposed by them will be +thoroughly and efficiently performed, and we are gratified to see that a +good beginning has already been made; but our regret is not diminished that +the more complete proposed Sanitary Act failed to pass. + +The annual report on "The Sanitary Condition of the City of London" has +just been published. By this report it appears, that, during the year +ending on the 31st of March, 1860, the rate of mortality in London was 22.4 +per thousand of the population, or 1 in 44; in all England, the average +rate is 22.3; in country districts it is only 20; in the large towns, +26. "Ten years ago," says Dr. Letheby, the author of the report from which +we quote, "the annual mortality of the city was rarely less than 25 in the +thousand.....Our present condition is 19 per cent. better than that, and we +owe it to the sanitary labors of the last ten years." In another part of +the report he says,--"7233 inspections of houses have been made in the +course of the year, of which 803 were of the common lodging-houses, and 935 +orders have been issued for sanitary improvement in various particulars." + +Compare these facts with those given in our article concerning the rate of +mortality in our cities. The spirit of emulation, if no other, should force +us into energetic measures of reform. 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