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+Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
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+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
+       Vol. 53, January, 1843
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9992]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 6, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, NO. 327 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
+
+NO. CCCXXVII.   JANUARY, 1843.   VOL. LIII.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 1843
+    LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL ERROR
+    CALEB STUKELY
+      PART X.
+    IMAGINARY CONVERSATION. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
+      TASSO AND CORNELIA
+    THE WORLD OF LONDON
+      SECOND SERIES, PART I.
+    THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE
+    TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY
+    THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE
+    THE CURSE OF GLENCOE. BY B. SIMMONS
+    THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT. A MONOLOGUE
+    TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND
+
+
+
+
+GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 1843.
+
+
+Great Britain, at the present moment, occupies a position of dignity, of
+grandeur, and of RESPONSIBILITY, unparalleled in either her own history,
+or that of any other nation ancient or modern. Let him who is inclined
+to doubt this assertion, of whatever country he may be, and whether
+friendly, hostile, or indifferent to England, glance for a moment at a
+map of the world, and having at length found out our little island,
+(which, perhaps, he may consider a mere fragment chipped off, as it
+were, from the continent of Europe,) turn to our stupendous possessions
+in the east and in the west--in fact, all over the world--and he may be
+apt to think of the fond speculative boast of the ancient geometrician,
+"[Greek: Dos pou sto, chai ton chosmon chinaeso]," and to paraphrase and
+apply it thus--"Give the genius of Great Britain but where she may place
+her foot--some mere point peeping above the waves of the sea--and she
+shall move the world." Is not this language warranted by recent facts?
+While our irritable but glorious neighbour France--_pace tantae
+gentis!_--is frittering away her warlike energies in Algeria, and Russia
+is worried by her unsuccessful and unjust attempts upon Circassia,
+behold the glorious monarch of this little island, Queen Victoria,
+roused by indignities and injuries offered to her most distant subjects
+in the East, strike single-handed a blow there, which shakes a vast and
+ancient empire to its very foundations, and forces its haughty emperor
+from his throne, to assume the attitude of a suppliant for peace,
+yielding her peremptory but just demands, even at the cannon's mouth,
+and actually relinquishing to her a large portion of his dominions.
+Events, these, so astonishing, that their true character and
+consequences have not yet been calmly considered and appreciated by
+either ourselves or other nations. Look, again, at recent occurrences in
+British India--that vast territory which only our prodigious enterprise
+and skill have acquired for us, and nothing but profound sagacity can
+preserve to the British crown--and observe, with mixed feelings, two
+principal matters: a perilous but temporary error of overweening
+ambition on the part of Great Britain, yet retrieved with power and
+dignity; and converted into an opportunity of displaying--where, for the
+interests of Great Britain, it was imperiously demanded--her
+irresistible valour, her moderation, her wisdom; exhibiting, under
+circumstances the most adverse possible, in its full splendour and
+majesty, the force of that OPINION by which alone we can hold India.
+Passing swiftly over to the Western Continent, gaze at our vast
+possessions _there_ also--in British North America--containing
+considerably upwards of four millions of square geographical miles of
+land; that is, nearly a ninth part of the whole terrestrial surface of
+the globe![1]--besides nearly a million and a half miles of water--five
+hundred thousand of these square miles being capable, and in rapid
+progress, of profitable cultivation! at more than three thousand miles'
+distance from the mother country, and in immediate juxtaposition to the
+territory of our distinguished but jealous descendants and rivals--a
+rising nation--the United States! Pausing here in the long catalogue of
+our foreign possessions, let our fancied observer turn back his eye
+towards the little island that owns them; will he not be filled with
+wonder, possibly with a conviction that Great Britain is destined by
+Almighty God to be the instrument of effecting His sublime but hidden
+purposes with reference to humanity? Assume, however, our observer to be
+actuated by a hostile and jealous spirit, and to regard our foreign
+possessions, and the national greatness derived from them, as only
+nominal and apparent--to insinuate that we could not really hold them,
+or vindicate our vaunted supremacy if powerfully challenged and
+resented. Let him then meditate upon the authentic intelligence which we
+have just received from the East: what must then be his real sentiments
+on this the 1st day of January 1843? Let us ask him, in all manly
+calmness, whether England has not _done_ what he doubted or denied her
+ability to do? whether she has not shown the world that she may, indeed,
+do what she pleases among the nations, so long as her pleasure is
+regulated and supported by her accustomed sagacity and spirit? She has,
+however, recently had to pass through an awful ordeal, principally
+occasioned by the brief ascendency of incompetent councils; and while
+expressing, in terms of transport, our conviction that, "out of this
+nettle danger, we have plucked the flower safety"--we cannot repress our
+feelings of indignation against those who precipitated us into that
+danger, and of gratitude towards those who, under Divine Providence,
+have been instrumental in extricating us from it, not only rapidly, but
+with credit; not merely with credit, but with glory. To appreciate our
+present position, we must refer to that which we occupied some twelve or
+eighteen months ago; and that will necessarily involve a brief
+examination of the policy and proceedings of the late, and of the
+present Government. We shall speak in an unreserved and independent
+spirit in giving utterance to the reflections which have occurred to us
+during a watchful attention paid to the course of public affairs, both
+foreign and domestic, in the interval alluded to; though feeling the
+task which we have undertaken both a delicate and a difficult one.
+
+    [1] Malte Brun, xi. 179. Alison, x. 256.
+
+After a desperate tenacity in retaining office exhibited by the late
+Government, which was utterly unexampled, and most degrading to the
+character and position of public men engaged in carrying on the Queen's
+Government, Sir Robert Peel was called to the head of affairs by her
+Majesty, in accordance with the declared wishes of a triumphant majority
+of her subjects--of a perfectly overwhelming majority of the educated,
+the thinking, and the monied classes of society. When he first placed
+his foot upon the commanding eminence of the premiership, the sight
+which presented itself to his quick and comprehensive glance, must have
+been, indeed, one calculated to make
+
+    --"the boldest hold his breath
+    For a time."
+
+What appalling evidence in every direction of the ignorance and madness
+of his predecessors! An exchequer empty, exactly at the moment when it
+ought to have been fullest, in order to support our tremendous
+operations in the East and elsewhere: in fact, a prospect of immediate
+national insolvency; all resources, ordinary and extraordinary,
+exhausted; all income anticipated: an average deficiency of revenue,
+actual and estimated, in the six years next preceding the 5th of January
+1843, of L.10,072,000! Symptoms of social disorganization visible on the
+very surface of society: ruin bestriding our mercantile interests,
+palsied every where by the long pressure of financial misrule: credit
+vanishing rapidly: the working-classes plunged daily deeper and deeper
+into misery and starvation, ready to listen to the most desperate
+suggestions: and a Government bewildered with a consciousness of
+incompetency, and of the swiftly approaching consequences of their
+misrule, at the eleventh hour--on the eve of a general election--
+suddenly resolving (in the language of their own leader) to stir society
+to its foundations, by proposing a wild and ruinous alteration in the
+Corn-Laws, declaring that it, and it only, would bring cheap bread to
+the doors of the very poorest in the land:--after the manner of giving
+out ardent spirits to an already infuriated mob. In Ireland, crime and
+sedition fearfully in the ascendant; treasonable efforts made to
+separate her from us; threats even held out of her entering into a
+foreign alliance against us. So much for our domestic--now for our
+foreign condition and prospects. He would see Europe exhibiting serious
+symptoms of distrust and hostility: France, irritated and trifled with,
+on the verge of actual war with us: our criminally neglected differences
+with America, fast ripening into the fatal bloom of war: the very
+existence of the Canadas at stake. In India, the tenure by which we hold
+it in the very act of being loosened; our troops shedding their blood in
+vain, in the prosecution of as mad and wicked an enterprise as ever was
+undertaken by a civilized nation; the glory of our hitherto invincible
+arms tarnished; the finances of India deranged and wasted away in
+securing only fresh accessions of disgraceful defeat. In China, we were
+engaged, in spite of the whisper of our guardian angel, Wellington, in a
+_little war_, and experiencing all its degrading and ruinous
+consequences to our commerce, our military and naval reputation, our
+statesmanship, our honour. Did ever this great empire exhibit such a
+spectacle before as that which it thus presented to the anxious eye of
+the new Premier? Having concluded the disheartening and alarming survey,
+he must have descended to his cabinet oppressed and desponding,
+enquiring who is sufficient for these things? With no disposition to
+bestow an undue encomium on any one, we cannot but say, happy was Queen
+Victoria in having, at such a moment, such a man to call to the head of
+her distracted affairs, as Sir Robert Peel. He was a man preeminently
+distinguished by caution, sobriety, and firmness of character--by
+remarkable clear-sightedness and strength of intellect--thoroughly
+practical in all things--of immense knowledge, entirely at his
+command--of consummate tact and judgment in the conduct of public
+affairs--of indefatigable patience and perseverance--of imperturbable
+self-possession. He seemed formed by nature and habit to be the leader
+of a great deliberative assembly. Add to all this--a personal character
+of unsullied purity, and a fortune so large as to place him beyond the
+reach of suspicion or temptation. Such was the man called upon by his
+sovereign and his country, in a most serious crisis of her affairs. He
+was originally fortunate in being surrounded by political friends
+eminently qualified for office; from among whom he made, with due
+deliberation, a selection, which satisfied the country the instant that
+their names were laid before it. We know not when a British sovereign
+has been surrounded by a more brilliant and powerful body of ministers,
+than those who at this moment stand around Queen Victoria. They
+constitute the first real GOVERNMENT which this country has seen for the
+last twelve years; and they instantly addressed themselves to the
+discharge of the duties assigned to them with a practised skill, and
+energy, and system, which were quickly felt in all departments of the
+State. In contenting himself with the general superintendance of the
+affairs of his government, and devolving on another the harassing office
+of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which, till then, had been conjoined
+with that of the First Lord of the Treasury, Sir Robert Peel acted with
+his usual judgment, and secured, in particular, one capital
+object--_unity of action._
+
+As soon as the late Ministry and their adherents perceived that Sir
+Robert Peel's advent to power was inevitable, they clamorously required
+of him a full preliminary statement of the policy he intended to adopt
+on being actually installed in office! By those who had floundered on,
+session after session, from blunder to blunder, from folly to
+folly--each more glaring and destructive than the preceding one--he was
+modestly expected to commit himself _instanter_ to some scheme struck
+off, to please them, at a heat! A cut-and-dried exposition of his plans
+of domestic and foreign policy, before it was even certain that he would
+ever be called on to frame or act on them; before he had had a glimpse
+of the authentic and official _data_, of which none but the actual
+adviser of the crown could be in possession. This was doubtless _their_
+notion of statesmanship, and faithfully acted on from first to last; but
+Sir Robert Peel and his friends had been brought up in another school,
+whose maxim was--_priusquam incipias, consulta--sed ubi consulueris,
+mature facto, opus est_. The Premier stood unmoved by the entreaties,
+the coaxings, and the threatenings of those wriggling before him in
+miserable discomfiture and restlessness on the abhorred benches of
+Opposition; calmly demonstrating to them the folly and injustice of
+which they were guilty. Yet the circumstances of the country made his
+adherence to this first determination exquisitely trying. He relied,
+however, on the cautious integrity of his purposes, and the necessity of
+the case; and amidst the silent agitation of friends, and the frenzied
+clamour of opponents, and with a dreadful prospect before the country in
+the ensuing winter--maintained the silence he had imposed upon himself,
+and, with his companions, entered forthwith on a searching and complete
+investigation of the affairs of the nation. Not seduced by the
+irrepressible eagerness of friends, or dismayed by the dark threats and
+dismal predictions of enemies, who even appealed direct to the throne
+against them, Ministers pursued their course with calmness and
+determination, till the legitimate moment had arrived for announcing to
+the country their thoroughly considered plans for the future. Sir Robert
+Peel is undoubtedly entitled to the credit of resuscitating and
+re-organizing the great party all but annihilated by the passing of the
+Reform Bill. It is under vast obligations to him; but so is he to it.
+What fortitude and fidelity have been theirs! How admirable their
+conduct on the occasion we are alluding to! And here let us also pay a
+just tribute of respect to the Conservative newspaper press, both in the
+metropolis and in the country. To select particular instances, would be
+vain and invidious; but while the whole country has daily opportunities
+of judging of the assistance afforded to the Conservative cause by the
+powerful and independent metropolitan press, few are aware, as we are,
+of the very great ability generally displayed by the provincial
+Conservative press. Their resolute and persevering exposure of the
+dangerous false doctrines of our unscrupulous adversaries, and eloquent
+advocacy of Conservative principles, are above all praise, and are
+appreciated in the highest quarters.
+
+The winter was at length nearly passed through when Parliament
+assembled. The distress which the people had suffered, and continued to
+suffer, no pen can adequately describe, or do justice to the touching
+fortitude with which those sufferings were borne. It wrung the hearts of
+all who had opportunities of personally observing it. They resisted,
+poor famishing souls! all the fiendish attempts that were systematically
+made to undermine their loyalty, to seduce them into insubordination and
+rebellion. Let us, by and by, see how far the result has justified this
+implied confidence of theirs in the power, the wisdom, and the integrity
+of the new Government. After all the boasting of the Opposition--in
+spite of their vehement efforts during the recess, to concert and mature
+what were given out as the most formidable system of tactics ever
+exhibited in parliament, for the dislodgement of a Ministry denounced as
+equally hateful to the Queen and to the country, the very first division
+utterly annihilated the Opposition. So overwhelming was the Ministerial
+majority, that it astonished their friends as much as it dismayed their
+enemies: and to an accurate observer of what passed in the House of
+Commons, it was plain that the legitimate energies of the Opposition
+were paralyzed thenceforth to the end of the session. Forthwith, there
+sprung up, however, a sort of conspiracy to _annoy_ the triumphant
+Ministers, to exhaust their energies, to impede all legislation, as far
+as those ends could be attained by the most wicked and _vulgar_ faction
+ever witnessed within the House of Commons!
+
+The precise seat of Sir Robert Peel's difficulty at home was, that his
+immediate predecessors had (whether wilfully or otherwise signifies
+nothing for the present) raised expectations among the people, which _no
+party_ could satisfy; while their measures has reduced the people to a
+state in which the disappointment of those expectations seemed to
+excuse, if not justify, even downright rebellion. They arrayed the
+agricultural and manufacturing interests in deadly hostility against
+each other; they sought to make the one responsible for the consequences
+springing only from the reckless misconduct of the other. The farmers
+must be run down and ruined in order to repair the effects of excessive
+credit and over-trading among the manufacturers; the corn-grower must
+smart for the sins of the cotton-spinner. Such were some of the fierce
+elements of discord in full action, when the affairs of the nation were
+committed by her Majesty to her present Ministers, on whom it lay to
+promote permanent domestic tranquillity, amidst this conflict between
+interests which had been taught that they were irreconcilable with each
+other; to sustain the public credit at once, without endangering our
+internal peace and safety, or compromising the honour of the nation in
+its critical and embarrassing foreign relations. How were they to effect
+these apparently incompatible objects? "See," said the enemies of the
+Ministry, "see, by and by, when parliament assembles, a cruel specimen
+of _class legislation_--the unjust triumph of the landed interest--the
+legitimate working of the Chandos clause in the Reform Bill!" But bear
+witness, parliamentary records, how stood the fact!
+
+That the present Ministry are mainly indebted for their accession to
+power, to the prodigious exertions of the agricultural interest during
+the last general election, is, we presume, undeniable. It was talked of
+as their mere tool or puppet. Their first act is to lower the duties on
+the importation of foreign cattle! "We are ruined!" cried the farmers in
+dismay; and the Duke of Buckingham withdrew from the Cabinet. "This is a
+step in the right way," said the opponents of Ministers, "but it will
+clearly cost Peel his place--then _we_ return, and will go the rest of
+the journey, and quickly arrive at the goal of free-trade in corn, and
+every thing else, except those particular articles in which _we_ deal,
+and which must be protected, for the benefit of the country, against
+foreign competition." Then the Radical journals teemed with joyful
+paragraphs, announcing that Sir Robert Peel's ministry was already
+crumbling to pieces! The farmers, it would seem, were every where up in
+arms; confusion (and something a vast deal worse!) was drunk at all
+their meetings, to Peel! Nevertheless, these happy things came not to
+pass; Sir Robert Peel's Ministry _would_ not fall to pieces; and the
+curses of the farmers came not so fast or loud as their eager
+disinterested friends could have wished! To be serious, the alteration
+of the Corn-Laws was undoubtedly a very bold one, but the result of most
+anxious and profound consideration. A moment's reflection of the
+character and circumstances of the Ministry who proposed it, served
+first to arrest the apprehensions entertained by the agricultural
+interest; while the thorough discussions which took place in Parliament,
+demonstrating the necessity of _some_ change--the moderation and caution
+of the one proposed--several undoubted and very great improvements in
+details, and, above all, _a formal recognition of the principle of
+agricultural protection_, still further allayed the fears of the most
+timorous. To _us_ it appears, that the simple principle of a scale of
+duties, adapted to admit foreign corn when we want it, and exclude it
+when we can grow sufficient ourselves, is abundantly vindicated, and
+will not be disturbed for many years to come, if even then. Has this
+principle been surrendered by Sir Robert Peel? It has not; and we
+venture to express our confident belief, that it never will. He cannot,
+of course, prevent the subject from being mooted during the ensuing
+session, because there are persons, unfortunately, sent to Parliament
+for the very purpose; but while he is listening with a calm smile, and
+apparently thoughtfully, to the voluble tradesmen who are haranguing him
+upon the subject, it is not improbable that he will be revolving in his
+mind matters much more personally interesting and important to them;
+viz. how he shall put a stop to the monstrous joint-stock banking system
+frauds, as exhibited at this moment at Manchester, in the Northern and
+Central Banking Company, and other similar establishments, blessed with
+the disinterested patronage of the chief member of the "Anti-Corn-Law
+League." The mention of that snug little speculation of two or three
+ingenious and enterprising Manchester manufacturers, forces from us an
+observation or two, viz. that the thing _will not do_, after all. There
+is much cry, and little wool; very little corn, and a great deal of
+cotton. They have a smart saying at Manchester, to the effect, that it
+is no use whistling against thunder; which we shall interpret to mean,
+that all their "great meetings," speechifyings, subscriptions, and so
+forth, will fail to kindle a single spark of real enthusiasm in their
+favour, among those who are daily becoming more and more personally
+sensible, first, of the solid benefits conferred by the wise policy of
+the present Administration; secondly, of the want of personal
+respectability among the leaders of the League; and lastly, the
+necessity and vast advantage of supporting the agriculture of Old
+England. The recent discussions on the Corn-Laws, in Parliament and
+elsewhere, the masterly expositions of the true principles on which they
+are really based, have thrown a flood of light on the subject, now made
+visible and intelligible to the lowest capacity. That some further
+alteration may not erelong be made on the scale of duties, no one can
+assert, though we have no reason to believe that any such is at present
+contemplated; but that the principle of the "sliding scale," as it is
+called, will be firmly adhered to, we entertain no doubt whatever. The
+conduct of the agricultural interest, with reference to subjects of such
+vital importance to them as the Corn-Law Bill and the Tariff, has been
+characterized by signal forbearance and fortitude; nor, let them rest
+assured, will it be lost upon the Ministry or the country.
+
+The next step in Sir Robert Peel's bold and comprehensive policy, was to
+devise some method of recruiting _forthwith_ its languishing vital
+energies--to rescue its financial concerns from the desperate condition
+in which he found them. With an immediate and perspective increase of
+expenditure that was perfectly frightful--in the meditation and actual
+prosecution of vast but useless enterprises--of foreign interference and
+aggrandizement, to secure a little longer continuance of popular favour,
+they deliberately destroyed a principal source of revenue, by the
+reduction of the postage duties, in defiance of the repeated protests
+and warnings of Sir Robert Peel, when in Opposition. They had, in fact,
+brought matters to such a pitch, as to render it almost impossible for
+even "a heaven-born minister" to conduct the affairs of the nation, with
+safety and honour, without inflicting grievous disappointment and
+sufferings, and incurring thereby a degree of obloquy fatal to any
+Ministry. They seemed, in fact, to imagine, as they went on, that the
+day of reckoning could never arrive, because they had resolved to stave
+it off from time to time, however near it approached, by a series of
+desperate expedients, really destructive of the national prosperity, but
+provocative of what served their purposes, viz. temporary popular
+enthusiasm. What cruelty! what profligacy! what madness! And all under
+the flag on which were inscribed "_Peace! Retrenchment! Reform!_" Acting
+on the salutary maxim, that the knowledge of the disease is half the
+cure, Sir Robert Peel resolved to lay before the nation _the whole
+truth_, however appalling. Listen to the following pregnant sentences
+which he addressed to the House of Commons, within a few moments after
+he had risen to develope his financial policy, we mean on the 11th of
+March 1842:--"It is sometimes necessary, on the occasion of financial
+statements of this kind, to maintain great reserve, and to speak with
+great caution. A due regard for the public interest, may impose on a
+Minister the duty of only partially disclosing matters of importance.
+But I am hampered by no fetters of official duty. I mean to lay before
+you the truth--the unexaggerated truth, but to conceal nothing. I do
+this, because in great financial difficulties, the first step towards
+improvement is to look those difficulties boldly in the face. This is
+true of individuals--it is true also of nations. There can be no hope of
+improvement or of recovery, _if you consent to conceal from yourselves
+the real difficulties with which you have to contend_."[2] There was no
+gainsaying the facts which, amidst an agitated and breathless silence,
+he proceeded to detail with dreadful clearness and brevity; and out of
+which the question instantly sprung into the minds of every one--_are we
+not on the very verge of national insolvency_? He proceeded to
+demonstrate that his predecessors had exhausted every device which their
+financial ingenuity could suggest, down to their last supposed
+master-stroke, the addition of 10 per cent to the assessed taxes--thus
+adding very nearly the last straw which was to break the camel's
+back--the last peculiarly cruel pressure on the lower orders.
+
+    [2] Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 423.
+
+"Shall we persevere," he continued, "in the system on which we have been
+acting for the last five years? Shall we, in time of peace, have
+recourse to the miserable expedient of continued loans? Shall we try
+issues of Exchequer bills? Shall we resort to Savings' banks?--in short,
+to any of those expedients which, _call_ them by what name you please,
+are neither more nor less than a permanent addition to the public debt?
+We have a deficiency of nearly L.5,000,000 in the last two years: _is
+there a prospect of reduced expenditure?_ Without entering into details,
+but looking at your extended empire, at the demands which are made for
+the protection of your commerce, and the general state of the world, and
+calling to mind the intelligence which has lately reached us," [from
+Affghanistan,] "can you anticipate for the year after the next, the
+possibility, consistent with the honour and safety of this country, of
+greatly reducing the public expenses? I am forced to say, I cannot
+calculate on that.... Is the deficiency I have mentioned a casual
+deficiency? Sir, it is not; it has existed for the last seven or eight
+years. At the close of 1838, the deficiency was L.1,428,000; of 1839,
+L.430,000; of 1840, L.1,457,000; of 1841, L.1,851,000. I estimate that
+the deficiency of 1842 will be L.2,334,030; and that of 1843,
+L.2,570,000; making an aggregate deficiency, in six years, of
+L.10,072,000! ... With this proof that it is not with an occasional or
+casual deficiency that we have to deal, will you, I ask, have recourse
+to the miserable expedient of continued _loans_? It is impossible that I
+could be a party to a proceeding which, I should think, might perhaps
+have been justifiable at first, _before you knew exactly the nature of
+your revenue and expenditure_; but with these facts before me, I should
+think I were degrading the situation which I hold, if I could consent to
+such a paltry expedient as this. I can hardly think that Parliament will
+adopt a different view. I can hardly think that you, who inherit the
+debt contracted by your predecessors--when, having a revenue, they
+reduced the charges of the post-office, and inserted in the preamble of
+the bill a declaration that the reduction of the revenue should be made
+good by increased taxation--will now refuse to make it good. The effort
+having been made, but the effort having failed, that pledge is still
+unredeemed. _I advised you not to give that pledge_; but if you regard
+the pledges of your predecessors, it is for you now to redeem them.... I
+apprehend that, with almost universal acquiescence, I may abandon the
+idea of supplying the deficiency by the miserable desire of fresh loans,
+of an issue of Exchequer bills. Shall I, then, if I must resort to
+taxation, levy it _upon the articles of consumption_, which constitute,
+in truth, almost all the necessaries of life? _I cannot consent to any
+proposal for increasing taxation on the great articles of consumption by
+the labouring classes of society_." [Is it the friend or the enemy _of
+the people_, that is here speaking?] "I say, moreover, I can give you
+conclusive proofs that you have arrived at the limits of taxation on
+articles of consumption."[3] Sir Robert Peel then proceeded, with
+calmness and dignity, to encounter the possible, if not even _probable_
+fatal unpopularity of proposing that which he succeeded in convincing
+_Parliament_ was the only resource left a conscientious Minister--an
+INCOME TAX.
+
+    [3] Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 429, 430, 431.
+
+"I will now state what is the measure which I propose, under a sense of
+public duty, and a deep conviction that it is necessary for the public
+interest; and impressed at the same time with an equal conviction"--
+[mark, by the way, the exquisite judgment with which this suggestion was
+_here_ thrown in!]--"that the present sacrifices which I call on you to
+make, will be amply compensated, ultimately, in a pecuniary point of
+view, and _much more_ than compensated, by the effect which they will
+have in maintaining public credit and the ancient character of this
+country. Instead of looking to taxation on consumption--instead of
+reviving the taxes on salt or on sugar--it is my duty _to make an
+earnest appeal to the possessors of property_, for the purpose of
+repairing this mighty evil. I propose, for a time at least, (and I never
+had occasion to make a proposition with a more thorough conviction of
+its being one which the public interest of the country required)--I
+propose _that, for a time to be limited, the income of this country
+should be called on to contribute a certain sum for the purpose of
+remedying this mighty and growing evil_, ... should bear a charge not
+exceeding 7d. in the pound, which will not amount to 3 per cent, but,
+speaking accurately, L.2, 18s. 4d. per cent--for the purpose of not only
+supplying the deficiency in the revenue, but of enabling us, with
+confidence and satisfaction, to propose great commercial reforms, which
+will afford a hope of reviving commerce, and such an improvement in the
+manufacturing interests as will re-act on every other interest in the
+country; and by diminishing the prices of the articles of consumption
+and the cost of living, will, in a pecuniary point of view, compensate
+you for your present sacrifices; whilst you will be, at the same time,
+relieved from the contemplation of a great public evil."[4]
+
+    [4] Hansard, vol, lxi. col. 439.
+
+We have quoted the very words of Sir Robert Peel, because they are every
+way memorable and worthy of permanent conspicuousness. In point, for
+instance, of mere oratorical skill, observe the matchless tact of the
+speaker. Conscious that he was about to propose what would come like a
+clap of thunder on all present, and on the country, he prepares the way
+for its favourable reception, by pointing out the almost necessarily
+_direct pecuniary benefit_ ultimately derivable from his unpalatable
+tax; and the instant that he has disclosed his proposal, in the same
+breath carries our attention to a similar topic--an assurance calculated
+to arouse the self-interest and excite the approbation first of the
+commercial classes, and then of all classes, by the means this tax will
+give the Minister of proposing "great commercial reforms," and "reducing
+the cost of living." No power of description we possess can adequately
+set before the reader the effect produced on the House of Commons by the
+delivery of the passage above quoted, and which was shared, as the
+intelligence was communicated, by the country at large. One thing was
+plain, that the Minister, disdaining personal considerations of
+unpopularity, had satisfied the nation that a desperate disease had been
+detected, which required a desperate remedy. It was--it is, in vain to
+disguise that an income-tax has many disgusting, and all but absolutely
+intolerable, incidents and characteristics, and which were instantly
+appreciated by all who heard or read of the proposal for its adoption,
+and these topics were pounced upon by the late Ministers and their
+supporters, with eager and desperate determination to make the most of
+them. To give effect to their operations, they secured an immediate and
+ample interval for exasperating popular feeling against Ministers and
+their abominable proposition! But it was all in vain. There was a bluff
+English frankness about the Minister that mightily pleased the country,
+exciting a sympathy in every right-thinking Englishman. _Here was no
+humbug of any sort_, no obtaining of money under false pretences. At
+first hearing of it, honest John Bull staggered back several paces, with
+a face rueful and aghast; buttoned up his pockets, and meditated
+violence even; but, in a few moments, albeit with a certain sulkiness,
+he came back, presently shook hands with the Minister, and getting
+momentarily more satisfied of his honesty, and of the necessity of the
+case, only hoped that a little breathing-time might be given him, and
+that the thing might be done as quietly and genteelly as possible! To be
+serious, however.
+
+By whom, let us ask, had this Minister been brought into power? by whom
+most furiously and unscrupulously opposed? The former were those on whom
+he instantly imposed this very severe and harassing tax; the latter,
+those whom he entirely exempted from it: the former, those who _could_,
+with a little inconvenience, make the effort requisite to protect
+themselves in the tranquil enjoyment of what they possessed, the latter,
+those who were already faint, oppressed, and crushed beneath _burdens
+they were unable to bear_. Was this justice, or injustice? It then
+_must_ be very contradistinctive--was the Minister, in this instance,
+the poor man's friend, or the rich man's friend? Was he exhibiting
+ingratitude and insanity, or a truly wise and honest statesmanship? We
+need _not_ "pause for a reply." It has been sounding ever since in our
+ears, in the accents of national concord, and of admiration of the
+Minister who, in his very zenith of popularity and success, perilled
+all, to obey the dictates of honour and conscience, fearlessly proposed
+a measure which seemed levelled directly at those gifted and powerful
+classes by whom he had been so long and enthusiastically supported; of
+the Minister who, in fine, looked, and made the country look, a
+frightful danger full in the face--till it turned and fled. In spite of
+all that could be done by his bitter unscrupulous factious opponents in
+the House of Commons, and of the eloquent and conscientious opposition
+of Lord Brougham in the House of Lords, backed, all the while, by the
+immediate self-interest of those who were to smart under the tax, Sir
+Robert Peel carried his great and salutary measure in triumph through
+both Houses, without one single material alteration, till it became the
+law of the land, amidst the applause of the surrounding nations; for
+even those, alas! too frequently bitter and jealous censors of English
+conduct and character, the French, "owned that the English people had
+exhibited a signal and glorious instance of virtue, of fortitude, of
+self-denial, and sagacity." We have reason to believe that, on quitting
+the House of Commons after hearing the speech of Sir Robert Peel, from
+which we have been quoting, Lord John Russell asked a gentleman of
+brilliant talent and independent character, but of strong liberal
+opinions, "what he thought of Peel's financial scheme?" The answer was,
+"It is so fine a thing, that I only wish it had been prepared by Lord
+John Russell instead of Sir Robert Peel!" On which, unless we are
+mistaken, Lord John shrugged his shoulders in silence. His opposition to
+the income-tax, on going into, and while the bill was in, committee, was
+temperate, and even languid; and he stood in the dignified attitude
+worthy of his ancient name, and of personal character, far aloof from
+those who, throughout the session, pursued a line of conduct
+unprecedented in parliamentary history, degrading to the House of
+Commons, but possibly in keeping with all that might have been expected
+from them. We are vastly mistaken if Lord John does not regard them with
+secret scorn, and experience a shudder of disgust from any momentary
+contact with them; and shall not be surprised if, during the ensuing
+session, he should be at no particular pains to conceal the state of
+his mind.
+
+One circumstance highly honourable to the national character, in
+relation to the income-tax, should not escape observation: that
+comparatively little or no real opposition, certainly no clamorous
+opposition, has been offered to the _principle_ of the tax, and the
+policy of its imposition, by those on whom its pressure falls heaviest,
+namely, the great capitalists and landed proprietors of the kingdom.
+"The grasshopper," said Mr Burke, "fills the whole field with the noise
+of its chirping, while the stately ox browses in silence." The clamour
+against the income-tax comes mainly from those who are unscathed by it;
+those who suffer most severely from it, suffer in silence. The inferior
+machinery of the income-tax is unquestionably very far from attaining
+that degree of perfection, which we had a right to look for from the
+able and practised hands which framed it. The outcry raised, however,
+against the income-tax on this score, particularly on the ground of the
+heedlessness of subordinate functionaries, is subsiding. There is
+evident, as far as the Government itself is concerned, an anxious desire
+to enforce the provisions of the act with the greatest possible degree
+of delicacy and forbearance, consistent with the discharge of a painful
+but imperative duty. We repeat that the outcry in question, however,
+was principally occasioned by those who had least real cause, on
+personal grounds, to complain; who (unfortunately, it may be, for
+themselves) never yet approached, nor have any prospect of infringing
+upon, the fatal dividing point of L. 150 a-year, in spite of their long
+and zealous literary services, under the very best-conducted and _truly
+liberal_ Radical newspapers, which they have filled, with persevering
+ingenuity, day after day, with eloquent descriptions of the awful state
+of feeling in the country on this most atrocious subject. Where,
+patriotic, but most imaginative gentlemen! where have been the great
+meetings summoned to condemn the principle of the tax? The great
+landholders, the great capitalists, the great merchants, are pouring
+their contributions into the exhausted Treasury, with scarce a murmur at
+the temporary inconvenience it may occasion them!--thus nobly responding
+to the appeal so earnestly and nobly made to them by the Prime Minister.
+So, moreover, are the vast majority of those persons on whom the tax
+falls with peculiar severity--we allude to the occupants of schedule
+D--who must pay this tax out of an income, alas! evanescent as the
+morning mist; which, on the approach of sickness or of death is
+instantly annihilated. These also suffer with silent fortitude; and we
+think we have heard it upon sufficient authority, that it was on these
+persons that Ministers felt the greatest reluctance in imposing the
+tax--at least to its present extent, only under an absolute compulsion
+of state policy. The total, or even partial exemption of this class of
+persons from the operation of the income-tax, would have been attended
+with consequences that were not to be contemplated for a moment, and
+into which it is impracticable here satisfactorily to enter. The tax
+undoubtedly pinches severely men of small and uncertain incomes, who are
+striving, on slender means, to maintain a respectable station in
+society; the man who, with a large family to be supported _and
+educated_, and who moves in a respectable sphere of society, has to pay
+his L.9 or L.12 out of his precarious L.300 or L.400 a-year, is an
+object of most earnest sympathy. Still, let him not lose sight of the
+undoubted hardships borne by his wealthier brethren. Is it nothing for a
+man--say the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Westminster, the Duke of
+Sutherland, or Lord Ashburton, or Mr Rothschild--to have to pay down
+their L.3000, L.4000, or L.5000 clear per annum, as the per-centage on
+their magnificent incomes, in sudden and unexpected addition to the
+innumerable and imperative calls upon them already existing, such as
+compulsory upholding of many great establishments in different parts of
+the country--various members of their families--married and single--to
+support in a style adequate to their rank and position in the country?
+It is needless, however, to pursue the matter further. The plain truth
+is, there is no help for it; the burthen is one that must be borne, and
+it is being borne bravely.
+
+_But why_ must this dreadful income-tax be borne? What has led to it?
+The vast majority of honest and thinking men in the nation have but one
+answer to give to the question. That the income-tax is the penalty the
+nation must pay for its weakness and folly, in permitting a Whig
+Ministry to get into power, and continue in power, "playing such
+fantastic tricks" as theirs, for the last ten years, both at home and
+abroad, as the nation _ought to have foreseen_ would be inevitably
+followed by some such grievous results as the present. This income-tax,
+however, let our opponents know, will serve for many years to come, long
+after it may have been removed, as a memento to prevent the country from
+tolerating the return to power of men whose reluctant and compulsory
+exit from power, after again doing enormous mischief, will be followed
+by a similar result--will impose on their Conservative successors the
+bitter necessity of imposing another income-tax. "The evil that they
+do," does indeed "live after them;" and without any "good, interred with
+their bones!" With the frightful deficit exhibited by Sir Robert Peel
+still staring us in the face; the war in the East yet to be paid for;
+faith to be kept with the public creditor both at home and abroad: a
+revenue of a _million a-year_ recklessly sacrificed in reducing the
+postage duties:[5] a deficiency in the last quarter's revenue, that
+tells its own frightful story as to its cause, and an all but certain
+heavy deficiency to be looked for, we fear, in the ensuing quarter: with
+all this before him, will any _member or supporter of the late
+Government_--of all other persons--be found hardy enough to rise in his
+place next session, and bait Sir Robert Peel about the repeal of the
+income-tax? The country will not tolerate such audacity. We shall not
+reason with _them_; but to those who, like ourselves, are smarting under
+the effects of the late Ministry's misconduct, who have a right to
+complain loudly and indignantly, and enquire with eager anxiety when
+their suddenly augmented pressure is to cease, we feel compelled to
+express our opinion, founded on a careful observation of our present
+financial position and prospects, that we see no chance of being
+relieved from the burden of the income-tax, before the period originally
+fixed by Sir Robert Peel. Till then we must submit with what fortitude
+and cheerfulness we may. Under, however, a year or two's steady and
+enlightened administration of public affairs, matters may mend with
+unexpected rapidity; but it is not in the ordinary course of human
+affairs, that evils, the growth of many years, can be remedied in a
+moment. A chronic disease of the body requires a patient course of
+abstinence and skilful treatment, to afford a chance of the system's
+getting once again into a permanent state of health; even as with
+individuals, so is it with nations. That the sudden cessation of the
+drain upon our resources from the East, and the partial reimbursement we
+have already realized, will sensibly lighten the burthens under which
+the Minister has hitherto laboured, and make him with joy to realize the
+expectations which, in proposing the income-tax, he so distinctly, yet
+cautiously, held out, as to the period of its duration, we may consider
+as indisputable. Add to this the pacific policy which Sir Robert Peel
+and his Cabinet are bent upon maintaining, as far as is consistent with
+a jealous regard to our national honour, (and which our late resplendent
+successes are calculated to facilitate,) and the revival, erelong, of
+the revenue, concurrently with that of trade and commerce, which may be
+confidently anticipated under our present firm, cautious, and
+experienced councils, and we may give to the winds our fears as to the
+continuance of the income-tax one instant after it can be prudently
+dispensed with. What, however, as a matter of _mere speculation_, if the
+nation should by and by, when familiarized with the character and
+working of the income-tax, become more reconciled to it, and prefer its
+retention as a substitute for _the Assessed Taxes_, which at present
+press so heavily on all, but particularly on the working-classes! But
+while Sir Robert Peel was remodelling the Corn-Laws, and creating a new
+source of direct revenue, he also undertook another task--a herculean
+task, one utterly hopeless, and beyond the reach or even conception of
+any but a Minister conscious of occupying an impregnable position in the
+confidence of the country: we allude to his reconstruction of our entire
+commercial system, as represented by his _new Tariff_. What courage was
+requisite to grapple with this giant difficulty! What practical skill;
+what patience and resolution; what exact yet extensive acquaintance with
+mercantile affairs; what a comprehensive discernment of consequences;
+what firm impartiality in deciding between vast conflicting interests,
+were here evinced! And observe--all these great measures, effecting a
+complete revolution in our domestic economy and policy--the fruits of
+only a few months accession to office of a Conservative Ministry! All
+the while that the Radical press was assailing them on the ground of
+their insolent and cruel disregard of their duty, and of the sufferings
+of the people, they were engaged upon the united labours of enquiry and
+reflection, on which alone can have been safely based the great measures
+which we have been briefly reviewing! "But all these," says some
+faithful mourner after the deceased Ministry, "they intended to have
+done, and would have done, _if they could_." Ay, to be sure. Admit it,
+for the nonce; 'twas easy to _say_ it, but the thing was _to do
+it_--quoth Mr Blewitt! That same _doing_, is what we are congratulating
+the present Ministry upon. Yes, it has been done--the great experiment
+is being tried; may it prove as safe and successful, as it is bold and
+well meant. It must be regarded, however, as only a part of the entire
+scheme proposed by Sir Robert Peel, and judged of accordingly, with
+reference also to the necessity of his position, arising from the last
+acts of his predecessors--from the spirit and temper of the age. The
+long-continued languor and prostration of our commerce, undoubtedly
+required some decisive, but cautious and well-considered movement, in
+the _direction_ of free-trade. How far we shall be met, in the same
+spirit, by France, Germany, Russia, and America, as has been long
+confidently predicted by those whose opinions have been perseveringly
+and vehemently urged upon the public, now remains to be seen. _Felix
+faustumque sit!_ But at present, at all events, our example seems not
+likely to be followed by those on whom we most calculated, and time
+alone can decide between our course and theirs--between the doctrines of
+the old and of the new school of political economy--as to which is the
+short-sighted and mischievous--which the sagacious and successful
+policy. The powerful protection afforded by the new Tariff to our
+colonial produce, is one of its most interesting and satisfactory
+features. That, however, which has justly attracted to it incomparably
+the greatest share of public attention and discussion, is the
+introduction of foreign cattle. This topic is one requiring to be spoken
+of in a diffident spirit, and most guarded language. Whether it will
+effect its praiseworthy object of lowering the price of animal food,
+without being overbalanced by its injurious effects upon our
+all-important agricultural interests, we shall not for some considerable
+time be in a condition to determine. At present, it would appear, that
+the alarm of the farmers on this score was premature and excessive, and
+is subsiding. The combined operation of this part of the new Tariff, and
+of the reduction in the duties on the importation of foreign corn, may
+ultimately have the effect of lowering the rent of the farmer, and of
+stimulating him into a more energetic and scientific cultivation of the
+land; and generally, of inducing very important modifications in the
+present arrangements between landlords and tenants. In some of the most
+recent agricultural meetings, speeches have been made, from which many
+journalists have inferred the existence of rapidly-increasing
+convictions on the part of the agricultural interest, that a sweeping
+alteration in the Corn-Law is inevitable and immediate. They are,
+however, attaching far too much weight to a few sentences uttered,
+amidst temporary excitement, by a few country gentlemen, in some eight
+or ten places only in the whole kingdom. Let them _pause_, at all
+events, till they shall have more authentic _data_, viz. what the
+agricultural members of Parliament will say in their places, in the
+ensuing session. Much of the sort of panic experienced by the country
+gentlemen alluded to, may be referred to a recent paragraph in the
+_Globe_ newspaper, confidently announcing the intention of Ministers to
+propose a fixed duty on corn. The glaring improbability, that even
+_were_ such a project contemplated by Ministers, they would (forgetting
+their characteristic caution and reserve) agitate the public mind on so
+critical a question, and derange vast transactions and arrangements in
+the corn trade by its premature divulgement; and, above all, constitute
+the _Globe_ newspaper their confidential organ upon the occasion, should
+alone have satisfied the most credulous of its unwarrantable and
+preposterous character. We acquit the _Globe_ newspaper of intentional
+mischief, but charge it with great _thoughtlessness_ of consequences. To
+return, however, for a moment, to that topic in the new Tariff most
+important to farmers. We believe that, since the day (9th July 1842) in
+which the new Tariff became the law of the land, the entire importation
+of cattle from the Continent, has fallen far short of a single
+fortnight's sale at Smithfield; but whether this will be the state of
+things two years, or even a twelvemonth hence, is another matter. At
+present, at all events, the new Tariff has had the beneficial effect of
+really lowering the price of provisions, and of other articles of
+consumption, essentially conducing to the comforts of the labouring
+classes. May _this_, in any event, be a _permanent_ result; and who
+could have brought it about, except such a Ministry as that of Sir
+Robert Peel, possessing their combined qualifications means, and
+opportunities, and equally bent upon using them promptly and honestly?
+
+    [5] Year ending 5th January 1840, L.2,390,764!--1841,
+    L.1,342,604!--1842, L.1,495,540!--(_Finance Accounts_, 1842,
+    p. 2.)
+
+No sooner had that Parliament which had passed, in its first session,
+such a number of great measures, having for their object the immediate
+benefit of the lower orders, (and, it may really be said, almost wholly
+at the expense of the higher orders,) separated, after its exhausting
+labours, than there occurred those deplorable and alarming outrages in
+the principal manufacturing districts, which so ill requited the
+benevolent exertions of the Legislature in their behalf. They exhibited
+some features of peculiar malignity--many glaring indications of the
+existence of a base and selfish hidden conspiracy against the cause of
+law, of order, and of good government. Who were the real originators and
+contrivers of that wicked movement, and what their objects, is a
+question which we shall not here discuss, but leave in the hands of the
+present keen and vigilant Government, and of the Parliament, so soon to
+be assembled. If a single chance of bringing the really guilty parties
+to justice--of throwing light on the actors and machinery of that
+atrocious conspiracy shall be thrown away, the public interests will
+have been grievously betrayed. On this subject, however, we have no
+apprehensions whatever, and pass on heartily to congratulate the country
+on possessing a Government which acted, on the trying occasion in
+question, with such signal promptitude, energy, and prudence. Not one
+moment was lost in faltering indecision; never was the majesty of the
+law more quickly and completely vindicated, never was there exhibited a
+more striking and gratifying instance of a temperate and discriminating
+exercise of the vast powers of the executive. The incessant attention of
+all functionaries, from the very highest to the lowest, by night and by
+day, on that occasion, at the Home-Office, (including the Attorney and
+Solicitor-General,) would hardly be credited; _mercy to the misguided_,
+but instant vengeance upon the guilty instigators of rebellion, was
+then, from first to last, the rule of action. The enemies of public
+tranquillity reckoned fearfully without their host, in forgetting who
+presided at the Home-Office, and who at the Horse Guards. Nothing could
+be better than the Government examination into the real causes of the
+outbreak, instituted upon the spot the very moment it was over, while
+evidence was fresh and accessible, and of which the guilty parties
+concerned have a great deal yet to hear. The Special Commission for the
+trial of the rioters, was also issued with salutary expedition. The
+prosecutions were carried on by the Attorney and Solicitor-General, on
+the part of the Crown, in a dignified spirit at once of forbearance and
+determination, and with a just discrimination between the degree of
+culpability disclosed. The merciful spirit in which the prosecutions
+were conducted by the law-officers of the Crown, was repeatedly pointed
+out to the misguided criminals by the Judges; who, on many occasions,
+intimated that the Government had chosen to indict for the minor offence
+only, when the facts would have undoubtedly warranted an indictment for
+high treason, with all its terrible consequences. Before quitting this
+incidental topic of legal proceedings, let us add a word upon the
+substantial improvements effected in the administration of justice
+during the late session, and of which the last volume of the
+statute-book affords abundant evidence, principally under the heads of
+bankruptcy, insolvency, and lunacy. Great and salutary alterations have
+been effected in these departments, as well as various others; the
+leading statutory changes being most ably carried into effect by the
+Lord Chancellor, who continues to preside over his court, and to
+discharge his high and multifarious duties with his accustomed dignity
+and sagacity. His recent bankruptcy appointments have certainly been
+canvassed by the Radical press with sufficient freedom, but on very
+insufficient grounds. _No_ appointments could have been made against
+which unscrupulous faction might not have raised a clamour. That
+temporarily excited in the present instance, has quite died away. The
+appointments in question have undoubtedly been made with a due regard to
+the public interest; but did the intelligent censors of the Radical
+press expect that those appointments of L.1500 a-year would be sought
+for or accepted by men at the bar, already making their L.3000, L.5000,
+L.8000, or L.10,000 a-year, and aspiring to the very highest honours of
+their profession? The gentlemen who have accepted these appointments,
+are many of them personally known to us as very acute and able practical
+men, who will be found to give the utmost satisfaction in the discharge
+of their duties to both the profession and the public. The two
+Vice-Chancellors, Sir James L. Knight Bruce, and Sir James Wigram, are
+admirable appointments. Each must have resigned a practice very far
+exceeding--perhaps doubling, or even trebling--their present salaries of
+office. The transference to the former, without any additional salary,
+of the office of Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, (vacant by the recent death
+of Sir John Cross,) was a highly advantageous and economical arrangement
+for the public, at the willing expense of Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce.
+
+May we here be allowed to allude for an instant to a very delicate
+topic--the new Poor-Law--simply to call attention to the resolute
+support of it by the present Government (whether right or wrong), as at
+least a pretty decisive evidence of their uprightness and independence.
+On this sore subject we shall not dwell, nor do we feel bound to offer
+any opinion of our own as to the alleged merits or demerits of the new
+Poor-Law; but it certainly looks as though Ministers had resolved to do
+what they _believed_ to be right, _ruat caelum_. What other motive they
+can have, is to us, at least, inconceivable.
+
+Let us again point with undisguised triumph to IRELAND, as a very
+striking instance of the results of a sound and firmly-administered
+Conservative policy. The late Government misgoverned Ireland, in order
+that they might be allowed to continue misgoverning England. Their
+memory will ever be execrated for their surrender of that fair portion
+of the empire into the hands of a political reprobate and impostor, of
+whom we cannot trust ourselves to speak, and the like of whom has never
+yet appeared, and it is to be hoped never will again appear, in British
+history. Immediately before and after their expulsion from office, they
+pointed to this scene of their long misconduct, and, with a sort of
+heartless jocularity, asked Sir Robert Peel "What he meant to do with
+Ireland?"--adding, that whatever else he might be able to do, by the aid
+of intrigue and corruption, "he could _never_ govern Ireland." How
+_now_, gentlemen? What will you find to lay to the charge of Ministers
+in the coming session? What has become of your late patron, Mr O'Connel?
+Is "his occupation gone?" Is he spending the short remainder of his
+respectable old age at Darrynane, even (begging pardon of the noble
+animal for the comparison)
+
+    --"like a worn-out lion in a cave,
+    That goes not out to prey?"
+
+What can you any longer do, or affect to do, old gentleman, to earn your
+honourable wages? Is there not (as the lawyers would style it) a failure
+of consideration? If you go on any longer collecting "the rent," may you
+not be liable to an indictment for obtaining money under false
+pretences? Poor old soul! his cuckoo cry of Repeal grows feebler and
+feebler; yet he must keep it up, or starve. _Tempus abire senex! satis
+clamasti!_ That Ireland is still subject to great evils, recent
+occurrences painfully attest. Mr Pitt, in 1799, (23d January,) pointed
+out what may still be regarded as their true source:--"I say that
+Ireland is subject to great and deplorable evils, which have a deep
+root: for they lie in the nature of the country itself in the present
+character, manners, and habits of its people; in their want of
+intelligence, or, in other words, in their ignorance; in the unavoidable
+separation of certain classes; in the state of property; in its
+religious distinctions; in the rancour which bigotry engenders, and
+superstition rears and cherishes."[6] How many of these roots of evil
+are still in existence!
+
+    [6] Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiv. p. 271.
+
+But consider what we have done, even already, for Ireland, by giving her
+the blessings of a strong and honest Government; what a blow we have
+aimed at absenteeism, in a particular provision of our income-tax! _Nil
+desperandum_, gentlemen, give us a little time to unravel your long
+tissue of misgovernment; and, in the mean time, make haste, and go about
+in quest of a _grievance_, if you can find one, against the ensuing
+session. Depend upon it, we will redress it!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The present aspect of foreign affairs is calculated to excite mixed
+feelings of pain and exultation in the breast of a thoughtful observer.
+The national character of Great Britain had unquestionably fallen in
+European estimation, and lost much of the commanding influence of its
+mere name, during the last few years preceding the accession to office
+of the present Government. That was an event--viz. the formation of a
+Cabinet at St James's, containing Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of
+Wellington, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Stanley--which justly excited an
+instant and great sensation in all foreign courts, regard being had to
+the critical circumstances of the times. Every one, both at home and
+abroad, knew well that if WAR was at hand, here was a Government to
+conduct it on the part of Great Britain, even under the most adverse
+circumstances imaginable, with all our accustomed splendour and success.
+But all knew, at the same time, that imminent as was the danger, if a
+profound statesmanship could avert it, consistently with the
+preservation of the national honour, that danger would promptly
+disappear. The new Cabinet instantly proclaimed themselves "lovers of
+peace, but not afraid of war;" and an altered tone of feeling and policy
+was quickly observable on the Continent.
+
+The peculiar position and interests of Great Britain impose upon her one
+paramount obligation--to interfere as little as possible with the
+affairs of other nations, especially in Europe--_never_, except upon
+compulsion--when bound by treaty, or when the eye of a profound and
+watchful statesmanship has detected in existence unquestionable elements
+of danger to the general peace and welfare of the world. To be always
+scrutinizing the movements of foreign states, with a view to convicting
+them of designs to destroy the balance of power (as it is called) in
+Europe, and thereupon evincing a disposition to assume an offensively
+distrustful and hostile attitude, requiring explanations, and
+disclaimers, and negotiations, which every one knows the slightest
+miscarriage may convert into inevitable pretexts and provocatives of
+war--is really almost to court the destruction of our very national
+existence. If there was one principle of action possessed by the late
+Government to be regarded as of more importance than another, it was
+that of maintaining peace, and non-intervention in the affairs of other
+nations. This, indeed, was emblazoned upon the banner unfurled by Lord
+Grey, on advancing to the head of affairs. Can it, however, be necessary
+to show how systematically--how perilously--this principle was set at
+nought by the late Government? As represented by Lord Palmerston, Great
+Britain had got to be regarded as the most pestilent, intrusive,
+mischief-making of neighbours. A little longer, and our name would have
+actually _stunk in the nostrils_ of Europe. Some began to hate us;
+others, to despise us!! all, to cease _dreading_ us. In the language of
+a powerful journalist, (the _Spectator_,) opposed on most points to the
+present Government, "the late Ministers commenced a career, perilous in
+the extreme to all the best interests of the nation--demoralizing public
+opinion, wasting public resources, and entangling the country in
+quarrels alike endless and aimless; and all this with a labouring after
+melodramatic stage effect, and a regardlessness of consequences
+perfectly unprecedented." We were, in the words of truth and soberness,
+fast losing our moral ascendency in Europe--by a series of querulous,
+petty, officious, needless, undignified interpositions; by the
+exhibition of a vacillating and short-sighted policy; by appearing
+(novel position for Great Britain) "willing to wound, but yet afraid to
+strike;" by conceiving and executing idle and preposterous schemes of
+aggrandizement and conquest. To go no further in Europe than our
+immediate neighbour, France, let us ask whether Lord Palmerston did not
+bring us to the very verge, and keep us at it for many months, of actual
+war with that power, which is always unhappily eager to "cry hurra, and
+let slip the dogs of war;" and with reference to _us_, to go out of
+their way to create occasions for misunderstanding, and hostilities?
+Were we not really on the verge of war?--of a war which would have
+instantly kindled all over Europe a war of extermination? Not, however,
+to descend to the discussion of recent occurrences familiar to every
+body, we shall very briefly advert to the state of our relations with
+America, with China, and of our affairs in British India, when Sir
+Robert Peel assumed the direction of affairs. Lord Palmerston has never
+been sufficiently called to account for his long, most disgraceful, and
+perilous neglect of our serious differences with America; and which had
+brought us to within a hair's-breadth of a declaration of war, which,
+whatever might have been its issue, (possibly not difficult to have
+foreseen,) would have been disastrous to both countries, and to one of
+them utterly destructive. It is notorious that within the last eighteen
+or twenty months, every arrival from the west was expected to bring
+intelligence of the actual commencement of hostilities. The state of
+public feeling towards us in America was being every hour more
+exasperated and malignant. The accession of the present Government
+opened, however, a bright and happy prospect of an adjustment of all
+difficulties; honourable to both parties. How long had they been in
+power, before they had earned universal applause by their prompt and
+masterly move, in dispatching Lord Ashburton to America on his delicate,
+difficult, and most responsible mission? Was ever man selected for a
+great public duty so peculiarly and consummately fitted for it? And how
+admirably has he discharged it! as our opponents may hear for themselves
+early in the ensuing session. Do Ministers deserve no credit for hitting
+on this critical device? Was it no just cause of congratulation, to be
+able to find such a person amongst the ranks of their own immediate and
+most distinguished supporters? We are now, happily, at perfect peace
+with America; and, notwithstanding some present untoward appearances,
+trust that both countries will soon reap the advantages of it. Of what
+real _value_ that peace may be, however, with reference to their
+extensive commercial relations with us, is another question, dependent
+entirely on the character which they may vindicate to themselves for
+honour and fidelity in their pecuniary transactions. That rests with
+themselves alone: whether they will go forward in a career of
+improvement and greatness, or sink into irretrievable disgrace and ruin,
+REPUDIATED and scouted by all mankind. We cannot quit America without a
+very anxious allusion to late occurrences in Canada. We feel words
+inadequate to express our sense of the transcendent importance of
+preserving in their integrity our Canadian possessions. No declaration
+of her Majesty since her accession gave greater satisfaction to her
+subjects, than that of her inflexible determination to preserve
+inviolate her possessions in Canada. We are of opinion that Lord Durham
+did incalculable, and perhaps irreparable, mischief there. We have no
+time, however, to enter into details concerning either his policy and
+proceedings, or those of Lord Sydenham; and we are exceedingly anxious
+also to offer no observations on the recent movements of Sir Charles
+Bagot, beyond a frank expression of the profound anxiety with which we
+await Ministerial explanations in the ensuing session. Before these
+pages shall have met the reader's eyes, Sir Charles Bagot may be no
+longer numbered among men. We therefore withhold all comment on his late
+proceedings, which we are satisfied have originated in an anxious desire
+to serve the best interests of his country. We confidently believe that
+Ministers will be able abundantly to satisfy the country upon this
+subject; and that, in the event of the necessity arising, they will
+choose a successor to Sir Charles Bagot every way qualified for his very
+responsible post, thoroughly instructed as to the line of policy he is
+to adopt, and capable of carrying it out with skill and energy. It is
+impossible to turn to India, for the purpose of taking a necessarily
+rapid and general view of the course of recent events there, without
+experiencing great emotion, arising from conflicting causes. We have
+already said, that our vast and glorious Indian empire is indeed the
+wonder of the world. Every one of our countrymen is aware of the means
+by which we originally acquired it, and that have subsequently augmented
+and retained it by an almost inconceivable amount of expenditure and
+exertion--by the display of overwhelming civil and military genius. If,
+moreover, he has entered into Indian history with proper feeling and
+intelligence, he will be able to appreciate the truth and force of the
+celebrated saying of one who contributed immensely to our ancient
+greatness in India, viz.--that _we hold India by_ OPINION _only:_ the
+opinion which is there entertained of our greatness of national
+character, intellectual and moral--of our wisdom, our justice, our
+power. If this fail us, our downfall in India inevitably follows; and
+memorable and tremendous indeed will be such an event, amongst all
+nations, and at all future times, till the name of England is blotted
+from the recollection of mankind. Therefore it is that we all regard the
+administration of affairs in India with profound anxiety, justly
+requiring, in those to whom it is entrusted, an intimate practical
+acquaintance with Indian character and manners, with Anglo-Indian
+history, and a clear view of the policy to be ever kept in sight, and
+ability and determination to carry it out to the uttermost. When Lord
+Auckland went to India, under the Whig Government, in 1836, he found
+both its foreign and domestic affairs in a satisfactory state--peaceful
+and prosperous--with, upon the whole, a sufficient military force,
+notwithstanding the immense reduction of Lord William Bentinck. How did
+he leave it to his successor, Lord Ellenborough, in 1841? The prospect
+which awaited that successor was indeed dark, troubled, and bloody. An
+army, alas! dreadfully defeated in one quarter, and dangerously
+disaffected in another; a war of extermination in Affghanistan; probable
+hostilities with Burmah and Nepaul; an almost hopelessly involved
+foreign policy; and, moreover, under these desperate circumstances, with
+a treasury _empty!_
+
+We shall confine ourselves to one topic, the war in Affghanistan--which
+we fearlessly, and with deep indignation, pronounce to have inflicted
+almost irreparable injury on the British nation--an almost indelible
+stain on the British character--and to have shaken the whole of our
+Eastern possessions. Lord Auckland, in listening, and his superiors at
+home in instructing him to listen, to the representations of Shah
+Soojah, and to be persuaded by him to embark in the late disastrous and
+disgraceful campaign, were guilty either of an incredible weakness and
+ignorance of the nature of the cause they were espousing, together with
+an inconceivable degree of short-sightedness as to the most obvious
+consequences of it, or of infamous hypocrisy in making the restoration
+of Shah Soojah only the pretext and stepping-stone to the conquest of
+Affghanistan, in the most criminal and reckless spirit of imaginary
+aggrandizement and extension of territory that ever has actuated the
+rules of India. Will they pretend that it was really designed, and
+necessarily so, solely for the purpose of defeating subtle and dangerous
+intrigues on the part of Russia and Persia? Listen to the language of
+one of the responsible authors of the policy since followed by such
+fearful consequences, Sir John Hobhouse--who, on the 11th July 1840, on
+the occasion of a dinner given to their richly and prematurely rewarded
+hero, Lord Keane, thus poured forth his insane, exulting avowal of the
+real object they had had in view:--
+
+    "The gallant officer had alluded to the late addition made to
+    the vast territory of the East India Company. _It was just
+    possible_ that that territory had _at that moment_ received a
+    further and important increase. _It is just possible,_ that
+    since he (Sir John Hobhouse) last met the Directors at the
+    festive board--now about six months since--the Government of
+    India _has been enabled to make an addition to its territory,
+    the vast consequences of which could scarcely be imagined in
+    the wildest dream of fancy_, and which for centuries would be
+    of advantage to the empire!!! In the history of the world there
+    was no instance of yearly sovereigns (as the Directors of the
+    Company were) having conquered so vast a territory as that of
+    India. There was no instance of such successive success. To
+    them the happiness belonged of giving to the vast country under
+    their control the blessing of education. It was owing to God's
+    ministering hand, by which successive Directions had sprung up
+    to spread the benefits of light and knowledge in India, and
+    among a people enshrouded in darkness and idolatry. It was
+    scarcely a hundred years ago since the power of the East India
+    Company was felt in India; their banners were now flying from
+    the Indus to the Burrampooter. He would say emphatically, go on
+    in the great work of extending the religion, civilization, and
+    education of India; for the wishes of the good are with you--go
+    on in your great work, for the sake of India, and Great
+    Britain itself."
+
+What must _now_ be the feelings of Sir John Hobhouse and his brother
+ex-Ministers on this paragraph catching his eyes; when they reflect on
+the frightful sacrifice of life, British and Affghan--the defeat of our
+arms while engaged in a shameful and wicked cause--with its perilous
+effects upon the stability of our tenure of India--which have directly
+resulted from the measures thus vaingloriously vaunted of! A thousand
+reflections here occur to us upon the subject of the insane (or guilty)
+conduct of the late Government in India; but the extent to which this
+article has already reached, compels us to suppress them. We the less
+regret this circumstance, however, because there really seems but one
+opinion upon this topic among well-informed persons. After the last
+intelligence from India, it is idle, it is needless, to attempt
+reasoning on the subject; to ask how we should have strengthened
+ourselves by the destruction of a powerful and (according to authentic
+intelligence) a really friendly chief in Dost Mahommed; how we could
+even have _occupied_ Affghanistan without a ruinous expenditure,
+continual alarm and danger from a perpetual series of treachery and
+insurrection; and to what purpose, after all, of solid advantage! The
+whole policy of Lord Auckland was incontestably one of mad encroachment,
+conquest, and aggrandizement, in utter ignorance of the character and
+exigencies of the times; the Duke of Wellington's memorable prediction
+is now far more than fulfilled! "_It will not be till Lord Auckland's
+policy has reached the zenith of apparent success, that its difficulties
+will begin to develope themselves._" Begin to develope themselves! What
+would have become of us, had the councils originating that policy still
+been in the ascendant, we tremble to contemplate. The exulting French
+press, on hearing of our recent disasters, thus expressed themselves:[7]
+"_England is rich and energetic. She may re-establish her dominion in
+India for some time longer; but the term of her Indian empire is marked,
+it will conclude before the quarter of a century._" Such has been the
+anticipated--such would have been the inevitable result of the policy
+which Sir Robert Peel's Government, guided by the profound sagacity of
+the Duke of Wellington, made it their first business _totally to
+reverse_; not, however, till they had completely re-established the old
+terror of our arms, convincing the natives of India that what we were of
+yore, we still are; that our punishment of treachery is instant and
+tremendous; that we can act with irresistible vigour and complete
+success, at one and the same moment, both in India and in China. In
+their minds, may the splendour of our recent victories efface the
+recollection of our previous bloody and disgraceful defeats! And if we
+cannot make them _forget_ the wickedness--the folly--the madness which
+originally dictated our invasion of Affghanistan, at least we have shown
+them how calmly and magnanimously we can obey the dictates of justice
+and of prudence, _in the very moment of, fierce and exciting military
+triumph_. May, indeed, such be the effect of all that has recently
+occurred, whether adverse or prosperous, in India! For the former, the
+guilty councils of the late Government are alone answerable; for the
+latter, we are exclusively indebted to the vigour and sagacity of our
+present Government. The proclamation in which Lord Ellenborough
+announces our abandonment of Affghanistan will probably excite great
+discussion, and possibly (on the part of the late Government) furious
+objurgation, in the ensuing session of Parliament. We are so delighted
+at the achievement which was the subject of that proclamation, that even
+were there valid grounds of objection to its taste and policy, we should
+entirely overlook them. If even Lord Ellenborough, in the excitement of
+the glorious moment in which he penned the proclamation, departed from
+the style of all previous state documents of that character, was it not
+very excusable? But we are disposed to vindicate the propriety of the
+step he took. It may be said that it was highly impolitic to make so
+frank an avowal to the natives of India, that a mere change of Ministry
+at home may be attended with a total and instant revolution in our
+native policy, to place on record a formal and humiliating confession of
+our errors and misconduct. But let it be borne in mind how potent and
+glaring was already that error, that misconduct, with all its alarming
+consequences; and that one so intimately acquainted as Lord Ellenborough
+with the Indian character, may have seen, _then and there_, reasons to
+recommend the course he has adopted, which may not occur to us at home.
+That document will truly purport, in all time to come, to have been
+issued in a spirit of remarkable wisdom and justice, at the very moment
+of our having achieved the proudest triumph we could have desired for
+our arms. But, above all, what does that striking document tell, but
+_the truth_, and nothing but _the truth_? Let us, however, now
+confidently rely on the vast advantages which we cannot but derive from
+a prudent and vigorous administration of the affairs of India. We trust
+that Lord Ellenborough will persevere in the admirable line of conduct
+which he has hitherto adopted, turning neither to the right hand nor the
+left, disturbed by no sinister hopes or fears. Let his grand object be,
+by every legitimate means at his command, _to Anglicize India_; to
+encourage the adoption of English habits of thought, the practical
+appreciation of English principles of government; in short, thoroughly
+to identify the people of India with the people of England, in all their
+partialities, and prejudices, and interests. Every thing he has hitherto
+done in India, we rejoice to observe, tends this way. Let him but
+persevere, and he will acquire imperishable renown, and reflect
+permanent splendour on the Government which appointed him. In a
+confident and well-founded reliance upon his fitness for his post, upon
+his capacity for thoroughly carrying out the policy of a strong and
+enlightened Conservative government, which has entrusted to him the
+management of such vast and splendid national interests--the nation now
+looks with a bright untroubled eye towards India.
+
+    [7] The _Siecle_. (See No. cccxxi. p. 112.)
+
+    --"Now is the winter of our discontent
+    Made glorious summer!
+    And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
+    In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
+    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
+    Our bruised arms hung up for monuments,
+    Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
+    Our dreadful marches to delightful measures!"
+
+Our allotted space is well-nigh exhausted, and we have only now reached
+the confines of CHINA!--a topic on which we had prepared ourselves for a
+very full expression of our opinions. We are compelled, however, now to
+content ourselves with a mere outline of our intended observations on a
+subject--our victory over the Emperor of China--which is pregnant with
+matter for long and profound reflection. Abstractly, our triumphant
+assault on these distant and vast dominions, affords matter for national
+pride and exultation, as far as concerns our naval and military renown;
+and the names of Parker and Gough will never be forgotten in British
+history. The submission of the Emperor of China to our arms, is an event
+calculated of itself to distinguish the reign of our glorious sovereign,
+Queen Victoria, far beyond those of most of her predecessors. It is an
+event that concerns and affects the prospects and interests of the whole
+world, and though it is at this moment occupying the thoughts of all the
+statesmen of Europe, with reference to its contingent effects upon their
+respective countries, not the most experienced and sagacious of them can
+predict with safety what will be its effects within even the next year
+or two. As for ourselves, our present prevalent feeling seems to be in
+accordance with our daring military character, which would say merely--
+
+    "Why then, _China's_ our oyster
+    Which we with sword have open'd."
+
+But to those in England who are accustomed to regard occurrences with
+reference to their probable consequences, the recent events in China
+afford matter for the most anxious reflection of which thinking men are
+capable--whether in the character of philosophers, of statesmen, of
+warriors, or of merchants. Were we justified in our attack upon the
+Emperor of China? We have no hesitation whatever in expressing our
+opinion, after having had our attention for some years directed to the
+subject of our relation with China, in the affirmative. From the moment
+of our first intercourse with that people, we have had to submit to a
+series of indignities sufficient to kindle into fury the feelings of any
+one who merely reads any authentic account of those indignities. The
+Chinese have long derived an immense revenue, together with other great
+advantages, from us; encouraging us to embark a vast capital in our
+trade with them, and to form great permanent establishments dependent
+upon it. Language cannot describe the degrading circumstances under
+which we have been forced to carry on our commercial intercourse with
+the Chinese; our long submission to such conduct having, of course,
+insured its continual aggravation. The Opium trade, perhaps
+beneficially, brought matters to a crisis. It was alleged on behalf of
+the Emperor, that we were surreptitiously, and from motives of gain,
+corrupting and destroying his people, by supplying them with opium; but
+it is easily demonstrable that this was only a pretence for endeavouring
+to effect a change in the medium of our dealings with them, vastly
+beneficial to the Emperor, and disadvantageous to us. We might have been
+permitted to quadruple our supply of opium to his subjects, if we would
+have been content to be paid, _not in bullion_, but by taking Chinese
+goods in exchange; in a word, to change the basis of our dealings from
+_sale_ to _barter_; and all this from a totally groundless notion of the
+Emperor and his advisers, that we were draining his kingdom of silver
+--in their own words, "causing the Sycee silver to ooze out of the
+dominions of the Brother of the Sun and the Moon." Their desperate
+anxiety to carry this point, led them to take the decisive step of
+seizing a vast quantity of our opium, under circumstances perfectly
+familiar to every body; constituting a crowning indignity and injury,
+which, without reference to the original legality or illegality of the
+opium trade, gave us an unquestionable cause for war against the
+Emperor. He seized the person of her Majesty's representative, and those
+of many of her principal subjects in China; and under the threat of
+inflicting death upon them, extorted a delivery of an enormous amount of
+property belonging to her Majesty's subjects. If this was not a cause of
+war with any nation, whether civilized or uncivilized, there never was
+one; and without going into further detail, we have stated sufficient to
+justify, beyond all doubt, our commencement of hostilities against
+China. But this occurred so long ago as the month of March 1839; yet, to
+the eternal scandal of the then existing Government, no effectual
+warlike demonstration was made to redress this flagrant unparalleled
+outrage on the British nation, till better councils, those of the
+present Government, were had recourse to by her Majesty; and which led
+to the quick triumphant result with which the world is now ringing. Till
+the present vigorous Government took the affair in hand, we were
+_pottering_ about the extremities of the empire, month after month, even
+year after year, at a ruinous expense, in a way justly calculated to
+excite the derision of even the Chinese--of the whole world who had
+heard of our mode of procedure. It will be in vain for the late
+Government to endeavour meanly to make Captain Elliot their scapegoat.
+Let them, if they can, satisfy the nation that, in all he appears to
+have done so ineffectually and disgracefully, he did not act according
+to the strict orders of the late Government; that in all he would have
+done, and wished to have done, viz. to carry hostilities at once, with
+an adequate force, to the right point of attack, he was not either
+positively overruled, or left without advice and authority. Owing to
+their own want of forethought, of energy, and of practical knowledge,
+and their financial mismanagement, even if they had contemplated the
+plan of operations which led ultimately to the successful enterprize on
+which we are now justly congratulating ourselves, they _could_ not, they
+_did not_ act upon them. No, it was left for the present Government,
+under the auspices of him who told us that "England _could_ not carry on
+a little war," amidst all the embarrassments and dangers which they had
+just inherited from their predecessors, to send out the peremptory
+instructions which have been so ably acted upon; and _above all_, a
+naval and military force fully adequate for the occasion. This done,
+China succumbed; and we understand that poor Lord Palmerston is pluming
+himself on being able to produce, next session, a despatch which he
+issued to Sir Henry Pottinger, chalking out the very line of operations
+which was adopted with such supreme success. We, of course, cannot
+officially know that such is the fact: but even admitting it, why did
+not Lord Palmerston do this far earlier? What excuse can be offered for
+this vacillation and procrastination in an affair of such vast urgency?
+"We had not the means to equip a sufficient force," his lordship may
+reply, in his usual strain of bitter flippancy. And why had he not the
+means? The extravagance and profligacy of his Government had deprived
+him of them; his exchequer was empty; and had he, or they, the boldness
+or the virtue to propose what has been demonstrated to have been the
+only mode of meeting the exigency, an income-tax? In vain, therefore,
+may his lordship and his friends declaim in the ensuing session, and
+with our bombardment of China in his ears, say "that is _my_ thunder."
+They will be only laughed at and despised. No, no, Lord Palmerston;
+_palmam qui meruit, ferat._ Let the nation decide.
+
+The late military and naval proceedings against China, reflect permanent
+glory upon the arms of England, naval and military, and we earnestly
+hope--we confidently believe--that those concerned in them will soon
+receive substantial and enduring marks of national gratitude. But what
+is the real value, what will be the consequences, of our victory? We are
+very anxious to take the earliest opportunity of placing on record our
+views upon this all-important subject, with a view of moderating the
+expectations, and allaying the excitement, which prevails upon the
+subject of the commercial advantages anticipated to follow immediately
+on the final ratification of the treaty. Let us take a sober and
+common-sense view of the affair, and reason thus:--
+
+First of all, we must bear in mind the long-cherished hatred borne by
+the Emperor and his court to all barbarians, particularly towards us;
+exasperated now, doubtless, to a pitch of extreme intensity and
+malignity, by the signal humiliation and injury we have inflicted upon
+him. Can we expect that this will be suddenly and permanently altered?
+It is not in human nature, which is the same every where. With the
+thunder of our cannon in his ears, the supplies of his whole empire at
+our immediate mercy, his armies scattered like dust, and his forts and
+walled cities crumbling to pieces under our artillery, the necessity of
+his position forced him to buy peace on almost any terms. We have
+exacted from him what is at variance with the fixed Chinese policy of
+ages. The more he, by and by, reflects upon it, in the absence of our
+awe-inspiring military and naval forces, the more galling and
+intolerable will become the contemplation of what he has been compelled
+to concede and sacrifice. Who knows what artful falsehoods may not be
+perseveringly poured into his ear, day after day, month after month,
+year after year, to our disadvantage and disparagement in his
+estimation? He may not dare, perhaps, to resort to open hostility,
+directly to provoke our tremendous vengeance; but those best acquainted
+with China, know what countless facilities exist for his doing
+indirectly what he dares not, or may choose not, to do openly. We are
+not without fear, from our knowledge of the Chinese character, and of
+their long-established mode of procedure, that every chicane and evasion
+will be resorted to, in order to neutralize and nullify, as far as
+possible, the commercial advantages which we have, at the cannon's
+mouth, extorted from them. A great deal, at all events, will depend on
+the skill, firmness, and vigilance, of the consuls to be appointed at
+the five opened ports of China. We rely, also, greatly on the
+unquestionable eagerness of the _Chinese_ people to enter into trading
+relations with us. The Emperor, however, and those by whose counsels he
+is guided, are Tartars, between whom and the Chinese there is a
+long-cherished and bitter hostility, which may eventually operate in our
+favour. Adverting, for a moment, to the proceedings of Sir Henry
+Pottinger, we feel very great doubt, indeed, whether our forces should
+not, either with or without the consent of the Chinese, have gone on to
+Pekin, and insisted on the negotiations being carried on _there_. What a
+prodigious effect would not thereby have been produced, not only on the
+mind of the Emperor, but of the whole nation! The painful but salutary
+truth of their own weakness, and our power, would have been thus
+"brought home to their businesses and bosoms,"--there could never
+afterwards have been any pretence for his or their saying, that they had
+been deceived in any part of the proceedings. Doubtless, however, Sir
+Henry Pottinger acted advisedly in abstaining from penetrating to Pekin,
+and also from stipulating for the residence of a British ambassador at
+Pekin. How such a proposal would have been received--or how, if adopted
+and carried into effect, it would have answered our expectations--it is
+difficult to say; but we have several letters lying before us, from
+peculiarly well-informed persons on the spot, in all of which the
+absence of this stipulation from the treaty is very greatly regretted.
+"I am afraid," says one, "we shall be again left to the tender mercies
+of the local mandarins, and that their old habits of arrogance and
+deceit and extortion, will be resumed. For what are _consuls?_ They have
+no power of communicating even with the provincial officers: or if this
+should now be conceded, they have none with the government at Pekin: and
+may we not fear that the Chinese will continue to force away gradually,
+by effectual but invisible obstacles, the trade from the ports now
+ostensibly opened to us?" The gentleman, from whose long and very able
+letter we have quoted this paragraph, takes a somewhat disheartening
+view of the treaty, and its probable observance and consequences. He is
+on the spot, and has access to the best sources of knowledge; but we
+confess, that for our own part, we do not share his apprehensions.
+Whatever disposition to do so the Emperor or his people may entertain,
+we believe they will neither dare at all to offend or injure us openly,
+or persevere long in attempting to do so indirectly. It may be a work of
+time but as soon as they perceive the steady benefits derivable from a
+prudently-conducted course of dealing with them, we think it likely that
+a sense of self-interest will lead them to encourage our intercourse and
+augment our dealings. On one thing we regret to feel certain that we
+must calculate--namely, on an enormous overstocking of the Chinese
+market with articles of British merchandize, long before any sensible,
+or at least important, demand for them shall have been created; which
+will of course lead to serious loss on the part of the adventurers. We
+must also expect Hong-Kong, and the five open ports, to be forthwith
+flooded with commercial adventurers. To all such we would earnestly
+say--"pause. Consider the circumstances of China--how capricious and
+perfidious its people are by nature--the _possibility_, at all events,
+of their acting on the hostile policy we have above alluded to, and
+discouraging your trade; or if not so, still do not imagine that the
+vast empire of China is standing agape for any sort of goods you may
+send or take out." We must, however, pass on to allude briefly to a
+subject both important and difficult--the opium trade with China. This
+is a subject imperatively demanding the best consideration of the
+Government. A careful examination of the subject, in all its bearings,
+induces us, with due diffidence, to express an opinion that the
+Government sale of opium in India should cease. We cannot, of course,
+prevent the poppy's being grown in India--nor, on the other hand, should
+a great source of revenue be easily parted with. Let their opium be
+produced and sold as before, and subject to such a tax as may appear
+expedient to the Government. With reference to the policy and propriety
+of our continuing to supply opium to the Chinese, we have already
+expressed our opinion as to the true ground of objection to it by the
+Emperor of China, namely, simply a financial, not a moral or religious
+one. We have reason to believe that Sir Henry Pottinger most
+strenuously, and, in our opinion, most judiciously, urged upon the
+imperial commissioners the expediency of the raising a revenue from
+opium, by legalizing its importation. To this they replied, however,
+"that they did not dare, _at present_, to bring the painful subject to
+the Emperor's notice." We are, notwithstanding, very strongly of opinion
+that the opium trade will, at no distant period, be legalized, as soon
+as the Emperor can be made to understand the great profit he will derive
+from it. In any event, it will be obviously nugatory for the Government
+directly to prohibit British subjects from importing opium into China.
+The only effect of such a measure would be, that they could carry on the
+trade through the intervention of foreigners.
+
+Many other topics, such as the opportunity now afforded for the
+introduction of the Christian religion into China, the extent to which
+we shall be permitted to acquire a knowledge of the habits, the economy,
+the literature, and the science, of China; the exertions which may be
+expected from other nations to share in the advantages which we have, by
+our own unassisted efforts, secured--we must pass over, as inconsistent
+with the limits assigned us, or, indeed, the scope of this article.
+
+Whatever may be the ultimate effects of the blow we have struck in
+China, there can be no doubt that it has prodigiously extended the
+reputation, and augmented the influence of Great Britain, especially
+coupled as it is with our contemporaneous brilliant successes in India,
+and our satisfactory adjustment of our differences with America. We are
+now, thank God, at peace with all the world, to whose counsels soever it
+is to be attributed. Let us now endeavour to make the most of the
+blessings which the Divine favour vouchsafes to us. Let us cultivate
+virtue--let us cherish religion. Let us, as a nation, give up all idle
+and dangerous dreams of foreign conquest, satisfied that we already
+possess as much as it is possible for us to hold, with safety and
+advantage. Let us _honour all men_. At home, let us bear with
+cheerfulness the burthens necessarily imposed to support the state, and
+each do all that lies in us to extinguish party animosities; generously
+and cordially co-operating with, and supporting those whom we believe
+honestly striving to carry on the government of this great country, at a
+very critical conjuncture of affairs, with dignity and prudence. Let us
+discourage faction, and each, in our several spheres exert ourselves to
+ameliorate the condition of the inferior classes of society. May the
+ensuing session of Parliament commence its labours auspiciously, and in
+due course bring them to a peaceful and happy close, in a spirit of good
+will towards all men of loyalty to our Queen, and piety towards God!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL ERROR.
+
+
+    [Many as are the frightful cases of error recorded in the
+    annals of every judiciary court, there are few more striking of
+    the uncertainty of evidence respecting personal identity, and
+    of the serious errors based upon it, than are to be read in the
+    curious trial we are about to relate; and which has, for forty
+    years, been the subject of parliamentary appeals in the country
+    where it took place. The recent death of the widow of the
+    unhappy sufferer excites a fresh interest in her wrongs, so
+    strangely left unredressed by the very government that was the
+    unwitting cause of them.]
+
+
+I.--THE FOUR GUESTS.
+
+
+On the 4th Floreal of the 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible,
+(23d April 1796,) four young men were seated at a splendid breakfast in
+the Rue des Boucheries at Paris. They were all dressed in the costume of
+the _Incroyables_ of the period; their hair _coiffes en cadenettes_ and
+_en oreilles de chien_, according to the fantastic custom of the day;
+they had all top-boots, with silver spurs, large eyeglasses, various
+watch-chains, and other articles of _bijouterie_; carrying also the
+little cane, of about a foot and a half in length, without which no
+dandy was complete. The breakfast was given by a M. Guesno, a
+van-proprietor of Douai, who was anxious to celebrate the arrival at
+Paris of his compatriot Lesurques, who had recently established himself
+with his family in the busy capital.
+
+"Yes, _mon cher_ Guesno," said Lesurques, "I have quitted for ever our
+good old town of Douai; or, if not for ever, at least until I have
+completed in Paris the education of my children. I am now thirty-three
+years of age. I have paid my debt to my country by serving in the
+regiment of Auvergne, with some distinction. On leaving the ranks I was
+fortunate enough to make my services of some slight use, by fulfilling,
+gratuitously, the functions of _chef de bureau_ of the district. At
+present, thanks to my patrimony and the dowery of my wife, I have an
+income of fifteen thousand francs (L.600) a-year, am without ambition,
+have three children, and my only care is to educate them well. The few
+days that I have been at Paris have not been wasted; I have a pretty
+apartment, Rue Montmartre, where I expect to be furnished, and ready to
+receive you in my turn, with as much comfort as heartiness."
+
+"Wisely conceived," interrupted one of the guests, who, till this
+moment, had maintained a profound silence; "but who can count upon the
+morrow in such times as these? May your projects of peace and
+retirement, Monsieur, be realized: if so, you will then be the happiest
+man in the Republic; for during the last five or six years, there has
+been no _citoyen_, high or low, who could predict what the next week
+would decide for him."
+
+The speaker uttered this with a tone of bitterness and discouragement
+which contrasted strangely with the flaunting splendour of his toilet,
+and the appetite with which he had done honour to the breakfast. He was
+young, and would have been remarkably handsome, had not his dark eyes
+and shaggy brows given an expression of fierceness and dissimulation to
+his countenance, which he vainly endeavoured to hide, by never looking
+his interlocutor in the face. His name was Couriol. His presence at this
+breakfast was purely accidental. He had come to see M. Richard, (the
+proprietor of the house where M. Guesno alighted on his journey to
+Paris, and who was also one of the guests,) just as they were about to
+sit down to table, and was invited to join them without ceremony.
+
+The breakfast passed off gaily, in spite of the sombre Couriol; and
+after two hours' conviviality, they adjourned to the Palais Royal,
+where, after taking their cafe at the _Rotonde du Caveau_, they
+separated.
+
+
+II.--THE FOUR HORSEMEN.
+
+
+A few days afterwards, on the 8th Floreal, four men mounted on dashing
+looking horses, which, however, bore the unequivocal signs of being
+hired for the day, rode gaily out of Paris by the barrier of Charenton;
+talking and laughing loudly, caracoling with great enjoyment, and
+apparently with nothing but the idea of passing as joyously as possible
+a day devoted to pleasure.
+
+An attentive observer, however, who did not confine his examination to
+their careless exteriors, might have remarked that, beneath their long
+_levites,_ (a peculiar cloak then in fashion,) they carried each a
+sabre, suspended at the waist, the presence of which was betrayed from
+time to time by a slight clanking, as the horses stumbled or changed
+their paces. He might have further remarked a sinister pre-occupation
+and a brooding fierceness in the countenance of one, whose dark eyes
+peeped out furtively beneath two thick brows. He took but little share
+in the boisterous gaiety of the other three, and that little was forced;
+his laugh was hollow and convulsive. It was Couriol.
+
+Between twelve and one, the four horsemen arrived at the pretty village
+of Mongeron, on the road to Melun. One of them had preceded them at a
+hand-gallop to order dinner at the _Hotel de la Poste_, kept by the
+Sieur Evrard. After the dinner, to which they did all honour, they
+called for pipes and tobacco--(cigars were then almost unknown)--and two
+of them smoked. Having paid their bill, they proceeded to the Cassino,
+where they took their cafe.
+
+At three o'clock they remounted their horses, and following the road,
+shaded by stately elms, which leads from Mongeron to the forest of
+Lenart, they reached Lieursaint; where they again halted. One of their
+horses had cast a shoe, and one of the men had broken the little chain
+which then fastened the spur to the boot. The horseman to whom this
+accident had happened, stopped at the entrance of the village at Madame
+Chatelain's, a _limonadiere_, whom he begged to serve him some cafe, and
+at the same time to give him a needleful of strong thread to mend the
+chain of his spur. She did so, but observing the traveller to be rather
+awkward in his use of the needle, she called her servant, _la femme_
+Grossetete, who fixed the chain for him, and helped him to place it on
+his boot. The other three travellers had, during this time, alighted at
+the inn kept by the Sieur Champeaux, where they drank some wine; while
+the landlord himself accompanied the traveller and his unshod horse to
+the farrier's, the Sieur Motteau. This finished, the four met at Madame
+Chatelain's, where they played at billiards. At half-past seven, after a
+parting cup with the Sieur Champeaux, whither they returned to re-saddle
+their horses, they set off again in the direction of Melun.
+
+The landlord stood at his door watching the travellers till out of
+sight, and then turning into his house again, he saw on the table a
+sabre, which one of his guests had forgotten to fasten to his belt; he
+dispatched one of his stable-boys after them, but they were out of
+sight. It was not till an hour afterwards, that the traveller who had
+had his spur-chain mended, returned at full gallop to claim his sabre.
+He drank a glass of brandy, and having fastened his weapon securely,
+departed at furious speed in the direction taken by his comrades.
+
+
+III.--THE ROBBERY AND MURDER.
+
+
+At the same time that the horseman left Lieursaint for Paris, the Lyons
+mail arrived there from Paris, and changed horses. It was about
+half-past eight, and the night had been obscure for some time. The
+courier, having charged horses and taken a fresh postilion, set forth to
+traverse the long forest of Senart. The mail, at this epoch, was very
+different from what it is at present. It was a simple post-chaise, with
+a raised box behind, in which were placed the despatches. Only one
+place, by the side of the courier, was reserved for travellers, and
+that was obtained with difficulty. On the night in question this seat
+was occupied by a man of about thirty, who had that morning taken it for
+Lyons, under the name of Laborde, a silk-merchant; his real name was
+Durochat; his object may be guessed.
+
+At nine o'clock, the carriage having descended a declivity with great
+speed, now slackened its course to mount a steep hill which faced it; at
+this moment four horsemen bounded into the road--two of them seizing the
+horses' heads, the two other attacked the postilion, who fell lifeless
+at their feet, his skull split open by a sabre-cut. At the same
+instant--before he had time to utter a word--the wretched courier was
+stabbed to the heart by the false Laborde, who sat beside him. They
+ransacked the mail of a sum of seventy-five thousand francs (L.3000) in
+money, _assignats_, and bank-notes. They then took the postilion's horse
+from the chaise, and Durochat mounting it, they galloped to Paris, which
+they entered between four and five in the morning by the Barrier de
+Rambouillet.
+
+
+IV.--THE ARREST.
+
+
+This double murder, committed with such audacity on the most frequented
+route of France, could not but produce an immense sensation, even at
+that epoch so fertile in brigandage of every sort, where the exploits of
+_la Chouannerie_, and the ferocious expeditions of the _Chauffeurs_,[8]
+daily filled them with alarm. The police were at once in pursuit. The
+post-horse ridden by Durochat, and abandoned by him on the Boulevard,
+was found wandering about the Palais Royale. It was known that four
+horses covered with foam had been conducted at about five in the morning
+to the stables of a certain Muiron, _Rue des Fosse's,
+Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois_, by two men who had hired them the day
+before: these men were Bernard and Couriol; the former of whom was
+immediately arrested, the second had, with the other accomplices,
+taken flight.
+
+    [8] An atrocious gang of thieves, who adopted the unnecessary
+    brutality of burning the unfortunate victims they intended
+    to rob.
+
+The research was pursued with great activity at Paris, as well as at the
+scene of the crime, and along the route which the assassins had twice
+travelled. The information obtained showed that there were five
+culprits. The description of the four horsemen who rode from Paris,
+stopping at Mongeron and Lieursaint, was furnished with as much
+precision as concordance by the various witnesses who had seen and
+spoken to them on the road, and in the inns and cafes. The description
+of the traveller, who, under the name of Laborde, had taken the seat
+beside the courier, was furnished with equal exactitude by the clerks,
+from whom he had retained the place, and by those who saw him mount.
+Couriol, recognized as having with Bernard conducted back the horses to
+Muiron, after the crime, had left Paris for Chateau-Thierry, where he
+was lodged in the house of Citoyen Bruer, where also Guesno had gone on
+some business. The police followed Couriol, and arrested him. They found
+upon him a sum in money and assignats, nearly equivalent to a fifth
+share of what the courier had been robbed. Guesno and Bruer were also
+arrested, and had their papers seized; but they so completely
+established their _alibi_, that they were at once dismissed on their
+arrival at Paris. At the epoch of which we write, the examination of
+judicial affairs followed a very different course from the one now
+traced by the French code. It was to the Citoyen Daubenton, justice of
+the peace of the division of Pont Neuf, and officer of the _police
+judiciare_, that the Central Bureau confided the examination of this
+affair. This magistrate having ordered the dismissal of Guesno, told him
+that he might present himself at his _cabinet_ on the morrow, for the
+papers which had been seized at Chateau-Thierry; at the same time he
+ordered an officer, Hendon, to start at once for Mangeron and
+Lieursaint, and to bring back the witnesses, whose names he gave him,
+so that they might all be collected the next day at the Bureau for
+examination.
+
+Guesno, desirous of having his papers as soon as possible, went out
+early, and directed his steps towards the Central Bureau, which he had
+just reached when he encountered his compatriot Lesurques; having
+explained to him the motive that called him to the Bureau, he proposed
+to him that they should go together. Lesurques accepted, and the Citizen
+Daubenton not having yet arrived, they sat down in the antechamber, in
+order to see him as he passed, and thus expedite the matter.
+
+About ten o'clock the judge, who had entered his cabinet by a back door,
+was interrupted in his examination of the documents, previous to
+interrogating the witnesses, by the officer Hendon, who demanded leave
+to make an important communication. "Amongst the witnesses," said he,
+"now waiting in the antechamber, are two women--one, _la femme_ Santon,
+servant to Evrard the innkeeper at Mongeron--the other, _la fille_
+Grossetete, servant to Madame Chatelain the _limonadiere_ at Lieursaint,
+who assert in the most positive manner, that two of the assassins are
+there, waiting like them to be admitted. These women declare that they
+cannot deceive themselves, for one of them served the four travellers at
+Mongeron, and the other spoke to them at Lieursaint, and stayed an hour
+in the billiard-room while they were playing."
+
+The judge could not admit the probability of two of the assassins thus
+voluntarily placing themselves within the grasp of the law, yet he
+ordered the women to be shown into his presence. On interrogation, they
+persisted in their statements, declaring that it was impossible they
+could deceive themselves. Guesno was then introduced to the judge's
+presence, the women being continued to examine him strictly before
+finally pronouncing as to his identity.
+
+"What brings you to the Central Bureau?" demanded the judge.
+
+"I come to receive my papers," replied Guesno, "as you promised me
+yesterday that I should have them on application."
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"I have a compatriot with me, one Joseph Lesurques, whom I met on the
+way here."
+
+The judge then ordered the second individual designated by the women to
+be introduced. It was Lesurques. He spoke to Lesurques and to Guesno for
+a few minutes, and then begged them to return into the antechamber,
+where their papers would be sent to them. An order was given, however,
+to the officer, Hendon, not to lose sight of them.
+
+On their leaving the room, M. Daubenton again demanded of the women, if
+they persisted in their declarations as to the identity of these men
+with the criminals they were in search of. They replied, without
+hesitation, that they were certain of it; that they could not be
+deceived. The magistrate was then forced to receive their depositions in
+writing, and to order the arrest of Guesno and Lesurques.
+
+From the moment of their arrest, the examination proceeded with great
+rapidity. Guesno and Lesurques were confronted with the witnesses
+brought from Mongeron and Lieursaint, and were recognised by all
+of them!
+
+_La femme_ Santon deposed, that Lesurques was the one who, after the
+dinner at Mongeron, wanted to pay in _assignats_, but that the big dark
+man (Couriol) paid in money. She was positive as to Lesurques being
+the man.
+
+Champeaux and his wife, who kept the inn at Lieursaint, were equally
+positive as to Lesurques being the one whose spur wanted mending, and
+who came back to fetch the sabre which he had forgotten. Lafolie, groom
+at Mongeron, and _la femme_ Alfroy, also recognised him; and Laurent
+Charbaut, labourer, who dined in the same room with the four horsemen,
+recognised Lesurques as the one who had silver spurs fastened by little
+chains to his top-boots. This combination of testimony, respecting one
+whom they had seen but a few days before, was sufficient to leave little
+doubt in the mind of any one. The trial was therefore fixed on.
+
+The day of his arrest, Lesurques wrote the following letter to one of
+his friends, which was intercepted, and joined to the documentary
+evidence to be examined on the trial:--
+
+    "My dear Friend,--I have met with nothing but unpleasantries
+    since my arrival at Paris, but I did not--I could not
+    anticipate the misfortune which has befallen me to-day. You
+    know me--and you know whether I am capable of sullying myself
+    with a crime--yet the most atrocious crime is imputed to me.
+    The mere thought of it makes me tremble. I find myself
+    implicated in the murder of the Lyons' courier. Three women and
+    two men, whom I know not--whose residence I know not--(for you
+    well know that I have not left Paris)--have had the impudence
+    to swear that they recognise me, and that I was the first of
+    the four who presented himself at their houses on horseback.
+    You know, also, that I have not crossed a horse's back since my
+    arrival in Paris. You may understand the importance of such an
+    accusation, which tends at nothing less than my judicial
+    assassination. Oblige me by lending me the assistance of your
+    memory, and endeavour to recollect where I was and what persons
+    I saw at Paris, on the day when they impudently assert they saw
+    me out of Paris, (I believe it was the 7th or 8th,) in order
+    that I may confound these infamous calumniators, and make them
+    suffer the penalty of the law."
+
+In a postscript he enumerates the persons he saw on that day: Citoyen
+Tixier, General Cambrai, 'Demoiselle Eugenie, Citoyen Hilaire Ledru, his
+wife's hairdresser, the workmen in his apartments, and the porter of
+the house.
+
+
+V.--THE TRIAL, AND THE BLINDNESS OF ZEAL.
+
+
+MM. Lesurques, Guesno, Couriol, Bernard, Richard, and Bruer, were
+summoned before the tribunal of justice; the three first as authors or
+accomplices of the murder and robbery--Bernard as having furnished the
+horses--Richard as having concealed at his house Couriol--and his
+mistress, Madelaine Breban, as having received and concealed part of the
+stolen goods--and Bruer as having given Couriol refuge at
+Chateau-Thierry.
+
+The witnesses persisted in their declarations as to the identity of
+Guesno and Lesurques. But Guesno established beyond all doubt the fact
+of his _alibi_; and Bruer easily refuted every charge that concerned
+himself. Lesurques had cited fifteen witnesses--all respectable men--and
+presented himself at the bar with a calmness and confidence which
+produced a favourable impression. Against the positive testimony of the
+six witnesses who asserted him to have been at Mongeron and Lieursaint
+on the 8th Floreal, he had brought a mass of testimony to prove
+an _alibi._
+
+Citoyen Legrand, a rich jeweller and goldsmith, compatriot of Lesurques,
+was first examined. He deposed, that on the 8th Floreal--the day on
+which the crime had been committed--Lesurques had passed a portion of
+the morning with him.
+
+Aldenof, a jeweller, Hilaire Ledru, and Chausfer, deposed, that on that
+day they dined with Lesurques in the _Rue Montorgueil;_ that, after
+dinner, they went to a cafe, took some liqueur, and went home with him.
+
+Beudart, a painter, deposed that he was invited to the dinner, with
+Lesurques and his friends, but that, as one of the national guard, he
+was that day on service, and so was prevented attending; but that, he
+had gone to Lesurques that very evening in his uniform, and had seen him
+go to bed. In support of his deposition he produced his _billet de
+garde_, dated the 8th.
+
+Finally, the workmen employed in the apartment that Lesurques was having
+fitted up, deposed that they saw him at various times during the 8th and
+9th Floreal.
+
+No further doubt of his innocence now remained; the _alibi_ was so
+distinctly proved, and on such unquestionable testimony, that the jury
+showed in their manner that they were ready to acquit him, when a fatal
+circumstance suddenly changed the whole face of the matter.
+
+The jeweller Legrand, who had manifested such zeal in the establishment
+of his friend's innocence, had, with an anxiety to avail himself of
+every trifle, declared, that to prove the sincerity of his declaration,
+he would cite a fact which prevented his being mistaken. On the 8th
+Floreal, he had made before dinner an exchange of jewellery with the
+witness, Aldenof. He proposed that his ledger should be sent for, as its
+entry there would serve to fix all recollections.
+
+As a matter of form, the ledger was sent for. At the first glance,
+however, it was evident that the _date_ of the transaction, mentioned by
+Legrand, had been _altered!_ The exchange had taken place on the 9th,
+and an alteration, badly dissimulated by an erasure, had substituted the
+figure 8 for the original figure 9.
+
+Murmurs of surprise and indignation followed this discovery, and the
+President, pressing Legrand with questions, and unable to obtain from
+him any satisfactory answer, ordered his arrest. Legrand then, trembling
+and terrified, retracted his former deposition, and declared that he was
+not certain he had seen Lesurques on the 8th Floreal, but that he had
+altered his book in order to give more probability to the declaration he
+had determined to make in his friend's favour--of whose innocence he was
+so assured, that it was only the conviction that he was accused
+erroneously, which made him perjure himself to save that innocent head.
+
+From this moment, the jury received the depositions in favour of
+Lesurques with extreme prejudice--those already heard seemed little
+better than connivance, and those yet to be heard were listened to with
+such suspicion as to have no effect. The conviction of his guilt was
+fixed in every mind. Lesurques, despairing to get over such fatal
+appearances, ceased his energetic denials, and awaited his sentence in
+gloomy silence. The jury retired.
+
+At this moment a woman, agitated with the most violent emotions,
+demanded to speak to the President. She said that she was moved by the
+voice of conscience, and wished to save the criminal tribunal from a
+dreadful error. It was Madelaine Breban, the mistress of Couriol.
+Brought before the President, she declared that she knew positively
+Lesurques was innocent, and that the witnesses, deceived by an
+inexplicable resemblance, had confounded him with the real culprit, who
+was called Dubosq.
+
+Prejudiced as they were against Lesurques, and suspicious of all
+testimony after the perjury they had already detected, the tribunal
+scarcely listened to Madelaine Breban; and the jury returned with their
+verdict, in consequence of which, Couriol, Lesurques, and Bernard were
+condemned to death; Richard to four-and-twenty years' imprisonment;
+Guesno and Bruer were acquitted.
+
+No sooner was the sentence passed, than Lesurques rose calmly, and
+addressing the Judges, said, "I am innocent of the crime of which I am
+accused. Ah! citoyens, if it is horrible to murder on the high-road, it
+is not less so to murder by the law!"
+
+Couriol, condemned to death, rose and said, "Yes, I am guilty--I avow
+it. But Lesurques is innocent, and Bernard did not participate in
+the murder."
+
+Four times he reiterated this declaration; and, on entering his prison,
+he wrote to the judge a letter full of sorrow and repentance, in which
+he said, "I have never known Lesurques; my accomplices are Vidal, Rossi,
+Durochat, and Dubosq. The resemblance of Lesurques to Dubosq has
+deceived the witnesses."
+
+To this declaration of Couriol was joined that of Madelaine Breban, who,
+after the judgment, returned to renew her protestation, accompanied by
+two individuals, who swore that, before the trial, she had told them
+Lesurques had never had any relations with the culprits; but that he was
+a victim of his fatal likeness to Dubosq. These testimonies threw doubt
+in the minds of the magistrates, who hastened to demand a reprieve from
+the Directory, which, terrified at the idea of seeing an innocent man
+perish through a judicial error, had recourse to the _Corps Legislatif;_
+for every other resource was exhausted. The message of the Directory to
+the Five Hundred was pressing; its aim was to demand a reprieve, and a
+decision as to what course to pursue. It ended thus: "Must Lesurques
+perish on the scaffold because he resembles a villain?"
+
+The _Corps Legislatif_ passed to the order of the day, as every
+condition had been legally fulfilled, that a particular case could not
+justify an infraction of decreed laws; and that, too, on such
+indications, to do away with a condemnation legally pronounced by a
+jury, would be to overset all ideas of justice and equality before
+the law.
+
+The right of pardon had been abolished; and Lesurques had neither
+resources nor hope. He bore his fate with firmness and resignation, and
+wrote, on the day of his execution, this note to his wife:--
+
+"_Ma bonne Amie_,--There is no eluding ones destiny, I was fated to be
+judicially murdered. I shall at least bear it with proper courage. I
+send you my locks of hair; when our children are grown up, you will
+divide it among them; it is the only heritage I can leave them."
+
+He addressed also a letter to Dubosq through the newspapers. "You, in
+whose place I am about to perish, content yourself with the sacrifice of
+my life. Should you ever be brought to justice, remember my three
+children covered with opprobrium--remember my wife reduced to despair
+and do not longer prolong their misfortunes."
+
+
+VI.--THE EXECUTION.
+
+
+The 10th March 1797, Lesurques was led to the scaffold. He wished to be
+dressed completely in white, as a symbol of his innocence. He wore
+pantaloons and frock-coat of white cotton, and his shirt-collar turned
+down over his shoulders. It was the day before Good Friday, and he
+expressed regret that he had not to die on the morrow. In passing from
+the prison _de la Conciergerie_ to the _Place de la Greve_, where the
+execution took place, Couriol, placed beside Lesurques in the cart,
+cried out to the people in a loud voice, "Citoyens, I am guilty! I am
+guilty! but Lesurques is innocent."
+
+On arriving at the platform of the guillotine, already stained with the
+blood of Bernard, Lesurques exclaimed, "I pardon my judges; I pardon the
+witnesses through whose error I die; and I pardon Legrand, who has not a
+little contributed to my judicial assassination. I die protesting my
+innocence." In another instant he was no more.
+
+Couriol continued his declarations of Lesurques's innocence to the foot
+of the scaffold; and, after a final appeal, he, too, delivered himself
+to the executioner. The drop fell on a guilty neck, having before been
+stained with the blood of two innocent men.
+
+The crowd retired with a general conviction that Lesurques had perished
+guiltless; and several of the judges were seriously troubled by the
+doubts which this day had raised in their minds. Many of the jury began
+to repent having relied so on the affirmations of the witnesses from
+Mongeron and Lieursaint, precise as they had been. M. Daubenton, the
+magistrate who had first ordered the arrest, went home a thoughtful man,
+and determined to lose no opportunity of getting at the truth, which the
+arrest of the three accomplices mentioned by Couriol could alone
+bring to light.
+
+
+VII.--THE PROOFS
+
+
+Two years passed on without affording any clue to the conscientious
+magistrate. One day, however, he heard that a certain Durochat was
+arrested for a recent robbery, and was confined in the Sainte Pelagie;
+and remembering that Durochat was the name of the one designated by
+Couriol as having taken the place beside the courier, under the false
+name of Laborde. At the epoch of the trial of Lesurques, it came out
+that several persons, amongst them an inspector of the _administration
+des postes_, had seen the false Laborde at the moment that he was
+awaiting the mail, and had preserved a distinct recollection of
+his person.
+
+M. Daubenton, on ascertaining the day of Durochat's approaching trial
+for robbery, went to the _administration des postes_, and obtained
+through the _Chef_ the permission to send for the inspector who had seen
+the false Laborde, and who was no longer in Paris.
+
+The _juges du tribunal_ had also been warned of the suspicions which
+rested on Durochat. The day of trial arrived, and he was condemned to
+fourteen years' imprisonment, and was about being led from the court
+when the inspector arrived, and declared that Durochat was the man whom
+he had seen on the 8th Floreal mount beside the courier under the false
+name of Laborde. Durochat only opposed feeble denials to this
+declaration, and was consequently taken to the _Conciergerie_.
+
+On the morrow, Durochat was transferred to Versailles, where he was to
+be judged. Daubenton and a huissier departed with the prisoner and four
+gendarmes. As they reached the village of Grosbois he demanded some
+breakfast, for he had eaten nothing since the preceding day. They
+stopped at the first _auberge_, and there Durochat manifested a desire
+to speak to the magistrate in private.
+
+Daubenton ordered the gendarmes to leave them together, and even the
+huissier, though he made him understand by a sign the danger of being
+alone with so desperate a villain, was begged to retire. A breakfast was
+ordered for the two. It was brought--but, by order of the huissier, only
+_one_ knife was placed on the table. Daubenton took it up, and began
+carelessly to break an egg with it.
+
+Durochat looked at him fixedly for a moment, and said,
+
+"Monsieur le juge, you are afraid?"
+
+"Afraid!" replied he calmly, "and of whom?"
+
+"Of me," said Durochat.
+
+"Folly!" continued the other, breaking his egg.
+
+"You are. You arm yourself with a knife," said he sarcastically.
+
+"Bah!" replied Daubenton, presenting him the knife, "cut me a piece of
+bread, and tell me what you have to communicate to me respecting the
+murder of the courier of Lyons."
+
+There is something in the collected courage of a brave man more
+impressive than any menace; and courage is a thing which acts upon all
+natures, however vile. Strongly moved by the calm audacity of the
+magistrate the ruffian, who had seized the knife with menacing vivacity,
+now set it down upon the table, and with a faltering voice said, "_Vous
+etes un brave, citoyen_!" then after a pause, "I am a lost man--it's all
+up with me; but you shall know all."
+
+He then detailed the circumstances of the crime, as we have related them
+above, and confirmed all Couriol's declarations, naming Couriol, Rossi,
+Vidal, and Dubosq, as his accomplices. Before the tribunal he repeated
+this account, adding, "that he had heard an individual named Lesurques
+had been condemned for the crime, but that he had neither seen him at
+the time of the deed, nor subsequently. He did not know him."
+
+He added, that it was Dubosq whose spur had been broken, and was mended
+where they had dined; for he had heard them talk about it, and that he
+had lost it in the scuffle. He had seen the other spur in his hand, and
+heard him say that he intended throwing it in the river. He further gave
+a description of Dubosq's person, and added, that on that day he wore a
+flaxen peruke.
+
+Towards the end of the year 8--four years after the murder of the
+courier of Lyons--Dubosq was arrested for robbery; and was transferred
+to Versailles, there to be judged by the _Tribunal Correctionnel_. The
+president ordered that he should wear a flaxen peruke, and be confronted
+with the witnesses from Mongeron and Lieursaint, who now unanimously
+declared that he was the man they had seen. This, coupled with the
+declarations of Couriol, Durochat, and Madelaine Breban, sufficed to
+prove the identity; and he did not deny his acquaintance with the other
+culprits. He was therefore condemned, and perished on the scaffold for
+the crime.
+
+Vidal was also arrested and executed, though persisting in his
+innocence; and, finally, Rossi was shortly after discovered and
+condemned. He exhibited profound repentance, and demanded the succours
+of religion. To his confessor he left this declaration--"I assert that
+Lesurques is innocent; but this must only be made public six months
+after my death."
+
+Thus ends this strange drama; thus were the proofs of Lesurques's
+innocence furnished beyond a shadow of doubt; and thus, we may add, were
+seven men executed for a crime committed by five men; two therefore were
+innocent--were victims of the law.
+
+
+VIII.--THE WAY IN WHICH FRANCE RECTIFIES AN ERROR.
+
+
+It is now forty years since the innocence of Lesurques has been
+established, and little has been done towards the rehabilitation of his
+memory, the protection of his children, and the restitution of his
+confiscated goods! Forty years, and his wretched widow has only recently
+died, having failed in the object of her life! Forty years has the
+government been silent.
+
+M. Daubenton, who took so honourable and active a part in the detection
+of the real criminals, consecrated a great part of his life and fortune
+to the cause of the unfortunate widow and her children. The declaration
+he addressed to the Minister of Justice commenced thus:--
+
+"The error, on which was founded the condemnation of Lesurques, arose
+neither with the judges nor the jury. The jury, convinced by the
+depositions of the witnesses, manifested that conviction judicially; and
+the judges, after the declaration of the jury, pronounced according
+to the law.
+
+"The error of his condemnation arose from the mistake of the
+witnesses--from the fatal resemblance to one of the culprits not
+apprehended. Nothing gave reason to suspect at that time the cause of
+the error in which the witnesses had fallen."
+
+We beg to observe that the whole trial was conducted in a slovenly and
+shameful manner. A man is condemned on the deposition of
+witnesses;--witnesses, be it observed, of such dulness of perception,
+and such confidence in their notions, that they persisted in declaring
+Guesno to be one of the culprits as well as Lesurques. Yet the _alibi_
+of Guesno was proved beyond a doubt. How, then, could the jury, with
+this instance of mistake before their eyes, and which they themselves
+had condemned as a mistake by acquitting Guesno--how could they place
+such firm reliance on those self-same testimonies when applied to
+Lesurques? If they could convict Lesurques upon such evidence, why not
+also convict Guesno on it? Guesno proved an _alibi_--so did Lesurques;
+but because one foolish friend perjured himself to serve Lesurques, the
+jury hastily set down all his friends as perjurers; they had no evidence
+of this; it was a mere indignant reaction of feeling, and, as such, a
+violation of their office. The case ought to have been sifted. It was
+shuffled over hastily. A verdict, passed in anger, was executed, though
+at the time a strong doubt existed in the minds of the judges as to its
+propriety!
+
+Neither the Directory nor the Consulate, neither the Empire nor the
+Restoration, paid attention to the widow's supplications for a revision
+of the sentence, that her husband's name might be cleared, and his
+property restored. In vain did M. Salgues devote ten years to the
+defence of the injured family; in vain did M. Merilhou, in an important
+_proces_, warmly espouse the cause; the different governments believed
+themselves incapable of answering these solicitations.
+
+Since 1830 the widow again supplicated the _Tribune des Chambres_. Few
+sessions have passed without some members, particularly from the
+_department du Nord_, calling attention to the subject. All that has
+been obtained is a restitution of part of the property seized by the
+_fisc_ at the period of the execution.
+
+Madame Lesurques has died unsuccessful, because a judicial error cannot
+be acknowledged or rectified, owing to the insufficiency of the Code. A
+French journal announces that the son and daughter of Lesurques, still
+living, pledged themselves on the death-bed of their mother to continue
+the endeavour which had occupied her forty long years--an endeavour to
+make the law comprehend that nothing is more tyrannous than the strict
+fulfilment of its letter--an endeavour to make the world at large more
+keenly feel the questionable nature of evidence as to personal identity
+in cases where the witnesses are ignorant, and where the evidence
+against their testimony is presumptive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CALEB STUKELY.
+
+
+PART X.
+
+THE REVULSION.
+
+
+"_The companion of the wise shall be wise_." A six months' residence
+with the religious and self-renouncing minister could not be without its
+effect on the character and disposition of the disciple, newly released
+from sin and care, and worldly calamity. The bright example of a good
+man is much--that of a good and _beloved_ man is more. I was bound to Mr
+Clayton by every tie that can endear a man to man, and rivet the ready
+heart of youth in truthful and confiding love. I regarded my preserver
+with a higher feeling than a fond son may bear towards the mere author
+and maintainer of his existence. For Mr Clayton, whose smallest praise
+it was that he had restored to me my life, in addition to a filial love,
+I had all the reverence that surpassing virtue claims, and lowly piety
+constrains. Months passed over our head, and I was still without
+occupation, though still encouraged by my kind friend to look for a
+speedy termination to my state of dependence. Painful as the thought of
+separation had become to Mr Clayton, my situation was far from
+satisfactory to myself. I knew not another individual with whom I could
+have established myself under similar circumstances. The sense of
+obligation would have been oppressive, the conviction that I was doing
+wrong intolerable to sustain; but the simplicity, the truth, the
+affectionate warmth of my benevolent host, lightened my load day after
+day, until I became at last insensible to the burthen. At this period of
+my career, the character of Mr Clayton appeared to me bright and fixed
+as a spotless star. He seemed the pattern of a man, pure and perfect.
+The dazzling light of pious fervour consumed within him the little
+selfishness that nature, to stamp an angel with humanity, had of
+necessity implanted there. He was swallowed up in holiness--his thoughts
+were of heaven--his daily conduct tinged and illumined with a heavenly
+hue. Nothing could surpass the intense devotedness of the child of God,
+except perhaps the self-devotion, the self-renunciation, and the
+profound humility which distinguished him in the world, and in his
+conversation amongst men. "_The companion of the wise shall be wise_." I
+observed my benefactor, and listened to his eloquence; I pondered on his
+habitual piety, until, roused to enthusiasm by the contemplation of the
+matchless being, I burned to follow in his glorious course, to revolve
+in the same celestial orbit, the most distant and the meanest of his
+satellites. The hand of Providence was traceable in every act, which, in
+due course, and step by step, had brought me to the minister. It could
+not be without a lofty purpose that I had been plucked a brand, as it
+were, from the burning; it was not an aimless love that snatched me from
+death to life--from darkness to mid-day light--from the depths of
+despondency to the heights of serenity and joy. It was that I might
+glorify the hand that had been outstretched on my behalf, that I might
+carry His name abroad, proclaim His wondrous works, sing aloud His
+praises, and in the face of men, give honour to the everlasting Giver of
+all good. It was for this and these that I had been selected from
+mankind, and made the especial object of a Father's grace. I believed it
+in all the simplicity and ingenuousness of a mind awakened to a sense of
+religion and human responsibility. I could not do otherwise. From the
+moment that I was convinced of the obligation under which I had been
+brought, that I could feel the force of the silent compact which had
+been effected between the unseen Power and my own soul, it would have
+been as easy for me to annihilate thought, to prevent its miraculous
+presence in the mind, as to withstand the urgent prickings of my
+conscience. I believed in my divine summons, and I was at once ready,
+vehement, and impatient to obey it. Had I followed the dictates of my
+will, I would have walked through the land, and preached aloud the
+wonderful mercies of God, imploring my fellow-creatures to repentance,
+and directing them to the fount of all their blessings and all their
+happiness. I would have called upon men to turn from error and dangerous
+apathy, before their very strongholds. Powerful in the possession of
+truth, I would have thundered the saving words before their marketplaces
+and exchanges--at the very fortresses in which the world deems itself
+chiefly secure, with Mammon at its head, Satan's chief lieutenant. I
+would have called around me the neglected and the poor, and in the
+highways and in the fields disclosed to them the tenderness and
+loving-kindness that I had found, that they might feel, in all their
+fulness, if they would turn from sin, and place their trust in heaven.
+It was pain and anguish to be silent. Not for my own sake did I yearn to
+speak. Oh no! There was nothing less than a love of self in the panting
+desire that I felt to break the selfish silence. It was the love of
+souls that pressed me forward, and the confidence that the good news
+which it was my privilege to impart would find in every bosom a welcome
+as warm and ready as it would prove to be effectual. To walk abroad in
+silence, feeling myself to be the depositary of a celestial revelation,
+and believing that to communicate it to mankind would be to ensure their
+participation in its benefits, was hardly to be borne. There was not a
+man whom I encountered in the street, to whom I did not secretly wish to
+turn, and to pour into his ear the accents of peace and consolation; not
+one whom I did not regard as a witness against me on that great day of
+trial, when every man shall be judged according to his opportunities. I
+spoke to Mr Clayton. He encouraged the feeling by which I was actuated,
+but he dissuaded me from the manifestation of it in the form which
+I proposed.
+
+"There was no doubt," he said, "that every place was consecrated where
+truth was spoken, and the Spirit made itself apparent. No one could deny
+it. Much fruit, he did believe, might follow the sowing of the seed,
+whose hand soever scattered it. Still there were other and nearer roads
+to the point I aimed at. There were the sick and the needy around us--
+many of his own congregation--with whom I might reciprocate sweet
+comfort, and at whose bedside I might administer the balm that should
+serve them in the hardest hour of their extremity. It should be his
+office to conduct me to their humble habitations: it would be
+unspeakable joy to him to behold me well and usefully employed."
+
+And it was with eagerness that I accepted the touching invitation. I was
+not loth or slow to take advantage of it. To serve mankind, to evince my
+gratitude for mercies great and undeserved, was all I asked. To know
+that I had gratified my wish, was peace itself. Highly as I had
+estimated the character of Mr Clayton, I had yet to learn his real
+value. I had yet to behold him the dispenser of comfort and contentment
+in the hovels of the wretched and the stricken--to see the leaden eye of
+disease grow bright at his approach, and the scowl of discontent and
+envious repining dissolve into equanimity, or mould itself in smiles. I
+had yet to see him the kind and patient companion of the friendless and
+the slighted--slighted, because poor; the untired listener to long tales
+of misery--so miserable, that they who told them could not track their
+dim beginnings, or fix the time in distant childhood when wretchedness
+was not. I had yet to find him standing at the beggar's pallet, giving
+encouragement, inciting hope, and adding to the counsel of a guide the
+solid evidences of a brother's love. With what a zeal did I attempt to
+follow in my patron's steps--with what enthusiasm did I begin the course
+which his sanction had legalized and rendered holy--and how, without a
+doubt as to my title, or a reflection on the propriety of the step,
+impelled by religious fervour, did I assume the tone and authority of a
+teacher, and arrogate to myself the right of determining the designs of
+the Omnipotent, and of appointing the degree of holy warmth below which
+no believer could be sure of forgiveness and salvation!
+
+In no transaction of my life have I ever been more sincere--have I acted
+with a more decided assurance of the justice and necessity of the task,
+than at this critical moment of my career. If Divine goodness had not
+been specially vouchsafed to me, it was not that the conviction of my
+appointment was not as clear and firm as the liveliest impressions of
+the inmost heart could make it. To labour for the souls of the poor--to
+teach them their obligations--to point out to them the way of safety--it
+was this view of my delegated office that raised me to ecstasy, and
+compelled from me the strangest ebullitions of passion. I pronounced the
+change in my habits of thought to be "the dawning of the day, and the
+sudden rising of the day-star in my heart;" and, dwelling with intensity
+on my future labours, I could exclaim, with trembling emotion,--"Oh the
+exceeding excellency and glory and sweetness of the work! The smile of
+heaven is upon it--the emphatic testimony of my own conscience approves
+and hallows it." I reflect at this moment with wonder upon the almost
+supernatural ardour and devotion by which I was elevated and abased when
+I first became thoroughly convinced of my mission, and declared aloud
+that my only business now upon earth was that of the lowest and readiest
+of servants, whose joy consists in the pleasure of their Master. The
+strangeness, the excitement that accompanied the adoption of my new
+character, had nearly overthrown me. Wild with gladness, before I
+visited a human being, I took a journey of some twenty miles from the
+metropolis. I do not remember now the name of the village at which I
+stopped, from which I hurried, and whose fields I scoured with the
+design of finding some covert, unfrequented spot, where I might
+unmolested and unobserved pour forth the prayers and hymns of praise
+with which my surcharged heart was teeming. Until nightfall I remained
+there, nor did I leave the place until calmly and deliberately I begged
+permission to devote myself to the glory and honour of Him, whose
+favoured child I was. I walked a few miles on my return homeward. I
+passed a church, that in the stillness of night reared its dark form,
+and seemed, solemnly and pensively, like a thing of life, to stand
+before me. The moon rose at its full over the venerable wall, and
+scattered its bright cool light across the tall and moss-grown windows.
+Oh! every thing in life that wondrous night stirred up my soul to pious
+resolutions, and gave a wing to thought that could not find repose but
+in the silent and eternal sky.
+
+The impetuosity with which I entered upon my scheme of usefulness,
+forbade preparation of any kind, had I not believed that any previous
+qualification was not essential to my purpose; or if essential, had been
+miraculously implanted in me. I was soon called upon to make my first
+visitation. Never will it be forgotten. It was to the work-house. Mr
+Clayton had been called thither by an old communicant, of whom he had
+not heard before for years. "He was ill, and he desired to speak with
+his still beloved minister."
+
+Such was the message which reached my friend at the moment of his
+quitting his abode, on an errand of still greater urgency. "Go, Caleb,"
+said Mr Clayton, "visit and comfort the poor sufferer; and may grace
+accompany your first labour of love." I proceeded to the place, and,
+arriving there, was ushered into a small close room--to recoil at once
+from the scene of misery which was there presented. Lying, with his hat
+and clothes upon the bed, dying, was the man himself; his wife was busy
+in the room, cleaning it, quietly and indifferently, as though the sleep
+of healthy life had closed her partner's eye, and nothing worse. On the
+threshold was a girl, the daughter of them both, twenty years of age or
+more, _an idiot_, for she laughed outright when I approached her. I had
+come to the house with my heart full of precious counsel, and yearning
+to communicate the message with which I knew myself to be charged. But
+in a moment I was brought to earth, shocked by the sight which I beheld,
+wounded in my nature, and I had not a word to say. The hardened woman
+looked at me for a moment, and calling me to myself by the act, I
+mentioned the name of Mr Clayton, and was again silent.
+
+"What! can't he come, sir?" asked the beldame. "Well, it don't much
+matter. It's all over with 'un, I fear. Come, Jessie, can't you speak to
+the gentleman? What can you make of her, sir?"
+
+The daughter looked at me again, and sickened me with her unmeaning
+laughter. I remembered the object of my visit, and struggled for
+composure. Had I become a recreant so quickly? Had I not a word to say
+for my Master? Nothing to offer the needy creatures, perishing, perhaps,
+of spiritual want? Alarmed at my own apathy, and eager to throw it off,
+I turned to the poor girl, and spoke to her. I asked her many questions
+before I could command attention. She could only look at me wildly,
+blush, laugh, and make strange motions to her mother. At length
+I said--
+
+"Tell me, Jesse, tell your friend, who came into the world to save
+sinners?"
+
+"Him, him, him," she answered hastily, and gabbled as before.
+
+"Ah," said the mother, "the poor cretur does sometimes talk about
+religion, but it's very seldom, and uncertain like, and I can't help
+her either."
+
+"Let me read to _you_," said I.
+
+"Lor' bless you, sir," she answered, "it wouldn't do me no good. I am
+too old for that. Now, get out of the way there--do, you simpleton," she
+added, turning to the idiot; "just let me pass--don't you see I am
+wanting to fetch up water."
+
+She left the room immediately, and her daughter ran after her, screaming
+a wild and piercing note. I moved to the dying man. He was insensible to
+anything I could say. Fretted and ashamed of myself, I hurried from the
+house, and, returning home, rushed to my room, fell upon my knees, and
+implored my Father to inflict at once the punishment due to lukewarmness
+and apostasy. How vain had been all my previous desire to distinguish
+myself--how arrogant my pretensions--how inefficient my weak attempts! I
+was not worthy of the commission with which I had been invested, and I
+besought heaven to degrade the wretch who could not speak at the
+seasonable moment, and to bestow it upon one worthier of its love, and
+abler to perform his duty. I passed a miserable night of remorse, and
+bitter self-accusation, and in the morning was distracted by the
+battling feelings that were marshalled against each other in my soul.
+Now, a sense of my unworthiness was victorious over every other thought,
+and I resolved to resign my trust, and think of it no more; then the
+belief in my election, the animating thought that I was chosen, and must
+still go forward or stand condemned, hated by myself, rejected by my
+God;--this gained the mastery next, and I was torn by sore perplexity. I
+appealed to my benefactor. As usual, balm was on his lips, and I found
+encouragement and support.
+
+"I was yet young in the faith," he said, "and the abundance of heavenly
+grace was not yet manifested. It would come in due time; and, in the
+mean while, I must persevere, and a blessing would unquestionably
+follow."
+
+Much more he added, to reconcile me to the previous day's defeat, and to
+animate me to new trials. Never did I so much need incentive and
+upholding, never before had I esteemed the value of a spiritual
+counsellor and friend.
+
+In a small cottage, distant about three miles from the residence of Mr
+Clayton, there lodged, at this time, an old man with his sister, a blind
+woman about seventy years of age. He had communicated with Mr Clayton's
+church for many years. He was now poor, and had retired from the
+metropolis, to the hut, for the advantage of purer air, and in the hope
+of prolonging the short span within which his earthly life had been
+brought. To this humble habitation I was directed by Mr Clayton.
+
+"The woman," said the minister, "is without any comfortable hope; but
+the prospects of the brother are satisfactory and most cheering. Go to
+the benighted woman. Her's is a melancholy case. Satan has a secure
+footing in her heart, and defeats every effort and every motive that I
+have brought to bear against it. May you be more fortunate--may her
+self-deceived and hardened spirit melt before the force and earnestness
+of your appeals!"
+
+I ventured for a second time on sacred and interdicted ground, and
+visited the cottage. The unhappy woman, to whom I had specially come,
+was smitten indeed. She was blind and paralyzed, and on the extreme
+verge of eternity. Yet, afflicted as she was, and as near to death as
+the living may be, she enjoyed the tranquillity and the gentleness of a
+child, ignorant of sin, and, in virtue of her infancy, confident of her
+inheritance. I could discover no evidence of a creature alarmed with a
+sense of guilt, loathing itself, conscious of its worthlessness. Her
+nature, in truth, seemed to have usurped a sweetness and placidity, the
+possession of which, as Mr Clayton afterwards observed, was justifiable
+only in those who could find nothing but vileness and depravity in
+every thought and purpose of their hearts.
+
+It was a beautiful day in summer, and Margaret was sitting before the
+cottage porch, feeling the sun's benevolent warmth, and tempering, with
+the closed lid, the hot rays that were directed to her sightless orbs.
+She had no power to move, and was happy in the still enjoyment of the
+lingering and lovely day. She might have been a statue for her
+quietness--but there were curves and lines in the decrepit frame that
+art could never borrow. Little there seemed about her to induce a love
+of life, and yet a countenance more bright with cheerfulness and mild
+content I never met. The healthy and the young might read a lesson on
+her blanched and wrinkled cheek. Full of my errand, I did not hesitate
+at once to engage her mind on heavenly and holy topics. She did not, or
+she would not, understand me. I spoke to her of the degradation of
+humanity, our fallen nature, and the impossibility of thinking any thing
+but sin--and a stone could not be more senseless than the aged listener.
+
+"Was I sure of it?" she asked. "Did my Bible say it? Much she doubted
+it, for she had sometimes, especially since her blindness, clear and
+beautiful thoughts of heaven that could not be sinful, they rendered her
+so happy, and took away from her all fear. It was so shocking, too," she
+thought, "to think so ill of men--our fellow-creatures, and the
+creatures of a perfect Father. She loved her brother--he was so
+simple-minded, and so kind to her, too; how _could_ she call him wicked
+and depraved!"
+
+"Do you feel no load upon your conscience?" I enquired.
+
+"Bless the good man's heart!" she answered, "why, what cares have I? If
+I can hear his friendly voice, and know he is not heavy-burthened, I am
+happy. Brother is all to me. Though now and then I'm not well pleased if
+the young children keep away who play about me sometimes, as if they did
+not need a playfellow more gay than poor blind Margaret."
+
+"Have you no fear of death?" said I.
+
+"Why should I have?" she answered quietly; "I never injured another in
+my life."
+
+"Can that take off the sting?" I asked.
+
+"And I have tried," continued she, "as far as I was able, to please the
+God who made me."
+
+"Did you never think yourself the vilest of the vile?"
+
+"Bless you! never, sir. How could I? If I had been, you may be sure Mr
+Clayton and the visiting ladies would never have been so kind to me and
+Thomas as they have--and how could we expect it? I was only thinking,
+sir, before you came up, that if I had been wicked when I was young, I
+would never have been so easy under blindness. Now, it doesn't give me
+one unquiet hour."
+
+"Margaret, I would you were more anxious."
+
+"It wouldn't do, sir, for the blind to be anxious," she replied. "They
+must do nothing, sir, but wait with patience. Besides, Thomas and I need
+no anxiety at all. God gives us more than we require, and it would be
+very wicked to be restless and unquiet."
+
+"Margaret," I said impressively, "there is heaven!"
+
+"Yes," she answered quickly, "that I'm sure of. I read of it before I
+lost my eyes; and since my blindness I have seen it often. God is very
+good to the afflicted, and none but the afflicted know how He makes up
+for what He takes away. I have seen heaven, sir, though I have not sight
+enough to know your face. Do you play dominoes, Mr--what did you say
+your name was, sir?"
+
+"You trifle, Margaret."
+
+"Oh, no indeed, sir. But how wonderful and quick my touch has got, and
+how kind is heaven there, sir! I can see the dominoes with my
+fingers--touch is just as good as sight. Just think how many hours a
+poor blind creature has, that must be filled up some way or another! I
+like to keep to myself, and think, and think; but not always--and
+sometimes I want Thomas to read to me; and when that's over, I feel a
+want of something else. I'll tell you what it is--my eyes they want to
+open. When that's the case, I always play at dominoes, and then the
+feeling goes away. Thomas can tell you that, for he plays with me."
+
+I continued the conversation for an hour, and with the same result. I
+grew annoyed and irritated--not with the deluded sinner, as I deemed
+her, but with myself, the feeble and unequal instrument. For a second
+time I had attempted to comply with the instructions of my master, and
+for a second time had I been foiled, and driven back in melancholy
+discomfiture. The imperturbability and easy replies of the woman
+harassed and tormented me in the extreme. I had been too recent a pupil
+to be thoroughly versed in all the subtleties and mysteries of my
+office. Silence was painful to me, and reply only accumulated difficulty
+and vexation. She seemed so happy, too; in the midst of all her heresy
+and error there existed an unaffected tranquillity and repose which I
+would have purchased at any cost or sacrifice. I blushed and grew
+ashamed, and for a moment forgot that the bereaved creature was unable
+to behold the confusion with which defeat and exposure had covered me.
+At length I spoke imperfectly, loosely, and at random. The woman
+detected me in an untenable position--checked me--and in her artless
+manner, laid bare the fallacy of an inconsiderate assertion. In an
+instant I was aware of my conviction, I retracted my expression, and
+involved myself immediately in fresh dilemma. Again, and as gently as
+before, she made the unsoundness of a principle evident and glaring. How
+I closed the argument--the conversation and the interview--and escaped
+from her, I know not. Burning with shame, despising myself, and desirous
+of burying both my disgrace and self deep in the earth, where both might
+be forgotten, I was sensible of hurrying homeward. I reached it in
+despair, satisfied that I had become a coward and a renegade, and that I
+was lost, hopelessly and utterly here upon earth, and eternally
+in heaven!
+
+I had resolved, upon the day succeeding this adventure, to restore to my
+benefactor the credentials with which be had been pleased to entrust me.
+Satisfied of the truth of my commission, I could only deplore my
+inability to execute it faithfully. In spite of what had passed at the
+cottage-door, the doctrines which I had advocated there lost none of
+their character and influence upon my own mind. Falling from the lips of
+others, they dropped with conviction into my _own_ soul. Nothing could
+shake my _own_ unbounded reliance on their saving efficacy and heavenly
+origin. It was only when _I_ spoke of them, when _I_ attempted to
+expound and teach them, that clouds came over the celestial truths, and
+the sun's disk was dimmed and troubled. The moment that I ceased to
+speak, light unimpaired, and bright effulgence, were restored. It was
+enough that I could feel this. Grace and a miracle had made the
+startling fact palpable and evident. This assurance followed easily. No
+oral communication could have satisfied me more fully of the importance
+and necessity of an immediate resignation of my trust. It was a
+punishment for my presumption. I should have rested grateful for the
+interposition which had rescued me from the jaws of hell, and left to
+others, worthy of the transcendent honour, the glorious task of saving
+souls. What was I, steeped in sin, as I had been up to the very moment
+of my conversion--what was I, insolent, pretending worm, that I should
+raise my grovelling head, and presume upon the unmerited favour that had
+been showered so graciously upon me? It remained for those--purest and
+best of men, whose lives from childhood onward had been a lucid
+exposition of the word of truth--whose deeds had given to the world an
+assurance of their solemn embassy; it was for them to feel the strength
+the countenance, and support of heaven, and to behold with gratitude and
+joy their labours crowned with a triumphant issue and success. This was
+the new train of feeling suggested by new circumstances. I resigned
+myself to its operation as quickly as I had adopted my previous
+sentiments; and, a few days before, I was not more anxious to commence
+my sacred course than I was now miserable and uneasy until I turned from
+it once and for ever. Mr Clayton had placed in my hands a list of
+individuals whom he transferred to my care. It was oppressive to know
+that I possessed it, and my first step was to place it again at his
+disposal. The interview which I obtained for this purpose was an
+important one--important in itself--marvellous and astounding in its
+consequences.
+
+Mr Clayton spent many hours daily in a small room, called _a study_. It
+was a chamber sacred to the occupation followed there. I had not access
+to it--nor had any stranger, with the exception of two ill-favoured men,
+whom I had found, for weeks together, constant attendants upon my
+benefactor. For a month at a time, not a single day elapsed during which
+they were not closeted for a considerable period with the divine. A
+three weeks' interval of absence would then take place; Mr Clayton
+prosecuted his studies alone and undisturbed, and no strange foot would
+cross the threshold until the ill-looking men returned, and passed some
+five weeks in the small sanctuary as before. Who could they be? I had
+never directly asked the question, curious as I had been to know their
+history and the purpose of their visits. Had I not learned from Mr
+Clayton the impropriety and sinfulness of judging humanity by its looks,
+I should have formed a most uncharitable opinion of their characters.
+They were hard-featured men, sallow of complexion, rigid in their looks.
+I knew that, attached to the church of Mr Clayton, were two
+missionaries--men of rare piety, and some of humble origin--small
+boot-makers, in fact; sometimes I believed that the visiters and they
+were the same individuals. Circumstances, however, unfavourable to this
+idea, arose, and I turned from one conjecture to another, until I
+reposed, at length, in the belief that they were sinners--sinners of the
+deepest dye--such as their ill-omened looks betrayed--and that they
+sought the kind and ever-ready minister to obtain his counsel, and to
+share his prayers. At all events, this was a subject upon which I
+received no enlightening from their confidant. Once I took occasion to
+make mention of it; but, in an instant, I perceived that my enquiry was
+not deemed proper to be answered. It was to this forbidden closet--the
+scene of so much mystery--that, to my great surprize, I found myself
+invited by my benefactor, when I implored him to release me from the
+obligation in which I had too hastily involved myself.
+
+"Be seated, Caleb," said Mr Clayton, as we entered the room in company.
+"Be seated, and be tranquil. You are excited now."
+
+I was, in truth, and not more so than deeply mortified and humbled.
+
+"You alarm me, dear young friend," continued the good minister. "You
+alarm and grieve me. I tremble for you, when I behold your versatility.
+Tell me, how is this? Can you not trust yourself? Can I trust you?"
+
+I did not answer.
+
+"I have been careful in not thwarting your own good purposes. I have
+been most anxious to give your feelings their full bent. Has your
+conversion been too sudden to endure? Have you so soon regretted the
+abandonment of the great world and all its pleasures--such as they were
+to you? Has a life of usefulness and peace no charms? Alas! I had hoped
+otherwise."
+
+I assured my friend that he had mistaken the motive which had compelled
+me to forsake, at least for the present, the intention that I had
+entertained honestly--though, I felt, erroneously--for the last few
+days. Nothing was further from my thoughts than a desire to mix again in
+a world of sinfulness and trouble. His precepts and bright example had
+won me from it; and I prayed only to be established in the principles,
+in the true knowledge of which I knew my happiness to consist. I was not
+equal to the task which I had proposed to myself, and he had kindly
+permitted me to assume. I wished to be his meanest disciple--to acquire
+wisdom from his tuition--and, by the labour of years, to prepare myself
+finally for that reward which he had so often announced to me as the
+peculiar inheritance of the faithful and the righteous. I ceased. My
+auditor did not answer me immediately. He sat for some minutes in
+silence, and closed his eyes as if absorbed in thought. At length, he
+said to me--
+
+"You do not surprize me, Caleb. I am prepared for this. I perceived
+your difficulties from afar. It was inevitable. Self-confidence has
+placed you where you are. Be happy, and rejoice in your weakness--but
+turn now to the strong for strength. The work that has begun in your
+heart must be completed. It shall be so--do not doubt it."
+
+The minister hesitated, looked hard at me, and endeavoured, as I
+imagined, to find, in the expression of my countenance, an index to my
+thoughts. I said nothing, and he proceeded.
+
+"There are the appointed means. His way is in the sanctuary. He shall
+feed his flock like a shepherd. There is but one refuge for the outcast.
+I have but one alleviation to offer you. It is all and every thing. Are
+you prepared to accept it?"
+
+"You are my friend, my guardian, and my father," I replied.
+
+"You have wandered long in the wilderness," continued the minister. "You
+have fed with the swine and the goats. You have found no nourishment
+there. All was bleak, and barren, and desolate there. The living waters
+were dried up, and the bread of life was denied to the starving
+wayfarer."
+
+"What must be done, sir?"
+
+"You MUST ENTER THE FOLD--and have communion with the chosen people of
+the Lord. Are you content to do it?"
+
+"Oh, am I worthy," I exclaimed, "to be reckoned in the number of those
+holy men?"
+
+"I cannot doubt it; but your own spirit shall bear witness to your
+state. To-morrow is our next church-meeting. There, if it be your wish,
+I will propose you; messengers will be appointed to converse with you.
+They will come to you, and gather, from your experience, the evidences
+of your renewed, regenerated character."
+
+"What shall I say, sir?" I asked in all simplicity.
+
+"What says the drowning man to the hand that brings him to the shore?
+Your beating heart will be too ready to acknowledge the mighty work that
+has been already done on your behalf. Have you forgotten the way you
+have been led? Point it out to them. Have you been plucked as a brand
+from the burning? Acknowledge it to them in strains of liveliest
+gratitude. Does not your soul at this moment overflow at the vivid
+recollection of all the Lord has done for it and you? Will it not yearn
+to sing aloud His praise when strangers come to listen to the song? Then
+speak aloud to them. Do you not feel, have not a hundred circumstances
+all concurred to prove, that you exist a vessel chosen to show forth His
+praise? Show it to them, and let them carry back the certain proofs of
+your redemption--let them convey the sweet intelligence of a brother's
+safety--and let them bid the church prepare to welcome him with hymns of
+praise into her loving bosom."
+
+Within a week of the above conversation, two respectable individuals
+called upon me at Mr Clayton's house--the accredited messengers of the
+church in which my eternal safety was about to be secured. One was a
+thickset man, with large black whiskers and corresponding eyebrows. His
+countenance had a stern expression--the eye especially, which lay
+couched like a tiger beneath its rugged overhanging brow. You did not
+like to look at it, and you could not meet it without unpleasantness and
+awe. The gentleman was very tall and sturdy--evidently a hairy person;
+he was unshaven, and looked muscular. Acting under the feeling which led
+him to despise all earthly grandeur and distinction, and which, no doubt
+influenced his conduct throughout life, he was remarkable for a
+carelessness and uncleanness of attire, as powerful and striking as the
+odour which exhaled from his broad person, and which explained the
+profession of the gentleman to be--a working blacksmith. His companion
+was thin, and neat, and dapper. There was an air about _him_ that could
+not have been acquired, except by frequent intercourse with the polished
+and the rich. He was delicacy itself, incapable of a strong expression,
+and happier far when he could hint, and not express his sentiments. Had
+I been subject only to his examination, my ordeal would not have been
+severe. It was the blacksmith whom I found hard and unimpressible as his
+own anvil, dark as his forge, and as unpitying as its flames. The thin
+examiner held the high office of deacon of the church. Whether it was
+the particularly dirty face of his friend that set him off to such
+advantage, or whether he had inherent claims to my respect, I cannot
+tell; well I know, throughout the scrutiny that soon took place, many
+times I should have fallen beneath the blacksmith's hammer, but for the
+support and mild encouragement that I found in him. He was most
+becomingly dressed. He wore a white cravat, and no collar. He had light
+hair closely cut, and his face was as smooth as a woman's. His shirt was
+whiter than any shirt I have ever seen before or since, and it was made
+of very fine material. He carried an agreeable smirk upon his
+countenance, and he disinterred, now and then, some very long and
+extraordinary word from the dictionary, when he was particularly
+desirous either to make himself understood or conceal his meaning. I had
+almost omitted to add, that he was a ladies' haberdasher.
+
+I received the deputation with a trembling and apprehensive heart. I
+knew my faith to be sincere, and I believed it to be correct, according
+to the views of the church of which my revered friend was the minister
+and organ. Still, I could not be insensible to the importance of the
+step which I was about to take, and to the high tone of piety which the
+true believers demanded from all who joined their ranks and partook of
+their exclusive privileges.
+
+It will not be necessary to repeat in detail the course of my
+examination. At the close of two hours it was concluded, and I am at
+this moment willing to confess that it was, upon the whole,
+satisfactory. I mean to myself--for by my questioners, and by the
+little haberdasher more particularly, the conference was pronounced most
+gratifying and comforting in every way. I say _upon the whole_, for I
+could not, even at that early period of my initiation, and with all my
+excitement and enthusiasm, prevent the intrusion of some disturbing
+thoughts--some painful impressions that were not in harmony with the
+general tenor of my feelings. I had prepared myself to meet and deal
+with the appointed delegates of heaven, and I had encountered _men_,
+yes, and men not entitled to my reverence and regard, except as the
+chosen ambassadors of the church. One was low, ignorant, and vulgar. He
+took no pains to conceal the fact; he rather gloried in his native and
+offensive coarseness. The other was a smoother man, scarcely less
+destitute of knowledge, or worthier of respect. Looking back, at this
+distance of time, upon this strange interview, I am indeed shocked and
+grieved at the part which I then and there permitted myself to
+undertake. The scene has lost the colours which gave it a false and
+superficial lustre, and I gaze on the melancholy reality chidden, and,
+let me say, instructed by the sight. I can now better appreciate and
+understand the self-confident tone which pronounced upon my state in the
+eye of heaven--the canting expressions of brotherly love--the irreverent
+familiarity with which Scripture was quoted, garbled, and tortured to
+justify dissent, and render disobedience holy--the daring assumption of
+inquisitorial privileges, and the scorn, the illiberality and
+self-righteousness, with which my angry, bigoted, and vulgar questioners
+decided on the merits of every institution that eschewed their fanciful
+vagaries and most audacious claims. I do not wonder that, overtaken in a
+career of misery, the consequence of my own imprudence, I should have
+been arrested by the voice, and smitten by the eloquence, of Mr Clayton.
+I do not wonder that I listened to his arguments, and observed his
+conduct, until I was reduced to passiveness, and my mind was willing to
+be moulded to his purposes. But I do wonder and lament that any
+obscuration of my judgment, any luxuriance of feeling, should have
+permitted my youthful understanding for an instant to believe that to
+such men as my examiners the keys of heaven were entrusted, and that on
+them, and on their voice, depended the reception of a broken-hearted
+penitent at the mercy-seat of God.
+
+A few words from the haberdasher-deacon, at the breaking up of the
+convocation, or whatever else it might be termed, were satisfactory, in
+so far as they showed that my temporal prospects were not entirely
+neglected by those who had become so deeply interested in my spiritual
+welfare. The blacksmith had hardly brought to a close a somewhat lengthy
+and very ungrammatical exhortation, that wound up the day's proceedings,
+when the dapper Jehu Tomkins, jumping at once from the carnival to the
+revel, shook me cordially by the hand, and most kindly suggested to me
+that, under the patronage of so important and religious a connexion as
+that into which I was about to enter, I could not fail to succeed,
+whatever might be the plan which I had laid down for my future support.
+
+"I have heard all about you," added Jehu, "from our respected minister,
+and you'll soon get into something now. It's a good congregation, sir--
+wealthy and influential. I should say we have richer people in our
+connexion than in any about London. Mr Clayton is a very popular man,
+sir--very good, and speaks the truth."
+
+"He is good indeed," I answered.
+
+"Sir, grace is sure to follow you now. It is fifteen years since I first
+sat under Mr Clayton! Ah, I remember the night I was converted, as if it
+were yesterday. I always felt, up to that very time, the need of
+something better than I had got. Business had gone wrong ever since I
+opened shop, and my mind was quite unsettled. Satan tried very hard at
+me, but it wouldn't do. Sometimes, when my boy had gone home, and shop
+was shut up, the Tempter would whisper in my ears words like
+these--'Jehu, you're insured, over and over again, for your stock; let a
+spark fall on the shavings, and your fortune's made.' Well, sir, once or
+twice--will you believe it?--the Devil had nearly got it all his own
+way; but grace prevented, and I was saved. I owe it all to Mr Clayton. I
+was told by one or two of my customers to go and hear him, but somehow
+or other I never did. Satan kept me back. At last the gentleman as was
+the deacon--him as built the chapel--Mrs Jehu Tomkin's father--comes to
+my shop with his daughter, Mrs Jehu as is now, and spoke to me about the
+minister. Well, I heard the old gentleman was very rich and pious, and I
+went the next Sabbath-day as was, with his family, into his pew. I never
+went any where else after that. He seemed to hit the nail just on the
+head, and I was convinced--oh, quite wonderful!--all on a sudden. I was
+married to Mrs Jehu before that day twelvemonth. So you see grace
+followed me throughout, as it will you, my dear brother, if you only
+mind what you are about, and don't be a backslider."
+
+"Mr Clayton," said I, "has kindly promised to procure employment for
+me."
+
+"Ah! and he'll do it, if he says so," rejoined Mr Tomkins. "That's your
+man. You stick to him, and you won't hurt. He's a chosen vessel, if ever
+there was one. What do you say, brother Buster?"
+
+Brother Buster simply groaned his assent, and scowled. He had been for
+some time anxious to depart, and he now took his leave without
+further ceremony.
+
+"You wouldn't think that man was a saint to look at him, would you?"
+asked the deacon, as soon as his friend was gone. "He is though. He is
+riper in spiritual matters than any man I know. Ah! the Establishment
+would give something for a few like him. He'll be taken from us, I fear.
+We make a idol of him, and that's sure to be punished. It's wonderful
+what he knows; and how it has come to him we can't tell."
+
+I received a pressing invitation from Mr Tomkins to visit his "small and
+'appy family," as he was pleased to call it, on any evening after eight
+o'clock, which was his latest business hour. "Mrs Jehu," I was assured,
+"was just like her father, and his four small Jehus as exactly like
+their grandfather, and he wished to say no more for them. After
+business his family enjoyed invariably a little spiritual refreshment,
+and that and a hymn made the time pass very agreeably till supper-time
+at nine, when he had a 'ot collation, at which he should be most proud
+to see me."
+
+To all the charges that have been at various times, with more or less
+virulence and disinterestedness, brought against the Church of England,
+that of assuming to itself the divine attribute of searching the secret
+heart of many has, I believe, never been superadded. It has remained for
+men very far advanced indeed in spiritual knowledge and perfection, to
+assert the bold prerogative, and to venture, unappalled, beneath the
+frown of heaven. The close scrutiny, on the part of Mr Buster, proper as
+it was as a step preliminary, was by no means sufficient to procure for
+me an easy and unquestioned admission into the church which the
+blacksmith had so ably represented. There was yet another trial to
+ensue, and another jury to pronounce upon the merits of the anxious
+candidate. He had yet to prove to the perfect satisfaction of the
+self-constituted junto, that styled itself a _church_, how God had
+mercifully dealt with him--to detail, with historic accuracy, the method
+and procedure of his regeneration, and to find evidence of a spiritual
+change, that carried on its front the proof of his conversion and his
+accepted state. All this was to be done before I could be _entitled_ to
+the privileges which Messrs Buster, Tomkins, and the rest, had it in
+their power to bestow. The manner in which this delicate investigation
+was carried on, its indecorum and profaneness, I never can forget; nor
+can I, in truth, remember it without humiliation and deep sorrow.
+Against the indiscreet, illegal exhibition, I set off my ignorance,
+simplicity, and desire of serving heaven; and in these I place my hope
+of pardon for the share I had in such proceedings.
+
+I received, in due form, a requisition to appear before the body of the
+_church_, at its general meeting. I appeared. The chapel was thronged,
+the majority of members being women. In the hands of nearly every third
+person was a printed paper. I was not then aware of its contents; if I
+had been, the ceremony would, in all probability, have concluded with my
+entrance. Will it be believed, that this paper contained a printed
+formula of the questions which were to test the quality of my faith, and
+to pronounce upon the vitality and worth of my spiritual pretensions!
+Any person present was at liberty to address me, and to form his own
+opinion of my case from the manner and the matter which their ingenuity
+elicited. At the suggestion of Mr Tomkins, who, in his capacity of
+deacon, was remarkably active on this occasion, it was deemed proper
+that I should enter upon my "experience" at once. My heart fluttered as
+I rose to comply with the demand, and the chapel was hushed. It will be
+sufficient to say, that I repeated my entire history, and secured the
+attention of my auditory until I had spoken my last word. There were
+parts of the narrative which I could, with a glance, perceive to be
+peculiarly _piquant_ and acceptable. As these occurred, a rustling and a
+murmur expressed the subdued applause. When, for instance, I mentioned
+the disgust which I had conceived for the University upon losing the
+scholarship, and the uneasiness which I afterwards felt as long as I
+continued a member of that community, a few of the most acute looked at
+one another, and shrugged mysteriously, as who should say, "How wondrous
+are the ways of Providence!" and when I arrived at the point of my
+deliverance by the hand of their own minister, there would have been, I
+thought, no end to the gesticulations, expressions of gratitude and joy,
+that burst from the "church," in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of
+the minister to control and keep them down. When I had concluded, and
+whilst the half-suppressed rejoicing still buzzed in the chapel, the
+stern Buster rose, and presented to me the unmitigated force of his
+unpleasant eye. Silence prevailed immediately.
+
+"Now, sir," said my old friend, "what makes you think yourself a child
+of grace? Speak out, if you please; I'm rather deaf."
+
+"The loathing that I feel of what I was."
+
+"Good!" said Jehu Tomkins, with strong emphasis, and loud enough to be
+heard by every one.
+
+"When did you feel the fetters fust busting from your spirit?"
+
+"Not till I heard the minister's kind voice," was the reply.
+
+"Do you always feel as strong upon the subject? Do you feel your spirit
+always willing?"
+
+"Oh, no," I answered; "there are dreadful fluctuations, and there is
+nothing so uncertain as self-dependence. I have dark and bitter moments,
+when I feel, in all its power, the melancholy truth--'When I would do
+good, evil is present with me.'"
+
+"Capital sign!--capital sign!" exclaimed Jehu Tomkins again; "quite
+sufficient!--quite sufficient!"
+
+Yes, it was so. A few questions were put to me by individuals, rather
+for the sake of gratifying an impertinent curiosity, than that of
+elucidating further proof of my proficiency, and the ceremony was
+finished by my formal reception into the body of the church. A prayer
+was offered, an address delivered, a hymn sung--the eyes of many ladies
+were turned with smiling interest upon me--and the meeting separated.
+Jehu Tomkins was the first to congratulate me upon the happy issue of
+my trial.
+
+"You are a made man, sir, depend upon it," said he, with his first
+salutation. "You can't fail. There--do you see that fat man that's just
+going out--him as has got on the Indy 'ankycher?--I sold him that--he
+came on purpose to hear you, and if he found you up to the mark, he's
+going to provide for you. He belongs to all our societies, and just does
+what he pleases. His word's a law. We've a boiled leg of mutton at nine
+to-night. Suppose you come to us, and finish the day there? Bless me,
+what a full meeting we've had! Here's a squeezing!" There was certainly
+some difficulty in our egression. The people had gathered into a crowd
+at the small doorway, and men jostled and made their way without regard
+to others in their vicinity. Lost as I was in the indiscriminate host, a
+few observations fell upon my ear that were not, I presume, especially
+intended for it.
+
+"Well," said a greasy youth, not many yards distant from me, "I doubt
+his having had a call. There wasn't life enough in it for me. I
+shouldn't be surprised if he's a black sheep after all. I wish I had put
+a question or two to him. I think I could have shown Satan in his heart
+pretty quick."
+
+"Now you say it," replied the person addressed, "I did think him very
+backward and lukewarm. I didn't like his tone altogether. Ah! what a
+thing experimental religion is! You know what it is, and so do I; but I
+werry much fear that delooded young man is as carnal-minded as my mother
+was, that went to hell, though I say it, as contented and unconcerned as
+if she was going to the saints in glory."
+
+The information conveyed to me by Mr Tomkins as we issued from the
+chapel was not unfounded. The very day subsequent to my admittance into
+the bosom of the church, I was requested to attend the minister in the
+_sanctum_ already referred to. Upon reaching it, I discovered the fat
+gentleman of the preceding evening, dressed as he was on the previous
+occasion, and still adorned with Jehu's India handkerchief. Both he and
+Mr Clayton were seated at table, and writing materials were before them.
+The moment I entered the apartment, the fat gentleman held out his hand,
+and shook mine with much stateliness. My friend, however, addressed me.
+
+"Caleb," said he, "we are at length able to fulfil our promise. It is my
+pleasure to announce to you that a situation is procured for you,
+suitable to your talents, and agreeable to your feelings. We are both of
+us indebted to this good gentleman. In your name I have already thanked
+him, and in your name I have accepted the office which he has been at
+some pains to obtain for you."
+
+I looked towards the stout gentleman, and bowed in grateful
+acknowledgment.
+
+"Tell him the duties, Clayton," requested my new-found influential
+friend.
+
+"Mr Bombasty," proceeded the minister, "feels a warm interest in your
+welfare. The happy result of yesterday's trial has secured for you a
+friendship which it will be your duty and study to deserve. There is
+established, in connexion with our church, a Christian instruction
+society, of which Mr Bombasty is the esteemed and worthy president. The
+appointment of a travelling secretary rests with him, and he has this
+very day nominated you to that distinguished office. I have tendered
+your thanks. You can now repeat them."
+
+"Tell him the salary," interrupted the president.
+
+"You will receive one hundred and fifty pounds per annum," continued Mr
+Clayton, "in addition to your travelling charges; apartments likewise, I
+believe"--He hesitated as if uncertain, and looked towards the
+president.
+
+"Yes," replied that gentleman, "go on--coals and candles. You answer for
+him, Clayton--eh?"
+
+"As I told you, sir," said my friend, "I will pledge myself for his
+trustiness and probity."
+
+The remembrance of Mr Chaser's cold-hearted cruelty occured to my mind
+as my benefactor spoke, and tears of gratitude trembled in my eyes. The
+fat gentleman remarked the expression of feeling, and brought the
+interview to a close.
+
+"Well, Clayton," said he, "you can talk to him. I've twenty places to go
+to yet. Get the paper signed, and he may begin at once. Let a lawyer
+draw it up. Just make yourself security for a thousand pounds--I don't
+suppose he'll ever have more than half that at a time in his
+possession--and that'll be all the society will require. He can come to
+me to-morrow. Now I'm off. Good-bye, my friend--'morning, young man."
+The last adieu was accompanied with a patronizing nod of the head,
+which, with the greeting on my first appearance, constituted the whole
+of the intercourse that passed between me and my future principal. The
+moment that he departed, I turned to Mr Clayton, and thanked him warmly
+and sincerely for all that he had accomplished for me.
+
+"I shall leave you, sir," I added, "with mingled feelings of regret and
+satisfaction--regret in separating from the purest and the best of men,
+my friend, my counsellor, and father--but joy, because I cease to be a
+burden upon your charity and good nature. I carry into the world with me
+the example of your daily life, and my own sense of your dignified and
+exalted character. Both will afford me encouragement and support in the
+vicissitudes which yet await me. Tell me how I may better evince my
+gratitude, and let me gratify the one longing desire of my
+overflowing heart."
+
+"Caleb," replied the minister, with solemnity, "it is true that I have
+been permitted to protect and serve you. It is true that, but for me, at
+this moment you would be beyond the reach of help and man's regard. I
+have brought you from the grave to life. I have led you to the waters of
+life, of which you may drink freely, and through which you will be made
+partaker with the saints, of glory everlasting. This I have done for
+you. Do I speak in pride? Would I rob Heaven and give the praise and
+honour to the creature? God forbid. _I_ have accomplished little. _I_
+have done nothing good and praiseworthy but as the instrument of Him
+whose servant and whose minister I am. Not for myself, but for my
+Master's sake, I demand your friendship and fidelity. If I have been
+accounted worthy to save your soul, I am not unworthy of your loyalty
+and love."
+
+"They are yours, sir. It is my happiness to offer them."
+
+"Caleb," continued my friend, in the same tone, "you have lived with me
+many months. Mine is a life of privacy and retirement compared with that
+of other men. I strive to be useful to my fellow-creatures, and am happy
+if I succeed. If any one may claim immunity from slander and reproach,
+it is I, who have avoided diligently all appearance of offence. Yet I
+have not succeeded. You are about to mix again with men. You have joined
+the church, and you will not fail to hear me spoken of harshly and
+injuriously."
+
+"Impossible!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, it would seem so, and it would _be_, if justice in this world
+accompanied men's acts. I tell you," continued Mr Clayton, flushing as
+he raised his voice, "there are men living now whom I have raised from
+beggary and want--men, indebted to me for the air they breathe, who
+calumniate and defame me through the world, and who will not cease to do
+so till I or they are sleeping in the dust. They owed me every thing,
+like you--their gratitude was unbounded, even as yours. What assurance
+have I that you will not deal as hardly by your friend as they have
+done, and still do?"
+
+"Mr Clayton," I answered, eagerly, "I would lay down my life to serve
+you."
+
+"I believe you to be frank and honest, Caleb. I should believe it; for I
+am about to pledge a heavy sum upon your integrity--and, indeed, I can
+but ill spare it. You ask me how I would have you show your thankfulness
+for what I have accomplished for you. I answer, by giving me your
+_friendship_. It is a holy word, and comprehends more than is supposed.
+A friend believes not ill that is spoken of him to whom he is united by
+mutual communion and interest; he is faithful to the end, through good
+report and evil, and falls, if need be, with the man to whom he has
+engaged his troth and given his heart."
+
+"I am unworthy, sir," I said, "to stand in this relation with one so
+good, so holy as yourself. I have but a word to say--trust and confide
+in me. I will never deceive you."
+
+"Let us pray," said Mr Clayton, after a long pause, sighing as he spoke,
+and speaking very softly--and immediately he fell upon his knees, and I,
+according to a practice which I had acquired at the chapel, leaned upon
+a chair, and turned my face to the window.
+
+It was about a month after my installation into my new office, that
+business connected with the society carried me to the village of
+Highgate. It was late in the evening when my commission was completed,
+and I was enabled, after a day of excessive fatigue, to direct my steps
+once more homeward. The stage-coach, which set out from the village for
+London twice during the day, luckily for me, was appointed to make its
+last journey about half an hour after my engagements had set me at
+liberty. A mile, across fields, intervened between me and the
+coach-office. Short as the distance was, it was any thing but an
+agreeable task to get over it, with the rain spitting into my face, the
+boisterous wind beating me back, and the darkness of a November night
+confounding me at every turn. In good time, however, I reached the inn.
+Providence favoured me. There were but two seats unoccupied in the
+coach; one was already engaged by a gentleman who had requested to be
+taken up a mile forward; the other had just been given up by a lady who
+had been frightened by the storm, and had postponed her return to London
+to the following day. This seat I immediately secured, and in a few
+minutes afterwards we were on our way towards Babylon. We made but
+little progress. The breed of coach horses has been much improved since
+the period of which I write, and a journey from Highgate to London was a
+much more important event than a railway conductor of the present day
+would suppose. My companions were all men. Their conversation turned
+upon the topics of the day. A monetary crisis had taken place in the
+mercantile world, and for many days I had heard nothing spoken of but
+the vast losses which houses and individuals of high character and
+standing had incurred, and the bankruptcy with which the community had
+become suddenly threatened. The subject had grown stale and wearisome to
+me. It had little interest, in fact, for one whose humble salary of one
+hundred and fifty pounds per annum depended so little upon the great
+fluctuations of commerce, and I accordingly disposed myself for sleep as
+soon as the words _bills_, _money_, and _bankruptcy_, became the staple
+matter of discourse. I had scarcely established a comfortable doze
+before the coach stopped suddenly, and awoke me. It had halted for the
+last inside. A gentleman, apparently stout and well wrapped up--it was
+impossible to speak positively on the subject, the night was so very
+dark--trod his way into the vehicle over the toes of his
+fellow-passengers, and took his seat. The coach was once more moving
+towards the metropolis, and again I endeavoured to lull myself to sleep.
+The same expressions proceeded from the lips of the travellers, and they
+were growing more and more indistinct and shadowy, when I was startled
+all on a sudden by one of the most palpable sounds that had ever
+disturbed and confounded a dreamer. I sat up and listened, coughed to
+convince myself that I was certainly awake, and the sounds were repeated
+as clear and as audible as before. I would have sworn that Mr Clayton
+was the gentleman whom we had last picked up--that he was now in the
+coach with me--and was now talking, if the words which fell from the
+traveller had not been such as he would never have used, and the subject
+on which he spoke had not been one upon which Mr Clayton, I believed,
+was as ignorant as a child. The resemblance between the voices was so
+great, that I pronounced the phenomenon the most extraordinary that had
+ever occurred to me; and growing quite wakeful from the incident, I
+continued to listen to the accents of the speaker until once or twice I
+had almost thought it my duty to acquaint him with the remarkable fact,
+which he was now living to illustrate. But I held my peace, and the
+conversation proceeded without interruption.
+
+"You may depend upon it," said one gentleman, "things must get worse
+before they'll mend. Half the mischief isn't done yet. There's a report
+to-day that ---- cannot hold out much longer. It will be a queer thing
+if they smash. Many petty tradesmen bank with that house, who will be
+ruined if they go. Things are certainly in a very sweet state."
+
+"You do not mean," said _the voice_, trembling with emotion or alarm,
+"that the house of ---- threatens to give way? I have been in the city
+to-day, and did not hear a syllable of this. I think you must he
+mistaken. Good God, how frightful!"
+
+Well, it was really wonderful! I could have sworn that Mr Clayton was
+the speaker. Had he not concluded with the ejaculation, my doubt would
+certainly have ceased. That exclamation, of course, removed the
+supposition entirely.
+
+"You'll find I'm right, sir," was the reply of the traveller who spoke
+first. "At least, I fear you will. I hope I may be wrong. If you have
+any thing in their hands, you would find it worth your while, I think,
+to pay them an early visit to-morrow morning. If there's a run upon
+them, nothing in the world can save them."
+
+"And is it true," asked _the voice_, "that ---- stopped payment
+on Tuesday? I came to town from Warwickshire only yesterday, and this
+is the first news that I heard."
+
+"Oh, there's no doubt about that," answered a third person; "but that
+surprized nobody. The only wonder is, how he managed to keep afloat so
+long. He has been up to the chin for the last twelvemonth and more. I
+hope you don't lose there, sir?"
+
+"Mine has been the devil's luck this year," continued _the voice_, in a
+bitter savage tone, that never belonged to Mr Clayton. "Yes, gentlemen,
+I lose heavily by them both. But never mind, never mind, _one_ shall
+wince for it, if he has been playing ducks and drakes with my good
+money. He shall feel the scourge, depend upon it. I'll never leave him
+till he has paid me back in groans. Heaven, what a sum!"
+
+_The voice_ said no more during the journey. The other gentlemen having
+lost nothing by the various failures, discussed matters with philosophy
+and praiseworthy decorum. Sometimes, indeed, "the third person" grew
+slightly facetious and jocose when he represented to himself what he
+termed "the queer cut" that some old friend would display on presenting
+his cheque for payment at the rickety counter of Messrs ---- & Co.; but
+no deeper expression of feeling escaped one of those who spoke so long
+and volubly on what concerned themselves so very little. I was puzzled
+and disturbed. The stranger had returned from Warwickshire the day
+before. Twice during my residence with the minister, business of
+importance had carried him to that county. It was certainly a curious
+coincidence, but coincidences more curious pass by us every day
+unheeded. It would have been absurd to conclude from that the identity
+of the stranger; yet the fact, coupled with _the voice_, staggered and
+confounded me. I said nothing, but determined, as soon as we reached the
+public streets, to call to my aid the light--feeble as it was--of the
+dimly-burning lamps, which, at the time I speak of, were placed at a
+considerable distance from each other along the principal streets of
+London, scattering no light, and looking like oil lamps in the last
+stage of a lingering consumption. These afforded me little help. The
+weakest effort of illumination imaginable strayed across the coach
+window as we passed a burner, about as serviceable as the long interval
+of darkness that ensued, and far more tantalizing. We were driving
+through the city. I was still brooding over the singular occurrence,
+when the coach stopped. The stranger alighted. I endeavoured to obtain
+sight of him, but he was so wrapped and clothed that I did not succeed.
+The coach was on its way again, and I had just opportunity enough to
+discover that we had halted at the corner of the street in which Mr
+Clayton resided. I had been so intent upon scanning the figure of the
+traveller, that the fact had escaped me. Had I been aware of it, I would
+certainly have followed the man, and seen him at all events safely
+beyond the door of the minister. Now it was too late.
+
+I could not repress the desire which I felt to visit Mr Clayton on the
+following morning. I went to him at an early hour. If he and the
+stranger were one and the same person, I should be made aware of it at a
+glance. The cause that had affected him so deeply in the stage-coach
+existed still, and his manner must betray him. My suspicions were, thank
+Heaven, instantly removed. I found my friend tranquil as ever, busy at
+his old occupation, and welcoming me with his usual smile of
+benevolence. He was paler than usual, I thought; but this impression
+only convinced me how difficult it is to be charitable and just, when
+bias and prejudice once take possession of us. My friend was, if any
+thing, kinder and more affectionate than ever. He spoke to me about my
+new employment, gave me his advice on points of difficulty, and bade me
+consult him always, and without hesitation, when doubt might lead me
+into danger. He could not tell me how happy he had been made by having
+secured a competency for me; and he hoped sincerely that no act of mine
+would ever cause him to regret the step that he had taken.
+
+"Indeed," said he, "I have great confidence in you, Caleb. I do not know
+another person in the world upon whose character I would have staked so
+large a sum. In truth, I should not have been justified. A thousand
+pounds is a heavy venture for one so straitened as I am. But you are
+worthy of it all. You are a faithful and good boy, and will never give
+me reason to repent my generosity. Will you, child?"
+
+"No, sir," I replied; "not if I am master of myself."
+
+"It is strange," continued the good man, "how we attach ourselves to
+individuals! There are some men who repel you at first sight--with whom
+your feelings are at variance as oil with water. Others again, who win
+us with a look--to whom we could confide the secrets of our inmost
+heart, and feel satisfied of their losing nothing of their sacredness.
+Have you never experienced this, Caleb?"
+
+"I could speak to you, sir," said I, in return, "as unreservedly as to
+myself."
+
+"Yes, and I to you. It is a strange and beautiful arrangement.
+Providence has a hand in this, as in all other sublunary dispensations.
+We were created to be a comfort and a joy to one another, and to
+reciprocate confidence and love. Such instances are not confined to
+modern times. History tells us of glorious friendships in the ancient
+world. The great of old--of Greece and Rome--they who advanced to the
+very gate and threshold of TRUTH, and then despairingly turned
+back--they have honoured human nature by the intensity and permanency of
+their attachments. But what is a Pagan attachment in comparison with
+that which exists amongst believers, and unites in bonds that are
+indissoluble, the faithful hearts of pious Christians?"
+
+"Ah, what indeed, sir!"
+
+"Come to me to-morrow, Caleb," continued my friend, changing the
+subject. "Let me see you as often as your duties will permit you. We
+must not be strangers. I did not intend to give you up so easily. It is
+sweet and refreshing to pursue our old subjects of discourse. You are
+not tired of them?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+"Come, then, to-morrow."
+
+It was truly delightful to listen to the minister. I had never known him
+more sweetly disposed and more calm than on this occasion. He was
+unruffled by the presence of one anxious thought. Ah, how different
+would he have been if he had really proved to be my coach acquaintance!
+How I despised myself for the one unkind half suspicion which I had
+entertained so derogatory to the high character of the saint. But it was
+a great comfort to me, nevertheless, to be so satisfied of my delusion,
+and to feel so easy and so happy in my mind at the close of our long
+interview. According to my promise, I saw the minister on the following
+day. He was as peaceful and heavenly-minded as before. Another
+appointment was made and kept--another succeeded to that--and for one
+fortnight together, I spent many hours daily in the society of my
+respected friend.
+
+In pursuance of an arrangement which we had made, I called one afternoon
+at Mr Clayton's house, and was distressed to hear that he was confined
+to his bed by a sudden attack of illness. He had directed his servant to
+acquaint all visiters with his condition, and to admit no one to him,
+with the exception of the medical attendant and myself. I was eager to
+profit by my privilege, and was in a few seconds at the bedside of my
+benefactor. He was reading when I approached him, and he looked flushed
+and agitated. He put his book away from him, and held out his hand to
+me. I pressed it most affectionately.
+
+"I have been ill, Caleb," he began, "but I am better now, and I shall be
+quite well soon. Do not be alarmed."
+
+"How did it happen, sir?" I asked.
+
+"We are in the flesh now, dear boy, and are subject to the evils of the
+flesh. Hereafter it will be otherwise. Sorrow and distress, we are told,
+shall be no more. Oh, happy time for sinners! I have grievously
+offended. This very day I have permitted worldly thoughts to disturb and
+harrass me, and to shake the fleshly tabernacle. It was wrong,
+very wrong."
+
+"What has happened, sir?" I enquired.
+
+The minister looked hard and tenderly upon me, pressed my hand again,
+and bade me take a chair.
+
+"Bring it near to the bed, Caleb," said Mr Clayton; "I like to have you
+near me. I am better since you came. To see you is always soothing to my
+mind. I am reminded, then, that I am not altogether so worthless and
+insignificant a worm as I believe myself, since I have been able to do
+so much for you. Tell me, do you still like the employment that I
+procured for you?"
+
+"I would not resign it for any other that I know of. It is every thing
+to me. I feel my independence, and I have been told that I am useful to
+my fellow-creatures. It would be a bitter hour to me, sir, that should
+find me deprived of my appointment."
+
+"And that hour is very distant, Caleb, if you are sensible of your duty,
+and grateful to the instruments which Heaven has raised for you. You
+shall always feel your independence, and always hear that you are useful
+and respected. Be but faithful. It is a lesson that I have repeated to
+you many times--it cannot be told too often."
+
+"You are a patient and a kind instructor, sir."
+
+"Come closer to me, Caleb, and now listen. But first--look well at me,
+and tell me what you see."
+
+I looked as he required, but gave no answer.
+
+"Tell me, do you see the lines and marks that beggary and ruin bring
+upon the countenance of men? Does poverty glare from any one expression?
+_I am a lost and ruined man._"
+
+"You, sir?"
+
+"Yes. The trifling pittance upon which I lived, and barely lived, and
+yet from which I could still extract enough to do a little good--to
+feed, perhaps, one starving throat--is wrested, torn from me, and from
+those who shared in what it might obtain. I am myself a beggar."
+
+Mr Clayton became agitated as he spoke, and I implored him to compose
+himself.
+
+"Yes--it is that I wish to do. I should be above the influence of dross.
+And for myself I am. Would that I might suffer alone! And this is not
+all. The man who has effected my ruin owes every thing to me. I found
+him penniless, and raised him to a condition that should have inspired
+him with regard and gratitude. I would have trusted that man with
+confidence unbounded. I did entrust him with my all, and he has beggared
+and undone me."
+
+"Take it not to heart, sir," I said, soothing the afflicted man; "things
+may not be so bad as you suppose."
+
+"They cannot be worse," was the reply; "but I will _not_ take it to
+heart. The blow is hard to bear--the carnal man must feel it--yet I am
+not without my solace. Read to me, Caleb."
+
+I read a chapter from the work that was lying on the bed. It was called
+"_The Good Man's Comfort in Affliction_." It was effectual in restoring
+my friend to composure. He spoke afterwards with his usual softness
+of manner.
+
+"This bad man, Caleb," he resumed, "is a member of our church. I am
+sorry for it--grievously, bitterly sorry for it. The scandal must be
+removed. Personally, I would be as passive and forbearing as a child,
+but the church suffers whilst one such member is permitted to profane
+her ordinances. He must be cut off from her. It must be done. The church
+must disavow the man who has betrayed her minister and disgraced
+himself. I have been your friend, Caleb--you must now prove mine."
+
+"Most willingly," said I.
+
+"This business must be brought before a general meeting of the church.
+From me the accusation will come with ill grace, and yet a public charge
+must be preferred. You must be the champion of my cause. Your's shall be
+the task of conferring a lasting obligation on your friend--your's shall
+be the glory of ridding the sanctuary of defilement."
+
+"How am I to act, sir?"
+
+"Your course is very easy, child. A meeting shall be convened without
+delay. You shall attend it. You shall be made master of the case. You
+must propose an examination of his affairs on the part of the church.
+The man has failed--he is a bankrupt--our church is pure, and demands an
+investigation into the questionable conduct of her children. This you
+shall do. The church will do the rest."
+
+I know not how it was--I cannot tell what led to it--but a cold shudder
+crept through my body, and a sudden sickness overcame me. I thought of
+the coach scene--_the voice_ seemed more like than ever--the tones were
+the very same. I seemed unexpectedly enclosed and entangled in some
+dreadful mystery. I could not conceive why I should hesitate to accept
+the invitation of my friend with alacrity and pleasure. He was my
+benefactor, preserver, best and only friend.
+
+He had been defrauded, and he called upon me now to perform a simple act
+of justice. A man under much less obligation to the minister would have
+met his wishes joyfully; but I _did_ hesitate and hold back. A natural
+suggestion, one that I could not control or crush, told me as loudly as
+a voice could speak, not to commit myself by an immediate and rash
+consent. It must have been the _coach_; for, previously to that
+adventure, had the minister commanded me to accuse a hundred men, a hint
+would have sufficed for my obedience. But that unfortunate occurrence,
+now revived by the manner of my friend--by the expressions which he
+employed--by the charge which he adduced against the unhappy member of
+his church--filled me with doubt, uncertainty, and alarm. Mr Clayton was
+not slow to remark what was passing in my mind.
+
+"How is this, Caleb?" he enquired. "You pause and hesitate."
+
+"What has he done sir?" I asked, in my confusion, hardly knowing what I
+said.
+
+"Done!" exclaimed the minister, with an offended air. "Caleb, he has
+ruined the man who has made you what you are."
+
+It was too true. Mr Clayton had indeed made me what I was. It was a just
+reproof. It was ingratitude of the blackest character, to listen so
+coldly to his wishes. For months I had received daily and hourly the
+most signal benefits from his hands. He had never till now called upon
+me to make the shadow of a return for all his disinterested
+love--_disinterested_, ah, was it so? I hated myself for the momentary
+doubt--and yet the doubt returned upon me. If I had not heard his voice
+in the coach, such a suspicion would have been impossible. _Now_, any
+thing seemed possible--nothing was too extraordinary to happen. Well, it
+was little that the minister requested me to do. I had but to demand an
+investigation into the man's affairs. It was easily done, and without
+any cost or sacrifice of principle. But why could not the minister
+demand the same himself? "It would be unseemly," he asserted. Well, it
+might be--why had he not selected an elder member of the Church?
+Because, as he had often told me, there was none so dear to him. This
+was plain and reasonable, and all this passed through my brain with the
+rapidity of thought in an instant of time.
+
+"You may command me, sir," I said at length.
+
+"No, Caleb, I will not _command_ you. To serve your friend would have
+been, I deemed, a labour of love. I did not _command_ you, and I now
+retract the trifling request which I find I was too bold to make."
+
+"Do not talk so to me, Mr Clayton, I entreat you. I am disturbed and
+unwell to-day. Your illness has unsettled me. Pray command me. Speak to
+me as is your wont--with the same kindliness and warmth--you know I am
+bound to you. Let me serve you in any way you please."
+
+"We will speak of it some other time. Let us change the subject now.
+There are twenty men who will be eager to comply with the wishes of
+their minister. An intimation will suffice."
+
+"But why, sir," I returned--"why should others be privileged to do your
+bidding, and I denied? Forgive my apparent coldness, and give me my
+instructions."
+
+"Not now," said Mr Clayton, softened by my returning warmth. "Let us
+read again. Some other time."
+
+In a few days the subject was again introduced, and I put in possession
+of the history of the unfortunate man who was so soon to be brought
+under the anathema of the church. According to the statement of the
+minister, the guilty person had received at various times from him as a
+loan, no less a sum than four thousand pounds, the substance of his
+wealth, besides an equal amount from other sources, for which Mr Clayton
+had made himself accountable. Mr Clayton had implicated himself so
+seriously, as he said, for the advantage of the man whom he had known
+from boyhood, and raised from beggary, simply on account of the love he
+bore him, and in consideration of his Christian character. Of every
+farthing thus advanced, the minister had been defrauded, and within a
+month the trader had declared himself a bankrupt. That the minister
+should have acted so inconsiderately and prodigally, might seem strange
+to any one who did not thoroughly understand the extreme unselfishness
+of his disposition. Towards me he had behaved with an equal liberality,
+and I, at least, had no right to question the truth of every word he
+spoke. The conduct of the man appeared odious and unpardonable, and I
+regretted that I should have doubted, for one moment, the propriety of
+assisting so manifest an act of justice. Let me acknowledge that there
+was much need of self-persuasion to arrive at this conclusion. I wished
+to believe that I felt _urged_ to my determination; but the necessity
+that I experienced of working myself up to a conviction of the justice
+of the case, militated sadly against so pleasing a delusion.
+
+The second church meeting in which it fell to my lot to perform a
+distinguished character, took place soon after the communication which I
+received from my respected friend. It was convened with the especial
+object of inquiring into the circumstances connected with the failure of
+Mr George Whitefield Bunyan Smith. The chapel was, if possible, fuller
+than on the former evening, and the majority of members was, as before,
+women. A movement throughout the assembly--a whispering, and a ceaseless
+expectoration, indicated the raciness and interest which attached to the
+matter in hand, and every eye and mouth seemed opened in the fulness of
+an anxious expectation. I sat quietly and uncomfortably, and my heart
+beat palpably against my clothes. I endeavoured to paint the villany of
+Mr Smith in the darkest colours, and by the contemplation of it, to
+rouse myself to self-esteem--but the effort was a failure. I could see
+nothing but the man in the coach, and hear nothing but _the voice_,
+which sounded in my ears louder than ever, _and far more like_; and I
+became at length perfectly satisfied that I had no business to stand in
+the capacity of Mr Smith's accuser. It was too late to recant. The bell
+had rung--the curtain was up and the performances were about to begin.
+
+A hymn, as usual, ushered in the proceedings of the day. The
+fifty-second psalm was then read by the minister, in the beautiful tone
+which he knew so well how to assume, and reverence and awe accompanied
+his emphatic delivery. Ah, could I ever forget the hour when those
+accents first dropped with medicinal virtue on my soul--when every
+syllable from his lips brought unction to my bruised nature--and the
+dark shadows of earth were dissipated and destroyed, beneath the clear,
+pure light of heaven that he invoked and made apparent! Why passed the
+syllables now coldly and ineffectually across the heart they could not
+penetrate? Why glittered they before the eye with phosphorescent lustre,
+void of all heat and might? I could not tell. The charm was gone. It was
+misery to know it. The minister having concluded, "Brother Buster was
+requested to engage in prayer." That worthy rose _instanter_. First, he
+coughed, then he made a face--an awful face--then closed his eyes--then
+opened them again, looked up, and stretched forth his arms. At last he
+spoke. He prayed for the whole world, including the islands recently
+discovered, "even from the river to the oceans of ages"--then for
+Europe, and "more especially" for England, and London "in particular,"
+but "chiefly" for the parish in which the chapel stood, and
+"principally" for the Chosen People then and there assembled, and,
+"above all," for the infatuated man upon whose account they had been
+brought together. "Oh, might the delooded sinner repent _off_ his sin,
+and, having felt the rod, turn from the error _off_ his ways. Oh might
+the Church have grace to purify itself; and oh might the vessel wot was
+chosen this night to bring the criminal to justice, be hindood with
+strength for the work; and oh, might the criminal be enabled to come out
+of it with clean hands, (which he very much doubted;) and oh, might the
+minister be preserved to his Church for many years to come; and oh,
+might he himself be a door-keeper in heaven, rather than dwell in the
+midst of wickedness and sinners!" This was the substance of the divine
+supplication, offered up by Jabez Buster, in the presence of the
+congregation, and listened to with devout respect and seriousness by the
+refined and intellectual Mr Clayton. Another hymn succeeded immediately.
+It must have been written for the occasion, for the sentiment of it was
+in accordance with the prayer. It was a wail over the backsliding of a
+fallen saint. To the assembly thus prejudiced--an assembly made up of
+men of business and their wives, mechanics, dressmakers, servant-maids,
+and the like, an address suitable to their capacities was spoken. Mr
+Clayton himself delivered it.--He trembled with emotion when he referred
+to the painful duty which he was now called upon to perform. "Dear
+brethren," said he, "you are all aware of the unhappy condition of that
+brother who has long been bound to us by every tie that may unite the
+brethren in cordial and in Christian love. Truly, he has been dear to
+all of us; and for myself, I can with sincerity aver, that no creature
+living was dearer to me in the flesh, than him upon whose conduct we are
+met this night in Christian charity to adjudicate. Yes, he was my equal,
+my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet council together, and we
+walked to the house of prayer in company. I hope, I pray--would that I
+might add, that I believe!--the sin that has been committed in the face
+of the Church, and before the world, may be found not to lie at the door
+of him we loved and cherished. We are not here to take cognizance of the
+temporal concerns of every member of our congregation. We have no right
+to do this, so long as the Church is kept pure, and suffers not by the
+delinquencies of her children. If the limb be unworthy and unsound, let
+it be lopped off. You have heard that the worldly affairs of our brother
+are crushed; it is whispered abroad that there is reason to fear the
+commission of discreditable acts. Is this so? If it be true, let the
+whisper assume a bolder form, and pronounce our brother unworthy of a
+place with the elect. If it be false, let every evil tongue be silenced,
+and let us rejoice exceedingly, yea, with the timbrel and dance, with
+stringed instruments and loud-sounding cymbals. For my own part, I will
+not believe him guilty, until proof positive has made him so. His
+accuser is here this night. From what I know of our young brother, I am
+satisfied he will proceed most cautiously. Should he suggest simply an
+investigation into the recent transactions of the unfortunate man, it
+will be our duty to act upon that suggestion. If he comes armed with
+evidences of guilt, they must be examined with a kind but still
+impartial spirit. I know not to what extent it is proposed to proceed.
+It is not for me to know it. I am not his prosecutor. I shall not
+pronounce upon him. It is for you to judge. If he be proved culpable in
+this most melancholy business, and, alas! I fear he must be, if reports
+are true--though you must be careful to discard reports and look to
+testimony only--our course is plain and easy. Pardon is not with us; it
+must be sought elsewhere. I will not detain you longer. Brother Stukely,
+the Church will listen to your charge."
+
+But Brother Stukely had been for some time rendered incapable of speech.
+He was staggered and overwhelmed. He distrusted his eyes, his ears, and
+every sense that he possessed. What?--was _this_ Mr Clayton, the meek,
+the pious, the good, the benevolent, the just, the truth-telling, the
+Christian, and the minister? What?--could he assert that he was
+satisfied of his victim's innocence, until I should prove him guilty--I,
+who knew nothing of the man and his affairs, but what I gathered from
+his own false lips? There was some terrible mistake here. I dreamt, or
+raved. What!--had the history of the last twelvemonth been a cheat--a
+fable?--How was it--where was I? What!--could Mr Clayton talk
+thus--could HE descend to falsehood and deceit--HE, the immaculate and
+infallible? What a moral earthquake was here! What a re-enacting of the
+fall of man! But every eye was upon me, and the Church was silent as
+death, waiting for my rising. The chapel commenced swimming round me. I
+grew sick, and feared that I was becoming blind, for a mist came before
+my eyes, and confounded all things. At length I was awakened to
+something like consciousness, by a rapid and universal expectoration. I
+rose, and became painfully distressed by a conflict of opposing
+feelings. I remembered, in spite of the present obliquity of the
+minister, his great kindness to me--I remembered it with gratitude--this
+urged me to speak aloud, whilst a sense of justice as strongly demanded
+silence, and pity for the man whom I had undertaken to accuse, but who
+had never offended me, cried shame upon me for the words I was about to
+utter. For a second, I stood irresolute, and a merciful interference was
+sent to rescue me.
+
+"Why," exclaimed a voice that came pleasing to my ears,--"why are you
+going to accuse this here brother? Harn't twenty men failed afore, and
+you never thought of asking questions?"
+
+I looked round, and my friend Thompson of happy memory nodded
+familiarly, and by no means disconcertedly to me. I had never seen him
+in the chapel before. I did not know that he was a member. Here was
+another mystery! His words were the signal for loud disapprobation. He
+had marred the general curiosity at an intensely interesting moment, and
+the anger that was conceived against him was by no means partial. The
+minister rose in the midst of it. He looked very pale and much annoyed,
+but his manner was still mild, and his expressions as full of charity
+and kind feeling as ever.
+
+"It was a proper enquiry," he said; "one that should immediately be
+answered." Heaven forbid that their conduct, in one particular, should
+savour of injustice. In due time the explanation would have been
+offered. Had their brother waited for that time, he would have found
+that his harsh observation might have been withheld. The unfortunate man
+needed not the champion who had stood so irreverently forward. "I can
+assure our brother, that there is one who will hear of his innocence
+with greater joy than any other man may feel for him." But it was his
+duty to state, and publicly, that there were circumstances connected
+with this failure, that unfavourably marked it from every other that had
+taken place amongst them. These must be enquired into. Their brother
+Stukely had been interrupted in the charge which he was about to make.
+He repeated that he knew not how far that charge might have been brought
+home. He would propose now, that two messengers be appointed to wait
+upon the bankrupt, and to examine thoroughly his affairs, and that,
+previous to their report, no further proceedings should take place. The
+purity and disinterestedness of their conduct should be made apparent.
+Brothers Buster and Tomkins were the gentlemen whom he proposed for the
+delicate office, with the full assurance that they would execute their
+commission with Christian charity, tempering justice with
+heavenly mercy.
+
+The assembly gave a reluctant consent to this arrangement. "Such
+things," it was argued, "were better settled at once; and it would have
+been far more satisfactory if the bankrupt's matters had been disclosed
+to the meeting, who had come on purpose to hear them, and had neglected
+important matters at home, rather than be disappointed." The meeting,
+however, dissolved with a hymn, sung without spirit or heart. At the
+close of it, the minister retired. He passed me on his way; looked at me
+coldly, and I thought a frown had settled on his brow almost in spite of
+him. I was scarcely in the open street again, before Thompson was at my
+side, shaking my hand with the greatest heartiness.
+
+"Well," said he, "I should much sooner have thought of seeing the d----l
+in that chapel than you, any how. Why, what does it all mean? I thought
+you were in Brummagem."
+
+"Ah! Thompson," I exclaimed sighing, "I wish I were! It is a long
+history."
+
+"Well, do let's have it. I _am_ astonished."
+
+I put him in possession of my doings since we parted at the Bull's Head
+Inn in Holborn. I had not finished when we arrived at my lodgings. I
+invited my old friend to supper, and after that meal, he heard the
+conclusion of the narrative.
+
+"Well," said he at last, "some people don't believe in sperits. Now I
+do. I believe that a sperit has brought you and me together again.
+You've told me a good deal. Now, I'll tell you something. Clayton's an
+out-and-outer."
+
+"He's a mysterious and unintelligible being," I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," answered Thompson, "you were always fond of them fine words.
+P'raps you mean the same as me after all. What I mean is, that fellow
+beats all I ever came near. Talk of the Old Un! He's a babby to him."
+
+"I can believe any thing now," I answered.
+
+"I don't complain; because I think it serves me right. I did very well
+at our parish church, and had no business to leave it; and I shouldn't
+either, if I hadn't been a easy fool all my life. I went on right well
+there, and understood the clergyman very well, and I should have done to
+this day, if it hadn't been for my missus; she's always worriting
+herself about her state, and she happened to hear this Mr Clayton, and
+nothing would please her but we must join his congregation, the whole
+biling lot of us, and get elected, as they call it. She said all was
+cold in the church, and nothing to catch hold on there. I'm blessed if I
+havn't catched hold of a good deal more than I like in this here chapel.
+They call one another brothers--sich brothers I fancy as Cain was to
+Abel. They are the rummest Christians you ever seed. Just look at the
+head of them--that Mr Clayton, rolling in riches"----
+
+"In what?" said I, interrupting him. "You mistake. The little that he
+had is lost."
+
+"Oh, don't you be gammoned," was the reply. "What he has lost wont hurt
+him. He's got enough now to buy this street, out and out. He's the
+greediest fellow for money this world ever saw."
+
+"I am puzzled, Thompson," said I.
+
+"Yes, perhaps you are, and you'll be more puzzled yet when you know all.
+Why, what is all this about poor Smith? I knew him before Clayton ever
+got hold of him, when the chap hadn't a halfpenny to fly with, but was a
+most ordacious fellow at speculating and inventions, and was always up
+to something new. One day he had a plan for making moist sugar out of
+bricks--then soap out of nothing--and sweet oil out of stones. At last
+Clayton hears of him, and hooks him up, gets him to the chapel; first
+converts him, and then goes partners with him in the spekylations--let's
+him have as much money as he asks for, and because soap doesn't come
+from nothing, and sugar from bricks, and sweet oil from stones, he stops
+short, sews him up, drives him into the Gazette, and now wants to throw
+him into the world a beggar, without name and character, and with ten
+young 'uns hanging about his widowed arm for bread"
+
+"Oh, it's dreadful, if it's true," said I; "but if he has robbed the
+minister, whatever Mr Clayton may be, he ought to be punished."
+
+"But it isn't true, and there's the villany of it. Smith's a fool; you
+never see'd a bigger in your life, and though he thinks himself so
+clever in his inventions and diskiveries, he's as simple as a child in
+business. Why, he gave three thousand pounds for the machinery wot was
+to make soap out of nothing; and so all the money's gone. How sich a
+deep 'un as Clayton ever trusted him, I can't tell. He's wexed with
+himself now, and wants to have his spite upon his unfortunate tool."
+
+"I can hardly believe it," said I.
+
+"No; and do you think I would have believed it the first day as missus
+made me come to listen to that out and outer? and, do you think if I had
+known about it, they would ever have lugged me in to be a brother? You
+shall take a walk with me to-morrow, if you please, and if you don't
+believe it then of your own accord, why I sha'n't ask you."
+
+"He has been so kind, so generous to me. He has behaved so unlike a
+mercenary man."
+
+"Yes; that's just his way. That's what he calls, I suppose, _sharpening
+his tools_. He's made up his mind long ago to have out of you all he
+gave you, and a little more besides. Why, what did you get up for in the
+chapel? Didn't he say it was to bring a charge against Smith? Why, what
+do you know of Smith? Can't you see, with half an eye, he's been feeding
+of you to do his dirty work; and if you had turned out well, wouldn't it
+have been cheap to him at the price?"
+
+"What is it," said I, "you propose to do to-morrow?"
+
+"To take a walk; that's all. Don't ask questions. If you go with me,
+I'll satisfy your doubts."
+
+"Surely," said I, "his congregation must have known this; and they would
+not have permitted him"----
+
+"Ah, my dear sir, you don't know human nature. Wait till you have lived
+as long as I have. Now, there's my wife; she knows as much as I do about
+the man, and yet I'm blowed if she doesn't seem to like him all the
+better for it! She calls him a chosen wessel, and only wishes I was half
+as sure of salvation. As for the congregation, they are a complete set
+of chosen wessels together, and the more you blow 'em up, the better the
+wessels like it. If what they call the world didn't speak agin 'em,
+they'd be afraid they were going wrong. So you never can offend them."
+
+Thompson continued in the same strain for the rest of the evening,
+bringing charge after charge against the minister, with the view of
+proving him to be a hypocrite of the deepest dye. As he had fostered and
+protected me, Thompson explained that he had previously maintained and
+trained up Smith, whom he never would have deserted had all his
+speculations issued favourably. The loss of his money had so enraged
+him, that his feelings had suddenly taken a different direction, and he
+would now not stop until he had thoroughly effected the poor man's ruin.
+He (Thompson) knew Smith well; he had seen his books; and the man was as
+innocent of fraud as a child unborn. Clayton knew it very well, and the
+trick of examining the books was all a fudge. "That precious pair of
+brothers, Bolster and Tomkins, knew very well what they were about, and
+would make it turn out right for the minister somehow. As for hisself,
+he stood up for the fellow, because he hadn't another friend in the
+place. He knew he should be kicked out for his pains, but that would be
+more agreeable than otherways." From all I gathered from Thompson, it
+appeared that the pitiable man--the audacious minister of God--was the
+slave of one of the most corroding passions that ever made shipwreck of
+the heart of man. _The love of money_ absorbed or made subservient every
+other sentiment. To heap up riches, there was no labour too painful, no
+means too vicious, no conduct too unjustifiable. The graces of earth,
+the virtues of heaven, were made to minister to the lust, and to conceal
+the demon behind the brightness and the beauty of their forms. There is
+no limit to the moral baseness of the man of avarice. There was none
+with Mr Clayton. He lived to accumulate. Once let the desire fasten,
+anchor-like, with heavy iron to the heart, and what becomes of the
+world's opinion, and the tremendous menaces of heaven? Mr Clayton was a
+scholar--a man of refinement, eloquent--an angel not more winning--he
+was self-denying in his appetites, humble, patient--powerful and
+beautiful in expression, when the vices of men compelled the unwilling
+invective. Witness the burst of indignation when he spoke of Emma
+Harrington, and the race to which it was her misery to belong. He was,
+to the eyes of men, studious and holy as an anchorite. But better than
+his own immortal soul, he loved and doated upon _gold!_ That love
+acknowledged, fed, and gratified, when are its demands appeased?--when
+does conscience raise a barrier against its further progress? It is a
+state difficult to believe. Could I have listened with an ear of
+credulity to the tale of Thompson--could I have borne to listen to it
+with patience, had I not witnessed an act of turpitude that ocular
+demonstration could only render credible--had I not been prepared for
+that act by the tone, the manner, the expressions of the minister, when
+we passed an hour together, ignorant of each other's presence? It was a
+dreadful conviction that was forced upon me, and as wonderful as
+terrible. Self-delusion, for such it was, so perfect and complete, who
+could conceive--hypocrisy so super-eminent, who could conjecture! There
+was something, however, to be disclosed on the succeeding day. Thompson
+was very mysterious about this. He would give no clue to what he
+designed. I should judge from what I saw of the truth of his
+communications. Alas! I had seen enough already to mourn over the most
+melancholy overthrow that had ever crushed the confidence, and bruised
+the feelings, of ingenuous youth.
+
+I passed a restless and unhappy night. Miserable dreams distressed me. I
+dreamed that I was sentenced to death for perjury--that the gallows was
+erected--and that Buster and Tomkins were my executioners. The latter
+was cruelly polite and attentive in his demeanour. He put the rope round
+my neck with an air of cutting civility, and apologized for the whole
+proceeding. I experienced vividly the moment of being turned off. I
+suffered the horrors of strangulation. The noose slipped, and I was
+dangling in the air in excruciating agony, half-dead and half-alive.
+Buster rushed to the foot of the scaffold, and with Christian charity
+fastened himself to my legs, and hung there till I had breathed my last.
+Whilst he was thus suspended, he sang one of his favourite hymns with
+his own rich and effective nasal vigour. Then I dreamed I was murdering
+Bunyan Smith in his sleep. Mr Clayton was pushing me forward, and urging
+a dagger into my hand. Just as I had killed him, I was knocked down by
+Thompson, and Clayton ran off laughing. Then I woke up, thank Heaven,
+more frightened than hurt, with every limb in my body sore and aching.
+Then, instead of going to sleep again, which I could not do, I lay
+awake, and reflected on what had taken place, and I thought all I had
+heard against Mr Clayton, and all I had seen in the chapel, was a
+dream, like the execution and the murder. One thing seemed just as real
+and as likely as the other. Then I became uneasy in my bed, got up, and
+walked about the room, and wondered what in the world I should do, if
+Mr Clayton deprived me of my situation, and I was thrown out of bread
+again. Then I recollected his many hints concerning fidelity and
+friendship, and what he had said about my being in no danger, so long as
+I was faithful, and the rest of it; and then I wished I had thrown
+myself over Blackfriars' Bridge as I had intended, and so put an end to
+all the trials that beset my path. But this wish was scarcely felt
+before it was regretted and checked at once. Mr Clayton had taught me
+wisdom, which his own bad conduct could not sully or affect. It was not
+because under the garb of religion he concealed the tainted soul of the
+hypocrite, that religion was not still an angel of light, of purity, and
+loveliness. Her consolations were not less sweet--her promises not less
+sure. It would have been an unsound logic that should have argued, from
+the sinfulness of the minister, the falseness of that faith whose simple
+profession, and nothing more, alas! had been enough to hide foulest
+deformity. No! the vital spark that Mr Clayton had kindled, burned still
+steadily and clear. I could still see by its holy light the path of
+rectitude and duty, and thank God the while, that in the hour of
+temptation he gave me strength to resist evil, and the faculty of
+distinguishing aright between _the unshaken testimony_ and _the
+unfaithful witness_. I did not, upon reflection, regret that I had not
+recklessly destroyed myself; but I prayed on my knees for direction and
+help in the season of difficulty and disappointment through which I was
+now passing.
+
+Thompson came early on the following day, punctual to his appointment.
+He was accompanied by poor Bunyan Smith, and a voluminous statement of
+his affairs. I looked over them as well as I was able; for the
+unfortunate man was all excitement, and, faithful to the description of
+Thompson, sanguine in the extreme. He interrupted me twenty times, and,
+as every new speculation turned up, had still something to say why it
+had not succeeded according to his wishes. Although he had failed in
+every grand experiment, there was not one which would not have realized
+his hopes a hundredfold, but for the occurrence of some unfortunate
+event which it was impossible to foresee, but which could not possibly
+take place again, had he but money to renew his trials. His bankruptcy
+had not subdued him, nor in the least diminished his belief in the
+efficacy of his great discoveries. There was certainly no appearance of
+fraud in the account of his transactions, but it was not Mr Smith's
+innocence I was anxious to establish. It was the known guilt of Mr
+Clayton that I would have made any sacrifice to remove.
+
+It was in the afternoon that Thompson and I were walking along the
+well-filled pavement of Cheapside, on our way to what he called "the
+best witness he could bring to speak in favour of all that he had said
+about the minister." He still persisted in keeping up a mystery in
+respect of this same witness. "He might be, after all," he said,
+"mistaken in the thing, and he didn't wish to be made a fool of. I don't
+expect I shall, but we shall see." We reached Cornhill, and were
+opposite the Exchange.
+
+"That's a rum place, isn't?" asked Thompson, looking at the
+building--"Have you ever been inside?"
+
+"Never," I replied.
+
+"Suppose we just stroll in then? What a row they are kicking up there!
+And what a crowd! There's hardly room to move."
+
+The area was, as he said, crowded. There was a loud continued murmur of
+human voices. Traffic was intense, and had reached what might be
+supposed its acme. It seemed as if business was undergoing a paroxysm,
+or fit, rather than pursuing her steady, healthful course. Bodies of men
+were standing in groups--some were darting from corner to corner, pen in
+mouth--a few were walking leisurely with downcast looks--others quickly,
+uneasy and excited. A stout and well-contented gentleman or two leaned
+against the high pillars of the building, and formed the centre of a
+human circle, that smiled as he smiled, and stopped when he stopped.
+
+"Nice place to study in, sir," said Thompson, as we walked along.
+
+I smiled.
+
+"I mean it though," said he. "I see a man now that comes here on purpose
+to study--as clever a man at his books as ever I saw, and as fine a
+fellow to talk as you know--there, just look across the road--under that
+pillar--near the archway. There, just where them two men has left a open
+space. Tell me, who do you see there, sir?"
+
+"Why, Mr CLAYTON!" I replied, astonished at the sight.
+
+"Yes, and if you'll come here every day of your life, there you'll find
+him. I've watched him often, since Smith first put me up to his tricks,
+and I have never missed him. There he is making money, and wearing his
+soul out because he can't make half enough to satisfy his greedy maw.
+His covetousness is awful. There's nothing that he doesn't speckylate
+in; there's hardly a man of business in his congregation that he
+doesn't, either by himself or others, lend money out at usury. I mean
+such on 'em as he knows are right; for catch him, if he knows it,
+trusting the rotten brothers. Smith says he has got something to do with
+every one of the stocks. I don't know whether that is any thing to eat
+and drink or not, but I think they call this here bear-garden the Stock
+Exchange, and here the out-and-outer spends more than half his days."
+Whilst Thompson spoke, one of the two men, whom I have mentioned as
+being for many hours together closeted with the minister in his private
+study, and whom I set down as missionaries--came up in great haste to Mr
+Clayton, and communicated to him news, apparently, of importance. The
+latter immediately produced a pocket-book, in which he wrote a few words
+with a pencil, and the individual departed. The information, whatever it
+may have been, had deeply affected the man to whom it had been brought.
+He did not stand still, as before, but walked nervously about, looked
+pale, care-worn, and miserably anxious. He referred to his book a dozen
+times--restored it frequently to his pocket, and had it out again
+immediately for surer satisfaction, or for further calculations. In
+about ten minutes, "_the missionary_" returned. This time he was the
+bearer of a better tale. The minister smiled--his brow expanded, and his
+eye had the vivacity and fire that belonged to it in the pulpit. Another
+memorandum was written in the pocket book, and the two gentlemen walked
+quickly, and side by side, along the covered avenue. I had seen
+sufficient.
+
+"Let us go," I said to Thompson.
+
+"Why, you don't mean to say you have had enough!" returned he; "oh, wait
+a bit, and see the other boy. They make a precious trio."
+
+I declined to witness the melancholy spectacle any longer. I was
+oppressed, grieved, sickened, at the sad presentation of humanity. What
+an overthrow was this! What a problem in the moral structure of man! I
+could not understand it. I had no power to enquire into it. Against all
+preconceived notions of possibility, there existed a palpable fact. What
+could reason do in a case in which the senses almost refused to
+acknowledge the evidence which they themselves had produced?
+
+Thompson was delighted at the result of our "voyage of discovery," and
+continued to be facetious at the expense of the unhappy minister. I
+implored him to desist.
+
+"Say no more, Thompson. This is no subject for laughter. I have suffered
+much since your brother carried me to Birmingham. This is the hardest
+blow yet. I believe now that all is a dream. This is not Mr Clayton. It
+is a cheat of Satan. We are deluded and made fools in the hands of the
+Wicked One."
+
+"You'll excuse me, sir," said Thompson, "but if I didn't know you
+better, I should say, to hear you talk in that uncommonly queer way,
+that you were as big a wessel as any of 'em. Don't flatter yourself you
+are dreaming, when you never were wider awake in all your life."
+
+It is perhaps needless to say, that I had no heart to present myself
+again before my friend and benefactor--the once beloved, and still
+deeply compassionated minister of religion. I pitied him on account of
+the passion which had overmastered him, and trembled for myself when I
+contemplated the ruins of such an edifice. But I could visit him no
+longer. What could I say to him? How should I address him? How could I
+bear to meet his eye--I did not hate him sufficiently to inflict upon
+him the shame and ignominy of meeting mine. I avoided the house of Mr
+Clayton, and absented myself from his chapel. But I was not content with
+the first view that had been afforded me at the Exchange. I was
+unwilling to decide for ever upon the character of my former friend
+without a complete self-justification. I went again to the house of
+commerce, and alone. Again I beheld Mr Clayton immersed in the doings of
+the place. For a week I continued my observation. Proofs of his
+worldliness and gross hypocrisy came fast and thick upon each other. I
+no longer doubted the statement of Thompson and the speculator Smith. I
+resolved upon seeing my preserver no more. I could not think of him
+without shuddering, and I endeavoured to forget him. One evening, about
+ten days after the chapel scene, sitting alone in my apartment, I was
+attracted by a slight movement on the stairs. A moment afterwards there
+was a knock at my door. The door opened, and Mr Clayton himself walked
+into the room. I trembled instantly from head to foot. The minister had
+a serious countenance, and was very placid. He took a chair, and I
+waited till he spoke.
+
+"You have not visited me of late, Caleb," he began. "You have surely
+forgotten me. You have forgotten your promise--our friendship--your
+obligations--gratitude--every thing. How is this?"
+
+Still I did not speak.
+
+"Tell me," he continued, "who has taught you to become a spy? Who has
+taught you that it is honourable and just to track the movements and to
+break upon the privacy of others. I saw you in the Exchange this
+morning--I saw you yesterday--and the day before. Tell me, what took
+you there?"
+
+I gave no answer.
+
+"Your Bible, Caleb, gives no encouragement to the feeling which has
+prompted you to act thus. You have read the word of truth imperfectly.
+There is a holiness--a peculiar sanctity"----
+
+"For heaven's sake, Mr Clayton," I cried out, interrupting him, "do not
+talk so. Do not deceive yourself. Do not attempt to bewilder me. Do not
+provoke the wrath of heaven. You have been kinder to me than I can
+express. The recollection of what you have done is ever present to me.
+Oh, would that I owed you nothing! Would that I could pay you back to
+the last farthing, and that the past could be obliterated from my mind.
+I would have parted with my life willingly, gladly, to serve you. Had
+you been poor, how delightful would it have been to labour for my
+benefactor! I will not deceive you. I lave learnt every thing. Such
+miserable knowledge never came to the ears of man, save in those regions
+where perdition is first made known, and suffered everlastingly. I dare
+not distrust the evidence of my eyes and ears. The bitterest hour that I
+have known, was that in which you fell, and I beheld your fall. Whom can
+I trust now? Whom shall I believe? To whom attach myself? Mr Clayton, it
+seems incredible to me that I can talk thus to you. It is indeed, and I
+tremble as I do so. But what is to be done? I can respect you no longer,
+however my poor heart throbs towards you, and pities"----
+
+I burst into tears.
+
+"Spare your pity, boy," said Mr Clayton, coldly; "and spare those hollow
+tears. You acknowledge that there exists a debt between us. Well have
+you attempted to repay it! Listen to me. I have been your friend. I am
+willing to remain so. Come to me as before, and you shall find me as I
+have ever been--affectionate and kind. Avoid me--place yourself in the
+condition of my opponent, and _beware_. In a moment, by one word, I can
+throw you back into the slough from whence I dragged you. To-morrow
+morning, if I so will it, you shall wander forth again, an outcast,
+depending for your bread upon a roadside charity. It is a dreadful thing
+to walk a marked and branded man through this cold world; yet it is only
+for me to say the word, and _infamy_ is attached to your name for ever.
+And what greater crime exists than black ingratitude? It is our duty to
+expose and punish it. It is for you to make the choice. If you are wise,
+you will not hesitate. If Christianity has worked"----
+
+"Sir, what has _Christianity_ to do with this? Satan must witness the
+compact that you would have us make. I cannot sell myself?"
+
+"Your new companions have taught you these fine phrases, Caleb. They
+will support you, no doubt, and you will remain faithful to them, until
+a fresh acquaintance shall poison your ear against them, as they have
+corrupted it to win you from the man whom you have sworn to serve. I
+have nothing more to say. You promised to be faithful through good
+report and evil. You have broken your plighted word. I forgive you, if
+you are sorry for the fault, and my arms are ready to receive you.
+Punishment shall follow--strict justice, and no mercy--if you persist in
+evil. Within a week present yourself at my abode, and every thing is
+forgotten and forgiven. I am your friend for ever. Do not come, be
+obstinate and unyielding, and prepare yourself for misery."
+
+The minister left me. The week elapsed, and at the end of it, I had not
+presented myself at his residence. But, in the mean while, I had been
+active in taking measures for the security of the office which I held,
+and whose duties I had hitherto performed to the perfect satisfaction of
+my employers. I had been given to understand that it remained with Mr
+Bombasty to continue my appointment, or to dismiss me at once; that he
+was in the hands of Mr Clayton; and that if the latter desired my
+dismissal, and could bring against me the shadow of a complaint to
+justify Mr Bombasty in the eye of the Society, nothing could save me
+from ejection. It was proposed to me by a fellow-servant of the Society,
+to place myself as soon as possible beyond the reach and influence of Mr
+Clayton. He advised me to secede at once from the Church, and to attach
+myself to another, professing the same principles, and like that in
+connexion with the Society. By this means, Clayton and I would be
+separated, and his power over me effectually removed. Exclusion was to
+me starvation, and I eagerly adopted the counsel of my companion. To be,
+however, in a condition to join another church, it was necessary to
+procure, either by personal application, or at the instance of the
+minister of the new church, _a letter of dismission_, which letter
+should contain an assurance of the candidate's previous good conduct and
+present qualification. In my case, the minister himself proposed to
+apply for my testimonials. He did apply, and at the end of a month, no
+answer had been returned to his communication. He wrote a second, and
+the second application met with no greater respect than the first. At
+length I received a very formal and polite letter from Mr Tomkins,
+informing me that "a church-meeting had been convened for the purpose of
+considering the propriety of affording Brother Stukely the opportunity
+of joining another connexion, by granting him a letter of dismission,"
+and that my presence was requested on that very important occasion.
+
+If there was one thing upon earth more than another which at this
+particular time of my life I abominated with unmitigated and ineffable
+disgust, it was the frequent recurrence of these eternal
+church-meetings. Nothing, however trifling, could be carried forward
+without them; no man's affairs, however private and worldly, were too
+uninteresting for their investigation. My connexion with the church had
+hardly commenced, before two had taken place, principally on my account,
+and now a third was proposed in order to enable the minister to write a
+letter of civility, and to state the simple fact of my having conducted
+myself with propriety and decorum. Still it was proper that I should
+attend it; I did so, accompanied by Thompson, and a crowded assembly, as
+befitted the occasion, welcomed us amoungst them, with many short
+coughs, and much suppressed hissing. There was the usual routine. The
+hymn, the portion of Scripture, and the prayer of Brother Buster. In the
+latter, there were many dark hints that were intended to be appropriate
+to my case, and were, to all appearance, well understood by the
+congregation at large. They did not frighten me. I was guilty of no
+crime against their church. They could bring no charge against me. The
+prayer concluded, Mr Clayton coldly requested me to retire. I did so. I
+passed into the vestry, which was separated from the main building by a
+very thin partition, that enabled me to hear every word spoken in the
+chapel. Mr Clayton began. He introduced his subject by lamenting, in the
+most feeling terms, the unhappy state of the brother who had just
+departed from the congregation--(the crocodile weeping over the fate of
+the doomed wretch he was about to destroy!) He had hoped great things of
+him. He had believed him to be a child of God. It was not for him to
+judge their brother now; but this was a world of disappointment, and the
+fairest hopes were blasted, even as the rose withereth beneath the
+canker. They all knew--it was not for him to disguise or hide the
+fact--that their brother had not realized the ardent expectations that
+one and all had formed of him. Their brother himself carried about with
+him this miserable consciousness, and under such circumstances it was
+that he proposed to withdraw from their communion, and to receive a
+dismission that should entitle him to a seat elsewhere. It was for them
+to consider how far they were justified in complying with his request.
+As for himself, he was sorely distressed in spirit. His carnal heart
+urged him to listen to the desire of his brother in the flesh, and that
+heart warred with his spiritual conviction. To be charitable was one
+thing, to involve one's self in guilt, to encourage sinfulness, and to
+reward backsliding--oh, surely, this was another! He had no right in his
+high capacity to indulge a personal affection. It was his glory that he
+could sacrifice it at the call of duty. Accordingly, in the answer to
+the application that he had received, he had humbly attempted rather to
+embody the views of the church, than the suggestions of his own weak
+bosom. That answer he would now submit to them, and their voice must
+pronounce upon its justice. He did not fear for them. They were highly
+privileged; they had been wonderfully directed hitherto, and they would,
+adorned as they were with humility and faith, be directed even unto
+the end.
+
+"Ha-men," responded Buster very audibly, and the minister forthwith
+proceeded to his letter.
+
+It was my honour to be represented in it as a person but too likely to
+disturb the peace of any church; whose conduct, however exemplary on my
+first joining the congregation, had lately been such as to give great
+reason to fear that I had been suddenly deprived of all godliness and
+grace; who had caused the brethren great pain; and whom recent
+circumstances had especially rendered an object of suspicion and alarm.
+There was much more to the same effect. There was no distinct
+charge--nothing tangible, or of which I could defy them to the proof.
+All was dark doubt and murderous innuendo. There was nothing for which I
+could claim relief from the laws of my country--more than enough to
+complete my ruin. I burned with anger and indignation; forgot every
+thing but the cold-blooded designs of the minister; and, stung to action
+by the imminent danger in which I stood, I rushed at once from the
+vestry into the midst of the congregation. Thompson was already on his
+legs, and had ventured something on my behalf, which had been drowned in
+loud and universal clamour. Silence was, in measure, restored by my
+appearance, and I took the opportunity to demand from the minister a
+reperusal of the letter that had just been read.
+
+He scowled upon me with a natural hate, and refused to comply with my
+request.
+
+"What!" I asked aloud, "am I denied the privilege that is extended to
+the vilest of his species? Will you condemn me unheard? Accuse me in my
+absence--keep me in ignorance of my charge--and stab me in the dark?"
+
+I received no answer, and then I turned to the congregation. I implored
+them--little knowing the men to whom I trusted my appeal--to save me
+from the persecution of a man who had resolved upon my downfall. "I
+asked nothing from them, from him, but the liberty of gaining, by daily
+labour, an honourable subsistence. Would they deny it me?"--
+
+I was interrupted by groans and hisses, and loud cries of "Yes, yes,"
+from Brother Buster.
+
+I addressed the minister again.
+
+"Mr Clayton," said I, "beware how you tread me down. Beware how you
+drive me to desperation. Cruel, heartless man! What have I done that you
+should follow me with this relentless spite? Can you sleep? Can you walk
+and live without the fear of a punishment adequate to your offence? Let
+me go. Be satisfied that I possess the power of exposing unheard-of
+turpitude and hypocrisy, and that I refrain from using it. Dismiss me;
+let me leave your sight for ever, and you are safe--for me."
+
+"Viper!" exclaimed the minister rising in his seat, "whom I have warmed
+and nourished in my bosom; viper! whom I took to my hearth, and kept
+there till the returning sense of life gave vigour to your blood, and
+fresh venom to your sting! Is it thus you pay me back for food and
+raiment--thus you heap upon me the expressions of a glowing
+gratitude!--with threats and deadly accusations? Spit forth your malice!
+Pile up falsehoods to the skies!--WHO WILL BELIEVE THE TALE OF
+PROBABILITY? Brethren! behold the man whose cause I pleaded with
+you--for whom my feelings had well-nigh mastered my better judgment.
+Behold him, and learn how hard it is to pierce the stony heart of him
+whose youth has passed in dissolute living, and in adultery. Shall I
+approach thy ear with the voice of her who cries from the grave for
+justice on her seducer? Look, my beloved, on the man whom I found
+discarded by mankind, friendless and naked whom I clothed and fostered,
+and whom I brought in confidence amongst you. Look at him, and oh,
+be warned!"
+
+The hissing and groaning were redoubled. Thompson rose a dozen times to
+speak, but a volley assailed him on each occasion, and he was obliged to
+resume his seat. He grew irritated and violent, and at length, when the
+public disapprobation had reached its height, and for the twenty and
+first time had cut short his address almost before he spoke, unable to
+contain himself any longer, he uttered at the top of his stentorian
+voice a fearful imprecation, and recommended to the care of a gentleman
+who had more to do with that society than was generally supposed--Mr
+Clayton, and every individual brother in the congregation.
+
+Jabez Buster, after looking to the ceiling, and satisfying himself that
+it had not fallen in, rose, dreadfully distressed.
+
+"He had lived," he said, "to see sich sights, and hear sich language as
+had made his nature groan within him. He could only compare their
+beloved minister to one of them there ancient martyrs who had died for
+conscience-sake before Smithfield was a cattle market; but he hoped he
+would have strength for the conflict, and that the congregation would
+help him to fight the good fight. He called upon 'em all now to do their
+duty, to exclude and excommunicate for ever the unrighteous
+brethren--and to make them over to Satan without further delay."
+
+The shout with which the proposition was received, decided the fate of
+poor Thompson and myself. It was hardly submitted, before it was carried
+_nemine contradicente_; and immediately afterwards, Thompson buttoned
+his coat in disgust, and was hooted out of the assembly. I followed him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+IMAGINARY CONVERSATION.
+
+BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
+
+
+TASSO AND CORNELIA.
+
+
+_Tasso_.--She is dead, Cornelia--she is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Torquato! my Torquato! after so many years of separation do
+I bend once more your beloved head to my embrace?
+
+_Tasso_.--She is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Tenderest of brothers! bravest and best and most
+unfortunate of men! What, in the name of heaven! so bewilders you?
+
+_Tasso_.--Sister! sister! sister! I could not save her.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Certainly it was a sad event; and they who are out of
+spirits may be ready to take it for an evil omen. At this season of the
+year the vintagers are joyous and negligent.
+
+_Tasso_.--How! what is this?
+
+_Cornelia_.--The little girl was crushed, they say, by a wheel of the
+car laden with grapes, as she held out a handful of vine-leaves to one
+of the oxen. And did you happen to be there just at the moment?
+
+_Tasso_.--So then the little too can suffer! the ignorant, the indigent,
+the unaspiring! Poor child! She was kind-hearted; else never would
+calamity have befallen her.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I wish you had not seen the accident.
+
+_Tasso_.--I see it? I? I saw it not. There is but one crushed where I
+am. The little girl died for her kindness!--natural death!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Be calm, be composed, my brother!
+
+_Tasso_.--You would not require me to be composed or calm if you
+comprehended a thousandth part of my sufferings.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Peace! peace! we know them all.
+
+_Tasso_.--Who has dared to name them? Imprisonment, derision, madness.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hush! sweet Torquato! If ever these existed, they are past.
+
+_Tasso_.--You do think they are sufferings? ay?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Too surely.
+
+_Tasso_.--No, not too surely: I will not have that answer. They would
+have been; but Leonora was then living. Unmanly as I am! did I complain
+of them? and while she was left me?
+
+_Cornelia_.--My own Torquato! is there no comfort in a sister's love? Is
+there no happiness but under the passions? Think, O my brother, how many
+courts there are in Italy; are the princes more fortunate than you?
+Which among them all loves truly, deeply, and virtuously? Among them all
+is there any one, for his genius, for his generosity, for his
+gentleness, ay, or for his mere humanity, worthy to be beloved?
+
+_Tasso_.--Princes! talk to me of princes! How much coarse-grained wood a
+little gypsum covers! a little carmine quite beautifies! Wet your
+forefinger with your spittle; stick a broken gold-leaf on the sinciput;
+clip off a beggar's beard to make it tresses, kiss it; fall down before
+it; worship it. Are you not irradiated by the light of its countenance?
+Princes! princes! Italian princes! Estes! What matters that costly
+carrion? Who thinks about it? (_After a pause_.) She is dead! She
+is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--We have not heard it here.
+
+_Tasso_.--At Sorrento you hear nothing but the light surges of the sea,
+and the sweet sprinkles of the guitar.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Suppose the worst to be true.
+
+_Tasso_.--Always, always.
+
+_Cornelia_.--If she ceases, as then perhaps she must, to love and to
+lament you, think gratefully, contentedly, devoutly, that her arms had
+encircled your neck before they were crossed upon her bosom, in that
+long sleep which you have rendered placid, and from which your
+harmonious voice shall once more awaken her. Yes, Torquato! her bosom
+had throbbed to yours, often and often, before the organ-peel shook the
+fringes round the catafalc. Is not this much, from one so high, so
+beautiful?
+
+_Tasso_.--Much? yes; for abject me. But I did so love her! so love her!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Ah! let the tears flow: she sends thee that balm from
+heaven.
+
+_Tasso_.--So loved her did poor Tasso! Else, O Cornelia, it had indeed
+been much. I thought in the simplicity of my heart that God was as great
+as an emperor, and could bestow, and had bestowed on me as much as the
+German had conferred, or could confer on his vassal. No part of my
+insanity was ever held in such ridicule as this. And yet the idea
+cleaves to me strangely, and is liable to stick to my shroud.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Woe betide the woman who bids you to forget that woman who
+has loved you: she sins against her sex. Leonora was unblameable. Never
+think ill of her for what you have suffered.
+
+_Tasso_.--Think ill of her? I? I? I? No; those we love, we love for
+every thing; even for the pain they have given us. But she gave me none:
+it was where she was not, that pain was.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Surely, if love and sorrow are destined for companionship,
+there is no reason why the last comer of the two should supersede
+the first.
+
+_Tasso_.--Argue with me, and you drive me into darkness. I am easily
+persuaded and led on while no reasons are thrown before me. With these,
+you have made my temples throb again. Just heaven! dost thou grant us
+fairer fields, and wider, for the whirlwind to lay waste? Dost thou
+build us up habitations above the street, above the palace, above the
+citadel, for the Plague to enter and carouse in? Has not my youth paid
+its dues, paid its penalties? Cannot our griefs come first, while we
+have strength to bear them? The fool! the fool! who thinks it a
+misfortune that his love is unrequited. Happier young man! look at the
+violets until thou drop asleep on them. Ah! but thou must wake!
+
+_Cornelia_.--O heavens! what must you have suffered. For a man's heart
+is sensitive in proportion to its greatness.
+
+_Tasso_.--And a woman's?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Alas! I know not; but I think it can have no other. Comfort
+thee--comfort thee, dear Torquato!
+
+_Tasso_.--Then do not rest thy face upon my arm; it so reminds me of
+her. And thy tears, too! they melt me into her grave.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hear you not her voice as it appeals to you: saying to you
+as the priests around have been saying to _her_, Blessed soul! rest
+in peace?
+
+_Tasso_.--I heard it not; and yet I am sure she said it. A thousand
+times has she repeated it, laying her hand on my heart to quiet
+it--simple girl! She told it to rest in peace, and she went from me!
+Insatiable love! ever self-torturer, never self-destroyer! the world,
+with all its weight of miseries, cannot crush thee, cannot keep thee
+down. Generally mens' tears, like the droppings of certain springs, only
+harden and petrify what they fall on; but mine sank deep into a tender
+heart, and were its very blood. Never will I believe she has left me
+utterly. Oftentimes, and long before her departure, I fancied we were in
+heaven together. I fancied it in the fields, in the gardens, in the
+palace, in the prison. I fancied it in the broad daylight, when my eyes
+were open, when blessed spirits drew around me that golden circle which
+one only of earth's inhabitants could enter. Oftentimes in my sleep also
+I fancied it--and sometimes in the intermediate state--in that serenity
+which breathes about the transported soul, enjoying its pure and perfect
+rest, a span below the feet of the Immortal.
+
+_Cornelia_.--She has not left you; do not disturb her peace by these
+repinings.
+
+_Tasso_.--She will bear with them. Thou knowest not what she was,
+Cornelia; for I wrote to thee about her while she seemed but human. In
+my hours of sadness, not only her beautiful form, but her very voice
+bent over me. How girlish in the gracefulness of her lofty form! how
+pliable in her majesty! what composure at my petulance and reproaches!
+what pity in her reproofs! Like the air that angels breathe in the
+metropolitan temple of the Christian world, her soul at every season
+preserved one temperature. But it was when she could and did love me!
+Unchanged must ever be the blessed one who has leaned in fond security
+on the unchangeable. The purifying flame shoots upward, and is the glory
+that encircles their brows when they meet above.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Indulge in these delightful thoughts, my Torquato! and
+believe that your love is and ought to be imperishable as your glory.
+Generations of men move forward in endless procession to consecrate and
+commemorate both. Colour-grinders and gilders, year after year, are
+bargained with to refresh the crumbling monuments and tarnished
+decorations of rude unregarded royalty, and to fasten the nails that
+cramp the crown upon the head. Meanwhile, in the laurels of my Torquato,
+there will always be one leaf, above man's reach, above time's wrath and
+injury, inscribed with the name of Leonora.
+
+_Tasso_.--O Jerusalem! I have not then sung in vain the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+_Cornelia_.--After such devotion of your genius, you have undergone too
+many misfortunes.
+
+_Tasso_.--Congratulate the man who has had many, and may have more. I
+have had, I have, I can have--one only.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Life runs not smoothly at all seasons, even with the
+happiest; but after a long course, the rocks subside, the views widen,
+and it flows on more equably at the end.
+
+_Tasso_.--Have the stars smooth surfaces? No, no; but how they shine!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Capable of thoughts so exalted, so far above the earth we
+dwell on, why suffer any to depress and anguish you?
+
+_Tasso_.--Cornelia, Cornelia! the mind has within it temples, and
+porticoes, and palaces, and towers: the mind has under it, ready for the
+course, steeds brighter than the sun, and stronger than the storm; and
+beside them stand winged chariots, more in number than the Psalmist hath
+attributed to the Almighty. The mind, I tell thee again, hath its
+hundred gates, compared whereto the Theban are but willow wickets; and
+all those hundred gates can genius throw open. But there are some that
+groan heavily on their hinges, and the hand of God alone can close them.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Torquato has thrown open those of his holy temple; Torquato
+hath stood, another angel, at his tomb; and am I the sister of Torquato?
+Kiss me, my brother, and let my tears run only from my pride and joy!
+Princes have bestowed knighthood on the worthy and unworthy; thou hast
+called forth those princes from their ranks, pushing back the arrogant
+and presumptuous of them like intrusive varlets, and conferring on the
+bettermost crowns and robes, imperishable and unfading.
+
+_Tasso_.--I seem to live back into those days. I feel the helmet on my
+head; I wave the standard over it; brave men smile upon me; beautiful
+maidens pull them gently back by the scarf, and will not let them break
+my slumber, nor undraw the curtain. Corneliolina!----
+
+_Cornelia_.--Well, my dear brother! Why do you stop so suddenly in the
+midst of them? They are the pleasantest and best company, and they make
+you look quite happy and joyous.
+
+_Tasso_.--Corneliolina, dost thou remember Bergamo? What city was ever
+so celebrated for honest and valiant men, in all classes, or for
+beautiful girls? There is but one class of those: Beauty is above all
+ranks; the true Madonna, the patroness and bestower of felicity, the
+queen of heaven.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hush, Torquato, hush! talk not so.
+
+_Tasso_.--What rivers, how sunshiny and revelling, are the Brembo and
+the Serio! What a country the Valtellina! I went back to our father's
+house, thinking to find thee again, my little sister--thinking to kick
+away thy ball of yellow silk as thou went stooping for it, to make thee
+run after me and beat me. I woke early in the morning; thou wert grown
+up and gone. Away to Sorrento--I knew the road--a few strides brought me
+back--here I am. To-morrow, my Cornelia, we will walk together, as we
+used to do, into the cool and quiet caves on the shore; and we will
+catch the little breezes as they come in and go out again on the backs
+of the jocund waves.
+
+_Cornelia_.--We will, indeed, to-morrow; but before we set out we must
+take a few hours' rest, that we may enjoy our ramble the better.
+
+_Tasso_.--Our Sorrentines, I see, are grown rich and avaricious. They
+have uprooted the old pomegranate hedges, and have built high walls to
+prohibit the wayfarer from their vineyards.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I have a basket of grapes for you in the bookroom that
+overlooks our garden.
+
+_Tasso_.--Does the old twisted sage-tree grow still against the window?
+
+_Cornelia_.--It harboured too many insects at last, and there was always
+a nest of scorpions in the crevice.
+
+_Tasso_.--O! what a prince of a sage-tree! And the well too, with its
+bucket of shining metal, large enough for the largest cocomero[9] to
+cool in it for dinner!
+
+[9] Water-melon.
+
+_Cornelia_.--The well, I assure you, is as cool as ever.
+
+_Tasso_.--Delicious! delicious! And the stone-work round it, bearing no
+other marks of waste than my pruning-hook and dagger left behind?
+
+_Cornelia_.--None whatever.
+
+_Tasso_.--White in that place no longer? There has been time enough for
+it to become all of one colour; grey, mossy, half-decayed.
+
+_Cornelia_.--No, no; not even the rope has wanted repair.
+
+_Tasso_.--Who sings yonder?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Enchanter! No sooner did you say the word _cocomero_, than
+here comes a boy carrying one upon his head.
+
+_Tasso_.--Listen! listen! I have read in some book or other those verses
+long ago. They are not unlike my _Aminta_. The very words!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Purifier of love, and humanizer of ferocity! how many, my
+Torquato, will your gentle thoughts make happy!
+
+_Tasso_.--At this moment I almost think I am one among them.[10]
+
+    [10] The miseries of Tasso arose not only from the imagination
+    and the heart. In the metropolis of the Christian world, with
+    many admirers and many patrons, cardinals and princes of all
+    sizes, he was left destitute, and almost famished. These are
+    his own words.--"_Appena_ in questo stato ho comprato _due
+    meloni_: e benche io sia stato _quasi sempre infermo_, molte
+    volte mi sono contentato del' manzo e la ministra di latte o di
+    zucca, _quando ho potuto averne_, mi e stata in vece di
+    delizie." In another part he says that he was unable to pay the
+    carriage of a parcel, (1590:) no wonder; if he had not
+    wherewithal to buy enough of zucca for a meal. Even had he been
+    in health and appetite, he might have satisfied his hunger with
+    it for about five farthings, and have left half for supper. And
+    now a word on his insanity. Having been so imprudent not only
+    as to make it too evident in his poetry that he was the lover
+    of Leonora, but also to signify (not very obscurely) that his
+    love was returned, he much perplexed the Duke of Ferrara, who,
+    with great discretion, suggested to him the necessity of
+    feigning madness. The lady's honour required it from a brother;
+    and a true lover, to convince the world, would embrace the
+    project with alacrity. But there was no reason why the
+    seclusion should be in a dungeon, or why exercise and air
+    should be interdicted. This cruelty, and perhaps his
+    uncertainty of Leonora's compassion, may well be imagined to
+    have produced at last the malady he had feigned. But did
+    Leonora love Tasso as a man would be loved? If we wish to do
+    her honour, let us hope it: for what greater glory can there be
+    than to have estimated at the full value so exalted a genius,
+    so affectionate and so generous a heart!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Be quite persuaded of it. Come, brother, come with me. You
+shall bathe your heated brow and weary limbs in the chamber of your
+boyhood. It is there we are always the most certain of repose. The child
+shall sing to you those sweet verses; and we will reward him with a
+slice of his own fruit.
+
+_Tasso_.--He deserves it; cut it thick.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Come then, my truant! Come along, my sweet smiling
+Torquato!
+
+_Tasso_.--The passage is darker than ever. Is this the way to the little
+court? Surely those are not the steps that lead down toward the bath? Oh
+yes! we are right; I smell the lemon-blossoms. Beware of the old wilding
+that bears them; it may catch your veil; it may scratch your fingers!
+Pray, take care: it has many thorns about it. And now, Leonora! you
+shall hear my last verses! Lean your ear a little toward me; for I must
+repeat them softly under this low archway, else others may hear them
+too. Ah! you press my hand once more. Drop it, drop it! or the verses
+will sink into my breast again, and lie there silent! Good girl!
+
+    Many, well I know, there are
+    Ready in your joys to share,
+    And (I never blame it) you
+    Are almost as ready too.
+    But when comes the darker day,
+    And those friends have dropt away;
+    Which is there among them all
+    You should, if you could, recall?
+    One who wisely loves, and well,
+    Hears and shares the griefs you tell;
+    Him you ever call apart
+    When the springs o'erflow the heart;
+    For you know that he alone
+    Wishes they were _but_ his own.
+    Give, while these he may divide,
+    Smiles to all the world beside.
+
+_Cornelia_.--We are now in the full light of the chamber: cannot you
+remember it, having looked so intently all around?
+
+_Tasso_.--O sister! I could have slept another hour. You thought I
+wanted rest: why did you waken me so early? I could have slept another
+hour, or longer. What a dream! But I am calm and happy.
+
+_Cornelia_.--May you never more be otherwise! Indeed, he cannot be whose
+last verses are such as those.
+
+_Tasso_.--Have you written any since that morning?
+
+_Cornelia_.--What morning?
+
+_Tasso_.--When you caught the swallow in my curtains, and trod upon my
+knees in catching it, luckily with naked feet. The little girl of
+thirteen laughed at the outcry of her brother Torquatino, and sang
+without a blush her earliest lay.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I do not recollect it.
+
+_Tasso_.--I do.
+
+    Rondinello! rondinello!
+    Tu sei nero, ma sei bello.
+    Cosa fa se tu sei nero?
+    Rondinello! sei il premiero
+    De' volanti, palpitanti
+    (E vi sono quanti quanti!)
+    Mai tenuto a questo petto,
+    E percio sei il mio diletto.[11]
+
+    [11] The author wrote the verses first in English, but he found
+    it easy to write them better in Italian. They stood in the text
+    as below:--
+
+        Swallow! swallow! though so jetty
+        Are your pinions, you are pretty:
+        And what matter were it though
+        You were blacker than a crow?
+        Of the many birds that fly
+        (And how many pass me by!)
+        You're the first I ever prest,
+        Of the many, to my breast:
+        Therefore it is very right
+        You should be my own delight.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Here is the cocomero; it cannot be more insipid. Try it.
+
+_Tasso_.--Where is the boy who brought it? where is the boy who sang my
+Aminta? Serve him first; give him largely. Cut deeper; the knife is too
+short: deeper, mia brave Corneliolina! quite through all the red, and
+into the middle of the seeds. Well done!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE WORLD OF LONDON. SECOND SERIES.
+
+
+PART I.
+
+ARISTOCRACIES OF LONDON LIFE.
+
+
+OF ARISTOCRACIES IN GENERAL.
+
+
+The cumulative or aggregative property of wealth and power, and in a
+less degree of knowledge also, make up in time a consolidation of these
+elements in the hands of particular classes, which, for our present
+purposes, we choose to term an aristocracy of birth, wealth, knowledge,
+or power, as the case nay be. The word aristocracy, distinctive of these
+particular classes, we use in a conventional sense only, and beg leave
+to protest, _in limine_, against any other acceptation of the term. We
+use the word, because it is popularly comprehensive; the [Greek: hoi
+aristoi], distinguished from the [Greek: hoi polloi]: "good men," as is
+the value of goodness in the city; "the great," as they are understood
+by penners of fashionable novels; "talented," or "a genius," as we say
+in the _coteries_; but not a word, mark you, of the abstract value of
+these signs--their positive significations; good may be bad, great mean,
+talented or a genius, ignorant or a puppy. We have nothing to do with
+that; these are thy terms, our Public; thou art responsible for the use
+made of them. Thou it is who tellest us that the sun rises and sets,
+(which it does not,) and talkest of the good and great, without knowing
+whether they are great and good, or no. Our business is to borrow your
+recognized improprieties of speech, only so far as they will assist us
+in making ourselves understood.
+
+When Archimedes, or some other gentleman, said that he could unfix the
+earth had he a point of resistance for his lever, he illustrated, by a
+hypothesis of physics, the law of the generation of aristocracies.
+Aristocracies begin by having a leg to stand on, or by getting a finger
+in the pie. The multitude, on the contrary, never have any thing,
+because they never _had_ any thing, they want the _point d'oppui_, the
+springing-ground whence to jump above their condition, where,
+transformed by the gilded rays of wealth or power, discarding their
+several skins or sloughs, they sport and flutter, like lesser insects,
+in the sunny beams of aristocratic life.
+
+Indeed, we have often thought that the transformation of the insect
+tribes was intended, by a wise Omnipotence, as an illustration (for our
+own benefit) of the rise and progress of the mere aristocracy of
+fashionable life.
+
+The first condition of existence of these diminutive creatures, is the
+egg, or _embryo_ state; this the anxious parent attaches firmly to some
+leaf or bough, capable of affording sufficient sustenance to the future
+grub, who, in due course, eats his way through the vegetable kingdom
+upon which he is quartered, for no merit or exertion of his own; and
+where his career is only to be noted by the ravages of his insatiable
+jaws. After a brief period of lethargy or _pupa_ state, this
+good-for-nothing creature flutters forth, powdered, painted, perfumed,
+scorning the dirt from which he sprung, and leading a life of
+uselessness and vanity, until death, in the shape of an autumnal shower,
+prostrates himself and his finery in the dust.
+
+How beautiful and how complete is the analogy between the insect and his
+brother butterfly of fashionable life! While yet an _embryo_, a worm, he
+_grubs_ his way through a good estate, and not a little ready money.
+Then, after a long sojourn in the _pupa_ or _puppy_ state--longer far
+than that of any other maggot--he emerges a perfect butterfly, vain,
+empty, fluttering, and conceited, idling, flirting, flaunting,
+philandering, until the summer of his _ton_ is past, when he dies, or is
+arrested, and expiates a life of puerile vanity in Purgatory or the
+Queen's Bench.
+
+Let the beginning once be made--the point of extreme depression once be
+got over: the cares of the daily recurring poor necessities of
+life--shelter, clothing, food, be of no moment: let a man taste, though
+it were next to nothing, of the delicious luxury of accumulation, let
+him, with every hoarded shilling, or half-crown, or pound, carry his
+head higher, smiling in secret at the world and his friends, and the
+aristocrat of wealth is formed: he is removed for ever from the
+hand-to-mouth family of man, and thenceforth represents his
+breeches pocket.
+
+It is the same with the aristocrat of birth: some fortunate
+accident--some well-aimed and successful stroke of profligacy, or more
+rarely of virtue, redeems an individual from the common herd: the rays,
+mayhap, of royal favour fall upon him, and he begins to bloat; his
+growth is as the growth of the grain of mustard-seed, and in a little
+while he overshadoweth the land: Noble and Right Honourable are his
+posterity to the end of time.
+
+There is a poor lad sitting biting his nails till he bites them to the
+quick, wearing out his heart-strings in constrained silence on the back
+benches of Westminster Hall: he maketh speeches, eloquent, inwardly, and
+briefless, mutely bothereth judges, and seduceth innocent juries to his
+_No_-side: he findeth out mistakes in his learned brethren, and
+chuckleth secretly therefor: he scratcheth his wig with a pen, and
+thinketh by what train of circumstantial evidence he may be able to
+prove a dinner: he laugheth derisively at the income-tax, and the
+collectors thereof: yet, when he may not have even a "little brown" to
+fly with, haply, some good angel, in mortal shape of a solicitor, may
+bestow on him a brief: rushing home to his chambers in the Temple, he
+mastereth the points of the case, cogitating _pros_ and _cons_: he
+heareth his own voice in court for the first time: the bottled
+black-letter of years falleth from his lips, like treacle from a pipkin:
+he maketh good his points, winneth the verdict and the commendations of
+the judge: solicitors whisper that there is something in him, and clerks
+express their conviction that he is a "trump:" the young man eloquent is
+rewarded in one hour for the toil, rust, and enforced obscurity of
+years: he is no longer a common soldier of the bar; he steppeth by right
+divine, forth of the ranks, and becometh a man of mark and likelihood:
+he is now an aristocrat of the bar--perhaps, a Lyndhurst.
+
+Again, behold the future aristocrat of literary life: to-day regard him
+in a suit of rusty black, a twice-turned stock, and shirt of Isabella
+colour, with an affecting hat: in and out of every bookseller's in the
+Row is he, like a dog in a fair: a brown paper parcel he putteth into
+your hand, the which, before he openeth, he demands how much cash down
+you mean to give for it: then, having unfolded the same, giveth you to
+understand that it is such a work as is not to be seen every day, which
+you may safely swear to. He journeyeth from the east to the west, from
+the rising of the sun to the setting thereof, manuscript in hand: from
+Leadenhall Street, where Minerva has her press, to the street hight
+Albemarle, which John Murray delighteth to honour, but to no purpose:
+his name is unknown, and his works are nothing worth. Let him once make
+a _hit,_ as it is termed, and it is no longer hit or miss with him: he
+getteth a reputation, and he lieth in bed all day: he shaketh the
+alphabet in a bag, calling it his last new work, and it goeth through
+three editions in as many days: he lordeth it over "the trade," and will
+let nobody have any profit but himself: he turneth up his nose at the
+man who invites him to a plain dinner, and utterly refuseth evening
+parties: he holdeth _conversaziones_, where he talks you dead: he
+driveth a chay, taketh a whole house, sporteth a wife and a minute
+tiger: in brief, he is now an aristocrat of letters.
+
+The materials for the growth and preservation of these several
+aristocracies abound in London; and no where on the earth have we the
+same facilities for the study and investigation of their family
+likenesses and contrasts, their points of contact and repulsion.
+
+
+THE ARISTOCRACY OF FASHION.
+
+
+Approach, reader, but _awful_, as Pope says--approach "with mincing
+steps and bow profound;" we are about to introduce you to persons
+of quality.
+
+It is an extraordinary fact, illustrative how far the ignorance of a
+discerning public will carry those who make a living by practising upon
+their credulity, that notwithstanding there is an immense number of
+books annually presented to the do-nothing world, under the
+curiosity-provoking title of fashionable novels, we have hardly more
+than one or two generally recognised true and faithful pictures of
+really fashionable life. The caricatures of caricatures of this Elysian
+state are numberless--imagination has been exhausted, sense confounded,
+grammar put on the rack, the "well of English undefiled" stirred up from
+the very dregs, to give the excluded pictures of the life of the
+exclusives--yet, what have we? You will excuse us, reader, disturbing
+the current of our thoughts, by recollecting any of this forty
+novel-power of inanity, vulgarity, and pertness; but if you take up any
+of the many volumes in marbled boards, with calf backs, that you will
+find in cart-loads at the circulating libraries, and look over a page of
+the fashionable "_lingo_" the Lord Jacob talks to the Lady Suky, or the
+conversation between Sir Silly Billy and the Honourable Snuffy Duffy; or
+what the Duke of Dabchick thinks of the Princess Molly; and when you are
+satisfied, which we take it will be in the course of two pages, if you
+do not throw down the book, and swear by the Lord Harry--why then, read
+on and be jolly!
+
+The indescribable absurdities, vices, and follies of the bulk of that
+class of literature called the fashionable novel, are past the power of
+catalogue-makers to record; but perhaps overwhelming ignorance of the
+peculiar class they pretend to describe is not the least conspicuous.
+Next to lack of knowledge, or sound materials deduced from actual
+observation, we may place want of taste. There are writers to write the
+exclusives up, and writers to write them down; one raises our envy, and
+makes us miserable, because we are not permitted to enter their paradise
+of social life; another devotes three volumes post octavo, in
+exemplification of the not altogether forgotten moral fiction of the fox
+and the sour grapes.
+
+The writers of fashionable novels may be divided, as to their social
+positions, into the tolerated fashionable novel writers, and the
+intolerable fashionable novel writers; the first, moving in phases more
+or less equivocal round their centre and their deity, the exclusive set;
+the last, desperate from the fact of their total and permanent exclusion
+from society, but still moving round the outside of the boundary wall,
+and peeping through chinks in the palings. From the former we have the
+eulogistic, from the latter the depreciatory fashionable novels; these
+make us familiar with the celestial attributes of countesses-dowager,
+and the amiability of their pugs. They are slavering, servile,
+self-degrading productions, and only serve the exclusives as
+provocatives to laughter; they are usually written by tutors, ladies who
+have married tutors, or superannuated governesses, patronized by some
+charitable member of some distinguished family.
+
+The depreciatory or vilificatory fashionable novel delights in exposing
+the peccadilloes, or imagined peccadilloes, (for it is all the same,) of
+young or old people of fashion: a _gourmand_ peer, a titled demirep, a
+"desperate dandy," a black-leg, and a few such other respectable
+characters, are dialogued through the customary number of chapters, and
+conducted to the usual catastrophe: virtue is triumphant, vice abashed,
+towards the latter end of the last volume; and some low-born hero and
+heroine, introduced to exhibit, by contrast, the vices of the
+aristocracy, suddenly, and without any effort of their own, acquire
+large fortunes, perhaps titles, which it would have been just as easy to
+have given them at first--go to church in an orthodox manner, and set up
+a virtuous aristocracy of their own.
+
+We are indebted for this class of fashionable novel to outlaws of both
+sexes; persons who might have held, but for their own misconduct,
+respectable positions in society; persons of this sort have the
+impudence, with their no-characters staring them in the face, to set up
+as public instructors, and to give us ensamples, drawn from their own
+perverted imaginations, of a class of which they might have known
+something, but which it is now past human possibility they can
+ever know.
+
+These people are not merely not in society--which implies no crime--but
+they are, notwithstanding their nominal rank or title, _out_ of society,
+for reasons well and thoroughly known: they are those not merely who
+cannot come in, but those who, if they did intrude, would be immediately
+turned out.
+
+Next, ascending from this equivocal class, we have the fashionable novel
+writers of fashionable life. I do not mean exclusive fashionable life,
+for there are no writers of these works in that class; but I allude to
+those who mingle with general fashionable society upon such terms, that
+if they possessed the talent, they might have supplied with ease the
+want of which the world complains--that of a just and natural picture of
+the lives of those forming the Corinthian capital of society in London.
+
+Take, for example, a noble and late viceregal lord and his brother, the
+Honourable Edmund Phipps. These gentlemen have written fashionable
+novels, and ought to have written good ones; yet we don't know how it
+is, but whenever we send to a circulating library to enquire whether
+they have "YES AND NO," the noes have it; and when we venture to ask for
+the "FERGUSONS," we find that the three post octavo gentlemen of that
+title not only do not lodge here or there, but that they don't lodge
+_any where_.
+
+The fact is, opportunity of observation will do little or nothing
+without _faculty_ of observation: though the whole social world, old or
+new, lay bare under the eyes of some men, not one idea could they
+extract from it; and who, wanting also the descriptive power, still more
+rare, fail in any attempt to give to the world the results of their
+experience.
+
+Of this class is the larger number of writers of the better sort, in the
+line we are talking of: they go into society as they go to galleries,
+not to copy pictures, but to enjoy them. They enter into the amusements
+and dissipation of their class, not to look on merely, but to play
+the game.
+
+In addition to all this, there is a point of honour involved, we think
+an erroneous one, among persons of quality, as to violating the
+freemasonry, the signs, ceremonies, and absurdities, of their privacy.
+Now, this applies only so far as individuals are indicated, and it is so
+far right. But fashionable classes are fair game, if not shot at
+sitting; or poached, or snared, or bagged, in any ungentlemanlike,
+unsportsmanlike fashion. They belong to human character, and human
+nature; and the reason they have seldom been painted well is, that they
+have seldom been painted after nature; and any artist will inform you,
+that whatever is painted to the life, must be painted from the life.
+
+They have not been painted by themselves, because they would have their
+lives, like the walls that encircle their town houses, impervious to the
+curious excursive eye; they have not been painted by themselves,
+because, secondly, the power of depicting graphically what they are in
+the daily habit of seeing, is not in them, not having been cultivated by
+study and practice; and thirdly, not being stimulated to literary
+activity by that Muse of the imperative mood, Necessity, they find more
+pleasure in having these things brought under their eyes, results of the
+mental toil and culture of others.
+
+There is a vulgar error uppermost in the minds of some men, which is
+this: the world of fashion has not hitherto been painted with effect,
+for the same reason that nobody thinks it worth while to describe a
+ditch; both being, in the estimation of these persons, stagnant perfumed
+entities, rich in peculiarly useless vegetation, abounding in vermin and
+animalculae, and diffusing a contagious effluvia over the surface of
+society. This error, like many other errors, is an excuse for ignorance,
+and only shows the innate uncharitableness of some men; they run down,
+like other sceptics, what they do not know and cannot understand, nor
+will they believe there can be any good therein; forgetting, knaves and
+fools as they are, that the aristocratic classes are human beings, with
+the same intermingled elements of good and ill as themselves, modified
+by accidental circumstances, which, as the Parliamentary people say,
+they cannot control, and possessing at least as much of the ordinary
+good principles and feelings of our common nature, as any other class of
+our graduated social scale.
+
+Can any thing be more illiberal, more ignorant, more stupid, than for a
+low man to turn leveller, because he is a low man, and attack, without
+ceremony and without mercy, people of whom he can by any possibility
+know no more than the worst side, that is to say, the _outside_: and
+whom he considers, like the gilt gingerbread he sees in his biennial
+visit to Greenwich Fair, as vastly fine, but exceedingly unwholesome?
+
+The truth is, fashionable life has been exalted above its just and
+proper level, and depressed below it, by the slaverers and the
+vituperaters, solely because they cannot get at it; the former are
+idolatrous from hope, the latter devilish in despair; and the result we
+are familiar with, in caricatures portraying this sort of life
+alternately as a Heaven and a Hell.
+
+The peculiarities of fashionable life are, it is true, few, but they are
+characteristic, and we now proceed to--
+
+_You_ proceed to--! Now, my good fellow, tell us, will you, how such a
+person as you, a garreteer, confessing to dining upon the heel of a
+twopenny loaf and half an onion; making no secret of running up beer
+scores at public houses, when they will trust you; retailing your nasty
+scenes of low life, creatures dying in hospitals, work-house funerals,
+the adventures of street apple-women, and matters and things
+incomprehensible to genteel families like ourselves living in Russell
+Square; an outlaw, living from tavern to tavern, from pot-house to
+pot-house, without name, residence, or station; a mere fellow,
+subsisting on the misplaced indulgence of an undiscerning public, and
+one who, if gentlemen and ladies (like ourselves) would only condescend
+to write, would find his appropriate circle in a work-house, unless he
+escaped it by dying in an hospital. _You_ proceed to----! What, in the
+name of gentility, can _you_ know of fashionable life?
+
+Sir, or madam, have mercy, or at least have manners. How astonished you
+will be--we say, how astonished you _will_ be--if in the fulness of time
+our title shall dignify the title-page; when it might appear, that by
+the pen of a peer these papers were made apparent; when, instead of the
+sort of person you have chosen to imagine your caterer for the good
+things of fashionable life in London, you may discern to your dismay
+that a lord--a real lord, alive and kicking, has made a Bude-light of
+himself, illuminating the shadows of your ignorance: you may read a
+preparatory memoir, informing you how these ideas of ours were collected
+in a coach and four, and transmitted to paper in a study overlooking the
+Green Park; with paper velvet-like, and golden pen ruby-headed, upon
+rose-wood desk inlaid with ivory, you may find that these essays have
+been transcribed: you will grovel, you will slaver, you will rub your
+nose in the pebbles, like a salmon at spawning-time, when this very
+immortal work shall come out, clothed in purple morocco, our arms
+emblazoned on the covers, and coroneted on the back, after the manner of
+publication of the works of royal and noble authors. Then, what running
+to Debrett for our genealogy, our connexions, our _set_, and all that
+customary inquisition of the affairs of the great which makes the
+delight of the little: the "Book of Beauty," and "Pictures of the
+Nobility," will be ransacked, of course, for verses by our lordship, or
+portraits of our lordship's ladyship, or of the ladies Exquisitina or
+Nonsuchina, daughters of our lordship, with slavering verses by
+intolerable poets; then it will be discovered, and the discovery duly
+recorded, that our lordship's eldest son, Viscount Ne'er-do-weel, and
+the Honourable Mr Nogo, are pursuing cricket and pie-crust (commonly
+called their _studies_) at Eton or Harrow, but are expected at our
+lordship's seat in Some-Shire for their holidays: then we will be
+proposed, seconded, and elected, like other noblemen equally
+undistinguished in the world of science, a fellow of the Royal Society
+and a fellow of the Society of Arts--and for the same good reason,
+because we may be a lord; and you, and all the world, will say it was
+very proper that I should have been elected, though knowing no more of
+science than that acoustics (if we mistake not) means a pump; or of
+arts, than that calico-printing and letterpress printing are, somehow or
+other, not exactly one and the same thing.
+
+Then, sir, we shall hear no more of the bread and cheese and onions,
+pot-house scores, and low company, with which you have so
+unceremoniously taxed our lordship. You will drive your jumped-up coach,
+with your awkward wives and dowdy daughters, and your tawdry liveries,
+all the way from Russell Square to the Green Park, to catch the chance
+of a glimpse of our lordship. You find out from our lordship's footman
+that our lordship wears a particular collar to his coat, and you will
+move heaven and earth to find out our lordship's tailor. When you apply
+to him to make a coat in our lordship's style, our tailor, who sees at a
+glance that you are not fit to be his customer, will tell you with an
+air, that he "declines to execute."
+
+You will discover, from the same authority, that our lordship smokes a
+particular tobacco, to be had only at a particular shop; and forthwith
+even real Havannah stinks in your nostrils, and you apply to Pontet.
+Pontet gives you a tobacco, (_not_ our tobacco,) and you go away in the
+innocent consciousness of smoking the exclusive weed of a man
+of fashion.
+
+Prithee, fool, mind thy own business, and stick to thy shop or thy
+station, whatever it may be; to which while thou stickest, thou must be
+respectable, but which when thou wouldst quit, desperately to seize the
+hem of our lordship's garment, thou becomest the laughing-stock of us
+and of our class, and we cannot choose but despise thee thoroughly.
+
+When we look at the shelves of a circulating library, groaning beneath
+that generally despicable class of volumes called fashionable novels,
+when we take up, only to lay down in disgust, "NOTORIETY, OR
+FASHIONABLES UNVEILED," "PAVILION, OR A MONTH AT BRIGHTON," "MEMOIRS OF
+A PEERESS," "MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE," "ALMACK S REVISITED," or some such
+stuff, we cannot but infer, that it is not the vices or absurdities of
+what is ignorantly called fashionable life that creates this
+never-ceasing demand for trash and nonsense, but rather a morbid
+appetite for vapidity and small-talk, a lady's-maid's curiosity of the
+secrets of her betters, a servile love of imitating what is unworthy
+imitation, and of following that which is not worth following, simply
+because it is supposed that these ridiculous caricatures represent the
+real life of
+
+    "The twice ten thousand for whom earth was made,"
+
+When we recollect, to our shame, that not only these swarms of trashy
+volumes, which penetrate even into the back-slums, and may be seen
+unfolded in the paper-patched windows of eighteen-penny milliners in
+the lowest quarters of our metropolis, find a never-failing succession
+of ravenous readers, but that newspapers--Sunday newspapers,
+forsooth--devoted to smutty epigrams, low abuse, vile insinuations, and
+openly indecent allusion to the connexions, habits of life, and even
+personal appearance, of fashionable and _pseudo_-fashionable people,
+receive a disgraceful and dangerous support; we must come to the
+conclusion, that in this, as in all other merchandize, the demand
+creates the supply, and that it is among the lower orders of the middle
+classes that these caricaturers by profession of the upper, their
+slanderers and their eulogists, find sympathy and encouragement.
+
+There is a sort of "hero-worship," as Mr Carlyle would term it,
+attaching to the most absurd, ridiculous, and even vicious doings of
+people who _might be_ fashionable; a counter-jumper, barber's clerk,
+medical student, or tailor's apprentice, adores the memory of that great
+man whom we are happy to be able to style the _late_ "markis." The
+_pave_ of the Haymarket he considers classic ground, and the "Waterford
+Arms" a most select wine-bibbing establishment. If he does not break a
+dozen bells or wrench three or four brace of knockers in the season,
+this penny-cigar-smoking creature hardly thinks he attains to his
+fractional proportion of humanity.
+
+This may be relied on, that the great inducement of young scapegraces of
+fashion to the committal of their diurnal and nocturnal outrages upon
+propriety, is the mischievous gratification they derive from the awkward
+imitation of their inferiors; and the most effectual method of bringing
+these aristocratic pranks into disrepute, will be, to treat them as
+merely vulgar outrages, and punish the perpetrators accordingly.
+
+If, indeed, the small-fry of society would set themselves to imitate all
+that is worthy imitation in the better sort of their betters, following
+good examples instead of bad, it would be something to talk of. But
+since it is not to be expected that they will pursue virtue, piety, good
+sense, and good breeding for their own sakes, and as these attributes,
+when they exist in fashionable life--and they _do_ exist among the most
+fashionable of fashionable people--are in their nature retiring and
+unobtrusive, while all that is bad in good society is pushed into
+notoriety, for the example of the mob, we must take pains to point out
+at some length the difference between really "good society" and what is
+vulgarly called good society; that is, in fact, the difference between
+good and bad, and to mark the distinguishing characteristics of the
+truly fashionable and the vulgarly fashionable man, as wide and deep as
+is the gulf between a gent and a gentleman.
+
+If the fashionable world be truly represented, as it is not, in the
+swarms of so-called fashionable novels, gleaned from the sloppy
+conversation of footmen's ordinaries, or the retail tittle-tattle of
+lady's-maids in waiting at the registry-offices, how little is it to the
+credit of the mass of the reading public that they peruse such stuff; or
+would it be perused at all, but for that vulgar love, so prevalent about
+town, of imitation of the Lady Fannys and Lady Mary Dollymops, their
+_nonchalance_, their insipidity, their studied ease, and their
+affectation of being unaffected?
+
+We therefore desire, before we begin, that our young lady readers, our
+jury of maidens, will do us the favour to dismiss from their
+recollection all that they may have heard and read of the fashionable
+world; that they will not believe the exclusives to be as dull as so
+many bottles of stale small-beer, or as lively as Seltzer water from the
+spring, with a dash of brandy in it; that they will forget that there
+is, in fashionable life, any thing worthy their imitation or adoption,
+unless it should otherwise appear by the evidence; and that they will
+not once take up a professedly fashionable novel till they have
+carefully studied and slept upon what we are going to say.
+
+The word "world" is a comprehensive term, and should be taken in all its
+relations with great latitude, whether with adjectives or without. For
+example, the "fashionable world" is far from being an integral quantity,
+or capable of being reasoned upon as if it were as definite in its
+relations and proportions as an equilateral triangle. It contains within
+itself a complete gradation from fashionable excellence to fashionable
+villany; from fashionable virtue to fashionable vice; fashionable ladies
+and gentlemen, fashionable pimps, demireps, and profligates. It must be
+individualized if we wish to treat it fairly, as judges try prisoners
+severally, not in a lump. But our impressions of the fashionable world,
+as a class, must be taken from the general preponderating
+characteristics of good or evil of the whole.
+
+Hast ever been, reader, to Bartlemy fair? If you have, you may have
+seen--nay, you _must_ have seen--Richardson's immortal show. You must
+have seen a tall platform in front of the migratory edifice, and on that
+platform you must have delighted your visual orb with the clown, the
+pantaloon, the harlequin, the dancing ladies, the walking dandy, the
+king with his crown, the queen in her rabbit-skin robes, the
+smock-frocked countryman, the top-booted jockey, and all the _dramatis
+personae_ of the performance that every moment of every day, during every
+fair, is for ever "going to begin." You may hardly have observed,
+sliding quietly through all this tinselled and spangled poverty, a plain
+carpenter-like man, in a decent suit, who looks as if he had never seen
+a performance in the whole course of his life, and as if he never cared
+to see one. This man is, or rather was, the late Mr Richardson, who died
+worth thirty thousand pounds, and all the clowns, harlequins,
+pantaloons, dancing ladies, walking dandies, kings with their crowns,
+and queens in their rabbit-skins, and the rest, are poor pinch-bellied
+devils, caricaturing humanity for some twelve or fourteen shillings
+a-week, finding their own paint and frippery. Now, whenever you wish to
+form a correct idea of the two great classes of fashionable life, call
+to your remembrance the gentlemen who, like the late lamented Mr
+Richardson, are proprietors of shows, and the berouged, bedraggled
+creatures who exhibit on the platform outside for their living.
+
+To be sure, there may be a little difference in names. The proprietors
+of the show may be dukes, and earls, and marquisses, and so forth. The
+mountebanks outside may be called counts, chevaliers, knights of the
+order of the golden fleece, or of the thimble, or of Malta. But the
+realities are the same. Fashionable life is a show, truly fashionable
+people are the proprietors, who are never prominently or ridiculously
+seen therein; and these several orders of over dressed, under-fed,
+empty-pocketed mountebanks, are the people put on the platform outside,
+to astonish the eyes and ears of the groundlings.
+
+The _physique_ of the true fashionable is peculiar and characteristic.
+From the toe of his boot to the crown of his hat, there is that
+unostentatious, undefinable something about him distinctive of his
+social position. Professional men, every body knows, have an expression
+common to their profession. A purblind cyclops could never mistake the
+expression of an Independent preacher, an universal free-black-nigger
+Baptist minister, or a Jesuit. Every body knows an infantry officer,
+with his "eyes right" physiognomy, his odious black-stock, and his habit
+of treading on his heels, and can distinguish him from the cavalry man,
+straddling like a gander at a pond side. Your medical doctor has an
+obsequious, mealy-mouthed, hope-I-see-you-better face, and carries his
+hands as if he had just taken his fingers from a poultice; while your
+lawyer is recognised at once by his perking, conceited,
+cross-examination phiz, the exact counterpart to the expression of an
+over-indulged jackdaw.
+
+The gentleman of fashion has nothing in common with the professional
+gentleman, or any other. He stands alone, "like Adam's recollection of
+his fall." He has an air, it is true, but his air is not a breeze, like
+the air of a pretender to fashion. The air of the man of fashion is
+a zephyr.
+
+The expression of the man of fashion is the more difficult to reduce to
+words, in that it is mostly negative. It is easier to say what this
+expression is not, than what it is. We can only say, that there is
+nothing professionally distinctive about it. It is the expression of a
+man perfectly at ease in his position, and so well aware that he is so,
+that he does not _seem_ to be aware of it. An absence of all straining
+after effect; a solicitude rather to avoid than to court observation. If
+there is any thing positively indicative in his expression, by which I
+include his manner, it is that of a good-humoured indifference, an
+inoffensive, unobtrusive stoicism. He would seem to have adopted the
+excellent advice given by the Apostle to the Thessalonians--"STUDY TO BE
+QUIET." This is his rule of life, and he acts upon it upon great and
+small occasions. He only desires that you will have the goodness to let
+him alone. If he is cheated by a man of his own _set_, (for he knows
+that he is cheated, as a matter of course, by tradespeople,) he _cuts_
+the fellow coolly. If he is insulted, he coolly calls out his man. He
+falls in love with coolness, marries coolly, and leads a cool connubial
+life. Whether he wins or loses, whatever happens to disturb the world or
+himself, he takes coolly, and if he has an aspiration on earth, it is
+that he may be cool and comfortable.
+
+His philosophy is the mingled Stoical and Epicurean. With him life is a
+trifle to be gracefully played with--a "froward child, to be humoured
+till it falls asleep, and all is over." His indifference is imputed to
+him as a crime; but it should not be forgotten that, if there be any
+fault at all in this indifference, it is the fault of his position.
+Fortune is to blame, not he, for setting up a man with no other enemy
+than time, and no other business than amusement. We do not say that this
+is the true end of life; we do not enter into the enquiry, which might
+carry us to leeward of our subject, whether men who have the means of
+enjoying life, do not show the truest wisdom in pursuing enjoyment. We
+only know that most men similarly circumstanced would act similarly; and
+whether there is most vice or greatest misery in the idleness of
+fashionable life, or in the business of the busy world, _as it is
+carried on in our time_, I leave to those who have experience and
+leisure to determine.
+
+Those who wish to study the subject further, may read at their leisure
+the pleasant paper in which an agreeable writer, Fontenelle, describes
+Aristotle and Anacreon contending for the prize of wisdom; and may
+decide with the essayist, giving the prize to the generous old toper of
+Scios, as we should have done, or to the beetlebrowed Reviewer,
+according to their humour.
+
+The constitutional and habitual indifference of the man of fashion is
+generally supposed by those who do not know it, to be an effect of
+pride; but it is, generally speaking, a symptom of something more akin
+to humility--of timidity, in short. It is part of his system to avoid
+contact, save with his fellows; and with those who are not his fellows,
+or of his _set_, he is altogether out of his element. Therefore, as he
+is afraid of giving, and incapable of taking offence, he entrenches
+himself in the unstudied reserve which he finds by experience renders
+his individuality least assailable, exactly as he surrounds his
+ornamental woods, his shrubberies, and his parterres with fences, not
+the less strong because they are invisible.
+
+With adventurers, people who are treading upon his kibes, equivocal
+pretenders who are galling his heel, he is hopelessly exclusive,
+preserving towards them an armed neutrality. His friendship is extended
+to his equals, and to his equals alone: with these his intercourse is
+free and unrestrained. These alone see the English man of fashion as he
+really exists, denuded of that armour of reserve with which he goes
+clothed _cap-a-pie_ in public. Towards others he is distantly polite;
+and with such nice tact does he blend a distant manner with politeness,
+that you cannot carp at the former, or catch at the latter. He lets you
+see that you cannot be _one of them_, but in such a way that you may not
+quarrel with the manner in which he conveys his intimation.
+
+With his inferior he will not be intimate, nor towards him will he be
+"proudly condescending." He declines to forget himself so far as for a
+moment to put you on a level with him; but he will not (as _you_ too
+often do) degrade you by sinking you below your own level. He holds the
+even tenor of his way whether you trot, spaniel-like, at his heels or
+no; nor will he once turn round to bestow upon you either cuffs
+or caresses.
+
+Although by leisure, education, and intelligence, he is qualified to
+converse with men of genius, he prefers conversing with them through the
+medium of their works. He is aware that the days of subscriptions, and
+"striking for dedications," are past and gone, and that the public have
+taken the place of the patron. He knows that the habits, employments,
+and in most instances the circumstances, of intellectual men preclude
+their mingling familiarly in fashionable circles, on equal terms, and
+that upon no other terms will they consent to be met. He neither
+patronizes nor neglects them, but is content to stand in the relation
+towards them of one of the reading public.
+
+His indifference to the fate and fortunes of deserving men has been,
+among the vulgar, a common imputation upon the man of fashion, of which
+class most frequently is the man of power. He is accused of lavishing
+his favours only upon the toady and the tuft-hunter, and leaving men of
+independent mind to the caprice of fortune.
+
+This complaint comes with a very bad grace from men who would be thought
+independent. The man who wants the patronage of the great, must go in
+search of it, whether he call himself independent or no. Men in power
+are accustomed to be met more than half way; and the independent man,
+whether he have merit or no, who expects people of rank to come in
+search of him, and to hunt him out of the obscurity of his garret, will
+find himself very much mistaken.
+
+None are truly independent while in pursuit of objects which are
+attainable only by the pleasure of another. The truly independent are
+those who not only do not solicit favours, but those who do not want
+them: and there is seen too often, among needy and struggling men of
+merit, an irritable pride, a "_fierte_," arising not from a sense of
+independence, but a consciousness of neglect; and many men boast of the
+pleasure of an independent life, as many ladies exalt the delights of
+single blessedness, only because they have never had the offer of
+changing their condition.
+
+It is quite as unfair, too, to accuse people of condition of bestowing
+all their favours upon toadies, tuft-hunters, and bear-leaders. The
+truth is, as they are not in the habit of going into the highways to
+lookout for persons whereupon to confer obligations, they are obliged to
+take up with such as offer themselves to their notice. While the man of
+independence is dreaming away his existence over books and papers in his
+closet, and cursing the barbarism of the age that does not take him by
+the hand, and set him up in high places, the man of the world is pushing
+his fortune in a worldly way, and is content not to talk of independence
+until he has secured it. The hard words, tuft-hunter, toady, and so
+forth, are applied, it may be, oftener than they are deserved:
+led-captain is a term of frequent reproach, but it must always be
+considered that that sort of talent will be chiefly noticed and rewarded
+which is in demand in certain circles; fashionable people desire neither
+to be deafened with wit, nor bewildered with philosophy, nor oppressed
+with learning; their business, to which they have been brought up, is to
+glide smoothly through life, and their patronage is chiefly extended to
+those who offer to relieve them of its petty cares and small annoyances,
+which men of solid and sterling merit are not able, and, if they were
+able, are not willing to do.
+
+A wealthy cit has as little regard for men of letters as a fashionable,
+nor has he the same tact of concealing his indifference; the well-bred
+man of fashion, who is alone truly the man of fashion, studies _tact_
+above all things, and his tact prevents him ever regarding men of mind
+with any thing approaching contempt.
+
+His friendly offices, which his equals never require, he generally
+bestows upon men whose position in society is marked and permanent, and
+who never can by any possibility compete with him; to these, if they be
+_safe_--that is, if they keep quiet, and are content to enjoy a sort of
+unpretending familiarity, without boasting or pluming themselves upon
+their position, he does the kindest and most liberal things, in the
+kindest and most liberal way; in a way that no other man than one truly
+fashionable can accomplish. He confers benefits with an affable and
+disinterested air, which, while it increases the burden of obligation,
+seems to demand no acknowledgement; he bestows without seeming to know
+that he is bestowing, and knowing enough of human nature to be aware
+that to the deserving, obligations have something humiliating, he wishes
+to make the burden as light as possible.
+
+One of the most amiable qualities about the aristocracy is their
+liberality and kindness to their dependents; you seldom or never hear
+any one who has served them faithfully and long having reason to
+complain. To do something for these people is part of their system, and
+not to see them neglected or in want, a point of honour. This kindly
+feeling they extend, as far as their power or influence extends--to
+humble friends, electioneering partizans, poor connexions. They are
+always kind and considerate, provided only these persons possess that
+unpresuming quietude of manner, which makes up a considerable part of
+that character they delight in, and which they call _safe_. If you
+introduce to one of these people of fashion, any man who may have an
+object in view, the first enquiry is, what are his claims--that is, what
+equivalent has he given, or can he give, for the favours he expects? for
+it is with the high, as with the low world, nothing for nothing; and
+secondly, you must be prepared to answer for his _safety_, so that,
+whatever may be said or done, nothing may, by any possibility, leak out
+of the _protege_. This accounts for so many perfumed, be-wigged,
+purblind, silky fellows being taken in and "done for" by the great; and
+although these fellows dress like fools, and look like fools, depend
+on't, they are not the fools you take them for: they are aware, that
+nothing so effectually throws off their guard and disarms the great, as
+a well-carried affectation of gentlemanly effeminacy, and "a still small
+voice, like a woman's." We happen to know that some of these people, for
+this very delicacy of air and manner picked out of the dirt, and carried
+into high places, who are _au naturel_, as we may say, when they go
+home, and have laid aside the wigs, silk waistcoats, quizzing-glasses,
+and the rest of their disguise, as honest, friendly, and unaffected
+fellows, as are in the world--only they do not desire that any body
+should say so.
+
+Of a man with a stiff back, black beard, short hair, loud voice, and
+buff waistcoat, people of fashion, on the contrary, stand in continual
+awe; his tongue is to them a rattlesnake's tail wagging only as a signal
+for them to get out of his way; they quiver like an aspen at the sound
+of his voice, and for their own particular, would rather hear the
+sharpening of a saw: if such a one courts their acquaintance, they are
+hopelessly, despairingly polite; if, as is usual, he then waxes
+insolent, and, as the fast fellows would call it, _slangs_ them, they
+are delighted with the opportunity of displaying that placid
+indifference upon which they pride themselves as one of their exclusive
+accomplishments.
+
+Another peculiarity of truly fashionable people is, that they never say
+or do spiteful, or vindictive things; revenge and spite they consider
+_low_, plebeian, and vulgar; besides, vindictiveness of any kind
+disturbs their equanimity, puts them out of their way, and levels them
+with the people who may have injured or annoyed them; they cannot endure
+jaundice of body or mind, and equally abhor any thing that sticks either
+in the gall, bladder, or "gizzard." Their defensive armour, than which
+none can be less penetrable, is equanimity; their weapons, unstudied
+indifference and dignified neglect.
+
+Towards their own "order," they are invariably consistent in kindness
+and consideration; they stand by, and stand to, one another with a
+paternal amity, which is only _outwardly_ disturbed by politics;
+embarrassment or necessity effaces conventional distinctions of
+politics, and Whig or Tory is always ready to provide for "honest Jack,"
+or "do something" for "poor Fred." But we are not to consider their
+exertions in this way, accompanied with any self-sacrifice or
+self-denial; holding in their own hands the means of providing for their
+friends or relatives, they usually so contrive matters that they lose
+nothing by it.
+
+To the peculiar quietude of manner, and characteristic gentleness of
+persons of fashion, in their intercourse with each other, we have many
+concurring testimonies of impartial observers: of these, the most just
+at once, and eloquent, that we remember to have read, is that contained
+in an ever-memorable letter from a Mr Tomkins to a Mrs Jenkins,
+attributed (with what justice, deponent knoweth not) to a noble and
+learned lord, supreme in natural theology and excitability, remarkable
+for versatile nose and talents, and distinguished for chequered
+fortunes, and "inexpressibles" to match. This learned lord, or Tomkins
+aforesaid, or whoever may have been the inditer of the epistle _ad_
+Jenkins, is eloquent exceedingly upon the _narcotine_ of fashionable
+life: declares that its soothing influences were unequalled by vapour of
+purest mundungus, or acetate of morphia, or even pill of opium, blended
+intimately with glass of _eau-de-vie_. Tomkins is quite right: no man,
+admitted by whatever door, or ascending by whatever staircase, to the
+_salons_ of the great, fails to be impressed with the idea that there
+exists among what the _Post_ calls the "gay and fastidious _habitues_"
+of the place, every disposition to place him perfectly at his ease: and,
+if he cannot be at ease, the fault is in him, not in his entertainers.
+To a great _nisi prius_ lawyer, accustomed during a long life to the
+discrimination of character in the way of his profession, such a
+contrast as is presented by the repose and unobtrusive _politesse_ of
+high life, compared with the _brusquerie_ of the world below, must have
+been doubly delightful; and we are glad to have upon record the just and
+eloquent testimony to its existence and social value from so eloquent
+a pen.
+
+The world without is apt to confound reserve and distance among the
+great, with pride and insensibility: even those who, admitted by
+sufferance to fashionable circles, behold the peculiar charm of high
+life through a wintry atmosphere: the free and unrestrained converse of
+men of fashion with their equals, none but themselves can know, and none
+but themselves describe.
+
+Their habit of living, among themselves, is generally simple, and devoid
+of extravagance or ostentation: they have the best of every thing it is
+true, but then they have all the advantages of unbounded competition.
+and unlimited credit: they pay when they think proper, but no tradesman
+ever dares venture to ask them for money: such as have the bad taste to
+"dun" are "done:" the patient and long-suffering find their money "after
+many days." Their amusements among themselves are inexpensive, almost to
+meanness: the subscription to Almacks, that paradise of exclusives, and
+envy of the excluded, amounts to not more than half a-guinea a ball, if
+so much: a stall at the opera costs a young man of fashion, for the
+season, forty, fifty, or sixty pounds, according to position: for this
+he is entitled to an ivory ticket, which, when he does not feel inclined
+to go himself, he can transfer for the evening to another. If he have
+the misfortune to be a younger brother, many little windfalls come to
+his share, the results of his relationship. He has an apartment at his
+elder brother's town-house, or he resides with the dowager, or with a
+maiden aunt; somebody keeps his cab horse, and some other body keeps the
+saddle-horse that Lady Mary or Jack Somebody gave him; his "tiger" has
+the run of all his friends' kitchens as a matter of course, and, as a
+matter of course, himself has two or three invitations a-day during the
+season; though, like other poor men, he prefers dining independently at
+his club. He is on very good terms with the "girls" of his _set_, and is
+allowed a little innocent flirtation, because he is known to have _tact_
+enough not to compromise himself or them by falling in love, or paying
+"ridiculous" addresses: although a little "fast" perhaps, he is
+perfectly _safe_, and is on good terms with every body except his eldest
+brother: he is the idol of countesses-dowager, who hand him a few
+hundreds whenever he is short, pay his debts for him--give him good
+advice, and call him "Freddy dear:" in short, although he has nothing,
+excepting his boot-hooks, that he can possibly call his own, he is a
+merry, good-natured, honest, harmless fellow, a favourite with every
+body, and envied for his light-heartedness even by his more fortunate
+elder brother.
+
+In a book published some five-and-thirty years ago, is an account of the
+then prevailing method of killing a fashionable day: as the pursuit of
+inanity and folly has a tedious sameness about it, this picture will
+answer, with a few variations, for the man of fashion of to-day.
+
+"About twelve, he (the man of fashion) rises, lolls upon a sofa, skims
+the newspaper, and curses its stupidity. He is particularly angry if he
+does not find in it a paragraph which he sent to the agent of a
+fashionable newspaper, generally the _Morning Post_, who lives by
+procuring such sort of intelligence, containing an account of his having
+dined at some titled man's table the day before, with whom, if he has no
+rank himself, he is particularly anxious to mingle. After swallowing
+several cups of tea and cocoa, and slices of foreign sausages and fowls,
+he assumes his riding coat, and sallies out to his stables to inspect
+his horses, and chat with his coachman and grooms.
+
+"Having finished this review and audience, he orders his curricle, and,
+followed by a couple of grooms, he dashes through most of the principal
+streets, and calls upon the most celebrated coach and harness makers; at
+the latter he is shown several new bits for his approbation. He then
+proceeds to his breeches-maker, thence to Tattersall's, where he is sure
+to meet a great number of friends, with whom he kills another hour
+discussing the merits of the different animals he meets with there.
+These important duties being done, he strolls to an exhibition, or to a
+print-shop, and looks over a portfolio of caricatures; thence he keeps
+on moving to a fashionable hotel, to take white spruce beer(!) and
+sandwiches; here, after arranging his parties for the evening, be
+returns home to dress. After looking over the cards which have been left
+for him, he proceeds to his _toilette_ with his valet, and is dressed
+about seven, when his chariot is at the door, and he drives either to
+some family to dinner, or to the hotel he visited in the morning, when
+he perhaps formed a party of four. At ten o'clock he enters the Opera,
+and like a butterfly moves from box to box; thence behind the scenes;
+after which he proceeds to one or two routs, or some fashionable
+gaming-house, and about four is in bed, to recruit himself for a
+repetition of the same course the next day.
+
+"These loungers have a phraseology peculiar to themselves. A short time
+since, if one of them was asked how he was, the answer would have been,
+'we are in _force_ to-day;' if his wife was enquired after, 'she is in
+high preservation;' if asked how often he had been at the opera, 'it is
+my _second_ opera.' They also say, perhaps, speaking of some illustrious
+hero, 'he's a fine brave fellow, but he ties his handkerchief most
+shockingly.' I also remember being one day in Hyde Park, when a
+gentleman rode up to one of these loungers, and after exchanging
+salutations, the former said to the latter, I wish much to have the
+pleasure of seeing you--are you engaged next Wednesday? Upon which the
+other turned round to a little half starved groom, and said, 'John, am I
+engaged next Wednesday?'
+
+"The women of fashion," observes this writer, "are just as great and as
+insipid idlers, in their way, as are the male triflers. They seldom walk
+in the streets, but are almost always cooped up in their carriages,
+driving about the streets, and leaving their cards at the houses of
+their friends, whom they never think of seeing, although they may be at
+home at the time; thence they proceed to the most expensive jewellers,
+where they order a piece of plate or a trinket; thence to some
+fashionable milliner."
+
+This picture is not altogether like, but some of the features may
+certainly be easily reorganized; if we substitute sherry, a chop, and a
+club in Pall-Mall, for white spruce beer, sandwiches, and a tavern;
+replacing the curricle and footman by a cab and tiger, the remainder,
+with trivial alterations, may stand good of the fashionable idler of
+to-day, as of him of the last century.
+
+In childhood, nay, even in infancy, for all I can see to the contrary,
+the _physique_ of persons of fashion is sufficiently distinctive and
+characteristic of the class. If you walk in the parks and gardens, and
+notice these young thoroughbreds exercising under the care of their
+nurses, their tutors, and their nursery governesses, you will be
+perfectly convinced that they are as easily to be distinguished in all
+their points and paces from the children of the _mobility_, as is a
+well-blooded Arabian from a Suffolk punch.
+
+The small oval head, clustered with _rippling_ ringlets, as Alfred
+Jennyson calls them; the clear laughing eye, the long fair neck, the
+porcelain skin, warmed with the tenderest tinge of pink, so transparent
+withal that you almost see the animal spirit careering within; the
+_drooping_ shoulder, the rounded bust, clean limbs, well-turned ankle,
+fine almost to a fault, the light springy step, the graceful easy
+carriage, the absence of sheepishness or shyness, an air cheerful
+without noise, a manner playful without rudeness, and you have the true
+son or daughter of the Englishman of fashion.
+
+Then, how characteristic of the class of which these children are the
+rising hope, is the taste displayed in their dress; they are attired
+with costly simplicity; or, if a fond mamma indulges in any little
+extravagance of childish costume, you see that it is the extravagance of
+taste; there is no tawdriness, no over-dressing, no little ones in
+masquerade, they dress appropriately, and, at the same time,
+distinctively.
+
+Pretty souls! Many a time and oft have we wandered forth of the
+turbulent town, less to brace our unstrung nerves by the elastic
+air--less to bathe our wearied eyes in the green light of earth's bosom,
+than to drive away sad thoughts in the contemplation of your innocent
+gambols; with our stick; delight we to launch your mimic barks from the
+sandy shores of Serpentine; with you, glad are we to make haste,
+expecting the fastest sailer on the further shore; with you, we exult,
+once more a boy, in the speed of our trim-built favourite.
+
+We love the old Newfoundland dog, ay, and the old footman, as much as
+you do, and could hang like you about both their necks; we wish you
+would not think us too big a boy to "stop" for you at single-wicket;
+imaginary hoops we trundle in your gleesome train; like you, we have a
+decided aversion to "taw," considering it not young-gentleman-like; we,
+too, forgetting that the governess is single and two-and-thirty, wonder
+on earth what _can_ make governess so cross; we love you, when we see
+you hand in hand squiring your little sister, saluting your little
+sister's little friends, carrying their little parasols, and helping
+them over little stony places, like little gentlemen. Happy, happy dogs!
+we envy neither your birth nor the fortune that awaits you, nor repine
+we that our fate condemns us to tug the unremitting oar against that
+tide of fortune upon which, with easy sail, you will float lightly down
+to death; the whole heart, the buoyant spirit, the conscience yet
+unstung by mute reproach of sin; these things we envy you--not the
+things so mean a world can give, but the things which, though it cannot
+give, soon--alas, how soon--it takes away!
+
+Contrast these children with the children of Mr Deputy Stubbs of the
+ward of Farringdon Within, or common Councillor Muggs of Bassishaw; they
+really do not look like animals of the same species.
+
+The rising Stubbses and Muggses have heads shaped like a China orange,
+croppy hair, chubby chins, chubby cheeks, and blazing red and chubby
+noses--short, pursy, apoplectic necks, like their fathers--squab,
+four-square figures, mounted upon turned legs, with measly skins; so
+that, taken altogether, they are exceedingly offensive and disagreeable.
+Then they eat, these young, Stubbses and Muggses, how they _do_ eat!
+then they are dressed, how they _are_ dressed! five different tartans,
+four colours in velvet, seven sorts of ribbons, and a woolpack of fleecy
+hosiery, as if there wasn't another Stubbs or Muggs in existence; then
+how they annoy and infest, with bad manners and noise, the deputies and
+common-councilmen who visit at Stubbses and Muggses; how the maids "drat
+them" all day long, and how Mrs Stubbs and Mrs Muggs _hate_ Mr
+Sucklethumb, the butterman, because he never "notices the child."
+
+Another extraordinary phenomenon you cannot fail to observe in the
+children of the aristocracy; they seem to skip over the equivocal
+period, the neutral ground of human life, and emerge from the chrysaloid
+state of childhood, into the full and perfect _imago_ of little lords
+and gentlemen, and little ladies, without any of those intermediate
+conditions of laddism, hobble-de-hoyism, or bread-and-butterishness, so
+prominently characteristic of the approaching puberty of the rest of the
+rising generation. Your Eton boy is not a boy, he is a young gentleman;
+your Lady Louisa is not a girl, she is only not yet "come out;" how to
+account for the peculiarity I know not, except the knowledge of the
+fact, that attention to the _petites morales_ forms so great a part of
+the education of our rising aristocracy, and is considered so vitally
+important to their proper carriage, as well in their _set_ as out of it,
+that their children are as far advanced in this particular at fifteen,
+as the children of middling people at twenty-five. The petticoat-string
+by which the youth of the non-fashionable class is tied to their mother,
+is a ligature not in use among the fashionable world; from the earliest
+period professional persons are employed in their education, and the
+_mother_ never shows in the matter. Whether this, or any other
+peculiarity of the class, be an advantage or a disadvantage, natural or
+unnatural, right or wrong, it is not for the writer to say; he only
+points out what he has observed; and if he has failed to state it
+properly, let him be properly corrected.
+
+Our aristocratic youth we take the liberty to classify, as they do
+coaches, of which they are so passionately fond, into
+
+    1. FAST,
+
+    2. SLOW.
+
+The fast youths have several degrees of swiftness, from the railway
+pace, down through imperceptible gradations, to ten miles an hour, at
+which rate of going the fast fellows end, and the slow fellows begin.
+
+Of these last there are also many varieties, from the tandem and
+tax-cart down to the waggon and dog-truck; and it cannot be denied, that
+as regards the former more especially, there is a great similarity
+between the youths themselves and the vehicles they govern; they go very
+fast, don't know what they are driving at, are propelled in any
+direction by much more sagacious animals than themselves, and are
+usually empty inside. The fast fellows are divided, moreover, into the
+occasional and permanently fast; and first of the occasional fast
+fellows:--
+
+These form a very considerable proportion of our fashionable youth, and
+combine the gentleman with a dash of the _petit-maitre_, overlaying a
+naturally good disposition with a surface of scampishness, which,
+however, they lay down when they marry, and thenceforward they belong
+altogether to the slow school.
+
+The permanently fast fellows deserve a more detailed notice, since they
+are always before the police magistrates and the public, in one shape or
+another; and although often committing themselves, are seldom or never
+committed.
+
+The members of this class it is who furnish the democratic Sunday papers
+with a never-ending succession of articles, headed "THE ARISTOCRACY
+AGAIN," "BRUTALITY OF THE HIGHER CLASSES," "DEPRAVITY OF THE NOBBY
+ONES," and the like and it is from these fast fellows, unfortunately,
+that a great many ignorant people draw their conclusions of fashionable
+life and conversation in general, extending the vices of a few shameless
+profligates to the entire of the little world, commonly called
+the great.
+
+The permanently fast fellows, or, as we think their general demeanour
+entitles them to be called, "Blackguard Nobs," are a lot of little,
+scrubby, bad-blooded, groom-like fellows, who have always, even from
+childhood, been incorrigible, of whom nursery governesses could make
+nothing, and whose education tutors abandoned in despair; expelled from
+Eton, rusticated at Cambridge, good for nothing but mischief in boyhood,
+regularly bred scamps and profligates in youth, and, luckily for
+mankind, generally worn-out before they attain the wrong side of forty.
+A stable is their delight, almost their home, and their olfactories are
+refreshed by nothing so much as by the smell of old litter, to which
+attar of roses is assafoetida in comparison.
+
+Their knowledge of horses, which they get at second-hand from Field, or
+some of the other _crack_ veterinaries, is their only pride, and indeed
+the only thing they imagine any man ought to be proud of; they reverence
+a fellow who has a good seat in his saddle, and delight in horsemanship,
+because horsemanship requires no brains; driving a "buggy" in good style
+is respectable, but "shoving along" a four-in-hand the highest exercise
+of human intellect, as for Milton and Shakspeare, and such inky-fingered
+old prigs, who never had a good horse in their lives, they despise such
+low fellows thoroughly. Their chief companions, or rather, their most
+intimate friends, are the fellows who hang about livery stables,
+betting-rooms, race-courses, and hippodromes; crop-eared grooms,
+_chaunters_, dog-stealers, starveling jockeys, blacklegs, foreign
+counts, breeders, feeders; these are all "d--d honest fellows," and the
+"best fellows in the world," although they get their living by cheating
+the fast fellows, who patronize them.
+
+Of money, they know no more than that it is a necessary instrument of
+their pleasures, and must be got some how or anyhow; accordingly, they
+are on intimate terms with a species of shark called a bill-discounter,
+who commits upon them every sort of robbery, under the sanction of the
+law; and who also is always a "d--d honest fellow."
+
+They can be sufficiently liberal of their money, whenever they have any,
+to all who do not want, or who do not deserve it; if a prize-fighter
+becomes embarrassed in his circumstances, or a jockey is "down upon his
+luck," it is quite refreshing to see the madness with which the fast
+fellows strike for a subscription; an opera-dancer out of an engagement,
+or an actress in the same interesting condition, provided they are not
+modest women, have, they think, a claim upon their generosity--and
+perhaps they have.
+
+They think it ungentlemanly to cheat, or, as they call it, "_stick_" any
+of their own set, except in matters of horse-flesh; but "sticking" any
+body out of their own set, especially tradesmen, is considered an
+excellent joke, and the "sticker" rises several degrees in public
+estimation.
+
+We should be doing great injustice to the fast fellows if we omitted a
+brief notice of their accomplishments. Driving is, of course, the chief;
+and, by long experience and impunity, wonderfully grand exploits are
+achieved by the fast fellows in this department.
+
+One of the most original is to get into a strong cab, with a very
+powerful horse, lamps lit, tiger inside, and to go quietly along,
+keeping a sharp look-out for any night cabman who may be "lobbing," as
+the phrase is, off his stand, the moment the "game," who is generally
+one part asleep and three parts drunk, is espied, put your horse to full
+gallop, and, guiding your vehicle with the precision fast fellows alone
+attain, whip inside the cabwheel, and take it off. The night cab comes
+down by the run, the night cabman tumbles off, breaking his nose or
+neck, as it may happen, and you drive off as if the devil kicked you.
+When you have gone a couple of miles, make a circumbendibus back again
+to the night-house frequented by your set, and relate the adventure,
+with the same voice and countenance as a broker quotes the price of
+stocks; then order a cool bottle of claret with the air of a man who has
+done a meritorious action!
+
+Another accomplishment, at which not a few of the fast fellows excel, is
+that of imitating upon a key-bugle various animals, in an especial
+manner the braying of an ass: when the fast fellows drive down to the
+Trafalgar at Greenwich, the Toy at Hampton Court, or the Swan at Henley
+upon Thames, the bugle-player mounts aloft, the rest of the fast fellows
+keeping a lookout for donkeys; when one is seen, a hideous imitative
+bray is set up by the man of music, and his quadrupedal brother,
+attracted by the congenial sound, rushes to the roadside--mutual
+recognition, with much merriment, is the result.
+
+The fast fellow who does this best, is considered one of the immortals;
+and we are not without expectation, in due time, of seeing his talent
+rewarded by a pension.
+
+Breaking bells, twisting knockers, and "knapping" rail-heads, has
+descended so low of late that the fast fellows are ashamed of it, and
+have resigned it to the medical students, patriotic young members of
+Parliament, and others of the imitative classes; but there yet exists,
+or very lately existed, a collection of these and various other
+surreptitiously acquired properties, known among the fast fellow by the
+title of ----'s Museum, every article being ticketed artistically, and
+the whole presenting an example of devotion to the cause of science, we
+believe, without a parallel.
+
+These are a few of the comparatively innocent amusements of the fast
+fellows; others there are of graver character, which we need not refer
+to, especially as the fast school is fast wearing itself out, and many
+of the fast fellows already begin to "put on the drag," and go at a more
+reasonable pace.
+
+Their ignorance, with the single exception of horse-flesh, is appalling.
+Nobody who does not know the fast fellows, would credit that men could
+by any possibility grow up in such absolute ignorance of whatever a
+gentleman is expected to know; whatever a gentleman is expected not to
+know, they have at their tongues' and fingers' ends.
+
+Intellectual men, of whatever description, they regard with the most
+perfect indifference--an indifference too passive for contempt; they
+affect to wonder, or probably do wonder, what such men are for, or why
+people sometimes talk about them. Books they find convenient for putting
+under the legs of barrack-room tables, to bring them to a level, and
+think they are made of different sizes for that purpose; but no fast
+fellow was ever yet detected in looking into one of them, to see whether
+there was any thing inside. Such as have been taught to spell, employ
+part of the Sunday in deciphering the smutty jokes of the _Satirist_,
+and pronounce the jokes "d--d good," and the paper "a d--d honest
+paper." If they happen, by any chance, to come into contact with one of
+the slow school, or any body who has been taught to read, they have a
+method of silencing his battery, which they think "capital." If a man
+should say in their company, that Chaucer was a great poet, one will
+immediately enquire, "_how much?_" while another wishes to know if
+Chaucer is entered for the "Derby?" "How much?" is the invariable slang,
+whenever a man gets the bit out of his mouth, or, in other words, talks
+of any thing but horses.
+
+There is no novelty in this; it is only a second edition of Dean Swift's
+"new-fashioned way of being witty," which, in his fashionable day, was
+called "a bite." "You must ask a bantering question," he informs Stella,
+"or tell some damned lie in a serious manner, and then they will answer
+or speak as if you were in earnest; then cry you, 'there's a _bite_.' I
+would not have you undervalue this, for it is the constant amusement in
+court, and every where else among the great people; and I let you know
+it, in order to have it obtain amongst you, and teach you a new
+refinement."
+
+If they accept an invitation from Lord Northampton to go to one of his
+_soirees_, which they sometimes do for a "lark," their antics are vastly
+amusing; they put on grave, philosophic faces, and mimic the _savans_ to
+the life; if the noble president, thinking he is doing the polite thing,
+points out to them a poet, for example, or a professor, they have a
+knack of elevating the shoulders, looking at the man with a pitying air,
+and whispering the words "_poor beast_," with a tone and manner quite
+inimitable. Indeed this is one of the few clever things they do, and on
+or off the stage we have never seen any thing like it.
+
+If Dickens were to die--an event that, we hope and trust, may not occur
+these fifty years, the fast fellows would have some such conversation
+upon the event, as follows:--
+
+A. So, Dickens, I hear, is dead.
+
+B. How much?
+
+C. What's that?
+
+A. Why, Pickwick, to be sure.
+
+B. Oh! Eh? Pickwick--Moses--Bath coach--_I_ know.
+
+C. Pickwick--near Chippenham? Paul Methven lives there--_I_ know.
+
+A. No--no--I tell you, he's a man that writes.
+
+B. Is he? He may be. How should I know?
+
+C. Well--it's a d----d hard case, that, at the beginning of the season,
+I should have lost a d----d good tiger. Has any body got a d----d
+small tiger for sale?
+
+As we are in the humour for dialogue, we may as well give a _verbatim_
+report of our last interview with Lord----, who had been a fast fellow
+in his youth. We encountered him on the sunny side of St James's Street,
+the other day, tottering to Brookes's: although we don't expect you to
+believe it, what passed was, as we recollect it, exactly as follows:--
+
+"Well, my Lord, I hope your gout is better?"
+
+"Eh--how are you? Well, I think I _am_ better, d'ye know."
+
+"Glad to hear it."
+
+"Thankee--thankee--d'ye know, eh, I've changed my doctor?"
+
+"Well, and how d'ye like your new one?"
+
+"Capitally--eh--d'ye know, he's a clever fellow. Young--eh--but
+clever--very. D'ye know, eh--he corresponds regularly with--eh--with Sir
+_Humphrey_ Newton and Sir _Isaac_ Davy!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE. BY CHARLES MACKAY.
+
+
+    [Lord Nithsdale, as is well known, was condemned to death for
+    his participation in the Rebellion of 1715. By the exertions of
+    his true-hearted wife, Winifred, he was enabled to escape from
+    the Tower of London on the night before the morning appointed
+    for his execution. The lady herself--noble soul!--has related,
+    in simple and touching language, in a letter to her sister, the
+    whole circumstances of her lord's escape. The letter is
+    preserved in the Appendix to "Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and
+    Galloway Song," page 313 to 329--London, 1810.]
+
+
+    "Farewell to thee, Winifred, dearest and best!
+      Farewell to thee, wife of a courage so high!--
+    Come hither, and nestle again in my breast,
+      Come hither, and kiss me again ere I die!--
+    And when I am laid bleeding and low in the dust,
+      And yield my last breath at a tyrant's decree,
+    Look up--be resign'd--and the God of the just
+      Will shelter thy fatherless bairnies and thee!"
+
+    She wept on his breast, but, ashamed of her tears,
+      She dash'd off the drops that ran warm down her cheek;
+    "Be sorrow for those who have leisure for tears--
+      O pardon thy wife that her soul was so weak!
+    There is hope for us still, and I will not despair,
+      Though cowards and traitors exult at thy fate;
+    I'll show the oppressors what woman can dare,
+      I'll show them that love can be stronger than hate!"
+
+    Lip to lip, heart to heart, and their fond arms entwined,
+      He has kiss'd her again, and again, and again;
+    "Farewell to thee, Winifred, pride of thy kind,
+      Sole ray in my darkness, sole joy in my pain!"
+    She has gone--he has heard the last sound of her tread;
+      He has caught the last glimpse of her robes at the door;--
+    She has gone, and the joy that her presence had shed,
+      May cheer the sad heart of Lord Nithsdale no more.
+
+    And the prisoner pray'd in his dungeon alone,
+      And thought of the morn and its dreadful array,
+    Then rested his head on his pillow of stone,
+      And slumber'd an hour ere the dawning of day.
+    Oh, balm of the Weary! Oh, soother of pain!
+      That still to the sad givest pity and dole;
+    How gently, oh sleep! lay thy wings on his brain,
+      How sweet were thy dreams to his desolate soul!
+
+    Once more on his green native braes of the Nith,
+      He pluck'd the wild bracken, a frolicsome boy;
+    He sported his limbs in the waves of the Frith;
+      He trod the green heather in gladness and joy;--
+    On his gallant grey steed to the hunting he rode,
+      In his bonnet a plume, on his bosom a star;
+    He chased the red deer to its mountain abode,
+      And track'd the wild roe to its covert afar.
+
+    The vision was changed. In a midsummer night
+      He roam'd with his Winifred, blooming and young;
+    He gazed on her face by the moon's mellow light,
+      And loving and warm were the words on his tongue.
+    Thro' good and thro' evil, he swore to be true,
+      And love through all fortune his Winnie alone;
+    And he saw the red blush o'er her cheek as it flew,
+      And heard her sweet voice that replied to his own.
+
+    Once more it has changed. In his martial array,
+      Lo, he rides at the head of his gallant young men!
+    And the pibroch is heard on the hills far away,
+      And the clans are all gather'd from mountain and glen.
+    For exiled King Jamie, their darling and lord,
+      They raise the loud slogan--they rush to the war.
+    The tramp of the battle resounds on the sward--
+      Unfurl'd is the banner--unsheath'd the claymore!
+
+    The vision has fled like a sparkle of light,
+      And dark is the dream that possesses him now;
+    The morn of his doom has succeeded the night,
+      And the damp dews of death gather fast on his brow.
+    He hears in the distance a faint muffled drum,
+      And the low sullen boom of the death-tolling bell;
+    The block is prepared, and the headsman is come,
+      And the victim, bareheaded, walks forth from his cell.--
+
+    No! No! 'twas a vision! his hour was not yet,
+      And waking, he turn'd on his pallet of straw,
+    And a form by his side he could never forget,
+      By the pale misty light of a taper he saw.
+    "'Tis I! 'tis thy Winifred!"--softly she said,
+      "Arouse thee, and follow--be bold, never fear!
+    There was danger abroad, but my errand has sped,
+      I promised to save thee--and lo I am here!"
+
+    He rose at the summons, and little they spoke,
+      The gear of a lady she placed on his head;
+    She cover'd his limbs with a womanly cloak,
+      And painted his cheeks of a maidenly red.
+    "One kiss, my dear lord, and begone!--and beware!
+      Walk softly--I follow!" Oh guide them, and save,
+    From the open assault, from the intricate snare,
+      Thou, Providence, friend of the good and the brave!
+
+    They have pass'd unsuspected the guard at the cell,
+      And the sentinel band that keep watch at the gate;
+    One peril remains--it is past--all is well!
+      They are free; and her love has proved stronger than hate.
+    They are gone--who shall follow?--their ship's on the brine,
+      And they sail unpursued to a far friendly shore,
+    Where love and content at their hearth may entwine,
+      And the warfare of kingdoms divide them no more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+One bright day, last June, one of the London coaches rattled at an
+amazing rate down the main street of a garrison town, and, with a sudden
+jerk which threw the smoking horses on their haunches, pulled up at the
+door of the Waterloo hotel. A beautiful sight it is--a fine, well
+appointed coach, of what we must now call the ancient fashion, with its
+smart driver, brilliant harness, and thoroughbred team. Then it is a
+spectacle pleasing to gods and men, the knowing and instantaneous manner
+in which the grooms perform their work in leading off the horses, and
+putting fresh ones to--the rapid diving for carpet-bags and portmanteaus
+into the various boots and luggage holes--the stepping down or out (as
+the case may be) of the passengers--the tip to the coachman--the touch
+of the hat in return--the remounting of that functionary into his chair
+of honour--the chick, chick! with which he hints to the pawing greys he
+is ready for a start--and, finally, the roll off into dim distance of
+the splendid vehicle, watched by the crowd that have gathered round it,
+till it is lost from their sight. A steam-coach, with its disgusting,
+hissing, sputtering, shapeless, lifeless engine, ought to be ashamed of
+itself, and would probably blush for its appearance, if it were not for
+the quantity of brass that goes to its composition. On the
+above-mentioned bright day in June, only two passengers go out from the
+inside of the Celerity. The outsides, who were apparently pushed for
+time, urged them to make haste; and the lady, the first who stept on the
+pavement, took their admonitions in good part. With only a small basket
+on her arm, and a dark veil drawn close down over her face, she dropt
+half-a-crown into the hand of the expectant coachman, and walked rapidly
+up the street. The gentleman, however, put off a good deal of time in
+identifying his carpet-bag--then his pocket seemed to be indefinitely
+deep, as his hand appeared to have immense difficulty in getting to the
+bottom of it. At last he succeeded in catching hold of some coin, and,
+while he dropt it into the extended palm of the impatient Jehu, he sad,
+"Hem! I say, coachie, who is that lady? Eh! fine eyes--hem!"
+
+"Can't say, sir--no name in the way-bill--thank ye, sir."
+
+"Then you can't tell me any thing about her? Prettiest critter I ever
+saw in my life. As to Mrs Moss"--
+
+But before the inquisitive gentleman, who stood all this time with the
+carpet-bag in his hand, had an opportunity of making any further
+revelation as to Mrs Moss, or any more enquiries as to his unknown
+travelling companion, the coachman had mounted the box, and, after
+asserting in a very complacent tone that it was all right, had driven
+off, and left him in the same state of ignorance as before.
+
+"Sleep here, sir?--Dinner, sir?--This way to the coffee-room," said a
+smart young man, with long hair and a blue coat, with a napkin over
+his arm.
+
+"Oh! you're the waiter, I suppose. Now, waiter, I want to find out
+something, and I daresay you can help me"--
+
+"This way, sir. You can have a mutton-chop in twenty minutes."
+
+"No--listen to me--I'm going to ask you some questions. Did you see the
+lady that got out of the coach when I did? She's a beautiful critter;
+such black eyes!--such a sweet voice!--such a small hand! We travelled
+together the whole way from town. She spoke very little, and kept her
+name a secret. I couldn't find out what she came here for. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir--perfectly," said the waiter, at the same time evidently
+understanding nothing about it.
+
+"Well, you see, I don't know what you think of it down here; but, for my
+part, I think ladies at forty-five are past their prime. Now, my next
+neighbour in London--Mrs Moss is her name--she's exactly that age. You
+hear what I am saying, waiter?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Now, I don't think this young lady, from her eyes and mouth, can be
+more than twenty-three--a charming age, waiter--hem! You never saw her
+before, did you?"
+
+"No, sir--never."
+
+"Well, its very astonishing what a beautiful girl she is. I am retired
+from the lace and ribbon business, waiter, but I think she's the
+sweetest specimen of the fair sex I ever saw. And you don't know who she
+is, do you?"
+
+"No, sir. You'll sleep here, sir, I think you said? shammaid!"
+
+"No--I haven't said so yet," said the stranger, rather sharply.
+
+"Oh!" said the waiter, who had not attended to a syllable the gentleman
+had spoken--and retired under the archway into the hotel.
+
+"The only way to get information," mused the gentleman with the
+carpet-bag, still standing on the pavement, "is to have your eyes about
+you and ask questions. It's what I always do since I have begun to
+travel for improvement--I got all the waiter knew out of him in a
+moment--I ought to have been an Old Bailey barrister--there ain't such a
+cross-questioner as I am in the whole profession."
+
+The person who possessed such astonishing powers of investigation, was a
+man about fifty years of age, little and stout, with a face of perfect
+good-nature, and presenting the unmistakeable appearance of a prosperous
+man. The twinkle about his eye spoke strongly of the three-and-a-half
+per cents, and a mortgage or two might be detected in the puckers round
+his mouth. I shouldn't at all care to change banker's books with him
+on chance.
+
+"How lucky I haven't proposed to Mrs M.! Charming woman, but
+fat--decidedly fat--and a little dictatorial too. Travel, says
+she--enlarge your mind--why, how big would she have it?--expand your
+intellect--does she think a man's brains are shaped like a fan? I wish
+to heaven I could find out who this beautiful"--
+
+But, as if his wish was that moment to be gratified, a small light hand
+was laid upon his shoulder, and, on turning round, he saw his fair
+fellow-traveller.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," she said, in a very sweet but slightly agitated voice,
+"excuse me for addressing you, but I am emboldened by your
+appearance to"--
+
+"Oh, ma'am--you're very polite--I feel it a great compliment, I assure
+you."
+
+"The benevolent expression of your counternance encourages me to"--
+
+"Oh, ma'am, don't mention it, I beg"--
+
+"To ask your assistance in my present difficulty."
+
+"Now, then," thought the gentleman thus appealed to, "I'll find out all
+about her--how I'll question her!"
+
+"You will help me, I feel sure," continued the lady.
+
+"Oh, certainly--how can you doubt it?--(Hem--what white teeth! Mrs. M.
+is a martyr to toothache.) How can I be useful, ma'am? Don't you think
+it's a curious coincidence we travelled together, ma'am, and both of us
+coming to the same town? It strikes me to be very singular; doesn't it
+you, ma'am?"
+
+"I shall be glad of it, if"--
+
+"Ah! by-the-bye--another queer thing is your applying to me--a man past
+the bloom of boyhood, to be sure, in fact a little beyond"--
+
+"The prime of life," added the lady, not regarding the disappointed look
+with which her interpolation was received; "it is for that reason, sir,
+I throw myself on your kindness; you have perhaps daughters, sir, or
+grandchildren, who"--
+
+"Devil a one. Gad, ma'am, I wish you heard Mrs M., a neighbour of
+mine--why, she's always talking of my wildness and juvenile liveliness,
+and all that sort of thing; an excellent woman Mrs M., but
+stout--certainly stout."
+
+"Are you acquainted with this town, sir?" said the lady.
+
+"God bless ye! read an immense account of it in the Penny Magazine ever
+so long ago; but whether it is famous for a breakwater, or a harbour, or
+a cliff, or some dock-yard machinery, I can't recollect; perhaps it's
+all of them together; we shall find out soon; for travelling, as Mrs M.
+says, enlarges the mind, and expands the intellect."
+
+The lady looked in the face of the disciple of Mrs M. with an anxious
+expression, as if she repented having addressed him.
+
+"But are you acquainted with the localities here?" she said at last. "As
+to myself, I am utterly ignorant of the place I have to go to; and if
+you knew what reason I have to"--
+
+"Ah! that's the very thing; give me your confidence, and I can refuse you
+nothing."
+
+"My confidence!--alas, the business I come on can only be interesting to
+the parties concerned. I came from London for one sole object; and if I
+fail, if any delay occurs, the consequences may be--oh, I dread to
+think of them!"
+
+"You don't say so? Lord! what a thing it is to travel!"
+
+"It was of the utmost consequence that my journey here should be
+unknown. I had no one to trust. Alas, alas! I have no friend in all the
+world in whom I could confide!"
+
+"Hem, hem!" said the little man, moved by the earnest sadness of her
+tone and looks, "you have one friend, ma'am; you may trust _me_ with any
+thing in the world; yes, me, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place,
+Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I tell you my name, that you may
+know I am somebody. I retired from business some years ago, because
+uncle John died one day, and left me his heir; got into a snug cottage,
+green verandah, trellice porch, green door, with bell handle in the
+wall; next door to Mrs Moss--clever woman, but large--very large. And
+now that you know who I am, you will perhaps tell me"--
+
+"I have little to tell, sir; I came here to see an officer who was to
+have landed this morning from foreign service; if I don't see him
+instantly there will be death--ah!"--
+
+"Soldiers--death--ah!" thought Mr Clam; "wild fellows them
+officers--breach of promise--short memories--a lovely critter, but
+rather silly I'm afraid; I should like to see a soldier coming the
+sentimental over Mrs M. Well, ma'am?"
+
+The lady perceived something in the expression of Mr Clam's face (which
+was radiant with the wonderful discovery he thought he had made) which
+probably displeased her; for she said, in a very abrupt and almost
+commanding manner--
+
+"Do you know the way, sir, to the infantry barracks?"
+
+"Not I, ma'am; never knew a soldier in my life. (Think of Mrs M. paying
+a morning visit to the barracks! What a critter this is!")
+
+"Then you can't assist me, sir, as I had hoped, and therefore"--
+
+"Oh, by no means, ma'am; I can find out where the barracks are in a
+moment. There's a young officer crossing the street; I'll ask him, and
+be back in a minute."
+
+So saying, Mr Clam placed his, carpet-bag in safety inside the archway
+of the hotel, and started off in pursuit of information. While her
+Mercury was gone on his voyage of discovery, the lady looked at the
+officer he was following. He was a young handsome man of two or
+three-and-twenty, lounging slowly along with the air of modest
+appreciation of his own value to Queen and country--not to mention
+private dinner parties and county balls--which seems soon to become a
+part of the military character in a garrison town. As he turned round to
+speak to Mr Nicholas Clam, the lady half shrieked, and pulled her veil
+more carefully over her face.
+
+"I'm lost! I'm lost!" she said; "'tis Chatterton himself! Oh, why did I
+allow this talkative old man to trouble himself with my affairs? If the
+meeting takes place before I can explain, my happiness is gone
+for ever!"
+
+She turned away, and walked as quickly as she could up one of the side
+streets. Not daring to turn round, she was alarmed by hearing steps
+rapidly nearing her in pursuit; and, from the heaviness of the sound,
+concluded at once that there was more than one person close behind. It
+turned out, however, to be nobody but her portly, and now breathless
+companion, Mr Clan.
+
+"Stop, for heaven's sake, ma'am! that ain't the way," he said. "What a
+pace she goes at! Ma'am! ma'am! She's as deaf as a post, and would drive
+me into consumption in a week; and this in a hot day in June, too! Mrs
+M. has more sense--stop!"
+
+"Have you discovered the way, sir?" she enquired, hurriedly.
+
+"Haven't I? I certainly have the knack of picking up information. I told
+the young man I had travelled with you from London; that you had some
+secret business at the barracks; that I didn't know what it was; and the
+moment I asked him all these questions"--
+
+"Questions, sir?" said the lady, spitefully; "it strikes me you were
+telling every thing, and asking nothing"--
+
+"The moment he found out, I say, that there was a lady in the case, and
+that you wanted to know the way to the barracks, he insisted on coming
+to show you the way himself--a civil young man."
+
+"Oh, why did you speak to him?" exclaimed the lady, still hurrying on;
+"to him of all men? you have ruined me!"
+
+"Me ruined you! That's going it a little too strong. I never ruined any
+body in my life. How did I know you knew the man? There's some awful
+mystery in this young woman," muttered Mr Clam, puffing like a
+broken-winded coach horse, "and if I live I'll find it out. There's
+nothing improves the mind, as Mrs M. says, so much as curiosity."
+
+"Is it far to the barracks, sir?"
+
+"This ain't the way, ma'am; you're making it further every minute; and,
+besides, you're running away from the young officer."
+
+"I _mustn't_ meet him, sir--do you hear me?--I _must_ not be
+recognized."
+
+"Well, ma'am," said Mr Clam, "there's no great harm done yet; I did
+every thing for the best--following the dictates of an unbiassed
+judgment, as Mrs M. says; and if I've brought you into a scrape, I'll
+get you out of it. Take my arm, ma'am, turn boldly round, and I'll soon
+set him about his business."
+
+The lady did as she was told, and they retraced their steps. The young
+officer now approached, and touching his hat with an air of unspeakable
+elegance, and then swinging his cane, said, "You asked me, sir, to show
+the way to the barracks."
+
+"Quite a mistake, sir," replied Mr Clam, drily; "we know the way
+perfectly well ourselves."
+
+"It isn't far," pursued the officer; "and I shall be delighted to
+accompany you. Any thing that you, sir, or your beautiful companion, may
+require, I shall be happy to procure for you. Is there any one you wish
+to see at the barracks?"
+
+This question was addressed to the lady, who drew back, and made no
+reply.
+
+"If there's any body we want to see," said Mr Clam, "we'll ask for him;
+but we're in a hurry, sir. This lady travelled all the way from London
+expressly on purpose to"--
+
+But here a pinch in the arm prevented any further revelation, and made
+Mr Clam wince as if he had been stung by an adder.
+
+"You needn't grip, so hard," he said to his companion; "for its my
+solemn opinion you've taken the bit out. Let us go, sir," he continued,
+addressing the officer once more. "We don't need your assistance."
+
+The young man looked surprised.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "it was entirely to do you a favour that I came."
+
+"You'll do us a far greater if you'll go," replied Mr Clam, becoming
+boisterous and dignified, after the manner of a turkey-cock.
+
+"Sir, I don't understand such language," said the officer.
+
+"Then your education has been neglected, sir. It's English--plain,
+downright English. We have no desire for your society, sir.--Right about
+wheel--march."
+
+"_You_ are below my notice," said the young man, flushing up; "and your
+insolent vulgarity is, therefore, safe. At the same time, if the lady
+needs my assistance"--
+
+"She doesn't need your assistance--far from it--she told me she wished
+never to"--
+
+Another pinch, more powerful apparently than the former, from the
+writhing of the sufferer, interrupted once more the stream of his
+eloquence; and he was worked up into a tremendous passion, partly,
+perhaps, by the cool contempt of the young officer, and principally by
+the pain he suffered in his arm.
+
+"You're an impudent fellow, sir," he said. "I don't care twopence for
+all the puppies that ever wore red coats, sir. My name is Nicholas Clam,
+Esq., No. 4, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London; and
+I can shoot at a popinjay as well as another."
+
+"You shall hear from me, sir," said the officer, biting his lips. "My
+name is Chatterton--Lieutenant Chatterton. Good day, sir."
+
+He touched his hat proudly, and walked away.
+
+"A good riddance, ma'am," said Mr Clam. "Them young chaps think to have
+it all their own way. I wish I had seen a policeman or a serjeant of
+soldiers; I would have charged him, as sure as a gun!"
+
+"Oh, come quick, quick!" exclaimed the lady, pressing more hurriedly on
+his arm. "Take me to the barracks! I must see him instantly!"
+
+"Who?" enquired Mr Clam. "I'm all on the teeters to understand what all
+this is about. Who is it you must see? Now, for my own part, I don't
+want to see any one; only I wish you would tell me what"--
+
+"Oh, spare me the recital at present. I'm so agitated by recent events,
+that, that--indeed you must excuse me. Oh come--quickly, quickly, come!"
+
+There was no answer possible to such a request, more especially as by
+suiting the action to the word, and drawing her companion forward at a
+tremendous rate, she had entirely taken away the quantity of breath
+required to carry on a conversation. Mr Clam's cogitations, however,
+were deep; and, among them, the most prominent was a doubt as to the
+great advantages to be derived from travel, and a firm persuasion that
+it is a very foolish thing to become the champion of any lady whatever,
+more particularly if she conceals her name, and refuses to satisfy one's
+curiosity in the smallest point.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The young man who has been introduced to us as Lieutenant Chatterton,
+pursued his way up the main street in no very equable temper. A little,
+grey-eyed, snub-nosed civilian, to have insulted an officer and a
+gentleman! the disgrace was past all bearing, especially as it had been
+inflicted on him in the presence of a lady. Burning with the indignation
+befitting his age and profession, and determined to call out the
+insulter, his present object was to meet with a friend whom he might
+send with the message. Luckily for his purpose, he was met by
+Major McToddy.
+
+"Ha! major--never was so happy to see any one in my life," exclaimed
+Chatterton, seizing the hand of his friend--a tall, raw-boned, red-faced
+man, with a good-natured expression of face, not unmixed with a
+considerable share of good sense.
+
+"I really," replied the major, in an accent that was a great deal more
+redolent of Renfrew than Middlesex--"I really jist at this moment dinna
+happen to have a single guinea aboot me, so ye needna go on wi' your
+compliments; but at hame in the kist,--the _arca_, as a body may say"--
+
+"Poh! I don't want to borrow just now--except, indeed, your assistance
+in a matter of the highest importance. You have always been so kind, so
+obliging, that I am sure you wont refuse."
+
+"Weel, say awa', speak on; _perge, puer_, as a body may say,"
+interrupted the major, who seemed resolved to show what command of
+language he had, for he uniformly began his speeches in his vernacular,
+and translated them, though with an effort, into English, or any other
+tongue he chanced to recollect.
+
+"Did you see a lady near the Waterloo? tall, graceful, timid; by
+heavens, a shape to dream of, not to see?"
+
+"Then, what for did ye look at it?--answer that if you
+please--_responde, s'il vous plait_."
+
+"A creature so sweet, so beautiful; ah, McToddy!"
+
+"What's a' this aboot. What's the meaning of all this? Is't in some wild
+play aboot a woman--_une femme,_--a _faemina_, as a body may say, you
+want my help? Gae wa' wi' ye--be off with you,--_apage, Sathanas_, as a
+body may say--I'm owre auld in the horn for sic nonsense--_non
+mihi tantas_."
+
+"I tell you, major, she is the loveliest creature in Europe. Such a foot
+--such shoulders--such a walk--by heavens! I'll shoot him as dead as
+Julius Caesar."
+
+"Who are you going to shoot?--is't a woman in man's claes?" enquired the
+major, astonished.
+
+"I'll shoot him--the cursed, fat, pudgy, beastly rascal, her husband.
+I've never seen her face, but"--
+
+"Lord seff us!--heaven preserve us, as a body may say. Is that a
+respectable reason for shooting a man that you have never seen his
+wife's face? Come, come, be cool, John Chatterton--be cool; _animum
+rege_, as a body may"--
+
+"Cool? a pretty thing for a steady old stager like you, to tell me to
+be cool. I tell you, I've been insulted, threatened, quizzed,
+laughed at."
+
+"Wha laughed at ye?" enquired the major.
+
+"The woman. I'm certain, she must have laughed. How could she avoid it?
+I know she laughed at me; for though I couldn't see her face for the
+horrid veil she kept over it, I saw from the anxiety she was in to hide
+it, from the shaking, of her whole figure, that she was in the
+convulsions of a suppressed titter. I'll shoot him as I would a
+partridge."
+
+"But ye've nae license, sir, nor nae qualification either that I can
+see--for what did the honest man do?" said the major, amazed at the
+wrath of his companion.
+
+"Do! He didn't actually call me a puppy, but he meant it. I know he
+did--I saw it in the twinkle of his light, prying, silly-looking
+eyes--the pucking up of his long, red, sneering lip."
+
+"But ye canna fecht a man--you can't challenge a person, as a body may
+say, for having light eyes and long lips--what mair? _quid ultra?_ as
+a body"--
+
+"He asked me the way to the barracks."
+
+"Weel, there's no great harm in that--_non nocet_, as a"--
+
+"I told him the way, and offered to escort them there; I offered to be
+of any use to them in my power, for I knew every officer in garrison,
+you know, except our own regiment, that only came in to-day; and just
+when I was going to offer my arm to the lovely creature at his side, he
+said that they didn't need my guidance, that they did not desire my
+society--that he could shoot at a popinjay; now, what the devil _is_ a
+popinjay?"
+
+"I'm thinking jay is the English for some sort of a pyet--a tale-bearer,
+as a body may say--a blab."
+
+"A blab!--by heavens, Major M'Toddy, I don't know what to say--if I
+thought the fellow really meant to insinuate any thing of that kind, I
+would horsewhip him though I met him in a church."
+
+"Oho! so your conscience is pricked at last?--_mens sibi non conscia_,
+as a body may say," answered the major. "Noo, I want to speak to you on
+a point of great importance to yourself, my young friend, before you get
+acquainted with the regiment. Hoo long have you been in the depot here,
+John Chatterton?"
+
+"Eighteen months."
+
+"Weel, man, that's a-year-and-a-half, and you must be almost a man noo."
+
+The youth looked somewhat inclined to be angry at this mode of hinting
+that he was still rather juvenile--but the major went on.
+
+"And you were engaged, six months ago, to the beauty you used to tell me
+so much about, Miss Hope of Oakside."
+
+"Yes--yes--well?" replied the youth.
+
+"And what for have ye broke off in such a sudden manner?--_unde rixa?_
+as a body may say."
+
+"I broke off, Major M'Toddy? I tell you _she_ broke off with me."
+
+"Did she tell you so?" enquired the senior.
+
+"No--do you think I would condescend to ask her? No; but doesn't every
+body know that she is married?"
+
+"Have you seen the announcement in the papers?"
+
+"I never look at the papers--but I tell you I know from the best
+authority, that she is either married, or is going to marry an old
+worn-out fellow of the name of Smith. A friend of Smith's told me so,
+the last time I came down by the coach."
+
+"A man on the top of the coach told you that she was going to be
+married--that is, _in vulgum pargere voces_, as a body may say--capital
+authority! And what did you do then?"
+
+"Sent her back her letters--with a tickler to herself on her conduct."
+
+"And was that a'?--did you not write to any of her family?"
+
+"No. Her eldest sister is a very delightful, sensible girl, and I am
+certain must have been as angry at Marion's behaviour as I was."
+
+"And now her brother's come home to-day--you're sure to meet him--it'll
+be an awkward meeting."
+
+"I can meet him or any man in England," replied the youth. "If there's
+any awkwardness about it, it sha'n't be on my side."
+
+"Noo, John Chatterton, my young friend, I'm going to say some words to
+you that ye'll no like. Ye're very vain o' yoursel'--but maybe at your
+time o' life it's not a very great fault to have a decent bump o'
+self-conceit; you're the best-hearted, most honourable-minded,
+pleasantest lad I know any where, and very like some nephews of my own
+in the Company's service: ye'll be a baronet when your father dies, and
+as rich as a Jew. But oh, John Chatterton, ye're an ass--a reg'lar
+donkey, as a body may say, to get into tiffs of passion, and send back a
+beautiful girl's letters, because some land-louping vagabond on the top
+of a coach told you some report or other about a Mr Smith"--
+
+"_Captain_ Smith," said Chatterton, biting his lips; "he's a well known
+man; he was an ensign in this very regiment, succeeded to a large
+fortune, and retired: he's a very old man."
+
+"He's very fine fellow, and as gallant a soldier as ever lived,"
+answered the major; "and if you think that a man of six or
+seven-and-thirty is ow'r auld to marry, by my troth, Mister Chatterton,
+I tak' the liberty to tell you that you labour under a very
+considerable mistake."
+
+Chatterton looked at the irate face of his companion, in which the
+crow-feet of forty years were distinctly visible, and perceived that he
+had gone on a wrong tack.
+
+"Well, but then, major, what the deuce right had she to marry without
+giving me notice of her intentions?"
+
+"Set ye up, and push ye forrit!--marry come up! as a body may say--who
+made you the young lassie's guardian? If you were really engaged to her,
+why didn't you go to Oakside at once and find out the truth, and then go
+instantaneously and kick the fellow you met on the top of the coach,
+round and round the barrack yard, till there was not enough of him left
+to plant your boot on?"
+
+The young man looked down as if a little ashamed of himself.
+
+"Never mind, major," said he, "it can't be helped now; so do, like a
+good fellow, go and find out the little rascal who insulted me so
+horribly just now. It would be an immense satisfaction to pull his nose
+with a regulation glove on."
+
+"But you must describe him, and tell me his name, for it would be a sad
+occurrence if I were to give your message to the wrong man."
+
+"You can't mistake him; the most impudent-looking vulgarian in England.
+His name is Nicholas Clam, living in some unheard-of district near the
+Regent's Park."
+
+"And the lady is his wife, is she?"
+
+"Of course. Who the devil would walk with such a fellow that wasn't
+obliged to do it by law?"
+
+"Well, my young friend, I'll see what's to be done in this matter, and
+will bring you, most likely, a solemn declaration that he never shot at
+a popinjay in his life. And you're really going to end the conversation
+without asking me for a loan? You're not going to be like Virtus, _post
+nummos_ after the siller, as a body may say?"
+
+"No, not to-day, thank you. The governor keeps me rather short just now,
+and won't come down handsome till I'm married; but"--
+
+"So you've lost that and the girl too--the lass and the tocher, as a
+body may say--all by the lies of a blackguard on the top of a coach?
+Ye're a wild lad, John Chatterton, and so _vale, et memor esto mei--au
+revoir_, as a body may say."
+
+The major turned away on warlike thoughts intent, that is to say, with
+the intention of finding out Mr Clam, and enquiring into the
+circumstances of the insult to his friend. Mr Chatterton was also on the
+point of hurrying off, when a gentleman, who had overheard the last
+sentence of the sonorous-voiced major's parting speech, stopped
+suddenly, as if struck by what was said, and politely addressed
+the youth.
+
+"I believe, sir, I heard the name of Chatterton mentioned by the
+gentleman who has just left you?"
+
+"Yes, he was speaking of him."
+
+"Of your regiment, sir?"
+
+"Yes, we have a man of that name," replied Mr Chatterton. "What the
+deuce can this fellow want?"
+
+"I am extremely anxious to meet him," continued the stranger, "as I have
+some business with him of the highest importance."
+
+"Oh, a dun, by Jupiter!" thought the young soldier. He looked at the
+stranger, a very well dressed gentlemanly man--too manlike for a tailor
+--too polished for a horse-dealer; his Wellingtons were brightly
+polished--he was perhaps his boot-maker. "Oh, you wish to see Mr
+Chatterton?" he said aloud.
+
+"Very much," replied the stranger. "I have some business with him that
+admits of no delay."
+
+"An arrest at least," thought the youth. "I wish to heaven M'Toddy had
+not left me! Is it fair to ask," he continued, aloud, "of what nature
+your business is with Mr Chatterton? I am his most intimate
+acquaintance; whatever you say to me is sure to reach him."
+
+"I must speak to him myself, sir," replied the stranger, coldly. "Where
+am I likely to find him?"
+
+"Oh, most likely at the bankers," said the young man, by way of putting
+his questioner on the wrong scent. "He has just stept into an immense
+fortune from a maiden aunt, and is making arrangements to pay off all
+his debts."
+
+"There are some he will find it difficult to settle," replied the
+stranger with a sneer, "in spite of his new-found wealth."
+
+"Indeed, sir! What an exorbitant Jew this fellow is; and yet I never
+signed any bond!"
+
+"Yes, sir," continued the other, with a bitterer sneer than before, "and
+at the same time such as he can't deny. I have vouchers for
+every charge."
+
+"Well, he will not dispute your charges. I daresay they are much the
+same as those of other people in the same situation with yourself."
+
+"Are there others in that condition?" enquired the stranger; "what an
+unprincipled scoundrel!"
+
+"Who, sir? How dare you apply such language to a gentleman?"
+
+"I did not, sir, apply it to a gentleman; I applied it to Mr
+Chatterton."
+
+"To _me_, sir! It was to me! _I'm_ Mr Chatterton, sir; and now, out with
+your writ--whose suit? What's the amount? Is it Stulz or Dean?"
+
+The stranger steps back on this announcement, and politely but coldly
+lifted his hat.
+
+"Oh, curse your politeness!" exclaimed the young man, in the extremity
+of anger. "Where's the bill?"
+
+"I don't know your meaning, sir," answered the stranger, "in talking
+about writs and bills; but"--
+
+"Why--are you not a tailor, or a bootmaker, or something of the kind?
+Don't you say you have claims on me, and don't you talk of charges with
+vouchers, and heaven knows what? Come, let us hear. I'll give you a
+promissory note, and I daresay my friend Major M'Toddy will give me his
+security."
+
+"I thought you had recently succeeded to a fortune, sir? but that, I
+suppose, was only another of your false and unfounded assertions. Do you
+know me, sir?"
+
+"No--except that you are the most insulting scoundrel I ever met, and
+that I wish you were worth powder and shot."
+
+"Let that pass, sir," continued the stranger, with a bitter smile. "Did
+you ever hear of Captain Smith, sir?"
+
+"Of twenty, sir. I know fifteen Captain Smiths most intimately."
+
+"But I happen to be one of the five unhonoured by your acquaintance. You
+are acquainted with Mrs Smith; sir?"
+
+"I'm acquainted with three-and-twenty, sir. What then?"
+
+"I was in hopes, that the recollection of Oakside would have induced you
+to treat her name with more respect."
+
+Chatterton's brow grew dark with rage. "So, then," he said, lifting his
+hat with even more pride and coldness than his adversary--"so, then,
+you're the Captain Smith I have heard of, and it was no false report? I
+am delighted, sir, to see you here, and to know that you are a
+gentleman, that I may, without degradation to her Majesty's commission,
+put a bullet or two into your body. Your insulting conduct deserves
+chastisement, sir, and it shall have it."
+
+"With all my heart," replied Captain Smith; the pleasure of calling you
+to account was the object of my visit. I accept your challenge--only
+wondering that you have spirit and honour enough left to resent an
+intentional affront. Can we meet to-night?"
+
+"Certainly. I shall send a friend to you in half an hour. He is gone on
+a similar message to another person already; and I will let you know at
+what hour I shall be disengaged."
+
+"Agreed," said Captain Smith; and the enemies, after a deep and formal
+bow on either side, pursued their way in different directions.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+In the meanwhile Mr Nicholas Clam, and the lady leaning on his arm, had
+proceeded in silence, for the lady's thoughts were so absorbed that she
+paid no attention to the many prefatory coughs with which her companion
+was continually clearing his throat. He thought of fifty different ways
+of commencing a conversation, and putting an end to the rapid pace they
+were going at. But onward still hurried the lady, and breathless, tired,
+disconcerted, and very much perplexed, Mr Clam was obliged to continue
+at her side.
+
+"This all comes of Mrs Moss writing a book," he muttered, "and being a
+philosophical character. What business had she to go publishing all that
+wonderful big volume above my mantel-piece--'Woman's Dignity; developed
+in Dialogues?' Without that she never would have found out that I could
+not be a sympathizing companion without the advantages of travel, and I
+never should have left number four, to be quarrelled with by every
+whipper-snapper of a soldier, and dragged to death by a woman unknown--a
+synonymous personage, as Mrs M. would say, that I encountered in a
+coach. 'Pon my word, ma'am," he added aloud, driven to desperation by
+fear of apoplexy from the speed they were hurrying on with, "this is
+carrying matters a little too far, or a great deal too fast at least.
+Will you let me ask you one question, ma'am?"
+
+"Certainly, sir," replied the lady; "but oh, do not delay!"
+
+"But I must delay though, for who do you think can have breath enough
+both to speak and run? And now, will you tell me, ma'am, what all this
+is about--why that young soldier and I were forced to quarrel--what you
+came down from London for, and what you are going to do at the
+barracks?"
+
+"You will hear it all, sir; you shall know all when we arrive. But do
+not harrow my feelings at present, I beseech you. It may all end well,
+if we are in time; but if not"--
+
+The look of the lady, and her tone as she said this, did not by any
+means contribute to Mr Clam's satisfaction. However, he perceived at
+once that further attempts to penetrate the mystery would be useless,
+and he kept musing on the strangeness of the circumstance, as profoundly
+puzzled as before. On getting into the barrack-yard, the lady muffled
+herself in her veil more closely than ever, and asked one of the
+soldiers she met in the archway, if Captain Hope "was in his room?"
+
+"He's not come ashore yet, ma'am," said the soldier, "we expect him
+every moment with the last detachment from the transport."
+
+"Not come yet?" exclaimed the lady; "which way will they march in?"
+
+"Up the Main Street, and across the drawbridge," said the soldier,
+goodnaturedly.
+
+"I wished to see him--to see him alone. Oh, how unfortunate he is not
+arrived!"
+
+"Now, 'pon my word," muttered Mr Clam, "this is by no means a favourable
+specimen of woman's dignity developed in dialogues. I wish my infernal
+thirst for knowledge and swelling-out the intellect hadn't led me into
+an acquaintance with a critter so desperate fond of the soldiers; and
+Captain Hope, too! Oh, I see how it is--this here lady, in spite of all
+her veils and pretences, is no better than she should be; or rather, a
+great deal worse. Think of Mrs M. falling into hysterics about a Captain
+Hope! It's a case of a breach of promise. What should we do now, ma'am?"
+he said, anxious to disengage himself, and a little piqued at the want
+of confidence his advances had hitherto been received with. "If you'll
+tell me the whole story, I shall be able to advise"--
+
+"Oh, you will know it all ere long. Soldier," she said to the man who
+had answered her former questions, "is there any lady in the
+barrack--the wife of one of the officers?"
+
+"There's our colonel, ma'am--at least the colonel's wife, ma'am; she's
+inspecting the regiments baggage in the inner court"
+
+"Come, come!" said the lady hurriedly, on hearing this, and again Mr
+Clam was forced along. In the inner court a stout lady, dressed in a
+man's hat and a green riding-habit without the skirts, was busily
+employed in taking the numbers of an amazing quantity of trunks and
+boxes, and seeing that all was right, with the skill and quickness of
+the guard of a heavy coach. She looked up quickly when she saw Mr Clam
+and his companion approach.
+
+"I hope you will pardon me, madam, for addressing you," said the
+latter, dropping Mr Clam's arm, and lifting her veil.
+
+"Be quick about it," said the colonel's wife; "I've no time to put off.
+Hand down that box, No. 19, H. G.," she continued to a sergeant who was
+perched on the top of the luggage.
+
+"I wished to see you on a very interesting subject, madam."
+
+"Love, I'll bet a guinea--who has deserted you now?--that green chest,
+Henicky, No. 34."
+
+"There is an officer in this regiment of the name of Chatterton?"
+
+"Yes, he's one of my young men, though I've not seen him yet. What
+then?"
+
+"Can I speak to you for a minute alone?"
+
+"If it's on regimental business, I shall listen to you, of course; but
+if it's some nonsensical love affair, you must go to Colonel Sword. I
+never trouble myself about such matters."
+
+"If I could see Colonel Sword, madam"--
+
+"Why can't you see him? Go into the commandant's room. You'll find him
+rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington, my youngest son! That other
+box, Henicky, L. M. And who is this old man with you?" continued Mrs
+Sword. "Your attorney, I suppose? See that you aren't ducked at the pump
+before you get out, old man; for I allow no lawyers inside these walls."
+
+"Ma'am?" enquired Mr Clam, bewildered at the sudden address of the
+officer in command.
+
+"It's a fact, as you'll find; so, make haste, young woman, and Sword
+will settle your business."
+
+"Captain Hope is not come on shore yet, I believe?" said the lady.
+
+"Charlie Hope? No! he's bringing the men and baggage. Has _he_ deserted
+you too? Go to Sword, I tell you; and let your legal friend retreat
+without beat of drum. How many chests is this, Henicky?"
+
+The Amazonian Mrs Sword proceeded with her work, and Mr Clam stood
+stupified with surprise. His companion, in the mean time, proceeded as
+directed to the commandant's house, and in a short time found herself in
+presence of Colonel Sword.
+
+The colonel was a tall thin man, with a very pale face, and a very
+hooked nose. He was not exactly rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington,
+as supposed by his wife, but he was reposing in an easy attitude, with
+his head thrown back, and his feet thrown forward, and his hands deeply
+ensconced in his pockets. The apparition of a stranger roused him in a
+moment. He was as indefatigable in politeness, as his wife had been in
+her regimental duties.
+
+"I was in hopes of finding my brother, Captain Hope, in the barracks,
+sir," she began; "but as I am disappointed, I throw myself on your
+indulgence, in requesting a few minutes' private conversation."
+
+"A sister of Captain Hope? delighted to see you, my dear--did you see
+Mrs Sword as you came in?"
+
+"For a minute, but she was busy, and referred me to you."
+
+"She's very good, I am sure," said the colonel.--"How can I be of use?"
+
+"I have a sister, Colonel Sword, very thoughtless, and very young. She
+became acquainted about a year ago with Mr Chatterton of your
+regiment--they were engaged--all the friends on both sides approved of
+the match, and all of a sudden Mr Chatterton wrote a very insulting
+letter, and withdrew from his engagement."
+
+"The devil he did? Is your sister like you, my dear?"
+
+"We are said to be like, but she is much younger--only eighteen."
+
+"Then this Chatterton is an ass. Good God! what chances silly fellows
+throw away! And what would you have me do?"
+
+"Prevent a duel, Colonel Sword. My brother is hot and fiery; Mr
+Chatterton is rash and headstrong. There will be enquiries,
+explanations, quarrels, and bloodshed. Oh, Colonel, help me to guard
+against so dreadful a calamity. I was anxious to see Charles, to tell
+him that the rupture was on Marion's side--that she had taken a dislike
+to Chatterton. We have kept it secret from every body yet. I haven't
+even told my husband."
+
+"You're married, then?"
+
+"To Captain Smith, once of this regiment."
+
+"Ah, an old friend. Give me your hand, my dear--we must keep those wild
+young fellows in order. If I see them look at each other, I'll put them
+both in arrest. But what can be the meaning of Chatterton's behaviour? I
+hear such good reports of him from all hands! M'Toddy writes me he is
+the finest young man in the corps."
+
+"I can't pretend to guess. He merely returned all my sister's letters,
+and wished her happy in her new position."
+
+"What position was that?"
+
+"A very unhappy one. She has been ill and nervous ever since."
+
+"So she liked the rascal. Strange creatures you girls are! Well, I'll do
+my best. I'll give my wife a hint of it, and you may depend on it, if
+she takes it in hand, there will be no quarrelling under her--I mean
+under my command. If you go towards the harbour, you'll most likely
+encounter your brother. In the meantime, I will go to Chatterton, and
+take all necessary precautions. And Captain Smith knows nothing
+of this?"
+
+"Nothing.--He was on a visit at Oakside, my sister's home, and I took
+the opportunity of his absence, to run down and explain matters to
+Charles. I must return to town immediately; for if I am missed, my
+husband will make enquiries, and he will be more difficult to pacify
+than my brother." So saying, they parted after a warm shake of the
+hand--but great events had occurred in the meantime in the barrack-yard.
+
+"Who is that young woman?" said the Colonel's wife, to our astonished
+friend Mr Clam. "Have you lost your tongue, sir?--who is she, I say?"
+
+"If you were to draw me with horses, I could'nt tell you, ma'am--'pon my
+solemn davit," said Mr Clam.
+
+"Oh, you won't tell, won't you?" returned the lady, cocking her hat, and
+leaving the mountain of baggage to the care of her friend Sergeant
+Henicky. "I tell you, sir, I insist on knowing; and if you don't confess
+this moment, I shall perhaps find means to make you."
+
+"Me, ma'am? How is it possible for me to confess, when I tell you I know
+nothing about her? I travelled with her from London in the coach--am
+very likely to get shot by a young soldier on her account--brought her
+here at a rate that has taken away all my breath--and know no more about
+her than you do."
+
+"A likely story!--but it won't do for me, sir; no, sir--I see you are an
+attorney--ready to prosecute some of my poor young men for breach of
+promise; but we stand no nonsense of that kind in the gallant Sucking
+Pidgeons. So, trot off, old man, and take your decoy-duck with you, or I
+think its extremely likely you'll be tost in a blanket. Do you hear?--go
+for your broken-hearted Desdemona, and double-quick out of the yard.
+I'll teach a set of lawyers to come playing the Jew to my young men.
+They shall jilt every girl in England if they think proper, and serve
+them right too--and no pitiful green-bag rascal shall trouble them about
+such trifles--right about face--march"--
+
+"Madam," said Mr Clam, in the extremity of amazement and fear, "did you
+ever happen to read 'Woman's Dignity, developed in Dialogues?' It's
+written by my friend, Mrs Moss, No. 5, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road,
+Regent's Park--in fact, she's my next door neighbour--a clever woman,
+but corpulent, very corpulent--you never met with 'Woman's Dignity,
+developed in Dialogues?'"
+
+"Woman's idiocy, enveloped in petticoats! Who the devil cares about
+woman, or her dignity either? I never could bear the contemptible
+wretches. No--give me a man--a good, stout-hearted, front-rank
+man--there's some dignity there--with the eye glaring, nostril widening,
+bayonet fixed, and double-quick the word, against the enemies' line. But
+woman's dignity!--let her sit and sew--work squares for ottomans, or
+borders for chair-bottoms--psha!--beat a retreat, old man, or you'll be
+under the pump in two minutes. I'll teach you to talk nonsense about
+your women--I will--as sure as my name is Jane Sword and I command the
+Sucking Pigeons!"
+
+"Pigeons don't suck, ma'am. Mrs M. lent me book of nat'ral history"--
+
+"You'll find they'll bite, tho'--Henicky, take a corporal's guard,
+and"--
+
+"Oh no, for heaven's sake, ma'am!" exclaimed Mr Clam. "Your servant,
+ma'am. I'm off this moment."
+
+The unhappy victim of Mrs Moss's advice to travel for the improvement of
+his mind, thought it best to follow the orders of the military lady in
+the riding-habit, and retired as quickly as he could from the barrack
+yard. But, on arriving at the outer archway, shame, or curiosity, or
+some other feeling, made him pause. "Am I to go away," he thought,
+"after all, without finding out who the lady is or what business brought
+her here--what she knows about Chatterton--and what she wants with Hope?
+There's a mystery in it all. Mrs M. would never forgive me if I didn't
+find it out. I'll wait for the pretty critter--for she is a pretty
+critter, in spite of her not telling me her story--I think I never saw
+such eyes in my life. Yes--I'll wait." Mr Clam accordingly stopped
+short, and looked sharply all round, to watch if his fair companion was
+coming. She was still detained in the colonel's room.
+
+"Will you pardon me for addressing a stranger, sir?" said a gentleman,
+politely bowing to Mr Clam.
+
+"Oh, if it's to ask what o'clock it is, or when the coach starts, or any
+thing like that, I shall be happy to answer you, sir, if I can," replied
+Mr Clam, whose liking for new acquaintances had not been much increased
+by the events of the day.
+
+"I should certainly not have taken the liberty of applying to you,"
+continued the stranger, "if it had not been under very peculiar
+circumstances."
+
+"Are they very peculiar, sir?" enquired Mr Clam.
+
+"Yes--as you shall have explained to you some other time."
+
+"Oh, you won't tell them now, won't you? Here's another mystery. 'Pon my
+word, sir, so many queer things happen in this town, that I wish I had
+never come into it. I came down only to-day per coach"--
+
+"That's fortunate, sir; if you are a stranger here, your service to me
+will be greater."
+
+"What is it you want? My neighbour in No. 5--a very talented woman, but
+big, uncommonly big--says in her book, never purchase the offspring of
+the sty enveloped in canvass--which means, never meddle with any thing
+you don't know."
+
+"You shall know all--but I must first ask, if you are satisfied, will
+you be my friend in a troublesome matter in which I am a party?"
+
+"Oh, you're in a troublesome matter too, are you?--as for me, I came
+down from London with such a critter, so pretty, so gentle, such a
+perfect angel to look at!"
+
+"Oh, I don't wish to have your confidence in such affairs. I am pressed
+for time," replied the stranger, smiling.
+
+"But I tell you, I am trying to find out what the matter is that you
+need my help in."
+
+"I beg pardon. I thought you were telling me an adventure of your own"--
+
+"Well sir, this beautiful critter asked my help, just as you're
+doing--dragged me hither and thither, first asking for one soldier,
+then another."
+
+"And finally, smiling very sweetly on yourself. I know their ways--said
+the stranger.
+
+"Do you, now? Not joking?--Oh lord! the sooner the better, for such lips
+to smile with, are not met with every day. Well sir, then there came up
+a puppy fellow of the name of Chatterton."
+
+"Oh, Chatterton!" said the stranger; "that is curious."
+
+"And insulted us, either her or me I forget which; but I blew him up,
+and he said he would send a friend to me"--here a new thought seemed to
+strike Mr Clam--his countenance assumed a very anxious expression--
+"you're not his friend, sir?" he asked.
+
+"No sir; far from it. He is the very person with whom I have the
+quarrel."
+
+"You've quarrelled with him too? Another breach of promise?--a wild dog
+that Chatterton."
+
+"Another breach! I did not know that that was _your_ cause of quarrel."
+
+"Nor I; 'pon my solemn davit, I'm as ignorant as a child of what my
+quarrel is about; all that I know is, that my beautiful companion seemed
+to hate the sight of him."
+
+"Then I trust you won't refuse me your assistance, since you have
+insults of your own to chastise. I expect his message every moment. My
+name is Captain Smith."
+
+"And mine, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place, Welling"--
+
+"Then, gentlemen," said Major M'Toddy, lifting his hat, "I'm a lucky
+man--_fortunatus nimium_, as a body may say, to find you both together;
+for I am charged with an invitation to you from my friend Mr
+Chatterton."
+
+"Oh! he wants to make it up, does he, and asks us to dinner? No. I won't
+go," said Mr Clam.
+
+"Then you know the alternative, I suppose!" said the Major.
+
+"To pay for my own dinner at the inn," replied Mr Clam; "of course I
+know that."
+
+The Major threw a glance at Mr Clam, which he would probably have taken
+the trouble to translate into two or three languages, although it was
+sufficiently intelligible without any explanations, but he had no time.
+He turned to Captain Smith, and said:--
+
+"I'm very sorry, Captain Smith, to make your acquaintance on such a
+disagreeable occasion. I've heard so much of you from mutual friends,
+that I feel as if I had known you myself, _quod facit per alium facit
+per se_--I'm Major M'Toddy of this regiment."
+
+"I have long wished to know you, Major, and I hope even this matter need
+not extend any of its bitterness to us."
+
+The gentlemen here shook hands very cordially--
+
+"Well, that's a rum way," said Mr Clam, "of asking a fellow to go out
+and be shot at. But this whole place is a mystery. I'll listen, however,
+and find out what this is all about."
+
+"And noo, Captain Smith, let me say a word in your private ear."
+
+"Privateer! that's a sort of ship," said Mr Clam.
+
+"I hate eaves-droppers," continued the Major, with another glance at Mr
+Clam--"_odi profanum vulgus_, as a body may say--and a minute's talk
+will maybe explain matters."
+
+"I doubt the power of a minute's talk for any such purpose," said
+Captain Smith, with a smile; "but," going a few yards further from Mr
+Clam at the same time--"I shall listen to you with pleasure."
+
+"Weel, then, I canna deny--_convenio_, as a body may say--that in the
+first instance, you played rather a severe trick on Mr Chatterton."
+
+"I play a trick!" exclaimed Captain Smith; "I don't understand you. But
+proceed, I beg. I will not interrupt you."
+
+"But then, on the other hand, it's not to be denied that Mr Chatterton's
+method of showing his anger was highly reprehensible."
+
+"His anger, Major M'Toddy!"
+
+"'Deed ay, just his anger--_ira furor brevis_--and it's really very
+excusable in a proud-spirited young man to resent his being jilted in
+such a sudden and barefaced manner."
+
+"_He_ jilted! but again I beg pardon--go on."
+
+"Nae doubt--_sine dubio_, as a body may say--the lassie had a right to
+change her mind; and if she thought proper to prefer you to him, I canna
+see what law, human or divine"--
+
+"Does the puppy actually try to excuse himself on so base a calumny as
+that Marion preferred me? Major M'Toddy, I am here to receive your
+message; pray deliver it, and let us settle this matter as soon as
+possible."
+
+"Whar's the calumny?" said the major. "You wadna have me to believe,
+Captain Smith, that the lady does not prefer you to him?"
+
+"Now perhaps she does, for she has sense enough and pride enough, I
+hope, to despise him; but never girl was more attached to a man in the
+world than she to Chatterton. Her health is gone--she has lost the
+liveliness of youth. No, no--I am much afraid, in spite of all that has
+passed, she is fond of the fellow yet."
+
+"How long have you suspected this?" enquired the major.
+
+"For some time; before my marriage, of course, I had not such good
+opportunities of judging as I have had since."
+
+"Of course, of course," said the major, in a sympathizing tone; "it's
+bad business. But if you had these suspicions before, what for did
+you marry?"
+
+"Why? Do you think things of that sort should hinder a man from marrying
+the girl he likes? Mrs Smith regrets it as much as I do."
+
+"Then what for did she not tell Chatterton she was going to marry you?"
+
+"What right had he to know, sir?"
+
+"A vera good right, I think; or if he hadna, I wad like to know wha
+had?"
+
+"There, sir, we differ in opinion. Will you deliver your message, name
+your place and hour, and I shall meet you. I shall easily get a friend
+in this town, though I thought it better at one time to apply to a
+civilian; but I fear," he added, with a smile, "my friend Mr Clam will
+scarcely do."
+
+"I really dinna ken--I positively don't know, as a body may say, how to
+proceed in this matter. In the first place, if your wife is over fond of
+Chatterton."
+
+"My wife, sir?"
+
+"'Deed ay--_placens uxor_, as a body may say--I say if your wife
+continues to like Chatterton, you had better send a message to him, and
+not he to you."
+
+"So I would, if she gave me occasion, Major M'Toddy; but if your friend
+boasts of any thing of that kind, his conduct is still more infamous and
+intolerable than I thought it."
+
+"But your ainsel'--your own self told me so this minute."
+
+"You mistake, sir. I say that Marion Hope, my wife's sister, is still
+foolish enough to like him."
+
+"Your wife's sister! You didna marry Chatterton's sweetheart?"
+
+"No, sir--her elder sister."
+
+"Oh, lord, if I had my fingers round the thrapple o' that leein'
+scoundrel on the tap of the coach! Gie me your hand, Captain Smith--it's
+all a mistake. I'll set it right in two minutes. Come with me to
+Chatterton's rooms--ye'll make him the happiest man in England. He's wud
+wi' love--mad with affection, as a body may say. He thought you had run
+off with his sweetheart, and it was only her sister!"
+
+Captain Smith began to have some glimmerings of the real state of the
+case; and Mr Clam was on the point of going up to where they stood to
+make further enquiries for the improvement of his mind, when his
+travelling companion, again deeply veiled, laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"Move not for your life!" she said.
+
+"I'm not agoing to move, ma'am."
+
+"Let them go," she continued; "we can get down by a side street. If they
+see me, I'm lost."
+
+"Lost again! The mystery grows deeper and deeper."
+
+"One of these is my husband."
+
+Mr Clam drops her arm. "A married woman, and running after captains and
+colonels! Will you explain a little ma'am, for my head is so puzzled,
+that hang me if I know whether I stand on my head or my heels?"
+
+"Not now--sometime or other you will perhaps know all; but come with me
+to the beach--all will end well."
+
+"Will it?--then I hope to heaven it will end soon, for an hour or two
+more of this will kill me."
+
+The two gentlemen, in the meantime, had disappeared, and Mr Clam was on
+the eve of being hurried off to the harbour, when a young officer came
+rapidly towards them.
+
+"Charles!" cried the lady, and put her arms round his neck.
+
+"There she goes!" said Mr Clam--"another soldier!--She'll know the whole
+army soon."
+
+"Mary!" exclaimed the soldier--"so good, so kind of you to come to
+receive me."
+
+"I wished to see you particularly," she said, "alone, for one minute."
+
+The brother and sister retired to one side, leaving Mr Clam once more
+out of ear-shot.
+
+"More whispering!" muttered that disappointed gentleman. "This can never
+enlarge the intellect or improve the mind. Mrs M. is a humbug--not a
+drop of information can I get for love or money. Nothing but whisperings
+here, closetings there--all that comes to my share is threats of
+shootings and duckings under pumps. I'll go back to Waterloo Place this
+blessed night, and burn 'Woman's Dignity' the moment I get home."
+
+"Then let us go to Chatterton's rooms," said the young officer, giving
+his arm to his sister; "I have no doubt he will explain it all, and I
+shall be delighted to see your husband."
+
+"She's going to see her husband! She's the wickedest woman in England,"
+said Mr Clam, who caught the last sentence.
+
+"Still here'" said a voice at his ear--"lurking about the barracks!"
+
+He looked round and saw the irate features of the tremendous Mrs Sword.
+He made a rapid bolt and disappeared, as if he had a pulk of Cossacks in
+full chase at his heels.
+
+The conversation of the good-natured Colonel Sword with Chatterton had
+opened that young hero's eye so entirely to the folly of his conduct,
+that it needed many encouraging speeches from his superior to keep him
+from sinking into despair.--"That I should have been such a fool," he
+said, "as to think that Marion would prefer any body to me!" Such was
+the style of his soliloquy, from which it will be perceived, that in
+spite of his discovery of his stupidity, he had not entirely lost his
+good opinion of himself--"to think that she would marry an old fellow of
+thirty-six! What will she think of me! How lucky I did not write to my
+father that I had broken matters off. Do you think she'll ever forgive
+me, colonel?"
+
+"Forgive you, my, dear fellow?" said the colonel; "girls, as Mrs Sword
+says, are such fools, they'll forgive any thing."
+
+"And Captain Smith!--a fine gentlemanly fellow--the husband of Marion's
+sister--I have insulted him--I must fight him, of course."
+
+"No fighting here, young man; you must apologize if you've done wrong;
+if not, he must apologize to you; Mrs Sword would never look over a duel
+between two Sucking Pigeons."
+
+"Then _I_ must apologize."
+
+"Ye canna have a better chance--you can't have a better opportunity, as
+a body may say," said the bilingual major, entering the room, "for
+here's Captain Smith ready to accept it."
+
+"With all his heart, I assure you," said that gentleman, shaking
+Chatterton's hand; "so I beg you'll say no more about it."
+
+"This is all right--just as it should be," said the Colonel. "Captain
+Smith, you'll plead poor Chatterton's cause with the offended lady."
+
+"Perhaps the culprit had better be his own advocate--he will find the
+court very favourably disposed; and as the judge is herself at the
+Waterloo hotel"--
+
+"Marion here!" exclaimed Chatterton; "good heavens, what an atrocious
+ass I have been!"
+
+"She is indeed," replied the Captain. "I knew she would be anxious to
+receive her brother Charles on his landing, and as I had wormed out from
+her the circumstances of this lover's quarrel"--
+
+"_Amantium ira amoris redintegratio est_--as a body may say," interposed
+Major M'Toddy.
+
+"And was determined to enquire into it, I thought that the pretence of
+welcoming Captain Hope would allay any suspicion of my intention; and
+so, with her good mother's permission, I brought her down, leaving my
+wife in Henley Street"--
+
+"Where she didn't long remain," said no other than Captain Charles Hope,
+himself leading in Mrs Smith, the mysterious travelling acquaintance
+of Mr Clam.
+
+"Do you forgive me," she said to her husband, "for coming down without
+your knowledge?"
+
+"I suppose I must," said Captain Smith, laughing, "on condition that you
+pardon me for the same offence?"
+
+"And noo, then," said Major M'Toddy, "I propose that we all, together
+and singly, _conjunctim ac separatim_--as a body may say--go down
+instanter to the Waterloo Hotel. We can arrange every thing there better
+than here, for we must hear the other side--_audi alteram partem_, as a
+body may say."
+
+"This will be a regular _jour de noce_, as you would say, Major,"
+remarked Colonel Sword, giving his arm to Mrs Smith.
+
+"It's a _nos non nobis_, poor auld bachelors--as a body may say,"
+replied the Major, and the whole party proceeded to the hotel.
+
+Mr Clan, on making his escape from the fulminations of Mrs Sword, had
+been rejoiced to see his carpet-bag still resting against the wall under
+the archway of the inn, as he had left it when he first arrived.
+
+"Waiter!" he cried; and the same long-haired individual in the blue
+coat, with the napkin over his arm, came to his call.
+
+"Is there any coach to London this evening?"
+
+"Yes, sir--at half-past six."
+
+"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Mr Clam, "I shall get out of this infernal
+town. Waiter!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I came from London to-day with a lady--close veiled, all muffled up.
+She is a married woman, too--more shame for her."
+
+"Yes, sir. Do you dine before you go, sir." said the waiter, not
+attending to Mr Clan's observations.
+
+"No. Her husband doesn't know she's here; but, waiter, Mr Chatterton
+does." Mr Clam accompanied this piece of information with a significant
+wink, which, however, made no sensible impression on the waiter's mind.
+
+"Yes, Chatterton does; for you may depend on it, by this time he's found
+out who she is."
+
+"Yes, sir. Have you secured a place, sir?"
+
+"Now, she wouldn't have her husband know she is here for the world."
+
+"Outside or in, sir? The office is next door"--continued the waiter.
+
+"Then, there's a tall gentleman, who speaks with a curious accent. I
+wonder who the deuce _he_ can be."
+
+"No luggage but this, sir? Porter will take it to the office, sir."
+
+"Nor that dreadful he-woman in the hat--who the mischief can _she_ be?
+What had Chatterton done?--who is the husband?--who is the lady? Waiter,
+is there a lunatic asylum here?"
+
+"No, sir. We've a penitentiary."
+
+"Then, 'pon my davit, the young woman"--
+
+But Mr Clam's observation, whatever it was--and it was evidently not
+very complimentary to his travelling companion--was interrupted by the
+entrance of the happy party from Chatterton's rooms.
+
+Mr Clam looked first at the colonel and Captain Hope, and Mrs Smith--but
+they were so busy in their own conversation, that they did not observe
+him. Then followed Major M'Toddy, Captain Smith, and Mr Chatterton.
+
+"Here's our civil friend," said the Major--"_amicas noster_, as a body
+may say."
+
+"Oh, by Jove!" said Mr Chatterton, "I ought to teach this fellow a
+lesson in natural history."
+
+"He's the scientific naturalist that called you popinjay," continued the
+major--"_ludit convivia miles_, as a body may say."
+
+"He's the fellow that refused to be my friend, and told me some foolish
+story of his flirtations with a lady he met in the coach," added
+Captain Smith.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Mr Clam, "I'm here in search of information; will you
+have the kindness to tell me what we have all been fighting, and
+quarrelling, and whispering and threatening about for the last two
+hours? My esteemed and talented neighbour, the author of 'Women's
+Dignity developed in Dialogues'"--
+
+"May gang to the deevil," interposed Major M'Toddy--_abeat in malam
+crucem_, as a body may say--We've no time for havers, _i prae, sequar_,
+as a body may say. What's the number of her room?"
+
+"No. 14," said the Captain, and the three gentlemen passed on.
+
+"_Her_ room!" said Mr Clam, "another lady! Waiter!"
+
+"Yes sir."
+
+"I'll send you a post-office order for five shillings, if you'll find
+out all this, and let me know the particulars--address to me, No. 4,
+Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I've done every
+thing in my power to gain information according to the advice of Mrs M.,
+but it's of no use. Let me know as soon as you discover any thing, and
+I'll send you the order by return of post."
+
+"Coach is coming, sir," said the waiter.
+
+"And I'm going; and very glad I am to get out of the town alive. And as
+to the female banditti in the riding habit, with all the trunks and
+boxes; if you'll let me know"--
+
+"The coach can't wait a moment, sir."
+
+Mr Clam cast a despairing look as he saw his last hope of finding out
+the mystery disappear. He stept into the inside of the coach--
+
+"Coachman," he said, with his foot on the step--"There's no lady inside,
+is there?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then drive on; if there had been, I wouldn't have travelled a mile with
+her." The roll of the coach drowned the remainder of Mr Clam's
+eloquence; and it is much feared that his enquiries have been
+unsuccessful to the present day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE.
+
+
+    A Steam-voyage to Constantinople, by the Rhine and Danube, in
+    1840-41, and to Portugal, Spain, &c. By the Marquis of
+    Londonderry. In 2 vols. 8vo.
+
+
+We have a very considerable respect for the writer of the Tour of which
+we are about to give extracts in the following pages. The Marquis of
+Londonderry is certainly no common person. We are perfectly aware that
+he has been uncommonly abused by the Whigs--which we regard as almost a
+necessary tribute to his name; that he has received an ultra share of
+libel from the Radicals--which we regard as equally to his honour; and
+that he is looked on by all the neutrals, of whatever colour, as a
+personage too straightforward to be managed by a bow and a smile. Yet,
+for all these things, we like him the better, and wish, as says the
+old song--
+
+    "We had within the realm
+    Five hundred good as he."
+
+He is a straightforward, manly, and high-spirited noble, making up his
+mind without fee or reward, and speaking it with as little fear as he
+made it up; managing a large and turbulent population with that
+authority which derives its force from good intention; constant in his
+attendance on his parliamentary duty; plainspoken there, as he is every
+where; and possessing the influence which sincerity gives in every part
+of the world, however abounding in polish and place-hunting.
+
+His early career, too, has been manly. He was a soldier, and a gallant
+one. His mission to the Allied armies, in the greatest campaign ever
+made in Europe, showed that he had the talents of council as well as of
+the field; and his appointment as ambassador to Vienna, gave a character
+of spirit, and even of splendour, to British diplomacy which it had
+seldom exhibited before, and which, it is to be hoped, it may recover
+with as little delay as possible.
+
+We even like his employment of his superfluous time. Instead of giving
+way to the fooleries of fashionable life, the absurdities of galloping
+after hares and foxes, for months together, at Melton, or the patronage
+of those scenes of perpetual knavery which belong to the race-course,
+the Marquis has spent his vacations in making tours to the most
+remarkable parts of Europe. It is true that Englishmen are great
+travellers, and that our nobility are in the habit of wandering over the
+Continent. But the world knows no more of their discoveries, if they
+make such, or of their views of society and opinions of governments, if
+they ever take the trouble to form any upon the subject, than of their
+notions of the fixed stars. That there are many accomplished among them,
+many learned, and many even desirous to acquaint themselves with what
+Burke called "the mighty modifications of the human race," beginning
+with a land within fifteen miles of our shores, and spreading to the
+extremities of the earth, we have no doubt. But in the countless
+majority of instances, the nation reaps no more benefit from their
+travels than if they had been limited from Bond Street to Berkeley
+Square. This cannot be said of the Marquis of Londonderry. He travels
+with his eyes open, looking for objects of interest, and recording them.
+We are not now about to give him any idle panegyric on the occasion. We
+regret that his tours are so rapid, and his journals so brief. He passes
+by many objects which we should wish to see illustrated, and turns off
+from many topics on which we should desire to hear the opinions of a
+witness on the spot. But we thank him for what he has given; hope that
+he will spend his next autumn and many others as he has spent the
+former; and wish him only to write more at large, to give us more
+characters of the rank with which he naturally associates, draw more
+contrasts between the growing civilization of the European kingdoms and
+our own; and, adhering to his own straightforward conceptions, and
+telling them in his own sincere style, give us an annual volume as long
+as he lives.
+
+Steam-boats and railways have produced one curious effect, which no one
+anticipated. Of all _levellers_ they are the greatest. Their superiority
+to all other modes of travelling crowds them with the peer as well as
+the peasant. Cabinets, and even queens, now abandon their easy, but
+lazy, equipages for the bird-like flight of iron and fire, and though
+the "special train" still sounds exclusive, the principle of commixture
+is already there, and all ranks will sweep on together.
+
+The Marquis, wisely adopting the bourgeois mode of travelling, set forth
+from the Tower Stairs, on a lovely morning at the close of August 1840.
+Fifty years ago, the idea of a general, an ambassador, and a peer, with
+his marchioness and suite, embarking on board the common conveyance of
+the common race of mankind, would have been regarded as an absolute
+impossibility; but the common sense of the world has now decided
+otherwise. Speed and safety are wisely judged to be valuable
+compensations for state and seclusion; and when we see majesty itself,
+after making the experiment of yachts and frigates, quietly and
+comfortably return to its palace on board a steamer, we may be the less
+surprised at finding the Marquis of Londonderry and his family making
+their way across the Channel in the steamer Giraffe. Yet it is to be
+remarked, that though nothing can be more miscellaneous than the
+passengers, consisting of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and Yankee; of
+Jews, Turks, and heretics; of tourists, physicians, smugglers, and all
+the other diversities of idling, business, and knavery; yet families who
+choose to pay for them, may have separate cabins, and enjoy as much
+privacy as is possible with specimens of all the world within
+half-an-inch of their abode.
+
+The voyage was without incident; and after a thirty hours' passage, the
+Giraffe brought them to the Brill and Rotterdam. It has been an old
+observation that the Dutch clean every thing but themselves; and nothing
+can be more matter of fact than that the dirtiest thing in a house in
+Holland is generally the woman under whose direction all this scrubbing
+has been accomplished. The first aspect of Rotterdam is strongly in
+favour of the people. It exhibits very considerable neatness for a
+seaport--the Wapping of the kingdom; paint and even gilding is common on
+the outsides of the shops. The shipping, which here form a part of the
+town furniture, and are to be seen every where in the midst of the
+streets, are painted with every colour of the rainbow, and carved and
+ornamented according to such ideas of taste in sculpture as are
+prevalent among Dutchmen; and the whole exhibits a good specimen of a
+people who have as much to struggle with mud as if they had been born so
+many eels, and whose conceptions of the real colour of the sky are even
+a shade darker than our own.
+
+The steam-boats also form a striking feature, which utterly eluded the
+wisdom of our ancestors. There are here, bearing all colours, from all
+the Rhenish towns, smoking and suffocating the Dutch, flying past their
+hard-working, slow-moving craft; and bringing down, and carrying away,
+cargoes of every species of mankind. The increase of Holland in wealth
+and activity since the separation from Belgium, the Marquis regards as
+remarkable; and evidently having no _penchant_ for our cousin Leopold,
+he declares that Rotterdam is at this moment worth more solid money than
+Antwerp, Brussels, and, he believes, "all Leopold's kingdom together."
+
+At Antwerp, he happened to arrive at the celebration of the fete in
+honour of Rubens. "To commemorate the painter may be all very well," he
+observes; "but it is not very well to see a large plaster-of-Paris
+statue erected on a lofty pedestal, and crowned with laurels, while the
+whole population of the town is called out for fourteen days together,
+to indulge in idleness and dissipation, merely to announce that Rubens
+was a famed _Dutch_ painter in times long past." We think it lucky for
+the Marquis that he had left Antwerp before he called Rubens a Dutch
+painter. We are afraid that he would have hazarded a summary application
+of the Lynch law of the Flemish avengers of their country.
+
+"If such celebrations," says the Marquis, "are proper, why not do equal
+honour to a Shakspeare, a Pitt, a Newton, or any of those illustrious
+men by whose superior intelligence society has so greatly profited?" The
+obvious truth is, that such "celebrations" are not to our taste, that
+there is something burlesque, to our ideas, in this useless honour; and
+that we think a bonfire, a discharge of squibs, or even a discharge of
+rhetoric, and a display of tinsel banners and buffoonery, does not
+supply the most natural way of reviving the memory of departed genius.
+At the same time, they have their use, where they do not create their
+ridicule. On the Continent, life is idle; and the idlers are more
+harmlessly employed going to those pageants, than in the gin-shop. The
+finery and the foolery together also attract strangers, the idlers of
+other towns; it makes money, it makes conversation, it makes amusement,
+and it kills time. Can it have better recommendations to ninety-nine
+hundredths of mankind?
+
+In 1840, when this tour was written, all the politicians of the earth
+were deciding, in their various coffee-houses, what all the monarchs
+were to do with the Eastern question. Stopford and Napier were better
+employed, in battering down the fortifications of Acre, and the
+politicians were soon relieved from their care of the general concerns
+of Europe. England settled this matter as she had often done before, and
+by the means which she has always found more natural than protocols. But
+a curious question is raised by the Marquis, as to the side on which
+Belgium might be inclined to stand in case of an European struggle; his
+opinion being altogether _for_ the English alliance.
+
+"France could undoubtedly _at first_ seize possession of a country so
+close to her empire as to be in fact a province. But still, with Antwerp
+and other fortresses, Holland in the rear, and Hanover and Germany at
+hand, and, above all, England, aiding perhaps with a British army, the
+independence of King Leopold's throne and kingdom might be more
+permanently secured by adhering to the Allies, than if he linked himself
+to Louis Philippe, in whose power alone, in case of non-resistance to
+France, he would ever afterwards remain; and far better would it be, in
+my opinion, for this founder of a Belgian monarchy, if he would achieve
+for his dynasty an honourable duration, to throw himself into the arms
+of the many, and reap advantages from all, than to place his destiny at
+the mercy of the future rulers of France."
+
+No doubt this is sound advice; and if the decision were to depend on
+himself, there can be as little doubt that he would be wiser in
+accepting the honest aid of England, than throwing his crown at the feet
+of France. But he reigns over a priest-ridden kingdom, and Popery will
+settle the point for him on the first shock. His situation certainly is
+a singular one; as the uncle of the Queen of England, and the son-in-law
+of the King of France, he seems to have two anchors dropped out, either
+of which might secure a throne in ordinary times. But times that are
+_not_ ordinary may soon arise, and then he must cut both cables and
+trust to his own steerage. If coldness is prudence, and neutrality
+strength, he may weather the storm; but it would require other qualities
+to preserve Belgium.
+
+Brussels was full of English. The Marquis naturally talks in the style
+of one accustomed to large expenditure. The chief part of the English
+residents in Brussels, are families "who live there on three or four
+thousand a-year--far better as to luxuries and education than they could
+in England for half as much more." He evidently thinks of three or four
+thousand a-year, as others might think of as many hundreds. But if any
+families, possessed of thousands a-year, are living abroad for the mere
+sake of _cheaper_ luxuries and _cheaper_ education, we say, more shame
+for them. We even can conceive nothing more selfish and more
+contemptible. Every rational luxury is to be procured in England by such
+an income. Every advantage of education is to be procured by the same
+means. We can perfectly comprehend the advantages offered by the
+cheapness of the Continent to large families with narrow incomes; but
+that the opulent should abandon their country, their natural station,
+and their duties, simply to drink champagne at a lower rate, and have
+cheaper dancing-masters, we must always regard as a scandalous
+dereliction of the services which every man of wealth and rank owes to
+his tenantry, his neighbours, and his nation. Of course, we except the
+traveller for curiosity; the man of science, whose object is to enlarge
+his knowledge; and even the man of rank, who desires to improve the
+minds of his children by a view of continental wonders. Our reprobation
+is, of the habit of living abroad, and living there for the vulgar and
+unmanly purpose of self-indulgence or paltry avarice. Those absentees
+have their reward in profligate sons, and foreignized daughters, in
+giving them manners ridiculous to the people of the Continent, and
+disgusting to their countrymen--morals adopting the grossness of
+continental life, and general habits rendered utterly unfit for a return
+to their country, and, of course, for any rational and meritorious
+conduct, until they sink into the grave.
+
+The Marquis, who in every instance submitted to the rough work of the
+road, took the common conveyance by railroad to Liege. It has been a
+good deal the custom of our late tourists to applaud the superior
+excellence of the continental railroads. Our noble traveller gives all
+this praise the strongest contradiction. He found their inferiority
+quite remarkable. The materials, all of an inadequate nature, commencing
+with their uncouth engine, and ending with their ill-contrived double
+seats and carriages for passengers. The attempts made at order and
+regularity in the arrangements altogether failed. Every body seemed in
+confusion. The carriages are of two sorts--the first class, and the
+_char-a-banc_. The latter are all open; the people sit back to back, and
+face to face, as they like, and get at their places by scrambling,
+squeezing, and altercation. Even the Marquis had a hard fight to
+preserve the seats which he had taken for his family. At Malines, the
+train changes carriages. Here a curious scene occurred. An inundation of
+priests poured into all the carriages. They came so thick that they were
+literally thrown back by their attempt to squeeze themselves in; "and
+their cocked hats and black flowing robes gave them the appearance of
+ravens with their wide-spreading wings, hovering over their prey in the
+vehicles."
+
+Travelling, like poverty, brings one acquainted with strange companions;
+and, accustomed as the Marquis was to foreign life, one railway
+traveller evidently much amused him. This was a personage who stretched
+himself at full length on a seat opposite the ladies, "his two huge legs
+and thighs clothed in light blue, with long Spanish boots, and heavy
+silver spurs, formed the foreground of his extended body. A black satin
+waistcoat, overlaid with gold chains, a black velvet Spanish cloak and
+hat, red beard and whiskers, and a face resembling the Saracen's on
+Snow-Hill, completed his _ensemble_." He was probably some travelling
+mountebank apeing the Spanish grandee.
+
+Aix-la-Chapelle exhibited a decided improvement on the City of the
+Congress five-and-twenty years ago. The principal streets were now
+paved, with fine _trottoirs_, the buildings had become large and
+handsome, and the hotels had undergone the same advantageous change.
+From Liege to Cologne the country exhibited one boundless harvest. The
+vast cathedral of Cologne at last came in sight, still unfinished,
+though the process of building has gone on for some hundred years. The
+extraordinary attempt which has been made, within the last few months,
+to unite Protestantism with Popery, in the completion of this gigantic
+building, will give it a new and unfortunate character in history. The
+union is impossible, though the confusion is easy, and the very attempt
+to reconcile them only shows to what absurdities men may be betrayed by
+political theories, and to what trivial and temporary objects the
+highest interests of our nature may be sacrificed. Cologne, too, is
+rapidly improving. The free navigation of the Rhine has done something
+of this, but the free passage of the English has done a great deal more.
+A perpetual stream of British travellers, flowing through Germany,
+benefits it, not merely by their expenditure, but by their habits. Where
+they reside for any length of time, they naturally introduce the
+improvements and conveniences of English life. Even where they but pass
+along, they demand comforts, without which the native would have plodded
+on for ever. The hotels are gradually provided with carpets,
+fire-places, and a multitude of other matters essential to the civilized
+life of England; for if civilization depends on bringing the highest
+quantity of rational enjoyment within the reach of general society,
+England is wholly superior in civilization to the shivering splendours
+of the Continent. Foreigners are beginning to learn this; and those who
+are most disposed to scoff at our taste, are the readiest to follow
+our example.
+
+The streets of Cologne, formerly dirty and narrow, and the houses, old
+and tumbling down, have given way to wide spaces, handsome edifices, and
+attractive shops. The railway, which we have lent to the Continent, will
+shortly unite Brussels, Liege, and Cologne, and the three cities will be
+thereby rapidly augmented in wealth, numbers, and civilization.
+
+The steam-boats on the Rhine are in general of a good description. The
+arrangements are convenient, considering that at times there are two
+hundred passengers, and that among foreigners the filthy habit of
+smoking, with all its filthy consequences, is universal; but, below
+decks, the party, especially if they take the _pavillion_ to themselves,
+may escape this abomination. The Rhine has been too often described to
+require a record here; but the rapturous nonsense which the Germans pour
+forth whenever they write about the national river, offends truth as
+much as it does taste. The larger extent of this famous stream is
+absolutely as dull as a Dutch pond. The whole run from the sea to
+Cologne is flat and fenny. As it approaches the hill country it becomes
+picturesque, and its wanderings among the fine declivities of the
+Rheingate exhibit beautiful scenery. The hills, occasionally topped with
+ruins, all of which have some original (or invented) legend of love or
+murder attached to them, indulge the romance of which there is a
+fragment or a fibre in every bosom; and the general aspect of the
+country, as the steam-boat breasts the upward stream, is various and
+luxuriant. But the German architecture is fatal to beauty. Nothing can
+be more _barbarian_ (with one or two exceptions) than the whole range of
+buildings, public and private, along the Rhine; gloomy, huge, and
+heavy--whether palace, convent, or chateau, they have all a prison-look;
+and if some English philanthropist, in pity to the Teutonic taste, would
+erect one or two "English villas" on the banks of the Rhine, to give
+the Germans some idea of what architecture ought to be, he would render
+them a national service, scarcely inferior to the introduction of
+carpets and coal-fires.
+
+Johannisberg naturally attracts the eye of the English traveller, whose
+cellar has contributed so largely to its cultivation. This
+mountain-vineyard had been given by Napoleon to Kellerman; but
+Napoleon's gifts were as precarious as himself, and the Johannisberg
+fell into hands that better deserved it. At the peace of 1814 it was
+presented by the Emperor Francis to the great statesman who had taught
+his sovereign to set his foot on the neck of the conqueror of Vienna.
+The mountain is terraced, clothed with vineyards, and forms a very gay
+object to those who look up to it from the river. The view from the
+summit of the hill is commanding and beautiful, but its grape is
+_unique_. The chief portion of the produce goes amongst the
+principalities and powers of the Continent; yet as the Englishman must
+have his share of all the good things of the earth, the Johannisberg
+wine finds its way across the Channel, and John Bull satisfies himself
+that he shares the luxury of Emperors.
+
+The next _lion_ is Ehrenbreitstein, lying on the right bank of the
+Rhine, the most famous fortress of Germany, and more frequently
+battered, bruised, and demolished, than any other work of nature or man
+on the face of the globe. It has been always the first object of attack
+in the French invasions, and, with all its fortifications, has always
+been taken. The Prussians are now laying out immense sums upon it, and
+evidently intend to make it an indigestible morsel to the all-swallowing
+ambition of their neighbours; but it is to be hoped that nations are
+growing wiser--a consummation to which they are daily arriving by
+growing poorer. Happily for Europe, there is not a nation on the
+Continent which would not be bankrupt in a single campaign, provided
+England closed her purse. In the last war she was the general paymaster:
+but that system is at an end; and if she is wise, she will never suffer
+another shilling of hers to drop into the pocket of the foreigner.
+
+The Prussians have formed an entrenched camp under cover of this great
+fortress, capable of containing 120,000 men. They are obviously right in
+keeping the French as far from Berlin as they can; but those enormous
+fortresses and entrenched camps are out of date. They belonged to the
+times when 30,000 men were an army, and when campaigns were spent in
+sieges. Napoleon changed all this, yet it was only in imitation of
+Marlborough, a hundred years before. The great duke's march to Bavaria,
+leaving all the fortresses behind him, was the true tactic for conquest.
+He beat the army in the field, and then let the fortresses drop one by
+one into his hands. The change of things has helped this bold system.
+Formerly there was but one road through a province--it led through the
+principal fortress--all the rest was mire and desolation. Thus the
+fortress must be taken before a gun or a waggon could move. Now, there
+are a dozen roads through every province--the fortress may be passed out
+of gun-shot in all quarters--and the "grand army" of a hundred and fifty
+thousand men marches direct on the capital. The _tetes-du-pont_ on the
+Niemen, and the entrenched camp which it had cost Russia two years to
+fortify, were turned in the first march of the French; and the futility
+of the whole costly and rather timorous system was exhibited in the
+fact, that the crowning battle was fought within hearing of Moscow.
+
+Beyond Mayence the Rhine reverts to its former flatness, the hills
+vanish, the shores are level, but the southern influence is felt, and
+the landscape is rich.
+
+Wisbaden is the next stage of the English--a stage at which too many
+stop, and from which not a few are glad to escape on any terms. The Duke
+of Nassau has done all in his power to make his watering-place handsome
+and popular, and he has succeeded in both. The Great Square, containing
+the assembly-room, is a very showy specimen of ducal taste. Its
+colonnades and shops are striking, and its baths are in the highest
+order. Music, dancing, and promenading form the enjoyment of the crowd,
+and the gardens and surrounding country give ample indulgence for the
+lovers of air and exercise. _The_ vice of the place, as of all
+continental scenes of amusement, is gambling. Both sexes, and all ages,
+are busy at all times in the mysteries of the gaming-table. Dollars and
+florins are constantly changing hands. The bloated German, the meagre
+Frenchman, the sallow Russian, and even the placid Dutchman, hurry to
+those tables, and continue at them from morning till night, and often
+from night till morning. The fair sex are often as eager and miserable
+as the rest. It is impossible to doubt that this passion is fatal to
+more than the purse. Money becomes the price of every thing; and,
+without meaning to go into discussion on such topics, nothing can be
+clearer than that the female gambler, in this frenzy of avarice,
+inevitably forfeits the self-respect which forms at least the outwork of
+female virtue. Though the ancient architecture of Germany is altogether
+dungeon-like, yet they can make pretty imitations. The summer palace of
+the duke at Biberach might be adopted in lieu of the enormous fabrics
+which have cost such inordinate sums in our island. "The circular room
+in the centre of the building is ornamented with magnificent marble
+pillars. The floor is also of marble. The galleries are stuccoed, with
+gold ornaments encrusted upon them. From the middle compartment of the
+great hall there are varied prospects of the Rhine, which becomes
+studded here with small islands: and the multitudinous orange, myrtle,
+cedar, and cypress trees on all sides render Biberach a most
+enchanting abode."
+
+The Marquis makes some shrewd remarks on the evident attention of the
+Great Powers to establish an interest among the little sovereignties of
+Germany. Thus, Russia has married "her eldest daughter to an adopted
+Bavarian. The Cesarowitch is married to a princess of Darmstadt," &c. He
+might have added Louis Philippe, who is an indefatigable advocate of
+marrying and giving in marriage. Austria is extending her olive branches
+as far as she can; and all princes, now having nothing better to do, are
+following her example.
+
+Yet, we altogether doubt that family alliances have much weight in times
+of trouble. Of course, in times of peace, they may facilitate the common
+business of politics. But, when powerful interests appear on the stage,
+the matrimonial tie is of slender importance; kindred put on their
+coats-of-mail, and, like Francis of Austria and his son-in-law Napoleon,
+they throw shot and shell at each other without any ceremony. It is only
+in poetry that Cupid is more powerful than either Mammon or Mars.
+
+The next _lion_ is Frankfort--a very old lion, 'tis true, but one of the
+noblest cities of Germany, connected with high recollections, and doing
+honour, by its fame, to the spirit of commerce. Frankfort has been
+always a striking object to the traveller; but it has shared, or rather
+led the way to the general improvement. Its shops, streets, and public
+buildings all exhibit that march, which is so much superior to the
+"march of mind," panegyrised by our rabble orators--the march of
+industry, activity, and invention; Frankfort is one of the liveliest and
+pleasantest of continental residences.
+
+But the Marquis is discontented with the inns; which, undoubtedly, are
+places of importance to the sojourner--perhaps of much more importance
+than the palaces. He reckons them by a "sliding scale;" which, however,
+is a descending one--Holland bad, Belgium worse, Germany the third
+degree of comparison. Some of the inns in the great towns are stately;
+but it unluckily happens that the masters and mistresses of those inns
+are to the full as stately, and that, after a bow or curtsey at the door
+to their arriving guests, all their part is at an end. The master and
+mistress thenceforth transact their affairs by deputy. They are
+sovereigns, and responsible for nothing. The _garcons_ are the cabinet,
+and responsible for every thing; but they, like superior personages,
+shift their responsibility upon any one inclined to take it up; and all
+is naturally discontent, disturbance, and discomfort. We wonder that the
+Marquis has not mentioned the German _table-d'hote_ among his
+annoyances; for he dined at it. Nothing, in general, can be more adverse
+to the quiet, the ease, or the good-sense of English manners. The
+_table-d'hote_ is essentially vulgar; and no excellence of _cuisine_, or
+completeness of equipment, can prevent it from exhibiting proof of its
+original purpose, namely--to give a cheap dinner to a miscellaneous
+rabble.
+
+German posting is on a par with German inns, which is as much as to say
+that it is detestable, even if the roads were good. The roughness, mire,
+and continual ascents and descents of the roads, try the traveller's
+patience. The only resource is sleep; but even that is denied by the
+continual groanings of a miserable French horn, with which the postilion
+announces his approach to every village.
+
+    "Silence, ye wolves, while tipsy Mein-Herr howls,
+    Making night hideous; answer him, ye owls."
+
+The best chance of getting a tolerable meal in the majority of these
+roadside houses, is, to take one's own provisions, carry a cook, if we
+can, and, if not, turn cooks ourselves; but the grand hotels are too
+"grand" for this, and they insist on supplying the dinner, for which the
+general name is _cochonerrie_, and with perfect justice.
+
+On the 12th of September, the Marquis and his family arrived at
+Nuremberg, where the Bavarian court were assembled, in order to be
+present at a Camp of Exercise. To the eye of an officer who had been in
+the habit of seeing the armies of the late war, the military spectacle
+could not be a matter of much importance, for the camp consisted of but
+1800 men. But he had been a comrade of the king, when prince-royal,
+during the campaigns of 1814 and 1815; and, as such, had helped (and not
+slightly) to keep the tottering crown on the brow of Bavaria. He now
+sent to request the opportunity of paying his respects; but Germany,
+absurd in many things, is especially so in point of etiquette. Those
+miraculous productions of Providence, the little German sovereigns, live
+on etiquette, never abate an atom of their opportunities of convincing
+inferior mortals that they are of a super-eminent breed; and, in part,
+seem to have strangely forgotten that salutary lesson which Napoleon and
+his captains taught them, in the days when a republican brigadier, or an
+imperial aid-de-camp, though the son of a tailor, treated their "Serene
+Highnesses" and "High Mightinesses" with as little ceremony as the
+thoroughly beaten deserved from the conquerors. In the present instance,
+the little king did _not_ choose to receive the gallant soldier, whom,
+in days of difficulty, he had been rejoiced to find at his side; and the
+ground assigned was, that the monarch received none but in uniform; the
+Marquis having mentioned, that he must appear in plain clothes, in
+consequence of dispatching his uniform to Munich, doubtless under the
+idea of attending the court there in his proper rank of a
+general officer.
+
+The Marquis was angry, and the fragment of his reply which we give, was
+probably as unpalatable a missive as the little king had received since
+the days of Napoleon.
+
+"My intention was, to express my respect for his majesty, in taking this
+opportunity to pay my court to him, in the interesting recollection of
+the kindly feelings which he deigned to exhibit to me and my _brother_
+at Vienna, when Prince Royal of Bavaria.
+
+"I had flattered myself, that as the companion-in-arms of the excellent
+Marshal Wrede in the campaigns of 1814 and 1815, his majesty would have
+granted this much of remembrance to an individual, without regard to
+uniform; or, at least, would have done me the honour of a private
+audience. I find, however, that I have been mistaken, and I have now
+only to offer my apologies to his majesty.
+
+"The flattering reception which I have enjoyed in other courts, and the
+idea that this was connected with the name and services of the
+individual, and not dependent on the uniform, was the cause of my
+indiscretion. As my profound respect for his majesty was the sole
+feeling which led me towards Munich, I shall not _delay a moment_ in
+quitting his majesty's territory."
+
+If his majesty had been aware that this Parthian arrow would have been
+shot at him, he would have been well advised in relaxing his etiquette.
+
+In the vicinity where this trifling transaction occurred, is the
+_locale_ of an undertaking which will probably outlast all the little
+diadems of all the little kings. This is the canal by which it is
+proposed to unite the Rhine, the Mayne, and the Danube; in other words,
+to make the longest water communication in the world, through the heart
+of Europe; by which the Englishman embarking at London-bridge, may
+arrive at Constantinople in a travelling palace, with all the
+comforts--nay, all the luxuries of life, round him; his books, pictures,
+furniture, music, and society; and all this, while sweeping through some
+of the most magnificent scenery of the earth, safe from surge or storm,
+sheltered from winter's cold and summer's sun, rushing along at the rate
+of a couple of hundred miles a-day, until he finds himself in the
+Bosphorus, with all the glories of the City of the Sultans glittering
+before him.
+
+This is the finest speculation that was ever born of this generation of
+wonders, steam; and if once realized, must be a most prolific source of
+good to mankind. But the Germans are an intolerably tardy race in every
+thing, but the use of the tongue. They harangue, and mystify, and
+magnify, but they will not act; and this incomparable design, which, in
+England, would join the whole power of the nation in one unanimous
+effort, languishes among the philosophists and prognosticators of
+Germany, finds no favour in the eyes of its formal courts, and threatens
+to be lost in the smoke of a tobacco-saturated and slumber-loving
+people.
+
+But the chief monument of Bavaria is the Val Halla, a modern temple
+designed to receive memorials of all the great names of Germany. The
+idea is kingly, and so is the temple; but it is built on the model of
+the Parthenon--evidently a formidable blunder in a land whose history,
+habits, and genius, are of the north. A Gothic temple or palace would
+have been a much more suitable, and therefore a finer conception. The
+combination of the palatial, the cathedral, and the fortress style,
+would have given scope to superb invention, if invention was to be found
+in the land; and in such an edifice, for such a purpose, Germany would
+have found a truer point of union, than it will ever find in the absurd
+attempt to mix opposing faiths, or in the nonsense of a rebel Gazette,
+and clamorous Gazetteers.
+
+Still the Bavarian monarch deserves the credit of an unrivalled zeal to
+decorate his country. He is a great builder, he has filled Munich with
+fine edifices, and called in the aid of talents from every part of
+Europe, to stir up the flame, if it is to be found among his
+drowsy nation.
+
+The Val Halla is on a pinnacle of rising ground, about a hundred yards
+from the Danube, from whose bank the ascent is by a stupendous marble
+staircase, to the grand portico. The columns are of the finest white
+stone, and the interior is completely lined with German marbles. Busts
+of the distinguished warriors, poets, statesmen, and scholars, are to be
+placed in niches round the walls, but _not_ till they are dead. A
+curious arrangement is adopted with respect to the living: Persons of
+any public note may send their busts, while living, to the Val Halla,
+where they are deposited in a certain chamber, a kind of marble
+purgatory or limbo. When they die, a jury is to sit upon them, and if
+they are fortunate enough to have a verdict in their favour, they take
+their place amongst these marble immortals. As the process does not
+occur until the parties are beyond the reach of human disappointment,
+they cannot feel the worse in case of failure; but the vanity which
+tempts a man thus to declare himself deserving of perpetual renown, by
+the act of sending his bust as a candidate, is perfectly _foreign_, and
+must be continually ridiculous.
+
+The temple has been inaugurated or consecrated by the king in person,
+within the last month. He has made a speech, and dedicated it to German
+fame for ever. He certainly has had the merit of doing what ought to
+have been long since done in every kingdom of Europe; what a slight
+retrenchment in every royal expenditure would have enabled every
+sovereign to set on foot; and what could be done most magnificently,
+would be most deserved, and ought to be done without delay, in England.
+
+At Ratisbon, the steam navigation on the Danube begins, taking
+passengers and carriages to Linz, where the Austrian steam navigation
+commences, completing the course down the mighty river. The former
+land-journey from Ratisbon to Vienna generally occupied six days. By the
+steam-boat, it is now accomplished in forty-eight hours, a prodigious
+saving of space and time. The Bavarian boats are smaller than those on
+the Rhine, owing to the shallows on the upper part of the river, but
+they are well managed and comfortable. The steamer is, in fact, a
+floating hotel, where every thing is provided on board, and the general
+arrangements are exact and convenient. The scenery in this portion of
+the river is highly exciting.--"The Rhine, with its hanging woods and
+multitudinous inhabited castles, affords a more cultivated picture; but
+in the steep and craggy mountains of the Danube, in its wild outlines
+and dilapidated castles, the imagination embraces a bolder range. At one
+time the river is confined within its narrowest limits, and proceeds
+through a defile of considerable altitude, with overhanging rocks
+menacing destruction. At another it offers an open, wild archipelago of
+islands. The mountains have disappeared, and a long plain bounds on each
+side of the river its barren banks."
+
+The steam-boats stop at Neudorf, a German mile from Vienna. On his
+arrival, the Marquis found the servants and carriages of Prince
+Esterhazy waiting for him, and quarters provided at the Swan Hotel,
+until one of the prince's palaces could be prepared for his reception.
+The importance of getting private quarters on arriving at Vienna is
+great, the inns being all indifferent and noisy. They have another
+disqualification not less important--they seem to be intolerably dear.
+The Marquis's accommodations, though on a _third_ story of the Swan,
+cost him eight pounds sterling a-day. This he justly characterizes as
+extravagant, and says he was glad to remove on the third day, there
+being an additional annoyance, in a club of the young nobles at the
+Swan, which prevented a moment's quiet. The _cuisine_, however, was
+particularly good, and the house, though a formidable affair for a
+family, is represented as desirable for a "bachelor"--we presume, a
+rich one.
+
+Vienna has had her share in the general improvement of the Continent.
+She has become commercial, and her streets exhibit shops with gilding,
+plate-glass, and showy sign-boards, in place of the very old, very
+barbarous, and very squalid, displays of the last century. War is a
+rough teacher, but it is evidently the only one for the Continent. The
+foreigner is as bigoted to his original dinginess and discomfort, as the
+Turk to the Koran. Nothing but fear or force ever changes him. The
+French invasions were desperate things, but they swept away a prodigious
+quantity of the cobwebs which grow over the heads of nations who will
+not use the broom for themselves. Feudalities and follies a thousand
+years old were trampled down by the foot of the conscript; and the only
+glimpses of common-sense which have visited three-fourths of Europe in
+our day, were let in through chinks made by the French bayonet. The
+French were the grand improvers of every thing, though only for their
+own objects. They made high roads for their own troops, and left them to
+the Germans; they cleared the cities of streets loaded with nuisances of
+all kinds, and taught the natives to live without the constant dread of
+pestilence; they compelled, for example the Portuguese to wash their
+clothes, and the Spaniards to wash their hands. They proved to the
+German that his ponderous fortifications only brought bombardments on
+his cities, and thus induced him to throw down his crumbling walls, fill
+up his muddy ditches, turn his barren glacis into a public walk, and
+open his wretched streets to the light and air of heaven. Thus Hamburgh,
+and a hundred other towns, have put on a new face, and almost begun a
+new existence. Thus Vienna is now thrown open to its suburbs, and its
+suburbs are spread into the country.
+
+The first days were given up to dinner at the British ambassador's,
+(Lord Beauvale's,) at the Prussian ambassador's, and at Prince
+Metternich's. Lord Beauvale's was "nearly private He lived on a second
+floor, in a fine house, of which, however, the lower part was understood
+to be still unfurnished. His lordship sees but few people, and seldom
+gives any grand receptions, his indifferent health being the reason for
+living privately." However, on this point the Marquis has his own
+conceptions, which he gives with a plainness perfectly characteristic,
+and very well worth being remembered.
+
+"I think," says he, "that an ambassador of England, at an imperial
+court, with _eleven thousand pounds_ per annum! should _not_ live as a
+private gentleman, nor consult solely his own ease, unmindful of the
+sovereign he represents. A habit has stolen in among them of adopting a
+spare _menage_, to augment _private fortune when recalled_! This is
+wrong. And when France and Russia, and even Prussia, entertain
+constantly and very handsomely; our embassies and legations, generally
+speaking, are niggardly and shut up."
+
+However the Lord Beauvale and his class may relish this honesty of
+opinion, we are satisfied that the British public will perfectly agree
+with the Marquis. A man who receives L. 11,000 a-year to show hospitality
+and exhibit state, ought to do both. But there is another and a much
+more important point for the nation to consider. Why should eleven
+thousand pounds a-year be given to any ambassador at Vienna, or at any
+other court of the earth? Cannot his actual diplomatic functions be
+amply served for a tenth of the money? Or what is the actual result, but
+to furnish, in nine instances out of ten, a splendid sinecure to some
+man of powerful interest, without any, or but slight, reference to his
+faculties? Or is there any necessity for endowing an embassy with an
+enormous income of this order, to provide dinners, and balls, and a
+central spot for the crowd of loungers who visit their residences; or to
+do actual mischief by alluring those idlers to remain absentees from
+their own country? We see no possible reason why the whole ambassadorial
+establishment might not be cut down to salaries of fifteen hundred
+a-year. Thus, men of business would be employed, instead of the
+relatives of our cabinets; dinner-giving would not be an essential of
+diplomacy; the ambassador's house would not be a centre for all the
+ramblers and triflers who preferred a silly and lavish life abroad to
+doing their duty at home; and a sum of much more than a hundred thousand
+pounds a-year would be saved to the country. Jonathan acts the only
+rational part on the subject. He gives his ambassador a sum on which a
+private gentleman can live, and no more. He has not the slightest sense
+of giving superb feasts, furnishing huge palaces, supplying all the
+rambling Jonathans with balls and suppers, or astonishing John Bull by
+the tinsel of his appointments. Yet he is at least as well served as
+others. His man is a man of business; his embassy is no showy sinecure;
+his ambassador is no showy sinecurist. The office is an understood step
+to distinction at home; and the man who exhibits ability here, is sure
+of eminence on his return. We have not found that the American diplomacy
+is consigned to mean hands, or inefficient, or despised in any country.
+
+The relative value of money, too, makes the folly still more
+extravagant. In Vienna, L. 11,000 a-year is equal to twice the sum in
+England. We thus virtually pay L. 22,000 a-year for Austrian diplomacy.
+In France about the same proportion exists. But in Spain, the dollar
+goes as far as the pound in England. There L. 10,000 sterling would be
+equivalent to L. 40,000 here. How long is this waste to go on? We
+remember a strong and true _expose_, made by Sir James Graham, on the
+subject, a few years ago; and we are convinced that, if he were to take
+up the topic again, he would render the country a service of remarkable
+value; and, moreover, that if he does not, it will be taken up by more
+strenuous, but more dangerous hands. The whole system is one of lavish
+absurdity.
+
+The Russian ambassador's dinner "was of a different description.
+Perfection in _cuisine_, wine, and attendance. Sumptuousness in liveries
+and lights; the company, about thirty, the _elite_ of Vienna."
+
+But the most interesting of those banquets, from the character of the
+distinguished giver, was Prince Meternich's. The prince was residing at
+his "Garten," (villa) two miles out of town. He had enlarged his house
+of late years, and it now consisted of three, one for his children,
+another for his own residence, and a third for his guests. This last was
+"really a fairy edifice, so contrived with reflecting mirrors, as to
+give the idea of being transparent." It was ornamented with rare
+malachite, prophyry, jasper, and other vases, presents from the
+sovereigns of Europe, besides statues, and copies of the most celebrated
+works of Italy.
+
+The Marquis had not seen this eminent person since 1823, and time had
+played its part with his countenance; the smile was more languid, the
+eye less illumined, the person more slight than formerly, the hair of a
+more silvery hue, the features of his expressive face more distinctly
+marked; the erect posture was still maintained, but the gait had become
+more solemn; and when he rose from his chair, he had no longer his
+wonted elasticity.
+
+But this inevitable change of the exterior seems to have no effect on
+the "inner man." "In the Prince's conversation I found the same talent,
+the unrivalled _esprit_. The fluency and elocution, so entirely his own,
+were as graceful, and the memory was as perfect, as at any
+former period."
+
+This memorable man is fond of matrimony; his present wife, a daughter of
+Count Zichy Ferraris, being his third. A son of the second marriage is
+his heir, and he has by his present princess two boys and a girl. The
+Princess seems to have alarmed her guest by her vivacity; for he
+describes her in the awful language with which the world speaks of a
+confirmed _blue_:--"Though not so handsome as her predecessor, she
+combines a _very spirited_ expression of countenance, with a clever
+conversation, a versatility of genius, and a wit rather satirical than
+humorous, which makes her _somewhat formidable_ to her acquaintance." We
+dare say that she is a very showy tigress.
+
+The Marquis found Vienna less gay than it was on his former visit. It is
+true that he then saw it in the height of the Congress, flushed with
+conquest, glittering with all kinds of festivity; and not an individual
+in bad spirits in Europe, but Napoleon himself. Yet in later times the
+court has changed; "the Emperor keeps singularly aloof from society; the
+splendid court-days are no more; the families are withdrawing into
+coteries; the beauties of former years have lost much of their
+brilliancy, and a new generation equal to them has not yet appeared."
+
+This is certainly not the language of a young marquis; but it is
+probably not far from the estimate which every admirer of the sex makes,
+_after_ a five-and-twenty years' absence. But he gallantly defends them
+against the sneer of the cleverest of her sex, Lady Wortley Montagu, a
+hundred years ago; her verdict being, "That their costume disfigured the
+natural ugliness with which Heaven had been pleased to endow them." He
+contends, however, that speaking within the last twenty (he probably
+means _five-and-twenty_) years, "Vienna has produced some of the
+handsomest women in the world: and in frequenting the public walks, the
+Prater, and places of amusement, you meet as many bewitching
+countenances, especially as to eyes, hair, and _tournure_, as in any
+other capital whatever."
+
+We think the Marquis fortunate; for we must acknowledge, that in our
+occasional rambles on the Continent, we _never_ saw beauty in a German
+visage. The rotundity of the countenance, the coarse colours, the
+stunted nose, and the thick lip, which constitute the general mould of
+the native physiognomy, are to us the very antipodes of beauty. Dress,
+diamonds, rouge, and lively manners, may go far, and the ball-room may
+help the deception; but we strongly suspect that where beauty casually
+appears in society, we must look for its existence only among foreigners
+to Teutchland. The general state of intercourse, even among the highest
+circles, is dull. There are few houses of rank where strangers are
+received; the animation of former times is gone. The ambassadors live
+retired. The monarch's state of health makes him averse to society.
+Prince Metternich's house is the only one constantly open; "but while he
+remains at his Garten, to trudge there for a couple of hours' general
+conversation, is not very alluring." Still, for a family which can go so
+far to look for cheap playhouses and cheap living, Vienna is a
+convenient capital.
+
+But Austria has one quality, which shows her common sense in a striking
+point of view. She abhors change. She has not a radical in her whole
+dominions, except in jail--the only place fit for him. The agitations
+and vexations of other governments stop at the Austrian frontier. The
+people have not made the grand discovery, that universal suffrage is
+meat and drink, and annual parliaments lodging and clothing. They
+labour, and live by their labour; yet they have as much dancing as the
+French, and better music. They are probably the richest and most
+comfortable population of Europe at this hour. Their country has risen
+to be the protector of Southern Europe; and they are making admirable
+highways, laying down railroads, and building steam-boats, ten times as
+fast as the French, with all their regicide plots, and a revolution
+threatened once-a-month by the calendar of patriotism. "Like the great
+Danube, which rolls through the centre of her dominions, the course of
+her ministry and its tributary branches continue, without any deviation
+from its accustomed channel." The comparison is a good one, and what can
+be more fortunate than such tranquillity?
+
+The two leading ministers, the government in effect, are Metternich and
+Kollowrath; the former the Foreign Minister, the latter the Minister of
+the Interior. They are understood to be of different principles; the
+latter leaning to the "Movement," or, more probably, allowing himself to
+be thought to do so, for the sake of popularity. But Metternich is the
+true head. A Conservative from the beginning, sagacious enough to see
+through the dupery of the pretended friends of the human race, and firm
+enough to crush their hypocrisy--Metternich is one of those statesmen,
+of whom men of sense never could have had two opinions--a mind which
+stamped itself from the beginning as a leader, compelled by
+circumstances often to yield, but never suffering even the most
+desperate circumstances to make it despair. He saw where the strength of
+Europe lay, from the commencement of the Revolutionary war; and, guided
+by the example of Pitt, he laboured for a general European alliance.
+When he failed there, he husbanded the strength of Austria for the day
+of struggle, which he knew would come; and when it came, his genius
+raised his country at once from a defeated dependency of France, into
+the arbiter of Europe. While this great man lives, he ought to be
+supreme in the affairs of his country. But in case of his death, General
+Fiquelmont, the late ambassador to Russia, has been regarded as his
+probable successor. He is a man of ability and experience, and his
+appointment to the court of St Petersburg was probably intended to
+complete that experience, in the quarter to which Austria, by her new
+relations, and especially by her new navigation of the Danube, must look
+with the most vigilant anxiety.
+
+The Austrian army is kept up in very fine condition; but nearly all the
+officers distinguished in the war are dead, and its present leaders have
+to acquire a name. It is only to be hoped that they will never have the
+opportunity. The regimental officers are generally from a higher class
+than those of the other German armies.
+
+After remaining for a fortnight at Vienna, the Marquis paid a visit to
+his friend Prince Esterhazy.
+
+This nobleman, long known and much-esteemed in England, is equally well
+known to be a kind of monarch in Hungary. Whatever novelist shall write
+the "Troubles of rank and riches," should take the prince for his hero.
+He has eight or nine princely mansions scattered over the empire, and in
+each of them it is expected, by his subjects of the soil, that his
+highness should reside.
+
+The Marquis made a round of the principal of those mansions. The first
+visit was to a castle in the neighbourhood of Vienna, which the prince
+has modernized into a magnificent villa. Here all is constructed to the
+taste of a statesman only eager to escape the tumult of the capital, and
+pining to refresh himself with cooling shades and crystal streams. All
+is verdure, trout streams, leafy walks, water blue as the sky above it,
+and the most profound privacy and seclusion.
+
+After a "most exquisite entertainment" here, the Marquis and his family
+set out early next morning to visit Falkenstein. Every castle in this
+part of the world is historical, and derives its honours from a Turkish
+siege. Falkenstein, crowning the summit of a mountain of granite, up
+which no carriage can be dragged but by the stout Hungarian horses
+trained to the work, has been handsomely bruised by the Turkish balls in
+its day; but it is now converted into a superb mansion; very grand, and
+still more curious than grand; for it is full of relics of the olden
+time, portraits of the old warriors of Hungary, armour and arms, and all
+the other odd and pompous things which turn an age of barbarism into an
+age of romance. The prince and princess are hailed and received at the
+castle as king and queen. A guard of soldiers of the family, which the
+Esterhazy have the sovereign right to maintain, form the garrison of
+this palatial fortress, and it has a whole establishment of salaried
+officials within. The next expedition was to two more of those
+mansions--Esterhazy, built by one of the richest princes of the house,
+and Eisenstadt. The former resembles the imperial palace at Schonbrun,
+but smaller. The prince is fitting it up gorgeously in the Louis XIV.th
+style. Here he has his principal studs for breeding horses; but
+Eisenstadt outshone all the chateaus of this superb possessor. The
+splendours here were regal: Two hundred chambers for guests--a saloon
+capable of dining a thousand people--a battalion of the "Esterhazy
+Guard" at the principal entrances; all paid from the estate. To this all
+the ornamental part was proportioned--conservatory and greenhouses on
+the most unrivalled scale--three or four hundred orange-trees alone,
+throwing the Duke of Northumberland's gardens into eclipse, and
+stimulating his Grace of Devonshire even to add new greens and glories
+to Chatsworth.
+
+On his return to Vienna, the Marquis was honoured with a private
+interview by the emperor--a remarkable distinction, as the ambassador
+was informed "that the emperor was too well acquainted with the
+Marquis's services to require any presentation, and desired that he
+might come alone." He was received with great politeness and
+condescension. Next day he had an interview with Prince Metternich, who,
+with graceful familiarity, took him over his house in Vienna, to show
+him its improvements since the days of Congress. He remarks it as a
+strange point in the character of this celebrated statesman, how
+minutely he sometimes interests himself in mere trifles, especially
+where art and mechanism are concerned. He had seen him one evening
+remain for half an hour studiously examining the construction of a
+musical clock. The Prince then showed his _cabinet de travail_, which he
+had retained unchanged. "Here," said he, "is a spot which is exactly as
+it was the last day you saw it." Its identity had been rigidly
+preserved, down to the placing of its paper and pencils. All was in the
+same order. The Prince evidently, and justly, looked on those days as
+the glory of his life.
+
+We regret that the conversation of so eminent a person could not be more
+largely given; for Metternich is less a statesman than statemanship
+itself. But one remark was at once singularly philosophical and
+practical. In evident allusion to the miserable tergiversations of our
+Whig policy a couple of years since, he said, "that throughout life, he
+had always acted on the plan of adopting the _best determination on all
+important subjects_. That to this point of view he had steadfastly
+adhered; and that, in the indescribable workings of time and
+circumstances, it had _always happened to him_ that matters were
+brought round to the very spot, from which, owing to the folly of
+misguided notions or inexperienced men, they had for a time taken their
+departure." This was in 1840, when the Whigs ruled us; it must be an
+admirable maxim for honest men, but it must be perpetually thwarting the
+oblique. To form a view on principle, and to adhere to it under all
+difficulties, is the palpable way to attain great ultimate success; but
+the paltry and the selfish, the hollow and the intriguing, have neither
+power nor will to look beyond the moment; they are not steering the
+vessel to a harbour; they have no other object than to keep possession
+of the ship as long as they can, and let her roll wherever the gale may
+carry her.
+
+After all, one grows weary of every thing that is to be had for the mere
+act of wishing. Difficulty is essential to enjoyment. High life is as
+likely to tire on one's hands as any other. The Marquis, giving all the
+praise of manners and agreeability to Vienna, sums up all in one
+prodigious yawn. "The _same_ evenings at Metternich's, the _same_
+lounges for making purchases and visits on a morning, the _same_
+idleness and fatigue at night, the searching and arid climate, and the
+clouds of execrable fine dust"--all conspiring to tell the great of the
+earth that they can escape _ennui_ no more than the little.
+
+On leaving Vienna, he wrote a note of farewell to the Prince, who
+returned an answer, of remarkable elegance--a mixture of the pathetic
+and the playful. His note says that he has no chance of going to see any
+body, for he is like a coral fixed to a rock--both must move together.
+He touches lightly on their share in the great war, "which is now
+becoming a part of those times which history itself names heroic;" and
+concludes by recommending him on his journey to the care of an officer
+of rank, on a mission to Turkey--"Car il scait le Turc, aussi bien que
+nous deux ne le scavons pas." With this Voltairism he finishes, and
+gives his "Dieu protege."
+
+We now come to the Austrian steam passage. This is the boldest effort
+which Austria has ever made, and its effects will be felt through every
+generation of her mighty empire. The honour of originating this great
+design is due to Count Etienne Zecheny, a Hungarian nobleman,
+distinguished for every quality which can make a man a benefactor to his
+country. The plan of this steam-navigation is now about ten years old.
+The Marquis justly observes, that nothing more patriotic was ever
+projected; and it is mainly owing to this high-spirited nobleman that
+the great advantage is now enjoyed of performing, in ten or twelve days,
+the journey to the capital of Turkey, which some years ago could be
+achieved only by riding the whole way, and occupying, by couriers, two
+or three weeks. The chief direction of the company is at Vienna. It had,
+at the time of the tour, eighteen boats, varying from sixty to one
+hundred horse-power, and twenty-four more were to be added within the
+year. Some of these were to be of iron.
+
+But the poverty of all foreign countries is a formidable obstacle to the
+progress of magnificent speculations like those. The shares have
+continued low, the company has had financial difficulties to encounter,
+and the popular purse is tardy. However, the prospect is improving, the
+profits have increased; and the Austrian archdukes and many of the great
+nobles having lately taken shares, the steam-boats will probably become
+as favourite as they are necessary. But all this takes time; and as by
+degrees the "disagreeables" of the voyage down the Danube will be
+changed into agreeables, we shall allude no more to the noble
+traveller's voyage, than to say, that on the 4th of November, a day of
+more than autumnal beauty, his steamer anchored in the Bosphorus.
+
+Here we were prepared for a burst of description. But the present
+describer is a matter-of-fact personage; and though he makes no attempt
+at poetic fame, has the faculty of telling what he saw, with very
+sufficient distinctness. "I never experienced more disappointment," is
+his phrase, "than in my first view of the Ottoman capital. I was bold
+enough at once to come to the conclusion, that what I had heard or read
+was overcharged. The most eminent of the describers, I think, could
+never have been on the spot." Such is the plain language of the last
+authority.
+
+"The entrance of the Tagus, the Bay of Naples, the splendid approach to
+the grand quays of St Petersburg, the Kremlin, and view of Moscow, all
+struck me as far preferable to the scene at the entrance of the
+Bosphorus."
+
+He admits, that in the advance to the city up this famous channel, there
+are many pretty views, that there is a line of handsome residences in
+some parts, and that the whole has a good deal the look of a "drop-scene
+in a theatre;" still he thinks it poor in comparison of its
+descriptions, the outline low, feeble, and rugged, and that the less it
+is examined, probably the more it may be admired. Even the famous
+capital fares not much better. "In point of fine architectural features,
+monuments of art, and magnificent structures, (excepting only the great
+Mosques,) the chisel of the mason, the marble, the granite,
+Constantinople is more destitute than any other great capital. But then,
+you are told that these objects are not in the style and taste of the
+people. Be it so; but then do not let the minds of those who cannot see
+for themselves be led away by high-wrought and fallacious descriptions
+of things which do not exist." The maxim is a valuable one, and we hope
+that the rebuke will save the reading public from a heap of those
+"picturesque" labours, which really much more resemble the heaviest
+brush of the scene-painter, than the truth of nature.
+
+But if art has done little, nature has done wonders for Constantinople.
+The site contains some of the noblest elements of beauty and grandeur;
+mountain, plain, forest, waters; its position is obviously the key of
+Europe and Asia Minor--even of more, it is the point at which the north
+and south meet; by the Bosphorus it commands the communication of the
+Black Sea, and with it, of all the boundless region, once Scythia, and
+now Russia and Tartary; by the Dardanelles, it has the most immediate
+command over the Mediterranean, the most important sea in the world.
+Russia, doubtless, may be the paramount power of the Black Sea; the
+European nations may divide the power of the Mediterranean; but
+Constantinople, once under the authority of a monarch, or a government,
+adequate to its natural faculties, would be more directly the sovereign
+of both seas, than Russia, with its state machinery in St Petersburg, a
+thousand miles off, or France a thousand miles, or England more nearly
+two thousand miles. This dominion will never be exercised by the
+ignorant, profligate, and unprincipled Turk; but if an independent
+Christian power should be established there, in that spot lie the
+materials of empire. In the fullest sense, Constantinople, uniting all
+the high-roads between east and west, north and south, is the centre of
+the living world. We are by no means to be reckoned among the theorists
+who calculate day by day on the fall of Turkey. In ancient times the
+fall of guilty empires was sudden, and connected with marked evidences
+of guilt. But those events were so nearly connected with the fortunes of
+the Jewish people, that the suddenness of the catastrophe was essential
+to the lesson. The same necessity exists no longer, the Chosen People
+are now beyond the lesson, and nations undergo suffering, and approach
+dissolution, by laws not unlike those of the decadence of the human
+frame; the disease makes progress, but the evidence scarcely strikes the
+eye, and the seat of the distemper is almost beyond human investigation.
+The jealousy of the European powers, too, protects the Turk. But he must
+go down--Mahometanism is already decaying. Stamboul, its headquarters,
+will not survive its fall; and a future generation will inevitably see
+Constantinople the seat of a Christian empire, and that empire, not
+improbably, only the forerunner of an empire of Palestine.
+
+The general view of Constantinople is superb. A bridge has been thrown
+across the "Golden Horn," connecting its shores; and from this the city,
+or rather the four cities, spread out in lengthened stateliness before
+the eye. From this point are seen, to the most striking advantage, the
+two mountainous elevations on which Constantinople and Pera are built,
+and other heights surrounding. A communication subsists across the
+"Golden Horn," not only by water and the bridge, but also by the road,
+which by the land is a distance of five or six miles. Viewing
+Constantinople as a whole, it strikes one as larger by far than Paris or
+London, but they are both larger. The reason of the deception being,
+that here the eye embraces a larger space.
+
+The Turks never improve anything. The distinction between them and the
+Europeans is, that the latter think of conveniences, the former only of
+luxuries. The Turks, for example, build handsome pavilions, plant showy
+gardens, and erect marble fountains to cool them in marble halls. But
+they never mend a high-road--they never even make one. Now and then a
+bridge is forced on them by the necessity of having one, or being
+drowned; but they never repair that bridge, nor sweep away the
+accumulated abomination of their streets, nor do any thing that it is
+possible to leave undone.
+
+Pera is the quarter in which all the Christians even of the highest rank
+live; the intercourse between it and Constantinople is, of course,
+perpetual, yet perhaps a stone has not been smoothed in the road since
+the siege of the city. From Pera were the most harassing trips down
+rugged declivities on horseback, besides the awkwardness of the
+passage in boats.
+
+One extraordinary circumstance strikes the stranger, that but one sex
+seems to exist. The dress of the women gives no idea of the female form,
+and the whole population seems to be male.
+
+The masses of people are dense, and among them the utmost silence in
+general prevails. About seven or eight at night the streets are cleared,
+and their only tenants are whole hosts of growling, hideous dogs; or a
+few Turks gliding about with paper lanterns; these, too, being the only
+lights in the streets, if streets they are to be called, which are only
+narrow passes, through which the vehicles can scarcely move.
+
+The dogs are curious animals. It is probable that civilization does as
+much injury to the lower tribes of creation, as it does good to man. If
+it polishes our faculties, it enfeebles their instincts. The Turkish
+dog, living nearly as he would have done in the wilderness, exhibits the
+same sagacity, amounting to something of government. For instance, the
+Turkish dogs divide the capital into quarters, and each set has its own;
+if an adventurous or an ambitious dog enters the quarters of his
+neighbours, the whole pack in possession set upon him at once, and he is
+expelled by hue and cry. They also know how to conduct themselves
+according to times and seasons. In the daytime, they ramble about, and
+suffer themselves to be kicked with impunity; but at night the case is
+different: they are the majority--they know their strength, and insist
+on their privileges. They howl and growl then at their own discretion,
+fly at the accidental stranger with open mouth, attack him singly,
+charge him _en masse_, and nothing but a stout bludgeon, wielded by a
+strong arm, can save the passenger from feeling that he is in the
+kingdom of his four-footed masters.
+
+The Marquis arrived during the Ramazan, when no Turk eats, drinks, or
+even smokes, from sunrise to sunset. Thus the Turk is a harder faster
+than the papist. The moment the sun goes down, the Turk rushes to his
+meal and his pipe, "not eating but devouring, not inhaling but wallowing
+in smoke." At the Bajazet colonnade, where the principal Turks rush to
+enjoy the night, the lighted coffee-houses, the varieties of costume,
+the eager crowd, and the illumination of myriads of paper lanterns, make
+a scene that revives the memory of Oriental tales.
+
+Every thing in Turkey is unlike any thing in Europe. In the bazar,
+instead of the rapid sale and dismissal in our places of traffic, the
+Turkish dealer, in any case of value, invites his applicant into his
+shop, makes him sit down, gives him a pipe, smokes him into
+familiarity--hands him a cup of coffee, and drinks him into confidence;
+in short, treats him as if they were a pair of ambassadors appointed to
+dine and bribe each other--converses with, and cheats him.
+
+But the Marquis regards the bazars as contemptible places, says that
+they are not to be compared with similar establishments at Petersburg or
+Moscow, and recommends whatever purchases are made, to be made at one's
+own quarters, "where you escape being jostled, harangued, smoked, and
+poisoned with insufferable smells."
+
+One of the curious features of the sojourn at Constantinople, is the
+presentation to the Ministers and the Sultan. Redschid Pasha appointed
+to see the Marquis at three o'clock, _a la Turque_--which, as those
+Orientals always count from the sunset, means eight o'clock in
+the evening.
+
+He was led in a kind of procession to the Minister, received in the
+customary manner, and had the customary conversation on Constantinople,
+England, the war, &c. Then, a dozen slaves entered, and universal
+smoking began. "When the cabinet was so full of smoke that one could
+hardly see," the attendants returned, and carried away the pipes. Then
+came a dropping fire of conversation, then coffee; then sherbet, which
+the guest pronounced good, and "thought the most agreeable part of the
+ceremonial." The Minister spoke French fluently, and, after an hour's
+visit, the ceremony ended--the pasha politely attending his visiter
+through the rooms. The next visit was to Achmet Pasha, who had been in
+England at the time of the Coronation--had been ambassador at Vienna for
+some years--spoke French fluently--was a great friend of Prince and
+Princess Metternich, and, besides all this, had married one of the
+Sultan's sisters. The last honour was said to be due to his immense
+wealth. It seems that the "course of true love" does not run more
+smoothly in Turkey than elsewhere--for the young lady was stated to be
+in love with the commander-in-chief, an older man, but possessing more
+character. Achmet was now Minister of Commerce, and in high favour. He
+kept his young wife at his country house, and she had not been seen
+since her marriage. When asked permission for ladies to visit her, he
+always deferred it "till next spring, when," said he, "she will be
+civilized." The third nocturnal interview was more picturesque--it was
+with the young Sultana's flame, the Seraskier, (commander-in-chief.) His
+residence is at the Porte, where he has one of the splendid palaces.
+
+"You enter an immense court, with his stables on one side and his harem
+on the other. A regiment of guards was drawn up at the entrance, and two
+companies were stationed at the lower court. The staircase was filled
+with soldiers, slaves, and attendants of different nations. I saw
+Greeks, Armenians, Sclavonians, Georgians, all in their native costume;
+and dark as were the corridors and entrance, by the flashes of my
+flambeaux through the mist, the scene struck me as much more grand and
+imposing than the others. The Seraskier is a robust, soldier-like man,
+with a fierce look and beard, and an agreeable smile." The Minister was
+peculiarly polite, and showed him through the rooms and the war
+department, exhibiting, amongst the rest, his military council, composed
+of twenty-four officers, sitting at that moment. They were of all ranks,
+and chosen, as it was said, without any reference as to qualification,
+but simply by favour. The Turks still act as oddly as ever. A friend of
+the Marquis told him, that he had lately applied to the Seraskier to
+promote a young Turkish officer. A few days after, the officer came to
+thank him, and said, that though the Seraskier had not given him the
+command of a regiment, he had given him "the command of a ship." The
+true wonder is, that the Turks have either ships or regiments. But there
+is a fine quantity of patronage in this department--the number of clerks
+alone being reckoned at between seven and eight hundred.
+
+The opinions of the Marquis on Mediterranean politics are worth
+regarding, because he has had much political experience in the highest
+ranks of foreign life--because from that experience he is enabled to
+give the opinions of many men of high name and living influence, and
+because he is an honest man, speaking sincerely, and speaking
+intelligibly. He regards the preservation of Turkey as the first
+principle of all English diplomacy in the east of Europe, and considers
+our successive attempts to make a Greek kingdom, and our sufferance of
+an Egyptian dynasty, as sins against the common peace of the world.
+Thus, within a few years, Greece has been taken away; Egypt has not
+merely been taken away, but rendered dangerous to the Porte; the great
+Danubian provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, have been taken away, and
+thus Russia has been brought to the banks of the Danube. Servia, a vast
+and powerful province, has followed, and is now more Russian than
+Turkish; and while those limbs have been torn from the great trunk, and
+that trunk is still bleeding from the wounds of the late war, it is
+forced to more exhausting efforts, the less power it retains. But, with
+respect to Russia, he does not look upon her force and her ambition with
+the alarm generally entertained of that encroaching and immense power.
+He even thinks that, even if she possessed Constantinople, she could not
+long retain it.  As all this is future, and of course conjectural, we
+may legitimately express our doubts of any authority on the subject.
+That Russia does not think with the Marquis is evident, for all her real
+movements for the last fifty years have been but preliminaries to the
+seizure of Turkey. Her exhibitions in all other quarters have been mere
+disguises. She at one time displays a large fleet in the Baltic, or at
+another sends an army across Tartary; but she never attempts any thing
+with either, except the excitement of alarm. But it is in the direction
+of Turkey that all the solid advances are made. There she always
+finishes her hostility by making some solid acquisition. She is now
+carrying on a wasteful war in the Caucasus; its difficulty has probably
+surprised herself, but she still carries it on; and let the loss of life
+and the expenditure of money be what they will, she will think them well
+encountered if they end in giving her the full possession of the
+northern road into Asia Minor. Russia, in possession of Constantinople,
+would have the power of inflicting dreadful injuries on Europe. If she
+possessed a responsible government, her ambition might be restrained by
+public opinion; or the necessity of appealing to the national
+representatives for money--of all checks on war the most powerful, and
+in fact the grand operative check, at this moment, on the most restless
+of European governments, France. But with her whole power, her revenues,
+and her military means completely at the disposal of a single mind, her
+movements, for either good or evil, are wholly dependent on the caprice,
+the ambition, or the absurdity of the individual on the throne. The idea
+that Russia would weaken her power by the possession of Constantinople,
+seems to us utterly incapable of proof. She has been able to maintain
+her power at once on the Black Sea, seven hundred miles from her
+capital; on the Danube, at nearly the same distance, and on the Vistula,
+pressing on the Prussian frontier. In Constantinople she would have the
+most magnificent fortress in the world, the command of the head of the
+Mediterranean, Syria, and inevitably Egypt. By the Dardanelles, she
+would be wholly inaccessible; for no fleet could pass, if the batteries
+on shore were well manned. The Black Sea would be simply her wet-dock,
+in which she might build ships while there was oak or iron in the north,
+and build them in complete security from all disturbance; for all the
+fleets of Europe could not reach them through the Bosphorus, even if
+they had forced the Dardanelles--that must be the operation of an army
+in the field. On the north, Russia is almost wholly invulnerable. The
+Czar might retreat until his pursuers perished of fatigue and hunger.
+The unquestionable result of the whole is, that Russia is the real
+terror of Europe. France is dangerous, and madly prone to hostilities;
+but France is open on every side, and experience shows that she never
+can resist the combined power of England and Germany. It is strong
+evidence of our position, that she has never _ultimately_ triumphed in
+any war against England; and the experience of the last war, which
+showed her, with all the advantages of her great military chief, her
+whole population thrown into the current of war, and her banner followed
+by vassal kings, only the more consummately overthrown, should be a
+lesson to her for all ages. But Russia has never been effectually
+checked since the reign of Peter the Great, when she first began to
+move. Even disastrous wars have only hastened her advance; keen intrigue
+has assisted military violence, and when we see even the destruction of
+Moscow followed by the final subjugation of Poland, we may estimate the
+sudden and fearful superiority which she would be enabled to assume,
+with her foot standing on Constantinople, and her arm stretching at will
+over Europe and Asia. Against this tremendous result there are but two
+checks, the preservation of the Osmanli government by the jealousy of
+the European states, and the establishment of a Greek empire at
+Constantinople: the former, the only expedient which can be adopted for
+the moment, but in its nature temporary, imperfect, and liable to
+intrigue: the latter, natural, secure, and lasting. It is to this event
+that all the rational hopes of European politicians should be finally
+directed. Yet, while the Turk retains possession we must adhere to him;
+for treaties must be rigidly observed, and no policy is safe that is not
+strictly honest. But if the dynasty should fail, or any of those
+unexpected changes occur which leave great questions open, the formation
+of a Greek empire ought to be contemplated as the true, and the only,
+mode of effectually rescuing Europe from the most formidable struggle
+that she has ever seen. But the first measure, even of temporary
+defence, ought to be the fortification of Constantinople. It is computed
+that the expense would not exceed a million and a half sterling.
+
+The Marquis, by a fortunate chance for a looker-on, happened to be in
+the Turkish capital at the time when the populace were all exulting at
+the capture of Acre. It was admitted that the British squadron had done
+more in rapidity of action, and in effect of firing, than it was
+supposed possible for ships to accomplish, and all was popular
+admiration and ministerial gratitude. In addition to the lighting of the
+mosques for the Ramazan, Pera and Constantinople were lighted up, and
+the whole scene was brilliant. Constant salvoes were fired from the
+ships and batteries during the day, and at night, of course, all was
+splendour on the seven hills of the great city.
+
+On the "Seraskier's Square," two of the Egyptian regiments taken at
+Beyrout defiled before the commander-in-chief. The Turkish bands in
+garrison moved at their head. The prisoners marched in file; and, having
+but just landed from their prison-ships, looked wretchedly. Having a red
+woollen bonnet, white jackets, and large white trowsers, they looked
+like an assemblage of "cricketers." The men were universally young,
+slight made, and active, with sallow cheeks, many nearly yellow, orange,
+and even black; still, if well fed and clothed, they would make by no
+means bad light troops. The Turks armed and clothed then forthwith, and
+scattered them among their regiments; a proceeding which shows that even
+the Turk is sharing the general improvement of mankind. Once he would
+have thrown them all into the Bosphorus.
+
+From this professional display, the Marquis adjourned to the "Grand
+Promenade," where the sultanas see the world, unseen themselves, in
+their carriages. "Though," as he writes, "I never had an opportunity of
+_verifying_ any thing like Miss Pardoe's anecdote of the 'sentries being
+ordered to face about when presenting arms,' rather than be permitted to
+gaze on the _tempting_ and _forbidden_ fruit; but, on the contrary,
+witnessed soldiers escorting all the sultanas' carriages: it is
+nevertheless true, that a gruff attendant attacked and found fault with
+me for daring to raise my eyes to a beautiful Turkish woman, whom it was
+quite impossible I could admire beyond her forehead and two large black
+eyes, eyebrows, and lashes, which glanced from under her yashmack." But
+the Marquis has no mercy on the performances of poor Miss Pardoe.
+
+The sultana-mother was a personage of high importance at this time, from
+her supposed influence over her son. Her equipage was somewhat
+European--a chariot, with hammer-cloth, (apparently lately received from
+Long-Acre.) The coachman drove four large bay horses, with a plurality
+of reins. There were attendants, running Turks, and guards before to
+clear the way. Two open barouches, ornamented after the manner of the
+country, followed, and the rear of the sultanas' procession was closed
+by arebas (or covered and gilded vans) full of women and slaves.
+
+But the most characteristic display of all is the "Cabinet." "On the
+side of this drive is a long colonnade of shops; and, at the bottom of
+it, a _barber's_, in which all the ministers of the divan and the pasha
+assemble! They sit on cushions in grand conclave and conference; and,
+while affecting to discuss the affairs of the state, the direction of
+their eyes, and their signs to the recumbent houris in the carriages,
+show their thoughts to be directed to other objects."
+
+What should we think of the chancellor, the premier, and the three
+secretaries of state, sitting in council at a fruiterer's in Regent
+Street, and nodding to the ladies as they pass? But this is not all. The
+sultan, in his kiosk, sits at one end of the drive, inspecting the whole
+panorama. Still, it is not yet complete; at the lower end of the
+colonnade there is a woman-market, where each slave, attended by a
+duenna, passes and parades, casting her languishing eyes through the
+files of lounging officers and merchants, who crowd this part of the
+promenade. All this is essentially Turkish, and probably without any
+thing like it in the world besides.
+
+The beauty of the Turkish women is still a matter of dispute. When
+beauty is an object of unlimited purchase, its frequency will be
+probably found a safe admission. But Turkish women occasionally unveil,
+and it is then generally discovered that the veil is one of their
+principal charms. They have even been described as merely good-humoured
+looking "fatties"--a sufficiently humble panegyric. Lord Londonderry
+gives it as his opinion, that they are "not generally handsome, but all
+well-built and well-grown, strong, and apparently healthy. Their eyes
+and eyebrows are invariably fine and expressive; and their hair is,
+beyond measure, superior to that of other nations. The thickness of its
+braidings and plaits, and the masses that are occasionally to be seen,
+leave no doubt of this."
+
+Long and luxuriant tresses belong to all the southern nations of Europe,
+and seem to be the results of heat of climate; and there are few facts
+in physiology more singular than the sudden check given to this
+luxuriance on the confines of Negroland. There, with all predisposing
+causes for its growth, it is coarse, curled, and never attains to length
+or fineness of any kind. The Georgians and Circassians were once the
+boast of the harem; but the war and the predominance of the Russian
+power in the Caucasus, have much restricted this detestable national
+traffic--a circumstance said to be much to the regret of both parents
+and daughters; the former losing the price, and the latter losing the
+preferment, to which the young beauties looked forward as to a certain
+fortune. But later experience has told the world, that the charms of
+those Armidas were desperately exaggerated by Turkish romance and
+European credulity; that the general style of Circassian features,
+though fair, is Tartarish, and that the Georgian is frequently coarse
+and of the deepest brown, though with larger eyes than the Circassian,
+which are small, and like those of the Chinese. The accounts written by
+ladies visiting the harems are to be taken with the allowance due to
+showy dress, jewels, cosmetics, and the general effect of a prepared
+exhibition, scarcely less than theatrical. It is scarcely possible that
+either the human face or form can long preserve symmetry of any kind in
+a life almost wholly destitute of exercise, in the confined air of their
+prison, and in the full indulgence of their meals. Activity, animation,
+and grace--the great constituents of all true beauty--must soon perish
+in the harem.
+
+The Marquis (an excellent judge of a horse) did not much admire the
+steeds of the pashas. On a visit to the Seraskier's stables, the head
+groom brought out fourteen, with light Tartars on them to show their
+points. Their stables were miserable. The horses were without stalls or
+litter, in a dark, ill-paved barn. They were heavily covered with rugs.
+Three or four were very fine Arabs; but the rest were of Turkish blood,
+with large heads, lopped ears, and thick necks, of indifferent action,
+and by no means desirable in any shape.
+
+The interview with the Sultan was the last, and was interesting and
+characteristic. The Marquis had naturally expected to find him in the
+midst of pomp. Instead of all this, on entering a common French carpeted
+room, he perceived, on an ordinary little French sofa, the sovereign
+crosslegged, and alone; two small sofas, half-a-dozen chairs, and
+several wax-lights, were all the ornaments of this very plain saloon.
+But the Sultan was diamonded all over, and fully made amends for the
+plainness of his reception-room. As to his person, Abdul-Mehjid is a
+tall sallow youth of nineteen or twenty, with a long visage, but
+possessing fine eyes and eyebrows, so that, when his face is lighted up,
+it is agreeable and spiritual.
+
+We must now close our sketch of those diversified and pleasant volumes.
+We regret to hear that their distinguished and active author has lately
+met with a severe accident in following the sports of his country; but
+we are gratified with the hope of his recovery, and the hope, too, of
+seeing him undertake more excursions, and narrate them with equal
+interest, truth, and animation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE CURSE OF GLENCOE.[12]
+
+BY B. SIMMONS.
+
+
+    [12] The tale that follows is founded upon an incident that
+    occurred some little time before the American War, to Colonel
+    Campbell of Glenlyon, whose grandfather, the Laird of Glenlyon,
+    was the officer in King William's service who commanded at the
+    slaughter of the Macdonalds of Glencoe. The anecdote is told in
+    Colonel David Stewart's valuable history of the Highland
+    Regiments. Edin 1822.
+
+
+    The fair calm eve on wood and wold
+      Shone down with softest ray,
+    Beneath the sycamore's red leaf
+      The mavis trill'd her lay,
+    Murmur'd the Tweed afar, as if
+      Complaining for the day.
+
+    And evening's light, and wild-bird's song,
+      And Tweed's complaining tune;
+    And far-off hills, whose restless pines
+      Were beckoning up the moon--
+    Beheld and heard, shed silence through
+      A lofty dim saloon.
+
+    The fruits of mellow autumn glow'd
+      Upon the ebon board;
+    The blood that grape of Burgundy
+      In other days had pour'd,
+    Gleam'd from its crystal vase--but all
+      Untasted stood the hoard.
+
+    Two guests alone sat listlessly
+      That lavish board beside;
+    The one a fair-haired stripling, tall,
+      Blithe-brow'd and eager-ey'd,
+    Caressing still two hounds in leash,
+      That by his chair abide.
+
+    Right opposite, in musing mood,
+      A stalwart man was placed,
+    With veteran aspect, like a tower
+      By war, not time, defaced,
+    Whose shatter'd walls exhibit Power
+      Contending still with Waste.
+
+    And as the ivy's sudden veil
+      Will round the fortress spring,
+    Some grief unfading o'er that brow
+      Its shadow seemed to fling,
+    And made that stalwart man's whole air
+      A sad and solemn thing.
+
+    And so they sat, both Youth and Years,
+      An hour without a word--
+    The pines that beckon'd up the moon
+      Their arms no longer stirr'd,
+    And through the open windows wide
+      The Tweed alone was heard.
+
+    The elder's mood gave way at last,
+      Perhaps some sudden whine
+    Of the lithe quest-hounds startled him,
+      Or timepiece striking nine;
+    "Fill for thyself, forgotten Boy,"
+      He said, "and pass the wine."
+
+    "A churlish host I ween am I
+      To thee, who, day by day,
+    Thus comest to cheer my solitude
+      With converse frank and gay,
+    Or tempt me with thy dogs to course
+      The moorlands far away.
+
+    "But still the fit returns"--he paused,
+      Then with a sigh resumed,
+    "Remember'st thou how once beneath,
+      Yon chestnut, when it bloom'd,
+    Thou ask'd'st me why I wore the air
+      Of spirit disentomb'd;
+
+    "And why, apart from man, I chose
+      This mansion grim and hoary,
+    Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,
+      Nor ancient name, to glory?
+    I shunn'd thy questions then--now list,
+      And thou shalt hear the story--
+
+    "With a brief preface, and thro' life
+      Believe its warning true--
+    That they who (save in righteous cause)
+      Their hands with blood imbrue--
+    Man's sacred blood--avenging heaven
+      Will long in wrath pursue.
+
+    "A curse has fallen upon my race;
+      The Law once given in fire,
+    While Sinai trembled to its base,
+      That curse inflicted dire,
+    TO VISIT STILL UPON THE SON,
+      THE OFFENCES OF THE SIRE.
+
+    "My fathers strong, of iron hand,
+      Had hearts as iron hard,
+    That never love nor pity's touch,
+      From ruthless deeds bebarr'd.
+    And well they held their Highland glen,
+      Whatever factions warr'd.
+
+    "When Stuart's great but godless race
+      Dissolved like thinnest snow
+    Before bright Freedom's face, my clan,
+      The Campbells, served their foe.
+    --Boy--'twas my grandsire" (soft he said)
+      "Commanded at Glencoe."
+
+    The stripling shrank, nor quite suppress'd
+      His startled bosom's groan;
+    Forward and back the casements huge
+      By sudden gust were blown,
+    And at the sound one dreaming hound
+      Awaken'd with a moan.
+
+    "_Glencoe_--ay, well the word may stir,
+      The stoutest heart with fear,
+    Or burn with monstrous shame the face
+      Of man from year to year,
+    As long as Scotland's girdling rocks
+      The roar of seas shall hear.
+
+    "Enough--Glenlyon redly earn'd
+      The curse he won that night,
+    When rising from the social hearth
+      He gave the word to smite,
+    And all was shriek and helplessness,
+      And massacre and flight.
+
+    "And such a flight!--O, outraged Heaven,
+      How could'st thou, since, have smiled?
+    A fathom deep the frozen snow
+      Lay horrid on the wild,
+    Where fled to perish youth and age,
+      And wife and feeble child.
+
+    "My couch is soft--yet dreams will still
+      Convert that couch to snow,
+    And in my slumbers shot and shout
+      Are ringing from Glencoe."
+    That stalwart man arose and paced
+      The chamber to and fro,
+    While to his brow the sweat-drop sprung
+      Like one in mortal throe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Glenlyon died, be sure, as die
+      All desperate men of blood,
+    And from my sire (his son) our lands
+      Departed sod by sod,
+    Till the sole wealth bequeathed me was
+      A mother fearing God.
+
+    "She rear'd me in that holy fear,
+      In stainless honour's love,
+    And from the past she warned me,
+      Whate'er my fate should prove,
+    To shrink from bloodshed as a sin.
+      All human sins above.
+
+    "I kept the precept;--by the sword
+      Compell'd to win me bread,
+    A soldier's life of storm and strife
+      For forty years I led,
+    Yet ne'er by this reluctant arm
+      Has friend or foeman bled.
+
+    "But still I felt Glencoe's dark curse
+      My head suspended o'er,
+    --Look, this reluctant hand, for all,
+      Is red with human gore!"
+    Again that white-lipp'd man arose
+      And strode the echoing floor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "A prosperous course through life was mine
+      On rampart, field, and wave,
+    Though more my warrior skill than deeds,
+      Command and fortune gave.
+    Years roll'd away, and I prepared
+      To drop the weary glaive.
+
+    "'Twas when beyond th' Atlantic foam,
+      To check encroaching France,
+    Our war spread wide, and, on his tide,
+      In many a martial glance,
+    St Lawrence saw grey Albyn's plumes
+      And Highland pennons dance.
+
+    "E'en while I waited for the Chief,
+      By whom relieved at last,
+    Heart-young, though time-worn, I was free
+      To hail my country's blast--
+    That on a sentry, absent found,
+      The doom of death was pass'd.
+
+    "POOR RONALD BLAIR! a fleeter foot
+      Ne'er track'd through Morvern moss
+    The wind-hoof'd deer; nor swimmer's arm
+      More wide the surge could toss
+    Than his, for whom dishonour's hand
+      Now dug the griesly fosse.
+
+    "Suspicion of those hunter tribes,
+      Along whose giant screen
+    Of shadowy woods our host encamp'd,
+      The early cause had been
+    Of rule, that none of Indian race
+      Should come our lines within.
+
+    "The law was kept, yet, far away,
+      Amid the forests' glade,
+    The fair-hair'd warriors of the North
+      Woo'd many a dusky maid,
+    Who charm'd, perhaps, not less because
+      In Nature's garb array'd.
+
+    "And warm and bright as southern night,
+      When all is stars and dew,
+    Was that dark girl, who, to the banks,
+      Where lay her light canoe,
+    Lured Ronald's footsteps, day by day,
+      What time the sun withdrew.
+
+    "Far down the stream she dwelt, 'twould seem,
+      Yet stream nor breeze could bar
+    Her little boat, that to a nook,
+      Dark with the pine-tree's spar,
+    Each evening Ronald saw shoot up
+      As constant as a star.
+
+    "Alone she came--she went alone:--
+      She came with fondest freight
+    Of maize and milky fruits and furs
+      Her lover's eyes to greet;
+    She went--ah, 'twas her bosom then,
+      Not bark, that bore the weight!
+
+    "How fast flew time to hearts like theirs!
+      The ruddy summer died,
+    And Arctic frosts must soon enchain
+      St. Lawrence' mighty tide;
+    But yet awhile the little boat
+      Came up the river-side.
+
+    "One night while from their northern lair
+      With intermittent swell,
+    The keen winds grumbled loud and long,
+      To Ronald's turn it fell
+    Close to the shore to keep the lines,
+      A lonely sentinel.
+
+    "'Twas now the hour was wont to bring
+      His Indian maid; and hark!
+    As constant as a star it comes,
+      That small love-laden bark,
+    It anchors in the cove below--
+      She calls him through the dark.
+
+    "He dared not answer, dared not stir,
+      Where Discipline had bound him;
+    Nor was there need--led by her heart
+      The joyous girl has found him;
+    She understands it not, nor cares,
+      Her raptured arms are round him.
+
+    "He kiss'd her face--he breathed low
+      Those brook-like, murmuring words
+    That, without meaning, speak out all
+      The heart's impassion'd chords,
+    The truest language human lip
+      To human lip affords.
+
+    "He pointed towards the distant camp,
+      Her clasping arms undid,
+    And show'd that till the morrow's sun
+      Their meeting was forbid;
+    She went--her eyes in tears--he call'd,
+      And kiss'd them from the lid.
+
+    "She went--he heard her far below
+      Unmoor her little boat;
+    He caught the oars' first dip that sent
+      It from the bank afloat;
+    Next moment, down the tempest swept
+      With an all-deafening throat.
+
+    "Loud roar'd the storm, but louder still
+      The river roar'd and rose,
+    Tumbling its angry billows, white
+      And huge as Alpine snows;
+    Yet clear through all, one piercing cry
+      His heart with terror froze.
+
+    "She shrieks, and calls upon the name
+      She learn'd to love him by;
+    The waves have swamp'd her little boat--
+      She sinks before his eye!
+    And he must keep his dangerous post,
+      And leave her there to die!
+
+    "One moment's dreadful strife--Love wins;
+      He plunges in the water;
+    The moon is out, his strokes are stout,
+      The swimmer's arm has caught her,
+    And back he bears, with gasping heart,
+      The Forest's matchless daughter!
+
+    "'Twas but a chance!--her life is gain'd,
+      And his is gone--for, lo!
+    The picquet round has come, and found,
+      Left open to the foe,
+    The dangerous post that Ronald kept
+      So short a time ago.
+
+    "They met him bearing her--he scorn'd
+      To palter or to plead:
+    Arrested--bound--ere beat of drum,
+      The Judgment-court decreed
+    That Ronald Blair should with his life
+      Pay forfeit for his deed.
+
+    "He knew it well--that deed involved
+      Such mischief to the host,
+    While prowling spy and open foe
+      Watch'd every jealous post,
+    That, of a soldier's crimes, it call'd
+      For punishment the most.
+
+    "On me, as senior in command,
+      The charge I might not shun
+    Devolved, to see the doom of death
+      Upon the culprit done.
+    The place--a league from camp; the hour--
+      The morrow's evening sun.
+
+    "Meanwhile some touches of the tale
+      That reach'd the distant tent
+    Of Him who led the war in Chief,
+      Won justice to relent.
+    That night, in private, a REPRIEVE
+      Unto my care was sent,
+
+    "With secret orders to pursue
+      The sentence to the last,
+    And when the prisoner's prayer was o'er,
+      And the death-fillet past,
+    _But not till then_, to read to him
+      That Pardon for the past.
+
+    "The morrow came; the evening sun
+      Was sinking red and cold,
+    When Ronald Blair, a league from camp
+      We led, erect and bold,
+    To die the soldier's death, while low
+      The funeral drum was roll'd.
+
+    "With arms reversed, our plaided ranks
+      The distance due retire,
+    The fatal musqueteers advance
+      The signal to require:
+    '_Till I produce this kerchief blue,
+      Be sure withhold your fire_.'
+
+    "His eyes are bound--the prayer is said--
+      He kneels upon his bier;
+    So dread a silence sank on all,
+      You might have heard a tear
+    Drop to the earth. My heart beat quick
+      With happiness and fear,
+
+    "To feel conceal'd within my vest
+      A parting soul's relief!
+    I kept my hand on that REPRIEVE
+      Another moment brief;
+    Then drew it forth, but with it drew,
+      O God! the handkerchief.
+
+    "He fell!--and whether He or I
+      Had died I hardly knew--
+    But when the gusty forest breeze
+      Aside the death-smoke blew,
+    I heard those bearing off the dead,
+      Proclaim that there were _two_.
+
+    "They said that as the volley ceased,
+      A low sob call'd them where
+    They found an Indian maiden dead,
+      Clasping in death's despair
+    One feather from a Highland plume
+      And one bright lock of hair.
+
+    "I've long forgot what follow'd, save
+      That standing by his bier,
+    I shouted out the words some fiend
+      Was whispering in my ear--
+    'My race is run--_the curse of Heaven
+      And of Glencoe is here_!'[13]
+
+    "From that dark hour all hope to me,
+      All _human_ hope was gone;
+    I shrank from life a branded man--
+      I sought my land alone,
+    And of a stranger's purchased halls
+      I joy'd to make my own.
+
+    "Thou'st known me long as Campbell--now
+      Thou know'st the Campbell's story,
+    And why, apart from man, I chose
+      This mansion grim and hoary,
+    Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,
+      Nor ancient name, to glory.
+
+    "Though drear my lot, yet, noble boy,
+      Not always I repine;
+    Come, wipe those watery drops away
+      That in thine eyelids shine;
+    Fill for thyself," the old man said,
+      "Once more, and pass the wine."
+
+    [13] Such was his exclamation, as repeated in the History
+    before referred to. Colonel Campbell always imputed the
+    unfortunate occurrence that clouded the evening of his life to
+    the share his ancestor had in the disastrous affair of Glencoe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT.
+
+A MONOLOGUE.
+
+
+    Now glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band--
+    And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;
+    And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,
+    For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
+
+    Ye citizens of Mary-le-bone! 'twas yours to point the way
+    How freemen best might mock the laws which none but slaves obey;
+    How classic fanes should rise to mark the honour that we owe
+    To all who hated Church and King, and planned their overthrow.
+
+    O fresh and bright shone reason's light through superstition's gloom,
+    When one and all ye heard the call of honest Joseph Hume;
+    When listening to his flowing words, than honey-dew more sweet,
+    Ye sate, dissolved in holy tears, at that Gamaliel's feet!
+
+    How touchingly he spoke of those now gather'd to their rest,
+    By knaves and laws upbraided, but by righteous patriots bless'd;
+    How brightly gleamed his eagle eye, as he poured his ancient grudge
+    On that foul throng that wrought them wrong--on Jury and on Judge!
+
+    Well may ye boast among the host of patriots tried and true,
+    That to your bold humanity the foremost place is due;
+    Yet others follow fast behind, though ye have led the van,
+    In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+    Dun-Edin's civic Councillors come closely in your wake,
+    They, too, can feel for injured truth, and blush for Scotland's sake;
+    Well have they wiped the stain away, affix'd in former years
+    Upon the citizens of France, and on their bold compeers.
+
+    Let women moan and maunder against the glorious time,
+    When France arose in all her might, when loyalty was crime;
+    When prison shambles stream'd with blood, and red the gutters ran,
+    In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+    When piled within the crazy boats, chain'd closely to the beam,
+    By hundreds the aristocrats sank in the sullen stream;
+    When age and sex were no respite, and merrily and keen,
+    From morning until night, rush'd down the clanking guillotine.
+
+    'Tis ours to render homage, where homage most is due--
+    Now glory be to DANTON, and to his valiant crew--
+    And glory to those mighty shades, who never stoop'd to spare,
+    The virtuous regicides of France, and the hero, ROBESPIERRE.
+
+    But greater glory still to those, who strove within our land,
+    To hoist the cap of liberty, and bare the British brand,
+    To drag our ancient Parliament from its place of honour down,
+    To ride rough-shod upon the Lords, and spit upon the Crown.
+
+    What though the bigots of the bench declared their treason vile--
+    What though they languish'd slowly in the felon's distant isle--
+    Shall we, the children of Reform, withhold our just applause
+    From those who loved the people and, of course, despised the laws?
+
+    We'll rear a stately monument--we'll build it fair and high,
+    And on the porch this graven verse shall greet the passers-by--
+    "IN HONOUR OF THE MARTYRS WHO THE BATTLE FIRST BEGAN
+    FOR THE CAUSE OF JUST FRATERNITY, AND THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN!"
+
+    'Twill be a proud memorial, when we have pass'd away,
+    Of old Dun-Edin's loyalty, and the Civic Council's sway;
+    And it shall stand while earth is green and skies are summer blue,
+    Eternal as the sleep of those who fell at Peterloo!
+
+    Were I a chosen Councillor--a tetrarch of the town,
+    I'd drag from off their pedestals these Tory statues down;
+    I'd make a universal sweep of all that serves to show
+    How vilely the aristocrats have used us long ago.
+
+    The column rear'd to victory in that detested war,
+    When the Tricolor went down before our flag at Trafalgar,
+    The column that hath taught our sons to mutter Nelson's name,
+    I'd level straightway with the dust, and with it sink our shame.
+
+    Yes! in that place a classic fane should stand where Nelson's stood,
+    With new baptismal cognizance from famous THISTLEWOOD;
+    His bust should in the centre shine, and round it, placed on guard,
+    The effigies of HATFIELD, INGS, and of the good DESPARD.
+
+    There's Pitt, the Lar of Frederick Street--O shame to us and ours!
+    Was it not he whose policy struck back the Gallic powers?
+    Was it not he whose iron hand so ruthlessly kept down
+    The tide of bold democracy, and saved the British crown?
+
+    I'd fetch him from his lofty perch; I'd dash him on the stones;
+    I'd serve the lifeless bronze the same as I'd have served his bones;
+    And on the empty stance I would in radiant metal show,
+    A bolder and a braver man--the patriot PAPINEAU.
+
+    Down, down, I say, with George the Fourth!--for him there's no delay;
+    Let all askance direct their glance, for virtue's sake, we pray;
+    So says our new Pygmalion, the purist of the town,
+    'Twere shame that he compelled should be, in passing, to look down.
+
+    Let's find another statue of the brave old English breed,
+    A worthy of an earlier age--a champion good at need;
+    No cause were then to seem ashamed, though slaves might feel afraid,
+    When emancipated bondsmen bow'd to the image of JACK CADE.
+
+    There's room enough where Royal Charles sits stiffly in the Square,
+    To rear a double effigy--Why not of BURKE and HARE?
+    Though not in freedom's cause they died, remember'd let it be,
+    That science has its martyrdom, as well as liberty.
+
+    A monument to Walter Scott!--A monument forsooth!
+    What has that bigot done for us, for freedom, or for truth?
+    He always back'd the Cavalier against the Puritan,
+    And sneer'd at just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
+
+    What good to us have ever done his Legends of Montrose,
+    Of Douglas and of dark Dundee, the fellest of our foes?
+    What care we for the Border chiefs, or for the Stuart line,
+    Or the thraldom of the people in "the days of auld langsyne?"
+
+    Men dream'd not of equality in days so darkly wild,
+    Nor was the peasant's bantling _then_ mate for the baron's child;
+    But we've learn'd another lesson since the golden age drew near,
+    And working men may keep the wall, and jostle prince and peer.
+
+    Ye fools! take down your monument--or rear it, if ye will,
+    But choose another effigy that lofty niche to fill.
+    None better, say ye? Pause awhile, and I will tell you one,
+    Who never bent the servile knee at altar or at throne.
+
+    No fond illusions dull'd _his_ eye, no tales of wither'd eld;
+    No childish faith was _his_ to trust aught save what he beheld;
+    No sovereignty would he allow save Reason's rightful reign;
+    No laws save those of Nature's code--and such was THOMAS PAINE.
+
+    Place him within your Gothic arch, the only fit compeer
+    Of those whose martyr monument the Council seek to rear;
+    Since traitors to the laws of man may boldly look abroad,
+    Towards the image of their friend who broke the laws of God.
+
+    Since anarchy must have its meed, let's leave no statue here,
+    That might from other lips than ours provoke a cynic sneer:
+    If temples must be built to crime, we'll worship there alone,
+    Nor leave a mark of loyalty or honour in the stone.
+
+    Then glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band--
+    And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;
+    And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,
+    For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+PART I.
+
+
+The heart of an Englishman must ever swell with pride as he contemplates
+his country's greatness. He looks around him, and his eye every where
+meets with the signs of increasing opulence and prosperity, while his
+ear is filled with the busy hum of an industrious, and, despite the idle
+babblings of the ignorant, and the empty declamation of interested,
+selfish, and disappointed men, a contented population, happy in the
+enjoyment of comfort, beyond that of the labouring classes of most other
+countries. He visits her marts, her harbours, and her ports--men of all
+nations are met together there--fleets of rich argosies are ever
+arriving and departing--and myriads of steamers flit to and fro, happily
+now engaged in promoting the arts of peace, but ready at a moment's
+notice to become the defenders of his country's shores, and, as recent
+events have shown the world, able also to carry war and devastation
+along the coasts of her enemies, even to the uttermost parts of the
+earth. He explores the seats of her manufactures; there he beholds vast
+edifices teeming with crowds of work-people, occupied in supplying the
+wants of mankind. In short, wherever he bends his steps, all are
+usefully employed--industry, enterprise, and perseverance, are found
+throughout the land. He also feels it no vain boast to be a denizen of
+that small isle, whose inhabitants, by their own proper energy, have
+extended their dominion over a territory on which the sun never sets--
+peopled by upwards of two hundred million souls--consisting of colonies,
+nations, and people, differing from each other in form of person,
+complexion, habits, manners, and in language--elements apparently the
+most discordant and heterogeneous, yet firmly knit and bound into one
+vast glorious empire, which, successfully resisting the rudest shocks,
+often assaulted, ever victorious, and, thanks to the bravery of her
+warriors, and the wisdom of those who now guide her councils, having
+defeated alike the open attacks and the secret machinations of her
+enemies, at this moment constitutes the most powerful state of ancient
+or modern times--abounding in wealth, and rejoicing in freedom, beyond
+all other nations of the earth.
+
+He glories also in the intellectual pre-eminence of his country. Her
+victories by sea and land attest the genius of her captains; her
+institutions bear witness to the sagacity of her lawgivers and her
+statesmen. Her railroads, docks, canals, and other public works, bear
+the marks of superior intelligence acting for the general good. His
+countrymen were the first to press steam into the active service of
+mankind. By the genius of Watt and his successors, a power, before
+destructive and uncontrollable, has been rendered the mighty agent of
+man's will, the supplier of his wants, and the minister of his
+convenience. Through their inventions, steam has become, as it were, the
+breath, the life, of a noble animal of man's creation, untiring in its
+ceaseless labours, irresistible in its tremendous strength; and, when
+its maker chooses to endow it with powers of motion, fleeter also than
+the wind, but of imposing might and majesty as it pursues its headlong
+course; and yet, withal, checked by a single touch, yielding a perfect
+obedience to the hand of its ruler, and submissive to the slightest
+intimation of his will. In the walks of science, literature, and
+philosophy, he finds equal reason to be proud of his country. Splendid
+discoveries in every branch of science meet him as he enquires, and but
+a few years have passed away since the death of one--Sir Humphry
+Davy--of whom it is scarce too much to say, that he revolutionized a
+great science by his discoveries, or that, by the power of his single
+intellect, he dived deeper into the hidden mysteries of the material
+world than all preceding generations had been able to penetrate. In
+short, an Englishman finds his country possessed of warriors, statesmen,
+philosophers, historians, poets, and authors, in every branch of
+literature, who are the admiration of the whole civilized world. In all
+these, England stands proudly pre-eminent, the first, the very first,
+among the nations. It is much to be able to feel this, but an Englishman
+would fain feel even more than this; his noble ambition is to see his
+country first in every thing; he would have her pre-eminent alike in the
+fine arts and those pursuits which distinguish the recreations and
+amusements of a refined and polished people, as in the more useful
+arts of life.
+
+But here the pleasing portion of the picture ceases--
+
+    "Ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio,"
+
+every medal has its obverse, says the Italian proverb; and the
+comparatively low rank which his country occupies in this new field of
+view, is a melancholy contemplation for an Englishman. He finds that, in
+general, things are judged of only by the measure of their practical
+utility, and that the beautiful and the useful are usually deemed to be
+incompatible; thereby affording, however reluctantly we may admit it, at
+least some justification of Napoleon's celebrated and bitter reproach,
+that we are a nation of shopkeepers. It would seem, in truth, that we do
+not possess that quick perception of the beautiful which is enjoyed by
+the more excitable and imaginative sons of the south. In painting, we
+believe we possess a school second to none of modern art. But, beautiful
+as their works may be, can we place our Reynolds, Lawrence, Hogarth, and
+Gainsborough in competition with Raphael, Correggio, Rubens, or Claude?
+In sculpture also, can Westmacott, or even Chantrey--we speak with
+reverence of the illustrious dead--be compared with Michael Angelo or
+Giovanni de Bologna? When pressed on these topics, the candid Englishman
+must, with a sigh, confess his country's inferiority. Architecture also,
+with few exceptions, has long been our reproach. We judge of the degree
+of civilization and refinement to which ancient Greece and Rome
+attained, by the beauty and elegance of their mutilated remains. We find
+their temples, even in ruins, beautiful beyond the day-dream of our
+modern architects; some of them, till bold and sacrilegious hands
+despoiled them, adorned with sculptures which, surviving the destruction
+of the people who raised them, the wanton rage of barbarous enemies, and
+the inroads of the elements for near two thousand years, sill remain, in
+their decay, the wonder and admiration of the world, the models of
+modern sculptors, and the greatest treasure of art a nation can possess.
+
+In the lapse of ages, perhaps, England, in her turn, may be deserted,
+her mines exhausted, her edifies ruined, her existence as a nation
+terminated. The site of her vast metropolis may once more become an
+undulating verdant plain, intersected by a tidal river; and, perhaps,
+nothing may remain outwardly to show the curious traveller where the
+ancient city stood. The pristine abode of man upon the earth, may again
+be thickly peopled, and civilization may have rolled back to the south,
+its ancient source. Then may history or tradition vaguely tell of
+powerful nations who once flourished in the north; their very existence
+doubted, perhaps, by all, and by many disbelieved. Some day, perchance,
+one whom accident or curiosity may have brought to the shores of ancient
+Britain, may wend his weary way along the bank of the noblest river of
+the land. On a mound a little higher than the rest, something on which
+the hand of man had evidently been employed may attract his attention,
+and stimulate him to search among the tangled weeds and brushwood which
+grow around. The discovery of a marble fragment may, perhaps, eventually
+lead to the uncovering of one of those statues which now grace the
+interior of our St Paul's, on the site of which the stranger had
+unconsciously been exploring. Or, suppose the traveller to have bent his
+steps in a north-easterly direction, towards the foot of that gentle
+slope which terminates at the base of the heights of Highgate and of
+Hampstead. Suppose him, by some strange chance, to stumble upon that
+incomparable specimen of modern sculpture which stands on high at
+King's-Cross, lifted up, in order, we presume, to enable the good
+citizens duly to feast their eyes upon its manifold perfections, as they
+daily hie them to and fro between their western or suburban retreats and
+the purlieus of King Street or Cheapside. What estimate would the
+stranger form of the taste or skill of those who placed on its pedestal
+the statue we have first supposed him to have found? It avails not to
+disguise the truth. What that truth may be, we leave to the intelligence
+of the reader to divine. But what would be the effect of the other
+discovery we have imagined? The traveller would turn away, convinced
+that history or tradition gave false accounts of the power and genius of
+the ancient inhabitants of the land on which he trod, that their glory
+was a dream, their civilization a delusion, their proficiency in the
+arts a fable. For the honour of our country, let us hope that the figure
+of which we speak may not be suffered much longer to disgrace a leading
+thoroughfare of our metropolis. It has already stood some eight or ten
+years, a melancholy monument of English taste and English art in the
+nineteenth century.
+
+For the attainment of excellence in the higher branches of art, as has
+been well observed by an intelligent foreigner, M. Passavant, it is
+requisite that a people should possess deep poetic feeling, and that art
+should not be considered among them as a thing of separate nature, but
+that it should interweave itself with the ties of social life, and be
+employed in adding beauty to its nearest, dearest interests. Now, the
+English, he continues, are more disposed to an active than to a
+contemplative life. They possess, it must be owned, a character of much
+earnestness and energy; yet, from the earliest times, their attention
+has been more directed to the cultivation of the mechanical arts and the
+sciences appertaining to them than to those nobler branches of art which
+flourish spontaneously in a more contemplative nation. This
+characteristic disposition, and the physical activity necessarily
+connected with it, have been by some ascribed to the influence of our
+climate, to our moist and heavy atmosphere, and clouded skies, to
+counteract the influence of which, and to preserve a counterbalancing
+buoyancy of mind and body, an active habit of life is requisite. But
+this hypothesis is untenable; for Flanders, with a similar climate, and
+flourishing likewise by means of its native industry, affords sufficient
+proof how little these circumstances are prejudicial to the cultivation
+of the fine arts. Perhaps a better reason may be found in the wide
+difference which is observable between the national habits of our
+countrymen and those of the people among whom the arts have been
+cultivated with the greatest success. In those countries where the
+beautiful was felt, where the arts were objects of national importance,
+where a people assembled to award the palm between rival sculptors; and
+also, in comparatively modern times, when a reigning monarch did not
+disdain to pick up a painter's pencil, and a whole city mourned an
+artist's death, and paid honours to his remains; all the rank, wealth,
+genius, talent, taste, and intelligence of the people were concentrated
+in one grand focus. Among the states of ancient Greece and modern Italy,
+the city was in fact the nation; and at Athens, Rome, Venice, and
+Florence, was collected all of genius, taste, and talent, the people as
+a body possessed. The mental qualities were thereby rendered more acute,
+and the tastes and manners of the people more refined and cultivated, by
+constant intercourse and communication with each other. This refinenent
+was shared by all classes, and the lower taking pattern from the higher,
+the whole mass was learned. In England, the very reverse of this takes
+place. Here, for the most part, those alone frequent our towns, whose
+doom it is to labour for their bread, they have no leisure from the
+engrossing pursuits of wealth; business, like a jealous mistress, leaves
+them no time for other objects. In spite of various disadvantages of
+soil and climate, the taste for rural pursuits seems part and parcel of
+our nature, and that species of the genus _homo_, the country gentleman,
+seems peculiar to our island. Till within a few years, the great
+majority of this class, whose abundant wealth and leisure might seem to
+constitute them the peculiar patrons of the arts, seldom or never
+frequented even the metropolis, but for generations remained fixed and
+immovable in the place of their forefathers, rooted to the soil as one
+of their old oaks. "His guns, dogs, and horses, were the things the
+squire held most dear." Hunting, shooting, and other sports, formed not
+only the amusements of his leisure hours, but the business of his life.
+His intercourse with the world confined to a narrow circle of
+acquaintance, all of the same tastes and pursuits with himself, he could
+learn or know no others. Generous pursuits, hospitable, liberal, and
+open hearted, hating alike poachers and dissenters, possessed of many
+virtues, avoiding many a crime, discharging the duties, as well as
+exercising the rights of property; exemplary in all the relations of
+life, a good father, a tender husband, a kind master, an indulgent
+landlord, a blessing to himself and those around him, he lived and died
+the _Squire Western_ of his day, without that refinement and cultivation
+of the tastes and mental powers which the more polished inhabitants of
+the metropolis insensibly contract. Sure there were many to whom this
+does not apply, many who combined the "gifts" of both a town and country
+life. But, nevertheless such was the great bulk of that class, among
+whom, had London been England, as even in our own time Paris is or was
+France, the beautiful would not probably have been so much neglected.
+
+So occupied have the great mass of our countrymen been in the pursuit of
+wealth, that all that did not directly contribute to this end has been
+uniformly rejected as useless. A familiar example of the truth of this
+observation may be seen in the numerous factories and other buildings
+erected for commercial purposes, in the manufacturing districts of
+Lancashire and Yorkshire. In buildings of this class, all embellishment
+and ornament, however simple, which good taste, had it been consulted,
+might have suggested, to relieve the wearying straightness of outline,
+or the plain dull flatness of these large ponderous masses of brick and
+mortar, have been neglected, or rejected, probably as not increasing its
+productive powers, and therefore unworthy of consideration. Such has
+been the general principle. But this neglect has at length recoiled upon
+the heads of its promoters. As long as the world was content to take our
+manufactures as we chose to make them--when, no other nation having
+entered the lists with us, we were without competitors, and absolute
+masters of the commerce of the world, this make-all save-all principle
+was undoubtedly the most effective. But now, when our manufacturers meet
+with the keenest competition in every market; when a suicidal export of
+machinery enables the foreigner immediately to benefit by every
+mechanical discovery, or improvement in machinery, that is made by our
+engineers, the case is wholly altered, and the English manufacturer
+finds out the grievous mistake that he has made. Beauty of design has at
+length become of paramount importance, and the beautiful, so long
+neglected, is now avenged. The public taste has advanced too fast. Since
+the introduction of foreign goods, such as silks and other ornamental
+fabrics, the inferiority of our native designs for these materials has
+become manifest to all. We are credibly informed, that there now exists
+a regular organized system, viz. supply of French designs to our
+manufacturers; that from these designs all their ideas are borrowed and
+all their patterns taken, and that, in fact, scarcely a single pattern
+of purely home invention is worked in a season. The manufacturers are,
+however, now roused from their lethargy, and great efforts are made to
+remedy the evil. Schools of design are established, and copyright of
+design has just been conferred by act of parliament. In some of our
+commercial towns, large rooms or galleries are opened to the mechanic,
+where he may study the beautiful and ideal from casts and models of the
+antique. Pictures also are occasionally exhibited for his instruction.
+These are indeed great and praiseworthy efforts, in which
+utilitarianism has assumed a new character, and found a new field of
+action. These novel institutions, not organized and supported from a
+pure abstract love of the arts ostensibly promoted by them, but from
+dire necessity created by successful competition in the more elegant
+branches of manufacture, in which the exercise of taste and fancy is
+required, may eventually produce great general results; years, however,
+must necessarily elapse before their benefits can be felt.
+
+We have hitherto purposely abstained from any allusion to music and
+musical taste, for the purpose of showing, that music is not the only
+fruit of civilization which has not as yet arrived at maturity among
+us; and also for the purpose of ascertaining, whether there might not be
+some general causes in operation, which affect, in an equal degree,
+every branch of the more intellectual refinements of civilized life. In
+this case, the low standard of musical taste and science which will
+hereafter become the subject of more particular observation, cannot be
+attributed solely to causes which relate exclusively to music, but must
+be considered as one amongst other results of general principles. If
+there be any truth in the foregoing speculations, they apply more
+particularly to music, and musical taste and science, than to the fine
+arts, to which we have hitherto confined our observations. Music is
+peculiarly a social pursuit. It can be cultivated only among the haunts
+of men. The taste deteriorates, and the mental standard of excellence
+which each possesses, is lowered when really good music is seldom or
+never heard. By "the million," it can be heard only while mixing with
+the world at large; the performer can acquire his mastery over the
+instrument, at the cost of much time and labour, and he can maintain
+this mastery, and the purity of his style, only where he can compare
+himself with others of acknowledged excellence. This can be done only
+where men congregate in large and populous cities, where the want of
+amusement is best supplied; the recluse or the solitary man can be
+no musician.
+
+It may seem anomalous at first sight, and we can well conceive it to be
+objected to our argument, that it is impossible, that while
+architecture, sculpture, painting, and music, should have been
+comparatively neglected, that literature, in all its branches, should be
+so highly esteemed among us. Milton, and more especially Shakspeare,
+have never lost one tittle of their value; nay, even at this moment,
+there are three rival editions of Shakspeare's works in the course of
+publication. Many volumes of poetry put in their claim to immortality
+every year. Novel after novel appears each to elbow its predecessor out
+of the public mind, and be in its turn forgotten. It is easy to imagine,
+that to many it may appear a paradox in the history of the human race,
+that a people should exist, endowed by nature with a high degree of
+poetic feeling, having, as Mr Hallam observes, produced more eminent
+original poets than any other nation can boast, and attaching a high
+value to literary talent of every description, but, nevertheless, whose
+attainments in the fine arts during a thousand years of national
+existence, should never have passed mediocrity. This apparent
+inconsistency, however, lies only on the surface. The language of true
+poetry is understood by all; it strikes home: however rude the thoughts,
+however uncultivated the understanding, the heart can feel; and it is to
+the heart the poet speaks; and even in the rudest ages of mankind his
+power was acknowledged. Voltaire has remarked, that "amusement is one of
+the wants of man".
+
+Novels are taken up to amuse the vacant hour--in this consists their
+use. They are read without effort--the mind lies fallow as they are
+perused, and no study is required, no cultivation of any taste is
+necessary, to place this amusement within reach. With music and the fine
+arts, this is not so. The taste for these pursuits requires cultivation;
+and in order to estimate and appreciate them correctly, the judgment
+must be formed by a process of education, far different from that which
+enables all who read to value our poets and authors in the various
+departments of literature.
+
+On examining the records of mankind, it will be found that this has been
+the ordinary succession of events in the history of civilization; and
+that poetry and oratory, the more independent efforts of the human mind,
+appear in the earlier stages of society, and that by them man is first
+distinguished as an intellectual and rational creature.
+
+Of Egyptian literature, we know nothing. The destruction of the library
+of the Ptolemies may be the principal cause of our ignorance. The
+gigantic remains of this people, and the manner in which they worked in
+a stone which no modern tool will touch, show that among them the useful
+arts were considerably advanced. We have, however, abundant evidence of
+the small degree of proficiency in the fine arts. Their sculptors are
+characterized by Flaxman as "mere beginners," or "laborious mechanics;"
+their works as "lifeless forms, menial vehicles of an idea." When
+Egyptian art ended, then Grecian art began. It appears, however, to have
+made but little progress down to the time of Homer; and Daedalus and his
+disciple Eudaeus are, we believe, the only artists of that early period
+whose fame has survived. These sculptors worked in wood, and by their
+proficiency we may form a pretty accurate idea of the state of art in
+Greece when Homer wrote. The works of Daedalus are described by Pausanias
+as rude and uncomely in aspect. In his Grecian tour, Pausanias twice
+makes mention of a statue of Hercules by Daedalus, from which
+circumstance it would appear to have been held in high estimation. On
+this statue Flaxman observes--"In the British Museum, as well as in
+other collections in Europe, are several small bronzes of a naked
+Hercules, whose right arm, holding a club, is raised to strike; whilst
+the left is extended, bearing a lion's skin as a shield. From the style
+of extreme antiquity in these statues--from the rude attempt at bold
+action, which was the peculiarity of Daedalus--the general adoption of
+this action in the early ages--the traits of savage nature in the face
+and figure, expressed with little knowledge, but strong feeling--by the
+narrow loins, turgid muscles of the breast, thighs, and calves of the
+legs, will all find reason to believe they are copied from the
+above-mentioned statue." Greece, it must be owned, possessed musicians
+long anterior to Homer: Chiron the Centaur, regarded by the ancients as
+one of the inventors of medicine, botany, and chirurgery, who, when
+eighty-eight years of age, formed the constellations for the use of the
+Argonauts; Linus, the preceptor of Hercules, who added a string to the
+lyre, and is said to be the inventor of rhythm and melody; Orpheus, who
+also extended the scale of the lyre, and was the inventor and propagator
+of many arts and doctrines among the Greeks; and Musaeus, the priest of
+Ceres, are all remembered as musicians, as well as poets, historians,
+and philosophers; characters which, in those days, were all combined in
+the same individuals. The ancients, indeed, appear to have used the term
+music in a much more extended sense than has been attached to it in
+modern times, and to have applied it to all the arts and sciences. But
+even if the ancient meaning of the term were identical with its modern
+signification, there may be good reason to suppose that their fame as
+musicians would principally survive. The memory of these first
+preceptors of mankind was long preserved as the general benefactors of
+their species. But while the other arts they taught advanced, it does
+not appear that music made any progress. Thus, they came chiefly to be
+remembered for that talent in which posterity had produced no equals. As
+poets they were once celebrated; but, eclipsed by the glory and
+splendour of the great historian of Troy, their poetical productions
+were forgotten; whilst, as musicians, unrivalled through many centuries,
+their skill was long remembered as the most excellent the world had
+ever known. The arts of sculpture and painting appear to have remained
+even more stationary than music. For, while about the middle or latter
+end of the seventh century, B.C., the names of Archilochus and Terpander
+adorn the page of musical history, followed by many others, including
+Alcaeus, Sappho, and Simonides, down to Pindar and his rival Corinna, the
+former of whom, according to the chronology of Dr Blair, died in 435
+B.C. aged 86, it is evident, says Flaxman, "that sculpture was 800
+years, from Daedalus to the time immediately preceding Phidias, in
+attaining a tolerable resemblance of the human form." It appears,
+therefore, that the greatest epic poem ever written had been read,
+appreciated, and admired, for nearly five centuries before the arts
+arrived at perfection. Then, indeed, there burst a flood of glory over
+ancient Greece, and names never to be forgotten were borne upon the
+tide. Contemporary with Pindar and Corinna were Phidias, Alcamenes, and
+many other sculptors, together with poets, philosophers, warriors, and
+statesmen; men whose names will rise superior to the lapse of time, and
+whose fame, like the rocky barriers of the ocean, on which the elements
+in vain expend their fury, will be of equal duration with the
+world itself.
+
+Ancient Rome was indebted to others for all of the liberal arts and
+sciences she possessed. In the earlier periods of her existence, and
+before Greece had become known in Rome, Etruria was the instructress of
+her sons. When Greece had been subdued, and rendered a tributary
+province of the all-conquering city, her polished people, nevertheless,
+exercised an intellectual sovereignty over their masters. In the streets
+of Athens a singular spectacle was exhibited; _there_ might be seen the
+conqueror learning of the vanquished; Romans, of exalted rank and
+unbounded power, had become the disciples of Grecian philosophers.
+Nevertheless, when Rome possessed orators and poets, each of whom
+has raised
+
+    "Monumentum aere perennius,"
+
+in that the golden age of her existence, it does not appear, says Dr
+Burney, that "except Vitruvius, the Romans had one architect, sculptor,
+painter, or musician; those who have been celebrated in the arts of Rome
+having been Asiatics or European Greeks, who came to exercise such arts
+among the Latins, as the Latins had not among themselves. This custom
+was continued under the successors of Augustus; and those Romans who
+were prevented, by more important concerns, from going into Greece,
+combined, in a manner, to bring Greece to Rome, by receiving into their
+service the most able professors of Greece and Asia in all the arts."
+Vitruvius, in the chapter on music inserted in his treatise on
+architecture, complains that "the science of music, in itself obscure,
+is particularly so to such as understand not the Greek language." This
+observation shows the low state of music at Rome at that time; indeed
+Vitruvius is said to be the first who has treated of music in the
+Latin tongue.
+
+Modern Europe also furnishes another illustration and example of the
+truth of our proposition. When the mists of ignorance and superstition
+which had for centuries enveloped the world, had begun to clear away,
+and when Europe first attempted to throw off the errors of the Dark
+Ages, the arts were dead, and the only music known was that cultivated
+by the monks and clergy, as necessary to their profession, and the songs
+of the Troubadours. "The fame of the Troubadours," remarks Mr Hallam,
+"depends less on their positive excellence than on the darkness of
+preceding ages, the temporary sensation they excited, and their
+permanent influence on the state of European poetry." The intrinsic
+merit of the music of this period may be collected from the following
+observation of Dr Burney:--"However barbarous and wretched the melody
+and harmony of the secular songs of this period may have been, they were
+in both respects superior to the music of the church." The Troubadours
+flourished from the middle of the twelfth century till the latter end of
+the fourteenth century, when their dissolute and licentious habits
+caused them to be universally banished and proscribed. During the
+barbarism of these times, not only had the arts themselves been lost,
+but even the principles on which they rest had been forgotten. Italy,
+indeed, possessed many ancient marbles, but they seemed to have lost
+their value; and it was not till the thirteenth century that any attempt
+to imitate these remains of antiquity was made. Nicola Pisano, about the
+year 1231, taking for his model an ancient sarcophagus at Pisa, which
+contained the remains of Beatrice, mother of the Countess Matilda,
+sculptured an urn--a feat in those days so extraordinary, as to have
+conferred upon him the title of Nicolas of the Urn. This artist, in the
+words of Lanzi, "was the first to see and follow light." He was,
+however, more ambitious than successful, and was followed by his sons
+and others, in whose hands the art seems to have no very rapid progress.
+The art of painting, in which there were no models in existence, was
+later in manifesting any improvement. It was not till after the year
+1250 that, according to Vasari, some Greek painters were invited to
+Florence by the rulers of the city, for the express purpose of restoring
+the art to Florence, where it was rather wholly lost than degenerated.
+Cimabue, the reviver of painting, received instruction from the Greeks.
+He died in 1300. Fierce as the age in which he lived, says Lanzi, his
+Madonnas were without beauty, and his angels, even in the same picture,
+were all in the same attitude. To Cimabue succeeded his pupil, the
+famous Giotto, who died in 1337. With him the ruggedness of his master's
+manner was softened down, and considerable advances made towards a
+better style. He was honourably received at many of the principal towns
+and cities of Italy, and may, perhaps, be considered as the real founder
+of their several schools; at all events, painters every where were long
+the imitators of Giotto. His faults partook also of the character of the
+age, and among other defects, the dry hardness of his works has given
+rise to an opinion, that he partly formed his style upon the works of
+the Pisani. Giotto and his school, indeed, conducted the art through
+infancy, but it still exhibited many signs of childhood, especially in
+chiara-oscuro, and even more so in perspective. Figures sometimes
+appeared as if sliding from the canvass--buildings had not the true
+point of view, and foreshortening was only rudely attempted. Stefano
+Fiorentino, a _grandson_ of Giotto, was the first and only one of the
+school who endeavoured to grapple with this last difficulty, which he
+may be said to have perceived rather than overcome; his contemporaries,
+for the most part, evaded it, and concealed their deficiency as they
+could. Such is the summary of the merits of this school of art given by
+Lanzi, who dates the commencement of the first epoch of modern painting
+from the death of Giotto. In further illustration of the low state of
+art in the early part of the fourteenth century, it may be observed,
+that Lanzi also describes a great work of Masaccio, who flourished in
+the succeeding century, as "beautiful _for those times_;" and that it
+was not till the year 1410 that oil-painting was invented or improved
+by Van-Eyck.
+
+From this sketch of the history of the arts of music, sculpture, and
+painting during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, will be seen
+their state and condition, when the great work of the immortal Dante
+took his country by surprise. The _Divina Comedia_ was written about the
+year 1300. Its illustrious author, the creator of the national poetry of
+his country, died in 1321, leaving behind him Petrarch, who was crowned
+in the Capitol in 1341, and Boccaccio, who--though, as Byron said of
+Scott, he spoiled his poetry by writing better prose--was nevertheless a
+poet of no mean merit, and the probable inventor of the _ottava rima_.
+Two centuries after the last of these parents of modern literature had
+nearly elapsed, ere he who has been styled the Dante of the arts,
+Michael Angelo, and his contemporaries, among whom were Leonardo da
+Vinci and Raphael, appeared upon the stage. Thus language, the first
+great want of man, the necessary instrument of reason, by which its
+possessor is distinguished from the rest of creation, the vehicle of
+human thoughts, the means by which man's wants, desires, griefs, and
+joys, are communicated and made known, would seem to form the earliest
+object of his attention. He enriches and improves it, till it is
+rendered capable of expressing all the workings of his reason. This
+done, genius and invention are applied to other pursuits; and in many
+instances it may be, that the poet and the artist were but the creatures
+of the age which produced them. Had he lived at a later period, Homer,
+the great sire of song, might perhaps have shone the Phidias or the
+Zeuxis of his day; or, had his birth been anticipated two hundred years,
+the genius of "the Dante of the arts" might possibly have been displayed
+in works like those which have immortalized Dante Alighieri. It is,
+therefore, no inconsistency in the character of a people amongst whom
+poetry is passionately admired, and books of all kinds eagerly devoured,
+that the arts should be generally uncared-for and unknown. When another
+century has passed away, their history may tell another tale, and the
+powers of mind hitherto employed principally upon the physical sciences,
+may have achieved like triumphs in the liberal arts. That this may be
+the case, the past history of other nations affords every reason to
+hope. What man has done, man may, and doubtless _will_, do again.
+
+In the earlier ages of the world, music, in its rudest, simplest form,
+is said to have stopped the flow of rivers, to have tamed wild beasts,
+and to have raised the walls of cities; allegories which at least show
+the prodigious influence the art possessed over the inhabitants of
+infant Greece. In the course of time, love of the art was a national
+characteristic of this people; and music became a specific in the hand
+of the physician, a fundamental principle of public education, and the
+medium of instruction in religion, morals, and the laws. The lyre may be
+said to have ruled Greece, the glorious and the free, with the same
+despotic sway with which the iron hand of tyranny has in our own day
+governed her. Discord, and civil commotions arose among the
+Lacedaemonians; Terpander came, and with his lyre at once appeased the
+angry multitude. Among the Athenians it was forbidden, under pain of
+death, to propose the conquest of the isle of Salamis; but the songs of
+Solon raised a tumult amongst the people; they rose, compelled the
+repeal of the obnoxious decree, and Salamis straightway fell. Was it
+found necessary to civilize a wild and extensive province? Music was
+employed for this desirable object; and Arcadia, before the habitation
+of a fierce and savage people, became famed as the abode of happiness
+and peace. Plutarch places the masters of tragedy--to which the modern
+opera bears a great resemblance--on a level with the greatest captains:
+nor did the people fail in gratitude to their benefactors; they held
+their memory in veneration. The lyre of Orpheus was transplanted to the
+skies, there to shine for countless ages; and divine honours were paid
+to the name of Sappho.
+
+The Greeks, although perhaps excelling all other nations in this, as in
+the other arts, are not the only people among whom music was cultivated
+and esteemed. Both China and Arabia are said to have felt its influence
+upon their customs, manners, and institutions. The musical traditions of
+China might seem to be but repetitions of the marvels of the Greeks.
+King-lun, Kovei, and Pinmonkia, are said to have arrested the flow of
+rivers, and to have caused the woods and forests, attracted by the
+melody of their performance, to crowd around. The Chinese are said to
+believe, that the ancient music of their country has drawn angels down
+from heaven, and conjured up from hell departed souls: they also believe
+that music can inspire men with the love of virtue, and cause them
+faithfully to fulfil their several duties. Confucius says "to know if a
+kingdom be well governed, and if the customs of its inhabitants be bad
+or good, examine the musical taste which there prevails." There is still
+extant a curious document, which shows the importance which a ruler of
+this people attached to music, as a moral and political agent. We allude
+to a proclamation of the Emperor Ngaiti, who ascended the throne of the
+Celestial Empire in the year of the tenth aera 364. After complaining,
+that tender, artificial, and effeminate strains inspire libertinism, he
+proceeds, in severe terms, to order a reformation in these matters; the
+first step to which, is a prohibition of every sort of music but that
+which serves for war, and for the ceremony Tido. The Arabs also appear
+to have held similar opinions as to the power of music. They boast of
+Ishac, Kathab Al Moussouly, Alfarabi, and other musicians, whom they
+relate to have worked miracles by their vocal and instrumental
+performances. With the Arabs, music was interwoven with philosophy; and
+their wise men imagined a marvellous relation to exist between
+harmonious sounds and the operations of nature. Harmony was esteemed
+the panacea, or universal remedy, in mental and even bodily affections;
+in the tones of the lute were found medical recipes in almost all
+diseases. Upon one occasion, in the presence of the grand vizier,
+Alfarabi, accompanying his voice with an instrument, is related to have
+roused a large assembly to an extreme pitch of joyful excitement, from
+which he moved them to grief and tears, and then plunged all present
+into a deep sleep, none having the power to resist the enchantment of
+his performance.
+
+The children of Israel cultivated music in the earliest periods of their
+existence as a people. After the passage of the Red Sea, Moses, and his
+sister Miriam, the prophetess, assembled two choruses, one of men, and
+the other of women, with timbrels, who sang and danced. The facility
+with which the instruments were collected on the spot, and with which
+the choruses and dances were arranged and executed, necessarily implies
+a skill in these exercises, which must have been acquired long before,
+probably from the Egyptians. We have abundant evidence in Holy Writ, of
+the high estimation in which music was held among the Hebrews at a later
+period of their history. They also appear to have successfully applied
+it to the cure of diseases. The whole of David's power over the disorder
+of Saul may, without any miraculous intervention, be attributed to his
+skilful performance upon the harp. In 1st Samuel, c. xvi., we read that
+Saul's servants said unto him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God
+troubleth thee: Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before
+thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall
+come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall
+play with his hand, and thou shalt be well." Saul having assented to
+this proposal, the son of Jesse the Bethlemite was sent for, and stood
+before him. "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon
+Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was
+refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." So
+great were the esteem and love for music among this people when David
+ascended the throne, that we find that he appointed 4000 Levites to
+praise the Lord with instruments, (1. Chron. c. xxiii.;) and that the
+number of those that were _cunning_ in song, was two hundred four score
+and eight, (c. xxv.) Solomon is related by Josephus to have made 200,000
+trumpets, and 40,000 instruments of music, to praise God with. In the 2d
+chapter of Ecclesiastes, music is mentioned by Solomon among the
+vanities and follies in which he found no profit, in terms which show
+how generally a cultivated taste was diffused among his subjects. "I gat
+me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men,
+as musical instruments, and that of all sorts." Many other passages of
+similar import might be quoted from the sacred writings, and among
+others, some from which it would appear that musicians marched in the
+van of the Jewish armies, and not unfrequently contributed to the
+victory by the animation of their strains; and that music was the
+universal language of joy and lamentation. There is, however, one
+portion of Holy Writ, which, from the highly interesting testimony it
+incidentally bears to the love of music which prevailed in Jerusalem,
+and the skill of her inhabitants, we cannot forbear to notice. We allude
+to the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when
+we remembered thee, O Sion. As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the
+trees that are therein. For they that led us away captive required of us
+there a song and melody in our heaviness: Sing us one of the songs of
+Sion." From the facts here narrated, we may judge how great was the
+attachment of the Jewish people for the musical art; their beloved city
+sacked, their temple plundered and destroyed, their homes desolate, in
+the midst of danger and despair, deserted by their God, surrounded by
+infuriated enemies, (Isaiah, xiii. 16.,) nevertheless their harps were
+not forgotten. From this beautiful and pathetic lamentation, it would
+also appear that the repute of Hebrew musicians was far extended. No
+sooner had they arrived in the land of their captivity, than the
+Chaldean conqueror required of them a song and melody in their
+heaviness, demanding _one of the songs of Sion_. The fame of the
+captives must have long preceded them, for, according to Dr Burney, the
+art was then declining in Judea.
+
+In the physical sciences, we have surpassed the nations who excelled in
+music; in war we have equalled their most glorious feats; in poetry and
+oratory we are not inferior. Shall not our future history also tell of
+triumphs in the tuneful art? We believe that sooner or later, the time
+will surely come when our country in her turn will boast of masters in
+the art, whose memories will ever be preserved and hallowed. But
+whatever the future may bring forth, the marvellous accounts of the
+powers of ancient music will meet with little indulgence from modern
+scepticism. At present such effects are unknown among us, and therefore
+unintelligible. Among the early Greeks, for many centuries, the several
+characters of poet, musician, lawgiver, and philosopher, were combined
+in the same individual; and it is probable that the music of that period
+consisted principally of recitative or musical declamation. This species
+of composition, so utterly neglected and unknown to the English school,
+possesses great powers of expression, both when in its simple form and
+when accompanied. A modern example of the effects it is capable of is
+recorded by Tartini. He relates, in the following terms, as one of many
+similar instances which had come under his observation:--"In the 14th
+year of the present century, (the 18th,) in the opera they were
+performing at Ancona, there was at the beginning of the 3d act a line of
+recitative, unaccompanied by any instruments but the bass, by which,
+equally among the professors and the audience, was raised such and so
+great a commotion of mind, that all looked in one another's faces, on
+account of the evident change of colour which took place in each. The
+effect was not that of grief, (I very well remember that the words
+expressed indignation,) but that of a certain congealing and coldness of
+the blood, which completely disturbed the mind. Thirteen times was the
+drama repeated, and the same effect always followed universally; a
+palpable sign of which was the deep previous silence with which the
+audience prepared themselves to enjoy its effects.[14]"
+
+    [14] We may refer to this hereafter, and to show that _we_ at
+    least are not guilty of exaggeration, we subjoin the passage in
+    the original Italian, from which it will be seen that our
+    translation is as literal as possible.
+
+    "L'anno quatuor-decimo del secolo presente, nel dramma che si
+    rappresentava in Ancona, v'era, su'l principio dell' atto
+    terzo, una riga di recitativo, non accompagnato da altri
+    stromenti che dal basso; per cui, tanto in noi professori
+    quanto negli ascoltanti, si destava una tale e tanta commozione
+    di animo, che tutti si guardavano in faccia l'un l'altro, per
+    la evidente mutazione di colore che si faceva in ciascheduno di
+    noi. L'effetto non era di pianto (mi ricordo benissimo che le
+    parole erano di sdegno) ma di un certo rigore e freddo nel
+    sangue, che di fatto turbava l'animo. Tredici volte si recito
+    il dramma, e sempre segui l'effetto stesso universalmente: di
+    che era segno palpabile il sommo previo silenzio, con cui
+    l'uditorio tutto si apparechiava a goderne l'effetto."
+
+The line of recitative has unfortunately not been preserved; nor is it
+known what the opera, or whose the music, which produced an effect which
+may not be inaptly described in the words of Byron:--
+
+    "An undefined and sudden thrill,
+    Which made the heart a moment still,
+    Then beat with quicker pulse."
+
+The music of Allessandro Scarlatti was then current and universally
+popular in Italy. This composer was particularly famous for the
+excellence of his recitative; and his general merit may be judged of by
+the fact, that he is placed by Arteaga, in his work on the revolutions
+of the musical drama in Italy, among the early authors belonging to the
+period which he terms the golden age of Italian music. On these grounds,
+we may reasonably conclude, that he was the composer of that terrible
+line of recitative.
+
+We have ourselves also witnessed a somewhat similar example of the
+powers of Italian recitative. Many of our readers, doubtless, have
+witnessed Pasta's wonderful performance in Anna Bolena, who also may
+remember Anna's exclamation, "Giudici ad Anna! ad Anna giudici!" when
+Henry's intention of bringing her to trial is first made known to her.
+Such was the fearful tone, of mingled horror, amaze, and wrathful
+indignation, with which that greatest queen of tragic song gave out
+these words, that, in a foreign land, we have on more than one occasion
+observed some of the audience, as these fiery accents burst forth upon
+them, to start, change colour, and almost shudder at the intensity of
+the conflicting passions she exhibited. Much, nay most, of this was
+undoubtedly owing to the genius of the songstress. We do but mention
+these examples, to show how perfect a medium of musical expression and
+dramatic effect, good recitative becomes, when adequately performed.
+Still, the wonders related of ancient music--wonders not confined to one
+age, one people, or to one quarter of the globe, but, on the contrary,
+commencing at a remote period of man's history, including Jews, Chinese,
+Arabs, and Greeks, amongst whose records their memory is preserved--will
+meet with a cold assent from most; and perhaps few among us would be
+found bold enough to avow a belief in their reality. We have certainly
+no warrant for their truth in the powers or effects of our national
+music, and thus experience directly contradicts the testimony of
+antiquity.
+
+On the same grounds, however, had no specimens of ancient handiwork been
+preserved, we might also have doubted the excellence and beauty of any
+of those works of art which, nevertheless, immortalized those by whose
+hands they were fashioned. Were not the Dying Gladiator now before us,
+it might, at this day, be deemed a monstrous supposition, that a statue
+of a dying man should have existed, in which there might be seen how
+much of life was left. Inferiority is ever sceptical and self-satisfied;
+it is only given to the really wise to know how much lies hidden from
+their view. Though the scope and object of all the imitative arts is the
+same, to dignify, elevate, and embellish nature--though the beauty of
+the ideal is the aim of the musician, equally as it is the aspiration of
+the poet, painter, and the sculptor, the character of these pursuits is
+in some respects essentially different. In the latter, material objects
+are imitated and embellished, the things themselves are bodily before
+the eyes, and the beauty and excellence of the work will appear by
+comparison with nature herself. These arts also possess great landmarks
+of taste and skill, which speak the same language to all ages. Of the
+symmetry of the sculptor's chiselled forms, of the beauty of the poet's
+or the painter's pictures, we have a standard in nature's own originals,
+seldom, probably never, exhibiting the same concentration of refined and
+elevated beauty in one individual object, but, nevertheless, furnishing
+an accurate and never varying standard, for the exercise of the
+judgement; while the heart, that inner world, ever uniform and
+unchanging amid the manifold vicissitudes of human life, supplies a test
+by which the poet's thoughts and sentiments may be correctly tried.
+Thus, in the lapse of ages, the public taste has known no change; and
+though more than 2000 years have passed away, the works of ancient
+Greece are worshipped still.
+
+It cannot, however, be imagined, that the music of those times could
+have among us the same influence it possessed of old. It is no new
+remark, that in no other branch of the imitative arts have the same
+rapid and successive changes occurred, as are observed to have taken
+place in music. From this fact, the following question naturally arises,
+whether there are any fixed first principles of art, by adhering to
+which, music might be produced which would please equally all ages and
+amongst all people; or, in other words, whether the pleasure which music
+brings, is the result of education, habit, or association, or an
+inherent and necessary effect of any particular succession or
+combination of sounds. We have thrown together the following
+observations of Rousseau, which occur in several different portions of
+his essay on the origin of languages, and which, though not made with
+reference to this question, nevertheless appear to us conclusive upon
+it. "As the feelings which a beautiful picture excites are not caused by
+mere colour, so the empire which music possesses over our souls is not
+the work of sound alone. All men love to listen to sweet sounds; but if
+this love be not quickened by such melodious inflexions as are familiar
+to the hearer, it cannot be converted into pleasure. Melody, such as, to
+our taste, may be most beautiful, will have little effect upon the ear
+which is unaccustomed to it; it is a language of which we must possess a
+dictionary. Sounds in a melody do not operate as mere sounds, but as
+signs of our affections and our feelings; it is thus they excite the
+emotions they express, and whose image we there recognize. If this
+influence of our sensations is not owing to moral causes, how is it that
+we are so sensitive where a barbarian would feel nothing? How is it that
+our most touching airs would be but so much empty noise to the ear of a
+Carribee? All require the kind of melody whose phrases they can
+understand; to an Italian, his country's airs are necessary; to a Turk,
+a Turkish melody; each is affected only by those accents with which he
+is familiar. In short, he must understand the language that is spoken to
+him." This reasoning seems to show that there are no principles or rules
+of art, by following which music would be produced of that inherent
+beauty which would intrinsically command universal admiration.
+
+This being so, music is at the mercy of many circumstances, the
+influence of which is felt, in some degree, even in those arts whose
+principles have long been fixed and ascertained, and whose rules are not
+merely conventional. The love of novelty, which the weariness caused by
+a constant repetition of the same musical phrase or idea renders more
+_exigeant_ in this than in other arts, the want or impossibility of
+having any classic examples which might fix the taste or guide the
+studies of the novice, are doubtless among the causes of these frequent
+changes. The style of the leading singer of the day often forms and
+rules the passing taste, and even characterizes the works of
+contemporary composers. Music is often composed purposely for the
+singer; his intonation, his peculiarities, his very mannerisms, are
+borne in mind. Not merely sounds, but _his_ sounds, are the vehicles of
+the composer's thoughts, the medium through which alone the composer's
+ideas can be adequately expressed. In the next generation, when
+performer and composer are dead and gone, all that is left of this their
+_mutual_ work, once the object of universal admiration becomes
+comparatively unintelligible. The melody, the harmony, indeed, remain,
+but they are a body without a soul; the fire and genius of him who
+lighted up the whole, who realized and brought home to the hearer the
+_whole_ creation of the composer's imagination, are no more. The manner
+of the performance, therefore, being, as it were, part and parcel of the
+very music, and a necessary ingredient of the excellence of the
+composition, to judge of the merit of the whole from the qualities of
+the portion which is left, would be to judge of the beauty of the
+Grecian Helen by the aspect or appearance of her lifeless remains. On
+looking at the greater portion of the music by the execution of which
+Catalani raised herself to the highest pinnacle of fame, we are
+compelled to the conclusion, that in the singer lay the charm. The
+effects said to have been produced by Handel's operas are now
+inconceivable and unintelligible, so "mechanical and dull" do these
+works appear, "beyond mere simplicity and traits of melody." Handel, in
+one species of composition, wrote _down_ to the singers of his time.
+Whoever examines the bass songs of that period, will perceive that they
+were composed for inflexible and unwieldy voices, possessing a large and
+heavy volume of tone, but incapable of executing any but simple
+passages, constructed according to an ascertained routine of intervals.
+Lord Mount-Edgcumbe truly conjectured, that Mozart was led to make the
+bass so prominent a part in the Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, by
+writing for a particular singer. The part of Figaro was, in fact,
+composed for Benucci. The sparkling brilliancy of Rossini would perhaps
+never have been so fully developed, had not the skill and flexibility of
+voice possessed by the singer David, for whom he wrote, enabled him to
+indulge it to the uttermost. The characters thus imparted to the music
+of the day are necessarily perishable and evanescent, to be again
+superseded by later artists, whose excellences or peculiarities will
+again lead to like results. Thus change succeeds change; the judgment of
+the public is led by the composer and the performer, who, mutually
+deferring to each other, often mould at will the taste of their
+countrymen. We, of course, speak only of those whose talent, science,
+and ability, have constituted them the masters of their art.
+
+In England we have but few of those giants; they appear among us only
+at long intervals; for which reason, perhaps, musical taste has
+undergone fewer mutations in England than in most other countries.
+Handel has now reigned supreme among us for near a century, and his bass
+songs still influence the style of this branch of our native music.
+Though bass singing has advanced elsewhere, it has stood comparatively
+still with us; the same rude intervals, the same ponderous passages,
+through which the voice moves heavily, as if a mountain heaved, are
+still retained in the few bass songs of our school; in fact, without
+them, many think a bass song cannot exist. This mannerism received a
+blow from Weber, whom, as in the case of Handel, we have grown to
+consider national property. His early death, however, prevented his
+acquiring that permanent influence on the musical mind, which he might
+have acquired had he lived, and continued to be successful.
+
+From the glance we have taken of the rate at which poetry, literature,
+and the fine arts, respectively advance as civilization holds her onward
+course; from the wide diffusion and cultivation of musical taste and
+musical science, ere barbarism and ignorance resumed their sway over
+mankind; we cannot entertain a doubt that, ultimately, we also as a
+people may emulate the glory other nations have acquired in each of
+those pursuits. We are, perhaps, less excitable and less easily moved
+than they; but the English character contains within it the elements of
+greatness in every thing to which its energies are directed.
+Circumstances may erelong rouse long-dormant tastes. Riches bring with
+them new wants, they create new passions, new desires. Much wealth was
+amassed by the preceding generation; their sons, now affluent and
+educated, already form a vast addition to that class which we have
+designated as the peculiar patron of the arts, and which, as commercial
+prosperity continues to advance, will, in each succeeding generation,
+receive another incalculable accession to its numbers.
+
+The philosophical observer may even now discover the evidences of these
+new wants of increasing opulence; and should providence, in its mercy,
+deign still to bless the world with peace, the Augustan age of England
+may be nearer than we think. However, it is most certain that this age,
+as yet, has not arrived. An accurate knowledge of our defects will
+soonest lead to their cure. By a searching, rigorous, and impartial
+self-examination can these deficiencies only become known. It may be
+necessary to apply the cautery; but the hand that wounds would also
+heal; and if, in the course of the preceding observations, or in any
+subsequent remarks, as we enquire into the present state of musical
+taste and science in England, we may be deemed severe, let it be borne
+in mind, that ours is a "tender fierceness," and that self-knowledge,
+the first grand step to all improvement, is alone our object and
+our aim.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
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+Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
+
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+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
+       Vol. 53, January, 1843
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9992]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 6, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, NO. 327 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S  EDINBURGH MAGAZINE
+
+NO. CCCXXVII.   JANUARY, 1843.   VOL. LIII.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 1843
+    LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL ERROR
+    CALEB STUKELY
+      PART X.
+    IMAGINARY CONVERSATION. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
+      TASSO AND CORNELIA
+    THE WORLD OF LONDON
+      SECOND SERIES, PART I.
+    THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE
+    TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY
+    THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE
+    THE CURSE OF GLENCOE. BY B. SIMMONS
+    THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT. A MONOLOGUE
+    TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND
+
+
+
+
+GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 1843.
+
+
+Great Britain, at the present moment, occupies a position of dignity, of
+grandeur, and of RESPONSIBILITY, unparalleled in either her own history,
+or that of any other nation ancient or modern. Let him who is inclined
+to doubt this assertion, of whatever country he may be, and whether
+friendly, hostile, or indifferent to England, glance for a moment at a
+map of the world, and having at length found out our little island,
+(which, perhaps, he may consider a mere fragment chipped off, as it
+were, from the continent of Europe,) turn to our stupendous possessions
+in the east and in the west--in fact, all over the world--and he may be
+apt to think of the fond speculative boast of the ancient geometrician,
+"[Greek: Dos pou sto, chai ton chosmon chinaeso]," and to paraphrase and
+apply it thus--"Give the genius of Great Britain but where she may place
+her foot--some mere point peeping above the waves of the sea--and she
+shall move the world." Is not this language warranted by recent facts?
+While our irritable but glorious neighbour France--_pace tantae
+gentis!_--is frittering away her warlike energies in Algeria, and Russia
+is worried by her unsuccessful and unjust attempts upon Circassia,
+behold the glorious monarch of this little island, Queen Victoria,
+roused by indignities and injuries offered to her most distant subjects
+in the East, strike single-handed a blow there, which shakes a vast and
+ancient empire to its very foundations, and forces its haughty emperor
+from his throne, to assume the attitude of a suppliant for peace,
+yielding her peremptory but just demands, even at the cannon's mouth,
+and actually relinquishing to her a large portion of his dominions.
+Events, these, so astonishing, that their true character and
+consequences have not yet been calmly considered and appreciated by
+either ourselves or other nations. Look, again, at recent occurrences in
+British India--that vast territory which only our prodigious enterprise
+and skill have acquired for us, and nothing but profound sagacity can
+preserve to the British crown--and observe, with mixed feelings, two
+principal matters: a perilous but temporary error of overweening
+ambition on the part of Great Britain, yet retrieved with power and
+dignity; and converted into an opportunity of displaying--where, for the
+interests of Great Britain, it was imperiously demanded--her
+irresistible valour, her moderation, her wisdom; exhibiting, under
+circumstances the most adverse possible, in its full splendour and
+majesty, the force of that OPINION by which alone we can hold India.
+Passing swiftly over to the Western Continent, gaze at our vast
+possessions _there_ also--in British North America--containing
+considerably upwards of four millions of square geographical miles of
+land; that is, nearly a ninth part of the whole terrestrial surface of
+the globe![1]--besides nearly a million and a half miles of water--five
+hundred thousand of these square miles being capable, and in rapid
+progress, of profitable cultivation! at more than three thousand miles'
+distance from the mother country, and in immediate juxtaposition to the
+territory of our distinguished but jealous descendants and rivals--a
+rising nation--the United States! Pausing here in the long catalogue of
+our foreign possessions, let our fancied observer turn back his eye
+towards the little island that owns them; will he not be filled with
+wonder, possibly with a conviction that Great Britain is destined by
+Almighty God to be the instrument of effecting His sublime but hidden
+purposes with reference to humanity? Assume, however, our observer to be
+actuated by a hostile and jealous spirit, and to regard our foreign
+possessions, and the national greatness derived from them, as only
+nominal and apparent--to insinuate that we could not really hold them,
+or vindicate our vaunted supremacy if powerfully challenged and
+resented. Let him then meditate upon the authentic intelligence which we
+have just received from the East: what must then be his real sentiments
+on this the 1st day of January 1843? Let us ask him, in all manly
+calmness, whether England has not _done_ what he doubted or denied her
+ability to do? whether she has not shown the world that she may, indeed,
+do what she pleases among the nations, so long as her pleasure is
+regulated and supported by her accustomed sagacity and spirit? She has,
+however, recently had to pass through an awful ordeal, principally
+occasioned by the brief ascendency of incompetent councils; and while
+expressing, in terms of transport, our conviction that, "out of this
+nettle danger, we have plucked the flower safety"--we cannot repress our
+feelings of indignation against those who precipitated us into that
+danger, and of gratitude towards those who, under Divine Providence,
+have been instrumental in extricating us from it, not only rapidly, but
+with credit; not merely with credit, but with glory. To appreciate our
+present position, we must refer to that which we occupied some twelve or
+eighteen months ago; and that will necessarily involve a brief
+examination of the policy and proceedings of the late, and of the
+present Government. We shall speak in an unreserved and independent
+spirit in giving utterance to the reflections which have occurred to us
+during a watchful attention paid to the course of public affairs, both
+foreign and domestic, in the interval alluded to; though feeling the
+task which we have undertaken both a delicate and a difficult one.
+
+    [1] Malte Brun, xi. 179. Alison, x. 256.
+
+After a desperate tenacity in retaining office exhibited by the late
+Government, which was utterly unexampled, and most degrading to the
+character and position of public men engaged in carrying on the Queen's
+Government, Sir Robert Peel was called to the head of affairs by her
+Majesty, in accordance with the declared wishes of a triumphant majority
+of her subjects--of a perfectly overwhelming majority of the educated,
+the thinking, and the monied classes of society. When he first placed
+his foot upon the commanding eminence of the premiership, the sight
+which presented itself to his quick and comprehensive glance, must have
+been, indeed, one calculated to make
+
+    --"the boldest hold his breath
+    For a time."
+
+What appalling evidence in every direction of the ignorance and madness
+of his predecessors! An exchequer empty, exactly at the moment when it
+ought to have been fullest, in order to support our tremendous
+operations in the East and elsewhere: in fact, a prospect of immediate
+national insolvency; all resources, ordinary and extraordinary,
+exhausted; all income anticipated: an average deficiency of revenue,
+actual and estimated, in the six years next preceding the 5th of January
+1843, of L.10,072,000! Symptoms of social disorganization visible on the
+very surface of society: ruin bestriding our mercantile interests,
+palsied every where by the long pressure of financial misrule: credit
+vanishing rapidly: the working-classes plunged daily deeper and deeper
+into misery and starvation, ready to listen to the most desperate
+suggestions: and a Government bewildered with a consciousness of
+incompetency, and of the swiftly approaching consequences of their
+misrule, at the eleventh hour--on the eve of a general election--
+suddenly resolving (in the language of their own leader) to stir society
+to its foundations, by proposing a wild and ruinous alteration in the
+Corn-Laws, declaring that it, and it only, would bring cheap bread to
+the doors of the very poorest in the land:--after the manner of giving
+out ardent spirits to an already infuriated mob. In Ireland, crime and
+sedition fearfully in the ascendant; treasonable efforts made to
+separate her from us; threats even held out of her entering into a
+foreign alliance against us. So much for our domestic--now for our
+foreign condition and prospects. He would see Europe exhibiting serious
+symptoms of distrust and hostility: France, irritated and trifled with,
+on the verge of actual war with us: our criminally neglected differences
+with America, fast ripening into the fatal bloom of war: the very
+existence of the Canadas at stake. In India, the tenure by which we hold
+it in the very act of being loosened; our troops shedding their blood in
+vain, in the prosecution of as mad and wicked an enterprise as ever was
+undertaken by a civilized nation; the glory of our hitherto invincible
+arms tarnished; the finances of India deranged and wasted away in
+securing only fresh accessions of disgraceful defeat. In China, we were
+engaged, in spite of the whisper of our guardian angel, Wellington, in a
+_little war_, and experiencing all its degrading and ruinous
+consequences to our commerce, our military and naval reputation, our
+statesmanship, our honour. Did ever this great empire exhibit such a
+spectacle before as that which it thus presented to the anxious eye of
+the new Premier? Having concluded the disheartening and alarming survey,
+he must have descended to his cabinet oppressed and desponding,
+enquiring who is sufficient for these things? With no disposition to
+bestow an undue encomium on any one, we cannot but say, happy was Queen
+Victoria in having, at such a moment, such a man to call to the head of
+her distracted affairs, as Sir Robert Peel. He was a man preeminently
+distinguished by caution, sobriety, and firmness of character--by
+remarkable clear-sightedness and strength of intellect--thoroughly
+practical in all things--of immense knowledge, entirely at his
+command--of consummate tact and judgment in the conduct of public
+affairs--of indefatigable patience and perseverance--of imperturbable
+self-possession. He seemed formed by nature and habit to be the leader
+of a great deliberative assembly. Add to all this--a personal character
+of unsullied purity, and a fortune so large as to place him beyond the
+reach of suspicion or temptation. Such was the man called upon by his
+sovereign and his country, in a most serious crisis of her affairs. He
+was originally fortunate in being surrounded by political friends
+eminently qualified for office; from among whom he made, with due
+deliberation, a selection, which satisfied the country the instant that
+their names were laid before it. We know not when a British sovereign
+has been surrounded by a more brilliant and powerful body of ministers,
+than those who at this moment stand around Queen Victoria. They
+constitute the first real GOVERNMENT which this country has seen for the
+last twelve years; and they instantly addressed themselves to the
+discharge of the duties assigned to them with a practised skill, and
+energy, and system, which were quickly felt in all departments of the
+State. In contenting himself with the general superintendance of the
+affairs of his government, and devolving on another the harassing office
+of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which, till then, had been conjoined
+with that of the First Lord of the Treasury, Sir Robert Peel acted with
+his usual judgment, and secured, in particular, one capital
+object--_unity of action._
+
+As soon as the late Ministry and their adherents perceived that Sir
+Robert Peel's advent to power was inevitable, they clamorously required
+of him a full preliminary statement of the policy he intended to adopt
+on being actually installed in office! By those who had floundered on,
+session after session, from blunder to blunder, from folly to
+folly--each more glaring and destructive than the preceding one--he was
+modestly expected to commit himself _instanter_ to some scheme struck
+off, to please them, at a heat! A cut-and-dried exposition of his plans
+of domestic and foreign policy, before it was even certain that he would
+ever be called on to frame or act on them; before he had had a glimpse
+of the authentic and official _data_, of which none but the actual
+adviser of the crown could be in possession. This was doubtless _their_
+notion of statesmanship, and faithfully acted on from first to last; but
+Sir Robert Peel and his friends had been brought up in another school,
+whose maxim was--_priusquam incipias, consulta--sed ubi consulueris,
+mature facto, opus est_. The Premier stood unmoved by the entreaties,
+the coaxings, and the threatenings of those wriggling before him in
+miserable discomfiture and restlessness on the abhorred benches of
+Opposition; calmly demonstrating to them the folly and injustice of
+which they were guilty. Yet the circumstances of the country made his
+adherence to this first determination exquisitely trying. He relied,
+however, on the cautious integrity of his purposes, and the necessity of
+the case; and amidst the silent agitation of friends, and the frenzied
+clamour of opponents, and with a dreadful prospect before the country in
+the ensuing winter--maintained the silence he had imposed upon himself,
+and, with his companions, entered forthwith on a searching and complete
+investigation of the affairs of the nation. Not seduced by the
+irrepressible eagerness of friends, or dismayed by the dark threats and
+dismal predictions of enemies, who even appealed direct to the throne
+against them, Ministers pursued their course with calmness and
+determination, till the legitimate moment had arrived for announcing to
+the country their thoroughly considered plans for the future. Sir Robert
+Peel is undoubtedly entitled to the credit of resuscitating and
+re-organizing the great party all but annihilated by the passing of the
+Reform Bill. It is under vast obligations to him; but so is he to it.
+What fortitude and fidelity have been theirs! How admirable their
+conduct on the occasion we are alluding to! And here let us also pay a
+just tribute of respect to the Conservative newspaper press, both in the
+metropolis and in the country. To select particular instances, would be
+vain and invidious; but while the whole country has daily opportunities
+of judging of the assistance afforded to the Conservative cause by the
+powerful and independent metropolitan press, few are aware, as we are,
+of the very great ability generally displayed by the provincial
+Conservative press. Their resolute and persevering exposure of the
+dangerous false doctrines of our unscrupulous adversaries, and eloquent
+advocacy of Conservative principles, are above all praise, and are
+appreciated in the highest quarters.
+
+The winter was at length nearly passed through when Parliament
+assembled. The distress which the people had suffered, and continued to
+suffer, no pen can adequately describe, or do justice to the touching
+fortitude with which those sufferings were borne. It wrung the hearts of
+all who had opportunities of personally observing it. They resisted,
+poor famishing souls! all the fiendish attempts that were systematically
+made to undermine their loyalty, to seduce them into insubordination and
+rebellion. Let us, by and by, see how far the result has justified this
+implied confidence of theirs in the power, the wisdom, and the integrity
+of the new Government. After all the boasting of the Opposition--in
+spite of their vehement efforts during the recess, to concert and mature
+what were given out as the most formidable system of tactics ever
+exhibited in parliament, for the dislodgement of a Ministry denounced as
+equally hateful to the Queen and to the country, the very first division
+utterly annihilated the Opposition. So overwhelming was the Ministerial
+majority, that it astonished their friends as much as it dismayed their
+enemies: and to an accurate observer of what passed in the House of
+Commons, it was plain that the legitimate energies of the Opposition
+were paralyzed thenceforth to the end of the session. Forthwith, there
+sprung up, however, a sort of conspiracy to _annoy_ the triumphant
+Ministers, to exhaust their energies, to impede all legislation, as far
+as those ends could be attained by the most wicked and _vulgar_ faction
+ever witnessed within the House of Commons!
+
+The precise seat of Sir Robert Peel's difficulty at home was, that his
+immediate predecessors had (whether wilfully or otherwise signifies
+nothing for the present) raised expectations among the people, which _no
+party_ could satisfy; while their measures has reduced the people to a
+state in which the disappointment of those expectations seemed to
+excuse, if not justify, even downright rebellion. They arrayed the
+agricultural and manufacturing interests in deadly hostility against
+each other; they sought to make the one responsible for the consequences
+springing only from the reckless misconduct of the other. The farmers
+must be run down and ruined in order to repair the effects of excessive
+credit and over-trading among the manufacturers; the corn-grower must
+smart for the sins of the cotton-spinner. Such were some of the fierce
+elements of discord in full action, when the affairs of the nation were
+committed by her Majesty to her present Ministers, on whom it lay to
+promote permanent domestic tranquillity, amidst this conflict between
+interests which had been taught that they were irreconcilable with each
+other; to sustain the public credit at once, without endangering our
+internal peace and safety, or compromising the honour of the nation in
+its critical and embarrassing foreign relations. How were they to effect
+these apparently incompatible objects? "See," said the enemies of the
+Ministry, "see, by and by, when parliament assembles, a cruel specimen
+of _class legislation_--the unjust triumph of the landed interest--the
+legitimate working of the Chandos clause in the Reform Bill!" But bear
+witness, parliamentary records, how stood the fact!
+
+That the present Ministry are mainly indebted for their accession to
+power, to the prodigious exertions of the agricultural interest during
+the last general election, is, we presume, undeniable. It was talked of
+as their mere tool or puppet. Their first act is to lower the duties on
+the importation of foreign cattle! "We are ruined!" cried the farmers in
+dismay; and the Duke of Buckingham withdrew from the Cabinet. "This is a
+step in the right way," said the opponents of Ministers, "but it will
+clearly cost Peel his place--then _we_ return, and will go the rest of
+the journey, and quickly arrive at the goal of free-trade in corn, and
+every thing else, except those particular articles in which _we_ deal,
+and which must be protected, for the benefit of the country, against
+foreign competition." Then the Radical journals teemed with joyful
+paragraphs, announcing that Sir Robert Peel's ministry was already
+crumbling to pieces! The farmers, it would seem, were every where up in
+arms; confusion (and something a vast deal worse!) was drunk at all
+their meetings, to Peel! Nevertheless, these happy things came not to
+pass; Sir Robert Peel's Ministry _would_ not fall to pieces; and the
+curses of the farmers came not so fast or loud as their eager
+disinterested friends could have wished! To be serious, the alteration
+of the Corn-Laws was undoubtedly a very bold one, but the result of most
+anxious and profound consideration. A moment's reflection of the
+character and circumstances of the Ministry who proposed it, served
+first to arrest the apprehensions entertained by the agricultural
+interest; while the thorough discussions which took place in Parliament,
+demonstrating the necessity of _some_ change--the moderation and caution
+of the one proposed--several undoubted and very great improvements in
+details, and, above all, _a formal recognition of the principle of
+agricultural protection_, still further allayed the fears of the most
+timorous. To _us_ it appears, that the simple principle of a scale of
+duties, adapted to admit foreign corn when we want it, and exclude it
+when we can grow sufficient ourselves, is abundantly vindicated, and
+will not be disturbed for many years to come, if even then. Has this
+principle been surrendered by Sir Robert Peel? It has not; and we
+venture to express our confident belief, that it never will. He cannot,
+of course, prevent the subject from being mooted during the ensuing
+session, because there are persons, unfortunately, sent to Parliament
+for the very purpose; but while he is listening with a calm smile, and
+apparently thoughtfully, to the voluble tradesmen who are haranguing him
+upon the subject, it is not improbable that he will be revolving in his
+mind matters much more personally interesting and important to them;
+viz. how he shall put a stop to the monstrous joint-stock banking system
+frauds, as exhibited at this moment at Manchester, in the Northern and
+Central Banking Company, and other similar establishments, blessed with
+the disinterested patronage of the chief member of the "Anti-Corn-Law
+League." The mention of that snug little speculation of two or three
+ingenious and enterprising Manchester manufacturers, forces from us an
+observation or two, viz. that the thing _will not do_, after all. There
+is much cry, and little wool; very little corn, and a great deal of
+cotton. They have a smart saying at Manchester, to the effect, that it
+is no use whistling against thunder; which we shall interpret to mean,
+that all their "great meetings," speechifyings, subscriptions, and so
+forth, will fail to kindle a single spark of real enthusiasm in their
+favour, among those who are daily becoming more and more personally
+sensible, first, of the solid benefits conferred by the wise policy of
+the present Administration; secondly, of the want of personal
+respectability among the leaders of the League; and lastly, the
+necessity and vast advantage of supporting the agriculture of Old
+England. The recent discussions on the Corn-Laws, in Parliament and
+elsewhere, the masterly expositions of the true principles on which they
+are really based, have thrown a flood of light on the subject, now made
+visible and intelligible to the lowest capacity. That some further
+alteration may not erelong be made on the scale of duties, no one can
+assert, though we have no reason to believe that any such is at present
+contemplated; but that the principle of the "sliding scale," as it is
+called, will be firmly adhered to, we entertain no doubt whatever. The
+conduct of the agricultural interest, with reference to subjects of such
+vital importance to them as the Corn-Law Bill and the Tariff, has been
+characterized by signal forbearance and fortitude; nor, let them rest
+assured, will it be lost upon the Ministry or the country.
+
+The next step in Sir Robert Peel's bold and comprehensive policy, was to
+devise some method of recruiting _forthwith_ its languishing vital
+energies--to rescue its financial concerns from the desperate condition
+in which he found them. With an immediate and perspective increase of
+expenditure that was perfectly frightful--in the meditation and actual
+prosecution of vast but useless enterprises--of foreign interference and
+aggrandizement, to secure a little longer continuance of popular favour,
+they deliberately destroyed a principal source of revenue, by the
+reduction of the postage duties, in defiance of the repeated protests
+and warnings of Sir Robert Peel, when in Opposition. They had, in fact,
+brought matters to such a pitch, as to render it almost impossible for
+even "a heaven-born minister" to conduct the affairs of the nation, with
+safety and honour, without inflicting grievous disappointment and
+sufferings, and incurring thereby a degree of obloquy fatal to any
+Ministry. They seemed, in fact, to imagine, as they went on, that the
+day of reckoning could never arrive, because they had resolved to stave
+it off from time to time, however near it approached, by a series of
+desperate expedients, really destructive of the national prosperity, but
+provocative of what served their purposes, viz. temporary popular
+enthusiasm. What cruelty! what profligacy! what madness! And all under
+the flag on which were inscribed "_Peace! Retrenchment! Reform!_" Acting
+on the salutary maxim, that the knowledge of the disease is half the
+cure, Sir Robert Peel resolved to lay before the nation _the whole
+truth_, however appalling. Listen to the following pregnant sentences
+which he addressed to the House of Commons, within a few moments after
+he had risen to develope his financial policy, we mean on the 11th of
+March 1842:--"It is sometimes necessary, on the occasion of financial
+statements of this kind, to maintain great reserve, and to speak with
+great caution. A due regard for the public interest, may impose on a
+Minister the duty of only partially disclosing matters of importance.
+But I am hampered by no fetters of official duty. I mean to lay before
+you the truth--the unexaggerated truth, but to conceal nothing. I do
+this, because in great financial difficulties, the first step towards
+improvement is to look those difficulties boldly in the face. This is
+true of individuals--it is true also of nations. There can be no hope of
+improvement or of recovery, _if you consent to conceal from yourselves
+the real difficulties with which you have to contend_."[2] There was no
+gainsaying the facts which, amidst an agitated and breathless silence,
+he proceeded to detail with dreadful clearness and brevity; and out of
+which the question instantly sprung into the minds of every one--_are we
+not on the very verge of national insolvency_? He proceeded to
+demonstrate that his predecessors had exhausted every device which their
+financial ingenuity could suggest, down to their last supposed
+master-stroke, the addition of 10 per cent to the assessed taxes--thus
+adding very nearly the last straw which was to break the camel's
+back--the last peculiarly cruel pressure on the lower orders.
+
+    [2] Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 423.
+
+"Shall we persevere," he continued, "in the system on which we have been
+acting for the last five years? Shall we, in time of peace, have
+recourse to the miserable expedient of continued loans? Shall we try
+issues of Exchequer bills? Shall we resort to Savings' banks?--in short,
+to any of those expedients which, _call_ them by what name you please,
+are neither more nor less than a permanent addition to the public debt?
+We have a deficiency of nearly L.5,000,000 in the last two years: _is
+there a prospect of reduced expenditure?_ Without entering into details,
+but looking at your extended empire, at the demands which are made for
+the protection of your commerce, and the general state of the world, and
+calling to mind the intelligence which has lately reached us," [from
+Affghanistan,] "can you anticipate for the year after the next, the
+possibility, consistent with the honour and safety of this country, of
+greatly reducing the public expenses? I am forced to say, I cannot
+calculate on that.... Is the deficiency I have mentioned a casual
+deficiency? Sir, it is not; it has existed for the last seven or eight
+years. At the close of 1838, the deficiency was L.1,428,000; of 1839,
+L.430,000; of 1840, L.1,457,000; of 1841, L.1,851,000. I estimate that
+the deficiency of 1842 will be L.2,334,030; and that of 1843,
+L.2,570,000; making an aggregate deficiency, in six years, of
+L.10,072,000! ... With this proof that it is not with an occasional or
+casual deficiency that we have to deal, will you, I ask, have recourse
+to the miserable expedient of continued _loans_? It is impossible that I
+could be a party to a proceeding which, I should think, might perhaps
+have been justifiable at first, _before you knew exactly the nature of
+your revenue and expenditure_; but with these facts before me, I should
+think I were degrading the situation which I hold, if I could consent to
+such a paltry expedient as this. I can hardly think that Parliament will
+adopt a different view. I can hardly think that you, who inherit the
+debt contracted by your predecessors--when, having a revenue, they
+reduced the charges of the post-office, and inserted in the preamble of
+the bill a declaration that the reduction of the revenue should be made
+good by increased taxation--will now refuse to make it good. The effort
+having been made, but the effort having failed, that pledge is still
+unredeemed. _I advised you not to give that pledge_; but if you regard
+the pledges of your predecessors, it is for you now to redeem them.... I
+apprehend that, with almost universal acquiescence, I may abandon the
+idea of supplying the deficiency by the miserable desire of fresh loans,
+of an issue of Exchequer bills. Shall I, then, if I must resort to
+taxation, levy it _upon the articles of consumption_, which constitute,
+in truth, almost all the necessaries of life? _I cannot consent to any
+proposal for increasing taxation on the great articles of consumption by
+the labouring classes of society_." [Is it the friend or the enemy _of
+the people_, that is here speaking?] "I say, moreover, I can give you
+conclusive proofs that you have arrived at the limits of taxation on
+articles of consumption."[3] Sir Robert Peel then proceeded, with
+calmness and dignity, to encounter the possible, if not even _probable_
+fatal unpopularity of proposing that which he succeeded in convincing
+_Parliament_ was the only resource left a conscientious Minister--an
+INCOME TAX.
+
+    [3] Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 429, 430, 431.
+
+"I will now state what is the measure which I propose, under a sense of
+public duty, and a deep conviction that it is necessary for the public
+interest; and impressed at the same time with an equal conviction"--
+[mark, by the way, the exquisite judgment with which this suggestion was
+_here_ thrown in!]--"that the present sacrifices which I call on you to
+make, will be amply compensated, ultimately, in a pecuniary point of
+view, and _much more_ than compensated, by the effect which they will
+have in maintaining public credit and the ancient character of this
+country. Instead of looking to taxation on consumption--instead of
+reviving the taxes on salt or on sugar--it is my duty _to make an
+earnest appeal to the possessors of property_, for the purpose of
+repairing this mighty evil. I propose, for a time at least, (and I never
+had occasion to make a proposition with a more thorough conviction of
+its being one which the public interest of the country required)--I
+propose _that, for a time to be limited, the income of this country
+should be called on to contribute a certain sum for the purpose of
+remedying this mighty and growing evil_, ... should bear a charge not
+exceeding 7d. in the pound, which will not amount to 3 per cent, but,
+speaking accurately, L.2, 18s. 4d. per cent--for the purpose of not only
+supplying the deficiency in the revenue, but of enabling us, with
+confidence and satisfaction, to propose great commercial reforms, which
+will afford a hope of reviving commerce, and such an improvement in the
+manufacturing interests as will re-act on every other interest in the
+country; and by diminishing the prices of the articles of consumption
+and the cost of living, will, in a pecuniary point of view, compensate
+you for your present sacrifices; whilst you will be, at the same time,
+relieved from the contemplation of a great public evil."[4]
+
+    [4] Hansard, vol, lxi. col. 439.
+
+We have quoted the very words of Sir Robert Peel, because they are every
+way memorable and worthy of permanent conspicuousness. In point, for
+instance, of mere oratorical skill, observe the matchless tact of the
+speaker. Conscious that he was about to propose what would come like a
+clap of thunder on all present, and on the country, he prepares the way
+for its favourable reception, by pointing out the almost necessarily
+_direct pecuniary benefit_ ultimately derivable from his unpalatable
+tax; and the instant that he has disclosed his proposal, in the same
+breath carries our attention to a similar topic--an assurance calculated
+to arouse the self-interest and excite the approbation first of the
+commercial classes, and then of all classes, by the means this tax will
+give the Minister of proposing "great commercial reforms," and "reducing
+the cost of living." No power of description we possess can adequately
+set before the reader the effect produced on the House of Commons by the
+delivery of the passage above quoted, and which was shared, as the
+intelligence was communicated, by the country at large. One thing was
+plain, that the Minister, disdaining personal considerations of
+unpopularity, had satisfied the nation that a desperate disease had been
+detected, which required a desperate remedy. It was--it is, in vain to
+disguise that an income-tax has many disgusting, and all but absolutely
+intolerable, incidents and characteristics, and which were instantly
+appreciated by all who heard or read of the proposal for its adoption,
+and these topics were pounced upon by the late Ministers and their
+supporters, with eager and desperate determination to make the most of
+them. To give effect to their operations, they secured an immediate and
+ample interval for exasperating popular feeling against Ministers and
+their abominable proposition! But it was all in vain. There was a bluff
+English frankness about the Minister that mightily pleased the country,
+exciting a sympathy in every right-thinking Englishman. _Here was no
+humbug of any sort_, no obtaining of money under false pretences. At
+first hearing of it, honest John Bull staggered back several paces, with
+a face rueful and aghast; buttoned up his pockets, and meditated
+violence even; but, in a few moments, albeit with a certain sulkiness,
+he came back, presently shook hands with the Minister, and getting
+momentarily more satisfied of his honesty, and of the necessity of the
+case, only hoped that a little breathing-time might be given him, and
+that the thing might be done as quietly and genteelly as possible! To be
+serious, however.
+
+By whom, let us ask, had this Minister been brought into power? by whom
+most furiously and unscrupulously opposed? The former were those on whom
+he instantly imposed this very severe and harassing tax; the latter,
+those whom he entirely exempted from it: the former, those who _could_,
+with a little inconvenience, make the effort requisite to protect
+themselves in the tranquil enjoyment of what they possessed, the latter,
+those who were already faint, oppressed, and crushed beneath _burdens
+they were unable to bear_. Was this justice, or injustice? It then
+_must_ be very contradistinctive--was the Minister, in this instance,
+the poor man's friend, or the rich man's friend? Was he exhibiting
+ingratitude and insanity, or a truly wise and honest statesmanship? We
+need _not_ "pause for a reply." It has been sounding ever since in our
+ears, in the accents of national concord, and of admiration of the
+Minister who, in his very zenith of popularity and success, perilled
+all, to obey the dictates of honour and conscience, fearlessly proposed
+a measure which seemed levelled directly at those gifted and powerful
+classes by whom he had been so long and enthusiastically supported; of
+the Minister who, in fine, looked, and made the country look, a
+frightful danger full in the face--till it turned and fled. In spite of
+all that could be done by his bitter unscrupulous factious opponents in
+the House of Commons, and of the eloquent and conscientious opposition
+of Lord Brougham in the House of Lords, backed, all the while, by the
+immediate self-interest of those who were to smart under the tax, Sir
+Robert Peel carried his great and salutary measure in triumph through
+both Houses, without one single material alteration, till it became the
+law of the land, amidst the applause of the surrounding nations; for
+even those, alas! too frequently bitter and jealous censors of English
+conduct and character, the French, "owned that the English people had
+exhibited a signal and glorious instance of virtue, of fortitude, of
+self-denial, and sagacity." We have reason to believe that, on quitting
+the House of Commons after hearing the speech of Sir Robert Peel, from
+which we have been quoting, Lord John Russell asked a gentleman of
+brilliant talent and independent character, but of strong liberal
+opinions, "what he thought of Peel's financial scheme?" The answer was,
+"It is so fine a thing, that I only wish it had been prepared by Lord
+John Russell instead of Sir Robert Peel!" On which, unless we are
+mistaken, Lord John shrugged his shoulders in silence. His opposition to
+the income-tax, on going into, and while the bill was in, committee, was
+temperate, and even languid; and he stood in the dignified attitude
+worthy of his ancient name, and of personal character, far aloof from
+those who, throughout the session, pursued a line of conduct
+unprecedented in parliamentary history, degrading to the House of
+Commons, but possibly in keeping with all that might have been expected
+from them. We are vastly mistaken if Lord John does not regard them with
+secret scorn, and experience a shudder of disgust from any momentary
+contact with them; and shall not be surprised if, during the ensuing
+session, he should be at no particular pains to conceal the state of
+his mind.
+
+One circumstance highly honourable to the national character, in
+relation to the income-tax, should not escape observation: that
+comparatively little or no real opposition, certainly no clamorous
+opposition, has been offered to the _principle_ of the tax, and the
+policy of its imposition, by those on whom its pressure falls heaviest,
+namely, the great capitalists and landed proprietors of the kingdom.
+"The grasshopper," said Mr Burke, "fills the whole field with the noise
+of its chirping, while the stately ox browses in silence." The clamour
+against the income-tax comes mainly from those who are unscathed by it;
+those who suffer most severely from it, suffer in silence. The inferior
+machinery of the income-tax is unquestionably very far from attaining
+that degree of perfection, which we had a right to look for from the
+able and practised hands which framed it. The outcry raised, however,
+against the income-tax on this score, particularly on the ground of the
+heedlessness of subordinate functionaries, is subsiding. There is
+evident, as far as the Government itself is concerned, an anxious desire
+to enforce the provisions of the act with the greatest possible degree
+of delicacy and forbearance, consistent with the discharge of a painful
+but imperative duty. We repeat that the outcry in question, however,
+was principally occasioned by those who had least real cause, on
+personal grounds, to complain; who (unfortunately, it may be, for
+themselves) never yet approached, nor have any prospect of infringing
+upon, the fatal dividing point of L. 150 a-year, in spite of their long
+and zealous literary services, under the very best-conducted and _truly
+liberal_ Radical newspapers, which they have filled, with persevering
+ingenuity, day after day, with eloquent descriptions of the awful state
+of feeling in the country on this most atrocious subject. Where,
+patriotic, but most imaginative gentlemen! where have been the great
+meetings summoned to condemn the principle of the tax? The great
+landholders, the great capitalists, the great merchants, are pouring
+their contributions into the exhausted Treasury, with scarce a murmur at
+the temporary inconvenience it may occasion them!--thus nobly responding
+to the appeal so earnestly and nobly made to them by the Prime Minister.
+So, moreover, are the vast majority of those persons on whom the tax
+falls with peculiar severity--we allude to the occupants of schedule
+D--who must pay this tax out of an income, alas! evanescent as the
+morning mist; which, on the approach of sickness or of death is
+instantly annihilated. These also suffer with silent fortitude; and we
+think we have heard it upon sufficient authority, that it was on these
+persons that Ministers felt the greatest reluctance in imposing the
+tax--at least to its present extent, only under an absolute compulsion
+of state policy. The total, or even partial exemption of this class of
+persons from the operation of the income-tax, would have been attended
+with consequences that were not to be contemplated for a moment, and
+into which it is impracticable here satisfactorily to enter. The tax
+undoubtedly pinches severely men of small and uncertain incomes, who are
+striving, on slender means, to maintain a respectable station in
+society; the man who, with a large family to be supported _and
+educated_, and who moves in a respectable sphere of society, has to pay
+his L.9 or L.12 out of his precarious L.300 or L.400 a-year, is an
+object of most earnest sympathy. Still, let him not lose sight of the
+undoubted hardships borne by his wealthier brethren. Is it nothing for a
+man--say the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Westminster, the Duke of
+Sutherland, or Lord Ashburton, or Mr Rothschild--to have to pay down
+their L.3000, L.4000, or L.5000 clear per annum, as the per-centage on
+their magnificent incomes, in sudden and unexpected addition to the
+innumerable and imperative calls upon them already existing, such as
+compulsory upholding of many great establishments in different parts of
+the country--various members of their families--married and single--to
+support in a style adequate to their rank and position in the country?
+It is needless, however, to pursue the matter further. The plain truth
+is, there is no help for it; the burthen is one that must be borne, and
+it is being borne bravely.
+
+_But why_ must this dreadful income-tax be borne? What has led to it?
+The vast majority of honest and thinking men in the nation have but one
+answer to give to the question. That the income-tax is the penalty the
+nation must pay for its weakness and folly, in permitting a Whig
+Ministry to get into power, and continue in power, "playing such
+fantastic tricks" as theirs, for the last ten years, both at home and
+abroad, as the nation _ought to have foreseen_ would be inevitably
+followed by some such grievous results as the present. This income-tax,
+however, let our opponents know, will serve for many years to come, long
+after it may have been removed, as a memento to prevent the country from
+tolerating the return to power of men whose reluctant and compulsory
+exit from power, after again doing enormous mischief, will be followed
+by a similar result--will impose on their Conservative successors the
+bitter necessity of imposing another income-tax. "The evil that they
+do," does indeed "live after them;" and without any "good, interred with
+their bones!" With the frightful deficit exhibited by Sir Robert Peel
+still staring us in the face; the war in the East yet to be paid for;
+faith to be kept with the public creditor both at home and abroad: a
+revenue of a _million a-year_ recklessly sacrificed in reducing the
+postage duties:[5] a deficiency in the last quarter's revenue, that
+tells its own frightful story as to its cause, and an all but certain
+heavy deficiency to be looked for, we fear, in the ensuing quarter: with
+all this before him, will any _member or supporter of the late
+Government_--of all other persons--be found hardy enough to rise in his
+place next session, and bait Sir Robert Peel about the repeal of the
+income-tax? The country will not tolerate such audacity. We shall not
+reason with _them_; but to those who, like ourselves, are smarting under
+the effects of the late Ministry's misconduct, who have a right to
+complain loudly and indignantly, and enquire with eager anxiety when
+their suddenly augmented pressure is to cease, we feel compelled to
+express our opinion, founded on a careful observation of our present
+financial position and prospects, that we see no chance of being
+relieved from the burden of the income-tax, before the period originally
+fixed by Sir Robert Peel. Till then we must submit with what fortitude
+and cheerfulness we may. Under, however, a year or two's steady and
+enlightened administration of public affairs, matters may mend with
+unexpected rapidity; but it is not in the ordinary course of human
+affairs, that evils, the growth of many years, can be remedied in a
+moment. A chronic disease of the body requires a patient course of
+abstinence and skilful treatment, to afford a chance of the system's
+getting once again into a permanent state of health; even as with
+individuals, so is it with nations. That the sudden cessation of the
+drain upon our resources from the East, and the partial reimbursement we
+have already realized, will sensibly lighten the burthens under which
+the Minister has hitherto laboured, and make him with joy to realize the
+expectations which, in proposing the income-tax, he so distinctly, yet
+cautiously, held out, as to the period of its duration, we may consider
+as indisputable. Add to this the pacific policy which Sir Robert Peel
+and his Cabinet are bent upon maintaining, as far as is consistent with
+a jealous regard to our national honour, (and which our late resplendent
+successes are calculated to facilitate,) and the revival, erelong, of
+the revenue, concurrently with that of trade and commerce, which may be
+confidently anticipated under our present firm, cautious, and
+experienced councils, and we may give to the winds our fears as to the
+continuance of the income-tax one instant after it can be prudently
+dispensed with. What, however, as a matter of _mere speculation_, if the
+nation should by and by, when familiarized with the character and
+working of the income-tax, become more reconciled to it, and prefer its
+retention as a substitute for _the Assessed Taxes_, which at present
+press so heavily on all, but particularly on the working-classes! But
+while Sir Robert Peel was remodelling the Corn-Laws, and creating a new
+source of direct revenue, he also undertook another task--a herculean
+task, one utterly hopeless, and beyond the reach or even conception of
+any but a Minister conscious of occupying an impregnable position in the
+confidence of the country: we allude to his reconstruction of our entire
+commercial system, as represented by his _new Tariff_. What courage was
+requisite to grapple with this giant difficulty! What practical skill;
+what patience and resolution; what exact yet extensive acquaintance with
+mercantile affairs; what a comprehensive discernment of consequences;
+what firm impartiality in deciding between vast conflicting interests,
+were here evinced! And observe--all these great measures, effecting a
+complete revolution in our domestic economy and policy--the fruits of
+only a few months accession to office of a Conservative Ministry! All
+the while that the Radical press was assailing them on the ground of
+their insolent and cruel disregard of their duty, and of the sufferings
+of the people, they were engaged upon the united labours of enquiry and
+reflection, on which alone can have been safely based the great measures
+which we have been briefly reviewing! "But all these," says some
+faithful mourner after the deceased Ministry, "they intended to have
+done, and would have done, _if they could_." Ay, to be sure. Admit it,
+for the nonce; 'twas easy to _say_ it, but the thing was _to do
+it_--quoth Mr Blewitt! That same _doing_, is what we are congratulating
+the present Ministry upon. Yes, it has been done--the great experiment
+is being tried; may it prove as safe and successful, as it is bold and
+well meant. It must be regarded, however, as only a part of the entire
+scheme proposed by Sir Robert Peel, and judged of accordingly, with
+reference also to the necessity of his position, arising from the last
+acts of his predecessors--from the spirit and temper of the age. The
+long-continued languor and prostration of our commerce, undoubtedly
+required some decisive, but cautious and well-considered movement, in
+the _direction_ of free-trade. How far we shall be met, in the same
+spirit, by France, Germany, Russia, and America, as has been long
+confidently predicted by those whose opinions have been perseveringly
+and vehemently urged upon the public, now remains to be seen. _Felix
+faustumque sit!_ But at present, at all events, our example seems not
+likely to be followed by those on whom we most calculated, and time
+alone can decide between our course and theirs--between the doctrines of
+the old and of the new school of political economy--as to which is the
+short-sighted and mischievous--which the sagacious and successful
+policy. The powerful protection afforded by the new Tariff to our
+colonial produce, is one of its most interesting and satisfactory
+features. That, however, which has justly attracted to it incomparably
+the greatest share of public attention and discussion, is the
+introduction of foreign cattle. This topic is one requiring to be spoken
+of in a diffident spirit, and most guarded language. Whether it will
+effect its praiseworthy object of lowering the price of animal food,
+without being overbalanced by its injurious effects upon our
+all-important agricultural interests, we shall not for some considerable
+time be in a condition to determine. At present, it would appear, that
+the alarm of the farmers on this score was premature and excessive, and
+is subsiding. The combined operation of this part of the new Tariff, and
+of the reduction in the duties on the importation of foreign corn, may
+ultimately have the effect of lowering the rent of the farmer, and of
+stimulating him into a more energetic and scientific cultivation of the
+land; and generally, of inducing very important modifications in the
+present arrangements between landlords and tenants. In some of the most
+recent agricultural meetings, speeches have been made, from which many
+journalists have inferred the existence of rapidly-increasing
+convictions on the part of the agricultural interest, that a sweeping
+alteration in the Corn-Law is inevitable and immediate. They are,
+however, attaching far too much weight to a few sentences uttered,
+amidst temporary excitement, by a few country gentlemen, in some eight
+or ten places only in the whole kingdom. Let them _pause_, at all
+events, till they shall have more authentic _data_, viz. what the
+agricultural members of Parliament will say in their places, in the
+ensuing session. Much of the sort of panic experienced by the country
+gentlemen alluded to, may be referred to a recent paragraph in the
+_Globe_ newspaper, confidently announcing the intention of Ministers to
+propose a fixed duty on corn. The glaring improbability, that even
+_were_ such a project contemplated by Ministers, they would (forgetting
+their characteristic caution and reserve) agitate the public mind on so
+critical a question, and derange vast transactions and arrangements in
+the corn trade by its premature divulgement; and, above all, constitute
+the _Globe_ newspaper their confidential organ upon the occasion, should
+alone have satisfied the most credulous of its unwarrantable and
+preposterous character. We acquit the _Globe_ newspaper of intentional
+mischief, but charge it with great _thoughtlessness_ of consequences. To
+return, however, for a moment, to that topic in the new Tariff most
+important to farmers. We believe that, since the day (9th July 1842) in
+which the new Tariff became the law of the land, the entire importation
+of cattle from the Continent, has fallen far short of a single
+fortnight's sale at Smithfield; but whether this will be the state of
+things two years, or even a twelvemonth hence, is another matter. At
+present, at all events, the new Tariff has had the beneficial effect of
+really lowering the price of provisions, and of other articles of
+consumption, essentially conducing to the comforts of the labouring
+classes. May _this_, in any event, be a _permanent_ result; and who
+could have brought it about, except such a Ministry as that of Sir
+Robert Peel, possessing their combined qualifications means, and
+opportunities, and equally bent upon using them promptly and honestly?
+
+    [5] Year ending 5th January 1840, L.2,390,764!--1841,
+    L.1,342,604!--1842, L.1,495,540!--(_Finance Accounts_, 1842,
+    p. 2.)
+
+No sooner had that Parliament which had passed, in its first session,
+such a number of great measures, having for their object the immediate
+benefit of the lower orders, (and, it may really be said, almost wholly
+at the expense of the higher orders,) separated, after its exhausting
+labours, than there occurred those deplorable and alarming outrages in
+the principal manufacturing districts, which so ill requited the
+benevolent exertions of the Legislature in their behalf. They exhibited
+some features of peculiar malignity--many glaring indications of the
+existence of a base and selfish hidden conspiracy against the cause of
+law, of order, and of good government. Who were the real originators and
+contrivers of that wicked movement, and what their objects, is a
+question which we shall not here discuss, but leave in the hands of the
+present keen and vigilant Government, and of the Parliament, so soon to
+be assembled. If a single chance of bringing the really guilty parties
+to justice--of throwing light on the actors and machinery of that
+atrocious conspiracy shall be thrown away, the public interests will
+have been grievously betrayed. On this subject, however, we have no
+apprehensions whatever, and pass on heartily to congratulate the country
+on possessing a Government which acted, on the trying occasion in
+question, with such signal promptitude, energy, and prudence. Not one
+moment was lost in faltering indecision; never was the majesty of the
+law more quickly and completely vindicated, never was there exhibited a
+more striking and gratifying instance of a temperate and discriminating
+exercise of the vast powers of the executive. The incessant attention of
+all functionaries, from the very highest to the lowest, by night and by
+day, on that occasion, at the Home-Office, (including the Attorney and
+Solicitor-General,) would hardly be credited; _mercy to the misguided_,
+but instant vengeance upon the guilty instigators of rebellion, was
+then, from first to last, the rule of action. The enemies of public
+tranquillity reckoned fearfully without their host, in forgetting who
+presided at the Home-Office, and who at the Horse Guards. Nothing could
+be better than the Government examination into the real causes of the
+outbreak, instituted upon the spot the very moment it was over, while
+evidence was fresh and accessible, and of which the guilty parties
+concerned have a great deal yet to hear. The Special Commission for the
+trial of the rioters, was also issued with salutary expedition. The
+prosecutions were carried on by the Attorney and Solicitor-General, on
+the part of the Crown, in a dignified spirit at once of forbearance and
+determination, and with a just discrimination between the degree of
+culpability disclosed. The merciful spirit in which the prosecutions
+were conducted by the law-officers of the Crown, was repeatedly pointed
+out to the misguided criminals by the Judges; who, on many occasions,
+intimated that the Government had chosen to indict for the minor offence
+only, when the facts would have undoubtedly warranted an indictment for
+high treason, with all its terrible consequences. Before quitting this
+incidental topic of legal proceedings, let us add a word upon the
+substantial improvements effected in the administration of justice
+during the late session, and of which the last volume of the
+statute-book affords abundant evidence, principally under the heads of
+bankruptcy, insolvency, and lunacy. Great and salutary alterations have
+been effected in these departments, as well as various others; the
+leading statutory changes being most ably carried into effect by the
+Lord Chancellor, who continues to preside over his court, and to
+discharge his high and multifarious duties with his accustomed dignity
+and sagacity. His recent bankruptcy appointments have certainly been
+canvassed by the Radical press with sufficient freedom, but on very
+insufficient grounds. _No_ appointments could have been made against
+which unscrupulous faction might not have raised a clamour. That
+temporarily excited in the present instance, has quite died away. The
+appointments in question have undoubtedly been made with a due regard to
+the public interest; but did the intelligent censors of the Radical
+press expect that those appointments of L.1500 a-year would be sought
+for or accepted by men at the bar, already making their L.3000, L.5000,
+L.8000, or L.10,000 a-year, and aspiring to the very highest honours of
+their profession? The gentlemen who have accepted these appointments,
+are many of them personally known to us as very acute and able practical
+men, who will be found to give the utmost satisfaction in the discharge
+of their duties to both the profession and the public. The two
+Vice-Chancellors, Sir James L. Knight Bruce, and Sir James Wigram, are
+admirable appointments. Each must have resigned a practice very far
+exceeding--perhaps doubling, or even trebling--their present salaries of
+office. The transference to the former, without any additional salary,
+of the office of Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, (vacant by the recent death
+of Sir John Cross,) was a highly advantageous and economical arrangement
+for the public, at the willing expense of Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce.
+
+May we here be allowed to allude for an instant to a very delicate
+topic--the new Poor-Law--simply to call attention to the resolute
+support of it by the present Government (whether right or wrong), as at
+least a pretty decisive evidence of their uprightness and independence.
+On this sore subject we shall not dwell, nor do we feel bound to offer
+any opinion of our own as to the alleged merits or demerits of the new
+Poor-Law; but it certainly looks as though Ministers had resolved to do
+what they _believed_ to be right, _ruat cælum_. What other motive they
+can have, is to us, at least, inconceivable.
+
+Let us again point with undisguised triumph to IRELAND, as a very
+striking instance of the results of a sound and firmly-administered
+Conservative policy. The late Government misgoverned Ireland, in order
+that they might be allowed to continue misgoverning England. Their
+memory will ever be execrated for their surrender of that fair portion
+of the empire into the hands of a political reprobate and impostor, of
+whom we cannot trust ourselves to speak, and the like of whom has never
+yet appeared, and it is to be hoped never will again appear, in British
+history. Immediately before and after their expulsion from office, they
+pointed to this scene of their long misconduct, and, with a sort of
+heartless jocularity, asked Sir Robert Peel "What he meant to do with
+Ireland?"--adding, that whatever else he might be able to do, by the aid
+of intrigue and corruption, "he could _never_ govern Ireland." How
+_now_, gentlemen? What will you find to lay to the charge of Ministers
+in the coming session? What has become of your late patron, Mr O'Connel?
+Is "his occupation gone?" Is he spending the short remainder of his
+respectable old age at Darrynane, even (begging pardon of the noble
+animal for the comparison)
+
+    --"like a worn-out lion in a cave,
+    That goes not out to prey?"
+
+What can you any longer do, or affect to do, old gentleman, to earn your
+honourable wages? Is there not (as the lawyers would style it) a failure
+of consideration? If you go on any longer collecting "the rent," may you
+not be liable to an indictment for obtaining money under false
+pretences? Poor old soul! his cuckoo cry of Repeal grows feebler and
+feebler; yet he must keep it up, or starve. _Tempus abire senex! satis
+clamasti!_ That Ireland is still subject to great evils, recent
+occurrences painfully attest. Mr Pitt, in 1799, (23d January,) pointed
+out what may still be regarded as their true source:--"I say that
+Ireland is subject to great and deplorable evils, which have a deep
+root: for they lie in the nature of the country itself in the present
+character, manners, and habits of its people; in their want of
+intelligence, or, in other words, in their ignorance; in the unavoidable
+separation of certain classes; in the state of property; in its
+religious distinctions; in the rancour which bigotry engenders, and
+superstition rears and cherishes."[6] How many of these roots of evil
+are still in existence!
+
+    [6] Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiv. p. 271.
+
+But consider what we have done, even already, for Ireland, by giving her
+the blessings of a strong and honest Government; what a blow we have
+aimed at absenteeism, in a particular provision of our income-tax! _Nil
+desperandum_, gentlemen, give us a little time to unravel your long
+tissue of misgovernment; and, in the mean time, make haste, and go about
+in quest of a _grievance_, if you can find one, against the ensuing
+session. Depend upon it, we will redress it!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The present aspect of foreign affairs is calculated to excite mixed
+feelings of pain and exultation in the breast of a thoughtful observer.
+The national character of Great Britain had unquestionably fallen in
+European estimation, and lost much of the commanding influence of its
+mere name, during the last few years preceding the accession to office
+of the present Government. That was an event--viz. the formation of a
+Cabinet at St James's, containing Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of
+Wellington, Lord Aberdeen, and Lord Stanley--which justly excited an
+instant and great sensation in all foreign courts, regard being had to
+the critical circumstances of the times. Every one, both at home and
+abroad, knew well that if WAR was at hand, here was a Government to
+conduct it on the part of Great Britain, even under the most adverse
+circumstances imaginable, with all our accustomed splendour and success.
+But all knew, at the same time, that imminent as was the danger, if a
+profound statesmanship could avert it, consistently with the
+preservation of the national honour, that danger would promptly
+disappear. The new Cabinet instantly proclaimed themselves "lovers of
+peace, but not afraid of war;" and an altered tone of feeling and policy
+was quickly observable on the Continent.
+
+The peculiar position and interests of Great Britain impose upon her one
+paramount obligation--to interfere as little as possible with the
+affairs of other nations, especially in Europe--_never_, except upon
+compulsion--when bound by treaty, or when the eye of a profound and
+watchful statesmanship has detected in existence unquestionable elements
+of danger to the general peace and welfare of the world. To be always
+scrutinizing the movements of foreign states, with a view to convicting
+them of designs to destroy the balance of power (as it is called) in
+Europe, and thereupon evincing a disposition to assume an offensively
+distrustful and hostile attitude, requiring explanations, and
+disclaimers, and negotiations, which every one knows the slightest
+miscarriage may convert into inevitable pretexts and provocatives of
+war--is really almost to court the destruction of our very national
+existence. If there was one principle of action possessed by the late
+Government to be regarded as of more importance than another, it was
+that of maintaining peace, and non-intervention in the affairs of other
+nations. This, indeed, was emblazoned upon the banner unfurled by Lord
+Grey, on advancing to the head of affairs. Can it, however, be necessary
+to show how systematically--how perilously--this principle was set at
+nought by the late Government? As represented by Lord Palmerston, Great
+Britain had got to be regarded as the most pestilent, intrusive,
+mischief-making of neighbours. A little longer, and our name would have
+actually _stunk in the nostrils_ of Europe. Some began to hate us;
+others, to despise us!! all, to cease _dreading_ us. In the language of
+a powerful journalist, (the _Spectator_,) opposed on most points to the
+present Government, "the late Ministers commenced a career, perilous in
+the extreme to all the best interests of the nation--demoralizing public
+opinion, wasting public resources, and entangling the country in
+quarrels alike endless and aimless; and all this with a labouring after
+melodramatic stage effect, and a regardlessness of consequences
+perfectly unprecedented." We were, in the words of truth and soberness,
+fast losing our moral ascendency in Europe--by a series of querulous,
+petty, officious, needless, undignified interpositions; by the
+exhibition of a vacillating and short-sighted policy; by appearing
+(novel position for Great Britain) "willing to wound, but yet afraid to
+strike;" by conceiving and executing idle and preposterous schemes of
+aggrandizement and conquest. To go no further in Europe than our
+immediate neighbour, France, let us ask whether Lord Palmerston did not
+bring us to the very verge, and keep us at it for many months, of actual
+war with that power, which is always unhappily eager to "cry hurra, and
+let slip the dogs of war;" and with reference to _us_, to go out of
+their way to create occasions for misunderstanding, and hostilities?
+Were we not really on the verge of war?--of a war which would have
+instantly kindled all over Europe a war of extermination? Not, however,
+to descend to the discussion of recent occurrences familiar to every
+body, we shall very briefly advert to the state of our relations with
+America, with China, and of our affairs in British India, when Sir
+Robert Peel assumed the direction of affairs. Lord Palmerston has never
+been sufficiently called to account for his long, most disgraceful, and
+perilous neglect of our serious differences with America; and which had
+brought us to within a hair's-breadth of a declaration of war, which,
+whatever might have been its issue, (possibly not difficult to have
+foreseen,) would have been disastrous to both countries, and to one of
+them utterly destructive. It is notorious that within the last eighteen
+or twenty months, every arrival from the west was expected to bring
+intelligence of the actual commencement of hostilities. The state of
+public feeling towards us in America was being every hour more
+exasperated and malignant. The accession of the present Government
+opened, however, a bright and happy prospect of an adjustment of all
+difficulties; honourable to both parties. How long had they been in
+power, before they had earned universal applause by their prompt and
+masterly move, in dispatching Lord Ashburton to America on his delicate,
+difficult, and most responsible mission? Was ever man selected for a
+great public duty so peculiarly and consummately fitted for it? And how
+admirably has he discharged it! as our opponents may hear for themselves
+early in the ensuing session. Do Ministers deserve no credit for hitting
+on this critical device? Was it no just cause of congratulation, to be
+able to find such a person amongst the ranks of their own immediate and
+most distinguished supporters? We are now, happily, at perfect peace
+with America; and, notwithstanding some present untoward appearances,
+trust that both countries will soon reap the advantages of it. Of what
+real _value_ that peace may be, however, with reference to their
+extensive commercial relations with us, is another question, dependent
+entirely on the character which they may vindicate to themselves for
+honour and fidelity in their pecuniary transactions. That rests with
+themselves alone: whether they will go forward in a career of
+improvement and greatness, or sink into irretrievable disgrace and ruin,
+REPUDIATED and scouted by all mankind. We cannot quit America without a
+very anxious allusion to late occurrences in Canada. We feel words
+inadequate to express our sense of the transcendent importance of
+preserving in their integrity our Canadian possessions. No declaration
+of her Majesty since her accession gave greater satisfaction to her
+subjects, than that of her inflexible determination to preserve
+inviolate her possessions in Canada. We are of opinion that Lord Durham
+did incalculable, and perhaps irreparable, mischief there. We have no
+time, however, to enter into details concerning either his policy and
+proceedings, or those of Lord Sydenham; and we are exceedingly anxious
+also to offer no observations on the recent movements of Sir Charles
+Bagot, beyond a frank expression of the profound anxiety with which we
+await Ministerial explanations in the ensuing session. Before these
+pages shall have met the reader's eyes, Sir Charles Bagot may be no
+longer numbered among men. We therefore withhold all comment on his late
+proceedings, which we are satisfied have originated in an anxious desire
+to serve the best interests of his country. We confidently believe that
+Ministers will be able abundantly to satisfy the country upon this
+subject; and that, in the event of the necessity arising, they will
+choose a successor to Sir Charles Bagot every way qualified for his very
+responsible post, thoroughly instructed as to the line of policy he is
+to adopt, and capable of carrying it out with skill and energy. It is
+impossible to turn to India, for the purpose of taking a necessarily
+rapid and general view of the course of recent events there, without
+experiencing great emotion, arising from conflicting causes. We have
+already said, that our vast and glorious Indian empire is indeed the
+wonder of the world. Every one of our countrymen is aware of the means
+by which we originally acquired it, and that have subsequently augmented
+and retained it by an almost inconceivable amount of expenditure and
+exertion--by the display of overwhelming civil and military genius. If,
+moreover, he has entered into Indian history with proper feeling and
+intelligence, he will be able to appreciate the truth and force of the
+celebrated saying of one who contributed immensely to our ancient
+greatness in India, viz.--that _we hold India by_ OPINION _only:_ the
+opinion which is there entertained of our greatness of national
+character, intellectual and moral--of our wisdom, our justice, our
+power. If this fail us, our downfall in India inevitably follows; and
+memorable and tremendous indeed will be such an event, amongst all
+nations, and at all future times, till the name of England is blotted
+from the recollection of mankind. Therefore it is that we all regard the
+administration of affairs in India with profound anxiety, justly
+requiring, in those to whom it is entrusted, an intimate practical
+acquaintance with Indian character and manners, with Anglo-Indian
+history, and a clear view of the policy to be ever kept in sight, and
+ability and determination to carry it out to the uttermost. When Lord
+Auckland went to India, under the Whig Government, in 1836, he found
+both its foreign and domestic affairs in a satisfactory state--peaceful
+and prosperous--with, upon the whole, a sufficient military force,
+notwithstanding the immense reduction of Lord William Bentinck. How did
+he leave it to his successor, Lord Ellenborough, in 1841? The prospect
+which awaited that successor was indeed dark, troubled, and bloody. An
+army, alas! dreadfully defeated in one quarter, and dangerously
+disaffected in another; a war of extermination in Affghanistan; probable
+hostilities with Burmah and Nepaul; an almost hopelessly involved
+foreign policy; and, moreover, under these desperate circumstances, with
+a treasury _empty!_
+
+We shall confine ourselves to one topic, the war in Affghanistan--which
+we fearlessly, and with deep indignation, pronounce to have inflicted
+almost irreparable injury on the British nation--an almost indelible
+stain on the British character--and to have shaken the whole of our
+Eastern possessions. Lord Auckland, in listening, and his superiors at
+home in instructing him to listen, to the representations of Shah
+Soojah, and to be persuaded by him to embark in the late disastrous and
+disgraceful campaign, were guilty either of an incredible weakness and
+ignorance of the nature of the cause they were espousing, together with
+an inconceivable degree of short-sightedness as to the most obvious
+consequences of it, or of infamous hypocrisy in making the restoration
+of Shah Soojah only the pretext and stepping-stone to the conquest of
+Affghanistan, in the most criminal and reckless spirit of imaginary
+aggrandizement and extension of territory that ever has actuated the
+rules of India. Will they pretend that it was really designed, and
+necessarily so, solely for the purpose of defeating subtle and dangerous
+intrigues on the part of Russia and Persia? Listen to the language of
+one of the responsible authors of the policy since followed by such
+fearful consequences, Sir John Hobhouse--who, on the 11th July 1840, on
+the occasion of a dinner given to their richly and prematurely rewarded
+hero, Lord Keane, thus poured forth his insane, exulting avowal of the
+real object they had had in view:--
+
+    "The gallant officer had alluded to the late addition made to
+    the vast territory of the East India Company. _It was just
+    possible_ that that territory had _at that moment_ received a
+    further and important increase. _It is just possible,_ that
+    since he (Sir John Hobhouse) last met the Directors at the
+    festive board--now about six months since--the Government of
+    India _has been enabled to make an addition to its territory,
+    the vast consequences of which could scarcely be imagined in
+    the wildest dream of fancy_, and which for centuries would be
+    of advantage to the empire!!! In the history of the world there
+    was no instance of yearly sovereigns (as the Directors of the
+    Company were) having conquered so vast a territory as that of
+    India. There was no instance of such successive success. To
+    them the happiness belonged of giving to the vast country under
+    their control the blessing of education. It was owing to God's
+    ministering hand, by which successive Directions had sprung up
+    to spread the benefits of light and knowledge in India, and
+    among a people enshrouded in darkness and idolatry. It was
+    scarcely a hundred years ago since the power of the East India
+    Company was felt in India; their banners were now flying from
+    the Indus to the Burrampooter. He would say emphatically, go on
+    in the great work of extending the religion, civilization, and
+    education of India; for the wishes of the good are with you--go
+    on in your great work, for the sake of India, and Great
+    Britain itself."
+
+What must _now_ be the feelings of Sir John Hobhouse and his brother
+ex-Ministers on this paragraph catching his eyes; when they reflect on
+the frightful sacrifice of life, British and Affghan--the defeat of our
+arms while engaged in a shameful and wicked cause--with its perilous
+effects upon the stability of our tenure of India--which have directly
+resulted from the measures thus vaingloriously vaunted of! A thousand
+reflections here occur to us upon the subject of the insane (or guilty)
+conduct of the late Government in India; but the extent to which this
+article has already reached, compels us to suppress them. We the less
+regret this circumstance, however, because there really seems but one
+opinion upon this topic among well-informed persons. After the last
+intelligence from India, it is idle, it is needless, to attempt
+reasoning on the subject; to ask how we should have strengthened
+ourselves by the destruction of a powerful and (according to authentic
+intelligence) a really friendly chief in Dost Mahommed; how we could
+even have _occupied_ Affghanistan without a ruinous expenditure,
+continual alarm and danger from a perpetual series of treachery and
+insurrection; and to what purpose, after all, of solid advantage! The
+whole policy of Lord Auckland was incontestably one of mad encroachment,
+conquest, and aggrandizement, in utter ignorance of the character and
+exigencies of the times; the Duke of Wellington's memorable prediction
+is now far more than fulfilled! "_It will not be till Lord Auckland's
+policy has reached the zenith of apparent success, that its difficulties
+will begin to develope themselves._" Begin to develope themselves! What
+would have become of us, had the councils originating that policy still
+been in the ascendant, we tremble to contemplate. The exulting French
+press, on hearing of our recent disasters, thus expressed themselves:[7]
+"_England is rich and energetic. She may re-establish her dominion in
+India for some time longer; but the term of her Indian empire is marked,
+it will conclude before the quarter of a century._" Such has been the
+anticipated--such would have been the inevitable result of the policy
+which Sir Robert Peel's Government, guided by the profound sagacity of
+the Duke of Wellington, made it their first business _totally to
+reverse_; not, however, till they had completely re-established the old
+terror of our arms, convincing the natives of India that what we were of
+yore, we still are; that our punishment of treachery is instant and
+tremendous; that we can act with irresistible vigour and complete
+success, at one and the same moment, both in India and in China. In
+their minds, may the splendour of our recent victories efface the
+recollection of our previous bloody and disgraceful defeats! And if we
+cannot make them _forget_ the wickedness--the folly--the madness which
+originally dictated our invasion of Affghanistan, at least we have shown
+them how calmly and magnanimously we can obey the dictates of justice
+and of prudence, _in the very moment of, fierce and exciting military
+triumph_. May, indeed, such be the effect of all that has recently
+occurred, whether adverse or prosperous, in India! For the former, the
+guilty councils of the late Government are alone answerable; for the
+latter, we are exclusively indebted to the vigour and sagacity of our
+present Government. The proclamation in which Lord Ellenborough
+announces our abandonment of Affghanistan will probably excite great
+discussion, and possibly (on the part of the late Government) furious
+objurgation, in the ensuing session of Parliament. We are so delighted
+at the achievement which was the subject of that proclamation, that even
+were there valid grounds of objection to its taste and policy, we should
+entirely overlook them. If even Lord Ellenborough, in the excitement of
+the glorious moment in which he penned the proclamation, departed from
+the style of all previous state documents of that character, was it not
+very excusable? But we are disposed to vindicate the propriety of the
+step he took. It may be said that it was highly impolitic to make so
+frank an avowal to the natives of India, that a mere change of Ministry
+at home may be attended with a total and instant revolution in our
+native policy, to place on record a formal and humiliating confession of
+our errors and misconduct. But let it be borne in mind how potent and
+glaring was already that error, that misconduct, with all its alarming
+consequences; and that one so intimately acquainted as Lord Ellenborough
+with the Indian character, may have seen, _then and there_, reasons to
+recommend the course he has adopted, which may not occur to us at home.
+That document will truly purport, in all time to come, to have been
+issued in a spirit of remarkable wisdom and justice, at the very moment
+of our having achieved the proudest triumph we could have desired for
+our arms. But, above all, what does that striking document tell, but
+_the truth_, and nothing but _the truth_? Let us, however, now
+confidently rely on the vast advantages which we cannot but derive from
+a prudent and vigorous administration of the affairs of India. We trust
+that Lord Ellenborough will persevere in the admirable line of conduct
+which he has hitherto adopted, turning neither to the right hand nor the
+left, disturbed by no sinister hopes or fears. Let his grand object be,
+by every legitimate means at his command, _to Anglicize India_; to
+encourage the adoption of English habits of thought, the practical
+appreciation of English principles of government; in short, thoroughly
+to identify the people of India with the people of England, in all their
+partialities, and prejudices, and interests. Every thing he has hitherto
+done in India, we rejoice to observe, tends this way. Let him but
+persevere, and he will acquire imperishable renown, and reflect
+permanent splendour on the Government which appointed him. In a
+confident and well-founded reliance upon his fitness for his post, upon
+his capacity for thoroughly carrying out the policy of a strong and
+enlightened Conservative government, which has entrusted to him the
+management of such vast and splendid national interests--the nation now
+looks with a bright untroubled eye towards India.
+
+    [7] The _Siècle_. (See No. cccxxi. p. 112.)
+
+    --"Now is the winter of our discontent
+    Made glorious summer!
+    And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
+    In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
+    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
+    Our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments,
+    Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
+    Our dreadful marches to delightful measures!"
+
+Our allotted space is well-nigh exhausted, and we have only now reached
+the confines of CHINA!--a topic on which we had prepared ourselves for a
+very full expression of our opinions. We are compelled, however, now to
+content ourselves with a mere outline of our intended observations on a
+subject--our victory over the Emperor of China--which is pregnant with
+matter for long and profound reflection. Abstractly, our triumphant
+assault on these distant and vast dominions, affords matter for national
+pride and exultation, as far as concerns our naval and military renown;
+and the names of Parker and Gough will never be forgotten in British
+history. The submission of the Emperor of China to our arms, is an event
+calculated of itself to distinguish the reign of our glorious sovereign,
+Queen Victoria, far beyond those of most of her predecessors. It is an
+event that concerns and affects the prospects and interests of the whole
+world, and though it is at this moment occupying the thoughts of all the
+statesmen of Europe, with reference to its contingent effects upon their
+respective countries, not the most experienced and sagacious of them can
+predict with safety what will be its effects within even the next year
+or two. As for ourselves, our present prevalent feeling seems to be in
+accordance with our daring military character, which would say merely--
+
+    "Why then, _China's_ our oyster
+    Which we with sword have open'd."
+
+But to those in England who are accustomed to regard occurrences with
+reference to their probable consequences, the recent events in China
+afford matter for the most anxious reflection of which thinking men are
+capable--whether in the character of philosophers, of statesmen, of
+warriors, or of merchants. Were we justified in our attack upon the
+Emperor of China? We have no hesitation whatever in expressing our
+opinion, after having had our attention for some years directed to the
+subject of our relation with China, in the affirmative. From the moment
+of our first intercourse with that people, we have had to submit to a
+series of indignities sufficient to kindle into fury the feelings of any
+one who merely reads any authentic account of those indignities. The
+Chinese have long derived an immense revenue, together with other great
+advantages, from us; encouraging us to embark a vast capital in our
+trade with them, and to form great permanent establishments dependent
+upon it. Language cannot describe the degrading circumstances under
+which we have been forced to carry on our commercial intercourse with
+the Chinese; our long submission to such conduct having, of course,
+insured its continual aggravation. The Opium trade, perhaps
+beneficially, brought matters to a crisis. It was alleged on behalf of
+the Emperor, that we were surreptitiously, and from motives of gain,
+corrupting and destroying his people, by supplying them with opium; but
+it is easily demonstrable that this was only a pretence for endeavouring
+to effect a change in the medium of our dealings with them, vastly
+beneficial to the Emperor, and disadvantageous to us. We might have been
+permitted to quadruple our supply of opium to his subjects, if we would
+have been content to be paid, _not in bullion_, but by taking Chinese
+goods in exchange; in a word, to change the basis of our dealings from
+_sale_ to _barter_; and all this from a totally groundless notion of the
+Emperor and his advisers, that we were draining his kingdom of silver
+--in their own words, "causing the Sycee silver to ooze out of the
+dominions of the Brother of the Sun and the Moon." Their desperate
+anxiety to carry this point, led them to take the decisive step of
+seizing a vast quantity of our opium, under circumstances perfectly
+familiar to every body; constituting a crowning indignity and injury,
+which, without reference to the original legality or illegality of the
+opium trade, gave us an unquestionable cause for war against the
+Emperor. He seized the person of her Majesty's representative, and those
+of many of her principal subjects in China; and under the threat of
+inflicting death upon them, extorted a delivery of an enormous amount of
+property belonging to her Majesty's subjects. If this was not a cause of
+war with any nation, whether civilized or uncivilized, there never was
+one; and without going into further detail, we have stated sufficient to
+justify, beyond all doubt, our commencement of hostilities against
+China. But this occurred so long ago as the month of March 1839; yet, to
+the eternal scandal of the then existing Government, no effectual
+warlike demonstration was made to redress this flagrant unparalleled
+outrage on the British nation, till better councils, those of the
+present Government, were had recourse to by her Majesty; and which led
+to the quick triumphant result with which the world is now ringing. Till
+the present vigorous Government took the affair in hand, we were
+_pottering_ about the extremities of the empire, month after month, even
+year after year, at a ruinous expense, in a way justly calculated to
+excite the derision of even the Chinese--of the whole world who had
+heard of our mode of procedure. It will be in vain for the late
+Government to endeavour meanly to make Captain Elliot their scapegoat.
+Let them, if they can, satisfy the nation that, in all he appears to
+have done so ineffectually and disgracefully, he did not act according
+to the strict orders of the late Government; that in all he would have
+done, and wished to have done, viz. to carry hostilities at once, with
+an adequate force, to the right point of attack, he was not either
+positively overruled, or left without advice and authority. Owing to
+their own want of forethought, of energy, and of practical knowledge,
+and their financial mismanagement, even if they had contemplated the
+plan of operations which led ultimately to the successful enterprize on
+which we are now justly congratulating ourselves, they _could_ not, they
+_did not_ act upon them. No, it was left for the present Government,
+under the auspices of him who told us that "England _could_ not carry on
+a little war," amidst all the embarrassments and dangers which they had
+just inherited from their predecessors, to send out the peremptory
+instructions which have been so ably acted upon; and _above all_, a
+naval and military force fully adequate for the occasion. This done,
+China succumbed; and we understand that poor Lord Palmerston is pluming
+himself on being able to produce, next session, a despatch which he
+issued to Sir Henry Pottinger, chalking out the very line of operations
+which was adopted with such supreme success. We, of course, cannot
+officially know that such is the fact: but even admitting it, why did
+not Lord Palmerston do this far earlier? What excuse can be offered for
+this vacillation and procrastination in an affair of such vast urgency?
+"We had not the means to equip a sufficient force," his lordship may
+reply, in his usual strain of bitter flippancy. And why had he not the
+means? The extravagance and profligacy of his Government had deprived
+him of them; his exchequer was empty; and had he, or they, the boldness
+or the virtue to propose what has been demonstrated to have been the
+only mode of meeting the exigency, an income-tax? In vain, therefore,
+may his lordship and his friends declaim in the ensuing session, and
+with our bombardment of China in his ears, say "that is _my_ thunder."
+They will be only laughed at and despised. No, no, Lord Palmerston;
+_palmam qui meruit, ferat._ Let the nation decide.
+
+The late military and naval proceedings against China, reflect permanent
+glory upon the arms of England, naval and military, and we earnestly
+hope--we confidently believe--that those concerned in them will soon
+receive substantial and enduring marks of national gratitude. But what
+is the real value, what will be the consequences, of our victory? We are
+very anxious to take the earliest opportunity of placing on record our
+views upon this all-important subject, with a view of moderating the
+expectations, and allaying the excitement, which prevails upon the
+subject of the commercial advantages anticipated to follow immediately
+on the final ratification of the treaty. Let us take a sober and
+common-sense view of the affair, and reason thus:--
+
+First of all, we must bear in mind the long-cherished hatred borne by
+the Emperor and his court to all barbarians, particularly towards us;
+exasperated now, doubtless, to a pitch of extreme intensity and
+malignity, by the signal humiliation and injury we have inflicted upon
+him. Can we expect that this will be suddenly and permanently altered?
+It is not in human nature, which is the same every where. With the
+thunder of our cannon in his ears, the supplies of his whole empire at
+our immediate mercy, his armies scattered like dust, and his forts and
+walled cities crumbling to pieces under our artillery, the necessity of
+his position forced him to buy peace on almost any terms. We have
+exacted from him what is at variance with the fixed Chinese policy of
+ages. The more he, by and by, reflects upon it, in the absence of our
+awe-inspiring military and naval forces, the more galling and
+intolerable will become the contemplation of what he has been compelled
+to concede and sacrifice. Who knows what artful falsehoods may not be
+perseveringly poured into his ear, day after day, month after month,
+year after year, to our disadvantage and disparagement in his
+estimation? He may not dare, perhaps, to resort to open hostility,
+directly to provoke our tremendous vengeance; but those best acquainted
+with China, know what countless facilities exist for his doing
+indirectly what he dares not, or may choose not, to do openly. We are
+not without fear, from our knowledge of the Chinese character, and of
+their long-established mode of procedure, that every chicane and evasion
+will be resorted to, in order to neutralize and nullify, as far as
+possible, the commercial advantages which we have, at the cannon's
+mouth, extorted from them. A great deal, at all events, will depend on
+the skill, firmness, and vigilance, of the consuls to be appointed at
+the five opened ports of China. We rely, also, greatly on the
+unquestionable eagerness of the _Chinese_ people to enter into trading
+relations with us. The Emperor, however, and those by whose counsels he
+is guided, are Tartars, between whom and the Chinese there is a
+long-cherished and bitter hostility, which may eventually operate in our
+favour. Adverting, for a moment, to the proceedings of Sir Henry
+Pottinger, we feel very great doubt, indeed, whether our forces should
+not, either with or without the consent of the Chinese, have gone on to
+Pekin, and insisted on the negotiations being carried on _there_. What a
+prodigious effect would not thereby have been produced, not only on the
+mind of the Emperor, but of the whole nation! The painful but salutary
+truth of their own weakness, and our power, would have been thus
+"brought home to their businesses and bosoms,"--there could never
+afterwards have been any pretence for his or their saying, that they had
+been deceived in any part of the proceedings. Doubtless, however, Sir
+Henry Pottinger acted advisedly in abstaining from penetrating to Pekin,
+and also from stipulating for the residence of a British ambassador at
+Pekin. How such a proposal would have been received--or how, if adopted
+and carried into effect, it would have answered our expectations--it is
+difficult to say; but we have several letters lying before us, from
+peculiarly well-informed persons on the spot, in all of which the
+absence of this stipulation from the treaty is very greatly regretted.
+"I am afraid," says one, "we shall be again left to the tender mercies
+of the local mandarins, and that their old habits of arrogance and
+deceit and extortion, will be resumed. For what are _consuls?_ They have
+no power of communicating even with the provincial officers: or if this
+should now be conceded, they have none with the government at Pekin: and
+may we not fear that the Chinese will continue to force away gradually,
+by effectual but invisible obstacles, the trade from the ports now
+ostensibly opened to us?" The gentleman, from whose long and very able
+letter we have quoted this paragraph, takes a somewhat disheartening
+view of the treaty, and its probable observance and consequences. He is
+on the spot, and has access to the best sources of knowledge; but we
+confess, that for our own part, we do not share his apprehensions.
+Whatever disposition to do so the Emperor or his people may entertain,
+we believe they will neither dare at all to offend or injure us openly,
+or persevere long in attempting to do so indirectly. It may be a work of
+time but as soon as they perceive the steady benefits derivable from a
+prudently-conducted course of dealing with them, we think it likely that
+a sense of self-interest will lead them to encourage our intercourse and
+augment our dealings. On one thing we regret to feel certain that we
+must calculate--namely, on an enormous overstocking of the Chinese
+market with articles of British merchandize, long before any sensible,
+or at least important, demand for them shall have been created; which
+will of course lead to serious loss on the part of the adventurers. We
+must also expect Hong-Kong, and the five open ports, to be forthwith
+flooded with commercial adventurers. To all such we would earnestly
+say--"pause. Consider the circumstances of China--how capricious and
+perfidious its people are by nature--the _possibility_, at all events,
+of their acting on the hostile policy we have above alluded to, and
+discouraging your trade; or if not so, still do not imagine that the
+vast empire of China is standing agape for any sort of goods you may
+send or take out." We must, however, pass on to allude briefly to a
+subject both important and difficult--the opium trade with China. This
+is a subject imperatively demanding the best consideration of the
+Government. A careful examination of the subject, in all its bearings,
+induces us, with due diffidence, to express an opinion that the
+Government sale of opium in India should cease. We cannot, of course,
+prevent the poppy's being grown in India--nor, on the other hand, should
+a great source of revenue be easily parted with. Let their opium be
+produced and sold as before, and subject to such a tax as may appear
+expedient to the Government. With reference to the policy and propriety
+of our continuing to supply opium to the Chinese, we have already
+expressed our opinion as to the true ground of objection to it by the
+Emperor of China, namely, simply a financial, not a moral or religious
+one. We have reason to believe that Sir Henry Pottinger most
+strenuously, and, in our opinion, most judiciously, urged upon the
+imperial commissioners the expediency of the raising a revenue from
+opium, by legalizing its importation. To this they replied, however,
+"that they did not dare, _at present_, to bring the painful subject to
+the Emperor's notice." We are, notwithstanding, very strongly of opinion
+that the opium trade will, at no distant period, be legalized, as soon
+as the Emperor can be made to understand the great profit he will derive
+from it. In any event, it will be obviously nugatory for the Government
+directly to prohibit British subjects from importing opium into China.
+The only effect of such a measure would be, that they could carry on the
+trade through the intervention of foreigners.
+
+Many other topics, such as the opportunity now afforded for the
+introduction of the Christian religion into China, the extent to which
+we shall be permitted to acquire a knowledge of the habits, the economy,
+the literature, and the science, of China; the exertions which may be
+expected from other nations to share in the advantages which we have, by
+our own unassisted efforts, secured--we must pass over, as inconsistent
+with the limits assigned us, or, indeed, the scope of this article.
+
+Whatever may be the ultimate effects of the blow we have struck in
+China, there can be no doubt that it has prodigiously extended the
+reputation, and augmented the influence of Great Britain, especially
+coupled as it is with our contemporaneous brilliant successes in India,
+and our satisfactory adjustment of our differences with America. We are
+now, thank God, at peace with all the world, to whose counsels soever it
+is to be attributed. Let us now endeavour to make the most of the
+blessings which the Divine favour vouchsafes to us. Let us cultivate
+virtue--let us cherish religion. Let us, as a nation, give up all idle
+and dangerous dreams of foreign conquest, satisfied that we already
+possess as much as it is possible for us to hold, with safety and
+advantage. Let us _honour all men_. At home, let us bear with
+cheerfulness the burthens necessarily imposed to support the state, and
+each do all that lies in us to extinguish party animosities; generously
+and cordially co-operating with, and supporting those whom we believe
+honestly striving to carry on the government of this great country, at a
+very critical conjuncture of affairs, with dignity and prudence. Let us
+discourage faction, and each, in our several spheres exert ourselves to
+ameliorate the condition of the inferior classes of society. May the
+ensuing session of Parliament commence its labours auspiciously, and in
+due course bring them to a peaceful and happy close, in a spirit of good
+will towards all men of loyalty to our Queen, and piety towards God!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL ERROR.
+
+
+    [Many as are the frightful cases of error recorded in the
+    annals of every judiciary court, there are few more striking of
+    the uncertainty of evidence respecting personal identity, and
+    of the serious errors based upon it, than are to be read in the
+    curious trial we are about to relate; and which has, for forty
+    years, been the subject of parliamentary appeals in the country
+    where it took place. The recent death of the widow of the
+    unhappy sufferer excites a fresh interest in her wrongs, so
+    strangely left unredressed by the very government that was the
+    unwitting cause of them.]
+
+
+I.--THE FOUR GUESTS.
+
+
+On the 4th Floréal of the 4th year of the Republic, one and indivisible,
+(23d April 1796,) four young men were seated at a splendid breakfast in
+the Rue des Boucheries at Paris. They were all dressed in the costume of
+the _Incroyables_ of the period; their hair _coiffés en cadenettes_ and
+_en oreilles de chien_, according to the fantastic custom of the day;
+they had all top-boots, with silver spurs, large eyeglasses, various
+watch-chains, and other articles of _bijouterie_; carrying also the
+little cane, of about a foot and a half in length, without which no
+dandy was complete. The breakfast was given by a M. Guesno, a
+van-proprietor of Douai, who was anxious to celebrate the arrival at
+Paris of his compatriot Lesurques, who had recently established himself
+with his family in the busy capital.
+
+"Yes, _mon cher_ Guesno," said Lesurques, "I have quitted for ever our
+good old town of Douai; or, if not for ever, at least until I have
+completed in Paris the education of my children. I am now thirty-three
+years of age. I have paid my debt to my country by serving in the
+regiment of Auvergne, with some distinction. On leaving the ranks I was
+fortunate enough to make my services of some slight use, by fulfilling,
+gratuitously, the functions of _chef de bureau_ of the district. At
+present, thanks to my patrimony and the dowery of my wife, I have an
+income of fifteen thousand francs (L.600) a-year, am without ambition,
+have three children, and my only care is to educate them well. The few
+days that I have been at Paris have not been wasted; I have a pretty
+apartment, Rue Montmartre, where I expect to be furnished, and ready to
+receive you in my turn, with as much comfort as heartiness."
+
+"Wisely conceived," interrupted one of the guests, who, till this
+moment, had maintained a profound silence; "but who can count upon the
+morrow in such times as these? May your projects of peace and
+retirement, Monsieur, be realized: if so, you will then be the happiest
+man in the Republic; for during the last five or six years, there has
+been no _citoyen_, high or low, who could predict what the next week
+would decide for him."
+
+The speaker uttered this with a tone of bitterness and discouragement
+which contrasted strangely with the flaunting splendour of his toilet,
+and the appetite with which he had done honour to the breakfast. He was
+young, and would have been remarkably handsome, had not his dark eyes
+and shaggy brows given an expression of fierceness and dissimulation to
+his countenance, which he vainly endeavoured to hide, by never looking
+his interlocutor in the face. His name was Couriol. His presence at this
+breakfast was purely accidental. He had come to see M. Richard, (the
+proprietor of the house where M. Guesno alighted on his journey to
+Paris, and who was also one of the guests,) just as they were about to
+sit down to table, and was invited to join them without ceremony.
+
+The breakfast passed off gaily, in spite of the sombre Couriol; and
+after two hours' conviviality, they adjourned to the Palais Royal,
+where, after taking their café at the _Rotonde du Caveau_, they
+separated.
+
+
+II.--THE FOUR HORSEMEN.
+
+
+A few days afterwards, on the 8th Floréal, four men mounted on dashing
+looking horses, which, however, bore the unequivocal signs of being
+hired for the day, rode gaily out of Paris by the barrier of Charenton;
+talking and laughing loudly, caracoling with great enjoyment, and
+apparently with nothing but the idea of passing as joyously as possible
+a day devoted to pleasure.
+
+An attentive observer, however, who did not confine his examination to
+their careless exteriors, might have remarked that, beneath their long
+_lévites,_ (a peculiar cloak then in fashion,) they carried each a
+sabre, suspended at the waist, the presence of which was betrayed from
+time to time by a slight clanking, as the horses stumbled or changed
+their paces. He might have further remarked a sinister pre-occupation
+and a brooding fierceness in the countenance of one, whose dark eyes
+peeped out furtively beneath two thick brows. He took but little share
+in the boisterous gaiety of the other three, and that little was forced;
+his laugh was hollow and convulsive. It was Couriol.
+
+Between twelve and one, the four horsemen arrived at the pretty village
+of Mongeron, on the road to Melun. One of them had preceded them at a
+hand-gallop to order dinner at the _Hôtel de la Poste_, kept by the
+Sieur Evrard. After the dinner, to which they did all honour, they
+called for pipes and tobacco--(cigars were then almost unknown)--and two
+of them smoked. Having paid their bill, they proceeded to the Cassino,
+where they took their café.
+
+At three o'clock they remounted their horses, and following the road,
+shaded by stately elms, which leads from Mongeron to the forest of
+Lénart, they reached Lieursaint; where they again halted. One of their
+horses had cast a shoe, and one of the men had broken the little chain
+which then fastened the spur to the boot. The horseman to whom this
+accident had happened, stopped at the entrance of the village at Madame
+Châtelain's, a _limonadière_, whom he begged to serve him some café, and
+at the same time to give him a needleful of strong thread to mend the
+chain of his spur. She did so, but observing the traveller to be rather
+awkward in his use of the needle, she called her servant, _la femme_
+Grossetète, who fixed the chain for him, and helped him to place it on
+his boot. The other three travellers had, during this time, alighted at
+the inn kept by the Sieur Champeaux, where they drank some wine; while
+the landlord himself accompanied the traveller and his unshod horse to
+the farrier's, the Sieur Motteau. This finished, the four met at Madame
+Châtelain's, where they played at billiards. At half-past seven, after a
+parting cup with the Sieur Champeaux, whither they returned to re-saddle
+their horses, they set off again in the direction of Melun.
+
+The landlord stood at his door watching the travellers till out of
+sight, and then turning into his house again, he saw on the table a
+sabre, which one of his guests had forgotten to fasten to his belt; he
+dispatched one of his stable-boys after them, but they were out of
+sight. It was not till an hour afterwards, that the traveller who had
+had his spur-chain mended, returned at full gallop to claim his sabre.
+He drank a glass of brandy, and having fastened his weapon securely,
+departed at furious speed in the direction taken by his comrades.
+
+
+III.--THE ROBBERY AND MURDER.
+
+
+At the same time that the horseman left Lieursaint for Paris, the Lyons
+mail arrived there from Paris, and changed horses. It was about
+half-past eight, and the night had been obscure for some time. The
+courier, having charged horses and taken a fresh postilion, set forth to
+traverse the long forest of Senart. The mail, at this epoch, was very
+different from what it is at present. It was a simple post-chaise, with
+a raised box behind, in which were placed the despatches. Only one
+place, by the side of the courier, was reserved for travellers, and
+that was obtained with difficulty. On the night in question this seat
+was occupied by a man of about thirty, who had that morning taken it for
+Lyons, under the name of Laborde, a silk-merchant; his real name was
+Durochat; his object may be guessed.
+
+At nine o'clock, the carriage having descended a declivity with great
+speed, now slackened its course to mount a steep hill which faced it; at
+this moment four horsemen bounded into the road--two of them seizing the
+horses' heads, the two other attacked the postilion, who fell lifeless
+at their feet, his skull split open by a sabre-cut. At the same
+instant--before he had time to utter a word--the wretched courier was
+stabbed to the heart by the false Laborde, who sat beside him. They
+ransacked the mail of a sum of seventy-five thousand francs (L.3000) in
+money, _assignats_, and bank-notes. They then took the postilion's horse
+from the chaise, and Durochat mounting it, they galloped to Paris, which
+they entered between four and five in the morning by the Barrier de
+Rambouillet.
+
+
+IV.--THE ARREST.
+
+
+This double murder, committed with such audacity on the most frequented
+route of France, could not but produce an immense sensation, even at
+that epoch so fertile in brigandage of every sort, where the exploits of
+_la Chouannerie_, and the ferocious expeditions of the _Chauffeurs_,[8]
+daily filled them with alarm. The police were at once in pursuit. The
+post-horse ridden by Durochat, and abandoned by him on the Boulevard,
+was found wandering about the Palais Royale. It was known that four
+horses covered with foam had been conducted at about five in the morning
+to the stables of a certain Muiron, _Rue des Fossé's,
+Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois_, by two men who had hired them the day
+before: these men were Bernard and Couriol; the former of whom was
+immediately arrested, the second had, with the other accomplices,
+taken flight.
+
+    [8] An atrocious gang of thieves, who adopted the unnecessary
+    brutality of burning the unfortunate victims they intended
+    to rob.
+
+The research was pursued with great activity at Paris, as well as at the
+scene of the crime, and along the route which the assassins had twice
+travelled. The information obtained showed that there were five
+culprits. The description of the four horsemen who rode from Paris,
+stopping at Mongeron and Lieursaint, was furnished with as much
+precision as concordance by the various witnesses who had seen and
+spoken to them on the road, and in the inns and cafés. The description
+of the traveller, who, under the name of Laborde, had taken the seat
+beside the courier, was furnished with equal exactitude by the clerks,
+from whom he had retained the place, and by those who saw him mount.
+Couriol, recognized as having with Bernard conducted back the horses to
+Muiron, after the crime, had left Paris for Château-Thierry, where he
+was lodged in the house of Citoyen Bruer, where also Guesno had gone on
+some business. The police followed Couriol, and arrested him. They found
+upon him a sum in money and assignats, nearly equivalent to a fifth
+share of what the courier had been robbed. Guesno and Bruer were also
+arrested, and had their papers seized; but they so completely
+established their _alibi_, that they were at once dismissed on their
+arrival at Paris. At the epoch of which we write, the examination of
+judicial affairs followed a very different course from the one now
+traced by the French code. It was to the Citoyen Daubenton, justice of
+the peace of the division of Pont Neuf, and officer of the _police
+judiciare_, that the Central Bureau confided the examination of this
+affair. This magistrate having ordered the dismissal of Guesno, told him
+that he might present himself at his _cabinet_ on the morrow, for the
+papers which had been seized at Château-Thierry; at the same time he
+ordered an officer, Hendon, to start at once for Mangeron and
+Lieursaint, and to bring back the witnesses, whose names he gave him,
+so that they might all be collected the next day at the Bureau for
+examination.
+
+Guesno, desirous of having his papers as soon as possible, went out
+early, and directed his steps towards the Central Bureau, which he had
+just reached when he encountered his compatriot Lesurques; having
+explained to him the motive that called him to the Bureau, he proposed
+to him that they should go together. Lesurques accepted, and the Citizen
+Daubenton not having yet arrived, they sat down in the antechamber, in
+order to see him as he passed, and thus expedite the matter.
+
+About ten o'clock the judge, who had entered his cabinet by a back door,
+was interrupted in his examination of the documents, previous to
+interrogating the witnesses, by the officer Hendon, who demanded leave
+to make an important communication. "Amongst the witnesses," said he,
+"now waiting in the antechamber, are two women--one, _la femme_ Santon,
+servant to Evrard the innkeeper at Mongeron--the other, _la fille_
+Grossetète, servant to Madame Châtelain the _limonadière_ at Lieursaint,
+who assert in the most positive manner, that two of the assassins are
+there, waiting like them to be admitted. These women declare that they
+cannot deceive themselves, for one of them served the four travellers at
+Mongeron, and the other spoke to them at Lieursaint, and stayed an hour
+in the billiard-room while they were playing."
+
+The judge could not admit the probability of two of the assassins thus
+voluntarily placing themselves within the grasp of the law, yet he
+ordered the women to be shown into his presence. On interrogation, they
+persisted in their statements, declaring that it was impossible they
+could deceive themselves. Guesno was then introduced to the judge's
+presence, the women being continued to examine him strictly before
+finally pronouncing as to his identity.
+
+"What brings you to the Central Bureau?" demanded the judge.
+
+"I come to receive my papers," replied Guesno, "as you promised me
+yesterday that I should have them on application."
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"I have a compatriot with me, one Joseph Lesurques, whom I met on the
+way here."
+
+The judge then ordered the second individual designated by the women to
+be introduced. It was Lesurques. He spoke to Lesurques and to Guesno for
+a few minutes, and then begged them to return into the antechamber,
+where their papers would be sent to them. An order was given, however,
+to the officer, Hendon, not to lose sight of them.
+
+On their leaving the room, M. Daubenton again demanded of the women, if
+they persisted in their declarations as to the identity of these men
+with the criminals they were in search of. They replied, without
+hesitation, that they were certain of it; that they could not be
+deceived. The magistrate was then forced to receive their depositions in
+writing, and to order the arrest of Guesno and Lesurques.
+
+From the moment of their arrest, the examination proceeded with great
+rapidity. Guesno and Lesurques were confronted with the witnesses
+brought from Mongeron and Lieursaint, and were recognised by all
+of them!
+
+_La femme_ Santon deposed, that Lesurques was the one who, after the
+dinner at Mongeron, wanted to pay in _assignats_, but that the big dark
+man (Couriol) paid in money. She was positive as to Lesurques being
+the man.
+
+Champeaux and his wife, who kept the inn at Lieursaint, were equally
+positive as to Lesurques being the one whose spur wanted mending, and
+who came back to fetch the sabre which he had forgotten. Lafolie, groom
+at Mongeron, and _la femme_ Alfroy, also recognised him; and Laurent
+Charbaut, labourer, who dined in the same room with the four horsemen,
+recognised Lesurques as the one who had silver spurs fastened by little
+chains to his top-boots. This combination of testimony, respecting one
+whom they had seen but a few days before, was sufficient to leave little
+doubt in the mind of any one. The trial was therefore fixed on.
+
+The day of his arrest, Lesurques wrote the following letter to one of
+his friends, which was intercepted, and joined to the documentary
+evidence to be examined on the trial:--
+
+    "My dear Friend,--I have met with nothing but unpleasantries
+    since my arrival at Paris, but I did not--I could not
+    anticipate the misfortune which has befallen me to-day. You
+    know me--and you know whether I am capable of sullying myself
+    with a crime--yet the most atrocious crime is imputed to me.
+    The mere thought of it makes me tremble. I find myself
+    implicated in the murder of the Lyons' courier. Three women and
+    two men, whom I know not--whose residence I know not--(for you
+    well know that I have not left Paris)--have had the impudence
+    to swear that they recognise me, and that I was the first of
+    the four who presented himself at their houses on horseback.
+    You know, also, that I have not crossed a horse's back since my
+    arrival in Paris. You may understand the importance of such an
+    accusation, which tends at nothing less than my judicial
+    assassination. Oblige me by lending me the assistance of your
+    memory, and endeavour to recollect where I was and what persons
+    I saw at Paris, on the day when they impudently assert they saw
+    me out of Paris, (I believe it was the 7th or 8th,) in order
+    that I may confound these infamous calumniators, and make them
+    suffer the penalty of the law."
+
+In a postscript he enumerates the persons he saw on that day: Citoyen
+Tixier, General Cambrai, 'Demoiselle Eugénie, Citoyen Hilaire Ledru, his
+wife's hairdresser, the workmen in his apartments, and the porter of
+the house.
+
+
+V.--THE TRIAL, AND THE BLINDNESS OF ZEAL.
+
+
+MM. Lesurques, Guesno, Couriol, Bernard, Richard, and Bruer, were
+summoned before the tribunal of justice; the three first as authors or
+accomplices of the murder and robbery--Bernard as having furnished the
+horses--Richard as having concealed at his house Couriol--and his
+mistress, Madelaine Breban, as having received and concealed part of the
+stolen goods--and Bruer as having given Couriol refuge at
+Château-Thierry.
+
+The witnesses persisted in their declarations as to the identity of
+Guesno and Lesurques. But Guesno established beyond all doubt the fact
+of his _alibi_; and Bruer easily refuted every charge that concerned
+himself. Lesurques had cited fifteen witnesses--all respectable men--and
+presented himself at the bar with a calmness and confidence which
+produced a favourable impression. Against the positive testimony of the
+six witnesses who asserted him to have been at Mongeron and Lieursaint
+on the 8th Floréal, he had brought a mass of testimony to prove
+an _alibi._
+
+Citoyen Legrand, a rich jeweller and goldsmith, compatriot of Lesurques,
+was first examined. He deposed, that on the 8th Floréal--the day on
+which the crime had been committed--Lesurques had passed a portion of
+the morning with him.
+
+Aldenof, a jeweller, Hilaire Ledru, and Chausfer, deposed, that on that
+day they dined with Lesurques in the _Rue Montorgueil;_ that, after
+dinner, they went to a café, took some liqueur, and went home with him.
+
+Beudart, a painter, deposed that he was invited to the dinner, with
+Lesurques and his friends, but that, as one of the national guard, he
+was that day on service, and so was prevented attending; but that, he
+had gone to Lesurques that very evening in his uniform, and had seen him
+go to bed. In support of his deposition he produced his _billet de
+garde_, dated the 8th.
+
+Finally, the workmen employed in the apartment that Lesurques was having
+fitted up, deposed that they saw him at various times during the 8th and
+9th Floréal.
+
+No further doubt of his innocence now remained; the _alibi_ was so
+distinctly proved, and on such unquestionable testimony, that the jury
+showed in their manner that they were ready to acquit him, when a fatal
+circumstance suddenly changed the whole face of the matter.
+
+The jeweller Legrand, who had manifested such zeal in the establishment
+of his friend's innocence, had, with an anxiety to avail himself of
+every trifle, declared, that to prove the sincerity of his declaration,
+he would cite a fact which prevented his being mistaken. On the 8th
+Floréal, he had made before dinner an exchange of jewellery with the
+witness, Aldenof. He proposed that his ledger should be sent for, as its
+entry there would serve to fix all recollections.
+
+As a matter of form, the ledger was sent for. At the first glance,
+however, it was evident that the _date_ of the transaction, mentioned by
+Legrand, had been _altered!_ The exchange had taken place on the 9th,
+and an alteration, badly dissimulated by an erasure, had substituted the
+figure 8 for the original figure 9.
+
+Murmurs of surprise and indignation followed this discovery, and the
+President, pressing Legrand with questions, and unable to obtain from
+him any satisfactory answer, ordered his arrest. Legrand then, trembling
+and terrified, retracted his former deposition, and declared that he was
+not certain he had seen Lesurques on the 8th Floréal, but that he had
+altered his book in order to give more probability to the declaration he
+had determined to make in his friend's favour--of whose innocence he was
+so assured, that it was only the conviction that he was accused
+erroneously, which made him perjure himself to save that innocent head.
+
+From this moment, the jury received the depositions in favour of
+Lesurques with extreme prejudice--those already heard seemed little
+better than connivance, and those yet to be heard were listened to with
+such suspicion as to have no effect. The conviction of his guilt was
+fixed in every mind. Lesurques, despairing to get over such fatal
+appearances, ceased his energetic denials, and awaited his sentence in
+gloomy silence. The jury retired.
+
+At this moment a woman, agitated with the most violent emotions,
+demanded to speak to the President. She said that she was moved by the
+voice of conscience, and wished to save the criminal tribunal from a
+dreadful error. It was Madelaine Breban, the mistress of Couriol.
+Brought before the President, she declared that she knew positively
+Lesurques was innocent, and that the witnesses, deceived by an
+inexplicable resemblance, had confounded him with the real culprit, who
+was called Dubosq.
+
+Prejudiced as they were against Lesurques, and suspicious of all
+testimony after the perjury they had already detected, the tribunal
+scarcely listened to Madelaine Breban; and the jury returned with their
+verdict, in consequence of which, Couriol, Lesurques, and Bernard were
+condemned to death; Richard to four-and-twenty years' imprisonment;
+Guesno and Bruer were acquitted.
+
+No sooner was the sentence passed, than Lesurques rose calmly, and
+addressing the Judges, said, "I am innocent of the crime of which I am
+accused. Ah! citoyens, if it is horrible to murder on the high-road, it
+is not less so to murder by the law!"
+
+Couriol, condemned to death, rose and said, "Yes, I am guilty--I avow
+it. But Lesurques is innocent, and Bernard did not participate in
+the murder."
+
+Four times he reiterated this declaration; and, on entering his prison,
+he wrote to the judge a letter full of sorrow and repentance, in which
+he said, "I have never known Lesurques; my accomplices are Vidal, Rossi,
+Durochat, and Dubosq. The resemblance of Lesurques to Dubosq has
+deceived the witnesses."
+
+To this declaration of Couriol was joined that of Madelaine Breban, who,
+after the judgment, returned to renew her protestation, accompanied by
+two individuals, who swore that, before the trial, she had told them
+Lesurques had never had any relations with the culprits; but that he was
+a victim of his fatal likeness to Dubosq. These testimonies threw doubt
+in the minds of the magistrates, who hastened to demand a reprieve from
+the Directory, which, terrified at the idea of seeing an innocent man
+perish through a judicial error, had recourse to the _Corps Législatif;_
+for every other resource was exhausted. The message of the Directory to
+the Five Hundred was pressing; its aim was to demand a reprieve, and a
+decision as to what course to pursue. It ended thus: "Must Lesurques
+perish on the scaffold because he resembles a villain?"
+
+The _Corps Législatif_ passed to the order of the day, as every
+condition had been legally fulfilled, that a particular case could not
+justify an infraction of decreed laws; and that, too, on such
+indications, to do away with a condemnation legally pronounced by a
+jury, would be to overset all ideas of justice and equality before
+the law.
+
+The right of pardon had been abolished; and Lesurques had neither
+resources nor hope. He bore his fate with firmness and resignation, and
+wrote, on the day of his execution, this note to his wife:--
+
+"_Ma bonne Amie_,--There is no eluding ones destiny, I was fated to be
+judicially murdered. I shall at least bear it with proper courage. I
+send you my locks of hair; when our children are grown up, you will
+divide it among them; it is the only heritage I can leave them."
+
+He addressed also a letter to Dubosq through the newspapers. "You, in
+whose place I am about to perish, content yourself with the sacrifice of
+my life. Should you ever be brought to justice, remember my three
+children covered with opprobrium--remember my wife reduced to despair
+and do not longer prolong their misfortunes."
+
+
+VI.--THE EXECUTION.
+
+
+The 10th March 1797, Lesurques was led to the scaffold. He wished to be
+dressed completely in white, as a symbol of his innocence. He wore
+pantaloons and frock-coat of white cotton, and his shirt-collar turned
+down over his shoulders. It was the day before Good Friday, and he
+expressed regret that he had not to die on the morrow. In passing from
+the prison _de la Conciergerie_ to the _Place de la Grève_, where the
+execution took place, Couriol, placed beside Lesurques in the cart,
+cried out to the people in a loud voice, "Citoyens, I am guilty! I am
+guilty! but Lesurques is innocent."
+
+On arriving at the platform of the guillotine, already stained with the
+blood of Bernard, Lesurques exclaimed, "I pardon my judges; I pardon the
+witnesses through whose error I die; and I pardon Legrand, who has not a
+little contributed to my judicial assassination. I die protesting my
+innocence." In another instant he was no more.
+
+Couriol continued his declarations of Lesurques's innocence to the foot
+of the scaffold; and, after a final appeal, he, too, delivered himself
+to the executioner. The drop fell on a guilty neck, having before been
+stained with the blood of two innocent men.
+
+The crowd retired with a general conviction that Lesurques had perished
+guiltless; and several of the judges were seriously troubled by the
+doubts which this day had raised in their minds. Many of the jury began
+to repent having relied so on the affirmations of the witnesses from
+Mongeron and Lieursaint, precise as they had been. M. Daubenton, the
+magistrate who had first ordered the arrest, went home a thoughtful man,
+and determined to lose no opportunity of getting at the truth, which the
+arrest of the three accomplices mentioned by Couriol could alone
+bring to light.
+
+
+VII.--THE PROOFS
+
+
+Two years passed on without affording any clue to the conscientious
+magistrate. One day, however, he heard that a certain Durochat was
+arrested for a recent robbery, and was confined in the Sainte Pelagie;
+and remembering that Durochat was the name of the one designated by
+Couriol as having taken the place beside the courier, under the false
+name of Laborde. At the epoch of the trial of Lesurques, it came out
+that several persons, amongst them an inspector of the _administration
+des postes_, had seen the false Laborde at the moment that he was
+awaiting the mail, and had preserved a distinct recollection of
+his person.
+
+M. Daubenton, on ascertaining the day of Durochat's approaching trial
+for robbery, went to the _administration des postes_, and obtained
+through the _Chef_ the permission to send for the inspector who had seen
+the false Laborde, and who was no longer in Paris.
+
+The _juges du tribunal_ had also been warned of the suspicions which
+rested on Durochat. The day of trial arrived, and he was condemned to
+fourteen years' imprisonment, and was about being led from the court
+when the inspector arrived, and declared that Durochat was the man whom
+he had seen on the 8th Floréal mount beside the courier under the false
+name of Laborde. Durochat only opposed feeble denials to this
+declaration, and was consequently taken to the _Conciergerie_.
+
+On the morrow, Durochat was transferred to Versailles, where he was to
+be judged. Daubenton and a huissier departed with the prisoner and four
+gendarmes. As they reached the village of Grosbois he demanded some
+breakfast, for he had eaten nothing since the preceding day. They
+stopped at the first _auberge_, and there Durochat manifested a desire
+to speak to the magistrate in private.
+
+Daubenton ordered the gendarmes to leave them together, and even the
+huissier, though he made him understand by a sign the danger of being
+alone with so desperate a villain, was begged to retire. A breakfast was
+ordered for the two. It was brought--but, by order of the huissier, only
+_one_ knife was placed on the table. Daubenton took it up, and began
+carelessly to break an egg with it.
+
+Durochat looked at him fixedly for a moment, and said,
+
+"Monsieur le juge, you are afraid?"
+
+"Afraid!" replied he calmly, "and of whom?"
+
+"Of me," said Durochat.
+
+"Folly!" continued the other, breaking his egg.
+
+"You are. You arm yourself with a knife," said he sarcastically.
+
+"Bah!" replied Daubenton, presenting him the knife, "cut me a piece of
+bread, and tell me what you have to communicate to me respecting the
+murder of the courier of Lyons."
+
+There is something in the collected courage of a brave man more
+impressive than any menace; and courage is a thing which acts upon all
+natures, however vile. Strongly moved by the calm audacity of the
+magistrate the ruffian, who had seized the knife with menacing vivacity,
+now set it down upon the table, and with a faltering voice said, "_Vous
+êtes un brave, citoyen_!" then after a pause, "I am a lost man--it's all
+up with me; but you shall know all."
+
+He then detailed the circumstances of the crime, as we have related them
+above, and confirmed all Couriol's declarations, naming Couriol, Rossi,
+Vidal, and Dubosq, as his accomplices. Before the tribunal he repeated
+this account, adding, "that he had heard an individual named Lesurques
+had been condemned for the crime, but that he had neither seen him at
+the time of the deed, nor subsequently. He did not know him."
+
+He added, that it was Dubosq whose spur had been broken, and was mended
+where they had dined; for he had heard them talk about it, and that he
+had lost it in the scuffle. He had seen the other spur in his hand, and
+heard him say that he intended throwing it in the river. He further gave
+a description of Dubosq's person, and added, that on that day he wore a
+flaxen peruke.
+
+Towards the end of the year 8--four years after the murder of the
+courier of Lyons--Dubosq was arrested for robbery; and was transferred
+to Versailles, there to be judged by the _Tribunal Correctionnel_. The
+president ordered that he should wear a flaxen peruke, and be confronted
+with the witnesses from Mongeron and Lieursaint, who now unanimously
+declared that he was the man they had seen. This, coupled with the
+declarations of Couriol, Durochat, and Madelaine Breban, sufficed to
+prove the identity; and he did not deny his acquaintance with the other
+culprits. He was therefore condemned, and perished on the scaffold for
+the crime.
+
+Vidal was also arrested and executed, though persisting in his
+innocence; and, finally, Rossi was shortly after discovered and
+condemned. He exhibited profound repentance, and demanded the succours
+of religion. To his confessor he left this declaration--"I assert that
+Lesurques is innocent; but this must only be made public six months
+after my death."
+
+Thus ends this strange drama; thus were the proofs of Lesurques's
+innocence furnished beyond a shadow of doubt; and thus, we may add, were
+seven men executed for a crime committed by five men; two therefore were
+innocent--were victims of the law.
+
+
+VIII.--THE WAY IN WHICH FRANCE RECTIFIES AN ERROR.
+
+
+It is now forty years since the innocence of Lesurques has been
+established, and little has been done towards the rehabilitation of his
+memory, the protection of his children, and the restitution of his
+confiscated goods! Forty years, and his wretched widow has only recently
+died, having failed in the object of her life! Forty years has the
+government been silent.
+
+M. Daubenton, who took so honourable and active a part in the detection
+of the real criminals, consecrated a great part of his life and fortune
+to the cause of the unfortunate widow and her children. The declaration
+he addressed to the Minister of Justice commenced thus:--
+
+"The error, on which was founded the condemnation of Lesurques, arose
+neither with the judges nor the jury. The jury, convinced by the
+depositions of the witnesses, manifested that conviction judicially; and
+the judges, after the declaration of the jury, pronounced according
+to the law.
+
+"The error of his condemnation arose from the mistake of the
+witnesses--from the fatal resemblance to one of the culprits not
+apprehended. Nothing gave reason to suspect at that time the cause of
+the error in which the witnesses had fallen."
+
+We beg to observe that the whole trial was conducted in a slovenly and
+shameful manner. A man is condemned on the deposition of
+witnesses;--witnesses, be it observed, of such dulness of perception,
+and such confidence in their notions, that they persisted in declaring
+Guesno to be one of the culprits as well as Lesurques. Yet the _alibi_
+of Guesno was proved beyond a doubt. How, then, could the jury, with
+this instance of mistake before their eyes, and which they themselves
+had condemned as a mistake by acquitting Guesno--how could they place
+such firm reliance on those self-same testimonies when applied to
+Lesurques? If they could convict Lesurques upon such evidence, why not
+also convict Guesno on it? Guesno proved an _alibi_--so did Lesurques;
+but because one foolish friend perjured himself to serve Lesurques, the
+jury hastily set down all his friends as perjurers; they had no evidence
+of this; it was a mere indignant reaction of feeling, and, as such, a
+violation of their office. The case ought to have been sifted. It was
+shuffled over hastily. A verdict, passed in anger, was executed, though
+at the time a strong doubt existed in the minds of the judges as to its
+propriety!
+
+Neither the Directory nor the Consulate, neither the Empire nor the
+Restoration, paid attention to the widow's supplications for a revision
+of the sentence, that her husband's name might be cleared, and his
+property restored. In vain did M. Salgues devote ten years to the
+defence of the injured family; in vain did M. Merilhou, in an important
+_procès_, warmly espouse the cause; the different governments believed
+themselves incapable of answering these solicitations.
+
+Since 1830 the widow again supplicated the _Tribune des Chambres_. Few
+sessions have passed without some members, particularly from the
+_dèpartment du Nord_, calling attention to the subject. All that has
+been obtained is a restitution of part of the property seized by the
+_fisc_ at the period of the execution.
+
+Madame Lesurques has died unsuccessful, because a judicial error cannot
+be acknowledged or rectified, owing to the insufficiency of the Code. A
+French journal announces that the son and daughter of Lesurques, still
+living, pledged themselves on the death-bed of their mother to continue
+the endeavour which had occupied her forty long years--an endeavour to
+make the law comprehend that nothing is more tyrannous than the strict
+fulfilment of its letter--an endeavour to make the world at large more
+keenly feel the questionable nature of evidence as to personal identity
+in cases where the witnesses are ignorant, and where the evidence
+against their testimony is presumptive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CALEB STUKELY.
+
+
+PART X.
+
+THE REVULSION.
+
+
+"_The companion of the wise shall be wise_." A six months' residence
+with the religious and self-renouncing minister could not be without its
+effect on the character and disposition of the disciple, newly released
+from sin and care, and worldly calamity. The bright example of a good
+man is much--that of a good and _beloved_ man is more. I was bound to Mr
+Clayton by every tie that can endear a man to man, and rivet the ready
+heart of youth in truthful and confiding love. I regarded my preserver
+with a higher feeling than a fond son may bear towards the mere author
+and maintainer of his existence. For Mr Clayton, whose smallest praise
+it was that he had restored to me my life, in addition to a filial love,
+I had all the reverence that surpassing virtue claims, and lowly piety
+constrains. Months passed over our head, and I was still without
+occupation, though still encouraged by my kind friend to look for a
+speedy termination to my state of dependence. Painful as the thought of
+separation had become to Mr Clayton, my situation was far from
+satisfactory to myself. I knew not another individual with whom I could
+have established myself under similar circumstances. The sense of
+obligation would have been oppressive, the conviction that I was doing
+wrong intolerable to sustain; but the simplicity, the truth, the
+affectionate warmth of my benevolent host, lightened my load day after
+day, until I became at last insensible to the burthen. At this period of
+my career, the character of Mr Clayton appeared to me bright and fixed
+as a spotless star. He seemed the pattern of a man, pure and perfect.
+The dazzling light of pious fervour consumed within him the little
+selfishness that nature, to stamp an angel with humanity, had of
+necessity implanted there. He was swallowed up in holiness--his thoughts
+were of heaven--his daily conduct tinged and illumined with a heavenly
+hue. Nothing could surpass the intense devotedness of the child of God,
+except perhaps the self-devotion, the self-renunciation, and the
+profound humility which distinguished him in the world, and in his
+conversation amongst men. "_The companion of the wise shall be wise_." I
+observed my benefactor, and listened to his eloquence; I pondered on his
+habitual piety, until, roused to enthusiasm by the contemplation of the
+matchless being, I burned to follow in his glorious course, to revolve
+in the same celestial orbit, the most distant and the meanest of his
+satellites. The hand of Providence was traceable in every act, which, in
+due course, and step by step, had brought me to the minister. It could
+not be without a lofty purpose that I had been plucked a brand, as it
+were, from the burning; it was not an aimless love that snatched me from
+death to life--from darkness to mid-day light--from the depths of
+despondency to the heights of serenity and joy. It was that I might
+glorify the hand that had been outstretched on my behalf, that I might
+carry His name abroad, proclaim His wondrous works, sing aloud His
+praises, and in the face of men, give honour to the everlasting Giver of
+all good. It was for this and these that I had been selected from
+mankind, and made the especial object of a Father's grace. I believed it
+in all the simplicity and ingenuousness of a mind awakened to a sense of
+religion and human responsibility. I could not do otherwise. From the
+moment that I was convinced of the obligation under which I had been
+brought, that I could feel the force of the silent compact which had
+been effected between the unseen Power and my own soul, it would have
+been as easy for me to annihilate thought, to prevent its miraculous
+presence in the mind, as to withstand the urgent prickings of my
+conscience. I believed in my divine summons, and I was at once ready,
+vehement, and impatient to obey it. Had I followed the dictates of my
+will, I would have walked through the land, and preached aloud the
+wonderful mercies of God, imploring my fellow-creatures to repentance,
+and directing them to the fount of all their blessings and all their
+happiness. I would have called upon men to turn from error and dangerous
+apathy, before their very strongholds. Powerful in the possession of
+truth, I would have thundered the saving words before their marketplaces
+and exchanges--at the very fortresses in which the world deems itself
+chiefly secure, with Mammon at its head, Satan's chief lieutenant. I
+would have called around me the neglected and the poor, and in the
+highways and in the fields disclosed to them the tenderness and
+loving-kindness that I had found, that they might feel, in all their
+fulness, if they would turn from sin, and place their trust in heaven.
+It was pain and anguish to be silent. Not for my own sake did I yearn to
+speak. Oh no! There was nothing less than a love of self in the panting
+desire that I felt to break the selfish silence. It was the love of
+souls that pressed me forward, and the confidence that the good news
+which it was my privilege to impart would find in every bosom a welcome
+as warm and ready as it would prove to be effectual. To walk abroad in
+silence, feeling myself to be the depositary of a celestial revelation,
+and believing that to communicate it to mankind would be to ensure their
+participation in its benefits, was hardly to be borne. There was not a
+man whom I encountered in the street, to whom I did not secretly wish to
+turn, and to pour into his ear the accents of peace and consolation; not
+one whom I did not regard as a witness against me on that great day of
+trial, when every man shall be judged according to his opportunities. I
+spoke to Mr Clayton. He encouraged the feeling by which I was actuated,
+but he dissuaded me from the manifestation of it in the form which
+I proposed.
+
+"There was no doubt," he said, "that every place was consecrated where
+truth was spoken, and the Spirit made itself apparent. No one could deny
+it. Much fruit, he did believe, might follow the sowing of the seed,
+whose hand soever scattered it. Still there were other and nearer roads
+to the point I aimed at. There were the sick and the needy around us--
+many of his own congregation--with whom I might reciprocate sweet
+comfort, and at whose bedside I might administer the balm that should
+serve them in the hardest hour of their extremity. It should be his
+office to conduct me to their humble habitations: it would be
+unspeakable joy to him to behold me well and usefully employed."
+
+And it was with eagerness that I accepted the touching invitation. I was
+not loth or slow to take advantage of it. To serve mankind, to evince my
+gratitude for mercies great and undeserved, was all I asked. To know
+that I had gratified my wish, was peace itself. Highly as I had
+estimated the character of Mr Clayton, I had yet to learn his real
+value. I had yet to behold him the dispenser of comfort and contentment
+in the hovels of the wretched and the stricken--to see the leaden eye of
+disease grow bright at his approach, and the scowl of discontent and
+envious repining dissolve into equanimity, or mould itself in smiles. I
+had yet to see him the kind and patient companion of the friendless and
+the slighted--slighted, because poor; the untired listener to long tales
+of misery--so miserable, that they who told them could not track their
+dim beginnings, or fix the time in distant childhood when wretchedness
+was not. I had yet to find him standing at the beggar's pallet, giving
+encouragement, inciting hope, and adding to the counsel of a guide the
+solid evidences of a brother's love. With what a zeal did I attempt to
+follow in my patron's steps--with what enthusiasm did I begin the course
+which his sanction had legalized and rendered holy--and how, without a
+doubt as to my title, or a reflection on the propriety of the step,
+impelled by religious fervour, did I assume the tone and authority of a
+teacher, and arrogate to myself the right of determining the designs of
+the Omnipotent, and of appointing the degree of holy warmth below which
+no believer could be sure of forgiveness and salvation!
+
+In no transaction of my life have I ever been more sincere--have I acted
+with a more decided assurance of the justice and necessity of the task,
+than at this critical moment of my career. If Divine goodness had not
+been specially vouchsafed to me, it was not that the conviction of my
+appointment was not as clear and firm as the liveliest impressions of
+the inmost heart could make it. To labour for the souls of the poor--to
+teach them their obligations--to point out to them the way of safety--it
+was this view of my delegated office that raised me to ecstasy, and
+compelled from me the strangest ebullitions of passion. I pronounced the
+change in my habits of thought to be "the dawning of the day, and the
+sudden rising of the day-star in my heart;" and, dwelling with intensity
+on my future labours, I could exclaim, with trembling emotion,--"Oh the
+exceeding excellency and glory and sweetness of the work! The smile of
+heaven is upon it--the emphatic testimony of my own conscience approves
+and hallows it." I reflect at this moment with wonder upon the almost
+supernatural ardour and devotion by which I was elevated and abased when
+I first became thoroughly convinced of my mission, and declared aloud
+that my only business now upon earth was that of the lowest and readiest
+of servants, whose joy consists in the pleasure of their Master. The
+strangeness, the excitement that accompanied the adoption of my new
+character, had nearly overthrown me. Wild with gladness, before I
+visited a human being, I took a journey of some twenty miles from the
+metropolis. I do not remember now the name of the village at which I
+stopped, from which I hurried, and whose fields I scoured with the
+design of finding some covert, unfrequented spot, where I might
+unmolested and unobserved pour forth the prayers and hymns of praise
+with which my surcharged heart was teeming. Until nightfall I remained
+there, nor did I leave the place until calmly and deliberately I begged
+permission to devote myself to the glory and honour of Him, whose
+favoured child I was. I walked a few miles on my return homeward. I
+passed a church, that in the stillness of night reared its dark form,
+and seemed, solemnly and pensively, like a thing of life, to stand
+before me. The moon rose at its full over the venerable wall, and
+scattered its bright cool light across the tall and moss-grown windows.
+Oh! every thing in life that wondrous night stirred up my soul to pious
+resolutions, and gave a wing to thought that could not find repose but
+in the silent and eternal sky.
+
+The impetuosity with which I entered upon my scheme of usefulness,
+forbade preparation of any kind, had I not believed that any previous
+qualification was not essential to my purpose; or if essential, had been
+miraculously implanted in me. I was soon called upon to make my first
+visitation. Never will it be forgotten. It was to the work-house. Mr
+Clayton had been called thither by an old communicant, of whom he had
+not heard before for years. "He was ill, and he desired to speak with
+his still beloved minister."
+
+Such was the message which reached my friend at the moment of his
+quitting his abode, on an errand of still greater urgency. "Go, Caleb,"
+said Mr Clayton, "visit and comfort the poor sufferer; and may grace
+accompany your first labour of love." I proceeded to the place, and,
+arriving there, was ushered into a small close room--to recoil at once
+from the scene of misery which was there presented. Lying, with his hat
+and clothes upon the bed, dying, was the man himself; his wife was busy
+in the room, cleaning it, quietly and indifferently, as though the sleep
+of healthy life had closed her partner's eye, and nothing worse. On the
+threshold was a girl, the daughter of them both, twenty years of age or
+more, _an idiot_, for she laughed outright when I approached her. I had
+come to the house with my heart full of precious counsel, and yearning
+to communicate the message with which I knew myself to be charged. But
+in a moment I was brought to earth, shocked by the sight which I beheld,
+wounded in my nature, and I had not a word to say. The hardened woman
+looked at me for a moment, and calling me to myself by the act, I
+mentioned the name of Mr Clayton, and was again silent.
+
+"What! can't he come, sir?" asked the beldame. "Well, it don't much
+matter. It's all over with 'un, I fear. Come, Jessie, can't you speak to
+the gentleman? What can you make of her, sir?"
+
+The daughter looked at me again, and sickened me with her unmeaning
+laughter. I remembered the object of my visit, and struggled for
+composure. Had I become a recreant so quickly? Had I not a word to say
+for my Master? Nothing to offer the needy creatures, perishing, perhaps,
+of spiritual want? Alarmed at my own apathy, and eager to throw it off,
+I turned to the poor girl, and spoke to her. I asked her many questions
+before I could command attention. She could only look at me wildly,
+blush, laugh, and make strange motions to her mother. At length
+I said--
+
+"Tell me, Jesse, tell your friend, who came into the world to save
+sinners?"
+
+"Him, him, him," she answered hastily, and gabbled as before.
+
+"Ah," said the mother, "the poor cretur does sometimes talk about
+religion, but it's very seldom, and uncertain like, and I can't help
+her either."
+
+"Let me read to _you_," said I.
+
+"Lor' bless you, sir," she answered, "it wouldn't do me no good. I am
+too old for that. Now, get out of the way there--do, you simpleton," she
+added, turning to the idiot; "just let me pass--don't you see I am
+wanting to fetch up water."
+
+She left the room immediately, and her daughter ran after her, screaming
+a wild and piercing note. I moved to the dying man. He was insensible to
+anything I could say. Fretted and ashamed of myself, I hurried from the
+house, and, returning home, rushed to my room, fell upon my knees, and
+implored my Father to inflict at once the punishment due to lukewarmness
+and apostasy. How vain had been all my previous desire to distinguish
+myself--how arrogant my pretensions--how inefficient my weak attempts! I
+was not worthy of the commission with which I had been invested, and I
+besought heaven to degrade the wretch who could not speak at the
+seasonable moment, and to bestow it upon one worthier of its love, and
+abler to perform his duty. I passed a miserable night of remorse, and
+bitter self-accusation, and in the morning was distracted by the
+battling feelings that were marshalled against each other in my soul.
+Now, a sense of my unworthiness was victorious over every other thought,
+and I resolved to resign my trust, and think of it no more; then the
+belief in my election, the animating thought that I was chosen, and must
+still go forward or stand condemned, hated by myself, rejected by my
+God;--this gained the mastery next, and I was torn by sore perplexity. I
+appealed to my benefactor. As usual, balm was on his lips, and I found
+encouragement and support.
+
+"I was yet young in the faith," he said, "and the abundance of heavenly
+grace was not yet manifested. It would come in due time; and, in the
+mean while, I must persevere, and a blessing would unquestionably
+follow."
+
+Much more he added, to reconcile me to the previous day's defeat, and to
+animate me to new trials. Never did I so much need incentive and
+upholding, never before had I esteemed the value of a spiritual
+counsellor and friend.
+
+In a small cottage, distant about three miles from the residence of Mr
+Clayton, there lodged, at this time, an old man with his sister, a blind
+woman about seventy years of age. He had communicated with Mr Clayton's
+church for many years. He was now poor, and had retired from the
+metropolis, to the hut, for the advantage of purer air, and in the hope
+of prolonging the short span within which his earthly life had been
+brought. To this humble habitation I was directed by Mr Clayton.
+
+"The woman," said the minister, "is without any comfortable hope; but
+the prospects of the brother are satisfactory and most cheering. Go to
+the benighted woman. Her's is a melancholy case. Satan has a secure
+footing in her heart, and defeats every effort and every motive that I
+have brought to bear against it. May you be more fortunate--may her
+self-deceived and hardened spirit melt before the force and earnestness
+of your appeals!"
+
+I ventured for a second time on sacred and interdicted ground, and
+visited the cottage. The unhappy woman, to whom I had specially come,
+was smitten indeed. She was blind and paralyzed, and on the extreme
+verge of eternity. Yet, afflicted as she was, and as near to death as
+the living may be, she enjoyed the tranquillity and the gentleness of a
+child, ignorant of sin, and, in virtue of her infancy, confident of her
+inheritance. I could discover no evidence of a creature alarmed with a
+sense of guilt, loathing itself, conscious of its worthlessness. Her
+nature, in truth, seemed to have usurped a sweetness and placidity, the
+possession of which, as Mr Clayton afterwards observed, was justifiable
+only in those who could find nothing but vileness and depravity in
+every thought and purpose of their hearts.
+
+It was a beautiful day in summer, and Margaret was sitting before the
+cottage porch, feeling the sun's benevolent warmth, and tempering, with
+the closed lid, the hot rays that were directed to her sightless orbs.
+She had no power to move, and was happy in the still enjoyment of the
+lingering and lovely day. She might have been a statue for her
+quietness--but there were curves and lines in the decrepit frame that
+art could never borrow. Little there seemed about her to induce a love
+of life, and yet a countenance more bright with cheerfulness and mild
+content I never met. The healthy and the young might read a lesson on
+her blanched and wrinkled cheek. Full of my errand, I did not hesitate
+at once to engage her mind on heavenly and holy topics. She did not, or
+she would not, understand me. I spoke to her of the degradation of
+humanity, our fallen nature, and the impossibility of thinking any thing
+but sin--and a stone could not be more senseless than the aged listener.
+
+"Was I sure of it?" she asked. "Did my Bible say it? Much she doubted
+it, for she had sometimes, especially since her blindness, clear and
+beautiful thoughts of heaven that could not be sinful, they rendered her
+so happy, and took away from her all fear. It was so shocking, too," she
+thought, "to think so ill of men--our fellow-creatures, and the
+creatures of a perfect Father. She loved her brother--he was so
+simple-minded, and so kind to her, too; how _could_ she call him wicked
+and depraved!"
+
+"Do you feel no load upon your conscience?" I enquired.
+
+"Bless the good man's heart!" she answered, "why, what cares have I? If
+I can hear his friendly voice, and know he is not heavy-burthened, I am
+happy. Brother is all to me. Though now and then I'm not well pleased if
+the young children keep away who play about me sometimes, as if they did
+not need a playfellow more gay than poor blind Margaret."
+
+"Have you no fear of death?" said I.
+
+"Why should I have?" she answered quietly; "I never injured another in
+my life."
+
+"Can that take off the sting?" I asked.
+
+"And I have tried," continued she, "as far as I was able, to please the
+God who made me."
+
+"Did you never think yourself the vilest of the vile?"
+
+"Bless you! never, sir. How could I? If I had been, you may be sure Mr
+Clayton and the visiting ladies would never have been so kind to me and
+Thomas as they have--and how could we expect it? I was only thinking,
+sir, before you came up, that if I had been wicked when I was young, I
+would never have been so easy under blindness. Now, it doesn't give me
+one unquiet hour."
+
+"Margaret, I would you were more anxious."
+
+"It wouldn't do, sir, for the blind to be anxious," she replied. "They
+must do nothing, sir, but wait with patience. Besides, Thomas and I need
+no anxiety at all. God gives us more than we require, and it would be
+very wicked to be restless and unquiet."
+
+"Margaret," I said impressively, "there is heaven!"
+
+"Yes," she answered quickly, "that I'm sure of. I read of it before I
+lost my eyes; and since my blindness I have seen it often. God is very
+good to the afflicted, and none but the afflicted know how He makes up
+for what He takes away. I have seen heaven, sir, though I have not sight
+enough to know your face. Do you play dominoes, Mr--what did you say
+your name was, sir?"
+
+"You trifle, Margaret."
+
+"Oh, no indeed, sir. But how wonderful and quick my touch has got, and
+how kind is heaven there, sir! I can see the dominoes with my
+fingers--touch is just as good as sight. Just think how many hours a
+poor blind creature has, that must be filled up some way or another! I
+like to keep to myself, and think, and think; but not always--and
+sometimes I want Thomas to read to me; and when that's over, I feel a
+want of something else. I'll tell you what it is--my eyes they want to
+open. When that's the case, I always play at dominoes, and then the
+feeling goes away. Thomas can tell you that, for he plays with me."
+
+I continued the conversation for an hour, and with the same result. I
+grew annoyed and irritated--not with the deluded sinner, as I deemed
+her, but with myself, the feeble and unequal instrument. For a second
+time I had attempted to comply with the instructions of my master, and
+for a second time had I been foiled, and driven back in melancholy
+discomfiture. The imperturbability and easy replies of the woman
+harassed and tormented me in the extreme. I had been too recent a pupil
+to be thoroughly versed in all the subtleties and mysteries of my
+office. Silence was painful to me, and reply only accumulated difficulty
+and vexation. She seemed so happy, too; in the midst of all her heresy
+and error there existed an unaffected tranquillity and repose which I
+would have purchased at any cost or sacrifice. I blushed and grew
+ashamed, and for a moment forgot that the bereaved creature was unable
+to behold the confusion with which defeat and exposure had covered me.
+At length I spoke imperfectly, loosely, and at random. The woman
+detected me in an untenable position--checked me--and in her artless
+manner, laid bare the fallacy of an inconsiderate assertion. In an
+instant I was aware of my conviction, I retracted my expression, and
+involved myself immediately in fresh dilemma. Again, and as gently as
+before, she made the unsoundness of a principle evident and glaring. How
+I closed the argument--the conversation and the interview--and escaped
+from her, I know not. Burning with shame, despising myself, and desirous
+of burying both my disgrace and self deep in the earth, where both might
+be forgotten, I was sensible of hurrying homeward. I reached it in
+despair, satisfied that I had become a coward and a renegade, and that I
+was lost, hopelessly and utterly here upon earth, and eternally
+in heaven!
+
+I had resolved, upon the day succeeding this adventure, to restore to my
+benefactor the credentials with which be had been pleased to entrust me.
+Satisfied of the truth of my commission, I could only deplore my
+inability to execute it faithfully. In spite of what had passed at the
+cottage-door, the doctrines which I had advocated there lost none of
+their character and influence upon my own mind. Falling from the lips of
+others, they dropped with conviction into my _own_ soul. Nothing could
+shake my _own_ unbounded reliance on their saving efficacy and heavenly
+origin. It was only when _I_ spoke of them, when _I_ attempted to
+expound and teach them, that clouds came over the celestial truths, and
+the sun's disk was dimmed and troubled. The moment that I ceased to
+speak, light unimpaired, and bright effulgence, were restored. It was
+enough that I could feel this. Grace and a miracle had made the
+startling fact palpable and evident. This assurance followed easily. No
+oral communication could have satisfied me more fully of the importance
+and necessity of an immediate resignation of my trust. It was a
+punishment for my presumption. I should have rested grateful for the
+interposition which had rescued me from the jaws of hell, and left to
+others, worthy of the transcendent honour, the glorious task of saving
+souls. What was I, steeped in sin, as I had been up to the very moment
+of my conversion--what was I, insolent, pretending worm, that I should
+raise my grovelling head, and presume upon the unmerited favour that had
+been showered so graciously upon me? It remained for those--purest and
+best of men, whose lives from childhood onward had been a lucid
+exposition of the word of truth--whose deeds had given to the world an
+assurance of their solemn embassy; it was for them to feel the strength
+the countenance, and support of heaven, and to behold with gratitude and
+joy their labours crowned with a triumphant issue and success. This was
+the new train of feeling suggested by new circumstances. I resigned
+myself to its operation as quickly as I had adopted my previous
+sentiments; and, a few days before, I was not more anxious to commence
+my sacred course than I was now miserable and uneasy until I turned from
+it once and for ever. Mr Clayton had placed in my hands a list of
+individuals whom he transferred to my care. It was oppressive to know
+that I possessed it, and my first step was to place it again at his
+disposal. The interview which I obtained for this purpose was an
+important one--important in itself--marvellous and astounding in its
+consequences.
+
+Mr Clayton spent many hours daily in a small room, called _a study_. It
+was a chamber sacred to the occupation followed there. I had not access
+to it--nor had any stranger, with the exception of two ill-favoured men,
+whom I had found, for weeks together, constant attendants upon my
+benefactor. For a month at a time, not a single day elapsed during which
+they were not closeted for a considerable period with the divine. A
+three weeks' interval of absence would then take place; Mr Clayton
+prosecuted his studies alone and undisturbed, and no strange foot would
+cross the threshold until the ill-looking men returned, and passed some
+five weeks in the small sanctuary as before. Who could they be? I had
+never directly asked the question, curious as I had been to know their
+history and the purpose of their visits. Had I not learned from Mr
+Clayton the impropriety and sinfulness of judging humanity by its looks,
+I should have formed a most uncharitable opinion of their characters.
+They were hard-featured men, sallow of complexion, rigid in their looks.
+I knew that, attached to the church of Mr Clayton, were two
+missionaries--men of rare piety, and some of humble origin--small
+boot-makers, in fact; sometimes I believed that the visiters and they
+were the same individuals. Circumstances, however, unfavourable to this
+idea, arose, and I turned from one conjecture to another, until I
+reposed, at length, in the belief that they were sinners--sinners of the
+deepest dye--such as their ill-omened looks betrayed--and that they
+sought the kind and ever-ready minister to obtain his counsel, and to
+share his prayers. At all events, this was a subject upon which I
+received no enlightening from their confidant. Once I took occasion to
+make mention of it; but, in an instant, I perceived that my enquiry was
+not deemed proper to be answered. It was to this forbidden closet--the
+scene of so much mystery--that, to my great surprize, I found myself
+invited by my benefactor, when I implored him to release me from the
+obligation in which I had too hastily involved myself.
+
+"Be seated, Caleb," said Mr Clayton, as we entered the room in company.
+"Be seated, and be tranquil. You are excited now."
+
+I was, in truth, and not more so than deeply mortified and humbled.
+
+"You alarm me, dear young friend," continued the good minister. "You
+alarm and grieve me. I tremble for you, when I behold your versatility.
+Tell me, how is this? Can you not trust yourself? Can I trust you?"
+
+I did not answer.
+
+"I have been careful in not thwarting your own good purposes. I have
+been most anxious to give your feelings their full bent. Has your
+conversion been too sudden to endure? Have you so soon regretted the
+abandonment of the great world and all its pleasures--such as they were
+to you? Has a life of usefulness and peace no charms? Alas! I had hoped
+otherwise."
+
+I assured my friend that he had mistaken the motive which had compelled
+me to forsake, at least for the present, the intention that I had
+entertained honestly--though, I felt, erroneously--for the last few
+days. Nothing was further from my thoughts than a desire to mix again in
+a world of sinfulness and trouble. His precepts and bright example had
+won me from it; and I prayed only to be established in the principles,
+in the true knowledge of which I knew my happiness to consist. I was not
+equal to the task which I had proposed to myself, and he had kindly
+permitted me to assume. I wished to be his meanest disciple--to acquire
+wisdom from his tuition--and, by the labour of years, to prepare myself
+finally for that reward which he had so often announced to me as the
+peculiar inheritance of the faithful and the righteous. I ceased. My
+auditor did not answer me immediately. He sat for some minutes in
+silence, and closed his eyes as if absorbed in thought. At length, he
+said to me--
+
+"You do not surprize me, Caleb. I am prepared for this. I perceived
+your difficulties from afar. It was inevitable. Self-confidence has
+placed you where you are. Be happy, and rejoice in your weakness--but
+turn now to the strong for strength. The work that has begun in your
+heart must be completed. It shall be so--do not doubt it."
+
+The minister hesitated, looked hard at me, and endeavoured, as I
+imagined, to find, in the expression of my countenance, an index to my
+thoughts. I said nothing, and he proceeded.
+
+"There are the appointed means. His way is in the sanctuary. He shall
+feed his flock like a shepherd. There is but one refuge for the outcast.
+I have but one alleviation to offer you. It is all and every thing. Are
+you prepared to accept it?"
+
+"You are my friend, my guardian, and my father," I replied.
+
+"You have wandered long in the wilderness," continued the minister. "You
+have fed with the swine and the goats. You have found no nourishment
+there. All was bleak, and barren, and desolate there. The living waters
+were dried up, and the bread of life was denied to the starving
+wayfarer."
+
+"What must be done, sir?"
+
+"You MUST ENTER THE FOLD--and have communion with the chosen people of
+the Lord. Are you content to do it?"
+
+"Oh, am I worthy," I exclaimed, "to be reckoned in the number of those
+holy men?"
+
+"I cannot doubt it; but your own spirit shall bear witness to your
+state. To-morrow is our next church-meeting. There, if it be your wish,
+I will propose you; messengers will be appointed to converse with you.
+They will come to you, and gather, from your experience, the evidences
+of your renewed, regenerated character."
+
+"What shall I say, sir?" I asked in all simplicity.
+
+"What says the drowning man to the hand that brings him to the shore?
+Your beating heart will be too ready to acknowledge the mighty work that
+has been already done on your behalf. Have you forgotten the way you
+have been led? Point it out to them. Have you been plucked as a brand
+from the burning? Acknowledge it to them in strains of liveliest
+gratitude. Does not your soul at this moment overflow at the vivid
+recollection of all the Lord has done for it and you? Will it not yearn
+to sing aloud His praise when strangers come to listen to the song? Then
+speak aloud to them. Do you not feel, have not a hundred circumstances
+all concurred to prove, that you exist a vessel chosen to show forth His
+praise? Show it to them, and let them carry back the certain proofs of
+your redemption--let them convey the sweet intelligence of a brother's
+safety--and let them bid the church prepare to welcome him with hymns of
+praise into her loving bosom."
+
+Within a week of the above conversation, two respectable individuals
+called upon me at Mr Clayton's house--the accredited messengers of the
+church in which my eternal safety was about to be secured. One was a
+thickset man, with large black whiskers and corresponding eyebrows. His
+countenance had a stern expression--the eye especially, which lay
+couched like a tiger beneath its rugged overhanging brow. You did not
+like to look at it, and you could not meet it without unpleasantness and
+awe. The gentleman was very tall and sturdy--evidently a hairy person;
+he was unshaven, and looked muscular. Acting under the feeling which led
+him to despise all earthly grandeur and distinction, and which, no doubt
+influenced his conduct throughout life, he was remarkable for a
+carelessness and uncleanness of attire, as powerful and striking as the
+odour which exhaled from his broad person, and which explained the
+profession of the gentleman to be--a working blacksmith. His companion
+was thin, and neat, and dapper. There was an air about _him_ that could
+not have been acquired, except by frequent intercourse with the polished
+and the rich. He was delicacy itself, incapable of a strong expression,
+and happier far when he could hint, and not express his sentiments. Had
+I been subject only to his examination, my ordeal would not have been
+severe. It was the blacksmith whom I found hard and unimpressible as his
+own anvil, dark as his forge, and as unpitying as its flames. The thin
+examiner held the high office of deacon of the church. Whether it was
+the particularly dirty face of his friend that set him off to such
+advantage, or whether he had inherent claims to my respect, I cannot
+tell; well I know, throughout the scrutiny that soon took place, many
+times I should have fallen beneath the blacksmith's hammer, but for the
+support and mild encouragement that I found in him. He was most
+becomingly dressed. He wore a white cravat, and no collar. He had light
+hair closely cut, and his face was as smooth as a woman's. His shirt was
+whiter than any shirt I have ever seen before or since, and it was made
+of very fine material. He carried an agreeable smirk upon his
+countenance, and he disinterred, now and then, some very long and
+extraordinary word from the dictionary, when he was particularly
+desirous either to make himself understood or conceal his meaning. I had
+almost omitted to add, that he was a ladies' haberdasher.
+
+I received the deputation with a trembling and apprehensive heart. I
+knew my faith to be sincere, and I believed it to be correct, according
+to the views of the church of which my revered friend was the minister
+and organ. Still, I could not be insensible to the importance of the
+step which I was about to take, and to the high tone of piety which the
+true believers demanded from all who joined their ranks and partook of
+their exclusive privileges.
+
+It will not be necessary to repeat in detail the course of my
+examination. At the close of two hours it was concluded, and I am at
+this moment willing to confess that it was, upon the whole,
+satisfactory. I mean to myself--for by my questioners, and by the
+little haberdasher more particularly, the conference was pronounced most
+gratifying and comforting in every way. I say _upon the whole_, for I
+could not, even at that early period of my initiation, and with all my
+excitement and enthusiasm, prevent the intrusion of some disturbing
+thoughts--some painful impressions that were not in harmony with the
+general tenor of my feelings. I had prepared myself to meet and deal
+with the appointed delegates of heaven, and I had encountered _men_,
+yes, and men not entitled to my reverence and regard, except as the
+chosen ambassadors of the church. One was low, ignorant, and vulgar. He
+took no pains to conceal the fact; he rather gloried in his native and
+offensive coarseness. The other was a smoother man, scarcely less
+destitute of knowledge, or worthier of respect. Looking back, at this
+distance of time, upon this strange interview, I am indeed shocked and
+grieved at the part which I then and there permitted myself to
+undertake. The scene has lost the colours which gave it a false and
+superficial lustre, and I gaze on the melancholy reality chidden, and,
+let me say, instructed by the sight. I can now better appreciate and
+understand the self-confident tone which pronounced upon my state in the
+eye of heaven--the canting expressions of brotherly love--the irreverent
+familiarity with which Scripture was quoted, garbled, and tortured to
+justify dissent, and render disobedience holy--the daring assumption of
+inquisitorial privileges, and the scorn, the illiberality and
+self-righteousness, with which my angry, bigoted, and vulgar questioners
+decided on the merits of every institution that eschewed their fanciful
+vagaries and most audacious claims. I do not wonder that, overtaken in a
+career of misery, the consequence of my own imprudence, I should have
+been arrested by the voice, and smitten by the eloquence, of Mr Clayton.
+I do not wonder that I listened to his arguments, and observed his
+conduct, until I was reduced to passiveness, and my mind was willing to
+be moulded to his purposes. But I do wonder and lament that any
+obscuration of my judgment, any luxuriance of feeling, should have
+permitted my youthful understanding for an instant to believe that to
+such men as my examiners the keys of heaven were entrusted, and that on
+them, and on their voice, depended the reception of a broken-hearted
+penitent at the mercy-seat of God.
+
+A few words from the haberdasher-deacon, at the breaking up of the
+convocation, or whatever else it might be termed, were satisfactory, in
+so far as they showed that my temporal prospects were not entirely
+neglected by those who had become so deeply interested in my spiritual
+welfare. The blacksmith had hardly brought to a close a somewhat lengthy
+and very ungrammatical exhortation, that wound up the day's proceedings,
+when the dapper Jehu Tomkins, jumping at once from the carnival to the
+revel, shook me cordially by the hand, and most kindly suggested to me
+that, under the patronage of so important and religious a connexion as
+that into which I was about to enter, I could not fail to succeed,
+whatever might be the plan which I had laid down for my future support.
+
+"I have heard all about you," added Jehu, "from our respected minister,
+and you'll soon get into something now. It's a good congregation, sir--
+wealthy and influential. I should say we have richer people in our
+connexion than in any about London. Mr Clayton is a very popular man,
+sir--very good, and speaks the truth."
+
+"He is good indeed," I answered.
+
+"Sir, grace is sure to follow you now. It is fifteen years since I first
+sat under Mr Clayton! Ah, I remember the night I was converted, as if it
+were yesterday. I always felt, up to that very time, the need of
+something better than I had got. Business had gone wrong ever since I
+opened shop, and my mind was quite unsettled. Satan tried very hard at
+me, but it wouldn't do. Sometimes, when my boy had gone home, and shop
+was shut up, the Tempter would whisper in my ears words like
+these--'Jehu, you're insured, over and over again, for your stock; let a
+spark fall on the shavings, and your fortune's made.' Well, sir, once or
+twice--will you believe it?--the Devil had nearly got it all his own
+way; but grace prevented, and I was saved. I owe it all to Mr Clayton. I
+was told by one or two of my customers to go and hear him, but somehow
+or other I never did. Satan kept me back. At last the gentleman as was
+the deacon--him as built the chapel--Mrs Jehu Tomkin's father--comes to
+my shop with his daughter, Mrs Jehu as is now, and spoke to me about the
+minister. Well, I heard the old gentleman was very rich and pious, and I
+went the next Sabbath-day as was, with his family, into his pew. I never
+went any where else after that. He seemed to hit the nail just on the
+head, and I was convinced--oh, quite wonderful!--all on a sudden. I was
+married to Mrs Jehu before that day twelvemonth. So you see grace
+followed me throughout, as it will you, my dear brother, if you only
+mind what you are about, and don't be a backslider."
+
+"Mr Clayton," said I, "has kindly promised to procure employment for
+me."
+
+"Ah! and he'll do it, if he says so," rejoined Mr Tomkins. "That's your
+man. You stick to him, and you won't hurt. He's a chosen vessel, if ever
+there was one. What do you say, brother Buster?"
+
+Brother Buster simply groaned his assent, and scowled. He had been for
+some time anxious to depart, and he now took his leave without
+further ceremony.
+
+"You wouldn't think that man was a saint to look at him, would you?"
+asked the deacon, as soon as his friend was gone. "He is though. He is
+riper in spiritual matters than any man I know. Ah! the Establishment
+would give something for a few like him. He'll be taken from us, I fear.
+We make a idol of him, and that's sure to be punished. It's wonderful
+what he knows; and how it has come to him we can't tell."
+
+I received a pressing invitation from Mr Tomkins to visit his "small and
+'appy family," as he was pleased to call it, on any evening after eight
+o'clock, which was his latest business hour. "Mrs Jehu," I was assured,
+"was just like her father, and his four small Jehus as exactly like
+their grandfather, and he wished to say no more for them. After
+business his family enjoyed invariably a little spiritual refreshment,
+and that and a hymn made the time pass very agreeably till supper-time
+at nine, when he had a 'ot collation, at which he should be most proud
+to see me."
+
+To all the charges that have been at various times, with more or less
+virulence and disinterestedness, brought against the Church of England,
+that of assuming to itself the divine attribute of searching the secret
+heart of many has, I believe, never been superadded. It has remained for
+men very far advanced indeed in spiritual knowledge and perfection, to
+assert the bold prerogative, and to venture, unappalled, beneath the
+frown of heaven. The close scrutiny, on the part of Mr Buster, proper as
+it was as a step preliminary, was by no means sufficient to procure for
+me an easy and unquestioned admission into the church which the
+blacksmith had so ably represented. There was yet another trial to
+ensue, and another jury to pronounce upon the merits of the anxious
+candidate. He had yet to prove to the perfect satisfaction of the
+self-constituted junto, that styled itself a _church_, how God had
+mercifully dealt with him--to detail, with historic accuracy, the method
+and procedure of his regeneration, and to find evidence of a spiritual
+change, that carried on its front the proof of his conversion and his
+accepted state. All this was to be done before I could be _entitled_ to
+the privileges which Messrs Buster, Tomkins, and the rest, had it in
+their power to bestow. The manner in which this delicate investigation
+was carried on, its indecorum and profaneness, I never can forget; nor
+can I, in truth, remember it without humiliation and deep sorrow.
+Against the indiscreet, illegal exhibition, I set off my ignorance,
+simplicity, and desire of serving heaven; and in these I place my hope
+of pardon for the share I had in such proceedings.
+
+I received, in due form, a requisition to appear before the body of the
+_church_, at its general meeting. I appeared. The chapel was thronged,
+the majority of members being women. In the hands of nearly every third
+person was a printed paper. I was not then aware of its contents; if I
+had been, the ceremony would, in all probability, have concluded with my
+entrance. Will it be believed, that this paper contained a printed
+formula of the questions which were to test the quality of my faith, and
+to pronounce upon the vitality and worth of my spiritual pretensions!
+Any person present was at liberty to address me, and to form his own
+opinion of my case from the manner and the matter which their ingenuity
+elicited. At the suggestion of Mr Tomkins, who, in his capacity of
+deacon, was remarkably active on this occasion, it was deemed proper
+that I should enter upon my "experience" at once. My heart fluttered as
+I rose to comply with the demand, and the chapel was hushed. It will be
+sufficient to say, that I repeated my entire history, and secured the
+attention of my auditory until I had spoken my last word. There were
+parts of the narrative which I could, with a glance, perceive to be
+peculiarly _piquant_ and acceptable. As these occurred, a rustling and a
+murmur expressed the subdued applause. When, for instance, I mentioned
+the disgust which I had conceived for the University upon losing the
+scholarship, and the uneasiness which I afterwards felt as long as I
+continued a member of that community, a few of the most acute looked at
+one another, and shrugged mysteriously, as who should say, "How wondrous
+are the ways of Providence!" and when I arrived at the point of my
+deliverance by the hand of their own minister, there would have been, I
+thought, no end to the gesticulations, expressions of gratitude and joy,
+that burst from the "church," in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of
+the minister to control and keep them down. When I had concluded, and
+whilst the half-suppressed rejoicing still buzzed in the chapel, the
+stern Buster rose, and presented to me the unmitigated force of his
+unpleasant eye. Silence prevailed immediately.
+
+"Now, sir," said my old friend, "what makes you think yourself a child
+of grace? Speak out, if you please; I'm rather deaf."
+
+"The loathing that I feel of what I was."
+
+"Good!" said Jehu Tomkins, with strong emphasis, and loud enough to be
+heard by every one.
+
+"When did you feel the fetters fust busting from your spirit?"
+
+"Not till I heard the minister's kind voice," was the reply.
+
+"Do you always feel as strong upon the subject? Do you feel your spirit
+always willing?"
+
+"Oh, no," I answered; "there are dreadful fluctuations, and there is
+nothing so uncertain as self-dependence. I have dark and bitter moments,
+when I feel, in all its power, the melancholy truth--'When I would do
+good, evil is present with me.'"
+
+"Capital sign!--capital sign!" exclaimed Jehu Tomkins again; "quite
+sufficient!--quite sufficient!"
+
+Yes, it was so. A few questions were put to me by individuals, rather
+for the sake of gratifying an impertinent curiosity, than that of
+elucidating further proof of my proficiency, and the ceremony was
+finished by my formal reception into the body of the church. A prayer
+was offered, an address delivered, a hymn sung--the eyes of many ladies
+were turned with smiling interest upon me--and the meeting separated.
+Jehu Tomkins was the first to congratulate me upon the happy issue of
+my trial.
+
+"You are a made man, sir, depend upon it," said he, with his first
+salutation. "You can't fail. There--do you see that fat man that's just
+going out--him as has got on the Indy 'ankycher?--I sold him that--he
+came on purpose to hear you, and if he found you up to the mark, he's
+going to provide for you. He belongs to all our societies, and just does
+what he pleases. His word's a law. We've a boiled leg of mutton at nine
+to-night. Suppose you come to us, and finish the day there? Bless me,
+what a full meeting we've had! Here's a squeezing!" There was certainly
+some difficulty in our egression. The people had gathered into a crowd
+at the small doorway, and men jostled and made their way without regard
+to others in their vicinity. Lost as I was in the indiscriminate host, a
+few observations fell upon my ear that were not, I presume, especially
+intended for it.
+
+"Well," said a greasy youth, not many yards distant from me, "I doubt
+his having had a call. There wasn't life enough in it for me. I
+shouldn't be surprised if he's a black sheep after all. I wish I had put
+a question or two to him. I think I could have shown Satan in his heart
+pretty quick."
+
+"Now you say it," replied the person addressed, "I did think him very
+backward and lukewarm. I didn't like his tone altogether. Ah! what a
+thing experimental religion is! You know what it is, and so do I; but I
+werry much fear that delooded young man is as carnal-minded as my mother
+was, that went to hell, though I say it, as contented and unconcerned as
+if she was going to the saints in glory."
+
+The information conveyed to me by Mr Tomkins as we issued from the
+chapel was not unfounded. The very day subsequent to my admittance into
+the bosom of the church, I was requested to attend the minister in the
+_sanctum_ already referred to. Upon reaching it, I discovered the fat
+gentleman of the preceding evening, dressed as he was on the previous
+occasion, and still adorned with Jehu's India handkerchief. Both he and
+Mr Clayton were seated at table, and writing materials were before them.
+The moment I entered the apartment, the fat gentleman held out his hand,
+and shook mine with much stateliness. My friend, however, addressed me.
+
+"Caleb," said he, "we are at length able to fulfil our promise. It is my
+pleasure to announce to you that a situation is procured for you,
+suitable to your talents, and agreeable to your feelings. We are both of
+us indebted to this good gentleman. In your name I have already thanked
+him, and in your name I have accepted the office which he has been at
+some pains to obtain for you."
+
+I looked towards the stout gentleman, and bowed in grateful
+acknowledgment.
+
+"Tell him the duties, Clayton," requested my new-found influential
+friend.
+
+"Mr Bombasty," proceeded the minister, "feels a warm interest in your
+welfare. The happy result of yesterday's trial has secured for you a
+friendship which it will be your duty and study to deserve. There is
+established, in connexion with our church, a Christian instruction
+society, of which Mr Bombasty is the esteemed and worthy president. The
+appointment of a travelling secretary rests with him, and he has this
+very day nominated you to that distinguished office. I have tendered
+your thanks. You can now repeat them."
+
+"Tell him the salary," interrupted the president.
+
+"You will receive one hundred and fifty pounds per annum," continued Mr
+Clayton, "in addition to your travelling charges; apartments likewise, I
+believe"--He hesitated as if uncertain, and looked towards the
+president.
+
+"Yes," replied that gentleman, "go on--coals and candles. You answer for
+him, Clayton--eh?"
+
+"As I told you, sir," said my friend, "I will pledge myself for his
+trustiness and probity."
+
+The remembrance of Mr Chaser's cold-hearted cruelty occured to my mind
+as my benefactor spoke, and tears of gratitude trembled in my eyes. The
+fat gentleman remarked the expression of feeling, and brought the
+interview to a close.
+
+"Well, Clayton," said he, "you can talk to him. I've twenty places to go
+to yet. Get the paper signed, and he may begin at once. Let a lawyer
+draw it up. Just make yourself security for a thousand pounds--I don't
+suppose he'll ever have more than half that at a time in his
+possession--and that'll be all the society will require. He can come to
+me to-morrow. Now I'm off. Good-bye, my friend--'morning, young man."
+The last adieu was accompanied with a patronizing nod of the head,
+which, with the greeting on my first appearance, constituted the whole
+of the intercourse that passed between me and my future principal. The
+moment that he departed, I turned to Mr Clayton, and thanked him warmly
+and sincerely for all that he had accomplished for me.
+
+"I shall leave you, sir," I added, "with mingled feelings of regret and
+satisfaction--regret in separating from the purest and the best of men,
+my friend, my counsellor, and father--but joy, because I cease to be a
+burden upon your charity and good nature. I carry into the world with me
+the example of your daily life, and my own sense of your dignified and
+exalted character. Both will afford me encouragement and support in the
+vicissitudes which yet await me. Tell me how I may better evince my
+gratitude, and let me gratify the one longing desire of my
+overflowing heart."
+
+"Caleb," replied the minister, with solemnity, "it is true that I have
+been permitted to protect and serve you. It is true that, but for me, at
+this moment you would be beyond the reach of help and man's regard. I
+have brought you from the grave to life. I have led you to the waters of
+life, of which you may drink freely, and through which you will be made
+partaker with the saints, of glory everlasting. This I have done for
+you. Do I speak in pride? Would I rob Heaven and give the praise and
+honour to the creature? God forbid. _I_ have accomplished little. _I_
+have done nothing good and praiseworthy but as the instrument of Him
+whose servant and whose minister I am. Not for myself, but for my
+Master's sake, I demand your friendship and fidelity. If I have been
+accounted worthy to save your soul, I am not unworthy of your loyalty
+and love."
+
+"They are yours, sir. It is my happiness to offer them."
+
+"Caleb," continued my friend, in the same tone, "you have lived with me
+many months. Mine is a life of privacy and retirement compared with that
+of other men. I strive to be useful to my fellow-creatures, and am happy
+if I succeed. If any one may claim immunity from slander and reproach,
+it is I, who have avoided diligently all appearance of offence. Yet I
+have not succeeded. You are about to mix again with men. You have joined
+the church, and you will not fail to hear me spoken of harshly and
+injuriously."
+
+"Impossible!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, it would seem so, and it would _be_, if justice in this world
+accompanied men's acts. I tell you," continued Mr Clayton, flushing as
+he raised his voice, "there are men living now whom I have raised from
+beggary and want--men, indebted to me for the air they breathe, who
+calumniate and defame me through the world, and who will not cease to do
+so till I or they are sleeping in the dust. They owed me every thing,
+like you--their gratitude was unbounded, even as yours. What assurance
+have I that you will not deal as hardly by your friend as they have
+done, and still do?"
+
+"Mr Clayton," I answered, eagerly, "I would lay down my life to serve
+you."
+
+"I believe you to be frank and honest, Caleb. I should believe it; for I
+am about to pledge a heavy sum upon your integrity--and, indeed, I can
+but ill spare it. You ask me how I would have you show your thankfulness
+for what I have accomplished for you. I answer, by giving me your
+_friendship_. It is a holy word, and comprehends more than is supposed.
+A friend believes not ill that is spoken of him to whom he is united by
+mutual communion and interest; he is faithful to the end, through good
+report and evil, and falls, if need be, with the man to whom he has
+engaged his troth and given his heart."
+
+"I am unworthy, sir," I said, "to stand in this relation with one so
+good, so holy as yourself. I have but a word to say--trust and confide
+in me. I will never deceive you."
+
+"Let us pray," said Mr Clayton, after a long pause, sighing as he spoke,
+and speaking very softly--and immediately he fell upon his knees, and I,
+according to a practice which I had acquired at the chapel, leaned upon
+a chair, and turned my face to the window.
+
+It was about a month after my installation into my new office, that
+business connected with the society carried me to the village of
+Highgate. It was late in the evening when my commission was completed,
+and I was enabled, after a day of excessive fatigue, to direct my steps
+once more homeward. The stage-coach, which set out from the village for
+London twice during the day, luckily for me, was appointed to make its
+last journey about half an hour after my engagements had set me at
+liberty. A mile, across fields, intervened between me and the
+coach-office. Short as the distance was, it was any thing but an
+agreeable task to get over it, with the rain spitting into my face, the
+boisterous wind beating me back, and the darkness of a November night
+confounding me at every turn. In good time, however, I reached the inn.
+Providence favoured me. There were but two seats unoccupied in the
+coach; one was already engaged by a gentleman who had requested to be
+taken up a mile forward; the other had just been given up by a lady who
+had been frightened by the storm, and had postponed her return to London
+to the following day. This seat I immediately secured, and in a few
+minutes afterwards we were on our way towards Babylon. We made but
+little progress. The breed of coach horses has been much improved since
+the period of which I write, and a journey from Highgate to London was a
+much more important event than a railway conductor of the present day
+would suppose. My companions were all men. Their conversation turned
+upon the topics of the day. A monetary crisis had taken place in the
+mercantile world, and for many days I had heard nothing spoken of but
+the vast losses which houses and individuals of high character and
+standing had incurred, and the bankruptcy with which the community had
+become suddenly threatened. The subject had grown stale and wearisome to
+me. It had little interest, in fact, for one whose humble salary of one
+hundred and fifty pounds per annum depended so little upon the great
+fluctuations of commerce, and I accordingly disposed myself for sleep as
+soon as the words _bills_, _money_, and _bankruptcy_, became the staple
+matter of discourse. I had scarcely established a comfortable doze
+before the coach stopped suddenly, and awoke me. It had halted for the
+last inside. A gentleman, apparently stout and well wrapped up--it was
+impossible to speak positively on the subject, the night was so very
+dark--trod his way into the vehicle over the toes of his
+fellow-passengers, and took his seat. The coach was once more moving
+towards the metropolis, and again I endeavoured to lull myself to sleep.
+The same expressions proceeded from the lips of the travellers, and they
+were growing more and more indistinct and shadowy, when I was startled
+all on a sudden by one of the most palpable sounds that had ever
+disturbed and confounded a dreamer. I sat up and listened, coughed to
+convince myself that I was certainly awake, and the sounds were repeated
+as clear and as audible as before. I would have sworn that Mr Clayton
+was the gentleman whom we had last picked up--that he was now in the
+coach with me--and was now talking, if the words which fell from the
+traveller had not been such as he would never have used, and the subject
+on which he spoke had not been one upon which Mr Clayton, I believed,
+was as ignorant as a child. The resemblance between the voices was so
+great, that I pronounced the phenomenon the most extraordinary that had
+ever occurred to me; and growing quite wakeful from the incident, I
+continued to listen to the accents of the speaker until once or twice I
+had almost thought it my duty to acquaint him with the remarkable fact,
+which he was now living to illustrate. But I held my peace, and the
+conversation proceeded without interruption.
+
+"You may depend upon it," said one gentleman, "things must get worse
+before they'll mend. Half the mischief isn't done yet. There's a report
+to-day that ---- cannot hold out much longer. It will be a queer thing
+if they smash. Many petty tradesmen bank with that house, who will be
+ruined if they go. Things are certainly in a very sweet state."
+
+"You do not mean," said _the voice_, trembling with emotion or alarm,
+"that the house of ---- threatens to give way? I have been in the city
+to-day, and did not hear a syllable of this. I think you must he
+mistaken. Good God, how frightful!"
+
+Well, it was really wonderful! I could have sworn that Mr Clayton was
+the speaker. Had he not concluded with the ejaculation, my doubt would
+certainly have ceased. That exclamation, of course, removed the
+supposition entirely.
+
+"You'll find I'm right, sir," was the reply of the traveller who spoke
+first. "At least, I fear you will. I hope I may be wrong. If you have
+any thing in their hands, you would find it worth your while, I think,
+to pay them an early visit to-morrow morning. If there's a run upon
+them, nothing in the world can save them."
+
+"And is it true," asked _the voice_, "that ---- stopped payment
+on Tuesday? I came to town from Warwickshire only yesterday, and this
+is the first news that I heard."
+
+"Oh, there's no doubt about that," answered a third person; "but that
+surprized nobody. The only wonder is, how he managed to keep afloat so
+long. He has been up to the chin for the last twelvemonth and more. I
+hope you don't lose there, sir?"
+
+"Mine has been the devil's luck this year," continued _the voice_, in a
+bitter savage tone, that never belonged to Mr Clayton. "Yes, gentlemen,
+I lose heavily by them both. But never mind, never mind, _one_ shall
+wince for it, if he has been playing ducks and drakes with my good
+money. He shall feel the scourge, depend upon it. I'll never leave him
+till he has paid me back in groans. Heaven, what a sum!"
+
+_The voice_ said no more during the journey. The other gentlemen having
+lost nothing by the various failures, discussed matters with philosophy
+and praiseworthy decorum. Sometimes, indeed, "the third person" grew
+slightly facetious and jocose when he represented to himself what he
+termed "the queer cut" that some old friend would display on presenting
+his cheque for payment at the rickety counter of Messrs ---- & Co.; but
+no deeper expression of feeling escaped one of those who spoke so long
+and volubly on what concerned themselves so very little. I was puzzled
+and disturbed. The stranger had returned from Warwickshire the day
+before. Twice during my residence with the minister, business of
+importance had carried him to that county. It was certainly a curious
+coincidence, but coincidences more curious pass by us every day
+unheeded. It would have been absurd to conclude from that the identity
+of the stranger; yet the fact, coupled with _the voice_, staggered and
+confounded me. I said nothing, but determined, as soon as we reached the
+public streets, to call to my aid the light--feeble as it was--of the
+dimly-burning lamps, which, at the time I speak of, were placed at a
+considerable distance from each other along the principal streets of
+London, scattering no light, and looking like oil lamps in the last
+stage of a lingering consumption. These afforded me little help. The
+weakest effort of illumination imaginable strayed across the coach
+window as we passed a burner, about as serviceable as the long interval
+of darkness that ensued, and far more tantalizing. We were driving
+through the city. I was still brooding over the singular occurrence,
+when the coach stopped. The stranger alighted. I endeavoured to obtain
+sight of him, but he was so wrapped and clothed that I did not succeed.
+The coach was on its way again, and I had just opportunity enough to
+discover that we had halted at the corner of the street in which Mr
+Clayton resided. I had been so intent upon scanning the figure of the
+traveller, that the fact had escaped me. Had I been aware of it, I would
+certainly have followed the man, and seen him at all events safely
+beyond the door of the minister. Now it was too late.
+
+I could not repress the desire which I felt to visit Mr Clayton on the
+following morning. I went to him at an early hour. If he and the
+stranger were one and the same person, I should be made aware of it at a
+glance. The cause that had affected him so deeply in the stage-coach
+existed still, and his manner must betray him. My suspicions were, thank
+Heaven, instantly removed. I found my friend tranquil as ever, busy at
+his old occupation, and welcoming me with his usual smile of
+benevolence. He was paler than usual, I thought; but this impression
+only convinced me how difficult it is to be charitable and just, when
+bias and prejudice once take possession of us. My friend was, if any
+thing, kinder and more affectionate than ever. He spoke to me about my
+new employment, gave me his advice on points of difficulty, and bade me
+consult him always, and without hesitation, when doubt might lead me
+into danger. He could not tell me how happy he had been made by having
+secured a competency for me; and he hoped sincerely that no act of mine
+would ever cause him to regret the step that he had taken.
+
+"Indeed," said he, "I have great confidence in you, Caleb. I do not know
+another person in the world upon whose character I would have staked so
+large a sum. In truth, I should not have been justified. A thousand
+pounds is a heavy venture for one so straitened as I am. But you are
+worthy of it all. You are a faithful and good boy, and will never give
+me reason to repent my generosity. Will you, child?"
+
+"No, sir," I replied; "not if I am master of myself."
+
+"It is strange," continued the good man, "how we attach ourselves to
+individuals! There are some men who repel you at first sight--with whom
+your feelings are at variance as oil with water. Others again, who win
+us with a look--to whom we could confide the secrets of our inmost
+heart, and feel satisfied of their losing nothing of their sacredness.
+Have you never experienced this, Caleb?"
+
+"I could speak to you, sir," said I, in return, "as unreservedly as to
+myself."
+
+"Yes, and I to you. It is a strange and beautiful arrangement.
+Providence has a hand in this, as in all other sublunary dispensations.
+We were created to be a comfort and a joy to one another, and to
+reciprocate confidence and love. Such instances are not confined to
+modern times. History tells us of glorious friendships in the ancient
+world. The great of old--of Greece and Rome--they who advanced to the
+very gate and threshold of TRUTH, and then despairingly turned
+back--they have honoured human nature by the intensity and permanency of
+their attachments. But what is a Pagan attachment in comparison with
+that which exists amongst believers, and unites in bonds that are
+indissoluble, the faithful hearts of pious Christians?"
+
+"Ah, what indeed, sir!"
+
+"Come to me to-morrow, Caleb," continued my friend, changing the
+subject. "Let me see you as often as your duties will permit you. We
+must not be strangers. I did not intend to give you up so easily. It is
+sweet and refreshing to pursue our old subjects of discourse. You are
+not tired of them?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+"Come, then, to-morrow."
+
+It was truly delightful to listen to the minister. I had never known him
+more sweetly disposed and more calm than on this occasion. He was
+unruffled by the presence of one anxious thought. Ah, how different
+would he have been if he had really proved to be my coach acquaintance!
+How I despised myself for the one unkind half suspicion which I had
+entertained so derogatory to the high character of the saint. But it was
+a great comfort to me, nevertheless, to be so satisfied of my delusion,
+and to feel so easy and so happy in my mind at the close of our long
+interview. According to my promise, I saw the minister on the following
+day. He was as peaceful and heavenly-minded as before. Another
+appointment was made and kept--another succeeded to that--and for one
+fortnight together, I spent many hours daily in the society of my
+respected friend.
+
+In pursuance of an arrangement which we had made, I called one afternoon
+at Mr Clayton's house, and was distressed to hear that he was confined
+to his bed by a sudden attack of illness. He had directed his servant to
+acquaint all visiters with his condition, and to admit no one to him,
+with the exception of the medical attendant and myself. I was eager to
+profit by my privilege, and was in a few seconds at the bedside of my
+benefactor. He was reading when I approached him, and he looked flushed
+and agitated. He put his book away from him, and held out his hand to
+me. I pressed it most affectionately.
+
+"I have been ill, Caleb," he began, "but I am better now, and I shall be
+quite well soon. Do not be alarmed."
+
+"How did it happen, sir?" I asked.
+
+"We are in the flesh now, dear boy, and are subject to the evils of the
+flesh. Hereafter it will be otherwise. Sorrow and distress, we are told,
+shall be no more. Oh, happy time for sinners! I have grievously
+offended. This very day I have permitted worldly thoughts to disturb and
+harrass me, and to shake the fleshly tabernacle. It was wrong,
+very wrong."
+
+"What has happened, sir?" I enquired.
+
+The minister looked hard and tenderly upon me, pressed my hand again,
+and bade me take a chair.
+
+"Bring it near to the bed, Caleb," said Mr Clayton; "I like to have you
+near me. I am better since you came. To see you is always soothing to my
+mind. I am reminded, then, that I am not altogether so worthless and
+insignificant a worm as I believe myself, since I have been able to do
+so much for you. Tell me, do you still like the employment that I
+procured for you?"
+
+"I would not resign it for any other that I know of. It is every thing
+to me. I feel my independence, and I have been told that I am useful to
+my fellow-creatures. It would be a bitter hour to me, sir, that should
+find me deprived of my appointment."
+
+"And that hour is very distant, Caleb, if you are sensible of your duty,
+and grateful to the instruments which Heaven has raised for you. You
+shall always feel your independence, and always hear that you are useful
+and respected. Be but faithful. It is a lesson that I have repeated to
+you many times--it cannot be told too often."
+
+"You are a patient and a kind instructor, sir."
+
+"Come closer to me, Caleb, and now listen. But first--look well at me,
+and tell me what you see."
+
+I looked as he required, but gave no answer.
+
+"Tell me, do you see the lines and marks that beggary and ruin bring
+upon the countenance of men? Does poverty glare from any one expression?
+_I am a lost and ruined man._"
+
+"You, sir?"
+
+"Yes. The trifling pittance upon which I lived, and barely lived, and
+yet from which I could still extract enough to do a little good--to
+feed, perhaps, one starving throat--is wrested, torn from me, and from
+those who shared in what it might obtain. I am myself a beggar."
+
+Mr Clayton became agitated as he spoke, and I implored him to compose
+himself.
+
+"Yes--it is that I wish to do. I should be above the influence of dross.
+And for myself I am. Would that I might suffer alone! And this is not
+all. The man who has effected my ruin owes every thing to me. I found
+him penniless, and raised him to a condition that should have inspired
+him with regard and gratitude. I would have trusted that man with
+confidence unbounded. I did entrust him with my all, and he has beggared
+and undone me."
+
+"Take it not to heart, sir," I said, soothing the afflicted man; "things
+may not be so bad as you suppose."
+
+"They cannot be worse," was the reply; "but I will _not_ take it to
+heart. The blow is hard to bear--the carnal man must feel it--yet I am
+not without my solace. Read to me, Caleb."
+
+I read a chapter from the work that was lying on the bed. It was called
+"_The Good Man's Comfort in Affliction_." It was effectual in restoring
+my friend to composure. He spoke afterwards with his usual softness
+of manner.
+
+"This bad man, Caleb," he resumed, "is a member of our church. I am
+sorry for it--grievously, bitterly sorry for it. The scandal must be
+removed. Personally, I would be as passive and forbearing as a child,
+but the church suffers whilst one such member is permitted to profane
+her ordinances. He must be cut off from her. It must be done. The church
+must disavow the man who has betrayed her minister and disgraced
+himself. I have been your friend, Caleb--you must now prove mine."
+
+"Most willingly," said I.
+
+"This business must be brought before a general meeting of the church.
+From me the accusation will come with ill grace, and yet a public charge
+must be preferred. You must be the champion of my cause. Your's shall be
+the task of conferring a lasting obligation on your friend--your's shall
+be the glory of ridding the sanctuary of defilement."
+
+"How am I to act, sir?"
+
+"Your course is very easy, child. A meeting shall be convened without
+delay. You shall attend it. You shall be made master of the case. You
+must propose an examination of his affairs on the part of the church.
+The man has failed--he is a bankrupt--our church is pure, and demands an
+investigation into the questionable conduct of her children. This you
+shall do. The church will do the rest."
+
+I know not how it was--I cannot tell what led to it--but a cold shudder
+crept through my body, and a sudden sickness overcame me. I thought of
+the coach scene--_the voice_ seemed more like than ever--the tones were
+the very same. I seemed unexpectedly enclosed and entangled in some
+dreadful mystery. I could not conceive why I should hesitate to accept
+the invitation of my friend with alacrity and pleasure. He was my
+benefactor, preserver, best and only friend.
+
+He had been defrauded, and he called upon me now to perform a simple act
+of justice. A man under much less obligation to the minister would have
+met his wishes joyfully; but I _did_ hesitate and hold back. A natural
+suggestion, one that I could not control or crush, told me as loudly as
+a voice could speak, not to commit myself by an immediate and rash
+consent. It must have been the _coach_; for, previously to that
+adventure, had the minister commanded me to accuse a hundred men, a hint
+would have sufficed for my obedience. But that unfortunate occurrence,
+now revived by the manner of my friend--by the expressions which he
+employed--by the charge which he adduced against the unhappy member of
+his church--filled me with doubt, uncertainty, and alarm. Mr Clayton was
+not slow to remark what was passing in my mind.
+
+"How is this, Caleb?" he enquired. "You pause and hesitate."
+
+"What has he done sir?" I asked, in my confusion, hardly knowing what I
+said.
+
+"Done!" exclaimed the minister, with an offended air. "Caleb, he has
+ruined the man who has made you what you are."
+
+It was too true. Mr Clayton had indeed made me what I was. It was a just
+reproof. It was ingratitude of the blackest character, to listen so
+coldly to his wishes. For months I had received daily and hourly the
+most signal benefits from his hands. He had never till now called upon
+me to make the shadow of a return for all his disinterested
+love--_disinterested_, ah, was it so? I hated myself for the momentary
+doubt--and yet the doubt returned upon me. If I had not heard his voice
+in the coach, such a suspicion would have been impossible. _Now_, any
+thing seemed possible--nothing was too extraordinary to happen. Well, it
+was little that the minister requested me to do. I had but to demand an
+investigation into the man's affairs. It was easily done, and without
+any cost or sacrifice of principle. But why could not the minister
+demand the same himself? "It would be unseemly," he asserted. Well, it
+might be--why had he not selected an elder member of the Church?
+Because, as he had often told me, there was none so dear to him. This
+was plain and reasonable, and all this passed through my brain with the
+rapidity of thought in an instant of time.
+
+"You may command me, sir," I said at length.
+
+"No, Caleb, I will not _command_ you. To serve your friend would have
+been, I deemed, a labour of love. I did not _command_ you, and I now
+retract the trifling request which I find I was too bold to make."
+
+"Do not talk so to me, Mr Clayton, I entreat you. I am disturbed and
+unwell to-day. Your illness has unsettled me. Pray command me. Speak to
+me as is your wont--with the same kindliness and warmth--you know I am
+bound to you. Let me serve you in any way you please."
+
+"We will speak of it some other time. Let us change the subject now.
+There are twenty men who will be eager to comply with the wishes of
+their minister. An intimation will suffice."
+
+"But why, sir," I returned--"why should others be privileged to do your
+bidding, and I denied? Forgive my apparent coldness, and give me my
+instructions."
+
+"Not now," said Mr Clayton, softened by my returning warmth. "Let us
+read again. Some other time."
+
+In a few days the subject was again introduced, and I put in possession
+of the history of the unfortunate man who was so soon to be brought
+under the anathema of the church. According to the statement of the
+minister, the guilty person had received at various times from him as a
+loan, no less a sum than four thousand pounds, the substance of his
+wealth, besides an equal amount from other sources, for which Mr Clayton
+had made himself accountable. Mr Clayton had implicated himself so
+seriously, as he said, for the advantage of the man whom he had known
+from boyhood, and raised from beggary, simply on account of the love he
+bore him, and in consideration of his Christian character. Of every
+farthing thus advanced, the minister had been defrauded, and within a
+month the trader had declared himself a bankrupt. That the minister
+should have acted so inconsiderately and prodigally, might seem strange
+to any one who did not thoroughly understand the extreme unselfishness
+of his disposition. Towards me he had behaved with an equal liberality,
+and I, at least, had no right to question the truth of every word he
+spoke. The conduct of the man appeared odious and unpardonable, and I
+regretted that I should have doubted, for one moment, the propriety of
+assisting so manifest an act of justice. Let me acknowledge that there
+was much need of self-persuasion to arrive at this conclusion. I wished
+to believe that I felt _urged_ to my determination; but the necessity
+that I experienced of working myself up to a conviction of the justice
+of the case, militated sadly against so pleasing a delusion.
+
+The second church meeting in which it fell to my lot to perform a
+distinguished character, took place soon after the communication which I
+received from my respected friend. It was convened with the especial
+object of inquiring into the circumstances connected with the failure of
+Mr George Whitefield Bunyan Smith. The chapel was, if possible, fuller
+than on the former evening, and the majority of members was, as before,
+women. A movement throughout the assembly--a whispering, and a ceaseless
+expectoration, indicated the raciness and interest which attached to the
+matter in hand, and every eye and mouth seemed opened in the fulness of
+an anxious expectation. I sat quietly and uncomfortably, and my heart
+beat palpably against my clothes. I endeavoured to paint the villany of
+Mr Smith in the darkest colours, and by the contemplation of it, to
+rouse myself to self-esteem--but the effort was a failure. I could see
+nothing but the man in the coach, and hear nothing but _the voice_,
+which sounded in my ears louder than ever, _and far more like_; and I
+became at length perfectly satisfied that I had no business to stand in
+the capacity of Mr Smith's accuser. It was too late to recant. The bell
+had rung--the curtain was up and the performances were about to begin.
+
+A hymn, as usual, ushered in the proceedings of the day. The
+fifty-second psalm was then read by the minister, in the beautiful tone
+which he knew so well how to assume, and reverence and awe accompanied
+his emphatic delivery. Ah, could I ever forget the hour when those
+accents first dropped with medicinal virtue on my soul--when every
+syllable from his lips brought unction to my bruised nature--and the
+dark shadows of earth were dissipated and destroyed, beneath the clear,
+pure light of heaven that he invoked and made apparent! Why passed the
+syllables now coldly and ineffectually across the heart they could not
+penetrate? Why glittered they before the eye with phosphorescent lustre,
+void of all heat and might? I could not tell. The charm was gone. It was
+misery to know it. The minister having concluded, "Brother Buster was
+requested to engage in prayer." That worthy rose _instanter_. First, he
+coughed, then he made a face--an awful face--then closed his eyes--then
+opened them again, looked up, and stretched forth his arms. At last he
+spoke. He prayed for the whole world, including the islands recently
+discovered, "even from the river to the oceans of ages"--then for
+Europe, and "more especially" for England, and London "in particular,"
+but "chiefly" for the parish in which the chapel stood, and
+"principally" for the Chosen People then and there assembled, and,
+"above all," for the infatuated man upon whose account they had been
+brought together. "Oh, might the delooded sinner repent _off_ his sin,
+and, having felt the rod, turn from the error _off_ his ways. Oh might
+the Church have grace to purify itself; and oh might the vessel wot was
+chosen this night to bring the criminal to justice, be hindood with
+strength for the work; and oh, might the criminal be enabled to come out
+of it with clean hands, (which he very much doubted;) and oh, might the
+minister be preserved to his Church for many years to come; and oh,
+might he himself be a door-keeper in heaven, rather than dwell in the
+midst of wickedness and sinners!" This was the substance of the divine
+supplication, offered up by Jabez Buster, in the presence of the
+congregation, and listened to with devout respect and seriousness by the
+refined and intellectual Mr Clayton. Another hymn succeeded immediately.
+It must have been written for the occasion, for the sentiment of it was
+in accordance with the prayer. It was a wail over the backsliding of a
+fallen saint. To the assembly thus prejudiced--an assembly made up of
+men of business and their wives, mechanics, dressmakers, servant-maids,
+and the like, an address suitable to their capacities was spoken. Mr
+Clayton himself delivered it.--He trembled with emotion when he referred
+to the painful duty which he was now called upon to perform. "Dear
+brethren," said he, "you are all aware of the unhappy condition of that
+brother who has long been bound to us by every tie that may unite the
+brethren in cordial and in Christian love. Truly, he has been dear to
+all of us; and for myself, I can with sincerity aver, that no creature
+living was dearer to me in the flesh, than him upon whose conduct we are
+met this night in Christian charity to adjudicate. Yes, he was my equal,
+my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet council together, and we
+walked to the house of prayer in company. I hope, I pray--would that I
+might add, that I believe!--the sin that has been committed in the face
+of the Church, and before the world, may be found not to lie at the door
+of him we loved and cherished. We are not here to take cognizance of the
+temporal concerns of every member of our congregation. We have no right
+to do this, so long as the Church is kept pure, and suffers not by the
+delinquencies of her children. If the limb be unworthy and unsound, let
+it be lopped off. You have heard that the worldly affairs of our brother
+are crushed; it is whispered abroad that there is reason to fear the
+commission of discreditable acts. Is this so? If it be true, let the
+whisper assume a bolder form, and pronounce our brother unworthy of a
+place with the elect. If it be false, let every evil tongue be silenced,
+and let us rejoice exceedingly, yea, with the timbrel and dance, with
+stringed instruments and loud-sounding cymbals. For my own part, I will
+not believe him guilty, until proof positive has made him so. His
+accuser is here this night. From what I know of our young brother, I am
+satisfied he will proceed most cautiously. Should he suggest simply an
+investigation into the recent transactions of the unfortunate man, it
+will be our duty to act upon that suggestion. If he comes armed with
+evidences of guilt, they must be examined with a kind but still
+impartial spirit. I know not to what extent it is proposed to proceed.
+It is not for me to know it. I am not his prosecutor. I shall not
+pronounce upon him. It is for you to judge. If he be proved culpable in
+this most melancholy business, and, alas! I fear he must be, if reports
+are true--though you must be careful to discard reports and look to
+testimony only--our course is plain and easy. Pardon is not with us; it
+must be sought elsewhere. I will not detain you longer. Brother Stukely,
+the Church will listen to your charge."
+
+But Brother Stukely had been for some time rendered incapable of speech.
+He was staggered and overwhelmed. He distrusted his eyes, his ears, and
+every sense that he possessed. What?--was _this_ Mr Clayton, the meek,
+the pious, the good, the benevolent, the just, the truth-telling, the
+Christian, and the minister? What?--could he assert that he was
+satisfied of his victim's innocence, until I should prove him guilty--I,
+who knew nothing of the man and his affairs, but what I gathered from
+his own false lips? There was some terrible mistake here. I dreamt, or
+raved. What!--had the history of the last twelvemonth been a cheat--a
+fable?--How was it--where was I? What!--could Mr Clayton talk
+thus--could HE descend to falsehood and deceit--HE, the immaculate and
+infallible? What a moral earthquake was here! What a re-enacting of the
+fall of man! But every eye was upon me, and the Church was silent as
+death, waiting for my rising. The chapel commenced swimming round me. I
+grew sick, and feared that I was becoming blind, for a mist came before
+my eyes, and confounded all things. At length I was awakened to
+something like consciousness, by a rapid and universal expectoration. I
+rose, and became painfully distressed by a conflict of opposing
+feelings. I remembered, in spite of the present obliquity of the
+minister, his great kindness to me--I remembered it with gratitude--this
+urged me to speak aloud, whilst a sense of justice as strongly demanded
+silence, and pity for the man whom I had undertaken to accuse, but who
+had never offended me, cried shame upon me for the words I was about to
+utter. For a second, I stood irresolute, and a merciful interference was
+sent to rescue me.
+
+"Why," exclaimed a voice that came pleasing to my ears,--"why are you
+going to accuse this here brother? Harn't twenty men failed afore, and
+you never thought of asking questions?"
+
+I looked round, and my friend Thompson of happy memory nodded
+familiarly, and by no means disconcertedly to me. I had never seen him
+in the chapel before. I did not know that he was a member. Here was
+another mystery! His words were the signal for loud disapprobation. He
+had marred the general curiosity at an intensely interesting moment, and
+the anger that was conceived against him was by no means partial. The
+minister rose in the midst of it. He looked very pale and much annoyed,
+but his manner was still mild, and his expressions as full of charity
+and kind feeling as ever.
+
+"It was a proper enquiry," he said; "one that should immediately be
+answered." Heaven forbid that their conduct, in one particular, should
+savour of injustice. In due time the explanation would have been
+offered. Had their brother waited for that time, he would have found
+that his harsh observation might have been withheld. The unfortunate man
+needed not the champion who had stood so irreverently forward. "I can
+assure our brother, that there is one who will hear of his innocence
+with greater joy than any other man may feel for him." But it was his
+duty to state, and publicly, that there were circumstances connected
+with this failure, that unfavourably marked it from every other that had
+taken place amongst them. These must be enquired into. Their brother
+Stukely had been interrupted in the charge which he was about to make.
+He repeated that he knew not how far that charge might have been brought
+home. He would propose now, that two messengers be appointed to wait
+upon the bankrupt, and to examine thoroughly his affairs, and that,
+previous to their report, no further proceedings should take place. The
+purity and disinterestedness of their conduct should be made apparent.
+Brothers Buster and Tomkins were the gentlemen whom he proposed for the
+delicate office, with the full assurance that they would execute their
+commission with Christian charity, tempering justice with
+heavenly mercy.
+
+The assembly gave a reluctant consent to this arrangement. "Such
+things," it was argued, "were better settled at once; and it would have
+been far more satisfactory if the bankrupt's matters had been disclosed
+to the meeting, who had come on purpose to hear them, and had neglected
+important matters at home, rather than be disappointed." The meeting,
+however, dissolved with a hymn, sung without spirit or heart. At the
+close of it, the minister retired. He passed me on his way; looked at me
+coldly, and I thought a frown had settled on his brow almost in spite of
+him. I was scarcely in the open street again, before Thompson was at my
+side, shaking my hand with the greatest heartiness.
+
+"Well," said he, "I should much sooner have thought of seeing the d----l
+in that chapel than you, any how. Why, what does it all mean? I thought
+you were in Brummagem."
+
+"Ah! Thompson," I exclaimed sighing, "I wish I were! It is a long
+history."
+
+"Well, do let's have it. I _am_ astonished."
+
+I put him in possession of my doings since we parted at the Bull's Head
+Inn in Holborn. I had not finished when we arrived at my lodgings. I
+invited my old friend to supper, and after that meal, he heard the
+conclusion of the narrative.
+
+"Well," said he at last, "some people don't believe in sperits. Now I
+do. I believe that a sperit has brought you and me together again.
+You've told me a good deal. Now, I'll tell you something. Clayton's an
+out-and-outer."
+
+"He's a mysterious and unintelligible being," I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," answered Thompson, "you were always fond of them fine words.
+P'raps you mean the same as me after all. What I mean is, that fellow
+beats all I ever came near. Talk of the Old Un! He's a babby to him."
+
+"I can believe any thing now," I answered.
+
+"I don't complain; because I think it serves me right. I did very well
+at our parish church, and had no business to leave it; and I shouldn't
+either, if I hadn't been a easy fool all my life. I went on right well
+there, and understood the clergyman very well, and I should have done to
+this day, if it hadn't been for my missus; she's always worriting
+herself about her state, and she happened to hear this Mr Clayton, and
+nothing would please her but we must join his congregation, the whole
+biling lot of us, and get elected, as they call it. She said all was
+cold in the church, and nothing to catch hold on there. I'm blessed if I
+havn't catched hold of a good deal more than I like in this here chapel.
+They call one another brothers--sich brothers I fancy as Cain was to
+Abel. They are the rummest Christians you ever seed. Just look at the
+head of them--that Mr Clayton, rolling in riches"----
+
+"In what?" said I, interrupting him. "You mistake. The little that he
+had is lost."
+
+"Oh, don't you be gammoned," was the reply. "What he has lost wont hurt
+him. He's got enough now to buy this street, out and out. He's the
+greediest fellow for money this world ever saw."
+
+"I am puzzled, Thompson," said I.
+
+"Yes, perhaps you are, and you'll be more puzzled yet when you know all.
+Why, what is all this about poor Smith? I knew him before Clayton ever
+got hold of him, when the chap hadn't a halfpenny to fly with, but was a
+most ordacious fellow at speculating and inventions, and was always up
+to something new. One day he had a plan for making moist sugar out of
+bricks--then soap out of nothing--and sweet oil out of stones. At last
+Clayton hears of him, and hooks him up, gets him to the chapel; first
+converts him, and then goes partners with him in the spekylations--let's
+him have as much money as he asks for, and because soap doesn't come
+from nothing, and sugar from bricks, and sweet oil from stones, he stops
+short, sews him up, drives him into the Gazette, and now wants to throw
+him into the world a beggar, without name and character, and with ten
+young 'uns hanging about his widowed arm for bread"
+
+"Oh, it's dreadful, if it's true," said I; "but if he has robbed the
+minister, whatever Mr Clayton may be, he ought to be punished."
+
+"But it isn't true, and there's the villany of it. Smith's a fool; you
+never see'd a bigger in your life, and though he thinks himself so
+clever in his inventions and diskiveries, he's as simple as a child in
+business. Why, he gave three thousand pounds for the machinery wot was
+to make soap out of nothing; and so all the money's gone. How sich a
+deep 'un as Clayton ever trusted him, I can't tell. He's wexed with
+himself now, and wants to have his spite upon his unfortunate tool."
+
+"I can hardly believe it," said I.
+
+"No; and do you think I would have believed it the first day as missus
+made me come to listen to that out and outer? and, do you think if I had
+known about it, they would ever have lugged me in to be a brother? You
+shall take a walk with me to-morrow, if you please, and if you don't
+believe it then of your own accord, why I sha'n't ask you."
+
+"He has been so kind, so generous to me. He has behaved so unlike a
+mercenary man."
+
+"Yes; that's just his way. That's what he calls, I suppose, _sharpening
+his tools_. He's made up his mind long ago to have out of you all he
+gave you, and a little more besides. Why, what did you get up for in the
+chapel? Didn't he say it was to bring a charge against Smith? Why, what
+do you know of Smith? Can't you see, with half an eye, he's been feeding
+of you to do his dirty work; and if you had turned out well, wouldn't it
+have been cheap to him at the price?"
+
+"What is it," said I, "you propose to do to-morrow?"
+
+"To take a walk; that's all. Don't ask questions. If you go with me,
+I'll satisfy your doubts."
+
+"Surely," said I, "his congregation must have known this; and they would
+not have permitted him"----
+
+"Ah, my dear sir, you don't know human nature. Wait till you have lived
+as long as I have. Now, there's my wife; she knows as much as I do about
+the man, and yet I'm blowed if she doesn't seem to like him all the
+better for it! She calls him a chosen wessel, and only wishes I was half
+as sure of salvation. As for the congregation, they are a complete set
+of chosen wessels together, and the more you blow 'em up, the better the
+wessels like it. If what they call the world didn't speak agin 'em,
+they'd be afraid they were going wrong. So you never can offend them."
+
+Thompson continued in the same strain for the rest of the evening,
+bringing charge after charge against the minister, with the view of
+proving him to be a hypocrite of the deepest dye. As he had fostered and
+protected me, Thompson explained that he had previously maintained and
+trained up Smith, whom he never would have deserted had all his
+speculations issued favourably. The loss of his money had so enraged
+him, that his feelings had suddenly taken a different direction, and he
+would now not stop until he had thoroughly effected the poor man's ruin.
+He (Thompson) knew Smith well; he had seen his books; and the man was as
+innocent of fraud as a child unborn. Clayton knew it very well, and the
+trick of examining the books was all a fudge. "That precious pair of
+brothers, Bolster and Tomkins, knew very well what they were about, and
+would make it turn out right for the minister somehow. As for hisself,
+he stood up for the fellow, because he hadn't another friend in the
+place. He knew he should be kicked out for his pains, but that would be
+more agreeable than otherways." From all I gathered from Thompson, it
+appeared that the pitiable man--the audacious minister of God--was the
+slave of one of the most corroding passions that ever made shipwreck of
+the heart of man. _The love of money_ absorbed or made subservient every
+other sentiment. To heap up riches, there was no labour too painful, no
+means too vicious, no conduct too unjustifiable. The graces of earth,
+the virtues of heaven, were made to minister to the lust, and to conceal
+the demon behind the brightness and the beauty of their forms. There is
+no limit to the moral baseness of the man of avarice. There was none
+with Mr Clayton. He lived to accumulate. Once let the desire fasten,
+anchor-like, with heavy iron to the heart, and what becomes of the
+world's opinion, and the tremendous menaces of heaven? Mr Clayton was a
+scholar--a man of refinement, eloquent--an angel not more winning--he
+was self-denying in his appetites, humble, patient--powerful and
+beautiful in expression, when the vices of men compelled the unwilling
+invective. Witness the burst of indignation when he spoke of Emma
+Harrington, and the race to which it was her misery to belong. He was,
+to the eyes of men, studious and holy as an anchorite. But better than
+his own immortal soul, he loved and doated upon _gold!_ That love
+acknowledged, fed, and gratified, when are its demands appeased?--when
+does conscience raise a barrier against its further progress? It is a
+state difficult to believe. Could I have listened with an ear of
+credulity to the tale of Thompson--could I have borne to listen to it
+with patience, had I not witnessed an act of turpitude that ocular
+demonstration could only render credible--had I not been prepared for
+that act by the tone, the manner, the expressions of the minister, when
+we passed an hour together, ignorant of each other's presence? It was a
+dreadful conviction that was forced upon me, and as wonderful as
+terrible. Self-delusion, for such it was, so perfect and complete, who
+could conceive--hypocrisy so super-eminent, who could conjecture! There
+was something, however, to be disclosed on the succeeding day. Thompson
+was very mysterious about this. He would give no clue to what he
+designed. I should judge from what I saw of the truth of his
+communications. Alas! I had seen enough already to mourn over the most
+melancholy overthrow that had ever crushed the confidence, and bruised
+the feelings, of ingenuous youth.
+
+I passed a restless and unhappy night. Miserable dreams distressed me. I
+dreamed that I was sentenced to death for perjury--that the gallows was
+erected--and that Buster and Tomkins were my executioners. The latter
+was cruelly polite and attentive in his demeanour. He put the rope round
+my neck with an air of cutting civility, and apologized for the whole
+proceeding. I experienced vividly the moment of being turned off. I
+suffered the horrors of strangulation. The noose slipped, and I was
+dangling in the air in excruciating agony, half-dead and half-alive.
+Buster rushed to the foot of the scaffold, and with Christian charity
+fastened himself to my legs, and hung there till I had breathed my last.
+Whilst he was thus suspended, he sang one of his favourite hymns with
+his own rich and effective nasal vigour. Then I dreamed I was murdering
+Bunyan Smith in his sleep. Mr Clayton was pushing me forward, and urging
+a dagger into my hand. Just as I had killed him, I was knocked down by
+Thompson, and Clayton ran off laughing. Then I woke up, thank Heaven,
+more frightened than hurt, with every limb in my body sore and aching.
+Then, instead of going to sleep again, which I could not do, I lay
+awake, and reflected on what had taken place, and I thought all I had
+heard against Mr Clayton, and all I had seen in the chapel, was a
+dream, like the execution and the murder. One thing seemed just as real
+and as likely as the other. Then I became uneasy in my bed, got up, and
+walked about the room, and wondered what in the world I should do, if
+Mr Clayton deprived me of my situation, and I was thrown out of bread
+again. Then I recollected his many hints concerning fidelity and
+friendship, and what he had said about my being in no danger, so long as
+I was faithful, and the rest of it; and then I wished I had thrown
+myself over Blackfriars' Bridge as I had intended, and so put an end to
+all the trials that beset my path. But this wish was scarcely felt
+before it was regretted and checked at once. Mr Clayton had taught me
+wisdom, which his own bad conduct could not sully or affect. It was not
+because under the garb of religion he concealed the tainted soul of the
+hypocrite, that religion was not still an angel of light, of purity, and
+loveliness. Her consolations were not less sweet--her promises not less
+sure. It would have been an unsound logic that should have argued, from
+the sinfulness of the minister, the falseness of that faith whose simple
+profession, and nothing more, alas! had been enough to hide foulest
+deformity. No! the vital spark that Mr Clayton had kindled, burned still
+steadily and clear. I could still see by its holy light the path of
+rectitude and duty, and thank God the while, that in the hour of
+temptation he gave me strength to resist evil, and the faculty of
+distinguishing aright between _the unshaken testimony_ and _the
+unfaithful witness_. I did not, upon reflection, regret that I had not
+recklessly destroyed myself; but I prayed on my knees for direction and
+help in the season of difficulty and disappointment through which I was
+now passing.
+
+Thompson came early on the following day, punctual to his appointment.
+He was accompanied by poor Bunyan Smith, and a voluminous statement of
+his affairs. I looked over them as well as I was able; for the
+unfortunate man was all excitement, and, faithful to the description of
+Thompson, sanguine in the extreme. He interrupted me twenty times, and,
+as every new speculation turned up, had still something to say why it
+had not succeeded according to his wishes. Although he had failed in
+every grand experiment, there was not one which would not have realized
+his hopes a hundredfold, but for the occurrence of some unfortunate
+event which it was impossible to foresee, but which could not possibly
+take place again, had he but money to renew his trials. His bankruptcy
+had not subdued him, nor in the least diminished his belief in the
+efficacy of his great discoveries. There was certainly no appearance of
+fraud in the account of his transactions, but it was not Mr Smith's
+innocence I was anxious to establish. It was the known guilt of Mr
+Clayton that I would have made any sacrifice to remove.
+
+It was in the afternoon that Thompson and I were walking along the
+well-filled pavement of Cheapside, on our way to what he called "the
+best witness he could bring to speak in favour of all that he had said
+about the minister." He still persisted in keeping up a mystery in
+respect of this same witness. "He might be, after all," he said,
+"mistaken in the thing, and he didn't wish to be made a fool of. I don't
+expect I shall, but we shall see." We reached Cornhill, and were
+opposite the Exchange.
+
+"That's a rum place, isn't?" asked Thompson, looking at the
+building--"Have you ever been inside?"
+
+"Never," I replied.
+
+"Suppose we just stroll in then? What a row they are kicking up there!
+And what a crowd! There's hardly room to move."
+
+The area was, as he said, crowded. There was a loud continued murmur of
+human voices. Traffic was intense, and had reached what might be
+supposed its acme. It seemed as if business was undergoing a paroxysm,
+or fit, rather than pursuing her steady, healthful course. Bodies of men
+were standing in groups--some were darting from corner to corner, pen in
+mouth--a few were walking leisurely with downcast looks--others quickly,
+uneasy and excited. A stout and well-contented gentleman or two leaned
+against the high pillars of the building, and formed the centre of a
+human circle, that smiled as he smiled, and stopped when he stopped.
+
+"Nice place to study in, sir," said Thompson, as we walked along.
+
+I smiled.
+
+"I mean it though," said he. "I see a man now that comes here on purpose
+to study--as clever a man at his books as ever I saw, and as fine a
+fellow to talk as you know--there, just look across the road--under that
+pillar--near the archway. There, just where them two men has left a open
+space. Tell me, who do you see there, sir?"
+
+"Why, Mr CLAYTON!" I replied, astonished at the sight.
+
+"Yes, and if you'll come here every day of your life, there you'll find
+him. I've watched him often, since Smith first put me up to his tricks,
+and I have never missed him. There he is making money, and wearing his
+soul out because he can't make half enough to satisfy his greedy maw.
+His covetousness is awful. There's nothing that he doesn't speckylate
+in; there's hardly a man of business in his congregation that he
+doesn't, either by himself or others, lend money out at usury. I mean
+such on 'em as he knows are right; for catch him, if he knows it,
+trusting the rotten brothers. Smith says he has got something to do with
+every one of the stocks. I don't know whether that is any thing to eat
+and drink or not, but I think they call this here bear-garden the Stock
+Exchange, and here the out-and-outer spends more than half his days."
+Whilst Thompson spoke, one of the two men, whom I have mentioned as
+being for many hours together closeted with the minister in his private
+study, and whom I set down as missionaries--came up in great haste to Mr
+Clayton, and communicated to him news, apparently, of importance. The
+latter immediately produced a pocket-book, in which he wrote a few words
+with a pencil, and the individual departed. The information, whatever it
+may have been, had deeply affected the man to whom it had been brought.
+He did not stand still, as before, but walked nervously about, looked
+pale, care-worn, and miserably anxious. He referred to his book a dozen
+times--restored it frequently to his pocket, and had it out again
+immediately for surer satisfaction, or for further calculations. In
+about ten minutes, "_the missionary_" returned. This time he was the
+bearer of a better tale. The minister smiled--his brow expanded, and his
+eye had the vivacity and fire that belonged to it in the pulpit. Another
+memorandum was written in the pocket book, and the two gentlemen walked
+quickly, and side by side, along the covered avenue. I had seen
+sufficient.
+
+"Let us go," I said to Thompson.
+
+"Why, you don't mean to say you have had enough!" returned he; "oh, wait
+a bit, and see the other boy. They make a precious trio."
+
+I declined to witness the melancholy spectacle any longer. I was
+oppressed, grieved, sickened, at the sad presentation of humanity. What
+an overthrow was this! What a problem in the moral structure of man! I
+could not understand it. I had no power to enquire into it. Against all
+preconceived notions of possibility, there existed a palpable fact. What
+could reason do in a case in which the senses almost refused to
+acknowledge the evidence which they themselves had produced?
+
+Thompson was delighted at the result of our "voyage of discovery," and
+continued to be facetious at the expense of the unhappy minister. I
+implored him to desist.
+
+"Say no more, Thompson. This is no subject for laughter. I have suffered
+much since your brother carried me to Birmingham. This is the hardest
+blow yet. I believe now that all is a dream. This is not Mr Clayton. It
+is a cheat of Satan. We are deluded and made fools in the hands of the
+Wicked One."
+
+"You'll excuse me, sir," said Thompson, "but if I didn't know you
+better, I should say, to hear you talk in that uncommonly queer way,
+that you were as big a wessel as any of 'em. Don't flatter yourself you
+are dreaming, when you never were wider awake in all your life."
+
+It is perhaps needless to say, that I had no heart to present myself
+again before my friend and benefactor--the once beloved, and still
+deeply compassionated minister of religion. I pitied him on account of
+the passion which had overmastered him, and trembled for myself when I
+contemplated the ruins of such an edifice. But I could visit him no
+longer. What could I say to him? How should I address him? How could I
+bear to meet his eye--I did not hate him sufficiently to inflict upon
+him the shame and ignominy of meeting mine. I avoided the house of Mr
+Clayton, and absented myself from his chapel. But I was not content with
+the first view that had been afforded me at the Exchange. I was
+unwilling to decide for ever upon the character of my former friend
+without a complete self-justification. I went again to the house of
+commerce, and alone. Again I beheld Mr Clayton immersed in the doings of
+the place. For a week I continued my observation. Proofs of his
+worldliness and gross hypocrisy came fast and thick upon each other. I
+no longer doubted the statement of Thompson and the speculator Smith. I
+resolved upon seeing my preserver no more. I could not think of him
+without shuddering, and I endeavoured to forget him. One evening, about
+ten days after the chapel scene, sitting alone in my apartment, I was
+attracted by a slight movement on the stairs. A moment afterwards there
+was a knock at my door. The door opened, and Mr Clayton himself walked
+into the room. I trembled instantly from head to foot. The minister had
+a serious countenance, and was very placid. He took a chair, and I
+waited till he spoke.
+
+"You have not visited me of late, Caleb," he began. "You have surely
+forgotten me. You have forgotten your promise--our friendship--your
+obligations--gratitude--every thing. How is this?"
+
+Still I did not speak.
+
+"Tell me," he continued, "who has taught you to become a spy? Who has
+taught you that it is honourable and just to track the movements and to
+break upon the privacy of others. I saw you in the Exchange this
+morning--I saw you yesterday--and the day before. Tell me, what took
+you there?"
+
+I gave no answer.
+
+"Your Bible, Caleb, gives no encouragement to the feeling which has
+prompted you to act thus. You have read the word of truth imperfectly.
+There is a holiness--a peculiar sanctity"----
+
+"For heaven's sake, Mr Clayton," I cried out, interrupting him, "do not
+talk so. Do not deceive yourself. Do not attempt to bewilder me. Do not
+provoke the wrath of heaven. You have been kinder to me than I can
+express. The recollection of what you have done is ever present to me.
+Oh, would that I owed you nothing! Would that I could pay you back to
+the last farthing, and that the past could be obliterated from my mind.
+I would have parted with my life willingly, gladly, to serve you. Had
+you been poor, how delightful would it have been to labour for my
+benefactor! I will not deceive you. I lave learnt every thing. Such
+miserable knowledge never came to the ears of man, save in those regions
+where perdition is first made known, and suffered everlastingly. I dare
+not distrust the evidence of my eyes and ears. The bitterest hour that I
+have known, was that in which you fell, and I beheld your fall. Whom can
+I trust now? Whom shall I believe? To whom attach myself? Mr Clayton, it
+seems incredible to me that I can talk thus to you. It is indeed, and I
+tremble as I do so. But what is to be done? I can respect you no longer,
+however my poor heart throbs towards you, and pities"----
+
+I burst into tears.
+
+"Spare your pity, boy," said Mr Clayton, coldly; "and spare those hollow
+tears. You acknowledge that there exists a debt between us. Well have
+you attempted to repay it! Listen to me. I have been your friend. I am
+willing to remain so. Come to me as before, and you shall find me as I
+have ever been--affectionate and kind. Avoid me--place yourself in the
+condition of my opponent, and _beware_. In a moment, by one word, I can
+throw you back into the slough from whence I dragged you. To-morrow
+morning, if I so will it, you shall wander forth again, an outcast,
+depending for your bread upon a roadside charity. It is a dreadful thing
+to walk a marked and branded man through this cold world; yet it is only
+for me to say the word, and _infamy_ is attached to your name for ever.
+And what greater crime exists than black ingratitude? It is our duty to
+expose and punish it. It is for you to make the choice. If you are wise,
+you will not hesitate. If Christianity has worked"----
+
+"Sir, what has _Christianity_ to do with this? Satan must witness the
+compact that you would have us make. I cannot sell myself?"
+
+"Your new companions have taught you these fine phrases, Caleb. They
+will support you, no doubt, and you will remain faithful to them, until
+a fresh acquaintance shall poison your ear against them, as they have
+corrupted it to win you from the man whom you have sworn to serve. I
+have nothing more to say. You promised to be faithful through good
+report and evil. You have broken your plighted word. I forgive you, if
+you are sorry for the fault, and my arms are ready to receive you.
+Punishment shall follow--strict justice, and no mercy--if you persist in
+evil. Within a week present yourself at my abode, and every thing is
+forgotten and forgiven. I am your friend for ever. Do not come, be
+obstinate and unyielding, and prepare yourself for misery."
+
+The minister left me. The week elapsed, and at the end of it, I had not
+presented myself at his residence. But, in the mean while, I had been
+active in taking measures for the security of the office which I held,
+and whose duties I had hitherto performed to the perfect satisfaction of
+my employers. I had been given to understand that it remained with Mr
+Bombasty to continue my appointment, or to dismiss me at once; that he
+was in the hands of Mr Clayton; and that if the latter desired my
+dismissal, and could bring against me the shadow of a complaint to
+justify Mr Bombasty in the eye of the Society, nothing could save me
+from ejection. It was proposed to me by a fellow-servant of the Society,
+to place myself as soon as possible beyond the reach and influence of Mr
+Clayton. He advised me to secede at once from the Church, and to attach
+myself to another, professing the same principles, and like that in
+connexion with the Society. By this means, Clayton and I would be
+separated, and his power over me effectually removed. Exclusion was to
+me starvation, and I eagerly adopted the counsel of my companion. To be,
+however, in a condition to join another church, it was necessary to
+procure, either by personal application, or at the instance of the
+minister of the new church, _a letter of dismission_, which letter
+should contain an assurance of the candidate's previous good conduct and
+present qualification. In my case, the minister himself proposed to
+apply for my testimonials. He did apply, and at the end of a month, no
+answer had been returned to his communication. He wrote a second, and
+the second application met with no greater respect than the first. At
+length I received a very formal and polite letter from Mr Tomkins,
+informing me that "a church-meeting had been convened for the purpose of
+considering the propriety of affording Brother Stukely the opportunity
+of joining another connexion, by granting him a letter of dismission,"
+and that my presence was requested on that very important occasion.
+
+If there was one thing upon earth more than another which at this
+particular time of my life I abominated with unmitigated and ineffable
+disgust, it was the frequent recurrence of these eternal
+church-meetings. Nothing, however trifling, could be carried forward
+without them; no man's affairs, however private and worldly, were too
+uninteresting for their investigation. My connexion with the church had
+hardly commenced, before two had taken place, principally on my account,
+and now a third was proposed in order to enable the minister to write a
+letter of civility, and to state the simple fact of my having conducted
+myself with propriety and decorum. Still it was proper that I should
+attend it; I did so, accompanied by Thompson, and a crowded assembly, as
+befitted the occasion, welcomed us amoungst them, with many short
+coughs, and much suppressed hissing. There was the usual routine. The
+hymn, the portion of Scripture, and the prayer of Brother Buster. In the
+latter, there were many dark hints that were intended to be appropriate
+to my case, and were, to all appearance, well understood by the
+congregation at large. They did not frighten me. I was guilty of no
+crime against their church. They could bring no charge against me. The
+prayer concluded, Mr Clayton coldly requested me to retire. I did so. I
+passed into the vestry, which was separated from the main building by a
+very thin partition, that enabled me to hear every word spoken in the
+chapel. Mr Clayton began. He introduced his subject by lamenting, in the
+most feeling terms, the unhappy state of the brother who had just
+departed from the congregation--(the crocodile weeping over the fate of
+the doomed wretch he was about to destroy!) He had hoped great things of
+him. He had believed him to be a child of God. It was not for him to
+judge their brother now; but this was a world of disappointment, and the
+fairest hopes were blasted, even as the rose withereth beneath the
+canker. They all knew--it was not for him to disguise or hide the
+fact--that their brother had not realized the ardent expectations that
+one and all had formed of him. Their brother himself carried about with
+him this miserable consciousness, and under such circumstances it was
+that he proposed to withdraw from their communion, and to receive a
+dismission that should entitle him to a seat elsewhere. It was for them
+to consider how far they were justified in complying with his request.
+As for himself, he was sorely distressed in spirit. His carnal heart
+urged him to listen to the desire of his brother in the flesh, and that
+heart warred with his spiritual conviction. To be charitable was one
+thing, to involve one's self in guilt, to encourage sinfulness, and to
+reward backsliding--oh, surely, this was another! He had no right in his
+high capacity to indulge a personal affection. It was his glory that he
+could sacrifice it at the call of duty. Accordingly, in the answer to
+the application that he had received, he had humbly attempted rather to
+embody the views of the church, than the suggestions of his own weak
+bosom. That answer he would now submit to them, and their voice must
+pronounce upon its justice. He did not fear for them. They were highly
+privileged; they had been wonderfully directed hitherto, and they would,
+adorned as they were with humility and faith, be directed even unto
+the end.
+
+"Ha-men," responded Buster very audibly, and the minister forthwith
+proceeded to his letter.
+
+It was my honour to be represented in it as a person but too likely to
+disturb the peace of any church; whose conduct, however exemplary on my
+first joining the congregation, had lately been such as to give great
+reason to fear that I had been suddenly deprived of all godliness and
+grace; who had caused the brethren great pain; and whom recent
+circumstances had especially rendered an object of suspicion and alarm.
+There was much more to the same effect. There was no distinct
+charge--nothing tangible, or of which I could defy them to the proof.
+All was dark doubt and murderous innuendo. There was nothing for which I
+could claim relief from the laws of my country--more than enough to
+complete my ruin. I burned with anger and indignation; forgot every
+thing but the cold-blooded designs of the minister; and, stung to action
+by the imminent danger in which I stood, I rushed at once from the
+vestry into the midst of the congregation. Thompson was already on his
+legs, and had ventured something on my behalf, which had been drowned in
+loud and universal clamour. Silence was, in measure, restored by my
+appearance, and I took the opportunity to demand from the minister a
+reperusal of the letter that had just been read.
+
+He scowled upon me with a natural hate, and refused to comply with my
+request.
+
+"What!" I asked aloud, "am I denied the privilege that is extended to
+the vilest of his species? Will you condemn me unheard? Accuse me in my
+absence--keep me in ignorance of my charge--and stab me in the dark?"
+
+I received no answer, and then I turned to the congregation. I implored
+them--little knowing the men to whom I trusted my appeal--to save me
+from the persecution of a man who had resolved upon my downfall. "I
+asked nothing from them, from him, but the liberty of gaining, by daily
+labour, an honourable subsistence. Would they deny it me?"--
+
+I was interrupted by groans and hisses, and loud cries of "Yes, yes,"
+from Brother Buster.
+
+I addressed the minister again.
+
+"Mr Clayton," said I, "beware how you tread me down. Beware how you
+drive me to desperation. Cruel, heartless man! What have I done that you
+should follow me with this relentless spite? Can you sleep? Can you walk
+and live without the fear of a punishment adequate to your offence? Let
+me go. Be satisfied that I possess the power of exposing unheard-of
+turpitude and hypocrisy, and that I refrain from using it. Dismiss me;
+let me leave your sight for ever, and you are safe--for me."
+
+"Viper!" exclaimed the minister rising in his seat, "whom I have warmed
+and nourished in my bosom; viper! whom I took to my hearth, and kept
+there till the returning sense of life gave vigour to your blood, and
+fresh venom to your sting! Is it thus you pay me back for food and
+raiment--thus you heap upon me the expressions of a glowing
+gratitude!--with threats and deadly accusations? Spit forth your malice!
+Pile up falsehoods to the skies!--WHO WILL BELIEVE THE TALE OF
+PROBABILITY? Brethren! behold the man whose cause I pleaded with
+you--for whom my feelings had well-nigh mastered my better judgment.
+Behold him, and learn how hard it is to pierce the stony heart of him
+whose youth has passed in dissolute living, and in adultery. Shall I
+approach thy ear with the voice of her who cries from the grave for
+justice on her seducer? Look, my beloved, on the man whom I found
+discarded by mankind, friendless and naked whom I clothed and fostered,
+and whom I brought in confidence amongst you. Look at him, and oh,
+be warned!"
+
+The hissing and groaning were redoubled. Thompson rose a dozen times to
+speak, but a volley assailed him on each occasion, and he was obliged to
+resume his seat. He grew irritated and violent, and at length, when the
+public disapprobation had reached its height, and for the twenty and
+first time had cut short his address almost before he spoke, unable to
+contain himself any longer, he uttered at the top of his stentorian
+voice a fearful imprecation, and recommended to the care of a gentleman
+who had more to do with that society than was generally supposed--Mr
+Clayton, and every individual brother in the congregation.
+
+Jabez Buster, after looking to the ceiling, and satisfying himself that
+it had not fallen in, rose, dreadfully distressed.
+
+"He had lived," he said, "to see sich sights, and hear sich language as
+had made his nature groan within him. He could only compare their
+beloved minister to one of them there ancient martyrs who had died for
+conscience-sake before Smithfield was a cattle market; but he hoped he
+would have strength for the conflict, and that the congregation would
+help him to fight the good fight. He called upon 'em all now to do their
+duty, to exclude and excommunicate for ever the unrighteous
+brethren--and to make them over to Satan without further delay."
+
+The shout with which the proposition was received, decided the fate of
+poor Thompson and myself. It was hardly submitted, before it was carried
+_nemine contradicente_; and immediately afterwards, Thompson buttoned
+his coat in disgust, and was hooted out of the assembly. I followed him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+IMAGINARY CONVERSATION.
+
+BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
+
+
+TASSO AND CORNELIA.
+
+
+_Tasso_.--She is dead, Cornelia--she is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Torquato! my Torquato! after so many years of separation do
+I bend once more your beloved head to my embrace?
+
+_Tasso_.--She is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Tenderest of brothers! bravest and best and most
+unfortunate of men! What, in the name of heaven! so bewilders you?
+
+_Tasso_.--Sister! sister! sister! I could not save her.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Certainly it was a sad event; and they who are out of
+spirits may be ready to take it for an evil omen. At this season of the
+year the vintagers are joyous and negligent.
+
+_Tasso_.--How! what is this?
+
+_Cornelia_.--The little girl was crushed, they say, by a wheel of the
+car laden with grapes, as she held out a handful of vine-leaves to one
+of the oxen. And did you happen to be there just at the moment?
+
+_Tasso_.--So then the little too can suffer! the ignorant, the indigent,
+the unaspiring! Poor child! She was kind-hearted; else never would
+calamity have befallen her.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I wish you had not seen the accident.
+
+_Tasso_.--I see it? I? I saw it not. There is but one crushed where I
+am. The little girl died for her kindness!--natural death!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Be calm, be composed, my brother!
+
+_Tasso_.--You would not require me to be composed or calm if you
+comprehended a thousandth part of my sufferings.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Peace! peace! we know them all.
+
+_Tasso_.--Who has dared to name them? Imprisonment, derision, madness.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hush! sweet Torquato! If ever these existed, they are past.
+
+_Tasso_.--You do think they are sufferings? ay?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Too surely.
+
+_Tasso_.--No, not too surely: I will not have that answer. They would
+have been; but Leonora was then living. Unmanly as I am! did I complain
+of them? and while she was left me?
+
+_Cornelia_.--My own Torquato! is there no comfort in a sister's love? Is
+there no happiness but under the passions? Think, O my brother, how many
+courts there are in Italy; are the princes more fortunate than you?
+Which among them all loves truly, deeply, and virtuously? Among them all
+is there any one, for his genius, for his generosity, for his
+gentleness, ay, or for his mere humanity, worthy to be beloved?
+
+_Tasso_.--Princes! talk to me of princes! How much coarse-grained wood a
+little gypsum covers! a little carmine quite beautifies! Wet your
+forefinger with your spittle; stick a broken gold-leaf on the sinciput;
+clip off a beggar's beard to make it tresses, kiss it; fall down before
+it; worship it. Are you not irradiated by the light of its countenance?
+Princes! princes! Italian princes! Estes! What matters that costly
+carrion? Who thinks about it? (_After a pause_.) She is dead! She
+is dead!
+
+_Cornelia_.--We have not heard it here.
+
+_Tasso_.--At Sorrento you hear nothing but the light surges of the sea,
+and the sweet sprinkles of the guitar.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Suppose the worst to be true.
+
+_Tasso_.--Always, always.
+
+_Cornelia_.--If she ceases, as then perhaps she must, to love and to
+lament you, think gratefully, contentedly, devoutly, that her arms had
+encircled your neck before they were crossed upon her bosom, in that
+long sleep which you have rendered placid, and from which your
+harmonious voice shall once more awaken her. Yes, Torquato! her bosom
+had throbbed to yours, often and often, before the organ-peel shook the
+fringes round the catafalc. Is not this much, from one so high, so
+beautiful?
+
+_Tasso_.--Much? yes; for abject me. But I did so love her! so love her!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Ah! let the tears flow: she sends thee that balm from
+heaven.
+
+_Tasso_.--So loved her did poor Tasso! Else, O Cornelia, it had indeed
+been much. I thought in the simplicity of my heart that God was as great
+as an emperor, and could bestow, and had bestowed on me as much as the
+German had conferred, or could confer on his vassal. No part of my
+insanity was ever held in such ridicule as this. And yet the idea
+cleaves to me strangely, and is liable to stick to my shroud.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Woe betide the woman who bids you to forget that woman who
+has loved you: she sins against her sex. Leonora was unblameable. Never
+think ill of her for what you have suffered.
+
+_Tasso_.--Think ill of her? I? I? I? No; those we love, we love for
+every thing; even for the pain they have given us. But she gave me none:
+it was where she was not, that pain was.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Surely, if love and sorrow are destined for companionship,
+there is no reason why the last comer of the two should supersede
+the first.
+
+_Tasso_.--Argue with me, and you drive me into darkness. I am easily
+persuaded and led on while no reasons are thrown before me. With these,
+you have made my temples throb again. Just heaven! dost thou grant us
+fairer fields, and wider, for the whirlwind to lay waste? Dost thou
+build us up habitations above the street, above the palace, above the
+citadel, for the Plague to enter and carouse in? Has not my youth paid
+its dues, paid its penalties? Cannot our griefs come first, while we
+have strength to bear them? The fool! the fool! who thinks it a
+misfortune that his love is unrequited. Happier young man! look at the
+violets until thou drop asleep on them. Ah! but thou must wake!
+
+_Cornelia_.--O heavens! what must you have suffered. For a man's heart
+is sensitive in proportion to its greatness.
+
+_Tasso_.--And a woman's?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Alas! I know not; but I think it can have no other. Comfort
+thee--comfort thee, dear Torquato!
+
+_Tasso_.--Then do not rest thy face upon my arm; it so reminds me of
+her. And thy tears, too! they melt me into her grave.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hear you not her voice as it appeals to you: saying to you
+as the priests around have been saying to _her_, Blessed soul! rest
+in peace?
+
+_Tasso_.--I heard it not; and yet I am sure she said it. A thousand
+times has she repeated it, laying her hand on my heart to quiet
+it--simple girl! She told it to rest in peace, and she went from me!
+Insatiable love! ever self-torturer, never self-destroyer! the world,
+with all its weight of miseries, cannot crush thee, cannot keep thee
+down. Generally mens' tears, like the droppings of certain springs, only
+harden and petrify what they fall on; but mine sank deep into a tender
+heart, and were its very blood. Never will I believe she has left me
+utterly. Oftentimes, and long before her departure, I fancied we were in
+heaven together. I fancied it in the fields, in the gardens, in the
+palace, in the prison. I fancied it in the broad daylight, when my eyes
+were open, when blessed spirits drew around me that golden circle which
+one only of earth's inhabitants could enter. Oftentimes in my sleep also
+I fancied it--and sometimes in the intermediate state--in that serenity
+which breathes about the transported soul, enjoying its pure and perfect
+rest, a span below the feet of the Immortal.
+
+_Cornelia_.--She has not left you; do not disturb her peace by these
+repinings.
+
+_Tasso_.--She will bear with them. Thou knowest not what she was,
+Cornelia; for I wrote to thee about her while she seemed but human. In
+my hours of sadness, not only her beautiful form, but her very voice
+bent over me. How girlish in the gracefulness of her lofty form! how
+pliable in her majesty! what composure at my petulance and reproaches!
+what pity in her reproofs! Like the air that angels breathe in the
+metropolitan temple of the Christian world, her soul at every season
+preserved one temperature. But it was when she could and did love me!
+Unchanged must ever be the blessed one who has leaned in fond security
+on the unchangeable. The purifying flame shoots upward, and is the glory
+that encircles their brows when they meet above.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Indulge in these delightful thoughts, my Torquato! and
+believe that your love is and ought to be imperishable as your glory.
+Generations of men move forward in endless procession to consecrate and
+commemorate both. Colour-grinders and gilders, year after year, are
+bargained with to refresh the crumbling monuments and tarnished
+decorations of rude unregarded royalty, and to fasten the nails that
+cramp the crown upon the head. Meanwhile, in the laurels of my Torquato,
+there will always be one leaf, above man's reach, above time's wrath and
+injury, inscribed with the name of Leonora.
+
+_Tasso_.--O Jerusalem! I have not then sung in vain the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+_Cornelia_.--After such devotion of your genius, you have undergone too
+many misfortunes.
+
+_Tasso_.--Congratulate the man who has had many, and may have more. I
+have had, I have, I can have--one only.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Life runs not smoothly at all seasons, even with the
+happiest; but after a long course, the rocks subside, the views widen,
+and it flows on more equably at the end.
+
+_Tasso_.--Have the stars smooth surfaces? No, no; but how they shine!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Capable of thoughts so exalted, so far above the earth we
+dwell on, why suffer any to depress and anguish you?
+
+_Tasso_.--Cornelia, Cornelia! the mind has within it temples, and
+porticoes, and palaces, and towers: the mind has under it, ready for the
+course, steeds brighter than the sun, and stronger than the storm; and
+beside them stand winged chariots, more in number than the Psalmist hath
+attributed to the Almighty. The mind, I tell thee again, hath its
+hundred gates, compared whereto the Theban are but willow wickets; and
+all those hundred gates can genius throw open. But there are some that
+groan heavily on their hinges, and the hand of God alone can close them.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Torquato has thrown open those of his holy temple; Torquato
+hath stood, another angel, at his tomb; and am I the sister of Torquato?
+Kiss me, my brother, and let my tears run only from my pride and joy!
+Princes have bestowed knighthood on the worthy and unworthy; thou hast
+called forth those princes from their ranks, pushing back the arrogant
+and presumptuous of them like intrusive varlets, and conferring on the
+bettermost crowns and robes, imperishable and unfading.
+
+_Tasso_.--I seem to live back into those days. I feel the helmet on my
+head; I wave the standard over it; brave men smile upon me; beautiful
+maidens pull them gently back by the scarf, and will not let them break
+my slumber, nor undraw the curtain. Corneliolina!----
+
+_Cornelia_.--Well, my dear brother! Why do you stop so suddenly in the
+midst of them? They are the pleasantest and best company, and they make
+you look quite happy and joyous.
+
+_Tasso_.--Corneliolina, dost thou remember Bergamo? What city was ever
+so celebrated for honest and valiant men, in all classes, or for
+beautiful girls? There is but one class of those: Beauty is above all
+ranks; the true Madonna, the patroness and bestower of felicity, the
+queen of heaven.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Hush, Torquato, hush! talk not so.
+
+_Tasso_.--What rivers, how sunshiny and revelling, are the Brembo and
+the Serio! What a country the Valtellina! I went back to our father's
+house, thinking to find thee again, my little sister--thinking to kick
+away thy ball of yellow silk as thou went stooping for it, to make thee
+run after me and beat me. I woke early in the morning; thou wert grown
+up and gone. Away to Sorrento--I knew the road--a few strides brought me
+back--here I am. To-morrow, my Cornelia, we will walk together, as we
+used to do, into the cool and quiet caves on the shore; and we will
+catch the little breezes as they come in and go out again on the backs
+of the jocund waves.
+
+_Cornelia_.--We will, indeed, to-morrow; but before we set out we must
+take a few hours' rest, that we may enjoy our ramble the better.
+
+_Tasso_.--Our Sorrentines, I see, are grown rich and avaricious. They
+have uprooted the old pomegranate hedges, and have built high walls to
+prohibit the wayfarer from their vineyards.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I have a basket of grapes for you in the bookroom that
+overlooks our garden.
+
+_Tasso_.--Does the old twisted sage-tree grow still against the window?
+
+_Cornelia_.--It harboured too many insects at last, and there was always
+a nest of scorpions in the crevice.
+
+_Tasso_.--O! what a prince of a sage-tree! And the well too, with its
+bucket of shining metal, large enough for the largest cocomero[9] to
+cool in it for dinner!
+
+[9] Water-melon.
+
+_Cornelia_.--The well, I assure you, is as cool as ever.
+
+_Tasso_.--Delicious! delicious! And the stone-work round it, bearing no
+other marks of waste than my pruning-hook and dagger left behind?
+
+_Cornelia_.--None whatever.
+
+_Tasso_.--White in that place no longer? There has been time enough for
+it to become all of one colour; grey, mossy, half-decayed.
+
+_Cornelia_.--No, no; not even the rope has wanted repair.
+
+_Tasso_.--Who sings yonder?
+
+_Cornelia_.--Enchanter! No sooner did you say the word _cocomero_, than
+here comes a boy carrying one upon his head.
+
+_Tasso_.--Listen! listen! I have read in some book or other those verses
+long ago. They are not unlike my _Aminta_. The very words!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Purifier of love, and humanizer of ferocity! how many, my
+Torquato, will your gentle thoughts make happy!
+
+_Tasso_.--At this moment I almost think I am one among them.[10]
+
+    [10] The miseries of Tasso arose not only from the imagination
+    and the heart. In the metropolis of the Christian world, with
+    many admirers and many patrons, cardinals and princes of all
+    sizes, he was left destitute, and almost famished. These are
+    his own words.--"_Appena_ in questo stato ho comprato _due
+    meloni_: e benche io sia stato _quasi sempre infermo_, molte
+    volte mi sono contentato del' manzo e la ministra di latte o di
+    zucca, _quando ho potuto averne_, mi e stata in vece di
+    delizie." In another part he says that he was unable to pay the
+    carriage of a parcel, (1590:) no wonder; if he had not
+    wherewithal to buy enough of zucca for a meal. Even had he been
+    in health and appetite, he might have satisfied his hunger with
+    it for about five farthings, and have left half for supper. And
+    now a word on his insanity. Having been so imprudent not only
+    as to make it too evident in his poetry that he was the lover
+    of Leonora, but also to signify (not very obscurely) that his
+    love was returned, he much perplexed the Duke of Ferrara, who,
+    with great discretion, suggested to him the necessity of
+    feigning madness. The lady's honour required it from a brother;
+    and a true lover, to convince the world, would embrace the
+    project with alacrity. But there was no reason why the
+    seclusion should be in a dungeon, or why exercise and air
+    should be interdicted. This cruelty, and perhaps his
+    uncertainty of Leonora's compassion, may well be imagined to
+    have produced at last the malady he had feigned. But did
+    Leonora love Tasso as a man would be loved? If we wish to do
+    her honour, let us hope it: for what greater glory can there be
+    than to have estimated at the full value so exalted a genius,
+    so affectionate and so generous a heart!
+
+_Cornelia_.--Be quite persuaded of it. Come, brother, come with me. You
+shall bathe your heated brow and weary limbs in the chamber of your
+boyhood. It is there we are always the most certain of repose. The child
+shall sing to you those sweet verses; and we will reward him with a
+slice of his own fruit.
+
+_Tasso_.--He deserves it; cut it thick.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Come then, my truant! Come along, my sweet smiling
+Torquato!
+
+_Tasso_.--The passage is darker than ever. Is this the way to the little
+court? Surely those are not the steps that lead down toward the bath? Oh
+yes! we are right; I smell the lemon-blossoms. Beware of the old wilding
+that bears them; it may catch your veil; it may scratch your fingers!
+Pray, take care: it has many thorns about it. And now, Leonora! you
+shall hear my last verses! Lean your ear a little toward me; for I must
+repeat them softly under this low archway, else others may hear them
+too. Ah! you press my hand once more. Drop it, drop it! or the verses
+will sink into my breast again, and lie there silent! Good girl!
+
+    Many, well I know, there are
+    Ready in your joys to share,
+    And (I never blame it) you
+    Are almost as ready too.
+    But when comes the darker day,
+    And those friends have dropt away;
+    Which is there among them all
+    You should, if you could, recall?
+    One who wisely loves, and well,
+    Hears and shares the griefs you tell;
+    Him you ever call apart
+    When the springs o'erflow the heart;
+    For you know that he alone
+    Wishes they were _but_ his own.
+    Give, while these he may divide,
+    Smiles to all the world beside.
+
+_Cornelia_.--We are now in the full light of the chamber: cannot you
+remember it, having looked so intently all around?
+
+_Tasso_.--O sister! I could have slept another hour. You thought I
+wanted rest: why did you waken me so early? I could have slept another
+hour, or longer. What a dream! But I am calm and happy.
+
+_Cornelia_.--May you never more be otherwise! Indeed, he cannot be whose
+last verses are such as those.
+
+_Tasso_.--Have you written any since that morning?
+
+_Cornelia_.--What morning?
+
+_Tasso_.--When you caught the swallow in my curtains, and trod upon my
+knees in catching it, luckily with naked feet. The little girl of
+thirteen laughed at the outcry of her brother Torquatino, and sang
+without a blush her earliest lay.
+
+_Cornelia_.--I do not recollect it.
+
+_Tasso_.--I do.
+
+    Rondinello! rondinello!
+    Tu sei nero, ma sei bello.
+    Cosa fà se tu sei nero?
+    Rondinello! sei il premiero
+    De' volanti, palpitanti
+    (E vi sono quanti quanti!)
+    Mai tenuto a questo petto,
+    E percio sei il mio diletto.[11]
+
+    [11] The author wrote the verses first in English, but he found
+    it easy to write them better in Italian. They stood in the text
+    as below:--
+
+        Swallow! swallow! though so jetty
+        Are your pinions, you are pretty:
+        And what matter were it though
+        You were blacker than a crow?
+        Of the many birds that fly
+        (And how many pass me by!)
+        You're the first I ever prest,
+        Of the many, to my breast:
+        Therefore it is very right
+        You should be my own delight.
+
+_Cornelia_.--Here is the cocomero; it cannot be more insipid. Try it.
+
+_Tasso_.--Where is the boy who brought it? where is the boy who sang my
+Aminta? Serve him first; give him largely. Cut deeper; the knife is too
+short: deeper, mia brave Corneliolina! quite through all the red, and
+into the middle of the seeds. Well done!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE WORLD OF LONDON. SECOND SERIES.
+
+
+PART I.
+
+ARISTOCRACIES OF LONDON LIFE.
+
+
+OF ARISTOCRACIES IN GENERAL.
+
+
+The cumulative or aggregative property of wealth and power, and in a
+less degree of knowledge also, make up in time a consolidation of these
+elements in the hands of particular classes, which, for our present
+purposes, we choose to term an aristocracy of birth, wealth, knowledge,
+or power, as the case nay be. The word aristocracy, distinctive of these
+particular classes, we use in a conventional sense only, and beg leave
+to protest, _in limine_, against any other acceptation of the term. We
+use the word, because it is popularly comprehensive; the [Greek: hoi
+aristoi], distinguished from the [Greek: hoi polloi]: "good men," as is
+the value of goodness in the city; "the great," as they are understood
+by penners of fashionable novels; "talented," or "a genius," as we say
+in the _coteries_; but not a word, mark you, of the abstract value of
+these signs--their positive significations; good may be bad, great mean,
+talented or a genius, ignorant or a puppy. We have nothing to do with
+that; these are thy terms, our Public; thou art responsible for the use
+made of them. Thou it is who tellest us that the sun rises and sets,
+(which it does not,) and talkest of the good and great, without knowing
+whether they are great and good, or no. Our business is to borrow your
+recognized improprieties of speech, only so far as they will assist us
+in making ourselves understood.
+
+When Archimedes, or some other gentleman, said that he could unfix the
+earth had he a point of resistance for his lever, he illustrated, by a
+hypothesis of physics, the law of the generation of aristocracies.
+Aristocracies begin by having a leg to stand on, or by getting a finger
+in the pie. The multitude, on the contrary, never have any thing,
+because they never _had_ any thing, they want the _point d'oppui_, the
+springing-ground whence to jump above their condition, where,
+transformed by the gilded rays of wealth or power, discarding their
+several skins or sloughs, they sport and flutter, like lesser insects,
+in the sunny beams of aristocratic life.
+
+Indeed, we have often thought that the transformation of the insect
+tribes was intended, by a wise Omnipotence, as an illustration (for our
+own benefit) of the rise and progress of the mere aristocracy of
+fashionable life.
+
+The first condition of existence of these diminutive creatures, is the
+egg, or _embryo_ state; this the anxious parent attaches firmly to some
+leaf or bough, capable of affording sufficient sustenance to the future
+grub, who, in due course, eats his way through the vegetable kingdom
+upon which he is quartered, for no merit or exertion of his own; and
+where his career is only to be noted by the ravages of his insatiable
+jaws. After a brief period of lethargy or _pupa_ state, this
+good-for-nothing creature flutters forth, powdered, painted, perfumed,
+scorning the dirt from which he sprung, and leading a life of
+uselessness and vanity, until death, in the shape of an autumnal shower,
+prostrates himself and his finery in the dust.
+
+How beautiful and how complete is the analogy between the insect and his
+brother butterfly of fashionable life! While yet an _embryo_, a worm, he
+_grubs_ his way through a good estate, and not a little ready money.
+Then, after a long sojourn in the _pupa_ or _puppy_ state--longer far
+than that of any other maggot--he emerges a perfect butterfly, vain,
+empty, fluttering, and conceited, idling, flirting, flaunting,
+philandering, until the summer of his _ton_ is past, when he dies, or is
+arrested, and expiates a life of puerile vanity in Purgatory or the
+Queen's Bench.
+
+Let the beginning once be made--the point of extreme depression once be
+got over: the cares of the daily recurring poor necessities of
+life--shelter, clothing, food, be of no moment: let a man taste, though
+it were next to nothing, of the delicious luxury of accumulation, let
+him, with every hoarded shilling, or half-crown, or pound, carry his
+head higher, smiling in secret at the world and his friends, and the
+aristocrat of wealth is formed: he is removed for ever from the
+hand-to-mouth family of man, and thenceforth represents his
+breeches pocket.
+
+It is the same with the aristocrat of birth: some fortunate
+accident--some well-aimed and successful stroke of profligacy, or more
+rarely of virtue, redeems an individual from the common herd: the rays,
+mayhap, of royal favour fall upon him, and he begins to bloat; his
+growth is as the growth of the grain of mustard-seed, and in a little
+while he overshadoweth the land: Noble and Right Honourable are his
+posterity to the end of time.
+
+There is a poor lad sitting biting his nails till he bites them to the
+quick, wearing out his heart-strings in constrained silence on the back
+benches of Westminster Hall: he maketh speeches, eloquent, inwardly, and
+briefless, mutely bothereth judges, and seduceth innocent juries to his
+_No_-side: he findeth out mistakes in his learned brethren, and
+chuckleth secretly therefor: he scratcheth his wig with a pen, and
+thinketh by what train of circumstantial evidence he may be able to
+prove a dinner: he laugheth derisively at the income-tax, and the
+collectors thereof: yet, when he may not have even a "little brown" to
+fly with, haply, some good angel, in mortal shape of a solicitor, may
+bestow on him a brief: rushing home to his chambers in the Temple, he
+mastereth the points of the case, cogitating _pros_ and _cons_: he
+heareth his own voice in court for the first time: the bottled
+black-letter of years falleth from his lips, like treacle from a pipkin:
+he maketh good his points, winneth the verdict and the commendations of
+the judge: solicitors whisper that there is something in him, and clerks
+express their conviction that he is a "trump:" the young man eloquent is
+rewarded in one hour for the toil, rust, and enforced obscurity of
+years: he is no longer a common soldier of the bar; he steppeth by right
+divine, forth of the ranks, and becometh a man of mark and likelihood:
+he is now an aristocrat of the bar--perhaps, a Lyndhurst.
+
+Again, behold the future aristocrat of literary life: to-day regard him
+in a suit of rusty black, a twice-turned stock, and shirt of Isabella
+colour, with an affecting hat: in and out of every bookseller's in the
+Row is he, like a dog in a fair: a brown paper parcel he putteth into
+your hand, the which, before he openeth, he demands how much cash down
+you mean to give for it: then, having unfolded the same, giveth you to
+understand that it is such a work as is not to be seen every day, which
+you may safely swear to. He journeyeth from the east to the west, from
+the rising of the sun to the setting thereof, manuscript in hand: from
+Leadenhall Street, where Minerva has her press, to the street hight
+Albemarle, which John Murray delighteth to honour, but to no purpose:
+his name is unknown, and his works are nothing worth. Let him once make
+a _hit,_ as it is termed, and it is no longer hit or miss with him: he
+getteth a reputation, and he lieth in bed all day: he shaketh the
+alphabet in a bag, calling it his last new work, and it goeth through
+three editions in as many days: he lordeth it over "the trade," and will
+let nobody have any profit but himself: he turneth up his nose at the
+man who invites him to a plain dinner, and utterly refuseth evening
+parties: he holdeth _conversaziones_, where he talks you dead: he
+driveth a chay, taketh a whole house, sporteth a wife and a minute
+tiger: in brief, he is now an aristocrat of letters.
+
+The materials for the growth and preservation of these several
+aristocracies abound in London; and no where on the earth have we the
+same facilities for the study and investigation of their family
+likenesses and contrasts, their points of contact and repulsion.
+
+
+THE ARISTOCRACY OF FASHION.
+
+
+Approach, reader, but _awful_, as Pope says--approach "with mincing
+steps and bow profound;" we are about to introduce you to persons
+of quality.
+
+It is an extraordinary fact, illustrative how far the ignorance of a
+discerning public will carry those who make a living by practising upon
+their credulity, that notwithstanding there is an immense number of
+books annually presented to the do-nothing world, under the
+curiosity-provoking title of fashionable novels, we have hardly more
+than one or two generally recognised true and faithful pictures of
+really fashionable life. The caricatures of caricatures of this Elysian
+state are numberless--imagination has been exhausted, sense confounded,
+grammar put on the rack, the "well of English undefiled" stirred up from
+the very dregs, to give the excluded pictures of the life of the
+exclusives--yet, what have we? You will excuse us, reader, disturbing
+the current of our thoughts, by recollecting any of this forty
+novel-power of inanity, vulgarity, and pertness; but if you take up any
+of the many volumes in marbled boards, with calf backs, that you will
+find in cart-loads at the circulating libraries, and look over a page of
+the fashionable "_lingo_" the Lord Jacob talks to the Lady Suky, or the
+conversation between Sir Silly Billy and the Honourable Snuffy Duffy; or
+what the Duke of Dabchick thinks of the Princess Molly; and when you are
+satisfied, which we take it will be in the course of two pages, if you
+do not throw down the book, and swear by the Lord Harry--why then, read
+on and be jolly!
+
+The indescribable absurdities, vices, and follies of the bulk of that
+class of literature called the fashionable novel, are past the power of
+catalogue-makers to record; but perhaps overwhelming ignorance of the
+peculiar class they pretend to describe is not the least conspicuous.
+Next to lack of knowledge, or sound materials deduced from actual
+observation, we may place want of taste. There are writers to write the
+exclusives up, and writers to write them down; one raises our envy, and
+makes us miserable, because we are not permitted to enter their paradise
+of social life; another devotes three volumes post octavo, in
+exemplification of the not altogether forgotten moral fiction of the fox
+and the sour grapes.
+
+The writers of fashionable novels may be divided, as to their social
+positions, into the tolerated fashionable novel writers, and the
+intolerable fashionable novel writers; the first, moving in phases more
+or less equivocal round their centre and their deity, the exclusive set;
+the last, desperate from the fact of their total and permanent exclusion
+from society, but still moving round the outside of the boundary wall,
+and peeping through chinks in the palings. From the former we have the
+eulogistic, from the latter the depreciatory fashionable novels; these
+make us familiar with the celestial attributes of countesses-dowager,
+and the amiability of their pugs. They are slavering, servile,
+self-degrading productions, and only serve the exclusives as
+provocatives to laughter; they are usually written by tutors, ladies who
+have married tutors, or superannuated governesses, patronized by some
+charitable member of some distinguished family.
+
+The depreciatory or vilificatory fashionable novel delights in exposing
+the peccadilloes, or imagined peccadilloes, (for it is all the same,) of
+young or old people of fashion: a _gourmand_ peer, a titled demirep, a
+"desperate dandy," a black-leg, and a few such other respectable
+characters, are dialogued through the customary number of chapters, and
+conducted to the usual catastrophe: virtue is triumphant, vice abashed,
+towards the latter end of the last volume; and some low-born hero and
+heroine, introduced to exhibit, by contrast, the vices of the
+aristocracy, suddenly, and without any effort of their own, acquire
+large fortunes, perhaps titles, which it would have been just as easy to
+have given them at first--go to church in an orthodox manner, and set up
+a virtuous aristocracy of their own.
+
+We are indebted for this class of fashionable novel to outlaws of both
+sexes; persons who might have held, but for their own misconduct,
+respectable positions in society; persons of this sort have the
+impudence, with their no-characters staring them in the face, to set up
+as public instructors, and to give us ensamples, drawn from their own
+perverted imaginations, of a class of which they might have known
+something, but which it is now past human possibility they can
+ever know.
+
+These people are not merely not in society--which implies no crime--but
+they are, notwithstanding their nominal rank or title, _out_ of society,
+for reasons well and thoroughly known: they are those not merely who
+cannot come in, but those who, if they did intrude, would be immediately
+turned out.
+
+Next, ascending from this equivocal class, we have the fashionable novel
+writers of fashionable life. I do not mean exclusive fashionable life,
+for there are no writers of these works in that class; but I allude to
+those who mingle with general fashionable society upon such terms, that
+if they possessed the talent, they might have supplied with ease the
+want of which the world complains--that of a just and natural picture of
+the lives of those forming the Corinthian capital of society in London.
+
+Take, for example, a noble and late viceregal lord and his brother, the
+Honourable Edmund Phipps. These gentlemen have written fashionable
+novels, and ought to have written good ones; yet we don't know how it
+is, but whenever we send to a circulating library to enquire whether
+they have "YES AND NO," the noes have it; and when we venture to ask for
+the "FERGUSONS," we find that the three post octavo gentlemen of that
+title not only do not lodge here or there, but that they don't lodge
+_any where_.
+
+The fact is, opportunity of observation will do little or nothing
+without _faculty_ of observation: though the whole social world, old or
+new, lay bare under the eyes of some men, not one idea could they
+extract from it; and who, wanting also the descriptive power, still more
+rare, fail in any attempt to give to the world the results of their
+experience.
+
+Of this class is the larger number of writers of the better sort, in the
+line we are talking of: they go into society as they go to galleries,
+not to copy pictures, but to enjoy them. They enter into the amusements
+and dissipation of their class, not to look on merely, but to play
+the game.
+
+In addition to all this, there is a point of honour involved, we think
+an erroneous one, among persons of quality, as to violating the
+freemasonry, the signs, ceremonies, and absurdities, of their privacy.
+Now, this applies only so far as individuals are indicated, and it is so
+far right. But fashionable classes are fair game, if not shot at
+sitting; or poached, or snared, or bagged, in any ungentlemanlike,
+unsportsmanlike fashion. They belong to human character, and human
+nature; and the reason they have seldom been painted well is, that they
+have seldom been painted after nature; and any artist will inform you,
+that whatever is painted to the life, must be painted from the life.
+
+They have not been painted by themselves, because they would have their
+lives, like the walls that encircle their town houses, impervious to the
+curious excursive eye; they have not been painted by themselves,
+because, secondly, the power of depicting graphically what they are in
+the daily habit of seeing, is not in them, not having been cultivated by
+study and practice; and thirdly, not being stimulated to literary
+activity by that Muse of the imperative mood, Necessity, they find more
+pleasure in having these things brought under their eyes, results of the
+mental toil and culture of others.
+
+There is a vulgar error uppermost in the minds of some men, which is
+this: the world of fashion has not hitherto been painted with effect,
+for the same reason that nobody thinks it worth while to describe a
+ditch; both being, in the estimation of these persons, stagnant perfumed
+entities, rich in peculiarly useless vegetation, abounding in vermin and
+animalculae, and diffusing a contagious effluvia over the surface of
+society. This error, like many other errors, is an excuse for ignorance,
+and only shows the innate uncharitableness of some men; they run down,
+like other sceptics, what they do not know and cannot understand, nor
+will they believe there can be any good therein; forgetting, knaves and
+fools as they are, that the aristocratic classes are human beings, with
+the same intermingled elements of good and ill as themselves, modified
+by accidental circumstances, which, as the Parliamentary people say,
+they cannot control, and possessing at least as much of the ordinary
+good principles and feelings of our common nature, as any other class of
+our graduated social scale.
+
+Can any thing be more illiberal, more ignorant, more stupid, than for a
+low man to turn leveller, because he is a low man, and attack, without
+ceremony and without mercy, people of whom he can by any possibility
+know no more than the worst side, that is to say, the _outside_: and
+whom he considers, like the gilt gingerbread he sees in his biennial
+visit to Greenwich Fair, as vastly fine, but exceedingly unwholesome?
+
+The truth is, fashionable life has been exalted above its just and
+proper level, and depressed below it, by the slaverers and the
+vituperaters, solely because they cannot get at it; the former are
+idolatrous from hope, the latter devilish in despair; and the result we
+are familiar with, in caricatures portraying this sort of life
+alternately as a Heaven and a Hell.
+
+The peculiarities of fashionable life are, it is true, few, but they are
+characteristic, and we now proceed to--
+
+_You_ proceed to--! Now, my good fellow, tell us, will you, how such a
+person as you, a garreteer, confessing to dining upon the heel of a
+twopenny loaf and half an onion; making no secret of running up beer
+scores at public houses, when they will trust you; retailing your nasty
+scenes of low life, creatures dying in hospitals, work-house funerals,
+the adventures of street apple-women, and matters and things
+incomprehensible to genteel families like ourselves living in Russell
+Square; an outlaw, living from tavern to tavern, from pot-house to
+pot-house, without name, residence, or station; a mere fellow,
+subsisting on the misplaced indulgence of an undiscerning public, and
+one who, if gentlemen and ladies (like ourselves) would only condescend
+to write, would find his appropriate circle in a work-house, unless he
+escaped it by dying in an hospital. _You_ proceed to----! What, in the
+name of gentility, can _you_ know of fashionable life?
+
+Sir, or madam, have mercy, or at least have manners. How astonished you
+will be--we say, how astonished you _will_ be--if in the fulness of time
+our title shall dignify the title-page; when it might appear, that by
+the pen of a peer these papers were made apparent; when, instead of the
+sort of person you have chosen to imagine your caterer for the good
+things of fashionable life in London, you may discern to your dismay
+that a lord--a real lord, alive and kicking, has made a Bude-light of
+himself, illuminating the shadows of your ignorance: you may read a
+preparatory memoir, informing you how these ideas of ours were collected
+in a coach and four, and transmitted to paper in a study overlooking the
+Green Park; with paper velvet-like, and golden pen ruby-headed, upon
+rose-wood desk inlaid with ivory, you may find that these essays have
+been transcribed: you will grovel, you will slaver, you will rub your
+nose in the pebbles, like a salmon at spawning-time, when this very
+immortal work shall come out, clothed in purple morocco, our arms
+emblazoned on the covers, and coroneted on the back, after the manner of
+publication of the works of royal and noble authors. Then, what running
+to Debrett for our genealogy, our connexions, our _set_, and all that
+customary inquisition of the affairs of the great which makes the
+delight of the little: the "Book of Beauty," and "Pictures of the
+Nobility," will be ransacked, of course, for verses by our lordship, or
+portraits of our lordship's ladyship, or of the ladies Exquisitina or
+Nonsuchina, daughters of our lordship, with slavering verses by
+intolerable poets; then it will be discovered, and the discovery duly
+recorded, that our lordship's eldest son, Viscount Ne'er-do-weel, and
+the Honourable Mr Nogo, are pursuing cricket and pie-crust (commonly
+called their _studies_) at Eton or Harrow, but are expected at our
+lordship's seat in Some-Shire for their holidays: then we will be
+proposed, seconded, and elected, like other noblemen equally
+undistinguished in the world of science, a fellow of the Royal Society
+and a fellow of the Society of Arts--and for the same good reason,
+because we may be a lord; and you, and all the world, will say it was
+very proper that I should have been elected, though knowing no more of
+science than that acoustics (if we mistake not) means a pump; or of
+arts, than that calico-printing and letterpress printing are, somehow or
+other, not exactly one and the same thing.
+
+Then, sir, we shall hear no more of the bread and cheese and onions,
+pot-house scores, and low company, with which you have so
+unceremoniously taxed our lordship. You will drive your jumped-up coach,
+with your awkward wives and dowdy daughters, and your tawdry liveries,
+all the way from Russell Square to the Green Park, to catch the chance
+of a glimpse of our lordship. You find out from our lordship's footman
+that our lordship wears a particular collar to his coat, and you will
+move heaven and earth to find out our lordship's tailor. When you apply
+to him to make a coat in our lordship's style, our tailor, who sees at a
+glance that you are not fit to be his customer, will tell you with an
+air, that he "declines to execute."
+
+You will discover, from the same authority, that our lordship smokes a
+particular tobacco, to be had only at a particular shop; and forthwith
+even real Havannah stinks in your nostrils, and you apply to Pontet.
+Pontet gives you a tobacco, (_not_ our tobacco,) and you go away in the
+innocent consciousness of smoking the exclusive weed of a man
+of fashion.
+
+Prithee, fool, mind thy own business, and stick to thy shop or thy
+station, whatever it may be; to which while thou stickest, thou must be
+respectable, but which when thou wouldst quit, desperately to seize the
+hem of our lordship's garment, thou becomest the laughing-stock of us
+and of our class, and we cannot choose but despise thee thoroughly.
+
+When we look at the shelves of a circulating library, groaning beneath
+that generally despicable class of volumes called fashionable novels,
+when we take up, only to lay down in disgust, "NOTORIETY, OR
+FASHIONABLES UNVEILED," "PAVILION, OR A MONTH AT BRIGHTON," "MEMOIRS OF
+A PEERESS," "MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE," "ALMACK S REVISITED," or some such
+stuff, we cannot but infer, that it is not the vices or absurdities of
+what is ignorantly called fashionable life that creates this
+never-ceasing demand for trash and nonsense, but rather a morbid
+appetite for vapidity and small-talk, a lady's-maid's curiosity of the
+secrets of her betters, a servile love of imitating what is unworthy
+imitation, and of following that which is not worth following, simply
+because it is supposed that these ridiculous caricatures represent the
+real life of
+
+    "The twice ten thousand for whom earth was made,"
+
+When we recollect, to our shame, that not only these swarms of trashy
+volumes, which penetrate even into the back-slums, and may be seen
+unfolded in the paper-patched windows of eighteen-penny milliners in
+the lowest quarters of our metropolis, find a never-failing succession
+of ravenous readers, but that newspapers--Sunday newspapers,
+forsooth--devoted to smutty epigrams, low abuse, vile insinuations, and
+openly indecent allusion to the connexions, habits of life, and even
+personal appearance, of fashionable and _pseudo_-fashionable people,
+receive a disgraceful and dangerous support; we must come to the
+conclusion, that in this, as in all other merchandize, the demand
+creates the supply, and that it is among the lower orders of the middle
+classes that these caricaturers by profession of the upper, their
+slanderers and their eulogists, find sympathy and encouragement.
+
+There is a sort of "hero-worship," as Mr Carlyle would term it,
+attaching to the most absurd, ridiculous, and even vicious doings of
+people who _might be_ fashionable; a counter-jumper, barber's clerk,
+medical student, or tailor's apprentice, adores the memory of that great
+man whom we are happy to be able to style the _late_ "markis." The
+_pavé_ of the Haymarket he considers classic ground, and the "Waterford
+Arms" a most select wine-bibbing establishment. If he does not break a
+dozen bells or wrench three or four brace of knockers in the season,
+this penny-cigar-smoking creature hardly thinks he attains to his
+fractional proportion of humanity.
+
+This may be relied on, that the great inducement of young scapegraces of
+fashion to the committal of their diurnal and nocturnal outrages upon
+propriety, is the mischievous gratification they derive from the awkward
+imitation of their inferiors; and the most effectual method of bringing
+these aristocratic pranks into disrepute, will be, to treat them as
+merely vulgar outrages, and punish the perpetrators accordingly.
+
+If, indeed, the small-fry of society would set themselves to imitate all
+that is worthy imitation in the better sort of their betters, following
+good examples instead of bad, it would be something to talk of. But
+since it is not to be expected that they will pursue virtue, piety, good
+sense, and good breeding for their own sakes, and as these attributes,
+when they exist in fashionable life--and they _do_ exist among the most
+fashionable of fashionable people--are in their nature retiring and
+unobtrusive, while all that is bad in good society is pushed into
+notoriety, for the example of the mob, we must take pains to point out
+at some length the difference between really "good society" and what is
+vulgarly called good society; that is, in fact, the difference between
+good and bad, and to mark the distinguishing characteristics of the
+truly fashionable and the vulgarly fashionable man, as wide and deep as
+is the gulf between a gent and a gentleman.
+
+If the fashionable world be truly represented, as it is not, in the
+swarms of so-called fashionable novels, gleaned from the sloppy
+conversation of footmen's ordinaries, or the retail tittle-tattle of
+lady's-maids in waiting at the registry-offices, how little is it to the
+credit of the mass of the reading public that they peruse such stuff; or
+would it be perused at all, but for that vulgar love, so prevalent about
+town, of imitation of the Lady Fannys and Lady Mary Dollymops, their
+_nonchalance_, their insipidity, their studied ease, and their
+affectation of being unaffected?
+
+We therefore desire, before we begin, that our young lady readers, our
+jury of maidens, will do us the favour to dismiss from their
+recollection all that they may have heard and read of the fashionable
+world; that they will not believe the exclusives to be as dull as so
+many bottles of stale small-beer, or as lively as Seltzer water from the
+spring, with a dash of brandy in it; that they will forget that there
+is, in fashionable life, any thing worthy their imitation or adoption,
+unless it should otherwise appear by the evidence; and that they will
+not once take up a professedly fashionable novel till they have
+carefully studied and slept upon what we are going to say.
+
+The word "world" is a comprehensive term, and should be taken in all its
+relations with great latitude, whether with adjectives or without. For
+example, the "fashionable world" is far from being an integral quantity,
+or capable of being reasoned upon as if it were as definite in its
+relations and proportions as an equilateral triangle. It contains within
+itself a complete gradation from fashionable excellence to fashionable
+villany; from fashionable virtue to fashionable vice; fashionable ladies
+and gentlemen, fashionable pimps, demireps, and profligates. It must be
+individualized if we wish to treat it fairly, as judges try prisoners
+severally, not in a lump. But our impressions of the fashionable world,
+as a class, must be taken from the general preponderating
+characteristics of good or evil of the whole.
+
+Hast ever been, reader, to Bartlemy fair? If you have, you may have
+seen--nay, you _must_ have seen--Richardson's immortal show. You must
+have seen a tall platform in front of the migratory edifice, and on that
+platform you must have delighted your visual orb with the clown, the
+pantaloon, the harlequin, the dancing ladies, the walking dandy, the
+king with his crown, the queen in her rabbit-skin robes, the
+smock-frocked countryman, the top-booted jockey, and all the _dramatis
+personæ_ of the performance that every moment of every day, during every
+fair, is for ever "going to begin." You may hardly have observed,
+sliding quietly through all this tinselled and spangled poverty, a plain
+carpenter-like man, in a decent suit, who looks as if he had never seen
+a performance in the whole course of his life, and as if he never cared
+to see one. This man is, or rather was, the late Mr Richardson, who died
+worth thirty thousand pounds, and all the clowns, harlequins,
+pantaloons, dancing ladies, walking dandies, kings with their crowns,
+and queens in their rabbit-skins, and the rest, are poor pinch-bellied
+devils, caricaturing humanity for some twelve or fourteen shillings
+a-week, finding their own paint and frippery. Now, whenever you wish to
+form a correct idea of the two great classes of fashionable life, call
+to your remembrance the gentlemen who, like the late lamented Mr
+Richardson, are proprietors of shows, and the berouged, bedraggled
+creatures who exhibit on the platform outside for their living.
+
+To be sure, there may be a little difference in names. The proprietors
+of the show may be dukes, and earls, and marquisses, and so forth. The
+mountebanks outside may be called counts, chevaliers, knights of the
+order of the golden fleece, or of the thimble, or of Malta. But the
+realities are the same. Fashionable life is a show, truly fashionable
+people are the proprietors, who are never prominently or ridiculously
+seen therein; and these several orders of over dressed, under-fed,
+empty-pocketed mountebanks, are the people put on the platform outside,
+to astonish the eyes and ears of the groundlings.
+
+The _physique_ of the true fashionable is peculiar and characteristic.
+From the toe of his boot to the crown of his hat, there is that
+unostentatious, undefinable something about him distinctive of his
+social position. Professional men, every body knows, have an expression
+common to their profession. A purblind cyclops could never mistake the
+expression of an Independent preacher, an universal free-black-nigger
+Baptist minister, or a Jesuit. Every body knows an infantry officer,
+with his "eyes right" physiognomy, his odious black-stock, and his habit
+of treading on his heels, and can distinguish him from the cavalry man,
+straddling like a gander at a pond side. Your medical doctor has an
+obsequious, mealy-mouthed, hope-I-see-you-better face, and carries his
+hands as if he had just taken his fingers from a poultice; while your
+lawyer is recognised at once by his perking, conceited,
+cross-examination phiz, the exact counterpart to the expression of an
+over-indulged jackdaw.
+
+The gentleman of fashion has nothing in common with the professional
+gentleman, or any other. He stands alone, "like Adam's recollection of
+his fall." He has an air, it is true, but his air is not a breeze, like
+the air of a pretender to fashion. The air of the man of fashion is
+a zephyr.
+
+The expression of the man of fashion is the more difficult to reduce to
+words, in that it is mostly negative. It is easier to say what this
+expression is not, than what it is. We can only say, that there is
+nothing professionally distinctive about it. It is the expression of a
+man perfectly at ease in his position, and so well aware that he is so,
+that he does not _seem_ to be aware of it. An absence of all straining
+after effect; a solicitude rather to avoid than to court observation. If
+there is any thing positively indicative in his expression, by which I
+include his manner, it is that of a good-humoured indifference, an
+inoffensive, unobtrusive stoicism. He would seem to have adopted the
+excellent advice given by the Apostle to the Thessalonians--"STUDY TO BE
+QUIET." This is his rule of life, and he acts upon it upon great and
+small occasions. He only desires that you will have the goodness to let
+him alone. If he is cheated by a man of his own _set_, (for he knows
+that he is cheated, as a matter of course, by tradespeople,) he _cuts_
+the fellow coolly. If he is insulted, he coolly calls out his man. He
+falls in love with coolness, marries coolly, and leads a cool connubial
+life. Whether he wins or loses, whatever happens to disturb the world or
+himself, he takes coolly, and if he has an aspiration on earth, it is
+that he may be cool and comfortable.
+
+His philosophy is the mingled Stoical and Epicurean. With him life is a
+trifle to be gracefully played with--a "froward child, to be humoured
+till it falls asleep, and all is over." His indifference is imputed to
+him as a crime; but it should not be forgotten that, if there be any
+fault at all in this indifference, it is the fault of his position.
+Fortune is to blame, not he, for setting up a man with no other enemy
+than time, and no other business than amusement. We do not say that this
+is the true end of life; we do not enter into the enquiry, which might
+carry us to leeward of our subject, whether men who have the means of
+enjoying life, do not show the truest wisdom in pursuing enjoyment. We
+only know that most men similarly circumstanced would act similarly; and
+whether there is most vice or greatest misery in the idleness of
+fashionable life, or in the business of the busy world, _as it is
+carried on in our time_, I leave to those who have experience and
+leisure to determine.
+
+Those who wish to study the subject further, may read at their leisure
+the pleasant paper in which an agreeable writer, Fontenelle, describes
+Aristotle and Anacreon contending for the prize of wisdom; and may
+decide with the essayist, giving the prize to the generous old toper of
+Scios, as we should have done, or to the beetlebrowed Reviewer,
+according to their humour.
+
+The constitutional and habitual indifference of the man of fashion is
+generally supposed by those who do not know it, to be an effect of
+pride; but it is, generally speaking, a symptom of something more akin
+to humility--of timidity, in short. It is part of his system to avoid
+contact, save with his fellows; and with those who are not his fellows,
+or of his _set_, he is altogether out of his element. Therefore, as he
+is afraid of giving, and incapable of taking offence, he entrenches
+himself in the unstudied reserve which he finds by experience renders
+his individuality least assailable, exactly as he surrounds his
+ornamental woods, his shrubberies, and his parterres with fences, not
+the less strong because they are invisible.
+
+With adventurers, people who are treading upon his kibes, equivocal
+pretenders who are galling his heel, he is hopelessly exclusive,
+preserving towards them an armed neutrality. His friendship is extended
+to his equals, and to his equals alone: with these his intercourse is
+free and unrestrained. These alone see the English man of fashion as he
+really exists, denuded of that armour of reserve with which he goes
+clothed _cap-à-pie_ in public. Towards others he is distantly polite;
+and with such nice tact does he blend a distant manner with politeness,
+that you cannot carp at the former, or catch at the latter. He lets you
+see that you cannot be _one of them_, but in such a way that you may not
+quarrel with the manner in which he conveys his intimation.
+
+With his inferior he will not be intimate, nor towards him will he be
+"proudly condescending." He declines to forget himself so far as for a
+moment to put you on a level with him; but he will not (as _you_ too
+often do) degrade you by sinking you below your own level. He holds the
+even tenor of his way whether you trot, spaniel-like, at his heels or
+no; nor will he once turn round to bestow upon you either cuffs
+or caresses.
+
+Although by leisure, education, and intelligence, he is qualified to
+converse with men of genius, he prefers conversing with them through the
+medium of their works. He is aware that the days of subscriptions, and
+"striking for dedications," are past and gone, and that the public have
+taken the place of the patron. He knows that the habits, employments,
+and in most instances the circumstances, of intellectual men preclude
+their mingling familiarly in fashionable circles, on equal terms, and
+that upon no other terms will they consent to be met. He neither
+patronizes nor neglects them, but is content to stand in the relation
+towards them of one of the reading public.
+
+His indifference to the fate and fortunes of deserving men has been,
+among the vulgar, a common imputation upon the man of fashion, of which
+class most frequently is the man of power. He is accused of lavishing
+his favours only upon the toady and the tuft-hunter, and leaving men of
+independent mind to the caprice of fortune.
+
+This complaint comes with a very bad grace from men who would be thought
+independent. The man who wants the patronage of the great, must go in
+search of it, whether he call himself independent or no. Men in power
+are accustomed to be met more than half way; and the independent man,
+whether he have merit or no, who expects people of rank to come in
+search of him, and to hunt him out of the obscurity of his garret, will
+find himself very much mistaken.
+
+None are truly independent while in pursuit of objects which are
+attainable only by the pleasure of another. The truly independent are
+those who not only do not solicit favours, but those who do not want
+them: and there is seen too often, among needy and struggling men of
+merit, an irritable pride, a "_fierté_," arising not from a sense of
+independence, but a consciousness of neglect; and many men boast of the
+pleasure of an independent life, as many ladies exalt the delights of
+single blessedness, only because they have never had the offer of
+changing their condition.
+
+It is quite as unfair, too, to accuse people of condition of bestowing
+all their favours upon toadies, tuft-hunters, and bear-leaders. The
+truth is, as they are not in the habit of going into the highways to
+lookout for persons whereupon to confer obligations, they are obliged to
+take up with such as offer themselves to their notice. While the man of
+independence is dreaming away his existence over books and papers in his
+closet, and cursing the barbarism of the age that does not take him by
+the hand, and set him up in high places, the man of the world is pushing
+his fortune in a worldly way, and is content not to talk of independence
+until he has secured it. The hard words, tuft-hunter, toady, and so
+forth, are applied, it may be, oftener than they are deserved:
+led-captain is a term of frequent reproach, but it must always be
+considered that that sort of talent will be chiefly noticed and rewarded
+which is in demand in certain circles; fashionable people desire neither
+to be deafened with wit, nor bewildered with philosophy, nor oppressed
+with learning; their business, to which they have been brought up, is to
+glide smoothly through life, and their patronage is chiefly extended to
+those who offer to relieve them of its petty cares and small annoyances,
+which men of solid and sterling merit are not able, and, if they were
+able, are not willing to do.
+
+A wealthy cit has as little regard for men of letters as a fashionable,
+nor has he the same tact of concealing his indifference; the well-bred
+man of fashion, who is alone truly the man of fashion, studies _tact_
+above all things, and his tact prevents him ever regarding men of mind
+with any thing approaching contempt.
+
+His friendly offices, which his equals never require, he generally
+bestows upon men whose position in society is marked and permanent, and
+who never can by any possibility compete with him; to these, if they be
+_safe_--that is, if they keep quiet, and are content to enjoy a sort of
+unpretending familiarity, without boasting or pluming themselves upon
+their position, he does the kindest and most liberal things, in the
+kindest and most liberal way; in a way that no other man than one truly
+fashionable can accomplish. He confers benefits with an affable and
+disinterested air, which, while it increases the burden of obligation,
+seems to demand no acknowledgement; he bestows without seeming to know
+that he is bestowing, and knowing enough of human nature to be aware
+that to the deserving, obligations have something humiliating, he wishes
+to make the burden as light as possible.
+
+One of the most amiable qualities about the aristocracy is their
+liberality and kindness to their dependents; you seldom or never hear
+any one who has served them faithfully and long having reason to
+complain. To do something for these people is part of their system, and
+not to see them neglected or in want, a point of honour. This kindly
+feeling they extend, as far as their power or influence extends--to
+humble friends, electioneering partizans, poor connexions. They are
+always kind and considerate, provided only these persons possess that
+unpresuming quietude of manner, which makes up a considerable part of
+that character they delight in, and which they call _safe_. If you
+introduce to one of these people of fashion, any man who may have an
+object in view, the first enquiry is, what are his claims--that is, what
+equivalent has he given, or can he give, for the favours he expects? for
+it is with the high, as with the low world, nothing for nothing; and
+secondly, you must be prepared to answer for his _safety_, so that,
+whatever may be said or done, nothing may, by any possibility, leak out
+of the _protegé_. This accounts for so many perfumed, be-wigged,
+purblind, silky fellows being taken in and "done for" by the great; and
+although these fellows dress like fools, and look like fools, depend
+on't, they are not the fools you take them for: they are aware, that
+nothing so effectually throws off their guard and disarms the great, as
+a well-carried affectation of gentlemanly effeminacy, and "a still small
+voice, like a woman's." We happen to know that some of these people, for
+this very delicacy of air and manner picked out of the dirt, and carried
+into high places, who are _au naturel_, as we may say, when they go
+home, and have laid aside the wigs, silk waistcoats, quizzing-glasses,
+and the rest of their disguise, as honest, friendly, and unaffected
+fellows, as are in the world--only they do not desire that any body
+should say so.
+
+Of a man with a stiff back, black beard, short hair, loud voice, and
+buff waistcoat, people of fashion, on the contrary, stand in continual
+awe; his tongue is to them a rattlesnake's tail wagging only as a signal
+for them to get out of his way; they quiver like an aspen at the sound
+of his voice, and for their own particular, would rather hear the
+sharpening of a saw: if such a one courts their acquaintance, they are
+hopelessly, despairingly polite; if, as is usual, he then waxes
+insolent, and, as the fast fellows would call it, _slangs_ them, they
+are delighted with the opportunity of displaying that placid
+indifference upon which they pride themselves as one of their exclusive
+accomplishments.
+
+Another peculiarity of truly fashionable people is, that they never say
+or do spiteful, or vindictive things; revenge and spite they consider
+_low_, plebeian, and vulgar; besides, vindictiveness of any kind
+disturbs their equanimity, puts them out of their way, and levels them
+with the people who may have injured or annoyed them; they cannot endure
+jaundice of body or mind, and equally abhor any thing that sticks either
+in the gall, bladder, or "gizzard." Their defensive armour, than which
+none can be less penetrable, is equanimity; their weapons, unstudied
+indifference and dignified neglect.
+
+Towards their own "order," they are invariably consistent in kindness
+and consideration; they stand by, and stand to, one another with a
+paternal amity, which is only _outwardly_ disturbed by politics;
+embarrassment or necessity effaces conventional distinctions of
+politics, and Whig or Tory is always ready to provide for "honest Jack,"
+or "do something" for "poor Fred." But we are not to consider their
+exertions in this way, accompanied with any self-sacrifice or
+self-denial; holding in their own hands the means of providing for their
+friends or relatives, they usually so contrive matters that they lose
+nothing by it.
+
+To the peculiar quietude of manner, and characteristic gentleness of
+persons of fashion, in their intercourse with each other, we have many
+concurring testimonies of impartial observers: of these, the most just
+at once, and eloquent, that we remember to have read, is that contained
+in an ever-memorable letter from a Mr Tomkins to a Mrs Jenkins,
+attributed (with what justice, deponent knoweth not) to a noble and
+learned lord, supreme in natural theology and excitability, remarkable
+for versatile nose and talents, and distinguished for chequered
+fortunes, and "inexpressibles" to match. This learned lord, or Tomkins
+aforesaid, or whoever may have been the inditer of the epistle _ad_
+Jenkins, is eloquent exceedingly upon the _narcotine_ of fashionable
+life: declares that its soothing influences were unequalled by vapour of
+purest mundungus, or acetate of morphia, or even pill of opium, blended
+intimately with glass of _eau-de-vie_. Tomkins is quite right: no man,
+admitted by whatever door, or ascending by whatever staircase, to the
+_salons_ of the great, fails to be impressed with the idea that there
+exists among what the _Post_ calls the "gay and fastidious _habitués_"
+of the place, every disposition to place him perfectly at his ease: and,
+if he cannot be at ease, the fault is in him, not in his entertainers.
+To a great _nisi prius_ lawyer, accustomed during a long life to the
+discrimination of character in the way of his profession, such a
+contrast as is presented by the repose and unobtrusive _politesse_ of
+high life, compared with the _brusquerie_ of the world below, must have
+been doubly delightful; and we are glad to have upon record the just and
+eloquent testimony to its existence and social value from so eloquent
+a pen.
+
+The world without is apt to confound reserve and distance among the
+great, with pride and insensibility: even those who, admitted by
+sufferance to fashionable circles, behold the peculiar charm of high
+life through a wintry atmosphere: the free and unrestrained converse of
+men of fashion with their equals, none but themselves can know, and none
+but themselves describe.
+
+Their habit of living, among themselves, is generally simple, and devoid
+of extravagance or ostentation: they have the best of every thing it is
+true, but then they have all the advantages of unbounded competition.
+and unlimited credit: they pay when they think proper, but no tradesman
+ever dares venture to ask them for money: such as have the bad taste to
+"dun" are "done:" the patient and long-suffering find their money "after
+many days." Their amusements among themselves are inexpensive, almost to
+meanness: the subscription to Almacks, that paradise of exclusives, and
+envy of the excluded, amounts to not more than half a-guinea a ball, if
+so much: a stall at the opera costs a young man of fashion, for the
+season, forty, fifty, or sixty pounds, according to position: for this
+he is entitled to an ivory ticket, which, when he does not feel inclined
+to go himself, he can transfer for the evening to another. If he have
+the misfortune to be a younger brother, many little windfalls come to
+his share, the results of his relationship. He has an apartment at his
+elder brother's town-house, or he resides with the dowager, or with a
+maiden aunt; somebody keeps his cab horse, and some other body keeps the
+saddle-horse that Lady Mary or Jack Somebody gave him; his "tiger" has
+the run of all his friends' kitchens as a matter of course, and, as a
+matter of course, himself has two or three invitations a-day during the
+season; though, like other poor men, he prefers dining independently at
+his club. He is on very good terms with the "girls" of his _set_, and is
+allowed a little innocent flirtation, because he is known to have _tact_
+enough not to compromise himself or them by falling in love, or paying
+"ridiculous" addresses: although a little "fast" perhaps, he is
+perfectly _safe_, and is on good terms with every body except his eldest
+brother: he is the idol of countesses-dowager, who hand him a few
+hundreds whenever he is short, pay his debts for him--give him good
+advice, and call him "Freddy dear:" in short, although he has nothing,
+excepting his boot-hooks, that he can possibly call his own, he is a
+merry, good-natured, honest, harmless fellow, a favourite with every
+body, and envied for his light-heartedness even by his more fortunate
+elder brother.
+
+In a book published some five-and-thirty years ago, is an account of the
+then prevailing method of killing a fashionable day: as the pursuit of
+inanity and folly has a tedious sameness about it, this picture will
+answer, with a few variations, for the man of fashion of to-day.
+
+"About twelve, he (the man of fashion) rises, lolls upon a sofa, skims
+the newspaper, and curses its stupidity. He is particularly angry if he
+does not find in it a paragraph which he sent to the agent of a
+fashionable newspaper, generally the _Morning Post_, who lives by
+procuring such sort of intelligence, containing an account of his having
+dined at some titled man's table the day before, with whom, if he has no
+rank himself, he is particularly anxious to mingle. After swallowing
+several cups of tea and cocoa, and slices of foreign sausages and fowls,
+he assumes his riding coat, and sallies out to his stables to inspect
+his horses, and chat with his coachman and grooms.
+
+"Having finished this review and audience, he orders his curricle, and,
+followed by a couple of grooms, he dashes through most of the principal
+streets, and calls upon the most celebrated coach and harness makers; at
+the latter he is shown several new bits for his approbation. He then
+proceeds to his breeches-maker, thence to Tattersall's, where he is sure
+to meet a great number of friends, with whom he kills another hour
+discussing the merits of the different animals he meets with there.
+These important duties being done, he strolls to an exhibition, or to a
+print-shop, and looks over a portfolio of caricatures; thence he keeps
+on moving to a fashionable hotel, to take white spruce beer(!) and
+sandwiches; here, after arranging his parties for the evening, be
+returns home to dress. After looking over the cards which have been left
+for him, he proceeds to his _toilette_ with his valet, and is dressed
+about seven, when his chariot is at the door, and he drives either to
+some family to dinner, or to the hotel he visited in the morning, when
+he perhaps formed a party of four. At ten o'clock he enters the Opera,
+and like a butterfly moves from box to box; thence behind the scenes;
+after which he proceeds to one or two routs, or some fashionable
+gaming-house, and about four is in bed, to recruit himself for a
+repetition of the same course the next day.
+
+"These loungers have a phraseology peculiar to themselves. A short time
+since, if one of them was asked how he was, the answer would have been,
+'we are in _force_ to-day;' if his wife was enquired after, 'she is in
+high preservation;' if asked how often he had been at the opera, 'it is
+my _second_ opera.' They also say, perhaps, speaking of some illustrious
+hero, 'he's a fine brave fellow, but he ties his handkerchief most
+shockingly.' I also remember being one day in Hyde Park, when a
+gentleman rode up to one of these loungers, and after exchanging
+salutations, the former said to the latter, I wish much to have the
+pleasure of seeing you--are you engaged next Wednesday? Upon which the
+other turned round to a little half starved groom, and said, 'John, am I
+engaged next Wednesday?'
+
+"The women of fashion," observes this writer, "are just as great and as
+insipid idlers, in their way, as are the male triflers. They seldom walk
+in the streets, but are almost always cooped up in their carriages,
+driving about the streets, and leaving their cards at the houses of
+their friends, whom they never think of seeing, although they may be at
+home at the time; thence they proceed to the most expensive jewellers,
+where they order a piece of plate or a trinket; thence to some
+fashionable milliner."
+
+This picture is not altogether like, but some of the features may
+certainly be easily reorganized; if we substitute sherry, a chop, and a
+club in Pall-Mall, for white spruce beer, sandwiches, and a tavern;
+replacing the curricle and footman by a cab and tiger, the remainder,
+with trivial alterations, may stand good of the fashionable idler of
+to-day, as of him of the last century.
+
+In childhood, nay, even in infancy, for all I can see to the contrary,
+the _physique_ of persons of fashion is sufficiently distinctive and
+characteristic of the class. If you walk in the parks and gardens, and
+notice these young thoroughbreds exercising under the care of their
+nurses, their tutors, and their nursery governesses, you will be
+perfectly convinced that they are as easily to be distinguished in all
+their points and paces from the children of the _mobility_, as is a
+well-blooded Arabian from a Suffolk punch.
+
+The small oval head, clustered with _rippling_ ringlets, as Alfred
+Jennyson calls them; the clear laughing eye, the long fair neck, the
+porcelain skin, warmed with the tenderest tinge of pink, so transparent
+withal that you almost see the animal spirit careering within; the
+_drooping_ shoulder, the rounded bust, clean limbs, well-turned ankle,
+fine almost to a fault, the light springy step, the graceful easy
+carriage, the absence of sheepishness or shyness, an air cheerful
+without noise, a manner playful without rudeness, and you have the true
+son or daughter of the Englishman of fashion.
+
+Then, how characteristic of the class of which these children are the
+rising hope, is the taste displayed in their dress; they are attired
+with costly simplicity; or, if a fond mamma indulges in any little
+extravagance of childish costume, you see that it is the extravagance of
+taste; there is no tawdriness, no over-dressing, no little ones in
+masquerade, they dress appropriately, and, at the same time,
+distinctively.
+
+Pretty souls! Many a time and oft have we wandered forth of the
+turbulent town, less to brace our unstrung nerves by the elastic
+air--less to bathe our wearied eyes in the green light of earth's bosom,
+than to drive away sad thoughts in the contemplation of your innocent
+gambols; with our stick; delight we to launch your mimic barks from the
+sandy shores of Serpentine; with you, glad are we to make haste,
+expecting the fastest sailer on the further shore; with you, we exult,
+once more a boy, in the speed of our trim-built favourite.
+
+We love the old Newfoundland dog, ay, and the old footman, as much as
+you do, and could hang like you about both their necks; we wish you
+would not think us too big a boy to "stop" for you at single-wicket;
+imaginary hoops we trundle in your gleesome train; like you, we have a
+decided aversion to "taw," considering it not young-gentleman-like; we,
+too, forgetting that the governess is single and two-and-thirty, wonder
+on earth what _can_ make governess so cross; we love you, when we see
+you hand in hand squiring your little sister, saluting your little
+sister's little friends, carrying their little parasols, and helping
+them over little stony places, like little gentlemen. Happy, happy dogs!
+we envy neither your birth nor the fortune that awaits you, nor repine
+we that our fate condemns us to tug the unremitting oar against that
+tide of fortune upon which, with easy sail, you will float lightly down
+to death; the whole heart, the buoyant spirit, the conscience yet
+unstung by mute reproach of sin; these things we envy you--not the
+things so mean a world can give, but the things which, though it cannot
+give, soon--alas, how soon--it takes away!
+
+Contrast these children with the children of Mr Deputy Stubbs of the
+ward of Farringdon Within, or common Councillor Muggs of Bassishaw; they
+really do not look like animals of the same species.
+
+The rising Stubbses and Muggses have heads shaped like a China orange,
+croppy hair, chubby chins, chubby cheeks, and blazing red and chubby
+noses--short, pursy, apoplectic necks, like their fathers--squab,
+four-square figures, mounted upon turned legs, with measly skins; so
+that, taken altogether, they are exceedingly offensive and disagreeable.
+Then they eat, these young, Stubbses and Muggses, how they _do_ eat!
+then they are dressed, how they _are_ dressed! five different tartans,
+four colours in velvet, seven sorts of ribbons, and a woolpack of fleecy
+hosiery, as if there wasn't another Stubbs or Muggs in existence; then
+how they annoy and infest, with bad manners and noise, the deputies and
+common-councilmen who visit at Stubbses and Muggses; how the maids "drat
+them" all day long, and how Mrs Stubbs and Mrs Muggs _hate_ Mr
+Sucklethumb, the butterman, because he never "notices the child."
+
+Another extraordinary phenomenon you cannot fail to observe in the
+children of the aristocracy; they seem to skip over the equivocal
+period, the neutral ground of human life, and emerge from the chrysaloid
+state of childhood, into the full and perfect _imago_ of little lords
+and gentlemen, and little ladies, without any of those intermediate
+conditions of laddism, hobble-de-hoyism, or bread-and-butterishness, so
+prominently characteristic of the approaching puberty of the rest of the
+rising generation. Your Eton boy is not a boy, he is a young gentleman;
+your Lady Louisa is not a girl, she is only not yet "come out;" how to
+account for the peculiarity I know not, except the knowledge of the
+fact, that attention to the _petites morales_ forms so great a part of
+the education of our rising aristocracy, and is considered so vitally
+important to their proper carriage, as well in their _set_ as out of it,
+that their children are as far advanced in this particular at fifteen,
+as the children of middling people at twenty-five. The petticoat-string
+by which the youth of the non-fashionable class is tied to their mother,
+is a ligature not in use among the fashionable world; from the earliest
+period professional persons are employed in their education, and the
+_mother_ never shows in the matter. Whether this, or any other
+peculiarity of the class, be an advantage or a disadvantage, natural or
+unnatural, right or wrong, it is not for the writer to say; he only
+points out what he has observed; and if he has failed to state it
+properly, let him be properly corrected.
+
+Our aristocratic youth we take the liberty to classify, as they do
+coaches, of which they are so passionately fond, into
+
+    1. FAST,
+
+    2. SLOW.
+
+The fast youths have several degrees of swiftness, from the railway
+pace, down through imperceptible gradations, to ten miles an hour, at
+which rate of going the fast fellows end, and the slow fellows begin.
+
+Of these last there are also many varieties, from the tandem and
+tax-cart down to the waggon and dog-truck; and it cannot be denied, that
+as regards the former more especially, there is a great similarity
+between the youths themselves and the vehicles they govern; they go very
+fast, don't know what they are driving at, are propelled in any
+direction by much more sagacious animals than themselves, and are
+usually empty inside. The fast fellows are divided, moreover, into the
+occasional and permanently fast; and first of the occasional fast
+fellows:--
+
+These form a very considerable proportion of our fashionable youth, and
+combine the gentleman with a dash of the _petit-maitre_, overlaying a
+naturally good disposition with a surface of scampishness, which,
+however, they lay down when they marry, and thenceforward they belong
+altogether to the slow school.
+
+The permanently fast fellows deserve a more detailed notice, since they
+are always before the police magistrates and the public, in one shape or
+another; and although often committing themselves, are seldom or never
+committed.
+
+The members of this class it is who furnish the democratic Sunday papers
+with a never-ending succession of articles, headed "THE ARISTOCRACY
+AGAIN," "BRUTALITY OF THE HIGHER CLASSES," "DEPRAVITY OF THE NOBBY
+ONES," and the like and it is from these fast fellows, unfortunately,
+that a great many ignorant people draw their conclusions of fashionable
+life and conversation in general, extending the vices of a few shameless
+profligates to the entire of the little world, commonly called
+the great.
+
+The permanently fast fellows, or, as we think their general demeanour
+entitles them to be called, "Blackguard Nobs," are a lot of little,
+scrubby, bad-blooded, groom-like fellows, who have always, even from
+childhood, been incorrigible, of whom nursery governesses could make
+nothing, and whose education tutors abandoned in despair; expelled from
+Eton, rusticated at Cambridge, good for nothing but mischief in boyhood,
+regularly bred scamps and profligates in youth, and, luckily for
+mankind, generally worn-out before they attain the wrong side of forty.
+A stable is their delight, almost their home, and their olfactories are
+refreshed by nothing so much as by the smell of old litter, to which
+attar of roses is assafoetida in comparison.
+
+Their knowledge of horses, which they get at second-hand from Field, or
+some of the other _crack_ veterinaries, is their only pride, and indeed
+the only thing they imagine any man ought to be proud of; they reverence
+a fellow who has a good seat in his saddle, and delight in horsemanship,
+because horsemanship requires no brains; driving a "buggy" in good style
+is respectable, but "shoving along" a four-in-hand the highest exercise
+of human intellect, as for Milton and Shakspeare, and such inky-fingered
+old prigs, who never had a good horse in their lives, they despise such
+low fellows thoroughly. Their chief companions, or rather, their most
+intimate friends, are the fellows who hang about livery stables,
+betting-rooms, race-courses, and hippodromes; crop-eared grooms,
+_chaunters_, dog-stealers, starveling jockeys, blacklegs, foreign
+counts, breeders, feeders; these are all "d--d honest fellows," and the
+"best fellows in the world," although they get their living by cheating
+the fast fellows, who patronize them.
+
+Of money, they know no more than that it is a necessary instrument of
+their pleasures, and must be got some how or anyhow; accordingly, they
+are on intimate terms with a species of shark called a bill-discounter,
+who commits upon them every sort of robbery, under the sanction of the
+law; and who also is always a "d--d honest fellow."
+
+They can be sufficiently liberal of their money, whenever they have any,
+to all who do not want, or who do not deserve it; if a prize-fighter
+becomes embarrassed in his circumstances, or a jockey is "down upon his
+luck," it is quite refreshing to see the madness with which the fast
+fellows strike for a subscription; an opera-dancer out of an engagement,
+or an actress in the same interesting condition, provided they are not
+modest women, have, they think, a claim upon their generosity--and
+perhaps they have.
+
+They think it ungentlemanly to cheat, or, as they call it, "_stick_" any
+of their own set, except in matters of horse-flesh; but "sticking" any
+body out of their own set, especially tradesmen, is considered an
+excellent joke, and the "sticker" rises several degrees in public
+estimation.
+
+We should be doing great injustice to the fast fellows if we omitted a
+brief notice of their accomplishments. Driving is, of course, the chief;
+and, by long experience and impunity, wonderfully grand exploits are
+achieved by the fast fellows in this department.
+
+One of the most original is to get into a strong cab, with a very
+powerful horse, lamps lit, tiger inside, and to go quietly along,
+keeping a sharp look-out for any night cabman who may be "lobbing," as
+the phrase is, off his stand, the moment the "game," who is generally
+one part asleep and three parts drunk, is espied, put your horse to full
+gallop, and, guiding your vehicle with the precision fast fellows alone
+attain, whip inside the cabwheel, and take it off. The night cab comes
+down by the run, the night cabman tumbles off, breaking his nose or
+neck, as it may happen, and you drive off as if the devil kicked you.
+When you have gone a couple of miles, make a circumbendibus back again
+to the night-house frequented by your set, and relate the adventure,
+with the same voice and countenance as a broker quotes the price of
+stocks; then order a cool bottle of claret with the air of a man who has
+done a meritorious action!
+
+Another accomplishment, at which not a few of the fast fellows excel, is
+that of imitating upon a key-bugle various animals, in an especial
+manner the braying of an ass: when the fast fellows drive down to the
+Trafalgar at Greenwich, the Toy at Hampton Court, or the Swan at Henley
+upon Thames, the bugle-player mounts aloft, the rest of the fast fellows
+keeping a lookout for donkeys; when one is seen, a hideous imitative
+bray is set up by the man of music, and his quadrupedal brother,
+attracted by the congenial sound, rushes to the roadside--mutual
+recognition, with much merriment, is the result.
+
+The fast fellow who does this best, is considered one of the immortals;
+and we are not without expectation, in due time, of seeing his talent
+rewarded by a pension.
+
+Breaking bells, twisting knockers, and "knapping" rail-heads, has
+descended so low of late that the fast fellows are ashamed of it, and
+have resigned it to the medical students, patriotic young members of
+Parliament, and others of the imitative classes; but there yet exists,
+or very lately existed, a collection of these and various other
+surreptitiously acquired properties, known among the fast fellow by the
+title of ----'s Museum, every article being ticketed artistically, and
+the whole presenting an example of devotion to the cause of science, we
+believe, without a parallel.
+
+These are a few of the comparatively innocent amusements of the fast
+fellows; others there are of graver character, which we need not refer
+to, especially as the fast school is fast wearing itself out, and many
+of the fast fellows already begin to "put on the drag," and go at a more
+reasonable pace.
+
+Their ignorance, with the single exception of horse-flesh, is appalling.
+Nobody who does not know the fast fellows, would credit that men could
+by any possibility grow up in such absolute ignorance of whatever a
+gentleman is expected to know; whatever a gentleman is expected not to
+know, they have at their tongues' and fingers' ends.
+
+Intellectual men, of whatever description, they regard with the most
+perfect indifference--an indifference too passive for contempt; they
+affect to wonder, or probably do wonder, what such men are for, or why
+people sometimes talk about them. Books they find convenient for putting
+under the legs of barrack-room tables, to bring them to a level, and
+think they are made of different sizes for that purpose; but no fast
+fellow was ever yet detected in looking into one of them, to see whether
+there was any thing inside. Such as have been taught to spell, employ
+part of the Sunday in deciphering the smutty jokes of the _Satirist_,
+and pronounce the jokes "d--d good," and the paper "a d--d honest
+paper." If they happen, by any chance, to come into contact with one of
+the slow school, or any body who has been taught to read, they have a
+method of silencing his battery, which they think "capital." If a man
+should say in their company, that Chaucer was a great poet, one will
+immediately enquire, "_how much?_" while another wishes to know if
+Chaucer is entered for the "Derby?" "How much?" is the invariable slang,
+whenever a man gets the bit out of his mouth, or, in other words, talks
+of any thing but horses.
+
+There is no novelty in this; it is only a second edition of Dean Swift's
+"new-fashioned way of being witty," which, in his fashionable day, was
+called "a bite." "You must ask a bantering question," he informs Stella,
+"or tell some damned lie in a serious manner, and then they will answer
+or speak as if you were in earnest; then cry you, 'there's a _bite_.' I
+would not have you undervalue this, for it is the constant amusement in
+court, and every where else among the great people; and I let you know
+it, in order to have it obtain amongst you, and teach you a new
+refinement."
+
+If they accept an invitation from Lord Northampton to go to one of his
+_soirées_, which they sometimes do for a "lark," their antics are vastly
+amusing; they put on grave, philosophic faces, and mimic the _savans_ to
+the life; if the noble president, thinking he is doing the polite thing,
+points out to them a poet, for example, or a professor, they have a
+knack of elevating the shoulders, looking at the man with a pitying air,
+and whispering the words "_poor beast_," with a tone and manner quite
+inimitable. Indeed this is one of the few clever things they do, and on
+or off the stage we have never seen any thing like it.
+
+If Dickens were to die--an event that, we hope and trust, may not occur
+these fifty years, the fast fellows would have some such conversation
+upon the event, as follows:--
+
+A. So, Dickens, I hear, is dead.
+
+B. How much?
+
+C. What's that?
+
+A. Why, Pickwick, to be sure.
+
+B. Oh! Eh? Pickwick--Moses--Bath coach--_I_ know.
+
+C. Pickwick--near Chippenham? Paul Methven lives there--_I_ know.
+
+A. No--no--I tell you, he's a man that writes.
+
+B. Is he? He may be. How should I know?
+
+C. Well--it's a d----d hard case, that, at the beginning of the season,
+I should have lost a d----d good tiger. Has any body got a d----d
+small tiger for sale?
+
+As we are in the humour for dialogue, we may as well give a _verbatim_
+report of our last interview with Lord----, who had been a fast fellow
+in his youth. We encountered him on the sunny side of St James's Street,
+the other day, tottering to Brookes's: although we don't expect you to
+believe it, what passed was, as we recollect it, exactly as follows:--
+
+"Well, my Lord, I hope your gout is better?"
+
+"Eh--how are you? Well, I think I _am_ better, d'ye know."
+
+"Glad to hear it."
+
+"Thankee--thankee--d'ye know, eh, I've changed my doctor?"
+
+"Well, and how d'ye like your new one?"
+
+"Capitally--eh--d'ye know, he's a clever fellow. Young--eh--but
+clever--very. D'ye know, eh--he corresponds regularly with--eh--with Sir
+_Humphrey_ Newton and Sir _Isaac_ Davy!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE. BY CHARLES MACKAY.
+
+
+    [Lord Nithsdale, as is well known, was condemned to death for
+    his participation in the Rebellion of 1715. By the exertions of
+    his true-hearted wife, Winifred, he was enabled to escape from
+    the Tower of London on the night before the morning appointed
+    for his execution. The lady herself--noble soul!--has related,
+    in simple and touching language, in a letter to her sister, the
+    whole circumstances of her lord's escape. The letter is
+    preserved in the Appendix to "Cromek's Remains of Nithsdale and
+    Galloway Song," page 313 to 329--London, 1810.]
+
+
+    "Farewell to thee, Winifred, dearest and best!
+      Farewell to thee, wife of a courage so high!--
+    Come hither, and nestle again in my breast,
+      Come hither, and kiss me again ere I die!--
+    And when I am laid bleeding and low in the dust,
+      And yield my last breath at a tyrant's decree,
+    Look up--be resign'd--and the God of the just
+      Will shelter thy fatherless bairnies and thee!"
+
+    She wept on his breast, but, ashamed of her tears,
+      She dash'd off the drops that ran warm down her cheek;
+    "Be sorrow for those who have leisure for tears--
+      O pardon thy wife that her soul was so weak!
+    There is hope for us still, and I will not despair,
+      Though cowards and traitors exult at thy fate;
+    I'll show the oppressors what woman can dare,
+      I'll show them that love can be stronger than hate!"
+
+    Lip to lip, heart to heart, and their fond arms entwined,
+      He has kiss'd her again, and again, and again;
+    "Farewell to thee, Winifred, pride of thy kind,
+      Sole ray in my darkness, sole joy in my pain!"
+    She has gone--he has heard the last sound of her tread;
+      He has caught the last glimpse of her robes at the door;--
+    She has gone, and the joy that her presence had shed,
+      May cheer the sad heart of Lord Nithsdale no more.
+
+    And the prisoner pray'd in his dungeon alone,
+      And thought of the morn and its dreadful array,
+    Then rested his head on his pillow of stone,
+      And slumber'd an hour ere the dawning of day.
+    Oh, balm of the Weary! Oh, soother of pain!
+      That still to the sad givest pity and dole;
+    How gently, oh sleep! lay thy wings on his brain,
+      How sweet were thy dreams to his desolate soul!
+
+    Once more on his green native braes of the Nith,
+      He pluck'd the wild bracken, a frolicsome boy;
+    He sported his limbs in the waves of the Frith;
+      He trod the green heather in gladness and joy;--
+    On his gallant grey steed to the hunting he rode,
+      In his bonnet a plume, on his bosom a star;
+    He chased the red deer to its mountain abode,
+      And track'd the wild roe to its covert afar.
+
+    The vision was changed. In a midsummer night
+      He roam'd with his Winifred, blooming and young;
+    He gazed on her face by the moon's mellow light,
+      And loving and warm were the words on his tongue.
+    Thro' good and thro' evil, he swore to be true,
+      And love through all fortune his Winnie alone;
+    And he saw the red blush o'er her cheek as it flew,
+      And heard her sweet voice that replied to his own.
+
+    Once more it has changed. In his martial array,
+      Lo, he rides at the head of his gallant young men!
+    And the pibroch is heard on the hills far away,
+      And the clans are all gather'd from mountain and glen.
+    For exiled King Jamie, their darling and lord,
+      They raise the loud slogan--they rush to the war.
+    The tramp of the battle resounds on the sward--
+      Unfurl'd is the banner--unsheath'd the claymore!
+
+    The vision has fled like a sparkle of light,
+      And dark is the dream that possesses him now;
+    The morn of his doom has succeeded the night,
+      And the damp dews of death gather fast on his brow.
+    He hears in the distance a faint muffled drum,
+      And the low sullen boom of the death-tolling bell;
+    The block is prepared, and the headsman is come,
+      And the victim, bareheaded, walks forth from his cell.--
+
+    No! No! 'twas a vision! his hour was not yet,
+      And waking, he turn'd on his pallet of straw,
+    And a form by his side he could never forget,
+      By the pale misty light of a taper he saw.
+    "'Tis I! 'tis thy Winifred!"--softly she said,
+      "Arouse thee, and follow--be bold, never fear!
+    There was danger abroad, but my errand has sped,
+      I promised to save thee--and lo I am here!"
+
+    He rose at the summons, and little they spoke,
+      The gear of a lady she placed on his head;
+    She cover'd his limbs with a womanly cloak,
+      And painted his cheeks of a maidenly red.
+    "One kiss, my dear lord, and begone!--and beware!
+      Walk softly--I follow!" Oh guide them, and save,
+    From the open assault, from the intricate snare,
+      Thou, Providence, friend of the good and the brave!
+
+    They have pass'd unsuspected the guard at the cell,
+      And the sentinel band that keep watch at the gate;
+    One peril remains--it is past--all is well!
+      They are free; and her love has proved stronger than hate.
+    They are gone--who shall follow?--their ship's on the brine,
+      And they sail unpursued to a far friendly shore,
+    Where love and content at their hearth may entwine,
+      And the warfare of kingdoms divide them no more.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+One bright day, last June, one of the London coaches rattled at an
+amazing rate down the main street of a garrison town, and, with a sudden
+jerk which threw the smoking horses on their haunches, pulled up at the
+door of the Waterloo hotel. A beautiful sight it is--a fine, well
+appointed coach, of what we must now call the ancient fashion, with its
+smart driver, brilliant harness, and thoroughbred team. Then it is a
+spectacle pleasing to gods and men, the knowing and instantaneous manner
+in which the grooms perform their work in leading off the horses, and
+putting fresh ones to--the rapid diving for carpet-bags and portmanteaus
+into the various boots and luggage holes--the stepping down or out (as
+the case may be) of the passengers--the tip to the coachman--the touch
+of the hat in return--the remounting of that functionary into his chair
+of honour--the chick, chick! with which he hints to the pawing greys he
+is ready for a start--and, finally, the roll off into dim distance of
+the splendid vehicle, watched by the crowd that have gathered round it,
+till it is lost from their sight. A steam-coach, with its disgusting,
+hissing, sputtering, shapeless, lifeless engine, ought to be ashamed of
+itself, and would probably blush for its appearance, if it were not for
+the quantity of brass that goes to its composition. On the
+above-mentioned bright day in June, only two passengers go out from the
+inside of the Celerity. The outsides, who were apparently pushed for
+time, urged them to make haste; and the lady, the first who stept on the
+pavement, took their admonitions in good part. With only a small basket
+on her arm, and a dark veil drawn close down over her face, she dropt
+half-a-crown into the hand of the expectant coachman, and walked rapidly
+up the street. The gentleman, however, put off a good deal of time in
+identifying his carpet-bag--then his pocket seemed to be indefinitely
+deep, as his hand appeared to have immense difficulty in getting to the
+bottom of it. At last he succeeded in catching hold of some coin, and,
+while he dropt it into the extended palm of the impatient Jehu, he sad,
+"Hem! I say, coachie, who is that lady? Eh! fine eyes--hem!"
+
+"Can't say, sir--no name in the way-bill--thank ye, sir."
+
+"Then you can't tell me any thing about her? Prettiest critter I ever
+saw in my life. As to Mrs Moss"--
+
+But before the inquisitive gentleman, who stood all this time with the
+carpet-bag in his hand, had an opportunity of making any further
+revelation as to Mrs Moss, or any more enquiries as to his unknown
+travelling companion, the coachman had mounted the box, and, after
+asserting in a very complacent tone that it was all right, had driven
+off, and left him in the same state of ignorance as before.
+
+"Sleep here, sir?--Dinner, sir?--This way to the coffee-room," said a
+smart young man, with long hair and a blue coat, with a napkin over
+his arm.
+
+"Oh! you're the waiter, I suppose. Now, waiter, I want to find out
+something, and I daresay you can help me"--
+
+"This way, sir. You can have a mutton-chop in twenty minutes."
+
+"No--listen to me--I'm going to ask you some questions. Did you see the
+lady that got out of the coach when I did? She's a beautiful critter;
+such black eyes!--such a sweet voice!--such a small hand! We travelled
+together the whole way from town. She spoke very little, and kept her
+name a secret. I couldn't find out what she came here for. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, sir--perfectly," said the waiter, at the same time evidently
+understanding nothing about it.
+
+"Well, you see, I don't know what you think of it down here; but, for my
+part, I think ladies at forty-five are past their prime. Now, my next
+neighbour in London--Mrs Moss is her name--she's exactly that age. You
+hear what I am saying, waiter?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Now, I don't think this young lady, from her eyes and mouth, can be
+more than twenty-three--a charming age, waiter--hem! You never saw her
+before, did you?"
+
+"No, sir--never."
+
+"Well, its very astonishing what a beautiful girl she is. I am retired
+from the lace and ribbon business, waiter, but I think she's the
+sweetest specimen of the fair sex I ever saw. And you don't know who she
+is, do you?"
+
+"No, sir. You'll sleep here, sir, I think you said? shammaid!"
+
+"No--I haven't said so yet," said the stranger, rather sharply.
+
+"Oh!" said the waiter, who had not attended to a syllable the gentleman
+had spoken--and retired under the archway into the hotel.
+
+"The only way to get information," mused the gentleman with the
+carpet-bag, still standing on the pavement, "is to have your eyes about
+you and ask questions. It's what I always do since I have begun to
+travel for improvement--I got all the waiter knew out of him in a
+moment--I ought to have been an Old Bailey barrister--there ain't such a
+cross-questioner as I am in the whole profession."
+
+The person who possessed such astonishing powers of investigation, was a
+man about fifty years of age, little and stout, with a face of perfect
+good-nature, and presenting the unmistakeable appearance of a prosperous
+man. The twinkle about his eye spoke strongly of the three-and-a-half
+per cents, and a mortgage or two might be detected in the puckers round
+his mouth. I shouldn't at all care to change banker's books with him
+on chance.
+
+"How lucky I haven't proposed to Mrs M.! Charming woman, but
+fat--decidedly fat--and a little dictatorial too. Travel, says
+she--enlarge your mind--why, how big would she have it?--expand your
+intellect--does she think a man's brains are shaped like a fan? I wish
+to heaven I could find out who this beautiful"--
+
+But, as if his wish was that moment to be gratified, a small light hand
+was laid upon his shoulder, and, on turning round, he saw his fair
+fellow-traveller.
+
+"Excuse me, sir," she said, in a very sweet but slightly agitated voice,
+"excuse me for addressing you, but I am emboldened by your
+appearance to"--
+
+"Oh, ma'am--you're very polite--I feel it a great compliment, I assure
+you."
+
+"The benevolent expression of your counternance encourages me to"--
+
+"Oh, ma'am, don't mention it, I beg"--
+
+"To ask your assistance in my present difficulty."
+
+"Now, then," thought the gentleman thus appealed to, "I'll find out all
+about her--how I'll question her!"
+
+"You will help me, I feel sure," continued the lady.
+
+"Oh, certainly--how can you doubt it?--(Hem--what white teeth! Mrs. M.
+is a martyr to toothache.) How can I be useful, ma'am? Don't you think
+it's a curious coincidence we travelled together, ma'am, and both of us
+coming to the same town? It strikes me to be very singular; doesn't it
+you, ma'am?"
+
+"I shall be glad of it, if"--
+
+"Ah! by-the-bye--another queer thing is your applying to me--a man past
+the bloom of boyhood, to be sure, in fact a little beyond"--
+
+"The prime of life," added the lady, not regarding the disappointed look
+with which her interpolation was received; "it is for that reason, sir,
+I throw myself on your kindness; you have perhaps daughters, sir, or
+grandchildren, who"--
+
+"Devil a one. Gad, ma'am, I wish you heard Mrs M., a neighbour of
+mine--why, she's always talking of my wildness and juvenile liveliness,
+and all that sort of thing; an excellent woman Mrs M., but
+stout--certainly stout."
+
+"Are you acquainted with this town, sir?" said the lady.
+
+"God bless ye! read an immense account of it in the Penny Magazine ever
+so long ago; but whether it is famous for a breakwater, or a harbour, or
+a cliff, or some dock-yard machinery, I can't recollect; perhaps it's
+all of them together; we shall find out soon; for travelling, as Mrs M.
+says, enlarges the mind, and expands the intellect."
+
+The lady looked in the face of the disciple of Mrs M. with an anxious
+expression, as if she repented having addressed him.
+
+"But are you acquainted with the localities here?" she said at last. "As
+to myself, I am utterly ignorant of the place I have to go to; and if
+you knew what reason I have to"--
+
+"Ah! that's the very thing; give me your confidence, and I can refuse you
+nothing."
+
+"My confidence!--alas, the business I come on can only be interesting to
+the parties concerned. I came from London for one sole object; and if I
+fail, if any delay occurs, the consequences may be--oh, I dread to
+think of them!"
+
+"You don't say so? Lord! what a thing it is to travel!"
+
+"It was of the utmost consequence that my journey here should be
+unknown. I had no one to trust. Alas, alas! I have no friend in all the
+world in whom I could confide!"
+
+"Hem, hem!" said the little man, moved by the earnest sadness of her
+tone and looks, "you have one friend, ma'am; you may trust _me_ with any
+thing in the world; yes, me, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place,
+Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I tell you my name, that you may
+know I am somebody. I retired from business some years ago, because
+uncle John died one day, and left me his heir; got into a snug cottage,
+green verandah, trellice porch, green door, with bell handle in the
+wall; next door to Mrs Moss--clever woman, but large--very large. And
+now that you know who I am, you will perhaps tell me"--
+
+"I have little to tell, sir; I came here to see an officer who was to
+have landed this morning from foreign service; if I don't see him
+instantly there will be death--ah!"--
+
+"Soldiers--death--ah!" thought Mr Clam; "wild fellows them
+officers--breach of promise--short memories--a lovely critter, but
+rather silly I'm afraid; I should like to see a soldier coming the
+sentimental over Mrs M. Well, ma'am?"
+
+The lady perceived something in the expression of Mr Clam's face (which
+was radiant with the wonderful discovery he thought he had made) which
+probably displeased her; for she said, in a very abrupt and almost
+commanding manner--
+
+"Do you know the way, sir, to the infantry barracks?"
+
+"Not I, ma'am; never knew a soldier in my life. (Think of Mrs M. paying
+a morning visit to the barracks! What a critter this is!")
+
+"Then you can't assist me, sir, as I had hoped, and therefore"--
+
+"Oh, by no means, ma'am; I can find out where the barracks are in a
+moment. There's a young officer crossing the street; I'll ask him, and
+be back in a minute."
+
+So saying, Mr Clam placed his, carpet-bag in safety inside the archway
+of the hotel, and started off in pursuit of information. While her
+Mercury was gone on his voyage of discovery, the lady looked at the
+officer he was following. He was a young handsome man of two or
+three-and-twenty, lounging slowly along with the air of modest
+appreciation of his own value to Queen and country--not to mention
+private dinner parties and county balls--which seems soon to become a
+part of the military character in a garrison town. As he turned round to
+speak to Mr Nicholas Clam, the lady half shrieked, and pulled her veil
+more carefully over her face.
+
+"I'm lost! I'm lost!" she said; "'tis Chatterton himself! Oh, why did I
+allow this talkative old man to trouble himself with my affairs? If the
+meeting takes place before I can explain, my happiness is gone
+for ever!"
+
+She turned away, and walked as quickly as she could up one of the side
+streets. Not daring to turn round, she was alarmed by hearing steps
+rapidly nearing her in pursuit; and, from the heaviness of the sound,
+concluded at once that there was more than one person close behind. It
+turned out, however, to be nobody but her portly, and now breathless
+companion, Mr Clan.
+
+"Stop, for heaven's sake, ma'am! that ain't the way," he said. "What a
+pace she goes at! Ma'am! ma'am! She's as deaf as a post, and would drive
+me into consumption in a week; and this in a hot day in June, too! Mrs
+M. has more sense--stop!"
+
+"Have you discovered the way, sir?" she enquired, hurriedly.
+
+"Haven't I? I certainly have the knack of picking up information. I told
+the young man I had travelled with you from London; that you had some
+secret business at the barracks; that I didn't know what it was; and the
+moment I asked him all these questions"--
+
+"Questions, sir?" said the lady, spitefully; "it strikes me you were
+telling every thing, and asking nothing"--
+
+"The moment he found out, I say, that there was a lady in the case, and
+that you wanted to know the way to the barracks, he insisted on coming
+to show you the way himself--a civil young man."
+
+"Oh, why did you speak to him?" exclaimed the lady, still hurrying on;
+"to him of all men? you have ruined me!"
+
+"Me ruined you! That's going it a little too strong. I never ruined any
+body in my life. How did I know you knew the man? There's some awful
+mystery in this young woman," muttered Mr Clam, puffing like a
+broken-winded coach horse, "and if I live I'll find it out. There's
+nothing improves the mind, as Mrs M. says, so much as curiosity."
+
+"Is it far to the barracks, sir?"
+
+"This ain't the way, ma'am; you're making it further every minute; and,
+besides, you're running away from the young officer."
+
+"I _mustn't_ meet him, sir--do you hear me?--I _must_ not be
+recognized."
+
+"Well, ma'am," said Mr Clam, "there's no great harm done yet; I did
+every thing for the best--following the dictates of an unbiassed
+judgment, as Mrs M. says; and if I've brought you into a scrape, I'll
+get you out of it. Take my arm, ma'am, turn boldly round, and I'll soon
+set him about his business."
+
+The lady did as she was told, and they retraced their steps. The young
+officer now approached, and touching his hat with an air of unspeakable
+elegance, and then swinging his cane, said, "You asked me, sir, to show
+the way to the barracks."
+
+"Quite a mistake, sir," replied Mr Clam, drily; "we know the way
+perfectly well ourselves."
+
+"It isn't far," pursued the officer; "and I shall be delighted to
+accompany you. Any thing that you, sir, or your beautiful companion, may
+require, I shall be happy to procure for you. Is there any one you wish
+to see at the barracks?"
+
+This question was addressed to the lady, who drew back, and made no
+reply.
+
+"If there's any body we want to see," said Mr Clam, "we'll ask for him;
+but we're in a hurry, sir. This lady travelled all the way from London
+expressly on purpose to"--
+
+But here a pinch in the arm prevented any further revelation, and made
+Mr Clam wince as if he had been stung by an adder.
+
+"You needn't grip, so hard," he said to his companion; "for its my
+solemn opinion you've taken the bit out. Let us go, sir," he continued,
+addressing the officer once more. "We don't need your assistance."
+
+The young man looked surprised.
+
+"Well, sir," he said, "it was entirely to do you a favour that I came."
+
+"You'll do us a far greater if you'll go," replied Mr Clam, becoming
+boisterous and dignified, after the manner of a turkey-cock.
+
+"Sir, I don't understand such language," said the officer.
+
+"Then your education has been neglected, sir. It's English--plain,
+downright English. We have no desire for your society, sir.--Right about
+wheel--march."
+
+"_You_ are below my notice," said the young man, flushing up; "and your
+insolent vulgarity is, therefore, safe. At the same time, if the lady
+needs my assistance"--
+
+"She doesn't need your assistance--far from it--she told me she wished
+never to"--
+
+Another pinch, more powerful apparently than the former, from the
+writhing of the sufferer, interrupted once more the stream of his
+eloquence; and he was worked up into a tremendous passion, partly,
+perhaps, by the cool contempt of the young officer, and principally by
+the pain he suffered in his arm.
+
+"You're an impudent fellow, sir," he said. "I don't care twopence for
+all the puppies that ever wore red coats, sir. My name is Nicholas Clam,
+Esq., No. 4, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London; and
+I can shoot at a popinjay as well as another."
+
+"You shall hear from me, sir," said the officer, biting his lips. "My
+name is Chatterton--Lieutenant Chatterton. Good day, sir."
+
+He touched his hat proudly, and walked away.
+
+"A good riddance, ma'am," said Mr Clam. "Them young chaps think to have
+it all their own way. I wish I had seen a policeman or a serjeant of
+soldiers; I would have charged him, as sure as a gun!"
+
+"Oh, come quick, quick!" exclaimed the lady, pressing more hurriedly on
+his arm. "Take me to the barracks! I must see him instantly!"
+
+"Who?" enquired Mr Clam. "I'm all on the teeters to understand what all
+this is about. Who is it you must see? Now, for my own part, I don't
+want to see any one; only I wish you would tell me what"--
+
+"Oh, spare me the recital at present. I'm so agitated by recent events,
+that, that--indeed you must excuse me. Oh come--quickly, quickly, come!"
+
+There was no answer possible to such a request, more especially as by
+suiting the action to the word, and drawing her companion forward at a
+tremendous rate, she had entirely taken away the quantity of breath
+required to carry on a conversation. Mr Clam's cogitations, however,
+were deep; and, among them, the most prominent was a doubt as to the
+great advantages to be derived from travel, and a firm persuasion that
+it is a very foolish thing to become the champion of any lady whatever,
+more particularly if she conceals her name, and refuses to satisfy one's
+curiosity in the smallest point.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+The young man who has been introduced to us as Lieutenant Chatterton,
+pursued his way up the main street in no very equable temper. A little,
+grey-eyed, snub-nosed civilian, to have insulted an officer and a
+gentleman! the disgrace was past all bearing, especially as it had been
+inflicted on him in the presence of a lady. Burning with the indignation
+befitting his age and profession, and determined to call out the
+insulter, his present object was to meet with a friend whom he might
+send with the message. Luckily for his purpose, he was met by
+Major McToddy.
+
+"Ha! major--never was so happy to see any one in my life," exclaimed
+Chatterton, seizing the hand of his friend--a tall, raw-boned, red-faced
+man, with a good-natured expression of face, not unmixed with a
+considerable share of good sense.
+
+"I really," replied the major, in an accent that was a great deal more
+redolent of Renfrew than Middlesex--"I really jist at this moment dinna
+happen to have a single guinea aboot me, so ye needna go on wi' your
+compliments; but at hame in the kist,--the _arca_, as a body may say"--
+
+"Poh! I don't want to borrow just now--except, indeed, your assistance
+in a matter of the highest importance. You have always been so kind, so
+obliging, that I am sure you wont refuse."
+
+"Weel, say awa', speak on; _perge, puer_, as a body may say,"
+interrupted the major, who seemed resolved to show what command of
+language he had, for he uniformly began his speeches in his vernacular,
+and translated them, though with an effort, into English, or any other
+tongue he chanced to recollect.
+
+"Did you see a lady near the Waterloo? tall, graceful, timid; by
+heavens, a shape to dream of, not to see?"
+
+"Then, what for did ye look at it?--answer that if you
+please--_responde, s'il vous plait_."
+
+"A creature so sweet, so beautiful; ah, McToddy!"
+
+"What's a' this aboot. What's the meaning of all this? Is't in some wild
+play aboot a woman--_une femme,_--a _fæmina_, as a body may say, you
+want my help? Gae wa' wi' ye--be off with you,--_apage, Sathanas_, as a
+body may say--I'm owre auld in the horn for sic nonsense--_non
+mihi tantas_."
+
+"I tell you, major, she is the loveliest creature in Europe. Such a foot
+--such shoulders--such a walk--by heavens! I'll shoot him as dead as
+Julius Cæsar."
+
+"Who are you going to shoot?--is't a woman in man's claes?" enquired the
+major, astonished.
+
+"I'll shoot him--the cursed, fat, pudgy, beastly rascal, her husband.
+I've never seen her face, but"--
+
+"Lord seff us!--heaven preserve us, as a body may say. Is that a
+respectable reason for shooting a man that you have never seen his
+wife's face? Come, come, be cool, John Chatterton--be cool; _animum
+rege_, as a body may"--
+
+"Cool? a pretty thing for a steady old stager like you, to tell me to
+be cool. I tell you, I've been insulted, threatened, quizzed,
+laughed at."
+
+"Wha laughed at ye?" enquired the major.
+
+"The woman. I'm certain, she must have laughed. How could she avoid it?
+I know she laughed at me; for though I couldn't see her face for the
+horrid veil she kept over it, I saw from the anxiety she was in to hide
+it, from the shaking, of her whole figure, that she was in the
+convulsions of a suppressed titter. I'll shoot him as I would a
+partridge."
+
+"But ye've nae license, sir, nor nae qualification either that I can
+see--for what did the honest man do?" said the major, amazed at the
+wrath of his companion.
+
+"Do! He didn't actually call me a puppy, but he meant it. I know he
+did--I saw it in the twinkle of his light, prying, silly-looking
+eyes--the pucking up of his long, red, sneering lip."
+
+"But ye canna fecht a man--you can't challenge a person, as a body may
+say, for having light eyes and long lips--what mair? _quid ultra?_ as
+a body"--
+
+"He asked me the way to the barracks."
+
+"Weel, there's no great harm in that--_non nocet_, as a"--
+
+"I told him the way, and offered to escort them there; I offered to be
+of any use to them in my power, for I knew every officer in garrison,
+you know, except our own regiment, that only came in to-day; and just
+when I was going to offer my arm to the lovely creature at his side, he
+said that they didn't need my guidance, that they did not desire my
+society--that he could shoot at a popinjay; now, what the devil _is_ a
+popinjay?"
+
+"I'm thinking jay is the English for some sort of a pyet--a tale-bearer,
+as a body may say--a blab."
+
+"A blab!--by heavens, Major M'Toddy, I don't know what to say--if I
+thought the fellow really meant to insinuate any thing of that kind, I
+would horsewhip him though I met him in a church."
+
+"Oho! so your conscience is pricked at last?--_mens sibi non conscia_,
+as a body may say," answered the major. "Noo, I want to speak to you on
+a point of great importance to yourself, my young friend, before you get
+acquainted with the regiment. Hoo long have you been in the depot here,
+John Chatterton?"
+
+"Eighteen months."
+
+"Weel, man, that's a-year-and-a-half, and you must be almost a man noo."
+
+The youth looked somewhat inclined to be angry at this mode of hinting
+that he was still rather juvenile--but the major went on.
+
+"And you were engaged, six months ago, to the beauty you used to tell me
+so much about, Miss Hope of Oakside."
+
+"Yes--yes--well?" replied the youth.
+
+"And what for have ye broke off in such a sudden manner?--_unde rixa?_
+as a body may say."
+
+"I broke off, Major M'Toddy? I tell you _she_ broke off with me."
+
+"Did she tell you so?" enquired the senior.
+
+"No--do you think I would condescend to ask her? No; but doesn't every
+body know that she is married?"
+
+"Have you seen the announcement in the papers?"
+
+"I never look at the papers--but I tell you I know from the best
+authority, that she is either married, or is going to marry an old
+worn-out fellow of the name of Smith. A friend of Smith's told me so,
+the last time I came down by the coach."
+
+"A man on the top of the coach told you that she was going to be
+married--that is, _in vulgum pargere voces_, as a body may say--capital
+authority! And what did you do then?"
+
+"Sent her back her letters--with a tickler to herself on her conduct."
+
+"And was that a'?--did you not write to any of her family?"
+
+"No. Her eldest sister is a very delightful, sensible girl, and I am
+certain must have been as angry at Marion's behaviour as I was."
+
+"And now her brother's come home to-day--you're sure to meet him--it'll
+be an awkward meeting."
+
+"I can meet him or any man in England," replied the youth. "If there's
+any awkwardness about it, it sha'n't be on my side."
+
+"Noo, John Chatterton, my young friend, I'm going to say some words to
+you that ye'll no like. Ye're very vain o' yoursel'--but maybe at your
+time o' life it's not a very great fault to have a decent bump o'
+self-conceit; you're the best-hearted, most honourable-minded,
+pleasantest lad I know any where, and very like some nephews of my own
+in the Company's service: ye'll be a baronet when your father dies, and
+as rich as a Jew. But oh, John Chatterton, ye're an ass--a reg'lar
+donkey, as a body may say, to get into tiffs of passion, and send back a
+beautiful girl's letters, because some land-louping vagabond on the top
+of a coach told you some report or other about a Mr Smith"--
+
+"_Captain_ Smith," said Chatterton, biting his lips; "he's a well known
+man; he was an ensign in this very regiment, succeeded to a large
+fortune, and retired: he's a very old man."
+
+"He's very fine fellow, and as gallant a soldier as ever lived,"
+answered the major; "and if you think that a man of six or
+seven-and-thirty is ow'r auld to marry, by my troth, Mister Chatterton,
+I tak' the liberty to tell you that you labour under a very
+considerable mistake."
+
+Chatterton looked at the irate face of his companion, in which the
+crow-feet of forty years were distinctly visible, and perceived that he
+had gone on a wrong tack.
+
+"Well, but then, major, what the deuce right had she to marry without
+giving me notice of her intentions?"
+
+"Set ye up, and push ye forrit!--marry come up! as a body may say--who
+made you the young lassie's guardian? If you were really engaged to her,
+why didn't you go to Oakside at once and find out the truth, and then go
+instantaneously and kick the fellow you met on the top of the coach,
+round and round the barrack yard, till there was not enough of him left
+to plant your boot on?"
+
+The young man looked down as if a little ashamed of himself.
+
+"Never mind, major," said he, "it can't be helped now; so do, like a
+good fellow, go and find out the little rascal who insulted me so
+horribly just now. It would be an immense satisfaction to pull his nose
+with a regulation glove on."
+
+"But you must describe him, and tell me his name, for it would be a sad
+occurrence if I were to give your message to the wrong man."
+
+"You can't mistake him; the most impudent-looking vulgarian in England.
+His name is Nicholas Clam, living in some unheard-of district near the
+Regent's Park."
+
+"And the lady is his wife, is she?"
+
+"Of course. Who the devil would walk with such a fellow that wasn't
+obliged to do it by law?"
+
+"Well, my young friend, I'll see what's to be done in this matter, and
+will bring you, most likely, a solemn declaration that he never shot at
+a popinjay in his life. And you're really going to end the conversation
+without asking me for a loan? You're not going to be like Virtus, _post
+nummos_ after the siller, as a body may say?"
+
+"No, not to-day, thank you. The governor keeps me rather short just now,
+and won't come down handsome till I'm married; but"--
+
+"So you've lost that and the girl too--the lass and the tocher, as a
+body may say--all by the lies of a blackguard on the top of a coach?
+Ye're a wild lad, John Chatterton, and so _vale, et memor esto mei--au
+revoir_, as a body may say."
+
+The major turned away on warlike thoughts intent, that is to say, with
+the intention of finding out Mr Clam, and enquiring into the
+circumstances of the insult to his friend. Mr Chatterton was also on the
+point of hurrying off, when a gentleman, who had overheard the last
+sentence of the sonorous-voiced major's parting speech, stopped
+suddenly, as if struck by what was said, and politely addressed
+the youth.
+
+"I believe, sir, I heard the name of Chatterton mentioned by the
+gentleman who has just left you?"
+
+"Yes, he was speaking of him."
+
+"Of your regiment, sir?"
+
+"Yes, we have a man of that name," replied Mr Chatterton. "What the
+deuce can this fellow want?"
+
+"I am extremely anxious to meet him," continued the stranger, "as I have
+some business with him of the highest importance."
+
+"Oh, a dun, by Jupiter!" thought the young soldier. He looked at the
+stranger, a very well dressed gentlemanly man--too manlike for a tailor
+--too polished for a horse-dealer; his Wellingtons were brightly
+polished--he was perhaps his boot-maker. "Oh, you wish to see Mr
+Chatterton?" he said aloud.
+
+"Very much," replied the stranger. "I have some business with him that
+admits of no delay."
+
+"An arrest at least," thought the youth. "I wish to heaven M'Toddy had
+not left me! Is it fair to ask," he continued, aloud, "of what nature
+your business is with Mr Chatterton? I am his most intimate
+acquaintance; whatever you say to me is sure to reach him."
+
+"I must speak to him myself, sir," replied the stranger, coldly. "Where
+am I likely to find him?"
+
+"Oh, most likely at the bankers," said the young man, by way of putting
+his questioner on the wrong scent. "He has just stept into an immense
+fortune from a maiden aunt, and is making arrangements to pay off all
+his debts."
+
+"There are some he will find it difficult to settle," replied the
+stranger with a sneer, "in spite of his new-found wealth."
+
+"Indeed, sir! What an exorbitant Jew this fellow is; and yet I never
+signed any bond!"
+
+"Yes, sir," continued the other, with a bitterer sneer than before, "and
+at the same time such as he can't deny. I have vouchers for
+every charge."
+
+"Well, he will not dispute your charges. I daresay they are much the
+same as those of other people in the same situation with yourself."
+
+"Are there others in that condition?" enquired the stranger; "what an
+unprincipled scoundrel!"
+
+"Who, sir? How dare you apply such language to a gentleman?"
+
+"I did not, sir, apply it to a gentleman; I applied it to Mr
+Chatterton."
+
+"To _me_, sir! It was to me! _I'm_ Mr Chatterton, sir; and now, out with
+your writ--whose suit? What's the amount? Is it Stulz or Dean?"
+
+The stranger steps back on this announcement, and politely but coldly
+lifted his hat.
+
+"Oh, curse your politeness!" exclaimed the young man, in the extremity
+of anger. "Where's the bill?"
+
+"I don't know your meaning, sir," answered the stranger, "in talking
+about writs and bills; but"--
+
+"Why--are you not a tailor, or a bootmaker, or something of the kind?
+Don't you say you have claims on me, and don't you talk of charges with
+vouchers, and heaven knows what? Come, let us hear. I'll give you a
+promissory note, and I daresay my friend Major M'Toddy will give me his
+security."
+
+"I thought you had recently succeeded to a fortune, sir? but that, I
+suppose, was only another of your false and unfounded assertions. Do you
+know me, sir?"
+
+"No--except that you are the most insulting scoundrel I ever met, and
+that I wish you were worth powder and shot."
+
+"Let that pass, sir," continued the stranger, with a bitter smile. "Did
+you ever hear of Captain Smith, sir?"
+
+"Of twenty, sir. I know fifteen Captain Smiths most intimately."
+
+"But I happen to be one of the five unhonoured by your acquaintance. You
+are acquainted with Mrs Smith; sir?"
+
+"I'm acquainted with three-and-twenty, sir. What then?"
+
+"I was in hopes, that the recollection of Oakside would have induced you
+to treat her name with more respect."
+
+Chatterton's brow grew dark with rage. "So, then," he said, lifting his
+hat with even more pride and coldness than his adversary--"so, then,
+you're the Captain Smith I have heard of, and it was no false report? I
+am delighted, sir, to see you here, and to know that you are a
+gentleman, that I may, without degradation to her Majesty's commission,
+put a bullet or two into your body. Your insulting conduct deserves
+chastisement, sir, and it shall have it."
+
+"With all my heart," replied Captain Smith; the pleasure of calling you
+to account was the object of my visit. I accept your challenge--only
+wondering that you have spirit and honour enough left to resent an
+intentional affront. Can we meet to-night?"
+
+"Certainly. I shall send a friend to you in half an hour. He is gone on
+a similar message to another person already; and I will let you know at
+what hour I shall be disengaged."
+
+"Agreed," said Captain Smith; and the enemies, after a deep and formal
+bow on either side, pursued their way in different directions.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+In the meanwhile Mr Nicholas Clam, and the lady leaning on his arm, had
+proceeded in silence, for the lady's thoughts were so absorbed that she
+paid no attention to the many prefatory coughs with which her companion
+was continually clearing his throat. He thought of fifty different ways
+of commencing a conversation, and putting an end to the rapid pace they
+were going at. But onward still hurried the lady, and breathless, tired,
+disconcerted, and very much perplexed, Mr Clam was obliged to continue
+at her side.
+
+"This all comes of Mrs Moss writing a book," he muttered, "and being a
+philosophical character. What business had she to go publishing all that
+wonderful big volume above my mantel-piece--'Woman's Dignity; developed
+in Dialogues?' Without that she never would have found out that I could
+not be a sympathizing companion without the advantages of travel, and I
+never should have left number four, to be quarrelled with by every
+whipper-snapper of a soldier, and dragged to death by a woman unknown--a
+synonymous personage, as Mrs M. would say, that I encountered in a
+coach. 'Pon my word, ma'am," he added aloud, driven to desperation by
+fear of apoplexy from the speed they were hurrying on with, "this is
+carrying matters a little too far, or a great deal too fast at least.
+Will you let me ask you one question, ma'am?"
+
+"Certainly, sir," replied the lady; "but oh, do not delay!"
+
+"But I must delay though, for who do you think can have breath enough
+both to speak and run? And now, will you tell me, ma'am, what all this
+is about--why that young soldier and I were forced to quarrel--what you
+came down from London for, and what you are going to do at the
+barracks?"
+
+"You will hear it all, sir; you shall know all when we arrive. But do
+not harrow my feelings at present, I beseech you. It may all end well,
+if we are in time; but if not"--
+
+The look of the lady, and her tone as she said this, did not by any
+means contribute to Mr Clam's satisfaction. However, he perceived at
+once that further attempts to penetrate the mystery would be useless,
+and he kept musing on the strangeness of the circumstance, as profoundly
+puzzled as before. On getting into the barrack-yard, the lady muffled
+herself in her veil more closely than ever, and asked one of the
+soldiers she met in the archway, if Captain Hope "was in his room?"
+
+"He's not come ashore yet, ma'am," said the soldier, "we expect him
+every moment with the last detachment from the transport."
+
+"Not come yet?" exclaimed the lady; "which way will they march in?"
+
+"Up the Main Street, and across the drawbridge," said the soldier,
+goodnaturedly.
+
+"I wished to see him--to see him alone. Oh, how unfortunate he is not
+arrived!"
+
+"Now, 'pon my word," muttered Mr Clam, "this is by no means a favourable
+specimen of woman's dignity developed in dialogues. I wish my infernal
+thirst for knowledge and swelling-out the intellect hadn't led me into
+an acquaintance with a critter so desperate fond of the soldiers; and
+Captain Hope, too! Oh, I see how it is--this here lady, in spite of all
+her veils and pretences, is no better than she should be; or rather, a
+great deal worse. Think of Mrs M. falling into hysterics about a Captain
+Hope! It's a case of a breach of promise. What should we do now, ma'am?"
+he said, anxious to disengage himself, and a little piqued at the want
+of confidence his advances had hitherto been received with. "If you'll
+tell me the whole story, I shall be able to advise"--
+
+"Oh, you will know it all ere long. Soldier," she said to the man who
+had answered her former questions, "is there any lady in the
+barrack--the wife of one of the officers?"
+
+"There's our colonel, ma'am--at least the colonel's wife, ma'am; she's
+inspecting the regiments baggage in the inner court"
+
+"Come, come!" said the lady hurriedly, on hearing this, and again Mr
+Clam was forced along. In the inner court a stout lady, dressed in a
+man's hat and a green riding-habit without the skirts, was busily
+employed in taking the numbers of an amazing quantity of trunks and
+boxes, and seeing that all was right, with the skill and quickness of
+the guard of a heavy coach. She looked up quickly when she saw Mr Clam
+and his companion approach.
+
+"I hope you will pardon me, madam, for addressing you," said the
+latter, dropping Mr Clam's arm, and lifting her veil.
+
+"Be quick about it," said the colonel's wife; "I've no time to put off.
+Hand down that box, No. 19, H. G.," she continued to a sergeant who was
+perched on the top of the luggage.
+
+"I wished to see you on a very interesting subject, madam."
+
+"Love, I'll bet a guinea--who has deserted you now?--that green chest,
+Henicky, No. 34."
+
+"There is an officer in this regiment of the name of Chatterton?"
+
+"Yes, he's one of my young men, though I've not seen him yet. What
+then?"
+
+"Can I speak to you for a minute alone?"
+
+"If it's on regimental business, I shall listen to you, of course; but
+if it's some nonsensical love affair, you must go to Colonel Sword. I
+never trouble myself about such matters."
+
+"If I could see Colonel Sword, madam"--
+
+"Why can't you see him? Go into the commandant's room. You'll find him
+rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington, my youngest son! That other
+box, Henicky, L. M. And who is this old man with you?" continued Mrs
+Sword. "Your attorney, I suppose? See that you aren't ducked at the pump
+before you get out, old man; for I allow no lawyers inside these walls."
+
+"Ma'am?" enquired Mr Clam, bewildered at the sudden address of the
+officer in command.
+
+"It's a fact, as you'll find; so, make haste, young woman, and Sword
+will settle your business."
+
+"Captain Hope is not come on shore yet, I believe?" said the lady.
+
+"Charlie Hope? No! he's bringing the men and baggage. Has _he_ deserted
+you too? Go to Sword, I tell you; and let your legal friend retreat
+without beat of drum. How many chests is this, Henicky?"
+
+The Amazonian Mrs Sword proceeded with her work, and Mr Clam stood
+stupified with surprise. His companion, in the mean time, proceeded as
+directed to the commandant's house, and in a short time found herself in
+presence of Colonel Sword.
+
+The colonel was a tall thin man, with a very pale face, and a very
+hooked nose. He was not exactly rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington,
+as supposed by his wife, but he was reposing in an easy attitude, with
+his head thrown back, and his feet thrown forward, and his hands deeply
+ensconced in his pockets. The apparition of a stranger roused him in a
+moment. He was as indefatigable in politeness, as his wife had been in
+her regimental duties.
+
+"I was in hopes of finding my brother, Captain Hope, in the barracks,
+sir," she began; "but as I am disappointed, I throw myself on your
+indulgence, in requesting a few minutes' private conversation."
+
+"A sister of Captain Hope? delighted to see you, my dear--did you see
+Mrs Sword as you came in?"
+
+"For a minute, but she was busy, and referred me to you."
+
+"She's very good, I am sure," said the colonel.--"How can I be of use?"
+
+"I have a sister, Colonel Sword, very thoughtless, and very young. She
+became acquainted about a year ago with Mr Chatterton of your
+regiment--they were engaged--all the friends on both sides approved of
+the match, and all of a sudden Mr Chatterton wrote a very insulting
+letter, and withdrew from his engagement."
+
+"The devil he did? Is your sister like you, my dear?"
+
+"We are said to be like, but she is much younger--only eighteen."
+
+"Then this Chatterton is an ass. Good God! what chances silly fellows
+throw away! And what would you have me do?"
+
+"Prevent a duel, Colonel Sword. My brother is hot and fiery; Mr
+Chatterton is rash and headstrong. There will be enquiries,
+explanations, quarrels, and bloodshed. Oh, Colonel, help me to guard
+against so dreadful a calamity. I was anxious to see Charles, to tell
+him that the rupture was on Marion's side--that she had taken a dislike
+to Chatterton. We have kept it secret from every body yet. I haven't
+even told my husband."
+
+"You're married, then?"
+
+"To Captain Smith, once of this regiment."
+
+"Ah, an old friend. Give me your hand, my dear--we must keep those wild
+young fellows in order. If I see them look at each other, I'll put them
+both in arrest. But what can be the meaning of Chatterton's behaviour? I
+hear such good reports of him from all hands! M'Toddy writes me he is
+the finest young man in the corps."
+
+"I can't pretend to guess. He merely returned all my sister's letters,
+and wished her happy in her new position."
+
+"What position was that?"
+
+"A very unhappy one. She has been ill and nervous ever since."
+
+"So she liked the rascal. Strange creatures you girls are! Well, I'll do
+my best. I'll give my wife a hint of it, and you may depend on it, if
+she takes it in hand, there will be no quarrelling under her--I mean
+under my command. If you go towards the harbour, you'll most likely
+encounter your brother. In the meantime, I will go to Chatterton, and
+take all necessary precautions. And Captain Smith knows nothing
+of this?"
+
+"Nothing.--He was on a visit at Oakside, my sister's home, and I took
+the opportunity of his absence, to run down and explain matters to
+Charles. I must return to town immediately; for if I am missed, my
+husband will make enquiries, and he will be more difficult to pacify
+than my brother." So saying, they parted after a warm shake of the
+hand--but great events had occurred in the meantime in the barrack-yard.
+
+"Who is that young woman?" said the Colonel's wife, to our astonished
+friend Mr Clam. "Have you lost your tongue, sir?--who is she, I say?"
+
+"If you were to draw me with horses, I could'nt tell you, ma'am--'pon my
+solemn davit," said Mr Clam.
+
+"Oh, you won't tell, won't you?" returned the lady, cocking her hat, and
+leaving the mountain of baggage to the care of her friend Sergeant
+Henicky. "I tell you, sir, I insist on knowing; and if you don't confess
+this moment, I shall perhaps find means to make you."
+
+"Me, ma'am? How is it possible for me to confess, when I tell you I know
+nothing about her? I travelled with her from London in the coach--am
+very likely to get shot by a young soldier on her account--brought her
+here at a rate that has taken away all my breath--and know no more about
+her than you do."
+
+"A likely story!--but it won't do for me, sir; no, sir--I see you are an
+attorney--ready to prosecute some of my poor young men for breach of
+promise; but we stand no nonsense of that kind in the gallant Sucking
+Pidgeons. So, trot off, old man, and take your decoy-duck with you, or I
+think its extremely likely you'll be tost in a blanket. Do you hear?--go
+for your broken-hearted Desdemona, and double-quick out of the yard.
+I'll teach a set of lawyers to come playing the Jew to my young men.
+They shall jilt every girl in England if they think proper, and serve
+them right too--and no pitiful green-bag rascal shall trouble them about
+such trifles--right about face--march"--
+
+"Madam," said Mr Clam, in the extremity of amazement and fear, "did you
+ever happen to read 'Woman's Dignity, developed in Dialogues?' It's
+written by my friend, Mrs Moss, No. 5, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road,
+Regent's Park--in fact, she's my next door neighbour--a clever woman,
+but corpulent, very corpulent--you never met with 'Woman's Dignity,
+developed in Dialogues?'"
+
+"Woman's idiocy, enveloped in petticoats! Who the devil cares about
+woman, or her dignity either? I never could bear the contemptible
+wretches. No--give me a man--a good, stout-hearted, front-rank
+man--there's some dignity there--with the eye glaring, nostril widening,
+bayonet fixed, and double-quick the word, against the enemies' line. But
+woman's dignity!--let her sit and sew--work squares for ottomans, or
+borders for chair-bottoms--psha!--beat a retreat, old man, or you'll be
+under the pump in two minutes. I'll teach you to talk nonsense about
+your women--I will--as sure as my name is Jane Sword and I command the
+Sucking Pigeons!"
+
+"Pigeons don't suck, ma'am. Mrs M. lent me book of nat'ral history"--
+
+"You'll find they'll bite, tho'--Henicky, take a corporal's guard,
+and"--
+
+"Oh no, for heaven's sake, ma'am!" exclaimed Mr Clam. "Your servant,
+ma'am. I'm off this moment."
+
+The unhappy victim of Mrs Moss's advice to travel for the improvement of
+his mind, thought it best to follow the orders of the military lady in
+the riding-habit, and retired as quickly as he could from the barrack
+yard. But, on arriving at the outer archway, shame, or curiosity, or
+some other feeling, made him pause. "Am I to go away," he thought,
+"after all, without finding out who the lady is or what business brought
+her here--what she knows about Chatterton--and what she wants with Hope?
+There's a mystery in it all. Mrs M. would never forgive me if I didn't
+find it out. I'll wait for the pretty critter--for she is a pretty
+critter, in spite of her not telling me her story--I think I never saw
+such eyes in my life. Yes--I'll wait." Mr Clam accordingly stopped
+short, and looked sharply all round, to watch if his fair companion was
+coming. She was still detained in the colonel's room.
+
+"Will you pardon me for addressing a stranger, sir?" said a gentleman,
+politely bowing to Mr Clam.
+
+"Oh, if it's to ask what o'clock it is, or when the coach starts, or any
+thing like that, I shall be happy to answer you, sir, if I can," replied
+Mr Clam, whose liking for new acquaintances had not been much increased
+by the events of the day.
+
+"I should certainly not have taken the liberty of applying to you,"
+continued the stranger, "if it had not been under very peculiar
+circumstances."
+
+"Are they very peculiar, sir?" enquired Mr Clam.
+
+"Yes--as you shall have explained to you some other time."
+
+"Oh, you won't tell them now, won't you? Here's another mystery. 'Pon my
+word, sir, so many queer things happen in this town, that I wish I had
+never come into it. I came down only to-day per coach"--
+
+"That's fortunate, sir; if you are a stranger here, your service to me
+will be greater."
+
+"What is it you want? My neighbour in No. 5--a very talented woman, but
+big, uncommonly big--says in her book, never purchase the offspring of
+the sty enveloped in canvass--which means, never meddle with any thing
+you don't know."
+
+"You shall know all--but I must first ask, if you are satisfied, will
+you be my friend in a troublesome matter in which I am a party?"
+
+"Oh, you're in a troublesome matter too, are you?--as for me, I came
+down from London with such a critter, so pretty, so gentle, such a
+perfect angel to look at!"
+
+"Oh, I don't wish to have your confidence in such affairs. I am pressed
+for time," replied the stranger, smiling.
+
+"But I tell you, I am trying to find out what the matter is that you
+need my help in."
+
+"I beg pardon. I thought you were telling me an adventure of your own"--
+
+"Well sir, this beautiful critter asked my help, just as you're
+doing--dragged me hither and thither, first asking for one soldier,
+then another."
+
+"And finally, smiling very sweetly on yourself. I know their ways--said
+the stranger.
+
+"Do you, now? Not joking?--Oh lord! the sooner the better, for such lips
+to smile with, are not met with every day. Well sir, then there came up
+a puppy fellow of the name of Chatterton."
+
+"Oh, Chatterton!" said the stranger; "that is curious."
+
+"And insulted us, either her or me I forget which; but I blew him up,
+and he said he would send a friend to me"--here a new thought seemed to
+strike Mr Clam--his countenance assumed a very anxious expression--
+"you're not his friend, sir?" he asked.
+
+"No sir; far from it. He is the very person with whom I have the
+quarrel."
+
+"You've quarrelled with him too? Another breach of promise?--a wild dog
+that Chatterton."
+
+"Another breach! I did not know that that was _your_ cause of quarrel."
+
+"Nor I; 'pon my solemn davit, I'm as ignorant as a child of what my
+quarrel is about; all that I know is, that my beautiful companion seemed
+to hate the sight of him."
+
+"Then I trust you won't refuse me your assistance, since you have
+insults of your own to chastise. I expect his message every moment. My
+name is Captain Smith."
+
+"And mine, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place, Welling"--
+
+"Then, gentlemen," said Major M'Toddy, lifting his hat, "I'm a lucky
+man--_fortunatus nimium_, as a body may say, to find you both together;
+for I am charged with an invitation to you from my friend Mr
+Chatterton."
+
+"Oh! he wants to make it up, does he, and asks us to dinner? No. I won't
+go," said Mr Clam.
+
+"Then you know the alternative, I suppose!" said the Major.
+
+"To pay for my own dinner at the inn," replied Mr Clam; "of course I
+know that."
+
+The Major threw a glance at Mr Clam, which he would probably have taken
+the trouble to translate into two or three languages, although it was
+sufficiently intelligible without any explanations, but he had no time.
+He turned to Captain Smith, and said:--
+
+"I'm very sorry, Captain Smith, to make your acquaintance on such a
+disagreeable occasion. I've heard so much of you from mutual friends,
+that I feel as if I had known you myself, _quod facit per alium facit
+per se_--I'm Major M'Toddy of this regiment."
+
+"I have long wished to know you, Major, and I hope even this matter need
+not extend any of its bitterness to us."
+
+The gentlemen here shook hands very cordially--
+
+"Well, that's a rum way," said Mr Clam, "of asking a fellow to go out
+and be shot at. But this whole place is a mystery. I'll listen, however,
+and find out what this is all about."
+
+"And noo, Captain Smith, let me say a word in your private ear."
+
+"Privateer! that's a sort of ship," said Mr Clam.
+
+"I hate eaves-droppers," continued the Major, with another glance at Mr
+Clam--"_odi profanum vulgus_, as a body may say--and a minute's talk
+will maybe explain matters."
+
+"I doubt the power of a minute's talk for any such purpose," said
+Captain Smith, with a smile; "but," going a few yards further from Mr
+Clam at the same time--"I shall listen to you with pleasure."
+
+"Weel, then, I canna deny--_convenio_, as a body may say--that in the
+first instance, you played rather a severe trick on Mr Chatterton."
+
+"I play a trick!" exclaimed Captain Smith; "I don't understand you. But
+proceed, I beg. I will not interrupt you."
+
+"But then, on the other hand, it's not to be denied that Mr Chatterton's
+method of showing his anger was highly reprehensible."
+
+"His anger, Major M'Toddy!"
+
+"'Deed ay, just his anger--_ira furor brevis_--and it's really very
+excusable in a proud-spirited young man to resent his being jilted in
+such a sudden and barefaced manner."
+
+"_He_ jilted! but again I beg pardon--go on."
+
+"Nae doubt--_sine dubio_, as a body may say--the lassie had a right to
+change her mind; and if she thought proper to prefer you to him, I canna
+see what law, human or divine"--
+
+"Does the puppy actually try to excuse himself on so base a calumny as
+that Marion preferred me? Major M'Toddy, I am here to receive your
+message; pray deliver it, and let us settle this matter as soon as
+possible."
+
+"Whar's the calumny?" said the major. "You wadna have me to believe,
+Captain Smith, that the lady does not prefer you to him?"
+
+"Now perhaps she does, for she has sense enough and pride enough, I
+hope, to despise him; but never girl was more attached to a man in the
+world than she to Chatterton. Her health is gone--she has lost the
+liveliness of youth. No, no--I am much afraid, in spite of all that has
+passed, she is fond of the fellow yet."
+
+"How long have you suspected this?" enquired the major.
+
+"For some time; before my marriage, of course, I had not such good
+opportunities of judging as I have had since."
+
+"Of course, of course," said the major, in a sympathizing tone; "it's
+bad business. But if you had these suspicions before, what for did
+you marry?"
+
+"Why? Do you think things of that sort should hinder a man from marrying
+the girl he likes? Mrs Smith regrets it as much as I do."
+
+"Then what for did she not tell Chatterton she was going to marry you?"
+
+"What right had he to know, sir?"
+
+"A vera good right, I think; or if he hadna, I wad like to know wha
+had?"
+
+"There, sir, we differ in opinion. Will you deliver your message, name
+your place and hour, and I shall meet you. I shall easily get a friend
+in this town, though I thought it better at one time to apply to a
+civilian; but I fear," he added, with a smile, "my friend Mr Clam will
+scarcely do."
+
+"I really dinna ken--I positively don't know, as a body may say, how to
+proceed in this matter. In the first place, if your wife is over fond of
+Chatterton."
+
+"My wife, sir?"
+
+"'Deed ay--_placens uxor_, as a body may say--I say if your wife
+continues to like Chatterton, you had better send a message to him, and
+not he to you."
+
+"So I would, if she gave me occasion, Major M'Toddy; but if your friend
+boasts of any thing of that kind, his conduct is still more infamous and
+intolerable than I thought it."
+
+"But your ainsel'--your own self told me so this minute."
+
+"You mistake, sir. I say that Marion Hope, my wife's sister, is still
+foolish enough to like him."
+
+"Your wife's sister! You didna marry Chatterton's sweetheart?"
+
+"No, sir--her elder sister."
+
+"Oh, lord, if I had my fingers round the thrapple o' that leein'
+scoundrel on the tap of the coach! Gie me your hand, Captain Smith--it's
+all a mistake. I'll set it right in two minutes. Come with me to
+Chatterton's rooms--ye'll make him the happiest man in England. He's wud
+wi' love--mad with affection, as a body may say. He thought you had run
+off with his sweetheart, and it was only her sister!"
+
+Captain Smith began to have some glimmerings of the real state of the
+case; and Mr Clam was on the point of going up to where they stood to
+make further enquiries for the improvement of his mind, when his
+travelling companion, again deeply veiled, laid her hand on his arm.
+
+"Move not for your life!" she said.
+
+"I'm not agoing to move, ma'am."
+
+"Let them go," she continued; "we can get down by a side street. If they
+see me, I'm lost."
+
+"Lost again! The mystery grows deeper and deeper."
+
+"One of these is my husband."
+
+Mr Clam drops her arm. "A married woman, and running after captains and
+colonels! Will you explain a little ma'am, for my head is so puzzled,
+that hang me if I know whether I stand on my head or my heels?"
+
+"Not now--sometime or other you will perhaps know all; but come with me
+to the beach--all will end well."
+
+"Will it?--then I hope to heaven it will end soon, for an hour or two
+more of this will kill me."
+
+The two gentlemen, in the meantime, had disappeared, and Mr Clam was on
+the eve of being hurried off to the harbour, when a young officer came
+rapidly towards them.
+
+"Charles!" cried the lady, and put her arms round his neck.
+
+"There she goes!" said Mr Clam--"another soldier!--She'll know the whole
+army soon."
+
+"Mary!" exclaimed the soldier--"so good, so kind of you to come to
+receive me."
+
+"I wished to see you particularly," she said, "alone, for one minute."
+
+The brother and sister retired to one side, leaving Mr Clam once more
+out of ear-shot.
+
+"More whispering!" muttered that disappointed gentleman. "This can never
+enlarge the intellect or improve the mind. Mrs M. is a humbug--not a
+drop of information can I get for love or money. Nothing but whisperings
+here, closetings there--all that comes to my share is threats of
+shootings and duckings under pumps. I'll go back to Waterloo Place this
+blessed night, and burn 'Woman's Dignity' the moment I get home."
+
+"Then let us go to Chatterton's rooms," said the young officer, giving
+his arm to his sister; "I have no doubt he will explain it all, and I
+shall be delighted to see your husband."
+
+"She's going to see her husband! She's the wickedest woman in England,"
+said Mr Clam, who caught the last sentence.
+
+"Still here'" said a voice at his ear--"lurking about the barracks!"
+
+He looked round and saw the irate features of the tremendous Mrs Sword.
+He made a rapid bolt and disappeared, as if he had a pulk of Cossacks in
+full chase at his heels.
+
+The conversation of the good-natured Colonel Sword with Chatterton had
+opened that young hero's eye so entirely to the folly of his conduct,
+that it needed many encouraging speeches from his superior to keep him
+from sinking into despair.--"That I should have been such a fool," he
+said, "as to think that Marion would prefer any body to me!" Such was
+the style of his soliloquy, from which it will be perceived, that in
+spite of his discovery of his stupidity, he had not entirely lost his
+good opinion of himself--"to think that she would marry an old fellow of
+thirty-six! What will she think of me! How lucky I did not write to my
+father that I had broken matters off. Do you think she'll ever forgive
+me, colonel?"
+
+"Forgive you, my, dear fellow?" said the colonel; "girls, as Mrs Sword
+says, are such fools, they'll forgive any thing."
+
+"And Captain Smith!--a fine gentlemanly fellow--the husband of Marion's
+sister--I have insulted him--I must fight him, of course."
+
+"No fighting here, young man; you must apologize if you've done wrong;
+if not, he must apologize to you; Mrs Sword would never look over a duel
+between two Sucking Pigeons."
+
+"Then _I_ must apologize."
+
+"Ye canna have a better chance--you can't have a better opportunity, as
+a body may say," said the bilingual major, entering the room, "for
+here's Captain Smith ready to accept it."
+
+"With all his heart, I assure you," said that gentleman, shaking
+Chatterton's hand; "so I beg you'll say no more about it."
+
+"This is all right--just as it should be," said the Colonel. "Captain
+Smith, you'll plead poor Chatterton's cause with the offended lady."
+
+"Perhaps the culprit had better be his own advocate--he will find the
+court very favourably disposed; and as the judge is herself at the
+Waterloo hotel"--
+
+"Marion here!" exclaimed Chatterton; "good heavens, what an atrocious
+ass I have been!"
+
+"She is indeed," replied the Captain. "I knew she would be anxious to
+receive her brother Charles on his landing, and as I had wormed out from
+her the circumstances of this lover's quarrel"--
+
+"_Amantium ira amoris redintegratio est_--as a body may say," interposed
+Major M'Toddy.
+
+"And was determined to enquire into it, I thought that the pretence of
+welcoming Captain Hope would allay any suspicion of my intention; and
+so, with her good mother's permission, I brought her down, leaving my
+wife in Henley Street"--
+
+"Where she didn't long remain," said no other than Captain Charles Hope,
+himself leading in Mrs Smith, the mysterious travelling acquaintance
+of Mr Clam.
+
+"Do you forgive me," she said to her husband, "for coming down without
+your knowledge?"
+
+"I suppose I must," said Captain Smith, laughing, "on condition that you
+pardon me for the same offence?"
+
+"And noo, then," said Major M'Toddy, "I propose that we all, together
+and singly, _conjunctim ac separatim_--as a body may say--go down
+instanter to the Waterloo Hotel. We can arrange every thing there better
+than here, for we must hear the other side--_audi alteram partem_, as a
+body may say."
+
+"This will be a regular _jour de noce_, as you would say, Major,"
+remarked Colonel Sword, giving his arm to Mrs Smith.
+
+"It's a _nos non nobis_, poor auld bachelors--as a body may say,"
+replied the Major, and the whole party proceeded to the hotel.
+
+Mr Clan, on making his escape from the fulminations of Mrs Sword, had
+been rejoiced to see his carpet-bag still resting against the wall under
+the archway of the inn, as he had left it when he first arrived.
+
+"Waiter!" he cried; and the same long-haired individual in the blue
+coat, with the napkin over his arm, came to his call.
+
+"Is there any coach to London this evening?"
+
+"Yes, sir--at half-past six."
+
+"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Mr Clam, "I shall get out of this infernal
+town. Waiter!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I came from London to-day with a lady--close veiled, all muffled up.
+She is a married woman, too--more shame for her."
+
+"Yes, sir. Do you dine before you go, sir." said the waiter, not
+attending to Mr Clan's observations.
+
+"No. Her husband doesn't know she's here; but, waiter, Mr Chatterton
+does." Mr Clam accompanied this piece of information with a significant
+wink, which, however, made no sensible impression on the waiter's mind.
+
+"Yes, Chatterton does; for you may depend on it, by this time he's found
+out who she is."
+
+"Yes, sir. Have you secured a place, sir?"
+
+"Now, she wouldn't have her husband know she is here for the world."
+
+"Outside or in, sir? The office is next door"--continued the waiter.
+
+"Then, there's a tall gentleman, who speaks with a curious accent. I
+wonder who the deuce _he_ can be."
+
+"No luggage but this, sir? Porter will take it to the office, sir."
+
+"Nor that dreadful he-woman in the hat--who the mischief can _she_ be?
+What had Chatterton done?--who is the husband?--who is the lady? Waiter,
+is there a lunatic asylum here?"
+
+"No, sir. We've a penitentiary."
+
+"Then, 'pon my davit, the young woman"--
+
+But Mr Clam's observation, whatever it was--and it was evidently not
+very complimentary to his travelling companion--was interrupted by the
+entrance of the happy party from Chatterton's rooms.
+
+Mr Clam looked first at the colonel and Captain Hope, and Mrs Smith--but
+they were so busy in their own conversation, that they did not observe
+him. Then followed Major M'Toddy, Captain Smith, and Mr Chatterton.
+
+"Here's our civil friend," said the Major--"_amicas noster_, as a body
+may say."
+
+"Oh, by Jove!" said Mr Chatterton, "I ought to teach this fellow a
+lesson in natural history."
+
+"He's the scientific naturalist that called you popinjay," continued the
+major--"_ludit convivia miles_, as a body may say."
+
+"He's the fellow that refused to be my friend, and told me some foolish
+story of his flirtations with a lady he met in the coach," added
+Captain Smith.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Mr Clam, "I'm here in search of information; will you
+have the kindness to tell me what we have all been fighting, and
+quarrelling, and whispering and threatening about for the last two
+hours? My esteemed and talented neighbour, the author of 'Women's
+Dignity developed in Dialogues'"--
+
+"May gang to the deevil," interposed Major M'Toddy--_abeat in malam
+crucem_, as a body may say--We've no time for havers, _i prae, sequar_,
+as a body may say. What's the number of her room?"
+
+"No. 14," said the Captain, and the three gentlemen passed on.
+
+"_Her_ room!" said Mr Clam, "another lady! Waiter!"
+
+"Yes sir."
+
+"I'll send you a post-office order for five shillings, if you'll find
+out all this, and let me know the particulars--address to me, No. 4,
+Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I've done every
+thing in my power to gain information according to the advice of Mrs M.,
+but it's of no use. Let me know as soon as you discover any thing, and
+I'll send you the order by return of post."
+
+"Coach is coming, sir," said the waiter.
+
+"And I'm going; and very glad I am to get out of the town alive. And as
+to the female banditti in the riding habit, with all the trunks and
+boxes; if you'll let me know"--
+
+"The coach can't wait a moment, sir."
+
+Mr Clam cast a despairing look as he saw his last hope of finding out
+the mystery disappear. He stept into the inside of the coach--
+
+"Coachman," he said, with his foot on the step--"There's no lady inside,
+is there?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then drive on; if there had been, I wouldn't have travelled a mile with
+her." The roll of the coach drowned the remainder of Mr Clam's
+eloquence; and it is much feared that his enquiries have been
+unsuccessful to the present day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE.
+
+
+    A Steam-voyage to Constantinople, by the Rhine and Danube, in
+    1840-41, and to Portugal, Spain, &c. By the Marquis of
+    Londonderry. In 2 vols. 8vo.
+
+
+We have a very considerable respect for the writer of the Tour of which
+we are about to give extracts in the following pages. The Marquis of
+Londonderry is certainly no common person. We are perfectly aware that
+he has been uncommonly abused by the Whigs--which we regard as almost a
+necessary tribute to his name; that he has received an ultra share of
+libel from the Radicals--which we regard as equally to his honour; and
+that he is looked on by all the neutrals, of whatever colour, as a
+personage too straightforward to be managed by a bow and a smile. Yet,
+for all these things, we like him the better, and wish, as says the
+old song--
+
+    "We had within the realm
+    Five hundred good as he."
+
+He is a straightforward, manly, and high-spirited noble, making up his
+mind without fee or reward, and speaking it with as little fear as he
+made it up; managing a large and turbulent population with that
+authority which derives its force from good intention; constant in his
+attendance on his parliamentary duty; plainspoken there, as he is every
+where; and possessing the influence which sincerity gives in every part
+of the world, however abounding in polish and place-hunting.
+
+His early career, too, has been manly. He was a soldier, and a gallant
+one. His mission to the Allied armies, in the greatest campaign ever
+made in Europe, showed that he had the talents of council as well as of
+the field; and his appointment as ambassador to Vienna, gave a character
+of spirit, and even of splendour, to British diplomacy which it had
+seldom exhibited before, and which, it is to be hoped, it may recover
+with as little delay as possible.
+
+We even like his employment of his superfluous time. Instead of giving
+way to the fooleries of fashionable life, the absurdities of galloping
+after hares and foxes, for months together, at Melton, or the patronage
+of those scenes of perpetual knavery which belong to the race-course,
+the Marquis has spent his vacations in making tours to the most
+remarkable parts of Europe. It is true that Englishmen are great
+travellers, and that our nobility are in the habit of wandering over the
+Continent. But the world knows no more of their discoveries, if they
+make such, or of their views of society and opinions of governments, if
+they ever take the trouble to form any upon the subject, than of their
+notions of the fixed stars. That there are many accomplished among them,
+many learned, and many even desirous to acquaint themselves with what
+Burke called "the mighty modifications of the human race," beginning
+with a land within fifteen miles of our shores, and spreading to the
+extremities of the earth, we have no doubt. But in the countless
+majority of instances, the nation reaps no more benefit from their
+travels than if they had been limited from Bond Street to Berkeley
+Square. This cannot be said of the Marquis of Londonderry. He travels
+with his eyes open, looking for objects of interest, and recording them.
+We are not now about to give him any idle panegyric on the occasion. We
+regret that his tours are so rapid, and his journals so brief. He passes
+by many objects which we should wish to see illustrated, and turns off
+from many topics on which we should desire to hear the opinions of a
+witness on the spot. But we thank him for what he has given; hope that
+he will spend his next autumn and many others as he has spent the
+former; and wish him only to write more at large, to give us more
+characters of the rank with which he naturally associates, draw more
+contrasts between the growing civilization of the European kingdoms and
+our own; and, adhering to his own straightforward conceptions, and
+telling them in his own sincere style, give us an annual volume as long
+as he lives.
+
+Steam-boats and railways have produced one curious effect, which no one
+anticipated. Of all _levellers_ they are the greatest. Their superiority
+to all other modes of travelling crowds them with the peer as well as
+the peasant. Cabinets, and even queens, now abandon their easy, but
+lazy, equipages for the bird-like flight of iron and fire, and though
+the "special train" still sounds exclusive, the principle of commixture
+is already there, and all ranks will sweep on together.
+
+The Marquis, wisely adopting the bourgeois mode of travelling, set forth
+from the Tower Stairs, on a lovely morning at the close of August 1840.
+Fifty years ago, the idea of a general, an ambassador, and a peer, with
+his marchioness and suite, embarking on board the common conveyance of
+the common race of mankind, would have been regarded as an absolute
+impossibility; but the common sense of the world has now decided
+otherwise. Speed and safety are wisely judged to be valuable
+compensations for state and seclusion; and when we see majesty itself,
+after making the experiment of yachts and frigates, quietly and
+comfortably return to its palace on board a steamer, we may be the less
+surprised at finding the Marquis of Londonderry and his family making
+their way across the Channel in the steamer Giraffe. Yet it is to be
+remarked, that though nothing can be more miscellaneous than the
+passengers, consisting of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and Yankee; of
+Jews, Turks, and heretics; of tourists, physicians, smugglers, and all
+the other diversities of idling, business, and knavery; yet families who
+choose to pay for them, may have separate cabins, and enjoy as much
+privacy as is possible with specimens of all the world within
+half-an-inch of their abode.
+
+The voyage was without incident; and after a thirty hours' passage, the
+Giraffe brought them to the Brill and Rotterdam. It has been an old
+observation that the Dutch clean every thing but themselves; and nothing
+can be more matter of fact than that the dirtiest thing in a house in
+Holland is generally the woman under whose direction all this scrubbing
+has been accomplished. The first aspect of Rotterdam is strongly in
+favour of the people. It exhibits very considerable neatness for a
+seaport--the Wapping of the kingdom; paint and even gilding is common on
+the outsides of the shops. The shipping, which here form a part of the
+town furniture, and are to be seen every where in the midst of the
+streets, are painted with every colour of the rainbow, and carved and
+ornamented according to such ideas of taste in sculpture as are
+prevalent among Dutchmen; and the whole exhibits a good specimen of a
+people who have as much to struggle with mud as if they had been born so
+many eels, and whose conceptions of the real colour of the sky are even
+a shade darker than our own.
+
+The steam-boats also form a striking feature, which utterly eluded the
+wisdom of our ancestors. There are here, bearing all colours, from all
+the Rhenish towns, smoking and suffocating the Dutch, flying past their
+hard-working, slow-moving craft; and bringing down, and carrying away,
+cargoes of every species of mankind. The increase of Holland in wealth
+and activity since the separation from Belgium, the Marquis regards as
+remarkable; and evidently having no _penchant_ for our cousin Leopold,
+he declares that Rotterdam is at this moment worth more solid money than
+Antwerp, Brussels, and, he believes, "all Leopold's kingdom together."
+
+At Antwerp, he happened to arrive at the celebration of the fête in
+honour of Rubens. "To commemorate the painter may be all very well," he
+observes; "but it is not very well to see a large plaster-of-Paris
+statue erected on a lofty pedestal, and crowned with laurels, while the
+whole population of the town is called out for fourteen days together,
+to indulge in idleness and dissipation, merely to announce that Rubens
+was a famed _Dutch_ painter in times long past." We think it lucky for
+the Marquis that he had left Antwerp before he called Rubens a Dutch
+painter. We are afraid that he would have hazarded a summary application
+of the Lynch law of the Flemish avengers of their country.
+
+"If such celebrations," says the Marquis, "are proper, why not do equal
+honour to a Shakspeare, a Pitt, a Newton, or any of those illustrious
+men by whose superior intelligence society has so greatly profited?" The
+obvious truth is, that such "celebrations" are not to our taste, that
+there is something burlesque, to our ideas, in this useless honour; and
+that we think a bonfire, a discharge of squibs, or even a discharge of
+rhetoric, and a display of tinsel banners and buffoonery, does not
+supply the most natural way of reviving the memory of departed genius.
+At the same time, they have their use, where they do not create their
+ridicule. On the Continent, life is idle; and the idlers are more
+harmlessly employed going to those pageants, than in the gin-shop. The
+finery and the foolery together also attract strangers, the idlers of
+other towns; it makes money, it makes conversation, it makes amusement,
+and it kills time. Can it have better recommendations to ninety-nine
+hundredths of mankind?
+
+In 1840, when this tour was written, all the politicians of the earth
+were deciding, in their various coffee-houses, what all the monarchs
+were to do with the Eastern question. Stopford and Napier were better
+employed, in battering down the fortifications of Acre, and the
+politicians were soon relieved from their care of the general concerns
+of Europe. England settled this matter as she had often done before, and
+by the means which she has always found more natural than protocols. But
+a curious question is raised by the Marquis, as to the side on which
+Belgium might be inclined to stand in case of an European struggle; his
+opinion being altogether _for_ the English alliance.
+
+"France could undoubtedly _at first_ seize possession of a country so
+close to her empire as to be in fact a province. But still, with Antwerp
+and other fortresses, Holland in the rear, and Hanover and Germany at
+hand, and, above all, England, aiding perhaps with a British army, the
+independence of King Leopold's throne and kingdom might be more
+permanently secured by adhering to the Allies, than if he linked himself
+to Louis Philippe, in whose power alone, in case of non-resistance to
+France, he would ever afterwards remain; and far better would it be, in
+my opinion, for this founder of a Belgian monarchy, if he would achieve
+for his dynasty an honourable duration, to throw himself into the arms
+of the many, and reap advantages from all, than to place his destiny at
+the mercy of the future rulers of France."
+
+No doubt this is sound advice; and if the decision were to depend on
+himself, there can be as little doubt that he would be wiser in
+accepting the honest aid of England, than throwing his crown at the feet
+of France. But he reigns over a priest-ridden kingdom, and Popery will
+settle the point for him on the first shock. His situation certainly is
+a singular one; as the uncle of the Queen of England, and the son-in-law
+of the King of France, he seems to have two anchors dropped out, either
+of which might secure a throne in ordinary times. But times that are
+_not_ ordinary may soon arise, and then he must cut both cables and
+trust to his own steerage. If coldness is prudence, and neutrality
+strength, he may weather the storm; but it would require other qualities
+to preserve Belgium.
+
+Brussels was full of English. The Marquis naturally talks in the style
+of one accustomed to large expenditure. The chief part of the English
+residents in Brussels, are families "who live there on three or four
+thousand a-year--far better as to luxuries and education than they could
+in England for half as much more." He evidently thinks of three or four
+thousand a-year, as others might think of as many hundreds. But if any
+families, possessed of thousands a-year, are living abroad for the mere
+sake of _cheaper_ luxuries and _cheaper_ education, we say, more shame
+for them. We even can conceive nothing more selfish and more
+contemptible. Every rational luxury is to be procured in England by such
+an income. Every advantage of education is to be procured by the same
+means. We can perfectly comprehend the advantages offered by the
+cheapness of the Continent to large families with narrow incomes; but
+that the opulent should abandon their country, their natural station,
+and their duties, simply to drink champagne at a lower rate, and have
+cheaper dancing-masters, we must always regard as a scandalous
+dereliction of the services which every man of wealth and rank owes to
+his tenantry, his neighbours, and his nation. Of course, we except the
+traveller for curiosity; the man of science, whose object is to enlarge
+his knowledge; and even the man of rank, who desires to improve the
+minds of his children by a view of continental wonders. Our reprobation
+is, of the habit of living abroad, and living there for the vulgar and
+unmanly purpose of self-indulgence or paltry avarice. Those absentees
+have their reward in profligate sons, and foreignized daughters, in
+giving them manners ridiculous to the people of the Continent, and
+disgusting to their countrymen--morals adopting the grossness of
+continental life, and general habits rendered utterly unfit for a return
+to their country, and, of course, for any rational and meritorious
+conduct, until they sink into the grave.
+
+The Marquis, who in every instance submitted to the rough work of the
+road, took the common conveyance by railroad to Liege. It has been a
+good deal the custom of our late tourists to applaud the superior
+excellence of the continental railroads. Our noble traveller gives all
+this praise the strongest contradiction. He found their inferiority
+quite remarkable. The materials, all of an inadequate nature, commencing
+with their uncouth engine, and ending with their ill-contrived double
+seats and carriages for passengers. The attempts made at order and
+regularity in the arrangements altogether failed. Every body seemed in
+confusion. The carriages are of two sorts--the first class, and the
+_char-à-banc_. The latter are all open; the people sit back to back, and
+face to face, as they like, and get at their places by scrambling,
+squeezing, and altercation. Even the Marquis had a hard fight to
+preserve the seats which he had taken for his family. At Malines, the
+train changes carriages. Here a curious scene occurred. An inundation of
+priests poured into all the carriages. They came so thick that they were
+literally thrown back by their attempt to squeeze themselves in; "and
+their cocked hats and black flowing robes gave them the appearance of
+ravens with their wide-spreading wings, hovering over their prey in the
+vehicles."
+
+Travelling, like poverty, brings one acquainted with strange companions;
+and, accustomed as the Marquis was to foreign life, one railway
+traveller evidently much amused him. This was a personage who stretched
+himself at full length on a seat opposite the ladies, "his two huge legs
+and thighs clothed in light blue, with long Spanish boots, and heavy
+silver spurs, formed the foreground of his extended body. A black satin
+waistcoat, overlaid with gold chains, a black velvet Spanish cloak and
+hat, red beard and whiskers, and a face resembling the Saracen's on
+Snow-Hill, completed his _ensemble_." He was probably some travelling
+mountebank apeing the Spanish grandee.
+
+Aix-la-Chapelle exhibited a decided improvement on the City of the
+Congress five-and-twenty years ago. The principal streets were now
+paved, with fine _trottoirs_, the buildings had become large and
+handsome, and the hotels had undergone the same advantageous change.
+From Liege to Cologne the country exhibited one boundless harvest. The
+vast cathedral of Cologne at last came in sight, still unfinished,
+though the process of building has gone on for some hundred years. The
+extraordinary attempt which has been made, within the last few months,
+to unite Protestantism with Popery, in the completion of this gigantic
+building, will give it a new and unfortunate character in history. The
+union is impossible, though the confusion is easy, and the very attempt
+to reconcile them only shows to what absurdities men may be betrayed by
+political theories, and to what trivial and temporary objects the
+highest interests of our nature may be sacrificed. Cologne, too, is
+rapidly improving. The free navigation of the Rhine has done something
+of this, but the free passage of the English has done a great deal more.
+A perpetual stream of British travellers, flowing through Germany,
+benefits it, not merely by their expenditure, but by their habits. Where
+they reside for any length of time, they naturally introduce the
+improvements and conveniences of English life. Even where they but pass
+along, they demand comforts, without which the native would have plodded
+on for ever. The hotels are gradually provided with carpets,
+fire-places, and a multitude of other matters essential to the civilized
+life of England; for if civilization depends on bringing the highest
+quantity of rational enjoyment within the reach of general society,
+England is wholly superior in civilization to the shivering splendours
+of the Continent. Foreigners are beginning to learn this; and those who
+are most disposed to scoff at our taste, are the readiest to follow
+our example.
+
+The streets of Cologne, formerly dirty and narrow, and the houses, old
+and tumbling down, have given way to wide spaces, handsome edifices, and
+attractive shops. The railway, which we have lent to the Continent, will
+shortly unite Brussels, Liege, and Cologne, and the three cities will be
+thereby rapidly augmented in wealth, numbers, and civilization.
+
+The steam-boats on the Rhine are in general of a good description. The
+arrangements are convenient, considering that at times there are two
+hundred passengers, and that among foreigners the filthy habit of
+smoking, with all its filthy consequences, is universal; but, below
+decks, the party, especially if they take the _pavillion_ to themselves,
+may escape this abomination. The Rhine has been too often described to
+require a record here; but the rapturous nonsense which the Germans pour
+forth whenever they write about the national river, offends truth as
+much as it does taste. The larger extent of this famous stream is
+absolutely as dull as a Dutch pond. The whole run from the sea to
+Cologne is flat and fenny. As it approaches the hill country it becomes
+picturesque, and its wanderings among the fine declivities of the
+Rheingate exhibit beautiful scenery. The hills, occasionally topped with
+ruins, all of which have some original (or invented) legend of love or
+murder attached to them, indulge the romance of which there is a
+fragment or a fibre in every bosom; and the general aspect of the
+country, as the steam-boat breasts the upward stream, is various and
+luxuriant. But the German architecture is fatal to beauty. Nothing can
+be more _barbarian_ (with one or two exceptions) than the whole range of
+buildings, public and private, along the Rhine; gloomy, huge, and
+heavy--whether palace, convent, or chateau, they have all a prison-look;
+and if some English philanthropist, in pity to the Teutonic taste, would
+erect one or two "English villas" on the banks of the Rhine, to give
+the Germans some idea of what architecture ought to be, he would render
+them a national service, scarcely inferior to the introduction of
+carpets and coal-fires.
+
+Johannisberg naturally attracts the eye of the English traveller, whose
+cellar has contributed so largely to its cultivation. This
+mountain-vineyard had been given by Napoleon to Kellerman; but
+Napoleon's gifts were as precarious as himself, and the Johannisberg
+fell into hands that better deserved it. At the peace of 1814 it was
+presented by the Emperor Francis to the great statesman who had taught
+his sovereign to set his foot on the neck of the conqueror of Vienna.
+The mountain is terraced, clothed with vineyards, and forms a very gay
+object to those who look up to it from the river. The view from the
+summit of the hill is commanding and beautiful, but its grape is
+_unique_. The chief portion of the produce goes amongst the
+principalities and powers of the Continent; yet as the Englishman must
+have his share of all the good things of the earth, the Johannisberg
+wine finds its way across the Channel, and John Bull satisfies himself
+that he shares the luxury of Emperors.
+
+The next _lion_ is Ehrenbreitstein, lying on the right bank of the
+Rhine, the most famous fortress of Germany, and more frequently
+battered, bruised, and demolished, than any other work of nature or man
+on the face of the globe. It has been always the first object of attack
+in the French invasions, and, with all its fortifications, has always
+been taken. The Prussians are now laying out immense sums upon it, and
+evidently intend to make it an indigestible morsel to the all-swallowing
+ambition of their neighbours; but it is to be hoped that nations are
+growing wiser--a consummation to which they are daily arriving by
+growing poorer. Happily for Europe, there is not a nation on the
+Continent which would not be bankrupt in a single campaign, provided
+England closed her purse. In the last war she was the general paymaster:
+but that system is at an end; and if she is wise, she will never suffer
+another shilling of hers to drop into the pocket of the foreigner.
+
+The Prussians have formed an entrenched camp under cover of this great
+fortress, capable of containing 120,000 men. They are obviously right in
+keeping the French as far from Berlin as they can; but those enormous
+fortresses and entrenched camps are out of date. They belonged to the
+times when 30,000 men were an army, and when campaigns were spent in
+sieges. Napoleon changed all this, yet it was only in imitation of
+Marlborough, a hundred years before. The great duke's march to Bavaria,
+leaving all the fortresses behind him, was the true tactic for conquest.
+He beat the army in the field, and then let the fortresses drop one by
+one into his hands. The change of things has helped this bold system.
+Formerly there was but one road through a province--it led through the
+principal fortress--all the rest was mire and desolation. Thus the
+fortress must be taken before a gun or a waggon could move. Now, there
+are a dozen roads through every province--the fortress may be passed out
+of gun-shot in all quarters--and the "grand army" of a hundred and fifty
+thousand men marches direct on the capital. The _têtes-du-pont_ on the
+Niemen, and the entrenched camp which it had cost Russia two years to
+fortify, were turned in the first march of the French; and the futility
+of the whole costly and rather timorous system was exhibited in the
+fact, that the crowning battle was fought within hearing of Moscow.
+
+Beyond Mayence the Rhine reverts to its former flatness, the hills
+vanish, the shores are level, but the southern influence is felt, and
+the landscape is rich.
+
+Wisbaden is the next stage of the English--a stage at which too many
+stop, and from which not a few are glad to escape on any terms. The Duke
+of Nassau has done all in his power to make his watering-place handsome
+and popular, and he has succeeded in both. The Great Square, containing
+the assembly-room, is a very showy specimen of ducal taste. Its
+colonnades and shops are striking, and its baths are in the highest
+order. Music, dancing, and promenading form the enjoyment of the crowd,
+and the gardens and surrounding country give ample indulgence for the
+lovers of air and exercise. _The_ vice of the place, as of all
+continental scenes of amusement, is gambling. Both sexes, and all ages,
+are busy at all times in the mysteries of the gaming-table. Dollars and
+florins are constantly changing hands. The bloated German, the meagre
+Frenchman, the sallow Russian, and even the placid Dutchman, hurry to
+those tables, and continue at them from morning till night, and often
+from night till morning. The fair sex are often as eager and miserable
+as the rest. It is impossible to doubt that this passion is fatal to
+more than the purse. Money becomes the price of every thing; and,
+without meaning to go into discussion on such topics, nothing can be
+clearer than that the female gambler, in this frenzy of avarice,
+inevitably forfeits the self-respect which forms at least the outwork of
+female virtue. Though the ancient architecture of Germany is altogether
+dungeon-like, yet they can make pretty imitations. The summer palace of
+the duke at Biberach might be adopted in lieu of the enormous fabrics
+which have cost such inordinate sums in our island. "The circular room
+in the centre of the building is ornamented with magnificent marble
+pillars. The floor is also of marble. The galleries are stuccoed, with
+gold ornaments encrusted upon them. From the middle compartment of the
+great hall there are varied prospects of the Rhine, which becomes
+studded here with small islands: and the multitudinous orange, myrtle,
+cedar, and cypress trees on all sides render Biberach a most
+enchanting abode."
+
+The Marquis makes some shrewd remarks on the evident attention of the
+Great Powers to establish an interest among the little sovereignties of
+Germany. Thus, Russia has married "her eldest daughter to an adopted
+Bavarian. The Cesarowitch is married to a princess of Darmstadt," &c. He
+might have added Louis Philippe, who is an indefatigable advocate of
+marrying and giving in marriage. Austria is extending her olive branches
+as far as she can; and all princes, now having nothing better to do, are
+following her example.
+
+Yet, we altogether doubt that family alliances have much weight in times
+of trouble. Of course, in times of peace, they may facilitate the common
+business of politics. But, when powerful interests appear on the stage,
+the matrimonial tie is of slender importance; kindred put on their
+coats-of-mail, and, like Francis of Austria and his son-in-law Napoleon,
+they throw shot and shell at each other without any ceremony. It is only
+in poetry that Cupid is more powerful than either Mammon or Mars.
+
+The next _lion_ is Frankfort--a very old lion, 'tis true, but one of the
+noblest cities of Germany, connected with high recollections, and doing
+honour, by its fame, to the spirit of commerce. Frankfort has been
+always a striking object to the traveller; but it has shared, or rather
+led the way to the general improvement. Its shops, streets, and public
+buildings all exhibit that march, which is so much superior to the
+"march of mind," panegyrised by our rabble orators--the march of
+industry, activity, and invention; Frankfort is one of the liveliest and
+pleasantest of continental residences.
+
+But the Marquis is discontented with the inns; which, undoubtedly, are
+places of importance to the sojourner--perhaps of much more importance
+than the palaces. He reckons them by a "sliding scale;" which, however,
+is a descending one--Holland bad, Belgium worse, Germany the third
+degree of comparison. Some of the inns in the great towns are stately;
+but it unluckily happens that the masters and mistresses of those inns
+are to the full as stately, and that, after a bow or curtsey at the door
+to their arriving guests, all their part is at an end. The master and
+mistress thenceforth transact their affairs by deputy. They are
+sovereigns, and responsible for nothing. The _garçons_ are the cabinet,
+and responsible for every thing; but they, like superior personages,
+shift their responsibility upon any one inclined to take it up; and all
+is naturally discontent, disturbance, and discomfort. We wonder that the
+Marquis has not mentioned the German _table-d'hôte_ among his
+annoyances; for he dined at it. Nothing, in general, can be more adverse
+to the quiet, the ease, or the good-sense of English manners. The
+_table-d'hôte_ is essentially vulgar; and no excellence of _cuisine_, or
+completeness of equipment, can prevent it from exhibiting proof of its
+original purpose, namely--to give a cheap dinner to a miscellaneous
+rabble.
+
+German posting is on a par with German inns, which is as much as to say
+that it is detestable, even if the roads were good. The roughness, mire,
+and continual ascents and descents of the roads, try the traveller's
+patience. The only resource is sleep; but even that is denied by the
+continual groanings of a miserable French horn, with which the postilion
+announces his approach to every village.
+
+    "Silence, ye wolves, while tipsy Mein-Herr howls,
+    Making night hideous; answer him, ye owls."
+
+The best chance of getting a tolerable meal in the majority of these
+roadside houses, is, to take one's own provisions, carry a cook, if we
+can, and, if not, turn cooks ourselves; but the grand hotels are too
+"grand" for this, and they insist on supplying the dinner, for which the
+general name is _cochonerrie_, and with perfect justice.
+
+On the 12th of September, the Marquis and his family arrived at
+Nuremberg, where the Bavarian court were assembled, in order to be
+present at a Camp of Exercise. To the eye of an officer who had been in
+the habit of seeing the armies of the late war, the military spectacle
+could not be a matter of much importance, for the camp consisted of but
+1800 men. But he had been a comrade of the king, when prince-royal,
+during the campaigns of 1814 and 1815; and, as such, had helped (and not
+slightly) to keep the tottering crown on the brow of Bavaria. He now
+sent to request the opportunity of paying his respects; but Germany,
+absurd in many things, is especially so in point of etiquette. Those
+miraculous productions of Providence, the little German sovereigns, live
+on etiquette, never abate an atom of their opportunities of convincing
+inferior mortals that they are of a super-eminent breed; and, in part,
+seem to have strangely forgotten that salutary lesson which Napoleon and
+his captains taught them, in the days when a republican brigadier, or an
+imperial aid-de-camp, though the son of a tailor, treated their "Serene
+Highnesses" and "High Mightinesses" with as little ceremony as the
+thoroughly beaten deserved from the conquerors. In the present instance,
+the little king did _not_ choose to receive the gallant soldier, whom,
+in days of difficulty, he had been rejoiced to find at his side; and the
+ground assigned was, that the monarch received none but in uniform; the
+Marquis having mentioned, that he must appear in plain clothes, in
+consequence of dispatching his uniform to Munich, doubtless under the
+idea of attending the court there in his proper rank of a
+general officer.
+
+The Marquis was angry, and the fragment of his reply which we give, was
+probably as unpalatable a missive as the little king had received since
+the days of Napoleon.
+
+"My intention was, to express my respect for his majesty, in taking this
+opportunity to pay my court to him, in the interesting recollection of
+the kindly feelings which he deigned to exhibit to me and my _brother_
+at Vienna, when Prince Royal of Bavaria.
+
+"I had flattered myself, that as the companion-in-arms of the excellent
+Marshal Wrede in the campaigns of 1814 and 1815, his majesty would have
+granted this much of remembrance to an individual, without regard to
+uniform; or, at least, would have done me the honour of a private
+audience. I find, however, that I have been mistaken, and I have now
+only to offer my apologies to his majesty.
+
+"The flattering reception which I have enjoyed in other courts, and the
+idea that this was connected with the name and services of the
+individual, and not dependent on the uniform, was the cause of my
+indiscretion. As my profound respect for his majesty was the sole
+feeling which led me towards Munich, I shall not _delay a moment_ in
+quitting his majesty's territory."
+
+If his majesty had been aware that this Parthian arrow would have been
+shot at him, he would have been well advised in relaxing his etiquette.
+
+In the vicinity where this trifling transaction occurred, is the
+_locale_ of an undertaking which will probably outlast all the little
+diadems of all the little kings. This is the canal by which it is
+proposed to unite the Rhine, the Mayne, and the Danube; in other words,
+to make the longest water communication in the world, through the heart
+of Europe; by which the Englishman embarking at London-bridge, may
+arrive at Constantinople in a travelling palace, with all the
+comforts--nay, all the luxuries of life, round him; his books, pictures,
+furniture, music, and society; and all this, while sweeping through some
+of the most magnificent scenery of the earth, safe from surge or storm,
+sheltered from winter's cold and summer's sun, rushing along at the rate
+of a couple of hundred miles a-day, until he finds himself in the
+Bosphorus, with all the glories of the City of the Sultans glittering
+before him.
+
+This is the finest speculation that was ever born of this generation of
+wonders, steam; and if once realized, must be a most prolific source of
+good to mankind. But the Germans are an intolerably tardy race in every
+thing, but the use of the tongue. They harangue, and mystify, and
+magnify, but they will not act; and this incomparable design, which, in
+England, would join the whole power of the nation in one unanimous
+effort, languishes among the philosophists and prognosticators of
+Germany, finds no favour in the eyes of its formal courts, and threatens
+to be lost in the smoke of a tobacco-saturated and slumber-loving
+people.
+
+But the chief monument of Bavaria is the Val Halla, a modern temple
+designed to receive memorials of all the great names of Germany. The
+idea is kingly, and so is the temple; but it is built on the model of
+the Parthenon--evidently a formidable blunder in a land whose history,
+habits, and genius, are of the north. A Gothic temple or palace would
+have been a much more suitable, and therefore a finer conception. The
+combination of the palatial, the cathedral, and the fortress style,
+would have given scope to superb invention, if invention was to be found
+in the land; and in such an edifice, for such a purpose, Germany would
+have found a truer point of union, than it will ever find in the absurd
+attempt to mix opposing faiths, or in the nonsense of a rebel Gazette,
+and clamorous Gazetteers.
+
+Still the Bavarian monarch deserves the credit of an unrivalled zeal to
+decorate his country. He is a great builder, he has filled Munich with
+fine edifices, and called in the aid of talents from every part of
+Europe, to stir up the flame, if it is to be found among his
+drowsy nation.
+
+The Val Halla is on a pinnacle of rising ground, about a hundred yards
+from the Danube, from whose bank the ascent is by a stupendous marble
+staircase, to the grand portico. The columns are of the finest white
+stone, and the interior is completely lined with German marbles. Busts
+of the distinguished warriors, poets, statesmen, and scholars, are to be
+placed in niches round the walls, but _not_ till they are dead. A
+curious arrangement is adopted with respect to the living: Persons of
+any public note may send their busts, while living, to the Val Halla,
+where they are deposited in a certain chamber, a kind of marble
+purgatory or limbo. When they die, a jury is to sit upon them, and if
+they are fortunate enough to have a verdict in their favour, they take
+their place amongst these marble immortals. As the process does not
+occur until the parties are beyond the reach of human disappointment,
+they cannot feel the worse in case of failure; but the vanity which
+tempts a man thus to declare himself deserving of perpetual renown, by
+the act of sending his bust as a candidate, is perfectly _foreign_, and
+must be continually ridiculous.
+
+The temple has been inaugurated or consecrated by the king in person,
+within the last month. He has made a speech, and dedicated it to German
+fame for ever. He certainly has had the merit of doing what ought to
+have been long since done in every kingdom of Europe; what a slight
+retrenchment in every royal expenditure would have enabled every
+sovereign to set on foot; and what could be done most magnificently,
+would be most deserved, and ought to be done without delay, in England.
+
+At Ratisbon, the steam navigation on the Danube begins, taking
+passengers and carriages to Linz, where the Austrian steam navigation
+commences, completing the course down the mighty river. The former
+land-journey from Ratisbon to Vienna generally occupied six days. By the
+steam-boat, it is now accomplished in forty-eight hours, a prodigious
+saving of space and time. The Bavarian boats are smaller than those on
+the Rhine, owing to the shallows on the upper part of the river, but
+they are well managed and comfortable. The steamer is, in fact, a
+floating hotel, where every thing is provided on board, and the general
+arrangements are exact and convenient. The scenery in this portion of
+the river is highly exciting.--"The Rhine, with its hanging woods and
+multitudinous inhabited castles, affords a more cultivated picture; but
+in the steep and craggy mountains of the Danube, in its wild outlines
+and dilapidated castles, the imagination embraces a bolder range. At one
+time the river is confined within its narrowest limits, and proceeds
+through a defile of considerable altitude, with overhanging rocks
+menacing destruction. At another it offers an open, wild archipelago of
+islands. The mountains have disappeared, and a long plain bounds on each
+side of the river its barren banks."
+
+The steam-boats stop at Neudorf, a German mile from Vienna. On his
+arrival, the Marquis found the servants and carriages of Prince
+Esterhazy waiting for him, and quarters provided at the Swan Hotel,
+until one of the prince's palaces could be prepared for his reception.
+The importance of getting private quarters on arriving at Vienna is
+great, the inns being all indifferent and noisy. They have another
+disqualification not less important--they seem to be intolerably dear.
+The Marquis's accommodations, though on a _third_ story of the Swan,
+cost him eight pounds sterling a-day. This he justly characterizes as
+extravagant, and says he was glad to remove on the third day, there
+being an additional annoyance, in a club of the young nobles at the
+Swan, which prevented a moment's quiet. The _cuisine_, however, was
+particularly good, and the house, though a formidable affair for a
+family, is represented as desirable for a "bachelor"--we presume, a
+rich one.
+
+Vienna has had her share in the general improvement of the Continent.
+She has become commercial, and her streets exhibit shops with gilding,
+plate-glass, and showy sign-boards, in place of the very old, very
+barbarous, and very squalid, displays of the last century. War is a
+rough teacher, but it is evidently the only one for the Continent. The
+foreigner is as bigoted to his original dinginess and discomfort, as the
+Turk to the Koran. Nothing but fear or force ever changes him. The
+French invasions were desperate things, but they swept away a prodigious
+quantity of the cobwebs which grow over the heads of nations who will
+not use the broom for themselves. Feudalities and follies a thousand
+years old were trampled down by the foot of the conscript; and the only
+glimpses of common-sense which have visited three-fourths of Europe in
+our day, were let in through chinks made by the French bayonet. The
+French were the grand improvers of every thing, though only for their
+own objects. They made high roads for their own troops, and left them to
+the Germans; they cleared the cities of streets loaded with nuisances of
+all kinds, and taught the natives to live without the constant dread of
+pestilence; they compelled, for example the Portuguese to wash their
+clothes, and the Spaniards to wash their hands. They proved to the
+German that his ponderous fortifications only brought bombardments on
+his cities, and thus induced him to throw down his crumbling walls, fill
+up his muddy ditches, turn his barren glacis into a public walk, and
+open his wretched streets to the light and air of heaven. Thus Hamburgh,
+and a hundred other towns, have put on a new face, and almost begun a
+new existence. Thus Vienna is now thrown open to its suburbs, and its
+suburbs are spread into the country.
+
+The first days were given up to dinner at the British ambassador's,
+(Lord Beauvale's,) at the Prussian ambassador's, and at Prince
+Metternich's. Lord Beauvale's was "nearly private He lived on a second
+floor, in a fine house, of which, however, the lower part was understood
+to be still unfurnished. His lordship sees but few people, and seldom
+gives any grand receptions, his indifferent health being the reason for
+living privately." However, on this point the Marquis has his own
+conceptions, which he gives with a plainness perfectly characteristic,
+and very well worth being remembered.
+
+"I think," says he, "that an ambassador of England, at an imperial
+court, with _eleven thousand pounds_ per annum! should _not_ live as a
+private gentleman, nor consult solely his own ease, unmindful of the
+sovereign he represents. A habit has stolen in among them of adopting a
+spare _menage_, to augment _private fortune when recalled_! This is
+wrong. And when France and Russia, and even Prussia, entertain
+constantly and very handsomely; our embassies and legations, generally
+speaking, are niggardly and shut up."
+
+However the Lord Beauvale and his class may relish this honesty of
+opinion, we are satisfied that the British public will perfectly agree
+with the Marquis. A man who receives L. 11,000 a-year to show hospitality
+and exhibit state, ought to do both. But there is another and a much
+more important point for the nation to consider. Why should eleven
+thousand pounds a-year be given to any ambassador at Vienna, or at any
+other court of the earth? Cannot his actual diplomatic functions be
+amply served for a tenth of the money? Or what is the actual result, but
+to furnish, in nine instances out of ten, a splendid sinecure to some
+man of powerful interest, without any, or but slight, reference to his
+faculties? Or is there any necessity for endowing an embassy with an
+enormous income of this order, to provide dinners, and balls, and a
+central spot for the crowd of loungers who visit their residences; or to
+do actual mischief by alluring those idlers to remain absentees from
+their own country? We see no possible reason why the whole ambassadorial
+establishment might not be cut down to salaries of fifteen hundred
+a-year. Thus, men of business would be employed, instead of the
+relatives of our cabinets; dinner-giving would not be an essential of
+diplomacy; the ambassador's house would not be a centre for all the
+ramblers and triflers who preferred a silly and lavish life abroad to
+doing their duty at home; and a sum of much more than a hundred thousand
+pounds a-year would be saved to the country. Jonathan acts the only
+rational part on the subject. He gives his ambassador a sum on which a
+private gentleman can live, and no more. He has not the slightest sense
+of giving superb feasts, furnishing huge palaces, supplying all the
+rambling Jonathans with balls and suppers, or astonishing John Bull by
+the tinsel of his appointments. Yet he is at least as well served as
+others. His man is a man of business; his embassy is no showy sinecure;
+his ambassador is no showy sinecurist. The office is an understood step
+to distinction at home; and the man who exhibits ability here, is sure
+of eminence on his return. We have not found that the American diplomacy
+is consigned to mean hands, or inefficient, or despised in any country.
+
+The relative value of money, too, makes the folly still more
+extravagant. In Vienna, L. 11,000 a-year is equal to twice the sum in
+England. We thus virtually pay L. 22,000 a-year for Austrian diplomacy.
+In France about the same proportion exists. But in Spain, the dollar
+goes as far as the pound in England. There L. 10,000 sterling would be
+equivalent to L. 40,000 here. How long is this waste to go on? We
+remember a strong and true _exposé_, made by Sir James Graham, on the
+subject, a few years ago; and we are convinced that, if he were to take
+up the topic again, he would render the country a service of remarkable
+value; and, moreover, that if he does not, it will be taken up by more
+strenuous, but more dangerous hands. The whole system is one of lavish
+absurdity.
+
+The Russian ambassador's dinner "was of a different description.
+Perfection in _cuisine_, wine, and attendance. Sumptuousness in liveries
+and lights; the company, about thirty, the _élite_ of Vienna."
+
+But the most interesting of those banquets, from the character of the
+distinguished giver, was Prince Meternich's. The prince was residing at
+his "Garten," (villa) two miles out of town. He had enlarged his house
+of late years, and it now consisted of three, one for his children,
+another for his own residence, and a third for his guests. This last was
+"really a fairy edifice, so contrived with reflecting mirrors, as to
+give the idea of being transparent." It was ornamented with rare
+malachite, prophyry, jasper, and other vases, presents from the
+sovereigns of Europe, besides statues, and copies of the most celebrated
+works of Italy.
+
+The Marquis had not seen this eminent person since 1823, and time had
+played its part with his countenance; the smile was more languid, the
+eye less illumined, the person more slight than formerly, the hair of a
+more silvery hue, the features of his expressive face more distinctly
+marked; the erect posture was still maintained, but the gait had become
+more solemn; and when he rose from his chair, he had no longer his
+wonted elasticity.
+
+But this inevitable change of the exterior seems to have no effect on
+the "inner man." "In the Prince's conversation I found the same talent,
+the unrivalled _esprit_. The fluency and elocution, so entirely his own,
+were as graceful, and the memory was as perfect, as at any
+former period."
+
+This memorable man is fond of matrimony; his present wife, a daughter of
+Count Zichy Ferraris, being his third. A son of the second marriage is
+his heir, and he has by his present princess two boys and a girl. The
+Princess seems to have alarmed her guest by her vivacity; for he
+describes her in the awful language with which the world speaks of a
+confirmed _blue_:--"Though not so handsome as her predecessor, she
+combines a _very spirited_ expression of countenance, with a clever
+conversation, a versatility of genius, and a wit rather satirical than
+humorous, which makes her _somewhat formidable_ to her acquaintance." We
+dare say that she is a very showy tigress.
+
+The Marquis found Vienna less gay than it was on his former visit. It is
+true that he then saw it in the height of the Congress, flushed with
+conquest, glittering with all kinds of festivity; and not an individual
+in bad spirits in Europe, but Napoleon himself. Yet in later times the
+court has changed; "the Emperor keeps singularly aloof from society; the
+splendid court-days are no more; the families are withdrawing into
+coteries; the beauties of former years have lost much of their
+brilliancy, and a new generation equal to them has not yet appeared."
+
+This is certainly not the language of a young marquis; but it is
+probably not far from the estimate which every admirer of the sex makes,
+_after_ a five-and-twenty years' absence. But he gallantly defends them
+against the sneer of the cleverest of her sex, Lady Wortley Montagu, a
+hundred years ago; her verdict being, "That their costume disfigured the
+natural ugliness with which Heaven had been pleased to endow them." He
+contends, however, that speaking within the last twenty (he probably
+means _five-and-twenty_) years, "Vienna has produced some of the
+handsomest women in the world: and in frequenting the public walks, the
+Prater, and places of amusement, you meet as many bewitching
+countenances, especially as to eyes, hair, and _tournure_, as in any
+other capital whatever."
+
+We think the Marquis fortunate; for we must acknowledge, that in our
+occasional rambles on the Continent, we _never_ saw beauty in a German
+visage. The rotundity of the countenance, the coarse colours, the
+stunted nose, and the thick lip, which constitute the general mould of
+the native physiognomy, are to us the very antipodes of beauty. Dress,
+diamonds, rouge, and lively manners, may go far, and the ball-room may
+help the deception; but we strongly suspect that where beauty casually
+appears in society, we must look for its existence only among foreigners
+to Teutchland. The general state of intercourse, even among the highest
+circles, is dull. There are few houses of rank where strangers are
+received; the animation of former times is gone. The ambassadors live
+retired. The monarch's state of health makes him averse to society.
+Prince Metternich's house is the only one constantly open; "but while he
+remains at his Garten, to trudge there for a couple of hours' general
+conversation, is not very alluring." Still, for a family which can go so
+far to look for cheap playhouses and cheap living, Vienna is a
+convenient capital.
+
+But Austria has one quality, which shows her common sense in a striking
+point of view. She abhors change. She has not a radical in her whole
+dominions, except in jail--the only place fit for him. The agitations
+and vexations of other governments stop at the Austrian frontier. The
+people have not made the grand discovery, that universal suffrage is
+meat and drink, and annual parliaments lodging and clothing. They
+labour, and live by their labour; yet they have as much dancing as the
+French, and better music. They are probably the richest and most
+comfortable population of Europe at this hour. Their country has risen
+to be the protector of Southern Europe; and they are making admirable
+highways, laying down railroads, and building steam-boats, ten times as
+fast as the French, with all their regicide plots, and a revolution
+threatened once-a-month by the calendar of patriotism. "Like the great
+Danube, which rolls through the centre of her dominions, the course of
+her ministry and its tributary branches continue, without any deviation
+from its accustomed channel." The comparison is a good one, and what can
+be more fortunate than such tranquillity?
+
+The two leading ministers, the government in effect, are Metternich and
+Kollowrath; the former the Foreign Minister, the latter the Minister of
+the Interior. They are understood to be of different principles; the
+latter leaning to the "Movement," or, more probably, allowing himself to
+be thought to do so, for the sake of popularity. But Metternich is the
+true head. A Conservative from the beginning, sagacious enough to see
+through the dupery of the pretended friends of the human race, and firm
+enough to crush their hypocrisy--Metternich is one of those statesmen,
+of whom men of sense never could have had two opinions--a mind which
+stamped itself from the beginning as a leader, compelled by
+circumstances often to yield, but never suffering even the most
+desperate circumstances to make it despair. He saw where the strength of
+Europe lay, from the commencement of the Revolutionary war; and, guided
+by the example of Pitt, he laboured for a general European alliance.
+When he failed there, he husbanded the strength of Austria for the day
+of struggle, which he knew would come; and when it came, his genius
+raised his country at once from a defeated dependency of France, into
+the arbiter of Europe. While this great man lives, he ought to be
+supreme in the affairs of his country. But in case of his death, General
+Fiquelmont, the late ambassador to Russia, has been regarded as his
+probable successor. He is a man of ability and experience, and his
+appointment to the court of St Petersburg was probably intended to
+complete that experience, in the quarter to which Austria, by her new
+relations, and especially by her new navigation of the Danube, must look
+with the most vigilant anxiety.
+
+The Austrian army is kept up in very fine condition; but nearly all the
+officers distinguished in the war are dead, and its present leaders have
+to acquire a name. It is only to be hoped that they will never have the
+opportunity. The regimental officers are generally from a higher class
+than those of the other German armies.
+
+After remaining for a fortnight at Vienna, the Marquis paid a visit to
+his friend Prince Esterhazy.
+
+This nobleman, long known and much-esteemed in England, is equally well
+known to be a kind of monarch in Hungary. Whatever novelist shall write
+the "Troubles of rank and riches," should take the prince for his hero.
+He has eight or nine princely mansions scattered over the empire, and in
+each of them it is expected, by his subjects of the soil, that his
+highness should reside.
+
+The Marquis made a round of the principal of those mansions. The first
+visit was to a castle in the neighbourhood of Vienna, which the prince
+has modernized into a magnificent villa. Here all is constructed to the
+taste of a statesman only eager to escape the tumult of the capital, and
+pining to refresh himself with cooling shades and crystal streams. All
+is verdure, trout streams, leafy walks, water blue as the sky above it,
+and the most profound privacy and seclusion.
+
+After a "most exquisite entertainment" here, the Marquis and his family
+set out early next morning to visit Falkenstein. Every castle in this
+part of the world is historical, and derives its honours from a Turkish
+siege. Falkenstein, crowning the summit of a mountain of granite, up
+which no carriage can be dragged but by the stout Hungarian horses
+trained to the work, has been handsomely bruised by the Turkish balls in
+its day; but it is now converted into a superb mansion; very grand, and
+still more curious than grand; for it is full of relics of the olden
+time, portraits of the old warriors of Hungary, armour and arms, and all
+the other odd and pompous things which turn an age of barbarism into an
+age of romance. The prince and princess are hailed and received at the
+castle as king and queen. A guard of soldiers of the family, which the
+Esterhazy have the sovereign right to maintain, form the garrison of
+this palatial fortress, and it has a whole establishment of salaried
+officials within. The next expedition was to two more of those
+mansions--Esterhazy, built by one of the richest princes of the house,
+and Eisenstadt. The former resembles the imperial palace at Schonbrun,
+but smaller. The prince is fitting it up gorgeously in the Louis XIV.th
+style. Here he has his principal studs for breeding horses; but
+Eisenstadt outshone all the chateaus of this superb possessor. The
+splendours here were regal: Two hundred chambers for guests--a saloon
+capable of dining a thousand people--a battalion of the "Esterhazy
+Guard" at the principal entrances; all paid from the estate. To this all
+the ornamental part was proportioned--conservatory and greenhouses on
+the most unrivalled scale--three or four hundred orange-trees alone,
+throwing the Duke of Northumberland's gardens into eclipse, and
+stimulating his Grace of Devonshire even to add new greens and glories
+to Chatsworth.
+
+On his return to Vienna, the Marquis was honoured with a private
+interview by the emperor--a remarkable distinction, as the ambassador
+was informed "that the emperor was too well acquainted with the
+Marquis's services to require any presentation, and desired that he
+might come alone." He was received with great politeness and
+condescension. Next day he had an interview with Prince Metternich, who,
+with graceful familiarity, took him over his house in Vienna, to show
+him its improvements since the days of Congress. He remarks it as a
+strange point in the character of this celebrated statesman, how
+minutely he sometimes interests himself in mere trifles, especially
+where art and mechanism are concerned. He had seen him one evening
+remain for half an hour studiously examining the construction of a
+musical clock. The Prince then showed his _cabinet de travail_, which he
+had retained unchanged. "Here," said he, "is a spot which is exactly as
+it was the last day you saw it." Its identity had been rigidly
+preserved, down to the placing of its paper and pencils. All was in the
+same order. The Prince evidently, and justly, looked on those days as
+the glory of his life.
+
+We regret that the conversation of so eminent a person could not be more
+largely given; for Metternich is less a statesman than statemanship
+itself. But one remark was at once singularly philosophical and
+practical. In evident allusion to the miserable tergiversations of our
+Whig policy a couple of years since, he said, "that throughout life, he
+had always acted on the plan of adopting the _best determination on all
+important subjects_. That to this point of view he had steadfastly
+adhered; and that, in the indescribable workings of time and
+circumstances, it had _always happened to him_ that matters were
+brought round to the very spot, from which, owing to the folly of
+misguided notions or inexperienced men, they had for a time taken their
+departure." This was in 1840, when the Whigs ruled us; it must be an
+admirable maxim for honest men, but it must be perpetually thwarting the
+oblique. To form a view on principle, and to adhere to it under all
+difficulties, is the palpable way to attain great ultimate success; but
+the paltry and the selfish, the hollow and the intriguing, have neither
+power nor will to look beyond the moment; they are not steering the
+vessel to a harbour; they have no other object than to keep possession
+of the ship as long as they can, and let her roll wherever the gale may
+carry her.
+
+After all, one grows weary of every thing that is to be had for the mere
+act of wishing. Difficulty is essential to enjoyment. High life is as
+likely to tire on one's hands as any other. The Marquis, giving all the
+praise of manners and agreeability to Vienna, sums up all in one
+prodigious yawn. "The _same_ evenings at Metternich's, the _same_
+lounges for making purchases and visits on a morning, the _same_
+idleness and fatigue at night, the searching and arid climate, and the
+clouds of execrable fine dust"--all conspiring to tell the great of the
+earth that they can escape _ennui_ no more than the little.
+
+On leaving Vienna, he wrote a note of farewell to the Prince, who
+returned an answer, of remarkable elegance--a mixture of the pathetic
+and the playful. His note says that he has no chance of going to see any
+body, for he is like a coral fixed to a rock--both must move together.
+He touches lightly on their share in the great war, "which is now
+becoming a part of those times which history itself names heroic;" and
+concludes by recommending him on his journey to the care of an officer
+of rank, on a mission to Turkey--"Car il sçait le Turc, aussi bien que
+nous deux ne le sçavons pas." With this Voltairism he finishes, and
+gives his "Dieu protège."
+
+We now come to the Austrian steam passage. This is the boldest effort
+which Austria has ever made, and its effects will be felt through every
+generation of her mighty empire. The honour of originating this great
+design is due to Count Etienne Zecheny, a Hungarian nobleman,
+distinguished for every quality which can make a man a benefactor to his
+country. The plan of this steam-navigation is now about ten years old.
+The Marquis justly observes, that nothing more patriotic was ever
+projected; and it is mainly owing to this high-spirited nobleman that
+the great advantage is now enjoyed of performing, in ten or twelve days,
+the journey to the capital of Turkey, which some years ago could be
+achieved only by riding the whole way, and occupying, by couriers, two
+or three weeks. The chief direction of the company is at Vienna. It had,
+at the time of the tour, eighteen boats, varying from sixty to one
+hundred horse-power, and twenty-four more were to be added within the
+year. Some of these were to be of iron.
+
+But the poverty of all foreign countries is a formidable obstacle to the
+progress of magnificent speculations like those. The shares have
+continued low, the company has had financial difficulties to encounter,
+and the popular purse is tardy. However, the prospect is improving, the
+profits have increased; and the Austrian archdukes and many of the great
+nobles having lately taken shares, the steam-boats will probably become
+as favourite as they are necessary. But all this takes time; and as by
+degrees the "disagreeables" of the voyage down the Danube will be
+changed into agreeables, we shall allude no more to the noble
+traveller's voyage, than to say, that on the 4th of November, a day of
+more than autumnal beauty, his steamer anchored in the Bosphorus.
+
+Here we were prepared for a burst of description. But the present
+describer is a matter-of-fact personage; and though he makes no attempt
+at poetic fame, has the faculty of telling what he saw, with very
+sufficient distinctness. "I never experienced more disappointment," is
+his phrase, "than in my first view of the Ottoman capital. I was bold
+enough at once to come to the conclusion, that what I had heard or read
+was overcharged. The most eminent of the describers, I think, could
+never have been on the spot." Such is the plain language of the last
+authority.
+
+"The entrance of the Tagus, the Bay of Naples, the splendid approach to
+the grand quays of St Petersburg, the Kremlin, and view of Moscow, all
+struck me as far preferable to the scene at the entrance of the
+Bosphorus."
+
+He admits, that in the advance to the city up this famous channel, there
+are many pretty views, that there is a line of handsome residences in
+some parts, and that the whole has a good deal the look of a "drop-scene
+in a theatre;" still he thinks it poor in comparison of its
+descriptions, the outline low, feeble, and rugged, and that the less it
+is examined, probably the more it may be admired. Even the famous
+capital fares not much better. "In point of fine architectural features,
+monuments of art, and magnificent structures, (excepting only the great
+Mosques,) the chisel of the mason, the marble, the granite,
+Constantinople is more destitute than any other great capital. But then,
+you are told that these objects are not in the style and taste of the
+people. Be it so; but then do not let the minds of those who cannot see
+for themselves be led away by high-wrought and fallacious descriptions
+of things which do not exist." The maxim is a valuable one, and we hope
+that the rebuke will save the reading public from a heap of those
+"picturesque" labours, which really much more resemble the heaviest
+brush of the scene-painter, than the truth of nature.
+
+But if art has done little, nature has done wonders for Constantinople.
+The site contains some of the noblest elements of beauty and grandeur;
+mountain, plain, forest, waters; its position is obviously the key of
+Europe and Asia Minor--even of more, it is the point at which the north
+and south meet; by the Bosphorus it commands the communication of the
+Black Sea, and with it, of all the boundless region, once Scythia, and
+now Russia and Tartary; by the Dardanelles, it has the most immediate
+command over the Mediterranean, the most important sea in the world.
+Russia, doubtless, may be the paramount power of the Black Sea; the
+European nations may divide the power of the Mediterranean; but
+Constantinople, once under the authority of a monarch, or a government,
+adequate to its natural faculties, would be more directly the sovereign
+of both seas, than Russia, with its state machinery in St Petersburg, a
+thousand miles off, or France a thousand miles, or England more nearly
+two thousand miles. This dominion will never be exercised by the
+ignorant, profligate, and unprincipled Turk; but if an independent
+Christian power should be established there, in that spot lie the
+materials of empire. In the fullest sense, Constantinople, uniting all
+the high-roads between east and west, north and south, is the centre of
+the living world. We are by no means to be reckoned among the theorists
+who calculate day by day on the fall of Turkey. In ancient times the
+fall of guilty empires was sudden, and connected with marked evidences
+of guilt. But those events were so nearly connected with the fortunes of
+the Jewish people, that the suddenness of the catastrophe was essential
+to the lesson. The same necessity exists no longer, the Chosen People
+are now beyond the lesson, and nations undergo suffering, and approach
+dissolution, by laws not unlike those of the decadence of the human
+frame; the disease makes progress, but the evidence scarcely strikes the
+eye, and the seat of the distemper is almost beyond human investigation.
+The jealousy of the European powers, too, protects the Turk. But he must
+go down--Mahometanism is already decaying. Stamboul, its headquarters,
+will not survive its fall; and a future generation will inevitably see
+Constantinople the seat of a Christian empire, and that empire, not
+improbably, only the forerunner of an empire of Palestine.
+
+The general view of Constantinople is superb. A bridge has been thrown
+across the "Golden Horn," connecting its shores; and from this the city,
+or rather the four cities, spread out in lengthened stateliness before
+the eye. From this point are seen, to the most striking advantage, the
+two mountainous elevations on which Constantinople and Pera are built,
+and other heights surrounding. A communication subsists across the
+"Golden Horn," not only by water and the bridge, but also by the road,
+which by the land is a distance of five or six miles. Viewing
+Constantinople as a whole, it strikes one as larger by far than Paris or
+London, but they are both larger. The reason of the deception being,
+that here the eye embraces a larger space.
+
+The Turks never improve anything. The distinction between them and the
+Europeans is, that the latter think of conveniences, the former only of
+luxuries. The Turks, for example, build handsome pavilions, plant showy
+gardens, and erect marble fountains to cool them in marble halls. But
+they never mend a high-road--they never even make one. Now and then a
+bridge is forced on them by the necessity of having one, or being
+drowned; but they never repair that bridge, nor sweep away the
+accumulated abomination of their streets, nor do any thing that it is
+possible to leave undone.
+
+Pera is the quarter in which all the Christians even of the highest rank
+live; the intercourse between it and Constantinople is, of course,
+perpetual, yet perhaps a stone has not been smoothed in the road since
+the siege of the city. From Pera were the most harassing trips down
+rugged declivities on horseback, besides the awkwardness of the
+passage in boats.
+
+One extraordinary circumstance strikes the stranger, that but one sex
+seems to exist. The dress of the women gives no idea of the female form,
+and the whole population seems to be male.
+
+The masses of people are dense, and among them the utmost silence in
+general prevails. About seven or eight at night the streets are cleared,
+and their only tenants are whole hosts of growling, hideous dogs; or a
+few Turks gliding about with paper lanterns; these, too, being the only
+lights in the streets, if streets they are to be called, which are only
+narrow passes, through which the vehicles can scarcely move.
+
+The dogs are curious animals. It is probable that civilization does as
+much injury to the lower tribes of creation, as it does good to man. If
+it polishes our faculties, it enfeebles their instincts. The Turkish
+dog, living nearly as he would have done in the wilderness, exhibits the
+same sagacity, amounting to something of government. For instance, the
+Turkish dogs divide the capital into quarters, and each set has its own;
+if an adventurous or an ambitious dog enters the quarters of his
+neighbours, the whole pack in possession set upon him at once, and he is
+expelled by hue and cry. They also know how to conduct themselves
+according to times and seasons. In the daytime, they ramble about, and
+suffer themselves to be kicked with impunity; but at night the case is
+different: they are the majority--they know their strength, and insist
+on their privileges. They howl and growl then at their own discretion,
+fly at the accidental stranger with open mouth, attack him singly,
+charge him _en masse_, and nothing but a stout bludgeon, wielded by a
+strong arm, can save the passenger from feeling that he is in the
+kingdom of his four-footed masters.
+
+The Marquis arrived during the Ramazan, when no Turk eats, drinks, or
+even smokes, from sunrise to sunset. Thus the Turk is a harder faster
+than the papist. The moment the sun goes down, the Turk rushes to his
+meal and his pipe, "not eating but devouring, not inhaling but wallowing
+in smoke." At the Bajazet colonnade, where the principal Turks rush to
+enjoy the night, the lighted coffee-houses, the varieties of costume,
+the eager crowd, and the illumination of myriads of paper lanterns, make
+a scene that revives the memory of Oriental tales.
+
+Every thing in Turkey is unlike any thing in Europe. In the bazar,
+instead of the rapid sale and dismissal in our places of traffic, the
+Turkish dealer, in any case of value, invites his applicant into his
+shop, makes him sit down, gives him a pipe, smokes him into
+familiarity--hands him a cup of coffee, and drinks him into confidence;
+in short, treats him as if they were a pair of ambassadors appointed to
+dine and bribe each other--converses with, and cheats him.
+
+But the Marquis regards the bazars as contemptible places, says that
+they are not to be compared with similar establishments at Petersburg or
+Moscow, and recommends whatever purchases are made, to be made at one's
+own quarters, "where you escape being jostled, harangued, smoked, and
+poisoned with insufferable smells."
+
+One of the curious features of the sojourn at Constantinople, is the
+presentation to the Ministers and the Sultan. Redschid Pasha appointed
+to see the Marquis at three o'clock, _à la Turque_--which, as those
+Orientals always count from the sunset, means eight o'clock in
+the evening.
+
+He was led in a kind of procession to the Minister, received in the
+customary manner, and had the customary conversation on Constantinople,
+England, the war, &c. Then, a dozen slaves entered, and universal
+smoking began. "When the cabinet was so full of smoke that one could
+hardly see," the attendants returned, and carried away the pipes. Then
+came a dropping fire of conversation, then coffee; then sherbet, which
+the guest pronounced good, and "thought the most agreeable part of the
+ceremonial." The Minister spoke French fluently, and, after an hour's
+visit, the ceremony ended--the pasha politely attending his visiter
+through the rooms. The next visit was to Achmet Pasha, who had been in
+England at the time of the Coronation--had been ambassador at Vienna for
+some years--spoke French fluently--was a great friend of Prince and
+Princess Metternich, and, besides all this, had married one of the
+Sultan's sisters. The last honour was said to be due to his immense
+wealth. It seems that the "course of true love" does not run more
+smoothly in Turkey than elsewhere--for the young lady was stated to be
+in love with the commander-in-chief, an older man, but possessing more
+character. Achmet was now Minister of Commerce, and in high favour. He
+kept his young wife at his country house, and she had not been seen
+since her marriage. When asked permission for ladies to visit her, he
+always deferred it "till next spring, when," said he, "she will be
+civilized." The third nocturnal interview was more picturesque--it was
+with the young Sultana's flame, the Seraskier, (commander-in-chief.) His
+residence is at the Porte, where he has one of the splendid palaces.
+
+"You enter an immense court, with his stables on one side and his harem
+on the other. A regiment of guards was drawn up at the entrance, and two
+companies were stationed at the lower court. The staircase was filled
+with soldiers, slaves, and attendants of different nations. I saw
+Greeks, Armenians, Sclavonians, Georgians, all in their native costume;
+and dark as were the corridors and entrance, by the flashes of my
+flambeaux through the mist, the scene struck me as much more grand and
+imposing than the others. The Seraskier is a robust, soldier-like man,
+with a fierce look and beard, and an agreeable smile." The Minister was
+peculiarly polite, and showed him through the rooms and the war
+department, exhibiting, amongst the rest, his military council, composed
+of twenty-four officers, sitting at that moment. They were of all ranks,
+and chosen, as it was said, without any reference as to qualification,
+but simply by favour. The Turks still act as oddly as ever. A friend of
+the Marquis told him, that he had lately applied to the Seraskier to
+promote a young Turkish officer. A few days after, the officer came to
+thank him, and said, that though the Seraskier had not given him the
+command of a regiment, he had given him "the command of a ship." The
+true wonder is, that the Turks have either ships or regiments. But there
+is a fine quantity of patronage in this department--the number of clerks
+alone being reckoned at between seven and eight hundred.
+
+The opinions of the Marquis on Mediterranean politics are worth
+regarding, because he has had much political experience in the highest
+ranks of foreign life--because from that experience he is enabled to
+give the opinions of many men of high name and living influence, and
+because he is an honest man, speaking sincerely, and speaking
+intelligibly. He regards the preservation of Turkey as the first
+principle of all English diplomacy in the east of Europe, and considers
+our successive attempts to make a Greek kingdom, and our sufferance of
+an Egyptian dynasty, as sins against the common peace of the world.
+Thus, within a few years, Greece has been taken away; Egypt has not
+merely been taken away, but rendered dangerous to the Porte; the great
+Danubian provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, have been taken away, and
+thus Russia has been brought to the banks of the Danube. Servia, a vast
+and powerful province, has followed, and is now more Russian than
+Turkish; and while those limbs have been torn from the great trunk, and
+that trunk is still bleeding from the wounds of the late war, it is
+forced to more exhausting efforts, the less power it retains. But, with
+respect to Russia, he does not look upon her force and her ambition with
+the alarm generally entertained of that encroaching and immense power.
+He even thinks that, even if she possessed Constantinople, she could not
+long retain it.  As all this is future, and of course conjectural, we
+may legitimately express our doubts of any authority on the subject.
+That Russia does not think with the Marquis is evident, for all her real
+movements for the last fifty years have been but preliminaries to the
+seizure of Turkey. Her exhibitions in all other quarters have been mere
+disguises. She at one time displays a large fleet in the Baltic, or at
+another sends an army across Tartary; but she never attempts any thing
+with either, except the excitement of alarm. But it is in the direction
+of Turkey that all the solid advances are made. There she always
+finishes her hostility by making some solid acquisition. She is now
+carrying on a wasteful war in the Caucasus; its difficulty has probably
+surprised herself, but she still carries it on; and let the loss of life
+and the expenditure of money be what they will, she will think them well
+encountered if they end in giving her the full possession of the
+northern road into Asia Minor. Russia, in possession of Constantinople,
+would have the power of inflicting dreadful injuries on Europe. If she
+possessed a responsible government, her ambition might be restrained by
+public opinion; or the necessity of appealing to the national
+representatives for money--of all checks on war the most powerful, and
+in fact the grand operative check, at this moment, on the most restless
+of European governments, France. But with her whole power, her revenues,
+and her military means completely at the disposal of a single mind, her
+movements, for either good or evil, are wholly dependent on the caprice,
+the ambition, or the absurdity of the individual on the throne. The idea
+that Russia would weaken her power by the possession of Constantinople,
+seems to us utterly incapable of proof. She has been able to maintain
+her power at once on the Black Sea, seven hundred miles from her
+capital; on the Danube, at nearly the same distance, and on the Vistula,
+pressing on the Prussian frontier. In Constantinople she would have the
+most magnificent fortress in the world, the command of the head of the
+Mediterranean, Syria, and inevitably Egypt. By the Dardanelles, she
+would be wholly inaccessible; for no fleet could pass, if the batteries
+on shore were well manned. The Black Sea would be simply her wet-dock,
+in which she might build ships while there was oak or iron in the north,
+and build them in complete security from all disturbance; for all the
+fleets of Europe could not reach them through the Bosphorus, even if
+they had forced the Dardanelles--that must be the operation of an army
+in the field. On the north, Russia is almost wholly invulnerable. The
+Czar might retreat until his pursuers perished of fatigue and hunger.
+The unquestionable result of the whole is, that Russia is the real
+terror of Europe. France is dangerous, and madly prone to hostilities;
+but France is open on every side, and experience shows that she never
+can resist the combined power of England and Germany. It is strong
+evidence of our position, that she has never _ultimately_ triumphed in
+any war against England; and the experience of the last war, which
+showed her, with all the advantages of her great military chief, her
+whole population thrown into the current of war, and her banner followed
+by vassal kings, only the more consummately overthrown, should be a
+lesson to her for all ages. But Russia has never been effectually
+checked since the reign of Peter the Great, when she first began to
+move. Even disastrous wars have only hastened her advance; keen intrigue
+has assisted military violence, and when we see even the destruction of
+Moscow followed by the final subjugation of Poland, we may estimate the
+sudden and fearful superiority which she would be enabled to assume,
+with her foot standing on Constantinople, and her arm stretching at will
+over Europe and Asia. Against this tremendous result there are but two
+checks, the preservation of the Osmanli government by the jealousy of
+the European states, and the establishment of a Greek empire at
+Constantinople: the former, the only expedient which can be adopted for
+the moment, but in its nature temporary, imperfect, and liable to
+intrigue: the latter, natural, secure, and lasting. It is to this event
+that all the rational hopes of European politicians should be finally
+directed. Yet, while the Turk retains possession we must adhere to him;
+for treaties must be rigidly observed, and no policy is safe that is not
+strictly honest. But if the dynasty should fail, or any of those
+unexpected changes occur which leave great questions open, the formation
+of a Greek empire ought to be contemplated as the true, and the only,
+mode of effectually rescuing Europe from the most formidable struggle
+that she has ever seen. But the first measure, even of temporary
+defence, ought to be the fortification of Constantinople. It is computed
+that the expense would not exceed a million and a half sterling.
+
+The Marquis, by a fortunate chance for a looker-on, happened to be in
+the Turkish capital at the time when the populace were all exulting at
+the capture of Acre. It was admitted that the British squadron had done
+more in rapidity of action, and in effect of firing, than it was
+supposed possible for ships to accomplish, and all was popular
+admiration and ministerial gratitude. In addition to the lighting of the
+mosques for the Ramazan, Pera and Constantinople were lighted up, and
+the whole scene was brilliant. Constant salvoes were fired from the
+ships and batteries during the day, and at night, of course, all was
+splendour on the seven hills of the great city.
+
+On the "Seraskier's Square," two of the Egyptian regiments taken at
+Beyrout defiled before the commander-in-chief. The Turkish bands in
+garrison moved at their head. The prisoners marched in file; and, having
+but just landed from their prison-ships, looked wretchedly. Having a red
+woollen bonnet, white jackets, and large white trowsers, they looked
+like an assemblage of "cricketers." The men were universally young,
+slight made, and active, with sallow cheeks, many nearly yellow, orange,
+and even black; still, if well fed and clothed, they would make by no
+means bad light troops. The Turks armed and clothed then forthwith, and
+scattered them among their regiments; a proceeding which shows that even
+the Turk is sharing the general improvement of mankind. Once he would
+have thrown them all into the Bosphorus.
+
+From this professional display, the Marquis adjourned to the "Grand
+Promenade," where the sultanas see the world, unseen themselves, in
+their carriages. "Though," as he writes, "I never had an opportunity of
+_verifying_ any thing like Miss Pardoe's anecdote of the 'sentries being
+ordered to face about when presenting arms,' rather than be permitted to
+gaze on the _tempting_ and _forbidden_ fruit; but, on the contrary,
+witnessed soldiers escorting all the sultanas' carriages: it is
+nevertheless true, that a gruff attendant attacked and found fault with
+me for daring to raise my eyes to a beautiful Turkish woman, whom it was
+quite impossible I could admire beyond her forehead and two large black
+eyes, eyebrows, and lashes, which glanced from under her yashmack." But
+the Marquis has no mercy on the performances of poor Miss Pardoe.
+
+The sultana-mother was a personage of high importance at this time, from
+her supposed influence over her son. Her equipage was somewhat
+European--a chariot, with hammer-cloth, (apparently lately received from
+Long-Acre.) The coachman drove four large bay horses, with a plurality
+of reins. There were attendants, running Turks, and guards before to
+clear the way. Two open barouches, ornamented after the manner of the
+country, followed, and the rear of the sultanas' procession was closed
+by arebas (or covered and gilded vans) full of women and slaves.
+
+But the most characteristic display of all is the "Cabinet." "On the
+side of this drive is a long colonnade of shops; and, at the bottom of
+it, a _barber's_, in which all the ministers of the divan and the pasha
+assemble! They sit on cushions in grand conclave and conference; and,
+while affecting to discuss the affairs of the state, the direction of
+their eyes, and their signs to the recumbent houris in the carriages,
+show their thoughts to be directed to other objects."
+
+What should we think of the chancellor, the premier, and the three
+secretaries of state, sitting in council at a fruiterer's in Regent
+Street, and nodding to the ladies as they pass? But this is not all. The
+sultan, in his kiosk, sits at one end of the drive, inspecting the whole
+panorama. Still, it is not yet complete; at the lower end of the
+colonnade there is a woman-market, where each slave, attended by a
+duenna, passes and parades, casting her languishing eyes through the
+files of lounging officers and merchants, who crowd this part of the
+promenade. All this is essentially Turkish, and probably without any
+thing like it in the world besides.
+
+The beauty of the Turkish women is still a matter of dispute. When
+beauty is an object of unlimited purchase, its frequency will be
+probably found a safe admission. But Turkish women occasionally unveil,
+and it is then generally discovered that the veil is one of their
+principal charms. They have even been described as merely good-humoured
+looking "fatties"--a sufficiently humble panegyric. Lord Londonderry
+gives it as his opinion, that they are "not generally handsome, but all
+well-built and well-grown, strong, and apparently healthy. Their eyes
+and eyebrows are invariably fine and expressive; and their hair is,
+beyond measure, superior to that of other nations. The thickness of its
+braidings and plaits, and the masses that are occasionally to be seen,
+leave no doubt of this."
+
+Long and luxuriant tresses belong to all the southern nations of Europe,
+and seem to be the results of heat of climate; and there are few facts
+in physiology more singular than the sudden check given to this
+luxuriance on the confines of Negroland. There, with all predisposing
+causes for its growth, it is coarse, curled, and never attains to length
+or fineness of any kind. The Georgians and Circassians were once the
+boast of the harem; but the war and the predominance of the Russian
+power in the Caucasus, have much restricted this detestable national
+traffic--a circumstance said to be much to the regret of both parents
+and daughters; the former losing the price, and the latter losing the
+preferment, to which the young beauties looked forward as to a certain
+fortune. But later experience has told the world, that the charms of
+those Armidas were desperately exaggerated by Turkish romance and
+European credulity; that the general style of Circassian features,
+though fair, is Tartarish, and that the Georgian is frequently coarse
+and of the deepest brown, though with larger eyes than the Circassian,
+which are small, and like those of the Chinese. The accounts written by
+ladies visiting the harems are to be taken with the allowance due to
+showy dress, jewels, cosmetics, and the general effect of a prepared
+exhibition, scarcely less than theatrical. It is scarcely possible that
+either the human face or form can long preserve symmetry of any kind in
+a life almost wholly destitute of exercise, in the confined air of their
+prison, and in the full indulgence of their meals. Activity, animation,
+and grace--the great constituents of all true beauty--must soon perish
+in the harem.
+
+The Marquis (an excellent judge of a horse) did not much admire the
+steeds of the pashas. On a visit to the Seraskier's stables, the head
+groom brought out fourteen, with light Tartars on them to show their
+points. Their stables were miserable. The horses were without stalls or
+litter, in a dark, ill-paved barn. They were heavily covered with rugs.
+Three or four were very fine Arabs; but the rest were of Turkish blood,
+with large heads, lopped ears, and thick necks, of indifferent action,
+and by no means desirable in any shape.
+
+The interview with the Sultan was the last, and was interesting and
+characteristic. The Marquis had naturally expected to find him in the
+midst of pomp. Instead of all this, on entering a common French carpeted
+room, he perceived, on an ordinary little French sofa, the sovereign
+crosslegged, and alone; two small sofas, half-a-dozen chairs, and
+several wax-lights, were all the ornaments of this very plain saloon.
+But the Sultan was diamonded all over, and fully made amends for the
+plainness of his reception-room. As to his person, Abdul-Mehjid is a
+tall sallow youth of nineteen or twenty, with a long visage, but
+possessing fine eyes and eyebrows, so that, when his face is lighted up,
+it is agreeable and spiritual.
+
+We must now close our sketch of those diversified and pleasant volumes.
+We regret to hear that their distinguished and active author has lately
+met with a severe accident in following the sports of his country; but
+we are gratified with the hope of his recovery, and the hope, too, of
+seeing him undertake more excursions, and narrate them with equal
+interest, truth, and animation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE CURSE OF GLENCOE.[12]
+
+BY B. SIMMONS.
+
+
+    [12] The tale that follows is founded upon an incident that
+    occurred some little time before the American War, to Colonel
+    Campbell of Glenlyon, whose grandfather, the Laird of Glenlyon,
+    was the officer in King William's service who commanded at the
+    slaughter of the Macdonalds of Glencoe. The anecdote is told in
+    Colonel David Stewart's valuable history of the Highland
+    Regiments. Edin 1822.
+
+
+    The fair calm eve on wood and wold
+      Shone down with softest ray,
+    Beneath the sycamore's red leaf
+      The mavis trill'd her lay,
+    Murmur'd the Tweed afar, as if
+      Complaining for the day.
+
+    And evening's light, and wild-bird's song,
+      And Tweed's complaining tune;
+    And far-off hills, whose restless pines
+      Were beckoning up the moon--
+    Beheld and heard, shed silence through
+      A lofty dim saloon.
+
+    The fruits of mellow autumn glow'd
+      Upon the ebon board;
+    The blood that grape of Burgundy
+      In other days had pour'd,
+    Gleam'd from its crystal vase--but all
+      Untasted stood the hoard.
+
+    Two guests alone sat listlessly
+      That lavish board beside;
+    The one a fair-haired stripling, tall,
+      Blithe-brow'd and eager-ey'd,
+    Caressing still two hounds in leash,
+      That by his chair abide.
+
+    Right opposite, in musing mood,
+      A stalwart man was placed,
+    With veteran aspect, like a tower
+      By war, not time, defaced,
+    Whose shatter'd walls exhibit Power
+      Contending still with Waste.
+
+    And as the ivy's sudden veil
+      Will round the fortress spring,
+    Some grief unfading o'er that brow
+      Its shadow seemed to fling,
+    And made that stalwart man's whole air
+      A sad and solemn thing.
+
+    And so they sat, both Youth and Years,
+      An hour without a word--
+    The pines that beckon'd up the moon
+      Their arms no longer stirr'd,
+    And through the open windows wide
+      The Tweed alone was heard.
+
+    The elder's mood gave way at last,
+      Perhaps some sudden whine
+    Of the lithe quest-hounds startled him,
+      Or timepiece striking nine;
+    "Fill for thyself, forgotten Boy,"
+      He said, "and pass the wine."
+
+    "A churlish host I ween am I
+      To thee, who, day by day,
+    Thus comest to cheer my solitude
+      With converse frank and gay,
+    Or tempt me with thy dogs to course
+      The moorlands far away.
+
+    "But still the fit returns"--he paused,
+      Then with a sigh resumed,
+    "Remember'st thou how once beneath,
+      Yon chestnut, when it bloom'd,
+    Thou ask'd'st me why I wore the air
+      Of spirit disentomb'd;
+
+    "And why, apart from man, I chose
+      This mansion grim and hoary,
+    Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,
+      Nor ancient name, to glory?
+    I shunn'd thy questions then--now list,
+      And thou shalt hear the story--
+
+    "With a brief preface, and thro' life
+      Believe its warning true--
+    That they who (save in righteous cause)
+      Their hands with blood imbrue--
+    Man's sacred blood--avenging heaven
+      Will long in wrath pursue.
+
+    "A curse has fallen upon my race;
+      The Law once given in fire,
+    While Sinai trembled to its base,
+      That curse inflicted dire,
+    TO VISIT STILL UPON THE SON,
+      THE OFFENCES OF THE SIRE.
+
+    "My fathers strong, of iron hand,
+      Had hearts as iron hard,
+    That never love nor pity's touch,
+      From ruthless deeds bebarr'd.
+    And well they held their Highland glen,
+      Whatever factions warr'd.
+
+    "When Stuart's great but godless race
+      Dissolved like thinnest snow
+    Before bright Freedom's face, my clan,
+      The Campbells, served their foe.
+    --Boy--'twas my grandsire" (soft he said)
+      "Commanded at Glencoe."
+
+    The stripling shrank, nor quite suppress'd
+      His startled bosom's groan;
+    Forward and back the casements huge
+      By sudden gust were blown,
+    And at the sound one dreaming hound
+      Awaken'd with a moan.
+
+    "_Glencoe_--ay, well the word may stir,
+      The stoutest heart with fear,
+    Or burn with monstrous shame the face
+      Of man from year to year,
+    As long as Scotland's girdling rocks
+      The roar of seas shall hear.
+
+    "Enough--Glenlyon redly earn'd
+      The curse he won that night,
+    When rising from the social hearth
+      He gave the word to smite,
+    And all was shriek and helplessness,
+      And massacre and flight.
+
+    "And such a flight!--O, outraged Heaven,
+      How could'st thou, since, have smiled?
+    A fathom deep the frozen snow
+      Lay horrid on the wild,
+    Where fled to perish youth and age,
+      And wife and feeble child.
+
+    "My couch is soft--yet dreams will still
+      Convert that couch to snow,
+    And in my slumbers shot and shout
+      Are ringing from Glencoe."
+    That stalwart man arose and paced
+      The chamber to and fro,
+    While to his brow the sweat-drop sprung
+      Like one in mortal throe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Glenlyon died, be sure, as die
+      All desperate men of blood,
+    And from my sire (his son) our lands
+      Departed sod by sod,
+    Till the sole wealth bequeathed me was
+      A mother fearing God.
+
+    "She rear'd me in that holy fear,
+      In stainless honour's love,
+    And from the past she warned me,
+      Whate'er my fate should prove,
+    To shrink from bloodshed as a sin.
+      All human sins above.
+
+    "I kept the precept;--by the sword
+      Compell'd to win me bread,
+    A soldier's life of storm and strife
+      For forty years I led,
+    Yet ne'er by this reluctant arm
+      Has friend or foeman bled.
+
+    "But still I felt Glencoe's dark curse
+      My head suspended o'er,
+    --Look, this reluctant hand, for all,
+      Is red with human gore!"
+    Again that white-lipp'd man arose
+      And strode the echoing floor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "A prosperous course through life was mine
+      On rampart, field, and wave,
+    Though more my warrior skill than deeds,
+      Command and fortune gave.
+    Years roll'd away, and I prepared
+      To drop the weary glaive.
+
+    "'Twas when beyond th' Atlantic foam,
+      To check encroaching France,
+    Our war spread wide, and, on his tide,
+      In many a martial glance,
+    St Lawrence saw grey Albyn's plumes
+      And Highland pennons dance.
+
+    "E'en while I waited for the Chief,
+      By whom relieved at last,
+    Heart-young, though time-worn, I was free
+      To hail my country's blast--
+    That on a sentry, absent found,
+      The doom of death was pass'd.
+
+    "POOR RONALD BLAIR! a fleeter foot
+      Ne'er track'd through Morvern moss
+    The wind-hoof'd deer; nor swimmer's arm
+      More wide the surge could toss
+    Than his, for whom dishonour's hand
+      Now dug the griesly fosse.
+
+    "Suspicion of those hunter tribes,
+      Along whose giant screen
+    Of shadowy woods our host encamp'd,
+      The early cause had been
+    Of rule, that none of Indian race
+      Should come our lines within.
+
+    "The law was kept, yet, far away,
+      Amid the forests' glade,
+    The fair-hair'd warriors of the North
+      Woo'd many a dusky maid,
+    Who charm'd, perhaps, not less because
+      In Nature's garb array'd.
+
+    "And warm and bright as southern night,
+      When all is stars and dew,
+    Was that dark girl, who, to the banks,
+      Where lay her light canoe,
+    Lured Ronald's footsteps, day by day,
+      What time the sun withdrew.
+
+    "Far down the stream she dwelt, 'twould seem,
+      Yet stream nor breeze could bar
+    Her little boat, that to a nook,
+      Dark with the pine-tree's spar,
+    Each evening Ronald saw shoot up
+      As constant as a star.
+
+    "Alone she came--she went alone:--
+      She came with fondest freight
+    Of maize and milky fruits and furs
+      Her lover's eyes to greet;
+    She went--ah, 'twas her bosom then,
+      Not bark, that bore the weight!
+
+    "How fast flew time to hearts like theirs!
+      The ruddy summer died,
+    And Arctic frosts must soon enchain
+      St. Lawrence' mighty tide;
+    But yet awhile the little boat
+      Came up the river-side.
+
+    "One night while from their northern lair
+      With intermittent swell,
+    The keen winds grumbled loud and long,
+      To Ronald's turn it fell
+    Close to the shore to keep the lines,
+      A lonely sentinel.
+
+    "'Twas now the hour was wont to bring
+      His Indian maid; and hark!
+    As constant as a star it comes,
+      That small love-laden bark,
+    It anchors in the cove below--
+      She calls him through the dark.
+
+    "He dared not answer, dared not stir,
+      Where Discipline had bound him;
+    Nor was there need--led by her heart
+      The joyous girl has found him;
+    She understands it not, nor cares,
+      Her raptured arms are round him.
+
+    "He kiss'd her face--he breathed low
+      Those brook-like, murmuring words
+    That, without meaning, speak out all
+      The heart's impassion'd chords,
+    The truest language human lip
+      To human lip affords.
+
+    "He pointed towards the distant camp,
+      Her clasping arms undid,
+    And show'd that till the morrow's sun
+      Their meeting was forbid;
+    She went--her eyes in tears--he call'd,
+      And kiss'd them from the lid.
+
+    "She went--he heard her far below
+      Unmoor her little boat;
+    He caught the oars' first dip that sent
+      It from the bank afloat;
+    Next moment, down the tempest swept
+      With an all-deafening throat.
+
+    "Loud roar'd the storm, but louder still
+      The river roar'd and rose,
+    Tumbling its angry billows, white
+      And huge as Alpine snows;
+    Yet clear through all, one piercing cry
+      His heart with terror froze.
+
+    "She shrieks, and calls upon the name
+      She learn'd to love him by;
+    The waves have swamp'd her little boat--
+      She sinks before his eye!
+    And he must keep his dangerous post,
+      And leave her there to die!
+
+    "One moment's dreadful strife--Love wins;
+      He plunges in the water;
+    The moon is out, his strokes are stout,
+      The swimmer's arm has caught her,
+    And back he bears, with gasping heart,
+      The Forest's matchless daughter!
+
+    "'Twas but a chance!--her life is gain'd,
+      And his is gone--for, lo!
+    The picquet round has come, and found,
+      Left open to the foe,
+    The dangerous post that Ronald kept
+      So short a time ago.
+
+    "They met him bearing her--he scorn'd
+      To palter or to plead:
+    Arrested--bound--ere beat of drum,
+      The Judgment-court decreed
+    That Ronald Blair should with his life
+      Pay forfeit for his deed.
+
+    "He knew it well--that deed involved
+      Such mischief to the host,
+    While prowling spy and open foe
+      Watch'd every jealous post,
+    That, of a soldier's crimes, it call'd
+      For punishment the most.
+
+    "On me, as senior in command,
+      The charge I might not shun
+    Devolved, to see the doom of death
+      Upon the culprit done.
+    The place--a league from camp; the hour--
+      The morrow's evening sun.
+
+    "Meanwhile some touches of the tale
+      That reach'd the distant tent
+    Of Him who led the war in Chief,
+      Won justice to relent.
+    That night, in private, a REPRIEVE
+      Unto my care was sent,
+
+    "With secret orders to pursue
+      The sentence to the last,
+    And when the prisoner's prayer was o'er,
+      And the death-fillet past,
+    _But not till then_, to read to him
+      That Pardon for the past.
+
+    "The morrow came; the evening sun
+      Was sinking red and cold,
+    When Ronald Blair, a league from camp
+      We led, erect and bold,
+    To die the soldier's death, while low
+      The funeral drum was roll'd.
+
+    "With arms reversed, our plaided ranks
+      The distance due retire,
+    The fatal musqueteers advance
+      The signal to require:
+    '_Till I produce this kerchief blue,
+      Be sure withhold your fire_.'
+
+    "His eyes are bound--the prayer is said--
+      He kneels upon his bier;
+    So dread a silence sank on all,
+      You might have heard a tear
+    Drop to the earth. My heart beat quick
+      With happiness and fear,
+
+    "To feel conceal'd within my vest
+      A parting soul's relief!
+    I kept my hand on that REPRIEVE
+      Another moment brief;
+    Then drew it forth, but with it drew,
+      O God! the handkerchief.
+
+    "He fell!--and whether He or I
+      Had died I hardly knew--
+    But when the gusty forest breeze
+      Aside the death-smoke blew,
+    I heard those bearing off the dead,
+      Proclaim that there were _two_.
+
+    "They said that as the volley ceased,
+      A low sob call'd them where
+    They found an Indian maiden dead,
+      Clasping in death's despair
+    One feather from a Highland plume
+      And one bright lock of hair.
+
+    "I've long forgot what follow'd, save
+      That standing by his bier,
+    I shouted out the words some fiend
+      Was whispering in my ear--
+    'My race is run--_the curse of Heaven
+      And of Glencoe is here_!'[13]
+
+    "From that dark hour all hope to me,
+      All _human_ hope was gone;
+    I shrank from life a branded man--
+      I sought my land alone,
+    And of a stranger's purchased halls
+      I joy'd to make my own.
+
+    "Thou'st known me long as Campbell--now
+      Thou know'st the Campbell's story,
+    And why, apart from man, I chose
+      This mansion grim and hoary,
+    Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,
+      Nor ancient name, to glory.
+
+    "Though drear my lot, yet, noble boy,
+      Not always I repine;
+    Come, wipe those watery drops away
+      That in thine eyelids shine;
+    Fill for thyself," the old man said,
+      "Once more, and pass the wine."
+
+    [13] Such was his exclamation, as repeated in the History
+    before referred to. Colonel Campbell always imputed the
+    unfortunate occurrence that clouded the evening of his life to
+    the share his ancestor had in the disastrous affair of Glencoe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT.
+
+A MONOLOGUE.
+
+
+    Now glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band--
+    And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;
+    And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,
+    For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
+
+    Ye citizens of Mary-le-bone! 'twas yours to point the way
+    How freemen best might mock the laws which none but slaves obey;
+    How classic fanes should rise to mark the honour that we owe
+    To all who hated Church and King, and planned their overthrow.
+
+    O fresh and bright shone reason's light through superstition's gloom,
+    When one and all ye heard the call of honest Joseph Hume;
+    When listening to his flowing words, than honey-dew more sweet,
+    Ye sate, dissolved in holy tears, at that Gamaliel's feet!
+
+    How touchingly he spoke of those now gather'd to their rest,
+    By knaves and laws upbraided, but by righteous patriots bless'd;
+    How brightly gleamed his eagle eye, as he poured his ancient grudge
+    On that foul throng that wrought them wrong--on Jury and on Judge!
+
+    Well may ye boast among the host of patriots tried and true,
+    That to your bold humanity the foremost place is due;
+    Yet others follow fast behind, though ye have led the van,
+    In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+    Dun-Edin's civic Councillors come closely in your wake,
+    They, too, can feel for injured truth, and blush for Scotland's sake;
+    Well have they wiped the stain away, affix'd in former years
+    Upon the citizens of France, and on their bold compeers.
+
+    Let women moan and maunder against the glorious time,
+    When France arose in all her might, when loyalty was crime;
+    When prison shambles stream'd with blood, and red the gutters ran,
+    In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+    When piled within the crazy boats, chain'd closely to the beam,
+    By hundreds the aristocrats sank in the sullen stream;
+    When age and sex were no respite, and merrily and keen,
+    From morning until night, rush'd down the clanking guillotine.
+
+    'Tis ours to render homage, where homage most is due--
+    Now glory be to DANTON, and to his valiant crew--
+    And glory to those mighty shades, who never stoop'd to spare,
+    The virtuous regicides of France, and the hero, ROBESPIERRE.
+
+    But greater glory still to those, who strove within our land,
+    To hoist the cap of liberty, and bare the British brand,
+    To drag our ancient Parliament from its place of honour down,
+    To ride rough-shod upon the Lords, and spit upon the Crown.
+
+    What though the bigots of the bench declared their treason vile--
+    What though they languish'd slowly in the felon's distant isle--
+    Shall we, the children of Reform, withhold our just applause
+    From those who loved the people and, of course, despised the laws?
+
+    We'll rear a stately monument--we'll build it fair and high,
+    And on the porch this graven verse shall greet the passers-by--
+    "IN HONOUR OF THE MARTYRS WHO THE BATTLE FIRST BEGAN
+    FOR THE CAUSE OF JUST FRATERNITY, AND THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN!"
+
+    'Twill be a proud memorial, when we have pass'd away,
+    Of old Dun-Edin's loyalty, and the Civic Council's sway;
+    And it shall stand while earth is green and skies are summer blue,
+    Eternal as the sleep of those who fell at Peterloo!
+
+    Were I a chosen Councillor--a tetrarch of the town,
+    I'd drag from off their pedestals these Tory statues down;
+    I'd make a universal sweep of all that serves to show
+    How vilely the aristocrats have used us long ago.
+
+    The column rear'd to victory in that detested war,
+    When the Tricolor went down before our flag at Trafalgar,
+    The column that hath taught our sons to mutter Nelson's name,
+    I'd level straightway with the dust, and with it sink our shame.
+
+    Yes! in that place a classic fane should stand where Nelson's stood,
+    With new baptismal cognizance from famous THISTLEWOOD;
+    His bust should in the centre shine, and round it, placed on guard,
+    The effigies of HATFIELD, INGS, and of the good DESPARD.
+
+    There's Pitt, the Lar of Frederick Street--O shame to us and ours!
+    Was it not he whose policy struck back the Gallic powers?
+    Was it not he whose iron hand so ruthlessly kept down
+    The tide of bold democracy, and saved the British crown?
+
+    I'd fetch him from his lofty perch; I'd dash him on the stones;
+    I'd serve the lifeless bronze the same as I'd have served his bones;
+    And on the empty stance I would in radiant metal show,
+    A bolder and a braver man--the patriot PAPINEAU.
+
+    Down, down, I say, with George the Fourth!--for him there's no delay;
+    Let all askance direct their glance, for virtue's sake, we pray;
+    So says our new Pygmalion, the purist of the town,
+    'Twere shame that he compelled should be, in passing, to look down.
+
+    Let's find another statue of the brave old English breed,
+    A worthy of an earlier age--a champion good at need;
+    No cause were then to seem ashamed, though slaves might feel afraid,
+    When emancipated bondsmen bow'd to the image of JACK CADE.
+
+    There's room enough where Royal Charles sits stiffly in the Square,
+    To rear a double effigy--Why not of BURKE and HARE?
+    Though not in freedom's cause they died, remember'd let it be,
+    That science has its martyrdom, as well as liberty.
+
+    A monument to Walter Scott!--A monument forsooth!
+    What has that bigot done for us, for freedom, or for truth?
+    He always back'd the Cavalier against the Puritan,
+    And sneer'd at just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
+
+    What good to us have ever done his Legends of Montrose,
+    Of Douglas and of dark Dundee, the fellest of our foes?
+    What care we for the Border chiefs, or for the Stuart line,
+    Or the thraldom of the people in "the days of auld langsyne?"
+
+    Men dream'd not of equality in days so darkly wild,
+    Nor was the peasant's bantling _then_ mate for the baron's child;
+    But we've learn'd another lesson since the golden age drew near,
+    And working men may keep the wall, and jostle prince and peer.
+
+    Ye fools! take down your monument--or rear it, if ye will,
+    But choose another effigy that lofty niche to fill.
+    None better, say ye? Pause awhile, and I will tell you one,
+    Who never bent the servile knee at altar or at throne.
+
+    No fond illusions dull'd _his_ eye, no tales of wither'd eld;
+    No childish faith was _his_ to trust aught save what he beheld;
+    No sovereignty would he allow save Reason's rightful reign;
+    No laws save those of Nature's code--and such was THOMAS PAINE.
+
+    Place him within your Gothic arch, the only fit compeer
+    Of those whose martyr monument the Council seek to rear;
+    Since traitors to the laws of man may boldly look abroad,
+    Towards the image of their friend who broke the laws of God.
+
+    Since anarchy must have its meed, let's leave no statue here,
+    That might from other lips than ours provoke a cynic sneer:
+    If temples must be built to crime, we'll worship there alone,
+    Nor leave a mark of loyalty or honour in the stone.
+
+    Then glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band--
+    And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;
+    And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,
+    For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND.
+
+
+PART I.
+
+
+The heart of an Englishman must ever swell with pride as he contemplates
+his country's greatness. He looks around him, and his eye every where
+meets with the signs of increasing opulence and prosperity, while his
+ear is filled with the busy hum of an industrious, and, despite the idle
+babblings of the ignorant, and the empty declamation of interested,
+selfish, and disappointed men, a contented population, happy in the
+enjoyment of comfort, beyond that of the labouring classes of most other
+countries. He visits her marts, her harbours, and her ports--men of all
+nations are met together there--fleets of rich argosies are ever
+arriving and departing--and myriads of steamers flit to and fro, happily
+now engaged in promoting the arts of peace, but ready at a moment's
+notice to become the defenders of his country's shores, and, as recent
+events have shown the world, able also to carry war and devastation
+along the coasts of her enemies, even to the uttermost parts of the
+earth. He explores the seats of her manufactures; there he beholds vast
+edifices teeming with crowds of work-people, occupied in supplying the
+wants of mankind. In short, wherever he bends his steps, all are
+usefully employed--industry, enterprise, and perseverance, are found
+throughout the land. He also feels it no vain boast to be a denizen of
+that small isle, whose inhabitants, by their own proper energy, have
+extended their dominion over a territory on which the sun never sets--
+peopled by upwards of two hundred million souls--consisting of colonies,
+nations, and people, differing from each other in form of person,
+complexion, habits, manners, and in language--elements apparently the
+most discordant and heterogeneous, yet firmly knit and bound into one
+vast glorious empire, which, successfully resisting the rudest shocks,
+often assaulted, ever victorious, and, thanks to the bravery of her
+warriors, and the wisdom of those who now guide her councils, having
+defeated alike the open attacks and the secret machinations of her
+enemies, at this moment constitutes the most powerful state of ancient
+or modern times--abounding in wealth, and rejoicing in freedom, beyond
+all other nations of the earth.
+
+He glories also in the intellectual pre-eminence of his country. Her
+victories by sea and land attest the genius of her captains; her
+institutions bear witness to the sagacity of her lawgivers and her
+statesmen. Her railroads, docks, canals, and other public works, bear
+the marks of superior intelligence acting for the general good. His
+countrymen were the first to press steam into the active service of
+mankind. By the genius of Watt and his successors, a power, before
+destructive and uncontrollable, has been rendered the mighty agent of
+man's will, the supplier of his wants, and the minister of his
+convenience. Through their inventions, steam has become, as it were, the
+breath, the life, of a noble animal of man's creation, untiring in its
+ceaseless labours, irresistible in its tremendous strength; and, when
+its maker chooses to endow it with powers of motion, fleeter also than
+the wind, but of imposing might and majesty as it pursues its headlong
+course; and yet, withal, checked by a single touch, yielding a perfect
+obedience to the hand of its ruler, and submissive to the slightest
+intimation of his will. In the walks of science, literature, and
+philosophy, he finds equal reason to be proud of his country. Splendid
+discoveries in every branch of science meet him as he enquires, and but
+a few years have passed away since the death of one--Sir Humphry
+Davy--of whom it is scarce too much to say, that he revolutionized a
+great science by his discoveries, or that, by the power of his single
+intellect, he dived deeper into the hidden mysteries of the material
+world than all preceding generations had been able to penetrate. In
+short, an Englishman finds his country possessed of warriors, statesmen,
+philosophers, historians, poets, and authors, in every branch of
+literature, who are the admiration of the whole civilized world. In all
+these, England stands proudly pre-eminent, the first, the very first,
+among the nations. It is much to be able to feel this, but an Englishman
+would fain feel even more than this; his noble ambition is to see his
+country first in every thing; he would have her pre-eminent alike in the
+fine arts and those pursuits which distinguish the recreations and
+amusements of a refined and polished people, as in the more useful
+arts of life.
+
+But here the pleasing portion of the picture ceases--
+
+    "Ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio,"
+
+every medal has its obverse, says the Italian proverb; and the
+comparatively low rank which his country occupies in this new field of
+view, is a melancholy contemplation for an Englishman. He finds that, in
+general, things are judged of only by the measure of their practical
+utility, and that the beautiful and the useful are usually deemed to be
+incompatible; thereby affording, however reluctantly we may admit it, at
+least some justification of Napoleon's celebrated and bitter reproach,
+that we are a nation of shopkeepers. It would seem, in truth, that we do
+not possess that quick perception of the beautiful which is enjoyed by
+the more excitable and imaginative sons of the south. In painting, we
+believe we possess a school second to none of modern art. But, beautiful
+as their works may be, can we place our Reynolds, Lawrence, Hogarth, and
+Gainsborough in competition with Raphael, Correggio, Rubens, or Claude?
+In sculpture also, can Westmacott, or even Chantrey--we speak with
+reverence of the illustrious dead--be compared with Michael Angelo or
+Giovanni de Bologna? When pressed on these topics, the candid Englishman
+must, with a sigh, confess his country's inferiority. Architecture also,
+with few exceptions, has long been our reproach. We judge of the degree
+of civilization and refinement to which ancient Greece and Rome
+attained, by the beauty and elegance of their mutilated remains. We find
+their temples, even in ruins, beautiful beyond the day-dream of our
+modern architects; some of them, till bold and sacrilegious hands
+despoiled them, adorned with sculptures which, surviving the destruction
+of the people who raised them, the wanton rage of barbarous enemies, and
+the inroads of the elements for near two thousand years, sill remain, in
+their decay, the wonder and admiration of the world, the models of
+modern sculptors, and the greatest treasure of art a nation can possess.
+
+In the lapse of ages, perhaps, England, in her turn, may be deserted,
+her mines exhausted, her edifies ruined, her existence as a nation
+terminated. The site of her vast metropolis may once more become an
+undulating verdant plain, intersected by a tidal river; and, perhaps,
+nothing may remain outwardly to show the curious traveller where the
+ancient city stood. The pristine abode of man upon the earth, may again
+be thickly peopled, and civilization may have rolled back to the south,
+its ancient source. Then may history or tradition vaguely tell of
+powerful nations who once flourished in the north; their very existence
+doubted, perhaps, by all, and by many disbelieved. Some day, perchance,
+one whom accident or curiosity may have brought to the shores of ancient
+Britain, may wend his weary way along the bank of the noblest river of
+the land. On a mound a little higher than the rest, something on which
+the hand of man had evidently been employed may attract his attention,
+and stimulate him to search among the tangled weeds and brushwood which
+grow around. The discovery of a marble fragment may, perhaps, eventually
+lead to the uncovering of one of those statues which now grace the
+interior of our St Paul's, on the site of which the stranger had
+unconsciously been exploring. Or, suppose the traveller to have bent his
+steps in a north-easterly direction, towards the foot of that gentle
+slope which terminates at the base of the heights of Highgate and of
+Hampstead. Suppose him, by some strange chance, to stumble upon that
+incomparable specimen of modern sculpture which stands on high at
+King's-Cross, lifted up, in order, we presume, to enable the good
+citizens duly to feast their eyes upon its manifold perfections, as they
+daily hie them to and fro between their western or suburban retreats and
+the purlieus of King Street or Cheapside. What estimate would the
+stranger form of the taste or skill of those who placed on its pedestal
+the statue we have first supposed him to have found? It avails not to
+disguise the truth. What that truth may be, we leave to the intelligence
+of the reader to divine. But what would be the effect of the other
+discovery we have imagined? The traveller would turn away, convinced
+that history or tradition gave false accounts of the power and genius of
+the ancient inhabitants of the land on which he trod, that their glory
+was a dream, their civilization a delusion, their proficiency in the
+arts a fable. For the honour of our country, let us hope that the figure
+of which we speak may not be suffered much longer to disgrace a leading
+thoroughfare of our metropolis. It has already stood some eight or ten
+years, a melancholy monument of English taste and English art in the
+nineteenth century.
+
+For the attainment of excellence in the higher branches of art, as has
+been well observed by an intelligent foreigner, M. Passavant, it is
+requisite that a people should possess deep poetic feeling, and that art
+should not be considered among them as a thing of separate nature, but
+that it should interweave itself with the ties of social life, and be
+employed in adding beauty to its nearest, dearest interests. Now, the
+English, he continues, are more disposed to an active than to a
+contemplative life. They possess, it must be owned, a character of much
+earnestness and energy; yet, from the earliest times, their attention
+has been more directed to the cultivation of the mechanical arts and the
+sciences appertaining to them than to those nobler branches of art which
+flourish spontaneously in a more contemplative nation. This
+characteristic disposition, and the physical activity necessarily
+connected with it, have been by some ascribed to the influence of our
+climate, to our moist and heavy atmosphere, and clouded skies, to
+counteract the influence of which, and to preserve a counterbalancing
+buoyancy of mind and body, an active habit of life is requisite. But
+this hypothesis is untenable; for Flanders, with a similar climate, and
+flourishing likewise by means of its native industry, affords sufficient
+proof how little these circumstances are prejudicial to the cultivation
+of the fine arts. Perhaps a better reason may be found in the wide
+difference which is observable between the national habits of our
+countrymen and those of the people among whom the arts have been
+cultivated with the greatest success. In those countries where the
+beautiful was felt, where the arts were objects of national importance,
+where a people assembled to award the palm between rival sculptors; and
+also, in comparatively modern times, when a reigning monarch did not
+disdain to pick up a painter's pencil, and a whole city mourned an
+artist's death, and paid honours to his remains; all the rank, wealth,
+genius, talent, taste, and intelligence of the people were concentrated
+in one grand focus. Among the states of ancient Greece and modern Italy,
+the city was in fact the nation; and at Athens, Rome, Venice, and
+Florence, was collected all of genius, taste, and talent, the people as
+a body possessed. The mental qualities were thereby rendered more acute,
+and the tastes and manners of the people more refined and cultivated, by
+constant intercourse and communication with each other. This refinenent
+was shared by all classes, and the lower taking pattern from the higher,
+the whole mass was learned. In England, the very reverse of this takes
+place. Here, for the most part, those alone frequent our towns, whose
+doom it is to labour for their bread, they have no leisure from the
+engrossing pursuits of wealth; business, like a jealous mistress, leaves
+them no time for other objects. In spite of various disadvantages of
+soil and climate, the taste for rural pursuits seems part and parcel of
+our nature, and that species of the genus _homo_, the country gentleman,
+seems peculiar to our island. Till within a few years, the great
+majority of this class, whose abundant wealth and leisure might seem to
+constitute them the peculiar patrons of the arts, seldom or never
+frequented even the metropolis, but for generations remained fixed and
+immovable in the place of their forefathers, rooted to the soil as one
+of their old oaks. "His guns, dogs, and horses, were the things the
+squire held most dear." Hunting, shooting, and other sports, formed not
+only the amusements of his leisure hours, but the business of his life.
+His intercourse with the world confined to a narrow circle of
+acquaintance, all of the same tastes and pursuits with himself, he could
+learn or know no others. Generous pursuits, hospitable, liberal, and
+open hearted, hating alike poachers and dissenters, possessed of many
+virtues, avoiding many a crime, discharging the duties, as well as
+exercising the rights of property; exemplary in all the relations of
+life, a good father, a tender husband, a kind master, an indulgent
+landlord, a blessing to himself and those around him, he lived and died
+the _Squire Western_ of his day, without that refinement and cultivation
+of the tastes and mental powers which the more polished inhabitants of
+the metropolis insensibly contract. Sure there were many to whom this
+does not apply, many who combined the "gifts" of both a town and country
+life. But, nevertheless such was the great bulk of that class, among
+whom, had London been England, as even in our own time Paris is or was
+France, the beautiful would not probably have been so much neglected.
+
+So occupied have the great mass of our countrymen been in the pursuit of
+wealth, that all that did not directly contribute to this end has been
+uniformly rejected as useless. A familiar example of the truth of this
+observation may be seen in the numerous factories and other buildings
+erected for commercial purposes, in the manufacturing districts of
+Lancashire and Yorkshire. In buildings of this class, all embellishment
+and ornament, however simple, which good taste, had it been consulted,
+might have suggested, to relieve the wearying straightness of outline,
+or the plain dull flatness of these large ponderous masses of brick and
+mortar, have been neglected, or rejected, probably as not increasing its
+productive powers, and therefore unworthy of consideration. Such has
+been the general principle. But this neglect has at length recoiled upon
+the heads of its promoters. As long as the world was content to take our
+manufactures as we chose to make them--when, no other nation having
+entered the lists with us, we were without competitors, and absolute
+masters of the commerce of the world, this make-all save-all principle
+was undoubtedly the most effective. But now, when our manufacturers meet
+with the keenest competition in every market; when a suicidal export of
+machinery enables the foreigner immediately to benefit by every
+mechanical discovery, or improvement in machinery, that is made by our
+engineers, the case is wholly altered, and the English manufacturer
+finds out the grievous mistake that he has made. Beauty of design has at
+length become of paramount importance, and the beautiful, so long
+neglected, is now avenged. The public taste has advanced too fast. Since
+the introduction of foreign goods, such as silks and other ornamental
+fabrics, the inferiority of our native designs for these materials has
+become manifest to all. We are credibly informed, that there now exists
+a regular organized system, viz. supply of French designs to our
+manufacturers; that from these designs all their ideas are borrowed and
+all their patterns taken, and that, in fact, scarcely a single pattern
+of purely home invention is worked in a season. The manufacturers are,
+however, now roused from their lethargy, and great efforts are made to
+remedy the evil. Schools of design are established, and copyright of
+design has just been conferred by act of parliament. In some of our
+commercial towns, large rooms or galleries are opened to the mechanic,
+where he may study the beautiful and ideal from casts and models of the
+antique. Pictures also are occasionally exhibited for his instruction.
+These are indeed great and praiseworthy efforts, in which
+utilitarianism has assumed a new character, and found a new field of
+action. These novel institutions, not organized and supported from a
+pure abstract love of the arts ostensibly promoted by them, but from
+dire necessity created by successful competition in the more elegant
+branches of manufacture, in which the exercise of taste and fancy is
+required, may eventually produce great general results; years, however,
+must necessarily elapse before their benefits can be felt.
+
+We have hitherto purposely abstained from any allusion to music and
+musical taste, for the purpose of showing, that music is not the only
+fruit of civilization which has not as yet arrived at maturity among
+us; and also for the purpose of ascertaining, whether there might not be
+some general causes in operation, which affect, in an equal degree,
+every branch of the more intellectual refinements of civilized life. In
+this case, the low standard of musical taste and science which will
+hereafter become the subject of more particular observation, cannot be
+attributed solely to causes which relate exclusively to music, but must
+be considered as one amongst other results of general principles. If
+there be any truth in the foregoing speculations, they apply more
+particularly to music, and musical taste and science, than to the fine
+arts, to which we have hitherto confined our observations. Music is
+peculiarly a social pursuit. It can be cultivated only among the haunts
+of men. The taste deteriorates, and the mental standard of excellence
+which each possesses, is lowered when really good music is seldom or
+never heard. By "the million," it can be heard only while mixing with
+the world at large; the performer can acquire his mastery over the
+instrument, at the cost of much time and labour, and he can maintain
+this mastery, and the purity of his style, only where he can compare
+himself with others of acknowledged excellence. This can be done only
+where men congregate in large and populous cities, where the want of
+amusement is best supplied; the recluse or the solitary man can be
+no musician.
+
+It may seem anomalous at first sight, and we can well conceive it to be
+objected to our argument, that it is impossible, that while
+architecture, sculpture, painting, and music, should have been
+comparatively neglected, that literature, in all its branches, should be
+so highly esteemed among us. Milton, and more especially Shakspeare,
+have never lost one tittle of their value; nay, even at this moment,
+there are three rival editions of Shakspeare's works in the course of
+publication. Many volumes of poetry put in their claim to immortality
+every year. Novel after novel appears each to elbow its predecessor out
+of the public mind, and be in its turn forgotten. It is easy to imagine,
+that to many it may appear a paradox in the history of the human race,
+that a people should exist, endowed by nature with a high degree of
+poetic feeling, having, as Mr Hallam observes, produced more eminent
+original poets than any other nation can boast, and attaching a high
+value to literary talent of every description, but, nevertheless, whose
+attainments in the fine arts during a thousand years of national
+existence, should never have passed mediocrity. This apparent
+inconsistency, however, lies only on the surface. The language of true
+poetry is understood by all; it strikes home: however rude the thoughts,
+however uncultivated the understanding, the heart can feel; and it is to
+the heart the poet speaks; and even in the rudest ages of mankind his
+power was acknowledged. Voltaire has remarked, that "amusement is one of
+the wants of man".
+
+Novels are taken up to amuse the vacant hour--in this consists their
+use. They are read without effort--the mind lies fallow as they are
+perused, and no study is required, no cultivation of any taste is
+necessary, to place this amusement within reach. With music and the fine
+arts, this is not so. The taste for these pursuits requires cultivation;
+and in order to estimate and appreciate them correctly, the judgment
+must be formed by a process of education, far different from that which
+enables all who read to value our poets and authors in the various
+departments of literature.
+
+On examining the records of mankind, it will be found that this has been
+the ordinary succession of events in the history of civilization; and
+that poetry and oratory, the more independent efforts of the human mind,
+appear in the earlier stages of society, and that by them man is first
+distinguished as an intellectual and rational creature.
+
+Of Egyptian literature, we know nothing. The destruction of the library
+of the Ptolemies may be the principal cause of our ignorance. The
+gigantic remains of this people, and the manner in which they worked in
+a stone which no modern tool will touch, show that among them the useful
+arts were considerably advanced. We have, however, abundant evidence of
+the small degree of proficiency in the fine arts. Their sculptors are
+characterized by Flaxman as "mere beginners," or "laborious mechanics;"
+their works as "lifeless forms, menial vehicles of an idea." When
+Egyptian art ended, then Grecian art began. It appears, however, to have
+made but little progress down to the time of Homer; and Dædalus and his
+disciple Eudæus are, we believe, the only artists of that early period
+whose fame has survived. These sculptors worked in wood, and by their
+proficiency we may form a pretty accurate idea of the state of art in
+Greece when Homer wrote. The works of Dædalus are described by Pausanias
+as rude and uncomely in aspect. In his Grecian tour, Pausanias twice
+makes mention of a statue of Hercules by Dædalus, from which
+circumstance it would appear to have been held in high estimation. On
+this statue Flaxman observes--"In the British Museum, as well as in
+other collections in Europe, are several small bronzes of a naked
+Hercules, whose right arm, holding a club, is raised to strike; whilst
+the left is extended, bearing a lion's skin as a shield. From the style
+of extreme antiquity in these statues--from the rude attempt at bold
+action, which was the peculiarity of Dædalus--the general adoption of
+this action in the early ages--the traits of savage nature in the face
+and figure, expressed with little knowledge, but strong feeling--by the
+narrow loins, turgid muscles of the breast, thighs, and calves of the
+legs, will all find reason to believe they are copied from the
+above-mentioned statue." Greece, it must be owned, possessed musicians
+long anterior to Homer: Chiron the Centaur, regarded by the ancients as
+one of the inventors of medicine, botany, and chirurgery, who, when
+eighty-eight years of age, formed the constellations for the use of the
+Argonauts; Linus, the preceptor of Hercules, who added a string to the
+lyre, and is said to be the inventor of rhythm and melody; Orpheus, who
+also extended the scale of the lyre, and was the inventor and propagator
+of many arts and doctrines among the Greeks; and Musæus, the priest of
+Ceres, are all remembered as musicians, as well as poets, historians,
+and philosophers; characters which, in those days, were all combined in
+the same individuals. The ancients, indeed, appear to have used the term
+music in a much more extended sense than has been attached to it in
+modern times, and to have applied it to all the arts and sciences. But
+even if the ancient meaning of the term were identical with its modern
+signification, there may be good reason to suppose that their fame as
+musicians would principally survive. The memory of these first
+preceptors of mankind was long preserved as the general benefactors of
+their species. But while the other arts they taught advanced, it does
+not appear that music made any progress. Thus, they came chiefly to be
+remembered for that talent in which posterity had produced no equals. As
+poets they were once celebrated; but, eclipsed by the glory and
+splendour of the great historian of Troy, their poetical productions
+were forgotten; whilst, as musicians, unrivalled through many centuries,
+their skill was long remembered as the most excellent the world had
+ever known. The arts of sculpture and painting appear to have remained
+even more stationary than music. For, while about the middle or latter
+end of the seventh century, B.C., the names of Archilochus and Terpander
+adorn the page of musical history, followed by many others, including
+Alcæus, Sappho, and Simonides, down to Pindar and his rival Corinna, the
+former of whom, according to the chronology of Dr Blair, died in 435
+B.C. aged 86, it is evident, says Flaxman, "that sculpture was 800
+years, from Dædalus to the time immediately preceding Phidias, in
+attaining a tolerable resemblance of the human form." It appears,
+therefore, that the greatest epic poem ever written had been read,
+appreciated, and admired, for nearly five centuries before the arts
+arrived at perfection. Then, indeed, there burst a flood of glory over
+ancient Greece, and names never to be forgotten were borne upon the
+tide. Contemporary with Pindar and Corinna were Phidias, Alcamenes, and
+many other sculptors, together with poets, philosophers, warriors, and
+statesmen; men whose names will rise superior to the lapse of time, and
+whose fame, like the rocky barriers of the ocean, on which the elements
+in vain expend their fury, will be of equal duration with the
+world itself.
+
+Ancient Rome was indebted to others for all of the liberal arts and
+sciences she possessed. In the earlier periods of her existence, and
+before Greece had become known in Rome, Etruria was the instructress of
+her sons. When Greece had been subdued, and rendered a tributary
+province of the all-conquering city, her polished people, nevertheless,
+exercised an intellectual sovereignty over their masters. In the streets
+of Athens a singular spectacle was exhibited; _there_ might be seen the
+conqueror learning of the vanquished; Romans, of exalted rank and
+unbounded power, had become the disciples of Grecian philosophers.
+Nevertheless, when Rome possessed orators and poets, each of whom
+has raised
+
+    "Monumentum ære perennius,"
+
+in that the golden age of her existence, it does not appear, says Dr
+Burney, that "except Vitruvius, the Romans had one architect, sculptor,
+painter, or musician; those who have been celebrated in the arts of Rome
+having been Asiatics or European Greeks, who came to exercise such arts
+among the Latins, as the Latins had not among themselves. This custom
+was continued under the successors of Augustus; and those Romans who
+were prevented, by more important concerns, from going into Greece,
+combined, in a manner, to bring Greece to Rome, by receiving into their
+service the most able professors of Greece and Asia in all the arts."
+Vitruvius, in the chapter on music inserted in his treatise on
+architecture, complains that "the science of music, in itself obscure,
+is particularly so to such as understand not the Greek language." This
+observation shows the low state of music at Rome at that time; indeed
+Vitruvius is said to be the first who has treated of music in the
+Latin tongue.
+
+Modern Europe also furnishes another illustration and example of the
+truth of our proposition. When the mists of ignorance and superstition
+which had for centuries enveloped the world, had begun to clear away,
+and when Europe first attempted to throw off the errors of the Dark
+Ages, the arts were dead, and the only music known was that cultivated
+by the monks and clergy, as necessary to their profession, and the songs
+of the Troubadours. "The fame of the Troubadours," remarks Mr Hallam,
+"depends less on their positive excellence than on the darkness of
+preceding ages, the temporary sensation they excited, and their
+permanent influence on the state of European poetry." The intrinsic
+merit of the music of this period may be collected from the following
+observation of Dr Burney:--"However barbarous and wretched the melody
+and harmony of the secular songs of this period may have been, they were
+in both respects superior to the music of the church." The Troubadours
+flourished from the middle of the twelfth century till the latter end of
+the fourteenth century, when their dissolute and licentious habits
+caused them to be universally banished and proscribed. During the
+barbarism of these times, not only had the arts themselves been lost,
+but even the principles on which they rest had been forgotten. Italy,
+indeed, possessed many ancient marbles, but they seemed to have lost
+their value; and it was not till the thirteenth century that any attempt
+to imitate these remains of antiquity was made. Nicola Pisano, about the
+year 1231, taking for his model an ancient sarcophagus at Pisa, which
+contained the remains of Beatrice, mother of the Countess Matilda,
+sculptured an urn--a feat in those days so extraordinary, as to have
+conferred upon him the title of Nicolas of the Urn. This artist, in the
+words of Lanzi, "was the first to see and follow light." He was,
+however, more ambitious than successful, and was followed by his sons
+and others, in whose hands the art seems to have no very rapid progress.
+The art of painting, in which there were no models in existence, was
+later in manifesting any improvement. It was not till after the year
+1250 that, according to Vasari, some Greek painters were invited to
+Florence by the rulers of the city, for the express purpose of restoring
+the art to Florence, where it was rather wholly lost than degenerated.
+Cimabue, the reviver of painting, received instruction from the Greeks.
+He died in 1300. Fierce as the age in which he lived, says Lanzi, his
+Madonnas were without beauty, and his angels, even in the same picture,
+were all in the same attitude. To Cimabue succeeded his pupil, the
+famous Giotto, who died in 1337. With him the ruggedness of his master's
+manner was softened down, and considerable advances made towards a
+better style. He was honourably received at many of the principal towns
+and cities of Italy, and may, perhaps, be considered as the real founder
+of their several schools; at all events, painters every where were long
+the imitators of Giotto. His faults partook also of the character of the
+age, and among other defects, the dry hardness of his works has given
+rise to an opinion, that he partly formed his style upon the works of
+the Pisani. Giotto and his school, indeed, conducted the art through
+infancy, but it still exhibited many signs of childhood, especially in
+chiara-oscuro, and even more so in perspective. Figures sometimes
+appeared as if sliding from the canvass--buildings had not the true
+point of view, and foreshortening was only rudely attempted. Stefano
+Fiorentino, a _grandson_ of Giotto, was the first and only one of the
+school who endeavoured to grapple with this last difficulty, which he
+may be said to have perceived rather than overcome; his contemporaries,
+for the most part, evaded it, and concealed their deficiency as they
+could. Such is the summary of the merits of this school of art given by
+Lanzi, who dates the commencement of the first epoch of modern painting
+from the death of Giotto. In further illustration of the low state of
+art in the early part of the fourteenth century, it may be observed,
+that Lanzi also describes a great work of Masaccio, who flourished in
+the succeeding century, as "beautiful _for those times_;" and that it
+was not till the year 1410 that oil-painting was invented or improved
+by Van-Eyck.
+
+From this sketch of the history of the arts of music, sculpture, and
+painting during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, will be seen
+their state and condition, when the great work of the immortal Dante
+took his country by surprise. The _Divina Comedia_ was written about the
+year 1300. Its illustrious author, the creator of the national poetry of
+his country, died in 1321, leaving behind him Petrarch, who was crowned
+in the Capitol in 1341, and Boccaccio, who--though, as Byron said of
+Scott, he spoiled his poetry by writing better prose--was nevertheless a
+poet of no mean merit, and the probable inventor of the _ottava rima_.
+Two centuries after the last of these parents of modern literature had
+nearly elapsed, ere he who has been styled the Dante of the arts,
+Michael Angelo, and his contemporaries, among whom were Leonardo da
+Vinci and Raphael, appeared upon the stage. Thus language, the first
+great want of man, the necessary instrument of reason, by which its
+possessor is distinguished from the rest of creation, the vehicle of
+human thoughts, the means by which man's wants, desires, griefs, and
+joys, are communicated and made known, would seem to form the earliest
+object of his attention. He enriches and improves it, till it is
+rendered capable of expressing all the workings of his reason. This
+done, genius and invention are applied to other pursuits; and in many
+instances it may be, that the poet and the artist were but the creatures
+of the age which produced them. Had he lived at a later period, Homer,
+the great sire of song, might perhaps have shone the Phidias or the
+Zeuxis of his day; or, had his birth been anticipated two hundred years,
+the genius of "the Dante of the arts" might possibly have been displayed
+in works like those which have immortalized Dante Alighieri. It is,
+therefore, no inconsistency in the character of a people amongst whom
+poetry is passionately admired, and books of all kinds eagerly devoured,
+that the arts should be generally uncared-for and unknown. When another
+century has passed away, their history may tell another tale, and the
+powers of mind hitherto employed principally upon the physical sciences,
+may have achieved like triumphs in the liberal arts. That this may be
+the case, the past history of other nations affords every reason to
+hope. What man has done, man may, and doubtless _will_, do again.
+
+In the earlier ages of the world, music, in its rudest, simplest form,
+is said to have stopped the flow of rivers, to have tamed wild beasts,
+and to have raised the walls of cities; allegories which at least show
+the prodigious influence the art possessed over the inhabitants of
+infant Greece. In the course of time, love of the art was a national
+characteristic of this people; and music became a specific in the hand
+of the physician, a fundamental principle of public education, and the
+medium of instruction in religion, morals, and the laws. The lyre may be
+said to have ruled Greece, the glorious and the free, with the same
+despotic sway with which the iron hand of tyranny has in our own day
+governed her. Discord, and civil commotions arose among the
+Lacedæmonians; Terpander came, and with his lyre at once appeased the
+angry multitude. Among the Athenians it was forbidden, under pain of
+death, to propose the conquest of the isle of Salamis; but the songs of
+Solon raised a tumult amongst the people; they rose, compelled the
+repeal of the obnoxious decree, and Salamis straightway fell. Was it
+found necessary to civilize a wild and extensive province? Music was
+employed for this desirable object; and Arcadia, before the habitation
+of a fierce and savage people, became famed as the abode of happiness
+and peace. Plutarch places the masters of tragedy--to which the modern
+opera bears a great resemblance--on a level with the greatest captains:
+nor did the people fail in gratitude to their benefactors; they held
+their memory in veneration. The lyre of Orpheus was transplanted to the
+skies, there to shine for countless ages; and divine honours were paid
+to the name of Sappho.
+
+The Greeks, although perhaps excelling all other nations in this, as in
+the other arts, are not the only people among whom music was cultivated
+and esteemed. Both China and Arabia are said to have felt its influence
+upon their customs, manners, and institutions. The musical traditions of
+China might seem to be but repetitions of the marvels of the Greeks.
+King-lun, Kovei, and Pinmonkia, are said to have arrested the flow of
+rivers, and to have caused the woods and forests, attracted by the
+melody of their performance, to crowd around. The Chinese are said to
+believe, that the ancient music of their country has drawn angels down
+from heaven, and conjured up from hell departed souls: they also believe
+that music can inspire men with the love of virtue, and cause them
+faithfully to fulfil their several duties. Confucius says "to know if a
+kingdom be well governed, and if the customs of its inhabitants be bad
+or good, examine the musical taste which there prevails." There is still
+extant a curious document, which shows the importance which a ruler of
+this people attached to music, as a moral and political agent. We allude
+to a proclamation of the Emperor Ngaiti, who ascended the throne of the
+Celestial Empire in the year of the tenth æra 364. After complaining,
+that tender, artificial, and effeminate strains inspire libertinism, he
+proceeds, in severe terms, to order a reformation in these matters; the
+first step to which, is a prohibition of every sort of music but that
+which serves for war, and for the ceremony Tido. The Arabs also appear
+to have held similar opinions as to the power of music. They boast of
+Ishac, Kathab Al Moussouly, Alfarabi, and other musicians, whom they
+relate to have worked miracles by their vocal and instrumental
+performances. With the Arabs, music was interwoven with philosophy; and
+their wise men imagined a marvellous relation to exist between
+harmonious sounds and the operations of nature. Harmony was esteemed
+the panacea, or universal remedy, in mental and even bodily affections;
+in the tones of the lute were found medical recipes in almost all
+diseases. Upon one occasion, in the presence of the grand vizier,
+Alfarabi, accompanying his voice with an instrument, is related to have
+roused a large assembly to an extreme pitch of joyful excitement, from
+which he moved them to grief and tears, and then plunged all present
+into a deep sleep, none having the power to resist the enchantment of
+his performance.
+
+The children of Israel cultivated music in the earliest periods of their
+existence as a people. After the passage of the Red Sea, Moses, and his
+sister Miriam, the prophetess, assembled two choruses, one of men, and
+the other of women, with timbrels, who sang and danced. The facility
+with which the instruments were collected on the spot, and with which
+the choruses and dances were arranged and executed, necessarily implies
+a skill in these exercises, which must have been acquired long before,
+probably from the Egyptians. We have abundant evidence in Holy Writ, of
+the high estimation in which music was held among the Hebrews at a later
+period of their history. They also appear to have successfully applied
+it to the cure of diseases. The whole of David's power over the disorder
+of Saul may, without any miraculous intervention, be attributed to his
+skilful performance upon the harp. In 1st Samuel, c. xvi., we read that
+Saul's servants said unto him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God
+troubleth thee: Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before
+thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall
+come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall
+play with his hand, and thou shalt be well." Saul having assented to
+this proposal, the son of Jesse the Bethlemite was sent for, and stood
+before him. "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon
+Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was
+refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." So
+great were the esteem and love for music among this people when David
+ascended the throne, that we find that he appointed 4000 Levites to
+praise the Lord with instruments, (1. Chron. c. xxiii.;) and that the
+number of those that were _cunning_ in song, was two hundred four score
+and eight, (c. xxv.) Solomon is related by Josephus to have made 200,000
+trumpets, and 40,000 instruments of music, to praise God with. In the 2d
+chapter of Ecclesiastes, music is mentioned by Solomon among the
+vanities and follies in which he found no profit, in terms which show
+how generally a cultivated taste was diffused among his subjects. "I gat
+me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men,
+as musical instruments, and that of all sorts." Many other passages of
+similar import might be quoted from the sacred writings, and among
+others, some from which it would appear that musicians marched in the
+van of the Jewish armies, and not unfrequently contributed to the
+victory by the animation of their strains; and that music was the
+universal language of joy and lamentation. There is, however, one
+portion of Holy Writ, which, from the highly interesting testimony it
+incidentally bears to the love of music which prevailed in Jerusalem,
+and the skill of her inhabitants, we cannot forbear to notice. We allude
+to the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when
+we remembered thee, O Sion. As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the
+trees that are therein. For they that led us away captive required of us
+there a song and melody in our heaviness: Sing us one of the songs of
+Sion." From the facts here narrated, we may judge how great was the
+attachment of the Jewish people for the musical art; their beloved city
+sacked, their temple plundered and destroyed, their homes desolate, in
+the midst of danger and despair, deserted by their God, surrounded by
+infuriated enemies, (Isaiah, xiii. 16.,) nevertheless their harps were
+not forgotten. From this beautiful and pathetic lamentation, it would
+also appear that the repute of Hebrew musicians was far extended. No
+sooner had they arrived in the land of their captivity, than the
+Chaldean conqueror required of them a song and melody in their
+heaviness, demanding _one of the songs of Sion_. The fame of the
+captives must have long preceded them, for, according to Dr Burney, the
+art was then declining in Judea.
+
+In the physical sciences, we have surpassed the nations who excelled in
+music; in war we have equalled their most glorious feats; in poetry and
+oratory we are not inferior. Shall not our future history also tell of
+triumphs in the tuneful art? We believe that sooner or later, the time
+will surely come when our country in her turn will boast of masters in
+the art, whose memories will ever be preserved and hallowed. But
+whatever the future may bring forth, the marvellous accounts of the
+powers of ancient music will meet with little indulgence from modern
+scepticism. At present such effects are unknown among us, and therefore
+unintelligible. Among the early Greeks, for many centuries, the several
+characters of poet, musician, lawgiver, and philosopher, were combined
+in the same individual; and it is probable that the music of that period
+consisted principally of recitative or musical declamation. This species
+of composition, so utterly neglected and unknown to the English school,
+possesses great powers of expression, both when in its simple form and
+when accompanied. A modern example of the effects it is capable of is
+recorded by Tartini. He relates, in the following terms, as one of many
+similar instances which had come under his observation:--"In the 14th
+year of the present century, (the 18th,) in the opera they were
+performing at Ancona, there was at the beginning of the 3d act a line of
+recitative, unaccompanied by any instruments but the bass, by which,
+equally among the professors and the audience, was raised such and so
+great a commotion of mind, that all looked in one another's faces, on
+account of the evident change of colour which took place in each. The
+effect was not that of grief, (I very well remember that the words
+expressed indignation,) but that of a certain congealing and coldness of
+the blood, which completely disturbed the mind. Thirteen times was the
+drama repeated, and the same effect always followed universally; a
+palpable sign of which was the deep previous silence with which the
+audience prepared themselves to enjoy its effects.[14]"
+
+    [14] We may refer to this hereafter, and to show that _we_ at
+    least are not guilty of exaggeration, we subjoin the passage in
+    the original Italian, from which it will be seen that our
+    translation is as literal as possible.
+
+    "L'anno quatuor-decimo del secolo presente, nel dramma che si
+    rappresentava in Ancona, v'era, su'l principio dell' atto
+    terzo, una riga di recitativo, non accompagnato da altri
+    stromenti che dal basso; per cui, tanto in noi professori
+    quanto negli ascoltanti, si destava una tale e tanta commozione
+    di animo, che tutti si guardavano in faccia l'un l'altro, per
+    la evidente mutazione di colore che si faceva in ciascheduno di
+    noi. L'effetto non era di pianto (mi ricordo benissimo che le
+    parole erano di sdegno) ma di un certo rigore e freddo nel
+    sangue, che di fatto turbava l'animo. Tredici volte si recito
+    il dramma, e sempre segui l'effetto stesso universalmente: di
+    che era segno palpabile il sommo previo silenzio, con cui
+    l'uditorio tutto si apparechiava a goderne l'effetto."
+
+The line of recitative has unfortunately not been preserved; nor is it
+known what the opera, or whose the music, which produced an effect which
+may not be inaptly described in the words of Byron:--
+
+    "An undefined and sudden thrill,
+    Which made the heart a moment still,
+    Then beat with quicker pulse."
+
+The music of Allessandro Scarlatti was then current and universally
+popular in Italy. This composer was particularly famous for the
+excellence of his recitative; and his general merit may be judged of by
+the fact, that he is placed by Arteaga, in his work on the revolutions
+of the musical drama in Italy, among the early authors belonging to the
+period which he terms the golden age of Italian music. On these grounds,
+we may reasonably conclude, that he was the composer of that terrible
+line of recitative.
+
+We have ourselves also witnessed a somewhat similar example of the
+powers of Italian recitative. Many of our readers, doubtless, have
+witnessed Pasta's wonderful performance in Anna Bolena, who also may
+remember Anna's exclamation, "Giudici ad Anna! ad Anna giudici!" when
+Henry's intention of bringing her to trial is first made known to her.
+Such was the fearful tone, of mingled horror, amaze, and wrathful
+indignation, with which that greatest queen of tragic song gave out
+these words, that, in a foreign land, we have on more than one occasion
+observed some of the audience, as these fiery accents burst forth upon
+them, to start, change colour, and almost shudder at the intensity of
+the conflicting passions she exhibited. Much, nay most, of this was
+undoubtedly owing to the genius of the songstress. We do but mention
+these examples, to show how perfect a medium of musical expression and
+dramatic effect, good recitative becomes, when adequately performed.
+Still, the wonders related of ancient music--wonders not confined to one
+age, one people, or to one quarter of the globe, but, on the contrary,
+commencing at a remote period of man's history, including Jews, Chinese,
+Arabs, and Greeks, amongst whose records their memory is preserved--will
+meet with a cold assent from most; and perhaps few among us would be
+found bold enough to avow a belief in their reality. We have certainly
+no warrant for their truth in the powers or effects of our national
+music, and thus experience directly contradicts the testimony of
+antiquity.
+
+On the same grounds, however, had no specimens of ancient handiwork been
+preserved, we might also have doubted the excellence and beauty of any
+of those works of art which, nevertheless, immortalized those by whose
+hands they were fashioned. Were not the Dying Gladiator now before us,
+it might, at this day, be deemed a monstrous supposition, that a statue
+of a dying man should have existed, in which there might be seen how
+much of life was left. Inferiority is ever sceptical and self-satisfied;
+it is only given to the really wise to know how much lies hidden from
+their view. Though the scope and object of all the imitative arts is the
+same, to dignify, elevate, and embellish nature--though the beauty of
+the ideal is the aim of the musician, equally as it is the aspiration of
+the poet, painter, and the sculptor, the character of these pursuits is
+in some respects essentially different. In the latter, material objects
+are imitated and embellished, the things themselves are bodily before
+the eyes, and the beauty and excellence of the work will appear by
+comparison with nature herself. These arts also possess great landmarks
+of taste and skill, which speak the same language to all ages. Of the
+symmetry of the sculptor's chiselled forms, of the beauty of the poet's
+or the painter's pictures, we have a standard in nature's own originals,
+seldom, probably never, exhibiting the same concentration of refined and
+elevated beauty in one individual object, but, nevertheless, furnishing
+an accurate and never varying standard, for the exercise of the
+judgement; while the heart, that inner world, ever uniform and
+unchanging amid the manifold vicissitudes of human life, supplies a test
+by which the poet's thoughts and sentiments may be correctly tried.
+Thus, in the lapse of ages, the public taste has known no change; and
+though more than 2000 years have passed away, the works of ancient
+Greece are worshipped still.
+
+It cannot, however, be imagined, that the music of those times could
+have among us the same influence it possessed of old. It is no new
+remark, that in no other branch of the imitative arts have the same
+rapid and successive changes occurred, as are observed to have taken
+place in music. From this fact, the following question naturally arises,
+whether there are any fixed first principles of art, by adhering to
+which, music might be produced which would please equally all ages and
+amongst all people; or, in other words, whether the pleasure which music
+brings, is the result of education, habit, or association, or an
+inherent and necessary effect of any particular succession or
+combination of sounds. We have thrown together the following
+observations of Rousseau, which occur in several different portions of
+his essay on the origin of languages, and which, though not made with
+reference to this question, nevertheless appear to us conclusive upon
+it. "As the feelings which a beautiful picture excites are not caused by
+mere colour, so the empire which music possesses over our souls is not
+the work of sound alone. All men love to listen to sweet sounds; but if
+this love be not quickened by such melodious inflexions as are familiar
+to the hearer, it cannot be converted into pleasure. Melody, such as, to
+our taste, may be most beautiful, will have little effect upon the ear
+which is unaccustomed to it; it is a language of which we must possess a
+dictionary. Sounds in a melody do not operate as mere sounds, but as
+signs of our affections and our feelings; it is thus they excite the
+emotions they express, and whose image we there recognize. If this
+influence of our sensations is not owing to moral causes, how is it that
+we are so sensitive where a barbarian would feel nothing? How is it that
+our most touching airs would be but so much empty noise to the ear of a
+Carribee? All require the kind of melody whose phrases they can
+understand; to an Italian, his country's airs are necessary; to a Turk,
+a Turkish melody; each is affected only by those accents with which he
+is familiar. In short, he must understand the language that is spoken to
+him." This reasoning seems to show that there are no principles or rules
+of art, by following which music would be produced of that inherent
+beauty which would intrinsically command universal admiration.
+
+This being so, music is at the mercy of many circumstances, the
+influence of which is felt, in some degree, even in those arts whose
+principles have long been fixed and ascertained, and whose rules are not
+merely conventional. The love of novelty, which the weariness caused by
+a constant repetition of the same musical phrase or idea renders more
+_exigeant_ in this than in other arts, the want or impossibility of
+having any classic examples which might fix the taste or guide the
+studies of the novice, are doubtless among the causes of these frequent
+changes. The style of the leading singer of the day often forms and
+rules the passing taste, and even characterizes the works of
+contemporary composers. Music is often composed purposely for the
+singer; his intonation, his peculiarities, his very mannerisms, are
+borne in mind. Not merely sounds, but _his_ sounds, are the vehicles of
+the composer's thoughts, the medium through which alone the composer's
+ideas can be adequately expressed. In the next generation, when
+performer and composer are dead and gone, all that is left of this their
+_mutual_ work, once the object of universal admiration becomes
+comparatively unintelligible. The melody, the harmony, indeed, remain,
+but they are a body without a soul; the fire and genius of him who
+lighted up the whole, who realized and brought home to the hearer the
+_whole_ creation of the composer's imagination, are no more. The manner
+of the performance, therefore, being, as it were, part and parcel of the
+very music, and a necessary ingredient of the excellence of the
+composition, to judge of the merit of the whole from the qualities of
+the portion which is left, would be to judge of the beauty of the
+Grecian Helen by the aspect or appearance of her lifeless remains. On
+looking at the greater portion of the music by the execution of which
+Catalani raised herself to the highest pinnacle of fame, we are
+compelled to the conclusion, that in the singer lay the charm. The
+effects said to have been produced by Handel's operas are now
+inconceivable and unintelligible, so "mechanical and dull" do these
+works appear, "beyond mere simplicity and traits of melody." Handel, in
+one species of composition, wrote _down_ to the singers of his time.
+Whoever examines the bass songs of that period, will perceive that they
+were composed for inflexible and unwieldy voices, possessing a large and
+heavy volume of tone, but incapable of executing any but simple
+passages, constructed according to an ascertained routine of intervals.
+Lord Mount-Edgcumbe truly conjectured, that Mozart was led to make the
+bass so prominent a part in the Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, by
+writing for a particular singer. The part of Figaro was, in fact,
+composed for Benucci. The sparkling brilliancy of Rossini would perhaps
+never have been so fully developed, had not the skill and flexibility of
+voice possessed by the singer David, for whom he wrote, enabled him to
+indulge it to the uttermost. The characters thus imparted to the music
+of the day are necessarily perishable and evanescent, to be again
+superseded by later artists, whose excellences or peculiarities will
+again lead to like results. Thus change succeeds change; the judgment of
+the public is led by the composer and the performer, who, mutually
+deferring to each other, often mould at will the taste of their
+countrymen. We, of course, speak only of those whose talent, science,
+and ability, have constituted them the masters of their art.
+
+In England we have but few of those giants; they appear among us only
+at long intervals; for which reason, perhaps, musical taste has
+undergone fewer mutations in England than in most other countries.
+Handel has now reigned supreme among us for near a century, and his bass
+songs still influence the style of this branch of our native music.
+Though bass singing has advanced elsewhere, it has stood comparatively
+still with us; the same rude intervals, the same ponderous passages,
+through which the voice moves heavily, as if a mountain heaved, are
+still retained in the few bass songs of our school; in fact, without
+them, many think a bass song cannot exist. This mannerism received a
+blow from Weber, whom, as in the case of Handel, we have grown to
+consider national property. His early death, however, prevented his
+acquiring that permanent influence on the musical mind, which he might
+have acquired had he lived, and continued to be successful.
+
+From the glance we have taken of the rate at which poetry, literature,
+and the fine arts, respectively advance as civilization holds her onward
+course; from the wide diffusion and cultivation of musical taste and
+musical science, ere barbarism and ignorance resumed their sway over
+mankind; we cannot entertain a doubt that, ultimately, we also as a
+people may emulate the glory other nations have acquired in each of
+those pursuits. We are, perhaps, less excitable and less easily moved
+than they; but the English character contains within it the elements of
+greatness in every thing to which its energies are directed.
+Circumstances may erelong rouse long-dormant tastes. Riches bring with
+them new wants, they create new passions, new desires. Much wealth was
+amassed by the preceding generation; their sons, now affluent and
+educated, already form a vast addition to that class which we have
+designated as the peculiar patron of the arts, and which, as commercial
+prosperity continues to advance, will, in each succeeding generation,
+receive another incalculable accession to its numbers.
+
+The philosophical observer may even now discover the evidences of these
+new wants of increasing opulence; and should providence, in its mercy,
+deign still to bless the world with peace, the Augustan age of England
+may be nearer than we think. However, it is most certain that this age,
+as yet, has not arrived. An accurate knowledge of our defects will
+soonest lead to their cure. By a searching, rigorous, and impartial
+self-examination can these deficiencies only become known. It may be
+necessary to apply the cautery; but the hand that wounds would also
+heal; and if, in the course of the preceding observations, or in any
+subsequent remarks, as we enquire into the present state of musical
+taste and science in England, we may be deemed severe, let it be borne
+in mind, that ours is a "tender fierceness," and that self-knowledge,
+the first grand step to all improvement, is alone our object and
+our aim.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
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+Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
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+Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
+       Vol. 53, January, 1843
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9992]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, NO. 327 ***
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+
+  <h1>BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE</h1>
+  <hr />
+
+  <h2>NO. CCCXXVII. JANUARY, 1843. VOL. LIII.</h2>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+  <ul>
+    <li><a href="#bw327s1">GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR
+    1843</a></li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s2">LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL
+    ERROR</a></li>
+
+    <li>
+      <a href="#bw327s3">CALEB STUKELY</a>
+
+      <ul>
+        <li>PART X.</li>
+      </ul>
+    </li>
+
+    <li>
+      <a href="#bw327s4">IMAGINARY CONVERSATION</a>. BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
+
+      <ul>
+        <li>TASSO AND CORNELIA</li>
+      </ul>
+    </li>
+
+    <li>
+      <a href="#bw327s5">THE WORLD OF LONDON</a>
+
+      <ul>
+        <li>SECOND SERIES, PART I.</li>
+      </ul>
+    </li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s6">THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE</a></li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s7">TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY</a></li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s8">THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE</a></li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s9">THE CURSE OF GLENCOE</a>. BY B. SIMMONS</li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s10">THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT</a>. A MONOLOGUE</li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327s11">TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND</a></li>
+
+    <li><a href="#bw327-footnotes">[FOOTNOTES]</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s1" id="bw327s1"></a>GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF
+  THE YEAR 1843.</h2>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p>Great Britain, at the present moment, occupies a position of dignity, of
+  grandeur, and of RESPONSIBILITY, unparalleled in either her own history, or
+  that of any other nation ancient or modern. Let him who is inclined to doubt
+  this assertion, of whatever country he may be, and whether friendly,
+  hostile, or indifferent to England, glance for a moment at a map of the
+  world, and having at length found out our little island, (which, perhaps, he
+  may consider a mere fragment chipped off, as it were, from the continent of
+  Europe,) turn to our stupendous possessions in the east and in the
+  west&mdash;in fact, all over the world&mdash;and he may be apt to think of
+  the fond speculative boast of the ancient geometrician, <span class="greek"
+  title="Dos pou sto, chai ton chosmon chinaeso">"&Delta;&omicron;&sigmaf;
+  &pi;&omicron;&upsilon; &sigma;&tau;&omega;, &chi;&alpha;&iota;
+  &tau;&omicron;&nu; &chi;&omicron;&sigma;&mu;&omicron;&nu;
+  &chi;&iota;&nu;&eta;&sigma;&omicron;,"</span> and to paraphrase and apply it
+  thus&mdash;"Give the genius of Great Britain but where she may place her
+  foot&mdash;some mere point peeping above the waves of the sea&mdash;and she
+  shall move the world." Is not this language warranted by recent facts? While
+  our irritable but glorious neighbour France&mdash;<i>pace tantae
+  gentis!</i>&mdash;is frittering away her warlike energies in Algeria, and
+  Russia is worried by her unsuccessful and unjust attempts upon Circassia,
+  behold the glorious monarch of this little island, Queen Victoria, roused by
+  indignities and injuries offered to her most distant subjects in the East,
+  strike single-handed a blow there, which shakes a vast and ancient empire to
+  its very foundations, and forces its haughty emperor from his throne, to
+  assume the attitude of a suppliant for peace, yielding her peremptory but
+  just demands, even at the cannon's mouth, and actually relinquishing to her
+  a large portion of his dominions. Events, these, so astonishing, that their
+  true character and consequences have not yet been calmly considered and
+  appreciated by either ourselves or other nations. Look, again, at recent
+  occurrences in British India&mdash;that vast territory which only our
+  prodigious enterprise and skill have acquired for us, and nothing but
+  profound sagacity can preserve to the British crown&mdash;and observe, with
+  mixed feelings, two principal matters: a perilous but temporary error of
+  overweening ambition on the part of Great Britain, yet retrieved with power
+  and dignity; and converted into an opportunity of displaying&mdash;where,
+  for the interests of Great Britain, it was imperiously demanded&mdash;her
+  irresistible valour, her moderation, her wisdom; exhibiting, under
+  circumstances the most adverse possible, in its full splendour and majesty,
+  the force of that OPINION by which alone we can hold India. Passing swiftly
+  over to the Western Continent, gaze at our vast possessions <i>there</i>
+  also&mdash;in British North America&mdash;containing considerably upwards of
+  four millions of square geographical miles of land; that is, nearly a ninth
+  part of the whole terrestrial surface of the globe!<a id="footnotetag1"
+  name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a>&mdash;besides
+  nearly a million and a half miles of water&mdash;five hundred thousand of
+  these square miles being capable, and in rapid progress, of profitable
+  cultivation! at more than three thousand miles' distance from the mother
+  country, and in immediate juxtaposition to the territory of our
+  distinguished but jealous descendants and rivals&mdash;a rising
+  nation&mdash;the United States! Pausing here in the long catalogue of our
+  foreign possessions, let our fancied observer turn back his eye towards the
+  little island that owns them; will he not be filled with wonder, possibly
+  with a conviction that Great Britain is destined by Almighty God to be the
+  instrument of effecting His sublime but hidden purposes with reference to
+  humanity? Assume, however, our observer to be actuated by a hostile and
+  jealous spirit, and to regard our foreign possessions, and the national
+  greatness derived from them, as only nominal and apparent&mdash;to insinuate
+  that we could not really hold them, or vindicate our vaunted supremacy if
+  powerfully challenged and resented. Let him then meditate upon the authentic
+  intelligence which we have just received from the East: what must then be
+  his real sentiments on this the 1st day of January 1843? Let us ask him, in
+  all manly calmness, whether England has not <i>done</i> what he doubted or
+  denied her ability to do? whether she has not shown the world that she may,
+  indeed, do what she pleases among the nations, so long as her pleasure is
+  regulated and supported by her accustomed sagacity and spirit? She has,
+  however, recently had to pass through an awful ordeal, principally
+  occasioned by the brief ascendency of incompetent councils; and while
+  expressing, in terms of transport, our conviction that, "out of this nettle
+  danger, we have plucked the flower safety"&mdash;we cannot repress our
+  feelings of indignation against those who precipitated us into that danger,
+  and of gratitude towards those who, under Divine Providence, have been
+  instrumental in extricating us from it, not only rapidly, but with credit;
+  not merely with credit, but with glory. To appreciate our present position,
+  we must refer to that which we occupied some twelve or eighteen months ago;
+  and that will necessarily involve a brief examination of the policy and
+  proceedings of the late, and of the present Government. We shall speak in an
+  unreserved and independent spirit in giving utterance to the reflections
+  which have occurred to us during a watchful attention paid to the course of
+  public affairs, both foreign and domestic, in the interval alluded to;
+  though feeling the task which we have undertaken both a delicate and a
+  difficult one.</p>
+
+  <p>After a desperate tenacity in retaining office exhibited by the late
+  Government, which was utterly unexampled, and most degrading to the
+  character and position of public men engaged in carrying on the Queen's
+  Government, Sir Robert Peel was called to the head of affairs by her
+  Majesty, in accordance with the declared wishes of a triumphant majority of
+  her subjects&mdash;of a perfectly overwhelming majority of the educated, the
+  thinking, and the monied classes of society. When he first placed his foot
+  upon the commanding eminence of the premiership, the sight which presented
+  itself to his quick and comprehensive glance, must have been, indeed, one
+  calculated to make</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>&mdash;"the boldest hold his breath</p>
+
+    <p>For a time."</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>What appalling evidence in every direction of the ignorance and madness
+  of his predecessors! An exchequer empty, exactly at the moment when it ought
+  to have been fullest, in order to support our tremendous operations in the
+  East and elsewhere: in fact, a prospect of immediate national insolvency;
+  all resources, ordinary and extraordinary, exhausted; all income
+  anticipated: an average deficiency of revenue, actual and estimated, in the
+  six years next preceding the 5th of January 1843, of L.10,072,000! Symptoms
+  of social disorganization visible on the very surface of society: ruin
+  bestriding our mercantile interests, palsied every where by the long
+  pressure of financial misrule: credit vanishing rapidly: the working-classes
+  plunged daily deeper and deeper into misery and starvation, ready to listen
+  to the most desperate suggestions: and a Government bewildered with a
+  consciousness of incompetency, and of the swiftly approaching consequences
+  of their misrule, at the eleventh hour&mdash;on the eve of a general
+  election&mdash;suddenly resolving (in the language of their own leader) to
+  stir society to its foundations, by proposing a wild and ruinous alteration
+  in the Corn-Laws, declaring that it, and it only, would bring cheap bread to
+  the doors of the very poorest in the land:&mdash;after the manner of giving
+  out ardent spirits to an already infuriated mob. In Ireland, crime and
+  sedition fearfully in the ascendant; treasonable efforts made to separate
+  her from us; threats even held out of her entering into a foreign alliance
+  against us. So much for our domestic&mdash;now for our foreign condition and
+  prospects. He would see Europe exhibiting serious symptoms of distrust and
+  hostility: France, irritated and trifled with, on the verge of actual war
+  with us: our criminally neglected differences with America, fast ripening
+  into the fatal bloom of war: the very existence of the Canadas at stake. In
+  India, the tenure by which we hold it in the very act of being loosened; our
+  troops shedding their blood in vain, in the prosecution of as mad and wicked
+  an enterprise as ever was undertaken by a civilized nation; the glory of our
+  hitherto invincible arms tarnished; the finances of India deranged and
+  wasted away in securing only fresh accessions of disgraceful defeat. In
+  China, we were engaged, in spite of the whisper of our guardian angel,
+  Wellington, in a <i>little war</i>, and experiencing all its degrading and
+  ruinous consequences to our commerce, our military and naval reputation, our
+  statesmanship, our honour. Did ever this great empire exhibit such a
+  spectacle before as that which it thus presented to the anxious eye of the
+  new Premier? Having concluded the disheartening and alarming survey, he must
+  have descended to his cabinet oppressed and desponding, enquiring who is
+  sufficient for these things? With no disposition to bestow an undue encomium
+  on any one, we cannot but say, happy was Queen Victoria in having, at such a
+  moment, such a man to call to the head of her distracted affairs, as Sir
+  Robert Peel. He was a man preeminently distinguished by caution, sobriety,
+  and firmness of character&mdash;by remarkable clear-sightedness and strength
+  of intellect&mdash;thoroughly practical in all things&mdash;of immense
+  knowledge, entirely at his command&mdash;of consummate tact and judgment in
+  the conduct of public affairs&mdash;of indefatigable patience and
+  perseverance&mdash;of imperturbable self-possession. He seemed formed by
+  nature and habit to be the leader of a great deliberative assembly. Add to
+  all this&mdash;a personal character of unsullied purity, and a fortune so
+  large as to place him beyond the reach of suspicion or temptation. Such was
+  the man called upon by his sovereign and his country, in a most serious
+  crisis of her affairs. He was originally fortunate in being surrounded by
+  political friends eminently qualified for office; from among whom he made,
+  with due deliberation, a selection, which satisfied the country the instant
+  that their names were laid before it. We know not when a British sovereign
+  has been surrounded by a more brilliant and powerful body of ministers, than
+  those who at this moment stand around Queen Victoria. They constitute the
+  first real GOVERNMENT which this country has seen for the last twelve years;
+  and they instantly addressed themselves to the discharge of the duties
+  assigned to them with a practised skill, and energy, and system, which were
+  quickly felt in all departments of the State. In contenting himself with the
+  general superintendance of the affairs of his government, and devolving on
+  another the harassing office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which, till
+  then, had been conjoined with that of the First Lord of the Treasury, Sir
+  Robert Peel acted with his usual judgment, and secured, in particular, one
+  capital object&mdash;<i>unity of action.</i></p>
+
+  <p>As soon as the late Ministry and their adherents perceived that Sir
+  Robert Peel's advent to power was inevitable, they clamorously required of
+  him a full preliminary statement of the policy he intended to adopt on being
+  actually installed in office! By those who had floundered on, session after
+  session, from blunder to blunder, from folly to folly&mdash;each more
+  glaring and destructive than the preceding one&mdash;he was modestly
+  expected to commit himself <i>instanter</i> to some scheme struck off, to
+  please them, at a heat! A cut-and-dried exposition of his plans of domestic
+  and foreign policy, before it was even certain that he would ever be called
+  on to frame or act on them; before he had had a glimpse of the authentic and
+  official <i>data</i>, of which none but the actual adviser of the crown
+  could be in possession. This was doubtless <i>their</i> notion of
+  statesmanship, and faithfully acted on from first to last; but Sir Robert
+  Peel and his friends had been brought up in another school, whose maxim
+  was&mdash;<i>priusquam incipias, consulta&mdash;sed ubi consulueris, mature
+  facto, opus est</i>. The Premier stood unmoved by the entreaties, the
+  coaxings, and the threatenings of those wriggling before him in miserable
+  discomfiture and restlessness on the abhorred benches of Opposition; calmly
+  demonstrating to them the folly and injustice of which they were guilty. Yet
+  the circumstances of the country made his adherence to this first
+  determination exquisitely trying. He relied, however, on the cautious
+  integrity of his purposes, and the necessity of the case; and amidst the
+  silent agitation of friends, and the frenzied clamour of opponents, and with
+  a dreadful prospect before the country in the ensuing
+  winter&mdash;maintained the silence he had imposed upon himself, and, with
+  his companions, entered forthwith on a searching and complete investigation
+  of the affairs of the nation. Not seduced by the irrepressible eagerness of
+  friends, or dismayed by the dark threats and dismal predictions of enemies,
+  who even appealed direct to the throne against them, Ministers pursued their
+  course with calmness and determination, till the legitimate moment had
+  arrived for announcing to the country their thoroughly considered plans for
+  the future. Sir Robert Peel is undoubtedly entitled to the credit of
+  resuscitating and re-organizing the great party all but annihilated by the
+  passing of the Reform Bill. It is under vast obligations to him; but so is
+  he to it. What fortitude and fidelity have been theirs! How admirable their
+  conduct on the occasion we are alluding to! And here let us also pay a just
+  tribute of respect to the Conservative newspaper press, both in the
+  metropolis and in the country. To select particular instances, would be vain
+  and invidious; but while the whole country has daily opportunities of
+  judging of the assistance afforded to the Conservative cause by the powerful
+  and independent metropolitan press, few are aware, as we are, of the very
+  great ability generally displayed by the provincial Conservative press.
+  Their resolute and persevering exposure of the dangerous false doctrines of
+  our unscrupulous adversaries, and eloquent advocacy of Conservative
+  principles, are above all praise, and are appreciated in the highest
+  quarters.</p>
+
+  <p>The winter was at length nearly passed through when Parliament assembled.
+  The distress which the people had suffered, and continued to suffer, no pen
+  can adequately describe, or do justice to the touching fortitude with which
+  those sufferings were borne. It wrung the hearts of all who had
+  opportunities of personally observing it. They resisted, poor famishing
+  souls! all the fiendish attempts that were systematically made to undermine
+  their loyalty, to seduce them into insubordination and rebellion. Let us, by
+  and by, see how far the result has justified this implied confidence of
+  theirs in the power, the wisdom, and the integrity of the new Government.
+  After all the boasting of the Opposition&mdash;in spite of their vehement
+  efforts during the recess, to concert and mature what were given out as the
+  most formidable system of tactics ever exhibited in parliament, for the
+  dislodgement of a Ministry denounced as equally hateful to the Queen and to
+  the country, the very first division utterly annihilated the Opposition. So
+  overwhelming was the Ministerial majority, that it astonished their friends
+  as much as it dismayed their enemies: and to an accurate observer of what
+  passed in the House of Commons, it was plain that the legitimate energies of
+  the Opposition were paralyzed thenceforth to the end of the session.
+  Forthwith, there sprung up, however, a sort of conspiracy to <i>annoy</i>
+  the triumphant Ministers, to exhaust their energies, to impede all
+  legislation, as far as those ends could be attained by the most wicked and
+  <i>vulgar</i> faction ever witnessed within the House of Commons!</p>
+
+  <p>The precise seat of Sir Robert Peel's difficulty at home was, that his
+  immediate predecessors had (whether wilfully or otherwise signifies nothing
+  for the present) raised expectations among the people, which <i>no party</i>
+  could satisfy; while their measures has reduced the people to a state in
+  which the disappointment of those expectations seemed to excuse, if not
+  justify, even downright rebellion. They arrayed the agricultural and
+  manufacturing interests in deadly hostility against each other; they sought
+  to make the one responsible for the consequences springing only from the
+  reckless misconduct of the other. The farmers must be run down and ruined in
+  order to repair the effects of excessive credit and over-trading among the
+  manufacturers; the corn-grower must smart for the sins of the
+  cotton-spinner. Such were some of the fierce elements of discord in full
+  action, when the affairs of the nation were committed by her Majesty to her
+  present Ministers, on whom it lay to promote permanent domestic
+  tranquillity, amidst this conflict between interests which had been taught
+  that they were irreconcilable with each other; to sustain the public credit
+  at once, without endangering our internal peace and safety, or compromising
+  the honour of the nation in its critical and embarrassing foreign relations.
+  How were they to effect these apparently incompatible objects? "See," said
+  the enemies of the Ministry, "see, by and by, when parliament assembles, a
+  cruel specimen of <i>class legislation</i>&mdash;the unjust triumph of the
+  landed interest&mdash;the legitimate working of the Chandos clause in the
+  Reform Bill!" But bear witness, parliamentary records, how stood the
+  fact!</p>
+
+  <p>That the present Ministry are mainly indebted for their accession to
+  power, to the prodigious exertions of the agricultural interest during the
+  last general election, is, we presume, undeniable. It was talked of as their
+  mere tool or puppet. Their first act is to lower the duties on the
+  importation of foreign cattle! "We are ruined!" cried the farmers in dismay;
+  and the Duke of Buckingham withdrew from the Cabinet. "This is a step in the
+  right way," said the opponents of Ministers, "but it will clearly cost Peel
+  his place&mdash;then <i>we</i> return, and will go the rest of the journey,
+  and quickly arrive at the goal of free-trade in corn, and every thing else,
+  except those particular articles in which <i>we</i> deal, and which must be
+  protected, for the benefit of the country, against foreign competition."
+  Then the Radical journals teemed with joyful paragraphs, announcing that Sir
+  Robert Peel's ministry was already crumbling to pieces! The farmers, it
+  would seem, were every where up in arms; confusion (and something a vast
+  deal worse!) was drunk at all their meetings, to Peel! Nevertheless, these
+  happy things came not to pass; Sir Robert Peel's Ministry <i>would</i> not
+  fall to pieces; and the curses of the farmers came not so fast or loud as
+  their eager disinterested friends could have wished! To be serious, the
+  alteration of the Corn-Laws was undoubtedly a very bold one, but the result
+  of most anxious and profound consideration. A moment's reflection of the
+  character and circumstances of the Ministry who proposed it, served first to
+  arrest the apprehensions entertained by the agricultural interest; while the
+  thorough discussions which took place in Parliament, demonstrating the
+  necessity of <i>some</i> change&mdash;the moderation and caution of the one
+  proposed&mdash;several undoubted and very great improvements in details,
+  and, above all, <i>a formal recognition of the principle of agricultural
+  protection</i>, still further allayed the fears of the most timorous. To
+  <i>us</i> it appears, that the simple principle of a scale of duties,
+  adapted to admit foreign corn when we want it, and exclude it when we can
+  grow sufficient ourselves, is abundantly vindicated, and will not be
+  disturbed for many years to come, if even then. Has this principle been
+  surrendered by Sir Robert Peel? It has not; and we venture to express our
+  confident belief, that it never will. He cannot, of course, prevent the
+  subject from being mooted during the ensuing session, because there are
+  persons, unfortunately, sent to Parliament for the very purpose; but while
+  he is listening with a calm smile, and apparently thoughtfully, to the
+  voluble tradesmen who are haranguing him upon the subject, it is not
+  improbable that he will be revolving in his mind matters much more
+  personally interesting and important to them; viz. how he shall put a stop
+  to the monstrous joint-stock banking system frauds, as exhibited at this
+  moment at Manchester, in the Northern and Central Banking Company, and other
+  similar establishments, blessed with the disinterested patronage of the
+  chief member of the "Anti-Corn-Law League." The mention of that snug little
+  speculation of two or three ingenious and enterprising Manchester
+  manufacturers, forces from us an observation or two, viz. that the thing
+  <i>will not do</i>, after all. There is much cry, and little wool; very
+  little corn, and a great deal of cotton. They have a smart saying at
+  Manchester, to the effect, that it is no use whistling against thunder;
+  which we shall interpret to mean, that all their "great meetings,"
+  speechifyings, subscriptions, and so forth, will fail to kindle a single
+  spark of real enthusiasm in their favour, among those who are daily becoming
+  more and more personally sensible, first, of the solid benefits conferred by
+  the wise policy of the present Administration; secondly, of the want of
+  personal respectability among the leaders of the League; and lastly, the
+  necessity and vast advantage of supporting the agriculture of Old England.
+  The recent discussions on the Corn-Laws, in Parliament and elsewhere, the
+  masterly expositions of the true principles on which they are really based,
+  have thrown a flood of light on the subject, now made visible and
+  intelligible to the lowest capacity. That some further alteration may not
+  erelong be made on the scale of duties, no one can assert, though we have no
+  reason to believe that any such is at present contemplated; but that the
+  principle of the "sliding scale," as it is called, will be firmly adhered
+  to, we entertain no doubt whatever. The conduct of the agricultural
+  interest, with reference to subjects of such vital importance to them as the
+  Corn-Law Bill and the Tariff, has been characterized by signal forbearance
+  and fortitude; nor, let them rest assured, will it be lost upon the Ministry
+  or the country.</p>
+
+  <p>The next step in Sir Robert Peel's bold and comprehensive policy, was to
+  devise some method of recruiting <i>forthwith</i> its languishing vital
+  energies&mdash;to rescue its financial concerns from the desperate condition
+  in which he found them. With an immediate and perspective increase of
+  expenditure that was perfectly frightful&mdash;in the meditation and actual
+  prosecution of vast but useless enterprises&mdash;of foreign interference
+  and aggrandizement, to secure a little longer continuance of popular favour,
+  they deliberately destroyed a principal source of revenue, by the reduction
+  of the postage duties, in defiance of the repeated protests and warnings of
+  Sir Robert Peel, when in Opposition. They had, in fact, brought matters to
+  such a pitch, as to render it almost impossible for even "a heaven-born
+  minister" to conduct the affairs of the nation, with safety and honour,
+  without inflicting grievous disappointment and sufferings, and incurring
+  thereby a degree of obloquy fatal to any Ministry. They seemed, in fact, to
+  imagine, as they went on, that the day of reckoning could never arrive,
+  because they had resolved to stave it off from time to time, however near it
+  approached, by a series of desperate expedients, really destructive of the
+  national prosperity, but provocative of what served their purposes, viz.
+  temporary popular enthusiasm. What cruelty! what profligacy! what madness!
+  And all under the flag on which were inscribed "<i>Peace! Retrenchment!
+  Reform!</i>" Acting on the salutary maxim, that the knowledge of the disease
+  is half the cure, Sir Robert Peel resolved to lay before the nation <i>the
+  whole truth</i>, however appalling. Listen to the following pregnant
+  sentences which he addressed to the House of Commons, within a few moments
+  after he had risen to develope his financial policy, we mean on the 11th of
+  March 1842:&mdash;"It is sometimes necessary, on the occasion of financial
+  statements of this kind, to maintain great reserve, and to speak with great
+  caution. A due regard for the public interest, may impose on a Minister the
+  duty of only partially disclosing matters of importance. But I am hampered
+  by no fetters of official duty. I mean to lay before you the truth&mdash;the
+  unexaggerated truth, but to conceal nothing. I do this, because in great
+  financial difficulties, the first step towards improvement is to look those
+  difficulties boldly in the face. This is true of individuals&mdash;it is
+  true also of nations. There can be no hope of improvement or of recovery,
+  <i>if you consent to conceal from yourselves the real difficulties with
+  which you have to contend</i>."<a id="footnotetag2" name=
+  "footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> There was no
+  gainsaying the facts which, amidst an agitated and breathless silence, he
+  proceeded to detail with dreadful clearness and brevity; and out of which
+  the question instantly sprung into the minds of every one&mdash;<i>are we
+  not on the very verge of national insolvency</i>? He proceeded to
+  demonstrate that his predecessors had exhausted every device which their
+  financial ingenuity could suggest, down to their last supposed
+  master-stroke, the addition of 10 per cent to the assessed taxes&mdash;thus
+  adding very nearly the last straw which was to break the camel's
+  back&mdash;the last peculiarly cruel pressure on the lower orders.</p>
+
+  <p>"Shall we persevere," he continued, "in the system on which we have been
+  acting for the last five years? Shall we, in time of peace, have recourse to
+  the miserable expedient of continued loans? Shall we try issues of Exchequer
+  bills? Shall we resort to Savings' banks?&mdash;in short, to any of those
+  expedients which, <i>call</i> them by what name you please, are neither more
+  nor less than a permanent addition to the public debt? We have a deficiency
+  of nearly L.5,000,000 in the last two years: <i>is there a prospect of
+  reduced expenditure?</i> Without entering into details, but looking at your
+  extended empire, at the demands which are made for the protection of your
+  commerce, and the general state of the world, and calling to mind the
+  intelligence which has lately reached us," [from Affghanistan,] "can you
+  anticipate for the year after the next, the possibility, consistent with the
+  honour and safety of this country, of greatly reducing the public expenses?
+  I am forced to say, I cannot calculate on that.... Is the deficiency I have
+  mentioned a casual deficiency? Sir, it is not; it has existed for the last
+  seven or eight years. At the close of 1838, the deficiency was L.1,428,000;
+  of 1839, L.430,000; of 1840, L.1,457,000; of 1841, L.1,851,000. I estimate
+  that the deficiency of 1842 will be L.2,334,030; and that of 1843,
+  L.2,570,000; making an aggregate deficiency, in six years, of L.10,072,000!
+  ... With this proof that it is not with an occasional or casual deficiency
+  that we have to deal, will you, I ask, have recourse to the miserable
+  expedient of continued <i>loans</i>? It is impossible that I could be a
+  party to a proceeding which, I should think, might perhaps have been
+  justifiable at first, <i>before you knew exactly the nature of your revenue
+  and expenditure</i>; but with these facts before me, I should think I were
+  degrading the situation which I hold, if I could consent to such a paltry
+  expedient as this. I can hardly think that Parliament will adopt a different
+  view. I can hardly think that you, who inherit the debt contracted by your
+  predecessors&mdash;when, having a revenue, they reduced the charges of the
+  post-office, and inserted in the preamble of the bill a declaration that the
+  reduction of the revenue should be made good by increased
+  taxation&mdash;will now refuse to make it good. The effort having been made,
+  but the effort having failed, that pledge is still unredeemed. <i>I advised
+  you not to give that pledge</i>; but if you regard the pledges of your
+  predecessors, it is for you now to redeem them.... I apprehend that, with
+  almost universal acquiescence, I may abandon the idea of supplying the
+  deficiency by the miserable desire of fresh loans, of an issue of Exchequer
+  bills. Shall I, then, if I must resort to taxation, levy it <i>upon the
+  articles of consumption</i>, which constitute, in truth, almost all the
+  necessaries of life? <i>I cannot consent to any proposal for increasing
+  taxation on the great articles of consumption by the labouring classes of
+  society</i>." [Is it the friend or the enemy <i>of the people</i>, that is
+  here speaking?] "I say, moreover, I can give you conclusive proofs that you
+  have arrived at the limits of taxation on articles of consumption."<a id=
+  "footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a>
+  Sir Robert Peel then proceeded, with calmness and dignity, to encounter the
+  possible, if not even <i>probable</i> fatal unpopularity of proposing that
+  which he succeeded in convincing <i>Parliament</i> was the only resource
+  left a conscientious Minister&mdash;an INCOME TAX.</p>
+
+  <p>"I will now state what is the measure which I propose, under a sense of
+  public duty, and a deep conviction that it is necessary for the public
+  interest; and impressed at the same time with an equal
+  conviction"&mdash;[mark, by the way, the exquisite judgment with which this
+  suggestion was <i>here</i> thrown in!]&mdash;"that the present sacrifices
+  which I call on you to make, will be amply compensated, ultimately, in a
+  pecuniary point of view, and <i>much more</i> than compensated, by the
+  effect which they will have in maintaining public credit and the ancient
+  character of this country. Instead of looking to taxation on
+  consumption&mdash;instead of reviving the taxes on salt or on sugar&mdash;it
+  is my duty <i>to make an earnest appeal to the possessors of property</i>,
+  for the purpose of repairing this mighty evil. I propose, for a time at
+  least, (and I never had occasion to make a proposition with a more thorough
+  conviction of its being one which the public interest of the country
+  required)&mdash;I propose <i>that, for a time to be limited, the income of
+  this country should be called on to contribute a certain sum for the purpose
+  of remedying this mighty and growing evil</i>, ... should bear a charge not
+  exceeding 7d. in the pound, which will not amount to 3 per cent, but,
+  speaking accurately, L.2, 18s. 4d. per cent&mdash;for the purpose of not
+  only supplying the deficiency in the revenue, but of enabling us, with
+  confidence and satisfaction, to propose great commercial reforms, which will
+  afford a hope of reviving commerce, and such an improvement in the
+  manufacturing interests as will re-act on every other interest in the
+  country; and by diminishing the prices of the articles of consumption and
+  the cost of living, will, in a pecuniary point of view, compensate you for
+  your present sacrifices; whilst you will be, at the same time, relieved from
+  the contemplation of a great public evil."<a id="footnotetag4" name=
+  "footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>We have quoted the very words of Sir Robert Peel, because they are every
+  way memorable and worthy of permanent conspicuousness. In point, for
+  instance, of mere oratorical skill, observe the matchless tact of the
+  speaker. Conscious that he was about to propose what would come like a clap
+  of thunder on all present, and on the country, he prepares the way for its
+  favourable reception, by pointing out the almost necessarily <i>direct
+  pecuniary benefit</i> ultimately derivable from his unpalatable tax; and the
+  instant that he has disclosed his proposal, in the same breath carries our
+  attention to a similar topic&mdash;an assurance calculated to arouse the
+  self-interest and excite the approbation first of the commercial classes,
+  and then of all classes, by the means this tax will give the Minister of
+  proposing "great commercial reforms," and "reducing the cost of living." No
+  power of description we possess can adequately set before the reader the
+  effect produced on the House of Commons by the delivery of the passage above
+  quoted, and which was shared, as the intelligence was communicated, by the
+  country at large. One thing was plain, that the Minister, disdaining
+  personal considerations of unpopularity, had satisfied the nation that a
+  desperate disease had been detected, which required a desperate remedy. It
+  was&mdash;it is, in vain to disguise that an income-tax has many disgusting,
+  and all but absolutely intolerable, incidents and characteristics, and which
+  were instantly appreciated by all who heard or read of the proposal for its
+  adoption, and these topics were pounced upon by the late Ministers and their
+  supporters, with eager and desperate determination to make the most of them.
+  To give effect to their operations, they secured an immediate and ample
+  interval for exasperating popular feeling against Ministers and their
+  abominable proposition! But it was all in vain. There was a bluff English
+  frankness about the Minister that mightily pleased the country, exciting a
+  sympathy in every right-thinking Englishman. <i>Here was no humbug of any
+  sort</i>, no obtaining of money under false pretences. At first hearing of
+  it, honest John Bull staggered back several paces, with a face rueful and
+  aghast; buttoned up his pockets, and meditated violence even; but, in a few
+  moments, albeit with a certain sulkiness, he came back, presently shook
+  hands with the Minister, and getting momentarily more satisfied of his
+  honesty, and of the necessity of the case, only hoped that a little
+  breathing-time might be given him, and that the thing might be done as
+  quietly and genteelly as possible! To be serious, however.</p>
+
+  <p>By whom, let us ask, had this Minister been brought into power? by whom
+  most furiously and unscrupulously opposed? The former were those on whom he
+  instantly imposed this very severe and harassing tax; the latter, those whom
+  he entirely exempted from it: the former, those who <i>could</i>, with a
+  little inconvenience, make the effort requisite to protect themselves in the
+  tranquil enjoyment of what they possessed, the latter, those who were
+  already faint, oppressed, and crushed beneath <i>burdens they were unable to
+  bear</i>. Was this justice, or injustice? It then <i>must</i> be very
+  contradistinctive&mdash;was the Minister, in this instance, the poor man's
+  friend, or the rich man's friend? Was he exhibiting ingratitude and
+  insanity, or a truly wise and honest statesmanship? We need <i>not</i>
+  "pause for a reply." It has been sounding ever since in our ears, in the
+  accents of national concord, and of admiration of the Minister who, in his
+  very zenith of popularity and success, perilled all, to obey the dictates of
+  honour and conscience, fearlessly proposed a measure which seemed levelled
+  directly at those gifted and powerful classes by whom he had been so long
+  and enthusiastically supported; of the Minister who, in fine, looked, and
+  made the country look, a frightful danger full in the face&mdash;till it
+  turned and fled. In spite of all that could be done by his bitter
+  unscrupulous factious opponents in the House of Commons, and of the eloquent
+  and conscientious opposition of Lord Brougham in the House of Lords, backed,
+  all the while, by the immediate self-interest of those who were to smart
+  under the tax, Sir Robert Peel carried his great and salutary measure in
+  triumph through both Houses, without one single material alteration, till it
+  became the law of the land, amidst the applause of the surrounding nations;
+  for even those, alas! too frequently bitter and jealous censors of English
+  conduct and character, the French, "owned that the English people had
+  exhibited a signal and glorious instance of virtue, of fortitude, of
+  self-denial, and sagacity." We have reason to believe that, on quitting the
+  House of Commons after hearing the speech of Sir Robert Peel, from which we
+  have been quoting, Lord John Russell asked a gentleman of brilliant talent
+  and independent character, but of strong liberal opinions, "what he thought
+  of Peel's financial scheme?" The answer was, "It is so fine a thing, that I
+  only wish it had been prepared by Lord John Russell instead of Sir Robert
+  Peel!" On which, unless we are mistaken, Lord John shrugged his shoulders in
+  silence. His opposition to the income-tax, on going into, and while the bill
+  was in, committee, was temperate, and even languid; and he stood in the
+  dignified attitude worthy of his ancient name, and of personal character,
+  far aloof from those who, throughout the session, pursued a line of conduct
+  unprecedented in parliamentary history, degrading to the House of Commons,
+  but possibly in keeping with all that might have been expected from them. We
+  are vastly mistaken if Lord John does not regard them with secret scorn, and
+  experience a shudder of disgust from any momentary contact with them; and
+  shall not be surprised if, during the ensuing session, he should be at no
+  particular pains to conceal the state of his mind.</p>
+
+  <p>One circumstance highly honourable to the national character, in relation
+  to the income-tax, should not escape observation: that comparatively little
+  or no real opposition, certainly no clamorous opposition, has been offered
+  to the <i>principle</i> of the tax, and the policy of its imposition, by
+  those on whom its pressure falls heaviest, namely, the great capitalists and
+  landed proprietors of the kingdom. "The grasshopper," said Mr Burke, "fills
+  the whole field with the noise of its chirping, while the stately ox browses
+  in silence." The clamour against the income-tax comes mainly from those who
+  are unscathed by it; those who suffer most severely from it, suffer in
+  silence. The inferior machinery of the income-tax is unquestionably very far
+  from attaining that degree of perfection, which we had a right to look for
+  from the able and practised hands which framed it. The outcry raised,
+  however, against the income-tax on this score, particularly on the ground of
+  the heedlessness of subordinate functionaries, is subsiding. There is
+  evident, as far as the Government itself is concerned, an anxious desire to
+  enforce the provisions of the act with the greatest possible degree of
+  delicacy and forbearance, consistent with the discharge of a painful but
+  imperative duty. We repeat that the outcry in question, however, was
+  principally occasioned by those who had least real cause, on personal
+  grounds, to complain; who (unfortunately, it may be, for themselves) never
+  yet approached, nor have any prospect of infringing upon, the fatal dividing
+  point of L. 150 a-year, in spite of their long and zealous literary
+  services, under the very best-conducted and <i>truly liberal</i> Radical
+  newspapers, which they have filled, with persevering ingenuity, day after
+  day, with eloquent descriptions of the awful state of feeling in the country
+  on this most atrocious subject. Where, patriotic, but most imaginative
+  gentlemen! where have been the great meetings summoned to condemn the
+  principle of the tax? The great landholders, the great capitalists, the
+  great merchants, are pouring their contributions into the exhausted
+  Treasury, with scarce a murmur at the temporary inconvenience it may
+  occasion them!&mdash;thus nobly responding to the appeal so earnestly and
+  nobly made to them by the Prime Minister. So, moreover, are the vast
+  majority of those persons on whom the tax falls with peculiar
+  severity&mdash;we allude to the occupants of schedule D&mdash;who must pay
+  this tax out of an income, alas! evanescent as the morning mist; which, on
+  the approach of sickness or of death is instantly annihilated. These also
+  suffer with silent fortitude; and we think we have heard it upon sufficient
+  authority, that it was on these persons that Ministers felt the greatest
+  reluctance in imposing the tax&mdash;at least to its present extent, only
+  under an absolute compulsion of state policy. The total, or even partial
+  exemption of this class of persons from the operation of the income-tax,
+  would have been attended with consequences that were not to be contemplated
+  for a moment, and into which it is impracticable here satisfactorily to
+  enter. The tax undoubtedly pinches severely men of small and uncertain
+  incomes, who are striving, on slender means, to maintain a respectable
+  station in society; the man who, with a large family to be supported <i>and
+  educated</i>, and who moves in a respectable sphere of society, has to pay
+  his L.9 or L.12 out of his precarious L.300 or L.400 a-year, is an object of
+  most earnest sympathy. Still, let him not lose sight of the undoubted
+  hardships borne by his wealthier brethren. Is it nothing for a man&mdash;say
+  the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Westminster, the Duke of Sutherland,
+  or Lord Ashburton, or Mr Rothschild&mdash;to have to pay down their L.3000,
+  L.4000, or L.5000 clear per annum, as the per-centage on their magnificent
+  incomes, in sudden and unexpected addition to the innumerable and imperative
+  calls upon them already existing, such as compulsory upholding of many great
+  establishments in different parts of the country&mdash;various members of
+  their families&mdash;married and single&mdash;to support in a style adequate
+  to their rank and position in the country? It is needless, however, to
+  pursue the matter further. The plain truth is, there is no help for it; the
+  burthen is one that must be borne, and it is being borne bravely.</p>
+
+  <p><i>But why</i> must this dreadful income-tax be borne? What has led to
+  it? The vast majority of honest and thinking men in the nation have but one
+  answer to give to the question. That the income-tax is the penalty the
+  nation must pay for its weakness and folly, in permitting a Whig Ministry to
+  get into power, and continue in power, "playing such fantastic tricks" as
+  theirs, for the last ten years, both at home and abroad, as the nation
+  <i>ought to have foreseen</i> would be inevitably followed by some such
+  grievous results as the present. This income-tax, however, let our opponents
+  know, will serve for many years to come, long after it may have been
+  removed, as a memento to prevent the country from tolerating the return to
+  power of men whose reluctant and compulsory exit from power, after again
+  doing enormous mischief, will be followed by a similar result&mdash;will
+  impose on their Conservative successors the bitter necessity of imposing
+  another income-tax. "The evil that they do," does indeed "live after them;"
+  and without any "good, interred with their bones!" With the frightful
+  deficit exhibited by Sir Robert Peel still staring us in the face; the war
+  in the East yet to be paid for; faith to be kept with the public creditor
+  both at home and abroad: a revenue of a <i>million a-year</i> recklessly
+  sacrificed in reducing the postage duties:<a id="footnotetag5" name=
+  "footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> a deficiency in the
+  last quarter's revenue, that tells its own frightful story as to its cause,
+  and an all but certain heavy deficiency to be looked for, we fear, in the
+  ensuing quarter: with all this before him, will any <i>member or supporter
+  of the late Government</i>&mdash;of all other persons&mdash;be found hardy
+  enough to rise in his place next session, and bait Sir Robert Peel about the
+  repeal of the income-tax? The country will not tolerate such audacity. We
+  shall not reason with <i>them</i>; but to those who, like ourselves, are
+  smarting under the effects of the late Ministry's misconduct, who have a
+  right to complain loudly and indignantly, and enquire with eager anxiety
+  when their suddenly augmented pressure is to cease, we feel compelled to
+  express our opinion, founded on a careful observation of our present
+  financial position and prospects, that we see no chance of being relieved
+  from the burden of the income-tax, before the period originally fixed by Sir
+  Robert Peel. Till then we must submit with what fortitude and cheerfulness
+  we may. Under, however, a year or two's steady and enlightened
+  administration of public affairs, matters may mend with unexpected rapidity;
+  but it is not in the ordinary course of human affairs, that evils, the
+  growth of many years, can be remedied in a moment. A chronic disease of the
+  body requires a patient course of abstinence and skilful treatment, to
+  afford a chance of the system's getting once again into a permanent state of
+  health; even as with individuals, so is it with nations. That the sudden
+  cessation of the drain upon our resources from the East, and the partial
+  reimbursement we have already realized, will sensibly lighten the burthens
+  under which the Minister has hitherto laboured, and make him with joy to
+  realize the expectations which, in proposing the income-tax, he so
+  distinctly, yet cautiously, held out, as to the period of its duration, we
+  may consider as indisputable. Add to this the pacific policy which Sir
+  Robert Peel and his Cabinet are bent upon maintaining, as far as is
+  consistent with a jealous regard to our national honour, (and which our late
+  resplendent successes are calculated to facilitate,) and the revival,
+  erelong, of the revenue, concurrently with that of trade and commerce, which
+  may be confidently anticipated under our present firm, cautious, and
+  experienced councils, and we may give to the winds our fears as to the
+  continuance of the income-tax one instant after it can be prudently
+  dispensed with. What, however, as a matter of <i>mere speculation</i>, if
+  the nation should by and by, when familiarized with the character and
+  working of the income-tax, become more reconciled to it, and prefer its
+  retention as a substitute for <i>the Assessed Taxes</i>, which at present
+  press so heavily on all, but particularly on the working-classes! But while
+  Sir Robert Peel was remodelling the Corn-Laws, and creating a new source of
+  direct revenue, he also undertook another task&mdash;a herculean task, one
+  utterly hopeless, and beyond the reach or even conception of any but a
+  Minister conscious of occupying an impregnable position in the confidence of
+  the country: we allude to his reconstruction of our entire commercial
+  system, as represented by his <i>new Tariff</i>. What courage was requisite
+  to grapple with this giant difficulty! What practical skill; what patience
+  and resolution; what exact yet extensive acquaintance with mercantile
+  affairs; what a comprehensive discernment of consequences; what firm
+  impartiality in deciding between vast conflicting interests, were here
+  evinced! And observe&mdash;all these great measures, effecting a complete
+  revolution in our domestic economy and policy&mdash;the fruits of only a few
+  months accession to office of a Conservative Ministry! All the while that
+  the Radical press was assailing them on the ground of their insolent and
+  cruel disregard of their duty, and of the sufferings of the people, they
+  were engaged upon the united labours of enquiry and reflection, on which
+  alone can have been safely based the great measures which we have been
+  briefly reviewing! "But all these," says some faithful mourner after the
+  deceased Ministry, "they intended to have done, and would have done, <i>if
+  they could</i>." Ay, to be sure. Admit it, for the nonce; 'twas easy to
+  <i>say</i> it, but the thing was <i>to do it</i>&mdash;quoth Mr Blewitt!
+  That same <i>doing</i>, is what we are congratulating the present Ministry
+  upon. Yes, it has been done&mdash;the great experiment is being tried; may
+  it prove as safe and successful, as it is bold and well meant. It must be
+  regarded, however, as only a part of the entire scheme proposed by Sir
+  Robert Peel, and judged of accordingly, with reference also to the necessity
+  of his position, arising from the last acts of his predecessors&mdash;from
+  the spirit and temper of the age. The long-continued languor and prostration
+  of our commerce, undoubtedly required some decisive, but cautious and
+  well-considered movement, in the <i>direction</i> of free-trade. How far we
+  shall be met, in the same spirit, by France, Germany, Russia, and America,
+  as has been long confidently predicted by those whose opinions have been
+  perseveringly and vehemently urged upon the public, now remains to be seen.
+  <i>Felix faustumque sit!</i> But at present, at all events, our example
+  seems not likely to be followed by those on whom we most calculated, and
+  time alone can decide between our course and theirs&mdash;between the
+  doctrines of the old and of the new school of political economy&mdash;as to
+  which is the short-sighted and mischievous&mdash;which the sagacious and
+  successful policy. The powerful protection afforded by the new Tariff to our
+  colonial produce, is one of its most interesting and satisfactory features.
+  That, however, which has justly attracted to it incomparably the greatest
+  share of public attention and discussion, is the introduction of foreign
+  cattle. This topic is one requiring to be spoken of in a diffident spirit,
+  and most guarded language. Whether it will effect its praiseworthy object of
+  lowering the price of animal food, without being overbalanced by its
+  injurious effects upon our all-important agricultural interests, we shall
+  not for some considerable time be in a condition to determine. At present,
+  it would appear, that the alarm of the farmers on this score was premature
+  and excessive, and is subsiding. The combined operation of this part of the
+  new Tariff, and of the reduction in the duties on the importation of foreign
+  corn, may ultimately have the effect of lowering the rent of the farmer, and
+  of stimulating him into a more energetic and scientific cultivation of the
+  land; and generally, of inducing very important modifications in the present
+  arrangements between landlords and tenants. In some of the most recent
+  agricultural meetings, speeches have been made, from which many journalists
+  have inferred the existence of rapidly-increasing convictions on the part of
+  the agricultural interest, that a sweeping alteration in the Corn-Law is
+  inevitable and immediate. They are, however, attaching far too much weight
+  to a few sentences uttered, amidst temporary excitement, by a few country
+  gentlemen, in some eight or ten places only in the whole kingdom. Let them
+  <i>pause</i>, at all events, till they shall have more authentic
+  <i>data</i>, viz. what the agricultural members of Parliament will say in
+  their places, in the ensuing session. Much of the sort of panic experienced
+  by the country gentlemen alluded to, may be referred to a recent paragraph
+  in the <i>Globe</i> newspaper, confidently announcing the intention of
+  Ministers to propose a fixed duty on corn. The glaring improbability, that
+  even <i>were</i> such a project contemplated by Ministers, they would
+  (forgetting their characteristic caution and reserve) agitate the public
+  mind on so critical a question, and derange vast transactions and
+  arrangements in the corn trade by its premature divulgement; and, above all,
+  constitute the <i>Globe</i> newspaper their confidential organ upon the
+  occasion, should alone have satisfied the most credulous of its
+  unwarrantable and preposterous character. We acquit the <i>Globe</i>
+  newspaper of intentional mischief, but charge it with great
+  <i>thoughtlessness</i> of consequences. To return, however, for a moment, to
+  that topic in the new Tariff most important to farmers. We believe that,
+  since the day (9th July 1842) in which the new Tariff became the law of the
+  land, the entire importation of cattle from the Continent, has fallen far
+  short of a single fortnight's sale at Smithfield; but whether this will be
+  the state of things two years, or even a twelvemonth hence, is another
+  matter. At present, at all events, the new Tariff has had the beneficial
+  effect of really lowering the price of provisions, and of other articles of
+  consumption, essentially conducing to the comforts of the labouring classes.
+  May <i>this</i>, in any event, be a <i>permanent</i> result; and who could
+  have brought it about, except such a Ministry as that of Sir Robert Peel,
+  possessing their combined qualifications means, and opportunities, and
+  equally bent upon using them promptly and honestly?</p>
+
+  <p>No sooner had that Parliament which had passed, in its first session,
+  such a number of great measures, having for their object the immediate
+  benefit of the lower orders, (and, it may really be said, almost wholly at
+  the expense of the higher orders,) separated, after its exhausting labours,
+  than there occurred those deplorable and alarming outrages in the principal
+  manufacturing districts, which so ill requited the benevolent exertions of
+  the Legislature in their behalf. They exhibited some features of peculiar
+  malignity&mdash;many glaring indications of the existence of a base and
+  selfish hidden conspiracy against the cause of law, of order, and of good
+  government. Who were the real originators and contrivers of that wicked
+  movement, and what their objects, is a question which we shall not here
+  discuss, but leave in the hands of the present keen and vigilant Government,
+  and of the Parliament, so soon to be assembled. If a single chance of
+  bringing the really guilty parties to justice&mdash;of throwing light on the
+  actors and machinery of that atrocious conspiracy shall be thrown away, the
+  public interests will have been grievously betrayed. On this subject,
+  however, we have no apprehensions whatever, and pass on heartily to
+  congratulate the country on possessing a Government which acted, on the
+  trying occasion in question, with such signal promptitude, energy, and
+  prudence. Not one moment was lost in faltering indecision; never was the
+  majesty of the law more quickly and completely vindicated, never was there
+  exhibited a more striking and gratifying instance of a temperate and
+  discriminating exercise of the vast powers of the executive. The incessant
+  attention of all functionaries, from the very highest to the lowest, by
+  night and by day, on that occasion, at the Home-Office, (including the
+  Attorney and Solicitor-General,) would hardly be credited; <i>mercy to the
+  misguided</i>, but instant vengeance upon the guilty instigators of
+  rebellion, was then, from first to last, the rule of action. The enemies of
+  public tranquillity reckoned fearfully without their host, in forgetting who
+  presided at the Home-Office, and who at the Horse Guards. Nothing could be
+  better than the Government examination into the real causes of the outbreak,
+  instituted upon the spot the very moment it was over, while evidence was
+  fresh and accessible, and of which the guilty parties concerned have a great
+  deal yet to hear. The Special Commission for the trial of the rioters, was
+  also issued with salutary expedition. The prosecutions were carried on by
+  the Attorney and Solicitor-General, on the part of the Crown, in a dignified
+  spirit at once of forbearance and determination, and with a just
+  discrimination between the degree of culpability disclosed. The merciful
+  spirit in which the prosecutions were conducted by the law-officers of the
+  Crown, was repeatedly pointed out to the misguided criminals by the Judges;
+  who, on many occasions, intimated that the Government had chosen to indict
+  for the minor offence only, when the facts would have undoubtedly warranted
+  an indictment for high treason, with all its terrible consequences. Before
+  quitting this incidental topic of legal proceedings, let us add a word upon
+  the substantial improvements effected in the administration of justice
+  during the late session, and of which the last volume of the statute-book
+  affords abundant evidence, principally under the heads of bankruptcy,
+  insolvency, and lunacy. Great and salutary alterations have been effected in
+  these departments, as well as various others; the leading statutory changes
+  being most ably carried into effect by the Lord Chancellor, who continues to
+  preside over his court, and to discharge his high and multifarious duties
+  with his accustomed dignity and sagacity. His recent bankruptcy appointments
+  have certainly been canvassed by the Radical press with sufficient freedom,
+  but on very insufficient grounds. <i>No</i> appointments could have been
+  made against which unscrupulous faction might not have raised a clamour.
+  That temporarily excited in the present instance, has quite died away. The
+  appointments in question have undoubtedly been made with a due regard to the
+  public interest; but did the intelligent censors of the Radical press expect
+  that those appointments of L.1500 a-year would be sought for or accepted by
+  men at the bar, already making their L.3000, L.5000, L.8000, or L.10,000
+  a-year, and aspiring to the very highest honours of their profession? The
+  gentlemen who have accepted these appointments, are many of them personally
+  known to us as very acute and able practical men, who will be found to give
+  the utmost satisfaction in the discharge of their duties to both the
+  profession and the public. The two Vice-Chancellors, Sir James L. Knight
+  Bruce, and Sir James Wigram, are admirable appointments. Each must have
+  resigned a practice very far exceeding&mdash;perhaps doubling, or even
+  trebling&mdash;their present salaries of office. The transference to the
+  former, without any additional salary, of the office of Chief Judge in
+  Bankruptcy, (vacant by the recent death of Sir John Cross,) was a highly
+  advantageous and economical arrangement for the public, at the willing
+  expense of Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce.</p>
+
+  <p>May we here be allowed to allude for an instant to a very delicate
+  topic&mdash;the new Poor-Law&mdash;simply to call attention to the resolute
+  support of it by the present Government (whether right or wrong), as at
+  least a pretty decisive evidence of their uprightness and independence. On
+  this sore subject we shall not dwell, nor do we feel bound to offer any
+  opinion of our own as to the alleged merits or demerits of the new Poor-Law;
+  but it certainly looks as though Ministers had resolved to do what they
+  <i>believed</i> to be right, <i>ruat c&aelig;lum</i>. What other motive they
+  can have, is to us, at least, inconceivable.</p>
+
+  <p>Let us again point with undisguised triumph to IRELAND, as a very
+  striking instance of the results of a sound and firmly-administered
+  Conservative policy. The late Government misgoverned Ireland, in order that
+  they might be allowed to continue misgoverning England. Their memory will
+  ever be execrated for their surrender of that fair portion of the empire
+  into the hands of a political reprobate and impostor, of whom we cannot
+  trust ourselves to speak, and the like of whom has never yet appeared, and
+  it is to be hoped never will again appear, in British history. Immediately
+  before and after their expulsion from office, they pointed to this scene of
+  their long misconduct, and, with a sort of heartless jocularity, asked Sir
+  Robert Peel "What he meant to do with Ireland?"&mdash;adding, that whatever
+  else he might be able to do, by the aid of intrigue and corruption, "he
+  could <i>never</i> govern Ireland." How <i>now</i>, gentlemen? What will you
+  find to lay to the charge of Ministers in the coming session? What has
+  become of your late patron, Mr O'Connel? Is "his occupation gone?" Is he
+  spending the short remainder of his respectable old age at Darrynane, even
+  (begging pardon of the noble animal for the comparison)</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>&mdash;"like a worn-out lion in a cave,</p>
+
+    <p>That goes not out to prey?"</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>What can you any longer do, or affect to do, old gentleman, to earn your
+  honourable wages? Is there not (as the lawyers would style it) a failure of
+  consideration? If you go on any longer collecting "the rent," may you not be
+  liable to an indictment for obtaining money under false pretences? Poor old
+  soul! his cuckoo cry of Repeal grows feebler and feebler; yet he must keep
+  it up, or starve. <i>Tempus abire senex! satis clamasti!</i> That Ireland is
+  still subject to great evils, recent occurrences painfully attest. Mr Pitt,
+  in 1799, (23d January,) pointed out what may still be regarded as their true
+  source:&mdash;"I say that Ireland is subject to great and deplorable evils,
+  which have a deep root: for they lie in the nature of the country itself in
+  the present character, manners, and habits of its people; in their want of
+  intelligence, or, in other words, in their ignorance; in the unavoidable
+  separation of certain classes; in the state of property; in its religious
+  distinctions; in the rancour which bigotry engenders, and superstition rears
+  and cherishes."<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> How many of these roots of evil are still in
+  existence!</p>
+
+  <p>But consider what we have done, even already, for Ireland, by giving her
+  the blessings of a strong and honest Government; what a blow we have aimed
+  at absenteeism, in a particular provision of our income-tax! <i>Nil
+  desperandum</i>, gentlemen, give us a little time to unravel your long
+  tissue of misgovernment; and, in the mean time, make haste, and go about in
+  quest of a <i>grievance</i>, if you can find one, against the ensuing
+  session. Depend upon it, we will redress it!</p>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p>The present aspect of foreign affairs is calculated to excite mixed
+  feelings of pain and exultation in the breast of a thoughtful observer. The
+  national character of Great Britain had unquestionably fallen in European
+  estimation, and lost much of the commanding influence of its mere name,
+  during the last few years preceding the accession to office of the present
+  Government. That was an event&mdash;viz. the formation of a Cabinet at St
+  James's, containing Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Aberdeen,
+  and Lord Stanley&mdash;which justly excited an instant and great sensation
+  in all foreign courts, regard being had to the critical circumstances of the
+  times. Every one, both at home and abroad, knew well that if WAR was at
+  hand, here was a Government to conduct it on the part of Great Britain, even
+  under the most adverse circumstances imaginable, with all our accustomed
+  splendour and success. But all knew, at the same time, that imminent as was
+  the danger, if a profound statesmanship could avert it, consistently with
+  the preservation of the national honour, that danger would promptly
+  disappear. The new Cabinet instantly proclaimed themselves "lovers of peace,
+  but not afraid of war;" and an altered tone of feeling and policy was
+  quickly observable on the Continent.</p>
+
+  <p>The peculiar position and interests of Great Britain impose upon her one
+  paramount obligation&mdash;to interfere as little as possible with the
+  affairs of other nations, especially in Europe&mdash;<i>never</i>, except
+  upon compulsion&mdash;when bound by treaty, or when the eye of a profound
+  and watchful statesmanship has detected in existence unquestionable elements
+  of danger to the general peace and welfare of the world. To be always
+  scrutinizing the movements of foreign states, with a view to convicting them
+  of designs to destroy the balance of power (as it is called) in Europe, and
+  thereupon evincing a disposition to assume an offensively distrustful and
+  hostile attitude, requiring explanations, and disclaimers, and negotiations,
+  which every one knows the slightest miscarriage may convert into inevitable
+  pretexts and provocatives of war&mdash;is really almost to court the
+  destruction of our very national existence. If there was one principle of
+  action possessed by the late Government to be regarded as of more importance
+  than another, it was that of maintaining peace, and non-intervention in the
+  affairs of other nations. This, indeed, was emblazoned upon the banner
+  unfurled by Lord Grey, on advancing to the head of affairs. Can it, however,
+  be necessary to show how systematically&mdash;how perilously&mdash;this
+  principle was set at nought by the late Government? As represented by Lord
+  Palmerston, Great Britain had got to be regarded as the most pestilent,
+  intrusive, mischief-making of neighbours. A little longer, and our name
+  would have actually <i>stunk in the nostrils</i> of Europe. Some began to
+  hate us; others, to despise us!! all, to cease <i>dreading</i> us. In the
+  language of a powerful journalist, (the <i>Spectator</i>,) opposed on most
+  points to the present Government, "the late Ministers commenced a career,
+  perilous in the extreme to all the best interests of the
+  nation&mdash;demoralizing public opinion, wasting public resources, and
+  entangling the country in quarrels alike endless and aimless; and all this
+  with a labouring after melodramatic stage effect, and a regardlessness of
+  consequences perfectly unprecedented." We were, in the words of truth and
+  soberness, fast losing our moral ascendency in Europe&mdash;by a series of
+  querulous, petty, officious, needless, undignified interpositions; by the
+  exhibition of a vacillating and short-sighted policy; by appearing (novel
+  position for Great Britain) "willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike;" by
+  conceiving and executing idle and preposterous schemes of aggrandizement and
+  conquest. To go no further in Europe than our immediate neighbour, France,
+  let us ask whether Lord Palmerston did not bring us to the very verge, and
+  keep us at it for many months, of actual war with that power, which is
+  always unhappily eager to "cry hurra, and let slip the dogs of war;" and
+  with reference to <i>us</i>, to go out of their way to create occasions for
+  misunderstanding, and hostilities? Were we not really on the verge of
+  war?&mdash;of a war which would have instantly kindled all over Europe a war
+  of extermination? Not, however, to descend to the discussion of recent
+  occurrences familiar to every body, we shall very briefly advert to the
+  state of our relations with America, with China, and of our affairs in
+  British India, when Sir Robert Peel assumed the direction of affairs. Lord
+  Palmerston has never been sufficiently called to account for his long, most
+  disgraceful, and perilous neglect of our serious differences with America;
+  and which had brought us to within a hair's-breadth of a declaration of war,
+  which, whatever might have been its issue, (possibly not difficult to have
+  foreseen,) would have been disastrous to both countries, and to one of them
+  utterly destructive. It is notorious that within the last eighteen or twenty
+  months, every arrival from the west was expected to bring intelligence of
+  the actual commencement of hostilities. The state of public feeling towards
+  us in America was being every hour more exasperated and malignant. The
+  accession of the present Government opened, however, a bright and happy
+  prospect of an adjustment of all difficulties; honourable to both parties.
+  How long had they been in power, before they had earned universal applause
+  by their prompt and masterly move, in dispatching Lord Ashburton to America
+  on his delicate, difficult, and most responsible mission? Was ever man
+  selected for a great public duty so peculiarly and consummately fitted for
+  it? And how admirably has he discharged it! as our opponents may hear for
+  themselves early in the ensuing session. Do Ministers deserve no credit for
+  hitting on this critical device? Was it no just cause of congratulation, to
+  be able to find such a person amongst the ranks of their own immediate and
+  most distinguished supporters? We are now, happily, at perfect peace with
+  America; and, notwithstanding some present untoward appearances, trust that
+  both countries will soon reap the advantages of it. Of what real
+  <i>value</i> that peace may be, however, with reference to their extensive
+  commercial relations with us, is another question, dependent entirely on the
+  character which they may vindicate to themselves for honour and fidelity in
+  their pecuniary transactions. That rests with themselves alone: whether they
+  will go forward in a career of improvement and greatness, or sink into
+  irretrievable disgrace and ruin, REPUDIATED and scouted by all mankind. We
+  cannot quit America without a very anxious allusion to late occurrences in
+  Canada. We feel words inadequate to express our sense of the transcendent
+  importance of preserving in their integrity our Canadian possessions. No
+  declaration of her Majesty since her accession gave greater satisfaction to
+  her subjects, than that of her inflexible determination to preserve
+  inviolate her possessions in Canada. We are of opinion that Lord Durham did
+  incalculable, and perhaps irreparable, mischief there. We have no time,
+  however, to enter into details concerning either his policy and proceedings,
+  or those of Lord Sydenham; and we are exceedingly anxious also to offer no
+  observations on the recent movements of Sir Charles Bagot, beyond a frank
+  expression of the profound anxiety with which we await Ministerial
+  explanations in the ensuing session. Before these pages shall have met the
+  reader's eyes, Sir Charles Bagot may be no longer numbered among men. We
+  therefore withhold all comment on his late proceedings, which we are
+  satisfied have originated in an anxious desire to serve the best interests
+  of his country. We confidently believe that Ministers will be able
+  abundantly to satisfy the country upon this subject; and that, in the event
+  of the necessity arising, they will choose a successor to Sir Charles Bagot
+  every way qualified for his very responsible post, thoroughly instructed as
+  to the line of policy he is to adopt, and capable of carrying it out with
+  skill and energy. It is impossible to turn to India, for the purpose of
+  taking a necessarily rapid and general view of the course of recent events
+  there, without experiencing great emotion, arising from conflicting causes.
+  We have already said, that our vast and glorious Indian empire is indeed the
+  wonder of the world. Every one of our countrymen is aware of the means by
+  which we originally acquired it, and that have subsequently augmented and
+  retained it by an almost inconceivable amount of expenditure and
+  exertion&mdash;by the display of overwhelming civil and military genius. If,
+  moreover, he has entered into Indian history with proper feeling and
+  intelligence, he will be able to appreciate the truth and force of the
+  celebrated saying of one who contributed immensely to our ancient greatness
+  in India, viz.&mdash;that <i>we hold India by</i> OPINION <i>only:</i> the
+  opinion which is there entertained of our greatness of national character,
+  intellectual and moral&mdash;of our wisdom, our justice, our power. If this
+  fail us, our downfall in India inevitably follows; and memorable and
+  tremendous indeed will be such an event, amongst all nations, and at all
+  future times, till the name of England is blotted from the recollection of
+  mankind. Therefore it is that we all regard the administration of affairs in
+  India with profound anxiety, justly requiring, in those to whom it is
+  entrusted, an intimate practical acquaintance with Indian character and
+  manners, with Anglo-Indian history, and a clear view of the policy to be
+  ever kept in sight, and ability and determination to carry it out to the
+  uttermost. When Lord Auckland went to India, under the Whig Government, in
+  1836, he found both its foreign and domestic affairs in a satisfactory
+  state&mdash;peaceful and prosperous&mdash;with, upon the whole, a sufficient
+  military force, notwithstanding the immense reduction of Lord William
+  Bentinck. How did he leave it to his successor, Lord Ellenborough, in 1841?
+  The prospect which awaited that successor was indeed dark, troubled, and
+  bloody. An army, alas! dreadfully defeated in one quarter, and dangerously
+  disaffected in another; a war of extermination in Affghanistan; probable
+  hostilities with Burmah and Nepaul; an almost hopelessly involved foreign
+  policy; and, moreover, under these desperate circumstances, with a treasury
+  <i>empty!</i></p>
+
+  <p>We shall confine ourselves to one topic, the war in
+  Affghanistan&mdash;which we fearlessly, and with deep indignation, pronounce
+  to have inflicted almost irreparable injury on the British nation&mdash;an
+  almost indelible stain on the British character&mdash;and to have shaken the
+  whole of our Eastern possessions. Lord Auckland, in listening, and his
+  superiors at home in instructing him to listen, to the representations of
+  Shah Soojah, and to be persuaded by him to embark in the late disastrous and
+  disgraceful campaign, were guilty either of an incredible weakness and
+  ignorance of the nature of the cause they were espousing, together with an
+  inconceivable degree of short-sightedness as to the most obvious
+  consequences of it, or of infamous hypocrisy in making the restoration of
+  Shah Soojah only the pretext and stepping-stone to the conquest of
+  Affghanistan, in the most criminal and reckless spirit of imaginary
+  aggrandizement and extension of territory that ever has actuated the rules
+  of India. Will they pretend that it was really designed, and necessarily so,
+  solely for the purpose of defeating subtle and dangerous intrigues on the
+  part of Russia and Persia? Listen to the language of one of the responsible
+  authors of the policy since followed by such fearful consequences, Sir John
+  Hobhouse&mdash;who, on the 11th July 1840, on the occasion of a dinner given
+  to their richly and prematurely rewarded hero, Lord Keane, thus poured forth
+  his insane, exulting avowal of the real object they had had in
+  view:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    "The gallant officer had alluded to the late addition made to the vast
+    territory of the East India Company. <i>It was just possible</i> that that
+    territory had <i>at that moment</i> received a further and important
+    increase. <i>It is just possible,</i> that since he (Sir John Hobhouse)
+    last met the Directors at the festive board&mdash;now about six months
+    since&mdash;the Government of India <i>has been enabled to make an
+    addition to its territory, the vast consequences of which could scarcely
+    be imagined in the wildest dream of fancy</i>, and which for centuries
+    would be of advantage to the empire!!! In the history of the world there
+    was no instance of yearly sovereigns (as the Directors of the Company
+    were) having conquered so vast a territory as that of India. There was no
+    instance of such successive success. To them the happiness belonged of
+    giving to the vast country under their control the blessing of education.
+    It was owing to God's ministering hand, by which successive Directions had
+    sprung up to spread the benefits of light and knowledge in India, and
+    among a people enshrouded in darkness and idolatry. It was scarcely a
+    hundred years ago since the power of the East India Company was felt in
+    India; their banners were now flying from the Indus to the Burrampooter.
+    He would say emphatically, go on in the great work of extending the
+    religion, civilization, and education of India; for the wishes of the good
+    are with you&mdash;go on in your great work, for the sake of India, and
+    Great Britain itself."
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>What must <i>now</i> be the feelings of Sir John Hobhouse and his brother
+  ex-Ministers on this paragraph catching his eyes; when they reflect on the
+  frightful sacrifice of life, British and Affghan&mdash;the defeat of our
+  arms while engaged in a shameful and wicked cause&mdash;with its perilous
+  effects upon the stability of our tenure of India&mdash;which have directly
+  resulted from the measures thus vaingloriously vaunted of! A thousand
+  reflections here occur to us upon the subject of the insane (or guilty)
+  conduct of the late Government in India; but the extent to which this
+  article has already reached, compels us to suppress them. We the less regret
+  this circumstance, however, because there really seems but one opinion upon
+  this topic among well-informed persons. After the last intelligence from
+  India, it is idle, it is needless, to attempt reasoning on the subject; to
+  ask how we should have strengthened ourselves by the destruction of a
+  powerful and (according to authentic intelligence) a really friendly chief
+  in Dost Mahommed; how we could even have <i>occupied</i> Affghanistan
+  without a ruinous expenditure, continual alarm and danger from a perpetual
+  series of treachery and insurrection; and to what purpose, after all, of
+  solid advantage! The whole policy of Lord Auckland was incontestably one of
+  mad encroachment, conquest, and aggrandizement, in utter ignorance of the
+  character and exigencies of the times; the Duke of Wellington's memorable
+  prediction is now far more than fulfilled! "<i>It will not be till Lord
+  Auckland's policy has reached the zenith of apparent success, that its
+  difficulties will begin to develope themselves.</i>" Begin to develope
+  themselves! What would have become of us, had the councils originating that
+  policy still been in the ascendant, we tremble to contemplate. The exulting
+  French press, on hearing of our recent disasters, thus expressed
+  themselves:<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> "<i>England is rich and energetic. She may
+  re-establish her dominion in India for some time longer; but the term of her
+  Indian empire is marked, it will conclude before the quarter of a
+  century.</i>" Such has been the anticipated&mdash;such would have been the
+  inevitable result of the policy which Sir Robert Peel's Government, guided
+  by the profound sagacity of the Duke of Wellington, made it their first
+  business <i>totally to reverse</i>; not, however, till they had completely
+  re-established the old terror of our arms, convincing the natives of India
+  that what we were of yore, we still are; that our punishment of treachery is
+  instant and tremendous; that we can act with irresistible vigour and
+  complete success, at one and the same moment, both in India and in China. In
+  their minds, may the splendour of our recent victories efface the
+  recollection of our previous bloody and disgraceful defeats! And if we
+  cannot make them <i>forget</i> the wickedness&mdash;the folly&mdash;the
+  madness which originally dictated our invasion of Affghanistan, at least we
+  have shown them how calmly and magnanimously we can obey the dictates of
+  justice and of prudence, <i>in the very moment of, fierce and exciting
+  military triumph</i>. May, indeed, such be the effect of all that has
+  recently occurred, whether adverse or prosperous, in India! For the former,
+  the guilty councils of the late Government are alone answerable; for the
+  latter, we are exclusively indebted to the vigour and sagacity of our
+  present Government. The proclamation in which Lord Ellenborough announces
+  our abandonment of Affghanistan will probably excite great discussion, and
+  possibly (on the part of the late Government) furious objurgation, in the
+  ensuing session of Parliament. We are so delighted at the achievement which
+  was the subject of that proclamation, that even were there valid grounds of
+  objection to its taste and policy, we should entirely overlook them. If even
+  Lord Ellenborough, in the excitement of the glorious moment in which he
+  penned the proclamation, departed from the style of all previous state
+  documents of that character, was it not very excusable? But we are disposed
+  to vindicate the propriety of the step he took. It may be said that it was
+  highly impolitic to make so frank an avowal to the natives of India, that a
+  mere change of Ministry at home may be attended with a total and instant
+  revolution in our native policy, to place on record a formal and humiliating
+  confession of our errors and misconduct. But let it be borne in mind how
+  potent and glaring was already that error, that misconduct, with all its
+  alarming consequences; and that one so intimately acquainted as Lord
+  Ellenborough with the Indian character, may have seen, <i>then and
+  there</i>, reasons to recommend the course he has adopted, which may not
+  occur to us at home. That document will truly purport, in all time to come,
+  to have been issued in a spirit of remarkable wisdom and justice, at the
+  very moment of our having achieved the proudest triumph we could have
+  desired for our arms. But, above all, what does that striking document tell,
+  but <i>the truth</i>, and nothing but <i>the truth</i>? Let us, however, now
+  confidently rely on the vast advantages which we cannot but derive from a
+  prudent and vigorous administration of the affairs of India. We trust that
+  Lord Ellenborough will persevere in the admirable line of conduct which he
+  has hitherto adopted, turning neither to the right hand nor the left,
+  disturbed by no sinister hopes or fears. Let his grand object be, by every
+  legitimate means at his command, <i>to Anglicize India</i>; to encourage the
+  adoption of English habits of thought, the practical appreciation of English
+  principles of government; in short, thoroughly to identify the people of
+  India with the people of England, in all their partialities, and prejudices,
+  and interests. Every thing he has hitherto done in India, we rejoice to
+  observe, tends this way. Let him but persevere, and he will acquire
+  imperishable renown, and reflect permanent splendour on the Government which
+  appointed him. In a confident and well-founded reliance upon his fitness for
+  his post, upon his capacity for thoroughly carrying out the policy of a
+  strong and enlightened Conservative government, which has entrusted to him
+  the management of such vast and splendid national interests&mdash;the nation
+  now looks with a bright untroubled eye towards India.</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>&mdash;"Now is the winter of our discontent</p>
+
+      <p>Made glorious summer!</p>
+
+      <p>And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house</p>
+
+      <p>In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.</p>
+
+      <p>Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,</p>
+
+      <p>Our bruis&egrave;d arms hung up for monuments,</p>
+
+      <p>Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,</p>
+
+      <p>Our dreadful marches to delightful measures!"</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>Our allotted space is well-nigh exhausted, and we have only now reached
+  the confines of CHINA!&mdash;a topic on which we had prepared ourselves for
+  a very full expression of our opinions. We are compelled, however, now to
+  content ourselves with a mere outline of our intended observations on a
+  subject&mdash;our victory over the Emperor of China&mdash;which is pregnant
+  with matter for long and profound reflection. Abstractly, our triumphant
+  assault on these distant and vast dominions, affords matter for national
+  pride and exultation, as far as concerns our naval and military renown; and
+  the names of Parker and Gough will never be forgotten in British history.
+  The submission of the Emperor of China to our arms, is an event calculated
+  of itself to distinguish the reign of our glorious sovereign, Queen
+  Victoria, far beyond those of most of her predecessors. It is an event that
+  concerns and affects the prospects and interests of the whole world, and
+  though it is at this moment occupying the thoughts of all the statesmen of
+  Europe, with reference to its contingent effects upon their respective
+  countries, not the most experienced and sagacious of them can predict with
+  safety what will be its effects within even the next year or two. As for
+  ourselves, our present prevalent feeling seems to be in accordance with our
+  daring military character, which would say merely&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"Why then, <i>China's</i> our oyster</p>
+
+    <p>Which we with sword have open'd."</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>But to those in England who are accustomed to regard occurrences with
+  reference to their probable consequences, the recent events in China afford
+  matter for the most anxious reflection of which thinking men are
+  capable&mdash;whether in the character of philosophers, of statesmen, of
+  warriors, or of merchants. Were we justified in our attack upon the Emperor
+  of China? We have no hesitation whatever in expressing our opinion, after
+  having had our attention for some years directed to the subject of our
+  relation with China, in the affirmative. From the moment of our first
+  intercourse with that people, we have had to submit to a series of
+  indignities sufficient to kindle into fury the feelings of any one who
+  merely reads any authentic account of those indignities. The Chinese have
+  long derived an immense revenue, together with other great advantages, from
+  us; encouraging us to embark a vast capital in our trade with them, and to
+  form great permanent establishments dependent upon it. Language cannot
+  describe the degrading circumstances under which we have been forced to
+  carry on our commercial intercourse with the Chinese; our long submission to
+  such conduct having, of course, insured its continual aggravation. The Opium
+  trade, perhaps beneficially, brought matters to a crisis. It was alleged on
+  behalf of the Emperor, that we were surreptitiously, and from motives of
+  gain, corrupting and destroying his people, by supplying them with opium;
+  but it is easily demonstrable that this was only a pretence for endeavouring
+  to effect a change in the medium of our dealings with them, vastly
+  beneficial to the Emperor, and disadvantageous to us. We might have been
+  permitted to quadruple our supply of opium to his subjects, if we would have
+  been content to be paid, <i>not in bullion</i>, but by taking Chinese goods
+  in exchange; in a word, to change the basis of our dealings from <i>sale</i>
+  to <i>barter</i>; and all this from a totally groundless notion of the
+  Emperor and his advisers, that we were draining his kingdom of silver
+  &mdash;in their own words, "causing the Sycee silver to ooze out of the
+  dominions of the Brother of the Sun and the Moon." Their desperate anxiety
+  to carry this point, led them to take the decisive step of seizing a vast
+  quantity of our opium, under circumstances perfectly familiar to every body;
+  constituting a crowning indignity and injury, which, without reference to
+  the original legality or illegality of the opium trade, gave us an
+  unquestionable cause for war against the Emperor. He seized the person of
+  her Majesty's representative, and those of many of her principal subjects in
+  China; and under the threat of inflicting death upon them, extorted a
+  delivery of an enormous amount of property belonging to her Majesty's
+  subjects. If this was not a cause of war with any nation, whether civilized
+  or uncivilized, there never was one; and without going into further detail,
+  we have stated sufficient to justify, beyond all doubt, our commencement of
+  hostilities against China. But this occurred so long ago as the month of
+  March 1839; yet, to the eternal scandal of the then existing Government, no
+  effectual warlike demonstration was made to redress this flagrant
+  unparalleled outrage on the British nation, till better councils, those of
+  the present Government, were had recourse to by her Majesty; and which led
+  to the quick triumphant result with which the world is now ringing. Till the
+  present vigorous Government took the affair in hand, we were
+  <i>pottering</i> about the extremities of the empire, month after month,
+  even year after year, at a ruinous expense, in a way justly calculated to
+  excite the derision of even the Chinese&mdash;of the whole world who had
+  heard of our mode of procedure. It will be in vain for the late Government
+  to endeavour meanly to make Captain Elliot their scapegoat. Let them, if
+  they can, satisfy the nation that, in all he appears to have done so
+  ineffectually and disgracefully, he did not act according to the strict
+  orders of the late Government; that in all he would have done, and wished to
+  have done, viz. to carry hostilities at once, with an adequate force, to the
+  right point of attack, he was not either positively overruled, or left
+  without advice and authority. Owing to their own want of forethought, of
+  energy, and of practical knowledge, and their financial mismanagement, even
+  if they had contemplated the plan of operations which led ultimately to the
+  successful enterprize on which we are now justly congratulating ourselves,
+  they <i>could</i> not, they <i>did not</i> act upon them. No, it was left
+  for the present Government, under the auspices of him who told us that
+  "England <i>could</i> not carry on a little war," amidst all the
+  embarrassments and dangers which they had just inherited from their
+  predecessors, to send out the peremptory instructions which have been so
+  ably acted upon; and <i>above all</i>, a naval and military force fully
+  adequate for the occasion. This done, China succumbed; and we understand
+  that poor Lord Palmerston is pluming himself on being able to produce, next
+  session, a despatch which he issued to Sir Henry Pottinger, chalking out the
+  very line of operations which was adopted with such supreme success. We, of
+  course, cannot officially know that such is the fact: but even admitting it,
+  why did not Lord Palmerston do this far earlier? What excuse can be offered
+  for this vacillation and procrastination in an affair of such vast urgency?
+  "We had not the means to equip a sufficient force," his lordship may reply,
+  in his usual strain of bitter flippancy. And why had he not the means? The
+  extravagance and profligacy of his Government had deprived him of them; his
+  exchequer was empty; and had he, or they, the boldness or the virtue to
+  propose what has been demonstrated to have been the only mode of meeting the
+  exigency, an income-tax? In vain, therefore, may his lordship and his
+  friends declaim in the ensuing session, and with our bombardment of China in
+  his ears, say "that is <i>my</i> thunder." They will be only laughed at and
+  despised. No, no, Lord Palmerston; <i>palmam qui meruit, ferat.</i> Let the
+  nation decide.</p>
+
+  <p>The late military and naval proceedings against China, reflect permanent
+  glory upon the arms of England, naval and military, and we earnestly
+  hope&mdash;we confidently believe&mdash;that those concerned in them will
+  soon receive substantial and enduring marks of national gratitude. But what
+  is the real value, what will be the consequences, of our victory? We are
+  very anxious to take the earliest opportunity of placing on record our views
+  upon this all-important subject, with a view of moderating the expectations,
+  and allaying the excitement, which prevails upon the subject of the
+  commercial advantages anticipated to follow immediately on the final
+  ratification of the treaty. Let us take a sober and common-sense view of the
+  affair, and reason thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>First of all, we must bear in mind the long-cherished hatred borne by the
+  Emperor and his court to all barbarians, particularly towards us;
+  exasperated now, doubtless, to a pitch of extreme intensity and malignity,
+  by the signal humiliation and injury we have inflicted upon him. Can we
+  expect that this will be suddenly and permanently altered? It is not in
+  human nature, which is the same every where. With the thunder of our cannon
+  in his ears, the supplies of his whole empire at our immediate mercy, his
+  armies scattered like dust, and his forts and walled cities crumbling to
+  pieces under our artillery, the necessity of his position forced him to buy
+  peace on almost any terms. We have exacted from him what is at variance with
+  the fixed Chinese policy of ages. The more he, by and by, reflects upon it,
+  in the absence of our awe-inspiring military and naval forces, the more
+  galling and intolerable will become the contemplation of what he has been
+  compelled to concede and sacrifice. Who knows what artful falsehoods may not
+  be perseveringly poured into his ear, day after day, month after month, year
+  after year, to our disadvantage and disparagement in his estimation? He may
+  not dare, perhaps, to resort to open hostility, directly to provoke our
+  tremendous vengeance; but those best acquainted with China, know what
+  countless facilities exist for his doing indirectly what he dares not, or
+  may choose not, to do openly. We are not without fear, from our knowledge of
+  the Chinese character, and of their long-established mode of procedure, that
+  every chicane and evasion will be resorted to, in order to neutralize and
+  nullify, as far as possible, the commercial advantages which we have, at the
+  cannon's mouth, extorted from them. A great deal, at all events, will depend
+  on the skill, firmness, and vigilance, of the consuls to be appointed at the
+  five opened ports of China. We rely, also, greatly on the unquestionable
+  eagerness of the <i>Chinese</i> people to enter into trading relations with
+  us. The Emperor, however, and those by whose counsels he is guided, are
+  Tartars, between whom and the Chinese there is a long-cherished and bitter
+  hostility, which may eventually operate in our favour. Adverting, for a
+  moment, to the proceedings of Sir Henry Pottinger, we feel very great doubt,
+  indeed, whether our forces should not, either with or without the consent of
+  the Chinese, have gone on to Pekin, and insisted on the negotiations being
+  carried on <i>there</i>. What a prodigious effect would not thereby have
+  been produced, not only on the mind of the Emperor, but of the whole nation!
+  The painful but salutary truth of their own weakness, and our power, would
+  have been thus "brought home to their businesses and bosoms,"&mdash;there
+  could never afterwards have been any pretence for his or their saying, that
+  they had been deceived in any part of the proceedings. Doubtless, however,
+  Sir Henry Pottinger acted advisedly in abstaining from penetrating to Pekin,
+  and also from stipulating for the residence of a British ambassador at
+  Pekin. How such a proposal would have been received&mdash;or how, if adopted
+  and carried into effect, it would have answered our expectations&mdash;it is
+  difficult to say; but we have several letters lying before us, from
+  peculiarly well-informed persons on the spot, in all of which the absence of
+  this stipulation from the treaty is very greatly regretted. "I am afraid,"
+  says one, "we shall be again left to the tender mercies of the local
+  mandarins, and that their old habits of arrogance and deceit and extortion,
+  will be resumed. For what are <i>consuls?</i> They have no power of
+  communicating even with the provincial officers: or if this should now be
+  conceded, they have none with the government at Pekin: and may we not fear
+  that the Chinese will continue to force away gradually, by effectual but
+  invisible obstacles, the trade from the ports now ostensibly opened to us?"
+  The gentleman, from whose long and very able letter we have quoted this
+  paragraph, takes a somewhat disheartening view of the treaty, and its
+  probable observance and consequences. He is on the spot, and has access to
+  the best sources of knowledge; but we confess, that for our own part, we do
+  not share his apprehensions. Whatever disposition to do so the Emperor or
+  his people may entertain, we believe they will neither dare at all to offend
+  or injure us openly, or persevere long in attempting to do so indirectly. It
+  may be a work of time but as soon as they perceive the steady benefits
+  derivable from a prudently-conducted course of dealing with them, we think
+  it likely that a sense of self-interest will lead them to encourage our
+  intercourse and augment our dealings. On one thing we regret to feel certain
+  that we must calculate&mdash;namely, on an enormous overstocking of the
+  Chinese market with articles of British merchandize, long before any
+  sensible, or at least important, demand for them shall have been created;
+  which will of course lead to serious loss on the part of the adventurers. We
+  must also expect Hong-Kong, and the five open ports, to be forthwith flooded
+  with commercial adventurers. To all such we would earnestly
+  say&mdash;"pause. Consider the circumstances of China&mdash;how capricious
+  and perfidious its people are by nature&mdash;the <i>possibility</i>, at all
+  events, of their acting on the hostile policy we have above alluded to, and
+  discouraging your trade; or if not so, still do not imagine that the vast
+  empire of China is standing agape for any sort of goods you may send or take
+  out." We must, however, pass on to allude briefly to a subject both
+  important and difficult&mdash;the opium trade with China. This is a subject
+  imperatively demanding the best consideration of the Government. A careful
+  examination of the subject, in all its bearings, induces us, with due
+  diffidence, to express an opinion that the Government sale of opium in India
+  should cease. We cannot, of course, prevent the poppy's being grown in
+  India&mdash;nor, on the other hand, should a great source of revenue be
+  easily parted with. Let their opium be produced and sold as before, and
+  subject to such a tax as may appear expedient to the Government. With
+  reference to the policy and propriety of our continuing to supply opium to
+  the Chinese, we have already expressed our opinion as to the true ground of
+  objection to it by the Emperor of China, namely, simply a financial, not a
+  moral or religious one. We have reason to believe that Sir Henry Pottinger
+  most strenuously, and, in our opinion, most judiciously, urged upon the
+  imperial commissioners the expediency of the raising a revenue from opium,
+  by legalizing its importation. To this they replied, however, "that they did
+  not dare, <i>at present</i>, to bring the painful subject to the Emperor's
+  notice." We are, notwithstanding, very strongly of opinion that the opium
+  trade will, at no distant period, be legalized, as soon as the Emperor can
+  be made to understand the great profit he will derive from it. In any event,
+  it will be obviously nugatory for the Government directly to prohibit
+  British subjects from importing opium into China. The only effect of such a
+  measure would be, that they could carry on the trade through the
+  intervention of foreigners.</p>
+
+  <p>Many other topics, such as the opportunity now afforded for the
+  introduction of the Christian religion into China, the extent to which we
+  shall be permitted to acquire a knowledge of the habits, the economy, the
+  literature, and the science, of China; the exertions which may be expected
+  from other nations to share in the advantages which we have, by our own
+  unassisted efforts, secured&mdash;we must pass over, as inconsistent with
+  the limits assigned us, or, indeed, the scope of this article.</p>
+
+  <p>Whatever may be the ultimate effects of the blow we have struck in China,
+  there can be no doubt that it has prodigiously extended the reputation, and
+  augmented the influence of Great Britain, especially coupled as it is with
+  our contemporaneous brilliant successes in India, and our satisfactory
+  adjustment of our differences with America. We are now, thank God, at peace
+  with all the world, to whose counsels soever it is to be attributed. Let us
+  now endeavour to make the most of the blessings which the Divine favour
+  vouchsafes to us. Let us cultivate virtue&mdash;let us cherish religion. Let
+  us, as a nation, give up all idle and dangerous dreams of foreign conquest,
+  satisfied that we already possess as much as it is possible for us to hold,
+  with safety and advantage. Let us <i>honour all men</i>. At home, let us
+  bear with cheerfulness the burthens necessarily imposed to support the
+  state, and each do all that lies in us to extinguish party animosities;
+  generously and cordially co-operating with, and supporting those whom we
+  believe honestly striving to carry on the government of this great country,
+  at a very critical conjuncture of affairs, with dignity and prudence. Let us
+  discourage faction, and each, in our several spheres exert ourselves to
+  ameliorate the condition of the inferior classes of society. May the ensuing
+  session of Parliament commence its labours auspiciously, and in due course
+  bring them to a peaceful and happy close, in a spirit of good will towards
+  all men of loyalty to our Queen, and piety towards God!</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s2" id="bw327s2"></a>LESURQUES; OR, THE VICTIM OF JUDICIAL
+  ERROR.</h2>
+
+  <blockquote class="note">
+    [Many as are the frightful cases of error recorded in the annals of every
+    judiciary court, there are few more striking of the uncertainty of
+    evidence respecting personal identity, and of the serious errors based
+    upon it, than are to be read in the curious trial we are about to relate;
+    and which has, for forty years, been the subject of parliamentary appeals
+    in the country where it took place. The recent death of the widow of the
+    unhappy sufferer excites a fresh interest in her wrongs, so strangely left
+    unredressed by the very government that was the unwitting cause of them.]
+  </blockquote>
+  <hr />
+
+  <h3>I.&mdash;THE FOUR GUESTS.</h3>
+
+  <p>On the 4th Flor&eacute;al of the 4th year of the Republic, one and
+  indivisible, (23d April 1796,) four young men were seated at a splendid
+  breakfast in the Rue des Boucheries at Paris. They were all dressed in the
+  costume of the <i>Incroyables</i> of the period; their hair
+  <i>coiff&eacute;s en cadenettes</i> and <i>en oreilles de chien</i>,
+  according to the fantastic custom of the day; they had all top-boots, with
+  silver spurs, large eyeglasses, various watch-chains, and other articles of
+  <i>bijouterie</i>; carrying also the little cane, of about a foot and a half
+  in length, without which no dandy was complete. The breakfast was given by a
+  M. Guesno, a van-proprietor of Douai, who was anxious to celebrate the
+  arrival at Paris of his compatriot Lesurques, who had recently established
+  himself with his family in the busy capital.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, <i>mon cher</i> Guesno," said Lesurques, "I have quitted for ever
+  our good old town of Douai; or, if not for ever, at least until I have
+  completed in Paris the education of my children. I am now thirty-three years
+  of age. I have paid my debt to my country by serving in the regiment of
+  Auvergne, with some distinction. On leaving the ranks I was fortunate enough
+  to make my services of some slight use, by fulfilling, gratuitously, the
+  functions of <i>chef de bureau</i> of the district. At present, thanks to my
+  patrimony and the dowery of my wife, I have an income of fifteen thousand
+  francs (L.600) a-year, am without ambition, have three children, and my only
+  care is to educate them well. The few days that I have been at Paris have
+  not been wasted; I have a pretty apartment, Rue Montmartre, where I expect
+  to be furnished, and ready to receive you in my turn, with as much comfort
+  as heartiness."</p>
+
+  <p>"Wisely conceived," interrupted one of the guests, who, till this moment,
+  had maintained a profound silence; "but who can count upon the morrow in
+  such times as these? May your projects of peace and retirement, Monsieur, be
+  realized: if so, you will then be the happiest man in the Republic; for
+  during the last five or six years, there has been no <i>citoyen</i>, high or
+  low, who could predict what the next week would decide for him."</p>
+
+  <p>The speaker uttered this with a tone of bitterness and discouragement
+  which contrasted strangely with the flaunting splendour of his toilet, and
+  the appetite with which he had done honour to the breakfast. He was young,
+  and would have been remarkably handsome, had not his dark eyes and shaggy
+  brows given an expression of fierceness and dissimulation to his
+  countenance, which he vainly endeavoured to hide, by never looking his
+  interlocutor in the face. His name was Couriol. His presence at this
+  breakfast was purely accidental. He had come to see M. Richard, (the
+  proprietor of the house where M. Guesno alighted on his journey to Paris,
+  and who was also one of the guests,) just as they were about to sit down to
+  table, and was invited to join them without ceremony.</p>
+
+  <p>The breakfast passed off gaily, in spite of the sombre Couriol; and after
+  two hours' conviviality, they adjourned to the Palais Royal, where, after
+  taking their caf&eacute; at the <i>Rotonde du Caveau</i>, they
+  separated.</p>
+
+  <h3>II.&mdash;THE FOUR HORSEMEN.</h3>
+
+  <p>A few days afterwards, on the 8th Flor&eacute;al, four men mounted on
+  dashing looking horses, which, however, bore the unequivocal signs of being
+  hired for the day, rode gaily out of Paris by the barrier of Charenton;
+  talking and laughing loudly, caracoling with great enjoyment, and apparently
+  with nothing but the idea of passing as joyously as possible a day devoted
+  to pleasure.</p>
+
+  <p>An attentive observer, however, who did not confine his examination to
+  their careless exteriors, might have remarked that, beneath their long
+  <i>l&eacute;vites,</i> (a peculiar cloak then in fashion,) they carried each
+  a sabre, suspended at the waist, the presence of which was betrayed from
+  time to time by a slight clanking, as the horses stumbled or changed their
+  paces. He might have further remarked a sinister pre-occupation and a
+  brooding fierceness in the countenance of one, whose dark eyes peeped out
+  furtively beneath two thick brows. He took but little share in the
+  boisterous gaiety of the other three, and that little was forced; his laugh
+  was hollow and convulsive. It was Couriol.</p>
+
+  <p>Between twelve and one, the four horsemen arrived at the pretty village
+  of Mongeron, on the road to Melun. One of them had preceded them at a
+  hand-gallop to order dinner at the <i>H&ocirc;tel de la Poste</i>, kept by
+  the Sieur Evrard. After the dinner, to which they did all honour, they
+  called for pipes and tobacco&mdash;(cigars were then almost
+  unknown)&mdash;and two of them smoked. Having paid their bill, they
+  proceeded to the Cassino, where they took their caf&eacute;.</p>
+
+  <p>At three o'clock they remounted their horses, and following the road,
+  shaded by stately elms, which leads from Mongeron to the forest of
+  L&eacute;nart, they reached Lieursaint; where they again halted. One of
+  their horses had cast a shoe, and one of the men had broken the little chain
+  which then fastened the spur to the boot. The horseman to whom this accident
+  had happened, stopped at the entrance of the village at Madame
+  Ch&acirc;telain's, a <i>limonadi&egrave;re</i>, whom he begged to serve him
+  some caf&eacute;, and at the same time to give him a needleful of strong
+  thread to mend the chain of his spur. She did so, but observing the
+  traveller to be rather awkward in his use of the needle, she called her
+  servant, <i>la femme</i> Grosset&egrave;te, who fixed the chain for him, and
+  helped him to place it on his boot. The other three travellers had, during
+  this time, alighted at the inn kept by the Sieur Champeaux, where they drank
+  some wine; while the landlord himself accompanied the traveller and his
+  unshod horse to the farrier's, the Sieur Motteau. This finished, the four
+  met at Madame Ch&acirc;telain's, where they played at billiards. At
+  half-past seven, after a parting cup with the Sieur Champeaux, whither they
+  returned to re-saddle their horses, they set off again in the direction of
+  Melun.</p>
+
+  <p>The landlord stood at his door watching the travellers till out of sight,
+  and then turning into his house again, he saw on the table a sabre, which
+  one of his guests had forgotten to fasten to his belt; he dispatched one of
+  his stable-boys after them, but they were out of sight. It was not till an
+  hour afterwards, that the traveller who had had his spur-chain mended,
+  returned at full gallop to claim his sabre. He drank a glass of brandy, and
+  having fastened his weapon securely, departed at furious speed in the
+  direction taken by his comrades.</p>
+
+  <h3>III.&mdash;THE ROBBERY AND MURDER.</h3>
+
+  <p>At the same time that the horseman left Lieursaint for Paris, the Lyons
+  mail arrived there from Paris, and changed horses. It was about half-past
+  eight, and the night had been obscure for some time. The courier, having
+  charged horses and taken a fresh postilion, set forth to traverse the long
+  forest of Senart. The mail, at this epoch, was very different from what it
+  is at present. It was a simple post-chaise, with a raised box behind, in
+  which were placed the despatches. Only one place, by the side of the
+  courier, was reserved for travellers, and that was obtained with difficulty.
+  On the night in question this seat was occupied by a man of about thirty,
+  who had that morning taken it for Lyons, under the name of Laborde, a
+  silk-merchant; his real name was Durochat; his object may be guessed.</p>
+
+  <p>At nine o'clock, the carriage having descended a declivity with great
+  speed, now slackened its course to mount a steep hill which faced it; at
+  this moment four horsemen bounded into the road&mdash;two of them seizing
+  the horses' heads, the two other attacked the postilion, who fell lifeless
+  at their feet, his skull split open by a sabre-cut. At the same
+  instant&mdash;before he had time to utter a word&mdash;the wretched courier
+  was stabbed to the heart by the false Laborde, who sat beside him. They
+  ransacked the mail of a sum of seventy-five thousand francs (L.3000) in
+  money, <i>assignats</i>, and bank-notes. They then took the postilion's
+  horse from the chaise, and Durochat mounting it, they galloped to Paris,
+  which they entered between four and five in the morning by the Barrier de
+  Rambouillet.</p>
+
+  <h3>IV.&mdash;THE ARREST.</h3>
+
+  <p>This double murder, committed with such audacity on the most frequented
+  route of France, could not but produce an immense sensation, even at that
+  epoch so fertile in brigandage of every sort, where the exploits of <i>la
+  Chouannerie</i>, and the ferocious expeditions of the
+  <i>Chauffeurs</i>,<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> daily filled them with alarm. The police were
+  at once in pursuit. The post-horse ridden by Durochat, and abandoned by him
+  on the Boulevard, was found wandering about the Palais Royale. It was known
+  that four horses covered with foam had been conducted at about five in the
+  morning to the stables of a certain Muiron, <i>Rue des Foss&eacute;'s,
+  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois</i>, by two men who had hired them the day before:
+  these men were Bernard and Couriol; the former of whom was immediately
+  arrested, the second had, with the other accomplices, taken flight.</p>
+
+  <p>The research was pursued with great activity at Paris, as well as at the
+  scene of the crime, and along the route which the assassins had twice
+  travelled. The information obtained showed that there were five culprits.
+  The description of the four horsemen who rode from Paris, stopping at
+  Mongeron and Lieursaint, was furnished with as much precision as concordance
+  by the various witnesses who had seen and spoken to them on the road, and in
+  the inns and caf&eacute;s. The description of the traveller, who, under the
+  name of Laborde, had taken the seat beside the courier, was furnished with
+  equal exactitude by the clerks, from whom he had retained the place, and by
+  those who saw him mount. Couriol, recognized as having with Bernard
+  conducted back the horses to Muiron, after the crime, had left Paris for
+  Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry, where he was lodged in the house of Citoyen Bruer,
+  where also Guesno had gone on some business. The police followed Couriol,
+  and arrested him. They found upon him a sum in money and assignats, nearly
+  equivalent to a fifth share of what the courier had been robbed. Guesno and
+  Bruer were also arrested, and had their papers seized; but they so
+  completely established their <i>alibi</i>, that they were at once dismissed
+  on their arrival at Paris. At the epoch of which we write, the examination
+  of judicial affairs followed a very different course from the one now traced
+  by the French code. It was to the Citoyen Daubenton, justice of the peace of
+  the division of Pont Neuf, and officer of the <i>police judiciare</i>, that
+  the Central Bureau confided the examination of this affair. This magistrate
+  having ordered the dismissal of Guesno, told him that he might present
+  himself at his <i>cabinet</i> on the morrow, for the papers which had been
+  seized at Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry; at the same time he ordered an officer,
+  Hendon, to start at once for Mangeron and Lieursaint, and to bring back the
+  witnesses, whose names he gave him, so that they might all be collected the
+  next day at the Bureau for examination.</p>
+
+  <p>Guesno, desirous of having his papers as soon as possible, went out
+  early, and directed his steps towards the Central Bureau, which he had just
+  reached when he encountered his compatriot Lesurques; having explained to
+  him the motive that called him to the Bureau, he proposed to him that they
+  should go together. Lesurques accepted, and the Citizen Daubenton not having
+  yet arrived, they sat down in the antechamber, in order to see him as he
+  passed, and thus expedite the matter.</p>
+
+  <p>About ten o'clock the judge, who had entered his cabinet by a back door,
+  was interrupted in his examination of the documents, previous to
+  interrogating the witnesses, by the officer Hendon, who demanded leave to
+  make an important communication. "Amongst the witnesses," said he, "now
+  waiting in the antechamber, are two women&mdash;one, <i>la femme</i> Santon,
+  servant to Evrard the innkeeper at Mongeron&mdash;the other, <i>la fille</i>
+  Grosset&egrave;te, servant to Madame Ch&acirc;telain the
+  <i>limonadi&egrave;re</i> at Lieursaint, who assert in the most positive
+  manner, that two of the assassins are there, waiting like them to be
+  admitted. These women declare that they cannot deceive themselves, for one
+  of them served the four travellers at Mongeron, and the other spoke to them
+  at Lieursaint, and stayed an hour in the billiard-room while they were
+  playing."</p>
+
+  <p>The judge could not admit the probability of two of the assassins thus
+  voluntarily placing themselves within the grasp of the law, yet he ordered
+  the women to be shown into his presence. On interrogation, they persisted in
+  their statements, declaring that it was impossible they could deceive
+  themselves. Guesno was then introduced to the judge's presence, the women
+  being continued to examine him strictly before finally pronouncing as to his
+  identity.</p>
+
+  <p>"What brings you to the Central Bureau?" demanded the judge.</p>
+
+  <p>"I come to receive my papers," replied Guesno, "as you promised me
+  yesterday that I should have them on application."</p>
+
+  <p>"Are you alone?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I have a compatriot with me, one Joseph Lesurques, whom I met on the way
+  here."</p>
+
+  <p>The judge then ordered the second individual designated by the women to
+  be introduced. It was Lesurques. He spoke to Lesurques and to Guesno for a
+  few minutes, and then begged them to return into the antechamber, where
+  their papers would be sent to them. An order was given, however, to the
+  officer, Hendon, not to lose sight of them.</p>
+
+  <p>On their leaving the room, M. Daubenton again demanded of the women, if
+  they persisted in their declarations as to the identity of these men with
+  the criminals they were in search of. They replied, without hesitation, that
+  they were certain of it; that they could not be deceived. The magistrate was
+  then forced to receive their depositions in writing, and to order the arrest
+  of Guesno and Lesurques.</p>
+
+  <p>From the moment of their arrest, the examination proceeded with great
+  rapidity. Guesno and Lesurques were confronted with the witnesses brought
+  from Mongeron and Lieursaint, and were recognised by all of them!</p>
+
+  <p><i>La femme</i> Santon deposed, that Lesurques was the one who, after the
+  dinner at Mongeron, wanted to pay in <i>assignats</i>, but that the big dark
+  man (Couriol) paid in money. She was positive as to Lesurques being the
+  man.</p>
+
+  <p>Champeaux and his wife, who kept the inn at Lieursaint, were equally
+  positive as to Lesurques being the one whose spur wanted mending, and who
+  came back to fetch the sabre which he had forgotten. Lafolie, groom at
+  Mongeron, and <i>la femme</i> Alfroy, also recognised him; and Laurent
+  Charbaut, labourer, who dined in the same room with the four horsemen,
+  recognised Lesurques as the one who had silver spurs fastened by little
+  chains to his top-boots. This combination of testimony, respecting one whom
+  they had seen but a few days before, was sufficient to leave little doubt in
+  the mind of any one. The trial was therefore fixed on.</p>
+
+  <p>The day of his arrest, Lesurques wrote the following letter to one of his
+  friends, which was intercepted, and joined to the documentary evidence to be
+  examined on the trial:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <blockquote>
+    "My dear Friend,&mdash;I have met with nothing but unpleasantries since my
+    arrival at Paris, but I did not&mdash;I could not anticipate the
+    misfortune which has befallen me to-day. You know me&mdash;and you know
+    whether I am capable of sullying myself with a crime&mdash;yet the most
+    atrocious crime is imputed to me. The mere thought of it makes me tremble.
+    I find myself implicated in the murder of the Lyons' courier. Three women
+    and two men, whom I know not&mdash;whose residence I know not&mdash;(for
+    you well know that I have not left Paris)&mdash;have had the impudence to
+    swear that they recognise me, and that I was the first of the four who
+    presented himself at their houses on horseback. You know, also, that I
+    have not crossed a horse's back since my arrival in Paris. You may
+    understand the importance of such an accusation, which tends at nothing
+    less than my judicial assassination. Oblige me by lending me the
+    assistance of your memory, and endeavour to recollect where I was and what
+    persons I saw at Paris, on the day when they impudently assert they saw me
+    out of Paris, (I believe it was the 7th or 8th,) in order that I may
+    confound these infamous calumniators, and make them suffer the penalty of
+    the law."
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <p>In a postscript he enumerates the persons he saw on that day: Citoyen
+  Tixier, General Cambrai, 'Demoiselle Eug&eacute;nie, Citoyen Hilaire Ledru,
+  his wife's hairdresser, the workmen in his apartments, and the porter of the
+  house.</p>
+
+  <h3>V.&mdash;THE TRIAL, AND THE BLINDNESS OF ZEAL.</h3>
+
+  <p>MM. Lesurques, Guesno, Couriol, Bernard, Richard, and Bruer, were
+  summoned before the tribunal of justice; the three first as authors or
+  accomplices of the murder and robbery&mdash;Bernard as having furnished the
+  horses&mdash;Richard as having concealed at his house Couriol&mdash;and his
+  mistress, Madelaine Breban, as having received and concealed part of the
+  stolen goods&mdash;and Bruer as having given Couriol refuge at
+  Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry.</p>
+
+  <p>The witnesses persisted in their declarations as to the identity of
+  Guesno and Lesurques. But Guesno established beyond all doubt the fact of
+  his <i>alibi</i>; and Bruer easily refuted every charge that concerned
+  himself. Lesurques had cited fifteen witnesses&mdash;all respectable
+  men&mdash;and presented himself at the bar with a calmness and confidence
+  which produced a favourable impression. Against the positive testimony of
+  the six witnesses who asserted him to have been at Mongeron and Lieursaint
+  on the 8th Flor&eacute;al, he had brought a mass of testimony to prove an
+  <i>alibi.</i></p>
+
+  <p>Citoyen Legrand, a rich jeweller and goldsmith, compatriot of Lesurques,
+  was first examined. He deposed, that on the 8th Flor&eacute;al&mdash;the day
+  on which the crime had been committed&mdash;Lesurques had passed a portion
+  of the morning with him.</p>
+
+  <p>Aldenof, a jeweller, Hilaire Ledru, and Chausfer, deposed, that on that
+  day they dined with Lesurques in the <i>Rue Montorgueil;</i> that, after
+  dinner, they went to a caf&eacute;, took some liqueur, and went home with
+  him.</p>
+
+  <p>Beudart, a painter, deposed that he was invited to the dinner, with
+  Lesurques and his friends, but that, as one of the national guard, he was
+  that day on service, and so was prevented attending; but that, he had gone
+  to Lesurques that very evening in his uniform, and had seen him go to bed.
+  In support of his deposition he produced his <i>billet de garde</i>, dated
+  the 8th.</p>
+
+  <p>Finally, the workmen employed in the apartment that Lesurques was having
+  fitted up, deposed that they saw him at various times during the 8th and 9th
+  Flor&eacute;al.</p>
+
+  <p>No further doubt of his innocence now remained; the <i>alibi</i> was so
+  distinctly proved, and on such unquestionable testimony, that the jury
+  showed in their manner that they were ready to acquit him, when a fatal
+  circumstance suddenly changed the whole face of the matter.</p>
+
+  <p>The jeweller Legrand, who had manifested such zeal in the establishment
+  of his friend's innocence, had, with an anxiety to avail himself of every
+  trifle, declared, that to prove the sincerity of his declaration, he would
+  cite a fact which prevented his being mistaken. On the 8th Flor&eacute;al,
+  he had made before dinner an exchange of jewellery with the witness,
+  Aldenof. He proposed that his ledger should be sent for, as its entry there
+  would serve to fix all recollections.</p>
+
+  <p>As a matter of form, the ledger was sent for. At the first glance,
+  however, it was evident that the <i>date</i> of the transaction, mentioned
+  by Legrand, had been <i>altered!</i> The exchange had taken place on the
+  9th, and an alteration, badly dissimulated by an erasure, had substituted
+  the figure 8 for the original figure 9.</p>
+
+  <p>Murmurs of surprise and indignation followed this discovery, and the
+  President, pressing Legrand with questions, and unable to obtain from him
+  any satisfactory answer, ordered his arrest. Legrand then, trembling and
+  terrified, retracted his former deposition, and declared that he was not
+  certain he had seen Lesurques on the 8th Flor&eacute;al, but that he had
+  altered his book in order to give more probability to the declaration he had
+  determined to make in his friend's favour&mdash;of whose innocence he was so
+  assured, that it was only the conviction that he was accused erroneously,
+  which made him perjure himself to save that innocent head.</p>
+
+  <p>From this moment, the jury received the depositions in favour of
+  Lesurques with extreme prejudice&mdash;those already heard seemed little
+  better than connivance, and those yet to be heard were listened to with such
+  suspicion as to have no effect. The conviction of his guilt was fixed in
+  every mind. Lesurques, despairing to get over such fatal appearances, ceased
+  his energetic denials, and awaited his sentence in gloomy silence. The jury
+  retired.</p>
+
+  <p>At this moment a woman, agitated with the most violent emotions, demanded
+  to speak to the President. She said that she was moved by the voice of
+  conscience, and wished to save the criminal tribunal from a dreadful error.
+  It was Madelaine Breban, the mistress of Couriol. Brought before the
+  President, she declared that she knew positively Lesurques was innocent, and
+  that the witnesses, deceived by an inexplicable resemblance, had confounded
+  him with the real culprit, who was called Dubosq.</p>
+
+  <p>Prejudiced as they were against Lesurques, and suspicious of all
+  testimony after the perjury they had already detected, the tribunal scarcely
+  listened to Madelaine Breban; and the jury returned with their verdict, in
+  consequence of which, Couriol, Lesurques, and Bernard were condemned to
+  death; Richard to four-and-twenty years' imprisonment; Guesno and Bruer were
+  acquitted.</p>
+
+  <p>No sooner was the sentence passed, than Lesurques rose calmly, and
+  addressing the Judges, said, "I am innocent of the crime of which I am
+  accused. Ah! citoyens, if it is horrible to murder on the high-road, it is
+  not less so to murder by the law!"</p>
+
+  <p>Couriol, condemned to death, rose and said, "Yes, I am guilty&mdash;I
+  avow it. But Lesurques is innocent, and Bernard did not participate in the
+  murder."</p>
+
+  <p>Four times he reiterated this declaration; and, on entering his prison,
+  he wrote to the judge a letter full of sorrow and repentance, in which he
+  said, "I have never known Lesurques; my accomplices are Vidal, Rossi,
+  Durochat, and Dubosq. The resemblance of Lesurques to Dubosq has deceived
+  the witnesses."</p>
+
+  <p>To this declaration of Couriol was joined that of Madelaine Breban, who,
+  after the judgment, returned to renew her protestation, accompanied by two
+  individuals, who swore that, before the trial, she had told them Lesurques
+  had never had any relations with the culprits; but that he was a victim of
+  his fatal likeness to Dubosq. These testimonies threw doubt in the minds of
+  the magistrates, who hastened to demand a reprieve from the Directory,
+  which, terrified at the idea of seeing an innocent man perish through a
+  judicial error, had recourse to the <i>Corps L&eacute;gislatif;</i> for
+  every other resource was exhausted. The message of the Directory to the Five
+  Hundred was pressing; its aim was to demand a reprieve, and a decision as to
+  what course to pursue. It ended thus: "Must Lesurques perish on the scaffold
+  because he resembles a villain?"</p>
+
+  <p>The <i>Corps L&eacute;gislatif</i> passed to the order of the day, as
+  every condition had been legally fulfilled, that a particular case could not
+  justify an infraction of decreed laws; and that, too, on such indications,
+  to do away with a condemnation legally pronounced by a jury, would be to
+  overset all ideas of justice and equality before the law.</p>
+
+  <p>The right of pardon had been abolished; and Lesurques had neither
+  resources nor hope. He bore his fate with firmness and resignation, and
+  wrote, on the day of his execution, this note to his wife:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>Ma bonne Amie</i>,&mdash;There is no eluding ones destiny, I was
+  fated to be judicially murdered. I shall at least bear it with proper
+  courage. I send you my locks of hair; when our children are grown up, you
+  will divide it among them; it is the only heritage I can leave them."</p>
+
+  <p>He addressed also a letter to Dubosq through the newspapers. "You, in
+  whose place I am about to perish, content yourself with the sacrifice of my
+  life. Should you ever be brought to justice, remember my three children
+  covered with opprobrium&mdash;remember my wife reduced to despair and do not
+  longer prolong their misfortunes."</p>
+
+  <h3>VI.&mdash;THE EXECUTION.</h3>
+
+  <p>The 10th March 1797, Lesurques was led to the scaffold. He wished to be
+  dressed completely in white, as a symbol of his innocence. He wore
+  pantaloons and frock-coat of white cotton, and his shirt-collar turned down
+  over his shoulders. It was the day before Good Friday, and he expressed
+  regret that he had not to die on the morrow. In passing from the prison
+  <i>de la Conciergerie</i> to the <i>Place de la Gr&egrave;ve</i>, where the
+  execution took place, Couriol, placed beside Lesurques in the cart, cried
+  out to the people in a loud voice, "Citoyens, I am guilty! I am guilty! but
+  Lesurques is innocent."</p>
+
+  <p>On arriving at the platform of the guillotine, already stained with the
+  blood of Bernard, Lesurques exclaimed, "I pardon my judges; I pardon the
+  witnesses through whose error I die; and I pardon Legrand, who has not a
+  little contributed to my judicial assassination. I die protesting my
+  innocence." In another instant he was no more.</p>
+
+  <p>Couriol continued his declarations of Lesurques's innocence to the foot
+  of the scaffold; and, after a final appeal, he, too, delivered himself to
+  the executioner. The drop fell on a guilty neck, having before been stained
+  with the blood of two innocent men.</p>
+
+  <p>The crowd retired with a general conviction that Lesurques had perished
+  guiltless; and several of the judges were seriously troubled by the doubts
+  which this day had raised in their minds. Many of the jury began to repent
+  having relied so on the affirmations of the witnesses from Mongeron and
+  Lieursaint, precise as they had been. M. Daubenton, the magistrate who had
+  first ordered the arrest, went home a thoughtful man, and determined to lose
+  no opportunity of getting at the truth, which the arrest of the three
+  accomplices mentioned by Couriol could alone bring to light.</p>
+
+  <h3>VII.&mdash;THE PROOFS</h3>
+
+  <p>Two years passed on without affording any clue to the conscientious
+  magistrate. One day, however, he heard that a certain Durochat was arrested
+  for a recent robbery, and was confined in the Sainte Pelagie; and
+  remembering that Durochat was the name of the one designated by Couriol as
+  having taken the place beside the courier, under the false name of Laborde.
+  At the epoch of the trial of Lesurques, it came out that several persons,
+  amongst them an inspector of the <i>administration des postes</i>, had seen
+  the false Laborde at the moment that he was awaiting the mail, and had
+  preserved a distinct recollection of his person.</p>
+
+  <p>M. Daubenton, on ascertaining the day of Durochat's approaching trial for
+  robbery, went to the <i>administration des postes</i>, and obtained through
+  the <i>Chef</i> the permission to send for the inspector who had seen the
+  false Laborde, and who was no longer in Paris.</p>
+
+  <p>The <i>juges du tribunal</i> had also been warned of the suspicions which
+  rested on Durochat. The day of trial arrived, and he was condemned to
+  fourteen years' imprisonment, and was about being led from the court when
+  the inspector arrived, and declared that Durochat was the man whom he had
+  seen on the 8th Flor&eacute;al mount beside the courier under the false name
+  of Laborde. Durochat only opposed feeble denials to this declaration, and
+  was consequently taken to the <i>Conciergerie</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>On the morrow, Durochat was transferred to Versailles, where he was to be
+  judged. Daubenton and a huissier departed with the prisoner and four
+  gendarmes. As they reached the village of Grosbois he demanded some
+  breakfast, for he had eaten nothing since the preceding day. They stopped at
+  the first <i>auberge</i>, and there Durochat manifested a desire to speak to
+  the magistrate in private.</p>
+
+  <p>Daubenton ordered the gendarmes to leave them together, and even the
+  huissier, though he made him understand by a sign the danger of being alone
+  with so desperate a villain, was begged to retire. A breakfast was ordered
+  for the two. It was brought&mdash;but, by order of the huissier, only
+  <i>one</i> knife was placed on the table. Daubenton took it up, and began
+  carelessly to break an egg with it.</p>
+
+  <p>Durochat looked at him fixedly for a moment, and said,</p>
+
+  <p>"Monsieur le juge, you are afraid?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Afraid!" replied he calmly, "and of whom?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Of me," said Durochat.</p>
+
+  <p>"Folly!" continued the other, breaking his egg.</p>
+
+  <p>"You are. You arm yourself with a knife," said he sarcastically.</p>
+
+  <p>"Bah!" replied Daubenton, presenting him the knife, "cut me a piece of
+  bread, and tell me what you have to communicate to me respecting the murder
+  of the courier of Lyons."</p>
+
+  <p>There is something in the collected courage of a brave man more
+  impressive than any menace; and courage is a thing which acts upon all
+  natures, however vile. Strongly moved by the calm audacity of the magistrate
+  the ruffian, who had seized the knife with menacing vivacity, now set it
+  down upon the table, and with a faltering voice said, "<i>Vous &ecirc;tes un
+  brave, citoyen</i>!" then after a pause, "I am a lost man&mdash;it's all up
+  with me; but you shall know all."</p>
+
+  <p>He then detailed the circumstances of the crime, as we have related them
+  above, and confirmed all Couriol's declarations, naming Couriol, Rossi,
+  Vidal, and Dubosq, as his accomplices. Before the tribunal he repeated this
+  account, adding, "that he had heard an individual named Lesurques had been
+  condemned for the crime, but that he had neither seen him at the time of the
+  deed, nor subsequently. He did not know him."</p>
+
+  <p>He added, that it was Dubosq whose spur had been broken, and was mended
+  where they had dined; for he had heard them talk about it, and that he had
+  lost it in the scuffle. He had seen the other spur in his hand, and heard
+  him say that he intended throwing it in the river. He further gave a
+  description of Dubosq's person, and added, that on that day he wore a flaxen
+  peruke.</p>
+
+  <p>Towards the end of the year 8&mdash;four years after the murder of the
+  courier of Lyons&mdash;Dubosq was arrested for robbery; and was transferred
+  to Versailles, there to be judged by the <i>Tribunal Correctionnel</i>. The
+  president ordered that he should wear a flaxen peruke, and be confronted
+  with the witnesses from Mongeron and Lieursaint, who now unanimously
+  declared that he was the man they had seen. This, coupled with the
+  declarations of Couriol, Durochat, and Madelaine Breban, sufficed to prove
+  the identity; and he did not deny his acquaintance with the other culprits.
+  He was therefore condemned, and perished on the scaffold for the crime.</p>
+
+  <p>Vidal was also arrested and executed, though persisting in his innocence;
+  and, finally, Rossi was shortly after discovered and condemned. He exhibited
+  profound repentance, and demanded the succours of religion. To his confessor
+  he left this declaration&mdash;"I assert that Lesurques is innocent; but
+  this must only be made public six months after my death."</p>
+
+  <p>Thus ends this strange drama; thus were the proofs of Lesurques's
+  innocence furnished beyond a shadow of doubt; and thus, we may add, were
+  seven men executed for a crime committed by five men; two therefore were
+  innocent&mdash;were victims of the law.</p>
+
+  <h3>VIII.&mdash;THE WAY IN WHICH FRANCE RECTIFIES AN ERROR.</h3>
+
+  <p>It is now forty years since the innocence of Lesurques has been
+  established, and little has been done towards the rehabilitation of his
+  memory, the protection of his children, and the restitution of his
+  confiscated goods! Forty years, and his wretched widow has only recently
+  died, having failed in the object of her life! Forty years has the
+  government been silent.</p>
+
+  <p>M. Daubenton, who took so honourable and active a part in the detection
+  of the real criminals, consecrated a great part of his life and fortune to
+  the cause of the unfortunate widow and her children. The declaration he
+  addressed to the Minister of Justice commenced thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"The error, on which was founded the condemnation of Lesurques, arose
+  neither with the judges nor the jury. The jury, convinced by the depositions
+  of the witnesses, manifested that conviction judicially; and the judges,
+  after the declaration of the jury, pronounced according to the law.</p>
+
+  <p>"The error of his condemnation arose from the mistake of the
+  witnesses&mdash;from the fatal resemblance to one of the culprits not
+  apprehended. Nothing gave reason to suspect at that time the cause of the
+  error in which the witnesses had fallen."</p>
+
+  <p>We beg to observe that the whole trial was conducted in a slovenly and
+  shameful manner. A man is condemned on the deposition of
+  witnesses;&mdash;witnesses, be it observed, of such dulness of perception,
+  and such confidence in their notions, that they persisted in declaring
+  Guesno to be one of the culprits as well as Lesurques. Yet the <i>alibi</i>
+  of Guesno was proved beyond a doubt. How, then, could the jury, with this
+  instance of mistake before their eyes, and which they themselves had
+  condemned as a mistake by acquitting Guesno&mdash;how could they place such
+  firm reliance on those self-same testimonies when applied to Lesurques? If
+  they could convict Lesurques upon such evidence, why not also convict Guesno
+  on it? Guesno proved an <i>alibi</i>&mdash;so did Lesurques; but because one
+  foolish friend perjured himself to serve Lesurques, the jury hastily set
+  down all his friends as perjurers; they had no evidence of this; it was a
+  mere indignant reaction of feeling, and, as such, a violation of their
+  office. The case ought to have been sifted. It was shuffled over hastily. A
+  verdict, passed in anger, was executed, though at the time a strong doubt
+  existed in the minds of the judges as to its propriety!</p>
+
+  <p>Neither the Directory nor the Consulate, neither the Empire nor the
+  Restoration, paid attention to the widow's supplications for a revision of
+  the sentence, that her husband's name might be cleared, and his property
+  restored. In vain did M. Salgues devote ten years to the defence of the
+  injured family; in vain did M. Merilhou, in an important
+  <i>proc&egrave;s</i>, warmly espouse the cause; the different governments
+  believed themselves incapable of answering these solicitations.</p>
+
+  <p>Since 1830 the widow again supplicated the <i>Tribune des Chambres</i>.
+  Few sessions have passed without some members, particularly from the
+  <i>d&egrave;partment du Nord</i>, calling attention to the subject. All that
+  has been obtained is a restitution of part of the property seized by the
+  <i>fisc</i> at the period of the execution.</p>
+
+  <p>Madame Lesurques has died unsuccessful, because a judicial error cannot
+  be acknowledged or rectified, owing to the insufficiency of the Code. A
+  French journal announces that the son and daughter of Lesurques, still
+  living, pledged themselves on the death-bed of their mother to continue the
+  endeavour which had occupied her forty long years&mdash;an endeavour to make
+  the law comprehend that nothing is more tyrannous than the strict fulfilment
+  of its letter&mdash;an endeavour to make the world at large more keenly feel
+  the questionable nature of evidence as to personal identity in cases where
+  the witnesses are ignorant, and where the evidence against their testimony
+  is presumptive.</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s3" id="bw327s3"></a>CALEB STUKELY.</h2>
+
+  <h3>PART X.</h3>
+
+  <h3>THE REVULSION.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p>"<i>The companion of the wise shall be wise</i>." A six months' residence
+  with the religious and self-renouncing minister could not be without its
+  effect on the character and disposition of the disciple, newly released from
+  sin and care, and worldly calamity. The bright example of a good man is
+  much&mdash;that of a good and <i>beloved</i> man is more. I was bound to Mr
+  Clayton by every tie that can endear a man to man, and rivet the ready heart
+  of youth in truthful and confiding love. I regarded my preserver with a
+  higher feeling than a fond son may bear towards the mere author and
+  maintainer of his existence. For Mr Clayton, whose smallest praise it was
+  that he had restored to me my life, in addition to a filial love, I had all
+  the reverence that surpassing virtue claims, and lowly piety constrains.
+  Months passed over our head, and I was still without occupation, though
+  still encouraged by my kind friend to look for a speedy termination to my
+  state of dependence. Painful as the thought of separation had become to Mr
+  Clayton, my situation was far from satisfactory to myself. I knew not
+  another individual with whom I could have established myself under similar
+  circumstances. The sense of obligation would have been oppressive, the
+  conviction that I was doing wrong intolerable to sustain; but the
+  simplicity, the truth, the affectionate warmth of my benevolent host,
+  lightened my load day after day, until I became at last insensible to the
+  burthen. At this period of my career, the character of Mr Clayton appeared
+  to me bright and fixed as a spotless star. He seemed the pattern of a man,
+  pure and perfect. The dazzling light of pious fervour consumed within him
+  the little selfishness that nature, to stamp an angel with humanity, had of
+  necessity implanted there. He was swallowed up in holiness&mdash;his
+  thoughts were of heaven&mdash;his daily conduct tinged and illumined with a
+  heavenly hue. Nothing could surpass the intense devotedness of the child of
+  God, except perhaps the self-devotion, the self-renunciation, and the
+  profound humility which distinguished him in the world, and in his
+  conversation amongst men. "<i>The companion of the wise shall be wise</i>."
+  I observed my benefactor, and listened to his eloquence; I pondered on his
+  habitual piety, until, roused to enthusiasm by the contemplation of the
+  matchless being, I burned to follow in his glorious course, to revolve in
+  the same celestial orbit, the most distant and the meanest of his
+  satellites. The hand of Providence was traceable in every act, which, in due
+  course, and step by step, had brought me to the minister. It could not be
+  without a lofty purpose that I had been plucked a brand, as it were, from
+  the burning; it was not an aimless love that snatched me from death to
+  life&mdash;from darkness to mid-day light&mdash;from the depths of
+  despondency to the heights of serenity and joy. It was that I might glorify
+  the hand that had been outstretched on my behalf, that I might carry His
+  name abroad, proclaim His wondrous works, sing aloud His praises, and in the
+  face of men, give honour to the everlasting Giver of all good. It was for
+  this and these that I had been selected from mankind, and made the especial
+  object of a Father's grace. I believed it in all the simplicity and
+  ingenuousness of a mind awakened to a sense of religion and human
+  responsibility. I could not do otherwise. From the moment that I was
+  convinced of the obligation under which I had been brought, that I could
+  feel the force of the silent compact which had been effected between the
+  unseen Power and my own soul, it would have been as easy for me to
+  annihilate thought, to prevent its miraculous presence in the mind, as to
+  withstand the urgent prickings of my conscience. I believed in my divine
+  summons, and I was at once ready, vehement, and impatient to obey it. Had I
+  followed the dictates of my will, I would have walked through the land, and
+  preached aloud the wonderful mercies of God, imploring my fellow-creatures
+  to repentance, and directing them to the fount of all their blessings and
+  all their happiness. I would have called upon men to turn from error and
+  dangerous apathy, before their very strongholds. Powerful in the possession
+  of truth, I would have thundered the saving words before their marketplaces
+  and exchanges&mdash;at the very fortresses in which the world deems itself
+  chiefly secure, with Mammon at its head, Satan's chief lieutenant. I would
+  have called around me the neglected and the poor, and in the highways and in
+  the fields disclosed to them the tenderness and loving-kindness that I had
+  found, that they might feel, in all their fulness, if they would turn from
+  sin, and place their trust in heaven. It was pain and anguish to be silent.
+  Not for my own sake did I yearn to speak. Oh no! There was nothing less than
+  a love of self in the panting desire that I felt to break the selfish
+  silence. It was the love of souls that pressed me forward, and the
+  confidence that the good news which it was my privilege to impart would find
+  in every bosom a welcome as warm and ready as it would prove to be
+  effectual. To walk abroad in silence, feeling myself to be the depositary of
+  a celestial revelation, and believing that to communicate it to mankind
+  would be to ensure their participation in its benefits, was hardly to be
+  borne. There was not a man whom I encountered in the street, to whom I did
+  not secretly wish to turn, and to pour into his ear the accents of peace and
+  consolation; not one whom I did not regard as a witness against me on that
+  great day of trial, when every man shall be judged according to his
+  opportunities. I spoke to Mr Clayton. He encouraged the feeling by which I
+  was actuated, but he dissuaded me from the manifestation of it in the form
+  which I proposed.</p>
+
+  <p>"There was no doubt," he said, "that every place was consecrated where
+  truth was spoken, and the Spirit made itself apparent. No one could deny it.
+  Much fruit, he did believe, might follow the sowing of the seed, whose hand
+  soever scattered it. Still there were other and nearer roads to the point I
+  aimed at. There were the sick and the needy around us&mdash;many of his own
+  congregation&mdash;with whom I might reciprocate sweet comfort, and at whose
+  bedside I might administer the balm that should serve them in the hardest
+  hour of their extremity. It should be his office to conduct me to their
+  humble habitations: it would be unspeakable joy to him to behold me well and
+  usefully employed."</p>
+
+  <p>And it was with eagerness that I accepted the touching invitation. I was
+  not loth or slow to take advantage of it. To serve mankind, to evince my
+  gratitude for mercies great and undeserved, was all I asked. To know that I
+  had gratified my wish, was peace itself. Highly as I had estimated the
+  character of Mr Clayton, I had yet to learn his real value. I had yet to
+  behold him the dispenser of comfort and contentment in the hovels of the
+  wretched and the stricken&mdash;to see the leaden eye of disease grow bright
+  at his approach, and the scowl of discontent and envious repining dissolve
+  into equanimity, or mould itself in smiles. I had yet to see him the kind
+  and patient companion of the friendless and the slighted&mdash;slighted,
+  because poor; the untired listener to long tales of misery&mdash;so
+  miserable, that they who told them could not track their dim beginnings, or
+  fix the time in distant childhood when wretchedness was not. I had yet to
+  find him standing at the beggar's pallet, giving encouragement, inciting
+  hope, and adding to the counsel of a guide the solid evidences of a
+  brother's love. With what a zeal did I attempt to follow in my patron's
+  steps&mdash;with what enthusiasm did I begin the course which his sanction
+  had legalized and rendered holy&mdash;and how, without a doubt as to my
+  title, or a reflection on the propriety of the step, impelled by religious
+  fervour, did I assume the tone and authority of a teacher, and arrogate to
+  myself the right of determining the designs of the Omnipotent, and of
+  appointing the degree of holy warmth below which no believer could be sure
+  of forgiveness and salvation!</p>
+
+  <p>In no transaction of my life have I ever been more sincere&mdash;have I
+  acted with a more decided assurance of the justice and necessity of the
+  task, than at this critical moment of my career. If Divine goodness had not
+  been specially vouchsafed to me, it was not that the conviction of my
+  appointment was not as clear and firm as the liveliest impressions of the
+  inmost heart could make it. To labour for the souls of the poor&mdash;to
+  teach them their obligations&mdash;to point out to them the way of
+  safety&mdash;it was this view of my delegated office that raised me to
+  ecstasy, and compelled from me the strangest ebullitions of passion. I
+  pronounced the change in my habits of thought to be "the dawning of the day,
+  and the sudden rising of the day-star in my heart;" and, dwelling with
+  intensity on my future labours, I could exclaim, with trembling
+  emotion,&mdash;"Oh the exceeding excellency and glory and sweetness of the
+  work! The smile of heaven is upon it&mdash;the emphatic testimony of my own
+  conscience approves and hallows it." I reflect at this moment with wonder
+  upon the almost supernatural ardour and devotion by which I was elevated and
+  abased when I first became thoroughly convinced of my mission, and declared
+  aloud that my only business now upon earth was that of the lowest and
+  readiest of servants, whose joy consists in the pleasure of their Master.
+  The strangeness, the excitement that accompanied the adoption of my new
+  character, had nearly overthrown me. Wild with gladness, before I visited a
+  human being, I took a journey of some twenty miles from the metropolis. I do
+  not remember now the name of the village at which I stopped, from which I
+  hurried, and whose fields I scoured with the design of finding some covert,
+  unfrequented spot, where I might unmolested and unobserved pour forth the
+  prayers and hymns of praise with which my surcharged heart was teeming.
+  Until nightfall I remained there, nor did I leave the place until calmly and
+  deliberately I begged permission to devote myself to the glory and honour of
+  Him, whose favoured child I was. I walked a few miles on my return homeward.
+  I passed a church, that in the stillness of night reared its dark form, and
+  seemed, solemnly and pensively, like a thing of life, to stand before me.
+  The moon rose at its full over the venerable wall, and scattered its bright
+  cool light across the tall and moss-grown windows. Oh! every thing in life
+  that wondrous night stirred up my soul to pious resolutions, and gave a wing
+  to thought that could not find repose but in the silent and eternal sky.</p>
+
+  <p>The impetuosity with which I entered upon my scheme of usefulness,
+  forbade preparation of any kind, had I not believed that any previous
+  qualification was not essential to my purpose; or if essential, had been
+  miraculously implanted in me. I was soon called upon to make my first
+  visitation. Never will it be forgotten. It was to the work-house. Mr Clayton
+  had been called thither by an old communicant, of whom he had not heard
+  before for years. "He was ill, and he desired to speak with his still
+  beloved minister."</p>
+
+  <p>Such was the message which reached my friend at the moment of his
+  quitting his abode, on an errand of still greater urgency. "Go, Caleb," said
+  Mr Clayton, "visit and comfort the poor sufferer; and may grace accompany
+  your first labour of love." I proceeded to the place, and, arriving there,
+  was ushered into a small close room&mdash;to recoil at once from the scene
+  of misery which was there presented. Lying, with his hat and clothes upon
+  the bed, dying, was the man himself; his wife was busy in the room, cleaning
+  it, quietly and indifferently, as though the sleep of healthy life had
+  closed her partner's eye, and nothing worse. On the threshold was a girl,
+  the daughter of them both, twenty years of age or more, <i>an idiot</i>, for
+  she laughed outright when I approached her. I had come to the house with my
+  heart full of precious counsel, and yearning to communicate the message with
+  which I knew myself to be charged. But in a moment I was brought to earth,
+  shocked by the sight which I beheld, wounded in my nature, and I had not a
+  word to say. The hardened woman looked at me for a moment, and calling me to
+  myself by the act, I mentioned the name of Mr Clayton, and was again
+  silent.</p>
+
+  <p>"What! can't he come, sir?" asked the beldame. "Well, it don't much
+  matter. It's all over with 'un, I fear. Come, Jessie, can't you speak to the
+  gentleman? What can you make of her, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>The daughter looked at me again, and sickened me with her unmeaning
+  laughter. I remembered the object of my visit, and struggled for composure.
+  Had I become a recreant so quickly? Had I not a word to say for my Master?
+  Nothing to offer the needy creatures, perishing, perhaps, of spiritual want?
+  Alarmed at my own apathy, and eager to throw it off, I turned to the poor
+  girl, and spoke to her. I asked her many questions before I could command
+  attention. She could only look at me wildly, blush, laugh, and make strange
+  motions to her mother. At length I said&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Tell me, Jesse, tell your friend, who came into the world to save
+  sinners?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Him, him, him," she answered hastily, and gabbled as before.</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah," said the mother, "the poor cretur does sometimes talk about
+  religion, but it's very seldom, and uncertain like, and I can't help her
+  either."</p>
+
+  <p>"Let me read to <i>you</i>," said I.</p>
+
+  <p>"Lor' bless you, sir," she answered, "it wouldn't do me no good. I am too
+  old for that. Now, get out of the way there&mdash;do, you simpleton," she
+  added, turning to the idiot; "just let me pass&mdash;don't you see I am
+  wanting to fetch up water."</p>
+
+  <p>She left the room immediately, and her daughter ran after her, screaming
+  a wild and piercing note. I moved to the dying man. He was insensible to
+  anything I could say. Fretted and ashamed of myself, I hurried from the
+  house, and, returning home, rushed to my room, fell upon my knees, and
+  implored my Father to inflict at once the punishment due to lukewarmness and
+  apostasy. How vain had been all my previous desire to distinguish
+  myself&mdash;how arrogant my pretensions&mdash;how inefficient my weak
+  attempts! I was not worthy of the commission with which I had been invested,
+  and I besought heaven to degrade the wretch who could not speak at the
+  seasonable moment, and to bestow it upon one worthier of its love, and abler
+  to perform his duty. I passed a miserable night of remorse, and bitter
+  self-accusation, and in the morning was distracted by the battling feelings
+  that were marshalled against each other in my soul. Now, a sense of my
+  unworthiness was victorious over every other thought, and I resolved to
+  resign my trust, and think of it no more; then the belief in my election,
+  the animating thought that I was chosen, and must still go forward or stand
+  condemned, hated by myself, rejected by my God;&mdash;this gained the
+  mastery next, and I was torn by sore perplexity. I appealed to my
+  benefactor. As usual, balm was on his lips, and I found encouragement and
+  support.</p>
+
+  <p>"I was yet young in the faith," he said, "and the abundance of heavenly
+  grace was not yet manifested. It would come in due time; and, in the mean
+  while, I must persevere, and a blessing would unquestionably follow."</p>
+
+  <p>Much more he added, to reconcile me to the previous day's defeat, and to
+  animate me to new trials. Never did I so much need incentive and upholding,
+  never before had I esteemed the value of a spiritual counsellor and
+  friend.</p>
+
+  <p>In a small cottage, distant about three miles from the residence of Mr
+  Clayton, there lodged, at this time, an old man with his sister, a blind
+  woman about seventy years of age. He had communicated with Mr Clayton's
+  church for many years. He was now poor, and had retired from the metropolis,
+  to the hut, for the advantage of purer air, and in the hope of prolonging
+  the short span within which his earthly life had been brought. To this
+  humble habitation I was directed by Mr Clayton.</p>
+
+  <p>"The woman," said the minister, "is without any comfortable hope; but the
+  prospects of the brother are satisfactory and most cheering. Go to the
+  benighted woman. Her's is a melancholy case. Satan has a secure footing in
+  her heart, and defeats every effort and every motive that I have brought to
+  bear against it. May you be more fortunate&mdash;may her self-deceived and
+  hardened spirit melt before the force and earnestness of your appeals!"</p>
+
+  <p>I ventured for a second time on sacred and interdicted ground, and
+  visited the cottage. The unhappy woman, to whom I had specially come, was
+  smitten indeed. She was blind and paralyzed, and on the extreme verge of
+  eternity. Yet, afflicted as she was, and as near to death as the living may
+  be, she enjoyed the tranquillity and the gentleness of a child, ignorant of
+  sin, and, in virtue of her infancy, confident of her inheritance. I could
+  discover no evidence of a creature alarmed with a sense of guilt, loathing
+  itself, conscious of its worthlessness. Her nature, in truth, seemed to have
+  usurped a sweetness and placidity, the possession of which, as Mr Clayton
+  afterwards observed, was justifiable only in those who could find nothing
+  but vileness and depravity in every thought and purpose of their hearts.</p>
+
+  <p>It was a beautiful day in summer, and Margaret was sitting before the
+  cottage porch, feeling the sun's benevolent warmth, and tempering, with the
+  closed lid, the hot rays that were directed to her sightless orbs. She had
+  no power to move, and was happy in the still enjoyment of the lingering and
+  lovely day. She might have been a statue for her quietness&mdash;but there
+  were curves and lines in the decrepit frame that art could never borrow.
+  Little there seemed about her to induce a love of life, and yet a
+  countenance more bright with cheerfulness and mild content I never met. The
+  healthy and the young might read a lesson on her blanched and wrinkled
+  cheek. Full of my errand, I did not hesitate at once to engage her mind on
+  heavenly and holy topics. She did not, or she would not, understand me. I
+  spoke to her of the degradation of humanity, our fallen nature, and the
+  impossibility of thinking any thing but sin&mdash;and a stone could not be
+  more senseless than the aged listener.</p>
+
+  <p>"Was I sure of it?" she asked. "Did my Bible say it? Much she doubted it,
+  for she had sometimes, especially since her blindness, clear and beautiful
+  thoughts of heaven that could not be sinful, they rendered her so happy, and
+  took away from her all fear. It was so shocking, too," she thought, "to
+  think so ill of men&mdash;our fellow-creatures, and the creatures of a
+  perfect Father. She loved her brother&mdash;he was so simple-minded, and so
+  kind to her, too; how <i>could</i> she call him wicked and depraved!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you feel no load upon your conscience?" I enquired.</p>
+
+  <p>"Bless the good man's heart!" she answered, "why, what cares have I? If I
+  can hear his friendly voice, and know he is not heavy-burthened, I am happy.
+  Brother is all to me. Though now and then I'm not well pleased if the young
+  children keep away who play about me sometimes, as if they did not need a
+  playfellow more gay than poor blind Margaret."</p>
+
+  <p>"Have you no fear of death?" said I.</p>
+
+  <p>"Why should I have?" she answered quietly; "I never injured another in my
+  life."</p>
+
+  <p>"Can that take off the sting?" I asked.</p>
+
+  <p>"And I have tried," continued she, "as far as I was able, to please the
+  God who made me."</p>
+
+  <p>"Did you never think yourself the vilest of the vile?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Bless you! never, sir. How could I? If I had been, you may be sure Mr
+  Clayton and the visiting ladies would never have been so kind to me and
+  Thomas as they have&mdash;and how could we expect it? I was only thinking,
+  sir, before you came up, that if I had been wicked when I was young, I would
+  never have been so easy under blindness. Now, it doesn't give me one unquiet
+  hour."</p>
+
+  <p>"Margaret, I would you were more anxious."</p>
+
+  <p>"It wouldn't do, sir, for the blind to be anxious," she replied. "They
+  must do nothing, sir, but wait with patience. Besides, Thomas and I need no
+  anxiety at all. God gives us more than we require, and it would be very
+  wicked to be restless and unquiet."</p>
+
+  <p>"Margaret," I said impressively, "there is heaven!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes," she answered quickly, "that I'm sure of. I read of it before I
+  lost my eyes; and since my blindness I have seen it often. God is very good
+  to the afflicted, and none but the afflicted know how He makes up for what
+  He takes away. I have seen heaven, sir, though I have not sight enough to
+  know your face. Do you play dominoes, Mr&mdash;what did you say your name
+  was, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"You trifle, Margaret."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, no indeed, sir. But how wonderful and quick my touch has got, and
+  how kind is heaven there, sir! I can see the dominoes with my
+  fingers&mdash;touch is just as good as sight. Just think how many hours a
+  poor blind creature has, that must be filled up some way or another! I like
+  to keep to myself, and think, and think; but not always&mdash;and sometimes
+  I want Thomas to read to me; and when that's over, I feel a want of
+  something else. I'll tell you what it is&mdash;my eyes they want to open.
+  When that's the case, I always play at dominoes, and then the feeling goes
+  away. Thomas can tell you that, for he plays with me."</p>
+
+  <p>I continued the conversation for an hour, and with the same result. I
+  grew annoyed and irritated&mdash;not with the deluded sinner, as I deemed
+  her, but with myself, the feeble and unequal instrument. For a second time I
+  had attempted to comply with the instructions of my master, and for a second
+  time had I been foiled, and driven back in melancholy discomfiture. The
+  imperturbability and easy replies of the woman harassed and tormented me in
+  the extreme. I had been too recent a pupil to be thoroughly versed in all
+  the subtleties and mysteries of my office. Silence was painful to me, and
+  reply only accumulated difficulty and vexation. She seemed so happy, too; in
+  the midst of all her heresy and error there existed an unaffected
+  tranquillity and repose which I would have purchased at any cost or
+  sacrifice. I blushed and grew ashamed, and for a moment forgot that the
+  bereaved creature was unable to behold the confusion with which defeat and
+  exposure had covered me. At length I spoke imperfectly, loosely, and at
+  random. The woman detected me in an untenable position&mdash;checked
+  me&mdash;and in her artless manner, laid bare the fallacy of an
+  inconsiderate assertion. In an instant I was aware of my conviction, I
+  retracted my expression, and involved myself immediately in fresh dilemma.
+  Again, and as gently as before, she made the unsoundness of a principle
+  evident and glaring. How I closed the argument&mdash;the conversation and
+  the interview&mdash;and escaped from her, I know not. Burning with shame,
+  despising myself, and desirous of burying both my disgrace and self deep in
+  the earth, where both might be forgotten, I was sensible of hurrying
+  homeward. I reached it in despair, satisfied that I had become a coward and
+  a renegade, and that I was lost, hopelessly and utterly here upon earth, and
+  eternally in heaven!</p>
+
+  <p>I had resolved, upon the day succeeding this adventure, to restore to my
+  benefactor the credentials with which be had been pleased to entrust me.
+  Satisfied of the truth of my commission, I could only deplore my inability
+  to execute it faithfully. In spite of what had passed at the cottage-door,
+  the doctrines which I had advocated there lost none of their character and
+  influence upon my own mind. Falling from the lips of others, they dropped
+  with conviction into my <i>own</i> soul. Nothing could shake my <i>own</i>
+  unbounded reliance on their saving efficacy and heavenly origin. It was only
+  when <i>I</i> spoke of them, when <i>I</i> attempted to expound and teach
+  them, that clouds came over the celestial truths, and the sun's disk was
+  dimmed and troubled. The moment that I ceased to speak, light unimpaired,
+  and bright effulgence, were restored. It was enough that I could feel this.
+  Grace and a miracle had made the startling fact palpable and evident. This
+  assurance followed easily. No oral communication could have satisfied me
+  more fully of the importance and necessity of an immediate resignation of my
+  trust. It was a punishment for my presumption. I should have rested grateful
+  for the interposition which had rescued me from the jaws of hell, and left
+  to others, worthy of the transcendent honour, the glorious task of saving
+  souls. What was I, steeped in sin, as I had been up to the very moment of my
+  conversion&mdash;what was I, insolent, pretending worm, that I should raise
+  my grovelling head, and presume upon the unmerited favour that had been
+  showered so graciously upon me? It remained for those&mdash;purest and best
+  of men, whose lives from childhood onward had been a lucid exposition of the
+  word of truth&mdash;whose deeds had given to the world an assurance of their
+  solemn embassy; it was for them to feel the strength the countenance, and
+  support of heaven, and to behold with gratitude and joy their labours
+  crowned with a triumphant issue and success. This was the new train of
+  feeling suggested by new circumstances. I resigned myself to its operation
+  as quickly as I had adopted my previous sentiments; and, a few days before,
+  I was not more anxious to commence my sacred course than I was now miserable
+  and uneasy until I turned from it once and for ever. Mr Clayton had placed
+  in my hands a list of individuals whom he transferred to my care. It was
+  oppressive to know that I possessed it, and my first step was to place it
+  again at his disposal. The interview which I obtained for this purpose was
+  an important one&mdash;important in itself&mdash;marvellous and astounding
+  in its consequences.</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clayton spent many hours daily in a small room, called <i>a study</i>.
+  It was a chamber sacred to the occupation followed there. I had not access
+  to it&mdash;nor had any stranger, with the exception of two ill-favoured
+  men, whom I had found, for weeks together, constant attendants upon my
+  benefactor. For a month at a time, not a single day elapsed during which
+  they were not closeted for a considerable period with the divine. A three
+  weeks' interval of absence would then take place; Mr Clayton prosecuted his
+  studies alone and undisturbed, and no strange foot would cross the threshold
+  until the ill-looking men returned, and passed some five weeks in the small
+  sanctuary as before. Who could they be? I had never directly asked the
+  question, curious as I had been to know their history and the purpose of
+  their visits. Had I not learned from Mr Clayton the impropriety and
+  sinfulness of judging humanity by its looks, I should have formed a most
+  uncharitable opinion of their characters. They were hard-featured men,
+  sallow of complexion, rigid in their looks. I knew that, attached to the
+  church of Mr Clayton, were two missionaries&mdash;men of rare piety, and
+  some of humble origin&mdash;small boot-makers, in fact; sometimes I believed
+  that the visiters and they were the same individuals. Circumstances,
+  however, unfavourable to this idea, arose, and I turned from one conjecture
+  to another, until I reposed, at length, in the belief that they were
+  sinners&mdash;sinners of the deepest dye&mdash;such as their ill-omened
+  looks betrayed&mdash;and that they sought the kind and ever-ready minister
+  to obtain his counsel, and to share his prayers. At all events, this was a
+  subject upon which I received no enlightening from their confidant. Once I
+  took occasion to make mention of it; but, in an instant, I perceived that my
+  enquiry was not deemed proper to be answered. It was to this forbidden
+  closet&mdash;the scene of so much mystery&mdash;that, to my great surprize,
+  I found myself invited by my benefactor, when I implored him to release me
+  from the obligation in which I had too hastily involved myself.</p>
+
+  <p>"Be seated, Caleb," said Mr Clayton, as we entered the room in company.
+  "Be seated, and be tranquil. You are excited now."</p>
+
+  <p>I was, in truth, and not more so than deeply mortified and humbled.</p>
+
+  <p>"You alarm me, dear young friend," continued the good minister. "You
+  alarm and grieve me. I tremble for you, when I behold your versatility. Tell
+  me, how is this? Can you not trust yourself? Can I trust you?"</p>
+
+  <p>I did not answer.</p>
+
+  <p>"I have been careful in not thwarting your own good purposes. I have been
+  most anxious to give your feelings their full bent. Has your conversion been
+  too sudden to endure? Have you so soon regretted the abandonment of the
+  great world and all its pleasures&mdash;such as they were to you? Has a life
+  of usefulness and peace no charms? Alas! I had hoped otherwise."</p>
+
+  <p>I assured my friend that he had mistaken the motive which had compelled
+  me to forsake, at least for the present, the intention that I had
+  entertained honestly&mdash;though, I felt, erroneously&mdash;for the last
+  few days. Nothing was further from my thoughts than a desire to mix again in
+  a world of sinfulness and trouble. His precepts and bright example had won
+  me from it; and I prayed only to be established in the principles, in the
+  true knowledge of which I knew my happiness to consist. I was not equal to
+  the task which I had proposed to myself, and he had kindly permitted me to
+  assume. I wished to be his meanest disciple&mdash;to acquire wisdom from his
+  tuition&mdash;and, by the labour of years, to prepare myself finally for
+  that reward which he had so often announced to me as the peculiar
+  inheritance of the faithful and the righteous. I ceased. My auditor did not
+  answer me immediately. He sat for some minutes in silence, and closed his
+  eyes as if absorbed in thought. At length, he said to me&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"You do not surprize me, Caleb. I am prepared for this. I perceived your
+  difficulties from afar. It was inevitable. Self-confidence has placed you
+  where you are. Be happy, and rejoice in your weakness&mdash;but turn now to
+  the strong for strength. The work that has begun in your heart must be
+  completed. It shall be so&mdash;do not doubt it."</p>
+
+  <p>The minister hesitated, looked hard at me, and endeavoured, as I
+  imagined, to find, in the expression of my countenance, an index to my
+  thoughts. I said nothing, and he proceeded.</p>
+
+  <p>"There are the appointed means. His way is in the sanctuary. He shall
+  feed his flock like a shepherd. There is but one refuge for the outcast. I
+  have but one alleviation to offer you. It is all and every thing. Are you
+  prepared to accept it?"</p>
+
+  <p>"You are my friend, my guardian, and my father," I replied.</p>
+
+  <p>"You have wandered long in the wilderness," continued the minister. "You
+  have fed with the swine and the goats. You have found no nourishment there.
+  All was bleak, and barren, and desolate there. The living waters were dried
+  up, and the bread of life was denied to the starving wayfarer."</p>
+
+  <p>"What must be done, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"You MUST ENTER THE FOLD&mdash;and have communion with the chosen people
+  of the Lord. Are you content to do it?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, am I worthy," I exclaimed, "to be reckoned in the number of those
+  holy men?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I cannot doubt it; but your own spirit shall bear witness to your state.
+  To-morrow is our next church-meeting. There, if it be your wish, I will
+  propose you; messengers will be appointed to converse with you. They will
+  come to you, and gather, from your experience, the evidences of your
+  renewed, regenerated character."</p>
+
+  <p>"What shall I say, sir?" I asked in all simplicity.</p>
+
+  <p>"What says the drowning man to the hand that brings him to the shore?
+  Your beating heart will be too ready to acknowledge the mighty work that has
+  been already done on your behalf. Have you forgotten the way you have been
+  led? Point it out to them. Have you been plucked as a brand from the
+  burning? Acknowledge it to them in strains of liveliest gratitude. Does not
+  your soul at this moment overflow at the vivid recollection of all the Lord
+  has done for it and you? Will it not yearn to sing aloud His praise when
+  strangers come to listen to the song? Then speak aloud to them. Do you not
+  feel, have not a hundred circumstances all concurred to prove, that you
+  exist a vessel chosen to show forth His praise? Show it to them, and let
+  them carry back the certain proofs of your redemption&mdash;let them convey
+  the sweet intelligence of a brother's safety&mdash;and let them bid the
+  church prepare to welcome him with hymns of praise into her loving
+  bosom."</p>
+
+  <p>Within a week of the above conversation, two respectable individuals
+  called upon me at Mr Clayton's house&mdash;the accredited messengers of the
+  church in which my eternal safety was about to be secured. One was a
+  thickset man, with large black whiskers and corresponding eyebrows. His
+  countenance had a stern expression&mdash;the eye especially, which lay
+  couched like a tiger beneath its rugged overhanging brow. You did not like
+  to look at it, and you could not meet it without unpleasantness and awe. The
+  gentleman was very tall and sturdy&mdash;evidently a hairy person; he was
+  unshaven, and looked muscular. Acting under the feeling which led him to
+  despise all earthly grandeur and distinction, and which, no doubt influenced
+  his conduct throughout life, he was remarkable for a carelessness and
+  uncleanness of attire, as powerful and striking as the odour which exhaled
+  from his broad person, and which explained the profession of the gentleman
+  to be&mdash;a working blacksmith. His companion was thin, and neat, and
+  dapper. There was an air about <i>him</i> that could not have been acquired,
+  except by frequent intercourse with the polished and the rich. He was
+  delicacy itself, incapable of a strong expression, and happier far when he
+  could hint, and not express his sentiments. Had I been subject only to his
+  examination, my ordeal would not have been severe. It was the blacksmith
+  whom I found hard and unimpressible as his own anvil, dark as his forge, and
+  as unpitying as its flames. The thin examiner held the high office of deacon
+  of the church. Whether it was the particularly dirty face of his friend that
+  set him off to such advantage, or whether he had inherent claims to my
+  respect, I cannot tell; well I know, throughout the scrutiny that soon took
+  place, many times I should have fallen beneath the blacksmith's hammer, but
+  for the support and mild encouragement that I found in him. He was most
+  becomingly dressed. He wore a white cravat, and no collar. He had light hair
+  closely cut, and his face was as smooth as a woman's. His shirt was whiter
+  than any shirt I have ever seen before or since, and it was made of very
+  fine material. He carried an agreeable smirk upon his countenance, and he
+  disinterred, now and then, some very long and extraordinary word from the
+  dictionary, when he was particularly desirous either to make himself
+  understood or conceal his meaning. I had almost omitted to add, that he was
+  a ladies' haberdasher.</p>
+
+  <p>I received the deputation with a trembling and apprehensive heart. I knew
+  my faith to be sincere, and I believed it to be correct, according to the
+  views of the church of which my revered friend was the minister and organ.
+  Still, I could not be insensible to the importance of the step which I was
+  about to take, and to the high tone of piety which the true believers
+  demanded from all who joined their ranks and partook of their exclusive
+  privileges.</p>
+
+  <p>It will not be necessary to repeat in detail the course of my
+  examination. At the close of two hours it was concluded, and I am at this
+  moment willing to confess that it was, upon the whole, satisfactory. I mean
+  to myself&mdash;for by my questioners, and by the little haberdasher more
+  particularly, the conference was pronounced most gratifying and comforting
+  in every way. I say <i>upon the whole</i>, for I could not, even at that
+  early period of my initiation, and with all my excitement and enthusiasm,
+  prevent the intrusion of some disturbing thoughts&mdash;some painful
+  impressions that were not in harmony with the general tenor of my feelings.
+  I had prepared myself to meet and deal with the appointed delegates of
+  heaven, and I had encountered <i>men</i>, yes, and men not entitled to my
+  reverence and regard, except as the chosen ambassadors of the church. One
+  was low, ignorant, and vulgar. He took no pains to conceal the fact; he
+  rather gloried in his native and offensive coarseness. The other was a
+  smoother man, scarcely less destitute of knowledge, or worthier of respect.
+  Looking back, at this distance of time, upon this strange interview, I am
+  indeed shocked and grieved at the part which I then and there permitted
+  myself to undertake. The scene has lost the colours which gave it a false
+  and superficial lustre, and I gaze on the melancholy reality chidden, and,
+  let me say, instructed by the sight. I can now better appreciate and
+  understand the self-confident tone which pronounced upon my state in the eye
+  of heaven&mdash;the canting expressions of brotherly love&mdash;the
+  irreverent familiarity with which Scripture was quoted, garbled, and
+  tortured to justify dissent, and render disobedience holy&mdash;the daring
+  assumption of inquisitorial privileges, and the scorn, the illiberality and
+  self-righteousness, with which my angry, bigoted, and vulgar questioners
+  decided on the merits of every institution that eschewed their fanciful
+  vagaries and most audacious claims. I do not wonder that, overtaken in a
+  career of misery, the consequence of my own imprudence, I should have been
+  arrested by the voice, and smitten by the eloquence, of Mr Clayton. I do not
+  wonder that I listened to his arguments, and observed his conduct, until I
+  was reduced to passiveness, and my mind was willing to be moulded to his
+  purposes. But I do wonder and lament that any obscuration of my judgment,
+  any luxuriance of feeling, should have permitted my youthful understanding
+  for an instant to believe that to such men as my examiners the keys of
+  heaven were entrusted, and that on them, and on their voice, depended the
+  reception of a broken-hearted penitent at the mercy-seat of God.</p>
+
+  <p>A few words from the haberdasher-deacon, at the breaking up of the
+  convocation, or whatever else it might be termed, were satisfactory, in so
+  far as they showed that my temporal prospects were not entirely neglected by
+  those who had become so deeply interested in my spiritual welfare. The
+  blacksmith had hardly brought to a close a somewhat lengthy and very
+  ungrammatical exhortation, that wound up the day's proceedings, when the
+  dapper Jehu Tomkins, jumping at once from the carnival to the revel, shook
+  me cordially by the hand, and most kindly suggested to me that, under the
+  patronage of so important and religious a connexion as that into which I was
+  about to enter, I could not fail to succeed, whatever might be the plan
+  which I had laid down for my future support.</p>
+
+  <p>"I have heard all about you," added Jehu, "from our respected minister,
+  and you'll soon get into something now. It's a good congregation,
+  sir&mdash;wealthy and influential. I should say we have richer people in our
+  connexion than in any about London. Mr Clayton is a very popular man,
+  sir&mdash;very good, and speaks the truth."</p>
+
+  <p>"He is good indeed," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"Sir, grace is sure to follow you now. It is fifteen years since I first
+  sat under Mr Clayton! Ah, I remember the night I was converted, as if it
+  were yesterday. I always felt, up to that very time, the need of something
+  better than I had got. Business had gone wrong ever since I opened shop, and
+  my mind was quite unsettled. Satan tried very hard at me, but it wouldn't
+  do. Sometimes, when my boy had gone home, and shop was shut up, the Tempter
+  would whisper in my ears words like these&mdash;'Jehu, you're insured, over
+  and over again, for your stock; let a spark fall on the shavings, and your
+  fortune's made.' Well, sir, once or twice&mdash;will you believe
+  it?&mdash;the Devil had nearly got it all his own way; but grace prevented,
+  and I was saved. I owe it all to Mr Clayton. I was told by one or two of my
+  customers to go and hear him, but somehow or other I never did. Satan kept
+  me back. At last the gentleman as was the deacon&mdash;him as built the
+  chapel&mdash;Mrs Jehu Tomkin's father&mdash;comes to my shop with his
+  daughter, Mrs Jehu as is now, and spoke to me about the minister. Well, I
+  heard the old gentleman was very rich and pious, and I went the next
+  Sabbath-day as was, with his family, into his pew. I never went any where
+  else after that. He seemed to hit the nail just on the head, and I was
+  convinced&mdash;oh, quite wonderful!&mdash;all on a sudden. I was married to
+  Mrs Jehu before that day twelvemonth. So you see grace followed me
+  throughout, as it will you, my dear brother, if you only mind what you are
+  about, and don't be a backslider."</p>
+
+  <p>"Mr Clayton," said I, "has kindly promised to procure employment for
+  me."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! and he'll do it, if he says so," rejoined Mr Tomkins. "That's your
+  man. You stick to him, and you won't hurt. He's a chosen vessel, if ever
+  there was one. What do you say, brother Buster?"</p>
+
+  <p>Brother Buster simply groaned his assent, and scowled. He had been for
+  some time anxious to depart, and he now took his leave without further
+  ceremony.</p>
+
+  <p>"You wouldn't think that man was a saint to look at him, would you?"
+  asked the deacon, as soon as his friend was gone. "He is though. He is riper
+  in spiritual matters than any man I know. Ah! the Establishment would give
+  something for a few like him. He'll be taken from us, I fear. We make a idol
+  of him, and that's sure to be punished. It's wonderful what he knows; and
+  how it has come to him we can't tell."</p>
+
+  <p>I received a pressing invitation from Mr Tomkins to visit his "small and
+  'appy family," as he was pleased to call it, on any evening after eight
+  o'clock, which was his latest business hour. "Mrs Jehu," I was assured, "was
+  just like her father, and his four small Jehus as exactly like their
+  grandfather, and he wished to say no more for them. After business his
+  family enjoyed invariably a little spiritual refreshment, and that and a
+  hymn made the time pass very agreeably till supper-time at nine, when he had
+  a 'ot collation, at which he should be most proud to see me."</p>
+
+  <p>To all the charges that have been at various times, with more or less
+  virulence and disinterestedness, brought against the Church of England, that
+  of assuming to itself the divine attribute of searching the secret heart of
+  many has, I believe, never been superadded. It has remained for men very far
+  advanced indeed in spiritual knowledge and perfection, to assert the bold
+  prerogative, and to venture, unappalled, beneath the frown of heaven. The
+  close scrutiny, on the part of Mr Buster, proper as it was as a step
+  preliminary, was by no means sufficient to procure for me an easy and
+  unquestioned admission into the church which the blacksmith had so ably
+  represented. There was yet another trial to ensue, and another jury to
+  pronounce upon the merits of the anxious candidate. He had yet to prove to
+  the perfect satisfaction of the self-constituted junto, that styled itself a
+  <i>church</i>, how God had mercifully dealt with him&mdash;to detail, with
+  historic accuracy, the method and procedure of his regeneration, and to find
+  evidence of a spiritual change, that carried on its front the proof of his
+  conversion and his accepted state. All this was to be done before I could be
+  <i>entitled</i> to the privileges which Messrs Buster, Tomkins, and the
+  rest, had it in their power to bestow. The manner in which this delicate
+  investigation was carried on, its indecorum and profaneness, I never can
+  forget; nor can I, in truth, remember it without humiliation and deep
+  sorrow. Against the indiscreet, illegal exhibition, I set off my ignorance,
+  simplicity, and desire of serving heaven; and in these I place my hope of
+  pardon for the share I had in such proceedings.</p>
+
+  <p>I received, in due form, a requisition to appear before the body of the
+  <i>church</i>, at its general meeting. I appeared. The chapel was thronged,
+  the majority of members being women. In the hands of nearly every third
+  person was a printed paper. I was not then aware of its contents; if I had
+  been, the ceremony would, in all probability, have concluded with my
+  entrance. Will it be believed, that this paper contained a printed formula
+  of the questions which were to test the quality of my faith, and to
+  pronounce upon the vitality and worth of my spiritual pretensions! Any
+  person present was at liberty to address me, and to form his own opinion of
+  my case from the manner and the matter which their ingenuity elicited. At
+  the suggestion of Mr Tomkins, who, in his capacity of deacon, was remarkably
+  active on this occasion, it was deemed proper that I should enter upon my
+  "experience" at once. My heart fluttered as I rose to comply with the
+  demand, and the chapel was hushed. It will be sufficient to say, that I
+  repeated my entire history, and secured the attention of my auditory until I
+  had spoken my last word. There were parts of the narrative which I could,
+  with a glance, perceive to be peculiarly <i>piquant</i> and acceptable. As
+  these occurred, a rustling and a murmur expressed the subdued applause.
+  When, for instance, I mentioned the disgust which I had conceived for the
+  University upon losing the scholarship, and the uneasiness which I
+  afterwards felt as long as I continued a member of that community, a few of
+  the most acute looked at one another, and shrugged mysteriously, as who
+  should say, "How wondrous are the ways of Providence!" and when I arrived at
+  the point of my deliverance by the hand of their own minister, there would
+  have been, I thought, no end to the gesticulations, expressions of gratitude
+  and joy, that burst from the "church," in spite of the praiseworthy efforts
+  of the minister to control and keep them down. When I had concluded, and
+  whilst the half-suppressed rejoicing still buzzed in the chapel, the stern
+  Buster rose, and presented to me the unmitigated force of his unpleasant
+  eye. Silence prevailed immediately.</p>
+
+  <p>"Now, sir," said my old friend, "what makes you think yourself a child of
+  grace? Speak out, if you please; I'm rather deaf."</p>
+
+  <p>"The loathing that I feel of what I was."</p>
+
+  <p>"Good!" said Jehu Tomkins, with strong emphasis, and loud enough to be
+  heard by every one.</p>
+
+  <p>"When did you feel the fetters fust busting from your spirit?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Not till I heard the minister's kind voice," was the reply.</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you always feel as strong upon the subject? Do you feel your spirit
+  always willing?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, no," I answered; "there are dreadful fluctuations, and there is
+  nothing so uncertain as self-dependence. I have dark and bitter moments,
+  when I feel, in all its power, the melancholy truth&mdash;'When I would do
+  good, evil is present with me.'"</p>
+
+  <p>"Capital sign!&mdash;capital sign!" exclaimed Jehu Tomkins again; "quite
+  sufficient!&mdash;quite sufficient!"</p>
+
+  <p>Yes, it was so. A few questions were put to me by individuals, rather for
+  the sake of gratifying an impertinent curiosity, than that of elucidating
+  further proof of my proficiency, and the ceremony was finished by my formal
+  reception into the body of the church. A prayer was offered, an address
+  delivered, a hymn sung&mdash;the eyes of many ladies were turned with
+  smiling interest upon me&mdash;and the meeting separated. Jehu Tomkins was
+  the first to congratulate me upon the happy issue of my trial.</p>
+
+  <p>"You are a made man, sir, depend upon it," said he, with his first
+  salutation. "You can't fail. There&mdash;do you see that fat man that's just
+  going out&mdash;him as has got on the Indy 'ankycher?&mdash;I sold him
+  that&mdash;he came on purpose to hear you, and if he found you up to the
+  mark, he's going to provide for you. He belongs to all our societies, and
+  just does what he pleases. His word's a law. We've a boiled leg of mutton at
+  nine to-night. Suppose you come to us, and finish the day there? Bless me,
+  what a full meeting we've had! Here's a squeezing!" There was certainly some
+  difficulty in our egression. The people had gathered into a crowd at the
+  small doorway, and men jostled and made their way without regard to others
+  in their vicinity. Lost as I was in the indiscriminate host, a few
+  observations fell upon my ear that were not, I presume, especially intended
+  for it.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well," said a greasy youth, not many yards distant from me, "I doubt his
+  having had a call. There wasn't life enough in it for me. I shouldn't be
+  surprised if he's a black sheep after all. I wish I had put a question or
+  two to him. I think I could have shown Satan in his heart pretty quick."</p>
+
+  <p>"Now you say it," replied the person addressed, "I did think him very
+  backward and lukewarm. I didn't like his tone altogether. Ah! what a thing
+  experimental religion is! You know what it is, and so do I; but I werry much
+  fear that delooded young man is as carnal-minded as my mother was, that went
+  to hell, though I say it, as contented and unconcerned as if she was going
+  to the saints in glory."</p>
+
+  <p>The information conveyed to me by Mr Tomkins as we issued from the chapel
+  was not unfounded. The very day subsequent to my admittance into the bosom
+  of the church, I was requested to attend the minister in the <i>sanctum</i>
+  already referred to. Upon reaching it, I discovered the fat gentleman of the
+  preceding evening, dressed as he was on the previous occasion, and still
+  adorned with Jehu's India handkerchief. Both he and Mr Clayton were seated
+  at table, and writing materials were before them. The moment I entered the
+  apartment, the fat gentleman held out his hand, and shook mine with much
+  stateliness. My friend, however, addressed me.</p>
+
+  <p>"Caleb," said he, "we are at length able to fulfil our promise. It is my
+  pleasure to announce to you that a situation is procured for you, suitable
+  to your talents, and agreeable to your feelings. We are both of us indebted
+  to this good gentleman. In your name I have already thanked him, and in your
+  name I have accepted the office which he has been at some pains to obtain
+  for you."</p>
+
+  <p>I looked towards the stout gentleman, and bowed in grateful
+  acknowledgment.</p>
+
+  <p>"Tell him the duties, Clayton," requested my new-found influential
+  friend.</p>
+
+  <p>"Mr Bombasty," proceeded the minister, "feels a warm interest in your
+  welfare. The happy result of yesterday's trial has secured for you a
+  friendship which it will be your duty and study to deserve. There is
+  established, in connexion with our church, a Christian instruction society,
+  of which Mr Bombasty is the esteemed and worthy president. The appointment of
+  a travelling secretary rests with him, and he has this very day nominated
+  you to that distinguished office. I have tendered your thanks. You can now
+  repeat them."</p>
+
+  <p>"Tell him the salary," interrupted the president.</p>
+
+  <p>"You will receive one hundred and fifty pounds per annum," continued Mr
+  Clayton, "in addition to your travelling charges; apartments likewise, I
+  believe"&mdash;He hesitated as if uncertain, and looked towards the
+  president.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes," replied that gentleman, "go on&mdash;coals and candles. You answer
+  for him, Clayton&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+  <p>"As I told you, sir," said my friend, "I will pledge myself for his
+  trustiness and probity."</p>
+
+  <p>The remembrance of Mr Chaser's cold-hearted cruelty occured to my mind as
+  my benefactor spoke, and tears of gratitude trembled in my eyes. The fat
+  gentleman remarked the expression of feeling, and brought the interview to a
+  close.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, Clayton," said he, "you can talk to him. I've twenty places to go
+  to yet. Get the paper signed, and he may begin at once. Let a lawyer draw it
+  up. Just make yourself security for a thousand pounds&mdash;I don't suppose
+  he'll ever have more than half that at a time in his possession&mdash;and
+  that'll be all the society will require. He can come to me to-morrow. Now
+  I'm off. Good-bye, my friend&mdash;'morning, young man." The last adieu was
+  accompanied with a patronizing nod of the head, which, with the greeting on
+  my first appearance, constituted the whole of the intercourse that passed
+  between me and my future principal. The moment that he departed, I turned to
+  Mr Clayton, and thanked him warmly and sincerely for all that he had
+  accomplished for me.</p>
+
+  <p>"I shall leave you, sir," I added, "with mingled feelings of regret and
+  satisfaction&mdash;regret in separating from the purest and the best of men,
+  my friend, my counsellor, and father&mdash;but joy, because I cease to be a
+  burden upon your charity and good nature. I carry into the world with me the
+  example of your daily life, and my own sense of your dignified and exalted
+  character. Both will afford me encouragement and support in the vicissitudes
+  which yet await me. Tell me how I may better evince my gratitude, and let me
+  gratify the one longing desire of my overflowing heart."</p>
+
+  <p>"Caleb," replied the minister, with solemnity, "it is true that I have
+  been permitted to protect and serve you. It is true that, but for me, at
+  this moment you would be beyond the reach of help and man's regard. I have
+  brought you from the grave to life. I have led you to the waters of life, of
+  which you may drink freely, and through which you will be made partaker with
+  the saints, of glory everlasting. This I have done for you. Do I speak in
+  pride? Would I rob Heaven and give the praise and honour to the creature?
+  God forbid. <i>I</i> have accomplished little. <i>I</i> have done nothing
+  good and praiseworthy but as the instrument of Him whose servant and whose
+  minister I am. Not for myself, but for my Master's sake, I demand your
+  friendship and fidelity. If I have been accounted worthy to save your soul,
+  I am not unworthy of your loyalty and love."</p>
+
+  <p>"They are yours, sir. It is my happiness to offer them."</p>
+
+  <p>"Caleb," continued my friend, in the same tone, "you have lived with me
+  many months. Mine is a life of privacy and retirement compared with that of
+  other men. I strive to be useful to my fellow-creatures, and am happy if I
+  succeed. If any one may claim immunity from slander and reproach, it is I,
+  who have avoided diligently all appearance of offence. Yet I have not
+  succeeded. You are about to mix again with men. You have joined the church,
+  and you will not fail to hear me spoken of harshly and injuriously."</p>
+
+  <p>"Impossible!" I exclaimed.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, it would seem so, and it would <i>be</i>, if justice in this world
+  accompanied men's acts. I tell you," continued Mr Clayton, flushing as he
+  raised his voice, "there are men living now whom I have raised from beggary
+  and want&mdash;men, indebted to me for the air they breathe, who calumniate
+  and defame me through the world, and who will not cease to do so till I or
+  they are sleeping in the dust. They owed me every thing, like
+  you&mdash;their gratitude was unbounded, even as yours. What assurance have
+  I that you will not deal as hardly by your friend as they have done, and
+  still do?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Mr Clayton," I answered, eagerly, "I would lay down my life to serve
+  you."</p>
+
+  <p>"I believe you to be frank and honest, Caleb. I should believe it; for I
+  am about to pledge a heavy sum upon your integrity&mdash;and, indeed, I can
+  but ill spare it. You ask me how I would have you show your thankfulness for
+  what I have accomplished for you. I answer, by giving me your
+  <i>friendship</i>. It is a holy word, and comprehends more than is supposed.
+  A friend believes not ill that is spoken of him to whom he is united by
+  mutual communion and interest; he is faithful to the end, through good
+  report and evil, and falls, if need be, with the man to whom he has engaged
+  his troth and given his heart."</p>
+
+  <p>"I am unworthy, sir," I said, "to stand in this relation with one so
+  good, so holy as yourself. I have but a word to say&mdash;trust and confide
+  in me. I will never deceive you."</p>
+
+  <p>"Let us pray," said Mr Clayton, after a long pause, sighing as he spoke,
+  and speaking very softly&mdash;and immediately he fell upon his knees, and
+  I, according to a practice which I had acquired at the chapel, leaned upon a
+  chair, and turned my face to the window.</p>
+
+  <p>It was about a month after my installation into my new office, that
+  business connected with the society carried me to the village of Highgate.
+  It was late in the evening when my commission was completed, and I was
+  enabled, after a day of excessive fatigue, to direct my steps once more
+  homeward. The stage-coach, which set out from the village for London twice
+  during the day, luckily for me, was appointed to make its last journey about
+  half an hour after my engagements had set me at liberty. A mile, across
+  fields, intervened between me and the coach-office. Short as the distance
+  was, it was any thing but an agreeable task to get over it, with the rain
+  spitting into my face, the boisterous wind beating me back, and the darkness
+  of a November night confounding me at every turn. In good time, however, I
+  reached the inn. Providence favoured me. There were but two seats unoccupied
+  in the coach; one was already engaged by a gentleman who had requested to be
+  taken up a mile forward; the other had just been given up by a lady who had
+  been frightened by the storm, and had postponed her return to London to the
+  following day. This seat I immediately secured, and in a few minutes
+  afterwards we were on our way towards Babylon. We made but little progress.
+  The breed of coach horses has been much improved since the period of which I
+  write, and a journey from Highgate to London was a much more important event
+  than a railway conductor of the present day would suppose. My companions
+  were all men. Their conversation turned upon the topics of the day. A
+  monetary crisis had taken place in the mercantile world, and for many days I
+  had heard nothing spoken of but the vast losses which houses and individuals
+  of high character and standing had incurred, and the bankruptcy with which
+  the community had become suddenly threatened. The subject had grown stale
+  and wearisome to me. It had little interest, in fact, for one whose humble
+  salary of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum depended so little upon the
+  great fluctuations of commerce, and I accordingly disposed myself for sleep
+  as soon as the words <i>bills</i>, <i>money</i>, and <i>bankruptcy</i>,
+  became the staple matter of discourse. I had scarcely established a
+  comfortable doze before the coach stopped suddenly, and awoke me. It had
+  halted for the last inside. A gentleman, apparently stout and well wrapped
+  up&mdash;it was impossible to speak positively on the subject, the night was
+  so very dark&mdash;trod his way into the vehicle over the toes of his
+  fellow-passengers, and took his seat. The coach was once more moving towards
+  the metropolis, and again I endeavoured to lull myself to sleep. The same
+  expressions proceeded from the lips of the travellers, and they were growing
+  more and more indistinct and shadowy, when I was startled all on a sudden by
+  one of the most palpable sounds that had ever disturbed and confounded a
+  dreamer. I sat up and listened, coughed to convince myself that I was
+  certainly awake, and the sounds were repeated as clear and as audible as
+  before. I would have sworn that Mr Clayton was the gentleman whom we had
+  last picked up&mdash;that he was now in the coach with me&mdash;and was now
+  talking, if the words which fell from the traveller had not been such as he
+  would never have used, and the subject on which he spoke had not been one
+  upon which Mr Clayton, I believed, was as ignorant as a child. The
+  resemblance between the voices was so great, that I pronounced the
+  phenomenon the most extraordinary that had ever occurred to me; and growing
+  quite wakeful from the incident, I continued to listen to the accents of the
+  speaker until once or twice I had almost thought it my duty to acquaint him
+  with the remarkable fact, which he was now living to illustrate. But I held
+  my peace, and the conversation proceeded without interruption.</p>
+
+  <p>"You may depend upon it," said one gentleman, "things must get worse
+  before they'll mend. Half the mischief isn't done yet. There's a report
+  to-day that &mdash;&mdash; cannot hold out much longer. It will be a queer
+  thing if they smash. Many petty tradesmen bank with that house, who will be
+  ruined if they go. Things are certainly in a very sweet state."</p>
+
+  <p>"You do not mean," said <i>the voice</i>, trembling with emotion or
+  alarm, "that the house of &mdash;&mdash; threatens to give way? I have been
+  in the city to-day, and did not hear a syllable of this. I think you must he
+  mistaken. Good God, how frightful!"</p>
+
+  <p>Well, it was really wonderful! I could have sworn that Mr Clayton was the
+  speaker. Had he not concluded with the ejaculation, my doubt would certainly
+  have ceased. That exclamation, of course, removed the supposition
+  entirely.</p>
+
+  <p>"You'll find I'm right, sir," was the reply of the traveller who spoke
+  first. "At least, I fear you will. I hope I may be wrong. If you have any
+  thing in their hands, you would find it worth your while, I think, to pay
+  them an early visit to-morrow morning. If there's a run upon them, nothing
+  in the world can save them."</p>
+
+  <p>"And is it true," asked <i>the voice</i>, "that &mdash;&mdash; stopped
+  payment on Tuesday? I came to town from Warwickshire only yesterday, and
+  this is the first news that I heard."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, there's no doubt about that," answered a third person; "but that
+  surprized nobody. The only wonder is, how he managed to keep afloat so long.
+  He has been up to the chin for the last twelvemonth and more. I hope you
+  don't lose there, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Mine has been the devil's luck this year," continued <i>the voice</i>,
+  in a bitter savage tone, that never belonged to Mr Clayton. "Yes, gentlemen,
+  I lose heavily by them both. But never mind, never mind, <i>one</i> shall
+  wince for it, if he has been playing ducks and drakes with my good money. He
+  shall feel the scourge, depend upon it. I'll never leave him till he has
+  paid me back in groans. Heaven, what a sum!"</p>
+
+  <p><i>The voice</i> said no more during the journey. The other gentlemen
+  having lost nothing by the various failures, discussed matters with
+  philosophy and praiseworthy decorum. Sometimes, indeed, "the third person"
+  grew slightly facetious and jocose when he represented to himself what he
+  termed "the queer cut" that some old friend would display on presenting his
+  cheque for payment at the rickety counter of Messrs &mdash;&mdash; &amp;
+  Co.; but no deeper expression of feeling escaped one of those who spoke so
+  long and volubly on what concerned themselves so very little. I was puzzled
+  and disturbed. The stranger had returned from Warwickshire the day before.
+  Twice during my residence with the minister, business of importance had
+  carried him to that county. It was certainly a curious coincidence, but
+  coincidences more curious pass by us every day unheeded. It would have been
+  absurd to conclude from that the identity of the stranger; yet the fact,
+  coupled with <i>the voice</i>, staggered and confounded me. I said nothing,
+  but determined, as soon as we reached the public streets, to call to my aid
+  the light&mdash;feeble as it was&mdash;of the dimly-burning lamps, which, at
+  the time I speak of, were placed at a considerable distance from each other
+  along the principal streets of London, scattering no light, and looking like
+  oil lamps in the last stage of a lingering consumption. These afforded me
+  little help. The weakest effort of illumination imaginable strayed across
+  the coach window as we passed a burner, about as serviceable as the long
+  interval of darkness that ensued, and far more tantalizing. We were driving
+  through the city. I was still brooding over the singular occurrence, when
+  the coach stopped. The stranger alighted. I endeavoured to obtain sight of
+  him, but he was so wrapped and clothed that I did not succeed. The coach was
+  on its way again, and I had just opportunity enough to discover that we had
+  halted at the corner of the street in which Mr Clayton resided. I had been
+  so intent upon scanning the figure of the traveller, that the fact had
+  escaped me. Had I been aware of it, I would certainly have followed the man,
+  and seen him at all events safely beyond the door of the minister. Now it
+  was too late.</p>
+
+  <p>I could not repress the desire which I felt to visit Mr Clayton on the
+  following morning. I went to him at an early hour. If he and the stranger
+  were one and the same person, I should be made aware of it at a glance. The
+  cause that had affected him so deeply in the stage-coach existed still, and
+  his manner must betray him. My suspicions were, thank Heaven, instantly
+  removed. I found my friend tranquil as ever, busy at his old occupation, and
+  welcoming me with his usual smile of benevolence. He was paler than usual, I
+  thought; but this impression only convinced me how difficult it is to be
+  charitable and just, when bias and prejudice once take possession of us. My
+  friend was, if any thing, kinder and more affectionate than ever. He spoke
+  to me about my new employment, gave me his advice on points of difficulty,
+  and bade me consult him always, and without hesitation, when doubt might
+  lead me into danger. He could not tell me how happy he had been made by
+  having secured a competency for me; and he hoped sincerely that no act of
+  mine would ever cause him to regret the step that he had taken.</p>
+
+  <p>"Indeed," said he, "I have great confidence in you, Caleb. I do not know
+  another person in the world upon whose character I would have staked so
+  large a sum. In truth, I should not have been justified. A thousand pounds
+  is a heavy venture for one so straitened as I am. But you are worthy of it
+  all. You are a faithful and good boy, and will never give me reason to
+  repent my generosity. Will you, child?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir," I replied; "not if I am master of myself."</p>
+
+  <p>"It is strange," continued the good man, "how we attach ourselves to
+  individuals! There are some men who repel you at first sight&mdash;with whom
+  your feelings are at variance as oil with water. Others again, who win us
+  with a look&mdash;to whom we could confide the secrets of our inmost heart,
+  and feel satisfied of their losing nothing of their sacredness. Have you
+  never experienced this, Caleb?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I could speak to you, sir," said I, in return, "as unreservedly as to
+  myself."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, and I to you. It is a strange and beautiful arrangement. Providence
+  has a hand in this, as in all other sublunary dispensations. We were created
+  to be a comfort and a joy to one another, and to reciprocate confidence and
+  love. Such instances are not confined to modern times. History tells us of
+  glorious friendships in the ancient world. The great of old&mdash;of Greece
+  and Rome&mdash;they who advanced to the very gate and threshold of TRUTH,
+  and then despairingly turned back&mdash;they have honoured human nature by
+  the intensity and permanency of their attachments. But what is a Pagan
+  attachment in comparison with that which exists amongst believers, and
+  unites in bonds that are indissoluble, the faithful hearts of pious
+  Christians?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah, what indeed, sir!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Come to me to-morrow, Caleb," continued my friend, changing the subject.
+  "Let me see you as often as your duties will permit you. We must not be
+  strangers. I did not intend to give you up so easily. It is sweet and
+  refreshing to pursue our old subjects of discourse. You are not tired of
+  them?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, no, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Come, then, to-morrow."</p>
+
+  <p>It was truly delightful to listen to the minister. I had never known him
+  more sweetly disposed and more calm than on this occasion. He was unruffled
+  by the presence of one anxious thought. Ah, how different would he have been
+  if he had really proved to be my coach acquaintance! How I despised myself
+  for the one unkind half suspicion which I had entertained so derogatory to
+  the high character of the saint. But it was a great comfort to me,
+  nevertheless, to be so satisfied of my delusion, and to feel so easy and so
+  happy in my mind at the close of our long interview. According to my
+  promise, I saw the minister on the following day. He was as peaceful and
+  heavenly-minded as before. Another appointment was made and
+  kept&mdash;another succeeded to that&mdash;and for one fortnight together, I
+  spent many hours daily in the society of my respected friend.</p>
+
+  <p>In pursuance of an arrangement which we had made, I called one afternoon
+  at Mr Clayton's house, and was distressed to hear that he was confined to
+  his bed by a sudden attack of illness. He had directed his servant to
+  acquaint all visiters with his condition, and to admit no one to him, with
+  the exception of the medical attendant and myself. I was eager to profit by
+  my privilege, and was in a few seconds at the bedside of my benefactor. He
+  was reading when I approached him, and he looked flushed and agitated. He
+  put his book away from him, and held out his hand to me. I pressed it most
+  affectionately.</p>
+
+  <p>"I have been ill, Caleb," he began, "but I am better now, and I shall be
+  quite well soon. Do not be alarmed."</p>
+
+  <p>"How did it happen, sir?" I asked.</p>
+
+  <p>"We are in the flesh now, dear boy, and are subject to the evils of the
+  flesh. Hereafter it will be otherwise. Sorrow and distress, we are told,
+  shall be no more. Oh, happy time for sinners! I have grievously offended.
+  This very day I have permitted worldly thoughts to disturb and harrass me,
+  and to shake the fleshly tabernacle. It was wrong, very wrong."</p>
+
+  <p>"What has happened, sir?" I enquired.</p>
+
+  <p>The minister looked hard and tenderly upon me, pressed my hand again, and
+  bade me take a chair.</p>
+
+  <p>"Bring it near to the bed, Caleb," said Mr Clayton; "I like to have you
+  near me. I am better since you came. To see you is always soothing to my
+  mind. I am reminded, then, that I am not altogether so worthless and
+  insignificant a worm as I believe myself, since I have been able to do so
+  much for you. Tell me, do you still like the employment that I procured for
+  you?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I would not resign it for any other that I know of. It is every thing to
+  me. I feel my independence, and I have been told that I am useful to my
+  fellow-creatures. It would be a bitter hour to me, sir, that should find me
+  deprived of my appointment."</p>
+
+  <p>"And that hour is very distant, Caleb, if you are sensible of your duty,
+  and grateful to the instruments which Heaven has raised for you. You shall
+  always feel your independence, and always hear that you are useful and
+  respected. Be but faithful. It is a lesson that I have repeated to you many
+  times&mdash;it cannot be told too often."</p>
+
+  <p>"You are a patient and a kind instructor, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Come closer to me, Caleb, and now listen. But first&mdash;look well at
+  me, and tell me what you see."</p>
+
+  <p>I looked as he required, but gave no answer.</p>
+
+  <p>"Tell me, do you see the lines and marks that beggary and ruin bring upon
+  the countenance of men? Does poverty glare from any one expression? <i>I am
+  a lost and ruined man.</i>"</p>
+
+  <p>"You, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes. The trifling pittance upon which I lived, and barely lived, and yet
+  from which I could still extract enough to do a little good&mdash;to feed,
+  perhaps, one starving throat&mdash;is wrested, torn from me, and from those
+  who shared in what it might obtain. I am myself a beggar."</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clayton became agitated as he spoke, and I implored him to compose
+  himself.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes&mdash;it is that I wish to do. I should be above the influence of
+  dross. And for myself I am. Would that I might suffer alone! And this is not
+  all. The man who has effected my ruin owes every thing to me. I found him
+  penniless, and raised him to a condition that should have inspired him with
+  regard and gratitude. I would have trusted that man with confidence
+  unbounded. I did entrust him with my all, and he has beggared and undone
+  me."</p>
+
+  <p>"Take it not to heart, sir," I said, soothing the afflicted man; "things
+  may not be so bad as you suppose."</p>
+
+  <p>"They cannot be worse," was the reply; "but I will <i>not</i> take it to
+  heart. The blow is hard to bear&mdash;the carnal man must feel it&mdash;yet
+  I am not without my solace. Read to me, Caleb."</p>
+
+  <p>I read a chapter from the work that was lying on the bed. It was called
+  "<i>The Good Man's Comfort in Affliction</i>." It was effectual in restoring
+  my friend to composure. He spoke afterwards with his usual softness of
+  manner.</p>
+
+  <p>"This bad man, Caleb," he resumed, "is a member of our church. I am sorry
+  for it&mdash;grievously, bitterly sorry for it. The scandal must be removed.
+  Personally, I would be as passive and forbearing as a child, but the church
+  suffers whilst one such member is permitted to profane her ordinances. He
+  must be cut off from her. It must be done. The church must disavow the man
+  who has betrayed her minister and disgraced himself. I have been your
+  friend, Caleb&mdash;you must now prove mine."</p>
+
+  <p>"Most willingly," said I.</p>
+
+  <p>"This business must be brought before a general meeting of the church.
+  From me the accusation will come with ill grace, and yet a public charge
+  must be preferred. You must be the champion of my cause. Your's shall be the
+  task of conferring a lasting obligation on your friend&mdash;your's shall be
+  the glory of ridding the sanctuary of defilement."</p>
+
+  <p>"How am I to act, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Your course is very easy, child. A meeting shall be convened without
+  delay. You shall attend it. You shall be made master of the case. You must
+  propose an examination of his affairs on the part of the church. The man has
+  failed&mdash;he is a bankrupt&mdash;our church is pure, and demands an
+  investigation into the questionable conduct of her children. This you shall
+  do. The church will do the rest."</p>
+
+  <p>I know not how it was&mdash;I cannot tell what led to it&mdash;but a cold
+  shudder crept through my body, and a sudden sickness overcame me. I thought
+  of the coach scene&mdash;<i>the voice</i> seemed more like than
+  ever&mdash;the tones were the very same. I seemed unexpectedly enclosed and
+  entangled in some dreadful mystery. I could not conceive why I should
+  hesitate to accept the invitation of my friend with alacrity and pleasure.
+  He was my benefactor, preserver, best and only friend.</p>
+
+  <p>He had been defrauded, and he called upon me now to perform a simple act
+  of justice. A man under much less obligation to the minister would have met
+  his wishes joyfully; but I <i>did</i> hesitate and hold back. A natural
+  suggestion, one that I could not control or crush, told me as loudly as a
+  voice could speak, not to commit myself by an immediate and rash consent. It
+  must have been the <i>coach</i>; for, previously to that adventure, had the
+  minister commanded me to accuse a hundred men, a hint would have sufficed
+  for my obedience. But that unfortunate occurrence, now revived by the manner
+  of my friend&mdash;by the expressions which he employed&mdash;by the charge
+  which he adduced against the unhappy member of his church&mdash;filled me
+  with doubt, uncertainty, and alarm. Mr Clayton was not slow to remark what
+  was passing in my mind.</p>
+
+  <p>"How is this, Caleb?" he enquired. "You pause and hesitate."</p>
+
+  <p>"What has he done sir?" I asked, in my confusion, hardly knowing what I
+  said.</p>
+
+  <p>"Done!" exclaimed the minister, with an offended air. "Caleb, he has
+  ruined the man who has made you what you are."</p>
+
+  <p>It was too true. Mr Clayton had indeed made me what I was. It was a just
+  reproof. It was ingratitude of the blackest character, to listen so coldly
+  to his wishes. For months I had received daily and hourly the most signal
+  benefits from his hands. He had never till now called upon me to make the
+  shadow of a return for all his disinterested
+  love&mdash;<i>disinterested</i>, ah, was it so? I hated myself for the
+  momentary doubt&mdash;and yet the doubt returned upon me. If I had not heard
+  his voice in the coach, such a suspicion would have been impossible.
+  <i>Now</i>, any thing seemed possible&mdash;nothing was too extraordinary to
+  happen. Well, it was little that the minister requested me to do. I had but
+  to demand an investigation into the man's affairs. It was easily done, and
+  without any cost or sacrifice of principle. But why could not the minister
+  demand the same himself? "It would be unseemly," he asserted. Well, it might
+  be&mdash;why had he not selected an elder member of the Church? Because, as
+  he had often told me, there was none so dear to him. This was plain and
+  reasonable, and all this passed through my brain with the rapidity of
+  thought in an instant of time.</p>
+
+  <p>"You may command me, sir," I said at length.</p>
+
+  <p>"No, Caleb, I will not <i>command</i> you. To serve your friend would
+  have been, I deemed, a labour of love. I did not <i>command</i> you, and I
+  now retract the trifling request which I find I was too bold to make."</p>
+
+  <p>"Do not talk so to me, Mr Clayton, I entreat you. I am disturbed and
+  unwell to-day. Your illness has unsettled me. Pray command me. Speak to me
+  as is your wont&mdash;with the same kindliness and warmth&mdash;you know I
+  am bound to you. Let me serve you in any way you please."</p>
+
+  <p>"We will speak of it some other time. Let us change the subject now.
+  There are twenty men who will be eager to comply with the wishes of their
+  minister. An intimation will suffice."</p>
+
+  <p>"But why, sir," I returned&mdash;"why should others be privileged to do
+  your bidding, and I denied? Forgive my apparent coldness, and give me my
+  instructions."</p>
+
+  <p>"Not now," said Mr Clayton, softened by my returning warmth. "Let us read
+  again. Some other time."</p>
+
+  <p>In a few days the subject was again introduced, and I put in possession
+  of the history of the unfortunate man who was so soon to be brought under
+  the anathema of the church. According to the statement of the minister, the
+  guilty person had received at various times from him as a loan, no less a
+  sum than four thousand pounds, the substance of his wealth, besides an equal
+  amount from other sources, for which Mr Clayton had made himself
+  accountable. Mr Clayton had implicated himself so seriously, as he said, for
+  the advantage of the man whom he had known from boyhood, and raised from
+  beggary, simply on account of the love he bore him, and in consideration of
+  his Christian character. Of every farthing thus advanced, the minister had
+  been defrauded, and within a month the trader had declared himself a
+  bankrupt. That the minister should have acted so inconsiderately and
+  prodigally, might seem strange to any one who did not thoroughly understand
+  the extreme unselfishness of his disposition. Towards me he had behaved with
+  an equal liberality, and I, at least, had no right to question the truth of
+  every word he spoke. The conduct of the man appeared odious and
+  unpardonable, and I regretted that I should have doubted, for one moment,
+  the propriety of assisting so manifest an act of justice. Let me acknowledge
+  that there was much need of self-persuasion to arrive at this conclusion. I
+  wished to believe that I felt <i>urged</i> to my determination; but the
+  necessity that I experienced of working myself up to a conviction of the
+  justice of the case, militated sadly against so pleasing a delusion.</p>
+
+  <p>The second church meeting in which it fell to my lot to perform a
+  distinguished character, took place soon after the communication which I
+  received from my respected friend. It was convened with the especial object
+  of inquiring into the circumstances connected with the failure of Mr George
+  Whitefield Bunyan Smith. The chapel was, if possible, fuller than on the
+  former evening, and the majority of members was, as before, women. A
+  movement throughout the assembly&mdash;a whispering, and a ceaseless
+  expectoration, indicated the raciness and interest which attached to the
+  matter in hand, and every eye and mouth seemed opened in the fulness of an
+  anxious expectation. I sat quietly and uncomfortably, and my heart beat
+  palpably against my clothes. I endeavoured to paint the villany of Mr Smith
+  in the darkest colours, and by the contemplation of it, to rouse myself to
+  self-esteem&mdash;but the effort was a failure. I could see nothing but the
+  man in the coach, and hear nothing but <i>the voice</i>, which sounded in my
+  ears louder than ever, <i>and far more like</i>; and I became at length
+  perfectly satisfied that I had no business to stand in the capacity of Mr
+  Smith's accuser. It was too late to recant. The bell had rung&mdash;the
+  curtain was up and the performances were about to begin.</p>
+
+  <p>A hymn, as usual, ushered in the proceedings of the day. The fifty-second
+  psalm was then read by the minister, in the beautiful tone which he knew so
+  well how to assume, and reverence and awe accompanied his emphatic delivery.
+  Ah, could I ever forget the hour when those accents first dropped with
+  medicinal virtue on my soul&mdash;when every syllable from his lips brought
+  unction to my bruised nature&mdash;and the dark shadows of earth were
+  dissipated and destroyed, beneath the clear, pure light of heaven that he
+  invoked and made apparent! Why passed the syllables now coldly and
+  ineffectually across the heart they could not penetrate? Why glittered they
+  before the eye with phosphorescent lustre, void of all heat and might? I
+  could not tell. The charm was gone. It was misery to know it. The minister
+  having concluded, "Brother Buster was requested to engage in prayer." That
+  worthy rose <i>instanter</i>. First, he coughed, then he made a
+  face&mdash;an awful face&mdash;then closed his eyes&mdash;then opened them
+  again, looked up, and stretched forth his arms. At last he spoke. He prayed
+  for the whole world, including the islands recently discovered, "even from
+  the river to the oceans of ages"&mdash;then for Europe, and "more
+  especially" for England, and London "in particular," but "chiefly" for the
+  parish in which the chapel stood, and "principally" for the Chosen People
+  then and there assembled, and, "above all," for the infatuated man upon
+  whose account they had been brought together. "Oh, might the delooded sinner
+  repent <i>off</i> his sin, and, having felt the rod, turn from the error
+  <i>off</i> his ways. Oh might the Church have grace to purify itself; and oh
+  might the vessel wot was chosen this night to bring the criminal to justice,
+  be hindood with strength for the work; and oh, might the criminal be enabled
+  to come out of it with clean hands, (which he very much doubted;) and oh,
+  might the minister be preserved to his Church for many years to come; and
+  oh, might he himself be a door-keeper in heaven, rather than dwell in the
+  midst of wickedness and sinners!" This was the substance of the divine
+  supplication, offered up by Jabez Buster, in the presence of the
+  congregation, and listened to with devout respect and seriousness by the
+  refined and intellectual Mr Clayton. Another hymn succeeded immediately. It
+  must have been written for the occasion, for the sentiment of it was in
+  accordance with the prayer. It was a wail over the backsliding of a fallen
+  saint. To the assembly thus prejudiced&mdash;an assembly made up of men of
+  business and their wives, mechanics, dressmakers, servant-maids, and the
+  like, an address suitable to their capacities was spoken. Mr Clayton
+  himself delivered it.&mdash;He trembled with emotion when he referred to the
+  painful duty which he was now called upon to perform. "Dear brethren," said
+  he, "you are all aware of the unhappy condition of that brother who has long
+  been bound to us by every tie that may unite the brethren in cordial and in
+  Christian love. Truly, he has been dear to all of us; and for myself, I can
+  with sincerity aver, that no creature living was dearer to me in the flesh,
+  than him upon whose conduct we are met this night in Christian charity to
+  adjudicate. Yes, he was my equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took
+  sweet council together, and we walked to the house of prayer in company. I
+  hope, I pray&mdash;would that I might add, that I believe!&mdash;the sin
+  that has been committed in the face of the Church, and before the world, may
+  be found not to lie at the door of him we loved and cherished. We are not
+  here to take cognizance of the temporal concerns of every member of our
+  congregation. We have no right to do this, so long as the Church is kept
+  pure, and suffers not by the delinquencies of her children. If the limb be
+  unworthy and unsound, let it be lopped off. You have heard that the worldly
+  affairs of our brother are crushed; it is whispered abroad that there is
+  reason to fear the commission of discreditable acts. Is this so? If it be
+  true, let the whisper assume a bolder form, and pronounce our brother
+  unworthy of a place with the elect. If it be false, let every evil tongue be
+  silenced, and let us rejoice exceedingly, yea, with the timbrel and dance,
+  with stringed instruments and loud-sounding cymbals. For my own part, I will
+  not believe him guilty, until proof positive has made him so. His accuser is
+  here this night. From what I know of our young brother, I am satisfied he
+  will proceed most cautiously. Should he suggest simply an investigation into
+  the recent transactions of the unfortunate man, it will be our duty to act
+  upon that suggestion. If he comes armed with evidences of guilt, they must
+  be examined with a kind but still impartial spirit. I know not to what
+  extent it is proposed to proceed. It is not for me to know it. I am not his
+  prosecutor. I shall not pronounce upon him. It is for you to judge. If he be
+  proved culpable in this most melancholy business, and, alas! I fear he must
+  be, if reports are true&mdash;though you must be careful to discard reports
+  and look to testimony only&mdash;our course is plain and easy. Pardon is not
+  with us; it must be sought elsewhere. I will not detain you longer. Brother
+  Stukely, the Church will listen to your charge."</p>
+
+  <p>But Brother Stukely had been for some time rendered incapable of speech.
+  He was staggered and overwhelmed. He distrusted his eyes, his ears, and
+  every sense that he possessed. What?&mdash;was <i>this</i> Mr Clayton, the
+  meek, the pious, the good, the benevolent, the just, the truth-telling, the
+  Christian, and the minister? What?&mdash;could he assert that he was
+  satisfied of his victim's innocence, until I should prove him
+  guilty&mdash;I, who knew nothing of the man and his affairs, but what I
+  gathered from his own false lips? There was some terrible mistake here. I
+  dreamt, or raved. What!&mdash;had the history of the last twelvemonth been a
+  cheat&mdash;a fable?&mdash;How was it&mdash;where was I? What!&mdash;could
+  Mr Clayton talk thus&mdash;could HE descend to falsehood and
+  deceit&mdash;HE, the immaculate and infallible? What a moral earthquake was
+  here! What a re-enacting of the fall of man! But every eye was upon me, and
+  the Church was silent as death, waiting for my rising. The chapel commenced
+  swimming round me. I grew sick, and feared that I was becoming blind, for a
+  mist came before my eyes, and confounded all things. At length I was
+  awakened to something like consciousness, by a rapid and universal
+  expectoration. I rose, and became painfully distressed by a conflict of
+  opposing feelings. I remembered, in spite of the present obliquity of the
+  minister, his great kindness to me&mdash;I remembered it with
+  gratitude&mdash;this urged me to speak aloud, whilst a sense of justice as
+  strongly demanded silence, and pity for the man whom I had undertaken to
+  accuse, but who had never offended me, cried shame upon me for the words I
+  was about to utter. For a second, I stood irresolute, and a merciful
+  interference was sent to rescue me.</p>
+
+  <p>"Why," exclaimed a voice that came pleasing to my ears,&mdash;"why are
+  you going to accuse this here brother? Harn't twenty men failed afore, and
+  you never thought of asking questions?"</p>
+
+  <p>I looked round, and my friend Thompson of happy memory nodded familiarly,
+  and by no means disconcertedly to me. I had never seen him in the chapel
+  before. I did not know that he was a member. Here was another mystery! His
+  words were the signal for loud disapprobation. He had marred the general
+  curiosity at an intensely interesting moment, and the anger that was
+  conceived against him was by no means partial. The minister rose in the
+  midst of it. He looked very pale and much annoyed, but his manner was still
+  mild, and his expressions as full of charity and kind feeling as ever.</p>
+
+  <p>"It was a proper enquiry," he said; "one that should immediately be
+  answered." Heaven forbid that their conduct, in one particular, should
+  savour of injustice. In due time the explanation would have been offered.
+  Had their brother waited for that time, he would have found that his harsh
+  observation might have been withheld. The unfortunate man needed not the
+  champion who had stood so irreverently forward. "I can assure our brother,
+  that there is one who will hear of his innocence with greater joy than any
+  other man may feel for him." But it was his duty to state, and publicly,
+  that there were circumstances connected with this failure, that unfavourably
+  marked it from every other that had taken place amongst them. These must be
+  enquired into. Their brother Stukely had been interrupted in the charge
+  which he was about to make. He repeated that he knew not how far that charge
+  might have been brought home. He would propose now, that two messengers be
+  appointed to wait upon the bankrupt, and to examine thoroughly his affairs,
+  and that, previous to their report, no further proceedings should take
+  place. The purity and disinterestedness of their conduct should be made
+  apparent. Brothers Buster and Tomkins were the gentlemen whom he proposed
+  for the delicate office, with the full assurance that they would execute
+  their commission with Christian charity, tempering justice with heavenly
+  mercy.</p>
+
+  <p>The assembly gave a reluctant consent to this arrangement. "Such things,"
+  it was argued, "were better settled at once; and it would have been far more
+  satisfactory if the bankrupt's matters had been disclosed to the meeting,
+  who had come on purpose to hear them, and had neglected important matters at
+  home, rather than be disappointed." The meeting, however, dissolved with a
+  hymn, sung without spirit or heart. At the close of it, the minister
+  retired. He passed me on his way; looked at me coldly, and I thought a frown
+  had settled on his brow almost in spite of him. I was scarcely in the open
+  street again, before Thompson was at my side, shaking my hand with the
+  greatest heartiness.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well," said he, "I should much sooner have thought of seeing the
+  d&mdash;&mdash;l in that chapel than you, any how. Why, what does it all
+  mean? I thought you were in Brummagem."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! Thompson," I exclaimed sighing, "I wish I were! It is a long
+  history."</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, do let's have it. I <i>am</i> astonished."</p>
+
+  <p>I put him in possession of my doings since we parted at the Bull's Head
+  Inn in Holborn. I had not finished when we arrived at my lodgings. I invited
+  my old friend to supper, and after that meal, he heard the conclusion of the
+  narrative.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well," said he at last, "some people don't believe in sperits. Now I do.
+  I believe that a sperit has brought you and me together again. You've told
+  me a good deal. Now, I'll tell you something. Clayton's an
+  out-and-outer."</p>
+
+  <p>"He's a mysterious and unintelligible being," I exclaimed.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes," answered Thompson, "you were always fond of them fine words.
+  P'raps you mean the same as me after all. What I mean is, that fellow beats
+  all I ever came near. Talk of the Old Un! He's a babby to him."</p>
+
+  <p>"I can believe any thing now," I answered.</p>
+
+  <p>"I don't complain; because I think it serves me right. I did very well at
+  our parish church, and had no business to leave it; and I shouldn't either,
+  if I hadn't been a easy fool all my life. I went on right well there, and
+  understood the clergyman very well, and I should have done to this day, if
+  it hadn't been for my missus; she's always worriting herself about her
+  state, and she happened to hear this Mr Clayton, and nothing would please
+  her but we must join his congregation, the whole biling lot of us, and get
+  elected, as they call it. She said all was cold in the church, and nothing
+  to catch hold on there. I'm blessed if I havn't catched hold of a good deal
+  more than I like in this here chapel. They call one another
+  brothers&mdash;sich brothers I fancy as Cain was to Abel. They are the
+  rummest Christians you ever seed. Just look at the head of them&mdash;that
+  Mr Clayton, rolling in riches"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"In what?" said I, interrupting him. "You mistake. The little that he had
+  is lost."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, don't you be gammoned," was the reply. "What he has lost wont hurt
+  him. He's got enough now to buy this street, out and out. He's the greediest
+  fellow for money this world ever saw."</p>
+
+  <p>"I am puzzled, Thompson," said I.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, perhaps you are, and you'll be more puzzled yet when you know all.
+  Why, what is all this about poor Smith? I knew him before Clayton ever got
+  hold of him, when the chap hadn't a halfpenny to fly with, but was a most
+  ordacious fellow at speculating and inventions, and was always up to
+  something new. One day he had a plan for making moist sugar out of
+  bricks&mdash;then soap out of nothing&mdash;and sweet oil out of stones. At
+  last Clayton hears of him, and hooks him up, gets him to the chapel; first
+  converts him, and then goes partners with him in the
+  spekylations&mdash;let's him have as much money as he asks for, and because
+  soap doesn't come from nothing, and sugar from bricks, and sweet oil from
+  stones, he stops short, sews him up, drives him into the Gazette, and now
+  wants to throw him into the world a beggar, without name and character, and
+  with ten young 'uns hanging about his widowed arm for bread"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, it's dreadful, if it's true," said I; "but if he has robbed the
+  minister, whatever Mr Clayton may be, he ought to be punished."</p>
+
+  <p>"But it isn't true, and there's the villany of it. Smith's a fool; you
+  never see'd a bigger in your life, and though he thinks himself so clever in
+  his inventions and diskiveries, he's as simple as a child in business. Why,
+  he gave three thousand pounds for the machinery wot was to make soap out of
+  nothing; and so all the money's gone. How sich a deep 'un as Clayton ever
+  trusted him, I can't tell. He's wexed with himself now, and wants to have
+  his spite upon his unfortunate tool."</p>
+
+  <p>"I can hardly believe it," said I.</p>
+
+  <p>"No; and do you think I would have believed it the first day as missus
+  made me come to listen to that out and outer? and, do you think if I had
+  known about it, they would ever have lugged me in to be a brother? You shall
+  take a walk with me to-morrow, if you please, and if you don't believe it
+  then of your own accord, why I sha'n't ask you."</p>
+
+  <p>"He has been so kind, so generous to me. He has behaved so unlike a
+  mercenary man."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes; that's just his way. That's what he calls, I suppose, <i>sharpening
+  his tools</i>. He's made up his mind long ago to have out of you all he gave
+  you, and a little more besides. Why, what did you get up for in the chapel?
+  Didn't he say it was to bring a charge against Smith? Why, what do you know
+  of Smith? Can't you see, with half an eye, he's been feeding of you to do
+  his dirty work; and if you had turned out well, wouldn't it have been cheap
+  to him at the price?"</p>
+
+  <p>"What is it," said I, "you propose to do to-morrow?"</p>
+
+  <p>"To take a walk; that's all. Don't ask questions. If you go with me, I'll
+  satisfy your doubts."</p>
+
+  <p>"Surely," said I, "his congregation must have known this; and they would
+  not have permitted him"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah, my dear sir, you don't know human nature. Wait till you have lived
+  as long as I have. Now, there's my wife; she knows as much as I do about the
+  man, and yet I'm blowed if she doesn't seem to like him all the better for
+  it! She calls him a chosen wessel, and only wishes I was half as sure of
+  salvation. As for the congregation, they are a complete set of chosen
+  wessels together, and the more you blow 'em up, the better the wessels like
+  it. If what they call the world didn't speak agin 'em, they'd be afraid they
+  were going wrong. So you never can offend them."</p>
+
+  <p>Thompson continued in the same strain for the rest of the evening,
+  bringing charge after charge against the minister, with the view of proving
+  him to be a hypocrite of the deepest dye. As he had fostered and protected
+  me, Thompson explained that he had previously maintained and trained up
+  Smith, whom he never would have deserted had all his speculations issued
+  favourably. The loss of his money had so enraged him, that his feelings had
+  suddenly taken a different direction, and he would now not stop until he had
+  thoroughly effected the poor man's ruin. He (Thompson) knew Smith well; he
+  had seen his books; and the man was as innocent of fraud as a child unborn.
+  Clayton knew it very well, and the trick of examining the books was all a
+  fudge. "That precious pair of brothers, Bolster and Tomkins, knew very well
+  what they were about, and would make it turn out right for the minister
+  somehow. As for hisself, he stood up for the fellow, because he hadn't
+  another friend in the place. He knew he should be kicked out for his pains,
+  but that would be more agreeable than otherways." From all I gathered from
+  Thompson, it appeared that the pitiable man&mdash;the audacious minister of
+  God&mdash;was the slave of one of the most corroding passions that ever made
+  shipwreck of the heart of man. <i>The love of money</i> absorbed or made
+  subservient every other sentiment. To heap up riches, there was no labour
+  too painful, no means too vicious, no conduct too unjustifiable. The graces
+  of earth, the virtues of heaven, were made to minister to the lust, and to
+  conceal the demon behind the brightness and the beauty of their forms. There
+  is no limit to the moral baseness of the man of avarice. There was none with
+  Mr Clayton. He lived to accumulate. Once let the desire fasten, anchor-like,
+  with heavy iron to the heart, and what becomes of the world's opinion, and
+  the tremendous menaces of heaven? Mr Clayton was a scholar&mdash;a man of
+  refinement, eloquent&mdash;an angel not more winning&mdash;he was
+  self-denying in his appetites, humble, patient&mdash;powerful and beautiful
+  in expression, when the vices of men compelled the unwilling invective.
+  Witness the burst of indignation when he spoke of Emma Harrington, and the
+  race to which it was her misery to belong. He was, to the eyes of men,
+  studious and holy as an anchorite. But better than his own immortal soul, he
+  loved and doated upon <i>gold!</i> That love acknowledged, fed, and
+  gratified, when are its demands appeased?&mdash;when does conscience raise a
+  barrier against its further progress? It is a state difficult to believe.
+  Could I have listened with an ear of credulity to the tale of
+  Thompson&mdash;could I have borne to listen to it with patience, had I not
+  witnessed an act of turpitude that ocular demonstration could only render
+  credible&mdash;had I not been prepared for that act by the tone, the manner,
+  the expressions of the minister, when we passed an hour together, ignorant
+  of each other's presence? It was a dreadful conviction that was forced upon
+  me, and as wonderful as terrible. Self-delusion, for such it was, so perfect
+  and complete, who could conceive&mdash;hypocrisy so super-eminent, who could
+  conjecture! There was something, however, to be disclosed on the succeeding
+  day. Thompson was very mysterious about this. He would give no clue to what
+  he designed. I should judge from what I saw of the truth of his
+  communications. Alas! I had seen enough already to mourn over the most
+  melancholy overthrow that had ever crushed the confidence, and bruised the
+  feelings, of ingenuous youth.</p>
+
+  <p>I passed a restless and unhappy night. Miserable dreams distressed me. I
+  dreamed that I was sentenced to death for perjury&mdash;that the gallows was
+  erected&mdash;and that Buster and Tomkins were my executioners. The latter
+  was cruelly polite and attentive in his demeanour. He put the rope round my
+  neck with an air of cutting civility, and apologized for the whole
+  proceeding. I experienced vividly the moment of being turned off. I suffered
+  the horrors of strangulation. The noose slipped, and I was dangling in the
+  air in excruciating agony, half-dead and half-alive. Buster rushed to the
+  foot of the scaffold, and with Christian charity fastened himself to my
+  legs, and hung there till I had breathed my last. Whilst he was thus
+  suspended, he sang one of his favourite hymns with his own rich and
+  effective nasal vigour. Then I dreamed I was murdering Bunyan Smith in his
+  sleep. Mr Clayton was pushing me forward, and urging a dagger into my hand.
+  Just as I had killed him, I was knocked down by Thompson, and Clayton ran
+  off laughing. Then I woke up, thank Heaven, more frightened than hurt, with
+  every limb in my body sore and aching. Then, instead of going to sleep
+  again, which I could not do, I lay awake, and reflected on what had taken
+  place, and I thought all I had heard against Mr Clayton, and all I had seen
+  in the chapel, was a dream, like the execution and the murder. One thing
+  seemed just as real and as likely as the other. Then I became uneasy in my
+  bed, got up, and walked about the room, and wondered what in the world I
+  should do, if Mr Clayton deprived me of my situation, and I was thrown out
+  of bread again. Then I recollected his many hints concerning fidelity and
+  friendship, and what he had said about my being in no danger, so long as I
+  was faithful, and the rest of it; and then I wished I had thrown myself over
+  Blackfriars' Bridge as I had intended, and so put an end to all the trials
+  that beset my path. But this wish was scarcely felt before it was regretted
+  and checked at once. Mr Clayton had taught me wisdom, which his own bad
+  conduct could not sully or affect. It was not because under the garb of
+  religion he concealed the tainted soul of the hypocrite, that religion was
+  not still an angel of light, of purity, and loveliness. Her consolations
+  were not less sweet&mdash;her promises not less sure. It would have been an
+  unsound logic that should have argued, from the sinfulness of the minister,
+  the falseness of that faith whose simple profession, and nothing more, alas!
+  had been enough to hide foulest deformity. No! the vital spark that Mr
+  Clayton had kindled, burned still steadily and clear. I could still see by
+  its holy light the path of rectitude and duty, and thank God the while, that
+  in the hour of temptation he gave me strength to resist evil, and the
+  faculty of distinguishing aright between <i>the unshaken testimony</i> and
+  <i>the unfaithful witness</i>. I did not, upon reflection, regret that I had
+  not recklessly destroyed myself; but I prayed on my knees for direction and
+  help in the season of difficulty and disappointment through which I was now
+  passing.</p>
+
+  <p>Thompson came early on the following day, punctual to his appointment. He
+  was accompanied by poor Bunyan Smith, and a voluminous statement of his
+  affairs. I looked over them as well as I was able; for the unfortunate man
+  was all excitement, and, faithful to the description of Thompson, sanguine
+  in the extreme. He interrupted me twenty times, and, as every new
+  speculation turned up, had still something to say why it had not succeeded
+  according to his wishes. Although he had failed in every grand experiment,
+  there was not one which would not have realized his hopes a hundredfold, but
+  for the occurrence of some unfortunate event which it was impossible to
+  foresee, but which could not possibly take place again, had he but money to
+  renew his trials. His bankruptcy had not subdued him, nor in the least
+  diminished his belief in the efficacy of his great discoveries. There was
+  certainly no appearance of fraud in the account of his transactions, but it
+  was not Mr Smith's innocence I was anxious to establish. It was the known
+  guilt of Mr Clayton that I would have made any sacrifice to remove.</p>
+
+  <p>It was in the afternoon that Thompson and I were walking along the
+  well-filled pavement of Cheapside, on our way to what he called "the best
+  witness he could bring to speak in favour of all that he had said about the
+  minister." He still persisted in keeping up a mystery in respect of this
+  same witness. "He might be, after all," he said, "mistaken in the thing, and
+  he didn't wish to be made a fool of. I don't expect I shall, but we shall
+  see." We reached Cornhill, and were opposite the Exchange.</p>
+
+  <p>"That's a rum place, isn't?" asked Thompson, looking at the
+  building&mdash;"Have you ever been inside?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Never," I replied.</p>
+
+  <p>"Suppose we just stroll in then? What a row they are kicking up there!
+  And what a crowd! There's hardly room to move."</p>
+
+  <p>The area was, as he said, crowded. There was a loud continued murmur of
+  human voices. Traffic was intense, and had reached what might be supposed
+  its acme. It seemed as if business was undergoing a paroxysm, or fit, rather
+  than pursuing her steady, healthful course. Bodies of men were standing in
+  groups&mdash;some were darting from corner to corner, pen in mouth&mdash;a
+  few were walking leisurely with downcast looks&mdash;others quickly, uneasy
+  and excited. A stout and well-contented gentleman or two leaned against the
+  high pillars of the building, and formed the centre of a human circle, that
+  smiled as he smiled, and stopped when he stopped.</p>
+
+  <p>"Nice place to study in, sir," said Thompson, as we walked along.</p>
+
+  <p>I smiled.</p>
+
+  <p>"I mean it though," said he. "I see a man now that comes here on purpose
+  to study&mdash;as clever a man at his books as ever I saw, and as fine a
+  fellow to talk as you know&mdash;there, just look across the
+  road&mdash;under that pillar&mdash;near the archway. There, just where them
+  two men has left a open space. Tell me, who do you see there, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Why, Mr CLAYTON!" I replied, astonished at the sight.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, and if you'll come here every day of your life, there you'll find
+  him. I've watched him often, since Smith first put me up to his tricks, and
+  I have never missed him. There he is making money, and wearing his soul out
+  because he can't make half enough to satisfy his greedy maw. His
+  covetousness is awful. There's nothing that he doesn't speckylate in;
+  there's hardly a man of business in his congregation that he doesn't, either
+  by himself or others, lend money out at usury. I mean such on 'em as he
+  knows are right; for catch him, if he knows it, trusting the rotten
+  brothers. Smith says he has got something to do with every one of the
+  stocks. I don't know whether that is any thing to eat and drink or not, but
+  I think they call this here bear-garden the Stock Exchange, and here the
+  out-and-outer spends more than half his days." Whilst Thompson spoke, one of
+  the two men, whom I have mentioned as being for many hours together closeted
+  with the minister in his private study, and whom I set down as
+  missionaries&mdash;came up in great haste to Mr Clayton, and communicated to
+  him news, apparently, of importance. The latter immediately produced a
+  pocket-book, in which he wrote a few words with a pencil, and the individual
+  departed. The information, whatever it may have been, had deeply affected
+  the man to whom it had been brought. He did not stand still, as before, but
+  walked nervously about, looked pale, care-worn, and miserably anxious. He
+  referred to his book a dozen times&mdash;restored it frequently to his
+  pocket, and had it out again immediately for surer satisfaction, or for
+  further calculations. In about ten minutes, "<i>the missionary</i>"
+  returned. This time he was the bearer of a better tale. The minister
+  smiled&mdash;his brow expanded, and his eye had the vivacity and fire that
+  belonged to it in the pulpit. Another memorandum was written in the pocket
+  book, and the two gentlemen walked quickly, and side by side, along the
+  covered avenue. I had seen sufficient.</p>
+
+  <p>"Let us go," I said to Thompson.</p>
+
+  <p>"Why, you don't mean to say you have had enough!" returned he; "oh, wait
+  a bit, and see the other boy. They make a precious trio."</p>
+
+  <p>I declined to witness the melancholy spectacle any longer. I was
+  oppressed, grieved, sickened, at the sad presentation of humanity. What an
+  overthrow was this! What a problem in the moral structure of man! I could
+  not understand it. I had no power to enquire into it. Against all
+  preconceived notions of possibility, there existed a palpable fact. What
+  could reason do in a case in which the senses almost refused to acknowledge
+  the evidence which they themselves had produced?</p>
+
+  <p>Thompson was delighted at the result of our "voyage of discovery," and
+  continued to be facetious at the expense of the unhappy minister. I implored
+  him to desist.</p>
+
+  <p>"Say no more, Thompson. This is no subject for laughter. I have suffered
+  much since your brother carried me to Birmingham. This is the hardest blow
+  yet. I believe now that all is a dream. This is not Mr Clayton. It is a
+  cheat of Satan. We are deluded and made fools in the hands of the Wicked
+  One."</p>
+
+  <p>"You'll excuse me, sir," said Thompson, "but if I didn't know you better,
+  I should say, to hear you talk in that uncommonly queer way, that you were
+  as big a wessel as any of 'em. Don't flatter yourself you are dreaming, when
+  you never were wider awake in all your life."</p>
+
+  <p>It is perhaps needless to say, that I had no heart to present myself
+  again before my friend and benefactor&mdash;the once beloved, and still
+  deeply compassionated minister of religion. I pitied him on account of the
+  passion which had overmastered him, and trembled for myself when I
+  contemplated the ruins of such an edifice. But I could visit him no longer.
+  What could I say to him? How should I address him? How could I bear to meet
+  his eye&mdash;I did not hate him sufficiently to inflict upon him the shame
+  and ignominy of meeting mine. I avoided the house of Mr Clayton, and
+  absented myself from his chapel. But I was not content with the first view
+  that had been afforded me at the Exchange. I was unwilling to decide for
+  ever upon the character of my former friend without a complete
+  self-justification. I went again to the house of commerce, and alone. Again
+  I beheld Mr Clayton immersed in the doings of the place. For a week I
+  continued my observation. Proofs of his worldliness and gross hypocrisy came
+  fast and thick upon each other. I no longer doubted the statement of
+  Thompson and the speculator Smith. I resolved upon seeing my preserver no
+  more. I could not think of him without shuddering, and I endeavoured to
+  forget him. One evening, about ten days after the chapel scene, sitting
+  alone in my apartment, I was attracted by a slight movement on the stairs. A
+  moment afterwards there was a knock at my door. The door opened, and Mr
+  Clayton himself walked into the room. I trembled instantly from head to
+  foot. The minister had a serious countenance, and was very placid. He took a
+  chair, and I waited till he spoke.</p>
+
+  <p>"You have not visited me of late, Caleb," he began. "You have surely
+  forgotten me. You have forgotten your promise&mdash;our
+  friendship&mdash;your obligations&mdash;gratitude&mdash;every thing. How is
+  this?"</p>
+
+  <p>Still I did not speak.</p>
+
+  <p>"Tell me," he continued, "who has taught you to become a spy? Who has
+  taught you that it is honourable and just to track the movements and to
+  break upon the privacy of others. I saw you in the Exchange this
+  morning&mdash;I saw you yesterday&mdash;and the day before. Tell me, what
+  took you there?"</p>
+
+  <p>I gave no answer.</p>
+
+  <p>"Your Bible, Caleb, gives no encouragement to the feeling which has
+  prompted you to act thus. You have read the word of truth imperfectly. There
+  is a holiness&mdash;a peculiar sanctity"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"For heaven's sake, Mr Clayton," I cried out, interrupting him, "do not
+  talk so. Do not deceive yourself. Do not attempt to bewilder me. Do not
+  provoke the wrath of heaven. You have been kinder to me than I can express.
+  The recollection of what you have done is ever present to me. Oh, would that
+  I owed you nothing! Would that I could pay you back to the last farthing,
+  and that the past could be obliterated from my mind. I would have parted
+  with my life willingly, gladly, to serve you. Had you been poor, how
+  delightful would it have been to labour for my benefactor! I will not
+  deceive you. I lave learnt every thing. Such miserable knowledge never came
+  to the ears of man, save in those regions where perdition is first made
+  known, and suffered everlastingly. I dare not distrust the evidence of my
+  eyes and ears. The bitterest hour that I have known, was that in which you
+  fell, and I beheld your fall. Whom can I trust now? Whom shall I believe? To
+  whom attach myself? Mr Clayton, it seems incredible to me that I can talk
+  thus to you. It is indeed, and I tremble as I do so. But what is to be done?
+  I can respect you no longer, however my poor heart throbs towards you, and
+  pities"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>I burst into tears.</p>
+
+  <p>"Spare your pity, boy," said Mr Clayton, coldly; "and spare those hollow
+  tears. You acknowledge that there exists a debt between us. Well have you
+  attempted to repay it! Listen to me. I have been your friend. I am willing
+  to remain so. Come to me as before, and you shall find me as I have ever
+  been&mdash;affectionate and kind. Avoid me&mdash;place yourself in the
+  condition of my opponent, and <i>beware</i>. In a moment, by one word, I can
+  throw you back into the slough from whence I dragged you. To-morrow morning,
+  if I so will it, you shall wander forth again, an outcast, depending for
+  your bread upon a roadside charity. It is a dreadful thing to walk a marked
+  and branded man through this cold world; yet it is only for me to say the
+  word, and <i>infamy</i> is attached to your name for ever. And what greater
+  crime exists than black ingratitude? It is our duty to expose and punish it.
+  It is for you to make the choice. If you are wise, you will not hesitate. If
+  Christianity has worked"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Sir, what has <i>Christianity</i> to do with this? Satan must witness
+  the compact that you would have us make. I cannot sell myself?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Your new companions have taught you these fine phrases, Caleb. They will
+  support you, no doubt, and you will remain faithful to them, until a fresh
+  acquaintance shall poison your ear against them, as they have corrupted it
+  to win you from the man whom you have sworn to serve. I have nothing more to
+  say. You promised to be faithful through good report and evil. You have
+  broken your plighted word. I forgive you, if you are sorry for the fault,
+  and my arms are ready to receive you. Punishment shall follow&mdash;strict
+  justice, and no mercy&mdash;if you persist in evil. Within a week present
+  yourself at my abode, and every thing is forgotten and forgiven. I am your
+  friend for ever. Do not come, be obstinate and unyielding, and prepare
+  yourself for misery."</p>
+
+  <p>The minister left me. The week elapsed, and at the end of it, I had not
+  presented myself at his residence. But, in the mean while, I had been active
+  in taking measures for the security of the office which I held, and whose
+  duties I had hitherto performed to the perfect satisfaction of my employers.
+  I had been given to understand that it remained with Mr Bombasty to continue
+  my appointment, or to dismiss me at once; that he was in the hands of Mr
+  Clayton; and that if the latter desired my dismissal, and could bring
+  against me the shadow of a complaint to justify Mr Bombasty in the eye of
+  the Society, nothing could save me from ejection. It was proposed to me by a
+  fellow-servant of the Society, to place myself as soon as possible beyond
+  the reach and influence of Mr Clayton. He advised me to secede at once from
+  the Church, and to attach myself to another, professing the same principles,
+  and like that in connexion with the Society. By this means, Clayton and I
+  would be separated, and his power over me effectually removed. Exclusion was
+  to me starvation, and I eagerly adopted the counsel of my companion. To be,
+  however, in a condition to join another church, it was necessary to procure,
+  either by personal application, or at the instance of the minister of the
+  new church, <i>a letter of dismission</i>, which letter should contain an
+  assurance of the candidate's previous good conduct and present
+  qualification. In my case, the minister himself proposed to apply for my
+  testimonials. He did apply, and at the end of a month, no answer had been
+  returned to his communication. He wrote a second, and the second application
+  met with no greater respect than the first. At length I received a very
+  formal and polite letter from Mr Tomkins, informing me that "a
+  church-meeting had been convened for the purpose of considering the
+  propriety of affording Brother Stukely the opportunity of joining another
+  connexion, by granting him a letter of dismission," and that my presence was
+  requested on that very important occasion.</p>
+
+  <p>If there was one thing upon earth more than another which at this
+  particular time of my life I abominated with unmitigated and ineffable
+  disgust, it was the frequent recurrence of these eternal church-meetings.
+  Nothing, however trifling, could be carried forward without them; no man's
+  affairs, however private and worldly, were too uninteresting for their
+  investigation. My connexion with the church had hardly commenced, before two
+  had taken place, principally on my account, and now a third was proposed in
+  order to enable the minister to write a letter of civility, and to state the
+  simple fact of my having conducted myself with propriety and decorum. Still
+  it was proper that I should attend it; I did so, accompanied by Thompson,
+  and a crowded assembly, as befitted the occasion, welcomed us amoungst them,
+  with many short coughs, and much suppressed hissing. There was the usual
+  routine. The hymn, the portion of Scripture, and the prayer of Brother
+  Buster. In the latter, there were many dark hints that were intended to be
+  appropriate to my case, and were, to all appearance, well understood by the
+  congregation at large. They did not frighten me. I was guilty of no crime
+  against their church. They could bring no charge against me. The prayer
+  concluded, Mr Clayton coldly requested me to retire. I did so. I passed into
+  the vestry, which was separated from the main building by a very thin
+  partition, that enabled me to hear every word spoken in the chapel. Mr
+  Clayton began. He introduced his subject by lamenting, in the most feeling
+  terms, the unhappy state of the brother who had just departed from the
+  congregation&mdash;(the crocodile weeping over the fate of the doomed wretch
+  he was about to destroy!) He had hoped great things of him. He had believed
+  him to be a child of God. It was not for him to judge their brother now; but
+  this was a world of disappointment, and the fairest hopes were blasted, even
+  as the rose withereth beneath the canker. They all knew&mdash;it was not for
+  him to disguise or hide the fact&mdash;that their brother had not realized
+  the ardent expectations that one and all had formed of him. Their brother
+  himself carried about with him this miserable consciousness, and under such
+  circumstances it was that he proposed to withdraw from their communion, and
+  to receive a dismission that should entitle him to a seat elsewhere. It was
+  for them to consider how far they were justified in complying with his
+  request. As for himself, he was sorely distressed in spirit. His carnal
+  heart urged him to listen to the desire of his brother in the flesh, and
+  that heart warred with his spiritual conviction. To be charitable was one
+  thing, to involve one's self in guilt, to encourage sinfulness, and to
+  reward backsliding&mdash;oh, surely, this was another! He had no right in
+  his high capacity to indulge a personal affection. It was his glory that he
+  could sacrifice it at the call of duty. Accordingly, in the answer to the
+  application that he had received, he had humbly attempted rather to embody
+  the views of the church, than the suggestions of his own weak bosom. That
+  answer he would now submit to them, and their voice must pronounce upon its
+  justice. He did not fear for them. They were highly privileged; they had
+  been wonderfully directed hitherto, and they would, adorned as they were
+  with humility and faith, be directed even unto the end.</p>
+
+  <p>"Ha-men," responded Buster very audibly, and the minister forthwith
+  proceeded to his letter.</p>
+
+  <p>It was my honour to be represented in it as a person but too likely to
+  disturb the peace of any church; whose conduct, however exemplary on my
+  first joining the congregation, had lately been such as to give great reason
+  to fear that I had been suddenly deprived of all godliness and grace; who
+  had caused the brethren great pain; and whom recent circumstances had
+  especially rendered an object of suspicion and alarm. There was much more to
+  the same effect. There was no distinct charge&mdash;nothing tangible, or of
+  which I could defy them to the proof. All was dark doubt and murderous
+  innuendo. There was nothing for which I could claim relief from the laws of
+  my country&mdash;more than enough to complete my ruin. I burned with anger
+  and indignation; forgot every thing but the cold-blooded designs of the
+  minister; and, stung to action by the imminent danger in which I stood, I
+  rushed at once from the vestry into the midst of the congregation. Thompson
+  was already on his legs, and had ventured something on my behalf, which had
+  been drowned in loud and universal clamour. Silence was, in measure,
+  restored by my appearance, and I took the opportunity to demand from the
+  minister a reperusal of the letter that had just been read.</p>
+
+  <p>He scowled upon me with a natural hate, and refused to comply with my
+  request.</p>
+
+  <p>"What!" I asked aloud, "am I denied the privilege that is extended to the
+  vilest of his species? Will you condemn me unheard? Accuse me in my
+  absence&mdash;keep me in ignorance of my charge&mdash;and stab me in the
+  dark?"</p>
+
+  <p>I received no answer, and then I turned to the congregation. I implored
+  them&mdash;little knowing the men to whom I trusted my appeal&mdash;to save
+  me from the persecution of a man who had resolved upon my downfall. "I asked
+  nothing from them, from him, but the liberty of gaining, by daily labour, an
+  honourable subsistence. Would they deny it me?"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>I was interrupted by groans and hisses, and loud cries of "Yes, yes,"
+  from Brother Buster.</p>
+
+  <p>I addressed the minister again.</p>
+
+  <p>"Mr Clayton," said I, "beware how you tread me down. Beware how you drive
+  me to desperation. Cruel, heartless man! What have I done that you should
+  follow me with this relentless spite? Can you sleep? Can you walk and live
+  without the fear of a punishment adequate to your offence? Let me go. Be
+  satisfied that I possess the power of exposing unheard-of turpitude and
+  hypocrisy, and that I refrain from using it. Dismiss me; let me leave your
+  sight for ever, and you are safe&mdash;for me."</p>
+
+  <p>"Viper!" exclaimed the minister rising in his seat, "whom I have warmed
+  and nourished in my bosom; viper! whom I took to my hearth, and kept there
+  till the returning sense of life gave vigour to your blood, and fresh venom
+  to your sting! Is it thus you pay me back for food and raiment&mdash;thus
+  you heap upon me the expressions of a glowing gratitude!&mdash;with threats
+  and deadly accusations? Spit forth your malice! Pile up falsehoods to the
+  skies!&mdash;WHO WILL BELIEVE THE TALE OF PROBABILITY? Brethren! behold the
+  man whose cause I pleaded with you&mdash;for whom my feelings had well-nigh
+  mastered my better judgment. Behold him, and learn how hard it is to pierce
+  the stony heart of him whose youth has passed in dissolute living, and in
+  adultery. Shall I approach thy ear with the voice of her who cries from the
+  grave for justice on her seducer? Look, my beloved, on the man whom I found
+  discarded by mankind, friendless and naked whom I clothed and fostered, and
+  whom I brought in confidence amongst you. Look at him, and oh, be
+  warned!"</p>
+
+  <p>The hissing and groaning were redoubled. Thompson rose a dozen times to
+  speak, but a volley assailed him on each occasion, and he was obliged to
+  resume his seat. He grew irritated and violent, and at length, when the
+  public disapprobation had reached its height, and for the twenty and first
+  time had cut short his address almost before he spoke, unable to contain
+  himself any longer, he uttered at the top of his stentorian voice a fearful
+  imprecation, and recommended to the care of a gentleman who had more to do
+  with that society than was generally supposed&mdash;Mr Clayton, and every
+  individual brother in the congregation.</p>
+
+  <p>Jabez Buster, after looking to the ceiling, and satisfying himself that
+  it had not fallen in, rose, dreadfully distressed.</p>
+
+  <p>"He had lived," he said, "to see sich sights, and hear sich language as
+  had made his nature groan within him. He could only compare their beloved
+  minister to one of them there ancient martyrs who had died for
+  conscience-sake before Smithfield was a cattle market; but he hoped he would
+  have strength for the conflict, and that the congregation would help him to
+  fight the good fight. He called upon 'em all now to do their duty, to
+  exclude and excommunicate for ever the unrighteous brethren&mdash;and to
+  make them over to Satan without further delay."</p>
+
+  <p>The shout with which the proposition was received, decided the fate of
+  poor Thompson and myself. It was hardly submitted, before it was carried
+  <i>nemine contradicente</i>; and immediately afterwards, Thompson buttoned
+  his coat in disgust, and was hooted out of the assembly. I followed him.</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s4" id="bw327s4"></a>IMAGINARY CONVERSATION.</h2>
+
+  <h3>BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.</h3>
+
+  <h3>TASSO AND CORNELIA.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;She is dead, Cornelia&mdash;she is dead!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Torquato! my Torquato! after so many years of
+  separation do I bend once more your beloved head to my embrace?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;She is dead!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Tenderest of brothers! bravest and best and most
+  unfortunate of men! What, in the name of heaven! so bewilders you?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Sister! sister! sister! I could not save her.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Certainly it was a sad event; and they who are out
+  of spirits may be ready to take it for an evil omen. At this season of the
+  year the vintagers are joyous and negligent.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;How! what is this?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;The little girl was crushed, they say, by a wheel
+  of the car laden with grapes, as she held out a handful of vine-leaves to
+  one of the oxen. And did you happen to be there just at the moment?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;So then the little too can suffer! the ignorant, the
+  indigent, the unaspiring! Poor child! She was kind-hearted; else never would
+  calamity have befallen her.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;I wish you had not seen the accident.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;I see it? I? I saw it not. There is but one crushed
+  where I am. The little girl died for her kindness!&mdash;natural death!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Be calm, be composed, my brother!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;You would not require me to be composed or calm if
+  you comprehended a thousandth part of my sufferings.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Peace! peace! we know them all.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Who has dared to name them? Imprisonment, derision,
+  madness.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Hush! sweet Torquato! If ever these existed, they
+  are past.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;You do think they are sufferings? ay?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Too surely.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;No, not too surely: I will not have that answer. They
+  would have been; but Leonora was then living. Unmanly as I am! did I
+  complain of them? and while she was left me?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;My own Torquato! is there no comfort in a sister's
+  love? Is there no happiness but under the passions? Think, O my brother, how
+  many courts there are in Italy; are the princes more fortunate than you?
+  Which among them all loves truly, deeply, and virtuously? Among them all is
+  there any one, for his genius, for his generosity, for his gentleness, ay,
+  or for his mere humanity, worthy to be beloved?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Princes! talk to me of princes! How much
+  coarse-grained wood a little gypsum covers! a little carmine quite
+  beautifies! Wet your forefinger with your spittle; stick a broken gold-leaf
+  on the sinciput; clip off a beggar's beard to make it tresses, kiss it; fall
+  down before it; worship it. Are you not irradiated by the light of its
+  countenance? Princes! princes! Italian princes! Estes! What matters that
+  costly carrion? Who thinks about it? (<i>After a pause</i>.) She is dead!
+  She is dead!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;We have not heard it here.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;At Sorrento you hear nothing but the light surges of
+  the sea, and the sweet sprinkles of the guitar.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Suppose the worst to be true.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Always, always.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;If she ceases, as then perhaps she must, to love
+  and to lament you, think gratefully, contentedly, devoutly, that her arms
+  had encircled your neck before they were crossed upon her bosom, in that
+  long sleep which you have rendered placid, and from which your harmonious
+  voice shall once more awaken her. Yes, Torquato! her bosom had throbbed to
+  yours, often and often, before the organ-peel shook the fringes round the
+  catafalc. Is not this much, from one so high, so beautiful?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Much? yes; for abject me. But I did so love her! so
+  love her!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Ah! let the tears flow: she sends thee that balm
+  from heaven.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;So loved her did poor Tasso! Else, O Cornelia, it had
+  indeed been much. I thought in the simplicity of my heart that God was as
+  great as an emperor, and could bestow, and had bestowed on me as much as the
+  German had conferred, or could confer on his vassal. No part of my insanity
+  was ever held in such ridicule as this. And yet the idea cleaves to me
+  strangely, and is liable to stick to my shroud.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Woe betide the woman who bids you to forget that
+  woman who has loved you: she sins against her sex. Leonora was unblameable.
+  Never think ill of her for what you have suffered.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Think ill of her? I? I? I? No; those we love, we love
+  for every thing; even for the pain they have given us. But she gave me none:
+  it was where she was not, that pain was.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Surely, if love and sorrow are destined for
+  companionship, there is no reason why the last comer of the two should
+  supersede the first.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Argue with me, and you drive me into darkness. I am
+  easily persuaded and led on while no reasons are thrown before me. With
+  these, you have made my temples throb again. Just heaven! dost thou grant us
+  fairer fields, and wider, for the whirlwind to lay waste? Dost thou build us
+  up habitations above the street, above the palace, above the citadel, for
+  the Plague to enter and carouse in? Has not my youth paid its dues, paid its
+  penalties? Cannot our griefs come first, while we have strength to bear
+  them? The fool! the fool! who thinks it a misfortune that his love is
+  unrequited. Happier young man! look at the violets until thou drop asleep on
+  them. Ah! but thou must wake!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;O heavens! what must you have suffered. For a
+  man's heart is sensitive in proportion to its greatness.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;And a woman's?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Alas! I know not; but I think it can have no
+  other. Comfort thee&mdash;comfort thee, dear Torquato!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Then do not rest thy face upon my arm; it so reminds
+  me of her. And thy tears, too! they melt me into her grave.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Hear you not her voice as it appeals to you:
+  saying to you as the priests around have been saying to <i>her</i>, Blessed
+  soul! rest in peace?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;I heard it not; and yet I am sure she said it. A
+  thousand times has she repeated it, laying her hand on my heart to quiet
+  it&mdash;simple girl! She told it to rest in peace, and she went from me!
+  Insatiable love! ever self-torturer, never self-destroyer! the world, with
+  all its weight of miseries, cannot crush thee, cannot keep thee down.
+  Generally mens' tears, like the droppings of certain springs, only harden
+  and petrify what they fall on; but mine sank deep into a tender heart, and
+  were its very blood. Never will I believe she has left me utterly.
+  Oftentimes, and long before her departure, I fancied we were in heaven
+  together. I fancied it in the fields, in the gardens, in the palace, in the
+  prison. I fancied it in the broad daylight, when my eyes were open, when
+  blessed spirits drew around me that golden circle which one only of earth's
+  inhabitants could enter. Oftentimes in my sleep also I fancied it&mdash;and
+  sometimes in the intermediate state&mdash;in that serenity which breathes
+  about the transported soul, enjoying its pure and perfect rest, a span below
+  the feet of the Immortal.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;She has not left you; do not disturb her peace by
+  these repinings.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;She will bear with them. Thou knowest not what she
+  was, Cornelia; for I wrote to thee about her while she seemed but human. In
+  my hours of sadness, not only her beautiful form, but her very voice bent
+  over me. How girlish in the gracefulness of her lofty form! how pliable in
+  her majesty! what composure at my petulance and reproaches! what pity in her
+  reproofs! Like the air that angels breathe in the metropolitan temple of the
+  Christian world, her soul at every season preserved one temperature. But it
+  was when she could and did love me! Unchanged must ever be the blessed one
+  who has leaned in fond security on the unchangeable. The purifying flame
+  shoots upward, and is the glory that encircles their brows when they meet
+  above.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Indulge in these delightful thoughts, my Torquato!
+  and believe that your love is and ought to be imperishable as your glory.
+  Generations of men move forward in endless procession to consecrate and
+  commemorate both. Colour-grinders and gilders, year after year, are
+  bargained with to refresh the crumbling monuments and tarnished decorations
+  of rude unregarded royalty, and to fasten the nails that cramp the crown
+  upon the head. Meanwhile, in the laurels of my Torquato, there will always
+  be one leaf, above man's reach, above time's wrath and injury, inscribed
+  with the name of Leonora.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;O Jerusalem! I have not then sung in vain the Holy
+  Sepulchre.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;After such devotion of your genius, you have
+  undergone too many misfortunes.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Congratulate the man who has had many, and may have
+  more. I have had, I have, I can have&mdash;one only.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Life runs not smoothly at all seasons, even with
+  the happiest; but after a long course, the rocks subside, the views widen,
+  and it flows on more equably at the end.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Have the stars smooth surfaces? No, no; but how they
+  shine!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Capable of thoughts so exalted, so far above the
+  earth we dwell on, why suffer any to depress and anguish you?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Cornelia, Cornelia! the mind has within it temples,
+  and porticoes, and palaces, and towers: the mind has under it, ready for the
+  course, steeds brighter than the sun, and stronger than the storm; and
+  beside them stand winged chariots, more in number than the Psalmist hath
+  attributed to the Almighty. The mind, I tell thee again, hath its hundred
+  gates, compared whereto the Theban are but willow wickets; and all those
+  hundred gates can genius throw open. But there are some that groan heavily
+  on their hinges, and the hand of God alone can close them.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Torquato has thrown open those of his holy temple;
+  Torquato hath stood, another angel, at his tomb; and am I the sister of
+  Torquato? Kiss me, my brother, and let my tears run only from my pride and
+  joy! Princes have bestowed knighthood on the worthy and unworthy; thou hast
+  called forth those princes from their ranks, pushing back the arrogant and
+  presumptuous of them like intrusive varlets, and conferring on the
+  bettermost crowns and robes, imperishable and unfading.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;I seem to live back into those days. I feel the
+  helmet on my head; I wave the standard over it; brave men smile upon me;
+  beautiful maidens pull them gently back by the scarf, and will not let them
+  break my slumber, nor undraw the curtain. Corneliolina!&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Well, my dear brother! Why do you stop so suddenly
+  in the midst of them? They are the pleasantest and best company, and they
+  make you look quite happy and joyous.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Corneliolina, dost thou remember Bergamo? What city
+  was ever so celebrated for honest and valiant men, in all classes, or for
+  beautiful girls? There is but one class of those: Beauty is above all ranks;
+  the true Madonna, the patroness and bestower of felicity, the queen of
+  heaven.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Hush, Torquato, hush! talk not so.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;What rivers, how sunshiny and revelling, are the
+  Brembo and the Serio! What a country the Valtellina! I went back to our
+  father's house, thinking to find thee again, my little sister&mdash;thinking
+  to kick away thy ball of yellow silk as thou went stooping for it, to make
+  thee run after me and beat me. I woke early in the morning; thou wert grown
+  up and gone. Away to Sorrento&mdash;I knew the road&mdash;a few strides
+  brought me back&mdash;here I am. To-morrow, my Cornelia, we will walk
+  together, as we used to do, into the cool and quiet caves on the shore; and
+  we will catch the little breezes as they come in and go out again on the
+  backs of the jocund waves.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;We will, indeed, to-morrow; but before we set out
+  we must take a few hours' rest, that we may enjoy our ramble the better.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Our Sorrentines, I see, are grown rich and
+  avaricious. They have uprooted the old pomegranate hedges, and have built
+  high walls to prohibit the wayfarer from their vineyards.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;I have a basket of grapes for you in the bookroom
+  that overlooks our garden.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Does the old twisted sage-tree grow still against the
+  window?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;It harboured too many insects at last, and there
+  was always a nest of scorpions in the crevice.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;O! what a prince of a sage-tree! And the well too,
+  with its bucket of shining metal, large enough for the largest
+  cocomero<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> to cool in it for dinner!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;The well, I assure you, is as cool as ever.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Delicious! delicious! And the stone-work round it,
+  bearing no other marks of waste than my pruning-hook and dagger left
+  behind?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;None whatever.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;White in that place no longer? There has been time
+  enough for it to become all of one colour; grey, mossy, half-decayed.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;No, no; not even the rope has wanted repair.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Who sings yonder?</p>
+
+  <p>Cornelia.&mdash;Enchanter! No sooner did you say the word
+  <i>cocomero</i>, than here comes a boy carrying one upon his head.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Listen! listen! I have read in some book or other
+  those verses long ago. They are not unlike my <i>Aminta</i>. The very
+  words!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Purifier of love, and humanizer of ferocity! how
+  many, my Torquato, will your gentle thoughts make happy!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;At this moment I almost think I am one among
+  them.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Be quite persuaded of it. Come, brother, come with
+  me. You shall bathe your heated brow and weary limbs in the chamber of your
+  boyhood. It is there we are always the most certain of repose. The child
+  shall sing to you those sweet verses; and we will reward him with a slice of
+  his own fruit.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;He deserves it; cut it thick.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Come then, my truant! Come along, my sweet smiling
+  Torquato!</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;The passage is darker than ever. Is this the way to
+  the little court? Surely those are not the steps that lead down toward the
+  bath? Oh yes! we are right; I smell the lemon-blossoms. Beware of the old
+  wilding that bears them; it may catch your veil; it may scratch your
+  fingers! Pray, take care: it has many thorns about it. And now, Leonora! you
+  shall hear my last verses! Lean your ear a little toward me; for I must
+  repeat them softly under this low archway, else others may hear them too.
+  Ah! you press my hand once more. Drop it, drop it! or the verses will sink
+  into my breast again, and lie there silent! Good girl!</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>Many, well I know, there are</p>
+
+    <p>Ready in your joys to share,</p>
+
+    <p>And (I never blame it) you</p>
+
+    <p>Are almost as ready too.</p>
+
+    <p>But when comes the darker day,</p>
+
+    <p>And those friends have dropt away;</p>
+
+    <p>Which is there among them all</p>
+
+    <p>You should, if you could, recall?</p>
+
+    <p>One who wisely loves, and well,</p>
+
+    <p>Hears and shares the griefs you tell;</p>
+
+    <p>Him you ever call apart</p>
+
+    <p>When the springs o'erflow the heart;</p>
+
+    <p>For you know that he alone</p>
+
+    <p>Wishes they were <i>but</i> his own.</p>
+
+    <p>Give, while these he may divide,</p>
+
+    <p>Smiles to all the world beside.</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;We are now in the full light of the chamber:
+  cannot you remember it, having looked so intently all around?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;O sister! I could have slept another hour. You
+  thought I wanted rest: why did you waken me so early? I could have slept
+  another hour, or longer. What a dream! But I am calm and happy.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;May you never more be otherwise! Indeed, he cannot
+  be whose last verses are such as those.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Have you written any since that morning?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;What morning?</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;When you caught the swallow in my curtains, and trod
+  upon my knees in catching it, luckily with naked feet. The little girl of
+  thirteen laughed at the outcry of her brother Torquatino, and sang without a
+  blush her earliest lay.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;I do not recollect it.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;I do.</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>Rondinello! rondinello!</p>
+
+    <p>Tu sei nero, ma sei bello.</p>
+
+    <p>Cosa f&agrave; se tu sei nero?</p>
+
+    <p>Rondinello! sei il premiero</p>
+
+    <p>De' volanti, palpitanti</p>
+
+    <p>(E vi sono quanti quanti!)</p>
+
+    <p>Mai tenuto a questo petto,</p>
+
+    <p>E percio sei il mio diletto.<a id="footnotetag11" name=
+    "footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p><i>Cornelia</i>.&mdash;Here is the cocomero; it cannot be more insipid.
+  Try it.</p>
+
+  <p><i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;Where is the boy who brought it? where is the boy who
+  sang my Aminta? Serve him first; give him largely. Cut deeper; the knife is
+  too short: deeper, mia brave Corneliolina! quite through all the red, and
+  into the middle of the seeds. Well done!</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s5" id="bw327s5"></a>THE WORLD OF LONDON. SECOND
+  SERIES.</h2>
+
+  <h3>PART I.</h3>
+
+  <h3>ARISTOCRACIES OF LONDON LIFE.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <h3>OF ARISTOCRACIES IN GENERAL.</h3>
+
+  <p>The cumulative or aggregative property of wealth and power, and in a less
+  degree of knowledge also, make up in time a consolidation of these elements
+  in the hands of particular classes, which, for our present purposes, we
+  choose to term an aristocracy of birth, wealth, knowledge, or power, as the
+  case nay be. The word aristocracy, distinctive of these particular classes,
+  we use in a conventional sense only, and beg leave to protest, <i>in
+  limine</i>, against any other acceptation of the term. We use the word,
+  because it is popularly comprehensive; the <span class="greek" title=
+  "hoi aristoi">&omicron;&iota;
+  &alpha;&rho;&iota;&sigma;&tau;&omicron;&iota;,</span> distinguished from the
+  <span class="greek" title="hoi polloi">&omicron;&iota;
+  &pi;&omicron;&lambda;&lambda;&omicron;&iota;</span> : "good men," as is the
+  value of goodness in the city; "the great," as they are understood by
+  penners of fashionable novels; "talented," or "a genius," as we say in the
+  <i>coteries</i>; but not a word, mark you, of the abstract value of these
+  signs&mdash;their positive significations; good may be bad, great mean,
+  talented or a genius, ignorant or a puppy. We have nothing to do with that;
+  these are thy terms, our Public; thou art responsible for the use made of
+  them. Thou it is who tellest us that the sun rises and sets, (which it does
+  not,) and talkest of the good and great, without knowing whether they are
+  great and good, or no. Our business is to borrow your recognized
+  improprieties of speech, only so far as they will assist us in making
+  ourselves understood.</p>
+
+  <p>When Archimedes, or some other gentleman, said that he could unfix the
+  earth had he a point of resistance for his lever, he illustrated, by a
+  hypothesis of physics, the law of the generation of aristocracies.
+  Aristocracies begin by having a leg to stand on, or by getting a finger in
+  the pie. The multitude, on the contrary, never have any thing, because they
+  never <i>had</i> any thing, they want the <i>point d'oppui</i>, the
+  springing-ground whence to jump above their condition, where, transformed by
+  the gilded rays of wealth or power, discarding their several skins or
+  sloughs, they sport and flutter, like lesser insects, in the sunny beams of
+  aristocratic life.</p>
+
+  <p>Indeed, we have often thought that the transformation of the insect
+  tribes was intended, by a wise Omnipotence, as an illustration (for our own
+  benefit) of the rise and progress of the mere aristocracy of fashionable
+  life.</p>
+
+  <p>The first condition of existence of these diminutive creatures, is the
+  egg, or <i>embryo</i> state; this the anxious parent attaches firmly to some
+  leaf or bough, capable of affording sufficient sustenance to the future
+  grub, who, in due course, eats his way through the vegetable kingdom upon
+  which he is quartered, for no merit or exertion of his own; and where his
+  career is only to be noted by the ravages of his insatiable jaws. After a
+  brief period of lethargy or <i>pupa</i> state, this good-for-nothing
+  creature flutters forth, powdered, painted, perfumed, scorning the dirt from
+  which he sprung, and leading a life of uselessness and vanity, until death,
+  in the shape of an autumnal shower, prostrates himself and his finery in the
+  dust.</p>
+
+  <p>How beautiful and how complete is the analogy between the insect and his
+  brother butterfly of fashionable life! While yet an <i>embryo</i>, a worm,
+  he <i>grubs</i> his way through a good estate, and not a little ready money.
+  Then, after a long sojourn in the <i>pupa</i> or <i>puppy</i>
+  state&mdash;longer far than that of any other maggot&mdash;he emerges a
+  perfect butterfly, vain, empty, fluttering, and conceited, idling, flirting,
+  flaunting, philandering, until the summer of his <i>ton</i> is past, when he
+  dies, or is arrested, and expiates a life of puerile vanity in Purgatory or
+  the Queen's Bench.</p>
+
+  <p>Let the beginning once be made&mdash;the point of extreme depression once
+  be got over: the cares of the daily recurring poor necessities of
+  life&mdash;shelter, clothing, food, be of no moment: let a man taste, though
+  it were next to nothing, of the delicious luxury of accumulation, let him,
+  with every hoarded shilling, or half-crown, or pound, carry his head higher,
+  smiling in secret at the world and his friends, and the aristocrat of wealth
+  is formed: he is removed for ever from the hand-to-mouth family of man, and
+  thenceforth represents his breeches pocket.</p>
+
+  <p>It is the same with the aristocrat of birth: some fortunate
+  accident&mdash;some well-aimed and successful stroke of profligacy, or more
+  rarely of virtue, redeems an individual from the common herd: the rays,
+  mayhap, of royal favour fall upon him, and he begins to bloat; his growth is
+  as the growth of the grain of mustard-seed, and in a little while he
+  overshadoweth the land: Noble and Right Honourable are his posterity to the
+  end of time.</p>
+
+  <p>There is a poor lad sitting biting his nails till he bites them to the
+  quick, wearing out his heart-strings in constrained silence on the back
+  benches of Westminster Hall: he maketh speeches, eloquent, inwardly, and
+  briefless, mutely bothereth judges, and seduceth innocent juries to his
+  <i>No</i>-side: he findeth out mistakes in his learned brethren, and
+  chuckleth secretly therefor: he scratcheth his wig with a pen, and thinketh
+  by what train of circumstantial evidence he may be able to prove a dinner:
+  he laugheth derisively at the income-tax, and the collectors thereof: yet,
+  when he may not have even a "little brown" to fly with, haply, some good
+  angel, in mortal shape of a solicitor, may bestow on him a brief: rushing
+  home to his chambers in the Temple, he mastereth the points of the case,
+  cogitating <i>pros</i> and <i>cons</i>: he heareth his own voice in court
+  for the first time: the bottled black-letter of years falleth from his lips,
+  like treacle from a pipkin: he maketh good his points, winneth the verdict
+  and the commendations of the judge: solicitors whisper that there is
+  something in him, and clerks express their conviction that he is a "trump:"
+  the young man eloquent is rewarded in one hour for the toil, rust, and
+  enforced obscurity of years: he is no longer a common soldier of the bar; he
+  steppeth by right divine, forth of the ranks, and becometh a man of mark and
+  likelihood: he is now an aristocrat of the bar&mdash;perhaps, a
+  Lyndhurst.</p>
+
+  <p>Again, behold the future aristocrat of literary life: to-day regard him
+  in a suit of rusty black, a twice-turned stock, and shirt of Isabella
+  colour, with an affecting hat: in and out of every bookseller's in the Row
+  is he, like a dog in a fair: a brown paper parcel he putteth into your hand,
+  the which, before he openeth, he demands how much cash down you mean to give
+  for it: then, having unfolded the same, giveth you to understand that it is
+  such a work as is not to be seen every day, which you may safely swear to.
+  He journeyeth from the east to the west, from the rising of the sun to the
+  setting thereof, manuscript in hand: from Leadenhall Street, where Minerva
+  has her press, to the street hight Albemarle, which John Murray delighteth
+  to honour, but to no purpose: his name is unknown, and his works are nothing
+  worth. Let him once make a <i>hit,</i> as it is termed, and it is no longer
+  hit or miss with him: he getteth a reputation, and he lieth in bed all day:
+  he shaketh the alphabet in a bag, calling it his last new work, and it goeth
+  through three editions in as many days: he lordeth it over "the trade," and
+  will let nobody have any profit but himself: he turneth up his nose at the
+  man who invites him to a plain dinner, and utterly refuseth evening parties:
+  he holdeth <i>conversaziones</i>, where he talks you dead: he driveth a
+  chay, taketh a whole house, sporteth a wife and a minute tiger: in brief, he
+  is now an aristocrat of letters.</p>
+
+  <p>The materials for the growth and preservation of these several
+  aristocracies abound in London; and no where on the earth have we the same
+  facilities for the study and investigation of their family likenesses and
+  contrasts, their points of contact and repulsion.</p>
+
+  <h3>THE ARISTOCRACY OF FASHION.</h3>
+
+  <p>Approach, reader, but <i>awful</i>, as Pope says&mdash;approach "with
+  mincing steps and bow profound;" we are about to introduce you to persons of
+  quality.</p>
+
+  <p>It is an extraordinary fact, illustrative how far the ignorance of a
+  discerning public will carry those who make a living by practising upon
+  their credulity, that notwithstanding there is an immense number of books
+  annually presented to the do-nothing world, under the curiosity-provoking
+  title of fashionable novels, we have hardly more than one or two generally
+  recognised true and faithful pictures of really fashionable life. The
+  caricatures of caricatures of this Elysian state are
+  numberless&mdash;imagination has been exhausted, sense confounded, grammar
+  put on the rack, the "well of English undefiled" stirred up from the very
+  dregs, to give the excluded pictures of the life of the
+  exclusives&mdash;yet, what have we? You will excuse us, reader, disturbing
+  the current of our thoughts, by recollecting any of this forty novel-power
+  of inanity, vulgarity, and pertness; but if you take up any of the many
+  volumes in marbled boards, with calf backs, that you will find in cart-loads
+  at the circulating libraries, and look over a page of the fashionable
+  "<i>lingo</i>" the Lord Jacob talks to the Lady Suky, or the conversation
+  between Sir Silly Billy and the Honourable Snuffy Duffy; or what the Duke of
+  Dabchick thinks of the Princess Molly; and when you are satisfied, which we
+  take it will be in the course of two pages, if you do not throw down the
+  book, and swear by the Lord Harry&mdash;why then, read on and be jolly!</p>
+
+  <p>The indescribable absurdities, vices, and follies of the bulk of that
+  class of literature called the fashionable novel, are past the power of
+  catalogue-makers to record; but perhaps overwhelming ignorance of the
+  peculiar class they pretend to describe is not the least conspicuous. Next
+  to lack of knowledge, or sound materials deduced from actual observation, we
+  may place want of taste. There are writers to write the exclusives up, and
+  writers to write them down; one raises our envy, and makes us miserable,
+  because we are not permitted to enter their paradise of social life; another
+  devotes three volumes post octavo, in exemplification of the not altogether
+  forgotten moral fiction of the fox and the sour grapes.</p>
+
+  <p>The writers of fashionable novels may be divided, as to their social
+  positions, into the tolerated fashionable novel writers, and the intolerable
+  fashionable novel writers; the first, moving in phases more or less
+  equivocal round their centre and their deity, the exclusive set; the last,
+  desperate from the fact of their total and permanent exclusion from society,
+  but still moving round the outside of the boundary wall, and peeping through
+  chinks in the palings. From the former we have the eulogistic, from the
+  latter the depreciatory fashionable novels; these make us familiar with the
+  celestial attributes of countesses-dowager, and the amiability of their
+  pugs. They are slavering, servile, self-degrading productions, and only
+  serve the exclusives as provocatives to laughter; they are usually written
+  by tutors, ladies who have married tutors, or superannuated governesses,
+  patronized by some charitable member of some distinguished family.</p>
+
+  <p>The depreciatory or vilificatory fashionable novel delights in exposing
+  the peccadilloes, or imagined peccadilloes, (for it is all the same,) of
+  young or old people of fashion: a <i>gourmand</i> peer, a titled demirep, a
+  "desperate dandy," a black-leg, and a few such other respectable characters,
+  are dialogued through the customary number of chapters, and conducted to the
+  usual catastrophe: virtue is triumphant, vice abashed, towards the latter
+  end of the last volume; and some low-born hero and heroine, introduced to
+  exhibit, by contrast, the vices of the aristocracy, suddenly, and without
+  any effort of their own, acquire large fortunes, perhaps titles, which it
+  would have been just as easy to have given them at first&mdash;go to church
+  in an orthodox manner, and set up a virtuous aristocracy of their own.</p>
+
+  <p>We are indebted for this class of fashionable novel to outlaws of both
+  sexes; persons who might have held, but for their own misconduct,
+  respectable positions in society; persons of this sort have the impudence,
+  with their no-characters staring them in the face, to set up as public
+  instructors, and to give us ensamples, drawn from their own perverted
+  imaginations, of a class of which they might have known something, but which
+  it is now past human possibility they can ever know.</p>
+
+  <p>These people are not merely not in society&mdash;which implies no
+  crime&mdash;but they are, notwithstanding their nominal rank or title,
+  <i>out</i> of society, for reasons well and thoroughly known: they are those
+  not merely who cannot come in, but those who, if they did intrude, would be
+  immediately turned out.</p>
+
+  <p>Next, ascending from this equivocal class, we have the fashionable novel
+  writers of fashionable life. I do not mean exclusive fashionable life, for
+  there are no writers of these works in that class; but I allude to those who
+  mingle with general fashionable society upon such terms, that if they
+  possessed the talent, they might have supplied with ease the want of which
+  the world complains&mdash;that of a just and natural picture of the lives of
+  those forming the Corinthian capital of society in London.</p>
+
+  <p>Take, for example, a noble and late viceregal lord and his brother, the
+  Honourable Edmund Phipps. These gentlemen have written fashionable novels,
+  and ought to have written good ones; yet we don't know how it is, but
+  whenever we send to a circulating library to enquire whether they have "YES
+  AND NO," the noes have it; and when we venture to ask for the "FERGUSONS,"
+  we find that the three post octavo gentlemen of that title not only do not
+  lodge here or there, but that they don't lodge <i>any where</i>.</p>
+
+  <p>The fact is, opportunity of observation will do little or nothing without
+  <i>faculty</i> of observation: though the whole social world, old or new,
+  lay bare under the eyes of some men, not one idea could they extract from
+  it; and who, wanting also the descriptive power, still more rare, fail in
+  any attempt to give to the world the results of their experience.</p>
+
+  <p>Of this class is the larger number of writers of the better sort, in the
+  line we are talking of: they go into society as they go to galleries, not to
+  copy pictures, but to enjoy them. They enter into the amusements and
+  dissipation of their class, not to look on merely, but to play the game.</p>
+
+  <p>In addition to all this, there is a point of honour involved, we think an
+  erroneous one, among persons of quality, as to violating the freemasonry,
+  the signs, ceremonies, and absurdities, of their privacy. Now, this applies
+  only so far as individuals are indicated, and it is so far right. But
+  fashionable classes are fair game, if not shot at sitting; or poached, or
+  snared, or bagged, in any ungentlemanlike, unsportsmanlike fashion. They
+  belong to human character, and human nature; and the reason they have seldom
+  been painted well is, that they have seldom been painted after nature; and
+  any artist will inform you, that whatever is painted to the life, must be
+  painted from the life.</p>
+
+  <p>They have not been painted by themselves, because they would have their
+  lives, like the walls that encircle their town houses, impervious to the
+  curious excursive eye; they have not been painted by themselves, because,
+  secondly, the power of depicting graphically what they are in the daily
+  habit of seeing, is not in them, not having been cultivated by study and
+  practice; and thirdly, not being stimulated to literary activity by that
+  Muse of the imperative mood, Necessity, they find more pleasure in having
+  these things brought under their eyes, results of the mental toil and
+  culture of others.</p>
+
+  <p>There is a vulgar error uppermost in the minds of some men, which is
+  this: the world of fashion has not hitherto been painted with effect, for
+  the same reason that nobody thinks it worth while to describe a ditch; both
+  being, in the estimation of these persons, stagnant perfumed entities, rich
+  in peculiarly useless vegetation, abounding in vermin and animalculae, and
+  diffusing a contagious effluvia over the surface of society. This error,
+  like many other errors, is an excuse for ignorance, and only shows the
+  innate uncharitableness of some men; they run down, like other sceptics,
+  what they do not know and cannot understand, nor will they believe there can
+  be any good therein; forgetting, knaves and fools as they are, that the
+  aristocratic classes are human beings, with the same intermingled elements
+  of good and ill as themselves, modified by accidental circumstances, which,
+  as the Parliamentary people say, they cannot control, and possessing at
+  least as much of the ordinary good principles and feelings of our common
+  nature, as any other class of our graduated social scale.</p>
+
+  <p>Can any thing be more illiberal, more ignorant, more stupid, than for a
+  low man to turn leveller, because he is a low man, and attack, without
+  ceremony and without mercy, people of whom he can by any possibility know no
+  more than the worst side, that is to say, the <i>outside</i>: and whom he
+  considers, like the gilt gingerbread he sees in his biennial visit to
+  Greenwich Fair, as vastly fine, but exceedingly unwholesome?</p>
+
+  <p>The truth is, fashionable life has been exalted above its just and proper
+  level, and depressed below it, by the slaverers and the vituperaters, solely
+  because they cannot get at it; the former are idolatrous from hope, the
+  latter devilish in despair; and the result we are familiar with, in
+  caricatures portraying this sort of life alternately as a Heaven and a
+  Hell.</p>
+
+  <p>The peculiarities of fashionable life are, it is true, few, but they are
+  characteristic, and we now proceed to&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p><i>You</i> proceed to&mdash;! Now, my good fellow, tell us, will you, how
+  such a person as you, a garreteer, confessing to dining upon the heel of a
+  twopenny loaf and half an onion; making no secret of running up beer scores
+  at public houses, when they will trust you; retailing your nasty scenes of
+  low life, creatures dying in hospitals, work-house funerals, the adventures
+  of street apple-women, and matters and things incomprehensible to genteel
+  families like ourselves living in Russell Square; an outlaw, living from
+  tavern to tavern, from pot-house to pot-house, without name, residence, or
+  station; a mere fellow, subsisting on the misplaced indulgence of an
+  undiscerning public, and one who, if gentlemen and ladies (like ourselves)
+  would only condescend to write, would find his appropriate circle in a
+  work-house, unless he escaped it by dying in an hospital. <i>You</i> proceed
+  to&mdash;&mdash;! What, in the name of gentility, can <i>you</i> know of
+  fashionable life?</p>
+
+  <p>Sir, or madam, have mercy, or at least have manners. How astonished you
+  will be&mdash;we say, how astonished you <i>will</i> be&mdash;if in the
+  fulness of time our title shall dignify the title-page; when it might
+  appear, that by the pen of a peer these papers were made apparent; when,
+  instead of the sort of person you have chosen to imagine your caterer for
+  the good things of fashionable life in London, you may discern to your
+  dismay that a lord&mdash;a real lord, alive and kicking, has made a
+  Bude-light of himself, illuminating the shadows of your ignorance: you may
+  read a preparatory memoir, informing you how these ideas of ours were
+  collected in a coach and four, and transmitted to paper in a study
+  overlooking the Green Park; with paper velvet-like, and golden pen
+  ruby-headed, upon rose-wood desk inlaid with ivory, you may find that these
+  essays have been transcribed: you will grovel, you will slaver, you will rub
+  your nose in the pebbles, like a salmon at spawning-time, when this very
+  immortal work shall come out, clothed in purple morocco, our arms emblazoned
+  on the covers, and coroneted on the back, after the manner of publication of
+  the works of royal and noble authors. Then, what running to Debrett for our
+  genealogy, our connexions, our <i>set</i>, and all that customary
+  inquisition of the affairs of the great which makes the delight of the
+  little: the "Book of Beauty," and "Pictures of the Nobility," will be
+  ransacked, of course, for verses by our lordship, or portraits of our
+  lordship's ladyship, or of the ladies Exquisitina or Nonsuchina, daughters
+  of our lordship, with slavering verses by intolerable poets; then it will be
+  discovered, and the discovery duly recorded, that our lordship's eldest son,
+  Viscount Ne'er-do-weel, and the Honourable Mr Nogo, are pursuing cricket and
+  pie-crust (commonly called their <i>studies</i>) at Eton or Harrow, but are
+  expected at our lordship's seat in Some-Shire for their holidays: then we
+  will be proposed, seconded, and elected, like other noblemen equally
+  undistinguished in the world of science, a fellow of the Royal Society and a
+  fellow of the Society of Arts&mdash;and for the same good reason, because we
+  may be a lord; and you, and all the world, will say it was very proper that
+  I should have been elected, though knowing no more of science than that
+  acoustics (if we mistake not) means a pump; or of arts, than that
+  calico-printing and letterpress printing are, somehow or other, not exactly
+  one and the same thing.</p>
+
+  <p>Then, sir, we shall hear no more of the bread and cheese and onions,
+  pot-house scores, and low company, with which you have so unceremoniously
+  taxed our lordship. You will drive your jumped-up coach, with your awkward
+  wives and dowdy daughters, and your tawdry liveries, all the way from
+  Russell Square to the Green Park, to catch the chance of a glimpse of our
+  lordship. You find out from our lordship's footman that our lordship wears a
+  particular collar to his coat, and you will move heaven and earth to find
+  out our lordship's tailor. When you apply to him to make a coat in our
+  lordship's style, our tailor, who sees at a glance that you are not fit to
+  be his customer, will tell you with an air, that he "declines to
+  execute."</p>
+
+  <p>You will discover, from the same authority, that our lordship smokes a
+  particular tobacco, to be had only at a particular shop; and forthwith even
+  real Havannah stinks in your nostrils, and you apply to Pontet. Pontet gives
+  you a tobacco, (<i>not</i> our tobacco,) and you go away in the innocent
+  consciousness of smoking the exclusive weed of a man of fashion.</p>
+
+  <p>Prithee, fool, mind thy own business, and stick to thy shop or thy
+  station, whatever it may be; to which while thou stickest, thou must be
+  respectable, but which when thou wouldst quit, desperately to seize the hem
+  of our lordship's garment, thou becomest the laughing-stock of us and of our
+  class, and we cannot choose but despise thee thoroughly.</p>
+
+  <p>When we look at the shelves of a circulating library, groaning beneath
+  that generally despicable class of volumes called fashionable novels, when
+  we take up, only to lay down in disgust, "NOTORIETY, OR FASHIONABLES
+  UNVEILED," "PAVILION, OR A MONTH AT BRIGHTON," "MEMOIRS OF A PEERESS,"
+  "MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE," "ALMACK S REVISITED," or some such stuff, we cannot
+  but infer, that it is not the vices or absurdities of what is ignorantly
+  called fashionable life that creates this never-ceasing demand for trash and
+  nonsense, but rather a morbid appetite for vapidity and small-talk, a
+  lady's-maid's curiosity of the secrets of her betters, a servile love of
+  imitating what is unworthy imitation, and of following that which is not
+  worth following, simply because it is supposed that these ridiculous
+  caricatures represent the real life of</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"The twice ten thousand for whom earth was made,"</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>When we recollect, to our shame, that not only these swarms of trashy
+  volumes, which penetrate even into the back-slums, and may be seen unfolded
+  in the paper-patched windows of eighteen-penny milliners in the lowest
+  quarters of our metropolis, find a never-failing succession of ravenous
+  readers, but that newspapers&mdash;Sunday newspapers, forsooth&mdash;devoted
+  to smutty epigrams, low abuse, vile insinuations, and openly indecent
+  allusion to the connexions, habits of life, and even personal appearance, of
+  fashionable and <i>pseudo</i>-fashionable people, receive a disgraceful and
+  dangerous support; we must come to the conclusion, that in this, as in all
+  other merchandize, the demand creates the supply, and that it is among the
+  lower orders of the middle classes that these caricaturers by profession of
+  the upper, their slanderers and their eulogists, find sympathy and
+  encouragement.</p>
+
+  <p>There is a sort of "hero-worship," as Mr Carlyle would term it, attaching
+  to the most absurd, ridiculous, and even vicious doings of people who
+  <i>might be</i> fashionable; a counter-jumper, barber's clerk, medical
+  student, or tailor's apprentice, adores the memory of that great man whom we
+  are happy to be able to style the <i>late</i> "markis." The
+  <i>pav&eacute;</i> of the Haymarket he considers classic ground, and the
+  "Waterford Arms" a most select wine-bibbing establishment. If he does not
+  break a dozen bells or wrench three or four brace of knockers in the season,
+  this penny-cigar-smoking creature hardly thinks he attains to his fractional
+  proportion of humanity.</p>
+
+  <p>This may be relied on, that the great inducement of young scapegraces of
+  fashion to the committal of their diurnal and nocturnal outrages upon
+  propriety, is the mischievous gratification they derive from the awkward
+  imitation of their inferiors; and the most effectual method of bringing
+  these aristocratic pranks into disrepute, will be, to treat them as merely
+  vulgar outrages, and punish the perpetrators accordingly.</p>
+
+  <p>If, indeed, the small-fry of society would set themselves to imitate all
+  that is worthy imitation in the better sort of their betters, following good
+  examples instead of bad, it would be something to talk of. But since it is
+  not to be expected that they will pursue virtue, piety, good sense, and good
+  breeding for their own sakes, and as these attributes, when they exist in
+  fashionable life&mdash;and they <i>do</i> exist among the most fashionable
+  of fashionable people&mdash;are in their nature retiring and unobtrusive,
+  while all that is bad in good society is pushed into notoriety, for the
+  example of the mob, we must take pains to point out at some length the
+  difference between really "good society" and what is vulgarly called good
+  society; that is, in fact, the difference between good and bad, and to mark
+  the distinguishing characteristics of the truly fashionable and the vulgarly
+  fashionable man, as wide and deep as is the gulf between a gent and a
+  gentleman.</p>
+
+  <p>If the fashionable world be truly represented, as it is not, in the
+  swarms of so-called fashionable novels, gleaned from the sloppy conversation
+  of footmen's ordinaries, or the retail tittle-tattle of lady's-maids in
+  waiting at the registry-offices, how little is it to the credit of the mass
+  of the reading public that they peruse such stuff; or would it be perused at
+  all, but for that vulgar love, so prevalent about town, of imitation of the
+  Lady Fannys and Lady Mary Dollymops, their <i>nonchalance</i>, their
+  insipidity, their studied ease, and their affectation of being
+  unaffected?</p>
+
+  <p>We therefore desire, before we begin, that our young lady readers, our
+  jury of maidens, will do us the favour to dismiss from their recollection
+  all that they may have heard and read of the fashionable world; that they
+  will not believe the exclusives to be as dull as so many bottles of stale
+  small-beer, or as lively as Seltzer water from the spring, with a dash of
+  brandy in it; that they will forget that there is, in fashionable life, any
+  thing worthy their imitation or adoption, unless it should otherwise appear
+  by the evidence; and that they will not once take up a professedly
+  fashionable novel till they have carefully studied and slept upon what we
+  are going to say.</p>
+
+  <p>The word "world" is a comprehensive term, and should be taken in all its
+  relations with great latitude, whether with adjectives or without. For
+  example, the "fashionable world" is far from being an integral quantity, or
+  capable of being reasoned upon as if it were as definite in its relations
+  and proportions as an equilateral triangle. It contains within itself a
+  complete gradation from fashionable excellence to fashionable villany; from
+  fashionable virtue to fashionable vice; fashionable ladies and gentlemen,
+  fashionable pimps, demireps, and profligates. It must be individualized if
+  we wish to treat it fairly, as judges try prisoners severally, not in a
+  lump. But our impressions of the fashionable world, as a class, must be
+  taken from the general preponderating characteristics of good or evil of the
+  whole.</p>
+
+  <p>Hast ever been, reader, to Bartlemy fair? If you have, you may have
+  seen&mdash;nay, you <i>must</i> have seen&mdash;Richardson's immortal show.
+  You must have seen a tall platform in front of the migratory edifice, and on
+  that platform you must have delighted your visual orb with the clown, the
+  pantaloon, the harlequin, the dancing ladies, the walking dandy, the king
+  with his crown, the queen in her rabbit-skin robes, the smock-frocked
+  countryman, the top-booted jockey, and all the <i>dramatis person&aelig;</i>
+  of the performance that every moment of every day, during every fair, is for
+  ever "going to begin." You may hardly have observed, sliding quietly through
+  all this tinselled and spangled poverty, a plain carpenter-like man, in a
+  decent suit, who looks as if he had never seen a performance in the whole
+  course of his life, and as if he never cared to see one. This man is, or
+  rather was, the late Mr Richardson, who died worth thirty thousand pounds,
+  and all the clowns, harlequins, pantaloons, dancing ladies, walking dandies,
+  kings with their crowns, and queens in their rabbit-skins, and the rest, are
+  poor pinch-bellied devils, caricaturing humanity for some twelve or fourteen
+  shillings a-week, finding their own paint and frippery. Now, whenever you
+  wish to form a correct idea of the two great classes of fashionable life,
+  call to your remembrance the gentlemen who, like the late lamented Mr
+  Richardson, are proprietors of shows, and the berouged, bedraggled creatures
+  who exhibit on the platform outside for their living.</p>
+
+  <p>To be sure, there may be a little difference in names. The proprietors of
+  the show may be dukes, and earls, and marquisses, and so forth. The
+  mountebanks outside may be called counts, chevaliers, knights of the order
+  of the golden fleece, or of the thimble, or of Malta. But the realities are
+  the same. Fashionable life is a show, truly fashionable people are the
+  proprietors, who are never prominently or ridiculously seen therein; and
+  these several orders of over dressed, under-fed, empty-pocketed mountebanks,
+  are the people put on the platform outside, to astonish the eyes and ears of
+  the groundlings.</p>
+
+  <p>The <i>physique</i> of the true fashionable is peculiar and
+  characteristic. From the toe of his boot to the crown of his hat, there is
+  that unostentatious, undefinable something about him distinctive of his
+  social position. Professional men, every body knows, have an expression
+  common to their profession. A purblind cyclops could never mistake the
+  expression of an Independent preacher, an universal free-black-nigger
+  Baptist minister, or a Jesuit. Every body knows an infantry officer, with
+  his "eyes right" physiognomy, his odious black-stock, and his habit of
+  treading on his heels, and can distinguish him from the cavalry man,
+  straddling like a gander at a pond side. Your medical doctor has an
+  obsequious, mealy-mouthed, hope-I-see-you-better face, and carries his hands
+  as if he had just taken his fingers from a poultice; while your lawyer is
+  recognised at once by his perking, conceited, cross-examination phiz, the
+  exact counterpart to the expression of an over-indulged jackdaw.</p>
+
+  <p>The gentleman of fashion has nothing in common with the professional
+  gentleman, or any other. He stands alone, "like Adam's recollection of his
+  fall." He has an air, it is true, but his air is not a breeze, like the air
+  of a pretender to fashion. The air of the man of fashion is a zephyr.</p>
+
+  <p>The expression of the man of fashion is the more difficult to reduce to
+  words, in that it is mostly negative. It is easier to say what this
+  expression is not, than what it is. We can only say, that there is nothing
+  professionally distinctive about it. It is the expression of a man perfectly
+  at ease in his position, and so well aware that he is so, that he does not
+  <i>seem</i> to be aware of it. An absence of all straining after effect; a
+  solicitude rather to avoid than to court observation. If there is any thing
+  positively indicative in his expression, by which I include his manner, it
+  is that of a good-humoured indifference, an inoffensive, unobtrusive
+  stoicism. He would seem to have adopted the excellent advice given by the
+  Apostle to the Thessalonians&mdash;"STUDY TO BE QUIET." This is his rule of
+  life, and he acts upon it upon great and small occasions. He only desires
+  that you will have the goodness to let him alone. If he is cheated by a man
+  of his own <i>set</i>, (for he knows that he is cheated, as a matter of
+  course, by tradespeople,) he <i>cuts</i> the fellow coolly. If he is
+  insulted, he coolly calls out his man. He falls in love with coolness,
+  marries coolly, and leads a cool connubial life. Whether he wins or loses,
+  whatever happens to disturb the world or himself, he takes coolly, and if he
+  has an aspiration on earth, it is that he may be cool and comfortable.</p>
+
+  <p>His philosophy is the mingled Stoical and Epicurean. With him life is a
+  trifle to be gracefully played with&mdash;a "froward child, to be humoured
+  till it falls asleep, and all is over." His indifference is imputed to him
+  as a crime; but it should not be forgotten that, if there be any fault at
+  all in this indifference, it is the fault of his position. Fortune is to
+  blame, not he, for setting up a man with no other enemy than time, and no
+  other business than amusement. We do not say that this is the true end of
+  life; we do not enter into the enquiry, which might carry us to leeward of
+  our subject, whether men who have the means of enjoying life, do not show
+  the truest wisdom in pursuing enjoyment. We only know that most men
+  similarly circumstanced would act similarly; and whether there is most vice
+  or greatest misery in the idleness of fashionable life, or in the business
+  of the busy world, <i>as it is carried on in our time</i>, I leave to those
+  who have experience and leisure to determine.</p>
+
+  <p>Those who wish to study the subject further, may read at their leisure
+  the pleasant paper in which an agreeable writer, Fontenelle, describes
+  Aristotle and Anacreon contending for the prize of wisdom; and may decide
+  with the essayist, giving the prize to the generous old toper of Scios, as
+  we should have done, or to the beetlebrowed Reviewer, according to their
+  humour.</p>
+
+  <p>The constitutional and habitual indifference of the man of fashion is
+  generally supposed by those who do not know it, to be an effect of pride;
+  but it is, generally speaking, a symptom of something more akin to
+  humility&mdash;of timidity, in short. It is part of his system to avoid
+  contact, save with his fellows; and with those who are not his fellows, or
+  of his <i>set</i>, he is altogether out of his element. Therefore, as he is
+  afraid of giving, and incapable of taking offence, he entrenches himself in
+  the unstudied reserve which he finds by experience renders his individuality
+  least assailable, exactly as he surrounds his ornamental woods, his
+  shrubberies, and his parterres with fences, not the less strong because they
+  are invisible.</p>
+
+  <p>With adventurers, people who are treading upon his kibes, equivocal
+  pretenders who are galling his heel, he is hopelessly exclusive, preserving
+  towards them an armed neutrality. His friendship is extended to his equals,
+  and to his equals alone: with these his intercourse is free and
+  unrestrained. These alone see the English man of fashion as he really
+  exists, denuded of that armour of reserve with which he goes clothed
+  <i>cap-&agrave;-pie</i> in public. Towards others he is distantly polite;
+  and with such nice tact does he blend a distant manner with politeness, that
+  you cannot carp at the former, or catch at the latter. He lets you see that
+  you cannot be <i>one of them</i>, but in such a way that you may not quarrel
+  with the manner in which he conveys his intimation.</p>
+
+  <p>With his inferior he will not be intimate, nor towards him will he be
+  "proudly condescending." He declines to forget himself so far as for a
+  moment to put you on a level with him; but he will not (as <i>you</i> too
+  often do) degrade you by sinking you below your own level. He holds the even
+  tenor of his way whether you trot, spaniel-like, at his heels or no; nor
+  will he once turn round to bestow upon you either cuffs or caresses.</p>
+
+  <p>Although by leisure, education, and intelligence, he is qualified to
+  converse with men of genius, he prefers conversing with them through the
+  medium of their works. He is aware that the days of subscriptions, and
+  "striking for dedications," are past and gone, and that the public have
+  taken the place of the patron. He knows that the habits, employments, and in
+  most instances the circumstances, of intellectual men preclude their
+  mingling familiarly in fashionable circles, on equal terms, and that upon no
+  other terms will they consent to be met. He neither patronizes nor neglects
+  them, but is content to stand in the relation towards them of one of the
+  reading public.</p>
+
+  <p>His indifference to the fate and fortunes of deserving men has been,
+  among the vulgar, a common imputation upon the man of fashion, of which
+  class most frequently is the man of power. He is accused of lavishing his
+  favours only upon the toady and the tuft-hunter, and leaving men of
+  independent mind to the caprice of fortune.</p>
+
+  <p>This complaint comes with a very bad grace from men who would be thought
+  independent. The man who wants the patronage of the great, must go in search
+  of it, whether he call himself independent or no. Men in power are
+  accustomed to be met more than half way; and the independent man, whether he
+  have merit or no, who expects people of rank to come in search of him, and
+  to hunt him out of the obscurity of his garret, will find himself very much
+  mistaken.</p>
+
+  <p>None are truly independent while in pursuit of objects which are
+  attainable only by the pleasure of another. The truly independent are those
+  who not only do not solicit favours, but those who do not want them: and
+  there is seen too often, among needy and struggling men of merit, an
+  irritable pride, a "<i>fiert&eacute;</i>," arising not from a sense of
+  independence, but a consciousness of neglect; and many men boast of the
+  pleasure of an independent life, as many ladies exalt the delights of single
+  blessedness, only because they have never had the offer of changing their
+  condition.</p>
+
+  <p>It is quite as unfair, too, to accuse people of condition of bestowing
+  all their favours upon toadies, tuft-hunters, and bear-leaders. The truth
+  is, as they are not in the habit of going into the highways to lookout for
+  persons whereupon to confer obligations, they are obliged to take up with
+  such as offer themselves to their notice. While the man of independence is
+  dreaming away his existence over books and papers in his closet, and cursing
+  the barbarism of the age that does not take him by the hand, and set him up
+  in high places, the man of the world is pushing his fortune in a worldly
+  way, and is content not to talk of independence until he has secured it. The
+  hard words, tuft-hunter, toady, and so forth, are applied, it may be,
+  oftener than they are deserved: led-captain is a term of frequent reproach,
+  but it must always be considered that that sort of talent will be chiefly
+  noticed and rewarded which is in demand in certain circles; fashionable
+  people desire neither to be deafened with wit, nor bewildered with
+  philosophy, nor oppressed with learning; their business, to which they have
+  been brought up, is to glide smoothly through life, and their patronage is
+  chiefly extended to those who offer to relieve them of its petty cares and
+  small annoyances, which men of solid and sterling merit are not able, and,
+  if they were able, are not willing to do.</p>
+
+  <p>A wealthy cit has as little regard for men of letters as a fashionable,
+  nor has he the same tact of concealing his indifference; the well-bred man
+  of fashion, who is alone truly the man of fashion, studies <i>tact</i> above
+  all things, and his tact prevents him ever regarding men of mind with any
+  thing approaching contempt.</p>
+
+  <p>His friendly offices, which his equals never require, he generally
+  bestows upon men whose position in society is marked and permanent, and who
+  never can by any possibility compete with him; to these, if they be
+  <i>safe</i>&mdash;that is, if they keep quiet, and are content to enjoy a
+  sort of unpretending familiarity, without boasting or pluming themselves
+  upon their position, he does the kindest and most liberal things, in the
+  kindest and most liberal way; in a way that no other man than one truly
+  fashionable can accomplish. He confers benefits with an affable and
+  disinterested air, which, while it increases the burden of obligation, seems
+  to demand no acknowledgement; he bestows without seeming to know that he is
+  bestowing, and knowing enough of human nature to be aware that to the
+  deserving, obligations have something humiliating, he wishes to make the
+  burden as light as possible.</p>
+
+  <p>One of the most amiable qualities about the aristocracy is their
+  liberality and kindness to their dependents; you seldom or never hear any
+  one who has served them faithfully and long having reason to complain. To do
+  something for these people is part of their system, and not to see them
+  neglected or in want, a point of honour. This kindly feeling they extend, as
+  far as their power or influence extends&mdash;to humble friends,
+  electioneering partizans, poor connexions. They are always kind and
+  considerate, provided only these persons possess that unpresuming quietude
+  of manner, which makes up a considerable part of that character they delight
+  in, and which they call <i>safe</i>. If you introduce to one of these people
+  of fashion, any man who may have an object in view, the first enquiry is,
+  what are his claims&mdash;that is, what equivalent has he given, or can he
+  give, for the favours he expects? for it is with the high, as with the low
+  world, nothing for nothing; and secondly, you must be prepared to answer for
+  his <i>safety</i>, so that, whatever may be said or done, nothing may, by
+  any possibility, leak out of the <i>proteg&eacute;</i>. This accounts for so
+  many perfumed, be-wigged, purblind, silky fellows being taken in and "done
+  for" by the great; and although these fellows dress like fools, and look
+  like fools, depend on't, they are not the fools you take them for: they are
+  aware, that nothing so effectually throws off their guard and disarms the
+  great, as a well-carried affectation of gentlemanly effeminacy, and "a still
+  small voice, like a woman's." We happen to know that some of these people,
+  for this very delicacy of air and manner picked out of the dirt, and carried
+  into high places, who are <i>au naturel</i>, as we may say, when they go
+  home, and have laid aside the wigs, silk waistcoats, quizzing-glasses, and
+  the rest of their disguise, as honest, friendly, and unaffected fellows, as
+  are in the world&mdash;only they do not desire that any body should say
+  so.</p>
+
+  <p>Of a man with a stiff back, black beard, short hair, loud voice, and buff
+  waistcoat, people of fashion, on the contrary, stand in continual awe; his
+  tongue is to them a rattlesnake's tail wagging only as a signal for them to
+  get out of his way; they quiver like an aspen at the sound of his voice, and
+  for their own particular, would rather hear the sharpening of a saw: if such
+  a one courts their acquaintance, they are hopelessly, despairingly polite;
+  if, as is usual, he then waxes insolent, and, as the fast fellows would call
+  it, <i>slangs</i> them, they are delighted with the opportunity of
+  displaying that placid indifference upon which they pride themselves as one
+  of their exclusive accomplishments.</p>
+
+  <p>Another peculiarity of truly fashionable people is, that they never say
+  or do spiteful, or vindictive things; revenge and spite they consider
+  <i>low</i>, plebeian, and vulgar; besides, vindictiveness of any kind
+  disturbs their equanimity, puts them out of their way, and levels them with
+  the people who may have injured or annoyed them; they cannot endure jaundice
+  of body or mind, and equally abhor any thing that sticks either in the gall,
+  bladder, or "gizzard." Their defensive armour, than which none can be less
+  penetrable, is equanimity; their weapons, unstudied indifference and
+  dignified neglect.</p>
+
+  <p>Towards their own "order," they are invariably consistent in kindness and
+  consideration; they stand by, and stand to, one another with a paternal
+  amity, which is only <i>outwardly</i> disturbed by politics; embarrassment
+  or necessity effaces conventional distinctions of politics, and Whig or Tory
+  is always ready to provide for "honest Jack," or "do something" for "poor
+  Fred." But we are not to consider their exertions in this way, accompanied
+  with any self-sacrifice or self-denial; holding in their own hands the means
+  of providing for their friends or relatives, they usually so contrive
+  matters that they lose nothing by it.</p>
+
+  <p>To the peculiar quietude of manner, and characteristic gentleness of
+  persons of fashion, in their intercourse with each other, we have many
+  concurring testimonies of impartial observers: of these, the most just at
+  once, and eloquent, that we remember to have read, is that contained in an
+  ever-memorable letter from a Mr Tomkins to a Mrs Jenkins, attributed (with
+  what justice, deponent knoweth not) to a noble and learned lord, supreme in
+  natural theology and excitability, remarkable for versatile nose and
+  talents, and distinguished for chequered fortunes, and "inexpressibles" to
+  match. This learned lord, or Tomkins aforesaid, or whoever may have been the
+  inditer of the epistle <i>ad</i> Jenkins, is eloquent exceedingly upon the
+  <i>narcotine</i> of fashionable life: declares that its soothing influences
+  were unequalled by vapour of purest mundungus, or acetate of morphia, or
+  even pill of opium, blended intimately with glass of <i>eau-de-vie</i>.
+  Tomkins is quite right: no man, admitted by whatever door, or ascending by
+  whatever staircase, to the <i>salons</i> of the great, fails to be impressed
+  with the idea that there exists among what the <i>Post</i> calls the "gay
+  and fastidious <i>habitu&eacute;s</i>" of the place, every disposition to
+  place him perfectly at his ease: and, if he cannot be at ease, the fault is
+  in him, not in his entertainers. To a great <i>nisi prius</i> lawyer,
+  accustomed during a long life to the discrimination of character in the way
+  of his profession, such a contrast as is presented by the repose and
+  unobtrusive <i>politesse</i> of high life, compared with the
+  <i>brusquerie</i> of the world below, must have been doubly delightful; and
+  we are glad to have upon record the just and eloquent testimony to its
+  existence and social value from so eloquent a pen.</p>
+
+  <p>The world without is apt to confound reserve and distance among the
+  great, with pride and insensibility: even those who, admitted by sufferance
+  to fashionable circles, behold the peculiar charm of high life through a
+  wintry atmosphere: the free and unrestrained converse of men of fashion with
+  their equals, none but themselves can know, and none but themselves
+  describe.</p>
+
+  <p>Their habit of living, among themselves, is generally simple, and devoid
+  of extravagance or ostentation: they have the best of every thing it is
+  true, but then they have all the advantages of unbounded competition. and
+  unlimited credit: they pay when they think proper, but no tradesman ever
+  dares venture to ask them for money: such as have the bad taste to "dun" are
+  "done:" the patient and long-suffering find their money "after many days."
+  Their amusements among themselves are inexpensive, almost to meanness: the
+  subscription to Almacks, that paradise of exclusives, and envy of the
+  excluded, amounts to not more than half a-guinea a ball, if so much: a stall
+  at the opera costs a young man of fashion, for the season, forty, fifty, or
+  sixty pounds, according to position: for this he is entitled to an ivory
+  ticket, which, when he does not feel inclined to go himself, he can transfer
+  for the evening to another. If he have the misfortune to be a younger
+  brother, many little windfalls come to his share, the results of his
+  relationship. He has an apartment at his elder brother's town-house, or he
+  resides with the dowager, or with a maiden aunt; somebody keeps his cab
+  horse, and some other body keeps the saddle-horse that Lady Mary or Jack
+  Somebody gave him; his "tiger" has the run of all his friends' kitchens as a
+  matter of course, and, as a matter of course, himself has two or three
+  invitations a-day during the season; though, like other poor men, he prefers
+  dining independently at his club. He is on very good terms with the "girls"
+  of his <i>set</i>, and is allowed a little innocent flirtation, because he
+  is known to have <i>tact</i> enough not to compromise himself or them by
+  falling in love, or paying "ridiculous" addresses: although a little "fast"
+  perhaps, he is perfectly <i>safe</i>, and is on good terms with every body
+  except his eldest brother: he is the idol of countesses-dowager, who hand
+  him a few hundreds whenever he is short, pay his debts for him&mdash;give
+  him good advice, and call him "Freddy dear:" in short, although he has
+  nothing, excepting his boot-hooks, that he can possibly call his own, he is
+  a merry, good-natured, honest, harmless fellow, a favourite with every body,
+  and envied for his light-heartedness even by his more fortunate elder
+  brother.</p>
+
+  <p>In a book published some five-and-thirty years ago, is an account of the
+  then prevailing method of killing a fashionable day: as the pursuit of
+  inanity and folly has a tedious sameness about it, this picture will answer,
+  with a few variations, for the man of fashion of to-day.</p>
+
+  <p>"About twelve, he (the man of fashion) rises, lolls upon a sofa, skims
+  the newspaper, and curses its stupidity. He is particularly angry if he does
+  not find in it a paragraph which he sent to the agent of a fashionable
+  newspaper, generally the <i>Morning Post</i>, who lives by procuring such
+  sort of intelligence, containing an account of his having dined at some
+  titled man's table the day before, with whom, if he has no rank himself, he
+  is particularly anxious to mingle. After swallowing several cups of tea and
+  cocoa, and slices of foreign sausages and fowls, he assumes his riding coat,
+  and sallies out to his stables to inspect his horses, and chat with his
+  coachman and grooms.</p>
+
+  <p>"Having finished this review and audience, he orders his curricle, and,
+  followed by a couple of grooms, he dashes through most of the principal
+  streets, and calls upon the most celebrated coach and harness makers; at the
+  latter he is shown several new bits for his approbation. He then proceeds to
+  his breeches-maker, thence to Tattersall's, where he is sure to meet a great
+  number of friends, with whom he kills another hour discussing the merits of
+  the different animals he meets with there. These important duties being
+  done, he strolls to an exhibition, or to a print-shop, and looks over a
+  portfolio of caricatures; thence he keeps on moving to a fashionable hotel,
+  to take white spruce beer(!) and sandwiches; here, after arranging his
+  parties for the evening, be returns home to dress. After looking over the
+  cards which have been left for him, he proceeds to his <i>toilette</i> with
+  his valet, and is dressed about seven, when his chariot is at the door, and
+  he drives either to some family to dinner, or to the hotel he visited in the
+  morning, when he perhaps formed a party of four. At ten o'clock he enters
+  the Opera, and like a butterfly moves from box to box; thence behind the
+  scenes; after which he proceeds to one or two routs, or some fashionable
+  gaming-house, and about four is in bed, to recruit himself for a repetition
+  of the same course the next day.</p>
+
+  <p>"These loungers have a phraseology peculiar to themselves. A short time
+  since, if one of them was asked how he was, the answer would have been, 'we
+  are in <i>force</i> to-day;' if his wife was enquired after, 'she is in high
+  preservation;' if asked how often he had been at the opera, 'it is my
+  <i>second</i> opera.' They also say, perhaps, speaking of some illustrious
+  hero, 'he's a fine brave fellow, but he ties his handkerchief most
+  shockingly.' I also remember being one day in Hyde Park, when a gentleman
+  rode up to one of these loungers, and after exchanging salutations, the
+  former said to the latter, I wish much to have the pleasure of seeing
+  you&mdash;are you engaged next Wednesday? Upon which the other turned round
+  to a little half starved groom, and said, 'John, am I engaged next
+  Wednesday?'</p>
+
+  <p>"The women of fashion," observes this writer, "are just as great and as
+  insipid idlers, in their way, as are the male triflers. They seldom walk in
+  the streets, but are almost always cooped up in their carriages, driving
+  about the streets, and leaving their cards at the houses of their friends,
+  whom they never think of seeing, although they may be at home at the time;
+  thence they proceed to the most expensive jewellers, where they order a
+  piece of plate or a trinket; thence to some fashionable milliner."</p>
+
+  <p>This picture is not altogether like, but some of the features may
+  certainly be easily reorganized; if we substitute sherry, a chop, and a club
+  in Pall-Mall, for white spruce beer, sandwiches, and a tavern; replacing the
+  curricle and footman by a cab and tiger, the remainder, with trivial
+  alterations, may stand good of the fashionable idler of to-day, as of him of
+  the last century.</p>
+
+  <p>In childhood, nay, even in infancy, for all I can see to the contrary,
+  the <i>physique</i> of persons of fashion is sufficiently distinctive and
+  characteristic of the class. If you walk in the parks and gardens, and
+  notice these young thoroughbreds exercising under the care of their nurses,
+  their tutors, and their nursery governesses, you will be perfectly convinced
+  that they are as easily to be distinguished in all their points and paces
+  from the children of the <i>mobility</i>, as is a well-blooded Arabian from
+  a Suffolk punch.</p>
+
+  <p>The small oval head, clustered with <i>rippling</i> ringlets, as Alfred
+  Jennyson calls them; the clear laughing eye, the long fair neck, the
+  porcelain skin, warmed with the tenderest tinge of pink, so transparent
+  withal that you almost see the animal spirit careering within; the
+  <i>drooping</i> shoulder, the rounded bust, clean limbs, well-turned ankle,
+  fine almost to a fault, the light springy step, the graceful easy carriage,
+  the absence of sheepishness or shyness, an air cheerful without noise, a
+  manner playful without rudeness, and you have the true son or daughter of
+  the Englishman of fashion.</p>
+
+  <p>Then, how characteristic of the class of which these children are the
+  rising hope, is the taste displayed in their dress; they are attired with
+  costly simplicity; or, if a fond mamma indulges in any little extravagance
+  of childish costume, you see that it is the extravagance of taste; there is
+  no tawdriness, no over-dressing, no little ones in masquerade, they dress
+  appropriately, and, at the same time, distinctively.</p>
+
+  <p>Pretty souls! Many a time and oft have we wandered forth of the turbulent
+  town, less to brace our unstrung nerves by the elastic air&mdash;less to
+  bathe our wearied eyes in the green light of earth's bosom, than to drive
+  away sad thoughts in the contemplation of your innocent gambols; with our
+  stick; delight we to launch your mimic barks from the sandy shores of
+  Serpentine; with you, glad are we to make haste, expecting the fastest
+  sailer on the further shore; with you, we exult, once more a boy, in the
+  speed of our trim-built favourite.</p>
+
+  <p>We love the old Newfoundland dog, ay, and the old footman, as much as you
+  do, and could hang like you about both their necks; we wish you would not
+  think us too big a boy to "stop" for you at single-wicket; imaginary hoops
+  we trundle in your gleesome train; like you, we have a decided aversion to
+  "taw," considering it not young-gentleman-like; we, too, forgetting that the
+  governess is single and two-and-thirty, wonder on earth what <i>can</i> make
+  governess so cross; we love you, when we see you hand in hand squiring your
+  little sister, saluting your little sister's little friends, carrying their
+  little parasols, and helping them over little stony places, like little
+  gentlemen. Happy, happy dogs! we envy neither your birth nor the fortune
+  that awaits you, nor repine we that our fate condemns us to tug the
+  unremitting oar against that tide of fortune upon which, with easy sail, you
+  will float lightly down to death; the whole heart, the buoyant spirit, the
+  conscience yet unstung by mute reproach of sin; these things we envy
+  you&mdash;not the things so mean a world can give, but the things which,
+  though it cannot give, soon&mdash;alas, how soon&mdash;it takes away!</p>
+
+  <p>Contrast these children with the children of Mr Deputy Stubbs of the ward
+  of Farringdon Within, or common Councillor Muggs of Bassishaw; they really
+  do not look like animals of the same species.</p>
+
+  <p>The rising Stubbses and Muggses have heads shaped like a China orange,
+  croppy hair, chubby chins, chubby cheeks, and blazing red and chubby
+  noses&mdash;short, pursy, apoplectic necks, like their fathers&mdash;squab,
+  four-square figures, mounted upon turned legs, with measly skins; so that,
+  taken altogether, they are exceedingly offensive and disagreeable. Then they
+  eat, these young, Stubbses and Muggses, how they <i>do</i> eat! then they
+  are dressed, how they <i>are</i> dressed! five different tartans, four
+  colours in velvet, seven sorts of ribbons, and a woolpack of fleecy hosiery,
+  as if there wasn't another Stubbs or Muggs in existence; then how they annoy
+  and infest, with bad manners and noise, the deputies and common-councilmen
+  who visit at Stubbses and Muggses; how the maids "drat them" all day long,
+  and how Mrs Stubbs and Mrs Muggs <i>hate</i> Mr Sucklethumb, the butterman,
+  because he never "notices the child."</p>
+
+  <p>Another extraordinary phenomenon you cannot fail to observe in the
+  children of the aristocracy; they seem to skip over the equivocal period,
+  the neutral ground of human life, and emerge from the chrysaloid state of
+  childhood, into the full and perfect <i>imago</i> of little lords and
+  gentlemen, and little ladies, without any of those intermediate conditions
+  of laddism, hobble-de-hoyism, or bread-and-butterishness, so prominently
+  characteristic of the approaching puberty of the rest of the rising
+  generation. Your Eton boy is not a boy, he is a young gentleman; your Lady
+  Louisa is not a girl, she is only not yet "come out;" how to account for the
+  peculiarity I know not, except the knowledge of the fact, that attention to
+  the <i>petites morales</i> forms so great a part of the education of our
+  rising aristocracy, and is considered so vitally important to their proper
+  carriage, as well in their <i>set</i> as out of it, that their children are
+  as far advanced in this particular at fifteen, as the children of middling
+  people at twenty-five. The petticoat-string by which the youth of the
+  non-fashionable class is tied to their mother, is a ligature not in use
+  among the fashionable world; from the earliest period professional persons
+  are employed in their education, and the <i>mother</i> never shows in the
+  matter. Whether this, or any other peculiarity of the class, be an advantage
+  or a disadvantage, natural or unnatural, right or wrong, it is not for the
+  writer to say; he only points out what he has observed; and if he has failed
+  to state it properly, let him be properly corrected.</p>
+
+  <p>Our aristocratic youth we take the liberty to classify, as they do
+  coaches, of which they are so passionately fond, into</p>
+
+  <ol>
+    <li>FAST,</li>
+
+    <li>SLOW.</li>
+  </ol>
+
+  <p>The fast youths have several degrees of swiftness, from the railway pace,
+  down through imperceptible gradations, to ten miles an hour, at which rate
+  of going the fast fellows end, and the slow fellows begin.</p>
+
+  <p>Of these last there are also many varieties, from the tandem and tax-cart
+  down to the waggon and dog-truck; and it cannot be denied, that as regards
+  the former more especially, there is a great similarity between the youths
+  themselves and the vehicles they govern; they go very fast, don't know what
+  they are driving at, are propelled in any direction by much more sagacious
+  animals than themselves, and are usually empty inside. The fast fellows are
+  divided, moreover, into the occasional and permanently fast; and first of
+  the occasional fast fellows:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>These form a very considerable proportion of our fashionable youth, and
+  combine the gentleman with a dash of the <i>petit-maitre</i>, overlaying a
+  naturally good disposition with a surface of scampishness, which, however,
+  they lay down when they marry, and thenceforward they belong altogether to
+  the slow school.</p>
+
+  <p>The permanently fast fellows deserve a more detailed notice, since they
+  are always before the police magistrates and the public, in one shape or
+  another; and although often committing themselves, are seldom or never
+  committed.</p>
+
+  <p>The members of this class it is who furnish the democratic Sunday papers
+  with a never-ending succession of articles, headed "THE ARISTOCRACY AGAIN,"
+  "BRUTALITY OF THE HIGHER CLASSES," "DEPRAVITY OF THE NOBBY ONES," and the
+  like and it is from these fast fellows, unfortunately, that a great many
+  ignorant people draw their conclusions of fashionable life and conversation
+  in general, extending the vices of a few shameless profligates to the entire
+  of the little world, commonly called the great.</p>
+
+  <p>The permanently fast fellows, or, as we think their general demeanour
+  entitles them to be called, "Blackguard Nobs," are a lot of little, scrubby,
+  bad-blooded, groom-like fellows, who have always, even from childhood, been
+  incorrigible, of whom nursery governesses could make nothing, and whose
+  education tutors abandoned in despair; expelled from Eton, rusticated at
+  Cambridge, good for nothing but mischief in boyhood, regularly bred scamps
+  and profligates in youth, and, luckily for mankind, generally worn-out
+  before they attain the wrong side of forty. A stable is their delight,
+  almost their home, and their olfactories are refreshed by nothing so much as
+  by the smell of old litter, to which attar of roses is assafoetida in
+  comparison.</p>
+
+  <p>Their knowledge of horses, which they get at second-hand from Field, or
+  some of the other <i>crack</i> veterinaries, is their only pride, and indeed
+  the only thing they imagine any man ought to be proud of; they reverence a
+  fellow who has a good seat in his saddle, and delight in horsemanship,
+  because horsemanship requires no brains; driving a "buggy" in good style is
+  respectable, but "shoving along" a four-in-hand the highest exercise of
+  human intellect, as for Milton and Shakspeare, and such inky-fingered old
+  prigs, who never had a good horse in their lives, they despise such low
+  fellows thoroughly. Their chief companions, or rather, their most intimate
+  friends, are the fellows who hang about livery stables, betting-rooms,
+  race-courses, and hippodromes; crop-eared grooms, <i>chaunters</i>,
+  dog-stealers, starveling jockeys, blacklegs, foreign counts, breeders,
+  feeders; these are all "d&mdash;d honest fellows," and the "best fellows in
+  the world," although they get their living by cheating the fast fellows, who
+  patronize them.</p>
+
+  <p>Of money, they know no more than that it is a necessary instrument of
+  their pleasures, and must be got some how or anyhow; accordingly, they are
+  on intimate terms with a species of shark called a bill-discounter, who
+  commits upon them every sort of robbery, under the sanction of the law; and
+  who also is always a "d&mdash;d honest fellow."</p>
+
+  <p>They can be sufficiently liberal of their money, whenever they have any,
+  to all who do not want, or who do not deserve it; if a prize-fighter becomes
+  embarrassed in his circumstances, or a jockey is "down upon his luck," it is
+  quite refreshing to see the madness with which the fast fellows strike for a
+  subscription; an opera-dancer out of an engagement, or an actress in the
+  same interesting condition, provided they are not modest women, have, they
+  think, a claim upon their generosity&mdash;and perhaps they have.</p>
+
+  <p>They think it ungentlemanly to cheat, or, as they call it, "<i>stick</i>"
+  any of their own set, except in matters of horse-flesh; but "sticking" any
+  body out of their own set, especially tradesmen, is considered an excellent
+  joke, and the "sticker" rises several degrees in public estimation.</p>
+
+  <p>We should be doing great injustice to the fast fellows if we omitted a
+  brief notice of their accomplishments. Driving is, of course, the chief;
+  and, by long experience and impunity, wonderfully grand exploits are
+  achieved by the fast fellows in this department.</p>
+
+  <p>One of the most original is to get into a strong cab, with a very
+  powerful horse, lamps lit, tiger inside, and to go quietly along, keeping a
+  sharp look-out for any night cabman who may be "lobbing," as the phrase is,
+  off his stand, the moment the "game," who is generally one part asleep and
+  three parts drunk, is espied, put your horse to full gallop, and, guiding
+  your vehicle with the precision fast fellows alone attain, whip inside the
+  cabwheel, and take it off. The night cab comes down by the run, the night
+  cabman tumbles off, breaking his nose or neck, as it may happen, and you
+  drive off as if the devil kicked you. When you have gone a couple of miles,
+  make a circumbendibus back again to the night-house frequented by your set,
+  and relate the adventure, with the same voice and countenance as a broker
+  quotes the price of stocks; then order a cool bottle of claret with the air
+  of a man who has done a meritorious action!</p>
+
+  <p>Another accomplishment, at which not a few of the fast fellows excel, is
+  that of imitating upon a key-bugle various animals, in an especial manner
+  the braying of an ass: when the fast fellows drive down to the Trafalgar at
+  Greenwich, the Toy at Hampton Court, or the Swan at Henley upon Thames, the
+  bugle-player mounts aloft, the rest of the fast fellows keeping a lookout
+  for donkeys; when one is seen, a hideous imitative bray is set up by the man
+  of music, and his quadrupedal brother, attracted by the congenial sound,
+  rushes to the roadside&mdash;mutual recognition, with much merriment, is the
+  result.</p>
+
+  <p>The fast fellow who does this best, is considered one of the immortals;
+  and we are not without expectation, in due time, of seeing his talent
+  rewarded by a pension.</p>
+
+  <p>Breaking bells, twisting knockers, and "knapping" rail-heads, has
+  descended so low of late that the fast fellows are ashamed of it, and have
+  resigned it to the medical students, patriotic young members of Parliament,
+  and others of the imitative classes; but there yet exists, or very lately
+  existed, a collection of these and various other surreptitiously acquired
+  properties, known among the fast fellow by the title of &mdash;&mdash;'s
+  Museum, every article being ticketed artistically, and the whole presenting
+  an example of devotion to the cause of science, we believe, without a
+  parallel.</p>
+
+  <p>These are a few of the comparatively innocent amusements of the fast
+  fellows; others there are of graver character, which we need not refer to,
+  especially as the fast school is fast wearing itself out, and many of the
+  fast fellows already begin to "put on the drag," and go at a more reasonable
+  pace.</p>
+
+  <p>Their ignorance, with the single exception of horse-flesh, is appalling.
+  Nobody who does not know the fast fellows, would credit that men could by
+  any possibility grow up in such absolute ignorance of whatever a gentleman
+  is expected to know; whatever a gentleman is expected not to know, they have
+  at their tongues' and fingers' ends.</p>
+
+  <p>Intellectual men, of whatever description, they regard with the most
+  perfect indifference&mdash;an indifference too passive for contempt; they
+  affect to wonder, or probably do wonder, what such men are for, or why
+  people sometimes talk about them. Books they find convenient for putting
+  under the legs of barrack-room tables, to bring them to a level, and think
+  they are made of different sizes for that purpose; but no fast fellow was
+  ever yet detected in looking into one of them, to see whether there was any
+  thing inside. Such as have been taught to spell, employ part of the Sunday
+  in deciphering the smutty jokes of the <i>Satirist</i>, and pronounce the
+  jokes "d&mdash;d good," and the paper "a d&mdash;d honest paper." If they
+  happen, by any chance, to come into contact with one of the slow school, or
+  any body who has been taught to read, they have a method of silencing his
+  battery, which they think "capital." If a man should say in their company,
+  that Chaucer was a great poet, one will immediately enquire, "<i>how
+  much?</i>" while another wishes to know if Chaucer is entered for the
+  "Derby?" "How much?" is the invariable slang, whenever a man gets the bit
+  out of his mouth, or, in other words, talks of any thing but horses.</p>
+
+  <p>There is no novelty in this; it is only a second edition of Dean Swift's
+  "new-fashioned way of being witty," which, in his fashionable day, was
+  called "a bite." "You must ask a bantering question," he informs Stella, "or
+  tell some damned lie in a serious manner, and then they will answer or speak
+  as if you were in earnest; then cry you, 'there's a <i>bite</i>.' I would
+  not have you undervalue this, for it is the constant amusement in court, and
+  every where else among the great people; and I let you know it, in order to
+  have it obtain amongst you, and teach you a new refinement."</p>
+
+  <p>If they accept an invitation from Lord Northampton to go to one of his
+  <i>soir&eacute;es</i>, which they sometimes do for a "lark," their antics
+  are vastly amusing; they put on grave, philosophic faces, and mimic the
+  <i>savans</i> to the life; if the noble president, thinking he is doing the
+  polite thing, points out to them a poet, for example, or a professor, they
+  have a knack of elevating the shoulders, looking at the man with a pitying
+  air, and whispering the words "<i>poor beast</i>," with a tone and manner
+  quite inimitable. Indeed this is one of the few clever things they do, and
+  on or off the stage we have never seen any thing like it.</p>
+
+  <p>If Dickens were to die&mdash;an event that, we hope and trust, may not
+  occur these fifty years, the fast fellows would have some such conversation
+  upon the event, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>A. So, Dickens, I hear, is dead.</p>
+
+  <p>B. How much?</p>
+
+  <p>C. What's that?</p>
+
+  <p>A. Why, Pickwick, to be sure.</p>
+
+  <p>B. Oh! Eh? Pickwick&mdash;Moses&mdash;Bath coach&mdash;<i>I</i> know.</p>
+
+  <p>C. Pickwick&mdash;near Chippenham? Paul Methven lives
+  there&mdash;<i>I</i> know.</p>
+
+  <p>A. No&mdash;no&mdash;I tell you, he's a man that writes.</p>
+
+  <p>B. Is he? He may be. How should I know?</p>
+
+  <p>C. Well&mdash;it's a d&mdash;&mdash;d hard case, that, at the beginning
+  of the season, I should have lost a d&mdash;&mdash;d good tiger. Has any
+  body got a d&mdash;&mdash;d small tiger for sale?</p>
+
+  <p>As we are in the humour for dialogue, we may as well give a
+  <i>verbatim</i> report of our last interview with Lord&mdash;&mdash;, who
+  had been a fast fellow in his youth. We encountered him on the sunny side of
+  St James's Street, the other day, tottering to Brookes's: although we don't
+  expect you to believe it, what passed was, as we recollect it, exactly as
+  follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, my Lord, I hope your gout is better?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Eh&mdash;how are you? Well, I think I <i>am</i> better, d'ye know."</p>
+
+  <p>"Glad to hear it."</p>
+
+  <p>"Thankee&mdash;thankee&mdash;d'ye know, eh, I've changed my doctor?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, and how d'ye like your new one?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Capitally&mdash;eh&mdash;d'ye know, he's a clever fellow.
+  Young&mdash;eh&mdash;but clever&mdash;very. D'ye know, eh&mdash;he
+  corresponds regularly with&mdash;eh&mdash;with Sir <i>Humphrey</i> Newton
+  and Sir <i>Isaac</i> Davy!"</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s6" id="bw327s6"></a>THE DREAM OF LORD NITHSDALE.</h2>
+
+  <h3>BY CHARLES MACKAY.</h3>
+
+  <blockquote class="note">
+    [Lord Nithsdale, as is well known, was condemned to death for his
+    participation in the Rebellion of 1715. By the exertions of his
+    true-hearted wife, Winifred, he was enabled to escape from the Tower of
+    London on the night before the morning appointed for his execution. The
+    lady herself&mdash;noble soul!&mdash;has related, in simple and touching
+    language, in a letter to her sister, the whole circumstances of her lord's
+    escape. The letter is preserved in the Appendix to "Cromek's Remains of
+    Nithsdale and Galloway Song," page 313 to 329&mdash;London, 1810.]
+  </blockquote>
+  <hr />
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Farewell to thee, Winifred, dearest and best!</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Farewell to thee, wife of a courage so high!&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>Come hither, and nestle again in my breast,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Come hither, and kiss me again ere I die!&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>And when I am laid bleeding and low in the dust,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And yield my last breath at a tyrant's decree,</p>
+
+      <p>Look up&mdash;be resign'd&mdash;and the God of the just</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Will shelter thy fatherless bairnies and thee!"</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>She wept on his breast, but, ashamed of her tears,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">She dash'd off the drops that ran warm down her cheek;</p>
+
+      <p>"Be sorrow for those who have leisure for tears&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">O pardon thy wife that her soul was so weak!</p>
+
+      <p>There is hope for us still, and I will not despair,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Though cowards and traitors exult at thy fate;</p>
+
+      <p>I'll show the oppressors what woman can dare,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">I'll show them that love can be stronger than hate!"</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Lip to lip, heart to heart, and their fond arms entwined,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He has kiss'd her again, and again, and again;</p>
+
+      <p>"Farewell to thee, Winifred, pride of thy kind,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Sole ray in my darkness, sole joy in my pain!"</p>
+
+      <p>She has gone&mdash;he has heard the last sound of her tread;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He has caught the last glimpse of her robes at the
+      door;&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>She has gone, and the joy that her presence had shed,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">May cheer the sad heart of Lord Nithsdale no more.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>And the prisoner pray'd in his dungeon alone,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And thought of the morn and its dreadful array,</p>
+
+      <p>Then rested his head on his pillow of stone,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And slumber'd an hour ere the dawning of day.</p>
+
+      <p>Oh, balm of the Weary! Oh, soother of pain!</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That still to the sad givest pity and dole;</p>
+
+      <p>How gently, oh sleep! lay thy wings on his brain,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">How sweet were thy dreams to his desolate soul!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Once more on his green native braes of the Nith,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He pluck'd the wild bracken, a frolicsome boy;</p>
+
+      <p>He sported his limbs in the waves of the Frith;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He trod the green heather in gladness and joy;&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>On his gallant grey steed to the hunting he rode,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">In his bonnet a plume, on his bosom a star;</p>
+
+      <p>He chased the red deer to its mountain abode,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And track'd the wild roe to its covert afar.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The vision was changed. In a midsummer night</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He roam'd with his Winifred, blooming and young;</p>
+
+      <p>He gazed on her face by the moon's mellow light,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And loving and warm were the words on his tongue.</p>
+
+      <p>Thro' good and thro' evil, he swore to be true,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And love through all fortune his Winnie alone;</p>
+
+      <p>And he saw the red blush o'er her cheek as it flew,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And heard her sweet voice that replied to his own.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Once more it has changed. In his martial array,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Lo, he rides at the head of his gallant young men!</p>
+
+      <p>And the pibroch is heard on the hills far away,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the clans are all gather'd from mountain and glen.</p>
+
+      <p>For exiled King Jamie, their darling and lord,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">They raise the loud slogan&mdash;they rush to the war.</p>
+
+      <p>The tramp of the battle resounds on the sward&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Unfurl'd is the banner&mdash;unsheath'd the claymore!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The vision has fled like a sparkle of light,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And dark is the dream that possesses him now;</p>
+
+      <p>The morn of his doom has succeeded the night,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the damp dews of death gather fast on his brow.</p>
+
+      <p>He hears in the distance a faint muffled drum,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the low sullen boom of the death-tolling bell;</p>
+
+      <p>The block is prepared, and the headsman is come,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the victim, bareheaded, walks forth from his
+      cell.&mdash;</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>No! No! 'twas a vision! his hour was not yet,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And waking, he turn'd on his pallet of straw,</p>
+
+      <p>And a form by his side he could never forget,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">By the pale misty light of a taper he saw.</p>
+
+      <p>"'Tis I! 'tis thy Winifred!"&mdash;softly she said,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">"Arouse thee, and follow&mdash;be bold, never fear!</p>
+
+      <p>There was danger abroad, but my errand has sped,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">I promised to save thee&mdash;and lo I am here!"</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>He rose at the summons, and little they spoke,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The gear of a lady she placed on his head;</p>
+
+      <p>She cover'd his limbs with a womanly cloak,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And painted his cheeks of a maidenly red.</p>
+
+      <p>"One kiss, my dear lord, and begone!&mdash;and beware!</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Walk softly&mdash;I follow!" Oh guide them, and save,</p>
+
+      <p>From the open assault, from the intricate snare,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Thou, Providence, friend of the good and the brave!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>They have pass'd unsuspected the guard at the cell,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the sentinel band that keep watch at the gate;</p>
+
+      <p>One peril remains&mdash;it is past&mdash;all is well!</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">They are free; and her love has proved stronger than
+      hate.</p>
+
+      <p>They are gone&mdash;who shall follow?&mdash;their ship's on the
+      brine,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And they sail unpursued to a far friendly shore,</p>
+
+      <p>Where love and content at their hearth may entwine,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the warfare of kingdoms divide them no more.</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s7" id="bw327s7"></a>TWO HOURS OF MYSTERY.</h2>
+  <hr />
+
+  <h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+  <p>One bright day, last June, one of the London coaches rattled at an
+  amazing rate down the main street of a garrison town, and, with a sudden
+  jerk which threw the smoking horses on their haunches, pulled up at the door
+  of the Waterloo hotel. A beautiful sight it is&mdash;a fine, well appointed
+  coach, of what we must now call the ancient fashion, with its smart driver,
+  brilliant harness, and thoroughbred team. Then it is a spectacle pleasing to
+  gods and men, the knowing and instantaneous manner in which the grooms
+  perform their work in leading off the horses, and putting fresh ones
+  to&mdash;the rapid diving for carpet-bags and portmanteaus into the various
+  boots and luggage holes&mdash;the stepping down or out (as the case may be)
+  of the passengers&mdash;the tip to the coachman&mdash;the touch of the hat
+  in return&mdash;the remounting of that functionary into his chair of
+  honour&mdash;the chick, chick! with which he hints to the pawing greys he is
+  ready for a start&mdash;and, finally, the roll off into dim distance of the
+  splendid vehicle, watched by the crowd that have gathered round it, till it
+  is lost from their sight. A steam-coach, with its disgusting, hissing,
+  sputtering, shapeless, lifeless engine, ought to be ashamed of itself, and
+  would probably blush for its appearance, if it were not for the quantity of
+  brass that goes to its composition. On the above-mentioned bright day in
+  June, only two passengers go out from the inside of the Celerity. The
+  outsides, who were apparently pushed for time, urged them to make haste; and
+  the lady, the first who stept on the pavement, took their admonitions in
+  good part. With only a small basket on her arm, and a dark veil drawn close
+  down over her face, she dropt half-a-crown into the hand of the expectant
+  coachman, and walked rapidly up the street. The gentleman, however, put off
+  a good deal of time in identifying his carpet-bag&mdash;then his pocket
+  seemed to be indefinitely deep, as his hand appeared to have immense
+  difficulty in getting to the bottom of it. At last he succeeded in catching
+  hold of some coin, and, while he dropt it into the extended palm of the
+  impatient Jehu, he sad, "Hem! I say, coachie, who is that lady? Eh! fine
+  eyes&mdash;hem!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Can't say, sir&mdash;no name in the way-bill&mdash;thank ye, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then you can't tell me any thing about her? Prettiest critter I ever saw
+  in my life. As to Mrs Moss"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>But before the inquisitive gentleman, who stood all this time with the
+  carpet-bag in his hand, had an opportunity of making any further revelation
+  as to Mrs Moss, or any more enquiries as to his unknown travelling
+  companion, the coachman had mounted the box, and, after asserting in a very
+  complacent tone that it was all right, had driven off, and left him in the
+  same state of ignorance as before.</p>
+
+  <p>"Sleep here, sir?&mdash;Dinner, sir?&mdash;This way to the coffee-room,"
+  said a smart young man, with long hair and a blue coat, with a napkin over
+  his arm.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh! you're the waiter, I suppose. Now, waiter, I want to find out
+  something, and I daresay you can help me"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"This way, sir. You can have a mutton-chop in twenty minutes."</p>
+
+  <p>"No&mdash;listen to me&mdash;I'm going to ask you some questions. Did you
+  see the lady that got out of the coach when I did? She's a beautiful
+  critter; such black eyes!&mdash;such a sweet voice!&mdash;such a small hand!
+  We travelled together the whole way from town. She spoke very little, and
+  kept her name a secret. I couldn't find out what she came here for. Do you
+  understand?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir&mdash;perfectly," said the waiter, at the same time evidently
+  understanding nothing about it.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, you see, I don't know what you think of it down here; but, for my
+  part, I think ladies at forty-five are past their prime. Now, my next
+  neighbour in London&mdash;Mrs Moss is her name&mdash;she's exactly that age.
+  You hear what I am saying, waiter?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Now, I don't think this young lady, from her eyes and mouth, can be more
+  than twenty-three&mdash;a charming age, waiter&mdash;hem! You never saw her
+  before, did you?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir&mdash;never."</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, its very astonishing what a beautiful girl she is. I am retired
+  from the lace and ribbon business, waiter, but I think she's the sweetest
+  specimen of the fair sex I ever saw. And you don't know who she is, do
+  you?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir. You'll sleep here, sir, I think you said? shammaid!"</p>
+
+  <p>"No&mdash;I haven't said so yet," said the stranger, rather sharply.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh!" said the waiter, who had not attended to a syllable the gentleman
+  had spoken&mdash;and retired under the archway into the hotel.</p>
+
+  <p>"The only way to get information," mused the gentleman with the
+  carpet-bag, still standing on the pavement, "is to have your eyes about you
+  and ask questions. It's what I always do since I have begun to travel for
+  improvement&mdash;I got all the waiter knew out of him in a moment&mdash;I
+  ought to have been an Old Bailey barrister&mdash;there ain't such a
+  cross-questioner as I am in the whole profession."</p>
+
+  <p>The person who possessed such astonishing powers of investigation, was a
+  man about fifty years of age, little and stout, with a face of perfect
+  good-nature, and presenting the unmistakeable appearance of a prosperous
+  man. The twinkle about his eye spoke strongly of the three-and-a-half per
+  cents, and a mortgage or two might be detected in the puckers round his
+  mouth. I shouldn't at all care to change banker's books with him on
+  chance.</p>
+
+  <p>"How lucky I haven't proposed to Mrs M.! Charming woman, but
+  fat&mdash;decidedly fat&mdash;and a little dictatorial too. Travel, says
+  she&mdash;enlarge your mind&mdash;why, how big would she have
+  it?&mdash;expand your intellect&mdash;does she think a man's brains are
+  shaped like a fan? I wish to heaven I could find out who this
+  beautiful"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>But, as if his wish was that moment to be gratified, a small light hand
+  was laid upon his shoulder, and, on turning round, he saw his fair
+  fellow-traveller.</p>
+
+  <p>"Excuse me, sir," she said, in a very sweet but slightly agitated voice,
+  "excuse me for addressing you, but I am emboldened by your appearance
+  to"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, ma'am&mdash;you're very polite&mdash;I feel it a great compliment, I
+  assure you."</p>
+
+  <p>"The benevolent expression of your counternance encourages me
+  to"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, ma'am, don't mention it, I beg"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"To ask your assistance in my present difficulty."</p>
+
+  <p>"Now, then," thought the gentleman thus appealed to, "I'll find out all
+  about her&mdash;how I'll question her!"</p>
+
+  <p>"You will help me, I feel sure," continued the lady.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, certainly&mdash;how can you doubt it?&mdash;(Hem&mdash;what white
+  teeth! Mrs. M. is a martyr to toothache.) How can I be useful, ma'am? Don't
+  you think it's a curious coincidence we travelled together, ma'am, and both
+  of us coming to the same town? It strikes me to be very singular; doesn't it
+  you, ma'am?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I shall be glad of it, if"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! by-the-bye&mdash;another queer thing is your applying to me&mdash;a
+  man past the bloom of boyhood, to be sure, in fact a little
+  beyond"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"The prime of life," added the lady, not regarding the disappointed look
+  with which her interpolation was received; "it is for that reason, sir, I
+  throw myself on your kindness; you have perhaps daughters, sir, or
+  grandchildren, who"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Devil a one. Gad, ma'am, I wish you heard Mrs M., a neighbour of
+  mine&mdash;why, she's always talking of my wildness and juvenile liveliness,
+  and all that sort of thing; an excellent woman Mrs M., but
+  stout&mdash;certainly stout."</p>
+
+  <p>"Are you acquainted with this town, sir?" said the lady.</p>
+
+  <p>"God bless ye! read an immense account of it in the Penny Magazine ever
+  so long ago; but whether it is famous for a breakwater, or a harbour, or a
+  cliff, or some dock-yard machinery, I can't recollect; perhaps it's all of
+  them together; we shall find out soon; for travelling, as Mrs M. says,
+  enlarges the mind, and expands the intellect."</p>
+
+  <p>The lady looked in the face of the disciple of Mrs M. with an anxious
+  expression, as if she repented having addressed him.</p>
+
+  <p>"But are you acquainted with the localities here?" she said at last. "As
+  to myself, I am utterly ignorant of the place I have to go to; and if you
+  knew what reason I have to"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah! that's the very thing; give me your confidence, and I can refuse you
+  nothing."</p>
+
+  <p>"My confidence!&mdash;alas, the business I come on can only be
+  interesting to the parties concerned. I came from London for one sole
+  object; and if I fail, if any delay occurs, the consequences may
+  be&mdash;oh, I dread to think of them!"</p>
+
+  <p>"You don't say so? Lord! what a thing it is to travel!"</p>
+
+  <p>"It was of the utmost consequence that my journey here should be unknown.
+  I had no one to trust. Alas, alas! I have no friend in all the world in whom
+  I could confide!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Hem, hem!" said the little man, moved by the earnest sadness of her tone
+  and looks, "you have one friend, ma'am; you may trust <i>me</i> with any
+  thing in the world; yes, me, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place,
+  Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I tell you my name, that you may
+  know I am somebody. I retired from business some years ago, because uncle
+  John died one day, and left me his heir; got into a snug cottage, green
+  verandah, trellice porch, green door, with bell handle in the wall; next
+  door to Mrs Moss&mdash;clever woman, but large&mdash;very large. And now
+  that you know who I am, you will perhaps tell me"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"I have little to tell, sir; I came here to see an officer who was to
+  have landed this morning from foreign service; if I don't see him instantly
+  there will be death&mdash;ah!"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Soldiers&mdash;death&mdash;ah!" thought Mr Clam; "wild fellows them
+  officers&mdash;breach of promise&mdash;short memories&mdash;a lovely
+  critter, but rather silly I'm afraid; I should like to see a soldier coming
+  the sentimental over Mrs M. Well, ma'am?"</p>
+
+  <p>The lady perceived something in the expression of Mr Clam's face (which
+  was radiant with the wonderful discovery he thought he had made) which
+  probably displeased her; for she said, in a very abrupt and almost
+  commanding manner&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you know the way, sir, to the infantry barracks?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Not I, ma'am; never knew a soldier in my life. (Think of Mrs M. paying a
+  morning visit to the barracks! What a critter this is!")</p>
+
+  <p>"Then you can't assist me, sir, as I had hoped, and therefore"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, by no means, ma'am; I can find out where the barracks are in a
+  moment. There's a young officer crossing the street; I'll ask him, and be
+  back in a minute."</p>
+
+  <p>So saying, Mr Clam placed his, carpet-bag in safety inside the archway of
+  the hotel, and started off in pursuit of information. While her Mercury was
+  gone on his voyage of discovery, the lady looked at the officer he was
+  following. He was a young handsome man of two or three-and-twenty, lounging
+  slowly along with the air of modest appreciation of his own value to Queen
+  and country&mdash;not to mention private dinner parties and county
+  balls&mdash;which seems soon to become a part of the military character in a
+  garrison town. As he turned round to speak to Mr Nicholas Clam, the lady
+  half shrieked, and pulled her veil more carefully over her face.</p>
+
+  <p>"I'm lost! I'm lost!" she said; "'tis Chatterton himself! Oh, why did I
+  allow this talkative old man to trouble himself with my affairs? If the
+  meeting takes place before I can explain, my happiness is gone for
+  ever!"</p>
+
+  <p>She turned away, and walked as quickly as she could up one of the side
+  streets. Not daring to turn round, she was alarmed by hearing steps rapidly
+  nearing her in pursuit; and, from the heaviness of the sound, concluded at
+  once that there was more than one person close behind. It turned out,
+  however, to be nobody but her portly, and now breathless companion, Mr
+  Clan.</p>
+
+  <p>"Stop, for heaven's sake, ma'am! that ain't the way," he said. "What a
+  pace she goes at! Ma'am! ma'am! She's as deaf as a post, and would drive me
+  into consumption in a week; and this in a hot day in June, too! Mrs M. has
+  more sense&mdash;stop!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Have you discovered the way, sir?" she enquired, hurriedly.</p>
+
+  <p>"Haven't I? I certainly have the knack of picking up information. I told
+  the young man I had travelled with you from London; that you had some secret
+  business at the barracks; that I didn't know what it was; and the moment I
+  asked him all these questions"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Questions, sir?" said the lady, spitefully; "it strikes me you were
+  telling every thing, and asking nothing"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"The moment he found out, I say, that there was a lady in the case, and
+  that you wanted to know the way to the barracks, he insisted on coming to
+  show you the way himself&mdash;a civil young man."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, why did you speak to him?" exclaimed the lady, still hurrying on;
+  "to him of all men? you have ruined me!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Me ruined you! That's going it a little too strong. I never ruined any
+  body in my life. How did I know you knew the man? There's some awful mystery
+  in this young woman," muttered Mr Clam, puffing like a broken-winded coach
+  horse, "and if I live I'll find it out. There's nothing improves the mind,
+  as Mrs M. says, so much as curiosity."</p>
+
+  <p>"Is it far to the barracks, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"This ain't the way, ma'am; you're making it further every minute; and,
+  besides, you're running away from the young officer."</p>
+
+  <p>"I <i>mustn't</i> meet him, sir&mdash;do you hear me?&mdash;I <i>must</i>
+  not be recognized."</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, ma'am," said Mr Clam, "there's no great harm done yet; I did every
+  thing for the best&mdash;following the dictates of an unbiassed judgment, as
+  Mrs M. says; and if I've brought you into a scrape, I'll get you out of it.
+  Take my arm, ma'am, turn boldly round, and I'll soon set him about his
+  business."</p>
+
+  <p>The lady did as she was told, and they retraced their steps. The young
+  officer now approached, and touching his hat with an air of unspeakable
+  elegance, and then swinging his cane, said, "You asked me, sir, to show the
+  way to the barracks."</p>
+
+  <p>"Quite a mistake, sir," replied Mr Clam, drily; "we know the way
+  perfectly well ourselves."</p>
+
+  <p>"It isn't far," pursued the officer; "and I shall be delighted to
+  accompany you. Any thing that you, sir, or your beautiful companion, may
+  require, I shall be happy to procure for you. Is there any one you wish to
+  see at the barracks?"</p>
+
+  <p>This question was addressed to the lady, who drew back, and made no
+  reply.</p>
+
+  <p>"If there's any body we want to see," said Mr Clam, "we'll ask for him;
+  but we're in a hurry, sir. This lady travelled all the way from London
+  expressly on purpose to"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>But here a pinch in the arm prevented any further revelation, and made Mr
+  Clam wince as if he had been stung by an adder.</p>
+
+  <p>"You needn't grip, so hard," he said to his companion; "for its my solemn
+  opinion you've taken the bit out. Let us go, sir," he continued, addressing
+  the officer once more. "We don't need your assistance."</p>
+
+  <p>The young man looked surprised.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, sir," he said, "it was entirely to do you a favour that I
+  came."</p>
+
+  <p>"You'll do us a far greater if you'll go," replied Mr Clam, becoming
+  boisterous and dignified, after the manner of a turkey-cock.</p>
+
+  <p>"Sir, I don't understand such language," said the officer.</p>
+
+  <p>"Then your education has been neglected, sir. It's English&mdash;plain,
+  downright English. We have no desire for your society, sir.&mdash;Right
+  about wheel&mdash;march."</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>You</i> are below my notice," said the young man, flushing up; "and
+  your insolent vulgarity is, therefore, safe. At the same time, if the lady
+  needs my assistance"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"She doesn't need your assistance&mdash;far from it&mdash;she told me she
+  wished never to"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>Another pinch, more powerful apparently than the former, from the
+  writhing of the sufferer, interrupted once more the stream of his eloquence;
+  and he was worked up into a tremendous passion, partly, perhaps, by the cool
+  contempt of the young officer, and principally by the pain he suffered in
+  his arm.</p>
+
+  <p>"You're an impudent fellow, sir," he said. "I don't care twopence for all
+  the puppies that ever wore red coats, sir. My name is Nicholas Clam, Esq.,
+  No. 4, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London; and I can
+  shoot at a popinjay as well as another."</p>
+
+  <p>"You shall hear from me, sir," said the officer, biting his lips. "My
+  name is Chatterton&mdash;Lieutenant Chatterton. Good day, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>He touched his hat proudly, and walked away.</p>
+
+  <p>"A good riddance, ma'am," said Mr Clam. "Them young chaps think to have
+  it all their own way. I wish I had seen a policeman or a serjeant of
+  soldiers; I would have charged him, as sure as a gun!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, come quick, quick!" exclaimed the lady, pressing more hurriedly on
+  his arm. "Take me to the barracks! I must see him instantly!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Who?" enquired Mr Clam. "I'm all on the teeters to understand what all
+  this is about. Who is it you must see? Now, for my own part, I don't want to
+  see any one; only I wish you would tell me what"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, spare me the recital at present. I'm so agitated by recent events,
+  that, that&mdash;indeed you must excuse me. Oh come&mdash;quickly, quickly,
+  come!"</p>
+
+  <p>There was no answer possible to such a request, more especially as by
+  suiting the action to the word, and drawing her companion forward at a
+  tremendous rate, she had entirely taken away the quantity of breath required
+  to carry on a conversation. Mr Clam's cogitations, however, were deep; and,
+  among them, the most prominent was a doubt as to the great advantages to be
+  derived from travel, and a firm persuasion that it is a very foolish thing
+  to become the champion of any lady whatever, more particularly if she
+  conceals her name, and refuses to satisfy one's curiosity in the smallest
+  point.</p>
+
+  <h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+  <p>The young man who has been introduced to us as Lieutenant Chatterton,
+  pursued his way up the main street in no very equable temper. A little,
+  grey-eyed, snub-nosed civilian, to have insulted an officer and a gentleman!
+  the disgrace was past all bearing, especially as it had been inflicted on
+  him in the presence of a lady. Burning with the indignation befitting his
+  age and profession, and determined to call out the insulter, his present
+  object was to meet with a friend whom he might send with the message.
+  Luckily for his purpose, he was met by Major McToddy.</p>
+
+  <p>"Ha! major&mdash;never was so happy to see any one in my life," exclaimed
+  Chatterton, seizing the hand of his friend&mdash;a tall, raw-boned,
+  red-faced man, with a good-natured expression of face, not unmixed with a
+  considerable share of good sense.</p>
+
+  <p>"I really," replied the major, in an accent that was a great deal more
+  redolent of Renfrew than Middlesex&mdash;"I really jist at this moment dinna
+  happen to have a single guinea aboot me, so ye needna go on wi' your
+  compliments; but at hame in the kist,&mdash;the <i>arca</i>, as a body may
+  say"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Poh! I don't want to borrow just now&mdash;except, indeed, your
+  assistance in a matter of the highest importance. You have always been so
+  kind, so obliging, that I am sure you wont refuse."</p>
+
+  <p>"Weel, say awa', speak on; <i>perge, puer</i>, as a body may say,"
+  interrupted the major, who seemed resolved to show what command of language
+  he had, for he uniformly began his speeches in his vernacular, and
+  translated them, though with an effort, into English, or any other tongue he
+  chanced to recollect.</p>
+
+  <p>"Did you see a lady near the Waterloo? tall, graceful, timid; by heavens,
+  a shape to dream of, not to see?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Then, what for did ye look at it?&mdash;answer that if you
+  please&mdash;<i>responde, s'il vous plait</i>."</p>
+
+  <p>"A creature so sweet, so beautiful; ah, McToddy!"</p>
+
+  <p>"What's a' this aboot. What's the meaning of all this? Is't in some wild
+  play aboot a woman&mdash;<i>une femme,</i>&mdash;a <i>f&aelig;mina</i>, as a
+  body may say, you want my help? Gae wa' wi' ye&mdash;be off with
+  you,&mdash;<i>apage, Sathanas</i>, as a body may say&mdash;I'm owre auld in
+  the horn for sic nonsense&mdash;<i>non mihi tantas</i>."</p>
+
+  <p>"I tell you, major, she is the loveliest creature in Europe. Such a foot
+  &mdash;such shoulders&mdash;such a walk&mdash;by heavens! I'll shoot him as
+  dead as Julius C&aelig;sar."</p>
+
+  <p>"Who are you going to shoot?&mdash;is't a woman in man's claes?" enquired
+  the major, astonished.</p>
+
+  <p>"I'll shoot him&mdash;the cursed, fat, pudgy, beastly rascal, her
+  husband. I've never seen her face, but"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Lord seff us!&mdash;heaven preserve us, as a body may say. Is that a
+  respectable reason for shooting a man that you have never seen his wife's
+  face? Come, come, be cool, John Chatterton&mdash;be cool; <i>animum
+  rege</i>, as a body may"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Cool? a pretty thing for a steady old stager like you, to tell me to be
+  cool. I tell you, I've been insulted, threatened, quizzed, laughed at."</p>
+
+  <p>"Wha laughed at ye?" enquired the major.</p>
+
+  <p>"The woman. I'm certain, she must have laughed. How could she avoid it? I
+  know she laughed at me; for though I couldn't see her face for the horrid
+  veil she kept over it, I saw from the anxiety she was in to hide it, from
+  the shaking, of her whole figure, that she was in the convulsions of a
+  suppressed titter. I'll shoot him as I would a partridge."</p>
+
+  <p>"But ye've nae license, sir, nor nae qualification either that I can
+  see&mdash;for what did the honest man do?" said the major, amazed at the
+  wrath of his companion.</p>
+
+  <p>"Do! He didn't actually call me a puppy, but he meant it. I know he
+  did&mdash;I saw it in the twinkle of his light, prying, silly-looking
+  eyes&mdash;the pucking up of his long, red, sneering lip."</p>
+
+  <p>"But ye canna fecht a man&mdash;you can't challenge a person, as a body
+  may say, for having light eyes and long lips&mdash;what mair? <i>quid
+  ultra?</i> as a body"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"He asked me the way to the barracks."</p>
+
+  <p>"Weel, there's no great harm in that&mdash;<i>non nocet</i>, as
+  a"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"I told him the way, and offered to escort them there; I offered to be of
+  any use to them in my power, for I knew every officer in garrison, you know,
+  except our own regiment, that only came in to-day; and just when I was going
+  to offer my arm to the lovely creature at his side, he said that they didn't
+  need my guidance, that they did not desire my society&mdash;that he could
+  shoot at a popinjay; now, what the devil <i>is</i> a popinjay?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I'm thinking jay is the English for some sort of a pyet&mdash;a
+  tale-bearer, as a body may say&mdash;a blab."</p>
+
+  <p>"A blab!&mdash;by heavens, Major M'Toddy, I don't know what to
+  say&mdash;if I thought the fellow really meant to insinuate any thing of
+  that kind, I would horsewhip him though I met him in a church."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oho! so your conscience is pricked at last?&mdash;<i>mens sibi non
+  conscia</i>, as a body may say," answered the major. "Noo, I want to speak
+  to you on a point of great importance to yourself, my young friend, before
+  you get acquainted with the regiment. Hoo long have you been in the depot
+  here, John Chatterton?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Eighteen months."</p>
+
+  <p>"Weel, man, that's a-year-and-a-half, and you must be almost a man
+  noo."</p>
+
+  <p>The youth looked somewhat inclined to be angry at this mode of hinting
+  that he was still rather juvenile&mdash;but the major went on.</p>
+
+  <p>"And you were engaged, six months ago, to the beauty you used to tell me
+  so much about, Miss Hope of Oakside."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes&mdash;yes&mdash;well?" replied the youth.</p>
+
+  <p>"And what for have ye broke off in such a sudden manner?&mdash;<i>unde
+  rixa?</i> as a body may say."</p>
+
+  <p>"I broke off, Major M'Toddy? I tell you <i>she</i> broke off with
+  me."</p>
+
+  <p>"Did she tell you so?" enquired the senior.</p>
+
+  <p>"No&mdash;do you think I would condescend to ask her? No; but doesn't
+  every body know that she is married?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Have you seen the announcement in the papers?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I never look at the papers&mdash;but I tell you I know from the best
+  authority, that she is either married, or is going to marry an old worn-out
+  fellow of the name of Smith. A friend of Smith's told me so, the last time I
+  came down by the coach."</p>
+
+  <p>"A man on the top of the coach told you that she was going to be
+  married&mdash;that is, <i>in vulgum pargere voces</i>, as a body may
+  say&mdash;capital authority! And what did you do then?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Sent her back her letters&mdash;with a tickler to herself on her
+  conduct."</p>
+
+  <p>"And was that a'?&mdash;did you not write to any of her family?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No. Her eldest sister is a very delightful, sensible girl, and I am
+  certain must have been as angry at Marion's behaviour as I was."</p>
+
+  <p>"And now her brother's come home to-day&mdash;you're sure to meet
+  him&mdash;it'll be an awkward meeting."</p>
+
+  <p>"I can meet him or any man in England," replied the youth. "If there's
+  any awkwardness about it, it sha'n't be on my side."</p>
+
+  <p>"Noo, John Chatterton, my young friend, I'm going to say some words to
+  you that ye'll no like. Ye're very vain o' yoursel'&mdash;but maybe at your
+  time o' life it's not a very great fault to have a decent bump o'
+  self-conceit; you're the best-hearted, most honourable-minded, pleasantest
+  lad I know any where, and very like some nephews of my own in the Company's
+  service: ye'll be a baronet when your father dies, and as rich as a Jew. But
+  oh, John Chatterton, ye're an ass&mdash;a reg'lar donkey, as a body may say,
+  to get into tiffs of passion, and send back a beautiful girl's letters,
+  because some land-louping vagabond on the top of a coach told you some
+  report or other about a Mr Smith"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>Captain</i> Smith," said Chatterton, biting his lips; "he's a well
+  known man; he was an ensign in this very regiment, succeeded to a large
+  fortune, and retired: he's a very old man."</p>
+
+  <p>"He's very fine fellow, and as gallant a soldier as ever lived," answered
+  the major; "and if you think that a man of six or seven-and-thirty is ow'r
+  auld to marry, by my troth, Mister Chatterton, I tak' the liberty to tell
+  you that you labour under a very considerable mistake."</p>
+
+  <p>Chatterton looked at the irate face of his companion, in which the
+  crow-feet of forty years were distinctly visible, and perceived that he had
+  gone on a wrong tack.</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, but then, major, what the deuce right had she to marry without
+  giving me notice of her intentions?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Set ye up, and push ye forrit!&mdash;marry come up! as a body may
+  say&mdash;who made you the young lassie's guardian? If you were really
+  engaged to her, why didn't you go to Oakside at once and find out the truth,
+  and then go instantaneously and kick the fellow you met on the top of the
+  coach, round and round the barrack yard, till there was not enough of him
+  left to plant your boot on?"</p>
+
+  <p>The young man looked down as if a little ashamed of himself.</p>
+
+  <p>"Never mind, major," said he, "it can't be helped now; so do, like a good
+  fellow, go and find out the little rascal who insulted me so horribly just
+  now. It would be an immense satisfaction to pull his nose with a regulation
+  glove on."</p>
+
+  <p>"But you must describe him, and tell me his name, for it would be a sad
+  occurrence if I were to give your message to the wrong man."</p>
+
+  <p>"You can't mistake him; the most impudent-looking vulgarian in England.
+  His name is Nicholas Clam, living in some unheard-of district near the
+  Regent's Park."</p>
+
+  <p>"And the lady is his wife, is she?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Of course. Who the devil would walk with such a fellow that wasn't
+  obliged to do it by law?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, my young friend, I'll see what's to be done in this matter, and
+  will bring you, most likely, a solemn declaration that he never shot at a
+  popinjay in his life. And you're really going to end the conversation
+  without asking me for a loan? You're not going to be like Virtus, <i>post
+  nummos</i> after the siller, as a body may say?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, not to-day, thank you. The governor keeps me rather short just now,
+  and won't come down handsome till I'm married; but"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"So you've lost that and the girl too&mdash;the lass and the tocher, as a
+  body may say&mdash;all by the lies of a blackguard on the top of a coach?
+  Ye're a wild lad, John Chatterton, and so <i>vale, et memor esto
+  mei&mdash;au revoir</i>, as a body may say."</p>
+
+  <p>The major turned away on warlike thoughts intent, that is to say, with
+  the intention of finding out Mr Clam, and enquiring into the circumstances
+  of the insult to his friend. Mr Chatterton was also on the point of hurrying
+  off, when a gentleman, who had overheard the last sentence of the
+  sonorous-voiced major's parting speech, stopped suddenly, as if struck by
+  what was said, and politely addressed the youth.</p>
+
+  <p>"I believe, sir, I heard the name of Chatterton mentioned by the
+  gentleman who has just left you?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, he was speaking of him."</p>
+
+  <p>"Of your regiment, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, we have a man of that name," replied Mr Chatterton. "What the deuce
+  can this fellow want?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I am extremely anxious to meet him," continued the stranger, "as I have
+  some business with him of the highest importance."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, a dun, by Jupiter!" thought the young soldier. He looked at the
+  stranger, a very well dressed gentlemanly man&mdash;too manlike for a tailor
+  &mdash;too polished for a horse-dealer; his Wellingtons were brightly
+  polished&mdash;he was perhaps his boot-maker. "Oh, you wish to see Mr
+  Chatterton?" he said aloud.</p>
+
+  <p>"Very much," replied the stranger. "I have some business with him that
+  admits of no delay."</p>
+
+  <p>"An arrest at least," thought the youth. "I wish to heaven M'Toddy had
+  not left me! Is it fair to ask," he continued, aloud, "of what nature your
+  business is with Mr Chatterton? I am his most intimate acquaintance;
+  whatever you say to me is sure to reach him."</p>
+
+  <p>"I must speak to him myself, sir," replied the stranger, coldly. "Where
+  am I likely to find him?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, most likely at the bankers," said the young man, by way of putting
+  his questioner on the wrong scent. "He has just stept into an immense
+  fortune from a maiden aunt, and is making arrangements to pay off all his
+  debts."</p>
+
+  <p>"There are some he will find it difficult to settle," replied the
+  stranger with a sneer, "in spite of his new-found wealth."</p>
+
+  <p>"Indeed, sir! What an exorbitant Jew this fellow is; and yet I never
+  signed any bond!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir," continued the other, with a bitterer sneer than before, "and
+  at the same time such as he can't deny. I have vouchers for every
+  charge."</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, he will not dispute your charges. I daresay they are much the same
+  as those of other people in the same situation with yourself."</p>
+
+  <p>"Are there others in that condition?" enquired the stranger; "what an
+  unprincipled scoundrel!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Who, sir? How dare you apply such language to a gentleman?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I did not, sir, apply it to a gentleman; I applied it to Mr
+  Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"To <i>me</i>, sir! It was to me! <i>I'm</i> Mr Chatterton, sir; and now,
+  out with your writ&mdash;whose suit? What's the amount? Is it Stulz or
+  Dean?"</p>
+
+  <p>The stranger steps back on this announcement, and politely but coldly
+  lifted his hat.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, curse your politeness!" exclaimed the young man, in the extremity of
+  anger. "Where's the bill?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I don't know your meaning, sir," answered the stranger, "in talking
+  about writs and bills; but"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Why&mdash;are you not a tailor, or a bootmaker, or something of the
+  kind? Don't you say you have claims on me, and don't you talk of charges
+  with vouchers, and heaven knows what? Come, let us hear. I'll give you a
+  promissory note, and I daresay my friend Major M'Toddy will give me his
+  security."</p>
+
+  <p>"I thought you had recently succeeded to a fortune, sir? but that, I
+  suppose, was only another of your false and unfounded assertions. Do you
+  know me, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No&mdash;except that you are the most insulting scoundrel I ever met,
+  and that I wish you were worth powder and shot."</p>
+
+  <p>"Let that pass, sir," continued the stranger, with a bitter smile. "Did
+  you ever hear of Captain Smith, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Of twenty, sir. I know fifteen Captain Smiths most intimately."</p>
+
+  <p>"But I happen to be one of the five unhonoured by your acquaintance. You
+  are acquainted with Mrs Smith; sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I'm acquainted with three-and-twenty, sir. What then?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I was in hopes, that the recollection of Oakside would have induced you
+  to treat her name with more respect."</p>
+
+  <p>Chatterton's brow grew dark with rage. "So, then," he said, lifting his
+  hat with even more pride and coldness than his adversary&mdash;"so, then,
+  you're the Captain Smith I have heard of, and it was no false report? I am
+  delighted, sir, to see you here, and to know that you are a gentleman, that
+  I may, without degradation to her Majesty's commission, put a bullet or two
+  into your body. Your insulting conduct deserves chastisement, sir, and it
+  shall have it."</p>
+
+  <p>"With all my heart," replied Captain Smith; the pleasure of calling you
+  to account was the object of my visit. I accept your challenge&mdash;only
+  wondering that you have spirit and honour enough left to resent an
+  intentional affront. Can we meet to-night?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Certainly. I shall send a friend to you in half an hour. He is gone on a
+  similar message to another person already; and I will let you know at what
+  hour I shall be disengaged."</p>
+
+  <p>"Agreed," said Captain Smith; and the enemies, after a deep and formal
+  bow on either side, pursued their way in different directions.</p>
+
+  <h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+  <p>In the meanwhile Mr Nicholas Clam, and the lady leaning on his arm, had
+  proceeded in silence, for the lady's thoughts were so absorbed that she paid
+  no attention to the many prefatory coughs with which her companion was
+  continually clearing his throat. He thought of fifty different ways of
+  commencing a conversation, and putting an end to the rapid pace they were
+  going at. But onward still hurried the lady, and breathless, tired,
+  disconcerted, and very much perplexed, Mr Clam was obliged to continue at
+  her side.</p>
+
+  <p>"This all comes of Mrs Moss writing a book," he muttered, "and being a
+  philosophical character. What business had she to go publishing all that
+  wonderful big volume above my mantel-piece&mdash;'Woman's Dignity; developed
+  in Dialogues?' Without that she never would have found out that I could not
+  be a sympathizing companion without the advantages of travel, and I never
+  should have left number four, to be quarrelled with by every whipper-snapper
+  of a soldier, and dragged to death by a woman unknown&mdash;a synonymous
+  personage, as Mrs M. would say, that I encountered in a coach. 'Pon my word,
+  ma'am," he added aloud, driven to desperation by fear of apoplexy from the
+  speed they were hurrying on with, "this is carrying matters a little too
+  far, or a great deal too fast at least. Will you let me ask you one
+  question, ma'am?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Certainly, sir," replied the lady; "but oh, do not delay!"</p>
+
+  <p>"But I must delay though, for who do you think can have breath enough
+  both to speak and run? And now, will you tell me, ma'am, what all this is
+  about&mdash;why that young soldier and I were forced to quarrel&mdash;what
+  you came down from London for, and what you are going to do at the
+  barracks?"</p>
+
+  <p>"You will hear it all, sir; you shall know all when we arrive. But do not
+  harrow my feelings at present, I beseech you. It may all end well, if we are
+  in time; but if not"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>The look of the lady, and her tone as she said this, did not by any means
+  contribute to Mr Clam's satisfaction. However, he perceived at once that
+  further attempts to penetrate the mystery would be useless, and he kept
+  musing on the strangeness of the circumstance, as profoundly puzzled as
+  before. On getting into the barrack-yard, the lady muffled herself in her
+  veil more closely than ever, and asked one of the soldiers she met in the
+  archway, if Captain Hope "was in his room?"</p>
+
+  <p>"He's not come ashore yet, ma'am," said the soldier, "we expect him every
+  moment with the last detachment from the transport."</p>
+
+  <p>"Not come yet?" exclaimed the lady; "which way will they march in?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Up the Main Street, and across the drawbridge," said the soldier,
+  goodnaturedly.</p>
+
+  <p>"I wished to see him&mdash;to see him alone. Oh, how unfortunate he is
+  not arrived!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Now, 'pon my word," muttered Mr Clam, "this is by no means a favourable
+  specimen of woman's dignity developed in dialogues. I wish my infernal
+  thirst for knowledge and swelling-out the intellect hadn't led me into an
+  acquaintance with a critter so desperate fond of the soldiers; and Captain
+  Hope, too! Oh, I see how it is&mdash;this here lady, in spite of all her
+  veils and pretences, is no better than she should be; or rather, a great
+  deal worse. Think of Mrs M. falling into hysterics about a Captain Hope!
+  It's a case of a breach of promise. What should we do now, ma'am?" he said,
+  anxious to disengage himself, and a little piqued at the want of confidence
+  his advances had hitherto been received with. "If you'll tell me the whole
+  story, I shall be able to advise"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, you will know it all ere long. Soldier," she said to the man who had
+  answered her former questions, "is there any lady in the barrack&mdash;the
+  wife of one of the officers?"</p>
+
+  <p>"There's our colonel, ma'am&mdash;at least the colonel's wife, ma'am;
+  she's inspecting the regiments baggage in the inner court"</p>
+
+  <p>"Come, come!" said the lady hurriedly, on hearing this, and again Mr Clam
+  was forced along. In the inner court a stout lady, dressed in a man's hat
+  and a green riding-habit without the skirts, was busily employed in taking
+  the numbers of an amazing quantity of trunks and boxes, and seeing that all
+  was right, with the skill and quickness of the guard of a heavy coach. She
+  looked up quickly when she saw Mr Clam and his companion approach.</p>
+
+  <p>"I hope you will pardon me, madam, for addressing you," said the latter,
+  dropping Mr Clam's arm, and lifting her veil.</p>
+
+  <p>"Be quick about it," said the colonel's wife; "I've no time to put off.
+  Hand down that box, No. 19, H. G.," she continued to a sergeant who was
+  perched on the top of the luggage.</p>
+
+  <p>"I wished to see you on a very interesting subject, madam."</p>
+
+  <p>"Love, I'll bet a guinea&mdash;who has deserted you now?&mdash;that green
+  chest, Henicky, No. 34."</p>
+
+  <p>"There is an officer in this regiment of the name of Chatterton?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, he's one of my young men, though I've not seen him yet. What
+  then?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Can I speak to you for a minute alone?"</p>
+
+  <p>"If it's on regimental business, I shall listen to you, of course; but if
+  it's some nonsensical love affair, you must go to Colonel Sword. I never
+  trouble myself about such matters."</p>
+
+  <p>"If I could see Colonel Sword, madam"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Why can't you see him? Go into the commandant's room. You'll find him
+  rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington, my youngest son! That other box,
+  Henicky, L. M. And who is this old man with you?" continued Mrs Sword. "Your
+  attorney, I suppose? See that you aren't ducked at the pump before you get
+  out, old man; for I allow no lawyers inside these walls."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ma'am?" enquired Mr Clam, bewildered at the sudden address of the
+  officer in command.</p>
+
+  <p>"It's a fact, as you'll find; so, make haste, young woman, and Sword will
+  settle your business."</p>
+
+  <p>"Captain Hope is not come on shore yet, I believe?" said the lady.</p>
+
+  <p>"Charlie Hope? No! he's bringing the men and baggage. Has <i>he</i>
+  deserted you too? Go to Sword, I tell you; and let your legal friend retreat
+  without beat of drum. How many chests is this, Henicky?"</p>
+
+  <p>The Amazonian Mrs Sword proceeded with her work, and Mr Clam stood
+  stupified with surprise. His companion, in the mean time, proceeded as
+  directed to the commandant's house, and in a short time found herself in
+  presence of Colonel Sword.</p>
+
+  <p>The colonel was a tall thin man, with a very pale face, and a very hooked
+  nose. He was not exactly rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington, as
+  supposed by his wife, but he was reposing in an easy attitude, with his head
+  thrown back, and his feet thrown forward, and his hands deeply ensconced in
+  his pockets. The apparition of a stranger roused him in a moment. He was as
+  indefatigable in politeness, as his wife had been in her regimental
+  duties.</p>
+
+  <p>"I was in hopes of finding my brother, Captain Hope, in the barracks,
+  sir," she began; "but as I am disappointed, I throw myself on your
+  indulgence, in requesting a few minutes' private conversation."</p>
+
+  <p>"A sister of Captain Hope? delighted to see you, my dear&mdash;did you
+  see Mrs Sword as you came in?"</p>
+
+  <p>"For a minute, but she was busy, and referred me to you."</p>
+
+  <p>"She's very good, I am sure," said the colonel.&mdash;"How can I be of
+  use?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I have a sister, Colonel Sword, very thoughtless, and very young. She
+  became acquainted about a year ago with Mr Chatterton of your
+  regiment&mdash;they were engaged&mdash;all the friends on both sides
+  approved of the match, and all of a sudden Mr Chatterton wrote a very
+  insulting letter, and withdrew from his engagement."</p>
+
+  <p>"The devil he did? Is your sister like you, my dear?"</p>
+
+  <p>"We are said to be like, but she is much younger&mdash;only
+  eighteen."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then this Chatterton is an ass. Good God! what chances silly fellows
+  throw away! And what would you have me do?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Prevent a duel, Colonel Sword. My brother is hot and fiery; Mr
+  Chatterton is rash and headstrong. There will be enquiries, explanations,
+  quarrels, and bloodshed. Oh, Colonel, help me to guard against so dreadful a
+  calamity. I was anxious to see Charles, to tell him that the rupture was on
+  Marion's side&mdash;that she had taken a dislike to Chatterton. We have kept
+  it secret from every body yet. I haven't even told my husband."</p>
+
+  <p>"You're married, then?"</p>
+
+  <p>"To Captain Smith, once of this regiment."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ah, an old friend. Give me your hand, my dear&mdash;we must keep those
+  wild young fellows in order. If I see them look at each other, I'll put them
+  both in arrest. But what can be the meaning of Chatterton's behaviour? I
+  hear such good reports of him from all hands! M'Toddy writes me he is the
+  finest young man in the corps."</p>
+
+  <p>"I can't pretend to guess. He merely returned all my sister's letters,
+  and wished her happy in her new position."</p>
+
+  <p>"What position was that?"</p>
+
+  <p>"A very unhappy one. She has been ill and nervous ever since."</p>
+
+  <p>"So she liked the rascal. Strange creatures you girls are! Well, I'll do
+  my best. I'll give my wife a hint of it, and you may depend on it, if she
+  takes it in hand, there will be no quarrelling under her&mdash;I mean under
+  my command. If you go towards the harbour, you'll most likely encounter your
+  brother. In the meantime, I will go to Chatterton, and take all necessary
+  precautions. And Captain Smith knows nothing of this?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Nothing.&mdash;He was on a visit at Oakside, my sister's home, and I
+  took the opportunity of his absence, to run down and explain matters to
+  Charles. I must return to town immediately; for if I am missed, my husband
+  will make enquiries, and he will be more difficult to pacify than my
+  brother." So saying, they parted after a warm shake of the hand&mdash;but
+  great events had occurred in the meantime in the barrack-yard.</p>
+
+  <p>"Who is that young woman?" said the Colonel's wife, to our astonished
+  friend Mr Clam. "Have you lost your tongue, sir?&mdash;who is she, I
+  say?"</p>
+
+  <p>"If you were to draw me with horses, I could'nt tell you,
+  ma'am&mdash;'pon my solemn davit," said Mr Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, you won't tell, won't you?" returned the lady, cocking her hat, and
+  leaving the mountain of baggage to the care of her friend Sergeant Henicky.
+  "I tell you, sir, I insist on knowing; and if you don't confess this moment,
+  I shall perhaps find means to make you."</p>
+
+  <p>"Me, ma'am? How is it possible for me to confess, when I tell you I know
+  nothing about her? I travelled with her from London in the coach&mdash;am
+  very likely to get shot by a young soldier on her account&mdash;brought her
+  here at a rate that has taken away all my breath&mdash;and know no more
+  about her than you do."</p>
+
+  <p>"A likely story!&mdash;but it won't do for me, sir; no, sir&mdash;I see
+  you are an attorney&mdash;ready to prosecute some of my poor young men for
+  breach of promise; but we stand no nonsense of that kind in the gallant
+  Sucking Pidgeons. So, trot off, old man, and take your decoy-duck with you,
+  or I think its extremely likely you'll be tost in a blanket. Do you
+  hear?&mdash;go for your broken-hearted Desdemona, and double-quick out of
+  the yard. I'll teach a set of lawyers to come playing the Jew to my young
+  men. They shall jilt every girl in England if they think proper, and serve
+  them right too&mdash;and no pitiful green-bag rascal shall trouble them
+  about such trifles&mdash;right about face&mdash;march"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Madam," said Mr Clam, in the extremity of amazement and fear, "did you
+  ever happen to read 'Woman's Dignity, developed in Dialogues?' It's written
+  by my friend, Mrs Moss, No. 5, Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's
+  Park&mdash;in fact, she's my next door neighbour&mdash;a clever woman, but
+  corpulent, very corpulent&mdash;you never met with 'Woman's Dignity,
+  developed in Dialogues?'"</p>
+
+  <p>"Woman's idiocy, enveloped in petticoats! Who the devil cares about
+  woman, or her dignity either? I never could bear the contemptible wretches.
+  No&mdash;give me a man&mdash;a good, stout-hearted, front-rank
+  man&mdash;there's some dignity there&mdash;with the eye glaring, nostril
+  widening, bayonet fixed, and double-quick the word, against the enemies'
+  line. But woman's dignity!&mdash;let her sit and sew&mdash;work squares for
+  ottomans, or borders for chair-bottoms&mdash;psha!&mdash;beat a retreat, old
+  man, or you'll be under the pump in two minutes. I'll teach you to talk
+  nonsense about your women&mdash;I will&mdash;as sure as my name is Jane
+  Sword and I command the Sucking Pigeons!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Pigeons don't suck, ma'am. Mrs M. lent me book of nat'ral
+  history"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"You'll find they'll bite, tho'&mdash;Henicky, take a corporal's guard,
+  and"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh no, for heaven's sake, ma'am!" exclaimed Mr Clam. "Your servant,
+  ma'am. I'm off this moment."</p>
+
+  <p>The unhappy victim of Mrs Moss's advice to travel for the improvement of
+  his mind, thought it best to follow the orders of the military lady in the
+  riding-habit, and retired as quickly as he could from the barrack yard. But,
+  on arriving at the outer archway, shame, or curiosity, or some other
+  feeling, made him pause. "Am I to go away," he thought, "after all, without
+  finding out who the lady is or what business brought her here&mdash;what she
+  knows about Chatterton&mdash;and what she wants with Hope? There's a mystery
+  in it all. Mrs M. would never forgive me if I didn't find it out. I'll wait
+  for the pretty critter&mdash;for she is a pretty critter, in spite of her
+  not telling me her story&mdash;I think I never saw such eyes in my life.
+  Yes&mdash;I'll wait." Mr Clam accordingly stopped short, and looked sharply
+  all round, to watch if his fair companion was coming. She was still detained
+  in the colonel's room.</p>
+
+  <p>"Will you pardon me for addressing a stranger, sir?" said a gentleman,
+  politely bowing to Mr Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, if it's to ask what o'clock it is, or when the coach starts, or any
+  thing like that, I shall be happy to answer you, sir, if I can," replied Mr
+  Clam, whose liking for new acquaintances had not been much increased by the
+  events of the day.</p>
+
+  <p>"I should certainly not have taken the liberty of applying to you,"
+  continued the stranger, "if it had not been under very peculiar
+  circumstances."</p>
+
+  <p>"Are they very peculiar, sir?" enquired Mr Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes&mdash;as you shall have explained to you some other time."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, you won't tell them now, won't you? Here's another mystery. 'Pon my
+  word, sir, so many queer things happen in this town, that I wish I had never
+  come into it. I came down only to-day per coach"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"That's fortunate, sir; if you are a stranger here, your service to me
+  will be greater."</p>
+
+  <p>"What is it you want? My neighbour in No. 5&mdash;a very talented woman,
+  but big, uncommonly big&mdash;says in her book, never purchase the offspring
+  of the sty enveloped in canvass&mdash;which means, never meddle with any
+  thing you don't know."</p>
+
+  <p>"You shall know all&mdash;but I must first ask, if you are satisfied,
+  will you be my friend in a troublesome matter in which I am a party?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, you're in a troublesome matter too, are you?&mdash;as for me, I came
+  down from London with such a critter, so pretty, so gentle, such a perfect
+  angel to look at!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, I don't wish to have your confidence in such affairs. I am pressed
+  for time," replied the stranger, smiling.</p>
+
+  <p>"But I tell you, I am trying to find out what the matter is that you need
+  my help in."</p>
+
+  <p>"I beg pardon. I thought you were telling me an adventure of your
+  own"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Well sir, this beautiful critter asked my help, just as you're
+  doing&mdash;dragged me hither and thither, first asking for one soldier,
+  then another."</p>
+
+  <p>"And finally, smiling very sweetly on yourself. I know their
+  ways&mdash;said the stranger.</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you, now? Not joking?&mdash;Oh lord! the sooner the better, for such
+  lips to smile with, are not met with every day. Well sir, then there came up
+  a puppy fellow of the name of Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, Chatterton!" said the stranger; "that is curious."</p>
+
+  <p>"And insulted us, either her or me I forget which; but I blew him up, and
+  he said he would send a friend to me"&mdash;here a new thought seemed to
+  strike Mr Clam&mdash;his countenance assumed a very anxious
+  expression&mdash;"you're not his friend, sir?" he asked.</p>
+
+  <p>"No sir; far from it. He is the very person with whom I have the
+  quarrel."</p>
+
+  <p>"You've quarrelled with him too? Another breach of promise?&mdash;a wild
+  dog that Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"Another breach! I did not know that that was <i>your</i> cause of
+  quarrel."</p>
+
+  <p>"Nor I; 'pon my solemn davit, I'm as ignorant as a child of what my
+  quarrel is about; all that I know is, that my beautiful companion seemed to
+  hate the sight of him."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then I trust you won't refuse me your assistance, since you have insults
+  of your own to chastise. I expect his message every moment. My name is
+  Captain Smith."</p>
+
+  <p>"And mine, Nicholas Clam, No. 4, Waterloo Place, Welling"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Then, gentlemen," said Major M'Toddy, lifting his hat, "I'm a lucky
+  man&mdash;<i>fortunatus nimium</i>, as a body may say, to find you both
+  together; for I am charged with an invitation to you from my friend Mr
+  Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh! he wants to make it up, does he, and asks us to dinner? No. I won't
+  go," said Mr Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"Then you know the alternative, I suppose!" said the Major.</p>
+
+  <p>"To pay for my own dinner at the inn," replied Mr Clam; "of course I know
+  that."</p>
+
+  <p>The Major threw a glance at Mr Clam, which he would probably have taken
+  the trouble to translate into two or three languages, although it was
+  sufficiently intelligible without any explanations, but he had no time. He
+  turned to Captain Smith, and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"I'm very sorry, Captain Smith, to make your acquaintance on such a
+  disagreeable occasion. I've heard so much of you from mutual friends, that I
+  feel as if I had known you myself, <i>quod facit per alium facit per
+  se</i>&mdash;I'm Major M'Toddy of this regiment."</p>
+
+  <p>"I have long wished to know you, Major, and I hope even this matter need
+  not extend any of its bitterness to us."</p>
+
+  <p>The gentlemen here shook hands very cordially&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Well, that's a rum way," said Mr Clam, "of asking a fellow to go out and
+  be shot at. But this whole place is a mystery. I'll listen, however, and
+  find out what this is all about."</p>
+
+  <p>"And noo, Captain Smith, let me say a word in your private ear."</p>
+
+  <p>"Privateer! that's a sort of ship," said Mr Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"I hate eaves-droppers," continued the Major, with another glance at Mr
+  Clam&mdash;"<i>odi profanum vulgus</i>, as a body may say&mdash;and a
+  minute's talk will maybe explain matters."</p>
+
+  <p>"I doubt the power of a minute's talk for any such purpose," said Captain
+  Smith, with a smile; "but," going a few yards further from Mr Clam at the
+  same time&mdash;"I shall listen to you with pleasure."</p>
+
+  <p>"Weel, then, I canna deny&mdash;<i>convenio</i>, as a body may
+  say&mdash;that in the first instance, you played rather a severe trick on Mr
+  Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"I play a trick!" exclaimed Captain Smith; "I don't understand you. But
+  proceed, I beg. I will not interrupt you."</p>
+
+  <p>"But then, on the other hand, it's not to be denied that Mr Chatterton's
+  method of showing his anger was highly reprehensible."</p>
+
+  <p>"His anger, Major M'Toddy!"</p>
+
+  <p>"'Deed ay, just his anger&mdash;<i>ira furor brevis</i>&mdash;and it's
+  really very excusable in a proud-spirited young man to resent his being
+  jilted in such a sudden and barefaced manner."</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>He</i> jilted! but again I beg pardon&mdash;go on."</p>
+
+  <p>"Nae doubt&mdash;<i>sine dubio</i>, as a body may say&mdash;the lassie
+  had a right to change her mind; and if she thought proper to prefer you to
+  him, I canna see what law, human or divine"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Does the puppy actually try to excuse himself on so base a calumny as
+  that Marion preferred me? Major M'Toddy, I am here to receive your message;
+  pray deliver it, and let us settle this matter as soon as possible."</p>
+
+  <p>"Whar's the calumny?" said the major. "You wadna have me to believe,
+  Captain Smith, that the lady does not prefer you to him?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Now perhaps she does, for she has sense enough and pride enough, I hope,
+  to despise him; but never girl was more attached to a man in the world than
+  she to Chatterton. Her health is gone&mdash;she has lost the liveliness of
+  youth. No, no&mdash;I am much afraid, in spite of all that has passed, she
+  is fond of the fellow yet."</p>
+
+  <p>"How long have you suspected this?" enquired the major.</p>
+
+  <p>"For some time; before my marriage, of course, I had not such good
+  opportunities of judging as I have had since."</p>
+
+  <p>"Of course, of course," said the major, in a sympathizing tone; "it's bad
+  business. But if you had these suspicions before, what for did you
+  marry?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Why? Do you think things of that sort should hinder a man from marrying
+  the girl he likes? Mrs Smith regrets it as much as I do."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then what for did she not tell Chatterton she was going to marry
+  you?"</p>
+
+  <p>"What right had he to know, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"A vera good right, I think; or if he hadna, I wad like to know wha
+  had?"</p>
+
+  <p>"There, sir, we differ in opinion. Will you deliver your message, name
+  your place and hour, and I shall meet you. I shall easily get a friend in
+  this town, though I thought it better at one time to apply to a civilian;
+  but I fear," he added, with a smile, "my friend Mr Clam will scarcely
+  do."</p>
+
+  <p>"I really dinna ken&mdash;I positively don't know, as a body may say, how
+  to proceed in this matter. In the first place, if your wife is over fond of
+  Chatterton."</p>
+
+  <p>"My wife, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"'Deed ay&mdash;<i>placens uxor</i>, as a body may say&mdash;I say if
+  your wife continues to like Chatterton, you had better send a message to
+  him, and not he to you."</p>
+
+  <p>"So I would, if she gave me occasion, Major M'Toddy; but if your friend
+  boasts of any thing of that kind, his conduct is still more infamous and
+  intolerable than I thought it."</p>
+
+  <p>"But your ainsel'&mdash;your own self told me so this minute."</p>
+
+  <p>"You mistake, sir. I say that Marion Hope, my wife's sister, is still
+  foolish enough to like him."</p>
+
+  <p>"Your wife's sister! You didna marry Chatterton's sweetheart?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir&mdash;her elder sister."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, lord, if I had my fingers round the thrapple o' that leein'
+  scoundrel on the tap of the coach! Gie me your hand, Captain
+  Smith&mdash;it's all a mistake. I'll set it right in two minutes. Come with
+  me to Chatterton's rooms&mdash;ye'll make him the happiest man in England.
+  He's wud wi' love&mdash;mad with affection, as a body may say. He thought
+  you had run off with his sweetheart, and it was only her sister!"</p>
+
+  <p>Captain Smith began to have some glimmerings of the real state of the
+  case; and Mr Clam was on the point of going up to where they stood to make
+  further enquiries for the improvement of his mind, when his travelling
+  companion, again deeply veiled, laid her hand on his arm.</p>
+
+  <p>"Move not for your life!" she said.</p>
+
+  <p>"I'm not agoing to move, ma'am."</p>
+
+  <p>"Let them go," she continued; "we can get down by a side street. If they
+  see me, I'm lost."</p>
+
+  <p>"Lost again! The mystery grows deeper and deeper."</p>
+
+  <p>"One of these is my husband."</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clam drops her arm. "A married woman, and running after captains and
+  colonels! Will you explain a little ma'am, for my head is so puzzled, that
+  hang me if I know whether I stand on my head or my heels?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Not now&mdash;sometime or other you will perhaps know all; but come with
+  me to the beach&mdash;all will end well."</p>
+
+  <p>"Will it?&mdash;then I hope to heaven it will end soon, for an hour or
+  two more of this will kill me."</p>
+
+  <p>The two gentlemen, in the meantime, had disappeared, and Mr Clam was on
+  the eve of being hurried off to the harbour, when a young officer came
+  rapidly towards them.</p>
+
+  <p>"Charles!" cried the lady, and put her arms round his neck.</p>
+
+  <p>"There she goes!" said Mr Clam&mdash;"another soldier!&mdash;She'll know
+  the whole army soon."</p>
+
+  <p>"Mary!" exclaimed the soldier&mdash;"so good, so kind of you to come to
+  receive me."</p>
+
+  <p>"I wished to see you particularly," she said, "alone, for one
+  minute."</p>
+
+  <p>The brother and sister retired to one side, leaving Mr Clam once more out
+  of ear-shot.</p>
+
+  <p>"More whispering!" muttered that disappointed gentleman. "This can never
+  enlarge the intellect or improve the mind. Mrs M. is a humbug&mdash;not a
+  drop of information can I get for love or money. Nothing but whisperings
+  here, closetings there&mdash;all that comes to my share is threats of
+  shootings and duckings under pumps. I'll go back to Waterloo Place this
+  blessed night, and burn 'Woman's Dignity' the moment I get home."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then let us go to Chatterton's rooms," said the young officer, giving
+  his arm to his sister; "I have no doubt he will explain it all, and I shall
+  be delighted to see your husband."</p>
+
+  <p>"She's going to see her husband! She's the wickedest woman in England,"
+  said Mr Clam, who caught the last sentence.</p>
+
+  <p>"Still here'" said a voice at his ear&mdash;"lurking about the
+  barracks!"</p>
+
+  <p>He looked round and saw the irate features of the tremendous Mrs Sword.
+  He made a rapid bolt and disappeared, as if he had a pulk of Cossacks in
+  full chase at his heels.</p>
+
+  <p>The conversation of the good-natured Colonel Sword with Chatterton had
+  opened that young hero's eye so entirely to the folly of his conduct, that
+  it needed many encouraging speeches from his superior to keep him from
+  sinking into despair.&mdash;"That I should have been such a fool," he said,
+  "as to think that Marion would prefer any body to me!" Such was the style of
+  his soliloquy, from which it will be perceived, that in spite of his
+  discovery of his stupidity, he had not entirely lost his good opinion of
+  himself&mdash;"to think that she would marry an old fellow of thirty-six!
+  What will she think of me! How lucky I did not write to my father that I had
+  broken matters off. Do you think she'll ever forgive me, colonel?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Forgive you, my, dear fellow?" said the colonel; "girls, as Mrs Sword
+  says, are such fools, they'll forgive any thing."</p>
+
+  <p>"And Captain Smith!&mdash;a fine gentlemanly fellow&mdash;the husband of
+  Marion's sister&mdash;I have insulted him&mdash;I must fight him, of
+  course."</p>
+
+  <p>"No fighting here, young man; you must apologize if you've done wrong; if
+  not, he must apologize to you; Mrs Sword would never look over a duel
+  between two Sucking Pigeons."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then <i>I</i> must apologize."</p>
+
+  <p>"Ye canna have a better chance&mdash;you can't have a better opportunity,
+  as a body may say," said the bilingual major, entering the room, "for here's
+  Captain Smith ready to accept it."</p>
+
+  <p>"With all his heart, I assure you," said that gentleman, shaking
+  Chatterton's hand; "so I beg you'll say no more about it."</p>
+
+  <p>"This is all right&mdash;just as it should be," said the Colonel.
+  "Captain Smith, you'll plead poor Chatterton's cause with the offended
+  lady."</p>
+
+  <p>"Perhaps the culprit had better be his own advocate&mdash;he will find
+  the court very favourably disposed; and as the judge is herself at the
+  Waterloo hotel"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Marion here!" exclaimed Chatterton; "good heavens, what an atrocious ass
+  I have been!"</p>
+
+  <p>"She is indeed," replied the Captain. "I knew she would be anxious to
+  receive her brother Charles on his landing, and as I had wormed out from her
+  the circumstances of this lover's quarrel"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>Amantium ira amoris redintegratio est</i>&mdash;as a body may say,"
+  interposed Major M'Toddy.</p>
+
+  <p>"And was determined to enquire into it, I thought that the pretence of
+  welcoming Captain Hope would allay any suspicion of my intention; and so,
+  with her good mother's permission, I brought her down, leaving my wife in
+  Henley Street"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Where she didn't long remain," said no other than Captain Charles Hope,
+  himself leading in Mrs Smith, the mysterious travelling acquaintance of Mr
+  Clam.</p>
+
+  <p>"Do you forgive me," she said to her husband, "for coming down without
+  your knowledge?"</p>
+
+  <p>"I suppose I must," said Captain Smith, laughing, "on condition that you
+  pardon me for the same offence?"</p>
+
+  <p>"And noo, then," said Major M'Toddy, "I propose that we all, together and
+  singly, <i>conjunctim ac separatim</i>&mdash;as a body may say&mdash;go down
+  instanter to the Waterloo Hotel. We can arrange every thing there better
+  than here, for we must hear the other side&mdash;<i>audi alteram partem</i>,
+  as a body may say."</p>
+
+  <p>"This will be a regular <i>jour de noce</i>, as you would say, Major,"
+  remarked Colonel Sword, giving his arm to Mrs Smith.</p>
+
+  <p>"It's a <i>nos non nobis</i>, poor auld bachelors&mdash;as a body may
+  say," replied the Major, and the whole party proceeded to the hotel.</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clan, on making his escape from the fulminations of Mrs Sword, had
+  been rejoiced to see his carpet-bag still resting against the wall under the
+  archway of the inn, as he had left it when he first arrived.</p>
+
+  <p>"Waiter!" he cried; and the same long-haired individual in the blue coat,
+  with the napkin over his arm, came to his call.</p>
+
+  <p>"Is there any coach to London this evening?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir&mdash;at half-past six."</p>
+
+  <p>"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Mr Clam, "I shall get out of this infernal
+  town. Waiter!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"I came from London to-day with a lady&mdash;close veiled, all muffled
+  up. She is a married woman, too&mdash;more shame for her."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir. Do you dine before you go, sir." said the waiter, not
+  attending to Mr Clan's observations.</p>
+
+  <p>"No. Her husband doesn't know she's here; but, waiter, Mr Chatterton
+  does." Mr Clam accompanied this piece of information with a significant
+  wink, which, however, made no sensible impression on the waiter's mind.</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, Chatterton does; for you may depend on it, by this time he's found
+  out who she is."</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes, sir. Have you secured a place, sir?"</p>
+
+  <p>"Now, she wouldn't have her husband know she is here for the world."</p>
+
+  <p>"Outside or in, sir? The office is next door"&mdash;continued the
+  waiter.</p>
+
+  <p>"Then, there's a tall gentleman, who speaks with a curious accent. I
+  wonder who the deuce <i>he</i> can be."</p>
+
+  <p>"No luggage but this, sir? Porter will take it to the office, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Nor that dreadful he-woman in the hat&mdash;who the mischief can
+  <i>she</i> be? What had Chatterton done?&mdash;who is the husband?&mdash;who
+  is the lady? Waiter, is there a lunatic asylum here?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir. We've a penitentiary."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then, 'pon my davit, the young woman"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>But Mr Clam's observation, whatever it was&mdash;and it was evidently not
+  very complimentary to his travelling companion&mdash;was interrupted by the
+  entrance of the happy party from Chatterton's rooms.</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clam looked first at the colonel and Captain Hope, and Mrs
+  Smith&mdash;but they were so busy in their own conversation, that they did
+  not observe him. Then followed Major M'Toddy, Captain Smith, and Mr
+  Chatterton.</p>
+
+  <p>"Here's our civil friend," said the Major&mdash;"<i>amicas noster</i>, as
+  a body may say."</p>
+
+  <p>"Oh, by Jove!" said Mr Chatterton, "I ought to teach this fellow a lesson
+  in natural history."</p>
+
+  <p>"He's the scientific naturalist that called you popinjay," continued the
+  major&mdash;"<i>ludit convivia miles</i>, as a body may say."</p>
+
+  <p>"He's the fellow that refused to be my friend, and told me some foolish
+  story of his flirtations with a lady he met in the coach," added Captain
+  Smith.</p>
+
+  <p>"Gentlemen," said Mr Clam, "I'm here in search of information; will you
+  have the kindness to tell me what we have all been fighting, and
+  quarrelling, and whispering and threatening about for the last two hours? My
+  esteemed and talented neighbour, the author of 'Women's Dignity developed in
+  Dialogues'"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"May gang to the deevil," interposed Major M'Toddy&mdash;<i>abeat in
+  malam crucem</i>, as a body may say&mdash;We've no time for havers, <i>i
+  prae, sequar</i>, as a body may say. What's the number of her room?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No. 14," said the Captain, and the three gentlemen passed on.</p>
+
+  <p>"<i>Her</i> room!" said Mr Clam, "another lady! Waiter!"</p>
+
+  <p>"Yes sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"I'll send you a post-office order for five shillings, if you'll find out
+  all this, and let me know the particulars&mdash;address to me, No. 4,
+  Waterloo Place, Wellington Road, Regent's Park, London. I've done every
+  thing in my power to gain information according to the advice of Mrs M., but
+  it's of no use. Let me know as soon as you discover any thing, and I'll send
+  you the order by return of post."</p>
+
+  <p>"Coach is coming, sir," said the waiter.</p>
+
+  <p>"And I'm going; and very glad I am to get out of the town alive. And as
+  to the female banditti in the riding habit, with all the trunks and boxes;
+  if you'll let me know"&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"The coach can't wait a moment, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>Mr Clam cast a despairing look as he saw his last hope of finding out the
+  mystery disappear. He stept into the inside of the coach&mdash;</p>
+
+  <p>"Coachman," he said, with his foot on the step&mdash;"There's no lady
+  inside, is there?"</p>
+
+  <p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+  <p>"Then drive on; if there had been, I wouldn't have travelled a mile with
+  her." The roll of the coach drowned the remainder of Mr Clam's eloquence;
+  and it is much feared that his enquiries have been unsuccessful to the
+  present day.</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s8" id="bw327s8"></a>THE EAST AND SOUTH OF EUROPE.</h2>
+
+  <blockquote class="note">
+    A Steam-voyage to Constantinople, by the Rhine and Danube, in 1840-41, and
+    to Portugal, Spain, &amp;c. By the Marquis of Londonderry. In 2 vols. 8vo.
+  </blockquote>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p>We have a very considerable respect for the writer of the Tour of which
+  we are about to give extracts in the following pages. The Marquis of
+  Londonderry is certainly no common person. We are perfectly aware that he
+  has been uncommonly abused by the Whigs&mdash;which we regard as almost a
+  necessary tribute to his name; that he has received an ultra share of libel
+  from the Radicals&mdash;which we regard as equally to his honour; and that
+  he is looked on by all the neutrals, of whatever colour, as a personage too
+  straightforward to be managed by a bow and a smile. Yet, for all these
+  things, we like him the better, and wish, as says the old song&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"We had within the realm</p>
+
+    <p>Five hundred good as he."</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>He is a straightforward, manly, and high-spirited noble, making up his
+  mind without fee or reward, and speaking it with as little fear as he made
+  it up; managing a large and turbulent population with that authority which
+  derives its force from good intention; constant in his attendance on his
+  parliamentary duty; plainspoken there, as he is every where; and possessing
+  the influence which sincerity gives in every part of the world, however
+  abounding in polish and place-hunting.</p>
+
+  <p>His early career, too, has been manly. He was a soldier, and a gallant
+  one. His mission to the Allied armies, in the greatest campaign ever made in
+  Europe, showed that he had the talents of council as well as of the field;
+  and his appointment as ambassador to Vienna, gave a character of spirit, and
+  even of splendour, to British diplomacy which it had seldom exhibited
+  before, and which, it is to be hoped, it may recover with as little delay as
+  possible.</p>
+
+  <p>We even like his employment of his superfluous time. Instead of giving
+  way to the fooleries of fashionable life, the absurdities of galloping after
+  hares and foxes, for months together, at Melton, or the patronage of those
+  scenes of perpetual knavery which belong to the race-course, the Marquis has
+  spent his vacations in making tours to the most remarkable parts of Europe.
+  It is true that Englishmen are great travellers, and that our nobility are
+  in the habit of wandering over the Continent. But the world knows no more of
+  their discoveries, if they make such, or of their views of society and
+  opinions of governments, if they ever take the trouble to form any upon the
+  subject, than of their notions of the fixed stars. That there are many
+  accomplished among them, many learned, and many even desirous to acquaint
+  themselves with what Burke called "the mighty modifications of the human
+  race," beginning with a land within fifteen miles of our shores, and
+  spreading to the extremities of the earth, we have no doubt. But in the
+  countless majority of instances, the nation reaps no more benefit from their
+  travels than if they had been limited from Bond Street to Berkeley Square.
+  This cannot be said of the Marquis of Londonderry. He travels with his eyes
+  open, looking for objects of interest, and recording them. We are not now
+  about to give him any idle panegyric on the occasion. We regret that his
+  tours are so rapid, and his journals so brief. He passes by many objects
+  which we should wish to see illustrated, and turns off from many topics on
+  which we should desire to hear the opinions of a witness on the spot. But we
+  thank him for what he has given; hope that he will spend his next autumn and
+  many others as he has spent the former; and wish him only to write more at
+  large, to give us more characters of the rank with which he naturally
+  associates, draw more contrasts between the growing civilization of the
+  European kingdoms and our own; and, adhering to his own straightforward
+  conceptions, and telling them in his own sincere style, give us an annual
+  volume as long as he lives.</p>
+
+  <p>Steam-boats and railways have produced one curious effect, which no one
+  anticipated. Of all <i>levellers</i> they are the greatest. Their
+  superiority to all other modes of travelling crowds them with the peer as
+  well as the peasant. Cabinets, and even queens, now abandon their easy, but
+  lazy, equipages for the bird-like flight of iron and fire, and though the
+  "special train" still sounds exclusive, the principle of commixture is
+  already there, and all ranks will sweep on together.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis, wisely adopting the bourgeois mode of travelling, set forth
+  from the Tower Stairs, on a lovely morning at the close of August 1840.
+  Fifty years ago, the idea of a general, an ambassador, and a peer, with his
+  marchioness and suite, embarking on board the common conveyance of the
+  common race of mankind, would have been regarded as an absolute
+  impossibility; but the common sense of the world has now decided otherwise.
+  Speed and safety are wisely judged to be valuable compensations for state
+  and seclusion; and when we see majesty itself, after making the experiment
+  of yachts and frigates, quietly and comfortably return to its palace on
+  board a steamer, we may be the less surprised at finding the Marquis of
+  Londonderry and his family making their way across the Channel in the
+  steamer Giraffe. Yet it is to be remarked, that though nothing can be more
+  miscellaneous than the passengers, consisting of Englishmen, Frenchmen,
+  Germans, and Yankee; of Jews, Turks, and heretics; of tourists, physicians,
+  smugglers, and all the other diversities of idling, business, and knavery;
+  yet families who choose to pay for them, may have separate cabins, and enjoy
+  as much privacy as is possible with specimens of all the world within
+  half-an-inch of their abode.</p>
+
+  <p>The voyage was without incident; and after a thirty hours' passage, the
+  Giraffe brought them to the Brill and Rotterdam. It has been an old
+  observation that the Dutch clean every thing but themselves; and nothing can
+  be more matter of fact than that the dirtiest thing in a house in Holland is
+  generally the woman under whose direction all this scrubbing has been
+  accomplished. The first aspect of Rotterdam is strongly in favour of the
+  people. It exhibits very considerable neatness for a seaport&mdash;the
+  Wapping of the kingdom; paint and even gilding is common on the outsides of
+  the shops. The shipping, which here form a part of the town furniture, and
+  are to be seen every where in the midst of the streets, are painted with
+  every colour of the rainbow, and carved and ornamented according to such
+  ideas of taste in sculpture as are prevalent among Dutchmen; and the whole
+  exhibits a good specimen of a people who have as much to struggle with mud
+  as if they had been born so many eels, and whose conceptions of the real
+  colour of the sky are even a shade darker than our own.</p>
+
+  <p>The steam-boats also form a striking feature, which utterly eluded the
+  wisdom of our ancestors. There are here, bearing all colours, from all the
+  Rhenish towns, smoking and suffocating the Dutch, flying past their
+  hard-working, slow-moving craft; and bringing down, and carrying away,
+  cargoes of every species of mankind. The increase of Holland in wealth and
+  activity since the separation from Belgium, the Marquis regards as
+  remarkable; and evidently having no <i>penchant</i> for our cousin Leopold,
+  he declares that Rotterdam is at this moment worth more solid money than
+  Antwerp, Brussels, and, he believes, "all Leopold's kingdom together."</p>
+
+  <p>At Antwerp, he happened to arrive at the celebration of the f&ecirc;te in
+  honour of Rubens. "To commemorate the painter may be all very well," he
+  observes; "but it is not very well to see a large plaster-of-Paris statue
+  erected on a lofty pedestal, and crowned with laurels, while the whole
+  population of the town is called out for fourteen days together, to indulge
+  in idleness and dissipation, merely to announce that Rubens was a famed
+  <i>Dutch</i> painter in times long past." We think it lucky for the Marquis
+  that he had left Antwerp before he called Rubens a Dutch painter. We are
+  afraid that he would have hazarded a summary application of the Lynch law of
+  the Flemish avengers of their country.</p>
+
+  <p>"If such celebrations," says the Marquis, "are proper, why not do equal
+  honour to a Shakspeare, a Pitt, a Newton, or any of those illustrious men by
+  whose superior intelligence society has so greatly profited?" The obvious
+  truth is, that such "celebrations" are not to our taste, that there is
+  something burlesque, to our ideas, in this useless honour; and that we think
+  a bonfire, a discharge of squibs, or even a discharge of rhetoric, and a
+  display of tinsel banners and buffoonery, does not supply the most natural
+  way of reviving the memory of departed genius. At the same time, they have
+  their use, where they do not create their ridicule. On the Continent, life
+  is idle; and the idlers are more harmlessly employed going to those
+  pageants, than in the gin-shop. The finery and the foolery together also
+  attract strangers, the idlers of other towns; it makes money, it makes
+  conversation, it makes amusement, and it kills time. Can it have better
+  recommendations to ninety-nine hundredths of mankind?</p>
+
+  <p>In 1840, when this tour was written, all the politicians of the earth
+  were deciding, in their various coffee-houses, what all the monarchs were to
+  do with the Eastern question. Stopford and Napier were better employed, in
+  battering down the fortifications of Acre, and the politicians were soon
+  relieved from their care of the general concerns of Europe. England settled
+  this matter as she had often done before, and by the means which she has
+  always found more natural than protocols. But a curious question is raised
+  by the Marquis, as to the side on which Belgium might be inclined to stand
+  in case of an European struggle; his opinion being altogether <i>for</i> the
+  English alliance.</p>
+
+  <p>"France could undoubtedly <i>at first</i> seize possession of a country
+  so close to her empire as to be in fact a province. But still, with Antwerp
+  and other fortresses, Holland in the rear, and Hanover and Germany at hand,
+  and, above all, England, aiding perhaps with a British army, the
+  independence of King Leopold's throne and kingdom might be more permanently
+  secured by adhering to the Allies, than if he linked himself to Louis
+  Philippe, in whose power alone, in case of non-resistance to France, he
+  would ever afterwards remain; and far better would it be, in my opinion, for
+  this founder of a Belgian monarchy, if he would achieve for his dynasty an
+  honourable duration, to throw himself into the arms of the many, and reap
+  advantages from all, than to place his destiny at the mercy of the future
+  rulers of France."</p>
+
+  <p>No doubt this is sound advice; and if the decision were to depend on
+  himself, there can be as little doubt that he would be wiser in accepting
+  the honest aid of England, than throwing his crown at the feet of France.
+  But he reigns over a priest-ridden kingdom, and Popery will settle the point
+  for him on the first shock. His situation certainly is a singular one; as
+  the uncle of the Queen of England, and the son-in-law of the King of France,
+  he seems to have two anchors dropped out, either of which might secure a
+  throne in ordinary times. But times that are <i>not</i> ordinary may soon
+  arise, and then he must cut both cables and trust to his own steerage. If
+  coldness is prudence, and neutrality strength, he may weather the storm; but
+  it would require other qualities to preserve Belgium.</p>
+
+  <p>Brussels was full of English. The Marquis naturally talks in the style of
+  one accustomed to large expenditure. The chief part of the English residents
+  in Brussels, are families "who live there on three or four thousand
+  a-year&mdash;far better as to luxuries and education than they could in
+  England for half as much more." He evidently thinks of three or four
+  thousand a-year, as others might think of as many hundreds. But if any
+  families, possessed of thousands a-year, are living abroad for the mere sake
+  of <i>cheaper</i> luxuries and <i>cheaper</i> education, we say, more shame
+  for them. We even can conceive nothing more selfish and more contemptible.
+  Every rational luxury is to be procured in England by such an income. Every
+  advantage of education is to be procured by the same means. We can perfectly
+  comprehend the advantages offered by the cheapness of the Continent to large
+  families with narrow incomes; but that the opulent should abandon their
+  country, their natural station, and their duties, simply to drink champagne
+  at a lower rate, and have cheaper dancing-masters, we must always regard as
+  a scandalous dereliction of the services which every man of wealth and rank
+  owes to his tenantry, his neighbours, and his nation. Of course, we except
+  the traveller for curiosity; the man of science, whose object is to enlarge
+  his knowledge; and even the man of rank, who desires to improve the minds of
+  his children by a view of continental wonders. Our reprobation is, of the
+  habit of living abroad, and living there for the vulgar and unmanly purpose
+  of self-indulgence or paltry avarice. Those absentees have their reward in
+  profligate sons, and foreignized daughters, in giving them manners
+  ridiculous to the people of the Continent, and disgusting to their
+  countrymen&mdash;morals adopting the grossness of continental life, and
+  general habits rendered utterly unfit for a return to their country, and, of
+  course, for any rational and meritorious conduct, until they sink into the
+  grave.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis, who in every instance submitted to the rough work of the
+  road, took the common conveyance by railroad to Liege. It has been a good
+  deal the custom of our late tourists to applaud the superior excellence of
+  the continental railroads. Our noble traveller gives all this praise the
+  strongest contradiction. He found their inferiority quite remarkable. The
+  materials, all of an inadequate nature, commencing with their uncouth
+  engine, and ending with their ill-contrived double seats and carriages for
+  passengers. The attempts made at order and regularity in the arrangements
+  altogether failed. Every body seemed in confusion. The carriages are of two
+  sorts&mdash;the first class, and the <i>char-&agrave;-banc</i>. The latter
+  are all open; the people sit back to back, and face to face, as they like,
+  and get at their places by scrambling, squeezing, and altercation. Even the
+  Marquis had a hard fight to preserve the seats which he had taken for his
+  family. At Malines, the train changes carriages. Here a curious scene
+  occurred. An inundation of priests poured into all the carriages. They came
+  so thick that they were literally thrown back by their attempt to squeeze
+  themselves in; "and their cocked hats and black flowing robes gave them the
+  appearance of ravens with their wide-spreading wings, hovering over their
+  prey in the vehicles."</p>
+
+  <p>Travelling, like poverty, brings one acquainted with strange companions;
+  and, accustomed as the Marquis was to foreign life, one railway traveller
+  evidently much amused him. This was a personage who stretched himself at
+  full length on a seat opposite the ladies, "his two huge legs and thighs
+  clothed in light blue, with long Spanish boots, and heavy silver spurs,
+  formed the foreground of his extended body. A black satin waistcoat,
+  overlaid with gold chains, a black velvet Spanish cloak and hat, red beard
+  and whiskers, and a face resembling the Saracen's on Snow-Hill, completed
+  his <i>ensemble</i>." He was probably some travelling mountebank apeing the
+  Spanish grandee.</p>
+
+  <p>Aix-la-Chapelle exhibited a decided improvement on the City of the
+  Congress five-and-twenty years ago. The principal streets were now paved,
+  with fine <i>trottoirs</i>, the buildings had become large and handsome, and
+  the hotels had undergone the same advantageous change. From Liege to Cologne
+  the country exhibited one boundless harvest. The vast cathedral of Cologne
+  at last came in sight, still unfinished, though the process of building has
+  gone on for some hundred years. The extraordinary attempt which has been
+  made, within the last few months, to unite Protestantism with Popery, in the
+  completion of this gigantic building, will give it a new and unfortunate
+  character in history. The union is impossible, though the confusion is easy,
+  and the very attempt to reconcile them only shows to what absurdities men
+  may be betrayed by political theories, and to what trivial and temporary
+  objects the highest interests of our nature may be sacrificed. Cologne, too,
+  is rapidly improving. The free navigation of the Rhine has done something of
+  this, but the free passage of the English has done a great deal more. A
+  perpetual stream of British travellers, flowing through Germany, benefits
+  it, not merely by their expenditure, but by their habits. Where they reside
+  for any length of time, they naturally introduce the improvements and
+  conveniences of English life. Even where they but pass along, they demand
+  comforts, without which the native would have plodded on for ever. The
+  hotels are gradually provided with carpets, fire-places, and a multitude of
+  other matters essential to the civilized life of England; for if
+  civilization depends on bringing the highest quantity of rational enjoyment
+  within the reach of general society, England is wholly superior in
+  civilization to the shivering splendours of the Continent. Foreigners are
+  beginning to learn this; and those who are most disposed to scoff at our
+  taste, are the readiest to follow our example.</p>
+
+  <p>The streets of Cologne, formerly dirty and narrow, and the houses, old
+  and tumbling down, have given way to wide spaces, handsome edifices, and
+  attractive shops. The railway, which we have lent to the Continent, will
+  shortly unite Brussels, Liege, and Cologne, and the three cities will be
+  thereby rapidly augmented in wealth, numbers, and civilization.</p>
+
+  <p>The steam-boats on the Rhine are in general of a good description. The
+  arrangements are convenient, considering that at times there are two hundred
+  passengers, and that among foreigners the filthy habit of smoking, with all
+  its filthy consequences, is universal; but, below decks, the party,
+  especially if they take the <i>pavillion</i> to themselves, may escape this
+  abomination. The Rhine has been too often described to require a record
+  here; but the rapturous nonsense which the Germans pour forth whenever they
+  write about the national river, offends truth as much as it does taste. The
+  larger extent of this famous stream is absolutely as dull as a Dutch pond.
+  The whole run from the sea to Cologne is flat and fenny. As it approaches
+  the hill country it becomes picturesque, and its wanderings among the fine
+  declivities of the Rheingate exhibit beautiful scenery. The hills,
+  occasionally topped with ruins, all of which have some original (or
+  invented) legend of love or murder attached to them, indulge the romance of
+  which there is a fragment or a fibre in every bosom; and the general aspect
+  of the country, as the steam-boat breasts the upward stream, is various and
+  luxuriant. But the German architecture is fatal to beauty. Nothing can be
+  more <i>barbarian</i> (with one or two exceptions) than the whole range of
+  buildings, public and private, along the Rhine; gloomy, huge, and
+  heavy&mdash;whether palace, convent, or chateau, they have all a
+  prison-look; and if some English philanthropist, in pity to the Teutonic
+  taste, would erect one or two "English villas" on the banks of the Rhine, to
+  give the Germans some idea of what architecture ought to be, he would render
+  them a national service, scarcely inferior to the introduction of carpets
+  and coal-fires.</p>
+
+  <p>Johannisberg naturally attracts the eye of the English traveller, whose
+  cellar has contributed so largely to its cultivation. This mountain-vineyard
+  had been given by Napoleon to Kellerman; but Napoleon's gifts were as
+  precarious as himself, and the Johannisberg fell into hands that better
+  deserved it. At the peace of 1814 it was presented by the Emperor Francis to
+  the great statesman who had taught his sovereign to set his foot on the neck
+  of the conqueror of Vienna. The mountain is terraced, clothed with
+  vineyards, and forms a very gay object to those who look up to it from the
+  river. The view from the summit of the hill is commanding and beautiful, but
+  its grape is <i>unique</i>. The chief portion of the produce goes amongst
+  the principalities and powers of the Continent; yet as the Englishman must
+  have his share of all the good things of the earth, the Johannisberg wine
+  finds its way across the Channel, and John Bull satisfies himself that he
+  shares the luxury of Emperors.</p>
+
+  <p>The next <i>lion</i> is Ehrenbreitstein, lying on the right bank of the
+  Rhine, the most famous fortress of Germany, and more frequently battered,
+  bruised, and demolished, than any other work of nature or man on the face of
+  the globe. It has been always the first object of attack in the French
+  invasions, and, with all its fortifications, has always been taken. The
+  Prussians are now laying out immense sums upon it, and evidently intend to
+  make it an indigestible morsel to the all-swallowing ambition of their
+  neighbours; but it is to be hoped that nations are growing wiser&mdash;a
+  consummation to which they are daily arriving by growing poorer. Happily for
+  Europe, there is not a nation on the Continent which would not be bankrupt
+  in a single campaign, provided England closed her purse. In the last war she
+  was the general paymaster: but that system is at an end; and if she is wise,
+  she will never suffer another shilling of hers to drop into the pocket of
+  the foreigner.</p>
+
+  <p>The Prussians have formed an entrenched camp under cover of this great
+  fortress, capable of containing 120,000 men. They are obviously right in
+  keeping the French as far from Berlin as they can; but those enormous
+  fortresses and entrenched camps are out of date. They belonged to the times
+  when 30,000 men were an army, and when campaigns were spent in sieges.
+  Napoleon changed all this, yet it was only in imitation of Marlborough, a
+  hundred years before. The great duke's march to Bavaria, leaving all the
+  fortresses behind him, was the true tactic for conquest. He beat the army in
+  the field, and then let the fortresses drop one by one into his hands. The
+  change of things has helped this bold system. Formerly there was but one
+  road through a province&mdash;it led through the principal
+  fortress&mdash;all the rest was mire and desolation. Thus the fortress must
+  be taken before a gun or a waggon could move. Now, there are a dozen roads
+  through every province&mdash;the fortress may be passed out of gun-shot in
+  all quarters&mdash;and the "grand army" of a hundred and fifty thousand men
+  marches direct on the capital. The <i>t&ecirc;tes-du-pont</i> on the Niemen,
+  and the entrenched camp which it had cost Russia two years to fortify, were
+  turned in the first march of the French; and the futility of the whole
+  costly and rather timorous system was exhibited in the fact, that the
+  crowning battle was fought within hearing of Moscow.</p>
+
+  <p>Beyond Mayence the Rhine reverts to its former flatness, the hills
+  vanish, the shores are level, but the southern influence is felt, and the
+  landscape is rich.</p>
+
+  <p>Wisbaden is the next stage of the English&mdash;a stage at which too many
+  stop, and from which not a few are glad to escape on any terms. The Duke of
+  Nassau has done all in his power to make his watering-place handsome and
+  popular, and he has succeeded in both. The Great Square, containing the
+  assembly-room, is a very showy specimen of ducal taste. Its colonnades and
+  shops are striking, and its baths are in the highest order. Music, dancing,
+  and promenading form the enjoyment of the crowd, and the gardens and
+  surrounding country give ample indulgence for the lovers of air and
+  exercise. <i>The</i> vice of the place, as of all continental scenes of
+  amusement, is gambling. Both sexes, and all ages, are busy at all times in
+  the mysteries of the gaming-table. Dollars and florins are constantly
+  changing hands. The bloated German, the meagre Frenchman, the sallow
+  Russian, and even the placid Dutchman, hurry to those tables, and continue
+  at them from morning till night, and often from night till morning. The fair
+  sex are often as eager and miserable as the rest. It is impossible to doubt
+  that this passion is fatal to more than the purse. Money becomes the price
+  of every thing; and, without meaning to go into discussion on such topics,
+  nothing can be clearer than that the female gambler, in this frenzy of
+  avarice, inevitably forfeits the self-respect which forms at least the
+  outwork of female virtue. Though the ancient architecture of Germany is
+  altogether dungeon-like, yet they can make pretty imitations. The summer
+  palace of the duke at Biberach might be adopted in lieu of the enormous
+  fabrics which have cost such inordinate sums in our island. "The circular
+  room in the centre of the building is ornamented with magnificent marble
+  pillars. The floor is also of marble. The galleries are stuccoed, with gold
+  ornaments encrusted upon them. From the middle compartment of the great hall
+  there are varied prospects of the Rhine, which becomes studded here with
+  small islands: and the multitudinous orange, myrtle, cedar, and cypress
+  trees on all sides render Biberach a most enchanting abode."</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis makes some shrewd remarks on the evident attention of the
+  Great Powers to establish an interest among the little sovereignties of
+  Germany. Thus, Russia has married "her eldest daughter to an adopted
+  Bavarian. The Cesarowitch is married to a princess of Darmstadt," &amp;c. He
+  might have added Louis Philippe, who is an indefatigable advocate of
+  marrying and giving in marriage. Austria is extending her olive branches as
+  far as she can; and all princes, now having nothing better to do, are
+  following her example.</p>
+
+  <p>Yet, we altogether doubt that family alliances have much weight in times
+  of trouble. Of course, in times of peace, they may facilitate the common
+  business of politics. But, when powerful interests appear on the stage, the
+  matrimonial tie is of slender importance; kindred put on their
+  coats-of-mail, and, like Francis of Austria and his son-in-law Napoleon,
+  they throw shot and shell at each other without any ceremony. It is only in
+  poetry that Cupid is more powerful than either Mammon or Mars.</p>
+
+  <p>The next <i>lion</i> is Frankfort&mdash;a very old lion, 'tis true, but
+  one of the noblest cities of Germany, connected with high recollections, and
+  doing honour, by its fame, to the spirit of commerce. Frankfort has been
+  always a striking object to the traveller; but it has shared, or rather led
+  the way to the general improvement. Its shops, streets, and public buildings
+  all exhibit that march, which is so much superior to the "march of mind,"
+  panegyrised by our rabble orators&mdash;the march of industry, activity, and
+  invention; Frankfort is one of the liveliest and pleasantest of continental
+  residences.</p>
+
+  <p>But the Marquis is discontented with the inns; which, undoubtedly, are
+  places of importance to the sojourner&mdash;perhaps of much more importance
+  than the palaces. He reckons them by a "sliding scale;" which, however, is a
+  descending one&mdash;Holland bad, Belgium worse, Germany the third degree of
+  comparison. Some of the inns in the great towns are stately; but it
+  unluckily happens that the masters and mistresses of those inns are to the
+  full as stately, and that, after a bow or curtsey at the door to their
+  arriving guests, all their part is at an end. The master and mistress
+  thenceforth transact their affairs by deputy. They are sovereigns, and
+  responsible for nothing. The <i>gar&ccedil;ons</i> are the cabinet, and
+  responsible for every thing; but they, like superior personages, shift their
+  responsibility upon any one inclined to take it up; and all is naturally
+  discontent, disturbance, and discomfort. We wonder that the Marquis has not
+  mentioned the German <i>table-d'h&ocirc;te</i> among his annoyances; for he
+  dined at it. Nothing, in general, can be more adverse to the quiet, the
+  ease, or the good-sense of English manners. The <i>table-d'h&ocirc;te</i> is
+  essentially vulgar; and no excellence of <i>cuisine</i>, or completeness of
+  equipment, can prevent it from exhibiting proof of its original purpose,
+  namely&mdash;to give a cheap dinner to a miscellaneous rabble.</p>
+
+  <p>German posting is on a par with German inns, which is as much as to say
+  that it is detestable, even if the roads were good. The roughness, mire, and
+  continual ascents and descents of the roads, try the traveller's patience.
+  The only resource is sleep; but even that is denied by the continual
+  groanings of a miserable French horn, with which the postilion announces his
+  approach to every village.</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"Silence, ye wolves, while tipsy Mein-Herr howls,</p>
+
+    <p>Making night hideous; answer him, ye owls."</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>The best chance of getting a tolerable meal in the majority of these
+  roadside houses, is, to take one's own provisions, carry a cook, if we can,
+  and, if not, turn cooks ourselves; but the grand hotels are too "grand" for
+  this, and they insist on supplying the dinner, for which the general name is
+  <i>cochonerrie</i>, and with perfect justice.</p>
+
+  <p>On the 12th of September, the Marquis and his family arrived at
+  Nuremberg, where the Bavarian court were assembled, in order to be present
+  at a Camp of Exercise. To the eye of an officer who had been in the habit of
+  seeing the armies of the late war, the military spectacle could not be a
+  matter of much importance, for the camp consisted of but 1800 men. But he
+  had been a comrade of the king, when prince-royal, during the campaigns of
+  1814 and 1815; and, as such, had helped (and not slightly) to keep the
+  tottering crown on the brow of Bavaria. He now sent to request the
+  opportunity of paying his respects; but Germany, absurd in many things, is
+  especially so in point of etiquette. Those miraculous productions of
+  Providence, the little German sovereigns, live on etiquette, never abate an
+  atom of their opportunities of convincing inferior mortals that they are of
+  a super-eminent breed; and, in part, seem to have strangely forgotten that
+  salutary lesson which Napoleon and his captains taught them, in the days
+  when a republican brigadier, or an imperial aid-de-camp, though the son of a
+  tailor, treated their "Serene Highnesses" and "High Mightinesses" with as
+  little ceremony as the thoroughly beaten deserved from the conquerors. In
+  the present instance, the little king did <i>not</i> choose to receive the
+  gallant soldier, whom, in days of difficulty, he had been rejoiced to find
+  at his side; and the ground assigned was, that the monarch received none but
+  in uniform; the Marquis having mentioned, that he must appear in plain
+  clothes, in consequence of dispatching his uniform to Munich, doubtless
+  under the idea of attending the court there in his proper rank of a general
+  officer.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis was angry, and the fragment of his reply which we give, was
+  probably as unpalatable a missive as the little king had received since the
+  days of Napoleon.</p>
+
+  <p>"My intention was, to express my respect for his majesty, in taking this
+  opportunity to pay my court to him, in the interesting recollection of the
+  kindly feelings which he deigned to exhibit to me and my <i>brother</i> at
+  Vienna, when Prince Royal of Bavaria.</p>
+
+  <p>"I had flattered myself, that as the companion-in-arms of the excellent
+  Marshal Wrede in the campaigns of 1814 and 1815, his majesty would have
+  granted this much of remembrance to an individual, without regard to
+  uniform; or, at least, would have done me the honour of a private audience.
+  I find, however, that I have been mistaken, and I have now only to offer my
+  apologies to his majesty.</p>
+
+  <p>"The flattering reception which I have enjoyed in other courts, and the
+  idea that this was connected with the name and services of the individual,
+  and not dependent on the uniform, was the cause of my indiscretion. As my
+  profound respect for his majesty was the sole feeling which led me towards
+  Munich, I shall not <i>delay a moment</i> in quitting his majesty's
+  territory."</p>
+
+  <p>If his majesty had been aware that this Parthian arrow would have been
+  shot at him, he would have been well advised in relaxing his etiquette.</p>
+
+  <p>In the vicinity where this trifling transaction occurred, is the
+  <i>locale</i> of an undertaking which will probably outlast all the little
+  diadems of all the little kings. This is the canal by which it is proposed
+  to unite the Rhine, the Mayne, and the Danube; in other words, to make the
+  longest water communication in the world, through the heart of Europe; by
+  which the Englishman embarking at London-bridge, may arrive at
+  Constantinople in a travelling palace, with all the comforts&mdash;nay, all
+  the luxuries of life, round him; his books, pictures, furniture, music, and
+  society; and all this, while sweeping through some of the most magnificent
+  scenery of the earth, safe from surge or storm, sheltered from winter's cold
+  and summer's sun, rushing along at the rate of a couple of hundred miles
+  a-day, until he finds himself in the Bosphorus, with all the glories of the
+  City of the Sultans glittering before him.</p>
+
+  <p>This is the finest speculation that was ever born of this generation of
+  wonders, steam; and if once realized, must be a most prolific source of good
+  to mankind. But the Germans are an intolerably tardy race in every thing,
+  but the use of the tongue. They harangue, and mystify, and magnify, but they
+  will not act; and this incomparable design, which, in England, would join
+  the whole power of the nation in one unanimous effort, languishes among the
+  philosophists and prognosticators of Germany, finds no favour in the eyes of
+  its formal courts, and threatens to be lost in the smoke of a
+  tobacco-saturated and slumber-loving people.</p>
+
+  <p>But the chief monument of Bavaria is the Val Halla, a modern temple
+  designed to receive memorials of all the great names of Germany. The idea is
+  kingly, and so is the temple; but it is built on the model of the
+  Parthenon&mdash;evidently a formidable blunder in a land whose history,
+  habits, and genius, are of the north. A Gothic temple or palace would have
+  been a much more suitable, and therefore a finer conception. The combination
+  of the palatial, the cathedral, and the fortress style, would have given
+  scope to superb invention, if invention was to be found in the land; and in
+  such an edifice, for such a purpose, Germany would have found a truer point
+  of union, than it will ever find in the absurd attempt to mix opposing
+  faiths, or in the nonsense of a rebel Gazette, and clamorous Gazetteers.</p>
+
+  <p>Still the Bavarian monarch deserves the credit of an unrivalled zeal to
+  decorate his country. He is a great builder, he has filled Munich with fine
+  edifices, and called in the aid of talents from every part of Europe, to
+  stir up the flame, if it is to be found among his drowsy nation.</p>
+
+  <p>The Val Halla is on a pinnacle of rising ground, about a hundred yards
+  from the Danube, from whose bank the ascent is by a stupendous marble
+  staircase, to the grand portico. The columns are of the finest white stone,
+  and the interior is completely lined with German marbles. Busts of the
+  distinguished warriors, poets, statesmen, and scholars, are to be placed in
+  niches round the walls, but <i>not</i> till they are dead. A curious
+  arrangement is adopted with respect to the living: Persons of any public
+  note may send their busts, while living, to the Val Halla, where they are
+  deposited in a certain chamber, a kind of marble purgatory or limbo. When
+  they die, a jury is to sit upon them, and if they are fortunate enough to
+  have a verdict in their favour, they take their place amongst these marble
+  immortals. As the process does not occur until the parties are beyond the
+  reach of human disappointment, they cannot feel the worse in case of
+  failure; but the vanity which tempts a man thus to declare himself deserving
+  of perpetual renown, by the act of sending his bust as a candidate, is
+  perfectly <i>foreign</i>, and must be continually ridiculous.</p>
+
+  <p>The temple has been inaugurated or consecrated by the king in person,
+  within the last month. He has made a speech, and dedicated it to German fame
+  for ever. He certainly has had the merit of doing what ought to have been
+  long since done in every kingdom of Europe; what a slight retrenchment in
+  every royal expenditure would have enabled every sovereign to set on foot;
+  and what could be done most magnificently, would be most deserved, and ought
+  to be done without delay, in England.</p>
+
+  <p>At Ratisbon, the steam navigation on the Danube begins, taking passengers
+  and carriages to Linz, where the Austrian steam navigation commences,
+  completing the course down the mighty river. The former land-journey from
+  Ratisbon to Vienna generally occupied six days. By the steam-boat, it is now
+  accomplished in forty-eight hours, a prodigious saving of space and time.
+  The Bavarian boats are smaller than those on the Rhine, owing to the
+  shallows on the upper part of the river, but they are well managed and
+  comfortable. The steamer is, in fact, a floating hotel, where every thing is
+  provided on board, and the general arrangements are exact and convenient.
+  The scenery in this portion of the river is highly exciting.&mdash;"The
+  Rhine, with its hanging woods and multitudinous inhabited castles, affords a
+  more cultivated picture; but in the steep and craggy mountains of the
+  Danube, in its wild outlines and dilapidated castles, the imagination
+  embraces a bolder range. At one time the river is confined within its
+  narrowest limits, and proceeds through a defile of considerable altitude,
+  with overhanging rocks menacing destruction. At another it offers an open,
+  wild archipelago of islands. The mountains have disappeared, and a long
+  plain bounds on each side of the river its barren banks."</p>
+
+  <p>The steam-boats stop at Neudorf, a German mile from Vienna. On his
+  arrival, the Marquis found the servants and carriages of Prince Esterhazy
+  waiting for him, and quarters provided at the Swan Hotel, until one of the
+  prince's palaces could be prepared for his reception. The importance of
+  getting private quarters on arriving at Vienna is great, the inns being all
+  indifferent and noisy. They have another disqualification not less
+  important&mdash;they seem to be intolerably dear. The Marquis's
+  accommodations, though on a <i>third</i> story of the Swan, cost him eight
+  pounds sterling a-day. This he justly characterizes as extravagant, and says
+  he was glad to remove on the third day, there being an additional annoyance,
+  in a club of the young nobles at the Swan, which prevented a moment's quiet.
+  The <i>cuisine</i>, however, was particularly good, and the house, though a
+  formidable affair for a family, is represented as desirable for a
+  "bachelor"&mdash;we presume, a rich one.</p>
+
+  <p>Vienna has had her share in the general improvement of the Continent. She
+  has become commercial, and her streets exhibit shops with gilding,
+  plate-glass, and showy sign-boards, in place of the very old, very
+  barbarous, and very squalid, displays of the last century. War is a rough
+  teacher, but it is evidently the only one for the Continent. The foreigner
+  is as bigoted to his original dinginess and discomfort, as the Turk to the
+  Koran. Nothing but fear or force ever changes him. The French invasions were
+  desperate things, but they swept away a prodigious quantity of the cobwebs
+  which grow over the heads of nations who will not use the broom for
+  themselves. Feudalities and follies a thousand years old were trampled down
+  by the foot of the conscript; and the only glimpses of common-sense which
+  have visited three-fourths of Europe in our day, were let in through chinks
+  made by the French bayonet. The French were the grand improvers of every
+  thing, though only for their own objects. They made high roads for their own
+  troops, and left them to the Germans; they cleared the cities of streets
+  loaded with nuisances of all kinds, and taught the natives to live without
+  the constant dread of pestilence; they compelled, for example the Portuguese
+  to wash their clothes, and the Spaniards to wash their hands. They proved to
+  the German that his ponderous fortifications only brought bombardments on
+  his cities, and thus induced him to throw down his crumbling walls, fill up
+  his muddy ditches, turn his barren glacis into a public walk, and open his
+  wretched streets to the light and air of heaven. Thus Hamburgh, and a
+  hundred other towns, have put on a new face, and almost begun a new
+  existence. Thus Vienna is now thrown open to its suburbs, and its suburbs
+  are spread into the country.</p>
+
+  <p>The first days were given up to dinner at the British ambassador's, (Lord
+  Beauvale's,) at the Prussian ambassador's, and at Prince Metternich's. Lord
+  Beauvale's was "nearly private He lived on a second floor, in a fine house,
+  of which, however, the lower part was understood to be still unfurnished.
+  His lordship sees but few people, and seldom gives any grand receptions, his
+  indifferent health being the reason for living privately." However, on this
+  point the Marquis has his own conceptions, which he gives with a plainness
+  perfectly characteristic, and very well worth being remembered.</p>
+
+  <p>"I think," says he, "that an ambassador of England, at an imperial court,
+  with <i>eleven thousand pounds</i> per annum! should <i>not</i> live as a
+  private gentleman, nor consult solely his own ease, unmindful of the
+  sovereign he represents. A habit has stolen in among them of adopting a
+  spare <i>menage</i>, to augment <i>private fortune when recalled</i>! This
+  is wrong. And when France and Russia, and even Prussia, entertain constantly
+  and very handsomely; our embassies and legations, generally speaking, are
+  niggardly and shut up."</p>
+
+  <p>However the Lord Beauvale and his class may relish this honesty of
+  opinion, we are satisfied that the British public will perfectly agree with
+  the Marquis. A man who receives L. 11,000 a-year to show hospitality and
+  exhibit state, ought to do both. But there is another and a much more
+  important point for the nation to consider. Why should eleven thousand
+  pounds a-year be given to any ambassador at Vienna, or at any other court of
+  the earth? Cannot his actual diplomatic functions be amply served for a
+  tenth of the money? Or what is the actual result, but to furnish, in nine
+  instances out of ten, a splendid sinecure to some man of powerful interest,
+  without any, or but slight, reference to his faculties? Or is there any
+  necessity for endowing an embassy with an enormous income of this order, to
+  provide dinners, and balls, and a central spot for the crowd of loungers who
+  visit their residences; or to do actual mischief by alluring those idlers to
+  remain absentees from their own country? We see no possible reason why the
+  whole ambassadorial establishment might not be cut down to salaries of
+  fifteen hundred a-year. Thus, men of business would be employed, instead of
+  the relatives of our cabinets; dinner-giving would not be an essential of
+  diplomacy; the ambassador's house would not be a centre for all the ramblers
+  and triflers who preferred a silly and lavish life abroad to doing their
+  duty at home; and a sum of much more than a hundred thousand pounds a-year
+  would be saved to the country. Jonathan acts the only rational part on the
+  subject. He gives his ambassador a sum on which a private gentleman can
+  live, and no more. He has not the slightest sense of giving superb feasts,
+  furnishing huge palaces, supplying all the rambling Jonathans with balls and
+  suppers, or astonishing John Bull by the tinsel of his appointments. Yet he
+  is at least as well served as others. His man is a man of business; his
+  embassy is no showy sinecure; his ambassador is no showy sinecurist. The
+  office is an understood step to distinction at home; and the man who
+  exhibits ability here, is sure of eminence on his return. We have not found
+  that the American diplomacy is consigned to mean hands, or inefficient, or
+  despised in any country.</p>
+
+  <p>The relative value of money, too, makes the folly still more extravagant.
+  In Vienna, L. 11,000 a-year is equal to twice the sum in England. We thus
+  virtually pay L. 22,000 a-year for Austrian diplomacy. In France about the
+  same proportion exists. But in Spain, the dollar goes as far as the pound in
+  England. There L. 10,000 sterling would be equivalent to L. 40,000 here. How
+  long is this waste to go on? We remember a strong and true
+  <i>expos&eacute;</i>, made by Sir James Graham, on the subject, a few years
+  ago; and we are convinced that, if he were to take up the topic again, he
+  would render the country a service of remarkable value; and, moreover, that
+  if he does not, it will be taken up by more strenuous, but more dangerous
+  hands. The whole system is one of lavish absurdity.</p>
+
+  <p>The Russian ambassador's dinner "was of a different description.
+  Perfection in <i>cuisine</i>, wine, and attendance. Sumptuousness in
+  liveries and lights; the company, about thirty, the <i>&eacute;lite</i> of
+  Vienna."</p>
+
+  <p>But the most interesting of those banquets, from the character of the
+  distinguished giver, was Prince Meternich's. The prince was residing at his
+  "Garten," (villa) two miles out of town. He had enlarged his house of late
+  years, and it now consisted of three, one for his children, another for his
+  own residence, and a third for his guests. This last was "really a fairy
+  edifice, so contrived with reflecting mirrors, as to give the idea of being
+  transparent." It was ornamented with rare malachite, prophyry, jasper, and
+  other vases, presents from the sovereigns of Europe, besides statues, and
+  copies of the most celebrated works of Italy.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis had not seen this eminent person since 1823, and time had
+  played its part with his countenance; the smile was more languid, the eye
+  less illumined, the person more slight than formerly, the hair of a more
+  silvery hue, the features of his expressive face more distinctly marked; the
+  erect posture was still maintained, but the gait had become more solemn; and
+  when he rose from his chair, he had no longer his wonted elasticity.</p>
+
+  <p>But this inevitable change of the exterior seems to have no effect on the
+  "inner man." "In the Prince's conversation I found the same talent, the
+  unrivalled <i>esprit</i>. The fluency and elocution, so entirely his own,
+  were as graceful, and the memory was as perfect, as at any former
+  period."</p>
+
+  <p>This memorable man is fond of matrimony; his present wife, a daughter of
+  Count Zichy Ferraris, being his third. A son of the second marriage is his
+  heir, and he has by his present princess two boys and a girl. The Princess
+  seems to have alarmed her guest by her vivacity; for he describes her in the
+  awful language with which the world speaks of a confirmed
+  <i>blue</i>:&mdash;"Though not so handsome as her predecessor, she combines
+  a <i>very spirited</i> expression of countenance, with a clever
+  conversation, a versatility of genius, and a wit rather satirical than
+  humorous, which makes her <i>somewhat formidable</i> to her acquaintance."
+  We dare say that she is a very showy tigress.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis found Vienna less gay than it was on his former visit. It is
+  true that he then saw it in the height of the Congress, flushed with
+  conquest, glittering with all kinds of festivity; and not an individual in
+  bad spirits in Europe, but Napoleon himself. Yet in later times the court
+  has changed; "the Emperor keeps singularly aloof from society; the splendid
+  court-days are no more; the families are withdrawing into coteries; the
+  beauties of former years have lost much of their brilliancy, and a new
+  generation equal to them has not yet appeared."</p>
+
+  <p>This is certainly not the language of a young marquis; but it is probably
+  not far from the estimate which every admirer of the sex makes, <i>after</i>
+  a five-and-twenty years' absence. But he gallantly defends them against the
+  sneer of the cleverest of her sex, Lady Wortley Montagu, a hundred years
+  ago; her verdict being, "That their costume disfigured the natural ugliness
+  with which Heaven had been pleased to endow them." He contends, however,
+  that speaking within the last twenty (he probably means
+  <i>five-and-twenty</i>) years, "Vienna has produced some of the handsomest
+  women in the world: and in frequenting the public walks, the Prater, and
+  places of amusement, you meet as many bewitching countenances, especially as
+  to eyes, hair, and <i>tournure</i>, as in any other capital whatever."</p>
+
+  <p>We think the Marquis fortunate; for we must acknowledge, that in our
+  occasional rambles on the Continent, we <i>never</i> saw beauty in a German
+  visage. The rotundity of the countenance, the coarse colours, the stunted
+  nose, and the thick lip, which constitute the general mould of the native
+  physiognomy, are to us the very antipodes of beauty. Dress, diamonds, rouge,
+  and lively manners, may go far, and the ball-room may help the deception;
+  but we strongly suspect that where beauty casually appears in society, we
+  must look for its existence only among foreigners to Teutchland. The general
+  state of intercourse, even among the highest circles, is dull. There are few
+  houses of rank where strangers are received; the animation of former times
+  is gone. The ambassadors live retired. The monarch's state of health makes
+  him averse to society. Prince Metternich's house is the only one constantly
+  open; "but while he remains at his Garten, to trudge there for a couple of
+  hours' general conversation, is not very alluring." Still, for a family
+  which can go so far to look for cheap playhouses and cheap living, Vienna is
+  a convenient capital.</p>
+
+  <p>But Austria has one quality, which shows her common sense in a striking
+  point of view. She abhors change. She has not a radical in her whole
+  dominions, except in jail&mdash;the only place fit for him. The agitations
+  and vexations of other governments stop at the Austrian frontier. The people
+  have not made the grand discovery, that universal suffrage is meat and
+  drink, and annual parliaments lodging and clothing. They labour, and live by
+  their labour; yet they have as much dancing as the French, and better music.
+  They are probably the richest and most comfortable population of Europe at
+  this hour. Their country has risen to be the protector of Southern Europe;
+  and they are making admirable highways, laying down railroads, and building
+  steam-boats, ten times as fast as the French, with all their regicide plots,
+  and a revolution threatened once-a-month by the calendar of patriotism.
+  "Like the great Danube, which rolls through the centre of her dominions, the
+  course of her ministry and its tributary branches continue, without any
+  deviation from its accustomed channel." The comparison is a good one, and
+  what can be more fortunate than such tranquillity?</p>
+
+  <p>The two leading ministers, the government in effect, are Metternich and
+  Kollowrath; the former the Foreign Minister, the latter the Minister of the
+  Interior. They are understood to be of different principles; the latter
+  leaning to the "Movement," or, more probably, allowing himself to be thought
+  to do so, for the sake of popularity. But Metternich is the true head. A
+  Conservative from the beginning, sagacious enough to see through the dupery
+  of the pretended friends of the human race, and firm enough to crush their
+  hypocrisy&mdash;Metternich is one of those statesmen, of whom men of sense
+  never could have had two opinions&mdash;a mind which stamped itself from the
+  beginning as a leader, compelled by circumstances often to yield, but never
+  suffering even the most desperate circumstances to make it despair. He saw
+  where the strength of Europe lay, from the commencement of the Revolutionary
+  war; and, guided by the example of Pitt, he laboured for a general European
+  alliance. When he failed there, he husbanded the strength of Austria for the
+  day of struggle, which he knew would come; and when it came, his genius
+  raised his country at once from a defeated dependency of France, into the
+  arbiter of Europe. While this great man lives, he ought to be supreme in the
+  affairs of his country. But in case of his death, General Fiquelmont, the
+  late ambassador to Russia, has been regarded as his probable successor. He
+  is a man of ability and experience, and his appointment to the court of St
+  Petersburg was probably intended to complete that experience, in the quarter
+  to which Austria, by her new relations, and especially by her new navigation
+  of the Danube, must look with the most vigilant anxiety.</p>
+
+  <p>The Austrian army is kept up in very fine condition; but nearly all the
+  officers distinguished in the war are dead, and its present leaders have to
+  acquire a name. It is only to be hoped that they will never have the
+  opportunity. The regimental officers are generally from a higher class than
+  those of the other German armies.</p>
+
+  <p>After remaining for a fortnight at Vienna, the Marquis paid a visit to
+  his friend Prince Esterhazy.</p>
+
+  <p>This nobleman, long known and much-esteemed in England, is equally well
+  known to be a kind of monarch in Hungary. Whatever novelist shall write the
+  "Troubles of rank and riches," should take the prince for his hero. He has
+  eight or nine princely mansions scattered over the empire, and in each of
+  them it is expected, by his subjects of the soil, that his highness should
+  reside.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis made a round of the principal of those mansions. The first
+  visit was to a castle in the neighbourhood of Vienna, which the prince has
+  modernized into a magnificent villa. Here all is constructed to the taste of
+  a statesman only eager to escape the tumult of the capital, and pining to
+  refresh himself with cooling shades and crystal streams. All is verdure,
+  trout streams, leafy walks, water blue as the sky above it, and the most
+  profound privacy and seclusion.</p>
+
+  <p>After a "most exquisite entertainment" here, the Marquis and his family
+  set out early next morning to visit Falkenstein. Every castle in this part
+  of the world is historical, and derives its honours from a Turkish siege.
+  Falkenstein, crowning the summit of a mountain of granite, up which no
+  carriage can be dragged but by the stout Hungarian horses trained to the
+  work, has been handsomely bruised by the Turkish balls in its day; but it is
+  now converted into a superb mansion; very grand, and still more curious than
+  grand; for it is full of relics of the olden time, portraits of the old
+  warriors of Hungary, armour and arms, and all the other odd and pompous
+  things which turn an age of barbarism into an age of romance. The prince and
+  princess are hailed and received at the castle as king and queen. A guard of
+  soldiers of the family, which the Esterhazy have the sovereign right to
+  maintain, form the garrison of this palatial fortress, and it has a whole
+  establishment of salaried officials within. The next expedition was to two
+  more of those mansions&mdash;Esterhazy, built by one of the richest princes
+  of the house, and Eisenstadt. The former resembles the imperial palace at
+  Schonbrun, but smaller. The prince is fitting it up gorgeously in the Louis
+  XIV.th style. Here he has his principal studs for breeding horses; but
+  Eisenstadt outshone all the chateaus of this superb possessor. The
+  splendours here were regal: Two hundred chambers for guests&mdash;a saloon
+  capable of dining a thousand people&mdash;a battalion of the "Esterhazy
+  Guard" at the principal entrances; all paid from the estate. To this all the
+  ornamental part was proportioned&mdash;conservatory and greenhouses on the
+  most unrivalled scale&mdash;three or four hundred orange-trees alone,
+  throwing the Duke of Northumberland's gardens into eclipse, and stimulating
+  his Grace of Devonshire even to add new greens and glories to
+  Chatsworth.</p>
+
+  <p>On his return to Vienna, the Marquis was honoured with a private
+  interview by the emperor&mdash;a remarkable distinction, as the ambassador
+  was informed "that the emperor was too well acquainted with the Marquis's
+  services to require any presentation, and desired that he might come alone."
+  He was received with great politeness and condescension. Next day he had an
+  interview with Prince Metternich, who, with graceful familiarity, took him
+  over his house in Vienna, to show him its improvements since the days of
+  Congress. He remarks it as a strange point in the character of this
+  celebrated statesman, how minutely he sometimes interests himself in mere
+  trifles, especially where art and mechanism are concerned. He had seen him
+  one evening remain for half an hour studiously examining the construction of
+  a musical clock. The Prince then showed his <i>cabinet de travail</i>, which
+  he had retained unchanged. "Here," said he, "is a spot which is exactly as
+  it was the last day you saw it." Its identity had been rigidly preserved,
+  down to the placing of its paper and pencils. All was in the same order. The
+  Prince evidently, and justly, looked on those days as the glory of his
+  life.</p>
+
+  <p>We regret that the conversation of so eminent a person could not be more
+  largely given; for Metternich is less a statesman than statemanship itself.
+  But one remark was at once singularly philosophical and practical. In
+  evident allusion to the miserable tergiversations of our Whig policy a
+  couple of years since, he said, "that throughout life, he had always acted
+  on the plan of adopting the <i>best determination on all important
+  subjects</i>. That to this point of view he had steadfastly adhered; and
+  that, in the indescribable workings of time and circumstances, it had
+  <i>always happened to him</i> that matters were brought round to the very
+  spot, from which, owing to the folly of misguided notions or inexperienced
+  men, they had for a time taken their departure." This was in 1840, when the
+  Whigs ruled us; it must be an admirable maxim for honest men, but it must be
+  perpetually thwarting the oblique. To form a view on principle, and to
+  adhere to it under all difficulties, is the palpable way to attain great
+  ultimate success; but the paltry and the selfish, the hollow and the
+  intriguing, have neither power nor will to look beyond the moment; they are
+  not steering the vessel to a harbour; they have no other object than to keep
+  possession of the ship as long as they can, and let her roll wherever the
+  gale may carry her.</p>
+
+  <p>After all, one grows weary of every thing that is to be had for the mere
+  act of wishing. Difficulty is essential to enjoyment. High life is as likely
+  to tire on one's hands as any other. The Marquis, giving all the praise of
+  manners and agreeability to Vienna, sums up all in one prodigious yawn. "The
+  <i>same</i> evenings at Metternich's, the <i>same</i> lounges for making
+  purchases and visits on a morning, the <i>same</i> idleness and fatigue at
+  night, the searching and arid climate, and the clouds of execrable fine
+  dust"&mdash;all conspiring to tell the great of the earth that they can
+  escape <i>ennui</i> no more than the little.</p>
+
+  <p>On leaving Vienna, he wrote a note of farewell to the Prince, who
+  returned an answer, of remarkable elegance&mdash;a mixture of the pathetic
+  and the playful. His note says that he has no chance of going to see any
+  body, for he is like a coral fixed to a rock&mdash;both must move together.
+  He touches lightly on their share in the great war, "which is now becoming a
+  part of those times which history itself names heroic;" and concludes by
+  recommending him on his journey to the care of an officer of rank, on a
+  mission to Turkey&mdash;"Car il s&ccedil;ait le Turc, aussi bien que nous
+  deux ne le s&ccedil;avons pas." With this Voltairism he finishes, and gives
+  his "Dieu prot&egrave;ge."</p>
+
+  <p>We now come to the Austrian steam passage. This is the boldest effort
+  which Austria has ever made, and its effects will be felt through every
+  generation of her mighty empire. The honour of originating this great design
+  is due to Count Etienne Zecheny, a Hungarian nobleman, distinguished for
+  every quality which can make a man a benefactor to his country. The plan of
+  this steam-navigation is now about ten years old. The Marquis justly
+  observes, that nothing more patriotic was ever projected; and it is mainly
+  owing to this high-spirited nobleman that the great advantage is now enjoyed
+  of performing, in ten or twelve days, the journey to the capital of Turkey,
+  which some years ago could be achieved only by riding the whole way, and
+  occupying, by couriers, two or three weeks. The chief direction of the
+  company is at Vienna. It had, at the time of the tour, eighteen boats,
+  varying from sixty to one hundred horse-power, and twenty-four more were to
+  be added within the year. Some of these were to be of iron.</p>
+
+  <p>But the poverty of all foreign countries is a formidable obstacle to the
+  progress of magnificent speculations like those. The shares have continued
+  low, the company has had financial difficulties to encounter, and the
+  popular purse is tardy. However, the prospect is improving, the profits have
+  increased; and the Austrian archdukes and many of the great nobles having
+  lately taken shares, the steam-boats will probably become as favourite as
+  they are necessary. But all this takes time; and as by degrees the
+  "disagreeables" of the voyage down the Danube will be changed into
+  agreeables, we shall allude no more to the noble traveller's voyage, than to
+  say, that on the 4th of November, a day of more than autumnal beauty, his
+  steamer anchored in the Bosphorus.</p>
+
+  <p>Here we were prepared for a burst of description. But the present
+  describer is a matter-of-fact personage; and though he makes no attempt at
+  poetic fame, has the faculty of telling what he saw, with very sufficient
+  distinctness. "I never experienced more disappointment," is his phrase,
+  "than in my first view of the Ottoman capital. I was bold enough at once to
+  come to the conclusion, that what I had heard or read was overcharged. The
+  most eminent of the describers, I think, could never have been on the spot."
+  Such is the plain language of the last authority.</p>
+
+  <p>"The entrance of the Tagus, the Bay of Naples, the splendid approach to
+  the grand quays of St Petersburg, the Kremlin, and view of Moscow, all
+  struck me as far preferable to the scene at the entrance of the
+  Bosphorus."</p>
+
+  <p>He admits, that in the advance to the city up this famous channel, there
+  are many pretty views, that there is a line of handsome residences in some
+  parts, and that the whole has a good deal the look of a "drop-scene in a
+  theatre;" still he thinks it poor in comparison of its descriptions, the
+  outline low, feeble, and rugged, and that the less it is examined, probably
+  the more it may be admired. Even the famous capital fares not much better.
+  "In point of fine architectural features, monuments of art, and magnificent
+  structures, (excepting only the great Mosques,) the chisel of the mason, the
+  marble, the granite, Constantinople is more destitute than any other great
+  capital. But then, you are told that these objects are not in the style and
+  taste of the people. Be it so; but then do not let the minds of those who
+  cannot see for themselves be led away by high-wrought and fallacious
+  descriptions of things which do not exist." The maxim is a valuable one, and
+  we hope that the rebuke will save the reading public from a heap of those
+  "picturesque" labours, which really much more resemble the heaviest brush of
+  the scene-painter, than the truth of nature.</p>
+
+  <p>But if art has done little, nature has done wonders for Constantinople.
+  The site contains some of the noblest elements of beauty and grandeur;
+  mountain, plain, forest, waters; its position is obviously the key of Europe
+  and Asia Minor&mdash;even of more, it is the point at which the north and
+  south meet; by the Bosphorus it commands the communication of the Black Sea,
+  and with it, of all the boundless region, once Scythia, and now Russia and
+  Tartary; by the Dardanelles, it has the most immediate command over the
+  Mediterranean, the most important sea in the world. Russia, doubtless, may
+  be the paramount power of the Black Sea; the European nations may divide the
+  power of the Mediterranean; but Constantinople, once under the authority of
+  a monarch, or a government, adequate to its natural faculties, would be more
+  directly the sovereign of both seas, than Russia, with its state machinery
+  in St Petersburg, a thousand miles off, or France a thousand miles, or
+  England more nearly two thousand miles. This dominion will never be
+  exercised by the ignorant, profligate, and unprincipled Turk; but if an
+  independent Christian power should be established there, in that spot lie
+  the materials of empire. In the fullest sense, Constantinople, uniting all
+  the high-roads between east and west, north and south, is the centre of the
+  living world. We are by no means to be reckoned among the theorists who
+  calculate day by day on the fall of Turkey. In ancient times the fall of
+  guilty empires was sudden, and connected with marked evidences of guilt. But
+  those events were so nearly connected with the fortunes of the Jewish
+  people, that the suddenness of the catastrophe was essential to the lesson.
+  The same necessity exists no longer, the Chosen People are now beyond the
+  lesson, and nations undergo suffering, and approach dissolution, by laws not
+  unlike those of the decadence of the human frame; the disease makes
+  progress, but the evidence scarcely strikes the eye, and the seat of the
+  distemper is almost beyond human investigation. The jealousy of the European
+  powers, too, protects the Turk. But he must go down&mdash;Mahometanism is
+  already decaying. Stamboul, its headquarters, will not survive its fall; and
+  a future generation will inevitably see Constantinople the seat of a
+  Christian empire, and that empire, not improbably, only the forerunner of an
+  empire of Palestine.</p>
+
+  <p>The general view of Constantinople is superb. A bridge has been thrown
+  across the "Golden Horn," connecting its shores; and from this the city, or
+  rather the four cities, spread out in lengthened stateliness before the eye.
+  From this point are seen, to the most striking advantage, the two
+  mountainous elevations on which Constantinople and Pera are built, and other
+  heights surrounding. A communication subsists across the "Golden Horn," not
+  only by water and the bridge, but also by the road, which by the land is a
+  distance of five or six miles. Viewing Constantinople as a whole, it strikes
+  one as larger by far than Paris or London, but they are both larger. The
+  reason of the deception being, that here the eye embraces a larger
+  space.</p>
+
+  <p>The Turks never improve anything. The distinction between them and the
+  Europeans is, that the latter think of conveniences, the former only of
+  luxuries. The Turks, for example, build handsome pavilions, plant showy
+  gardens, and erect marble fountains to cool them in marble halls. But they
+  never mend a high-road&mdash;they never even make one. Now and then a bridge
+  is forced on them by the necessity of having one, or being drowned; but they
+  never repair that bridge, nor sweep away the accumulated abomination of
+  their streets, nor do any thing that it is possible to leave undone.</p>
+
+  <p>Pera is the quarter in which all the Christians even of the highest rank
+  live; the intercourse between it and Constantinople is, of course,
+  perpetual, yet perhaps a stone has not been smoothed in the road since the
+  siege of the city. From Pera were the most harassing trips down rugged
+  declivities on horseback, besides the awkwardness of the passage in
+  boats.</p>
+
+  <p>One extraordinary circumstance strikes the stranger, that but one sex
+  seems to exist. The dress of the women gives no idea of the female form, and
+  the whole population seems to be male.</p>
+
+  <p>The masses of people are dense, and among them the utmost silence in
+  general prevails. About seven or eight at night the streets are cleared, and
+  their only tenants are whole hosts of growling, hideous dogs; or a few Turks
+  gliding about with paper lanterns; these, too, being the only lights in the
+  streets, if streets they are to be called, which are only narrow passes,
+  through which the vehicles can scarcely move.</p>
+
+  <p>The dogs are curious animals. It is probable that civilization does as
+  much injury to the lower tribes of creation, as it does good to man. If it
+  polishes our faculties, it enfeebles their instincts. The Turkish dog,
+  living nearly as he would have done in the wilderness, exhibits the same
+  sagacity, amounting to something of government. For instance, the Turkish
+  dogs divide the capital into quarters, and each set has its own; if an
+  adventurous or an ambitious dog enters the quarters of his neighbours, the
+  whole pack in possession set upon him at once, and he is expelled by hue and
+  cry. They also know how to conduct themselves according to times and
+  seasons. In the daytime, they ramble about, and suffer themselves to be
+  kicked with impunity; but at night the case is different: they are the
+  majority&mdash;they know their strength, and insist on their privileges.
+  They howl and growl then at their own discretion, fly at the accidental
+  stranger with open mouth, attack him singly, charge him <i>en masse</i>, and
+  nothing but a stout bludgeon, wielded by a strong arm, can save the
+  passenger from feeling that he is in the kingdom of his four-footed
+  masters.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis arrived during the Ramazan, when no Turk eats, drinks, or
+  even smokes, from sunrise to sunset. Thus the Turk is a harder faster than
+  the papist. The moment the sun goes down, the Turk rushes to his meal and
+  his pipe, "not eating but devouring, not inhaling but wallowing in smoke."
+  At the Bajazet colonnade, where the principal Turks rush to enjoy the night,
+  the lighted coffee-houses, the varieties of costume, the eager crowd, and
+  the illumination of myriads of paper lanterns, make a scene that revives the
+  memory of Oriental tales.</p>
+
+  <p>Every thing in Turkey is unlike any thing in Europe. In the bazar,
+  instead of the rapid sale and dismissal in our places of traffic, the
+  Turkish dealer, in any case of value, invites his applicant into his shop,
+  makes him sit down, gives him a pipe, smokes him into
+  familiarity&mdash;hands him a cup of coffee, and drinks him into confidence;
+  in short, treats him as if they were a pair of ambassadors appointed to dine
+  and bribe each other&mdash;converses with, and cheats him.</p>
+
+  <p>But the Marquis regards the bazars as contemptible places, says that they
+  are not to be compared with similar establishments at Petersburg or Moscow,
+  and recommends whatever purchases are made, to be made at one's own
+  quarters, "where you escape being jostled, harangued, smoked, and poisoned
+  with insufferable smells."</p>
+
+  <p>One of the curious features of the sojourn at Constantinople, is the
+  presentation to the Ministers and the Sultan. Redschid Pasha appointed to
+  see the Marquis at three o'clock, <i>&agrave; la Turque</i>&mdash;which, as
+  those Orientals always count from the sunset, means eight o'clock in the
+  evening.</p>
+
+  <p>He was led in a kind of procession to the Minister, received in the
+  customary manner, and had the customary conversation on Constantinople,
+  England, the war, &amp;c. Then, a dozen slaves entered, and universal
+  smoking began. "When the cabinet was so full of smoke that one could hardly
+  see," the attendants returned, and carried away the pipes. Then came a
+  dropping fire of conversation, then coffee; then sherbet, which the guest
+  pronounced good, and "thought the most agreeable part of the ceremonial."
+  The Minister spoke French fluently, and, after an hour's visit, the ceremony
+  ended&mdash;the pasha politely attending his visiter through the rooms. The
+  next visit was to Achmet Pasha, who had been in England at the time of the
+  Coronation&mdash;had been ambassador at Vienna for some years&mdash;spoke
+  French fluently&mdash;was a great friend of Prince and Princess Metternich,
+  and, besides all this, had married one of the Sultan's sisters. The last
+  honour was said to be due to his immense wealth. It seems that the "course
+  of true love" does not run more smoothly in Turkey than elsewhere&mdash;for
+  the young lady was stated to be in love with the commander-in-chief, an
+  older man, but possessing more character. Achmet was now Minister of
+  Commerce, and in high favour. He kept his young wife at his country house,
+  and she had not been seen since her marriage. When asked permission for
+  ladies to visit her, he always deferred it "till next spring, when," said
+  he, "she will be civilized." The third nocturnal interview was more
+  picturesque&mdash;it was with the young Sultana's flame, the Seraskier,
+  (commander-in-chief.) His residence is at the Porte, where he has one of the
+  splendid palaces.</p>
+
+  <p>"You enter an immense court, with his stables on one side and his harem
+  on the other. A regiment of guards was drawn up at the entrance, and two
+  companies were stationed at the lower court. The staircase was filled with
+  soldiers, slaves, and attendants of different nations. I saw Greeks,
+  Armenians, Sclavonians, Georgians, all in their native costume; and dark as
+  were the corridors and entrance, by the flashes of my flambeaux through the
+  mist, the scene struck me as much more grand and imposing than the others.
+  The Seraskier is a robust, soldier-like man, with a fierce look and beard,
+  and an agreeable smile." The Minister was peculiarly polite, and showed him
+  through the rooms and the war department, exhibiting, amongst the rest, his
+  military council, composed of twenty-four officers, sitting at that moment.
+  They were of all ranks, and chosen, as it was said, without any reference as
+  to qualification, but simply by favour. The Turks still act as oddly as
+  ever. A friend of the Marquis told him, that he had lately applied to the
+  Seraskier to promote a young Turkish officer. A few days after, the officer
+  came to thank him, and said, that though the Seraskier had not given him the
+  command of a regiment, he had given him "the command of a ship." The true
+  wonder is, that the Turks have either ships or regiments. But there is a
+  fine quantity of patronage in this department&mdash;the number of clerks
+  alone being reckoned at between seven and eight hundred.</p>
+
+  <p>The opinions of the Marquis on Mediterranean politics are worth
+  regarding, because he has had much political experience in the highest ranks
+  of foreign life&mdash;because from that experience he is enabled to give the
+  opinions of many men of high name and living influence, and because he is an
+  honest man, speaking sincerely, and speaking intelligibly. He regards the
+  preservation of Turkey as the first principle of all English diplomacy in
+  the east of Europe, and considers our successive attempts to make a Greek
+  kingdom, and our sufferance of an Egyptian dynasty, as sins against the
+  common peace of the world. Thus, within a few years, Greece has been taken
+  away; Egypt has not merely been taken away, but rendered dangerous to the
+  Porte; the great Danubian provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, have been taken
+  away, and thus Russia has been brought to the banks of the Danube. Servia, a
+  vast and powerful province, has followed, and is now more Russian than
+  Turkish; and while those limbs have been torn from the great trunk, and that
+  trunk is still bleeding from the wounds of the late war, it is forced to
+  more exhausting efforts, the less power it retains. But, with respect to
+  Russia, he does not look upon her force and her ambition with the alarm
+  generally entertained of that encroaching and immense power. He even thinks
+  that, even if she possessed Constantinople, she could not long retain it. As
+  all this is future, and of course conjectural, we may legitimately express
+  our doubts of any authority on the subject. That Russia does not think with
+  the Marquis is evident, for all her real movements for the last fifty years
+  have been but preliminaries to the seizure of Turkey. Her exhibitions in all
+  other quarters have been mere disguises. She at one time displays a large
+  fleet in the Baltic, or at another sends an army across Tartary; but she
+  never attempts any thing with either, except the excitement of alarm. But it
+  is in the direction of Turkey that all the solid advances are made. There
+  she always finishes her hostility by making some solid acquisition. She is
+  now carrying on a wasteful war in the Caucasus; its difficulty has probably
+  surprised herself, but she still carries it on; and let the loss of life and
+  the expenditure of money be what they will, she will think them well
+  encountered if they end in giving her the full possession of the northern
+  road into Asia Minor. Russia, in possession of Constantinople, would have
+  the power of inflicting dreadful injuries on Europe. If she possessed a
+  responsible government, her ambition might be restrained by public opinion;
+  or the necessity of appealing to the national representatives for
+  money&mdash;of all checks on war the most powerful, and in fact the grand
+  operative check, at this moment, on the most restless of European
+  governments, France. But with her whole power, her revenues, and her
+  military means completely at the disposal of a single mind, her movements,
+  for either good or evil, are wholly dependent on the caprice, the ambition,
+  or the absurdity of the individual on the throne. The idea that Russia would
+  weaken her power by the possession of Constantinople, seems to us utterly
+  incapable of proof. She has been able to maintain her power at once on the
+  Black Sea, seven hundred miles from her capital; on the Danube, at nearly
+  the same distance, and on the Vistula, pressing on the Prussian frontier. In
+  Constantinople she would have the most magnificent fortress in the world,
+  the command of the head of the Mediterranean, Syria, and inevitably Egypt.
+  By the Dardanelles, she would be wholly inaccessible; for no fleet could
+  pass, if the batteries on shore were well manned. The Black Sea would be
+  simply her wet-dock, in which she might build ships while there was oak or
+  iron in the north, and build them in complete security from all disturbance;
+  for all the fleets of Europe could not reach them through the Bosphorus,
+  even if they had forced the Dardanelles&mdash;that must be the operation of
+  an army in the field. On the north, Russia is almost wholly invulnerable.
+  The Czar might retreat until his pursuers perished of fatigue and hunger.
+  The unquestionable result of the whole is, that Russia is the real terror of
+  Europe. France is dangerous, and madly prone to hostilities; but France is
+  open on every side, and experience shows that she never can resist the
+  combined power of England and Germany. It is strong evidence of our
+  position, that she has never <i>ultimately</i> triumphed in any war against
+  England; and the experience of the last war, which showed her, with all the
+  advantages of her great military chief, her whole population thrown into the
+  current of war, and her banner followed by vassal kings, only the more
+  consummately overthrown, should be a lesson to her for all ages. But Russia
+  has never been effectually checked since the reign of Peter the Great, when
+  she first began to move. Even disastrous wars have only hastened her
+  advance; keen intrigue has assisted military violence, and when we see even
+  the destruction of Moscow followed by the final subjugation of Poland, we
+  may estimate the sudden and fearful superiority which she would be enabled
+  to assume, with her foot standing on Constantinople, and her arm stretching
+  at will over Europe and Asia. Against this tremendous result there are but
+  two checks, the preservation of the Osmanli government by the jealousy of
+  the European states, and the establishment of a Greek empire at
+  Constantinople: the former, the only expedient which can be adopted for the
+  moment, but in its nature temporary, imperfect, and liable to intrigue: the
+  latter, natural, secure, and lasting. It is to this event that all the
+  rational hopes of European politicians should be finally directed. Yet,
+  while the Turk retains possession we must adhere to him; for treaties must
+  be rigidly observed, and no policy is safe that is not strictly honest. But
+  if the dynasty should fail, or any of those unexpected changes occur which
+  leave great questions open, the formation of a Greek empire ought to be
+  contemplated as the true, and the only, mode of effectually rescuing Europe
+  from the most formidable struggle that she has ever seen. But the first
+  measure, even of temporary defence, ought to be the fortification of
+  Constantinople. It is computed that the expense would not exceed a million
+  and a half sterling.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis, by a fortunate chance for a looker-on, happened to be in the
+  Turkish capital at the time when the populace were all exulting at the
+  capture of Acre. It was admitted that the British squadron had done more in
+  rapidity of action, and in effect of firing, than it was supposed possible
+  for ships to accomplish, and all was popular admiration and ministerial
+  gratitude. In addition to the lighting of the mosques for the Ramazan, Pera
+  and Constantinople were lighted up, and the whole scene was brilliant.
+  Constant salvoes were fired from the ships and batteries during the day, and
+  at night, of course, all was splendour on the seven hills of the great
+  city.</p>
+
+  <p>On the "Seraskier's Square," two of the Egyptian regiments taken at
+  Beyrout defiled before the commander-in-chief. The Turkish bands in garrison
+  moved at their head. The prisoners marched in file; and, having but just
+  landed from their prison-ships, looked wretchedly. Having a red woollen
+  bonnet, white jackets, and large white trowsers, they looked like an
+  assemblage of "cricketers." The men were universally young, slight made, and
+  active, with sallow cheeks, many nearly yellow, orange, and even black;
+  still, if well fed and clothed, they would make by no means bad light
+  troops. The Turks armed and clothed then forthwith, and scattered them among
+  their regiments; a proceeding which shows that even the Turk is sharing the
+  general improvement of mankind. Once he would have thrown them all into the
+  Bosphorus.</p>
+
+  <p>From this professional display, the Marquis adjourned to the "Grand
+  Promenade," where the sultanas see the world, unseen themselves, in their
+  carriages. "Though," as he writes, "I never had an opportunity of
+  <i>verifying</i> any thing like Miss Pardoe's anecdote of the 'sentries
+  being ordered to face about when presenting arms,' rather than be permitted
+  to gaze on the <i>tempting</i> and <i>forbidden</i> fruit; but, on the
+  contrary, witnessed soldiers escorting all the sultanas' carriages: it is
+  nevertheless true, that a gruff attendant attacked and found fault with me
+  for daring to raise my eyes to a beautiful Turkish woman, whom it was quite
+  impossible I could admire beyond her forehead and two large black eyes,
+  eyebrows, and lashes, which glanced from under her yashmack." But the
+  Marquis has no mercy on the performances of poor Miss Pardoe.</p>
+
+  <p>The sultana-mother was a personage of high importance at this time, from
+  her supposed influence over her son. Her equipage was somewhat
+  European&mdash;a chariot, with hammer-cloth, (apparently lately received
+  from Long-Acre.) The coachman drove four large bay horses, with a plurality
+  of reins. There were attendants, running Turks, and guards before to clear
+  the way. Two open barouches, ornamented after the manner of the country,
+  followed, and the rear of the sultanas' procession was closed by arebas (or
+  covered and gilded vans) full of women and slaves.</p>
+
+  <p>But the most characteristic display of all is the "Cabinet." "On the side
+  of this drive is a long colonnade of shops; and, at the bottom of it, a
+  <i>barber's</i>, in which all the ministers of the divan and the pasha
+  assemble! They sit on cushions in grand conclave and conference; and, while
+  affecting to discuss the affairs of the state, the direction of their eyes,
+  and their signs to the recumbent houris in the carriages, show their
+  thoughts to be directed to other objects."</p>
+
+  <p>What should we think of the chancellor, the premier, and the three
+  secretaries of state, sitting in council at a fruiterer's in Regent Street,
+  and nodding to the ladies as they pass? But this is not all. The sultan, in
+  his kiosk, sits at one end of the drive, inspecting the whole panorama.
+  Still, it is not yet complete; at the lower end of the colonnade there is a
+  woman-market, where each slave, attended by a duenna, passes and parades,
+  casting her languishing eyes through the files of lounging officers and
+  merchants, who crowd this part of the promenade. All this is essentially
+  Turkish, and probably without any thing like it in the world besides.</p>
+
+  <p>The beauty of the Turkish women is still a matter of dispute. When beauty
+  is an object of unlimited purchase, its frequency will be probably found a
+  safe admission. But Turkish women occasionally unveil, and it is then
+  generally discovered that the veil is one of their principal charms. They
+  have even been described as merely good-humoured looking "fatties"&mdash;a
+  sufficiently humble panegyric. Lord Londonderry gives it as his opinion,
+  that they are "not generally handsome, but all well-built and well-grown,
+  strong, and apparently healthy. Their eyes and eyebrows are invariably fine
+  and expressive; and their hair is, beyond measure, superior to that of other
+  nations. The thickness of its braidings and plaits, and the masses that are
+  occasionally to be seen, leave no doubt of this."</p>
+
+  <p>Long and luxuriant tresses belong to all the southern nations of Europe,
+  and seem to be the results of heat of climate; and there are few facts in
+  physiology more singular than the sudden check given to this luxuriance on
+  the confines of Negroland. There, with all predisposing causes for its
+  growth, it is coarse, curled, and never attains to length or fineness of any
+  kind. The Georgians and Circassians were once the boast of the harem; but
+  the war and the predominance of the Russian power in the Caucasus, have much
+  restricted this detestable national traffic&mdash;a circumstance said to be
+  much to the regret of both parents and daughters; the former losing the
+  price, and the latter losing the preferment, to which the young beauties
+  looked forward as to a certain fortune. But later experience has told the
+  world, that the charms of those Armidas were desperately exaggerated by
+  Turkish romance and European credulity; that the general style of Circassian
+  features, though fair, is Tartarish, and that the Georgian is frequently
+  coarse and of the deepest brown, though with larger eyes than the
+  Circassian, which are small, and like those of the Chinese. The accounts
+  written by ladies visiting the harems are to be taken with the allowance due
+  to showy dress, jewels, cosmetics, and the general effect of a prepared
+  exhibition, scarcely less than theatrical. It is scarcely possible that
+  either the human face or form can long preserve symmetry of any kind in a
+  life almost wholly destitute of exercise, in the confined air of their
+  prison, and in the full indulgence of their meals. Activity, animation, and
+  grace&mdash;the great constituents of all true beauty&mdash;must soon perish
+  in the harem.</p>
+
+  <p>The Marquis (an excellent judge of a horse) did not much admire the
+  steeds of the pashas. On a visit to the Seraskier's stables, the head groom
+  brought out fourteen, with light Tartars on them to show their points. Their
+  stables were miserable. The horses were without stalls or litter, in a dark,
+  ill-paved barn. They were heavily covered with rugs. Three or four were very
+  fine Arabs; but the rest were of Turkish blood, with large heads, lopped
+  ears, and thick necks, of indifferent action, and by no means desirable in
+  any shape.</p>
+
+  <p>The interview with the Sultan was the last, and was interesting and
+  characteristic. The Marquis had naturally expected to find him in the midst
+  of pomp. Instead of all this, on entering a common French carpeted room, he
+  perceived, on an ordinary little French sofa, the sovereign crosslegged, and
+  alone; two small sofas, half-a-dozen chairs, and several wax-lights, were
+  all the ornaments of this very plain saloon. But the Sultan was diamonded
+  all over, and fully made amends for the plainness of his reception-room. As
+  to his person, Abdul-Mehjid is a tall sallow youth of nineteen or twenty,
+  with a long visage, but possessing fine eyes and eyebrows, so that, when his
+  face is lighted up, it is agreeable and spiritual.</p>
+
+  <p>We must now close our sketch of those diversified and pleasant volumes.
+  We regret to hear that their distinguished and active author has lately met
+  with a severe accident in following the sports of his country; but we are
+  gratified with the hope of his recovery, and the hope, too, of seeing him
+  undertake more excursions, and narrate them with equal interest, truth, and
+  animation.</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s9" id="bw327s9"></a>THE CURSE OF GLENCOE.<a id=
+  "footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a></h2>
+
+  <h3>BY B. SIMMONS.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The fair calm eve on wood and wold</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Shone down with softest ray,</p>
+
+      <p>Beneath the sycamore's red leaf</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The mavis trill'd her lay,</p>
+
+      <p>Murmur'd the Tweed afar, as if</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Complaining for the day.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>And evening's light, and wild-bird's song,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And Tweed's complaining tune;</p>
+
+      <p>And far-off hills, whose restless pines</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Were beckoning up the moon&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>Beheld and heard, shed silence through</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A lofty dim saloon.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The fruits of mellow autumn glow'd</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Upon the ebon board;</p>
+
+      <p>The blood that grape of Burgundy</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">In other days had pour'd,</p>
+
+      <p>Gleam'd from its crystal vase&mdash;but all</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Untasted stood the hoard.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Two guests alone sat listlessly</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That lavish board beside;</p>
+
+      <p>The one a fair-haired stripling, tall,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Blithe-brow'd and eager-ey'd,</p>
+
+      <p>Caressing still two hounds in leash,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That by his chair abide.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Right opposite, in musing mood,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A stalwart man was placed,</p>
+
+      <p>With veteran aspect, like a tower</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">By war, not time, defaced,</p>
+
+      <p>Whose shatter'd walls exhibit Power</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Contending still with Waste.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>And as the ivy's sudden veil</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Will round the fortress spring,</p>
+
+      <p>Some grief unfading o'er that brow</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Its shadow seemed to fling,</p>
+
+      <p>And made that stalwart man's whole air</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A sad and solemn thing.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>And so they sat, both Youth and Years,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">An hour without a word&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>The pines that beckon'd up the moon</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Their arms no longer stirr'd,</p>
+
+      <p>And through the open windows wide</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The Tweed alone was heard.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The elder's mood gave way at last,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Perhaps some sudden whine</p>
+
+      <p>Of the lithe quest-hounds startled him,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Or timepiece striking nine;</p>
+
+      <p>"Fill for thyself, forgotten Boy,"</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He said, "and pass the wine."</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"A churlish host I ween am I</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To thee, who, day by day,</p>
+
+      <p>Thus comest to cheer my solitude</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">With converse frank and gay,</p>
+
+      <p>Or tempt me with thy dogs to course</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The moorlands far away.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"But still the fit returns"&mdash;he paused,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Then with a sigh resumed,</p>
+
+      <p>"Remember'st thou how once beneath,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Yon chestnut, when it bloom'd,</p>
+
+      <p>Thou ask'd'st me why I wore the air</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Of spirit disentomb'd;</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"And why, apart from man, I chose</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">This mansion grim and hoary,</p>
+
+      <p>Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Nor ancient name, to glory?</p>
+
+      <p>I shunn'd thy questions then&mdash;now list,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And thou shalt hear the story&mdash;</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"With a brief preface, and thro' life</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Believe its warning true&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>That they who (save in righteous cause)</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Their hands with blood imbrue&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>Man's sacred blood&mdash;avenging heaven</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Will long in wrath pursue.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"A curse has fallen upon my race;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The Law once given in fire,</p>
+
+      <p>While Sinai trembled to its base,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That curse inflicted dire,</p>
+
+      <p>TO VISIT STILL UPON THE SON,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">THE OFFENCES OF THE SIRE.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"My fathers strong, of iron hand,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Had hearts as iron hard,</p>
+
+      <p>That never love nor pity's touch,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">From ruthless deeds bebarr'd.</p>
+
+      <p>And well they held their Highland glen,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Whatever factions warr'd.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"When Stuart's great but godless race</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Dissolved like thinnest snow</p>
+
+      <p>Before bright Freedom's face, my clan,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The Campbells, served their foe.</p>
+
+      <p>&mdash;Boy&mdash;'twas my grandsire" (soft he said)</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">"Commanded at Glencoe."</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The stripling shrank, nor quite suppress'd</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">His startled bosom's groan;</p>
+
+      <p>Forward and back the casements huge</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">By sudden gust were blown,</p>
+
+      <p>And at the sound one dreaming hound</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Awaken'd with a moan.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"<i>Glencoe</i>&mdash;ay, well the word may stir,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The stoutest heart with fear,</p>
+
+      <p>Or burn with monstrous shame the face</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Of man from year to year,</p>
+
+      <p>As long as Scotland's girdling rocks</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The roar of seas shall hear.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Enough&mdash;Glenlyon redly earn'd</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The curse he won that night,</p>
+
+      <p>When rising from the social hearth</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He gave the word to smite,</p>
+
+      <p>And all was shriek and helplessness,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And massacre and flight.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"And such a flight!&mdash;O, outraged Heaven,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">How could'st thou, since, have smiled?</p>
+
+      <p>A fathom deep the frozen snow</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Lay horrid on the wild,</p>
+
+      <p>Where fled to perish youth and age,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And wife and feeble child.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"My couch is soft&mdash;yet dreams will still</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Convert that couch to snow,</p>
+
+      <p>And in my slumbers shot and shout</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Are ringing from Glencoe."</p>
+
+      <p>That stalwart man arose and paced</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The chamber to and fro,</p>
+
+      <p>While to his brow the sweat-drop sprung</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Like one in mortal throe.</p>
+    </div>
+    <hr />
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Glenlyon died, be sure, as die</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">All desperate men of blood,</p>
+
+      <p>And from my sire (his son) our lands</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Departed sod by sod,</p>
+
+      <p>Till the sole wealth bequeathed me was</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A mother fearing God.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"She rear'd me in that holy fear,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">In stainless honour's love,</p>
+
+      <p>And from the past she warned me,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Whate'er my fate should prove,</p>
+
+      <p>To shrink from bloodshed as a sin.</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">All human sins above.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"I kept the precept;&mdash;by the sword</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Compell'd to win me bread,</p>
+
+      <p>A soldier's life of storm and strife</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">For forty years I led,</p>
+
+      <p>Yet ne'er by this reluctant arm</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Has friend or foeman bled.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"But still I felt Glencoe's dark curse</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">My head suspended o'er,</p>
+
+      <p>&mdash;Look, this reluctant hand, for all,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Is red with human gore!"</p>
+
+      <p>Again that white-lipp'd man arose</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And strode the echoing floor.</p>
+    </div>
+    <hr />
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"A prosperous course through life was mine</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">On rampart, field, and wave,</p>
+
+      <p>Though more my warrior skill than deeds,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Command and fortune gave.</p>
+
+      <p>Years roll'd away, and I prepared</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To drop the weary glaive.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"'Twas when beyond th' Atlantic foam,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To check encroaching France,</p>
+
+      <p>Our war spread wide, and, on his tide,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">In many a martial glance,</p>
+
+      <p>St Lawrence saw grey Albyn's plumes</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And Highland pennons dance.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"E'en while I waited for the Chief,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">By whom relieved at last,</p>
+
+      <p>Heart-young, though time-worn, I was free</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To hail my country's blast&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>That on a sentry, absent found,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The doom of death was pass'd.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"POOR RONALD BLAIR! a fleeter foot</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Ne'er track'd through Morvern moss</p>
+
+      <p>The wind-hoof'd deer; nor swimmer's arm</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">More wide the surge could toss</p>
+
+      <p>Than his, for whom dishonour's hand</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Now dug the griesly fosse.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Suspicion of those hunter tribes,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Along whose giant screen</p>
+
+      <p>Of shadowy woods our host encamp'd,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The early cause had been</p>
+
+      <p>Of rule, that none of Indian race</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Should come our lines within.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"The law was kept, yet, far away,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Amid the forests' glade,</p>
+
+      <p>The fair-hair'd warriors of the North</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Woo'd many a dusky maid,</p>
+
+      <p>Who charm'd, perhaps, not less because</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">In Nature's garb array'd.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"And warm and bright as southern night,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">When all is stars and dew,</p>
+
+      <p>Was that dark girl, who, to the banks,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Where lay her light canoe,</p>
+
+      <p>Lured Ronald's footsteps, day by day,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">What time the sun withdrew.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Far down the stream she dwelt, 'twould seem,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Yet stream nor breeze could bar</p>
+
+      <p>Her little boat, that to a nook,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Dark with the pine-tree's spar,</p>
+
+      <p>Each evening Ronald saw shoot up</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">As constant as a star.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Alone she came&mdash;she went alone:&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">She came with fondest freight</p>
+
+      <p>Of maize and milky fruits and furs</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Her lover's eyes to greet;</p>
+
+      <p>She went&mdash;ah, 'twas her bosom then,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Not bark, that bore the weight!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"How fast flew time to hearts like theirs!</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The ruddy summer died,</p>
+
+      <p>And Arctic frosts must soon enchain</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">St. Lawrence' mighty tide;</p>
+
+      <p>But yet awhile the little boat</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Came up the river-side.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"One night while from their northern lair</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">With intermittent swell,</p>
+
+      <p>The keen winds grumbled loud and long,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To Ronald's turn it fell</p>
+
+      <p>Close to the shore to keep the lines,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A lonely sentinel.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"'Twas now the hour was wont to bring</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">His Indian maid; and hark!</p>
+
+      <p>As constant as a star it comes,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That small love-laden bark,</p>
+
+      <p>It anchors in the cove below&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">She calls him through the dark.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"He dared not answer, dared not stir,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Where Discipline had bound him;</p>
+
+      <p>Nor was there need&mdash;led by her heart</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The joyous girl has found him;</p>
+
+      <p>She understands it not, nor cares,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Her raptured arms are round him.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"He kiss'd her face&mdash;he breathed low</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Those brook-like, murmuring words</p>
+
+      <p>That, without meaning, speak out all</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The heart's impassion'd chords,</p>
+
+      <p>The truest language human lip</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To human lip affords.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"He pointed towards the distant camp,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Her clasping arms undid,</p>
+
+      <p>And show'd that till the morrow's sun</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Their meeting was forbid;</p>
+
+      <p>She went&mdash;her eyes in tears&mdash;he call'd,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And kiss'd them from the lid.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"She went&mdash;he heard her far below</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Unmoor her little boat;</p>
+
+      <p>He caught the oars' first dip that sent</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">It from the bank afloat;</p>
+
+      <p>Next moment, down the tempest swept</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">With an all-deafening throat.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Loud roar'd the storm, but louder still</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The river roar'd and rose,</p>
+
+      <p>Tumbling its angry billows, white</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And huge as Alpine snows;</p>
+
+      <p>Yet clear through all, one piercing cry</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">His heart with terror froze.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"She shrieks, and calls upon the name</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">She learn'd to love him by;</p>
+
+      <p>The waves have swamp'd her little boat&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">She sinks before his eye!</p>
+
+      <p>And he must keep his dangerous post,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And leave her there to die!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"One moment's dreadful strife&mdash;Love wins;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He plunges in the water;</p>
+
+      <p>The moon is out, his strokes are stout,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The swimmer's arm has caught her,</p>
+
+      <p>And back he bears, with gasping heart,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The Forest's matchless daughter!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"'Twas but a chance!&mdash;her life is gain'd,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And his is gone&mdash;for, lo!</p>
+
+      <p>The picquet round has come, and found,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Left open to the foe,</p>
+
+      <p>The dangerous post that Ronald kept</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">So short a time ago.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"They met him bearing her&mdash;he scorn'd</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">To palter or to plead:</p>
+
+      <p>Arrested&mdash;bound&mdash;ere beat of drum,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The Judgment-court decreed</p>
+
+      <p>That Ronald Blair should with his life</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Pay forfeit for his deed.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"He knew it well&mdash;that deed involved</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Such mischief to the host,</p>
+
+      <p>While prowling spy and open foe</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Watch'd every jealous post,</p>
+
+      <p>That, of a soldier's crimes, it call'd</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">For punishment the most.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"On me, as senior in command,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The charge I might not shun</p>
+
+      <p>Devolved, to see the doom of death</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Upon the culprit done.</p>
+
+      <p>The place&mdash;a league from camp; the hour&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The morrow's evening sun.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Meanwhile some touches of the tale</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That reach'd the distant tent</p>
+
+      <p>Of Him who led the war in Chief,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Won justice to relent.</p>
+
+      <p>That night, in private, a REPRIEVE</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Unto my care was sent,</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"With secret orders to pursue</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The sentence to the last,</p>
+
+      <p>And when the prisoner's prayer was o'er,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And the death-fillet past,</p>
+
+      <p><i>But not till then</i>, to read to him</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That Pardon for the past.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"The morrow came; the evening sun</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Was sinking red and cold,</p>
+
+      <p>When Ronald Blair, a league from camp</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">We led, erect and bold,</p>
+
+      <p>To die the soldier's death, while low</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The funeral drum was roll'd.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"With arms reversed, our plaided ranks</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The distance due retire,</p>
+
+      <p>The fatal musqueteers advance</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">The signal to require:</p>
+
+      <p>'<i>Till I produce this kerchief blue,</i></p>
+
+      <p class="i2"><i>Be sure withhold your fire</i>.'</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"His eyes are bound&mdash;the prayer is said&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">He kneels upon his bier;</p>
+
+      <p>So dread a silence sank on all,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">You might have heard a tear</p>
+
+      <p>Drop to the earth. My heart beat quick</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">With happiness and fear,</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"To feel conceal'd within my vest</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A parting soul's relief!</p>
+
+      <p>I kept my hand on that REPRIEVE</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Another moment brief;</p>
+
+      <p>Then drew it forth, but with it drew,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">O God! the handkerchief.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"He fell!&mdash;and whether He or I</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Had died I hardly knew&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>But when the gusty forest breeze</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Aside the death-smoke blew,</p>
+
+      <p>I heard those bearing off the dead,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Proclaim that there were <i>two</i>.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"They said that as the volley ceased,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">A low sob call'd them where</p>
+
+      <p>They found an Indian maiden dead,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Clasping in death's despair</p>
+
+      <p>One feather from a Highland plume</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">And one bright lock of hair.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"I've long forgot what follow'd, save</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That standing by his bier,</p>
+
+      <p>I shouted out the words some fiend</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Was whispering in my ear&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>'My race is run&mdash;<i>the curse of Heaven</i></p>
+
+      <p class="i2"><i>And of Glencoe is here</i>!'<a id="footnotetag13" name=
+      "footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"From that dark hour all hope to me,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">All <i>human</i> hope was gone;</p>
+
+      <p>I shrank from life a branded man&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">I sought my land alone,</p>
+
+      <p>And of a stranger's purchased halls</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">I joy'd to make my own.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Thou'st known me long as Campbell&mdash;now</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Thou know'st the Campbell's story,</p>
+
+      <p>And why, apart from man, I chose</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">This mansion grim and hoary,</p>
+
+      <p>Nor in my ancient lineage seem'd,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Nor ancient name, to glory.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>"Though drear my lot, yet, noble boy,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">Not always I repine;</p>
+
+      <p>Come, wipe those watery drops away</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">That in thine eyelids shine;</p>
+
+      <p>Fill for thyself," the old man said,</p>
+
+      <p class="i2">"Once more, and pass the wine."</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s10" id="bw327s10"></a>THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT.</h2>
+
+  <h3>A MONOLOGUE.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Now glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;</p>
+
+      <p>And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,</p>
+
+      <p>For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Ye citizens of Mary-le-bone! 'twas yours to point the way</p>
+
+      <p>How freemen best might mock the laws which none but slaves obey;</p>
+
+      <p>How classic fanes should rise to mark the honour that we owe</p>
+
+      <p>To all who hated Church and King, and planned their overthrow.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>O fresh and bright shone reason's light through superstition's
+      gloom,</p>
+
+      <p>When one and all ye heard the call of honest Joseph Hume;</p>
+
+      <p>When listening to his flowing words, than honey-dew more sweet,</p>
+
+      <p>Ye sate, dissolved in holy tears, at that Gamaliel's feet!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>How touchingly he spoke of those now gather'd to their rest,</p>
+
+      <p>By knaves and laws upbraided, but by righteous patriots bless'd;</p>
+
+      <p>How brightly gleamed his eagle eye, as he poured his ancient
+      grudge</p>
+
+      <p>On that foul throng that wrought them wrong&mdash;on Jury and on
+      Judge!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Well may ye boast among the host of patriots tried and true,</p>
+
+      <p>That to your bold humanity the foremost place is due;</p>
+
+      <p>Yet others follow fast behind, though ye have led the van,</p>
+
+      <p>In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Dun-Edin's civic Councillors come closely in your wake,</p>
+
+      <p>They, too, can feel for injured truth, and blush for Scotland's
+      sake;</p>
+
+      <p>Well have they wiped the stain away, affix'd in former years</p>
+
+      <p>Upon the citizens of France, and on their bold compeers.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Let women moan and maunder against the glorious time,</p>
+
+      <p>When France arose in all her might, when loyalty was crime;</p>
+
+      <p>When prison shambles stream'd with blood, and red the gutters
+      ran,</p>
+
+      <p>In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>When piled within the crazy boats, chain'd closely to the beam,</p>
+
+      <p>By hundreds the aristocrats sank in the sullen stream;</p>
+
+      <p>When age and sex were no respite, and merrily and keen,</p>
+
+      <p>From morning until night, rush'd down the clanking guillotine.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>'Tis ours to render homage, where homage most is due&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>Now glory be to DANTON, and to his valiant crew&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>And glory to those mighty shades, who never stoop'd to spare,</p>
+
+      <p>The virtuous regicides of France, and the hero, ROBESPIERRE.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>But greater glory still to those, who strove within our land,</p>
+
+      <p>To hoist the cap of liberty, and bare the British brand,</p>
+
+      <p>To drag our ancient Parliament from its place of honour down,</p>
+
+      <p>To ride rough-shod upon the Lords, and spit upon the Crown.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>What though the bigots of the bench declared their treason
+      vile&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>What though they languish'd slowly in the felon's distant
+      isle&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>Shall we, the children of Reform, withhold our just applause</p>
+
+      <p>From those who loved the people and, of course, despised the
+      laws?</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>We'll rear a stately monument&mdash;we'll build it fair and high,</p>
+
+      <p>And on the porch this graven verse shall greet the
+      passers-by&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>"IN HONOUR OF THE MARTYRS WHO THE BATTLE FIRST BEGAN</p>
+
+      <p>FOR THE CAUSE OF JUST FRATERNITY, AND THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN!"</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>'Twill be a proud memorial, when we have pass'd away,</p>
+
+      <p>Of old Dun-Edin's loyalty, and the Civic Council's sway;</p>
+
+      <p>And it shall stand while earth is green and skies are summer
+      blue,</p>
+
+      <p>Eternal as the sleep of those who fell at Peterloo!</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Were I a chosen Councillor&mdash;a tetrarch of the town,</p>
+
+      <p>I'd drag from off their pedestals these Tory statues down;</p>
+
+      <p>I'd make a universal sweep of all that serves to show</p>
+
+      <p>How vilely the aristocrats have used us long ago.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>The column rear'd to victory in that detested war,</p>
+
+      <p>When the Tricolor went down before our flag at Trafalgar,</p>
+
+      <p>The column that hath taught our sons to mutter Nelson's name,</p>
+
+      <p>I'd level straightway with the dust, and with it sink our shame.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Yes! in that place a classic fane should stand where Nelson's
+      stood,</p>
+
+      <p>With new baptismal cognizance from famous THISTLEWOOD;</p>
+
+      <p>His bust should in the centre shine, and round it, placed on
+      guard,</p>
+
+      <p>The effigies of HATFIELD, INGS, and of the good DESPARD.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>There's Pitt, the Lar of Frederick Street&mdash;O shame to us and
+      ours!</p>
+
+      <p>Was it not he whose policy struck back the Gallic powers?</p>
+
+      <p>Was it not he whose iron hand so ruthlessly kept down</p>
+
+      <p>The tide of bold democracy, and saved the British crown?</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>I'd fetch him from his lofty perch; I'd dash him on the stones;</p>
+
+      <p>I'd serve the lifeless bronze the same as I'd have served his
+      bones;</p>
+
+      <p>And on the empty stance I would in radiant metal show,</p>
+
+      <p>A bolder and a braver man&mdash;the patriot PAPINEAU.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Down, down, I say, with George the Fourth!&mdash;for him there's no
+      delay;</p>
+
+      <p>Let all askance direct their glance, for virtue's sake, we pray;</p>
+
+      <p>So says our new Pygmalion, the purist of the town,</p>
+
+      <p>'Twere shame that he compelled should be, in passing, to look
+      down.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Let's find another statue of the brave old English breed,</p>
+
+      <p>A worthy of an earlier age&mdash;a champion good at need;</p>
+
+      <p>No cause were then to seem ashamed, though slaves might feel
+      afraid,</p>
+
+      <p>When emancipated bondsmen bow'd to the image of JACK CADE.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>There's room enough where Royal Charles sits stiffly in the
+      Square,</p>
+
+      <p>To rear a double effigy&mdash;Why not of BURKE and HARE?</p>
+
+      <p>Though not in freedom's cause they died, remember'd let it be,</p>
+
+      <p>That science has its martyrdom, as well as liberty.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>A monument to Walter Scott!&mdash;A monument forsooth!</p>
+
+      <p>What has that bigot done for us, for freedom, or for truth?</p>
+
+      <p>He always back'd the Cavalier against the Puritan,</p>
+
+      <p>And sneer'd at just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>What good to us have ever done his Legends of Montrose,</p>
+
+      <p>Of Douglas and of dark Dundee, the fellest of our foes?</p>
+
+      <p>What care we for the Border chiefs, or for the Stuart line,</p>
+
+      <p>Or the thraldom of the people in "the days of auld langsyne?"</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Men dream'd not of equality in days so darkly wild,</p>
+
+      <p>Nor was the peasant's bantling <i>then</i> mate for the baron's
+      child;</p>
+
+      <p>But we've learn'd another lesson since the golden age drew near,</p>
+
+      <p>And working men may keep the wall, and jostle prince and peer.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Ye fools! take down your monument&mdash;or rear it, if ye will,</p>
+
+      <p>But choose another effigy that lofty niche to fill.</p>
+
+      <p>None better, say ye? Pause awhile, and I will tell you one,</p>
+
+      <p>Who never bent the servile knee at altar or at throne.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>No fond illusions dull'd <i>his</i> eye, no tales of wither'd
+      eld;</p>
+
+      <p>No childish faith was <i>his</i> to trust aught save what he
+      beheld;</p>
+
+      <p>No sovereignty would he allow save Reason's rightful reign;</p>
+
+      <p>No laws save those of Nature's code&mdash;and such was THOMAS
+      PAINE.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Place him within your Gothic arch, the only fit compeer</p>
+
+      <p>Of those whose martyr monument the Council seek to rear;</p>
+
+      <p>Since traitors to the laws of man may boldly look abroad,</p>
+
+      <p>Towards the image of their friend who broke the laws of God.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Since anarchy must have its meed, let's leave no statue here,</p>
+
+      <p>That might from other lips than ours provoke a cynic sneer:</p>
+
+      <p>If temples must be built to crime, we'll worship there alone,</p>
+
+      <p>Nor leave a mark of loyalty or honour in the stone.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <p>Then glory to our Councillors, that true and trusty band&mdash;</p>
+
+      <p>And glory to each gallant heart that loathes its fatherland;</p>
+
+      <p>And glory evermore to those who the battle first began,</p>
+
+      <p>For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!</p>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327s11" id="bw327s11"></a>TASTE AND MUSIC IN ENGLAND.</h2>
+
+  <h3>PART I.</h3>
+  <hr />
+
+  <p>The heart of an Englishman must ever swell with pride as he contemplates
+  his country's greatness. He looks around him, and his eye every where meets
+  with the signs of increasing opulence and prosperity, while his ear is
+  filled with the busy hum of an industrious, and, despite the idle babblings
+  of the ignorant, and the empty declamation of interested, selfish, and
+  disappointed men, a contented population, happy in the enjoyment of comfort,
+  beyond that of the labouring classes of most other countries. He visits her
+  marts, her harbours, and her ports&mdash;men of all nations are met together
+  there&mdash;fleets of rich argosies are ever arriving and
+  departing&mdash;and myriads of steamers flit to and fro, happily now engaged
+  in promoting the arts of peace, but ready at a moment's notice to become the
+  defenders of his country's shores, and, as recent events have shown the
+  world, able also to carry war and devastation along the coasts of her
+  enemies, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. He explores the seats of
+  her manufactures; there he beholds vast edifices teeming with crowds of
+  work-people, occupied in supplying the wants of mankind. In short, wherever
+  he bends his steps, all are usefully employed&mdash;industry, enterprise,
+  and perseverance, are found throughout the land. He also feels it no vain
+  boast to be a denizen of that small isle, whose inhabitants, by their own
+  proper energy, have extended their dominion over a territory on which the
+  sun never sets&mdash;peopled by upwards of two hundred million
+  souls&mdash;consisting of colonies, nations, and people, differing from each
+  other in form of person, complexion, habits, manners, and in
+  language&mdash;elements apparently the most discordant and heterogeneous,
+  yet firmly knit and bound into one vast glorious empire, which, successfully
+  resisting the rudest shocks, often assaulted, ever victorious, and, thanks
+  to the bravery of her warriors, and the wisdom of those who now guide her
+  councils, having defeated alike the open attacks and the secret machinations
+  of her enemies, at this moment constitutes the most powerful state of
+  ancient or modern times&mdash;abounding in wealth, and rejoicing in freedom,
+  beyond all other nations of the earth.</p>
+
+  <p>He glories also in the intellectual pre-eminence of his country. Her
+  victories by sea and land attest the genius of her captains; her
+  institutions bear witness to the sagacity of her lawgivers and her
+  statesmen. Her railroads, docks, canals, and other public works, bear the
+  marks of superior intelligence acting for the general good. His countrymen
+  were the first to press steam into the active service of mankind. By the
+  genius of Watt and his successors, a power, before destructive and
+  uncontrollable, has been rendered the mighty agent of man's will, the
+  supplier of his wants, and the minister of his convenience. Through their
+  inventions, steam has become, as it were, the breath, the life, of a noble
+  animal of man's creation, untiring in its ceaseless labours, irresistible in
+  its tremendous strength; and, when its maker chooses to endow it with powers
+  of motion, fleeter also than the wind, but of imposing might and majesty as
+  it pursues its headlong course; and yet, withal, checked by a single touch,
+  yielding a perfect obedience to the hand of its ruler, and submissive to the
+  slightest intimation of his will. In the walks of science, literature, and
+  philosophy, he finds equal reason to be proud of his country. Splendid
+  discoveries in every branch of science meet him as he enquires, and but a
+  few years have passed away since the death of one&mdash;Sir Humphry
+  Davy&mdash;of whom it is scarce too much to say, that he revolutionized a
+  great science by his discoveries, or that, by the power of his single
+  intellect, he dived deeper into the hidden mysteries of the material world
+  than all preceding generations had been able to penetrate. In short, an
+  Englishman finds his country possessed of warriors, statesmen, philosophers,
+  historians, poets, and authors, in every branch of literature, who are the
+  admiration of the whole civilized world. In all these, England stands
+  proudly pre-eminent, the first, the very first, among the nations. It is
+  much to be able to feel this, but an Englishman would fain feel even more
+  than this; his noble ambition is to see his country first in every thing; he
+  would have her pre-eminent alike in the fine arts and those pursuits which
+  distinguish the recreations and amusements of a refined and polished people,
+  as in the more useful arts of life.</p>
+
+  <p>But here the pleasing portion of the picture ceases&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"Ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio,"</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>every medal has its obverse, says the Italian proverb; and the
+  comparatively low rank which his country occupies in this new field of view,
+  is a melancholy contemplation for an Englishman. He finds that, in general,
+  things are judged of only by the measure of their practical utility, and
+  that the beautiful and the useful are usually deemed to be incompatible;
+  thereby affording, however reluctantly we may admit it, at least some
+  justification of Napoleon's celebrated and bitter reproach, that we are a
+  nation of shopkeepers. It would seem, in truth, that we do not possess that
+  quick perception of the beautiful which is enjoyed by the more excitable and
+  imaginative sons of the south. In painting, we believe we possess a school
+  second to none of modern art. But, beautiful as their works may be, can we
+  place our Reynolds, Lawrence, Hogarth, and Gainsborough in competition with
+  Raphael, Correggio, Rubens, or Claude? In sculpture also, can Westmacott, or
+  even Chantrey&mdash;we speak with reverence of the illustrious dead&mdash;be
+  compared with Michael Angelo or Giovanni de Bologna? When pressed on these
+  topics, the candid Englishman must, with a sigh, confess his country's
+  inferiority. Architecture also, with few exceptions, has long been our
+  reproach. We judge of the degree of civilization and refinement to which
+  ancient Greece and Rome attained, by the beauty and elegance of their
+  mutilated remains. We find their temples, even in ruins, beautiful beyond
+  the day-dream of our modern architects; some of them, till bold and
+  sacrilegious hands despoiled them, adorned with sculptures which, surviving
+  the destruction of the people who raised them, the wanton rage of barbarous
+  enemies, and the inroads of the elements for near two thousand years, sill
+  remain, in their decay, the wonder and admiration of the world, the models
+  of modern sculptors, and the greatest treasure of art a nation can
+  possess.</p>
+
+  <p>In the lapse of ages, perhaps, England, in her turn, may be deserted, her
+  mines exhausted, her edifies ruined, her existence as a nation terminated.
+  The site of her vast metropolis may once more become an undulating verdant
+  plain, intersected by a tidal river; and, perhaps, nothing may remain
+  outwardly to show the curious traveller where the ancient city stood. The
+  pristine abode of man upon the earth, may again be thickly peopled, and
+  civilization may have rolled back to the south, its ancient source. Then may
+  history or tradition vaguely tell of powerful nations who once flourished in
+  the north; their very existence doubted, perhaps, by all, and by many
+  disbelieved. Some day, perchance, one whom accident or curiosity may have
+  brought to the shores of ancient Britain, may wend his weary way along the
+  bank of the noblest river of the land. On a mound a little higher than the
+  rest, something on which the hand of man had evidently been employed may
+  attract his attention, and stimulate him to search among the tangled weeds
+  and brushwood which grow around. The discovery of a marble fragment may,
+  perhaps, eventually lead to the uncovering of one of those statues which now
+  grace the interior of our St Paul's, on the site of which the stranger had
+  unconsciously been exploring. Or, suppose the traveller to have bent his
+  steps in a north-easterly direction, towards the foot of that gentle slope
+  which terminates at the base of the heights of Highgate and of Hampstead.
+  Suppose him, by some strange chance, to stumble upon that incomparable
+  specimen of modern sculpture which stands on high at King's-Cross, lifted
+  up, in order, we presume, to enable the good citizens duly to feast their
+  eyes upon its manifold perfections, as they daily hie them to and fro
+  between their western or suburban retreats and the purlieus of King Street
+  or Cheapside. What estimate would the stranger form of the taste or skill of
+  those who placed on its pedestal the statue we have first supposed him to
+  have found? It avails not to disguise the truth. What that truth may be, we
+  leave to the intelligence of the reader to divine. But what would be the
+  effect of the other discovery we have imagined? The traveller would turn
+  away, convinced that history or tradition gave false accounts of the power
+  and genius of the ancient inhabitants of the land on which he trod, that
+  their glory was a dream, their civilization a delusion, their proficiency in
+  the arts a fable. For the honour of our country, let us hope that the figure
+  of which we speak may not be suffered much longer to disgrace a leading
+  thoroughfare of our metropolis. It has already stood some eight or ten
+  years, a melancholy monument of English taste and English art in the
+  nineteenth century.</p>
+
+  <p>For the attainment of excellence in the higher branches of art, as has
+  been well observed by an intelligent foreigner, M. Passavant, it is
+  requisite that a people should possess deep poetic feeling, and that art
+  should not be considered among them as a thing of separate nature, but that
+  it should interweave itself with the ties of social life, and be employed in
+  adding beauty to its nearest, dearest interests. Now, the English, he
+  continues, are more disposed to an active than to a contemplative life. They
+  possess, it must be owned, a character of much earnestness and energy; yet,
+  from the earliest times, their attention has been more directed to the
+  cultivation of the mechanical arts and the sciences appertaining to them
+  than to those nobler branches of art which flourish spontaneously in a more
+  contemplative nation. This characteristic disposition, and the physical
+  activity necessarily connected with it, have been by some ascribed to the
+  influence of our climate, to our moist and heavy atmosphere, and clouded
+  skies, to counteract the influence of which, and to preserve a
+  counterbalancing buoyancy of mind and body, an active habit of life is
+  requisite. But this hypothesis is untenable; for Flanders, with a similar
+  climate, and flourishing likewise by means of its native industry, affords
+  sufficient proof how little these circumstances are prejudicial to the
+  cultivation of the fine arts. Perhaps a better reason may be found in the
+  wide difference which is observable between the national habits of our
+  countrymen and those of the people among whom the arts have been cultivated
+  with the greatest success. In those countries where the beautiful was felt,
+  where the arts were objects of national importance, where a people assembled
+  to award the palm between rival sculptors; and also, in comparatively modern
+  times, when a reigning monarch did not disdain to pick up a painter's
+  pencil, and a whole city mourned an artist's death, and paid honours to his
+  remains; all the rank, wealth, genius, talent, taste, and intelligence of
+  the people were concentrated in one grand focus. Among the states of ancient
+  Greece and modern Italy, the city was in fact the nation; and at Athens,
+  Rome, Venice, and Florence, was collected all of genius, taste, and talent,
+  the people as a body possessed. The mental qualities were thereby rendered
+  more acute, and the tastes and manners of the people more refined and
+  cultivated, by constant intercourse and communication with each other. This
+  refinenent was shared by all classes, and the lower taking pattern from the
+  higher, the whole mass was learned. In England, the very reverse of this
+  takes place. Here, for the most part, those alone frequent our towns, whose
+  doom it is to labour for their bread, they have no leisure from the
+  engrossing pursuits of wealth; business, like a jealous mistress, leaves
+  them no time for other objects. In spite of various disadvantages of soil
+  and climate, the taste for rural pursuits seems part and parcel of our
+  nature, and that species of the genus <i>homo</i>, the country gentleman,
+  seems peculiar to our island. Till within a few years, the great majority of
+  this class, whose abundant wealth and leisure might seem to constitute them
+  the peculiar patrons of the arts, seldom or never frequented even the
+  metropolis, but for generations remained fixed and immovable in the place of
+  their forefathers, rooted to the soil as one of their old oaks. "His guns,
+  dogs, and horses, were the things the squire held most dear." Hunting,
+  shooting, and other sports, formed not only the amusements of his leisure
+  hours, but the business of his life. His intercourse with the world confined
+  to a narrow circle of acquaintance, all of the same tastes and pursuits with
+  himself, he could learn or know no others. Generous pursuits, hospitable,
+  liberal, and open hearted, hating alike poachers and dissenters, possessed
+  of many virtues, avoiding many a crime, discharging the duties, as well as
+  exercising the rights of property; exemplary in all the relations of life, a
+  good father, a tender husband, a kind master, an indulgent landlord, a
+  blessing to himself and those around him, he lived and died the <i>Squire
+  Western</i> of his day, without that refinement and cultivation of the
+  tastes and mental powers which the more polished inhabitants of the
+  metropolis insensibly contract. Sure there were many to whom this does not
+  apply, many who combined the "gifts" of both a town and country life. But,
+  nevertheless such was the great bulk of that class, among whom, had London
+  been England, as even in our own time Paris is or was France, the beautiful
+  would not probably have been so much neglected.</p>
+
+  <p>So occupied have the great mass of our countrymen been in the pursuit of
+  wealth, that all that did not directly contribute to this end has been
+  uniformly rejected as useless. A familiar example of the truth of this
+  observation may be seen in the numerous factories and other buildings
+  erected for commercial purposes, in the manufacturing districts of
+  Lancashire and Yorkshire. In buildings of this class, all embellishment and
+  ornament, however simple, which good taste, had it been consulted, might
+  have suggested, to relieve the wearying straightness of outline, or the
+  plain dull flatness of these large ponderous masses of brick and mortar,
+  have been neglected, or rejected, probably as not increasing its productive
+  powers, and therefore unworthy of consideration. Such has been the general
+  principle. But this neglect has at length recoiled upon the heads of its
+  promoters. As long as the world was content to take our manufactures as we
+  chose to make them&mdash;when, no other nation having entered the lists with
+  us, we were without competitors, and absolute masters of the commerce of the
+  world, this make-all save-all principle was undoubtedly the most effective.
+  But now, when our manufacturers meet with the keenest competition in every
+  market; when a suicidal export of machinery enables the foreigner
+  immediately to benefit by every mechanical discovery, or improvement in
+  machinery, that is made by our engineers, the case is wholly altered, and
+  the English manufacturer finds out the grievous mistake that he has made.
+  Beauty of design has at length become of paramount importance, and the
+  beautiful, so long neglected, is now avenged. The public taste has advanced
+  too fast. Since the introduction of foreign goods, such as silks and other
+  ornamental fabrics, the inferiority of our native designs for these
+  materials has become manifest to all. We are credibly informed, that there
+  now exists a regular organized system, viz. supply of French designs to our
+  manufacturers; that from these designs all their ideas are borrowed and all
+  their patterns taken, and that, in fact, scarcely a single pattern of purely
+  home invention is worked in a season. The manufacturers are, however, now
+  roused from their lethargy, and great efforts are made to remedy the evil.
+  Schools of design are established, and copyright of design has just been
+  conferred by act of parliament. In some of our commercial towns, large rooms
+  or galleries are opened to the mechanic, where he may study the beautiful
+  and ideal from casts and models of the antique. Pictures also are
+  occasionally exhibited for his instruction. These are indeed great and
+  praiseworthy efforts, in which utilitarianism has assumed a new character,
+  and found a new field of action. These novel institutions, not organized and
+  supported from a pure abstract love of the arts ostensibly promoted by them,
+  but from dire necessity created by successful competition in the more
+  elegant branches of manufacture, in which the exercise of taste and fancy is
+  required, may eventually produce great general results; years, however, must
+  necessarily elapse before their benefits can be felt.</p>
+
+  <p>We have hitherto purposely abstained from any allusion to music and
+  musical taste, for the purpose of showing, that music is not the only fruit
+  of civilization which has not as yet arrived at maturity among us; and also
+  for the purpose of ascertaining, whether there might not be some general
+  causes in operation, which affect, in an equal degree, every branch of the
+  more intellectual refinements of civilized life. In this case, the low
+  standard of musical taste and science which will hereafter become the
+  subject of more particular observation, cannot be attributed solely to
+  causes which relate exclusively to music, but must be considered as one
+  amongst other results of general principles. If there be any truth in the
+  foregoing speculations, they apply more particularly to music, and musical
+  taste and science, than to the fine arts, to which we have hitherto confined
+  our observations. Music is peculiarly a social pursuit. It can be cultivated
+  only among the haunts of men. The taste deteriorates, and the mental
+  standard of excellence which each possesses, is lowered when really good
+  music is seldom or never heard. By "the million," it can be heard only while
+  mixing with the world at large; the performer can acquire his mastery over
+  the instrument, at the cost of much time and labour, and he can maintain
+  this mastery, and the purity of his style, only where he can compare himself
+  with others of acknowledged excellence. This can be done only where men
+  congregate in large and populous cities, where the want of amusement is best
+  supplied; the recluse or the solitary man can be no musician.</p>
+
+  <p>It may seem anomalous at first sight, and we can well conceive it to be
+  objected to our argument, that it is impossible, that while architecture,
+  sculpture, painting, and music, should have been comparatively neglected,
+  that literature, in all its branches, should be so highly esteemed among us.
+  Milton, and more especially Shakspeare, have never lost one tittle of their
+  value; nay, even at this moment, there are three rival editions of
+  Shakspeare's works in the course of publication. Many volumes of poetry put
+  in their claim to immortality every year. Novel after novel appears each to
+  elbow its predecessor out of the public mind, and be in its turn forgotten.
+  It is easy to imagine, that to many it may appear a paradox in the history
+  of the human race, that a people should exist, endowed by nature with a high
+  degree of poetic feeling, having, as Mr Hallam observes, produced more
+  eminent original poets than any other nation can boast, and attaching a high
+  value to literary talent of every description, but, nevertheless, whose
+  attainments in the fine arts during a thousand years of national existence,
+  should never have passed mediocrity. This apparent inconsistency, however,
+  lies only on the surface. The language of true poetry is understood by all;
+  it strikes home: however rude the thoughts, however uncultivated the
+  understanding, the heart can feel; and it is to the heart the poet speaks;
+  and even in the rudest ages of mankind his power was acknowledged. Voltaire
+  has remarked, that "amusement is one of the wants of man".</p>
+
+  <p>Novels are taken up to amuse the vacant hour&mdash;in this consists their
+  use. They are read without effort&mdash;the mind lies fallow as they are
+  perused, and no study is required, no cultivation of any taste is necessary,
+  to place this amusement within reach. With music and the fine arts, this is
+  not so. The taste for these pursuits requires cultivation; and in order to
+  estimate and appreciate them correctly, the judgment must be formed by a
+  process of education, far different from that which enables all who read to
+  value our poets and authors in the various departments of literature.</p>
+
+  <p>On examining the records of mankind, it will be found that this has been
+  the ordinary succession of events in the history of civilization; and that
+  poetry and oratory, the more independent efforts of the human mind, appear
+  in the earlier stages of society, and that by them man is first
+  distinguished as an intellectual and rational creature.</p>
+
+  <p>Of Egyptian literature, we know nothing. The destruction of the library
+  of the Ptolemies may be the principal cause of our ignorance. The gigantic
+  remains of this people, and the manner in which they worked in a stone which
+  no modern tool will touch, show that among them the useful arts were
+  considerably advanced. We have, however, abundant evidence of the small
+  degree of proficiency in the fine arts. Their sculptors are characterized by
+  Flaxman as "mere beginners," or "laborious mechanics;" their works as
+  "lifeless forms, menial vehicles of an idea." When Egyptian art ended, then
+  Grecian art began. It appears, however, to have made but little progress
+  down to the time of Homer; and D&aelig;dalus and his disciple Eud&aelig;us
+  are, we believe, the only artists of that early period whose fame has
+  survived. These sculptors worked in wood, and by their proficiency we may
+  form a pretty accurate idea of the state of art in Greece when Homer wrote.
+  The works of D&aelig;dalus are described by Pausanias as rude and uncomely
+  in aspect. In his Grecian tour, Pausanias twice makes mention of a statue of
+  Hercules by D&aelig;dalus, from which circumstance it would appear to have
+  been held in high estimation. On this statue Flaxman observes&mdash;"In the
+  British Museum, as well as in other collections in Europe, are several small
+  bronzes of a naked Hercules, whose right arm, holding a club, is raised to
+  strike; whilst the left is extended, bearing a lion's skin as a shield. From
+  the style of extreme antiquity in these statues&mdash;from the rude attempt
+  at bold action, which was the peculiarity of D&aelig;dalus&mdash;the general
+  adoption of this action in the early ages&mdash;the traits of savage nature
+  in the face and figure, expressed with little knowledge, but strong
+  feeling&mdash;by the narrow loins, turgid muscles of the breast, thighs, and
+  calves of the legs, will all find reason to believe they are copied from the
+  above-mentioned statue." Greece, it must be owned, possessed musicians long
+  anterior to Homer: Chiron the Centaur, regarded by the ancients as one of
+  the inventors of medicine, botany, and chirurgery, who, when eighty-eight
+  years of age, formed the constellations for the use of the Argonauts; Linus,
+  the preceptor of Hercules, who added a string to the lyre, and is said to be
+  the inventor of rhythm and melody; Orpheus, who also extended the scale of
+  the lyre, and was the inventor and propagator of many arts and doctrines
+  among the Greeks; and Mus&aelig;us, the priest of Ceres, are all remembered
+  as musicians, as well as poets, historians, and philosophers; characters
+  which, in those days, were all combined in the same individuals. The
+  ancients, indeed, appear to have used the term music in a much more extended
+  sense than has been attached to it in modern times, and to have applied it
+  to all the arts and sciences. But even if the ancient meaning of the term
+  were identical with its modern signification, there may be good reason to
+  suppose that their fame as musicians would principally survive. The memory
+  of these first preceptors of mankind was long preserved as the general
+  benefactors of their species. But while the other arts they taught advanced,
+  it does not appear that music made any progress. Thus, they came chiefly to
+  be remembered for that talent in which posterity had produced no equals. As
+  poets they were once celebrated; but, eclipsed by the glory and splendour of
+  the great historian of Troy, their poetical productions were forgotten;
+  whilst, as musicians, unrivalled through many centuries, their skill was
+  long remembered as the most excellent the world had ever known. The arts of
+  sculpture and painting appear to have remained even more stationary than
+  music. For, while about the middle or latter end of the seventh century,
+  B.C., the names of Archilochus and Terpander adorn the page of musical
+  history, followed by many others, including Alc&aelig;us, Sappho, and
+  Simonides, down to Pindar and his rival Corinna, the former of whom,
+  according to the chronology of Dr Blair, died in 435 B.C. aged 86, it is
+  evident, says Flaxman, "that sculpture was 800 years, from D&aelig;dalus to
+  the time immediately preceding Phidias, in attaining a tolerable resemblance
+  of the human form." It appears, therefore, that the greatest epic poem ever
+  written had been read, appreciated, and admired, for nearly five centuries
+  before the arts arrived at perfection. Then, indeed, there burst a flood of
+  glory over ancient Greece, and names never to be forgotten were borne upon
+  the tide. Contemporary with Pindar and Corinna were Phidias, Alcamenes, and
+  many other sculptors, together with poets, philosophers, warriors, and
+  statesmen; men whose names will rise superior to the lapse of time, and
+  whose fame, like the rocky barriers of the ocean, on which the elements in
+  vain expend their fury, will be of equal duration with the world itself.</p>
+
+  <p>Ancient Rome was indebted to others for all of the liberal arts and
+  sciences she possessed. In the earlier periods of her existence, and before
+  Greece had become known in Rome, Etruria was the instructress of her sons.
+  When Greece had been subdued, and rendered a tributary province of the
+  all-conquering city, her polished people, nevertheless, exercised an
+  intellectual sovereignty over their masters. In the streets of Athens a
+  singular spectacle was exhibited; <i>there</i> might be seen the conqueror
+  learning of the vanquished; Romans, of exalted rank and unbounded power, had
+  become the disciples of Grecian philosophers. Nevertheless, when Rome
+  possessed orators and poets, each of whom has raised</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"Monumentum &aelig;re perennius,"</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>in that the golden age of her existence, it does not appear, says Dr
+  Burney, that "except Vitruvius, the Romans had one architect, sculptor,
+  painter, or musician; those who have been celebrated in the arts of Rome
+  having been Asiatics or European Greeks, who came to exercise such arts
+  among the Latins, as the Latins had not among themselves. This custom was
+  continued under the successors of Augustus; and those Romans who were
+  prevented, by more important concerns, from going into Greece, combined, in
+  a manner, to bring Greece to Rome, by receiving into their service the most
+  able professors of Greece and Asia in all the arts." Vitruvius, in the
+  chapter on music inserted in his treatise on architecture, complains that
+  "the science of music, in itself obscure, is particularly so to such as
+  understand not the Greek language." This observation shows the low state of
+  music at Rome at that time; indeed Vitruvius is said to be the first who has
+  treated of music in the Latin tongue.</p>
+
+  <p>Modern Europe also furnishes another illustration and example of the
+  truth of our proposition. When the mists of ignorance and superstition which
+  had for centuries enveloped the world, had begun to clear away, and when
+  Europe first attempted to throw off the errors of the Dark Ages, the arts
+  were dead, and the only music known was that cultivated by the monks and
+  clergy, as necessary to their profession, and the songs of the Troubadours.
+  "The fame of the Troubadours," remarks Mr Hallam, "depends less on their
+  positive excellence than on the darkness of preceding ages, the temporary
+  sensation they excited, and their permanent influence on the state of
+  European poetry." The intrinsic merit of the music of this period may be
+  collected from the following observation of Dr Burney:&mdash;"However
+  barbarous and wretched the melody and harmony of the secular songs of this
+  period may have been, they were in both respects superior to the music of
+  the church." The Troubadours flourished from the middle of the twelfth
+  century till the latter end of the fourteenth century, when their dissolute
+  and licentious habits caused them to be universally banished and proscribed.
+  During the barbarism of these times, not only had the arts themselves been
+  lost, but even the principles on which they rest had been forgotten. Italy,
+  indeed, possessed many ancient marbles, but they seemed to have lost their
+  value; and it was not till the thirteenth century that any attempt to
+  imitate these remains of antiquity was made. Nicola Pisano, about the year
+  1231, taking for his model an ancient sarcophagus at Pisa, which contained
+  the remains of Beatrice, mother of the Countess Matilda, sculptured an
+  urn&mdash;a feat in those days so extraordinary, as to have conferred upon
+  him the title of Nicolas of the Urn. This artist, in the words of Lanzi,
+  "was the first to see and follow light." He was, however, more ambitious
+  than successful, and was followed by his sons and others, in whose hands the
+  art seems to have no very rapid progress. The art of painting, in which
+  there were no models in existence, was later in manifesting any improvement.
+  It was not till after the year 1250 that, according to Vasari, some Greek
+  painters were invited to Florence by the rulers of the city, for the express
+  purpose of restoring the art to Florence, where it was rather wholly lost
+  than degenerated. Cimabue, the reviver of painting, received instruction
+  from the Greeks. He died in 1300. Fierce as the age in which he lived, says
+  Lanzi, his Madonnas were without beauty, and his angels, even in the same
+  picture, were all in the same attitude. To Cimabue succeeded his pupil, the
+  famous Giotto, who died in 1337. With him the ruggedness of his master's
+  manner was softened down, and considerable advances made towards a better
+  style. He was honourably received at many of the principal towns and cities
+  of Italy, and may, perhaps, be considered as the real founder of their
+  several schools; at all events, painters every where were long the imitators
+  of Giotto. His faults partook also of the character of the age, and among
+  other defects, the dry hardness of his works has given rise to an opinion,
+  that he partly formed his style upon the works of the Pisani. Giotto and his
+  school, indeed, conducted the art through infancy, but it still exhibited
+  many signs of childhood, especially in chiara-oscuro, and even more so in
+  perspective. Figures sometimes appeared as if sliding from the
+  canvass&mdash;buildings had not the true point of view, and foreshortening
+  was only rudely attempted. Stefano Fiorentino, a <i>grandson</i> of Giotto,
+  was the first and only one of the school who endeavoured to grapple with
+  this last difficulty, which he may be said to have perceived rather than
+  overcome; his contemporaries, for the most part, evaded it, and concealed
+  their deficiency as they could. Such is the summary of the merits of this
+  school of art given by Lanzi, who dates the commencement of the first epoch
+  of modern painting from the death of Giotto. In further illustration of the
+  low state of art in the early part of the fourteenth century, it may be
+  observed, that Lanzi also describes a great work of Masaccio, who flourished
+  in the succeeding century, as "beautiful <i>for those times</i>;" and that
+  it was not till the year 1410 that oil-painting was invented or improved by
+  Van-Eyck.</p>
+
+  <p>From this sketch of the history of the arts of music, sculpture, and
+  painting during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, will be seen their
+  state and condition, when the great work of the immortal Dante took his
+  country by surprise. The <i>Divina Comedia</i> was written about the year
+  1300. Its illustrious author, the creator of the national poetry of his
+  country, died in 1321, leaving behind him Petrarch, who was crowned in the
+  Capitol in 1341, and Boccaccio, who&mdash;though, as Byron said of Scott, he
+  spoiled his poetry by writing better prose&mdash;was nevertheless a poet of
+  no mean merit, and the probable inventor of the <i>ottava rima</i>. Two
+  centuries after the last of these parents of modern literature had nearly
+  elapsed, ere he who has been styled the Dante of the arts, Michael Angelo,
+  and his contemporaries, among whom were Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael,
+  appeared upon the stage. Thus language, the first great want of man, the
+  necessary instrument of reason, by which its possessor is distinguished from
+  the rest of creation, the vehicle of human thoughts, the means by which
+  man's wants, desires, griefs, and joys, are communicated and made known,
+  would seem to form the earliest object of his attention. He enriches and
+  improves it, till it is rendered capable of expressing all the workings of
+  his reason. This done, genius and invention are applied to other pursuits;
+  and in many instances it may be, that the poet and the artist were but the
+  creatures of the age which produced them. Had he lived at a later period,
+  Homer, the great sire of song, might perhaps have shone the Phidias or the
+  Zeuxis of his day; or, had his birth been anticipated two hundred years, the
+  genius of "the Dante of the arts" might possibly have been displayed in
+  works like those which have immortalized Dante Alighieri. It is, therefore,
+  no inconsistency in the character of a people amongst whom poetry is
+  passionately admired, and books of all kinds eagerly devoured, that the arts
+  should be generally uncared-for and unknown. When another century has passed
+  away, their history may tell another tale, and the powers of mind hitherto
+  employed principally upon the physical sciences, may have achieved like
+  triumphs in the liberal arts. That this may be the case, the past history of
+  other nations affords every reason to hope. What man has done, man may, and
+  doubtless <i>will</i>, do again.</p>
+
+  <p>In the earlier ages of the world, music, in its rudest, simplest form, is
+  said to have stopped the flow of rivers, to have tamed wild beasts, and to
+  have raised the walls of cities; allegories which at least show the
+  prodigious influence the art possessed over the inhabitants of infant
+  Greece. In the course of time, love of the art was a national characteristic
+  of this people; and music became a specific in the hand of the physician, a
+  fundamental principle of public education, and the medium of instruction in
+  religion, morals, and the laws. The lyre may be said to have ruled Greece,
+  the glorious and the free, with the same despotic sway with which the iron
+  hand of tyranny has in our own day governed her. Discord, and civil
+  commotions arose among the Laced&aelig;monians; Terpander came, and with his
+  lyre at once appeased the angry multitude. Among the Athenians it was
+  forbidden, under pain of death, to propose the conquest of the isle of
+  Salamis; but the songs of Solon raised a tumult amongst the people; they
+  rose, compelled the repeal of the obnoxious decree, and Salamis straightway
+  fell. Was it found necessary to civilize a wild and extensive province?
+  Music was employed for this desirable object; and Arcadia, before the
+  habitation of a fierce and savage people, became famed as the abode of
+  happiness and peace. Plutarch places the masters of tragedy&mdash;to which
+  the modern opera bears a great resemblance&mdash;on a level with the
+  greatest captains: nor did the people fail in gratitude to their
+  benefactors; they held their memory in veneration. The lyre of Orpheus was
+  transplanted to the skies, there to shine for countless ages; and divine
+  honours were paid to the name of Sappho.</p>
+
+  <p>The Greeks, although perhaps excelling all other nations in this, as in
+  the other arts, are not the only people among whom music was cultivated and
+  esteemed. Both China and Arabia are said to have felt its influence upon
+  their customs, manners, and institutions. The musical traditions of China
+  might seem to be but repetitions of the marvels of the Greeks. King-lun,
+  Kovei, and Pinmonkia, are said to have arrested the flow of rivers, and to
+  have caused the woods and forests, attracted by the melody of their
+  performance, to crowd around. The Chinese are said to believe, that the
+  ancient music of their country has drawn angels down from heaven, and
+  conjured up from hell departed souls: they also believe that music can
+  inspire men with the love of virtue, and cause them faithfully to fulfil
+  their several duties. Confucius says "to know if a kingdom be well governed,
+  and if the customs of its inhabitants be bad or good, examine the musical
+  taste which there prevails." There is still extant a curious document, which
+  shows the importance which a ruler of this people attached to music, as a
+  moral and political agent. We allude to a proclamation of the Emperor
+  Ngaiti, who ascended the throne of the Celestial Empire in the year of the
+  tenth &aelig;ra 364. After complaining, that tender, artificial, and
+  effeminate strains inspire libertinism, he proceeds, in severe terms, to
+  order a reformation in these matters; the first step to which, is a
+  prohibition of every sort of music but that which serves for war, and for
+  the ceremony Tido. The Arabs also appear to have held similar opinions as to
+  the power of music. They boast of Ishac, Kathab Al Moussouly, Alfarabi, and
+  other musicians, whom they relate to have worked miracles by their vocal and
+  instrumental performances. With the Arabs, music was interwoven with
+  philosophy; and their wise men imagined a marvellous relation to exist
+  between harmonious sounds and the operations of nature. Harmony was esteemed
+  the panacea, or universal remedy, in mental and even bodily affections; in
+  the tones of the lute were found medical recipes in almost all diseases.
+  Upon one occasion, in the presence of the grand vizier, Alfarabi,
+  accompanying his voice with an instrument, is related to have roused a large
+  assembly to an extreme pitch of joyful excitement, from which he moved them
+  to grief and tears, and then plunged all present into a deep sleep, none
+  having the power to resist the enchantment of his performance.</p>
+
+  <p>The children of Israel cultivated music in the earliest periods of their
+  existence as a people. After the passage of the Red Sea, Moses, and his
+  sister Miriam, the prophetess, assembled two choruses, one of men, and the
+  other of women, with timbrels, who sang and danced. The facility with which
+  the instruments were collected on the spot, and with which the choruses and
+  dances were arranged and executed, necessarily implies a skill in these
+  exercises, which must have been acquired long before, probably from the
+  Egyptians. We have abundant evidence in Holy Writ, of the high estimation in
+  which music was held among the Hebrews at a later period of their history.
+  They also appear to have successfully applied it to the cure of diseases.
+  The whole of David's power over the disorder of Saul may, without any
+  miraculous intervention, be attributed to his skilful performance upon the
+  harp. In 1st Samuel, c. xvi., we read that Saul's servants said unto him,
+  "Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee: Let our lord now
+  command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a
+  cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit
+  from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be
+  well." Saul having assented to this proposal, the son of Jesse the
+  Bethlemite was sent for, and stood before him. "And it came to pass, when
+  the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played
+  with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit
+  departed from him." So great were the esteem and love for music among this
+  people when David ascended the throne, that we find that he appointed 4000
+  Levites to praise the Lord with instruments, (1. Chron. c. xxiii.;) and that
+  the number of those that were <i>cunning</i> in song, was two hundred four
+  score and eight, (c. xxv.) Solomon is related by Josephus to have made
+  200,000 trumpets, and 40,000 instruments of music, to praise God with. In
+  the 2d chapter of Ecclesiastes, music is mentioned by Solomon among the
+  vanities and follies in which he found no profit, in terms which show how
+  generally a cultivated taste was diffused among his subjects. "I gat me
+  men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as
+  musical instruments, and that of all sorts." Many other passages of similar
+  import might be quoted from the sacred writings, and among others, some from
+  which it would appear that musicians marched in the van of the Jewish
+  armies, and not unfrequently contributed to the victory by the animation of
+  their strains; and that music was the universal language of joy and
+  lamentation. There is, however, one portion of Holy Writ, which, from the
+  highly interesting testimony it incidentally bears to the love of music
+  which prevailed in Jerusalem, and the skill of her inhabitants, we cannot
+  forbear to notice. We allude to the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon
+  we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion. As for our harps, we
+  hanged them up upon the trees that are therein. For they that led us away
+  captive required of us there a song and melody in our heaviness: Sing us one
+  of the songs of Sion." From the facts here narrated, we may judge how great
+  was the attachment of the Jewish people for the musical art; their beloved
+  city sacked, their temple plundered and destroyed, their homes desolate, in
+  the midst of danger and despair, deserted by their God, surrounded by
+  infuriated enemies, (Isaiah, xiii. 16.,) nevertheless their harps were not
+  forgotten. From this beautiful and pathetic lamentation, it would also
+  appear that the repute of Hebrew musicians was far extended. No sooner had
+  they arrived in the land of their captivity, than the Chaldean conqueror
+  required of them a song and melody in their heaviness, demanding <i>one of
+  the songs of Sion</i>. The fame of the captives must have long preceded
+  them, for, according to Dr Burney, the art was then declining in Judea.</p>
+
+  <p>In the physical sciences, we have surpassed the nations who excelled in
+  music; in war we have equalled their most glorious feats; in poetry and
+  oratory we are not inferior. Shall not our future history also tell of
+  triumphs in the tuneful art? We believe that sooner or later, the time will
+  surely come when our country in her turn will boast of masters in the art,
+  whose memories will ever be preserved and hallowed. But whatever the future
+  may bring forth, the marvellous accounts of the powers of ancient music will
+  meet with little indulgence from modern scepticism. At present such effects
+  are unknown among us, and therefore unintelligible. Among the early Greeks,
+  for many centuries, the several characters of poet, musician, lawgiver, and
+  philosopher, were combined in the same individual; and it is probable that
+  the music of that period consisted principally of recitative or musical
+  declamation. This species of composition, so utterly neglected and unknown
+  to the English school, possesses great powers of expression, both when in
+  its simple form and when accompanied. A modern example of the effects it is
+  capable of is recorded by Tartini. He relates, in the following terms, as
+  one of many similar instances which had come under his
+  observation:&mdash;"In the 14th year of the present century, (the 18th,) in
+  the opera they were performing at Ancona, there was at the beginning of the
+  3d act a line of recitative, unaccompanied by any instruments but the bass,
+  by which, equally among the professors and the audience, was raised such and
+  so great a commotion of mind, that all looked in one another's faces, on
+  account of the evident change of colour which took place in each. The effect
+  was not that of grief, (I very well remember that the words expressed
+  indignation,) but that of a certain congealing and coldness of the blood,
+  which completely disturbed the mind. Thirteen times was the drama repeated,
+  and the same effect always followed universally; a palpable sign of which
+  was the deep previous silence with which the audience prepared themselves to
+  enjoy its effects."<a id="footnotetag14" name="footnotetag14"></a><a href=
+  "#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+  <p>The line of recitative has unfortunately not been preserved; nor is it
+  known what the opera, or whose the music, which produced an effect which may
+  not be inaptly described in the words of Byron:&mdash;</p>
+
+  <div class="poem">
+    <p>"An undefined and sudden thrill,</p>
+
+    <p>Which made the heart a moment still,</p>
+
+    <p>Then beat with quicker pulse."</p>
+  </div>
+
+  <p>The music of Allessandro Scarlatti was then current and universally
+  popular in Italy. This composer was particularly famous for the excellence
+  of his recitative; and his general merit may be judged of by the fact, that
+  he is placed by Arteaga, in his work on the revolutions of the musical drama
+  in Italy, among the early authors belonging to the period which he terms the
+  golden age of Italian music. On these grounds, we may reasonably conclude,
+  that he was the composer of that terrible line of recitative.</p>
+
+  <p>We have ourselves also witnessed a somewhat similar example of the powers
+  of Italian recitative. Many of our readers, doubtless, have witnessed
+  Pasta's wonderful performance in Anna Bolena, who also may remember Anna's
+  exclamation, "Giudici ad Anna! ad Anna giudici!" when Henry's intention of
+  bringing her to trial is first made known to her. Such was the fearful tone,
+  of mingled horror, amaze, and wrathful indignation, with which that greatest
+  queen of tragic song gave out these words, that, in a foreign land, we have
+  on more than one occasion observed some of the audience, as these fiery
+  accents burst forth upon them, to start, change colour, and almost shudder
+  at the intensity of the conflicting passions she exhibited. Much, nay most,
+  of this was undoubtedly owing to the genius of the songstress. We do but
+  mention these examples, to show how perfect a medium of musical expression
+  and dramatic effect, good recitative becomes, when adequately performed.
+  Still, the wonders related of ancient music&mdash;wonders not confined to
+  one age, one people, or to one quarter of the globe, but, on the contrary,
+  commencing at a remote period of man's history, including Jews, Chinese,
+  Arabs, and Greeks, amongst whose records their memory is
+  preserved&mdash;will meet with a cold assent from most; and perhaps few
+  among us would be found bold enough to avow a belief in their reality. We
+  have certainly no warrant for their truth in the powers or effects of our
+  national music, and thus experience directly contradicts the testimony of
+  antiquity.</p>
+
+  <p>On the same grounds, however, had no specimens of ancient handiwork been
+  preserved, we might also have doubted the excellence and beauty of any of
+  those works of art which, nevertheless, immortalized those by whose hands
+  they were fashioned. Were not the Dying Gladiator now before us, it might,
+  at this day, be deemed a monstrous supposition, that a statue of a dying man
+  should have existed, in which there might be seen how much of life was left.
+  Inferiority is ever sceptical and self-satisfied; it is only given to the
+  really wise to know how much lies hidden from their view. Though the scope
+  and object of all the imitative arts is the same, to dignify, elevate, and
+  embellish nature&mdash;though the beauty of the ideal is the aim of the
+  musician, equally as it is the aspiration of the poet, painter, and the
+  sculptor, the character of these pursuits is in some respects essentially
+  different. In the latter, material objects are imitated and embellished, the
+  things themselves are bodily before the eyes, and the beauty and excellence
+  of the work will appear by comparison with nature herself. These arts also
+  possess great landmarks of taste and skill, which speak the same language to
+  all ages. Of the symmetry of the sculptor's chiselled forms, of the beauty
+  of the poet's or the painter's pictures, we have a standard in nature's own
+  originals, seldom, probably never, exhibiting the same concentration of
+  refined and elevated beauty in one individual object, but, nevertheless,
+  furnishing an accurate and never varying standard, for the exercise of the
+  judgement; while the heart, that inner world, ever uniform and unchanging
+  amid the manifold vicissitudes of human life, supplies a test by which the
+  poet's thoughts and sentiments may be correctly tried. Thus, in the lapse of
+  ages, the public taste has known no change; and though more than 2000 years
+  have passed away, the works of ancient Greece are worshipped still.</p>
+
+  <p>It cannot, however, be imagined, that the music of those times could have
+  among us the same influence it possessed of old. It is no new remark, that
+  in no other branch of the imitative arts have the same rapid and successive
+  changes occurred, as are observed to have taken place in music. From this
+  fact, the following question naturally arises, whether there are any fixed
+  first principles of art, by adhering to which, music might be produced which
+  would please equally all ages and amongst all people; or, in other words,
+  whether the pleasure which music brings, is the result of education, habit,
+  or association, or an inherent and necessary effect of any particular
+  succession or combination of sounds. We have thrown together the following
+  observations of Rousseau, which occur in several different portions of his
+  essay on the origin of languages, and which, though not made with reference
+  to this question, nevertheless appear to us conclusive upon it. "As the
+  feelings which a beautiful picture excites are not caused by mere colour, so
+  the empire which music possesses over our souls is not the work of sound
+  alone. All men love to listen to sweet sounds; but if this love be not
+  quickened by such melodious inflexions as are familiar to the hearer, it
+  cannot be converted into pleasure. Melody, such as, to our taste, may be
+  most beautiful, will have little effect upon the ear which is unaccustomed
+  to it; it is a language of which we must possess a dictionary. Sounds in a
+  melody do not operate as mere sounds, but as signs of our affections and our
+  feelings; it is thus they excite the emotions they express, and whose image
+  we there recognize. If this influence of our sensations is not owing to
+  moral causes, how is it that we are so sensitive where a barbarian would
+  feel nothing? How is it that our most touching airs would be but so much
+  empty noise to the ear of a Carribee? All require the kind of melody whose
+  phrases they can understand; to an Italian, his country's airs are
+  necessary; to a Turk, a Turkish melody; each is affected only by those
+  accents with which he is familiar. In short, he must understand the language
+  that is spoken to him." This reasoning seems to show that there are no
+  principles or rules of art, by following which music would be produced of
+  that inherent beauty which would intrinsically command universal
+  admiration.</p>
+
+  <p>This being so, music is at the mercy of many circumstances, the influence
+  of which is felt, in some degree, even in those arts whose principles have
+  long been fixed and ascertained, and whose rules are not merely
+  conventional. The love of novelty, which the weariness caused by a constant
+  repetition of the same musical phrase or idea renders more <i>exigeant</i>
+  in this than in other arts, the want or impossibility of having any classic
+  examples which might fix the taste or guide the studies of the novice, are
+  doubtless among the causes of these frequent changes. The style of the
+  leading singer of the day often forms and rules the passing taste, and even
+  characterizes the works of contemporary composers. Music is often composed
+  purposely for the singer; his intonation, his peculiarities, his very
+  mannerisms, are borne in mind. Not merely sounds, but <i>his</i> sounds, are
+  the vehicles of the composer's thoughts, the medium through which alone the
+  composer's ideas can be adequately expressed. In the next generation, when
+  performer and composer are dead and gone, all that is left of this their
+  <i>mutual</i> work, once the object of universal admiration becomes
+  comparatively unintelligible. The melody, the harmony, indeed, remain, but
+  they are a body without a soul; the fire and genius of him who lighted up
+  the whole, who realized and brought home to the hearer the <i>whole</i>
+  creation of the composer's imagination, are no more. The manner of the
+  performance, therefore, being, as it were, part and parcel of the very
+  music, and a necessary ingredient of the excellence of the composition, to
+  judge of the merit of the whole from the qualities of the portion which is
+  left, would be to judge of the beauty of the Grecian Helen by the aspect or
+  appearance of her lifeless remains. On looking at the greater portion of the
+  music by the execution of which Catalani raised herself to the highest
+  pinnacle of fame, we are compelled to the conclusion, that in the singer lay
+  the charm. The effects said to have been produced by Handel's operas are now
+  inconceivable and unintelligible, so "mechanical and dull" do these works
+  appear, "beyond mere simplicity and traits of melody." Handel, in one
+  species of composition, wrote <i>down</i> to the singers of his time.
+  Whoever examines the bass songs of that period, will perceive that they were
+  composed for inflexible and unwieldy voices, possessing a large and heavy
+  volume of tone, but incapable of executing any but simple passages,
+  constructed according to an ascertained routine of intervals. Lord
+  Mount-Edgcumbe truly conjectured, that Mozart was led to make the bass so
+  prominent a part in the Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro, by writing for
+  a particular singer. The part of Figaro was, in fact, composed for Benucci.
+  The sparkling brilliancy of Rossini would perhaps never have been so fully
+  developed, had not the skill and flexibility of voice possessed by the
+  singer David, for whom he wrote, enabled him to indulge it to the uttermost.
+  The characters thus imparted to the music of the day are necessarily
+  perishable and evanescent, to be again superseded by later artists, whose
+  excellences or peculiarities will again lead to like results. Thus change
+  succeeds change; the judgment of the public is led by the composer and the
+  performer, who, mutually deferring to each other, often mould at will the
+  taste of their countrymen. We, of course, speak only of those whose talent,
+  science, and ability, have constituted them the masters of their art.</p>
+
+  <p>In England we have but few of those giants; they appear among us only at
+  long intervals; for which reason, perhaps, musical taste has undergone fewer
+  mutations in England than in most other countries. Handel has now reigned
+  supreme among us for near a century, and his bass songs still influence the
+  style of this branch of our native music. Though bass singing has advanced
+  elsewhere, it has stood comparatively still with us; the same rude
+  intervals, the same ponderous passages, through which the voice moves
+  heavily, as if a mountain heaved, are still retained in the few bass songs
+  of our school; in fact, without them, many think a bass song cannot exist.
+  This mannerism received a blow from Weber, whom, as in the case of Handel,
+  we have grown to consider national property. His early death, however,
+  prevented his acquiring that permanent influence on the musical mind, which
+  he might have acquired had he lived, and continued to be successful.</p>
+
+  <p>From the glance we have taken of the rate at which poetry, literature,
+  and the fine arts, respectively advance as civilization holds her onward
+  course; from the wide diffusion and cultivation of musical taste and musical
+  science, ere barbarism and ignorance resumed their sway over mankind; we
+  cannot entertain a doubt that, ultimately, we also as a people may emulate
+  the glory other nations have acquired in each of those pursuits. We are,
+  perhaps, less excitable and less easily moved than they; but the English
+  character contains within it the elements of greatness in every thing to
+  which its energies are directed. Circumstances may erelong rouse
+  long-dormant tastes. Riches bring with them new wants, they create new
+  passions, new desires. Much wealth was amassed by the preceding generation;
+  their sons, now affluent and educated, already form a vast addition to that
+  class which we have designated as the peculiar patron of the arts, and
+  which, as commercial prosperity continues to advance, will, in each
+  succeeding generation, receive another incalculable accession to its
+  numbers.</p>
+
+  <p>The philosophical observer may even now discover the evidences of these
+  new wants of increasing opulence; and should providence, in its mercy, deign
+  still to bless the world with peace, the Augustan age of England may be
+  nearer than we think. However, it is most certain that this age, as yet, has
+  not arrived. An accurate knowledge of our defects will soonest lead to their
+  cure. By a searching, rigorous, and impartial self-examination can these
+  deficiencies only become known. It may be necessary to apply the cautery;
+  but the hand that wounds would also heal; and if, in the course of the
+  preceding observations, or in any subsequent remarks, as we enquire into the
+  present state of musical taste and science in England, we may be deemed
+  severe, let it be borne in mind, that ours is a "tender fierceness," and
+  that self-knowledge, the first grand step to all improvement, is alone our
+  object and our aim.</p>
+  <hr class="full" />
+  <!-- Footnotes -->
+
+  <h2><a name="bw327-footnotes" id="bw327-footnotes"></a>FOOTNOTES.</h2>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> <b>Footnote 1</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Malte Brun, xi. 179. Alison, x. 256.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> <b>Footnote 2</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 423.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> <b>Footnote 3</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Hansard, vol. lxi. col. 429, 430, 431.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> <b>Footnote 4</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag4">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Hansard, vol, lxi. col. 439.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> <b>Footnote 5</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag5">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Year ending 5th January 1840, L.2,390,764!&mdash;1841,
+    L.1,342,604!&mdash;1842, L.1,495,540!&mdash;(<i>Finance Accounts</i>,
+    1842, p. 2.)</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> <b>Footnote 6</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag6">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiv. p. 271.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> <b>Footnote 7</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag7">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>The <i>Si&egrave;cle</i>. (See No. cccxxi. p. 112.)</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> <b>Footnote 8</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag8">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>An atrocious gang of thieves, who adopted the unnecessary brutality of
+    burning the unfortunate victims they intended to rob.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> <b>Footnote 9</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag9">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Water-melon.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a> <b>Footnote 10</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag10">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>The miseries of Tasso arose not only from the imagination and the
+    heart. In the metropolis of the Christian world, with many admirers and
+    many patrons, cardinals and princes of all sizes, he was left destitute,
+    and almost famished. These are his own words.&mdash;"<i>Appena</i> in
+    questo stato ho comprato <i>due meloni</i>: e benche io sia stato <i>quasi
+    sempre inferno</i>, molte volte mi sono contentato del' manzo e la
+    ministra di latte o di zucca, <i>quando ho potuto averne</i>, mi e stata
+    in vece di delizie." In another part he says that he was unable to pay the
+    carriage of a parcel, (1590:) no wonder; if he had not wherewithal to buy
+    enough of zucca for a meal. Even had he been in health and appetite, he
+    might have satisfied his hunger with it for about five farthings, and have
+    left half for supper. And now a word on his insanity. Having been so
+    imprudent not only as to make it too evident in his poetry that he was the
+    lover of Leonora, but also to signify (not very obscurely) that his love
+    was returned, he much perplexed the Duke of Ferrara, who, with great
+    discretion, suggested to him the necessity of feigning madness. The lady's
+    honour required it from a brother; and a true lover, to convince the
+    world, would embrace the project with alacrity. But there was no reason
+    why the seclusion should be in a dungeon, or why exercise and air should
+    be interdicted. This cruelty, and perhaps his uncertainty of Leonora's
+    compassion, may well be imagined to have produced at last the malady he
+    had feigned. But did Leonora love Tasso as a man would be loved? If we
+    wish to do her honour, let us hope it: for what greater glory can there be
+    than to have estimated at the full value so exalted a genius, so
+    affectionate and so generous a heart!</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a> <b>Footnote 11</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag11">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>The author wrote the verses first in English, but he found it easy to
+    write them better in Italian. They stood in the text as below:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+      <div class="stanza">
+        <p>Swallow! swallow! though so jetty</p>
+
+        <p>Are your pinions, you are pretty:</p>
+
+        <p>And what matter were it though</p>
+
+        <p>You were blacker than a crow?</p>
+
+        <p>Of the many birds that fly</p>
+
+        <p>(And how many pass me by!)</p>
+
+        <p>You're the first I ever prest,</p>
+
+        <p>Of the many, to my breast:</p>
+
+        <p>Therefore it is very right</p>
+
+        <p>You should be my own delight.</p>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a> <b>Footnote 12</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag12">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>The tale that follows is founded upon an incident that occurred some
+    little time before the American War, to Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon,
+    whose grandfather, the Laird of Glenlyon, was the officer in King
+    William's service who commanded at the slaughter of the Macdonalds of
+    Glencoe. The anecdote is told in Colonel David Stewart's valuable history
+    of the Highland Regiments. Edin 1822.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a> <b>Footnote 13</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag13">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>Such was his exclamation, as repeated in the History before referred
+    to. Colonel Campbell always imputed the unfortunate occurrence that
+    clouded the evening of his life to the share his ancestor had in the
+    disastrous affair of Glencoe.</p>
+  </blockquote>
+
+  <blockquote class="footnote">
+    <a id="footnote14" name="footnote14"></a> <b>Footnote 14</b>: <a href=
+    "#footnotetag14">(return)</a>
+
+    <p>We may refer to this hereafter, and to show that <i>we</i> at least are
+    not guilty of exaggeration, we subjoin the passage in the original
+    Italian, from which it will be seen that our translation is as literal as
+    possible.</p>
+
+    <p>"L'anno quatuor-decimo del secolo presente, nel dramma che si
+    rappresentava in Ancona, v'era, su'l principio dell' atto terzo, una riga
+    di recitativo, non accompagnato da altri stromenti che dal basso; per cui,
+    tanto in noi professori quanto negli ascoltanti, si destava una tale e
+    tanta commozione di animo, che tutti si guardavano in faccia l'un l'altro,
+    per la evidente mutazione di colore che si faceva in ciascheduno di noi.
+    L'effetto non era di pianto (mi ricordo benissimo che le parole erano di
+    sdegno) ma di un certo rigore e freddo nel sangue, che di fatto turbava
+    l'animo. Tredici volte si recito il dramma, e sempre segui l'effetto
+    stesso universalmente: di che era segno palpabile il sommo previo
+    silenzio, con cui l'uditorio tutto si apparechiava a goderne
+    l'effetto."</p>
+  </blockquote>
+  <hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327, by Various
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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