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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Mother's Love, by _Mary Neal_, 355
Appletons', 380
Apron in Broderie en Lacet, 363
Beauty, by _Miss M. H. Butt_, 346
Border and Corner for Pocket-Handkerchief, 361
Camilla Mantilla, 289
Caps, 362
Celestial Phenomena, by _D. W. Belisle_, 315
Centre-Table Gossip, 379
Chemisettes, 362
Cottage Furniture, 364
Crochet Tassel Cover, 358
Dairy-House and Piggery, 349
Don't Overtask the Young Brain, 337
Dream Picture, by _Mrs. A. F. Law_, 353
Dress--as a Fine Art, by _Mrs. Merrifield_, 347
Editors' Table, 366
Ellie Maylie, by _Jennie Dowling De Witt_, 353
Enigmas, 377
Eugenie Costume, 292
Fashions, 381
Godey's Arm-Chair, 371
Godey's Course of Lessons in Drawing, 323
I was Robbed of my Spirit's Love, by _Jaronette_, 354
Jacket for Riding-Dress, 364
Laces and Embroideries, 379
Lady's Scarf Mantelet, 357
Lady's Slipper, 363
Le Printemps Mantilla, 289
Letters Left at the Pastry Cook's,
_Edited by Horace Mayhew_, 334
Literary Notices, 369
Management of Canary Birds, 322
Mantillas, from the celebrated Establishment of
G. Brodie, New York, 290, 291
Manuel Garcia, the celebrated Singing-Master, 366
Mrs. Murden's Two Dollar Silk, by _The Author of_
"_Miss Bremer's Visit to Cooper's Landing_," 317
Netted Cap, for morning wear, 360
Our Practical Dress Instructor, 357
Patterns for Embroidery, 365
Receipts,&c., 378
Singular Inscriptions on Tombstones, 376
Some Thoughts on Training Female Teachers, by
_Miss M. S. G._, 336
Sonnets, by _Wm. Alexander_, 352
Spring Bonnets, 294
The Borrower's Department, 377
The Elixir of Life, by _Charles Albert Janvier_, 354
The Household, 379
The Interview, by _T. Hempstead_, 352
The Last Moments, by _R. Griffin Staples_, 356
The Manufacture of Artificial Flowers, by _C. T.
Hinckley_, 295
The Orphan's Departure, by _Margaret Floyd_, 310
There's Music, by _Horace G. Boughman_, 353
The Song-Birds of Spring, by _Norman W. Bridge_, 355
The Souvenir; or, The Arrival of the Lady's Book.
A Sketch of Southern Life, by _Pauline Forsyth_, 338
The Toilet, 382
The Trials of a Needle-Woman, by _T. S. Arthur_, 326
The Turkish Costume, 348
The _Was_ and the _Is_, by _O. Everts, M. D._, 356
The Wild Flowers of Early Spring-time, 343
To an Absent Dear One, by _Fannie M. C._, 355
To Ida, by _Horace Phelps, M. D._, 356
True Happiness in a Palace, 367
Undersleeves, 362
Washing made Easy, 379
Willie Maylie, by _Cornelia M. Dowling_, 353
Zanotti: a Romantic Tale of Italy and Spain, by _Percy_, 300
[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF THE ORPHAN.
_Engraved for Godey's Lady's Book._]
[Illustration: The Arrival of the Lady's Book.]
[Illustration: Latest Fashions for Godey's Lady's Book.]
[Illustration: SEASONABLE PATTERNS.
DESIGNED, BY MRS. SUPLEE, EXPRESSLY FOR GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK.
CAMILLA MANTILLA.--Light green silk, trimmed with Honiton lace.
LE PRINTEMPS MANTILLA.--Lavender or pearl-colored silk. The yoke and point
cut in one piece. The trimming is a rich fringe of the same color.]
[Illustration: THE COLUMBINE.
[From the establishment of G. BRODIE, No. 51 Canal Street, New York.]
FOR the early portion of the season, we illustrate a mantilla of great
beauty. It is made of black-green or ruby-colored, with a richly
embroidered ornamental design. Should it prove desirable, the upper
portion of the garment may be left off, and the lower alone worn. The
mantilla is trimmed with a netted fringe, seven inches wide.]
[Illustration: THE SNOWDROP.
[From the establishment of G. BRODIE, No. 51 Canal Street, New York.]
FOR the close of this month and the early summer, we present a mantilla
which shares largely the public favor. This garment has appeared elsewhere
before, somewhat in advance of its time; but, as we desire to present
_accurate_ reports of what are _actually_ the reigning modes, we publish
it here for the benefit of our lady friends. It is in the _berthe_ style,
composed of white _poult de soie_, heavily embroidered. The collar is
slashed upon the shoulder, and cross-laced with cords terminating in neat
tassels. It is fringed with extraordinary richness.]
[Illustration: EUGENIE COSTUME.
DESIGNED, BY MRS. SUPLEE, EXPRESSLY FOR GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK.
Suitable for the coming season. _Material._--Brilliante or lawn. The
corsage is cut square and full, and trimmed with inserting and edging. The
skirt has a hem and two tucks, each six inches deep, trimmed as above.]
[Illustration: L'ANGLAISE.
DESIGNED, BY MRS. SUPLEE, EXPRESSLY FOR GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK.
_Material._--Tissue, barège or silk. Five folds on the skirt, each five
inches deep. Scallops trimmed with No. 1½ ribbon. Looped up at intervals
with No. 3 ribbon, as in plate; the ribbons to suit the colors in the
dress. Corsage the same.
Gimp or braid is to be used with silk.]
[Illustration: SPRING BONNET.
THIS BONNET, which is suited to a plain walking-dress, is made of straw,
and trimmed with Leghorn-colored ribbon, disposed in a simple and tasteful
style, with two long flowing ends on the left side. The bonnet is lined
with white ærophane, laid in small neat folds; and the under-trimming
consists of loops of black velvet ribbon. The second figure is the reverse
side of the same bonnet.]
GODEY'S
LADY'S BOOK.
PHILADELPHIA, APRIL, 1854.
EVERYDAY ACTUALITIES.--NO. XVIII.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PEN AND GRAVER.
BY C. T. HINCKLEY.
THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS.
THE manufacture of artificial flowers, first brought to a high degree of
excellence by the Italians, is one of no small importance, considering
the amount of skill and labor which it brings into requisition. The first
attempt at making artificial flowers among civilized nations was by
twisting ribbons of different colors somewhat into the shape of flowers,
and fastening them to wire stems. This yielded to the use of feathers,
which were far more elegant, but could not always be made to imitate
in color the flowers which they represented, there being considerable
difficulty in getting them to take the dyes. Where the plumage of birds is
of great brilliancy, the natural colors admirably answer the purpose, and
do not fade or lose their resplendent hues. Thus, in South America, the
savages have long known how to fabricate beautiful artificial flowers from
such plumage. In Italy, the cocoons of silkworms are often used, and have
a soft and velvety appearance, while they take a brilliant dye. In France,
the finest cambric is the chief material, while wax is also largely
employed. The arrangement of the workshop, and the variety and use of
tools, where flower-making is practised on a large scale, are as follows:--
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
A large and well-lighted room, which has the means of warmth in winter,
is selected, and along its whole extent is placed a table, similar to the
writing-tables used in schools, where the work-people may have a good
light as long as possible. This table is fitted with drawers containing
numerous compartments, arranged so as to receive and keep separate the
small parts of flowers, such as petals, stalks, minute blossoms catkins,
buds, leaves not mounted on their stalks and all other parts not fit to
be placed among more finished specimens. It is desirable that the table
be covered with oil-cloth, so that it may be frequently cleansed, by
washing, from the stains of the different colors employed. Along the whole
extent of this table are placed flower-holders, that is, light frames
with horizontal iron wires, to which the flowers, when attached to their
stalks, are suspended by merely crooking the end of the stalk, and hanging
it on the wire. Sometimes tightly strained pack-thread is used instead
of wire. Figs. 1 and 2 represent two forms of flower-holder; in both
cases the frame is fixed to the table. Along the tables are also ranged
bobbin-holders in considerable numbers, not unlike those used by weavers.
The bobbin-holder is a rod of iron, Fig. 3, about six inches high, fixed
in a massive leaden or wooden base. On this rod is threaded a large
bobbin, on which is wound a quantity of silk or wool. On its summit may
be fixed a nut, to prevent the bobbin, when in rapid motion, from whirling
off the rod, but this is often omitted. Ladies who work for their pleasure
frequently have this bobbin-holder made in an ornamental form, the base
being covered with bas-reliefs, and the nut at the top taking the form of
an arrow, a blossom, &c. But the more simple and free from ornament, the
better is the holder for use, any unnecessary projections only acting as
so many means of entangling the silk.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
The flower-maker does not take up flowers or their parts with the
fingers, but with pincers of the simplest description, Fig. 4, which
are incessantly in use. With these, the smallest parts of the flower
can be seized, and disposed in their proper places, raised, depressed,
turned about and adjusted, according to the taste of the artist, and her
appreciation of natural forms. It is with the pincers also that any little
contortions of the extremities of petals, and irregularities in their
form and in the arrangement of stamens, are copied. The proper length of
this tool is about five inches. Each workwoman brings one for her own
use, and keeps it close at hand. Dressing-frames of various sizes form
another part of the furniture of the work-room. On these are stretched the
materials, which are gummed and dyed. A dressing-frame, Fig. 5, consists
of two uprights of hard wood, with two cross pieces of the same, capable
of adjustment. The frame is fitted with crooks for the attachment of the
material, or with a band of coarse canvas to which the material can be
sewn. These frames have no feet, and are fitted sometimes against a wall,
sometimes upon a chair. When covered with the material, they are hung up
against the wall by one of the cross pieces, until it is time to dismount
them.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
There are also various useful implements, called by the work-people
"irons," for cutting out petals, calyxes, and bracts, and for giving to
leaves those various serrated and other forms which produce such wonderful
variety in foliage. These cutting tools, two of which are shown in Figs.
6 and 7, are of iron, with a hollow handle, flat at its upper extremity,
that the hammer may be readily applied. They are about four or five inches
long, and of numerous sizes and varieties. That they may cut rapidly and
clearly, the edges are occasionally rubbed with dry soap. When a leaf
becomes attached to the interior, and cannot be shaken out, a little
ring of wire, Fig. 8, is introduced in a hole _j_, Fig. 7, left for that
purpose to disengage it. The material is doubled several times under the
cutter, so that several petals or leaves may be cut out at once. The block
on which the leaves are cut out is rather a complicated affair. It is
placed near a window, and as far as possible from the workers, that the
blows of the hammer may not interfere with their employment. Sometimes
it consists of a very stout framework of timber, on which is placed a
mattress of straw to deaden the blows, and upon this mattress a thick
smooth piece of lead, forming a square table, Fig. 9. In some cases a
solid block of timber is used, a portion of the trunk of a tree taken near
the root, and on this the mattress and the leaden table are placed. The
hammers used at this work are short and heavy; one is especially adapted
for smoothing the surface of the lead when it becomes indented all over by
the blows of the workman.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
The cutting out of the leaves and petals is only a preliminary operation
to the more perfect imitation of nature; the leaves must next be gauffered
to represent the veins, the fold, and the endless touches and indentations
which are found in the natural plant. Gauffering is executed in two ways,
the first and simplest being that which merely gives the hollow form
to the petals of roses, cherry-blossoms, peach, hawthorn, and numerous
other flowers which preserve, until the period of decay, somewhat of the
form of a bud, all the petals beautifully curving inwards. To imitate
these, the gauffering tools are simple polished balls of iron fixed on
iron rods, with a wooden handle attached, as shown in Fig. 10. The balls
are of various sizes, from a pin's head upwards, to adapt them to the
minute blossoms of such flowers as the forget-me-not, which require only
the slightest degree of curvature, and to the large flowers of camelia,
dahlia, mallow, &c., where the curvature is of often very great. These
balls are made slightly warm, so as to fix the forms decidedly, without
effacing the colors. The petals are placed on a cushion, and the iron is
pressed against them. But curvature alone is not sufficient; there is, in
many petals, a decided fold or plait up the centre, springing from the
point where it is attached to the germen. This fold can be obtained by the
use of a prism-shaped iron, Fig. 11. Conical, cylindrical, and hooked
irons, Figs. 12, 13, are also useful to imitate the various minutiæ of the
blossoms. A cushion near each artist serves as a rest to the gauffering
irons, which must be preserved from the least taint of dust, seeing that
they are applied to the most delicately-beautiful portions of the flower.
The veins and curves of leaves are given by gauffers composed of two
distinct parts, on each of which is severally moulded in copper the upper
and under surface of the leaf as shown in Fig. 14. Sometimes, one part
is of iron, the other of copper. It is necessary to have a very large
assortment of these gauffers; in fact, they should correspond in number
with the cutting-irons by which the forms of leaves are punched out. The
leaf or leaves being inserted in the gauffer, a powerful pressure is given
to stamp the desired form. This is accomplished either by means of a heavy
iron pressed on the lid, or by two or three smart blows of a hammer, or,
better still, by the uniform action of a press, such as is shown in Fig.
15. Besides the above articles, the workshop is provided with an abundance
of boxes, scissors large and small, for cutting wire, as well as textile
fabrics, camel-hair pencils, sponges, canvas-bags, &c., that everything
likely to be needed by the work-people may be immediately at hand.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
The material of which flowers are made is, first and best (as already
stated), French cambric, but a great quantity of Scotch cambric, jaconet,
and even fine calico, are also used. For some descriptions of flowers,
clear muslin, crape, and gauze, are wanted; and for some very thick
petals, satin and velvet are necessary. These materials are provided in
various colors, as well as in white, but fresh tints have frequently to
be given. These are laid on with a sponge, or a camel-hair pencil, or
the petal is dipped in color; a quantity of green taffeta should always
be at hand for leaves. The coloring matters used in dyeing the material
for the petals are as follows: For red, in its various shades, _Brazil
wood_ is largely used, also carmine, lake, and carthamus. The best way
of treating Brazil wood is to macerate it cold in alcohol for several
days; a little salt of tartar, potash, or soap, will make this color pass
into purple; a little alum gives it a fine crimson-red, and an acid will
make it pass into yellow, of which the shade is deeper according to the
quantity employed. Carmine is better in lumps than in powder; diffused
in pure water, it gives rose-color; a little salt of tartar brightens
the tint. Carthamus is dissolved cold in alcohol; heat, as well as the
alkalies, causes it to pass to orange. The acids render it of a lively and
pure red; a very delicate flesh-color is obtained by rinsing the material,
colored with carthamus, in slightly soapy water. Blue colors are prepared
by means of indigo, or Prussian blue. Sometimes balls of common blue are
used, steeped in water. Indigo is first dissolved in sulphuric acid. This
is then diluted with water, and powdered chalk or whiting is added until
effervescence ceases. The liquor is afterwards decanted off, and the
sediment, when washed, gives a paler color. Greater intensity is given
to indigo by adding a little potash. Yellow colors are given by turmeric
dissolved in spirits of wine, by saffron, chrome-yellow, &c. Green colors
are obtained by mixtures of blue and yellow; violets, by mixtures of red
and blue, and by archil and a blue bath; lilacs, by archil only.
The method of making a rose will give a good idea of the manufacture
in general. First of all, the petals are cut out from the finest and
most beautiful cambric. The pattern-shapes must be of different sizes,
because, in the same rose, the petals are never equal; a good assortment
of patterns enables the artist the better to imitate the variety of
nature. When the petals are thus prepared, they have to be dyed in a bath
of carmine in alkaline water. For this purpose, they are held separately
by means of pincers, and dipped first in the bath, and then into pure
water, to give them that delicacy of tint which is characteristic of the
rose. But as the color of the petal usually deepens towards the centre,
a tint is there laid on with the pencil, while a drop of water is laid
on the point of insertion of the petal, to make the color there fade off,
as it does in nature, to white. If the right tint is not given at first,
the processes are repeated; any slight imperfection, such as is seen in
the petals of most living flowers, being also accurately imitated with
the pencil. The taffeta employed in making leaves is dyed of the proper
green in the piece before cutting out. It is then stretched out to dry,
and afterwards further prepared with gum-arabic on one side, to represent
the glossy upper surface of leaves, and with starch on the other, to give
the velvety appearance of the under side. This preparation, colored to
suit the exact shade to be given to the leaf, must be just of the proper
consistence, making the leaf neither too stiff nor too limp, while it
gives the proper kind of under surface. Where the leaf requires a marked
degree of this velvet texture, it is given by the nap of cloth reduced
to fine powder, and properly tinted. A little gum is lightly passed over
the surface, and when partly dry, this powder is dusted over it, the
superfluous portion being shaken off. These preparations having been
completed, it yet remains to give to the leaves, after they are cut out,
the appearance of nature, by representing the veins and indentations which
they always exhibit. For this purpose various gauffering-tools are made
use of.
The material for the leaflets of the calyx in roses, is subjected to
another process immediately on coming out of the dye, in order to preserve
the firmness which it is necessary the calyx should have. To this end,
the taffeta, while still damp, is impregnated with colored starch on
both sides, and stretched on the drying-frame: when perfectly dry, the
leaflets are cut out according to pattern. Buds are made also of taffeta,
or, if partially open, they are made of white kid tinted of a suitable
color, stuffed with cotton, or crumb of bread, and tied firmly with silk
to slender wires. The stamens are prepared by attaching to a little knot
of worsted a sufficient quantity of ends of silk to form the heart of the
flower. These ends of silk, cut to the proper length, are then stiffened
in kid jelly, and, when dry, the extremities are slightly moistened with
gum-arabic and dipped in a preparation of wheaten flour, colored yellow,
to represent the pollen. Each thread takes up its separate grain, and is
left to dry. The heart of the flower being thus prepared, and fixed to a
stem of wire, the smaller petals are arranged round it, and fixed by paste
at their points. The larger petals succeed, some of which are hollowed or
wrinkled, while constant care is taken to give them a natural appearance
in disposing them around the centre. The calyx comes next, and incloses
the ends of all the petals. It is fixed with paste, and surrounded with
more or less of cotton thread, which also generally incloses one or more
wires attached to that which bears the heart of the flower, and forming
the germ. The whole is covered with silver-paper tinted green. The leaves
are mounted on copper wire, and are arranged on the stem in the order
which nature teaches, the covering of cotton and tissue-paper hiding the
joints.
In addition to the manufacture of flowers intended as closely as possible
to represent their living models, there is a large branch of the art
in which the aim seems to be to depart from nature as far as possible.
These _fancy flowers_ are the fruit of the artist's peculiar taste,
and are therefore as impossible to describe as we sincerely wish they
were impossible to execute. There are also flowers of natural forms,
but of unnatural colors, being made to assume mournful hues to suit the
circumstances of their wearers. There are also gold and silver flowers,
more resplendent, but equally unnatural. Of these, sometimes the stamens
and pistils alone are metallic; sometimes the petals are gilded, and
sometimes the leaves and fruit glitter in the same precious metal. An easy
method of applying the gilt in any device or form, is to prepare a cement
which shall fix it to the cambric, paper, or other material (this cement
may be honey and gum-arabic boiled in beer), and then to moisten with it
the surface, placing thereon rather more gold-leaf than is necessary to
cover it, pressing it down with a cotton rubber, and, when it is dry,
rubbing off the superfluous gilding with the same.
Flowers are also made in chenille, but do not pretend to an accurate
imitation of nature. There are two or three methods of making them, the
simplest being to represent merely the shapes of flowers; for instance,
apple-blossoms, represented by small loops of pink chenille arranged round
a centre. Another method is, to make out the distinct petals, by rows of
chenille placed close together. A third and prettier method, is that of
uniting chenille with ordinary flower-making. Flowers made of feathers
may be extremely rich and brilliant in their effect. Yet ordinarily
feather-flowers are more difficult than satisfactory, and there are very
few of our own familiar flowers that can be successfully copied by them.
One of the best imitations is that of the wild clematis when adorned, as
it is in autumn, with its plumed seeds. These can be admirably imitated
in white marabout feathers. Some of the most available feathers for
flower-making are those found under the wings of young pigeons.
The manufacture of wax-flowers is carried on by using the purest virgin
wax, entirely freed from all extraneous matters. Wax that is either
granular or friable must be rejected. It is generally melted in vessels
of tinned iron, copper, or earthenware. To render it ductile, fine Venice
turpentine, white, pure, and of an agreeable odor, is added. The mixture
is constantly stirred with a glass or wooden spatula. All contact with
iron must be avoided, and if the vessels are of that material, they must
be well and carefully tinned. When stiff leaves are to be executed, two
parts of spermaceti are added to eight parts of wax, to give transparency.
Much care and tact are needed in coloring the wax. The colors being in
fine powder, are made into a paste by adding little by little of essence
of citron or lavender. When the trituration is perfect, this paste is
mixed with melted wax, stirring rapidly all the while; and while the mass
is still liquid, it is poured into moulds of pasteboard, or tinned iron,
of the shape of tablets, and is then ready for use. Sometimes it is passed
through fine muslin as it flows into the moulds. Another method is, to
tie up the color in a muslin bag, and wave it about amongst the molten
wax until the desired tint is obtained. To combine colors, it is only
necessary to have two or three bags containing different colors, and to
employ as much of each as shall have the desired effect. These bags, far
from being spoiled by dipping in wax already containing other shades, have
only to be rinsed in pure water to fit them for coloring other wax. The
colors most in use in wax flower-making, are pure forms of white-lead,
vermilion, lake, and carmine, ultramarine, cobalt, indigo, and Prussian
blue, chrome, Naples yellow, and yellow ochre. Greens and violets are
chiefly made from mixtures of the above.
The wax being prepared, the manufacture of flowers is carried on in two
ways. The first consists in steeping in liquid wax little wooden moulds
rinsed with water, around which the wax forms in a thin layer, so as to
take the form of the mould, and thus to present, when detached from it,
the appearance of the whole or part of a flower. In this way lilac and
other simple blossoms are obtained with much rapidity. The branches are
also executed with wax softened by heat, and moulded with the fingers
round a thread of wire. As for leaves and petals, they are cut out of
sheets of colored wax of the proper thickness. These sheets are glossy
on one side, and velvety on the other. To express the veining of
leaves, they are placed in moistened moulds, and pressed with the thumb
sufficiently to get the impression, which is accurately copied from
nature. The petals are made to adhere simply by pressure; the leaves are
placed on a little footstalk, and the latter fastened to the stem. The
manner of procuring moulds for the accurate imitation of leaves, is as
follows: A natural leaf of the plant it is wished to imitate is spread
out on a flat surface of marble, for example. It is lightly but equally
greased with olive oil, and surrounded with a wall of wax, which must not
touch it. Then, in a small vessel containing a few spoonfuls of water,
a few pinches of plaster of Paris are to be thrown, and briskly stirred
till the liquid has the consistence of thick cream. This is poured over
the leaf, and left till it is well hardened. It is then lifted up and the
leaf detached, when it will be seen that the plaster has taken a perfect
impression of every vein and indentation. Such moulds are rendered far
more durable if they are impregnated while warm with drying oil. This
gives them greater solidity, and prevents their crumbling from frequent
immersion in water. It is necessary to impress strongly on all amateur wax
flower-makers the necessity for having all tools and moulds completely
moistened with water, otherwise the wax will be constantly adhering, and
preventing neatness of workmanship.
The variety of the materials used in artificial flower-making was
displayed to an amusing extent in the World's Fair. In addition to the
really beautiful and artistic productions already noticed, and to the
elegant flowers constructed of palm-leaves, of straw, and of shells, as
well as of all the materials named in this paper, there were flowers
fabricated in human hair, in chocolate, in soap, in wood, marble,
porcelain, common earthenware, and other unpromising materials.
[Illustration]
ZANOTTI: A ROMANTIC TALE OF ITALY AND SPAIN.
BY PERCY.
CHAPTER I.
"Thou favored land
Of art and nature, thou art still before me;
Thy _sons_; to whom their labor is a sport,
So well thy grateful soil returns its tribute
Thy sunburnt daughters, with their laughing eyes
And glossy raven locks."
"Oh, Love, thou art a strange wild thing,
A dancing beam of Mayday sun,
A life-morn song that angels sing,
A gift from Him, the Highest One!
Thou art a _claude-tint_ thrown among
The Rembrandt shades that limn our strife!
The olive on thy lip is hung,
Thou dove, that bringest words of life."
"_Love_," BY PERCY.
COUNT CARLO ZANOTTI was a son of one of the noblest families in
Venice--the heir of its titles, its wealth, its hereditary renown, and
his prospects in the spring of life were golden as the trees in autumn.
An incident in his father's history, which tinged the old man's declining
years with a gloomy shadow, had also its effect upon the son, and,
unmindful of the brilliant future, he brooded in sadness on the past. His
mother, who was the beauty of her day, had yielded to the fascinations
of a young and handsome Englishman, and in an unguarded moment left
her home and her husband, to throw herself upon the poor protection
of a profligate, and to meet the cold sneers and savage slights of a
selfish and unforgiving world. _How much_ the character, in its gradual
development, is biased by a mother's influence, it is difficult to
estimate; but we all know that "_the thought which mirrors Eden in the
face of home_" has saved even the _best_ of us from many an error and
many a sin, and generated, even in the _worst_, some softening emotions,
and caused some kindly acts. This holy influence, linked with a mother's
memory, makes each thought of her, as the German beautifully expresses it,
"a prayer to God," and we rise from musing upon her gentle love--kinder,
better, wiser. "_The wild sea of our hearts lies mute, and o'er the waves
the Saviour walks._" How terrible then to have that sanctuary defiled, to
be taught that purity has fled, even from Dian's temple--_to be brought up
an atheist in the religion of the heart_!
Calm, gentle, passionless in outward aspect, the count became noted as
an earnest scholar, and yet his heart contained many a hidden stratum of
volcanic passion, which burned scathingly at the thought of his mother's
shame! From an intense consciousness that the conduct of his parent
entailed its measure of reproach upon himself, he shrank from the society
of men, and sought sources of relaxation in tracing to their sequences
those great thoughts which the thinkers of all time, in their debasement
and their exaltation, have written down and immortalized--some, on the
undying page; some, on the living canvas; some, on the ever-moving
firmament of ceaseless action! The shadow of the wing of time fell upon
_him_ as a man, at an age when most of us are immature, unthinking boys.
_The epochs of strong natures_ are dialed upon the mind not by the
sunshine but by the darkness of the heart! Our sorrows are the evil genii
who transform in a moment boyhood to manhood, and manhood to age!
Every day, every hour, this young man acquired something from ancient or
from modern lore; at twenty-four he was versed in a learning beyond that
of many a lifelong scholar. His studies, within a year of the period at
which we introduce him to the reader, had taken a form different from any
he had before pursued; the old disciples of a gorgeous mythology being
neglected for the mystical and alluring spiritualism of the exponents of
modern German philosophy. The English philosophy is entirely destructive
of the grand, the lofty, the divine! It lowers and debases by its
precepts, and chills by its explanations. The French, on the other hand,
attempts no explanations; but the system is an elaborate sneer at all that
is good, and true, and high, and noble. The aim of the German "is at least
the nobler one, and elevates, not dwarfs, the souls of men." "There is a
Godlike within us that feels itself akin to the God; and if we are told
that both the 'Godlike and the God are dreams,' we can but answer that so
to dream is better than to wake and find ourselves nothing!"
Who among us--but worms of the dust, low things, fit only for the mire
in which they wallow--but has at one time or another demanded initiation
into the secret order of the "searchers after truth?" Who among us but,
unsatisfied with the knowledge that may be achieved, grasps wildly after
heaven's thunderbolts, and would embrace the unattainable, feeling, as we
so terribly do, the restlessness and the might of the Deity in our burning
veins? Who among us but has tried to look deep into the future, and read
the fate, not of the next year or moment, but of the undying spirit in
that other world, of which we dream so much, and know so little?
And who among us who has had the heroism honestly to make the attempt,
and to pursue to their sequences the terrible thoughts to which such
reflection gives rise, but has gone down headlong to the pit? If no
_actual_ phantoms haunt the waking dreams of such unsuccessful neophytes,
yet a more terrible thing is that accursed skepticism--that coldness
that does not brook to be questioned, and that cannot be understood--that
fills his soul. It does not come over his hours of mirth, when the
wine-cup passes and the jest goes round; but, like the fabled fiend of the
romancers, comes only over the lost one's soul, when his intellect would
aspire and his genius dare. Comes it, with its eternal sneer, that sees
nothing so high that it does not make it appear utterly despicable! When
his genius would dare, comes it with its evil eyes, and he loses faith in
his genius and doubts his power; loses faith when he knows that faith only
can bear him through life's tempests; doubts while he feels doubt to be
the unpardonable sin.[1]
Count Zanotti had passed through each of the stages of which I
speak--first, an unquenchable yearning for forbidden knowledge; next,
the rapture that glows when the lip touches the sparkle on the brim of
the cup--and then the flatness and the weariness that follow! But for
_him_, there was yet a hope. His heart had never beat with the quick pulse
of love! Its youthful vigor was unimpaired, and in a contest with the
intellect there was strong hope of it proving victorious. The struggle
came soon enough.
* * * * *