And the shrill winds were up and away
In the white curtain, to and fro
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, "The night is dreary--
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, weary,
I would that I were dead!"
All day, within the dreary house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd;
The blue-fly sang i' the pane; the mouse
Behind the mould'ring wainscot shriek'd,
Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd through the doors;
Old footsteps trod the upper floors;
Old voices called her from without:
She only said, "My life is dreary--
He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, weary,
I would that I were dead!"
The sparrow's chirrup on the roof,
The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moated sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping towards his western bower.
Then said she, "I am very dreary--
He will not come," she said;
She wept, "I am aweary, weary,
I would that I were dead!"
TENNYSON.
* * * * *
RISE OF POETRY AMONG THE ROMANS.
The Romans, in the infancy of their state, were entirely rude and
unpolished. They came from shepherds; they were increased from the
refuse of the nations around them; and their manners agreed with their
original. As they lived wholly on tilling their ground at home, or on
plunder from their neighbours, war was their business, and agriculture
the chief art they followed. Long after this, when they had spread their
conquests over a great part of Italy, and began to make a considerable
figure in the world--even their great men retained a roughness, which
they raised into a virtue, by calling it Roman spirit; and which might
often much better have been called Roman barbarity. It seems to me, that
there was more of austerity than justice, and more of insolence than
courage, in some of their most celebrated actions. However that be, this
is certain, that they were at first a nation of soldiers and husbandmen:
roughness was long an applauded character among them; and a sort of
rusticity reigned, even in their senate-house.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN CENTURION.]
In a nation originally of such a temper as this, taken up almost always
in extending their territories, very often in settling the balance of
power among themselves, and not unfrequently in both these at the same
time, it was long before the politer arts made any appearance; and very
long before they took root or flourished to any degree. Poetry was the
first that did so; but such a poetry as one might expect among a
warlike, busied, unpolished people.
Not to enquire about the songs of triumph mentioned even in Romulus's
time, there was certainly something of poetry among them in the next
reign, under Numa; a Prince who pretended to converse with the Muses as
well as with Egeria, and who might possibly himself have made the verses
which the Salian priests sang in his time. Pythagoras, either in the
same reign, or if you please some time after, gave the Romans a
tincture of poetry as well as of philosophy; for Cicero assures us that
the Pythagoreans made great use of poetry and music; and probably they,
like our old Druids, delivered most of their precepts in verse. Indeed,
the chief employment of poetry in that and the following ages, among the
Romans, was of a religious kind. Their very prayers, and perhaps their
whole liturgy, was poetical. They had also a sort of prophetic or sacred
writers, who seem to have written generally in verse; and were so
numerous that there were above two thousand of their volumes remaining
even to Augustus's time. They had a kind of plays too, in these early
times, derived from what they had seen of the Tuscan actors when sent
for to Rome to expiate a plague that raged in the city. These seem to
have been either like our dumb-shows, or else a kind of extempore
farces--a thing to this day a good deal in use all over Italy and in
Tuscany. In a more particular manner, add to these that extempore kind
of jesting dialogues begun at their harvest and vintage feasts, and
carried on so rudely and abusively afterwards as to occasion a very
severe law to restrain their licentiousness; and those lovers of poetry
and good eating, who seem to have attended the tables of the richer
sort, much like the old provincial poets, or our own British bards, and
sang there to some instrument of music the achievements of their
ancestors, and the noble deeds of those who had gone before them, to
inflame others to follow their great examples.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN SHOES.]
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN TORCHES.]
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN DRINKING-BOTTLE.]
[Illustration: ANCIENT ALABASTER BOX.]
The names of almost all these poets sleep in peace with all their works;
and, if we may take the word of the other Roman writers of a better
age, it is no great loss to us. One of their best poets represents them
as very obscure and very contemptible; one of their best historians
avoids quoting them as too barbarous for politer ears; and one of their
most judicious emperors ordered the greatest part of their writings to
be burnt, that the world might be troubled with them no longer.
All these poets, therefore, may very well be dropped in the account,
there being nothing remaining of their works, and probably no merit to
be found in them if they had remained. And so we may date the beginning
of the Roman poetry from Livius Andronicus, the first of their poets of
whom anything does remain to us; and from whom the Romans themselves
seem to have dated the beginning of their poetry, even in the Augustan
age.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN MILL.]
The first kind of poetry that was followed with any success among the
Romans, was that for the stage. They were a very religious people; and
stage plays in those times made no inconsiderable part in their public
devotions; it is hence, perhaps, that the greatest number of their
oldest poets, of whom we have any remains, and, indeed, almost all of
them, are dramatic poets.
SPENCE.
* * * * *
CHARACTER OF JULIUS CAESAR.
[Illustration: Letter C.]
Caesar was endowed with every great and noble quality that could exalt
human nature, and give a man the ascendant in society. Formed to excel
in peace as well as war; provident in council; fearless in action, and
executing what he had resolved with an amazing celerity; generous beyond
measure to his friends; placable to his enemies; and for parts,
learning, and eloquence, scarce inferior to any man. His orations were
admired for two qualities, which are seldom found together, strength and
elegance: Cicero ranks him among the greatest orators that Rome ever
bred; and Quintilian says, that he spoke with the same force with which
he fought; and if he had devoted himself to the bar, would have been the
only man capable of rivalling Cicero. Nor was he a master only of the
politer arts; but conversant also with the most abstruse and critical
parts of learning; and, among other works which he published, addressed
two books to Cicero on the analogy of language, or the art of speaking
and writing correctly. He was a most liberal patron of wit and learning,
wheresoever they were found; and out of his love of those talents, would
readily pardon those who had employed them against himself; rightly
judging, that by making such men his friends, he should draw praises
from the same fountain from which he had been aspersed. His capital
passions were ambition and love of pleasure, which he indulged in their
turns to the greatest excess; yet the first was always predominant--to
which he could easily sacrifice all the charms of the second, and draw
pleasure even from toils and dangers, when they ministered to his glory.
For he thought Tyranny, as Cicero says, the greatest of goddesses; and
had frequently in his mouth a verse of Euripides, which expressed the
image of his soul, that if right and justice were ever to be violated,
they were to be violated for the sake of reigning. This was the chief
end and purpose of his life--the scheme that he had formed from his
early youth; so that, as Cato truly declared of him, he came with
sobriety and meditation to the subversion of the republic. He used to
say, that there were two things necessary to acquire and to support
power--soldiers and money; which yet depended mutually upon each other:
with money, therefore, he provided soldiers, and with soldiers extorted
money, and was, of all men, the most rapacious in plundering both
friends and foes; sparing neither prince, nor state, nor temple, nor
even private persons who were known to possess any share of treasure.
His great abilities would necessarily have made him one of the first
citizens of Rome; but, disdaining the condition of a subject, he could
never rest till he made himself a Monarch. In acting this last part, his
usual prudence seemed to fail him; as if the height to which he was
mounted had turned his head and made him giddy; for, by a vain
ostentation of his power, he destroyed the stability of it; and, as men
shorten life by living too fast, so by an intemperance of reigning he
brought his reign to a violent end.
MIDDLETON.
[Illustration: COIN OF CAESAR AUGUSTUS.]
[Illustration: COIN OF THE EMPEROR TIBERIUS.]
* * * * *
SIEGE OF TYRE.
It appeared to Alexander a matter of great importance, before he went
further, to gain the maritime powers. Upon application, the Kings of
Cyprus and Phoenicea made their submission; only Tyre held out. He
besieged that city seven months, during which time he erected vast
mounds of earth, plied it with his engines, and invested it on the side
next the sea with two hundred gallies. He had a dream in which he saw
Hercules offering him his hand from the wall, and inviting him to enter;
and many of the Tyrians dreamt "that Apollo declared he would go over to
Alexander, because he was displeased with their behaviour in the town,"
Hereupon, the Tyrians, as if the God had been a deserter taken in the
fact, loaded his statue with chains, and nailed the feet to the
pedestal, not scrupling to call him an _Alexandrist_. In another dream,
Alexander thought he saw a satyr playing before him at some distance,
and when he advanced to take him, the savage eluded his grasp. However,
at last, after much coaxing and taking many circuits round him, be
prevailed with him to surrender himself. The interpreters, plausibly
enough, divided the Greek name for _satyr_ into two, _Sa Tyros_, which
signifies _Tyre is thine_. They still show us a fountain near which
Alexander is said to have seen that vision.
[Illustration: CITY OF TYRE.]
About the middle of the siege, he made an excursion against the Arabians
who dwelt about Anti-Libanus. Here he ran a great risk of his life, on
account of his preceptor Lysimachus, who insisted on attending
him--being, as he alleged, neither older nor less valiant than Phoenix;
but when they came to the hills and quitted their horses to march up on
foot, the rest of the party got far before Alexander and Lysimachus.
Night came on, and, as the enemy was at no great distance, the King
would not leave his preceptor, borne down with fatigue and with the
weight of years. Therefore, while he was encouraging and helping him
forward, he was insensibly separated from the troop, and had a cold and
dark night to pass in an exposed and dismal situation. In this
perplexity, he observed at a distance a number of scattered fires which
the enemy had lighted; and depending upon his swiftness and activity as
well as being accustomed to extricate the Macedonians out of every
difficulty, by taking a share in the labour and danger, he ran to the
next fire. After having killed two of the barbarians who watched it, he
seized a lighted brand and hastened with it to his party, who soon
kindled a great fire. The sight of this so intimidated the enemy, that
many of them fled, and those who ventured to attack him were repulsed
with considerable slaughter. By this means he passed the night in
safety, according to the account we have from Charis.
[Illustration: COIN OF TYRE.]
As for the siege, it was brought to a termination in this manner:
Alexander had permitted his main body to repose themselves after the
long and severe fatigues they had undergone, and ordered only some small
parties to keep the Tyrians in play. In the meantime, Aristander, his
principal soothsayer, offered sacrifices; and one day, upon inspecting
the entrails of the victim, he boldly asserted among those around him
that the city would certainly be taken that month. As it happened to be
the last day of that month, his assertion was received with ridicule and
scorn. The King perceiving he was disconcerted, and making it a point to
bring the prophecies of his minister to completion, gave orders that the
day should not be called the 30th, but the 28th of the month; at the
same time he called out his forces by sound of trumpet, and made a much
more vigorous assault than he at first intended. The attack was violent,
and those who were left behind in the camp quitted it, to have a share
in it and to support their fellow-soldiers, insomuch that the Tyrians
were forced to give out, and the city was taken that very day.
LANGHORNE'S _Plutarch_.
* * * * *
THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
[Illustration: Letter T.]
The river Niagara takes its rise in the western extremity of Lake Erie,
and, after flowing about thirty-four miles, empties itself into Lake
Ontario. It is from half a mile to three miles broad; its course is very
smooth, and its depth considerable. The sides above the cataract are
nearly level; but below the falls, the stream rushes between very lofty
rocks, crowned by gigantic trees. The great body of water does not fall
in one complete sheet, but is separated by islands, and forms three
distinct falls. One of these, called the Great Fall, or, from its shape,
the Horse-shoe Fall, is on the Canadian side. Its beauty is considered
to surpass that of the others, although its height is considerably less.
It is said to have a fall of 165 feet; and in the inn, which is about
300 yards from the fall, the concussion of air caused by this immense
cataract is so great, that the window-frames, and, indeed, the whole
house, are continually in a tremulous motion, and in winter, when the
wind drives the spray in the direction of the buildings, the whole scene
is coated with sheets of ice.
[Illustration: THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.]
The great cataract is seen by few travellers in its winter garb. I had
seen it several years before in all the glories of autumn, its
encircling woods, happily spared by the remorseless hatchet, and tinted
with the brilliant hues peculiar to the American "Fall." Now the glory
had departed; the woods were still there, but were generally black, with
occasional green pines; beneath the grey trunks was spread a thick
mantle of snow, and from the brown rocks inclosing the deep channel of
the Niagara River hung huge clusters of icicles, twenty feet in length,
like silver pipes of giant organs. The tumultuous rapids appeared to
descend more regularly than formerly over the steps which distinctly
extended across the wide river. The portions of the British, or
Horse-shoe Fall, where the waters descend in masses of snowy whiteness,
were unchanged by the season, except that vast sheets of ice and icicles
hung on their margin; but where the deep waves of sea-green water roll
majestically over the steep, large pieces of descending ice were
frequently descried on its surface. No rainbows were now observed on the
great vapour-cloud which shrouds for ever the bottom of the Fall; but we
were extremely fortunate to see now plainly what I had looked for in
vain at my last visit, the _water-rockets_, first described by Captain
Hall, which shot up with a train of vapour singly, and in flights of a
dozen, from the abyss near Table Rock, curved towards the east, and
burst and fell in front of the cataract. Vast masses of descending fluid
produce this singular effect, by means of condensed air acting on
portions of the vapour into which the water is comminuted below.
Altogether the appearance was most startling. It was observed at 1 P.M.
from the gallery of Mr. Barnett's museum. The broad sheet of the
American Fall presented the appearance of light-green water and feathery
spray, also margined by huge icicles. As in summer, the water rushing
from under the vapour-cloud of the two Falls was of a milky whiteness as
far as the ferry, when it became dark and interspersed with floating
masses of ice. Here, the year before, from the pieces of ice being
heaped and crushed together in great quantities, was formed a thick and
high bridge of ice, completely across the river, safe for passengers for
some time; and in the middle of it a Yankee speculator had erected a
shanty for refreshments. Lately, at a dinner party, I heard a
staff-officer of talent, but who was fond of exciting wonder by his
narratives, propose to the company a singular wager,--a bet of one
hundred pounds that he would go over the Falls of Niagara and come out
alive at the bottom! No one being inclined to take him up, after a good
deal of discussion as to how this perilous feat was to be accomplished,
the plan was disclosed. To place on Table Rock a crane, with a long arm
reaching over the water of the Horse-shoe Fall; from this arm would
hang, by a stout rope, a large bucket or cask; this would be taken up
some distance above the Fall, where the mill-race slowly glides towards
the cataract; here the adventurer would get into the cask, men stationed
on the Table Rock would haul in the slack of the rope as he descended,
and the crane would swing him clear from the cataract as he passed over.
Here is a chance for any gentleman sportsman to immortalize himself!
SIR JAMES ALEXANDER.
* * * * *
THE SLOTH.
[Illustration]
The Sloth, in its wild condition, spends its whole life on the trees,
and never leaves them but through force or accident; and, what is more
extraordinary, it lives not _upon_ the branches, like the squirrel and
the monkey, but _under_ them. Suspended from the branches, it moves, and
rests, and sleeps. So much of its anatomical structure as illustrates
this peculiarity it is necessary to state. The arm and fore-arm of the
sloth, taken together, are nearly twice the length of the hind legs; and
they are, both by their form and the manner in which they are joined to
the body, quite incapacitated from acting in a perpendicular direction,
or in supporting it upon the earth, as the bodies of other quadrupeds
are supported by their legs. Hence, if the animal be placed on the
floor, its belly touches the ground. The wrist and ankle are joined to
the fore-arm and leg in an oblique direction; so that the palm or sole,
instead of being directed downwards towards the surface of the ground,
as in other animals, is turned inward towards the body, in such a manner
that it is impossible for the sloth to place the sole of its foot flat
down upon a level surface. It is compelled, under such circumstances, to
rest upon the external edge of the foot. This, joined to other
peculiarities in the formation, render it impossible for sloths to walk
after the manner of ordinary quadrupeds; and it is indeed only on broken
ground, when he can lay hold of stones, roots of grass, &c., that he can
get along at all. He then extends his arms in all directions in search
of something to lay hold of; and when he has succeeded, he pulls himself
forward, and is then enabled to trail himself along in the exceedingly
awkward and tardy manner which has procured for him his name.
Mr. Waterton informs us that he kept a sloth for several months in his
room, in order to have an opportunity of observing his motions. If the
ground were rough he would pull himself forward in the manner described,
at a pretty good pace; and he invariably directed his course towards the
nearest tree. But if he was placed upon a smooth and well-trodden part
of the road, he appeared to be in much distress. Within doors, the
favourite position of this sloth was on the back of a chair; and after
getting all his legs in a line on the topmost part of it, he would hang
there for hours together, and often with a low and plaintive cry would
seem to invite the notice of his master. The sloth does not suspend
himself head downward, like the vampire bat, but when asleep he supports
himself from a branch parallel to the earth. He first seizes the branch
with one arm, and then with the other; after which he brings up both his
legs, one by one, to the same branch; so that, as in the Engraving, all
the four limbs are in a line. In this attitude the sloth has the power
of using the fore paw as a hand in conveying food to his mouth, which he
does with great address, retaining meanwhile a firm hold of the branch
with the other three paws. In all his operations the enormous claws with
which the sloth is provided are of indispensable service. They are so
sharp and crooked that they readily seize upon the smallest inequalities
in the bark of the trees and branches, among which the animal usually
resides, and also form very powerful weapons of defence.
The sloth has been said to confine himself to one tree until he has
completely stripped it of its leaves; but Mr. Waterton says, "During the
many years I have ranged the forests, I have never seen a tree in such a
state of nudity; indeed, I would hazard a conjecture, that, by the time
the animal had finished the last of the old leaves, there would be a new
crop on the part of the tree it had stripped first, ready for him to
begin again--so quick is the process of vegetation in these countries.
There is a saying among the Indians, that when the wind blows the sloth
begins to travel. In calm weather he remains tranquil, probably not
liking to cling to the brittle extremities of the branches, lest they
should break with him in passing from one tree to another; but as soon
as the wind arises, and the branches of the neighbouring trees become
interwoven, the sloth then seizes hold of them and travels at such a
good round pace, that any one seeing him, as I have done, pass from tree
to tree, would never think of calling him a sloth."
* * * * *
SIERRA NEVADA, OR SNOWY RANGE OF CALIFORNIA.
"The dividing ridge of the Sierra Nevada is in sight from this
encampment. Accompanied by Mr. Preuss, I ascended to-day the highest
peak to the right, from which we had a beautiful view of a mountain lake
at our feet, about 15 miles in length, and so entirely surrounded by
mountains that we could not discover an outlet. We had taken with us a
glass, but though we enjoyed an extended view, the valley was half
hidden in mist, as when we had seen it before. Snow could be
distinguished on the higher parts of the coast mountains; eastward, as
far as the eye could extend, it ranged over a terrible mass of broken
snowy mountains, fading off blue in the distance. The rock composing the
summit consists of a very coarse, dark, volcanic conglomerate: the lower
parts appeared to be of a very slatey structure. The highest trees were
a few scattered cedars and aspens. From the immediate foot of the peak
we were two hours in reaching the summit, and one hour and a quarter in
descending. The day had been very bright, still, and clear, and spring
seems to be advancing rapidly. While the sun is in the sky the snow
melts rapidly, and gushing springs cover the face of the mountain in all
the exposed places, but their surface freezes instantly with the
disappearance of the sun.
"The Indians of the Sierra make frequent descents upon the settlements
west of the Coast Range, which they keep constantly swept of horses;
among them are many who are called Christian Indians, being refugees
from Spanish missions. Several of these incursions occurred while we
were at Helvetia. Occasionally parties of soldiers follow them across
the Coast Range, but never enter the Sierra."
[Illustration: SIERRA NEVADA, UPPER CALIFORNIA.]