"But how on earth did you get into my new stocks?" asked the Squire,
scratching his head.
"My dear sir, Pliny the elder got into the crater of Mount Etna."
"Did he, and what for?"
"To try what it was like, I suppose," answered Riccabocca.
The Squire burst out a-laughing.
"And so you got into the stocks to try what it was like. Well, I can't
wonder--it is a very handsome pair of stocks," continued the Squire,
with a loving look at the object of his praise. "Nobody need be ashamed
of being seen in those stocks--I should not mind it myself."
"We had better move on," said the Parson dryly, "or we shall be having
the whole village here presently, gazing on the lord of the manor in the
same predicament as that from which we have just extricated the Doctor.
Now pray, what is the matter with Lenny Fairfield? I can't understand a
word of what has passed. You don't mean to say that good Lenny Fairfield
(who was absent from church by the by) can have done any thing to get
into disgrace?"
"Yes, he has though," cried the Squire. "Stirn, I say--Stirn." But Stirn
had forced his way through the hedge and vanished. Thus left to his own
powers of narrative at second-hand, Mr. Hazeldean now told all he had to
communicate: the assault upon Randal Leslie, and the prompt punishment
inflicted by Stirn; his own indignation at the affront to his young
kinsman, and his good-natured merciful desire to save the culprit from
the addition of public humiliation.
The Parson, mollified towards the rude and hasty invention of the
beer-drinking, took the Squire by the hand. "Ah, Mr. Hazeldean, forgive
me," he said repentantly; "I ought to have known at once that it was
only some ebullition of your heart that could stifle your sense of
decorum. But this is a sad story about Lenny, brawling and fighting on
the Sabbath-day. So unlike him, too--I don't know what to make of it."
"Like or unlike," said the Squire, "it has been a gross insult to young
Leslie; and looks all the worse because I and Audley are not just the
best friends in the world. I can't think what it is," continued Mr.
Hazeldean, musingly, "but it seems that there must be always some
association of fighting connected with that prim half-brother of mine.
There was I, son of his own mother--who might have been shot through the
lungs, only the ball lodged in the shoulder--and now his wife's
kinsman--my kinsman, too--grandmother of a Hazeldean--a hard-reading
sober lad, as I am given to understand, can't set his foot into the
quietest parish in the three kingdoms, but what the mildest boy that
ever was seen--makes a rush at him like a mad bull. It is FATALITY!"
cried the Squire solemnly.
"Ancient legend records similar instances of fatality in certain
houses," observed Riccabocca. "There was the House of Pelops--and
Polynices and Eteocles--the sons of Oedipus!"
"Pshaw," said the Parson; "but what's to be done?"
"Done?" said the Squire; "why, reparation must be made to young Leslie.
And though I wished to spare Lenny, the young ruffian, a public
disgrace--for your sake, Parson Dale, and Mrs. Fairfield's;--yet a good
caning in private--"
"Stop, sir!" said Riccabocca mildly, "and hear me." The Italian then,
with much feeling and considerable tact, pleaded the cause of his poor
protege, and explained how Lenny's error arose only from mistaken zeal
for the Squire's service, and in the execution of the orders received
from Mr. Stirn.
"That alters the matter," said the Squire, softened; "and all that is
necessary now will be for him to make a proper apology to my kinsman."
"Yes, that is just," rejoined the Parson; "but I still don't learn how
he got out of the stocks."
Riccabocca then resumed his tale; and, after confessing his own
principal share in Lenny's escape, drew a moving picture of the boy's
shame and honest mortification. "Let us march against Philip!" cried the
Athenians when they heard Demosthenes--
"Let us go at once and comfort the child!" cried the Parson, before
Riccabocca could finish.
With that benevolent intention, all three quickened their pace, and soon
arrived at the widow's cottage. But Lenny had caught sight of their
approach through the window; and not doubting that, in spite of
Riccabocca's intercession, the Parson was come to upbraid, and the
Squire to re-imprison, he darted out by the back way, got amongst the
woods, and lay there _perdu_ all the evening. Nay, it was not till after
dark that his mother--who sat wringing her hands in the little kitchen
and trying in vain to listen to the Parson and Mrs. Dale, who (after
sending in search of the fugitive) had kindly come to console the
mother--heard a timid knock at the door and a nervous fumble at the
latch. She started up, opened the door, and Lenny sprang to her bosom,
and there buried his face, sobbing loud.
"No harm, my boy," said the Parson tenderly; "you have nothing to
fear--all is explained and forgiven."
Lenny looked up, and the veins on his forehead were much swollen. "Sir,"
said he sturdily, "I don't want to be forgiven--I ain't done no wrong.
And--I've been disgraced--and I won't go to school, never no more."
"Hush, Carry!" said the Parson to his wife, who, with the usual
liveliness of her little temper, was about to expostulate. "Good night,
Mrs. Fairfield. I shall come and talk to you to-morrow, Lenny; by that
time you will think better of it."
The Parson then conducted his wife home, and went up to the Hall to
report Lenny's safe return; for the Squire was very uneasy about him,
and had even in person shared the search. As soon as he heard Lenny was
safe--"Well," said the Squire, "let him go the first thing in the
morning to Rood Hall, to ask Master Leslie's pardon, and all will be
right and smooth again."
"A young villain!" cried Frank, with his cheeks the color of scarlet;
"to strike a gentleman and an Etonian, who had just been to call on
_me_! But I wonder Randal let him off so well--any other boy in the
sixth form would have killed him!"
"Frank," said the Parson sternly, "if we all had our deserts, what
should be done to him who not only lets the sun go down on his own
wrath, but strives with uncharitable breath to fan the dying embers of
another's?"
The clergyman here turned away from Frank, who bit his lip, and seemed
abashed--while even his mother said not a word in his exculpation; for
when the Parson did reprove in that stern tone, the majesty of the Hall
stood awed before the rebuke of the Church. Catching Riccabocca's
inquisitive eye, Mr. Dale drew aside the philosopher, and whispered to
him his fears that it would be a very hard matter to induce Lenny to beg
Randal Leslie's pardon, and that the proud stomach of the pattern-boy
would not digest the stocks with as much ease as a long regimen of
philosophy had enabled the sage to do. This conference Miss Jemima soon
interrupted by a direct appeal to the Doctor respecting the number of
years (even without any previous and more violent incident) that the
world could possibly withstand its own wear and tear.
"Ma'am," said the Doctor, reluctantly summoned away to look at a passage
in some prophetic periodical upon that interesting subject--"ma'am, it
is very hard that you should make one remember the end of the world,
since, in conversing with you, one's natural temptation is to forget its
existence."
Miss Jemima blushed scarlet. Certainly that deceitful heartless
compliment justified all her contempt for the male sex; and yet--such is
human blindness--it went far to redeem all mankind in her credulous and
too confiding soul.
"He is about to propose," sighed Miss Jemima.
"Giacomo," said Riccabocca, as he drew on his nightcap, and stepped
majestically into the four-posted bed, "I think we shall get that boy
for the garden now!"
Thus each spurred his hobby, or drove her car, round the Hazeldean
whirligig.
* * * * *
CONDITIONS OF IMMORTALITY.
Hume, the historian, was a competitor with Burke for the professorship
of logic in the University of Glasgow, made vacant by the appointment of
Adam Smith to the chair of moral philosophy. The place was given to a
Mr. Clow, who owes the perpetuation of his name thus long to the
distinguished rivals whom he distanced, and the illustrious professor
whom he succeeded.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] _Du Credit et des Banques, Paris, 1848._
[31] Un des plus beaux ouvrages assurement qu'on ait publies sur le
credit.--_Journal des Economistes._
[32] _"Entre tout, l'etat d'une prison est le plus doux, et le plus
profitable!"_
[33] Munito was the name of a dog famous for his learning (a Porson of a
dog) at the date of my childhood. There are no such dogs now-a-days.
From Frazer's Magazine
DANTE.
BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
Ere blasts from northern lands
Had covered Italy with barren sands,
Rome's Genius, smitten sore,
Wail'd on the Danube, and was heard no more.
Centuries twice seven had past
And crush'd Etruria rais'd her head at last.
A mightier Power she saw,
Poet and prophet, give three worlds the law.
When Dante's strength arose
Fraud met aghast the boldest of her foes;
Religion, sick to death,
Look'd doubtful up, and drew in pain her breath.
Both to one grave are gone;
Alters still smoke, still is the God unknown.
Haste, whoso from above
Comest with purer fire and larger love,
Quenchest the Stygian torch,
And leadest from the _Garden_ and the _Porch_,
Where gales breathe fresh and free,
And where a Grace is call'd a Charity,
To Him, the God of peace,
Who bids all discord in his household cease--
Bids it, and bids again,
But to the purple-vested speaks in vain.
Crying, 'Can this be borne?'
The consecrated wine-skins creak with scorn;
While, leaving tumult there,
To quiet idols young and old repair,
In places where is light
To lighten day--and dark to darken night.
From Sharpe's Magazine
AN EDITORIAL VISIT.
BY THEODORE S. FAY.
I was passing from my office one day, to indulge myself with a walk,
when a little hard-faced old man, with a black coat, broad-brimmed hat,
velvet breeches, shoes and buckles, and gold-headed cane, stopped me,
standing directly in my path. I looked at him. He looked at me. I
crossed my hands before me patiently, forced my features into a civil
smile, and waited the development of his intentions; not being
distinctly certain, from his firm, determined expression, whether he was
"a spirit of health or goblin damned," and whether his intents were
"wicked or charitable"--that is, whether he came to discontinue or to
subscribe, to pay a bill or present one, to offer a communication or a
pistol, to shake me by the hand, or pull me by the nose. Editors
now-a-days must always be on their guard. For my part, I am peaceable,
and much attached to life, and should esteem it exceedingly disagreeable
to be either shot, or horsewhipped. I am not built for action, but love
to sail in quiet waters; cordially eschewing gales, waves, water-spouts,
sea-serpents, earthquakes, tornadoes, and all such matters, both on sea
and land. My antipathy to a horsewhip is an inheritance from boyhood. It
carried me across Caesar's bridge, and through Virgil and Horace. I am
indebted to it for a tolerable understanding of grammar, arithmetic,
geography, and other occult sciences. It enlightened me not a little
upon many algebraic processes, which, to speak truth, presented,
otherwise, but slender claims to my consideration. It disciplined me
into a uniform propriety of manners, and instilled into my bosom early
rudiments of wisdom, and principles of virtue. In my maturer years, the
contingencies of life have thrust me rather abruptly, if not
reluctantly, into the editorial fraternity (heaven bless them, I mean
them no disrespect), and in the same candor which distinguishes my
former acknowledgments, I confess that visions of this instrument have
occasionally obtruded themselves somewhat forcibly upon my fancy, in the
paroxysms of an article, dampening the glow of composition, and causing
certain qualifying interlineations and prudent erasures, prompted by the
representations of memory or the whispers of prudence. The reader must
not fancy, from the form of my expression, that I have ever been
horsewhipped. I have hitherto escaped, (for which Heaven be praised!)
although my horizon has been darkened by many a cloudy threat, and
thundering denunciation.
Nose-pulling is another disagreeable branch of the editorial business.
To have any part of one pulled is annoying; but there is a dignity about
the nose impatient even of observation or remark: while the act of
taking hold of it with the thumb and finger is worse than murder, and
can only be washed out with blood. Kicking, cuffing, being turned out of
doors, being abused in the papers, &c., are bad, but these are mere
minor considerations. Indeed, many of my brother editors rather pique
themselves upon some of them, as a soldier does on the scars obtained in
fighting the battles of his country; they fancy that, thereby, they are
invested with claims upon their party, and suffer indefinite dreams of
political eminence to be awakened in their bosoms. I have seen a fellow
draw his hat fiercely down over his brow, and strut about, with
insufferable importance, on the strength of having been thoroughly
kicked by the enemy.
This is a long digression, but it passed rapidly through my mind as the
little, hard-faced old gentleman stood before me, looking at me with a
piercing glance, and a resolute air. At length, unlike a ghost, he spoke
first.
"You are the editor?"--&c.
"A slight motion of acquiescence with my head, and an affirmative wave
of my hand, a little leaning toward the majestic, announced to my
unknown friend the accuracy of his conjecture."
The little old gentleman's face relaxed--he took off his broad-brimmed
hat, and laid it down with his cane carefully on the table, then seized
my hand and shook it heartily. People are so polite and friendly when
about to ask a favor.
"My dear air," said he, "this is a pleasure I have long sought vainly.
You must know, sir. I am the editor of a theatrical weekly--a neat thing
in its way--here's the last number." He fumbled about in his pocket, and
produced a red-covered pamphlet.
"I have been some time publishing it, and though it is admitted by all
acquainted with its merits to be clearly the best thing of the kind ever
started this side of the Atlantic, yet people do not seem to take much
notice of it. Indeed, my friends tell me that the public are not fully
aware of its existence. Pray let me be indebted to you for a notice. I
wish to get fairly afloat. You see I have been too diffident about it.
We modest fellows allow our inferiors to pass us often. I will leave
this number with you. Pray, pray give it a good notice."
He placed in my hands the eleventh number of the "North American
Thespian Magazine," devoted to the drama, and also to literature,
science, history, and the arts. On reading over the prospectus, I found
it vastly comprehensive, embracing pretty much every subject in the
world. If so extensive a plan were decently filled up in the details,
the "North American Thespian Magazine" was certainly worth the annual
subscription money, which was only one dollar. I said so under my
"literary notices" in the next impression of my journal; and, although I
had not actually read the work, yet it sparkled so with asterisks,
dashes, and notes of admiration, that it looked interesting. I added in
my critique, that it was elegantly got up, that its typographical
execution reflected credit on the publishers, that its failure would be
a grievous reproach to the city, that its editor was a scholar, a
writer, and a gentleman, and was favorably known to the literary circles
by the eloquence, wit, and feeling of his former productions. What those
productions were, I should have been rather puzzled to say, never having
read, or even heard of them. This, however, was the cant criticism of
the day, which is so exorbitant and unmeaning, and so universally cast
in one mould, that I was in some tribulation, on reading over the
article in print, to find that I had omitted the words, "native genius,"
which possesses a kind of common-law right to a place in all articles on
American literary productions. Forth, however, it went to the world, and
I experienced a philanthropic emotion in fancying how pleased the
little, hard-faced old gentleman would be with these flattering
encomiums on his "Thespian Magazine."
The very day my paper was out, as I was sitting "full fathom five" deep
in an article on "The Advantages of Virtue" (an interesting theme, upon
my views of which I rather flattered myself), I was startled by three
knocks at the door, and my "Come in" exhibited to view the broad-brimmed
hat of the hard-faced gentleman, with his breeches, buckles, gold-headed
cane and all. He laid aside his hat and cane with the air of a man who
has walked a great way, and means to rest himself a while. I was very
busy. It was one of my inspired moments. Half of a brilliant idea was
already committed to paper. There it lay--a fragment--a flower cut off
in the bud--a mere outline--an embryo; and my imagination cooling like a
piece of red-hot iron in the open air. I raised my eyes to the old
gentleman, with a look of solemn silence, retaining my pen ready for
action, with my little finger extended, and hinting, in every way, that
I was "not i' the vein." I kept my lips closed. I dipped the pen in the
inkstand several times, and held it hovering over the sheet. It would
not do. The old gentleman was not to be driven off his ground by shakes
of the pen, ink-drops, or little fingers. He fumbled about in his
pockets, and drew forth the red-covered "North American Thespian
Magazine," devoted to the drama, &c., number twelve. He wanted "a _good_
notice." The last was rather general. I had not specified its peculiar
claims upon the public. I had _copied_ nothing. That sort of critique
did no good. He begged me to _read_ this _carefully_--to _analyze_
it--to give it a _candid_ examination. I was borne down by his emphatic
manner; and being naturally of a civil deportment, as well as, at that
particular moment, in an impatient, feverish hurry to get on with my
treatise on the "Advantages of Virtue," which I felt now oozing out of
my subsiding brain with an alarming rapidity, I promised to read,
notice, investigate, analyze, to the uttermost extent of his wishes, or
at least of my ability.
I could scarcely keep myself screwed down to common courtesy till the
moment of his departure; a proceeding which he accomplished with a most
commendable self-possession and deliberate politeness. When he was
fairly gone, I poked my head out, and called my boy.
"Peter."
"Sir."
"Did you see that little old gentleman, Peter?"
"Yes, sir."
"Should you know him again, Peter?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, if he ever come here again, Peter, tell him I am not in."
"Yes, sir."
I reentered my little study, and closed the door after me with a slam,
which could only have been perceptible to those who knew my ordinary
still and mild manner. There might have been also a slight accent in my
way of turning the key, and (candor is a merit!) I could not repress a
brief exclamation of displeasure at the little old gentleman with his
magazine, who had broken in so provokingly upon my "essay on virtue."
"Virtue or no virtue," thought I, "I wish him to the d----."
My room is on the ground-floor, and a window adjoining the street lets
in upon me the light and air through a heavy crimson curtain, near which
I sit and scribble. I was just enlarging upon the necessity of
resignation, while the frown yet lingered on my brow, and was writing
myself into a more calm and complacent mood, when--another knock at the
door. As I opened it, I heard Peter's voice asserting sturdily that I
had "gone out." Never dreaming of my old enemy, I betrayed too much of
my person to withdraw, and I was recognized and pounced upon by the
little old gentleman who had come back to inform me that he intended, as
soon as the increase of his subscription would permit, to enlarge and
improve the "North American Thespian Magazine," and to employ all the
writers in town. "I intend also," said he, and he was in the act of
again laying aside that everlasting hat and cane, when a cry of fire in
the neighborhood, and the smell of the burning rafters attracted him
into the street, where, as I feared, he escaped unhurt. In many respects
fires are calamities; but I never saw a more forcible exemplification of
Shakspeare's remark, "There is some spirit of good in things evil," than
in the relief afforded me on the present occasion. I wrote, after that,
with my door locked. This I knew was, from the confined air, prejudicial
to my health; but what was dyspepsy or consumption to that little
hard-faced old gentleman--to those breeches--to that broad-brimmed
hat--to those buckles--to that gold-headed cane?
"Remember, Peter," said I, the second morning after the foregoing, "I
have gone out."
"Where have you gone?" inquired Peter, with grave simplicity. "They
always ask me where you have gone, sir. The little man with the hat was
here last night, and wanted to go after you."
"Forbid it Heaven! I have gone to Albany, Peter, on business."
I can hear in my room pretty much what passes in the adjoining one,
where visitors first enter from the street. I had scarcely got
comfortably seated, in a rare mood for poetry, giving the last touches
to a poem, which, whatever might be the merits of Byron and Moore, I did
not think altogether indifferent, when I heard the little old
gentleman's voice inquiring for me.
"I _must_ see him; I have important business," it said.
"He has gone out," replied Peter, in an undertone, in which I could
detect the consciousness that he was uttering a bouncer.
"But I _must_ see him," said the voice.
"The scoundrel!" muttered I.
"He is not in town, sir," said Peter.
"I will not detain him a single minute. It is of the greatest
importance. He would be very sorry, _very_, should he miss me."
I held my breath--there was a pause--I gave myself up for lost--when
Peter replied firmly,
"He is in Albany, sir. Went off at five o'clock this morning."
"Be back soon?"
"Don't know."
"Where does he stay?"
"Don't know."
"I'll call tomorrow."
I heard his retreating footsteps, and inwardly resolved to give Peter a
half-dollar, although he deserved to be horsewhipped for his readiness
at deception. I laughed aloud triumphantly, and slapped my hand down
upon my knee with the feelings of a fugitive debtor, who, hotly pursued
by a sheriff's officer, escapes over the line into another county, and
snaps his fingers at Monsieur Bailiff. I was aroused from my merry mood
of reverie by a touch on my shoulder. I turned suddenly. It was the
hard-faced little old gentleman, peeping in from the street. His
broad-brimmed hat and two-thirds of his face were just lifted above the
window-sill. He was evidently standing on tiptoe; and the window being
open, he had put aside the curtain, and was soliciting my attention with
the end of his cane.
"Ah!" said he, "is it you? Well, I _thought_ it was you, though I wasn't
sure. I won't interrupt you. Here are the proofs of number thirteen;
you'll find something glorious in that--just the thing for you--don't
forget me next week--good-bye. I'll see you again in a day or two."
I shall not cast a gloom over my readers by dwelling upon my feelings.
Surely, surely, there are sympathetic bosoms among them. To them I
appeal. I said nothing. Few could have detected any thing violent or
extraordinary in my manner, as I took the proofs from the end of the
little old gentleman's cane, and laid them calmly on the table. I did
not write any more about "virtue" that morning. It was out of the
question. Indeed, my mind scarcely recovered from the shock for several
days.
When my nerves are in any way irritated, I find a walk in the woods a
soothing and agreeable sedative. Accordingly, the next afternoon, I
wound up the affairs of the day earlier than usual, and set out for a
ramble through the groves and along the shore of Hoboken. I was soon on
one of the abrupt acclivities, where, through the deep rich foliage of
the intertwining branches, I overlooked the Hudson, the wide bay, and
the superb, steepled city, stretching in a level line of magnificence
upon the shining waters, softened with an overhanging canopy of thin
haze. I gazed at the picture, and contemplated the rivalry of nature
with art, striving which could most delight. As my eye moved from ship
to ship, from island to island, and from shore to shore--now reposing on
the distant blue, then revelling in the nearer luxuriance of the forest
green, I heard a step in the grass, and a little ragged fellow came up
and asked me if I was the editor of the ----. I was about replying to
him affirmatively, when his words arrested my attention. "A little
gentleman with a hat and cane," he said, "had been inquiring for the
editor, &c., at the adjoining hotel, and had given him sixpence to run
up into the woods and find him." I rushed precipitately, as I thought,
into the thickest recesses of the wood. The path, however, being very
circuitous, I suddenly came into it, and nearly ran against a person
whom it needed no second glance to recognize, although his back was
luckily toward me. The hat, the breeches, the cane, were enough. If not,
part of a red-covered pamphlet, sticking out of the coat-pocket, was.
"It must be number thirteen!" I exclaimed; and as the little old
gentleman was sauntering north, I shaped my course with all possible
celerity in a southerly direction.
In order to protect myself for the future, I took precautionary
measures; and in addition to having myself denied, I kept the window
down, and made my egress and ingress through a door round the corner, as
Peter told me he had several times seen the little old gentleman, with a
package in his hand, standing opposite the one through which we usually
entered, and looking at the office wistfully.
By means of these arrangements, I succeeded in preserving my solitude
inviolate, when, to my indignation, I received several letters from
different parts of the country, written by my friends, and pressing upon
me, at the solicitation of the little old gentleman, the propriety of
giving the "Thespian Magazine" a good notice. I tore the letters, each
one as I read them, into three pieces, and dropped them under the table.
Business calling me, soon after, to Philadelphia, I stepped on board the
steamboat, exhilarated with the idea that I was to have at least two or
three weeks' respite. I reached the place of my destination about five
o'clock in the afternoon. It was lovely weather. The water spread out
like unrippled glass, and the sky was painted with a thousand varying
shadows of crimson and gold. The boat touched the shore, and while I was
watching the change of a lovely cloud, I heard the splash of a heavy
body plunged into the water. A sudden sensation ran along the crowd,
which rushed from all quarters towards the spot; the ladies shrieked and
turned away their heads: and I perceived that a man had fallen from the
deck, and was struggling in the tide, with only one hand held
convulsively above the surface. Being a practised swimmer, I hesitated
not a moment, but flung off my hat and coat, and sprang to his rescue.
With some difficulty I succeeded in bearing him to a boat and dragging
him from the stream. I had no sooner done so, than to my horror and
astonishment I found I had saved the little hard-faced old gentleman.
His snuff-colored breeches were dripping before me--his broad-brimmed
hat floated on the current--but his cane (thank Heaven!) had sunk
forever. He suffered no other ill consequences from the catastrophe than
some injury to his garments and the loss of his cane. His gratitude for
my exertions knew no bounds. He assured me of his conviction that the
slight acquaintance previously existing between us would now be ripened
into intimacy, and informed me of his intention to lodge at the same
hotel with me. He had come to Philadelphia to see about a plate for his
sixteenth number, which was to surpass all its predecessors, and of
which he would let me have an early copy, that I might _notice_ it as it
deserved.
* * * * *
"Never," said Southey, writing to his friend Bedford, "shall child of
mine enter a school or a university. Perhaps I may not be able so well
to instruct him in logic or languages, but I can at least preserve him
from vice."
From the Kings's College Magazine.
BIOGRAPHIES, LIVES, MEMOIRS, AND RECOLLECTIONS.
Innumerable biographies, innumerable traces of human life that is now
life no longer, may be met with in every walk. One lovely day, now some
time ago, we had been taking a walk in a part of England of which we had
little knowledge, and we came up to the gate of what appeared to be a
large hospital. It was covered with trees, and the beauty of summer was
luxuriantly displayed. The grayheaded porter at the gate, a very
communicative and happy old man, aged eighty-eight years, soon gave us a
history of the institution. This hospital had been built by a man who
was much renowned. He had been once a poor shopboy, but he wandered to
London, was very industrious, and at length became one of the greatest
merchants of the imperial city. He realized the visions of Whittington;
for he was twice Lord Mayor, was exceedingly wealthy, was honored with
the friendship of King William the Third, and was universally respected.
Age coming on, he retired to his native place, built and endowed this
hospital, became famous for his deeds of kindness and charity, always
kept with reverence the day on which the Prince of Orange landed on
English ground, and, full of years and honors, sunk into his long
repose. The charitable institution was situated amid the most beautiful
scenery. No place could be more fitting for the old men who sat basking
in the sun to spend the quiet evening of their lives. This was the
biography of the great city merchant. It was not written in many
volumes; his good deeds were not ostentatiously displayed, and he now
sleeps peacefully and well.
But this was not all. On returning through a magnificent park, as the
sun was setting, the haymakers returning from their labor, and all
nature breathing peace, and happiness, and love, our attention was
attracted to an old oak tree. It was indeed very old. It had seen all
its brethren of the park rise and fall, seasons had come and gone,
generations had reposed beneath its branches, and now they were reposing
under the shadow of the old church, the clock of which had just struck
the hour of six. On examining the tree closely, we were astonished to
find carved in immense letters, and in quaint language, the following
words:--
"This tree witnesse beare,
That two lovers did walke heare."
Under the influence of the feelings which the sights we had just seen
had excited, and enraptured as we were with the beautiful evening, this
simple inscription seemed more touching than the noblest verses. Knowing
something of botany, it was not difficult to form some idea of the
period when the inscription was written. It was not merely the external
bark, but the deep woody layer also that had been cut by the carver's
knife. It must have been cut while the tree was very young, for the bark
had very much expanded, and the letters were now more than a foot in
length. We stood contemplating the rude verse. In the distance the sun
was placidly reflecting the last golden rays, every thing was fresh and
green, not a sound was heard. It must have been on such another lovely
eve that the two lovers had plighted their faith together, and
commemorated it on the young oak tree; and this was all we knew of them,
all that we would ever know. This was their biography; this was their
ten volumes. Were they rich and noble, or poor and obscure? Did their
lives pass in peace and content, or were their hearts pierced by the
poisoned arrows of the world? Did they also feel how little real
happiness there was here, and did they also look forward to the time
when they should rest from their labors in a place where there was no
suffering and no sorrow? Were they really happy in each other's love, or
were their young and pure affections chilled by the winds of adversity?
In vain we question the old oak tree. They are gone; the tree is silent;
all that we know is that they walked here. And the world with its noise
and folly is still going on, and publishing its biographies of ten
volumes.
From the Quarterly Review.
PHENOMENA OF DEATH.
To be shot dead is one of the easiest modes of terminating life; yet,
rapid as it is, the body has leisure to feel and time to reflect. On the
first attempt by one of the frantic adherents of Spain to assassinate
William, Prince of Orange, who took the lead in the revolt of the
Netherlands, the ball passed through the bones of his face, and brought
him to the ground. In the instant that preceded stupefaction, he was
able to frame the notion that the ceiling of the room had fallen and
crushed him. The cannon shot which plunged into the brain of Charles
XII. did not prevent him from seizing his sword by the hilt. The idea of
an attack and the necessity for defence was impressed upon him by a blow
which we should have supposed too tremendous to leave an interval for
thought. But it by no means follows that the infliction of fatal
violence is accompanied by a pang. From what is known of the first
effect of gunshot wounds, it is probable that the impression is rather
stunning than acute. Unless death be immediate, the pain is as varied as
the nature of the injuries, and these are past counting up. But there is
nothing singular in the dying sensations, though Lord Byron remarked the
physiological peculiarity, that the expression is invariably that of
languor, while in death from a stab the countenance reflects the traits
of natural character--of gentleness or ferocity--to the last breath.
Some of these cases are of interest, to show with what slight
disturbance life may go on under mortal wound till it suddenly comes to
a final stop. A foot-soldier at Waterloo, pierced by a musket ball in
the hip, begged water from a trooper who chanced to possess a canteen
of beer. The wounded man drank, returned his heartiest thanks, mentioned
that his regiment was nearly exterminated, and having proceeded a dozen
yards in his way to the rear, fell to the earth, and with one convulsive
movement of his limbs concluded his career. "Yet his voice," says the
trooper, who himself tells the story, "gave scarcely the smallest sign
of weakness." Captain Basil Hall, who in his early youth was present at
the Battle of Corunna, has singled out from the confusion which consigns
to oblivion the woes and gallantry of war, another instance extremely
similar, which occurred on that occasion. An old officer, who was shot
in the head, arrived pale and faint at the temporary hospital, and
begged the surgeon to look at his wound, which was pronounced to be
mortal. "Indeed I feared so," he responded with impeded utterance, "and
yet I should like very much to live a little longer, if it were
possible." He laid his sword upon a stone at his side, "as gently," says
Hall, "as if its steel had been turned to glass, and almost immediately
sunk dead upon the turf."
From the "Leader."
BURLESQUES AND PARODIES.
Among the signs of intellectual barrenness and the vicious pandering to
lower appetites, consequent upon the _trading_ spirit of literature, we
note with regret the growing tendency to desecrate beautiful subjects by
using them as materials for burlesque. We have had a _Comic History of
England_--one of the dreariest and least excusable of jokes, and capable
of for ever vulgarizing in the young mind the great deeds and noble life
of our forefathers--and we have had burlesques in which the loved fairy
tales that have charmed the imaginations of thousands, or subjects of
mythology that belong to the religious history of the greatest people on
record, are turned into coarse pot-house jests, with slang for wit, but
_without_ the playful elegance by which Planche justifies his sport. It
is a sign of intellectual barrenness in the writers; for what is easier
than parody? what means of raising a laugh so certain and so cheap as to
roll a statue from its pedestal and stick some vulgar utensil in its
place? Laughter always follows the incongruous; and to make a Grecian
Deity call for a pot of half-and-half, or to ask a Fairy Princess if her
mother has parted with her mangle, is to secure the laugh, though
contempt may follow it. To our minds there is something melancholy in
such spectacles. Degrading lofty images by ignoble associations must
operate maleficiently on the spectator. And if it be absolutely
necessary to appeal to the coarse tastes and vulgar appetites of the
crowd, let it be done without at the same time dragging beautiful
objects through the mire.
We can understand the ribald buffoonery of LUCIAN, who first invented
this species of burlesque. His _object_ was to make the gods ridiculous.
Whether the spirit which moved him was a mocking, skeptical spirit, like
that of Voltaire, or whether, as we think more probable, he was a bitter
satirist made bitter by the earnestness of his conviction, and
ridiculing the gods only as a _reductio ad absurdum_ of their
pretensions, the fact is indubitable, that he ridiculed them in a
polemical spirit, and not to excite the vulgar laughter of the vulgar
crowd. But we, who do not believe in those gods, need no such warfare.
To us they are beautiful images associated only with high thoughts,
until the burlesque writer, in his beggary of wit and invention, takes
them as the facile material out of which he can raise a laugh. Our
complaint is twofold: first, that these subjects are soiled in our
imaginations; secondly, that there is no compensating pleasure in the
burlesque itself. The tendency is earthward, coarse, vulgarizing. It
spoils a whole world of fancy, and it keeps down the creation of comic
subjects by supplying writers with an easy and certain success. Surely,
there is folly and humbug enough living and lying in the open day to
supply the satirist with material. Surely, these imitators of LUCIAN
(unconscious imitators, no doubt, for many of them never read a line of
his dialogues) would be better employed in imitating the _spirit_ of his
works as well as the mere contrivance for producing the ludicrous, than
in devastating Fairy Land for materials. It would be more difficult, no
doubt, but is _that_ a sufficient reason for abstaining?
Music may be parodied with success, and without evil consequences. That
lies in the nature of music, which cannot be degraded. Let a hoarse,
beery voice, chant slang words to a melody of Mozart, and the next time
you hear the melody, it is as fresh and beautiful as if it had never
been turned "to such vile purpose;" but it is not so with the beautiful
creations of impassioned fancy. Fancy is a Butterfly which must be
delicately handled; if rude fingers tamper with it, the flower-dust is
rubbed off and the gay insect perishes.
JOHN ADAMS UPON RICHES.
In the thirty-sixth year of his age, John Adams made the following entry
in his Diary. He was then practising law in Boston, though living in
Braintree.
"It has been my fate to be acquainted in the way of business with a
number of very rich men--Gardiner, Bowdoin, Pitts, Hancock, Rowe, Lee,
Sargent, Hooper, Doane. Hooper, Gardiner, Rowe, Lee and Doane, have all
acquired their wealth by their own industry; Bowdoin and Hancock
received theirs by succession, descent, or devise; Pitts by marriage.
But there is not one of all these who derives more pleasure from his
property than I do from mine; my little farm and stock and cash afford
me as much satisfaction as all their immense tracts, extensive
navigation, sumptuous buildings, their vast sums at interest and stocks
in trade yield to them. The pleasures of property arise from
acquisition more than possession, from what is to come rather than what
is. The rich are seldom remarkable for modesty, ingenuity or humanity.
Their wealth has rather a tendency to make them penurious and selfish."
RECENT DEATHS.
FRANCIS XAVIER MICHAEL TOMIE, S.J., died on the tenth of December, 1850.
We find in the _Truth-Teller_ the following account of this excellent
person, with whom we had the pleasure of such acquaintance as assures us
of its justice. He was born in 1792, in Tivoli, of the most respectable
family in the place. He made his studies at home, under a private tutor;
pursued them in the Roman Seminary until the reestablishment of the
Society in 1814; that year he entered the novitiate, and immediately
began to teach literature. He terminated with great distinction his
course of theology, and as soon as the Roman College was restored to the
Society, in 1825, was appointed Professor. In the twelve following years
he was successively Rector of the Colleges of Spoleto, Fermo, Forli, and
Reggio di Modena. At Spoleto he was an intimate friend of Pius the
Ninth, then Cardinal Archbishop Mastai. While Rector of the College of
Fermo, he was chosen by Cardinal Ferretti, its founder, his theologian,
and never did this Cardinal, even when in Rome, cease to place
confidence in his advice. In 1837 he was designated Professor of Moral
Theology, and Prefect of Studies in the Roman College, where he lived
till the Revolution of 1848. Gregory XVI. had appointed him Examinator
of the Roman Clergy, during which time he had prepared several
dissertations, treatises, &c., on theology and philosophy, which may
some day be published. On the breaking out of the Revolution he retired
some time to Monseigneur Morini, of Florence, until this learned and
devout man was stabbed in the streets for his opposition to the
revolutionists. Thus cast upon the world without a protector, he wished
to take refuge in the Sanctuary of the Virgin, at Genezzano, which
according to tradition was transported thither from Albania, and is
still kept by the Hermits of St. Augustine. His superior's wish however
sent him to England, where he lived six months in the mansion of Lord
Waterton. In 1849 he came to America, and taught moral theology in
Georgetown College. In 1850 he began to fill the same office (i.e.,
Professor of Moral Theology) in St. Joseph's Seminary, in the diocese of
New-York. He was endeared to the Church for his mildness, cheerfulness,
and charity, insomuch that among the younger students of St. John's
College he was known as the "Good Father, who is always smiling." On the
6th of December he fell ill; on the 8th, the President of St. John's
College, in presence of the Fathers and Religious of the Society,
administered the viaticum. The following night he was anointed; and on
the 10th, towards ten o'clock in the afternoon, he breathed his last. On
the evening of the 11th, at six o'clock, according to the custom of the
Society, a solemn service was celebrated by all the members of St.
John's College and Seminary. On the 12th, at six o'clock A. M., he was
buried in the cemetery attached to the College.
* * * * *
WILLIAM PLUMER, formerly governor of New-Hampshire, died at his home in
Epping, Rockingham county, in that State, on the 23d of December, at the
advanced age of ninety-three, and SAMUEL BELL, another ex-governor of
New-Hampshire, died at his home in the neighboring town of Chester, on
the same day. His age could not have been less than eighty. Both were
men of solid though not brilliant abilities; both were leaders of the
Democratic party in its struggles in support of Jefferson and Madison;
both ardent supporters of John Quincy Adams's election and
administration, and adverse to Jacksonism in all its phases; and each
has acted constantly and zealously with the Whig party through all its
changing fortunes. Mr. Plumer was first elected to the Chief Magistracy
in 1812, and continued to be the Democratic candidate, with alternate
success and defeat, until 1819, when he declined, and Mr. Bell was
nominated by the party, and chosen to succeed him. Mr. Bell was of a
tall, graceful, commanding person. It was stated at the time of his
inauguration that he seemed to be about a head taller than any other of
the thousands present at the ceremony. He was chosen a senator in
Congress in 1823, and served through a full term; and would have been
reelected in 1829, had not Isaac Hill meantime invented and given
currency to a new style of Democracy, of which Bell had not been able to
discern the excellence; so he retired to private life, in which he ever
afterward continued. He cherished an especial affection for and
confidence in the great statesman of the west, Henry Clay, with whom it
had been his fortune to sympathize through his whole political life, and
whom he hoped yet to see elevated to the Presidency. His brother, John
Bell, who was governor some years after him, and beaten in 1829 by the
first successful foray of Jacksonism, removed soon after to
Massachusetts, where he died. Governor Plumer, it is understood, has
left important historical memoirs, which will probably be published.
* * * * *
THOMAS BIRCH, the well-known painter, died in Philadelphia on the 14th
of January, at the ripe age of seventy-two, after a life of quiet and
laborious devotion to his profession. He was distinguished in a
particular department of landscape and marine painting, delighting in
the treatment of coast and river scenes in their simpler and homelier
aspects, which he treated in his peculiar way, frequently with the best
effect, and always with great fidelity to nature. He produced a very
large number of pictures.
* * * * *
CHRISTIAN LAURITZ SVERDRUP, the celebrated Norwegian philologist, died
at the University of Christiana, in which he had been a professor more
than forty-five years.
* * * * *
MR. W. SEGUIN, the eminent singer, died in London, on the 30th December,
after a short illness.
* * * * *
MRS. OGILVY, of Corrimony, who died at Edinburgh on the 14th of
December, was a daughter of W. Fraser Tytler, Esq., and as "Margaret
Fraser Tytler," was well known as the authoress of a very popular series
of works for the young--"Tales of the Great and Brave," "Tales of Good
and Great Kings," "Lives of Celebrated Admirals," &c.
* * * * *
WILLIAM HOWISON, A.R.S.A., a well-known line engraver, died in
Edinburgh, on the 20th December. He was born at Edinburgh, in 1798. He
was educated in George Heriot's Hospital; and on leaving that
institution was apprenticed to an engraver, of the name of Wilson. Even
as a boy he was remarkable for industry, perseverance, and punctuality.
He never received any instructions in drawing, beyond what he acquired
for himself during the period of his apprenticeship. He was, in every
way, truly a self-made man. Mr. Harvey was the first to appreciate Mr.
Howison's talents, and to afford scope for their display, by employing
him to engrave the well-known picture of "The Curlers;" and it is no
detraction from the merits of that painting to say, that the admirable
skill displayed in transferring it to copper contributed in no small
degree to the reputation of the painter. On the completion of "The
Curlers," Mr. Howison was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish
Academy--the only instance, we believe, of such an honor being conferred
upon an engraver. Mr. Howison afterwards engraved the "Polish Exiles,"
by Sir William Allan; the "Covenanters' Communion," and the "Schule
Skailing," by Harvey; and at the period of his death he was engaged upon
the "First Letter from the Emigrants," after Thomas Faed, for the
Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland.
* * * * *
HYPPOLITE ROYER-COLLARD, nephew of the eminent philosopher of that name,
died at Paris on the 15th of December, at the age of 48, after having
been for five years afflicted by a paralysis, which did not however
affect his mental powers. He was Professor of Public Hygiene, at the
School of Medicine, and drew crowded audiences to his lectures. To a
mind of rare scientific acuteness and endowments, he added an active and
fertile imagination, and great youthfulness of spirit. He inherited the
intellectual tendencies of his uncle, and was an intimate friend of
Guizot.
* * * * *
COL. WILLIAMS, formerly M.P. for Ashton, died at Wootton, near
Liverpool, on the 19th December, aged eighty-seven. At twelve years of
age, he joined General Burgoyne's army in America, and carried the flag
of truce upon the memorable occasion of the surrender at Saratoga. It is
supposed that he was the last survivor of that army. After twenty-five
years of active service in Nova Scotia, St. Domingo, and Jamaica, in
Holland and in Ireland, he quitted the army in 1800, at which period the
career of most of the military men of the present day commenced.
* * * * *
MR. WILLIAM STURGEON, well known for scientific attainments, died on the
15th December, at Manchester, where he had for some years filled the
office of lecturer on science to the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical
Science. He was born at Whittington, in Lancashire, in 1783, and was
apprenticed by his parents to a shoemaker. In 1802, he entered the
Westmoreland militia, and two years later he enlisted as a private
soldier in the Royal Artillery. While in this corps he devoted his
leisure to scientific studies, and appears to have made himself familiar
with all the great facts of electricity and magnetism which were then
opening to the world. His subsequent career created for him a name in
the annals of scientific discovery.
* * * * *
JOSEPH B. ANTHONY, President Judge of the Eighth Judicial District of
Pennsylvania, died at his residence in Williamsport on the 11th January.
He was born in Philadelphia, on the 19th day of June, 1795. While young,
he for a time taught school in Milton, Northumberland county, at which
place he studied law. He went to Ohio, and after an absence of about one
year returned to Pennsylvania. In 1818 he was admitted to the bar at
Williamsport, where he continued to reside until his death. In 1830 he
was elected by the Democratic party to the Senate of Pennsylvania. In
the year 1831 he was elected to Congress, and two years after was
reelected by an unprecedented majority. During the early part of the
administration of Governor Porter he was appointed Judge of the
Nicholson Court of Pennsylvania, and in March, 1844, was appointed
President Judge of the Eighth Judicial District.
* * * * *
MR. OSBALDISTON, the well-known tragedian and theatrical manager, died
at his residence, near London, on the 29th December. He was fifty-six or
fifty-seven years of age, and besides sustaining tragic characters at
most of the London and provincial theatres, he has held the reins of
management at the Surrey, Sadler's Wells, Covent-Garden, and City of
London theatres.
* * * * *
THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, says the _Methodist Quarterly Review_, has
sustained another blow in the loss of Professor MAU, of Kiel, who died
some weeks ago. His studies lay mostly in the line of New-Testament
Theology; and he is known especially by his treatise _Of Death, the
Wages of Sin, and of Salvation_ (Vom Tode, des Suenden Solde, u. von d.
Erloesung). The work, which is distinguished for its acute and vigorous
thought, was written in reply to one on the same subject by Professor
Krabbe, of Rostock. Its chief peculiarity is the doctrine that the death
of the body is inherent in its constitution, not the effect of sin; and
therefore that redemption has regard only to spiritual death.
* * * * *
MRS. WALLACK, the wife of Mr. James W. Wallack the comedian, and the
daughter of the celebrated "Irish Johnstone," died on Christmas day,
aged fifty-eight years.
* * * * *
MADAME CAROLINE JUNOT, the eldest daughter of Schiller, died suddenly on
the 19th December, at Wurtzburg, in Bavaria.
GENERAL SIR PHINEAS RIALL, K.C.H., died in Paris, early in November. He
entered the British Army in 1792, and served in the West Indies,
receiving a medal and clasp for his services at Martinique, and
Guadaloupe, in 1809 and 1810. In 1813, he served in the American war,
and was severely wounded at the battle of Chippewa.
* * * * *
LIEUT. GENERAL SEWIGHT MAWBY, who served during the wars of Napoleon,
and since in India, died lately in London.
* * * * *
M. MARVY, eminent as a landscape painter and as an engraver; and M.
DUBOIS, a distinguished architect, are noticed in the recent Paris
obituaries.
* * * * *
GENERAL ETIENNE JOLY died at Villiers-les-Bel, on the 2d of January.
* * * * *
HERMANN KRIEGE died at Hoboken on the last day of December. He was of
German birth, but spoke the English and the French language with
fluency. A Democrat and Socialist by constitution, he devoted all the
resources of an ardent nature and ready talents to the triumph of his
principles. It is now some eight years since he first removed to this
country, and established in New-York a weekly paper called the
_Volks-Tribun_, in which he advocated the most radical ideas upon the
relations of capital and labor, with as much ability as earnestness. In
his views of American politics he inclined to the so-called democratic
party, and when the Mexican War commenced gave it a hearty support--not
because he had carefully inquired into its justice, but because he
regarded the absorption of Mexico, and indeed the entire continent, by
the United States, and the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in the
western world, as absolutely essential to the progress of humanity.
Though not originally a land reformer, he adopted and vigorously
defended not only the doctrine that the earth belongs to the human race
and cannot rightfully be trafficked in any more than can the air or the
sunlight, but the measures which American reformers have deduced
therefrom, namely, land limitation, freedom of the public domain,
homestead exemption, &c. During this time he wrote and published in
German a history of the United States, as well as a series of
translations from the writings of our revolutionary patriots, works of
the highest value to our German citizens. The _Volks-Tribun_ ceased to
be published in 1847, and for some time after Mr. Kriege gained a
livelihood by teaching German. He also gave here, in his native tongue,
a course of lectures on German Literature, which were greatly enjoyed by
those who attended them. On the breaking out of the Revolution of 1848,
he returned to Germany, and took an active share in the democratic
movements. He was one of the Supreme Executive Committee, consisting of
three members, if we remember rightly, which had its seat at Berlin, and
thence conducted a revolutionary propaganda throughout the country. In
the spring of 1849 he returned to the United States again, and took
editorial charge of the _Illinois Staats Zeitung_ at Chicago. But the
reaction which now followed the intense excitement of the previous year
in Europe, proved too much for his physical powers, which were far from
robust. His health compelled him to resign his connection with that
paper and come back to the city. He fell into a sort of apathy which
resulted in a partial derangement of his mind, and finally in the
complete prostration of his system. After lingering for some months he
at last expired with tranquillity, in the thirtieth year of his age. He
was a man of extensive acquirements. His knowledge of history was very
comprehensive and accurate. His intellect, though not remarkably
original or brilliant, was clear and vigorous. His heart was of the
manly and noble kind. There is encouragement in the recollection of such
a man.--_Tribune._
* * * * *
MME. LOUISA HENRIETTA SCHMALZ, the most famous German _Cantatrice_ of
the last century, and who for more than thirty years was the Queen of
the German Lyrical Stage, has just died in Berlin, aged seventy-nine
years. In her youth she was beautiful and she was always remarkable for
fascination of manners.
* * * * *
GEORGE SPENCE, an eminent lawyer, and lecturer on Equity Jurisprudence
at Lincoln's Inn, committed suicide in London, on the 12th December. He
was born in 1786, educated at a Scotch University, called to the bar in
London in 1811, and made a Bencher in 1834. As a writer upon law, Mr.
Spence had a high and deserved reputation. His work on "The Equitable
Jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery," is founded partly on Maddock's
"Treatise on the Principles and Practice of the High Court of Chancery;"
yet it is, in many important particulars, essentially an original work.
This able production, the second volume of which appeared in 1849, has
been generally commended.
* * * * *
GENERAL SIR WM. LUMLEY, G. C. B., a distinguished cavalry officer, died
in London on the 15th December. He entered the army at the age of
eighteen, in 1787, and continued in service through the greater part of
his life. In the Irish Rebellion, in 1798, he commanded the 22nd Light
Dragoons, and was wounded at Antrim. He was afterwards in Egypt, at the
Cape of Good Hope, and in South America, at the capture of Monte Video
in 1807. After commanding the advanced force at the taking of Ischia,
and after attaining the rank of Major-General, Lumley joined the British
army in the Peninsula. He there won great distinction at the first siege
of Badajoz, and he led the whole allied cavalry at the battle of
Albuera; few, indeed, were more useful during the Peninsular war.
* * * * *
ROBERT ROSCOE, third son of the historian, died during the early part of
December, in his sixty-first year. For some time he followed the
profession of the law, in partnership with the late Mr. Edgar Taylor;
but he retired from active life, in consequence of infirm health, many
years ago. Like all the members of the Roscoe family, he had literary
powers, which an unusual amount of self-distrust prevented his
exercising largely. The completion of Mr. Fitchett's huge epic of
"Alfred" was done by him in fulfilment of a promise, and he wrote other
poems, and some small works in prose, not unworthy of a son of William
Roscoe.
* * * * *
MR. RICHIE, a sculptor of some reputation, from Edinburgh, went lately
to Rome, where he died during the month of September. His death is
mainly attributable to an excursion he made with some friends to Ostio,
where, ignorant of the effects of the climate, and of the precautions
necessary to be taken in it, he caught the malaria fever, and expired
after his return to Rome. He was followed to the English cemetery by
most of the English and American artists resident there. His journey to
Rome had been for some years the object of his most ardent hopes and
wishes.
* * * * *
M. MARTIN D'AUCH, the only surviving member of the first Constituent
Assembly of the First French Republic, and the only one who, at the oath
of the Jeu de Paume, refused to sign the declaration of the Tiers-Parti,
has just died at Castlenaudary. In David's well-known picture, M. d'Auch
is represented with his arms folded on his breast, and refusing to join
his colleagues.
* * * * *
The well-known Dutch painter, MORITZ, died lately at the Hague, aged
seventy-seven years.
Scientific Miscellany.
A Report by five eminent members has been made to the Paris Academy of
Sciences, on a paper from Colonel Lesbros, entitled _Hydraulic
Experiments relative to the Laws of the Flowing of Water_. Two thousand
experiments, carried through four years, are detailed in three hundred
and twelve pages of text, with thirty-seven large plates. The work was
recommended to the Academy by the Minister of War. The Committee say, at
the end of their report:--"Considering the high utility of these
experimental researches, prosecuted to the end in the most satisfactory
and complete manner; and being convinced of the beneficial effect which
the publication of them may have in the promotion of science, and its
application to public works,--to navigation, agriculture, hydraulic
establishments, and the various branches of industry connected with
them,--the Committee are of opinion that the Academy should accord full
approbation to the work, and direct the early insertion of it in the
Transactions." All parts of the report show that the publication will be
of importance to both sides of the Atlantic.
* * * * *
Of the December number of the _Comte Rendu_ of the Paris Academy of
Moral and Political Sciences, nearly twenty pages are occupied by one of
the Reports of Blanqui, the Political Economist, on the Rural
Populations of France. He made his personal survey, this year, as
Commissioner of the Academy. He is preparing a work, in several volumes,
on the state, in every particular, of the inhabitants of France, in
every part. His abstract of his recent survey of the Departments of the
centre, including the basin of the Loire, abounds with curious details,
especially as to the diversity of the manner in which the Revolution of
February, 1848, affected the rural and city populations in their minds
and interests. He speaks of the city of _Saint Etienne_ as
_extemporized_ after the American fashion.
* * * * *
THE AFRICAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION.--Intelligence has been received from
the Saharan African Expedition up to the 29th of August last. The
expedition had literally fought its way up to Selonfeet in Aheer, near
to the territory of the Kaillouee Prince, En-Nour, to whom it is
recommended. Mr. Richardson had been obliged to ransom his life and
those of his fellow-travellers twice. The whole population of the
northern districts of Aheer had been raised against the expedition,
joined by all the bandits and robbers who infest that region of the
Sahara. The travellers are now in comparative security. The great Soudan
route, from Ghat to Aheer, is explored. Of the expedition of Von Muller
we have a few days later but not important news.
* * * * *
The Royal Society of London, at the last annual meeting, awarded "the
Royal Medal" to Mr. Benjamin Brodie, F.R.S. (eldest son of Sir B.
Brodie, Bart.) for his papers on the chemical nature of wax. It is
nearly forty years since the Royal Society awarded the "Copley medal" to
Sir Benjamin Brodie for his paper "on poisons;" the only instance of
father and son receiving the same distinction.
* * * * *
Of an Hungarian Academy, Mr. Walsh writes to the _Journal of Commerce_,
"Last month Mr. Kenigswater transmitted to the Academy of Moral and
Political Sciences, a very interesting communication relative to the
National Academy of Hungary, with the existence of which few of the
French savants were acquainted. The idea of establishing a National
Society for universal knowledge, dates from the end of the last century.
Its accomplishment was delayed by political causes, and the want of
adequate funds. But a Magyar Count succeeded, in 1827, in obtaining an
act of the Diet for the creation of such an institute. He presented it
with a sum of thirty thousand dollars; another magnate gave twenty
thousand dollars; many others ten thousand; so that the fund from
voluntary contributions, amounts to nearly two hundred thousand
dollars--a million of francs. The Academy was inaugurated in 1830, and
divided into six sections--Philology, Philosophy, History,
Jurisprudence, Mathematics, and the Natural Sciences. Its only President
since that period has been Count Joseph Teleki, deemed an excellent
historian, to whom and his brothers it is indebted for a sum of
twenty-five thousand francs, and a library of fifty thousand volumes. It
consists now of nineteen honorary members; thirty-eight active or
resident; and of a hundred and twenty-five corresponding members for the
several sections. Each section has a weekly meeting; there are monthly
and annual sittings of all. Papers on erudite and scientific subjects
are read; the Magyar language is alone permitted in its business and
transactions, except as to the communications of its foreign
correspondents. It has published, at its own expense, a very large
number of works; among them a series of critical Commentaries on the
ancient monuments of the Magyar language, "which bears no affinity to
the European tongues, and differs as much from the Sclavonic as from the
Teutonic and the Latin idioms." There is a very important and very rich
collection of Hungarian translations of the Latin and Greek classics;
another of translations of the principal modern dramatic authors. The
Hungarian mind has been prolific for its stage, in original pieces. The
Academy awards prizes, confers distinctions, &c., &c."
* * * * *
An important discovery has been made by M. NICHOLAS ZACH, a lithographer
of Munich. He has invented a process by which, by means of a preparation
applied to designs traced by a pointed instrument on a plate of any sort
of metal, the drawing reproduces itself in relief, in less than an hour,
on the plate. M. Zach has given to his discovery the title of
_Metallography_.
* * * * *
GAS FROM WATER.--Mr. Paine's alleged discovery of a new process of
procuring gas _from water_, after some months of discredit and ridicule,
is acquiring fresh interest and importance. Mr. Elizur Wright, editor of
the Boston _Chronotype_, and other gentlemen of ability and
intelligence, have visited Worcester, and examined the whole process and
the apparatus employed in it, and are perfectly convinced of the reality
and importance of the discovery. A similar discovery is said to have
been made recently in Paris. Mr. Paine has received from England letters
patent for his discovery.
[Illustration]
Ladies Fashions for February.
I. _Ladies' Equestrian Costume._--Riding-habit of green cloth or
cashmere; the skirt very long and full, and the corsage fastened from
the waist to the throat by a row of fancy silk buttons of the color of
the habit. A pardessus or polka jacket of cinnamon-colored cloth or
merino. It has rather a deep basquine, and the corsage, which has a
turning over collar and lappels, is open in front of the bosom. It is
edged with a narrow band of black velvet. The sleeves are long, close to
the arms, and slit open at the lower part, showing under sleeves of
white cambric of moderate fulness, gathered on bands at the wrists. The
pardessus is confined in front (not quite so low as the waist) by a gilt
agrafe. Round the throat a small collar of worked muslin or a necktie of
plaided ribbon. Round riding-hat of black beaver, with a small
cock's-tail plume on one side. Veil of a very thin green or black tulle.
Under the habit a jupon of cambric muslin with a deep border of
needlework. Pale yellow riding gloves, and black boots.
II. _Boy's Dress._--Jacket of bright blue cloth, trimmed on the two
fronts with broad silk braid of the same color, placed in rows of three
and three together. The sleeves are close at the ends, and the
wristbands of the shirt are turned up just sufficiently to cover the
edges of the jacket sleeves. Waistcoat of white pique. Trousers of white
and blue stripe. A plain square shirt collar, turned down, and a red
silk necktie. Cap of black velvet. Glazed leather boots.
[Illustration]
III. _An Evening Costume_, of pale lavender silk; the waist and point of
a moderate length; the corsage is low, and _a la Grecque_; the short
sleeves are open the front of the arm, and trimmed with a looped silk
fringe; the skirt is long and full, and has five pieces, _en bias_, set
on plain, and edged with fringe corresponding to that on the sleeves.
IV. _An elegant Visiting Dress_ of pale stone-colored _taffetas_, the
skirt handsomely trimmed with three distinct rows of flounces, each row
consisting of four rows of narrow flounces, pinked and waved at the
edge, the upper row reaching to a little below the waist; plain high
corsage, made open in the front, and trimmed with four narrow frills,
put on nearly plain upon the front, where they meet in a point at the
waist, and forming a kind of cape over the back and shoulders; half-long
sleeves, trimmed to match; under-sleeves and chemisette of fine lawn.
Bonnet of pink _velours epingle_, the exterior decorated with a cluster
of pink flowers on the right, a pink blond encircling the edge, being
turned back plain over the front, the interior fulled with pink _tulle_,
and half wreaths of green heath.
_The skirts of ball dresses_ still continue to be very highly trimmed.
Flounces are the favorite style of trimming, and not unfrequently as
many as ten are put on. Sometimes rows of lace are disposed alternately
with flounces of the same material as the dress. For this purpose either
black or white lace may be employed; the choice being determined by the
tint of the dress. A novel style of trimming for the skirts of evening
dresses consists of rows of broad fringe instead of flounces.
Another description of _trimming_ resembling fringe, but made of
marabout feathers, is employed for ball dresses. Tulle dresses of two or
three jupes have the lowest one edged simply with a hem, and the upper
ones edged with a row of marabout fringe. The sleeves and berthe should
be edged with corresponding trimming.
_Manteau Andriana_, of violet velvet, having a small _capuchon_, or
hood, decorated with a rich fancy trimming in _passementerie_, to which
are attached at regular distances long soft tassels; very wide sleeves,
in the Oriental form, decorated to match the _capuchon_; the lower part
of the cloak is ornamented with a kind of shell-work in _passementerie_,
which forms _galerie_; upon the fronts are placed _brandebourgs_ in
Spanish points.
_Caps_ intended for morning toilette are very novel in their form and
appearance, the most favorite style being a little _coiffe Bretonne_,
having _papillons_ of lace turned back, and _chutes_ of lilac and violet
velvet; then, again, those the crown of which is formed of _torsades_ of
ribbon, over which fall two rows of English lace, and having two
half-wreaths of _vapeur_ ribbon encircling the back part.