Newspaper Page Text
her independent nature, and otiers a re
markable contrast to that sickly and
insipid verse which has of late v ears
inundated the reading world.
“It is evidently the wish of Miss
Fuller to join issue with the common
place. and to speak out her own nature
firmly, though with a becoming defer
ence to the old worn out creeds of hu
manity. It is a striking proof of the
blindness of the world, that, although it
owes every blessing to those men who
boldly, in by-gone times, spoke out
new opinions, it nevertheless precisely
imitates the conduct of those persecut
ors whom they are in the constant
habit of branding as bigoted and san
guinary fiends. Do these short sight
ed human bats never reflect that in a
few \ ears their own children will be
compelled to regard them in the same
odious light? Let the public reflect
ere they draw r down the anathema of
posterity.
“These remarks have been forced
from us by the charge we have heard
brought against our gifted authoress, of
being a socialist and a sceptic!’
I would like to quote the remainder
of our author's closing remarks upon
Miss Fuller. They are words fitly
spoken. But my limits prevent me
from doing so.
Mr. Powel thinks “America has pro
duced few women superior” to Mrs.
Kirkland:
“There is a clear, bright intellect dis
played in her writings generally, which
inevitably compels us to respect her
conclusions, however much we may
differ from them.”
“We strongly incline to the belief
that Mrs. Kirkland would excel in a
romance of real life, laying the scene
in the present times. Her eye is keen
and retentive; her style infinitely supe
rior to Thackeray or Dickens ; and if
she be somew hat deficient in imagina
tion, let her reflect how wonderfully
the latter has managed without that
rare faculty. That she has invention
we feel assured, although she has not
yet given her attention to works which
favour its developement. She has ad
mirable good sense; a true womanly
taste, without any sickly “ fine lady
sentimentalism;” and that instinct, al
most as rare a gift as genius, which
counsels how far she can proceed in the
colouring of a fact without trenching
on the realm of caricature.”
The literary character of Jared Sparks
is given by our author, by describing
what he thinks a biographer ought to
be, and then saying that Mr. Sparks
comes up to the standard which he has
laid down. He thus closes his remarks
upon the American biographer:
“Our space will not allow us to
give sufficient quotations to illustrate
our assertion; indeed, as we said be
fore, it would be unjust to do so. lie
has no pet passages, no short episodes,
which shine out from the rest, and
placed there as though purposely for
samples—all is consistent and symme
trical. A poet or a traveller abounds
with passages which can be detached
without any loss of vitality or beauty;
but in a sustained w r ork, like the Bio
graphies of Washington and Franklin,
it would be as absurd to select occa
sional sentences to convince a doubting
reader, as to present a bucket of sea
water in order to convey a notion of
the Atlantic.”
So ends Mr. Powel’s book. Though,
as 1 have already said, he gives pretty
just notions of the authors of w hom he
treats, so far as he goes, and so far as
he can see, yet lie presents us with no
thing bold, striking or original. lie
gives us frequent extracts from his au
thors, and the usual comment is that
of a child when a toy is set before it —
“ How pretty!”
His evident object is to please the
Americans and become popular with
the Yankees. His anxiety to make us
believe he is a clever fellow, induces
too indiscriminate a praise of our au
thors. He blames Washington Irving
for being too British, while he himself
is too American, lie says that the
author of the Sketch Book could have
made himself more popular w ith the
English by being more republican in
his notions. He assures us John Bull
is not fond of too much soft soder; yet
at the same time he tries to play off’
the soft soder game upon us. Let him
be assured Jonathan is a shrewd fellow
and very well understands his game.
Besides, if he wants the American
public to read his book, he ought to
abuse us as much as possible. Instance
Captain Hall and Mrs. Trollope.
I cannot close this article better than
by the following rather lengthy extract
from the book before me. Let the
American public judge whether there
is any truth in it, and whether its sug
gestions are worth anything:
“The Americans are a shrewd and
far-seeing people, but they are some
what too material; they must not be
lieve that a nation can long exist with
out men of thought as well as men of
action. The salvation of America lies
in the possession of a Republican Lite
rature. The literature of England is
slowly sapping the foundation of her
institutions. England does all her think
ing, and it this system continues, the
action of this great nation will be in
accordance with the will of the old
country. Like the Gulf stream of
Florida, the current of aristocratical
genius is slowly drifting the ark of
America to a point they little dream
of, and never intend. The very bulk
of this country renders the operation
unseen; but. though imperceptible to
the eye, it is palpable to the mind, and
certain in its results.
“ M hat hope of victory would the
armies and navies of this young re
public have had, if, when they were
arming for the tight, the bystanders
had discouraged them; or when sailing
to the encounter, the jibes or indiffer
ence ot their fellow-citizens had been
expressed { Certain defeat and dis
grace as sure as heaven! And how
can America expect her young authors
to vindicate her national glory, when
she treats them with indifference and
neglect? Nay, what is worse, she
openly discourages them in their at
tempt, and tacitly confesses that it is
hopeless to compete with the writers of
England or France. These remarks
apply to every branch of American
literature; let the people consider this
matter, and remedy it before they find
the republican form governed by a for
eign and autocratical mind. If luxury
enervated the Roman Body, so will a
fo~*ign pabulum destroy the American
mind.
“It is a curious fact that the worst
enemies of the national mind have been
a few of her own sons. These are au
thors who till lately have entirely en
joyed the monopoly of the English
market; now’ they will be obliged to
join the body of native authors and
hurry to the rescue. So long as they
could trespass on the mistaken courtesy
of the British publishers, and get four
thousand guineas for this Life of Co
lumbus, and two hundred guineas for
that Typee, there was no occasion for
any interference; in fact, they w ere
materially benefited by this crying in
justice to the great body of authors.
Now their own rights are in jeopardy,
and they must join the ranks of Inter
national Copyright.”
(Original (Bssntjs.
Fo the Southern Literary Gazette-
EGERIA:
Or, Voices from the Woods and Wayside.
NEW SERIES.
XXXIX.
Truth and Error. Looking at the
huge libraries, the vast collections, the
folios, quartos and octavos, which, at
this abundant day of letters, you find
in every third dwelling, and the wonder
is natural that we should be no wiser
and no better than we are. Read the
golden inscriptions which they bear,
and half of them are the labours of the
devout moralist, who loved laborious
exercise for its own sake, and found no
pleasure save when he was doing battle
for the truth. Every third volume is
one of a divine reality. All of them
are stuffed wise saws and senatorial
maxims, which promise the amplest
triumphs and the most complete immu
nities, in return for implicit reverence
and obedience. How is it then that
Error, in spite of all this, should still
continue to exist ? Nay, she not only
exists, but has her followers, her allies,
her worshippers, and is as insolent and
audacious as she was before the flood.
She has more lives than the proverbial
cat. By what seven-fold shield does
she keep herself unharmed? What is
the subtle tenure of that existence that
makes her so stubborn an antagonist—
so bold in the assault, so stubborn in
defence, so swift of flight, so adroit in
seizing new positions the moment she
is drawn from the old, and crowning
her shoulders with new heads as fast as
we lop the old away ? Hers is a strange
vitality: we cannot brain her effectu
ally with all our volumes. But here
lies the mystery. The big boohs them
selves help somewhat to explain it.
This is the secret of their ineffective
ness; —they are big, too big! Error is
a subtle existence, small, compact and
infinitesmally divisible. It is not ne
cessary for her destruction that we
should employ such forces as might
lave served Gabriel against the In
fernal angels. Who thinks to bring
out field pieces in shooting sparrows?
Before we can apply the torch, the
bird is off, and even did it wait the
(ombardment, a mustard seed would
do more execution than the bullet. A
big book in the moral, is not unlike a
big gun in the military world. It makes
a great noise, and, if it happens to hit,
does a great deal of execution. But,
an hundred to one, in the computation
of chances, it never does hit, and so,
for the good that comes of it, it con
sumes quite too much of our time, la
bour and ammunition. Not so with
the little books, the musketry and
grape of literature. Some of these
must tell, since they are so numerous.
Here Truth divides herself as infinitis
simally as Error, accommodates her
self to the humblest forms, and leaps
about as nimbly as her adroit enemy,
wherever she may hope to find an
antagonist. Her light armed troops
skirmish away on all hands, tell at
every point, in flank and rear, and have
smitten the enemy hip and thigh, while
it is only now and then that you hear
the roar of her great artillery, slow',
solemn and ever in the same place—
Error actually dashing up under the
smaller of her guns, and seizing upon
and spiking them, in the very teeth of
the corpulent matrosses. But no longer
to pursue our figure, the small books
better meet the exigency of the case,
are better adapted to the sort of enemy
they deal with, are more prompt, more
portable, more numerous, far less ex
pensive, and much more efficacious.
In this comparison, it is not meant to
disparage the venerable folios. They
are a sort of depot —a great store
house—from whence the flying artillery,
the cavalry, the cavalry, the scouts and
riflemen, may procure their missiles as
they are wanted. Doubtless, they con
tain immense quarries of very precious
materials. They should be prized as
something very sacred, and watched
and examined periodically with a reli
gious scrutiny. Good men and sage
should be chosen to have them in care
ful keeping, and on days of solemn
state and ceremonial, they might be
brought forth in sight of all the citizens,
in order that they should be sure that
the moth has not found its way to their
treasure. But for ordinary people and
ordinary purposes, we need a more
active military.
SURFACE VIRTUE.—AN EPIGRAM.
She eats the fruit, without alarm,
Then wipes her mouth, and—where the harm?
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
(Original |Mnj.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
BOYHOOD'S DREAM.
TO .
BY REVERLY LACY.
A little raven-haired, dark-eyed brunette —
my penchant in those days—gave me a copy
of Shelly, as I stole a parting kiss from her, the
day I started for College, with, “ Dream on.
but dream of me,” written in her little irregula,
hand, on a blank leaf. It was afterwards,
when I returned from College and found hei
Mrs. So and so, that I wrote under the line the
following:
“ Dream on, but dream of me,”
Ah! cruel and fickle one!
Too oft I’ve dreamed of thi__ ;
Ere sorrow had begun
Fancy and hope to blight,
In my young buoyant soul,
Ere joy had taken its flight—
Ere life’s dark waves could roll:
When I was glad and free,
When thou didst smile on me:
Thou who wilt never be
Aught but a dream to me.
Bright were my dreams, and bright
Were all things then to me ;
Deemed I those visions light
Could fancies fleeting be ?
Clouds of summer, rosy hued,
Changed by each sunny ray,
Ere you again have viewed—
Evanescent too as they?
Sun-gilded gossamer,
Gemmed by the morning dew :
Thus my youth’s dreamings were—
Thus transient were they too.
The life of my boyhood seemed
A summer twilight sky ;
An evening sky where beamed
One silvery star on high,
Shining on all around,
Thou wast, but brighter far,
Shining so brightly down,
Thou wast that vesper star!
And when dims the evening light.
Dark’ning the closing day,
Shrouded by coming night,
Fades the bright scene away,
Save a shadow dim gleaming
Like a dream of the past :
Still that one star is beaming
Bright and pure to the last.
So shall my love for thee,
Though thou art lost to me,
Though thou canst never be
Aught but a dream to me.
Hazelbrook, Ky.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
DEATH OF CALHOUN.
A star has vanished from the Southern heavens,
And millions vainly turn their gaze on high,
Who miss its radiance in the blue empyrean,
Among the shining thousands of too cky!
Alas! the light now darkened to our view,
Has left no compeer in the vaulted blue.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
THE FIRST VOYAGE.
FROM THE TIIEMISTOCLES OF METASTASIO.
Bold was that gallant rover,
The first on ocean’s breast,
Who plough’d the wide seas over,
Os unknown lands in quest ;
But for his gallant daring,
How many realms had been,
With none their treasures sharing,
Unconquer’d as unseen ! S.
tTlir .florist.
The following article is earnestly
commended to the lady readers of the
Gazette , and to all lovers of flowers.
The principles laid down, with regard
to the arrangement of flower-beds, will
apply to the distribution and blending
of colours generally. A boquet may
be composed of the most beautiful
flowers and of every variety of colour,
yet if these colours are not combined
with a proper regard to harmony , the
effect will not be altogether pleasing to
the eye of correct taste. The same re
mark will apply to dress, carpets, cur
tains, pictures, furniture, Ac. This sub
ject is too little understood, as the dis
cordant mingling of hues in our habila
ments and in the adornments of our
dwellings clearly show. There is a
close analogy between the notes of the
musical octave and the colours of the
solar spectrum,and the laws of harmony
apply as strictly to the one as to the
other. But we digress. Here is the
article in question. It is copied from
the Gardener's Chronicle: *
ARRANGEMENTS OF FLOWER-BEDS.
Mr. Chevreul has demonstrated, in
an ingenious essay upon the subject,
that the contrast of colours is of the
greatest consequence, whether for good
or for evil; and that, if to dress a bru
nette in sky-blue makes her sallow, or
a blanch in orange makes her ghastly,
or a fresh-coloured girl in white makes
her red, so, to place discordant colours
near each other, produces just as disa
greeable effects, though not quite so
personal, in a bed of flowers. We
shall not, just now, fatigue our readers
with the philosophy of this matter, for
which we refer them to Carson, and
other divinities of the toilet: it will be
sufficient to point out what the garden
ing results are to which Mr. Chevreul’s
inquiries have led. He says, that what
are called complimentary colours, al
ways suit each other. Now the com
plimentary colour of red is green; of
orange, sky-blue; of yellow, violet; of
indigo, orange yellow; and, consequent
ly, blue and orange coloured flowers,
yellows and violets, may be placed to
gether, while red and rose coloured
flowers, harmonize with their own green
leaves. White suits blues and oranges,
and, better still, reds and roses; but it
tarnishes yellows and violets. In all
cases, however, where colours do not
agree, the placing white between them
restores the effect. The following com
binations are also said to be good,—
orange yellow with pale blue, greenish
yellow with deep rose, deep red with
deep blue, and orange with violet;
white suiting all these combinations
more or less. On the contrary, we
should always separate rose from scar
let or orange, orange from yellow, yel
low from yellow green, blue from vio
let blue; and even red from orange,
rose from violet, and blue from violet.
Applying these conclusions to the dah
lia, which is now about to be planted
out, the following arrangement of col
ours is recommended. In lines, the
following succession, viz: white, redish
scarlet, white, rose lilac, yellow, violet
or purple, orange, white, red scarlet,
deep purple, rose lilac, white, yellow,
violet or purple, orange white, Ac.
To produce the best effect in patches
of seven arranged together thus:
O O
O 0 owe mav have
O O
1, six orange, with a purple or violet
centre; 2, six purple or violet, with yel
low centre; 3. six yellow, with a purple
or violet centre; 4, six scarlets, with a
white centre; 5, six whites, with a scar
let centre; 0, six rose, with a white
centre, 7, six blackish green purple,
with an orange centre. The seven
patches forming a straight border, may
be then repeated in an inverted order,
which would give thirteen patches, and
there should be a patch of seven whites
at each end. If the border is circular,
without any central point of view, the
foregoing arrangement should be re
peated ad infinitum, without inverting
the order of the seventh patch.
Another advantageous disposition
would by the following:
White. Pink. White. Orange. Violet. Yel.
O O D O O O
Pink. Yel. Whi. Or. Vio. Whi. Yel. Whi. Vio.
00000 O O O O
White. Rose. White. Orange. Violet. Yel.
0 0 0 O 0 0
Scarlet. White. 81. purple. White.
o o o o
White. Yellow. Scarlet. White. Pink. 81. purp.
0 0 0 0 0 0
Scarlet. White. 81. purple. White.
o o o o
In this arrangement, violet may be
substituted for purple. These are
points that richly deserve the conside
ration of those who tire now’ about to
plant out beds of verbenas, pelargoni
ums, and other tender annuals, for they
will be found to effect essentually the
display of agreeable colours. It may
be difficult to apply them at first, but
the attempt should be made at once,
and such notes prepared during flower
ing season, as will enable the principles
to be carried out another year. In
dressing and adjusting the stands of
flowers in a florist’s exhibition, the
harmonious contrast of colour can al
ways lie kept in view, and the import
ance of attending to the effect of com
plimentary colours observed advanta
geously. The ground colour of such
stands should be most especially con
sulted; and it should be remembered,
that the nearer colours are brought to
gether, the. more decided is their mu
tual effect.
iTjjr fnirtrii liter.
From the Southern Baptist.
THE MISSIONARY’S DEPARTURE.
Written on the occasion of the departure of
my early friend. Rev. D. W. Whilden, with
his family, us Missionaries to China.
Go, and may prosperous gales
Conduct thee safely to the destined shore,
vVhere thou art called to preach the Word of
T ruth;
And a wide field of labour lies in store
To realize thy cherished dreams of youth,*
And wake thy inmost zeal.
Go where the voice of God
Calls thee to labour, in a distant land ;
Obey the solemn message from above,
That bids thee to fulfil His great command,
And tell the wonders of His dying love
To the benighted soul.
Go, with the loved of earth
Clustered around thee in this trying hour,
Those infant emblems of pure innocence,
The partner of thy bosom—the young flower
And spring-time of her life devoted hence
An offering to her God.
Go, while a mother’s heart,
Rejoicing in her precious sacrifice,
In silence breathes to Heaven the solemn
prayer
That angeis may behold thee from the skies,
While with her eyelids moistened with a tear,
She speaks the word—Farewell.
Go, with the parting grasp
Os one, whose childhood’s days with thee were
passed,
Whose hopes of early youth were linked with
thine,
While sweet associations thronging fast,
Their grateful incense shed around the shrine
Os faithful memory.
Go, with the prayers of saints
On earth, and all around the Throne of Heaven,
That when thy toilsome work of Love is done
A crown of glory may to thee be given
In those bright realms, where, His Great Vic
tory won,
Thy God shall ever reign. E. H.
Charleston, Sept. 22, 1848.
* One of tile most touching recollections of their youth
ful associations is, that the writer has often heard his
friend, while yet a mere child, express the wish that he
might, one day, become a Missionary of the Cross in
heathen lands.
Lesson for Sunday June, 2.
FOLLOWING GOD.
“ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.”—
Eph. v. 1.
The Scriptures present us with some
bright examples of piety and devoted
liess to God, worthy our imitation ; but
we are only to follow them as far as
they followed God. The Almighty
himself is our high and exalted pattern.
Two things may be here remarked res
pecting believers.
The high character they sustain.
“ Dear children.” This is expressive of
Intimate relationship. They are
God’s children in a peculiar sense, by
adopting mercy and regenerating grace.
It is a relation ofhign honor, extensive
wealth, exalted privileges, and glorious
expectations.
Tender affection. “ Dear children.”
They are dear to the Father; he has
their names engraven in his hand, and
on his heart. Dear to the Son. The
sufferings he endured and the death he
died, prove this. Dear to the Spirit.
He has illumined, quickened,comforted,
and sealed them to the day of redemp
tion. Dear to each other, as members
of the same body, children of the same
parent, partakers of the same nature,
sharers of the same privileges, and des
tined to the same honours.
The particular conduct they are
to exhibit. “ Followers of God.”—
What a model for our imitation! Os
course, it is in a subordinate sense we
are to be followers of him. Let us se
lect some of the Divine perfections', to
which this Christian duty will apply —
wisdom, purity, truth, and love. We
are tobefollowersof thewisdom ofGod,
by a search after Divine knowledge ;
of the purity of God, by aiming after
true holiness ; of the truth of God, by
the display of an upright conduct; and
of the love of God, by the exercise of
kind dispositions.
“ Unsullied meekness, truth and love.
Through all thy conduct shine ;
O may my whole deportment prove
A copy, Lord, of thine,”
Doctor Spring and the Thought
less Young Lady. —Dr. Spring, of New’
York, once related, that during the pe
riod of a revival of religion in that city,
a young lady, the object of high hope,
the centre of wide influence, capable of
noble things, yet careering on the gid
dy steep of fashion and folly, created
in him no small solicitude, as he would
have to give an account for her soul,
every avenue to which seemed most
sedulously guarded. He delayed the
visit of counsel and exhortation ; and
delayed, till, rebuked by conscience, he
could do so no longer. As soon as he
called, and was ushered into the saloon,
lhe first and only person whom he saw
was this young lady, bathed in tears,
who immediately exclaimed/ 4 My dear
pastor, 1 rejoice to see you. 1 was fear
ful I was the only one who had escaped
your friendly notice.” What a rebuke
to fear ! \\ hat an encouragement to
hope, and to action !
ffiitrkrii passages.
SHAM DIGNITY.
Manner triumphs over matter; and
throughout society, politics, letters and
science, we are doomed to meet a
swarm of dunces and wind-bags, dis
guised as gentlemen, statesmen and
scholars. Coleridge once saw, at a
dinner table, a dignified man with a
face wise as the moon’s. The awful
charm of his manner was not broken
until the muffins appeared, and then
the imp of gluttony forced from him
the exclamation: “ Them’s the jockeys
for me!” A good number of such dig
o . O
nitiuifians remain undiscovered.
[ Whipple.
SUNSET.
The sun stole down the western sky,
With silent foot and burning glances,
And wooed the waters playfully,
That, loving, leaped to his advances.
They met —and as the first warm gush
Os gladness woke the springs of feeling,
They gently kissed—oh, mark the blush
That o’er the water’s cheek is stealing.
[Henry Mason.
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.
It is a great, popular, constitutional
government, guarded by legislation,
law, and judicature, defended by the
holy affections of the people. No mo
narchical throne presses these States
together; no iron chain of despotic
power encircles them; they live and
stand upon a government, popular in
its form, representative in its character,
founded on principles of equality, cal
culated to last, we hope, for ever. In
all its history it has been beneficient.
It has trodden down no man’s liberty;
it has crushed no State; it has been in
all its influence benevolent and benefi
cient —promotive of the general pros
perity, the general glory, and the gen
eral renown. And at last it has re
ceived a vast addition of territory. It
was large before; it has now become
vastly larger. The republic now’ stands
with a vast breadth across the whole
continent. The two great seas of the
world wash the one and the other shore.
We may realize the description of the
ornamental edging on the buckler of
Achilles:—
“ Now the broad shield complete, the artist
crowned
With his last hand, and poured the ocean
round ;
In living silver seemed the waves to roll,
And wreath the buckler’s verge, and bound
the whole.” £ Webster.
DISADVANTAGES OF CIVILIZATION.
The civilized man has built a coach,
but has lost the use of his feet. Ile is
supported on crutches, but loses so
much support of muscle. He has got
a fine Geneva watch, but he has lost
the skill to tell the hour by the sun. —
A Greenwich nautical almanac he hits,
and so being sure of the information
when he wants it, the man in the street
does not know a star in the sky. The
solstice he does not observe; the eqinox
he knows as little; and the bright ca
lendar of the year is without a dial in
his mind. Ilis note-books impair his
memory; his libraries overload his wit;
the insurance office increases the num
ber of accidents; and it may be a
question whether machinery does not
encumber; whether we have not lost
by refinement some energy, by a Chris
tianity entrenched in establishments
and forms, some vigour of wild virtue.
For every stoic was a stoic; but in
Christendom where is the Christian?
[Emerson.
CHILDHOOD.
With rosy cheeks and merry dancing curls,
And eyes of tender light,
O.very beautiful are little girls,
And goodly to the sight.
Here comes a group to seek my lonely bower,
Ere waning autumn dies ;
How like the dew drops on a drooping flower
Are smiles from gentle eyes.
What beaming gladness iu each fairy face,
The while the elves advance,
Now speeding swiftly in a gleesome race,
Now whirling in a dance.
What heavenly rapture o’er the spirit rolls,
When, all the air along,
Floats the sweet music of untainted souls,
In bright, unsullied song.
The sacred nymphs that guard this sylvan
ground
May sport unseen with these,
And joy to hear their ringing laugh resound
Among the clustering trees.
With rosy cheeks and merry dancing curls,
And eyes of tender light,
O, very beautiful are little girls,
And goodly to the sight. [J. G. Saxe.
REFORM.
“ 1 love plants. 1 love the rose as
the most perfect flower that our Ger
man climate can produce. But I am
not fool enough to require my gardener
to provide me with them at the end of
April. lam content if I then find the
first green buds —if from week to week
1 can see the leaves one after another
unfolding themselves, and rejoice when
at the end of June the rose unfolds it
self in all its glory and fragrance. If
any one has not the patience to wait
for this,let him goto the forcing-house.”
Not violence, but time, will bring
about what we desire. We must learn
of Nature, patience and success.
[ Goethe.
THE LANDLADY’S DAUGHTER.
There came three comrades, gallant and fine
To a Lady Hostess, over the Rhine.
“ Fair Hostess! hast thou good beer and wine?
Where hast thou the beautiful daughter thine ?”
“ My beer and wine are fresh and clear,
My daughter is lying on her bier.”
And as within the room they tread,
In sable coffin lies the dead.
The first one drew the veil away,
And sadly gazed on the senseless clay :
“ Ah ! wert thou yet living, thou fairest maid,
I would love thee from this hour,” he said.
The second veiled her features o’er,
And turned him thence, and wept full sore :
“ Alas! that thou best on thy bier!
I have loved thee for so many a year.”
The third flung back again the veil,
And kissed her on her lips so pale:
“ I’ve loved thee ever, I love but thee,
I will love thee in eternity.” [ Uhland.
derumil (Edcrtir.
PARIS POLITICS.
The Paris correspondent of the Lon
don Literary Gazette , gives the follow
ing amusing description of the state of
parties in the French Metropolis:
“ A plague on all politics !” say I.—
Everywhere a bore, in Paris they are
an infernal nuisance. For here they
keep one in continual hot water, and
are so virulent withal, that, do what one
will,they get one into discord with one’s
friends and acquaintances. There is no
such thing possible as neutrality and
indifference, if you admit to your Red
Republican friend that you are not
Scarlet in your opinions, he tells you to
your face that you are a grinding op
pressor of the people, and eat and drink
their “sweat and blood,” —(the nasty
mess !) If you say to your “ Moderate”
acquaintance, that perhaps Red Repub
licanism and Socialism are not, after
all, the terrible things people imagine,
he forthwith denounces you as a pil
lager and a cut-throat. If you declare
that you will have nothing to say of
either party, both bellow, “ He that is
not with us, is against us!” and both
fall on you tooth and nail. And even
if you range yourself boldly under the
Red flag of one faction, or the White
flag of another, your torment is not at
an end : for the Reds of the Proudhon
school blackguard you for belonging to
the Louis Blanc school, the Ledru-Rol
linists abuse you for following Cabet,
the Communist, and the Communists
for accepting the doctrines of Fourier;
whilst, as to the Whites, the Buonapar
tists proclaim you an anarchist and an
idiot if you do not fall on your knees be
fore the Elected (a capital E, please) of
the 10th December, drivel constantly
about the five million suffrages, and ex
press faith in an Empire ; the Orlean
ists shrug their shoulders with pitying
contempt if you pay homage to the
principle of legitimate monarchy; and
the Legitimists pillory you as a miser
able money-grub and time-server if you
declare for either Buonapartism or Or
leanism. In short, France is like a
huge tower of Babel —almost every
man speaks a different tongue, and has
different desires ; and what is worse, al
most every man’s hand is raised against
his neighbour.
ANOTHER WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.
The following curious article is trans
lated from the Echo of Italy, the New
York Organ of the Italians. We nei
ther endorse it nor condemn it. We
do not reject a proposition simply be
cause it is new and strange, nor do we
receive one because it is old and fami
liar. In this case, like Ajax, we call
for more light. *
Professor Filopante member of the
Constituent Assembly of Rome, by
means of the aid suggested by secret
tradition and a profound study of many
Greek and Latin authors, has arrived
at a discovery, which we believe is des
tined to create an immense stir in the
literary and political world. This dis
covery is reduced to the three follow
ing points. Ist, The early history of
Rome in an authentic and true form,
not in a mythic but in a literal and plain
setise. 2nd, the magnitude and the
events of ancient Rome are principally
due a secret society, and the men of
genius who founded it. 3d. There are
wonderful and unexpected relationships
between the foundation of Rome, the
origin of Christianity, and the recent
revolutions of Europe. On Sunday
evening the Professor expounded to a
little assemblage of his countrymen a
preliminary compendium of new ideas
with a view of their being published
here in a printed form. In this meet
ing he applied more particularly the re
sult of certain coincidences of history to
give a sequence to the seven modern
revolutions, between whose place we
put first in order, the American Revo
lution ; With the seven first events
caused by the secret Democratic Soci
ety, which society originated the desti
nies of Rome, there are coincidents of
such an unusual and singular nature as
to oiler food for meditation to the pro
found mind.
We shall limit ourselves to giving
publicity, to a review of his statements
concerning the revolutions of the 24th
Feb. 1848, in France, and that of the
24th of November, 1848. in Rome. —
Most Clironologists fix the birth of
Christ on the night of the 24th of De
cember 748, and consequently the in
carnation is placed nine months before
the birth of christ on the same year.—
Another coincidence as well as the pre
ceeding would be thought insignificent
were it not united with many others,
that is the exact distance of nine months
between the 24th of February, the day
of the flight of Louis Phillippe, and the
24th of November the day of the flight
of Pio Nino. All modern ehronolo
gists fix the foundation of Rome, in the
year 753, before the vulgar era, or 752
enumerated by astronomical method.
The number added with 1848 makes
two thousand six hundred years, which
is the exact half of the 5,200 years ac
cording to the Roman Register of Mar
tyrs, from the creation of the world to
the birth of Christ, establishing the con
ventional era which Prof. F. calls the
era of Noah, the 2,600 years before the
vulgar era. the year of the Revolution
of Alba, and the foundation of Rome,
is precisely the 1848 of the era No
etica.
Besides the revolution of A1 ba brought
about by the Democratic Eieriafound
er of Rome, happened in the month of
February. The flight of the constitu
tional King Lucius Tarquinius and the
foundation of the Ancient Roman Re
public happened exactly on the 24th of
February. This is proved by the mar
ble tablets of the Roman Capitol. The
Ancient authors placed the foundation
of Rome on the 21st of April of the Al
ban year, which began in the season of
the greatest heat and hence their month
of April corresponded with our month
of November. Plutarch says that Rome
was founded in a day of the eclipse of
the raoom. Now the astronomical ta
bles positively establish that the eclipse
happened on the 4th of December of
Julian year 31)61, in which the estiral
solstice was the first of the Julian year.
Therefore, the fourth Julian December
3691, is exactly the 24th of November
of the true or Gregorian year 1848, of
the era of Noah. Hence the flight of
Pius IX, the third Stidium of Rome
took place precisely 26 centuries after
the foundation of Rome, without the dis-
ference of a month, a year, or even a
single day.
Considering these, with various other
incidents, not separately but connect
edly, we find after calculation we are
ready to wager millions of millions
against one, that these coincidences are
not accidental. It remains to be seen
whether they are the effect of purely
human or divine intervention. In the
first place we must take it for granted
that there exists a secret society, dif
ferent from any yet known or named
and so powerful that it may previously
determine the year, the month and the
day of immense revolutions. If this is
true the society has chosen positively
these dates in order to prove to the
world the magnitude of that society’s
secret resources, and that there are per
sons who know and can and will act in
a way that the French and Roman Ile
giras of Christian 1848, shall begin the
march of new destinies for the human
race. In the event that some may not
wish to admit the possibility that man
may control these events in such an ex
traordinary degree, so much the better.
It proves logically that we trace the
hand of God, in the silent growth of such
great principles. In those mysterious
correlatives of dates the terrible Mene
Tekil Upharsin is written on the walls
of Babylon. Despots, Oligharchs Ego
tists, the days of your iiiiquities are
numbered. The triumph of the cause
of God and of the people is irrevo
cably, nearly and gloriously pre-ordain
ed.”'’
1 <Mrt nf j,Miiirlj.
PARLIAMENTARY DOOR-KEEPING.
A select committee has been sitting
on the door-keepers of the House of
Lords, who are likely to cry out that
they have been crushed by being thus
sat upon.
\V e cannot understand the coinpla in ts
of poorly paid labour, when we find
that hall-porters’ work commands such
wages as the country has been paying
to the gentlemen who have met with
such an eligible opening as the opening
of the door of the House of Lords. The
Forty Thieves made a tolerably good
thing of their Open Sesame ; but we
doubt whether even the Captain of the
band could have cleared such a comfor
table thing of it, as the officers we have
been alluding to have hitherto enjoyed.
Every knock, single or double, that
came to the House of Lords, has been
a rap in the pocket of the door-keeper,
and nothing seems to have answered
better than answering the door. Every
pull at the bell has been a pull upon
poor John Bull’s pocket, until he can
no longer stand the constant pull out
—or, in other words, he refuses to go
on being let in by those entrusted with
the duty of letting in the Peers.
In one year the door-keeper cleared
£2500 by the operation of simply turn
ing a handle, which must be the very
identical handle to abuse that we have
heardspoken of so frequently. Between
£7OO and £BOO a year is a moderate
average for the door-keeper. Who will
not feel that it would be cheaper even
to furnish every one of their Lordships
with a latch-key to let himself in, than
to pay such an enormous sum to a
functionary who has not even got to ask
“ Who’s dat knocking at de door ?” but
simply admits each peer as he enters
the house. The whole cost might be
saved by having a check-string near the
woolsack, to be pulled by the Chancel
lor, who would thus exercise a very
proper check upon this branch of our
outlay.
We strongly recommend the adop
tion either of the principle of latch
keys for the Lords, or the still more
economical plan of Little Red Riding
Hood’s Grandmother, for we do not
see why each Member of the House
should not be directed to pull a bobbin
outside, so that the latch might come
up and he could walk in.
The Old Paths.— Notice has ap
peared in the Oxford Journal for the
closing of forty-six footpaths—shortcuts
through pleasant meadows round state
ly Oxford ! We call upon that vener
able University, which is so fond of the
old paths when they lead to Rome, or
away from improvement, in the words
of her favourite maxim, li stare super an
tiqnm vias ,” or, in plain English, “to
stand up for the old roads” on this oc
casion.
The Tribunal of Madness. —The
Court of Chancery should be called,
simply, the ('ourt of Lunacy. Its ju
risdiction extends over all lunatics, and
none but lunatics ever think of going to
law in it.
The End of the Sea-Serpent.—
We left our old friend dragging his
slow length along up the Beaufort Riv
er in ( arolina, with a party of the “Free
and Independent” on their way to blow
him out of the water with a couple of
ten-pounders. They sailed —they load
ed ; they saw the monster at a distance;
they primed—they were just going to
fire—when they found the Sea-Serpent
was three whales, which had blundered
up the stream in each other’s wake.
And so the Sea-Serpent turns out, as
we always expected he would, “very
like a whale.”
A Cabman's Estimate of Respecta
bility.—“ What do you take me for,
Sir?” said an elderly gentleman to a
cabman who had been grossly insulting
him. “Take yer for? Vy, I took yer
for a shillin’ a mile, but l find yer a
shab as only gives eightpenee.
England's Good Name. —Our late
proceedings in Greece have induced
foreign nations to make a little altera
tion in our national nick-name, by
adding a letter to it. Instead of calling
us John Bull, they now everywhere
style us John Bully.
A Dangerous Doctor.— Here is a
curiosity of advertising literature:
“ Medical. —To be disposed of the
Recipe of a Medicine for a disease of
great suffering, by which, a few years
ago, a large practice was made; but, in
consequence of the death of the medi
cal gentleman, it has been laying dor
mant for some time.”
If the “disease of great suffering,”
which proved so lucrative, has really
been “laying dormant in consequence
of the death of the medical gentle
man,” it •will probably be revived
by the person who shall become his
successor-”
ItyilDsnpljti far flit Ttojilt.
WHY EPIDEMICS RAGE AT NIGHT,
It was in one, night that 4,000 p er .
ished in the plague of London of 1665.
It was at night that the army of Sen
nacherib was destroyed. Both in Enu.
land and on the continent a large pro
portion of the cholera cases, in its st.
veral forms, have been observed to have
occurred between one and two o’clock
in the morning. The “danger of ex
posure to night air,” has been a theme
of physicians from time immemorial
but it is remarkable they have never
yet called in the aid of chemistry to
account for the fact.
It is at night that the stratum of air
nearest the ground must always be the
most charged with the particles of ani
malized matter given out from the skin,
and deleterious gases, such as carbonic
acid gas, the product of respiration, and
sulphuretted hydrogen, the product of
the sewers. In the day, gases and va
porous substances of all kinds rise in
the air by the rarefaction of heat- ;n
night, when this rarefaction leaves
them, they tall by an increase of a ni
vity, if imperfectly mixed with the at
mosphere, while the gases evolved du
ring the night, instead of ascending,
remain at nearly the same level. It is
known that carbonic acid gas at a low
temperature partakes so nearly of the
nature of a fluid, that it may be poured
out, of one vessel into another: it rises
at the temperature at whieh it is ex
haled from the lungs, but its tendency
is towards the floor, or the bed of the
sleeper, in cold and unventilated rooms.
At Hamburg, the alarm of cholera
at night in some parts of the city was
so great, that on some occasions many
refused to go to bed, lest they should
be attacked unawares in their sleep.—
Sitting up, they probably kept the if
stoves or open fires burning for the
sake of warmth, and that warmth giv
ing the expansion to any deleterious
gases present, which would best pro
mote their dilution in the atmosphere,
the means of safety were thus uncon
sciously assured. At Sierra Leone, the
natives have a practice in the sickly
season of keeping fires constantly burn
ing in their huts at night, assigning
that the fires kept away the evil spirits,
to which, in their ignorance, they attri
bute fever and ague. Latterly, Euro
peans have begun to adopt the same
practice; and those who have tried it.
assert that they have now entire immu
nity from the tropical fevers to which
they were formerly subject.
In the epidemics of the middle ages,
fires used to be lighted in the streets
for the putrification of the air; and in
the plague of London, of 1665, fires in
the streets were at one time kept burn
ing incessantly, till extinguished by a
violent storm or rain. Latterly, trains
of gunpowder have been fired, and can
non discharged for the same object;
but it is obvious that these measures,
although sound in principle, must ne
cessarily, out of doors, be on too small
a scale, as measured against an ocean
of atmospheric air, to produce any sen
sible effect. Within doors, however,
the ease is different. It is quite possi
ble to heat a room sufficiently to pro
duce a rarefaction and consequent dilu
tion of any malignant gases it may
contain; and it is of course the air of
the room, and that alone at night, which
comes into immediate contact with the
lungs of a person sleeping. — Westmin
ster Review.
Effect of Copper on Vegetation —
Some time since I accidentally spilt
some solution and oxide of copper near
the root of a young poplar tree. In a
short time the tree began to droop, the
leaves on the lower branches dying
first, and eventually those on the upper
ones. On cutting a branch from the
tree, I observed that the knife was co
vered with copper, to the whole breadth
of the branch, showing that the copper
had been absorbed, and had undoubt
edly proved fatal to the life of the tree.
I am not aware whether this circum
stance has been before remarked.
[ Annals of Philosophy.
Preservation of Water. —M. Pe
rinet, ex-professor of the Hospital Mil
itaire d’ Instruction of France, has dis
covered a process of preserving water
in a perfectly sweet state. lie puts
six and a half pounds of black oxide of
magnesia in each cask of water con
taining 108 gallons. He has kept wa
ter by this process for seven years in
the same barrels, which were exposed
to various temperatures, and the water
was as pure and as good as at first.
Divisibility of Matter —A remark
able instance of the divisibility of mat
ter is seen in the dveing of silk with
cochineal, where a pound of silk, con
taining eight score threads to the ounce,
each thread 72 yards long, and the
whole reaching about 104 miles, when
dyed scarlet does not receive above a
drachm additional weight; so that a
drachm of the colouring matter of the
cochineal is actually extended through
more than a hundred miles in length;
and yet this minute quantity is suffi
eient to give an intense colour t> the
silk with whieh it is combined. — Qua-r
terly Journal of Agriculture.
Action of Water on Lead. —hi
proportion as water is pure, the more
readily does it act as a solvent for lead.
II ence this practical deduction may be
gleaned—not to use leaden tanks for
rain-water, nor for spring-water, which
contain but small amount* of foreign
bodies. A small pinch of common
salt added to rain-water in a leaden
tank, completely obviates all danger ol
solution. — Chemical Times.
To Preserve Beef-Steaks. —As the
warm season is fast approaching, when
meat cannot be kept for more than a
day or two in a fresh state, it will hr
of no considerable benefit to man)’
be informed, that if fresh meat is rol
ed up in Indian corn meal, it will keep
fresh for four or five days. The stea
should be laid down in pieces from one
to three pounds and each covered <‘ l
tirely with the meal.
Cotton Blankets. —Machinery lu ' t
lately been invented by which blankets
that to all appearance are entirely ’
are chiefly ‘made from cotton. e
cotton thread is wound with woolen
thread, pretty much as the steel “ ue
of a piano is wound with silver “'le.
The process is performed so cheap ‘
that the difference in the price of t e
material makes a large profit to * e
manufacturer, while he can afford 1&
article comparatively low.