adopting the sug gestion of terence nothing of mankind was be neath his notice st james and st giles the church and the chase the trade and the turf were equally well known to him


scarcely had the last joke been uttered when the voice of the usher demanded silence and his honor mr justice wickinson emerged from a side door and bowing gracefully to the bar risters took his seat on the bench


the necessary formalities of opening the court em pannelling the jury and arraigning the pri soners having been gone through the clerk read the indictment against them to which they pleaded not guilty


mr phosphor then proceeded to open the case for the crown when he was interrupted by mr widehurst on the part of lipey requesting that the prisoners might be tried separately


may it please your honor said he i rise on the part of the prisoner lipey to request that your honor will stop that coughing cried mr justice wickinson in a loud imperious and snarling tone it is impossible to hear a word


go on mr widehurst


that your honor will turn out those coughers


really this nui sance is intolerable if persons are afflicted with these infirmities of nature they ought to stop at home or go to an hospital and not come here to upset the dignity of the court


please your honor said a juryman rising and with his handkerchief vainly endeavouring to smother a coughppplease your honor ive got the influenenenzee and i caaant stop it


then stop where you are sir youre sworn ergo we must put up with your annoyance but not with that of others


the very next cough i hear shall be committed to gaol for contempt of court


perhaps that will cure it


one would think these gentlemen came from barking said mr widehurst in a low tone to his brother gownsmen and his honor from the polar regions and they were actually baiting him


he then continued in a louder key look ing up most respectfully to the bench i re peat that i trust your honor will order these prisoners to be tried separately because your honor sees that the one having been appre hended in the country and the other in town and the one being charged with holding a gun and the other with forcibly taking chattels from the personit is quite clear that the separate distances of apprehension and the separate charges of crime cannot be construed into par rallelism because if they could then piracy might be held to be felodese high treason an attempt to steal a crown and picking pockets an illegal enforcing of the incometax


the last position i put your honor will find settled by the case of peel versus the british where it was laid down by my lord chief justice denman that although the incometax and picking pockets were synonymous yet inasmuch as every single case was an individual one they must be tried separately


will you favor me with that case brother widehurst


certainly your honor with the exception of the page which is blotted out as it ought to be


i rise your honor said mr todarthur on the part of my client young daylight to pursue the same line of argument as the learned coun


sel who preceded me


your honor sees that if these cases be not tried separately a precedent will be established which will go far to admit that the whole calendar may be taken at once and this however favorable to the celerity of business may not be altogether consonant with the established rules of law and justice


for instance your honor sees that a man charged with sheep stealing may then he lumped up with one indicted for fleecing his creditors a third for illegally appropriating a horse with a fourth who richly deserves a halter and so on to the end of the chapter which might then be most appropriately termed a chapter of accidents


the arguments of my learned friend re plied mr phosphor will not i am satisfied have any weight with your honor that is with your honor i am sure my learned friends argu ments will not have any weight i am not in the habit of indulging in repetitions but i say that with your honor they cannot have any weight wait a little longer whispered widehurst to todarthur


because if they had your honor sees i say if they had they certainly would


and this would certainly interfere most materially with the swiftness of justice


it is equally due to so ciety and the criminal i say it is equally due to the criminal and society that nothing should impede the swift course of justice yes that the swift course of justice should not be impeded


if my learned friends were engaged on the other side they would discourse most eloquently yes no doubt they would most eloquently discourse on the liberty of the subject and habeas corpus and the bill of rights


i say no doubt they would discourse bid me discourse i will enchant thine ear murmured widehurst


most fluently upon those points but your honor sees theres nothing in them i dont mean my learned friends but their points and there fore i trust seeing what your honor sees and knowing what your honor knows that your honor will see no reason for granting the appli cation of my learned friends that is my learned friends application


have you done mr phosphor


enquired his honor who during the discussion had evi dently been sitting on thorns and twitching his nasal organ after the brougham and vaux fashion


very good


then gentlemen i see nothing in any of your arguments worthy the slightest attention and have only to regret that so much of my valuable time has been uselessly expended


i trust mr phosphor you will make your opening speech as short as possible


judges in general are not favourable to talking except in their own persons


it may be necessary that i should take four hours to sum up consequently there is little room left for other legal display


very good your honor replied mr phos phor abashed under this mild reproof


gen tlemen of the jury the prisoners at the bar are charged with being in the possession of mortars cannons muskets rifles guns blunderbusses and pistols and being in such possession of the said pistols blunderbusses guns rifles muskets cannons and mortars i am sorry to interrupt my learned friend your honor said mr widehurst but i sub mit that he is bound to declare whether he means to try my client under canon or civil law


i am at liberty your honor to try them under any law replied mr phosphor


lynch law included i presume rejoined mr todarthur


the latter would certainly be preferable said his honor as the quickest means of dis posing of the case


go on mr phosphor the court is with you


thank your honordid knowingly and wilfully stop impede obstruct hinder harrass molest disturb trouble vex rob plunder pil lage and put in bodily fear several male persons being of adult age to wit one john enfield general one william weazle and others on the kings highway contrary to the act in such case made and provided


in order to save the time of the courtthat is your honor that the time of the court may be savedi will prove the circumstances by the witness himself


call john enfield general


the name of the witness created as much sen sation as that of the iron duke on a field day


after considerable calling and miscalling the witness found his way into the box and smooth ing down his topknot looked ready for anything


what is your name enquired mr phos phor


john infield giniral


who gave you that name sir


the coves in wan demons land i bleeve


i beg your pardon your honor but i think this witness should be asked whether he knows the nature of an oath said mr widehurst


ill be dd if i dont cried the witness quickly


im satisfied replied mr widehurst


now sir as you have given my learned friend satisfaction which is more than he has received in certain other quarters perhaps you will relate how this affair occurred suggested mr phosphor


certingly if you behaves as gennelrnen youll not find me backard in comin forard


you see we was a comin from the races where id been uncommon unlucky and lost all my money barrin a trifle of silver well i gets on to the mail and goes to sleep as being the best way of forgittin ones troubles never mind your troubles said mr justice wilkinson testily


well i dont mind your trouble replied the witness in nowise abashed but if you know the story better than i do take the book


to come to the point sir said mr phos phor i suppose the two prisoners stopped the coach and robbed you


no they didnt replied the general cunningly


but they put you in bodily fear i suppose sir


bodily fearme in bodily fear


not in the least if they weighed twenty stone apiece and was in full training and i was eleven stone six and out of condition they would not do it


dont you believe it old gennelman


if my learned friend has no better witnesses than this to prove his case the prosecution must fall to the ground said mr todarthur


floored and knocked out of time as it were rejoined john enfield general


stand down sir ejaculated mr phosphor indignantly


anything to accommodate old gennelman im one of the most pleasantest and agreeablest men in the world if so be my monkey ant put up


i presume the pugilist means a ringtail monkey whispered mr widehurst


immediately after the witness left the box it was occupied by a little weazenfaced looking personage who looked like a dwarf mummy just unrolled from a two thousand years wrapper or to define his appearance in a more modern style like a jockey emerging from sweatingdown blankets


william weazle was in fact a pig skin strider


he took the oath and smacked the book with such remarkable earnestness as posi tively to disquiet mr justice wickinsons nerves


now mr weazle you were robbed i pre sume as you came down in the mailbegan mr phosphor plunging in medias res


i object to this leading question said mr widehurst promptly my learned friend has no right to call upon mr weazle to ferret out his case


let mr weazle disclose his tale in his own way


our clients are not to be badgered your honor rejoined mr todarthur let thr evi dence be drawn out properly we are not at the heel of the hunt we shall have many a brush be fore that comes


go on your own way witness and be quick thundered out mr justice wickinson


ln coorse ld bin a ridin at the races and i i kim off a vinner cos vy a gennelman tips me a fippun note for vippin in the lady godiwy like starknaked vereby he stands to vin on a werry eavy book


vell i goes into the first booth and naterally gets unkimmin bosky vell there i meets little jemmy and the old un and a few more pals and ve goes a gaffin like bricks stop a minute witness said mr justice wickinson it is impossible i can take down your evidence if you go on so fast


hes only taking a trial gallop your honor suggested mr todarthur very innocently


his honor having taken down mr weazles highly important narrative of racecourse move ments the latter continued his statement and fully proved that the coach was stopped by the two prisoners and that he was relieved from the bur den of carrying some twelve shillings and six pence being the amount of the balance left in his favor after chancing his luck with his worthy companions and also that he was put into a vast quantity of bodily fear


thats my case said mr phosphor


his honor brightened up at this pleasing in telligence and most humanely ordered a lunch movement


this announcement produced a ge neral rush from the court and a corresponding overflow to the house of the pretty little widow and the accommodating establishments in the vicinity of the courthouse


in halfanhour the court resumed its pristine appearance and mr widehurst rose to the defence


may it please your honor not very likely murmured mr todarthur


gentlemen of the jurymy client is charged with highway robbery for notwithstanding the astounding trumpetflourish with which my learned friend mr phosphor ushered in his cannons guns c the indictment simply amounts to that


no doubt my learned friend being a great gun in his way thought to dazzle your eyes with his flash and stun your ears with his noise but gentlemen as men of the world i am satisfied that you have so complete a mas tery over your minds as not to be misled


look at my client gentlemen the unfortunate man who stands thereand here mr widehurst pointed towards lipey who was then engaged in chewing a piece of barretts twist which some sympathising friend had handed over to him contrary to gaol regulationslook at him


i repeat you are physiognomists lipeys coun tenance was not to say remarkably prepossessing


you are phrenologistslipeys head evinced more of the sensual than intellectualexamine him closely and tell me as men of science and fathers of families whether he could by the most remote chance of possibility be guilty of the crime with which he is charged


cer tainly not


and what does the evidence against him amount to


boshwhich i need scarcely remind such intelligent minds as yours is the legal term for nix


first my learned friend calls a prizefighter but ill not say a word about him in prosecuting his profession he learned the art ot defence consequently he was a favorable witness for us


he next calls a mr rat or weazie or some such zoological cu riosity and what does he prove


only his own illegal pursuits but gentlemen you are not to be jockied by his evidenceyou are not to be looked upon as twelve posts that he can run in side or outside of at his pleasure no gentle men his honor will tell you that there is such a thing as a judges chair and a weighing yard where his testimony will have to be put into the scales of justice


why didnt my learned friend bring other witnesses


was he too slow a coach to call the driver or did he fear that it was not for the weal of the crown to do it


the latter is the real fact gentlemen and under those cir cumstances i am satisfied that you will dis charge my unfortunate client from the disgrace ful state of bondage for i can give it no milder term in which he is placed and restore him to society with the same virtuous highly estimable and unexceptionable character with which he was compelled by designing foes temporarily to quit it


gentlemen i could prove an alibi for i have twenty of his friends in waiting to do so but i scorn such a proceeding i will produce before you one witness to his characterone onlybut he is a witness


gentlemen remem ber the palladium of british libertytrial by jury acquit him and return to your homes happy in the conviction that you have done your duty this day without a conviction


mr todarthur having followed on the same side of the way for young daylight mr wide hurst called his witness for character mr gog glespec who proved that lipey during three incarcerations in darlinghurst gaol had acted as body servant to him and fulfilled the duties of bootpolisher clothesbrusher shower bath puller shampooer toenail parer essence sweetener and general decorator of his person during those periods


the prisoners honesty was beyond question the only fault to be found with him when inside the walls was an anxiety to see what was going on in the world without


his honor mr justice wiekinson took pre cisely four hours by shrewsbury or some other clock to sum up the elaborate evidence ad


duced before him


there was nothing pecu liarly remarkable in his speech it was of the truly conventional kind the exordium was im posing dreadfully


the argument was judi cially logical very


and the peroration was novel extremely


gentlemen said the enlightened judge although i have not the slightest doubt of the guilt of both the prisoners and when i say i of course i include you for a clearer case was never proved yet gentlemen i repeat as there is not the slighest doubt you gentlemen are bound by virtue of your oaths by law mercy and justice to give the prisoners the benefit of it


the jury without retiring for they had had more than enough of it found both the prisoners guilty and his honor sentenced them to five years hard labour on the roads


beg pardon said lipey i dont quarrel vith the werdix nor the sentinx but i think its werry hard to get em from sich a parcel of muffs


lipey and young daylight were then hurried from the dock through the cavernous passage into the gaol and the court adjourned till the morrow


to be continued


pine apples and barons of beefon the lord mayors table on friday evening two enormous barons of beef perhaps the very largest ever cooked for any similar celebration the one weighing no less than lbs


and the other lbs were placed upon the tables


these gigantic joints were bred and fed on the estate of the earl de grey


besides these mon ster dishes of meat there was also on the tables of the chief magistrate two huge pine apples weighing lbs grown in staffordshire by the duke of sutherland and for the production of which a gold medal was awarded on the th iast by the horticultural society


chapter xxy


angus in herba


the death of mrs norman affected none more deeply than it did her hus band


he had loved her very tenderly for her beauty in her young married days had been a charming thing though nothing so extraordinary or radiant as that of liddy and her gentleness of temper had been another fountain of love to the austere selfreliant man


this virtue had had however its weak side it became allied to imbecility when it had to govern or guide and this fail ing together with the fretfulness that impaired health begot had done some what towards lessening his first strength of attachment still behind was much that was deep and sterling and he felt her death proportionately


there were other causes too that made his grief severer indulging and self indulgent as she wasshe had been in some senses a guardian to liddy such as no one else could be and norman saw at a glance the new responsibility that was his


what he should do with his beautiful child he could not tell and although he was not yet aware of the dangers gather ing round her


he saw enough of john haltons manner to convince him that he ought not to leave liddy under mrs haltons charge


there seemed nothing therefore left than for her to return to london as soon as he could find some proper school


norman had another trouble


when his son william came over to his mothers funeral which he did norman was greatly struck by a change in the boys manner


he had acquired a confident sort of way with him the father did not like and from some words liddy unguardedly dropped he judged that the boy had been wearing such things as rings and chains supplied on credit by mr tadcaster and that he had been led by some one to casinos and other places of doubtful amusement for the young


every body was very kind and full of sympathy for norman and his children


lady jane and miss north sent messages of condolence would not permit norman to return to work till after the funeral and the former was good enough to write to mr newbud and stating the cause of delay begged to pay any cost incurred thereby


full of sympathy in turn good mr newbud not only permitted the delay but wrote to norman and made some pleasant excuse for his temporary return to town the day after the funeral thereby to remove him from the scene of his sorrows till their edge were a little blunted indeed it was possible that norman would not return again except it might be to give directions to some less practised hand assigned to finish the work


besides thoughtfulness like this lady jane employed her own maid to measure liddy for mourning and when this was sent it was with the message that liddy should go to the manor etouse and speak to the ladies the day but one after the funeral


this latter was a sadder occurrence than even thos who had witnessed nor mans grief expected


he was brought home almost senseless from the grave had to be put to bed and a stirgeon called in


when in a ew hours he grew better liddy watched beside him though her tears fell as though they would never dry again and her heart felt almost too sad for even the thought of mr walters love


but there was tenderness around her


all through that solemn week


walter sent her several loving messages and once stole for an instant into the haltons garden to speak to her


this was all he did not otherwise intrude on what he knew was a sacred grief that of a child for its mother


her father at length sleeping liddy as evening closed went down stairs


the kitchen and parlour were full of peo pie who had attended the funeral so to avoid them she went out into the garden but as usual john was there watching for her


his manner since her mothers death had been more than usually de monstrative and offensive and therefore to avoid him she stole from the garden into a little shadowed lane leading to the churchyard


as it suited her humour to see the grave again for during the fune ral there had been no opportunity for the peaceful indulgence of grief she stole onward in the shadows and coming to the grave already turfed and green she fell down upon it for her heart was very full


there for a long time she couched wishing that the dead could hear for poor child she needed counsel and had no one in whom she could confide she dreaded her fathers austerity and thus her lips were sealed to him though her conscience told her that it would be well if he knew the ardent attachment formed for her by one so much her superior


as she rose to go for the twilight had deepened more and more she became aware of some one approaching and ere another instant she knew who it was by the little dog that came bounding to wards her ard then whining about her feet leapt up and down as though it was very glad


in another instant quite as brief its master was beside her


to be contmucd


chapter


v worcester


the connecticut riverhartfordnew haven


to new york


leaving boston on the afternoon of sa turday the fifth of february we pro ceeded by another railroad to worcester a pretty new england town where we had arranged to remain under the hos pitable roof of the governor of the state until monday morning


these towns and cities of new england many of which would be villages in old england are as favourable specimens of rural america as their people are of rural americans


the welltrimmed lawns and green meadows of home are not there and the grass compared with our orna mental plots and pastures is rank and rough and wild but delicate slopes of land gentlyswelling hills wooded valleys and slender streams abound


every little colony of houses has its church and schoolhouse peeping from among the white roofs and shady trees every house is the whitest of the white every venetian blind the greenest of the green every fine day sky the bluest of the blue


a sharp dry wind and a slight frost had so hardened the roads when we alighted at worcester that their furrowed tracks were like ridges of granite


there was the usual aspect of newness on every object of course


all the buildings looked as if they had been built and painted that morning and could be taken down on monday with very little trouble


in the keen evening air every sharp outline looked a hundred times sharper than ever


the clean cardboard colonnades had no more perspective than a chinese bridge on a teacup and appeared equally well calculated for use


the razor like edges of the detached cottages seemed to cut the very wind as it whistled against them and to send it smarting on its way with a shriller cry than before


those slight lybuilt wooden dwellings behind which the sun was setting with a brilliant lustre could be so looked through and through that the idea of any inhabitant being able to hide himself from the public gaze or to have any secrets from the public eye was not entertainable for a moment


even where a blazing fire shone through the uncurtained windows of some distant house it had the air of being newly lighted and of lacking warmth and instead of awaken ing thoughts of a snug chamber bright with faces that first saw the light round that same hearth and ruddy with warm hangings it came upon one suggestive of the smell of new mortar and damp walls


so i thought at least that evening


next morning when the sun was shining brightly and the clear church bells were ringing and sedate people in their best clothes enlivened the pathway near at hand and dotted the distant trend of road there was a pleasant sabbath peacefulness on everything which it was good to feel


it would have been the better for an old church better still for some old graves but as it was a wholesome repose and tranquillity pervaded the scene which after the restless ocean and the hurried city had a doubly grateful influence on the spirits


we went on next morning still by rail road to springfield


from that place to hartford whither we were bound is a distance of only fiveandtwenty miles but at that time of the year the roads were so bad that the journey would probably have occupied ten or twelve hours


fortunately however the winter having been unusually mild the connecticut river was open or in other words not frozen


the cap tain of a small steamboat was going to make his first trip for the season that day the second february trip i believe within the memory of man and only waited for us to go on board


accordingly we went on board with as little delay us might be


he was as good as his word and started directly


it certainly was not called a small steamboat without reason


i omitted to ask the question but i should think it must have been of about half a pony power mr paap the celebrated dwarf might have lived and died happily in the cabin which was fitted with common sash windows like an ordinary dwellinghouse


these windows had brightred curtains too hung on slack strings across the lower panes so that it looked like the parlour of a lilliputian publichouse which had got afloat in a flood or some other water accident and was drifting nobody knew where


but even in this chamber there was a rockingchair


it would be impos sible to get on anywhere in america without a rocking chair


i am afraid to tell how many feet short this vessel was or how many feet narrow to apply the words length and width to such measurement would be a contradic tion in terms


but i may state that we all kept the middle of the deck lest the boat should unexpectedly tip over and that the machinery by some surprising process of condensation worked between it and the keel the whole forming a warm sandwich about three feet thick


it rained all day as i once thought it never did rain anywhere but in the highlands of scotland


the river was full of floating blocks of ice which were constantly crunching and ending under us and the depth of water in the course we took to avoid the large masses car ried down the middle of the river by the current did not exceed a few inches


nevertheless we moved onward dex terously and being well wrapped up bade defiance to the weather and enjoyed the journey


the connecticut river is a fine stream and the banks in summer time are i have no doubt beautiful at all events i was told so by a young lady in the cabin and she should be a judge of beauty if the possession of a quality include the appreciation of it for a more beautiful creature i never looked upon


after two hours and a half of this odd travelling including a stoppage at a small town where we were saluted by a gun considerable bigger than our own chimney we reached hartford and straightway re paired to an extremely comfortable hotel except as usual in the article of bed rooms which in almost every place we visited were very conducive to early rising


we tarried here four days


the town is beautifully situated in a basin of green hills the soil is rich well wooded and carefully improved


it is the seat of the local legislature of connecticut which sage body enacted in bygone times the renowned code of blue laws in virtue whereof among other enlightened provi sions any citizen who could be proved to have kissed his wife on sunday was punishable i believe with the stocks


too much of the old puritan spirit exists in these parts to the present hour but its influence has not tended that i know to make the people less hard in their bar gains or more equal in their dealings


as i never heard of its working that effect any where else i infer that it never will here


indeed i am accustomed with reference to great professions and severe faces to judge of the goods of the other world pretty much as i judge of the goods of this and whenever i see a dealer in such commodities with too great a display of them in his window i doubt the quality of the article within


in hartford stands the famous oak in which the charter of king charles was hidden


it is now enclosed in a gentle mans garden


in the statehouse is the charter itself


i found the courts of law here just the same as at boston the public institutions almost as good


the insane asylum is admirably conducted and so is the institution of the deaf and dumb


i very much questioned within myself as i walked through the insane asylum whether i should have known the attend ants from the patients but for the few words which passed between the former and the doctor in reference to the persons under their charge


of course i limit this remark merely to their looks for the conversation of the mad people was mad enough


there was one little prim old lady of very smiling and goodhumoured appear ance who came sidling up to me from the end of a long passage and with a curtsey of inexpressible condescension propounded this unaccountable inquiry does pontefract still flourish sir upon the soil of england


he does maam i rejoined


when you last saw him sir he was


well maam said i extremely well


he begged me to present his com pliments


i never saw him looking better


at this the old lady was very much delighted


after glancing at me for a moment as if to be quite sure that i was serious in my respectful air she sidled back some paces sidled forward again mode a sudden skip at which i precipi tately retreated a step or two and said i am an antediluvian sir


i thought the best thing to say was that i had suspected as much from the first


therefore i said so


it is an extremely proud and pleasant thing sir to be an antediluvian said the old lady


i should think it was maam i rejoined


the old lady kissed her hand gave another skip smirked and sidled down the gallery in a most extraordinary man ner and ambled gracefully into her own bedchamber


in another part of the building there was a male patient in bed very much flushed and heated


well said he starting up and pull ing off his nightcap its all settled at last


i have arranged it with queen victoria


arranged what asked the doctor


why that business passing his hand wearily across his forehead about the siege of new york


oh said i like a man suddenly en lightened for he looked at me for an answer


yes


every house without a signal will be fired upon by the british troops


no harm will be done to the others


no harm at all


those that want to be safe must hoist flags


thats all theyll have to do


they must hoist flags


even while he was speaking he seemed i thought to have some faint idea that his talk was incoherent


directly he had said these words he lay down again gave a kind of groan and covered his hot head with the blankets


there was another a young man whose madness was love and music


after playing on the accordion a march he had composed he was very anxious that i should walk into his chamber which i immediately did


by way of being very knowing and humouring him to the top of his bent i went to the window which commanded a beautiful prospect and remarked with an address upon which i greatly plumed my self


what a delicious country you have about these lodgings of yours


poh said he moving his fingers carelessly over the notes of his instrument well enough for such an institution as this


i dont think i was ever so taken aback in all my life


i came here just for a whim he said coolly


thats all


oh thats all


said i yes


the doctors a smart man


he quite enters into it


its a joke of mine


i like it for a time


you neednt mention it but i think i shall go out next tuesday


i assured him that i would consider our interview perfectly confidential and re joined the doctor


as we were pass ing through a gallery on our way out a well dressed lady of quiet and composed manners came up and proffering a slip of paper with a pen begged that i would oblige her with an autograph


i complied and we parted


i think i remember having had a few interviews like that with ladies out of doors


i hope she is not mad


yes on what subject


autographs


no


she hears voices in the air


well


though i it would be well if he could shut up a few false prophets of these later times who have professed to do the same and i should like to try the experiment on a mormonist or two to begin with


in this place there is the best jail for untried offenders in the world


there is also a very wellordered state prison arranged upon the same plan as that of boston except that here there is always a sentry on the wall with a loaded gun


it contained at that time about two hun dred prisoners


a spot was shown me in the sleeping ward where a watchman was murdered some years since in the dead of night in a desperate attempt to escape made by a prisoner who had broken from his cell


a woman too was pointed out to me who for the murder of her husband had been a close prisoner for sixteen years


do you think i asked of my con ductor that after so very long an imprison ment she has any thought or hope of ever regaining her liberty


oh dear yes he answered


to be sure she has


she has no chance of obtaining it i suppose well i dont know which bythe bye is a national answer


her friends mistrust her


what have they to do with it


i naturally inquired


well they wont petition


but if they did they couldnt get her out i suppose


well not the first time perhaps nor yet the second but tiring and wearying for a few years might do it


does that ever do it why yes thatll do it sometimes


political friendsll do it sometimes


its pretty often done one way or another


i shall always entertain a very pleasant and grateful recollection of hartford


its a lovely place and i had many friends there whom i can never remember with indifference


we left t with no little re gret on the evening of friday the th and travelled that night by railroad to new haven


upon the way the guard and i were formally introduced to each other as we usually were on such occasions and exchanged a variety of smalltalk


we reached new haven at about eight oclock after a journey of three hours and put up for the night at the best inn


new haven known also as the city of elms is a fine town


many of its streets as its alias sufficiently imports are planted with rows of grand old elmtrees mid the same natural ornaments surround yale college an establishment of con siderable eminence and reputation


the various departments of this institution are erected in a kind of park or common in the middle of the town where they are dimly visible among the shadowing trees


the effect is very like that of an old cathedral yard in england and when their branches are in full leaf must be extremely picturesque


even in the winter time these groups of well grown trees cluster ing among the busy streets and houses of a thriving city have a very quaint appear ance seeming to bring about a kind of compromise between town and country as if each had met the other halfway and shaken hands upon it which is at once novel and pleasant


after a nights rest we rose early and in good time went down to the wharf and on board the packet new york for new york


this was the first american steam boat of any size that i had seen and certainly to an english eye it was in finitely less like a steamboot than a huge floatingbath


i could hardly persuade myself indeed but that the bathing es tablishment off westminster bridge which i left a baby had suddenly grown to an enormous size run away from home and set up in foreign ports as a steamer


being in america too which our vaga bonds do so particularly favour it seemed the more probable


the great difference in appearance be tween these packets and ours is that there is so much of them out of the water the maindeck being enclosed on all sides and filled with casks and goods like any second or third floor in a stuck of warehouses and the promenade or hurricanedeck being atop of that again


a port of the machinery is always above this deck where the connectingrod in a strong and lofty frame is seen working away like on iron topsawyer


there is seldom any mast or tackle nothing aloft but two tall black chimneys


the man at the helm is shut up in a little house in the fore port of the boat the wheel being con nected with the rudder by iron chains working the whole length of the deck and the passengers unless the weather be very fine indeed usually congregate below


directly you have left the wharf all the life and stir and bustle of a packet cease


you wonder for a long time how she goes on for there seems to be nobody in charge of her and when another of these dull machines comes splashing by you feel quite indignant with it as a sullen cum brous ungraceful unshiplike leviathan quite forgetting that the vessel you are on board of is its very counterpart


there is always a clerks office on the lower deck where you pay your fare a ladies cabin baggage and stowage rooms engineersroom and in short a great variety of perplexities which render the discovery of the gentlemens cabin a matter of some difficulty


it often occu pies the whole length of the boat as it did in this case and has three or four tiers of berths on each side


when i first descended into the cabin of the new york it looked in my unaccustomed eyes about as long as the burlington arcade


the sound which has to be crossed on this passage is not always a very safe or pleasant navigation and has been the scene of some unfortunate accidents


it was a wet morning and very misty and we soon lost sight of land


the day was calm however and brightened towards noon


after exhausting with good help from a friend the larder and the stock of bottled beer i lay down to sleep being very much tired with the fatigues of yesterday


but i awoke from my nap in time to hurry up and see hell gate the hogs back the frying pan and other notorious localities attractive to all readers of famous diedrich knicker bockers history


we were now in a narrow channel with sloping banks on either side besprinkled with pleasant villas and made refreshing to the sight by turf and trees


soon we shot in quick succession past a lighthouse a mad house how the lunatics flung up their caps and roared in sympathy with the headlong engine and the driving tide a jail and other buildings and so emerged into a noble bay whose waters sparkled in the now cloudless sunshine like natures eyes turned up to heaven


then there lay stretched out before us to the right confused hoops of buildings with here or there a spire or steeple look ing down upon the herd below and here and there again a cloud of lazy smoke and in the foreground a forest of ships masts cheery with flapping sails and waving flags


crossing from among them to the opposite shore were steam ferryboats laden with people coaches horses waggons baskets boxes crossed and recrossed by other ferry boats all travelling to and fro and never idle


stately among these restless insects were two or three large ships moving with slow majestic pace as creatures of a prouder kind disdainful of their puny journeys and making for the broad sea


beyond were shining heights and islands in the glancing river and a distance scarcely less blue and bright than the sky it seemed to meet


the citys hum and buzz the clinking of capstans the ringing of bells the harking of dogs the clattering of wheels tingled into the listen ing ear


all of which life and stir coming across the stirring water caught new life and animation from its free companionship and sympathising with its buoyant spirits glistened as it seemed in sport upon its surface and hemmed the vessel round and plashed the water high about her sides and floating her gallantly into the dock flew off again to welcome other comers and speed before them to the busy port


a voyage from sydney to south australia and back again with mems social political agricultural moral and mining


by a sick man cruising for copper


chapter


here then is the phantom in holdfast bay after an almost unprecedented short run from sydney heads of only seven days


the sailors shake their heads profoundly and say she can do it and thats all about it which seeing that she has done it seems a tolerably safe assertion


we have just had a glimpse through the telescope of what we are told is adelaide which seems slightly to dis may my friend the northcountry merchant who in a faint voice exclaims


eh sirs but its a poor like place yon


for my part with glass and all i can make out so little and that little is so indistinct and scattered that for aught i could say to tho contrary it might be a town or it might be merely a young burial ground only just started in business and not yet well set up in grave stones


it is blowing very fresh in holdfast bay named i presume from the necessity ships are under of holding very fast indeed to make it a bay at all as it is merely an open roadstead in the gulf of st vincent


tho post office boat is tossed about considerably in coming off for the mail


in about an hour the pilot ar rives we run for the point at which we are to pull up and presently we hear the pleasant rattle of the chain cable as the phantom drops anchor in smooth water


as it is yet early we first breakfast then dress for shore and then lose no time in scrambling into the boat along side which is to carry us up to the port


as the boat is pulled away from the brig which now rides so gracefully at anchor lifting as gently to the undulating water as an albatross in a calm we turn to take a parting look of admiration at the consciouslooking little clipper


can it be that we have slept and dreamt so securely in this pretty and easily moved little box through storm and dark nights and twelve hundred miles of the awful ocean as if we i had been in our shore bed in sydney


hallo


where are we driving to


surely we must be running straight on the land for no thing but the shore of the gulf seems lying before us


we are told that we are going our course for the mouth of the harbour and that it is there although we cannot see it


accordingly in a few minutes we come upon a narrow low shored opening turning off from the gulf like an almost invisible london alley branching off from a main street


as soon as you get into this narrow turning however the port itself opens up before you and for about seven or eight miles is as wide as the thames below bridge perhaps wider for something must be allowed for deceit to the eye which has been so lately looking at nothing but sea on every side


this singular looking inlet has been called by some marine surveyor a natural dock and were it only a little deeper at the entrance at which part is a sandy bar it would well deserve the name


ships of four or five hun dred tons if not too deeply loaded can run up to the port and as many as ten or twelve large vessels besides numerous smaller ones were lying there when we stepped on shore


here wero only the very few houses and stores necessary for the convenience and business of those employed about the shipping as the town of adelaide is about six miles further inland


we thought the port rather a black and mournful looking affair but there had been an extensive fire there a few days before we ar rived and this might partly account for the ap pearance


chaise carts with three seats each one behind the other are employed in carrying people backwards and forwards between the port and the city at eighteenpence a head


the phantom passengers were soon in one of these machines and going their short but uneasy journey amongst bullock drays native blacks and mounds of copper ore lying for shipment to the town


tho road from the port to the town lies through very swampy and useless land and as we were informed was made by the south australian company at a cost of


it is no great affair as a road after all for in being driven over it by the proprietors of our vehi cle anxious to get back for another load of eightcenpences we were bumped upwards and downwards and against each other most cruelly


we stopped of course at almost every publichouse until we were full and then we dashed along at a great rate for the town


a short thick round and red faced young man about thirty years old sat just before me who smoked fiercely first considerately asking if it annoyed us and re ceiving for answer that it didnt talked in cessantly and extolled south australia as the choicest country of tho earth


all had a chance there poor and rich beautiful cli mate rich land astonishing mines every thing going a head very fast every body in good spirits every body getting on


here rather a mouldy looking old man in a still more mouldy looking cab gingled slowly along by a bony ungroomed dejected horse approached us as it rattled towards the port


there said our talking friend is one of our richest men one of our largest burraburra holders


a tremendous cloud of dust here enviously shrouded the interesting capitalist from our view


our eyes mouth nose shirt collar are filled with it


in answer to our enquiry if it is always as dusty there our travelling companion says yes which for a time slightly disturbed my confi dence in his account of the happiness of the people who seem to bo living in a permanent brickfielder and must be the grittiest community under the sun


presently we pull up at a public house


will you take any thing gentlemen says our communicative friend jumping down


we civily declined but he took something himself started a fresh cigar and remounted


in about another mile we came to another public house and here he gets down again will you take any thing now gentlemen said he


we again decline somewhat sur prised at the persevering civility of our friend


we subsequently discovered that he was a brewer and that these different public houses were probably customers and it was after wards illiberally suggestedbysomeone to whom we told the story and who had not an exalted opinion of colonial ale that it was per haps both prudence and policy in this brewer to patronise the customers he passed by getting other people to drink his beer rather than run any unnecessary risk by swallowing it in person


here we are at last with the town in sight


in a few minutes weare rattling along hindly street until we stop at a most desolate and in solvent looking inn and this we have been told is as good a place as we can go to


there would be no better specula tion for an energetic and attentive man who understands his business than start ing a really good inn at adelaide


pub lic houses there are enough and to spare but not one clean comfortable respectable hotel in which a traveller can be as well lodged and provided for as in most of the inns of new south wales


this was matter of uni versal complaint among the visitors with whom i conversed


the only establishment which is considered sufficiently respectable for tra vellera of the better sort is a boardinghouse kept by a miss bathgate a lady from sydney but here the inmates all sit down to dinner at one time and are of course as at other board ing houses expected to have contemporaneous appetites an arrangement which is inconve nient to us and repugnant to our irregular constitution


we therefore went to a less dig nified hospitium because we preferred eating by ourselves when we were hungry to being obliged to fall in with the feeding time of any menagerie of men and women whatever let the members thereof be as tame and genteel as might be


that our love of liberty may have cost us something in mere creature comfort is more than likely but we are certain that this was much more than countervailed by the opportu nities presented to us at the inn for studying and understanding south australian character and peculiarities


it was unpleasant of course that we were obliged at all times to enter the same house door with the common dram drinkers to pass the bar at which they gos sipped and drank and stared at the passing stranger that there was scarcely any furniture in the house and that our bedrooms were without curtains or carpets that the boards of the floors were dirty and the once green plaster of the rooms blotchy wiih damp that i had to sleep upon one of those open colonial sofas without backs and which appear to be constructed upon the assumption that people never fall out of bed that there was only one black east indian waiter with always the same very dirty apron on and who looked as if he had never washed himself since he had been imported to tho colony and who had never learned more of the business of a waiter than crying whenever he was called yassar and never coming true we deluded ourselves into the notion that we had a private sittingroom until one morn ing as i and my northern friend were seated ttette at breakfast in marched a man in tweeds drew a chair up to the table and with out opening his lips began to deal with what i considered as our loaf our eggs and our coffee in a style of impudence which would have been perfectly staggering had it not sud denly occurred to me that we were all in a public breakfastroom together which hap pened to be the fact


but all this annoying as it was for the time was more than compensated by the admirable situation of the house for any one who like myself has a passion for looking out of window we were in a business street with a row of shops opposite jewellers mercers drapers c and a day well spent in looking out of window will enable you to see something of every phaae of any society in any town


early in the morning comes in the slow and stolid looking german with his farm produce in an antiquelooking waggon of a fashion that might have prevailed in the fifteenth century


the baker the seller of live poultry which he has in a great wooden cage covering the whole square of his cart the milkman the vegetable dealer go by and submit their goods to our critical inspection


the labourers of all kinds are off to their work and an hour or two afterwards the men of business and farmers pass back wards aud forwards on foot on horseback and in vehicles of divers patterns in the ear nest pursuit of gain


as the day wears on still more interesting objects prevail


the fair ones of adelaide come forth and turn all to poetry and pleasantness


surely a lady shop ping is the same delightful creature the same conclusive evidence of civilization in every part of the world in london in sydney and in adelaide


look at her with what joyous grace she steps out of that phaeton and into the drapers shop and with what contagious ala crity that smirking and irresistible shopman rubs his hands and lifts down the piece from his wellstocked shelves behind him


we can witness the whole transaction from the position we occupy and between the things in the shop window can even detect the busy scissors run ning through the stuff as he cuts off purchase the first


we can see him plainly saying what is the next article madam with that easy and graceful assumption of a number of other things being required which assures the lady if she has any feeling of what is proper that she will be acting offensively if she does not name a next article whether she wants it or not


we are intent upon her answer when in drops our friend to accompany us about the town so leaving the lady in the hands of the irresistible off we go to collect the materials of the next chapter


my second tour


i uv tub author of out of harness


i chatter i ikolanbi am not going to quote the hackneyed line of cowperbut by my troth with all thy defects thou art a country not to bo sneezed at


nor london are thy charms altogether to be despised when an almost parisian gaiety characterizes thy streets tho roughfares and parks


i would have said also thy squares but then i bethought mo of those gloomy re cesses so called which bear the names of cavendish portman and grosvenor


what mys terious solitudes they are forbidden ground evon to those for whose exclusive use they were designed


whoever saw three human beings at one time in any one of those inlramural wildernesses r they might as well be turned at once into cemctries for the dead as remain inaccessible to the footsteps of tho living


evon the birds seem to avoid the shelter of those smokebegrimed plantations and to fly from tho sauntering official watching over the trees with as much terror ana celerity as if they had met a stray urchin stone in hand or had come suddenly upon a stealthy sportsman in the act of taking aim with his gun what are tho squares for


there is no particu lar pleasure in walking round them or in looking in them


they ara a nuisance as well as an eyosore and unless they can be turned to some better account ought to be abated


i once borrowed a key of caven dishsquare for the purpose of trying the sensation of a walk there with an old sweetheart of mine she was young then who lived in the neighbourhood


me morablo experiment


all tender emotions at least so far as was concerned were in stantly overwhelmed by the intense consciousness of our isolated position from that we had a moment before occupied there wa no hiding our selves among groves or arbours wo stood out in bold and unmistakable outline that distinct and extra ordinary spectacle of a gentleman and lady walking in broad daylight arminnrm in the interior of cavendishsquare


even the statuo in the centro seemed to be staring at us and after one or two turns in which i pretended not to think that i was looking supremely ridiculous i mado my exit with mv fair companion and hurried as quickly as pos sible into tho most bustling part of oxfordstreet where i became myself again and contrived to say some of the sweet things that i had found neither voice nor heart for in the gloomy locnlity i had just left


what a chango in london during the eighteen years that had passed since i last residod in it


none greater in any part of it than at either end of this same oxfordstreet


wending castwardjho far famod st giless is no longer to be foundat least that portion of it which usod to be the terror of pas sengers and the refuge for the destitutethe desperate and the depraved


that pestilential alsatia where poverty vice nnd crime reposed in the security of its own physical and moral malaria has disappeared and left not a wrack behind


one rejoices to find no trace remaining of such dismal abodes though the thought haunts one that still in some wretched corner of this wide wido world all that vice and crime and misery has been driven to hide its cerberean head


many it m to be hoped may have found entrance into ragged schools and nndel lodginghouses and against the force of circumstances with the help and sympathy of the affluent and benevolent fought their way into respectability


t is no insig nificant step in the right direction to open to the working classes those means of intellectual and phy sical enjoyment which were heretofore considered as tho exclusive luxuries of the rich


public baths read ingrooms and model lodginghouses now offer to the gjpoorcst mechanic the combined means ofliving in a manner consistent with thit dignity and selfrospect both morally and socially which aro essential to the happiness of a civilised humnn being


here i am at the maible arch looking into hydo park at that spot of which giymakeshiahero in the beggars opera thus sing i since laws were made for cverv degree for dukes and for lords as well as for me i wonderwovc not better company


upon tyburn tree


highwaymen of the machcath schooj are some i what scarce nowadays but had that fastidious root pad or rather horsepadfor he was a cavalry marauder been doomed in these times to mako his exit at the tree the aristocratio locality of the present tyburnia would probably have been a very acceptable spot to him for making his final bovv


tyburnia is far moro salubriously situated than its southern rival belgravia


and in mag nificence and extent if not in fashion far eclipses it


palatial streets terraces nnd squares meet the eye in every direction extending along paddington and bays water to kensington gardens through the extreme end of which a road has been cut studded with semi rural mansions equally remarkable for their capacious size and architectural beauty


kensington gardens are so in fact as well as name the public walk be tween beds of the choicest plants and shrubs each marked with the botanical name and the crowds that are in summer to be seen dailyespecially on sun daywending their way thither show how thoroughly these appendages to the city for recreation and exer cise are enjoyed and appreciated


i wish we had some such in melbourne j true we havo the botanical gardens but thero s no convenient access to them from the town and as to carlton gardens and fitzroy square whatever they may become in futuro no sign has yet given indication that they are to remain anything more than a terra proliibita or terra deserta


let us hope however as the song says that theres a good time coming


wellon the rd may ad thought it high time to get out of london notwitlistanding its gaieties and other attractions at that period


it requires both more wealth and leisure than were at my com mand to enter into all the enjoyments of what is called the season


to go through the round of them from beginning to end one must bo very idle and very rich


moreover by visiting the continent atthe com mencement of the summer one finds the hotels less crowded and things both of gods making and mans aro seon under much more comfortablo circumstances than when sur rounded by crowds of holiday seekers


the previous year i had commenced my tour in the middle of au gust aud the consequences were hurry cram and overflow wherever we went the only attention we received at the inns being of that kind which a pun ster would call inattention


at halfpast four pm we start by the railway for folkestoneself wife sisterinlaw and son arrive at seven and locate ourselves for the night at the pavilion hotel


here taking tea in the public salon we hoar a wellknown voice one that wo had last heard in the parlour of our own homo on the eastern hill melbourne


by all thats agreeable it is our friend g


on his way from as we are on our way to paris


we were mutually delighted to meet each other and he would have turned back with me if his arrangements had per mitted him to retrace his steps


as we parted he grew eloquent and exclaimed let me know where you are alter you leave paris and i wi meet youon highest alp or lowest valein switzer land or italyby comos lake or at badens baths


after vainly endeavouring to make an appointment somewhere near the foot of mont blanc we pwted and hore am i in victoria not having been fortunate enough to light again upon friend g but hoping to do so some day or other here for i find that most colonists with all their appreciation of european at tractions sooner or later find their way back again to the country which had filled their pockets andas u they discover when away from itno small portion of then affections


we took tea i have said in the public salon


here again is a great improvement in the english hotel arrangements at those places were travellers are constantly passing


there is no necessity as for merly for a private sittingroom to enable a party of which ladies form a portion to take all or any of their meals in quietly and comfortably


it is the practice now at all the principle hotels of such places as folkestone dver c to assimilate their arrange ments to those of the parisian hotels having in ad dition thereto a salon a manger a reading and sit tingroom for their guests and what saves the exer cise of a very disagreeable discretion a fixed tariff for attendance as well as for lodging and meals


may th


at ten am we embark on the steamer for boulogne where we landed in two hours from the timo of starting but had to wait about an hour for inspection of luggage passports etc before wo could leave by the next train for paria


our journey thither occupied four and a half hours and terminated at about seven in the ovening another hour wis occupied in fixing upon an hotel which at length ended in our choice of the hotel do lille et dalbion


here nevt morning at breakfast i discovered a face that i had often seen on the melbourne cricketground and by his side one or two others evidently also from australia


i dont remember that we had ever exchanged a word under tho southern cross but here we became instantly familiar


the fact is when ono has lived for many years in the colonies for i call the aus tralian ones par excellence the colonies other places even ones native country become to us almost strange ard foreign so that the countenance of a fel lowcolonist seen therein has a soit of magnetic attraction and draws forth invountsrily one of those hearty shakes of the hand wliichdoiot always takeplace i between parties within the canonical degrocs of ortho dox acquaintance


fiom mr t whoso bat i yet hopo to see do fitting execution on our new cricket ground i learnt that one of our earliest settlers in port phillip who left it soine years ago on a mission of importance respecting a question now satisfactorily settleda gentleman of gieat energy and intelligence and of whose illhealth his australian friendo had often hoard with regretwas then in paris and would be glad to soo me


accordingly i drove forthwith to his apartments where i found him an invalid certainly but full of cheerfulness and looking very well intheface though unable to walk


he was surrounded by a small but choice library and spoke with his accus tomed enthusiasm and vivacity upon various topics touching upon more serious subjects in a tone and spirit that gave apeauliar charm to his conversation showing that suffering had rather chastened thnn de pressed him and had added much moro to the stability and serenity of his mind and feelings than it had de tracted from the buoyancy of the one or the elasticity of the other


being both valetudinarians and in some respects from apparently similar causes we had much to say in which we sympathised with each other both mentally and physically


i am going said i to try some of the gennau baths for my friends will havo it that i ought not to return to australia without doing so so to escape further importunity on the subject i am now on my way to follow their advice


a french physician i havo consulted hero commends toplitz but i havo been reading dr granvilles book on the german spas on perusal of which i have come to the conclusion that a loss distant locality to wit a certain spot called wildbad mull do if not quite very nearly as well


after looking at me a moment as if he did not quite like to make the proposition that vas in his minn my fellow invalid exclaimed dont laujrhbut if youll take


my advice youll consult madameshe lives here and i um in fact under her care


i shall not detail all he told mo about the wonders she had achieved in his own case but the re sult of our eonferencc in the matter was that i con sented to seo her on the morrow if onlyas he observed just


to hoar what she said


on the morrow i went tho lady was too unwoll to leave her bed but had made arrangements to seo mo there if i would visit her chamber


accordingly accompanied by my spouse and the medical attendant of madame i was ushered into her bdoharaber where i found her re clining ready to receive mo with as much easeand selfpossession as if she had been in her drawingroom


the medicalsupervisor waived his hands two or three times before her face when she fell or was supposed to fall into a mesmeric tranoe


she then took my hand and the doctor took his pen and dictated from her description a diagnosis of my disease and its ap propriate remedies


she saw from tho manner in which i walked into the room enough to give her a clue to the probable character of my disease and was not therefore altogether wrong in her description though fur from accurate but sho did not see or sus pect from my appearance that i hid a very severe rheumatism iu my right nrin and of this she said not a word though i have always understood that ladies similarly gifted feel by sympithy or whatever else it may be all the pains that affcct at the time the patient with whom they uro in oontnet


when madame had finished her prescription sho dropped my hand faintly exclaiming adieu monsieurwas demesmerised and saw or pretended not to seo a napoleon dropped into the hand of her attendant and then languidly wishing us bonjour dropped on her pillow


on regaining my friends apartments i found him in a state of considerable anxiety as to the result of our upstairs proceedings


he listened very patiently whilst ya communicated all that had passed and then exduainied ell i am lothto persuade you against your own convictions but were i in your place i would follow her advice


no snid i i really cant go through th ordeal she prescribes of threeissues i have tried issuca enough in australia asyouknow and although the result may have been o set other people upon their legs i never found that the effect was to set me upon my own


we shook hands and i did not see him afterwards but i am sure ho thinks i lost a capital chance of going b ick to i victoria with a sounder understanding than i brought away from it by not following the dviqo of ma i dam


to enjoy paris thoroughly requires a good pair of legs


ono cant look comfortably either at the shops or the people from the inside of a carriage and these sights form no small part of the at tractions of the french metropolis


an after noon ride in the champs elyses was my chief amuse ment during the few days i stayed there


i went also to the theatre franais the pieces performed being molieres les femmes savantes and li belle mere et lo gendre


the latter has appeared on our own stage under the title of my wifes mother


rachel unfortunately did not appear in cither but tho acting in both was of a superior order


being close to the stage i had an opportunity of seeing those minute touches of reposo and byplay which at a greater distance are hardly observable


the characte ristic of the acting was tact and delicacy without the slightest disposition to rant and seldom ever approach ing to vehemence


the defect to my mind lay in the extreme rapidity of utterance which not only rendered much of the languageunimpressive but destroyed i think many of the points which the author had de signed to tell upon the audienco


it is very probable my imperfect acquaintance with tho french language incapacitated me from following the stage enunciation of it ovan with the book in ray hand but my friends with me spoke french as well as english and admit ted that the effect of the nights performance was occasionally impaired by the unvaried rapidity of the dialogue


on sunday we went to hear a musical ex hibition called orphon at the cirque de limpratrice


the performance consisted exclusively of vocal pieces sung by about voices in chorus


the effect was magnificent and lovor of music as i am i never re meniber to have been more impressed by what i heard that day at the cirque do limpratrice


i could not have conceived the human voice without any other adjunct capable of communicating such sublime and elevating emotions


to those who object to such exhibitions taking place on a sun day i can only say that i believe tho impression pro duced on all who were present at it to have been much deeder and more beneficial than many of the sermons that are preached from the pulpit on that day


tho opheon however wasfixed to take place after church time and probably the whole of the audience among whom were all the ministers and other distinguished parisians had previously attended divine service


no people are fonder of theatricals than the french and paris consequently abounds in theatres of all sorts and sizes


it has also two immense hippodromes besides the cirque de vlmpcraticc aud tho cirque napoleon in all of which are exhibited equestrian displays on a very magnificent scale


the last time i visited the liippojrome where the performances aro by day they terminated with a doubleballoon ascent


two balloons are tied to


gether side by side and a path made from the car of the one to the car of the other bv a plank placed across


in the centre of this plank wding only by a rope tightened to act as a rail the aeronaut placed himself and waving his hat ascended amidst drums trumpets and huzzas to that part of the world which is likely for some time to remain a not very crowded thoroughfare to less adventurous mortals


strange that the amount of peril incurred in these exhibitions should form their chief attraction


had the double balloon gentleman gone up standing on his head in stead of his legs the number assembled to see bim would have been doubled too


until the police inter fered peopled were being delightfully horrified with seeing monsieur this and madame that ride to the clouds on horsebackthe poor animal being slung to the balloon by ropes and the rider mounted as if on terra firma


good gracious


what a way of getting ones living


at thecirquennpoleon one of the attractions wasan english clown who among other drolleries stood upon his head at the top of a long pole with a lei surely pertinacity that i thought must have ended in an apoplecticf fit


to my mind there b something melancholy in this degradation of the human form i divine to such v le uses


that state of society in which such oxhibitionsoro encouraged can hardly be considered as sound


lloma sum nihil taurannl a mo nlienum puto and so far the poor wretches who are the actors in these displays to carn their bread i excuse but their excuse is the condemnation of those who applaud them


uumani indeed


fancy a being only a little lower than the angels exclaiming with his head ba lanced on the top of a pole


homo sum iaye but what sort of a homo


gentlemen of the aboriginal and other missions look to it


the inquiry wero worth your while to he continued


baunaby rudge


chapter lvi


the maypole cronies little dreaming of the change so soon to come upon their favourite haunt struck through the forest path upon their way to london and avoiding the main road which was dusty kept to the bye paths and the fields


as they drew nearer to their destination they began to make inquiries of the people whom they passed concerning the riots and the truth and falsehood of the stories they had heard


the answers went far beyond any intelligence that had spread to quiet chigwell


one man told them that that afternoon the guards con veying to newgatesome rioters who had been re examined had been set upon by the mob and compelled to retreat another that the houses of two witnesses near clare market were about to be pulled down when he came away another that sir george savilles house in leicester fields was to be burned that night and that it would go hard with sir george if he fell into the peoples hands as it was lie who brought in the catholic bill


all accounts agreed that the mob were out in stronger numbers and more numerous parties than had yet appeared that the streets were unsafe that no mans house or life was worth an hours purchase that the public consternation was increasing every momentt and that many families had already fled the city


one fellow who wore the popular colour damned themfor not having cockades in their hats and bade them set a good watch tomorrownight upon the prison doors for the locks would have a straining another asked if they were fireproof that they walked abroad without the distinguishing mark of all good and true men and a third who rode on horseback arid was quite alone ordered them to throw each man a shilling in his hat towards the support of the rioters


although they were afraid to refuse compliance with this demand and were much alarmed by these reports they agreed having come so far to go forward and see the real state of things with their own eyes


so they pushed on quicker as inen do who are excited by portentous news and ruminating on what they had heard spoke little to each other


it was now night and as they came nearer to the city they had dismal confirmation of this intelligence in three great fires all close together which burnt fiercely and were gloomily reflected in the sky


arriving in the immediate subprhs they found almost every house had chalked upon its door in large characters no popery that the shops were shut and that alarm and anxiety were depicted in every face they passed


noting these things with a degree of apprehension which neither of the three cared to impart in its full extent to his companions they came to a turnpike gate which was shut


they were passing through the turnstile on the path when a horseman rode up from london at a hard gallop and called to the tollkeeper in a voice of


great agitation to open in the name of god


the adjuration was so earnest and vehement that the man with a lantern in his hand came running outtollkeeper though he was and was about to throw the gate open when happening to look about him he exclaimed good heaven whats that i another fire


i


at this the three turned their heads and saw in the distance straight in the direction whence they had come a broad sheet of flame casting a threaten


ing light upon the clouds which glimmered as though the conflagration were behind them and showed like a wrathful sunset


my mind misgives me said the horseman or i know from what far building those flames come dont stand aghast my good fellow


open the gate i sir cried the man laying his hand upon his horses bridle as he let him through i know you now sir be advised by me do not go on


i saw them pass and know what kind of men they are


you will be murdered


so be it said the horseman looking intently towards the fire and not at him who spoke


but sirsir cried the man grasping at his rein more tightly


yetif you do go on wear the blue riband


here sir he added taking one from his own hat and speaking so earnestly that the tears stood in his eyes its necessity not choice that makes me wear it its love of life and home sir


wear it for this one night sir only for this one night


do i cried the three friends pressing round his horse


mr haredaleworthy sir good gentle man pray be persuaded


whos that cried mr haredale stooping down to look


did i hear daisys voice you did air cried the little man


do be persuaded sir


this gentleman says very true


your life may hang upon it


are you said mr haredale abruptly afraid to come with me


i sir nnno


put the riband in your hat


if we meet the rioters swear that i took you prisoner for wearing it i i will tell them so with moy own lips for as i hope for mercy when i die i will take no quarter from them nor shall they have quarter from me if we come hand to hand tonight


up here behind me quick i clasp nte tight round the body and fear nothing


in an instant they were riding away at full i gallop in a dense cloud of dust and speeding on like hunters in a dream


it was vell she good horse knew the road he traversed for never once no never once in all the journey did mr haredale cast his eyes upon thet grosiid or turn them for an instant from the light towards which they sped so madly


once he said in a low voice it is my house but that was ithe only time he spoke


when they came to dark and doubtful places he never forgot to put his hand c upon the little man to hold him mare securely on his seat but he kept his head erect and his eyes c fixed on the fire then and always


rho road was dangerous enough for they went the nearest way headlong far from the highway a by lonely lanes and paths where waggonwheels had wornodeep ruts wvhere hedge and ditch hemmed in the narrow strip of ground and tall tree arching overhead made it profoundly dark but on on v on with neither stop nor stumble till they reached the maypole door and could plainly see that the fire h began to fade as if for want of fuel k downfor one moment for but one momentn said mr haredale helping deasy to the ground and i followiog hlmaelf willetwillet where are my a niece snd servants willet ii crying out to him distractedly he rushed into the bar the lsnulord bound and fastened to his chair nba place dismantled stripped and pulled about his ta ogre nobody could have taken shelter here he was a strong man accustomed to restrain him ti self sod suppress his strong emotions but this ci preparation for what was to follow though he had a seen the fire burning and knew that his house must ti be razed to the ground was more than hecould c bear


e covered his face with his hantds for s co momeint nil turned sway his head k johnny johnny said solomon and the simple hearted fellow cried outright and wrung his hands oh dear old johnny heres a change


that the maypole bar should come to this and we should come to this and we should live to see it


l the old k warren too johnny mr haredaleob johnny what a piteous sight


this is i t pointing to mr haredale as he said these words little solomon daisy put his elbows on the back of e


mr willets chair and fairly blubbered on his g shoulder


while solomon was speaking old john sat mute y as a stockfish staring at him with an unearthly e glare and displaying by every possible symptom


entire and most complete unconsciousness


but when solomon was silent again john followed d with his great round eyes the direction of his looks and did appear to have some dawning distant notion that somebody had come to see him


ir


you know us dont you johnnyl said the little m clerk rapping himself on the breast


daisy you


h know chigwell church bellringer little desk on it sundays oh johnny mr willet reflected for a few moments and then sr muttered as it were mechanically let us sing at to the praise and glory of o


yes to be sure cried the little man hastily thatrit thats me johnny


youre all right now ant you


say youre all right johnny


d all right pondered mr willet as if that r were a matter entirely between himself and his conscience


all right ah i st they havent been misusing you with sticks or a pokers or any other blunt instruments have they it


johnny asked solomon with a very anxious k glance at mr willets head


they didnt beat i you did they


o john knitted his brow looked downwards as if he were mentally engaged in some arithmetical calculation then upwards as if the total would not b come at his call then at solomon daisy from his e eyebrow to his shoobuckle then very slowly round a the bar


and then a great round leadenlooking and not at all transparent tear came rolling out of d each eye and be said as be shook his head d if theyd only had the goodness to murder me id have thanked em kindly


e no no no dont say that


johnny whim e pered his little friend


its


very very bad but i not quite so bad as that


no no i lookee here sir i cried john turning his t rueful eyes on mr haredale who had dropped on e ore knee and was hastily beginning to untie his bonds


lookee here sir i


the very maypole y stares in at the winder as if it said john willet john willet lets go and pitch ourselves in the n nighest pool of water as is deep enough to hold us li for our day is over e dont johnny dont cried his friends no less h affected by this mournful effort of mr willets p imagination than by the sepulchral tone in which e he had spoken for the maypole


please dont n johnny


i your loss is great and your misfortune a heavy t one said mr haredale looking restlessly towards g the door and this is not a time to comfort you


a if it were i am in no condition to do so


before i t leave you tell me one thing and try to to tell me i truly and plainly i implore you


have you seen or heard of emma s no i said mr willet


nor any one but these bloodhounds


no


they rode away i trust in heaven before these i dreadful scenes began said mr


haredale who between his agitation his eagerness to mount his r horse again and the dexterity with which the cords were tied had scarcely yet undone one knot


a knife daisy


you didnt said john looking about as a though he had lost his pockethandkerchief or some t such slight article either of you gentlemen see a r a coffin anywheres did you willet


cried mr haredale


solomon drop


ped the knife and instantly becoming limp from f head to foot exclaimed good gracious i because said john not at all regarding them a dead man called a little time ago on his way yonder


i could have told you what name was i on the plate if he had brought his coffin with him i and left it behind


if he didnt it dont signify


his landlord who listened to these words with breathless attention started that moment to his feet and without a word drew solomon daisy to the door mounted his horse took him up behind again and flew rather than galloped towards the pile of ruins which that days sun had shown upon a stately house


dir willet stared after them listened looked down upon himself to make quite sure that he was still unbound and without any manifestation of impatience disappointment or surprise gently relapsed into the condition from which he had so imperfectly recovered


mr haredale tied his horse to the trunk of a tree and grasping his companions arm stole softly along abs footpath and into what had been the garden of his house


he stopped for an instant tn look upon its smoking walls and at the stars that shong through the roof sod floor upon the heap of crumbling ashes


solomon glanced timidly in his face but his lips were tighly pressed together a resolute and stern enpression sat upon his brow and not a tear a look or gesture indicating grief encaped him


he drew his sword felt for a moment in his breast as though he carried other orms about him then grasping solomon by the wrist agatn went with a cautious step all round the house


he looked into every doorway and gap in she wall retraced his steps at every rustling of the sir among the leaves and searched in every shadowed nook with outstretched hand


thsus they mads the circuit of lbs buildings but they returned to the spot from which they had set out without eocoun lering any human being or finding the least trace of any concealed straggler


after a short pause mr haredale shouted twice or thrice then cried aloud is there any one in hiding here who knows my voice


there is nothing to fear now if any of my people are near i entreat them to answer i


he called them all by same his vroice was echoed in many mourofo tones and than all was silent as before


they were standing near the foot of the turret where she shorn bell hung


the fire had raged there and the fliors had been sawn and hewn and beaten down beaidea


it was open to the night but a part of the staircase still renmained windingt upwsrds from a gesot mpund of dust and cinidera


fragments of the jagged and broken steps offered an insecure sod giddy footing here and there and then were lest again behiod protruding angles of the wall or in the deep shssdows cast upon it by other portiona of the ruin for by this time the mdoon hsd risen and shone brightlyt


as they stood here listening to the echoes as they died away and hoping in vain to hear a voice they knew some of the ashes in thsisturret slipped sod rolled down


startled by tise least noise in that moelancholy place solomon looked usp at his companiooa face and saw that itoe had turned towards lihe spot anti thst he watched and listeneda keenly


a he covered the little maos mouth with his hand and looked again


instantly with kindling eyes he bade him on his life keep still and neither speak nor move


then holding his breath and stooping down he stole into the turret with his drawn sword in his hand and disappeared


terrified to be left there by himself under such desolate circumstances and after all he had seen and heard that night solomon would have followed but there had been something in mr haredales manner and his look the recollection of which held him spellbound


he stood rooted to the spot and scarcely venturing to breathe looked up with min gled fear and wonder


again the ashes slipped and rolledvery very softlyagainand then again as though they crumbled underneath the tread of a stealthy foot


and now a figure was dimly visible climbing very softly and often stopping to look down now it pursued its difficult way and now it was hidden from the view again


it emerged once more into the shadowy and on


certain lighthigher now but not much for the way was steep and toilsome and its progress very slow


what phantom of the brain did he pursue and why did he look down so constantly


he knew he was alone


surely his mind was not affected by that nights loss and agony


he was not about to throw himself headlong from the tottering wall


solomon turned sick and clasped his hands


his limbs trembled beneath him and a cold sweat broke out upon his pallid face


if he complied with mr haredales last injunc tion now it was because he had not the power to speak or move


he strained his gaze and fixed it on a patch of moonlight into which if he continued to ascend he must soon emerge


when hie ap


peared there he would try to call to him


again the ashes slipped and crumbled some stones rolled down and fell with a dull heavy sound upon the ground below


he kept his eyes upon the piece of moonlight


the figure was coming on for its shadow was already thrown upon the wall


now it appearedand now looked round at him and now the horrorstricken clerk uttered a scream that pierced the air and cried the ghost again


the ghost i long before the echo of that cry had died away another form rushed out into the light flung itself upon the foremost one knelt down upon its breast and clutched its throat with both hands


villain l cried mr haredale in a terrible voicefor it was be


dead and buried as all men supposed through your infernal arts but reserved by heaven for thisat lastat lasti have you


you whose bands are red with my brothers blood and that of his faithful servant shed to conceal your own atrocious gailt


you rudge double murderer and monster i arrest you in the name of god who has delivered you into my hands


nay


though you had the strength of twenty men lie added as he writhed and struggled you could not escape me or loosen my grasp tonight i to be continued


william a tale of south australian historyby a lady


chapter i i cannot think murmured a solitary being as he walked backwards and forwards on a grass plot before a small neat white cottage about fifty miles from ade laideno it is impossible i cannot think how it was i william


exclaimed a shrill voice do you not see my brothers horse i beg your pardon love said william very gently i was not aware your brother had arrived or i would have despatched one of the men from the hut to wait on him but i will go and send one up direetly and as poor william turned from the lady you might have heard a sigh although there was a smile on his face and there are few but would have thought him quite happy


he had not receded from the hut many yards on his return to the cottage before he was again in a reverie and again re peating to himself i cannot think how it was i ever got married


he had scarcely breathed the last words when he started and looked round fearing he had been observed or overheard but he saw nothing save the trees and his faithful dog who was seldom from his side


he patted the poor animal on the head and heaved another sigh then tried to smile and the next minute he was at the side of his bride


william was a tall thin pale young man very quiet and amiable and respected by all who knew him


he left his native country with a light heart for he was young and enterprising to emigrate to an unknown land for south australia at that time was only known by name but still he was happy for he had many companions as lighthearted as himself and they were all to be under the control of one whom every one loved and reverenced


as the ship was sailing down the thames the sailors were all in a bustle the young men walked the deck highly amused for it was the first voyage any of them had taken when an elderly gentle man stepped forward and joined their promenade saying at the same time we shall soon see the last of poor old england


his words acted like magic the smile was gone and a cloud overshadowed the brow of each for all had left dear friends behind them


a mother who had wept at their partingor a father they might see no moreor a betrothed one to whom they had promised one day to return and though william left neither father nor mother nor betrothed he had taken leave of a sister whom he fondly loved and she had both wept and prayed at their parting


her lips refused to sendfarewell


for in that wordthat fatal wordhoweer we promise hope believe there breathes despair for she pictured to herself the sufferings and hardships he might have to encounter in a strange land perhaps he mightperish from hunger in the bush or he murdered by the natives but when he had assured her no such thing was likely to happen that he would write a long letter by every opportunity and tell her all he should do and see and that he would study well in order that he might get on in his profession and that he would send for her to be his housekeeperwhen remembering she had promised to come he smiled again and looking round he found his companions smiling too for they likewise had called to mind some fond hope or parting promise to cheer them onward


their voyage was a pleasant one having had fine weather throughout


the only passenger who wished to land was the doctor but he had been ill the whole way and sighed to be on shore no matter where


at last the wishedfor word came


land land


burst from a dozen mouths at once and the next minute all hands were upon deck and the sick doctor with the rest there was not one left below


the young men wondered where the land was they could see none and the doctor fancied it was a joke practised upon him


just then the captain pointed out a small dark spot to william looking very much like a cloud as they all thought but their doubts on this point were soon cleared up as they neared the object and the captain pro ducing his charts declared it to be kangaroo island


to describe the delight of the ships company at this intelligence would be impossible


a short interval elapsed when there arose a loud and repeated cheer as a little boat was seen to leave the shoreevery eye was anxiously fixed upon it and every heart beat quick as it advanced towards the vessel some wondering what news it would bring or if any one was in it they had seen before for one ship and one only had sailed before them


william had never taken his eyes from off the little boat and as it drew near he thought he could recognise a face that was familiar to him nor did he mistake


a few minutes brought the boat to the side of the ship and in another minute he was shak ing the hand of his friend


the gentleman who came in the boat was rather short spoke very quick and possessed features upon which intelligence and good humour were strikingly manifest


after congratulating william on his safe arrival he turned round to the captain and assured him he had nothing to dread from the elements while he remained at kingscote and he was quite sure he could not drop anchor in a safer harbour


he then begged to have a private interview with the elderly gentleman on board which was immediately granted


long and earnest was the conversation for each had his whole heart centered in the enterprise in which they were embarked


in the meantime the ship had anchored within a league of the landing place when the visitor again appeared on deck and a smile of triumph played upon his features as he pointed out a small cottage constructed of the tea tree which he had erected with his own hands


that hut is mine he said to which i invite you and assure you of a hearty welcome


the gentlemen gladly accepted the invitation and promised to be there as early as the captain would put them on shore in the morning


mr then took his leave highly delighted with the news he had heard and the letters he had re ceived from his friends and felt proud that he was one of the pioneers of a settlement which promised to be one the brightest jewels in the crown of his sovereign


i need scarcely say that the young men did not forget their engagement


they were up dressed and ready to go on shore long before the captain and after pacing the deck two hours which appeared to them as many days the captain at last gave orders to man the boat and in a short time they had left the vessel and were on their way to the beach


the pio neer was there to welcome them on land and to conduct the newlyarrived settlers to his little hut and introduce them to his wife


these ceremonies being over they agreed upon a stroll to stretch their legs and to see something of their adopted country and much pleased they were with the little they were able to see of the island and particularly with the ingenuity and industry with which the first emigrants had set to work


on their return to the hut they found their kind hostess had prepared a sumptuous dinner composed altogether of the produce of the islandfish wallaby pigeons and parrots


the repast being concluded they prepared to return on board for their duties called them to the main


of that place little was as yet known for the pioneer had not been beyond kangaroo island and of course could give them but little information as to what they might expect on their arrival and that little being gleaned from a native female or two who had been kid napped by the sealers whom they found residing on the island but he acquainted them with some of the plans which he intended to carry out there and spoke of what he hoped would be done on the main


alas


little did this clever persevering man think that while he was thus labouring for the advantage of employers miles away his services were so ill appreciated and that another would come and reap the credit to which he alone was entitled and far less did he think that the high and nobleminded being by whose side he was then walking would in return for the exercise of his lofty genius and the endurance of every hardship meet with insults such as would break his heart and send him to an early grave


i must not however anticipate it is at present sufficient to know that the friends parted on the beach each delighted with the past and full of hope for the future


the newcomesno


chapter ixmiss honeymans in steyne gardens brighton the lodginghouses are among the most frequented in that city of lodginghouses


these mansions have bowwindows in front bulging out with gentle prominences and ornamented with neat verandahs from which you can behold the tide of human kind as it flows up and down the steyne and that blue ocean over which britannia is said to rule stretching brightly away eastward and westward the chainpier asevery body knowsr runs intrepidly into the sea which sometimes in fine weather bathes its feet with laughing wavelets and anon on stormy days dashes over its sides with roaring foam


here for the sum of two pence you can go out to sea and pace this vast deck without need of a steward with a basin


you can watch thesun setting in splendour over worthing or illuminating with its rising glories the ups and downs of rottingdean


you see the citizen with his fa mily inveigled into the shallops of the mercenary native mariner and fancy that the motion cannot be pleasant and how the hirer of the boat otium eopptdi laudat tura sui haply sighs for ease and prefers riclimondor hampstead


you behold a hundred bathing machines put to sea and your naughty fancy depicts the beauties splashing under their white awnings


along the rippled sands stay are they rippled sands or shingly beach


the prawnboy seeks the delicious material of your breakfast


breakfastmeal in london almost unknown greedily devoured in brighton


in yon vessels now nearing the shore the sleepless mariner has ven tured forth to seize the delicate whiting the greedy and foolish mackarel and the homely sole


hark to the twanging horn


it is the early coach going out to london


your eye follows it and rests on the pinnacles built by the beloved george


see the wornout london rou pacing the pier inhaling the sea air and casting furtive glances under the bonnets of the pretty girls who trot here before lessons


mark the bilious lawyer escaped for a day from pump court and sniffing the fresh breezes before he goes back to breakfast and a bagful of briefs at the albion


see that pretty string of prattling school girls from the chubby cheeked flaxenheaded little maiden just toddling by the side of the second teacher to the arch damsel of fifteen giggling and conscious of her beauty whom miss griffin the stern headgo verness awfully reproves


see tomkins with a telescope and ma rine jacket young nathan and young abrams already bedizened in jewellery and rivalling the sun in oriental splendouryonder poor invalid crawling along in her chairyonder jolly fat lady examining the brighton pebbles i actually once saw a lady buy one and her children wondering at the stickingplaister portraits with gold hair and gold stocks and prodigious highheeled bootsj miracles of art and cheap at sevenandsixpence


it is the fashion to run down george iv but what myriads of londoners ought to thank him for inventing brighton


one of the best of physicians our city has ever known is kind cheerful merry doctor brighton


hail thou purveyor of shrimps and honest prescriber of south down mutton


there is no mutton so good as brighton mutton no flys so pleasant as brighton flys nor any cliffs so pleasant to ride on


no shops so beautiful to look at as the brighton gimcrack shops and the fruit shops and the market


i fncy myself in mrs honeymans lodgings in steyne gardens and in enjoyment of all these things


if the gracious reader has had losses in life losses not soi bad as to cause absolute want or inflict upon him or her the bodily injury of starvation let him confess that the evils of this poverty are by no means so great as his timorous fancy depicted


say your money has been invested iii the west diddlesex


bonds or other luckless speculationsthe news of the smash comes you pay your outly ing bills with the balance at the bankers you assemble your fa mily and make them a fine speech the wife of your bosom goes round and embraces the sons and daughters seriatim nestling in your own waistcoat finally in possession of which she says with tender tears and fond quotations from holy writ god bless her