Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

British Sion;-as long as the British monarchy, not more limited than fenced by the orders of the state, shall, like the proud Keep of Windsor, rising in the majesty of proportion, and girt with the double belt of its kindred and coeval towers, as long as this awful structure shall oversee and guard the subjected land-so long the mounds and dykes of the low, fat, Bedford level will have nothing to fear from all the pickaxes of all the levellers of France. As long as our sovereign lord the king, and his faithful subjects the lords and commons of this realm, the triple cord which no man can break; the solemn sworn constitutional frankpledge of this nation; the firm guarantees of each other's being, and each other's rights; the joint and several securities, each in its place and order for every kind and every quality of property and of dignity,-as long as these endure, so long the Duke of Bedford is safe; and we are all safe together; the high from the blights of envy, and the spoliation of rapacity; the low from the iron hand of oppression, and the insolent spurn of contempt. Amen! and so be it: and so it will be,

• Dum

domus Æneæ Capitoli immobile

saxum

Accolet; imperiumque pater Romanus ha

bebit.'"

This was the sounding passage which Burke alleged as the chef d'œuvre of his rhetoric; and the argument, upon which he justified his choice, is specious-if not convincing. He laid it down as a maxim of composition, that every passage in a rhetorical performance, which was brought forward prominently, and relied upon as a key (to use the language of war) in sustaining the main position of the writer, ought to involve a thought, an image, and a sentiment and such a synthesis he found in the passage which we have quoted.-This criticism, over and above the pleasure which it always gives to hear a great man's opinion of himself, is valuable,

as showing that Burke, because negligent of trivial inaccuracies, was not at all the less anxious about the larger proprieties and decorums; [for this passage, confessedly so labored, has several instances of slovenliness in trifles ;] and that, in the midst of his apparent hurry, he carried out a jealous vigilance upon what he wrote, and the eye of a person practised in artificial effects.

An ally of Burke's upon East Indian politics, ought to have a few words of notice, not so much for any power that he actually had as a rhetorician, but because he is sometimes reputed such. This was Sir Philip Francis, who, under his early disguise of Junius, had such a success as no writer of libels ever will have again. It is our private opinion, that this success rested upon a great delusion which has never been exposed. The general belief is that Junius was read for his elegance; we believe no such thing. The pen of an angel would not, upon such a theme as personal politics, have upheld the interest attached to Junius, had there been no other cause in coöperation. Language, after all, is a limited instrument, and it must be remembered that Junius, by the extreme narrowness of his range, which went entirely upon matters of fact, and personal interests, still further limited the compass that limited instrument. For it is only in the expression and management of general ideas, that any room arises for conspicuous elegance. The real truth is this: the interest in Junius travelled downwards; he was read in the lower ranks, because in London it speedily became known that he was read with peculiar interest in the highest. This was already a marvel; for newspaper patriots, under the signatures of Publicola, Brutus, and so forth, had become a jest and a by-word to the real, practical statesman; and any man at leisure to write for so disinterested a purpose as "his country's good," was presumed, of

*Bedford level, a rich tract of land so called in Bedfordshire.

of

course, to write in a garret. But is a standing enigma. One talent, undoubtedly, he had in a rare perfection-the talent of sarcasm. He stung like a scorpion. But, besides that such a talent has a narrow application, an interest of personality cannot be other than fugitive, take what direction it may; and malignity cannot embalm itself in materials that are themselves perishable. Such were the materials of Junius. His vaunted elegance was, in a great measure, the gift of his subject: general terseness, short sentences, and a careful avoiding of all awkwardness of construction-these were his advantages. And from these he would have been dislodged by a higher subject, or one that would have forced him out into a wider compass of thought. Rhetorician he was none, though he has often been treated as such; for, without sentiment, without imagery, without generalization, how should it be possible for rhetoric to subsist? It is an absolute fact, that Junius has not one principle, aphorism, or remark of a general nature in his whole armorynot in a solitary instance did his barren understanding ascend to an abstraction, or general idea, but lingered forever in the dust and rubbish of individuality, amongst the tangible realities of things and persons. Hence, the peculiar absurdity of that hypothesis which discovered Junius in the person of Burke. The opposition was here too pointedly ludicrous between Burke, who exalted the merest personal themes into the dignity of philosophic speculations, and Junius, in whose hands the very loftiest dwindled into questions of person and party.

here for the first time a pretended patriot, a Junius Brutus, was anticipated with anxiety, and read with agitation. Is any man simple enough to believe that such a contagion could extend to cabinet ministers, and official persons overladen with public business, on so feeble an excitement as a little reputation in the art of constructing sentences with elegance; an elegance which, after all, excluded eloquence and every other positive quality of excellence? That this can have been believed, shows the readiness with which men swallow marvels. The real secret was this ;-Junius was read with the profoundest interest by members of the cabinet, who would not have paid half a crown for all the wit and elegance of this world, simply because it was most evident that some traitor was amongst them; and that either directly by one of themselves, or through some abuse of his confidence by a servant, the secrets of office were betrayed. The circumstances of this breach of trust are now fully known; and it is readily understood why letters, which were the channel for those perfidies, should interest the ministry of that day in the deepest degree. The existence of such an interest, but not its cause, had immediately become known: it descended, as might be expected, amongst all classes: once excited, it seemed to be justified by the real merits of the letters; which merit again, illustrated by its effects, appeared a thousand times greater than it was; and finally, this interest was heightened and sustained by the mystery which invested the author. How much that mystery availed in keeping alive the reputation of Junius, is clear from this fact, that, since the detection of Junius, the Letters have much declined in popularity; and ornamented editions of them are no longer the saleable article which they were some years ago.

In fact, upon any other principle, the continued triumph of Junius, and his establishment as a classical author,

Last of the family of rhetoricians, and in a form of rhetoric as florid as the age could bear, came Mr. Canning. "Sufficit," says a Roman author, "in una civitate esse unum rhetorem." But, if more were in his age unnecessary, in ours they would have been intolerable. Three or four Mr. Cannings would have been found a nuisance indeed, the very admiration which crowned his great displays,

manifested of itself the unsuitableness stamped upon his manner, agreeable

of his style to the atmosphere of public affairs; for it was of that kind which is offered to a young lady rising from a brilliant performance on the pianoforte. Something, undoubtedly, there was of too juvenile an air, too gaudy a flutter of plumage, in Mr. Canning's more solemn exhibitions; but much indulgence was reasonably extended to a man, who, in his class, was so complete. He was formed for winning a favorable attention by every species of popular fascination: to the eye he recommended himself almost as much as the Bolingbroke of a century before his voice, and his management of it, were no less pleasing: and upon him, as upon St. John, the air of a gentleman sate with a native grace. Scholarship and literature, as far as they belong to the accomplishments of a gentleman, he too brought forward in the most graceful manner : and, above all, there was an impression of honor, generosity, and candor,

rather to his original character, than to the wrench which it had received from an ambition resting too much on mere personal merits. What a pity that this "gay creature of the elements" had not taken his place contentedly, where nature had assigned it, as one of the ornamental performers of the time! His station was with the lilies of the field, which toil not, neither do they spin. He should have thrown himself upon the admiring sympathies of the world as the most dazzling of rhetorical artists, rather than have challenged their angry passions in a vulgar scuffle for power. In that case he would have been alive at this hour-he would have had a perpetuity of that admiration which to him was as the breath of his nostrils; and would not, by forcing the character of rhetorician into an incongruous alliance with that of trading politician, have run the risk of making both ridiculous.

BREAKING THE SPELL.

IN many of the more upland and secluded parts of the south of Scotland the belief in witches still prevails, and not many years have elapsed since it was universal. The continuation of such a belief among a people who are shrewd and intelligent, is partly owing to two causes; the first of these is the literal meaning they attach to the incantations of the Witch of Endor, mentioned in the first book of Samuel, and the effect that they had in bringing up that prophet from the dead to reprove the King of Israel. Finding this in the Bible, and not being able to see the difference between an allegory and a simple invention, they believe it literally; and when one witch is firmly believed in, there is no possibility of closing the door upon other witches. So dangerous is supersti tion, that if people believe one thing without, or contrary to, rational evidence, they cannot prevent themselves from believing more. The other cause

of this inveterate superstition is the existence and extensive circulation of a very foolish book among the peasantry; this book is entitled "Satan's Invisible World discovered;" and it has other faults besides the cento of diablery which it narrates and describes as established facts.

One of the places where, if not now, at least very lately, the witches had free range, was on the Lammermuir hills, between the counties of East Lothian and Berwick. The inhabitants there are a detached and a singular people; they are shepherds, several of them proprietors of their sheep walks; their manners are primitive-Anglicè, they are very dirty. They hang up the carcasses of the casualty sheep in the turf-smoke of the hut, and tear off a piece when they are hungry. In the adjoining Lowlands, the men are called "Lammermuir lairds," the women "Lammermuir ladies," and the sheep "Lam

mermuir lions," which latter name is Accordingly, Betty put on her best,

applied to persons wanting in courage, who are said to be "as bold as Lammermuir lions."

At certain seasons of the year, the Lammermuir ladies come to the fairs to dispose of the wool of the flocks, and purchase the few simple necessaries that they may want for their rude households; and from the singularity of their appearance and costume they are, or were very lately, all elevated to the honor of witchcraft. This is contrary to the usual dispensations of that honor, which requires some talent as well as irregularity of appearance, while these people are, in all but pastoral matters, ignorance itself. About twenty years ago, we were driven to take shelter in the mansion of a Lammermuir laird, and he tried to impress us with a sense of his erudition, by holding the shorter catechism, which appeared to belong to one of his children, with the wrong end to him, and rehearsing the sounds "multe A, crooked s, ypersie &," with as much solemnity as ever author read his manuscript to a bookseller, when a bargain and sale depended upon his orthoepy.

A widow of the name of Betty Falla kept an alehouse in one of the market-towns frequented by the Lammermuir ladies, (Dunse, we believe,) and a number of them used to lodge at her house during the fair. One year Betty's ale turned sour soon after the fair; there had been a thunderstorm in the interim, and Betty's ale was, as they say in that country, "strongest in the water." Betty did not understand the first of these causes, and she did not wish to understand the latter. The ale was not palatable; and Betty brewed again to the same strength of water. Again it thundered; and again the swipes became vinegar. Betty was at her wits' end, no long journey; but she was breathless.

Having got to her own wits' end, Betty naturally wished to draw upon the stock of another; and where should she find it in such abundance as with the minister of the parish.

got her nicest basket, laid a couple of bottles of her choicest brandy in the bottom, and over them a dozen or two of her freshest eggs; and thus freighted, she fidgeted off to the manse, offered her peace-offering, and hinted that she wished to speak with his Reverence in "preevat."

"What is your will, Betty?" said the minister of Dunse. "An unco uncanny mishap," replied the tapster's wife.

"Has Mattie not been behaving?" said the minister. "Like an innocent lamb," quoth Betty Falla.

"Then?" said the minister, lacking the rest of the query. "Anent the yill," said Betty.

"The ale!" said the minister, "has anybody been drinking and refused to pay?"

"Na," said Betty, "they winna drink a drap."

"And would you have me to encourage the sin of drunkenness ?" asked the minister.

"Na, na," said Betty, "far frae that; I only want your kin' han' to get in yill again as they can drink."

"I am no brewer, Betty," said the minister gravely.

"Gude forfend, Sir," said Betty, "that the like o' you should be evened to the gyle tub. I dinna wish for onything o' the kind."

"Then what is the matter?" asked the minister.

"It's witched, clean witched, as sure as I'm a born woman,' " said Betty; "naebody else will drink it, an' I canna drink it mysel'."

"You must not be superstitious, Betty," said the minister.—“ I'm no onything o' the kin'," said Betty, coloring, "an' ye ken it yoursel'; but twa brousts wadna be vinegar for naething." (She lowered her voice) "Ye mun ken, sir, that o' a' the leddies frae the Lammermuir, that hae been comin' and gaen, there was an auld rudas wife this fair, an' I'm certie she's witched the yill; and ye mun just look into ye'r buiks, an' tak off the witchin'!"

"When do you brew, Betty?"

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

I CALL thee blest!—though now the voice be fled,
Which to thy soul brought dayspring with its tone,
And o'er the gentle eyes though dust be spread,
Eyes that ne'er look'd on thine but light was thrown
Far through thy breast:

And though the music of thy life be broken,
Or changed in every chord since He is gone,
Feeling all this, ev'n yet, by many a token,
O thou, the deeply, but the brightly lone!

For in thy heart there is a holy spot,

I call thee blest.

As mid the waste an Isle of Fount and Palm,
Forever gone!-the world's breath enters not,
The passion-tempests may not break its calm :
'Tis thine, all thine!

Thither, in trust unbaffled, mayst thou turn,
From weary words, cold greetings, heartless eyes,
Quenching thy soul's thirst at the hidden urn,
That fill'd with waters of sweet Memory lies

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »