376 The Wanderer. [VOL. 2 my journey, and would wish to go to which were necessary for my comfort, bed; I very gladly answered in the and my progress in my studies. affirmative, and retired to rest to dream Burton, though of the same age, was over the disappointment I had met with much less than myself, and being of a in my new grandfather. delicate constitution, although from his In consequence of the recommenda- amiable manners he was generally betion of my grandfather, Lord Trevayne loved throughout the school, was somehad determined to retain our servant, times oppressed by the bigger boys; Andrew, who now attended me to my this, I observed very soon after my room, where we compared notes as to arrival, and as I had burned for an opthe difference of our present and our portunity of returning the obligations I late situations-Andrew asked me how lay under to him, on the first which preI liked his lordship? I said I knew he sented, I took his quarrel on myself-a was so grand that I was afraid to like battle was the consequence, in which I him a great deal and that I could not acquitted myself to the satisfaction of the like him so well as my grandfather "No," said Andrew, as he left me for the night, "I fear you will find few people left whom you can love so well as my old master." beholders. This, my first essay in pugilism, stamped my fame, and I passed the rest of my time at school without seeing my friend annoyed by the impositions of his superiors in strength, and enDuring the few days which I staid at joying a moderate share of peace myself. Lord Trevayne's, previous to my going My time passed at school pleasantly to school, I was introduced to some of enough: it is true, I was very little my honourable cousins, the children of troubled with visits or attentions of any the elder branches of Lord Trevayne's sort from Lord Trevayne, whom I never family, which was very numerous-they saw but at the school vacations, when all looked on me as an interloper, and he was so much enveloped in business, their manners being of the higher order, that I enjoyed very little of his compathey amused themselves greatly with my ny, and my taste was so bad, that I ́esrustic appearance, and, shocking igno- teemed myself rather fortunate in this rance, as they chose to call it. This sort respect than otherwise. I had just of treatment did not make me very completed my eighteenth year when I unhappy, for I was not then acquainted was summoned from school, and he prowith the contempt in which poor rela- posed to me to fix on a profession, and tions are generally held, and as, perhaps, added, with something as much like my vanity led me to think, that there kindness as was possible with him, that was not so great a superiority on their he would not by any means wish to inside, and finding that in Greek and fluence me, but that it should be left to Latin, I was more than a match of those my free choice. I replied without hesof my own age, I kept up my conse- itation, for I had seriously deliberated quence and my spirits tolerably well. on the subject, that I should choose the I was, however, soon released from this law; with this he seemed pleased, and by proceeding to the school which had been destined for me; here I was accompanied by the honourable Mr. Burton, a son of one of Lord Trevayne's daughters, and about my own age; he had taken my part in all the little engagements I had had with my cousins, and instructed me in some of the fashionable niceties of behaviour of which I was, before totally ignorant, of course I was much attached to him, and on our arrival at school, where he had been before, he introduced me to his friends, and acquainted me with several particulars said he approved of it; and as it was necessary that I should pass some time at one of the Universities previous to my entering on my profession, he wished me to accompany my friend Burton who was intended for the church; to this, of course I had no objection, and it was agreed that we should set out for Cambridge in a few weeks. I received Lord Trevayne's proposal with great pleasure, for as I grew older and gained experience, I had become keenly alive to the unpleasant depen dence of my situation, and I had resolv VOL. 2.] Biographical Portraits.-Czerny Georges, the Servian Chief. 377 ed to apply to him on the subject, when devoted most of that time to the theohe very fortunately saved me the trouble. retical study of the law; as I did not This sense of my dependence was the aim at academical distinctions, I was litcause of my choice of the law as my tle concerned with the general business profession; had I consulted my incli- of the University. A firm resolution nations, I should, perhaps, have rather which I had made not to exceed the chosen the army-but I thought that in limits of my allowance, caused me to the law, if I had any talent, I should exert a scrupulous economy in all my have better opportunities of displaying expences, and was the means of preventit, and by means of my own exertions, ing my giving in to many college imattain that envied independence which prudences, which frequently hold out was now the summit of my wishes. ⚫ temptations too strong for youthful pasI staid at college only two years, and sions to withstand. GE To be continued. CZERNY GEORGES. From La Belle Assemblee, October 1817. death, the father of Czerny, shocked at EORGES PETROWICH, better so many horrors, determined to abandon known by the name of Czerny the banners of his son, whom he had Georges, that is to say, Black George, previously joined. The old man even was born of a noble Servian family, in threatened to deliver up the whole troop the neighbourhood of Belgrade. Before to the power of the Turks, unless they he had attained the age of manhood he immediately consented to relinquish the was one day met by a Turk, who, with useless contest. Czerny conjured him an imperious air, ordered him to stand to alter his resolution; but the old man out of the way; at the same time declar- persisted, and set out for Belgrade. His ing that he would blow out his brains. son followed him. Having arrived at Czerny Georges, however, prevented him the Servian outposts, he threw himself from putting this threat into execution, on his knees, and again entreated that and by the discharge of a pistol imme- his father would not betray his country; diately laid him dead on the ground. To but finding him inflexible, he drew out avoid the dangerous consequences of this a pistol, fired it, and thus became the affair, he took refuge in Transylvania, murderer of his parent. and entered the military service of The Servians still continued to augment Austria, in which he quickly obtained the band of Czerny Georges. Embolthe rank of non-commissioned officer. dened by the numerous advantages he His Captain having ordered him to be had obtained, this Chief at length sallied punished, Czerny Georges challenged from his forests, besieged Belgrade, and and killed him. He then returned to on the 1st of December, 1806, forced Servia, where, at the age of twenty-five, that important fortress to surrender. he became the Chief of one of those Being proclaimed Generalissimo of his bands of malcontents which infest every nation, he governed it with unlimited part of the Turkish dominions, who power. The principal nobles and pride themselves upon the title of ecclesiastics, under the presidency of the Kleptai, or Brigand, and whom the non- Archbishop, formed a kind of senate, or Mussulman population consider as their synod, which assembled at Semandriah, avengers and liberators. Czerny Georges, and which claimed the right of exercising encamped in the thick forests, waged the sovereignty. But Czerny Georges war against the Turks with unheard-of annulled the acts of the assembly, and cruelty; he spared neither age nor sex, declared, by a decree, that "during his and extended his ravages throughout the life no one should rise above him; that whole province of Servia. The Turks he was sufficient in himself, and stood in having, by way of retaliation condemned no need of advisers." In 1807 he ordertwenty-six of the principal Servians to ed one of his brothers to be hanged for ЗА ATHENEUM. Vol. 2. 378 Biographical Portraits.-Czerni George, the Servian Chief. some trifling want of respect towards him. The conquest of Servia was accompanied by the massacre of the Turks; no mercy was shown even to those who voluntarily surrendered themselves. Czerny Georges, being attacked by an army of 50,000 Mussulmans, valiantly defended the banks of the Morave; and had he possessed the means of obtaining foreign officers to discipline the intrepid Servians, he might perhaps have reestablished the kingdom of Servia, which, under Stephen III. resisted the Moguls, and under Stephen Ducian included Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Bosnia. In 1387, Servia, though tributary to the Turks, still retained its national Princes, who assumed the title of Despots; in 1463 they were succeeded by a Turkish Pasha. Their houses became extinct in 1560. Czerny Georges was tall and well made; but his appearance was altogether savage and displeasing, owing to the disproportionate length of his countenance, his small and sunken eyes, bald forehead, and his singular method of wearing his hair gathered together in one enormous tress, which hung down upon his shoulders. His violent spirit was marked by an exterior of coldness and apathy; he sometimes passed whole hours without uttering a single syllable, and he could neither read nor write. He never resorted to the diversion of hunting above once during the year. He was then accompanied by from three to four hundred Pandours, who assisted him in waging a deadly war against the wolves, foxes, deer, and wild goats which inhabit the forests of fertile but uncultivated Servia. The entire produce of his hunting was publicly sold for his own profit. He also sought to augment his patrimony by confiscations. At the treaty of peace in 1812, Russia provided for the interests of Servia. That province was acknowledged to be a vassal, and tributary to the Porte. Czerny Georges retired to Russia; and lived at Kissonoff, in Bessarabia. His return to Servia in disguise, his discovery, and execution, have been recently made public. [VOL. 2 From the London Literary Gazette, Oct. 1817. CZERNI GEORGE. [By the Author of " PARIS," a Poem.] 'TWA ▼WAS noon !---a crimson banner play'd Above thy rampart port, Belgrade : From time to time the gong's deep swell Rose thundering from the citadel ; And soon, the trampling charger's din But all without was still and drear, Told of some mustering pomp within. The long streets wore the hue of fear, All desert, but where some quick eye Peer'd from the curtain'd gallery ; Or crouching slow from roof to roof The Servian glanced, then shrunk aloof, Eager, yet dreading to look on The bus'ness to be that day done. The din grew thicker---trampling feet Seem'd rushing to the central street. 'Twas fill'd--the city's idle brood, Scatter'd before, few, haggard, rude: Then came the Spahis, pressing on With kettledrum and gonfalon ; And ever, at the cymbal's clash, Upshook their spears the sudden flash, Till like a shatter'd, sable sail, Wheel'd o'er the rear the black-horse tail; All hurrying, like men who yield, Or men who seek some final field. They lead a captive; the Pashaw From his large eye draws back with awe; All tongues are silent in the group Who round that fearful stranger troop : He still has homage, tho' his hands Are straining in a felon's bands. Save one wild tress of raven hair, Like a black serpent deeply bound, Where once sate Servia's golden round. His neck bends deep, and many a stain Of blood shows how it feels the chain ; A peasant's robe is o'er him flung, A swordless sheath beside him hung; He sits a charger, but a slave Now holds the bridle of the brave. No Moslem he; his brow is bare, * * * * And now they line the palace square, A splendid sight, as noon's full glare Pours on their mass of plume and zone, Arms rough with gold and dazzling stone, Silk horse-nets, shawls of Indian dye O'er brows of savage majesty. But where's the fetter'd rider now? A flag above, a block below An Ethiop headsman low’ring near, Show where must close his stern career : A thousand eyes are fix'd to mark The fading of his eye's deep spark, VOL. 2.] .. Czerni George.-Colter, the North-American Hunter. The quicken'd heaving of his vest--- There was no quivering nerve, his brow Clash'd up their spears, the headsman's sign--- He knew that trumpet's Turkish wail, The hour had waned, the sunbeam fell Full on the palace pinnacle, The golden crescent on its spire Beam'd o'er a cross !---his eye shot fire; Mark'd he no cloud of Northern war? ΤΗ The whole was but a moment's trance, He was absorb'd in dreams, nor saw To give his axe the wider sweep; 379 Down came the blow---the self-same smile The night was wild, the atabal 'Twas like the hymn, when soldiers bear The lightning gave a blaze, the square COLTER, THE NORTH-AMERICAN HUNTER. From La Belle Assemblee, October 1817. HE following interesting narrative is selected from the Travels in the interior of America, by John Bradbury, F. L. S. London, a work recently published in Liverpool. Colter came to St. Louis in May, 1810, in a small canoe, from the head-waters of the Missouri, a distance of three thousand miles, which he traversed in thirty days: I saw him on his arrival, and received from him an account of his adventures after he had separated from Lewis and Clarke's party one of these, from its singularity, I shall relate. On the arrival of the party on the head waters of the Missouri, Colter observing an appearance of abundance of beaver being there, he got permission to remain and hunt for some time, which he did, in company with a man of the name of Dixon, who had traversed the immense tract of country from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri alone. Soon after he departed from Dixon, he trapped in company with a hunter named Potts; and aware of the hostility of the Blackfeet Indians, one of whom had been killed by Lewis, they set their 380 Bradbury's Travels.-Coller, the North-American Hunter. [VOL.2 traps at night and took them up early in foot language, and was also well aquainthe morning, remaining concealed during ted with Indian custom; he knew he had the day. They were examining their to run for his life, with the dreadful odds traps early one morning in a creek, about of five or six hundred against him, and six miles from that branch of the Mis- those armed Indians; therefore cunningly souri called Jefferson's Fork, and were replied that he was a very bad runner, ascending in a canoe, when they suddenly although he was considered by the huntheard a great noise, resembling the tram- ers as remarkably swift. The chief now pling of animals; but they could not as- commanded the party to remain station. certain the fact, as the high perpendicular ary, and led Colter out on the prairies banks on each side of the river impeded three or four hundred yards, and releas their view. Colter immediately pronoun- ed him, bidding him to save himself if ced it to be occasioned by Indians, and he could. At that instant the horrid waradvised an instant retreat, but was accu- hoop sounded in the ears of poor Colter, sed of cowardice by Potts, who insisted who, urged with the hope of preserving that the noise was caused by buffaloes; life, ran with a speed at which he was and they proceeded on. himselfsurprised. He proceeded towards In a few minutes afterwards their doubts the Jefferson Fork, having to traverse a were removed, by a party of Indians plain six miles in breadth, abounding making their appearance on both sides of with the prickly pear, on which he was the creek, to the amount of five or six every instant treading with his naked hundred, who beckoned them to come feet. He ran nearly half way across the ashore. As retreat was now impossible, plain before he ventured to look over his Colter turned the head of the canoe to shoulder, when he perceived that the Inthe shore; and at the moment of its touch- dians were very much scattered,and that he ing, an Indian seized the rifle belonging had gained ground to a considerable disto Potts; but Colter, who is a remarka- tance from the main body; but one Inbly strong man, immediately retook it dian, who carried a spear, was much beand handed it to Potts, who remained fore all the rest, and not more than a hunin the canoe, and on receiving it pushed dred yards from him. A faint gleam of off into the river. He had scarcely quit hope now cheered the heart of Colter; ted the shore when an arrow was shot at he derived confidence, from the belief him, and he cried out, "Colter, I am that escape was within the bounds of wounded!" Colter remonstrated with possibility, but that confidence was nearhim on the folly of attempting to escape, ly being fatal to him, for he exerted himand urged him to come ashore. Instead self to such a degree that the blood gushof complying, he instantly levelled his ed from his nostrils, and soon almost rifle at an Indian, and shot him dead on covered the forepart of his body. He the spot This conduct, situated as he had now arrived within a mile of the riwas, may appear to have been an act of ver, when he distinctly heard the appalmadness; but it was doubtless the effect ling sound of footsteps behind him, and of sudden,but sound reasoning; for,ifta- every instant expected to feel the spear ken alive, he must have expected to be tor- of his pursuer. Again he turned his tured to death, according to their custom. head, and saw the savage not twenty He was instantly pierced with arrows so yards from him. Determined, if possinumerous, that, to use the language of ble, to avoid the expected blow, he sudColter," He was made a riddle of!" denly stopped, turned round, and spread They now seized Colter, stripped him out his arms. The Indian, surprised by entirely naked, and began to consult on the suddenness of the action, and perhaps the manner in which he should be put to at the bloody appearance of Colter, also death. They were first inclined to set attempted to stop, but, exhausted with him up as a mark to shoot at; but the running, he fell whilst endeavouring to chief interfered, and seizing him by the throw his spear, which stuck in the shoulder, asked him if he could run fast? ground, and broke in his hand. Colter Colter, who had been some time among instantly snatched up the pointed part, the Kee-kat sa, or Crow Indians, had in with which he pinned him to the earth, a considerable degree acquired the Black- and then continued his flight. |